When Dawn Breaks 64

“White Tiger it is an honor to have you visit our lands.”Bella had back a sigh as the woman who Bella figured was Joan greeted her and then took a knee followed by all the others in the area.Bella had hoped that they would treat her more of an equal but seeing them all like this she knew that it was going to be hard to even get them to have conversations with her.At least they wouldn’t fight her on what she had planned.

“Please there is no need for that.”Bella told her.

“Of course.”The woman stood and introduced herself.”My name is Joan and I am the matriarch of this community.”

“It’s nice to meet you Joan.I am Bella and this is my imprint Rosalie.”Bella said.

”Hello.”Rosalie held out her hand of the woman to shake.

Joan took the hand in her own and bowed her head.“It’s also an honor to be in the presence of the Heart of Savior.”

“Does this make Rosalie a shifter Jesus too?”Emmett asked Peter and Charlotte in a whisper.

Charlotte hushed him.”Shh.Let Bella take of this.”

“The three others with us are Emmett, Peter and Charlotte.Yes they are vampires but I would trust each one with not only my own life but the life of my imprint as well.”Bella told them.

“Then we welcome them as guests to our lands.”Joan said.

“Thank you.”Bella could see the discomfort but was happy that Joan hadn’t put up a fight about the three being with Bella.

“We have the community center ready for you use.Would you like me to bring you there now or is there something else you wish to do first?”Joan asked.

“We would like to go the community center but can you have the shifters I sent meet me there.Any members of the packs that had their young taken have them come as well.I would also like anyone who is the most knowledgeable of the region in which the lab is located.”Bella wanted someone that was familiar with the area to help set up proper maps.

Joan motioned to a group of people standing close by.”Go find the people White Tiger requested.”

“If you would be so kind we have equipment in the trailer we brought with us that needs to be unloaded and taken to the community center.Emmett will be in charge of that so any help he could get would be appreciated.”Bella would prefer they do it themselves but they needed to get planning right away and didn’t have time to be moving boxes.

“Gale round up some people to help Emmett.”Joan told a well built woman.

“You don’t mind do you Emmett?”Bella asked him.

“Don’t worry Bella I’m your man.”Emmett was more than happy to be trusted to oversee moving such important equipment.It was just another way that Bella showed how much she trusted him.

“The community center is this way.”Joan said.

Rosalie took Bella’s hand in her own as they walked through town.It saddened her that like the other shifter villages she had been to the obvious signs of poverty were visible.Most of the houses looked to be needing repair and most of the cars were well over a decade old if not more.It made Rosalie realize how important starting the scholarship fund for shifters was.Maybe she and Bella could look into offering money to help the communities as a whole.The shifters lived in the mountains so maybe Rosalie could figure out how to help them create a business based on that.The first thing that came to mind was a ski resort but that would be a lot of work but if Bella was the owner of the business then it would bring in wealthy clientele.She would talk to Bella about it later.Now they had to rescue some kids.

“This is the main room but there are two conference rooms and an office you are more than welcome to use.”Joan explained as she led them into a room the size of a basketball court.”Unfortunately the office is the only place that has internet access.”

“That’s alright we have our own satellite for internet.”Bella had invested in three of the satellites knowing that they were going to be out in the wilderness and access would probably be spotty.

“Where do you want these Bella?”Emmett asked as he followed by four others walked into the room carrying large black boxes.

Bella pointed to the wall.”Set the boxes there.Then can you please start setting everything up?”

“On it.”Emmett made his way over to the wall setting down his boxes and organizing the others.

“Peter would mind helping him?”Peter had helped Emmet in Maine and Bella knew he would be the best person to set things up.

“No problem.”Peter said.

“Charlotte can you please set up our bulletin boards?”Bella asked.

“Sure.”Charlotte was happy to have something to do and not be standing around dealing with the staring from the shifters.She understand their distrust but it was somewhat uncomfortable.

“Ted, Mike this is the White Tiger and her imprint Rosalie.”Joan introduced the two men as they walked into the building.”White Tiger, Rosalie this Ted and Mike.They are the experts on the area.”

“It’s an honor to meet not only the White Tiger but you as well Rosalie.”Mike said as he bowed his head.

“There is no need to bow.We are both together as equals to reach the same goal.”Bella told them.

“What do you need from us?”Ted asked.

Bella pointed to where Charlotte was pinning up some maps.”I need the two you to work with Charlotte to add more details to the maps and pictures we got of the region so that we can be prepared for infiltration.”

“We are at your service.”Mike said.

“Rod, Mary how are you?”Rosalie asked the two shifters she recognized from the estate when they walked in.

Mary blushed.“We are well Rosalie.Hello White Tiger.”

“It’s good to see you again.I was hoping that you would be willing to tell us what you have found out since you have been here.”Bella had been told the overview of what they had learned but wanted the fine details.

“When we got here we staked out the home of our target.From his home we followed him to a run down office building.After investigating what he was doing in the building we discovered that he worked at a doctor’s office.”Mary told them.

Bella had read about what kind of practice the man ran.”His clients were mostly illegal immigrants and homeless people right?”

“Yes.”Rod confirmed.”Out of the many people who went through the door only a few ever came back out.I stayed at the building to find out what happened to them while Mary followed the doctor.”

“And what did you see?”Rosalie knew but wanted to hear it from the source.

“Early in the morning a van came and parked around back.Five vampires got out and went into the building.When they came out they were carrying humans and putting them into the van.I think the humans were drugged because none of them were fighting the men and were all very docile.”Rod told them.

“Where did the van take them?”Bella asked.

“To the building we think is a lab.I wasn’t able to get close to see anything but the van drove in that direction.I waited a day to see if it would leave again but it didn’t.”Rod said.

“And you are sure that the people you saw were human?”Bella needed to make sure to confirm her suspicion of what was happening in the lab.

Rod nodded.”After I left the van I went back to the building and scented but all I smelt was human and vampire and I’m positive those people were not vampires.”

“That’s not good.”Bella mumbled.

“What are you thinking?”Rosalie wanted to know if Bella’s thoughts were the same as her own.

“I’m thinking that they are kidnaping humans to use as test subjects.”Bella was sure of it.

“That means they have made progress.”Rosalie said.

“From what I read they were still in their research faze.One of their working theories was based on children of the moon in that the shifting gene could transfer through a bite.If I’m right then they are most likely having each different type of shifter bite the humans while the other ones they are messing with their blood.”Bella wouldn’t be surprised if they were having the kids who hadn’t shifted yet used as well.

Shock crossed Joan’s face.“That’s very disturbing White Tiger.”

“Yes it is.”Bella agreed.”Which is why it’s so important to catch every single person be it vampire, human or even shifter that is involved with this.”

“What else did you learn from following the doctor?”Rosalie asked Mary.

“Not much.He spent most of his time either at the lab, office or at home.He didn’t even run any errands.”Mary told her.

“About this lab.Let’s go over all the pictures we have so you can show us exactly where you placed the cameras and what kind terrain is around it.”Bella needed all the information before she worked out her plan.

“We will help anyway we can.”Rod said.

Rosalie held Bella back from following the others to the black board.”What are we going to do about the humans?”

“We will have to see what kind of shape they are in.”Bella could tell that’s not what Rosalie wanted to hear but she wouldn’t lie to her.”They may be too far gone from all the experiments that were done to them and we may have to kill them.”

“I really don’t want to kill innocents.”Rosalie wasn’t comfortable with that at all.

“I know my love but it may be a mercy to some of them.”Bella told her.

“I still don’t like it.”Rosalie said.

“We will deal with it together.”Bella promised.

“Together.”Rosalie agreed.Following Bella to the others Rosalie felt uneasy.She knew it was because this mission was going to be a lot different than the last one.This one involved not only human captives but would involve vulnerable shifters as well.It was necessary to have them help but Rosalie didn’t like the fact that they would be put in danger.It was hers and Bella’s job to protect the supernatural races and for this it was impossible to keep everyone safe.Rosalie held back a sigh knowing that it was only going to get harder once the people in charge realized that they were under attack.At least she and Bella would be doing this together.