Elijah was sitting in the courtyard watching his brother paint when Kol, Bella and Myriam returned. He knew that Kol and Bella had gone to see Edward Cullen, but why was Myriam with them? Better yet, why was she so bloody?
“Oh, someone’s been naughty!” Klaus smirked as he put down his paintbrush and looked at his girlfriend. “What did you do, love?”
“Ask Bella,” Myriam grinned as she threw the heads of Edward and Rosalie in Elijah’s lap before jumping Klaus, wrapping her legs around him and kissing him hard.
“Are these… who I think they are?” Elijah said slightly appalled, slightly intrigued, but mostly worried. “They are, aren’t they?”
“The Cullen’s golden children?” Bella said as she sat down on the sofa and poured herself a well deserved bourbon, downing it before anyone could object. She’d been a good girl and staying off the alcohol ever since she found out she was pregnant, but this was well deserved, she believed. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“You know why,” Bella shot at him.
Sighing, Elijah pinched the bridge of his nose. “Very well, I suppose I should talk to Aya and make this right… you can’t just go and kill well respected members of The Strix, Bella, they will not tolerate that in one bit. And with everything that’s going on right now, I wish to keep them friendly, not vengeful.”
“Their deaths are on you, Elijah,” she countered angrily. “Don’t you blame me for this, or Myriam, for doing all the killing. You knew that I would find out anyway, so a part of me believes you don’t care for their deaths that much.”
“Bella, you only know them as fictional characters, why do you think they’re so bad now?”
“They’re part of your elite little club, aren’t they?” Kol piped up, placing the bourbon bottle out of Bella’s reach after she had poured herself a second glass. “That should say enough.”
He looked around for a moment, Myriam still very happy with her kills and in his brother’s arms, kissing his face off. No doubt they’d disappear to the bedroom soon. Bella looked severely annoyed and his brother Kol like a kicked puppy. Sucking in a breath, he nodded. “Very well. I shall invite the remaining Cullens over for their last meal without telling them it will be their last. I’m sure that we can make a spectacle out of our dessert.”
“Really?” Bella perked up. “You’re giving the green light to kill them all?”
“They are a heavy influence within the Strix, with them out of the picture, we might get more done with them.”
Bella squealed as she hauled herself off the sofa and hugged Elijah. “You’re the favourite brother now!”
Elijah chuckled darkly. “You’re very welcome, Bella.”
Bella released Elijah and thought for a moment. “I want mushroom ravioli for dinner with them, I hate the stuff, but call it poetic.”
“Oh, you’re wicked,” Myriam grinned, after realizing why. “I like it!”
“You’re only discovering this now? Haven’t you read my stories, woman?” Bella grinned before waddling off to their little courtyard apartment. “Expect a new story in… two hours! No, three!”
“Yay! That gives me enough time to have my wicked ways with this one here,” Myriam replied as she jumped off Klaus and pulled him to their bedroom.
“Hey, what about me?” Kol whined as he trotted after Bella. “Am I still in the dog house?”
“Yep,” Bella smiled at him. “At least for another three hours, then I’m all yours.”
~o.O.o~
Elijah worked fast; the day after the glorious killing of Edward and Rosalie, he had invited the rest of the family over for dinner and according to him, Carlisle Cullen was impressed by how the originator of the Strix wanted to have dinner with him. Bella overheard Elijah saying that he found it peculiar that the deaths of the Golden Children hadn’t reached him yet, but perhaps they weren’t in constant contact all the time. Nevertheless, according to Klaus the heads of Edward and Rosalie would make beautiful centerpieces on the dining table.
Cami wasn’t going to join them as she had to work, but she wished them all a good time, knowing how deep Bella’s hatred for the Cullens went. However, she did say that outside of the books, the Cullens were real people and perhaps not as bad as she believed they were. That Bella should give them a chance, seeing as after all, she wasn’t the same Bella from the books?
Kol was all giddy. Bella had promised him a kill, and he was itching to do just that. Sure, it was a vampire, but a kill nonetheless. He had praised her the previous night, loving her dark side and hoped it would come out to play more often, which made her feel generous enough to allow him one kill. Alice – if she’d come along.
He found it amusing that the Cullens were part of the Strix. It was almost as if it was meant to be. Karma. Ironic. Or perhaps it was a mere happenstance. Whatever it was, they were going to die. They hadn’t even given them a reason to kill them, merely because of Bella and those annoying Twilight books. He supposed that was reason enough – who was he kidding? They were Mikaelsons, they didn’t have to have a reason to kill.
In anticipation for the dinner, Bella had gone swimming for the first time at the place she and Rebekah had found last week. He hadn’t been allowed to come with, but during their stay in Florida that weekend, they had gone to the pool together and floated around for a while. Bella hadn’t wanted to hear that she was beautiful, but he kept telling her anyway as it was the truth. No matter what shape or form, she was beautiful.
“I don’t even know why I’m listening to you,” Kol said playfully as Bella was brushing her hair while getting ready for dinner. “I could have gone out and killed them all.”
“Because you know that there’ll be hell to pay if you did?” She teased him. “I never said you couldn’t kill anyone or anything, just the Cullens are off limits.”
“Apart from Alice.”
“Yes, you can have her when the time is right,” she put the brush down and walked over to him, softly kissing him as she held on to him for balance. “She needs to have her last meal first. Elijah isn’t going to get any kill for even suggesting us going to Edward Cullen.”
Kol chuckled darkly as he put his arms around her. “Did the experience at least disturb you enough to forget all about going to —”
“A human doctor? No. And I’m still going,” she said angrily as she jabbed his chest with her finger. “A doctor of my choosing. You guys can all go to hell.”
“Bella, you’re a demi-Goddess, you don’t need a human doctor, you need—”
“Oh, a God? Yes, but can a God give us an ultrasound?” She countered, still jabbing his chest with her finger. “I want an ultrasound so we can give our kids a scrapbook with stuff about them in it. Pictures. Stories. Firsts. Shit that normal people do.”
“You do know that you won’t get any pictures of us, do you?”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “Why not? Because we’re immortal? Fuck that shit. There are plenty of pics of you guys from ages ago in old news papers, why should this be any different?”
“Well,” he finally had enough of her jabbing and took her hand as he pulled her against him as well as he could these days. “We could get robbed, those books could be stolen and end up in the wrong hands, compromising our family.”
Sighing, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I see your point.”
“Good.”
“And as much as I see that point, you must realize by now that when it comes to our family I would do anything to make sure nothing happens.”
“Bella, our boys will have a target on their back just for being a Mikaelson, scrapbook or not.”
“Then we’re going to make them Swans.”
Kol laughed and shook his head. “Won’t work, they’re still Mikaelsons.”
She was quiet for a moment and then nodded. “Very well. If they’ll have a target on their back as soon as they get out of me, then you wouldn’t mind that scrapbook,” she said smugly and ruffled his hair.
Kol huffed. “For a moment there I was worried you wouldn’t allow them to take my name.”
Bella shrugged. “Your name is more real than mine is. Charlie Swan is a figment of Helios’ imagination, he made him up so…”
“Well, you’re real,” he said as he planted a kiss on her forehead. “So your name is real too, don’t worry about it. If you want to make scrapbooks for our children, then go right ahead. It’s not as if we’re a regular family who are unable to protect their own.”
“Yay,” she smiled at him.
“Can we go and join our family for dinner now? I’m sure that by now our guests have arrived and I just can’t wait to see the look on their faces when they realize how close to reality those stupid books were.”
Bella scowled. “Similar. Not real. Thank fuck they’re not entirely real but those Cullens have to go, for a better life expectancy of others,” she sighed as she reluctantly let go of Kol and fixed her shirt. “My boobs hurt.”
“I’ll give them a nice massage after dinner,” he laughed and kissed her quickly. “Come on, can’t keep them waiting.”
Bella nearly threw up as she remembered the words used in the books upon describing the remaining Cullens as she watched them from a distance. They hadn’t noticed her and Kol yet, which made it perfect to observe them. It was easy to identify Carlisle; he was young and blond-out-of-a-jar alright. Handsomer like a movie star? Not quite. Was handsomer even a word? Also; the books said that he looked like Zeus’ younger brother. Ha. He only wished he was related to a God.
Esme wasn’t snow white in the flesh. Not even close. However, she did have a softness over her and her hair color seemed to be the same as in the books as well. She did look like someone belonging in a silent movie, especially after hearing her laugh. No, it was best that that laugh was silenced.
Oh, Emmett was definitely big and muscle-y. Scary dude. Likely the muscle for Carlisle and Esme, but he certainly was no match for Bella’s family. In a fair fight he would likely be a challenge, but why play fair?
All three members were immaculately dressed, though, and likely no thanks to the little imp sitting next to her brother Emmett. Alice was petite. Her black spiky hair was well coiffed and she was talking quite animated to Myriam, who looked like she wanted to kill the vampire herself.
Someone was missing. Where was Jasper? Bella scanned the courtyard, but couldn’t find him. She wasn’t panicked, or worried, but merely wondering if he got the right end of the stick in reality and not stuck with the Cullens for some reason or another. Oh, she hoped so. She had always liked Jasper in the books; the only redeemable thing about those books, really. Bella had felt for him and knowing that he wasn’t here, right now, was great. She was certainly going to google him later. Perhaps he died an old man with a lot of kids and grandkids.
“Ah, look who’s decided to join us on this lovely occasion,” Elijah said as he pointed at Kol and Bella. “My youngest brother Kol and his…” he cocked his head, a pensive look on his face. “Well, hopefully future wife,” he added with a slight chuckle. “Kol, Bella, meet Mr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife Esme, his son Emmett and daughter Alice.”
“Pleasure,” Kol said curtly as he helped Bella to sit down, right between himself and Niklaus. While yes, she was still immortal, she was still able to get hurt and unable to defend herself properly.
“I see congratulations are in order,” Esme smiled at Bella. “Not long to go?”
“I wish,” Bella muttered as she took a sip of her soda.
“How charitable of you and your family to take in a pregnant human being,” Carlisle commented to Elijah, Bella could tell that he wasn’t quite sure to be impressed or appalled. “I’ve always strived to be as charitable as possible. As you’re aware, I found Esme when she’d lost everything she ever had, saved her. Much like Alice and Emmett, not to mention Edward and Rosalie. Oh, such a shame they couldn’t be here today.”
Bella felt as if she was going to vomit. Where was their food?
“Ah, yes, your other son and daughter, are they not?” Klaus said amused. “Where are they?”
“There was an emergency in Biloxi last night, they went and filled in.”
“They are just as generous and caring as my husband,” Esme added proudly. “They’re hard workers and quite successful in their field. Tristan loves them dearly.”
Elijah noticed the sick look Bella had on her face before he turned back to their guests. “You don’t have to pretend to be other than who you are,” he told them. “We all know that the Strix are… while extremely talented and successful, they’re all untrustworthy. Merely because you believe that the situation you’re in has changed when Bella came to sit at the table doesn’t mean you must behave differently.”
“Elijah, while I respect you immensely for the part you’ve played in creating the Strix, do you believe that it’s in your best interest to talk about them the way that you do?” Carlisle piped up, daringly. “After all, while you may have compelled us to stay – whatever happens, it doesn’t mean that once this show of power is over, we’re leaving here.”
“Cute,” Myriam smirked as she looked over at Bella before hearing the servants come up with their food. “Ah, finally,” she said a little over the top, mock scolding the girl who put the plate down in front of her. “We were starting to get hungry here.”
“Mushroom ravioli,” the waitress, Amber, announced.
“We had the chef from that Italian restaurant in Port Angeles flown over to make this dish for you exclusively,” Klaus said amused as he looked at the Cullens. “As, after all, in the books your Edward took his date to that restaurant.”
Alice scowled, the same scowl could be seen on the faces of her family. “Do you have any idea how much ridicule we’ve faced because of that… well… I wouldn’t even call it literature! But I suppose the books served its purpose; I got rid of my husband Jasper, just so that the target on our backs was less.”
“What did you do to him?” Bella tried not to sound too angry or upset. Her only hope would be that Alice didn’t kill him. She smiled at the waitress as her plate was set down in front of her and had to admit, it actually smelled delicious. The dish wasn’t entirely vegetarian, Bella wanted little shreds of chicken inside of it to make it better.
“Oh, divorced him and sent him on his way,” Alice shrugged. “He always preferred the warmer climates, so… No idea what he’s been up to.”
“But he’s alive?”
“Of course, we’re not that heartless. I still love him, but for the sake of our reputation… he had to go.”
“No doubt he’s off gallivanting with his friends Peter and Charlotte, why do you care?”
Bella shrugged as she took a bite of her ravioli and decided to keep quiet for the rest of the meal. The more she heard them talk, the sooner she wanted to make sure that these vampires wouldn’t roam the earth for much longer. Desert was a cola slushie. The sheer look of horror on the faces of the Cullens was priceless.
“Now, I have to admit,” Elijah started after the table was cleared and they were enjoying a nice glass of bourbon. “I didn’t invite you for a normal dinner to discuss business, but I suppose you’ve already realized that when we compelled you not to run and merely to enjoy yourselves. This dinner is hardly ordinary.”
Almost as if on command, Carlisle spoke up. “Why are we here?”
“Bella here, thought it would be fun to invite you over before we kill you,” Myriam smirked as she pointed at her friend. “And truth be told, I think it’s a lot of fun too, giving you one last meal before we do the same to you as we’ve done to your precious Edward and Rosalie.” She then lifted the lids of the trays that had been standing in the middle of the table for the entire time, revealing the decapitated heads of the Cullen’s golden children causing the vampires to gasp in shock and horror, before getting angry.
“What in the world did they ever do to you!” Esme blurted out. “They did nothing wrong!”
“Oh, did we forget to mention that your death is a matter of principle of our favourite latest member of the family, Isabella Marie Swan?” Myriam’s grin grew wider as she yet again pointed at her friend.
“But we’re not anything like the family in the books!” Alice squeaked in horror as she looked at Bella, pleadingly. “Please, don’t kill us. We’re doing so much good! I’ll throw you a baby shower! We could be best friends! Like in those books! Surely it was right about something?”
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Bella muttered as she took her glass of soda and got up from her chair with a protective hand over the opening of the glass. “We’ve suffered their presence for long enough.”
“May we proceed?” Elijah asked kindly.
Bella nodded, and before she knew it, Esme’s head got lopped off by Rebekah and Myriam was on top of Carlisle, enjoying herself as she play fought him for a moment before ripping out his heart. Kol told Alice to run, he loved to chase his prey – Bella figured that they had compelled the vampires to stay and not to run away to make sure that they’d be killed in the end and Klaus merely stared at Emmett before lunging over the table.
It was over before it had even started. Even Kol came back with a pout on his face. “I would have thought they’d put up more of a fight,” he said as he put Alice’s head next to Edward’s. “I was itching for an exciting kill, but you tamed them too much, ‘lIjah. This wasn’t fun.”
“This wasn’t about you, Kol,” Elijah shot at him before looking at Bella, who seemed to be unsure how to feel about the slaughter that had happened in front of her. “This was all about the mother of your children. Are you satisfied, Ms. Bella?”
Bella looked at Elijah and nodded. “The world can always do with less douchebags, thank you. Thank you for organizing this. I know you shouldn’t have but…”
“It’s my pleasure,” Elijah replied quickly. “We shouldn’t have to live in a world where you can’t take out your almost enemies.”
“We kill for sport, this was a fun family event,” Rebekah grinned as she put her hair back into a ponytail. “So, we up for lunch tomorrow? Just us girls?”
She had felt it bubble underneath her skin for a couple of weeks now, the itch she needed to scratch badly and no, it wasn’t sex. At twenty four weeks, Bella had ballooned and gained 30 pounds, if not more, and the size of her belly was huge – and she still had some growing to do! Sex was quite uncomfortable and enjoyable at the same time, but she knew that soon she’d have to switch to giving Kol a handjob or a blowjob because she was cramping up more often than not and the ‘quite uncomfortable’ could soon turn into ‘very uncomfortable’. Such a turn off.
No, she was talking about her Demi-Goddess self. Kol and Freya had done everything in their power, consulted every witch in the Quarter and some foreign witches as well, on the prophecy and the power it held over the Mikaelson family and had come up with nothing. While Freya kept insisting that it was true, Kol had given up and was ready to kill his siblings’ first sirelings on sight.
And Bella was too. She couldn’t believe why Rebekah, Klaus and Elijah would allow their first sirelings get underneath their skin so much. Klaus had changed his mind and was merely playing with Lucien, but she could tell that something still wasn’t right. She still felt like an outsider and slightly alienated. There were three camps in the Compound; the sirelings with Freya and sometimes Elijah on their side, the Mikaelsons and then there were Cami, Myriam and Bella.
It felt so strange. So alien, and Bella wanted to fix it. She had already received several phone calls from the Regent about the amassing vampires in the city and while Bella had explained the situation and what her stance was on it, she couldn’t help but to feel obligated to fix this – even knowing that her powers were unreliable. Surely her babies would understand that she’d need a little bit of juice to help the family?
Seeing the trio on an almost daily basis larking about in the center of the courtyard didn’t do her stress levels any good. Sure, she went swimming, or went to get a nice massage or went to her classes, but they were always there. There was no escaping them, always scheming, having fun and shutting their mouths when she passed by.
She nearly blew a fuse when Elijah announced that Tristan, Lucien and Aurora were going to join the family for Thanksgiving dinner. Kol assured her that it was only a ruse, and that they only liked Thanksgiving for the lies and deceit and ultimately a sibling fight and that, just as they had done with the Cullens, one last meal before their demise was merely fun. He took her to the annual Thanksgiving run celebrations to get her mind off of dinner while the servants and cooks slaved away at the compound.
Bella napped for a couple of hours after returning home until Kol woke her gently to get ready. He was all giddy, because it wasn’t merely going to be the last Thanksgiving of the retarded trio, no, someone else was going to die. It had been difficult not to let his siblings know, but he supposed it was easier to cover things up with Myriam on their side, and he and Bella had been working on things their way while going out for their classes. And while his siblings weren’t going to be happy about what he and Bella had found out, they were going to be on their side. Kol was sure of that. Because aside from their words, they had video evidence. Oh yes. This was going to be a Thanksgiving nobody was ever going to regret soon.
A story for the ages.
Yes.
And Kol was happy; Bella had dressed herself in one of the new dresses they had bought in the boutique in the Garden District that had grown to become her favourite – maternity wear that didn’t look outdated, and great wrap around dresses that she could wear for a very long time. Comfortable wear. And the people who worked there were very sweet too. “I could devour you right now, screw dinner.”
“But what about our plans?” Bella pouted as she looked at him. “Good riddance, right? Please? Make my last months of growing tiny humans in my belly stress free?”
He softly kissed her as he gently moved his hand over her belly. “We really should start talking about names for them.”
“Sure, but not tonight,” she smiled at him. “They’re asleep, please let them sleep,” Bella said playfully as she swatted his hand away. “There are no feet near my bladder or ribs right now, I’m happy.”
Kol snorted and took her hand before leaving their little apartment to join the family for dinner. “Sorry we’re a tad late,” Kol announced as they approached the table where his siblings and their guests were already seated. “We’re moving at a slower pace these days.”
“You could have started to get ready a bit earlier,” Freya retorted.
“Freya,” Elijah shushed his sister as he watched Kol and Bella take a seat. “It’s been a very long time since we’ve all been able to sit and enjoy each other’s company over dinner, let’s not waste this opportunity or soil it with our differences. It’s Thanksgiving, after all.”
“So, what did we miss?” Kol said amused as he brought the potatoes closer to him and Bella so they could start filling their plates. “Paranoia? Threats?”
“Oh, of course,” Rebekah sighed as she sipped her wine. “They want to take us out of the equation now, lock us away forever.”
“Well, in your case Beks, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing,” Kol grinned as he got the platter with roast on it. “You’re always causing trouble, tut tut.”
“At least someone’s worried about me!” Rebekah breezed as she slammed the table. “We’re not all blessed by having—”
“We’re immortal, darling,” he purred, cutting her off. For the months that they had to deal with the first sirelings they kept Bella’s status as a demi-Goddess a secret. If only they knew. “We don’t have anything to be afraid of, especially since this whole prophecy has been nothing but a tool to create paranoia, mayhem, cause confusion and drive us all apart, in the hopes of us killing each other, box each other or worse.”
“We don’t know that,” Freya sighed. “We’ve been working on it for months and—”
“Exactly!” Kol cheered as he took the gravy from his brother and helped himself, happy to see Bella was happily eating with a smile on her lips, allowing him to confront everyone. “We haven’t found anything to counter the prophecy nor any grounds for that prophecy to be in place, don’t you find that odd, Niklaus?” He asked his brother, drawing him into the conversation. “Usually when something as big as a prophecy happens, there’s proof. Documentation. Not merely spoken from the lips of a witch we’ve never seen before and was killed before we even had the chance to talk to her ourselves. You know as well as I do that this is merely a ruse. For more power. They want to become us.”
Aurora huffed angrily as she crossed her arms and spoke in her high pitched whiny voice. “We were you!”
“Not me,” Kol smiled at Aurora. “You were my siblings, not I. And, to hold a grudge this long, really? Are you mental? No wait, you lot were merely bored and decided to see if the Mikaelsons were gullible. Well, congratulations, it seems like most of my siblings are,” he said as he slow clapped before taking a bite out of his food. “Granted, your scheme was clever. Very intricate, much like the schemes my brothers would think of in the past. I nearly fell for it. Nearly.”
“Kol, the prophecy is real,” Freya spoke. “Just because we can’t find anything—”
“We didn’t find anything because you blocked every attempt in finding out, sister,” he replied venomously, his vampire face slowly bleeding out.
“Calm down,” Bella said calmly as she rubbed his arm. “Have something to eat first, let them digest your words and come up with a counter.”
“I want to end this now, darling.”
“So do I, but I don’t want my food to get all bloody, this is good stuff,” she smiled at him. “There are nuts in the mashed potatoes! I love it!”
Klaus smirked and beamed at Elijah. “See, Elijah? At least some of us appreciate my input on tonight’s dinner.”
“Honestly,” Elijah rolled his eyes before narrowing them on his youngest brother and his very pregnant girlfriend. “What do you mean by bloody? Niklaus and I have not discussed anything of the sort!”
“No, but Bella, Myriam and I have. We’ve had some help from Camille, of course, her psychological insights was what made us dig deeper,” Kol replied as he took a bite from his mash and scrunched up his nose. “Yuck, nuts. Would have been better with bacon in it.” Bella was right, but he really wanted to tear out some hearts. Now.
“Ohh, bacon,” Bella cooed as she made a mental note for herself for later. Bacon and vanilla ice cream. Oh yes. She made sure she finished her food quite quickly, realizing that Kol wanted to get this over with. It was sweet of him to at least attempt some patience because of the food and seeing as his siblings were all staring at him in confusion, Bella sighed. “Okay.”
“See, the prophecy isn’t real,” Kol explained. “As soon as I noticed that our oldest sister was stringing me along, I played along but informed Bella and Myriam about the facts. And the facts are, there aren’t any. Other than our sister conniving with Tristan, Lucien and Aurora to replace us with them.”
“I’d never!” Freya said, obviously hurt.
“Oh, here we go, the loon had a theory and ran with it,” Lucien rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Niklaus, do you believe him? I honestly don’t know why he’s still walking around and not boxed up.”
“Because I’m in his way,” Bella said as she narrowed her eyes on Lucian. “And so is Myriam.”
“An ordinary vampire and what? A witch?” Lucien huffed. “Please. Just say the word, Niklaus, I’ll have their heads on a platter in no time at all. After all, the prophecy does speak of a friend or a member of your family who’ll betray you.”
At least Freya hadn’t told the trio everything, but still, if him betraying the family meant the box, it surely meant death for Freya. And Lucien had to check himself, Kol happened to know that Bella was more than eager to get in on this and felt up to some mischief. “Myriam and I cashed in some favors from impartial witches, seers, voodoo priestesses, you name it, and hell, just to be thorough, Bella asked a member of her family to ask another member of her family who asked another… We know we don’t really have to convince Nik of the truth because he loves Myriam and is very fond of Bella. We don’t need to convince Rebekah, either, as she’ll side with Nik always, but no, we have to prove this to Elijah, who’s enamoured with our eldest sister. Who fell into our laps and has been manipulating this family ever since.”
“That’s a lie! I would never do anything to betray this family!”
Myriam let out a snort. “Neither would Kol, but on occasion he does and he usually has a reasonable explanation,” she pointed out. “To make a long story short, there’s no prophecy. There’s only preying on the paranoia of this family to make sure they destroy each other and I’m sorry folks, the show is over. It ends now.”
Kol leapt up from his chair and wanted to rip Lucien to shreds, but Elijah stopped him, slamming Kol into one of the pillars instead. “If you kill them, vampires lines die with them.”
“I don’t care, Elijah. You lot made more than enough yourselves, but they’re going to die,” Kol sneered as he struggled against his brother’s hold on him. “For the good of this family, they’re all going to die.”
“Niklaus,” Elijah sighed, a hint of boredom and annoyance in his tone as he held out his hand.
Kol grinned. “You forget, brother, Nik doesn’t have ownership of our daggers anymore.”
Bella watched as Freya prepared herself to cast a spell Kol’s way and gave her a huge headache instead, which she was fighting because she knew it was merely an illusion. She could tell that she wasn’t powerful to do things by merely thinking about it; she had been warned about this, her body was protecting the babies now.
Bella had to focus, and was just in time to make Freya believe that she was powerless. “Try again, Freya, I dare you. You’ll join your aunt in that cage!” she threatened and just like that, Freya turned into a tortoise. A freaking tortoise and Bella hadn’t done anything. “Ah hell.”
Using the confusion to his advantage, Kol pushed Elijah off of him and quickly ripped out the hearts of Lucien and Tristan, causing Aurora to scream in panic. “She’s all yours, darling,” he smirked at Myriam, who had been itching to kill the older vampire. It wasn’t going to be easy, but seeing how weak Aurora was compared to her brother, Myriam was going to have a blast taking her apart.
“Kol!” Rebekah scowled as she was pushed out of the way as Myriam moved forward. “You can’t just do this, what if Freya’s right?”
“You haven’t been listening, sister, so allow me to say it again; there is no prophecy. There never was. It was all cooked up by the terrible triplets and our eldest sister. Feel free to kill the tortoise, if you’d like. I never cared for Freya anyway.”
“But why!”
“To divide us. To get rid of us so they can be us, haven’t you been listening? Honestly.” Kol rolled his eyes as he wiped his hands on Lucien’s bleeding corpse and smirked as he looked at Niklaus. “I know what he meant to you, Nik, but admit it, you wanted to do this yourself.”
“Why do it when I’ve got you?” He retorted as he watched Myriam battle it out with Aurora. “Well done, Kol.”
“See, that’s why you wanted me to return, because I do the things you and even Elijah find hard to do!”
“Do not push it, brother,” Elijah scowled. “You’re fortunate that Niklaus made a pact with Bella not to put you in your coffin for this,” he breezed before turning to his other brother. “Either he leaves with his pregnant girl or I will.”
“Good luck, Elijah, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
“Bella, what the fuck did you do to me?!” Aurora shrieked as she held Myriam in a headlock. “Change us back right now!”
“I didn’t do anything,” she replied impishly, blinking at the sight before her. “Come on, Myr, fight, are you really going to have her best you like this?” Was that a dark aura around her? Magic? What?
“Bella!” Aurora cried out as Myriam’s grin grew wider and wider. “You’ve changed us around, now swap us back!”
It was magic, wasn’t it? “Prove it.”
“CeilingCat, come on,” Aurora whined. “My God, this voice is so whiny!” She snapped Myriam’s neck and stepped over her before looking at her. “Oh, I’m so pretty… and now I’m not…” she then turned to Bella and advanced on her before Kol stopped her. “Oh come on! She needs to switch us back!”
“Myr, that’s not one of my gifts,” Bella blinked as she looked at Aurora. Aurora didn’t know about CeilingCat and TrashPanda, did she? “I do illusions mostly, remember?” Freya was a tortoise, she couldn’t possibly have switched Myriam and Aurora.
“Yeah well, this is NOT an illusion!” she huffed as she beat Kol’s chest. “Let go of me, you oaf.”
Bella took a few steps forward to Aur-Myriam and touched her arm, but the dark aura didn’t lift. “Huh. Normally that’d work,” she replied as she scratched her head. “Then again, I was warned that I wasn’t able to function properly. In any case, I didn’t make you switch bodies, this is magic so I suggest you find the witch responsible.”
“Fine,” Myriam said determined. “You keep her here,” she said as she pointed at her own body. “I’m going to hunt down some witches and if I can’t find the solution to this, I’m going to kill some witches.”
Klaus seemed to be stupefied before the penny dropped. “I’ll join you, love, because I can’t stand to look at Aurora’s face for much longer.”
“Oh, but the power this body holds though,” Myriam sighed. “You can really tell that she’s older and stronger than me.”
“No, absolutely not, we’re going to find a way to change you back!”
Kol wrapped his arms around Bella as the servants started to dispose of the bodies of Lucien and Tristan and Klaus and not-Aurora-but-Myriam sped off to chase down some witches. “Darling, are you sure you didn’t do anything?” He asked playfully.
“Well, I wanted to change Freya into a rat so she could join your aunt in the cage but…” she casually waved to the tortoise. “But I’m sure I’m not responsible for what happened to Aurora and Myriam. First of all, I don’t have that kind of power and second of all, she had a dark aura around her, it’s magic. I don’t do magic and thirdly; why would I want to swap Myriam and Aurora? They hate each other! I hate Aurora! Everyone does!”
Kol let out a slight chuckle. “Elijah, I expect you to keep an eye on Aurora until Myriam and Nik come back.”
“I was told to leave,” he replied calmly. “And I shall, I will not tolerate this nonsense any longer. This family – honestly.” And with that, Elijah zoomed away.
“Oh, don’t look at me,” Rebekah threw her hands in the air.
“Oh, but I am, sister. Aurora’s yours, isn’t she? You look after her!” Kol grinned. “I’m sure that eventually, Elijah will stop this nonsense and will return.”
“Kol! Don’t make me do this!”
“Oh, but Beks, look at it this way, you get to snap Myriam’s neck over and over again! Compel her to be a monkey! Anything but to permanently damage that body!”
Rebekah smiled widely then, almost as if she had just received a Christmas present. “This is going to be so much fun!”
He gently coaxed Bella back to their little part of the Compound and as soon as the door closed, he dropped to his knees and gently rubbed her belly. “Oi, you lot, that wasn’t a nice thing you did to your Auntie Myriam, but I am so proud of you!”
