Chapter 18
“I can’t believe you’ve let her go,” Klaus fumed as he dumped his bag on the lounge seat in the courtyard. “With Kol? She’s alone with Kol?”
“She’s in capable hands,” Elijah responded calmly. “While they were gone, are gone, Freya, Marcel and I have taken care of Tristan. There is nothing to worry about on that front anymore, we should now focus on finding a cure for our darling sister.”
“Did you have fun hunting, brother?” Freya asked with an amused smile on her face. Myriam had returned only a few hours prior and she had informed her and Elijah everything that had happened in Italy. Of course, now that she had more time on her hands, Freya was going to try and find out what, exactly, had happened when Bella turned.
While the emotional link to Klaus would be explainable, seeing as he turned her and the prophecy said that she’d give him more strength, the link to Kol was still somewhat of a mystery. Granted, everything concerning magic was about balance. She also knew that nature had her funny ways in maintaining that balance and perhaps this was her way of messing with her family. Kol needed Bella’s blood to stop wanting to kill his girlfriend – a hex the Ancestors put on him when Davina resurrected him, and she had to feed Kol her blood to stop him from desiccating because he went across city limits. No other blood worked.
Elijah had said that Niklaus wasn’t going to like it that those two were now left alone in Europe without supervision after sending Myriam home. Petrova women were known to like two brothers at the same time – although Freya was sure that Bella was far away removed to even consider her a Petrova, and it was a possibility that Bella might fall for Kol. Or the other way around. Or… perhaps she’d even leave him for the younger version.
Which was ridiculous. The girl was loyal to a fault. And now that she was a vampire, Bella was probably quite the force to be reckoned with, too. No, it hadn’t been one of the wisest ideas to send the girl off with the wildest brother, but to contain her here with everything that was going on? No, it had been better to send her off to tend to her own problems. She would have demolished the building, if not worse.
While it could have been interesting to watch an unknown hybrid, or tribrid, species flourish and come into her own, Freya and Elijah both thought it would be better to let her go; they could deal with an angry hybrid, but not with an unknown who used to be so passive.
“Have you figured out yet why, for some reason, I am linked to Bella?” Klaus growled as he walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink. On the way back he had to leave the car for getting very excited and turned on by images of Bella touching herself and playing with herself and he had to relieve himself to make sure that the rest of the trip would be a bit more pleasant.
And yes, it could either be the prophecy or magic itself or even, god forbid, a sirelink. He simply wanted a definitive answer so that something could be done about it. Klaus had adjusted to most of her feelings; she was angry and quite so. It only fuelled him to fight harder, to destroy more and, much to Hayley’s delight, he tore down all of the Kingmaker buildings. Well, not by hand, of course. After killing the humans and disposing of them, they looked for information of value and then they’d witness a demolition crew utilize their giant wrecking balls to level the buildings.
Of course, all illegal. Compulsion was amazing, even after a thousand years, he was still impressed that it was so damn easy to compel ordinary humans. There was nothing wrong with having a little fun on a serious business outing.
And now that they were back home, all he had to focus on was to kill his enemies that were still coming for him, but his family was safe. No more prophecies. And he had believed he could help Bella with her trouble now, but she was already gone. He still didn’t like it that she upped and left to go after some Cold Ones with his lunatic of a brother, but there was nothing that he could do about it, short of taking the next flight out and follow the trail of bodies to get to her.
Klaus was still waiting for answers when his brother’s cellphone rang and Elijah cracked a wide smile when he answered.
“Mr. Aro Volturi, how lovely of you to call, how are you? …. Oh, I’m so terribly sorry. Of course, we have an understanding. Had I known that our brother Kol would travel to Volterra… yes, of course I would have informed you of such a thing… He’s killing your followers? Well, I would help you if I could, but my brother’s phone has been out of service for a few days now and… yes, yes, of course, invite him for a little chat. However, I must inform you that it’s not he you should be worried about. I believe his travel companion is slightly more deranged than he is… those were your words, not mine. In any case, I wish you the best of luck with him and his companion. Should you manage to apprehend them, I shall personally collect them.” Elijah disconnected the call and his grin grew even wider. “It seems that our brother and your girlfriend have finally gotten the attention of the Volturi.”
Klaus let out a breath of relief. “Good. Let me call Kol and —”
“Didn’t you hear what I said to that Cold One? I haven’t been able to reach Kol for a couple of days now. They’ve disappeared. Well… we know they’re in Volterra now, but who knows what they’ll do after this?”
“She’d better come back!”
“She will, brother,” Freya said soothingly. “Although I’m afraid that she’ll want to deal with her problems head first, make sure that there’s nothing left for her to do when she returns. Would you like me to send her a message?”
He snarled before grabbing his bag off the sofa. “What of those bloody Cullens?”
“It seems that they’re in hiding, for now. I can’t find them anywhere in the city.”
“We’re going to find them and round them up. Contain them until Bella comes back as a welcome home present,” he said determined before taking the stairs to his bedroom.
~o.O.o~
As it turned out, the mutual, but solo, self care had worked wonders for the both of them. Bella didn’t feel that much on edge anymore and it allowed the both of them to think more clear headed. Kol had to admit though; his brother was one lucky bastard. But no, the tension felt gone and the cobwebs were out of their heads.
They were about half way through the village before they’d finally gotten the attention of the Volturi guard. The compelling of the humans was so much fun, she and Kol really got creative at some point. The most fun part was to instill mass panic by telling them that there was a volcano just outside of Volterra, ready to blow and that it’d cover the entire city in ash. They were told to get as many citizens out of there, never to return.
Hilarity ensued; especially as there was no volcano and the ones who weren’t compelled were trying to change the minds of those who were. It was highly entertaining, Kol and Bella just sat back in the middle of the square with a nice bottle of wine they had found in one of the houses. They had compelled a few others to provide the music during their mayhem and now one member of the Volturi guard was putting a stop to it.
“Mr. Mikaelson, my master wishes to speak to you,” he commanded and Kol merely scoffed. “Please, as a gesture of good faith and peace, honoring the longstanding truce between the Volturi and the Originals.”
“You guys have a truce?” Bella blinked at him. “I thought it was a mutual understanding.”
“The Volturi like to believe it’s a truce, they know that it doesn’t take us a lot of effort to tear them apart if we want to.”
“It takes you more effort than it does me,” she smirked before jumping on the guard’s back and tore off his ears, the sound of metal being grated echoed through the alley. She then hopped off the back and tore off his arm, running around the guy as he tried to catch her and she played tag using his arm to tag him.
Kol grabbed the man’s good arm and jumped up to push himself off the torso to rip off the other arm. “Come on now Darling, don’t play with your food.”
“But it’s fun,” she pouted and hit the Cold One over the head with his loose arm. She then ripped off his head and sighed as she looked at Kol. “We’re not going over there until we’ve had more fun. Decimating their followers is fantastic.”
“Or, we could go there, surprise them that I listened for once, do our thing and then, when we still feel like it, we could kill all the humans. Or just set everything on fire and watch them run.”
She sighed as she looked at him.
“Let’s get ourselves somewhat presentable and let’s go and see the wizard.”
~o.O.o~
She could feel the coldness migrate towards one point; the castle, and this was a good thing, that meant that, if she got lucky, all the Cold Ones in Volterra would meet their death. Sure, it was fun to chase them down and kill them, but if it was possible to be lazy, then she choose to be that. Bella couldn’t wait to see the look on Aro’s face at the realisation at what she’d become.
And playing dress up was fun, too. She was wearing a flowery summer dress with some kickass high heels. Bella was still stunned that she could walk on those things now and she could even use them as a weapon now that her vampirism had given her superhuman strength. The time of falling over had passed.
“Look at you, all dressed as if you’re going to a party,” Kol said amused.
Grinning, Bella looped her arm through his and skipped a few steps. “But I am, Kol. After today, the Volturi will be no more and the Cold Ones will be rudderless, and we’re going to kill them all.”
“All?”
“Yep,” she smiled up to him. “There’s no doubt that they have some way of tracking their flock, or at least have a ledger with the approximate locations of them, and we’re going after them. Or would you like to return to New Orleans after we’re done here? I could drop you off and go back by myself?”
He looked at her for a moment and shook his head. “No, no, darling, it’s not that easy to get rid of me,” Kol replied with a smile. “Not when there’s so much to be learned and so much to be killed.”
“That’s a deal then?”
“I’m not sure how Niklaus will respond to your absence.”
Bella shrugged. “He’ll get over it. If he desperately wants me, he can come hunt us down.”
“I’m not sure if we’d want that, darling. He might keep you alive, but me?”
“If he daggers you, I’ll shove a dagger up his ass,” she said with a growl. “Anyway, when it’s time to destroy the Volturi, go for their wives first. They can influence you to feel all at peace and shit. I know their gift doesn’t work on me, but I’m not sure if they work on you. Then go for Jane. Again, her power doesn’t work on me but she could inflict some serious pain.”
“Jane… the tiny blonde thing?”
“You’ve met?”
He winced at the memory. “Once, yes, she and her brother are sparkly nuisances, so you bet your ass I’ll be going after her first.”
“No, the wives first,” she said again. “I’m sure you can withstand a little pain.”
“A little?” Kol blinked at her. “Do you have any idea how much pain she can inflict?”
“Oh, grow a pair, you’re an Original.”
~o.O.o~
The castle was cold, very cold. Despite snacking on a few humans on their way over, Bella couldn’t get warm and on top of that, she could feel her rage build up inside of her again. Going against Klaus’ wishes, she allowed Kol to take a bite out of her to make him feel better, and now that they were walking through the hallway after exiting the elevator she believed this was either the worst idea ever, or the best.
Worst case scenario; they’d hurt Kol pretty bad but they’d kill her. Yes, she was pretty indestructible now but she wasn’t a Cold One – even though they weren’t hard to kill – and she certainly wasn’t an Original. They could kill her and then the world would have to wait for another singer to come along who survived for as long as she has and that could literally mean a thousand years.
Best case scenario; they were able to pull off what they came to do and be victorious. They’d tear the place apart for knowledge and send it home. An outcome Bella truly preferred over anything. She had a hybrid to come home to. She couldn’t wait to put her hand around his balls and squeeze them. It only took a force of 22 pounds per square inch to pop a testicle, something she was well capable of doing right now.
She had the widest grin on her face as she looked up to Kol before opening the door. In all honesty, she wouldn’t be surprised if he thought she was mad. You had to be a little bit crazy to deal with the Supernatural, right?
Just as expected, the hall was filled with Cold Ones and Bella could feel her insides turn to ice while a burning rage raged through her veins. The Volturi themselves were well hidden behind the guard, which was slightly disappointing. “Aro, how can we talk when you’re hiding?” Bella pouted as she looped her arm through Kol’s. “Are you that afraid of an Original vampire? Kol’s harmless.”
“How lovely of you to join us, Mr. Mikaelson,” Aro greeted him as the Volturi guard parted and revealed him. “Your brother informed me you were travelling with a companion, where are they?”
Kol blinked at that remark. It was strange that he didn’t see Bella on his arm, or heard her speak. Almost as if she was invisible. And, now that he thought about it, it made sense. How else would she have been able to sneak up on the Cold Ones, get the jump on them and kill them with ease? The one who had come to collect him and Bella only addressed Kol, not Bella, and only saw Bella when she ripped off the arm.
He looked at Bella and let out a playful giggle before pressing his finger to his lips and then looked at Aro. “I’ll be sure to relay any message to my travel companion when you’re letting me go. What can I do for you?”
“Of all the corners of the world, you decide to come to Volterra and kill our followers, why is that?”
“Oh, I’ve been meaning to come by for a chat,” he said lightly as he drew a ‘w’ on Bella’s hand, hoping she’d get the message. She merely smiled at him before removing herself from him and walked over to Aro, waving her hand in front of his face. She then stuck her tongue out to him and Kol had a hard time not to laugh. “I believe it’s time you started to share your library of knowledge with our family.”
Aro looked at the other members of the Volturi, Marcus and Caius, before they all, uncharacteristically started to laugh. Even members of the guard looked at their leaders as if they’d lost their marbles. Bella let out a snort as she weaved through the Cold Ones and found one of the wives. She didn’t hesitate as she jumped on her and ripped off her head. A loud ‘pop’ drew all the Cold One’s faces towards the falling body of the wife before they all turned back to Kol.
Caius was quick out of his seat to make his way over to his wife, causing Bella to jump back to avoid contact. It appeared that she, too, had discovered that the Cold Ones could only see her when she touched them, right before she’d kill them.
“You see,” Kol started as he took a few steps forward. “Since you’re obviously not keeping in touch with your history, I think that the knowledge you possess in your library will come to a better use in the hands of my family.”
“Do not insult me, Mr. Mikaelson. Your family and mine have been civil towards each other for centuries,” Aro said a little spooked. “And now you’ve killed one of ours.”
Kol looked around him and saw that Bella was ready to pounce on the other wife. “Are you sure about that?”
Just as Aro turned, Sulpicia’s body dropped too the floor and her head was flung towards him and he caught it. “My wife!”
“Stop what you’re doing, right now!” the ever so quiet Marcus commanded as he rose from his chair, towering over Kol once he had crossed the space between them. “Because despite the agreement between our species, I will not hesitate to send you back to your family in pieces!”
Unfazed, Kol smirked at the taller vampire. “Unbelievable,” he said eventually. “You lot are unbelievable. First, you spend years chasing after some girl because you want her dead for knowing about your kind, for her connection the Cullens, and you haven’t even thought about her status? Surely, Aro, when you read young Edward’s mind, or even Alice’s mind, you found out that Bella was a singer to him?”
“My wife!” Aro said as he cradled his wife’s head, not really knowing what he had to do with it. When it finally hit him that he should reattach his wife’s head, her body burst into flames, set ablaze by a grinning Bella.
Kol loved the look on Bella’s face. It was devious. Delirious and delicious. “Even I know that singers are dangerous for you. They don’t get to live long enough, but what about those who do? Good call, by the way, to have everyone of importance present here today, it makes it a lot easier for my companion to do what she does best.”
“Did young Isabella turn into another Carmen?” Caius asked as he straightened himself after reconnecting his wife’s head to her body. “Did you turn her?”
“Oh, no, I didn’t,” Kol huffed. “My brother Niklaus did.”
“Where is she?” Marcus demanded.
“Right…. There,” Kol pointed at one of the special Volturi guard’s members and watched as Bella ripped off his head before setting fire to his hair.
Corin was next, and then Jane and another female vampire in quick succession before Bella brushed up against Aro and grinned at him. “Hello Aro, are you prepared to follow your wife into eternal darkness? Are you ready to pay for your sins against humanity?”
It took them almost a year to rid the world from the Cold Ones. As Bella had expected, the Volturi had kept a book of some sorts where they kept track of their flock, and while not entirely accurate, it was a great help.
Almost a year without any communication with Klaus apart from her sending him postcards from across the world. It had been just her and Kol as the best of friends, the terrible twosome who liked to cause mayhem and destruction. She didn’t quite know if she should hate Klaus more for not coming to find her, but then again, time was different for immortals, wasn’t it? It was probably her who was going to have to do some groveling to get back into his good graces.
She had expected Davina to pop up, but even she hadn’t left New Orleans. At this point, Kol wasn’t even sure if Davina was still alive, but Bella found it admirable that he had stuck to his ‘no phone’ thing. It was better this way, really. No interruptions, just them killing vampires and snacking on the human bad guys. No distractions. She wanted to be done as quick as they could get the job done; she wanted to be with Klaus.
Bella had significantly mellowed out now that she had made sure that only one Cold One family was around, although not for much longer. She wanted to stop by Forks, offering her friend Jake and his wolves the opportunity to do what they were built for, although Kol had a good argument as not to do it because they hadn’t protected her from the coven in the first place.
She had countered that they tried, but she’d been too stubborn to listen and no, they weren’t going to feed on humans while in the town.
“Why are we stopping here?” Kol asked as Bella parked the car at the side of the road and got out of the car. “Isn’t the reservation that way?”
“Yes,” she replied with a nod. “And had I been human, I would have kicked you out of the car and drove on to their land. Now, we have to wait for them to come to us,” she opened the trunk of the car and retrieved some of the snacks they had picked up at the supermarket and set up for a picnic right on the treaty line. “Come, let’s have something to eat.”
“But you know these wolves, why don’t you just…”
“Yes, I know them and despite their… shortcomings, I respect their ways. So should you. We’re different vampires, remember? If we go barging in there, no matter who I am, they will kill me and send your parts to Klaus.” Bella opened a bag of chips and then grinned. “Don’t worry; you’ll see the ponies soon.”
“I don’t like to be diplomatic.”
“I know,” Bella smiled at him, patting the ground next to her. “Come sit. There’s no doubt that they’ll look at us from a distance for a while to make sure that I am their Bella. It’s been years, and maybe they thought I was dead or something.” She popped a handful of chips in her mouth. “Did you get that phone working?”
“Yes, but we’re not done yet,” Kol sighed. “Why am I here again?”
A playful smirk appeared on her face as she popped another handful of chips in her mouth. “Because I could send you home on your own but you wouldn’t survive the trip? Call whomever you want to. We’re in the homestretch, Kol. We’re nearly done. I’m nearly done.”
“And then what?”
Bella shrugged. “If your brother hasn’t changed his mind about me, I’ll join him at his side. If he has…” she shrugged again as she opened a small bottle of wine and took a sip. “Well then, he’ll have a problem because I’m not leaving. And I’m going back to work for Myriam. And not in the way of having sex with complete strangers, but helping with the books and bar and shit. I’m not going to sit around and be pretty.”
“Nik will love it that you took out some of his enemies while taking care of your own troubles. You have nothing to be afraid of anymore,” Kol validated. Over the course of the previous months he had seen her grow; even out emotion wise and become a stronger person. Of course, he hadn’t known her that well before he came back but she wasn’t made out of porcelain anymore. No longer fragile. There was no doubt that when faced with the Cullens, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill them. She wouldn’t be intimidated, and she wouldn’t back down. “Will you help me find a more permanent cure for what’s going on with me?”
She smiled at him. “I think the solution is simple.”
A slight feeling of panic rose in his chest. “We’re not going to kill Davina.” One of the reasons he left with Bella to kill Cold Ones because of Davina. He didn’t want to kill her; he wanted to escape the feeling of having to kill her. He still loved her very much. Even if she might have moved on in his absence and without proper communication.
“No, we’re going to crush the Ancestors with every dark object and every spell that Davina and Freya can throw at them. The Ancestors are more trouble than they’re worth, aren’t they?” She took another sip of her wine. “Sure, the easiest way to go would to kill Davina but would that stop the Ancestors from meddling with the living? No.”
“That will leave a lot of witches powerless.”
She looked at him sternly. “I highly doubt that. Davina was cut off from the Ancestors but was still able to do magic. Same with Vincent. The Ancestors work by the same playbook as you and your siblings; instill enough fear that people will stay with you.”
He smiled at that. They had spoken about this before, and it was a good thing that Bella wasn’t wavering. She was a girl on a mission. “How much longer do we have to wait?”
“Not long,” Bella said as she looked into the bag of chips and saw that it was empty. She got up with a sigh and took another step onto the Quileute land. “Come on boys; it’s me.”
She turned when she saw some rustling in the bushes and grinned. “Don’t be shy now. I know it’s been nearly a decade since we’ve last seen each other, but you’ll be glad to know that my friend and I killed almost every Cold One in existence.”
More rustling and a russet-colored nose.
“Jake! My god, what are you? Little children? Man up. Kol’s not going to hurt you and neither am I!”
“Your ferocious beasties sure have a flair for the dramatic,” Kol quipped as he joined Bella’s side. He understood why she wanted to give them a chance to go after the Cullens as well, but the main reason for them being there was for what was growing on Quileute land. Something critical that either needed to be destroyed or heavily guarded.
A black nose appeared and a sandy colored one and Bella had enough. Walking to the bushes, she reached through the leaves and pulled one of the wolves out by their ear. “Change back, Jake, I only want to talk,” she grunted as the wolf resisted. “Seth and Sam can remain shifted if they feel like it, but I can’t read minds so you better change back or we will fight, and I will win.”
“Relax, Loca,” Jake whined after shifting back, Bella still holding on to his ear. “You don’t write; you don’t call…”
“You allow a scared young girl tell you not to kill some vampires…”
“Bella, believe me… we’ve tried finding you… we…”
Kol didn’t know whether to put a pacifier in the boy’s mouth and tell him that everything was going to be okay or to break his neck. The boy was pathetic.
“You’re a vampire?”
“I’m not a Cold One,” Bella finally released his ear. “But Kol and I want to speak to your Chief about a tree.”
“What? The White Oak? What’s so special about that? We’ve had different kinds of vampires going for it for a while now, seeing as they’re so fascinated by it, we’ve been protecting it and killing them.”
“Great!” Bella smirked and then looked at Kol. “So the seer wasn’t a fraud after all!”
“We can’t allow you to come onto our land, Bells. Well, you maybe, but not him. We don’t know him.”
“Sorry Jake, he goes where I go. So, send Seth to fetch your Chief and we’ll wait here. I think we have more snacks in the trunk of the car.” She ruffled his black hair and looped her arm through Kol’s to walk back to the car. “Smores?”
“Oh, yes!” Kol opened the trunk and pulled the body of one of the last Cold Ones they’d killed out of the trunk, threw it on the side of the road and lit a fire before grabbing the crackers and marshmallows.
Bella had watched Jacob’s expression, and those of Sam and Seth as Kol pulled the body out with fascination. “You see, unlike you, we’ve actually been doing some shit. There’s only one coven left; well, and Peter, but we wanted to save the best for last. Maybe keeping one for you to finally kill as well.”
“But Bella, how—”
“Your chief might know what I am,” she sped over to Seth, still in his wolf form, and scratched him behind his ear. “Get your chief; we’ll save you some smores.” The wolf grinned then and spat off. She knew that Seth would be more willing to please her than Jacob, seeing as it appeared that Jake was now the Alpha of the pack. She turned to Sam who looked at her with worry in her eyes. “And you, relax, okay? Why would I ever want to hurt you? My friend said I should, but I’m over it.” She then turned and sat down near the fire and started to make some smores with Kol, waiting for Jacob to join her or for Sam to relax. For the chief to come.
Seth howled in the distance and then she could hear him run back, charging at Jake and skidded to a halt right behind him before bopping him with his nose towards Bella. “Yeah uhm… I’m the chief,” Jacob reluctantly admitted.
“Good on you,” she said as she eyed him and patted next to her on the ground. “Come, we have a lot to discuss.”
~o.O.o~
When Freya had informed him that she finally found Kol back in the United States, he wanted to hop on the next airplane and get his girlfriend back. It’d been nearly a year since she’d left with his brother, since his brother destroyed his phone and hadn’t been communicating since. Apart from the occasional postcard sent by Bella.
But Freya warned him that it was best to stay here, that Kol and Bella’s trip wasn’t over just yet, that they still had to complete something else, something that would help the family for a very long time. Klaus’ heart ached. It’d been hurting ever since he had left his Bella in transition to go on the run with Hayley and his daughter.
He had never thanked Bella for her sacrifice for him; to give him the power he had lost by the loss of his sirelines and the killing of his enemies overseas. Would she be grateful that he hadn’t turned anyone since? That she was still his sole sire? Would that make her proud of him? Even changing his family’s diet from compelling the servants to snatch healthy criminals off the street and drink their blood instead? That, even in all those months, he hadn’t even had sex? Waiting for his Bella to return?
Aside from all the thinking and self-reflection, mourning, that he had done, they hadn’t been sitting on their laurels in New Orleans either. The Cullens were safely contained and looked after by Peter and Alina, a match made in hell, as it seemed. Their confinement was reinforced by spells from Freya and Davina and he was sure that Bella was going to love it.
Davina had only lingered because of Kol; anxious to hear from him. As Klaus could somewhat relate to what the girl was feeling he allowed her to stay and help out. Of course, there were times where Klaus wanted to strangle her, but he refrained from doing so as he was curious to what would happen upon Bella and Kol’s return.
The link between himself and Bella hadn’t dissolved, although it had gotten easier to live with, especially once Bella had managed to settle down somewhat. He doubted that that same link would have vanished between Bella and his brother. Kol would still need Bella’s blood if he didn’t want to kill Davina and Klaus just wanted things to escalate so that Kol would kill her.
No matter how much Vincent Griffith talked to the Ancestors, they refused to lift the spell they placed upon Kol and Vincent was unable to do so himself. But that was alright. Now that Bella was immortal; she was going to be around forever, and Klaus didn’t have to lose Kol again. They’d have time to figure this out.
But Bella was getting close to home now; he could feel it. There was anticipation building up in his bones, and he made sure that Hayley and Hope were on a trip to Disney World so that Bella wouldn’t try to tear apart the mother of his child. Everything had to be perfect. He had his cooks prepare Bella’s favorite snacks and meals. The bedroom they had shared had been unused for the year that she was gone as he didn’t feel like he should be in there without her, so the maids were making sure that the bedroom was ready for them.
He wanted a litter of kittens as a surprise to her, but Elijah stopped him, telling him that it was ridiculous. And it was, but Klaus was confident that she’d love the kittens for some reason. And if not, he was certain Hope would.
“If I wouldn’t know any better, Niklaus, I’d say you’re nervous for her return,” Elijah quipped as he handed his brother a glass of bourbon. “Do you believe that she still loves you? After all, you haven’t spoken for a year.”
“Elijah, don’t be a dick,” Myriam warned him from the sofa she was sitting on.
“Of course I have considered that, brother,” Klaus shot back at him before throwing back the glass of bourbon and setting it back down on the bar. “But she still desires me, that much I know.”
“Yeah well, she’d better not have corrupted Kol,” Davina said as she was anxiously pacing around the courtyard. She’d done a locator spell, and Kol was close to coming home. Davina hoped that nothing had changed, that the year away from her would have cured him from wanting to kill her, that for some reason, the spell would have been broken. She didn’t care that he’d need Bella’s blood to leave town, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to allow him to be dependent of Bella to be with her.
Elijah smirked at that. “Knowing our brother, it is likely that it’s the other way around, Davina. I’m certain you have nothing to worry about.”
“I do find it admirable that during their hunt, they managed to decimate your enemies, Niklaus,” Freya smiled at her brother. “If she didn’t love you anymore, she wouldn’t have done that.”
“That act could also be considered an act of loyalty on our brother’s behalf.”
“Would you stop already?” Myriam chuckled. “Don’t make Klaus even get more anxious. Next thing he’d want to do is buy a bunch of horses and put them somewhere in this building.”
“That is an excellent idea!”
“No, it’s not, brother,” Elijah poured him another drink before sitting down next to Myriam. “But it’s quite entertaining to wind him up.”
“That’s not your duty, my love,” she gently pat his cheek with the palm of her hand. “Not with the impending return of his beloved.”
“Speaking of which… here they come,” he said amused as he watched the entrance.
Klaus ran to the door, waiting for Bella to arrive and when she did, he was floored. Figuratively, because she looked amazing in the leather pants, she was wearing with a black crop top, accentuating all of her body and literally because she threw him across the courtyard. “That was uncalled for!”
“Was it?”
“I thought we moved past all of that!”
“Oh, we did,” Bella replied as she walked in further. “And I forgave you, but damn, throwing you around like that feels so good!” She then walked towards Elijah and Myriam, a big bright smile on her face. “Hi!” she greeted them before she pulled Elijah off the couch and launched him to join Klaus. “Don’t you ever, ever, give us a babysitter, you hear me?”
Kol watched the scene in amusement before Davina flung herself at him. Thankfully, as a precaution, he had ingested some of Bella’s blood upon entering New Orleans, and he was relieved that he was able to put his arms around her again. “Davina Claire,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“Come,” she smiled at him as she started to pull him back towards the entrance. “You can talk shop tomorrow. You’re mine now.”
Bella put her foot on top of Klaus’ chest. She was wearing stilettos, and her whole ensemble made him want to jump her, she just knew it. Bella could feel it. It was the whole reason why she had picked it up before she and Kol came back. “Hi, honey,” she smirked at him. “Care to rip off these clothes off my body and fuck me senseless?”
