By Your Side, Chapter 2, Brothers In Arms
This chapter happens just after the events in 'Crying Wolf' (Season 2, Ep 14).It's the beginning of April and Elijah does not go to the dinner party where he would have been daggered.
I own nothing except the plot… though I wouldn't mind Niklaus owning me…
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms
{Mark Knopfler & Dire Straits}
~*~ I ~*~
Bella was spending a typical evening reading on the sofa in Nik's study when it happened. Nik's Warlock Maddox had knocked and hurried across the room to Nik's desk whispering something to him. Nik had stared at him for a long moment before turning his head to look at Bella.
"Belle, follow Maddox. It appears there is someone you need to invite in for me."
Bella marked her page and rose, jogging to catch up with the Warlock who ignored her as was the usual for him. She was sure he didn't like her, but then Maddox didn't seem to really like anyone at the house. He certainly wasn't the most talkative of people.
She arrived at the front door and stopped in surprise, this simply had to be Elijah that was standing in front of her. There was definitely a family resemblance, but to Bella it was more obvious in the way that he carried himself, the aura of power that seemed to surround him in the same way it did with Niklaus.
"Please come in," she said politely before stepping back to allow him entry. He nodded courteously at her as he crossed the threshold and indicated with a casual wave for her to lead the way. The walk balk to the study seemed to Bella to take forever in the glaring silence. She knocked lightly as she got to the door and walked in, Elijah following closely behind her.
"So dear brother, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"
Niklaus lifted his booted feet from where they were propped up on his desk and rose gracefully from the chair as he spoke, eyes locked on the well-dressed vampire in front of him.
"I would suggest you ask your young companion, assuming this is indeed Isabella," Elijah gestured towards Bella, who had crossed the room towards Niklaus, edging slightly behind him much to Elijah's surprise. He'd never seen anyone, human or vampire, seek protection from his younger brother. "She wrote an intriguing letter."
Klaus took the sheet of paper Elijah held out, briefly glancing back at Bella with his eyebrow raised, before reading it. Bella looked at the ground nervously, wondering again if she had overstepped her bounds. She could practically feel Elijah's eyes on her, but kept staring at the floor waiting for Nik's reaction.
"I have one question I wish for you to answer, Niklaus," Elijah said smoothly as his younger brother finished reading. He brushed a piece of lint from his suit then fixed his gaze back on the man in front of him. Bella watched them carefully. Their positions were deceptively casual, but having spent the time she had around Niklaus, she could see the tension. They were both like coiled springs; ready to blur into ridiculously fast movement in a split second.
"What of our family, brother? Did you cast them into the ocean or are they truly safe as this letter implies?"
Niklaus sighed as his ocean blue eyes met Elijah's deep brown ones. As much as he hated to think of his family in such terms, he was about to give up his best bargaining chip when it came to Elijah.
"They are safe," he stated quietly, the need to have his brother back by his side finally outweighing the need for a strategic advantage, "and after Mikael is found and properly dealt with, I plan to release them."
The tension seemed to drain out of both vampires in the quiet following his admission, and Bella blew out a quiet shaky breath as Elijah slowly stepped forward to shake Nik's hand before pulling him into a slightly stiff, yet brotherly, hug. Relief flooded her, even if Nik got angry with her for her interference she was happy that he had a chance to have part of his family back.
She smiled shyly as Elijah then approached her, taking her hand and kissing the back of it, "Miss Isabella, it's a pleasure," He said smoothly. "As you know, I am Elijah."
"Oh," Bella squeaked, feeling her cheeks flaming."It's really nice to meet you Elijah, but there's no need to be so formal… most people just call me Bella."
"What she isn't telling you brother is that she's never been used to such formality and so it makes her nervous," Niklaus laughed as she blushed deeper at his teasing words, reaching out and resting his hand on her shoulder gently. He gave it a light squeeze, his subtle way of letting her know she would be forgiven for her 'meddling'.
~*~ II ~*~
Over the next hour or two Elijah had watched the two of them with interest. Bella had been fairly quiet, apparently happy to just allow them to talk. She was a little wary of him, understandably so, but what had amazed him was how genuinely comfortable she seemed to be with Niklaus, especially as there was no trace of compulsion so far as he could tell.
Also surprising was the fact that he also found himself quickly taking a liking to the diminutive human girl. While he generally had more respect for human life than his siblings, feeling anything other than a fleeting interest for a mortal was not something he was accustomed to. Though she had spoken little, she was obviously intelligent, and for Niklaus to hold her in such regard she must have proven brave and unfailingly loyal. There was definitely steel under her calm exterior and all of these were traits Elijah respected.
While Bella had left them to get herself a hot drink, which they had both declined in favour of Bourbon that Niklaus kept in his study, Elijah decided it was time to satisfy some of his curiosity.
"So Niklaus, where did you find such an unusual human?"
"Hmm, I wondered when you would ask. Would you believe I rescued her, brother?" Niklaus smirked briefly at Elijah's sceptical look before his face darkened. "I was in Washington when I received word of a nearby disturbance; a nest of Cold Ones," his distaste was clear. No traditional vampire that knew of Cold Ones had any liking for them. "I destroyed them all. Then found they had a human prisoner, Bella, who had been there some time."
"Strange for their kind," Elijah commented.
"To say the least," Niklaus continued. "I actually felt pity for her and had fully intended just to compel her and move on; but then she stumbled to her feet, looked me straight in the eye and said that she'd had enough of being a prisoner and demanded that if I wanted to kill her to 'just do it quickly and get it over with'." Klaus chuckled in remembrance; few people had ever faced him as bravely as Bella had done.
Elijah suppressed a smile; he already understood them a little better. Klaus had always admired strength in the face of adversity, even in humans.
"…I liked her spirit, so I offered her a choice to be my companion. Of course we've since found out that little Belle has some interesting quirks… she cannot be compelled, at all, and not only that, she is also the only known human to be bitten by a Cold One and survive."
Elijah sat forward, his usual reserved façade slipping. "That's impossible."
Niklaus just smiled enigmatically at him.
After a few moments of silence Bella walked past the open doorway, a mug of hot chocolate in her hand. Klaus called her into the room then waved her closer, taking the mug from her, placing it on a side table, "Belle? Be a love and show Elijah your wrist for me."
A slight facial twitch was the only outward indicator of his surprise when he realised Klaus was at least partially telling the truth. His eyes were drawn to the dark tooled leather cuff on Bella's wrist that she was currently loosening the ties on, so that she could slide it over her hand.
She looked at him nervously as she held out her arm, the bite marks with their slight sparkle standing out like a neon sign to the Original's keen eyesight. Bella tensed slightly as Elijah gently grasped her wrist but quickly relaxed when all he did was graze his fingers over the overlapped crescent shaped scars, feeling the texture and temperature difference to the rest of her skin. It appeared she had been bitten several times in the same place.
Elijah reached for the cuff she held in her other hand, "May I?" he asked. She handed it to him and he examined it curiously for a moment before gently sliding it back into place and tightening the lace ties carefully. It was a lovely bit of craftsmanship he noted somewhere in the back of his mind, the delicate flowers and swirls etched into the leather stopped it looking too masculine. It was obviously custom-made, designed to cover the noticeable marks perfectly, and he'd be willing to bet it had been a gift from Niklaus to the girl. Having such scarring on show would no doubt attract unwanted attention in their world.
Bella flushed lightly under his intense regard as he held onto her hand. Meeting his gaze bravely, she kept her eyes on his as his pupils dilated in his attempt to compel her. Even as it failed she couldn't help feeling as if he was weighing her up somehow, his dark eyes taking her measure. He seemed to like whatever he saw however, as after a moment his serious face softened, a half smile playing about his lips. Unable to resist, she smiled back at him as he let her hand go with a gentle pat, leaving her with the vague impression that she had just passed some kind of test.
"So, Elijah," Niklaus spoke suddenly, startling Bella who had turned to reclaim her mug of chocolate. He looked up at her and smirked, patting the spot next to him on the sofa. To Elijah she looked incredibly innocent, as she curled up on the seat beside his very dangerous brother, in her plaid pyjama bottoms and tank top, sipping at her drink. His attention flicked back to Niklaus as he continued.
"If you've finished trying to compel her, I think it's time you tell me all about this Doppelganger you've found."
~*~ III ~*~
Elijah sipped his wine meditatively; mulling over everything he'd heard that evening.
He had filled Niklaus in on the situation so far with the Doppelganger, Elena, and had been taken aback when his brother had agreed to consider options to spare her life during the ritual. It appeared that Bella had somehow been a positive influence on him, though it seemed that Niklaus must also have had some influence on Bella as she hadn't even flinched during him talking about recent events surrounding Mystic Falls and its occupants. When he'd mentioned destroying the café windows with just a handful of coins Bella had actually looked almost awed, while Niklaus had smiled in amusement at both the story and her reaction.
In fact the only time he'd seen Bella look truly uncomfortable since his arrival was when Niklaus had prodded her to tell him her own history.
She had blushed and looked everywhere but at him as she told the story; from meeting her first love and being invited into a family, how she had been targeted by nomads and ended up with the scars she'd shown him earlier, right up to being cruelly discarded by the whole group, after the boy had ended things in the woods no less.
He had heard of Carlisle Cullen and his group of animal drinkers previously; when you'd been around as long as he had you didn't miss much, and he was startled by the actions of the so-called humane Cold Ones. It was bad enough that they had irresponsibly left a defenceless human with dangerous knowledge of the supernatural world, but to leave someone they had professed to care for - that one of them had claimed he was mated to - unprotected the way they had was inexcusable and their actions in not tying up loose ends before they left had directly led to her losing everything.
Bella's apparent ease with his brother and his bloodthirsty lifestyle now made complete sense to Elijah. She had seen her entire family murdered in the name of revenge for something she wasn't actually responsible for and all of her friends believed her to be dead too. Experiences like that usually fundamentally changed a person, changed their perception of things. Niklaus was literally all she had left in the world and it was no wonder she had adapted to this life so smoothly.
He could see that Niklaus was relishing having someone truly trust in him, and it showed in his actions. Elijah had barely kept his jaw from dropping in shock when Niklaus had grudgingly admitted that not only had he promised Bella that he'd avoid killing innocents where possible, but that he was planning on keeping his word. His agreement in trying to spare the Doppelganger was in keeping with that.
"Interesting story little Belle has, isn't it?" Niklaus spoke suddenly, bringing Elijah out of his thoughts.
"Yes indeed, I see why you are drawn to her. More than anything I find the Cold Ones' behaviour disturbing. To truly find a mate is uncommon, and I'm surprised even one such as them have thrown the term around so loosely. If she had been mated to the boy then he could not have willingly left her." He looked intently at his brother for a moment. "I assume you are not mated to her."
It wasn't really a question so he was unsurprised when Niklaus confirmed no with a quick shake of his head. "No… she is a friend, almost family."
Elijah smiled genuinely at him. "I cannot recall the last time I heard you refer to someone as an actual friend, and not just an ally or acquaintance."
"Well, don't go telling anyone." Niklaus replied dryly. "You'd only get the poor girl killed if it got out that I actually like her. Then of course I'd have to go to all the trouble of exacting bloody revenge."
"Of course, that would be far too much trouble." Elijah responded, amused.
Okay chapter two… done.
Ended up adding an extra 600 or so words to this after posting chapter one, just adding details and trying to get the characters 'voices' right.
Big thank you to my Beta TheCoreConundrum who volunteered after the first chapter and got this chapter back to me lightning fast :)
To everyone who reviewed, and also to everyone who followed or added to favourites... you're all awesome and it's truly appreciated.
Chapter three being worked on right now…