Ban Together Chapter 14

All three queens were in a room seemingly working on paperwork. Only Sulpicia lifted her head, but Bella could have sworn Athenodora had grown more tense… if that was possible in the first place for the normally tense vampire. Didyme kept working but grew a smirk on her face that told Bella she was amused already with her being there in the room with them.

“Bella had a request for you.” Jane said as Bella took a moment to think over how to ask what she wanted to ask.

Bella knew Athenodora would likely say no, more as a knee-jerk reaction than anything else. She wasn’t sure if that answer would change after the ancient warrior thought about it, but that was why she was asking all three queens instead of just Athenodora and Sulpicia. She had no idea what Sulpicia would think about her request and she didn’t want to risk the two blondes ganging up on her and saying no. Hopefully with Didyme there, she would have a chance at getting what she wanted; which she truthfully didn’t think was that much in the first place.

“What can we do for you my love?” Sulpicia asked with a wide grin that seemed more genuine than it did two seconds ago. Sulpicia’s full attention was on her daughter and while Athenodora wasn’t looking at her and still working, Sulpicia knew Athenodora’s attention was also on their daughter. If there was something their daughter wanted, then they wanted to get it for her. “I’m sure we can get whatever you want.” She said with a wide smile, happy to finally be of use to her daughter.

It was something she and Athenodora had been… talking, definitely not arguing, about. Sulpicia was concerned that they were far too old to have anything relatable to talk about with Bella. While Bella did seem interested in whatever random conversations Athenodora had with her, even if those conversations ended with the younger woman somehow annoying the older one. And if Athenodora was absolutely pressed to admit it, Sulpicia knew her mate well enough to know the warrior queen actually liked those verbal sparring matches they got into.

But Sulpicia didn’t have that.

She didn’t want a sparring match with her daughter; even if it was just verbal. She did want to talk with her young one, but anytime the opportunity arose, she was completely embarrassed to admit it, but she froze. She had no idea what kids were into these days, much less what her child liked. She didn’t want to sound like imbecile while talking with her child and she wanted Bella engaged in whatever conversation they did have. Athenodora was constantly telling her to just talk about anything and conversation would just happen; but Sulpicia didn’t want to do that. She was so used to being able to read someone and know exactly what they wanted, what they liked and how to talk to them, she couldn’t do that with Bella. She felt like she was blind, deaf and mute when it came to her daughter and it unsettled her greatly.

“I want to call my dad and some friends from the reservation.” Bella said in as firm a voice as possible because she knew Athenodora was going to argue and she wanted to sound as confident as possible to give any leeway to the ancient vampire.

“Why?” Athenodora asked, thought to Bella it sounded more like a command.

So, she answered like any proper teenager would when annoyed with a person, “To talk to them.” Bella was proud to say she didn’t roll her eyes at the woman, but she couldn’t stop the smirk from knowing that her answer was definitely not want the queen wanted to know. At Athenodora’s growl of annoyance, she explained; realizing that pissing off one of the queens wouldn’t be in her best interest at the moment. “I want to talk with them to let them know I’m still alive and give them some sort of reason for disappearing and that I wasn’t actually kidnapped.” Bella said, already knowing Charlie was likely to blow a gasket from how mad the call would make him. Oh well, technically she was eighteen, so there wasn’t anything he could really do.

“Told you I didn’t kidnap you.” Kate muttered under her breath, just loud enough for her human to hear. She nudged her human with her elbow to emphasize her point.

“Shut up, the mistress is talking.” Jane hissed at Kate, earning an eye roll from said vampire and an amused smile from Bella.

“What do you plan on telling him?” Athenodora asked.

Bella had really thought she would be having this conversation with Sulpicia, maybe even Didyme, not Athenodora. She had mentally prepared herself to talk with the other blonde and for the warrior queen to do the whole not talking thing because she was mad, not Sulpicia. She hadn’t prepared anything to try and convince the taller blonde.

“That I’m safe and to not worry.” Bella answered, kind of starting to feel like she was being interrogated.

“That’s good.” Athenodora said as she put down her pen and sat up straighter, folding her arms across her chest. “Now, when he surely asks why you left, what will you tell him?”

Yeah, this was definitely an interrogation. She should have known the warrior would have questions.

She nearly just answered that she had no idea and had just planned to wing the whole conversation; but that was really the last thing she should say. “I was going to tell him that I found a college out here that I really want to go to and had applied for an internship in their English program. That I had just received an invitation for an interview and only had a small window of time to get here; which was why I left so quickly.”

If Bella could, she would pat herself on the back. She couldn’t help but shoot a smile at Kate, who immediately winked back at her. The Denali knew that her human hadn’t come up with anything to tell her father; she hadn’t any time to come up with anything since their whirlwind adventure had begun. If anything, Bella had barely just enough time to eat much less come up with a story to tell her father that she may have thought she may talk with anytime soon.

Jane was upset that her mate still felt the need to talk to her human father instead of just severing ties with him and continuing life with her mother’s that had to be far better than the human man; they were queens after all. But at the same time, she felt awful because her mate seemed to be attached to the human and Jane knew that it was unlikely that she would ever see him again. Bella probably hadn’t thought of that quite yet and Jane wasn’t about to be the one to tell her.

Jane, and likely Kate as well since she was sure the succubae knew about what was to come as well, would let the queens handle that conversation. Jane would let them deliver the harsh news and then Jane would be there to comfort Bella in her arms… Kate could be there as a jester or something if she must be there.

“That is a good plan cuore mio.” Jane told her mate, hoping that her smile came off as proud instead of in the conceited way her brother always said was the only way she knew how to smile as.

“Initially yes.” Athenodora quickly agreed, knowing that praising a child was always good, especially when there was bad news to give. “But how likely is it that he’ll believe that? When would you need to return to finish high school to have that diploma to attend this so called school? What if he were to look online, which I understand everyone is doing these days.” Athenodora said, but was cut off by Didyme.

“Oh yes, online is absolutely fabulous. Have you heard about the youtube? It’s nothing about tube’s or an individual at all! And don’t get me started about this so called dark web, all the illegal things humans think they’re so sneaky about.” Didyme said with a bit too much enthusiasm, causing Bella to chuckle. Well, apparently she was the most up to date queen between the three and that seemingly wasn’t saying much.

Everyone ignored her outburst as Athenodora continued to talk; apparently Didyme hadn’t expected much more since she hadn’t even lifted her head from her work.

“Then of course, there’s the problem of those shifters. What if they have spun stories of some type of horror that we are doing to you and your father demands to come to you to make sure everything is as he says? What then? He can’t very well come here when we are expecting a newborn army to come marching to our city and we can’t have you leave us when the Cullen’s very much want you for nefarious reasons. What say you to all of that?”

Both Kate and Jane had to swallow their growls as the felt more than saw Bella’s hope drop. All the questions Athenodora had were valid, and likely not the only ones she had. Unfortunately for Bella, her older mother was very much the strategist and when it came to her safety and the safety of their secret, Athenodora took things very seriously. But they were at a loss of how to help. Kate wasn’t sure how much power she had there and therefore wasn’t sure what she could promise and be actually able to follow through. Jane, well Jane knew her mistresses very well. That meant, while she wasn’t happy to hear everything Athenodora had to say, she also so the gleam in Sulpicia’s eye. Bella may have asked to speak with the queens, but this was very much a family matter that Didyme was doing her best to stay out of.

“My dear, such good questions you have.” Sulpicia purred and for reasons Bella absolutely refused to think about, her face flushed at the tone and look Sulpicia gave her mate. “But there are some easy answers we can give.” Sulpicia was absolutely beaming, happy that for once since she had met her daughter, she was able to do something. “Bella, dear, would your father believe that you took a university internship that not only requires full time work, but also a full time course work. The internship would provide room and board of course and full tuition costs, but limited free time. There are also many guard members that we employ that can easily hack a university website to make it appear that young Isabella is in fact in a real internship.” Sulpicia said with a smile, “See Bella, there is nothing we cannot do for you.” Sulpicia purred the declaration, her words carrying far more meaning than her human would understand for some time.

Athenodora smirked at her mate, loving that her mate was not only helping their daughter, but also sparing with her. It wasn’t often that Sulpicia liked to step in to point out whatever Athenodora said was in fact not a problem. Usually, Sulpicia was more than happy to let her mate take the reigns’ in the plotting and planning and discovering loopholes; Sulpicia really only enjoyed coming up with plans and whatnot when it involved taking down those who broke the law, not mundane things such as university cover ups. But for her daughter, Sulpicia would dive into the things she normally preferred not to do.

“And of the wolves my love, what shall we do if they declare to the sheriff that we have indeed kidnapped our daughter and are doing her harm? Their lack of knowledge and natural distrust in us would not bode well for your story.” Athenodora said with a smirk that said she was very much enjoying their talk.

Bella wanted to jump in and say something, anything that could help her. But Sulpicia knew more about what they could and couldn’t do than she did; and really, so far, she was doing a really good job of getting Bella that phone call. Perhaps she should go to just Sulpicia in the future if she ever needed or even just wanted something?

“That’s not a problem. Why not allow a few of them to come here on the pretense of looking into this as a possible college of their choice as well? That way they can come here and ensure for their pack and her father that she is in fact safe and that there is no need for them to interfere.” Sulpicia said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Both queens turned towards their daughter at once, “Would they come to verify your safety?” Athenodora asked in a stern voice that while it made Bella want to snark at her for, she knew in this conversation, her snark wouldn’t do her very good.

“I’m sure I could convince them.” Bella said, thinking of Jake, maybe even Leah or Seth. Not only would Seth definitely love a free trip to Italy, but he would be able to convince his sisters; as long as Jacob went along with it. Jacob may not be the pack alpha, but he still had a lot of sway thanks to his dad and his supposed birth right. As long as Jake thought he was coming on a white horse to save Bella, she would be able to convince him once he was there that she was actually safe and that he didn’t need to worry about anything.

“Well then, I suppose the only thing to do is for you to decide when to call that your father and friends would be awake and whom to call first.” Athenodora said with a smile that was rare on the queen’s face, it was a simple happy smile that she normally only allowed her mate and sometimes Didyme to see. But doing this thing for her daughter, something her daughter had wanted that would not only ease her mind but also help protect their cover, she was more than happy to help.

Now they just had to dog proof the castle and make sure everyone knew not to attack them. That was sure to be a nightmare that Athenodora was going to pawn off to Sulpicia to do.