Chapter 12
She had been on planes before, but then completely numbed down as the Cullens had been afraid of her. But Bella absolutely enjoyed the trip to Rome, Italy. She loved seeing the clouds from above and she was glued to the window with her sketchpad. It was only when it got dark that she had to stop drawing and fell asleep against Kol.
“Oh, I can’t wait to go to our home in Rome,” Rebekah sighed happily. “The Italians taste so delicious! Must be their diet, surely.”
Myriam pouted. “I wish I could eat humans.”
“Oh, don’t worry, darling,” Rebekah smiled at her. “I’m sure Niklaus won’t mind gorging on pastas and garlic so you can have a taste… Oh, we can go shopping!”
“We’re here to kill the Volturi and the newborns and hopefully that will send a message to the rest of the Cold Ones who still are doing unspeakable things. If not, I’ll keep hunting them down,” Myriam countered as she pointed at her sleeping sister. “Who knows there might be more Bella’s hidden amongst them.” She then smiled at Klaus. “Of course, only when the intel is solid and when we have nothing else on our hands. Bella and I appreciate it a lot that you’re all willing to help out to cut off the head of the snake.”
Elijah took a sip of his bourbon as he contemplated on what he was going to say. “All nightmares need an ending and we’re in the position of ending one.”
~o.O.o~
They first went to their house in Rome. Kol, and especially Klaus, were certain that both Myriam and Bella were going to like it, as it had a view on the Coliseum and the Imperial Forum. The Mikaelsons owned the entire late 1800’s building, but the best sight was of course on the top floor, to be taken up there by a wonderful elevator. It was almost as if it was the New Orleans compound, but then more elegant with a welcoming entrance, a double living room with a fireplace, six bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, a large kitchen and a dining room. There were also two extra rooms, one completely fitted as a library, the other as an art studio. And, not to forget, the large balconies on both sides of the building were spacious and enjoyable.
They hadn’t been in their Rome home for years, but loyal staff kept the place spotless in case they’d drop by. The home was quite different from the home in New Orleans, but they had liked it when buying the properties all those years ago to make every home a comfortable place, yet different from what they owned; to stave off boredom for one, and also every country had its own charm.
Bella and Myriam were surprised and charmed by the beauty of the home and so was Kol, having missed so much during his time in his box. He had to admit that, so far, this was their best home yet. Granted, New Orleans was beautiful, but there were too many shitty memories attached to that city that he couldn’t enjoy it like he felt he could enjoy Rome. “Right!” Rebekah announced as she put both of her arms around the sisters. “Since we’re traveling light, we’re going to need some clothes, and that means, we’re going shopping. Now.”
They had agreed upon a few days of ‘downtime’ for everyone to get their rest, fighting Cold Ones was never easy, let alone an army of Newborns; they all needed their strength and be on their best. Being vampires, they wouldn’t have much issue with the time difference, but Bella might now that she was used to sleeping regularly in peace.
“But we just got here!” Bella objected as she looked at Kol for help. The last time she went shopping with her sister had been Walmart and that had been a disaster. She wasn’t keen on a repeat of that happening in a city that she didn’t know and didn’t speak the language.
“Yes,” Rebekah said as she blocked Bella’s view of Kol and smiled at her. “And we’ve been on a plane with my siblings for the last 10 hours or so and I’ve had enough of them for now. We’re going shopping. Let them work on their own affairs. Don’t worry, Bella, I’m not afraid of Nik so when your sister tries to do something that’ll make us look bad, I’ll hurt her,” Rebekah smiled at her before flashing a grin at Myriam. “I mean that. We’re not home. We’re in a different country and yes, we can compel people but not to ruin everyone’s day, got it?”
“It was just messing around in Walmart, in that pit of desperation, funny smells and incapable managers,” Myriam defended herself. “And it was fun. What happened at Walmart stays at Walmart, although I can’t unsee some of those questionable outfits…”
“We’re going to Piazza di Spagna,” Rebekah mused. “Gucci, Prada, Versace… Louis Vuitton… Jimmy Choo…”
“Ohh,” Myriam said, immediately perking up. “Let’s go!”
While Elijah got their affairs in order; getting a cook and extra servants for blood, Klaus retreated to his studio to sort through the art equipment he had there. Kol was hanging out in the library, finding a lot of grimoires that they could use in New Orleans, knowing that Freya would get a kick out of these. He also recognized a lot of the books as his own, thinking they’d been lost previously. He was annoyed that he found a book chronicling the lives of a Cold One tribe in Egypt, and he was going to show it to Myriam. There was no doubt in his mind that she’d find the book extremely interesting and would love to go after them.
Kol was worried about Bella being in Rome without him, but with her sister and his sister. Now, he trusted Rebekah in looking after her, of course, but he’d rather have wanted to tag along, just in case. He could have, if it hadn’t been for Rebekah’s death glare. Yeah, perhaps he was spending too much time with Bella, but he didn’t care. She was fun to spend time with, even when she was focused on drawing.
The girls had been gone for hours, and the cook had just finished cooking when they came back, Myriam carrying Bella in her arms, with not an amused look on her face. Bella looked even more bemused and in pain. “Before anyone is killing someone, let me explain,” Rebekah said as she walked in behind them with bags. “We had Bella try on some heels, she fell over and hurt her ankle and she made us return her to you. We weren’t allowed to give her our blood to heal her.”
Myriam set Bella down on a chair and scowled. “It’s just blood! Had she taken our blood, we would still be out there, having fun!”
“Well, you’re just in time for dinner,” Klaus said, amused as he put an arm around his girlfriend. “Did you have fun?”
“Of course,” Myriam huffed. “Shopping is always fun, especially when there are expensive stores around. We had fun until she fell over and made us go back. Like made us go back. Nice power and all, but to use it for a little thing as a hurt ankle?”
“I know, love,” Klaus said sweetly as he guided her to the dining room. “But I am glad that you had fun. You can go back shopping in the morning.”
Kol gently touched Bella’s ankle, noticing the swelling. At least it wasn’t broken. She winced and retracted her foot from his hand. “You should have allowed your sister to give you her blood,” he said as he looked at her, curious. “Why didn’t you?”
Bella shrugged for an answer.
“Are you going to allow me to give you my blood or are am I going to get the same treatment as our sisters?” He asked playfully before moving and softly kissing her. “No heels, huh?”
“No,” Bella shook her head. “No to the heels, yes to the blood please,” she smiled at him.
He grabbed an empty glass, bit his hand and poured some of his blood in it before handing it to Bella. “Did you have fun?”
“I still don’t understand the idea of buying clothes because of it being pretty and making you look pretty instead of it being useful, but they found me some pretty dresses.”
Kol laughed. “You’re going to fight Cold Ones in a pretty dress?”
Bella shrugged as she closed her eyes and drank the blood. Oh, he knew she hated it and she looked so cute trying not to taste it. “I’ll wear whatever, I could go naked.”
He took her now empty glass and pulled her up, giving her ankle some more time to heal as he brought her to the dining room. “You could, but I’m afraid that I can’t allow you to do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ll want to have sex with you while we’re trying to eliminate your nightmares,” he grinned as he set her down on the chair. “Which is fine, but not fair towards our family. We’re not going to slack off.”
“I don’t want to slack,” she replied as she felt Kol’s blood do its magic in her body and started to heal her ankle. “I want to put them all down, as much as I possibly can.”
“That’s the spirit!” Rebekah cheered as she raised her glass. “I’ll drink to that!”
~o.O.o~
Jetlag really set in for Bella the next day where she stayed in bed all day, drawing or sleeping and he took her into Rome the day after, and it was hard to keep his hands off of her as she wore a bright yellow Versace dress with ballerina’s underneath them to walk on. She still didn’t like shoes very much but the ballerina’s weren’t that bad to walk on.
He took her to Trevi Fountain, threw in a coin in the fountain to make a wish before going to the smaller fountain on the left to have a drink from it. Bella liked the idea of knowing that when lovers drank from that fountain, they’d be faithful to each other forever. She also loved the surroundings of the Fountain, as it was situated at the end of an aqueduct that had been constructed by the son-in-law of Emperor Augustus nearly two thousand years ago.
Kol quipped that he hardly came across things that were older than him, and he thought that Rome in particular was absolutely wonderful because of it. Through Bella, his own wonder and fascination got sparked, seeing things in a different, new and exciting way.
After that, they went Pincio Gardens for a nice stroll around the little lake, and saw most of the beautiful buildings of Rome while walking around. There were beautiful little cafés in the park where they sat down and enjoyed the sunshine while looking at the people passing by them. The pathways of the Gardens were lined with busts of famous nineteenth century Italians and Europeans, in various states of disrepair. Bella was enthralled by the water clock, finding it beautiful. She snapped some pictures of it and hoped she could draw it and made it so the water would appear to be flowing. She wanted to put more motion into her drawings.
He took her to the best restaurant in town. He didn’t need to impress her with fancy food, which was more of a Nik thing to do, anyway, and instead went to a family run restaurant which only seated about 50 people. The staff was very friendly, they had excellent, traditional Italian food and homemade bread. Bella absolutely loved it and she hated that her stomach was full, she wanted more of that food!
Nik announced when they got back to their home that they were going to go to Volterra the following day, and that Bella should get a nice rest from her day out and about – and that there was already a servant running her bath for her. Of course, Kol was more than welcome to join in, but Klaus also reminded him to go out and feed as they didn’t want to drain their servants and they weren’t going to stop on the way to Volterra unless the immortal human needed a pee break. After all, 4 hours in a car were quite hellish, although they didn’t have to hold themselves to the speed limit, especially not since they were going in two cars. Mini vans were so not stylish.
~o.O.o~
Bella was dressed to kill. Myriam and Rebekah had put her into a red dress, fixed her hair and she was wearing light makeup and bright red lips. Kol definitely didn’t want to share a car with Bella by himself; Rebekah had to join them so he would keep driving and keep his hands off of Bella. She was so fuckable. All three the girls looked stunning, and Rebekah explained to him in the car that it was so that the Volturi could see not to mess with beautiful women, they’d be the last thing they’d see before getting killed.
In the trunk of both cars were cases of Molotov Cocktails, which would make it easier to set fire to the Cold Ones, as they weren’t sure how many of them were in Volterra. Elijah believed it to be in the hundreds, if not thousands, as word spread around like wildfire that the Olympic Coven had been murdered and most of the Cold Ones in the United States, and they’d all come next. Klaus couldn’t wait to set fire to Volterra. He really wanted to level the entire ancient city so something new could be built on its ruins and hopefully something beautiful.
And, of course, with the explosives in the boot, they had to drive a bit more careful, and Kol didn’t like to stick to speed limits in a beautiful car. It made the trip to Volterra even more agonizing, especially since Bella wasn’t paying attention to the way she sat in her chair, constantly moving around as she stared out of the window, looking at their surroundings. Sitting on her knees, then back on her ass, back on her knees, much like a small child and while he liked her excitement, he wanted to fuck her mercilessly. Bend her over on the hood of the car.
It was then when Bella looked at him with a cheeky smile on her face. Oh, she knew. She knew what was going on in his mind and she was actually doing things on purpose, knowing how much he loved seeing her skin. “You’re so not being fair,” Kol laughed, shaking his head. He still allowed her inside his mind, as it gave them both a sense of security, but in this situation it was a dangerous thing, because he would pull the car over and snap his sister’s neck to have his way with his girlfriend. “Get out of my head, you minx.”
Bella pouted as she sat back down in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “I can still function after sex, you know. All I have to do is knock Rebekah out and then you can drive us somewhere safe and we can have sex the way you want us to.”
“You will do no such thing!” Rebekah objected. “Wait until we’re done! You can have your celebratory freedom sex afterwards!”
Bella sat still for a few minutes before she started to fidget with the hem of her dress. Just as Kol thought; the only reason she was thinking about sex was to keep her mind off of what they were going to do in Volterra. He found it endearing that she pretended to be brave in the last few days but now that they were actually going to do it, he could see that she was nervous. “Bella, you do know that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, right? We’re all a bunch of vampires and we’re armed with molotov cocktails to make things progress faster. If you don’t want to help, that’s okay too.”
“I do want to help,” she said quickly, still fidgeting with her dress. “But there will be many, and maybe the newborns won’t be all that bad, there are good Cold Ones too, like Myriam’s parents.”
“Trust me, ducky,” Rebekah said as she gently squeezed Bella’s shoulder. “Anyone who’s standing with the Volturi is an enemy. And yes, maybe the newborns didn’t choose to become a vampire, we’ve created pawns ourselves too back in the day, but it’s war. And now they’re standing with those who have treated you so wrong. They’re no longer human, it’s alright to get rid of them. Because if we don’t, they will come after you.”
“The best defense is a great offense,” Bella nodded, her voice barely audible as she looked out the window. “But still, you don’t have to do this, you’ve already done so much.”
“We’re family now, Bella, this is what you do when you’re a family. You fight for each other, with each other and between each other,” Rebekah replied as she saw her brother grip the wheel tightly in annoyance. Ah, so he didn’t like everything about Bella! Rebekah had truly believed that the girl couldn’t do wrong in Kol’s eyes. “Honestly, get it out of your head that you’re alone and that you don’t deserve a happy, loving life.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”
“And we don’t want you to get hurt, either. We’re doing this. As a family. End of.” Rebekah said as she slouched back on the backseat. “It’s been awhile since we’ve launched a big assault like this by ourselves, it’ll do us all good to stretch our fighting muscles and release some energy.”
“And when we’re done, we’ll find ourselves a beach with a great house and relax. Soak up the sun and no worries in the world,” Kol smiled at Bella. “And a lot of sex and nakedness.”
Bella hated it that Volterra was so beautiful. It was situated on top of a mountain with walls all around and the buildings were old, ancient. The streets weren’t paved with modern stones, either. She didn’t sense any human inside the city, either. It was filled with Cold Ones and she felt relieved, she had been afraid of human casualties. There was no way you could drive a car in Volterra, which meant they’d have to walk the next few kilometres and there was no doubt they’d get company on their way up.
They were greeted by a mass of Newborns who were ready to kill them as they walked through the gates to make their way up to the top, to the castle that held the Volturi. It only made sense they had the newborns recalled, as most of the Volturi Guard had been killed by them less than a week ago in New Orleans. Elijah muttered something along the lines of why they hadn’t surrendered already, knowing what could be in store for them.
Kol was happy with the challenge. All they needed was to cut the Cold Ones somewhere, or round them up, really, and throw a molotov cocktail at them. He and Rebekah were all for chaos and mayhem. And that was what it was, all the way to the top. Limbs flying everywhere, occasionally ducking out of the way for splattering of venom, buildings and Cold Ones set on fire, and everyone telling Bella to stop exhausting herself by forcing the Cold Ones to fight each other because they were going to need her on her best in the castle.
Myriam was having fun using her magic, doing the simple things such as pushing the Cold Ones back or breaking their necks off of their torso’s, much like Kol had told her to do. She didn’t want to change into an animal right now, it wasn’t necessary and her dress was too pretty. Like Bella, she was wearing a dress, black but with red accents to match her sister. Unlike her sister, Myriam could walk on high heels and her Jimmy Choo’s were extremely comfortable to walk on.
Halfway through the city, most of it was already burning, they stumbled upon a bakery that still had fresh pastries, telling Bella that the humans must have left quite recently. Myriam pushed something in Bella’s hands and told her to eat while they rounded up the next wave of Newborns and destroyed them. Klaus had already gotten hurt a little when the venom splattered on him and burned through his shirt, but he insisted that he was doing alright; it’d heal eventually.
When they got to the top of the city and the vampires were taking a breather, finishing their blood bags to heal up and watch the fire from their spot, Bella couldn’t help but to feel as if all of this was her fault. So many lives were lost. Granted, newborns were usually created to be destroyed within their first year if they were created for an army, but still, lives were lost. She had hurt so many newborns when she was still with the Cullens due to them being in close proximity to her when she had one of her meltdowns, but lives were lost.
It wasn’t as if they could be cuddled and loved, either. Newborns needed a leader and they were definitely loyal to the Volturi. And without most of the Volturi guard already gone, newborns were the last line of defense. And the Volturi created them, not Bella. But they were created because of her and what had happened after she had screwed up. Well, she screwed up, but her life was better now.
She needed to stop making excuses for them. The Volturi and 95% of the Cold Ones were evil and needed to be destroyed. Her sister had already done most of the destroying and there were likely some more Cold Ones around who did horrific things to humans and or children, but by destroying the Volturi they’d send a powerful message. And Bella was so ready to send that message.
The Volturi ensured that both her and her sister didn’t have a normal family. Her sister was raised by two loving Cold Ones, but Bella wasn’t. She had to miss out on the most important things. She was the reason some children were being kept around too. The Volturi exploited so many children, and perhaps a lot of adults as well and they needed to pay.
She could feel her hatred towards them bubble underneath her skin, itching to get out. She really wanted to destroy them, and it shocked her that she didn’t feel remorseful about it. It was bad to kill people, but The Volturi weren’t people. They were monsters. Not even the Mikaelsons had done horrific things to children like this while they could have, they were powerful enough. There were no redeeming qualities about the Volturi. None. Absolutely none.
All the Mikaelsons had admitted that they’d done some questionable things in the past, not as bad as hurting children, and they had turned over a new leaf. While they all didn’t believe that had redeemed their Karma, Bella believed that they were truly good people. Likely the best on this Earth. It took some time, but they changed. For the better.
The Volturi needed to pay. For all the lives that the Cold Ones had destroyed, either by turning them into vampires, newborns or by taking children, by manipulating children. The numbers ran in the thousands, perhaps even millions. All those lives. Hurt. Lost. Bella couldn’t stop the tears from flowing, and she quickly wiped them away with her hand.
“Are you alright, darling?” Kol asked as he put his arms around her, holding her tightly.
Bella nodded as she looked up to him with watery eyes. “I’m happy,” she replied. “After we’re done, everyone will be a lot safer. Children will be with their families and nobody will be turned to become a worthless army of throw-away vampires. No one will have to live through what I and so many others have lived through.”
He smiled at her then and lightly brushed her lips with hers. “You are ready to do some real damage?”
Bella nodded.
“Then I think we’re all ready to proceed to the castle’s doors,” he kissed the top of her head and put his arm around her as he looked at his siblings. “Aren’t we?”
“Let’s huff and puff this place to the ground,” Myriam said as she eagerly rubbed her hands before looping her arm through Bella’s free one. “I am so going to enjoy this. I always believed I needed a big army to take on the Volturi, but we are the army, Bella.”
“Hey, what about us? We’ve helped!” Rebekah objected, seemingly hurt.
“An army of six,” Myriam smirked at her. “That’s all we need. Granted… I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off as a Cold One. Despite everything, after a lot of loss and a lot of gain, I am grateful that Klaus decided to keep Bella in his dungeon after his daughter kidnapped her. If that hadn’t happened, we would have been in a completely different situation.”
“I will have to teach Hope that we don’t bring home strays and she certainly won’t go looking for trouble next time!” Klaus huffed.
“It’s a family trait, Nik, you brought home Marcel one day, didn’t you?” Kol teased him. “The only difference is is that everyone likes Bella, and Myriam. I’d say that your daughter has better taste than you.”
“That was different!”
“I don’t think so,” Elijah replied thoughtfully. He hadn’t spoken much and had instead focused on their upcoming battle and fighting the newborns. Their first battle with the newborns up to the castle had been cathartic. Every once in a while, he needed to feed his inner monster and it hungered for more. “Granted, Marcellus was only a boy, but he was unfairly treated, like Miss Bella, who, unfortunately suffered at the hands of immortal beings like ourselves…”
Bella opened the door to the castle. “Can we stop talking about this, please?” She ducked away when a wave of Newborns shot out of the open doors, looking at them with big eyes, surprised. “I should have thought about listening out for thoughts before I opened that door…” She eventually said when the vampires were taken care of. “Why didn’t I do that? I’m so sorry. It’s the one thing I can do and I failed at it.”
“It weren’t that many,” Kol said as he put his arm back around her and smiled. “We’re all still in one piece. Now, where do we go?”
“I-I don’t know,” Bella said as she peeked inside the main entrance from the door. “I haven’t been here before.” She looked around in the reception area, there was no one behind the desk and all the doors were closed. The castle was nothing but a converted and extended church, but the Volturi had left in most of the furbishes and glass panels. Coloured glass depicting stuff from Christianity. Wooden beams and sand-coloured walls.
If it weren’t for them being on a mission to kill the Cold Ones inside the building, Bella would have loved to take a few pictures on her phone so she could try to replicate it with her drawings. Listening for any random thought, it took her awhile to find one, there was no doubt that the Volturi had tried to teach the newborns to control their thoughts, but Bella was powerful. She could push and listen. She didn’t want to make the same mistake that she had done earlier, she’d been lazy. But there was more going on, maybe some magical protection. It took her a minute before she picked up on about a dozen behind a door, she pointed at it. “That way, but there might be magic involved, I should have easily picked up on them.”
“I thought the Volturi didn’t do magic?” Kol wondered out loud.
“The Volturi have very powerful wives who aren’t a part of the guard, it’s likely that they are now working hard to confuse some of us,” Elijah replied calmly, tugging on the sleeves of his shirt. He hated wrinkles.
“The wives go first then,” Klaus decided before he opened the door in one fell swoop and started to tear into the Cold Ones that were waiting for them. It was disappointing that this was another ‘waiting area’. It had been a long time since he and Elijah were at this castle; something he and his brother kept quiet because they weren’t proud of it. They were here centuries ago, after learning of this new breed of vampire and their curiosity got the better of them.
Their visit had been trivial. One time only. Nothing to feel guilty about towards the girls because there had been no indication of any of the Volturi’s projects. Then again, the Volturi were big on secrecy. And back in those days, the Mikaelsons didn’t particularly care about what was right or wrong, only survival. Upon learning that the Cold Ones were nearly indestructible and had a lot of means, they had tried to become allies with the Volturi for protection against Mikael, but even the Volturi didn’t want to dirty their hands on a ‘family dispute’.
The Volturi were likely too afraid that Mikael would eat through some of them, which was part of his and Elijah’s plan back then – give Mikael a distraction, but still. It had been a one time visit, because the Volturi and the Cold Ones were not the same as them. Elijah didn’t like them, and that’s saying something as Elijah liked nearly everyone with power. Klaus hadn’t liked them because they weren’t going to roll over easily. He didn’t like having allies that believed that they were better than the Mikaelsons. Why? Because they wouldn’t, and couldn’t, be controlled. Control was everything.
Yes, they had intended to use the Volturi for many things, and, in the end, they were going to use them for kindle.
After clearing this room, Klaus kicked down one of the other doors. Even if they had to go through the entire castle and clear it all, they were going to find the Volturi. They weren’t going to be delicate about it, as long as his family kept up with him, everything would be alright. Wronged things needed to be made right.
They tore through the castle for an hour or so, searching every nook and cranny before finally finding the Volturi hiding on the top floor, with their wives and another shield of newborns. According to Bella, these were newborns with gifts. It wasn’t going to be as easy as before despite all the strength, gifts and powers they shared amongst them.
However, the Volturi were more than happy to hide behind the redshirts, like the cowards that they were and when they were almost through the last line of defense, one of the Volturi, Bella remembered his name being Marcus, commanded everyone to stop, his voice echoing through the space that they were in. His voice sounded deep, loud and demanding, likely trying to regain some sense of control.
“Surely there’s a peaceful solution,” he said, half a smile on his face before looking over at the other two ‘kings’, one looking absolutely terrified and the other one only had entertainment washed over his face. He looked at Myriam then. “You must be the one who has been diminishing our numbers and destroying our facilities for the last few years when we all believed it to be your sister.”
Bella wasn’t interested in stopping. There was no peaceful solution and she could tell that they didn’t even want a peaceful solution, only their own survival. She searched the wives for any clues, but Dora was a normal wife belonging to the younger Volturi leader and Sulpicia – what kind of a name was that? – belonged to the terrified looking leader. There was a woman standing right next to them, who seemed to be their guard, and she was influencing the women right now. And the men, but mostly the women. Including another one of the female guard and that was one to be wary of.
Her name was Charmion, and she had her gift in almost everyone of the Volturi, linking them together. The one who spoke was tied to the terrified looking one, his loyalty burning with her gift and oh, it was so easy to get inside her mind and she was already trying to work on breaking the emotional bonds between the Mikaelsons, Bella could tell, and she was going to stop her. ‘I want you to kill the wives, then the other female and then yourself. I don’t care how, just do it.’ While slipping inside the vampire’s mind had been easy, telling her what to do was not, but Bella was strong. She could do this.
When Charmion finally relented, the terrified looking vampire looked even more ashen than he had been, and the younger one tried to stop this powerful vampire from doing what she was doing, but to no avail. The three women dropped like flies before Charmion cut herself and lit herself on fire. Bella couldn’t help but have a stupid grin on her face as she watched the spectacle.
“Bella, the man called for a cease,” Elijah chastised her playfully.
“I’m done listening to Cold Ones,” Bella muttered as she looked at the three Volturi leaders, looking like the pathetic creatures that they were. Without their power, they were nothing. Absolutely nothing. The guard had already been taken care of in New Orleans, Bella had now taken care of the wives, and surely the Volturi leaders had seen the slaughter of Newborns?
“Of course,” the terrified looking leader said, a faint smile dancing on his lips, a sparkle in his eyes, there was no doubt that he believed that he had a trick on his sleeve. “Bella Swan, the girl who we’ve had so much hope for and in the end, turned out to be a monster,” he said as he straightened himself up in a small act of bravery. “And you’re still a monster, look at all the dead Cold Ones because of you. And your sister. But mainly you.”
Aro. His name was Aro. This was the one who Carlisle Cullen spoke with, a lot. She didn’t respond to Aro’s words and instead had to take a step back to take Kol’s hand. He was getting angry.
“And the Mikaelsons. Didn’t you try to use us a few centuries ago to get rid of your father? A mere family dispute?” Aro was getting braver, he mistook Bella’s step back as retreat. “Didn’t we agree not to busy ourselves with each other’s businesses?”
“If that’s your attempt of creating doubt and suspicion into the girl’s minds, then may I suggest you try again? Myriam and Bella both know that we’ve done things in the past we weren’t proud of. Now, why are you so keen on trying to resolve things by talking? We were having so much fun destroying you all,” Kol replied, quite angry towards his siblings for not having told him about their encounter with the Cold Ones, but perhaps his brothers had good reason not to tell them. Now was not the time to doubt his brother’s motives or request that they’d explain themselves. “Let’s continue.”
Aro was surprised then when Myriam lunged forward and grabbed the younger Volturi leader, ripping off his head before kicking it around like a ball. “Oh, that was fun!” Myriam grinned.
“La Cantata si libera!” Aro squeaked when Kol was holding him by the throat. “La Cantata si libera!”
“Been there, done that…” Bella murmured as she spotted some swords hanging from the wall and headed over to grab one. “It’s an experience we all don’t want to go through again,” she added as she walked back, dragging the sword along with her. Not because she was lazy, but because it was heavier than she’d expected a sword to be. The steel blade scraped along the floor as Bella made her way back to Kol, who was still holding Aro by the throat. “Oh, I’d have loved to have gone nuclear here in Volterra. Destroying you all with one simple kaboom! Instead, I nearly ended up ruining New Orleans. If it weren’t for my sister… the one you didn’t know about, then it definitely would have happened.”
“Surely by now you both have felt the changes within my sister, and myself,” Myriam smirked as she kept Marcus in his chair, toying with his long hair, loving her sister’s flair for the dramatic with the sword and all. “The singer is free, indeed, and in more ways than you can possibly imagine.”
Bella handed Marcus the sword. “You are going to decapitate your friend here, I feel a lot of resentment towards him from you, so you will get what you want,” she said as she got inside his mind as well. “And then you will allow my family to rip you apart. Penance for what you and your people have done to me, my sister and many other children. After that, we are going to ruin this city as a warning to anyone who’s left. The reign of the Volturi ends today.”
The burning of Volterra had been beautiful and Elijah made sure that the province of Pisa received a generous donation to the rebuilding of the old city, should they so wish. It had been liberating to destroy all the Cold Ones in Volterra. The Newborns, and the Volturi leaders and their wives, and Bella didn’t allow herself to mourn the losses of all those lives, because technically – and literally – everyone that had been destroyed had already been dead and some for quite some time.
They went back to Rome for about a week before Elijah decided to go back to New Orleans and Rebekah wanted to go back to France. Klaus, Kol, Myriam and Bella traveled south in Italy to the Amalfi coast, close to Pompeii and Naples, where they spent a couple of weeks enjoying themselves with day trips out, laying on the beautiful beaches, exploring. When Klaus and Bella went somewhere to practise their art, Kol took Myriam to a coven of witches to practise her magic.
And normally, both Klaus and Kol would get annoyed that they basically shared each other’s girlfriends in this way. There was no sex involved, of course, but to have a very good friend that was your brother’s girlfriend and your girlfriend’s sister was strange to have. But there was no jealousy, all was done without fighting and Kol couldn’t help but wonder if Bella had to do something with it. There was no way that he and Klaus could be this… peaceful together.
Bella didn’t get angry for him asking if she had anything to do with his and Klaus’ relationship, in fact, she was hurt. For a brief moment it looked like the question had shattered her beautiful heart in tiny little pieces before she found her composure again and thought for a moment before she replied. “Change is possible, even when you’re a vampire,” and she had then left him to join her sister at the pool, ignoring him for the rest of the day. Niklaus was amused by this behaviour, of course, and was doing everything he possibly could to remind Kol about the fact that she had finally grown into her own skin.
It was Elijah’s phone call that disrupted the bubble the four of them had created on the Amalfi Coast a few days later, that they had to urgently return for New Orleans. While Elijah was usually keen on elaborating as to why, this time he didn’t say anything which concerned both Kol and Klaus. Needless to say, they went back the first opportunity they got.
A very unexpected surprise was waiting for them when they returned to the compound. There was a large piece of dark fabric covering the top opening of the courtyard, and Marcel’s vampires were in front, like guarding the courtyard. “I’m not liking this,” Klaus said as he got out of the car and didn’t even wait for the rest to exit the car as he marched inside. “What the hell is going on here?” He demanded.
Bella flatout refused to get out of the car, and Kol was curious. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh…” she gestured to the building. “It’s filled with Cold Ones, I don’t know why Klaus is so eager to march into a place filled with Cold Ones. But then again, the normal vampires are there too… it’s… confusing… and— strange…”
“Cold Ones? Does that mean we get to kill more?” Myriam popped her head back into the car, a big grin on her face. It made sense to have the entire compound covered if there were many Cold Ones inside. Wouldn’t want to make their home a light nobody could turn off.
She sighed as she shook her head. “No… because… Elijah and Freya allowed them in and they’re not fearful or… Something’s not right… It’s almost… most of the Cold Ones are desperate? Or something? Hopeful? Fearful yet at ease?”
“Well then, we should definitely join Nik inside,” Kol said as he helped Bella out of the car. “Let’s see what’s going on, you don’t have to be afraid anymore, you know this, Bella.”
“I’m not afraid of them but of what reason they might have for being here.”
“We won’t know until we find out,” Myriam grinned as she looped her arm through her sister’s and pulled her along. “They must know by now what damage we both can do, so we could just destroy them all if we need to, saves us a lot of time hunting them down!”
The moment the two sisters set foot onto the courtyard, all the present Cold Ones turned to see them before dropping to their knees with their heads bowed, almost as if they were paying their respects. No. Worse. Worshipping. More Cold Ones spilled onto the courtyard from the spare rooms and the basement area, all behaving this strangely.
“Uh—” Myriam felt a little uncomfortable as she looked around, hoping to find Klaus. “What the fuck?” She found Klaus looking down from the second floor, standing next to Elijah and Freya. All high and mighty. “Care to explain?” She asked as she focused her gaze on Elijah.
“I will,” A familiar voice sounded. Both Bella and Myriam snapped their heads towards the voice. It was one of two Cold Ones who had remained on their feet. Peter and his wife. What was it? Charlotte? Myriam’s parents. When Myriam let go of Bella in favor of hugging her mother, and slapping her father, Bella took a step closer to Kol for safety.
Yes, it was odd behaviour, especially considering that Bella could protect herself quite well, but she’d rather not. She’d still rather not. She had been tired after Volterra, her head had been tired after Volterra for a few days, and while there weren’t as many Cold Ones currently in the compound, she’d rather not do anything that could wipe the floor with her again.
“You killed the Volturi. Bella and Myriam were created by the second coven under direct orders from the Volturi. Yes, you were born from flesh and blood humans, but let’s face it, you’re still the children of the Cullens,” he said, pausing for a moment. “Myriam ceased to be a Cullen when she supposedly died, but Bella… even with their very low opinion of you. The second family was always supposed to take over from the Volturi in cases like these; when they were murdered. With them and the Cullens gone, you have inadvertently replaced them as rulers of all Cold Ones. An option they had not foreseen, but I have,” Peter spoke slowly, making sure his daughter and her sister would understand. “They… we are at your mercy and grace.”
“Oh hell no,” Bella and Myriam chorused, both crossing their arms over their chests.
“What they’re saying is, that we’ve just returned from a lovely holiday, we are tired and we will have to have a read through of the laws of the Volturi,” Klaus said as he appeared next to Myriam. “We’re not going to make any rash decisions,” he added as he put an arm around his girlfriend. “However, for the safety of the girls, I do wish the Cold Ones out of my house. Surely we have an abandoned warehouse still?”
“Another?” Elijah asked baffled. “They came here in good faith, Niklaus.”
“I want them out,” Klaus said venomously. “We’ll question your judgement later, brother.”
It took Elijah an hour to find different arrangements for the horde of Cold Ones and once they were gone, Bella had the feeling that she could fully relax. However, she could feel Kol and Klaus’ anger towards their brother and it was hard to shut it out. She quietly went to her room while the vampires were going to fight – because that was going to happen, she could feel it bubble underneath her skin – and take a nice hot bath. Relaxing, and making sense of what she’d seen in the minds of some Cold Ones that she decided to poke around in.
Because it was true what Peter had said, at least that’s what she had seen, heard, felt, in the minds of the others. But it didn’t make sense. Not at all. Why wouldn’t the Volturi have amended the law after learning of the Cullen’s deaths? Had they been that preoccupied with everything? Or had their egos simply been too big to see their own demise? Did they truly believe that they would survive the onslaught?
Bella tried to push the thoughts out of her mind. To even entertain the thought to keep the Cold Ones alive sent shivers up her spine. Yes, it’d be a great thing for the Mikaelsons to have an army of statues at their beck and call. It’d be great to make new laws for the Cold Ones to live a different kind of life.
It was entirely possible that there were good ones, like Peter and Charlotte who took care of Myriam. But were those who had been at their compound just that? Good? Bad? Neither?
She let out a cry of frustration and tried to find Kol’s mind to get her own mind off of things. And even he was thinking about the possibilities while observing his siblings rant and fume. He was thinking of how Bella and Myriam could use them as a force of good, make a difference in the world either with money or time. He also realized that they were Cold Ones and could decide to overthrow the new government at a drop of of hat, so maybe they all needed to be killed. It didn’t matter whether or not the remaining Cold Ones were on the better side of life than their former masters.
Klaus wanted to kill them. Cold Ones were evil. Freya wasn’t too happy about the Cold Ones, either. Myriam wanted to kill them, like she had killed so many Cold Ones in the previous years, but on the other hand didn’t want Peter and Charlotte dead because those two had tried their hardest to redeem themselves, to be better than the rest of the Cold Ones. Nobody would know if they were all dead that Peter and Charlotte were spared, would they?
Bella withdrew from the minds of her family and decided that they could decide what they were going to do with the Cold Ones. It wasn’t as if Bella knew about politics or best things to do in situations like these. It’s was probably better to kill them all.
However, she couldn’t quite relax in her bath so she unplugged it and got dressed again, deciding to quietly join the discussion that the Mikaelsons were having in the presence of her sister and her sister’s parents. Nobody was going to get any rest until they’ve dealt with this. Bella found it strange to hear the Cullens being referred to as her ‘family’, they had always made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t part of the family, and she had thought of them as ‘her people’. The Mikaelsons, and Myriam, were her family. The Cullens never were. They had been her people and while she had been sad that they had died, ruined, even, it had been made clear to her, over and over again, that what they had done, was bad.
Peter had gone to a Cullen family friend after the Cullen’s deaths – someone they trusted with making new passports, identities and keep valuables safe. This friend had undeniable proof that Bella was a Cullen in papers that this friend kept safe. Both Charlie and Renée Swan had signed away their parental rights and allowed Carlisle Cullen to adopt Bella as his own child. It was signed by Carlisle Cullen and Aro Volturi.
Bella wasn’t sure what was worse; to be the child of the birth giver and the sperm donor or to be a Cullen. She was trained and grown by the Cullens. Charlie and Renée only used her as their ‘daughter’ for formal events in town. The special-needs daughter. Sympathy votes. She’d rather not have parents or legal documents to tell her who her parents were. Like Myriam. It made things a lot less… icky. Myriam was free, despite Peter and Charlotte being her parents.
“What if I reject those papers?” Bella wondered out loud, all heads turning to see her stand at the doors, quietly. “Would that be possible?”
“Legal papers can’t be rejected like that,” Peter eventually said. “Especially not these, since this is under Cold One law.”
“Really? Because Charlie and Renée took me with them for pretenses and announced I was their daughter. There must be a human element somewhere, to stop people from digging.”
“Nope,” Peter shook his head. “It’s what the Cullens were for and Charlie used his position as the Sheriff to keep your documents secret. Whether you like it or not, you’re in charge.”
“I thought Myriam and I were both in charge?”
“Biologically, yes. Legally… she died. Don’t you understand, Bella? You inherit everything the Volturi and the Cullens had, or what’s left of it anyway. Their wealth. You’re in a unique position of power—”
“That’s what everyone likes, isn’t it? Power. It’s what made the majority of the Cold Ones the way that they are. They are more powerful than a human, so why not dominate them? Make them into science projects,” she replied angrily, her hands balled into fists by her side. She could feel her anger bubble underneath her skin and she was sure that it wasn’t just her own anger. No, it was that of her sister too. “Power allows people to do the strangest things, stupid things. Immoral things. Evil things. Power makes you dominate others, make them your… bitch.”
Bella entered the room further, she wanted to be next to Kol, safe. “Power is dangerous, the Mikaelsons can all agree to that. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best, and while the Mikaelsons have learned, the Cold Ones haven’t. Either they never will or have a very long way to go before they understand this, and frankly, I’m not sure if we should allow them the time.”
“Bella, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Peter chided her, where Charlotte wisely kept her mouth shut.
“I do!” She shot at him, her anger getting the worse of her, but she needed to reign it in. “I am already more powerful than you will ever be. I can get inside your mind, drain you dry, make you do things you don’t want to do. If I really want to, I can make your brain explode. That’s power. And power corrupts and it’s so hard not to give into the feelings because I know I can hurt people and I don’t want them to get hurt. I don’t need more power. The Mikaelsons don’t need more power.”
“We’re going to kill the Cold Ones that Elijah put in storage?” Myriam smiled at her sister. She wholeheartedly agreed with her sister. Who could tell if the remaining Cold Ones would like their new rulers? Besides, Myriam had always wanted to put an end to all Cold Ones because unlike the traditional vampires, Cold Ones hardly changed their ways. For the Mikaelsons, and her parents, to even consider all the power they could add to their already established foothold, was maddening.
“We are going to kill the Cold Ones that Elijah put in storage,” Bella agreed. “And those who are still roaming this Earth. No more Cold Ones.”
“Bella, you have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Listen up, mate,” Kol shot at Peter. “Bella’s made her decision and if she’s truly your new leader, you need to respect her ideas. You can be assured that she hasn’t lost all of her marbles, we all can attest to her intelligence and she’s autonomous in her own life,” Kol said as he rose to his feet to make himself taller than the Cold One. “Think of her as anything less again, and I won’t care that you’ve raised Myriam.”
“Peter and Charlotte can live, of course,” Bella said as she looked at her sister. “Because they saved you and raised you. They just can’t be allowed to create new Cold Ones. Unless you want them gone too.”
“I’m with Kol on this one, unfortunately,” Myriam muttered as she looked over at Peter. “My father smells power and changes his stance from you being competent to being incompetent to make sure he can get said power. Never thought of him being power hungry, no matter how he wants to use it, even for good.” She truly was disappointed in him, and her admission to Bella changed Peter’s mindset immediately. “Maybe he and Charlotte should travel the world to find the last remaining Cold Ones and send them here so we can take care of them.”
Bella definitely liked that idea and nodded. “Good, then can we please now relax and sleep off the travel from Europe to New Orleans without having to think about what we’re going to do?” Bella asked as she looked at her family. “Please?” She still wanted to give Peter a taste of what she could do, but didn’t. Because of Myriam.
Kol scooped her up in his arms and softly kissed her. “Yes, let’s get you all relaxed and sleepy so you can sleep some,” he teased her. Kol had already suspected that Bella’s mind was swimming with the new information and feelings and he really didn’t mind getting her off. And her mind off of things that weren’t really important, but mostly getting her off. That was so much fun! In all honesty, her forcefulness and her resolutions had made him horny. He wanted to get off as much as he wanted to get her off. Oh, they were going to have a blast!
~o.O.o~
Bella and Myriam decided that sitting around doing nothing wasn’t for them, and with the help from Klaus and Kol they had opened a small cake shop where they sold cupcakes in all tastes and with cute little decorations. Myriam mostly did the baking, Bella created every sign, every folder, by hand and when she didn’t have to do anything, she helped Myriam to bake and to sell the cupcakes.
They sold coffee too and people usually lingered to drink their coffee at the shop. Both Myriam and Bella loved their little shop, their own little bubble that they had created. They ran a successful shop, and every dollar earned went straight to a foundation that helped mistreated people. Children. Women. Men.
Kol had joked that the girls were being idealistic hippies, but Bella knew that he was proud of them.
They hadn’t seen a Cold One for over ten years. Peter and Charlotte did continue to travel the world to find Cold Ones and to destroy them, and it worked well. It was rather strange that one found himself in Bella and Myriam’s shop in full daylight wearing a dark hood, scaring the customers. After quickly ushering the humans out of the store and closing the blinds, the Cold One lowered their hood and revealed a man.
“Please,” he said as he fell to his knees in front of Bella. “Don’t hurt me, hear me out, please.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” Bella said as she leaned against a table. “Who are you and what do you want?”
“My name is Amun. Peter and Charlotte sent me. We are but a few Cold Ones in hiding, and we are well aware of Peter and Charlotte’s mission,” Amun said, not moving an inch. “But it has to stop. You are upsetting the balance.”
Myriam was curious. “Upsetting the balance? Of what?”
“Nature.”
Bella narrowed her eyes on Amun as she searched his mind. He was lying to save his own ass. He was the oldest Cold One in existence and had created newborns quite recently. He’d also killed Charlotte. Peter was on a warpath because of it. Amun just happened to come to New Orleans quicker. “If you’ve come here to plead for your life, Amun, then you will be disappointed,” Bella said as she stepped away from him and let out a groan as she looked around. “We’re not going to kill him here,” she said as she nudged the Cold One to sleep. “I’d hate having to repaint our shop!”
“Lies? Why am I not surprised?”
“He’s yours,” Bella sighed as she looked at her sister. “You may ask him yourself why he has earned your wrath, but not here.”
“Bella,” Myriam’s voice made it clear that Bella had no choice but to reply. She didn’t want to find it out for herself, Bella had to tell her.
Bella was quiet for a moment as she never averted her eyes from her sister. “Amun killed Charlotte.”
Myriam blinked for a moment before emotion washed over her face as her face changed in to her hybrid one. “Call Peter. He and I are going to fuck this guy up together!” Myriam said as she pulled the hood back over the now sleeping Cold One and lifted him up. “I’m taking him home. There are reinforced dungeons with his name on it.”
“Change your face back, silly,” Bella laughed as she grabbed her phone. “It’s not Halloween yet!”
“No, it’s fucking Christmas and this fucker is my present, thank you, sister!” Myriam had a delightful look on her face underneath her grief as she bounded out of the store.
*The End*