*Hey guys, I'm back! Merry belated Christmas! I hope y'all had a wonderful holiday, whatever you celebrate and if you don't celebrate the holidays, happy belated Wednesday.. This isn't my best chapter but I wanted to get something out there, I wanted to get chapters going again.*

"Who is he?" Claire asks observing the man in front of her. He's shackled to a tall piece of wood dated back a few centuries. One of Klaus's sentimental forms of torture Claire presumes. 

"He is the hunter that's been causing all this trouble" Elijah explains to her while making sure the hunter is tightly secured. The only ones in the room are Elijah, herself and Kol. Klaus is off healing Rebekah, Finn is cooking lunch while watching Madelyn and Henrik got roped into cleaning up the party Rebekah had thrown. As Claire had predicted, Hanna was not happy with the fact a party had been thrown in her home.

"Why's he here?" Claire asks wondering what was so important about him that he's here and not dead. Kol wraps an arm around her shoulder and chest pulling her back against him. Her hand raises and caresses his forearm.

"Because Niklaus and I found that this is not your typical hunter." Elijah says stepping away from the man once he is secured to his satisfaction. "In fact, he is part of The Five" Kol tenses at the name. Claire leans back against him more while giving his forearm a comforting squeeze.

"What does that mean?" Claire asks.

"Why don't we talk about this somewhere else?" Kol speaks up wanting Claire nowhere near the hunter. Elijah agrees motioning for them to head towards the door. Kol drops his arm and grabs her hand. She follows him but gives the mysterious hunter another glance. 

They head into the kitchen where Claire sees Finn and Madelyn. She smiles at her daughter giving her a kiss on top of the head. She then gives Finn a short kiss before looking to Elijah for an explanation. 

"The Five is a group of hunters that have a more... supernatural ability. Their faster and stronger than your average vampire." Elijah explains to her. "We first came across them in Italy, 12th century. They weren't exactly hiding their quest to rid the world of the vampires."

"What happened?" Claire questions sitting beside Madelyn. She keeps her attention on Elijah but begins to feed her daughter some lunch.

"Rebekah fell in love with one of them." Elijah tells her. "And he stung her along. Somehow he found out about what we are and knew we weren't normal vampires. He and the others had a weapon that couldn't kill us but subdue us."

"The daggers" Claire realizes. Elijah nods.

"They were the first ones to dagger us. They started with Rebekah and then the rest of us." Finn clenches his jaw as he remembers the events. "But the daggers don't work on Niklaus, they didn't know that."

"He killed them" Claire correctly assumes. Elijah nods confirming her assumption. Kol smirks slightly.

"Got a nasty little curse because of it." Kol mentioned. Claire glances at him. "If a vampire kills one of the Five then the ghost of said hunter haunts the vampire that kills them."

"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."

"How long?" Claire whispers.

"A little over 52 years." Elijah tells her. Claire sighs looking back to her daughter. While the idea of Klaus being tormented brought joy to Kol's heart he didn't like Claire being sad.

"But he's alright now, darling" Kol reassures her. "And we know better than to kill them now, at least now we know to have someone else kill them." Claire just nods.

"Is that why he's still alive?" Claire asked. "Because of the curse?"

"Not exactly" Elijah said.

"What else is there?" She asks him.

"The hunters from the 12th century had tattoos. These tattoos are a map. The tattoos on our hunter now are invisible and can only be seen by another member of the Five." Elijah tells 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. Claire raises her eyebrows at the revelation. She slowly nods letting that little piece of information sink in. She couldn't remember the last time she talked to Jeremy. She realized just how much she missed him. She wished that when she basically kicked Elena out of her life, she wouldn't lose Jeremy but she understood. His loyalty lies to his sister just like hers lie to Caroline, Madelyn, and the Mikaelson's. 

"You said the tattoos are a map. A map to what?"

"A cure" Elijah explains. Claire freezes slightly and looks at Elijah. "A cure for vampirism."

"There's a cure?" She asks him.

"Yes" Elijah nods. "There's a sword that deciphers the tattoo and that will lead us to the cure."

"Why haven't you found the cure already?" Claire asked.

"Because the bleeding tattoos disappeared when I killed the hunters" Klaus says walking into the kitchen. Claire smiles lighting up when she sees him. He grins and walks over to her instantly.

"Is Rebekah alright?" Claire asks as he stops in front of her.

"Right as rain, my dear." He promises. Claire smiles at him. He bends down and places a gentle kis on her lips. 

"Here you go, Princess" Finn says giving her some lunch. She smiles at him and takes the food.

She then starts to wonder why the hunter is still alive. Did her mates wish to turn human? She didn't want to be the reason for the to give up their immortality. If anything, she wanted to become a vampire. She wanted to live countless life times with her mates, with her sister.

"What's running through that mind of yours?" Elijah questions. She's become far too talented at keeping her thoughts private. While he is proud of her for being able to control the bonds she shares with him and his brothers, he often wonders what she thinks in various situations.

"Do you want the cure?" She asks looking at him. Elijah doesn't know how to answer. He didn't mind his vampire life. If it wasn't for being a vampire, he'd never would have met Claire. He couldn't imagine his life without her and he didn't want too. 

"Do you wish to become a vampire?" Elijah counters. If she wished to remain human, he'd respect her decision but a human life ends with death and when her life dies, he knew he would not wish to continue without her.

"Not at the moment" She tells him.

"But in the future?" Kol asks walking more in front of her.

"I've been thinking about it, yes" Claire nods. "A human life is short, I want as much time as I can get with you" She says looking at them while thinking about Henrik as well. "And my sister." She adds. Kol grins and kisses her passionately. She grips him tightly trying not to fall off the stool she's sitting on.

"Easy Kol" Finn growled. Kol simply smirks and deepens the kiss. Claire pulls away pushing on his chest gently not wanting to get too carried away.

"Do any of you want the cure?" Claire asks.

"With you planning on being a vampire, I don't think so" Klaus smirks and Claire figured she already knew his answer. She knew Klaus liked being a hybrid, loved it even. She also knew the same about Kol, he loved his vampirism as well. She glances at Elijah and knew he's content with his immortality. The one she wasn't completely sure about is Finn.

"I don't want the cure, not while you plan on becoming a vampire." Finn assures. Claire frowns slightly. She didn't want him to stay a vampire just for her. She wanted him to be happy and if a human life makes him happy then that's what she wants for him. He speeds around to her. "I am happy when I am with you. I don't care if I'm a vampire or human, as long as I am with you, I am happy."

"I don't want to be your only source of happiness" She whispers to him. "There's so many things in life to be happy about, I surely cannot be the only thing."

"No" Finn answers. "But you're the most important." He explains. She smiles sighing slightly. He kisses her forehead. "Don't worry, my Princess, I am happy." He assures. 

"Good" She smiles and kisses his lips lightly. "If non of you want the cure then why keep the hunter? Does Rebekah want the cure?"

"More than anything." Elijah answers. "And now that she has a human mate I believe she wants it even more."

"So we get the cure for her" Claire states. Elijah glances at Klaus. "There's more?" She asks looking at her hybrid.

"I was thinking" Klaus begins slowly. "That we could also use the cure for Elena."

"Elena? Since when do you care- You're hybrids." Claire realizes.

"Sooner or later the blood I have now will run out. If Elena is human then we can get her blood again." Klaus explains.

"And live a life as a blood bag" Claire mutters. She has her issues with Elena. She doesn't care what happens to her, that's what she keeps telling herself. Elena's made it clear that she's willing to put Claire and her family in harms way for her own good, so why does the idea of using her as a human blood bag for who knows how long leave her feeling uneasy?

"What do you think love?" Klaus asks feeling anxious with her look of deep thought.

"I think we should find the cure, for Rebekah and... you can do with the rest as you wish." Claire shrugs. "I'm going to give Madelyn a bath, excuse me" She said grabbing her daughter. 

"Love" Klaus says moving in front of her. "We cannot tell anybody about the cure. It's far too dangerous, if word gets out" Klaus says.

"What about Caroline?" Claire whispers.

"Please, keep it to yourself." Klaus pleads cupping her cheek. "Just until we find it then you can tell Caroline. The less people know about it the better." Claire nods and walks around him.

She had Madelyn in the water watching her play with the bubbles with Kol comes into the bathroom with them.

"I brought you pickles and peanut butter" He says. She smiles at him. He sits by the bathtub, leaning his back against the wall across from Claire. Her back leans against the wall opposite of him, her hands raise to take the snack from him. "Want to tell me what you're thinking?" He asks moving his feet to rest against her crossed legs needing some type of contact with her.

"Why do i still care about what happens to Elena?" Claire whispers. "I don't care if she gets the cure or not. I don't care what she does with her life. I don't want her in my life anymore but the thought of her getting the cure and then spending the rest of her life as a human blood bag... it just feels..." Claire sighs munching on her peanut butter covered pickles.

"Because you're a better person than all of my brothers and I combined." Kol tells her. "Living life as a blood bag isn't a life and you know that. You don't want someone, even Elena, to live a life like that." He explains gently. Claire sighs dumping some water on her daughter slowly. Madelyn squirms slightly fussy.

"I shouldn't care what happens to her" She whispers.

"I don't think you do care." Kol says. "Not wanting someone to live a life as a blood bag is you being a decent human. It doesn't mean you're best friends or even friends. It just means you have a kind heart and you're a good person." He says. "Too good for us" 

"Don't say that" Claire tells him. "I love you and your brothers. Don't say I'm too good for you, after everything you and your family has been through, you deserve someone who's going to love and support you, that's what I'm here to do." She smiles at him. 

"I love you" He tells her. She gives him a playful wink. He smirks his mood lightening. 

Claire looks over at Madelyn. She's getting big. Her first birthday is in three and a half weeks. She has dark hair, just like Tyler, with fare skin and hazel/green eyes. Clare caresses the back of her daughters head as Madelyn plays with the bubbles.

"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. "It's going to be alright. We have the hunter, Jeremy is easy to keep track of and as long as we keep quiet then nobody is going to come after it. We'll get the cure for Rebekah and Elena, even Caroline if she wants it."

"I love you." Claire whispers to him. He smiles and kisses her lightly.