Ban Together Chapter 17

Bella had a quick meal before getting back to her parents and Didyme. The queens were in an office, supposedly Didyme’s if the fact the noir woman was behind the only desk was anything to go by, each with a laptop/computer they were looking at. Jane brought Bella directly to the couch but before she could sit down, Sulpicia spoke up,

“Have you called your father yet dear?” She asked with barely contained eagerness that let Bella know the ancient vampire was leading up to something.

“No, I just got off the phone with the pack.” Bella answered as she sat down next to Jane, Kate picking that time to walk in and pout at Bella having sat in the corner of the couch. Then she remembered that she was an adult and can sit on the arm rest if she wanted to, so did just so; and if she just so happened to accidently slowly slide down to sit on Bella’s lap, that was purely an accident.

“I also just got off the phone with them; they are going to send Jacob Black and Leah and Seth Clearwater. The alpha also wants daily updates from the three; not that we care about it, but I told them we would get them each a phone to be able communicate with them back home and not have to pay so much on their own plans.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Athenodora said, she had already ordered several phones, six total for at least five possible shifters and one for her daughter, “We were already assuming we would foot the bill for everything. We already have five plane tickets from Port Angeles with open dates and once we have the date, we will know of a human driver service that can bring them to us. We figured they wouldn’t appreciate having Demetri drive them here.”

“We want to do anything we can to make them comfortable.” Didyme said in her normal kind voice, “There are a lot of different parties at play here that we are not on good terms with; if there is one group that we can ease the tensions with we want to do so.”

“They may also be able to give us some insight into the Cullen’s and their dynamics that perhaps you all weren’t privy to.” Athenodora pitched in, “The more information we have about the enemy the better.”

“I did tell them that we thought Victoria was in Europe someplace, so we wanted to get them straight from the airport to the castle as quickly as possible.” Kate pitched in, only allowing her body to slid barely an inch to make sure Bella and Jane both remained unaware of her ulterior motive so Bella would blush more and Jane wouldn’t growl at her. “They agreed to have a vampire escort actually, just one though; so having Demetri drive them here would be okay.”

“How did you convince them to allow that?” Sulpicia asked with a slight tilt of her head; they really hadn’t believed they would allow to be alone with a vampire so soon after getting to Voltera.

“I was blunt with them about what was going on with the Cullen’s and Victoria and how we were concerned about being attacked from two different fronts. I explained that their target was Bella, not their town. Once they were under the impression that we were asking for help, they were more willing to send the three wolves.” Kate may have used a lot of misleading words to let them think that, but she was okay with that. The three wolves themselves had already said they were okay with going, it was just a matter of getting their alpha to be okay with it. She just said whatever she needed to, to get the man to say yes. Whatever, if there was a fallout later about what she may or may not have said, that was Tanya’s problem as her coven leader, not hers.

Athenodora studied the other warrior that was really far too laid back for her taste but couldn’t decide if what the Denali was saying was completely true or not; even though her instincts were telling her there was more to the story than what Kate was saying. But without starting an argument and getting on her wife’s nerves for doing so, there wasn’t much she could do in the meantime.

“At least they are willing to work with us.” Athenodora murmured in a dry tone.

“I’m just happy that they are coming; that’s going to make it easier to talk with Charlie and get him to be okay with me being here since the wolves will back up whatever I saw.” Bella said with a relieved tone. Frankly, with the wolves on her side and coming over, she could tell her dad anything and he would believe it since three of her friends were going to join her.

“When are you going to call him dear?” Didyme asked, but before the human could answer, Sulpicia grew her excited look from her armchair once again.

“Before you do little one, I have something I want to show you.” She said as she stood from her seat and with a single pointed look towards Kate, the blonde warrior moved from her seat with a pout; she had been getting so close to actually being on top of her mate too. Figures the mom would get in between her and her mate when she was getting so close and figures she wouldn’t make her favorite guard move either. Kate couldn’t help but pout as she plopped down right next to Jane; if she couldn’t sit next to her mate, she could at least make Jane uncomfortable.

“What is this?” Bella asked as she looked at some website that had to be in Italian that Sulpicia was showing her on her computer. She couldn’t understand anything that she was being shown; the website looked really pretty but since she couldn’t read any of it, it didn’t really matter.

“I made a website.” Sulpicia said with immense pride, “Well, I had one of the guards make a website; it’s apparently a passion of hers since she is so fascinated with it. She said that if Charlie were to translate this site it would look like a genuine college website and this right here,” She said as she clicked a couple links on the site on the touch screen, “See, here it shows the program you entered and supposed previous graduates that went on to work throughout Europe in restoration work. It’s a program that encompasses anthropology and English studies; we figured that would be a good tie in for both you and your friends and still be believable.” Sulpicia was so proud that she was able to get a website up and running before her daughter called Charlie, she couldn’t stop smiling. It was a small thing to be proud of, but she was still happy because she could provide something her daughter really needed to sell this lie and to stay her with fewer issues from her hometown.

“This is amazing.” Bella said, already thinking that the first she would do to convince her dad this was real was to show in the website.

“There’s one more thing to help sell it.” Sulpicia said as she clicked a few more links for her daughter, “These are recent accepted applicants that are being welcomed to the program that we are prepared to add the wolves to if they are so inclined or if it is needed if they decide to help us with Victoria and the Cullen’s.” She was so happy that her guard was so adept at the internet that she was able to get this up and running so quickly and looking so professional; thank god they were vampires and could move at speeds that even computers sometimes tripped over. It also didn’t hurt that her guard always had all sorts of fake websites ready to be up and running in a moment’s notice in case the Volturi needed it.

On a page that was the last installment on the site for now, was a picture of Bella a few of the human workers they had, or have had in the past that were no longer alive, shown to be new recruits for the frivolous college and its’ fake programs.

“This is amazing, is there a link I can give my dad for when I call him?” Bella asked with a smile, they were totally going to get Charlie to have no problems with her being in Italy. He likely wouldn’t be very happy that she left so quickly and without word, but he would understand and at least not be upset given it was for education that she had left.

“When do you plan on calling him?” Athenodora asked, hoping that she and her wife would be allowed in the room to hear the call.

“Probably soon; I’m sure the pack will spread the news quickly about them flying to Italy for free.” Bella leaned forward to get a better look at Kate, “Did you guys come up with a way for them to break the news to the rest of their tribe about where they are going and why?”

“You know, we did not.” Kate said with a grin, already coming up with a perfect opportunity to spend some alone time with her mate, “But we can totally call them after you speak with your father, in our room, to let them know how and when they can come over.” Kate said with a smile as she purposefully leaned over Jane to get closer to her mate, “We can cuddle on our bed as we talk so you can be comfortable and everything.”

Suddenly, Kate was pushed back against the back of the seat and had a hand pressed against her face, keeping her mouth covered.

“Would you shut up succubus; must everything be about trying to mate with her? There is a time and a place and that is not now.” Jane hissed, making sure to keep her volume too low for her mate to hear, but then raised it so her mate could hear, “She can call her father in here just fine.” She hissed, making sure her mate could hear her displeasure about what the other blonde was trying to do. Did the succubus have so little respect for their mate that she would rather try to bed their human without at least trying to court her first?

“Jealous?” Kate hissed back too quietly for their mate as well, “I’m just trying to make sure she is comfortable for her talk with her father that could get emotional. I guess I’m sorry for caring.” Kate said with a sneer, doing her best to fight a smirk to not give away how much she was enjoying pissing off Jane and not get in trouble.

“Actually, Bella, why don’t you call your father in my office with me and Cia there, that way there will be less distractions?” Athenodora ask, doing an impeccable job at not moving to tear both Kate and Jane apart for their disrespect. They knew her daughter could not hear them at that level, yet they chose to continue to talk when she could not hear; that was disrespectful and she would not stand for it. Neither would Cia or Di. Didyme would talk with them while Bella called her father and she would be left in peace without worry about the two trying to vie for her attention.

“I think that is a marvelous idea.” Her mate was always one step ahead. Sulpicia grabbed the laptop from her daughter and grabbed her hand to haul her to her feet, “We can go there and we can show you more about our plans to have Victoria show herself. She does have a very usual gift when it comes to self-preservation; it will be interesting to get her to reveal herself long enough to capture her and then to kill her.” Sulpicia said as she started to pull her daughter out of the room.

The two blondes started to move from their spots, but a simple clearing of a throat from Didyme made them pause in the steps, the glare from Athenodora made them retake their seats in complete silence.

“Your mates will find you after they have hunted; we wouldn’t want them to get thirsty while they were around you, would we?” Athenodora asked with a silent warning in her tone, ignoring Kate’s quiet ‘I’m thirsty for something all right’ and continued to walk.

“Sure, I’ll see you guys later.” Bella said with a smile towards the two blondes as she was led out the door by Sulpicia with Athenodora right behind them.

“I don’t suppose we’re going to talk about anything relating to the wolves and getting them here are we?” Kate asked with a small pout, she didn’t want to get chastised by her mate’s aunt for being her.

“No, and as far what just happened is concerned, just know you two need to learn to get along better and not leave Bella out of the loop. Speak too quietly for her again and we’ll tell her what you said.” Didyme said in the sternest voice either vampire had heard her speak in some time, reminding them of why she held the title of queen.

“Yes ma’am.” Both blondes said in unison, understanding it wasn’t fair to their mate and shouldn’t happen again… no matter how much they wanted to rile the other up without Bella chastising them for doing so.

“What I really want to talk to you both about is a message we received from one of our scouts from outside the city.” She said, her sternness not leaving her voice and immediately bringing both blondes to attention. “Apparently a Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen have requested an audience with us. We will accept of course, but I want you all to be there, Kate Denali.” Kate knew she meant the whole of the Denali coven, not just herself. “I also want the Elite Guard present; make sure to keep a constant guard on the entire boarder of our home. Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am.” Jane immediately answered.

“Then go.” Didyme said and both blondes rushed to do as commanded, “We have guests to welcome after our darling human finishes her phone call. In the meantime, the two can answer some very important questions.” She may not be known to be the violent queen or the one that takes action, but she had in the past and had no problem taking the lead while her sisters saw to their daughter. She was a queen after all, and her duty as queen meant that she had to deal with threats to her kingdom; even if that threat came in the appearance of two young vampires that may be working with the enemy. It would be an interesting conversation to have for sure.