The World's Last Hope 9

“Where are the queens?” Rosalie asked as she made her way into the Cullen’s living room only seeing her family occupying the room. She had the letter Bella asked her to give to the queens and had hoped to give it to them soon so that she could get back to her mate. Rosalie wasn’t worried about Angela’s safety as it would be stupid for anyone to threaten an ally of the Dragon Queen. She honestly just wanted to get back quickly so that she wouldn’t miss out on the chance to go with Bella to her keep. Rosalie couldn’t imagine want kind of items Bella had deemed important enough to seal away for all this time. The fact that some of Angela’s ancestor’s belongings were there as well caused Rosalie to want to go even more. If there was knowledge there that would help Angela to protect herself better, then Rosalie would make the trip herself if she had to. Not that she doubted that Bella would bring them with her.

“They are in my study. Has the dragon sent word?” Carlise wanted to know if the dragon had forgiven the queens. If she had then he wouldn’t be in as much danger. Since they had come Carlisle and the rest of his family had been trying to not bring attention to themselves for fear of angering the queens more than they already were.

Rosalie ignored her sire and made her way to his study. She was feeling a bit bold knowing that she had Bella’s official backing. It felt nice not to have to answer to anyone but the dragon. She wasn’t even nervous about talking to the queens because before she left Bella had told her that any insult to Rosalie was an insult to the dragon as well. Raising her hand she knocked on the study door and waited for it to open. When it did she was met with an angry faced Kate. “I have brought back the queen’s reply.”

“Of course come in.” Kate had expected it to be Carlisle bothering them with whatever nonsense he was involved with. Seeing it was Rosalie holding an envelope she quickly ushered the blond vampire to a chair across from the desk.

“You have brought word from the dragon?” Tanya asked.

“Yes I have.” Rosalie handed the letter to Tanya and took a seat across from her and her two sisters who were standing on either side of Tanya reading the letter.

Irina sighed as she reread the letter for a second time. “Well it seems she no longer wishes to kill us outright.”

“Yes but she didn’t say exactly what she wanted in return for her forgiveness.” Kate said. “Also she wishes to talk to not only us but the Volturi queens as well.”

Tanya thought about how they would go about getting all six of them together safely. She turned her attention to Rosalie. “How did Bella react when she read the letter we sent?”

“She was wary about your motives. It seems Carlisle not only challenged her but he insulted her worse than I initially believed.” Rosalie told them.

“Shit.” Kate mumbled.

“Yeah, I think we forget that Bella has been sealed away for many thousands of years. During her time she was already an ancient. Angela’s grandmother told us that when Bella came of age the actual rulers of the were creatures stepped down voluntarily and gave Bella the crown. They weren’t even related to her, Bella was just that respected. So a vampire with no ranking demanding anything of her was from what I gathered the equivalent of someone spitting in her face.” Rosalie said.

“For fucks sake. This is worse than we thought. Did it seem like she was open to creating an alliance?” Tanya asked.

Rosalie nodded. “She asked me if I believed you were being honest in asking for forgiveness. I told her of your treatment of Carlisle which she seemed to greatly approve of and that I thought you were sincere. Bella said she trusted me and would be open to meeting with you to see for herself that you were truly sorry.”

“So you have the trust of the dragon?” Irina asked.

“Yes, she has asked for my opinion on many things since we unsealed her.” Rosalie was proud to tell them of Bella’s respect for her.

Tanya thought through this new development. Rosalie had told them before that the dragon didn’t want them using Rosalie as a spy against her but if Rosalie was as close to the dragon as it seemed then maybe she could be an ambassador. “So I guess the only thing to do is accept her offer to meet on neutral ground.”

“I agree.” Before Irina could say anything more the group was interrupted by a frantic knock on the door.

Kate once again moved to open it. She scowled seeing Carlisle’s panicked face. “What do you want?”

“My queen.” Carlisle bowed. “The local wolf shifters are on their way here. They called to ask about the red eyed vampires they had seen. I tried to explain who you were but they wouldn’t listen and are now coming here for a confrontation.”

“Why do we put up with him again?” Kate asked as she slammed the door in his face.

“Sulpicia likes him.” Tanya said.

Rosalie looked up from her cell phone.“I just texted Angela and she said she informed Bella and they are on their way here to deal with the wolf shifters. She asked that we not harm them.”

“Well it seems we are going to get an audience with the dragon sooner than planned.” Irina was not only excited to see the dragon but she wanted to see what the wolf shifters were like as well. She wondered how they would compare to the children of the moon. That brought her to another exciting thought. “Will she be bringing her guard with her?”

“Yes. She is bringing Charlie, Angela and Beatrice with her.” Rosalie wasn’t happy that they were bringing her mate but reasoned with herself that Angela would be better protected if she stayed with the group than being left on her own.

Irina clapped her hands together happily.“Excellent. I hope that we get to see his lycan form.”

“How about we not ask him to show us right away?” Kate was now wondering if it was only Carlisle that they should be worried about insulting the dragon.

“Of course I won’t ask him right away. We need to make them friends with us first.” Irina was already thinking of all the ways she could go about proving herself to be worthy of being friends with the dragon.

“Let’s get out there before Carlisle does some stupid thing like start a fight with the wolves.” Tanya said as she made her way out of the study with the other three blonds following behind her.

“Don’t you mean before he does another stupid thing.” Kate muttered low enough for only her sisters and Rosalie to hear.

“As I was saying Sam I can not expel the red eyed vampires from Forks. You will just have to deal with them being here.” Carlisle said to the tall well built Native American boy who seemed to be the alpha of the pack.

“We need more of a reason than you can’t, to even consider leaving them alone.” Sam said.

“The reason you should leave them alone is because you can’t win a fight against them. You would lose badly if you tried.” Carlisle took a step back when the rest of the pack in wolf form started growling and snarling at him.

“You think we won’t fight you blood suckers just because you say we can’t win.” Sam held up his hand to stop the pack from advancing. “How about the whole group of you come out here and we’ll see what happens when we fight.”

Tanya pinched the bridge of her nose as she watched Carlisle start a fight with the wolves. It was exactly what the dragon asked them not to do. Tanya had a feeling that the dragon would not take to kindly to them hurting the shifters so it was up to Tanya to defuse the situation before it went past the point of no return and the dragon decided just to kill them all and be done with it. “Carlisle stand down.”

Carlise jumped when he heard Tanya’s voice. He hadn’t thought the queens were going to take care of the matter personally. That's why he took it upon himself to prove he was capable of dealing with the shifters. He wanted to be able to get back in the queens good graces after what happened with the dragon. It didn’t seem like he was doing a good job though. “I was just explaining to the wolves that they are not to harm any of you.”

“And how was that explanation being received?” Kate wanted to know what the idiot was going to say to save his own ass once again.

Carlisle smiled thinking the queens were about to praise him for his diplomacy. “It is going quite well your majesty. They were actually in the process of leaving.”

“Like hell we are leaving!!” Sam had to focus on not giving in to his anger completely because he needed to be the mouth piece for the pack.

“And what are you planning on doing about them not leaving Carlisle?” Rosalie asked. Angela had sent a text that said they were on the road that led to the Cullen’s driveway so Rosalie knew that Bella would get there before a fight broke out.

“Well I was of course going to insist they leave.” Carlisle turned back to Sam. “As I was saying you don’t want to fight against them because you won’t win.”

Tanya cut off the alpha before he could reply. “I would like to state that myself, Rosalie and the rest of the red eyed vampires don’t wish to fight you. We actually want a chance to talk. So if Carlisle deems it necessary to fight you he is doing so without our backing.”

“Oh man this just got good.” Rosalie wished she were human so she could eat some popcorn as she watched Carlise try to get himself out this.

“Fine as you don’t wish us harm and only want to talk we will leave you alone for now.”Sam pointed at a very scared looking Carlisle. “You and your coven minus Rosalie are now on notice. You have directly challenged us to a fight. That means the treaty will continue no longer. I want you to know if we see any of you we will attack.”

“What..What.. But….I didn’t…” Carlisle turned pleading eyes towards his queens. “Your majesties please tell them I was only speaking for you not for myself.”

“That’s the thing Carlisle. We didn’t ask you to speak for us. You chose to do so on your own and since you were acting on your own accord we have no authority to interfere.” Tanya had to hold back from smiling at the look of horror on Carlisle’s face.

“Kate stop it.”Irina elbowed Kate in the side to stop her snickering. Rosalie on the other hand she had no right to chastise for laughing because it was quite obvious she had the dragon’s protection.

Rosalie couldn’t believe how dumb Carlisle was. The fact that he thought the queens would come to his aide after what happened with the dragon just made Rosalie laugh harder at the moron. Looking at her phone she realized that Angela had texted saying they just turned into the driveway. Leaning towards Tanya she whispered low enough for only the queens to hear. “Bella and the others will be here in less than a minute they just turned into the driveway.”

“We wish to have our talk with the shifters, is there anything else you would like to add before you leave Carlisle?” Tanya asked making it clear that Carlisle wasn’t going to be involved in any talks between the royals and the wolves.

Realizing he was being dismissed Carlisle started to panic. He needed to smooth things over with the wolves before he left. He also hoped he would get a chance to show the queens how useful he could be so they would give him an important role in the upcoming war. Now it seemed his carefully planned out future was slipping through his fingers. Just as he was about to plead his case to the royals the sheriff’s police cruiser pulled up and parked in front of the house.

“Oh this is going to be good.” Rosalie had to catch herself from giving into the urge to cackle with glee as she watched Charlie make his way around the cruiser to the passenger side and open the door for Bella. Then to the surprise of everyone Bella opened Beatrice’s door and offered her a hand to assist her out of the car. Rosalie thought the old woman looked cute with her face all red from blushing.

Bella slowly took in the crowd. It seemed like the wolves were agitated but they didn’t seem to be agitated with anyone but Rosalie’s coven leader. Looking at the rest of the crowd she noticed Rosalie standing next to three blond women who Bella assumed to be the queens. As she made eye contact with the one standing to the left of Rosalie she noticed that the woman was looking at her with wide eyes. Taking a moment to fall into the connection Bella realized that this vampire was her imprint. Unfortunately now wasn’t the time to deal with that as they had more important issues to deal with. “Hello I am Isabella the Dragon Were Queen.”

“I am Tanya the Vampire High Queen of the Americas and these are my sisters Queen Irina and Queen Kate of the Denali coven.” Tanya said.

Irina curtsied. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Kate felt the eyes of everyone on her and she knew she was supposed to say something but she wasn’t sure what. What she was sure of was the Dragon was her mate. When Isabella had made eye contact Kate thought she felt the bond as well but Isabella didn’t mention it and seemed to move on so quickly Kate wasn’t sure. Not knowing what exactly to do Kate just smiled at the dragon. “I’m Kate. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You as well.” Bella motioned to the three people with her. “This girl you know is Angela, she is Rosalie's mate. This is her grandmother Beatrice and my personal guard Charles. I am told he likes to be called Charlie these days. I want to state in front of each of you queens my ownership of not only the three of them but Rosalie as well. If any harm is done to them I will take it as a personal attack and will act accordingly.”

“Of course.” Tanya had never heard of the practice of ownership but if Bella wanted to own four people who was she to object. Looking at the four in question the only one who wasn’t smiling brightly at being claimed was Charles. Tanya didn’t think it was because he was unhappy someone was claiming ownership of him, she figured it was just the man’s professional demeanor.

“Now then what is this I hear about shifters threatening you?” Bella wanted to get the full story before she decided what to do about the shifters.

“Oh no the shifters weren’t threatening us. They came here to find out about the red eyed vampires they had seen. It was Carlise who threatened them.” Rosalie was all to happy to get her sire in trouble.

Bella nodded her head to Charlie watching impassively as he picked the vampire up and threw him to the ground at Bella’s feet. Bella grabbed a hold of his hair and pulled his face up so she could see his eyes. “So not only have you decided to challenge me but you wish to challenge my subjects as well?”

“I wasn’t…It was… The queens.” Carlisle stuttered out.

“Your majesty I wish to inform you that we gave Carlisle no direction on how to deal with the wolves. Our plan was to talk to them and hopefully discuss an alliance. Carlisle had taken it upon himself to engage them before we got here. When we heard what he was saying we immediately informed everyone that Carlisle’s authority only consisted over those in his coven and he was in no way speaking for any other vampires.” Tanya felt it was important that Bella knew they weren’t involved in whatever Carlise got himself into.

“As he is your subject do I have permission to punish him for not only the original insult but this one as well?” Bella wouldn’t act against the vampire unless she had the blessings from the queens. It wouldn’t do to hurt the vampire and cause any form of peace between the two fractions to dissolve before they were even cemented.

“Of course. It is your right to deal with him however you wish.” Tanya was happy that they were finally getting to punish Carlisle without him being protected by Sulpicia.

“Thank you.” Bella decided that it was best to show why she should be feared amongst those present.

Kate along with the others on the lawn watched in awe as the dragon transformed from a human into an 8 ft lizard like humanoid creature. Its silver skin shined even though it was an over cast day. The violet scales that covered it’s body looked like they could easily impale someone and the barbed tail had obviously been used in battle. When Bella had been in human form Kate had a small amount of doubt that the woman was the great dragon queen the prophecy had spoken about but now as she looked over the dragon’s body and saw all the scaring Kate realized that the dragon was more dangerous than she could’ve even imagined. This creature had fought in many battles and Kate found herself standing a little taller as she realized that fate chose her to stand by the dragon’s side.

“Pleas don’t kill me. I have a family and a mate.” Carlisle begged. He hoped the dragon would have mercy on him but when she held out her hand and a large ax flew into it he knew he wouldn't be that lucky.

“I’m not going to kill you.” Just as Carlise began to feel a glimmer of hope Bella spoke again. “You have directly insulted myself and my subjects. Then you went above your station and challenged me for the right to live on what you called the queens’ territory. As I believe Rosalie I know that the queens did not give you authority to issue that challenge. That means you challenged me directly. I am here to accept that challenge. Now get up and try to prove yourself worthy of being more than just dirt under my claws.”

“Your majesties please help me.” Carlisle knew he could never beat a dragon. The only way he could get out of this situation was if the queens interfered.

“Sorry Carlise but we once again have no authority to deny Queen Isabella her right to punish you how she sees fit. If we did it would mean that we held you in a higher regard than we would an alliance with her. As you know with the war coming we can’t afford to insult our allies.” Tanya told him. Since Rosalie was recording the whole thing on video she made sure she gave an official reason so no one would think she was just being petty. It well was known of her sisters and her hatred of Carlisle so if Tanya had said nothing there might be grounds for them to be punished as well.

“Can you send me a copy of this when it’s over.” Irina asked Rosalie. This meeting was turning out better than she could have imagined. Irina figured they would meet the dragon with her in her human form and they would simply talk to her and the wolves. Now not only did they get see her second form they got to see Carlisle get his ass kicked. She did wonder about the ax though. It seemed to come out of nowhere when it flew straight into Bella’s hand.

“Yes I’ll send you the rough copy and the copy after I edit it and add sound effects and music.” Rosalie wished she had time to get a better camera to record this other than just using her phone. It didn’t matter though. As she watched her pitiful excuse for a sire begging on his knees for Bella to grant him mercy she was just happy she would get a chance to see it again.

“Please Bella I meant you no harm.” Carlisle flinched when he heard Charlie and Rosalie growl.

“Even as you beg you choose to once again insult me.” Bella made a step in Carlisle’s direction causing the vampire to scramble back to get away from her. “Are you going to be a respectable member of your kind and fight me or should I just start chopping off pieces until I get bored.”

“Chop off pieces.” Rosalie yelled out. She ignored the sharp looks she was getting from the other vampires in attendance. They didn’t matter to her. What mattered to her was Bella’s smile when she heard the suggestion.

“Well as one of my advisors has suggested I guess I will just chop off pieces.” Bella swung her giant ax down chopping off Carlise’s hand at the wrist. As the man screamed in pain she lifted the hand to her mouth and spit venom on it causing it to catch fire as soon as it came in contact with the hand.

“Jesus.” Tanya hadn’t expected that the dragon would actually destroy the parts it took from Carlise’s body. She thought that the queen would make a pile and when she was done Carlisle’s coven could put him back together. Now she wasn’t sure if she should interfere or not.

Bella flexed her claws and grabbed Carlise’s left ear ripping it off of his skull. She then repeated the process and lit that on fire as well. She took a second to look at the faces of those watching and seeing the horror that all but the four she claimed showed she decided that they saw enough to know not to cross her. She kicked Carlisle in the stomach flipping him on his back. “For the first two insults I took two pieces of your body for the third I took all of your dignity. The next time you insult me or mine I will take another part until all that’s left to take is your head from your torso. You will get no more warnings. Do you understand?”

“Yes…yes…. I understand.” Carlisle said trying to speak through the pain.

Bella just scoffed at the weak man as the rest of his coven ran to him and coddled him like a baby. The one Rosalie told her was the mind reader was glaring at her but she wouldn’t waste any time on him. It wasn’t like he could read her mind and he obviously wasn’t any kind threat to her. Turning her attention to the alpha of the wolves she noticed they were all looking at her in fear although a few were looking at her in awe. “Now then who is the alpha? We have many things to discuss.”

Sam gulped as the woman made eye contact with him. He was very scared of her. The others called her a queen and from what little they had seen Sam knew that if they didn’t treat her as such they would live to regret it. Not even thinking twice about what he was doing he took a knee and bowed his head. “I am Sam, the alpha of the wolf pack your majesty.”

Bella smiled at the respect the alpha showed her. That stupid man she just cut up could learn a thing or two from these wolves. At least she wouldn’t have to threaten or fight the wolves to get them to listen to her. Maybe she should actually thank the idiot vampire for giving her a reason to show off a little. She quickly shook that thought away. There was no way she was thanking that vampire. Now she just had to get through these talks and prepare for receiving visitors. She may even have to travel to reach those in hiding. Looking back at the vampire called Kate Bella realized that she would probably have to talk to her at some point. She felt the bond just as strongly as the vampire did but had more discipline to overlook it until the time was right to act on it. Starting a relationship with anyone during war even if they were your soul mate was not a smart move. She would figure out how to deal with that later because now she had the important job of building an army and that started with these wolves.