The Forgotten Sister 7

“I like seeing you in a bikini.”Athenodora told Bella. She loved seeing not only her mate half dressed flaunting her body but being so carefree. The former queen had never seen Bella so relaxed. Her smiles came easier and Bella laughed. That was something Athenodora had seen her do rarely. Usually when she was messing with Caius. Thinking of Caius Athenodora wondered what was going on in the castle. She was sure that they hadn’t given up looking for them and had probably come up with some convoluted plan to make Bella loyal to them again. Athenodora’s mate was too valuable to lose. From the little she had been exposed to the kings when they came back from America she knew how angry they were about Bella getting away. Not only had they lost a valuable guard member but she had embarrassed all three of the kings in front of a large audience. They wouldn’t let that go. Athenodora predicted it would lead to many deaths but she didn’t care. She was with her mate and the pair of them were free.

“I like seeing you in one as well.”Bella said.

“I think I want to try surfing.”Athenodora hadn’t known what that was until Kate explained it to her. Now seeing it in person she wanted to try it out.

“Kate would be more than happy to teach you.”Bella knew that Kate would love to have someone else interested in her hobby. It would also give the pair a chance to get to know each other better.

“I will ask her later. Now I want to lay in the sun with my mate on the beach without a care in the world.”Athenodora took Bella’s hand in her own and intertwined their fingers.

Bella lifted their hands to her mouth and gave Athenodora’s hand a kiss.”It is nice not to have to worry about being caught.”

“I am still on edge but it’s getting better.”Athenodora figured it would take years before she stopped looking over her shoulder.

“I know what you mean. It’s been nice getting to spent time with my sisters again but I know that Aro has been plotting to get me back.”Bella said.

“What do you think he will do?”Athenodora asked.

Bella shrugged.”Probably something dramatic that will lead to his death.”

“Killing him would make Sulpicia very unhappy.”Athenodora didn’t want her friend to lose her mate.

“Do you honestly think that Aro will ever stop targeting us?”Bella didn’t. Before Athenodora could answer Tanya came running up to them at a human pace looking frazzled.”What’s wrong?”

“I just got off the phone with Carlisle. Alice had a vision of the witch twins and the others Aro sent after us kidnapping Edward’s mate and child.” Tanya told them.

“What does it have to do with us?”Bella asked.

“The condition for their release is that the Cullens must turn over you or the rest of the coven.”Tanya explained.

“It seems the other shoe has dropped.”Athenodora had hoped for a little more time before Aro made his move.

“So it has.”Bella also hoped for a little more time.

“What’s going on?”Kate asked as she ran up to the trio. She had been in-between waves when she noticed Tanya pacing the beach talking on her phone and got worried.

“Aro has made his move.”Bella said.

“What move has Aro made?”Irina asked as she along with Carmen and Eleazar joined the group. They had just went and rented snorkeling equipment when they saw the serious expressions on their coven mates’ faces.

“Aro has given up his search for us.”Tanya told them.

“That’s good right?”Kate thought that would make everyone happy.

Tanya shook her head.”He has sent the guards he had after us to the Cullen’s to kidnap Edward’s mate and his child. The condition of their release is for them to hand over either Bella or the rest of us.”

“That bastard!”Carmen may not have liked Edward but didn’t think it was fair to take his child.

Eleazar put his hand on his mate’s shoulder to help calm her down.“He must be very desperate if he is targeting a child.”

“I think us killing Caius has pushed him to this point.”Athenodora said.

“I should check in with some of my contacts at the castle to see if they know anything.”Eleazar was sure that there was some kind of gossip going around.

“What are we going to do about this? I mean we can’t let an innocent child be hurt because of us.”Irina didn’t want anyone innocent to get hurt. Not because of her coven.

“That’s something we need to discuss.”Tanya wasn’t pleased that they were being pulled into another dangerous situation but they all knew that Aro would act.

“What are our options?”Kate asked.

“What do you think Bella?”Tanya may be the coven leader but Bella had more experience with not only the Volturi but with fighting as well.

“Well we could wash our hands of this whole situation and let them fend for themselves.”Bella continued before anyone could object.”Which I know none of you will do. Other than that we can let the guard take the woman and child and I could go rescue them but that wouldn’t stop Aro from targeting others.”

“So we kill the kings.”Kate concluded.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”Eleazar said.

“Why not?It would stop them from coming after us.”Irina thought it was a great idea.

“The problem is if we kill them it would leave the vampire world void of a proper ruler. That means that it would be easy for people like the Romanians to take over and we all know what that would result in.”Eleazar explained.

“So we kill the kings and take the thrones for ourselves.”Kate didn’t see the big deal.

“We are not taking the thrones for ourselves.”Tanya shot that idea down right away.

“I hate to side with Kate on this but why not?”Irina asked.

“I personally don’t want to be a queen again.”Athenodora hated the idea of having to live in the castle again.

“I don’t want to go back to being in the guard.”Bella couldn’t think anything worse than being forced to be a member of the Volturi after all she had done to get free of them.

“Do you really want to be stuck in the castle for the rest of your life?”Tanya knew Kate wouldn’t want that.

Kate sighed dramatically.”I would be an amazing queen.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t pick someone else to lead.”Bella suggested.

“Who could we trust to take the thrones?”Irina couldn’t think of anyone that would be good leaders.

“The amazons would be perfect but they wouldn’t want to do it.”Carmen said.

“We need someone who would be respected and could fight off the many attacks that would no doubt come when they take over.”Athenodora wasn’t that involved with the vampire population and only knew what she overheard or what Bella told her.

“What about the Irish coven?”Eleazar thought they would be a good fit.

“They would be perfect.”Kate could easily see them as the the king and queens.

“Would they want the job?”Irina asked.

“I think that would be something to ask them in person.”Tanya liked the idea of the Irish coven taking over. The three were good people with a dislike for lawbreakers.

“That means our day at the beach is over.”Kate hated that they had to leave now that they had just gotten settled.

“How are we going to convince them that they would be able to take over without having to fight a huge battle?”Carmen wasn’t sure if the Irish coven would believe that they would be able to just step into the role.

“That’s a good point. They will want some reassurances before they agree.”Irina knew she would.

“I say we kill the kings, take over the castle and bring the Irish coven in after the fighting is over.”Bella said.

“We need to make sure they want to do it before we act.”Tanya didn’t want to go through the effort and have Irish coven not wanting the responsibility.

“I hate to suggest it but as a way to convince them it will work we may have to offer to stay in the castle to help them defend their claim. At least for a little while.”Irina didn’t want to have to act as bodyguards but it would be important to keep the Irish coven safe so that killing the kings wasn’t for nothing.

“I really don’t want to do that but I won’t let Bella stay there without me.”Athenodora would just make sure she and Bella had a room far away from her previous quarters.

“None of us are going to make Bella do this alone.”Tanya would allow it. They had just gotten their sister back they weren’t going to leave her to take care of them again. Once was enough.

“What do we do about Edward’s mate and the child?”Carmen asked.

“The kings aren’t going to kill them and because of that I think we should just let them be kidnapped.”Bella suggested.

“Bella we can’t let a child be taken by the kings.”Irina was outraged Bella even suggested it.

“Why not?”Bella didn’t see what the big deal was.

“Because Aro will probably order a bunch of test to be done on it. Invasive tests.”Tanya wasn’t about to let that happen.

“What should we do instead?”Bella wasn’t one to handle things with kid gloves. She usually just used force or stealth to accomplish her goals.

“Can we kill the guards before they take her?”Carmen asked.

“I would love the chance to kill the witch twins.”Kate had been wanting them dead ever since they had tortured her, Tanya and Irina all those years ago when they came for Sasha. It was also because of the duo that Aro found found out that Bella had a gift. Something none of them had known.

“I am more than capable of killing them myself. The only problem I see is if they try and take hostages.”Bella wouldn’t really care if they targeted anyone other her mate and coven but the others minus Athenodora would want to protect everyone.

“How many people can you shield at a time?”Tanya was putting a plan together but needed to know exactly what Bella could do.

Bella shrugged.”I have no clue. When I was in the castle the largest group I shielded was the three kings. Other than that I didn’t do to much with my gift for fear of Aro finding out what I could do. It’s was only because of Athenodora that I was able to create the blocks and learned about shielding others from the sun.”

“Well we know that you can protect us from the sun for about a four miles. I wonder how we can test your physical shield.”Tanya mused.

“I think the problem with her physical shield is it protects anyone in the radius it’s active.”Athenodora said.

“That means even if she could protect us we couldn’t get that close to the others without it protecting them as well.”Irina hated that kind of limitation.

“We do have the blocks though. That will protect us from most of the guards they sent.”Eleazar reminded them.

“Good point.”Kate tried to think about how to use that to their advantage.”What kind of fighting ability do the guards that are after us have?”

“The witch twins have no kind of hand to hand combat training. They rely completely on their gifts. Chelsea is usually guarded by others as Aro considers her ver valuable. He never allowed her to train because he was afraid of her getting hurt.”Bella told them.

“I’m surprised he would even send her after us.”Carmen would think Aro wouldn’t want to risk her being killed.

“I’m not. Our bonds are what have kept Bella in line all these years. If he could break them and push that loyalty onto himself then it would make it easier to control Bella.”Tanya figured Aro sent her because he didn’t think Bella would be able to keep them safe from her.

“That’s probably the reason he sent Heidi as well.”Irina said.

“Heidi may be their fisher but she is a very good fighter. When she first came to the castle she was sent out on mission constantly. It was only after if became harder to bring humans to the castle without it being suspicious was when she stopped going out.”Bella told them.

“Ok so Heidi might be a problem who else?”Kate asked.

“Dimitri is probably the best fighter out of the group. He is one of the main trainers of new guard members. Santiago is good but Heidi and Dimitri are better. He relies on his gift more than his skills.”Bella hadn’t been very impressed with Santiago. He was somewhat lazy and never put in much effort to better himself.

“His gift makes it so he disappears right?”Irina thought that’s what he could do.

Eleazar waved his hand back and forth.”Yes and no. His gift makes it so he can trick your mind into thinking he isn’t there. I believe with Bella’s blocks that we are immune to it so we won’t have any problems with him.”

“That just leaves the lesser guards.”Tanya was feeling a lot better about their chances hearing about the guards’ strengths and weaknesses.

“If Aro is sending his most valuable guard members then the lesser guards with them are most likely cannon fodder. They will be used as distractions and to overwhelm us while the others use their gifts. He is well known for sacrificing less useful vampires to achieve his goals.”It was one of the reason Bella had gotten volunteers for the block. Once it became obvious that they were never going to amount to anything the lesser guard all wanted to leave. They just feared Aro too much to do it.

“Ok so our main problems are going to be Dimitri, Heidi and to a lesser extent Santiago. The lesser guards are going to be a nuisance but if we need to we can have the Cullens deal with them.”Kate said.

“How are the Cullens going to handle them if the guards with mental gifts attack them?”Carmen asked.

“I forgot about that.”Kate tried to think of a way to protect them.”Bella could give them the blocks.”

Bella shook her head.”I don’t want the fact that I can do it to get around. If it did we would have more than just Aro after us.”

“Vampires would come out of the woodwork to get you to give it to them.”Irina could already imagine the headache that would come if Bella’s gift was well known.

“Then we need to take out the ones with the mental gifts first.”Tanya concluded.

“I think that myself and Eleazar should focus on Jane and Alec.”Carmen and her mate weren’t the best fighters so they wouldn’t have a chance against the others.

“I’ll take Chelsea.”Irina had some training but wasn’t as good Tanya, Kate and Bella. She wouldn’t be able to hold her own against anyone else.

“That leaves the other three for us.”Kate knew that they could easily handle them.

“We have a plan. Now we need go home and pack. The guards will be at the Cullens tomorrow. If we leave in the next hour we should make it in time.”Tanya at least hoped they did. Helping the others pick up all their belongings Tanya tried to push aside all the thoughts of things that could go wrong. This whole idea was ludicrous and more things could go wrong than right. Tanya didn’t know what else they could do though. The kings would never stop coming after them. Not unless either the kings or Denali were dead and Tanya wasn’t ready to die. Nor was she ready for her sisters to either. That meant the kings needed to go. So they would have to follow through with the convoluted plan and hope that when everything was all said and done the Denali coven would be standing tall with all their members completely intact. Something Tanya knew that all of them would be fighting with everything they had to make sure happened.