Chapter 9
Mid morning after the attempted breach saw the return of Heidi and Iris, their mates had stayed behind as ordered. Heidi reported to Isabelle first, "The Cullen's moved to Leeds 18 months ago and things have been quiet for them. Carlisle works in the local hospital and the younger vampires are attending the university. Nothing is suspected about any of them by the locals. They keep to themselves and there have not been any problems with the Cullen's or on their property. The search of the house did not turn up anything new. Some old identities where found in a safe but it appears as if they have been using the Cullen name since they left Forks. An inspection of everyone's passports showed that they have all traveled together except for Edward; he was on his own for a while. Emmett as not traveled internationally unless it was with the family. There is nothing to show that Emmett has committed of these crimes in Leeds. I did notice residual traces of magic in Leeds, just not at the Cullen house. I believe that the traveling spell and the memory wiping spell have been used regularly in the past 6 months and Haldor picked up a strong sense of 2 cloaked druids, females, around Leeds but it stopped 2 miles from the Cullen house. That is all to report."
"Thank you Heidi, it is much as I expected it to be" replied Isabelle. "Have Kate and Jillian fill you in on the attempted breaches in the wards and last night. Kate is retrieving the necessary spells to make the wards more lethal. As a Wiccan Witch I need you to do the protection ruins and blessings on the clan. Iris and Jillian can help with the individual tattooing of the clan members. With the exception of the children Gabriel and I would like for them to be permanent, but of course that decision will be left up to each member."
"Iris, what do you have to report?" asked Isabelle. "After leaving Forks the coven went north to the Denali Coven in Alaska for 6 months", Iris began. "This is the point where Edward splits off from them and goes to South America for 18 months, while the rest of the coven spent 18 months in Montreal. He traveled around, mostly in Brazil and Chile before he made his way to Isle Esme off the coast of Brazil to meet up with the rest of his coven. The entire coven is together for 2 months on Isle Esme and then they make the move to the United Kingdom. They live for 16 months on the outskirts of London until the Leeds Hospital requests Carlisle permanently; he had been doing a rotation there twice a month. That is when the coven makes the move to Leeds."
"The six months in Alaska looks to be recovery time from Forks and to have new identities made, which they have not used yet. The new identities have the surname of Stewart and are kept up to date so they are ready to use at a moments notice. The time in Montreal was used as a stop over for the UK move. Edward is mentioned in Montreal so he at least visited several times. His time in South America was harder to track. He was always on the move, as if he was searching for something. He didn't live anywhere and avoided contact with people. I was able to pick up impressions of him at different places in the jungles and larger cities but he never stayed any where long enough to leave a lasting effect." "Was he ever near the blood farms or lycans in South America," asked Isabelle. "No, not that I could pick up on, I will have a definite answer for you once I meet him. Then I can tell you for sure if I sensed him or not," answered Iris.
"OK, be sure to talk to Grim and Jillian, they observed the farms and the girls, see what impressions you get from them and if the 3 of you can come up with any new information," Isabelle told her. "Thank you Iris, please help the girls with the tattooing of the clan." Isabelle was off to find her husband, Soren and Ruth had returned earlier and she was very interested in what Emmett and Rosalie had been doing.
Upon entering Gabriel's office Isabelle realized that Soren was at the beginning of he and Ruth's tale. "They visited the Alaskan coven, who knew nothing of the blood farms and barely anything of the missing girls. Then they visited a coven in Ireland who again knew nothing of the farms but had heard about the missing girls because some American girls had been taken from a boarding school in England." Soren continued, "The Egyptian coven said they didn't know anything but were acting strange, almost as if they were in the middle of making a decision. It appeared as if the Cullen's trusted them but I am not so sure they should. Ruth agreed that they were hiding something and questioned their loyalty to the Cullen's."
At this point Ruth spoke up, "Things became interesting with the South American coven. They have heard a whispering of things happening, that a shift in power was getting ready to happen. They told the couple they had not heard anything concrete but the jungle seemed at once alive and void of life. Alive because there have been a lot of things coming and going, but dead because certain parts of the jungle now have no animal life in them. One female told them there was a part of the jungle animal and human alike avoided and when they went to investigate even the vampires were uneasy." Ruth turned to Isabelle before speaking, "It was a spell I could feel it and it is meant to keep people out. It is powerful, it made the hairs at the back of my neck stand up and Soren started to shake. We had to leave before we revealed ourselves to the Cullen's."
"We caught up with them on the way to Romania," Ruth stated, "There are definitely things happening in Romania and Siberia, although I am unsure how much Emmett and Rosalie actually picked up." This observation upset Isabelle, is it possible the Cullen's knew even less about the mythical world than they originally thought? Now was not the time to have to instruct a coven of vampires on what all was out there, they were part of this world they should know this. "Ruth, how are your people handling everything?" Isabelle questioned. "The Gypsies are taking all the precautions they can. It is werewolves that are doing the attacks in Romania and Siberia, the disturbing thing is that some are happening without the full moon. I am assured no lycans have been around so it makes me wonder if the werewolves have added a new level to the Lycan Clan that no one knows about yet. Why would they hide it and what exactly can they do?" Ruth answered.
Soren spoke again, "The last stop before they returned home was Stonehenge. There have been human and animal sacrifices there recently. The English have even increased security and it hasn't stopped. The guards are found in the morning, alive, but remembering nothing of the night before. After the Cullen's left to return to Leeds, Ruth and I tried to approach the stones at night and were unable to get within 100 feet of it. Any time we tried to get closer Ruth would scream, hold her head and start to convulse on the ground. Whatever was there is physically too much for her." "It is dark magic" Ruth interrupted, "Extremely dark magic; I am not sure any good that can sense it can get close to it without some protection around them. My guess is they are using it as a doorway."
"Soren find your brothers; have them explain what happened in the woods the other night and the new safety measures in place. Be sure to take your place in the rotation," Gabriel told his son. Isabelle dismissed Ruth telling her "Find Heidi, you will need to help with the protection spells of the clan members. With what you have felt be sure the ones they are using are strong enough."
Gabriel pulled his wife into his lap as they each thought about all they had learned this morning. Isabelle turned to him asking, "Does it seem to you that the Cullen's know much less about the world they live in than they should?"
"It appears that way", he started. "But when have they ever really needed to know any of this. Most of the coven is less than 100 years old and probably have not come across most of the clans. They live as a family and do not travel as much as nomads. Maybe this is something we should have expected." With that thought Gabriel kissed his wife and left her to her thinking.
Isabelle left the office and went to check on the interrogation rooms. The original plan had been to interrogate them lightly, not as forcefully as they would someone who was uncooperative. Now it looked as if they would have to probe deeper, to see if the information had never been there or if it had been erased. This process would be especially hard on the mind reader and the seer. The empath would have to be kept in a protected room so he would not have to feel them being probed. She did not want to have to go this route, she knew they once were very special to her. Isabelle said a silent prayer that her other sons would return with more concrete evidence about what was happening. She did not want to do to the Cullen's what she had done to others in interrogation. But if left with no other choice – she would.
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