In the next three days, the words about what Katie had been doing finally started spreading across the city. With the support of Cara Cull and Gadreel, Katie formally created what she called the Alliance of the Old. Simple name, but it got the point across.
The Alliance was, well, an alliance. More of a coalition than an actual faction, it was simply a way for its member factions to coordinate their forces instead of fighting battles on their own. After all, the Old Factions weren’t what they used to be, and they didn't stand a chance of achieving anything if they remained disorganized. The leaders of the member factions would come together and debate potential strategies to take and assign tasks to individual factions to carry out.
Theoretically, the leaders of any member faction could refuse to do anything they didn't want to. Of course, whether or not that would go unpunished depended on who the leader was and how valuable the faction was to the Alliance.
This wasn't the most effective method, but it was the only one. If Katie tried to make the Alliance an actual faction with a central command, then no one would join her. After all, who should be the leader? No one wanted the last of their kind to be used as cannon fodders for someone else’s survival.
The Alliance HQ was set in Cara’s office building. The transition was quick and easy, considering almost everyone in that building was a vampire.
For the first time in years, the Old Factions of Los Angeles could see a banner of resistance. Before this, the Angels and the Witches were the two main forces resisting the New Factions, but both fought alone. The Angels, due to their very nature, despised the dark creatures like the Vampires. The Witches were a little more tolerant, but most didn't enjoy dealing with outsiders either.
Of course, initially, most supernaturals in the city simply stood by and watched the newly created alliance with interest. Most of them weren’t blind. In fact, none of the supernaturals were. They could all see the encroaching threat that was the New Factions. It was just that a significant portion of them have decided to give up on the fight, not seeing any hope left. A number of them still wanted to make a stand against the groups that intended to purge them to the last, and now, they had a chance of just that.
In the first few days, Cara Cull was able to convince many vampires to join the Alliance. As the hosts of the city, the Culls have helped many refugees settle down in Los Angeles. Cara leveraged this level of influence and added over 400 other vampires into the Alliance, in addition to her own faction of 300 or so. Many of these vampires were furious at the people who chased them out of their homes, and now, they wanted payback.
Unfortunately, even a total of 700 vampires was only a small portion of all the thousands of vampires in Los Angeles. Most of the vampires outside of the Cull family loyalists also arrived scattered and disorganized. Many of the vampire families who had organized forces acted as if they weren’t even aware of the creation of the Alliance. Perhaps they have indeed lost all the will to fight. Or perhaps they wanted to see the Alliance at work first before throwing in their chips.
However, while the inaction of these families was simply a sign of weakness or doubt, the actions of the Lance family were outright hostile. On the day the Alliance was created, the patriarch of the Lance family, John Lance, outright declared that anyone in his family who joined the Alliance of the Old shall be excommunicated, hunted down, and killed.
Countless in the family objected, especially the younger and lower-ranked members, but John maintained his command. When news of this got out, many supernaturals mocked John and the Lances for being broken by the New Factions. After all, while countless other European families fought and died to protect their home against the Light Templars, John and his family fled all the way to Los Angeles, making them the only survivors among the European vampires. It should be no wonder that they no longer had the will to make a stand.
The vampires were just one of the many factions in Los Angeles. Gadreel also made some progress regarding the demons. It turned out that he didn't need to walk the streets of Los Angeles to track down potential contacts. All he did was free the demon in the trinket he and Katie found from Crypt Entertainment. The demon sealed inside turned out to be a Demon Warlock by the name of Lehaar.
After convincing the demon that he wasn’t joking, Gadreel quickly explained the situation to him. The warlock spent a long, long time mocking the Angel, but after he was done laughing, he agreed to go back to Hell and talk to his superiors. After all, as much as Hell hated the Angels, a few thousand Angels couldn’t bring down Hell. The New Factions, on the other hand, stood as a threat to the very existence of the underworld. In fact, even now, the demonic forces of Hell have been engaging the New Factions across dozens of battlefields around the world.
If the Old Factions could occupy a significant portion of the New Faction numbers in Los Angeles, then Hell would be more than happy to give things another push.
Lehaar returned to Gadreel two days later, bringing with him an army of 1,000 demons. After they possessed 1,000 innocent people in Los Angeles, these demons became the second faction to join the alliance.
Unfortunately, things didn't go so smoothly with the other Old Factions.
The Angels ignored the Alliance altogether. Then again, it was nice enough of them to not make a move against the Alliance in the first place to retaliate against Katie and Gadreel. Expecting them to join the Alliance right now was...optimistic.
The witch covens fared a little better. They sent the Alliance a message, saying that the leader of the covens, Lady Sorcerer Katherine, was considering joining the Alliance. She would come over to the Alliance HQ and discuss the details...eventually. It would appear like the Lady Sorcerer was busy with other more important things right now.
In general, most of the Old Factions were still observing the Alliance on the sideline. The Alliance had to prove itself first before it could claim their support. Gradually, as the vampires and the demons were put into motion purging the New Faction infiltrators inside Los Angeles, Katie and Cara got ready for a meeting.
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“What’s up with the Lances? I mean...I know they’re pissing themselves just at the thought of making a stand, they don’t really have a choice, right? If you’re gonna die, might as well die standing.”
Ever since the Lance family demonstrated outright hostility toward the Alliance, Katie and Cara have been trying to set up a meeting with them and find out what the hell was wrong with them. If the higher-ups wanted to give up, fine, but why would they prohibit their offsprings and people to fight as well? The Lance family had a significant level of influence on the surviving European vampires, and its refusal to cooperate posed a huge challenge to the recruiting process of the coalition.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
After a sea of requests, the Lances finally agreed to meet. Of course, they wanted to meet Katie and Cara on their turf, with their turf being one of their many underground bases. After arriving at Los Angeles, the Lances bought properties in less populated areas of the city before digging into the ground, crafting underground tunnels and bunkers that served as great hiding places.
The pair was in one of such tunnels. They were standing in front of a thick metal blast door, waiting for entry. A few men in black suits were standing guard around them, all of them vampire sentries and members of the Lance family. Almost all of them throw Katie disgruntled looks when she mocked their family.
Katie, being Katie, did the most diplomatic thing...and mocked them further.
“What? Am I wrong?” She threw her hands into the air at the sentries. The stubbornness of the Lances was really getting to her. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that everything is nice and peachy, and there is no one about to come in and kill every single one of you.”
The sentries drew in deep breaths and did their best to calm themselves. They didn't know who Katie was other than the fact that she was with the Alliance of the Old. Still, as insulting as her words were, they had to admit she had quite the point. Many members within the Lance family had the same questions, but all words of doubt were put down by the elders in the family, including the patriarch John Lance.
One of them was about to open his mouth and defend his people when the door was suddenly pushed open, and a vampire guard walked out.
“The elders are ready to see you.” He said to the two women.
Cara Cull nodded and led the way into the room. She wore full business attire for this trip, acting all formal and professional. After all, the Lance family was a lot older than the Cull family, and John Lance should be several generations above her. It was tradition for vampires to show respect toward their elders, for the elders tended to be the most powerful and the most familiar with blood magic. In front of John, Cara was no more than a child.
Katie didn't share her style. She was still in her jeans and black jacket combo. Respect? What was that and why should I give that to a bunch of idiots who would rather be butchered kneeling rather than die standing?
The pair walked into a large chamber, where a table in an arch form was sitting in the middle. Over a dozen vampires were sitting behind the table, all of them old men and women with white hair and wrinkled skin. Yes, vampires had longer lifespans than humans, but the increased lifespan was dependent upon the power rank of the vampires. The vampires sitting here were all hundreds of years old, and there was only so much their powers could do for them.
Still, with their age came both experience and power. These vampires were perhaps the most powerful ones in the family.
As soon as Katie entered the room, she could smell something familiar. Her eyes quickly landed on the glass bottles the Lances were holding, and the human blood inside. These fools might be no match for the New Factions, but it was good to know that they were at least capable of butchering innocent people!
Cara quickly walked up to the table. Her eyes landed on the man sitting in the middle, the oldest member of the elders. John Lance. Perhaps he wasn’t the oldest or the most powerful of his kind back in Europe, but now he was the only one left. The lower-ranked vampire lowered her head in submission. She could feel a voice coming from her very blood and genes, telling her to submit to the elder in front of her. After all, following the strongest was carved into the bones of the vampires.
“Wise one.” She quickly spoke up, sounding as polite as possible as she addressed the man as per vampire customs. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you.”
The ancient vampire didn't say anything at first. Instead, he laid back in his seat and stared at Cara with cold eyes. Cara, with her head still lowered, felt sweat covering her chin and back. She could feel the tension in the air, and it was anything but comforting. Katie snickered to herself behind Cara. Somehow, her opinion toward John had dropped even lower. Alas, she didn't do anything, as Cara told her she wanted to do the talking.
Finally, John decided he would say something after all.
“Cara Cull...I don’t remember meeting you before, but I do recall seeing your father. Many times, in fact. He tried to convince me to send my boys and girls into the fight against these so-called New Factions...tell me, little girl, where is your father right now?”
Cara held her fists tight as discreetly as possible. Pretty much every single vampire knew that her father was dead, which was why she had taken over things in the Cull family. John was either really ignorant...or he was trying to pour salt into her wound.
“He passed away, Wise One.”
“Oh…” John was clearly unsurprised by the answer. “Hmmm...I wish I could say it’s unexpected, but it’s not. He was a stupid one, your father...there are 4,000 vampires in the city, and no one tried to do a thing. He thinks he’s better than us...braver! He tried to play the hero, and guess what, he’s dead now! That’s what fighting got him!”
The daughter standing before him gripped her teeth, which was the only thing preventing her from snapping. Perhaps her father had his flaws, but who was John to mock him? What did John have other than his old age? And for all his power and influence, he was still too much of a coward to fight! Not only so, but he also prohibited others from fighting! Who was he to criticize her father?
“My father died fighting for our race. He was a hero.” She said quietly, still making an attempt to convince the Lances. “Look, Wise One...we still stand a chance of beating back the New Factions. This Alliance we have created...we have the hope of uniting every single Old Faction in the city! We already have vampires and demons, and if we get your support…”
“Demons?” One of the elders on the side suddenly snapped before Cara could even finish. “You’re working with demons now? You would want our people to die for Hell? You are a damn disgrace to our people!“
"I am no fan of Demons either, but we must work together..."
"Silence! Beware of your place, child!"
Despite her best attempts, Cara could feel anger climbing onto her face. What was wrong with the elders. You know what...this was a waste of time! The Lances have never intended on joining forces with the Alliance. She could see it now. Perhaps the only reason they agreed to this meeting was to humiliate her!
She turned to John Lance one last time.
“Is this your will, Wise One?”
John snickered in his seat. He didn't even bother to come up with a reply.
Without another word, Cara turned around and headed for the door, not wanting to waste another moment talking to these idiots. Yet Katie didn't move. Just as Cara reached the door, the two sentries there reached out and stopped her from leaving.
Cara froze for a moment. When she turned back to the Lance elders again, her face was pale.
“What is the meaning of this?” She demanded loudly.
John Lance snickered once again. Just as Cara was about to ask again, Katie spoke up and cut the young vampire off.
“Two things.” She said to John and the other Lance elders. “First. Wise One is a terrible way to address you. You may be one, but you’re definitely not wise. And second…”
“I was wrong about you. You aren’t a coward. No...instead, you are a traitor and an idiot.” She turned to the side, where a man slowly walked out from around the corner. He was under the effect of some spell that prevented Cara from sensing him with blood magic, but Katie’s refined physical senses tracked him down with ease.
None of the Lances was surprised by the man, who clapped his hands slowly and sarcastically at Katie. A mocking smile was on his face.
“Let’s see...” Katie scanned the man from top to bottom. ”That smug smile. The way you move around. And of course that terrible reek...Dark Pantheon?”
“Dominator Royce, at your service.” The man replied as he cracked his neck and wrists. His eyes landed on Cara first, decided she wasn’t her type, before moving onto Katie. “So girls...how would you like to die?”