She's Mine Chapter 1

Bella had been in the far Northern Canada provinces for a few years. She had made herself a home there and hadn’t felt inclined to check on the tribes of North America in quite a while. With how fast technology was growing, Bella tended to stick to herself and her hidden home more often than not. She was afraid of being caught in a picture or film. She knew in today’s world their kind needed to stay hidden. It wasn’t like when she first shifted, humans were afraid of them instead of flocking to them for protection. It was very much a different world and Bella was starting to fall behind.

One thing she did have though, was a cell phone. It was a phone she had been given when the first portable ones came out. She only updated it when absolutely necessary and thankfully, for the time being, that wasn’t very frequently. She only had because her ‘sister’, someone who claimed they were bonded sisters by all but blood, wanted to be able to reach her and vice-versa if needed. Truthfully, while Bella didn’t believe in the whole sister bond thing, she knew she was very grateful for Sulpicia’s friendship and regardless of what bonds she claimed to have with Bella, Bella saw her as family as well. It was during one of her visits with her sister that she ran into Carlisle. They were both just as equally fascinated by each other: Bella was fascinated Carlisle didn’t drink human blood and Carlisle was fascinated she was so old that her shifted form no longer walked the Earth.

So, they began a friendship where Carlisle usually sought her out to visit. Between Carlisle and Sulpicia, Bella at least kept an up-to-date phone to receive phone calls. It was rare for Carlisle to call, he usually only sent mail to Voltera when he wanted to ‘chat’. She had only given him her number a few decades ago when she found out he and his coven would be spending some time in the Pacific Northwest for the second time since that was where she tended to roam most frequently. She happened to be visiting her sister last he was there, she found out he was there via a letter, but she made sure to pass along her phone number when she found out he would be there again in a century or so. When he did finally call after not seeing Bella for nearly a century and after not receiving any new mail via her sister in a while, Bella almost wasn’t surprised it was because he was asking for her help, not to visit.

Vampires tended to be selfish creatures. She should have known after no contact for so long he would have called asking for help with something.

When the phone first rang, Bella was loathe to admit it, but it scared the hell out of her. The few calls she did get were so rare that she never fully got used to hearing it ring. Perhaps she should take up her sister’s offer in learning more about today’s technology so she wouldn’t embarrass herself so much with it.

As soon as Carlisle told her what was going on, she didn’t mind going to help. Especially when she found out her, would he be her brother-in-law(?), was given some slightly wrong information and was going with an army to deal with it. She slightly curious on why her sister hadn’t called but then again, since Sulpicia had never actually visited her and the woman was very much into theatrics like her mate, the vampire queen was likely just hoping to show up unannounced as a surprise.

She was looking forward to seeing Sulpicia’s face when she finds out she couldn’t pull one over on her older sister. She always did like when she showed up both her sister and especially her husband. It always amused her to keep Aro humbled.

When she finally arrived at the Cullen’s house, she had made a quick stop and checked in on several tribes in the area that had descended from her people a few thousand years ago, she could tell Carlisle had managed to amass a lot of what he called witnesses.

After she knocked on the door, it hadn’t even taken a second for someone to answer the door. Just from the scent alone, Bella knew this was Carlisle’s mate. His scent mingled with hers so intrinsically, there was no mistaking it.

“Hello dear, may I help you?” The woman asked, clearly confused by what she was seeing. Esme could tell this woman was definitely not human, even though she had a heartbeat. She smelled almost like a shifter but what was more concerning was how dangerous she smelled. While the Quileute tribe smelled repulsive to them, she felt no fear from them just a warning that they could do some damage. But this woman, who looked as old as most of her coven, set her vampire on edge. A large part of Esme didn’t want to let this woman in her house. She hated to admit it, but she was actually afraid of this woman and she couldn’t tell why.

“Carlisle sent for me.” Bella answered as she showed her phone, an old flip phone Esme was impressed still worked. “Something about the Volturi showing up and needing witnesses?” She asked with a small smile, hoping this vampire would be put at ease at least a little. Bella knew because of her age, a lot of other supernatural creatures, especially ones that were only a few centuries old or younger, were afraid of her because their instincts told them there was a reason she was as old as she was: she was a survivor. Whether from humans or other super naturals, to live as long as she had, she had to be a survivor, she had to be stronger and everyone, on at least an instinctual level, knew it.

“Oh, you’re here to help?” Esme asked, very thankful when her mate showed up behind her.

“Hello Bella.” Carlisle said with a charming smile, “It’s been too long since we’ve last visited. I’m sorry we had to reunite under these circumstances.” He apologized. Carlisle should have kept up better contact with Bella, she was a very powerful ally after all. And not only because of her connections with the Volturi. But simply from how old she was, her strength alone, without her connection with Sulpicia, would make the Volturi rethink their actions. They would listen to her if only because she was older than even them and that was quite rare. Not that he thought she would be able to sway them if she didn’t have a bond with them but her presence would for Aro to at least rethink what he was doing. “Come on in, you can meet the others.” Carlisle was also curious if Bella knew anyone else. Bella seemed like a recluse, but given that she traveled a lot, there was a chance she had met other covens. That was another reason to have kept up contact with Bella, perhaps they could have been close enough for him to ask her to ask any shifter packs she knew to help them.

Carlisle and Esme moved to allow Bella inside, leading her towards the living room where a few of their guests were already visiting. The Denali’s, Zafrina from the Amazon tribe and the entire Irish coven were all there. The rest of their visitor’s and their coven, were outside with Edward and Angela were playing with their daughter and the other’s were either watching and mingling amongst themselves.

Bella could tell there were a lot of vampires and honestly, she wasn’t a fan. Her natural enemy were vampires but she had been around so many in the past and was more than old enough to control her natural instinct to fight. She knew vampires were similar to shifters in that they were basically just evolved humans and while not all humans were bad, it was the same with the supernatural. She knew not all vampires were bad; there were definitely some bad ones, but she was sure Carlisle, with as gentle of a soul as he was, wouldn’t be friends with any.

Bella walked in could instantly tell who belonged with who. There was a group of three vampires that were scented as the same coven, two vampires who were likely mates and then, with a smile, she saw someone she hadn’t seen in a while. Zafrina. She had helped Zafrina protect her forest when she had been searching for shifters she had thought still lived in the area. She and her sister’s hadn’t liked her at first; and she hadn’t liked them either. But after a day or so, Bella liked to think they were friends.

“Hello old friend.” Bella said with a smile. She and Zafrina were very much alike in that neither usually had much to say. So when Zafrina only nodded in greeting with a smile Bella was sure no one else in the room had seen before, Bella was okay with that. Bella was sure once her sisters were back from wherever they were, Zafrina would be willing to talk more and all four of them could catch up.

“Ah, so you’ve met Zafrina of the Amazon coven.” Carlisle stated, instantly curious on how the two had met.

“Once or twice before, yes.” Bella confirmed. There happened to be a group of shifters, feline like herself, that lived on the opposite side of the Amazon as Zafrina and her sisters, so whenever Bella visited them, she made sure to stop and visit the coven as well.

Carlisle waited for either woman to elaborate but neither said anything. Both women only looked back towards him to continue introductions. Carlisle only smiled, realizing getting information from either woman was like pulling teeth; he should have known he wasn’t about to get any gossip from them.

“This is the Denali coven, well two members. The leader, Tanya, and her mate Kate.” Carlisle introduced, feeling it was only proper to introduce them first since he had a closer allegiance to the Denali’s than the Irish coven.

Bella looked at the two women and was very confused by what she felt. It was very similar to what she felt when she first met Sulpicia. But different. With Sulpicia, Bella knew the woman was going to be a part of her life, regardless of how much the blonde annoyed her. Bella also knew the Volturi queen was irreplaceable as far as she was concerned and Bella couldn’t imagine having any other bond. Until now.

“Sisters?” Bella asked, confused by what she was feeling. It was similar to her old shifter family, the ones that were with her when she first shifted; the ones she had long since lost to time. Her inner beast recognized these women as family, but not as close as Sulpicia. If that made any sense. She knew they were hers, they were her family now and she had no idea why.

“Did we just adopt a puppy Tan?” Kate asked as she looked at the shifter. She wasn’t sure what kind of shifter the other woman was, she only knew the woman was old; much older than she and her sisters. One look also told her they sisters as well. Not bonded sisters, like she and Tanya were with Irina, but sister’s none the same. Her instincts said this woman was family and Kate wasn’t about to not listen to her instincts.

“I’m not a wolf.” Bella said with indignation. She tried to refrain from shifter except when by herself and only enough to keep from aging. She had found out not long after she had shifted, the animal she resembled was no longer alive and humans seeing her wanted her pelt. So, born out of fear from when she was younger and losing her shifter family, she opted to only shift when necessary and when alone if she could. But just because they didn’t know what she was due to no fault of their own, she was still offended to be called anything but feline.

“I think Kate,” Tanya said, carefully choosing her words. She wasn’t necessarily afraid this woman was about to attack if someone said the wrong thing, but given their recent acknowledgement of some familiar ties and how old this woman was, Tanya didn’t want to offend before figuring out how their connection became to be. “She’s more like a new sister.” Tanya agreed with Bella, figuring it would be safe to use her word to refrain from causing any offense. “And I think, we now have a lot to talk about.”

The Irish coven decided to take their leave, figuring since they needed to hunt before the big showdown, now would be a good time to do so. They knew the Denali’s would have a lot to talk about with this unknown shifter and they didn’t need to have them sitting there listening in; at least, not so obviously listening in because there was no way Maggie wasn’t going to do her best to hear everything.

Zafrina too took her leave, going to find her sisters and go for a hunt herself. She knew if Bella was with them, they would be fine. Either the Volturi would only kill Irina for the false report of an immortal child, or they would walk away. Sulpicia wouldn’t do anything to go against her sister, she was sure of that.

As much as Carlisle wanted to stay and see what happened, to ask questions himself even, he didn’t put up much resistance when Esme tugged him away. They would go and tell the others Bella was there and not a threat. They would also send Carmen and Eleazar inside since there was obviously a new addition to their coven, even if no one understood how or why. Carlisle was hopeful on their trek tomorrow Tanya would enlighten him as to what happened. It was because of him after all, that they had met Bella. He could at least be told what happened.