"The Cullen children looked pretty dejected when we left. What did you say to them?"Kate asked Tanya. The pair along with the rest of the Denali Coven, Isabella, her mothers, the former queens and many prominent members of the royal guard including Jane and her brother Alec were all traveling to Italy on the former kings' private jet. Kate had enjoyed the treatment her coven got as soon as they left the Cullen's house. Guards immediately surrounded them and didn't let anyone approach them. The mostly deferred to Isabella but Kate had noticed it was Tanya who acted as the mouth piece of the mated trio. The coven leader was the one who addressed the allies Carlisle had gathered to help and took care of the Cullen children. Seeing the way the four vampires looked like someone killed their new puppy in front of them Kate didn't think that they took the rejection well.
"I simply explained to them that we had no interest in accepting them into our coven. Emmett inquired about being a guard member but I politely informed him he wasn't someone we would be willing to recruit. Alice tried to use her gift as a bargaining chip to get a place in the castle. I then reminded her of Isabella's own gift and its superiority to hers. She tried to argue with me about its usefulness but I shut that down. Harriet tried to play on my sympathies and claimed they had no other place to go. I of course was unmoved. It was at that point the Irish coven offered to mentor them. They accepted even though it was obvious they would prefer joining us."Tanya told her.
"Emmett wanted to be in the guard?"Jane laughed at the very idea.
"Emmett has it in his head that he is the strongest vampire that ever existed. He constantly brags about his strength and fighting ability."Victoria wasn't completely comfortable being so close to all the guard members but her gift was telling her they were safe so she tried to push down her nervousness. She figured it would take a little while to get into the mindset that they were there to protect them not capture them.
Felix flexed his muscle."He thinks he is stronger than me?"
"Emmett is convinced that his strength is superior to not only vampires but all other supernaturals as well. That strength also giving his an advantage during fights."Carmen said.
"I should have challenged him to a fight."Felix hoped that he got a chance in the future to show a Cullen how weak they really were. He along with all of Isabella's other allies hated the coven. Carlisle was a fool who thought he was better than everyone else and took every opportunity he had to lord the fact he never killed a human over all of them. It was only because he was needed to overthrow the kings that he hadn't been killed centuries before.
"I would have liked to see that."Kate would love to see Emmett put in his place. Having the guard at her beck and call being another thing she wished she rubbed in the Cullen's faces before she left.
"I have a feeling you will get a chance at him sooner than later."Irina didn't think the Cullens would last long with the Irish coven. They would probably irritate them after a few weeks and get kicked out of their territory .
"Have you seen anything Isabella?"Alec asked.
"I haven't cared to look. Is that something you all are interested in?"Isabella hadn't even thought about looking into the Cullen's future.
"How does your gift work? Do you just pick whose future you want to see and then you get a vision?"Eleazar was very interested in how Isabella's gift worked. He had only been around Alice and it was beyond obvious that Isabella's gift was a lot more powerful than the small black haired vampire's.
"It's little more intricate than that but that's basically how it works."Isabella told him.
"So you can just decide whose future you want to know about at anytime and your gift will tell you?"Anne had never thought that Tanya's contact had such control over how the future would turn out. It was humbling to know that Isabella had been watching out for them all these centuries and they didn't even know.
"That's the easiest way to explain it."Isabella didn't really feel like going into detail how her gift worked.
"Shit."Kate tried to imagine all the things she would do with that kind of gift."Can you get me some lottery numbers?"
Tanya sighed. It was exactly what she predicted Kate would do."You don't need her to get you lottery numbers. We are already wealthy enough. Plus we just took over the Volturi's wealth. We don't need anymore money."
"We are getting the kings money?"Irina hadn't expected that.
"The kings money is a mere pittance compared to how much money Isabella has."Collette told her.
"Wait is Isabella how you have funded our lifestyle all this time?"Victoria always wondered how Tanya was able to pay for everything as the coven leader didn't have any businesses or jobs over the years. Tanya just claimed that she was good with investing.
"Yes, Isabella has been giving me investment ideas and stock market tips this whole time."Tanya was happy that Isabella was finally getting the credit she deserved for taking care of the coven.
"Shit."Kate exclaimed once again. She figured it was going to be her go to phrase when spending time with Isabella."Alice can't even manage the stock market."
"Alice is an incompetent child. She couldn't even predict what would happen at an event that had in the works for centuries. She claims her visions are based on decisions. If that was true then she would have seen the big event coming a long time ago because I decided to kill the kings in the 14th century. The fact that she thought that she had to find another hybrid just proved how weak her gift is."Isabella was very unimpressed with Alice. The vampire thought she was untouchable because of her gift but to Isabella her gift made her a liability.
"Every time I heard the kings speak of Alice and how much they wanted her in the guard I had to hold back my laughter. They were so full of themselves they didn't even realize that they had a powerful seer with them the whole time."Jane was lucky she had practice controlling her reactions to things because if she hadn't she would have blown Isabella's cover a long time ago.
"They really were stupid. They overlooked the fact that half the guard has been freed from Chelsea's influence and were actively plotting to overthrow them for hundreds of years. If Aro wasn't so arrogant in his belief that no one would go against him he would have caught on right away. All it would have took for him was to use his gift o his guards regularly."Alec always thought it was weird for a man as paranoid as Aro to overlook an easy way to prove his guards loyalty.
"Aro and the other two kings led by fear. They figured once they had you as a guard member you would be to afraid to leave them because they acquired most of the guard through killing off covens or kidnapping bond mates to keep the guard in line. The ones who actually volunteered were the ones that were questioned constantly. They were also the ones that were loyal and most have been killed by now."Isabella hadn't even tried to recruit any member of the guard who were with the kings willingly. They would be a liability and most likely would have ratted everyone out to the kings to get rewarded.
"What exactly happened while the kings and guards were in Forks?"Victoria asked.
"Once the kings were dead a message was sent out to our allies who were stationed around the world following those loyal to the kings. When the message was received they attacked their targets and killed most of the kings' allies. Some of course got away but they mostly successful. The Japanese guards cleared out the castle while the Russian guard cleared the area around it. So it will be perfectly safe for us to live there."Isabella told her.
"You're saying this was a world wide attack?"Carmen couldn't believe how in-depth Isabella's plan was.
"If we left their allies alive they would have come together and formed a rebellion. They wouldn't have overthrown us but a lot of innocent lives would have been lost."Isabella wasn't willing to let others die for a cause they weren't involved in.
"You have the power to take over the whole world don't you?"Kate was starting to realize that Isabella was a very important person in the vampire world. She was able to gather allies and eliminate an entire regime and all its soldiers and subjects right under their noses. Kate wondered what else Isabella could do.
"Could you imagine Isabella being in charge of the world population?"Athenodora wasn't the only one who laughed at the thought.
"The only reason she was willing to take a throne for herself was because her mates were going to rule with her."Collette knew that her daughter didn't have the inclination to control others. She was big believer in free will. That was one of the reason Collette believed Isabella was the perfect person to be queen.
"I promised Rosalie I would make her a queen if she would run off with Tanya and I always keep my promises."Isabella had no interest in ruling. The only reason she agreed was because she wanted Tanya and Rosalie to be queens.
"How did you make that promise? You weren't at the ball."Irina hadn't seen Isabella that night.
"Isabella told me to tell Rosalie the story about all we were trying to do to save the world. At the end of my story I told Rosalie that if she was willing to run away with me our lost love would make her a queen."Tanya smiled at Rosalie when the blond vampire kissed her on the cheek.
"I would have followed you anywhere even without the promise."Rosalie was telling the truth. She fell in love with Tanya the moment she introduced herself and would have done anything she had to do to be with her.
"You told Rosalie all about Isabella and what you two had been doing the night of the ball?"Anne was very surprised to hear that.
"It was the only way she would have left with Tanya that night. If they had waited I wouldn't have been able to meet up with them and Rosalie would have never gotten the block."Isabella explained.
"It blows my mind that you were able to keep track of all these moving parts. I'm exhausted just thinking about the things we know you've done and I'm sure that you have done a hundred times more than you have told us."Eleazar considered himself an organized man but he didn't think he could have been able to keep all the chess pieces moving to accomplish the same goals as Isabella did.
"She can't even write anything down either."Jane never figured out how Isabella did it either.
"I always forget you're blind."After seeing Isabella in action it was hard for Kate to think of her not being able to see.
"I am very blind. Even having visions doesn't fix that completely."Isabella told her.
"But you said that you use them to get around and we saw you fight."Victoria didn't even really think of Isabella lack of sight being a problem.
"It's a trade. If I want to move around on my own I have be focused on my gift not my surroundings. That means that yes I can get walk around unhindered but to do that I lose the ability to interact with the world around me. I can't hold a conversation or know what is going on outside of the area I'm focusing my gift on. It makes me vulnerable to attacks because if I'm not paying attention to where the attack is coming from I could miss it."Isabella hated that she couldn't just rely on her gift but preferred to live in the moment.
"That makes sense."Carmen said.
"Let's get back to the Cullens. What is going to happen to the four of them? Actually what's going to happen to Jessica as well?"Kate wanted to know about Edward's mate and child.
"Give me a minute."Isabella tuned the rest of the plane out and focused.
"How long does this take?"Anne asked.
"It depends on how far into the future she looks and how many details she tries to get."Athenodora told her.
"What did you find out?"Rosalie asked Isabella when she saw the seer move.
"First Jessica. She will stay on the reservation for a few years until she people start to notice she doesn't age. At that time she along with her daughter, her daughter's mate and a few other wolves will travel for a while using Edward's bank accounts to fund their lifestyle and Jasper's contacts to provide false documents. Eventually she will find her mate who is human drinker who teaches her about animal blood and convinces her to feed from blood bags. It seems the group live a happy life from what I gather."Isabella thought anyone who was forced into a false mate bond with Edward deserved to find some happiness.
Kate laughed."She uses Edward's money to take care of herself and the wolves! That's epic."
"Well it's Carlisle's money as well as they had joint bank accounts."Isabella corrected.
"Wait Edward and Carlisle had joint bank accounts?"Rosalie asked.
"From what I could tell yes."Isabella confirmed.
"Are we sure they weren't mated?"Irina didn't think Edward and Carlisle's relationship was that of just a vampire and his maker.
"I never heard anything about it in the castle."Athenodora had heard of the strange relationship but nothing about them being mated.
"You said that the kings knew Edward was gay. Did they ever say anything about Carlisle?"Tanya asked Isabella.
"Talking about people's sexuality wasn't done often. I think it was because Marcus and Aro were ashamed of their own."Isabella had heard on rare occasions the kings discussions about their disgust of homosexuals.
"Are you saying Marcus and Aro were gay?"Anne had never even heard rumors of such a thing.
"They were mated to each other."Sulpicia wasn't happy admitting it but after speaking to Athenodora and Collette knew it was the truth.
"Shit."Kate murmured her go to phrase.
"I still don't understand why they didn't just admit it."After being forced to see the state of her relationship Didyme could see that she was not mated to Marcus. Things she thought were normal to a mated pair she now knew were not and just more proof of them not being mated. Didyme felt foolish for not catching on sooner. She had never even kissed Marcus or had sex. Not that she was actually attracted to him but mated couples couldn't keep their hands off each other the former queen now knew. She wasn't exposed to mated pairs in the castle so she couldn't really be blamed for her ignorance it just made her feel foolish.
"It was probably for the same reason Edward wouldn't admit it. They were ashamed."Athenodora could easily see the kings not being comfortable with their love of each other.
"I think another reason was because they didn't want anyone to know their ultimate weakness. If someone knew they were actually mated then it would make them a target to be used as leverage."Isabella said.
"Good point."Rosalie understood that thinking as it was the main reason that they were apart from Isabella. They didn't want the kings to have leverage over her.
"It's the main reason most of us haven't completed our mate bonds even though we know who our mates are."Jane was looking forward to meeting up with her mate once everything in the castle was settled down. She wanted to make sure everything was safe before she exposed the woman to the world of vampire politics.
"You know who your mate is but you haven't completed the bond?"Victoria was surprised that Jane had the strength to stay away from her mate. She couldn't imagine being away from Irina.
"Isabella has used her gift to help most of us find them."Jane told her.
"Speaking of Isabella using her gift. What did you find out about the Cullens?"Kate asked getting back on topic.
"They don't last long with the Irish coven. The trio try to help them adapt but get sick of having to hold their hands to do everything. They also get annoyed with Alice trying to make all the decisions for the group because of her gift. Apparently after learning about how mine worked the Irish coven think all of Alice's visions are unreliable."Isabella saw that Alice lost a lot of respect when Isabella's own gift became more well known.
"I bet that will piss Alice off."Irina felt extremely smug that a member of her own coven was able to prove Alice's gift was useless. The little vampire always bothered her by flaunting her knowledge of the future. Irina hated that they couldn't discredit her because Tanya didn't want anyone knowing that she had better information. Now it seemed that Alice's reputation was in shambles.
"I doubt that they will be able to use Alice's gift as a bargaining chip anymore."Carmen didn't know how the Cullens were going to convince someone else to take them in.
"The only way that Alice can use her gift to secure favors is if they find someone who didn't know about Isabella's gift and now that Isabella and her allies are coming forward it will make it almost impossible."Tanya knew that within a week everyone would know what happened to the kings even vampires that were isolated from the rest of the world. She expected that they were going to get many visitors to the castle once people knew that Isabella had the gift of sight trying to find out about their futures. Especially when it became known that she helped vampires find their mates. It was something Tanya was not looking forward to.
"She does get the backing of a few but as soon as they realize that Alice's visions are subjective and she can't control them they kick them out of their covens. Emmett and Harriet get sick of Alice being such liability and go off on their own. They travel the world for a bit on the limited money they have. It's while they are in France that they come across a mated nomad couple that Emmett starts a fight with. They beat their asses and it seems to have finally humble Emmett and he begs them to help them. They take mercy on the pair and the four of them become their own coven. It works out well for all of them and from what I have seen they live together happily."Isabella told them.
"I may hate the Cullens but always felt Emmett and Harriet had potential. I'm glad they get a chance to thrive without the influence of the others."Eleazar was glad that Emmett and Harriet got a second chance.
"What happens to Alice and Jasper?"Anne asked.
"Nothing good. After Emmett and Harriet left they join Jasper's old comrades from the Mexican wars Peter and Charlotte. The pair has an immense hatred of Alice and hate the way that she controls Jasper. After one too many times Alice insults how Charlotte dresses and how she doesn't carry herself like a proper lady Charlotte kills her."Isabella wasn't surprised that the false seer pushed someone to the point of being killed.
"Shit."Kate couldn't believe that Alice actually got herself killed."Why didn't Jasper stop it?"
"Because he was just as sick of Alice as the rest of them. That and the fact that once she was dead he realized they weren't really mated. Alice had just been manipulating him."Isabella told her.
"Alice and Jasper weren't mates?"Rosalie was very surprised to hear that.
"That would explain why she was so controlling of Jasper's time. She didn't want him out of her sight so she could prevent him from finding his true mate."Victoria could easily see Alice being that manipulative.
"Everything I have found out about the Cullens just makes me hate them more."Felix said.
"Does Jasper ever find his true mate?"Alec asked.
"He does and they stay with Peter and Charlotte."Isabella told him.
"He may have been a dick for siding with the south during the civil war but I think being forced to fight in the Mexican wars and having false mate bond with Alice makes up for his stupidity when he was human. I mean he did become quite the vocal opponent of vampires being controlled by gifts and bonds. It's to bad he didn't realize he was being controlled as well."Anne thought that Jasper was punished enough for supporting slavery when he was human. The fact that he renounced that view point and the life he lived as a vampire was enough punishment in her eyes.
"Why do you think he didn't notice they weren't mated with his gift?"Rosalie would have thought that Jasper would have picked up on Alice's feelings and realized they weren't that of a mated vampire.
"I have always said that Jasper clung to Alice because he wanted to be loved and accepted. He could have easily mistook Alice's possessiveness with love if he was desperate enough."Tanya could easily see Jasper overlook Alice's feelings in his need to be loved.
"Well it seems that the Cullens are going to struggle until it get better for them."Kate was happy that the main three vampires out of the coven that she hated the most all were either dead or they were going to die.
"Your majesties we are preparing to land."The vampire acting as the stewardess told the group as she made her way out of the cockpit.
"Thank you."Tanya was going to have to get use to being called that. She had known for centuries she was going to be a queen it was just weird to be addressed as such.
"What's going to happen when we touch down?"Eleazar asked.
"Each of your personal guard details will be meeting us as soon as we debark. From there Anne and whoever wishes to go with her will be taken to our villa to meet her mate. Myself and my mates will be going straight to the castle as we have a lot of business to take care of. I would appreciate that even if you go with Anne that you not be gone more than two days because we need you each to pick out how you want your wings of the castle to be remodeled and we want to officially present you all to the court. Also Kate will need to coordinate with her team which are all very excited about getting started."Tanya told them.
"I'm going with you to meet my team."Kate wanted to get started on training so they could go out on missions. She wasn't planning on doing anything with her wing of the castle until her mate joined her. She wanted the both of them to make decisions.
"We are going with Anne."Victoria and Irina had decided that they wanted to support their sister. Also both of there were nosy and wanted to meet Anne's mate right away.
"We will come to the castle with you."Eleazar wanted to get started on looking through the archives right away because he was to excited to wait. Carmen was just excited to get started on designing her kitchen.
"We will introduce each of you to your guards and then everyone can go on their way."Tanya was anxious to get things started. She was happy for Anne to finally have a mate but sad that she wasn't able to go with the other two to meet her right away. Not only was it her duty as Anne's sire and coven leader it was her duty as Anne's big sister to make sure her mate was good enough for Anne. Even if it was silly to think that the Japanese princess wasn't worthy of Anne. Isabella had told Tanya all about the vampire and Tanya knew the pair were perfect for each other. It had saddened Tanya that they had been kept apart for so long but the princess and Anne wouldn't have been safe if the completed the mate bond before the kings were dead. The kings would have used Anne and the rest of the Denali as average over the Japanese royal family and that wasn't something that any of them wanted. Luckily the princess had understood and Tanya was hopeful she would explain it to Anne so her sister didn't get mad at them when she realized that they had known about the bond for centuries. Tanya would ask Isabella about it later. Her love would know.
That would have to wait though. They had more important things to take care of first. Like setting up the new regime and taking their places as the new queens. They weren't going to have an official ceremony for a few weeks. There they would be crowned and the rest of the Denali would be presented to the court as the official royal family. Tanya wondered how her family was going to react to be given the titles of princesses and for Eleazar prince. Tanya, Isabella and Rosalie decided they were going to surprise them with it. Tanya was sure they would be excited. At least she hoped they would. Isabella said they were going to love it. Especially Kate. Tanya gave a metal shrug. It didn't matter if they liked it or not. It was the best way to keep them safe and get them respect and those were the two most important things Tanya wanted for her family. If to get that they had to become official royals they would just have to accept it. Whether they wanted to or not.