Author's Note: Sorry for all of the trouble, didn't mean to fuck up and fix the wrong chapter, so here this chapter is again.

Chapter 7

Out of nowhere, Bella started screaming, making nearly everyone in the castle jump.

A half second after the scream, Heidi was hovering over the bed, hands flitting about uselessly as she had no idea what to do. And that's what the Queens saw a moment later when they barged through the door.

Driven by the need to protect their mate, all they could see Heidi as was the enemy. Before Heidi could even react, Athenodora had Heidi by the wrist, throwing her in such a way that Heidi's arm ripped off right at the shoulder. Instead of getting up, Heidi laid there, trying her best to make herself look as non threatening and submissive as possible. It could have been the end of her, the Queens were so filled with rage at the idea of their mate being hurt, but instead, they were distracted by Bella's screaming. More specifically, the fact that she hadn't stopped screaming, despite the fact that the only possible danger, Heidi, was now far away.

All three queens forgot Heidi completely, instead going to their screaming mate's side, panic overtaking them as they had no idea what could be causing Bella to act this way. Then Bella spoke.

"No...can't take...it hurts. Please, Mom, stop," she whimpered as she thrashed in the bed. Then the screaming started up again, accompanied by Bella shouting, "Stop! It hurt, Mom, it hurts! Please!"

"A nightmare," Didyme breathed, realizing what was happening a second before Sulpicia and Athenodora. Quickly, she grabbed Bella, pulling the girl onto her lap as she was crowded by the other two equally anxious ancients. "It's okay, Bella, it's okay. You're safe, you're not there, you're with us," she said loudly, in the most soothing voice she could manage in her panic as she shook the girl. "Wake up, Bella, please wake up. Bella!"

"God damn it," Athenodora snarled, wanting to destroy whatever was hurting Bella, and hating that there was nothing she could do. That the pain and fear Bella was experiencing was only in the girl's mind, something that she couldn't protect the human from. "Stop being so gentle, Didyme, and wake her up already!"

"I can't do that," Didyme snapped back, a tone of voice that was incredibly rare for her to use, especially towards the other queens. "If you were in my position, you'd know your instincts wouldn't let you do anything that might possibly harm or scare Bella, just like my instincts currently won't let me." At least Bella had stopped screaming, although the whimpers, sobs, and tears weren't any better for the ancients.

"Maybe I…?" Sulpicia started, just as out of her element as Athenodora as she reached out with one hand to touch the girl, hoping her power could give her insight into what Bella was experiencing, and what Sulpicia might be able to do to help. Of course, her gift didn't work on the human, and that only left Sulpicia more unnerved and freaked out than before.

"Isabella, please," Didyme begged, wiping the human's tears from her cheeks before caressing the girl's face. "You're safe, you're here, and-"

"And we're going to fucking kill your mom and whoever else hurt you like this," Athenodora snarled, only knowing how to promise violence and destruction when she was as emotional as she was in that moment. "We'll make everyone pay for harming you, so you'll have no reason to have a single nightmare again. This is swear to you."

"I second that promise," Sulpicia said in agreement. "You will be so powerful, so loved, so cherished and protected that no one would ever dare even think badly of you again. You'll become the one giving the nightmares, with us by your side."

No one could be sure what it was; maybe the voices, the words, or simply the cold bodies surrounding her. But either way, Bella started to wake up. Quite suddenly, in fact, as her blue and golden brown eyes sprung open with a terrified gasp, and then she promptly let out a high pitched scream as the first thing she saw were three pairs of dark red eyes staring down at her, way too close for comfort. Then her gaze darted around, looking for Heidi, only to notice Heidi still slumped in the corner, clearly alive and relieved, but missing her arm, which made Bella scream again as she started to try and struggle out of Didyme's iron grip, needing to go to her friend.

"Hey, calm down, we don't know if you're okay yet," Athenodora said gruffly, needing to look her mate over and make sure she was okay. However, that was Athenodora's biggest mistake in many years, as she was still holding Heidi's severed arms in one of her hands. And the second Bella noticed it, she let out the biggest scream of all, one that made every vampire's ears ring.

Once it was over, for a long moment, Bella could do nothing but stare.

"Put that away," Sulpicia hissed at Athenodora the second she realized what Bella was so freaked out by. "She's still not used to this, and that's her friend's arm. It's scaring her."

"Ah, uh...sorry," Athenodora said to Bella, quickly hiding it behind her back. Had it been anyone else she had spoken to, the other queens would have teased her for the incredibly rare apology, but this was their mate after all, and they were still worried, so the other queens stayed quiet.

"Are you alright? You were having a nightmare. Is there anything we can do? Do you wish to talk?" Didyme asked as she smoothed the human's hair out of her face, finally starting to calm now that her mate was clearly awake and unharmed.

In any other situation, had Bella been anymore awake, she would have smacked the hand away, or at the very least noticed that she was on the lap of one of the queens who had threatened her only friend. But in this case, all Bella could do was stare at Athenodora's midsection, as if she could stare right through it to the arm Athenodora was still doing a crappy job of hiding.

"You ripped off Heidi's arm," was all Bella could say, still staring. Once the shock started creeping away, it was quickly replaced by rage. "Why the fuck would you do that?"

So stunned by the sudden reaction of their mate, none of the vampires thought to react as Bella lunged at Athenodora and proceeded to try and punch Athenodora, maybe kick her, anything that she could view as revenge for her injured friend.

"Shit!" Bella hissed as the first punch clearly hurt her a lot more than Athenodora. She shook her hand out, then proceeded to try a kick, not about to give up until she could actually do some damage.

"What do I do?" Athenodora asked the other queens, having no idea how to handle an angry mate trying to hurt her. After a particularly brutal kick had Bella yelping in pain and hopping around on one foot, trying to cradle the other, Athenodora turned to her and growled, "Don't do that! Do you want to break your bones?"

"You ripped off Heidi's arm!" Bella shot back, and right before she could try throwing another punch, the other two queens finally sprung into action.

"Calm down, Bella, it's okay," Didyme assure her, getting in between Athenodora and Bella so that Bella could no longer see the other queen.

"How is it okay?" Bella snapped. Followed by a, "Hey, let go of me!" as Sulpicia grabbed her in a bear hug to restrain her, pinning her arms against her sides.

"I will not. You're already going to be covered in bruises, and we won't be able to handle it if you truly hurt yourself," Sulpicia replied.

"You mean like how you hurt Heidi?" Bella retorted. "Once again, you ripped off her fucking arm!"

"It's okay Isabella," Heidi spoke for the first time since Bella had woken, risking her own life to quell the human's anger. Of course the second she spoke, the Queens turned to her with furious hisses, and Heidi ducked her head and held up the arm that was still attached to her, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible so they wouldn't attack her again. She didn't speak again until the Queens all calmed, realizing that Heidi might be the only one able to calm Bella at this rate. "Vampires are different from humans," Heidi continued once she knew that she was going to be safe.

"But...but Heidi…you arm..." Bella started, quieting when Heidi gave her a compassionate, sweet look.

"Thank you for caring about me, Bella, but this happened because we were all worried about you and emotions clashed. The Queens didn't do anything wrong; they were only trying to protect you. As for my arm..." She turned to the Queens with a brief curtsy. "My apologies for upsetting you, my Queens. Mistress Athenodora, may I please have my arm back so I can assure Isabella that all is well?"

"Should've spoken up earlier," Athenodora grumbled as she tossed the arm towards the younger vampire. Even though she appeared irate, she also knew, had she not been so preoccupied with making sure Bella hadn't hurt herself while trying to beat Athenodora up, the heightened emotion she was feeling surely would have redirected on Heidi and the queen would have made the situation much worse.

"Thank you," Heidi said as she caught her arm. "See Isabella? All is well." As she said this, she held her arm against the area it had been ripped off, and her body immediately started to mend itself, her arm reattaching itself like it had never been torn off. Now all Heidi would need was some blood, as reattaching body parts was a little draining, and all would be just like it was before Bella had scared them all half to life.

"Oh," was all Bella could think to say once the reattachment finished.

"Now, I think you might owe the Queens an apology, Isabella," Heidi said softly, which even confused the Queens. There was a flash of anger in Bella's eyes, and she was about to point out that the Queens had appeared in the bedroom, scared the shit out of Bella, ripped off Heidi's arm, and were currently holding Bella immobile, but another understanding yet warning look from Heidi stopped her. "You scared them pretty badly, Isabella. Your screams could be heard in the entire castle, and the Queens came immediately. They were terrified for you, thought you were in danger, and when they realized you were having a nightmare, they were panicking and doing whatever they could to wake you up. So please?"

"Um...okay," Bella said at last. Turning her gaze to the floor as a naturally embarrassed blush came to her cheeks, she muttered, "Sorry. And, uh...and thanks." That last part stunned the Queens more, as that had come from Bella's mouth without prodding. They were so touched, that they all wanted to bring Bella into a group hug and squeeze her until she understood just how much they appreciated and loved her.

They didn't, of course. It would probably give the girl a heart attack. But as Sulpicia was still holding Bella, she did give the girl a little squeeze.

"You're welcome," Athenodora huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "For the love of the damned, I was ready to kill somebody when I heard you screaming like that.."

"We'll always be here for you, Bella," Didyme said with a sweet, blinding smile as she touched Bella's cheek. "Awake or asleep, if you are in trouble, or simply want to talk, we will come."

"Exactly," Sulpicia said, very pleased with how everything turned out in the end. She was much more pleased, of course, by the fact that she was still holding Bella, and that she hadn't even tried to complain or get out of her arms. "Now, about that nightmare...we have a lot to discuss about it."

"Fuck yeah we do. And not just this one nightmare either," Athenodora muttered.

"Please? We simply wish to understand and protect you more," Didyme added, knowing that she should make it clear that it was Bella's choice. Really, the other two queens were much too used to getting what they wanted. She would have to talk to them later about not sounding so demanding, lest they irritate or drive away their mate.

Bella stared at them for a long moment, then looked over at Heidi. When Heidi gave her an encouraging nod, Bella looked back at the three ancients and sighed. She still didn't know exactly what they wanted, but it would be better not to go along with them, right?

"Sure, whatever," Bella said at last. "Once I wake up, I can't go back to sleep, anyways. But only if Heidi can come with." She was still determined to make it clear that Heidi and her were a package deal, and she had no idea what might be done to the woman if out of Bella's sight, even with the Queens' promises.

"Thank you, Bella," Didyme said with another amazingly blinding smile.

"Come with us. We will take you to a place much more suited for talking," Sulpicia added, reluctantly releasing the human once she started to squirm before leading the way out of the room. Bella made sure that Heidi came to her side, and then they followed, Athenodora and Didyme behind them. And it was clear that Heidi gave her strength and courage that the human might not have shown had she been alone with the Queens.

While none of the ancients said it and would most likely never admit it, they all were quite thankful that they had chosen to keep Heidi alive. She might be the only thing that would give Bella what she needed to eventually love the Queens, and allow herself to be loved in return.

For now, however, they would have to focus on getting through the stories of Bella's past without breaking anything, or anyone.