Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Chapter 16

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…

Damon had been as quick as he could to get to the Mikaelson mansion when he received the call from Elijah. Before he could curse his girlfriend about not coming to him, the Original had given a quick explanation of the reason for her visit and that they had felt she’d feel better after some new revelations if he were at her side.

When he was let into the house, it was a bit different than the last visit when he came for her. Bella was lying on the couch with her head on Kol’s lap as the brothers sat quietly. Kol looked up to see the Salvatore brother and ran his hand over her arm. “Bella, Darling. Damon is here.”

Damon frowned as she remained lying still, her eyes blinking but giving no other response. “What happened?”

“She’s still shaken and upset. Probably processing everything,” Klaus muttered. “She met Rebekah through the computer and she said something that triggered a memory to come forward.”

“What memory? She’s gained quite a few over the last week but she’s never been like this after,” he pointed out as he moved to sit on the couch next to her.

Klaus hesitated, glancing over at Elijah, whom nodded. “She lived a life in New Orleans when we were there. We didn’t know, but Rebekah remembered her face as she had contacted Mikael to hunt for me. Only he came across that incarnation before us and, well, you can guess how that ended.”

Damon paled at just the imagery that simple explanation gave him. Reaching for her hand, he raised it to his lips. “Isabella. Come back to me, Princess. We have so much to discuss that if you hide inside yourself, we won’t have that forever we wanted together.”

“Somebody wants me dead,” Bella mumbled. “How can we have forever if I don’t know who is after me and I die again?”

“We won’t let you die. Not this time. Your other lives didn’t have so many interested in protecting you like you do now. Don’t give up. Don’t give up on us,” he whispered, pleading with her.

She let out a sigh, closing her eyes as she was content in her position with Kol playing with her hair. However, she knew that Damon was right. She had much more going for her than she’d had in the past. Especially with a deranged vampire that seemed obsessed with killing her. Sitting up, she kept her eyes down. “So what are we going to do? There’s more than this threat that none of know what it is or who. Katherine is still out there and I have some baggage from Forks that has been trying to hunt me down before I moved here.”

“If you’ll excuse me. I have some things to gather,” Kol said before disappearing from the room, Bella’s eyes on his retreating form.

Each of the vampires in the room could hear her heart rate increase at his words. Damon grew more suspicious as he looked around before eyeing his girlfriend. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

“Isabella demanded to find a way of getting back the memories of when this curse was placed on her. Kol’s only knowledge of speaking to the one person present at the time, involves Expression magic,” Elijah replied when the girl remained stubbornly silent. “We each warned her of the dangers of going that direction. She insisted.”

“Expression nearly killed Bonnie,” Damon recalled, his face scrunching in disgust at the memory of the Silas debacle. “It’s not a good idea, Bella.”

“I’m done playing safe,” she snapped, pulling away from him. “Each time I get memories from a life back, I also experience that death. I can feel it all over again. I don’t want to do this anymore!”

“Yes, but what if the person doing the magical woo-woo thing to figure it out for you dies in the process? Is it really worth it?”

Bella drew in a breath and met his eyes but said nothing. No one else would be doing the spell and Kol would only be talking her through it so that she could speak to Finn on the other side of the veil. Only, she knew no matter what route was to be taken, Damon and her would be at odds with this.

His eyes narrowed and disbelief filled him. “You can’t be serious! You don’t know the full range of your magic yet and have only done a couple very simple spells purely out of instinct. This?! This is like way above that! How can everyone here be okay with this?!”

“Trust that we are not okay with her plans. We feel just as you do, but it is her decision and we respect it,” Klaus protested the accusation.

“Bella. Please reconsider this!”

“My mind is made up. If I survive, then great. But if I die, at least this time it was by my own actions and not Katherine’s or some other psychotic vampire.”

“You want Katherine dead? Great! I’ll be happy to kill the bitch when she shows her face next. But I don’t want you to go through anything that would be a risk to you. Have you considered Charlie in all this?”

Bella sighed. “He has an idea of what’s going on. Not all the details, but whatever happens, will happen. Damon. Please, will you trust me that I feel strong enough to go through with this?”

Damon huffed. “No.”

“Fine. Then don’t be there,” she said evenly, masking the hurt he just spurred. “In fact, why are you even here if you are not willing to help me to a solution to all this?”

“Because if it has the chance of you dying, I’m not on board. This is crazy talk!” Damon pleased with her. “Bella, there must be another way of doing this.”

She simply shook her head. “I would love for you to be there, but I won’t beg or force you. I never once said anything about your past and the things you do that I don’t necessarily agree with, but they are your decisions. If you feel so strongly against my going through with this, then leave Damon. I’m doing this because it is what I feel I need to do, to get past these obstructions in my mind.”

He shook his head as she spoke, but knew she was right on a lot of it. He also would not leave her so willingly to face a dangerous spell alone. “If you die, I will find a way to bring you back and say I told you so. But I’m not going anywhere.”

“Fine. And when I don’t die, I’ll say the same to you!” she countered.

“Fine! I’ll get you a pony if you survive this!”

At that, Bella couldn’t help but to grin. “Really?”

Damon shrugged at that. “Maybe not. Stefan might want to sink his teeth in it.”

“Buy him a donkey. The pony is mine. Look, how about this? You give me your blood and if anything did happen, at least I’ll come back as a vampire. Win, win for the both of us.”

“Great! A solution for you two love birds that satisfies everyone’s interests!” Klaus exclaimed, tired of the argument. “Bella comes back as a vampire if things go wrong, or she lives and laughs at all of us for our concern. Either way, we get to keep her.”

Kol returned with a bag, waiting at the doorway. “I got what we need. When do you want to do this, Sister?”

“Now,” Bella answered. “No delaying the inevitable.” She looked up at Damon, raising an eyebrow. “So, your blood or shall I ask one of these guys?”

“You’re a pain sometimes, you know that?” Damon sighed, biting into his wrist and bringing it to her mouth.

Swallowing several large mouthfuls, assuring everyone that there would be plenty of his blood in her to transition, she turned him around and started ushering everyone out so that they could perform the spell. “Alright. Let’s go do this.”

“Impatient little troll,” Klaus muttered as he followed the group out of the house to the ritual site. It was going to prove to be a long evening for the family.

~o.O.o~

“Have you seen anything new?” Edward demanded of Alice as the family made their approach to Mystic Falls, Virginia. He looked up and grimaced at the storming skies, but was thankful for the cover to protect them from the sunlight.

Alice glared over at him from beside Jasper. “You know my ability doesn’t work like that. I’ve barely seen anything of her and what flashes I get aren’t tangible enough to determine.”

He hissed with displeasure at her. “What have you seen?”

“Don’t make me kick your ass, Edward. Your attitude is not going to change the outcome, no matter how much you deny what is happening,” Jasper growled at him.

“Well – at least there are plenty of woods for hunting,” Emmett shared, trying to lighten the mood. All he got in return was a despairing glare.

“All I saw was Bella standing in the woods under a storm like this. Nothing else,” Alice replied. “She had some others with her, so whatever she was doing, she wasn’t alone.”

Jasper had been leading the group as he had studied the region prior to their departure, came to a stop and looked around. He could pick up the emotions of several beings, ranging from anxious to concern and fear. “They are nearby. Take it slow so that they don’t see or hear us approaching. Perhaps we might be able to see what reason they have to be in the woods in weather like this,” he ordered, pointing in the direction that the emotions were coming from.

“I don’t hear any thoughts,” Edward argued. “Are you sure there’s someone out here?”

“Yes,” the warrior answered succinctly and climbed up into the trees to get a better view.

The others followed suit, Edward reluctantly, and immediately, they could see and hear Bella and her friends speaking in the distance. Lucky for them, the wind blew in their direction and assisted in carrying their words with it so they would not pick up their scents quite so soon.

Raising his finger to his lips, Jasper waited and listened, watching as Bella read from something one male handed her. He recognized it as a spell of some sort, cocking his head to the side as such an action was not typical of the girl they knew.

As soon as she finished the incantation, the winds began to pick up speed and he was certain that if there were vampires with her, they now knew they were in the vicinity. In fact, one blonde haired male turned his head in their direction but remained silent as the group appeared to wait for something to happen.

“Oh my…” Esme whispered under her breath as some sort of visual appeared before them.

“Shh,” Jasper hissed, as they continued to listen to the reason for the spell that was performed.

In the distance, they could faintly hear the conversation. Bella stepped closer to the apparition. She appeared to be looking through it for something specific, without getting too close. All of a sudden, a figure walked into view inside the fissure of their reality.

“Finn,” the oldest male greeted the image. “I am sorry for what has happened to you.”

The image largely ignored him as he appeared to stare at their friend they’d come to see. “How is this possible?”

“That’s what we are here to find out. You were there when our sister lived. Mother told us she had died of the plague, but clearly something else happened,” the blonde spoke.

The ghostly image called Finn nodded. “I was just a boy, but she did not die. Mother gave her to her sister. I was lectured to never speak of what I saw and heard that day. Dahlia claimed our sister as a debt that our mother owed her. I never saw Ylva’s face again until now. How is this possible?”

“Bella, as she is most frequently named, or in some variation, is a reincarnation that gains her past lives’ memories. What she came here for was to see if you might be able to help with gaining that important memory of when this all began,” the older brown haired one explained when it appeared that Bella would not speak up for herself.

“Poppet? Are you alright?” asked another that had assisted her during the incantation.

Each being stared at her as she continued to stare equally as fixated on the apparition as he had been on her. “I…” she started weakly, her hand reaching out to grasp the boy’s arm. Her head tilted to the side, but with her facing away from the Cullens, Jasper could not see her face clearly.

“Hm. If I had to guess, whatever has been happening with our sister, she is caught between a war between our mother and aunt. I do not recommend that you allow Dahlia to get ahold of her. First borns of our line of magic were known to be of the strongest witches. For her to be reborn so often as you imply, her magic would duplicate with her. Dahlia would certainly be yearning to take that power from her.”

Another of the males moved closer to the other side of Bella and the two held onto her. Jasper suspected it was because she was becoming weak from the spell, but her emotions he felt were all over the place. He was beginning to anticipate her to pass out from the exertion or the overwhelming information everyone was hearing.

“Do you have any suspicions of who placed this curse on me?” she finally whispered out a question, barely reaching the Cold Ones’ ears.

The apparition smiled sadly to her and reached out as if to caress her face. “Sweet child. I would put that on our mother as she loved such things. It would likely be her way of rebelling against her sister for having to give you up, that she would not be able to use you or your powerful gifts.”

“Bella?” the male at her side questioned her as he looked over her face. If both had not been beside her, she would have simply collapsed to the ground, but they held her firmly. “Here we go again…”

“Let’s hope she wakes this time with the memories she came her searching for,” the older man sighed as he drew closer. “Thank you Finn…” he said as the breach between realms began to fall away with Bella’s unconscious state.

“Well – that was fun!” the blonde smiled. “Anyone up for a bar-be-que?” The other three males looked to him, flabbergasted. “What? There’s a gaggle of eavesdroppers that I feel like ripping apart and burning just there,” he scoffed, pointing towards the Cullens, making them stiffen at the threat.

“How did he…?” Edward growled, ready to pounce from his tree.

“Go ahead. You’re so conceited and arrogant that you’ll be running to your death,” Jasper smirked, jumping down and slowly making his way to Bella’s group of protectors. As he approached, they took position in front of her, feelings of protectiveness and devotion seeping from them in waves over the girl. Nodding, he stopped several yards away. “I mean you, and Bella, no harm. We came believing she was in danger and merely wanted to make sure that she was alright.”

“Well, you have no business here, Whitlock. Yes I know exactly who you are and despite your grand history, you are no match. Even with penny top there. After the stories our sister shared about your coven of traitors and imbeciles, she’ll be the first to demand for your heads. Who’s to say I may not take them even if she does grant you clemency?” the blonde mused, relaxed in his posture.

“Perhaps you wouldn’t mind returning the gesture as you clearly know who we are, but we don’t know you,” Jasper replied, attempting to remain as polite as he could.

All the males began to smile, amusement flooded them at the coven’s lack of knowledge. “Myself? I am Klaus Mikaelson. These two are my brothers, Elijah and Kol. Surely you must have heard of us?”

The former warrior drew in an unnecessary breath, unhappy with the turnabout. Yes, he had heard of this particular family. It was not one he was willing to go to battle with. Glaring over at Edward, who begun to growl at the memories of stories he was hearing in Jasper and Carlisle’s thoughts. “Stand down. If you want to get yourself tangled in a battle with them, you will do so on your own. I won’t fight them.”

“That’s because you’re a smart fellow. I eat creatures like you for breakfast,” Klaus grinned. “How about you tell us the real reason you lot of fools are here? Let me guess. Penny head thinks he could come and reclaim Isabella. Sorry chap, but our lovely sister is already taken and promised to that idiot holding her.”

“What do you mean, promised?” Carlisle asked, pulling his mate closer to him for her protection.

“Exactly as it sounds, you tool,” the vampire retorted as he held onto his girl. “Bella and I were engaged in 1864, and we have plans to see that through.”

“Bella isn’t a vampire,” Edward argued. “She’s my mate!”

Each and every one of the other vampires laughed. Jasper’s head hung as he was struggling not to laugh as well, considering no one once claimed Bella to be of either of their kinds, but had expressed the reincarnation occurrence. “Edward. What is going on with her is well beyond anything you’ve ever seen or that even I have truly come across. I’m sure even Carlisle may even lack the experience of what you witnessed right here. You already know that I’ve come across her in my past through my thoughts, yet you deny that she’s anything extraordinary.”

“She’s mine,” Edward growled again, causing the Mikaelsons the glare right back. “She was made for me!

Sighing, Jasper shook his head and rubbed his brow. “I give up. I’m not dealing with this idiocy anymore. I trust that they know what they are doing and that they can keep Bella safe from whatever is going on. She’s clearly survived this town long enough…”

“They are monsters!”

Klaus and Damon both let out a hearty laugh. “Sure. And her brother is the worst of all of us, so are you really willing to go up against the Original Hybrid? The guy that can’t be killed?” Damon asked, shifting Bella in his arms. “You guys have fun with this loser. Take lots of pictures for me of whatever you do to him. I’m taking Bella home and wait out this latest trip for her.”

“Go on Damon. We shall resolve this – visit from our sister’s past,” Elijah nodded, making his way forward to stand beside his brothers. He didn’t need any other encouragement and shot out of the area, intent on getting Bella as far away from the Cullens as he could.

“Pardon me,” Carlisle spoke, glancing over to the bulky Emmett to hold onto their unstable family member. “You keep saying that she is your sister, but you are over a millennia in age. The girl we know is just past her eighteenth year.”

Klaus and Elijah exchanged a bored look between themselves as Kol responded. “It’s called magic you dimwit. How do you think your freaky, sparkling race was created? A curse was placed on our sister and she is born, over and over. She’s finally home where she belongs and you can trust that anyone that intends to go up against us to take her from her family will have a fight for their lives. We won’t give her up. Especially to the ones that crushed her heart and spirit in her current life.”

“That’s not true, she’s been lying,” Edward said as he struggled against Emmett’s hold.

“I don’t know about you, but Whitlock and your father figure are certainly familiar with our kind. We were able to slip into her mind when she allowed us and saw her memories. Lying to her as you had, abandoning her in the middle of the forest to be victim to not only the elements, but also another enemy that continues to seek her out,” Elijah lectured, a smile beginning to grow on his lips. “I have half a mind to give permission to my brothers here and allow them to whatever they wish in the name of Isabella. No one harms our family and shall live.”

Kol blinked at his brother. “I didn’t think you had it in you, brother.”

Elijah rolled his eyes and drew in a deep breath, gathering as much patience as he could muster. “What shall it be? Hospitality by way of the Mikaelson method, or you leave Isabella and never return. Be as the promise you spoke that day, that it would be as if you have never existed.”

Klaus’ fingers twitched at his side and he smirked. “Please choose option A,” he whispered.

2 thoughts on “Chapter 16”
  1. This is a great story hon. I love it and am dying to read more of it…thanks. Until next time…bigg huggs. Peggy

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