BLOODBOUND II

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Amy, Adrian and Jax are on their way to Paris to meet a psychic who may be able to help recover memories about the Tomb of the First.

As the plane begins its descent, she turns to Adrian.

Amy: So... how are we doing this? Will we go straight to your friend?

Adrian: Unfortunately, getting to Serafine will be a bit tricky, so we'll have to secure a location and have her come to us.

Amy: What? Why?

Adrian: The vampire situation in Europe is quite different from the one in America.

Jax: What do you mean?

Adrian leans back and sighs, gazing out the window.

Adrian: For as long as there have been vampires in Europe, there have been those who hunted them down. They call themselves the Order of Dawn. They're a secret society of sorts, very elite, very fanatical, very ruthless.

Amy: Yikes. They don't sound pleasant.

Adrian: Unpleasant is an understatement.

Amy: How old is the Order of Dawn? You said it's been around since vampires came into existence?

Adrian: Yes. The order is thousands of years old, with roots in ancient Greece. It's gone by many names... the Knights of Light, the Holy Brotherhood, and now, the Order of Dawn.

Jax: Sounds religious.

Adrian: It is, in a sense. They have an intense devotion to the concept of the light.

Jax: And we represent the dark.

Adrian: Exactly. They've spread throughout most of Europe, though they're most concentrated in France and England.

Jax: How the fuck have they managed to keep up this organization for so long?

Adrian: Like I said, they're fanatics. Their drive to eradicate vampire's eclipses everything else.

Amy: How does the Order function? If they're a secret society... how exactly does that work?

Adrian: They're secret to the public, but not those who know the truth about us. I'm not talking about surly men with stakes driving around in an Impala. The Order is well-funded and deeply influential in both finance and politics.

Amy: So, it's funded by wealthy donors. I guess that makes sense.

Adrian: That funding helped them grow from just a small guild to an army of vampire hunters.

Amy: So... how do they hunt down vampires? If they're supposed to remain out of the public eye, how can they just murder vampires left and right?

Adrian: They're incredibly tactical. They'll usually scout out a den, or an individual, before moving in.

Jax: And let me guess, they know all the tricks.

Adrian: And then some. Stakes, beheading, fire... they know what it takes to keep us down. They move with military precision and are backed up by the latest technology. The Order are some of the most elite and efficient killers in the world. And their sole mission is the eradication of our kind.

Jax: And I thought America was bad...

Adrian: The Order is feared by vampires throughout the world. They nearly wiped out our whole bloodline several times. That's why Gaius and the others immigrated, why his shadow kingdom in America was so important. It provided us a haven from the Order. They can't touch us there. Vampires became part of the elite, instead of staying in hiding.