Chapter 10
Upon seeing the dumbfounded looks on the faces of everyone gathered around the table, Peter sighed and held up his hands. “Imagine these hands representing Bella and Myriam. They’re twins. Despite the two very different lives they have lead up until Bella’s arrival here, they were always like this,” he interlocked his fingers. “Twins have this rare connection, that’s scientifically proven by actual humans, by the way. With Carlisle’s treatment of their embryos, the bond only strengthened. Myriam was the one who could avoid all of Bella’s powers, including her shield ability. Perhaps not her mental intrusion, but all the physical attacks or abilities, yes. She was created as a safety, incase Bella wouldn’t be able to be controlled. Bella, in her own special way, was created as a counterbalance for Myriam. To even out the anger, the strength, Myriam would possess.”
It was a lightbulb moment for Freya. “Of course!” She exclaimed before slapping her forehead with her flat hand. “How could we have missed this? It’s the simplest explanation and the simplest solution!”
“To be fair, you’ve missed this because you’re used to things being extremely complicated,” Peter had a flat expression on his face, hating it that he had to force feed them the information that had already been available to them.
“With Bella reverting back to being a human, all of her meddled DNA changed back to the way it was in the womb, no years long messing with the body and mind, just the 9 months of manipulation,” Freya started to explain to her siblings, being rather excited about it. “The same happened to Myriam, Bella shattered her Cold One physique, her DNA had already been altered by turning into a Cold One in the first place, but Bella shattered her shell. We had to use magic to save Myriam and make her our kind of vampire. She became a tribrid instead, so everything is out of whack for their so-called Twin connection. The problem here is that Bella is still human and out of sync with her sister, she lost her balance.”
“Please explain Myriam’s new connection, Freya,” Peter leaned against the table as he stood next to the witch, at least someone had a brain around this place. “It’ll also explain her instability and additional mood swings.”
Freya then blinked at him. “Sorry?”
Forget his earlier compliment on the woman. No brains. Sighing, Peter retrieved a stake from his inside pocket and drove it through Myriam’s heart.
“NO! Are you insane!?” Klaus bellowed as he threw Peter away and pulled Myriam into his arms, unsure of how to hold her for fear of her falling apart to his touch. “Why would you kill the girl you claim to be your daughter?!”
Peter dusted himself off and sauntered back, taking his time as he whistled a tune he always had stuck in his head, saying nothing.
“Five…” Bella said softly, unsure where that need came from. “Four… Three… Two…”
Kol eyed Bella curiously before blinking in recognition, drawing in a breath. Standing in surprise, he glanced at Elijah and Rebekah who shared equal bewilderment as they too turned to watch Klaus and Myriam. Their brother was not paying attention to them, too distraught by the incapacitated girl in his arms to understand what truly had been done by the spell. “Nik…” Kol warned.
When Bella reached zero, Myriam’s eyes fluttered before she angrily pulled the stake out of her heart and threw it at Peter, who expertly caught it. “Fucker!” she yelled at him. “How dare you scare me like that!” She got to her feet and pushed Klaus off of her before she set herself off with her feet and launched herself at Peter. She was going to rip his head off.
Peter, of course, caught his daughter and pulled her hands behind her back as he twisted her around. “None of that, kitten,” he told her before looking at the Mikaelsons. “Your little spell has not only linked Myriam to Klaus, but also to his daughter, seeing as you lot thought it was a brilliant idea to use her blood to stabilize the transformation. Nothing wrong with that, I’m grateful that you’ve made my daughter invincible like yourself, but the connection is wrong. So, now you know. There’s a wrong connection for Myriam and no connection for Bella, how are you going to fix that?”
Myriam was connected to Hope. That explained why Hope was having so many temper tantrums and drove her mother up the wall, as even leaving New Orleans didn’t work. “We need to remove the connection to Hope,” Klaus said determined.
“Do that, and your spell will lose merit and Myriam will die. I’m sorry, but that spell of yours made your life a lot harder,” Peter said as he released his angry daughter. “The connection doesn’t hurt your daughter’s life. If anything, it makes her feel like a normal teenager. Teenagers are supposed to rage and rage and rage, drive their parents batty. No, the solution is to make Bella immortal and re-establish the connection with her sister.”
“Turning Bella is not an option, we’ve already established that. Her gifts have the potential to become worse, as it has happened with Myriam,” Kol said as he put his arms around Bella. “On top of that, she really doesn’t want to be a vampire.”
“She doesn’t have to be,” Freya realized, but there was hesitation in her voice. “There is a solution, but it’s not something to be taken lightly. I can re-establish her link with Myriam with no problem, I’ll even link her to Hope to give her a sense of balance, but the solution to her immortality is something… I had to endure… and Klaus knows exactly what I’m talking about, although he volunteered and I never did.”
“Dahlia’s spell,” Klaus replied as he put his arms around Myriam after Peter had released her. “But that will endanger anyone who’s linked to her. Kill her, kill the person who she’s linked with.”
“Not with a few adjustments, I’m well aware that it’s different in this case as Bella’s a human, but I think I can make it work so that she’ll become as indestructible as you and Myriam are. Without her having to turn. It’ll take me a few days to figure it out, but I can do it. As long as you have Hope here, or at least her blood that I can use to link Bella to Hope too.”
“No,” Bella shook her head. “No. No more messing with magic or making new connections. Just…”
“If we only link you to Myriam, Bella, you’ll get the full brunt of Myriam’s connection to Klaus. You think this morning was bad? Imagine being a third wheel in everything they do,” Freya explained.
“Then don’t. I’ll die eventually and Myriam will be fine.”
Klaus could feel Myriam tense up and kept his arms around her. “Excuse us,” he said politely as he directed Myriam towards her room, taking her out of the situation that had the potential to get really dangerous.
“Myriam doesn’t want you to die, Bella,” Rebekah said, also slightly hurt by Bella’s remark. “And neither do I. Nor Kol. Nor Freya or Nik. You’re a part of our family, we’re not letting you go.”
“I know that!” Bella said angrily. “But I’m fucking done with magic. With longevity. What guarantee is there that things will stabilize for me? I can imagine it will work wonders on Myriam, but I can’t see that happening for me. I fucking hate hearing everyone, every thought, feel everything. I don’t even know what my own feelings are most of the time and whatever I try, I can’t control it, so please, can you guarantee that everything that you’re proposing will actually fix this?!”
Kol was surprised by the firecracker in his arms, Bella didn’t do anger, but it was rolling off of her as if she was going to box fifty rounds against a puff of smoke. He understood where she was coming from, though. Everything.
“Can you?” Bella looked at Peter. “Since you know everything and shit, can you guarantee this? Because frankly, no matter how much I enjoy being around the family, it might be actually better to take me out of the whole equation, making life a lot easier for everyone.”
Peter eyed her, nodding after a moment. “If you are bonded to Myriam and Kol at the very least, yes. I don’t see the need for Klaus’ kid as you’d be connected to her through your sister. It’s a clean circle of blood that you all would be bound by that you shouldn’t need any aging spell either since traces of Myriam’s original Cold One change does remain within her and you’d also be linked to that. That is the only thing I can’t promise but your witch here can mix something up later.”
“To Kol? We can’t do that to him!”
“I think you should ask him if he’s willing to for you. You really shouldn’t take choices away from others if they want to do for you,” he scolded her. “After all, you just told your sister you wanted to die and leave her behind without consideration of her feelings,” he added the final on his way to go check on the girl and hybrid.
“Let’s do it,” Kol said, slightly hurt by Bella thinking he wouldn’t want her to be linked to him. If anything, he would be very happy because he wouldn’t lose her. When Bella looked at him, with fire in her eyes, he returned the look. “I know you feel like you’re cursed, especially now your gifts have amplified, but please stop wanting to die. It’s not the way out. You’re going to stay and fight. Remember your conversation with Myriam yesterday? You stay and you fight. Freya is going to link you to Myriam and to me, and you’re going to stay and fight. And there’ll be no discussion. I’m taking the choice away from you. You’re not fit to make choices at this point,” he said sternly before pointing at Myriam’s room. “And you’re going to apologize to your sister.”
Bella kept looking at him, not moving at all.
‘Now,’ Kol commanded, making her snap out of whatever she was feeling and raging about in her head, causing her to blink and slowly nod. She turned around and walked to Myriam’s room and Kol was right behind her. ‘You’re going to tell her you’re sorry and that you were scared, that’s all.’
Bella gingerly knocked on the door, and flinched when the door swung open, revealing Klaus. “Now’s not the time,” he told her. “Unless you do want to be dead, because your sister is about to kill you herself.”
“I only wanted to tell her how sorry I am and that I acted out of fear,” Bella said, barely a whisper. All of her anger gone, but it had been replaced by grief, sadness and fear. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“I know,” Klaus said gently as he looked over her to meet eyes with his brother. “However, words were said and repeated, and she’s currently not able to talk to you rationally. I am certain that once Myriam is able to, you two could have a supervised chat. For now, Kol’s going to tell Freya to go ahead with the preparation of the spells.”
Kol sighed. Of course. It only made sense. He and his siblings had hurt Klaus enough over the years, badly enough for their angry brother to hunt them down and try to kill them. Or box them for a very long time. He’d been on the receiving end of Klaus’ wrath for a lot of times, and if Myriam had reached this point, it was best to keep the human away from her sister. And it was certainly a story he needed to tell Bella. “Bella and I are going to have a good chat,” Kol told his brother. “She still doesn’t realize how certain words can sting or rip figurative hearts out and I have all the stories.”
Klaus nodded to his brother before looking at Bella again. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, your sister still loves you, she cares for you deeply. Only right now… she’s blinded by her pain.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again as she stumbled back against Kol as a wave of anger hit her, punching her in the gut. Myriam was hurt. Angry, but mostly hurt and fearful. Because of Bella. Klaus felt the same but less intense and the same feeling came off of Kol. When Klaus closed the door, she looked up at Kol. “Maybe you should be alone too?”
“Oh no,” Kol said as he took her hand and crossed the courtyard as he picked up a glass of blood. “You and I are going to have a chat, no matter how much it’ll hurt. Perhaps Rebekah could join us to tell her side of things?” He asked as he looked at his sister.
“Therapy time, joy,” she remarked before looking at Freya, who nodded and went upstairs, straight to work. Rebekah reluctantly joined Bella and Kol in Bella’s room for story time. All Rebekah wanted was to have Bella stop wanting to kill herself, it has been an issue for quite some time, and it was cowardly. She could understand Bella, as Bella likely felt there was no other way out, but there always was and there would always be.
Kol sat Bella down on the sofa and sat down next to her, Rebekah choose the chair opposite of them. “Now, you understand things better when you can actually see and feel things inside your mind, so how about both Beks and I open up about the parts we want to learn you about and you can ask questions instead?”
“You also said you found it hard to distinguish your own feelings from that of others,” Rebekah said calmly, crossing her legs over each other as she relaxed in her chair. “It’s easier to do that when you’ve experienced the full scope of emotions and feelings. And between me and Kol, you’ll get a crash course. You’ll also learn about the many times we’ve angered Nik up to the point of him wanting to kill us, just like your sister wants to do right now, and the reasons why.”
“Let’s tell you what it means to be a family and all the feelings involved when you’re a part of this one,” Kol smiled at Bella as he reassuringly squeezed her leg. “Go on then, find us.”
It wasn’t hard to find both Kol and Rebekah’s thoughts and feelings that belonged to what they were showing her. Family. Love. Always and Forever. Betrayal. Backstabbing. Klaus on a power kick. Klaus allowing fear to rule his anger. Kol and Rebekah allowed fear to do horrible things to ensure Klaus would go down. Then there were times where Klaus used his siblings against each other. Various Christmas balls, parties. Daggers in chests. But there were also good times where they lived harmoniously, until something would set someone off and it’d start all over again. An angry Klaus was a scary Klaus, Bella had figured as much as she hadn’t liked him in the beginning, but to see his anger in Kol and Rebekah’s minds, was horrifying. Much like Myriam was like now. Wanting to kill her own sibling for something she’d said and it didn’t sit well.
Bella saw a lot of similarities with the Cullens, though. Always bickering, not happy with each other’s actions, sabotaging… but the main difference is that the loyalty felt different. The Cullens were loyal out of sheer fear, the Mikaelsons actually felt love for each other, no matter the difficulties they were going through. They were always coming back together.
Things were different now, as Rebekah and Kol showed Bella progress to where they were now as a family. They had learned from the past, mended fences and actually liked being together. Klaus knew not to take everything literally and all the siblings had found their own little place in the world, and in their family. They actually lived harmoniously now, waiting for the next thing to blow all their good feelings to smithereens and ruin their lives again.
Bella still couldn’t get past the fact that they had all been so awful to each other, out of fear, out of anger. It was alright now, but she didn’t want this to happen between her and Myriam. Especially if Bella was going to be immortal for the sake of her sister, then this shouldn’t happen between them. She didn’t want it to happen.
If it would make Myriam feel better if Bella would become immortal and stick around, then Bella was going to do so. Cursed or not. Because Myriam had sacrificed herself to find and fight for Bella. It was the least Bella could do and she’d been such an ungrateful brat by being selfish.
She was sobbing by the time Rebekah closed her mind and Kol took it a little bit further by making Bella feel everything he felt for her. She was reeling of all the emotions and impressions, not sure if this was a punishment or if Kol and Rebekah were trying to make it clear to her that this is something normal between sibings, to love and hate each other. That there was no black and white, perhaps only in Bella’s case, who only disliked things when she should get angry about things.
Myriam was angry with Bella because Bella didn’t want to live eternally with her curse, which was selfish. It was only correct that Myriam was angry and that she wanted to kill Bella. But it wasn’t pure hate, merely out of love. And how Bella’s words had stung, so hurt. Bella had been a bad sister. She was going to do better.
Kol put his arms around her and pulled Bella in his lap. “It’s alright, darling,” he said soothingly. “This is what family is all about.”
“To kill each other?”
“Try to, at least,” he grinned. “At times. Especially as you’ve lived as long as we have. She truly loves you, Bella, she doesn’t want to be alone, much like you don’t want to be alone. You’re going to have to try harder. Fight harder. And watch your words a little, because words can hurt as much as physical attacks.”
She was still sobbing in his arms, no doubt she was still feeling everything and trying to deal with it all. “And I meant what I said, Bella, I want you with me forever. If Freya’s spell can link you and I together, and you with your sister, then we’ll get everything we need. We get you. And we get the both of you in balance,” he continued, softly caressing her back as he looked at Rebekah, who was simply smiling. “And you’ll continue to learn. You’ll make mistakes, but you will always know that you have a family. Not simply with your sister, but with us. You’re a Mikaelson. Always and forever.”
It had been a couple of days after Freya brought balance back into the sisters and bound Bella to Kol. Fortunately, Peter wasn’t around to prove that it worked, no doubt Bella would be traumatized by the experience of getting a stake through the heart. They had to wait with the spells until Myriam was somewhat calmed down, and Bella was making sure that her sister was fine, that she had everything she needed because she didn’t want them to become like the Cullens or like the Mikaelsons of the past.
Myriam had found her mental control quite easily after the bonding, and it had taken a day or two for Bella to truly master her abilities. She didn’t need to listen for Kol anymore to remain grounded, but just in case, she had made a slight connection of her own to his mind. He didn’t even realize it was there.
For Myriam it had been such a relief that she could stay in the present with her mind, and only using her abilities at will. Before the connection between her and her sister had been restored, she felt as if she was losing grip of reality at some point. And her relationship with Klaus was so much healthier now. She could truly focus on him, enjoy him in all of who he was, without her sister getting affected. Yes, another plus to all of this was that she was having Bella around for forever and her sister wouldn’t accidentally intrude on the private moments.
Bella was glad to be rid of the intrusive thoughts from the streets. The earworm songs. The random thoughts that didn’t make sense. She could still hear them, but she’d have to want it. And she didn’t want it. It wasn’t so bad now, Bella could actually function normally, something she hadn’t been able to do for so long, not even when she was with the Cullens. She was a normal human being who had control over her mental abilities that she previously saw as a curse. It was strange to have her mind to herself, and only have her own voice in it, but it was a blessing. Her own emotions, however, were strange. Foreign. For the first time, she could identify them properly and they weren’t making sense most of the time. Or did they?
It was hard to get a read on people when she didn’t actually read them. What were they thinking? How were they feeling? Would they still think Bella was stupid for asking questions or did they find her annoying? Did she have to get out of their way? With her mental abilities under control, she realized her social skills were severely lacking, and with everything going so well at the moment, she didn’t want to bother anyone. She usually sat in her room or in the courtyard, drawing. That way she didn’t have to be social much.
Bella loved her sister, but she was scared of her too. Bella was scared to do something wrong again and have her sister freak out again. Bella was also slightly afraid of Klaus, mainly because of her initial assessment when she first met him, but also due to Kol and Rebekah’s experiences with him. Elijah was a mystery to her, she didn’t know what to think of him. And then there was Kol.
Whenever she was around him, she could feel her heart beat faster. Her skin warming up. Whenever he touched her, her skin tingled in all the right places. Kissing him was an amazing experience. Whenever Kol spoke, she felt butterflies in her stomach and he made her giggle by merely saying random stuff that didn’t make sense. Being with him was easy and comfortable, but she also knew that she couldn’t hog him, because now that things had calmed down for the sisters, the focus was back on the Cold Ones and protecting the family.
Bella and Myriam were part of the family now. Bella had learned through Kol and Rebekah that despite the long history the family had of fights, anger, fear and trust issues, that they fought together for a common goal. To protect the family, no matter the costs. And Bella knew that she and Myriam would do the same, if their heart wouldn’t be ruled by fear.
It was a nice Saturday morning when Bella awoke because she felt something on her bed, Kol wasn’t there, he hadn’t been sleeping and had left her alone, so she wondered what it was. Blinking, she was surprised to find a fox on her bed, looking at her in fear for a moment after getting caught, before burrowing itself underneath the blankets and making itself comfortable.
There weren’t any foxes in New Orleans, at least not that Bella knew of. She ducked underneath the covers and carefully felt around for the fox, curious if she was dreaming or if it was still there and she was surprised that it was – and surprisingly friendly, too. The fox sighed and touched Bella’s hand with its nose and Bella snickered, before making herself comfortable underneath the blankets too. “Okay, I’ll play,” she said softly before yawning. “You can share my bed with me, but only if I can draw you later, deal?”
The fox let out a noise that resembled a snort and crawled closer to Bella.
Something told Bella that this wasn’t an ordinary fox. “Did someone turn you into a fox, little fox?” She whispered. “A witch, maybe? There’s a witch here that could turn you back?” Bella then thought for a moment. If this wasn’t an ordinary fox, would she be able to pick up their thoughts? “Who are you?” she wondered as she tried to get into the animal’s mind.
‘Fucking finally. Now shut up, don’t let them find me.’
“Myriam?” Bella said surprised. She knew that her sister could turn into other people, but into animals? “What happened? Are you okay?” There was a bit of fear behind Myriam’s thoughts and that worried Bella. She pulled her sister closer. “Did you get hurt?”
‘Shhh!’
‘Right, sorry.’
‘I hid in the basement for hours before I felt brave enough to run to you, please stay with me here. I’m not hurt.’
Her sister was too scared still to talk about it and Bella nodded as she made herself more comfortable underneath the blankets, careful not to squish her sister. ‘If you do want to talk about it…’
‘No.’
‘Okay,’ Bella sighed as she closed her eyes again, only to be awakened by Kol poking her in the back. “I’m awake.”
“Lovely little fortress you have there, can I join?” Kol quipped as he watched Bella emerge from underneath the blankets, carefully as not to move the blankets. “You haven’t seen Myriam by chance, have you?”
“No, I haven’t seen Myriam,” Bella said truthfully as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “What’s going on?”
Kol sighed as he sat down on the bed. “Remember I told you about Elijah? How he looks as if he’s the most stable vampire out of all of us but isn’t?”
“Bigger monster than you and Klaus combined,” Bella nodded.
“He gets these night terrors. Sometimes it cracks open that red door of his and those terrors get worse. He starts sleepwalking. And guess who was awake last night during one of his episodes?”
“Oh, no,” Bella said as she crawled into his lap. “He didn’t hurt her, did he?”
“I think that she hadn’t expected him to be the way that he was, it took Nik and myself to get our brother away from her and it was then that she vanished,” Kol tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as he gazed into her eyes. “Nik is beside himself, can you… maybe… you know, look for her in your own special way? We found a heap of her clothes in the dungeons, Nik suspects she’s turned into a wolf and ran out.”
“Are you sure? Myriam seems not like the type to get scared easily, seeing as she went after Cold Ones and all…” Bella replied, as she pretended to think about his request.
“Elijah can be scarier, trust me,” Kol let out a slight snort. “Mother did a real number on him and he’s still reeling from it after all those years. In all honesty, Elijah is sorry for his actions and wishes to apologize to Myriam and if Nik doesn’t find her soon, he might go on a murderous rampage.”
“I’ll see what I can do… but I’d rather not use my abilities to find her,” she said as she climbed off of him, still sensing Myriam underneath her covers as she hadn’t moved. “Let me get dressed, I’ll come help look for her in a few minutes.”
Kol eyed his girlfriend, curiously. “You’re not worried, why aren’t you worried?”
“Because Myriam is a big girl and she can totally get herself out of trouble,” Bella said confidently. “I’m sure she’s fine, but I’ll come look for her. Let me get dressed first.”
“What are you hiding?”
“Nothing,” Bella smiled at him as she got off the bed and started to get dressed. “I’ll be right out, I promise,” she said as she pulled him off the bed and kissed him before directing him towards the door.
“Bella, what—”
She closed the door on him and quickly got dressed before grabbing a robe and peeked underneath her covers. “If you allow Elijah to apologize to him, you can make the rest of his day miserable as revenge. I don’t know, pee on his bed.”
‘Already done and I can’t believe you thought of that.’
Bella shrugged as she grabbed her sister and rolled her into the robe, cradling her like a baby. “You’ve been like this for hours and you’ve never told anyone you can be an animal now?”
‘I think I’m stuck,’ Myriam said as she wiggled around in the robe, but Bella made sure she had nowhere to go. ‘As in, I can’t turn back.’
“Sure you can,” Bella said encouragingly as she scratched her sister behind her ear. “You’re ridiculously cute like this.”
‘I am not cute!’ Myriam huffed.
Bella opened the door to the courtyard and grinned. “I would love to keep you as a pet, you’re house trained, you’re quiet, you’re cute…” She said as she scratched her sister behind her ear again. “Look at those ears!”
Klaus looked at Bella as she came out of her room carrying some sort of package, and was being all lovey dovey with it. “Bella, your sister is missing, now is not the time to play with a rodent!” he said slightly annoyed. He thought she was better, but this was insanity. Had she truly wrapped up some creature in her robe as if it was something precious?
Bella looked at him before narrowing her eyes on Elijah. “Ever thought about having one of your siblings locking your door from the outside? Oh, never mind, you’re a vampire, you’d burst through it anyway,” she said before looking back at the fox in her arms, still scratching behind her ears. “Could someone snap his neck please? He’s scaring this cutie.”
Kol scratched himself behind the head as he looked at his girlfriend. Had she truly lost all of her marbles during the night? “Bella…”
Bella blinked at him, before looking at the fox. “You’re right, they think I’m insane,” she let out a snort as she unwrapped the fox. “I didn’t find Myriam, she found me, look.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Klaus huffed as he crossed the space between them and took the fox out of Bella’s hands, holding it by the scruff of its neck. “You don’t get to see foxes that often in New Orleans, at least not in the city, but—” he then blinked when Myriam’s scent was all around the fox. “This is Myriam?” The fox hissed and snapped at him, trying to scratch him as she wasn’t comfortable at all.
Bella nodded. “She’s been like that for hours, she says. And she doesn’t know how to get back to her normal self, although I think she secretly likes being a fox. Oh, and she definitely does not like to be held like that so you’d better be gentle,” she said as she took Myriam back and held her like you’d hold a cat. “Like this,” she said before handing her sister back to the hybrid.
“Why didn’t she change into a wolf, she’s a hybrid, isn’t she?” Kol wondered. “I mean, I think I understand why she changed into a fox, but… she’s a werewolf!”
Bella shrugged as she put her arms around his waist. “To use your own words; magic is fickle? She was able to transform into humans when she was a Cold One, maybe she retained that ability but now is only capable of turning into an animal because of her werewolf side?”
Kol opened his mouth to say something before closing it again immediately before he found the right words. “That’s… actually a pretty decent theory!”
“I am not stupid, you know,” Bella countered, slightly hurt before looking at Klaus. “I think you should take her up to your room and talk to her about Elijah,” she said as she pointed at the person in question, who still didn’t have his neck snapped. “Myriam still wants his neck snapped.”
“She can do that herself when she’s back to her normal self” Klaus said as he blinked when the fox – Myriam – nestled herself against his neck. “Enjoy your breakfast, Myriam and I will return shortly.”
She looked up at Kol before letting go of him and took a seat at the table. “I know you can’t do anything about your problems, Elijah, and I’m the last one to judge, but you scared my sister pretty bad, and she doesn’t scare easily. If I were strong enough, I would have punched you.”
“Duly noted, Miss Bella,” Elijah replied with a sigh as he sat down. “I am getting better, it’s merely a slow process.”
“I’m not the one you should talk to about that,” Bella reminded him as she pulled a stack of pancakes onto her plate. “But don’t scare my sister again, please.”
Kol smirked as he sat down next to her. “Maybe we should see if your mind reading abilities can be used to hurt people, as a defense mechanism, seeing as you don’t have your shield anymore.”
Bella nearly choked on her pancake as she looked at him. “Are you crazy? I’m happy that while I have this inconvenient ability to read minds, I’m not capable of hurting people anymore!”
Elijah took a deep breath. “As much as it pains me to say this, but Kol is right. I know you understand the troubles of having some mental issues, Bella, but your misdeeds while under duress are nothing compared to what I can do when I’m not in control. Your sister has her way of escaping. She can even protect herself. You, while now immortal, won’t be able to protect yourself from me and I could seriously hurt you.”
“I’m not going to try and hurt people.”
“You have a lot of control now, you don’t have to be afraid that you won’t be able to control yourself,” Kol said encouragingly.
“You don’t get it,” Bella said as she rolled up a pancake and got to her feet. “I don’t want to hurt people even if that means I get hurt. I’m nothing like my sister. I wasn’t made to be strong or agile or good with weapons. I-I don’t have magic, I can’t be a vampire. I don’t want to hurt people with my brain.”
“You don’t have to,” Freya said as she came onto the courtyard and pushed Bella back down in her seat before sitting down herself. “I’ve been looking into mindreaders, the real ones, like you. You can communicate with others inside your own brain, or in theirs, what if you can force them to go to sleep? You won’t be hurting them and you’ve already proven that your ability can get through the strongest of barriers. Yes, it’s still manipulation, but you won’t hurt them. Think about it, because in our family, you’re going to need at least something to protect yourself with. Against one of us, or our enemies.”
“No,” Bella said, shaking her head. “That would make me as bad as Jasper. He could control others through their emotions, make their emotion less or different.”
“Seriously, stop being a goody-two-shoes. You’re an extraordinary telempath. Mental Manipulation is a sub-power of telepathy. You previously used it as your shield, and to ‘accidentally’ scramble people’s brains, but your shield is no longer functional, so why not find a different way to use it? Play tricks on someone else’s mind. Like… put them to sleep. Or if someone is scaring you, get inside their mind and scare them back. It’s a good defense mechanism. It’s a little like compulsion in vampires, really. You’ll be able to have this superpower without having to turn!”
“And, who knows?” Kol smiled at her. “You might be able to help Elijah to close that blasted Red Door of his for once and for all, use it for good.”
“Because you’re holding back, Bella,” Freya smiled at her. “I know you are, and that’s alright, you’re afraid, but you don’t have to be.”
Oh, she had promised to be a good sport and not to say ‘no’ anymore, because the people around her knew better. She needed to trust that they knew better than she did because otherwise there would be fighting and Bella didn’t want that. She wouldn’t be complaining anymore. And she just had been. “Okay,” Bella said softly as she took a nibble of her pancake. “But I doubt I’ll get it working before the Cold Ones arrive.”
“That’s alright, darling,” Kol smiled and moved in to kiss her on her cheek. “We can still protect you, but it’d be good for you to be able to protect yourself, too.”
Bella nodded as she took a sip of her tea. They had faith in her. It was time she had some faith in herself, too.
