The Forgotten Sister 5

“Everyone I’m back.”Tanya’s whole body sagged in relief hearing Bella’s voice.Her sister had been gone for 4 days and in those 4 days they had heard nothing from her.Other vampires were blowing up their phones and emails though.Initially Tanya had ignored the calls thinking that people where just trying to find out where they went.She wasn’t worried about her phone being traced as they all had secured phones but she didn’t want to talk to anyone.That had all changed when Eleazar was contacted by a member of the royal guard he hadn’t talked to in decades.The woman informed Eleazar that Caius and Athenodora were dead and the castle was on lock down while they were trying to catch whoever did it.The entire Denali coven knew right away that Bella was involved and had reached out to anyone they could think of trying to get more details.They had expected the worst as the days went by and there was no word from Bella.Now that her sister was home Tanya wanted to see her with her own two eyes.Rushing outside she stopped suddenly when she realized Bella wasn’t alone.

“What the fuck?”Kate exclaimed in complete shock.

“Uhm Bella why is a vampire we were told was dead standing next to you holding your hand?”Irina asked.She didn’t understand what she was seeing because everyone they talked to claimed Queen Athenodora was dead and yet she was standing right in front of them holding hands with Bella.

“They are claiming she was killed with Caius?”Bella hadn’t expected that.

“We didn’t leave enough ashes behind to account for two bodies.”Athenodora said.

Tanya took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.”Bella I think you have a lot to explain.”

“Of course but first let me introduce you to Athenodora my mate.”Bella told them.

“What the fuck?!!”Kate exclaimed once again.

Bella smiled seeing the reaction of her family.”Athenodora these are my sisters Kate, Tanya and Irina.You know Eleazar and Carmen already.”

“It’s good to see you again your majesty.”Eleazar finished his greeting with a bow.

“Please just call me Athenodora or Dora.I’m no longer a queen nor do I ever wish to be one again.”Athenodora usually only let Bella call her the shortened version of her name but figured it would make the others more comfortable around her if she wasn’t so formal.

“Welcome to our home.Why don’t we all go inside and we can hear how this all came about.”Tanya suggested.

“I have so many questions.”Kate mumbled.She dutifully followed everyone into the living room taking a seat on the couch across the love seat Bella and Athenodora sat on.Tanya and Irina joined her while Eleazar and Carmen shared the other love seat.Kate now realized why Bella had been made them get two.

“I think the first thing we should ask is why did everyone think you were Caius’ mate?”Tanya felt that was a good place to start.

“Caius is gay.”Athenodora began only to be cut off by Irina.

“No way.”Irina didn’t believe that for a second.It was well known that Caius hated gays.

“He is or should I say he was.I’m not sure if it was something from his human life that had him so against homosexuality or if he just couldn’t accept himself but he was very homophobic.He even refused to have gay and lesbian body guards.”Athenodora had laughed out loud when she learned about it.

“How do you fit in the picture?”Eleazar asked.

“He wanted a woman to act as his mate so that no one would know he was gay.When he saw me battling a group of children of moon in my human life he picked me.He never had Chelsea implement a false mate bond because of his disgust of women.Instead he used his sire bond to keep me in line.Although he didn’t use it often as he preferred I wasn’t around him.In all our years together the only time he touched me physically was when he bit me.”Athenodora would have killed him sire bond or not if he had.If she didn’t Bella would have.

“You fought a group of children of the moon when you were human?”Kate had never heard of a human surviving such an encounter.

Tanya rolled her eyes at Kate.”How did you hide your mate bond?I mean surely Marcus noticed it.”

“My shield blocks him from seeing my bonds.At first I didn’t know that and feared for mine and Dora’s safety.It was on one of the many occasions I was spying on the kings they were talking about what they would do if I found my mate and Marcus mentioned that he wouldn’t be able to tell.”Bella explained.

“So they had no clue that all this time you and Athenodora were mates?”Carmen could only imagine what the kings would have done if they found out.

Athenodora shook her head.”We didn’t tell anyone about it and when we met Bella always shielded us from others.No one ever saw us interacting and we made sure to mask our reactions to each other when we were in public.”

“Shit.”Kate was realizing that her sister was a lot more powerful than they thought.If she could hide a mate bond from a castle full of vampires for over a thousand years than there wasn’t much she couldn’t accomplish.Including killing a king apparently.”Did you kill Caius because of the false mate bond?”

“We killed Caius for a host of reasons but the main one was because he forced me to live the life of a prisoner.He made me stay in our wing of the castle and only allowed me to leave when the other queens were with me.It was just by chance that Bella had seen me in the garden with Didyme as it was a rare occurrence that I was allowed outside.”Athenodora had accepted her fate until Bella came along and gave her hope.

“I think I would have killed him a long time ago if I was treated like that.”Irina said.

“When Bella and I first met we discussed it but we knew that Bella would be blamed.It was well known how much she hated Caius.To punish her they would have likely killed the three of you.That made it to much of a risk to take.”Athenodora had been more than willing to wait.At first she was extremely jealous of Bella’s love of her sisters but when she got to know Bella better she understood why they were so important.

“You stayed in that situation because you didn’t want us to be killed?”Tanya wanted to make sure she understood what Athenodora was saying.

“I would never ask Bella to choose between me and her sisters.Not because I’m afraid that she would choose you but I’m afraid she would choose me and I would be responsible for breaking her heart beyond repair.”Athenodora told her.

Tanya wasn’t sure what to think about that answer.From all the stories she had heard about the queen she had thought that the woman was just as horrible as Caius.Now Tanya was realizing that Athenodora was an abused woman who loved Bella enough to sacrifice her freedom to make her mate happy.It was somewhat humbling being in the presence of such a selfless vampire.”Thank you.”

“Do you think they actually know that you are both responsible for Caius’ death?”The people who contacted Eleazar told him that the person who killed the king and queen was unknown.

“They would definitely know I was involved but I’m not sure what they think happened to Dora.What do you think love?”Bella asked.

“It would be obvious that there weren’t enough ashes for two vampires.If anything they would probably think you kidnapped me.I mean I didn’t interact with Aro and Marcus much and when I did I didn’t show my displeasure.”Athenodora had never let on how miserable she was.She didn’t want to give Caius the pleasure of seeing her suffer.

“Do you think they will send guards to search for you?”Carmen asked.

Athenodora shrugged.”The kings probably wouldn’t but I was friends with Didyme and Sulpicia.They may ask them to find me.”

“They wouldn’t be able to though would they?”Tanya wanted to know what kind of trouble having the former queen with them would cause.

“Athenodora was given the block before we left the castle.I shielded us and the plane all the way here.No one is finding us.”Bella assured them.

“Thank god.”Kate didn’t want to have to move again.They had just settled into their new house.

“That being said the kings have sent out guards to search for us.”Tanya told them.

“Do you know which ones?”Bella asked.

“The twins, Dimitri, Felix, Chelsea, Heidi,Santiago and a group of lesser guards.”Eleazar listed off.

Bella whistled in appreciation.“It seems Aro is calling in the big guns.”

“They aren’t the only ones who are looking for us.Aro put out a bounty.If someone finds us he is offering a place as a royal advisor.”Carmen had been surprised by the Aro’s reward.He only had three royals advisors.It was a position that came with a lot of perks and protections for a vampire.

“Who has called to get your location?”Bella expected a lot of people.

“Everyone from current guard members to Edward Cullen.”Tanya told her.

“Didn’t you just stand against the kings for that boy?”Athenodora thought that Edward was the whole reason the kings had traveled to America.

“We did but Edward is an opportunist.He thinks that he is better than everyone.When we were hanging out at the Cullens waiting for the Volturi to come he constantly tried to order everyone around.Carlisle had to step in more than once to stop people from killing him.”Irina told them.

“The Amazons almost succeeded.”Carmen said.

“The Amazons?”That surprised Bella as the Amazons were a peaceful trio who went out of their way to avoid conflict.

“Edward pissed them off real bad.When they showed up instead of thanking them for coming to help Edward demanded that they put more clothes on.It wouldn’t have been that bad but after they declined Edward went off on them calling them harlots and all kinds of other things.Senna removed all his limbs and would have taken his head if Carlisle hadn’t calmed her down.After that the trio refused to acknowledge Edward and would just walk away anytime he tried taking charge of the group.That pissed Edward off even more because others followed their lead and ignored him anytime he spoke.”Kate found the whole thing funny and had taken to leaving anytime he began talking.

“What an idiot.The Amazons may be few but you do not want them as enemies.”Bella didn’t know what Carlisle was thinking allowing Edward to speak to them like that.Even the kings were wary of the Amazons.

“The Amazons weren’t the only ones Edward rubbed the wrong way.He tried forbidding any of them from drinking human blood.When no one listened to him about it he tried to use the fact that everyone was on the Cullen’s territory as leverage.The entire time everyone was there Carlisle spend most of it soothing everyone’s anger.”Irina wasn’t sure how Carlisle had done it because Edward had pissed off everyone that came to help.

“Why does Carlisle allow him to get away with such behavior?”Athenodora asked.

“Carlisle loves Edward more than his own mate.He lets him get away with everything.It’s well known that Carlisle is just a figure head and Edward really runs the coven.He uses the excuse that with his gift he is able to detect dangers to make all the decisions for the family.”Carmen explained.

“I really wish we could visit them just to see the look on his face when he realized that we were immune to his gift.”Kate would love the chance to rub it in Edward’s face that his gift was useless against them.

“I doubt that will happened as I’m going to suggest all of us steer clear of the Cullens.Edward can’t be trusted and would turn us over in a second.He wouldn’t even tell Carlisle before he did it.”Tanya said.

“Even if he did we wouldn’t be in danger.I can easily protect everyone in this coven at the same time.An army would be no match for us.”Bella wasn’t worried about any threats to her family.

“It’s the collateral damage that worries me.”Tanya didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of them.Even if it wasn’t really their fault.

“It’s not like we have to worry about it.No one will be able to find us here and even if they did with Bella’s gift and all of our fighting ability we can easily take care of any threat that comes for us.We are now the most powerful coven in the world.The Volturi wouldn’t stand a chance against us.”Kate wasn’t concerned with anyone finding them.Even if by some chance one of them got caught they wouldn’t be killed.They would be used as leverage.If it came to that Bella would be able to rescue them.

“Would any of you be willing to train with me?I wasn’t allowed to fight why I was in the castle and only trained by myself when I was alone.I want to be prepared in case something happens.”Athenodora knew that she needed to brush up on her skills.She wasn’t at the level she wanted to be.

“That’s a good idea.I think we should all start training regularly.”Tanya said.

“That can wait for a little while.I want to get Dora settled and then maybe explore the area a bit.”Bella had been focused on getting their house built and her sisters settled so that she could go to Italy and hadn’t taken the time to look around the area.

“Can you take us to the beach?”Kate had been wanting to go but Tanya forbid her from asking Bella before she left for Italy.

“Dora do you want to go to the beach?”Bella asked.

“I would love to but I don’t have a bathing suit.”Athenodora was more than happy to go to the beach.She had only seen the ocean from a far and had always wanted to experience it.

“That means we need to go shopping!!”Irina was excited to finally get to visit the local shops.Most of them had been closed at night so they didn’t get to see what they had to offer.

“Alright anyone who wishes to go with us be ready in 15 minutes.”Tanya knew that she had to give them a set time or it would take forever to round all of them up.

Bella stood from her seat and held out her hand for Athenodora.“Let me show you our room so you can get an idea of what you want to change.”

“I doubt much.”Athenodora really didn’t care what their room looked like.All that mattered to her was that she and Bella had their own private one.

“I’m going to go grab my surf board.”Kate had tried it out at night but one of the locals had told her that the surfing was better during the day.Kate wasn’t sure if that was true but she was going to try it out and see what was best.

“I’m going to go change.”Irina said.

“We will to.”Carmen was excited for a chance to finally be able to be out during the day and mix with humans without exposing themselves.

“I guess I will as well.”Tanya was happy with the way everything was turning out.Yes it was a surprise that Bella was mated to Athenodora but it wasn’t a bad one.Her sister being mated was something to celebrate.The fact that her mate was a former queen and the pair were responsible for killing Caius was somewhat concerning but not that much.Bella would have never of killed him and rescued Athenodora if it would put any of them in danger.She had offered a life time of servitude to the Volturi just to make sure her sisters were safe.Tanya knew that there was no way Bella would do anything that would risk their lives or freedom.That’s what made Tanya sure that even if the last two kings sent an army after them Bella would make sure they all stayed safe.She dedicated her whole life to doing it.Tanya doubted she would become careless now.Knowing all this Tanya did something she hadn’t done since Bella had left with Aro.She allowed herself to look forward to a happy future for her family because what could make the family more happy than having Bella back.