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"I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems, got to open my eyes to everything."

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THROUGH MY glassy vision, I watch as Elijah steps inside and carefully closes the door. He wears one of his classic suits as always, which brings a small and faint smile to my face. I swallow the lump in my throat at all the memories that scream at me and try my best not to pass out as my mind quickly becomes overwhelmed.

Suddenly I jump upwards and cough violently, choking on the blood that sprays from my mouth to my hand. Joel speeds to my side in an instant, supporting me by placing a steady hand on my back and the other on my hand. Joel then turns to Elijah and waves him over.

"Here," Elijah says, swiftly passing the bottle to me.

I look at the bottle of Klaus's blood and go to reach for it, but my body won't allow it as I continue coughing. Theo slowly backs away, bumping into Elijah who picks him up to comfort him. Theo begins to cry as he watches me choke on my own blood and struggle for air. He screams my name so Elijah walks away to hide him from the brutal sight.

"Blair, you need to drink this now," Joel instructs forcefully, pressing the bottle to my lips for me. I try my best to hold down my cough as the liquid slides down my throat, but my body can't handle it any more as I end up coughing it all up in an instant. 

"Damn it Blair!" Joel yells, moving to take extreme measures. 

He holds my head in his hand and tips my head back, his strength of a thousand years far greater than mine of 164. Holding my head in his hands, he forces the bottle to my lips until I take in a good amount of blood.

I feel the warm liquid slide down my throat and instantly feel myself waking up. It's as if I'm shot with a dose of adrenaline, my whole body feeling this great amount of energy and power as it heals. Joel brings the bottle down from my lips and stands back, allowing me space. I raise my arm and watch as the nasty and infected bite heals before my eyes, closing my eyes in relief.

"How do you feel?" Logan asks, standing back.

"Fine," I reply. "I feel fine."

"Jesus Christ you scared the shit out of me Blair," Joel says, walking towards me and giving me a hug. I let out a laugh and hug him back, before standing up to find Elijah. However, it appears my body isn't ready for that because as soon as I stand up, my head begins to spin again.

"Woah there," Joel says, making me sit down.

"Here," Elijah says, walking back from the kitchen with Theo in one hand and a glass of blood in the other. I take it from him immediately before chugging it all down. I forget that Logan is even here but at the moment I don't care. 

I gasp as I set the empty glass down, feeling a million times better than I did a few hours ago, or seconds ago for that matter. "Thank you," I say, glancing at all of the three men that stand before me.

Elijah smiles and releases Theo, letting him run to me. I smile and pick Theo up, setting him on my lap. "Are you going to tell us how you got that bite?" Joel questions, resting his elbows on his knees as he sits across from me.

"Are you going to tell me how you managed to get from New Orleans to Atlanta in an hour and a half?" I question, turning to Elijah.

"Flew down here as soon as I heard the news. Klaus informed me of the hundreds of messages Joel left him, and since he couldn't make it, I took it as my responsibility to once again, save your life," Elijah teases, giving me a wink.

"Heroes don't rub it in jackass." I laugh, wincing as I realize Theo is right beside me. "Oops." I shrug. "How's the baby? How's Hope?" 

"She's okay and doing good. Now can you please stop ignoring the question and tell us who bit you?" Elijah asks, crossing his arms across his chest.

I sigh and set Theo down. "Go play with your toys upstairs, Theo," I tell him, watching as he walks up the stairs. Once he's gone I turn to everyone else who are looking at me for answers. I sigh and clench my hands in fists to hide my nerves that are visible through my shaky hands.

"That man from last night, the one that Joel knocked out, he drugged me and took Christina and I to some abandoned building. He was there with some other guy who had impersonated Tyler Lockwood's body, who ended up biting me," I explain, glancing at their confused faces.

"What the hell did they want?" Joel asks.

"They called themselves Travellers, and their leader who drugged me is Marcos," I say, instantly noticing Elijah's change in posture. "You've heard of him," I say, nodding to Elijah.

Elijah purses his lips and nods. "I have, only because he's supposed to be dead," he says. "The Travellers are a group of cursed witches, and I presume he wants information from you about how to cure it?" 

I nod. "Sort of. Apparently Travellers have taken over Mystic Falls, and they require two components to break their curse; the blood of the doppelgängers, and that of the original half witch, half Traveller," I say, trying to leave out the worst part.

"I can tell by your expression that you're missing a key component Blair. What aren't you telling us?" Joel demands, knowing me all too well.

"They need Theo. He's the first ever half witch, half Traveller meaning he can still do magic of both groups, yet not be affected by the curse," I say quietly. "They told me I have twenty-four hours to bring him in, or else they'll come looking for us. That was five hours ago." 

"You're telling me we have five hours to pack our things, and disappear from the radar? Blair, it's going to take us a lot longer to put that big of distance between us!" Joel says, starting to panic.

"We're not leaving without Christina! Come on Blair, she's our friend. We can't just leave her!" Logan argues.

"Like hell you're going to get her! That hybrid probably already killed her!" Joel yells back. I know Joel is only trying to protect me, but he doesn't know what Christina means to me. Logan and Christina have become my best friends and I can't leave her behind.

"Everybody calm down," Elijah says, holding his hands out to silence us. "We'll figure this out. What matters right now, is that Theo's life is endanger. I don't know about your friend Christina, but what we do know is that Theo is okay. Our first priority is to get him out of here," Elijah explains.

"What? You just expect me to pack up and leave? This is my home! I've built a life for myself here and there's no way and hell I'm just going to leave it all behind!" I argue, suddenly feeling like everything I've been doing for the past year and a half has meant nothing.

"Elijah's right." Joel says. "Blair, you and Theo need to leave now. I can drive you to pick up your car, and then you two are gone." .

"I'm not running!" I yell, making them all go silent.

Elijah walks up to me and places a hand on my shoulder. "Blair, you may not have a choice," he says gently, giving my shoulder a comforting squeeze. "We'll try and figure things out, but worse comes to worse, you and Theo get off the map," Elijah says, trying to calm me down.

I take in a deep breath and nod. "Alright," Joel says, clapping his hands together. "Now that that's settled, Logan and I are going to drive to get your car that's still parked outside the bar," Joel says, grabbing my car keys from my hand. I may not have my purse or phone which Marcos stole, but he didn't particular check the rest of me, as I had my car keys hidden in my bra.

"Is there any particular reason the two of you have to go?" I question Joel, giving him a wink noticing how he particularly chose Logan to go with him. He scowls but I see his cheeks turn slightly red.

"Yeah idiot, one has to drive Logan's car while another drives yours," he fires back, making me feel stupid.

As Joel and Logan leave, Elijah takes a seat across from me. He fixes all the ruffles in his suit and adjusts his tie before focusing his attention on me, only to find I'm smiling at him mockingly. "Plane messed up your suit?" I joke, and he laughs. "You didn't have to come all this way you know, you have a life now too." 

Elijah raises his brow with a smirk on his face. "I didn't have to come? Blair, you were dying. As James's friend and your friend, it was my responsibility to come," he says with a light laugh.  "I owe James that much anyways," he adds with a whisper.

"I guess what I'm trying to say, is thank you for saving my life after I got myself into trouble once again. I know James is probably furious with me right now." 

"You're very welcome, Blair," Elijah says, his facial expression soon turning serious. "When's the last time you talked to your brothers?" 

I clear my throat and purse my lips. "I couldn't tell you," I sigh, trying my best to think of the last time I heard their voices. "To be honest Elijah, I'm perfectly happy where I am right now." 

Elijah clenches his jaw and squints his eyes slightly, the way he does every time he's thinking deeply of something. "Are you? Happy, I mean?" 

"Yes," I reply, giving him a reassuring smile.

"I could compel the truth out of you, you know," he says playfully, trying to detect my lie. 

To be honest, I am fine and part of me keeps wishing people would see that and quit asking me the same goddamn question. Part of me thinks that deep down I'm not fine, but after answering the same question over and over, I'm starting to believe the lie I've told myself.

"You wouldn't do that." I smile, cocking my head to the side.

Elijah lets out a light laugh and glances down at the floor. "No, you're right. I wouldn't. That's not fair." 

"Anyways," I say, eager to change the topic. "How are you? How are things really back home?" I ask.

Elijah leans back in his chair and rests his head on his propped up hand. "Not good, in all honesty. We've got ourselves in a little bit of family trouble-witches and such, and recently I found out I have another sibling- a sister named Freya." 

I raise my brows. "Oh really? Wow, that's... good?" I say, not sure how to respond.

"Yes, she's a very pleasant and kind girl, a witch actually. It's a long story for another time," he says with a laugh.

I smile but then my expression turns serious. "You know, I never know when I'm going to see you again," I whisper lowly, glancing down at the floor. I know it's my fault, but I feel as if I've lost touch with everyone I know, although deep down that was what I was striving for.

Before Elijah can answer, Joel and Logan come barging through the door, appearing to be out of breath. However, the first thing I notice as they enter the house and close the door is the strong and profound scent of blood radiating off of Logan. Elijah smells it too, as the both of us jump up and head to the door.

"Are you guys okay?" I ask, looking them up and down, noticing the blood stains on Logan's arm.

"We're fine," Joel says, answering for the two of them. "However, we might want to think of a plan soon because Blair, they know each and every one of us. Almost like they've been watching us." 

Logan nods. "They knew who I was, which means they're waiting for you to hand Theo over," he says in a rushed voice, sounding frightened and angered all at once.

I gulp and clench my jaw, trying my best not to bite my lip again out of fear as all I want to do is run away, but I feel like that's all I've been doing; running away and pretending everything will be okay. I knew I couldn't hide forever from my past life, my life that involved problem after problem with the supernatural. I just had hoped it wouldn't pose a danger to Theo.

"What are we going to do?" I ask.

"Blair, they won't stop until they have Theo. The only thing left for us to do is run," Joel says. The way he talks with such clarity, such certainty and fear, makes me realize how scared he really is. Whenever Joel is scared, I become scared too.

"What about Christina!" Logan yells, reminding us of the hostage the Travellers still have. It's their leverage over us, and it's working well.

"There is a solution, alright. We just need to think of one," Elijah says calmly, stepping in between all of us.

I on the other hand stand frozen on my feet, staring ahead of me. My mind is frozen and my vision is blurry as I try and make sense of all of this, try and make sense of the reality of this situation. For a split second, I put myself back in Mystic Falls, back in the shoes of my brothers and try and think of what they would do in this situation. I try and remember what they would attempt, since they seem to find themselves in conflicts all the time.

My brothers always have two plans, one they feel most strongly about, and the other as back up. I know that usually they enter a fight with a plan, and usually that involves fighting. On the other hand, they usually come up with a lay out, a trick to preform to mislead the person. I think of what Marcos wants, and suddenly I come up with a plan.

"Wait," I whisper, thinking aloud, but the boys are too busy arguing. "Wait!" I yell, gathering their attention. At my raised voice, they all turn to me.

"Marcos said he was heading back to Mystic Falls, which means he most likely won't be there tonight. Instead he's left the Tyler Lockwood imposter, and possibly some more Travellers just in case," I say, speaking slowly.

"What are you saying Blair?" Logan asks.

"I'm saying that we could actually have a chance of fighting them if our odds are good. I mean, Theo is powerful, and we happen to have an original in town. Might as well use him," I smile, sending Elijah a wink.

Joel, Logan and Elijah all glance around at each other, shrugging their shoulders. "What other choice do we have?" Joel sighs.

"Great." I say, clapping my hands together before disappearing upstairs to grab Theo. God only knows how much time we're going to need to teach Theo of his magic.

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[completed & edited: 09/19/2021]