Chapter 05

The name Klaus was supposed to make her cower in fear mainly because of all the stories she’d heard from Damon, how he made hybrids, hurt Elena, forced Stefan to be a Ripper again and more horror stories, but Bella wasn’t afraid. His energy was familiar, somehow, and unlike when he possessed Alaric, there were no dark edges around his person. “Have we met before?” Bella asked stupidly. “Well, we’ve met before but have I met you before?”

Klaus smiled at that. “The morning after I broke my curse, I was drawn to your little home and we sat there for most of the day. My head in your lap and you scratching me behind the ears.”

“But how? Werewolves don’t-”

“I’m a hybrid, love. I don’t need the full moon to turn, nor do I ever have to turn again,” he gently took her hand and lead her to another room as Myriam followed them. “Your kindness was new to me. Apart from Myriam’s, of course.”

Bella turned to Myriam. “Sorry I had your boyfriend’s head in my lap for a couple of hours,” she deadpanned.

“You can have his head in your lap anytime, honey,” Myriam replied with a wink. “I know he’s faithful to me, and if not, he’ll tell me. Besides, you’re not his type.”

“You must have a thousand questions in that pretty little head of yours,” Klaus said, amused as he brought them to a semi finished sitting room. “But first let me apologize for having lead you on for so long, our intentions aren’t malicious.”

“I know that. I can feel that. Somehow… I don’t know,” Bella sat down on the covered couch and looked at Klaus. “And you’d think I’d have a thousand questions, but I don’t. Well, maybe a few but that’s something Elijah said to me.”

Klaus sighed deeply as he sat down across from her. “What has he done now?”

“He told me he and his family have been following mine for a very long time.”

Klaus laughed at that. “Did he, now? He lied, love. We’ve met your grandfather Nathaniel during the second World War, surprised that he didn’t get himself killed with his impulsive actions. As it turned out, he had a knack for stumbling into trouble. Your mother… well, she was quite different. Even as a young girl she was impulsive and had a habit of running away, never feeling at ease. I can assure you that all of our interactions with your family were a mere… coincidence. For some reason, we merely ran into each other.”

“A crazy happenstance,” Myriam nodded. “But your mom, she’s gorgeous.”

“You’ve met her? How?”

“Klaus turned me about 300 years ago. He saved me from my abusive family,” she smiled widely, so much love showing as she looked at him. “I’ve been looking out for him ever since. Even being his little spy every now and then, getting messages to him…”

“Always moving so majestically in the shadows,” Klaus said proudly as he kissed Myriam’s hand. “She truly understands what I’ve been through with my own family. Soul mates aren’t real, but if they were, Myriam would definitely fit that description.”

Bella smiled at that. “That is adorable.”

“She called us adorable, Klaus,” Myriam giggled. “She called you, the monster of monsters, adorable.”

Klaus was amused. Normally he’d get angry, but Bella was refreshing, disarmingly so. “Do you have any more questions, love? How about I ask you one?”

“Fire away.”

“What are you?” He asked, leaning forward, studying her. “Do not take that the wrong way but you’re different from your relatives. You’re observant. You’re smart. You’ve been hiding yourself away in that little house on Salvatore land, why is that? What are you?”

“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. Nobody seems to know and my theories are batshit crazy.”

“Try me.”

“I’m Snow White?”

Klaus chuckled. “Doubtful. What else?”

She shrugged. “I turned my ex-boyfriend into a pig after he dumped me and he changed drastically over a few months – like… vampire or werewolf or something else – and I got so angry… I turned him into a pig.”

“Moritz?” Myriam laughed. “You turned Moritz into a pig?”

“And I don’t know how to change him back.”

“Now that’s something you don’t hear every day!” Klaus looked even more intrigued. “If you wish, I could send for some books for you to browse through to help you with your self discovery. They’re my brother’s, but he’s not around.”

“Elijah’s?”

“No, love. I have another brother who was well versed with his witches and I managed to save a few of his books before he decided to hide them away from me.”

“But I’m not a witch. Wouldn’t Bonnie Bennett have sensed that about me? Or your own witch, even?”

“As I said, my brother was the one who enjoyed his witches and their lore. I merely like them for their usefulness,” Klaus shrugged. “Just imagine, centuries of information about all kinds of witches, available to you.”

“Yeah, sure,” Bella smiled. “If you’re offering.”

“One condition. The books don’t leave this house. I’ll make sure that a room will be ready for you to relax in while you read by the time the books get here. A safe place, for you. As long as you’re under my roof, nothing will happen to you. If someone gives you something as little as a scratch, I will have their heads.”

They talked some more, and Bella found it fascinating how different Klaus was from the vampires she knew, that the stories she’d heard of him were an insight now that she had met him herself. It showed that Damon and Stefan and the rest of the scoobies were cowards. Idiots. She never had a high opinion of the scoobies anyway, but both Damon and Stefan were making mistakes upon mistakes. Not following through on their word, even though Stefan was being his jerk self right now.

He still had Damon following him around to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. Damon himself wasn’t innocent of doing stupid things either. He should have walked away from all of this a long time ago.

No, Klaus was scary because he actually followed through on his demands. His threats. He had a goal in mind and wouldn’t allow anyone to stop him, not even his own siblings. Bella found it strange that when Klaus was inside of Alaric that there was a dark aura around him, and there still was, but not as obvious; it was a mere sign that he had lived a thousand lives and that he knew what he was doing.

If Klaus was the monster that everyone thought he was, why would he have saved Myriam all those years ago?

However, she wasn’t quite sure about her having to go to his house for those books all the time. While TrashPanda had always been somewhat honest, it was quite unusual to meet them in real life. Wasn’t she going to betray the Salvatores after they had protected her all these years?

Then again, this was an opportunity for her to move forward and perhaps to learn more about herself. Maybe Klaus and Myriam could be the gateway to the guide that Zach Salvatore had talked to her about. They were older than Stefan and Damon, they knew the right supernatural beings.

“What’s on your mind?”

Bella got roused from her thoughts by Klaus and she shyly smiled. “I’m trying to make a well thought out decision with everything I have learned.”

“Zach Salvatore looked after you after your mother allowed you to emancipate, didn’t he? It was a secret to Damon and Stefan, but their human relatives looked out for your family and other families dealing with the supernatural when they’d come into town, of their own accord, drawn to the supernatural.”

“He told me that my mother has a sense of danger. That she can’t quite pinpoint it but that she has that sense and that had us moving around a lot until Mystic Falls. Where she allowed me to stay because I am stronger than her,” Bella replied, unsure what more to say, but she decided to go for it anyway. She had a feeling she could trust Klaus. While she trusted Damon, she never told him what was happening, just that she was supposed to be there. He didn’t know. “Zach told me that I was safe in Mystic Falls as long as I kept pretending I was human and never discussed what I can do to others, likely in fear of people wanting me to do things for them.”

“What can you do?”

Bella shrugged. “Sorry, can’t say. But apart from that, it seems that animals seem to like me and I turned someone into a pig… and occasionally talk to dead people. He called me abnormal as apparently, whatever the hell I am doesn’t fit all the right boxes. He told me about something he believed I could do, but he didn’t want me to find out without a proper guide who knew what I was or could become. I’ve been reading everything the Salvatores have on the supernatural, observing, learning. But so far I can’t find myself in anything. He also told me that I’d find the reason why I wanted to stay in Mystic Falls.”

“Curious indeed,” Klaus smiled. “Well, if anything, by now you must have exhausted their resources and our collection is extensive, how good of a reason is that?”

“Besides,” Myriam smiled. “It’d be nice to have you around. Klaus’ hybrids are nice puppies and all but I could use a friend to do things with. Like shopping. Or spa days.”

“And you know I don’t do shopping and spa days,” Bella countered playfully. “Very well, I’ll take you up on your offer then, Klaus. Thank you.”

“Stefan Salvatore is holding my family hostage. Would you be angry with me if I accidentally killed him?”

“After what he did to me?” Bella snorted. “I can’t say anything about what’s going on but you do what you have to do.”

Klaus beamed at Myriam. “I like her.”

“Yep, me too,” Myriam softly kissed him before jumping up and pulling Bella off the couch. “Come, I’ll show you around. Are you staying for dinner? You can get to know us a little better that way.”

“Sure, why not,” Bella replied as she followed Myriam through the next room. “Why did you lie to me?”

“I figured that saying ‘Hey, I’m a 300 year old vampire and my seer thinks you’re pretty darn special and I want to get to know you better and keep an eye out’ was a bit too much,” Myriam replied with a smile. “Besides, I liked what you were writing. Fiction or fan fiction. Your work shows you’re intelligent and you have this need to figure things out on your own.”

“You know who I was?”

“Yep,” Myriam nodded. “And no, I have no idea what you are. Neither does Klaus, so it’s a good thing that you’re researching the supernatural community. That you observe and stay on the sidelines. Did you use a spell to turn Moritz into a pig?”

Bella thought for a moment. “No. I was just really angry and kept calling him a pig in my mind and poof! There he went. I don’t feel bad about it, I mean, he had it coming, but it’s scary, you know.”

“I can relate. I suppose anyone who’s turned into a vampire can relate. Everything is heightened. Running really fast becomes like a superpower and we have to control our bloodlust so we don’t kill everyone.”

“Speaking of which, you do have that under control, don’t you? You and Klaus?”

“Don’t worry,” Myriam grinned. “We won’t eat the innocent girl who’s still evolving into something we’ve probably never seen before,” Myriam took her upstairs on the marvelous stairs and turned a corner. “What do you think? Would this be the perfect room for a library where you can hang out?”

The large windows overlooked the forests behind the mansion, she could see the stables from here and it was beautiful. The space itself was large with high ceilings. “You’re asking me? This is your home,” Bella laughed as she looked up. “I’d be happy with just a little corner!”

“Well, I was thinking with a window seat, you know, with a seat IN the window so you can look outside, have natural light. And basically everything playing on that natural light to light the room. I don’t know. I just thought a window seat would be nice,” Myriam shrugged. “I doubt that he’ll renovate the entire house. Like yourself, Klaus gets a bit jittery from time to time and needs to move. Although now that Mikael’s dead, maybe he can start to live a little.”

“I suppose when your own father is the one who wants to kill you comes back… yeah,” Bella shook her head. “I can’t possibly imagine what that must feel like… I mean, my mother is a runner and a flake, and my dad… well, it’s a good thing he knows where the diner is.”

Myriam laughed at that. “Yeah, it was tough on him, but he found clever ways of hiding. I was the only one who knew where he was at all times. Klaus is all about exclusiveness. If he likes you, loves you, you’re in his inner circle; you’re family. He told me he wanted to meet you proper after your encounter with him as a wolf. It was his second time in a 1000 years where he’d turned and his mind was going all sorts of places and you calmed him down. Not that he’d tell anyone that. Niklaus Mikaelson is a tough cookie, no one messes with him and he’s totally not vulnerable and a complete maniac.”

“Stefan, Damon and the rest are so scared of him.”

“As they should be. Klaus is dangerous. But not towards those he deems worthy of him.”

“Like me?”

“I think you scare him more than Mikael has ever done. Or even more than he fears the Original Witch.”

“Me? Little old me?”

“We feel that you have the potential to become the biggest force of power we’ve not seen in a very long time, mainly because it’s so unclear as to what you are. We do want to help you discover yourself, but I think that Zach Salvatore was right in how to approach this; allow you to go on your own journey and have you make all the decisions for you,” Myriam said truthfully. “And another thing. I believe you’ve read the Twilight saga?”

“Of course,” Bella huffed. “It quite surprised me, to be honest. And the author says it came to her all in a dream? Please.”

“Well… Stephenie Meyer is part witch. She says she’s not, but she is. We believe she received visions about your life and instead of keeping it to herself, she decided to make a book out of it. The books are basically what would have happened if you’d gone to Forks instead of staying here. Although Cold Ones don’t exist; they’re a regular coven of vampires who have witches on retainer. They’re not gifted. They are bunny munchers. There’s no Volturi.”

“What?”

“Yep. But you have nothing to worry about. Klaus convinced her not to write about you anymore and-”

“I want the author dead,” Bella muttered. “She wrote me married to some jackass who watched people sleep, had me have his baby and ugh. How is that even possible? Any case, what kind of drugs is she on to assume that a 16 year old girl, later 18, would wait for marriage to have sex? I would have dumped his ass on the spot!”

Myrian laughed at that. “Oh, Bella, I do love your sense of humor.”

“And those books are badly written too. It’s why I prefer to read fanfiction because those stories are better but even then, knowing that it’s a version of ME… ew.”

Myriam shrugged, then. “That’s why they invented crossovers. You can actually do some self insertion and not get flamed for it.”

“Ha! Totally!”

“That sex scene you wrote with Dean Winchester? Woah, girl, you have some wicked thoughts!” Myriam grinned as she lead Bella out of the room to explore the upper level. “You made my ears blush with that and I’ve seen a lot!”

“Oh geez, stop,” Bella shook her head, a big smile on her face. “Now you’re embarrassing.”

“I mean, do you do that stuff in real life too?” Myriam said amazed. “Because damn, girl, I’d know just the right person for you and he’s a Mikaelson!”

“If you’re going to say Elijah, I’ll get a spoon and spoon your eyes out of your sockets before shoving them in your mouth.”

“Nope, not him. I doubt you’ll ever meet him, though. Klaus has him safely boxed up.”

“In one of the coffins Stefan is holding hostage?”

“Yep.”

“So he’s not safe.”

“Nope,” Myriam let out a breath. “I doubt Stefan will undagger them, though. Having to deal with the wrath of Klaus is one thing, imagine the entire family against you. I really don’t want to be Stefan right now.”

“Stefan’s a jerk. He nearly killed me. Hadn’t it been for Damon, I would have died.”

“Those boys are nothing but trouble,” Myriam agreed. “Are you safe, though? On their property?”

“Of course,” Bella replied with a smile. “No one gets into my house when they can’t cross the threshold without an invitation, including Damon and Stefan. The moment I leave my car Damon’s crows keep an eye on me and a handful of foxes come out of the bushes to greet me,” she shrugged.

“But they didn’t do anything when Stefan took you.”

“Well, Stefan is a Salvatore, he wouldn’t hurt me, right?” Bella scoffed. “He doesn’t give a shit when he’s without his humanity. As a Ripper. Especially now, whatever he did with Klaus on his trip, it fucked him up.” She then let out a deep breath. “You know, sometimes I wished that I could go back to being normal. Oblivious to everything that’s happening around me.”

“What would that do?”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t have forgotten to apply for college?”

“If that’s your only regret,” Myriam smiled at her. “Who knows what you’ll become? Perhaps immortal like the rest of us and you could do college again and again and again and hold a thousand Phd’s.”

“Overkill, much?”

“Bella, the world is an amazing place filled with wonder and magic. You need to see more. Absorb it all and you wouldn’t want to be a normal human being ever again. Just imagine, if you’re going to become even half as badass as Klaus and I think you’ll become, you don’t have to be afraid of anything anymore. You can do whatever you want.”

“But what if you’re wrong and I’m just a flake, like my mother?”

“Doubtful. Your mother would have run from this house the minute she set foot in it.”

“Maybe.”

“When you met up with your mother in Florida, did you discuss what’s happening to you?”

Bella shook her head as Myriam took her downstairs again. “I let her guide our conversation. She did say that it looked like something had changed within me and that it was alright I forgot to apply for college, that a year off was what I deserved.”

“That’s nice.”

“So what did I do? I quit my job at the Grill, which is stupid because this is a small town and a job is hard to get by, but I live rent free and I think I can live off my savings for a while.”

“Why did you quit?”

“I don’t know. I felt like I needed to do it because it had become some sort of supernatural hang out and an office for Alaric, I guess.”

“Self-preservation, perhaps?”

“Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t know how I work or what I can do,” Bella frustratingly ran a hand through her hair. “Is time travel possible?”

“No, honey,” Myriam laughed. “But I do think that we’re just in time for dinner.”

2 Comments:

  1. Knew Klaus was the wolf. Things seem like the will get more interesting for Bella.
    And too funny about Meyer’s Twilight books being a version of her life that could’ve been and how they discussed fanfic was better, lol.

  2. Protective Nik lol oh boy Stefan is dead. and oh Yes let’s let Kol out to take care of the ripper too! he will fall for Bella and help her find out what she is and who she truly is in the supernatural world. Update again soon. want to know more and i like how Damon is protective the big brother lol. very nice

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