The Covenant - Uncovering Secrets -

Chapter Eight - A Little Past Can't Hurt, Right? Part 1

Note from Author: Just a couple quick notes to let you know about:

First - this chapter will not be from Belle's point of view but Evelyn Danvers. It'll also allow you a little more insight into Belle's life before being adopted by Diana and Vincent and a bit more of her and Chase's childhood.

Second - The chapter is also very long so I split it in two to make it a bit more manageable.

Third – Thank you to everyone who is reading my story, I hope you're enjoying it.

Part One

I smiled at Caleb as he brought Reid into the kitchen about to take a sip of the strong drink in my hand when a third person entered. I felt my fingers flex involuntary as shock vibrated through me, a deafening crash echoing through the kitchen as bright bluish purple eyes looked back at me. Dark reddish brown curls fell from her bun, a stark contrast to her pale porcelain face while her full lips pulled into a frown and she glanced up at Reid. She was beautiful. Just like her mother had been. She was shorter than the boys, but just like her mother she had a curvy but athletic frame. She looked the picture of her mother when she was alive, all but her eyes. Her eyes inspired her father.

"Mother?" Caleb's voice barely reached me as I continued to find myself in disbelief at what I was seeing.

"Isabel?" Isabel stepped back hitting the door as she looked surprised, her face draining further of all colour if that was possible.

"I...I..." Isabel turned on her heel running from the kitchen, Reid close on her trail while Caleb looked at me.

"I...I think I need to lie down." I stated numbly climbing the stairs to my room unable to stop myself from thinking back to the last time I saw the stunning little girl that had grown up in to the beautiful young woman that stood in my kitchen moments ago.

"Evelyn, please. Please take her." I looked down at the little girl in Katherine's arms, wrapped up tightly in a soft pink blanket barely two months old. "If he finds out about her...he'll want to know. He'll want to know if she can possess the power."

"Katherine...none of us can risk taking her in. If he ever found out and came looking for her...he'd want the boys too." I felt torn as I looked at Katherine as she looked down at her daughter, I wanted so much to help her but I couldn't risk the boys' lives.

"Evelyn, be reasonable. There is no logical reason he would come looking for Isabel, if no one tells him of her. Maybe..." I turned my sad eyes on Meredith Garwin, watching her warm eyes staring at the baby girl, feeling the pain and sadness we were all struggling with. I glanced around the room at the others, Joseph Garwin, Beatrice and Wayne Parry, Rosalind and Glenn Simms, my eyes finally landing on my husband, William. We were keepers of the Covenant, protecting our sons who would inherit their powers when they were older.

"It's not a risk we can take. We have to think of the Covenant." William announced strongly, my eyes narrowed surprised by the strength and determination in his voice.

"She could be a part of it for all we know!" Katherine cried, desperate to keep her young daughter alive.

"SHE'S A GIRL, KATHERINE!" William snapped and I found myself questioning why he was losing his temper. He was normally quite level headed. "Girls do not carry on the line. We've never had a female in the five bloodlines." He stated, calming himself down as he spoke.

"We have." Joseph answered quietly, his lips pulling into a thin line as he received a glare from William. "Only one, but we have."

"And look at the trouble it caused." William hissed. "She is not our problem. She is not of our bloodlines."

"William, you know what a woman with the power was able to do." Wayne argued, highlighting a point I didn't have any information on. William had never shared the fact there had been females with power. Correction, female.

"Of course I do, but what would we do? Who would she stay with? Would we say she is one of ours? Have her thinking that one of our boys was her brother, that we were her parents? What would we tell our sons?" Both husbands and wives turned their heads down as William challenged them. I turned to Katherine, seeing her full lips pull into a tight line as she squared her shoulders.

"When she comes...when she comes looking for her past, or hiding from it...please, please help her. Keep her safe. Please." Katherine pleaded her eyes full of pain as she turned towards the door.

"We cannot guarantee that." William stated, crossing his arms as he looked towards the fireplace. Katherine stilled in the threshold, her shoulders falling.

"I can." I announced loudly moving to stand next to her, meeting her sharp blue eyes.

"As can we." The others announced as William glared at me, pure fury burning in his eyes.

"If she comes to us, if she needs our help, we will give it to her. If she needs our knowledge, she will have it. If she needs family, we will be it." I smiled warmly at the last bit, reaching out to touch her arm.

"As will our boys." Joseph nodded as I brushed the soft patch of curls upon the little girl's head smiling as she cooed affectionately, her small hand reaching out from within the blankets. "She is a part of us, even if William does not acknowledge it. We will bring her up as our own." Meredith smiled wider nodding to Joseph. I watched as Katherine's eyes met theirs before they darted to William when no one else was watching.

"No." Katherine whispered and I couldn't stop myself from frowning. "William is right. It would be too hard to explain to the boys. But thank you Meredith, Joseph. I will forever be grateful to you both. To all of you." Katherine smiled at me softly, squeezing my hand before leaving as I glared at William.

She'd left that night, never returning but after sometime I received a letter from her letting me know she still didn't know if the beautiful little girl carried the power but that she thought he was after her and Isabel. I had tried several ways to locate her after the letter but found she'd died in an accidental fire, Isabel was assumed to have also died that night. For some reason I couldn't accept that Isabel had died and neither could Meredith or Joseph, so we searched every resource we had. When we exhausted all our natural sources, we resorted to Joseph's power. He located her. We travelled to the beautiful house, meeting the rich and beautiful people that had adopted her into their family. We told them we were family, that we had come to take her home, but when they led us out into the back garden, their sadness evident on their faces we never expected what we saw.

The vast garden was beautiful and full of life, just like the two children playing in the garden. A beautiful little girl was laughing as she ran away from the slightly older little boy that somehow felt familiar but I'd never seen him before, it was more his presence that felt familiar. He was smiling widely at the little girl, trapping her behind a tree. She ducked under his arm running away as he tried to catch her but she managed to escape. He finally caught her around the waist tumbling to the floor as he did. She could have only been eight while he must have been at least a year or two older. She sat upon him, laughing as he smiled up at her and I felt something pull in my stomach at the look he gave her in return.

"We can't take her from here, Evelyn." Meredith frowned, obviously upset that she would be leaving Isabel here. "She's happy, she deserves to be happy." Joseph nodded as I took one last look at her and the little boy that felt so familiar, memorising her and her happiness but also the young boy, and the way he looked upon her. Suddenly he looked up, meeting my eyes briefly before turning his attention back to Isabel.

Hope you all are well and enjoying the story, feel free to let me know how you think it's going and if you've enjoyed a different view point!