Chapter 33

After her afternoon with Myriam, Bella texted Kol that she was going home and order pizza. She wasn’t in the mood to go to the compound knowing that Freya would be hogging Kol and refusing Bella’s inclusion in whatever they were doing. She figured that despite cancelled plans, Kol was having a blast for being able to work with his sister on some magic things and that was fine.

Kol texted her back that he was going to be a while longer, which she expected, and made herself comfortable on the balcony with her laptop and the pizza and simply started to write on a new story she’d started after finally finishing the other one. It was a one shot where Bella Swan, the cheap copy from Twilight, was a fierce warrior princess in Ancient Norway. She had been taken as a child and raised by a clan of vikings, the Cullens, and fell in love with one of the boys from the villages around them.

This boy had quite the handful of siblings, as was normal for those times, and as their relationship progressed, the long lost sister of the clan returned and she believed that Bella was a great evil that would be the downfall of the family. One night, Bella snuck into the home of the family and abducted the sister; tying her up in her cave and slowly killing her over the course of weeks. It started with peeling off the skin and allowing it to heal enough to form crusts, before chipping those off too. She’d drag the sister off to a salt bath and throw her in it.

She’d take toes, pinkies and ears and leave them at the house while still hanging around with the boy, helping with the efforts of looking for their sister, but of course, she was never to be found. At night, Bella would continue her torture before finally getting bored and ripped out the girl’s heart.

Bella sighed happily and immediately published the story, not even going over it for small mistakes or anything, she just needed to get it out there. Feeling a lot better, she finished off the pizza and relaxed, waiting for the reviews to roll in, no doubt they were going to be hilarious. Almost immediately, she could hear Myriam’s evil cackling coming from across the street and grinned. “You’re welcome!” She shouted from her spot on the balcony.

Myriam appeared on the balcony across from Bella and was still laughing her ass off. “It would have been better with more blood!”

“Next time!”

“I’m going to hold you to that!”

Bella laughed and shook her head as she took a sip of her lemonade and grabbed her kindle to browse the store for books on pregnancy. Better to start early than to freak out later, right? What to do when you’re having two, yeah, that sounded great. She managed to read the first chapter before she got distracted by the reviews that kept pinging on her laptop and they were all amusing as hell. Some demanding more of this warrior Bella, demanding her to slaughter the Cullens and then the Volturi and maybe even the wolf pack in the most gruesome of ways.

Myriam’s cackling could still be heard from across the street, no doubt she was reading the reviews as well.

Bella had a feeling that the coming months would provide so much story ideas that she was going to spam her readers, but that was fine, she still felt she needed to make up for the fact that for them, she had disappeared for two years.

When Kol hadn’t returned by midnight, Bella debated on going over to pull him away from whatever he was doing, but decided not to. She wasn’t a controlling girlfriend. Kol wouldn’t leave her and he’d still be on her side when he returned. Bella packed up her things on the balcony and brought it inside before climbing the stairs to her bedroom, undressing and making herself comfortable in her nest. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

She woke up to heavy snoring from beside her in the middle of the night and hit Kol with a pillow to stop him before getting out of bed to pee. When she returned, he was wide awake. “Why did you do that?”

“You woke me up,” Bella shrugged. “Did you have fun with your sister?”

Kol huffed as he pulled Bella into his arms and pulled the covers over them. “I must admit, Freya is very powerful but everything we’ve tried to validate this prophecy even further turned to nothing. It’s nothing to worry about, but then again, my siblings always find something to fret about. There has been a lull in conflict, hence why they want to do this themselves, without your help.”

“So it’s boredom?”

“Yes, and no,” he sighed as he ran his fingers through her hair. “The prophecy might simply be a distraction for something different and I suspect it has something to do with my siblings’ first sires.”

“Great,” Bella sighed with a yawn as she shifted a little to be more comfortable.

“How was your afternoon with Myriam?”

Bella huffed. “I’ll tell you in the morning, go back to sleep.”

“Well, I’m awake now.”

“I’m not!”

“But you’re talking,” he laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Tell me.”

She sighed as she shifted a little more, throwing her leg over his for more comfort and warmth. “Myriam noticed something was wrong or different. Usually I get something I like while we’re shopping or I’m more engaging. I was trying hard not to show her anything had changed.”

“She figured it out?”

“Eventually, yes,” Bella looked up at him. “I had to tell her, Kol. She’s my friend and she knows how to keep a secret and-”

“Hey, that’s okay,” Kol softly kissed her. “It’s a good thing you’ve told her, at least that will save me from having to deal with your women issues.”

“You’re such a jerk.”

“And proudly owning that title, thank you very much,” Kol grinned as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I never believed my brother to be this dim, but he still believes that we’re doing a human experiment.”

“Or he already knows but keeps quiet about it, humouring us.”

“Or that,” Kol scowled.

“I told Myriam about our plans for moving out and into something bigger and a ground floor entrance and she…” Bella sighed. “I don’t like the idea, but I think for our sanity and safety, it’s a good idea.”

She didn’t need to use the words to tell him Myriam had suggested they’d move back into the compound, temporarily or not. He had been thinking about this when he was with Freya. Bella was likely good for another few weeks with climbing the stairs, but once she’d start to grow bigger, it’d be a hazard, especially when carrying a bag or something else. Not to mention, once the babies were born. But he also knew that other apartments or houses were likely not in their taste as of right now. And Bella deserved nothing but the best.

Not only would it please Niklaus to have the both of them under his roof for extra safety, the family would be a great help once the babies were born, or even during Bella’s pregnancy. The compound was big enough for the entire family. He didn’t mind living there as his siblings generally left him alone, he moved out because Bella wanted him to. “Wait, you wanted me to move out and move in with you.”

“Yes. Like I said, I don’t like the idea but it’s a great idea,” Bella wasn’t surprised that Kol already knew what she was talking about. Great minds thought alike, after all. “Myriam offered to call in a contractor to make our own little corner of the compound, redo a few of the rooms on the ground floor and likely build a false wall to hide us from plain sight and give us more privacy. We might be in over our heads.”

Kol laughed at that. “Darling, we are in over our heads, but we’re going to be alright. However, I do think it’s a good idea for us to temporarily move back in with Nik. It’ll give us some more time to find a home of our own that we feel good with to raise a family.”

“Yeah, about that…” She lightly touched his chin with her index finger. “I don’t want to raise a family in the Quarter. At least not right here. I want our babies to know what grass is.”

“You’re quite demanding, aren’t you?” He softly kissed her. “We’ll have some time to decide where we’d want to live in New Orleans, there are parks a plenty.” He then let out a snort. “Don’t tell me you wish to move back to Mystic Falls.”

“No!” Bella shook her head. “That’s the worst idea ever. Especially with stupid Elena still walking around. The boys I can handle but Elena? Hell no.”

“Good, because I’ll have you know that once everyone knows we’re going to have babies, they’ll be all over us and they wouldn’t want us to leave New Orleans ever again for a long period of time.”

“Screw them. They’re our kids, not theirs,” Bella replied. “Besides, even if we’d move to Mystic Falls… if Klaus is truly done with messing around with Elena, who’s still a freaking vampire, you can just kill her, can’t you? It would free up my boys as well, to hopefully do something more worthwhile with their lives.”

Kol was surprised to hear that. “You want me to kill Elena?”

“Why not?”

“We could go now and do it,” Kol said excitedly. “Please?”

“We’re in bed,” Bella pointed out.

He sucked in a breath and nodded. “Good point. And we’re awake… I don’t know about you, but I need a little bit of exercise before I can get back to sleep again.”

Giggling, Bella crawled on top of him and straddled his waist as she pushed her hair out of her face. “I think that’s a great idea.”

~o.O.o~

Kol told her to go to the Garden District by herself as he was going to spend more time with Freya and his other siblings, promising Bella to tell her more about what they were doing that evening, because she was included. No, Bella could scout out the store and if it was really that great, he was sure going to return there with her.

Frustrated, Bella stayed at home instead. She wanted to do this with Kol, and not without him. After cleaning the house and making a groceries list, she decided to see if Helios was back and called him. Grandfather or not, he had raised her after all, and she felt like she had to tell him.

Heya Bells! How are you doing?”

Bella smiled upon hearing his voice, for some reason it made her feel a lot better. “I’m glad to hear you’re back in cellphone range,” she replied. “I still have to thank you for the beautiful apartment.”

You deserve it, sweetheart. Hades could have handled things differently.”

Bella hummed in agreement. “He’s a jerk and not because of what he did before, but what he’s done now.”

Do I want to know?”

“I think you’d want to hear this, yeah… I still don’t know how I feel about this.”

Give me five minutes and I’ll pop over.”

“Really? You’d do that for me?”

Five minutes, make sure there’s coffee.” Helios then disconnected the call and Bella looked at the phone for a moment, stunned that Helios was willing to come over like that. Charlie never liked leaving Forks, but then again, Helios was Charlie and likely a character. Plus, if you had a beach in your own house, why leave at all?

Five minutes later, the coffee was still brewing and Helios poofed in right next to Bella, causing her to jump back and look at him in a daze. “I have a front door!”

“I don’t need one,” he retorted, a playful smile on his face.

“Yeah well, I want Charlie, my dad. I don’t want Helios. Go poof out and use the front door!”

Observing Bella’s antics, he merely laughed and did as he was told. After Charlie rung the doorbell, Bella made her way downstairs and opened the door, Charlie grinning in front of her. “Took you long enough, Bells,” he said as he hugged her.

“Thanks for coming,” she muttered in his embrace. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, sweetheart,” he replied as he let go of her and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “You like your new apartment?”

“Oh yes, very much,” Bella said as she followed him up the stairs. “It’s close to everything and it’s safe and beautiful. I love the woody look of it, too.”

“Good job with the fairy lights,” Charlie replied with a snort as he came upstairs. “Oh, coffee!” His attention now directed to the kitchen. “You won’t mind if I pour myself some, right?”

Bella sighed. This still wasn’t Charlie. It was almost as if Helios had given up on being Charlie after her falling into her powers, but right now, she had wished that he was still this stoic person. She sat down on the couch and watched him move around as she waited for him to come and join her.

When he eventually did, she scooted over to him and put her arms around him. “How are things in Forks?”

“Everything’s returning to normal. There were a few cases of missing children, but we’ve found them safe and well. As it turned out, they had found some old tunnels deep in the woods and decided to camp out there. And then the entrance collapsed. They should consider themselves lucky that they were found,” he replied with a shrug. “I’ve been giving lectures on safety and stuff in schools. Quite boring.”

Bella smiled at that and breathed in her father’s scent. It smelled of his brand of detergent and his after shave, something she had really missed. “I should have come to Forks…”

“Nonsense, your life is here,” he said as he put his arm around her. “But perhaps I should try less to be the absentee parent in your life, even though I’m not really your parent?”

Bella smiled at that. “I’d like that, but please, no shenanigans. My life is pretty crazy as it is already.”

“You know, if you tell them to stop messing with ya, they will listen,” Charlie said as he took a sip of his coffee. “How many have you encountered so far?”

“How many?” Bella blinked at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Everyone’s curious about you, aren’t they popping in and out of your life just to see how you’re doing and who you are?”

“Thank God they’re not,” Bella said surprised. “Or if they were, I’m glad they don’t make themselves known! The Ancestors would go crazy if there are more Gods in the city and I don’t want to appease them again after I promised them that nothing would… please please please don’t tell me that they’re already here.”

“Okay, I won’t,” Charlie smirked. “Plausible deniability! Although you should be able to pick up on them.”

“No, because I asked Hades to turn down the whole feeling aspect as it’s connected through seeing and hearing ghosts and moving them on and shit. Don’t want that. Don’t need the extra… no. I don’t want to know and they can all just fuck off, you can tell them that.”

“Alright, sweetheart,” he kissed the top of her head. “Now, why did I come over? You sounded pretty upset on the phone.”

“I’m not upset. Well… maybe I am,” she thought for a moment. “I’m 30 percent in love with this already, 50 percent scared shitless because both Kol and I are totally not equipped to handle this yet but also knowing we can’t do anything about it and hope that whatever comes next won’t end up resenting us for being bad for them and 20 percent extremely pissed off at Hades for violating a deal we had,” Bella rambled, as she kept her arms around Charlie.

“You made a deal with Hades? The same Hades who doesn’t like leaving his little cozy world down below because it’s nice and quiet Hades? The one who you should be pissed at for taking you away from your new family Hades?”

“Yep.”

He sighed deep and tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, I may have lost my pull somewhat when it comes to dealings about you… but what the hell did he do now?”

“It wasn’t really a deal, more like a reward and…”

“You negotiated.”

“And he broke it.”

“Alright, what is it? Tell me so I can punch him.”

Bella let out a breath and all of a sudden felt awkward for telling her father that her vampire boyfriend’s seed had been made fertile again and that she was now pregnant without having said boyfriend by her side to tell her dad. “Hold on,” she said as she got up and swung open the doors of the balcony. “KOL!”

Before she knew it, Kol was standing with her on the balcony. “Damn, woman, calm your titties,” he rolled his eyes at her before sensing her father in the livingroom. “Oh, hell no.”

“I called him, I wanted to have my dad’s cuddles…” Bella pouted as she looked at him. “We need to tell him. And then tell your family. I think that’s for the best.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m still emotionally stable enough to handle their craziness and I don’t think I’ll be able to when we wait a few more weeks,” she softly kissed him. “I know we’re both not ready to accept what’s happening and that we’re scared shitless, but maybe telling a parent will help with it all.”

“He’s not your real father.”

“No, but he raised me,” Bella pointed out, rubbing his arm. “Please?”

“Yeah, alright,” Kol followed Bella into the living room and nodded towards Helios. “Good to see you again, Helios.”

Charlie shook Kol’s hand. “Charlie. Bella wanted Charlie.”

“That’s even worse,” Kol scowled as he shot a look at Bella. Charlie had guns, no doubt he’d shoot him if he’d been able to. She was right, he had been given it some thought, especially after her telling Myriam. Telling the family would be so much better, there’d be so much of a support system – after the initial fall out, likely – but they wouldn’t have to do this alone. The whole family would be involved, and he felt safer with his family behind them despite despising them sometimes.

“Now you’re both scaring me,” Charlie said, looking at the two people in front of him. He wasn’t used to unusual pairings, not in his family, but an Original vampire and a Demi-Goddess? He was proud of them for making this work, and work so well even after the crap that his cousin put them through when he took Bella away for training. It’s something he should have done, really, but he liked his little girl being so happy.

“You need to sit down,” Bella said as she gently pushed Charlie back onto the couch. “So basically… after Hades took me for me to fix my own mess and then train me, he admitted that he was a jerk and said that if Kol and I were ever ready to start a family that I should tell him that so he can make ‘the land fertile again’ as in, make Kol’s seeds happy swimmers again.”

“Of course,” Charlie sighed. “People often tend to forget that he could do that. If you can make the land fertile again, why not-” he stopped dead in his words and then blinked in shock. “He broke his word? You’re expecting?!”

“Surprise?”

2 Comments:

  1. Glad Myriam will help with fixing a place for them but still iffy on them living with the rest of the Mikaelsons.

  2. that is not fair i wanted to see what his reaction was going to be to Bella’s unexpected pregnancy that is not nice. now i have to wait a wait to see about the vein popping out of his forehead. lol Update again soon i want to see charlies reaction and then nik and the others reaction

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