Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, or The Originals in any way shape or form. I just merely enjoy playing with the characters for my own, and your personal amusement…

Charlie sat and watched the casual teasing between his daughter and young friend on the town council as he sipped his coffee. If he hadn’t already heard the whispers around town about them, and seeing them together for himself, he might have questioned Damon a lot more severely about his interest in Bella. However, he was wise enough to sit back and watch from afar as he hadn’t seen her smile so much in a very long time.

And it had only been a few weeks that they’d been living in Virginia.

He was concerned about the pace of their relationship, as he was already over most mornings to drive her to school. Also, despite having just met, they appeared to be more comfortable and familiar with one another than the norm. Which made him more confused and thought about having a father/daughter conversation one day soon about the events that had passed. Mostly for his piece of mind.

Checking his watch, he let out a drawn out sigh. “Well, it’s time to go to work. Make sure you get to school on time. No playing hooky with your friends again today, Bells. I’m serious.”

“Yes, Dad,” Bella replied as she looked over her shoulder at him. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Yep,” he nodded to her and Damon, who saluted back with a smile before stealing a piece of fruit she’d cut for her breakfast.

The two waited until he was out the door before they were comfortable discussing the ongoing activities in town. The visiting Mikaelsons had not approached them since their arrival, which surprised and made most of their group suspicious. Only Bella and Damon, who’d already shared a discussion with them understood why and were not as worried. They merely kept their distance as they tried to figure out their feelings on the information that was given to them.

“So, what do you think?” Damon casually asked, as if they were talking about the weather, but knew they both had been steadily ignoring the large pink elephant that was always around.

“About?” She responded with, shoulders tense as she firmly set on ignoring everything.

He stared at her searchingly, reaching out to tug on her sleeve. “They won’t leave until you speak to them again. I mean, while we don’t have any proof yet, the theories behind everything said does point to the idea that you may be this sister they lost and that it was by some shady shit, Bella.”

She rolled her eyes and continued to cook her breakfast. “And what? Just suddenly start acting like I have this family that I never knew existed? I have Charlie. I remember you and Stefan. I know I hate and fear Katherine. I don’t know them.”

“Yet. You admitted that you’re still getting memories back every day. So you haven’t gotten that far back yet, and you just might not. But, and you know how much I hate that family to be saying this, but, you could at least get to know them now. Now, I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them, never did, but they didn’t seem to give two shits about you being this all-powerful witch. They were completely fixated on the fact that you were family, and that is one thing I do know about the Mikaelsons. They are all about their family first.”

Bella looked up at him with a frown as she thought about what he said before letting out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “They won’t want to stay here. They live in New Orleans. How’s that going to work?”

“That’s up to you. You can graduate and go there, give it a chance. It’s a nice city,” he suggested carefully, his smile trying to hide his displeasure at the idea of her leaving Mystic Falls.

“You know, you could come with me,” she added, smirking.

“Why would I want to do that?”

She stared at him, her eyebrow raised in annoyance at his countenance. “Because I asked. There is nothing for you in this town other than me. Even Stefan keeps flipping and flopping on his feelings about Elena regardless of how much she’s betrayed, everyone.”

Damon released a sigh, falling into the chair that her father had recently vacated. “You know that I had been in the same position as Stefan before you showed up, right? I was all about Elena too before she turned into this manipulative copy of her ancestor. I understand why he can’t let go of her completely.”

There was complete silence coming from Bella as she paused in her preparation of her breakfast. “Do you still have feelings for her?”

“My feelings are for you,” he answered, his voice firm as his eyes remained fixed on her back. “I care for what happens to Elena, but I don’t love her. If we’re talking about our emotions about the repeats of the past, I’ll tell you this now. I feel stronger for you than I ever felt for Elena over Katherine. Part of the difference is in the at I know now that you are the same as the Isabelle from my human life and not some copycat.”

Plating the food, she said nothing else as she went to join him at the table. Setting his by him, she took her seat and stared down at the food before turning to face out the window. “I don’t know what to do with all this. So much has happened so fast that it’s frankly frightening.”

His eye twitched at her formal speech but was sure she was referring more to her new family than the situation with Elena and Katherine still milling about Mystic Falls and being after her. “What are you really afraid of, Bella?”

Her eyes raised to look at him before dropping down to her plate where she picked at the pancakes she’d prepared. Her mouth fell open to answer, or deny, but no words came out. A trembling sigh escaped as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. “I’d let a family like that in once. Let me become involved, loved them,” she quietly spoke. “Then they left without even a goodbye. Just disappeared during the night and I never saw them again.”

Damon sat back, taking a sip of his coffee and considered what she said. Putting together all that he’d learned about his girl’s current life, he couldn’t help but let his eyes fall to her wrist where her small hand rested next to her plate, fisted in frustration. Her other hand twitched, anxious to move to do something other than sit where it was, he was sure. “Yeah, you told us this story when you came to the house for dinner that first night. There’s more to it, isn’t there?”

Bella looked up at him, finding him slouched back in his chair, relaxed and simply waiting as patiently as Damon Salvatore could without being too much of a dick. Smiling slightly, she shrugged a shoulder. “I suppose there is. There were vampires as well,” she admitted, meeting his eyes. “Not like you, though. Different.”

“Cold Ones. Yeah, Princess, I know about your love bite on your wrist. I just wasn’t going to say anything until you were ready,” he smirked.

“They didn’t bite me. A nomad did, thinking I would be some game. They killed him, but they let his mate go, ignoring the threat she posed. Edward, my ex, claimed he heard nothing from her thoughts that indicated she would come after us,” she sighed again, full of aggravation this time. “I’m just waiting for the time when she finds that we’re not in Forks anymore and starts expanding her hunt and finds us.”

“You’re a powerful witch now. You can take a measly Cold One with a flick of your hand. Don’t sweat her. Talk to Witchy about controlling your ju-ju. Tell me more about this family that’s making you not want to get to know your own?”

She rolled her eyes at that. “We don’t know that I am their family. Not really.”

Damon ran his hand over his face and scratched his head with a pinched expression. “You know how much I despise Klaus and the rest of them. Sometimes I can tolerate the Original Barbie. But I told you before when it comes to family; they don’t joke around. They truly believe you are theirs, and I know that if anything were to come for you, they would fight them to the death if they think you are their sister. You can’t get a better position in the supernatural world than that.”

“And I suppose with their history; I would also gain their enemies?” Bella clarified, raising an eyebrow and shoving a mouthful of pancake in her mouth.

His lips pressed together as he had no answer for that, as it was the truth. Enemies would come for her as she would be a potential new weakness for the family. Especially being so newly reunited. “They would still fight in your corner, no matter the circumstance. That much I can say, and I hate the hell out of Klaus and Elijah.”

“So you’re telling me to give them a chance?” She asked, still unsure.

“Look at it this way. There is no way in hell that Klaus would ever leave you behind the way your ex and his family did. Klaus – well, you need to talk to him. Let’s just say he is known to dagger his siblings and cart them around with him in coffins. As far the reasons for that, you would have to go to him because I think you both have similar issues of abandonment there,” Damon stressed.

Hearing that, Bella couldn’t help but feel a little more open to the family. She wasn’t sure about the daggering knowledge and would have to ask more about what that entailed. “Okay, I think I will. However, on the off chance that things do look brighter with them, do you think you could put your issues with them behind you?”

He knew that this was coming, and as much as he hated it, he scowled. “For you, I can tolerate them. As long as they do the same and leave me and Stefan be.”

“Of course. If they care about me like they claim they do, they won’t harm you as it would be like harming me,” Bella grinned, winking at the gameplay she intended to use to protect him from her new relatives.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Damon muttered into his mug.

“I hope so too because I think we will need them to work with us fairly soon. I have a feeling that things are about to get a lot more – interesting,” she shrugged.

“How so?”

Bella was confused as she ate. “I don’t know. Just a feeling I had when I woke up. It was strange, but I can’t explain it so until I can figure it out, I’m just not going to focus on it right now. I’d rather deal with what I know I can handle, and that is Elena and – and um, my family.”

“You can say your brothers. That’s what they are. Your sister is in New Orleans handling Klaus’ baby problem,” Damon commented, still weirded out by that detail.

“Yeah. That was unnerving, but I’m happy for him. He seemed nervous and excited for it,” she smiled.

“I thought he was more interested in the power the kid might give him.”

She frowned at him, anger burning inside of her. “It’s a facade he puts up. I saw right through that. He wants the child because it’s his. A thousand years and they had accepted they would never be parents unless they adopted. He was given a gift, and he knows he’d be foolish not to accept and step up for it. Do not insult his opportunity to be a father.”

Damon stared back at her, blinking as he carefully pushed his finished plate back. “And here you thought you weren’t a Mikaelson. I think we should go find your brothers so that you can have that heart to heart and you don’t tear mine out.”

~o.O.o~

Elsewhere, somewhere in an extremely rural location of Alaska, Alice Cullen sat frozen as a vision overtook her small frame. The images assaulting her and giving her such terror that the items held in her hand ripped and shredded from her sharp nails by the time it ended. Her family gathered around her, waiting for her to share what she saw, but all she could do was meet her adopted brother’s pain filled eyes, for her saw everything she did in her mind.

“The Volturi are looking to go after Bella,” she whispered.

“How did they find out about her?” Carlisle questioned, confused as he knew of no one but their family that was aware of the girl.

Rosalie rolled her eyes and flipped through her magazine. “Let them go after her. I told you that she would bring nothing but trouble. I bet that they will come after us next.”

“We can’t let them kill her. We have to go back after her, protect her,” Edward muttered, trying to think of a plan.

“It won’t be that easy. I had been keeping tabs on the Swans to make sure that she didn’t say anything. They left Forks and didn’t leave a forwarding address. Jenks is still looking for them,” Jasper shared, earning a glare from the mind reader. “Don’t look at me like that. I have my share of guilt for what happened to her, but it’s my own. Don’t put your issues on me. I only did this for our safety as well as her own. I told you that we should have killed the red head. I’ll bet it was her that went to the Volturi.”

“Regardless, Bella is in danger, and we should do something. We need to find her,” Edward insisted, turning to his creator for the confirmation that their family will become involved against his old friends.

Carlisle hesitated before nodding slightly. “Very well. Perhaps I can talk Aro down in person, convince him that we will turn Bella.”

“What? No!”

“It’s either that or we all die, Edward,” he explained.

He remained firm. “I don’t want her damned like we are, Carlisle.”

“She was damned the moment you began speaking to her, Edward,” Jasper pointed out. “She wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you.”

“She’s my mate. I left so that she would be safe!” he cried, making the elder vampire roll his eyes, as well as the few others that had grown tired of whining.

“That’s such a full of crap! If she were your real mate, then you would never have been able to leave the way you had! She would never survive the separation while being still human!” Jasper shouted, coming to his feet. An errant thought of when he had first seen the girl came through his mind and Edward latched onto it quickly.

He stared back at him confused, enraged, and hurt. “What you mean she wasn’t who she thought she was? What aren’t you sharing?”

Everyone turned to look at the former fighter as he stood his ground against his adopted brother. “She was never your mate, Edward. If we go help you, you keep that in mind and stay away from Bella.”

“Tell me what you know,” Edward repeated, his stone hands fisting at his side, even though he would never stand a chance against the God of War.

“I don’t know what she is. Some may call her a doppelganger, others a reincarnation. But I’d seen her face a few times before in my life. It’s also a face I distinctly remember when I was human, one of the few.”

“Do you know what happened to each one you’ve encountered?” Carlisle asked, his curiosity of such a phenomenon rising.

“A warm-blooded vampire that was fairly well known around the South for stirring up trouble often showed up and killed her. I’d seen only maybe three versions of her over the years, at least thirty or forty years apart.”

“And she keeps being reborn, only to be killed by this other vampire? Sounds like something magically bound,” Carlisle mused, thinking about what would incite such a happenstance. “We need to find our Bella and protect her from this vampire and avoid her death. Maybe we can break whatever spell is causing the recurrences.”

The majority of the family agreed with locating and helping Bella, but Jasper continued to remain reserved about it. While he wanted to help, and agreed, he was less than enthusiastic when the talks began about tracking her and her father. He knew where they were, but he didn’t want to say. When Edward growled and tackled him, he had easily reversed the assault and flooded the insolent child with enough fear that would make a grown man piss himself.

“Stop! You know where she is, but you won’t tell!” Edward cried.

“Yes, I have an idea of where she is right now! That doesn’t mean we should just show up out of nowhere and expect her to welcome us like we didn’t leave her like the shit on the bottom of our shoes. She will hate us, and you especially. I can assure you of that. You have no idea of what kind of Bella we will find and I doubt it will be the same girl from back in Forks. So get it out of your head that you might have a chance to get her back and keep her human if she doesn’t give us even the time of day,” Jasper shouted and turned, walking out of the house, slamming the door in his wake.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Alice whispered before flitting out of the house after her husband.

“Carlisle…” Edward tried to gain his side but was stopped when the father figure raised his hand.

He sighed and shook his head. “Jasper is right. The way you had us leave her was wrong, and we can expect a hostile reception. Despite her overall forgiving nature, she does have a right to be very angry with us until we can prove our remorse. This time, Edward, we won’t be following your word in regards to Bella.”

“She’s my mate-”

“She is not. When you made the decision to leave like that, I knew then that you weren’t mates. I thought it might be a good thing that she got to live a human life with us gone and went along with it and only for that reason, I agreed. Do not make me for a fool Edward. We will be following Jasper’s experience with his encounters of Bella’s – previous look-a-likes on this situation. If you cannot agree, then you can stay behind with the Denali’s until this is resolved.”

“I want to protect Bella,” the boy stubbornly said.

Carlisle wearily sighed and nodded. “I thought you would say that. Just behave and mind yourself.”

“I know what I have to do,” Edward said, saying nothing else as he kept his head down, but his eyes had nothing but determination in them.

~o.O.o~

“She doesn’t trust us. She is involved with the Salvatores too deep for her to ever consider even befriending us,” Klaus commented over morning tea with his brother as they had continued their discussions about their missing and found sister.

They’d been patiently waiting for her to come to them, giving her the space she’d requested, but Klaus was growing more anxious and irritable. While he’d never known much about the girl, he could feel the pull of kinship with her and wanted to know her more.

“If she decides she wants nothing to do with us, she will let us know when the time comes. For now, we will wait,” Elijah replied, lifting his teacup.

The hybrid rolled his eyes. “With her being romantically involved with that imbecile, I highly doubt that she will choose to join the family.”

“I think you are underestimating her, and Damon Salvatore. I believe that Isabella is simply being overwhelmed with information recently, and our arrival only compounded on it. We are going to allow her the time to process and accept what she’s learned and decide for herself what she wishes to do. You heard for yourself of her memory of our encounter years ago. A part of her knows we, or at least that I, am not a threat to her. She will come to realize it soon enough,” the older brother insisted, seemingly as if he was trying to convince himself as much as his volatile brother.

Kol flounced in, breezing through the kitchen and grabbed a breakfast roll from the counter before pulling a bag of blood from the refrigerator. “So I was thinking about our witchy sister. We may need to make contact with some friendly spirits to see if someone may be willing to talk about what super spells that may have been cast back when we were human,” he said before pausing. “Or rather before most of us were born. Only Finn was born when she disappeared, right?”

“Yes, Kol. Mother was pregnant with me when we lost Ylva. Why do you ask?” Elijah questioned.

“Was mother always so powerful? The grand original witch we’d grown up believing?” he inquired, looking between the two.

Klaus frowned, leaning on the edge of the counter as he stared at his youngest brother. “What makes you ask that? Where are you going with these questions?”

“Just be patient now. We all know magic often requires a sacrifice, yes? What if, what if Mother asked for something, but our sister was the price paid?” Kol suggested, his tone softening and growing more serious.

“That’s preposterous! She would never have sacrificed her child-!” Elijah started to argue, before being cut off by Klaus.

“She was going to sacrifice and kill us not long ago. She linked us to Finn and was about to kill him with her hand,” he reminded him of just how far she would truly go. They fell silent for a moment before he nodded to Kol. “Go make friends and behave. Get that Bennett witch on our side for this. I’m sure she is as curious for answers about her friend as we are, but make it subtle. We don’t need to make drama here for Isabella if we are to get her to join the family.”

“Of course. Maybe I’ll enjoy some time in school like our sister had. Get to know the girl myself,” Kol said with a cheeky smile.

“Tread lightly. She may be a Mikaelson in spirit, but she is still skittish around vampires she doesn’t know or trust. I was able to learn enough that she’d been betrayed by others, and it had left a deep mark,” Elijah added.

“A yes, the sparklies. I shall work on that as well. No worries! She’ll be coming home and sharing in the milk and cookies soon enough,” Kol smirked and left for his new mission.

“He will anger her,” Elijah muttered as he returned to his tea.

Klaus snorted. “No. She will simply stake him, and when she learns it won’t work, she will come asking for his dagger.”

“You seem so sure,” his brother mused after studying him for a long moment, only to receive a shrug back. “No matter, she is blood. We will be there for her whether she accepts us or not.”

“I will drink to that, brother,” Klaus smiled, raising his cup and taking a sip.

~o.O.o~

Bella missed her first-period class because she’d spent the morning talking with Damon over breakfast, working out her feelings about the Mikaelsons. She still didn’t know what to do about them, but at least she was more comfortable about whatever decision makes, Damon would be with her every step of the way.

She was growing more bored by Alaric Saltzman’s history lecture and begun to stare out of the window. She hadn’t even paid attention for when the door opened, and another student entered, interrupting the class.

There was a low groan nearby that she caught, making her look over to see Elena glaring up at the new student. Eying him, Bella didn’t find anything interesting other than that she suspected that he might make the class a little more entertaining. Especially with the smirk on his lips that she was certain she’d seen before somewhere else.

She watched as he looked around the room before his smile grew and he started up the aisle of desks she sat in. He slid into the desk behind hers, leaning over as he did so and spoke in an accented voice that had her eyebrows raise with questions.

“Hello, sister. I believe it’s time that you and I got to know one and another a bit, hmm?” the new student murmured, sitting down and making himself comfortable quite quickly.

Bella glanced at him over her shoulder, and he waved his fingers, biting on the pen cap before pointing forward. “Later, Poppet! Don’t want the doppelganger jealous now, do you? Besides, we’re here to learn!”

She turned forward, her eyes large with bewilderment as her mind raced to figure out this new family member. She was sure it had to be Kol, the last living brother that she’d been told about, but she hadn’t been warned the slightest of what he was like. She only could tell now that it was going to be a long day ahead.