Chapter 11
Grim looked to the sky as he heard the hawks' cry. The two hawks were flying and circling the perimeter of Hamilton land but the falcon was soaring through the sky away from the castle. One of the intruders was making a run for it, he knew his wife would help Catherine and Mary capture the creature. If the man was smart we would not put up to much of a fight or he would find himself wishing he was the one left behind, the women could be scary and would feel as if they had a point to make. He turned to his father and brothers, "You know we need to take this one alive, if the one that is leaving attempts to fight you know what they will bring back don't you? Pieces, just pieces and those are impossible to get information out of." The men laughed as they waited to ambush the other two.
Catching the werewolf was easy, as they are never the brains of any operation. Catching the other one was trickier but still not a challenge. It became obvious that he had druid blood to some degree as he tried to pry into their minds. Ingram pushed back and was enraged by what he found. Whoever had sent them had not told them who they were watching, they were just to gather information nothing more and don't get caught – to late for that.
Once the prisoners were locked away Ingram told them what he saw in their minds. The Executioners were stunned. Gabriel spoke first, "This can only mean two things. Either we have done a better job of hiding our nature than I ever imagined, which I do not think is the case. Or they are expendable and only told enough to get them killed. In that case we will not be able to believe a thing we get from them. I am sure false information has been planted. It could be a combination of both"
Soren interrupted, "We do not hide our nature, in most cases we make sure the stories spread to cultivate the fear creatures feel for us. I agree we can not trust anything we learn from these two until we know the extent of their brainwashing." A falcon's cry sounded in the air, as the men made their way to the courtyard Grim asked, "OK before we open the door – dead or alive?"
The men laughed and said dead, of course. Isabelle and the other Guardians meet them at the door to courtyard and having heard the question she said. "In pieces but alive." As they made their way into the courtyard you could see each woman was carrying something up the hill. 'I told you" said Isabelle. Jillian held two arms, minus most of the fingers, Mary was carrying the legs but they were missing toes and it looked like a kneecap and Catherine was carrying the torso with the head still attached. They threw the pieces in front of the family and the man started mumbling something. On closer inspection his lips had literally been zippered shut so all he could do was mumble. Isabelle laughed and looked at Mary who shrugged her shoulders. "It was either that or rip his head off and I was worried that may kill him. He was saying vile things and would not shut up, so I took the choice to stop talking away from him." Mary said with a nod of her head.
Isabelle had them take the pieces to a medical room in the dungeons. "Tell the doctors to start the standard scans but wait for you and Kate to do dissecting on one of the limbs, put the others on ice to preserve them for further testing." she said to Ingram. "The missing fingers, toes and kneecap?" she asked the girls. This time Catherine answered, "We sent the standard message and questions to each of the clans with the pieces. I don't expect anyone to take credit for him but if one of them becomes outraged over our treatment of him that may give us a clue as to where he comes from."
"OK, lets go inside and hear your reports then." and with that said Isabelle led them back into the castle. "Mary, you can start, who did you trace and is there anything interesting?"
"Leif and I traced Alice & Jasper and Rosalie & Emmett." Mary started. "Emmett and Rosalie were easy. Carlisle changed them, Rosalie first as a potential mate for Edward, which was a no go. She found Emmett after a bear attack and asked Carlisle to change him as her mate. Generally they stay with or near the coven maybe going off on their own for 6 months every decade or so. Rosalie is a bitch and while people do not necessarily like her, I was unable to find anyone who truly hated her also. Emmet is a very fun loving vampire. He pulls a lot of pranks and that pisses some people off but he is also well liked by everyone we encountered. Neither of them has changed much from their human lives. Rosalie killed the men who attacked her but did not drink from them, she has never tasted human blood and while she hates being a vampire is proud of that fact. She was never implicated in the deaths of the men. Emmet has slipped and tasted human blood seven times since being a vampire, all but two of those were in his newborn year, one was sort of a singer to him and the last was when he was hunting and came across an injured man. In none of these was he or the Cullen's ever implicated by the law in the deaths. We could not find any reason or person who would want to harm them, especially directly."
"Alice and Jasper were harder to trace and more colorful. Alice was born in Mississippi to a wealthy family. She has always had visions and her family not knowing what to do with her had her committed. There was a vampire orderly who took a liking to Alice but never intended to turn her. Another vampire, James, wanted Alice so to keep James from getting her the orderly vampire turned her and then was killed by James. Alice has always had visions of Jasper and the Cullen's. She has never tasted human blood due to her visions of Carlisle's way of life. She meet Jasper in a café in Philadelphia and they set off to find the Cullen's."
"Jasper was born in Texas to a moderately wealthy family and has always been charismatic. He lied about his age to join the CSA and quickly became a Major in the Confederate Army. He was evacuating Galveston when 3 women approached him and Maria turned him into a vampire. With his military training he was exactly what she needed to lead and train her newborn army and he did that very well for over 50 years. He fed off humans, led her army, survived hundreds of attacks and made a lot of enemies before he escaped her. Before meeting Alice he traveled around, feeding off humans, he killed a werewolf in Russia and has met berserkers and druids. He is by far the most informed of the Cullen's, although I do not think he has shared all his information. After meeting Alice he followed her to the Cullen's and follows the vegetarian diet for her and not because he wants to himself. Having said that since living with the Cullen's he has not once tasted human blood and he does that for Alice. Jasper has a harsh reputation in the vampire world but that serves as a deterrent. The Lycan Clan does not seem to mind that he killed a werewolf. He didn't actively hunt it, he killed it in self defense and the lycan's attitude is the guy picked a fight he could never win so he deserved to die."
"I did notice that when you mention one of the Cullen's by name you get a different attitude then when you just mention the coven. When you say the Cullen's, people's reaction are all over the map but most are disgruntled. Some feel the Cullen's have it all; some feel they are posers, trying to pass for human. Others wonder why they want to interact with what should be their dinner and most vampires seem to hold some kind of fear of them because of their size and powers. The Lycan's seemed to be very informed about the Cullen's but we did not get a 'they must be destroyed vibe' from the ones we spoke with. I can understand why they make a good target, especially if you are trying to divide the clans."
"I expected the strong reaction to the whole coven," said Isabelle "And I agree it is what makes them the perfect point of friction. Let's take a break for dinner. This evening we can hear from Catherine and talk about any last minutes things before the Cullen's arrive."
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