When The Cat Becomes The Mouse 55

“Rewind it to the part where he realizes that what the guards are carrying is Edward.”Rosalie requested Kate to do. The warrior was holding the remote for the device that played Carlisle’s trial on the large screen in the castle’s theater room. Rosalie was on a couch with Bella on her lap and Victoria sitting on one side of her and on the other Tanya with Irina sitting next to Tanya. They all were watching the events of what happened with Carlisle in the throne room. Seeing her sire die and knowing that he no longer had any control over her made Rosalie feel safe for the first time since she was turned. It gave her the confidence to enjoy her time with Bella knowing no one would be able to force them apart. Rosalie’s life was finally her own and the only regret she had about everything was that the sisters and likely the queens wanted to spend time with them. Meaning Rosalie couldn’t celebrate the way she wanted. That being getting Bella naked and spending days locked in their room with only Victoria allowed as well. Rosalie wanted the chance to make love to Bella without feeling the constant fear that it would be the last time she would get the chance because Carlisle was going to take Rosalie away from Bella. Now that wasn’t a possibility Rosalie wanted to experience that aspect of her relationship with Bella with the knowledge of her newfound freedom.

“His reaction was very satisfying.”Bella had enjoyed Carlisle’s horror at seeing what they did to his son.

“I think my favorite part was when it was revealed that Bella had more than one sire.”Tanya loved the way Carlisle seemed to collapse into himself hearing the information.

“Every move Carlisle has made since he found out that Rosalie was with Bella has been to use the sire bond on Rosalie to force her to control Bella. Meaning that all the blunders and their schemes which they have been working on for years were exposed to the queens over something not true. He was so eager to have control of Bella he put on blinders and didn’t consider that anyone but Rosalie would sire her. Everything that’s happened is because Carlisle is an idiot.”Irina would have considered all possibilities if she was in charge of a rebellion before sending her forces to kidnap two people.

“Carlisle is an idiot. So are the rest of the Cullens. They left Bella alone when they thought they had killed my mate. They weren’t even monitoring Bella other than Alice likely using her gift once in awhile. If they had been keeping track of Bella they would have realized her gift had gotten stronger and it wasn’t because of the wolves Alice couldn’t have visions of her. They left Bella completely helpless to the many threats that were against her.”Victoria was happy they did. She of course would have killed the entire coven to free Bella from their clutches but was happy it turned out the way it did.

“If I were Carlisle who easily went along with Edward’s idea to leave me behind I would have had me under surveillance. Maybe some cameras set up around and in my house. Then when I figured out that my gift has strengthened I would acted immediately and kidnapped me so I could be turned right away. I definitely wouldn’t have cut off all contact.”Bella said.

“All that you three just said is more than enough proof to show how incompetent Carlisle and his cronies are. Even Jasper, Alice and Esme are morons. They are trying to use Carlisle, Edward and Emmett as scape goats. That being the case they should have done all they could to stop the trio from putting their soldiers in position like going to the castle and turning themselves in because of course Emmett would have been questioned. Which he was and gave up the whole family. Even if his plan succeeded he had incriminated everyone so the Volturi had a valid reason to round them all up. There was nothing to really gain from Emmet going to the castle.”Kate thought it was the stupidest thing they could have done.

“All of that is true but you are forgetting that they thought the risk was worth to get Bella. Bella and her mental gift they were counting on to be able to beat 90 percent of the gifted guard members who all have mental gifts. That made them not care about getting caught because with Bella on their side they were guaranteed a victory over the queens and the guard. Which in theory it was a good plan because Bella with only her metal shield could have helped them defeat the guard but they weren’t smart enough to make contingency plans if the original ones didn’t work out. That and they didn’t even consider any scenario where I wasn’t Bella’s only sire.”Rosalie would have had many back up plans if she was trying to get Bella on her side.

“I’m surprised by that because Jasper is credited with being a brilliant military strategist. I would expect him to have at least stepped in and said something. It was very obvious the plans the others came up with would fail.”Tanya would have thought Jasper would have objected to the many attempts that had been made by his people to get Bella.

“I think it all boils down to them not knowing about Sulpicia’s gift. Which I would have thought some of their spies would have mentioned it to them.”Victoria figured it would be the first thing the spies would tell them about.

“That is weird. The queens took the throne over 150 years ago. In that time I’m surprised the queen’s gift hasn’t become well known. Then again none of you knew about it.”Bella didn’t understand why no one knew of the queen’s gift.

Rosalie pulled Bella close and kissed her hair savoring the feel of having her mate in her arms.”The only information I have on then queens is from what my former family said about them. None of which was flattering or true.”

“We only know what the public knows about them. Eleazar has been called to help them a few times over the years but they don’t have any kind of close relationship. He also told us he always met them in the throne room so he wouldn’t have detected the gift when he couldn’t use his without it hurting him when he was in that setting.”Irina had no clue the queen had a gift.

“Well whatever the reason it’s worked in our favor in this situation.”Kate said.

“Oh look it’s at the part that Bella lights Edward on fire.”Victoria smiled as she took Bella’s hand in her own and watched her mate on screen set Edward on fire. The sound was low in the room but Victoria could hear Edward’s screams just fine.

“I loved that Rose took his eyes I just hate that he didn’t get to see me light him on fire. I would have liked to see his reaction.”Bella would have loved to see and hear Edwards response the moment she lit him on fire.

“He wouldn’t have given you credit for doing it. He would have blamed us and the queens claiming we brainwashed you and forced you to do it. Nothing would have changed his mind about you being his mate.”Irina didn’t have to see in Edward’s mind to know that he completely believed that Bella was being manipulated and controlled. Those being the reason she was rejecting him.

“Him getting supported in that false claim just fueled that belief.”Rosalie had witnessed every member of the family except for Emmet agree with Edward’s claim.”Which I don’t really understand how he justified Jasper telling him it was real because Edward would have seen the lie in his mind.”

“Edward doesn’t care if someone is lying to him when the lie is in his favor. I had seen it happen many times when someone was obviously lying and Edward would claim they were telling the truth.”Bella had the hardest time not calling Edward out on it.

“What was your relationship with Edward like?”Kate was curious about it because it was never discussed.

Bella turned around and kissed Rosalie when she heard her growl.”He’s dead and you and I are together. No one is going to break us apart.”

“I know I just don’t like thinking about the fact that he acted on his false claim.”Rosalie didn’t like thinking about anyone being in a romantic relationship with Bella other than Victoria.

“The relationship was weird in the sense that I knew that Edward and the family were lying about the mate bond.”Bella said.

“If you knew they were lying why did you go along with it?”Irina asked.

“The reason I went along with it is I couldn’t figure out what they gained from lying about it. I had brought my concerns about not feeling the bond to the whole family including Carlisle and they all assured me it was just because I was human. Like I said I didn’t know what they would gain by lying to me so I believed them but in back of my mind I aways had doubt. Especially because all of the things they told me I was supposed to be feeling for Edward I felt for Rosalie. I talked to Alice about that and she convinced me that Rosalie had a gift that along with her beauty it made people have romantic feelings for her.”Bella told them.

Victoria scoffed.”The really didn’t respect Rosalie. Everything they focused on concerning you was your beauty. If the idiots actually took you seriously you likely would have been the reason they were able to overthrow the queens.”

“All my life I have been thought of as being a dumb blond. It likes people can’t wrap their mind around someone who looks like me might actually be intelligent.”Rosalie knew she would be continued to be thought of like that in the future.

“Did you ever talk to Rosalie about your feelings?”Kate would have if she was Bella.

“I tried but every time I went to seek Rosalie out to speak to her someone would intercept me. Even Emmett stopped me a couple times. That made me even more suspicious. I had gotten to point of breaking up with Edward but they left before I got the chance. After the Cullens left I spend about a week being depressed thinking that the person I was supposed to spend forever with rejected me. Then one day I was at school eating lunch with my friends after not being allowed to while dating Edward and I realized how happy I was with him gone. That just confirmed my belief we weren’t mates and any sadness I felt about the Cullens leaving was that I never got the chance to get close to Rosalie.”Bella had been the happiest of her life after the Cullens left and she didn’t have deal with Edward anymore.

“It makes me wonder what would have happened if Carlisle did sire you and tried to force a mate bond between you and Edward. You had already rejected the idea of a mate bond with him and your were really mated to Rosalie. Plus with your gift I don’t think Carlisle would have been able to do it.”Irina thought that Bella would have easy fought the command.

“Luckily we will never have to find out.”Rosalie didn’t even want to think about that being a possibility.

“You told us that Rosalie met up with you randomly after you had the incident with your gift the first time. When you woke up and she was there what did you think?”Kate wanted to know how Bella reacted to Rosalie showing up randomly.

“Initially I was very embarrassed because Rosalie had been holding me while I sleeping and when I woke up my face was pressed in between her breasts.”Bella smiled when Rosalie groaned and everyone else including Victoria laughed.

“Rosalie you sly dog you. Setting it up so that your mate will cop a feel before she even knows you’re there.”Irina teased.

“I was not trying to get Bella to touch me there. It was just the position we ended up in when Bella rolled over towards me.”Rosalie was not happy Bella told the sisters about that because they were likely to bring it up later to fluster her.

“Sure it was.”Kate didn’t believe that for a minute.”So after you realized that you were in that position with Rosalie what happened?”

“I of course freaked out a little bit and trying to get away from her slammed into Victoria who was behind me. After I got over my surprise and realized that yes Rosalie was in bed with me I was shocked and worried. I would have never excepted Rosalie of all people to seek me out because we had only spoken to each other a handful of time. The reason I was worried was because I didn’t know if it was just Rosalie or she brought the rest of the Cullens. Something I did not want to happen. Once she confirmed it was just her I was able to relax and when I did all I could think of was why was Rosalie there and how could I get her to stay.”Bella had been extremely happy that Rosalie had shown up.

“You didn’t tell me that you were trying to figure out how to get me to stay.”Rosalie would have liked to know that Bella was immediately attached to her.

Bella shrugged.”We never talked about it.”

“How did you feel when you found out you had two mate bonds?”Tanya was enjoying finally having a chance to get to know Bella on a personal level. All they usually talked about was the Cullens targeting them and Bella’s gift.

“Well how I found out was that Rosalie just blurted it out without any warning so I was kind of blind sided with it.”Bella told her.

“What do you mean Rosalie blurted it out?”Kate was looking forward to hearing about another one of Rosalie’s blunders.

“She and Victoria were telling me about the queens’ relationship. At one point Victoria asked my opinion on it. I told her that I was fine with it and it wasn’t anyone else’s business but the queens. She followed up that question with how would I feel if I had two mates. I asked her why she asked me that. Before Victoria could answer Rosalie blurted out very fast that she and Victoria were both my mates.”Bella smiled again when Rosalie groaned a second time and the rest of the group laughed.

“Rosalie seriously. Could you not have some tact. Bella was a human you could have traumatized her.”Irina was definitely going to use that story as teasing material.

“I was nervous about Bella rejecting me because she was dating Victoria at the time and I just couldn’t wait to find out her reaction anymore. So I blurted it out.”Rosalie wished she had done it differently.

“After she blurted it out what did you think?”Kate like Irina was going to tease Rosalie in the future about her actions.

“I was confused at first. I had already figured out that I was Victoria’s mate but I didn’t understand if I was Rosalie’s why she didn’t act on it and let Edward claim me. Then Rosalie explained what happened. I believed her and agreed to give her a chance but wanted to take it slow. We of course didn’t take it slow and on the initial truck ride to Alaska I asked Rosalie to be in an official relationship with me. We have been together ever since.”Bella told them.

“That is quite the story.”Tanya doubted that she would ever hear a similar story of how mates got together ever again. Before anyone could say anything else the door to the room opened followed by Athenodora, Sulpicia and Didyme walking into the room.

“The traitors have been dealt with.”Athenodora announced as she made her way to Bella, lifted her off Rosalie’s lap and gave her a hug.

“How many did you get?”Victoria asked.

“We exposed and tried 21. Two fled before we could get them but we sent other guards after them. We expect them to be caught within the day.”Sulpicia knew they would be caught fast because they didn’t have much of a head start.

“Dora put her down I want to hug her.”Didyme had missed Bella when they were apart.

Athenodora sighed and put Bella down.”If I must.”

“You must.”Didyme wrapped her arms around Bella and held her close.”I missed you little one.”

“I missed you to mom.”Bella missed all her bond mates and Kate and Irina when she was apart from them.

“Well we have some time to spend together right now. Di it’s my turn with Bella.”Sulpicia was excited because she was going to get the chance for Bella to sit on her lap.

“In a minute.”Didyme wasn’t done yet.

“Did you find out anything knew from the spies you caught?”Tanya wanted to know all about anymore threats to her newborn.

Athenodora took a seat on the empty couch next to the one Victoria, Rosalie and Tanya were sitting on.”We actually only originally had the identity of 13. Those 13 gave us the names of the rest of them.”

“Di you time is up.”Sulpicia was getting very frustrated with her mate.

“Sorry mom but I promised mother that I would sit with her next time we had the chance because I sat with you in the office last time.”Bella gave Didyme one last squeeze before pulling out the hug and making her way over to Sulpicia.

“Come here darling.”Sulpicia happily wrapped her arms around Bella. She couldn’t wait until this nonsense with the Cullens was done and she could spend uninterrupted time with her daughter getting to know her better.”Let’s sit.”

“Alright.”Bella allowed herself to be pulled onto Sulpicia’s lap after the queen took a seat next to Athenodora. Didyme took the seat beside Sulpicia and claimed Bella’s hand right away.

“So if you only got 13 names from Carlisle who were the other ones working for?”Kate needed to know every threat so she could properly protect Bella and Rosalie.

“They were working for Jasper, Alice and Esme. Although a few were working just for Esme and not Jasper and Alice.”Didyme traced Bella’s hand with her finger marveling at how perfect her daughter’s hand was. The queen predicted that the rest of Bella’s body was perfect as well. If it wasn’t weird she would have asked to see what Bella’s body looked like. The bond was pushing her to ask so she could make sure that there was nothing wrong with Bella’s body. Didyme was going to bring up to Bella the first chance they got to speak privately.

“It seems their alliance isn’t as strong as we were led to believe.”Irina was unsurprised by that.

“I wouldn’t trust Alice and Jasper. They are a mated couple who was planning to let someone else overthrow the queens and then kill them to take the thrones for themselves. I honestly can’t believe they even included Esme in their plan.”Rosalie wouldn’t have included Esme.

“Esme brings nothing to the table. That makes her disposable. She likely thinks that Jasper and Alice are going to sacrifice her as well at some point.”Victoria said.

“From what we learns so far you are correct in saying Esme brings nothing to the table. We haven’t learned of any allies she has recruited for the cause and we know she has no gifts or fighting ability. In all likelihood she was recruited to keep an eye on Carlisle when Alice and Jasper weren’t there because we all know that Esme wasn’t his mate.”Athenodora didn’t think Esme had much use to the cause.

“If they were mates Esme would have stormed the castle to save him. That and she wouldn’t have left his side knowing how much danger they were in.”Bella may be new to the mate bond but she knew she wouldn’t leave either of her mates’ sides until the threat against them was taken care of. It made Bella feel panicky just thinking about being away from Victoria and Rosalie knowing they were being targeted.

“I don’t think Esme is long for this world because even if we don’t capture her soon I think Jasper and Alice are going to kill her. She has no use to the them and will demand a throne if the actually overthrow us. The won’t want to share the power and will kill her so she has no say in their plans going to forward.”Sulpicia could easily see Esme dying by the pair’s hands.

Didyme growled.”I will be very unhappy if I don’t get the chance to kill her.”

“Did you get any information from the spies about their location?”Tanya too would be upset if she didn’t get a chance at Esme. The woman tried to claim Bella as her own. As one of Bella’s sires Tanya’s beast demanded she punish the woman for that claim and prove that Bella was Tanya’s not Esme’s.

“We did. Some good information at that. We found out that their main headquarters is located on an isolated plot of land in Finland. It’s very far away from humans and I doubt anyone but those involved in their cause knows where it is.”Athenodora hated that she couldn’t go to the property herself but not only would her mates never allow it she didn’t want to leave Bella.

“Did you get that information from Carlisle?”Kate asked.

Sulpicia shook her head.”No Carlisle didn’t know about it. It’s where Jasper, Alice and Esme are running the real operation. The spies I read all had seen different allies visit and observed many conversation of the group making fun Carlisle and Edward. They had many plans on how they were going to kill them when it was all over.”

“One thing of note is that Jasper, Alice and Esme plus their allies including the spies truly thought that Carlisle was going to succeed in gaining control of Rosalie and Bella. It wasn’t like we thought. Carlisle hadn’t gone rouge. The reason it was the his people that were involved was they were the most disposable. If they got caught or died it wouldn’t affect the cause. Which based on the ones we caught in Alaska is more than enough proof of that.”Didyme wouldn’t have used those vampires for the guard let alone on such an important mission.

“What happened with the spies? Emmett, Edward and Carlisle all thought they would be saved by them. If Jasper, Alice and Esme planned to take control of Bella they would at least need Carlisle alive to use his bond with Rosalie to do it. That and they were going to use them as scape goats. Not only that Edward may be an asshole but his gift is valuable. Why didn’t they save at least Carlisle and Edward?”Victoria couldn’t figure that part out.

“Fear.”Sulpicia seeing the confused expressions she was getting explained.”Emmett was never meant to be saved. Edward and Carlisle however were. The reason they weren’t is word of Bella’s gift had gotten around the castle and with Dimitri awake and confirming what happened if scared every vampire in this castle. When it was decided that Edward was going to be killed a few planned on stepping in but before they did Bella used her gift on him. None of them were bothered by Edward’s injuries what stopped them from acting was seeing the horrible torture Edward went through due to Bella’s gift. A few of them even contemplated leaving the castle to get away from her. When Carlisle was brought into the throne room none of them were willing to help him because Bella was there.”

Rosalie smiled.”Can I just say how proud I am that it’s my mate that caused Carlisle’s allies to betray him so easily.”

“My little sister is awesome.”Kate was just as proud to have Bella as a sister as Rosalie was to have the newborn as a mate.

“I can’t wait until she gets her gift under control.”Victoria wouldn’t be able to relax fully until Bella’s gift could no longer hurt her.

“Jane will be her tomorrow or the day after. Then Bella can begin her training.”Didyme wanted it to happen soon so Bella was safe.

“I’m excited to train because I want to know exactly what my gift can do.”Bella said.

“I’m excited to figure out how what you can do with the part of it that allows you to see everything in the castle.”Tanya had never heard of a gift like that before.

“How does it exactly work? Do you have to actually try to use it or is it always active?”Rosalie asked.

“It’s always active. I actually have to focus or I can’t properly see around me.”Bella told her.

“What do you mean?”Athenodora was fascinated with this aspect of Bella’s gift and was saddened that Bella couldn’t be sent on missions because it would be extremely helpful in most situations. She would not put her daughter in danger however.

“I mean that is I’m not purposely trying to see something that everything in my vision becomes colored shadows that I can see through. Like right now I stopped focus on looking at inn particular. When I look at each of you you all are just red see through shadows. The reason I know who you are individually is if I focus on the shadow it gives me all the details. Plus I can can see for each different person a kind of aura around them. I can even tell if a vampire is gifted. Not what their gift is though. It’s kind of hard to explain if you can’t see it yourself.”Bella wouldn’t never really be able to explain it properly.

“I didn’t realize you could identify gifted vampires with it.”Victoria was no understanding that Bella’s gift was more powerful than she thought.

“This is just more proof of why it was so important to get you away from Carlisle and his cronies.”Rosalie was now even more grateful they got Bella away from Carlisle because if they hadn’t Carlisle would have had no problem overthrowing the queens and the guard.

“It’s to bad you can’t identify their gifts.”Sulpicia thought having Bella be involved in trials would be a good idea. Not only because of her shield but she could tell them if the vampires had a gift.

“I think once I’ve had more time to train it I may be able to.”Bella was pretty sure she could.

“Don’t push your gut anymore than it does naturally. We don’t need you getting hurt.”Tanya didn’t want Bella to injury herself.

“I promise I won’t. As a matter of fact I don’t want to for fear that my sight will get stuck the other way and I won’t be able to see things clearly anymore.”Bella didn’t want to lose the ability to see her bond mates.

“That wouldn’t be good.”Didyme agreed. Bella not being to see things would hinder her ability to enjoy the gardens with the queen. That brought with it a thought.”Now then we don’t have any set plans for the future as of now I was wonder if you would like to see my gardens Bella?”

“I would like that. What do you guys think?”Bella wasn’t going to leave out her mates and family.

“I’m in.”Kate knew she wasn’t really invited but didn’t want her time with Bella to end. They had just started to get to know Bella on a personal level and Kate didn’t want to miss out on Bella sharing more information about herself.

Rosalie held back a sigh. It seemed that getting Bella alone and naked wasn’t going to be happening any time soon.”I will happily go with you.”

“I don’t mind.”Victoria would enjoy the chance to be outside. The had confined to buildings since the arrived in Alaska.

“We would like that.”Tanya spoke for both herself and Irina know that her sister like herself didn’t want to be away from Bella and her mates.

“Good.”Didyme was displeased that everyone was coming but expected it. She was just going to focus on showing her daughter one of her passions.

“We will also have to make time for we to bring you to my war museum.”Athenodora wanted to show her daughter her passions as well.

“I heard about that and am very excited to hear all about your experiences. I just hope you don’t get annoyed with all the questions I’m likely going to ask.”Bella had been very curious about the museum ever since Victoria had mentioned it to her before she met the queen.

Athenodora smiled brightly as she stood. She was pleased that Bella was interested in warfare.”I will never get annoyed with you and will happily answer all your questions.”

“I will have to show you my private archives so you learn the true history of vampires.”Sulpicia offered. She didn’t want to be left out of having something private to b and with her daughter over.

“I woulds definitely like that. The kings put out so many lies I don’t know what to believe.”Bella stood from Sulpicia’s lap holding out her hand to help the queen up.

Sulpicia took the hand with a smile feeling completely charmed that Bella offered to help her up when she didn’t need it.”You are right in thinking the kings put out a lot of lies. They did so they could control the vampire population with fear and the false belief that the kings were the only ones who could save them from humans and shifters.”

“The only shifters I ever heard of were the children of the moon and the wolf pack in Forks.”Rosalie stood then took her place at Bella’s side throwing an arm over Bella’s shoulder pulling Bella close when the newborn wrapped her arm around Rosalie’s waist.

“We are the same. We have never heard of more than those two groups.”Tanya said as she took her place win the group as they were leaving the theatre room.

“Let’s go to the garden and we will tell you all about the history of the children of the moon and the many groups of shifters that live all over the world.”Didyme told her. Seeing Bella cuddled up with Rosalie annoyed her because the queen had plans to show her daughter the garden while cuddled together with Didyme explaining all the plants and Bella asking dozens of questions. Questions Didyme would happily answer. She would have to figure out a way to let Bella know she wanted attention without being rude for demanding. The queen had noticed that Bella always paid attention to whoever seemed like they had been neglected. She was very fair with her time like that. That being something that Didyme both loved and hated. She loved that Bella was so considerate because it meant that Didyme wasn’t ignored. She hated it because it made it so that Bella wouldn’t just ignore the others to spend more time with her. Didyme gave a mental shrug. She would figure out a way to cuddle with Bella then she would make sure that Bella stayed with her. If anyone objected she would use her skills to get her way. Didyme knew she would succeed because she was the most persuasive queen and always got her way.