When the Cat Becomes the Mouse 22

“Look you got a Wario coin and Luigi and Princess Peach stickers!!” Kate told Bella excitedly as she ripped the Super Mario Wonderball box open. Bella along with her two mates, Kate, Irina and Carmen were settled in the living room while Tanya and Eleazar were in Tanya’s study having a video call with the queens. Kate had been impatiently waiting for Bella to wake up and had been told not to bother them by Tanya. She of course disobeyed the order as soon as Tanya turned her back and stormed up the stairs at 10am knocking on the door to see if Bella would hang out with her. Kate at one point feared for her safety because when the door was opened she came face to face with a growling Rosalie and an extremely angry Victoria. Luckily for Kate Bella had intervened with a promise to come down stairs after getting ready for the day. Now the group was hanging out with Victoria laying on the couch with Bella stretched on top of her while Rosalie and Irina were painting each other’s toe nails. After Bella had eaten breakfast Kate had started having Bella eat some of the food she picked out.

“Kate did you really get this stuff for Bella or did you get it for yourself? Because if it’s for Bella then I’m pretty sure she should have been the one to open the box.” Irina teased.

“It’s not for me.” Kate denied. “I thought that Bella would enjoy it. Humans love chocolate, this is chocolate. The fact that it comes with cool stuff is just a coincidence.”

Victoria leaned forward so her lips were right next to Bella’s ear.“You know I think I once heard that chocolate was an aphrodisiac.”

“Oh my god look at her face. I didn’t know humans could get that red.” Kate laughed as she watched Bella turn a dark shade of red.

“Leave her alone Kate.” Carmen scolded.

“You’re just jealous because you haven’t gotten any in a very long time.” Irina told her.

“Oh I’m jealous alright. As a matter of fact I was going to ask if I could watch.” Kate said.

Rosalie shot up from her spot on the floor and rushed at Kate. “You will not think of my mate in that way.”

“Ok geez.” Kate easily evaded Rosalie’s attempts to attack her although she was surprised at the effort it took. “A little help please?”

Irina shook her head. “Sorry you are on your own with this one Kate. You should know better than to make comments like that about newly mated couples.”

“Bella please call her off. I don’t want to have shock her.” Kate pushed Rosalie away from her causing the other blond to crash into an end table. She then held her hand up showing off the blue electricity jumping from her fingers. “I’m warning you Rosalie. Next time you attack me I won’t be so nice.”

Seeing Kate shove Rosalie and then threaten Rosalie with her gift made something inside of Bella snap and before she knew what she was doing she was off Victoria’s lap and slamming into Kate. “You will not touch her!!”

Rosalie along with the others in the room watched in shock as the human made contact with Kate causing both of them to fly through the wall of the living room landing on the kitchen table breaking it. It was as the floor gave way underneath them that Rosalie snapped out of her shock and rushed towards the hole. “Bella!!”

“Bella!” Victoria screamed as loud as Rosalie as she as well raced towards the kitchen stopping at the hole Bella and Kate had fallen through. Looking down she saw both the human and vampire not moving and began to panic. Turning to Carmen she asked.” Do you have a way to get down there?”

“Follow me.” Carmen was already moving to the basement stairs. She was beyond worried for Bella. Even if the human was alive there was no way that she was unharmed. That kind of fall would have at least broken some bones.

“What’s going on?” Tanya demanded. She was just finishing up her meeting with the queens when she heard numerous crashes and felt the house shake. She had figured that Kate had provoked someone and they were fighting but when she heard the panicked screams for their mate from Victoria and Rosalie she knew something was wrong. She had excused herself from the meeting and left Eleazar with the queens expecting the worst.

Victoria glared as she shoved Tanya out of the way and raced down the basement stairs. She needed to get to Bella. Never in her life both vampire and human had Victoria felt so panicked. She was positive Bella was going to be hurt badly and she needed to get to her to save her. “Help me move this stuff. Be careful because we don’t know how hurt Bella is and don’t want to make any injuries worse.”

“What is going on?” Tanya asked again. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find when they reached the basement but Bella passed out on top of an unmoving Kate covered in building material debris was not it. “Why are they like this,were they attacked?”

“Kate shoved Rosalie and then threatened to use her gift on Rosalie, as soon as Bella saw Kate’s finger began to spark she attack Kate. I’m not sure what happened but after slamming into her Bella and Kate went flying through a wall and then through the kitchen floor.” Irina explained as she helped the others carefully uncover the pair. She like everyone else was beyond worried for the human. The fact that Kate seemed to not be waking up as well was beginning to make her panic.

“Bella did this?” Tanya didn’t know if she believed her sister. How would a human do this much damage to a thousand year old vampire. A warrior at that. Not only a warrior but with Kate’s gift she should have been able to stop any attack especially from a human.

“Yes Bella did this.” Carmen confirmed. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn’t have believed it herself.

After what seemed like an eternity they were able to free Bella’s body. Rosalie carefully ran her hands and eyes over her mate trying to see any kind of injuries she might have. She didn’t see anything though nor did she smell any blood. “What should we do?”

“Carry her up to our room where we can check her over properly.” If was left unsaid but it was obvious to everyone that the reason that Victoria told Rosalie to carry their mate was because she didn’t trust anyone in the room to not attack them.

“Tanya Kate isn’t waking up.” Irina called to the coven leader frantically.

Tanya turned her attention away from the red headed vampire who had murder in her eyes as she looked at Kate and made her way over to her sisters. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do to wake up a vampire. “Let’s move her upstairs to the couch.”

Rosalie didn’t pay anyone any mind as she carefully carried Bella out of the basement and made her way upstairs to their room. “I think we should take off her clothes to look her over for injuries.”

“Don’t bother trying to take them off properly just rip them off carefully.” Victoria told her. She put her hand on Bella’s forehead and hissed. “She’s burning up.”

“I’ll take care of the clothes can you get some ice. I think we need to put her in an ice bath like last time.” Rosalie hoped that if this was like last time there would be no side effects to Bella for using her gift.

Victoria hesitated for a moment before leaving the room. She didn’t want to leave her mate but she also didn’t like the idea of Rosalie being amongst the Denali unprotected. Entering the living room she found the coven all gathered around an unresponsive Kate. “I need as much ice as you have.”

“How is Bella?”Tanya asked. None of her family knew what was going on with Kate and Tanya hoped that maybe Bella could fix whatever she did.

“Unconscious and burning up. We need to get her into an ice bath.” Victoria didn’t want to waste her time with small talk but needed their help finding what she needed.

“We have some ice but if you need a lot we can use some snow.” Carmen was already making her way back from the kitchen with the small amount of ice they had. “I only have this bag. Bella said she wasn’t really a fan of it in her drinks so I didn’t get any more.”

“Do you have a bucket I can use to collect the snow?” Victoria wasn’t sure if snow would be better or worse than ice but she was willing to use whatever they had.

“Why don’t I get the snow and bring it up to you. I could also check Bella out for you. I think she may have used her gift when she attacked Kate and would like to see if there is anything I can do to help.” Eleazar offered. He wasn’t sure if he would be of any help as he really didn’t have a clue of what had happened to either Kate or Bella. In all his time as a vampire he had never heard of one becoming unresponsive without the aide of someone continuously using their gift on them as was the case with Alec.

Victoria didn’t particularly like the idea of anyone being near Bella other than Rosalie but knew that if anyone could help it would be Eleazar. “Thank you I will set up the bathtub.”

“Were’s the ice?” Rosalie asked when Victoria came back into the room.

“Eleazar is getting a bucket of snow because they don’t have enough ice to help.” Victoria told her.

“Help me get her to take some pills and drink some water.” Rosalie was glad she had kept all the supplies she had bought for Bella when she had her first episode.

Victoria pulled Bella onto her lap and leaned her back far enough to make it easier for them to get her to swallow the pills and drink the bottle of water. “Did you take her temperature?”

“Yeah it’s just as high as last time.” Rosalie put her hand on Bella’s forehead. “I think it may be getting worse though.”

Before Victoria could reply Eleazar knocked on the door and entered carrying a bucket filled with snow. “Do you want me to put this in the bathtub?”

“That would be good. Thank you.” Victoria grabbed her robe from the back of the bathroom door. “Lets get her body covered.”

“Good idea.” Rosalie wasn’t going to let anyone other than Victoria see their mate naked even if that person was being helpful.

Eleazar made it back to the bedroom and motioned to Bella. “Can I look her over to see if I can help?”

“Be careful.” Victoria growled as he got closer to Bella.

“Of course.” Eleazar slowly put his hand on Bella’s forehead and reached out with his gift to see what was going on. As soon as he felt his gift touch Bella’s shield he stumbled backward grabbing his head.

Victoria rushed to Bella as she saw her body start to spasm after Eleazar touched her. After making sure her mate was alright she turned to the man and grabbed him by the throat. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Eleazar tried to get the hands around his throat to loosen up but instead they tightened. “Please release me.I meant no harm.”

“What the hell is going on?” Tanya growled as she rushed into Rosalie’s room after hearing Eleazar’s pleas.

“He hurt my mate.” Victoria growled back.

“Eleazar what did you do?” Tanya knew Eleazar wouldn’t hurt the human on purpose and figured if he told them what happened it would diffuse the situation before it broke out into worse violence.

“I simply put my hand on her forehead and tried to reach out to her with my gift.” Eleazar choked out. “As soon as it touched Bella’s own I felt a blinding pain in my head. It still hurts actually.”

“Victoria it doesn’t seem like he was intentionally trying to hurt Bella can you please release him.” Tanya released the breath she had been holding when the red head threw Eleazar to the ground.

“I’m not done with you yet. Bella needs to be cooled down. After that I will come for you.” Victoria promised.

“Why don’t you take her and I will talk to these two?” Rosalie was just as on edge as Victoria but she knew the Denali and knew that Eleazar would never hurt Bella on purpose.

Victoria picked up Bella and cradled her to her chest. She glared at Eleazar as she walked by. “I will be in hearing distance.”

“What happened?” Tanya asked.

“Eleazar had brought the snow up and filled the tub. When he was finished with that he had asked if he could look Bella over to see if he could help. Once Victoria agreed he placed his hand on Bella’s forehead and Bella started convulsing. That was when Victoria acted and you showed up just after that.” Rosalie explained.

“What happened when you touched her?” Tanya wasn’t sure what to make out of any of this.

Eleazar rubbed his temples trying to ease his headache. This was the first one he had ever experienced as a vampire and he didn’t like it at all. “Like I said I touched her forehead because as you know touch strengthens my gift but when I tried to reach out to her it felt like a shot of blinding pain went through my skull. It was very disturbing. The pain is slowly subsiding but it feels a lot worse than Jane’s gift does.”

“Jesus. Did you find out anything about Bella’s gift?” Tanya asked.

Eleazar shook his head. “No, I didn’t even get a chance. I think that because my gift is mental that Bella’s shield protected her by mentally attacking me.”

“It would make sense if the only pain you got was in your head.” Tanya tried to figure out what this would mean for Kate. “If when Bella attacked Kate and Kate used her gift to defend herself, do you think Bella’s gift would have attacked Kate? Not only were they in contact physically but Kate’s gift is mental.”

“If that was true then I fear for whatever damage may have been inflicted on Kate’s mind.” Eleazar said gravelly. He had only touched Bella for less than a second. From what the other’s told him and Tanya,Kate and Bella had been connected for minutes. If Bella had been continuously attacking Kate’s mind he didn’t even want to think what the ramifications to Kate that would cause.

“I’m going to go check on Bella. I don’t want you to think I’m being ungrateful or am trying to be insensitive about Kate but I think it best if you two and the rest of your family steer clear of our room until Bella wakes up.” Rosalie didn’t think Victoria would react well to the Denali being near Bella while she was hurt. Not that Rosalie blamed her. Victoria didn’t know them, neither did Bella so it was only right that she was cautious.

Tanya immediately took Rosalie’s meaning. She too didn’t want to cause any problems between the groups. It wouldn’t be smart to push newly mated vampires when their mate was hurt. “We’ll take our leave. I know you don’t have a cell phone but please use Bella’s or Victoria’s to give us updates.”

“I will. I’ll text you from Bella’s phone so you can give us updates on Kate.” Rosalie knew Bella wouldn’t care if she used her phone so it wouldn’t be a problem to give the number to Tanya.

“I am sorry Rosalie. I didn’t mean to cause Bella any distress.” Eleazar was sorry he hurt the human even if it wasn’t on purpose. He just hoped she would be ok. He knew his mate had already claimed Bella as a daughter and didn’t want Carmen to experience any heartbreak if Bella were to be harmed. He also hoped that no matter what had happened to get them into this situation would be forgiven because from what he had learned so far it seemed it was Kate who caused all this. They had warned her to not mess with the trio and he had explained Bella felt the bond as strongly as a vampire did. He didn’t know what Kate had been thinking threatening Rosalie with her gift.

“I know you didn’t. Don’t worry once everyone is better we will sit down and talk all this over.” Rosalie promised. She ignored the growl coming from the bathroom and walked Tanya and Eleazar to the door. “I’ll keep you up to date on everything that happens.”

“You do that and we will do the same.” Tanya wanted to go back and stay with Kate but she had to call the queens back to give them an update because they had been on a video call and the queens had seen the house shake and items fall from the shelves.

Rosalie sighed as she closed the door behind the two of them and made her way to the bathroom to check on Bella. Even though she was more than panicked in her worry for Bella it felt nice to be able to be a useful part of their triad. It made what Victoria told her at the hotel about her needing help from Rosalie in a different way than what Victoria was offering her make sense. Maybe this is what she meant. Ever since they had been in Alaska Rosalie had done most of the talking for the three of them unless Victoria or Bella were directly asked a question. Maybe Rosalie could be the one out of them to be the clear head and mouth piece. Victoria was the strategist and best at keeping them safe and Bella once she was turned would be their defender. So maybe it was up to Rosalie to be their united voice. Rosalie found the idea empowering.In the Cullens she was nothing but an object that was shown off but in her mated relationship she already had a purpose. It felt good to have a place in their relationship and not feel like a burden any longer.