Chapter 07
He didn’t dare to wake her the following morning. She had slept so peacefully, quietly moaning in her sleep as she appeared to relive their lovemaking, and he didn’t have the heart to wake her for breakfast. Instead, he just held her and felt like the luckiest man alive. Until, of course, he heard the door open and watched Jeri walk in with a big smile on her face. “Morning, lovebirds! Wakey wakey!”
“Get out,” Klaus spat as he pulled the covers over Bella.
“I vant your blud,” Jeri said with a mock-Dracula voice. “Preferably before you two eat something.” She leaned against the doorpost and looked at them. “Wow, look at the tear in that dress.” She picked it up from the floor and observed it. “Yeah, somebody was eager last night.”
“Get out,” he repeated with a growl. “Don’t make me repeat myself again.”
“Hey, I don’t mind if you two are naked.” She fished two syringes out of her pocket and grinned. “Are you going to wake her up or shall I with a tiny prick?”
“Give us a few minutes,” Bella yawned as she looked at Jeri. She’d only woken up because she felt Klaus tense up, and that meant trouble. “Go away. Five minutes.”
Jeri narrowed her eyes on the two people in bed and sighed. “Fine,” she said with a shrug and with a simple hand movement, she flipped the bed and walked out. Klaus was on her within a blink of an eye, pushing her hard against the nearest wall. “Morning.”
“She asked for five minutes.”
“And now she has a bed on top of her and yet, your priority is throttling me?” Jeri raised an eyebrow as she didn’t show any signs of panic.
“Give me one reason not to end your life here and now.”
“I’ll only come back.”
“I’ll end it again.” He had briefly forgotten that she was consuming Kol’s blood. The traitor. He should dagger him and store him away for eternity.
“I’d like to see you try,” Jeri grinned widely. She was as mad as Kol, wasn’t she?
Klaus looked over to his brother, who was standing in the doorway to observe it all, too cowardly to go and wake up Klaus and Bella himself. “Oh, yeah, did I mention, brother? She’s not just a Traveller.”
“Then what is she?” he demanded.
“Kill me, and I’ll come back as a witch hybrid,” Jeri smirked at him, causing Klaus to immediately let her go. “I think you’ve heard of my family, the Heretics?”
“You’re a Gemini?”
She shrugged as she rubbed her neck and didn’t move otherwise. “Quite possibly the last, but shh, don’t tell anyone. They might think I’m like Malachai, but he drank the crazy juice.”
“How are you still alive?”
“My direct bloodline comes from one of the Heretics and was cut off from the rest of the family so I survived. Awesome, isn’t it? And I survived the mass suicide of the Travelers because I wasn’t linked to them with the spell. Some crazy shit they were smoking, I didn’t want any of that. I’d rather deal with you crazy vampires than those lunatic witches!”
“Kol!”
“What?” Kol said innocently. “As if I knew before I started shagging her!”
“He knew,” Jeri snorted. “Oh, he so knew. Oh, I guess your five minutes are up, gorgeous naked hybrid of mine.”
“He’s mine,” Bella said as she wrapped a blanket around herself after digging her way from underneath the bed. She had been fortunate that she had been half entangled with Klaus to begin with, but now she felt even sorer from their gymnastics last night.
“Possessive, are we?” Kol laughed as he saw Bella’s bed head. “I must say, you look thoroughly fucked. Well done, brother.”
The witch smiled as she eyed Klaus. “Don’t worry hun. I am very pleased with my vampire. I do have to say though that yours is quite – well, if I wasn’t happy, you might have some competition. In any case, get dressed and come outside so that I can get your blood, and we can get this over with quickly. Dépêche toi!”
“I know that word!” Bella grinned widely. “Carlisle used to yell that into the phone a lot when he was on international calls and then slammed the phone down in anger.”
“Hm,” Jeri hummed as she looked at the girl thoughtfully. “Good to know. Get dressed. We’ll wait for you downstairs. And no playing hide the banana. There is no time for it.”
Bella blinked at her for a moment and shrugged, the sentence completely lost on her. “That doesn’t sound like a fun game,” she muttered as she shuffled to her dress and found it irreparably ripped. She was just about to get into it when Klaus snatched it out of her hands.
“Poppet, you played a hearty game of it last night I could hear,” Kol snorted as he closed the door behind his girlfriend, leaving the couple alone as the two ran off.
She tugged on her dress as she looked at Klaus. “She said I needed to get dressed.”
“Sure she did, but you don’t have to listen to her.”
“I think I do.”
“Why?”
“You seemed to be afraid of her,” she pointed out and tugged on her dress again. “I told you before; I am observant. That’s how I knew what people wanted from me. I can even read lips if I try hard enough.”
“I’m not necessarily afraid, love,” Klaus replied as he started to tear the dress to shreds. She was so adamant to step into the ripped dress that he simply had to. “She’s a lot more powerful than I had anticipated. I hope, for Kol’s sake, that she is a keeper otherwise we’re going to have a lot of problems with her.”
“Oh,” she had hoped that Jeri would be as breakable as she was, but as it turned out, she wasn’t. “Okay. Now what?”
“We are going to take a shower, and we’re going to get dressed to go downstairs, give the witch some blood. We’ll then have breakfast and if you feel up for it, we can return to bed?”
“I’d like that,” Bella said with a grin and put her hands in the air to stretch herself, dropping the blanket in the process.
His eyes drifted down and admired her body, his own arousal growing again. A loud bang of something being thrown at the door startled him out of the naughty thoughts that he had intended for her, making him scowl. “It would seem my siblings are insistent on our presence this morning.”
She just stared at the door in shock. “What was that? That wasn’t funny, what was that?”
“Just the family urging us to join them. They threw something at the door because they heard my proposal for us and something of it displeased them. Don’t worry about it now. Why don’t you start the shower and I will collect something from your room for you to change into,” he smiled as he pressed his lips to the curve of her neck.
She hummed before turning around, tiptoeing and kissing him and walking towards the bathroom. She had only barely turned the faucet when Klaus had already joined her, surprising her with his hands wrapped around her body. She startled for a short moment and then looked at him. “You need to start wearing a bell.”
“I’m sorry, love, I’m simply too excited to join you for that shower,” he kissed her neck and reached for the water to check the temperature. Fortunately, she had chosen a safe temperature, although he had fun breaking the faucet in her bathroom so she couldn’t put it scorching hot anymore. And he loved it that she loved that, that they were helping her to protect her from herself.
He cursed under his breath when another thump could be heard. “Right, the natives are getting restless,” Klaus helped her step underneath the shower and took the showerhead to make things go faster for his siblings. He started to spray water all over Bella’s body while she looked up at him with those big brown eyes of hers that made him melt on the inside. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, love,” he said with a whisper and softly kissed her lips. “We have the rest of the day for ourselves after breakfast.” The next thump pissed him off. “This isn’t cute.”
“Let’s get clean and then you can be angry at them,” she circled his chest with her fingers and smiled up at him.
“You’re a distraction.”
“And you wanted to take a shower together,” she said with a grin.
Eventually, they made it downstairs. Bella comfortably dressed in a pair of sweatpants – she was grateful that Klaus brought those, she could barely stand as it was and then to walk around in jeans? And a sweater while Klaus opted for his usual attire. But before they even set foot in the dining room, Jeri ambushed them by waving syringes in their faces. Bella immediately took a few steps back and used Klaus as a shield from them.
“Relax, you’re such a wuss,” Jeri said as she reached around Klaus for Bella’s arm and pulled her towards her. “You don’t have to look, how else am I going to take blood from you?”
“I don’t like the stabby things,” Bella muttered and looked at Klaus. “Do I have to?”
“It’s just a pinch. A baby needle, barely will scratch, and I’m sure your man will have you forgetting about it before you know it,” she said pointedly as she glanced to the hybrid as she readied the needle.
“She needs it for her research,” Klaus explained and softly kissed her lips and put a strand of her hair behind her ear.
As he spoke to her, Jeri quickly inserted the needle and drew the blood she needed into the vials, slapping a band-aid over the puncture site as soon as she was finished since the blood came out quick and easy. “Alright, you’re next Mr. High and Mighty,” she smirked.
“You should watch your tongue,” he growled at her.
“So should you when you’re the one expecting help from a witch without any expectation of something in return,” Jeri said as she jammed the needle in his vein. “I – want nothing from you. I asked for nothing. I offered my help, and it was you who has had the sour tongue with me.” When she filled her vials, she withdrew her tubing and capped the blood. “I think you can clean yourself up,” she said with a smile as she turned on her heel and walked down the hall to join Kol, who’d been waiting quietly, keeping his distance.
Klaus lowly growled as he rubbed his arm, feeling the hole close already. “Let’s have breakfast,” he gently guided Bella into the room and blinked when he saw Elijah sit at the table with a companion. “What is this, brother?” Upon closer inspection, he saw that the girl was tied to the chair she was sitting on, and she had a sour look on her face.
“Good morning to you too, Niklaus. Good morning, Bella, I see my brother managed to keep you in one piece?” He said with an amused smile on his face.
Bella huffed as she pushed her chair closer to Klaus’ before sitting down. Another stranger. This was getting ridiculous. She already wished this day would be over; it was too eventful for her taste. First, getting rudely woken up by Jeri and then got the bed on top of her, the throwing of things that startled her every time and the stabby thing and now this new person? She felt as if her head was swimming.
After securing the blood somewhere safe, Kol and Jeri soon joined the family, Jeri smiling pleasantly as she took a seat. “Well isn’t this nice. Do you share meals together often?”
“Every morning, yes,” Elijah replied curtly. “Let me introduce to you, Jessica. As you can tell, she’s no longer a human and, unfortunately, she was one of Kol’s Mormon virgins.”
“Was?” Klaus blinked at his brother.
“Someone decided to get a little bit drunk. I might have found her in a pile of Marcel’s vampires. Hence, she’s no longer a virgin nor human.”
How Elijah could say that with a neutral look on his face was beyond Klaus’ comprehension and simply laughed.
Jeri had lifted her teacup to her lips and smiled as she watched the interaction, amused and fascinated. Taking a sip, she couldn’t help but to speak up. “I’m curious. If I may ask, where did she stay during the night?”
“Excuse me, but who are you again?” He countered, blinking at her and then looking at Kol. “Since when is it appropriate to bring your catch of the day to the breakfast table?”
She did not take too kindly to that, and Kol said nothing as he simply chuckled. Jeri wiggled her fingers and twisted her wrist, causing the vampire’s pristine tie to tighten around his neck, choking him. “I hope you don’t need to breathe. You seem a little bit on edge. Maybe you need a nap,” she said kindly, with just a bit of bite to her words.
“Don’t kill the witch, Elijah,” Klaus warned him as he helped himself to some freshly poured blood. After lusting after Bella’s the night before, he needed to top himself up. “We’ll be worse off if you do.”
“How can you just sit there?” Elijah managed to bring out as he tried to stop his tie from choking him.
“Because he’s been on the receiving end of her wrath. Good morning family,” Rebekah greeted them chipperly and ran her fingers through the redhead’s hair. “Jessica is wonderful, don’t you think, Elijah? Perfect for you.”
Bella was curious as to what happened to the vampires that had been ‘on top of Jessica’. Had they been taken care of, like the vampire who had attacked her? Or had nothing happened? She had hoped that Jessica was a human and that maybe she’d stay, but Bella was still the only one. On top of that, Jessica was newborn. This was going to be dangerous for a while.
She wasn’t quite sure if she should trust Jeri. Bella was no angel herself, and neither was Rebekah, but Jeri’s mouth could be the death of her one day. In all honesty, she was a bit scared of her. The fact that Klaus and Kol respected her power was one thing, but all the warnings of killing her or not killing her?
“I still don’t like it that they got to her; they were told the virgins were off-limits for other than drinking purposes!” Kol sulked as he stabbed a dinner roll with his knife and got it on his plate. “What is she doing at the breakfast table anyway? You do know that if she takes one bite out of Bella that Nik will kill her, right?” He poked Jeri to release Elijah from her hold and with reluctance, she obliged.
“Should she survive breakfast, I’ll be taking her over to Marcel’s, so he can instruct her,” Elijah said curtly. “Bella is in no danger.”
“Why didn’t you take her last night?”
“Marcellus was here, of course. She stayed in my room while she transitioned. You were too busy with your companion to notice,” Elijah said simply.
When Jeri lunged forward, Kol pulled her back. “Let it go, darling. I know you’re eager to become a Heretic and grow to your full potential, but please, let’s keep the peace around the breakfast table.”
Bella startled when her stomach started to growl and reluctantly reached for the assorted fruit on the table. She had to admit, she was hungry and hoped that she would be able to eat without any more surprises. She still hadn’t been able to process what happened the day before, but she knew that she was happy that it happened.
She took a deep breath as she took a bite from her apple, avoiding the cherries and banana after yesterday’s teasing. For some reason, they seemed to think it meant something but it went a little above her head. Bella had to pull herself together. This wasn’t her, but she just didn’t like change that much.
First she was going to get through breakfast and then she’d go up to Klaus’ room to fix the bed that Jeri had ruined by turning it over. Who did that, anyway? She blinked when something hit her head from across the table and saw it fell into her lap. It was a grape. When she looked up, she saw Kol grin widely at her before he pelted another grape at her.
She kept staring at him as she continued munching on her apple, and he kept throwing grapes at her for as long as she was dealing with the apple. When she finished it, she started to eat all the grapes he had thrown at her. When she was done with those, he lifted a dinner roll and was just about to throw it at her when Klaus spoke up. “Kol, it’s great that you found a new way to feed my Bella, but I am sure she’s more than capable of picking her own breakfast.”
“Oh come on, Nik. We were simply having some fun!”
Bella reached for a pancake, rolled it up and started to eat it. Wasn’t what they were doing to Jessica the same as what happened with her? Sort of? The girl had been taken advantage of while she didn’t know any better as she was under compulsion. Was she still compelled or did that go away the moment she turned into a vampire? She was now forced to stay, wasn’t it better to let her go? Give her the freedom instead of keeping her?
She was going to ask Klaus later.
After breakfast, she watched Klaus trod off after Jeri and Kol to see what they were going to do with his blood, and Bella went to Klaus’ bed chambers to see if she could flip the bed back to its original position, but when she got there, it was as if nothing had happened. Even the shreds of her dress were gone and nowhere to be found. A shame, really, even if putting it back together would have looked horrible, she could have made herself a pillowcase from it.
What was she going to do now? Elijah was taking the newborn to Marcel, and she didn’t know where Rebekah was. Maybe she could join Klaus and Kol in watching Jeri do whatever, but she figured with two vampires looming over her, she’d have enough eyes on her. Sighing, she couldn’t believe she was actually bored. She realized how much she had relied on them to keep her busy. How much time they spent with her and how she had become aware of herself.
She needed to find herself a hobby.
“Huh,” Jeri let out after her initial rounds of testing, unfazed by the two Originals watching her every move. At least Kol was helpful with his knowledge of witchcraft, but Klaus was pacing around like a caged animal. Nothing she couldn’t handle. In fact, she’d welcome it if he’d snap her neck; she’d become more powerful and less easy to kill. She could help more people because she didn’t have to rely on others to siphon off their magic.
She hated to wait for a ‘what?’ so she continued swiftly. “It’s amazing, really. Whoever’s behind this must have conjured some serious juju and destroyed a few items in the process because to the naked eye, Bella’s blood is the same as Klaus’.”
“That’s impossible,” Klaus stopped his pacing and looked at her. “You’ve made a mistake.”
“Actually, it’s not entirely impossible,” Kol said as he looked at his brother. “Like Jeri said, some serious magic has been used if this is the case. My guess is that the spell used replicates your blood so she can’t die. Mind you, she has been drinking from those vampires as well because they, no doubt, tried to kill her.”
That gave her an idea; she hadn’t attempted to do it yet, but why not? She took a drop of Bella’s blood and used her magic to starve it, to nearly evaporate before she introduced her own blood. Sure, her blood was magical, but it was further removed from being close to Klaus’ as Kol’s would be closer and would screw with the results. The moment her blood touched the residue, a blue hue appeared and engulfed Jeri’s blood before ultimately dying down, and a fresh puddle of blood remained. “Fascinating,” she said as she compared it to the other samples. “Yep, it’s a match.”
“What does that mean?”
“Like I said a few minutes ago, Klaus, your blood is hers. Although yours is pure. Hers is not due to the additional spells used on it. No doubt some herbs, a potion, maybe. I’m going to need some more time. Like… days. Allow me to do all I can and promise me that I can get more blood from the both of you when needed.”
“Very well,” he said, not hiding his impatience before leveling his gaze at his younger brother. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret later.” Klaus walked out of the room and went to look for Bella, to see how she was doing, what she was up to, but was stopped by Elijah in the courtyard.
“Have you seen Jessica, brother?” Elijah asked worriedly. “I’ve brought her to Marcel, but he said she took off.”
“How am I supposed to know where your pet is, Elijah? I’ve been with Kol and the witch,” Klaus said annoyed. “If you’re worried that I’ve killed her, ask them.”
“I’m not worried that you’ve killed her, Niklaus, I’m merely concerned for the mere mortals as Jessica hasn’t been taught to control herself yet,” he replied calmly. “I shall continue my search, but I wondered if you had caught a fresh scent off of her so that I know I don’t have to look here.”
Klaus looked at his brother, a small hint of amusement tugging at the corner of his lips. “It’s not your fault she turned, Elijah. You do not owe the girl anything.”
“She turned because your vampires couldn’t control themselves!”
“Marcel’s vampires.”
“Yes, and he couldn’t keep an eye on her either, this one is a crafty one, even for a new vampire. So, I shall ask again, is there a fresh scent of her’s here?”
Klaus rolled his eyes at his brother and took in a deep breath. “Yes.”
Elijah’s eyes widened in surprise and possible concern. “Brother, please tell me you’ve had her on vervain all this time?”
He cocked his head, processing the words and shook his head. “I should have put her on vervain right after she was assaulted, but she’s with us, Elijah. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“A day old red headed vampire?”
As if he was a bullet being shot out of a weapon, Klaus ran upstairs in search for his Bella. She wasn’t in his room; she wasn’t in hers. She wasn’t in the kitchen. When he stopped at his brother again and took another whiff, he could tell that her scent and that of Jessica’s were intertwined. “I’m going to kill that redhead,” he growled and followed the scent out of the building.
Out. Of. The. Building.
There’s no doubt that the young vampire had discovered the art of compulsion. Otherwise, Bella would have been screaming the moment she set foot out of the compound. Maybe he should have put her on vervain, but he had thought that he could trust everyone inside the building, Marcel trusted every one of his vampires and Klaus trusted Marcel. However, Jessica was a wildcard, unexpectedly turned. He had been so stupid.
“Oh, hi!” Jessica greeted him with a big smile on her face, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. They were in a park close to the Bayou, and Klaus wasn’t pleased. He could smell Bella all over the young vampire, but the girl was nowhere in sight.
“Niklaus,” Elijah had caught up with him, warning him. If Jessica suffered from an untimely death, the search for Bella would be even more tedious.
“Where is she!”
“Oh, the little human? She’s just fine,” Jessica said, casually waving her arm. “I’m all right. Thank you for giving me a new life, though. This feels amazing, exhilarating.” She sighed happily, her eyes were widened, she was obviously high on blood and Klaus knew, that time was of the essence. Then again, Bella didn’t die that easily but he didn’t feel comfortable enough to test that theory. “For the first time in years, life is beautiful again, and that’s stupid because I’m dead now but gosh, this is amazing!” She then giggled. “Don’t try to compel me, I’m on vervain. Your brother tried, but I guess I’m a good actress. Or… he could have very well been following his dick instead of his head.”
“Where is she?” Oh, his fingers were itching to dig into the vampire’s chest cavity and rip out her heart, although a bite would be more entertaining for him and antagonizing for her. Yes, he could follow the scent but he needed to get to Bella now. When Jessica simply giggled, he grabbed her arm and bit down on it. Yes, it was broad daylight, and he didn’t care. Why the hell had they been so quick to give her a daylight ring? “Tell me where she is and I’ll heal you when I get her back. Don’t tell me and I have to waste precious time to find her myself and you can kiss your new found life goodbye as you’ll be dead in several hours.”
Jessica seemed to think for a moment as she watched the wound on her arm, and it wasn’t healing. “What did you do?!”
“My brother is half vampire and half werewolf,” Elijah started to explain. “A werewolf bite will certainly kill you unless you get the cure, which is property of my brother. I suggest you consider your next words wisely for he is a man of his word.”
Jessica sneered. “Fuck you. I’m sure you’ll hear her scream when you get closer. Music to my ears,” she then sped off, leaving the two brothers in the middle of the park without any further information about the whereabouts of Bella.
“Huh,” Elijah remarked as he watched in the direction the girl had run into. “You would have thought she wanted to live for a little bit longer.”
Klaus let out a grunt. “I would have given her my blood, cured her and then killed her anyway,” he said as he caught a whiff of Bella’s scent coming from the Bayou. “The little bitch put her in the Bayou.” Sure enough, the closer he got to the Bayou, the easier he picked up Bella’s scent, and her sobbing. Determined to find her, he ran faster and eventually skidded to a halt in front of her.
He lifted her in his arms and pushed her hair out of her face. “I’m here, love, it’s going to be alright.” Klaus held her tightly as he proceeded to walk back into the direction he and Elijah came from. When she’d stop crying, he’d run them home. Then again, she felt a lot safer in the compound, and she was shaking in his arms. “I’ll see you home, brother,” he muttered before making sure that Bella wouldn’t get hurt much on the run and spat off.
He could see the bite marks in her neck as he lowered her down to his bed and used a little of his blood to close them up. She looked far too pale for a simple panic attack, but she was also far too alert for having had a lot of blood drained from her. “Tell me what you need, love,” he gently coached her. “How do you feel?” Her heartbeat was dangerously slow and that concerned him.
“I don’t want to be outside ever again,” she muttered as she crawled into his arms again. “It was so scary, I just woke up there, or it felt like it and it… I thought… you had left me.”
“Never.”
“I feel a bit woozy,” she replied and sighed. She usually felt this way when one of Carlisle’s vampire friends had come over and sunk their teeth in her. She knew she had been bitten already while in Klaus’ care; this felt just like what happened at home, so she had been bitten again. “I think I need a cup of blood… or food…”
“I suspect you’ve lost a lot of blood, love,” Klaus said as he recalled how Jessica was behaving. High as a kite, a young vampire’s mistake. Had she attacked any other human, they wouldn’t have survived. “Are you certain it’s just one cup of blood that you need?”
Bella shrugged. “It’s what I got from Carlisle after something like this happened, I often still felt faint after it and only got an extra bag or two when he needed me for something else.”
“I thought you hated syringes?”
“I do, I drink it. It was only when he wanted things to hurry up that he gave it to me differently,” she said with a shrug.
The thought of a human having to drink a cup of blood or more was disgusting. Sure, he loved blood, hell, he would have liked to drink some of Bella’s, but for a human to drink blood? What would happen if he’d offer a little of his own blood? They had the same blood, why not? “Why won’t you take some of mine and take as much as you need?”
“What?”
“You told me you’ve had vampire blood before because they made you drink it while they drained you.”
“Yeah but drinking blood is quite… distasteful.”
He smiled and slowly shook his head. Even in her weakened state, she still managed to scrunch up her nose. “Allow me to heal you, Bella. It’s likely you needed additional blood as those other vampires weren’t compatible with you.” On top of that, it would hopefully also cure her of the compulsion she had been under so she’d know what she’d done, or what Jessica had done to her. That was a long shot, however.
“I don’t know…” she yawned.
“Mine is fresh from the vein, tastes a lot better than bagged blood,” he turned away from her as he felt his vampire visage bleed out and bit his hand. As his face turned back to normal, he offered his bleeding hand to her. “Drink.”
She stared at his hand for a moment and then shrugged before gently taking his hand and drinking the blood that was pouring out.
He ran his fingers through her hair, pressing his lips to her forehead as he breathed out a sigh of relief that she hadn’t turned him away as she held his hand to her mouth. “Good,” he whispered softly, encouraging her to take more. The fear that he had felt, that something had truly happened to her and that he had her safely back in his arms, was catching up to him. But he fought to keep his emotions under control. He did not want to cry for it was a sign of weakness, but he could feel the tears threatening to fall as he watched her drink from him. His lips were trembling as he thought of the torture the vampire would suffer when he hunted her down.
When no more blood was flowing from Klaus’ hand, she wiped her mouth and looked at him with a big smile. “Thank you.” Blood still tasted disgusting, but at least it wasn’t as much as a cup. She could feel how it already started to work on her body; almost as if there was a fuel lit under a pile of wood. She curled into him and sighed. “Don’t blame her, I’m sure she meant nothing by it.”
“While I usually appreciate your good spirits and your inability to see the bad in people, I think she was fully aware of what she did,” he replied as he pulled her closer. “I could have lost you.”
“I can’t die from blood loss.”
“I still could have lost you. And she took you outside?”
“She didn’t know I am not ready to go outside.”
Sighing, he listened to her heartbeat, it had slowly started to beat faster, which soothed his anger somewhat. “Get some rest, love, I’m not going anywhere.”
“I actually wanted to ask—”
“You can ask me that later. Rest now.”
Bella huffed as she wrapped her legs around his, and he could hear her breathing slowly become steady as her heartbeat kept picking up.
~o.O.o~
He was more afraid of letting Bella go out of his sight than before, certainly with Jessica still running around. Even now that she had been bitten by him, she could still come back for more. He was glad that Bella felt better by dinner. Her heartbeat had returned to normal, and there was more colour on her cheeks, so he took her downstairs where Kol and Jeri were still discussing their discoveries of the day.
“We found out that her blood is locked, I think that’ll extend to her body in a way since blood goes everywhere. The healing factor in the blood of other vampires wouldn’t work on her,” Jeri said excitedly as she started to heap up her plate with chicken. “If she’d get hurt, she either has to have a blood transfusion or maybe your blood will do the trick as well since it’s you she’s bound to.”
“I know,” Klaus said with a low growl as he watched Bella put food on her plate. She’d better eat more than she usually does, he thought.
“What did we miss?” Kol said as he looked at his brothers. “Was there some excitement going on?”
“Jessica compelled Bella and took her out to the Bayou before drinking from her,” Elijah explained with a pained expression on his face. “Then Klaus bit Jessica to find Bella, but the girl didn’t bother telling us Bella’s location.”
“Oh, so she’ll die soon then,” Kol shrugged. “Such a pity, she’d have been perfect for you.”
“Well, that doesn’t have to be true,” Jeri pointed out as she stabbed her chicken and cut off a piece of it. “Bella’s blood is a tainted version of Klaus’, but with the same unique properties as its base.”
“You’re saying that the bitch will live?” Klaus snarled.
“It’s a possibility, yes,” she said with a smirk and popped a piece of chicken in her mouth. “We’re not sure about that, though. So it’ll be fun to see if we’re right about that.”
“I’ll simply rip out her heart if she lives.”
“Be nice, brother,” Kol smirked at him. “All is well; you got your girl back.”
The witch stared at the two for a moment, something feeling out of place as she tried to place the difference in the room. “Wait, did you actually feed her your blood?” Jeri asked surprised as she fumbled a syringe out of her pocket and got out of her seat, heading straight for Bella. “How long ago was that? I need to take a sample of her blood now!”
“A couple of hours ago,” Klaus replied and eyed her. “You will not take her blood at the table.”
“If we wait any longer, you will have to feed her more later so that I can take it later. You know how vampire blood processes in the body. Do you want to change your mind?” she asked as she stopped and waited patiently, the plastic device tapping innocently on her thigh almost tauntingly.
Bella looked at Klaus and rolled her eyes at him as she extended her arm to Jeri and continued to eat with her other hand, not paying attention to her and the stabby thing. If she was curious, then sure, why not. She didn’t like it, though. She’d never really wanted this if she thought about it. Bella only did it to satisfy Klaus’ curiosity; she was fine the way she was.
“Thank you,” she smiled as she was quick as she got what she wanted, taking no more than a minute before returning to her seat, passing behind Klaus. As she did, she ran her fingers over the back of his shoulder, shocking him with static and chuckled.
Kol smiled at her and shook his head. “Playing with fire,” he chastised.
Jeri shrugged. “It’s not as if the witch part of me dies when he kills me. In fact, it’ll only become stronger, so I welcome it. It’s not like you’re so eager to kill me.”
“Why would I kill you? You’re perfect the way you are.”
“Gross,” Jeri said as she started to finish her plate. She had new blood to examine, to see the effects up close. It was fascinating and incredibly fun to figure out what was used. There was a great chance that only his untainted blood could heal her from the inside and that he was the only one who could turn her if she wanted to. Or if he wanted to. “How about you shut up?”
“Never,” Kol grinned as he took a sip of his goblet of blood before tucking into his plate.
Bella finished her plate and decided now was a good time to ask her question about Jessica. “Can I ask something?”
“Of course,” Klaus smiled at her. “You can always ask something.”
“Not before, you told me to rest.”
Kol snickered at that. “That’s Klaus, darling, but what’s on your mind?”
“Jessica.”
“What about her?”
“Well, you had her tied up at the table this morning,” she said, looking at Elijah. “Why?”
“For your safety as I was unable to compel her to stay.”
“Yeah, see, I don’t get that. Isn’t that bad? Making sure she can’t do anything?”
Elijah blinked, trying to follow her train of thought and failed. “I fail to see where you are going with this?”
“Trying to make people do what you want by force isn’t really nice.”
The older vampire smiled as he set his napkin down. “I appreciate your candor Miss Bella, however, Jessica had been quite – exuberant in her awakening. I assure you, it was quite a necessary approach, and she had agreed to the precautions before you joined us at the table. The only one I had not anticipated was a witch accompanying the family.”
“Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble,” Jeri chanted. “Would you like an eye of newt with your tea dear?”
“Yeah well, other than her using stabby things on me, she hasn’t taken me outside under compulsion and drank my blood and making Klaus angry for that happening,” Bella said grumpily.
“Hey! These stabby things are only for your own benefits!” the witch protested. “Don’t the two of you want to know what those fuckheads did to you and how it might be broken, if it can? That’s what I’m trying to do. If Klaus can turn you, I’m looking into it. Sit tight Cupcake and let Klaus put some icing on you.”
“But the both of you didn’t even ask me if I wanted to find out. Isn’t that what normal people do? Ask things first and not just get one answer when it comes to a set of people? At least make sure that people know if they’re doing it because they want to or because they want to do it to make someone else happy?”
Jeri frowned as she looked to Klaus, canting her head to the side in question. “You didn’t?” she questioned evenly.
“Oh,” Kol sucked in a breath. “Nik’s in trouble now!”
“It’s my blood, not hers.”
“It’s her body you asshole. Her body that’s been violated enough times, including by me now!” she screamed as she threw him across the room with a wave of her arm.
Bella’s eyes grew wide in shock. “I’m sorry!” she quickly said as she made her way over to Klaus to make sure he was alright. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to cause strife, I’ll shut up now. I’ll do whatever you wish, I’m sorry, I—” Panic was rising in her chest, he wasn’t angry with her, was he? Oh, she was in so much trouble now. She then looked at Jeri, her hands still on Klaus. “Please, don’t hurt him even further. It’s my fault. Not his.”
Jeri stood as she glared at the hybrid, breathing through her nose as she attempted to keep her anger under control as she observed the unusual behavior that the girl was displaying. Pursing her lips she arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you pleased with yourself now jackass?” she hissed and walked out of the room, throwing the syringe with the blood on the ground and stepping on it. The outside doors to the compound could be heard slamming as she stormed out in her rage.
“Please, let me make up for this, please,” she looked at Klaus, who had a dumbfounded but pissed off look on his face. She took a few steps back and whimpered. No, this wasn’t okay. She looked at Kol and Elijah, who were looking at her, and she felt herself grow smaller and smaller or the room bigger and bigger, she wasn’t sure of that. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before running to her room.
“We were all under the assumption that you asked her, brother,” Elijah said calmly as he pulled his brother to his feet. “And I hate to admit, the witch is right. I am more worried, however, about Bella at this point, and I suggest you make things right with her and I do hope you haven’t caused permanent damage.”
Kol nodded in agreement. “Yes, deal with Poppet while I find Jeri. I don’t trust her out there right now with her mood. She may pick a fight with the wrong idiot, so I’m going to go try tracking her down. Drag her back kicking and screaming if I have to.”
Klaus watched his brothers leave the room, and he took out his frustration on the items left on the table. Had he really made a wrong decision? Why was it so terrible of him to agree to the witch looking at his and Bella’s blood without consulting her? He loved her, dearly, but ultimately, because of the blood coursing through her veins, she could be used as a weapon against him if anyone would steal her away again. It hadn’t been her call. It was his.
He was going to ask his Bella for clarification if she was up for it.
When he came to her room, he found the door closed, which was strange as she never closed the door. When he listened closely, he could hear her sob and occasionally that was followed by a soft yelp, and that bothered him. “Bella?” He softly knocked on the door. “Can we talk?”
He heard some rustling of sheets and how she was taking a deep breath. “Yes.” Her voice didn’t sound right.
He opened the door, and he could smell blood, and it didn’t take him long to find out what happened as blood pooled through her jeans. “What did you do?”
“I’m all right,” she said as she looked down and quickly covered the spots with her hands. “I truly am sorry for having you get hurt.”
“Let me take care of your wounds,” he said gently, but when he approached her, she winced. “Bella?”
“I want to make it right. This one…” her breathing hitched again. “I didn’t mean for you to get in trouble… You’re right, you’re absolutely right, everything of me is yours.” Why would things be any different? After so many months, she had the feeling she finally saw the right Klaus Mikaelson, although from the stories heard, she shouldn’t have been surprised
“Bella, that’s not—”
She retrieved the knife she had brought up with her from underneath her pillow and sliced open her wrist, not even blinking. “Take it all, it’s yours. Please, take it.”
“Are you out of your bloody mind?” He breezed as he closed the gap between them and used some of his blood to close the cut. “Don’t do that!” He tried to pay attention to the words she had just spoken but they hurt, and he didn’t want to listen. Instead, he yanked the knife out of her hand and pulled her against him, keeping her there as she uncontrollably trembled.
How on Earth did things escalate so quickly? Didn’t they have a nice night together? He bloody rescued her from staying in the Bayou all by herself and she had gotten her answer when she asked, what was going on? The bleeding on her legs was distracting. Her blood smelled so good, and he had been tempted to take a bite out of her the night before but…
Oh, bloody hell! He realized his big fuck up. “Oh, love,” he said as he felt his heart breaking. He pulled her towards the bed with him and sat down, making sure she wasn’t going anywhere. “Why must you be so innocent?” Klaus asked softly as he kissed the top of her head. “You were right to ask that question, and you weren’t at fault for Jeri tossing me across the room. The both of you were right, and I am deeply ashamed of myself.”
“No, no, no…” she turned around in his arms and put her arms around his neck, bringing his face closer to hers. “My question got you hurt, no, that’s not good. Who am I to question your decision?”
“It’s good to question my decisions, love,” he said as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at her. “I’m at fault here. Not you. Not Jeri. Me. You’re right. She’s right. I should have talked to you about it because I value your input. You’re the only one to question whatever I do, or won’t do.”
“But…”
“No, listen to me,” he said slowly as he shook his head. “As much as I hate to admit it, I shall have to apologize to Jeri and thank her for opening my eyes to see what I’ve done wrong. You must take it to heart that I want you to speak up, to speak to me when you find the reasons to do so.”
“You’re not mad at me?”
“No.”
“But I hurt myself and—”
“I’m more angry at myself for letting that happen in the first place,” he softly kissed her. “Would you like me to dress your wounds? Would you like some of my blood to heal them?”
“No.”
“But Bella, you hurt yourself because of me. I cannot have that, please, allow me to take care of them,” he said as he looked her in the eyes. “Please.”
She slowly nodded as she crawled out of his arms and dropped her pants, revealing two deep gashes on her legs. “I’m sorry…” she whispered.
“That’s alright,” he bit his hand and once the blood was flowing he placed it on her wounds, one at the time. “This is my fault.” Once they were closed, he grabbed a clean pair of pants for her and had her get into them before he pulled her back on the bed. “Let’s relax, shall we? We’ve had an eventful day.”
