When The Cat Becomes The Mouse 35

“What do you want to do today my love?” Victoria asked Bella as both of them along with Rosalie finished getting dressed.Rosalie had decided to surprise Bella with breakfast in bed and now the trio were starting their day. Victoria would prefer to stay in bed for the day or at least stay in their room but she could tell Bella was getting restless. She couldn’t really blame the girl because she was feeling the same way.

“Can we go outside?” Bella asked. She was starting to feel claustrophobic having to stay in the house all the time.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.It’s cold outside and the ground is covered in snow.”Rosalie didn’t want Bella going outside for fear of her getting sick.

“I know. I’ve never gotten to play in snow before though.When I moved to Arizona with my mom I was young and never got to experience it when we lived with my dad. In Forks Edward made me stay away from it because he said it wasn’t safe for me to be out in. I just want the chance to build a snowman.” Bella told them.

Rosalie didn’t like that she was acting like Edward keeping Bella out of the snow but she still wasn’t sure it was a good idea.”I don’t know.”

“Please Rose. I can’t take being stuck in this house anymore. I won’t stay out to long and if I get cold I’ll come inside.” Bella promised.

“Do you even have warm enough clothes to go outside in?” Victoria asked. She was on the fence on this idea. On one hand it would be nice to get out of the house on the other she was just as worried as Rosalie. She didn’t want Bella to get sick.

“I do and I bet the Denali have some extra I can use as well.” Bella figured they would have it to keep up appearances if they had to deal with humans.

“Alright. I agree only if the Denali have some winter clothing you can wear.” Rosalie conceded.

“Vic please.” Bella pleaded.

Victoria sighed. “Only if the Denali have extra clothing.”

“Yes.” Bella cheered. “Come on let’s go before you both change your mind.”

“Bella slow down you are going to hurt yourself.” Rosalie called out as she raced after Bella as the human ran out of the room. She caught up with Bella at the top of the stairs and scooped her up in her arms.

“I wouldn’t have hurt myself.” Bella grumbled.

“Sure that’s why your partner had to do the dissection of the frog in your biology class.” Victoria reminded her.

“Hey Kate do you have any cold weather clothing?” Bella asked ignoring Victoria’s jab at her clumsiness.

“Sure you are about Irina’s size. Why do you need it?” Kate asked.

“Bella wants to go outside to build a snowman.” Rosalie told her.

“Isn’t it to cold outside for you Bella?” Athenodora wasn’t sure it was a good idea for Bella to be outside in such low temperatures.

“Victoria and Rosalie already said I could go as long as I could borrow warm clothing from the Denali and if I promised to come in if I got to cold.” Bella said.

“I think this is a great idea.” Kate was also getting kind of bored just staying in the house. She hadn’t even been able to go to town or for a run because of the heightened security.

Athenodora still wasn’t sure if it would be alright. “I don’t know. Won’t you get sick if you get cold and wet?”

“I’ll be fine.” Even though it was somewhat annoying Bella could understand everyone’s concern as she was their first human to take care of. She just wished they would trust her. “I really need to do something because being cooped up inside is starting to get to me.”

“You will come inside when you get cold and if you get sick you are never going in the snow again.” Athenodora told her.

Bella held back an eye roll.”I’m not a small child. I really will be fine outside.The next thing you guys are going to insist on is a bedtime.”

“Do you humans need to go to bed at a certain time?”Athenodora asked. She hadn’t read anything other than humans needed at least 8hrs of sleep.

This time Bella didn’t hold back the eye roll.”No we can sleep whenever we want.”

“I will have to look into this.” Athenodora mused.

“I got you snow pants and a ski jacket. Plus some gloves and a hat.I don’t know what size shoes you are so I got a pair of each of our boots to try on.” Kate said as she came into the living room holding a bundle of clothing and boots.

“Thank you Kate.” Bella moved to put the pants on and was pleasantly surprised that they fit perfectly.

“Let me help you with your boots.” Victoria said kneeling down to put the boots on Bella and tie them.”How do they fit?”

“They’re good.” Bella bundled up in the rest of the clothing and excitedly made her way outside.

“Be careful there is some ice on the walk way.”Irina told her as she and the rest of the Denali made their way outside with Bella, her mates and the queen.

Rosalie tightened her grip on Bella’s arm to get her over the ice. She was so focused on Bella that she didn’t notice the snow ball until it hit her in the side of the head. Growling she looked for who threw it not surprised it was Kate. “You could have hit Bella you idiot.”

“It’s snow Rose. You are supposed to throw it at each other.” Bella told her as she bent down and picked up a bunch of snow to throw at Kate.

Kate easily dodged the throw but was happy that Bella actually wanted to play not just stand in it. “So are we building some snowmen?”

“Yup.” Bella eagerly found a spot and started piling up some snow.

“Mine is going to be huge.” Kate bragged.

“Come on Vic. You and Rose need to help so we can beat Kate.” Bella knew she would need help if she had a chance of making a good snowman.

Victoria smiled seeing the excitement on her mate’s face. Even though she wasn’t sure about Bella being outside it was nice to see Bella so happy. “How much snow do we need?”

“More than Kate has.” Bella told her.

“I think we are going to need a big base.” Rosalie said eyeing the amount of snow Kate had collected. She was of the same thought as Victoria. She didn’t want Bella out in the snow but was happy that her mate seemed so happy.

Athenodora pulled out her phone and took a few photos of Bella and sent them to her mates. She wasn’t surprised when her phone rang seconds later. Accepting the request for a video call she saw both of the queens’ faces on the screen. “Hello my loves.”

“Why is she outside in the cold?” Sulpicia asked in the way of greeting.

“Bella wanted to build a snowman. We discussed it and Bella promised if she got cold she would go inside.”Athenodora told them.

“Point the camera towards her so we can see what she is doing.”Didyme said.

“I’ll bring it over so she can say hi.” Athenodora made her way over to Bella. “Bella I hope you don’t mind but your mothers wanted to see what you were making.”

“It’s no problem.” Bella assured her.

“Hello Bella.” Sulpicia said.

Athenodora turned the phone around so Bella could see the screen.Bella waved when she saw the two queens. “Hello.”

“What are you trying to make?”Didyme asked.

“I have never built a snowman before so I wanted to try and see if I could make one.” Bella told her.

“I see. Well it looks like you are doing a good job already.” Sulpicia’s voice was laced with pride.

Bella chuckled. “I only started on the base. I want to make a better one than Kate.”

“Well I’m sure you will do a wonderful job.”Didyme said.

“We will let you get back to it.” Athenodora said walking away but keeping the camera on Bella for her other mothers. She didn’t want to take to much of Bella’s time. The queen knew that Bella would probably get cold soon and wanted the human to be able to finish the snowman before that happened.

“Thanks.” Bella turned her attention back to the pile of snow Rosalie and Victoria had piled up. It wasn’t as big as Kate’s but it was getting there.Suddenly she heard a high pitched humming sound. “What is that humming sound?”

“Humming sound?There is no humming sound Bella.” Victoria didn’t hear anything at all.

“Seriously it’s so loud.” Bella said grabbing her head.

“Bella are you ok?” Rosalie asked concerned.

“My head. It hurts so bad.” Bella gritted out between clenched teeth.

Athenodora was suddenly at Bella’s side. “Bella your eyes.”

“Shit.” Victoria knew exactly what was happening when she saw Bella’s eyes turn completely silver. “She is using her gift. Someone with a mental gift is nearby trying to use it.”

Kate stiffened when a loud scream pierced the air coming from the forest close to the property.” I think we found them.”

“Bella you need to focus. Listen to my voice.” Victoria said trying to get Bella’s attention.

“It hurts.” Bella groaned and started to fall over.

Rosalie easily caught her and cradled Bella in her arms.“Bella stay with us. I know it hurts but you can’t let it overwhelm you.”

“Bella? Bella open your eyes.” Victoria softly demanded.

The only reply she got was painful whimpers.

“What do we do?” Tanya asked somewhat panicked.

“We have to keep her awake.”Rosalie said as she softly patted Bella on the cheek. “Bella hang on. Just stay with us it’s almost over.”

When Bella’s body started convulsing Athenodora rushed to Bella’s side. Ignoring Victoria’s growls she cupped Bella’s face.”Come on Bella fight this. You are the Volturi princess. The strength to overcome anything is your birthright. Use it.”

“I think she’s out.” Rosalie said as she felt Bella’s body go limp in her arms.

“Is that a good thing?” Athenodora asked.

“It will give her mind a chance to rest and heal.” At least Victoria hoped it would. She pushed that negative thought out of her head. Bella would be fine. She and Rosalie would make sure of it.

“My queen we found an unresponsive vampire close to the territory. We believe he has a gift because he got a lot closer than he should have gotten.” A female guard told them.

“It’s a probably a mental gift.” Eleazar said. “If Bella’s own gift activated then whatever gift this unknown vampire has is mental.”

“Forget about the stupid vampire. What do we do about Bella?” Kate would deal with the vampire later. Right now they needed to fix her sister.

“Can you collect some snow and put it in our bathtub.If it is like the last two times we will need it to bring her temperature down.” Rosalie said as she stood with Bella in her arms and made her way to the house.”Also a couple bottles of cold water would be helpful.”

“On it.” Kate said as she raced off.

“Just like last time just rip her clothes off.” Victoria said as Roslaie set Bella down on their bed. She moved to the bathroom to grab Bella’s robe.She was trying to keep it together but she was worried. Bella had been lucky the last two times with the side effects of what happened with using her gift. Only her eye color had changed. This time something much worse could happen.

“She’s starting to get warm.” Rosalie could feel the heat coming from Bella’s body as she was undressing her.

Kate zoomed in the room carrying two buckets and two bottles of water.“Here’s your water.I’ll put the snow in the bathtub.”

“I’ll hold her up.”Victoria said as she moved behind Bella and held her against her chest.

“We are going to need more headache medicine if this keeps happening. I only got a small bottle.” Rosalie hadn’t expected to need so many pills.

“Let’s hope this never happens again.” Athenodora said as she stood to the side watching Bella’s mates take care of her. The queen felt helpless not knowing what to do to make her daughter better.Well at least there was something she could do to make sure Bella didn’t need to use her gift again.”I’m going to check on our guest.”

“I’ll come with you.” Kate hoped to get a chance to electrocute the vampire. He was the reason Bella was unresponsive and to Kate that was enough of a reason for him to suffer before he died.

“You should go to.” Rosalie had seen the struggle Victoria was having wanting to be in two places at once. She figured it would be a good idea for one of them to be there to question the unknown vampire and Victoria was better suited for that.

“Carmen and I can help with Bella.” Irina volunteered. Carmen nodded in agreement.

Athenodora didn’t want Carmen to take care of Bella as she had noticed the Spanish woman’s attempts at filling the mother role in Bella’s life. Unfortunately they didn’t have the luxury of declining the help. The queen would just hurry up so she could return to her daughter’s side.” Let us know if anything happens.”

“Of course.” Rosalie easily agreed.

“I’ll be back soon my love.” Victoria told Bella as she leaned down and kissed Bella softly.

Athenodora moved to Bella’s side once Victoria moved away and kissed Bella’s forehead. “Be strong. I will present you with this man’s head as soon as you are awake.”

“I need to get her into the snow bath.I will bring her out when we are done.” Rosalie wasn’t going to let anyone see her mate naked even if they were helping.

“We will wait out here.” Carmen said understanding Rosalie’s request. She was just happy that Rosalie wasn’t kicking them out like she did last time. Carmen also felt a bit smug that she was the one helping Bella and not the queen.It was petty but Carmen had noticed that Bella was getting closer to Athenodora and she wanted a chance to strengthen their bond before Bella accepted her’s with the queen completely.

“Thank you.” Rosalie picked Bella up and cradled her against her chest. She frowned when instead of snuggling into her like she normally did Bella simply laid limp in her arms. Rosalie was beyond worried. Bella’s mind and body wouldn’t be able to handle going through this that many more times with out some serious side effects. A discussion would have to be had about when Bella would be turned. Rosalie wasn’t to keen on the idea but she and Victoria would need to talk about going to Italy. It may be the only way to keep Bella safe because it was obvious she wasn’t while staying with the Denali. Rosalie just hoped everyone would be understanding because Bella didn’t need the added stress of dealing with people fighting over her like they were more than likely to do.