Chapter 16

“I’m a crappy vampire,” Myriam muttered as she, now fully dressed, hugged Bella. “Blood is not good for me.”

Bella was glad to see her sister not being a Cold One anymore, but she hated it that she had been the catalyst for that. From what she could pick up, Myriam was now a vampire hybrid with a werewolf side, like Klaus and Hope’s mother Hayley. She then had a thought. “Have you tried mine?”

“Bella!”

“No, I’m serious,” Bella said as she looked at her sister. “You helped me with making sure I wouldn’t hurt anyone, what if I can help you?”

“You’re still a human,” Myriam pouted. “And I had some human blood, it wasn’t pretty.”

“I’m sorry,” Bella put her arms around her sister as well as she could with the shackles still around her wrists. “I wish there was anything I could do to help.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re helping me,” Myriam smiled as she playfully tugged on Bella’s shackles. “You and Kol already taking things to the next step? Kinky stuff?”

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she didn’t have an answer. Despite her being whole now, she wasn’t quite sure what it still meant. However, since she mentioned Kol, Bella’s grin grew wider. “Weren’t you just sharing a shower with Klaus? He was very… happy.”

“Bella!” Klaus scowled. “Now is not the time. Or place!”

“Something I said?” Bella said innocently as Rebekah started to laugh. Bella then grabbed a handful of strawberries from the table and handed one to Myriam. “You should be able to have human food now, I know you’d still need blood, but this should taste good.”

Myriam sighed as she took a bite off her strawberry. “I already gave Freya a list of what I’d like, maybe you and I could go to Walmart together instead.”

“Wearing these?” Bella let out a snort as she jingled her shackles.

“Why not?” Myriam shrugged as she sat down at the table. “So… has this happened before? A vampire not being able to have human blood?”

“Actually, yes,” Klaus replied as he took a sip of his bourbon. “There was an incident, two incidents, actually, when it came to a young vampire called Damon Salvatore.”

“Oh, that name sounds familiar,” Myriam muttered. “Brother named Stefan. Screwed with them and screwed them both. Stupid fucks. Seriously need to work on their stamina and stop obsessing about the same girl. It was easy to fuck with them, all I needed to do was to change into the object of their affection and I could get my rocks off.”

Oh, Klaus knew about Damon and Stefan, he had suspected as much when their names dropped only a few weeks earlier. Then again, his sister had had sex with Damon as well and Elijah was quite interested in the doppelganger… But he wanted to rip out their hearts for having had sex with Myriam. “Damon has a habit of when he sires vampires, that there’s a sire bond between him and his vampire. There’s still one of his accidents roaming the streets of New Orleans, counting bricks. But for a long time, Elena couldn’t have anything but human blood as Damon had told her that animal blood wasn’t good for her and that she shouldn’t have it.”

“You think she’s sired to you?” Freya wondered. “I have found no evidence of that.”

“Because it’s not something you can magically detect, sister. It’s all about trusting your sire and having an emotional bond with them,” Elijah replied calmly. “Tell me, Niklaus, have you given Myriam an order yet to rule out this sire bond?”

“No, of course not,” Klaus replied. “Because I haven’t even told her that human blood is bad, I would never say such a thing. We need blood to survive, any kind of blood. There was a time when I was on the run from Mikael where I had to live off of rats, because there was nothing else available.”

“Our father didn’t drink from humans, either. By choice, but he could live off of vampires,” Elijah added. “So that was an option.”

“Speaking of Damon… he was once an Augustine vampire, wasn’t he?” Kol piped up. “You told me that once, Elijah, when you were catching me up. To be honest, I wouldn’t be too surprised if our good doctor Carlisle had a hand in that organisation and kept the virus to himself, not to share it with others. The virus in Damon and Elena were created much later.”

“You don’t think-”

“Keelin went over Myriam’s DNA. There was something she couldn’t identify,” Freya added and nodded to Klaus. “Fork over some of your blood, let’s see if Myriam can keep it inside.” When Klaus wasn’t budging, Freya kicked his shins. “It’s just putting some of your blood inside a glass, you’re not sharing anything in an intimate way. Give me some or I will ask Elijah, Kol or Rebekah to donate.”

Klaus scowled as he bit in his hand and looked at his siblings, a hint of warning in his eyes to stay away from Myriam. He poured some of his blood in an empty cup and handed it to Myriam. “There you go.”

For the love of god, I hope this works. If it works, we’ll have to figure something out because there is no way I’m letting –

Bella shook her head, it was almost as if Klaus was sitting right next to her. She shouldn’t be able to hear him so clearly, even with the shackles on. Klaus’ mouth wasn’t moving when she heard his words. She looked back at her shackles which seemed to be still intact for such an old pair of metal. Klaus felt possessive over Myriam, was that a good thing? Or incredibly bad? Did Bella need to speak up about this? Or let it go?

This is going to be a disaster if she becomes dependent on his blood and doesn’t accept his interest.

Rebekah. Not too pleased when Myriam was taking a sip from Klaus’ blood. Very protective over her brother. Bella looked at her shackles again, they were still in one piece. She then looked at her sister and was relieved when she was able to keep it down. “See? Not a crappy vampire, just marching to a different drum,” she smiled widely. “Like me!”

Myriam smiled back at her, and slowly nodded. Well, this is going to suck. Keep smiling, your sister is so proud of you. I really should give him a shot, he’s trying really hard and he’s doing everything he can to help us. No reason to it other than the goodness of his heart. Damnit. Fucker. Can’t go on a fucking feeding spree now, unless I eat his vampires. Gross.

Klaus was relieved to see that Myriam took well to his blood. He was surprised to see Bella look at her as if she was something foreign and then a bright smile appeared on the girl’s face. ‘Bella, sweetheart?’ Bella’s head snapped to Klaus, looking like the kid who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. In turn, Klaus eyed her shackles. ‘Is everything okay there?’

You have nothing to worry about,’ Bella replied as she glanced at Myriam, finding it strange how natural talking inside her mind still felt. She then looked at Klaus, a slight panic flashing across her face. ‘But uhm… I shouldn’t be able to do this with these on.’

We have another set of those, but I wish to keep them in one piece in case we’d ever run into an unruly witch again.’

Bella nodded slowly, understanding the conflicting thoughts in Klaus’ head. These shackles were a blessing to her, a tool for them. He already ruled out Freya’s new trinket, because that would break just as easily as the shackles, if not sooner, seeing as these shackles were created as a dark object by his brother. He was thinking about other options though, she took solace in that.

For now, I think you should discuss this with Kol. You seem to be able to follow a singular voice right now, you should focus on his. Perhaps that will make it easier for you to learn control. But you do need to accept this gift of yours, don’t fight it, it’ll make it easier when you simply accept that you can do this. Keep the shackles on, use them as a barrier for now, until they give up. You see the bad side of it, I see them too, mainly because you’re intruding, but the good side of this is that you can help people. Help your sister. Help us when we’re in trouble. You’re a delicate presence, Bella, and not many telepathically gifted can say that.’

Bella nodded again. ‘Thank you.’ She then turned to Kol and gently tugged on his shirt. “We need to talk,” she said softly and nodded towards her room.

“Okay,” he helped her to her feet and put an arm around her as they walked back towards her room. “Is everything okay?”

“Not here,” she smiled as they walked inside and closed the door. “Now we can talk,” she said as she sat down at the table, her hands in her lap because the shackles made them heavy. She then put them on the table. “Do you see anything wrong with these shackles? I’ve been wearing them since this morning, only a few hours ago, after I took my shower.”

He gently took her hand and pulled it closer to him before carefully checking the shackle over. “They’re cracking, but how’s that possible? These should be indestructible! I mean, even I couldn’t get out of them, nor Finn!”

“I cracked a Cold One’s skin to the point where she had to be turned into a regular vampire,” Bella countered, a small smile on her face. “Must be something with the mental vibrations or something, I don’t know, but I do know that they’re not going to hold up for much longer. I can already get into Klaus’ mind, and hold conversations with him.”

“But he’s the strongest of us all.”

“I know, but I have been focussing on him because of Myriam. I needed to know she was alright, and she is. She will be,” she sighed, shaking her head. “But I do need to focus on one singular thought and Klaus doesn’t want it to be him. I don’t want it to be him because he needs to focus on Myriam.”

“His thoughts are a lot more in order than mine, Bella,” Kol said, a little hesitant but understanding where she was coming from. “What if you hear or see something you don’t like?”

“Depending on what it is, I’ll ask you about it, I guess,” Bella shrugged. “It’s alright if you don’t want to do this. I can ask Myriam. Or Freya, but I trust you.”

“I’m not that big on trust, Bella…” he said, almost as if he was ashamed of himself.

“You don’t trust me?”

“I don’t trust myself,” he replied, looking at her, trying to meet her eyes. “I don’t trust myself. With you. You’re…” Kol sighed then as he was still holding her hand. “You’re quite something.”

“I’m not broken anymore, Kol,” she gently squeezed his hand. “You took some distance because I was broken and it’s not right to have feelings for a broken person because they don’t know what they’re talking about or doing. But the main thing here is that I trust you. I trust you with me. I may have a few things to learn still but I understand now.”

“But is it right, though?” Kol wondered as he looked at her.

“You’ve killed thousands of people. You’ve tried to kill your brother a handful of times and you have control issues. Your life hasn’t been easy either, and you have come out strong. I trust you. With me.”

“But Bella, I care more about you than I’m willing to admit, and I’m afraid that-”

“Like Klaus fancies Myriam?”

He let out a laugh then. “I’m not sure what his feelings for Myriam are at this point, but if they’re very positive… then yes.”

Bella blushed furiously. “I’d like that, though, I’ve never had someone care for me that deeply.”

“It’s relationship stuff. You know… kissing, touching…”

“Sex?” Bella asked hopeful.

“So you do know about it all! Were you playing it down, all your knowledge?” He laughed. “You minx.”

“No, but I learn fast, and I’ve seen enough minds to know what it’s like for others, and how beautiful it can be when it’s with the right person. Klaus and Myriam, for example, have so much potential to be something so beautiful,” she squeezed his hand again. “And I think, that if we give it some time, we can be too. On top of that, your thoughts are safe with me. I am discreet, it’ll between you and me, but I do need you for that. To anchor me.”

Oh, she was brilliant. And brave. And insane. But it was a good thing that she didn’t dismiss him, that she understood where he was coming from. He didn’t need to trust himself with her, she trusted him with her. It was enlightening, to say the least. “Alright darling, I’m giving you permission to shift your focus from Klaus to me.”

“Thank you,” Bella let out a sigh of relief as she let go of Klaus and looked for Kol’s voice. “I need to find you… and focus.”

It’s not possible for Wolverine to get circumcised. Why is Chewbacca’s name Chewbacca when he can’t do anything but roar? Where’s that fucking ferris wheel? Plain flour… nutella… I still have baking powder… Bella, how can you find me? Nothing’s actually on fire, fire is on things. Let’s put fire on that car tonight. It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. Bella, did you find me yet? You know when you came out the bathroom this morning, in a panic, and wearing nothing but that towel…

“Kol!” she laughed, shaking her head at the mental image she received and looked at him. “That’s…”

“Not wrong,” he winked at her. “So you found me?”

Bella nodded and she put her free hand on top of his as he wanted to remove her shackles. “Not yet. Just let them break… I have a bit of control now, it’s okay. Maybe when it breaks I won’t have it that terrible… I know how to control the way that I had it.”

“But if you broke through Nik’s defenses, and you’re breaking these things…”

“I can’t hurt people anymore,” she assured him. “I don’t know why this is happening, why it’s become stronger after what happened, but my best guess is that Edward removed every safety precaution with his command.”

“And also any restriction to you as a person,” he reminded her. “I like that. Getting to know the real you.”

“Nothing different, just a better version,” she replied as she squeezed his hand again. “Free.”

“Well, you and I have learned a lot of things just now, what are we going to do next?”

“Talk some more? It distracts me.”

He got to his feet and lifted her up, bringing her over to the sofa and sat her down before sitting down himself, putting an arm around her and pulled her closer. “Yes, but let’s be more comfortable while we talk, in all honesty, those chairs need replacing. Something softer.”

Bella relaxed into him and put her head against his shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with those chairs, but this is better, yes,” she let out a breath. “I don’t have my shield anymore, I tried putting it up but it’s not there anymore.”

“That’s alright, darling, we’ll protect you. I’ll protect you.”

“But you didn’t see what Edward wanted to do. It was… a massacre, everyone was dead, and Myriam was mutilated, there wasn’t anything recognizable left. And he was so… cold. Angry. Vicious.”

“I don’t need to see what Edward wanted to do, it’s what we’ve done for a very long time when we were in Europe. Whenever someone wronged us, or when we felt we were wronged, we went on a rampage,” Kol told her. “I can get where he’s coming from. You cost them a lot of money, then Nik went on a rampage, Myriam went on a rampage… the Cullens were taken a peg or two down. No doubt the Volturi are breathing down their necks. I’m not saying that what the Cullens, and the Cold Ones in general, are doing is right. Because it’s not. But I do understand. And still, we’re going to kill them all. And should the Volturi come, or that newborn army, we’re going to kill those too. Because their actions, their hobbies, are not right, and the both of you need to get some revenge, too.”

“Save the children.”

“Save the children, indeed,” Kol agreed. “Something you started, yes?”

Bella sighed. “I may have started it but with Jasper’s duality and backstabbing, I doubt if I ever truly saved a child. They may have just transferred it to a different facility, come to think of it.”

“But your intentions were the right one, Bella, you can still help people, just differently now. In a different capacity, with your heart, and perhaps even with your gift. I know, I know, you hate what you can do, and I understand. But you know, darling? It’s magic. And all magic is fun. You can have so much fun with your gift, I promise.”

“Reading someone’s thoughts and feelings isn’t fun.”

“Unless you do it to fuck with their heads,” Kol winked at her. “Like tease Nik or your sister. Give it some time.”

“Everything needs some time,” Bella sighed as she relaxed some more in his arms. “But Marcel’s vampires are keeping a better eye out now?”

“There are more vampires now, Marcel and Nik called in some favors. Don’t worry, Bella, you’re safe, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, but I will continue to tell you that you’re safe. Allow us to worry about your and your sister’s safety, you and Myriam now need to work on healing and learning how to deal with your new, or stronger, abilities,” he kissed the top of her head. “You’re not thinking of leaving again, are you?”

“Are you?”

“Only if you come with me.”

“Only if we’re taking Myriam with us.”

Kol groaned. “But that means we’ll have to bring Nik too!”

Bella laughed. “So no leaving then?”

3 Comments:

  1. interesting to read 🙂 like that things are getting a bit better for the girls

  2. Bwahahahaha Elijah …. the thought of him coming up later… hahahahahahaha!!!!! Poor Elijah! <3

  3. myriam is adjusting well to her new vampire life as a traditional. which is much better than a cold one. Bella is starting to gain control which is even better. and warming up to kol while her sister is warming up to klaus. now we just need elijah to be with someone lol. same with bekah and it would be perfect. Update again soon want to read more please

Leave a Reply

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