Ok, before you guys tear me to pieces please hear me out. As most of you already know, I worm got into my computer and destroyed all of my work. And I mean all of it. Stories that I wrote since sixth grade, including one over two hundred pages long, are gone and thanks t my idiotic brother, the floppy disks I stored them on were thrown away.

For example, I had ten full chapters written and edited for Ambassadors. I now have none. I had about five written and edited for Monsters, including my plot lines and notes. I have none of those now. It's taken this long for me to piece together even the smallest remnants of my work hence the biggest hiatus I've ever been on.

Also, this was my first semester of college and HOLY CRAP I've never had so much work in my life. Take an introductory psych course and you'll get a taste of it. I used to read on average two books (of at least 300 pages each) per week. Since college I've found time, if I'm lucky, to read one every two weeks. In addition, I'm sure some of you can understand this; I'm a very private writer. I used to lock myself in my room for hours and just type and was very irritable when interrupted. Now, I love my roommate but it is really hard for me to find the time to write freely with no interruption.

So after a relaxing break I was just sitting here tonight, well, this morning being it's 2 am here and I got a little itch I haven't felt in months. So I sat down and typed the following chapter. I really hope it's up to scratch and I do apologize for neglecting my work for so long.

As usual, I'd like to thank Master of the Boot, Raptor Chick, ben revell, Dark vengeance, Lord CrutchCricket, Ronnie R15, lamyka, starspawn07, and AyameKitsune for their reviews and a special thanks goes to those who actually messaged me damn near begging me to continue. I really owe all of you guys for putting my ass back into gear and having me decide not to abandon my characters. So, enjoy and please review!

Chapter 10: Declaration

"They did it! For once the French are somewhat useful!" Ivy shouted, bursting into Ravyn's office a wide grin plastered on her face.

"Hmm?" Ravyn stretched in her chair; its leg had been duct-taped back into place and gave a low creak, "What about the French?"

"They found Eve!" Ivy cawed, chucking a stapled packet of papers at Ravyn, who barely managed to catch them before they smacked her in the face, "She's been holed up in Paris for the past few weeks. They even managed to get a correspondence with her…" Ivy trialed off and snatched the papers out of Ravyn's hands, flipping to the right page, "Here it is… she said she'd be willing to meet with one of our delegates in three days; further preparations will be apparently sent to the Morning guild in Paris…" Ivy paused and glanced at Ravyn, "She only had one request."

Ravyn took the papers back gingerly and raised a brow, "Really? What'd she want?"

"We have to meet her there… in Paris."

"What!? You're telling me that she couldn't teleport her lazy ass over here? We have to cross the freakin' Atlantic to talk to her?"

Ivy shrugged, "At least she agreed to see us period…"

Ravyn hoisted herself out of her chair, "Well, if that's the case, you'd better start packing your bags."

"Right… wait, what?" Ivy twitched and looked at Ravyn.

"You're the best candidate for the job. You've taken lessons in French…"

"Three years ago…"

"I can't go because I've got some lycans to fight…"

"But Jonathan…"

"And Jonathan can't go because they'll probably kill him on sight."

Ivy gave Ravyn a strange look, "Who? The vampires?"

"No, the guild," Ravyn chuckled, "You see, they didn't part on good terms last time they met; Jonathan lost his temper and called the French leader, oh, what was it?, a 'cheese-eating-surrender-monkey'."

Ivy smiled, "That was… unique."

Ravyn returned the smile, "I'll give him props for creativity, but unfortunately for you, that also means that you're going to France."

A knock interrupted Ivy's response. Ivy pulled the door open revealing a young hunter that stood in the doorway, a Cd in his hand, "This was found in the mail addressed to you and Jonathan."

Ravyn took the disk from him, "Return address?"

"None."

A look of realization crossed Ravyn's face, soon followed by a rather suspicious one, "Do you know where Nathan is?"

The hunter raised a confused brow, "I believe he is asleep in his room."

"Could you get him for me? You're dismissed after that." The hunter nodded and left.

"Why do you want to see Nathan?" Ivy glanced at the disk. Ravyn didn't answer, but stood silent, tapping her foot.

A few minutes later a disheveled, sleepy Nathan staggered through the doorway, a blue fleece blanket pulled tight around his shoulders, "Whatdya want?"

"Did you send me this?" Ravyn held up the disk.

"What?"

"Did you send me this?" Ravyn waved the disk in front of his face.

Nathan stared at the disk, then grinned, "No…"

"For your sake I, I hope so," Ravyn growled, walking over to her TV and slipping the disk into the DVD player.

"Come on, can't you take a joke? It was April Fool's Day!" Nathan leaned again the doorframe, with a sleepy smile.

Ravyn shot him a venomous look, "There is nothing funny about sending me a porno in the mail!" At Ivy's snort of laughter, Ravyn snapped "Shut up! Don't encourage him. Pain in my ass…"

Ivy and Nathan's laughter died quickly as the DVD began to play and a vampire appeared on the screen. He was surprisingly old looking, perhaps in his late thirties when he was turned. His hair was a silvery grey and his face was well lined. Thin lips held a small smile and onyx and sliver eyes stared menacingly out of the TV. He was dressed in emerald green attire that would have been better suited to a sixteeth century English gentleman.

"Nathan, get Jonathan, now!" Ravyn snapped. Nathan bdropped his blanket and darted out of the room, all remnants of sleep gone from his mind, chased away by terror.

"Greetings hunters," the vampire spoke, his voice barely a whisper, but it resonated like a strong wind through an ancient deserted temple, "You undoubtedly knew of my impending arrival; if not, well," he chuckled, "you don't really deserve to call yourselves hunters now do you? I have given you ample time to flee my city yet you have obviously ignored such a generous offer. So, let us be civilized gentlemen and you may consider this my declaration of war. I look forward to our meeting on the field of battle." Sebastian bared his fangs in a grin and the camera shut off in a hiss of static.

"What now?" Ivy asked after a few moments of silence.

"We get our hunters back to the guild," Jonathan answered from the door. His face was emotionless and tight, "And we alert the other guilds as well."

"How much did you see?" Ravyn asked.

"Enough. You contact the other guilds, I'm taking a group out to get our hunters…" Jonathan hesitated, "Or retrieve what's left of them."

Jaelre gestured silently to his group to move forward. They were moving through the heart of the vampires' territory. The last thing they needed was to be outnumbered by the bloodsuckers.

Far'hnde had split their group up. Tarn'se had taken six hunters and he had taken five while Far'hnde had set off alone. The Arbitrator had seemed rather agitated of late, snapping at all of the hunters, even Tarn'se. Jaelre had no idea what was bothering the old warrior, but it wasn't making Jaelre like Far'hnde anymore than he already did.

Their ship has managed to lock onto a faint signal that could have been from the presence of another yautja ship. Far'hnde had headed in that direction and had sent Jaelre and Tarn'se's groups to the left and right of that position. It seemed a bit foolhardy to approach a Bad Blood, especially a female one, alone, but than again most Arbitrators did hunt their quarry alone. Maybe Far'hnde wanted the entire honor for himself. Either way, Jaelre was just glad to get away from the cranky Arbitrator.

One of the warriors in the front of their group stopped suddenly, the rest of the group halting quickly. Jaelre tensed. Though he was ready to fight, he really didn't want to battle a Bad Blood female. Bad Bloods warped by their own insanity were frightening beings both through their actions and the fact almost any yautja could become one. Plus, their lack of honor made them dangerously unpredictable. They could ambush a group or lead a warrior into a trap and they were notorious for fighting dirty.

As Jaelre approached the front of the group silently, he shuddered at the memory of the execution of a Bad Blood he had witnessed as a young blood. The warrior, suffering a brain injury from a hunt gone wrong and returned to the homeworld seemingly well until the warrior had massacred his mate and four of his fellows. The warrior had fled the Arbitrators and even managed to kill one, before some of his insanity returned and he begged the arbitrator to kill him. He had been captured and taken back for trial and execution. The worst part about the whole situation was the execution in which the warrior alternated between hysterical psychotic laughter and screaming for the Arbitrators to kill him.

Jaelre shuddered inwardly; that memory in particular had unnerved him for a long time…

He snapped out of his memories as the lead warrior pointed a claw. Jaelre's mask adjusted and he spotted numerous humans, hunters, patrolling a line of buildings and alleyways. They moved as one group, using hand signals and other unseen, silent devices to communicate.

After a quick scan, Jaelre determined that the human female, Ravyn, was not amongst the group. Though he had no clue as to what infatuation Tarn'se had with that human female that made his friend trust her so, Jaelre could only guess that it would lead Tarn'se into further trouble than he was already in. Human were like that; their unpredictable nature led to nothing but destruction. It was a wonder their species endured this long.

He gestured for his group to move around the human's guard when there was a loud cry… a human one.

Human weaponry began to discharge and a melody of shouts and screams filled the air. After a few moments Jaelre saw the cooler heat signatures of vampires darting about the humans. After a few moments, it was oblivious that the vampires had the advantage of numbers and the humans began to abandon their posts in a full retreat.

A howl rose in the air and Jaelre spun to see a large group of the creatures known as lycans charging the humans from behind. The humans, now facing two foes, each with very different weaknesses, were losing badly.

The vampires quickly took control of the tops of the buildings using their teleportation abilities to transport them there. Those humans still alive fled the rooftops and took to the streets. Most joined into a central group, forming a defensive circle so that their backs were protected. Vampire or lycan quickly overtook the few hunters that attempted to flee on their own.

Within a few moments the main group of two-dozen or so humans were whittled down to a lone five, of which two looked severely injured while the others sported only minor wounds. They were surrounded by a writhing mass of vampires and lycans, but something seemed to whole the group back from lunging and ripping the surviving quintet to pieces.

The wall of monsters parted slightly in a narrow way and a lone figure could be seen approaching the group. Jaelre zoomed his mask in to survey the figure and was shocked to see a brightly glowing heat signature, though not as bright as the glow of a lycan. It was definitely a male human. He wore a strange motley of clothing over its' tiny frame that spoke of the neither vampire nor lycan style and as far as Jaelre's mask could tell, the human was completely unarmed.

Jaelre couldn't quite hear what the human said to the hunters, but it was obvious that it wasn't to the hunters' tastes, being the biggest male spit in the human's face.

Jaelre wasn't quite sure what happened next, but the male hunter seemed to lift off of his feet, hovering in the air. Then, a sickening tearing and cracking noise echoed through the air and the hunter's chest exploded in a gout of blood. The hunter hung in the air for a moment before dropping to the ground, a corpse.

The other hunters cried their distress at the fall of their comrade. The human gave a chillingly high-pitched laugh and turned away, the apparent signal for the lycans and vampires to cease their standstill. The hunters disappeared in a flash, only their screams of agony signally that they still lived, though for not much longer.

Silence hung in the group of the yautja though Jaelre quickly snapped at the group, "Unless you want to end up like them, get moving! Circle around." The group quickly moved out, the warriors knowing when they were outmatched. They were prepared for hunting a Bad Blood, not fighting a horde of vampires and lycans!

However, Jaelre sent up a silent thought to Cetanu; the humans had died a terrible, yet honorable death. At the very least, they deserved peace.