When the Cat Becomes the Mouse 20

“Is Bella asleep?” Rosalie asked Victoria as she came into the living room. After Bella had eaten dinner she had asked to be excused to go to bed. Rosalie had known that Bella hadn’t had much sleep the past few days so it was no surprise that the human wanted to go straight to bed. Rosalie had been somewhat disappointed though because she had hoped to get some alone time with Bella before she went to sleep. If they didn’t have important things to discuss with the Denali she would be upstairs in bed with her mate holding her while she slept. Maybe after they finished talking she would go up and join Bella.

“Yeah she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.” Victoria said as she took a seat next to Rosalie on the couch. She as well was saddened by the fact that she didn’t get more time alone with her mate. At least she got to share a few heated kisses before Bella was down for the night.

“Your human has had a few eventful days, it is no surprise she is tired.” Carmen said. She had been concerned about the human as the night wore on. It was obvious that Bella was exhausted. Carmen just hoped that Bella would have a chance to catch up on sleep before anything bad happened.

“No it isn’t.” Tanya agreed. “Now that we have most of the story I believe you should tell us what happened to Bella. You told us how you all met but you didn’t tell us what concerns you about Bella’s gift.”

“I believe I should tell you about that as Rosalie wasn’t there until the aftermath.” Victoria wasn’t happy to tell anyone about Bella’s gift but knew if they wanted help they needed to be honest with their allies. “I had taken Bella on our first date to Seattle to ride the Great Wheel at night with the lights all lit up and to have a private dinner at the restaurant there.”

“That is so romantic.” Irina gushed.” Please tell me you brought her flowers!!”

“Only a single red rose as we hadn’t officially acknowledged it as a date until I picked her up.” Victoria told her.

“How about we get back to the story.” Rosalie was feeling jealous hearing about the date Victoria took Bella on. She had known they had gone out but didn’t know what they had done. If seemed that Victoria had pulled out all the stops to make Bella feel special. She was happy that Victoria treated Bella well but was annoyed that she never got the chance to even spend an afternoon relaxing with Bella while it seemed Victoria and Bella had spent a few together. Including Victoria hanging out at Bella’s house. Rosalie had never been invited to Bella’s let alone spent time in Bella’s house.

Noticing Rosalie’s discomfort Victoria continued. “After the ride was over we still had some time before our dinner reservation. I asked Bella to take a walk with me along the pier. As we had made it to a more secluded area where there weren’t any humans around we were approached by three vampires. After declining to hand Bella over to them they backed us up against a building blocking us in. I was trying to figure out how to get Bella away without being harmed when suddenly one of them started screaming as he clutched his head. I didn’t know what was going on when all of a sudden the other two vampires ran towards us to attack only to flung back as they hit an invisible barrier. I turned back to Bella to see if she was ok but when I looked at her eyes they were silver and almost glowed. I tried to get out of the barrier but it had blocked us in. I went back to Bella and once I got her attention her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out. Knowing that I couldn’t let the vampires live I went to the two that had rushed the barrier only to find them beyond broken. Their bodies looked mangled. If that wasn’t enough after I tore them apart I went over to the one who had been grabbing his head and found him lying there unconscious. He was alive just wasn’t moving. He didn’t even wake up as I ripped his limbs and head off.”

“Jesus.” Kate hissed. “You’re saying that that meek little human who blushes when either of you look in her direction was able to disable three vampires leaving one of them unconscious?”

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it either.” Victoria said.

“The implications of a human having such power..” Eleazar mumbled trying to figure out how he could even test someone like that to begin to understand what their abilities were.

“Exactly. Bella is going to be beyond powerful when she is turned into a vampire. That’s why we came here. After I came across them and learned from Victoria what happened I knew we had to get Bella somewhere safe because even if Carlisle didn’t come after her others would if they found out what she could do.” Rosalie said. She didn’t like thinking about anyone trying to use her mate but if someone were to sire Bella they would have control over her. Then it would be almost impossible for her or Victoria to break through to help Bella escape.

“That’s not the only problem though.” Victoria told them. “After Bella used her gift she became unresponsive. Her body became dangerously overheated and we had put her in ice baths to get her temperature down. She sleep for over 17 hours and when she woke up all she remembered of the event was that she was angry that she couldn’t protect me and then felt a stabbing pain in her head followed by seeing a white light.”

“So she has no idea how she did that?” Tanya asked. Knowing what happened with Bella’s gift she now understood the constant anxiety that seemed to plague Rosalie. Bella would be sought after by more than just Carlisle if others found out how powerful the human was. If she was turned it was almost guaranteed her gift would be even stronger making her almost invincible.

Victoria shook her head. “No, she only knows that it happened when she was wanting to protect me. Before that the only gift she knew she had was a mental shield that could block Edward.”

“Do you think the mate bond triggered her gift?” Tanya asked Eleazar. He was the expert on vampire gifts and had more knowledge about them than those in the room so if anyone would know it would be him.

Eleazar thought it over. “It likely was the mate bond that triggered it. It is quite rare for a human to have a gift and even more rare that they find their vampire mate before they are turned. In those instances the human doesn’t normally feel the mate bond fully or as powerfully as a vampire does.The human mostly feels drawn to the vampire though not to the point of devotion like vampires feel for their mates. I believe that not only does Bella feel the mate bond but with her gift manifesting like it did she may feel it as strongly for Victoria and Rosalie as they do for her.”

“That would make sense. Bella had said she always had feelings for me but dismissed them because of Alice claiming they were part of my beauty. She told me that when we left she felt relieved to be away from Edward and any actual depression she felt was that we never had a chance to get close.” Rosalie told them.

“Bella also was never afraid of me. Like we told you I tracked her to the meadow but when I got there she didn’t even flinch when she heard my voice. Her heart beat remained normal the entire time. I had thought it was because she had just came to accept her fate but now that I’m thinking about it she has always trusted me. I thought she was just a strange human but it would make sense if she had felt the mate bond right away.” Victoria mused.

“Bella is a very interesting human isn’t she?” Kate wasn’t sure what to make of all the information they were getting on what she considered her new sister. “It’s almost like she was born to be a vampire.”

“That brings up another point that needs to be discussed.When are you planning on turning Bella?” Tanya asked.

Victoria shared a look with Rosalie. They hadn’t discussed what the plan actually was. “It hasn’t been officially decided yet. However I want to wait until we have dealt with the Cullens. It wouldn’t be safe to have Bella as a newborn with no control of her gift trying to fight.”

“I agree. It would be quite dangerous and many could get hurt if she made a mistake.” Tanya thought that was reasonable. They would have to inform the queens of the mate bond and reasons for waiting for the girl to be turned but Tanya had faith the queens would understand. “We do need to inform the queens of these matters though.”

“We both understand that.” Rosalie didn’t really want the queens knowing about Bella but knew that if they wanted to keep Bella safe then they needed to follow the laws. It would do no good to protect Bella from the Cullens only for the Volturi to come and kill everyone.

“What our major concern is that Bella stay safe. I don’t really want to involve many others but Bella is my main priority.” Victoria glanced at Rosalie. “I mean our priority. We both want Bella to be safe.”

Rosalie nodded in agreement. “We just need to figure out what to do with the Cullens. Then after that Bella can be turned.”

“Where are you planning to take her to be turned?” Tanya asked. She hoped that they planned to stay with them while it happened and maybe even join Tanya’s coven. Even though she didn’t know Victoria or Bella that well she felt that they would be a good fit with the Denali. It would also be nice to have Rosalie take her place amongst the sisters like Tanya always wanted.

“We haven’t really made an exact plan but I was hoping that once she was turned that Kate would be willing to help Bella train her gift.” Rosalie didn’t really feel comfortable talking about this without Bella there but it had to be done so that everyone was on the same page. She would explain everything to Bella when she woke up so Bella didn’t feel like she was keeping anything from her. Rosalie knew that when Bella was with Edward he barely told her what was going on claiming that she wouldn’t be able to understand because she was a mere human. Rosalie wasn’t going to keep anything from her mate though because as she continued to prove Bella was anything but a mere human.

“Hell yeah I’ll help Bella.” Kate was already planning all the fun she would have helping Bella once she was changed. If her gift was as powerful as they claimed then Bella would be able to pull all kinds of pranks on people. She could even safely mess with humans.

Seeing Kate’s excitement Tanya sighed. She could already imagine all the trouble Kate would get a newborn Bella in. “I think the best idea would be to have both Eleazar and Kate help Bella with her gift once she is turned. However it may be a good idea for them both to spend time with Bella to maybe help her manage it while she is human so she doesn’t have the same results she had when she used it without thinking about it.”

“I am more than willing to work with Bella.” Eleazar had already planned on asking if he could spend time with her but was going to wait until they settled in a bit. Now knowing how Bella’s gift had already manifested he was even more intrigued.

“Good now that we have a plan let’s discuss the Cullens. How do you think they will react once they know you have gone missing?” Tanya asked Rosalie. They had been given an overview on what was going on but Tanya needed all the information before she called the queens.

“I’m truly surprised they haven’t contacted you yet to find out if I’m here. The only thing I can think of is if they are distracted by something else. It would make sense because for the last few months everyone has been doing their own thing. The only one I have actually interacted with is Emmett.” Rosalie worried for her brother. She wished there was a way to protect him from what was about to come but she feared Carlisle would make it almost impossible.

“You don’t know what they have been distracted with?” Irina wondered if they were up to something.

Rosalie shook her head. “I’m not involved in anything to do with the family. My job is basically to look pretty so Carlisle can show me off to others.”

“You are so much more than just a pretty face Rosalie.” Victoria told her reaching out to take Rosalie’s hand. She may not have romantic feelings for Rosalie but that didn’t mean she didn’t like Rosalie as a person. Her devotion to Bella alone was enough to earn Victoria’s respect but after finding out what type of life Rosalie had lived Victoria felt like Rosalie was one of the strongest people Victoria knew. She wasn’t sure if she would have survived as long as Rosalie had if she lived with the Cullens.

“Thank you.” Rosalie was touched that Victoria went out of her way to comfort her. It showed that Victoria didn’t think of her as just another of Bella’s mates that she put up with for Bella’s sake.

Tanya let the two have their moment somewhat surprised with how at ease the two were with each other. From what she was told they didn’t feel a mate bond and were almost strangers. To see the redheaded vampire so caring had Tanya looking at her in a new light. “So you have no clue what they are up to?”

“No. Carlisle has been locked away in his study most of the time. It’s soundproofed so I don’t know what he has been doing in there. I did over hear him on the phone yelling at somebody to work faster but I don’t know what he was talking about. Alice and Jasper have been traveling. I don’t know where but they have been gone for a couple months. I was told Edward went to South America to recover from losing his mate but I don’t know how true that is. Emmett and myself have been staying with Carlisle and Esme and haven’t been allowed to leave. I’m actually surprised they agreed that I could come here at all.” Rosalie still didn’t know if they knew she had met up with Bella.

“So you don’t know if Alice has been checking in on what you are up to?” Tanya asked.

Rosalie shook her head. “I haven’t had my phone on since I went to Forks to find Bella. I didn’t want them tracking me. I also haven’t spent any money. I can only guess they don’t think I would do anything I’m not supposed to because of Carlisle using the sire bond to order me not to speak to you and to not talk to Bella. If they knew I broke the sire bond I doubt they would let me out of their sight.”

“So what we know is Carlisle wants to find gifted vampires to fill his coven, he has his sights set on Bella, and the three gifted vampires in the family have been traveling who knows where for who knows what.” Kate didn’t like the lack of information they had.

“That pretty much sums it up.” Rosalie wished that she could offer more but she had been trying not to call attention to herself while she broke through Carlisle’s orders.

“The only thing we can do now is contact the queens and see how they want to handle this situation. They may be able to find out what Carlisle is up to with their resources. If we are lucky they will just take care of the problem themselves.” Tanya hoped they did because she really did not want to get involved in a fight. Especially a fight that involved keeping a vulnerable human alive.

Victoria stood up.“I think that since we have discussed all we can I’m going to go check on Bella.”

“I will as well.” Rosalie quickly hurried behind her. Bella may be sleeping but Rosalie didn’t want to miss her chance to hold her mate while she did so.

“Yeah just to check on her right.” Kate teased.

Rosalie ignore her as she followed Victoria up the stairs. Kate would only embarrass Rosalie more if she replied to her. She had a feeling that as time went on Kate’s teasing would only get worse and Rosalie hoped that Kate would find her mate soon so that Rosalie could return the favor. As Rosalie and Victoria quietly and carefully crawled into bed on either side of Bella Rosalie pushed thoughts of Kate out of her mind. She had more important things to focus on. Like how she was going to convince Bella to let her take a shower with her when she woke up.