Chapter 03
The name Klaus was supposed to make her cower in fear mainly because of all the stories she’d heard from Damon, how he made hybrids, hurt Elena, forced Stefan to be a Ripper again and more horror stories, but Bella wasn’t afraid. His energy was familiar, somehow, and unlike when he possessed Alaric, there were no dark edges around his person. “Have we met before?” Bella asked stupidly. “Well, we’ve met before but have I met you before?”
Klaus smiled at that. “The morning after I broke my curse, I was drawn to your little home and we sat there for most of the day. My head in your lap and you scratching me behind the ears.”
“But how? Werewolves don’t—”
“I’m a hybrid, love. I don’t need the full moon to turn, nor do I ever have to turn again,” he gently took her hand and lead her to another room as Myriam followed them. “Your kindness was new to me. Apart from Myriam’s, of course.”
Bella turned to Myriam. “Sorry I had your boyfriend’s head in my lap for a couple of hours,” she deadpanned.
“You can have his head in your lap anytime, honey,” Myriam replied with a wink. “I know he’s faithful to me, and if not, he’ll tell me. Besides, you’re not his type.”
“You must have a thousand questions in that pretty little head of yours,” Klaus said, amused as he brought them to a semi finished sitting room. “But first let me apologize for having lead you on for so long, our intentions aren’t malicious.”
“I know that. I can feel that. Somehow… I don’t know,” Bella sat down on the covered couch and looked at Klaus. “And you’d think I’d have a thousand questions, but I don’t. Well, maybe a few but that’s something Elijah said to me.”
Klaus sighed deeply as he sat down across from her. “What has he done now?”
“He told me he and his family have been following mine for a very long time.”
Klaus laughed at that. “Did he, now? He lied, love. We’ve met your grandfather Nathaniel during the second World War, surprised that he didn’t get himself killed with his impulsive actions. As it turned out, he had a knack for stumbling into trouble. Your mother… well, she was quite different. Even as a young girl she was impulsive and had a habit of running away, never feeling at ease. I can assure you that all of our interactions with your family were a mere… coincidence. For some reason, we merely ran into each other.”
“A crazy happenstance,” Myriam nodded. “But your mom, she’s gorgeous.”
“You’ve met her? How?”
“Klaus turned me about 300 years ago. He saved me from my abusive family,” she smiled widely, so much love showing as she looked at him. “I’ve been looking out for him ever since. Even being his little spy every now and then, getting messages to him…”
“Always moving so majestically in the shadows,” Klaus said proudly as he kissed Myriam’s hand. “She truly understands what I’ve been through with my own family. Soul mates aren’t real, but if they were, Myriam would definitely fit that description.”
Bella smiled at that. “That is adorable.”
“She called us adorable, Klaus,” Myriam giggled. “She called you, the monster of monsters, adorable.”
Klaus was amused. Normally he’d get angry, but Bella was refreshing, disarmingly so. “Do you have any more questions, love? How about I ask you one?”
“Fire away.”
“What are you?” He asked, leaning forward, studying her. “Do not take that the wrong way but you’re different from your relatives. You’re observant. You’re smart. You’ve been hiding yourself away in that little house on Salvatore land, why is that? What are you?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. Nobody seems to know and my theories are batshit crazy.”
“Try me.”
“I’m Snow White?”
Klaus chuckled. “Doubtful. What else?”
She shrugged. “I turned my ex-boyfriend into a pig after he dumped me and he changed drastically over a few months – like… vampire or werewolf or something else – and I got so angry… I turned him into a pig.”
“Moritz?” Myriam laughed. “You turned Moritz into a pig?”
“And I don’t know how to change him back.”
“Now that’s something you don’t hear every day!” Klaus looked even more intrigued. “If you wish, I could send for some books for you to browse through to help you with your self discovery. They’re my brother’s, but he’s not around.”
“Elijah’s?”
“No, love. I have another brother who was well versed with his witches and I managed to save a few of his books before he decided to hide them away from me.”
“But I’m not a witch. Wouldn’t Bonnie Bennett have sensed that about me? Or your own witch, even?”
“As I said, my brother was the one who enjoyed his witches and their lore. I merely like them for their usefulness,” Klaus shrugged. “Just imagine, centuries of information about all kinds of witches, available to you.”
“Yeah, sure,” Bella smiled. “If you’re offering.”
“One condition. The books don’t leave this house. I’ll make sure that a room will be ready for you to relax in while you read by the time the books get here. A safe place, for you. As long as you’re under my roof, nothing will happen to you. If someone gives you something as little as a scratch, I will have their heads.”
They talked some more, and Bella found it fascinating how different Klaus was from the vampires she knew, that the stories she’d heard of him were an insight now that she had met him herself. It showed that Damon and Stefan and the rest of the scoobies were cowards. Idiots. She never had a high opinion of the scoobies anyway, but both Damon and Stefan were making mistakes upon mistakes. Not following through on their word, even though Stefan was being his jerk self right now.
He still had Damon following him around to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. Damon himself wasn’t innocent of doing stupid things either. He should have walked away from all of this a long time ago.
No, Klaus was scary because he actually followed through on his demands. His threats. He had a goal in mind and wouldn’t allow anyone to stop him, not even his own siblings. Bella found it strange that when Klaus was inside of Alaric that there was a dark aura around him, and there still was, but not as obvious; it was a mere sign that he had lived a thousand lives and that he knew what he was doing.
If Klaus was the monster that everyone thought he was, why would he have saved Myriam all those years ago?
However, she wasn’t quite sure about her having to go to his house for those books all the time. While TrashPanda had always been somewhat honest, it was quite unusual to meet them in real life. Wasn’t she going to betray the Salvatores after they had protected her all these years?
Then again, this was an opportunity for her to move forward and perhaps to learn more about herself. Maybe Klaus and Myriam could be the gateway to the guide that Zach Salvatore had talked to her about. They were older than Stefan and Damon, they knew the right supernatural beings.
“What’s on your mind?”
Bella got roused from her thoughts by Klaus and she shyly smiled. “I’m trying to make a well thought out decision with everything I have learned.”
“Zach Salvatore looked after you after your mother allowed you to emancipate, didn’t he? It was a secret to Damon and Stefan, but their human relatives looked out for your family and other families dealing with the supernatural when they’d come into town, of their own accord, drawn to the supernatural.”
“He told me that my mother has a sense of danger. That she can’t quite pinpoint it but that she has that sense and that had us moving around a lot until Mystic Falls. Where she allowed me to stay because I am stronger than her,” Bella replied, unsure what more to say, but she decided to go for it anyway. She had a feeling she could trust Klaus. While she trusted Damon, she never told him what was happening, just that she was supposed to be there. He didn’t know. “Zach told me that I was safe in Mystic Falls as long as I kept pretending I was human and never discussed what I can do to others, likely in fear of people wanting me to do things for them.”
“What can you do?”
Bella shrugged. “Sorry, can’t say. But apart from that, it seems that animals seem to like me and I turned someone into a pig… and occasionally talk to dead people. He called me abnormal as apparently, whatever the hell I am doesn’t fit all the right boxes. He told me about something he believed I could do, but he didn’t want me to find out without a proper guide who knew what I was or could become. I’ve been reading everything the Salvatores have on the supernatural, observing, learning. But so far I can’t find myself in anything. He also told me that I’d find the reason why I wanted to stay in Mystic Falls.”
“Curious indeed,” Klaus smiled. “Well, if anything, by now you must have exhausted their resources and our collection is extensive, how good of a reason is that?”
“Besides,” Myriam smiled. “It’d be nice to have you around. Klaus’ hybrids are nice puppies and all but I could use a friend to do things with. Like shopping. Or spa days.”
“And you know I don’t do shopping and spa days,” Bella countered playfully. “Very well, I’ll take you up on your offer then, Klaus. Thank you.”
“Stefan Salvatore is holding my family hostage. Would you be angry with me if I accidentally killed him?”
“After what he did to me?” Bella snorted. “I can’t say anything about what’s going on but you do what you have to do.”
Klaus beamed at Myriam. “I like her.”
“Yep, me too,” Myriam softly kissed him before jumping up and pulling Bella off the couch. “Come, I’ll show you around. Are you staying for dinner? You can get to know us a little better that way.”
“Sure, why not,” Bella replied as she followed Myriam through the next room. “Why did you lie to me?”
“I figured that saying ‘Hey, I’m a 300 year old vampire and my seer thinks you’re pretty darn special and I want to get to know you better and keep an eye out’ was a bit too much,” Myriam replied with a smile. “Besides, I liked what you were writing. Fiction or fan fiction. Your work shows you’re intelligent and you have this need to figure things out on your own.”
“You know who I was?”
“Yep,” Myriam nodded. “And no, I have no idea what you are. Neither does Klaus, so it’s a good thing that you’re researching the supernatural community. That you observe and stay on the sidelines. Did you use a spell to turn Moritz into a pig?”
Bella thought for a moment. “No. I was just really angry and kept calling him a pig in my mind and poof! There he went. I don’t feel bad about it, I mean, he had it coming, but it’s scary, you know.”
“I can relate. I suppose anyone who’s turned into a vampire can relate. Everything is heightened. Running really fast becomes like a superpower and we have to control our bloodlust so we don’t kill everyone.”
“Speaking of which, you do have that under control, don’t you? You and Klaus?”
“Don’t worry,” Myriam grinned. “We won’t eat the innocent girl who’s still evolving into something we’ve probably never seen before,” Myriam took her upstairs on the marvelous stairs and turned a corner. “What do you think? Would this be the perfect room for a library where you can hang out?”
The large windows overlooked the forests behind the mansion, she could see the stables from here and it was beautiful. The space itself was large with high ceilings. “You’re asking me? This is your home,” Bella laughed as she looked up. “I’d be happy with just a little corner!”
“Well, I was thinking with a window seat, you know, with a seat IN the window so you can look outside, have natural light. And basically everything playing on that natural light to light the room. I don’t know. I just thought a window seat would be nice,” Myriam shrugged. “I doubt that he’ll renovate the entire house. Like yourself, Klaus gets a bit jittery from time to time and needs to move. Although now that Mikael’s dead, maybe he can start to live a little.”
“I suppose when your own father is the one who wants to kill you comes back… yeah,” Bella shook her head. “I can’t possibly imagine what that must feel like… I mean, my mother is a runner and a flake, and my dad… well, it’s a good thing he knows where the diner is.”
Myriam laughed at that. “Yeah, it was tough on him, but he found clever ways of hiding. I was the only one who knew where he was at all times. Klaus is all about exclusiveness. If he likes you, loves you, you’re in his inner circle; you’re family. He told me he wanted to meet you proper after your encounter with him as a wolf. It was his second time in a 1000 years where he’d turned and his mind was going all sorts of places and you calmed him down. Not that he’d tell anyone that. Niklaus Mikaelson is a tough cookie, no one messes with him and he’s totally not vulnerable and a complete maniac.”
“Stefan, Damon and the rest are so scared of him.”
“As they should be. Klaus is dangerous. But not towards those he deems worthy of him.”
“Like me?”
“I think you scare him more than Mikael has ever done. Or even more than he fears the Original Witch.”
“Me? Little old me?”
“We feel that you have the potential to become the biggest force of power we’ve not seen in a very long time, mainly because it’s so unclear as to what you are. We do want to help you discover yourself, but I think that Zach Salvatore was right in how to approach this; allow you to go on your own journey and have you make all the decisions for you,” Myriam said truthfully. “And another thing. I believe you’ve read the Twilight saga?”
“Of course,” Bella huffed. “It quite surprised me, to be honest. And the author says it came to her all in a dream? Please.”
“Well… Stephenie Meyer is part witch. She says she’s not, but she is. We believe she received visions about your life and instead of keeping it to herself, she decided to make a book out of it. The books are basically what would have happened if you’d gone to Forks instead of staying here. Although Cold Ones don’t exist; they’re a regular coven of vampires who have witches on retainer. They’re not gifted. They are bunny munchers. There’s no Volturi.”
“What?”
“Yep. But you have nothing to worry about. Klaus convinced her not to write about you anymore and—”
“I want the author dead,” Bella muttered. “She wrote me married to some jackass who watched people sleep, had me have his baby and ugh. How is that even possible? Any case, what kind of drugs is she on to assume that a 16 year old girl, later 18, would wait for marriage to have sex? I would have dumped his ass on the spot!”
Myrian laughed at that. “Oh, Bella, I do love your sense of humor.”
“And those books are badly written too. It’s why I prefer to read fanfiction because those stories are better but even then, knowing that it’s a version of ME…. ew.”
Myriam shrugged, then. “That’s why they invented crossovers. You can actually do some self insertion and not get flamed for it.”
“Ha! Totally!”
“That sex scene you wrote with Dean Winchester? Woah, girl, you have some wicked thoughts!” Myriam grinned as she lead Bella out of the room to explore the upper level. “You made my ears blush with that and I’ve seen a lot!”
“Oh geez, stop,” Bella shook her head, a big smile on her face. “Now you’re embarrassing.”
“I mean, do you do that stuff in real life too?” Myriam said amazed. “Because damn, girl, I’d know just the right person for you and he’s a Mikaelson!”
“If you’re going to say Elijah, I’ll get a spoon and spoon your eyes out of your sockets before shoving them in your mouth.”
“Nope, not him. I doubt you’ll ever meet him, though. Klaus has him safely boxed up.”
“In one of the coffins Stefan is holding hostage?”
“Yep.”
“So he’s not safe.”
“Nope,” Myriam let out a breath. “I doubt Stefan will undagger them, though. Having to deal with the wrath of Klaus is one thing, imagine the entire family against you. I really don’t want to be Stefan right now.”
“Stefan’s a jerk. He nearly killed me. Hadn’t it been for Damon, I would have died.”
“Those boys are nothing but trouble,” Myriam agreed. “Are you safe, though? On their property?”
“Of course,” Bella replied with a smile. “No one gets into my house when they can’t cross the threshold without an invitation, including Damon and Stefan. The moment I leave my car Damon’s crows keep an eye on me and a handful of foxes come out of the bushes to greet me,” she shrugged.
“But they didn’t do anything when Stefan took you.”
“Well, Stefan is a Salvatore, he wouldn’t hurt me, right?” Bella scoffed. “He doesn’t give a shit when he’s without his humanity. As a Ripper. Especially now, whatever he did with Klaus on his trip, it fucked him up.” She then let out a deep breath. “You know, sometimes I wished that I could go back to being normal. Oblivious to everything that’s happening around me.”
“What would that do?”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t have forgotten to apply for college?”
“If that’s your only regret,” Myriam smiled at her. “Who knows what you’ll become? Perhaps immortal like the rest of us and you could do college again and again and again and hold a thousand Phd’s.”
“Overkill, much?”
“Bella, the world is an amazing place filled with wonder and magic. You need to see more. Absorb it all and you wouldn’t want to be a normal human being ever again. Just imagine, if you’re going to become even half as badass as Klaus and I think you’ll become, you don’t have to be afraid of anything anymore. You can do whatever you want.”
“But what if you’re wrong and I’m just a flake, like my mother?”
“Doubtful. Your mother would have run from this house the minute she set foot in it.”
“Maybe.”
“When you met up with your mother in Florida, did you discuss what’s happening to you?”
Bella shook her head as Myriam took her downstairs again. “I let her guide our conversation. She did say that it looked like something had changed within me and that it was alright I forgot to apply for college, that a year off was what I deserved.”
“That’s nice.”
“So what did I do? I quit my job at the Grill, which is stupid because this is a small town and a job is hard to get by, but I live rent free and I think I can live off my savings for awhile.”
“Why did you quit?”
“I don’t know. I felt like I needed to do it because it had become some sort of supernatural hang out and an office for Alaric, I guess.”
“Self preservation, perhaps?”
“Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t know how I work or what I can do,” Bella frustratingly ran a hand through her hair. “Is time travel possible?”
“No, honey,” Myriam laughed. “But I do think that we’re just in time for dinner.”
A couple of days later Bella was shocked to find $50,000 in her bank account courtesy of Klaus Mikaelson and she didn’t know if she felt insulted or grateful. It had been her choice to stop working at the Grill, why would he feel obligated to give her this kind of money? It was a lot of money!
Grabbing her purse and keys, she headed out of her house and headed straight for the Mikaelson home. This was the first time since TrashPanda revealed themselves to her and she felt slightly nervous. Something was brewing and usually, she wasn’t mistaken. However, instead of feeling the feeling of doom, regret and pain, she felt excitement. It only got stronger as she approached the house.
Bella got out of her car and knocked on the front door, surprised to have it opened by a real maid. She had the outfit and everything, not one of those traditional maid outfits, but those you can purchase in specialty shops. “Uh, I’m here to see Klaus?”
“Please, come in,” the woman said, stepping away from the door to allow Bella access. “Wait here.” Closing the door, the woman scurried off, leaving Bella in wonder of the encounter, but also in awe of how much work had been done in the days she was at home. It looked like Klaus’ house was finished. Everything was immaculate, sparkling and immense.
“Bella!” Myriam greeted her with a big smile and hugged her tightly. “You know you could just walk in, right?”
“Not my style,” she replied as she pointed at the maid. “Klaus’ idea?”
“Yeah, but that’s okay. He can look, as long as he doesn’t touch or I’ll have his balls,” Myriam grinned. “Your library is finished, want to come and take a look?”
“I actually wanted to talk to Klaus about something…”
“Oh, he’ll be back. He’s getting his coffins back, isn’t that exciting?”
“Stefan gave in?”
“It’s still a tug of war, but returning the family to Klaus is the least he could do,” Myriam replied before taking her deeper into the mansion. “Come, you’re going to get a kick out of this.”
The library did look amazing. While it wasn’t stockpiled with a lot of books, it were the books that Klaus had promised to get her and they were all neatly piled onto a desk. The window seat that Myriam had talked about was there, and there was also a very comfortable looking couch. Empty bookcases from floor to ceiling and Bella was just in awe. “This looks amazing.”
“It’s one of my favourite rooms now,” Myriam said as she flopped on the couch and pointed at the books. “You can start reading while we wait for Klaus to return.”
Bella let out a chuckle and got one of the books before settling on the couch next to Myriam and started to read. “Huh,” she eventually said as she cocked her head. “I’ve read a lot of things about witches already but this is the first time a spell is mentioned to see if you’re a witch. Or a Traveler in this case.”
“Oh, ew, Travelers,” Myriam said, disgusted by the idea, before turning around with a big smile on her face. “They’re supposed to be extinct. There’s still a handful left, but not a lot. They’re like the ugly little sister of the witches we all know now.”
“I don’t think there are witches on my mother’s side, though. Besides, don’t witches need to cast spells to do things? I willed someone to turn into a pig and dead people just find me.”
“Well, not if they’re naturally gifted, but you’re right, for heavy duty things as turning someone into a pig, a spell is usually required,” Myriam nodded. “Besides, doing something that heavy duty for a Traveler witch is nearly impossible as they can’t practise traditional magic. They’d need doppelganger blood or even hybrid blood to make that possible.” She then tapped on the book. “Perhaps Klaus should have offered you other books, not those on witchcraft.”
“But it’s magic, isn’t it? What I do?”
Myriam shrugged, then. “It depends on how you see it, really. Some people call it magic, some call it an ability. A super power. Granted, when you’re dealing with vampires and witches, you’re usually dealing with magic, not Spiderman or Fantastic Four types of things.”
Bella snorted as she put the book away and rolled onto her stomach to look at Myriam. “Would be incredibly stupid if I was like a mutant or something.”
“Mutants don’t exist. At least not the way they describe in the comics, so pass.”
“Oh! What about Hercules? Who knows, I could grow up to be super strong!”
“As if you’re a goddess!” Myriam hiccuped. “Please, that’s… that’s just insane and too far fetched.”
“Is it, though?” Bella lifted up her head to look at her. “I mean, we’ve ruled everything out. The most logical thing is to move to things I haven’t checked out yet.”
“What, you’re the next Percy Jackson?”
“He was fictional,” Bella rolled her eyes at Myriam before sighing in resignation. “My knowledge of the Gods and Goddesses is limited.”
“As far as I know, the Gods and Goddesses were a myth, much like the different religions around the globe have their own gods to believe in in modern day. There’s a god of war, a god of food, a god of hair, a god of nice teeth,” Myriam waved her hands about. “There’s one book telling stories about those gods but is there anyone alive that can prove that these gods were real? No. Well, let me tell you this; I know of a God. And his name is Klaus. He’s the Sex God.”
Bella laughed at that.
“No, seriously, think about it. Klaus and his family were the Original vampires. They are the Original vampires. Without them, vampires wouldn’t exist. So they’re basically Gods. They’re alive – for the most part, and they can create others of their kind. Wouldn’t they have discovered the other gods by now? Or their descendants?” Myriam folded her legs underneath her. “The Mikaelsons are living, breathing Gods who can be touched but cannot die unless someone wields a dangerous weapon, much like the Gods that are supposedly out there but the thing is, there is no heaven. There’s The Other Side where all supernatural beings go when they die, but humans? It’s just blackness.”
Bella was quiet for a moment and sighed. “So what does that make me? If you and Klaus are scared of what I’ll become… what else is there? I mean, according to your logic, the Titans aren’t real either. That there’s nothing higher than Klaus and his family.”
“Exactly,” Myriam grinned. “I don’t think the answers that you seek are to be found in books, but mainly through experience.”
“Bah. I need to do something, I’m bored.”
Just as she spoke those words, a loud crashing could be heard from downstairs followed by Klaus growling that he’d just finished renovating. Myriam and Bella jumped up and ran downstairs, finding Klaus and Elijah quietly talking with a glass of blood in their hands. There were pieces of the table and the French doors everywhere and they were acting as if nothing happened.
“Niklaus, I do realise we have a lot to discuss, but why is Miss Swan your guest?”
“She’s a friend, Elijah. You shall treat her as such or I will find the missing dagger and put you back into your box.”
“Be nice,” Bella told Klaus as she leaned against the broken doorpost and looked at the room behind Klaus and his brother, where two more coffins rested and she was curious to them. “Can I have a peek? I promise I’ll be respectful.”
“Yes!” Myriam said as she pulled Bella along with her, flashing a smile at Elijah before continuing her way to the coffins.
“And Myriam? Niklaus, surely you—”
“Myriam is the reason why I’ve been so successful at hiding over the last few centuries, Elijah, and she’s mine. She deserves the same respect as Bella does, if not more,” Klaus said with a tone of warning in his voice.
While Klaus and Elijah continued to talk quietly about everything that Elijah had missed during his nap, Myriam opened the first coffin. “Ah, look. This is the oldest one of the bunch; Finn. He’s been daggered for 900 years because he’s a complete mommy’s boy and hates the whole idea of being an immortal vampire,” she explained as she looked at the dessicated vampire. “Kind of an ass, if you have to believe Klaus. Doing everything in his power to cause the end of their existence.”
Bella didn’t like the feeling she got off of Finn, either, so she believed the words to be true. She gently closed the coffin but her fingers lingered on the lid, tapping gently on it and sighing. “Is there a way to like… seal this forever so he can’t get out?”
Klaus looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows at her. “Excuse me?”
“I know he’s your brother. Family is everything. I know all of that. But… I don’t know, I just feel that he shouldn’t ever be let out. He’s been in there for a very long time, you don’t know what will happen should you ever feel generous to allow him to roam free. If you hate him that much, you should have killed him. Now you risk being stabbed in the back by your own flesh and blood.”
“That sounds quite prophetic, love,” Klaus said gently before he considered her words. Looking over at Elijah, he could tell that his brother was shocked at what the girl was telling them. “I’ll consider it.”
“Niklaus! Do you truly believe the girl’s words? Should we have committed fratricide? Do you truly believe he shouldn’t be let out, at all?”
“Oh, don’t start with me, Elijah, you hate Finn as much as the rest of us do.”
Bella turned around to face the other coffin and ran her hand over the closed lid as she walked around it. “Sadness,” she said softly, gently opening the lid revealing yet another dessicated male vampire. “Hurt. Why is this one in here?”
“That’s Kol. He’s kind of a maniac, a loose cannon,” Myriam explained. “He’s also a hoot, but really unpredictable.”
“He’s sad and hurt,” Bella said, slowly reaching into the coffin to caress Kol’s cheek. “It’s mainly because of Elijah, isn’t it? He doesn’t like having to deal with Klaus and Kol at the same time and Klaus can’t be daggered, so the best solution is this one.” She glared at Elijah over the coffin. “You try to be all noble and shit, but that’s just bull, isn’t it? Everyone says that Klaus is an asshole but you’re the biggest of them all.”
Before Bella knew it, Elijah had her away from the coffin and pinned against a wall. “How dare you. Show some respect.”
“Elijah!” Klaus growled as he peeled his brother off of their guest. “You can’t fault the girl from speaking the truth!”
“She’s in our house, Niklaus. Your demand of me having respect for her when it’s clearly not mutual is quite mind boggling.”
“Elijah the noble stag.” Bella merely said before Elijah disappeared and a stag appeared in his place. “There. That should shut him up.”
Both Klaus and Myriam looked as if someone turned into a pink pony. Well, Elijah turned into a stag, that was the same, wasn’t it? They looked at the stag in shock, before exchanging glances and then at Bella, who was now back at Kol’s coffin, gently closing the lid.
“So, when are you going to undagger Kol? When this shit with Stefan is over?”
It were a few more quiet minutes before Klaus cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair. “Uh, Bella? I need my brother to be my brother, not an animal. But I do find it amazing how you’ve changed him, truly. I am certain he will think twice before attacking you now.”
“I couldn’t change Moritz back, why do you think I can change him back?”
“Because you changed Moritz out of anger, something he deserved. You look quite relaxed to me at this moment,” Klaus smiled sweetly. “Please, love.”
“When do you need him?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Then I will turn him back tomorrow,” she said simply and started to brush the dust off Kol’s coffin with her sleeve.
“Is this because I do not wish to undagger my brother right now?”
“Maybe that too,” she shrugged. “But Elijah deserves this. I’ll try to fix him tomorrow.”
Myriam zoomed out of the room, only to return with a bucket of water and a cloth. “Here, use this, it might work better,” she said before hugging Bella. “Yay, you’re getting better at your powers!”
“Why won’t you undagger my brother, Bella, if it’s bothering you so much?” Klaus asked as he pushed his brother into an enclosed space, out of sight from everyone else. There’s nothing he could do about the situation now unless he wanted to anger the powerful girl in his home. He didn’t want to. She was right in punishing Elijah and in a way, it truly was amoozing.
“Because I don’t meddle with your affairs. I’m sure that when the time’s right, you will undagger him,” Bella said as she started to properly clean the coffin. “But you’d better be nice to him, all Kol wants is to be appreciated and loved by you.”
“And how do you know?”
“I just do,” Bella shrugged. “Myriam and I have deducted that I’m definitely not a witch. Got anything else for me to read?”
Bella stayed the night in the library, comfortable in the window seat and a blanket, feeling safe. She wasn’t quite sure what it was though, was it the idea that Klaus and Myriam were scared of her and thus warned everyone about her? She didn’t want people to fear her, that would be so bad. How could she make friends when everyone was nice to her out of fear?
Did she feel safe because of what she did to Elijah? She somehow knew she was going to be able to turn him back because she turned him into a stag to teach him a lesson, not because she was angry. But even so, the fact that she knew, and that turning him had been so easy was enough to make her scared of herself.
Or maybe it had to do something with that vampire in the coffin, Kol. Just like she had felt with Finn, he was alive in there. His body dessicated but his mind fully aware of everything going on around him, and she had felt instantly drawn to him, connected, and she couldn’t wait to meet him. Oh, she could go downstairs and pull the dagger out of him, but she didn’t want to disrespect Klaus.
Since when were vampires in coffins a normal thing, anyway? The whole thing should freak her out, but it didn’t. Coffins were supposed to be comfortable, right?
There were so many things going on inside her mind and she couldn’t sleep. Grabbing her blanket, she quietly made her way down, to the coffins and pulled up a chair next to Kol’s. She opened the coffin and he was still there, grey and veiny, still. “Hello again,” she said softly as she wrapped the blanket around her. “I figured I could keep you company for a while. To tell you a little about myself even when I’m not sure if you’ll remember it when Klaus decides to wake you up.”
She felt how his mood changed, a slight hint of panic. “Hey, calm down,” Bella soothed him. “Klaus likely believes it’s for your own safety that you’re not here while he deals with Stefan. Then again, there’s more strength in numbers, is there? I can’t undagger you, Kol, as much as I’d like to.”
Bella took in every little detail of Kol as she looked at him, his mind quieting down again. She wasn’t a mind reader, but she could tell that his soul liked her being with him that night. “You’ve been down for nearly a century, haven’t you? History is a hobby of mine, I can tell you all about everything you’ve missed so far, too, if you’d like.”
She quietly talked at him for the entire night, telling him most things about her, about history, about music as she felt that got his attention, even played him some from her phone.
Only when the sun rose, she noticed that Klaus had been standing in the doorway. “How long have you been here?”
“Hours,” he smiled at her. “I didn’t want to disturb your chat with my brother. You do know that he won’t remember anything?”
She looked up to him then and shook her head. “He’s in there. Aware. Awake. You quieted his body by daggering him, but not his mind. Have you ever been daggered, Klaus?”
“Doesn’t work on me, love,” he admitted. “Kol will soon get his wish, once I’ve retrieved the fourth coffin and dealt with Stefan. You didn’t mind me killing him, did you?”
“Of course not,” Bella replied as she closed Kol’s coffin and got to her feet. “Would you like your Elijah back?”
“Yes please,” Klaus pointed at the room the stag was being kept in. “He and I still have a few things to discuss before our little dinner party tonight.”
“Dinner party?”
“Business negotiations are best made over dinner. I’m going to invite Stefan and Damon over for dinner with myself and Elijah. Would you care to join us to observe as an impartial referee?”
“Myriam and I have plans, sorry,” Bella said as she walked to the room Klaus had locked stag Elijah in and opened the door to face the beast. “Have you learned your lesson? Because I will give you another time out when I feel like it.”
The stag snorted and bowed his head, hanging it in shame.
“Good boy. You can be Elijah again.”
The stag turned into a naked Elijah and Bella smirked. “That was fun!” She then turned around to walk away, seeing Elijah naked wasn’t the most perfect start of the morning. “Klaus, your brother is naked and he didn’t look too pleased.”
“Bella, please kindly refrain from turning my family into animals?”
“He deserved it.”
“He did, but he won’t disrespect you again, you have my word.”
“What is she?” Elijah demanded, grabbing the blanket Bella had dropped to the floor and wrapped it around him. “Niklaus, you can’t—”
“We don’t know, isn’t that exciting, brother?” Klaus grinned and lead him away. “Come, let me show you your room, you can get changed there.”
