Chapter 24

It took a few more days for Peter to arrive with Charlotte, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie and it gave Bella some time to catch up with Derek. Isaac was less stressed around him, but he tried to get along with Derek for the sake of her. He mostly hung with Jeremy and Kol, playing video games.

It was only when Marcel marched the five Cold Ones onto the courtyard that everyone came together as Marcel was shouting. “Klaus! You’re gathering an entire army for this pathetic lot?!”

“I told you many times, we’re not the bad guys,” Peter sighed exasperated. “If we were, you’d be dead.”

Isaac made sure he was close to Bella. While he trusted Peter in knowing that Emmett and Rosalie had turned over a new leaf right as he and Bella were leaving town, he wasn’t quite sure of it himself. They’d been Cullens, after all. Same with Jasper, but the guy genuinely tried to do better and had been doing better. It still didn’t take away that now three of the Cold Ones responsible for Bella’s misery were now close. “Yeah, they’re with us,” Isaac said with a nod. “That’s Peter and his mate Charlotte, his brother Jasper and those two are Rosalie and Emmett.”

All the questions Marcel had asked at Rousseau’s made sense now, he was still the Mikaelson’s guard dog. Or perhaps only looking out for New Orleans and bringing the Cold Ones in was for Marcel wanting for Klaus to take the responsibility. “Don’t worry, Marcellus,” Klaus said to his former protege. “They’re only here to help and once everything is done and dusted, they’ll be out of the city.”

“Freya, dear, could you dull their sparkle, please?” Elijah asked his sister. “At least for the duration of that they’ll be spending time in New Orleans.”

“Gladly, they’re giving me a headache,” Freya muttered before casting a spell that she had worked on with Kol. It worked like some sort of blanket, it didn’t take away their genetic makeup, the spell simply covered it all up.

“Thank you, dear sister,” Klaus smiled at her before turning to the Cold Ones. “I know that you’re here to help our young Alpha, and you’re free to roam the city as you wish. I understand that it has been a long time since you were able to pretend to be an ordinary human. However, do refrain on snacking on the locals and if you take only one step out of place, you will be destroyed. Have I made myself clear?”

“Don’t worry, Klaus, I’ll keep them in check,” Peter winked at him. “But thank you for allowing us to feel a little bit normal for the duration of our stay in your lovely city. Unfortunately, our arrival comes with some bad news. The reason we’re late is because we found the Cullens and they know you’re in New Orleans, Bella. They’re close, and they’re not alone. They have their cousins from Alaska with them and some of the Volturi Guard.”

“Well, that’s exciting news, isn’t it?” Klaus beamed at Myriam. “I knew they’d do anything to please their Golden Child!”

“He’s the first to die,” Rosalie replied venomously. “And then Carlisle, and Alice.”

“Eh, unless they bring Jane and Alec. And Felix,” Jasper winced. “Then it’s likely they have to go first.”

“Yeah well, bring it!” Emmett cheered. “They deserve everything that’s coming to them!”

“Forgive me if I’m being rude, but, weren’t you part of the same coven of vampires?” Elijah questioned Emmett. “You, your wife and Peter’s brother? Shouldn’t you get the same treatment as the rest of them?”

“Hey now,” Peter said as he stepped in front of Rosalie and Emmett. “Both Rose and Emmett were under the same influence as Bella was. As Jasper was. Upon realizing that, they left immediately without any possessions and have been in hiding for as long as Bella’s been with Isaac.”

“No offense, but how do the Cullens know that Bella’s in New Orleans?” Kol asked curiously. “I mean, nobody knew except for you lot. You knew all the plans. There has been no sighting of the Volturi tracker Demetri so someone within your little circle must have run their mouth.”

“I wouldn’t know!”

Bella looked at Kol, a look of determination on his face. Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah and Myriam had the same look and Isaac looked just puzzled. “Would you, though? Emmett and Rosalie know how your gift works. They know how Jasper’s gift works. You’re not infallible and you don’t know everything.”

“Relax,” Jasper could feel the tension rolling off of the vampire family who so graciously offered their assistance in getting rid the Cullens and protecting Bella. He needed to stop this from escalating or else it would be all of their heads, but it was quite difficult to influence these ancient vampires. “Your question is valid, as is your paranoia, but you have nothing to fear from us. We’re here to protect Bella and to make sure we all get our revenge on the Cullens for what they have put us through.”

“Then how would they know I’m here?” Bella demanded before turning to her brother. He was the only unknown among them and surely, the Cullens wouldn’t know about her brother, would they?

“What?”

“Did you tell Peter?”

“Bella, don’t be ridiculous. Every phone call, every message was private and deleted when needed. I told Peter I was going out of town for a while to help out a friend in need, that’s all,” Derek defended himself.

“But Stiles is a computer geek and works for the FBI,” Isaac piped up. “His father is the local sheriff. Bella’s dad is a sheriff. Peter could have gone to Scott and whine about not being able to find you and you do use a smartphone, don’t you? It’s simple, really.”

“For god’s sake, Isaac, stop making me the bad guy!” Derek said angrily as he took a few steps towards him, making Isaac take a hesitant step back. “I apologized to you, several times, for my mistakes as an Alpha, for my mistakes towards you, get the fuck over yourself!”

“Or, hunters dumped your phone and had a run in with the Cold Ones, causing them to involuntarily give them the information they didn’t know they were looking for,” Peter said.

“Screw you, you just want the heat off of you,” Derek growled.

Bella pulled her brother away from Isaac and moved between them. “Stop it and give me your phone.”

“Why? It’s off.”

“Give me your phone, Derek,” Bella said as she took a step closer to her brother. “If it’s truly off, you have nothing to worry about. If it’s on, you have nothing to worry about either, but then you’ll be the one who has lead them straight to me and we’ll have to give Hayley a call and prepare.”

Derek handed it over, concern on his face but not for him. “If I did lead them here, I didn’t mean to, Bella. You have to believe me. I don’t want to lose another sister.”

“He’s truthful,” Jasper nodded. “He’s not lying.”

“No,” Bella sighed as she showed everyone the phone. The location settings were on, bluetooth was on and there was a voice recorder running. “But they did get to his phone,” she said as she crushed it with her hand. “I guess that means that playtime is over,” she added as the pieces of the phone fell to the ground.

Isaac let out a low, threatening growl. Sure, Derek technically couldn’t have known, but anyone who was being hunted for who they were knew that they’d have to ditch phones every so often. He wanted to beat the crap out of Derek for being an absolute dickhead. Instead, he took the steps towards Bella and gently took her hand as he let out a breath and felt her calmness wash over him.

“Right, call Hayley, invite her over,” Klaus said as he pointed towards the dining room. “We’ll all have a gathering inside. Marcellus, you’re staying.”

“This is not my fight, Klaus. I didn’t choose to help out,” Marcel countered before being pushed against the wall by Rebekah. “Rebekah, this is not my fight.”

“You’re going to make it your fight, Marcel,” she said as she narrowed her eyes on him. “I don’t care about your own motivations, but this girl needs our help and I know that there’s nothing more that you’d like is to help others. Besides, with your involvement, we might be able to keep New Orleans in one piece for once.” She then smiled sweetly at him. “Do it for me? Please?”

Marcel sighed. “Fine. How can I resist a pretty face like yours?”

“Thank you,” she smiled at him before releasing him and following everyone inside the dining room.

They talked about possible strategies all day long, had dinner and then everyone, including a handful of Crescent wolves, went to the Bayou to get some practice in for fighting Cold Ones. And Bella had a lot of fun with it. While Isaac had taught her a lot of hand to hand combat and what not, seeing the different styles everyone fought with was exciting and Bella picked up a few new tricks.

Practice was called off for the night when Bella accidentally severed Jasper’s pinkie, misjudging her own strength for a moment. While Jasper wasn’t in any pain and his pinkie could easily re-attach, she felt a little bit guilty. “It’s alright, Bella,” he smiled at her. “Now I know I’m confident that you’ll be able to hold your own against Edward, because I reckon you’d want to take care of him yourself?”

“Hell yeah,” Bella nodded as she let out a breath.

“Edward’s fast, but he’s stupid when it comes to fighting. You’re not. You’re focused and you’ll absolutely manage to take him apart,” he said as he held his hand in his good hand so that his pink could re-attach. “I think that for now, a good night’s sleep is what ya’ll need.”

“Did you and Peter bring your special juice?” Bella asked brightly. “Or didn’t you bring anything?”

He let out a small chuckle. “After we’ve dealt with the Cullens and the Volturi, then you can have what we brought and share it with your traditional friends. I’m afraid that if I hand it over now, you guys will all be drunk and the Cullens will surprise us and things will go sideways.”

“Party pooper,” Bella pouted.

~o.O.o~

Bella and Isaac’s first night at the Compound and they couldn’t sleep, instead they watched Netflix on their phone while they were laying on the bed, Bella comfortably laying against Isaac with his arms around her.

They had slept for maybe a couple of hours and joined everyone for breakfast. It was strange to have breakfast with so many people, and a handful of them drinking blood, but on the other hand it felt nice. Although Bella would never want to give up her and Isaac’s breakfast routine at home. Much too comfortable.

It was around lunch time when they were surprised by two people walking into the courtyard. “I’m telling you, Scott, the last known location was right here!”

“I hate it when I’m right,” Isaac mumbled as he rushed to his feet and knocked Scott straight on his ass before punching Stiles in the face.

“Woah,” Jeremy blinked when he saw his friend move like that. “Isaac, take it easy, dude.”

Isaac grabbed Scott by the collar and slammed him against the nearest wall. “What the hell are you doing here? Do you have any idea how much danger you put Bella in with your jealousy and distrust of those closest to you? Do you?”

“Friends of yours?” Klaus asked Bella as he kept his eyes on her beta.

Her eyes narrowed as they flashed bright red. “No. And they weren’t invited.”

“Oh, goodie, so we can kill them then?” Kol asked excitedly.

“I don’t object,” she muttered, her lip curling in disgust at seeing Isaac’s former Alpha.

“Hey, no killing,” Derek piped up. “They may be morons, but no killing.”

“Speak for yourself, Derek, you’re lucky that you’re Bella’s brother and still breathing after being a security hazard,” Myriam shot at him.

Isaac had heard Derek’s words and took his eyes off of Scott to look at his former Alpha. “Excuse me? Did you really just say no killing? I think you been around this asshole too long.”

Derek sighed then and nodded. “Perhaps I have been hanging around him for too long,” he replied. “But if you kill him, his pack won’t have an Alpha. Beacon Hills won’t have an Alpha. It could get really messy.”

Scott pushed Isaac away from him, flinging him across the courtyard. “We came here to help, that’s all.”

Bella growled and took off from Klaus’ side to go after the other Alpha. “You need to hack my brother’s phone to track where he’s going because you wanted to help?”

“Yeah man,” Jeremy agreed. “Sounds to me like you don’t trust him.”

Isaac got back on his feet and growled as he looked at Stiles. “You’d better stay down, Stiles, because while Beacon Hills might not be good without an Alpha, in your case it’s an entirely different matter.”

“Funny you should say that, Jeremy, because Scott here is very big on trust,” Derek replied with a smirk on his face. “I suppose he has the same issues with me, still, that Isaac has and has never fully trusted me despite all my actions to try and make things right.”

“But by not trusting you, he put Bella in danger and by showing up here, he’s severely ticking off your sister and Isaac,” Jeremy pushed. He had heard stories about Scott from Isaac on their little trips out and he simply didn’t like the guy. “I mean, that asshole had Isaac’s girlfriend dying in his arms while Isaac was close by.”

“Are you sure about this, Derek?” Freya asked him as she passed him with a clean cloth. “It’s not too late.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he replied as he watched Freya walk over to Isaac who had Scott’s blood on his hands. Last night, when Bella and Isaac had gone to bed, he had talked about his suspicions with the Mikaelsons and about how what kind of an Alpha Scott was. Admitting to the fact that he himself hadn’t been a good Alpha but had learned from his mistakes. And had gained a lot of perspective after evolving into an evolved werewolf. He was more at peace now. He could be a better Alpha for those in Beacon Hills than Scott currently was.

But, to take Scott’s status, he truly needed some magical help because he wasn’t Scott’s beta. Scott was a True Alpha and Derek had already given up his spark once to save his sister. And Freya was willing to help, and Klaus was willing to help too, ready for a science experiment, a new pet. And, much to Klaus’ surprise, his siblings were more than happy with a new pet, especially because they had all taken a liking to both Bella and Isaac in the short time that they had known each other.

As Freya went back to her siblings to start casting the spell, Klaus made his way over to Bella, who was now holding Scott against the wall with one hand, only because Scott allowed her to. “Do you trust me, love?” He asked quietly as he stood beside her.

Her glare shifted from Scott to Klaus. “I told you to never call me that.”

“My apologies,” he kindly smiled at her. “Old habits die hard, but do you trust me?”

She hesitated for a moment before giving him a single nod. “You haven’t done anything to garner mistrust – yet. Unlike others…”

“Thank you,” he said as he bit his hand as he pulled Scott towards him, kicked him in the shins but held him up by his hair as he force-fed the wolf his blood.

“What the fuck?!” Stiles shouted, trying to reach for his friend. “What are you doing?! What are you people?!”

Isaac crouched down next to Stiles and put a hand on his shoulder. “Ever heard of vampires, Stiles?” he asked as he cocked his head, his actions mirroring his actions from many years ago after he’d just been turned and had been fucking around in science class, threatening to kill Lydia. “No? Nothing? Because they are a huge part of the supernatural community and these guys? They’re alright. The ones that we’re here for because your actions lead them to Bella, not so much. But whatever Klaus has planned, I’m pretty sure that Scott’s deserved it.”

Klaus pulled Scott up by his hair and grabbed his arms to spin him around, pinning him against him as Derek approached them. “Whatever you’re planning…” Scott warned him as his eyes flashed red. “Don’t.”

“Ah, but Scott, I’m not your beta,” Derek said playfully. “You see, back home we’ve held a vote amongst us werewolves, and oh boy, your pack really doesn’t like how you’re handling the hunters. You have an awful sense of morality, you constantly break your own rules, and your organisation skills are really really poor. You’re using your pack only for the added strength they give you, and you don’t pay attention to them at all.”

“At least I’m better than you!”

“Isaac? Care to say something?”

“He knows,” Isaac said as he kept his hand on Stiles to keep him down. He was struggling against Isaac’s hold and had gotten a little bit stronger due to his FBI training, but he was still a human. Whatever was going on had him curious though. What had they planned for Scott? “He knows that I could have used his support as my friend and Alpha when Allison died. Never responded to any text message or email. I know now that he likely accepted me to be in his pack to stay close to Allison and for my added strength to his own. At least you tried to reach out to me, Derek, but I ignored you because I was still very angry with you, too. But I see that you’ve learned from your mistakes and I’m dating your sister, so… I suppose we’re good. You truly cared, even when you kicked me out for my own safety when the Alpha pack was coming.”

“See, Scott? Your actions hurt deeper than mine, how can you say you’re better than me? I mean, I’m not saying that I’m better than you, but I am saying that I can do a better job at keeping Beacon Hills and your pack of idiots safe by doing things differently. Because Isaac was right about that too, I have been hanging around with you for too long.”

“You can’t take my Alpha status, Derek. You’re not my beta and I’m a true Alpha.”

“But I’m a born werewolf, who gave up his spark to save someone. I’m an evolved werewolf now, all I need is a little bit of extra help that the Mikaelsons have granted me. Honestly, hadn’t you come after me, nothing would have happened, but by coming here, you’re truly showing how stupid and not trusting you are.” Derek then looked at Bella and smiled at her. “I’m not just doing this for Beacon Hills. I’m doing this for you and for Isaac. It’s gonna get messy.”

Bella nodded as she took a few steps back. Derek turned into a wolf then and dug his claws straight into Scott’s chest with a tremendous amount of force causing Scott to cry out in pain, his eyes flashing red as it was clear that bones were breaking. Blood was dripping out of him and Bella couldn’t feel sorry for the boy.

“Scott! Scott! No! Stop it!” Stiles cried out as he wrestled against Isaac’s hold. “Let me go, you overgrown puppy!” He managed to turn himself around so he could try to push Isaac away but all Isaac did was holding him tighter. “Scott! Scott! Don’t kill him!”

As soon as Scott’s eyes stopped flashing red and Derek could feel the Alpha power inside of him, he retracted his hands and Klaus bit Scott’s neck as he drained him dry. Once his heart stopped, he dropped him on the ground. “Let’s see how long it takes for him to come to.”

“Scott!”

Isaac let go of Stiles as the other scrambled to his feet to go over to his best friend. “Uhh, what just happened?”

“Plan B, for when Scott and Stiles would arrive,” Derek smiled widely as he was wiping his hands on a piece of cloth. “Because those two can’t leave well enough alone. Freya and Klaus were so kind as to lend me their assistance with this,” he said as he flashed his eyes, they were bright red again.

The young beta tensed for a brief second, blinking in surprise. “Well, that’s just wrong…not that I don’t appreciate the effort, but personally, just weird now.”

“Don’t worry, Isaac,” Freya smiled at him. “He knows that the moment he steps out of line that I can take his newly found Alpha status away from him again, too,” she smirked as she thumbed over to her brother Kol. “He thought it’d be nice to have a back door in the spell, seeing as Derek himself admitted not having been a good Alpha in the past.”

“Somehow, that’s even more disturbing,” he said as he joined Bella’s side. “But thank you.”

 

One Comment:

  1. Oh wow I just knew Scott and Stiles would screw things up. Awesome chapter!

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