Chapter eleven

The mixed signals

Bella was exhausted the next day. She only managed to get a few hours of sleep when she was forced to wake up to start breakfast. She had spent most of the night with Elijah- talking to Elijah, flirting with Elijah, kissing Elijah. She just liked being with Elijah, but she didn't mind all the kissing they were doing one bit.

"Why so tired, sister?" Joseph asked her as her entire family walked into the village, her father included. They all had business to attend to in the village that morning.

Bella shrugged. "I did not sleep very well," she lied.

Halia snorted next to her, and she shot her youngest sister a look. now that Halia and Niklaus were together, Bella had to tell her sister about Ester's warning. She had to know what was at risk every time she kissed Niklaus Mikaelson.

"Halia, may I talk to you?" Bella asked politely, grabbing her sister's arm. Halia nodded and they waited for the rest of the group to move on before talking.

"How could you not tell us about Elijah, Bella?" Halia shrieked. "You've only been crazy about him forever."

"Halia, there is something you must know before you continue your relationship with Niklaus," Bella said urgently, ignoring her sister's words.

"Niklaus," she sighed, a dreamy look crossing her face. "He is so sweet, Bella, and Charming. And a very good kisser." She giggled slightly.

"Halia," she said sharply, calling her sister to attention. "Ester told me that if our family does not stay away from hers, she will be forced to take action against us."

Halia rolled her eyes. "What can she do? Cast a spell on us?"

"You do not understand how serious this situation is, Halia. We do not know what Ester will do, but she is a very powerful witch- you should be afraid," Bella stressed, frowning.

"Well, you're obviously don't," Halia argued. "If you did, you would not be kissing Elijah in the middle of the woods at night."

"We are careful not to get caught. I cannot say the same for you and Niklaus," Bella retorted.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Please. If the past day was you two being careful, I would like to see you and Elijah be careless. I doubt that there is little difference."

"Halia-" Bella tried to argue, but it was pointless.

"Let her try something, Bella. Our family is not without powers of our own. I daresay that we might just be able to take the witch on and win," Halia said confidently, walking backwards towards the village. "Now come on, the others will be wondering where we ran off to."

Bella sighed before following her sister. If only she could be so worry free like her. but that was why Bella worried so much in the first place- so that others wouldn't have to.

~TLND~

'Elijah cannot stop staring at you," Adora whispered to Bella as they, along with Gemma and Halia, busied themselves with planting seeds in Amelia's garden. The woman was doing much better, but she still required the Mikaelson sisters to take care of her garden.

"Did you not hear Adora? Bella and Elijah are together," Halia said with a smirk, causing Gemma to glare and Bella, Bella to glare at Halia, and Adora's jaw to drop.

"I have missed so much," she muttered to herself.

"Perhaps you should stay out of the caves and spend more time with your family then," Halia retorted. Adora shrugged in response.

"You and Elijah are together?" Gemma demanded, before her glare turned into a smug smirk. "I knew you two were together. You are a terrible liar, Bella."

"We are not together," Bella argued. "He did not ask for my hand or anything like that. we were just-"

"Kissing in the woods?" Halia supplied, her smirk growing wider. Bella blushed deeply.

"As were you and Niklaus," she shot back.

Adora's eyes widened, and her face grew dark. "You were kissing Niklaus?" she asked Halia, her voice feigning casual.

She nodded, beaming up at her eldest sibling. "He is a very good kisser."

Gemma and Halia giggled, but Bella watched Adora cautiously. She remembered Joseph's earlier words, about how Adora liked Niklaus as well. She would just hate for her sisters to be torn apart because of a man.

Bella shook the thought out of her mind and dared to look at Elijah over her shoulder. He was standing with his brothers on the other side of the village. He caught her looking, and Bella smiled, embarrassed, before looking away.

"It seems that Elijah has his eye on a certain fairy."

Elijah brought his attention away from Bella to look at a smirking Kol. "She is a very interesting person," he said with a cryptic smile.

Kol rolled his eyes. that was such an Elijah answer. "And look at Nik! He has the attention of two fairies!" Kol announced, his smirk returning.

Niklaus rolled his eyes. he had flirted with Adora numerous times, but Halia was the one he wanted. "Oh, go stare at Gemma," he retorted, instantly washing Kol's smirk away.

"I do not fancy Gemma," he practically growled.

Finn smiled slightly, taking his gaze away from the sword he was sharpening. "No one accused you of doing so, brother," he said easily. He, along with Elijah, usually diffused any arguments that formed between the rest of their siblings.

"But everyone knows he does," Niklaus said to Henrik, smirking slightly. "Only they are both too stubborn to notice it."

"Shut up, Niklaus," Kol growled.

"Or what, brother?" Niklaus asked, his smirk growing wider.

Kol lunged at him in response, tackling Niklaus to the ground. This drew the four Erikson sisters' attention. Bella laughed slightly at the two brothers' fighting. "Oh look, Gemma and Halia's men are having at it," she pointed out.

Gemma glared at Bella. "If you ever call Kol my man again, I'll dose you with water so hard, you'll be dripping for weeks," she threatened.

Bella raised her arms in surrender. "I've caught you checking him out before, Gemma," she pointed out.

"As have I," Adora added, tearing her gaze away from the fight as Finn and Elijah broke it up.

Gemma glared at both of her sisters. "I do not fancy Kol," she growled.

"No, you just wish to have hate sex with him," Halia piped in.

Gemma turned her glare onto her. "Halia, you are a child. You should not know what hate sex is," she snapped.

"I know that I do not need to be Bella in order to see it in your and Kol's future," Halia countered.

Gemma glared at her sisters before storming off. Bella sighed and watched as Kol did the exact same thing. Bella knew it as well as she knew her own name- Kol and Gemma were in denial about their feelings for each other. There was a thin line between love and hate, and the two had crossed it a long time ago.

~TLND~

Gemma found herself at the lake, still fuming that her sisters thought she fancied Kol. She did not fancy Kol Mikaelson. He was infuriating and annoying and arrogant. His smug smirk made her want to punch him. Kol was bane of Gemma's existence. It would go against everything she had ever known to like him. yes, Kol was very attractive, but-

Gemma stopped herself and stared, horrified, into the lake. No, Gemma was not allowed to think that. that was what dumb village girls thought, village girls who followed Kol around like he was their god, village girls who ended up in his bed, heartbroken and deflowered. No, Gemma was too good to be one of those girls.

As she calmed down, she walked back to the village. If she wandered off too far, her father would yell at her. and Gemma was not in a mood to get yelled at. She would probably end up losing control and soaking Erik with water. Gemma couldn't imagine her punishment without shuddering.

Erik didn't say much about his children's powers. He chose to pretend that they were normal- it was easier that way. But whenever one of them accidently used their powers in front of them, he unfairly punished them. All of them knew that he wished his children to be normal. Even Abigail, who had been quite supportive of her children being fairies, didn't understand them. The only people who would ever understand the Erikson siblings completely were the siblings themselves. They only had each other. That was why they stuck together.

As she walked back towards Amelia's garden, she spotted Kol flirting with a group of girls. As he told them charming lies, Gemma gritted her teeth. She used to pity the girls who fell for Kol's pretty words and eventually fell into his bed because of them. Then she realized that they were stupid enough to fall for them in the first place- it was their own damn fault. Now, Gemma found them annoying, very annoying. In fact, Gemma felt…

Jealous.

Her eyes widened at the stunning revelation, before she glared at Kol and his group of dumb village girls. Oh, how she loathed him even more for making her be jealous of his flirting with other women. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, focusing on a large bucket of water located conveniently behind the group. It started bubbling, before exploding, soaking the group.

The girls shrieked, but Kol's brown eyes instantly found Gemma. Despite being soaked in cold water, he smirked at her. he left his group of village girls and started to walk towards her. they called him back, but he ignored them, his gaze focused Gemma. She glared at him before walking away from him. she had nothing to say to Kol.

"Gemma!" he called to her, grabbing her arm.

"Do not touch me," she growled, yanking her arm away.

Despite her attitude, Kol's smug smirk was permanently glued to his lips. "I believe that you are responsible for me being soaked, are you not?" he asked her, gesturing to his dripping body.

Gemma scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I would not waste my time or energy on anything relating to you," she snapped.

His smirk only grew wider. "You were jealous, weren't you Gemma?" he asked, his eyes widening slightly.

"Are you mad?" she asked, her glare gaining more intensity. "Why would I be jealous of your stupid flirting with stupid girls? whores, really, all of them. Stupid whores who are dumb enough to fall for-"

Gemma was cut off from her rant when Kol kissed her.

His mouth was warm and firm against hers. Gemma knew why so many girls kissed Kol. He really was good at that. she could only imagine how he was in bed. Before she could stop herself, Gemma kissed Kol back, her hands coming to rest on his chest. then Gemma realized what she was doing, and she pulled out of his grip and slapped him across then face. Hard.

"What the hell?" Kol growled, his hand going to his cheek. He glared at Gemma. It was not the first time she had slapped him, but, for some reason, the slap hurt more than usual. Perhaps because the sting of rejection came with it.

"Why would you kiss me?" she snapped, her eyes wide as she struggled to sort through her feelings. Gemma shouldn't be jealous of stupid whores flirting with Kol, she shouldn't like kissing Kol, and she certainly shouldn't of kissed him back. she was losing her mind.

"What is wrong with you, Gemma?" he asked, still glaring. "If you do not like me, do not act like a jealous housewife when I flirt with other women. If you do not want me to kiss you, do not kiss me back. You call me mad? You are the one who keeps sending me mixed signals. Do you hate me, Gemma, or do you fancy me?"

Gemma didn't answer, and Kol growled before storming away. she bit her lip, completely and utterly confused. She couldn't feel anything other than hate for Kol, could she?

One thing was sure, Kol wasn't too fond of Gemma and her mixed signals at the moment.

~TLND~

A/N: for those of you who read Love Me Forever, the sequel, Eternal Love, is now up.

thank you to: Katerina The Von, and Sam0728 for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :D