Chapter 09
After sending Freya on a trip to retrieve Kol’s book or books, – Peter was confident that she could break into Kol’s tomb, but Klaus suspected that Davina had stolen the books. If she had, he was going to kill her – he had breakfast with Bella as they tried to make sense of everything before she returned to bed and Klaus retreated to his study after he picked up the books from Italy from Elijah’s study.
While he had more important matters to deal with – such as the prophecy – he also felt that it was pressing to figure out more about Bella. To find proof of what Peter had said. Peter was still a guest in the cellars as he requested to stay there at least until the sun went down, or until they didn’t need him anymore.
“Niklaus, I just had an interesting conversation with your guest in the dungeon,” Elijah said as he walked in. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?” He replied as he turned the page of the journal. “Bella’s problems are none of your concern; I’m trying to keep our lives separated.”
Sighing, Elijah sat down across from his brother. “I don’t believe you have a choice in the matter.”
Klaus’ eyes shot up to meet his brother’s. “Are we playing nice all of a sudden?”
“You’ve heard the prophecy and Freya’s confirmation. What if Bella will be our undoing?”
“I understand your concern, Elijah, but Bella’s harmless,” he shot at him. “I sincerely doubt that she’ll do anything to hurt our family. I rather see her do everything in her power to help us, which is why I want to keep her away from this as much as possible so she won’t get hurt.”
“I doubt you can make her stay away from it all, Niklaus. She appears to be quite tenacious.”
“I can at least try. Besides, the Cold Ones have more reason to fear her than we do,” he said as he smugly pointed at the book he was reading. “According to this, there once was a singer who was turned by one of ours and went on a rampage, killing hundreds, if not thousands of Cold Ones.”
Curiosity piqued, Elijah raised an eyebrow. “Interesting, what else does it say?”
“It doesn’t give a reason as to why this happened, only that it took the Volturi quite some time to bring this singer down and kill it. The Cold Ones are quite the mysterious creatures, keeping to themselves and always attempting to erase themselves from anywhere. No one can quite tell how many there are, still. But, you’d think that an embarrassment of a singer turned into a more fragile kind of vampire killing numbers of them would be completely erased from history. This might be the only evidence there is.”
“Then why is our sister breaking into Kol’s little sanctuary?”
Klaus let out a groan. “You’re not going to like this.”
“Obviously.”
“Well, we all know that Kol liked his witches, the key to deciphering what spell has been cast on Bella is in one of his books,” he shrugged, turning back to the diary.
“What does it have to do with the Cold Ones?”
“Nothing.”
Elijah let out a dramatic sigh as he raised his hand to rub his eye tiredly. “Niklaus. Enough with your games. What are you not telling me?”
“Bella is a distant cousin from a particular family of Travelers that we’re more than familiar with,” he said, not looking up. “Very distant. When I pointed it out to her, she was not pleased, at all. I believe she used the ‘ew’ expression after all the stories that I told her about our troubles with certain women from that family…”
“Niklaus,” Elijah said disappointedly. “Have you gone and fallen for yet another Petrova?”
“Oh don’t you lecture me about Petrova’s, brother,” Klaus shot at him. “And it wasn’t as if I knew. As if Bella knew!”
“But she’s not a doppelganger.”
“No, well, as it was explained to us, there were three lines, three Petrova brothers with their own lineage. The oldest brother’s line died out. Katerina was part of the middle one, the all too familiar doppelganger line. They dabbled a little in magic. And then there was the younger brother.” Klaus continued. “As our latest guest told it, Bella’s from his line. And that’s why we need Kol’s books, to fill in the blanks.”
Elijah allowed the words to sink in for a moment. “Niklaus, Traveler magic… it’s very potent, ancient. I know you said that Bella was harmless and that you trust her, but…”
“Elijah, she’s not a Traveler. Yes, she may have a smidgen of their blood inside of her and that spell placed upon her, but she’s not a danger. She’s not them. She’s not running a con; she’s not insincere. Even Peter said that she was sweet.”
“They could be in cahoots.”
“I have considered that and dismissed it. While I am not a fan of having a Cold One in our dungeon, she has not instinctively dismissed him as a threat the way she’s done with Freya.”
“Again, they could be in cahoots. Niklaus, don’t let your personal feelings towards her cloud your judgment.”
“I am not. Speaking of the prophecy, Lucien qualifies as both friend and foe, and according to Freya’s prophecy–”
“You are to beware both friend and foe. But, let us not forget family, Niklaus.”
Damn him. “Lucien’s two out of three– I say we put him down. Just like old times.”
“Just like old times? Brother, I wonder who among our family do you suppose to have the greatest predilection for betrayal?”
“Freya.”
“Oh please.”
“Right now I trust Bella’s spelled instincts over anyone else. She doesn’t particular like you right now. However, she trusts you. She trusts me. She does not trust Freya. So brother, please.”
Elijah decided to ignore him for now. They were going to have to settle it once the moment came. “Now, before we murder Lucien, some issues need to be answered. Chiefly, what is he doing here? And the wolf venom… Why would he lie to you, his sire?” Elijah idly picked up one of his brother’s paint brushes and tossed it in the air a couple of times. “I’m afraid we might have to resort to something deliciously medieval here, brother…”
Klaus smirked at that. Feeling hopeful, he replied; “We? I take it you will lower yourself to associate with your bastard brother?” He rose to his feet and looked at his brother who had a fake smile on his face. “Have you finally forgiven me?”
Sighing, he put the brush down. “I will consider it…”
Victory. This is what Klaus had wanted to hear for the last six months.
“When Hayley forgives you, Gia rises from the dead, and hell freezes over. For now, however, let’s just hope your little friendship with Lucien – or Bella, for that matter – doesn’t disrupt our mission.” Elijah turned and left the room without another word, leaving Klaus positively fuming and in shock at his brother’s words.
~o.O.o~
She knew that Klaus was out, so was Elijah and Freya still hadn’t returned either. So after going to the kitchen for a light snack, she found the blood bags that the Mikaelsons kept for back up and went to the dungeon to feed the non-vegetarian Cold One.
“Hungry?” She asked as she walked down the stairs. “Or did you top up before you came here?”
“I’d never say no to a little blood, Bella,” Peter replied and scrunched his nose in disgust when she tossed him a bag. “Seriously?”
“Take it or leave it, but I don’t want you to eat any human in New Orleans. They don’t survive your bite,” she said as she sat down on a crate and took a bite from her sandwich.
Sighing, he tossed the bag aside. It wasn’t as if he needed to feed. Anything was better than blood bags. “I see you left your guard dog upstairs.”
“He’s not home, but don’t even think that he left me unprotected,” she said sternly and took another bite from her food and kept her eyes on Peter. “He’s still keeping me safe.”
He smiled at that. “I do have to admit, though, when they told me you had run away, I wasn’t quite sure how long you were going to last, but look at you, you’re still here.”
Bella nodded. “My mom told me to run. Which is ridiculous as in that moment, she cared about my wellbeing.”
“Yeah… about your mom…” He said carefully.
“I know,” she replied. “Well, I don’t, because I haven’t looked back since I ran, but it’s only obvious that Edward killed her when he found out what she had done.”
Peter gave her a weird look. Glancing away, he reached up to scratch at the back of his neck and was silent for a moment before he looked back at her. “You don’t seem sad about it.”
“Why would I be? The thought of her being dead only made it easier for me to stay away, I had nothing left. If it hadn’t been for hearing about the place where I’ve been staying at for the last two years, I might have just given up and allowed them to find me,” Bella replied truthfully and took another bite from her sandwich. “I never really got the chance to be sad about my dad’s passing, so why should I stop for my mother’s passing? Our relationship wasn’t the best.”
“Because it’s bad not to allow yourself to feel?”
She eyed him skeptically. “I feel plenty, thanks.”
“True, but have you ever talked to someone about what you’ve gone through?”
“Both Klaus and our friend know that I’ve been running from the Cullens before coming here.”
“Details, peaches,” Peter laughed. “Have you ever gone into detail about it? Such as how you nearly got caught in Italy because you decided to fly too close to the sun by staying in Rome?”
“But I didn’t,” she pointed out.
“True, or what about that time in Egypt? Where you fell and broke an arm while running from Jane?”
“Peter…”
“Not to mention that time in Bulgaria where you were violated.”
“Stop!” Bella threw her sandwich at him. “That’s old; it’s history. Nobody needs to know that, it’s my history to bare. Yes, I know that I’m not okay. Yes, I know that when I get hurt, I do stupid things like running away. But that’s my problem. Not yours.”
“What about Klaus’ problem?”
“Not his either! Mine. And he knows about where I’ve run. That I nearly got caught.”
“But you left the bad things out.”
“Yes, and you’re not going to tell him either because one word from me and he’ll rip you to shreds. And if he won’t do it, I’m pretty sure I can find someone else to do it for me.”
Peter laughed at that. “Oh, all that bravery! Deep down you’re still scared, though, aren’t you?”
“Fuck you,” she said as she hopped off the crate and headed towards the stairs.
“Fleein’ yet again!”
“Shut up!” she shot at him as she took the stairs back up. So much for her trying to be nice to him. Give him some company. By the time she reached the courtyard, she was surprised to see Hayley and Jackson standing there with Hope. “Uhm… Klaus isn’t here. Neither is Elijah. Or Freya, for that matter.”
“We know,” Jackson replied knowingly. “Look, uhm… we don’t know you, and you don’t know us, but Freya told us that you and Hope are good together, and we need a babysitter. Freya said she’d be back within the hour.”
Bella looked at the two and laughed. “No. I’m not her babysitter,” she stated before turning her glare onto the she-wolf. “I’m not her mother. Nor will I ever be. You wanted Hope back; you got her. You find someone who wants to be her sitter. Or wait the hour until Freya comes back. But just because I’m here, doesn’t make me a babysitter.”
Hayley let out a growl.
“However, since I’m not completely heartless, I’m willing to watch her on one condition. You pay me. My hourly rates used to start at 75 to 100 dollars, depending on what needed to be done. Watching a baby? Eh, it’s minor so 75 dollars should be good.”
“You have some nerve!” Hayley growled at her.
“Fine, I can give you a family discount. What do 50 dollars sound like?”
“Like me snapping your neck!”
“Hayley,” Jackson chastised her before looking at Bella. “Come on, be civil here.”
Bella crossed her arms over each other. “Fine. But she owes me, and Klaus, an apology for last night. And that’s just the start of my grievances.”
“I’ll kill you,” Hayley spat.
“Please do,” Bella replied before taking Hope from Jackson. “Have a fun date and I do hope to get that apology after you’ve calmed down somewhat or this will be the last time I’ll be babysitting her at your request.”
“Thank you,” Jackson said with a nod. “And I’ll pay you, I promise.”
“Of course,” Bella said as she watched Hope put a strand of her hair in her mouth and watched the two wolves walk away, Hayley still in a foul mood. “Let’s go nap,” she said to Hope and headed to the bedroom.
~o.O.o~
When Klaus finally came home that night and had a conversation with his brother, she made him go to bed. It didn’t matter that Freya had managed to get the book from Davina – telling her that she wanted to help an innocent was the deal breaker, it didn’t matter what Klaus had learned or done that day, he needed sleep.
She had lit some candles and thought about maybe burning a stick of incense, but decided against it as vampires had sharper senses. He allowed her to push him down on the bed, and she started to undress him as she made light conversation with him, telling him to forget his worries just for the night and relax, enjoy himself.
Using some lightly scented massage oil – one of Myriam’s concoctions used on vampire clients that she managed to snag a bottle of, she carefully started to rub it into Klaus’ skin, feeling him relax under her touch. Her attentions were pure to relax him, get the tension out of his body and make him fall asleep without the use of her superpower; sex.
Of course, Klaus’ body was enjoying her touch very much, and he was very much erect as she kept caressing him, massaging him, and it was tempting to give his cock the attention that it so desperately needed, she wanted his cock in her mouth, and she’d suck him dry…
Shaking her hormones out of her head, she kept going until Klaus was sound asleep underneath her touch. Undressing, she crawled into bed with him and covered the both of them with a blanket as she crawled against him. At least for the night, they were in a nice, problem and worry free bubble.
~o.O.o~
“I left the book in my study, it’s fascinating, I assume,” Klaus said as he walked in front of her, clearly recharged after a good night’s sleep. “And I thought you needed to read it before we would share this information with your friend in the dungeon.”
“Oh, okay,” Bella said as she picked up the pace to keep up with him, only to bump into him when he stopped dead in his tracks when he had entered his study. “A little warning would have been nice!” She shot at him before going over to the desk and eyeing the old book.
Klaus eyed his sister who was doing yoga. In his study. She had a room for this. Why was she in his study? “What are you doing here?”
Freya sighed in annoyance. “I live here.”
“Yes, obviously,” Klaus said as he eyed her while she changed positions. “I just hadn’t realized you were back from wherever it is you go to when you leave! Perhaps I was thrown off by the lack of strange gentleman callers perusing the contents of my refrigerator this morning.”
“Ah,” she smiled widely at him, clearly amused. “Your concern for my whereabouts is touching, Nik, but same could be said about your little friend, couldn’t it? You know, the one I had to get the book for? I’m not saying anything about her, either.”
“Well, not out in the open. Perhaps behind our backs.”
“Most definitely,” she replied playfully and winked at her brother.
“I simply want to know who is here at any given moment! I hardly think that’s too much to ask.”
“Well, as long as we’re talking attendance…”
Bella looked up when Hayley breezed into the study, followed by an amused looking Elijah right on her heels. This family sure knew how to make their entrances. Sighing softly, she did what she did best and made herself invisible by engrossing herself into the book. It was interesting what she was reading so far. It was almost as if she was getting a history lesson, as the start of the Traveler community was described and it looked like the entire book was merely a journal of important happenings. And the Traveler community was old, ancient.
Bella loved history and to know that she had ancestors who dated so far back was exhilarating. The magic was an added bonus though it was far more interesting to read what they believed in so long ago.
“Oh, good! It’s my not-so-loving older brother and my former one-night-stand! What a nice, normal family gathering,” Klaus said mockingly. Bella wouldn’t be surprised if this conversation would end up in yet another verbal sparring contest.
“Charming. Elijah was just catching me up on how you have no clue which one of your long-lost buddies you can trust and which one is trying to kill you.”
“Well, clearly what the situation needs is more opinions,” he said sarcastically before looking at his brother. “I assume you told her about the bloody prophecy?”
“I was just getting to that,” Elijah said amused as he eyed Hayley, she didn’t look pleased, at all.
Hayley looked back at Klaus and did her best attempt to stare him down, which didn’t work, of course. “Now.”
“Well, it appears my old mate Lucien has acquired a genuine seer, and to prove his good intentions, he got her to show us some rather dire visions of future doom. It’s grim stuff, really– not for the faint of heart.”
“Whose doom are we talking about, here? Because if it’s yours, I think we’re all okay with that.”
“Oh come on!” Bella cried out from her position at the desk. “Can’t you guys discuss things normally without idle threats and snark?”
“What is she doing here?” Hayley demanded as she pointed at Klaus.
“She lives here,” he replied in the same tone of voice that Freya had used on him just moments before.
“Obviously,” Hayley rolled her eyes at him. “She has no reason to be included in this conversation.”
“I’m not, I mind my own business making snarky comments from the sideline,” Bella replied angrily. While she was kept up to date by Klaus, all conversations concerning the prophecy after Freya having validated it had been held without her. She wasn’t too happy about it, but she accepted it because she was the new one around. “And just for your information, they’re all on the chopping block. Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah.”
Klaus’ grin grew bigger as he looked at Hayley. “But, chin up! This witch claims her visions are constantly evolving. So, you may just get your wish!”
“Well, I want to meet this psychic witch. Tonight.” Hayley demanded, leaving no option for anyone to object.
She never thought about having to spend Halloween inside. Mostly alone. It had been the most fun to be at Débauche and to work during special holidays such as these. Last year, she was dressed up as a zombified Disney princess that got her a lot of attention from freaks, but it had been so much fun.
And now she was stuck inside. Away from the club and reading a book about Travelers. It was such an extensive book, and she didn’t want to skim over it because she was afraid she was going to miss things. She wanted the book to kick start Peter’s wonder brain, but she had promised Klaus not to do that before she read it all herself. And without him.
Elijah and Hayley were going to a party thrown by Elijah’s little vampires, and Klaus was hunting down Lucien to have another encounter with Alexis. Freya was out, partying. At least Bella wasn’t stuck with Hope duty. The worst part of it all that Klaus had asked her to stay in the study or the bedroom and not go to the courtyard, that the servants would make sure she was well taken care of.
She wasn’t sure what was worse; living at the Compound or Débauche. All she knew was that she wanted to party. She had swung the balcony doors open and heard music and laughter coming from the streets. Having that as her music, she continued to read the book. Bella started to pay more attention when she came to the Petrova’s. There was nothing about doppelgangers or singers, much to her disappointment, but that was because they were rare things. And as far as singers, the Cold Ones liked to hide their truths.
Klaus had told her that they only learned of the line of Petrova’s being common for doppelgangers after they met Katerina, it was the line that he and his family had traced back to Tatia, who was in their village and the two were the spitting image of each other. Elijah had a book with that entire lineage, and not much of it, but this book, Kol’s book, was so much more.
She didn’t know the guy, but she thought he was awesome. Smart, to have a book on some very powerful witches, where, more often than not, their weaknesses were being discussed, and how they managed to overcome them. If this book was the key to knowing what was wrong with her, then she definitely owed him a drink in the afterlife.
It took her a few more chapters to get to the line of the youngest brother of Katerina’s father, and she was fascinated by what she was reading. It was truly the origins of her family. However, there was nothing mentioned about the line being extra special. She kept reading, and once she got to the juicy parts, on how the Travelers existed and who were in it, a few familiar names popped up for doing a lot of bad stuff.
That, and the fact that the Travelers seemed to be the root of all evil as well when it came to Cold Ones. She had gold in her hands. This had been one book talking about the origins of the Cold Ones that the Volturi hadn’t been able to destroy. Well done, Kol.
This could give Peter some more insight as well. Jumping out of the chair, she made her way over to the alcohol and poured herself a generous glass. She wanted to party, and since she was alone, she was going to party by herself.
Taking the glass with her, she went to the bedroom to grab her iPad and sent Myriam a text message, wishing her a happy Halloween before connecting it to her portable speakers and pressed her playlist. She was going to get drunk and dance all night until Klaus would come home and if she’d remember, she was going to tell him what she’d learned. If she didn’t remember, well, then he’d just had to wait until she’d sobered up.
Bella lost track of time when all of a sudden she could hear Klaus complain from his study that she was playing her music too loud and that he needed to have a chat with Marcel about the night’s events. Grumbling, she turned it down somewhat and poured the remainder of the decanter in her glass and continued drinking.
She couldn’t wait for Klaus to be done. She had something important to share, but what was it? Klaus sounded angry and then the voices left the study to go downstairs or something. She didn’t care. Bella turned her music back up and went to look for more booze as she downed the glass and nearly bumped into the doorpost. Giggling, she found a full decanter of bourbon on a side table – that was one good thing about living with vampires, there was alcohol on every table, or it seemed that way and brought it back to the bedroom.
It didn’t take much longer for Klaus to join her. She caught him watching her from the door as she danced and tried not to bump into things. “I thought I told you to turn it down, love.”
“Oh, poop,” she huffed as she stumbled to her iPad and turned off the music. “I’m having fun. It’s Halloween, and I have nowhere to go, no one to entertain… I mean, you were gone all day, leaving me with this boring book and hearing people in the streets having fun…” She made her way over to him and sighed. “And I don’t know if I’m drowning my sorrows or celebrating, how grand is that? I am so drunk that I forgot what I was doing or what the reason is!” She tugged on his shirt and pulled him towards the bed. “Come.”
“You’re acting like a spoilt brat, love,” he mused as he watched her, making sure she was alright. “I need to tell you something before Elijah comes in and tells you the same story but from his point of view.”
“Uh-huh,” she said as she pushed him onto the bed and sat down on top of him. She then wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, before remembering the night before, where she had massaged him, and his cock seemed lonely. Smirking, she slid down his legs, off the bed to help him out of his pants.
“I uh… well, Lucien and I went to crash Elijah’s exclusive party with the Strix.”
“Uh-huh,” she said as she yanked his pants over his shoes, losing everything in the process. Putting her hands on his thighs, she looked up at him with a smile on her face as she was sitting between his legs.
“We came in with a bunch of girls to make sure that Freya could slip in without detection.”
“Okay,” she said as she licked her lips, remaining eye contact with him. “Was that it?”
“Elijah might say that I was too handsy.”
Her smile turned into a pout. “Were you?”
His eyes widened in shock and disbelief. How could she believe that he was? “No! No, of course not!”
“I think you were,” she said sadly. “Because you were having too much fun all day and you forgot all about me. You left me here. You didn’t even call me or send someone to check on me. What if I got killed by Peter? Or by someone else? I could have stupidly fallen over the balcony and dropped dead on the floor.”
“You’re silly, Bella.”
Grabbing his cock with a firm hand, she squeezed it, hard. “I’m drunk off my ass! Of course I’m silly!”
“Let go of the goods, love,” he said with a strained voice.
“Fuck you, I’m going to suck you dry,” she said as she loosened her grip and took him into her mouth.
Despite the fact that he would never object to receiving a blow job, he had to stop her. She was drunk and irrational. He had let her go on for a bit so that she, too, could blow off some steam but she needed to sleep it off. He tucked his legs underneath him as he pushed her shoulders. “No,” he crooned as she released him. He pulled her up and carefully put her down on the bed. “We’re not going to engage in sexual activities when you’re positively drunk.”
“But…”
“That was your rule at Myriam’s, that should be your rule now,” he said as he tucked her in bed, it was a good thing that she was already in her underwear, so he didn’t have to undress her. “Unless the both of us are equally drunk.”
“That won’t ever happen. You’d have to drink two crates of bourbon to get there,” she pouted.
“Sleep. I’ll feed you my blood in the morning to cure your hangover.”
~o.O.o~
She groaned when the sun hit her face the following morning. Pulling her pillow over her head, she squeezed her eyes shut as thousands of demented midgets were using jackhammers to redecorate the inside of her skull. Bella had let herself go the night before. Too much bourbon. What was it? An entire bottle and then some?
The smell of fried eggs and bacon made her come to her senses somewhat, and when she peeked from under her pillow, Klaus was just setting a full English breakfast down on her side table with a big glass of orange juice. If she had to be honest, she was famished. She couldn’t even remember if she had dinner last night. Crawling out from her little bunker, she sat up and smiled at him, thankful for the breakfast. “Hi.”
“Morning,” he said with a grin and kissed the top of her head. “Eat up, how’s your head?”
“Eh, troublesome,” she squinted her eyes when he moved out of the way, and the sun hit her face again. “I’m sorry, I kinda let myself go last night.” She pulled the plate into her lap and sighed. “Tell me everything.”
And he did. Everything that they had found out, rescuing Alexis, losing Alexis, everything. By the time Klaus was done telling her, she had wiped her plate clean and was about to trade the plate of her glass of orange juice. He could already see that she was pinking up and doing better. He had hid a little bit of his blood in the baked beans and tomato juice, figuring that drinking blood on an empty stomach wouldn’t be a productive means of getting her cured of her hangover. “And now it’s your turn to share.”
“Oh!” She said brightly before downing the glass of juice and hopped off the bed to get back into her clothes. “You have to see this. This will shed so much light on the origin of the Cold Ones; you have no idea!”
“I thought you were reading up on Travelers?”
“Yes, I was,” she smiled as she zipped her pants and threw on one of his shirts before taking his hand and dragging him to the study. “They were created by Travelers. By complete accident, of course, but created by them nonetheless.”
“What?”
Bella nodded. “Mmhmm. Something like 2000 years before someone named Quetesh…?”
“Ah, the Egyptian goddess of sexual pleasure and sacred ecstasy,” Klaus mused before it hit him. “Qetsiyah?”
She rolled her eyes at him before nodding. “Yes. Anyway, the Travelers only grew in power over the centuries, but it all started with an accident. A few members of the Travelers wanted more power for themselves, at first, they were one with nature, and they decided to upset the balance. They were enslaved and made to build the Pyramids at Gizeh, and wanted to speed up the process because it was hard work,” Bella explained as she pulled him towards the book to show him. “They dreamt of finishing their task and taking over from the Pharaoh at the time to better themselves, to create more wealth. It was during a regular day at sunrise in the camp when they decided to piss off the deities. It killed the entire camp. Or that’s what they initially thought. From the ashes and ruins of the camp, the laborers rose, and their skin was reflecting the sun like tiny crystals.”
“You’re joshing me!”
“Nope,” Bella shook her head with a smile. “The remaining Travelers lost their magic for a while and were banished to other lands such as Romania and Bulgaria. Some went to Greece. There were tales that one day, by the grace of the Gods, power would be restored to the Travelers and that they needed to fix their past misdeeds of creating the men made out of stone, as they were wreaking havoc over the entire continent. Now, around 100 years BC, the Travelers, especially in Greece, had finally been able to prove to the Gods that their past misdeeds were just that, the past. Sure, they were well off and revered by the regular folk, often being showered with gifts such as jewelry and food, but they only took what they needed.”
Klaus grumbled as he sat down in the chair and pulled Bella onto his lap. He’d always known that his Bella was a history buff, but for her to piece together all the clues in the book, as they were just that, was just amazing. Or probably a remnant of the spell cast upon her. “Please continue.”
“There was a gifted witch at the time called Qetsiyah. It appeared that she had mastered immortality and wanted to gift that to her fiancé Silas, but before that, her most powerful spell had been an idea, at first, her mentor had improved it and cast it, causing yet again an amount of Travelers to lose their lives, but this time for good. Over the centuries they had observed that some men and women of stone had shown interest in people, claiming that their blood smelled better than others, and how those people ended up dying. A lot. Qetsiyah’s idea was to empower those better smelling humans to be the death of the Cold Ones, to clean up the mess that their ancestors had created centuries before.”
“Interesting.”
“The spell required so much magic, and so much energy that it required the sacrifice of half the Traveler population and until the 10th or 11th century, there was no actual evidence that it had worked.”
“So for 1200 years, they weren’t sure if their sacrifice had been worth it? That’s just stupid.”
“Or ingenious,” Bella pointed out. “It was prophesied that a new breed of Cold Ones would rise. They referred to them as Hot Ones at first, as they were seen as the complete opposite. While both were against nature, the Hot Ones would be able to blend in more with the regular folk as their skin wouldn’t sparkle in the sun. They would be indestructible and populate the Earth.”
“Are you talking about my family and our progeny?” He was intrigued now. He had always wondered why there were two types of vampires. Granted, they always stayed clear of each other, respecting each other’s culture, but how was this possible?
“Well, you told me about how your mother sought out the witch of your village after Henrik died, to turn you all into immortals. That witch was a descendant of Qetsiyah and she flat out refused because she knew what danger it could bring to mess with nature. Remember, due to her immortality spell, she created the doppelgangers.”
“My mother took it upon herself to turn us into immortals.”
“And voila, the Hot Ones were born,” she kissed him on the cheek. “And I must say, you are very hot.”
“But just to be clear, love, we are not related to the Cold Ones at all, are we?”
“Oh, no, no, I don’t believe so,” she smiled at him. “You’re pure blooded Vikings.”
“I’m not a pureblood, love.”
“I know, but as far as this book tells me, no Traveler went to Scandinavia, probably because it was too cold, and the Americas were too far away,” she turned a few more pages and pointed at it. “This is give or take a few hundred years after you were created and had spawned little sirelings of your own. This story tells the story of Carmen, daughter of a non-practicing Traveler from Italy, and she was a singer. Like, a real singer. But she fell in love with a Hot One and a Cold One at the same time. The Cold One lusted after her for her blood, and the Hot One actually cared about her. Carmen’s father remembered the story of how some people smelled better to Cold Ones than others and told her to be aware. She was too much of a talented singer to be killed.”
“What happened?”
“The Hot One took her away, he took her to foreign countries and had her sing for royalty. They earned quite some money over the years and, after a while, they encountered the same Cold One at a French court. Afraid that he was going to lose her, the Hot One turned her, unlocking the spell that was cast centuries before. Carmen found that she could easily kill the Cold One. And she did. Her blood turned into a beacon and for years, Cold Ones came to her wherever she performed, and she killed them all.”
“Are you serious?” Klaus laughed. “That sounds bloody awesome!”
“It does,” Bella smiled at him. “It took Aro and the other Volturi nearly 100 years to be able to end her life, but the damage had been done. Carmen, the singer, had slaughtered half of the Cold One population. Quite the embarrassment.”
“And that’s where the term singer comes from?”
“I guess,” Bella said with a shrug. “I think Peter can fill in the blanks about the spell, what it does, exactly. This book isn’t a grimoire, more like a journal.”
“Anything else that sprung to your attention?”
Bella nodded with a sigh. “But we’ll get to that later, okay? Let’s talk to Peter about this and see what he has to say. Maybe this information will do nothing for him, maybe it will.”
“Has he been fed at all?”
“We’ll take a fresh blood bag downstairs, but he’s a little bit of a purist,” she shrugged as she got off Klaus’ lap. “He’ll eat when he’s hungry, just like any other household pet.”
