Annabelle, the Stryalin bearer of the witches, is seen in a room, sitting and anticipating someone's arrival. Suddenly, the door knob clicked, and Alek's voice was heard: "Good evening, Annabelle."
Annabelle anxiously replied, "Aleksander."
Alek said calmly, with a smirk, "I got your distress message from your pigeon."
Annabelle continued, "Silas put you on a wanted list, with the werewolves, witches, and vampires. I don't know much about the werewolves, but they aren't looking for you. However, the vampires are."
Aleksander curiously asked, "And why is that?"
Annabelle answered, "I can't answer that."
Aleksander replied, "That isn't much of a big deal."
Annabelle said, "The big deal is Rhenna's vision."
Alek asked, "What has the Eye of the Witches seen again?"
Annabelle replied, "Rhenna's visions aren't a plaything, you know that."
Alek said, "To hell with her visions, just tell me what it says."
Annabelle said, "The Count family is running thin. He who is closer than blood and subtle like water will come after you all."
Alek retorted, "How does that include me?"
Annabelle replied, "The Count family is your family."
Alek said, "Lest you forget, your witchy grandma Melwyn helped ages ago in performing the blood purge. The Society and my siblings used to drive me out of Louisiana."
Annabelle said, "Your family is going to die. It is what the vision holds as a strong point. For every supernatural creature that dwells in New Orleans, you and your siblings, as one, are the family everyone wants dead."
Alek bends and smiled. "Whoever wants me dead should come after me. And for the Count family, I want them dead."
Annabelle said, "Don't underestimate what people will do to kill you."
Annabelle stood to leave, saying, "Thank you, Aleksander. You might be a hideous creature, but you actually have some good in you. Thank you for not killing the Sanctuary Witches."
Alek said in a bold voice, "The benevolence of mine shouldn't be mistaken as a good act. Sun Tzu's Art of War says that, therefore, for those skilled in warfare, form an alliance to gain victory and avoid defeat." He smirked as he patted Annabelle's shoulder. "If your witches go astray, your cup I will fill with your blood, and your flesh I shall make into sausages."
Annabelle left as Alek vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, Caleb was going down an alley, busy smoking a cigarette, when three alley robbers stopped him. Their leader yelled, "Hey, fella, some cash!"
Caleb reached inside the pockets of his reefer coat and brought out a little bag of golden coins. He smiled and said, "You want this?"
Suddenly, it was as if Ethan was in his mind, speaking to him. "Caleb, come home. We have found Aleksander."
Caleb retorted, "I am coming. Let me get finished with my fun."
He gave the coins to the robbers, and one of them shot him immediately with a revolver. He closed his eyes, schooled his head, and said, "This could have been so simple."
His claws grew as he vanished and reappeared behind the robbers, holding three human hearts still pumping in his hands. The robbers fell to the ground, dead.
Suddenly, a voice was heard: "Hello, brother!"
Caleb's eyes glowed immediately as he saw a person standing at the end of a building a few meters from him. It was Aleksander.
Caleb said, "Aleksander."
Alek said, "Very well! Caleb, still maintaining your high estimated killing rate per year, ever ruthless as a feline."
Caleb asked, "Did you come to die again?"
Alek replied, "Wrong choice of words, brother. I can't die. It seems the whole world has forgotten I am the Primordial Hellese, or maybe I should call it Sigma Marked Vampire."
Caleb transformed into a full vampire, his ears becoming sharp-edged, his fangs like those of a Canis species, and his eyes yellow-golden. He emitted a red smoke aura as he jumped towards Alek, who vanished and reappeared behind him. Not giving him a little time to react, Alek sent a powerful kick that sent Caleb down to the ground.
Alek said, "I am not here to kill you, brother! I have all the time in the world to do that. Why is the Society putting a free excommunicado on me?"
Caleb asked, "You broke the rule. You killed innocent humans."
Alek replied, "Hmmm! Maybe you are wrong. If it's about the Blue Nile Bar, that would be my finest piece of art."
Caleb said, "You haven't changed."
Alek said, "Tell Ethan and Lisa, I am coming for them."
Alek vanished into thin air at high speed. Caleb stood and went in the opposite direction, later appearing in the Count's Mansion with blood flowing down his nose. Ethan approached him and said, "You encountered Alek."
Caleb replied, "Obviously. Who will be able to do this to me?"
Ethan asked, "Is he behind the killings?"
Caleb replied, "Apart from the Blue Nile case, he isn't involved in the remaining."
Ethan said, "Alek has always been the master of deception. Unless I can get his alibi, all I have towards him is a murderous intent."
Caleb said, "Bluffs. Even two of us can't hold up to his strength."
In the woods, the policemen had already surrounded Alek's abode. Lydia could see the activities from the uppermost room window. The officers blew the door open and began to search through the room. Lydia opened the window and climbed down, avoiding being seen by any of the officers. She ran carelessly with her bare feet on the roof, missed her strides, and fell to the ground as a sharp piece of wood pierced her leg.
She stood up and limped further into the woods. A K9 dog, specifically a German Shepherd, got the smell of her blood and immediately went after her. She immediately increased her pace, and with her injured leg unable to take it, she fell to the valley and hit her head on a tree branch. She began to bleed profusely.
Meanwhile, Lisa was drinking her whiskey right down in a club. When she suddenly saw a man who looked like the man she beat up on the quarters days ago, she said to herself, "Hmmm, a poor vampire coming to his own death."
She finished the whiskey bottle and immediately went out of the club. She began to walk carelessly as the stalker vampire came out and walked towards her. She suddenly vanished into the air, leaving the stalker confused. She reappeared behind him and grabbed him by the neck, throwing him like he had no weight towards the club. Sounds of shattering glass were heard as the stalker's body fell into the club.
She came inside and immediately plucked out his heart. She began to drag his dead body across the street until she got to the Society's grounds. She dropped the corpse right on Silas's table and said, "You should educate your own well, never to go after their ancestors."
Silas yelled, "Clarissa!"
Lisa said, "Have some respect, Silas," as her eyes were glowing, and claws were already drawn out.
She walked away. Silas grinned as Marie said, "The Count family should be taken care of."
Silas said, "The Society only has two rules: respect the lives of innocent humans and don't kill a vampire that belongs to the Society. The Counts broke these rules."
A vampire answered, "They should pay with their lives."
Silas said, "No one wants them dead more than I do. Whatever you are, primordials, this is my New Orleans, no one takes it away from me. Today, Clarissa D'Maria Count declared war against the Society, and they will have to pay with their lives."
The whole crowd of vampires cheered, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
As the night faded into darkness, Alek was seen walking down the woods as the night sun kissed the earth. He was caught up by the smell of human blood and immediately went in the direction where he followed a trail of blood to a little valley where he saw someone lying helplessly. He saw that it was Lydia.
He said to himself, "Humans don't value their lives."
He slashed his head and poured his blood on her injury, healing her wounds. He carried her back to the house and laid her on the couch, covering her with a blanket.
She woke up hours later and saw that she wasn't wearing her gown anymore. She felt no pain and could see the devil sitting and playing a game of chess with himself.
She said, "Thank you, Aleksander."
Alek said, "You're awake. You should learn to be quiet if you want to start lecturing. You should apply for the job. I can kill you at any time, but I would have to do a lot of cleaning again."
In her mind, she said, "What an excuse."
She sighed and continued, "Thank you, oh Mr. Vampire, my gratitude."
Alek said, "I thought you would be dead by morning when the policemen came in with their baptism of fire. You are actually a survivor to have escaped death thrice."
Lydia said, "Yes, we all are."
Alek said, "No, not all are."
Lydia asked, "Do you have a family?"
Alek replied, "No, I don't have."
Lydia said, "For a starter, I think I am beginning to grow accustomed to your coldness and insensitivity. It's kinda chilling."
Alek said, "You actually love to die."
His mind was fixated on Rhenna's visions as he didn't know when he asked, "Is there any way to escape fate?"
Lydia replied, "The way you take to escape your fate is a shortcut back to the fate."
Alek smiled and went inside.
Meanwhile, New Orleans' St. Patrick Catholic Church was celebrating a vigil mass. It was actually to celebrate the patron saint of the church, St. Patrick, known to be a significant saint in Ireland. The church celebrated a vigil mass because the next day, 17 March, was his day.
As the mass was proceeding to its end, a teenager who wore a hoodie came out to ease himself at the back of the church.
At a very dark garage, a hooded man was seen using a kind of class to tear open a woman's skin while she was busy whimpering in pain.
The boy heard strange noises coming from the garage as he went to peep. He saw the man killing the woman. Suddenly, his eyes glowed golden, and hair grew from his body. Claws appeared, and he looked more like a human wolf. He looked nothing close to neither the vampires of the Society nor the Counts.
He dashed towards the man, who noticed immediately and picked a dagger, which he used to stab the boy wolf. The boy also sent his fangs straight into the man's arm, but the man had already stabbed him numerous times, which made him transform back into a human. Then, the man slit the boy's throat.
He covered the boy's wound and began to speak in the Old Tongue, which made the wound heal. He moved towards the woman, who he had already killed, and said to himself, "Just four more. I just need four more."
He used the claws to slash her neck, chest, wrists, ankles, and forehead. He disappeared into thin air.
The mass was already over, and the members of the church began to come to the sacristy to see the priest when they saw the boy's corpse. They gathered around as a man with long black hair came and touched him and said something in the Old Tongue. A mark on his arm disappeared.
The man carried the boy's corpse to a hill in the church compound and buried him. He stood as his eyes gave a bright red glow, and hair grew from his body. He howled to the moon as other members of the church transformed into the same thing but with different colors of eyes. Some had golden eyes, and a few of them had bright blue eyes.
They all joined after the alpha to howl at the moon as a cry of sorrow for the deceased.