Chapter 20
When the alarm sounded Carlisle was in the lab looking over the tests for the hybrid, Edward was in the middle of his scan, the other Cullen's were in their suite. The Guardians had gathered to discuss the best way to proceed and the Executioners were in the courtyard training area, until the alarm went up. The fast, sharp, loud beeps resonated through the air alerting the Hamilton's - someone had pressed a panic button.
Isabelle yelled to Anthony, "Get the other children inside and protect the Cullen's. Ring the bells so the clan knows to go to their safe zones. Thorne, Thunder I need you. "As she grabbed her sons hands the 3 of them shouted, "With life and limb and love I fight; harden the shell with my might; Taller than the tallest tree; as I will so mote it be." The Cullen's, except Edward, ran out onto a balcony and stared in awe as the protective shell around the land became a physical clear wall. As they looked at Isabelle and her sons and the determination on their faces grew the wall widened until it was 6" thick and stood two feet above the tallest tree. As they attempted to leave the balcony they were surrounded by 12 children all holding swords. Anthony stepped forward, "You can stay on the balcony or go inside your suite but you are not permitted to leave the castle at this time. Please do not force us to detain you." Emmett scoffed, "Come on we can help here and do you really think kids can stop us even if there are 12 of you?" A girl that looked to be about 13 stepped towards him, "Haven't you played and wrestled enough with the boys to know looks can be deceiving. We are not ordinary children and some of us are older than you. Do not force us to fight you the end will not be good for you." Alice stepped to Carlisle, "She is right. If we make them fight, you will be reattaching limbs for quite a while." With that information they decided to just watch from the balcony.
Gabriel had sent the Executioners to the rings to find out who pressed the panic button and why. The information was troubling, a group of girls had gone into the forest and not returned. The evidence indicated they may have accidentally crossed the boundary and been taken. Isabelle immediately organized the Guardians; Jillian shifted and took to the sky, Catherine went on horseback with Michael and Grim to search the forest, Iris and Keldan along with Digby and Elisabeth took the cars to search the road and wait at the end of the forest for the others. No one knew when or where they would find them or what condition everyone would be in but they prepared for the worst. Isabelle knew the girls wouldn't just wonder off they must have been lured away, but for what purpose?
Jillian sounded the cry saying she had found the girls and their kidnappers. As she continued to circle the area the Hamilton's descended. What they found was druids deep listening to the girls being guarded by werewolves and hybrids. The Cullen's watched in awe as Isabelle gave the order to attack, when the words "no prisoner's" left her mouth a cold chill shivered down their spines. Watching the Hamilton's do battle was almost like watching a dance of some kind, the way they moved together it was as if they could read each others minds. Taking care of the werewolves was easy for them even the women fought like warriors, no hesitation and no mercy. The hybrids used slightly more strategy but it was obvious they did not have much previous fighting experience. Jasper watched intently and was captivated by the way they fought each other. He spoke to Carlisle, "If we eventually come up against any of them it is important that we pay attention to them fighting now so we can survive later. It will not be like fighting other vampires because a bite could kill us so you still have to be defensive to a point when fighting." With that said he resumed watching the battle and gained a new respect for the Hamilton's. He turned to the children guarding them and asked, "How young are you taught to fight?" Anthony was the one to answer, "As soon as we can walk we start to learn hand to hand combat. Weapons training begins as soon as we have enough coordination to use each weapon."
The fighting slowed until it was just the druids left and they were in direct contact to the girls. At this point Gabriel ordered the Executioners to cut the brands off the werewolves for identification purposes and a field test be done on the hybrids. If the hybrids were something they had not seen yet then the bodies were to be taken back to the castle. But if they already had one of that hybrid type the brand was to be cut off and the body destroyed like the wolves.
The druids had formed a circle with the girls in the middle and a druid standing in front of each girl probing her mind. Druids did not fight with weapons; this would be a magical fight. Isabelle approached the circle flanked by Mary, Ruth, Digby and Heidi on one side and Ingram, Kate, Thorne and Thunder on the other. As everyone started to spread out around the circle the air felt as if was becoming charged with static electricity. The Hamilton's stood completely still and just looked intently at the druids. The druids were unable to remain still and started murmuring in Latin as they shifted around. As the charge continued to build, the children drew the Cullen's into a circle. Anthony looked to them and said "Brace yourselves; this is going to be big and stay inside the circle." The children joined hands and as soon as they were linked a shock wave went out that incapacitated the druids forming the outer circle. The Hamilton's moved so quickly that they had killed the outer druids and were standing with their swords at the necks of the ones in front of the girls before the wave and sonic boom reached the Cullen's.
The druids that had been probing the girls were bound and gagged and dragged into the castle dungeons. The ones that had been killed had their identifying tattoos cut off and were destroyed. As the Hamilton's were returning the parents of the girls were brought to the castle to be with their children. The druids had been dragged behind the horses through the forest to the castle. Once the parents saw them approaching they started throwing stones at them until the Executioners dismounted to drag them inside. When the Cullen's were surprised that such behavior was allowed Jasper once again spoke up with the answer, "There is a reason everyone is scared of them and I am guessing that this is just a small part of that fear. They are very good at what they do, I wouldn't question their methods. They have been doing this a long time and it would just piss them off. Besides their methods are effective and we need them to survive this."
Isabelle and Gabriel returned to the castle in one of the cars. As they stepped out Michael and Catherine approached them to give an update and receive further orders. Edward was hunting and when he returned the last part of his scan would begin, the brands and tattoos were being recorded then would be packed up for delivery and a message had arrived from the Council. The next meeting would be in one week and they wanted an update on the Cullen's. "Great" was Gabriel's response.
"Michael we will deliver the brands and tattoos personally at the meeting be sure your brothers know I expect them to attend also, all but one will go with us. Decide amongst yourselves who will stay behind. Also discuss protection for the Cullen's, they will be going with us to the meeting. Anything else for now, Isabelle?" Gabriel asked. "No, we will now more after we interrogate the druids." she answered and turned to Catherine. "We can run some of the tests and collect samples while Edward is being scanned, the other things will have to wait until he is done. Ask Carlisle if he would like to participate in running the tests, whatever he decides is fine with me. Before we move onto the actual interrogations and mind scans be sure at least Alice, Jasper and Edward are in the special suite. They will still be able to hear what is going on but they won't have to experience it with their gifts also."
Isabelle took Gabriel's hand and continued on to the keep saying, "Once Edward is done we can go over the scans with the Cullen's and start the druid interrogations. We only have a week to plan everything out and we need more evidence against the Brude's. It is also hard to know who to trust on the Council. We have to get this right, there is more at stake here than just the Cullen's I can feel it. Something bad is coming Gabriel and it frightens me that I can't see what it is."
"I can feel that it frightens and upsets you. Whatever comes we will deal with it together like we always have. I love you Isabelle, as long as you have faith in that the rest will be ok."
"I do and I love you too Gabriel."
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.
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