Chapter twenty five

The fire

Gemma wasn't like Halia. She wasn't naïve enough to believe that just because Kol loved her, that love would somehow seep through his thirst for blood and stop him from ripping out her throat. She was smart. She didn't go looking for Kol. She just found him.

Everyone avoided Kol like he had the plague, which led Gemma to believe that the villagers weren't as blind as she always thought them to be. They knew something was wrong with the Mikaelsons.

Gemma saw him walking towards her, a determined look in his brown eyes. She knew it would be best to not even talk to him, so she turned on her heels and made to run away. suddenly, Kol was blocking her path. Gemma gasped slightly. She didn't know that their speed would be increased.

"Gemma," he whispered, stepping closer towards her. Gemma stepped back, eyes wide with fear. She didn't know what he was capable of.

"Kol, please don't," she said, swallowing. She tried her best to remain strong, to not show how everything was getting to her, but she couldn't. Gemma was stressed out, she was afraid, but mostly she missed Kol. And now he was a vampire who thought her blood to be more delicious than any other.

Kol heard her heart beat in her chest, increasing with every step he took towards her. He heard her blood rushing through her veins, he smelled it. Gemma's blood was so appetizing, he could feel his fangs pressing into his bottom lip. Gemma gasped, seeing the transition herself.

Kol's eyes darkened to a red, his veins under his red eyes darkened too. All in all, he looked like one of the monsters in the stories she used to tell Halia when she was a child. "Stay away, Kol," she said, louder this time. She raised her hands, ready to drown him if she had to. Like that would kill him permanently.

Kol blinked and his face went back to normal. "Gemma?" he sounded confused and he stepped closer to her.

Gemma was puzzled as well. "You controlled your thirst," she pointed out, a little amazed. Kol had self-control; who knew?

Kol just shook his head. "Come here," he demanded, pulling Gemma into his arms. She stiffened and tried to pull away, but Kol's grip was unbreakable. She wasn't comfortable, being so close to a person who had been about to drain her dry seconds ago. Eventually, her need for Kol gave over and she rested her head on his shoulder.

The smell of Gemma's blood still made Kol thirsty, and his thirst wasn't something he had complete control over. If she were any other girl, Kol wouldn't of been able to control himself. But there was one thing stronger than his thirst, one thing that would always be stronger.

His love for Gemma. And that was what would save her from him.

~TLND~

Bella did everything she could do to avoid Elijah. She stayed in her house mostly, throwing up on the hour. Of course, with everything going on, Bella had gotten sick too. Her emotions were haywire, and Bella would go from crying to snapping at Garrett within minutes.

Bella couldn't hide out in her house forever, though. Life had to go on, and eventually Erik made her go to the village to buy food and trade things. She was jumpy as she walked through the woods by herself, on the lookout for any vampire that might want to hurt her.

"Bella."

Bella jumped and smacked her head on a nearby tree. She groaned and rubbed her head. She hated being so clumsy it was a curse.

She turned around, knowing exactly who was behind her. Elijah stared at her sadly, making sure to keep his distance. He didn't look different to Bella, he didn't even seem that different. But there was a certain darkness to Elijah, something that just came with being a vampire.

Bella made to run away, but Elijah stopped her. "Please," he said. "Just give me a chance to explain myself."

"There is nothing to explain, Elijah," Bella said, but she didn't run away. She stayed where she was, and stared warily at the man who would have been her husband.

"I am sorry," he started. "So, so sorry I attacked you, Bella. I am sorry I hurt you. I did not mean to, I swear. I would never hurt you if I could control it."

Bella sighed. "I know that, Elijah," she said.

"My mother, she did something to my siblings and I. We all crave blood. We are stronger than we used to be, faster. The sun used to burn us, but my mother gave us these rings so that it wouldn't." Elijah showed her his daylight ring as proof. "But the blood, Bella- it was all I could think about, for the longest time."

"She turned you into vampires, Elijah," Bella explained. "Ester did it, she made you immortal, so that she wouldn't have to lose any of her children ever again. She also did it so that we couldn't be together."

Elijah took in the news silently. Bella thought that he had probably already figured some of what she had told him out. "You hate me, don't you?" he asked suddenly, sounding resigned.

Bella's eyes widened. "Never, Elijah. I could never hate you."

"I attacked you, Bella. I could have killed you. I would have. You should hate me, things would be easier that way." Elijah began pacing as he talked, but he still kept a safe distance away from Bella as he did so.

"How so?" Bella watched him wryly, keeping to her side of the invisible barrier between them.

"I am more than capable of killing you. I am not going to give myself the chance to do so," he said, and Bella knew exactly what he meant. Hadn't she been doing the same thing? Staying away from him so that he wouldn't get the chance to kill her?

"I love you, Elijah," she told him bluntly. It was funny, how he was giving her the perfect chance to stay away from him, to remain safe, yet she couldn't bring herself to. She loved him too much. "And it will never matter to me what you are. I will always love you. Always."

Elijah looked pained. "I can kill you, Bella," he whispered, his resolve already breaking under the stare of her green eyes, so filled with love and compassion and a strange fierceness that Bella possessed. She wasn't going to let him get away, they both knew that.

"Just say you love me too," she said, stepping through the invisible barrier between them. She walked towards him, and Elijah stepped back. He didn't want to attack her, to kill her. But Bella just kept walking towards him.

"Say it, Elijah," she urged him, walking him into a tree.

He stared down at her for a while before sighing. "If anything, I love you more, Bella.," he admitted.

She smiled. A sad smile with a little happiness in it. Then she stretched up on her toes and kissed him. Elijah stiffened, but when he realized that he wasn't going to feed on her, he allowed himself to kiss her back.

Even after everything that had happened to both of them, Bella and Elijah were still kissing like teenagers in the woods.

Maybe some things hadn't completely changed.

~TLND~

Halia pounded on the front door of the Mikaelson house. She had to speak to a certain witch about her hybrid son.

Ester answered, not looking too surprised to see Halia. "Come in," she said, opening the door wider for her.

Bella frowned suspiciously at her, before walking into the house. She followed Ester into a separate room, and she never took her eyes off of her.

"What can I help you with, Halia?" Ester asked politely.

"Niklaus is a vampire and a werewolf, Ester," she said bluntly. "But how could that be? Mikael isn't a werewolf, none of your other children are werewolves. How is Niklaus different from them?"

Ester sighed. She didn't have to explain anything to the youngest fairy, but she did anyway. "I made a mistake, Halia," she started. "A few years after Finn was born, I made the mistake of having an affair with another man. A werewolf. Nine months later, Niklaus was born. That werewolf is his father, not Mikael."

Halia gasped. "You cheated on your husband? How? Why?"

"I do not need to explain myself to you," She snapped.

Halia's mind was still reeling. Niklaus was a hybrid, and that made him stronger than any of his other siblings, or his stepfather.

As if reading Halia's thoughts, Ester said, "My son is too strong for his own good, stronger than nature will allow him to be."

Halia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I think that nothing you do will redeem you in the eyes of nature, Ester."

She pretended like Halia hadn't spoken. "Tonight, I shall be casting a spell, binding Niklaus' werewolf side. It is for his own good, Halia."

The young fairy gaped up at her. "No, I will not let you!" she exclaimed. "He is your son, Ester. You cannot turn your back on him now."

As if sensing this would be Halia's reaction, Ester started muttering a spell. Halia gasped in pain and clutched her head. Then she fell to her knees and passed out.

Ester stared down at her body for a while, before walking over to a table. She searched for something, but she couldn't find it. Ester frowned, eyes widening in alarm. What she was looking for was a knife that killed fairies permanently. And it was missing.

~TLND~

Bella walked home after her talk with Elijah. She felt better, more relaxed. There was a smile on her face. She didn't know where they would go, since Elijah was a vampire. But he loved her and she loved him. That counted for something.

Bella gasped suddenly, an ominous feeling consuming her as she approached her house. In the twilight, she noticed something in the path leading to her house. It was still, unmoving. Bella squinted her eyes and walked towards it.

When she was a few feet away, Bella froze. She realized what was in the path. Or more likely who. a sob escaped Bella's throat and she fell to her knees.

Adrian. It was Adrian. And he was dead.

"No, no, no," Bella repeated over and over, shaking her eldest brother as if he might wakeup. But his gray eyes stared blankly up at the darkening sky, a bloody wound in his chest. Adrian was gone. Forever.

The smell of smoke filled the air, and for the first time ever Bella looked over to her house. She gasped again, horror flooding her features.

Her house was on fire.

Bella heard screams of pain, of terror, coming from the house, and knew that that wasn't the worst part. Her parents were inside. Burning alive.

~TLND~

A/N: five chapters left. PREPARE YOURSELVES! I cannot stress this enough. I want you all to prepare yourselves for the next few chapters. You're probably going to hate me, that's all I'm going to say.

Thank you to: Sam0728, thetrueoriginal, TVDobsession106, Katerina The Von, Belinda, and HoneyGee08 for reviewing!

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~Abby :D