The war finally exploded between two of the country's three main vampire homes, no one predicted the disaster caused by those forces, which were entrenched in the most powerful domes of national power. Emily Orsh's death ignited hatred and retaliation hidden in the hearts of the immortals.
Daily reports showed violent crime, increasing police negligence, and gang formations vying for control of each city. The thin membrane of peace, made and maintained for decades among the elders of each family, was now broken with no chance of repair, and neither side apparently gained anything by it.
The fire in the hotel had been controlled and strangely reported as "Gang War results”, only the burnt concrete and the smell of dried blood in the sun remained in the room. The place had been completely isolated by police tracks and experts and guards were hovering around the hotel cautiously, fearing an accidental collapse, or some secondary explosion from the gas pipelines.
Two days after that, Jared was trying to rise from a small mountain of wreckage that had collapsed in the city's sewer. A small trickle of sunlight passed dangerously close to him, through the vast open hole above. After he had freed himself from a rock holding his leg, he took a few reeling steps toward the deeper part of the tunnel.
He was completely dirty with ashes and dried blood. His body exhibited some wounds not yet regenerated by Emily's blood, she had saved his life with the rest of her life and soul. Jared was confused because Emily Orsh had not allowed him to go with her, even if he was determined to accompany her to hell and leave his revenge behind.
He felt empty. His hands slid down the corridor as he dragged one of his feet, not sure where to go.
He walked through several fetid galleries, some narrower than others, he felt the blood of Emily burning in his veins, beside the powerful command she had invoked on him, the last before her death.
Could no longer hear the footsteps of mortals, he just walked ahead, the sound of running water, the complete darkness.
Jared would occasionally turn his head when he heard the screams of the rats that were there, felt as if they were watching him, from time to time, more rodents joined the first, following his trail through the dark galleries of the sewer.
It was when a being appeared, as if it had surged within the wall, he was not sure whether it was really a man, or how he had come here, but the hunchbacked figure with long fingers certainly did not seem friendly.
"Hihihihihi ..." The creature's laughter made him feel a bit disgusted, like a screeching rat.
"What do we have here? What do we have here?"
Dressed in dirty rags, which looked like a bald beggar, he raised his yellow eyes to Jared. His skin was gray, with a deformed face and bizarre proportions.
His eyes deep behind his long, oily nose looked frantically at Jared as if searching for something of value.
"I smell it, that horrible stench of cheap perfume coming from you, from your rotten Ardea blood ... Hiiiiiiii !!!" As he said those words, the creature shrieked at the aura of fear coming from Jared.
"Do not hurt poor Rat ... Rat does no harm to anyone!" Said the man who called himself 'Rat' as he shrank on the corner of the wall displaying his crooked tusks.
"Do not speak ill of her blood ..." Ignoring the slim, ragged man, Jared resumed his walk.
Recovering his senses, 'Rat' followed Jared by saying:
"Wait, wait! Please forgive Rat, Rat is only here at the master's request! "Said the creature, nodding and following Jared hastily.
Understanding briefly the monster's feelings, Jared took a deep breath and thought about what he would do from there, was lost and would not hurt to hear the horrible beast.
He turned to Rat and asked.
"What do you want with me, monster?"
"Yeah, I know, everyone says that. Rat is ugly, Rat deserves to die ... But Rat has a good heart! " Said the hunchback, displaying a yellow smile.
"At least, Master says Rat is handsome," he told him, confident in the opinion of someone of dubious tastes that Jared did not know.
"Master is a very wise Hermit, he had Rat fetch the descendant of Emily, yes, Rat seeks descendant."
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"Your powerful and wise master ... lives in the sewer?" Jared feared that Rat's master would be some sort of mutant rat.
"Don’t be silly! Rat Master is here just waiting for you! Come on, Rat shows the way. "The man then followed one of the corridors which gave access to a part apparently attached to the tunnels.
Feeling a little guilty, or at least not wanting to lengthen such an odd conversation, Jared followed the crooked man. His body slowly regenerating his wounds with each step, until they finally left those galleries.
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The tempers were rattling in the hall of the Noctua council, the library of the city of Archnorth has been closed some time ago, due to the events of the previous days. The murder of Emily Orsh fell like a bomb in the clan, moreover, no one knew who was the author of such audacious act.
The plan drafted by the organization's leaders did not anticipate the assassination of the future master Ardea, but only blackmail and use it for their benefit. Minister Elizabeth had taken responsibility for finding out why Emily was in town, but not only had she failed, but the negotiations had gone wrong completely. Emily Orsh walked in and out of the meeting at the Noctua Mansion without worries, for the elders had nothing to use against her.
The halls of the library were filled with influential immortals of the Noctua family, all worried about the foggy future that awaited them, not only that, it had not taken a day for the Ardea family to retaliate.
At the summit of Noctua house meetings, five of the seven ministers were arguing with heated voices, one of them, Minister Caesar, was out again, the other minister ...
Michael Skandorr has been occupying the leader's chair for nearly a century and was brutally beaten the day before, dragged out of his house and impaled in the yard. He died burnt by sunrise, with no chance of resistance.
The mood shaken, the loss of a Minister was a heavy blow to the family, and everyone was asking the same question. Who murdered Emily Orsh?
Emily was killed in Noctua territory, shortly after the meeting publicly orchestrated by the council members. Anyone not alive with the least intelligence would know that this was an action made by one of them to provoke the war, but who? The big problem was not that the conflict was now openly happening, but rather that everyone believed that it was they who started it. A high-ranking immortal as Emily was murdered shortly after introducing herself to the council, as the custom dictates, it was the rule that the Noctua family did not seek her for her life while on their territory, and they broke their own law.
Now, in addition to provoking the hatred of the Ardea house, the Tigris clan had also harnessed to attack the Noctua behind territories, with the excuse of retaliation for breaking an old law.
Of course, many of the Tigris family members were valiant, and the reasons for their entry into the war and the nonverbal alliance with the Ardea varied.
The council's eyes fell on Elizabeth. Being a rookie minister, she was clearly the most suspicious of the remaining five, since not only had she failed in her mission, but one of her most trusted subordinates had mysteriously disappeared.
Under the eyes of the others, the seemingly unshaven Elizabeth was filled with hatred.
Where was Brooke at that hour? She had to send someone to clean up a mess made in the small apartment of Emily's descendant, a task not too difficult, since all the mortal eyes were on the incident at the Hotel. The absurd amount of blood that littered the room and the empty pistol on the floor indicated that his servant did something unnecessary, but after years of coexistence she did not believe he had escaped.
"Forgive me, Minister Elizabeth Copenhagen, but we need to talk about your mistake," said Fach Cornelius, drawing the eyes of the other ministers.
"Yes, my servant unfortunately seems to have failed in the mission I gave him, if that is what you meant." Said Eliza.
"No, not that, Minister. We're talking about the murder of Emily Orsh. "Fachin accused Eliza.
"This is a very serious accusation, Fach," said one of the ministers, an immortal who seemed to be a 16-year-old girl, her natural reddish hair scattered in bulky bunches hiding the true age of Joahna D. Many speculated about her royal lineage, anyway, everyone knew that she was the second oldest member of the council.
"I have to agree with Master Marcus Fach," said the second minister, Gustan Madera, a vampire with well-trimmed gray hair. Gustan was a direct man, spent much of his non-life doing the most difficult and dangerous jobs for his clan, won his position with strength and was respected by almost everyone present.
Orpheus Distrort, the last of them, was a man of secrets, a former chief investigator of the family. He remained silent, watching the discussion.
"Besides failing in his mission, where is John Brooke now?" Gustan asked. "Of course this is the most intriguing fact right now. Emily Orsh was murdered, and Elizabeth man ran away! "
Fach looked indecisively at Eliza, knew she was unreliable from the start, this viper had raised through the rankings differently from the others. All right, the vampire world was not a proper place, but Elizabeth went beyond the boundary of the wrong and dishonorable.
Elizabeth was lost, she did not know where to hold. Her clan now sought a guilty, someone to take on all the mistakes. She felt the rope around her neck tightening. "Damn! Where are you now, Brooke? No immortal can disappear so easily.
That's when a light went through her head.
"And where is Aurélius Caesar now?" She asked, glancing desperately at the other elders. "If a vampire disappears is strange, what a Council master disappearing will be?" Eliza said, opening one arm as if to demonstrate the 'truth'.
Upon hearing this, everyone began to argue with one another, with the exception of Fach.
"Do not you dare accuse the minister! "Said Fach." He is now doing a very important job for our house!”
Eliza smiled slightly, it was the breach she expected.
"What kind of work is this that the members of the master council themselves cannot know what it is? I say now, the most suspicious of all is Caesar. Not just him, but Minister Fach, who's keeping secrets from this table! "Eliza said, slapping one hand on the board that symbolized the Noctua council.
Fach then seemed to choke on his own words, while the other ministers nodded affirmatively with Elizabeth's statement.