Dad called that evening and had some interesting news. Apparently the shape shifter delegates that had met at the peace talks were being very stubborn and refusing to cooperate. Then they got a message during the meeting and all of a sudden they decided to play ball. It came to surface that their "great experiment" in the America's had failed so badly that the entire band of new recruits had been overtaken by three measly Guardians. They had recalled the European movement in agreement with the treaty of 1104. He was quite pleased as he complimented us on the job we did. I had to make a point that half of the time, I was being held and it was only Jasper and Emmet against all of them. He congratulated us nevertheless. Mom had filled him in on the rest of the situation, and we earnestly asked his advice on what he thought we should do. In typical Dad fashion, he said that the first thing he would do would be to give the girls time to think while making sure Lucien didn't get a chance to reappear, that much we had figured out on our own.

We headed out to make our rounds that evening with heavy hearts. We stayed clear of the girls houses and the roads. We each had a list with several of the addresses that Jas and I had looked up. By dividing our area, we could cover them all tonight and if either of us found anything promising we could just call the others and wait there for them. I checked out the first house on my list, first I did a sensory scan for aggression when I got nothing, I went close enough to see inside the windows. It was a nice looking couple with a young child. I mentally scratched them off my list. The next house was a duplex, I peeked in on one side and there were an older couple sitting and watching TV and holding hands. It made my eyes tear up as I thought of Jasper and Alice's conversation earlier. I went on around to the other side and there was no one at home. No vehicles in the drive and they hadn't left any lights on. Ok one still on the maybe list. I continued. Addresses number three four and five all came out clear. That left only one possible on my list. I asked my brothers how they were fairing.

Jas, Emmet, how goes the house hunt? I'm nil for five so far. I have one possible, no one home, no vehicles, but no signs either.

Bout the same here Edward. How about you Emmet?

One left to check boys but all clear so far.

It was quiet for a bit then Emmet broke the silence.

Hey boys, I wonder if you care to meet me out by the old Quarter Horse Ranch on Elk Creek Ridge Road? We seem to have a lot of commotion going on around here.

Absolutely! On our way! Stay out of sight we don't need you getting kidnaped today, we've had enough of that.

I took off with renewed vigor. I was determined to make Lucien pay for forcing our hand at telling the girls. I was hurting inside and I wanted to take revenge on the one who had initiated it. I knew it wasn't his fault that I was a different species than the one I fell in love with, but all would have been fine for a while longer and it would have given us time to slowly fill them in on things. And to be honest, I could care less if I was being fair or anything else. We had run ins with him before and he always seemed to crawl away. Well not if I could help it THIS time.

I saw Jasper as I turned down Elk Creek Ridge Road. We slowed and stayed in the shadows until we got to Emmet. He was laying on his stomach on a ledge overlooking the ranch. We crawled up beside him he nodded toward the barn area. There were a few guys milling around, and one was coming out of the barn. As he opened the door, we could see inside. There were several black SUV's, just like the ones Lucien's team was driving last night. Very interesting indeed.

We moved over to the left knoll and got close enough to the house to get a view in that side. I recognized several of the guys who were limping around and babying their wounds. I swear I saw Mr. Baseball laying on the sofa with an ice bag strategically placed. We were still looking and listening for some confirmation that Lucien was there. We needed to take inventory of the place, see where their weapons were stocked and where their alarm systems were set up.

We made a quick move to the north ridge and could see the back of the house from here. There he was standing there like he was the new ordained King or something. I had such an overwhelming urge to take off down there and beat the hell out of him, but I knew it would do no good. We had to catch him and send him back to the Elder Circle to be tried for the latest experiments he had performed. We fell back a bit and made a quick call to dad. We needed a transfer for him. Carlisle would find the nearest one and send them this way. We gave him the coordinates, and said we were heading in to collect any evidence we told us good luck and to be careful.

We snuck down to the barn first and did a quick overhaul on all the vehicles. A few missing distributer caps does wonders for making sure the vehicles stay put. We double checked while we were there to see if the weapons were stocked in there as well. No indication that they were. The next building to our left was apparently the old stable. Low and behold we found guns and ammo piled in the separate stalls. We didn't want them being able to get control of these, so we decided the duck pond directly behind the building was a nice resting spot for them. Emmet took great delight in opening every case and tossing the merchandise in separately. Then we re-closed the cases and placed them in the same stalls we had taken them from. We assumed the main command center would be at the house where Lucien was. This one would take a little more finesse. So many of his recruits had seen us last night and we had no idea if we all threw out blocks would it work on them enough for us to get inside or not. Had they been able to duplicate the human shift so well that our blocks would work on them? Was it worth a try?

We discussed it and decided it was definitely worth a try. If we could send him back with enough evidence that they could not dispute it, they could put him away where he belonged. Yes, it was worth it. We stood at the back door and got ready, we all threw our blocks then we dissipated and went into the house. We reformed in the first room to the left. It must be our lucky day. There were four computers and several file cabinets, this was going to take us a bit to collect what we needed. Jasper sat at the computer and started copying files and sending to our main Guardian Account. Emmet and I each grabbed a file cabinet and started rummaging through. I went to E first thinking he filed under experiment, then H for humans. I ended up starting back at A andgoing through every single file. After a little bit I had found several cases they had documented where they had ran their *tests* then taken the humans apart into little pieces and used them for their shifting. Jas was having even better luck. He had found the medical results where they had used human DNA to make hybrids for the sole reason of blocking all scans and sensory readings.

We were almost through when the bottom fell out of our cup-o-luck. One of the recruits came into the room and we didn't have time to dissipate, he yelled intruders and by then, no amount of blocks would have helped us. We hoped enough had transferred from Jas because we were gonna need our hands free to fight our way out. It seemed like men were pouring in from all sides. We just started swinging and ducking until we could make our way into a larger more controlled environment. In order for us to use our speed and agility to our advantage we needed out in the open. So we all worked our way out the back door. Now we could have a little fun.

It was like they never learned a thing last night. They would make the same moves, the same ways and end up in the same predicaments. And I had thought the goons in the chief's house reminded me of the keystone cops, these guys were fucking ridiculous. We had gone through about 20 guys when Lucien ambled out to see what the ruckus was. I'd say by the look on his face, he was just a little bit surprised to see us. Emmet was having a little too much fun with the humanesque recruits by dissipating and reforming behind them. Then he would clear his throat and they would turn right into his fist. Jas and I actually took a couple of blows because of watching him and laughing. Lucien tried to play general again like last night but his guys were going down fast and he knew it. After a few short minutes he took off running to the barn. We let him go, we knew he couldn't drive off and it would give us time to take care of the rest of the goons. The guys from the barn were sent out to fight while Lucien tried to make his escape. They went running to the stable and we couldn't help but crack up at the yelling and confusion when they couldn't find their trusty guns. Emmet yelled for Jas and me to finish up here and he went around back of the barn. I landed an uppercut on the guy I was working on and he went down. Jas punched his and found a glass jaw. His was out. After the ones who came dwindling from the barn, we were free to go help Emmet. I motioned for Jas to go around front and I jumped to the loft to come at him from the inside. We all entered at the same time. I could see him from my vantage point and directed Emmet and Jas to him. They stayed just out of his sight until I worked my way down. Then we all just walked casually out in the open at the same time. I do believe the human wanna-be found out what underwear was for. He didn't even put up a fight, he just sat down and put his hands out. Emmet took his zip ties out and cuffed Lucien's wrists. We walked him out of the barn and made him give the orders for the guys to go into the stable. Once they were all in there, we took Lucien into the house and checked to make sure no one was left to jump us. Then we sat down and waited for the transfer to arrive.

I took out my cell and called dad, I passed on the information that Lucien had been caught and we were waiting at the location until the transfer got there. We knew from past dealing with the shape shifters, if their leader was gone, they go back to their previous home and shift back into their former shape. They were pretty much hopeless without a leader.

We were very happy that we had finally caught Lucien. There was no doubt in our minds that he was the reason I was called here to begin with, but we were also positive that we would end up having to deal with him again at some point in the future.

Apparently the realization that our reason for being in this area was now leaving suddenly sank in to my brothers. They both sat and got more and more somber as we waited. When the transfer team arrived, we gave them the files we had found and made sure and told them the rest of the info had been sent to the Guardian account. They happily took Lucien off our hands. We watched as he was loaded in the van and headed straight to the airport.

As soon as they were out of sight we went inside and made an anonymous call to the FBI. We told them there were some vehicles on the property that were more than likely stolen, and gun and ammo cases in the stables, but they would need to send a dive team to the pond behind the stables to retrieve the artillery. They seemed both amused and confused by this last bit of information. Then Jas destroyed the computers and we burned the files left. No sense in the humans panicking about that now. We went out the side opposite of the barn so if the crew were watching they wouldn't see us leave. Then we jogged home feeling quite smug with ourselves. We had kept our promise and made sure the girls would be safe.

There wasn't too much to do, I had to call my housekeeper and tell her I was moving, then I'd grab what stuff I always carried with me and we would sit and decide which areas we were needed in next. All I had to do was lock the house up, I'd just buy a new one wherever I ended up, unless I had previously been in that area, then I'd open the house I left there the last time. Jasper and Emmet had only brought duffle bags with them, so all they had to do was grab them and head back to California. I assumed they would call me soon with their new locations as well.

I called Dad and asked him where there had been any happenings that were being monitored so I could figure out where I was needed. There seemed to be a lot of turmoil lately in Colorado, so I decided to go there next.

We sat there in my den, there was nothing to say, we all knew what had to be done. We had moved so many times in our lives it was no big deal to relocate. The problem this time was that we were leaving our hearts here in this little Washington town, and we knew we would never be the same. The girls would get over us like any other school girl crush and within a week or two they would be planning for the prom. At least we were grateful they would be able to fall in love and live a happy life. With Lucien gone, we had done the best we could for them. We went to bed knowing none of us would be able to sleep.

We got up early and had our duffles packed. We went on one last trip through town and ended up at the school. We stood silent and perfectly still in the shadows of the buildings and waited until each girl arrived. They greeted each other calmly and walked into the building. Just as the door was about to close, Bella turned and walked back out on the steps. She looked directly at the area we were watching from. My heart stopped as I looked at her. She lowered her head as if she were sad and walked slowly inside. I turned and left.