"Jeremy!" Claire shouted jogging up to him in the high school. He turns to her and gives her a friendly smile. "I heard what happened with Elena, how are you?" She asked.

"As good as you can expect I guess" He shrugs.

"I'm sorry this happened" Claire told him. He gives her a small smile and an awkward nod. Claire sighs hating the awkwardness but not knowing how to stop it.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Jeremy asked.

"She's having hallucinations of Connor." Claire explains to him. She then goes into more detail so he can understand what's happening to Elena.

"How can I help her?" He asked.

"Klaus went to get her earlier. He took her to the mansion where she's safe until we can get rid of the hallucinations." Claire said.

"And why do you care what happens to Elena?" He asks.

"We were best friends once" Claire tells him. "I'm still a good person Jer... or at least I try to be." She gives him a small smile not telling him her and Klaus's true intentions for his sister. She felt a pang of guilt for lying to him knowing she wasn't helping Elena out of the goodness of her heart but he couldn't know the truth.

"Thank you for helping her." He says hugging her tightly. "I can't lose her" He whispers. Claire clenches her eyes shut and holds onto him tightly.

"No problem." She whispers keeping her voice as steady as possible. They pull away and Jeremy looks like he wants to tell her something but hesitates. She smiles and nods encouragingly. He sighs and lifts his hand, she looks at it.

"Do you see anything?" He asks watching her expression. Claire grabs his hand examining it.

"Nothing" She said looking at him, dropping his hand. "What's wrong?" Claire asked sensing he was holding something back. Before he can answer, Matt walks up to them. "Hey, Matt" She greets.

"Hey Claire, Jeremy" He smiles at the both of them. Jeremy showed him his hand and like Claire, Matt couldn't see anything.

"What if I told you two I saw the beginning of a mark like Connor's?" Jeremy asked looking between the two of them.

"Are you serious?" Matt asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"It showed up after he died. He told me that I was a potential. That that's why I could see his mark." Jeremy explained to them. Claire then remembered what Elijah and Kol had told her.

"How do you know it's there if it's invisible?" Claire asked.

"The hunter slipped, said there's another in town that can see it."

"Who?"

"Jeremy Gilbert" Elijah tells her.

~~~~~

"Do you think there's more of them?" Claire asks. Kol folds his legs and moves closer to her. "Hunters, the Five?" She asks looking away from Madelyn.

"Jeremy's the only one we know of.. I think if there was another in town, we would have known by now." Kol assures her. 

Now that Connor's dead, Jeremy is one of the Five. The younger Gilbert took Connor's place. Then she remembered Elena being the one that killed Connor and now she's being haunted, like Klaus.

"Haunts?" Claire says slowly.

"It's a way for the hunter to finish his last kill. The vampire becomes... suicidal." Elijah explains hesitantly.

"But Klaus can't kill himself." Claire whispers feeling extremely sympathetic for her mate and the torture he must have endured. "How'd he break the curse?"

"The haunting ends when another member of the Five kills a vampire thus replacing the hunter that was killed. Niklaus killed all of the Five and so he had to wait for five more to take their place."

Elena only killed one member of the Five, Connor. Jeremy took his place. To seal the mark, Jeremy would have to become the Five. Elena is still being haunted despite Jeremy having the mark already. Claire knew Jeremy had to do something to complete the process, her mates didn't tell her what but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. She figured he would have to kill a vampire, being the hunter thus freeing Elena from the curse.

"I gotta go, I'll see you guys later" Claire said before quickly leaving. While she's fairly certain she has everything figured out, she wanted to talk to Klaus before she mentioned anything to Jeremy. 

"Hey, Shortcake" Damon smirks leaning against Claire's car. Claire raises her eyebrows at him as she pulls out her keys.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" She asks him. He shrugs nonchalantly. "What do you want, Damon?" She asks crossing her arms.

"I'm gonna need Elena back" Damon said.

"Afraid I can't do that." Claire shrugs. Damon smirks as is he knew something she didn't. She frowns her eyebrows getting a bad feeling.

"Let me rephrase that" He said moving away from the car. "You're going to give me, Elena back."

"And why would I do that?" Claire asks him. Damon feigns a confused look. He glances around as if looking for something.

"Wasn't Henrik supposed to meet you here or something?" Damon asks waving his hand around shrugging. Claire suddenly laughs and Damon's confident posture slackens.

"You do have a death wish, don't you?" She growls marching up to him. "Do you even know what Elena's going through this very second?" She asks him. He goes to answer but she continues. "No, you don't so why don't I enlighten you. Connor was apart of the Five. A very special type of vampire hunter. Elena killed him and his ghost is haunting her as a form of revenge you could say. His ghost among other hallucinations are going to haunt her to the point of suicide. My beloved Klaus went through it so trust me when I say, the best thing for Elena is to be where she is."

Damon takes in the information Claire gave him. He doesn't know what to think. Everything about this situation was complicated.

"As for Henrik-"

"Oh don't get started, he's in the trunk." Damon said before speeding off. Claire clenched her jaw and went towards the trunk. She opened it and there's her handsome warlock.

"I'm going to kill him one of these days" Claire mutters before shaking Henrik awake.

"Damn it" Henrik groans holding his head. "Where am I?" He asks looking around.

"My trunk" Henrik looks at her confused. She gives him a hand out. "And Damon Salvatore continues to prove he's a thorn in my side" Claire grumbles closing the trunk.

"Did he hurt you?" He asks looking her over.

"I'm fine" She assures him. Her eyes go to his head and notice a little bit of blood. She clenches her jaw, murderous thoughts racing through her head. Henrik frowns his eyebrows hearing a little bit of what's racing through her mind.

He didn't like hearing what she's thinking. Claire's the goodness to him and his brothers. The light to their darkness. He didn't like seeing Claire's mind fade into her own darkness and he hated Damon for putting her mind in a state like this.

"I'm fine" He mutters kissing her gently. She relaxes slightly but he can still sense the anger she holds towards the older Salvatore. "Come on, lets get going." She nods and they get into the car.

"Claire!" Kol shouts when she arrives. Claire barely steps out of the car before being scooped into his arms and being spun around. Claire giggles and laughs as she holds onto him.

"I was barely gone for an hour" Claire laughs as he sets her down.

"Far too long" He says caressing her face. He pulls her into a kiss and she instantly responds. "I love you" He tells her seriously. Claire smiles at him but couldn't help but to feel concerned.

She feels as if Kol hasn't really been acting himself lately. He's extremely clingy, which she honestly isn't complaining, and he has worse mood swings than she does. One minute he'll be ecstatic and hyper, the next he'll be overly worried and borderline depressed.

"Come on, Finn has lunch for you." Kol said pulling her along. Claire smiles and jogs to keep up with him.

"Do you know where Klaus is?" Claire asked him. "I have to talk to him about something"

"I'll go get him" Elijah says coming in front of her as she, Kol and Henrik enter the house. She smiles at him and gives him a quick peck before he leaves to find her hybrid.

"Hello, Finn" Claire greets walking into the kitchen. He turns and smiles at her. She pulls him into a hug, resting her head on his chest. He kisses the top of her head. "Thank you for lunch."

"Of course" He whispers to her. He reaches behind him for the plate and sets it on the counter beside her. She licks her lips at the sight of the peanut butter, pickle sandwich.

"What happened to your head?" Kol asks looking at Henrik noticing the dried blood. Annoyance instantly fills Claire, she rolls her eyes. Finn pulls her back against his chest, his head dipping into her neck. She sighs and leans against him calming down completely as he kisses his mark.

"Had a little run in with Damon" Henrik said. "Came up behind me, never saw him coming."

"What did he want?" Kol asked looking at Claire silently looking for any injuries.

"Elena, what else would he want?" Claire asks giving him a smile that assures him she's fine.

"I never liked the Salvatore's" Kol rolls his eyes. He bites into his wrist and gives his brother some of his blood to heal the wound and headache.

"Hello, love" Klaus says walking into the kitchen, Elijah in tow. She smiles and greets him like she did with the other brothers. "Elijah mentioned you wanted to talk to me about something."

"Do you know how to cure Elena's hallucinations?" Claire asks him.

"I know that a member of the Five has to replace Connor" Klaus tells her.

"Which is Jeremy" Claire says what they already know. "But Jeremy says he sees the mark on his hand, yet Elena is still seeing Connor."

"Excuse me" They all turn towards the entrance seeing one of the hybrids.

"What?" Klaus asks not very politely. Claire jabs his side giving him a look before looking towards the hybrid. She smiles kindly and can see the hybrid relaxing.

It was no secret that the hybrids felt more comfortable around Claire. While they had no choice but to do what Klaus said, they unanimously felt more comfortable around Claire and gave their free-will-loyalty to her. While Klaus treated them like soldiers, a means to an end, Claire treated them like family. She looked after them. Took the time to learn their names, to learn who they are and where they came from. She cared about their opinions and their health.

"What do you, Megan?" Claire asks the short haired dirty blond. She glances nervously at Klaus before looking at Claire and answering.

"Elena escaped." Megan answered.

"What?" Klaus snapped speeding in front of her. Megan's posture remains calm but fear is evident in her eyes.

"Klaus" Claire said warningly. She walks over to him and places her hand on his chest, pushing him back slightly. She turns to Megan. "Explain what happened." Claire said gently.

"Tyler came and told Chris that Klaus sent Tyler to relieve him from duty. Chris left and Tyler was supposed to watch Elena but their both gone." Megan explained. Klaus growled clenching his jaw. Claire pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Thank you, Megan" She says sincerely. She gives the hybrid a smile. Megan smiles and nods before walking away.

"Can we kill him yet?" Henrik questions curiously.

"Unfortunately not" Claire grumbles.

"Why do we care if what happens to Elena?" Kol asks.

"Because with Jeremy being the new hunter we have a chance at getting the cure. We cure Elena, I get more hybrids."

"Or we let her live her human life and torment the next doppelganger" Claire said smiling at Klaus innocently.

"I distinctly remember you not giving a single damn about what happens to Elena when we were trying to find the cure in the first place... What happened?" Klaus asks dreading the answer.

"I don't care about Elena... but here me out" Claire asks him. He nods and motions for her to continue. "I may not care about Elena but I do care about Jeremy and I was talking to him earlier and while we were talking I just felt guilty. He's lost so much and I'm afraid if he loses Elena too then he's going to lose himself. Jeremy's a good kid. He's saved my life more times then I can count. I don't owe Elena shit but I do owe Jeremy. If it wasn't for him, Matt and Caroline, I wouldn't be here right now."

A collective set of growls rumbles through her mates. She's instantly encircled by them. She closes her eyes feeling uncomfortable as she thinks about her depression and how much her life declined before the Mikaelson's came into her life.

"I'm alright now" She assures them. Kol has her pinned against his chest. Klaus and Elijah are both in front of her, as close as they can get. Finn and Henrik are on either side of her, also as close as they can get. "I'm fine, my loves, I'm fine" She tries to settle their minds. "I'm in a much better place now than I was then but I can't change the past. Jeremy was there when I needed him and now I can help repay what he's done for me by saving the last little bit of family he has left and that's Elena."

"How do you expect to do that, love?" Klaus asks trying not to think about the fact that Claire not being here used to be a very real possibility.

"We know Jeremy is Connor's potential. He has the mark but even though he has the mark, Elena is still seeing hallucinations. I think Jeremy has to kill a vampire to complete the process into becoming one of the five."

"It makes sense." Elijah nods.

"And I know how important your hybrids are to you" Claire said looking at Klaus. "Maybe we can get a few pints here and there from Elena but don't force her to live her life as a blood bag. Let her live a normal human life, not for her but for Jeremy. Please" Claire asks him. Klaus nods agreeing to her terms.

"Alright, love, alright" He nods kissing her forehead. "We'll cure her curse and then cure her vampirism. She'll be free to live her life as long as he continues the bloodline."

"Agreed" Claire nods smiling at him. "Thank you" She whispers her eyes becoming misty.

"Of course, love, of course" Klaus pries her from Kol and pulls her into his arms. "All you have to do is ask when you want something and I promise I will do anything and everything in my power to make it happen." He kisses her head. "You're with us now love and all we want, all we need is for you to be happy."

"I am" She whispers. "I am happy with all of you." She promises them. "I love you, all five of you" She smiles.