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"You love is like a soldier, loyal till you die."

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JAMES POV

"Lexi?" I gape, furrowing my brows in both confusion and shock.

"James." Lexi grins.

The last time I saw my sister Damon held a stake over her chest and pierced it through her heart, killing her right before my eyes. I had witnessed my sister die, but now she was standing right in front of me, the familiar cheeky grin on her face as she holds her arms open, waiting for a hug.

I laugh and shake my head before speeding into her arms and engulfing her into a tight hug- a hug I never thought I'd feel again.

I grip onto the back of her shirt, still confused as to if any of this is real.

"How are you here?" I ask, releasing her from the hug.

"I don't know honestly. Your witch friend must have released the vail from the other side making it possible for us to physically touch the living," Lexi explains.

"Wait, so you're telling me every dead person can now touch us, touch me? Every person I've killed can touch me??" Damon asks, hinting towards the dozens of people he's killed, one of them standing right in front of him.

Lexi turns to Damon, walking towards him.

"That's right Damon. That means I can do this," Lexi says, before raising her first and punching Damon square in the jaw forcing him backwards to the floor, slamming right on his back.

"Yup. I deserved that one," Damon groans, rubbing his jaw.

"You sure did," Lexi says with a smirk. "That's for killing me."

Just then, Joel walks in from the kitchen with a glass of bourbon, his eyes opening wide at the sight of our sister. Only now do I realize he still doesn't know that she's dead. There hasn't really been a good time to inform him.

"Lexi! I was just wondering when I was going to see you again! Where have you been?" Joel asks, wrapping our sister in a hug.

Lexi glances back at me, a look of sympathy on her face as she releases Joel.

"It's good to see you Joel," she says warily, clearly biting her tongue.

"Look, I don't know how long I can stay here, but I heard Stefan turned his humanity off. I think Blair did too?" Lexi asks, cautious of how she phrases her words.

"Yes, they have," Damon says, glaring at Joel who holds his breath making his cheeks puffy.

"Well, I can't bring Blair back, but I can try with Stefan," Lexi says. "Give me your car and phone so I can call Elena," she demands Damon.

"Excuse me? My car?" Damon scoffs.

"Yeah, let's not forget that you owe me buddy," she says, receiving a sigh from Damon.

Damon reaches into his pocket and hands over his keys along with his phone, handing them to my sister.

"Awe, thanks buddy!" she says. "You might want to fill Joel in about the whole barrier to the other side thing before things get worse. See you guys later," she says as she walks out the door.

Joel turns to me with a raised brow, but I only sigh.

"Listen, I've killed a lot of people, so its probably best I stay hidden here," Damon says.

"You have to anyways. I asked Blair to meet us here so we could talk," Joel says.

"How did you get her to come to our little intervention?" Damon asks.

"Told her Katherine was here. Figured with her humanity off she would finally have the nerve to kill the bitch," Joel shrugs.

"You did what?" I ask angrily.

Before we can argue any further, the front door opens and Blair walks in, looking around frantically for Katherine. She walks down the hall wearing short shorts with laced leggings underneath with a cropped top to where all three of us stand waiting nervously for her.

"Where the hell is Kitty Kat?" Blair snaps, ignoring our presence.

"Well hello to you too, Blair," Damon greets sarcastically.

Blair looks him up and down before crossing her arms with a smirk.

"What's going on? Is this my intervention, cuz I'm pretty sure I've only been a humanity-less vampire for like two days," Blair says amusingly.

"Well Blair-Bear, it just so happens that we care," Damon says sarcastically.

"Well Damon, I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't care," Blair remarks, mocking his tone.

"Clearly," Damon mutters.

"Listen, why don't we all cool off and have a seat where we can talk things out in an orderly fashion," I say, trying to distract her as Joel walks around behind her, a vervain needle gripped in his hand.

Suddenly, the front door bursts open and an angry Mason Lockwood walks through holding a shotgun. Before any of us can react, he points the gun directly at Damon, pulling the trigger sending him flying backwards, unconscious on the ground.

Just as Joel and I prepare to attack, he points the barrel at us and instantly sends several wooden bullets into our skin, sending us backwards into a deep sleep.

• • • • 

I wake to find the three of us chained tightly in the dining room chairs, several wooden stakes pierced through our skin making us weaker.

There's a throbbing pressure of pain coming from my upper body, and it's only then do I recognize three wooden stakes piercing my skin.

I look over to see Joel and Damon still unconscious.
My vision is slightly blurry from all the vervain, but I'm able to make out Mason Lockwood and Blair standing in front of us with a smirk.

"I knew you'd wake up first James," Blair comments, bending down to look me in the eye.

Before I can respond, Joel and Damon gasp awake at the same time, groaning in pain as they come to realize of what's going on.

"Hell no. Are you kidding me?" Damon groans as he spots Mason.

"This is one of your buddies you killed?" Joel groans while waking up.

"Yeah, I wouldn't call us buddies," Mason smirks, still holding the gun.

"Whatcha doing here Mason?" Damon asks.

Blair stands beside Mason as if they're best of pals despite how she helped Damon kill him. It confuses me at first, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Emotionless Blair and Mason Lockwood make an unusual allied pair, but they both have the same enemies.

"Well, it got pretty boring on the other side, so when I found I could actually touch the living, I couldn't just let the opportunity pass," Mason admits.

"Why the bloody hell is Blair here then?" I ask.

"I knew something was up when she starting laughing hysterically at the three of you unconscious, so I thought we could torture you guys together!" Mason shrugs.

"We've had a lot of time to catch up," Blair whispers.

"Why are Joel and I tied up then?" I ask, confused.

"It was Blair's request," Mason replies.

The three of sit there clenching our jaws, our hands balled up in fists as we watch helplessly.

Mason turns to Blair, swinging his gun over his shoulder casually. "Shall we get started?" he asks.

Blair smirks and nods, walking over to the wall by the fireplace where several antique swords are being held. She scans the swords and picks the pointiest one before walking back to us.

"I remember bending this sword the night Jules attacked us, or Rose for that matter," Blair scoffs, "Damn did I ever hate that woman. Do you remember her Damon?" Blair asks, pointing the tip of the sword under Damon's chin.

"Yes," Damon replies through gritted teeth.

"Do you? You only knew her for five minutes. Was that real love big brother, or was it self pity that your crush on the doppelgänger bitch didn't work out?" Blair snarls.

Damon's breaths quicken as he attempts to hold in his anger. Seeing Blair act so heartless and out of her character saying things she would never say is painful in ways unimaginable.

"Why do you care? You hate Elena," Damon says.

"True, but not as much as I hate Katherine. In all honesty, I don't care who you fool around with. Maybe it'll be entertaining to watch my brothers fight over a stupid girl. Maybe she'll even rip you two apart, but what do I care? Oh that's right- I don't," Blair says with a childish laugh.

"You hate me? Good. Hate is an emotion. Rage on it Blair, let it consume you. Think of all the times I've pissed you off," Damon encourages. He's on the right track, but I doubt Blair will fall for his trick.

"You know I never quite forgave you for almost killing me in front of Jenna that one time, but then again, I'm over it. I couldn't care less," Blair says.

"Are you over it? I, your own brother, betrayed you for some stupid dagger. I care more about killing Klaus than for my own sister," Damon spits out, trying to get Blair angry.

"Damon, if I was in a room with you, Katherine, and Klaus, and had two bullets in a gun, I would shoot you twice," Blair snarls. Her comment pains us, but apparently not for Joel who lets out a snort. I turn and glare at him, his smirk immediately vanishing from his face.

"You know Blair, you can be a real ass sometimes," Damon growls.

Blair reaches for his shoulder and pats it lightly. "I'd rather be an ass than be you," she whispers as she presses harder on one of the stakes lodged in his stomach, sending a groan of pain from the older Salvatore's lips.

She then walks over to Joel and grins, placing the tip of the sword to his nose.

"I don't really have any problems with you Joel. In fact, maybe after this we could go grab a drink?" She asks with a wink.

"Sounds good," Joel agrees with his cheeky smirk causing me to glare at him. The only reason he's so chipper is the fact he won't be suffering within the next few minutes.

She smiles back at my younger brother mischievously before turning to me with a grim expression. I take a deep breath, preparing myself for what's to come.

"James, James, James. What am I going to do about you?" she asks, running her fingers up my chest.

"Expensive shoes you've got there. What's the brand?" she asks.

"Stefano Bemer," I reply bluntly, cocking my head to the side, trying not to entertain her.

"I'm assuming that's high end. Remind me again James, are you rich? You seem rich. I mean, for a thousand year old vampire, you must be quite wealthy," Blair remarks.

"Why are you asking this?" I ask. I have no idea what she's getting at, but I refuse to let her get her way.

"Just trying to understand you more. I mean Klaus did take memories about our past, but maybe he was just trying to save me from the pain. I mean, did I even really love you? How do I know if you loved me?" she asks, pretending to be perplexed.

"Maybe you could ask him for your memories." I suggest hopefully.

She suddenly bursts out laughing, a laugh that I haven't seen her do in years. Although I know she doesn't feel real happiness at the moment, the laugh is one that I've missed.

"You've got to be kidding me. I wouldn't buy those pathetic memories if I was richer than you!" she laughs out in between breaths.

I glance at Joel and Damon who watch helplessly from the sidelines, a look of sympathy on their faces. Mason, mean while stands back with a giant smile on his face.

"The only kind of love I feel at the moment, is the love for blood. I would rathe-"

Blair freezes before falling to the ground, revealing Elijah holding a needle of vervain. Mason stands there and hesitates, glancing at the four of us before making his escape out of the house.

"He'll come back," Damon mutters.

"What happened to locking her up?" Elijah asks with a raised eyebrow.

The sight of the three of us tied to chairs, bloody and weak must be quite the sight, but I couldn't care less. All that matters is that Blair is within our protection- my protection where I can watch and make sure she stays safely away from innocent humans and from further damaging her mental wellbeing. She may not care now, but all her actions will still exist when she flips her switch back on, meaning the more harm she's done the harder it will be for her to move on and forgive herself.

All we need to to lock her up and force her to turn back her humanity.

"We got sidetracked," I shrug.

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[completed & edited: 08/15/2021]