Chapter 07
Kol still didn’t know whether or not he should feel guilty for feeding Bella alcohol and get her drunk. He hadn’t expected her to be an emotional drunk and the emotional sludge that she had dumped on him had taken him by surprise, but it had also been an eyeopener. She did like him the way that he liked her, it was merely difficult for her to put it into words or to share.
And even the thought of feeling guilty about him made him feel sick to his stomach and he felt he had to kill something in order to balance things out every time he thought about his guilt. Love was stupid, but oh so good. Guilt should be a non-existent thing. He never felt guilt, only when it came to Bella. All the mistakes he had made in the past, all the little things he was doing now that Bella didn’t particularly liked…
And, per her request, nothing changed between them. He was still having fun with her and honest, open, as that worked well with her. Rebekah, of course, made sure she made herself scarce and hung around with some vampires of Elijah’s line. Saint-Tropez was quiet enough for Bella to feel extremely comfortable and transient enough for all the vampires to hold almost a daily feast.
To be honest, he wasn’t missing anything now that he choose to spend more time with Bella outside of bars. She didn’t want to get drunk ever again, she had thought of it as an horrible, yet purging experience that she wouldn’t want to revisit. Instead, they went out for walks a lot when it was dark and listen to the sea or the nocturnal animals and strangely enough, he liked it. It calmed him more than anything he had tried before.
And it sucked. But he also liked the feeling of serenity and calmness and Bella was the only person who could give it to him, as she had done in the past. And yes, Rebekah teased him mercilessly about his infatuation, and he didn’t even get angry about it.
It was just the guilt that was eating him up sometimes.
It was a couple of weeks after Bella’s drunk emotion spill when he decided to take her to Frejus for a few days for a change of scenery, the zoo and the amusement park were a great thing to visit, a lot of entertainment and Bella couldn’t believe her eyes nor hide her excitement when he took her to the Veterinary Clinic of the city to learn things first hand, ahead of her education.
She knew her biology well enough. ‘Still not as advanced as my maths but I take it one subject at the time,’ as she said and she was so happy after the long day of working with Dr. Emily DuMee whom he had compelled to answer any question Bella might have with patience and grace and Bella was simply soaking up the information as she cared for the animals.
She had promised not to use her magic because it was basically cheating, but when someone brought in a dog that was near death due to a road accident, she couldn’t help but intervene as she met them in the waiting area. Of course, Kol had to compel everyone around them that they didn’t see anything, but her heart was big and he was so proud of her, and doing this was another step for her on the self confidence ladder. She wanted to become a vet and she was going to be an amazing one at that!
A couple of days later, they met up with Rebekah in Monte Carlo in a fancy club run by Elijah’s vampires, with EDM music, and a lot of Elijah’s vampires for a feast. Bella had found a quiet spot in one of the corners where Kol could keep an eye on her, but she was the one who told him to enjoy himself, not to hide his true nature and to have fun with it. And he had fun with it, although chatting up the ladies for a bite wasn’t as enjoyable to him as it had been in the past. All he could think of was Bella, who was technically his eternal source of blood but hadn’t fed on since the last time he did out of necessity.
Stuck up pricks or not, some of Elijah’s vampires were quite alright, especially those in France. They were more hedonistic and fair, apart from those from Elijah’s elite little group The Strix. Rebekah was looking for love, of course, with one of said vampires and Kol had just snacked on a brunette girl at the bar, not even looked at her face, he was there for the blood, he already had his girl in the corner watching him. Oh, yeah, he felt her eyes on him. One of these days he was going to try to touch her differently than he usually did. Netflix and chill. Oh yeah. He absolutely loved this era!
However, his thoughts quickly came to a halt when every vampire around them started to fall. Kol’s rainbows and sunshine thoughts made way for worry and dark clouds. If these vampires had fallen, that meant that something had happened in New Orleans to Elijah. He dropped the vampire he had caught and looked around, confused and not quite sure what the hell was going on. He quickly looked at Bella, but she was already on her way to Kol, her heart beating faster, she was scared.
As she ducked into his arms, Rebekah spoke. “I haven’t seen vampires die like this since…” the memory made her sad, and she had to swallow hard. “… you were killed.”
“And my entire sireline died with me,” he said breathlessly as he kept a protective arm around Bella.
“Elijah… Kol, we need to go back, now.”
During their flight back home, Klaus informed them all about what happened over the phone. How there was a new ancient threat in New Orleans and how she had killed Elijah to get the power she needed to resurrect herself. ‘But not to worry, Freya trapped Elijah’s soul in that pendant of hers and we can resurrect our brother without any trouble!’ Somehow Kol didn’t feel reassured by that. Rebekah couldn’t believe her brother’s sunny disposition either. He was far too optimistic by this.
Bella thought it was humorous how the entire family was on the warpath, they had barely even landed and Rebekah, Kol and Klaus went off to find a weapon that could kill them all that had apparently been created by this new enemy, The Hollow. Bella knew exactly what and who the Hollow was, and that they were going to need the Ancestors to help defeat it. She could feel that they had already fixed what had been broken. Bella could feel the pull of the Ancestors to come and talk to them. To be the guide of the new Harvest girls, and frankly, she didn’t want to.
While everyone was busy doing what they did best, Bella decided to go anyway, and hear the Ancestors out. They couldn’t hurt her while she was alive, they wouldn’t dare. While she was still weak compared to the witches they liked to use as their pet, she had become more resourceful in the last five years, and yes, she didn’t go without her moonstone in her pocket.
If Kol knew she was going to talk to the Ancestors by herself, he’d be pissed. She knew this.
She was greeted by two of the Harvest girls, Steph and Amy. “We do not allow you entrance into our domain,” Steph said as she crossed her arms over her chest. There was a boundary spell cast over the tomb, so Bella couldn’t enter anyway. “But you can talk to the Ancestors through us.”
“You forget that I’ve been your Ancestor for over a century until five years ago and that they want me to guide you?” Bella countered as she put her hand in her pocket to fumble her moonstone for safety.
“It’s time for your return.”
“Why? All I did was hide and stay out of their way, my power added nothing to theirs.”
“You’re running with vampires, even aided the Mikaelsons in their return. The Ancestors don’t like vampires.”
“I know that, but your precious Ancestors were also the cause of the creation of the beast that is now Marcel Gerard. They had dealings with Lucien Castle, played him like a fiddle to do their bidding. Who’s going to make sure Marcel stays in check and doesn’t go on a rampage again?” Bella countered and shook her head. “The secrets of the Ancestors are safe with me. I retained all my memories from my time with them and I have not used any of that information for my benefit. I am only back in New Orleans to help the Mikaelsons defeat the Hollow, what are the Ancestors going to do about it?”
“Leave that to us,” Amy said as she moved forward. “We have created a Dark Object that will sever your life from that of Kol Mikaelson and then we can help you rejoin the Ancestors.”
Bella threw up a boundary spell of her own, freezing the two witches in place. “I am not going to rejoin those nutjobs and have my soul shredded for running with vampires and for escaping the Ancestors in the first place.”
“But I thought you wanted to die?” A new voice spoke, and Bella turned to see who was joining them. Not one of the Harvest girls, that was for sure. There was a power coming off of this girl that Bella realized that this was the Hollow made flesh. “You’re only still here because you’re linked to Kol Mikaelson.”
“I’ve been dealing with that feeling for the last five years, yes,” Bella replied as she cocked her head. “Are you The Hollow?”
“Let’s talk,” she smiled as she put an arm around Bella to start leading her away from the Harvest girls. “I can help you with your predicament, if you do something for me. I have a power source that is now vulnerable. Now I know, and I feel, that you’re not powerful enough to do many things, but as you said, The Mikaelsons are going to do everything in their power to destroy me. I am not a bad person, Bella, I like power, sure, but I’m also doing great things with that power. I help those who are loyal to me. I can sever your link to Kol Mikaelson and you can do with your life was you please. You can live out your days, become an old lady with cats, or, you can end your own life.”
Bella had already decided that living wasn’t such a bad thing, especially now that she had Kol and his family to be with. She was being looked after and she looked after them. It seemed that the Hollow wasn’t picking up on that, which was quite interesting as nobody had ever managed to read her mind until she was dead. “Why me?”
“Because the Mikaelsons love you. They wouldn’t do anything to hurt you and I need you to protect something that’s mine while I find a way to deal with them.”
“I’m not going to screw them over,” Bella shot at her. “You leave them alone and they will leave you alone. Don’t go after the kid, either, because they will keep coming.”
“But Hope… she’s nothing like I’ve seen in my entire existence. I want her.”
“Promise me you will allow the Mikaelsons, all of them, to leave New Orleans safely and I will do as you ask. If you have the power to sever the link between myself and Kol so that I can die, then surely you’ll have the power to turn me into something more powerful than Hope to do your bidding.”
Oh, this was incredibly stupid. But if she truly had some sort of totem and Bella would bring it to the Mikaelsons, surely it would help them destroy the Hollow. She could play along, for now. As long as nobody died. Anything that could help the Mikaelsons to get rid of the Hollow was a good thing, even if Bella had to sacrifice herself for it, because even if she’d be mortal again, at least she knew that she’d be with Kol until she’d die.
“This was not what I had imagined,” the Hollow sneered as she nearly ripped off Bella’s neck from pulling her against her so tightly. “But you are correct, I could make you a powerful being to do my bidding and leave the child alone until she’s a little bit older.”
“That’s not—”
“Take it or leave it, honey,” she replied as she let go of Bella. “Deal?”
“Fine…” Bella sighed, shaking her head. The Hollow gave Bella the address of the home she kept it in for now, and went on her way, but not before the link was severed completely.
“Don’t forget, Bella, you’re mortal now. Don’t allow the Mikaelsons to kill you, or anyone else for that matter, you have a totem to protect,” the Hollow called after her. As soon as she was out of ear shot, Bella sent a text message to Kol with the address where to meet her. Truth be told, she was scared now. She could die and that meant that she wouldn’t have a future with Kol, because she was mortal now. However, she hoped that he wouldn’t be angry with her for doing this, that he’d see that what she was doing was a good, helpful thing, and that hopefully, everything was going to be alright.
She found the glowing ball exactly where the Hollow said it was, and not even a second later, Kol found her. “What’s going on?”
“I did something…” she hesitated as she met his eyes. “And you’re probably going to get mad and you’re going to freak out and everything, but I saw a chance to help and I took it…”
He didn’t like where this was going. Hadn’t she been at the Compound all this time? “What did you do?”
Bella let out a breath as she kept looking at him. “I went to LaFayette because the Ancestors wanted to speak to me…”
“Bella!”
“And instead I had to speak to the two Harvest girls. They want me back. Likely to punish me for running with vampires and helping you and escaping in the first place.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“I know,” she smiled at him. “I told them that, too. I’m not going back and I am certainly not going to allow them to shred my soul into a million pieces and make me leave. However… the Hollow was there too.”
“That bitch found me and thought she could bribe me with dangling a resurrected Davina in front of me, fat chance. I left,” he said bitterly.
“Did you at least hear her out as to why she needed you?”
“Of course not,” he huffed.
“I did,” she said as she held up the glowing totem. “This is her protection, her totem. She wanted it to be safe.”
Kol looked at the object and then back at Bella, he was getting worried now. “What did she offer you?”
“Something I no longer wanted, but she can’t read my mind so she believed it was something I still wanted… but that’s not important. The important thing is is that you can destroy this and destroy her, save the city and save Hope.”
“Bella.”
“She severed our link, I am mortal again,” she said softly as she looked at him. “And that’s alright, if that’s the price to pay for getting you this thing, then so be it. I don’t care if she kills me for betraying her, I want you to be safe.”
“And I want you to be safe,” he said as he pulled her into his arms. “You silly girl, you should have let us handle this…” While he was happy to hear that she no longer wanted to die, to be mortal as it meant that she’d stick around with him, it hurt to know that she was mortal now. And this act of kindness could either make Nik very happy or he’d end up killing her. “Freya is doing a locator spell on the Hollow, she suspected that she had an object to her.” God, this had been one stupid move by her.
“She won’t be able to find me, I cloaked us thoroughly,” Bella said as she placed the glowing item on a side table in the house they were in. “Perks of having studied her magic for the last five years, I suppose,” she added with half a shrug and then moved into Kol’s arms again. “But can we talk? My new found mortality is messing with my brain right now and I don’t know what to do…”
If it were up to him, he’d feed her his blood and kill her so that she’d come back to him. But she had made it clear in the past that she didn’t want a relationship and the most touching they had done was shared through hugs or moments like these, where she hid in his arms. “I don’t want you to leave me, Bella. I don’t want you to die.”
“I don’t want to, either,” she smiled up at him. “I swear, I don’t. But whereas I thought we had all the time in the world for me to grow into things – a relationship, it’s now gone. And I’m not sure if I want to become a vampire, either.”
“Why not?”
“I’d lose my magic and I’d lose the vision I had to become a vet who healed with magic…”
“But darling, Myriam is still a healer too, she’s a vampire.”
“It’s her knowledge of herbs that makes her fantastic. And I know my magic is nothing special, but what I did in that animal hospital in France… it was beautiful,” she then sighed. “But I also know that I’m not capable of protecting myself, and that being immortal helped a lot with my self confidence in magic. I couldn’t die, if I did something wrong then it would be alright and now it’d have consequences.”
“You want to try to link yourself to me again through magic? Bella, it was an accident you didn’t plan on happening. You won’t be able to replicate that because there were other powers at play at the time, too,” he gently pushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. “Darling, I do want to have more time with you and nothing makes me happier for you to say you want the same. Take my blood, just for safety. Should you turn, you don’t have to hurt other people to get fed. We usually drink from blood bags anyway.”
“I’ll be the worst vampire ever, and even more incapable of protecting myself,” Bella scowled.
“You’ll be stronger and more durable and if you don’t want to fight, that’s fine with me, darling. I’ll protect you. Always.” Maybe, just maybe, her turning would have even more positive effects. How would a brain like hers deal with heightened feelings and emotions? “It’ll be difficult to give up on your magic, but you are smart and resourceful. Your knowledge of stones and herbs is vast and you can still be a kickass vet later if you want to. I’d really like for you to stick around awhile longer. With me. Forever, if possible.”
“But I’m broken.”
“To me, you are perfect,” he said before getting distracted by a phone call from his sister Rebekah, informing him that Freya had found the totem and that she was going to find and destroy it while Freya and Hayley were going after the Hollow themselves. Kol told her not to bother and that the item would come to the compound shortly. He needed to take care of other things first. “So, how about it, darling?”
“You sure there’s no other way?”
“Not one that I can think of quickly and I’d feel more at ease with my blood inside of you when we go and see the siblings with the Hollow’s trinket.”
“Are you mad at me?”
Yes. No. Yes. This was stupid. “No, of course not,” he smiled at her and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You do what you always do, think with your heart first, then realize the consequences later. And that’s alright. Darling, being a vampire isn’t all that bad. Trust me. You’ll find things you’ll enjoy as much as magic and in a way, you can still practise some magic with our Dark Objects.” But please, drink my blood so that when Nik does kill you in a fit of rage, you’ll come back to me, he added in silence.
Bella nodded, and the moment she did, he bit into his hand and made her drink. She didn’t like blood, he knew this, and he also knew that that was going to change should she transition into a vampire. Unchartered territories, and he hoped that she wouldn’t turn out to be a psycho vampire but remained her quirky, usual self. Kol bought her a coffee on the way to the Compound to get rid of that coppery taste while she carried the totem around.
“Don’t bother!” Klaus shot at his brother. “Don’t bother?!” He was so angry that the veins were popping in his forehead. “What are you playing at, brother!”
Kol moved Bella behind him and watched his brother rage for a good minute or so. “Please let me know when you’re done so I can explain.”
“Hey! Quiet!” Myriam called from the balcony upstairs. “Hope has just fallen asleep!” She then looked at Bella and noticed that something was different. She hopped down to the ground level and sniffed Bella. Sure, Kol’s scent was all over the girl, as it should, but there was a small trace of Kol’s blood on her lips, masked by the coffee she had drank after. “Why do you have Kol’s blood inside of you when you don’t need it? Did you two have sex?” She sniffed Bella again. “No, that’s not it.” She then noticed something glowing in the inside of Bella’s coat and took it. “Oh. Oh…” her heart broke. What did she do now? “Bella, what did you do to obtain this?”
“She made a deal with the Hollow, who granted Bella’s last known wish. Mortality so she can die again,” Kol said as he kept Bella behind him, his eyes firmly locked onto his brother’s. “Of course, that hasn’t been the case in quite some time, so Bella took advantage of it and obtained us the totem for us to destroy so that Freya and Hayley can kill the Hollow.”
“A deal with the Hollow?” Klaus breezed as he pulled his brother away from Bella and nudged his girlfriend away from the girl as well. “Are you absolutely out of your mind? Have you completely lost your remaining marbles? No doubt that the wretched wench put a tracking spell on you to make sure you didn’t bring that to us. You have put us all in danger!”
“Klaus, control yourself,” Myriam said kindly, still holding the totem as she tried to move between Bella and her hybrid again. “You can’t fault Bella for having good intentions.”
“Good intentions?!” Klaus spat. “She’s endangering us all!” He was pulled away from Bella by Kol, flying across the courtyard, but landing safely. On his sprint back to the girl, he grabbed a knife and stabbed Bella in the heart before snapping her neck.
“That’s a bit overkill, don’t you think?” Kol growled as he caught Bella’s limp body and looked at his brother.
Klaus pulled the knife out of Bella and ran his finger over the blade, tasting the girl’s blood as he shrugged. “Overkill? I think not. I could have ripped off all of her limbs, now that would have been overkill,” he said calmly. “It had to be convincing, Kol, you told me that it was possible that the Hollow had spelled her or was keeping an eye on her from afar.”
“I’d rather had her death be less violent,” Kol chided his brother before carefully lifting Bella up. It was strange to hold her like this again. Dead. Truly dead. The first time he had killed her, it had been a mercy killing, and now, she died at the hands of his brother because it had to look convincing. “I swear, if she comes out of this and she’s wild and deranged, I’m blaming you,” he said before taking Bella’s body upstairs and he was going to hold a vigil next to her until she’d wake up in transition.
Myriam sighed as she bounced the totem up and down in the palm of her hand. “Kol’s right, you could have handled that differently.”
“Can you destroy that thing or not?” Klaus shot at her, ignoring her words. Myriam and Bella had become very close friends over the years, it came as no surprise to him that she was choosing Bella’s side.
“Temper, temper,” Myriam said in a singsong voice before making her way over to the bowl to start destroying the totem with the items Freya had left for her.
Bella blissfully slept through everything. She didn’t experience the destruction of the Hollow, nor Hope’s possession by the Hollow, and she didn’t have to hear the talks of how they were discussing Vincent’s plan to defeat the Hollow for once and for all, how it’d tear the family apart.
Had it been up to Kol, he would have left New Orleans after they had found the totem, but that was under the assumption of them finding it, and not Bella. Not his Bella who sacrificed herself, once again, to try and make life good again for him and his family. She never fully understood that it wasn’t her place to be a hero, to try and be a hero for them, the family didn’t deserve it.
Vincent’s plan wasn’t a great one when it came to the family and Always and Forever. The same Always and Forever Kol had only briefly been a part of, but anything for family. Anything for Hope. It’d mean that he’d never see his siblings again, or at least until Freya had found a way to fix this. The end of Always and Forever would mean that he could start his Always and Forever with Bella. Finally a valid reason to stay away from his siblings as far as possible.
He just didn’t like it that he had to have a part of an even darker soul inside of him. He hoped that it wouldn’t have such an impact on him than he expected, he didn’t want to be even worse to Bella than he already felt sometimes. But oh, when she drew her first breath after coming back to life, it felt great. That she was freaking out and screaming, was not.
“Hey, hey, it’s alright darling,” Kol shushed her as he got onto the bed with her to hold her. “Welcome back.”
She was then sobbing in his arms. “Klaus killed me, he was angry with me and…”
“That was all for show,” he pushed her hair out of her face and dried her tears with his sleeve. “It had to feel and look real in case the Hollow did put a tracking spell on you or something else.”
“I didn’t know I was going to die!”
“And you will still die, unless you feed, but you still have a few hours to think about it, but at least you’re safe,” he said gently and waited for her to calm down some more. “You’re alright now. You’re safe. You had a great nap for a couple of days.”
“But why him, and not you?”
“Like I said, it had to look and feel real in case the Hollow kept an eye on you,” he repeated slowly and squeezed her a little bit. “You’re okay now. The Hollow is almost defeated, we just have to do one small thing to get her out of Hope.”
“She’s in Hope?!” Bella squeaked.
“Relax, darling,” he smiled at her. “Hope is fine and she won’t be hurt in the process. It only means that you and I are going far away from my siblings as we can’t be together anymore after we save her. We can’t use the bones of the Hollow herself now that she’s taken Hope and of course, we’re not going to kill Hope. Instead, the four of us will carry a part of the Hollow inside of us and we cannot ever reunite unless Freya comes up with a better solution. We need to keep New Orleans and Hope safe.”
“Klaus too?”
“Yeah, Klaus won’t be around to watch his daughter grow up, sadly. But she’ll be safe, and that’s what’s important,” he planted a kiss on top of her head. “Of course, we all can keep in touch over the phone and you won’t be restricted from seeing everyone else, but… I truly hope you’ll stick around so that you and I can travel the world together. Do things together. See things. Evolve as two people together?”
“But you’ll be sad.”
“No, darling,” he smiled again and held her tighter. “I’ll be very happy because I will be with you.”
She knew Kol would be miserable without her, and she would be the same without him. She needed to further this transition to vampire, because she didn’t want to be consecrated, or buried/burned, in New Orleans. And while she had grown a lot as a witch, there was no turning back now. She had to learn how to be a vampire now. She just hoped that it wouldn’t have such an effect on her as alcohol did, that her emotions would stay in check like they were now. “I like your arms around me like this,” she said softly as she nestled herself into his lap. “How long do we have?”
“Do you feel any different?” He wanted to say ‘forever’, but Vincent had insisted that the sooner the Hollow was out of Hope, the better. Kol just didn’t want Bella to have to rush into things. “Thirsty? Hungry? Cold?”
“I feel quite like myself. A little bit hungry, sure, but when was the last time I ate, anyway?” When she heard trumpet music, she looked around, confused. “Isn’t this guy at St. Ann’s?”
“He still is at St. Ann’s,” Kol snorted and kissed the top of her head. “The longer you are in transition, the more you’ll get annoyed at things. Or hungry. Or angry. Or sad.”
“Klaus doesn’t like me, does he?”
“He does, darling, as I said, he only made a show out of killing you because of the Hollow.” Oh, she was in transition alright, but her self control was still in charge. For now. “The sooner you drink some human blood, the easier it is for you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’ve seen people go through the entire 24 hours…” a dark smirk then appeared on his face. “I might have told them to hold off to see what happens. And it wasn’t pretty. You simply have to drink a little more than a sip.” Running as far as he can after the spell by Vincent that saves his niece with a newbie vampire? Sure, why not?
“Am I the first you sired after coming back?”
“Yes,” he smiled at her. “I’m not really interested in a large amount of sirelings, I mean… My brothers seek power from that, but we know better.”
“Magic.”
“Magic,” he grinned and kissed the top of her head. “Would you like me to make you a sandwich?”
She thought for a moment and nodded. “And maybe some blood to wash it down with?”
“Really?”
She nodded. “I trust you. So when you say that the sooner I go through this, the better, then so be it.”
“I’ll be right back then,” he kissed the top of her head again and lifted her off his lap to fetch her a sandwich and some blood.
Sighing, Bella got off the bed and started to check herself over. She was still wearing her bloodied clothes. There was a hole where Klaus had stabbed her with the knife. She could still feel the steel blade inside of her though. It was cold and rusty and there might have been some residue of something else on it. Definitely not hygienic. She changed clothes and felt better now that she was wearing a dress again.
Did she feel any different? If she allowed herself to feel, then maybe? She was annoyed by the trumpet player, the trumpet bouncing off the walls of her brain, creating an echo and she wanted to do something about it. To kill him. To shove the trumpet up his — Bella stared at herself in the mirror in shock. Was she really thinking these things?
She could hear someone walk outside the room and it wasn’t Kol. She turned around to see who it was and was relieved when it was Myriam. Happy, Bella went over to hug her friend, but already ran faster and knocked her friend off her feet and had them both fall onto the floor. “Sorry!”
“That’s okay,” Myriam said as she got to her feet and pulled Bella up too. “Even in transition you’re experiencing a less intense way of vampirism. I guess nobody told you that.”
Bella shook her head and nearly wanted to cry again. She hadn’t meant for literally tackling her best friend, in fact, she didn’t even know she could! “I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Myriam said again and hugged her friend. “I just came here to check up on you, to see how you’re doing while Kol is briefly distracted by something.”
“I’m not going to see you again, am I?”
“Of course you are!” Myriam laughed. “Klaus and Kol need to stay away from each other, doesn’t mean we have to! You can come visit us and I can come visit you.”
“Okay, good,” Bella let out a breath and nodded. “I don’t want to miss you.”
“You’ll be fine,” Myriam smiled at her. “Kol will take real good care of you, you know that. And, with you turning into a vampire, you won’t have to worry about the Ancestors wanting you back and punish you for being with us anymore. You and Kol can do whatever you two want.”
“Apart from him seeing his siblings.”
“Yes, but I doubt he minds anyway,” Myriam smiled at her. “And you and I are still going to be in the vet business together. You’re not going to give up on that, are you? Trust me when I say that that brain power of yours is only going to expand once you completely turn. Imagine all the things you can learn!”
“What’s Kol distracted with?” Bella wondered, feeling as if she was feverish all of a sudden. Coldness creeping underneath her skin, making her shiver. It also felt as if it was electric underneath her skin, and she started to rub her arms, agitated.
Myriam let out a snort as she let go of her friend and sat down in a chair to observe Bella. “Anxious, are we?”
“N-No?”
“You always rub your arms when you’re anxious. Or unsure. Or frustrated.”
Bella stopped and paused for a moment and realized that she was indeed all of the above. “Huh. I never realized it felt this way,” she said, impressed with the way she was feeling what she was feeling.
Myriam was slightly worried about this. Granted, there had always been a chance that by becoming a vampire Bella would have to learn how to deal with her emotions and feelings because they got enhanced, but a part of Myriam had wished that it wouldn’t happen. Bella was going to have a hard time adjusting, and learning her emotions all over again. She was still scratching her arms, now, but what would happen if she was a full vampire and she’d get anxious in the middle of a crowded city?
Of course, it wasn’t Myriam’s problem. It was Kol’s, because Kol was going to take Bella with him while the family had to split up for Hope’s sake. And Kol would be good for Bella, and he, too, had to learn to deal with Bella’s emotional state. This was going to prove quite interesting!
“I’m sorry, I got distracted,” Kol said as he ran into the room, basically appearing before Bella and Myriam, holding a sandwich and a glass of freshly tapped blood. Only the best for his Bella. “Are you alright?”
“You’re going to have your hands full with that one,” Myriam grinned as she relaxed into her chair. “I can’t wait to see—”
“Out,” Kol said playfully, not looking at Myriam but at Bella instead, whose brown eyes had widened in surprise and perhaps a little disgust from the blood. Or the sandwich. He really wished it was the sandwich that was offensive to her, it would make things a lot easier if she hated the sandwich. After Myriam had made herself scarce, he smirked at Bella. “What tickles your fancy, darling?”
“Both,” she said as she happily took the glass and lifted the sandwich off the plate, only to dip it into the blood and taking a bite out of it. Kol found this disgusting. “Oh, so good,” she said with a full mouth as she dipped her sandwich into the blood again and took another bite as a moan escaped her lips.
“Darling, please just eat the sandwich or drink the blood…” Kol winced.
With a smirk, she drained the glass of blood and with the sandwich she scooped up the remaining blood in the glass before eating her sandwich.
Playful Bella. Playful Bella was something he remembered vaguely, but with fondness, and this playful Bella was going to be a handful. “Feel better then?”
“Yes, thank you,” she smiled at him. “I’m feeling good and I’ll behave while you and your siblings help Hope,” she wasn’t just feeling good, she was feeling terrific. Her body was warming up from the little blood she had ingested and she wanted more. She wanted to experience everything. Bella wanted to run, to be free. She felt free and all giddy and it was strange. She needed to fight herself to contain herself. Because this wasn’t the right time. She had so many thoughts and ideas in her brain and it was thrilling and scary. “I’ll be here.”
He let out a slight chuckle. “I think I still have some time, what’s going on?”
“I feel like I’m drunk but sober and everything is so clear, and so loud and—” Bella could hear the musician at St. Ann’s choke on his instrument, followed by Myriam laughing and couldn’t help but smile. “I feel like I’m going to explode. There’s so much I need to adjust to. To stop. To feel. To touch. To… let go… my mind is going so fast, I can’t keep up. I want to run and on the other hand, I don’t know what to do or if I should do things despite not being able to control everything and it’s confusing and strange and frankly, I think me turning into a vampire is like the best idea ever as I can be with you and I’m not dead again, but it’s also the worst idea because I think it only made things worse for me.”
“Breathe,” Kol laughed as he put his hands on her shoulders. “Breathe slowly and calm down. Nobody is expecting you to know everything, to control yourself or to be a well adjusted vampire. Bella, you just only ingested human blood and you’re going to need more, but as of right now, you’re one of us and you’re new at this. You don’t have to worry about making a slight mistake or two.”
“I know that, but I’m staying here, in our room, until you’re done so we can leave together. Because I can’t be alone out there right now,” she said as she pointed out the window. “I need to learn things again, and that’s alright, but right now the more pressing matter is to save your niece and after that, you can teach me.”
“Would you like to have a human to play with?” He cheekily smiled at her as he squeezed her shoulders. “To keep you entertained long enough?”
“And then kill it because I can’t control myself?” She blinked at him. “No. I’m going to find my backpack and pack some stuff I am taking with. I need to throw out all the stones.”
He understood her reasoning all too well, the world was once again a frightening place for her and she needed to learn how to deal with it. “Don’t throw them out, leave them for Freya,” he said as he kissed her forehead. “And only pack what we can’t replace. Like your books with your notes in them. Focus on that and I’ll come when we’re done. Don’t be scared, everything is going to be alright, darling, I promise you that.”
It wasn’t even ten minutes later that Kol appeared back into the room and pulled Bella along with him, now that she could keep up with him. They’d run to the airport to their private jet and have her contained just a little bit longer as they’d fly to a different continent, one that his siblings would never go to. Maybe Australia. Or Africa, he’d make up his mind later.
They stopped at the airport and Bella took a deep breath. Not that she needed to breathe, it was a normal, human response. “Woah, what a rush!” She said excitedly, pushing her hair out of her face and grinning like a loon.
Australia. Bella was going to love diving and visiting the reefs. He helped her inside the plane and sat her down. “Now, we’re going to have human staff on board to serve us,” he said seriously. “They are compelled to comply. You can even request some of their blood, but please don’t kill them. Nik is going to be so pissed when we return this plane all decked out in blood spatter.”
“I’ll be good.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Bella let out a breath as she caught a whiff of one of the staff. “Or maybe not… she smells good.”
“Sit and stay. Don’t make me compel you,” he laughed as he nodded to the woman. “Please inform the pilot we’d like to go to Australia this time. He can choose the airport.”
“Of course, Mr. Mikaelson. Can we get you anything?”
“Two glasses of your lovely blood, darling, and a whole bottle of wine,” he winked at her before sitting down himself and placed his hand on Bella’s leg to keep her seated. This trip was going to be an endurance trip for her. If she could resist temptation on a plane with four humans on board, she could resist temptation anywhere.
But he believed that her emotions were going to be a bigger problem and for the next twenty four hours or so, they were going to be contained on this plane. While Kol wasn’t one to have mastered control himself, mostly because he didn’t care about it and only tried his very best around Bella, his control, or lack thereof, was blood related. Oh, and anger. But Bella helped him with that. Just being with her again helped him so much. Davina had tried to help and he had pretended to be helped by her, but in the end, it had been Bella all along who had been the one for him.
He had failed to notice, until know, that Bella was staring at his hand on her leg as if it was something foreign, alien. “Sorry, darling,” he said as he retracted his hand, realizing it was on her inner thigh instead of a ‘safe zone’.
“That felt great, though,” she muttered.
He blinked in surprise. “What was that?”
“You heard me,” she said as she looked at him. “I didn’t mind your hand there, it felt good.”
Oh, he knew it was merely Bella’s body and mind firing on all synapses and she needed to contain them, but he so wanted to touch her again. More. Deeply. Kiss her senseless. But no. She needed to be in her right mind first. Get used to this new life of hers. Kol took her hand instead and kissed it. “That is good to know, darling, but you’ve only just turned. You need some time to adjust.”
“Do I?” she questioned. “I feel the same, more free and less restricted, but I feel mostly the same. Everything is more intense. Beautiful and colorful. It’s as if my turning has expanded my brain, tiny explosions going off inside my head and it’s beautiful.” She took a deep breath and nodded as she checked herself. “I’m still me. I mean, you can touch me, you make me feel safe and I trust you. I still have problems with others, I know this, I can feel it.”
Her statements were going to be a problem. Likely. Maybe. While it was no secret that werewolves and hybrids were sired, loyal, to their Alpha or creator, it was rare in vampires. At least, not that rare, seeing as Damon Salvatore had two vampires, and perhaps countless of others, sired to him. At least one still was, she was counting bricks in the French Quarter. He didn’t want Bella to be sired to him. She needed to be able to be on her own. Then again, she needed someone to take care of her when she was a human still, so it hadn’t changed that much? He made a mental note to have her checked over by a witch in Australia and until then, he was going to be a complete gentleman to his Bella. She needed time.
But oh boy, if she was going to allow him to touch her in places he previously hadn’t ventured, then they were both up for an adventure.
Then again, would it really that bad if Bella was sired to him? She’d been loyal to him as a human. She didn’t have one bad bone in her body and that made her so adorable. Of course it would be bad if she was sired to him. He could take advantage of that when he wasn’t keeping himself in check. Because she was so adorable. He didn’t want to ruin her.
“You’re going to like Australia,” he smiled at her. “It’s warmer than the French Riviera and they have a lovely witch community.”
“I’ll be with you,” she smiled at him. “We’ll have some fun and we’re both not alone.”
“Too right,” he gladly took the blood from the stewardess as the plane started to taxi to the runway. “We are going to have so much fun. And a lot of swimming and exploring!”
She took the glass of blood and noticed that the stewardess had a cut on her hand. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this great tasting blood came from the girl. Bella could smell the blood through the bandage. Bella could feel her face change and she was about to jump the stewardess before Kol pushed her back into her seat.
“Glass. Not her. Take it from the glass, control yourself,” he told her as he held on to her wrists as she was seated. “The glass,” he repeated, releasing the side where she was holding the glass and she drank it, eagerly. “Good girl. You’ll get more in a bit, but no snacking on the staff. In the meantime, we can have human food and alcohol. Alcohol helps with the hunger too.” She had such a pretty vampire face. Angelic, almost. Oh, he was definitely smitten and was glad when she relaxed again and her human face returned. “There you go,” he smiled at her. “You can snack on a human in Australia if you want to, I’ll teach you then.”
“Sorry,” she muttered. “But she smelled so good and so full!”
“I know, darling, I know,” he said as he let go of her, confident that she’d restrain herself for at least another few hours. “I promise you, as soon as we clear the airport in Australia, we’re going hunting before finding us a place to stay.”
She nodded as she tried to settle in her seat for take off, but as soon as the plane levelled out, she started moving. Getting to her feet, she started to pace around, grabbing her ears and closing her eyes as she tried to tune out the noise of the engines. Kol had seen her do this often in the past, especially during Mardi Gras. However, she managed to deal with it then, she didn’t need his help now. “It’s alright, darling,” Kol said as he stayed seated. “Tune it out. Like you did with the trumpets.” Oh, hell, he wanted to help her.
Kol wanted to scoop her up and kiss her senseless, telling her everything was going to be alright and she’d even out eventually. But no. Not until she realized that the feelings she was having were real and natural. She loved him, he knew this. All of her actions had told him this and he loved her too. As long as he didn’t mention the word ‘relationship’, all was well.
He could always compel her. But he wasn’t going to. If Myriam found out, she’d skin him alive. Besides, Bella didn’t need any compulsion. She was strong, she had this. In any case, he could now safely snap her neck when she became too much of a handful on a plane, but it was likely that he would pay for that later.
Bella pointed at the glass of wine that was still on the table. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said as she shook her head, before pausing. “Wait. I can’t get drunk anymore, right?”
“Oh, you still can,” he mused. “But it’ll take a lot to get you drunk now. Granted, to stave off hunger we usually drink something stronger, such as bourbon, but a nice wine is a good way to start our separation from the rest of the family.”
Bella sighed as she sat down on her knees in front of him and took his hands. “How does it feel, inside?”
“It’s getting less the further away we are from New Orleans and each other,” he replied, referring to the part of the Hollow that was inside of him. “It was bouncing around in my head at first, I could hear the whispers and feel the intent, but in that way my siblings and I are the perfect vessels to hold this evil, there’s not much of our souls left to save. We’ve done terrible things in the past and we know how to handle dark thoughts.”
“I refuse to believe that,” she said as she squeezed his hands. “I’ve always refused to believe that your soul can’t be saved or at least partially salvaged through your actions. You’ve been on the right path for a while now.”
“And this is why I like you,” he smiled at her. “Your unconditional ability to see the good in people and if they’re not good, pretend that they are anyway.”
“Is that such a bad thing?”
“Naive, maybe, but also refreshing as we tend to think the worst of people at first sight, before even considering they might not be,” he reached out to caress her cheek. “But coming back to your question, I don’t think the Hollow will be a problem after we’ve scattered across the globe. And when she is, I’m certain you’ll be able to keep me sane.” He loved the way she was sitting now, close, looking at him with her beautiful eyes and that lovely smile of hers. Holding his hands and the perfect spot to suck him dry. Kol silently scolded himself and tried to focus his thoughts. “I suppose we’re both going through some changes.”
Bella nodded before biting her lip as she looked at him. “So uh… what do you normally do when you have too much energy?”
She had to bite her lip. Minx. Swallowing hard, he took a deep breath. “Well, Rebekah and I like to go out and party, why do you think we were in so many clubs in France? It was fun and we could get rid of some of the energy. Of course, Rebekah found several one night stands, too, as that definitely helps too.”
“Why would she want a night stand? Several of them, won’t that crowd the bedroom?”
Kol barked out a laugh. “A one night stand, darling, is when you pick up a random stranger and have sex with them. Usually we keep them alive after.”
“But you didn’t have them in France, did you?”
“No,” he smiled at her. “Because as much as I enjoy having meaningless sex, I’d rather wait until you’re ready for all of that.”
She was quiet for some time, not moving where she was, still holding his hands. “Sex hurts,” was what she eventually said.
“No, Edward hurt you,” he said as he got down on his knees in front of her. “We’ve both made mistakes back then, mostly me. You were pressured by society to find yourself a man to take care of you and I didn’t take the time to make sure that Edward was good for you. But, darling, you don’t have those pressures anymore. You have the freedom to discover your own sexuality without anyone stopping you, least of all me. And you’re doing spectacularly, if I might say.”
“But I only like touching you, getting hugged by you, being in your lap, because I trust you and there is more. Loyalty, but more intense.”
“That, darling, that’s called love. Everything you’ve done for me, saving me… twice now, came from your heart because of love. You even stuck around for five years to protect me and my family while we were sleeping. It’s not what everyone makes it out to be, love is different for everyone. Some people do see pink fluffy elephants on pink little clouds all the time and some people do what you do. Taking care. Making sure everyone’s happy.”
She was quiet again and then nodded. “Like you’re being patient with me and doing a better job at helping me now?”
“Exactly,” Kol gently gave her hands a squeeze. “See, I already find that you turning into a vampire has positive sides for you. You’re still analytical, but you’re able to be more open about your feelings and thoughts, which is beneficial. You don’t have to get drunk anymore.”
“I’m not scared with you.”
“And that’s a very good thing. And about your excess of energy, give it some time. Enjoy the buzz for now, it’s one of the best things to feel. It’s something new and exciting, but know that you are safe with me for all your experiences and to talk about your new sensations.”
“Promise?”
“No matter how silly. I promise.”
~o.O.o~
It took Bella about two weeks not to get overwhelmed by smells or noises after her turning, but Kol managed to get a witch to see if she was sired to him. Conveniently, she was not. She merely needed more time to adjust, as she had done when she was human. And fortunately, she was a vampire now so she could learn things a lot faster.
She showed excellent control when feeding off of a human, and actually managed to keep the first one she ever bit alive. She just wanted her human to be squeaky clean and smelling good. Kol knew that eventually she’d lower her standards because as of right now, he was keeping her well fed just in case.
It was time for the next step; Kol was going to take her into a bar to have fun with some humans and with each other. Dance. Sit. Make up stories about people they saw, just like they had in France. However, unlike France, Bella was now a vampire and she wasn’t afraid to show off a little skin. For him. She had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to wear this dress for him and him alone.
And she was going to get into trouble for it because the dress was shorter than what she usually wore, at least 5 inches shorter. It showed off more skin on top as well, although she had a little cardigan over it to make herself feel a little bit safer. But oh, the dress was gorgeous on her. And yes, other men were going to like it as well.
He didn’t tell her that. He’d keep them all away from her if needed. This act of boldness was progress, and he loved her for it.
They sat down in a corner of the bar so that Bella could get used to the loud music, the mass of people and their scents, and the rest of the scents that could prove to be annoying while he got them something to drink. He was certain she’d loosen up again once she felt comfortable and had gotten over her shyness. New situations were hard on Bella, they always had been, but he told her to have the France mindset, everything was alright and safe.
Bella loved to watch him on the dancefloor, he made it look so easy to take a discrete sip from an unsuspected dance partner and she occasionally joined him, merely to be closer to him, not to feed. There were occasions where his snacks were wedged between them, and the way that Kol looked at her made Bella feel all funny inside. She wanted to nestle in his lap and cuddle, but the feeling went deeper.
For a few days now, she had dreams of tiny explosions going off inside her body, clouds and a lack of breath. She dreamt of Kol’s hands on her body. Everywhere. And what surprised her most was that she hadn’t been scared in her dreams, because he didn’t hurt her, it was nice.
She had no doubt that in reality, Kol would be kind to her as well, but how was she going to tell him? The way that he looked at her while this girl was wedged between them was hot and made Bella squirm. Under the guise of getting them another drink, she excused herself to compose herself again. What she was feeling was nuts and the dreams she had had weren’t making things easier.
Of course, she’d been texting with Myriam about this, who else could she discuss these things with, and all Myriam responded with was ‘LOL’. Laughing Out Loud. But why?
While she was waiting for her and Kol’s drink to be put down in front of her, Bella could feel a man standing really close to her, and was that his hand somewhere it shouldn’t be? On her ass? Granted, she was wearing a slightly more… skimpy dress than usual, but that was for Kol, but was that an open invitation for others to touch her?
She shifted a little to the right, but the man followed and touched her again. Anger flaring up, Bella grabbed the larger man’s hand and could hear the bones snap in the man’s fingers before twisting his arm behind his back and pushing his head into the bar. She was surprised by her actions and how strong she actually was and immediately let go of the guy. “My apologies,” she said as she grabbed her drinks, ignoring a few stares being shot her way. “I do hope that will teach you not to touch a woman uninvited ever again.”
As she walked away with her drinks, she could hear the man following her, and she was just about to do something about it when Kol appeared and pushed the man back. “Walk away,” he said venomously to the man and he did as he was told. Kol then put his arm around Bella and walked back with her to their table. “You were fantastic, darling,” he praised her. “I have to be careful now, you don’t need anyone to take care of you!”
“No, that was horrible,” she said as she sat down and quickly drank her drink. “I got so angry for him touching me, this body is ours. Not his.” Bella felt the anger bubble up again and finished her drink. “I don’t know how or why I hurt that man, maybe I should go find him and—”
“Hey,” he said as he sat down on the bench next to her and put his arm around her. “What you did was amazing. Period. It’s part of who you are now. It could have been far worse. Well, for him. Breaking someone’s fingers and giving them a concussion isn’t bad.”
It could have been far worse. If Bella hadn’t been paying attention, she could have ripped out the guy’s heart or go on a rampage.
“You protected yourself. You.” He kissed the top of her head. “Nothing malicious. Ordinary humans can’t hurt you anymore, darling, you can use physical force to stop them and there is nothing wrong with that. You’re a vampire.”
“I know…” she looked at him and sighed. “Are you sure it’s not a big deal? That it was alright?”
“Yes, darling, it was a brilliant action and I’m certain that if you tell Myriam about it, or even Rebekah, they’ll love you for it. Girlpower and all that.”
“Okay,” she let out a breath and calmed down. “Sorry for ruining your fun.”
“Nothing ruined. In fact, you attacking a man three times the size of yourself was the highlight of my night!” Kol exclaimed, a big smile on his face. “So hot, too.” He pulled her into his lap and gently brushed his lips against her ear as he brought his face closer to hers. Kol had been well aware of Bella’s dreams over the last few days as he had caught some of it as she moaned and tossed in her sleep. Like the cheeky bastard that he was, he had slipped into her mind and witnessed the dreams and had liked what he saw.
And he might have been personally responsible for creating one of her dreams after discovering this side to her. He didn’t feel like he’d been violating her, Kol had been keeping an eye on her emotional stability and development and only created such a dream when he found her open to the experience. He had nudged the dream, and then had left her head to let it unfold on its own.
And it wasn’t as if they stuck to the ‘safe zones’ when touching each other, either. Occasionally, he allowed his hands to roam over her thighs over her clothes or underneath her skirts, and she did the same, although she had no idea that she was going into the ‘danger zone’ most of the time. Or perhaps she did.
Kol could understand if kissing was something she’d be afraid of, that that had to grow. Two faces close to each other, lips touching lips or even tongues could be daunting. Then again, she was broken in the sexuality aspect of things thanks to the past, and all Kol could do was to be patient. But he was being too patient, he believed, and it was time for him to push a little further. Bella had now proven that she could say ‘no’ to a complete stranger, surely she’d say ‘no’ to him if she didn’t like what he was doing?
“I couldn’t be more proud of you,” he whispered in her ear as he held her against him. Yes, she was in the right mind now. Her body shivered against his because she liked this. “And I really like the dress you are wearing,” he whispered again, his hand now running up her leg to her inner thigh. “I like all your dresses and all your clothes but this one… you’re driving me mad.”
She let out a slight giggle. “Here?”
“Why not? Here… there… everywhere…” Kol planted a kiss on her neck. “We can do whatever we want.”
“Not here,” she sighed as she leaned into him, her head against his shoulder to give him more access to her neck. It was almost instinctual the way she moved against him. “Home.”
Oh, shy little Bella. He let out a snort before kissing her neck again, squeezing her inner thigh just a little. In time, he was going to make an exhibitionist out of her. There was nothing more enticing and arousing than to have sex in public. However, this was going to be Bella’s first experience since Edward, and all he did was hurt her. No, this had to be in private. “Now?”
“Why not?” She reached for his untouched drink and downed it, before putting her arms around his neck. “Ready.”
Their lovemaking was sweet and long, Kol made sure that Bella was thoroughly enjoying herself and feeling how intensely her skin felt with all the stimuli. It drove her to complete and utter but blissful destruction and she flew apart so beautifully against him. She hungered for more though, so after he brought them someone to snack on, they continued their lovemaking.
Sex, love, didn’t hurt, and he was glad that Bella got to see this side of relationships.
They spent a few more months in Australia before going to Hawaii. Bella had blossomed to a self assured person who had grown more comfortable in her own skin. She still had her quirks, they hadn’t changed, but Kol couldn’t be happier about her. He had his fun Bella back, his quick witted, fun Bella who wasn’t burdened by deeds or experiences of the past or pesky witches.
Myriam came to visit them in Hawaii, giving Kol a much needed update about his family. He had thrown out his old phone and gotten a new one, only to give Bella his number. He was the only one of his siblings that didn’t mind the separation and Myriam lamented that it was unfortunate that Klaus was a creature of habit and Elijah had basically claimed all of Klaus’ favourite art spots.
Kol and Bella stuck to the warmer climates for the years that the siblings couldn’t come together, and it all changed when Bella received a message on her phone from Freya, five years after she and Vincent had put parts of the Hollow in her siblings to protect their niece, and Kol wasn’t happy about it. His life was fine as it was right now, why complicate it again?
We have found a way to reunite everyone. Come home – Freya.
*THE END*