AN: I am updating faster this time thanks to all the amazing reviewers after last chapter. I appreciate every one of you and I want to quickly address some of the things I've heard as always. This story is an M rated story so yes there will be a time for that to come into play but this chapter is not there yet. I want to build their relationship first and foremost, even though I do love the idea of the vampire instincts and the strong mate bond. They will likely get physical soon though so have patience, and I will mark that chapter or portion of the chapter so that those who wish to skip over it can do so easily. Also, I've never liked Edward so beware.
Edward slowly rose to his feet, a frown on his face. He growled softly at the realization that he could no longer hear his sister's thoughts. Small, thin cracks lined his neck and arms, quickly disappearing as his body healed itself.
Meanwhile Isabella and Rosalie were in their own little world, Rosalie with a look of hesitancy marred by contempt, Isabella with a look of hurt adoration. She had finally found her mate… it just had to be a Cullen. And of all of the Cullens it just had to be her, Rosalie fucking Hale, ice queen and the only family member that Isabella could never quite get to like her.
"Why oh why couldn't it have been Alice or even Esme for crying out loud" Isabella thought to herself with a grimace.
She could feel the deeply engrained seeds of betrayal and pain coming to the surface and closed her eyes, drawing in a deep unnecessary breath in order to calm down. The only one that she was truly mad at was Edward, not her mate and her family.
Emmett was the first to break the silence, booming out, "Bella! You look hot!" which earned him a swift slap upside the head from Alice and a warning growl from Rosalie whose golden eyes betrayed anger upon an otherwise impassive face. Emmett had the decency to look sheepish as he rubbed his head with a playful smile. Isabella couldn't help but feel a stirring of fondness for the large vampire before her, though when he stepped forward to hug her, Isabella disappeared. On instinct, she had thrown her shields up around her, making her invisible to the Cullen family in every sense. Emmett looked amazed and clapped his hands together loudly and yelled about how badass Isabella had become.
The rest of the Cullen family looked worried and intimidated, knowing full well that Isabella now had powers that none of them could match. She wore black form fitting pants and a black top with a red V on the breast. It was the signature mark of the Volturi, as was the black hooded cape that Isabella wore on her back. They all knew three things for certain and none of them were easy to adjust to.
Isabella was a vampire and a part of the Volturi guard
Isabella was mated to Rosalie
Isabella could kill any one or all of them if she so felt like it
Rosalie took in a breath, marveling in the scent of her new mate. It was earthy and musky, with a hint of chocolate. It simultaneously soothed her and sent her mind into overdrive, her instincts telling her to take her mate. Isabella felt the same, though both knew that they would rather wait because of how much there was to talk about for all of them.
"Would you come back to the house with us? We can talk there, perhaps where it is a bit more comfortable," Esme said softly. Isabella met her honey colored eyes and gave an almost imperceptible nod of consent. Esme had once been like a mother to her, and no matter what had happened between her and the Cullens, Isabella could not bring herself to be rude to the woman.
Isabella looked at Jax and ran a hand through his silky mane as he continued to protectively stare down the Cullens with his chest bared to them. With a quick step to the side, Jax shifted back into his human form, startling everyone except for Isabella who simply smirked. Emmett looked amazed to see that Jax was bigger than him, secretly excited at the prospect to have another person to wrestle with. Jax stood tall and proud, his tan muscles rippling beneath his clothes as he stepped toward the Cullens who subconsciously flinched backward.
"My name is Jax. I am the last of my kind, the Abaven, and I am Isabella's guardian. If any of you wishes to hurt her you will have to get through me first, and I should let you know that I haven't lost a fight in over 300 years." His dark eyes reflected the threat and challenge behind his words, his deep voice sending shivers down the vampires' spines.
"Tell Jane and Alec to meet us at the Cullen residence. And Jax? We both know that I can protect myself." Isabella gave him a mental wink as he smiled subtly and walked off toward the edge of the forest to make the call.
Upon arriving at the Cullen home, Isabella was tossed back into the memories of her previous life. A growl began forming in her chest before she felt someone step up behind her. Rosalie's scent washed over Isabella and she closed her eyes, letting it soothe the beast inside of her. She gave Rosalie a small smile, and internally cheered when she saw the hesitant twitch of lips that her mate gave in response.
They walked inside and sat in the large living room, Isabella growling as Edward made a move to sit next to her. He frowned petulantly and moved, taking a position leaning up against the wall in mock confidence instead. Alice situated herself at Isabella's side, dragging a frowning Rosalie down beside her.
Rosalie was tense and her eyes betrayed a wide array of emotions buried carefully under a mask of apathy and resting coldness. Isabella for her part could barely take her eyes off of her mate, their newfound bond already making itself known.
"Bella, tell us, what happened to you?" Esme spoke.
"My name is Isabella," she responded. "When you all left me broken and confused on the forest floor that day… I withdrew into myself, I hated you all. Not long after, I was approached by Alec and Jane of the Volturi and once they realized that I was immune to their gifts, they recruited me. Over the past few years I have become one of the best Volturi guards and perfected my control over my gift. I met Jax in the first few minutes of arriving at the Volturi and there was an immediate connection between us. That part of my story is complicated, but you must know that Jax has kept his shifted form a secret from everyone except me. I made a mistake today and dropped my shield too soon for him to change forms so he remained there. There are people out there, vampires, that would kill him on site and take over rule of the vampire world. For this reason, you must all give me your word that you will not say anything to anyone. Most assume he is a wolf, so you may go with that. Make no mistake, I will kill any of you that reveal his secret."
"My Bella, you don't mean that. You could never kill your true mate," Edward said, flashing his perfect teeth in a crooked smile.
Before Isabella could even move, Rosalie had leaped up from her position beside Isabella and slapped Edward across the face. Hard. The resounding crack echoed around the room and Edward growled at the blonde before him. Isabella on the other hand was astounded and quite frankly turned on by the sudden show of ferocity from her blonde goddess. As Edward moved to retaliate, Isabella pressed her shield up around him, stopping him in his tracks. To erect and uphold this type of barrier took a lot of energy from her so she knew that she could not do it for long, she simply wanted to make a point. The room grew quiet as Edward's eyes went wide with offense and then narrowed dangerously seeing as he couldn't physically move his body.
Rosalie made her way back over to the couch and plopped down in the seat once again, impressed at Isabella's show of strength and control. Esme looked worried, Carlisle looked intrigued and slightly afraid, Emmett looked excited, Alice looked optimistic and in wonder, and Jasper, well he looked like a mix of everyone's emotions. Isabella released her hold on Edward and he dropped to the ground, glaring at her as he stood back up again.
It was then that Isabella picked up the familiar tug on her mind that meant Jax was drawing near. She smirked, knowing that the Cullens had heard of the witch twins before and, like most, were afraid of them. In a single breath, Alec, Jane, and Jax strode in at once. Carlisle forced a smile onto his face as the rest of the family stared.
"It's been a long time," Carlisle said.
"Ah yes it has," Jane replied, her voice cold and deadly. "I'm surprised that Isabella hasn't killed you all yet. Maybe she was just waiting for us to arrive, we did have that long-standing bet going."
Isabella shot her friend a sharp look as the Cullens had the good sense to look frightened at this revelation. Jasper looked like he was in pain as he tried to keep his family's emotions in check. Jane looked over curiously at Isabella, her eyes glancing toward a familiar blonde whose icy death glares could rival even her own. How strange, she sits away from the ape of a man and seems far more tense and emotional than usual.
"I'm sure Isabella has told you what happened after you left her to die?" Alec drawled out. Though his face was impassive, there was an obvious undertone of anger to his words.
"But did she tell you all the details?" Jane's voice filtered through the air like a cold winter breeze. There was a predatory smirk on her lips as she continued. "Carlisle you tend to stay well updated on world events. Tell me, do you know of Nyx?"
Carlisle nodded. "The goddess of the night. Known for her ability to disappear into the shadows and kill with deadly precision. She and her group have brought down more threats to the Volturi in the past 6 months than many have in years."
The family looked nervous again, even Jasper was eyeing Isabella with respect. Jane smiled, the cruel smile that didn't quite reach her deep ruby eyes. She gave Isabella a pointed stare and then glanced at Edward who stood unhappily against his wall. Isabella smiled and winked at her as Jane leveled her gaze on Edward. Isabella pulled back the mental shield that she had immediately erected around her friends and allowed Edward to see into Jane's thoughts just long enough to know what was coming. He screamed and dropped to the ground in pain as Jane's gift made its move on him, but as soon as it had begun it ended.
"I just really wanted to do that," Jane laughed as Edward burned holes in her head with his obsidian black eyes.
He was getting incredibly tired of being outmatched by women and being rejected by his mate. For a girl, his sister, nonetheless. She was meant to be with him. She was going to be with him. No matter what he had to do to make that happen. In a blur, Edward left the room, running deep into the forest with anger coursing through his veins.
After Edward had left, Isabella told Jane and Alec to go back to the hotel and continue their search for the newborns. Jax voted to remain with Isabella at the Cullen house with a promise that once Isabella was able to leave her mate's side that they would both return. Jane simply rolled her eyes and gave the Cullens a final icy glare as she left with her brother.
"We are going to have to deal with the wolves soon. They will be ready for war after today. They are foolish and fueled by anger, they will not hesitate to attack even if they don't know who you are or what you can do." Alice said softly.
"We can plan a meeting with them tonight if you wish, I will bring Alec and Jane to meet us so that we can avoid a foolish fight." Isabella's tone left no room for discussion and all the surrounding vampires nodded their heads.
Isabella quietly asked Rosalie if they could go somewhere to talk, somewhere the family would not be able to interrupt. Rosalie nodded curtly, flashing Isabella an odd look as she stood and declared that they were going to go hunting. The rest of the family began to go their separate ways as Rosalie and Isabella left, but Jax held up a hand to stop them.
"I need to fill you in on one more important thing," his deep voice rumbled. "The reason that we were sent here is because there is a newborn army forming nearby. We were sent to take care of them and whoever created them. So far we have encountered them once when they were about to fight the wolf shifters. There were 12 of them in the group but we have a feeling that there are more. We managed to kill two of the twelve and the rest scattered and ran. We need to make sure that they are dealt with swiftly and with caution."
"We know, it's what our fight with the wolves was about," Carlisle responded. "They thought it was one of us that had crossed the treaty line."
"We will bring it up in the meeting tonight."
"So…" Isabella looked around awkwardly as her and Rosalie came to a stop near a river deep within the forest. She ran her fingers through her long, wavy dark hair before sighing and looking up at the woman before her. Rosalie gave her a hesitant smile, the pull of their bond making her want to feel and open up to Isabella but knowing that there was still so much left unsaid, so much to learn. The woman she found herself looking at was not the woman she had expected; this was not what she expected her Bella to turn into.
When Edward had forced them to leave, the family was devastated. Alice, missing her friend, had spent many of her nights anxious and refused to eat. Her visions were blurry, flashes of dark hair and a familiar face, but she lost sight of Bella soon after they left. Now they knew that it was because of Isabella's shield and the presence of the shifter with her, blocking her visions entirely with regards to them.
Rosalie for her part had felt an odd emptiness without Bella in their lives. Though she did not feel the mate bond when Isabella was human, she knew from the moment their eyes first met in the cafeteria that Isabella was special. However, when Edward declared her his mate and began pursuing her, Rosalie retreated further into herself and her marriage.
Emmett knew that they were not mates, but the friendship and the love that they shared was enough to keep the pair together for decades. Emmett was and remained a loyal companion and the only person that Rosalie felt she could be entirely honest and open with. So, soon after the family left Forks, Rosalie called off their relationship and was met with nothing but understanding and acceptance from the Cullen family.
The woman before her, Rosalie noted, was nothing like the shy meek Bella that they had been forced to leave behind. This woman was grace and power wrapped into one deadly but beautiful form. This woman quite literally dropped from the sky with a shapeshifter whose form was a majestic black lion with wings. Wings for fucks sake. This woman, whose violet eyes were currently piercing her own with a look of utter sadness lined with hope.
"You look good Bella," Rosalie called out. Her golden eyes were guarded yet they reflected the pain and regret that swam within her. Isabella gave her a small smile in return, her violet eyes searching Rosalie's intently.
"So do you," she whispered, stepping slightly closer. Rosalie held her breath, captivated by the beauty before her.
"I never wanted to leave. None of us did actually. Edward… he convinced Carlisle that it was best. Alice looked for you and lost sight of you soon after. Alice nearly sent me to check on you but Edward discovered our plan and stopped us. I…" Rosalie trailed off, glancing at the ground where her heels dug into the dirt.
"I don't understand this" Isabella sighed. "Why now? Why us?"
Hurt flashed through Rosalie's eyes so fast Isabella wasn't sure if she imagined it before Rosalie absentmindedly observed her nails and brushed her hair to the side.
"You have a husband who loves you, I was dating your brother, you absolutely hated me and everything about me" Isabella paused and took a breath as Rosalie arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at her, golden eyes flashing.
"I never hated you Isabella" Rosalie said softly. "I was afraid for my family, frustrated with these feelings I couldn't identify, and angry that a small human could come in and turn my entire life upside down by simply tripping into it."
Isabella snorted and laughed in response.
"Emmett and I ended after we left. I could not shake the feeling that he wasn't the one for me any longer. I felt… emptier after we left but I refused to give it too much thought."
"I was told that vampires can only truly feel the mate bond with other supernatural creatures. Is that why you were able to watch me date Edward and be with Emmett?"
Rosalie pondered the question and then nodded. "There was something there but it was subtle enough that I could ignore it and chalk it up to other emotions. Fine line between love and hate as they say." Rosalie gave a rueful grin. "But I must say that this you, I definitely did not expect."
Isabella laughed, violet eyes sparkling. She shrugged, looking down at her attire and the blood red crest on her chest. Upon seeing Rosalie's eyes doing a similar maneuver, Isabella winked.
"I don't know how to do this. This whole mate thing. Your family hurt me. I vowed my revenge and instead I was given a mate in the form of the one person who didn't seem to like me while I was human. Fate has a funny sense of humor that way I guess."
Meanwhile, Edward made his way through the forest angrily, punching through trees and boulders alike. He was at least 10 miles in when he stopped abruptly, cocking his head to the side as voices filtered through his head.
"We need a plan. The Volturi has sent their best to take care of my army. We grow stronger and more numerous every day but it is not enough. We must find a way to destroy the Volturi guards that are here before we can even think about growing our army and taking the fight to Volterra." A strong male voice stood out amongst the others and Edward smiled to himself. Thoughts of Jane's gifts setting his nerves ablaze, Rosalie and her attempts to steal his mate, and the humiliation of being beaten up by his once weak and easily manipulated girlfriend flooded his mind, causing him to see red. Anger coursed through Edward's veins as he approached the group of vampires.
Two guards at the edge of camp spotted him and attacked, but were quickly thrown away, crashing through the trees. The sound alerted the rest of the camp and Edward strode forward his head held high and his hands up in surrender.
"My name is Edward Masen. I need to speak to your leader at once. I have information that could change everything." He gave the newborns a crooked smile and ran his hand through his untidy bronze hair as he continued walking.
He knew where the leader was, but would prefer to keep his gift to himself for the time being, so he played dumb and asked where to find him. Soon he was face to face with a tall vampire with bright red eyes and extremely pale skin. Edward looked at the man curiously, taking in his appearance and the way that he held himself, as well as tracking the man's thoughts.
"You're an ancient" he stated. "Why are you creating a newborn army?"
The ancient vampire simply stared at Edward, smiling cruelly as he felt the waves of anger, pain, and desire for revenge that radiated off him.
"My name is Abaddon. I am indeed an ancient, I have walked this earth longer than any vampire. Tell me, Edward Masen, what brings you here?" The man's voice was cold and calculating, a definite threat evident.
"I know of your plans and I wish to help. I know the names of the guard members and their gifts. I also know the vampire coven that they have met up with and the nearby pack of shifters." Edward gazed at the ancient.
"And how do you know all of this?" Abaddon asked. "Are you a spy? Sent here to infiltrate us?"
"No, I live here. The coven is my family and that woman your army fears, the one that killed two of your men without being seen or sensed, that is my mate. She is under some sort of spell, thinking that she belongs with my sister and that she can fight me, when truly she mine. I will have my mate back under my control once I can manage to dispose of my sister." Edward's eyes were black with anger and Abaddon smiled at him, resting a hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly, Edward felt captivated by the vampire before him, his black eyes returning to gold as Abaddon spoke. "Tell me everything you know Edward Masen, including how you can be of help to us." Compulsion washed over Edward's mind and he was powerless to stop the automatic answer that bubbled up from his lips.
"Isabella is not my mate but she belongs with me. She will make a good, dutiful wife to me with Rosalie gone. I can read minds, it is how I knew about your plans and about what happened to your soldiers. Alice can see the future; she is the small vampire of the family. Rosalie is the beautiful blonde but she has no powers. Emmett, her mate, has almost newborn strength and is a large man. Jasper can sense and manipulate emotions and he fought in the vampire wars of the south so he is well trained and our best fighter. Carlisle is my father, the man who turned me, and he used to work for the Volturi. His wife, Esme, is the kindest most loving woman I have ever known. It could easily be exploited. Isabella travels with three others from the guard. Jane and Alec Volturi and a shifter. Jane can cause unimaginable pain and Alec can take away someone's senses. Isabella has a powerful shield that I have seen be physical, mental, and against the senses, making her impossible to see or sense. She can expand it onto others. The shifter is strange, something I have never seen or heard of, a black winged lion with violet eyes like Isabella's." Edward's voice was monotone and his eyes glossed over as he recited what he knew to Abaddon, whose brow furrowed with each word.
"A winged lion? Are you sure?" Abaddon interrupted, his eyes flashing. Edward nodded as Abaddon released him from his compulsion.
Abaddon was deep in thought as he clapped Edward on the shoulder, deciding that this man and his anger would be easily turned to their cause. A mind reader nonetheless, someone who could make sure that his newborns remained loyal and help gather intel without leaving a bloody trail. Edward for his part looked confused, unable to remember telling Abaddon everything that he knew because of the compulsion gift Abaddon possessed.
"How would you like to join us Edward? You could be of great help. I plan on taking out the guards that are here and then the Volturi. The Abaven friend of your mate will die as well so that there is nothing left to stop us. Be wary Edward Masen, you have powerful enemies now, but even more powerful allies. I will make you a king and we will take back your mate. I can give you whatever you desire, as many loyal women as you wish, as much power as you want. We can rule together." Abaddon's voice was like silk as it wrapped around Edward's mind, only a slight hint of compulsion intertwined within his words.
Edward smiled his crooked smile in return and nodded, grasping the outstretched hand of the ancient before him to confirm their new alliance. His anger and hurt pride were now directed to one goal, to take down any and all who stood against him, to rule with all the power in the world. Though it seemed odd to him that Abaddon was so interested in the shifter… it was almost as if he knew him from somewhere before.