Sophia stiffly entered the elevator and immediately typed in a code on the console, causing the elevator to climb towards the top of the tower.

“Something’s wrong.” I thought as I looked at her. I reached out my hand towards her arm, small arcs of red energy dancing across my fingers. As I touched her, she jumped from the shock, but her eyes cleared and her demeanor relaxed as she swayed slightly.

Reaching a hand around her waist to support her, I asked softly.

“Sophia, what’s go-” She placed a finger over my mouth and walked over to the panel, slightly nervous at the single red glowing spot in the armor’s helmet, following her. She typed in a code and finished with her fingerprint.

The elevator halted abruptly and went dark until emergency lights kicked in.

“We won’t have a lot of time.” She said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“With the local clan of the Red Court gone, and the surrounding clans failed attempts at neutralizing the threat -” She pointed at me “-The old ones deemed this a successful foothold in the new world, they’ve sent representatives and one mean old bat representing the council itself to smooth things over. She’s old and, therefore, powerful. Katya was helpless in front of her. We aren’t openly hostile but make no mistake, this is war. Katya has been fighting tooth and nail to keep us autonomous. Currently, the representatives are questioning her equals alliance with your house. No one’s ever heard of the House of Titans, and they think it’s some kind of trick, hence one of their Custodes coming to your room to retrieve you.” She looked up at the armored shadow.

“Aleks, she compelled Katya to tell her how to get in contact with you, then she compelled me to call you and get you back to the tower. Katya worked every break they gave her to undo the compulsion keeping me from interfering, just so that I could get a chance to bring you out of the building. I’m so sorry we got you involved in this mess.” she said, her voice hoarse as she looked down.

Sophia had a need to maintain control of herself. Katya had told me it stemmed from her trauma. So, seeing tears fall and hit the floor beneath her face caused something to stir in me.

I wrapped my arms around her as she leaned into my chest. We stood like that for what felt like minutes until her breathing steadied and she pulled away, her expression determined and controlled.

“Aleks, I can still take you out of the building.” She offered solemnly.

“We’re long past that Soph. I won’t let them take clan Eve-” I said. Feeling the powerful will flood my mind.

“-Because you are all MINE.” The Titan in me rumbled possessively in my head, my eyes flashing red in the dark as Sophia's eyes widened.

The lights turned back on, and the elevator moved upwards once more.

The doors opened to reveal a long windowless marble hallway ending in a pair of enormous bronze doors. Foreign Custodes lined the walls of the hallway. The two guards standing in front of the elevator doors froze when they saw us.

They reached for their sidearms.

***

Katya sat across from a veritable inquisition; she had been called up to answer questions in the atrium conference room so rarely used by the Clan.

In fact, she was quite certain she’d spent more time here in the last week than in the past thirty years.

She always considered it a little too gaudy.

“What is he?” the bitch at the head of the table asked for the hundredth time.

Katya enjoyed the scowl she got in return for her little insulting thought.

“Please act more like one befitting of the station you had.” the bitch said, chastising while reminding her that everything she had built herself during the last two centuries had been taken away from her.

“If you continue to evade questioning with whatever means you’re using talisman trinket or otherwise, then I will be forced to have you stripped naked for the rest of this hearing.” She said, the corners of her mouth drawing back to reveal a cruel smile.

“Now WHAT IS HE?” the bitch demanded.

“I can’t answer because I don’t know. You stupid-” Katya’s thoughts were interrupted by yelling and gunshots from outside the conference room. Every light in the room dimmed before going out completely, the stars and moon shining through the massive windows going from floor to ceiling were all that remained.

Then the doors slowly opened to reveal a seemingly endless darkness. A towering figure clad in intricate black plate and chain-mail armor appeared from the dark. In one hand, he carried the bloody and battered body of the custodes sent to retrieve Mr. Titanos. It turned and bowed as Sophia and Aleksandros walked out the darkness at a leisurely pace, as if they hadn’t a care in the world.

***

When we entered the massive, garish glass room, my attention was quickly drawn to the long stone table seating almost thirty people, at the end of which sat a tired-looking Katya. Even in her exhausted state, Katya still looked every bit the stunning and proud businesswoman.

“Apologies. It would appear I’m late.” I said, lifting my hand in an upward motion like an underhanded throw. The armored shadow at my side threw the still unconscious guard ten feet into the room, where he landed limply with a sickening thud on the stone floor.

A red-faced man stood up sharply. He looked to be especially offended by my display as opposed to most others at the table, sitting with eerie, expressionless faces.

Walking towards me, he yelled in a scathing tone.

“Ignorant barbarous animal!”

“YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE YOUR BETTERS.” he commanded with the strongest compulsion I’d felt since returning, pressing down on me.

It felt all consuming, like standing at the bottom of the ocean, the pressure threatening to grind away anything that was me leaving behind an empty puppet. He didn’t just want me to kneel; he wanted me to submit to his will, to become a-

“I WILL NEVER BE A SLAVE.” My thoughts and voice roared out as one as I shrugged the pressure off, letting it fall to the side of me like a physical weight. The man swayed slightly, as if off balance, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

“I am a Titan.” I thought. As I felt the change happening inside me. As I remembered.

I had repressed this side of myself, thinking it did not belong in this world. Thinking I would return to a normal life without the impulses and pride of what I was. I had left it locked away as nothing more than an instinct, a dark voice whispering to me.

But it wasn’t some other thing. It was me. And now I am free.

I turned and walked up to the armored shadow. I knew him. In the back of my mind, I had always known it was him. Who else would be the first to answer my call?

I placed my hand on his shoulder and spoke his name with power.

“Arkos.”

The armor warped and twisted in a cloud of dark fog; the plates shrinking away from the joints and the chain-mail being replaced with scales, when the fog dissipated after almost a full minute, it revealed a taller, leaner, more agile fighter wearing a dark cloak attached over his shoulders with two emblems showing a red right hand.

“Because that is what you are, my red right hand.” I thought as I looked up at the now seven feet tall armored figure.

My hand left behind a red handprint on his shoulder as I stepped back to look at him.

“Hello, old friend.” I said reminiscently, looking at the two red lights staring back at me.

The vampire still stood with his mouth agape as I looked back towards him.

“Kill him.” I commanded in my head, but audible to every Sentire in the room.

The arrogant fool, trying to make a Titan kneel, didn’t have time to react as Arkos menacingly stalked towards him, coming to stop in front of him, only to release a vicious angled right hook crushing the vampire’s skull with a wet crunch, momentum slamming his nearly headless body into floor.

Blood and brains splattered onto every Sentire sitting at the left side of the table, their expressions no longer placid and eerie, but horrified and disgusted.

Arkos took a single step back, giving the clean Katya sitting at the right side of the table, a courteous and respectful bow of his head. Making it clear that his actions had been entirely deliberate.

Then he walked back and took his rightful place at my side.

I looked toward Katya and loudly stated in a wistful and taunting tone.

“As I understood it, this was not yet an open conflict. But seeing the disrespectful call-” I said, nodding towards the unconscious vampire next to the now almost headless body. “-And our extremely excitable trip down the hall. And now this.” I said, absentmindedly pointing towards the dead vampire on the ground.

“I certainly hope your treatment was better than mine, or I daresay we might as well cut ties with these ignorant morons completely.” I said, smiling and waving a hand towards the other end of the table without looking, as if the occupants didn’t matter, while never taking my eyes off Katya.

The attention of the room shifted from me to Katya. Thankfully, she was as sharp as always.

“Well, I don’t think we should fault the group for the actions of an individual, yet.” Katya said while gritting her teeth in a strained smile towards the woman sitting opposite her at the other end of the table.

“Although. Stripped naked for the rest of this hearing. Was it, Mavis?” Katya repeated.

Arkos’s head whipped towards the woman opposite Katya, eyes flaring intensely to the point of throwing shadows around the room. She had held her expressionless state until now, but under the furious gaze of Arkos, she faltered, fear finally sinking in.

“The council will not forgive the death of its representative, Katya. It will mean war.” Mavis warned.

“Really now, threats? At a time like this?” Katya replied haughtily.

“But you are right, why start a war, when I can be the bigger person, and avoid your bloodshed?” Katya asked Mavis, but I replied instead with a vicious grin, staring at the group of vampires like a meal.

“For fun.” I rumbled, playing my part as the as the bloodthirsty stick to Katya’s carrot.

Katya smiled and continued.

“You will leave my Tower within the hour. You will get the fuck out of my city before midnight, and if you haven’t left this continent before dawn, so help me, Mavis. The first casualty of this war will be you.” Katya declared dangerously.

Katya made to get up but stopped as if glued to the seat. Mavis’s serious expression turned to one of mocking ridicule.

That was until Arkos appeared, bowing slightly at Katya’s side right arm held across his chest in a fist and offering his left hand.

It might not have been the etiquette of this world, but no one would have said so due to how practiced and smooth he did it.

Katya looked towards me, confused, but I just nodded for her to go ahead.

The astute, with good eyesight, would have noticed a slight flash of red pass along her hand to her eyes, making her irises flash for an instant before she stood up without issue.

Katya beamed at Arkos in appreciation, before looking sideways towards Mavis and saying.

“Oh my, what a gentleman.”

As the four of us walked back through the hallway, the darkness withdrew unnaturally leaving behind still breathing but broken and bleeding guards along the walls, some having claw marks and other unusual wounds on them.

The elevator doors had only just closed when Katya swayed and fell to the side, bracing herself against the railing, shaking weakly.

“Matriarch!” Sophia yelled out in alarm, rushing to her side.

“It’s alright Sophia dear, I’m just weak and weary. Nothing a good rest won’t fix.” Katya said, preserving her pride by acting strong. Something both Arkos and I thought was silly.

She had more than proven herself tonight. Arkos moved forward, wrapping his cloak and arm around her back before swiftly lifting her up into a princess carry while covering her with his cloak.

This was the first time I’d ever seen Katya blush, and by the shocked look on Sophia’s face, I wasn’t the only one. Katya looked like a deer in headlights, looking straight ahead.

Both Sophia and I looked up, grinning.

“Not. A. Word.” Katya warned dangerously.

***

We left Katya to rest in her room. Arkos silently insisted on standing guard during her recovery to make sure she remained safe.

“I pity the fool who’d try something with him there.” I thought with a smile.

Sophia and I went to oversee the exodus of intruders while Katya was indisposed recovering, Sophia had taken it upon herself to check the status of every floor of The Tower, enlisting the help of my shadows to search out and inform her of any problems through me. But she had been getting more and more frantic with every floor we cleared. I hadn’t understood why until I found her interrogating a young Sentire.

“She resisted them, repeatedly. She found every little loophole she could. They told her to Jump and her feet barely left floor. That sorta thing, they finally had it when she prepared your Essentials Mr. Titanos.” said the young Sentire, looking briefly past Sophia towards me and my blood ran cold as I understood.

“Where was she taken?!” Sophia asked, barely contained fury leaking into her voice.

“Uhm, W-we think they took the prisoners to the lower levels. Past the shielding.” The young vampire said, stuttering slightly.

Sophia stormed off towards an elevator and I hurried to catch up.

“Shielding?” I asked grimly.

“Radiation shielding in the bunker levels, in case of nuclear war.” Sophia explained anxiously.

Realization hit me, but before I could even put it into words, Sophia responded.

“Yeah, they wouldn’t know the Council is pulling out of the Tower. They would continue with their last given order.” Sophia said, fear straining her voice.

***

Reaching the lower floors changed little, except for the lack of windows.

Until we reached a maintenance area, all solid concrete and low lighting.

Sophia took us further in, as if homing in on a signal. She stopped in front of a heavy steel door blocking our passage and said.

“Two guards, Non-Clan.” She looked towards me, and I complied with the unspoken request.

I walked forward purposefully and pulled out my dagger, blazing runes throwing flickering shadows down the hall, revealing walls covered in shadowy figures primed and ready to strike.

I hurriedly ran my dagger down between the door and the frame, severing the hinges and lock before kicking the door open, revealing two surprised Sentires. Before either of them had time to react, I viciously rammed my dagger through the closest one’s skull. His buddy pushed past the deformed wreckage of a door on the right, scrambling to draw his sidearm.

I didn’t even have time to react before Sophia pressed against my back and reached out swiftly and fluidly grabbing the pistol from the dead, but still twitching guard, and placed two perfectly aimed shots in the temple of the scrambling Sentire who’d only just cleared his holster.

She walked past me before taking off like a bullet down the hall. I tried to keep up looking at the many storage rooms and quarters lining the sides.

I heard two more shots ring out before I caught up.

Stepping inside, I saw Natasha standing as if crucified against the wall, but nothing held her in place.

She was bleeding and panting from pain, seeming barely conscious.

I felt my heart sink, and cold homicidal rage take its place.

“Midnight Katya, that’s what you said, and that’s what they’ll get. But after that, they will DIE.” I thought as I rushed forward and touched Natasha’s arm, causing a small red arc to cross between us. She fell into her wife’s waiting arms, unconscious.

***

Mavis sat in the back of a limousine looking at a screen opposite her.

“Draw back for now, pushing without knowing the capabilities of this Titan might be costly.” a voice said from the screen.

“Costly, but not impossible, and it would make a good example.” Mavis’ voice was ice cold.

“A wise woman would accept her loss with dignity.” the voice said.

“The Council doesn’t lose. All Katya has accomplished is delaying the inevitable. The Eve Clan will kneel to the council.” Mavis said ending the call and turning off the screen but flinching after doing so.

She could have sworn she saw two red eyes staring back at her on the dark screen.

Her own reaction prompted a wave of indignant ire.

“Just you wait Katya. That abomination won’t save you.” Mavis thought angrily.

“Ma’am, we’ve arrived and they’re ready for you.” Her driver said through a small intercom. steadying herself with a couple of breaths before the driver opened the door for her and she stepped out, looking contemptuously back at the city.

The car had parked directly in front of a lifted landing platform, stairs leading up to an idling black luxury helicopter.

Mavis stood there for a moment, wondering,

“Where the hell is my security detail?”

She had left in a hurry and they might be lagging behind.

“No matter, not like they’d be coming along anyway,” she thought as she walked up the stairs to the helicopter.

When she reached the top of the stairs, a chill went down her spine. The spinning propellers were kicking up a storm, but unbothered. A smokey dark figure stood with the same piercing red eyes she’d seen only a couple of hours earlier.

The blurry figure raised its wrist, tapping it rhythmically with a blurry clawed finger while sending her a vicious and unnatural smile filled with jagged teeth.

“Huuungryyyy.” the figure thought with a thousand voices echoing.

Mavis felt her face pale and her hands get clammy.

Sentire were rulers, their elders feared by even the Lycans and Sanguinares of old Europe.

But what was a queen without her army? Mavis became very aware she stood here alone.

She hurriedly looked at her watch, seeing barely two minutes remaining before midnight.

No longer caring about appearances, she ran past the still wickedly grinning shadow, while yelling harshly with compulsion.

“ IN THE AIR. NOW!”

The pilots scrambled to comply, and they took off with barely thirty seconds left.

The dark creature waved at them menacingly as they flew away, never having taken its eyes off Mavis. Mavis shuddered in her seat.

***

Natasha had been out cold since I removed the compulsion, worrying the hell out of not only her wife but also myself.

Apparently, they had continuously worn her down, thinking she was hiding something. Even going as far as having Elder Mavis come down and have a crack at her.

She only suffered some minor wounds inflicted in frustration when she not just didn’t reveal the information they wanted, but also actively mocked her captors.

Sophia was talking to a group of Custodes when everyone looked towards the corner of the room, where I stood like a madman, yelling at my shadow on the floor.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN GONE?” I demanded.

The shadow on the floor undulated and everyone looking got the distinct impression the shadow on the floor had just shrugged.