Carlisle made the calls to the Denali's, Siobhan & their nomad friends and they agreed to do what was needed. The Cullen's went to hunt and anyone who was not going to the meeting started traveling to meet up with their group. When they were all in place Isabelle would give the order to attack. It had to by synchronized they couldn't afford for a call to be placed warning the others about the attacks.
Two helicopters took the remaining Hamilton's and Cullen's to the private airport in Wick. Everyone boarded the Hamilton's private jet to make the trip to Las Vegas. Isabelle had plugged her cell phone into one of the laptops. Two hours into the flight she started receiving texts, first was Leif then the gypsies, the Volturi and Michael all with a 3 word text - good to go. It would be a few hours before the last two came in, they had the furtherest to travel.
Gabriel was in the front of the plane discussing possible strategies with his sons, the Guardians were discussing who would be watching which group at the meeting and the Cullen's were struggling to remain calm and keep up with everything. Vampire mind or not all of them except Jasper were way out of their comfort zone getting ready to do battle. In the organized chaos no noticed Edward approach Isabelle until he spoke, "May I speak with you for a moment please Isabelle?" Everyone looked to the front of the plane, the Executioners had stilled over their map and Gabriel was in the process of turning around and staring at Edward.
"Now is not the time to do this Edward. I told you after this is over we can discuss what happens but now everyone needs to focus no the task at hand." Isabelle stated. She did not need to look at Gabriel to know he was very close to snapping.
"I understand but..." Isabelle interrupted him as she stood to walk away, "No Edward. You are on dangerous ground now, let this drop until later." As she passed him Alice yelled "Grabbed him!" Jasper & Emmett jumped to grab Edward from behind but they were too late. Gabriel had seen him stretch out his hand to grab Isabelle's arm and had Edward pinned by his throat to the floor before the Cullen's even moved.
Rage was rolling off of Gabriel, "She has warned you not to touch her. She has given you warnings and been more than patient with you. That ends now! I see how you look at her and I know what you are thinking, I can smell the difference in your scent when you think about her. SHE IS MINE! I will not give her up you need to accept this right now or I will beat it into you. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
Edward was trying to answer but was unable to move. Isabelle's sons were standing behind their father not egging him on but not helping any either. The Cullen's were trying to diffuse the situation and the Guardians had walked to the back of the plane to wait out all the drama.
Gabriel continued as if it was just he and Edward on the plane. "I know you never believed or had enough faith in her when she was a human to trust her to make choices on her own. You need to talk to your family and the empath and understand that when she says she won't leave me she means SHE WON'T LEAVE ME. SHE LOVES ME! You need to believe this and stay away from her. Everyone heard her tell you no if you initiate contact with her again know it will be the last thing you ever do. I have reached my limit with you." Having said that his fist connected with Edward's nose and the sound of it breaking stunned the Cullen's. As Edward tried to rise from the floor Gabriel went to find his wife.
Edward could hear his family yelling at him in his mind. They thought he was crazy. "I reached for her without thinking. I just wanted her to listen to me and not walk away." Carlisle was furious, "How many times have I told you to leave her alone. You forgot? You are a vampire and we don't forget things Edward. From now on one of us will always be with you. You will not be given the chance for this to happen again. When you are near Isabelle Jasper and Emmett must be with you and I am mean right beside you to prevent this from happening again. You got what you wanted when we left her Edward, she moved on. Do not hold that against her or him. You must learn to live with your actions, starting right now!"
When Isabelle and Gabriel rejoined the Cullen's Edward was sulking between Jasper and Emmett and Carlisle was trying to appease a still pissed off Overseer. Gabriel laughed when he noticed money changing hands between his sons and some were arguing they didn't think the bet had been decided yet. When Isabelle heard this she knew enough was enough, she stood and taking her mate's hand moved to sit facing Edward.
"I did not want to have to do this because I know the amount of pain this will cause you. But I think it is necessary if there is hope to avoid you being shredded and burned. I am going to fully open mine and Gabriel's mind to you so you can see the extent of the bond between us. I do not mean to hurt you and I need you to know I do realize exactly how much this hurts. It is what I felt when you left me in the forest but you need to move past this and go on." With that being said Isabelle opened her mind fully to Edward.
Edward was shocked by what he saw and felt. He saw the moment in Heathrow when he turned away from Bella and she decided it was time to put her whole heart into the search, her and Gabriel's first meeting when their berserker blood called to each other and he saw their wedding when the bond deepened. He could feel his mind in hers and how they were intertwined and he had never felt anything like it. He saw that bond grow as each son was born, he saw Gabriel risk his life for hers in battle and her risk hers from him also and through it all he could see and feel their bond grow. He understood that it would literally kill her to lose Gabriel. There would be no way to separate their minds and souls without taking part of the other with it. They were like two trees twined together that had scarred over and were now sharing bark. To kill one kills the other.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Edward begged, "I get it, I really do. I understand I brought this on myself and I have thought a lot about what we discussed the other day and you were right about most things. I am trying to reign myself in but it is very hard. Please give me the chance to prove I can do this and just be a friend to you and your family."
Gabriel was the one to answer his plea, "As Isabelle has said after this is finished we will discuss what type of place you can have in our lives. You are forcing yourself on her by not listening and respecting her wishes. Do not do that again, you will not get off as easy next time and Isabelle will not stop me either."
Isabelle's cell phone buzzed and they looked at the laptop, the last 2 groups were in position. She typed in the command, Attack - no prisoners, looked up to her mate and hit send. "It is starting" she announced to the group. "Now we need to discuss what will happen when we land. The ones not going directly to the meeting already have their orders and will meet up with the Denali's 6 hours before the meeting starts. Keep in mind that one of Jasper's tracking devices is active but none of the others have been activated yet."
"For the ones going to the meeting with me, we need to break down who will watch which groups so we are ready. I expect there to be at least one Brude so Mary will keep an eye on that and his location at all times. Catherine & Elisabeth will keep watch on the Lycan's, pay close attention to the Russian and French Canadian groups that is where we expect the trouble to come from. Ruth & Heidi will be on the Druids; this is where we hope most of the information will come from. Jillian & Iris will be with me. Jillian will shift as needed to spy or transport information as needed. We will need to cautiously alert our allies at the meeting to what is happening and find out if they will assist us or not. Kate, please go get the bracelets and bring them out. Does everyone remember the signal?" The Guardians all nodded as they put the cuffs on their right wrists. "Be sure to check in with everyone every couple of hours. If something goes wrong we act fast and keeping the Cullen's safe is priority number 1. With that in mind they must have one of us with them at all times. If we are forced to act any werewolf or druid is fair game but we hold off on the others until we know you exactly who is involved."
Carlisle was looking at the cuffs, "May I ask how they work?" Heidi was the one to answer, "When worn on the right wrist it means everything is OK regardless of the color of the stone. The stone works like mood rings used to work but more accurate. What you need to know is the darker the stone is the closer we are to acting and when the cuff is switched to the left wrist it means an attack is imminent."
"We're landing." Gabriel said standing. "Those going to the meeting will be taking the bus inside the hangar, they rest of us will be going on foot." As the jet moved into the hangar he took Isabelle's hand and exited the plane. Walking over to the bus he pulled her to him, kissed her soundly and murmured, "You are my life. I became whole the day I met you and you will bring yourself back to me unharmed. 3,000 years with you is not nearly long enough. Come back to me, whatever it takes." "I will" she whispered back placing her hand over his heart, "whatever it takes. I love you, my heart, my soul, my Gabriel." She boarded the bus and as they pulled out of the hangar she knew this was the battle they had trained all these years for and prayed she would still have everyone she loved when it was over.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.
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