The World's Last Hope 18

“Is she going to be alright?”Kate asked Bella as the pair watched Irina train with a jaguar shifter.A very nervous Tanya was hovering near by and looked to be holding herself back from grabbing Irina and making a run for it.Kate was worried about her sister because even though Irina was a skilled fighter she had no experience with shifters.It did seem the shifter was taking it easy on Irina which surprised Kate.The hatred shifters had for vampires was obvious and Kate was expecting when more of her people showed up that they would be breaking up many fights.

“I claimed her so now everyone considers her a royal.She will not only be treated with the upmost respect but my subjects will go out of their way to make sure she is protected.”Bella said.

“She’s considered a royal because you claimed her?”Kate asked.

Bella nodded.”I claim few and the ones I do are held in high regard.”

“That does make me feel better.I am worried when the other vampires start showing up though.”Kate said.

“There will no doubt be fights but they will be easy to handle.”Bella had no doubt that there would be conflicts but the old guard and her warriors would be able to take care of any unruly guests.

“If you say so.”Kate didn’t think that it would be easy to handle anyone that was going to show up but had enough faith in Bella to think the dragon would be able to smooth things over.

“Your majesty the witches have shown up.”A breathless man in a military uniform all the members of Bella’s personal guard wore said when he ran up to where Bella and Kate were standing.

“Collect Charles, Beatrice and Rosalie and have them meet me in front of the house.”Bella ordered.

“Yes your majesty.”The guard bowed and took off in a run to go complete his task.

“Should we get Tanya and Irina?”Kate asked.

Bella nodded.”It would be good for the witches to see them backing me as the authority.”

“Tanya, Irina.”Kate called out.

Noticing Kate’s serious expression Tanya was instantly on alert.Ignoring Irina’s protest she grabbed her mate’s arm and led her over to Kate and Bella.”What’s going on?”

“The witches are here.”Kate told her.

“The witches are here?”Irina couldn’t wait to meet them.She hoped that they were as nice as the shifters because she really wanted to learn about magic.

“What do you need from us?”Tanya unlike her mate was not happy about meeting the witches.While speaking to the shifters Tanya had heard more stories about the magic users and it made her very afraid of what was going to happen.Her mate’s safety the thing she was most worried about.With Bella’s claim Irina was protected from the shifters but Tanya didn’t think Bella had any pull with the witches.That meant it was up to her to keep Irina safe from them.

“Myself, Charles, Rosalie and Beatrice will be approaching them.What I want from you is to be an audience.It will show the witches that you support my claim of authority and keep them from challenging you.”Bella told them.

“We will happily come watch.”Irina easily agreed.

“Watching is all we are doing.You are not to get involved.”Tanya cut off Irina’s reply.”I mean it Irina you are not to even speak to the witches unless Bella introduces you.”

“Fine.”Irina grumbled.

“With that let’s go great them.”Bella said as she led the three of them back to the house where she noticed a group of unfamiliar women speaking to Beatrice.Rosalie, Charlie and Angela were there as well but standing far away from the group.”Rosalie, Charles with me.”

“Be safe.”Angela wished that she was greeting the witches as well but understood it wasn’t her place.It made her nervous that Rosalie was going with Bella.She hoped that Bella was right and the witches would be peaceful after she proved herself.

”I’ll be fine.”Rosalie kissed Angela softly before making her way over to Bella and Charlie.”What are we going to do?’

“The three of us are going to approach them and Beatrice will introduce us.I will do the speaking.You are not only my advisor but the vampire representative in my court.They may have questions for you.If you don’t know the answer it’s no big deal simply tell them that you have to check in with the queens.You will be their point of contact as I predict they will not want to interact with any of the other vampires that much.”After the way they had been treated once she was sealed away Bella wouldn’t be surprised if the witches refused to even acknowledge the vampires.

“Got it.”Rosalie felt proud that Bella picked her to not only be an advisor but the vampire representative in her court.It was a lot of responsibility but Rosalie would do everything she could to prove to Bella that Rosalie was the perfect choice for the job.Bella was the first person who saw that Rosalie was much more than just a pretty face and Rosalie wasn’t going to let her down.

“Your majesty the witch’s counsel has arrived.”Beatrice announced when Bella, Charlie and Rosalie approached the group of five women standing with Beatrice.

“Welcome to our stronghold and thank you for deciding to join the cause.”Bella greeted.

“We haven’t decided to join yet.”A dark haired women said.

“Your majesty let me introduce you to the council.”Beatrice pointed out each of the women starting with the dark haired witch.”This Selma, Trinity, Margret, Fiona, and Yolonda.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.My name name is Bella queen of the weres.This is my personal guard Charles and Rosalie who is my advisor and the vampire representative in my court.”Bella told them.

Selma eyed Rosalie suspiciously.”It’s nice to meet you your majesty.”

“I suppose we could all continue with the pleasantries but time is of the essence.I know your customs and know that you will not allow your people to join the cause unless I prove myself worthy.That being said I would like to challenge your strongest magic user to a fight.A fight that if I win you will pledge you allegiance to me and if I lose I will hand over my titles and authority over my people to you.”Bella didn’t understand the gasps of surprise that came from the witches.

“You would willingly hand over your titles to one of us if you lost?”Margret asked in disbelief.

Bella nodded.”If I were to lose I wouldn’t be worthy of ruling over anyone.”

“Then we accept your challenge.”Trinity said.

“I will give you a moment to decide who will represent you.”Bella took a step back to give the witches some privacy.

“Do you think you could actually beat one of them?”Rosalie asked.

“Her majesty has never lost a fight to a witch.”Charlie told her.

“I had a few close calls when I first started learning magic but the last person I fought was Melinda.Even though she fought dirty I was able to come out on top.”Bella wasn’t worried about fighting a witch.She doubted that any of them were as skilled as her old friend.

“If you say so.”Rosalie wasn’t quite as confident as Bella.That was mostly because she had never seen anyone do magic before.She was looking forward to seeing what it was like.It would show her what Angela would be capable of doing in the future.That was if Rosalie could get Bella to train her or at least set her up with someone to train her.

“Margret is going to be our champion.”Selma announced.

“Good then let us go to the clearing where we will do the least amount of damage.”Bella said.

“How much damage do you expect to happen?”Rosalie asked.

“Margret will want to show off a little for the audience so I predict that when we are finished the clearing will look completely unrecognizable.”Bella told her.

“Shit.”Rosalie mumbled.

“Charles stand with Rosalie and her mate and keep them safe.”Bella told him.

“Of course your majesty.”Charlie led Rosalie over to side where the sisters and Angela were standing amongst most of shifters that had come to Alaska who had gather to watch the fight.

“Is she going to be ok?”Kate asked.

Charlie wanted to roll his eyes at the vampire’s concern but he held back.He knew that they had never seen Bella fight before and they wouldn’t relax until they saw her in action.”She’s be fine.”

“Ready.”Selma waited until both Bella and Margret nodded before calling out.”Begin!”

“Holy shit.”Angela mumbled as she watched a bright red light fly out of Margret’s hand and slam directly into Bella forcing her back a few feet.Bella seemed unfazed and began chanting and moving her arms towards the sky.Angela didn’t understand what she was doing until storm clouds formed and lighting began slamming into the ground directly where Margret was standing.The woman barely got of the way before she was electrocuted.

“Did you see that?!!”Irina squealed in excitement when Bella swung her arms about and conjured a cloud of black smoke that transformed into two dozen ravens that began a coordinated attack on Margret.The poor witch was not able to fight them off and Irina had to hold her breath when the first drops of blood started forming in the wounds inflicted.

“She isn’t going to kill her is she?”Tanya asked in concern.

“The fight isn’t to the death.Someone just has to forfeit.”Charlie told them.

“I don’t think that’s going to be Bella.”Kate was very impressed with her mate’s talent with magic.Margret had been barely able to defend herself let alone hurt the dragon.

“Do you think she will teach me how to do that?”Angela asked as she watched Bella seem to multiply causing a dozen versions of her to appear all around Margret each throwing different spells at the witch.

“I want to know if she would teach me as well.”Irina didn’t know if there was a way for her to gain magic but was planning on asking Bella about it later.Even if she could only learn one spell it would be worth it.

“I now understand what Bella meant when she said that witches could easily overthrow vampires if they had larger numbers.”Tanya said.Seeing the way Bella so easily handled Margret without even physically touching her proved to Tanya that it would be in their best interest to form an alliance with the witches.If any of them were even half as talented as Bella they wouldn’t want them as enemies.

“It’s looks like she’s almost done.”Kate didn’t think Margret had any other option than to admit defeat.Especially since Bella had her dangling upside down in the air spread eagle with her hands restrained behind her back by some invisible force.

As Kate predicted Margret admitted defeat seconds later.”I yield!!”

“I guess that means that Bella is officially in charge.”Irina hoped that meant Bella would make the witches be nice to her like Bella made the shifters.

“Good then we can start getting everything organized better.”Tanya said the other voicing their agreement.The coven leader was pleased with how things turned out so far.Now it would be up to her to make sure that the vampires that were coming behaved.If they didn’t they would have to deal with Bella and after seeing her not only mutilate Carlisle but defeat a witch like it was nothing Tanya didn’t want the woman’s wrath pointed in her direction.Kate may have been Bella’s mate but Tanya had no doubt that the dragon would not put up with any disrespect.Tanya wonder how many people would die before that realization sunk in to everyone.