My Strength Chapter 33

Bella was impressed with how well the talk had gone thus far. The first topic they talked about was how they had forced Bella to go to Italy. Bella was still pissed they had forced her to do so. She wanted to make sure they would never force her to do something she didn’t want to in the future again. She knew she was human and as such, she didn’t hold much power. But she didn’t want to be a doormat for vampires. It shouldn’t be that just because she was human she was second class citizen. She understood they would want guards with her because as a human in a world with supernatural creatures, she wasn’t pretty S.O.L. if someone decided she was a snack and didn’t have backup with her. She got it.

But what she didn’t want, was for the vampires to control everything she did. It was too similar to how Edward treated her, like she wasn’t smart enough to make decisions on her. She never wanted to be treated like that again. Having them do the same thing, well, it really pissed her off. And being compared to Edward, also pissed them off. It was a long talk, Bella wanted to make sure she hit every bullet point in why she didn’t like it and what she would do if they tried something like again, but eventually they agree since she was a fully capable adult who was able to think about her own actions, they would try not to pull that again.

Bella was actually really proud of them when they admitted they couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t do it again because of how strong their instincts were to protect Bella, but they did guarantee they would talk about why they wanted her to do something instead of just forcing her to do it. Bella understood their emotions and drive to do things because of those emotions were stronger than what humans felt, so she was fine with them not being able to promise not to try and force her to do something but instead committing to talk it over with her. Bella was sure once she was a vampire, the conversation would be a little different.

Which brought Bella to her next talking point.

She wanted to be turned.

And not by her new parents.

Which had turned into something Bella had been hoping would be a quick conversation into something that seemed like it was going to take all day. The royal couple were insistent they needed to turn her and she was insistent her mates needed to turn her.

“They are my mates and I want them to do it.” Bella insisted again for what felt like the thousandth time since they had started on this topic.

“We are your parents, we are also much older than they are.” Caius asserted. Truthfully, he didn’t actually know if he was older than Zafrina, there was a very good chance he wasn’t. But he knew she couldn’t be older than his mate; which kept his argument valid. “We can guarantee we won’t you and the turning process would be smooth.”

“It isn’t like they’ve only been around for a few centuries, they are more than capable of turning me and I want them to.” Bella said, starting to get frustrated that they were so dead set on them turning her. “Why are you so hung up on who turns me? Does it really matter who turns me, just as long as I am a vampire in the end?”

Bella knew it was going to be a long three days of nothing but pain from a burning inferno as the vampire venom literally burned away her human cells. It wasn’t something she was really looking forward to. But it was the only way she could be with her mates, to survive in their world. She wouldn’t last long if she remained human. Even if she were to die from old age, compared to a vampire’s life span, she would have only had them for a blink of an eye. She wanted forever, she wanted that tie to them, to be explicitly theirs. Why couldn’t they understand that?

Athenodora and Caius looked at each other. They knew Bella had to have spoken with her mates about being turned. That was their primary concern. They didn’t know exactly what they had told Bella and what their daughter knew. They knew they needed to make sure she knew everything about being turned before she did it but they were honestly hoping to put off her turning just a little while longer. Truthfully, they like having a human daughter they needed to take care of. As a vampire, she would be a lot more independent. As a human, she needed them to provide food, shelter and clothing for her. As a vampire, especially a fully mated vampire, she wouldn’t need protection, wouldn’t need her parents to get her food and her mates, namely Victoria, had more than enough funds to get Bella whatever she wanted.

They wouldn’t be needed. And it was devastating to know that. They just found her, only to have to give her up to her mates. As strong of a front as they liked to portray, it was killing them to realize they weren’t strong enough to withstand losing their daughter to something, to someone, they couldn’t keep her from.

With a sigh, Caius decided to do what he did best: take everything head on and show no fear.

“Do you know much about the maker’s bond?” Caius asked. He and Athenodora weren’t used to talking things through or even explaining themselves, but they would do anything for their daughter.

“Victoria said it was something that protected the maker so the newborn wouldn’t be able to attack their maker.” Bella answered right away. From what Victoria said, and Zafrina agreed with the redhead, it was something that was temporary while the newborn was in the newborn phase to protect the maker so the maker would be able to teach the new vampire how to survive

“It’s a bit more involved than that.” Caius said with a sneer. Of course, they wouldn’t go into detail about it. If he found out, and he would definitely be using Aro on this, they were going to suffer the consequences of trying to take advantage of his daughter.

“The maker’s bond can do that, definitely.” Athenodora said, taking over before her husband’s anger could be released on his daughter instead of the proper people… again. At least Bella wasn’t afraid to bite back if they did. She looked at her daughter carefully, doing her best to portray that she wasn’t trying to hurt her daughter, just give her information. “The maker, or sire, can, in a limited capacity, influence the newborn to do what they want because the newborn will have temporary desire to do what their maker wants. It’s theorized newborns do that because they temporarily share the same venom as their maker and the venom is what is actually influencing the newborn. It eventually wears off when the newborn is out of their newborn phase because at that time the sire’s venom is entirely replaced with the newborn’s own venom.” She explained.

Bella took a moment to think through what her parents shared with her. It wasn’t what she was expecting and she didn’t doubt her parents. What she didn’t understand is why they would be concerned about it. Unless… but they couldn’t think that, could they?

“Do you… do you think they will try to get me to do something against my will?” Bella incredulously asked. She knew newborns were more prone to acting on instinct than vampires in general and as far as what Bella understood, her mates as her sires were responsible for making sure she didn’t get the sudden desire to kill have the cities population. The thought of them possibly making her do something, anything, against her will never crossed her mind and she was willing to bet her life it never crossed her mates’ minds either.

“It is something we have seen before.” Caius said through gritted teeth, his anger growing the more he thought about someone taking advantage of his child in such a way. Vampires could be ruthless and using their daughter against him; he wouldn’t put anything against a scorned vampire. He would be damned if he allowed his daughter to be used in such a way. Especially by her own mates! He has seen where one mate’s greed is so expansive, he’s seen mates turn against each other to try and gain favor with him. It was disgusting and never worked. He knew of Victoria’s sordid past and of Zafrina’s desire to protect her precious forest; he wouldn’t be surprised if they tried something.

“We want to turn you so we can make sure you aren’t used because you are our daughter.” Athenodora clarified with a frown. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she found her daughter devastated because one or both of her mates tried to use her. She didn’t want there to be a chance for her to find out.

Bella felt her anger deflate. She still wanted to be mad at them for even thinking her mates would do something like that. But, if Caius was right, which she doubted the man would ever lie to her about something to serious, it could be a genuine concern if he’s seen mates do it before. Greed wasn’t a strictly human, non-supernatural problem. Look at the Volturi; they were a very good example of vampire greed. And since they were vampires, they were able to take it to a whole other level than what humans could do. So, as mad and annoyed she wanted to be with them, she understood. They were trying to protect her and quite frankly, it reminded her of what Charlie was always doing with her and how he acted towards Edward when he was trying to protect her against him. It was the same thing. And she completely forgave Charlie for that and didn’t hold it against him. The very least she could do was do the same for Caius and Athenodora. At least they were talking more with her than Charlie ever had… at least this one time they were, who knew if they would keep it up because of old habits and whatnot.

“I guess, I guess I get it.” Bella said as she carefully thought over what she wanted to say. She didn’t want to invalidate their concern. Not only would that likely just piss them off but she was still genuinely happy they were just trying to keep her safe no matter what. “But I really don’t think it will be a problem with them. They’ve been nothing but honest with me, nothing but protect me since Zafrina found me and I really don’t think they want anything from the Volturi. In fact, I’m sure they would prefer to have nothing to do with you but are willing to be here because I’m here.” Bella gave her heartfelt answer. She felt so safe with Victoria and Zafrina, she knew with every fiber of her being they would never try to take advantage of her. “Can’t Aro confirm the thought never crossed their minds?” Bella asked, more than aware of what Aro’s gift was because Victoria had warned her several times to never let the man touch her skin or else her secrets wouldn’t be secrets any longer. Apparently, he was a huge gossip and loved to tell everyone, everything he could.

Athenodora and Caius looked at each. They had thought about going to Aro for him to confirm whether or not the two mates were plotting to try and take advantage of Bella. But, honestly, they didn’t want to because Aro would only become more insufferable with reminding them constantly how they had to go to him for help. It would likely take centuries for him to drop it… if he ever did.

Looking back at how hopeful Bella looked though, and for their own peace of mind, they would do it. They would suffer Aro’s personality just to make their daughter happy. If the two vampires ever thought, even in passing, of using Bella to their advantage, or attempting to hurt her in anyway, Aro would find it. And there would be hell to pay. If he didn’t see anything, well, then Bella would get what she wanted and the royal couple would be okay with it, if a little disgruntled.

“Let’s find Aro and your mates then.” Caius said with no small amount of annoyance. He was not looking forward to the smug look on his face.

Bella rushed forward and hugged them both with a giant grin on her face. She knew, without a doubt, Aro wouldn’t find anything in her mate’s minds about them trying to use her. And once that was taken care, she would be able to talk with her mates and parent’s together, about a timeframe and what to expect while she would likely be locked away in castle until she had control over the bloodlust. She would also be able to decide what diet she wanted to be on; to figure out which would make more sense in the castle and which she would be able to live with herself for doing.

Bella practically skipped off to go find her mates, much too happy about getting her way, while her parents slowly walked behind her. Once they had Victoria and Zafrina, they would go to Aro who they knew to be in his office. They were not looking forward to this conversation and for once wished their spectacular ability to distrust any and every one wasn’t so strong. This was going to be miserable; hopefully Sulpicia wouldn’t be there as well.