Chapter 15
The Hamilton's were already in the solar discussing the fact they had to reapply all the marks when the Cullen's entered and sat at the table. Isabelle looked around the table to stop conversation and said, "I suppose it is time for me to tell my story." She looked at her sons and their wives, "You are choosing to stay?" They all nodded yes. She turned to Carlisle, "My sons have never heard the entire story before so it will be new for them also. I am assuming you found the vampires copy of the prophecy while in Volterra?" "Yes" answered Carlisle, "and a few other things that just raised more questions." "I am sure you did. Let me tell the tale and if that doesn't answer your questions I will answer the ones you have left." she said.
"When I was 16 sixteen the dreams began. Dreams of supernatural creatures: vampires, witches, werewolves and others, I never understood them but I was never scared by them either. They were dreams of battles, of how the species came to be, how mates were found, essentially a history of the supernatural and how their world worked. The dreams continued when I moved to Forks. When I figured out Edward was a vampire I thought the dreams had stopped, but it turns out I just wasn't remembering them as vividly anymore. I had mentioned the dreams to Renee in the beginning and she started talking about past lives and spiritual journeys and her normal flaky stuff so I learned to keep them to myself not wanting to encourage her. I never told any one else about them, not even Edward."
"When Edward left I shut down completely. For the first week I was for the most part catatonic and there was talk of hospitalizing me. What snapped me out of it some what was when Charlie and Renee talked of a hospital in Florida. I was not going to leave Forks, it was my last link to Edward and I held on with everything I had. So I started eating, going to school and trying to function again. After a few weeks of this I became determined to find the meadow, to convince myself that it was real and not just another vivid dream. On a rare sunny day I found the meadow and my two guardians."
"Just as with any other supernatural creature I had encountered I was curious but not frightened. They explained they had been watching me my entire life waiting for this moment. They were Tuatha De Danann or Fae; they explained the prophecy to me and the fact that I was the Keeper. They explained the bloodlines I come from: vampire, lycan, berserker, druid and fae, while most hybrids have a dominant one I would be able to draw from the strength of all. Charlie and Renee had been destined to be my parents before man even walked the earth because of the bloodlines they would combine and the power it would give the Keeper. When Edward and I were together they thought I had found my mate early and prepared to explain everything on my 18th birthday, the earliest they were allowed. But the party happened and Edward left before they could. It became clear he would be the one to reject and then regret that decision."
"They gave me a task to complete. I had to find my mate by my 21st birthday or the fae part of me would take over and while I would be able to have relationships a true mating bond would be lost to me forever. They suggested cities and countries I should search first and said they would return either when I had found him or on my 21st birthday, whichever came first. At that point they would explain the rest of the prophecy."
"It was months before I left Forks. I refused to not graduate high school so I did what was needed to graduate early. I also used that time to decide if I was going to try to find Edward or not and while I am sure you are all interested in the answer to that question. I feel he should hear it first, so Edward we can talk later in private and then it will be up to you who you want to tell everyone. Then I put together a very rough search pattern to follow. I knew from talking to Carlisle and Jasper what waited in the southern states so I decided to skip them altogether."
"First was South America, especially Brazil where I ran into an interesting shaman but I couldn't live in the jungle and he could never leave it, we remain friends to this day. Next was Africa and Australia, I met some interesting people but the supernatural creatures I met were very dark and not for me. Egypt was nice, they have a rich history and there was a shifter nomad named Benjamin but he chose early on to remain unmated. Now we are right before my 19th birthday so I flew back to Forks to see Charlie. I was there a few days then started on the northern hemisphere in Vancouver where I met my first true lycan, not a werewolf. By the time he was on his third rant about how could he feel an imprint pull to a lowly human I was done with his issues and told him to fuck off. He found my backbone stimulating I guess would be the polite way to put it, I found his change in attitude disgusting and traveled on to Russia."
"In Russia and Romania I found bands of Gypsy's, they were great and the first to sense there was something special about me. I stayed with them for several months and learned a lot about the different clans and how they interacted with each other. The old fortuneteller was the one to tell me I would find what I was looking for in the United Kingdom. I went to London first in early summer and encountered druids. They were pompous assholes who felt humans were beneath them. I really enjoyed going back later and reminding them they were still human."
"From there I went to Scotland, Edinburgh first and that area is a hotbed of supernatural things good and bad. It would have been easy to get sucked into something there. Being in Scotland was the first time I felt edgy. It is hard to explain, traveling to the other places felt very mundane but the moment I stepped off the plane in Edinburgh I knew I was the closest to him I had ever been. It just felt right to keep traveling north. It felt as if I was finally running towards something. While traveling north I had heard the legend of the berserkers, Odin's chosen warriors, but had never met one until 3 days before my 20th birthday. I was actually starting to get discouraged because I was almost to the extreme northern tip of Scotland. Not to long after I passed Drumbeg my body relaxed, it was the feeling you get after arriving home from a long trip and I couldn't explain it. About 30 seconds later a tire blew out on the car I was driving and I was stuck on the side of the road at dusk and the fog was rolling in."
She turned to look at Gabriel, "I was getting comfortable for the night, in the car, knowing I could never walk back to town in the dark when someone tapped on the window scaring the crap out of me, but when I turned to see who it was my mind and body relaxed as if I had known him forever. When he took my hand to help me out of the car is when I felt it, everything shifted like puzzle pieces falling into place and I had finally found the piece that completed me. I looked in his eyes and without even knowing his name said 'I finally found you' and he replied 'no lass I found you, welcome home'. And the rest as they say is history."
At this point Gabriel interrupted saying, "I can tell you that I felt her as soon as she stepped onto Scottish soil. I did not know what it was at the time but later we figured out that's what it was. I had a sense of foreboding that I didn't understand but as a berserker knew to take seriously. As the days passed and nothing happened the feeling intensified and put me on edge. About the time she had her blow out is when I hit the limit on my patience and waiting. I knew something was wrong, someone important to me was in danger and I left to solve the mystery. The second I saw her I knew she was for me and I would have no other. I brought her back to Hamilton Castle to meet the clan. They recognized our bond immediately and 3 days later on her 20th birthday the entire clan witnessed our berserker mating ceremony."
"I have reached the point where the guardians return to explain the rest of the prophecy. Do you have any questions so far Carlisle?" "Not yet" he responded, "most of my questions are from after this point." "OK" then I am ready to continue, Isabelle said.
"Within a week of the mating ceremony the guardians returned to explain what they could to us. Gabriel took everything in stride; I think that is because they are taught the berserker legends almost from birth and this made the prophecy easy to absorb. They explained that a battle was coming that would pit the clans against each other and in order to be able to recognize it we would need to study how the different clans operated. They explained the different classes within each clan and the powers traditionally associated with each clan. They explained that as an extremely rare female with berserker blood I would still have the traditional abilities but without the eyes or experiencing berserkergang. They also explained what being of the fae bloodline would mean and which of those abilities I would be able to use. I am only going to explain one of them to you and that is sifting. Think of time as the sand in an hourglass and you can sift through the sand and chose a specific grain. That is sifting; I can sift through time and place myself at a certain place in time. That is how I can be close to 3,000 years old and have it only be 5 years since you last saw me. After the guardians left Gabriel and I sifted through time to learn what we needed to know."
"Because we sift a lot we don't keep track of age by the normal chronological way from one year to the next. For age purposes we keep separate calendars' without taking the current year into consideration. We first sifted back to the 15th century BC; this is during a time when Brude's held most of the control. The Egyptian priest Imotep and others could control the dead and bring people back to life, these are not just stories. Michael was actually born in 1340 BC and is a lycan/vampire hybrid. Skip ahead to the 10th century during the time of King David, the Ark of the Covenant and King Solomon this is the start of Judaism and the Brude's go into a form of open hiding. They still have some control but not as openly. Leif was born in 975 BC and is a lycan/druid hybrid. Sometimes we would spend decades or maybe a century or two in one place. It all came down to what we were trying to learn. We have sifted back to before man was on earth but that has nothing to do with this, that was more for fun and to teach the boys to hunt and survive in the wild. Right boys?" Isabelle said chuckling. They looked down, nodded their heads and a few of them muttered "lesson learned the hard way".
"The next major stop is the 2nd century BC, the start of the Iron Age and Carthage. The Iron Age is essential for anyone wanting to understand weapon making. Mythical creatures do not fight using modern weapons; you can't and remain a mystery to humanity so it is important to understand less conventional ones. Soren was born in 200 BC; he is full berserker and will be the next Laird of the Hamilton Clan when Gabriel steps down. In the 1st century BC it was Spartacus, who was a lycan, King Herod and the birth of Christ. At this time Brude women are thought to be extinct and the males start mating with human females, the offspring are called Druids. Digby was born in 75 BC and is a druid/vampire hybrid. From here on everything is AD, in the 1st century there is Claudius, Buddhism and the persecution of Christians in Rome. Lycans serve as Roman soldiers in order to gain knowledge of warfare strategy. Grim was born in 25 AD and is a full lycan."
In the 5th century we run into King Arthur, Merlin and St. Patrick in Ireland. Real magic reaches its peak here and the druids have a positive influence. The vampires and werewolves start to remain hidden and become careful about hiding their kills. Lycans can still be in the open but not as much as they start to stand out from normal humans. Haldor is born in 490 and is a vampire/berserker hybrid. In the 10th century the known world is at war. England invades Scotland, France wants England and the Roman Empire is starting to crumble. The Druids are stirring up trouble with the Brude's and this catches the attention of the Fae, who so far have just been watching what happens. Ingram is born in 950 and is a druid/berserker hybrid. In the 12th century you have Genghis Kahn, the Knights Templar and the Inca's. Technology and warfare again make a vast leap thru the Inca's. The Inca's are actually the remaining Brude's and druids. The Fae step in and banish the 12 Brude's to the underworld before they can advance things to drastically. Keldan is born in 1180 and is a full druid. However in the 1500's on a mission in Mexico for the Volturi he is bitten by a vampire. Being a druid he is almost completely human so the bite causes him to change. Now he is a full vampire that retained some of his druid abilities."
"The last stop is in the 13th century with Marco Polo, Dante and Francis of Assisi. This is the point we decided to live forward from. This is when we became the Guardians and the Executioners and began working with the Clans to keep the peace. This is also how we were able to mark each of you as you were changing. The twins, Thorne and Thunder, were born in 1250 and they are vampire/fae hybrids. We did skip over my 20 human years because it is never a good idea to inhabit the same space for too long. We have sifted back and forth for specific missions but that is it. Does that answer all of your questions Carlisle?"
"That answers most of them. The one I still have to ask is, why do you not remember clearly and why do you call them the missing years?" Carlisle asked. "When the guardians returned to explain to Gabriel and me they also gave us the instructions to a ceremony we needed to perform to bring forth my berserker tendencies to strengthen our bond. The ceremony is deeply personal and I will not explain about it. One of the side effects of the ceremony is the fading of the memories of the search for a mate. I was given a choice; they were willing to restore all of my memories or do the ceremony and see what happens. I chose to see what happens because not everything that happened during that search was pleasant. It isn't that I don't remember but some memories are very vague and there are no strong emotions associated with them. It is like viewing them from a distance."
Isabelle continued, "I call them the missing years because that is the period of my life I was missing part of myself. I could feel the hole inside me and it was not filled until I met Gabriel and he completed me. I think that is a good place to stop. The clan will be starting for the day soon and the Cullen's need to hunt before we start the scans later today."
"Grim please raise the flag above the keep that lets the clan know the Cullen's are hunting in the forest." Isabelle turned to Carlisle, "Michael, Keldan and Digby will be showing you the area to hunt in. We can meet back here this afternoon and go over what will be happening the next few days. Have a good hunt."
As the Hamilton's were leaving the room Carlisle spoke to his family, "She is right we need to hunt. After we return to the suite we can discuss her story and see if any questions still remain. Let's go."
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.
Please read & review. Enjoy !!