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"I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you. But with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide."

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THE next three days are filled with enough drama, anxiety, stress and worrisome to last me a life time. Unfortunately for me that's a very long time.

Over the course of three days Alaric apparently found a new doctor girlfriend, Bonnie's mother is a psychopath who tried to kidnap Bonnie and now wants to help us, Damon compelled Jeremy to leave town right before he kissed Elena, random murders have been popping up everywhere, Tyler is in the middle of trying to break his sire bond to Klaus with Caroline's father, but most importantly Klaus found the coffins.

"How the bloody hell did he find them?" Joel demands as we all stand in the parlor in front of the fireplace.

"He threatened the dead witches saying he would kill the Bennett line, and before you know it they revealed the three coffins," Damon sighs.

"What about the fourth?" James asks.

"You should all be thanking me because I was able to get the only one that was locked out of there just in time," Damon says with pride.

"And Elijah?" I ask.

"He was there when Klaus showed up. He said it was best if he went with his brothers to 'catch up', which is secretly code for 'lets dagger my sibling again'," Damon snickers.

"This is serious! What if he daggered him again?" I argue.

"His words, not mine," Damon defends.

"Great job Damon. Not only have we lost 75% of our leverage, but our only original ally as well," Stefan teases, still making the most of his humanity-less self.

"I'll have you know James and I are just as old as Klaus," Joel adds from the kitchen stool.

"That's great Joel," Damon says sarcastically. "Why are you here Stefan?"

"I live here," he says obviously. "And I have no where to go since Bonnie and her mother are busy trying to open up the forth coffin." He shrugs.

"Can we talk about the other problem of how random homicides are happening with each victim being staked in the heart like a vampire?" I ask, desperate to change the topic.

"No, no, no!" Joel exclaims. "My brain no handle more than one problem at once," he says while trying to dramatically squish his head with his hands.

"That's weird, I figured your brain would be as good as new seeing as you never use it," I joke. Joel glares at me before elbowing me hard in the gut.

"Blair's right. These murders are suspicious," James agrees.

"What do we look like? Cops?" Damon argues.

"I believe technically Blair is a detective, and you are part of the council," Stefan points out with a chuckle. Just as everyone starts arguing, James' phone vibrates altering out attention. He reads the text before looking up at all of us with wide eyes.

"What is it old man?" Damon asks.

"Elijah asked the four of us to attend a sit down with Klaus for us to all form some sort of agreement," James says. "Tonight."

It goes quiet, all of our hearts racing thinking about all the ways this meeting is a bad idea. We know we have to go though or Klaus will never let it down.

"Am I not bloody invited?" Joel questions in disappointment.

∆ ∆ ∆

"Are you nervous?" James asks as he leans against the doorframe while I finish curling the last strand of my hair.

He wears dark jeans and a black blazer over top of a simple white t-shirt while I wear a simple black dress. Apparently for Klaus to take us seriously, we need to dress up.

"Aren't we over dressing?" I ask, dodging his question.

"I'm pretty sure Elijah sleeps in a suit, so we will never be the overdressed ones in a room as long as he's there," James jokes lightly.

I crack a smile and nudge him in the arm playfully. "At least that problem is solved," I agree as we make our way downstairs.

"Hey," James says whilst grabbing my arm gently to stop me from walking any further. "Are you okay?" He asks with concern.

"No James, I'm not okay. I can't decided which emotion to focus on between fear, sadness and anger. I don't know how to feel when we're going to sit down in a room with two original brothers who have demanded to speak to us, and I don't know how to feel about being in the same room as Klaus who I saved without thinking twice. So no, I'm not okay because I don't want to go. I just want this all to be over," I think, but that's not what I really say.

Instead I lie and say, "Of course." I smile before hurrying out the front door and into his truck. I don't have to look back to know he doesn't believe me, but for now I pray to god my lie will hold. It's only a matter of time until the cork pops off of my bottle of emotions.

∆ ∆ ∆

We arrive at the location Elijah texted and I recognize it as the new house Klaus was working on and planning on living in.

The four of us make our way to the front door, greeted by Elijah who offers us a warm smile on this cold night which is certain to only get colder once we step inside.

"Ah, welcome Salvatores, Branson," Klaus greets, motioning us to sit down at an already set table surrounded by compelled waitresses.

"I didn't come here to eat," Stefan states, refusing to move.

I glare back at my twin, but he pays no attention to me. With his humanity still off and his hatred level on Klaus intensified to 200%, Stefan couldn't give a damn what any of us thinks. That's another reason this night could go so wrong so quickly and why I don't want to be here.

"Well Stefan, we could eat and talk, or I could rip out your insides and pull them out your throat," Klaus threatens nonchalantly making my head dizzy. "Choice is yours."

"I think I'll choose the steak rather than a Stefan pot pie," I remark while making my way to a seat.

I sit across from Klaus and Elijah with James and Damon on either side of me while the waitresses bring us food. Stefan sits at the end of the table, eyeing us all. 

In the beginning it's nothing but light small talk, anything to make conversation while we all take our time to get to the real reason we're here. It's both interesting and boring to listen to James force conversation with Elijah and Klaus about their childhood, pretending it was all sunshine and rainbows. I don't mind though. It allows me more time to enjoy my steak and study the atmosphere around us before we start discussing the elephant in the room.

"Let's start discussing more serious matters, shall we?" Elijah asks, putting a halt on the friendly chit chat.

"Agreed. We're here to listen you out," Klaus says, motioning us to speak.

"Alright," Damon begins before nervously glancing at all of us. "We will return your beloved fourth coffin in exchange that you originals leave us out of your problems, or perhaps leave town in general like Klaus's hybrids," Damon pronounces.

Although we never really discussed any deal, none of us speak as we test the waters of this conversation.

"Sounds fair," Elijah states, looking rather grim at the fact Damon wants him to leave town.

"Indeed it does, but there's one flaw. If we leave, I take Elena with me. I need her blood to assist me in the making of my hybrids," Klaus states.

"And we're back on Elena," I mutter under my breath while I shuffle my broccoli around on my plate.

"You two Salvatores wish to protect Elena, but I know that if caught up in your feud, she'll either end up dead or a vampire. You two are the worst things for Elena," Klaus finishes, making his point.

The tension in the room is as thick and painful as gagging smoke, but neither Damon nor Stefan say anything rendering them speechless. Klaus only laughs and makes his way over to one of the waitresses standing near by.

"All this talk, it's rather exhausting. Anyone care for a drink?" Klaus asks as he moves the blonde hair from the waitresses' neck, preparing to thrust his fangs into her veins. "Stefan? Blair?" Klaus questions.

When neither of us answers, Klaus plunges his fangs into the girls neck, drinking a fair amount of her blood. All I can do is sit and watch while the compelled girl gets her body drained of the vital liquid, and all I can see in my mind is all the people I so helplessly murdered while drinking frivolously from their veins. I had no control with my humanity off, and even now I can feel myself slipping away.

I become so lost in my thoughts I don't realize how hard I have squeezed on my wine glass only to have it shatter in my hands, the red wine spattering everywhere. Soon do I realize it's not only the red wine that's oozing everywhere, but rather blood too from gashes on my hand where broken glass has pierced my skin.

"That's enough Niklaus," Elijah warns as James looks over at me with concern filled eyes.

Klaus pushes the unconscious girl to the ground and walks over to me, smirking as he does so. "Now, now Blair, no one is meant to get hurt," he whispers. He lifts up my wounded hand and gently starts picking out some of the glass. I stay frozen in my seat and so does James until the last of the glass is removed. He wipes the remaining blood off my hand with his fingers and carelessly runs them across his mouth, smirking deviously at the taste. I don't know whether to be thankful or disturbed at the moment, but thankfully Stefan intervenes.

"Klaus, do you have an offer or not?" Stefan presses.

Klaus smirks and walks over to the fireplace in front of Stefan, stretching out his hand as the two of them shake. Before they get very far, Klaus speaks up. "I admire your attempt to rid of me Salvatores, but I'm not done with this town yet; no deal," Klaus says.

Before Stefan can protest Klaus grabs his hand and holds in in the middle of the blazing flame within the fireplace, letting the fire burn the flesh off his hand. James and I get up at the sight, and James so ever slightly pushes me behind him out of fear this will escalate further.

"Cut it out!" Damon yells.

"Klaus!" I yell as James goes to take a step forwards, but Elijah pins him against the wall confusing all of us. James doesn't protest against his grasp, but instead their lips move ever so slightly. They're planning something, but I can't hear over all the commotion of Stefan crying out in pain.

"Get me my coffin, or I will let his hand burn off!" Klaus orders. "Elijah, be a dear and go with him please," Klaus instructs.

Elijah nods and releases James from his grasp as they walk out with Damon, leaving the three of us standing in the room awkwardly.

Moments later Elijah, James and Damon return with a waitress holding a covered tray. Klaus releases Stefan and throws him to the ground as he storms towards Elijah. I don't have to play detective to know something's up. "What is this?" Klaus growls, sensing something also.

"Niklaus, it appears we have forgotten desert!" Elijah explains.

As I bring my brows together in confusion, Elijah lifts the lid from the covered tray revealing three daggers. Three daggers, as in one for each original.

Just then an unfamiliar younger boy with brown hair walks in with another older man with long brown hair.

"Finn, Kol," Klaus gasps, pure terror in his eyes.

Klaus goes to turn around but Rebekah is already there. "Rebekah, I can explain," Klaus gapes.

The four of Klaus's siblings surround him and Elijah looks back sending us a nod. "You are free to go," he tells us with a smile.

I smile back and nod as the four of us excuse ourselves out of the home, all of us smiling. This night couldn't have gone any better as Klaus is now in the hands of the family he betrayed. As we walk to our cars, cries of pain coming from Klaus erupt through the air, putting a small sad, but satisfied smile on my face.

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[completed & edited: 08/19/2021]