"I think it's gross."
"It's completely gross!"
"How did he do it, anyway? How did he create these things?"
Two average-looking women crossed their arms at the same time and looked down a shallow hill at a scene no one had ever laid eyes on before.
Three men were coming up the hill, one shaking his head.
"They are real. I don't know how they managed to do it, but it's definitely real."
"We should go," another one of the men commented. "It'll be dawn soon."
Without a sound, the five vampires vanished, leaving the sight.
In a different country, a similar scene was taking place. A group of Arturrian vampires discovered a horrific scene in the middle of the day. None of them could speak of what they saw.
Apparently Arturro had gained quite a following when he called for a war against all third-generation vampires. Many second-generation vampires were taking matters into their own hands and one group was certainly making a statement. Known as the Death Dealers, they once belonged to one of the most powerful covens in the world, headed by the recently deceased vampire elder Viktor. Their numbers dwindled after Marcus personally decimated the coven once finding out Viktor was planning on overthrowing him.
After Marcus's retaliation, the Death Dealers were shunned. It was believed that someone was leading them once more to hunt Arturrian vampires. They were leaving very distinct messages to all supernatural life. The scenes the vampires had witnessed were only two of the many messages that were appearing all over the world.
The Death Dealers would ambush a coven of Arturrians, dismember their bodies and put the heads on stakes near other covens. No one could figure out how they got the heads to stay on the stakes.
Because Marcus had been so preoccupied with William, he hadn't been paying attention to what his descendants had been plotting, which led to the Death Dealers rising to power once more. Arturrians were hiding in fear, while second-generation vampires were either joining the fight or staying clear of the war entirely.
In northern Italy, the sun had finally set and the evening was warm. Oro was playing with her white hair, not paying much attention to what Arturro was doing until his phone rang.
She looked over at him. They were standing outside on the bank of a river. Oro could easily hear the voice on the other end and involuntarily shuddered when she realized it was Hannah Malkin, one of the witches. Oro hoped this call was the last they were going to hear from the witches. They had held to their end of the deal and helped the werewolves find the Cullens in the United States. Arturro said a few words and snapped the phone shut.
"What is it?"
Arturro rolled his eyes as he turned to face her.
"Well," he sighed, "Aro is making his move about fifty miles from here. Hannah tells me he has an army of Third Generation vampires at his disposal."
"Will Edward and Bella be there?" Oro asked anxiously.
"She didn't say," Arturro said. He tossed the phone to her. "You can call Marcus."
Marcus had left them two days before to prepare William for travel from a location that not even Arturro knew.
Oro lifted her face from the neck of a handsome Italian man. She dabbed some of her own blood into the teeth marks in his neck to heal the wounds and then stood. The man looked up at her groggily with a drunken smile and she gave him a half-smile in return.
On the opposite side of the nightclub, Arturro was finishing with an overweight stripper who found the entire experience hilarious. Oro watched him as he pushed the woman away with a disgusted look on his face and stood up. She met him at the far wall.
Arturro didn't say anything for a moment but the second Oro heard the door open behind them, she realized what was making Arturro upset.
Three women and two men entered the club. One of the men spotted Arturro immediately and cut through the throngs of people.
"Hello, Arturro."
Arturro didn't turn to face the man but said, "Harnock. What are you doing here?"
The others made their way over and Oro recognized one of the women.
If Oro had hackles, they would have been raised as she stared down the woman in front of her. Since they had met nearly two hundred years ago, Oro could only find hate in her heart when she looked at this fellow vampire.
Oro didn't hold many prejudices, but this woman was her one exception. Maybe she didn't like her because Oro couldn't understand how anyone would be comfortable in tight leather all the time but Oro didn't like her mostly because she shared the same name as her sister.
In the times when the Death Dealers were active and their leader, Viktor, was still alive, one woman was very good at her job of hunting Lycans. It was theorized that Viktor picked her because of her resemblance to his own long-lost daughter, but mostly because she knew the location of William's first prison. Her hair an inky black and always clad in skin-tight leather, her name was Selene.
Oro clicked her teeth together and fought the urge to launch herself at Selene. Arturro placed a hand on her shoulder as he addressed the others.
"I can't imagine what would interest you here," Arturro said calmly, "there are no Third Generation vampires here for you to mount on stakes."
The male vampire known as Harnock laughed. Several of the humans nearby looked over curiously.
"We are not here for them." Selene said. Her face was devoid of any emotion- a stark contrast to Oro, who was almost fuming next to Arturro.
"We would like to make an arrangement. If we destroy the Arturrians, the Death Dealers can come out of hiding. We will be hunted no more and can live our lives in peace. I would ask Marcus myself, but we don't really get along."
Now Oro remembered why she hated Selene. Selene once tried to kill Marcus to save his descendant, Michael Corvinus. Michael was a special case- he was half vampire, half Lycan.
"Where's your hybrid, Selene?" Oro snarled.
"He's hiding, just like the rest of my family," Selene snapped.
"Alright, alright," Arturro said, holding up his hands. "I can't get in contact with Marcus right now but it would definitely please not only him but me as well if you were to eliminate some Third Generation vampires. So go on, now, and do your job."
Selene and Oro shared another vicious look before Selene turned on her heel and led the others from the club. As soon as they were out of sight, Arturro shook his head.
"Marcus will never agree to anything involving the Death Dealers. If Selene comes in a mile radius of either William or Marcus, they'll kill her."
It was closing in on two in the morning as Oro and Arturro approached the location the witches had mentioned. Oro sighed and ended her seventh phone call.
"No one else is coming. Not a single vampire wants anything to do with this fight. And I'm not calling the Death Dealers."
"We'll be fine," Arturro said nonchalantly. "Marcus and William will be there."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Oro inhaled sharply and coughed on the sudden odor of Arturrian skin. Baring her fangs, she looked around and noticed they had entered a small clearing. White skinned sparkled in the sparse moonlight and Oro counted a dozen Arturrians on her right alone. She lowered herself into a crouch and a couple of them backed off. Smiling, Oro thought they were backing away from her but stood up quickly when she smelled a new scent.
Oro knew the distinct scent of a dozen different beings. Second generation vampires, Arturrian vampires, werewolves, Lycans, shapeshifters and witches all smelled different. But the second Oro inhaled, she realized this was something she had never encountered before.
Turning slowly, she saw Marcus coming through the trees and knew it had to be one thing: William.
Oro had grown up as a vampire listening to stories of William; legends made him the most-feared being in the eyes of any vampire. Oro had an image of him as a beast of extreme proportions and soaked in all information anyone had about the first werewolf. Oro realized not a single story she ever heard did William justice as Marcus appeared through the trees, a single chain dragging behind him.