Chapter 06
Bella wasn’t sure what quite happened when she regained consciousness, all she knew was that she wasn’t in Mystic Falls anymore. It took her awhile to register it, but it looked like Charlie’s home in Forks, but not. Something was off. Sitting up from her spot on the couch, she looked around to see what was different and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Ah! You’re awake!” Charlie’s voice sounded from outside. “Come join me on the beach!”
Beach? Yeah, that was new. Bella got up and when she stepped outside the backdoor, she could feel sand underneath her feet. “Dad? What’s going on?”
Charlie smiled as he held out his hand to her as an invitation to join him watching the sea, basking in the sun. Not that Bella was complaining that for some reason Charlie’s house had moved to a sunny destination, but it didn’t make sense. She joined him, curiosity filling her mind. “Psyche investigated your soul and you’re a good egg, Bella,” Charlie smiled at her. “And you have no idea how glad I am to hear that.”
She narrowed her eyes on her father. “You’re my father, you should know me by now, why would you have someone investigate my soul? What is that even?” She then realized he was probably referring to a witch. “And since when are you aware of the supernatural?”
“Psyche. The wife of Eros. Or Cupid, if you like to refer to him as that. The Goddess of the soul and love, come on, Bells, keep up.”
Her jaw dropped at Charlie’s tone, it was impatient and a little belittling.
“I have to hand it to that vampire of yours; he was on the right track with calling you a Goddess adjacent and his whole idea about the Greek Gods,” Charlie continued as he still gazed over the sea. “Your refusal to believe any of it was quite… strange to say the least, but I suppose without evidence, it’s hard to believe that any of it was real.” He then motioned with his hands to their surroundings. “Consider this your evidence.”
“Am I in a coma? Dreaming?”
“Nope. Would you like me to tell you who you are? What you are?”
“Yes, please.”
“Very well, but when you’ve learned the truth, you’ll have several decisions to make,” Charlie said as he held up his hand and a glass of wine appeared. Handing the glass to her, he started to tell her story. “I could start with the boring ‘in the beginning’ speech, but let’s just say that we all owe our life to the Earth Mother Gaia. Eh, fuck it, she’s my grandmother and Uranus, her son, is my grandfather.”
“That’s… fucked up.”
“Don’t you judge, you’re dating a vampire,” Charlie chided her, amused. “My father is Hyperion the Titan God of heavenly light. He married his sister Theia, Titaness of sorcery and the Goddess of sight. They had three children. Eos, Selene and myself, Helios or Sol, Titan god of the sun, a guardian of oaths, and the god of sight.”
Bella blinked at that. Was her father insane? On drugs? If it hadn’t been for their strange familiar reality, she would have believed he was ripe for a nursing home. “But you’re my father.”
“No, pumpkin. I’m your grandfather. Just like the other Titans and Gods, I had many children and one of them was my daughter Circe. I either fathered her with Hecate or Perse, I can’t remember and neither do they, so… hey, she’s mine. That’s all that counts. Now, you may be interested to know that your mother is the Goddess of sorcery and skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion, and necromancy. Does that sound familiar to you?”
Transmutation… well, she could turn people into animals and back. She hadn’t had experienced the illusion part, and necromancy… well… she saw dead people and had just resurrected Kol. Of course it sounded familiar and Charlie – Helios – knew that.
“Circe is one of my problem children, I’m ashamed to admit that we’ve butted heads a lot of times and I even banished her to an island at some point. While she had a big heart, she had some darkness inside of her and used her powers more for bad than good. Now, I’m the last person to say that the Greek Gods were saints. We’re not. Hell, according to Christianity we were the biggest sinners ever to exist,” Charlie let out a slight chuckle. “Circe was well versed in her herbs and spells, you might even say that she originated witchcraft although most wiccans pray to Hecate. Circe poisoned her husband, a mortal king. Hmm… what else did she do? Oh yes, then there was her taking over the rule of her husband until she was finally deposed because of her cruelty towards her subjects. Then there’s the famous story of the Odyssey, where she basically kidnapped Odysseus and turned his men into swine. She hated men the most, and after her banishment, she was allowed to have only women to tend to her and live with her.”
“Renée is Circe?”
“Oh no, Renée is a mortal witch. Well, technically she’s a witch, just a bad one. I chose her to raise you because of her supernatural instincts.”
“But I’ve seen pictures of her being pregnant. She told me how I was born, that I was stubborn during my birth. I’ve seen pictures of you and her while she was pregnant.”
“That’s the power of magic or god powers,” Charlie explained. “Renée truly believes that she carried you for nine months and that she and I produced you, but that’s not right. I only came into her life after I chose her to raise you. I wanted to keep an eye on you.”
“Because I’m Circe’s child and Circe is insane.”
Charlie started to laugh. “That’s one of the reasons. I was bored, I wanted to be human for a while, that’s another reason. Also, after the Olympian Gods banished most of the Titans to Tartarus in the war, they made it impossible for the rest of us to ever interact with humanity again. Those not in Tartarus were made to stay here, in this special plane created just for us. It exists alongside normal reality, but it’s not. Over the many years, some have found a way to escape and bothered the humans. A handful of us are now the guardians of those produced by indiscretions. We either destroy them, or take everything that makes them a God or Goddess away from them for them to live their life as a mortal, being none the wiser after a memory wipe. The time of us playing with humanity as if they were toys is over. Done. There’s no room for us in the modern day and age and that’s fine. We’re still here.”
“Then what about me?”
“You’re special, Bella. You have no need to interfere with the lives of the people on Earth and only wishes to do so on a last resort. You could have resurrected your vampire while he was still being spiteful and you didn’t. You showed him that there is a light inside of him and that it was the better path. Mind you, he’s still a vampire and he will still kill,” Charlie replied reminded her. “However, you’ve shown Psyche, but also me in our interactions, that you’re happy to live your own life and look at problems objectively. You like to analyze things and pull things apart to see how it works. That ability makes you the great writer that you are. Psyche also believes that you won’t abuse your powers gifted by your mother and the rest of her bloodline, that it won’t consume you as it would have consumed others. In other means; you are perfect, Bella.”
Bella huffed. “Hardly,” she replied as she allowed the information to sink in. Kol had been right, she was related to the Ancient Gods. Hell, she was related to Titans! “Wait, who’s my father? Is he a mortal?”
“He was,” Charlie nodded. “Circe made a deal with her cousins Dolos and Apate, both known for their trickery and deceit to get out of this place. We’ve since then banished Dolos and Apate to Tartarus, but Circe found her way to the realm of the humans and before we could intervene, she slept with a man. Of course, she returned with child.”
“Who was he?”
“Do you really wish to know? It’s not important. What is important is that you’re half Goddess and half human, it makes you a demi-God.”
“Dad, please.”
“Zach Salvatore.”
“Salvatore?”
“A distant relative of your current vampire landlords, I believe.”
“Oh, fuck me,” Bella muttered as she frustratingly ran a hand through her hair. “So Damon, Stefan and I are related?”
“Very distantly. Zach’s ancestor was the half brother of your friends.”
“Gross,” Bella shuddered.
“When you wanted to emancipate from Renée and myself, I only allowed you to because Zach offered the guest house to you. Zach was a member of the town council and the supplier of vervain to them so I knew that I could trust him in keeping an eye out. He never knew who you truly were, but there’s no doubt that he had his suspicions. His family has had to deal with strange things happening to them for centuries,” Charlie then laughed. “But hey, don’t let that little thing stop you, you’re a Goddess. We don’t blink if you have sex with a relative!”
“Ew! No!”
“Alright, now, should you ever decide to get pregnant, you can. Now that you’ve unlocked your true self, you’re immortal but you haven’t died and thus, everything still works. Should you bare children, they will be fully human. Again, they will grow old while you won’t. I trust you in making the right decisions.”
“Kol’s a dead immortal, I think I’m good,” Bella laughed.
“Your powers are still growing and I expect you to handle those with just as much grace and respect as you’ve done with them so far, but you have to make a decision based on what I’ve told you. We grew into a habit of destroying our indiscretions mainly because Psyche told us that they were wrong. She’s a big fan of yours, as are many others of our group and you are granted a choice. Either be the demi-Goddess that you are, or be mortal without any powers. It’s your choice.”
“Are you going to leave now that I know who you truly are?”
“That depends on your choice, Bella,” he replied kindly. “I know that I’m not your real father. I’m your grandfather. But if it were up to me, you’d choose to remain who you are.”
“Life’s a journey, right? What if this is my path? I mean… I was born this way, why change it?”
Charlie nodded. “Another question; would you like to stay here or return to the human realm, rejoin your vampire?”
“Life. Not here. At least not now. I want to enjoy life. Explore. Love.”
“Don’t tell Renée you’re not her real daughter, it’ll break her heart.”
“I won’t.”
“Be careful who you tell your secrets to. Not everyone needs to know that you are who you are because despite you being one of the most powerful people walking the earth, people will try to harm you or manipulate you into working for them and making you bad things. Trust your own judgement, Bella, like you always have,” Charlie then got up with a groan. “You can find me where I’ve always been, in Forks, but I’m keeping my eye on you like I always have. I enjoy watching you love so much, it’s refreshing.”
Bella got up and hugged Charlie. “You’re sending me back now?”
“Not just yet,” he said as he handed her a note. “Time works different here, you’ve been gone for two weeks, but while you were waking up, I found this note in my mailbox. Seems like your vampire has connected the dots and found us.”
Surprised, Bella opened the note.
Get out now, while you still can.
Just kidding. Come out whenever you’re ready and tell me I was right.
Kol.
She eyed Charlie curiously. “Where exactly are we?”
“We’re in Forks in the house you’ve spent your summers in and looks like a normal house to mortals and those who are not worthy. Basically to everyone but us.”
“Has there always been a beach?”
“Yep.”
“And has it always been this light?”
“Of course. I’m the ruler of the sun, I love my light.”
She smirked then. “Can Kol see this? It would totally blow his mind.”
Charlie seemed to think about it for a moment and shook his head. “No, pumpkin, not quite yet. I’d love to meet him some day, too, but not quite yet. Vampires are an abomination.”
“You’re an abomination. You’re the product of incest,” she countered playfully and hugged him again. “If I walk out the front door, I leave this place and will be reunited with Kol?”
“He’s still standing in front of the door. He must really love you.”
“As he should,” Bella giggled and walked back inside the house to get out of the front door. And Bella was surprised to see Kol standing there with a big bouquet of red roses. And he looked great. Sharply dressed and taken care of, not like how she had left him only a few hours prior. “Kol!”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Bella,” Kol smiled widely. “I knew I’d find you here!”
“Valentine’s?” Bella said surprised before remembering what Charlie had told her; time had moved differently for them. “I am so sorry.”
“You’re sorry? Bella, you brought me back to life. Why should you be sorry?” He softly kissed her. “I’m just glad you’re back. Did you get any answers?”
“Yeah, but not here, okay? Let’s go home and I will tell you everything.”
“Do we really have to return to Mystic Falls? Nik told me that perhaps it was best if everyone believed I died, including our siblings.”
“What about Silas?”
“Yeah well, nothing I can do to stop him now, they raised him and Katherine ran off with the cure,” Kol said bitterly. “I swear, they’re all like little children!”
“Uhuh,” Bella said amused as she looped her arm through Kol’s and started to walk down the street. “I suppose we could go somewhere else for a few weeks and celebrate your new life,” she smelled the roses and sighed. “Make our Valentine’s Day a week long celebration in the nicest hotel we can find… just not here. Somewhere warm. Hawaii or Australia.”
“And then you will tell me?”
“Maybe.”
“Oh, come on! Give me a hint, at least.”
She thought for a while as they walked, breathing in the brisk air of Forks. “You really stayed out there for two weeks? In the freezing snow?”
“Well, a week and a half. I had to find your mother first and ask her where your dad lived and then I went. I caught your scent at the right house, so I stayed. Come on, tell me.”
“You were partially right about something, that’s your hint,” she said as she hailed a taxi. “Now, please let us go? I hate this town.”
~o.O.o~
Kol went overboard and booked them a hotel on Hamilton Island, Australia. It was quite a trip to get there, but once there, Bella wanted to make up for lost time, to thank him for being him and to apologize, for him having to stay outside the house in Forks for nearly two weeks.
After finding a beautiful spot on the beach a few days later, Bella sighed happily. “Yep, this is the life. Such gorgeous views.” She plopped herself down in the sand and looked at Kol. “You are just bursting to find out, huh?”
“Patience is not one of my virtues, you know that.”
“Well, good news is that I’m no longer a mortal. I’m immortal, just like you.”
“Yay, you’re more durable now,” Kol smiled as he sat down next to her. “What else?”
“I think that there are nymphs in my family, but then again, so are vampires, apparently.”
“What?” Kol blinked. “Did you just say vampires? That doesn’t make any sense! You can’t have nymphs and vampires in your family, that’s just… huh?”
“Sure I can,” Bella smiled at him. “Distant human relatives of mine are vampires. It’s not like my blood has vampires in it or something. That would be weird.”
“So you’re half something…” Bella could see the cogs in his head go overdrive before it hit him. “No way, you’re a demi-Goddess?”
“I owe you a huge apology, you were on the right track all along.”
“You’re really a demi-Goddess? I mean… deep down, I thought it was far fetched but… seriously?”
“Yep. Ancient Greek, too, so you were really on the right track there.”
Kol just stared at her in awe.
“Stop it,” Bella laughed and playfully pushed his face away. “Nothing’s changed, we simply know what I am now.”
“You’re a demi-Goddess and you’re hanging out with me, are you insane?”
“There’s no one better than you,” she said as she crawled into his lap and softly kissed him. “I love you, Kol Mikaelson, get used to having me around and doing nothing.”
“I’m not worthy.”
“Well, you haven’t spontaneously combusted while we had sex in the past few days so… yeah, you are worthy,” she grinned and brushed his hair with her fingertips. “I’m yours. I’m not going to leave you and when you leave me, then so be it, I’ll have to live with that. But until then, you’re stuck with me.” Bella shifted a little in his lap and kissed him again. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Bella Swan,” he replied and kissed her before breaking off the kiss as he had a wild thought running through his mind. “Wait. If you’re half human, is Swan even your last name?”
“My mother is Circe. She had sex with a mortal.”
“And his name was Swan?”
“No, it’s likely a name Charlie chose for himself for some reason,” she said thoughtful. “It doesn’t matter, I like it. It’s been my name ever since I can remember so it’s fine.”
“So that means that you have a biological human father, right? Then there are vampires in his family.”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s likely that I know them! Would you like to meet your distant relatives?”
“Oh, I already have,” Bella said with a knowing smile on her face. “And so have you.”
“But you haven’t been in contact with that many vampires… Just us and… oh please tell me that you’re not a Salvatore!”
“I’m Bella Swan. I’m me. Now shut up and kiss me.”
Bella managed to distract Kol for a few more weeks until Klaus sent him a distressing message that Silas was out and about in Mystic Falls and if Kol could pretty please return to help out because Klaus wasn’t sure if he could stop Silas by himself. Myriam had gone to New Orleans to make their family home in order for their return so she was no help either.
Kol had told Bella that Klaus wanted to go back to the city they helped built. New Orleans was a fascinating city with a large supernatural community, but also a sizable art community that Klaus loved so much. According to Kol, Klaus was tired of having to deal with teenagers and wanted to go back to his life.
Kol said that it was ironic that everyone was now fearing Silas, only after Kol made a lot of noise about him. “And now he wants my help?” were his exact words before begging Bella to go back to Mystic Falls for one last time so that Kol could help his brother. “What’s this thing you said about choosing your own path? They didn’t believe me about Silas!”
“He’s your brother.”
“I think the entirety of Mystic Falls should deal with the fallout of Silas, we should not interfere,” Kol sneered. “If it’s truly going to be the end of the world, I’d rather spend it with you before everything’s over.”
“Then let’s not. Let’s go to Klaus, say hi, stay a couple of days and leave.” In all fairness, Bella wasn’t afraid of Silas or what he could do; if he was something to be looked out for, Charlie – Helios – would have said something about it, wouldn’t he?
It wasn’t as if they had to travel for a long time to get to Mystic Falls. They were about 8 hours away from the town, as they had been visiting Atlanta, Georgia and were on their way to Salem, MA, simply because history was fun, but then again, Bella felt slightly apprehensive because of all the deaths. She had been seeing ghosts everywhere they went, some left her alone, some didn’t. At least they were all kind spirits and not that aggressive, but no one knew what would happen in Salem.
She really found it to be a downside of her being what she was; the fact that she could interact with lingering ghosts and help them move on, much like a medium would do. She made sure that she wouldn’t resurrect anyone but help them find peace instead. But it was a pain. Kol was sweet about it, though. He understood that she still needed to learn to control her powers, and he didn’t lose his temper or patience. He merely watched in fascination.
Bella slept through most of the journey as Kol drove, but the moment they set foot in Mystic Falls, Bella jolted awake in a panic. “What the hell.”
“What is it?”
“There is so much power up for grabs, I mean… like… nuclear. Almost as if a gateway is almost open to do something that’s not meant for this world.”
“What?” Kol laughed. “Like raising the dead? Silas is known to do that. He’ll raise everyone who’s died in his name, perhaps even more so. Wouldn’t want to be in Mystic Falls when he does that, we have quite some enemies, Nik evenmore so.”
“He’d better clean up his mess, too,” she muttered as she pulled her legs underneath her and looked out of the window. “I don’t see why everyone wants to steal his cure. It’s his to use when the time is right, when the conditions are right. Boohoo, Elena is a vampire. Boohoo, Rebekah wants to be human again. Boohoo, Klaus wants to destroy it so nobody uses the cure against him.”
“Boohoo Katherine uses it as leverage to stay alive,” Kol laughed. “But that’s what a powerful object does to people, Bella. I have to admit that I have done the same in the past; however, when something comes with a warning of death and destruction, you’d think they’d leave well enough alone.”
“What would you do with the cure?”
“Truthfully?”
“Yep.”
“Lace Niklaus’ bourbon with it… so he turns human…”
“But you don’t have to be afraid of him anymore, so, try again. What would you do with the cure?” Bella pointed out with a smile on her face as she saw familiar sights pass them on the way to the Mikaelson home.
“Hand it back to Silas so he can bugger off.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Kol smiled at her as he turned to get onto the driveway. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved being a witch and all, but I’m pretty happy with my life right now, thanks to you!”
She smiled at that as they got out of the car. Kol often went to feed whenever she was asleep, not needing as much sleep as she needed and all, but he made sure never to make a mess and not to take things too far. She was distracted for a moment when she saw a little boy shimmer near the door of the house, dressed in ancient clothes. The boy seemed to be as shocked as she felt and winked out.
“What’s wrong?” Kol asked her, he’d seen her million-miles-stare appear on occasion, it was usually when she saw a ghost or spirit that was wondering about. He had told her that while she had the power to resurrect didn’t mean she had to help everyone who came knocking. Bella knew this. So far, Kol had been the only one she’d resurrected and she admitted that she was afraid of that side of her; however, she couldn’t yet turn off seeing shimmering people wherever they went. New Orleans was going to be interesting.
Just as Bella opened her mouth to give an answer, a large yelp came out of the house, followed by some growling. Kol used his vampire speed to get inside and Bella followed with a slight jog.
Kol was there first, of course, but Bella was surprised to see him standing in the doorway to the room where his brother was in instead of running over to help him. “Don’t bother,” Kol sighed as he watched as his brother yet again tried to break his own arm to get to something invisible on his back. “I think Silas has his claws in him.”
Klaus was seemingly fine, shirtless, but he seemed to be in perfect health, why was he tormenting himself and clawing at his back? “Surely we can do something.”
“Or,” Kol mused as he sat down against the wall. “Keep an eye on him while he keeps tormenting himself. We might learn something new.”
“You are such a sadist!”
“I know,” Kol replied with a grin. “Oh come on, Bella, allow me to have a little fun with my brother at least.”
“Myriam,” Klaus let out a cry of pain before he sunk to the floor. “Silas… he stabbed me in the back with the White Oak Stake!” he cried out. “I don’t know! I wasn’t in the position to ask!”
Bella huffed as she took a step towards Klaus but was pulled back by Kol. “Let me go, I hate to see him in pain.”
“Oh, come on,” Kol said with a giggle. “This is fun!”
“Unless it’s happening to you.”
“It happened to me, remember? I’ve been poked by the real stake!”
“Then you know we should help him,” she tugged on her arm for Kol to let go of her and walked over to Klaus, grabbing him tightly by his arms. “Klaus.”
“Bella… Myriam… Silas… I feel it get closer to my heart!”
It broke her heart so see the hybrid like this. Silas was likely teaching him a lesson. He was stronger than Klaus. “It’s just me and Kol here. Myriam is in New Orleans, remember?”
“She came back.”
“No, she didn’t. Silas is in your head, Klaus, fight him.”
“But Myriam…”
Bella took hold of his face then, forcing the hybrid to look at her. “Hey, snap out of it. You’re hurting yourself, there’s no stake, there’s no Myriam,” she took her phone out of her pocket and dialled Myriam’s number on speaker. “Listen for yourself.”
“Hey Bella, what’s up?”
“Klaus thinks you’re here.”
“I’m in New Orleans, what kind of drugs is he on?”
“Silas,” she looked at Klaus, her free hand still on him. “I think he’s snapping out of it now, thanks.”
“Do I need to come back?”
“Nah,” Bella disconnected the call and looked at Klaus. “Yeah, you’re back with us?”
Klaus grumbled as he looked at the mess he’d made. “We’re supposed to have strong minds, especially mine. Silas is quite powerful.”
“Don’t make me say it, Nik,” Kol rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. “Oh wait, I AM going to say it; I told you so and now you’re scared and you want Silas to have the cure so he can die.”
“Yes! At least that will stop him from doing this again!”
“And bring back everyone you’ve killed, all of your enemies and Finn in the process? Nik, please. We simply need to make him go back to sleep and make sure nobody will ever wake him again,” Kol crossed his arms over his chest. “Any idea who can do that?”
“The Bennett witch is powerful enough at the moment but she’s highly unstable and under Silas’ thumb,” Klaus replied angrily. “No, best thing to do is get the cure, give it to Silas and let him die and join his beloved, perhaps Bonnie can lower the veil between the Other Side and here long enough for this to happen and our enemies to stay dead.”
“The Other Side has to be destroyed for that to happen because his beloved isn’t there!” Kol shook his head and looked at Bella. “You see what I’m working with, here?”
“The question you need to ask yourself is; wouldn’t you do the same if you were in his position? Tear down the Earth just so you could be with the love of your life? Raise the dead so you can find her?” Bella said with a slight shrug. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with what he’s doing to get what he wants, but he kinda has to because the children of Mystic Falls don’t want to help a guy out.”
“There’s no one powerful enough to help him out,” Klaus growled. “Except for Bonnie.”
“I’m going to seek him out. Maybe I can offer him a different solution,” Bella said calmly and headed towards the door, only to be stopped by Kol. “What?”
“Are you insane?”
“I’m not a witch, I’m not a vampire, I’m not an Original. It’s likely that my family are the same people he used to pray to and make offerings to. I can do things that Bonnie can’t. I’m going to help this guy even though I shouldn’t intervene. But dead is dead in most cases, he can’t destroy the Other Side just to die and rejoin his beloved.”
“Bella!”
“I’m sure there’s a peaceful way of resolving this. I’ll be fine, Kol. You stay here and help Klaus clean up his blood from his dealings with Silas.”
“I’m not going to let you go out by yourself and meet him!”
“Then come with me but you’re not saying a word,” Bella gently caressed his cheek. “Fanboy all you want. In silence.”
“Shouldn’t you be like… not intervening?”
“I’m not. I’m going to try to help out and make sure that there aren’t more casualties,” Bella smiled at him. “The sooner we get this resolved, the better for everyone to move on with their lives, right? Klaus can join Myriam in New Orleans and we can continue our trip through the States.” She then took a deep breath. “And I hope that the scoobies don’t get into anymore trouble or at least use their heads. Hey, maybe we can do something about Elena, banish her or something so that she won’t be at the centre of all this drama anymore!”
“Us immortals do have to have something to do for our entertainment,” Kol huffed. “Stirring up trouble is always nice.”
“You call Silas trouble? I call him something to be avoided. I’m on your side here, Kol. I’m going to seek him out and talk to him. Maybe he’s reasonable. Maybe I can help,” she said determined. “Now, either come with me or stay here.”
She could understand Kol’s reluctance of her seeking out Silas. After all, he and Klaus had more experience dealing with their enemies and such, but everything she’d heard about Silas was that he was very powerful and wanted to be reunited with the love of his life. Wouldn’t anyone use their power to get what they wanted, no matter what?
Maybe there was a way that she could help Silas, if he wanted the help, and if not, she was going to think of something else to stop him from doing what he did. Likely transforming him into a statue of a pig or something. Binding him to the earth forever. She could do that now.
Leaving the house on her way to the clearing in the woods, she found the same boy standing there. “What are you doing here, little one? Don’t you have a better place to be?” A child should not be alone, no matter if they were dead or alive, maybe she could help this little dude out.
“You can see me?”
“Yep,” Bella said as she motioned for the boy to follow her as she continued to walk. “Come, I need to see someone.”
“No,” the boy replied. “I need to stay here. There’s an evil in the woods and I need to make sure my family is safe.”
“Your family?” Kol had told her that some ghosts could be confused, stuck in time in their death. It had sounded heartbreaking, and it was. “I think they’re long gone.”
“No, they’re not,” the boy replied angrily before winking out.
Sighing, Bella continued her way to the clearing. She was going to have to talk to Kol about this boy sooner or later. She doubted that Klaus would like to hear that his house was haunted by a little boy.
“Silas! Can I please talk to you?” She called out, willing her words to whisper through the trees until they reached their destination. Bella didn’t have to wait long until Silas appeared, not even bothering hiding his true face. “Why am I not surprised?” She sighed as she got to her feet and extended her hand to him. “I’m Bella Swan.”
“You’re not afraid of me.”
“No, I’m not,” Realising that he wasn’t going to shake her hand, she pulled it back and stuffed it in her pocket. “Nor do I want to harm you. I’m here to help.”
“You can’t help me,” Silas sneered. “These brats—”
“I know that you want to be reunited with your one true love,” Bella interrupted him calmly. “I’m curious, does she look like Elena?”
“She does. After Amara and I drank the elixir, Nature made sure that there were always mortal shadow selves of ours that would die.”
“Katherine’s a vampire. Elena’s a vampire. Good job,” Bella gave Silas the two thumbs up, earning a smile from him. “And you believe that Amara has truly moved on? That she’s dead?”
“I was told. I saw her heart and so much blood… I just want to be reunited with her, and to do that, the Other Side needs to be destroyed. I need the cure to become mortal again and then I can die.”
Bella nodded. She figured as much. “I’m more interested in making sure that my family lives in peace and that Mystic Falls is not going to be used as a battle zone. What if I could help you without the need for the cure and without the need to drop the veil to the Other Side?”
“That is impossible!”
She smiled then. “By now, you’ve probably figured out that I’m not mortal and I’m not supernatural. My mind is impenetrable for my own protection. I have connections you wouldn’t believe. I can help you. Just leave the citizens of this Earth out of your crusade.”
Silas raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “What do you want in return?”
“I want you to remove the expression magic from Bonnie Bennett. It’s eating her up from the inside, but I guess you already know that and once you’re mortal, before you die, I want you to erase the Expression Triangle to make sure that nobody will ever use it.”
“That’s it?” Silas was surprised then, and Bella felt a sense of pride that she had managed to accomplish that.
“That is it, yes.”
“You really want to help me, why?”
“Why not?” Bella shrugged. “Tell you what, I’m going to ask around to see if Amara’s truly dead and we’ll come back here tomorrow to discuss what’s going to happen next. In the meantime, you leave everyone alone.”
“Or perhaps I could come with you, it would make things a lot easier.”
“My family won’t like that,” she laughed. “After what you’ve put Klaus through? That was just mean.”
“Oh, but it was fun!”
“Silas, please. I give you my word.”
“Very well. I shall keep myself entertained until tomorrow. But, if you can’t deliver, there will be consequences.”
“Oh, same for you, really,” Bella teased him playfully and walked away, back home. When she was sure she was out of earshot, she dialled Charlie’s number. “Hey, dad,” she said when he picked up.
“I’m not your father.”
“Yes you are. Technically not, but hey, Greek and all…”
“What can I do for you?”
“Can you reach out to Hades or something? I’m wondering if this immortal called Amara has died like 2000 years ago.”
“Amara? I haven’t heard that name in a very long time. Are you busying yourself with what’s happening in Mystic Falls?”
“To save the town. Not for any personal gain or anything, but if Silas gets his way, every supernatural creature in the world who has died in the past 2000 years will be resurrected and will walk the earth again.”
“Bella… What did I tell you about being careful?”
“I am. Trust me, I am. Please, could you just ask around?”
Charlie let out a breath then. “Very well. It’s for the greater good, isn’t it?”
“Thank you dad.”
“Just be careful, pumpkin. Just because you’re stronger than anyone on the planet doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt.”
“I’m careful. Always. Love you!” Bella hung up and stopped dead in her tracks in the driveway where the little boy was blocking her way to the door. “You know that I could walk right through you, right?”
“You’re not nice. You’ll only bring pain to my family.”
Sighing, she sat down on her knees in front of him. “You know you’re dead, right?”
“Of course!”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“My brother and I didn’t make it to the caves when the men that had changed in wolves came out. They killed me.”
“Caves?” Bella knew that there was a cave system. Kol had told her about it, that his village used it to hide in when the werewolves came out. “You died over a thousand years ago.”
“So?”
“Isn’t it time to move on? Your family is dead, just like you.”
The boy scowled before he grabbed a stone and threw it at her, hitting her right on the arm. “Leave my family alone! You’re working with the great evil and that’s not nice! You’ll get my family killed, or worse!”
Bella rubbed her arm, narrowing her eyes on the boy. “Listen, buddy, your family is long gone. You don’t have to protect them anymore. They’re not here.”
“Liar!” The boy started to pelt her with pebbles and Bella quickly got to her feet and ran inside the house. As she closed the door, more pebbles could be heard hitting the door. “Fucker!”
Klaus and Kol skidded into the hallway, looking at Bella, confused. “What’s going on? Was Silas unagreeable?” Klaus asked, a playful smile on his face.
“No! He was agreeable, but there’s this ghostly kid who’s a jerk and he’s armed with fucking rocks,” she said annoyed, showing the impact points on her arm. “It’s like he’s stuck in a loop or whatever. He knows he’s been dead for like… centuries, but damn, he’s a little shithead.”
Kol snorted. “One of the reasons Bella doesn’t want kids.”
Bella narrowed her eyes on Kol. They had a conversation about children, a hypothetical one at that seeing as vampires were dead and their swimmers didn’t work. Yes, there was a basic need in any being to procreate, to spawn mini me’s of themselves, but she couldn’t see herself having children. Ever – and she was fine with that. The world was too overpopulated anyway. “Kids are jerks. Let’s adopt a dog,” Bella scowled and paused for a moment before a devilish smile appeared on her face. “Oh, scratch that, we have Klaus!”
“That’s not funny,” the hybrid growled lowly as he made his way back to the drawing room to clean up.
“I think it is,” Bella huffed as she looked at Kol. “Ghost kid. Talk.”
“How about you talk first?” Kol laughed as he pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “My beautiful Goddess getting beaten up by a Ghost boy. Cute.”
She told Kol everything she’d observed about the boy as Kol lead her to the drawing room to get something to drink. Klaus had just tapped some fresh blood for them in a glass, and Kol was hungry. A shame that he couldn’t sink his teeth into a ghost.
“It sounds to me like it’s residual energy. The boy is fiercely protective over his long gone family,” Kol said when she was done talking. “However, it’s strange, because he seems to be fully aware of Silas and the fact you’ve gone and talked to him.”
“But it’s not an intelligent haunt, either. I mean, he feels real. Like when Zach appeared to me. Or Lexi.”
“Were they truly haunting you, though? They were recent deaths. The way you describe the boy, sounds to me he’s old. Very old. He might even be one of the first settlers here, like we used to be. It’s likely he’s been here a very long time.”
“But why didn’t I see him before?”
“Because you’re still growing into your powers, darling,” Kol smirked as he sipped his blood and looked over to Niklaus, who was amused. “But enough about ghosts armed with rocks, we’ll figure that out. What did you learn from Silas?”
“We’re going to have to wait. I have someone looking for Amara. What are we going to do now?” she grinned as she looked at Klaus and Kol who were sitting in the sitting room, sipping a glass of blood. “Play scrabble? Strip poker? Drink ourselves out of a liver?”
“Oh you do what you want, I’m going to bed after the eventful day that I’ve had,” he said as he sipped his glass of blood. “What did you and Silas talk about? Did you find him?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen his true face, too.”
“Shane.”
“Oh, no,” Bella laughed. “Oh, not at all,” she laughed as she sat down on the couch. “It makes sense, really. Just think; why are there Doppelgangers? Because two idiots took an immortality potion a long long time ago and Nature needed to find a balance and created shadow selves who WOULD die in place of the originators.”
“Silas is another Doppelganger? Silas is female?”
“No,” Bella sang, an amused smile dancing on her face. “It’s likely that Silas’ beloved looks like Elena, though. I read somewhere that Doppelgangers usually are drawn to each other in every time the exist together. Katherine and Stefan… Elena and Stefan… but seeing as Stefan is actually old… maybe there’s another male Doppelganger out there.”
“The whelp Stefan is a Doppelganger too?!” Klaus blurted out. “Had I known this a hundred years ago I would have been free of the curse for longer!”
“Shh, he doesn’t know yet. We’re not going to tell them either, because as you say, immortals need entertainment,” she giggled. “Besides, it’s always fun to hold out on a relative, isn’t it?”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Hey, they want to play with matches, I say let them. Silas agreed to keeping to himself until I got him an answer and the next step of doing things, but who knows? He might not. But he will leave you alone.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” Klaus said as he finished his glass. “Do you need me to do anything, love?”
Bella hummed as she looked over to Kol. “Maybe wear some ear plugs, Kol and I are going to throw a private party.”
