Chapter 5

Bella had to actually work at not flat out laughing at Zafrina. The confusion that had never left her face seemed to grow in strength as Bella explained what had happened between her and the Cullen’s. She didn’t go into very much detail, just going over the highlights of what had happened, how she had fallen into Edwards trap. It seemed her relationship was what Zafrina was focused on and her knowledge and how she obtained it was what Kachiri and Senna were focused on.

“You and Edward were dating?” Zafrina asked for what seemed like the millionth time and Bella had to stop from rolling her eyes at the woman.

“We did yes.” Bella answered right away, nearly getting as confused as Zafrina was because she couldn’t understand why the woman was so hung up on it.

“Why?” Zafrina demanded. Why would a vampire want to date a human that clearly caused him so much harm? Was the boy a masochist that Carlisle didn’t mind playing with as he had to have known the boy and her human weren’t mates. Surely he wasn’t that blind.

“What do you mean why?” Bella asked, not sure if she was offended by the possible insinuation that Edward shouldn’t have wanted to date her, a mere human. Or that her judgement of character was clearly very bad because of how everything played out and in retrospect, she should have known Edward was going to leave like he did because he was definitely one for the dramatics.

Zafrina was struggling to control her emotions; the fact that she was struggling in the first place didn’t help her control. She was well over a millennium old, she shouldn’t be having this problem; especially not around her very human mate that was much too vulnerable. She momentarily mentally cursed herself for her lack of human interaction over the centuries that if she had interacted more with humans, she likely wouldn’t be having so much problems communicating with her mate.

Communication was hard.

“We think Zafrina is concerned that as you were his singer, he should have… stayed very far from you.” Kachiri explained; proud of herself with how well she seemed to be able to talk with the human even as the one that was actually made for her was struggling.

“He did have issues being around me for too long sometimes.” Bella admitted, thinking back to all the times they would cuddle on her bed and he would suddenly shoot out of the bed and stand in the corner. She had always thought he was being over dramatic about it, but perhaps there was more to his issues being around her than met the eye.

“He could have easily killed you.” Zafrina said in a low voice, hating to voice those words out loud, but it was only fair for her mate to know the true danger she had been in.

“We have never met a vampire that had met their singer and the singer lived.” Senna quietly added, just loud enough for the human to hear, afraid that talking much louder would only anger Zafrina even more. She knew her sister was walking a thin line between outright anger about the completely unnecessary danger her mate had been placed in and the fact that because of those young vampires, her mate had no trust in her. Zafrina was trying to balance her anger, with her own concern of the future of her relationship with the human. Neither of the sisters were good with communication, with humans, Senna and Kachiri both truly hoped the Volturi, even as cruel as they appeared, would be able to help the two get a better connection, to become closer. Lady Didyme and Lord Marcus were very much hopeless romantics and would possibly help. Maybe.

“Well, that was pretty much what Rosalie kept telling me.” Bella grumbled, thinking back to all the times the blonde would almost happily remind her that she should be dead. She was sure the blonde was likely rooting for Edward to lose his internal battle and kill her so that the Cullen’s wouldn’t have to deal with the nosy human anymore.

“She warned you to keep away?” Kachiri asked, her position as coven leader making her want to know if there had been at least one Cullen that had tried to keep to the law.

“Yeah.” Bella answered as she thought back to exactly how it was the bombshell blonde had warned her. “She always told me that I shouldn’t know about them, that I was a danger to her and her family and that they should have just killed me to be done with it.”

“I will never let them harm you.” Zafrina growled, focusing only on a few words she had said, not the whole sentence. Senna and Kachiri quickly put their hands back on her shoulders to help calm their sister, knowing the tall warrior was losing her battle of control.

“So at least Rosalie tried to keep to the laws.” Kachiri said too quietly for the human to hear. Depending on what Aro read once the Cullen’s were in custody, they may be lenient on her if she was bound by the coven leader’s rules. That could also save her mate as well.

“I’m not worried about them.” Bella said with a roll of her eyes, trying not to let her anger over how the Cullen’s left her out on these women. They may be kidnapping her, but at least they were doing so because they were following the laws all their kind were supposed to. Well, she supposed technically they could have just killed her, but Zafrina is dead set on claiming them as mates, so that wasn’t about to happen. So Bella was just going to be thankful that they weren’t killing her, regardless that she didn’t want to go anywhere with them, at least she was alive.

“Good.” Zafrina said with a nod of her head, “They are no longer a threat to you. You have no threats now.” Zafrina said with an assured voice, confident that since she was with her mate now, there was nothing that could hurt her mate any longer. Zafrina wouldn’t allow it.

Bella couldn’t help but scoff at that, she knew better. Not only were vampires really good at going back on their word, but she knew how vampires really viewed humans. She and James had a very lengthy conversation about it. Well… not so much a conversation as he just tossed her around and not so much lengthy as it was just a few minutes that seemed to drag on forever. She also knew that Victoria was still after her. Laurent had told her as much and she was sure the red head would want to get back at the human that killed her coven mate. At least, that was what Laurent had hinted at and what the pack had explained. They said if it had been an imprint of the pack that had been killed, they would have all been relentless in getting justice.

“I’m not too sure about that.” Bella muttered.

Zafrina looked like she was about to say something, but completely in sync, all three vampires looked towards the front of the plane, clearly listening to something. Bella rolled her eyes, perhaps it was a vampire trait: not hiding that they could hear things the poor human couldn’t.

“We have arrived.” Zafrina said in a monotone voice and for a moment, Bella thought it meant that the woman was upset about their conversation cut short, but really, that would be stupid. It wasn’t like they were having a fruitful conversation anyways. Bella felt like she had been repeating the same thing since they first started their talk before she went to sleep and then picked up saying the exact same thing when she woke up. “You will stay with me while we are here.” Zafrina warned and for once, Bella didn’t want to argue or even try to upset the woman by saying she wanted to stick with one of the other two. She was more than aware of how frightening these vampires were and she wanted to do as little as possible to get on their radar… especially since she was already in trouble with knowing they existed in the first place.

From that ominous warning, Bella felt time had sped up. They landed fairly quickly in a very small airport that she was sure had to be private because everyone she saw were vampires and the human pilots hadn’t moved from their seats. The vampires walking with her didn’t seem afraid of being seen in the daylight either. Bella looked around, trying to spot anyone, but she couldn’t. From walking down the gangway, it led directly to a car that was also driven by a red eyed vampire. Bella couldn’t help but step slightly closer to Zafrina when the vampire seemed to be eyeing her. Zafrina responded by wrapping her arm around her waist.

The ride to the castle, which Bella was just slightly impressed was the actual strong hold of the Volturi, was silent and fast. It was definitely a vampire trait to speed, of that Bella was sure. Zafrina had Bella sit in between her and Kachiri while Senna sat across from her, next to another red eyed vampire that had a crest that Bella recognized from Carlisle’s painting. The vampire looked very stoic as he seemed to study Bella; it was incredibly unnerving and reminded her of how James had looked at her before she had left the baseball game.

They had parked in an underground garage and without a word, Zafrina had Bella in her arms and zoomed off down hallways that Bella didn’t have single hope to see from how fast they moved. All too soon, Bella wasn’t sure if she was thankful Zafrina had let her down or afraid of what that meant, that they had arrived in front of the kings.

The middle man, with the creepiest grin Bella had ever seen, clapped his hands and practically jumped from his seat, “How wonderful!” He cheered and Bella had to restrain from rolling her eyes at how over the top his excitement seemed. It was a bit much. “I’m so glad you able to finish your mission so quickly.”

“As requested.” Kachiri said as she quickly moved towards the man, holding out her hand.

Zafrina noticed Bella’s confused look as Aro grasped her sisters’ hand, “Aro can see every thought ever had with just a touch.” She whispered in Bella’s ear, keeping her main focus on the vampire king, making sure he didn’t look upset. Aro’s emotions could change on a dime and if they turned negative, Zafrina was willing to do anything to protect her human if the king decided Bella was too much of a risk.

Aro let go of Kachiri’s hand and seemed to look at Bella with such an intrigued look, something similar to James had during their encounter, that Bella couldn’t help but tuck herself further into Zafrina’s embrace. Zafrina, in turn, had to do all she could to not growl at the king; she was sure he wouldn’t appreciate that.

“Such an interesting turn of events.” Aro said in what Bella thought was awe, but she was sure that was an act. She did her best to look him dead in the eyes as he seemed to study her. “You know of us, yet you apparently have no plans to be turned. That is a problem.” Aro said with a slight tilt of his head just before he turned around to walk back towards the thrones that Bella had just noticed. Behind the thrones, a blonde woman in what Bella thought had thought was specifically male clothing from many centuries ago, walked out of a lone door from behind the thrones, moving to stand behind the blonde kings’ throne and whisper in his ear. “What do you think brother’s?” Aro asked as he moved to the long, black haired king that seemed to be staring off into space with a small smile. “Marcus?” He asked as he held out a hand towards the other king.

“You already know what I think.” Marcus said in a quiet tone as he put his hand in Aro’s. “Let them be; the Amazon’s will not break our laws. They have been our allies for far too long.”

“I see the bond is true then brother.” Aro said before turning to the other king who Bella just noticed had started to stare intently at her; and so was the woman. Zafrina seemed to notice the same thing as she tightened her grip on Bella, keeping the human tight against her, ready to run if need be. “And of you Caius?” He asked as he held out his hand towards the last king, but the blond king didn’t move to touch him like Marcus had. Caius simply sat straighter in his chair as the blonde woman moved to stand next to the throne instead of behind.

“No.” The woman said in the sternest voice Bella had ever heard. “She will not be leaving.”

“She is not to be harmed Aro, we claim her.” Caius said, causing an immediate chain reaction.

Zafrina roared so loud that Bella was afraid she might get hearing damage; but no sooner had she thought was she once again in Zafrina’s arms and flying through halls. Then all too soon, she felt as if they had been tackled and Bella flew onto the ground, the tile not nearly as forgiving as she would have hopped. The blonde king, Caius helped her to her feet as the blonde woman, Bella was sure was his mate, pulled Zafrina from a clearly newly made hole in the wall.

Bella was instantly worried because Zafrina looked nothing like she had since Bella had met the woman. Zafrina looked as if she was a zombie. She had a blank look in her eyes and seemed more than pliant as the woman shoved Zafrina forward towards her and Caius, but never letting go of the woman’s arm.

“Do not worry young one.” Caius said from Bella’s said, a hand on her shoulder. Bella wasn’t sure if the hand was there in restraint or comfort, but it definitely made sure Bella didn’t move an inch. “Athenodora has a gift that renders people thoughtless. Zafrina will not be harmed, but she will suffer for attempting to run with you.”

“No one will attempt to take what is ours and not suffer consequences.” The woman, Athenodora, said in a dark tone that definitely sparked a fear in Bella.

Perhaps she should have just gone to the reservation first instead of going to the meadow. Bella was really starting to regret ever getting out of bed that morning… or yesterday morning, or whatever day it was.