Faceless Queen 3

“Bring in the lawbreakers.”Athenodora ordered the guards. Watching the throne room doors open she immediately perked up when an orange longhaired house cat came sauntering into the room. She hadn’t seen that cat for two weeks and had missed it terribly. Ignoring the rest of the room she rushed off her throne and picked the cat up cuddling it close. She placed kisses all over the cat’s face smiling happily when it began purring. She was just about to take the cat back to her private quarters when someone cleared their throat. Turning her attention to the person who dared to ruin the moment she glared seeing Sulpicia smirking at her.

“Dora I know you have missed your cat. We all have missed her but we are in the middle of a trial. I need you to act like the queen you are.”Sulpicia wasn’t going to tease Athenodora about her affection for the cat as Sulpicia would have acted the same way if she got to it first.

“May I pet the cat?”Didyme asked.

Athenodora thought about denying her until the cat reached out it’s front paw towards Didyme.”Fine.”

“Hello gorgeous. I’m happy you are home.”Didyme lovingly stroked the cat’s fur.

“Alright there will be time to play with the cat later. The accused are here.”Sulpicia was going to make sure that she got some time with the cat before Athenodora locked it away in her quarters.

Athenodora took a seat on her throne adjusting herself to make the cat comfortable before she began petting it.”Let’s make this quick.”

“Yes let’s.”Didyme didn’t want to waste time on petty lawbreakers now that the cat was home.

“Now Sebastian you and your coven are accused of creating a dozen newborns. Newborns that you abandoned and left to cause a lot of destruction and brought attention to our kind. How do you plead?”Sulpicia asked.

“We have done no such thing your majesty.”Sebastian and his four coven mates all jumped when the cat hissed at them.

Athenodora chuckled at the group’s reaction to the cat.“I don’t think my cat believes you.”

“If her cat doesn’t believe you then I don’t either.”Didyme said.

“I’m sorry?”Sebastian asked in obvious confusion.

“That cat is better than a lie detector. If it thinks you’re lying that makes us think you’re lying. So I will give you one more chance to change your answer.”Sulpicia offered.

“Your cat is wrong I am telling the truth.”Sebastian jumped back when the cat launched itself at his face.

Athenodora’s chuckles turned into full blown laughter at the sight of the small cat tearing the man’s face apart while he failed at defending himself against the attack.”You’ve done it now.”

“Call it off. Please! Make it stop.”Sebastian begged as the cat had no mercy on him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”Didyme warned his coven mate. The woman didn’t heed the warning and tried to pull the cat off of Sebastian only to result in her losing a finger. Didyme shook her head at the screaming woman.”I warned you.”

“Please stop we will tell you the truth just stop the cat.”One of the male coven members said as he held the woman’s finger to her hand trying to reattach it but having no luck.

“Fine here kitty, kitty.”Athenodora happily welcomed the cat back to her lap after it finished mauling Sebastian. Sebastian who’s face now looked like it had been put through a shredder and was missing an eye.

“Now then as I’m sure you don’t want to upset the cat again make sure you tell the truth. You have seen what happens when you don’t.”Sulpicia didn’t think they would have any more problems with this group if the way they kept sending horrified looks towards Sebastian and avoided looking at the cat meant anything.

“You are right we created the newborns.”The male vampire who spoke before told them.

“What was your purpose for creating them?”Didyme asked.

When the vampire hesitated a moment to long the cat hissed causing him to rush out his words as fast as he could.”We wanted to build a small army to take over the English territory.”

“I see and why did you abandon the newborns?”Sulpicia had already known about the plot to take over England but needed them to admit it so they could be properly found guilty in front of the court.

“None of them were gifted and they were all horrible fighters. We decided that they were to much work so we left them in the wilderness hoping they would starve to death.”The man explained.

“Vampires can’t starve to death you idiot. When they don’t feed for a long time they become lost to bloodlust and will kill hundreds of humans trying to quench their thirst.”Athenodora didn’t understand why vampires didn’t put in the effort to learn about their own species.

“You are very lucky we caught on to their existence before they created an even bigger mess than they did.”Didyme was not happy about the vampires that had been killed needlessly because of a territory dispute.

“Well they have admitted their guilt now we just have to decide their punishment.”Sulpicia said.

“I say we let the cat have them.”Athenodora smiled brightly at the flinches and fearful looks coming from the group at the mention of her cat.

“Even though I know your cat would enjoy that I personally would like to spend time with it as we don’t when it will leave again. Due to that guards remove their heads and burn their bodies.”Sulpicia didn’t want to miss a minute of time she had with the cat.”After that you are all dismissed.”

“Don’t even think about taking the cat to your room Athenodora. We all deserve to spend time with it before you lock it away for who knows how long.”Didyme wasn’t going to let Athenodora take the cat and sneak away.

Athenodora stood from her throne with the cat cradled in her arms and huffed.”It’s my cat. I should decide who it spends time with.”

“It may be your cat but it’s part of our family. That means we at least get to check in with it before you take it.”Sulpicia said as she followed the other two queens to their shared sitting room. It was a room that only they were allowed in that they used to spend time relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. They even cleaned it themselves.

“Fine but not for very long.”Athenodora would let her sisters have time with the cat but wouldn’t let them keep it for hours. Shutting the door behind her as she was the last to enter the room she set the cat on the ground and watched as it transformed into a young brown haired hazel eyes woman. Athenodora immediately pulled the woman into her arms and kissed her hard on the mouth.”I missed you my love.”

“I missed you as well.”The woman replied.

“You are looking thin Isabella. Have you not been eating?”Didyme thought that Isabella looked like she lost weight.

“You always say that Di.”It didn’t matter what form Isabella took Didyme always said she looked thin.

“It’s because it’s always true. You never properly take care of yourself unless you are home and we make you.”Didyme knew that Isabella was helpless without her and the other two queens.

“You three make me fat and lazy. When I travel I am more active and eat less. I’m at a healthy weight right now but I predict that I’ll gain ten pounds while I’m home.”Isabella was known to gain significant weight when she was at the castle for long periods of time.

“You aren’t at a healthy weight you are skin and bones. As a matter of fact I’m going to research the healthiest foods to gain weight with and have the chef stock up on them.”Didyme would have to get Heidi on this as well. She had many degrees in human medicine. She would be able to tell Didyme the healthy way to gain weight.

Isabella didn’t even bother arguing with Didyme. It wouldn’t do any good.”What’s been going on around here since I’ve been gone?”

“We actually had quite the exciting moment a week ago.”Sulpicia told her as she took a seat on the couch.

Bella sat down in one of the arm chairs wrapping her arms around Athenodora when she sat on her lap.”An exciting moment you say. This I have to hear.”

“Well it all revolved around Edward Cullen.”Sulpicia said.

“Cullen? Why do I know that name?”It sounded familiar but Isabella couldn’t place it.

“Carlisle the animal drinker that used to live at the castle is the leader of the coven.”Didyme told her.

“You once had a conversation that made him cry and if rumors are to be believed he had to be talked out of killing himself after he spoke to you.”Athenodora thought it was hilarious her mate could drive people to suicide. Especially because Isabella didn’t do it on purpose. She just spoke what was on her mind and people reacted to it.

“An animal drinker I made cry?”Isabella had the faint memory of a man with golden eyes trying to defend his soul.”Oh yes the man who believed that he was worthy of heaven because he hadn’t taken a human life.”

“I don’t know about that I just know that whatever you said to him had him wanting to be dead.”Sulpicia like Athenodora and even Didyme found people’s reaction to Isabella amusing.

“What did this Edward person do?”Isabella asked.

“Well it was all very dramatic. Apparently his coven mate who is a seer had a vision of Edward’s human mate dying. Edward in his grief rushed to the castle to beg us to kill him. We of course refused but he was undeterred and decided to expose himself to humans by walking into the sun. His human and the seer got there before he succeeded.”Sulpicia was happy they stopped him.

“You punished him severely for attempting to commit the crime correct?”Isabella would have killed him for even considering exposing himself.

“No, we brought them to the throne room were we made a deal with them that is a worse punishment to Edward than death. We told them that they had to change the human within a year or we will kill the whole coven.”Sulpicia told her.

“Why is that a bad punishment?”Isabella thought they got off too easy.

“Because my love Edward is completely against the human being turned. He is of the belief that vampires are nothing more than blood thirsty monsters who are ruled by their instincts and have lost every semblance of their humanity.”Athenodora smiled when Isabella laughed.

“What a stupid thing to think. How does he explain the fact that he hasn’t killed his human mate if vampires are ruled by their instincts. That or Carlisle not drinking from humans?”Isabella didn’t understand why the boy would think such a thing when he had so much proof otherwise right in front of him.

“The whole family sustains themselves on animals. So do the Denali who have a very close relationship with their coven.”Didyme said.

“You should have let me kill them a thousand years ago.”Isabella grumbled.

Athenodora didn’t have to ask who Isabella was talking about.”The girls were young and didn’t understand our world yet. Their sire handicapped them and it wouldn’t have been right to kill them.”

“They tried to kill you. As your mate it’s my right to kill anything that is a threat to you.”Isabella had been pissed that Athenodora denied her her kills.

Athenodora sighed.”Darling we have been over this. You can’t kill everyone who is a threat to me. If you did the only people who would be left on this earth would be you, me, Didyme and Sulpicia.”

“And what a wonderful world that would be.”Isabella would love to live in a world without any other people in it.

“You would get bored in a month without anyone to beat on or kill.”Sulpicia had seen how antsy Isabella got when she didn’t have an outlet for her violent tendencies and it wasn’t pretty.

“That is why it is important to let humans reproduce so that you have more toys to play with.”Athenodora loved a good fight every now and then but she was nothing like Isabella. Her mate thrived on violence and had ever since she was a child.

“Taking care of those newborns was fun. Maybe someone will do it again.”Isabella said.

“All that money we had to pay out to contain the situation was not fun.”Sulpicia didn’t like the millions of dollars she had to part with to keep the information from getting out.

“It’s not like we can’t afford it.”Isabella was extremely wealthy. Having been born into a royal family she built off of that fortune making herself the wealthiest person in the world ten times over.

“I know I just hate basically giving money away.”Sulpicia had been a peasant in her human life and her family could barely afford to feed her and her two brothers. Giving money to others pained her because she always worried they would go broke.

“We probably already made it back in interest on one of our accounts.”Athenodora wasn’t worried about money and happily spent it whenever she wanted on whatever she wanted. Isabella had gotten her into the mindset that the money would never run out so she didn’t give it any thought. Plus she knew if something happened Isabella could easily make their fortune back.

Before anyone could say anything else Isabella’s stomach rumbled.”I guess I’m hungry.”

“Do you want to us to bring you something or do you want to go to the kitchen yourself?”Didyme asked.

“I want to go to the kitchen but I don’t want to be seen. Would one of you come with me to help me get food?”Isabella wanted to be able to pick out her own meal.

“We will all go.”Sulpicia didn’t want her time with Isabella to end.

“What are you going to go as?”Athenodora asked after she got off of Isabella’s lap.

“I’m thinking something bigger than a house cat.”Isabella said.

Athenodora chuckled when Isabella transformed into a large lion.”I think that might just scare everyone in the castle.”

“I think that is why she did it.”Sulpicia ran her hand through Isabella’s fur.”I do enjoy when you are animals that have soft fur.”

“I do to. The fact that you don’t shed is a huge bonus.”Didyme loved when Isabella transformed into animals because she let the queens snuggle and cuddle with her. It was the closet thing that a vampire could get to interacting with animals and Didyme cherished each opportunity she got to experience it.

“I think it will be more intimidating if I ride you through the castle. What do you think?”Athenodora eagerly climbed on Isabella’s back when she leaned down for her.”Excellent.”

Sulpicia smiled at the pair.”You just need her armor and sword and you would be the perfect image of a gallant knight riding her steed.”

“You know she hasn’t been a horse in decades. We should take some time to go riding.”Didyme loved riding horses when she was a human and jumped at the chance to ride whenever Isabella transformed into a horse.

“We will discuss when to do that after we get her some food.”Athenodora said.

Sulpicia held the door open for Isabella and Athenodora to get through.“Yes we must feed the beast before it starts eating the castle inhabitants.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time she killed a bunch of random vampires in the castle and I doubt it will be the last.”Athenodora said the other two queens murmuring their agreements. Riding on top of her mate Athenodora felt grateful for fate giving her someone so extraordinary to spend her life with. She wasn’t sure what she had done to please whoever was in charge of such things but she was happy she did. Isabella was an ancient being stuck in her ways that gave up everything to be a part of Athenodora’s life. She even made Athenodora and her sisters queens after Athenodora made a comment about them being able to do a better job. Isabella took that as her wanting the throne and organized a rebellion with Athenodora, Didyme and Sulpicia none the wiser until it came time to lead the group. Isabella then infiltrated and killed most of the enemy by herself leaving only a small force for the queens and their allies to beat. The three of them were deemed the saviors of vampire society and their subjects happily placed them on the thrones. Isabella’s involvement wasn’t known to anyone but her and the queens and the only reason she took a throne was because they insisted. It didn’t take long to figure out that Isabella being a queen was a bad idea but Athenodora had enjoyed the time she spent with her mate ruling by her side. One day she hoped that Isabella would take her rightful place with them again. There would likely be a lot of hesitation when she was asked but Athenodora was an expert on getting Isabella to do things. Especially when she was asking when neither of them had any clothes on.