When The Cat Becomes The Mouse 34

“Finally, we have been waiting forever for you to wake up.” Kate said when Bella, Rosalie and Victoria made their way downstairs. The trio would have stayed in bed longer but although she denied it Bella was hungry. It was Victoria’s idea that they just have Bella eat in their room but Rosalie had claimed that they needed to spend time with the Denali if they wanted to strengthen their alliance with the coven. Victoria knew Rosalie was right but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Hey Kate.” Bella greeted laughing when Kate pulled her into a hug and swung her around.

“Put her down.” Victoria growled out as she grabbed Kate and pulled her off of Bella.

“I was just hugging her jeez calm down.” Kate said holding back from using her gift on the red head.

“Kate that wasn’t smart. What if Bella’s gift activated and she hurt not only herself but you as well. You need to be careful.” Tanya warned. The last thing they needed was for Kate to accidentally hurt Bella and have not only her two mates but Athenodora pissed off as well.

“Bella loves me, she wouldn’t hurt me again.” Kate was positive Bella wouldn’t hurt her. Bella’s gift protected them from Alice and Bella wasn’t even aware she was doing it. More proof was that Kate was able to hug Bella and Bella’s shield let her. Of course Kate wouldn’t do anything to Bella’s mates because then all bets were off but she wasn’t worried Bella would attack her.

“Let’s not test that theory anymore.” Tanya said.

“Good idea.” Rosalie took Bella’s hand and led her over to what she now considered their couch and pulled her onto her lap.

“Bella are you hungry?” Carmen asked. She was having a hard time with the queen being there especially after talking to Eleazar and him confirming the parental bond. Carmen wanted to deny it but her mate made a good argument and now it was quite obvious the bond was real. She would however be taking whatever chances she got to fill the mother role for Bella. Where Bella would live was still not decided and selfishly Carmen wanted the trio to stay in Alaska with them.

“That’s why we came down.” Victoria told her as she stretched Bella’s legs out and grabbed her foot to massage it. She smiled when Bella groaned.

“Do your feet hurt?” Athenodora asked in concern.

Bella shook her head. “No they are fine. Humans just enjoy getting their bodies messaged. It relaxes the muscles and makes all the tension leave the body.”

“Maybe in the future you will allow me to give you one.” The queen offered. She would be happy to help take care of her daughter’s human body.

“Ok.” Bella wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with the queen touching her but figured as the bond strengthened she would be alright with it.

“Good now what is it you do while you eat?” Athenodora asked.

“Well we usually just watch tv.” Bella told her.

“Yeah Bella I got some more fights for us to watch. Or we can watch that show we are all watching.” Kate offered.

“What show are you watching?” Athenodora would like to know so not only could she watch it but her mates as well. It could give them something to talk to their daughter about.

“We are watching Motherland Fort Salem. It’s a show for teens about witches that are forced to go into the army.” Bella explained.

“It is pretty good. We’ve only watched a few episodes but I like that it’s less about teenage drama and more about the sacrifices the girls make when forced to serve.” Rosalie said.

“I will have to catch up on this show then.” Athenodora pulled her phone out and texted the information to her mates. She knew they would begin watching as soon as they got a chance just so they would feel close to Bella. That gave her a thought. “Bella I know that our bond isn’t fully in place but I was wondering if you would be willing to give me some of the clothing you have worn so I can send them to my mates.”

Bella looked to Rosalie and Victoria to see their response to the request. Neither seemed that bothered by it. “I don’t see a problem with that.”

“That brings up something actually. Bella has some new clothes coming in the mail so someone needs to go pick up the packages when they come.” Rosalie couldn’t wait until some of the clothing she picked out was delivered. Her imagination had been running wild since Victoria brought up the idea of shopping for Bella.

“You need new clothing?” Athenodora hoped that Bella would let her buy some things for her. As her mother it was her job to take care of her child’s needs.

Bella shook her head. “No Victoria and Rosalie took care of it.”

“So your mates bought you some clothing huh?” Kate asked in a voice that was trying and failing to sound innocent.

“Kate don’t do it.” Tanya warned.

Kate held up her hands. “I didn’t do anything. I just want to know what type of clothing Bella’s mates picked out for her.”

“No you just want to cause trouble.” Irina said.

“I would never do anything to provoke Bella.” Kate of course would but she didn’t like being called out on it.

“Sure you wouldn’t.” Tanya didn’t believe that for a second.

“Anyway what was it you wanted to watch Bella?” Rosalie figured getting the attention off of Kate would stop any further arguments.

“Since Athenodora hasn’t seen any of the show why don’t we watch some fights.” Bella didn’t think the queen would enjoy a show aimed for a teenage audience but then again the other vampires around her did and they were all centuries old. Well except for Rosalie.

“Thank for taking me into consideration Bella but if you want to watch your show I don’t mind.” Athenodora told her.

“It’s no problem we didn’t get to see that many fights the other night because Carlisle called.” Bella snuggled back into Rosalie’s arms when she heard the vampire growl.

“Cool I found one of a guy who weighs like a bazillion pounds that goes against a guy who weighs like 50.” Kate excitedly cued it up on the tv happy that Bella picked the fights because Kate preferred them over the other show.

“You enjoy watching people fight Bella?” Athenodora asked.

“Yeah I love it. Kate said she would help train me while I was human but we don’t know how safe it will be until I get my gift under control.” Bella told her.

“Well if you would like I would be happy to show you some of my own technique.” Athenodora offered. She was pleasantly surprised that her child liked fighting. She hoped it was something that she could bond with Bella over.

“I would like that.” Bella figured the queen would know a lot more about fighting than anyone in the room. Victoria had mentioned that Athenodora was known as the warrior queen and Bella knew one didn’t get a title like that without reason.

“I have already put a plan in place to help Bella strengthen her human body.” Kate didn’t want the queen to be in charge of Bella’s training. As her sister it was Kate’s responsibility to make sure Bella could protect herself. That is if Kate wasn’t already there to protect her.

“I’m sure you both can help in your own ways.” Bella said hoping that it would stop a fight between Kate and Athenodora. It was obvious that Kate felt threatened by the bond Bella shared with the queen and Bella knew she would have to take both party’s feelings into consideration when agreeing to things. As a matter of fact she would have to take everyone’s feeling into consideration.

Before anyone could speak further Tanya’s phone rang causing everyone to go silent. Looking at the phone Tanya’s eyebrows furrowed.”It’s Siobhan.”

“From the Irish coven?” Irina asked.

Tanya nodded as she accepted the call and put it on speaker. “Hello.”

“Hello Tanya this is Siobhan.” Siobhan’s voice said through the phone.

“What can I do for you?” Tanya wasn’t that close with the Irish coven and had only traded contact information with them out of courtesy. Knowing that Tanya knew this wasn’t a friendly call.

“I’m calling to let you know about an interesting visit we had.” Siobhan said.

“A visit from who?” Tanya asked.

“Edward Cullen.” Siobhan told them.

More than one vampire in the room growled hearing that and Tanya’s glare was the only thing that stopped them. Rosalie tightened her arms around Bella and moved so that Victoria could put an arm around their mate as well. She didn’t like where this was going as Rosalie knew that if Edward visited the Irish coven then he was up to something. That something probably had to do with Bella.

“Shh it’s alright.” Bella whispered to Rosalie trying to sooth her mate. “He can’t take me away.You and Vic are to strong to go against.”

“I just don’t want him to get to you.” Rosalie whispered back.

“He won’t. You and the others wouldn’t let him. Trust in not only your own strength but the strength of our allies.” Bella said.

Rosalie sighed and kissed Bella softly. “I will try.”

“Thank you sweetheart.” Bella knew that was the best she was going to get so she didn’t push any further.

Letting them have their moment Tanya went back to the call. “What did Edward want?”

“He told us a very interesting story of how not only did your coven kidnap Rosalie Hale but you also took Edward’s human mate and have turned her against her will.” Siobhan told them.

“Did he say why we did this?” Tanya asked.

“He claims that you are working with the Volturi and are planning to eliminate all of those who are against the queens.” Siobhan’s voice sounded amused.

“I take it you don’t believe him.” Tanya realized that Edward went to the Irish coven because of their known dislike for the royals. Little did he know the Irish coven didn’t mind the queens they hated the kings.They just didn’t like to get involved with politics and kept to themselves.

Siobhan chuckled. “Of course not. No matter how smart he thinks he is he can’t fool Maggie’s gift.”

“True.” Tanya forgot that Maggie could detect when someone was lying. “I wonder why he even tried.”

“I’m not sure but it was easy for us to keep our thoughts on superficial things. “ Siobhan said.

“What was his purpose for visiting you?” Tanya asked.

“He wanted the three of us to join him and his allies to destroy your coven so that they could rescue Rosalie and his mate. He said that his mate was a powerful mental shield that could easily overpower any Volturi guard with a mental gift and that with her on our side we could easily overthrow the queens.” Siobhan said.

“How did you respond?” Tanya knew that Carlisle was dimwitted but to tell someone who wasn’t even an ally their plan was stupid even for him.

“We told him we would think about it and get back to him after we discussed it amongst ourselves. He gave us a phone number to contact him at. It isn’t the one that we have for Carlisle though.” Siobhan said.

“Can we have that number?” Tanya nodded in appreciation when Kate already had a pen and paper ready.

Siobhan recited the number. “He seemed really happy when he left. I think we easily pulled off our parts and he suspects nothing.”

“That’s good.”Tanya knew that Edward would be to confident in his gift to think he had been fooled.

“We have decided not to contact him again and wait for him to contact us. That way he will more than likely to tell us more of his plan.” Siobhan’s voice sounded almost giddy.

“You are enjoying this aren’t you?” Tanya asked.

“Oh yes.” Siobhan confirmed. “It gets rather boring living with just the three of us sometimes and this is something exciting. All of us dislike the Cullens and are more than eager to have a reason to help with their downfall.”

“Well then. Let me know if you find out anything else.” Tanya said.

“We will.” Siobhan promised.

When the call ended Bella turned her attention to Athenodora. “Why did you let Tanya lead? Shouldn’t you have been the one to ask the questions?”

“I didn’t say anything because we don’t want anyone to know I’m here. Also it would be unlikely she would have been comfortable enough to actually give us any information.” Athenodora told her.

“That makes sense.” Bella could understand being reluctant to talk to the authorities.

“So we have now confirmed that they believe Rosalie has turned Bella.” Irina said.

“I’m surprised that Edward would give away so much information to someone who didn’t even agree to help him.” Eleazar couldn’t understand what Edward was trying to accomplish telling the Irish coven so much.

“He could have thought that with his gift he could be sure of their reactions.” Victoria mused. “I was only around him once but in that time he came to the conclusion I was Jame’s mate when in reality Jame’s mate was dead and I have never liked men.”

“Thank god for that.” Bella mumbled earning a smile and soft kiss from Victoria.

“His gift isn’t that impressive. The only reason I had to worry about him was because I was around him so much. It’s hard to always try to make sure what you think about will not be at the forefront of your mind. That was why I had to wait for Edward to leave before I broke the sire command. I had to put my full focus on breaking through the order and if Edward was around he would have caught on.” Rosalie explained.

“He believes his gift is greater than Aro’s was.” As soon as Tanya finished her sentence she shot the queen a look hoping she didn’t upset her by bringing up the former king.

“Aro didn’t have a gift.” Athenodora said.

“What do you mean Aro didn’t have a gift.” Kate along with the entire vampire population heard of Aro’s ability to know every thought and see every memory you ever had by touch.

“Aro lied. It is actually Sulpicia who has the gift. He would have Sulpicia read people for him claiming that she was only compelling them to tell the truth. He would then touch their hands himself and pretend all the information Sulpicia gave him he found out on his own.” Athenodora knew that most vampires didn't know about Sulpicia’s gift but it wasn’t a secret.

“I wonder if Carlisle knew about that.” Rosalie knew that Carlisle claimed he was close to the kings but she had never heard of Aro not having a gift.

“Probably not. It was only known to us when the kings where killed. That’s how desperate Aro was for others to think him more powerful than he actually was.” Athenodora told them.

“Why didn’t you pick up on that?” Irina asked Eleazar.

Eleazar shrugged. “My gift isn’t always active.I usually don’t use it on people I’ve already met. If when I met the queens originally Heidi was around I probably was manipulated to look the other way. I don’t have many face to face meetings with the queens and when I do it’s in the throne room where there are so many gifted guard members that if I don’t turn my gift off I would probably be overwhelmed to the point my brain would shut down.”

“That makes sense.” They had all seen it happen when Bella used her gift. Rosalie imagined with the amount of vampires he would be faced with in the throne room Eleazar would be overwhelmed almost instantly.

“Let’s get back to Edward.” It was interesting learning the queen had a gift but they had more important things to talk about. Like how Kate was going to get a chance to kill Edward.Besides keeping Bella safe there was nothing more important at the moment for Kate other than that.

“It seems he is gathering his allies like we predicted and as Rosalie pointed out he hasn’t been able to get enough to actually go against any of us if he is still collecting with the end goal of eliminating your coven.” Athenodora knew that she and her mates had their enemies but she didn’t think they would all follow Carlisle. He was liked even less than the queens by most so it would be extremely hard for him to convince many to follow him.

“Or he is looking for cannon fodder.” Victoria said.

“Siobhan and Liam are known warriors. It would be smart of him to approach them. I doubt he was able to get many with any fighting ability to accept him as any kind of leader.” Kate knew that those who could actually fight didn’t like to follow orders from someone who didn’t understand warfare and there was no way Carlisle was capable of installing confidence in any one.

“Jasper would.” Rosalie knew that Jasper was well respected and had friends from the southern vampire wars.

“Ugh those two idiots. What even is their role in all of this?!!” Kate asked.

“I believe that Jasper and Alice are letting Carlisle do the dirty work and if he succeeds will eliminate him and take the throne themselves.” That was the conclusion Athenodora and her mates had come up with. “Alice’s visions were fine until Bella’s gift was activated. Since it’s based on decisions.Victoria deciding not to kill Bella and Rosalie deciding to check in on Bella altered her visions. You said that Alice wasn’t really paying attention to you before?”

Rosalie shook her head. “She didn’t have a reason to. I was under Carlisle’s orders. I gave them no reason to think that I was able to break through. Even when I left I didn’t decide to check in on Bella until the last minute. I bought everything I needed to get to Alaska and when I saw the flight to Washington leaving an hour after I got there I bought a ticket then. From the time I bought my ticket to when I met up with Bella it was less than 8 hours.”

“And you said that you always had feelings for Rosalie?” Athenodora asked Bella.

Bella kissed Rosalie on the cheek.“Ever since I locked eyes with her across the parking lot. My feelings grew with every interaction.”

“You told me that you believe that Bella’s gift activated because she felt the mate bond as strong a vampire felt the bond.” Athenodora asked Eleazar trying to put all the pieces together.

“Yes, my belief is that Bella actually felt the mate bond with Rosalie but it wasn’t until she met Victoria and was allowed the opportunity to actually explore it did she feel it as strong as a vampire would. Being human and being constantly told her feelings were invalid stunted the bond’s formation but with Victoria the pair where drawn to each other right away. They didn’t have anyone standing in the way of the bond settling into place. I think because of her interactions with Rosalie that Bella was able to form the bond sooner with Victoria and it was because of that bond that Bella’s gift activated the way it did when they were attacked.” Eleazar explained.

“Ok so with all that information then it is reasonable to think that Alice’s visions didn’t start changing until Bella’s gift was activated. She would have personally come and checked on Bella if any of them had thought otherwise correct?” Athenodora asked Rosalie.

“Yes, I know that we were always going back to get Bella. Carlisle only let us leave her because Edward made us. Alice even didn’t want to but gave in. None of them were concerned about her safety it was just nobody wanted to leave her behind.” Rosalie had been surprised and jealous when Alice tried to claim that without her Bella would become depressed. Rosalie had to talk herself out of attacking Alice for that claim but it was hard.

“Then they don’t know about Victoria.” Athenodora tried to put her thoughts in order. She would have preferred to be home talking to her mates about this but the situation called for her sharing with this coven. “So they believe Rosalie met up with Bella,brought her to Alaska and changed her. The didn’t try and intercept Rosalie because there wasn’t enough time and Alice wasn’t focussing on her. Now they are convinced that Bella is a vampire who only has a mental shield. They are gathering allies to kill the entire coven with the purpose of Carlisle controlling Rosalie so he can control Bella. His end game is to overthrow myself and the other queens and Alice and Jasper are probably going to kill him if he succeeds. The problem they are having now is that Bella’s gift activated so Alice’s visions of the victory they all believed would happen have vanished. Now they are scrambling. Did I leave anything out?”

“Nope I think that about sums it up.” Kate said.

Athenodora sighed and rubbed her eyes. She was convinced she was getting a headache. She turned to her daughter and gave her a pained smile. “And I can’t convince you to just go to Italy, stay in the castle and let the rest of us handle these idiots.”

“I’m sorry but we haven’t really had a chance to discuss future travels lately.” Bella tried to be diplomatic as possible with her answer. Everyone was on edge and she didn’t want anyone more upset than they already were.

“It was worth a try.” Athenodora wished Bella would just go to the castle where it was safe but understood why she didn’t want to. “I need to call your other mothers and update them.”

“Maybe I can call them tomorrow?” Bella offered.

“They would like that.” Athenodora knew they would prefer that Bella talked with them when she called but it was getting late and the girl needed to eat dinner and go to bed.

“Bella why don’t you eat your dinner and we can watch some fights.” Kate wanted to pull Bella’s attention away from the queens. If she had it her way Kate wouldn’t let Bella talk to them at all.

“That sounds good.” Bella easily agreed. She was hungry and tired.

“Then you need to go to bed.” Rosalie told her while she readjusted Bella on her lap so that Victoria could feed the human. A lot of things happened that day and even though they had most of the afternoon to themselves Rosalie selfishly wanted more alone time with her mate. From the look on Victoria’s face she wasn’t the only one. The triad had so many thing they needed to discuss. Watching as the queen walked towards Tanya’s study Rosalie knew a big thing was going to Italy. Bella was obviously interested in having a relationship with the queens but that didn’t mean it was the right choice to go to Italy. It seemed all three of them were worried the queens wouldn’t let them leave once they got there. Rosalie sighed as she tightened her hold on Bella. They could talk about all of that the next day. For the rest of the night Rosalie was just going to enjoy her time with her mate.