Chapter 42

Klaus looked at Peter Whitlock as he’d expertly rounded up every member of the Hale family and all the other Volturi in town in their clubhouse. He was about to merely compel them when Klaus stepped in. “I wonder… does Isabelle know that you’re a vampire?”

Peter turned around only to become face to face with the Original hybrid. Well fuck. “It was you, wasn’t it, who killed Jim?”

Klaus shrugged. “I promised her she’d be safe, even if she was away from us,” he replied. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“No, she doesn’t, and you’re not going to tell her either.”

“How would she feel if she learned that her father kept secrets from her?”

“Don’t,” Peter warned him.

“And how could you not know about the Volturi?” Klaus questioned him. “According to Izzy, you are a big know-it-all.”

“And here I thought your family had killed them all.”

“Most of them, there’d always be little pockets here and there,” Klaus replied as he walked past Peter and compelled the oldest looking human of the bunch. “How long have you been living here?”

“We’ve been a part of this community for fifteen years.”

“After?”

“After Elijah Mikaelson told us to move to this place as it held what we were looking for.”

Klaus couldn’t contain his anger upon hearing that his own brother directed a handful of Volturi loyalists to the town where Izzy was having a perfectly normal human life and killed the man before turning to Peter. “Did you know?”

“No, I swear, I didn’t know,” Peter said shocked. “How did your brother know?”

“He has his ways, I wouldn’t put it past him if you’ve already invited him into your home and had tea with him while he asked you all sorts of questions,” Klaus muttered. “I should have hunted him down and put him back in his box.”

“She’ll never be safe, will she?”

“Of course she will,” Klaus said as he snapped the next human’s neck. Peter had them all lined up so perfectly. “After all, you’ve protected her so valiantly her entire life. Even told her a little about Bella without telling her that she was a version Bella. You knew, didn’t you? You knew what she was when she was found on your doorstep.”

“Of course.”

“How?”

Peter sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “Because I know things.”

“No, that’s not it,” Klaus said as he kept snapping necks, with every snapped neck, Peter winced, it was highly satisfying. “There’s another reason.”

“And I’m not going to tell you, it’s not important. Can you stop killing them? This town isn’t that big, you know, it’ll look suspicious.”

“They don’t deserve to live,” Klaus kept snapping necks until everyone was dead. “For how long haven’t you been a vampire?”

“A very long time and killing is not always the answer.”

“Neither is compulsion, especially when my brother is involved,” Klaus said as he walked to the truck he had brought with and tossed Peter a jerrycan of diesel. “We’re going to burn this place to the ground.”

“But-”

“For Izzy.”

~o.O.o~

When Izzy went down for breakfast the following day, she was shocked to find Klaus sitting at the breakfast table and both of her parents had a worried look on their face. Klaus was all bloody and he and Peter smelled like gasoline and smoke. “You’re not supposed to be here,” she said as she pointed at Klaus and poured herself a coffee. “What are you doing here?”

“I merely helped your father deal with the little Volturi problem, love,” he replied with a smile. “It’s good to see you, too.”

She narrowed her eyes at her father. “You know Klaus?”

“Everyone knows the Mikaelsons, Izzy, that’s why I told you about them to be careful.”

“Then why did you invite him in?”

“He didn’t have a choice, love. This home isn’t owned by a human nor registered with a human.”

“You killed my boyfriend.”

“He was Volturi.”

“And how did you know?”

“I’ve been here for a while now, love, I wanted to see where you were living and how you were doing. Not to mention, your boyfriend had the Volturi V tattooed on his arm which I saw when you lifted me into the truck.”

Izzy took a sip of her coffee before registering the words that Klaus had spoken. “Excuse me?”

“Kol did mention that I’m a hybrid, didn’t he? I’m half vampire, half werewolf,” Klaus said amused as he saw the look on Izzy’s face. “I can turn into a wolf at will.”

She set her cup down and walked over to him to beat him over the head with a newspaper. “You scared the living shit out of me! You could have been killed! Permanently damaged! Are you absolutely out of your mind?!” Izzy stopped hitting him with the newspaper upon realizing something that Klaus said the other moment. “And what do you mean, this house isn’t registered nor owned by a human?” She turned around to face her parents who had a pained look on their faces. “Well?”

“Tell her,” Klaus said with a nod.

“Please, Klaus, don’t make us…” Charlotte begged him.

“Don’t fight it, Charlotte. You should have been upfront with Izzy from the start. Tell her,” he said in a kind tone of voice but there was still some power behind it. An urging.

“We’re vampires,” Charlotte quickly said as she put her hand in front of her mouth and looked shocked at her husband before looking at their daughter.

Izzy moved closer to Klaus as she looked at her parents. “Since when?”

“Answer her,” Klaus said when Peter and Charlotte remained quiet.

“I was turned 700 years ago,” Peter replied hesitantly. “Your mother 200 years ago.”

“You lied to me?”

“To protect you.”

“But… it doesn’t make sense! You’re an insufferable know-it-all at times and mom’s a witch!” Izzy turned to Klaus. “Right? Witches can’t be vampires, because their magic goes away when they turn.”

Klaus nodded. “I was curious to that as well, do you want to hear their story? Because I haven’t asked yet, I wanted to wait until you were awake.”

Izzy nodded as she took a chair and set it down next to Klaus and sat down as she looked at her parents with her arms crossed over her chest. “You fucking lied to me.”

“And let’s hope they have a good reason,” he said as he looked at her parents again. “Tell us the story then, and give Izzy her coffee.”

Charlotte grabbed Izzy’s mug and set it down in front of her, causing Izzy to realize what Klaus was doing. “Are you controlling them?”

“It’s called compulsion. Original vampires can compel other vampires to do their bidding. There’s no doubt that your father has used that ability to protect you over the years,” he replied with a nod. “I just wanted them to stop lying to you, I could stop doing that if you’d like, but there’s no doubt that they won’t tell you what you want to hear.”

“No, it’s fine,” strangely, after everything that she’d experienced in the last two days, she was calm. She had lost her boyfriend of a month, killed by Klaus because Jim was part of the Volturi. It then unearthed the fact that there are Volturi in her town and Klaus had just killed them all. Klaus had never lied to her in the short time she’d known him. Then again, her parents usually didn’t lie either. They simply didn’t tell her the full truth. And now they would.

“Again, tell us the whole story, please,” Klaus said kindly.

“I was born in the 1470’s and my family moved us briefly across the country where I fell for a beautiful lady who turned out to be a vampire and she turned me because she wanted to keep me. We had a lot of fun together, she and I. Until Maria wanted to wage a war, so I left her,” Peter said hesitantly. “I couldn’t return to my family so I roamed, and found Charlotte in the 1800’s.”

“Still doesn’t explain the extra bits you two have,” Klaus pushed. “Don’t be shy.”

Peter sighed. “I encountered a lovely being called Laurel. She was radiant in every single way, all vampires could see that she glowed just a little. She and I kept each other company, I felt like she needed protecting and she seemed to know just about everything that was going to happen, including my death at the hands of other vampires and a bunch of werewolves. I nearly did, fighting them off, but she saved me by possessing me. Sacrificing herself. Destroying herself. But her gift remained, albeit a weakened version of it.”

“My story is similar. Her name was Minnie, and she was a witch. I met her during the brief period I was separated from Peter. She was intoxicating, luring me in with her scent, making me protect her. She, too, possessed me at some point as a hunter killed me. She said she had a debt to repay by saving me and sacrificed herself,” Charlotte added.

Izzy couldn’t believe what her parents were saying and then looked at Klaus. “That sounds a lot like Bella and what she did to Kol.”

Klaus nodded and sighed. “It also makes sense why Bella put you with these two, for them to raise you. She’d known them previously. On top of that, Peter is Jasper Whitlock’s kin. Our families are connected through you. Through Bella.”

Izzy took a sip of her coffee. “I’m not liking this,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, but I thought that my life was my own and now this sounds like a big set up.”

“The world isn’t as big as people like to think, that’s all,” Klaus assured her. “Are you alright?”

“No,” she muttered. “I really can’t live my own life, can I? Even with her gone, I’m dealing with her remnants.”

“They’re just remnants, you’re very much capable of living your own life. Now, what do you wish for me to do with your parents?”

She leveled her gaze on him. “What do you mean?”

“Kill them?”

“For what? Keeping things from me? Klaus, they’re my parents,” she said as she shook her head as she got to her feet. “They don’t need to die because of it. Will you stay around for a bit? I just need a few hours to myself but I’ll show you around if you want to.”

“If you’d like.”

Izzy nodded and made her way out of the kitchen before stopping again. “It’s just you here, right? No one else?”

“It’s just me, love, unless you wish for me to call Myriam? Or Kol?”

She stared back at him, contemplating the impact those two would make on her at that point and of course the chaos they could create in town. “No,” Izzy shook her head as she ran upstairs.

“Very well,” Klaus shrugged, turning to eye her parents as he continued to speak. “I don’t mind a vacation from my occasionally high maintenance mate.”

“Do you have any idea what you did?” Peter said as he and Charlotte were still not able to move from their spot.

“I had you tell her the truth,” Klaus said simply. “If you had been straightforward with her in the first place, the culture shock wouldn’t have been as big when we met her.”

“It was never my intention for her to run into vampires,” Peter replied. “And by the time she started to draw you and your family, it was too late to come clean.”

“It’s never too late. Why do you think she seems to hold more trust in me than the rest of my family at present? Bella had been incredibly close with Kol and my mate. While she and I had gotten along, we never really spoke except for when I was needed for some dirty work. They held some small secrets from her then too, in the beginning. I don’t wish for the same mistakes to be repeated and I do wish to have her remain in our family in some capacity, even if she cannot see herself with my brother because of his grief and hope.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” Charlotte said. “She doesn’t belong to you and your family. She’s Izzy, not Bella.”

“I’m well aware of that,” he rolled his eyes. “I’ve never met a more obstinate human, other than those dimwits in Mystic Falls, but I find her incredibly refreshing and adore the way she puts Kol in his place. I’ve done everything I could to give her what she wants without driving her away where the others would have surely sent her running without a second consideration. I’d like to at least remain her friend at the end of this.”

“We specifically raised her like that,” Charlotte replied. “To listen to herself, march to her own drum. The time she’s spent with you and your family, even briefly, confused her. It wasn’t a natural experience. I think there’ll have to happen a lot for her to-”

“We’re not forcing her to do anything, I was merely here to keep an eye out. We’ve only given her choices, and we’ve accepted her choices, even when she refused to merge with Bella, you know how it works with emotions such as grief as well as we do,” Klaus interrupted her. “As I said earlier, my mate and my brother were close to Bella, closer than I ever was. Which makes it easier to be around her and recognize Izzy for who she is, not who she was in a previous life. However, sometimes it’s difficult because she does have some traits that our Bella had. You must have noticed similarities yourself?”

“No,” Peter shook his head. “Aside from the self-sacrificing part.”

Klaus raised a brow. “Now whom is lying to whom?”

“It’s true, though. The version I encountered was a manipulative bitch,” Charlotte replied. “Izzy is nothing like that.”

“Yes, I’ve been inside Bella’s head with Kol and met the original though briefly. Ylva wasn’t the most honest version of herself,” he muttered. “Were your versions adventurous and annoyingly curious about things around her?”

“Laurel was a glowing danger magnet, and she didn’t even want to hide it,” Peter replied. “It was almost as if she couldn’t contain all of that energy she was made out of, and liked to go into situations even though she knew they were going to end up wrong because she wanted to see it for herself.”

“Izzy did not hesitate for a second to run to check the welfare of a presumed wild wolf she hit. Bella wandered off in dangerously haunted buildings away from her protectors,” Klaus sat back, folding his hands on his lap with a neutral face. “Did any of them cook?”

“Terribly,” Charlotte and Peter chorused.

“Everything?” he asked, narrowing his eyes on them, confident they were holding back.

“She managed to burn water, but she usually attempted to cook when she was distracted or seeing too many things, out of control,” Peter sighed. “But, in the calm of the storm, she made a fantastic stew. But those occasions were rare.”

Klaus gave him a slow nod. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? Charlotte?”

“I tried really hard to forget Laurel, you know. And forget most of what we did together.”

“Surely when Izzy appeared on your doorstep, that didn’t help matters. The only way our kinds can truly forget is by my family compelling you to do so.”

“We only realized who or what she was after your brother came here, and Charlotte shot him a few times to get him off our land.”

He sat up and glared at them. “You told me you hadn’t seen other vampires or my family. When was this?! Tell me!”

Charlotte sighed as she twirled a little strand of her hair. “When Izzy was about 5 years old. She was playing on the porch in her little bath when she started to scream because of the stranger standing next to her. She really didn’t like him.”

Klaus did a quick mental calculation of the timeline with the family and it was about the time that his brother decided he wanted to spend time away from the family, preferably on another continent. His lips pursed even more, eyes blazing in fury as he continued to hear more.

“And, as we heard last night, the Volturi arrived shortly after your brother’s visit,” Peter pointed out.

He nodded and stood to his feet. “Please apologize to Izzy. I need to return home to retrieve something and pay my brother a visit.”

“Can you release us from your compulsion as not to move, before you leave, please?”

“Yes, yes, you can move freely. However,” he paused and grabbed their necks. “If anyone supernatural comes questioning about Izzy that is not myself, Kol, or Myriam Mikaelson, you are to notify me immediately.”

“Of course,” Charlotte and Peter chorused and the hybrid sped out of the home.

Izzy had left her totem on the stairs after going to her room and had grabbed her sketch pad to start drawing, clearing her mind of everything that she had learned, looking for some guidance.

She eventually heard the front door close before a presence came into her room, which was strange as the house and the land were thoroughly cleansed of spirits and protected.

“Whoever you are, I can’t communicate with you and you’re not welcome in this home. Please leave,” she said as she kept drawing someone getting stabbed.

When it wouldn’t leave, she got to her feet to get the sage but was stopped. “You can’t do that. You don’t hold any power over me.”

‘Listen. Hear me.’

“Moooom!” Izzy yelled.

Charlotte ran up to her bedroom, stopping short at finding no one but her daughter. “What is it?” she questioned, concerned.

“Something’s in here and doesn’t want to leave, I can’t reach for the sage.”

“Shit. Has it said anything?”

“It said listen. Hear me,” Izzy replied panicked. “I can never hear them when actively present! I don’t know how to communicate other than to observe!”

Unsure if it was a threat or not, she hesitated if she needed to call Klaus back already. “What were you doing?”

Izzy pointed at her drawing. “Klaus is going to stab someone, I swear, I was only looking for guidance.”

Peter slowly made his way into the room, his brows drawn and smirked when he saw the sketch. “I wouldn’t worry about what Klaus is going to do. He’s going after his brother. Maybe try sketching some more for this spirit to speak to you and we can see what it wants and if need be, get the property cleansed again.”

“But it’s impossible for them to come here.”

“Is it?” he questioned as he held up her angel she’d left behind as he remained by the doorway.

“While we did cleanse the land a few times while you were young, we taught you to have that on you always so we didn’t have to,” Charlotte gently said.

Izzy got angry then as she sat back down on the ground and took her phone to play some soothing music. “Fine. Out please,” she only started to calm down once her parents were back out of the room. “This is stupid,” she muttered and took a deep breath to steady herself and put her pencil back on her paper. “Please don’t hurt me,” she said as she started to draw some lines.

After a couple of minutes, she was back in her zone and drew as she picked up on the feelings of the spirit with her. There was sadness due to a loss and anger because of injustice, but she felt that this person was no threat. If anything, she felt that she knew this person on a whole different level. A connection between them for reasons unknown. Getting her to hear them had taken its toll on the spirit and Izzy felt sorry. “I’m just not that good at it. Nor comfortable,” she explained as she felt like she had finished her drawing.

Looking at it for the first time proper, she blinked. “What the fuck?”

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