Crise
(or, the preferred ending/sequel to Sanctuaire)
Published: 2019
Word Count: 8500 words
They visited all Disney parks over the world in two months, celebrating Bella’s freedom and simply enjoying spending their time together as a couple. They were about to set off to Hawaii when they received a text message from Klaus that they needed to return to New Orleans.
Bella still hadn’t decided what she wanted to do, she wanted to keep busy because while the Mikaelsons were happy with just being, she could only do nothing for so long. Now that things had calmed down, maybe she could find something to do.
Although basically living in Disney parks for the last two months had been incredibly fun.
Bella just wanted to feel useful. Be useful.
She didn’t want to be ‘Bella the super powerful witch’, because while she was, she still had a lot to learn.
Ah, maybe she could go back to school.
Then again, in their two months absence from New Orleans, they kept hearing news from Klaus. Kol dismissed them as Klaus’ paranoia rearing its ugly head without a friendly witch nearby, because while Davina was still in New Orleans, she didn’t quite like Klaus and usually refused to do his bidding. The almighty Niklaus Mikaelson, the hybrid, was scared.
It was only on Bella’s insistence that she and Kol went back to New Orleans, simply because while Klaus sent them a message asking for their return on an almost daily basis, she figured that he was simply missing his brother and she claimed that despite the siblings having been each other’s company for a thousand years, they were still family. And yes, that’s even after being boxed so many times.
Now that Kol was mortal, he didn’t have to fear being boxed, nor killed, because Klaus knew that if he’d kill Kol, Bella would have his hide – quite literally.
And maybe this was also a good opportunity for Bella and Kol to tell Klaus that they wanted to live somewhere else. While New Orleans had a great witch community, both Bella and Kol weren’t tied to the Ancestral magic and could live anywhere they wanted and still practice magic. The coast of Florida sounded nice, as well as the coast of California.
“Welcome back!” Klaus greeted them as they walked into the courtyard. He had a big smile on his face and he was genuinely happy to see them. “It seems as if my persistence finally convinced you to come home. Did you have fun?”
“Yes, Nik, we did, and we were on our way to have more fun,” Kol replied, rolling his eyes at his brother. “What was so urgent?”
“Rumours are that Myriam has resurfaced, I need you two to check your magical intruder barriers around the compound,” Klaus insisted, a hint of fear in his voice.
Bella smiled at the hybrid before hugging him. “Everything is fine, it all works. We’ve missed you too. Next time, just come with us.” Only when she felt him relax under his touch, she let go of him.
“Oh, hell no!” Kol said as he shook his head. “Absolutely not!”
“I’m not one for having to go on adventures all the time, little Swan, but thank you for the offer,” Klaus replied, an amused smile on his face. “Get settled back in, your room is just as you left it.”
“Who is this Myriam anyway?” Bella asked as she followed Kol to their room. “Klaus looked a bit scared.”
“Nik’s not afraid of anyone, he’s the one who instills fear into people,” Kol replied as he put their bags on the bed and sighed. “Myriam… she’s an older vampire, about 900 years old. Nik turned her. And while we – my siblings, can compel regular vampires, Myriam’s a crafty one. She takes vervain, she has her voodoo rituals… she’s unhinged. She likes to torture people and is quite good at it. And while she can’t kill Nik, she will take pleasure in torturing him, until she gets bored and runs off.”
“You make it sound like she has a habit of stopping by.”
“Every once in a while, yes.”
“Why not kill her?”
Kol smiled then. “Cuddles, haven’t you realized by now that we’re a very sentimental family? Nik’s just panicked, he’ll be fine. He always has his way to… escape her.”
“Then why is he afraid now?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, babe. I haven’t experienced Myriam myself, so I can’t really judge. I only hear stories and we all know Nik likes to make things sound worse than it is.”
Bella kissed Kol and smiled sweetly at him. “I’m going to check in with Klaus and see what else we can do for him, okay?”
“You’re not taking this seriously, are you?” Kol said annoyed. “This is what Nik does to get our attention when things don’t go his way. In all honesty, we can leave for Hawaii tomorrow.”
“I am,” Bella nodded. “I haven’t forgotten what your brother, and you and your family, have done for me in the past year, and I’m going to talk to him about this. See if we can do something for him. It’s alright if you don’t agree with me, Kol, but Klaus is my friend.”
“Yeah, fine, go,” Kol shrugged. “I’m going to check in with Davina.”
“Oh!” Bella opened her bag and took Davina’s gift out of it. “Tell her I said hi,” she smiled at Kol as she handed him the present.
Kol looked at the present and then sulked. “I thought you’d be jealous too.”
“Jealous? Of Davina?” Bella was surprised to hear that. “Wait, you’re jealous of Klaus? Kol!”
“What?”
“Just the sheer thought of me and Klaus and… ew?” she laughed. “He’s my friend. You’re my boyfriend. You’re mine. Just like I know that Davina is your friend – our friend – and I’m still yours.” Bella kissed him again and then left the room to go and find Klaus.
It wasn’t difficult to find him though. He was in his study, anxiously pacing around. “So, where are Elijah and Rebekah?”
“Bloody France!” Klaus exclaimed. “Taking a holiday on the French Riviera, spending some time with some French vampires of Elijah’s sireline.”
“I’m sorry,” Bella said as she sat down on the couch and watched him pace around the room. “For how long?”
“Seven weeks!”
“And you’ve been here alone, all that time? What about Peter? Hayley? Hope?”
“Well, yes, them, but…” Klaus stopped walking and looked at his brother’s girlfriend. “You don’t have to psychoanalyze me, Bella, I know that I’m likely worrying for nothing.”
Shrugging, Bella reached for the alcohol on the table next to her. “Your feelings are still valid, even if you think – or if others think – that you’re overreacting. You still feel it,” she took a sip of her drink and smiled at him. “Tell me about Myriam.”
“She’s a bloody nuisance, she is,” he scowled as he poured himself a drink and sat down in a chair facing her. “Myriam takes extreme pleasure in torturing me one way or another to get my attention. Or, she leaves me presents. Of course, I’ve been in hiding for most of this century and only been out in the open for a couple of years now, so I suppose it took her some time to track me down again.”
“Is she hot?”
“What?”
“Well, if she takes extreme pleasure in torturing you to get your attention and makes frequent visits to you… maybe she just really likes you and just has a bad way of showing it?”
Klaus scoffed. “Unlikely.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I turned her by accident. She and I were… in a scuffle, she drew blood and she sucked it off her fingers, ingested it and I killed her without realizing what she’d done. Myriam wanted to become a vampire.”
“Then why didn’t you kill her?”
“She came to, snapped my neck and bolted.”
Bella started to laugh.
“It’s not funny, Isabella!”
“Of course not,” Bella tried to stop laughing and instead took another sip of her drink, nearly choking on it. “And those other times? Kol said she likes to torture you.”
“She does that by interfering with my life. She doesn’t actually come to me. She’s smart like that,” he admitted. “You and Kol are mortal and I fear she might be coming after you now that someone has spotted her. Which is why I need our home to be secure and you two where I can protect you should she come.”
She leaned forward and took his hand. “That’s sweet, Klaus, but you do know that Kol and I can take care of ourselves, right?”
Klaus huffed. “My brother isn’t as powerful as you are, Bella, and even you have your limits. On top of that, Myriam was a powerful witch herself, she has talismans and other ways to make sure that magic can’t harm her. The only way to harm her would be to physically attack her, and even then, she is a skilled fighter and a 900 year old vampire.”
“Okay,” Bella nodded and let out a breath. This wasn’t Klaus being Klaus, this was Klaus being worried and overprotective. He cared and he feared for his brother’s life. If Myriam was really the way he described her, then she was going to be careful with him. “Okay. I’m pretty certain that the spells we put up around the compound are still good, but I’ll check them. What else do you need?”
“For you and Kol to stay close until she goes back to ground or until she gets killed, whichever comes first.”
“Then that’s what you will get.”
“Thank you. At least someone who takes me seriously.”
“Kol takes you seriously, Klaus, it’s just that your siblings don’t take the time to hear you out and you don’t take the initial time to explain yourself. You need to communicate better,” she downed her glass and got to her feet, still holding Klaus’ hand before squeezing it lightly. “Kol is on his way to Davina. I’ll get what I need and check the spells.”
“I’m sure that Hayley will say ‘no’, but I’d also want you to check their apartment to make sure Hope remains safe when she’s not with me.”
“Yes, Klaus,” Bella smiled at him before going on the hunt for the things she’d need.
~o.O.o~
Not only did Klaus have a crisis, the witches were soon to be losing their regent, Madame LaRue. The woman had fallen ill and nothing worked to make her feel better. Bella wouldn’t be really affected by a change of regents because her ancestors weren’t buried in New Orleans. Kol wouldn’t be, either. Not by much. They still didn’t know a lot about Kaleb, but they were sure he wasn’t from the area.
Bella couldn’t be a regent as she wasn’t a New Orleans witch. And she didn’t even wanted to be a regent and be responsible for all the nine covens and the nine covens didn’t want Kol as a regent, because well, despite being mortal now, he was inhabiting someone else’s body and he was a Mikaelson. God forbid a Mikaelson would lead the nine covens!
However, spending some time with the witches wouldn’t harm anyone and trying to make nice with them was even more important. Klaus could handle werewolves and other vampires, it was the witches he wanted to have on his side, or at least under control.
Everything was about control when it came to Klaus Mikaelson, and Bella didn’t mind trying to find a way that would be beneficial for both sides. Even she wanted the witches to be friends with the Mikaelsons because should – should – the witches decide to go to war, there was no way that she and Kol would survive before Klaus would be able to get to them.
Bella wasn’t really a social person but she loved seeing Kol interact with everyone. He was a natural with magic, and talking to other like-minded people and Bella loved that about him. He had other interests, such as music and video games, but magic was his thing. Teaching. Learning.
The nine covens were stupid for not having Kol on their short list to become a regent, he would be great at it.
While Bella loved going along with Kol’s thing and learning more about magic, she still needed to find her thing. But that was alright, it would come to her eventually. Until then, she was going to keep herself busy and cook for her, Kol and Klaus. And the Farmers Market was her target at the French Market.
She knew the story of Stefan Salvatore dining on rabbits and other wild life instead of humans, and thought it’d be fun to make balsamic rosemary and garlic rabbit with roasted potatoes and some roasted vegetables. It was super easy to make, but super tasty as well.
Before shopping though, she stopped by one of the coffee places and had herself a coffee and a nice pastry to compliment it. It was a beautiful day out and she could see the river from where she was sitting. She took a picture of her view and send it to Charlie on her phone.
Something wasn’t right though. Colors started to look duller, and her head started to swim and her thoughts were slow and it was difficult to focus. She needed to call Kol, but she couldn’t find her phone anymore that she was just holding a minute ago. Was there a spell she could do?
In any case, she was grateful for the woman who made sure she didn’t fall onto the ground when the world spun away from underneath her.
~o.O.o~
“Oh, wake up already,” someone hit her over the head with something flat and bouncy. “I didn’t dose you with that much, or maybe you’re already suffering from what I’m doing to you? Yes, that might be a possibility…”
Bella couldn’t move. She was on a chair or something and her legs and arms were tied to the posts. When she opened her eyes, she had to wait for the world to come into focus before she saw an olive skinned woman with dark hair looking at her.
“Oh, and don’t try to talk. You can’t. I have a dark object that stops any witch from speaking,” the woman said cheerfully. “And as I speak and you listen, I’m also using another dark object to siphon the magic right out of you, without a chance it ever being returned to you. Niklaus can take care of himself, he doesn’t need you. And his brother Kol isn’t the only one with access to dark objects, I have created a few of my own.”
So this was Myriam.
Upon seeing recognition on Bella’s face, Myriam smiled. “Ah, so he told you about me, all good things, I hope,” she smiled as she sat down in front of Bella. “You’re completely his type. Short, brown hair, brown eyes… You’re super powerful, your magic is just rolling off of you. I can smell it. It must be such a turn on for Niklaus…”
Ew? Much? Ew?
“It was either you, or his daughter Hope, and I am many things, sweetheart, but I’m not a monster.”
Well that was debatable, but Bella was glad that Hope was safe, for now.
“You know, I could also just kill you,” Myriam shrugged as she got back to her feet and started to walk away. “But it’s so much more fun to take away a man’s power! Now, you just relax, don’t try to leave because I tied you up pretty well. I’m going out for a snack, I won’t be long!” Myriam then turned around, just barely in Bella’s vision. “Oh, and even if you somehow manage to break through the things that are keeping you nice and quiet, don’t bother casting a spell, you’re in an anti-magic zone, sweetheart.”
Anti-magic zones were a thing? Bella tried to focus, but she found her mind drifting again. She needed to focus to see if she could feel the magic inside of her, but it only made something that was right next to her glow brighter. Moving was fairly impossible, she tried to scoot the chair, but it seemed to be bolted down.
Dark objects were a bitch.
~o.O.o~
Kol wasn’t one to worry much. Well, that was a lie. He worried. A lot. Bella knew he worried about her a lot if he wasn’t around her so she always shot him a message where she was going or when she’d be back. Not because he was controlling, but because she understood him.
Bella said she’d cook for them, but she hadn’t sent him a message that she was running late. The French Market was already closing and they hadn’t seen someone still inside so she wasn’t there. But where was she, then?
Maybe it was his anxiety talking. Bella was a big girl and could take care of herself, but what if something had happened to her? He decided to call the hospitals on his way back to the compound seeing as Bella wasn’t answering his calls. The hospitals didn’t admit a girl matching Bella’s description in the last 24 hours and no Bella Swan was on record. That was a good thing, right?
Why was he feeling like he was the controlling boyfriend? One like the one he helped her get away from?
…
He was.
Fuck.
Sighing, he picked up some food from one of the restaurants near the compound and was met by Niklaus who was pacing in the courtyard and then looked at Kol with a dumbfounded look on his face. “What?” Kol said innocently as he made himself comfortable on one of the sofa’s and started unpacking his food.
“Where is your girlfriend?”
Fuck.
“I don’t know, running late?”
“Do I have to remind you that —”
“Nik, what are the odds that just because Bella is late, that she’s been taken by your… stalker?” He took a bite of his food as he kept his eyes on the volatile hybrid. “Bella’s a big girl, she has magic, she can take care of herself.”
“She’s not picking up her phone!”
“I know that, Nik,” Kol sighed. “And I’ve also gone to the French Market as she told me she was going there, and on the way back here I called all the hospitals in New Orleans and you know what I realized?”
“What?”
“That I’m nothing better than that wanker we saved her from, Nik. A controlling bastard of a boyfriend,” he said defeated and slumped back into the sofa. “I’m worried, yes. And she usually sends me a text message saying if she’s going to stop by somewhere else, because she knows I worry. She didn’t send me a text after the French Market and she wasn’t there. Seeing as she doesn’t pick up her phone could mean that it’s flat.”
“Myriam has various ways of subduing witches.”
“Why would your stalker go after my girlfriend, Nik? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Because she doesn’t come for me directly, Kol,” Klaus shot at his brother. “She goes for people that I care about!”
“And how would she know that you care about Bella?”
“She knows things!” Klaus exclaimed. “I already called Hayley, Hope is safe.”
Kol sighed as he put down his food. “Would it make you feel any better if I’d do a locater-spell for her?”
“YES!”
“FINE!” Kol got to his feet and walked to the magic station he set up and started to do the spell for Klaus’ peace of mind. And his, but he wouldn’t admit that out loud. It was frustrating because she didn’t show up in New Orleans and that meant that she was either out of town or cloaked. Or… or worst case scenario; dead. Kol really tried not to freak out. There were other spells he could try, including one that was more powerful than he had done previously. Bella wasn’t dead.
Please don’t be dead.
“If we find her, you’re coming with me, Nik,” Kol said as he poured some ashes onto the map. “And if Myriam has her, you’re going to kill that bitch. Enough is enough.”
“Don’t you think I’ve been trying?”
“Not hard enough,” Kol bit at him. “What if Myriam has Bella? What can we expect?”
Klaus let out a breath and leaned against the wall. “I don’t know. She’s lost her mind and she’s very cunning. I suppose we should expect the unexpected; protection from magic – especially if she has Bella, she wouldn’t want Bella to hurt her. Perhaps some objects that can do a lot of damage to vampires.”
“Yeah but you can’t die.”
“It’ll still bloody hurt!” Klaus angrily shot at him. “If we find Bella, and we find out that Myriam has her, we’ll need an army to get her back.”
“And?”
“You’ll be rendered useless and you’ll be a hazard. I can’t protect you and get Bella, Kol.”
“Davina will help.”
“What part about she’ll have the place protected from magic don’t you understand?”
Kol sulked. “We’ll have to find her first. I might need Davina for this anyway, who, by the way, is on the shortlist to be the next Regent, being a Harvest girl and all, so you better play nice,” he said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started to text her. “Why don’t you ask Marcel to ask his vampires if they’ve seen anything?”
“Don’t bother,” Peter piped up as he sauntered into the courtyard, looking pretty beaten up and bloody. “Miss Myriam doesn’t take kindly to being followed.”
“You were with Bella?” Kol asked surprised.
“Oh hell naw,” Peter poured himself a full glass of bourbon and drank it all before he spoke again. “Bella would have my hide if I’d do that. The lady doesn’t like having an escort or a security detail. She only allowed me to return to you alive to give you a message, Klaus. I didn’t tell her that Bella wasn’t yours.”
“Why not?” Kol said surprised. “Maybe she would have let Bella go!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Peter said as he poured himself another drink. “The banshee is hell-bent on having Bella to fuck with Klaus. Miss Myriam has enlisted a demonologist and a voodoo priestess to hide the space where she’s holding Bella, the demonologist has made the building only accessible to her and Original vampires. There’s no magic. It’s a void. Bella’s also rendered useless and will continue to become more useless by the minute. Clock’s tickin’.”
“How do you know all this?” Klaus said suspiciously.
“Use your clever head, Klaus,” Peter smirked as he drank from his glass. “If you want Bella back, you gotta havta get her yourself. And maybe bring some reinforcements like the siblings that are still a vampire, it’ll be fun. Spectacular, even.”
It may have started off as sounding like Peter, but this wasn’t Peter. “Peter’s possessed.”
“Seems like Kol is the smart one,” Peter winked, a playful smile on his lips. “Myriam’s done playing. You’re either going to submit to her and take her has your mate or Bella will be food.”
“She’s not even Klaus’ mate!” Kol shot at Peter. “Give Bella back or I’ll come and take her back myself!”
“Myriam would love to see you try with no magic,” Peter said. “She’s being held in an abandoned building in Belle Chasse, use your nose, Klaus, and you’ll find her. Her scent is all over the place.” It was then when Peter stumbled and looked at Klaus and Kol with a dumbfounded look on his face. “What am I doing here? I was following Bella, someone took her.”
“We are aware,” Klaus replied, slightly agitated. “I’m going to get her back,” he said before speeding off.
Kol rolled his eyes. “He’ll be back soon enough. With empty hands,” he looked at Peter and leaned against the table. “What do you remember?”
“Following Myriam taking Bella to Belle Chasse. It didn’t feel like a possession though, don’t you usually remember possessions?”
“Depends on the possession, I’m afraid,” Kol replied, running a hand through his hair. “Go heal up, drink some blood, I’m going to see if Davina can be of help to us. Maybe she can find out more about the people Myriam’s working with, perhaps talk to the ancestors to see if they can help, I don’t know.”
“That’d be a good idea.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this Myriam is an ex of Niklaus, you know. Nik has a thing for the crazies, but this one is going to die,” Kol pushed himself away from the table and headed out the door but he didn’t have to walk long before Davina was walking towards him, quite fast and she had an angry look on her face. “Ah, just the girl I’m looking for—”
Without warning, Davina slapped Kol with her flat hand. “Today was supposed to be a day of celebration! A celebration of life for Madame LaRue and a celebration of a new regent, but noooooo the Mikaelsons have yet another problem that’s a problem to New Orleans and its community!”
“Hey! That’s unfair!”
“Is it?” Davina asked him, looking up at him with a furious look on her face. “Because your family always seems to bring trouble into town and the witches and Ancestors are tired of it!”
“I know, alright? It’s all Nik’s fault! It’s usually his fault!”
“No, last time was Bella’s fault, but the Ancestors weren’t as pissed off then as they are now, because for some reason sparkling vampires aren’t as scary as a deranged vampire.”
“That deranged vampire has Bella.”
Davina looked at him in shock. “You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was,” Kol replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. “And I could really use your help to assess the situation and to see if it’s true that I can’t use my magic to get her back.”
Davina hugged him and nodded. “Yes, of course, whatever you need. Where are we going?”
“Belle Chasse.”
Davina looped her arm through Kol’s as they walked towards his car. “The Ancestors did detect a shift in magic coming from there,” she said carefully. “It’s almost as if a void happened. They’re not sure what’s going on.”
“Davina Claire, are you not telling me something?”
She beamed at him then. “You’re talking to the new Regent of the Nine Covens.”
“I never doubted you for a second and once we have Bella back, we will throw you a party!”
“Yeah, let’s hope so,” she bravely smiled at him. “Why did she take Bella?”
“The vampire believed she was Nik’s because Bella’s so powerful. Apparently she and Nik have a history and she surfaces every now and then to torture him from a distance.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“I’m worried that she’ll kill Bella, and if what I’ve learned in the last few hours is true, then I have no way of getting her back like this,” he said, pointing at his body. “Unless we can do something from the outside to disrupt the magic safety measures she put in place.”
“Doubtful, but it doesn’t hurt to check it out. Maybe call Elijah and Rebekah?”
“It’ll take too long for them to come back from France.” Once they were in the car, Kol drove them to Belle Chasse in silence. It wasn’t hard to find his brother once getting there and finding abandoned buildings. “Are you sure you have the Ancestors on your side for this?”
“Well, no, but they allow me one big powerful spell by using the full power of the Ancestors. I mean, I am more powerful now, but still nowhere near Bella’s power. That big spell they’ll allow me to do could basically knock Bella on her ass. It’s a bit of a grey area, I can help Bellla, she’s not a Mikaelson.”
Kol nodded. “Any help is appreciated, Davina, thank you.”
“She’s my friend too,” she smiled at him. “Stop here,” she added as she pointed at a building. “The void’s here.”
“It’s cloaked?” Kol asked as he stopped the car, not seeing anything. “But if it’s a magical void, she couldn’t have hired a witch to perform the magic for her,” he said thoughtfully as they got out of the car, and it then hit him. “She’s using dark objects.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course I’m sure. I created a lot of them and several were lost over the centuries. If this Myriam is this crazy, she’ll either have created some of her own or she’s found where I lost them. If I’m correct, vampires can see this place with no problem. It must be some counter measure against Bella’s magic.” He then looked at his brother who headed somewhere in a straight line and pointed at him. “There he goes.”
Davina was casting a few spells to figure out what was going on and Kol anxiously started to pace. He didn’t trust this situation. His brother was powerful, yes, but even he could get overwhelmed and if Kol would create a trap, he’d go all out. Myriam working with dark objects, a voodoo priest and a demonologist really topped the crazy. It was brilliant. Enough distractions. Enough time to inflict damage.
Had Kol still been a vampire, he and Nik could divide and conquer.
While Kol loved being a witch and didn’t like being a vampire that much, he’d sacrifice his happiness for Bella’s. His Bella. The person who made him feel better, happy. Balanced. She took him seriously and listened to his late night ramblings. Kol wasn’t sure if he could live in a world without her.
But rebuilding his original body from his ashes would take Bella’s kind of magic. Powerful magic. And he could get himself back in but it was going to be impossible and he hated it that he was stuck.
Kol kicked the car out of frustration. He hated to be powerless. Weak.
Useless.
Fragile.
As a vampire he’d only be mildly inconvenienced looking for his girlfriend. He should have taken Bella’s offer to put him back in his own body, but no, he loved being a witch too much.
Selfish. So selfish.
Kol was glad that he was at the car with Davina because it didn’t take long for his brother to get flying lessons out of the building, all cuts and bruises and blood all over him. Luckily, Klaus landed on his feet and he was seething. Letting out a growl, Klaus ran back in.
“What is he doing?” Davina asked as she got to her feet and dusted herself off.
“He’s going to get Bella out, even if it takes him all week,” Kol said wryly. “He’s a one man show at this point. Nik is likely breaking things as he goes along, eventually it’ll get easier. Who knows? Nik might actually break the anti-magic objects and Bella can save herself!”
“And who is going to save Klaus when the other vampire manages to incapacitate him? Original Vampire or not, he’s still susceptible to vervain, gets slowed down by bullets and all other lethal means to ordinary vampires. I’d tie him up with vervained ropes, then maybe a stake or two to keep him down for a while.”
Kol hadn’t thought about that. “I’m going to call Hayley.”
“Why? You’ll only give Myriam another hybrid to play with, and the mother of Klaus’ child. While Klaus can’t be killed, Hayley can. Do you want to risk it that Hope grows up without a mother? No, all we can do is wait until Klaus is either tired or has done what he was supposed to do.”
“There must be something we can do!” Kol kicked against the car again. “That’s my girl in there and I feel so bloody useless!”
“I know,” Davina said empathically as she rubbed his arm. “I know, and I hate it for this to be a teaching moment, but this is one of the reasons witches don’t like vampires very much or why the Ancestors doesn’t like your family in particular.”
“I know that, Davina! As you may recall I was a vampire once and I know what we’re capable of, how fucked up we can be, and the thought of my Bella being in the possession of a fucking lunatic…” he pointed towards the invisible building. “I know what can happen.”
“And it’s okay to be scared.”
“I’m not!”
“Yeah, you are,” Davina said calmly. “And that’s alright. But you need to trust your brother that he’s going to get her out. There’s nothing we can do. It’s someone else’s magic, even the Ancestors can’t cancel out the magic.”
“Yeah, there is a way. We need a bloody siphoner and they are rare,” he scowled. “I know of one, and he’s hard to get to. He’s in a bloody Gemini prison blessed with Bennett blood and locked with an ascendant.”
“Then all you can do is to be patient.”
“Can’t you invite all the covens here to do a counter spell?”
“Kol…” Davina sighed as she shook her head. “That’s not going to happen.”
Klaus flew out of the invisible building again, but this time was followed by a fast approaching female vampire who leapt over Klaus and headed straight for Kol. Both he and Davina were too slow to through up a protection barrier and the woman snapped his neck, just like that.
~o.O.o~
When she saw Kol, she knew she was dead, or at least about to die. His face was bloodied, his clothes were soaked, but he was there with her. He was coming to get her. She was tired, oh so tired, and when he removed her shackled and lifted her into his arms, she looked at him in surprise. “You can’t be dead.”
“I’m not dead, Cuddles,” he said as he kissed her forehead and held her tightly as he ran home with her. Kol gently put her on her feet in their room and started to check her over. She looked like she’d been fed upon a few times, but no lasting damage and she was still breathing. Her heart was still beating.
Bella needed food, a nice hot bath and a comfortable bed and he was going to make sure she was going to get all that. But first, he was just very relieved that she was still alive. Kol pulled her back into his arms and held her there. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“You’re not dead?”
“I was, Myriam killed me. Davina used her one time ‘get all the power you want’ card and put me back into my own body. I told her she shouldn’t have, but I suppose she didn’t want to lose her friends,” he kissed the top of her head. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Bella nodded as she poked his arm with her index finger, checking to see if he was real. “Did you kill Myriam?”
“Yes,” he replied coldly. “She deserved it. Niklaus wasn’t strong enough to do so but I had the Devil’s Star on me so…” Kol shrugged. “She took you. Nobody lives to tell the tale if they lay a hand on you.”
“This is real?”
“Yes,” he smiled at her. Kol quickly zoomed into the bathroom to start her bath before returning to his Bella. “This is very real. You’re very much alive and you’re in our room. With me. You’ve seen this face before, haven’t you?” Bella needed to wash all of her blood off of her because he wanted to snack on her, and that was not going to happen. He hadn’t missed how the smell of blood aroused and enticed him. He hadn’t missed how he tore apart the human Peter had presented him with, and the other five or six that he fed upon upon awakening.
But Kol was sure as hell to try to control himself around Bella and not take a sip of her delicious blood. A nice hot bath would help, very much so.
She nodded as she kept looking up at him. “I’m sorry you died because of me.”
“Darling, I would die a thousand times more for you,” he started to undress her. “You’re all that matters to me. Now, how about you take a nice hot bath, relax, and I’ll get you something to eat. What are you in the mood for?”
“I can—”
“No, you just suffered at the hands of a deranged vampire and you need to relax. I’m going to have to get some blood to heal myself up and I can get you something to eat.”
She smiled at him and softly kissed him. “How about you feed up and join me in the bath so you can get clean too? I’ll likely fall asleep.”
“Alright,” he nodded. “I’ll be right back.” He watched her as she retreated to the bathroom before he headed to the fridge in the compound to get some blood. Kol knew that Nik kept some blood there and he wasn’t surprised to see his brother at that fridge.
“How is she?”
“Surprisingly alert but woozy,” Kol replied as he tore into a blood bag. “I told her to take a bath to get cleaned up. She smells so nice, Nik. It’s insane.”
“You’re only newly resurrected, brother, it’ll take some time to readjust.”
Kol nodded as he drank his blood bag. “Once Bella’s had a good sleep, I’ll ask Davina to check her over. Physically she looks fine.”
“You saw the inside of that building.”
“I know I did, Nik,” Kol angrily shot at him. “You really should have a wingman and listen to them when it comes to courting possible lovers because you have the absolute worst track record!”
“I never—”
“I don’t care! Someone I love got hurt thanks to your past! A wonderful, fragile human being!” He angrily tossed his blood bag in the bin and grabbed a few pastries and a bottle of lemonade. “This is all your fault!”
“I know!”
“Good!”
Klaus was worried about his brother. He always had readjustment issues, and no control over his blood lust. He hoped that Kol would even out emotionally soon, but with Bella being all banged up, he wasn’t sure. “Will you be alright?” he asked quietly, observing his brother’s face.
Kol sighed and nodded. “I’ll have to be. Just… don’t go near Bella, because I might not be.”
“You’re going to let Davina near Bella.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be hard enough and I might actually have to leave the room.”
“Good luck.”
Kol let out a breath and headed back to his and Bella’s room, undressing himself after putting the food on the table and joining her in the bath. “Is it nice?”
Bella smiled at him and nodded before moving against him. “My bones are really liking the warm water,” she took his hand and kissed it. “What can I do to help you?”
“Help me? Darling, you’ve been gone for a couple of days and you were with a crazy vampire, it’s me who should be helping you.”
“And you are,” she slowly turned around and sat down on her knees before she grabbed a washcloth and started to slowly clean his face. “But I’m not the one who’s had to die and then returning as my original self.”
“I suppose it was better than dying. I’m still here, with you, and you still have me.”
“Damn straight.”
“Unless you’re afraid of me now because I’m back to being a vampire?”
“Why would I be? You’re still the same person,” she smiled at him as she washed the cloth in the tub. “I know you can likely kill me with your pinky, but I know you won’t.” Bella brushed his lips with hers. “You can kill me if you’d like, but only when I have your blood inside of me.”
As much as he liked that idea, he just couldn’t. “You don’t know what you’re giving up, Bella.”
“I’d give up a life with you by growing old and then dying. And you’d have to bury me. Loose me forever.”
“And magic.”
She looked down to her hands as she was still rinsing the cloth. “I doubt there’s much left of that in me, besides, magic isn’t important. I’d rather have you.”
He smiled as he lifted her chin with his finger and kissed her nose. “We’ll continue this particular conversation after you’ve had a good night’s rest.” Bella was far too out of it. Who knew what Myriam had truly inflicted upon her? He’d destroyed all the dark objects – as much as it pained him, and he wasn’t quite sure what they had been doing to Bella.
It sucked being responsible because at this point he just wanted to fuck her brains out.
~o.O.o~
“So, I already told her this,” Davina said as she looked at her friend, who was standing outside his and Bella’s room in the compound. She understood why Kol didn’t want to be around for this, even now, he looked at her like she was his next snack, and they weren’t even with Bella. “But all the magic that was in that vault is gone. Myriam has drained it all. I don’t even detect any magic in her, so…”
“She’s fully human.”
“Well, so am I, but yeah, she’s non-magical. Which is a shame, Bella was a great witch.”
“She’s still here,” Kol reminded Davina, half playful, half threatening as he took a step towards her. “She’s not dead.”
Taking a few steps back to back down, she held up her hand to keep Kol at a distance. “Her magic is.”
“That’s fine, she lived without magic for so long, she didn’t practice magic for that long, either.”
Davina laughed. “Yeah, that’s what she told me.”
“But other than that, she’s fine?”
Davina nodded.
It was only then Kol noticed how Davina was behaving. She stood further away from him, she had her hand up in defense and she was slightly hesitant. “But we’re not?”
“You’re a vampire, Kol.”
“I know that.”
“And the Ancestors aren’t too happy with me that I used my one time access to all of their power to resurrect you. As soon as Bella’s back on her feet, you two need to leave New Orleans and never come back.”
“So you decide to use your freebie to resurrect a friend, and your friend and his girlfriend get punished for it? That’s really really rich,” Bella quipped from the door as she leaned against the door frame. “Kol did so much good as a witch, he deserves to stay in New Orleans.”
“Do you think I like being the bringer of bad news? You two are my friends! But if you stay, the Ancestors will do anything in their power to get you out of town, even going over my head.”
“It’s fine,” Kol took a few steps away from Davina, more towards Bella. “We shall leave at the end of the week. Thank you for resurrecting me, Davina and thank you for your help with Bella. You’ve been a great friend. Now, leave.”
“I’m sorry,” Davina said softly as she made her way out of the compound, quickly, seeing as Klaus was leering over the wrought iron railings now too, watching what was going on.
As soon as Davina was gone, Klaus came downstairs. “You’re leaving?”
“You heard her,” Kol pulled Bella into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Bella and I were planning on taking yet another extended break, weren’t we?” He was surprisingly calm with his brother close to Bella, but maybe that was only because he was holding her and Klaus kept his respectable distance.
“Yep,” Bella nodded. “We were going to tell you before you called us back here because of Myriam.”
“And where will you go?”
“Well, we wanted to go to Hawaii for a month or so and then look for a home in either California or Florida,” Kol replied. “Or maybe Australia.”
“Any place warm, really,” Bella nodded. “We also spoke about visiting you often, but now you’ll just have to make the trip, Klaus.”
“Don’t bother,” Klaus said decidedly. “I’m coming with. I’ll have my own accommodations to give you your privacy, but I’m coming with.”
“Really?” Bella smiled at him. “But what about Hope?”
“She’s safe with her mother and Jackson, and their pack. I haven’t seen much of the world in years,” Klaus replied. “And I’d love to spend some more time with my favourite brother and his girlfriend. I can visit my daughter whenever I want.”
“Nik…”
“Kol, I’m always the one getting left behind. Do you think I like it that Elijah and Rebekah wanted to go off to France while you two were having the time of your lives? I’m not going to beg if you’d allow me to come with. As I said, I’ll arrange my own accommodations.” Klaus then took a step closer towards Kol and Bella. “And you, dear brother, will have to accept that I’m friends with your girlfriend and that she will not leave you.”
“That’s it, isn’t it? You want to control me! Like you’re always doing, like you’ve always done!”
“No, Kol!”
Sighing, Bella planted a kiss on Kol’s cheek. “I’m going to make us some food. Don’t wreck the place, you two,” she said before heading off to the kitchen. She wasn’t opposed to the idea of Klaus coming with them. Without the influence of Elijah, he was a great person to be around with, capable of making sensible decisions. On the other hand, she’d have two vampires in her life who were easily combustible, and while she trusted them in not killing her, accidents did happen. But then again, she’d still have to have a normal conversation with Kol.
Kol didn’t believe her yesterday that she wouldn’t mind turning, for him.
But now that Davina confirmed that Bella was no longer a witch, maybe it would be easier for him to hear. She wouldn’t be giving up on magic, because it’s hard to give up something when it has been stolen from you.
Bella wanted to talk to Kol about everything that she’d experienced with Myriam, the magic stealing, the drugged up feeling she had, and even the crazy reality shifts in her mind, but she was going to give him some time to readjust to being a vampire. It was a good thing Myriam was already dead, though.
What mattered was that, despite everything, she was doing alright. She had a lingering headache and she was still a little stiff in the joints from the sitting and not moving, but she was still in one piece.
And while she could mourn the life she’d started to imagine with Kol and wasn’t going to get anymore – teaching magic to others, maybe have a child – Bella couldn’t sit down and mope. Things changed. She needed to roll with the punches.
And Kol had it more difficult than her and he needed her to be normal Bella. She always thought being a powerful witch wasn’t anything for her, anyway. Too much responsibilities. Bella just wanted to be with Kol, and with him okay, she’ll be okay.
She made a few sandwiches and made her way back to Kol, who was still fighting with Klaus. At least no punches were being thrown, but both men merely needed a good smack up on the head. “Are you two done yet?” Bella asked as she took a sandwich from the plate and started to eat it while she looked at both of them. “What’s the fight about? Two lost boys who are best friends and brothers? One who wants me all to himself and the other doesn’t want us to leave him?”
Both Kol and Klaus looked at her with a dumbfounded look on their faces, because they knew she was right. “It’s time to grow up boys. From the stories you’ve told me, hearing you argue is so incredibly stupid because you two always like to have fun.”
“When he’s not pushing a dagger into me!” Kol blurted.
“That’s not going to happen,” Bella said as she put the plate down on a side table and moved herself between Kol and Klaus. “Because I am here, and if Klaus daggers you, he knows he’ll end up on my shitlist,” she assured Kol, and took his hand. “Your brother is lonely. He misses you and he missed you being a vampire. If he grants us enough privacy, why not allow him to come with us? It’ll be fun!”
“Fun for him is painting the town red, Cuddles, and not in a good way.”
“So? You’re a vampire, not a cuddly toy,” she retorted. “You have the means to make a mess and to clean up after yourself.”
He was confused. Since when did Bella think it was okay to kill humans? He briefly looked at Klaus before back to his girlfriend. “Who are you and what have you done with Bella?”
“I’m still me,” she smiled at him. “And wouldn’t it be nice if you could paint the town red with bad people instead of innocent ones?”
Ah, there was the catch. “You shouldn’t allow this, Bella.”
“Why not?” she smiled brightly at him. “Embrace being a vampire how you’ve embraced being a witch. I know that you’ve got control issues and that’s alright. I’m not going to tell you to behave yourself, as long as you use your head. Learn to live with the fact that your brother and I are friends and that he’s coming with. You two can do whatever you two want, what do you want more? You two bring out the best and the worst in each other, but I’m pretty sure that without Elijah’s influence, you’re going to be best buds.”
“Bella… I can’t.”
“Why not? Because you don’t want me to see that side of you? I must admit that I’m icky around blood so I’d appreciate it if you’d be clean and all but other than that? You won’t hurt me. And neither will Klaus,” she wrapped her arms around him and held him close as she looked up to him. She decided against telling Kol again that it’s fine if he turns her, because right now that’s not what he needed to hear. “And I’m not going anywhere, Kol. I love you for who you are. It’s not depending on what you are. If anything, I should be worried about you leaving me.”
“What? Never!”
“Then it’s sorted. Klaus is coming with us when we leave New Orleans.”