Give Into Us Chapter 23

The arrival to the castle was done in the middle of the night and with as little fanfare as possible. The queens wanted to get Bella inside and to her room without any humans noticing and with as little guards as possible; they figured Bella would appreciate her privacy while she was still grieving and in a new home. Sulpicia had been working on contacting the pack in Washington about the arrangements she would be making with Bella’s disappearance. She personally didn’t feel the need to contact them, especially after what happened with the one mutt, of which she was still going to talk with her more aggressive mate without Didyme present to discuss what they can do to teach him some lessons from a distance, but she knew Bella would want them to know and not worry about her. So, like the perfect mother she was, she contacted them.

She was off the phone before her daughter arrived; she wanted to make sure she was there to greet her. When they did finally get home, Bella was asleep, apparently having stayed up through most of the flight and most of the car ride to the castle, Jane was carrying her to their new room Sulpicia and the queens had prepared. Both guards, now personal guards to their daughter of course, would stay with Bella while she slept and the queens would discuss what they thought should happen. Sulpicia had hoped to spend at least a little time with her daughter before she had fallen asleep, but she wasn’t about to wake Bella up after all she had been through and from how tired Sulpicia knew her human was.

“How long do you think she’ll stay so morose?” Sulpicia asked as all three queens settled in their private library that held more of the rare and expensive books they didn’t want guards to accidently damage. As soon as they were sure their daughter was safe and sound in her room, all three queens had converged on the sound proofed room to talk about what they needed to do with and for their daughter.

“It’s different for everyone.” Didyme advised, her mates were far too impatient. She knew they wanted Bella to be better and happy immediately; what parent wouldn’t in their situation? But she knew the mind could take time to heal; just like it took her time to heal after her brother’s betrayal. All wounds took time to heal and some never completely healed. It was all up to the individual.

“We’ll have to wait to change her then.” Athenodora commented.

She was already thinking of the new security details she would need to implement to make sure no wayward vampires that were too young and too unreliable with their bloodthirst got anywhere near their daughter. She couldn’t close off the castle to visitor’s, no matter how much she wanted to, they needed to be able to still see vampires and allow them to report anything and ask for help. At the same time, they needed to make sure nothing happened to their daughter. They also wanted to make sure as few vampires as possible knew about their daughter. Thankfully they had a partial human staff, so the new scent could be explained as a new staff member for any returning visitor’s asking about it.

There was a lot of work to do to make sure everyone knew who Bella was and to avoid her while making sure she was safe. Personally, Athenodora was looking forward to it. It finally gave her something new to do.

“Of course we do.” Sulpicia said with a frown. She didn’t want that. The longer Bella was human, the longer she was in more danger for simply being human. She trusted her main guards, who really be the only ones near her at any given time, to not attack but it was always a risk having someone who’s blood smelled so good and them getting a papercut. It was an annoyance they could deal with but Sulpicia would rather not have to. “I hope she will be willing to be changed sooner rather than later.” She added with a frown.

“Not too soon though,” Didyme pitched in, one vampire in particular on her mind, “I really don’t want our daughter to end up with perpetual depression because she was changed too soon.”

“Edward.” Sulpicia said with a sneer, “As much as I love my daughter, having her stuck in a downward spiral like the young Edward Cullen is something we should avoid.” Sulpicia, even after reading his thoughts about it, never understood why the man had changed Edward when she knew there were plenty of other young people around Edward’s age that were dying from the same disease and weren’t as depressed as the young boy. Carlisle had known Edward had lost his mother, someone he was very close to, just before he contracted the flu and was hit with the depression from the loss and then the illness. Carlisle should have known better than to change someone that would be stuck with that same brain pattern for eternity.

“Did he not learn from us changing Jane while she was so angry with the world?” Athenodora asked with a smirk; personally, she loved that Jane was basically stuck with eternal anger towards everyone but them. It amused the hell out of her, especially with her willingness to use her gift on those who push her too much.

“I do miss those early years.” Sulpicia said as she replayed memories from centuries ago from Jane’s younger years when she tended to use her gift before talking. She did miss those days when Jane had less control over her emotions. Sulpicia shook herself from those memories before she got lost in them, “Yes, it would be unfair for Bella to live eternity with the strong feelings she has after such a strong loss.”

“We can just keep an eye on her emotional well-being, something her mates should be able to help with, and when we notice she’s better, we can start making plans with her about being changed.” Athenodora said with a nod of her head.

“We should be more than just passive observers; in fact, Sulpicia, haven’t you read enough people to have several degree’s that would help her? We shouldn’t be entirely reliant on her mates, we need to offer help as well.” Didyme not so gently chided her mate. She knew it was more likely for Bella to talk with her mates over them but she was more than capable of at least, the very least, lending an ear for her daughter.

Sulpicia reached out, as she was closest to her, to wrap her arm around her mate as a source of comfort. “Of course my love, that was never in dispute or unknown; more like basic knowledge both Dora and I assumed could go unstated.” Sulpicia told her mate with a smile.

“We just want to play towards our strengths.” Athenodora said as she inched closer towards her mate even though it was clear she wasn’t needed to provide comfort but she still ached to do so for her mate, “I’m not the best with emotions, we all know that.” Athenodora ignored both her mates snorting in agreement and amusement, only giving them a small sneer in retaliation, “So, I’ve begun thinking of the best ways to make sure Bella stays safe and still has complete access to castle while not feeling like she’s being watched or feeling like a prisoner only allowed in certain areas.”

“That is wonderful,” Didyme said, knowing her mate would take the job seriously. That was something she had planned to talk with Athenodora about as Bella had mentioned how she wasn’t allowed to go many places by herself at one point when she first met the Cullen’s and she wanted to make sure she never felt that way with them. She moved towards her mate to give her a quick kiss in appreciation; she could have known better than to think her mates wouldn’t have been thinking ahead like she was.

“I was also planning on looking for a chef to hire to prepare pre-made meals once a week for Bella.” Sulpicia added, “I know we, her mates and likely Bella herself as well, will likely cook meals but I decided having a few pre-prepared meals on hand wouldn’t hurt. I also already assigned Gianna to make sure out kitchen remains fully stock.” She said as she sat straighter, expecting a reward for her thoughtfulness just as Athenodora had received.

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Didyme cheered and then tilted her head just slightly as a thought hit her, “In fact, we should also have Gianna make arrangements to have the three of them either go shopping online or someplace in here for Bella to get clothes and other necessities.” Her eyes widened as she thought that wasn’t the only thing they needed for their daughter, “We may have gotten her room prepared but it isn’t at all ready for her.” She said with a frown, “We need to also make arrangements for Bella to make her room her own and then or course, there’s any hobbies she would like to do and unable to accommodate. There is so much left to do! I should go start preparing some more space for her so she isn’t always stuck in her rooms, we should have thought about that sooner.” She said before rushing towards the door. Just before she reached it, she paused and then raced back towards her mate and leaned close to kiss her. Right as her lips brushed her mates’, she talked, “But good job as well.” She teased as instead of kissing her mate like she knew Sulpicia wanted, she instead pat her head and the zipped out of the room. Apparently their impromptu meeting was over.

Athenodora chuckled at her put-out mate, “Not what you thought would happen?” She teased with a smirk.

“Oh hush, at least I was proactive enough to think ahead instead only just now planning.” She retaliated, ignoring the fact that Athenodora had already been working on security plans the day they met Bella.

Thankfully the warrior queen was polite enough to only chuckle at her mate’s petulant attitude before following her noir mate’s exit.