Bestial eyes stared at a particularly interesting chip in the wood on the wall. The red-eyed, raven-haired man sat at his own table, empty steins and glasses strewn across it. The only clear space on the table belonged to his boots. His tanned skin seemed to flicker with the light thrown from the tavern fire, accentuating painful burn scars. He made no eye contact with the men below him; he didn't even seem to acknowledge they lived.

Though Xanxus listened to the drunks howl and whoop with a mildly annoyed doze. His head rested on his hand, a rest no one dared to disturb. In the atmosphere of the pub, his dark aura seemed dreadfully out-of-place.

Yet, at the same time, it was completely natural.

If the darkly powerful man whose eyes hid his thoughts under a shroud of blood lust was showing any other mood than murderous apathy, they'd wonder if something was amiss.

After all, Xanxus was their alpha, the boss, the leader, the lord. Whatever word you wanted to put that meant 'in charge' defined his rule. His problems were theirs, though his plans often were not. Not every person in this pub was a werewolf, but they may as well have been. Here, Xanxus was king. His table was his throne and the tavern was his court; every man in his court was his jester and below him in every way, a perfect hierarchy. It was the perfect camouflage for beasts feared by man. Among drunks, no one expected to find lurking bloodthirsty wolves.

It was almost more beneficial to the pack members, whose boss had a bottomless thirst for alcohol and a rage unmatched when he did not receive it. When he demanded drink, they brought him five kinds and hope something pleased him.

On this night, Xanxus drank, the men drank, and all was regular. The others could not even suspect the dark plotting that took place in their alpha's mind. The look in his eyes had not changed.

Tonight was an unusual night where the alpha was anticipating something.

News.

His skin itched; his feral fur was nearly at the surface. The itch burned his skin with the friction against his coarse fur. His gums ached with the phantom feeling of dagger-like fangs. Dysphoria consumed his body, and since the moon was almost ripe and he knew the other wolves in this tavern were feeling the same way. This is why they drank so heavily. They anticipated the time when nature's energy was at its fullest. Werewolves near the full moon drank more, laughed louder, and fought harder than a normal man.

Of those three, Xanxus cared only for drink. To him, laughter was a waste of air and he did not fight with those below him; a jester was not a warrior. He'd never found a proper challenge in combat, only old men who singed his fur and forced him to run away and lick his wounds. He growled.

The fight he lusted for would come soon with his news, Xanxus's eyes flashed as he looked up at the door. As if on cue, a tall man entered, stepping over broken chairs and around drunkards. This man's spiked black hair made him seem even taller than all the men around him. No one blocked his venture across the room to the lone throne of Xanxus. There was a single chair on the other side of the table, behind the flasks. He seated himself and looked at Xanxus, he did not speak. It seemed Xanxus was ignoring his existence.

The news had arrived; Xanxus hoped it would satisfy him.

At last, red eyes turned upon the news-bearer.

"Speak, Leviathan."

The command, no matter the tone, was absolute. The man addressed as Leviathan could not disobey if he'd wanted. Levi waited a few more seconds before speaking.

"Vongola is at the Varia clan manor. We confirmed the new Vongola Lord is inside with the Varia Lord. They are most likely discussing power struggles, I doubt Varia will sit still considering they were loyal to Vongola Nono, and Nono alone. We cannot be sure since we failed in intercept the letter brought to the Varia manor. Vongola Tenth's entourage includes two confirmed guardians, maybe three or four considering their aloof natures. A foolish move so close to a dangerous night. Varia has no doubt grown in power since ninety years ago, but an attack on the full moon night could wipe all in the Manor off the face of this Earth."

It annoyed Xanxus that Leviathan's report was so heavily based upon opinion. The way the fire flickered in Xanxus's eyes made Levi shiver. His alpha was the greatest predator, living for the hunt and kill, and it showed in him even if he didn't intend to.

"Why isn't your news more specific? How close did the scouts get?" Xanxus's tone was wearing thin; any more carelessness and Levi would be dodging glass.

He shifted, slightly unsettled by Xanxus's gaze.

"We couldn't get close enough to stare into their windows, of course. What we know is based on the carriages and which Varia members met the Vongola on their way there. We knew that only the Varia Lord and his three officers were the only ones left in the manor. Of course Varia clan is very small, maybe fifty vampires without counting the four in charge, but individually we cannot underestimate them because of how many of ours they were able to kill ninety ye—" Levi stopped than train of thought when he saw Xanxus's knuckles whiten slightly. One thing that kept him alive was an incredible foresight.

"For Vongola's entourage, we saw two of the guardians exiting the carriages along with Vongola Decimo. They were the Rain and Storm Guardians, the ones who refuse to leave Decimo's side. There's a very high chance the other Guardians were following out of sight, but we did not see any stragglers. They brought maybe twenty clan members with them and no doubt they expected Varia to send them an escort."

Levi shifted uncomfortably for a moment. All he'd ever wanted was Xanxus's approval. He was proud enough to claim he was Xanxus's beta wolf, but the gap between them was large. Levi was so distant from his leader and it pained him. He would never receive the recognition he wanted.

"One of my scouts got riled up by a nearby pack of wilds and had a brief argument. The vampires know there are wolves in the area now but I hope they didn't draw a connection."

When the alpha wolf exhaled, it contained a growl. This news was hardly good enough for him. It rarely was.

"Punish that trash."

Levi flinched. Xanxus's tone was bitter but the look in his eyes drew the conclusion as being set in stone. He felt sorry for the whelp he would have to reprimand.

"Send the scouts back; Vongola will stay until tomorrow to keep out of the sunlight. I need to know if any changes take place."

He could not put into words how disappointed he was in his beta, but he would deal with it. Their pack's numbers had never quite recovered and though they were still greater than some one hundred vampires, Xanxus was not a wanton risk-taker. Information would win an invasion, a murder, an assassination.

Xanxus found himself interested in two things; crushing Vongola and the Varia Lord himself.

The wolf stalked through the castle. This night was his hunt. He left lesser wolves to fight the trash that tried to oppose their entry into this vast and dark castle. He smelled things and found pathways thought hidden by the vampire scum. Claws crushed old cobblestone and paws padded harshly as he searched for his prey. He loped along, Nono's scent growing stronger as he journeyed deeper into the old castle.

Xanxus remembered when red eyes met silver. A lone defender would block his path.

In those eyes he saw pride and combat. Xanxus smelled the vampire lord in those arrogant eyes, likely the new Varia leader; his exhale was warm and damp, a wolf's sigh. Xanxus hated vampire lords, they did not know discretion. They were traitorous and greedy, self-serving. He would have this silver-haired vampire's throat this night. A prize added to his true goal. It would be easy.

Then he saw in the way this vampire carried himself that he was not fighting for loyalty to Vongola, those silver eyes were too independent. Xanxus felt his lip curl. This lord with the silver blade, bane of his flesh, lived for the fight, hunt, and kill. A vampire that lived only for strength and being the strongest, he'd heard whispers of his title.

Sword Emperor.

They were kindred in a sicker sense of the word. His fur stood on end and he dug his claws into old stone.

Xanxus was kin to no vampire.

"You are bitter blooded trash unworthy of my bite."

He pinned his ears back; the words escaped his maw before he knew what he meant toward this lord. He was not threatened, but being opposed this night began to tire him endlessly, he wanted his victory. It riled him that he could be similar to a creature he despised.

He pounced on his prey, who had noticed him quite quickly. There was a good intuition on this one's shoulders. The vampire shouted something back; Xanxus ignored it and continued to try for his win. Silver clattered against cobblestone and Xanxus dodged it nimbly as the blade came down where he'd been standing. The attacks were slow (likely fast by vampire standards) but strong. The potential he sensed was pleasing.

The battle was almost easy for Xanxus. Despite facing the famed Sword Emperor, his attacks seemed easy to see through. Weaknesses and flaws were obvious. Somehow he wondered if the title wasn't just for show. It was tempting to call out the vampire and tell him to use petty magic tricks that vampires were so fond of. He refrained.

The vampire's counters were ferocious, and Xanxus learned quickly why they called him the Sword Emperor. Xanxus felt like he was facing a shark, the ferocity this vampire expressed was so new to him. In his mind, all vampires were cowards who wielded magic and silly tricks. This one was a warrior, a very proud one. Xanxus wanted to avoid taking a nick from the silver blade this one fought with, silver made him incredibly sick—an allergy as humans would call it. How smart of this young lord, bringing a wolfsbane to a battle with wolves.

He pinned the vampire and was about to preform a finishing blow, but he lept away quickly as the blade whizzed past where his head was. The vampire grinned, on his feet quickly. Xanxus almost liked him, he was funny and tawdry.

He learned the origin of the Sword Emperor title quickly during their combat. His work with the blade was truly artistic and terrifying, were this not a full moon night, he'd almost admire him. It was hard to find artists of the blade in this era where guns were becoming more and more a cheap escape. He'd chewed up his fair share of wolf slayer silver blades, one more wouldn't mean anything.

Xanxus didn't want his throat just yet, he decided on a whim (a prideful whim). He wanted to kill this shark's vicious pride and maybe awaken a beast who would challenge him.

He would test how strong this lord really was. If he could live with a shattered pride, he might be a worthy kill.

For a moment, Xanxus saw a reflection of his younger self from ninety years ago reflected in the stance of this haughty vampire lord. His own old pride gave a death scream.

Xanxus snarled, launching himself forward and crushing his jaws shut on the left arm of his enemy, the dominant sword hand. His prey hardly had time to blink, it was over in a moment. He savored the sensation of the bone splintering in his teeth. He chewed a little and pulled, yanking his head back, severing striated muscle. Silver fell to the ground with a clatter, Xanxus saw shock and anger in his enemy's eyes. His mouth curled into a predatory smile.

Xanxus watched the Varia Lord's pride fall to pieces quietly.

Looking from his broken, bloody stump, to the wolf, and then carefully touching where his arm used to be, the vampire snarled at him, on his knees in the dirt. Xanxus laughed and smiled, all teeth, at his fallen foe. He dropped the bloody and broken arm at his feet and left the broken lord in that courtyard.

Leviathan was always smart enough to avoid questioning Xanxus's choices, especially his choice in not killing the Varia lord. He trusted that is superior knew what he was doing… sometimes.

Xanxus hated himself for failing to kill Nono that night. In his mind, it only caused more issues. Nono became less inclined to protect the Wrath land from young, foolish vampires. He later tore the old man's throat out for that transgression, crushing his bones and body with ferocious, merciless power. His hatred of the old man and all of his wrongs fueled a murder that would shake the power hierarchy of the vampire clans.

Nono had been an ally for a very long time. He was the only vampire who remembered the times of harmony between werewolves and vampires. Other clans respected this and allied themselves with Vongola, fearing wisdom over power (this had made Xanxus laugh at the kindly old Vongola leader many times). With Nono dead, Xanxus knew other clans would begin to rear their heads, the ones who slept in the silence, dormant. Clans with names like Millefiore or the bitter Shimon.

The Vongola leader had promised to protect what the werewolves fought to keep from vampires. All Xanxus had wanted was to keep the vampires off of werewolf land, incredibly sacred to their beliefs. He was not a particularly religious man by any means, but the fact these lands belonged to his pack and his pack alone created a fierce need to protect them. Vampires had, for almost a thousand years now, disregarded this ancient treaty between their races.

Xanxus had, quite frankly, had enough. Wrath pack quickly became feared for their hatred of vampires, renowned for torturing them.

Wrath pack didn't keep weak-minded allies.

When he'd crippled the silver-haired vampire, Xanxus had hoped for one of two things; that this vampire would stay down and die or that the vampire would recover, lick his wounds, and come back stronger and burning with vengeance. A challenge to the indomitable power Xanxus wielded.

It almost excited him enough to elicit a genuine.

At the news that Vongola had met with this Varia leader, his hand tensed around the glass he was holding so much it cracked quietly, buckling under the strong hand. It disappointed him; maybe the Varia leader would execute Vongola for him.

Crushing the Varia, no matter how Xanxus felt, would not further their goals (but sometimes Xanxus ignored this and obeyed his whims, regardless of what Wrath Pack truly intended to do). Vongola were the ones at fault in this grim and bloody war, so it would be Vongola to die first. His hunt for a challenge could wait.

Tomorrow night was the full moon. Vongola would not have time to pack up and leave before Wrath Pack crushed them and turned their attention on Varia.

"Xanxus…"

The alpha wolf snapped to attention and growled low in his throat when he was addressed by his beta.

"Why is it that you seem more interested in the Varia clan than Vongola themselves?"

Xanxus stared at Levi long and hard. He'd hoped the tall man would be smart enough not to ask. Vongola had betrayed Wrath Pack and was slated for death, this was the most solid fact; Varia was a tiny clan under their wing who would be crushed by other vampire clans if Wrath didn't crush them first when Vongola died. Leviathan didn't see a need to pay attention to them.

To Xanxus's chagrin, Levi continued to speak,

"We have already decided Vongola's destruction. Varia is a wild card. You know their origins about as well as I do. The first clan leader of Varia swore fealty to Vongola Nono in return for protection, and then this new, silver-haired Lord usurped him. What reasons does Varia have to continue to stay loyal to Vongola besides protection?"

Leviathan's words bored Xanxus. He smiled at the beta wolf, showing teeth.

"I am hoping those trashes do not interrupt our fight. They're a shitty wild card that interests me, their leader might be a challenging combatant."

Xanxus was self-centered; smart, powerful, domineering, and completely, absolutely self-centered. He would take the sort of risks than confused the rest of the pack if it meant satisfying himself. Leaving open that Varia could ruin their plans to kill the Vongola Tenth and crush the remnants of the large vampire clan was something only Xanxus would do.

Of course, they wouldn't fail.

Gosh I hope this chapter didn't drag on too much! I hope to get the plot actually moving by the next chapter but I felt the need to set up the universe, introduce characters and settings, and give a little insight as to what the basic conflict for this story is since it's an AU! If anything is confusing, let me know!

As always, still looking for a dedicated beta and please leave a review telling me what you think!