Faceless Queen 5

“I just got the most interesting phone call from Tanya the leader of the Denali coven.”Sulpicia announced as she walked into Athenodora’s living room. Both Athenodora and Didyme were sitting on a couch, Didyme having her arm held out straight with a sloth hanging from it. The sloth had it’s eyes closed looking completely content with the two queens petting it. Unable to resist Sulpicia made her way over to the sloth and stroked its head luxuriating in how soft and silky it’s fur felt. She so loved the menagerie of animals that they were exposed to and hoped that she would get to see a koala bear again soon. They were Sulpicia’s favorite animal because they were the best to snuggle and cuddle with. They fit perfectly in her arms and were easy to carry as they clung her body and left her arms free if she needed them.

“Oh what would Tanya have to say to us?”Athenodora asked not taking her attention away from the sloth.

Sulpicia could easily interpret the look the sloth was giving her.”I know what you are thinking and no you can’t kill them.”

“Oh darling I’m sure you will get the chance to kill someone soon.”Athenodora consoled the rather annoyed looking sloth.

“Will she?”Didyme figured if Tanya called it wasn’t for a friendly chat.

“I predict she will be getting to kill many someones by the time this is over.”Sulpicia told her.

“What exactly did Tanya call about?”Athenodora asked.

“It seems the Cullens are causing trouble.”Sulpicia wasn’t pleased that they would have to deal with them again.

“Did they not learn their lesson when that boy came to the castle?”Didyme would think that the coven would keep their noses extra clean after the incident.

“Apparently not.”Sulpicia said.

“What did they do?”Athenodora hoped it was something that would lead to many people being sentenced to death so Isabella would get a chance to give into her violent nature as beating and killing people were her love’s favorite things to do.

“They left the mate of a vampire they killed alive and in her grief the poor woman is creating a newborn army to kill the whole coven.”Sulpicia couldn’t believe how careless the Cullens had been.

Hearing a happy squeak come from the sloth Athenodora chuckled.”See love I told you you would get to kill someone.”

“She will at least get to kill a bunch of newborns. The Cullens we will have to investigate.”Sulpicia didn’t want to kill all of them if they didn’t have to.

“I don’t think anyone who would leave the woman alive is redeemable.”Didyme couldn’t imagine how she would feel if she lost Sulpicia. She would have probably done something worse than create a newborn army to get her revenge. Like give Isabella permission to kill off the responsible party’s blood lines.

“We can’t just blindly kill off an entire coven.”Sulpicia cut off any objections from the sloth.”It doesn’t matter how much fun you would have doing it. If we killed off innocent people we would be no better than the Romanians.”

Athenodora smiled when the sloth huffed.”Darling don’t be like that. You know she is right.”

“I’m sure by the time everything is investigated at least some of them will be sentenced to death.”Didyme said.

“What else did Tanya say?”Athenodora asked.

“She said that Carlisle called to tell her about the woman and the newborns to ask them to help them fight them. Of interest is that Carlisle claimed that he is allied with a pack of wolf shifters.”Sulpicia was unsurprised when the sloth jumped from Didyme’s arm and transformed into Isabella.

“Cia why did you have to say that? I didn’t get that much time playing with the sloth.”Didyme had plans to feed it some grapes because she thought the way it held them with it’s paws was adorable.

“I promise I’ll turn back after we decide what to do about these shifters.”Isabella didn’t mind using her abilities to transform into animals for the queens. She was actually more comfortable when she was shifted than she was in her regular form. That could be because she hated having to interact with people and she spent most of her time as an animal of some kind.”Now what information do you have about them?”

“Tanya tried to downplay how long they have known about them but when I asked she admitted that the Cullens have had a treaty with them for almost a century having lived in the area and returned many decades later. She said that the pack is very isolated and that the Cullens are the only supernaturals they have ever encountered. They also believe the reason they exist is to rid the world of vampires.”Sulpicia smiled when Isabella laughed.

“Killing vampires? What a stupid thing to think.”Isabella didn’t understand how they came to that conclusion.”If anything they are at a huge disadvantage against vampires. Especially if they are wolves.”

“Wolf bodies definitely aren’t that agile and are too bulky to move with any finesse or speed. Plus there are many ways to subdue them. Be it by breaking a leg or pulling on their tail.”Athenodora had plenty of experience with wolves and other animals from her time training and playing with Isabella.

“What kind of fighting abilities do the Cullens have?”Isabella didn’t keep track of every vampire coven just the ones she needed to investigate that were suspected of breaking laws.

“Not much as most of them are young. They do have the empath from the Mexican wars Jasper.”Sulpicia told her.

“Maria’s right hand.”Isabella remembered him as she was responsible for his pardon.”His roll in the war wasn’t fighting it was controlling the newborns so he isn’t that much of a help unless they come in small waves for him to use his gift to control them.”

“They have a seer but if there are shifters involved she won’t be able to use her gift. That being something she probably relies on in a fight.”Didyme said.

“The mind reader was rather cocky. I believe that because of his gift he thinks he is superior over others. With that said I doubt he is a good fighter because he would most likely think he is naturally talented.”Athenodora took the measure of Edward when he was in the throne room and she thought he was a pompous asshole whose mouth would eventually get him killed.

“How did he react to not being able to read any of your minds?”Isabella had given the queens the block on their minds the day they all met and she found out that Athenodora was her mate.

“He didn’t say anything but he was obviously frustrated.”Sulpicia had enjoyed seeing the anger the boy was trying to hide at not being able to manipulate the queens and the guard.

“I know that Carlisle is weak but what about the rest of them?”Isabella thought anyone who cried and contemplated suicide after speaking to her wasn’t any kind of threat to anyone.

“They have Emmett who although doesn’t have a gift is extremely strong. His mate Fran has no gifts and they were both sired by Carlisle about a century ago so I doubt that they have any kind of training.”Athenodora told her.

“You forgot the last member Rosalie. She doesn’t have a gift either but it’s rumored she is the most beautiful vampire that ever existed.”Didyme said.

“Those who claim that have never seen my Dora then.”Isabella couldn’t imagine a more beautiful vampire than her mate.

Athenodora smiled brightly at the compliment.”You my love are biased but as I know you are being sincere than you for the sweet words.”

“I am not biased. The many paintings I did of you throughout the millennia have been highly sought after by collectors raving about how beautiful you are.”One of Isabella’s favorite hobbies was painting and she had painted hundred of pictures of Athenodora. Some which she actually sold to the public. Those paintings were highly sought after by collectors.

“I still think it was you who bid so much on that one at the auction with one of me just so you could say your painting went for more money than mine did.”Sulpicia loved that paintings of her were so highly sought after. It was because of Isabella’s abilities to change into whoever or whatever she wanted that allowed her to be public figures if she wanted to and she usually used that skill to promote her artwork or music. Like when she came up with the Janis Joplin persona that she used until she got tired of the drug culture at the time and faked her own death. Isabella had also been movie stars, sports stars and a few political figures. As well as a great many other people.

Athenodora gasped in shock.”You think I would be petty enough to waist our money on something as frivolous as a painting of myself?”

“I saw the painting in your study hiding behind a bookshelf.”Didyme told her.

“Just for ratting me out I’m forbidding Isabella from transforming into a horse for you later.”Athenodora knew that would make her sister think twice about telling on her.

“That isn’t fair!! Isabella promised you can’t overrule her.”Didyme already had custom riding clothing and gear made for her to use. Plus all the custom stuff she made for Isabella’s horse like a saddle and all the other things needed to ride her.

“She’s my mate. I get to decide who touches her.”Athenodora was going to have Isabella stay human around Didyme for at least a week.

“Unfortunately for both of you neither of you will get to touch me because we have to deal with this Cullen newborn army situation.”Isabella wasn’t going to get involved in the pair’s fight as it never ended well for her regardless of who won it.

“Yes, how should we deal with this?”Sulpicia figured with both Didyme and Athenodora arguing about Isabella she could convince the shifter to spent time with her as a koala bear. Especially when the queen told Isabella about the Eucalyptus plants she had been growing in one of the greenhouses on the castle grounds as Isabella craved the food of whatever animal she shifted into.

“We could send the guard to wipe out the newborns and arrest the Cullens and put them on trial.”Didyme suggested.

“The problem with that is we don’t know who is guilty and it is unlikely that they will confess to anything.”Athenodora said.

“Well then I guess the solution to that is that I go undercover and investigate.”Isabella wouldn’t mind going on a mission that dealt with killing newborns.

“We just got you back a couple weeks ago. I don’t want you to leave again.”Athenodora wanted her mate to stay home not go off for an unknown amount of time.

“If we bring them to the castle they will close ranks. I am needed to make them tell the truth.”Isabella told her.

“I don’t like it but she’s right.”Sulpicia would prefer that Isabella stay at the castle but she was the only one who would be able to get the real story about the Cullens.”You can’t kill them though.”

”You make it sound like I am some uncontrollable killing machine.”Isabella was somewhat insulted that the queens felt the need to tell her to not kill people.

“Aren’t you though?”Didyme knew that Isabella would kill the world’s population if the queens didn’t stop her.

”I am a very peaceful person. I don’t go looking for fights. They come to me.”Isabella may love to fight but she didn’t provoke others. That often.

“So peaceful that 15 people have killed themselves after talking to you. That and the dozens you have made cried.”Athenodora had stop keeping count of how many people cried after it reached 50.

“Those people weren’t mentally healthy. If it wasn’t a conversation with me something else would have pushed them over the edge.”Isabella didn’t feel responsible for those suicides. It was the person who did it’s choice she didn’t force them.

“Sure it wasn’t.”Sulpicia fully believed it was Isabella’s fault those people died. Not that she did it on purpose but she was still what triggered them.

“Regardless we need to set a plan. I think I should infiltrate the Cullens, find out what everyone is doing, report back to all of you and then take out the newborn army.”Isabella suggested.

“I once again would like to voice my hatred of you being gone however I can’t fault the plan.”Athenodora didn’t want Isabella to leave but she was the perfect person for the job.

“I agree with Dora.”Didyme said.

“Then it’s settled. Isabella will go infiltrate the Cullens and find out their guilt and then take care of the newborns and come home.”Sulpicia just hoped Isabella didn’t get pissed off and kill all of them.

“I’m going to investigate these shifters as well.”Isabella wanted to know what line they came from.

“It would be interesting to find out how a shifter community ended up so isolated from others.”Athenodora and the queens kept track of most of the shifter communities. Not because they wanted to kill them or control them just to make sure they were thriving and didn’t need any help. Finding a wolf pack with beliefs that they were meant to kill vampires was very surprising.

“The fact that Carlisle kept it hidden for almost a century is something else that needs to be brought up. The wolves shouldn’t have to be fending for themselves not even knowing their proper history.”Didyme was going to have harsh words with Carlisle about his irresponsible actions.

“Hopefully Carlisle has at least been sponsoring them.”Isabella had been tending to shifter communities’ needs since she was a child. It was her job to take care of all of them. It was also her job to cull the heard when they got out of hand like with the children of the moon.

“I doubt he has.”Carlisle liked to put out the image of a godly man but Athenodora knew he was incredibly selfish. In the castle he never helped anyone but was constantly asking others for favors. It was actually her hatred of him that had Athenodora setting up his conversation with Isabella. It was just to bad he had been talked out of killing himself.

“Alight well if I am going to go play hero I should get dressed. Do you think I should bring my sword?”Isabella asked.

“It wouldn’t hurt if you took it. We don’t know how many newborns the woman has created.”Didyme said.

“I will go full armor and sword then.”When Isabella shifted everything she had attached to her body shifted with her. She wasn’t sure how the magic worked just that when she turned into an animal all her clothing and anything in her pockets or whatever she was wearing be it jewelry or a backpack always shifted with her. Then when she shifted back to her original form it came back perfectly intact.

“I do love seeing you battle ready.”One of Athenodora’s favorite Isabella looks was when she was in her natural form in her ancient armor welding her burly sword.

Isabella winked at her mate.”When I get back we can fight in the training room.”

“You’re on.”Athenodora would never miss an opportunity to fight with her mate.

“I’ll go get ready then I will come say my goodbyes.”Isabella told them.

“I’ll go pack you some snacks and a few treats.”Didyme knew that Isabella wouldn’t eat properly if she didn’t make sure she had food available.

“Thank you Di.”Isabella wasn’t going to say no to food.

“Do you want me to help you change?”Athenodora asked innocently.

“I’m still recovering from the week and half you kept me naked in our private quarters. I don’t think I can handle having you help.”Isabella was joking. It was actually Athenodora who called an end to their fun but only because she had duties to take care of.

“I didn’t hear you complaining.”Athenodora would have kept Isabella occupied a lot longer if she didn’t have to deal with her royal duties.

“I wasn’t.”Isabella called over her shoulder as she walked towards their bathroom to take a shower before she got ready. She smiled when she heard Athenodora laugh. She loved the sound of her mate’s laughter. Her love was such a beautiful soul and Isabella wished that she was a better partner to her. Isabella always felt guilty that she wasn’t happy staying in the castle and felt the need to roam. Her species weren’t meant to stay in one place for a long time. They were nomads who like to explore and experience different cultures. It was something that being a queen prevented her from doing. That caused Isabella to act out which resulted in a lot of chaos in the castle. It was also the reason she stopped being a queen and stepped back from public life. Now she went on missions when she found them interesting or just traveled to random places being random people or animals. Sometimes she checked on other shifters to see how they were doing but mostly she kept to herself. She would come back to the castle anytime her mate called her home or if she felt the need and the arrangement made everyone a lot happier. Especially the castle occupants who no longer had to deal with Isabella’s verbal and physical abuse.