The Crucivire

Chapter Thirty Five: Hope and Regret

Lord Victor waited with some of his vampire servants by the front gate of the mansion's courtyard. By the time he'd woken up from trying to convince Clara to drink blood, the fighting was too far away for him to get there in time. He kept thinking that there must have been something they could have done to prevent a new crucivire from arising. Perhaps if two of the elders had gone after Alice instead of one, then the young woman would be dead now. It would only take a single elder to distract the nearby Night Hunters.

But even as he considered this, he knew he never would have done so. If Alice had fought alone, she would have died. She could never have defeated an elder vampire on her own, and even Lord Victor could not predict than an elder vampire would control Alice's body. In all the years he'd lived, he'd never seen anything like it. Clearly Jacqueline Castellane was more of a problem than they'd realized, and now they'd lost Fara Duval because of it.

Speaking of Fara, her servants were fast approaching, stumbling through the forest just outside the mansion gates. They would be there soon. With their keen night vision, Lord Victor's servants, standing behind him, looked at the incoming vampires with fear.

"My lord," said one of them, his eyes wide. "They're...they're blind."

The incoming vampires' eyes were a pale white, not the dark red that they should have been.

"Indeed," said Victor. "Blinded by the crucivire's transformation." He growled in exasperation. "Kill them."

The servants looked at him in surprise, "My lord?"

"This will be terrible for moral," said Victor. "So, we don't need the rest of our army seeing this. Kill them before they reach the mansion."

Reluctantly, Victor's servants obeyed. They drew their swords and walked towards the forest, cutting down branches and then sharpening them. Soon, they approached the blind vampires with a sword in one hand and a wooden stake in the other. Victor watched, his gaze stern and solemn.

###

The previous day, people in Saint Vivia heard the explosion from the attempt to destroy the vampires' mansion. Fortunately, most of the dust kicked up from it had settled before reaching residential neighborhoods, but the sound was enough to make people ask questions. The Night Hunters were still operating under standard procedures to cover up the supernatural, so the cover story was given out by the U.S. Military and reported by the local news.

The news stated that an old abandoned mine had filled with methane gas which exploded. At most times, this explanation would have sufficed, but people in Saint Vivia were suspicious. They knew the missile had something to do with the vampires, and considering the military was still in the area, they figured it wasn't over.

As people talked amongst each other, discussing what was happening, they prayed, some figuratively and some literally, for someone to save them.

###

Alice slept peacefully for the first time in a while and woke up during the evening hours, glad to see her skin no longer glowing. Alice was eager to begin her training, but before Alice could even begin, she was called to the facility's conference room to discuss that very subject. Agent Walker, Captain Wagner, Gordon Brand, Cora Mires and Jasmine Ross joined Alice as Director Farrow explained the situation. Alice also saw other Night Hunter officers sitting around the conference table, many of them recently promoted.

"Our vampire informant Jacqueline has new information for us," said Farrow. "The vampires are waking up earlier than normal, with the sun below the horizon but enough twilight to make them uncomfortable. They are busy setting up traps and ambush points in the forest. In short, they are preparing for a siege. There is only one reason I can think of that they would do this, and Jacqueline agrees.