𝕳𝖆𝖗𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖊

𝔄𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔤𝔬𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔰

Since Semper had last explained the current situation to the Martinez family, things had changed somewhat. Whatever was going on in the town center had taken a bit more shape, and there was now a little more organization of some kind in existence, mainly concerning the stationing of people and barricades in specific areas. These areas were blocked off by police officers now under the direction of the strange new intruders, and they had been placed on the furthest edges of the spots in the town center that the intruders had set up shop in. If one got past the officers, they would find the streets and buildings further on mostly deserted, until they got to sections that were blocked by the blackest cars that could possibly exist, all of which had windows just as dark. Past that, were more vacant sections of the town center until finally, one would run into vampire guards who, thanks to the gloomy weather were able to be outside, and would most likely kill you for getting that far without having any reason to be there. 
You would only be let past these barricades and levels of security if you had been invited in, in which case everyone would be notified that you needed to pass through, or if you were a vampire yourself, like Sebastian Salvatici was.
Born a little over a hundred years ago and turned after dying on his thirteenth birthday, the Italian vampire had entered the military of his new world as soon as he was old enough, and after serving for a short period he was invited to join a private army of sorts known as Midnight. This army had ties to the government through its owner, and occasionally took care of operations that were too serious for average mercenaries, but did not warrant the attention of the actual military itself for reasons pertaining to either technicality or secrecy.
As Sebastian sat in the back seat of his black Maybach 57 S while his driver navigated the streets of Tres Guardianes, he wondered, as he often did, if his career decision had been a good one. The uniforms are nicer, as is the pay, he remembered, toying with a pin on his chest that had the same crest on it that had been sported by the vampire Christopher had captured. As he thought, he retrieved a compact mirror from his breast pocket, opened it, and after looking into it for a while, reached up to smooth his perfectly side swept, back-length, wavy, dirty blond hair. He kept staring at himself until he noticed his car was slowing down. He looked up and saw that his driver was doing so to pass by the police officers guarding a section of the town center that a part of the army he belonged to had taken over. He did not have to provide any identification as he passed through, because after all, who would be silly enough to try and enter the area he was going into unless they were a vampire too? And if someone did happen to be trying to sneak past, eventually they would have to reveal themselves once they got to where they were trying to go, and at that point they would simply be killed by the roaming vampire guards.
Sebastian's driver kept the car at a low speed while they navigated the streets until finally, they arrived at Tres Guardianes's particularly gothically styled courthouse. After parking in front of it, the driver got out of the car, went around the side and opened Sebastian's door for him.
He stepped out and as he walked into the courthouse, he nodded at a few vampire guards and soldiers hanging about outside of the building. And then he was inside, making his way through a handful of hallways and heading to one of the four courtrooms that the courthouse featured. He found the one he was looking for eventually and pushed open the huge oak doors, briskly strolling in. There were a few more vampires standing by looking very professional, and past all of them was the judge's bench, which for some reason, was so much higher than everything else in the courtroom that it bordered on stupendous.
Sitting there was a vampire that physically appeared to be around middle age, with a hawk nose and hooded eyes. His short black hair was slicked back and worn in an undercut style, and there was a very small scar running up his upper lip on the left side. As soon as he saw Sebastian, he turned and faced him expectantly.
"I bring no urgent news," Sebastian reported. "My patrolling has led to no serious discoveries or changes regarding the town so far."
The older vampire nodded. "There are very few developments that could take place and derail our plans here, but it would be foolish of us not to survey our surroundings to ensure that absolutely nothing goes awry. Especially since this is something that has been long in the works," he said.
"Indeed," Sebastian agreed. "This is why the former ruling house was removed, all those years before. From my understanding, substantial work has been done simply to prepare for what we are doing now, not to mention what is being done at this moment."
The older vampire nodded again. "It would have been better if they had killed the Harvale boy with the rest of his family," he grumbled. "His existence alone can scupper our operations. But...there were the laws after all. It could not be done. And now, we must watch our backs to guard against him."
"He is said to be in this very town," Sebastian recalled.
"Indeed he is," the older vampire said. "Our secondary mission is to eliminate him if we should come across him, or if at any point he shows himself. But if we can do what we were sent to before that happens, it will not matter whether he lives or dies."
"Very true," Sebastian said slowly. "How far along are we?" he asked.
The older vampire got up from the judge's bench and walked down one of two flights of stairs that were on either side of it. "Come," he said to Sebastian. "Let me show you."
He led Sebastian out of the courtroom and they walked down the hall to a different one. As they entered, a few of the vampires that were already there came up to Sebastian and the older vampire. "Alistair," one said, nodding respectfully to him. He nodded back. "No progress report needed," Alistair said. "We simply wish to take stock of the situation at its current stage."
The present vampires graciously gestured for Alistair and Sebastian to do whatever they needed to, and they proceeded on.
In the middle of this courtroom they had come into was a square hole so large that to make it, most of the floor in the room had been destroyed. Doing so had revealed lots of dirt and other things like that which one would find if they dug a hole. But as the vampires kept digging, they eventually began unearthing apparently ancient structures of some kind. At this point, they had dug so deep that the structures were now visible and could be seen to be a tunnel system. The vampires had gotten into it by breaking through its roof, and a substantial amount of troops were currently inside of it.
Alistair and Sebastian went all the way down into the tunnels and joined these troops, which allowed them to see that they were still in the process of digging further, so that they would be able to traverse this strange tunnel system.
As they reported how far they were getting to Alistair, Sebastian looked around and saw the markings carved into the walls of the specific tunnel they were standing in at the moment.
"Have these markings been assessed?" he asked.
"They have indeed," a soldier told him. "They match perfectly with what has been found on the records and government approved maps concerning this place and its purpose. These tunnels should lead us right to the place we seek."
Sebastian nodded slowly. "Then we will soon have what we want," he whispered.
"We will," Alistair affirmed, a cold edge creeping into his voice.