Hello everyone!

Thank you again for the amazing response. I've never sat at such a high tally (95 REVIEWS ALREADY!) after just two chapters-I'd usually be sitting at around 40 or so for my most popular fics. I am so happy that you all are enjoying this story and I hope you continue to do so. :)

Here's the next chapter. Finally, a long one, huh?! :D This one explores what Bella felt meeting Klaus, then the Mikaelsons and her play getting to know you... that includes the type of mating connection Bella shared with Edward. That will hopefully help you understand why she's... well, not at her strongest at the moment (because she will get better in that respect!).

I have used some lines directly from TVD in this chapter. You'll see as you read.

Thanks to Chandrakanta for her betaing!

I hope you like it... I'll see you down the bottom and let you get to reading! ;)

Chapter 3—Eyes Open

Bella pulled her bag harder across her body, head down as she walked, pace brisk, along the streets of Mystic Falls. It was well into the night now, and she hadn't meant for it to take so long to get here, but time had gotten away from her, and if she were honest, her mating pull to Edward was slowing her as well.

As feared, the pull was trying to direct her back, pulling her thoughts away from the task at hand—running—and more to Edward's pain, his anger—no, fury. It seemed Edward already knew she was gone and was now channeling their emotional connection to cause her to feel what he felt, too, in an attempt to lure her back. It almost worked, several times. But every time she made to turn around, she turned back with a shaky breath.

When she'd first felt Edward broach the emotional connection, she'd freaked at how strong it was; she could almost hear the words spill from his lips now: "How dare she defy me!" It made her tremble, but it was that control over her that pushed her to focus on what she was doing and why she was doing it. This was unhealthy, having such a hold on another being. It was not right.

But there had been a few minutes of sheer terror as the thought had struck her that perhaps the connection was so strong he'd be able to somehow, through the connection, find her whereabouts as well. But then she'd thought. Edward had told her she'd feel the connection just the same as he would, and she couldn't tell where he was, only that he was far away—so that meant she was in the clear, right?

Regardless, Bella wasn't all that thrilled at the prospect of staying here all that long. It was safer that she get to her destination sooner rather than later, have some time to regroup, and then figure out where she'd be going from there.

Tears were streaming down her face, making her a little clumsier as she tried to navigate through blurry vision. Pain warred through her and a sob built in her chest, her hand twitching to touch her aching heart. But there was also that deep-seated resentment, that anger, and she focused on that, harnessed it to keep her on track as she pulled her bag open, still walking, riffling through it to find the directions to the cheap garage. She needed to find a decent-working car that would get her where she wanted to go, or at least as far as possible.

Frustrated by her blurry vision making things impossible, as well as the dark, Bella growled under her breath, wiping at her eyes before digging back through her bag. Her paces had lengthened in her anger, propelling herself forward faster, and, without realizing it, right into someone's path.

Gasping as she felt herself knock into someone, their arms weaving themselves around her as they almost fell back, Bella closed her eyes in mortification, trying to swallow back the painful sob that was building, but a strangled sound escaped her. She was at her wit's end, so much so she didn't recognize the sensation building within her soul until she looked up, taking a deep breath, and gasped again.

The first thing she saw were blue eyes. Gorgeous blue eyes.

And then she felt it.

The surge of electricity, the war within herself as one connection to a vampire fought against a new but stronger connection to whoever this was before her—it felt almost like a dual connection, two in one, one line threaded through the other in intricate curls and whirls, pulling tight and unbreakable. Then it changed; there was the gradual decline of the pull to Edward as the pull to this man in front of her increased, the electric charge sharpening with it. All of a sudden, the pain of being separated from Edward, and the emotional onslaught of his emotions, meant to coerce her back to his side, dimmed… while a new psychological pain swallowed her as she was tethered to another.

No, she cried, no, no, no, no. Not again, please, not this! No!

She didn't realize, of course, that she had begun to fight against the man's hold, and when he let go, she had backed against the brick wall, her back descending against it as panic overwhelmed her, and for the first time since leaving, she well and truly broke down.

Freed from one, enslaved to another.

When the sobs and the panic made it difficult for her to breathe, to hear the words of the man she could feel this connection with, nor of the others in his presence, she just closed her eyes, hands knotted through her hair at the temples as she curled in on herself and willed it all away. Juvenile, but it was all she could do to cling onto some semblance of sanity.

She could just register the hand that came to rest on her shoulder, to her exhausted mind the lightest of touches, along with the American accent encouraging her to lift her head and open her eyes to meet his. Taking deep breaths at their urging, she did so, and found herself now looking at a man older than the blue-eyed one though not by much, his darker eyes connecting with hers. She didn't hear the words he spoke to compel her into sleep, nor did she feel the strong arms of her new mate lift her to take her back to the mansion he lived in with his siblings.

Safe and protected by the darkness surrounding her, she fell asleep, limp in the man's arms as she was swept into dreams of a time when things were simpler and the world was not so scary and so cruel.

~TPoL~

Light in her eyes caused her to awaken the following morning, and for a moment, Bella wasn't quite sure where she was. She was no longer afforded that blink of an eye moment where all was right in the world, where she didn't know Edward Cullen or his coven, or anything about shape-shifters or vampires. It felt like such a long time ago that she'd had that, where her dreams had happy endings and she didn't wake to cruelty and fright and vampires intent on changing the very essence of who she was.

Hard to imagine that in the grand scheme of things that was but yesterday. Hard to believe when she had been so immersed.

With a deep breath, Bella noticed something as she pushed away her other thoughts. When she didn't feel the pain indicating separation from her mate as she'd expected, she frowned and reached for her chest, then panicked and let her eyes take in the surroundings around her when a thought occurred to her.

Had Edward already found her?

But with the thought of Edward a new, strange sensation broke through. Her emotions toward him, and the pull were… lessened, muted somehow. Well, the ones indicative of a mating connection, anyway. The anger and fear—that was without doubt still there, all right.

It took a moment before it all came back to her, but when it did, it was dizzying.

Meeting someone else with blue eyes after literally walking into their arms.

Having a panic attack as she felt the new connection overtake and lessen—but not destroy—the one she shared with Edward.

And then being lifted into someone's arms and carried away, falling asleep.

Taking a deep breath, Bella looked around herself once more. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole situation. She wasn't all that happy about having another mate, at least it seemed that was what she had. With one still out for her, by now actively searching for her and aware of the muted and breaking bond, she couldn't say she was all that ecstatic about being tied to someone else.

But she wanted answers. She wouldn't leave without getting those at least.

If she was even allowed to leave.

Before the bubbling panic at such a thought could overwhelm her, a female British accent rang out through the room, pulling her from her thoughts.

"You're awake, I see."

Bella looked up to see a blonde woman, much younger than either of the men she'd encountered before, with her arms crossed over her chest standing in the doorway, her face cleared of any particular expression. But at the overtness of Bella's frazzled nerves, sizzled to the end of her rope, the aloof expression softened and a small, gentle smile appeared as she regarded Bella in a most tender fashion, almost as though she were waiting for Bella to break down again. "Well then, if you'll follow me…?" The words sounded almost like a struggle to come out; as though the girl was not used to asking in lieu of demanding.

Bella cleared her throat and got out of the bed, biting her lip in nervous habit as she eyed the woman in front of her, movements slow and sluggish in wariness. This blonde female looked human, but there was something about her that had Bella sure she was not. There was an edge to her countenance, an old-world air to her persona that left Bella guessing and under the impression that not all was as it seemed. It was that same edge or air that told her she shouldn't keep the woman waiting, and after summoning up her courage, she walked to her side. Without a word, the girl directed her out of the room and down the hall.

The walk was short and silent, but with each step Bella's anxiety increased, as did her determination. She would get out of this, whatever the hell this was. She just needed to keep her eyes open and ask the right questions. Then she'd figure a way out of this mess and continue on her way. She could not afford to be slowed down, not with Edward and his family on her tail by now.

All thought of that cut off, however, when a door opened and out stepped the man with the gorgeous blue eyes, a grin on his face as he laughed at something one of the room's as-yet-unseen inhabitants had said. She could now take in his blond hair, strong stature, and rugged, scruffy face. He was handsome, and a little but growing part of her was whispering that he was also hers.

She swallowed and forced the thought from her mind, hushing the irritating little treacherous voice.

"Hello, love," he said then with a soft smile on his face, his head inclined as he looked at her.

She nodded in greeting, walking into the room to find two other men, one she had seen and one she had not, waiting in chairs. The older of the two, the one she recognized, stood and nodded, a small smile on his face that she could tell was designed to be reassuring somehow. Returning a small, half-hearted smile of her own, she turned to the unfamiliar man, the younger of the two. She could not help taking an instinctive step back as soon as her eyes met his calculating gaze.

He stayed seated, head cocked like an animal eyeing its prey with his elbow resting on the arm, fist curled at his head while he stared at her, studying her. Shifting uneasily under the scrutiny, Bella's eyes strayed, flitting away from the unhinged man. She found herself looking back at the one she felt the connection to.

He smiled at her and nodded, sitting on the loveseat, the woman who had brought her here, and who was the only other female in the room, following to sit beside him. Bella looked at the arrangement of chairs before her and sat down on the vacant sofa across from the two blonds.

There was a brief moment of silence, before it was interrupted by the youngest brunet. "So, darling, why don't we start with names?" he said with a smirk, his voice laced with an unsurprising English accent that she had come to expect from the people in front of her. "We are the Mikaelsons. My name is Kol, that there is Elijah, our dear sister Rebekah, and that is Niklaus, or as some know him by, Klaus." He gestured to each person as he named them, his gaze not moving from her form.

Swallowing, Bella nodded. "I'm Bella, Bella Swan." Her voice was timid, something that did not escape any of them.

"Perhaps, Kol," Elijah interrupted, a hand on Kol's shoulder as he smiled at Bella, "I should take it from here?" A shrug was the response given, and Elijah turned back to Bella. "Bella, why don't we start with what brought you to Mystic Falls? We understand you're new here."

Bella bit her lip as her eyes flickered between the four of them. "How do you know that?"

Kol interjected with a smirk, "We've met a lot of people, and I am sure you would stand out if we had met you before." The grin on his face was cheeky, widening at Bella's reaction.

She blushed, looking down. Her heart was erratic at the thought of unveiling everything to the people before her, and she knew she couldn't tell the truth. They'd have her committed, but more than that, they'd be in danger, and she didn't feel like she could handle having that on her conscience.

"Don't bother trying to lie, love," Rebekah told her just as Bella opened her mouth.

Bella took a shaky breath, eyes flitting to Niklaus before going back to Elijah. "I…" She couldn't even think of where to begin.

"Perhaps we should begin with what happened when you first… encountered our brother," Elijah prompted, glancing at Klaus before looking back to Bella. "Tell me, when you looked into Niklaus's eyes, did you feel something?"

Kol snorted. "Brother, of course she did. Did you not hear her panicking? I would be too if I were mated to Nik."

Klaus glared at his brother before a cold smirk settled on his face. "I can only imagine what your mate will say once you find her, Kol."

Kol growled and went to lunge for Klaus, Klaus mimicking his movements with a smirk, goading him. But one call of "brothers" and a meaningful glance in Bella's direction was enough to halt them. With one look at her, Klaus calmed.

Bella's inhale had been strangled at the word 'mate' slipping from his lips, and her throat closed, choking her as her eyes watered. It was confirmed now; she was tied to another much as she had been to Edward. Fantastic.

"Don't be such a bastard, Kol," Rebekah warned him in a cold tone, looking at Bella. When she addressed her, her tone was much softer but still just as firm and unwavering. "We can tell you have some knowledge of the supernatural world. What we need to know is how much."

Bella swallowed. Looking between the four of them, tears stinging her eyes and clawing at her throat, she started speaking, and once the words begun to spill from her mouth, they could not stop. "Listen, I don't know what you are, okay? Your secret is in the dark as far as I'm concerned. I know nothing. But… well, a couple of months ago I moved to a little town called Forks in Washington state to live with my father, and on my first day of school, I met this family. Despite looking nothing alike, they all had the same pale skin and golden eyes. Turns out they were vampires," she laughed crazily, choking on her own tears and the lump in her throat, noticing it was getting harder and harder to breathe with each word. Really, of all the girls in the town—in the country—she had to be the mate to a vampire? Of all the rotten luck… "One of them…" she swallowed against the lump in her throat, pushing the words out, "Edward, he saw me and mated with me. I felt an instant connection and so did he. But it was… it was too much, okay? I was addicted to him, needed him, but he was changing me. I used to be independent, used to have my own likes and dislikes, but as soon as I met him it was like I couldn't breathe without him by my side. And suddenly, I didn't want to be on my own so much, in fact I was dependent on him and I don't depend on other people, and I was wearing freaking designer clothes and heels and I—I—I just, I panicked because that is not me."

"So you ran," Elijah finished for her, voice calm to try and ease her out of her steady-growing panic, and she nodded jerkily. "And you came here?"

"I needed somewhere to go quickly," she whispered, looking at them with tears in her eyes, almost pleading for them to understand. "No one could know where I was going. I had already made the mistake of voicing my feelings and I learned from them," she said, pulling back her sleeve and revealing a scar, neglecting to show them the others she had. She also ignored the snarl she could hear building in Klaus's chest. "I learned the hard way. But it was only getting worse. It was hard, leaving; not just because of the bond but because Edward and the rest of the Cullens… some of them had gifts, and even though they didn't really work on me, they still worked enough to be to their advantage. Edward could read every mind but mine but he'd studied me for my tells, and his sister, Alice, could see visions of the future based on decisions, but they were fuzzy when it came to me unless she looked for the more general future and tried to see if I was still included. Alice's mate, Jasper, could feel and influence other's emotions, but he couldn't pinpoint mine or change them much either… but his gift was effective enough that he could at least sense the more potent of emotions in me… sharp fear, panic, rage." She almost choked on tears remembering how they had worked against her to trap her in the coupling part of her didn't want and the other was brainwashed to want.

Bella shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Nodding to herself, she continued, "As I said, I needed somewhere to go quickly. I needed to just disappear, and I needed to do it when Edward was occupied—when all of them, in particular the gifted ones, were occupied so they couldn't stop me. So when Edward went to a family gathering, I stayed behind, saying that Alice didn't invite me because she knew as I did that we needed to remain inconspicuous. As soon as he was gone, I got in my car and left for the airport. I couldn't fly anywhere too far because I didn't have enough money, but I also didn't have enough money for a short flight only to have to buy a car and waste money on gas getting to where I wanted to go. Plus, they're fast, okay? Like really fast. They'd be able to run anywhere too close by the time I landed, and find me, and then all of this would have been for nothing. Here seemed like a good option, so that's what I did. I was planning on buying a car tomorrow—" at that she wondered what time it was and looked to the window; she sighed at the bright light billowing from the curtains "—or today, I guess, and driving the rest of the way to New Orleans, maybe catch a bus half way through the trip, I don't know."

Her voice broke on those last three words, and she swallowed against the ball in her throat, tears prickling and stinging her eyes as they slid down her cheeks when she blinked. She scrubbed at them, and unable to contain it anymore, she gave into the urge to bring her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. She looked up at Klaus, and in her eyes he could see the words she wouldn't say.

Help me.

Elijah sighed as he looked between his brother and the young girl who was his mate. She had certainly been through a rough time, and what she'd told them explained the frantic incoherent ramblings she'd released when she'd curled in on herself in the street.

It was the last thing their family needed now, but one look at Niklaus's face, and Elijah had to scold himself. This girl… This girl was now family, too. A Mikaelson. Or at least she was going to be. And just last night he had reminded the Gilberts of what he now was reminding himself: the Mikaelsons may be willing to dagger one another, but they were just as willing, if not more, to fight to the death for one another. And Elijah knew that was what this would come down to.

From the sounds of things, they'd be dealing with cold ones, and their mating connection was the polar opposite of that of the original species. With very little regard for the female's feelings, the connection warped the female to the male's personality, and more often than not the male was aggressive in his perusal of the female. Very aggressive. And while the original species also would stop at nothing to get their mates back if their mate ever left, in the cold one's world it never ended well for the female, or indeed any she held dear to her heart.

Bella was in far more danger than she could know.

Then again, if the scars on her were any indication, perhaps she did know.

"I just had to get away," Bella wailed, voice hoarse as she swallowed, looking up at Elijah. "I was so wrapped in the connection that I was upset that he hadn't claimed me against my will because it meant he likely didn't want me," she spat, eyes wide, frantic.

"What do you mean, love?" Klaus asked, fire in his eyes as he leaned forward.

Bella glanced at him then down at her lap. "Jasper, the empath, had these friends visit. They were nomads, Peter and Charlotte. Charlotte was watching me, and when the men left to catch up, Charlotte asked me how I was doing it. I didn't know what she meant, so she explained to me what happened to her, what happens to so many of the mated couples for their kind. Peter had found her when she was human, like Edward had with me, and had immediately raped her to claim her as his mate, not giving her a choice before he turned her."

Klaus growled deep in his chest, jaw locking and nostrils flaring. Just the thought of her going through that…

"And I…" Bella continued meekly, "I guess while most of me was relieved that Edward hadn't done that, part of me—the part more inclined to connect with the emotions of a mated female—was concerned because if he hadn't done so and it was so common, then it was impossible for him to want me that way. I mean, his own father, Carlisle, was urging him to just do it as he had with his mate, Esme, but he still refused."

"And what about now?" Rebekah asked with a frown on her face.

The smile that stretched across Bella's face then was small, soft, almost bashful. All four Mikaelsons smiled at the sight of it despite themselves. Her voice was sweet and kind, in stark contrast with the horrible subject. "Now I'm only grateful. If he had raped me—" she flinched at the growl that burst from Klaus's chest "—then I never could have escaped him. I would be trapped, and trapped as this whole other person I don't even recognize."

Rebekah smiled. "Good." She then looked up at Elijah, before continuing. "I think that's enough of that for one day, but I do think that there are some things you need to know now." Elijah nodded and gestured for her to proceed, so she did.

"Our family are known as the Originals to others of our kind. We are the first, and all others are descended from us. Our story began as humans one thousand years ago, having moved from Norway to this very town when a plague struck and took our oldest sister, Freya. Our father, Mikael, and our mother, Esther, a witch, wanted to leave so that we would be safe from the horrors of the illness. But in migrating here we found ourselves in a different kind of danger.

"Some years later, our youngest brother, Henrik, was killed by a werewolf who belonged to a pack in the village. But our father was tired of running. He wanted to stay and to fight, to be superior to the wolves. Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility… strength… senses…" Her voice was almost bitter as she told their story, and Bella eyed Klaus, noting his clenched jaw and locking it away for later. Rebekah's voice drew her attention back. "He wanted us to be able to live forever. He and Mother tried to convince a fellow witch Ayana to help them, but she would not. She warned our parents that what they were trying to do would be a crime against nature, and that nature would turn on us. That there would be consequences.

"But Father insisted. He wanted us safe, but more than that, his pride could not allow anything less." Seeing Bella open her mouth to ask, Rebekah interrupted her. "Before you ask, no, we are not witches. A witch is a servant of nature whereas what we became is an abomination. One can be either or, but never both."

Bella swallowed. "So what did she do?"

Rebekah stood and flitted to the bar, getting her siblings each a drink and passing them out before sitting back down. She twirled the liquor in the glass, watching it as she continued. "She called upon the sun for life, and the ancient white oak tree as one of nature's eternal objects for immortality. That night, my father offered us wine laced with blood, and unaware of the consequences, we drank it before he drove his sword through our hearts. When we awoke, he forced us to drink the blood of villagers to complete transition."

Bella's eyes widened, a gasp drawing from her throat. "Vampires," she whispered, looking at each of them. "But… how…?"

Rebekah smiled, glancing at her other siblings, whom all drank with expressionless faces. "There is more than one kind, of course. Cold ones are the younger species, the one you are familiar with. Another witch later tried another spell to create a better species—less thirst, stronger, harder to kill…"

"And in some respects, that backfired," Klaus deadpanned with a smirk, leaning forward as he spoke to place his glass on the coffee table.

Bella snorted in agreement, and for a moment they shared a grin before Bella remembered herself and turned back to Rebekah. "What then?"

Rebekah shrugged. "Ayana was right about the consequences. The spirits turned on us, nature fought back. For each strength gained there was a new weakness. The sun became our enemy, keeping us indoors for weeks until our mother found a solution." She lifted her hand to show the ring that each Mikaelson had on their finger with the noticeable exception of Klaus, though Bella determined she would ask later. "Neighbors who had invited us into their homes could now keep us out, unless, of course, they gave us permission to once again enter. The flowers at the base of the white oak burned our skin, prevented compulsion—a type of mind control achieved by looking into the other vampire or human's eyes and speaking exactly what you want to have occur, though only Originals can compel other vampires. And the spell decreed that the White Oak Tree, which gave us life, could also take it away if we were staked through the heart with its wood. To protect ourselves, we burned it to the ground."

Sensing something here, Bella prodded, "But?"

"But the darkest consequence was something our parents never anticipated."

"The thirst," Bella whispered with recognition.

Rebekah nodded. "Blood made us reborn and it was blood that we craved above all else. We could not control it for quite some time," with a side glance to Kol, she added, "and some of us still can't."

Kol smirked. "I can control it… I just don't see the need to deny myself." He then, in turn, threw a pointed glance at their brother, Elijah, who rolled his eyes.

"Enough," he said, his voice gentle, before turning to their brother's young mate. "I am sure you have questions."

Bella nodded. "You said you burned the white oak tree down… does that mean there is no way to kill any of your species?" It was hard to imagine anyone could be truly immortal, let alone an entire species.

It was Elijah who answered. "Bella, of our kind, we are the most powerful. We are the strongest, the fastest… every part of ourselves that the spell was created to enhance is the most enhanced of our species, and continues to enhance as we grow older… just as it does for all of our species. Given that we are the first of our kind, we are the hardest to kill, and in that, we are the only ones who can be killed by a stake of just the White Oak. Other stakes of any other kind of wood merely work as neutralizing agent for a short amount of time, at such time we awaken and remove it ourselves. Other than that, a dagger dipped in the ash of the White Oak Tree works as a neutralizing agent for however long until it is removed from the heart. There are some White Oak stakes in existence still, but we make it our business to find them and destroy them."

"So others of your kind can be killed… how?"

"Wooden stakes," Klaus replied.

Bella nodded, thinking. "So you're not really immortal then?"

Klaus smirked. "They aren't, but I am." At the crease in her brow, he continued. "I am a little something extra than my other siblings. When our family migrated to this town one thousand years ago, myself, Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik were not yet born. Because of the distance between our parents after our sister's death, our mother stepped outside of her marital bed and conceived me with a wolf—"

"Wolf? You mean shape-shifters, right?" Bella interrupted him, blushing after a moment. Though this definitely explained the dual feel of the mating connection; both sides of himself in agreement but with their own mating connection only threaded through the other to her.

"No, true werewolves," Klaus informed her, breaking her out of her thinking, cocking his head in thought. "You know of shape-shifters but not of werewolves?"

"There was a tribe at home," Bella told them, voice low, "they shifted into wolves, but could do it anytime they wanted… or anytime they were angry enough." She swallowed as memories flashed behind her eyelids every time she blinked, her breathing picking up before slowing again.

The four Mikaelsons shared a glance, unified in their decision to investigate this further at a later date. It seemed possible they would have to look out for shape-shifters now as well. Klaus almost groaned, anger and possessiveness building but he kept a tight handle on it, remarkably, reminding himself of his mate's fragile state. Even though he wasn't quite sure he could take having another species on top of the cold ones after his mate, he knew he could not risk frightening her. She would run.

"I assure you, love," he told her, his tone aloof as he reined in his emotions for her, jaw clenched tight in effort. "The werewolves I speak of are nothing like them. Werewolves can only shift on the full moon."

"But you?"

He smirked. His mate was a clever girl. "I am not like other werewolves, nor am I like other vampires—even my own siblings. I am a hybrid of both, and as such, I am truly immortal. I cannot be killed."

Tension left Bella that she didn't even realize had hit her. Knowing that her mate was not in any danger because it was impossible to kill him was a grand weight off her shoulders. One less thing to worry about.

Klaus smiled to himself, looking down for a moment.

Elijah took this as the time to jump in once again, noting how tired Bella was, how her body sagged back against the couch, perhaps in both relief and exhaustion. In any case, she needed her rest after the stress she'd been under. But there was one final topic they had to address before she could do so. "Bella, the reason we are telling you this is because, as you are already quite aware, you are mated to our brother, Niklaus."

Klaus growled, and under his breath he said, "And you say my tact has dwindled over the past millennium." His movements were slow as to not exacerbate Bella's fear any more than it already was as he kneeled in front of his human mate as she began to panic, his siblings looking on in wordless surprise and intrigue, sending meaningful glances at one another at Klaus's gentle behavior. "But I would never push you, I swear to you," Klaus interjected in a soft tone that no Mikaelson had ever heard come from him, not even with Caroline Forbes. "The mating connection of our kind is much different to the one you are familiar with. There is still possessiveness and protectiveness, yes, but there is no changing of one person to fit the other's personality. You'll find, in fact, that we are matched on that level to bring out the best in one another. You will not have to change anything about who you are to be with me, and I must warn you that neither will I."

Bella swallowed, and against her better judgment, she asked, "Warn me?"

Klaus smirked, even more so at the indication of what that look did to Bella. "Yes, love. I'm not an easy man to live with. I do not do well with betrayal, and I am quick to anger. I act impulsively, and am quick to violence. But I can give you my word that you will never see that side of me against you. In your defense, most definitely, but against you, never. I could never hurt you in any way," he stressed, relieved as he knew that Bella picked up on his meaning.

Bella paused, thinking about it all. "What happens now?" Her voice was small and Klaus's smile softened as he reached up with his hand to caress her cheek as he pushed her hair back off her shoulder and behind her ear. Without meaning to, Bella leaned into his touch, and his small smile grew.

"Whatever you want, love," Klaus promised her, his voice still uncharacteristically tender, and yet it did not seem strange—at least not when directed at her. For Klaus, it was instinct. "It is entirely up to you. My one request is that you consider perhaps staying with us. We, ourselves, are about to move to New Orleans as well, and are more than equipped with the experience needed to protect you from cold ones. You are family now, and we protect our family above all else."

Bella swallowed and looked at the others, seeing Elijah and Rebekah nod, and even Kol. Looking back into Klaus's eyes, she nodded and whispered, "Okay. I—I'll stay."

Klaus's grin grew, and Bella delighted at how the light in his eyes made him look. "Fantastic," he said under his breath.

Conversation dwindled then, and it was not long before a worn out Bella fell asleep with her head on Klaus's shoulder. With a glance to his siblings that they stay there for him to come back to so they could discuss things, Klaus lifted his mate into his arms and carried her to his room, hoping she would not be panicked by it. He stood for a moment after tucking her into the covers of his bed, marveling at the sight of her.

His mate. The one who completed not just his vampire, but also his wolf.

Sitting on the very edge of the bed, Klaus decided that any discussion could wait for a while. Right now all that mattered was the small, fragile girl asleep in his bed whose life was now entangled with his, and thus whom he had the utter privilege and duty to protect with his life, for she was indeed his. And he was hers.

Downstairs, Elijah's thoughts were on an identical wavelength. Everything had changed, yes, but he was sure it would be for the better. He was sure that this girl, this Bella, was the key to his brother's redemption. Perhaps nothing could change what his brother had become, but this girl was Niklaus's salvation, he was sure of it, and she would be the sole influence to guide Niklaus from spiraling even further downward, the one able to pull him back from the brink, when on previous occasions there had been no one else but Elijah, whose influence only worked so well.

For that alone he would protect her with everything he had.

That sleeping girl didn't even realize that she had obtained the four most powerful protectors on the planet as family. And right now, that didn't matter. She'd learn.

Because those cold ones were coming, and Elijah did not care in the slightest. He would kill each and every one of the foul species himself if it meant keeping her safe and through that guaranteed safety, his family intact.

Voicing these thoughts to Rebekah and Kol, they both nodded.

"It'll be fun," Kol grinned. "I, for one, am fascinated to see the fallout. It'll be a blast."

Rebekah rolled her eyes but she was smiling as well, and already Elijah could see that the girl upstairs would be good for more than just their brother. He was quite sure she would be the glue that would hold his fractured family together, without even knowing it.

With that, Elijah left the room for his study. It was time he place a call to the Volturi so the leaders of the cold ones to become abreast of the situation, perhaps be reminded who was truly in charge. He also needed to call the contacts he had on the West coast so that protection would be in place for Bella's parents with immediacy, for against the wrath of a cold one, they were in the utmost and unequal of danger, to be certain unequal by any human standards. Cold ones would do anything to draw their mates back, even go as far as killing the loved ones of their female as a show of power and emotional torment to punish their mate, make them subservient out of fear.

These facts together and Elijah knew it was certain that a war would be coming down on them and soon.

Klaus frowned down upon his mate, watching as she trembled, curled up in a tight ball as if, even in sleep, she were braced for onslaught. Growling low in his chest, he felt his visage morph to that of his hybrid as he at last allowed his anger to overwhelm him at the thought of what those bastards had done to her.

But he'd get even.

Oh, there was a war coming, all right. There was hell to pay for those who had harmed his mate, even if it wasn't so much physical harm. Niklaus knew the effects of emotional torment, knew them well. So he'd have the heads of the coven of cold ones who did this to her. He would not rest until it was so.

So, how was that? How are we all feeling? What do we think of the Mikaelsons and their interactions with one another? :D

I hope you're getting to understand why Bella couldn't be so back-boned; there was just too much against her, too much at stake.

Anyway, please review just as you have been-every review I receive makes my day-and let me know what YOU thought. I cannot wait to hear it.

Thanks and I'll see you next week for chapter 4...

ncbexie25