Chapter 7
The morning after Carlisle's departure Isabelle and Gabriel called their sons and mates together to tell them of the most recent assignment. They explained the charges against the Cullen's, Carlisle's visit, Isabelle's prior connection to Edward and the Cullen's, the fact that Isabelle had marked the Cullen's personally and what they felt all of this meant to the Hamilton Clan, the Cullen's and the world. The boys and their wives listened intently to everything and then asked the question that meant the most to each of them. "What do we do to protect the Clan?"
"We start by protecting the Cullen's" stated Gabriel. He heard growls and groans from his sons. Thorne spoke and said, "Why are we protecting him, the others I understand but you know this Edward will only cause problems once he arrives at the castle." Gabriel stood and looked at each of his sons, "I am the laird of this clan and we will do as
I say. I have already warned Carlisle that interference by Edward will not be tolerated. If he starts to cause a problem take him to the dungeon and call for me. If you do not obey my wishes then it will be you I meet in the dungeon, understood?" All stated they understood but to Gabriel it looked as if his sons would like to cause Edward problems, if he started it or not and when he was honest with himself he found himself hoping Edward would start trouble. But what he said was, "Enough about him, let's discuss what will be happening the next two weeks."
He turned to his fourth son, Digby, "You and Elisabeth will be following Alice & Jasper. I expect them to be the ones to check the locations where the girls were taken. Do not get caught and remember, Jasper led armies in the south he is a fighter and strategist be prepared. Digby being part druid should take care of Alice's visions, if not you know how to get around her. Digby, I am sending you two because your druid part should be able to sort out the different kinds of magic being used. I am hoping you can identify something before they get to Tulane in New Orleans. Voodoo and magic are abundant there; it will help if you know exactly what you are looking for. The people in New Orleans may actually talk to you easier than Alice or Jasper; they will be able to sense your white magic. Use that to your advantage. When they return to the Cullen house you are to return to the castle."
He then turned to Soren, his third son, and spoke, "Soren, you and Ruth will be following Emmett and Rosalie, your berserker strength should easily contain him if need be. I am sure they will be visiting the Cullen's friends and nomads. They should be trying to find out what information is out there to be found about the blood farms. Hopefully, they will dig up enough rumors to give us solid leads. When they return to the Cullen house, return to the castle."
Isabelle spoke to her fifth son, Grim, "You and Jillian will go and speak with our Lycan contacts. Be sure to ask about underworld activity also, pay special attention to South America it has been quiet there for too long almost as if something or someone is waiting. We are hoping since you are full Lycan they will be more forthcoming with you. Watch out for the werewolves, they are up to something but they are the muscle definitely not the brains and the bottom feeders of the Lycan Clan. Check in every 3 days, in case your brothers need assistance, and return to the castle in 10 days to prepare for the Cullen's arrival."
"Ingram" Isabelle said as she addressed her seventh son, "You and Kate will go and see our Druid contacts. Be prepared for anything, I am thinking they are the brains behind this although I can not determine their reasons. Expect them to lie to you and because this is suppose to be a simple investigation you can not use brute force and take from their minds what we want to know. You must be subtle; your wife assures me you can be at times, do not prove her wrong. You will also check in every 3 days in case one of your brothers needs you and return to the castle in 10 days to help prepare."
She then turned to her youngest sons, twins Thorne and Thunder, "Your Fae abilities allow you to sift time and jump locations easily. I hope you have been practicing because over the next 12 days you will be doing quite a bit of both. You are searching for the girls and blood farms; if you go back to when they were taken it should be fairly easy to track where they are now. The more pressing questions you are trying to answer are they whys. Why is someone doing this? What do they hope to gain? Why the Cullen's? Why now? I don't think you will need to go back more than 5 years to find the beginnings of this. Take nothing at face value; someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to hide themselves, why? I expect you may need to split up, if you do check in with each other everyday and be back at the castle in 12 days."
"Michael and Catherine along with Leif and Mary will be looking into each of the Cullen's lives", Isabelle said about her first and second born. "Look deeply into each of them, including their human lives. Trace identities, money and family ties on each of them. Look at the people who provide these services for them and find out if anyone else as been looking into their lives. If they have, then look for the common thread, maybe there is a pattern that will tell us where the attack on them will come from, be it verbal or physical. Catherine and Mary will report back to the castle in 12 days with your findings. The boys will go to the Cullen house and serve as part of the escort to bring them here. And this time be more polite and introduce yourselves but do not give out any other information. Remember, Edward is a mind reader so block his ability."
"Haldor and Heidi will be looking into their life now that includes searching their house in Leeds. Keldan and Iris will be looking into their life in Forks and everything up until they moved to Leeds," Gabriel stated addressing his sixth and eighth sons. "Any evidence used against them will have to be fairly current, take their houses and lives apart if necessary but find what can be used against them. Heidi and Iris will report back to your mother in 12 days. Haldor and Keldan, you will stay to escort the Cullen's to the castle. Remember to conceal your minds. Hopefully your vampire status will put them at ease as much as is possible."
"Carlisle, Esme and Edward will be traveling to Volterra and we will leave them alone to make that trip in peace", Gabriel said as he moved to stand behind Isabelle. "One, they will be surrounded by vampires and the odds of us following them undetected is slim. Two, while we can not yet rule out that the Volturi may be behind this, to keep our true investigation quiet we can not appear to be openly looking into them. We will have to trust Carlisle to reveal if he finds anything there. And lastly there are things they need to discover for themselves. With the hints your mother and I dropped about the oldest documents we expect them to find out about the prophecy, they will need time to deal with that."
Isabelle reached back and took Gabriel's hands and wrapped them around her waist with hers sitting on top of them. She took a calming breath and addressed her family, "I told Carlisle when he returned with his coven I would tell them my story, what happened after they left, the missing years, everything leading up to today. It is up to each of you if you want to be there to hear it or not. I have never fully explained to you about the process or the missing years and I think because of this you are worried Edward will come here and be able to mess up our life and home. I am not going to get into everything now but trust your father and I, no one and nothing can upset our happy life. Edward is not a threat, your father is my missing piece and when I found him I was complete, as was he. Trust in our love for each other and understand that when I call those three years the missing years it is not because I don't fully remember them."
Their sons stood up as one unit and were an impressive sight. They looked every inch the highland warriors they were, even Thunder who was the shortest at 6'6". They hugged and kissed their mother, nodded at their father, took their mates hands and left the castle to fulfill their assigned duties. As they left Gabriel embraced his wife as an air of foreboding seemed to sweep into the castle and lay heavy on their hearts. "They will be fine and we will prevail" he said arrogantly, as much for himself as for his wife. "With you by my side, my highland warrior, how can we not" was her response.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.
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