This Is War

The sound of long fingernails taping on a wooden desk was the only sound that could be heard in the room. Irritation ran through the body of Christa Vega as she sat behind the desk. Her posture was tense and her body language gave off ‘fuck off’. Her emerald green eyes kept their focus on the digital clock hanging on the wall before her. Her ebony hair tied back into an elegant bun was accompanied by a rose pinned next to it. Christa, as elegant as she looked, had so many secrets that hid behind those emerald hues.

There was to be a full moon tonight. The moon would rise in a matter of hours until the monsters she fought so hard to keep out of her town would push their way through again. Revenge never ends well for those four legged beasts. As hard as they try to get the advantage on the vampires, they never could best them. It was all a revenge game. And Christa knew very well how revenge ended. She dealt with it the last full moon. Now, she needed a plan to decrease their numbers and increase her own.

With the previous moon, Christa had the officials in town move the werewolves past the state line. When a town is completely influenced by the vampires that run it, things always go the way Christa wants it to go. Of course the dogs were pissed at Christa. Unfortunately, things went in favor of the wolves that moon.

Christa had just come back from a meeting with the town officials about the course of action they were taking with the wolves, among other things. The meeting had gone without a hitch. But the moment she stepped foot into her home, rage filled her. There were bodies tossed around the room. Blood splatters were found everywhere. Her fledglings were the targets. There had been a few wolf bodies that lingered on the floors of her home. Twenty of the fledglings she handpicked were torn to pieces. The anger that filled Christa left many of those that were close to her back away to a safe distance.

That was the night she took the lover of one of the wolves. A young woman with very light blonde hair and blue eyes. With a little persuasion, Christa was able to get information from her as well as a snack. As to everyone else's surprise, Christa kept the girl alive. Christa was known for not keeping informants. She only ever got what she wanted from them and killed them the instant she got it. But from this girl, Christa felt the need to keep her around longer. She was going to be the key to getting everything Christa wanted.

A knock at the door had disturbed her thoughts. Christa stared at the door hoping whoever it was would go away. Unfortunately they didn't. A second knock was heard. A groan passed Christa’s lips as she stood from her chair. Before the person could knock again, Christa had the door hanging open with a glare on her face that spoke volumes. Staring at the blonde in front of her, a smirk grew on Christa's face. The girl dropped her hand to her side and looked down at the floor. It made Christa chuckle at the sight.

"What news do you have for me, Danielle?" Christa asked still standing in the door way.

Danielle looked around for any of the other vampires that could be lingering in the halls. She was scared. She should be, though. If a vampire persuades you to come to her every time you have any piece of information about the wolf clan, you have no way out of it. She still felt guilty that she was giving these secrets to the enemies and couldn't say a damn thing to her loved ones. It left Danielle shaking in her bones and scared for her life.

With a roll of her eyes, Christa moved aside and let her in. "Have a seat and spill whatever it is that you know."

Danielle did as she was told and sat in the chair in front of the desk Christa had been sitting at moments ago. She never looked at Christa though. The fear of being persuaded again scared her. That feeling of having your will taken from you and cursed to do as a vampire said, it made Danielle very cautious of where she let her eyes wander. Looking into Christa’s eyes could end her own life if it came down to it.

"Danielle, don't try my patience. It won’t last long." Christa's words were a warning and Danielle knew it. The last time she didn't give the information Christa wanted, she became a snack and lost plenty of blood. She gulped before nodding.

"They plan to attack the moment everyone has turned." Danielle's voice came out as a whisper.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Christa, who still had her smirk plastered on her face, knew very well what she had said. "Could you speak up louder, I am an old woman. My hearing is a bit off these days." Sure Christa was old, but you wouldn't be able to see that just from looking at her. When Danielle didn't say anything afterwards, Christa growled and had Danielle up from her chair and staring straight into Danielle’s eyes. "Now tell me everything and don’t leave a single thing out."

It was as if Danielle couldn't stop the words from coming out of her mouth. They came so easily even though she fought so hard to keep them from coming out. "They plan to take you on tonight. They take no prisoners."

"Where will they be coming from?" Christa moved her sight from the girl’s eyes. Yet the moment she did, there was silence once more. With an irritated sigh, she placed her hand around Danielle's neck, squeezing a bit. Daniel squirmed under her hold. Her hands going to Christa's arms trying to pull away for a chance to breathe. "You are pushing your luck Danielle. If I have to keep persuading you to tell me, it will not end well." Christa relaxed her hold but never moved her hand from the blonde's neck.

"From the camp grounds a mile away! Anyone that is in their way to get to you will be killed. May it be a bite or even death, they want this all to end tonight." Danielle didn’t need to second guess her words, her life was on the line now.

Satisfied that Danielle had said everything she knew, Christa let her go. "To bad it won’t end tonight." She patted Danielle's shoulder. "Now tell me the news of our new recruit. And don't make me force it out of you."

Danielle swallowed before speaking. "Jason is... difficult." She said having a hard time finding the right words to say about the recruit.

"Explain difficult." Christa sat down in her chair and propped her legs on her desk.

"His concern has been this girl he was been with for some time. She was released last night. He was so close to accepting your deal, but won’t do it because of her. It took a lot of convincing to keep him from going out there to get her." Christa laughed. Her laugh was dark and malicious. It sent a chill down Danielle's back and she lowered her head. Her eyes went straight to her hands, not sure if she should stay silent or continue.

"Make sure Vince knows to double the offer for Jason." Christa said watching the girl. "We need him on our side. We don't want him running to the next county and stirring trouble for us. And Danielle," She waited until the girl looked up at her. "I know you have your own ways of getting him to forget about this girl and to take the deal. I can tell you have an interest in him." Danielle's mouth opened to protest that she didn't want to do anything with Jason, but Christa stopped her. "I demand an update in two weeks. If it is not done, I'm sure my brother will have some use for you."

Danielle's eyes widened. Christa may be the head vampire and made the rules, but her brother, Carlos, never made things easy. If she didn't do what Christa said, she knew her life would end the moment Christa handed her to Carlos. She knew Carlos was worse. She remembered meeting him the first night Christa brought her to the house. His eyes were hungry for her blood. The way he stared at her neck it made her want to shrink into a ball. Maybe that was one of the reasons she would always do what Christa asked. She valued her life too much.

With a wave of her hand, Christa said nothing else. Taking the que to leave, Danielle got up and made her way for the door. Tears had collected in her eyes and had threatened to spill over. Christa had caught the whole thing. Her smile played on her lips so easily. The fact that she could have anyone do her dirty work unwillingly, it brought a smile to her face at any point and time. The joys of being the queen of an empire.

Minutes after Danielle had left, Christa decided to pay her brother a visit. She needed to inform him on the plans for the night. Standing, she let her senses take over and her sense of hearing played its part. She wanted to know where Carlos was in the Mansion, and sure enough she found him easily. The sound of his voice was close by. It only meant he was in his room. But he wasn’t the only voice she heard. Of course he had company.

Carlos was a man that had his needs for everything. He needed sex just as much as he needed blood and Christa knew that very well. And there was no doubt that Carlos and his companion were currently in the middle of things. The moans were proof of that. She head that from the moment she left her office. The girls moaning was quite obnoxious. How could he stand to hear it himself being that close to her? Rolling her eyes, she opened his door, not giving a damn what she was walking into. They had important matters to discuss. She wasn't going to wait for them to finish.

The moment the door opened, the girl had gasped in shock and moved to hide under the covers. Her brother on the other hand didn't bother to hide himself. He knew his sister was coming for a visit and didn't bother to tell his lover.

The girl shocked looked back and forth between Christa and Carlos. "I-is that your w-wife?" Christa could sense the fear in her words and it only made her laugh.

"Worse." Carlos stated as he grabbed his robe from the chair and putting it on. "She's my sister." The girl's cheeks flushed bright red as she dug deeper into the bed.

Christa took a step towards the girl and caught her eyes. "Leave." Christa said with persuasion thick in her words. The girl nodded and practically jumped out of the bed, threw on her clothes and left.

"Oh come on Chris, was that really necessary?" Carlos complained as he sat down in a chair by his bed.

"It is when we need to discuss some hunting plans." She said placing her hands on her hips.

"What are we hun- It’s the full moon tonight, isn't it?" Something in his face changed and worry grew on his face. He began looking around for his clothes.

"Relax, brother." She said catching his attention.

"How can I relax when the moon is going to be rising soon?! We have to go and put up defenses and we don't have enough Fledglings for it!" His voice raised as he moved around the room looking for his thrown clothing. Working himself up with worry, he stopped looking and walked over to his closet getting fresh clothes.

Christa rolled her eyes. "Carlos, if you would give me a second to inform you, you wouldn't look like a chicken running around with its head cut off."

Carlos stopped in his tracks and turned to his sister. "And what do you have to inform me about."

Christa closed the space between them and patted his should. "That your baby sister knows where the attack will be coming from and all you have to do is take who we have and surprise them." She gave a comforting smile to her brother. Christa may be the head vampire, but when it came to her brother, she was that little sister he cared so much for. She only ever used her title against him when she absolutely needed to. This was not one of those times. "We need to decrease their numbers. That is all we have to do. Have the older ones take out as many as they can. We lost twenty last month. I don't want to hear we lost more."

A sigh passed Carlos' lips as he ran a hand through his ebony hair. "Christa, Balthazar wouldn't want this."

Rage filled Christa at the mention of Balthazar. "He didn't get a chance to say what he wanted!" Her emerald eyes began to take on a red hint. "He was slaughtered remember? By those beasts! You can’t expect me to just sit around and let them kill every last one of us!" By the time the last words left her mouth, her eyes had changed from the emerald she was known for, to that of crimson.

Knowing how his sister reacted towards the name, he wrapped his arms around her. "Relax. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring him up." He felt Christa push against his hold, but he held on tighter. Christa maybe younger than him, but they have been immortal the same amount of time. They shared their strengths as well as weaknesses. But whenever Christa's eyes changed the way they did, Carlos had to calm her down before she went on a killing spree as she had done several years ago.

Finally breaking from his hold, Christa took a step back. Her eyes back to normal, she thanked him with a nod. "Be out there before the moon rises all the way. Hit them the moment they reach the camp grounds. Not a moment later and not a second sooner."

He nodded. "We will be there and will be ready."

Satisfied, Christa turned to leave. Just before she stepped out of the room, she turned back to look at him. "Turn no one, Carlos. We will beginning that on a later date." Before he could even reply, she stepped out of the room and headed back to her office.