Mystic Falls, 2010.
IT WAS FULL MOON AND AS A VAMPIRE, Bella felt stupid to stay in a town with a werewolf in it. She didn't like putting herself at risk, but she couldn't just leave, not before she made sure about her brothers' safety. Stefan was trapped in the tomb, so there was nothing she could do about him. It was unlikely anyway for him to run into a werewolf from there. Damon, on the other hand, was in the town somewhere. She didn't know exactly where because he kept on not picking up his phone.
This was not how she imagined life with her two brothers would be. They kept being total idiots who put their own life at risk, while she, being the only one with the sensible mind, had to look out for both of them. If it weren't for the sibling love and loyalty she had, she would have bailed on them already.
Unable hold back any longer just waiting at home, she decided to go to look for Damon. Her guesses about his whereabouts would be the Gilberts' house and the Grill, so that was where she was heading out. But just as she stepped out from her house, she was startled by a familiar face on the porch.
She gasped as she said the person's name, "Elijah."
"Good evening, Isabella," he greeted her politely, faint smile formed in his face. "It's good to see you again."
It took her a moment to control her surprise. Swallowing hard, she finally answered, "No offense, I really wanna say the same thing about you, but the circumstances didn't let me to, so..."
"I completely understand," he replied, sounding as calm as ever.
Bella found his calmness a little bit frightening, especially in this kind of situation. She could try to run from him, but she knew he would caught her in a blink of eyes. "Look, I-I swear I never meant to cross Klaus," she explained, stammering. "It was Katherine thatㅡ"
"You can save your breath," he cut in. "I'm not here for that."
"Then what are you here for?"
"I'm here because I want to kill Niklaus."
For a moment, Bella just blinked and tried to process what she had just heard. "Do my ears deceive me or did you really just said you wanna kill your own brother?"
"I believe you heard it correctly," he confirmed calmly.
She forced a chuckle. "But why?"
"As you already know, Klaus was not my only siblings. And what he did to the others, if you haven't heardㅡ"
"I've heard about it," she interrupted, not wanting to hear about it again.
"Then you know exactly why," he stated firmly, and took s step closer. "And I think if you are given the same opportunity to kill Niklaus, you wouldn't hesitate to take it. Not just for your freedom, but also for him."
She gulped, then looked away. She could neither confirm nor deny his guess because she didn't know it herself. The idea of killing Klaus never crossed her mind, not even once. The guy was too powerful and she wasn't even sure that he could be killed.
"That is why I'm offering you this opportunity..." Elijah spoke again, "...to help me kill him."
She looked back at him in an instant. And for a while, she just stared at him and considered his offer.
Killing Klaus sounded very risky and she hated putting herself at risk. But then as long as Klaus was alive, she wouldn't be able to live in peace with her brothers. And if anyone had the chance to kill Klaus, it would be Elijah. Not only he was quite powerful, but he also someone who always calculated his moves and he knew Klaus better than anyone. It would be stupid to turn his offer down.
"I'm in," she decided and gave him a faint smile.
Elijah returned the smile. "Then I do believe you would want to come with me to release your brother... Stefan, was it?" he murmured as he shoved his hands into his pocket. "I've had the spell lifted from the tomb."
It was weird enough that he knew Stefan was trapped in the tomb, let alone the fact that he had already lifted the spell to release him without her begging him to. But she had more important thing to deal with than the odds in that.
She cleared her throat and uttered, "Speaking about my brothers, I would really appreciate it if you didn't say anything to them about how we knew each other back then."
"And why don't you want them to know?" he questioned, frowning.
She sighed and simply answered, "Because that'll only lead them to questions I don't want to answer."
"Very well then," he immediately agreed.
"Thank you."
And as they started walking towards the tomb, Elijah explained about his plan to kill Klaus including the deal he just made with Elena. It appeared that Elena was the one who requested for Stefan's release. Bella might not have really liked Elena for toying with her brothers' fragile hearts, but she couldn't help but thank her for that.
When they finally arrived at the tomb, Bella tried hard to hold her laugh as she saw Katherine's reaction upon seeing Elijah. The doppelganger looked startled, like she was seeing a ghost. Needless to say, it was a rarity to see Katherine Pierce like that.
"Good evening, Katerina," Elijah greeted her politely, as usual. "Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened."
Stefan frowned as he shifted his gaze from Elijah to Bella. Through his eyes, he tried to ask for an explanation to his little sister.
"It's okay, Stef," Bella assured him. "He's on our side."
"That's quite right," Elijah confirmed, then turned his gaze to Stefan. "Your release has been requested."
"What? By who? Bella?"
"Unfortunately, no. The lovely Elena beats your beloved little sister to it," the original answered. "She drives a hard bargain. However, we reached a peaceful agreement, she and I."
Bella just watched the change in Katherine's expression upon hearing Elijah's explanation. She looked incredulous when she heard her doppelganger's name. It must have been a real shock to her to know that Elena had the upper hand right now.
Elijah made a hand gesture to invite Stefan out. "Please... come."
"I can't," Stefan answered.
"Yes, you can," Elijah quickly replied. "I've had the spell lifted."
Bella gave her brother a slight nod, trying to assure him to come out. Hesitantly, Stefan tried to step out. And he immediately sighed in relief as he realized he could really leave. Bella quickly pulled him into a hug.
As everyone had expected, Katherine tried to escape. But before she could do it, Elijah already blocked her way out the tomb. "As for you, however, you shall not exit until I say so," he looked straight into her eyes with his pupil dilated as he started compelling her. "When Klaus comes, he'll want to know exactly where you are."
He then turned back to the Salvatore siblings. "You two are free to go," he excused them. "Elena will explain the rest of the arrangement. If she keeps her word, I'll keep mine."
"Stefan, no," Katherine exclaimed, looking pleadingly at Stefan after Elijah left them. "Please don't let him leave me in here."
Bella couldn't help but to watch her brother's change of expression upon hearing Katherine's plea. She was a little curious as to what Stefan was going to do with it. Was there any chance that there was still love for Katherine in Stefan's heart after everything Katherine had done?
"Goodbye, Katherine."
Bella smirked as she got the answer of her question. She gave one last mocking glace and waved her hands at the doppelganger. "Buh-bye, Katherine."
THE NEXT DAY TURNED OUT TO BE ANOTHER BAD NEWS as Bella found out that Damon had pissed off a werewolf at the full moon. It resulted in the werewolf trying to attack him, which afflict Rose instead.
It was clear that Damon didn't take it as well as he pretended to be when Rose was dying and he ended up being the one who drove the stake through her heart. Bella tried to give him a moral support, but who was she kidding? She was really bad at it, and Damon was too stubborn to admit he needed it. So instead of appreciating the gesture, he questioned about her absence during 146 years of his life and accused her of only pretending to care about him. In order to avoid any further argument, she chose to back off and give him some time alone.
She was on her way home after her little dinner-discussion with Elijah about further details of the plan to kill Klaus when suddenly, her phone rang with Stefan's name on the screen.
Without taking off her eyes from the road, she picked up the phone and answered, "Beloved sister speaking."
"I need your help."
"Let me guess, your girlfriend tries to get herself killed again and you need me to do whatever it takes to help you save her." She couldn't hep but rolling her eyes even though she knew Stefan couldn't see it.
"Actually, it's Caroline. Jules, the werewolf that tried to attack Damon two days ago, kidnapped her because she thinks I kidnapped Tyler. And now she asked me to come to the clearing by Wickery Falls if I want to save Caroline and I figured I could use some backup."
She frowned, it was a bit unusual for Stefan to ask for her help instead of Damon's. "Where's Damon?"
"I'm gonna try to make them leave town in peace and Damon certainly wouldn't approve that method, soㅡ"
"And what makes you think I would?"
"Bella, please?"
"Ugh, fine. I'll meet you there in ten minutes."
She hung up, and began to drive faster.
But by the time she arrived at the place, both Stefan and Damon were already there. They were talking with a blonde lady beside a SV, but Bella couldn't exactly hear what they were saying since she was too far from them that even her supernatural hearing couldn't make it. She knew better than to walk into lion's den without knowing the full situation. And since the werewolves also had super senses, she couldn't risk herself getting caught if she came any closer.
The blonde lady suddenly whistled. Then, a lot of people started coming out from all direction, surrounding Damon, Stefan, and Tyler. All of them had either stakes, crossbows and fire in their hands.
Things got pretty messy in short time when suddenly, Damon rushed over to the blonde lady, but she jumped on the top of the SV just in time to avoid him. Tyler quickly gone inside the SV. One of the werewolves tried to burn Stefan, but he flashed himself behind the werewolf and used the fire to burn the other two werewolves around him. One of the werewolves jumped on Damon from the top of the SV, but Damon ripped his heart out before he got to him.
Stefan killed another werewolf, making the other one throw him an arrow, but he caught it before it hit him. He then fought with the other werewolf and drove a stake through his body. Another threw him an arrow but he caught it and threw it to his neck, the werewolf fell on the ground. Another one with a stake in his hand went behind Stefan, but Bella ripped the werewolf's heart out first before he could drive the stake through her brother's back.
"Got ya," she exclaimed as Stefan turned to her. Then, both of them went to another werewolf.
When Bella killed the other werewolf, another one of them tried to attack her with a stake. She grabbed his hand and made him drop the stake. She was about to rip his heart out when suddenly someone grabbed her from behind, restrain her movement. The other werewolf quickly picked up the stake back, but before he even got the chance to stake her, Bella threw both her legs up and caught his head between it, twisting his neck until it broke. She then used her vampire strength and speed in the same time to break away and rip the heart out of the werewolf who was holding her.
Looking around to observe the situation, she found both Damon and Caroline each had stake and gun pointed at their back respectively. It wasn't that she was being mean and ungrateful to Caroline for what she had done before, but she had priority. When it came to her family, of course she was going to choose them over anyone.
She was about to go save Damon when suddenly, all the werewolves (minus Tyler) started screaming in pain. They all took they head between their hands and slowly fell on the ground, unconscious.
"What's happening?"
"What the hell is going on?"
Both Caroline and Tyler asked the same questions she was asking in her head. And she immediately got the answer as Jonas Martin, the witch that she knew work for Elijah, came out to the view. He was casting a spell on the werewolves.
"Elijah made a promise to Elena. I'm here to see it's up held," Jonas explained simply.
Bella secretly sighed in relief as she saw it for herself that Elijah really kept his words. At least now she got more reason to not regretting her decision to trust the noble original.
"You need to go," Jonas ordered. "Get out of here, now. "
After exchanging glances at each other, the four of them quickly left.
Meanwhile Damon decided to go straight home, Stefan chose to take Caroline home first. Bella didn't know why she decided to follow Stefan instead of Damon. Was it caused by guilt that she almost let Caroline die?
"So is your mom home?" Stefan asked when they arrived at Caroline's porch.
Caroline shook her head and answered, "No, she's at work."
"I can come in if you want me to," he quickly offered.
Caroline rejected him, "I'm fine, Stefan."
"You don't have to pretend with me," he retorted. "Anybody would be upset after what you went through tonight."
"I'm okay," Caroline assured him and forced a chuckle. "I'm not girly little Caroline anymore. I can handle myself."
But everyone knew that was a lie.
"I can stay with her, " Bella offered to her worried brother.
"You don't have toㅡ"
Hearing Caroline tried to refuse, she quickly interjected, "I'll be offended if you refuse."
Caroline sighed and finally agreed, "Okay."
Stefan couldn't help but smile at this. He just loved to see everyone around him getting along pretty well like that. "Call me if you two need anything," he kindly offered, then gave his little sister a pat on the shoulder before leaving.
It was a good thing that Bella had been invited in to Caroline's house before. Otherwise they would have another problem with this idea.
Meanwhile Caroline tried to clean up the rest of her wound, Bella went to get a glass and a blood bag. She poured the blood into the glass, then handed it to Caroline.
"You really don't have to," Caroline repeated her own words as she took the glass.
"Yes, I do," Bella quickly responded. "You saved my brothers' live, so I kinda owe you."
Caroline let out a faint smile and mumbled, "Thank you."
Bella just gave her a nonchalant shrug and went to sit on Caroline's bed. She couldn't help but look around the room. It might not the first time she had been there, but it was the first time she really paid attention to the surroundings.
"I must look like a real fool right now," Caroline muttered and glanced at Bella through her dresser mirror. She shook her head in disbelief, then looked down. "Hung out with a werewolf and got myself into this situation."
Bella sighed and chose not to bitch for a while. "Well, we all have our fair share of foolishness," she commented. "You for being too care about a certain werewolf, my brothers for being too care about Elena, and I for being too care about them." She might not like to be blamed, but she never had problem to admit her own mistakes. She smiled bitterly. "It's not a secret anymore that caring can get you killed."
"Doesn't mean we have to stop caring, right?"
Instead of answering, she just glanced at Caroline. It wasn't because she didn't want to answer the question, but more because she didn't know it herself. If caring could get someone killed, the easiest solution would be stop caring. But then again people always pointed out the damage when someone didn't care with anything or anyone. It was really confusing, to say the least.
"You know, you kinda remind me of this fictional character..." Caroline spoke again, changing the subject. "I mean, you're both vampires and share the same first name... and your family name start with the same letter too, soㅡ"
It didn't take long for Bella to figure out who she meant. "Yeah, Stephenie Meyer is a bitch," she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "She ruined the name Isabella for me."
"What? No." Caroline quickly disagreed and turned around to face the youngest Salvatore. "Bella in Twilight might not a perfect character, but I think she's quite relatable. And you should read the last book when she became vampire, she's quite a badass with her shielding power."
"She makes her own world revolved around one guy, Caroline," Bella pointed out, frowning. "I can't even think of more stupid ways of wasting life."
"Oh," Caroline said as the realization dawned on her face, "So you don't believe in love."
"No, I do believe in love," Bella patiently explained. "I just don't think you should give up all your life and soul for someone just because you're in love with them."
"It's easier said than done, you know?" Caroline uttered in disagree. "Love is an overwhelming feeling and when you're in love with someone... it's really hard to not make everything about them." She forced a chuckle. "I'm sure you'll get what I meant someday, when you experience it for yourself."
Bella raised an eyebrow at her last sentence. "You don't think I've been in love before?"
"Well, have you?" Caroline asked back.
The Salvatore girl tried to sound nonchalant as she admitted, "I have."
"Really?" Caroline ensured, suddenly sounding more excited than before. "Tell me about it!"
"There's nothing much to tell," she answered unwillingly, eyebrow knitted. She then looked away when she couldn't hide her own bitterness any longer. "I fell in love and he broke my heart, end of the story."
Caroline couldn't help but feel guilty for bringing up that subject. "I'm so sorry."
She just shrugged nonchalantly as she retorted, "Whatever, it was a long time ago."
But that was lie, just like the rest of her life.
...