Ban Together Chapter 27

All three queens were seated on their thrones, anger so prevalent in their eyes it was impressive their eyes still looked ruby red. They didn’t look as if they were seconds away from rushing off their thrones to dismantle the vampire walking into the room. Sulpicia held her normal air of giddiness, like a child excited for what was about to happen, Athenodora looked annoyed to be there and not wherever it was she would prefer to be and Didyme looked invested in the events unfolding.

Rosalie stood next to Didyme, her hand firmly on the queen’s shoulder per the queen’s request. Didyme didn’t want to hide their relationship even though Rosalie was concerned how she would be perceived being so young and inexperienced compared to her mate. But Didyme, and the other queens, wanted to show a united front. To do that, their new family needed to be all in attendance. Didyme knew Rosalie would be just fine and she figured now would be as good a time as any to start gaining experience.

Athenodora and Sulpicia were present, with Bella in between their seats with Kate and Jane behind her. Sulpicia initially was adamant Bella was the be nowhere near the throne room where a vampire who had a vendetta against her was. While all vampires understood Victoria’s need to seek revenge for her mate’s death, they would not condone a vampire going to the lengths Victoria has gone to in order to do so. Creating newborns to get revenge was beyond irresponsible and punishable by death. Not to mention it was the Volturi princess she was trying to kill, who wasn’t actually the one to kill Victoria’s mate. Sulpicia, in the end, only allowed Bella to be with them because not only was her child surrounded by her parents and mate, but all the Elite Guard members were present, Emmett and the Denali Coven were all present as well and positioned in a way to be able to defend Bella if needed.

The queens were a united front with their newly found family. They were sure Alice would be watching a vision of everything taking place with Victoria, therefore, they wanted the Cullen’s to know that the Volturi wasn’t concerned or afraid of them. The queens wanted the Cullen’s to know it was only a matter of time before they were killed.

“You sure are brave for showing your face here after all you have done.” Sulpicia said with a smile that spoke volumes of the deadly thoughts going through her mind. All Sulpicia needed was to get close enough to the redhead to touch her, learn everything the redhead knows and then detain the redhead long enough for Heidi to end her. With Victoria’s gift at play, the queens figured Heidi who knew all about Victoria’s gift from when they were in the same coven, could kill the redhead. But they wanted information first.

Victoria gritted her teeth, her gift yelling at her to be incredibly cautious if not just leave all together. She knew she was going to die. She had no illusions about the Volturi not ending her life before the day was out. But she wanted assurance that her revenge would be followed through. She couldn’t take being used by the Cullen’s any longer without having her mate by her side. Each second that passed her by made her heart ache so much more without her mate.

“I just want revenge for my mate’s death.” Victoria answered as her eyes darted around the room, taking in everyone’s positions and while she was resigned to her death, her gift was already plotting out all the escape routes she could take and live.

“What makes you think we would help.” Athenodora drawled, already bored with the conversation. She just wanted to see the woman burn. “When have we ever assisted in a lover’s revenge? The Volturi have a lot more important things than a vampire’s untimely death.”

Victoria gritted her teeth, holding back the sarcastic remark about the Volturi having no problems sticking their noses in everyone’s business if they wanted to. But, since she was at their mercy, perhaps she should spin the conversation a different way. Give them want they want. Victoria knew they were going to kill her mate’s killer, but she wanted to make sure that vampire suffered before their death.

“I will tell you everything you want to know about what the Cullen’s are planning.” Victoria told them through gritted teeth.

Sulpicia couldn’t help but chuckle. What a predictable tactic, one she was immune to. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that.” She said as she stood from her seat and took slow steps towards the redhead.

Victoria’s gift started screaming at her to make an offer, to try to live a little longer. Her gift wanted Victoria wanted: to live long enough to see her mate’s killer death. She wanted to make sure, even if on her dying death, her mate’s death wouldn’t go unpunished. She wanted to see it.

“There’s a lot more I can do than just provide my memories.” Victoria said, her eyes darting around the room, calculating route after route as she tried to buy more time to come up with a way to not be killed so soon. She may be alright with death, but ideally she wanted death after she saw the Cullen’s death.

“Oh? What could you possibly provide that your memories couldn’t?” Sulpicia asked with a feral grin, happy she was in front of her daughter so Bella wouldn’t see how gleeful Sulpicia appeared to be with the approaching attack she planned for the redhead.

Victoria fought with everything in her body to not take a step backwards, that would only illicit all the guards surrounding her to take action and likely end in her quick death.

“My gift, my gift can help you.” She said quickly as she eyed the only human in the room. She could hear other heartbeats not too far behind her, but she didn’t care about those ones. It was the heartbeat in front of her that caused all her heartache. It was that heartbeat she originally wanted dead. It wasn’t until after she had been used and ridiculed by the Cullen’s did she realize it was the Cullen’s and their complete disregard for the laws that killed her mate and would contribute to her suffering before she could find her peace.

“Your gift only helps it’s owner.” Didyme commented, curious on where the redhead was going. All of them knew, as the redhead knew they knew, Victoria’s gift only worked on her. Not even her mate was lucky enough for Victoria’s gift to work on him.

“Yes.” Victoria said, her eyes finally focused on Athenodora, the queen she knew would appreciate her offer the most. “But if I’m with you, leading the attacks and defenses to help kill the Cullen’s, my gift would make sure I stay alive.” She turned her attention back to the queen still slowly advancing on her, “And you would be able to make sure I don’t have an ulterior motive.”

The idea grabbed Sulpicia’s attention, even Athenodora looked a little more invested in the conversation as she thought out the suggestion. If on a tight leash, having Victoria there with her mate’s gift, would help mitigate any loses on their side. The trick would be to make sure she didn’t lead them into any traps, which would mean Sulpicia would have to have a near constant connection to make sure nothing happened. While Sulpicia could definitely hold her own in a fight, Athenodora didn’t like the idea of putting her mate right in the thick of things.

Sulpicia though, she may not have been known as the fighter of the trio of queens, she was still very good at it. Her mate had insured she could fight as good if not better than most vampires they would run into. She had no qualms keeping a tight grip on Victoria during battles if it meant they would come out of the fight with no loses.

With a wide grin, Sulpicia made up her mind. She would keep Victoria to help in the future. But she would make sure to do everything in her power to make sure there was no chance of the redhead going back on her word and hurting someone in her coven or family. She wouldn’t stand for that.

“Well, I believe that can be arranged.” Sulpicia said as she zoomed to stand right next to Victoria. “I hope this isn’t very off putting Bella, but the timing is perfect. Do forgive me for not waiting.”

Before anyone could question what she was planning or even giving time for her mate to relocate their daughter so Bella wouldn’t see anything, Sulpicia grabbed Victoria’s head and with a twist, Sulpicia ripped the redhead’s head straight off her neck. Victoria hadn’t put up a fight, either resigned to her fate or her gift assuring her survival. Regardless, Sulpicia allowed all of Victoria’s thoughts to flow through her as her body collapsed to the ground.

“Well, we have a lot to talk.” Sulpicia said as she threw Victoria’s head to Heidi to take care of. “Clean up here and show in our next guests.” She ordered before zooming back to her seat. Before sitting down, she grasped her daughters’ hands and looked imploringly into her eyes, “I hope you won’t think any less of me for what just happened. I also hope that wasn’t too gruesome for you to witness.” In truth, with Bella being her and Athenodora’s daughter, her daughter was going to be witness to a lot of vampire’s death and while it wasn’t nearly as gruesome as killing a vampire, watching someone being beheaded could still be traumatic. But it was something her daughter would have to get used to.

Bella looked into Sulpicia’s eyes and while she hadn’t been expecting to see someone get their head chopped off, just being around her mates and her vampire parents, she could feel their strength seeping into her. So as off putting as watching someone lose their head was, a larger part of her wasn’t concerned or scared by it. It wasn’t the first vampire she had seen torn apart, she had seen Alice take off James’ head in the ballet studio. But it was weird that she wasn’t as upset about the beheading as most people normally would be. Did that make her a sociopath of some sort? Or just someone that fits in better with the vampire world?

Bella gave the worried vampire a smile, “I’m fine.” She assured the blonde queen, “I promise. I understand why it was done. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a vampire killed and honestly, it’s not a big deal to me; especially after she tried to kill me and the Denali’s before we could get here.” She promised, remembering it was Victoria that led the newborns to her and the Denali’s when they were trying to leave Alaska.

“Good, you are Volturi after all.” Sulpicia said before turning around to retake her seat. “There is nothing for you to ever fear.” She promised her daughter.

“With what is coming, you will see a lot more deaths in the near future.” Athenodora said as she motioned for the guards to go get their other guests and show them in. “We are all here together, banding together to keep you safe.”

“Not to mention making sure everything the Cullen’s have done is not only banned from vampires ever doing again but to also make sure they are made an example of to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” Didyme added as she laid her hand on her mate’s hand still on her shoulder. She didn’t approve maker’s using their bond to make vampires do things against their will. She wouldn’t stand for that behavior.

“Well then, touching moments aside.” Sulpicia said, “Please, allow our guests in.” She said while gesturing the guards to reopen the doors and show the wolves inside.