“That’s...unexpected.”

After half an hour of driving, Katie found herself standing at the first address on the list Harrison gave her. To be honest, Katie expected to find an underground cave or some other dark hideout that felt more fitting for vampires. Instead, she was standing in front of an office building that was at least 15 stories tall.

Katie glanced at the list in her hand once again. The name associated with this address was Cara Cull, the daughter of Harrison Cull and the sister of Jake Cull.

Then again, it shouldn’t be too surprising. From what Katie saw, vampires had many of the preferences that human beings had. Aside from their magic and superhuman speed and strength, vampires weren’t that different from humans. Most of them preferred to stay in luxurious mansions or fabulous office buildings. With the level of wealth that the Culls have demonstrated, it should be no surprise that they have established their bases in the most expensive places.

Katie took a deep breath and walked into the lobby of the building. Her eyes quickly landed on the front desk, where a young woman in business attire was sitting. When the young woman saw Katie approaching, she gave her a warm, professional smile.

“Good afternoon, Miss...what can I do for you?”

“Yes.” Katie paused for a second before continuing. “Hi...so anyway, I’m here to see one Cara Cull.”

“I see.” The front desk nodded slowly before replying as politely as possible. “Any reservation?”

“Uh...nope. The name is Katie Lockwood, though. She should know me.”

“I see.” The young woman repeated before reaching for the telephone. “I’m going to give Ms. Cull a call. Please give me a second.”

Katie nodded and watched as the front desk spoke into her telephone. By the time she finished, she turned to the side and waved at a security guard, who walked over to her.

“Take her to Ms. Cull’s office.”

Katie gave the front desk a polite nod before following the large security guard to a set of elevators. They got into an empty elevator, and the guard swiped a card on a terminal before pressing the button corresponding to the 15th floor. Katie leaned against the elevator wall in boredom. Finally, the elevator stopped and the door opened, and the guard led Katie out.

Before long, Katie found herself standing face to face with a certain woman sitting in her own office. In a sense, the woman distinctly resembled the other Culls Katie had encountered. However, it didn't take Katie too long to realize she had seen this Ms. Cull before. But where?

As soon as Ms. Cull nodded for the guard to leave and the floor belonged to the two women, Katie raised her concern. She was a good student. Whenever she had a question, she asked.

“You look familiar.” Katie made her confusion clear while tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I swear I have seen you before…”

The last heir of the Cull family quickly answered Katie’s questions.

“I’ll give you a hint. Crypt Entertainment.”

“Oh…” That was all Katie needed to pick up her memories. “I remember you! You were among the audience in Crypt Entertainment during the movie I was in! I remember giving you a business card!”

“Yes, and that was the right decision on your part.” Cara Cull said quietly. “Harrison and Jake never told me what they were going to do for safety reasons, but they did mention something important. When I heard they were looking for mercenaries outside of our own people, I handed them your business card.”

“Well, looks like my marketing strategies are working.” Katie grinned. She did remember getting the mission via John, but that was likely because the Culls wanted to keep Katie in the dark initially. Contacting her via the business card would make her realize they were aware of her supernatural identity. Fair enough.

Just before Katie could explain what happened, Cara’s tone changed to a more serious one.

“My father hired you, yet you are here, Katie Lockwood.” She said slowly and quietly. “Is it reasonable to believe something happened to Harrison and Jake?”

Katie nodded slowly before explaining everything that happened in that cave with the Basilisk and what she learned. As she spoke, she kept an eye on Cara’s reactions. Even now, she remembered what Harrison told her. The people on the list couldn’t be fully trusted. Cara said she was kept out of the loop for safety purposes. Perhaps Harrison wanted to keep his daughter safe...or perhaps he simply didn't trust her.

It was clear the news of his father’s and brother’s demise didn't cheer Cara up. If it did, she hid it very well. By the time Katie finished, Cara let out a deep sigh.

“So all the New Factions are working together in an effort to wipe us out. Oh, and they have the backing of an entity of significant power...great!” She said sarcastically. “And how does that help us? Did Harrison and Jake really give their lives so the rest of us can know how absolutely fucked we are?”

Cara sounded distraught and desperate, and to that, Katie could only shrug.

“Hmmm...kind of. That was actually a perfect summarization of what happened.” She saw the look Cara gave her and quickly changed her tone. “Alas, it does benefit us in two ways. First, we know about this so-called Protector and the role she played in all this. As long as we can find her and find a way to kill her, somehow...it will be a significant blow to the New Factions. Likely, it will truly turn them against each other, giving us breathing space.”

“That’s like saying if we take out the boss in a game, the minions will no longer be a threat.” Cara wasn’t convinced. It was obvious she didn't share the willingness to fight in the face of overwhelming odds that her family had. “If we can kill the boss, then we could’ve gotten rid of the minions with ease. We know nothing about this Protector or where she is or what her weaknesses are!”

“That brings us to the second way it benefits us.” Katie added. “We need time. Time to find out more about this Protector. Time to find out where she is and how to kill her. As such, we need to keep Los Angeles out of the hands of the New Factions for as long as possible, both to preserve potential allies and to exhaust the forces and attention of the New Factions.”

She stood up from her seat and did her best to convince Cara. After all, she needed Cara’s support. As the last member of the Cull family, Cara yielded quite the influence in the vampire circle.

“I talked to Gadreel, he’s the Angel in Crypt Entertainment by the way, and we both decided that we will be working toward crafting an alliance among all the supernaturals in the city. All the Old Factions. Angels and Demons and Werewolves and Witches and, of course, Vampires. This is the only way we can survive.”

This only earned a snicker from Cara Cull.

“Are you serious, Katie? Do you have any idea what the relationships are between the Old Factions? Angels and Demons, fighting side by side? You’re joking! And those Angels will never fight alongside creatures like us vampires! We have been trying to kill each other for thousands of years, long before the New Factions came into existence!”

“Well, for your sake, I truly hope you’re wrong.” Katie retaliated harshly. “Because if you are right and the Old Factions are still too busy killing each other in Los Angeles while doom is closing in on them, well...once the Angels are gone and the New Factions launch their final assault, your deaths will end in slaughters, not battles.”

Cara sighed and stood up. She slowly made her way to the window and looked outside. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the city of Los Angeles looked glorious below. Yet, Cara knew how many creatures of darkness lurked within the streets. How many monsters were walking under the sunlight.

“I don’t have a choice.” She said quietly.

“No you don’t.”

“But you do.” Cara suddenly turned around to Katie, a sense of confusion in her voice. “I get why Gadreel is in on this. The New Factions would never let him go. But...you are not a member of the Old Factions. Why are you fighting in a war on the side that is bound to lose?”

“Gadreel asked me the same question.” The brunette was a little impatient. “Why is it that important?”

“Well, if I am to join your alliance and fight beside you, then I want to know you can be trusted. There is nothing more dangerous than being stabbed in the back by a comrade.” Cara said slowly as she stared into Katie’s eyes. “So tell me, Katie...why are you fighting?”

Katie sighed. She really didn't want to answer this question, but she had no choice.

“The Dark Pantheon took someone from me, and that’s why I will kill every single man, woman, and child that serves the Dark Pantheon. And since the other New Factions and this Protector likely won’t sit back and allow that to happen, well…”

Cara raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“This person...you must love him really much.”

“Her.” Katie replied, but even as she said that, she couldn’t help but sigh. Did she love Caitlin? Of course. She killed countless for her, and when Caitlin died in her arms, she was petrified. She admired Caitlin’s strength and bravery and even compassion. Unlike Katie, Caitlin was a mere mortal, and she was placed in a sickening environment where even the toughest would break. Yet she held on to her morals until her last moment. She screamed and cried, yet she never broke. For that, Katie admired her with all her heart.

Yet, at the same time, Katie had to admit she felt a lot freer after Caitlin was dead. Now that she no longer had someone to worry about, she could truly enjoy her immortality. She killed whenever she felt like killing. She betrayed and backstabbed whenever she felt like it. She could piss off the mightiest enemy and not have to bat an eye because no one could truly hurt her.

She chose Gadreel as a friend, not necessarily because she loved or respected him, but because he was fun and was also really difficult to kill.

Honestly, if Katie was given a choice to have Caitlin back, it would be a true dilemma. After all, that would mean making herself vulnerable again. Weak again.

Pulling her thoughts back to the present, she turned back to Cara.

“So? What’s your decision?”

The last Cull shrugged. “Well, I am my father’s daughter. I suppose it’s only fair that I make him proud. In other words...consider me in.”

That brought a smile to Katie's face. Wow, just like that, their alliance had its first member. See? That wasn’t so difficult after all...

When Cara joined Katie’s cause, she brought with her the full support of the resources of the Cull family, as well as a fair share of desperately needed information regarding the vampires in Los Angeles that Gadreel simply didn't have.

Five minutes later, Katie found herself staring at a map of Los Angeles, projected on a screen. Cara was standing next to the screen with a stick.

“Ok, here’s the deal. There are two general groups of vampires in Los Angeles. Aside from some distant branches that prefer to stay away from society and may still be alive, the vampires in Los Angeles are the last of our kind. A rough approximation of our numbers is from 3,500 to 4,000. give or take a couple hundred.”

A few thousand sounded like a lot, but for a race of dark creatures that have been present for hundreds of years, well...that was just sad.

“The first faction is the local vampires. I am referring to vampires who resided in North America before the New Factions showed up.” Cara pointed at a few spots on the map. “My family is in this group. We are actually locals of Los Angeles...anyways, this group includes over 3,000 vampires, divided into dozens more sub-groups. The Cull family is one of the larger groups. We have around 300 vampires under our banner.”

“Most of these vampires retreated to Los Angeles after being under attack. Some sub-groups are down to a dozen members. My family was able to avoid the years of conflict and preserved most of our numbers.”

“The second faction is what we call the foreigners. They are vampires who fled here from Europe. As you know...maybe not...Europe is the birthplace of vampires. Back in the day, the vampires in Europe significantly outnumbered the vampires in North America. There were many families there with ancient names and proud descents. Well, most of their leaders, all of them Vampire Counts, disappeared overnight, and when the New Factions first popped up, these families didn't even come close to thinking of them as a threat.”

“Their overconfidence doomed most of them. While North America has New Factions like the Dark Pantheon, Europe apparently had its own evils. I heard about a group that goes by the name of the Light Templars. They’re even more aggressive than the Dark Pantheon. Within a few months of their creation, the Templars have wiped out most of the vampire resistance. Countless defenseless women and children were put to the sword simply because of their kind.”

“As of now, the only vampires from Europe that survived the onslaught are the ones that made their way here, to Los Angeles.”

Cara tapped her stick against her chin and said in disappointment.

“We certainly have the numbers to fight. I mean...thousands of vampires is nothing to snicker at, but keep in mind that most of the vampires in this city are refugees who fled their homes. They are either deserter who ran while their people fought and died, or they are those who have already been defeated once and barely made it out. Most of the best and most determined warriors in our race have given their lives in the last ten years. The survivors...their powers are sufficient, but their morale...it’s nearly non-existent.”

Katie tapped her chin. “Are you really telling me that all 4,000 of your people have had their spines broken? Not a single one of them wants to fight back against the invaders? To protect their families?” That was difficult for her to believe after watching Harrison’s sacrifice.

“Well, there are certainly those in our kind who want to make a last stand. A lot of them, in fact. But most of the elders who are actually in power…” Cara grimaced. “Their spirits are broken. They have given up already.”

“Hmmm...given up already, huh?” The brunette raised her eyebrows. “Any chance you have a list of their names and addresses?”

Cara raised her eyebrows in surprise, and Katie quickly explained herself.

“What? If they’re settled with dying sooner or later, then I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me choosing sooner for them. And maybe once they’re in the ground, perhaps their successors will be feeling more…adventurous.”