Huntsmaster City: The Kingdoms of Blood, #2

By Des M. Astor

Life as humanity knows it might be over, but that doesn't stop the heroes from Elapid City from trying to establish harmony in their area. Biases run rampant yet still, and the immediate danger is definitely a place known as "Huntsmaster City", where an evil scientist known as Doctor Astral has an obsession with Robert Smoke and Darcia Deville.

 

With the help of Sam, Goliath, and Ares, they must work as a team to thwart the deadly threat before more innocents are tortured to death for the sake of experimentation. Little do our heroes know, they're about to run into an entirely new species that never existed before, created with a combination of science and magic. 

 

Meanwhile, Ares has a certain little 'dove' to deal with. Cecelia is still very indoctrinated, by forces that go beyond just religious extremism. Could a vampire kingdom from his past be surfacing once more through this tormented woman? Will he be able to convince Cecelia of her wrongdoing before he himself gets hurt? 

 

All of this, and more, in the epic sequel to "The Dancing Crow" and "Red Viper".

 

CONTENT WARNING: Extreme gore, descriptive sex scenes, profanity, rescue from sexual assault, & graphic torture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Des M. Astor
• Release date: Jan 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393851967

Des M. Astor

Des M. Astor is a writer in the Urban Fantasy & Vampire Horror genre. She twists things in a unique way and brings a new flavour to the mythical creatures you know and love. In her works, she tries to tell important lessons through her characters, and in that way, her stories are typically character driven. She often delves into very heavy topics and tries to add nuance to various common tropes or themes. Des graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology in May of 2019. She has a deep fascination in many animals, especially reptiles.Often, she will blend in her knowledge of biology to enhance her writing, which brings about elements of sci-fi.  One very fun fact about Des: She's advancing as an audiobook narrator, some of which include the works of which she's written. She adores bringing a voice to characters people are passionate about.

Book preview

Part 1: The Dragon, The Devil, and The Dove

Three women who give zero fucks about playing nice if you slight them.

Sambuca, Darcia, and Cecelia's Perspective

Chapter 1: Darcia

Fuck. I was lost somewhere , who the hell knows where , and my thoughts were just... everywhere.

Ok. First, I needed to recount what had happened. Who am I again?

Darcia.

Darcia Deville, a Tasmanian Devil shapeshifter. Good, well I got that down. I'd been working with my pack alongside vampire hunters, that's right. That was before the war started.

The war. Something that rang a bell.

Oh, right.

Vampires had come out of hiding and were running rampant, not to mention introducing magic long forgotten by humans to the Earth once more. Human governments had erased such magic and monsters from history, which did the opposite of protecting them from this conflict.

Everything had happened so suddenly. Throughout the entire world, vampires and their kingdoms struck, taking down human governments, removing weapons of mass destruction from the equation, so I'd heard, and decimating any way for the humans to defend themselves. Sure, they fought. But they were outmatched and soon taken down.

So what part had I played in all of this?

Well.

Prior to this whole explosion, my pack and I lived in the woods near a human territory known as Elmgreen City. Unfortunately, said city only had a small patch of forest between it and a very dangerous vampire kingdom. The Elapid Kingdom was obligated to remain hidden, as humans finding out about the mythical world could be deadly for us. Their population went far beyond ours, after all.

My pack considered vampires to be a danger, so we teamed up with the few vampire hunters under the jurisdiction of a city known as Huntsmaster, which sent some hunters to Elmgreen City.

Things were just peachy and fine, we'd worked with the bigwig of the hunters operating close to our pack, and his name was Robert Smoke. I'm sure no one could have predicted that he'd betray everyone by allowing himself to be turned into a vampire by the evil vampire tyrant of Elapid Kingdom known as Ash.

Or maybe they could, but I certainly was caught off guard.

When I visited Elmgreen City in an attempt to help innocent humans that were falling in massive numbers due to the vampires bursting out of the shadows, I'd been cornered by Smoke himself.

He killed every human around me that I'd been trying to protect. Or at least, I think he did. Things were a bit foggy. Ash was there too, so maybe the evil vampire king did it? Who knows.

I only knew that I woke up in a pile of bodies soon after I'd met a woman known as Sambuca Viper and her very strange companion—the brother of Ash, another vampire prince. No doubt I hadn't trusted him one bit.

Surprisingly, though, we managed to work together. Sam was the first half-dragon I'd ever met. Well, the first any-kind-of dragon I'd ever met, really. I'd thought all dragons had been killed by the Elapid kingdom brothers, something that Goliath, yes, that's what was his name, seemed very guilty about.

The brother of Ash was an anomaly for sure. I caught on really quickly that he had feelings for Sam. How strange, as I recalled he'd been just as ruthless as his brother Ash not too long ago. Apparently he'd witnessed an act of kindness from Sam, leading to her life being saved. Since, funnily enough, he'd been set on killing her to progress the war.

Vampires exterminated dragons because even if humans had long forgotten about their paid protectors (yes, you heard me right, dragons were protectors due to being paid, nothing more), they still guarded them due to the humans having their uses.

For example, they were extremely good at finding metals and crafting them, which dragons surely 'stole' every so often as payment for the continued protection from nasty vampires that wanted to emerge from the shadows.

That was the biggest factor in preventing an earlier vampire takeover on Earth. Once the dragons were no longer a threat, it did not take long to dispose of the many things that humans could have used to defend themselves. Without their magic, humans could do absolutely nothing.

A pity, really, because had humans embraced their natural talents for magic, they could have saved themselves. Instead we were in this mess.

Alright, back to the matter at hand. Many battles erupted all around the world, but my focus was on the one in Elmgreen city. Goliath and Sambuca worked with me to gather allies until eventually, we were ready to take-on Ash. Many, many things had gone wrong in the meantime, and many people we worked with went through changes as well. The biggest example of this had to be Robert Smoke.

He'd forced me to make a blood bond with him when I was desperate enough to need an alliance with his forces. All of us were—he commanded a huge section of turned vampire hunters, and if we could get him away from Ash, we could subtract from the tyrant's forces and add to ours. It was no secret that Smoke was despicable and worked for the winning side. He was a blackhearted traitor and proved it many times over. Sadly, we were desperate, so the blood bond was necessary.

Sam had been in Ash's clutches when I made this bond. Our first attack and attempt at rescue for Sam had gone terribly. Not only were most of Smoke's forces wiped out, but much of my pack was as well.

Upon the conclusion of the fight, Smoke and I were locked in a room together. A recording Ash had no doubt obtained of me planning a betrayal upon the ex-vampire hunter played on an intercom, and things went haywire from there. Smoke, enraged, lashed out at me, attempting and failing to take me down. Due to the bond, we were equal in power.

For some reason, my allies didn't allow me to kill him after that ordeal. We clashed heavily at first, but now had a common enemy—Ash. Soon we managed to suck it up and work together. I couldn't believe it. Over the course of our time working together, Robert Smoke underwent some sort of change. It made no sense, he was an evil bastard that was selfish. He only wanted the world for himself, and he made that very clear.

So why had he not killed us all when he had the chance?

He pointed out that he could have, too, at any time, in our sleep. Rubbing it into our face, even, almost like a warning. That asshole made no sense to me. But...now that we were blood bonded, I could sense little fragments of emotion he worked so hard to keep hidden.

I noticed the strange looks he gave me. They were a constant thing, as if he cared about what I thought. Bastard, I was obvious as hell with my emotions. What was there to hide? He knew what I thought of him. I hated his guts for what he did.

Well...actually.

As the battle progressed, he came through time and time again. Hell, he saved my life from a vampire gang leader known as Ares. Sure, Ares and his allies had been desperate, skin and bones from the lack of nutrients. No doubt this war didn't care for all vampires. Only those in power. He and his gang clearly had none of it.

They lashed out at me, trying to snatch me up and take my blood. They failed because somehow Smoke had sensed my difficulty through the bond and had brought backup in.

He could have left me there to die, but instead he helped me back home. We managed, with Goliath's help, to obtain allies then. Ares was intelligent, not mindless. He and his gang joined us, but unfortunately a betrayal by others we thought were allies almost led to the death of the gang leader.

Which, while he annoyed the ever living shit out of me, would have been very bad.

He was the key to gaining more allies with the city vampires. Smoke was given the option to kill Ares. He had the chance to gain Ash's favor again and become a part of a very powerful but evil vampire kingdom.

He...didn't. Instead, he'd thrown a silver dagger into the eye of a vampire holding me back, then got Ares to taunt him on purpose so that he'd get angry.

Oh, right.

With shapeshifters, anger empowers us. Such a strong emotion adds to our power, and while it can be somewhat hard to control, is a very valuable asset for our species. Well, that applied to Smoke too, since he was blood bonded to me and received some of my power and emotions. We defeated those traitors by working together, and Smoke managed to surprise me.

I didn't get what his angle was, to be honest. I expected him to take the selfish route. Clearly Ash was winning the battle and would have been even more powerful if Smoke had gone through with his job. Rather, Smoke managed to reveal to us traitors in our midst, and somehow didn't betray us. He confused me for damn sure.

Then, the final battle had arrived relatively quickly. Sam had gone off to the city, and during that time, Goliath had been tricked into running off after Ash. Our hands were forced, as there was no way in hell we'd let the vampire prince go off and die. We left without Sam, unfortunately, rushing in with no plan, just force.

Damn it, we were pigs rushing off into a slaughterhouse, but by some miracle, we survived.

The battle had been grisly, with many lost on both sides. Half of my pack had been destroyed, and we lost some kind souls in the fight. We managed to come out victorious, though. Sam and I had whittled Ash down together, and she'd proceeded to strike the final blow. Unfortunately, prior to her doing so, my eye had been stabbed into.

Ah yes, that was right.

Would I be unable to use it again? Everything had gone dark after that battle, and I had no idea where I was.

Could it be possible that I was dead?

Had Ash taken more than just my eye? No, that was absurd.

The events of the past several months kept playing out in my head, over and over. I was pretty sure I'd not been killed.

Voices began to touch my ears. My pack members, who cared deeply about me, stopped in and expressed concern for me. As expected. I would reassure them when I finally woke up. A different and very peculiar voice pierced my consciousness every so often, though. One more clear than the rest, because I could feel his emotions.

There was concern there from Robert Smoke. Darcie, are you alright? I heard him whisper several times. I couldn't respond to him, as I was lost in my own murky slumber. I had no idea how long I'd been in a coma, probably a while. I did know that I was probably going to wake up soon. It was only times when I heard him speak that I became semi-conscious, though couldn't respond.

Apparently those little lights in my brain did tell him that I was OK. Maybe it was the increase in my heartbeat or something, who knew. I only heard him breathe, Thank gods, to himself upon realizing that I could respond somewhat.

What was his deal?

Why did it seem like he cared so deeply for me, was it some sort of trick?

I fully expected him to utterly hate me and abandon everyone here. It would have been wise for him to, after all, I could order my pack to kill him for being a traitor despite how he helped us in battle. But I think both he and I knew that I wouldn't do any such thing.

Ugh. How long was I to be trapped here in my mind and in this coma?

The only stuff I could remember completely from my time in this dark place were two things. One, Smoke's voice. Two, his fingers entwined with mine, holding my hand for just a moment, hopeful that I would indeed wake up again with my mind intact.

Aw hell. These feelings were so fucking confusing. Best to push them down and forget about them for now.

Chapter 2: Darcia

Agroan escaped my lips as I shuddered, a sharp pain in my eye almost turning unbearable. Slowly, however, the feeling faded, and I opened my undamaged one to stare up at Valiant, one of my fellow shifters with pale skin and mousy brown hair, who was placing a soaked cloth over the one that'd been stabbed into and rendered useless.

Surprised, she blinked, suddenly excited. You're awake. Darcia, you're awake! she sighed in relief. I grunted and gave a nod, sitting up.

Damn right I am, I growled, my memories slowly returning to me. How long had it been, exactly? Seeing that exact question reflect in my eye, Valiant cleared her throat.

About three days, Darc. You've been kept stable, we're glad to have you back. Sadly we couldn't save that eye, she sighed. I shrugged.

Stuff gets lost in battle. At least it wasn't my life. Alright, well, now I need an eyepatch. No biggy. Catch me up, I grunted, rubbing at my temples and letting out a sigh. I ignored some messy strands of black hair that fell into my face, not really caring at this point as to how unkempt I looked.

Valiant talked for a good long while of summing up everything I missed, and finally, I nodded. Great. Well, we have work to do. I rolled out of bed and immediately felt fatigue hit me hard. Almost falling to the ground, I groaned as Valiant moved to catch me.

No, you still should rest for at least a week, Darcia, she muttered, shaking her head. I rolled my eyes, baring my fangs at her.

We don't have a week, we have shit to do, I replied, but deep down, I knew she was right. There was no way I could be of any use like this. Great. ...But I'll take things easy for a few days. Fine.

With her help, I wandered into the living room, collapsing upon the couch and letting out a soft sigh. Unsurprisingly, I felt red eyes fall upon me.

He'd sensed me waking up, and I could detect his worry. This time he tried to hide it well, but the emotion was too intense to do so properly. Therefore, I opened my eyes and fixed them upon him.

Well, one.

The other was glazed over, useless, with a large cut in the center, no longer ever able to be seen through again. I studied him with my functional one.

His bleached-white hair was still slicked back, and heavy scars dotted the pale of his skin, including over the tattoo on one of his muscular arms of a bat being stabbed into by a knife. Somehow he still had a golden chain necklace with a spider on it, golden rings, golden earrings, and eyebrow piercings of the same material. Greedy bastard.

I'm fine, I growled, hating that look on his face. He tried to pretend not to care, his expression twisted into a false neutral, but he failed. The hell are you looking at me like that for?

I was worried, Smoke replied with a snarl. As much as you refuse to believe me, I speak the truth, Darcia.

Right, well, I don't care, I replied, giving a stretch. I've been through worse than this, and it won't be my last rodeo. Now then. Valiant caught me up. We have to go after those hunters that you, by the way, worked for. However, we can use this to our advantage. They don't know about you yet, I'm sure. There's a thing called illusion magic that can take care of your whole vampire look temporarily.

Fine. I’ll be back to aid you in a few days then, Smoke replied, giving a shrug. He turned toward the door, and I immediately was wondering what the hell he was doing.

Excuse me? I asked, dumbfounded by this response. Crossing my arms, I snarled, What are you doing, exactly?

"You need time to recover your mind as well, Darcia, and no doubt I cause unneeded stress upon you. Besides. I’ll be returning to my old life. Maybe not exactly, but I have various issues to think about. Once I finish up against these hunters, I’ll be getting out of your hair forever. Lucky you," he growled. Furrowing my brow, I watched him turn toward the door. Finally, I spoke up.

Wait, I muttered. You might as well stay and plan with us. Why leave?! Obviously you have intel and the ability to really help us here. We can't manage this without you, as much as I hate to say it.

Smoke grumbled, "You need some time in peace to relax, not to think about planning. We just got through a battle where you nearly died, Darcia. Give it a rest."

The grumpy ex-hunter turned around and fixed me in a deep red glare. There was the tiniest spark of sadness within his gaze. Little did he know, I caught on.

You don't want to leave. Do you? You think that I want you to go and that I hate your guts, therefore it would be better if you left for a while now, and forever later. Right? I questioned, slowly standing up and making my way toward him. I swayed a little but caught myself. He eyed me warily. You also want to escape the temptation of biting me.

...Where the hell did you get that impression? Smoke sighed. Right now, we were the only ones in the room—Valiant had left us in peace a few minutes ago.

Despite this, he seemed very uncomfortable, almost to the point of being defensive. Did the poor widdle vampire feel afraid of my picking and ripping into his mind? Good.

It's so fucking obvious even as you stall and pretend it isn't. Out with it. Do you want to stay or not? I asked, now leaning into his face. Even with one eye, I was intimidating. But the bastard didn't flinch back, not at all. He thought himself tough shit too.

Why are you so focused upon me staying, when you could easily just let me leave and return, Darcia? Afraid I'll run away forever? Afraid I'll hide from you? Both you and I know you'd easily be able to hunt me down through this blood bond. That isn't happening, he replied, baring his fangs in my face. I snorted, holding back an amused chuckle.

Oh please, now you're dancing around the question. Do. You. Want. To. Stay. Or. Not?! I snapped, somehow managing to lean even closer. Hell, our lips were almost touching. Gross. Well kinda.

...I’ve got nowhere else to go, he snarled finally, hating that he had to admit weakness. I rolled my eyes, leaning back after a pause.

OK. So why, then, are you talking about leaving? I asked, still not getting his angle. A look of surprise crossed his face.

First, you aren't jumping at the chance of removing me now? Second, after this is over, if I settle in, it will be harder to get rid of me, Smoke replied, narrowing his eyes.

Oh for fuck's sake, Smoke. I'm stuck with you, and you're stuck with me. You get to deal with me and my pack, and I get to deal with your incessant and annoying attitude. OK? It's a win-win and lose-lose. After this, you can stay. Unlike you, I'm not a selfish bastard. I can extend a hand of kindness, I grumbled, turning away and plopping myself upon the couch. I put a clawed hand on my forehead, and finally I felt him sit next to me.

You really do see me as a selfish bastard, don't you? Smoke asked in my ear.

Are you deaf? Did the vampires in that square rip your ears out while I was passed out, or something? I growled at him, not bothering to even give a look.

After a long silence, I sighed. Fine. No, I just say that stuff to get you to shut up. I think you've turned around. You could have betrayed us back when Irene did. My people were in danger, but you didn't end up doing it at all. You've saved my life many times, Smoke. I appreciate it. I merely hate admitting that I rely upon someone. Me. The pack leader of the shifters here, now. And yet, I do. I let out a sigh, repeating myself again. And yet, I do.

A long period of silence stretched between us. I had to wonder if Smoke even was going to say anything, at that point, for it felt like several hours had passed in a series of only a few minutes. But finally, he did speak, his voice cautious.

"We rely on each other. You saved my life several times as well. I think you pretend to hate my guts, Darcia, but deep down, you really don't. I'm sorry, for the record. For all I've put you and Sam through. What I did wasn't right. I was selfish. I was greedy. I was a fool."

With that, I looked up to see him burying his face into his hands. I could sense he was deep in thought, but as I moved closer, I realized something.

He was crying.

I left him alone for a few moments in shock before finally moving closer and wrapping my arms around him. As much as I hated to admit it, this felt nice. Damn it.

Why? I grumbled, knowing he'd be able to figure out the point of my question.

"You lost your eye because of me. I gave Ash the power to do as he did, and without my initial army, he wouldn’t have been able to grow. I thought it was a decision that would, well, I don't know. But I felt nothing. And now, well," he shrugged lightly. He didn't bother shoving me away, either.

Tch. I lost my eye because I chose to fight, I chose to battle alongside my people. I would do it a thousand times over, too. Smoke, don't worry about it. You were a dumbass. You made some bad decisions. But here you are now, with me, willing to continue working against corruption. Such corruption that you broke out of. I'll say it. It hurts me to say it because you're an idiot, but I will. I sighed.

I'm proud of you. Alright? Now, just relax. We'll get through this. I'm not going to just abandon you and kick you out of my home. As much as you're a thorn in my side, you've earned your place here, I admitted.

Man, I didn't know how I felt about him. I certainly no longer hated him, and I could even say I trusted him. Regardless, I meant every word that I said. That caused him to sit up and wipe his eyes a bit, turning his head to stare me down.

...Sorry. I don't usually lose my cool like that, Smoke growled, his shoulders slumping. I punched him lightly after pulling away, and snorted.

Oh, shut up. It's fine to show emotion. Look at me, I show my anger practically all the time, and it empowers me, I replied, grinning to reveal my sharp teeth at him. Then, I patted him on the back.

So, now that we're done confessing our feelings, I began, rolling my eyes because this sort of thing wasn't my forte, "We should probably consider at least talking about a plan. I don't care how much you insist that I need rest, I'll get it. I won't rest, however, stressing over the obvious. Let's talk."

"If you actually listen for once and truly rest, fine. But I won’t talk until you promise me that you will," Smoke snapped at me in his usual bitter fashion. Ah, there he was. Good.

Fine. Whatever. Now. Valiant has informed me of the newspaper depicting the issues of the growing corruption in the hunter cities. Ones you used to visit often and have a big presence in, especially since you replaced the last leader of the hunters in this area. The only thing they know is that shit went down. Unless you told them about what you did, of course, I grumbled, staring him down in question. Much to my relief he shook his head.

All of them are in the dark. They know nothing of my recent actions, and still think I’m killing off vampires to snatch away their money, he replied.

Good. Let's keep it that way. You'll be key here. You're a turned vampire, so it will be much easier to disguise you with illusion magic. That along with the bond, of course, making it easier to look less vampiric. You still have to be careful, though if you go undercover. Luckily, I will be there with you, I commented.

What do you mean?

They don't know of me either and what I've done, idiot. Therefore, we will go gather information together in their city. Sound good? I asked, then added, Sambuca and Goliath are at their castle, so I've been told. I suggest we discuss the part they will play too, when we get there. I have a devious plan in mind that involves a lot of trickery.

Well, that's something I'm good at, Smoke replied with a light sneer on his face. I smirked.

Perfect.

Chapter 3: Sam

Aweek had passed since we'd arrived at the castle. As much as I wanted to get started on tackling the hunter issue right away, I knew that we needed rest. Not only had I lost a ton of blood during the battle and was pretty beaten up, but Darcia was in a coma for three days and lost an eye. That qualified us for a tiny bit of rest, at least.

Finally, though, me, Goliath, Darcia, and Smoke were sitting in a command room around a table, discussing the next course of action. Several newspapers were slung about, with red markings all over them to indicate important areas of focus.

Alright, I began, my venom-green eyes practically glowing in the dim light, "Here's what we know. These newspapers are from the hunter city, so graciously 'donated' to us by those lured in by Smoke... also, did you have to kill them, by the way?" I shot the ex-vampire hunter a glare.

Smoke raised a brow at me and snorted, ignoring a similar glare from Darcia. He growled, What sort of question is that? If they escaped somehow and alerted these people to our plans, we'd be done for. None of us are exactly strangers to death. Plus, I was hungry.

I scowled but sighed, moving on. Now that we've established that Smoke is indeed a monster...

You're just now learning this? Smoke grumbled.

...I can continue what I was saying before. So, we know that they're aware of the evil king's death. Er, both of them. Both the ex-king and Ash. Which is great. They don't know how it happened, and anyone they send mysteriously vanishes. Gee. I wonder how that happened, Goliath, I sighed, now shooting a glare over to him.

He was, as usual, in his top hat and red suit. His alabaster skin had closed wounds from the recent battle. One of his eyes was a bright green, like mine, while the other remained a deep crimson. Providing me an innocent smirk, the vampire shrugged. I have no idea why you would look over to me, love. I simply protect my kingdom, and have many eyes and ears everywhere.

Uh-huh. Anyway, that will actually work to our advantage. Among the missing persons mentioned is Smoke. Meaning they have no idea of his betrayal. This will help us. A lot. One issue we're going to run into is how to disguise mister obvious vampire over there if we want to pinpoint the proper ways to go in, look at their torture areas, extract innocent people, and then rip them apart from the inside, I explained, tapping a finger upon my chin in thought.

Darcia spoke up now, her eyes gleaming. One of them was covered with a black eye-patch, which in addition to her scarred onyx skin and wavy hair, looked badass. She looked just about ready to tear any asshole that dared defy her a new one.

What a coincidence, I brought a book of illusions from my home for this very occasion, she said, reaching behind her and snatching up a large tome from her bag. She slammed it onto the table and opened it up, turning to a marked page.

The two vampires and I leaned forward curiously, wondering what she had up her sleeve. Clearing her throat, the shapeshifter continued. It says here that with the proper reagents, we can create an illusion spell that will last for approximately five hours. The problem is, there's detection magic that those hunters use just in case. Luckily, there are also items we can enchant that alert you when one such spell is being cast. Like a magical watch, if we want, or something, that would blink three times.

Her eyes scanned the words for a moment before she picked back up again. These people also don't know of my kind betraying them either. They think my pack is still working for them—in fact, we got a missed call and message from one of the head honchos asking whether or not we were still alive. Obviously I haven't answered back yet. I wanted to talk to you guys first. But I can go with him and be backup when he inevitably fucks up, she growled.

You realize I'm right here?! Smoke snapped, his red eyes glowing brightly. Darcia waved her hand and rolled her eye.

Yeah. And? Anyway. So, here's what we can do. It will take me roughly three days to get everything for the spell. I'll have Valiant, who's very magically inclined, get me materials for a few long-lasting spell scrolls, and enchant the watch. This way, I can cast it on Smoke without having to master it, since it will be tied to the scroll. I don't want too many coming with us, such a large group might cause suspicion. Smoke has a lot of influence, as he's supposed to be the leader of the sect here. We will explain to them the situation in a twisted light, to make it seem like we've been hiding and weeding out vampires with little success, and therefore returned to the hunter city for their help. Why we didn't before, well, we wanted the war to sort itself out and fight against the vampires. Boom. Here's where the plan gets...interesting, Darcia sighed, looking somewhat uncomfortable. I frowned.

What is it, Darc? You can tell me. It's fine, I grumbled. I was in half dragon form, a usual thing for me now, and flicked my tail curiously. My fiery red hair spilled down my back as I also tilted my head.

"Well. You know your whole 'play pretend' thing? Yeah. You'll have to do it again. We need to pretend that Goliath has you captured against your will. I will spread this news to the other hunters who hold you in high regard. They will be angry. Then, I will explain that there is a big party being thrown for all of the surviving vampires at the castle. I can say I've been spying around and using my little birdies to find all of this information out. Goliath, you plan the party. You show the fact that Sam is there against her will," Darcia muttered, tapping her claws upon the table.

She continued, "One of the 'spies' from the city will see this and take the bait. From there, Smoke and I will start spreading lies about weak points in the city and providing ideas on where they should make a major strike. When that happens, we will need to do two things. Some of us will need to slaughter the baited hunters, or at least subdue them. Some of us will need to go and attack their city while their best fighters are attacking here. They won't know one bit that secretly we are planning an assault, so won't have any defense set up. Theoretically. Obviously we have to plan for error though. With me so far?" Her eyes fell upon me.

I let out a sigh, thinking things through. I hated having to pretend to be some damsel in distress, but this was