Chapter 03: Eyes Closed

They left her alone while whatever Circe had done to her was still making her way through her head. The memories that she had unlocked on repeat, the pain increasing every time they passed through her mind’s eye. She wanted to run, hide, tuck it all away as she had in the last 150 years but found herself unable to. Mentally and physically as the drug Circe used on her was still doing its thing.

She felt her mind weakening as the sedative made its way to her head, sleepy. But she fought it. She didn’t feel safe in the room, in the building. Klaus Mikaelson’s friend Myriam wanted her to stay and had betrayed her by having the witch Circe come and crack open the vault inside Bella’s mind just a smidge. She hadn’t been able to open it fully or even a quarter, and that made Bella afraid.

No, not Bella. Calypso. Or whomever. Not Bella.

She didn’t want to be found by the Cullens. She didn’t want to go back. A part of her wishes she could go back only to make her stop feeling the pain again. But she wasn’t safe here in the building. She’d tell Katherine and Katherine would take her away. Or at least she hoped she would; that nothing had changed, that Katherine still cared and still felt as if she needed to make sure that the girl felt safe.

A part of her mind was still fighting the unlocked memories, telling her that it were lies, but they felt real. They felt… alive. Her memories weren’t a lie. What she had heard over the last few days concerning the Cullens sounded more plausible by the minute, and she needed to get away.

She startled when she felt Katherine’s arms around her, how Katherine manipulated her body to sit up in an upright position, against Katherine’s body. The vampire started to rock her and say soothing words but all Calypso wanted was to leave. Run. “Katherine.”

“It’s okay chickpea…” she shushed her. “It’s going to be alright.”

“We need to leave, please,” Calypso urged her, trying to reach out with her ability and was surprised it still worked – although not at full strength. She urged Katherine to listen to her. “We’re not safe. We won’t ever be safe, and I don’t wish harm to come to the people in this building. We need to leave.”

“That’s the drugs talking, sweetheart. You’re going to be fine.”

“No. Please.”

Katherine sighed and saw the fear and determination in the girl’s eyes. “Klaus is going to kill me. You know that, right?” It was unbelievable how much fighting spirit she still had inside of her, trying to fight off the workings of Circe’s drugs and spell, but Katherine could tell that she was holding on to the very last thread of her consciousness.

“I’m safe with you, not here.”

Katherine wrapped a blanket around the girl and lifted her in her arms. “Very well, close your eyes. I’ve found an exit, but it will require some jumping and stuff.”

“Safe.” Calypso murmured against her shoulder before losing consciousness.

~o.O.o~

“You let them leave?” Klaus fumed as he paced inside Myriam’s office. “You allowed them to leave? Have you gone mad?”

“I didn’t let them or allow them to, Klaus! I told Katherine to stay away from the girl while she was still under, but she didn’t listen and that bitch… she jumped out of the fucking window, alright?” This was not how Myriam had imagined their reunion. It had been a hundred years, give or take, since she last saw him and she had imagined sex. Lots of sex.

“And what are you doing to resolve this problem?”

“I have my best team looking for them, but they’re not in New Orleans anymore.”

“It’s been a day! They could be anywhere!”

“She didn’t even want to be here!” Myriam shot at him before taking a deep breath to calm herself in case things would escalate. She knew that Klaus wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, but even he could do crazy things in his rage. “Klaus, please trust me that I have my best team looking for her. If it makes you feel any better, I can show you the footage of the security camera in her room of her and Katherine talking after Circe and I left.”

“What about before that?”

“You don’t want to see that, Klaus,” Myriam stopped him from pacing and put her arms around him. “It just involves a lot of screaming and crying.”

“It worked, then?”

“We don’t know yet,” she replied as she kissed along his jaw. “We were hoping to find out when she’d wake up again. But, according to her conversation with Katherine, she wasn’t feeling safe here.”

“That’s ridiculous. This building is the safest place there is. There are so many spells on this building to hide people, to ward off unwanted guests. Your security is top notch,” Klaus gave into Myriam’s calming influence and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry, love, I just hate it when things don’t work out with the girls I send to you.”

“Who says it didn’t work out? She’ll be back,” she smiled at him. “I think she didn’t feel safe here because she only knows Katherine and I purposely kept them apart to see what Calypso would do, to assess her.”

“And, on top of that, you only tolerated Katherine because of her and the fact that Katherine could die at the hands of the Cullens as well.”

“Yes.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Yes,” Myriam coyly replied as she pulled him towards her desk. “We can have that reunion you’ve promised me for a century.”

~o.O.o~

She woke up with the sun shining on her face, in a moving vehicle and the radio softly on. Startled, she shook the blanket off of her before noticing Katherine sitting next to her.

“Morning, chickpea! Welcome to Mexico!” Katherine greeted her joyfully. “Want me to stop somewhere so you can freshen up and eat something?”

Calypso slowly nodded as she looked around in a daze. “Mexico?”

“A full day’s drive, mind you, dodging all the traffic accidents and compelling cops and border officials… I haven’t had so much fun fleeing the country since Klaus stopped chasing me!” Katherine laughed as she reached out to the girl to push her hair out of her face. “You okay, kiddo?”

“I’m fine,” she replied as she kept looking out of the window. “The less we talk about what happened, the better. They won’t find us.”

“No decisions.”

“No decisions,” Calypso nodded. One of the Cullens could find you whenever you made a decision and if she was looking for you. But who was she kidding? There was no way that she was going to be on the run for the rest of her immortal life. There was only one way to kill her, and that formula was in Carlisle’s laboratory. Katherine could die easier. Dying was likely the easiest way to get away from them, and even that was going to be hard for Calypso.

Perhaps she could request a lobotomy when they’d find her and brought her back. At least that way all the pain and thoughts would stay away. She’d be hidden inside the compound, only for Cold Ones to use and no outside interference. It wasn’t ideal, but it would be the best solution, wouldn’t it? Running forever? Was that true freedom? “This isn’t going to work.”

“Yes it is, you’ll see,” Katherine said as she pulled into a parking lot. “Come on, let’s get us something to eat.”

~o.O.o~

“Do you have any idea what I had to do to get through the security doors to see you?” Kol huffed as he dusted himself off. “Your witches are tough cookies!”

Klaus growled. They were in the process of cleaning up Myriam’s office after celebrating their reunion and were fully dressed but had his idiot brother managed to find them a few minutes earlier; it would have been an entirely different story. “What do you want?”

“Meet your girlfriend, of course,” Kol said lightly, leaning against the doorway. “It’s incredibly fascinating how long this relationship has lasted, knowing you.”

“Get out!” Klaus grabbed the closest object to him and threw it at his brother, who caught the empty mug and sniffed at it.

“It wasn’t coffee inside of this mug,” he remarked as he watched the woman. He could tell why Klaus liked her so much. Her dark hair, slightly colored skin, flawless. And that face. Gorgeous. “Sure, I’ll get out, but you wouldn’t hear what I’ve discovered.”

“What?”

“Well, I’ve discovered that your little pet project Marcel Gerard takes after you. He’s taken over New Orleans in your absence and has the witches scrambling in fear. They can’t perform ancestral magic or else. Apparently, there’s this tiny witch who can sense it, and he finds the offending witches and kills them,” Kol said, venom evident in his voice. “I don’t like it. I do like, however, the way your girlfriend protected this place. Traditional magic. Dark objects that are likely mine. Ancient magic, but nothing ancestral.”

“Because of Marcel,” Myriam finally spoke. “That dick has been nothing but a headache.”

“Then why didn’t you stop him?”

“Well, Kol, I’m running a sex club. I can’t lead three factions of supernatural beings on the side,” she retorted. “And I didn’t tell Klaus about it because he had his issues to deal with. Marcel might be a dick, but at least there’s some control. While what he does to the witches is bullshit, his vampires have rules. Humanity is important to him, so his vampires are being kept in check. Every once in awhile, he throws this huge party at the compound where his vampires can feed, compel and let their victims go. Quite ingenious. I keep my nose out of his business, and he stays out of mine.”

“Does he know what you do, love?” Klaus asked, a smile appearing on his face, sitting in Myriam’s chair behind her desk and enjoyed the banter between her and his brother.

Myriam narrowed her eyes on her lover, seeing right through his question. “No, he doesn’t know that you’re involved. From what I heard is that Mikael told him you abandoned him like you do with everyone else and Marcel accepted that as truth. He took your place as King of New Orleans out of spite. He loves people. He occasionally brings me a girl who’s in need of my help.”

“Does he know we’re here?” Klaus asked his brother.

“Well, no, our entrance was quite stealthy, but my guess is that by the end of the day he’ll know I’m here seeing as I went to the Quarter and all,” Kol smirked. “He doesn’t have to know about you.”

“You should pay him a visit.”

“I might,” Kol replied, bouncing the mug that had previously been thrown at him in his hand. “Another discovery; I had to convince a witch to do a locator spell for me. One of my own, magic that wouldn’t be detected by Marcel’s bloodhound. Katherine and the girl are in Mexico.”

Myriam huffed. “My witches came up empty.”

“As I said; a spell of my own,” Kol said proudly. “My spells always hit their mark.”

“Do you know where in Mexico?”

“No, but I think they’re heading towards the border.”

“I’ll inform my team,” Myriam said as she took out her phone and shot off a message to Alina. She had a bunch of people working for them whose names all started with an A; jokingly she referred to her team as the A-Team, which they were in all sense of the word. They were good. Very good. There were two former Army women on the team, a hacker, a witch and a grifter. The perfect combination to track down supernaturals or those who hurt the girls in Myriam’s care.

“Goodie,” Kol threw the mug back at Klaus. “I’ll be off then, I’ll be staying at the family mansion, and I’ll keep you apprised of the Marcel situation. Make sure you find our girl, Niklaus.”

When Kol left, Myriam turned to Klaus. “You do know that he’s going to try to get New Orleans back, don’t you?”

An amused smile danced across Klaus’ lips. “I do.”

“And?”

“And I have faith in my brother to hand it over to me once he’s successful. Kol doesn’t like running things. He merely wants to be a hero to the witches.”

“You don’t like running things, either, Klaus. You merely enjoy the power that comes with the seat.”

“Fine, I’ll have Elijah in charge.”

Myriam let out a snort before reading back the text from Alina. “They’re on their way to Mexico now.”

~o.O.o~

After eating, feeding and changing cars, Calypso curled up on the backseat of their vehicle and continued to nap. She was still so tired, and it was out of character for her to look so worn, so beaten. Katherine could only imagine what the girl remembered; it was likely that most of her memories were from before Katherine even met her.

Thirty years was a long time, but it was easy to forget that there was a 120-year history before their meeting. Katherine kept driving, not thinking about where they were going, merely driving and not stopping for anything. On occasion, the car would fill itself with primal screams coming from the back seat and when it happened the first time it took everything in Katherine’s power to keep the vehicle on the road.

So raw. So much pain.

It took them another day and a half to get to Nicaragua to an area called Paso Caballos. There was a diner there, and Katherine figured it was a good place to rest up a little. The beach was gorgeous. Calypso seemed to be in better spirits as well.

They ate and then Katherine compelled a few people for their towels so they could laze about on the beach; Calypso wasn’t on edge, more reserved, but Katherine was confident that she wouldn’t leave her should she accidentally doze off.

“Still not going to tell me your real name?”

“Do you want them to find us?” Calypso retorted in the same tone of voice Katherine had used. “I’m sorry, Katherine, but if we want to die, it’s better to end things ourselves.”

It was slightly disturbing to hear her talk like that. Everything used to be fine. “I’m sorry, but who are you and what have you done to my chickpea?”

Calypso looked over to her and sighed. “My apologies, Katherine,” she murmured. “I don’t mean to…” she scooted over on her towel and put her head on Katherine’s chest. “I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

“We’ll figure it out, I promise,” Katherine kissed the top of the girl’s head.

“I hope so,” she muttered before looking up at her. “Maybe we could find another witch who could do the same Circe did to me? Find out more?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know. I am aware that the Cullens are bad people now, but there’s still a yearning inside of me who wants to go back to them. I want it to stop,” the girl said in barely a whisper. “Even now, talking like this, so freely… it feels wrong. I feel conflicted.”

“But it feels good, doesn’t it?”

“Does it have to feel good? Because I could make it feel good for myself if you like?”

Katherine caressed the girl’s back and sighed. “Don’t do things you don’t want to do. You have a choice not to do things. If you don’t want to do it, then don’t. I won’t get mad. For now, let’s just enjoy the warmth of the sun for a couple of hours before we continue our way.”

Calypso nestled underneath Katherine’s arm and closed her eyes. The sound of the waves of the ocean beating the shore was enough for her to eventually calm herself and noticed that Katherine had dozed off. Calypso wanted to find another witch to help her unlock her memories, her earlier memories mostly. If that was even possible.

How could a girl – she – end up the way that she had? Was there something faulty about her that Dr. Cullen thought deserving of his pity? Did he fancy her for himself, perhaps? If he had, why had he given her to Edward like he had in her memory? Who had she been before ending up with Dr. Cullen?

She had spoken to Ms. Jenkins about her grandmother. She remembered that she was being taught how to cook, but she couldn’t remember her grandmother’s face. Where had her parents been? Was the name she remembered as her own even her own? Katherine obviously didn’t like her behavior, and Calypso wasn’t sure she liked it either. Could she simply forget what had been unlocked inside of her and be the person Katherine wanted her to be?

She was going to try. She didn’t want to be a mean person; she wanted to be kind. She wanted to be helpful and use the abilities that Dr. Cullen had given her for something good. “Katherine?” She whispered as she looked up, but didn’t get a response. Of course not, the vampire had been driving for two days straight, and while vampires could do without sleep, sometimes it was nice to crash.

But wouldn’t it be nice to tell Katherine that she wanted to find an orphanage or something and make those children feel anything other than despair? Calypso had the means to do so, and it was something that she wanted before they’d continue to run as far as they possibly could.

Calypso closed her eyes for one second, just one second, and then her entire world collapsed. Katherine was cold and gray, and a large stake was stuck in her heart. She frantically tried to remove the stake, and when she did, it didn’t seem to have any effect. Katherine was just dead. Gone.

It was only then she realized that two sets of feet were standing next to the body and she looked up to see the face of Emmett Cullen. Calypso could hear her heart pound in her chest as she scrambled to her feet and started to back away from him.

“Don’t worry, princess,” Emmett said kindly, holding out his hand as he smiled at her. “Katherine was wrong in taking you away. She only got what she deserved. It’s in her contract.”

Calypso swallowed hard as she continued to move backward. She tried to influence Emmett in perhaps leaving her alone, but all she could feel were a lot of negative emotions. Bad ones, and he wasn’t hiding it.

“Come, let’s get you home. Edward can’t wait to see you again. He was worried sick that something might have happened to you!”

She could try to run, but he would be faster. She could try to fight, but he was a lot stronger than she was and without Katherine to feed off of, she was as strong as a regular human being. Even if she’d manage to run away from him and escape, where would she go? It wasn’t as if she could drive a car herself! If she’d be taken home, she’d be rebooted or worse. And while she had thought of it as an option before, now that it was going to happen she felt fear. There was panic and fear in her bones, and she couldn’t shake it.

“What’s wrong, princess? Did something happen to you? Did they damage you?”

Maybe appealing to Emmett would help her. He was only doing his job for Dr. Cullen, wasn’t he? He’d never hurt her or even touched her inappropriately. He knew she was Edward’s. “Please, Emmett,” she said hoarsely, tears streaming down her face. “Please don’t take me back there. Dr. Cullen does bad things.”

“I know,” he said, gently taking her hand and smiled at her. “It’s alright, princess, I know you’re scared, and I promise I won’t take you back home. You’ll be safe with me, I promise.”

“Really?”

“Have I done anything to hurt you?”

“No.”

“Then trust me on this, okay?”

“But you came to take me home. You killed Katherine because she broke her contract and-”

“Shh,” he pulled her closer and hugged her tightly. “It’s going to be alright. Come, it’s only a short drive to the airport. You’ll be safe soon.”

Calypso had expected it to be worse, but Emmett seemed to know exactly what she was afraid of. He was aware that Dr. Cullen was a bad guy and he wasn’t going to take her to him. That was good. She had heard horror stories about Emmett, that he would kill a girl without reason, but he had just proven that his kills were justified.

Katherine had broken her contract. Katherine took Calypso away and made sure that she couldn’t fulfill her contract with the Cullens. Calypso was in so much trouble that she hoped that Emmett would keep her safe and not return her to Dr. Cullen.

Nodding, she allowed Emmett to guide her to the waiting car as she looked over her shoulder to Katherine’s body. “Goodbye, Katherine,” she murmured. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

nextalph

3 Comments:

  1. Wouldn’t that be grand? The story would end in five chapters!

  2. Why haven’t Klaus and Kol thought about tracking down Carlisle and his little bitch and killed them? that is what i would like to see happen.

  3. Poor Bella.. she can’t tell anyone her name she can’t talk about everything and she is scared to death of Emmett and the Cullens.. You got to feel for her and poor katherine… She was trying to be good and do something right and she paided for it that is just wrong. Update again soon.. want to read more and see who in the hell takes out emmett.. hope its Kol. 🙂

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.