Bella drove Caroline home. They had been sitting in silence for the first 5 minutes. Both deep in thought about what had just happened. Neither of them knew how to react to what Klaus had done. He had saved Caroline's life but he had been the one to put it in danger.
Caroline looks over, "I don't understand. Why would he try to kill me only to save me?"
Bella shakes her head, just as confused, "I don't know. He has so many different sides to him. He can be extremely evil or extremely good. He never does anything half-assed."
Caroline laughs, "That's true. I just have never seen this side of him before. He was so…kind." She turns in her seat, "He gave me a choice. Before that I had been feeling down. Like my life was stuck in pause. I had no meaning. Then he tells me about great art and genuine beauty. He made me want to see it. He made me want to live."
Bella pulls into her driveway, seeing her house was full, "Did you really feel like that?"
She nods, "I did. I didn't want this life for myself. I had everything planned out. It was perfect. Then Katherine killed me. And nothing made sense anymore. It all fell apart." She sighs, "Then Klaus has Tyler almost kill me and tells me there are amazing things out there. Things that I should see. I just…I just never thought I would feel like I could make plans again."
Bella squeezes Caroline's hand, "No matter what happens in your life, you can always make plans. Don't focus on one thing like I did for most of my life. That never makes you happy. Fall in love with the world. Memorize it. And when you are done? Do it all again. I will join you. As soon as everything settles down around here and you graduate high school, we will see the world."
Caroline smiles and hugs her, "Thank you, Bella. This is going to sound weird but you are a real knight in shining armor around here."
Bella laughs and shakes her head, "Let's go. There are some people waiting to see you."
They hop out of the car and attacked with hugs from Elena, Bonnie, Jeremy, Matt, Kol, Rebekah, Elijah and Damon. They were all talking at once unable to control the emotions they were feeling. She stands back and leans against the door frame.
Kol walks over to her, "That was a nice speech. I let the others know what you said and what she said." He studies her, "Why do you look so sad?"
Bella sighs, "I have spent my whole life either following Klaus around or chasing him around. I never stopped and enjoyed a single second of it. One thousand years and I don't have a single thing to brag about. I could have been exploring the world." She looks down, "When I was a little girl I dreamed about one thing. Adventure. Love, loss, excitement. I have the loss part. I just don't have the rest. Caroline thought she was stuck, but I am the one who is stuck, Kol. And I don't know if I can dig myself out."
She turns around, "I'm going to go for a drive. Tell them I said bye."
Kol watches her leave and puts his head in his hands. They had all put too much pressure on her. Expecting her to be strong when the rest of them were weak. They had beaten her down into someone they no longer recognized.
Rebekah started to walks towards him, but stopped at his expression, "Is Bella ok?"
Kol shakes his head, "No and she never will be. Not with us around."
Elijah looks up and Rebekah frowns, "What do you mean?"
Kol stares up angrily, "Look at her, Becks! All she has done her entire life is make sure all of us were happy! No matter how many times we disappointed her, she was there. She hasn't lived her life. We left her alone, even when we are together, she is alone. We have broken that young girl who liked to run in the forest and tease us."
Rebekah lets the tears fall silently and Elijah holds his head in shame as the rest of them listen. Elijah looks up, "Is that why she wants to bring our mother back? So she can feel a part of her human life come back?"
Kol shakes his head, "I don't know. Maybe. It doesn't matter. All that matters is we get out of this mess and we help her move forward."
Rebekah nods, "I will do anything for her. Anything."
Caroline steps forward, "We are going to see the world after graduation. You should join us. We can make it a group thing. That can be the start of her adventure. It is always better to adventure with the ones you love. It can be the start of all of our new lives."
Elena agrees enthusiastically, "We can just forget all of this. Even if it isn't all resolved by then. It is time she finds happiness." She looks at Damon, "Right?"
He smirks, "I'm always up for travel."
Bella sits in her car next to Jacob. He was the only one that had ever really been there for her when she needed him. When she had told him her secret he hadn't judged her or told her she was a monster. He had embraced her and told her that he would never leave her side. When she had left Caroline's house she didn't know where she was going. She had ended up calling him. Now they were sitting on the edge of town.
Jacob looks over at her, "Is everything ok, Bells?"
She runs her hand through her hair, "I don't know. I just feel like everything is falling apart. My whole life has been…just me. Going from place to place, but not really enjoying anything. I didn't get to see the sights. Go to a café in Paris with some hot French guy. I was too busy chasing my older brother around, trying to get my family back. And now? Now, I have them. Yet I still feel incomplete. Being a vampire is supposed to be about living forever. Seeing everything the world has to offer. Experiencing different people in different centuries or decades. Watching the world change and evolve. But I didn't get to any of that."
Jacob holds her hand, "You still have time, Bella. You will always have time. That is another great thing about being a vampire. You have millions of lifetimes."
She looks over at him with tears in her eyes, "I don't want millions of lifetimes. I look at all the people around me who get to go to school and fall in and out of love. Get married and have kids. Watch their kids fall in love and have kids. Maybe even those kids have kids. Grow old together and die together. That is what living is supposed to be. That is what being a vampire has taken away from me. I didn't want this. I had to opportunity to marry the man I loved, but it was stolen from me. My life was stolen. Nothing will ever be the same."
Jacob gets out of the car and walks around, opens her door and pulls her out for a hug. He couldn't imagine the pain that she was feeling. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to have your parents kill you. He held her sobbing form trying to give her comfort he knew she would never feel.
He pulls back, "I am so sorry, Bella. If I could give you my human life, I would. I would do anything for you. You have suffered for too long."
Bella wipes at the tears she couldn't stop from falling, "I just…I just want my life."
Jacob hugs her again, "I know, Bella, I know." He rubs her back, "It's going to be ok."
Another car comes up and pulls to the side of the road. They both look up thinking it was someone from their group of friends. But a stranger neither one of them had met before steps out. She holds out her hands and Bella and Jacob fly apart. The woman walks over to Bella and puts her hand on her head. Bella feels electricity flow through her body as the woman murmurs something in Latin. She feels the skin on her arms and legs rip apart leaving large gashes. She feels a lot of smaller but deep cuts over the rest of her body. She screams and cries out in pain until it is all too much. She falls to the ground in a dark abyss.
Jacob wakes up after passing out from a hit on his head. The car was gone. He looks around frantically and sees Bella lying on the ground with deep gashes and cuts all over her. She wasn't moving. He didn't know if she was dead or alive. He picks her up and puts her in the back seat. He speeds back into town and tries to find where she said her friends were, hoping they still would be there. He recognizes Damon's car and parks behind it. He throws open his door and hers not bothering to close them.
He yells, "Help me! Someone help me!"
Kol, Rebekah, Elijah, Caroline and Damon speed out. The rest run out a bit slower. They all gasp at who he was carrying. Kol grabs her and runs her inside, "What the hell happened to her?"
Jacob shakes his head frantically, "I don't know. This woman pulled over to where we were and she flung us apart with some sort of magic. That's all I remember. I woke up and Bella was on the ground looking like someone had slashed her with a knife over and over again."
Damon kneels next to her, "Why isn't she healing? This doesn't make sense."
Rebekah turns to Caroline, "Do you have any blood? Maybe that will help."
Caroline nods and takes off toward the kitchen. She grabs the 5 that she had left, not knowing how many Bella would need. She hands them to Elijah, "Is she going to be ok?"
Elijah looks at her with a sadness she had never seen in him before, "I don't know."
Bonnie walks over and studies the gashes and cuts, "I have never seen anything like this before. This has to be dark magic."
Kol looks up, "Klaus." They all look at him with confusion, "Get Klaus! He studied dark magic. If anyone knows anything, he would."
Rebekah pulls out her phone and calls him, "Klaus! You need to get to Caroline's house as fast as you possibly can! It's Bella…someone has done something to he-"
She breaks off when Bella lets out a blood curdling scream, "Make it stop! Make it stop hurting!" She starts to thrash around as people try to keep her from moving. She screams over and over again with tears falling faster and faster.
They hear a loud bang on the door, "Let me in!"
Caroline looks around, "I can't. Only my mom can."
Klaus roars with anger and anguish trying to get to his baby sister. Liz Forbes walks in, "What the hell is going on?"
Caroline runs to her, "You have to let Klaus in. He could be the only one that can help Bella."
Liz nods, seeing the urgency in her daughter's eyes, "Klaus come in."
He speeds in, nearly knocking down everyone down in the process. He kneels next to Bella as she screams, "Shhh, Isabella. Sweetheart, I'm here. You need to calm down."
She looks up at him with fear and pain, "It hurts, Nik. It hurts so much. Please, make it stop. Please."
Tears start to fall down his face when he hears her pleas, "I will. I will make it stop. Just listen to my voice. Really listen. Relax and listen. You are going to fall asleep, baby girl. All the pain you feel goes away while you are in my trance. Shhh. Sleep."
She slowly starts to relax and fall asleep. He takes a shaky breath and closes his eyes for a second. Elena whispers, "How did he do that?"
Kol looks over at her, "When she was younger and had night terrors he was the one that got her to sleep. It's like hypnosis. The way he uses a soothing voice had always calmed her."
Klaus opens his eyes and slowly stands up, "How did this happen?"
Jacob steps forward, "We were attacked by a witch on the road."
Klaus turns to him. "What witch?"
He shrugs, "I-I don't know. I was knocked out."
Klaus takes a deep breath to hold back his anger, "This is the darkest magic I have ever seen. Not many witches delve this deep. The only way to reverse it is to find the witch responsible or find someone more powerful."
Bonnie shakes her head, "I can't do this. I am not that powerful."
He growls, "I know that! I was talking about our mother. It is time to open up that coffin. Let's just hope she is in a giving mood."
Bonnie frowns, "How do we do that? Bella told us that we need to witches from the same line, but I don't have anyone else here."
Klaus raises a brow, "Luckily, I know another Bennett witch. Prepare to do the spell tomorrow morning." He looks down at Bella and his expression softens, "She is coming with me. I have a room set up for her. She needs to be somewhere secluded. Somewhere safe."
Kol growls, "And who says that is with you?"
Klaus picks him up by the neck, "If you haven't been paying attention let me alert you to some news, brother! I would never hurt her! She is the only one that I actually care about more than myself! I just have had a bad way of showing it." He puts Kol down, "She is the only thing that kept me living even when I didn't want to anymore."
Damon stands up, "Then we come with you." Klaus glares at him. "You aren't the only one that cares about her."
Klaus sighs, "Fine!"
Bella dreams of her human life. Of Daniel. And of Nik chasing her in the forest. Of Kol throwing her over his shoulder. Of Elijah and her sword fighting. Of her tickling little Henrik. Of Rebekah and her sneaking out to go swimming in the middle of the night. But the last dream was a nightmare as she watched her father stab her siblings then finally her. She screams.
Klaus was the first by her side while Rebekah, Elijah, Caroline, Damon and Koll stood just outside the open door way, "Shhh, baby girl. You are ok. Ever-"
She shakes her head, "No I don't want this! I don't want to be a vampire! I want to marry Daniel and have kids and grow old. Why did you do this to me, daddy? Why can't you ever let me be happy?"
Klaus tries to stop his tears, "She is hallucinating. It is getting worse. I can't help her. Not in this state. That witch needs to get here soon."
Bella gasps, "Nik? Is that you? Why are you hiding from me?" She giggles, "Oh, Nik! Come out and play."
Nik loses his composure and puts his forehead to hers, "Isabella. I am so sorry. This is all my fault. Please don't die on me. Not before I can make it up to you. Please."
Rebekah touches his back, "She isn't going to die, Nik. Remember what she says?"
Nik laughs lightly, "You can't kill me. I'm indestructible." He closes his eyes tightly.
Bella sighs, "Nik? Can you lay with me? I am scared. Get Kol too. You guys always make the nightmares go away."
Nik looks over at Kol who nods. Nik gently puts her in the middle of the bed and lies down on one side while Kol lies on the other. They both take her hands.
She smiles slightly, "We are going to be together forever. All of us. A family. Even when we get old and wrinkly have little grandbabies running around."
Rebekah breaks down sobbing and runs into Elijah's arms. He holds her tightly and closes the bedroom door. Rebekah looks up, "This isn't fair. How can this be happening to her?"
Caroline wipes away her tears, "That is the old her isn't it? The one that you lost. The one who had so much hope and love in her."
Elijah nods, "Yeah. That's our sweet Isabella."
Rebekah covers her face, "She lost so much more than the rest of us when we were turned."
Damon hugs Caroline who had begun sobbing, "I have never seen Klaus so vulnerable. He really does love her."
Elijah sighs heavily, "You don't understand. Klaus and Kol were her rocks and she was theirs. We were all close. We all had our own thing we did with each other. But those three were inseparable. Wherever one was, the other was close behind. That day when Klaus daggered Kol, she lost more than half of whom she was. She lost everything. She had no safe place to land. Without them Bella had lost all meaning. She didn't need to turn off her humanity because they were her humanity. For the first 100 years after that she was possibly as brutal as Klaus. She doesn't tell that part because she is ashamed. The next 100 years she spent trying to starve herself. Katerina and I were there to help her the best we could for 200 years. Either cleaning up her mess or force feeding her blood."
Damon frowns, "Who knew Katherine could care that much?"
Rebekah laughs, "Bella brings that out in everyone. You can't help but love her. No matter what she did that was wrong she is the best of us. I think that is why it was so hard on Nik. He wanted to be better for her and he couldn't. He did try. But his anger was out of control. He couldn't stop lashing out at her. She reminds him of how good he used to be."
Klaus listens to the group outside his door and sighs. He looks over at Bella who was curled into Kol's side, but she still kept a hand in his. He could smell the blood on the blankets and he hated it. Knowing that she wasn't healing was killing him.
He whispers, "That witch will pay for this, Isabella. I swear that to you."
Kol looks over at him, "Count me in. It hurts me to see her suffer like this."
Klaus closes his eyes, "I know. It hurts me, too. We need to get her blood."
Kol nods, "I will get it." He starts to get up but Bella latches on to him, not letting him go.
Klaus laughs quietly, "I will get it. Take this hand so she doesn't panic." Kol nods and reaches over with his other hand.
Klaus quietly opens the door and walks out. Elijah frowns, "Did something happen?"
Klaus shakes his head, "No, she just needs blood. She is losing way too much. Pretty soon she won't have any left."
Damon sighs, "I will get it." He holds up his hand when he sees Klaus's protest, "She needs you in there."
Klaus closes his mouth and nod, walking back into the room. Caroline smiles, "That was nice Damon."
Damon shrugs, "That was for her, not him."
He walks downstairs and into the kitchen when Bella starts screaming again. He leans against the counter and puts his hands over his face. It was hard for him to hear him in that much pain. It the little time that he had known her he had fallen in love. He didn't know how and he didn't really care. He would find a way to make her better. He walks towards the fridge and takes out the blood. He speeds upstairs and walks into her room.
She looks up with tears streaming down her face, "Damon? I can't do this anymore."
He looks over at Klaus and Kol who looked helpless. He sits on the side of the bed, "Yes, you can. Just a little longer, ok?"
Bella nods sadly, "Ok. Just a little longer." She breathes raggedly, "I…am…indestructible, right?"
He smiles, "Yes you are." He pushes her hair back and sees the pallor of her skin, "Here Drink this blood. It will make you feel a little better."
She sighs weakly, "Ok." She takes a small drink at first then starts to greedily drink. She finishes it and her eyes go black with veins popping out. Her fangs lower and she growls. She pushes him away from her and jumps off the bed. She speeds towards the door but is stopped by Klaus. She throws him off her, stronger than she used to be. She speeds out to the hallway and is tackled by Elijah and Rebekah. Kol speeds out behind her along with Damon and Klaus. She throws Rebekah and Elijah off of her and takes off before they can stop her.
Klaus sighs, "Well this is bad."
