Chapter 08
Bella didn’t even want to stay in Rome for a few hours, but she had to because Kai needed to be well rested. They had come up with a plan to deal with the Volturi while on the plane and it was deliciously evil. Bella loved it. She was surprised that everyone was onboard with it, but, then again, it was also the best way for all of them to get into the Volturi castle partially undetected.
It was a crazy plan and both her and Kai weren’t sure if they’d be successful, but mostly Bella. Kai was convinced that they were able to pull it off without something going wrong, which eased Bella’s mind somewhat. Hell yeah, they were kickass.
Bella’s whole body was buzzing with excitement and it was difficult to contain, even when they were still on the plane. They all came close to snapping her neck but didn’t.
As soon as they left the plane, Kol took her to do some things that tourists usually didn’t do. Oh, sure, Bella loved history but Kol figured that it wasn’t really something she could use right now, so he was going to have some fun.
They didn’t go to the Trevi fountain or climb the Colosseum, no, Kol took her to pasta making class. He then took her to the Coppedè district, the place in Rome looking like a fairy tale. And, because she wasn’t tired enough and still pretty much pumped, he took her to the San Lorenzo district as well, where they looked at the beautiful graffiti which was more of an art and had some of the best food Bella had ever tasted.
And alright, fine, when it was late and dark and the Colosseum was deserted, Kol took Bella there and they had sex in the middle of the ancient building. Bella thought it was ‘wild’. Kol right there and then decided that he was going to make an exhibitionist out of her. Having sex in the middle of an abandoned ancient building wasn’t ‘wild’. It was tame compared to what he had in mind for future escapades.
To hell with taking things slow. They’d done enough of that.
~o.O.o~
“Mr. Mikaelson, what’s so important that you couldn’t send one of your vampires?” Aro greeted Elijah, who had just walked into the throne room that held the Volturi Kings. “You always do that whenever one of my kind crosses a line according to you.”
“Ah, well, that’s because I’m not here because of one of your kind’s indiscretions. Or perhaps I am,” Elijah said as he took the contract out of his jacket pocket. “I found this on a girl in Forks, Washington.”
“Ah.” Aro looked like he was a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Ah, indeed,” Elijah replied, an amused smile on his face. “Have you gone soft, Aro? Isn’t it one of your rules that states that humans are to be turned or killed upon learning your secret?”
“Tell me, Elijah,” Aro said as he approached him. “Why does this interest you so?”
“It doesn’t,” Elijah replied. “I was merely wondering if you’d fallen off your faith. If this girl is so important to you…”
“Miss Swan is none of your concern and you will not harm her.”
Elijah sucked in a breath. “She is special, isn’t she? Her mind is a fortress, I’m certain you wish for her to join your guard. That’s why you gave her a contract, in the hopes that she’d break it. Tell me, did you punish the Cold Ones responsible for her torment?” Elijah huffed when he saw the look on Aro’s face. “Of course not. They’re special and you still hold out hope that they will join your guard. Oh, don’t look so surprised, Aro, my brother is fascinated by gifted individuals as well, I know the look.”
“If either yourself or Niklaus—”
“Oh, it’s not us you have to worry about,” Elijah said amused as he watched the guard come in to protect their masters, just as Bella had predicted. “But honestly, Aro, I come in peace and you want to threaten me?”
“Ah, the jig’s up,” Kol said as Kai let go of him. The shocked look on the Cold One’s faces was hilarious. You don’t get to see an entire family appear out of nowhere all the time. Yes. Kai was family. He had no idea where Bella was, but she was likely doing something on her own to get the greatest satisfaction. “I’ve touched Miss Swan,” he replied as he watched Kai take apart one of the guards with a spell, Jane, was it? “Several times, actually. Last night was amazing.”
Aro seemingly ignored the demise of his Jane. “You brought her to us? Where is she?”
“We’ve come to tell you that you can shove that contract up your collective asses,” Kai said as he shot another spell at one of the guards and made him crumble apart. “Bella, come on, we came here to do some killing, when will you let us?”
Bella giggled as she appeared in front of Marcus, full vamp face. “Hi,” she used her magic to obtain her contract from Elijah and started to rip it apart in front of him. “As you can see, I’m clearly no longer human,” she then ripped Marcus’ head straight off and kicked it to the other end of the room before she pounced on Caius. “Did you know that I killed a newborn army and Victoria? It was an accident, though.”
“Darling, you look as if you’re going to give him a dance,” Kol said, appearing next to her. “Behave.”
“Fuck that, I’m not going to have her kill everyone again,” Myriam said as she pulled Klaus along with her and started to take apart the nearest Cold One.
“Careful, love,” Klaus reminded her as he ripped off the arms of the nearest Cold One that Myriam was taking apart. “Their venom hurts.”
“I know!” Myriam laughed maniacally.
Soon enough, the throne room was covered in limbs and venom. Bella had made the mistake of picking a physical fight with Felix and she was slightly dented, if it weren’t for Kai using his magic on Felix she’d have ended up even more dented, but she didn’t feel it. No, she was elated. More Cold Ones poured into the room, Bella slipped out, looking for more Cold Ones in the castle.
Both she and Kai could easily take on the Cold Ones without a fight, but she knew that everyone wanted to get a punch in, and bored with holding back, perhaps slightly horrified by her own murderous thoughts, she went exploring. Maybe the Cold Ones had a human somewhere she could feed on to stop her cheek from itching.
She just wanted to kill. And that was a terrifying thought. She also felt slightly disturbed by the fact that she was… horny?
As she found her way to the dungeons, she could hear others there, but they didn’t smell human. They were Cold Ones, locked up for some reason or another. Not all Cold Ones were evil. Bella knew this. Or at least hoped that they wouldn’t be. And for the Volturi to lock up some Cold Ones in their own dungeon likely meant that these people had done some horrific things.
Or, knowing the deceitful nature of the Kings, these people tried to do good and broke a few laws.
But still, it smelled down here and she was pretty sure she heard some rats walking around.
“I’m sure that by now you’ve heard the massacre upstairs,” Bella called out with confidence as she walked down the hall. “Tell me your crimes and maybe I’ll let you live.”
“Bella?”
Bella’s head snapped to the right and peered into the holding cell from a distance, anger bubbling underneath her skin. And fear. She had not expected him to be here. And she wasn’t sure if it was safe to linger. Taking a few steps back until she felt the wall against her back, she kept her eyes on the Cold One in the prison, he was not going to influence her, not if she could help it.
She wasn’t ready.
Bella used her vampire speed to find her way back to Kol and let out a deep breath. Safe.
Kol pushed the Cold One towards Myriam before turning around and putting his arms around Bella in the midst of all the fighting. “What’s wrong, darling?”
“I’m not ready,” she held him tightly and breathed in his scent to try and calm herself down. “I found their dungeons.”
“Any humans to feed on to heal your beautiful face?” He lifted her chin with his finger to make her look up to him, and he saw fear in her eyes, worrying him. “Who’s down there?”
“Jasper.”
“Jasper? That guy who can influence emotions?”
Bella nodded.
Kol laughed then and kissed the top of her head. “He’s no match for you, why are you afraid? You can take your revenge on him today!” When he saw the fear make way for confusion, he grinned and took her hand. “Lead the way. Honestly, aside from Nik, you’re the most powerful being in this castle at this very moment and you’re afraid of one Cold One?”
She blinked as she let his words hit home. “Well, obviously I’m stupid.”
“Nah, you’re not,” Kol smiled at her. “You just allowed fear to make you forget that you’re no longer a weak little human. But hey, at least you didn’t travel back in time to find me!”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “I could if you want me to.”
“No!”
“I came running to you instead,” Bella poked him in the ribs as she led him down to the dungeons. “Less effort.” When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she pointed towards the cell that held Jasper Whitlock. “He’s in there. And while I really want to hurt him, kill him, I’m also wondering why he’s here.”
“Then ask him, darling,” Kol winked at her as he let go of her. “I’ll be right here. You don’t need me to be by your side.”
“But what if I want you to be?”
“You’ve got this. This is your party. You’re in control. You’re stronger than him now,” he said calmly. “And once you’re done here, you and I are going out to have a snack and compel some humans to clean up the mess we’ve made in this castle,” he brushed her lips with his. “You’re in control.”
“Kol.”
“Well, I’d rather go in and rip his head off, but this isn’t my story, it’s yours. If you want to have a chat with him, go and have a chat with him. Besides, this might be the only chance you’ll have to talk with one of your tormentors as you’ll likely see red when we find Sparkling Eddie and might not be able to control yourself. I know that I won’t be able to.”
She softly kissed him. “Thank you,” she replied before walking back over to the cell that held Jasper, using her magic to kill the rest of the Cold Ones in the area as not to leave any witnesses.
“Babe! I wanted to kill them!” Kol laughed as he saw the dust come out of the prison cells.
Bella looked at the prison cell which was built to keep a Cold One in, there was no way that she could open it with her own vampire strength, but she could likely with her magic. But she didn’t want to. Because Jasper was still dangerous. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with the rest of your coven, living in Alaska until I cross the line or decide I want Edward back?”
“I turned myself in for the hand I had in your experience with us.”
Bella was surprised to hear that, and she couldn’t hide her surprise either but she didn’t know what to say. Jasper looked like he could do with a good shower, his blonde hair a good brush. He looked semi-decent, he was likely feeding off of the rats in the dungeon. The anger in his eyes was still there, but it seemed as if he was more angry with himself now. “What? You left Alice?”
It was strange to see him covered in so many scars. They hadn’t been that visible to the human eye, but now that she had better vision, he was simply covered in them. It only drove home more that he was dangerous. It was a good thing she hadn’t opened the cell, while Bella had her magic, she was likely not fast enough to stop him from killing her. It was best not to give him any opportunities.
A small smile appeared on Jasper’s lips then. “I told you, I didn’t have quite the same upbringing as my adopted siblings,” he replied, a slight drawl in his voice. “I joined my Alice with her family because I loved her, I still do, and for awhile it was good. Perfect. Until you.”
“You actively participated.”
“Because I was afraid to lose Alice, which inevitably happened as my conscience made that happen. I turned myself over to the Volturi after we left Forks, I’ve been here ever since. Aro doesn’t even want me as a part of the guard. Not until they got you.”
Either he wasn’t trying to influence her, or he wasn’t able to anymore. “Aro’s dead.”
“I gathered with all the noise upstairs. Who killed him?”
“I did,” she replied. “Things have happened.” Bella wasn’t surprised that Jasper wasn’t even apologizing. Or not in the right words. “And you’re an idiot for turning yourself in.”
“Perhaps,” Jasper replied with a small shrug. “You didn’t deserve the treatment we gave you. We should have lived by the rules set by the Volturi, we should have killed you or turned you. Not try to make you absolutely perfect for Edward.”
Before Bella knew it, Kol was reaching through the bars and pulled Jasper against them. “She is absolutely perfect,” he said venom dripping from his voice. “You lot are nothing but vermin, a blight upon this earth. You are lucky that I’m trusting Bella to do the right thing for you or I’d have killed you myself!”
“I suppose that’s a fair punishment,” Jasper said evenly. “Aro kept me here, unsure of my loyalty or my willingness to join the Guard to pay for my sins.”
“I have a better idea,” Bella said as she put her hand on Kol’s arm. “I think. Let him go.”
Kol snapped his head to her before letting go of Jasper, relenting. He wanted to help her get rid of her nightmares so she wouldn’t have to, but she was determined to do it herself now. And her ideas were wicked, she was the one who came up with the idea of going in invisible aside from Elijah. “What is it, darling?”
“Can you compel his kind?”
Good point. “I can’t, but perhaps Nik can, seeing as he’s the Original Hybrid, and more powerful than any of us.”
She smiled widely then before running upstairs and pulling Klaus along with her to the dungeons. “Can you compel Cold Ones?”
Klaus looked at his brother and his girlfriend with some confusion on his face before he looked at the Cold One, Jasper. Oh, he knew who he was. “Major.”
“Klaus.”
“You know him?” Kol said surprised.
“We’ve met a few times before he joined the Cullens,” Klaus sighed. “And I have no idea if I can compel a Cold One, but I’d like to try, what’s going on in that pretty little mind of yours, Bella?”
“I’d like him to rejoin the Cullens in Alaska, inform them what went on here and that he wants to be safe. He won’t tell them that we’re coming for them, but when we do come for them, he’ll kill his wife.”
“And then what?”
Bella thought for a moment. There was no doubt in her mind that apart from the Denali’s, they had other Cold Ones gathered around them in Alaska for protection or company. “He’ll then fight on our side and we’ll see after the fight what we’ll do with him.”
“I say kill,” Kol nodded.
“Maybe,” Bella replied as she looked at him. “But Jasper never lied to me, he was always honest. Apart from the whole emotion control thing. He might come out as a good man after all of this.”
Kol wasn’t too happy about this idea. But Bella had a good heart, and she knew the Cullens and their family better than any one of them. “We’ll see.”
After Klaus compelled Jasper to go along on his merry way, they went back upstairs to the throne room where everyone had stopped fighting and according to Kai there was no Cold One left in the castle.
“So, can Kai and I set the place on fire?” Bella asked as she used Aro’s head as a football and kicked him to the other side of the room.
“No!” Elijah said shocked. “Have you lost your mind?”
Bella looked at Kol and Kai, who both shrugged before she nodded. “Yep! But tell me why.”
“I want to salvage their ancient books and items,” Elijah remarked dryly. “You can use your magic to get all the bits and pieces outside of the castle and set them on fire outside, but do not ruin this castle just yet.”
Bella pouted then. “Or Kai and I could use our magic to get the books out.”
Kol let out a snort and put his arm around her shoulders. He would have said the exact same thing, although he also had to agree with Elijah. The Volturi could have some priceless knick knacks for their own collection. “How about you and I are going to find us some humans to eat and to compel to clean up our mess? Then, once they’re all outside, we’ll make a bonfire.”
“Okay.”
“Not you, Mr. Parker,” Elijah quickly grabbed his sleeve. “You may be more useful with us inside.”
“But…”
“Trust me,” Rebekah purred as she put an arm around Kai and started to follow her big brother. “You don’t want to be around Kol and Bella right now, nor around Myriam and Niklaus. Besides, we couldn’t possibly know if an item holds magic and if it will hurt us, and you can.”
Klaus, Rebekah and Myriam went back to America while Elijah and Kai remained in Volterra to sort through the Volturi King’s library and artifacts and Bella and Kol went to Egypt. Kai didn’t care as long as Elijah allowed him some fun too. Granted, he wanted to stay with Bella and Kol, but it was all about divide and conquer, wasn’t it?
Bella wanted to be sure that the Egyptians couldn’t step up and grab power. They were really hard to find though and it took Bella and Kol two weeks to find them, but only two minutes for Bella to end them.
Kol happily tagged along, feeling a bit useless as he did, because Bella did all the work. She shouldn’t do all the work by herself. And it also made him wonder what she’d do when the Cullens were dead. When she had her revenge and could live her life freely. What would she do?
He knew what he wanted. He wanted to take her all over the world and enjoy themselves. The occasional killing spree here and there, but just enjoy the beauty of the world. Hang out with witches, have her learn from other people.
Kol wanted Bella to be completely his. Not distracted by her past, or having to take care of her father. He wanted her carefree and by his side.
And that couldn’t happen until all her demons were gone.
After Egypt, they went back to Forks for a week, Bella wanted to spend some time with her father and show the awesome pictures they’d taken… without showing the pictures of their Cold One massacres of course. Kol stayed clear of Charlie Swan while Bella was home and instead ran some errands – such as picking up their diplomas. For Bella it was something special, and he was going to frame it for her.
No, he was glad that Chief Swan didn’t know that his daughter was dating. Or that he was a vampire. Or that his daughter was a heretic. Bella had already texted him pictures of strands of garlic hanging in the house because it was claimed by the people on the rez that it kept out bad spirits. That gave Kol a proper giggle. Those people didn’t know anything about vampires, only Cold Ones and even then, their information was scarce. They were dumb as bricks. It was hilarious. People were such playthings.
On their third or fourth day back, Kol was thoroughly enjoying his new music setup and his gaming setup, kicking ass on Call of Duty, when all of a sudden he heard Myriam yell for him. Choosing to ignore her, he kept on playing before the power went off. “Nik!” He stormed out of his room to find the circuit breaker and when he did, Myriam was next to it, with a devious smile on his face. “I wasn’t making that much noise.”
“No, but you didn’t come downstairs when I called for you, either,” she said as she flipped the switch back on and dragged Kol with her. “You’ve been home for 3 days and already in trouble with the law?”
“No?”
“No?” Myriam echoed before opening the front door, revealing Charlie Swan standing on the doorstep. “If you’re not in trouble, Kol, then please do explain why Sheriff Swan is here for you.”
Okay so Kol was a big, scary vampire, the one his brothers tend to use as an attack dog – and Kol let them – but Charlie Swan could make any tough guy shiver in their boots. Especially when that guy was dating their daughter without informing him. “I did pay that traffic fine, sheriff,” he eventually said.
“I know that,” Charlie replied. “I’m here to invite you to dinner, seeing as you’ve been spending so much time with my Bells. Tonight at seven. Don’t be late.”
“But I can’t, sir. I have plans.”
Charlie sighed. “Either you come to dinner tonight or I’ll arrest you.”
“That’s abuse of power!” Kol sputtered.
Charlie shrugged. “Seven. Bella will be cooking.” With that, Charlie turned around, walked off the steps and went back to his car and Kol just looked at Bella’s father with a shocked look on his face.
“Ah, young love,” Myriam laughed as she slapped Kol on the shoulder and closed the door for him as she pulled him back. “Why didn’t you just compel him?”
“Bella would kill me,” Kol groaned as he ran a hand over his face. “I don’t do in-laws, Myriam. If I date someone it’s just me and her. Not everything around it. Like parents!”
“And her friends, too,” Myriam laughed.
“Her annoying friends! Did you know, that not once they messaged her while we were gone? That she was always the one to message them first? Sure, they might be busy, but still. I don’t do stuff like this.”
Myriam merely smirked.
“What!”
“You’re being domesticated. I love it,” she replied with a shrug. “You may want to get cleaned up before you go over tonight.”
Kol grumbled as he headed back to his room, turned on his music again and continued to play his game after texting Bella. WTF?
Couldn’t stop him, he saw too many pictures with you in it. I refused to invite you over as I know you don’t like stuff like this. Charlie’s going to interrogate you about me and your intentions.
Oh great. Just great. I should have just allowed him to arrest me!
Relax. You’ll be alright.
Yes. I will. Because I will compel him and you can’t stop me.
Kol didn’t like the silence.
Fine.
No, it wasn’t fine. He was fucked. I’m sorry.
No, it’s fine, but if you’d just give him a chance. He’s concerned for his only daughter and worried. I didn’t tell him that we were together, though. Just friends who like to hang out with each other.
Maybe he wasn’t fucked. He just didn’t do parents.
~o.O.o~
Bella felt nervous. Not for herself, but for Kol. Kol likely didn’t have to deal with fathers in the past, other than his own, and Charlie wasn’t just any father. He was Charlie. And the Chief of Police. It had been different with Edward, it had been brief, and she was the one telling her father that Edward wanted to meet him, officially.
And a gun was involved.
But for Charlie to invite Kol over like that? Yeah, that was scary.
“Dad,” she said as she looked at him from her spot in the kitchen. “Could you be nice to him?”
“Why? Because he’s important to you?”
Bella nodded.
“Wasn’t that what you said when that Cullen boy wanted to introduce himself to me as your boyfriend?” Charlie countered. “Am I going to be nice? Sure. Will he have it easy? No. Even though you’re old enough to make your own decisions and don’t have to listen to your old man, you are going to listen to your old man,” he added. “I will not allow a boy to hurt you the way that the Cullen boy did.”
“He’s not like Edward at all.”
“He’s from a big, well-established family, living in the same house, driving ridiculously expensive cars – although I believe he did get a suitable car last winter – and there are many parallels between him and the other boy,” Charlie berated her. “And, he took you on trips.”
She let out a snort.
“Multiple times in the last few months,” he took a sip of his beer. “So, you’re going to allow me to be a hardass to make sure that I’m satisfied that my little girl will not be hurt anymore, got it?”
“Got it.”
Charlie walked over to the kitchen and pulled Bella into a hug. “I rarely get to see you these days. All those school trips before your graduation… I just don’t want him to manipulate you the way Edward did. Like him telling you you needed to leave me after your baseball outing… that still hurts even if he returned you later. With a broken foot.”
“I love you too, dad,” Bella smiled at him. Yes, if anything would go wrong, they’d compel him, but she didn’t want that. She wanted her dad and Kol to get along the normal way.
“To be honest, I thought you’d have a thing for Kai but yeah, that surprised me,” Charlie deadpanned as he went back to his beer. “He’s a good kid.”
“Kai?” Bella laughed. “Dad, please. He’s so not my type. We’re having fun, that’s all.”
“Uhuh.”
She shook her head as she could hear Kol park his car outside. “Play nice, it’s been a while since he had to deal with a parent.”
“Right.”
She then wiped her hands on a towel and opened the door for Kol, he was slightly fidgety but he carried a six pack of beer for Charlie and a box of chocolate for Bella and he just looked so out of place and adorable, she couldn’t help but laugh.
“What?” Kol whined. “I made an effort!”
“You look cute,” she grinned and kissed his cheek before letting him inside. “Dad, Kol’s here. Dinner’s ready in 15 minutes,” she said as she lead Kol to the table where her dad was sitting before she took the beer from Kol to put it in the fridge. “Play nice you two.”
“I’m always nice,” Charlie huffed. “Nice to see you again, Kol.”
“You too, Chief Swan,” Kol said as he sat down and put the beer down in front of Charlie. “My apologies that we were gone so often for extra credits for school.”
Charlie eyed him for a moment. “It was a little strange, I have to admit.”
“Myriam arranged it.”
“Uhuh,” Charlie nodded. “Well, at least you two graduated. What’s next? What college have you been accepted into?” Charlie nodded towards Bella in the kitchen. “She was late sending in her stuff.”
“As was I,” Kol grinned. “I’m not certain what’s next. Perhaps travel the world for a year, learn new things that way.”
“With my daughter?”
“If she wants to, yes.”
Charlie took a sip of his beer. “And how are you two going to afford all of that?”
Kol smiled then, slightly embarrassed. Bella was surprised by his acting. “I do believe that it’s no secret that my family has money, Chief Swan. My brothers are more than happy to fund our trips, making sure that your daughter is very well taken care of. They’re even happy to put us up in safe, secure hotels.”
“That’ll be a lot of money.”
“Not really, at least not for my family. It’s slightly embarrassing, you know. But they believe that I deserve it and if Bella wants to come along, everything will be paid for as well.”
“Seperate rooms?”
Kol nervously ran a hand through his hair. “Chief Swan, your daughter and I are dating, while I promise to be nothing but honorable towards her, are you really going to insist on seperate rooms? We’re both 18.”
Bella glared over to Charlie as she was finishing up on dinner. She could almost see the cogs spin inside his mind. “As long as you guys do things safely,” Charlie eventually said, surprising Bella as she brought one of the dishes to the table. “I’m not old enough to be a grandfather yet.”
Kol let out a snort. “There are no plans for that, sir.”
If only Charlie knew. Bella kissed her dad on the cheek before returning to the kitchen to get the rest of the food. “No, dad, we’re still too young for that. Give us some credit.”
Charlie hummed. “Where do you see yourself in five years, Kol?”
“Well, hopefully your daughter won’t have gotten bored of me by then.”
“Hey!” Bella said defensively. “I’d never!” She set the plates down and made sure everything was off in the kitchen and on the table before sitting down next to Kol.
“We’d preferably live somewhere away from my family,” Kol added as he thought for a moment. “And be happy.”
“What about a job? College?”
“That too,” Kol pointed out quickly, knowing that humans liked that sort of thing. “Perhaps become a teacher.” Something low-risk would appease Bella’s father, right? “In any case, there’s plenty of time to figure it out. I’m still young.” Ha. If only. “My family lives to enjoy every single day there is with people you love to spend time with, because life is short enough.”
“Fair enough,” Charlie hummed. “Will you ever get in Bella’s way if she decides she wants more?”
“More?”
“If she’s tired of traveling around with you or if she chooses to go to a college that’s not the one you want to go to?”
“Of course? What kind of question is that?”
“Plate up, don’t want the food to get cold,” Bella muttered as she got up to pour her and Kol a drink before returning to the table. “This is very embarrassing, dad. Kol’s nothing but good to me. Treats me like a princess.”
Charlie eyed his daughter before relenting with a sigh. “Very well,” he replied as he looked at Kol. “I did a background check on you,” he deadpanned, causing Kol to spit out his drink. “And up until recently, there’s no trace of you and your siblings. I found some newspaper articles dating as far back as the 1800s in New Orleans about your ancestors, but it appears that you never existed. What are you hiding?”
Kol didn’t pale and didn’t hesitate with his reply. “Nothing, because you’re right. Our family lived off grid, akin to nomads, very anti-government of any country and didn’t bother to register or get a social ID.”
“Then how did your family earn your money?”
Kol sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “We had someone in place for us, their entire family, actually. I’m sure that if you’d look up Richard Smith you’d get a lot of information.”
“That’s the most common name there is!”
Kol shrugged. “I understand that you may be a bit wary about the lack of history my family has, but I assure you, we all have identification, social security numbers and whatnot. We wanted to belong.”
Bella saw the look on her father’s face. “Yeah, maybe that’s too much of a conspiracy theorist kind of thing and he won’t like that, at all,” she said as she looked at Kol. “Just compel him. He asked all the questions he wanted and he was satisfied by your answers, and make him forget what you just said.”
He smiled knowingly then before compelling Charlie. Charlie was satisfied with all the answers Kol had given him, they had a great chat, and were now going to eat dinner while Charlie accepted Kol as Bella’s boyfriend.
Charlie’s face stiffened, his eyebrows furrowed. “Get the hell out of my house,” he grumbled. “I didn’t want to believe Joshua Parker, give you the benefit of the doubt, but get the hell out and stay away from my daughter.”
Bella felt the color drain from her face as she looked at Kol who had a flabbergasted look on his face before looking back at her father. “Dad?”
“Used to be the stuff of legends, vampires. Then Joshua Parker called me,” Charlie said as he rose from his chair and headed to his weapon’s locker. “Saying that my daughter came for guidance because she’s a witch, and that she had her vampire boyfriend with her. Told me all about vampires, he did.”
“Dad, Joshua Parker was an idiot.”
“Oh, that’s exactly what I told him when he said that you were an abomination, Bella, you’d never hurt anyone, but him? He lives on blood and violence,” Charlie turned around with his crossbow.
“Oh please,” Kol scoffed.
Bella got on her feet. “Dad, don’t.”
“I won’t, unless he leaves this house. Right now.”
“No,” Bella said as she walked to her father and pulled the crossbow out of his hands without even as a struggle, but Charlie didn’t seem to notice. “Have you lost your mind? Why listen to some random stranger and not me?”
“Because you told me that you went to Portland for a school trip, Bella, you lied to me.”
“I’m an adult, and more importantly, I wanted to shield you from this.”
“Bella, I’m your father and it’s my job to protect you from everything. Even vampires,” he replied angrily. “What else is there? Unicorns? Werewolves?”
“Good job, where were you when she was in deep with the Cullens?” Kol muttered as he uncomfortably shifted on his feet. Bella thought the world of her father, and to see him like this hurt, mostly because it hurt Bella. He didn’t care, although some acceptance would have been nice.
“Dad, whatever Joshua Parker has told you, not all vampires are bad, just like not all humans are criminals,” she said calmly as she placed the crossbow on the table. “You see, Joshua Parker was the monster. He didn’t care about his children, only about his coven and power. He was afraid of me, and he hurt me when I met him. I had to defend myself. And he killed me. If it wasn’t for Kol, I wouldn’t be here right now, talking to you,” she added before seeing the look on his face. “And I’m sorry, dad, but you can’t remember all of this if we want to continue to have a normal family relationship, so while we can’t use our vampire gifts to make you forget, I’m going to have to do that by magic.”
“Darling, magic won’t stick. He’ll likely remember some eventually.”
“Yeah, I know,” Bella said sadly as she knocked Charlie out with her magic and caught him before he fell on the floor. She dragged him over to the couch and made sure he was comfortable. “But hopefully he’ll stop taking vervain and then we can make it stick. We can check in a few months or so.”
“We can bleed him out.”
“Kol!”
“I’m just saying,” he shrugged. “But very well, do it your way. I’m sorry for this, Bella.”
“We’re not going to tell Kai about this, either.”
“No one will know what happened,” Kol agreed.
Bella sighed as she sat down on the coffee table and looked at her dad. “Kol, could you grab my clothes and stuff from my room? It seems like I’ll be coming home with you.”
While Kol was happy to do what she asked him to do, especially because she was coming home with him, it was a sad occasion. Making Charlie forget was for his own protection, although he wouldn’t have anything to fear from them. This was the best option.
When he was done, Bella was stuffing the crossbow into another bag and had cleaned up. “I made him forget that Joshua called him and everything that he has learned since, especially the research into your family. I planted a nice memory in his mind that we had dinner and that he was confident that you’d keep me safe and that he doesn’t have to worry about me while we travel around the world on a budget to see how far we can go, a year long of adventure before starting college. I made him think he agreed to it wholeheartedly because traveling on your own builds character.”
“Sounds good.”
“And then in a while, we’ll come back to make the story stick permanently if it comes back, I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing as it never triggered you after I wiped your memories of me in Denver.”
“That’s because I didn’t have anything around me to remind me of you, darling,” Kol kissed the top of her head. “Your father is your father. The only way to make it stick is to make him forget that.”
“I don’t want to do that to him.”
“Or to yourself?”
Bella let out a breath and nodded. “Yeah. He doesn’t deserve that.”
“Very well. Let’s go before he wakes.”
~o.O.o~
That night, Bella wondered many scenarios to see if she could travel back in time to avoid Charlie being called by Joshua Parker and exposing the supernatural world to him. If she’d go back in time a bit earlier to the point that she met him, and killed him, the whole coven would be dead.
She wasn’t sure if that would affect Kai as well, but it was likely that the prison world he was in would collapse.
If she’d go back even further, and kill Joshua Parker, she’d kill Kai for sure.
If she’d go back to after her visit, she’d run into the same problem. So it was unavoidable that the asshat would call Charlie and that sucked.
She could go even further back and just make sure that Joshua was never born, but that also included not having Kai, and while she wanted to fix her father, she wasn’t sure if she was willing to sacrifice Kai for that.
It was frustrating to be able to do something and not change a thing because it wouldn’t matter. It was either, or. Kai was family too and should Charlie ever find out about the past or what could have been future with Kai, then Charlie would be disappointed in Bella.
“Let’s go to Alaska tonight,” Kol suggested as he took a sip of his bourbon. He’d seen Bella retreat into her thoughts all evening and it sucked. She needed a jolt. A distraction. “We’ll have a great snack on the way and we’ll have some fun.”
“What about Klaus and Myriam?”
Kol shrugged “They wanted to come along to the Volturi because the Volturi are big players. The Cullens and their family, are not. You and I are strong and powerful enough to wipe the floor with them.”
Bella hummed and nodded. “Alright, let’s go to Alaska.”
They drove to Vancouver to catch the ferry to Alaska, while Kol wouldn’t have minded breaking many speeding laws on the 45 hour car drive in a super fast car, but Bella wanted to be in Alaska, fast. Maybe they’d drive back or continue traveling.
The ferry took about eight hours, and to entertain themselves, Kol had Bella play with compelling the humans aboard the ferry and they discreetly snacked on just about everyone. Kol hadn’t been afraid that Bella couldn’t handle all the blood, she wasn’t prone to addiction like Myriam was. Or like Rippers were. And without anyone supervising them, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There was no need to hide and there was no need for moderation.
Kol knew that Bella was hurting, and he kept her distracted in more ways than one. After not having slept on the way to the ferry, he booked a hotel room – which was nothing fancy but it had a bed – and there was a simple restaurant. He didn’t like Alaska much, he supposed that nobody did, apart from the inhabitants and if you needed to hide from someone.
Cold Ones didn’t feel cold, they were cold. And Kol wanted comfort, so they found a house they liked to stay in, found one of the owners outside by their truck, compelled them to let two strangers inside the house before compelling them all to go and stay at the hotel that he’d booked for them.
In the past, he’d just had killed them all. However, there were several reasons why he didn’t do it now. He didn’t want to attract attention to his and Bella’s presence, and Bella wouldn’t appreciate the bloodbath.
The next morning, Bella shot Jasper a message, demanding him to tell her the current location of the Cullens and much to Kol’s surprise, he actually sent it. “I’m so stupid,” Bella muttered as she pocketed her phone. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Doubtful, darling.”
“So, we know that the Cullens are hanging out with their cousins, the Denali, right?”
“Right.”
“It’s an actual fucking place here in Alaska, it’s a National Park and Preserve and the highest mountain range of North-America.”
Kol stifled a grin. “That could have happened to anyone, darling. It doesn’t mean you’re an idiot.” How he managed to say that with a straight face was beyond him, he just started laughing.
Bella was unamused. “It’s about 2 hours away by car.”
“We can be there in less when running,” Kol offered, knowing how badly Bella wanted to have this over with. Complete and utter freedom was close, and she could taste it. And he could sympathise with her, he had felt the same way, many times over. “Might be a good way to calm yourself before you end up hurting yourself.”
She shoved her hands in her pockets as she entertained the idea of running or traveling by car. “I think the car is a better option, I really need to calm down so I’ll be level headed when I kill them. I don’t want to get hurt. I only want them to hurt, and I want to do it without magic, that’d be too easy for them. They deserve to suffer.”
Kol shrugged. “There are plenty of ways to hurt them creatively with magic, darling.”
“Yeah… but it’s the easy way out. Only Jasper and Rosalie deserve that, I guess. Sort of? I mean, Rose didn’t like me and tried to stay away from me and Jasper handed himself in to the Volturi… and he’s going to kill Alice the moment we show our faces.”
“That’s remorse. I think they should all die.”
She was hesitant. “Or, I could take them to Klaus and have him compel them a different life.”
“One filled with agony?” Kol said hopeful. “They don’t deserve anything but.”
“I don’t know,” Bella replied, sighing as she sat down on a bench and looked up at him.
Kol sat down next to her and put his arm around her. “What’s wrong, darling? You’re being indecisive.”
She nodded. “This isn’t… I don’t know how to explain this but… it feels… wrong and good to take my revenge but…” Bella let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. “I need a different solution.”
“What?”
“I know that we killed the Volturi, and they deserve that because I wasn’t the only human Cold Ones manipulated… and that was a lot of fun,” Bella let out a chuckle. “Thrilling and fun. But, on the other hand, we did kill them.”
“That’s what we do, darling. We’re vampires, we kill anyone who gets in our way or has hurt us. Or, in Nik’s case, keep some of them alive to play with.”
“And I get that,” Bella nodded as she looked out over the bay. There were some birds on the water, diving and coming back up again, the sound of the water and the splashing of the birds almost distracted her from her thoughts. “I can feel that rage, that need to kill to get even. Killing Victoria and the newborns was an accident, we slaughtered the Volturi,” she let out a small chuckle. “And it felt good. But it’s… not me? My dad’s a cop. Protect and serve.”
“And?”
“He taught me how to defend myself, not that I should inflict harm on others.”
“Protect.”
“What about it?”
“By killing the Volturi, and the Cold Ones and their cousins, aren’t you protecting the rest of humanity by ridding the world of them? They won’t be able to hurt anyone else,” Kol countered, afraid he wasn’t going to get some killing in now. “You have the power and strength to protect people now. If you don’t want to do it for you, do it for the people they can still hurt in the future, innocent non-superpowered people, defenseless, like you once were.”
She just looked at him blankly.
“Look, we just like killing things and play with our enemies, we keep the damage to a minimum. But those Cold Ones… they say they keep to themselves but honestly. You’ve seen first hand what they can do to people. The ultimate revenge is to make sure they won’t hurt anyone else.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“But?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Small lapse of sanity, I guess?” A small smile appeared on her face. “Maybe I’m nervous.”
“What for? They’re nothing but marble statues. Easy to smash, especially with your magic.”
“There’s history.”
“All the more fun to crush them,” Kol grinned. “I mean, if you really don’t want to go through with it, that’s alright, I’ll do it by myself.”
“What!”
“What?” Kol replied sheepishly. “Two good reasons for me to do it; one, I like killing things and two, I promised you that nobody was ever going to hurt you again and that you’d be free. By killing the Cold Ones, you will be. And once you are, you and I are going to travel the world. That was the deal.”
She softly brushed his lips with hers. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s alright, darling,” he smiled at her. “It’ll get easier, I promise.”
~o.O.o~
Bella stepped aside as she could hear something come off the ceiling and looked at her and Kol’s handiwork. A lot of emotions had come out as she’d dismantled Edward. Anger. Sadness. Rage. Fury. Seeing Kol go to town on Emmett and Rosalie made her feel horny and Jasper not only killed his wife but everyone else who came close to Bella.
Jasper was now standing in the doorway, looking lost and in shock with himself.
Bella hadn’t used her magic at all, she had merely used her raw vampire strength which was enough to break Edward. It had been enough. Easy. Satisfying. Liberating.
The weight that she had felt on her shoulders and in her chest was gone and it felt so good. She proudly looked around in the living room where parts of Cold Ones were laying around, leaking, and she just had the biggest grin on her face as she moved through the house, kicking some parts away from others so they wouldn’t be able to reassemble.
Everything that could break, was broken. Cold Ones, furniture, paintings, the works. The only thing that was still standing was the house with flammable Cold One venom smeared across the walls, ceilings and of course on the floors. Bella might have used her magic for that.
She found her way downstairs again and was pushed against a wall by Kol, who smothered her with a kiss, his hands roaming over her body. “I’m so proud of you, darling,” he eventually said. “What are we going to do with the two remaining Cold Ones?”
“Two?”
Kol nodded as he thumbed over his shoulder.
Bella looked over his shoulder and looked at the extra Cold One that was now standing next to Jasper, sporting a stupefied look on his face. He was almost as tall as Jasper, had the same long blonde hair and had red eyes. This was a vampire who fed on humans. And he looked like someone who tried too hard to look like a cowboy. Peter. Unpredictable and dangerous Peter. He was Jasper on steroids.
“Relax, I ain’t here to hurt ya,” Peter said as he put his hands up in defense. “Just makin’ sure ya not hurtin’ my brother.”
“I should be,” Bella replied as Kol let go of her. “Give me one good reason as not to kill you both.”
“My wife an’ I lead a peaceful existence. We feed on the human bottom feeders, the no-good, twisted kind, and are no danger to you.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared at the Cold One. “Your so-called brother emotionally manipulated me.”
“That’s his gift. It’d be akin to you not using your magic to aid you. I ain’t making excuses for his actions, I want to ask ya to hand him over into my custody.”
“And then what?”
“My wife an’ I will make sure he’ll pay for what he’s done to you an’ to others, make an honest man outta him an’ we’ll be in your debt,” he looked over to Kol. “I know ya like havin’ strong vampires in ya debt, Kol Mikaelson. For a rainy day.”
“You won’t be in my debt, mate, you’ll be in hers.”
“Stop the bloodshed, Bella, ya made ya point by killing the Volturi, the Cullens an’ their cousins. Ya won’t be messed with again.”
“It shouldn’t have happened and Jasper is one of the reasons why it happened in the first place.”
“There’s a thing called mercy. I solemnly swear to keep him away from humans. An’ if ya hear otherwise, then ya can come and kill us. Please, have mercy, Bella, allow us to live in peace. Jazz ain’t a bad person.”
She had been indecisive about Jasper ever since they found him in Volterra, and knowing the history of Peter and Jasper, she thought it might be a good idea. “Where will you be living?”
“Our territory is North America, we ain’t go anywhere else.”
She let out a breath and nodded. “Okay. But I will keep my eye on you, and I’m not telling you how. One step in the wrong direction and I will come for you.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Peter replied as he put his hand on Jasper’s shoulder. “We won’t let ya down.”
“You’d better not.” She watched Peter and Jasper leave and turned back to Kol, letting out a breath. “Please tell me I didn’t just make the worst mistake ever.”
“Nah,” Kol replied, putting his arms back around Bella. “It’s always good to have powerful beings be in your debt, and I know you have been thinking about sparing the Major anyway.”
She nodded and softly kissed him. “Let’s set this place on fire and go home.”
“That’s a great idea,” he kissed her back. “Although I’d rather we just start our travels now. You’re free.”
Bella giggled. “Whatever you want.”
“Oh, hey now, that’s a dangerous thing to say! You have no idea what I have planned!”
“I’m at your mercy, Kol Mikaelson.”
“Oh man.”
Laughing, she pulled him out of the house and used her magic to set it on fire. For a while they watched from a distance before Bella’s phone beeped.
PLEASE COME SAVE ME FROM ELIJAH – K
Letting out a giggle, she showed the message to Kol. “What do you say?”
“Now… that will make my ideas a whole lot more interesting… Look out world!”
- THE END