Alarms sounded through the town as vampire knights rushed out into the streets of Kuran town. All around them people ran out of their homes, quickly making their way to the castle or the respective shelters as was instilled in them through countless security briefings. Still, it did not mean the streets were dull and without chatter, especially from the children. Hence, several vampire guards were also assigned to crowd control, ushering them safely.

In the secret reinforced bunker underneath the castle that served as a military command center, Ai and Ren readied themselves for battle, ensuring their weapons were prepared. All around them more of the palace guard readied themselves, serving as the final line of defense for the evacuating citizens of the city. "How goes it?" Ai asked to one of knights beside her.

"The south district is done evacuating." He reported. "We are nearly done with the west district but are lagging behind the eastern and northern districts. It is good though that the security briefings held by the nobles has prepared them. Most of the evacuations are proceeding without too much chaos."

"Even so, time is of the essence. Please tell them to hurry and get people into the shelters as soon as possible." Ai replied. "I express no confidence in protecting the citizens completely once the fighting begins. If worse comes to worse, we may have to force them to leave their belongings. It won't make them happy, but as of now, their lives are more important."

"I will endeavor to do so." The knight replied.

"Sister, I am going outside." Ren replied. "I believe it may become necessary to rally to the front line."

"Very well." Ai nodded. "But take our young knights with you at least. I will hold here and focus on the defense of Cassandra and Katarina. Also, ensure Akira and Anju do not get separated from their respective units. I'm more than certain they will be high priority targets."

"Of course." Ren nodded as she ran off, jumping out the nearest window she could find. Ai looked out, wondering what sort of carnage she would have to witness.

"Shit!" Serenity growled as she toiled on her desk. "C'mon you stupid trash, work already!" She tinkered with the tools as she kept a large number of tubes nearby, tubes filled with Anju's blood. While she was confident in the usual method, using vampire spliced human blood was a new one. It made it tremendously complicated.

"For fuck's sake, I don't have time for this stupid tuning process!" Serenity snarled. "So help me, bind already! People are going to die because of my weapons again!" Slowly, she made a few adjustments again, tossing aside another tube as it shattered on the floor.

"Already close to half the stash gone." Serenity remarked. "Come on Serenity! Get it together you stupid bitch! This is your one chance to make up for every wrong thing you've done!"

She now watched as the blood she funneled into the blade began to latch on, a result of the profane alchemic process Helsing used to manufacture their own Bloodbane weapons. Hunter sigils glowed all around as she poured all of her technique and finesse into the forging process.

"C'mon…" Serenity gritted her teeth as she watched the blood slowly merging with the weapon, smoke rising from the metal as it slowly bonded together. "Don't fuck up now…"

Suddenly, the blade began to absorb the blood faster and faster. Serenity struggled to keep up with the alchemic process, frantically making snap-second decisions just to keep the weapon stable. She gritted her teeth as she did so, quickly taking another vial of blood to replace the one that had emptied.

"Please work… Please work!" Serenity pleaded as the blade and the blood merged together. Hissing began as the blood began to bubble and the heat of the smoke began to make her eyes water. The Hunter sigils began to glow brighter as energy pulsed up and down the blade. Serenity increased the strength of the various sigils as the weapon began to vibrate uncontrollably.

Immediately, the weapon exploded, blasting Serenity backwards and onto the floor. She coughed as she waved the heat away from her face. As soon as she recovered, she frantically got to her feet and ran to the workbench. As soon as she cleared the dust and smoke, her eyes widened.

"What the actual hell?" She whispered.

South District

It wasn't long before the helicopters arrived. Besides transport helicopters, attack helicopters were also present, firing rockets at buildings while machine guns sprayed fire all around. The vampires were forced back as a Hind fired a barrage of rockets, decimating a few buildings. Soon, black clad troops rappelled down and the gunshots sounded.

Amongst them, a piercing cackle echoed through the air. "At last! I finally get to have some revenge on that damn brat!" Cliff smiled as he raked his claws over the cobblestone floors. His glee was cut short as another figure landed beside him.

"Cliff, I would like to remind you to stick to the plan." Hagan said. "If your ridiculous bloodthirst gets in the way, then there's no telling what my reaction would be."

"Fine! Geez quit being such a worrywart old man!" Cliff growled. "I'll behave as much as I can."

"You'd better." Hagan growled as their forces charged forward. "What of Celestine and the others?"

"Sir." A soldier reported as he ran up to him. "Celestine and Hugo are moving toward the East district. Giselle and Sergei are about to land in the West district. Lance and Richard are about to enter the North district as we speak."

"Good." Hagan nodded. "So long as we stick to our plan, we should not have too many complications. Move out, and spare no expense." He now moved through the streets, intent on slaying any vampire he could find.

"My Queen! Armed troops have landed in the South district!" Came the report from one of the vampires stationed in the command center.

Ai nodded at this. "Have our battalions stationed there to stand by for battle. Are the shelters secured?"

"Yes my queen!" Came the reply.

"What about the North and East districts?" Ai asked.

"We are rushing things along, but at this rate it may end up with civilians getting caught in the fighting!" Came another frantic voice.

"Contact Ren and have her get to the East district!" Ai said. "Also, have Mr. Rodin go to the North district!"

"My Queen, Lord Akira is calling!" Came another.

"Patch him through!" Ai commanded, and immediately she heard her son's voice over the intercom.

"Mother! I am ready to head out, and so is Anju!" Akira said. "The rest will be ready soon!"

"Not yet!" Ai said. "I'm certain the Executors are out there. Once they make their move, we'll make ours! For now, stay on standby!"

"Very well." Akira replied, cutting the call.

"What about the West district?" Ai asked. "Has the battalion there reported back?"

"Not for a while." Came the response. "We believe… Wait, I'm getting a signal! Hello? What is your status?"

Silence stretched on for a bit before static could be heard on the line. "Vampires… Weak… No fun…"

Giselle… Ai grimly frowned. "Get Akatsuki and Senri there now!"

"My Queen! Lord Akira just reported. Anju Cross has already headed there!"

"What!?" Ai blinked before she composed herself. No, that may be for the best. Anju is the fastest out of them all besides Akira. But she needs help. Who should go then?

West District

Anju felt her blood rushing as Shadow flew her through the sky. It wasn't long before it began to writhe and Anju felt an extremely familiar presence. At first, she sensed Cliff. Shadow still remembered the taste of his blood the night they first fought. But then, the explosions sounded in the West districts, and Shadow reacted again. Anju wasn't sure of what to make of it, but if it was a familiar presence, then there was only one capable of it.

Sure enough, as soon as she reached the scene, she spotted her. With the shawl morphed into sharp claws, Giselle decimated many knights all around her, even pulling down buildings and walls and overturning vehicles, with some of them now ablaze. Now, she watched as Giselle prepared to slam her claw on an unfortunate knight that tried to crawl away, the trail of blood attesting to his wounds.

Anju quickly dove in, her scythe quickly forming. With a powerful swing, she parried Giselle's claw. Immediately, Shadow morphed into two claws, two wings and a thorny tendril, parrying Giselle's other five appendages. Giselle's eyebrows raised slightly at her appearance as Anju turned to the recovering vampire.

"Run! Quickly!" She said. The vampire wasted no time in crawling away as fast as possible.

"Girl… Returned…" Giselle spoke as she withdrew her shawl. Anju now saw the weapon in its entirety, the shawl tails resembling huge mouths with a single red eye that gleamed in the middle, like a many-headed snake.

"Giselle." Anju breathed. "What are you doing here?"

"Business… Yours… Not…" Giselle replied coldly. "But… You… Die… Today… Live… Cannot…" With that, she raised one of the claws and swatted at Anju, who barely dodged in time to see it easily blow down a wall. Immediately she continued with the other tendrils, chasing after Anju who dodged and struck each one back.

"Me… Jerome… Not alike…" Giselle continued. "Think… That… Mistake…"

"Yeah." Anju nodded. "Rodin told me loads about you."

"I see…" Giselle now drew back two appendages, and Hunter sigils lit up all over them. "Then… Restraint… None…" At once, energy crackled down those appendages, concentrating into the talons of each one. Giselle lashed them out again, and this time they moved faster than ever. Anju immediately torqued her body. Unfortunately, one nicked her arm, a searing pain spreading quickly through her flesh. It kept going, slicing through stone like a hot knife through butter.

Anju landed, panting as her body healed, though it shocked her that the clothes had been torn. It seemed Serenity's protection wasn't enough for something like that.

"Impressive…" Giselle nodded. "You… Stronger… Perhaps… This… Fun…"

East District

Civilians hurried into trucks that quickly made way to the castle, or at least went to some of the shelters nearby. The vampire troops hurriedly evacuated as many as possible, constantly bellowing orders to keep calm despite the sounds of explosions and gunfire occurring in the distance.

In the crowd, a young girl whispered to her teddy bear. "It's ok Mr. Scruffy. We're going to be alright."

The vampire standing next to her bent low and touched her shoulders. "It's ok Felise. We'll be getting away soon, alright?"

"Really Greta? There are a lot of people…" Felise said as she hugged her teddy bear tighter.

"Just don't get too far from me, ok?" Greta replied with a smile.

"Alright, next ones!" The vampire knight called. "Hurry!"

"Let's go!" Greta said as she picked Felise up and moved to the truck. Then, a sudden whistling was heard through the air. Something sparked upon the remaining trucks before they exploded, forcing the two of them to the ground.

"Oh my!" A shrill voice resounded. Greta turned upwards to see a scantily clad woman surrounded by multiple floating swords. An insane look crossed her features as she strode forward. "So many new toys… Whatever shall I do?"

"Ren! Can you hear me?" Ai's voice frantically called through the earpiece.

"Speak sister!" Ren called as she ran through the streets, firing her gun at two soldiers that she had come across.

"The East district just got hit. Reports say our knights are being slaughtered! It seems the Third Executor is there! Please hurry over!" Ai said frantically. "We still have civilians in that area!"

"I'm on my way!" Ren said, running even faster than before.

Castle Kuran; Evacuation Center

"Why do I have to go down there?" Katarina grumbled.

"Please understand." The knight escorting her replied. "We believe that Helsing is here for you amongst many others. The queen believes that for now, it is best to secure as many high-key persons as possible."

Katarina huffed. It was not like her to ignore a fight. But still, the guards made sense. It was only natural to secure priority targets. Still, it did not sit well with her. Katarina was promptly led to the center, an underground shelter designed for incidents like this and modelled with state of the art security. Blankets had been handed out to numerous civilians and even water was available to all.

Still, the situation was far from calm. Many people were obviously concerned about the attack on the city. Some were even asking frantically about friends or acquaintances who had yet to arrive. Katarina couldn't help but catch one conversation.

"Please, is there any word about my daughter? She was with her babysitter in the East district!" A human woman asked a guard.

"We are trying to confirm the situation." The guard replied. "Please ma'am, just calm down."

"But I heard the East district got attacked!" She replied in a panic. "My dear Felise is still out there!"

Katarina's eyes widened as she heard the familiar name. Wasting no time, she barged over to them. "What is the situation? Can you confirm it?"

The two looked at her, and the woman's eyes widened. "You! You're Katarina, the one who played with Felise that day! Please, can you help? Please find my daughter!"

Katarina frowned. She wondered why she felt so distressed with this news. The girl was nothing more than some random human who happened to befriend her. Why did she have to care?

That girl considers you her newest friend, wouldn't you agree? Anju Cross's words rang through her head. Katarina clenched her fists so hard that blood began to spill. The scent of her blood suddenly caught the attention of every vampire in the room.

She now recalled the times she had spent with her own mother, how often she would become flustered at the thought of either one of them getting hurt or in trouble. She recounted the other day, the smiles of humans and vampires playing together in the same playground. Finally, she recalled the warmth of Felise's hand as they bade farewell that day.

She did not know why she moved, but she moved either way.

"Keep these people safe!" Katarina commanded the guards as she ran for the exit despite their protests. Eyeing a sword slung on the hip of one, she reached out and swiftly unhooked it from his belt. "And I'll be borrowing this!" Katarina ran, her hair blazing as she did.

Author's Note:

Finally managed to get time to upload this! As always, please read and review!

Jdbl00d