Gun To My Head, Stake To My Heart

24

The next day left me bored out of my mind. Lara and her family had been subjected to meetings the entire day. I don't know why council members are meeting with them to discuss the war. I know they're a powerful family, but it seems like the members want guidance from them.

This entire war thing was getting on my last nerve. Everyone was tense because of it. Even the nice servants appeared scared. I assume something shifted that did not favor the vampires. I couldn't even ask Lara about it since she was busy. I flopped onto my bed and let out a loud groan.

"What's wrong?" Lexi crawled next to me.

"This entire war thing is suffocating."

"That's true." She chuckled. "It's just that the vampires lost a battle in Switzerland." I propped my head up. "It's a major blow to our side since Switzerland is in between France and Italy. If the werewolves get control of Switzerland, then they can totally advance from the east part of France."

"Also, is France made up entirely of vampires and Italy is made up of werewolves?"

"Not necessarily. The King of vampires resides in France while the Alpha is in Italy. Other species live freely all over the world, but vampires tend to stay clear of Italy as do werewolves of France." She paused. "It's not like it's forbidden to cross over, but the opposing species make a conscious effort to stay clear of the kingdoms."

"Gotcha." I thought for a moment. "Since Lara is MIA, can you explain what's going on with the war and history?"

From the beginning, there has been a deep seated hatred between vampires and werewolves. Vampires believed they were above uncivilized dogs who used to be under total control of the moon. Originally, werewolves weren't able to control the shift whenever there was a full moon. As years passed and evolution occurred, genes were passed down to allow the species to gain more control over their inner beast.

Vampires didn't care about the werewolves' newfound control. They imprisoned them and forced them into manual labor. Cities were built and thrived off the backs of werewolves. They used to be confined to a collar that tightened whenever they tried to shift, threatening to kill them. Vampires relied on those mechanisms to keep them in line.

Everything changed 500 years ago. My grandfather, the current alpha, had enough and led a revolt in Germany. They slaughtered the vampiric aristocrats and fled. My grandfather formed a cabal amongst the terrified free wolves. He said that they needed to free other werewolves, so that they could have an army to fight the vampires. Since he was the alpha and the wolves were blindly loyal, they agreed with no hesitation.

The first stop was France where he freed his wife, the Luna. The vampire king had taken his mate to commit countless atrocities against her. The King found joy in breaking the person the Alpha held dear. The king had over 2,000 imprisoned wolves at his estate. That day, every one of them was freed.

The werewolves traveled from country to country freeing their kind. The Alpha's strategy was to travel to random countries, not allowing the vampires to pick up a pattern. At the time this was all happening, the vampire king was in Asia, so he wasn't aware of the coup.

When he found out, he was furious and launched an army to slaughter them all. They were forced to enter the Swiss Alps to find a way to flee. The vampires were not used to the hazy fog and thick snowstorms, so the werewolves easily lost them. They then inhabited southern Italy.

As years passed by, werewolf militias were sent to free enslaved wolves and bring them to Italy until they were all freed. The war between the vampires and wolves carried on the moment the first group escaped and has never ended. The vampire king will not stop until he enslaves them again. However, through the advancement of technology, there are newfound ways to kill vampires. That discovery is causing a shift in the war.

I asked if werewolves had any weakness. Similarly to vampires, silver weakens them, but not to the same extreme. Pure silver slightly burns vampires, but not werewolves. A silver blade or bullet would have to hit a major organ in both species to kill them. Also, Wolfsbane can poison or weaken werewolves.

Hailey came in towards the end of Lexi's brief history lesson. Lexi was then relieved for a break, resulting in Hailey taking over my security. I asked Hailey how she came to work for them and she explained that her story is much lighter than the others.

Like Sophie, she came from an aristocratic family and had been childhood friends with Alena. When Alena was forced to marry her husband, she instinctively asked Hailey to work as her advisor since she trusted no one else but her childhood friend. Hailey immediately agreed since she was scared of what would happen to her best friend if she had no one.

Hailey told me that her husband was a terrible man. He's committed countless atrocities and is subjecting his kind to more losses because of his stubbornness and desire for control. I was curious to know more about this man.

"Hailey." She turned to me. "Who is Lara's father?" She looked conflicted to answer the question.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the door was flung open. A frantic Lexi and Taemin entered.

"Do you want the good news or bad news first?" Taemin asked.

"Uh, good news." I replied confused.

"Matt said it's all clear and that we can move you."

"Yay!" I smiled, but their faces were still sullen. "What's the bad news?"

"He's home." Hailey froze at Taemin's words. "And he's asking for you."