Chapter 01
[incoming skype call]
Grunting, Bella dropped all of her things before answering the call and removed her jacket. “I just got in!”
Angela grinned as she watched her friend get settled in front of her computer. “You’re late.”
She eyed her friend while she tried to untangle her bags as she sat down. “Unlike some of us, I have a job that doesn’t end when it’s time for people to go home. There are meetings with parents and with other teachers and assuring mommies and daddies that yes, their child is unique and ugh,” Bella grunted as she managed to pull out a large folder and plopped it onto her desk. “And when you get home, you have to find time to socialize, fix some food and check homework over.”
“Where’s your food?”
“Right at my fingertips,” Bella replied as she opened her web browser and went to her trusty food delivery website. “So, how was your day?”
Angela shrugged. “Uneventful. The guys are out hunting, so it’s just us girls tonight. Alice suggested we stayed in and watch movies, eat popcorn.”
Bella could feel the bile rise in her throat. She’d been lucky to have been able to get out of Forks after Edward had dumped her in the forest and study in New Orleans. She never liked it that Angela was now hanging out with the Cullens, but Angela was stubborn and didn’t listen. “Could we please not talk about them?”
“Bella,” her friend sighed. “They’re good people.”
“You know as well as I do they’re not people!”
“They mean well.”
“Ange,” Bella warned her friend with a low growl. She loved living in New Orleans as it meant it was going to be hard for the Cullens to pay her a visit, and she hated it that they now had Angela in their grasp. Her friend wasn’t even with Edward, no, because of some weird twist of fate, Rosalie and Emmett were no longer together, and Emmett had chosen Angela to be his. She couldn’t believe Rosalie was okay with it, but it was no longer Bella’s problem, was it?
“Fine,” Angela replied curtly. “How’s the new neighbor doing?”
“Doctor Hottie?”
“Oh my god! I can’t believe you call him that!”
For years, her neighbor had been Kaleb Westphall, a foreign exchange student, and they used to have a lot of fun until he went ‘missing.’ He’d always been a strange character, so Bella believed he had fallen into the wrong crowd for a while before Kaleb came back, looking slightly different in the way he carried himself. More confident, yet fragile.
Bella had scraped the courage together to ask him out for a night out, but when she finally managed to get a hold of him, his girlfriend was over. His girlfriend who barely looked legal. Her opinion of Kaleb had once again sunk to a new low.
And then he died.
For months, his house had been empty until this new person moved in. The first time she saw him, his clothes were covered in blood, and she assumed he was a doctor or something. Oh, she was well aware of the legends and myths of New Orleans. Of the stories about vampires and werewolves. Witches. But surely, she wasn’t unlucky again, was she? She had a great life; there was no way her new neighbor could be a vampire.
Especially since he didn’t sparkle in sunlight and his complexion wasn’t as pale and marble-like as that of the Cullens.
“Have you spoken to him yet?” Angela pressed on, a big grin on her face. “What’s he like?”
Bella blushed furiously.
“You like him!”
“No, I don’t know that yet,” Bella smiled as she moved her keyboard and pulled her stack of papers towards herself. “But he’s hot. There’s no denying that I’ve… fantasized.”
“Naughty,” Angela giggled. “Well, I’d better go. I need to make some human snacks for tonight. I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
Bella tiredly rubbed her face. “Maybe. I don’t know. I was thinking to go out and have some fun.”
“With Doctor Hottie?”
“Goodbye, Angela,” Bella smiled at her.
“Oh hey, next time, turn on the light when you answer a Skype call, okay? I want to see your face too!”
[skype call disconnected]
Realizing she hadn’t gotten anything to drink yet, Bella walked to her kitchen and on her way there hit the light switches. Light was better to work with anyway. She had this beautiful kitchen with a great stove and oven and yet, since she started to work at her school five years ago, she had never once made a meal in it. It was always ordering in or eating on the go. Her fridge was tearfully empty, too, apart from a few cans of beer and a bottle of white wine.
Sighing, she grabbed herself a beer and made her way back to her desk to start grading the papers until her food would arrive.
Not ten minutes later, her doorbell rang. She was surprised because usually it would take longer for delivery. She took her purse to the door and opened it, shocked to find her neighbor standing in front of her with a big, goofy smile on his face. “You’re not food.”
“No, but you certainly are,” he smirked widely. “I was wondering, would you like to go out with me tonight? My date canceled at the last minute, and I don’t fancy being on my own.”
“Sorry, I can’t,” Bella said as she blinked at him. “I have papers to grade if I want to go out tomorrow.”
“Oh, right, you’re a teacher!” He exclaimed as he took a step closer to her. “When are those papers due?”
“Next week but I don’t work on the weekends so, sorry, I can’t go with you. Besides, I’m waiting for my food.”
“You order in a lot.”
She was surprised by that. “I wasn’t aware you were keeping score.” Alarm bells were going off in her head. She’d moved to New Orleans to be invisible, not to be paid attention to. “And I’d like you to stop.”
“How about I take you out to dinner, instead?”
“How about you mind your own business instead?” She moved to close the door, but he put something between the door and the post. “Please remove that book.”
“Oh come on, have a little fun, let your hair down. Party,” her neighbor said again, pushing the door open again. “I find you curious, interesting. Please? It’s not as if you have anything better to do, right? You look like you could use some fun. A whole weekend of fun.”
“And then what?”
“Probably go back to work with a hangover from hell, but trust me, I know the right drink to drink to fix that for you,” he replied. “Go on, dress in something less teachery and meet me out front in five.”
“Five minutes to make myself look less teachery? Ha, you’re expecting miracles.”
“Wear a dress.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Screw you. Five minutes. I’ll be out front.”
“Dress.”
“I will, but not in a dress,” she kicked the book away from the door and closed it, her heart beating in her chest, as she felt the excitement. Exhilaration. Sex. Hunger. Especially hunger. Bella couldn’t help but let out a tiny squee as she rushed to the bedroom with her phone in hand to call off the food delivery while she quickly scanned her closet to see what she could wear.
Her neighbor was right; a little bit of fun wouldn’t hurt her and in all honesty, after Kaleb had left she hadn’t had fun anymore. He was the one who coaxed her out of her teaching bubble, especially after he returned. What was the use of hiding when she wasn’t hiding at all? If Alice Cullen wanted to find her, she would. Besides, it had been years and years since Edward dumped her, so she felt a little safe. Hence the teaching job.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang, showing it was Angela. “Hey Ange, miss me already?”
“Alice says to put on the outfit you tucked away in the back of your closet.”
“Tell Alice to go fuck herself.”
“Bella, be nice. Go out with Hottie McHotness. Wear your best.”
Bella grumbled as she reached for her go-to date outfit. Yep, she had a go-to date outfit. Black skinny jeans with a sexy blouse, deep cleavage. Slightly see through. More see through if she’d wear her black bra. “If it still fits, I will.”
“It will. Have fun!”
Bella tossed her phone onto her bed after Angela disconnected the call and got changed. Unfortunately – or fortunately – the outfit still fit and that meant she’d have to wear her high heels underneath it. In her mind, Bella called this her sexy Sandy outfit – like Olivia Newton John’s Sandy where at the end of Grease she wears leather. This wasn’t leather, but it was something she couldn’t wear on a day to day basis because of her job. It needed heels.
As she’d gotten older, she had practiced walking around on heels without keeling over. Bella was an adult now, and not even her balance would stop her from wearing heels. She quickly fixed her hair and added a touch of makeup before gathering her things in a purse and sighed. She was going out with her neighbor. Why not? What could go wrong?
“You surprised me, Bella Swan,” her neighbor – Kol – teased her as she met him out front. “Here I thought you’d only change a shirt, not look like sex on heels.” His eyes peered right through her, it seemed, and she could feel her body heat up.
“I could change?”
“Now that would be a crime against all men,” he held out his arm for her to loop through and smiled. “Come along now; we’re already late for our reservation.”
Bella sighed as she looped her arm through his and followed him. “So why did your date cancel?”
“Ah, I’m afraid you caught me in a little white lie,” he admitted with a smile on his face. “There was no date. I only wanted to get you out of the house. And it worked.”
Bella huffed.
“And I told you to wear a dress.”
“I burned all my dresses years ago after moving away from Forks. My boyfriend at the time, and his family, thought it was unbecoming for a young woman to wear jeans only.”
Kol huffed. “You look beautiful, I had imagined you’d look stunning in a dress, but this is much better.” He then burst out in laughter. “You burnt your dresses? Aren’t you a little pyromaniac!”
“It was awesome,” she grinned.
“So no boyfriend then?”
“No. After my experience I wasn’t ready, and when I was… well, the guy I liked had a girlfriend so…” she shrugged as she continued to allow him to lead her to wherever. “It was the man who lived in your apartment previously.”
“You need to get out more,” Kol snorted and shook his head. “Do you like good music?”
“I love music, although if you’re going to take me to a place where they play classical shit, I might have to set you on fire.”
Kol smirked. “No, it’s good music. But I’ll have to make a mental note to remind me not to allow you to be in the same room as my brother,” he added before he cheekily grinned. “Although perhaps I should. My other brother and I would have our entertainment for the night sorted.”
“Wow, how big is your family?”
“I lost count,” Kol shrugged. “But I’m almost the youngest!”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Indeed it is not,” he replied with a nod. “I shall be taking you to St. James’ Infirmary, ever went there?”
“No, what is it?” Bella was curious now. She’d been in New Orleans for years but hadn’t ever heard her co-workers mention that place.
“The story is that it’s a haven for all kinds of people,” Kol said nonchalantly. “No magic can harm them there, nor can magic be used to find them there.”
“Magic?” Bella snorted. “Are you serious?”
“This is New Orleans, darling; there are supernatural creatures everywhere!”
“Yeah right,” she huffed. “Next thing you’re going to tell me is that werewolves are real and look like show ponies with a lot of fur.”
“That sounds a lot like ordinary shapeshifters, not like werewolves.”
She huffed. “I love the history of New Orleans and all, but magic isn’t real. It’s something that grew out of stories, folklore, to keep people entertained and in check. Much like the whole Dracula thing with vampires. He wasn’t even a proper vampire because in the books he doesn’t sparkle in the sun like little faeries, but instead turn into a lit match.”
Kol burst out in uncontrollable laughter for quite some time as they turned a few corners. “Oh, that’s… golden, Bella. You should meet my brother; he’ll find you just as darling as I do!”
She was now going to regret her decision to go out with Kol. He was nuts. Certifiable. His swing from seriousness to absolute insanity reminded her a lot of Kaleb after he went missing, but this was even worse. “You’d better feed me soon, or I’ll turn into a gremlin.”
“Get ready for an evening of good Jazz music and good food and drinks,” he smirked as he turned another corner and led her into the infirmary.
The bar was decorated much like anything else in the city at the moment; full blown Halloween decorations, the cheesiest of cheese. It was almost as if they had gone to the cheapest store there was and bought everything in sight only to plaster it around to have a sense of normalcy or whatever.
“So… how legitimate is this bar?” Bella questioned as Kol led her to a table and pulled out a chair for her. The bar looked like something Charlie had warned her about on many occasions.
“What do you mean?”
She eyed the other people in the bar before looking back at Kol. “If one of the patrons decide to stab me, would you keep me safe?”
Kol chuckled darkly. “You’re quite safe here, Bella Swan, you have nothing to worry about.”
She cocked her head at that. Granted, she had noticed similarities before, but there weren’t a lot of people who spoke like Kol just had. Kaleb had been guilty of the same thing. It was curious Kol was doing the same thing. However, it wasn’t that surprising as, like Kaleb, Kol had a British accent as well. Maybe they went to the same school together or something. But there were no such thing as coincidences, were there?
Kol ordered them something to drink, and she listened while he talked. He figured a proper introduction was long overdue, but much of what he told her were words she had already heard a while ago from a different mouth. What the hell was going on? By the time Kol was finished, Bella’s glass was still full. She had taken a sip but it tasted horrible, and she wondered if he took her to this dive on purpose, to scare her off.
His behavior earlier certainly should have scared her off.
“You’re a liar,” she pointed out as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “You think I don’t notice that you’re trying to steal the life of a friend of mine?”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you a criminal? Or are you running from something, someone? Are you that desperate to start a new life that you choose that of a dead man and even moved into his apartment to make sure you won’t be found?” Bella questioned him. “You’re hot and all, but I don’t like to be friends with people who lie to my face, knowing full well that I will catch them in the act.”
Kol merely smirked when the waitress came over to hand them a menu, his eyes never leaving Bella’s face.
“Be honest with me,” she demanded after handing back the waitress and giving her order. “Or I’m going to walk right out that door.”
“And then what, darling? Go to the police?”
“No, preferably packing my bags and move somewhere else, even if it means I’m losing my job over it. I’ve dealt with enough douchebags to last me a lifetime.”
“That’s your thing, isn’t it?” Kol asked amused, his head now resting on his hand as he leaned on the table. “Running. Why did you move to New Orleans? Of all the places in the world you could have chosen to run to, why here?”
“You call it running; I call it distancing myself.”
“But why, though?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because,” he smiled at her. “I find you a curious little creature. You’re observant and you think you’re excellent at hiding things but honestly darling, you’re not.”
Bella narrowed her eyes at him and thought for a moment before she got to her feet and grabbed her bag. “That’s it; I’m out.”
“Running away again.” Kol was next to her in a blink of an eye, pushing up the sleeve of her arm, revealing the scar that remained after James had bit her. “You’re accusing me of lying, but here you are, pretending the supernatural doesn’t exist. You’ve encountered the Cold Ones.”
“Let go of me,” she said as she tried to pull her arm back. Kol was dangerously close now and even though she should be scared, it aroused her. Her own body was betraying her.
“You’ve obviously encountered the shapeshifters of the Quileute tribe; otherwise you wouldn’t have specifically mentioned werewolves the size of horses,” Kol didn’t let go of her, only pulling her back in. “Here in New Orleans you’re surrounded by the supernatural, and you choose to ignore it. It was the truth when I said this place is a safe place, that magic can’t harm you here and all magical effects cease to exist. I brought you here to see if that bloody mental shield of yours would stop working but it didn’t!”
While Kol had been spot on about the Cold Ones and the wolves, and her shield thing she didn’t quite understand herself, she couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “Happy Halloween! Good job, Kol, you’ve managed to scare me, now let go of me.”
“I need you to hear me out, please,” he didn’t sound as if he was begging, it was more of a command and Bella didn’t like that at all. “I never do this sort of thing, okay? I usually don’t care about what happens to people around me, but you need to hear me out.”
“Let go,” Bella repeated as her hand slipped into her bag to grab the can of mace Charlie made her carry. “I’m not going to say it again.”
“Five minutes.”
She grumbled as her phone rang and took it out of her bag instead of the mace. She wasn’t all too happy seeing the name on her screen but decided to take it anyway. “Hold that thought,” she told Kol before picking up the phone. “This is not an ideal time,” she greeted the person on the other end of the phone.
“I figured as much with my wife frantically calling me to give you a call, knowing you wouldn’t answer if she did,” Jasper drawled. “She’s freaking out because she doesn’t know where you are.”
“That’s kinda the point of trying not to talk to you guys. I’ve been successful for the last few years, why all the attention now?”
“You’re in New Orleans, the safest place you can be with the Volturi still after you.”
Bella stayed silent. Of course, they knew where she was. Bella’d never be completely free of them. She knew she hadn’t informed Angela where she was, either. She hadn’t given her an address and even Charlie didn’t know. He had an address in New York from where someone would send it somewhere else, and so on and so on – should he feel the need to send her a card, but he hadn’t sent her anything.
Her computer had been set up with anonymous surfing, anonymous email addresses and the only way the Cullens would know she was in New Orleans was because of Alice. Alice knew all along where she was.
“So, my question is, where are you?”
“At a bar.”
“A werewolf bar?”
“No,” she scoffed as she looked around and shrugged. “Normal people, no furries around, why? You feel kinky again, Jazz?” Bella fought back a grin when she saw Kol’s surprised face. “Because there’s an amazing zoo around here with a load of those.”
“This isn’t a time to joke around, Bella,” Jasper scolded her. “I want you to be safe. The only reason why I haven’t come to find you yet is because you’re in New Orleans. You’re safe there. The Volturi won’t come into Mikaelson territory.”
“I can’t believe they’re holding a grudge for so long.”
“It’s the rules. You know that. If you’re at a bar, you must be at St. James’ Infirmary. I’ve heard they protected it against all magic a year ago or something. Who are you with?”
Bella looked at Kol, he had now let go of her and was enjoying his drink in his seat, occasionally glancing over his shoulder as if he was waiting for their food to arrive or something. “My neighbor,” she replied before realizing what Jasper had said earlier. “What do you mean by Mikaelson territory?” Bella sat down in her own chair and kept her eyes firmly fixed on Kol as she listened to Jasper.
“They’re the oldest vampires of their kind. They appear human and burn in the sun. Some wear special rings to allow them to walk in the daylight. I suppose they’re closer to the fiction books about vampires than we are; I believe they’re even responsible for a few of them,” Jasper explained. “In any case, they’re just as powerful as the Volturi, these Mikaelsons. Perhaps they hold even more power, but despite them living out in the open, most of their private life is just that. Even I don’t know the extent of their wealth or reach.”
“You know them?”
“My path may have crossed one of theirs, yes. But if anything, you’ll be safe in New Orleans.”
“What if I want to move?”
“Why?”
“Humor me.”
She could hear Jasper suck in a breath on the phone. It was funny; vampires didn’t need oxygen. “You’d be dead within the year. Dead or turned. Or turned and then painfully destroyed.”
“Oh, great,” Bella said sarcastically, rolling her eyes, wondering why Kol had that stupid smirk on his face.
“Well, you could move, of course,” Jasper replied lightly. “This idea would piss off Edward, but if possible, you could find one of the Mikaelsons and befriend them. Rumor is they love their damsels in distress.”
“Screw you, Jazz.”
Jasper laughed. “Avoid Elijah, he’s a stick in the mud and perhaps holds more darkness than his two younger brothers combined.”
Kol and someone at the bar burst out in laughter, nearly choking on their drinks. “Hey, Jazz, my neighbor is called Kol Mikaelson, he one of them?”
It was quiet for a long time on the other end of the line. “If he’s taken you to that bar, something’s wrong.”
“He is?”
“Yes,” Jasper replied and sighed. “Oh, darlin’, you go from one extreme to the next, aren’t you?”
“Fuck me,” Bella muttered.
“Name the time and place,” Kol grinned and winked at her. “Is that the Major? Tell him I said hi. Ask him if he killed his adoptive brother Edward yet, he was such a prick.”
“Yeah well, get in line,” Bella shot at Kol before sighing. “Thanks, Jazz, this has been real informative.”
“Be careful.”
“Seems like I’m in the lion’s den anyway, so we’ll see. Happy hunting.” She disconnected the call and narrowed her eyes on Kol. “So you’re a vampire.”
“And I was right about you running with Cold Ones,” Kol smugly replied, seemingly very full of himself. “Edward Cullen? Really?”
“Misspent youth,” she replied. “Start talking.”
“First things first;” Kol smirked. “Just by ignoring things, doesn’t mean it goes away. For example, Kaleb was a practicing witch. I was dead, and my mother put me in his body. It was then when I found myself immensely fascinated by you.”
“Why?”
“You were trying too hard to ignore strange things, darling,” he explained. “I thought it funny to use magic to complicate your day by changing little things on your way to work and you simply brushed it off. For example; upon leaving your house, you wore the same shoes, but upon arriving to work, you wore two different pairs. You just shrugged it off! It was hilarious!”
“Wait, that can happen? People in different people? Magic?”
“You run with the Cold Ones and the Quileute wolves, and you think magic is not possible?”
Bella was quiet for a moment as she watched him finish his drink. “So it’s your fault Kaleb is dead?”
“No. That was my brother Finn’s fault by putting a hex on me. I couldn’t leave Kaleb’s body anymore, and then the bastard cursed me to die.”
“But you’re back again.”
“Magic,” he replied before grabbing her wrist again and rubbed his thumb over her scar. “How did you survive the bite of a Cold One without turning?”
“We were talking about your life, Kol. You were going to explain to me what the hell is going on,” Bella said as she pulled her wrist back and made another attempt at taking a sip of her drink but found it tasted still horrible.
“Would you like something else to drink, perhaps, if this is not to your liking? A Bloody Mary?”
Bella felt her face heat up as a blush crept up her cheeks. “I didn’t want to be rude; I thought if their drinks were this bad, what would the food be like?” A Bloody Mary sounded good right about now.
He smirked and nodded to his friend at the bar. “It’ll be arranged then. Now, back to business. I have to admit, my time with you as Kaleb had tickled me in a funny spot and I wanted to try to see how you’d react if I’d feed you some of my blood.”
“What!”
“Don’t worry darling, you didn’t taste it; otherwise you wouldn’t have kept ordering take out.”
She blinked at him. “Wait, what?”
“My brother Niklaus told me I was playing with fire, of course, but I’ve never allowed curiosity and his opinions stop me,” he sighed and shrugged. “Much to my chagrin, it didn’t have any effect on you, but still, I kept dosing you a little at a time.”
“I don’t understand… you don’t have venom?”
“We’re not snakes like the Cold Ones. We’re human… mostly. We bleed. We drink coffee to feel warm to the touch. We have a diet of blood, human blood, but we can eat and drink whatever we wish. The taste of food is even better as a vampire because all senses get enhanced. I, for one, never bothered with self-control while snacking on humans, but it can be controlled.”
“You’re not getting my blood.”
“I didn’t take you out to dinner to ask you for your blood, darling, if I wanted it, I would have taken it!” Kol said furiously. “Have I ever done something to hurt you? Have I hurt you in any way? No, I have not. To blatantly assume I’d take your blood after confessing my control is non-existent is rude.”
“I’m sorry,” she muttered.
“You should be,” he retorted angrily and watched as the waiter set down the cocktail in front of her. “Now, before you take that drink, I want you to answer two questions for me,” he said as he placed his hand over it. “How much trouble are you in with those blasted Volturi?”
“Humans aren’t supposed to know about the existence of the Cold Ones, or their laws. It’s either turn or death, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to turn into a walking disco ball. Death seems a little extreme, too, so I don’t know, maybe I’ll run for the rest of my life.”
“Or stay in New Orleans where it’s safe from them.”
“Because of your family.”
“Yes.”
Bella huffed. “I don’t want to end up as a protected human yet again, Kol. I also don’t want to stick around because I could get hurt. That’s what you get from running with vampires. You always get hurt.”
“Traffic accidents could end your life, too. They happen every day.”
“At least I’d be human.”
He still had his hand covering her drink and shrugged. “Do you believe in second chances? For example, what if something would happen to someone you believe deserves a second chance because either someone screwed up or because their presence makes a difference somewhere?”
“I guess?”
“Our mother cursed us when she turned us into immortal beings, but it also gifted us with a long life. A life where we can do whatever we wish, travel, gather knowledge about just about anything. The first time I died, I died because some fledgeling idiot hunter stabbed me with the one thing that could kill me. I died trying to prevent the end of the world. When mother put me in a human body, I loved the second chance as a witch. Now that I’m back yet again after dying, I’m living my third chance.”
“Something in this world doesn’t want you out of it, then.”
“That, and some witches can be quite persistent,” Kol laughed as he removed his hand from her glass. “If you’d die today – not by my hand, would you want a second chance?”
Bella thought about it. Would she want a second chance? If she’d die today, did she have any unfinished business? “If I would get a second chance, it still wouldn’t solve my problem with the immortal Volturi.”
“No, but let’s assume you’ll come out stronger with your second chance. You’d be able to take them on, head on, and my family and I will support you with your fight.”
“You mean turning me into a vampire?”
Kol smiled at that as he watched her take a sip of her drink. “Live longer, amass your own little seat of power. Nobody would ever hurt you again, or come for you because they’ll know you’ll be stronger. And, you’d get a second chance at life. A lot of vampires are teachers or work in law enforcement. They valued that work as a human and continued their work as a vampire.”
“But how? If you don’t sparkle in the sun, you burn.”
“That’s easily fixed, you’ve seen me out and about in daylight, so why wouldn’t I grant you the same?”
“And I could still do my job as a teacher?”
“I don’t understand why you like teaching those illiterate brats, but yes.”
“Sounds reasonable,” she slowly nodded. “Would I have complete freedom as well? Don’t get me wrong, Kol, but I once thought I wanted to be a vampire, a Cold One, until the rules made it too restrictive.”
“The only rule here in New Orleans is is to be discrete when you feed and perhaps kill. That’s all.”
“And what if I don’t want to drink from a human?”
“There’s such a thing called a blood bank. Nifty invention over the last few decades, they have freshly tapped human blood in the refrigerator!”
“Okay,” she replied after having downed her drink. It had tasted so good; she wanted more. On top of that, where was their food? Did the cow still need to be slaughtered or something? “But you can only turn me when I’m on the verge of death, deal?”
He got off his chair and squatted down next to her as he took her hands. “Darling, I still have to figure out how it’s possible you don’t remember, but last night you didn’t come home. There was an accident with an out of control street car a little after you left work. It derailed and went tumbling down the road, taking everything in its path along for the tumble.” Kol searched her face for some recognition, but there wasn’t any. “You were in its path, along with several cars and lorries. You died on impact. My brother Niklaus and I found you this morning, and you were groggy, a little bit dizzy, but you were adamant you were late for work, not recognizing me. We cleaned you up and allowed you to go on your merry way as you seemed alright.”
“I don’t remember.”
“You died, Bella. I wasn’t aware of that before, but when I saw you come home for dinner today, I felt you were in transition. Because I’ve been dosing you with my blood all this time, you were transitioning into a vampire, and I took you here to make sure the last few hours you had left wouldn’t be spent in agony.” He smiled at her then. “I’m still shocked you went to work like that.”
She felt the blood drain out of her face. “That Bloody Mary wasn’t alcohol.”
“No, darling, it was human blood with a celery stick and a tiny cute umbrella,” he kissed the top of her hand. “You got your second chance, and it’s alright to be scared. I’m here for you. You’re my responsibility, and I will teach you everything you need to know.”
“Well shit, I nearly died a virgin,” she muttered.
“You’re taking the news of your death very well.”
“What choice is there?” Bella glared at him. “Complain about it? Whine about it? Be angry with you for your ‘curiosity’ and unknowingly feeding me your blood? No, it happened. Can’t change it.”
“I say you’re a welcome addition,” another voice sounded, and Bella looked up to see the man who had been sitting at the bar previously. “I couldn’t think of anyone better to be my brother’s first sireling after his rebirth.”
“Ew,” Bella shuddered. “That’s just gross.”
“Bella, meet my brother Niklaus.”
“Klaus.”
“Nice to meet you,” Bella said before looking up at Kol. “Where’s our food? We ordered, didn’t we? I’m hungry.”
“Mary’s still in the kitchen, love, help yourself,” Klaus said amused as he watched Bella head straight for the kitchen. “You’ve done well, brother.”
“She’s my responsibility, Nik, I swear.”
Klaus pat his brother on the back. “You’ll do fine. She seems to be a natural at being a vampire. Very at ease. Dangerous.” He then smiled widely at him. “Precisely what you need. Why won’t you join her for a nibble and then fulfill one of her wishes? It is likely she’d want to pay a visit to those blasted Cullens and castrate one of them.”
“Oh, so much fun to be had,” Kol grinned. “Are you sure?”
“Elijah forged the live and let live agreement with them, but they’re even bigger monsters than we are. What’s the harm in killing the golden son? He hurt your new toy, didn’t he?”
“What about the Volturi?”
“We’ll deal with them if they wish to retaliate. It should be a glorious battle should they decide to do so,” Klaus playfully said before pushing his brother towards the kitchen. “Have some fun, brother, you deserve it.”
By the time Kol entered the kitchen, Bella had already her teeth deep in Mary’s neck, and there wasn’t a lot of life left inside of the human. “Bella, you don’t need to kill to feed if you don’t want to.”
Bella’s eyes flicked up to meet his before she let out a low growl and pulled Mary closer to her.
“As you wish, darling,” he said amused, throwing his hands up in the air. “Happy Halloween!”
