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"Don't look over your shoulder, or you'll see the ghost of me."

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THE ONLY THING worse than being haunted in your dreams is being haunted when you're awake. As James speeds down the road to the Mikaelson house I try to close my eyes in an attempt to get rid of the hunter who appears every once and a while in front of us or out the passenger side window.

Each time I cry out and point to the hunter, but it appears he is only visible to my eyes, my cursed self. I can't stop myself from seeing the dead hunter through my eyes no matter if they are open or closed, so I have myself convinced I have officially gone mad.

As soon as James pulls into the Mikaelson driveway Joel speeds out to help me out of the truck in fear I'm going to run off. James leads the way meeting Klaus and Elijah who already stand at the door awaiting our presence.

"Let's get this straight mate, the only reason I'm accepting your help is because you know more about this hunter's curse than any of us," James says as soon as we reach Klaus.

"I can assure you old friend that the only way to keep her safe is to keep her here," Klaus informs us.

"Keep her safe from who?" Joel questions, his arm still wrapped strongly around my shoulder.

"Herself," Elijah states, staring at me.

"Blair, how are you feeling darling?" Klaus asks, his head tilted up as he inspects me.

I force my eyes off the ground to his face, but instead of meeting Klaus's blue eyes I find myself staring into the haunted brown ones of the hunter. "Yeah, how do you feel Blair? Do you feel good about killing me? Do you feel satisfied?" the hunter questions me, a devious smirk on his face.

I scowl and remove myself from Joel's grasp before plunging my fist into his chest, searching for his heart but he reaches out and takes a hold of my hand. I fight against his grasp with my hand still in his flesh, his strength surprisingly strong for a ghost. "I'll feel satisfied when I kill you again you bastard," I growl, using all my gathered strength to fight against his grasp.

"Can't let you do that Blair," he says.

I snarl and go to bare my fangs into his neck when suddenly the image of the hunter in front of me is replaced with Klaus, my hand inside his stomach. "Blair darling, would y- you mind removing your hand from my body?" Klaus gasps, struggling for breath.

I widen my eyes immediately and release him, my hand bloodied and red, dripping with the substance. I step back and look at everyone around me, embarrassed of what I've become. I don't know what's wrong with me. Elijah, James, and Joel all stand around Klaus and I, their faces full of concern as they stare at my bloodied hand.

"Listen," James says, talking to Klaus while still staring at me. "Whatever you need to do, do it now before things get worse," he says worriedly.

"It's not that easy mate," Klaus growls, patting down his shirt that is now wet with blood.

"What my brother is trying to get at here is that when one kills a hunter, there's a consequence. Blair may have killed the hunter, but he'll make sure she'll be his last victim by driving her off the edge," Elijah explains in clearer detail.

As I listen to what they're saying, I feel a sudden warmth coming from my hands, like warm water. I hold my hands up to my face and see they're covered with blood, dripping with blood. With wide eyes I glance up to see the hunter standing behind Klaus and Elijah, smirking at me as I gasp in fear. "GO AWAY!" I yell, turning to run out but James and Joel hold me back.

"We need to lock her up so she cannot hurt herself. Follow me," Klaus instructs as James and Joel lead me to a room inside.

Klaus opens a heavy metal door to a room in the basement, confined and dark with no windows. "I-I'm not staying in here," I stutter, staring at the empty room. It has a bed and a few chandeliers complete with a few chairs and decorations, but no matter how much I try all I can see is a prison. I don't want to be kept in a prison, like a tomb.

"You have to," Klaus says.

James puts his hands on my shoulders. "I'll stay with you, okay? I'm not going any where," he assures me, but Elijah thinks other wise.

"I'm sorry to say James but that may not be the wisest thing. With another person in the room it gives advantage for the hunter to trick her mind into thinking you're him," Elijah explains.

"Well I'm not just leaving her in here," James protests.

"In order to break the curse, another hunter needs to rise," Klaus says.

"How the bloody hell are we supposed to find another potential hunter?" Joel asks incredulously. "There's only about seven billion people who could fill the spot."

As they discuss how to relieve me of my curse I think back to what Stefan said, about how Jeremy Gilbert was the only one who could see the tattoos on the hunters body, the hunter's mark. "Jeremy," I blurt out, turning their attention to me. "He could see the tattoos."

"She's got a point. We'll start there," Klaus says, turning to the door with Elijah and Joel on his hells. James however stays behind.

"We'll be back soon okay? If it gets too much, just think of what you've been through. You've survived a hell of a lot worse Blair Salvatore, and I know you can survive this," he says, placing a kiss to my forehead.

I force a smile as he leaves before he closes the door, leaving me in the dark room all by myself. With nothing else to do I sit down on one of the sofas and pick up a book that appears to be at least a hundred years old.

"You like that book?"

I gasp and close the book, looking up at the hunter who stands before me, blood dripping from his stomach from where I stabbed him. "I bet you liked killing me better. Please, tell me how it felt. Tell me what it felt like to drain the life from me," he pleads mockingly.

"I loved it," I snarl, standing up. "It felt good to stab you in the same place you shot me. Makes us even." I shrug.

The hunter laughs. "Ah, but you see I'm dead, and you're not."

"Technically I am dead, and you just had the unfortunate luck of meeting me," I smirk.

"I see you're not afraid to admit what you are. I don't know whether to be surprised or disgusted," he admits, crossing his arms across his chest.

I sigh and sit back down, reading the book while keeping an eye on him with my peripheral vision. When he doesn't move I throw the book at him, forcing his ghost figure to diminish. Satisfied, I get up to retrieve the book only to see someone else has taken his place.

"Wow Blair, you've changed a lot," Katherine smirks, kicking the book away from me.

"You're not real, you're not really here," I say backing away. If I try and kill Katherine, I'll only hurt myself. I'll only make things worse. It takes everything in me not to break a chair and stake her with it.

"Let me ask you something Blair, have you ever thought of what the people around you think of what you've become. I mean, after you came out of the tomb you were practically a newbie, innocent and kind. But that all changed fast, didn't it? A year and a half of being out of the tomb and you've already destroyed yourself. Now look at you. Bet you can't count all your victims on one hand." 

"Neither can you," I snarl. "What makes you any better?" I ask.

"Because Blair, I don't lie to myself. You on the other hand live day to day convincing yourself that you're not a monster, that you don't value killing when really that's all you've done. Have you ever thought of what Joel really thinks of you? Or your brothers? Elijah? What about James? Do you really think he still loves you after everything you've become?" She laughs, walking closer to me as I hold my head in my hands.

"STOP!" I roar.

"You've been living every day pretending you're no better than Klaus, when in reality that's why you fancy him. You see yourself in him. You see that small dark part of yourself reflecting off his eyes," Katherine continues.

"I will never love him," I say sternly, forcing myself to look at Katherine.

"Maybe you won't but your subconscious will because deep down you know there's a small part of you that craves to know what it feels like to love a monster. Just like you said you never loved your father, yet you turned out just like him," Katherine says, and finally I've had enough.

I sprint towards her but she disappears and I end up smashing into the wall, unable to stop myself. I fall to the ground an groan in pain just as a familiar voice sounds in my ears.

"Pathetic," it says.

Breathing heavily, I glance up from the floor to see my father, Giuseppe Salvatore standing above me, shaking his head in disapproval like it seemed like he did every time I breathed. "Sill a selfish, anger driven pathetic girl now aren't you? Gotten involved with a world of vampires, even become one yourself. So much of myself in you. Your mother couldn't see it, but I did. Maybe that's why she drove herself mad. Maybe you're the reason she died," my father spits, his words burning a hole right through me, a hole I don't know how to fix. It burns and opens up scars from my past but all I can feel is anger.

"Your love for that child, that weakling that you decided to save will only get him killed. Bringing him into your life was a death sentence for that child, Theodore," my father says, and now he's crossed the line.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I yell, tears now streaming down my face.

"You're a natural disaster Blair. It's tragic really. You've become out of control like a wild fire, burned your own heart. But don't worry, things will work out. All your loved ones will turn on you like they did me," he says, standing over me as I lay against the brick wall, clutching my head in my hands.

"Your family betrayed you because you were a worthless, cold hearted shitty father. In fact, I'm jealous I didn't get to kill you myself," I spit, standing up on my feet. Before I can say anything more to my father, he disappears leaving me standing alone, just the way I started.

∆ ∆ ∆

I find myself staring at the sealed up window, hoping that if I stare at it long enough it will open. I'm tired of being cooped up, treated like I'm weak. I've been in her for hours and hours, listening to the hunter, Katherine and my father rant and taunt me, trying to engrave their hatred into my brain but I've shut my ears off- quite literally.

I had torn apart the bed leaving nothing but a metal bed frame, tearing out tiny screws and stabbing them into my ears. It was painful at first but now it's nothing but a numb feeling, allowing me to only see the hallucinations around me without actually hearing them. I thought it to be a smart idea really, allowing me to lay in peace while everyone else figures out how to break the curse.

I lay there with my eyes closed and my hands under my head letting the ringing sound of my ears fill the silence that I've created for myself. It's only when I feel a hand on my arm that I jump from my relaxed state. I open my eyes expecting to see James, but instead I see my mother instead.

Her ice blue eyes stare directly into mine, a feature Damon and I both got from her. She brings her hand up and cups my cheek, moving her lips but I can't hear her. I smile as I remove the screws stabbed in my ears allowing them to heal so I can hear her, so I can hear her voice again.

"Blair, sweetheart, it's time to admit to what you have done. It's time to hand yourself over to the death you were meant to feel," she says while still smiling.

I smile at the sound of her voice, but freeze when I hear her words sink in. She's come here to torment me like everyone else. She isn't real, she's just another aspect of the curse. I frown and pull back from her touch, glaring at her in anger. "You're not real. You're just another one of those tricks!" I yell, struggling against her grasp and I stab the screws back into my ears again.

Suddenly the image of my mother is replaced by James, who holds my wrists in his hands as he tries to pry them away from my ears. I look around him and see Klaus and Elijah standing there, both their brows ceased in worry.

I allow myself to calm down before removing the screws from my ears, letting myself hear again. "They're gone okay? The curse is broken," James assures me.

"How can you be sure?" I ask, forming my hands into fists to contain the trembling. "She was right there-" 

"Who?" Elijah asks. 

"My mother," I say, trembling. 

"Damon and Joel got Jeremy and he just made his first vampire kill, I just got the text from Joel," James explains. 

I nod and quickly glance behind him at the two original brothers. "I would like to go home now," I say.

They all nod, allowing James to lead me out of the Mikaelson house and into his truck. The drive home is silent which leads me to reflect about what the curse told me, what my father said. I push it aside as James pulls into the driveway, my only thoughts of Theo who is being held by Caroline out on the porch.

"Hey," I whisper as we approach Caroline, taking him from her arms. She sends me a concerning look, but I only smile to assure her I'm fine.

"He was great, a very easy baby actually. I think he's eager to walk too!" Caroline says.

I smile. "Thanks for taking care of him Caroline. I appreciate it," I say, smiling.

She smiles back and heads to her car as we walk in. Damon, Stefan and Joel are all inside waiting for us. "Did James play the music too loud in the car again?" Damon jokes, pointing to the dried blood that is caked to my ears.

Stefan elbows him hard in the stomach, forcing a groan of pain from Damon. "Sorry," he mutters.

"Blair are you okay?" Stefan asks me.

"I'm fine, but you won't be unless you confess everything from why you were working with Klaus, to why you wanted the hunter alive," I say angrily, Theo still in my arms.

"It's a deal," Stefan agrees.

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[completed & edited: 08/30/2021]