My Own Worst Enemy 16

“It seems like Esme has finally calmed down.”Rosalie said as she watched Esme curled up in the corner of her cell on the large television. She was back in the entertainment room with Bella, her mothers and the queens. Rosalie was stretched out on the couch with Bella’s head in her lap running her fingers through the brunette’s hair while the rest of Bella’s body was stretched over Didyme and Irina’s laps. It was rather odd to Rosalie that she felt perfectly comfortable with the queen sitting close enough to her that their bodies were touching. She would have never imagined that she would ever be close to the queens let alone genuinely like them as people. Not just because she was forced to as they were the queens anyway. Now she could honestly say that she thought they were good people that she felt honored to know on a personal level.

“I think she is just going through the stages of grief. She spent her whole existence in denial. The when confronted with the proof she became angry, now she is on to depression.”Athenodora said.

“If you go off the five stages then all she has left is bargaining and acceptance. Accepting it being something I doubt she will do.”Tanya knew that Esme would never accept Carlisle and Edward being mated.

“Could we count her sacrificing Edward to save Carlisle as bargaining?”Kate asked.

“I think that is more along the lines of getting rid of the competition.”Sulpicia took Esme so easily volunteering Edward’s life as proof that she knew of the mate bond between the two men.

“We should put her in the cell with Edward and see what she does.”Bella suggested.

“That’s a brilliant idea!!”Athenodora would love to see what Esme would do if she got the chance at Edward.

“I would love to see how that played out.”Rosalie expected a violent confrontation.

“With Edward having been marked he will probably be just as volatile as Esme.”Irina said.

“The only problem with that is that at least one of them would take the other’s head and then we would miss out on the chance of killing them.”Tanya would like to see the fight as well but it wasn’t worth not being able to kill the pair themselves. A vampire died when their heads were separated from their bodies. It didn’t matter if you tried to reattach it.

“I’m not giving up the opportunity to kill Edward. No matter how much fun it would be to watch them fight.”Rosalie wasn’t going to let anyone else kill Edward. Nothing was going to stop her from doing it.

“Esme isn’t escaping me.”Irina had been fantasizing ways of killing Esme ever since Bella told her about what the woman did to her. There was no way she was going let Edward of all people take the experience away from her.

“We have been so focused on that trio that we haven’t given the other three any attention.”Athenodora would have to make a special visit just to beat on them.

“We have a decade to make up for that lack of attention.”Kate wasn’t worried about the remaining three. They had plenty of time to leave a few scars on each of them.

“Are you going to take your turn beating on any of them?”Bella asked Rosalie.

“No I don’t care about any of them.”Rosalie wasn’t going to waste her time on her former brothers and her former sister. She felt they deserved what they got, she just didn’t have the urge to beat on them.

“They look pretty defeated already. I doubt that we can do much to break their spirits.”Didyme said.

“True other than the mumblings of shock and surprise they seem to have lost any fight they had left in them.”Irina and the others had watched the way the three had reacted to everything that Carlisle, Edward and Esme had done and seemed to realize that they weren’t going to receive mundane punishments. Irina figured they were dreading whatever was in store for them.

“I think that watching Carlisle kill humans and then mark Edward has them traumatized.”Tanya wasn’t sure how the three were going to recover from what they witnessed.

“I honestly don’t think it was Carlisle killing the humans that traumatized them. I think it was the fact that he mutilated the bodies and ate parts of them that did it.”Sulpicia had only seen that type of behavior when a newborn or a vampire that had been starved were involved. The fact that Carlisle acted that way supported Sulpicia’s belief that animal blood wasn’t a good diet for vampires.

“That was brutal.”Rosalie felt queasy just thinking about it.

“He’s still kind of lost in himself but is behaving a little better now that we took the pieces of the bodies out of his cell.”Carlisle was still agitated but had stopped growling and slamming against the bars. Tanya predicted that he would be back to himself within the next couple hours.

“I’m excited for when he finally calms down enough to realize everything he did.”Kate bet that Carlisle was going to do something drastic.

“I wonder how he is going to react.”Bella said.

“He will either try to kill himself or try and get to Edward.”Irina didn’t think Carlisle would even acknowledge Esme.

“The fact that only one of them is marked will have his instincts demanding he go to the boy.”Once a vampire marked their mate they wouldn’t feel complete unless the bond was completed and they were marked in return. Athenodora had seen what happened when the were denied the chance and it wasn’t pretty.

“That will also make Edward’s death feel much worse for Carlisle when he watches it happen.”Rosalie thought it was a fitting punishment for the man.

“I’m excited to watch Esme’s despair when Carlisle does nothing to stop her death.”Irina was going to rub it in Esme’s face that her mate didn’t care about her.

“If it wasn’t for that fact that we knew they were really mates I would doubt the bond with how little Carlisle cares for the woman.”Tanya had always thought the pair had an abnormal relationship. If it wasn’t for the fact that they both reacted to the bond when Esme was turned and that they didn’t react well to being apart Tanya would have thought they weren’t mated at all.

“I think he acts that way because he was denying his bond to Edward this whole time. By not acting on the bond their instincts were going haywire. Making it so they were focused on each other more than anyone else. If they had completed the bond I’m positive that Carlisle would have an equal relationship with both of them.”Sulpicia said.

“You know I always wondered why Carlisle was alright with you guys leaving Bella behind. With his interest in gifted vampires she would be an obvious choice to join his coven. Now knowing he is mated to Edward it makes sense. He wanted to leave to get Edward away from Bella because he was jealous and didn’t want Edward dating her.”Kate knew she wouldn’t want her either of her mates dating anyone outside of their mate bond.

“If that’s true why didn’t he let Rosalie claim me?”Bella asked.

“Because it’s almost impossible to deny your mate. He would have gone along with it to make Edward happy.”Sulpicia told her.

“I don’t think I would be willing to let my mates date someone else to make them happy.”Athenodora would put in the effort to find out what her mates weren’t getting out of their relationship and fix it. She wouldn’t just give in and let them stray.

“You don’t have to worry about that because we make each other happy enough that we don’t need to look elsewhere.”Ever since they had broken the false bonds Didyme hadn’t even looked at another person let alone thought of being with anyone other than her mates.

“When I think of my attraction to others even in my human life I only really responded to Rosalie.”Bella hadn’t realized it at the time but Rosalie always had her attention.

“You were attracted to me when you were human?”Rosalie was surprised to hear that. She had assumed that Bella was all about Edward.

“I was. Even though you hated me I thought you were hot. Actually the angrier you were the hotter you were to me. I was definitely more attracted to you than I ever was to Edward.”Bella said.

“Were you attracted to Edward at all?”Kate asked.

“Not physically. I actually hated it when he touched me and only allowed him to kiss me twice. I was beyond relieved that he was so set on not having sex until marriage. I couldn’t imagine what I would have done if he had insisted.”The thought of having sex with Edward made Bella want to throw up.

“Why did you even date him if you felt like that?”Didyme had always wondered that but the Cullens weren’t something that Bella liked to talk about. She only mentioned them rarely never saying much. The only reason the queens knew anything about them was through the Denali.

“At first I just wanted him to stay away from me. It was when he saved me in Port Angeles that I knew for sure there was something different about him and the rest of the Cullens. I mean he told me he could read people’s minds. After that I just went along with everything because I didn’t know any better. Here Edward was a mythical creature explaining what vampire mates were and how I was his and the only reason I didn’t full the pull was because I was human. I questioned not only him but other members of the coven about it and they all assured me what I felt was natural. That’s why I dated him. Not out of love or attraction but because I didn’t know I was being lied to.”Bella explained.

”I hate that we stayed away from Forks because we didn’t want to get involved with Edward dating a human. If we had gone and taken care of the problem we could have saved you all of that heartbreak.”Irina would always regret not visiting the Cullens after Edward had come to their home to regroup after meeting Bella. If they had their daughter wouldn’t have had to go through all the pain that came from the lies the Cullens told.

Bella pushed herself up from her spot laying on the three woman and resettled herself on Irina’s lap. She wrapped her arms around Irina and laid her head on her mother’s shoulder.“It’s not your fault mom.”

“We should have done something.”Irina would never be convinced otherwise.

“There really wasn’t anything you could have done. If you had come to Forks and made your familiar bond claim Carlisle and Esme would have accused you of lying and would have most likely reported you to the kings. Then they would have found out about Bella’s gift and Aro would have tried to sire Bella himself to gain control over her with the sire bond.”Now that Rosalie knew of the sire bond she could easily see Aro trying to sire Bella. Especially if her gift prevented Chelsea from redirecting the familiar bond.

“If they didn’t report you for that they would have forced your hands on the false mate bond. It was beyond obvious that Edward wasn’t my mate and it you didn’t notice on your own my doubts and concerns would have tipped you off. Then you would have called Edward out and they would have reported you for keeping mates apart. That would once again have led me to being brought before the kings.”Bella wished that she didn’t have to deal with the Cullens lies and manipulation but it was the only way that things would’ve turn out in their favor.

“She’s right love.”Kate hated that Bella was right but the Cullens abandoning Bella was the best way for things to have turned out.

“Even if she is I don’t have to like it.”Irina wasn’t willing to let go of the guilt of leaving her daughter in that situation.

“No one likes how things turned out. We may have gained our freedom but we would trade it a thousand times over if it kept Bella from feeling the pain that came with dealing with the Cullens.”Athenodora wasn’t lying. She would rather have stayed with Caius than let Bella experience the way the Cullens treated her.

“Was it really that bad?”Rosalie regretted asking when more than one of the vampires in the room growled.

Irina tighten her hold on Bella.”It was horrible.”

“Bella refused to even acknowledge us for the first two months we stayed in Forks. It took over a year for her to believe that we weren’t lying to her.”Tanya and her mates had been as patient as they could during that time. Their instincts were telling them to just turn Bella so she would feel the bond and they wouldn’t have to deal with the suspicion and distrust but they held back. They knew that Bella needed to heal or she would have resented them after she was changed, familiar bond or not.

“I have apologized for that.”Bella always regretted not letting her mothers into her life sooner.

“We told you that you have nothing to apologize for. Your reaction to the bond was perfectly reasonable. Any one of us would have done the same thing you did if we were in your place.”Tanya knew that Bella felt guilty for how she treated them but Tanya never blamed her. It was the Cullens fault not Bella’s.

“I still could have been nicer.”Bella said.

“Compared to how I would have reacted if I was in you place you were very nice. I would have tried to kill all of us if I was approached by a bunch of golden eyed vampires after what the Cullens did.”Kate would have been a lot more resistant to building a relationship with any vampire if she was in Bella’s position.

“At least the Cullens will finally be properly punished.”Athenodora had waited decades to get her revenge on the coven that thought Bella was disposable.

“I honestly think that death is too much of a mercy for Carlisle.”Bella didn’t think that Carlisle would consider dying a bad thing.

“If it weren’t for the fact he was manipulating Rosalie’s bond I would suggest that we keep him alive so he had to live with all he had done.”Sulpicia was of the same thought as Bella. She didn’t think Carlisle would mind dying.

“It would be nice but I really want to finally feel the bond I have with Bella.”Rosalie would enjoy having the chance to hold Carlisle’s actions over his head for years to come but she had spent decades away from her mate and wanted to finally have a chance to live her life with Bella.

“Well as soon as Carlisle calms down a little more you will get your chance.”Didyme said.

“I guess until then I can just enjoy watching him unravel.”Rosalie was more than willing to spend the time waiting for the bond to snap into place watching Carlisle be the cause of his own downfall. Of course he would never take responsibility for his own actions. He would most likely blame the queens for his drinking the blood in the first place. He was definitely going to blame them for him killing the humans. How he was going to justify marking Edward she didn’t know but looking forward to hearing whatever convoluted excuse he was going to come up with. Leaning back on the couch Rosalie wished that Bella would sit with her again. She wasn’t going to ask because she knew that Bella had other people who relied on her as well. It made her wonder how their relationship was going to go in the future with Bella already having to split her time between the queens and her mothers. Hopefully Rosalie would get a say in what they did. It would nice to have some alone time with her mate once everything settled down. She would ask Bella about it later. For now she was going to watch her former family unravel further. Thinking about what was to come Rosalie smiled. Finally she would be free of Carlisle and never have to deal with Edward trying to claim her mate again. The only thing that could make this better was if she was the one to kill Carlisle but she was happy to let Athenodora do it. It would hurt Carlisle’s pride more than anyone else doing it and that’s all Rosalie wanted. For Carlisle to be humiliated even in death.