Chapter 14

“Where are you going?” Myriam asked playfully as she walked behind Bella, feeling the edges of her shield, for now playing along with Bella’s little escape. It was in the middle of the night, people were still in the streets and were being pushed aside as Bella passed them with her shield.

“Go away,” Bella said as she continued to walk. Edward said he’d be at the big bridge that went over the water and with a little luck she would find it. Still, walking down the street was quite scary, even with her shield up. ‘Be a good girl and keep walking.’ She couldn’t believe that Myriam, her sister, was afraid of her. Hadn’t she been looking for Bella all this time? She even said that she was able to make Bella safe to be around.

Bella didn’t need to be safe to be around. She had excellent control over her telepathy. She hated it. She hated it so much. She hated it that she could hurt people. She was a monster and she needed to be put away. “I’m a good girl.”

Myriam huffed as she pushed her hands in her pockets and continued to walk behind her sister. “Good girls don’t walk away from their home.”

“It’s not my home. I’ve tried. Everyone’s afraid of me, treats me as if I’m an idiot and I don’t want to feel anymore,” Bella said, picking up the pace as she crossed Jackson Square. The water was there, all she needed now was to find the bridge with Edward on it. “I-I am going home now. Doctor Carlisle will fix me and it’ll be okay. No more feelings. No more thoughts.”

She sucked in a breath as she tried to come up with a response. “Bella, you’re broken to them now,” she eventually said. “Freya’s magic and potions have cleansed your body from the magic the Cullens had you on, the potions, the herbs. You’re starting to come into your own personality, you’re using your words intelligently, you’re voicing your thoughts. You’re of no use to them now, just imagine what the Cullens will do to you to get you back to where you were.”

“I welcome it,” Bella said proudly. “Because I’m a good girl. I’m a monster. I deserve this.”

“They might not even try to get you back to where you were, they might just end up destroying you for being even more defective,” Myriam pointed out. “You know what they thought of you, you heard their thoughts. Their voices.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Well, I do,” Myriam huffed. “I don’t want them to destroy you for who you are and what you can do. Or because they don’t want to fix you, because you’re my sister and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Easy for you to say,” Bella huffed. “You’re immortal. I still die.”

“Not if you turn, too. You don’t have to become a Cold One, you can ask Kol to turn you. With traditionals, magic won’t transfer with us. You could be free. You could still live a happy and healthy life.”

“Don’t you get it?” Bella cried out. “I’m tired. I’m so tired of everything. I’m tired of not being good enough. I’m tired of being a danger. I’m tired of needing to learn everything. I don’t want to be a burden, nor that people fear me. I’m tired of people not trusting me, that I’m not going to abuse my ability to hear their inner thoughts. The Mikaelsons made it clear I needed to stay out, and I am. I can be trusted. I’m a good girl! If Edward doesn’t want to fix me and destroy me instead, then I welcome it.”

Myriam wasn’t sure if this behaviour was because of the so-called ‘trigger’, or that Bella had been hiding her progress from them all. From the sounds of it, she was hitting puberty. She was a fast learner, and Myriam couldn’t be more proud. But to hear that her sister was aching for a release, to make sure she wouldn’t be a danger to everyone around her, hurt. She wasn’t going to let go of Bella, she would never do that.

Myriam knew that Kol, and likely Klaus, were right on their tail but out of sight. It was a relief that she wasn’t alone, but she was grateful that they did recognize that they’d only make things worse for this situation if they’d come in and try to talk Bella out of this. She caught a whiff of Freya, and looking over her shoulder, she saw the blonde witch, waving sheepishly.

Bella stilled then, when they came across a bridge. It was the same bridge from her dreams and she could sense Edward already, even though she shouldn’t, he was too far away for her to sense him. It was getting worse. Her curse was getting worse. She knew that she was out of his range, and rethought her options. She couldn’t go back. The Mikaelsons were good people and Bella was a danger to them. Kol didn’t even like her that much anymore and if it hadn’t been for Myriam, she would have been alone.

Kindness was a nice way of living, but it wasn’t for her. She didn’t deserve it. It was time to go home. “Before I walk further, can you explain to me why Kol hasn’t been around much? I know he’s been in his room a lot.”

“Why should I tell you? If you’re going back to the Cullens it’s not important,” Myriam said angrily. “If you want an answer to that question, you’re going to forget about the Cullens and come back with me so you can ask Kol yourself.”

She’s taking her time. Perhaps her sister is with her. Good, then this will be easy. Give the command, and it’s over. And then we’re going after those traditionals that have been harboring them and pluck them raw. They need to pay for the losses we’ve had in the last few weeks because of them. Pay for corrupting the girl to the point where fixing is not an option, even Carlisle thinks that it’ll be brutal if they tried. Not for the girl, but for them. The Volturi are well angry and if we don’t kill these traditionals, then the Volturi will kill us, and then them. Figure out where Bella’s sister has been all this time and kill those responsible.

And then, only then, we can start rebuilding. Restart with a new set of humans desperate for money and a child. Where the fuck is she? I can’t cross this bridge even further without alerting the traditionals! ‘Where are you?’

Bella couldn’t believe what she heard and saw in Edward’s head. Death. A lot of it. Myriam’s death. Kol’s death. Everyone’s death or extremely hurt. It was ugly. She had seen a lot of ugliness in his head before, but it had been her life then. Now that she knew better… Even if she would go back to him, everyone would be dead. But she couldn’t stay, either. Turning back to her sister, there was something akin to fear in her eyes. “What’s your opinion about the Mikaelsons? The truth and not holding anything back. Tell me about Kol,” Bella said as she lowered her shield to allow Myriam in. “Are they truly better? Good? The way people are supposed to be?”

“I told you, you can come back and ask them yourself.”

“No, I want to hear it from you,” Bella said as she grabbed hold of her sister’s shirt. Tightly. “Tell me. Make me understand. Quickly.”

Myriam was taken aback, blinking. “Um, I suppose. Definitely, infinitely better than the Cullens. They love and see one another as a family and will defend against anyone that comes after them or anyone they consider family. As far as Kol… he’s conflicted how he feels about you. He feels more than he should knowing that you aren’t ready for the kind of relationship he’d like which is why he avoids you. That’s why he needed to tell you that himself and he should still if you come back with me.”

“It’s because I’m not normal, is it?”

“None of us are normal. Jasper made me not trust any man, Bella,” she pointed out.

“But you trust Klaus, don’t you? You’re mean to him, but I don’t think you truly mean it.”

“If I trusted him, I don’t think I would push him away like I do. Not like that,” she sighed, looking towards the bridge in desperation.

“But can you trust him in taking care of you? And me? Like he has?”

Turning to look her in the eyes, Myriam nodded. “I do, yes,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t hurt us.”

“And whatever comes our way – soon – he will make sure you’re safe, right?”

She narrowed her eyes on her sister, concern growing. “Bella? What do you hear? We will make it out of this together. You hear me?”

“Even if I’d go back to Edward, he won’t stop until he gets to you, and the Mikaelsons and your parents…” she whispered. “He’s scaring me with his thoughts. These thoughts usually come from Emmett.”

“Then you are not going back. We will fight them together,” Myriam grabbed her sister’s shoulders. “We will do this as a family. Don’t listen to him unless you can hear something that can help us against them.”

“I think that answer is me…” Bella said as she looked at her sister. “They are all here. The Cullens. Somewhere in New Orleans. Edward wants to give me the command and get it over with… what if he does that in a confined area for them? I could hurt them.”

“What do you mean?”

Bella sighed as she looked over her shoulder towards the bridge. “Because you and Kol are right, apparently. There is a hidden trigger for me to go nuclear, and not just like… scramble brains. Kill.”

“Nope, not going to happen,” Myriam said as she turned her sister back to face her. “Let’s go back to the compound where we’re safe and talk some more.”

Shit. Fuck. How did they know I was here? I can’t wait longer. You know what? Fuck it. Fuck New Orleans. Fuck Carlisle and fuck the Volturi. ‘Bella.’

“He’s getting impatient, you need to go,” Bella said scared. “Make sure that these people in these houses are gone. He’s going to think it. He’s-”

La Cantata si libera.’

Bella stumbled back and fell on the floor, clutching her head, closing her eyes as she tried to stop it. “You need to go, please,” she cried. “I can’t stop it. I- my head hurts so bad… people are going to die, Myriam!”

“Absolutely not,” Myriam said as she sat down next to Bella and put her arms around her. “I’m staying, because nothing is going to happen to those people here, remember?”

Bella was crying as pain shot through her head and looked at Myriam. “You want to test that theory now?”

“This information comes from Peter himself. Absorb and deflect. I trust Peter, we can make sure the people of New Orleans don’t get hurt, just let yourself go. It’s okay. I’m here.” Myriam kissed Bella’s temple. Oh, she was scared shitless. It was an unproven theory but a sound one. But they wouldn’t know what would happen until it actually happened. She could feel Bella’s energy vibrate underneath her skin as she was holding her. “What did he unlock?”

“Everything,” Bella said in a small voice, holding onto her sister. “So much power… it hurts. It hurts so bad…”

“Let it all go, it’ll be alright,” Myriam comforted her. “You won’t hurt anyone, I promise.” She could feel how Bella was still fighting it, and she applauded her sister’s stubbornness but now was likely not the time. “Stop hurting yourself. Let it go. Allow Edward’s last act to make you whole so you can live a beautiful life.”

“How’d you-”

“Just a guess,” Myriam kissed Bella’s head again. “Go on then, give me all you’ve got.”

“It hurts…”

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered as she held onto Bella even tighter. When Bella couldn’t hold it anymore, she didn’t hold back. Myriam could feel Bella’s gift bounce between them as Myriam’s gift worked. Deflect and absorb, until there was nothing left to deflect and absorb. Myriam could feel it underneath her skin, inside her mind, Bella kept crying out in pain as her gift kept bouncing between them.

When both girls collapsed, Kol and Klaus made their way over to them to make sure that they were still breathing, at least. They had heard the conversation between the girls and had quietly discussed to let Edward go, for now. To let him come to them and kill them all. Bella was still breathing but unconscious, and Myriam was unconscious, but still in one piece. “Well,” Klaus said a bit lightheartedly. “At least we now know that her sister can knock her out.”

“It’s not funny, Nik,” Kol said as he scooped up Bella. “Freya, get Keelin, Bella needs to be checked over,” he told his sister who was hiding somewhere close.

Klaus lifted Myriam in his arms after tying a part of his shirt around her leaking arm. “She needs rest to recover, she’s leaking venom,” he said as he started to run home with her.

Freya was on the phone to Keelin as Kol started to walk towards her with Bella in his arms. “Yeah, great, Nik. There are Cold Ones just over that water and you’re leaving your sister all by herself, well done,” he said sarcastically to no one in particular, but causing Freya to snort.

“Brother, I can take care of myself. Take her home, Keelin will arrive shortly, I won’t be long, either.”

“No,” he said as he continued to walk as she started walking. “You reckon I should feed Bella my blood?”

“Let’s have Keelin check her out first,” Freya smiled at him, gently putting a hand on his arm. “And then, I’ll do a magical check up.”

“It sounded to me that this should have destroyed her on her own.”

“Yeah, and it likely would have, if it hadn’t been for Myriam,” she replied as they continued to walk. “But I don’t think you’ll have to worry about this happening again, but let’s not assume that and figure it out first, okay?”

By the time they got home, Keelin was already waiting for them. Kol carefully placed Bella onto her bed and gave Keelin the space to check her over, quickly running to the bridge so see if that fucker of an Edward was still there, but he was long gone, the sun was coming up. When he returned, Keelin was done with her assessment and Freya was now magically checking Bella over, a small smile on her face. “Well?”

“Magically, she’s clean. There are no blockages anymore, nothing to hold her back. She might have some issues with her abilities, they’re far stronger than previously. She’s a naturally gifted witch, very strong with her mental abilities, not sure if she’s actually able to perform magic, seeing as that needs focus, and I can’t see her doing that as she’ll need her focus to control her abilities.”

“Medically, she’s also clean as a whistle. It’s almost as if her episode released her from everything that was holding her back. However, she does have a severe concussion and that needs to heal.”

“So I can give her my blood?”

Freya and Keelin looked at each other for a moment and then shrugged. “I can’t see why not, it’ll certainly save her from some pain when she wakes,” Keelin said as she packed up her things. “Now, I can’t actually medically check out your Cold One, but I do think that Freya should check her over to see if she’s alright.”

“Already on it,” Freya smiled as she kissed Keelin. “Stay for breakfast?”

“Yeah, sure, I have about three hours before my shift starts,” Keelin smiled at her. “Go check out the other one.”

“Daddy?” Hope yawned as she walked into his bedroom, Myriam on his bed, still unconscious. “What was that big wave? I mean, it was a wave of nothingness, but what was that?”

Klaus smiled as his daughter and kissed her good morning. “Bella threw a little temper tantrum, that’s all, sweetheart. Myriam was there to make sure nobody got hurt.”

“But she’s hurt,” Hope said as she walked over to the Cold One. “Cold Ones don’t sleep,” she said as she carefully removed the temporary bandage on Myriam’s arm. “And she’s not healing. She’s cracking like an egg.”

“Is she?” Freya said as she walked in and rushed over to the vampire. “Yep,” she confirmed what Hope had said before she started to magically check her over. “Her Cold One makeup has received a massive blow thanks to Bella going nuclear and Myriam’s ability to deflect and absorb Bella’s gift… did she know that doing just that was going to kill her?”

“Kill her?” Klaus blinked.

Freya nodded and sighed. “Apparently, Bella’s – whatever that was, was strong enough to vibrate every single cell in Myriam’s body. Just envision every single cell with the a major concussion and broken legs. They’re not keeping her together anymore.”

“There must be something you can do!” Klaus sounded desperate, for him and for Bella. “She just found her sister, she can’t die! What will that do to Bella?”

“I’m sorry, Niklaus… I don’t know how we can help her…”

“I can,” Hope said full of confidence. “I mean, we can. Her shell might be cracking, but there’s human skin underneath it, still. Almost as if she was never fully turned, or if she had a second skin or something,” she said as she sat down on the bed and looked at Freya. “We can strip her from her being a Cold One.”

“That will kill her.”

“Yes, but if dad’s fast and times it right, he can get his blood inside of Myriam and turn her into a normal vampire,” Hope pointed out.

“Oh, like a thorough cleanse? Hope, that will take us a lot of magic, and I’m not even sure you should be knowing this kind of magic, kid.”

“Do we even know she wants to stay around?” Klaus wondered out loud. “No offense, but it sure looked like she knew she was going to die when she helped Bella.”

“Niklaus, everything that Myriam’s done in the last few weeks is because of Bella. She wanted Bella to stay, to come back when she ran just now. She wants her sister. She needs her sister,” Freya said as she was already scribbling down the spell they would need. “And surely, you’d love to spend some time with this firecracker as well. If she’s a traditional, it should be easier for you to uh… make whoopie.”

“Oh please,” Hope huffed. “I know it’s called sex. I’m ten, not stupid.”

Freya snickered and nodded. “I know that, but your father might think you’re too young to know these things.”

“Aunt Caroline is giving us sexual education in school, informing us early so that we can be responsible when we do hit puberty,” she said wisely.

“Aunt Caroline and I will have to sit down for a chat soon,” Klaus murmured.

“But you should turn her, daddy. I like her. And I like Bella. They both deserve to live a better life, and and… you deserve some happiness too.”

Klaus smiled then. “Why won’t you get breakfast first, I’ll have to think about this for a moment.”

“You mean you have to call her father,” Hope giggled as she walked out of the bedroom and headed downstairs. “Auntie Beks! Will you join me for breakfast?!”

“Are you sure it will work?” Klaus asked Freya, who only smiled at him for an answer. “So all you need is me to be fast enough with feeding her my blood.”

“Yes, a small window during the spell,” Freya replied. “I’ll join Hope and Rebekah for breakfast, Keelin is staying too. Don’t take too long to make up your mind, brother. We only have little time to ensure that she’ll live.”

One Comment:

  1. holy shit… that a hell of a shot that myriam took from bella and i knew it was going to well to for the cullens to stay away from them sweet little hope or not so little anymore.. if anyone can help and safe myriam its her one of the most powerful witches to be born in a thousand years keep up the excellent chapters. looking for to the next one and very curious to see what happens next and the ritual to help and change myriam. make me curious to see if any other witches are going to be called in to help. Update soon

Leave a Reply

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