Chapter Forty-Two

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries or the Originals, but I do own my OCs.

Summary: Blair has been on the run for 400 years, trying to escape her past. She never stays in once place long enough, but she finds herself drawn to New Orleans and it is there that she meets the Originals. She soon finds herself drawn into their drama and ends up connecting with the Noble Original, Elijah Mikaelson. Slowburn.

ORGINALS

The next morning

Freya groaned as she woke up, confused by what had happened. She slowly opened her eyes, and she saw that she was in her room in the Abattoir. She was confused as to how she got there, especially when she was still in her clothing from the day before. As she got her bearings back, she remembered what happened the day before and her eyes widened. She shot up, wanting to go help her brother, hoping that her family had not murdered Finn – and if they had, there would be hell to pay – but stopped when she was hit with a wave of dizziness. Placing her face in her hands, she waited for the room to stop spinning. Without a second thought, she called on her magic to deal with her headache but found that it wasn't responding.

Frowning, Freya checked herself and found her magic low – a lot lower than what it was the day before, and she felt different. Before, she had felt as though something was clinging to her, like an extra appendage, but now it was gone. It was like she could breathe easier. It took her a moment to realise what had happened, she was no longer bound to Dahlia.

Just as she had come to that realisation, her door opened and Davina walked in. When Davina saw the older Witch awake, she smiled, "Oh, you're awake, I thought you'd be out for longer," In her hands was a plate of breakfast and some juice, she knew that Freya would be starving after what happened. She planned to leave it so she had something to eat when she woke up, but this worked as well.

Freya turned to the fledgling in confusion, "What happened exactly?" She could not remember what happened, nor could she remember how she had been unbound.

"I and Blair separated you and Dahlia," Davina answered easily as she placed down the plate, "Blair described the link as though it was a leech. It would feed off your power to give to Dahlia, and some would come back to you, though nothing compared to what she was taking from you," When they had severed the tie, Blair had not been happy because of the level of dark magic that had been used. Davina saw why the Fae hated dark magic, as it always left a bad feeling in her stomach, and she wasn't as sensitive to it as Blair.

Freya stared at the Witch in shock, unable to say anything. They had unbound her? The thought almost seemed impossible, she had been looking for a way for years but found nothing. No one had managed to come up with that amount of power before.

"How are you feeling?" Davina asked politely. She was interested to see if there were any side effects from the separation.

"I-I feel a bit weak," Freya answered honestly, seeing no reason to lie to a fellow Witch.

Davina nodded her head in understanding, "That makes sense, it will take some time to adjust to relying on your own magic. You'll probably need to build up your reserves and durability again," That is what she had to do after the Harvest, as she had got used to having three other Witches power inside her, and had to cope with such a big change. With proper care and training, Davina was able to bounce back with no issues. It also helped that she had a mentor to guide her through and build her up again.

"How did you manage it?" Freya asked, bewildered at the thought of being unbound.

"It was mostly Blair," Davina answered honestly, "She guided me and showed me what I needed to do. She described it as pulling off a parasite, but then pulling out the teeth carefully, so as not to cause any damage. It took a few hours, but it went well from the looks of it," Davina had been monitoring Freya's magic levels since and found them slowly stabilising, but definitely less powerful than the day before.

At the mention of the Fae, Freya's expression darkened. The thought of a Fae helping her was disgusting and made her sneer.

Sensing the change of attitude, Davina frowned, "What do you have against the Fae anyway? Blair and Raphael are really kind people," She was glad that she was no longer in her Coven anymore, otherwise she may have ended up like all the other Witches that hated the Fae.

"They are liars that only care about themselves," Freya spat out, anger pouring from her in waves.

Davina stared at her, unimpressed by her display. "Well, Blair and Raphael are the opposite of that, they have helped your siblings a lot," She would not allow her precious people to be disrespected in such a manner. If Rebekah or Elijah heard her, the reactions would not be pleasant and they may be one Mikaelson down.

Freya snorted as though she didn't believe her.

"There's got to be more to that story of yours," Davina questioned, feeling defensive of her friends.

Falling silent for a moment, Freya nodded her head, "There is. One of the first times I escaped from Dahlia, I met a Fae. I was only young, probably around thirteen and she took me in. She promised that she would help me, but when Dahlia came, she abandoned me." It was one of the first times she had felt hope that someone could save her, but then it was crushed. Dahlia had been especially cruel after that, mocking her for trusting her others, especially a Fae.

Sending her a blank expression, Davina stared at her, unimpressed, "So what you're saying is, you had one bad experience with a Fae and hated the whole group ever since?" Going by that logic, Davina would hate all Witches and Vampires, which would not be a good thing as she was currently dating an Original Vampire.

"You wouldn't understand," Freya dismissed.

Davina shook her head, feeling her ire rise, "No, you don't get it. There are bad people everywhere. But you cannot judge a whole community based on the action of one person alone, that's just stupid."

Looking at the fledgling, Freya became curious, "Why do you defend them so much?"

"Blair was the only person who was honest to me, she's never lied to me. She taught me how to control my magic, and provided me safety and support." Davina answered with ease, "Raphael has been a great comfort, almost like a brother. They are my family,"

Freya looked at her in confusion, "A Fae teaching a Witch magic? But that's absurd, surely you'd want to be taught by your own kind?"

Davina shook her head, "I have learnt more under Blair than I have anywhere else. My old Coven hid things from me, but expected my blind loyalty." There were many things that she was not privy to as she was seen to be a child and too young. Blair never treated her like that, she never treated her like a burden. Blair saw potential in her, and she vowed to live up to it.

"She'll turn against you, it may not be today or any time soon, but it will happen," Freya said.

Out of patience, Davina sent the Witch a dirty look, "You don't know anything about them, stop being so hateful. Blair didn't have to help, but she did because she is protecting Hope." If Freya kept this up, someone would kill her and she didn't know who would do it. Davina was silently betting that it would either be Elijah to Rebekah – or even Klaus. She wasn't ruling out herself either because she couldn't bear to hear any more on the matter.

Before Freya could say anything else, Davina stormed out of the room and headed back to her room. Slamming the door shut, Davina picked up some paper and paints and began to aggressively paint something. She needed to vent, and she found art helped her. The canvas was filled with dark colours, a lot of black, browns and reds, but Davina hardly noticed. Since she was so focused on her painting, she never heard Kol enter the room and close the door behind him.

Kol watched her in fascination. He watched as she aggressively wielded the brush like it was a blade and she was stabbing the canvas with so much passion it drew him in. The fire in her eyes, the way her lips were formed into a snarl. She could be a vicious little creature, one that really called him to him. When he heard the door slam, he knew something was up and he wanted to check on his little dove.

"Do I need to kill anyone?" Kol asked cheekily, enjoying as he watched Davina jump.

Looking at her boyfriend, Davina relaxed slightly and sent him a mocking smile, "Maybe,"

Kol's eyes lit up at the thought of some good old fun, "Oh? Who's got on your bad side, little dove?" Normally, she would hit his shoulder and tell him no, and also laugh because she half thought he was joking. She did not realise that he would slaughter towns for her if she merely asked.

"Your sister,"

Kol frowned slightly but nodded his head sympathetically, "Yes, Rebekah can be annoying. I get why you'd want to murder her,"

"Not that sister," Davina sighed.

For a moment Kol said nothing but then he nodded his head again. Despite having another sister – a revelation that had not fully sunk in yet – he did not see Freya as his sibling. She had not grown up with them, had not endured what they had. He did not fully believe her story and at the first sign of trouble, he would kill her immediately. Things between him and his siblings were good, probably the best they'd ever been, and he didn't want anything to change that. He, Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah still squabbled, but it never went as far as being daggered anymore, and they actually talked about things. There is still a judgemental stare every now and again – mostly directed at Kol – but it was at a level he would deal with it. Freya was an unknown factor, they did not know where her allegiance was. It also didn't help that she got to keep her magic, something Kol felt slightly jealous about.

"She hates Blair and Raphael so much, she looks at them in such disgust it's sickening," Davina vented, she couldn't get her head around Freya's point of view and she didn't want to.

"She has the same view as our mother." Kol mused, rubbing his chin, "She would go on for hours about how we cannot trust the Fae. One time, when we were human, she gave us an iron dagger each and told us to stab a Fae if they approached," He had been young at the time, and he didn't remember everything from his childhood, but he remembered this because he had been so confused. He had never seen his mother so protective, not even when Mikael was finished beating Klaus black and blue, but mention a Fae and their mother became feral.

"Well that needs to change, or she'll be dead by the week's end," Davina spat bluntly.

Kol grinned, "Just hearing about murder coming from your mouth is so enticing," He walked up to her and tilted her head back with a single finger under her chin. He enjoyed as Davina's cheeks flushed a delicious red colour and how she avoided his eyes.

"Shut up," She muttered shyly.

Chuckling, Kol kissed her forehead. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled Davina close to him, just inhaling her sweet scent. It smelt of the earth, with a hint of honeycomb. It was addicting and made him purr. Davina sighed deeply and practically melted into his arms, dropping the brush carelessly on the ground and instead, wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Who do you think will snap at Freya first?" Kol asked lowly, his eyes closed in contentment.

Davina hummed in thought, "Rebekah, she's quite the hot head,"

Kol smirked, silently agreeing with her words, "I'm leaning more towards Elijah. He's got a protective streak about him," Despite Elijah's calm demeanour, he could be just as vicious, if not more vicious. However, no one expected it because of how calm he appeared. It threw off enemies that didn't know the family, and they'd often look to Elijah for support, only to have their hearts ripped out within the blink of an eye.

"Let's not forget Klaus' temper either," Davina said thoughtfully.

"And mine," Kol grinned.

Rolling her eyes at him, Davina moved away and watched in amusement as Kol pouted. "So, you're all basically likely to kill Freya at the drop of a hat."

Kol nodded his head in agreement, "Sounds about right,"

Shaking her head at him, Davina picked up her brush from the floor and began cleaning up the paint.

ORIGINALS

Later that same day

Blair walked into the revamped Garden, that now only held one prisoner – Esther. While it wasn't necessary for someone to keep an eye on her, the whole Mikaelson family was paranoid that she would somehow escape. If Blair wasn't so used to their paranoid ways, she would almost be offended that they think her ruins and wards would not be enough. However, even she was apprehensive to leave the Original Witch unattended and had decided to pay her a visit that day. It was meant to be Kol's turn, but Blair had volunteered instead, and the Wild Original did not protest. Instead, Kol and Davina were performing a task for her, and Blair made a mental note to check on them later.

The sight before the Fae was pitiful. Esther was curled up in a corner, surrounded by a circle of salt so she could not escape or attack anyone that entered. Since turning, she had not moved and barely touched the blood bags that were being thrown down at her. She would take what was necessary to not desiccate, but otherwise, remained stubborn. She was visibly mourning her loss of magic – Blair would have felt sympathy if the woman hadn't been such a raging bitch.

Esther moved her head in the Fae's direction, and her face turned dark, "Fae,"

"Original bitch," Blair replied back calmly, but a smirk in place.

Huffing in exasperation, Esther turned away from her, "Get away, your scent is revolting,"

Blair knew that she was lying. She had her scent-blocking perfume on, as she had from the very beginning. Despite being more comfortable in the presence of Vampires, she still refused to put herself at risk. However, despite the scent blocker, she had been told she still smelled amazing, "Your kind love my scent, especially your son." Blair answered her with a sly look.

Disgust flashed in Esther's eyes.

"As much as I would love to continue this line of conversation, I came here for a reason," Blair answered as her smirk dropped into a serious expression. "Tell me more about Dahlia,"

Hearing the name of her sister, Esther's whole body tensed. "She's close?"

"Yes," Blair answered bluntly. She had Raphael and Rebekah place some items at the city's boundary so that she would be alerted of anything with powerful magic passing them. It would give them a few hours' notice of Dahlia's arrival, time that could prove fruitful. She would come, it was only a matter of time.

Esther shook her head, "You won't win, she is too powerful," Her sister practised dark magic, her anger fuelling her power immensely.

"We'll see about that," Blair dismissed her, "Now, tell me about Dahlia,"

Turning her head away, Esther refused to look at the Fae.

Without a word said, the Fae snapped her fingers and watched in delight as Esther's facial expression changed. Instead of indifference, Esther's face now morphed into a painful one. Her eyes squinted and her jaw locked in place. A vein at the side of her head twitched and her nose scrunched. "What are you doing?" Esther asked breathlessly, the pain consuming her.

"A little game," Blair practically purred, "Every time you lie or piss me off, I make you feel pain. It will get worse and worse each time. Since you're a Vampire, it won't kill you, so I can keep this game going longer," She twisted her hand and watched as Esther doubled over in pain, increasing it slowly, only to bring it down for a moment but raising it even more. Esther's body could not keep up with the sudden changes and it made her restless.

Esther remained silent, trying to resist the pain by distracting herself, but ultimately failed.

Twisting her hand, Blair increased her magical attack on the Vampire's nervous system. She had made it so all of Esther's nerve endings were magnified by one hundred, sensitive to even the air around her. Every breath she would take would be painful, every movement and every sound would cause her pain.

"You could just force me to tell you," Esther spat out in pain.

Blair smirked, "Now, that would be too easy." Truly, she wanted to watch as Esther caved, where she had realised, she was defeated and outmatched. She wanted to break her resolve. If there was any begging, then that would be an added bonus.

Esther glared at the Fae.

In response, Blair lowered the pain, only to watch as relief appeared on the ex-Witch's face. After a few moments, Blair raised the pain once more, watching in satisfaction as Esther writhed in pain, with no escape. With the salt ring around her, she could not move much, and Blair only provided relief when she saw fit. There was no rhythm to the torture, making it unpredictable and satisfying.

Hours passed and Blair was still in the garden. She had taken a seat on the furniture that Rebekah and Raphael had brought down. Blair had also summoned a magazine over to keep her occupied while she continued her torture session of the Original Witch. She would summon trashier magazines when she was done, not taking a break in her torture session. Esther was stubborn, which is something Blair could admire, and it allowed the Fae to vent her frustrations on the woman. It also allowed her to get revenge on the tricks and schemes Esther had done – like how she had Finn nearly kill her, or the plots against Davina.

Panting on the floor, Esther felt like she was in hell. She would have preferred to have been on the Other Side, then here. At least on the Other Side, she was not in any pain, and she was with other Witches. There was no escaping the pain and the longer it went on, she saw no end to it. Esther had hoped the Fae would become bored of her, and leave her alone, much like her children had, but Blair was relentless. It almost matched Niklaus' thirst for vengeance.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Freya is back," Blair said absentmindedly flicking through the pages of the magazine. It was kind of interesting to learn which human celebrities were sleeping with each other. Or learning that certain supernatural creatures had integrated into the inner circles of the rich and famous, not that the humans were aware.

Esther's head shot up as she looked at the Fae for the first time in hours. At the mention of her firstborn, she seemed to forget the agonizing pain she was, "She's alive?"

Realising that she had the Witch's attention, Blair mentally smirked but continued to flick through the pages. Instead, she chose not to say anything, knowing that this would drive Esther nuts.

"Tell me!"

"Temper, temper," Blair tutted, "I see where Klaus gets it from now,"

Holding back hissing in pain, Esther crawled to her knees and faced the Fae, "If I tell you about Dahlia, will you tell me about Freya?"

Glancing at Esther, Blair snapped her fingers and the magazine disappeared. She dialled down the magnification of Esther's nerves to show that she had the Fae's interest. However, she would not have it long, and Esther knew this.

Esther began her tale, "I and Dahlia belonged to a powerful witch line and we grew up very young learning the mystical arts. Our mother taught us as much as possible before she died from the plague. I was never as good with magic as my sister, but I never felt resentful. She was a prodigy and I loved her regardless. But I barely used magic, not taking it as seriously as my sister. After our father died of the same plague, we made a promise that we would stick by each other, always and forever. But then, our land was ravaged by Vikings when I was around thirteen winters old, she was taken away and enslaved for her magic, whereas I was treated differently. There was a Viking that had taken a liking to me, his name was Mikael…" Esther trailed off as she remembered her husband. In the beginning, he had been kind to her, gave her some of his food and would leave her gifts.

Blair stared at her with an impressed look on her face, though it did intrigue her slightly to know that it was Esther and Dahlia that had instilled the famous saying between the family.

Snapping back to reality, Esther continued, "My sister was not treated kindly by the Vikings, but agreed to help them if they left me alone. I never knew what happened to her during this time as she refused to tell me, she kept saying that everything was fine and everything would be okay…" Esther trailed off as she remembered her past. She always suspected that Dahlia was treated much worse than what she was told, and had tried to help but Dahlia had always refused her help.

Blair faked a cough, getting impatient for the ex-Witch to finish her tale.

Sending the Fae, a scathing look, Esther started up again, "After a few winters under the rule of the Vikings, Mikael had proposed to me and I was in love. I ran to tell my sister, but she was not happy. She had told me that she had managed to stealthily infuse potent sage with serpent's blood to give myself and her the magical strength necessary to escape our captivity. However, I refused and told her that I no longer wanted to practice witchcraft, I wanted to start a family with him."

Remaining silent, Blair thought her words over as the picture started to fall into place. She had Freya's story, but there had been a lot of missing information. As far as Freya was concerned, Dahlia was never a loving person and when Dahlia found out that Esther had made her children Vampires, and would have no more children, she had been furious and tried to encourage Freya to have a child instead. Freya had got pregnant at one point but drank poison, and tried to kill herself and the baby, but only killed the baby due to the immortality spell in place. Freya had assumed that she was the person Dahlia had been betrayed by, as she had run away, but Blair did not agree with this theory, and neither did most of the Mikaelson family. Now that she had Esther's story, everything made sense.

"Your family is fucked up," Blair said bluntly.

Esther said nothing to deny her claim.

"Now, tell me about Freya," Esther said eagerly, inching closer to the salt circle around her.

Blair smirked, "I never agreed to the exchange of information,"

Esther stared at her, her eyes widened in shock. Soon, her face morphed into anger, "How dare you trick me!"

Shrugging her shoulders, Blair stood from her seat, "I never said I would tell you anything. You assumed I would give you information when no agreement had been struck."

"You dirty Fae!" Esther yelled out angrily. "I hope Dahlia kills you! Then my son will be free of you!"

Deciding she had spent long enough in the woman's presence, Blair sauntered out of the Garden, having all she needed. She could still hear Esther yelling but soon quieted down when Blair crossed the threshold. There was a silencing spell in place so no one could hear her scream or come to her rescue.

It didn't take Blair long before she was back in the Abattoir, she planned to tell Elijah about the information she had learned but stopped when she saw Caroline walk into the kitchen. She remembered the conversation she had with Klaus not too long ago and knew she would need to ask eventually. Blair had been putting it off but she knew that she needed to ask so Klaus could stop sending her imploring looks whenever he was nearby.

When Caroline saw her, she smiled, "Oh, hey Blair, what have you been up to?"

"Torturing the Original bitch," Blair answered simply.

Caroline blinked slowly, her brain taking a moment to catch up, "O-okay?" She was unsure what to say at that moment. Should she caution her about doing that without Klaus or say it was wrong to torture people? Caroline shook this off, she needed to get used to this if she was going to stay in New Orleans with Klaus. His family liked to torture people in their spare time and it seemed as though Blair was no different.

"Has Klaus said anything to you about me?" Blair asked, curious to know if anything has been said.

Caroline shook her head.

Mentally, Blair groaned. Of course, the Hybrid would leave her to explain this, "I just want to warn you, Klaus has asked me to do this."

Now, Caroline put down the blood bag she had in her hands, giving the Fae her full attention.

"When Davina first came, she was being hunted by Witches, to protect her, I marked her. It's something a Fae can do to protect certain people. It is typically used for children, but not always." Blair explained, wanting to get this over with already, "It creates a physical mark, and it will protect her from harm, but also let me know where she is at all times."

Caroline frowned, confused, "Why are you telling me this?" She didn't see the Fae as someone who shared these kinds of details unless she had to. She had some understanding of the situation as Davina had told her, but it was still interesting to learn.

"Klaus wants me to mark you," Blair sighed.

"What?!"

"Don't ask me why," Blair shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to understand the Hybrid, "I said I would ask you because I am not going to force you. This mark lasts even in death, so it is permanent and it's a big thing, but Klaus owes me two favours if I offer it to you," The mark couldn't be forced, it had to be accepted freely, something Davina had done. But, if Caroline turned down the mark, she would still be owed those two favours.

"I'm going to kill him," Caroline muttered under her breath.

"Can I watch?" Blair smirked.

Caroline returned the smirk, "You hold him down with your magic, and I'll stab him,"

Blair thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "I'm game, but I want to get a stab in as well,"

"What's this about stabbing my brother?" Kol said as he walked into the kitchen, covered in dirt. This was his kind of conversation and he wanted in, especially if Klaus was getting stabbed.

"He's being an ass," Caroline answered with a huff. She did not like the thought of being marked, and she would be having a serious conversation with her boyfriend very soon about boundaries. She stormed off, intending to find Klaus and tell him exactly what she thought about this.

Blair watched her go with a smirk, it seemed as though Klaus had finally met his match with the baby Vampire. "Did you do it?" She looked to Kol, wanting to get an update on the job she asked him and Davina to do.

Kol grinned, "Of course, it was quite fun actually,"

"Good," Blair returned the grin, liking his wild energy.

"Davina's just adding a few touch-ups to the body, but it should be good as new soon," Kol answered, wiping away dirt from his shirt. He needed a shower and a clean set of clothes, and then he would go and celebrate.

Nodding her head, Blair relaxed slightly. Everything was falling into place, there was just one more thing she needed to do and then they'd have all the ingredients necessary to defeat Dahlia. Elijah already had a contact from Norway that had transported the soil they needed, they had sent quite a few samples over just in case they needed more.