Swan Diaries (crossover between Twilight and The Vampire Diaries)

T W E N T Y ∘ A Kiss For The Ages

POV: BELLA VINCENT (BELLA SWAN)
Monday, November 13 2017
(flashback of Sunday, August 19 1888)

I stood there in front of him, just staring up into his face. His golden specks were glistening, and he looked like a completely different person than he did a minute ago.

"What was that for?" I demanded, still in a daze.

Edward Cullen shrugged. "Maybe I haven't learned from all of my mistakes, after all."

He tasted just as sweet as he smelled, but his skin was as hard as stone.

I felt like I was betraying my husband. I had only kissed one person since I left Klaus—Kai Parker, in one of the particularly darkest and lowest points of my life. I clearly had a type, though.

"I thought you hated everything I was."

"Oh, I do," Edward confirmed.

I tilted my head. "Then...?"

"I don't know why," he decided after another moment passed.

I took a step back from him, shaking away the shock and uncertainty that was boggling around in my head.

"You really are something else." I moved around him to exit the bathroom. He truly had a surefire way shut me up.

Klaus had a knack for doing that, too.

The first time it happened, about eleven weeks after he and I met, I was visiting his older sister Freya—partly an excuse to see him, too—when my eternally-clumsy self knocked over a three hundred forty-nine year old vase in their long, castle-like corridor. Freya wasn't home yet, so it was him that heard the crash.

I had split open my forehead, but I was freaking out about paying him back for the priceless antique. He assured me over and over again that he couldn't care less about it, but I wouldn't let up. He kissed me as a way to snap me back into reality. It worked then, and apparently it still worked for me now.

My driver stood from his seat behind the horses—two large Vermont Drafters—that I could clearly see on the other side of the large front window. He opened my door for me, allowing a moment for me to fix my dress so I could stand up.

"Thank you kindly, sir."

I stared out in front of me at the vastly, perfect picture home that I'd been to a handful of times. My newest friend, Freya Mikaelson, had invited me over to have tea with her and her younger sister, Rebekah.

I may have had an ulterior motive for coming here, but—much to my dismay—I was actually starting to like them. I had always wanted sisters and I counted Eve as the closest to one I'll ever get.

I needed to know what they were. What kind of supernatural creature their whole family was. They'd been very careful around me, thus far.

Did they know what I was yet? That answer worried me as well. Is that the only reason they befriended me, too?

The naïve and slightly irrational part of me was excited about this. I had never met another creature besides witches—both organic magic and siphon magic. And as angry as I knew my grandparents would be about me getting close to them, all I wanted was to know more. I wanted to know everything.

I was prepared to wait as long as I had to, to get my answers.

I raised a fist to knock on the door, and was met with an unexpected—but godly—face on the other side.

Niklaus Mikaelson. Every time I saw him, I feel like I had forgotten how beautiful he was.

He smiled down at me. Part smirk, part genuine. All trouble. "Hello, again. Do come in."

"Afternoon, Mr. Mikaelson." I was almost sure he heard my heart pounding away at my ribcage.

"Ouch." He put a hand to his chest, a feigned look of pain on his face. "Mr. Mikaelson was my father." He said 'father' with such disgust.

I composed myself. "Of course. Klaus. My apologies."

"None needed. You're here to see my sister, yes?"

"Both of them, actually. Am I early?"

"They're probably just late. Not unusual." Klaus chuckled. "They run on their own time. You may wait down the hall. Please." He took my hand, placing a soft kiss upon my white satin glove. "Do let me know if you need anything."

I stood there for a moment to watch him walk away.

I cleared my throat and started down the corridor. I had never been left alone here before. I was always accompanied by a member of the family.

Do I chance their trust and search for clues? Or do I bide my time and earn their loyalty?

I studied the dozens of paintings as I sauntered through. So many different phases, so many different meanings. I wondered how they acquired them all.

I felt the rush of panic before I actually went down. My heel had caught on the hem of my dress, and I tried to catch myself on the nearest thing. But with my horrid luck, it happened to be a narrow but grand side table with just a single glass vase at the center of it. It fell directly over my head, and that was the last thing I remember.

I tasted something sweet when I was coming to. It was thick and heavenly, almost like nectar. Then I felt the warmth of someone's hand on the back of my neck. I shot straight up and stared above me in wonder.

Klaus Mikaelson's blue-green eyes were full of worry. He was kneeling beside me, glancing me over as if I were in distress.

It was then that I realized what was happening. Something I had only ever heard about.

Blood.

His wrist was chewed open, and he was feeding me his blood.

Well, I got my answer, I told myself. The Mikaelson's are vampires.

"Are you all right?" he asked me. "What happened?"

"You..."

His eyebrows formed a line, waiting for the rest. I had none to give.

"You had quite the fall," he noted. "Can you stand?"

I looked down behind me. The red vase had shattered.

I sighed with dread. "Oh, no. I'm so sorry. I didn't see it!" My voice rose in hysteria.

"It's nothing," Klaus tried to say. I hadn't finished.

"I tripped over my gown and it was the first thing my hand reached for to steady myself."

"Isabella."

"I'll replace it, I promise! I'm so terribly sorry, Mr. Mi—"

"Isabella," he repeated. Over and over.

"My balance has always been impaired. I should never leave the house ag—"

Klaus was swift in his movement. The moment his lips touched mine, all else no longer existed—just like the day we met. He was my tranquility.

I may have gone a little overboard. It was too late by the time I felt my magic flicker. Klaus pulled away with a quiet groan, his mouth pressed in a tight line, fighting a grin.

I realized I was starting to siphon him. I giggled. "Sorry."

His smile grew.

I reached up to touch him when I noticed a smear of turquoise-colored paint on his cheek. "What are you?" I whispered, needing to hear him say the word.

He scoffed in delight. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

I shook my head, pulling myself from the memory. Edward was still standing where I left him as I returned to Mike Newton in the cafeteria. Sitting next to him again, I chose to ignore the stares from the rest of the Cullen siblings.