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 ^^
If anyone has any questions or concerns about me posting on P atreon, please PM me about it and I will explain the move, but please don't post a review about it, please leave reviews to be just that: a review about the story. There was a lot of thought and research about moving to P atreon and I'm more than happy to explain it all. But please, above all else, enjoy the chapter! =D
When Bella woke up and after a quick trip to the bathroom, she was slightly surprised to find Kate laying comfortably on the couch with her arms under her head and her eyes closed. She had no shame in admitting that she had actually thought she would wake up to her lying on the bed or staring at her from the corner of the room like Edward used to do. She was pleasantly surprised to see her far enough away to at least pretend to give an illusion of privacy; as much as one could have when they were with a vampire.
"Do we have time for breakfast?" Bella asked, unsure of exactly what their timeline was; she didn't want to piss of the vampire royalty even more than her existence already did.
Kate was on her feet faster than Bella could see, a giant grin on her face, happy that things were finally moving along. "For you? Always." She said as she walked towards the door, "Carmen said they will order room service for you from their room while we talk." She opened the door and held her hand out for Bella to take, not even thinking her human wouldn't.
Bella started to walk towards the door, but walked straight past Kate and to the opposite door with the rest of the coven in it. She knocked on the door as Kate walked up next to her with a pout firmly on her face, "I was so good last night though, I didn't peep at all and I get the cold shoulder?" She asked, sounding just on the edge of pathetic.
"She knows you probably wouldn't let go of your hand once you hand though because deep down, you really are a perv." Irina said with a completely faux smile as she opened the door before Bella even got a chance to knock, "She's smart to know not to let you latch on too early in the day." She said as she winked towards Bella and ushered the woman into the room.
"How did you sleep Bella?" Eleazar asked before Kate could retort, the blonde instead resorting to sticking her tongue out at her sister; she was not above childish actions if it still got the point across.
"I slept really well, thank you." She said as Tanya gestured towards the couch she was standing next to.
"You can look at this menu and just point to what you want, whatever or however much you want and then we'll order it from your room so we aren't interrupted and then bring it over here for you." Tanya said with a smile as she handed over the menu for the human to look over. "While you do that and while we wait, we will talk about everything that Eleazar and Carmen discussed with the queens."
Bella nodded, not really expecting to put much into the conversation but curious none-the-less. Perhaps they would continue to act as they had and listen if there was something she wanted to say. If she had her way, perhaps she could have the Denali's adopt her instead of the Cullen's; they seemed a lot more fun and realistic to be around than the Cullen's were.
"Were they able to see you right away?" Irina asked, allowing the door to slam shut and then immediately zooming over to jump over the couch to sit next to Bella, making Kate sit next to her instead. The smirk Irina gave Kate let everyone know it was done on purpose.
"They were once we told Gianna, their current secretary, that a human knew of our existence and that vampires had let her walk away." Eleazar answered.
"It also helped when we told them there was a false mate claim that was likely still in place." Carmen added with her own smirk, more than happy to sell out the Cullen's with all they've done. She wasn't stupid enough to think that the queens would see them when they asked, but the fact that it was a former member and still friend that asked, then add to it which laws were broken and they were seen right away.
They were not pleased when they found out what happened.
"They promised to see us as soon as Bella was awake and could get to the castle to give her testimony." Eleazar explained, "Sulpicia will use her gift to get her answers."
Bella had just pointed out what she had wanted to Irina when their conversation actually caught her attention. Vampire gifts were completely interesting to Bella; as someone liked reading, she was all about the fictional being fictional when it came to vampires. It was as close to being in the Harry Potter world she would ever get.
"What power does she have?" She asked as Irina slowly left her spot, only to get kicked out of the way by Kate so she could take the newly available seat.
"That's rude." Bella said as she frowned at the blonde now sitting next to her.
"No, what's rude is my darling little sister taking my seat when she knew I would want to sit here." Kate said in a defensive tone, "And why are you taking her side anyways; I'm your mate, you should be mad that she took my seat."
"You aren't anything but a nuisance right now that has issues with space." Bella said, matching her defensive tone and saying what she knew would irk Kate but not completely devastate her. She wasn't one hundred percent sold on the whole mate idea, regardless of how convincing Kate was, so she gave the woman as much of a hard time as she could when she mentioned being mates… or any other time she could. It was fun.
"Can you two not flirt right now," Tanya said with a small smile, "Says Irina from your room." She added, completely amused with her sister and her mate; she was truly happy for her sister and technically, since they still had to wait for Bella's food and for her to eat, they had time for their weird flirting tactics that somehow endears Kate to Bella. It was both amusing and fascinating to watch them both woo each other.
"We're not flirting." Bella quickly retorted, her face reddening at the accusation. She didn't think they were flirting, they were talking, sometimes arguing. That's all.
"Hell yeah we are." Kate said with a wide grin then looked at Bella's mortified face, "I mean, no we're not, we're just talking." She quickly said with a stern face that definitely didn't look like she was serious about it at all.
"You sound very convincing." Tanya said, "Irina says again and should probably just wait to talk back until she gets back in the room so I don't have to translate for her." She said with a fond roll of her eyes.
Carmen and Eleazar chuckled from their spots, completely okay with just letting the sisters and the human talk amongst themselves. Sometimes with just the sisters it was better than television, adding in the human to the mix just made it more interesting.
"We're just talking, right Bella?" She asked, hoping her mate would side with her since it was what she wanted in the first place.
"I don't even know anymore." She answered, not wanting to look at the blonde in case she got teased again for possibly flirting. She didn't know how to flirt, how in the world could she be accused of flirting?
"What?" Kate asked her face falling as she turned to face her mate fulling on the couch, sitting sideways, "But I'm agreeing with you now, so you should agree with me." She said.
"What is your obsession with having me agree with you?" Bella asked, turning her attention back to Kate, forgetting her embarrassment and confusion.
"I'm not obsessed." Kate defended with an over dramatic gasp, "I just want my mate to defend me." She said, then quickly added a bit more information when she said Bella's irritation at her lack of answer, "It's hot okay; I just want to see you defend me, or side with me because I just think it's hot." She said shrug of her shoulders as if to say 'what more could there be?'.
"Really?" Bella asked with a shocked face, she really shouldn't have expected anything else, "Do you think about anything else?"
"What else is there besides how hot you and how hot it will be when we finally have sex?" Kate asked, truly baffled about what she was getting at.
"Sex?" Bella asked with wide eyes as Irina walked back into the room.
"Told you she was a pervert." Irina muttered as she moved to lean against the armchair Tanya had decided to sit on.
"I am not." Kate defended, not really offended because there was a reason they were all called a succubus.
"You kind of are." Bella said in a blunt tone, doing her best to hide her amusement at the attention being turned to Kate and her bad habits instead of being on her. She was all for teasing Kate.
"How could you say that?" Kate asked, just momentarily sounding offended, "Unless of course you find that hot, then I can be as big of pervert as you want."
"Of course she finds it hot," Irina asked, not above teasing Bella either since she was technically her sister now and vampires were really good at building fast bonds; therefore she wasn't holding anything back from her loving, sisterly banter. "She's your mate."
Kate shot Bella both a victorious a joyful smile full of teeth at her sisters words, "See! I'm not the only one that thinks so."
"Maybe, but you're still the only pervert." Bella answered, taking up Irina's word choice.
"I haven't even done anything yet." Kate said in shock that her mate was targeting her with that label too; and as an insult instead of praise.
"Yet?" Bella asked skeptically, she didn't actually think Kate would admit it.
"Well of course, we're mates, just because we aren't having sex yet doesn't mean I can't cope a feel now and then and always." She flippantly said as if there was never any other option or way.
"Tanya!" Bella said as she moved off the couch and moved towards the coven leader to sit on the arm of her chair like Irina was on the other side. "Can't you keep her from assaulting me? You're her coven leader."
"That was out of line Kate." Tanya said with a shake of her head, "You know better sister."
"But, that's not what I meant!" Kate immediately stood and started to defend herself, her words only then starting to register with her. "I meant after we had gotten to that stage in our relationship; and of course you can grope me whenever you want! You can grope me now if you wanted, I wouldn't mind and I wouldn't touch you at all until you say so." She said with wide eyes, trying desperately to correct her words.
A knocking on the door opposite them sounded as Bella answered, the human not hearing the knock, "Since that is your room and you have to room key, go get your food and we can continue our talk about what the queens are expecting." Tanya said, stopping the conversation, knowing that Kate was already in the doghouse with her mate and was simply much too good at talking herself into a hole. She could grovel for her mate's forgiveness later.
"But," Kate started but then only sighed and hung her shoulders in defeat as she walked out of the room; her mate was hungry and that was the priority. She would fix things later when she didn't have an audience to mock her. At least not an audience that could mock her to her face.
"Now, what exactly do the queens know?" Tanya asked as Kate left to claim Bella's food for her.
"Everything we know, she used her gift on me and I held nothing back." Eleazar answered.
"Good, as there is nothing to hide." Irina scoffed, offended that anyone would assume they would hide something. They were known nearly as well for being sticklers of the law as they were for starting the legend of succubae.
"What is her power?" Bella repeated her earlier question, knowing this time she would get an answer.
"She can force anyone to tell the truth; it's a compulsion to answer her questions that no one can deny and it's always with the truth." Eleazar answered, "It was how she discovered her coven member was so corrupt and attempting to take over the vampire world with force and by taking people's wills away. She had well over a dozen vampires killed, including her brother and his mates and took control herself with her mate and Aro's own sister. Now the three queens, Sulpicia who can make anyone tell the truth, and her mate Athenodora who is unmatched in anything strategy and their claimed sister Didyme who can give anyone happiness, rule the vampire world with an iron fist."
Vampire powers were cool. Bella thought as Kate walked in with her food and she started to eat right away so they could leave as soon as possible.
Within an hour of Bella eating, they were in the Voltera castle, being escorted into the throne room where only a select few vampires were waiting. Eleazar and his fellow vampire coven mates recognized that the queens had called their elite guard to be with them. It was serious business when there was talk about such illegal actions Carlisle and Edward were taking; they didn't want just anyone to be in the room and the queens would never not be protected.
The queens weren't like anything Bella expected to see. The middle queen wore what seemed like a gothic dress that belong in a time long forgotten expect in history books. She had a small smile on her face like she was about to win something big. The blonde next to her wore much more modern clothes, just a simple power suit without the jacket and a high ponytail that stood out starkly against her suit. The other queen was a noir in the truest sense, she also wore a gothic dress, darker than the red dress the blonde queen wore, and it seemed to make the vampire look even more paler than a typical vampire.
The middle queen, the blonde in a dress, had stood to walk forward but before she could say anything, Kate and a guard were immediately growling and that set everyone on edge.
"Kate." Tanya warned, not wanting to turn her back on the queens as she was in front of her coven as she led them into the room, but she needed Kate to get a grip of herself. While Kate loved to not be serious all the time, she knew how to be when needed; she was a warrior, a successful warrior at that, for a reason.
Bella looked a Kate, worried about what had her so angry. Kate had made sure that Bella walked into the room with her arm around her shoulders so everyone knew she was taken and not up for grabs. As much as Bella didn't like the possessive stance when not even Carmen and Eleazar were doing more than walking next to each other, she understood that she was a human walking into human drinkers den. Kate made her feel very safe while she was in very real danger, so she wasn't about to argue or shrug off her arm.
Bella immediately saw Kate was glaring at someone, not the queens, as the queens were straight ahead, but one of the guards. Bella followed Kate's line of sight and saw two vampires stood close to each other; so close that either they were mates or just really close to each other. The taller one had sandy blonde hair and was glaring at them; but the shorter blonde woman with a librarian type bun on her air had a snarl on her face and was clearly the one growling at them. Or really, she was growling just at Kate.
"The human is mine." The woman said in a stern voice that definitely matched her whole posture.
"Bella is mine." Kate growled, her grip tightening on Bella's shoulders just shy of being painful.
"Well, isn't this an interesting turn of events." The noir woman said from her seat, "What fun we shall have."