Sorry for the delay, guys! As an apology I am uploading the chapter two days earlier ;)
Optional soundtrack for this chapter: Love is Blindness by Jack White.
Hope you enjoy this chapter.
BPOV
"How did they manage to free him? Only few people knew his body's location." He said and shook his head. I shifted in my seat.
"Mikael's people are infiltrators, they are everywhere. In the police, in hospitals, in bars, in hotels... and also..." He drank the rest of his whiskey and sat heavily on one of the chairs. He was wearing a gloomy expression that I didn't like, he looked straight at my eyes and made a gesture for me to explain everything. I tilted my head to one side and leaned back in the couch. "Your father and I...we could never figure how Mikael was able to be in two places at the same time."
"What do you mean?" Nick asked and poured whiskey into his glass.
"For example two murders of key people in two different cities at the same time. Of course, we could assume that one of it was done by Mikael and the other by one of his hunters...but something just didn't quite add up. The murders screamed Mikael and then when we questioned vampires who had encountered him...they said that there were two of them. We couldn't understand what that meant until a few years ago...when we found out that he had a...son." Nick furrowed his brows, hearing the strange way I said the word.
"Well ,of course, that he has. He has three of them, my brothers." I waved my hand and shook my head.
"No, not his biological son, no, but that is what they kept calling him- the devil's son. We don't know much about him, only that he was an orphan when Mikael found him and then...he, I suppose, saw something in him because he took him and raised him up, turning him into the ultimate hunter, his younger copy. Some even say that he is more dangerous than Mikael himself." I shrugged my shoulders and let my last words hang in the dead silence.
Nick had frozen on his chair, his hand holding a glass, his eyes ,fixed on some invisible object in the distance, slowly turned from blue to stormy grey. I could see how anger was starting to build up in him and I was worried that the outburst would be too soon.
His fist started closing around the glass...too hard. Suddenly it exploded into pieces that flew all around the room. He moved his head towards me, piercing me with his angry eyes.
"And Eric knew all about this?" He asked, his voice raising.
"Yes." I simply said and he stood up angrily.
"He knew and he didn't tell me? My progeny?" He started pacing around the room, anger radiating from him."He saw me, he saw how desperate I was and he didn't tell me..." He darted his eyes at me" He is going to pay for that." I stood up abruptly.
"No, he won't, Nick, because he didn't do anything wrong."His fist landed on the small wooden table, breaking in into two pieces.
"He didn't do anything wrong?" He roared, stepping closer to me. I swallowed but refused to step back...even though I had never seen him so angry before...and suddenly I knew why everyone was so scared of him." He didn't do anything wrong you say." He shook his head." God, Bella, why don't you look up the word wrong in a dictionary? Because last I checked lying and cheating was considered to be wrong!" He crushed his fist in the couch, making a hole in it.
"He was trying to do the right thing, Nick, we were all...trying to do the right thing." I said the last part in barely a whisper, and he angrily stepped forwards.
"And yet here we are, Bella! The army is coming anyways, you didn't prevent that, but what you prevented was our happiness! You lost us 500 years, Bella, 500 years!" I blinked now. Of course, that this was the real reason for him to be mad. He wasn't mad at Eric or his father...he was mad at me." You. Ripped. My. Heart. Out." He said slowly, now standing right in front of me. I was facing his neck so I raised my head, tilting it backwards. His hand slowly reached out as if to touch my face but then stopped suddenly. "You ran away from me, Bella, you simply ran away. And do you know what? I believe in that crap of a story you told me, you didn't have a choice? Of course, you did! You could have come to me, we could have figured it out..."His voice broke. And not only his voice, he looked broken. My eyes flooded with burning tears. I had the feeling that with every word he was ripping a piece of my heart.
"But no, you didn't do that, instead you chose to run away." He leaned down, his lips almost touching my ear and he whispered the words that ignited me. "You are a coward, Annabella, a coward who ran away instead of facing the problem. A coward..." He pulled away and I started shaking with unbelievable anger. Coward? What I did was anything but cowardly. My eyes continued flooding with tears as I stepped back. From all the things he could say...he chose to say the thing that hurt me the most.
He opened his mouth to say something but I couldn't listen to him. I couldn't wait for another of his mean words. He had opened a wound and now it could not be closed. I was shaking uncontrollably but I called all of my will power. I needed to make him see, I needed him to understand.
"Do you know how many times I have played that day with your father in my head? How many times I imagined that single moment in that study with him? The moment right after he had asked the question ,'Are you coming with us, Annabella?',? That split second before the word 'yes' rolled off my tongue? Do you know, Nicklaus? I don't imagine you do.
And yet...even now I can recall it..."I closed my eyes, my lips trembling. The image in my head was so vivid, so real." Yes... the sunlight shining through the window, your father's eyes looking at me expectantly, Eric's slow breathing behind me...and my mind spinning , repeating one single word over and over again-no...no...no. And then...right then...before I open my mouth...I imagine that I really say no...and yes...I so vividly can imagine that. Your father's eyes hardening, his voice cold as he warns me that I am making the greatest mistake of my life...but I don't care...I don't see it that way, all I can think about is running away from that room. And I imagine that I do it...I run and run...and I find...you. You open your arms and I fall in your embrace, you hug me tightly and I...forget, I try to forget about your father, his warnings...and eventually I do. I forget.
And then we have that ball, my sister comes...and something emerges in my mind... a distant memory of your father's warning...but then my sister smiles at me, you squeeze my hand and I forget...again.
A week later we have that beautiful magical wedding we planned. I walk down the aisle, your eyes shining, my cheeks warm with anticipation to be by your side again and then...we are finally pronounced husband and wife. We are happy...no... we are ecstatic.
We then have a big reception, there is magical music, we dance, we laugh, we touch...and then night comes...the guests leave one by one...until we are alone. You take my hand and you ask me if I want to go for a stroll in the gardens I so much loved...I smile at you and you bend down to kiss me...and in that moment...right before our lips touch...we hear noise...screams and then the smell of warm blood spreads around us. And then your father's voice suddenly echoes in my head, I warned you, and then we smell smoke...I start suffocating and you, still confused, try to save us, try to fight then off...but as a silent scream freezes on my lips...I understand the heartbreaking truth-they are here.
They don't touch me as they don't want to lose my mother as an ally but...they take you...forever.
So with my heart pounding in my chest...I go back to that moment I told you about, right before I tell him my answer... And do you know what I say? I say...yes. Every single time, over and over again.
So...I left. I left. " I shook my head and raised my eyes to look at him. His eyes were again blue, full with emotions I couldn't recognize.
"I hurt you and I doomed myself to 500 years of pure agony, so call me a masochist if you want but...if I could go back, I would do the exact same thing... Do you know why? Because even though the first 100 years I was barely able to look around and not see your face, even though I felt your absence physically, even though I sometimes questioned my sanity...I was left with one single joy...the knowledge that you are there...somewhere...breathing, talking...living! Because even though you might say that there was no difference if you were dead or not because we weren't together...I knew... I hoped that I would see you again. Because I couldn't stand living in a world where you didn't exist, where there was no hope to see your eyes or your smile again."
My voice raised now, filling with anger. He had stepped back but now I went closer to him. Emphasizing my every word.
"So go ahead, Nick, call me a coward. Call me whatever names you want, think of me whatever you want...but that won't change the cold-hearted fact that I will keep on saying yes...over and over and over again." I was now right in front of him, my finger pocking his chest. I stepped back, breathless.
I raised my head to look at him and was stunned by his expression. He was smiling, his eyes...his eyes were smiling too. Was he making fun of me? I stepped back, unable to look at him anymore.
"I don't know what to say." He said and even his voice was smiling. Anger filled me again. How dared he make fun of me? I had poured my heart and he was laughing.
I raised my head again, trying to show him with my eyes and voice just how angry, hurt and offended I felt.
"Then don't say anything at all." I spit out the words and turned around, planning to lock myself in the room, gather my belongings and go away. Anywhere but here. Away from this man I didn't know anymore.
But before I could have even made a step, I felt someone grabbing my wrist, sending an electric jolt down my body. He pulled me towards him, spinning me around so now I was once again facing his smiling face.
"I won't." He murmured and grabbed my other hand as well, pulling me abruptly towards him, crashing his lips in mine. My body started shaking from the electricity, making it hard for me to breathe. He, almost forcefully, opened my mouth, tangling his sweet tongue with mine. It was a breathtaking, leg- jellying, amazing kiss. And maybe if I wasn't a Petrova , I would have let myself get lost into him. But I was still angry at him, too angry to let him kiss me like that.
It took me all my strength to pull away my face. He was still holding my hands in iron grasp and I was still pinned to him.
"I am angry at you." I whispered and his eyes just continued smiling. And that made me even more furious."Let me go, Nicklaus, let go of my hands." I hissed but his smile just grew wider.
"No."
"Let. Me. Go. Now."
"No, I let you go once and I won't ever do it again." You see, if I wasn't a Petrova, this would probably have been enough for me. But it wasn't.
"Let go of me or I will make you." I was dead serious but that only made him laugh. He laughed and tightened his grip around my hands. He thought that I was going to try to forcefully make him release my hands, that I was going to try to fight him. So he continued laughing. Wrong move. I tilted my head and mirrored his cocky grin. "We'll see about that. If you are still holding my hands when I am finished...I will...kiss you." I said a hint of playfulness in my voice.
He looked incredibly amused as he tilted his head and nodded.
"Sounds fair."He leaned down."Challenge excepted." I nodded, knowing who would win.
I looked straight at his eyes, wanting him to see how they were going to change. I closed them for a second, concentrating, then abruptly opened him, making him gasp. My eyes were snow white now, and were turning whiter and whiter every second. The skin of my wrists, where he was holding me, started glowing and turning whiter as well. I felt how my skin was turning hotter and hotter and I saw how he started shifting in his spot, how his eyes started blinking, his smirk disappearing. It was like holding hot metal.
I have to admit that he was pretty stubborn himself, he kept his hands firmly on my wrists as they turned whiter and whiter. Now it was my turn to laugh as he almost started jumping in one place. I slowly lowered my eyes. My skin was still snow white but his hands were deep dark red with small streaks of blood that were starting to color my skin as well. I looked at him once more. His lips were pursed with pain but his eyes were determined.
Very well, I knew when something was hopeless. I let out a huge breath and felt how my skin started returning to its natural temperature. I was impressed, I have to say. Not only that he hadn't let go but he hadn't made a single sound as well.
I looked at his ruined hands that were now starting to heal and small smile crept up my face.
"You didn't let go." I said impressed and he smiled, pain still evident on his face.
"I told you." He swallowed and leaned down, his lips brushing against my jaw, moving down and then finally kissing my ear lobe. I shivered and felt his light smile against my skin. His hands tightened their grip around my hands. "You ,now, are stuck with me whether you like it or not." I chuckled lightly and watched with awe how his eyes caught the light as he pulled away. We stayed silent for a few moments and I wondered how long was this going to continue. His voice interrupted my musings. He was now smirking.
"Soo...where's my kiss." He tilted his head to one side.
"Really? Is that all you can think about?"
"Quite frankly...I don't see anything wrong in that. I was promised..."Before he could finish his sentence, I flashed us forwards, effectively pinning him against the wall. His expression was surprised for a second but then his lips extended in a smirk. "I knew you couldn't resist me." I don't know whether I wanted to slap him or kiss him at that moment.
"Shut up."I hissed and leaned down. Right before our lips touched he murmured softly with pleading voice.
"Change back." I pulled away and shook my head. Seeing my hesitation he said with his most convincing voice. "Please. This way I have the feeling I am kissing your sister."I smiled as he scrunched his face with almost disgust.
"Fine." I said and closed my eyes, feeling the familiar warmth spreading through my body. I abruptly opened my eyes, watching the transition in his awe-struck eyes. My hair slowly started turning from dull brown to rich mahogany color, it started shorting up until it reached around 4 or 5 inches below my collar bone and now it wasn't pin straight, it had lovely waves. My features started changing, too, my skin got paler and now, although I still looked a lot like my sister, there was obvious difference. But the most spectacular was the change in my eyes. One of them, just like in a small vortex, turned from brown to piercing blue.
I abruptly let go of my breath, releasing my magic. Nick's eyes were mesmerized, he finally let go of my wrists and slowly moved them along my arms, over my shoulders, around my neck to finally rest around my face. He was holding me with such care and tenderness that it made my breath catch in my throat.
His lips extended in a gentle smile. He didn't say a word but I knew what he was thinking, what he was feeling. We could almost feel those 500 years between us, like they were squeezing us, suffocating us. And we were both scared to death that they were going to tear us apart again.
So he leaned down and I stood up on my toes. His right hand went around my waist and my hands around his neck. Our lips were just mere inches from each other and then at this perfect moment, we simultaneously pulled the other towards ourselves, joining our lips. My skin exploded from the millions of little electricity bolts. My lips captured his upper lip and his my lower, we moved in a perfect synchrony. My mind was completely numb and so was my body, all I could feel was his lips on mine, my skin burned where his hands touched me and suddenly I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet. And then I felt a soft surface beneath me, Nick had flashed us on the bed in my room. My legs wrapped themselves around his waist and his hands roamed all over my body. I bit his lip and he hissed lightly.
And then something emerged in my mind. I pulled away, his face mere inches away from mine. His eyes sparkling dazzling. My hand cupped his face and my thumb slowly caressed his cheek.
"It wasn't pointless, you know, leaving I mean. Your father and I...we are more powerful than you can imagine. And we are not alone..." His lips extended in a his signature smirk.
"So we are going to take those suckers down?" I smirked as well.
"Of course we are." His lips captured mine once again and this time I let myself get lost in him completely.
I plan on doing a short update during the week so be sure to check it. I plan on making it a
flashback so if you want to see something in particular, maybe how Bella and Damon became
close, or Katherine and the boys or one of the Bella/Klaus encounters throughout the years, leave
a review.