Kate drags Bella to a cafe, somewhere out of town. She promised Irina she would give her sister and her cousin a small window for them to make Edward understand that Bella is no longer his.

And it's a good thing too because from the redness of Bella's eyes, she could tell the human was crying in the toilet. She was far too quiet during the car ride as well.

Tanya decided they should divide and conquer; she will go meet Eleazar and Carmen whilst Kate stays here and keeps Bella company. The waitress' eyes linger a bit too long on Kate's face before they settle on Bella's.

A soft smile appears as she takes Bella's order and almost conveniently accidentally forgetting Kate's presence. Kate watches the whole scene in amusement. Bella's usually not much of a talker but Kate notices she's always been nice to people, even if they're strangers. And this usually is what attracts people to the human, eventhough the said human doesn't realise it.

"I'll have coffee," Kate interrupted seeing as the waitress' obvious flirting isn't getting her anywhere with Bella.

The waitress, Heather, apologises and blushes before finally leaving their table to submit their order to the kitchen. Bella slumps on the table again, feeling drained after the whole ordeal. Kate picks it up instantly and decides to not tease her. Not yet.

"Wanna talk about it?" she offered instead.

Bella flashes a sad smile and decides to open her heart a bit, "I didn't know it was going to hurt this much."

And suddenly, Kate feels like she's at the wrong place and at the wrong time. This feels like a conversation Bella should be having with her mate, or mates, rather than with Kate. She's never had a serious relationship but on a certain level, she could possibly understand it.

"After the Volturi murdered Sasha, we all drowned our sorrow in the company of men. At that time, we were still drinking human blood and by nature, we killed them after having our way with them. By right, they meant nothing to us, at least to me but I couldn't shake that burden off. It continued to make me feel worse instead. Sometimes, I see their faces and remember their screams."

She isn't sure if Irina or the Cullens told Bella yet about what happened to their coven but a look of understanding crosses Bella's face and Kate knows now that the human might have a clue about their history.

"How do you deal with it?" Bella held her breath, hoping whatever Kate's going to tell her could help her with her trouble.

"Time helps. Obviously our change of diet contributed a lot to our healing but we try to give back as much as we can," Kate let out her breath. "It helps to relieve some of the guilt. Tanya always shifted our focus to the present and future instead of the past."

They aren't talking about the same kind of pain but it's still within the same themes; dealing with pain and moving on. And it works as Kate notices Bella's eyes shine in hope. She puts her hand on top of Bella's to reassure her.

"The end of a chapter can be sad but starting a new one can be exciting and even liberating, Bella. The important thing is to embrace them."

Bella smiles gratefully at Kate's words of wisdom. That smile turns into a cheeky grin as she thought of something. Kate raises one eyebrow at the human's face.

"Spit it out. You look like you're about to burst out laughing there."

"I always thought you were a badass like Sara Lance. Didn't know you could pull a Yoda, too," she snickered.

Kate squints her eyes at the human.

"I don't know who this Sara Lance is but she'd better be hot if you're going to compare me with her!"

Bella groans.

"Is Emmett the only one around here who keeps up with pop culture? Jeez."

Heather stops by again to serve them their beverage and lingers a bit too long at their table when Bella barely spares her a glance. Kate had to step in and basically send the poor waitress away. They both then engage in Kate's stories about the mischief she and her sisters have gotten into when they were newborns. She lets Bella in to Irina's most embarrassing stories, as she rightfully can being older than Irina. This goes on until Bella finishes her drink and goes to pay for them.

Kate doesn't even bother to offer to pay remembering what Irina told her. Her sister had informed her and Tanya that Bella wants to stand on her own two feet and they should respect that. So Kate mutters a thank you to Bella instead.

She also notices the napkin with the phone number left by Heather on the table and Kate quickly grabs it before leaving the cafe. Bella clearly loves the cafe and plans to go back with Irina.

Once they're in the car Kate lets out her laughter and Bella eyes her curiously.

"Bella, I think it's safer if you don't go back there."

"Why not? Was there a vampire back there?"

Kate decides to have fun with Irina instead seeing as Bella is super oblivious and too naive. She figures she'd have more fun watching Irina and maybe even Rosalie's reaction to the situation.

Bella tries her best to get Kate to talk rest of the ride but she wouldn't budge. Noticing that Kate is having too much fun at her annoyance, Bella decides to forget about it.

Irina and Rosalie are both there at Denali's temporary residence when they got back. Bella immediately runs to Irina's arms, which turns Kate's sister to a puddle while Rosalie watches with longing.

Bella proceeds to complain to her girlfriend about Kate and the older vampire just grins to her heart's content. Irina being the sucker that she is, falls victim to Kate's plan. Irina glares at Kate and Bella chuckles at her girlfriend's protectiveness.

She then releases Irina and stands in front of Rosalie with a fragile look on her face. "I'm sorry about Edward. I should have given you a heads up about my plan."

Before Rosalie could respond, Bella steps into her personal space and draws her in an embrace. Irina smiles at the view, which releases some of the stiffness in Rosalie's body and she returns the hug, savouring the precious moment.

"Either of you will go with me there, right?" Bella asked once she turned around, but still within Rosalie's hold.

"I'm afraid it won't be safe," Kate reasoned.

Irina and Rosalie grow anxious at that. That is until Kate takes out the napkin that Heather left for Bella. Irina tries to snatch it away but Kate is faster and she runs to another corner, away from Irina.

"I used to be a hot piece of ass everwhere I go but dear oh Bella had to cockblock me," Kate said vaguely. "Heather left her number for you."

Bella blinks in confusion, hardly remembering anyone named Heather. But Rosalie's hold on her tightens anyways and Irina's eyes turn black.

"Who the hell is Heather?" Rosalie half-yelled.

"The waitress at the cafe."

Irina sneakily approaches Kate and steals away the napkin and proceeds to tear it into pieces. Rosalie begrudgingly releases Bella from her embrace, collects the torn napkin and burns it on top of the stove.

Kate snickers at the blondes' jealousy and Bella's display of excitement and arousal. "That is why it is not safe for you to go back there. I'm afraid the poor waitress will get murdered," she whispered into Bella's ear before taking off.

She understands it better as Irina stalks towards her like a predator and cornering her against the wall.

"Was she pretty?" Irina asked in a husky voice.

"I don't even remember h-"

Irina swoops in before Bella could finish her sentence and kisses her senselessly, happy that her Isabella provided a right answer. Her hands then boldly travel to cup Bella's ass and squeeze possessively.

"Don't even think of going back there," Rosalie warned her, eyes all black too.

Bella's heartbeats race and she gulps. She can still hear Kate's laughter from the outside and curse the older vampire.

Well played, Kate. Well played.


Tanya is irked at Kate more than Irina. They've been waiting almost an hour for the new mates to appear. Kate still has that shit-eating-grin on her face after learning Irina has whisked her mate away to make her claims on her.

Albeit, Tanya saw through her sister's antics; Kate wanted to rile Rosalie up through jealousy. Still, she needs to discuss something important with Eleazar. She needs him to detect Bella's gift. They need Bella here in order for it to work.

"Kate, get the lovebirds here in five minutes. Or I'll takeover Bella's training," Tanya warned.

Kate's eyes widen and she hurriedly goes to the Swan residence. Carmen chuckles at her antics.

"It's all she talked about these days; turning Bella into her protégée."

It actually makes Kate excited at the prospect of training Bella like a warrior once Bella becomes a vampire. It's one of the rare cards Tanya has over her sister and she was hoping to save it for a much bigger cause.

Kate reappears with a blushed Bella on her back and Irina trailing over behind, looking unhappy. Bella takes a moment to recover herself as Irina appears beside her and rubs her mate's back.

"Bella, I would like you to meet the rest of the coven; Eleazar and Carmen," Tanya introduced them.

All vampires notice Bella's neck is littered with purple love bites and Kate snickers and wiggled her eyebrows at Bella. She points to Bella's neck and Bella's face turns bright red while Irina looks proud. She has now decided to colour Bella's neck with her love from time to time so everyone will know that Bella is taken.

"Nice to meet you, Bella," Carmen reached out and pulled Bella into an unexpected hug. Bella is shocked at first but finds herself not minding the affection. At least she could hide away her blush momentarily.

Eleazar shakes her hand and gives her a warm smile. "We've been waiting for a long time to meet you."

"You have?" Bella turned to her girlfriend.

"Yes, even before Irina made her mate claim on you," he winked.

The teasing isn't lost on Irina and she pulls Bella to her side and inhale her hair, "Yes, but she's mine now."

They all look at Irina and Bella adoringly but Kate decides to ruin the moment.

"Someone's a bit territorial today."

"And whose fault is that?" Bella defended her girlfriend and glared at Kate.

"Obviously Heather," Kate teased.

Irina once again feels her possessiveness taking over and almost instinctually takes Bella upstairs so they can engage in another makeout session, reminding Bella who she belongs to.

But thank God Tanya sees through it and pulls them all back to the subject in hand.

"Irina, after we're done, you and Bella can kiss all you want but we need Eleazar to read Bella's gift first," she chided.

Bella kisses Irina's cheek to placate her and steps forward.

"Erm... How do I do this? Do I need to give you my hand or something?"

Eleazar shakes his head and guides Bella to the couch while Carmen reappears with a tray of cookies, "I heard you have a sweet tooth."

Bella thanks her and quickly consumes one. Carmen's an excellent baker and Bella expresses her compliment and gratitude. Tanya could already predict how Carmen and Esme would compete over who gets to feed Bella now and she rolls her eyes at the incoming drama.

"It seems that my gift is being blocked," Eleazar spoke.

Bella's heart rate picks up its speed, nervous to what it could mean. Irina scoots nearer and wraps one arm around her waist to comfort her. It works and Bella finds herself a little more settled.

His golden eyes gleam in excitement, "As I suspected. You're a mental shield; a powerful one at that. Usually gifts in humans are weaker compared to when they turned, but yours just easily blocked mine, which indicates that your gift would be much powerful when you are turned."

Relief floods in as Bella expresses her gratitude to God for a defensive type of gift rather than one which can harm others. She shudders at the thought of possessing destructive gifts such as commanding fire at will. She could destroy both humans and vampires and the thought scares her.

Bella and Irina share a meaningful look, remembering their past conversation on the subject. Bella pecks Irina's cheek and leans in further inside her girlfriend's arms.

"Does that mean vampires like Edward won't be able to read my mind after I'm turned?"

She very much like the privacy of her thoughts. No one could blame Edward for his gift since there's no on and off button but she'd hate it if she had to learn to keep of her thoughts guarded around him.

"That and more. A lot of Volturi guards have psychic-based powers. Your shield protects you from their attacks," he further explained.

She thinks back to the time in Italy and how the guards were glaring at her. At that time, she thought nothing of the glaring and brushed it aside as their annoyance not being able to drink her sweet blood.

"That explains Italy."

Carmen and Eleazar wince at the thought of the Volturi. Tanya has instructed them to specifically not ask Bella about her decision to become a vampire. They want to honour their words.

"But that's not the only reason we want you to read Bella, Eleazar. Do you detect a second gift in her?" Tanya decided to move on to the real question.

She, Kate and Irina agreed not to mention anything about Bella's recent nightmares so Eleazar could objectively assess her. The dark haired vampire leans in closer to Bella and tries to focus.

Carmen steps back to give him space, understanding how his gift works. She grows worried when she notices her mate closing his eyes, his veins almost protruding on his forehead. No one makes a move except for Bella's need for breathing.

He releases a deep breath and reopens his eyes, "I realise currently you have no control over your gift. But could you consciously allow me in? I think I would be able to read you better."

"How do I do that?"

"Just think of this; do you give me permission to read your gift?"

"I do."

"Then focus on that and allow me to try again. Also, it would help if you are calm down."

Bella nods and thinks only about Eleazar's question. She finds herself relaxed when Irina's rubs her neck and stiff shoulders. She turns to her girlfriend who is sporting a worried look and leans in to peck her lips.

"Can you help me? I feel a little bit nervous," Bella whispered.

Irina nods and leans her forehead against her mate, a smile etched on her face. Using one hand, she cups her mate's face and stares adoringly into those brown orbs, conveying to Isabella how much she loves her.

Eleazar suddenly stands up and frantically looks around, his eyes on high alert. Kate, Tanya and Carmen also stand up, looking through the windows for any signs of threat.

Their movement alert the couple and Bella senses that something is very wrong if all Denalis are on edge.

"I do detect it. But I fear it isn't Bella's second gift. It belongs to someone else."