Emiliana Cornelius

Act of War

Three weeks

It had been three weeks since Marco and the group left to hunt down the vampires around Port Orford, and for Emiliana, it had been three weeks since she last saw Jake. They had sent a message that they had eliminated all of Lucio's vampires within and outside the town and were set to return home. But sudden and surprise attacks launched all over the world by Lucio vampires put a stop to that. They had to separate into smaller groups and travel to the areas attacked. Casualties were on the rise on both sides, numbering thousands from what Emiliana could pick up from a hush conversation between her father and Jared. She wasn't allowed to attend the daily briefings her older cousins attended, everyday all of them including her grandfather were briefed on the state of the war and the efforts of her cousins who were at the frontlines including Jake.

Most of the battles occurred in the night, in areas with little to no human presence. Lucio might want to bring the house of Cornelius to its knees but he wasn't ready to expose the existence of vampires in the process. Keeping the vampire race a secret and enforcing such was the duty of a special group of vampires who were members of the house of Cornelius. They were headed by Stella, Anna and Igor. They closely monitored news around the world and if anything pointed to something extraterrestrial, it was swiftly investigated and dealt with. They also had a lot of informants stationed all over the world. Vampires who posed a risk to others were hunted down and eliminated. A good number of humans knew of the existence of vampires. Only two categories of people were allowed to know of their existence. First category being anyone chosen as a mate by a vampire and second category being anyone closely related to the vampire. And all compelled to forever keep it a secret.

All information about the battles Emiliana knew of were the details her aunt Mia would tell her in secret after attending the daily briefings. Number one detail Emiliana always asked of was Jake and how he was doing. Last she heard, he and Luca backed by some three hundred vampires had been outnumbered in a battle that took place close to the pyramids of Egypt by hundreds of Lucio's vampires. It was a bloodbath but they had survived along with dozens of vampires under their command. The war really was getting bloodier and fiercer. Also Mia had told her of a special group of vampires, the strongest and oldest vampires under Lucio's command. They were called the 13 knights of darkness. They usually moved in groups of twos or threes. Five of them followed Lucio everywhere he went while the others were scattered across the world slaughtering vampires linked to the house of Cornelius. They were stronger than even the strongest of Emiliana's cousins. It had taken the combined might of Marco, Angela, Nevia, Umberto and Aimone to repel an attack from one of them after they came across her at the ice plains of the North Pole. She had just slaughtered one of the battalions of Cornelius vampires stationed there and Marco and the rest had to move swiftly from Europe before she encountered another battalion. Before she ran off after being deeply wounded on her arm, she had snapped Aimone's neck and broken all the bones in Nevia's upper half, and left the rest badly wounded.

It scared Emiliana to think that any one of them could be killed at anytime if they ever encountered one of the thirteen alone or at a bad time. She shuddered as the thought crossed her mind again and pulled the jacket tighter around her body. She was perched on the top most branch of one of the trees behind the castle overlooking the forest. She wore an ash croptop paired with black skinny jeans and a pair of white sneakers, and Jake's jacket over her shoulders. She sniffed his jacket to get a whiff of his fading scent as she sighed. She really missed him she thought to herself.

"Emili" a voice called from below her. She looked down to see Emilia, Gabriele and Flavio smiling at her. Flavio waved lightly with a cheeky smile on his face.
"Are you gonna keep us waiting here all day?" Gabriele folded her hands across her chest giving her a pointed look. She wore a black turtleneck long sleeve shirt tucked into a pair of brown skinny jeans.
"Coming" With a light jump she landed gracefully on her feet in front of them.
"We have a briefing to attend" Emilia grabbed her hand and pulled towards the castle while Flavio and Gabriele followed behind.
"Briefing?" Emiliana knew she wasn't allowed to attend any briefing yet.
"Yep. Uncle Antonio's orders." Flavio replied.
"My dad said you should bring me?" She still couldn't believe her dad would actually allow her. 'Why now? Did something happen to Jake?' She thought.
"Yes your dad. You sure are slow this morning" Gabriele said chucking making Emiliana go red in the face.
"I have a feeling mum had something to do with convincing him that it's high time you became fully involved in the family affairs. It's your right actually. And mum can be pretty intense when she's trying to convince someone of something" Flavio smiled as he referred to his mum Stella.
"I would have to thank her then." Emiliana smiled back.
"Definitely."

🐾

They walked into the briefing room, unlike the other rooms this one was bigger and wider in other to accommodate the senior members of the family present. Multiple rows of polished black wooden chairs were arranged in a semi circle with an elevated platform in front of it. The platform had three levels, on the top most level, sitting on a big black chair fit for a king sat the grand lord Cornelius, on the level after it sat Antonio and Mia on two separate chairs a few feet apart from each other. On the last level sat in a line the rest of the grand lord's children with their mates beside them. There was a big space between the platform and the rows of chairs that almost encircled it. On the rows of chairs sat the senior members of the family who weren't among Marco's group. Starting with children borne from the grand lord's daughters.

Anna and Jared's children Guilia, second child after Angela;Roberto and Stefano.

Stella and Sam's children Mario, third child after Marco and Flavio; and Rosa. Sofia was their younger sister and last child and too young to attend the briefing.

Sara and Luigi's children Filippo, second child after Umberto; Enzo, Carmine and Silvio.

Beppe and Ricardo's children Davide, third child after Aimone and Gabriele; and Leone; the last child.

Ulisse and Gerard's children Nicola, second child after Luca; Ranieri and Carla.

Ornella and Zed's son Oscar was the only one present because he was the first child. The rest of his siblings, Walter, Berta, Irene and Adele weren't present.

Teresa and Igor's children llaria, second child after Anita; Luisa and Piera.

Geltrude and Nevio's children Dante, second child after Astore; and Flavia, last child after Emilia who was younger than Dante.

The children borne of the grand lord's sons.

Dionigi and Mira's son Apollone was the only one present. His elder brother was Achille.

Maurizio and Jenna's children Federica, second child after Nevia; and Venere.

Zek and Lilian's children Matilde, second child after Rachelle; and Lauren.

The grand children all sat scattered across the rows of chairs facing the platform. All eyes were them as they made their way to their seats.

"Emiliana" A voice called before she could take her seat beside Emilia. She looked up to see her grandfather looking at her with a small smile on his face. "Come Mia bellissima nipote" He motioned her forward.

She walked up to him passing her dad who gave her hand a quick squeeze and a kiss before she stood in front of the grand lord. A huge guard who stood behind him quickly and placed a chair beside him.

"You will be sitting beside me today" Lord Cornelius said as he patted the chair beside him. She smiled widely as she took her seat. He took her hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze and held onto it as he looked forward.

"Lets begin." Antonio's voice resonated across the big room.