Chapter 24
As Carlisle was in the lab and the others were out getting familiar with the land Edward spent his time reading the books Gabriel had sent. He exchanged the books several times for others and by the time everyone but Carlisle had returned he was shocked at the amount of information they didn't know about their world. He explained about the hierarchy in all of the Clans based on the bloodlines. For vampires the older your bloodline the more likely you were to have a gift, a powerful one, and the harder you would be to kill. You were also much more likely to have a mate who was human, that way you would change them and both are of the same bloodline rather than mixing the blood. The younger bloodlines normally found mates that were already vampires.
He explained that the wolves were the same way. The Lycans being at the top and the oldest, they imprinted and could change their imprints, they also had gifts like the vampires. Werewolves were at the very bottom and did not have mates or gifts and only changed forms at the full moon. Lycans could change whenever they wanted. Lycans actually came about from a wolf that had been injured by an ancient vampire. In the beginning the two clans coexisted nicely, the fallout was over a human woman. The Lycan imprinted on her and she was the singer of a powerful vampire. The Lycan changed her before the vampire could get to her. In retaliation the vampire captured a pack of wolves and inbred them for several generations then infected them with rabies before attacking them and letting them loose on a small village, the result was werewolves and the severing of the two clans. In reality most lycans were disgusted by werewolves and the wolves were tired of being the bottom feeding scum of their clan.
He explained what he could about the Fae and fairies but the books were very vague. It seemed that they had been on earth 10's of thousands of years before humans were even a thought. It was hard to obtain concrete information as they enjoyed sitting back and watching humans instead of interacting with them. But they did seem protective of humans, as was the case when they imprisoned the Brude's. Not much was mentioned about the Brude's either, druids were descended from them and they used dark magic. For some reason Brude women became extinct and they turned to human women, that is the point they decided to imprison humans and rule earth. Once that decision was made the Fae stepped in and imprisoned the 12 remaining Brude's in the underworld. The Fae allowed the druids to live because with only 25 % of the magical power of Brude's they were not seen as a threat.
Druids are essentially human. They can extend their lives with magic but that is all. They do not have bloodlines but the do have a hierarchy that is defined by the level of magic mastery achieved. Over the centuries they have reclaimed much of the magic that was lost but at the cost of their reputation in the world. In their quest for immortality and recognition in the magical world they have done some pretty weird things (wearing real animal heads during ceremonies for example) that exposed them to the human world. Now the human and magical worlds think they are kooks. Druids use quite a bit of dark magic also and this adds to the impression in both worlds that they are crazy and dangerous.
At this point Edward paused and made sure he had everyone's attention, "There are some books I was denied access when I asked for them. In the ones I did read there are vague references to gypsies, berserkers, witches and shifters and books related to them are the ones I was denied. I am guessing the reason they were withheld is because that would give us a lot of information about the Hamilton's. How was exploring the castle and grounds?"
Edward took from their minds all he needed to know about the layout of the grounds, castle and secret passages and tunnels. He turned to Jasper and asked, "What was that part about the villagers practicing with crossbows and sniper rifles?"
"I asked Grim and Haldor about that and was told it is for their protection. They obviously can't kill a vampire or werewolf like we can so the tips and bullets are made with the enhanced metals. They said a shot to the heart or enough arrows can bring them down and kill them. On the off chance that something makes it into the village the clansmen have some hope of protecting themselves. There is also a bullet that has a liquid form of the metal in it, like a hollow point that the snipers use and they are normally placed on the castle roof. Given their reputation and the family's abilities I am surprised they would think someone could get into the village. The lengths they are going to for the villagers show two things; they are not taking anything for granted and whatever is coming for us has the potential to either get past them or is more powerful than they are." Jasper's last statement had them all raising an eye brow in surprise and Edward heard them all resolve in their minds to get as much out of their training as possible.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Esme opened the door to find Keldan on the other side. "We are done with the interrogations and are ready to start your training", he said entering the room. "Your training weapons are ready and waiting along with the children and Isabelle on the training grounds if you would like to follow." As the Cullen's followed him outside he spoke, "Mother and I will be acting as your blockers today and watching to make sure everything goes ok with the training. We will introduce you to the children who will be teaching you but you will not be told any personal information about them except who their parents are so please do not ask." The Cullen's nodded and as they came over the last hill Isabelle was standing with the same 12 children from before, 8 boys and 4 girls, all with swords secured on their backs.
"Good Morning", Isabelle said greeting them. "The children will be training you; they will be going over the weapons with you and helping you to pick a weapon of choice for an actual fight. Do not let their gender, size or apparent age fool you, each of them are deadly and very skilled. All but the youngest two are actually older than all of you and the youngest two are only younger than Carlisle. There are younger ones but they are not skilled enough to train anyone yet, however they may come and offer guidance or support. It may sound strange but listen to them if they do, they may appear to be younger than 10 but they have watched the Executioners do these exact drills for decades."
"Let's start the introductions. They all know who you are so we have William & Vera -Michael's kids, Anthony, Edgar, & Anne - Leif's kids, Richard & Jonathon - Soren's children, Grim's twins - Peter & Paul, Samantha & James - Haldor's kids and Victoria - Ingram's daughter. William & Anthony are in charge of the training but each of them has their own specialty. You will be starting with wooden training swords. A dagger and a sword will be forged for each of you as well as your weapon of choice. You will have a choice of a broadsword or a claymore for your sword and the other weapons to choose from are a mace, axe or a second sword. Any hand to hand combat requires that mouthpieces be worn to prevent an accidental bite. Keldan and I will be watching from the hill - good luck." With that Keldan and Isabelle retreated to watch the children teach 6 vampires an entertaining lesson.
Entertaining it was. It took 2 hours for Emmett, Jasper and Edward to get past the fact they were sparring with girls who looked to be 13 and kept swatting them on the butt with their swords much to the amusement of everyone else. After a few hours they demonstrated the axe and mace then moved on to hand to hand. The Cullen's picked up quickly but it was a full day and a half before they could give the children a true fight.
Things continued on for 2 more days; the Cullen's training, Carlisle in the lab and the Hamilton's fulfilling their duties until the call came they had been waiting for. The Council meeting was set for Saturday at 5:00 pm; they would be contacted again about the location. Gabriel called everyone together, "We have 3 days left before the meeting so there are 2 days left to prepare, we will leave on Friday once we know the location. We will meet again on Thursday evening to discuss strategy for the meeting and give out assignments for when we are there. Also on Thursday, Carlisle, we will go over all the tests and scans of the druids and hybrids as well as answer any other questions you still have. You will need to call your vampire allies and be sure they are ready to move on Friday, we need them as witnesses when something happens at the meeting. Lastly, I have heard from Isabelle how well your training is going. I talked to the boys and they agreed to have a sparring session with you all on Thursday morning, you will get to chose who you spar with. It should be fun, be sure to bring your A game."
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.
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