Chapter 9: Like Little White Doves

Serena and Blair were finally left alone after Blair commanded them to do so. They both sat quietly on the bed, Blair nursing her drink which she still hadn't had the feel to drink yet. She was always self conscious when other people are around to watch her eat, even when she was with Klaus. Even when what she ate at the time were harmless woodland creatures. She remembered Rebekah always trying to sway her, and she was eventually, when they were in places where animals weren't fed the right way—the slowly urbanizing areas. She enjoyed little slave girls, the ones that cried when she looked at them. She enjoyed a handful of lords and men of power. She found them petty and stupid. Most of them had mistresses crawling from land to land. She picked those ones. The ones the world had no use for and the ones that world can live without. Klaus always commented on how neurotic she got when picking her pray. Sometimes it took her weeks to decide since she only picked one host per location.

And they did relocate quite a bit.

She almost sighed as she remembered the first time she watched someone transition, halfway, that is. Klaus didn't let the poor girl live. She tried to save her from a beating in one of the small towns in France by giving her her blood, but Klaus snapped her neck. And while transitioning, he tore her heart out. Sick.

She felt sick just thinking about it. She felt sick remembering how monstrous they lived—she, Rebekah, Klaus, and Elijah. She wondered what happened to Niklaus' siblings who treated her as if she was family. Elijah was one always to sneak her out of a sticky situation. Once she refused to eat for days because Klaus wanted her to go on an all-human diet. They went hunting without Klaus' permission. He was busy trying to find some witches. They searched everywhere in the wood. She wasn't weak but she wasn't particularly strong either. She felt human again, even for a bit, because the coldness affected her. And she grew tired with just walking. Elijah got her something eventually. A rabbit. It was snow white, soft, and delicious. She remembered how it turned rose-red almost immediately after her first few bites.

Rebekah was more like Klaus than Elijah was. She liked tempting Blair with stable boys and huntsmen. She liked following Klaus around. She liked being a brat. But she didn't mind her. It was what made her who she was. Her humanity—with her fondness of boys and trying not to get in trouble. She was born that way, she guessed. She never did know much about their family. Except that they were running from someone.

"I'm sorry they put you through this," Serena's voice snapped her out of her reminiscing. Annoyed, she rolled her eyes and pretended that she was angry. She wasn't though. She was actually happy Serena was there.

"Let me guess. You agreed to help them find Klaus to stop them from torturing me. You shouldn't have, Serena. I can handle myself."

"Not from the looks of it," Serena gestured to her physical appearance. She was pale, she had a few wounds that weren't bleeding but they were still there because she refused to eat. Her clothes were torn. And her hair was a mess.

"Why would you help them kill Klaus?" Blair accused, not really minding what she looked like. She's been worse.

"Because I want him out of your life, B, out of our lives. For good. He can't just go around and toy with people. That's just not how life works."

"But we're dead! That's the whole point of it, Serena. You shouldn't be involved with this. It's not safe for you."

"I want to help. Who else will help you get away from him? Look, they have a witch back in Mystic Falls. She's strong. She's a Bennett witch. She helped make Klaus believe that Elena was dead so that he'd go away. I'll have someone who can help me."

"So? That doesn't mean he doesn't have witches as powerful, or worse—more!"

"Blair. I can handle it. I'm a big girl now."

"Sure, Serena. Seventeen. Yeah. What a big girl you are." Blair couldn't help herself. She gulped down the blood in one go. And it felt marvelous. Her color came back and she felt her strength rush into her veins with an overwhelming need for more, but she calmed herself. She told herself there'll be more later, eventually.

"Do you not want us to kill Klaus because you still love him?" Serena asked. She should have asked that before she had her energy back. Leave it to Serena to always have bad timing.

"Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, Serena." She said blandly. "It was mine. But it can't be anymore."

"So why not agree to kill him?"

"Because no one knows how, that's why. So best wishes to them if they find something that kills him. Now unbound yourself from them, and from me, because I'm leaving New York as soon as I can." She stood up, sadness in her eyes, and in a second she was gone.

Past the three flights of stairs, the living room where the others were, and smack into the open doorway. Smack. She pounded on what seemed to be an invisible barrier between her and the dark world outside. She grunted and hit the nothingness that was there with all her might but she couldn't break it, whatever it is.

"Save it, Blair, Serena's put a spell on the house and it won't—" she heard Elena say behind her. She turned furiously and pinned her to the far side of the wall, her hand on her throat, tempted to crush her spine.

"Shut up!" She yelled. Elena struggled to get her away, clawing on her arm, but there was nothing. And suddenly she was on the floor, gasping for air, Blair pinned on the dining table by Damon.

"No." Damon shouted in her face. Veins were bulging around his blue eyes, intense, his fangs bare. It was like the nightmare he gave her, but this was real. He was a monster, just like her. And he was a monster who was in love with Elena.

She struggled to get away from him but she wasn't strong enough. Not yet. Her fingers drew blood from his arms as she tried to pry them away from her shoulders. Once he felt himself bleeding, he let go of her, not fully stepping away as his face was still inches from hers.

"You touch her again and I'll kill you," Damon warned. Half of her wanted to believe him. Half of her knew he wouldn't. Or would he? Would he really kill her for Elena? She did compel him to carry on with his life. And he did. With her, apparently.

She looked away to fight crying. She hasn't cried in a while. Maybe this would just do it. The human she tried to save was now saving another human. It was different. He wasn't hers anymore. He was not her Damon. I should stop calling him that, she thought. She should. He didn't belong to her. Not anymore. He belonged to Elena.

"What happened?" Serena finally got to them and Damon pulled back and placed himself beside Ric by the other doorway which led to the kitchen.

"Tell your friend not to harm the humans or else I'll strap her back onto the chair." Damon said.

Caroline had already brought Elena out of the room and Katherine stepped in, a grin on her face. Blair stared at her, wanting to slap it off her. She looked exactly like Elena and it was tempting not to. Technically, she wasn't human. But she did drive those stakes through her.

"Blair?" Serena called. She was still lying on the table, half of her body dangling off the edge. She didn't want to move.

"How could you keep me here, Serena?" She tried to make it sound like her sadness was because of the caging spell. "How could you help them instead of me?"

"It's for your own good, Blair. We need you here. We knew you were going to run off as soon as you eat."

"How? Not like I'm saying I won't. I just did. But why would you think that?"

"Someone just guessed." Alaric said. Immediately she knew who he meant. Out of all of them, Ric was starting to be her favorite. He was most tolerable.

Blair sat up on the edge of the table, her legs dangling, still, over the side. She scanned the room and then went back to her room in a flash. She didn't want to see any of them. She didn't want to get involved in this. It was about Klaus. Klaus who loved her and cared for her and gave her life. Klaus who she loved and cared for too. Somehow. She curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed to feel anything. But she just felt hurt, by everyone—Klaus, Damon, Serena, even that little Elena person. She wanted to rip her to shreds. But that wasn't rational. The word jealousy shouldn't have even come to mind.

She had to choose. Klaus or Damon. That was the truth. She needed to pick a team and fight for it. Either way she'll be hurt. She wondered if other vampires in the world had to deal with things like this. But then she remembered she was Blair Waldorf. Of course they didn't have to since one original drama is bad enough.

A few hours later someone knocked on her door, cautiously. She expected for it to be Serena but by just listening to the human's breathing patterns, it wasn't. It was Alaric. Someone bearable. She sat up and watched as he closed the door and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Did you pull the shortest string?" She asked.

"No. They all decided you don't hate me yet." He offered a nervous smile.

"True. Unless what you're about to say is something totally stupid, which I hope for your sake, isn't. So what did they want you to say? Did they write down a script for you?"

"They did, actually. They didn't write it down. They just wanted me to tell you that no, you cannot hurt Elena."

She rolled her eyes at this and scoffed. "Is that all? I'll have a better chance at not hurting her if I wasn't here, you know?"

"I know," he sighed. "They also told me to convince you to help kill Klaus, but as you said, you don't want anything stupid so I'm going to not follow their script and just give you something to think about."

"Like what? Like 'what do I really want in life?'" She rolled her eyes to her question. She was sure if Alaric did those kinds of things, he would have too.

"No," he shook his head. "Things like: did you really love Klaus? Since when? Why? Do you ever ask yourself if your love for him was just compulsion? And then think about the other. And then choose a side."

"Are you trying to get on my bad side?" She asked, even though she was already thinking about it.

"Just think about it, Blair. Are you sure who you're fighting for is someone worth trusting?"

Blair stared at Alaric. She didn't trust that he just made those questions up all by himself, but he was the designated adult. Maybe he had the brains to ask her the tough questions. And maybe he had a point. Before she could gather her thoughts and tell him firmly that she believed Klaus loved her, he was already at the door.

x x x

It was late morning when Blair asked Mrs. Hendrickson to wake everyone for a meeting. She was sitting at the end of the long dining table where Damon had her pinned the night before. She looked disturbingly alive. She found herself a fresh pair of clothes in one of the wardrobes in her room which looked decent enough to put on. A pair of jeans and a maroon blouse. It's been a while since she's dressed so casually since her role as Blair Waldorf the elitist socialite from the Upper East of Manhattan required her to dress extravagantly.

The drapes blocked out the sunlight. She frantically made Mrs. Hendrickson close them all once she walked right across one of the ceiling high windows forgetting about her ring being with Damon. She had a cup of tea set in front of her and a wicked smile on her face as she watched the chairs fill up one by one with sleepy humans and non-humans. Damon sat opposite her on the other end of the table, proudly giving himself the role of distraction while Elena sat on his right, followed by Caroline. And on the other side of the table to her left were Katherine and Alaric.

"So, have you finally made your choice?" Katherine asked.

"Listen, if you want me on your team—the winning team if I get this done my way—then you'll have to not argue with anything and just follow through with my demands." She took a sip of her tea and then set it down on the saucer gently, relishing the goodness of everyone waiting on her.

"If you're going to start bossing us around then I would have to strap you back onto that chair—" Katherine started.

"I would shut up if I were you," Blair snapped at her, and then regained her composure.

"What kind of demands?" Caroline asked. It was the first time Caroline has ever talked to her directly; her eyes weren't even looking straight into hers. One would say the Barbie vamp was afraid which worked out perfectly. She wanted them to be afraid.

"First, I would want my ring back." She looked right into Damon's eyes as if she had a clear view of his soul. He deadpanned. "For all of this to work, I'm going to have to go outside eventually so might as well start now."

"What else?" Alaric asked next.

"Second, I'll only need a handful of soldiers for this war. A human, a vampire, a doppelganger, and a werewolf. And a witch, which is already a taken spot for Serena so there's no need to get your little country witch into this."

She heard the front door open and close, which made her smile grow even wider. They didn't notice though. They were all already objecting and presenting themselves.

"I volunteer as the vampire," Caroline said, trying so hard not to put her hand up.

"No, blondie," Damon protested.

"I guess it's going to be me, then, the human and the doppelganger," Elena sighed.

And that's when her attention went back to the group clamoring in front of her.

"No, doppelganger number two," she sneered. "You're too much of a human to be either. I'm only going to need Katherine, Ric, and Damon."

Ric. Damon wanted to scoff. Ric was a term of endearment that was used by Ric's friends and only Ric's friends. As far as Damon was concerned, she wasn't allowed to make friends with anyone. Caroline's voice and complaining gave him an opening to roll his eyes.

"What? I want to be in on it!" Caroline said.

"No."

"If Tyler's going to be in on it then I want to be too."

"Who's Tyler? I am in no need of any Tylers for this."

"Then who's the wolf?" Katherine asked.

"Me," a curly haired boy entered the room with Serena. Damon found him vaguely familiar. He had a mop for hair and brown eyes. He tried to hide the overwhelming fact that he was in a room full of vampires but Damon saw right through him.

Blair clapped her hands together once in approval. Everyone looked confused while Damon only stared at Blair's very Blair-like nature. She had everything planned already and it was just ten thirty in the morning.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm glad you're on board, Humphrey." Blair grinned. "I'm sure Serena has already briefed you about your role in my grand scheme."

"Yeah. I'm a distraction, someone named Katherine's a decoy, and you're bait." Dan announced.

Damon remembered his name now and why he and his annoying Brooklyn aura was so familiar. Dan. The guy in the elevator he couldn't compel. He looked clueless and intellectual at the same time. Werewolves.

"What bait?" Damon said, irritation in his voice.

"I think Brooklyn here summed it up perfectly. He distracts Klaus with his existence, being the werewolf that he is. Since there is a scarcity of werewolves, Klaus'll take his time with trying to find a way to turn him into a hybrid, that's where Katherine comes in. She'll pose as Elena—"

"What?" Elena interjected, but Blair just put her hand up, gesturing her to shut up without even looking at her, continuing her explanation.

"—who presents herself as alive while I am kidnapped by the big bad vampire and his trusty vampire hunter friend."

She smiled after her speech, happy with herself. It wasn't a fool-proof plan, which was what she needed because Klaus would expect a fool-proof plan.

"That's stupid," Damon whined.

"What is, Damon? Because from what I've observed, it's been months and none of you is yet to propose a more decent plan."

"When Klaus realizes Katherine's not Elena he'll kill her."

"That won't happen."

"Oh really? And how are you so sure?"

"That's where Serena comes in. She casts a spell on us, announcing to Klaus that if he killed Katherine, I die with her. Bait." She had just thought about it as he asked the question but sounded better than she'd hoped.

It was Serena's turn to complain. "What? Blair! No. I'm not doing that."

"Then I'll get their witch to do it. I trust she'd want me and Katherine dead anyway."

"Where are you getting this information?" Damon said.

"What information? The thing where Elena had to die in order to break to hybrid curse or that your witch would want every vampire dead by the end of this war?" she challenged. "I had tea time with Mrs. Hendrickson. She's quite the talker once you've had her going about the architecture of her home. Her husband created it, you know."

They all stared at her, dumbfounded. No one even knew anything about Mrs. Hendrickson except that her children never called except on Holidays and that her dog had just died yet Blair seemed to have acquired a new best friend. They've never met someone like her before. She had what some might call spunk.

"How would you know Klaus wouldn't kill me if it kills you too?" Katherine asked to break the silence.

"That's easy. He'd do anything for me even if it meant leaving his curse alone. Unlike the rest of us, Klaus' weakness isn't love alone. It's his rage. It's his fear of not being loved properly. Like I've told you people so many times before. You don't know Niklaus like I do." Her eyes landed on Damon's, which were furious under heavy lashes.

"So how do we kill him?" Alaric asked.

Blair smiled. It was not a grin or a smirk, but a smile that meant she was happy and not boasting in pride. She took one last sip of her tea and said, "We don't."


N/A: Hello there :) I wasn't really planning on updating so soon but right after I posted the last chapter plot bunnies started popping out of nowhere! I really like this chapter with its Alaricness and Dan and everyone else. Forgive me if there are typos and stuff that are confusing. I didn't bother proofread it because I was excited xD Anyhow, Happy Holidays everybody! I hope you all get what you want for Christmas. XOXO.