A/N: New chapters for my stories are instantly updated to my P atreon, under the same username, as soon as I finish writing them! I will still post new chapters here, just much slower as I'm putting all my focus on P atreon. I really appreciate all the support I've received from this site, which is why I will not stop posting here, just slowing down. I keep an updated list of the chapters I've posted so far on P atreon on my profile, just so you guys know what to look forward to when I eventually post them here ^^
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It hadn't taken as long as Bella had originally thought for the vampires to bring her into the conversation. She had thought she would have to wait until she had to ask for food, but really she only had about an hour or so before Carmen had come back upstairs to take her downstairs to talk with the coven leader about what all was happening. Bella wasn't sure what all they wanted to know from her, but she was ready to beg her case to not be brought back to Edward. She wanted nothing to do with him anymore; she would even venture to say she was afraid to go back.
She had been situated on the arm chair with a blanket to snuggle under and a promise from Carmen that Eleazar was an amazing cook and was currently working on making something warm and delicious that she was sure Bella would love. Bella would just wait until she tasted it to believe Carmen.
"I know there is a lot going on right now after what had just happened and even from how you got here." Tanya said, starting the conversation and taking control of what was going to happen. For as much as the two young vampires were trying to do the right thing, they were going about it the wrong way. Thankfully Tanya was more than old enough and certainly capable of taking charge and resolving the problems brought to her doorstep. She didn't want the younger vampires jumping in with their thoughts and possibly complicating things or confusing the human. If the human truly was glamoured, as her eyes did hint towards the possibility, Tanya didn't want the human to be overwhelmed. She would ask the questions and depending on how the human answered they would truly know if she was glamoured or not and go from there. "But there are some things we need to talk about sooner rather than later."
"I understand." Bella said, her mind instantly going to the redhead. She really hoped they would talk about her, just so Bella could learn more about her. Did that sound a little stalkerish? She didn't care, the redhead was just absolutely gorgeous and Bella couldn't be blamed for going into gay stalker mode because of her. That was a thing people did when they were crushing hard on someone right? Surely she couldn't be alone in that.
"The first thing we want to talk about is why Edward had you come here." Tanya carefully said, watching from any reaction from Bella when she talked about her boyfriend or supposed mate.
Bella's face scrunched, whether in annoyance or confusion, they weren't sure. But every vampire in that room waited for Bella to give clear signs of if she was glamoured or not and Rosalie was begging to whatever god would listen that she wasn't. She would never forgive herself if Bella had been taken advantage of like that and she hadn't seen the signs.
"Because there were nomads that want to kill me." Bella hesitantly said, unsure if that was what they were debating about. What the blonde male had said was pretty clear on what he thought about the only human among the vampires. She wanted nothing to do with that red-eyed vampire that clearly wanted to kill her.
"Exactly." Tanya said giving a forced smile. From what she understood about Edward's relationship with the human, she was sure he hadn't explained exactly why this vampire was more dangerous than the average vampire. "But it's a bit more complicated. The vampire that initially found you is a hunter of sorts and he has decided that you are his next target. Trackers are notoriously dangerous and unwilling to quite their hunt. Which is why you were brought here where there are much older and more trained vampires to help keep you safe."
"Could the Cullen's not keep me safe?" Bella asked, making sure not to look at the two Cullen's in the room. There were seven of them, while there had only been three nomads. Surely between all seven of them, they were enough to keep just one human protected? Something told Bella, it was likely just her really strong crush talking, that the redhead would have been able to keep her safe very easily on her own.
"They should have been able to." Kate said under her breath, much louder than what she intended if the smirk the human gave her was anything to go by. Kate easily smirked back at her though, perhaps this human wasn't as bad as Edward and Rosalie were making her out to be.
Tanya gave her sister a warning glare, not even surprised that her sister's gaze was definitely avoiding hers. She couldn't help but roll her eyes fondly at her mate. "This was the choice they made and now we're going to make sure you stay safe. But that means there will be some rules that you must follow." Tanya cautioned, though she didn't predict having many problems with this human. "But first, I have a question for you. A couple really, if you wouldn't mind answering." Tanya said, knowing that the answers that were given would give away if Bella was really glamoured or not.
"Okay." Bella hesitantly answered, not sure what information she would have that Rosalie or Emmett wouldn't already know.
"When Edward came here for a week when he first met you, how do you feel about that?" Tanya asked as she sat back in her seat, making Bella feel like the ancient blonde was a psychologist that was grading her every move and about to diagnose her with something.
"Well, I was mad." Bella truthfully answered. "I thought I had done something to offend him to make him leave even though I hadn't done anything." Bella explained when Tanya didn't respond right away.
"And then you started to date him?" Tanya asked. She wanted to know how the human went from anger to loving the vampire so quickly. That was the key part of the story they were missing.
"Well, not right away." Bella admitted and as she thought about it, the way they did get together wasn't exactly normal by most everyone else's standards.
"What made you want to date him then?" Irina asked, earning a small glare from her coven leader. Irina knew Tanya had wanted to lead the conversation, but she was acting like the human had no idea what was going on. While that was true on some basis, Irina felt the human wasn't entirely in the blind as much as the Cullen's likely thought she was. For instance, the human was able to put together that the legends from the local tribe was true… although from what the Denali's knew of the Cullen's and their habits while pretending to be human, they weren't really the best at blending in.
"Well, he seemed so invested in me." Bella answered. She hadn't really had someone's attention before and at first, it was kind of nice. To be the center of someone's attention was nice, to know that someone was thinking about her. "And then he saved me from a bunch of bikers when I got lost in Port Angeles." Bella added, causing Rosalie to grit her teeth. She had heard about that and she was forever grateful that Edward had been stalking Bella to be able to prevent the human suffering from how Rosalie had. "It was nice to have someone."
"What if, in order to keep you safe, Edward has to lead the hunter away from you and not be around you for several months?" Tanya asked with a stoic look.
Bella thought about for a minute, her head slightly tilted to the side. She wasn't sure what she thought about it. She knew she didn't want to lose her connection to the vampires; she truly felt she belonged as a vampire and Edward was her only connection to that. At the same time though, she really didn't want to be indebted to Edward or his family because he sacrificed something, like his life, to keep her safe. She was torn on what she would do.
Thankfully she was saved from having to answer as just a few seconds after the question being asked, all the vampires attention turned to the wall that Bella knew was directly outside. They sensed something out there and from the blackness that was taking over both Emmett and Rosalie's eyes, it wasn't anything good that was out there.
"Rosalie, Emmett, you will be behind Bella. Bella you will walk with me, the others know what to do." Tanya commanded as she stood up and walked towards the front door, a simple head nod let Bella know she was to follow Tanya. Bella had expected that if something was going to happen, that she would be told to stay inside. That's what Edward would have told her and she wasn't disappointed that, that's what the other Cullen's would want.
"Wouldn't Bella be safer inside?" Emmet asked as everyone started to move to leave the house.
"She would only be warmer." Kate answered for her coven leader. "She'll be safest with all of us surrounding her and with easy access to grab her and run if we need to. She would be an easier target outside of our site or if we are separated. There is safety in numbers." Kate answered.
"Put these shoes on and these clothes Bella, it should help keep you warm." Irina instructed as she moved some boots over with her foot as she grabbed a sweater, jacket, scarf and gloves from the closet that Bella wouldn't have thought they would have.
They waited the few minutes it took for Bella to get as dressed as she could, with Eleazar and Carmen wrapping her in the heavy blanket as well. It was definitely colder than what Bella was used to and after the near hypothermia she had gotten into, they weren't about to take any risks.
Tanya led the group out of the house, her mates and sisters flanking her sides, Bella behind her and Carmen and Eleazar on either side of the human with Rosalie and Emmett bring up the flank. Tanya had to give it to the redhead, she was certainly ballsy. The redhead was so close to the house that whatever conversation they had, Bella would be able to easily hear it. Tanya was definitely ashamed that she had managed to get so close to her home, so close to her in general; she had to have some sort of power that had allowed her to get so close. There was no other way the redhead had gotten so close to all the ancient vampires and for them to not realize it until it was almost too late.
"Who are you?" Tanya asked, though she already knew who it was, it was still polite to ask. To be perfectly honest, she was also buying time to get as much information as possible and to make sure that when they did attack, that there wouldn't be a chance for them to lose.
"My name is Victoria and you have my mate." Victoria said with a growl, trusting her gift to keep her safe. She would have preferred to have waited longer before making her presence known but after feeling how close her mate and how injured she was, a mate always knew when their mate was hurt, she couldn't stop herself. As long as her gift told her both she and her mate were safe, then Victoria had to try to get to her mate.
Both Rosalie and Emmett hissed at the claim as while they didn't believe Edward was truly her mate, they both still believed that spot was claimed by Carlisle, they were more than concerned about the red eyed vampire with a hunter in her coven claiming to have Bella as a mate. They had also been under the impression that the red head, Victoria, and the tracker were mates. At least, that was what Edward had claimed. While triads weren't unheard of, the Denali sister's being a good example, they also would think the tracker that had wanted to kill the human to be a mate of a human.
"That's a pretty claim to make when she is already claimed." Tanya said, her tone and face becoming more strict, more intense. A false mate claim was a very serious offense; especially when a human was involved as it was truly only the vampire that could validate the claim. The human could easily be under glamour effects and say they feel the mate claim. If someone was found guilty of a false mate claim, it was well within the true mate's rights to kill the other vampire with the false claim.
Victoria's eyes went pitch black and she was about to yell at the blonde for the audacity of saying she was lying, but her beautiful human beat her to the punch.
"Am I really?" Bella asked with a wide smile and then an immediate blush as she realized what she said but couldn't help but follow up with, "That is so awesome." She said with stupid smile on her face even though her face was quickly blushing an intense red as she once again realized that everyone would have easily heard her; including the hot redhead that she know knew was named Victoria.
"See?" Victoria said with a victorious smile as she itched to just wrap her arms around her mate but was still cautious about all the vampires still standing protectively around her mate. "And you all know I haven't even been close enough to her to glamour her." She added and all the vampires couldn't help but agree.
"But her eyes are still cloudy." Carmen said, making Victoria zero in on her mate's eyes and then instantly growling in anger as she realized the brunette wasn't lying. It truly looked like her mate was glarmoured, even though she was clearly affected by Victoria and the mating bond.
"Who did it?" She asked, taking a step forward to try and wrap her mate in her arms to literally drench the human in her scent to rid her of the glamour effects.
"If you calm down, we can allow you inside to talk with Bella by your side." Tanya said, sure that all the redhead wanted was her mate and she couldn't fault the redhead for that. But she had to make sure that everyone involved, including her wayward cousins, were safe from the redhead and her coven and all were still following the laws.
"Please Victoria?" Bella asked, knowing the redhead likely wouldn't calm as easily as she would want but wanting the redhead near her.
The redhead immediately calmed, melting at her mate's plea. Technically her gift wasn't saying either her or her mate were in any danger, so truly, what was the harm?
"Fine." Victoria said with gritted teeth, annoyed that she wouldn't be able to leave right away with her mate like she had hoped. She had even made sure to have a vehicle not too far from there to get her mate inside to keep warm. What a waste of time that had apparently been; for now at least.