There was no way around it. Upon Bonnie's insistent urging, Bella ended up in an arm wrestling match with just about every supernatural being in the room as Tyler wanted in on the fun too, much to the brunette's dismay. Even the witch yearned to test out if she could affect the hybrid with her headache-inducing or other magic tricks to distract her. Jeremy – although being a member of the Brotherhood of the Five, a group of supernaturally gifted vampire hunters – knew that on a level playing field such as arm wrestling he was no match for a vampire, so he didn't force the issue.
They started with the werewolf, given that it was still quite far away from the full moon he should have been the weakest among them at the moment, and decided to build up from there. Matt and Jeremy couldn't keep their snickering to themselves with all the supersensitive hearing in the room and the agent shot annoyed glares to shut them up but to no avail.
"Ready Bells?" Tyler challengingly inquired, placing his elbow on the table they had set up for the matches.
"Let's just get this over with already. I want to go to sleep," the brunette yawned exaggeratedly to prove her point. She had been up since six in the morning, and it was nearing 1 AM already.
"Do cold ones sleep?" Bonnie perked up, finding another topic they haven't asked Bella about yet.
"If I answer will you guys promise that this is the end of this twisted twenty questions game?" the hybrid grumpily requested as she sat down opposite from the werewolf. She had a new found appreciation as to how Edward must have felt when she dug into his secrets at the beginning of their relationship.
"Sure," the witch gave her word after glancing around and confirming everyone's nods of agreement.
"No, they don't, at all. But I do. And I'm exhausted," Bella revealed as she readied herself for the arm wrestling match and put her hand in Tyler's.
"Just be careful and don't break that. It's an antique," the older Salvatore frowned as he watched them flex their muscles against each other, waiting for Bonnie to begin the match.
"Seriously, Damon? Since when do you care? Over the years we have broken more than a dozen furniture in this house," Stefan quirked a brow at his brother's sudden concern for the family heirloom.
"Exactly. Soon there won't be any left!" he exclaimed dramatically.
"The arm wrestling was your idea. So deal with it," Bella huffed, having no patience for any more delays.
"Alright," Bonnie put her hand upon the contestants' intertwined fists. "Ready, set, go!" She lifted it off to signal the beginning.
In a fraction of a second, without any real effort, Bella shoved the werewolf's hand against the desk, it creaking slightly under the abuse.
"Ow…" Tyler gasped as he rubbed his wrist slightly.
"Sorry. I didn't really have opportunities to test the limits of my strength much," she apologized for overdoing it.
"Alright, Caroline next," the witch instructed hastily, trying to be considerate of Bella's wishes to hurry the process along.
"Couldn't we have found some less macho way of power demonstration?" the blonde inquired, crinkling her nose in distaste.
"Would you have preferred a strawberry jelly tub wrestling match in bikinis? Because I surely would, if it's you two fighting," Damon smirked and winked in a particular kind of mischievous way that despite the words he had uttered made him quite appealing, probably would have melted the heart of just about any girl. Except they knew him better.
"Pervert," both vampire girls muttered in unison, exploding in giggles afterward, eliciting a grin on Bonnie's face too.
"Okay, no more distractions," the witch amusedly got them back to business. "Ready? Begin."
This time Bella held back and took better control of how much force she was putting into her arm, but the result was the same, just without hurting her friend. Caroline never stood a chance against her.
"Remind me to never get on your bad side," she quipped with a laugh as she let Stefan take her place at the table.
The younger Salvatore had just about the same level of luck. Even Damon's overconfident demeanor seemed to have faltered as he got ready to match off with his ex-fling.
"Not so sure now, are you? Remember when we are done that you wanted this," Bella chuckled as she saw him nervously glancing at her arm, which was already positioned there waiting for him.
"Don't get so cocky, Brownie," the older brother jabbed at her, but it was evident that his heart wasn't that into the teasing.
"Enough, Damon. Get into position already," Bonnie admonished him, itching for it to be her turn already.
The agent decided to mess with him a bit, and when the match started, she purposefully let him get some leverage, pretending to be struggling against his hold, almost allowing the back of her hand touch the desk. His expression of elation at the impending triumph was priceless. Then at the last second, she effortlessly pushed his arm down to the other side. A bit too forcefully. The desk broke in half underneath them.
"That was mean," Damon muttered with a pout as he rubbed his shoulder that was jerked on too hard.
"Do you really want to do this Bonnie?" Bella looked at the witch, pleading for her to forfeit. "I don't think any of your magic would have an effect on me. They work through the mind, don't they?"
"Good question," she seemed to be thinking about the theory and mechanics behind her power in regards to vampires. "Let me just try one thing."
Mentally she thought of the incantation Ah Sha Lana, focusing on Bella. Nothing happened for seconds.
"Huh," the Bennett girl said finally in contemplative awe.
The last time she wasn't successful in using this spell was years ago when she was only just discovering her witchcraft. Katherine, Elena's 600-year-old vampire doppelganger was unaffected because Bonnie wasn't experienced enough yet with her powers. Just to rule out any possibility of her magic not working for some reason, she directed her attention to Damon momentarily, making him cringe in pain instantly, his hands flying to his head.
"Hey, what was that for Medusa?!" the older Salvatore cried out furiously when the pain subsided, looking accusatorially at the witch.
"I'm sure you had that coming for one thing or another. If nothing else you got that for turning Bella without asking her first," Bonnie nonchalantly remarked, turning back to her friend. Meanwhile, Damon muttered "judgy crazy bitch" under his breath. "I'm actually not sure if it's your shield that's blocking me or you are too powerful for me to affect you. That spell was supposed to burst some blood vessels, but it's possible that the principle it works on is that it tricks your mind into commanding your body to raise your blood pressure to the point that it causes aneurysms, and not directly affecting your body."
"In any case, I'm glad it's not working," the agent shuddered as she empathetically imaged what it would feel like.
"Let's just hope you never turn evil. I'm not sure what could be done to stop you if you did," Bonnie warned her, a bit fearful of the possibility.
"Thanks for the faith in me, I guess," Bella scowled at the implications. Like she hadn't proven herself already that she belonged with the good guys.
"You know, this makes me wonder… Could Bella be stronger than Klaus?" Stefan mused out loud to Bon, his face in a similar frown.
"Physically? Eh. Maybe," the hybrid theorized with a sigh based on the previous outcomes. "My compulsion isn't stronger than theirs though. Elijah managed to override the compulsion that I have placed on my landlord to not invite anyone into my apartment."
"You said he broke in!" Caroline pointed out the discrepancy in the story.
"I consider him going behind my back, and tricking the owner of the apartment into inviting him in breaking and entering, thank you very much," the NCIS agent told her, even if strictly speaking that wasn't recognized by the law. But in her opinion, it would have been if humanity, in general, was aware of the supernatural world.
"You should have compelled the proprietor to consume vervain afterward. And equipped them with it if you really wanted it to work," Damon chaffed her half-hearted attempt at keeping vampires out.
"Yes, thank you Captain Obvious. I didn't think of that at the time, nor was I really expecting any vampire company, to begin with. Especially not Originals, whose compulsion could trump mine," Bella sarcastically retorted. "Not to mention if someone really wanted to get in, they could have just killed Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. Or kidnapped them and waited out the time until it wore off, or given them blood dialysis and countless other options that would always ensure that this protection would never be a 100% guarantee. At least my thoughtlessness hadn't put them at even more unnecessary risk. They are nice people. As for Matt, I really do hope you guys are prepared to protect him if you want this place to stay secure. I'm going to bed," she ranted on angrily, storming out of the living area yet again.
On her way upstairs she picked her bag up from beside the front door where she left it previously and found herself an empty room to sleep in, this time being meticulous to avoid Damon's.
"What is your problem?" Caroline turned to Damon once Bella was well out of view. "Ever since she arrived, you have been nothing but mean to her."
The older Salvatore brother frowned first as if trying to find an explanation himself, but couldn't come up with anything. "She's the one who started it," he reasoned childishly, thinking about their encounter the previous day where she was openly hostile with him, accusing him of ruining her life and lying, then her resentment that seeped into her words all throughout this evening's conversations too.
"Could you blame her? She now maybe understands on a rational level why you turned her, but that doesn't change the fact that she never wanted any of this. Or that your actions are what made her Klaus's target. She never would have become a hybrid if you just stopped acting like a rogue agent all the time and started to communicate!" the blonde vampire chastised him vehemently before going off to sleep herself.
The morning – well almost noon – of her birthday found Bella in an exceptionally grumpy mood. She couldn't sleep much with her mind running wild on odd tangents, leaving her tossing and turning till about 5 AM. Maybe she had been a bit harsh with Damon, but he was just so infuriating at times. Having been the Guinea pig of the night had her frustrated too, although admittedly it had been quite fruitful in regards to finding out more about herself and her capabilities. And then there was the Klaus problem. What do you do when an all-powerful ancient vampire wants to make you his mate?
She needed a walk. Air to clear her head. He didn't want to kill her, couldn't compel her to do something she didn't want, it was safe enough to go outside even if she ran into him, wasn't it?
The brunette slowly crawled out of bed, grabbed her jeans, a fresh set of underwear and shirt from her bag, heading for the en-suite bathroom to take a hot shower, hoping that it would calm her some.
Twenty minutes later she was outside. Miraculously no one from the Mystic Falls Gang came to stop her from leaving the house. Not that they would have been able to anything if she was really intent on going, that much they were able to ascertain from yesterday's experiments.
Immersed in her thoughts, she let her feet take her wherever and ten minutes later she found herself in the Mystic Falls Cemetery.
"If I'm already here I might as well visit Liz's grave," she muttered to herself when she realized where she had ended up.
Bella carefully walked through the rows looking for familiar names on the headstones, silently cursing herself a bit for not thinking ahead and maybe bringing a bouquet of flowers or something to pay her respects with.
She found Sheriff Forbes's grave quickly enough. It was the one with the most flowers on it. Nothing surprising considering how well-loved she was by the townsfolk. What she wasn't prepared for was running into Elena's name on one of them. Logical, though… she thought to herself if they wanted to keep this charade up.
"What would you do in my place?" the agent found herself asking aloud as she gazed on the pretty cursive her name was engraved in.
It was practically a no-brainer. In this sense, the two girls were very much alike. Both would have sacrificed themselves without a blink of an eye if it meant keeping everyone safe. And Bella had already tried that. Sacrificing her life. Well, her undead existence… Whatever.
But would giving herself to Klaus actually make it safer for everyone? She could pay extra attention to how she raised their child, she supposed, making sure that he or she didn't turn out to be a murderous psychopath. If, of course, that was really the Original's aim and she was actually able to conceive.
It's not like she was ever planning on finding someone who she could feel just the fraction of love towards to that she felt towards Edward. Or more precisely she used to feel. It all sort of dulled into an uneasy throb at the back of her mind over the years, no longer the heart-wrenching pain that left her unable to breathe, think, move… live. Turning into a vampire actually helped.
And time, of course. Everyone said time's supposed to heal you. Healing wasn't the word Bella would have used. She hadn't done much healing. She just got better at pushing it out of the forefront of her thoughts. So would it matter if she lived alongside someone she didn't love?
"Don't worry, love. I heard Damon has her stashed away in a safe place until she can awaken," the velvety yet playful voice of the blond Original from behind her surprised her, making her jump a bit.
Speak – or think – of the devil. The agent vowed to pay more attention to her surroundings and to not let herself get caught so off guard again. Although she imagined if Klaus wanted to sneak up on her he would be able to under any circumstances.
"Yes, I'm aware," Bella managed to say through her gritted teeth, unable to adequately keep her annoyance out of her tone as she turned slightly towards him, crossing her arms as if that ought to give her protection from him.
"I apologize if I have frightened you," he smirked at her, finding the whole thing quite amusing.
"You didn't." It was the truth, she wasn't afraid for herself at all. "But you could tell your brother that it's rude to visit someone uninvited," the agent said after a moment, deeming it safe to voice her "assumption" – even with pretending that the compulsion had taken hold – that he was Klaus as she turned her attention back to her friend's faux resting place.
"I'll pass that onto Elijah," the Original's grin grew even wider, enjoying himself very much with their banter.
A few moments of silence passed before he spoke again.
"I believe congratulations are in order. For the solved case and it is also your birthday, am I correct?" Klaus probed, walking a few paces ahead to get into her line of sight again.
"I stopped aging when I was nineteen," Bella bluntly shot him down, not wanting to dwell on the fact. Why was everyone obsessed with insignificant and arbitrary divides even in their immortal existence?
"This day is special nonetheless, worthy of celebrations," the ancient vampire contradicted her exact thoughts.
"Being born isn't exactly my accomplishment if anyone my mom should be praised," the agent tried another angle to lessen her own relevance in the matter. She was in no mood for celebrations anyway.
"Shall I give her a call to offer my compliments?" the blonde joked in that still amused demeanor, but the thought chilled the girl to the bone. James and his little game of making her believe that he had Renée hostage to have her meet him at that ballet studio in Phoenix all those years ago came unbidden to her mind.
"Leave my mom out of this," Bella snarled, startled by her own vehemence.
"Alright. Allow me to take you out to dinner then, dear," Klaus offered nonchalantly, his humored grin never faltering.
"And if I don't want to what then? You are going to compel me?" The question slipped out of her, full of resentment. She hugged herself even tighter as she stared off into the distance.
"We both know that wouldn't actually work," the Original revealed, making her head snap back to him faster than humanly possible. Upon her questioning gaze, he elaborated. "Your little act almost had Elijah convinced for a second. But you see, vampires stay aware of the fact that they are under compulsion, even if they are made to forget the exact contents of the compulsion."
"Damn it," the brunette cursed out loud. Times like these made her regret the fact that she had cut herself off from the supernatural world. She would have known this if she hadn't and could have made the right adjustments to convince his brother better.
"Now, now, is that really any way for my lady to speak?" he tutted playfully, obviously not really minding her coarse language but had his fun anyway. That did not lessen the reflexive response that burst out of her.
"I'm not a lady, especially not yours. And as a former police officer, I'll swear as much as I want to," Bella snapped, not as wary of the Originals as she had been just 24 hours ago. Her confidence stemmed from the fact that she was now just about a 100% sure that the Mikaelsons definitely didn't want her dead, and somehow she believed that even if they did she would have a fighting chance against them. At least one on one.
"Feisty. I like that," Klaus skimmed her over with approving, flirty gaze, his smirk widening impossibly now. He looked like a large predator cat on the hunt.
"Ugh," the brunette groaned in displeasure. Of course, he would be the slightly masochistic type, turned on by denial.
"About the dinner though, love," the ancient vampire switched topics faster than a speed of lightning. Oddly reminded her of Edward and his sudden mood swings, but this time she was finally able to keep up. "Let me take you out, show you that there is more to this monster than you might think."
Bella observed him carefully, trying to figure him out. Why was this so important to him? And what would one dinner hurt? She could pretend to have an awful time with him and turn him down at the end, even if she ended up enjoying herself. Or would that just encourage him even more?
"Fine," she relented finally, with a heavy sigh. "Pick me up at eight, I guess?"
Saying that the gang had conniptions about the whole affair was putting it rather mildly. Bella sort of started anticipating that the moment Caroline had cornered her about where she had been when she finally returned to the Boarding House at around three o'clock after grabbing some lunch at the grill.
"I was at the cemetery," the agent curtly replied, not too pleased with having to account for her day. She was way too used to living alone for that. Not to mention that even in her childhood, under either Renée's or Charlie's roof, it had felt like she had the whole house to herself too, so she never quite learned what it meant to have someone watching her every move. "Visiting your mom, then I stumbled upon Elena's grave too."
"Yeah, we did that for pretenses," the blonde somberly replied, her face darkening with guilt as she continued. "It was nice of you to go see her."
Bella knew she wasn't talking about Elena anymore, but couldn't figure why she would feel so blameworthy for her death.
"It wasn't a burden. Liz had always been nice to me," the hybrid offered, kind of uneasily, waiting for the rain of questions or admonishing that was to follow.
"You should have told someone though, had someone go with you," she continued a second later.
Bella wondered if she had somehow developed mindreading of her own. No, Caroline is just that predictable, she concluded.
"I can take care of myself, not to mention that neither of you could do much about Klaus anyway, right?" the brunette turned to go upstairs to her room as she said that, trying very hard not to sound condescending or ungrateful. "What if he tried to compel you?"
"We are all on vervain," the vampire informed her cheerfully, quite pleased with themselves for the precaution.
"How does that work exactly? Shouldn't you be sick because of it?" Bella inquired curiously. She never tried ingesting vervain herself, not that she needed it to keep her mind protected anyway.
"Very low dose and we have been doing it just in case for years now, so we have built up quite the tolerance for it. I practically don't even feel it anymore," Caroline explained as she followed her, apparently not letting her out of her sight.
"Huh," the hybrid sighed contemplatively. She moved to her bag, rummaging through it for something appropriate to wear for the evening. On second thought, she paused, having no idea why she was actually putting any effort into how she looked for the Original. She glanced down at the only dress she had brought with herself for the trip. A simple black lace, short-sleeved, tight fit, wrap flare piece.
"Just a heads up, there's going to be a little celebration for your birthday in the evening – Happy Birthday by the way – I know you don't really like surprises, so that's why I'm ruining the surprise. Damon wanted to take you out at first, but I quickly shot him down given how much you despise him at the moment, so we compromised on a group event," the blonde nervously rambled on, standing there awkwardly by Bella's side as she crouched by her bag.
"Actually I already have plans for the evening," she started cautiously, wondering if she should lie, say that she going back to D.C. to meet up with Abby, or actually go – given that the cat about her secret immunity to compulsion was out of the bag anyway – and ditch Klaus. No, she wouldn't do the latter for sure, just in fear of him retaliating in some way on her friends – or her mom for that matter – but the former option seemed more and more inviting by the second so that she could avoid Caroline's judging afterward.
"What plans?" – the vampire asked with wide-eyed surprise.
Go with the truth or lie? Bella thought to herself, but her window for a convincing lie had passed already. Not to mention that then she would have to explain why she was willing to risk the secret of her shield to be found out. With a sigh, she went with the truth.
"Klaus found me at the cemetery…" the agent started but couldn't continue because of the incredulous exclaim that followed her statement.
"WHAT? Why didn't you say something? Are you okay? What did he want? Wait… are you saying you are going out with him?" Caroline fired off her questions in quick succession, leaving no time or space for Bella to actually answer them, her eyes on the dress that Bella had pulled out from her bag.
By the time she stopped screeching, Stefan had entered the room to see what the cause of the uproar was, closely followed by Damon. The others must have been out because no one else came despite the fact that apparently, the whole house could have heard even without supernatural hearing.
"Caroline, are you okay? What's going on?" the younger Salvatore brother asked with concern.
"I'm fine. Has Klaus tried to compel you? Is that why you are pretending to go along with this nonsense?" she inquired, trying to find a logical explanation.
"What did Klaus do?" Damon growled, the possessive protectiveness of his tone catching Bella off guard. She stared at him for a while before answering.
"He has done nothing. Yet, anyways," she thought of her mom again. "He knows I'm immune, by the way. My act wasn't as good as I thought with Elijah," she sighed before continuing. "He offered to take me to dinner."
"And you are seriously going?" Caroline asked again in bewilderment.
"I don't see how that's any of your business actually," the agent snapped at first but quickly took it back. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I know you guys are worried. But frankly, I don't think this should be a group effort. There is nothing you can do about him, and he is not trying to kill me or anything. It's only dinner. I might actually get something out of him regarding his plans if I go along. I'm a trained interrogator after all."
"Is that your only reason for going?" the older Salvatore brother inquired with evident hurt in his voice as his eyes landed on the outfit she had chosen to wear.
"Damon…" Stefan tried to rein his brother's temper in before it got out of hand.
"Fine, go get yourself knocked up for all I care! Just don't come looking for my help when you have a demonic monstrosity growing inside you!" And with that he stormed out of the room, leaving Bella utterly stunned by his jealous reaction.
"What in the actual hell…" the brunette muttered to herself as her knees gave away from under her and she slouched down onto the floor, sitting beside her heels. Why did he care so much? He had Elena for crying out loud. Even if she was the epitomical Sleeping Beauty at the moment.
Caroline and Stefan glanced between themselves uneasily.
"I'll go find him," the younger brother said finally, leaving the room.
"Bella…" the blonde started uneasily, peeking down at her worriedly.
"If you are going to try and talk me out of this, just don't," the agent huffed irritatedly, not in the mood for further chewing out.
"No… I was thinking along the lines of 'Can I do your makeup, please?'" her friend settled herself on the floor by her side, hugging her for comfort.
"That was a quick change of heart," Bella laughed out, returning the gesture mechanically.
"Come on, we both know you are stubborn as a mule. There is nothing I could say or do to deter you once you have your mind set on something," Caroline chuckled, recalling the time when a similar exchange happened between them regarding Damon. "But I can make you so pretty that Klaus won't know what hit him and forgets all his evil plans."
"That would be great. Thanks," chocolate brown eyes sought out her pale blue ones appreciatively.
"When is he picking you up?" the vampire inquired, her mind already focused on business.
"Eight," the agent informed her, suddenly wary of her intensity.
The blonde glanced up at the decorative wooden clock on the wall.
"Oh my god, we only have four hours left! Get in the shower already!" she exclaimed in a hurry, pulling her friend up from the floor as she stood up quickly, ushering her towards the en-suite.
Alice all over again, isn't it? Bella stifled a chuckle at the close resemblance in behavior.