A few months into her new project with the werewolves and Calla was beginning to get more than a little ticked off. Like the vampires, the wolves acted too human. Calla had tested the water in meetings she'd had with Zaros and others under his command, hinting at certain acts she'd committed but playing it off as someone else's doing. And the wolves' disgust about her actions were evident. Why could so few understand the appeal of blood farming children?

'Is it because everyone was once a human and they somehow think children are 'innocent'?' She raked a hand through her hair and looked over the city, perched on a high ledge. 'It's not just the Swarmers, the other three ruling clans act the same.' When Calla had compared a human child to lamb, she truly meant it. They were just meat to her. Sentient meat that could thrill her with their fear, but still just meat.

Another thing that was winding Calla up was having no way to sate the extreme lust she felt as a vampire. Everyone looked unappealing and she knew she shouldn't touch herself, the time wasn't right. In an odd way, she'd told herself that she wasn't hers to touch, which made no sense, but something was stopping her. She just chalked it up to another oddity about her vampiric life.

The only upside she'd had in the previous few months was snagging a rogue Childe vampire and gorging herself upon them. She'd felt that once familiar flow of strength work its way into her body. Calla took a large step towards becoming a Blood-letter that day, the tiny iconic flicker of her original eye colour appearing before fading away. She hoped with this plan to bring the weres against the Swarmers she'd be able to feed upon Leena, Xavier and Turlin. If all went right she could off Zaros as well before fleeing with the rank of Blood-letter.

Calla's days fell into a repetitive state. By night she had the Swarmers under surveillance and gathered all she could to send to the wolves, who were now more than convinced of her genuineness. By daytime she fought kept newborns in her apartment. She'd began to mix it up recently, fighting two against one or with one arm tied behind her back. Sometimes she felt the thrill of danger during the encounters and it forced her mind to come up with new and creative ways to win.

The Celina and Dacus were in the middle of a small feud so they were buffering their ranks, which meant more there was more than enough newborns for Calla to take one or two a week. She did feel a pang of regret when she imagined she could be doing her training with the Childe she'd captured. But at the time she was in dire need of a power fix and allowed herself to let go when she smelt the strength of its blood. Calla's actions hadn't gone completely unnoticed however.

"We're meeting here today to discuss an issue that we've only just caught wind of." Roger Dacus, the Blood-letter stood at the head of the table where he'd called a meeting of the clans. His brown locks and deep red eyes, with an amber rim, were not his most recognisable features. Rather it was the scarred number '97' that had been carved into his cheek, an old wound not repairable by vampirism. The Swarmers hadn't shown up to this meeting but the Dacus, Celina and Kali were in attendance, despite on going hostilities.

"Swarmers didn't show again I see." Ashe Celina said with a mocking smirk. She had a full figure and enviously silky red curls that reached her waist. Also a Blood-letter, her eyes were still pure red. It stood out as eye colours of vampires changed, re-merging with their original colour as they ranked up. If an Elder was born with blue eyes, then they'd have purple eyes when they attained their rank. That Ashe's eyes stayed red meant she had them as a human, and she'd be one of the few vampires to have them forever after.

The other person sat at the table chose to stay silent. Falir Kali was a man of middle-eastern descent and kept himself clean shaven and his black hair short. His eyes were rimmed with a ring of black. He kept a rigid posture as he watched his fellow Blood-letters get on with the discussion.

"Yes, well...they've never been ones to show respect." Roger said with annoyance.

"Even I've attended this stupid meeting, despite your clan's petty feud." Ashe responded with a laugh.

"Why don't I end you now so I can be done with it?" he stood to square off against her and she rose to meet him. They each stared each other down, hands twitching and waiting to strike.

"You two still haven't slept with each other?" Falir said with mirth only to be met with a couple of glares. He raised his hands in false surrender. "Hey, I'm just saying. The sexual tension between you two has been unbearable. For years you both make this song and dance about killing each other and never do. So either jump each other's bones or get back to the meeting."

Ashe and Roger both looked away from one another and sat down again reluctantly, whilst a smirk spread across Falir's face. He'd been trying to get the pair together for many years.

"Anyway," Roger said clearing his throat. "One of mine has gone through the data on vampires over the last few years and we've found a marked increase in disappearances."

"Oh?" Ashe relaxed and now looked interested.

"We investigated and the increase started about six years ago, along with the fall of Benedict Farrow."

"The jumpy little upstart in Swarmer land?" Falir asked.

"The very same. Since he was killed, vampires have begun to disappear at an increasing rate. In the decade before he died there were about thirty vampire disappearances that cannot be accounted for. In the previous six there has been eighty."

"So..." Ashe started with a now concerned look. "Do we know what's causing it?"

"No." Roger shook his head towards the other two before resting his face in his hands. "I think the Swarmers are responsible though."

"Why?" Falir demanded, it was a bold accusation for a clan leader to make.

"From our investigations, the ones who went missing have all regularly straddled the Swarmer boundary. I've raised the issue with Xavier in the past couple of weeks but he says all his affiliated are accounted for so it's not his problem."

"Bastard." Ashe said with a venomous tone.

"I've looked through my membership and since our feud began we have lost a lot more vampires than is typical in such a small battle. About thirty of the newborns my clan has had in the previous six years have vanished, we can guess that a third of the figures are natural due to disagreements etcetera, but that would mean twenty of my own have been disposed of." Roger added grimly. Falir and Ashe made a note to check about who was missing and could not be accounted for.

"If what you're saying is true..." Falir offered. "And the Swarmers are unaffected, then they are likely to be involved or at least allowing whoever it is to act unhindered. Losing newborns may not affect our clans much now, but ten and twenty years in the future? It's a devastating loss of potential and battle power and the Swarmers must know this. If this continues on for another four or even three years, then we'll find ourselves substantially weakened."

"And then Xavier will be able to enact his clan's will on us." Ashe spoke darkly. The three thought on Ashe's final words for a few moments before nodding grimly towards one another.

"I'll need to speak with Bala, but if the pair of you want to go down that route, we will be behind you." Falir spoke at last.

"We'll truce for now Roger. We should start skirmishing the border and seeking information." Ashe said.

"Agreed." Roger replied with a grin toward Ashe. "Whatever is cutting into our ranks is on Swarmer land, and if they won't help us then they are complicit. I'll say now though, if we're going to war with them then we do it to the end."

"Yes." Falir nodded. He really did dislike the rudeness the Swarmers had shown him on more than once occasion. "I know Bala has some unresolved disputes with them, not that I'm privy, and has been itching to be rid of them for years. They don't keep the city safe enough either, of the past eight werewolf infiltrations, five occurred in their territory and they tried to cover up two of those."

"Perhaps we should toast our new alliance with a glass of female?" Roger said as he went to the cupboard and pulled out three glasses and a beaker of blood. He poured it evenly between the three and offered them up to Ashe and Falir. They clinked their glasses together and took a deep breath of the blood.

"Mmm." Ashe hummed. "Virgin, fourteen, black." She licked her lips before taking a sip. "Oh my. This blood is so....alive." Roger smiled at her as he began to sip at his own.

"Roger, where did you get this?" Falir asked.

"I ordered it from an adorable little blood farmer in Swarmer land. She's unaffiliated of course, and knows to have me at the top of her list for new products. I hear the taste is so good because she treats her cattle well, televisions, bathrooms and all that."

"I'll have to get myself some of that." Ashe murmured towards her glass before swinging her head towards Roger. "You have her number?"

"Of course. Her operations are limited so you may have to wait some weeks for your fancy though."

"Keep supply low and demand high." Falir smiled into his glass as he finished it off. "Give me her number as well and the next meeting will be my treat."

Despite that they came from opposing factions, they had all known each other for years. They were sort-of-friends and Ashe and Roger a sort-of-couple. And they spent a few more hours debating blood and the oddity of the small blood farmer who treated her stock well.

Calla knew she was stirring up a storm in Sostine, she just didn't know how large it was going to be, or how soon it would come. Her actions had inadvertently changed the playing field and death was sure to come in droves. But for her, ignorant of these new happenings and how rapidly the city was to change, she was just content to receive two bulk orders from Ashe Celina and Falir Kali.