BAD BLOOD // Raphael Santiago

Twelve: Facing the war

"What you mean by betrayed by inside?"

Raphael shook his head looking agitated and hurt. "It's Emma, it must be Emma," he said with a long sigh. Emma, the clan's favorite blond to mess with. She reminded Octavia a lot from a girl she used to know in Mexico. Her name was Florencia, beautiful but so damn stupid to stand on her own. Just like Florencia, Emma also didn't own a backbone to be loyal enough to the clan she had sworn to be in. Emma had joined Camille's clan around the same time Raphael did and they had always agreed on everything. There had never been a situation where Emma had objected.

"Emma? You mean the blondie without a backbone?"

"Yes, you must remember who she is."

"Of course, I remember, who could forget her."

"At least half of the male population in Hotel Dumort won't," she said under her breath. Raphael shot her a nasty look. This was not a time for jokes, but indeed he knew what Octavia meant by that. For backboneless, she had been a little of easy virtue.

"What you mean by Emma betraying us? She's not exactly the type to scheme behind your back." Meaning she does not have a brain for that.

"She joined a Sangré Fria and took our clan with her," Raphael continued now looking more pissed off than earlier. Hurt was gone, and aggression was undoubtedly there. Octavia raised her eyebrows. This was certainly a twist she had not expected. Miguel Diaz, a man Octavia used to love and hate. A man with many talents, one being manipulation, had known which strings to pull. Octavia could already see the situation of how Miguel had lured Emma into joining Sangre Fría. A warm, inviting smile filled with charm that any woman could fall into, words full of hope and promises but after the initiation is done, it is always too late to back down. Octavia still felt the pain inside of her what Sangre Fría had caused to her.

"Wow, didn't see that coming," she breathed out feeling the pity inside her.

"Neither did I," Magnus spoke from next to Alec. "I did some research, and I found out a lot about the Sangre Fría."

Octavia rolled her eyes. "Why is that not surprising."

"A Sangre Fría is one of the most powerful vampire clans in the western hemisphere and unlike our familiar vampire clans around here, Sangre Fría doesn't give a shit about family or any kind of loyalty." Octavia nodded to Magnus' words; she knew all that.

"The way how they desire power resemblances to some very disastrous historical events no one wants to repeat."

"Miguel always has a master plan but now that Emma's with him, I don't know what else could he want besides the ring," Octavia muttered, but Raphael's painful look stopped her sentence.

"It's not just Emma, Octavia. It's the whole clan, we are on our own," Raphael said darkly baring his fangs. He was angry, ready to kill kind of mad. Still, he remained politically calm. Raphael was good at that, Octavia's version of prepared to kill angry was slightly more aggressive.

Octavia's muscles tensed hearing his words. They were on their own.

"Just you and me?" she said quietly staring into him worriedly. Raphael nodded towards Simon who stood next to Clary on the other side of the ops center. He stared straight towards Raphael and Octavia, having been listening to their entire conversation from the far.

"I'm with you guys," he nodded. The nod of loyalty. The situation was terrible, out of the whole clan of vampires, there were three left. Three left to fight.

Suddenly, the Inquisitor herself was making her way in the middle of the ops center, gaining everyone's attention.

Leaning closer to Octavia, Magnus mumbled, "Her Highness herself has made an entrance."