Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything associated with the series.
A/N: I don't re-read what I write after I've written it. I just use spell check and then call it done. So there are probably lots of mistakes; I apologize in advance for all of them.
The early lunch was over much quicker than what I thought it would be. I was hoping it would have taken longer to eat and then clean up. But I ended up only having a simple sandwich, which was delicious, and then Didyme wouldn't let me clean anything up. I would have argued with her, but something about arguing with one of the queens of vampires just didn't bode well.
The walk back to the office seemed a lot faster than when we had walked away from it. We were going to be talking about more things that I was sure was going to emotionally drain me. But I had to admit, it was nice to be informed. With the Cullen's, the decisions about me was made without talking to me, without even asking what I wanted. They always did what they thought was best and I always went along with it. Even though these topics were pretty heavy, I was still happy that they were including me. It seemed as if they hadn't even considered not including me. And even though none of the decisions made were talked about with me, from what I understood, the decisions made thus far are all something I wouldn't know about anyways.
When we walked into the room, the first thing I noticed were the seating arrangements. They hadn't changed. The only seat left for me was in between Jane and Heidi. I had expected it, but I was hoping for at least a little distance to get used to the idea of not only, according to them, having two mates, but also two female mates. It was definitely something new to me. It was something I didn't agree with. Edward was still in the castle, he was my mate. He had to be.
"Come sit, Bella." Heidi said as she held her hand out towards when I paused in the door way. She had stood up from her seat and was standing next to me.
I nervously looked at her hand and told myself not to take. That if I took her hand, it would only help to prove that they were right about Heidi and Jane. Something I didn't want to do. But looking at her hand, after only a second or two, I couldn't help but take her hand. There was just something appealing about putting my hand in hers that I couldn't resist.
She guided me, although unnecessarily, back to my previous seat in between the two vampires. The queens still wanted to go over things with me. I just wasn't sure what; although I could guess.
"I promise what we have to talk about isn't as… heavy, but it is still very important for us to talk about." Didyme said.
"We want to talk about your transition to staying here and the measures that we are and will be taking in order to make sure you are completely safe at all times." Athenodora said.
"But, in order to do that." Sulpicia said, as all three queens started to stare very intently at me. Whatever they were about to talk about, it was definitely very serious. Something that wasn't to be taken lightly. I felt not only myself tense and the seriousness that was about to happen, but also I also felt the two vampires beside me tense. Well, not so much as tense, as sitting up straighter and seemingly paying more attention to the conversation. "According to the young Edward, some unfinished business was left behind in Forks. You had some very unfortunate luck in attracting the attention of a hunter." I could feel Jane and Heidi shift, just slightly, to sit closer to me. I was sure that if they thought I would be okay with it, they would have grabbed my hand. "The Cullen's had managed to persuade the leader of the nomads to leave, and then they were able to kill the hunter before he could kill you."
"So the main threat is gone?" Heidi asked, just a slight sense of urgency in her voice, as she leaned forward in anticipation of Sulpicia's answer.
"The hunter James is gone." Sulpicia answered, but neither of the vampires beside me relaxed. They were waiting for Sulpicia to confirm the entire threat was gone. She must have figure out what the Cullen's seemed to have forgotten, the threat isn't over. "But his mate remains."
Both vampires next to me hissed and neither hesitated to place their hands on my legs; almost like they were grounding themselves, instead of trying to run away. Neither of the vampires next to me were at all calm; even the vampires in front of me looked mad. But the ones in front of me had a better control over their emotions that the ones next to me did.
"We would like to get all the information from you Bella, as to what happened." Sulpicia said. I could see her hand just barely move as if to reach out for me, probably so that she could use her powers to get all the information, but she stopped before she did. "We would like the full story from your perspective, so that we may know all about what is going on and make the appropriate decisions for your safety."
"As it is, we simply have Jane and Heidi assigned as your personal guards, since they are your mates and are well motivated to keep you safe." Athenodora added. "But we also have the entire main guard, few as they are, on alert when in the castle, to make sure they are at least aware of your location and to do random rounds in that area to help Heidi and Jane with their guard."
"We don't need help to keep her safe." Jane said, nearly hissing, at the ancient blonde.
"Of course not Jane dear." Sulpicia quickly stepped in before Athenodora could respond to Jane, who did not look too happy with how Jane had talked to her. "But we figured you prefer to have some moments getting to know your mate instead of having to be constantly on guard around her." Sulpicia said in a placating tone, and it was easy to see that Jane had to be a favorite of Sulpicia's.
Jane didn't answer her, but I swore I felt her relax… just slightly…
"Can you tell us what happened Bella?" Didyme asked as she leaned forward in her seat, as if getting ready to listen to a very captivating story. "Everything, since you met the Cullen's and then met us?"
I nearly said I didn't want to tell them; that it wasn't any of their business. But then I thought that it wouldn't do any harm to tell them. In fact, after that they have said, perhaps they could help with Victoria. I got lucky with Laurent and the wolves coming to my rescue. But Victoria was still out that and I didn't want her to get impatient about me not being in Forks and decide to kill Charlie to get me to go home. Charlie was going to be hurt enough about the length of time I was going be stuck here, I didn't want to make it any worse if I didn't have to.
So I talked to them, focusing mostly on the queens instead of the two vampires next to me. I told them about how I wanted to move to Forks to live with Charlie so Renee could enjoy her new marriage. I told them about how fascinated I was with Edward when I first saw him, which didn't seem to make Heidi or Jane happy as they both growled just loud enough for me to hear, and I told them about how persistent I was to find out what the Cullen's were. Didyme was very happy to hear that part.
I then told them about the baseball game I was invited to watch and how we first met James. I told them about how scared Edward was of me getting hurt and how sad he was that he needed to be separated from since James wouldn't expect that. I told them how James had tricked me into leaving Alice and Jasper to go to the ballet studio.
"And then James bit me." I said, continuing my story. "Edward was able to suck out the venom so that I wouldn't change."
I received several different reactions when I told them that. Didyme and Sulpicia laughed while Athenodora seemed to glare and smirk at the same time. Both Jane and Heidi growled and snarled. It actually made me jump just lightly in my seat, causing them both to wrap their arms around me and what I could view as a comforting gesture.
"I saw that from young Edward, but I didn't want to believe it." Sulpicia said, quickly calming from her laugh.
"Don't you see Bella? That just helps prove us right." Didyme said. "If Heidi or Jane were ever in Edwards positions with you about to be turned, they would never stop it. They would let it happen and comfort you as you changed."
I opted not to argue with them because, not that I necessarily thought that everything they said was right, but because I really did wish Edward had just let me change. It was basically the perfect opportunity, but he didn't because he was too afraid for my soul.
"So James is dead while Victoria was off in Forks keeping part of the Cullen's distracted and Laurent was sent to Denali. What happened next?" Athenodora asked.
So I told them about my eighteenth birthday. How I didn't want a party because I don't like parties and I don't like people spending money on me. All the vampires scoffed when I said that but I continued talking about what happened instead of explaining why I didn't like it. I then told them about the Cullen's leaving me, and how they had left me.
"I'm going to kill him." Jane said and from the tone of her voice, I had no choice but to believe her.
"He should have never left you in the middle of the woods where he knew you would have no chance of finding your way back." Didyme said.
"He did not even think about you being able to get back to your house until after he was already in another country, trying to poorly track Victoria. Or at least what he thought was tracking Victoria. That boy has no business trying to find anything." Sulpicia explained and I felt a little better since I knew now that Edward really hadn't left me on purpose to get lost in the forest; it was an accident.
"What happened next dear one?" Sulpicia asked.
So I explained how I was when I was first left; when I was first abandoned. They weren't happy that it took months for me to stop being catatonic and to try to live a life. I told them about how I would hear Edward's voice when I did something that could put me in danger. I also told them how that escalated to doing very dangerous things just so I could see his image. They didn't like that.
I then told them about how Alice had shown up after she saw me jump off a cliff. After which I had to spend about ten minutes assuring them that I wasn't suicidal, that I was just cliff diving to try and see Edward again. The queens all shared a look after that, but I wasn't going to think about it since I couldn't even pretend to decipher their looks.
I had made sure to leave out the incident with the wolves and Laurent. I remember Edward saying that Caius didn't like hearing about werewolves and had actually hunted them to extinction. I didn't want them to go after the Pack and hurt them. The Pack were good people, even if they did have anger issues. I didn't want anything to happen to them.
"Do you know what happened to Laurent?" Athenodora asked, which I was sure it was probably her that was going to ask.
"No, I don't." I said, trying my best to look and sound convincing. Her narrowed eyes quickly let me know that I wasn't fooling her.
"He didn't come back after his Coven mate was killed?" She questioned. "Not even to verify what had happened to him, or to check if his other coven mate was there?"
I paused before answering, looking to the side, as if I would see Edward's image again, giving me the correct answer that would help me. But I didn't see him. All I saw was Jane, from the corner of my, staring at me. But what threw me off, wasn't that I had noticed she still had her hand on my thigh and I had completely forgotten about it, but the softness I saw in her eyes as she stared at me. I couldn't help but turn my head to stare at her fully. I was sure the softness in her eyes wasn't something that usually there, but I could see it clear as day.
"He um, he did go back." I hesitantly answered as I turned my head to face Athenodora again. I didn't want to tell them everything but, it didn't seem right if I didn't. So I told them what happened, I told them how the wolves showed up and once they killed Laurent, Jake phased back into a human to make sure I made it home okay.
"As I'm sure you can imagine, vampires and your friends are not the only so called mythical creatures that roam this Earth." Sulpicia explained. "Your friends are called shapeshifters, not werewolves; or Children of the Moon. If they had been the later, they would be extremely dangerous to be around. They can only phase during the fool moon and have no control over their wolf side. We did have to purge them because they were not only dangerous to us vampires as their strength was nearly comparable to ours, but they were too dangerous to be around humans. They had no impulse controls and were responsible for many massacre's centuries ago."
Relief instantly swelled in me and I could feel my shoulders become less tense. It was a gamble I had taken to tell them what happened and I was happy to see that telling them the truth resulted in nothing negative happening to my friends.
"But this Victoria is still a threat and she will be dealt with swiftly." Didyme said and I could see a steely look in her eyes that told me that even though she seems to be the 'nice one' amongst the queens, she was still an ancient vampire that was definitely a force to be reckoned with.
"We will send Demetri and Alec in the morning to deal with Victoria." Sulpicia said. "Demetri can find her and Alec can render her gift useless."
"She has a gift?" I had thought James was the only one with a gift. I hadn't thought the other two had one.
"She has the gift of survival." Heidi answered instead of the queens. "I used to be in an old coven with her that disbanded due to several of us not seeing eye to eye on a few things. Her gift lets her know when there is danger with what she is about to do. So she would know right away that if she moves left instead of right, she'll be in some sort of danger."
"Alec's gift will be able to easily disable her gift." Jane added and I could hear slight pride in her voice when talking about her twin.
"Once that is done, they will dispatch of her. Since he mate is dead and she has deemed you to be responsible, she will not stop hunting you until she kills you." Sulpicia said. "Which we will not allow. So we will kill her; we cannot allow her to remain a threat to you."
As much as I was against killing someone, I couldn't argue with them. I was fully aware the determination a vampire could have when they wanted to kill someone. Laurent had told me enough to know that Victoria was really out to get me and that she was likely never going to stop until she killed me. I didn't want to live while constantly thinking about when Victoria was going to show up to try and kill me.
"We will not accept anything less than your complete safety." Athenodora said. "And since we are who we are, when we find a threat, we will not sit idle to wait and think about what to do. We will take actions to quickly resolve the matter."
Hearing her say that, even though I heard it in some variation from them before, I was still awe struck at how committed they were to someone they had literally just met. It was so different from when I had met the Cullen's. The Cullen's did want me to be safe, but it was almost as if they were protecting me from themselves. Whereas the Volturi wanted me safe, they weren't concerned about me being around them at all. They were concerned with the threat other vampires were to me. And they weren't shying away, or running, to keep me safe. They were going to deal with Victoria head on.
"Until she is confirmed dead, we will continue to have Heidi and Jane with you at all times." Didyme said. "Even if you want to be alone; they will just be a few feet away."
"Since we do not know for sure where Victoria is, we cannot risk your safety by just thinking that being in this castle will be good enough. We won't make any mistakes when it comes to your safety." Sulpicia said and I knew she was telling the truth.
"That said though, we do ask that you stay inside in the castle where it is easier to keep you safe." Didyme added. "I do doubt Victoria is here, but there is a chance she may have followed you here and if she did, it would be much easier to get to you outside our castle walls."
I was surprised to hear that she wasn't commanding me to stay inside. She was asking. And then she gave me their reasons as to why they wanted me to stay inside. And the reasons they gave me were actually good reasons. I felt so much more involved and included than I ever had with the Cullen's; and I felt my heart ache a little at that thought.
"There are a few other rules that we would like to let you know about." Sulpicia said after a few moments of silence that they seemed to be waiting for me to say something, but I didn't have anything to say. "These rules are just for your safety, I promise."
"And they will be lifted once you become a vampire." Didyme added.
For another hour, which could have only been a quarter of the time if Didyme and Athenodora hadn't kept interrupting Sulpicia to add in their own thoughts on the rules. The rules they had given were really simple. They had made it clear that even though the castle was a very safe place, there was still a chance that a vampire that was visiting the castle could come in and decide that I would be a perfect snack for them. All of them agreed that I did smell above average and that I would be a very tempting snack for a vampire without the best control, and even being with Heidi and Jane, they may still attack depending on how hungry they were.
They ended their discussion of the rules and had asked me if I had any questions. The entire discussion they had avoided the one topic that I was very interested in. I wasn't sure if that was done on purpose or not, but I really wanted to know.
"What about the Cullen's?" I asked without hesitation. "And what about Edward?" I added right away to make sure I was able to get both the questions answered.
The two vampires next to me tensed. Athenodora and Didyme turned to face Sulpicia. It was something that I had realized from the little time I had known the queens, that even though Athenodora was the oldest, Sulpicia seemed to be the more dominate one. She was the one that usually had the final say, even though I hadn't seen them really disagree and Sulpicia more often than not, agreed with them when there was a slight disagreement.
"We haven't completely agreed on something quite yet." Sulpicia answered with slight hesitancy.
"We are hesitant to decide on something and have young Alice see what it is." Didyme explained.
"We would prefer it to be a complete surprise to the entire Coven." Athenodora added. "We have some ideas, but we won't decide until it's too late for Alice to warn them about anything."
The way she made that sound, made me think that the Cullen's were going to be hurt and I really didn't want that. The Cullen's had hurt me, but I still didn't want anything to happen to them. I wasn't sure if after everything I've learned and felt, that I still thought of them as my extended family, especially since they did abandon me, but I was still with Edward. I still loved Edward. And at the very least, I didn't want his family to get hurt. I knew that they didn't intentionally try to hurt me and because of that, I can forgive them for what they did.
"You're going to hurt them." I asked, even though it came out as more of a fact than a question.
"That hasn't been decided yet." Sulpicia answered and I could tell that she was watching me very closely for any sort of reaction that I would give. "We will not kill them, if that is what you are concerned about." She added.
"They will be punished though." Athenodora said. "They broke the law and will be punished for it. There are no exceptions to that. And unfortunately, punishments are not meant to be pleasant, they are meant to be painful in such a way that they offender will never repeat the offense."
"I just don't want to see them hurt." I said with as I looked down.
What Athenodora said made sense. I knew the Cullen's had broken the law; it was the Cullen's themselves that told me they had broken the law. And clearly, since my father is Chief of Police, I knew that all bad choices had repercussions. I also knew that the three women in front of me were the ones responsible for making sure all the vampires that broke the law, had to deal with the appropriate repercussions. I knew the Cullen's were in trouble. But just because I knew it, didn't mean I had to like it.
"I am sorry that we have to do something so soon that you don't approve of, that may hurt you, but we do have a responsibility to uphold the laws." Athenodora said, almost as if she was arguing with me for me to see what they were doing. It wasn't necessary. I just didn't like to admit it or see it happen.
"I believe she knows that dear." Didyme said as she continued to study me like her mates were. "I believe she is just upset that someone she cares for, is going to be hurt. Is that right, Bella?"
It took me a moment to respond because I was so used to when the Cullen's talked about me, they talked like I wasn't in the room listening to them. They didn't ask to confirm on what they were assuming I wanted or was thinking. Having the queens letting me confirm anything was unusual at best. I definitely used to vampires letting me in on anything.
"Um, yes." I answered. "I really don't want Edward, or the Cullen's, hurt." It was getting easier to ignore both Jane and Heidi tensing whenever I mentioned Edward, but I wasn't sure if being able to ignore how much they seemed to like to move closer to me, no matter how close we were already sitting.
"We will do our best to not upset you, but they must be punished." Sulpicia said and I believed her. I don't know if it was the tone of her voice, the way she was looking at me, but I just had to believe her. "We cannot let them not be punished because other vampires may think we are becoming lenient and may decide that they too can break the laws and be punished."
"It is a very fine line that we have to tread so other vampires know they have been punished and so that the Cullen's know that they have dearly miss stepped in hurting our daughter the way they have." Athenodora said.
"Although, we will take into account that they knew not of our connection at the time." Didyme added when I opened my mouth to point out just that fact. I nearly blushed at realizing that I was just about to accept that I was their 'daughter', even though I didn't see myself that way.
"I'm afraid there will not be much we can disclose to you about what will happen with the Cullen's until the day we deliver the punishment." Sulpicia said, clearly finishing the conversation. "We will not hear any negotiations from the Cullen's about what may happen to them, but we would be willing to listen to you since we will be able to give you any forewarning."
I felt myself sink back into my seat at hearing that. Even though they couldn't tell me what was going to happen, they were still going to give me a chance to defend the Cullen's. I was actually really surprised that they would be willing to let me argue with them in front of the Cullen's if that is what I wanted to do. I felt my heart swell just slightly at realizing how much they are already including me into their lives and integrating me in their world. They were treating me, not necessarily as an equal because they were the queens, but I felt as if I was a close second to being equal. It was an odd feeling, feeling like I was practically on even footing with a vampire.
"I'm sorry we couldn't give a better answer, but I'm afraid that is the best we can do at the given time." Didyme said and I could tell she was genuinely sorry. It was so foreign to me, to see a vampire that was actually sorry about not being able to tell me something. "There is one more thing that we would like to discuss with you."
"We want to talk with you about your father." Sulpicia said.
Guilt instantly ran through my body. I had barely had any time to think about how much he must be worried about me, much less what the Volturi was going to do about him. I knew that they wouldn't hurt him because he didn't actually know about vampires. But just because they wouldn't physically hurt him, that didn't mean they wouldn't emotionally hurt him.
"What um, what about him?" I nervously asked.
"I'm sure you've already figured this out, but we want to let you know what we are going to do." Didyme said, taking the lead in this conversation that I really didn't want to have. My hands subconsciously found both Heidi's and Jane's hand on my thighs, and I gripped their hands. I was actually seeking comfort from them and they were willingly giving it.
"You're not going to hurt him, right?" I couldn't help but ask, even though I already knew the answer. All three queens looked at each other before answering. The second or two they did that though, it felt like my stomach was suddenly filled with lead.
"We have decided that we will make all the arrangements for Charlie to believe that you have passed away." Didyme answered. "We will not allow you to go back to Forks while anyone that may have known you is still alive. I am dearly sorry that you will lose your father, but it is best this way in the long way."
"Would you like to know what we plan to do?" Athenodora asked me.
I wanted to know. I really did. I wanted to know what my father was going to be told, I wanted to know how I was going to die. But at the same time, I really didn't want to know. I wanted nothing to do with the giant lie that was going to be told my father. I didn't want to know how long he might try looking for me, or how upset he's going to be. More importantly though, I don't want to see how hurt he's going to be. I left with basically no warning, leaving a note saying that I was going to another country while he was helping to plan the funeral of one of his closest friends. Now he was going to have to plan the funeral of his only daughter. It wasn't fair. Even though I knew this was going to hurt Charlie more, I still couldn't help but feel like the worst daughter alive and that made my mood plummet even more.
"No." I said in the smallest voice I had ever heard come from my mouth.
"In that case, we will carry out our plans and if you ever wish to know what we have done, just ask us." Didyme said.
"For now, I think you need some time to digest all that you have heard." Sulpicia said. "How would relaxing in our library sound?"
As much as I liked reading, I wasn't sure I could keep focused long enough to be able to actually read anything. There was too much information that I needed to process; there was no way I could take-in more information and retain it.
"Would you prefer watching a moving in our room?" Jane asked me.
"I promise there will be no funny business; just a relaxing time watching a movie." Heidi added.
I wasn't looking forward to spending any alone time with them; not after everything we had talked about. That was also something I wanted to think about. I wanted to process everything I had learned and been told about the two vampires next to me. I wanted to try and get an idea about what I could expect with them from now on.
"Can I go visit Edward?" I asked.
I wanted to tell everything I had been told and I wanted to know what he thought about it all. I wanted to know what he thought I should do or the best thing to do in my situation. Even after all they had said, I still wanted to go to Edward for his help. At the moment, I still trusted him more than the Volturi. What was truly scary though, was that I was starting to think that I was starting to trust the Volturi more than I did Edward. I wasn't sure what to think about that.
"I don't think that would be best for now." Sulpicia answered right away and I once again felt my face drop. "We understand that you truly do care for him but we want to get to you know you better. Heidi and Jane want to know you better; and they want the opportunity to learn more about you and they want to be able to do that without Edward interfering and talking about them. We want a chance for you to get to know us and not have your opinion of us tainted by anything someone else might say."
I couldn't fault them for that. They wanted a fair chance and even though I didn't like everything they were telling me, I could still understand where they were coming from.
"Oh." I said, even more deflated than before.
Heidi stood up and pulled me up with her so that we were both standing.
"Come on Bella, lets' go watch a pointless movie that will your pretty head to wonder wherever you want it to." Heidi said but didn't bother to pull me towards the exit of the room until I nodded in acceptance. Jane was quickly standing and following us out the door.
"Whenever you get hungry, let them know and they will make sure you get food." Didyme said.
"If you have any questions for any of us, just let them know and they will help you." Sulpicia added. I expected Athenodora to say something, but she remained silent as the two vampires dragged me out of the room and down the hallway towards someplace new.
"If you decide that you don't want to watch anything, just let us know." Jane said as she followed me and Heidi.
The two lead me to their room and even though I had only known this, I was still surprised that it was so close to my own. Their room though, was much smaller than mine. I also couldn't help but notice that there weren't many personal touches in the room. It almost seemed like a larger than normal hotel room that also had a sitting area; where the TV was. In front of the TV, there was a comfortable looking couch and off to the side, not much to the side since the room wasn't all that big, was a small table with a couple of chairs to sit at.
"You'll have to excuse the lack of decorations, Jane and I just moved in and we are currently only using this room temporarily." Heidi said as she pulled me towards the couch and sat us down together.
"Temporarily?" I asked as Jane walked towards the TV to grab the remote that was on top of it. For a really old castle, a lot of the rooms were really high tech. I wonder if they updated all the rooms or only the actively used ones.
"Eventually we're going to move in with you." Heidi said as she tossed her arm behind me on top of the couch. "There's no way we're not going to live with our mate; at least not for too long. Just until you get more comfortable with us."
I wasn't sure that was ever going to happen, but I was so tired of saying anything against what they were telling me, I decided just to keep my opinions to myself. There was nothing that I could say that would change their minds and it wasn't like they were actually living in my room right now. She said that they were here until I was comfortable enough to live with them; I didn't think that was ever going to happen, so I was safe.
"Do you want to pick something to watch?" Jane asked as she flashed over from the TV to sitting next to me on the couch.
"I don't really care what we watch." I answered, just wanting to watch something that would distract me from everything.
Jane only hummed in response, turned on the TV and started flipping through channels. The rest of the day was spend just relaxing and watching TV. I didn't even know what they had put on, I was at least a few movies but I hadn't paid any attention to it. Instead, I thought about everything I had learned. I had started to over think everything that I was told. At one point, after thinking a lot about what was going to happen to Charlie and that I was never going to be able to see him again, I started crying and leaned my head against Heidi. I was surprised that Heidi didn't say anything, all she did was move her arm to be around my waist and pulled me into her. Jane even moved her hand to my thigh. I could feel both of their silent support and at that moment, that was all I needed. Once I had calmed down, I hadn't even moved from leaning against Heidi. I was there against her, until dinner and after dinner, I ended up leaning against Jane. We stayed there until I kicked them out when it was really late and I was close to falling asleep. My first full day at the Volturi castle was definitely a very emotional one and unfortunately, I didn't think it was going to be a one time event.