Chapter 07
Bella made sure that either her sister or Kol was between Hope and her at all times. Preferably both. She had put a soft shield around herself, and her sister, just in case, but Hope would be able to weaken them anyway and get into hurt them. If she wanted to. The worst part was that Hope didn’t have to go back to school for the year, something about being too smart and too powerful and whatnot, and that they’d see her back in school the following year.
The Mikaelsons were delighted, of course. Bella had enough experience with children around her and had enough for a lifetime, and Myriam disliked Klaus’ daughter in general, because she was Klaus’ daughter and Myriam disliked Klaus. Besides, if she was truly everything she had heard about her, then Hope could be a threat. Children were fickle.
It was almost as if since Hope’s arrival, the state of high alert or trying to fix things was gone. Everyone was taking a breather, but Myriam felt something was off. She was uneasy, restless. She needed to kill something. Less and less she had the feeling that Bella wasn’t safe here. That she wasn’t safe here and Myriam knew that she could keep the both of them safe without having to deal with these traditionals.
And, a few days after Hope’s arrival, she decided to snoop around. She had done this before, of course, but she was going to try and hang out with Marcel’s vampires that had been mostly hiding out in the basement. There were plenty of spaces to hide, and plenty of things to hear. There was the usual gossip; who was fucking with who, who scored big, who was stronger, who had the biggest dick… who thought it was stupid for Kol to carry a torch for the broken girl…
See, Myriam could agree with that, but now that she’d been around for a bit longer, he seemed to be struggling with the same thought. He hadn’t been around Bella much, only to show his face once or twice, to check up on her, but he hadn’t actually spent time with her. And Bella didn’t understand. Of course she didn’t. But how could Myriam tell her sister that Kol liked her for more than kindness? That, eventually, he might want to become a couple with her? A) Myriam wasn’t going to, because it was stupid and B) this was something Kol had to tell Bella himself; that she was too— unusual for someone like him to date, but surely there were plenty of other fish in the sea!
And then, Myriam would punch his face again. Because that’s what sisters do.
Bella was doing better. She continued to become better every single day. Sometimes in small increments, sometimes in the bigger ones. Bella had already figured out that she didn’t like cartoons on the television. Myriam still had to find out what was on air these days to see if Bella would maybe like to watch something else, but the TV remained off, for now.
It was fun to listen to Marcel’s vampire talk for awhile until she heard something that she truly didn’t want to hear. They had been fighting off some Cold Ones on the border of New Orleans lately, which, to them, wasn’t a surprise because Freya had an exact map of where Cold Ones were and how they were moving; partially created with Myriam’s blood, no doubt.
Myriam lifted one of the vampires’ phones then, and snuck off to see what more information she could find. There were children missing. She managed to get on the website they had set up as part of the underground and there were confirmations of Cold One sightings across the globe, it was as if they were amassing an army; more people were being turned. Newborns. And they were on their way to the States. All because the Cullens threw a temper tantrum about their most dangerous weapon being stolen from them. Bella. And then rumors about Bella having a sister. There was a prize on both of their heads.
All of this for a poor, innocent girl who would probably be able to fend off a few Cold Ones by herself, but not an entire army.
Bella needed to get out of New Orleans. Fast. They needed to run. There was no way that the Mikaelsons could keep them safe, or help them fight an entire army like this. Why did noone tell her about all of this? Was it to ensure that she wouldn’t start raging again? Was it so that they could turn them both in? Then what was the purpose of trying to help Bella? To fuck with her mind?
Oh, she was raging. She was going to get answers, now. There had still been some light on in Klaus’ study and she had heard hushed voices coming from there. Myriam was definitely going to get an answer or she’d take Bella away and they were going to disappear. Getting to Klaus’ study quickly, she didn’t even bother knocking as she walked inside. “Why didn’t you tell me that there were Cold Ones at the border of New Orleans or that the Cold Ones are making an army of newborns to get Bella? Why!” She said angrily as she threw the phone at him, not even bothered by the strange looks she received from all Mikaelson siblings.
“That’s exactly why,” Klaus pointed out as he rose to his feet, ready to grab her should she lunge for one of his siblings again. “Because you would get angry. Perhaps not angry, but scared, which makes you angry.”
“I told you we should have told her,” Kol replied as he made sure he was on the other side of the room. There was no way that he was going to get punched again.
“There’s nothing to worry about, we are dealing with the problem discreetly,” Elijah explained calmly. “You’re as discreet as an elephant in a porcelain cabinet, Myriam.”
“It’s my duty to kill Cold Ones,” she spat. “I want in on the fucking fight, you hear me?”
Klaus sighed and shrugged. “I shall inform Marcel that from now on, you will be training his vampires, preparing them to fight the Cold Ones. That’s the best offer I can give you for the sake of your, and your sister’s, safety.”
“Fine,” Myriam scowled. It was better than nothing. She wasn’t even going to fight this decision. “But I want to be kept in the loop about everything. Bella may not be someone who can handle it, but I’m a fucking soldier, and you fuckers tend to forget that.”
“But you don’t have to be a soldier, Myriam,” Rebekah spoke as she looked at her. “You can be a girl, first. Honestly, we should go out and have a girl’s night out with the lot of us once this is over. It’ll be so much fun.”
“For now you should utilize me for my knowledge about the Cold Ones and my knowledge of how to fucking fight them,” Myriam said bitterly as she sat down in one of the empty chairs. “Other than that, and being a sister to my sister, I’m not doing it. Now, what were you talking about before I came in?”
“Actually discussing whether or not we should read the information your father has so freely given us without you,” Elijah replied.
“With. End of. Shit might be unreliable as fuck now due to that fucking asshole.”
“And there could also be some valuable information in there, who knows?” Klaus said as he walked to the safe and retrieved the package. “It certainly is a lot more than was left behind by your former lover.”
“Shut up,” Myriam muttered.
“Right then,” Klaus said as he handed the package to Elijah and poured himself another bourbon. “Whatever we learn tonight will not leave these four walls and we’re only going to inform Bella when it’s necessary.”
Elijah opened the package and started to read. “This is incredible,” he said, flabbergasted. “I am not sure how they managed to get this, but then again, if your mother pretended to be a nurse, I shouldn’t be too surprised,” he continued as he pointed at the files. “Freya, perhaps this is something for Keelin to look at when we’re done, it shows in detail how the process of getting Renée pregnant with heavily modified embryos and what they did to those embryos…” he said as he drifted off as he kept reading. “Remarkable.”
“What?” Myriam said as she moved over to him to read what he was reading and she felt herself get physically ill, even though Cold Ones couldn’t get sick. “It does make a lot of fucking sense… I fucking hate science.”
Before anyone asked, Elijah explained. “We all know how normal babies are created, and Carlisle Cullen took real good care of those embryos, stripping them from human abnormalities, such as defective genetic markers. He then added the DNA of some of his coven members from when they were still human.”
“How? Some have been dead for centuries?” Kol wondered. “Even I know that you can’t keep blood right after freezing it for a year.”
“He’s some kind of Wunderkind,” Myriam sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I have no doubt that he has found his own ways. Thing is, he manipulated multiple embryos. Some with all of the material, some with only a few and only Bella and I survived. One of us with material from Emmett’s and Alice ‘s DNA, the other one with Jasper’s and Edward’s. It fucking makes so much sense, but Jasper… I always believed that he was turned by some vampire called Maria in the Southern Wars, and not by Carlisle… or that bitch worked with the fucker. And I believed he had never even met the Cullens before he went undercover with them. For fuck’s sake!”
“You’re going to have to explain why it makes so much sense, darling,” Kol prompted her as he poured himself a glass of bourbon.
Myriam sighed. “I’ve always been very strong, even as a human. Emmett’s the coven’s strong man. I’m pretty sure Alice’s gift didn’t take; she can see what’s going to happen with people based on the decisions they’re making. And I believe we’ve only started to scrape the surface of what Bella’s capable of; Edward can read minds, just like Bella does, but she doesn’t have it that bad and can actually turn it off – which could be a part of the Cullen’s conditioning. Jasper… the fucker could manipulate emotions from those around him. Bella senses the emotions and thank fuck she can’t control us like that.”
“No, but she does absorb emotions like a sponge. Her own, surely, but when she had that meltdown almost two weeks ago, she made sure that we didn’t get hurt. Instead, we were blown away by her own emotions. Those that she didn’t understand. Her pain, her fears, and even her joy,” Freya explained. “It’s something we need to become more aware of the more she becomes more human, the more the cleanses start to work.”
“Even within the womb, Carlisle continued to manipulate the embryos, resulting in the deaths of many, except for the two that survived,” Elijah continued. “It continued on a regular basis, right until the girls were born. And then the medical information stops about Myriam, because you were pronounced dead by Charlotte and taken,” Elijah said before smiling. “However, Peter and Charlotte did note every single benchmark that you hit as a human. First smile. First word. First step.” He handed Myriam those papers to look at. “True parents.”
Elijah then sighed as he looked through the next couple of pages. “A more detailed form about what exactly they were giving Bella, I recognize some of the things as herbs and serums, but I can’t make sense of the other parts,” he said as he handed the papers to Freya. “It’s something for you and Keelin to sort through.”
“From what I can tell without even looking in too deeply they had a witch on staff and a powerful one at that, no wonder I have to work so hard… Holy shit, they really opened her up without anesthetic at some point and poked around?”
“Yep,” Myriam sighed. “And other fun experiments.”
“Myr! I found you! Look!” Bella said as she came running in with her drawing and immediately went to her sister. “I did it! I drew you! Look!” She said with a childlike innocence.
Myriam laughed then as she took the drawing and looked at it. It was incredibly detailed, every hair was in place, every freckle, every angle on her face. “Wow, Bella, that’s incredible!” She said as she turned it around for everyone else to see. “But shouldn’t you be resting?”
“I couldn’t rest until I drew that. It’s like… I had to,” she then noticed the entire Mikaelson family sitting in Klaus’ study, looking at her as if she was insane. “I’m sorry… A-am I interrupting something?”
“Not at all,” Klaus smiled at her, well impressed about her drawing. It only took her a couple of days to get it right, she was a fast learner. She was talented. “We’re always very happy to see you, sweetheart.”
Bella felt it differently. It was like she was being stared at and she didn’t like that. “I-I am intruding. I’ll go back to my room and sleep.”
She was just about to walk out again when Elijah spoke. “Bella, does the phrase La Cantanta Si Alza mean something to you?”
“It’s Italian,” Bella replied, half shrugging. “Doctor Carlisle liked the Italian language, and even spoke it with the Volturi.”
“It means The Singer Rises, or wakes up,” he tried. Granted, the sentence was written in a different kind of handwriting and it could have been written by Jasper for all he knew. A lie. But he had to check.
“I know, but it doesn’t mean anything, at least not that I’m aware, is that a bad thing?”
“No, thank you, Bella. Have a good night.”
Bella nodded before going back to her room.
“What was that?” Kol asked his brother. “Why did you ask her?”
“Well, I’m impressed that she knows another language, but also because it’s the only phrase in the entire package that’s not in English. Perhaps it was something important, but I suppose it wasn’t and it was likely written upon by someone who needed to jot something down quickly and not caring about what it was on.”
Myriam snatched the paper out of Elijah’s hand and sighed. “Jasper. Oh, and hey, look! It even says ‘trigger’ right there! A trigger for what?! And you went ahead and said it out loud?!”
“She didn’t seem to be affected, I’m sure this is a lie,” Elijah dismissed Myriam.
Angrily, she rose from her chair. “What if it’s not? Now I have to spend the entire night with her to see if she reacts to it to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid!” Myriam fumed as she went straight to Bella’s room.
“She has a point,” Klaus pointed out. “The Cullens were barbaric, what if they used some sort of mental trigger? We already know that they mentally conditioned her with the right responses. What if they hid this from her?”
“Oh, please, Niklaus, why would they do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Elijah, in case she falls into the wrong hands?” Kol shot at his brother. “That was highly irresponsible and I’m with Myriam on this. I suppose I’ll be watching her all night as well,” he said before joining Myriam in Bella’s room. “You know, darling, the bed is far more comfortable to sleep on than the floor,” he said as he stood by the door, a smile on his face. “I’ve said it many times before, but why won’t you try it?”
“Are you both going to be here?”
“Looks like we are,” Kol nodded, carefully eyeing Myriam. “We merely want a place to hide for a while, Nik isn’t too happy with us at the moment.”
“We could play a game?” Bella suggested. “Or something else?”
“Darling, you don’t have to entertain us,” he said as he sat down on the sofa. “Go to bed.”
Bella felt that something was off, but couldn’t quite pinpoint what. “But you don’t like each other very much.”
“I promise I won’t punch him,” Myrian smiled at her. “We’ll play nice.”
They were trying too hard to get her to rest, and that was ridiculous. Bella wasn’t tired, even though it was dark outside. She was too excited about the perfect drawing she had made of Myriam and wondered where it was now. “You’re not hiding from Klaus,” Bella said as she sat down at her table and started a new drawing. “But you are hiding something from me and until you tell me what that is, I’m not going to rest.”
“While I’d usually applaud a positive change in behaviour, now is not the time to be sassy,” Myriam scolded her.
“Then tell me what the fuck is going on!” Bella blurted as she snapped her pencil. “You two don’t like each other. This is the longest amount of time Kol has spent in this room for a couple of days now as I’ve probably done something wrong and he dislikes me now. You’re hiding something from me and if you’re not going to tell me, I’ll break my way into your heads and get the truth out anyway.”
He had not expected this behavior from her, she actually sounded like quite the villainess. And used ‘fuck’ in the right context. “Bella, calm down, darling.” Was it true? Had the sentence been a trigger to unlock Bella’s true mind or something?
“I am calm. But I’m done with not knowing things because you think I won’t understand. Tell me anyway.”
“We’re here just out of precaution, darling,” Kol finally admitted, earning him a dirty look from Myriam. “It’s very well possible that that Italian phrase was a trigger of some sort, a mental trigger. Trained into you, tucked away.”
“So you’re afraid,” Bella said after giving it some thought. “Of me. Just like they were. D-Do you think I like being able to read minds? Or turn minds into jelly? Feel emotions but not being able to make sense of them? To become a shield or a container is somewhat better because at least it doesn’t hurt anyone. If there was a trigger, I would have been triggered. You’re making me sad and I don’t want to be sad.”
It hurt that the two people Bella thought were deserving of her kindness were still afraid of her. Hadn’t she proved that she would never deliberately try to hurt someone? All the things they had said in the time she’d been away from home had been lies. She didn’t deserve this confinement, she didn’t deserve the pencils or the food. Monsters didn’t have nice things. Myriam and Kol deserved better than a monster.
She opened the door and threw up a shield to push away anyone who was going to attempt of getting close. Bella was going home. Edward had come to her in a dream and he had told her where he was, that he wanted her to come back. And, at first, Bella had rejected him, because he had hurt her and had left her behind, but she was better off with him and the Cullens. While they were afraid of her, they knew what to do to make sure she was safe for everyone.
She was strong now, she wasn’t going to be stopped. She was going home.
“Where are you going?” Myriam asked playfully as she walked behind Bella, feeling the edges of her shield, for now playing along with Bella’s little escape. It was in the middle of the night, people were still in the streets and were being pushed aside as Bella passed them with her shield.
“Go away,” Bella said as she continued to walk. Edward said he’d be at the big bridge that went over the water and with a little luck she would find it. Still, walking down the street was quite scary, even with her shield up. ‘Be a good girl and keep walking.’ She couldn’t believe that Myriam, her sister, was afraid of her. Hadn’t she been looking for Bella all this time? She even said that she was able to make Bella safe to be around.
Bella didn’t need to be safe to be around. She had excellent control over her telepathy. She hated it. She hated it so much. She hated it that she could hurt people. She was a monster and she needed to be put away. “I’m a good girl.”
Myriam huffed as she pushed her hands in her pockets and continued to walk behind her sister. “Good girls don’t walk away from their home.”
“It’s not my home. I’ve tried. Everyone’s afraid of me, treats me as if I’m an idiot and I don’t want to feel anymore,” Bella said, picking up the pace as she crossed Jackson Square. The water was there, all she needed now was to find the bridge with Edward on it. “I-I am going home now. Doctor Carlisle will fix me and it’ll be okay. No more feelings. No more thoughts.”
She sucked in a breath as she tried to come up with a response. “Bella, you’re broken to them now,” she eventually said. “Freya’s magic and potions have cleansed your body from the magic the Cullens had you on, the potions, the herbs. You’re starting to come into your own personality, you’re using your words intelligently, you’re voicing your thoughts. You’re of no use to them now, just imagine what the Cullens will do to you to get you back to where you were.”
“I welcome it,” Bella said proudly. “Because I’m a good girl. I’m a monster. I deserve this.”
“They might not even try to get you back to where you were, they might just end up destroying you for being even more defective,” Myriam pointed out. “You know what they thought of you, you heard their thoughts. Their voices.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Well, I do,” Myriam huffed. “I don’t want them to destroy you for who you are and what you can do. Or because they don’t want to fix you, because you’re my sister and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Easy for you to say,” Bella huffed. “You’re immortal. I still die.”
“Not if you turn, too. You don’t have to become a Cold One, you can ask Kol to turn you. With traditionals, magic won’t transfer with us. You could be free. You could still live a happy and healthy life.”
“Don’t you get it?” Bella cried out. “I’m tired. I’m so tired of everything. I’m tired of not being good enough. I’m tired of being a danger. I’m tired of needing to learn everything. I don’t want to be a burden, nor that people fear me. I’m tired of people not trusting me, that I’m not going to abuse my ability to hear their inner thoughts. The Mikaelsons made it clear I needed to stay out, and I am. I can be trusted. I’m a good girl! If Edward doesn’t want to fix me and destroy me instead, then I welcome it.”
Myriam wasn’t sure if this behaviour was because of the so-called ‘trigger’, or that Bella had been hiding her progress from them all. From the sounds of it, she was hitting puberty. She was a fast learner, and Myriam couldn’t be more proud. But to hear that her sister was aching for a release, to make sure she wouldn’t be a danger to everyone around her, hurt. She wasn’t going to let go of Bella, she would never do that.
Myriam knew that Kol, and likely Klaus, were right on their tail but out of sight. It was a relief that she wasn’t alone, but she was grateful that they did recognize that they’d only make things worse for this situation if they’d come in and try to talk Bella out of this. She caught a whiff of Freya, and looking over her shoulder, she saw the blonde witch, waving sheepishly.
Bella stilled then, when they came across a bridge. It was the same bridge from her dreams and she could sense Edward already, even though she shouldn’t, he was too far away for her to sense him. It was getting worse. Her curse was getting worse. She knew that she was out of his range, and rethought her options. She couldn’t go back. The Mikaelsons were good people and Bella was a danger to them. Kol didn’t even like her that much anymore and if it hadn’t been for Myriam, she would have been alone.
Kindness was a nice way of living, but it wasn’t for her. She didn’t deserve it. It was time to go home. “Before I walk further, can you explain to me why Kol hasn’t been around much? I know he’s been in his room a lot.”
“Why should I tell you? If you’re going back to the Cullens it’s not important,” Myriam said angrily. “If you want an answer to that question, you’re going to forget about the Cullens and come back with me so you can ask Kol yourself.”
She’s taking her time. Perhaps her sister is with her. Good, then this will be easy. Give the command, and it’s over. And then we’re going after those traditionals that have been harboring them and pluck them raw. They need to pay for the losses we’ve had in the last few weeks because of them. Pay for corrupting the girl to the point where fixing is not an option, even Carlisle thinks that it’ll be brutal if they tried. Not for the girl, but for them. The Volturi are well angry and if we don’t kill these traditionals, then the Volturi will kill us, and then them. Figure out where Bella’s sister has been all this time and kill those responsible.
And then, only then, we can start rebuilding. Restart with a new set of humans desperate for money and a child. Where the fuck is she? I can’t cross this bridge even further without alerting the traditionals! ‘Where are you?’
Bella couldn’t believe what she heard and saw in Edward’s head. Death. A lot of it. Myriam’s death. Kol’s death. Everyone’s death or extremely hurt. It was ugly. She had seen a lot of ugliness in his head before, but it had been her life then. Now that she knew better… Even if she would go back to him, everyone would be dead. But she couldn’t stay, either. Turning back to her sister, there was something akin to fear in her eyes. “What’s your opinion about the Mikaelsons? The truth and not holding anything back. Tell me about Kol,” Bella said as she lowered her shield to allow Myriam in. “Are they truly better? Good? The way people are supposed to be?”
“I told you, you can come back and ask them yourself.”
“No, I want to hear it from you,” Bella said as she grabbed hold of her sister’s shirt. Tightly. “Tell me. Make me understand. Quickly.”
Myriam was taken aback, blinking. “Um, I suppose. Definitely, infinitely better than the Cullens. They love and see one another as a family and will defend against anyone that comes after them or anyone they consider family. As far as Kol… he’s conflicted how he feels about you. He feels more than he should knowing that you aren’t ready for the kind of relationship he’d like which is why he avoids you. That’s why he needed to tell you that himself and he should still if you come back with me.”
“It’s because I’m not normal, is it?”
“None of us are normal. Jasper made me not trust any man, Bella,” she pointed out.
“But you trust Klaus, don’t you? You’re mean to him, but I don’t think you truly mean it.”
“If I trusted him, I don’t think I would push him away like I do. Not like that,” she sighed, looking towards the bridge in desperation.
“But can you trust him in taking care of you? And me? Like he has?”
Turning to look her in the eyes, Myriam nodded. “I do, yes,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t hurt us.”
“And whatever comes our way – soon – he will make sure you’re safe, right?”
She narrowed her eyes on her sister, concern growing. “Bella? What do you hear? We will make it out of this together. You hear me?”
“Even if I’d go back to Edward, he won’t stop until he gets to you, and the Mikaelsons and your parents…” she whispered. “He’s scaring me with his thoughts. These thoughts usually come from Emmett.”
“Then you are not going back. We will fight them together,” Myriam grabbed her sister’s shoulders. “We will do this as a family. Don’t listen to him unless you can hear something that can help us against them.”
“I think that answer is me…” Bella said as she looked at her sister. “They are all here. The Cullens. Somewhere in New Orleans. Edward wants to give me the command and get it over with… what if he does that in a confined area for them? I could hurt them.”
“What do you mean?”
Bella sighed as she looked over her shoulder towards the bridge. “Because you and Kol are right, apparently. There is a hidden trigger for me to go nuclear, and not just like… scramble brains. Kill.”
“Nope, not going to happen,” Myriam said as she turned her sister back to face her. “Let’s go back to the compound where we’re safe and talk some more.”
Shit. Fuck. How did they know I was here? I can’t wait longer. You know what? Fuck it. Fuck New Orleans. Fuck Carlisle and fuck the Volturi. ‘Bella.’
“He’s getting impatient, you need to go,” Bella said scared. “Make sure that these people in these houses are gone. He’s going to think it. He’s—”
‘La Cantata si libera.’
Bella stumbled back and fell on the floor, clutching her head, closing her eyes as she tried to stop it. “You need to go, please,” she cried. “I can’t stop it. I— my head hurts so bad… people are going to die, Myriam!”
“Absolutely not,” Myriam said as she sat down next to Bella and put her arms around her. “I’m staying, because nothing is going to happen to those people here, remember?”
Bella was crying as pain shot through her head and looked at Myriam. “You want to test that theory now?”
“This information comes from Peter himself. Absorb and deflect. I trust Peter, we can make sure the people of New Orleans don’t get hurt, just let yourself go. It’s okay. I’m here.” Myriam kissed Bella’s temple. Oh, she was scared shitless. It was an unproven theory but a sound one. But they wouldn’t know what would happen until it actually happened. She could feel Bella’s energy vibrate underneath her skin as she was holding her. “What did he unlock?”
“Everything,” Bella said in a small voice, holding onto her sister. “So much power… it hurts. It hurts so bad…”
“Let it all go, it’ll be alright,” Myriam comforted her. “You won’t hurt anyone, I promise.” She could feel how Bella was still fighting it, and she applauded her sister’s stubbornness but now was likely not the time. “Stop hurting yourself. Let it go. Allow Edward’s last act to make you whole so you can live a beautiful life.”
“How’d you—”
“Just a guess,” Myriam kissed Bella’s head again. “Go on then, give me all you’ve got.”
“It hurts…”
“It’ll be okay,” she whispered as she held onto Bella even tighter. When Bella couldn’t hold it anymore, she didn’t hold back. Myriam could feel Bella’s gift bounce between them as Myriam’s gift worked. Deflect and absorb, until there was nothing left to deflect and absorb. Myriam could feel it underneath her skin, inside her mind, Bella kept crying out in pain as her gift kept bouncing between them.
When both girls collapsed, Kol and Klaus made their way over to them to make sure that they were still breathing, at least. They had heard the conversation between the girls and had quietly discussed to let Edward go, for now. To let him come to them and kill them all. Bella was still breathing but unconscious, and Myriam was unconscious, but still in one piece. “Well,” Klaus said a bit lightheartedly. “At least we now know that her sister can knock her out.”
“It’s not funny, Nik,” Kol said as he scooped up Bella. “Freya, get Keelin, Bella needs to be checked over,” he told his sister who was hiding somewhere close.
Klaus lifted Myriam in his arms after tying a part of his shirt around her leaking arm. “She needs rest to recover, she’s leaking venom,” he said as he started to run home with her.
Freya was on the phone to Keelin as Kol started to walk towards her with Bella in his arms. “Yeah, great, Nik. There are Cold Ones just over that water and you’re leaving your sister all by herself, well done,” he said sarcastically to no one in particular, but causing Freya to snort.
“Brother, I can take care of myself. Take her home, Keelin will arrive shortly, I won’t be long, either.”
“No,” he said as he continued to walk as she started walking. “You reckon I should feed Bella my blood?”
“Let’s have Keelin check her out first,” Freya smiled at him, gently putting a hand on his arm. “And then, I’ll do a magical check up.”
“It sounded to me that this should have destroyed her on her own.”
“Yeah, and it likely would have, if it hadn’t been for Myriam,” she replied as they continued to walk. “But I don’t think you’ll have to worry about this happening again, but let’s not assume that and figure it out first, okay?”
By the time they got home, Keelin was already waiting for them. Kol carefully placed Bella onto her bed and gave Keelin the space to check her over, quickly running to the bridge so see if that fucker of an Edward was still there, but he was long gone, the sun was coming up. When he returned, Keelin was done with her assessment and Freya was now magically checking Bella over, a small smile on her face. “Well?”
“Magically, she’s clean. There are no blockages anymore, nothing to hold her back. She might have some issues with her abilities, they’re far stronger than previously. She’s a naturally gifted witch, very strong with her mental abilities, not sure if she’s actually able to perform magic, seeing as that needs focus, and I can’t see her doing that as she’ll need her focus to control her abilities.”
“Medically, she’s also clean as a whistle. It’s almost as if her episode released her from everything that was holding her back. However, she does have a severe concussion and that needs to heal.”
“So I can give her my blood?”
Freya and Keelin looked at each other for a moment and then shrugged. “I can’t see why not, it’ll certainly save her from some pain when she wakes,” Keelin said as she packed up her things. “Now, I can’t actually medically check out your Cold One, but I do think that Freya should check her over to see if she’s alright.”
“Already on it,” Freya smiled as she kissed Keelin. “Stay for breakfast?”
“Yeah, sure, I have about three hours before my shift starts,” Keelin smiled at her. “Go check out the other one.”
“Daddy?” Hope yawned as she walked into his bedroom, Myriam on his bed, still unconscious. “What was that big wave? I mean, it was a wave of nothingness, but what was that?”
Klaus smiled as his daughter and kissed her good morning. “Bella threw a little temper tantrum, that’s all, sweetheart. Myriam was there to make sure nobody got hurt.”
“But she’s hurt,” Hope said as she walked over to the Cold One. “Cold Ones don’t sleep,” she said as she carefully removed the temporary bandage on Myriam’s arm. “And she’s not healing. She’s cracking like an egg.”
“Is she?” Freya said as she walked in and rushed over to the vampire. “Yep,” she confirmed what Hope had said before she started to magically check her over. “Her Cold One makeup has received a massive blow thanks to Bella going nuclear and Myriam’s ability to deflect and absorb Bella’s gift… did she know that doing just that was going to kill her?”
“Kill her?” Klaus blinked.
Freya nodded and sighed. “Apparently, Bella’s — whatever that was, was strong enough to vibrate every single cell in Myriam’s body. Just envision every single cell with the a major concussion and broken legs. They’re not keeping her together anymore.”
“There must be something you can do!” Klaus sounded desperate, for him and for Bella. “She just found her sister, she can’t die! What will that do to Bella?”
“I’m sorry, Niklaus… I don’t know how we can help her…”
“I can,” Hope said full of confidence. “I mean, we can. Her shell might be cracking, but there’s human skin underneath it, still. Almost as if she was never fully turned, or if she had a second skin or something,” she said as she sat down on the bed and looked at Freya. “We can strip her from her being a Cold One.”
“That will kill her.”
“Yes, but if dad’s fast and times it right, he can get his blood inside of Myriam and turn her into a normal vampire,” Hope pointed out.
“Oh, like a thorough cleanse? Hope, that will take us a lot of magic, and I’m not even sure you should be knowing this kind of magic, kid.”
“Do we even know she wants to stay around?” Klaus wondered out loud. “No offense, but it sure looked like she knew she was going to die when she helped Bella.”
“Niklaus, everything that Myriam’s done in the last few weeks is because of Bella. She wanted Bella to stay, to come back when she ran just now. She wants her sister. She needs her sister,” Freya said as she was already scribbling down the spell they would need. “And surely, you’d love to spend some time with this firecracker as well. If she’s a traditional, it should be easier for you to uh… make whoopie.”
“Oh please,” Hope huffed. “I know it’s called sex. I’m ten, not stupid.”
Freya snickered and nodded. “I know that, but your father might think you’re too young to know these things.”
“Aunt Caroline is giving us sexual education in school, informing us early so that we can be responsible when we do hit puberty,” she said wisely.
“Aunt Caroline and I will have to sit down for a chat soon,” Klaus murmured.
“But you should turn her, daddy. I like her. And I like Bella. They both deserve to live a better life, and and… you deserve some happiness too.”
Klaus smiled then. “Why won’t you get breakfast first, I’ll have to think about this for a moment.”
“You mean you have to call her father,” Hope giggled as she walked out of the bedroom and headed downstairs. “Auntie Beks! Will you join me for breakfast?!”
“Are you sure it will work?” Klaus asked Freya, who only smiled at him for an answer. “So all you need is me to be fast enough with feeding her my blood.”
“Yes, a small window during the spell,” Freya replied. “I’ll join Hope and Rebekah for breakfast, Keelin is staying too. Don’t take too long to make up your mind, brother. We only have little time to ensure that she’ll live.”
