The group was resting in Hessiana's family territory to recover from the damage taken in the energy vortex. They were lucky that the storm had taken time to gather momentum instead of carving a path of carnage instantly. That gave them precious time to react and avoid the worst of the damage.
At the same time, more and more information and reports were coming from all corners of the cities to the heads of the families. Hessiana and Lucas had many eyes and ears across the city and these two part-friend part-enemy clans were finally working together for once. Their spies scoured the shelter for any movement of the Shadelings and slowly but surely the clearer picture was being pieced together. Those vampires that were originally posted across the city too started gathering in turf upon receiving wind of the matter. They were gearing up for war.
"The Shadelings are gone. I suppose most of them have retreated back to their liars. We had managed to capture a few small fries.." Vivian was seated on the luxurious velvet chair as she toyed with a gleaming silver dagger. She looked a third the part of a vampire noble, a seventh part of a female mafioso. "Based on what we have managed to glean from those poor sots, Bethanos was planning something ever since Lady Vivian was here. F*ck... that old fox sure did it. I didn't realise anything at all. But I can be sure that the energy vortex we ran into in the ruins have something to do with him. There's no such coincidence, stealing the keys, locking the dimension gate, a energy vortex within the ruins, two Blood Clan leaders and and Elder trapped and dying in the vortex... HEHEHEHE, he sure went all in."
"I want payback... revenge.. .payback..." Lily was pacing impatiently around the room as she led out an angry growl. Hao Ren was curious. "It's rare that I see you so serious? Finally going berserk?"
Lily popped her tail out and sheepishly showed it to Hao Ren. A third of it was still curled and let out a faint burnt smell. "Look at my beautiful tail! It's ruined!"
"...."
So her tail was singed by the energy vortex.
Lily went towards Hessiana and demanded. "When do we fight? What are you all waiting for?!"
"Bethanos and his men are currently cooped up in their base." Zeon Lucas stood by the giant window as he calmly poured himself a glass of wine from a nearby decanter. "I know that old coot. My late brother too had said that to fight a Shadeling, you need to let them act first. They are masters with booby traps, misdirection and ambush. All of the weakness that they show you ware setups. This are a bunch of goons with the cunning of men with the power of demons. After wrecking such a havoc they have yet to attack, but rather they are hiding out in their fortress. An attack screams suicide."
"He's dead meat regardless." Hessiana gnashed her teeth. "He even dared to lay his hand on Lady Vivian. He really thought the Ancient Ones are really just a scary bedtime story. I have sent word to all of the Ancients that are guarding the gates. They won't suffer such an insult. Right, Lady Vivian?"
Vivian was busy applying ointment on Wuyue's burnt scales and looked up at a loss when she heard her name. "Huh?"
Hessiana "...."
Well it seems like the Ancient One is really just a scary bedtime story...
"I have hide the news of our safe return and have sent word that the two Blood Clan heads were lost while investigating the ruins." Zeon Lucas smiled confidently. "Our men outside are spreading misinformation and creating chaos as well. Bethanos will take us for being headless and will strike when he think it is safe to do so. I believe that he will be heading towards the gate of the ruins once the fight starts, or maybe he have found another spot to activate the gate. However the key itself will still require a few hours of recharging. That will probably be the time he strikes."
Hao Ren's opinion of the stubborn old vampire changed somewhat. He thought that the latter was just a stubborn old coot, an arrogant one at that, a conservative that refused to change with the time and thus the bad impression was formed. But it does seem that the old gentleman had a rather dependable side to him. He would be someone you want as an ally.
If you can stand his pompous and arrogant arse of an attitude.
A sudden shriek came from above as two bats darted through an open window into the room. One of it reformed into a voluptuous figure, it was Andrea. Another could not reform into its human form after a while and just reported to Hessiana in a high pitch shriek. "Mistress! I'll just speak to you like this...."
Hessiana leapt up from her chair. "Turcan! You are drinking on the job again you slimy scum?!"
Well there you have it, the gulf of difference between the old vampiric aristocracy and the new age outlaws....
"Master, a group of Shadelings had departed the Bethanos' stronghold and are heading towards our holdings." Andrea took a glance at Turcan before reporting her findings to Zeon Lucas. "That aside, some of our men are already fighting in the streets near the Shadeling's fortress and from what we gather there is a breach on the west side of the stronghold. Doesn't seem like a trap.
Zeon Lucas flung the goblet in his hand out of the window as he swing around with his cape, a cold smirk appeared on his face. "Hmph. It's time."
Hessiana dashed towards the Zeon and grabbed him by the neck. "THAT IS MY F*CKING GOBLET FROM THE PLANTAGENETS! YOU F*CKING THREW THAT AWAY FOR A F*CKING POSE?!"
Zeon Lucas had not even had the chance to wipe the smirk of his face before he was assailed by Hessiana. Hao Ren could only facepalm and look away. This is why the old aristocracy could not work with the new bloods, it's almost like watching someone grating a chalk over the blackboard...
But the ruckus between the two leaders aside, both vampires had already made preparations to attack long before they gotten word of the breach. The Lucas' family aside, Hessiana quickly ran towards her office desk. After inspecting some mechanism there with a slight nod, she faced the doll and cleared her throat. A deafening siren wailed across the entire holding as Hessiana's voice followed. "ATTENTION---ION ION----- PREPARE FOR BATTLE--- TTLE—TLE--- THE DAREDEVILS GATHER AT THE PLAZA—LAZA—LZ--THE REST OF YOU, WORK YOUR MAGIC-GIC—IC-----"
The rest was just echo.
Hao Ren was stunned. "Woah, you guys going modern tech eh?"
Hessiana took a small communicator device and hung it over her neck as she walked like a warlord towards her room and her fingers signalling the rest to follow. "Nonsense. Of course we'll use it. It's the modern times you know. Humans' technology is advancing so fast, that only a blind fool will ignore it. You think those who came in to report few all the way from the outside? They were just manning the telephones downstairs and came up the moment they got the message. I had even installed a signal tower in the city. That old coot even have 50% share of it."
Andrea walked past with Hao Ren as she turned to smiled at him. "Don't assume that the supernaturals in the shelter are some rock age barbarians. I for one and at the forefront of fashion~"
"Andrea. Be serious." Zeon Lucas kept a straight face as he admonished his underling. "You spend too much time with Hessiana's goons."
Hao Ren just followed in a daze behind Hessiana past a group of armed soldiers. As they left the house, they headed towards an even bigger armed group. At the same time, flapping sounds came from above as the vampires started forming into squads as they head into combat. This shelter was still peaceful yesterday (at least on the surface), but now they are about to face a storm of steel and blood. The change of pace was so sudden that it took many by surprise, and this was all because of one megalomaniacal Shadeling.
Lily looked up at the vampires above her. She had not seen so many supernaturals gearing for a fight before and that left her both excited and scared. "Will they shoot at me when the fighting starts? I'm a werewolf after all..."
Hessiana waved her concerns off. "No worries, the old coot and I had brief our boys. 'A silver-furred werewolf with a totally burnt tail is an ally. This had been spread across the city."
Lily almost cried when she heard that. "It's not totally burnt! Only one-third...."
"So you want me to torch it just to be safe?"
"...."
The group had reached the plaza by then and Hessiana's elite strike force, the Daredevils were gathered there. Hao Ren finally met the infamous, the most inglorious vampiric fighting force.
And the difference between them and their commander is like O_o!
A group of well built and unusually tall vampires clad in full combat gear were waiting for orders in the plaza. Their combat garb had embroideries of crucifixes and runes of warding. Hanging from their waist was a silver longsword. All of them had RPG-7s in each of their hands with bandoliers of small arms ammunitions crossing their chest as a bullpup assault rifle hung from it. More shockingly on their backs were....
F*CKING AERIAL BOMBS!
Hessiana smirked as she stepped on a big rock while inspecting her bunch of Daredevils. "Listen up boys. I hear that the Shadeling's fortress is a tough nut to crack... so.. Priest, anoint the RPGs with holy water!"
Hao Ren was stunned as he looked at Hessiana. "This doesn't look right at all...."