Death's Shadow 11

“Bella’s home.”Kate called out. Rosalie had to hold herself back from rushing out the door to see the deadly vampire in person. After being told about Bella Rosalie was extremely curious about what she was like. She was also curious about what Bella looked like. The sisters claimed she was the most beautiful person they had ever seen. Supposably so beautiful that her own species sacrificed her to the gods to win their favor. Rosalie was skeptical of that claim as she herself was said to be the most beautiful vampire in existence. It made Rosalie doubt the sisters claim. She figured Bella was likely the most beautiful amongst her own people not amongst vampires, humans or shifters. If she was there would have been as many legends about her Bella persona as there were about her Death’s Shadow one.

“Let’s see what kind of mood she is in.”Tanya mumbled as she made her way outside to greet her mate. Seeing Bella exit the driver’s side of her SUV Tanya smiled. She was happy Bella was home. Rushing to her Tanya wrapped her arms around Bella and kissed her hard on the mouth.

“Can you two stop making out for a second so that Bella can meet our two new family members?”Kate laughed when Tanya gave her the middle finger.

Bella pulled back from the kiss and smiled softly at Tanya before turning her attention to Kate and scowling.”What have I told you about interrupting us?”

“I think there were threats of stripping her flesh from her bones and something about acid that I still don’t understand but sounded painful.”Irina answered for Kate as she joined her sister on the front deck.

“Holy shit.”Rosalie exclaimed when she caught sight of Bella. All her doubts of the Denali’s claims of Bella’s beauty were immediately erased because looking at Bella Rosalie could easily understand why her people chose her to sacrifice to their gods.

“How do you even exist?”Victoria couldn’t wrap her head around someone looking like Bella.

“Told yah.”Kate knew that Rosalie and Victoria didn’t believe that Bella was as good looking as she and her sisters told them.

“Please stop staring at my mate.”Tanya knew that she, Irina and Kate hadn’t acted any better than when they met Bella but Tanya had thought Rosalie and Victoria being mated would have lessened their reaction.

Rosalie looked away in embarrassment.”I apologize. We were warned but weren’t expecting you to look like that.”

“I’m sorry to. It was incredibly rude of us to act like that.”Victoria was just as embarrassed as Rosalie.

“Unfortunately that is the common reaction to people seeing me. Something that will be happening a lot when we go to New York.”Bella was not looking forward to dealing with the public but was willing to put up with it because it would make not only Tanya happy but Kate and Irina happy as well. That and with the problems she was going to have to deal with due to Aro’s death they wouldn’t be able to go on trips anytime soon.

“How do you handle that?”Rosalie had been told they had been to fashion week before and couldn’t imagine the attention Bella must have garnered from that kind of crowd.

“Don’t worry Tanya steps in before she gets to the point of killing anyone.”Kate assured her.

“That doesn’t sound good.”Victoria knew of Death’s Shadow’s reputation. She didn’t think anyone could stop Bella from killing someone.

“Seriously don’t worry. Tanya has complete control over Bella. Nothing more than a few colorful threats and some glaring will happen.”Kate wasn’t worried about Bella acting out. Tanya kept Bella on a short leash when they dealt with the public.

“Yeah Bella will do anything Tanya says. Even if that means refraining from killing somebody.”Irina knew that Bella would behave so that she didn’t ruin the trip for them.

“You guys are making her sound like some loose cannon that needs to be contained.”Tanya didn’t appreciate the way that her sisters were talking about Bella.

“It’s kind of true though isn’t it?”Kate had been living with Bella for almost a thousand years she knew how Bella acted in certain situations.

“No it is not true. Bella has perfect control over herself and would never just randomly start killing people and for you two to insinuate otherwise is very insulting.”Tanya expected better from her sisters.

“Are you seriously trying to say that you have never stopped Bella from killing someone that irritated her?”Kate asked.

“Bella only kills those that deserve death. None of her victims are innocent.”Tanya knew that Bella made sure that anyone she killed deserved it.

Bella cut off Kate before she could continue to argue.”As much fun as it is listening to you all talk about me like I’m not even here I would like to spend some time with my mate before we leave for New York and I’m sure you all would like to ask me some questions about what happened with the Cullen’s trail and Aro’s punishment.”

“Sorry sweetheart.”Tanya usually wasn’t so rude to her mate but when Kate and Irina said anything bad about Bella she couldn’t help but get defensive.

“It’s alright. I just don’t want to waste the little time we have together on a petty argument.”Bella told her.

“You’re right we shouldn’t waste time and everyone does want to know what happened in Italy because I’m sure you left out a few details when I talked to you.”Tanya wrapped her arms around Bella’s shoulder and with Bella arm around her waist followed the others into the house. She led Bella to the love seat and wasted no time snuggling into her side when they sat down.

“So is Aro dead yet?”Kate asked from her seat in her personal recliner. Irina was sitting on the couch with Rosalie and Victoria. She figured that they would have to buy some new furniture to accommodate the new members of their coven.

“Start at the beginning. What happened during the Cullen’s trail?”Tanya wanted to know what led to Aro being dethroned.

“Actually may I ask how you became involved in all of this?”Now that Rosalie knew that Bella was Death’s Shadow she figured it was because she talked to the Denali but wanted to know how it all came together.

“I was having a meeting with the royals when Aro mentioned that Edward had called him and claimed that the Denali had declared war on them and he wanted them tried for an unprovoked territory dispute. I had known your former coven had been visiting so I was very curious of what had transpired. After making the royals see that Edward was untrustworthy I then convinced them that it would be a bad idea to bring the Denali to the throne room for questioning because if they did it would have other vampires making false claims to have their enemies brought before the kings I volunteered to investigate. I not only didn’t want to deal with petty squabbles but didn’t want Aro to try and read the sisters because he would learn about the block. Something none of them even have or know exists.”Bella explained.

“There are so many things to unpack with what you just said. The main things being that the royals don’t have the block. Why not?”Victoria would have thought Bella would have given the royals the blocks as soon as they took the thrones.

“Because I don’t trust them enough to make them immune to gifts that may be needed to subdue them. Like with Jane and Alec using their gifts to contain Aro.”Bella told her.

“Wait didn’t you put the kings on the throne personally?”Rosalie asked.

“I picked the three of them to lead and made sure they won against the Romanians.”Bella confirmed.

“Then why don’t you trust them?”Rosalie would think if Bella let them lead the vampire population she would trust them.

“Look at what happened with Aro. When I first encountered him he was a humble man who wanted to help create a better life for vampires. He was kind and caring and loved his mate and treated her like she was the most precious thing in the world.”Bella said.

“That isn’t anything like what I heard about Aro.”Victoria had only heard horror stories from people who deal with Aro. Herself having a bad experience with him.

“He was a good ruler in the beginning. He was just and never tried to convict anyone but the guilty. Then gradually he changed. It was little things at first. I noticed that a large number of covens that contained gifted vampires had been put on trial and charged with heinous crimes. That wouldn’t have been a big deal but Aro always offered the gifted member a chance to be in the guard instead of being punished with the rest of the coven.”Bella was cut off by Victoria’s growl.

“That’s what happened to my coven.”Aro had killed them all off and taken Heidi. Victoria barely got away.

“I’m sorry to hear that. As soon as I caught on to what Aro was doing I put a stop to him being in charge of finding out a person’s guilt and made sure every case was investigated fully.”Bella would always feel guilty for all the innocent lives lost because he had put her faith in Aro.

Rosalie took Victoria’s hand and her own and squeezed to give her some comfort.“Why did you let him stay king after you figured out what he was doing?”

“Because even if he was unscrupulous his gift made most people too afraid to commit a crime for fear of him seeing their guilt.”Bella explained.”However he didn’t have the final say in punishments even though he liked to pretend he did.”

“What finally pushed you to the point of punishing him?”Victoria asked.

“Not only did he insult me but he didn’t even bother to pretend that he found evidence to convict my coven of the crime they were being accused of. He has wanted Kate for the guard ever since we came for their sire and this was just one of his many schemes to get her. I realized after he mouthed off to me that he had fully lost himself in his delusions of being all powerful and nothing I could have done would have redeemed him.”Bella should have acted before that but hadn’t really thought Aro would be so far gone.

“What is going to happen to him now?”Rosalie didn’t think Aro was going to get a light punishment.

“Planning what was going to happen was the reason it took so long for me to get home and will be what is going to keep me busy for the foreseeable future.”Bella told her.

“Are you going to appoint a new king to take his place?”Victoria figured they would need a third king to break ties on votes.

Bella shook her head.”No the queens are going to step up and there will be five equal rulers from now on.”

“How is that going to work?”Kate didn’t think five rulers was a good idea.

“I’m having the throne room remodeled to add five brand new thrones, changing the guard’s robe color and the royals’s color so they will not be red and will different from each other so they royals stand out. They will each be getting new crowns as well. I’m thinking about doing a new Volturi crest but haven’t decided yet.”Bella told her.

“You should do a crest based on the symbols of the gods.”Irina suggested.

Hearing about the symbols of the gods reminded Rosalie of something.”Would it be impolite to ask you if you would show us the symbols the goddess embedded in your skin?”

“Of course.”Bella wasn’t surprised that Rosalie was curious.

Rosalie gasped when Bella rolled up her sleeve and she saw the silver markings.”Can I touch them?”

“You may.”Bella had allowed Kate and Irina the privileges so it was only far to allow Rosalie and Victoria as well.

Rosalie reached out and ran her fingers over the markings.”They are colder than the rest of your skin.”

“You are feeling the goddess’ magic that was left behind after she blessed me.”Bella held out her arm for Victoria.

Victoria ran her fingers over them as well.”It’s kind of hard to deny the gods are real when you see and feel these.”

“The gods are very real and are responsible for all the major and some of the minor events in my life.”Bella told her. Lilith took that moment to make her presence known by jumping on Bella’s lap.”As is proof of how this precious creature came into my life."

“That was kind of creepy how she showed up just when you were talking about the gods interfering with your life.”Rosalie thought the timing of the cat joining them was little to coincidental in regards of what they were talking about.

“You get used to it after a while and find yourself expecting things like that to happen.”Irina had stopped being surprised by the random things that happen when Bella was involved centuries ago.

“I guess.”Rosalie didn’t think she would ever get used to the gods being real let alone them being so present in her coven’s life.

“Anyway get back to the new rulers. How is that going to work out? Will it be a vote based system or will someone be in charge?”Kate asked.

“It will be a vote based system. However they will only be dealing with the less serious crimes on their own. Anything that results in long imprisonment or death will be decided by me from now on.”Bella scratched Lilith behind the ear smiling when she began to purr. She held back an eye roll when she heard Rosalie gasp.

“Can you please try to contain your reactions to my mate?”Tanya knew that there would an adjustment period to Rosalie and Victoria getting used to Bella but didn’t want Bella to be uncomfortable in her own home. If she was Bella would go hide in her building and avoid everyone and Tanya didn’t want that because there was no place for them to relax together there. They relaxed in their wing of the house and Bella wouldn’t want to risk someone coming to find them and forcing her to interact with them if they were in the house.

“I’m sorry. I’m trying.”Rosalie was very ashamed of herself for how she was acting. She knew what it was like to have people stare and react to her the same way she was reacting to Bella and she hated every second of it.

“Just try a little harder if you could.”Tanya asked.

“I will.”Rosalie was going to try a lot harder to refrain from reacting to Bella. She didn’t want the dangerous vampire to hate her.

“Anyway if you are going to be taking care of the serious stuff does that mean you are going to have to be in Italy a lot more?”Irina asked trying to subject.

“It will depend on how vampire society reacts to Aro’s death. I predict that a lot will act out and we will be thrown into a civil war very soon and that will keep me very busy trying to contain it.”Bella told her.

“That’s why you agreed to let Rosalie and Victoria join the coven.”Kate now knew why Bella was so willing to add the two to their family. She felt guilty about leaving Tanya for so long.

“I agreed because you vouched for them. Plus I have been keeping track of Victoria ever since she met up with James and knew she was a decent person.”Bella said.

“You have been watching me all this time?”Victoria did not like that Death’s Shadow had taken an interest in her.

Bella nodded.”James had come on my radar long before you came along. He was always sadistic but he wasn’t really breaking any laws as he always killed his prey. As the years went on he started becoming careless and I had to clean up a few of his messes. It was actually my plan to kill him but you got to him before I did.”

“Thank god you waited.”Rosalie was extremely thankful they found Victoria when they did because if they hadn’t she likely would have been killed along with James by Bella.

“So what’s going to happen to Aro?”Kate asked getting back to the original topic.

“After the throne room is remodeled and the new robes and crowns are delivered the new rulers are going to be announced at Aro’s official trial where he of course will be found guilty of treason and will be killed by probably Sulpicia.”Bella figured based on how much she hated him that Sulpicia would be the one to remove his head.

“Isn’t Sulpicia his mate?”Irina didn’t think mates could actually kill each other.

“After being treated horribly by Aro for more years than all of you have been alive Sulpicia happily took the opportunity to have the mate  bond severed by Chelsea when she was offered the chance.”Bella told her.

“He must have been a real bastard if she not only voluntarily severed the bond but is willing to kill him.”Victoria couldn’t even imagine how horrible Aro treated his mate to get her to that point.

“He was and no matter how many lectures I gave him he never corrected his behavior.”Bella would have done more but Sulpicia always stopped her.

Tanya stood from the love seat, picked Lilith up, set her in her vacated spot then grabbed Bella’s hadn’t and pulled her up.“Alright now that Bella has told us what happened we are going to go spend some time together.”

“Just try not to be so loud. We don’t need you two scaring off our new members because the soundproofing doesn’t work in your rooms.”Kate said.

“Why doesn’t their soundproofing work?”Rosalie asked in confusion.

“Never mind that. We will see you guys later. Make sure all of you hunt before we leave.”Tanya wanted everyone fed before they were going to be around a bunch of humans.

“We will.”Irina knew it would hard for them to find game once they were in the city.

“Don’t cause any trouble because anyone who does won’t be going to New York with us.”Tanya threatened.

“None of us would risk it.”Kate sure as hell wouldn’t.

Watching Tanya and Bella walked away Rosalie asked”If their soundproofing doesn’t work why don’t they replace it?”

“It has been replaced numerous times. The strongest methods do nothing to even muffle the sounds Tanya makes when she is having sex with Bella. I recommend investing in some headphones and blasting music to save yourself from the trauma of hearing Tanya in the throes of passion.”Kate had bought many pairs so that she always had backups.

“She can’t be that loud.”Victoria was sure that Kate was kidding. If the Denali used the same soundproofing methods the Cullens used then there was no way Tanya could be heard.

”Oh she is. The first time Kate and I heard them having sex we thought Tanya was being murdered and broke down the door thinking we needed to save her.”Irina and Kate had never been so wrong.

Kate groaned.”Don’t remind me of that. I still get nauseous picturing what we walked in on.”

“Why would two people having sex make you nauseous?”Victoria asked.

“It wasn’t that they were having sex it was the fact that we witnessed our sister riding Bella’s face while her she had three fingers inside of Bella at the same time.”Irina shivered as she thought about it.

“That doesn’t sound that traumatizing.”Rosalie thought they would have been doing something crazy not just having vanilla sex.

“How would you feel if you walked in on Alice and Jasper having sex?”Kate asked.

Rosalie gagged just thinking about it.”Ok I see your point.”

“We will definitely invest in some head phones.”Victoria didn’t want to listen to her new coven leader having sex with Death’s Shadow. Secretly she could admit that she was impressed Bella was that good in bed though.

“You can borrow some of mine before your get own.”Kate offered.

“Thanks.”Rosalie leaned on the couch and laid her head on Victoria’s shoulder. She thought about how much her life had changed since Death’s Shadow came to take them to Italy. She would have never expected that one of Edward’s lies would lead to his death, Carlisle being sentenced to a century in the dungeon and she and Victoria join Death’s Shadow’s coven. Thinking about Bella Rosalie was surprised to find that never once did she feel scared or intimidated while in the deadly vampire’s presence. Bella at home was very different from when she was in her Death’s Shadow’s persona. It almost had Rosalie second guessing that they were the same person. Not that she thought the Denali were lying. Even with her laid back attitude Bella had an aura of danger that clung to her. It presented itself in every move she made. Rosalie was going to do everything she could to say on Bella good side because she din’t want to be targeted by Death’s Shadow. The first thing she was going to do is try and not to react to Bella’s beauty. It was hard not to stare at her but Rosalie was going to try. The consequences for failing were too severe and Rosalie didn’t even want to risk insulting Bella. She like living to much and insulting Bella would most definitely lead to a death sentence. Aro being proof of that.