Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
A/N: I do not reread what I write because I'm insanely lazy. So there are probably lots of errors, please excuse and ignore them.
When we had finally gotten back to the Cullen's, I found that I was actually anxious to get our time here over with so that I could spend some time alone with the queens. I didn't think I would ever want to spend time alone with them, but I couldn't help but look forward to it.
"It's about time you two are back, I was about to send Demetri out to go find you." Sulpicia said with a smirk.
"Don't lie, you wouldn't have sent him, you would have gone yourself." Didyme said with an amused smile as the two of us took a seat of the couch. I, of course, got placed in the middle in between Didyme and Sulpicia.
"Just be quiet you two; let us get the reports done so we can leave." Athenodora said her spot, standing just off to the side of the couch. She didn't look at all happy right now. I was instantly curious as to whether or not they had found anything.
"That's a good idea. Jasper, why don't you go ahead and fill Didyme in?" Carlisle said in a calm voice.
It didn't outwardly seem like it, but I had a feeling that Carlisle was purposefully having Jasper give the report. I had no doubt that either Sulpicia or Athenodora could have filled in Didyme within seconds and we could have been gone already. I think Carlisle chose to have Jasper give the report out of some weird territorial thing. He probably wanted to somehow let the queens know that even though they out rank him, so to speak since they are considered queens, this was still his home, his land and territory. I wondered what the queens thought about that.
"Before you do that Jasper, Bella, why don't you go visit with Alice upstairs while we talk about this?" Edward said in what used to be a charming voice to me. I couldn't help but think if he was trying to get rid of me. But, why would he do that.
"Actually, and I'm sure Alice would be okay with this, I want to hear what Jasper has to say. So, I think I'll just stay here." I answered clearly shocking him by denying him what he wanted me to do. Even though I had my full attention on Edward, I was talking to him after all; I could practically feel the queens' smirks.
"I don't think it would be good for you to hear this. I don't want you to be worried over nothing." Edward said with a smile that would always leave me dazzled, but this time, it had no effect on me.
"This has everything to do with me though. I want to know what happened and what's being planned." I said, trying my best not sound like I was begging to be there.
The queens involve me a lot more in everything, a lot more than Edward or the Cullen's ever had. At the time, I hadn't realized that I was being kept out of the loop so much. Since I've been around the queens that seem to involve me in everything they can, like they actually want me involved, I've been a lot happier. I like that the queens treat me as an adult, like someone that can make my own decisions. The Cullen's treated me with respect, don't get me wrong, but they never treated me like I could be independent. I had never really realized that and now, seeing Edward acting and talking like he is and the Cullen's not saying anything about it, it hurts a little.
"You don't need to be told though Bella." Edward said, sounding like he was imploring me to understand him. "I'm just trying to protect you and I don't think it's necessary for you to know."
I was trying my best not to explode at Edward. I couldn't believe that I had one point thought his actions were endearing. I couldn't believe that I loved when he acted like this. As I stumbled to figure out what to say, the queens spoke up for me; another thing Edward never did.
"That's ridiculous Edward. How can Bella's own safety not be solely about her? How would Bella not want to hear about what threats are out there?" Sulpicia asked, glaring at Edward.
"There's no way we're going to make any decisions about Bella's safety without Bella agreeing to anything. We wouldn't want to do something that she was uncomfortable with, would we?" Didyme asked with a smile that definitely threatening.
"If someone were after me, I would want to know everything I could to make sure I planned accordingly. I wouldn't care how many people I had defending me." Athenodora said with a thoughtful expression and then added with a dangerous smirk. "How do you think we have managed to live in power for so long?"
Edward didn't take being told he was wrong very well. I could see his clenched fists at his side that seemed to be itching to hit something. His eyes briefly darkened from anger, which resulted in Sulpicia wrapping her arm around me and pulling me into her, Athenodora moved to stand closer to me and Didyme leaned into me. All three of them, at the possible threat of Edward lashing out, moved closer to me to protect me; unlike what Edward would have done. He would have moved away from me, he would have left me abandoned in the woods. Unlike Edward who had felt giving me space and leaving me would protect me, the queens held me closer and refused to let me leave their sight to keep me safe. This wasn't the best of places to come to this realization, but, with all four of them together in the room, I now knew there was no way I could ever go back to Edward. I didn't want to leave the queens, I couldn't bear it.
As I came to that realization, Edward made himself calm down when he saw the reaction the queens had. I also had no doubt they had some very choice words being said, or screamed, in their heads. Edward had some obvious struggles with calming down and with being able to hear everyone's thoughts, it wasn't helping. After nearly a minute, Edward seemed to finally calm down. At least he had, until Alice gasped as she went into a vision.
The vision lasted for maybe just a couple seconds, but whatever it was, it definitely seemed like it was a big vision.
Edward, who had just calmed down, growled loudly. I wasn't expecting it and even though I wasn't afraid any of these vampires would hurt me, the unexpected growl certainly affected me. When I heard the growl, I had instantly tensed up and instinctively pressed myself further into Sulpicia. The moment Edward was done growling, I got over the fear and focused on calming my heart from racing in the momentary fright.
The queens' reaction to Edwards' growl was not necessarily something every girl dreams of, mostly because most girls didn't know vampires were real, but to me, I loved their reactions. Sulpicia pulled me tighter into her, so much so that I had thought she was going to pull me onto her lap. Thinking back on it, I found I was actually a little disappointed that she didn't pull me onto her lap. Athenodora, instead of being off to the side to leave my view wide open of everything, she moved and restricted my view a little. She crouched down in front of me in a defensive position. She crouched low enough in front of me so that I could still see but she could immediately intervene if she needed to. Didyme, though still pressed on my side opposite of Sulpicia, she was now sitting on the edge of seat. She was probably waiting to intervene if Edward did something stupid.
"That will not happen." Edward said, his voice sounding on the verge of growling again. "That could never happen."
"You need to calm down right now or leave." Sulpicia ordered. There was no questioning what she said. Her tone reflected that she expected Edward to do what she said and I had no doubt that there was an unspoken threat when she talked.
Edward completely ignored Sulpicia and turned his glare from Alice to me.
"How could you Bella?" Edward asked me, looking very depressed.
I obviously knew Edward was talking about Alice's vision; but Alice's visions were of the future, so I hadn't done anything yet. I gave him a confused look and without me having to vocalize anything, Edward began talking again.
"You picked them; how could you pick them over me?"
I felt everyone's eyes immediately turn to me. I had everyone's undivided attention and I didn't like. My face quickly turned red and I wanted nothing more than to somehow make the ground swallow me up so I could get out of the spotlight. I wasn't sure what I could say, so I just sat there, leaning against Sulpicia, who had a smile on her face now, gaping at Edward.
"Well, Bella? We're meant to be together." Edward said; his tone growing desperate.
"Edward, I, I don't know what to say." I clumsily said. This wasn't a conversation I wanted to have in front of everybody; especially without speaking with the queens first. I had just barely decided I liked the queens too much to leave; I couldn't actually talk about it. I was still letting my feelings finish processing and settled down.
"Why Bella, just tell me why." Edward begged. He looked completely heart broken and I felt guilty that I had apparently made him feel that way. I never wanted to hurt him, even after what he had put me through; it just wasn't who I was. But this wasn't the time or place for this conversation.
"Can we please talk later Edward?" I definitely wanted to talk with the queens first and then I would talk with him.
"I want to talk about it now." Edward said, reminding me of a child that wanted its' way. If I actually thought about, that's what Edward actually was. He technically had the maturity of a 17 year old boy since his brain was frozen, basically, when he was turned; so it never matured. He always got what he wanted because he would always through a fit if he didn't get his way. The more I spent time around him again, the more I couldn't believe I had actually practically obsessed over him.
"I believe Bella has already told you what she wanted Edward and you will respect her wishes. If you can't, then you can leave." Athenodora ordered with a stern look at Edward.
"Right now though, I've been waiting to hear a report from Jasper, I would like to hear it now so that we won't be out too late tonight; some of us actually need sleep." Didyme said, sending me a smile that instantly had me relax. I hadn't even realized how tense I had gone from talking, or arguing with Edward.
Edward opened his mouth and he looked like he was going to argue, but Felix showed up next to him, placed his hand on Edwards shoulder and seemed to escort him out. When Edward was finally out the area, the tension that was in the room practically disappeared and I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Now, Jasper, what is the report?" Didyme kindly asked as she snaked her around my waist while she sunk back into the couch. I was very proud that I didn't tense at her touch and I didn't blush, I was actually happy that she was touching me. I couldn't help but think I would be more comfortable if I could someone be cuddle with Athenodora as well.
I was nearly as afraid of that thought like I probably would have been just a few days ago.
"We have confirmed that Victoria is building a newborn army in Seattle. She has quite a few under her control, they have been reckless but the humans don't suspect vampire activity yet. They believe a serial killer is loose. Alice is working to find out when they plan to attack and where, but it doesn't seem Victoria is the one making all the decisions. Since Alice doesn't know who to look for, it's near impossible for her to force a vision with the wanted information." Jasper said quickly and sounding the very professional that I've always see him behave as.
"Keep up patrols and try to get information, but don't risk revealing yourselves and start a fight in the city. We can't have a fight start that close to humans." Athenodora ordered.
"Now if you'll excuse us, we'll want to discuss this information." Sulpicia said in a dismissive tone. At first I had thought when she said that the four of us would be leaving to talk somewhere. I say the four of us, because I wasn't really in the mood to leave their presence after the emotional ride Edward just put me through. But the queens stayed put and the Cullen's all left. I'm assuming everyone moved far enough to be out of ear shot, except for a guard or two, just in case.
"Bella's room is set up perfectly for us to get in and out of without her father noticing. There's a perfect little window to sneak in and out of." Didyme said once the Cullen's were out of the room. "You are still okay with us keeping you company in your room, in the dark, at night, right?" Didyme asked with a teasing smirk that caused my face to go red.
"Of course I'm okay with that." I said, trying my best not to stutter or sound at all affected by her words accompanied by the look she gave me.
"Wonderful, then I'll make sure some of our things are moved into your room so that we can have at least a change of clothes or two available there if we need it for some reason." Sulpicia said with a wide smile, clearly very happy at now having free access to my room.
"I think it would also be best, even if we are in the room, so have a guard outside. I wouldn't want a newborn to get in the house and get to close to your father." Athenodora said. She looked like she was thinking and I'm sure she was thinking about different options she had with security not only for me, but for all the humans. For as cruel as Edward had painted them when he had first talked about, they sure are trying their best to make sure no humans are hurt while Victoria had her fun.
"Well, as long as no disagrees, Alec can inform the others of what we have decided and in the mean time we'll just have to wait until they make a move away from the city to actually do anything. For now though, why don't we go get you some food Bella?" Didyme cheerfully said.
"But, someplace that isn't near Seattle and annoying little newborns." Athenodora said with a hint of disgust in her voice. "Newborns annoy by how little they can control themselves."
"Keep in mind my dear, that Bella will eventually be one of those newborns you detest so much." Didyme said as she stood up then held a hand out to me to pull me off the couch also.
"Yes well, when Bella is turned, all we have to do is give her blood and have intense nonstop sex; I am more than okay with that." Athenodora said, looking me in the eye when she said that.
"I really don't want to talk about that right now." I complained. Having sex with them is definitely not an unpleasant though, but I am nowhere near ready to do that with them yet.
"About being turned into a vampire out about how much we'll be having sex." Sulpicia asked with an innocent tone. "I'm personally looking forward to the sex though, for months while you're a newborn you will be in satiable. I dare say that I might be happy that there are three us because we might have to take shifts." Sulpicia teased as we made our way out the door.
"Oh my gosh, please stop talking." I begged as I buried my face into Didyme's shoulder as we walked towards a car.
"Just ignore her; I think Cia is addicted to sex." Athenodora said with a teasing smirk that was directed towards Sulpicia.
Once we were all in the car, with Heidi in the drivers' seat and Alec sitting shot guy, they finally changed the conversation topic to what I would like to eat for dinner.
When we about half way to the restaurant, I had finally decided to have a serious talk with them once we get home. Well, when I say home, I mean once we get back to Charlie's. I wanted to talk to them as soon as possible, just not over dinner where I would be the only one eating, so that I could talk to Edward and hopefully get him to be okay and respect my decision.
If what the two had just said were any indication to go off of, tonight was going to be interesting.