I am sorry... so sorry..

But I didn't write that- ... that's a lie. Okay I did.

But the story comes to me, not the other way around.

It'll sort itself out eventually, so hold tight.

Also, I apologize to those faithful reviewers/readers that I have failed to update for so long...

SHAME...

Enjoy.

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Chapter 23: The Coven

Two years later.

Downtown Paris was a mess. A body strewn, burned out shell of destruction from which came no mortal heartbeat. One lone figure picked their way through a particularly clogged intersection, sending heavy metal beams flying with dispassionate swings of her elegant white arms.

Terra Gowen- vampire and former dancer, stared at the wreckage the vampires had wrought in her home. A world of love and character, of culture and tradition- gone forever.

Whoever had burned her apartment down was connected to this damage as well- she was quite certain. Her entire world revolved around finding the person who was responsible.

The person who had made her life a nightmare- and her wildest fantasy.

She hadn't seen the Count in over two years; after he'd freed her he had left the country- headed back to Transylvania.

Terra knew that he was broken from her stubborness.

"I won't be restrained! You can't stop me! Now finish it!"

And he had. His eyes had been blacker than death, his face a mask, and the last thing she saw before waking up to his farewell note was the torrent of tears that cascaded over his porcelain cheeks; and then all was lost as red droplets lined his mouth and she collapsed in his arms.

Shaking off the memory, she shifted under her black trenchcoat, fluttering in the empty breeze that stirred the slums of Paris. It was nearing dawn, and she had yet to get back to the coven.

The group of people who had kept her safe and sane after her freeing.

Her friends.

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Sita played mindlessly with the two inch long spikes that were all that remained of her waist length hair. Having extremely long hair these days was a pain as well as dangerous.

Rogue vampires were everywhere; which was why they had formed their own coven.

Somewhat ironically, Terra had dubbed it Nightblood; and no one had ever ridiculed it. The fierce look in her eyes usually deterred everyone from questioning her.

Sita leaned over the black, rundown coach and flicked her husband on the head. Cale growled back at her, rubbing his head through thick brown curls, standing and heading to the window.

No use upsetting a pregnant female vampire. They would just drain you for 'the baby.'

He sighed as he stared out into the darkness, closing the torn silk over the heavy, warped pains as glowing green eyes met his own through the city's gloom.

"Terra's back," he stated glumly as he passed his wife, pushing her gently back onto the sofa as she sprung up to see herself. "She'll be here in a few minutes, hold on. It's not like you won't see her again."

"That's not the point, the point is that my best friend is still an emotionless void, my baby is kicking the hell out of my insides, and you won't go looking for Brett!" By then, he had drowned out her voice by slamming the door to the shattered, dank living room. Sita sank back onto the couch, struggling not to change and go after Cale.

The only thing that would do was give her child claws, and oh man did it not need another set of projectiles to stab her innards with. "That bastard better have brought back a good haul from the club."

Since humans were a rare and quite defensive commodity these days, victims were caught and rendered helpless, then sold off to various covens. Of course, Terra had supplied the necessary connections; being as she was ex-bride to the father of them all.

Generally that gave most people a reason to back off.

Low voices echoed in her ears, and she turned black eyes on the door, one arm protectively sheathing her stomach as the hallway creaked.

Terra slunk into the room, stripping off her black coat with little care, digging another row of scratches into the fabric as she let it fall to the ground.

"No more supplies," she snapped, staring at Sita before stormed back across the living room, across the small, unused kitchen and into her bedroom in the hall.

Sita's head snapped around to face Cale disgustedly holding up a much bruised and blood-sucked Brett by the shoulder. "Idiot. What did you do now?"

Brett was no longer one of their friends, he was an outcast, and the only person he could actually talk to was Terra; and she had stopped talking altogether mostly now that the streets were getting emptier.

Brett narrowed his eyes and hissed at Sita. "I didn't do anything, so keep your bitching to yourself." He threw off Cale, who glared venomously at the obvious omega of the pack, and swiped at him with long claws.

"Watch how you talk to my wife, weakling. It's your fault any of this happened in the first place. Getting involved with underground people who you knew only wanted Terra for-"

"I'm not deaf you know," a quiet voice interrupted. All eyes turned to see Terra, red hair coiled into a thick bun at the back of her head and wearing a black, one piece body suit. "I'm leaving. There's nothing left to eat here, and you Brett, are the only person I trust the most and least, so you're going to lead me out of this hell hole."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Do I have to say every little word twice so it gets through your skull? Jesus. Get your stuff and move it. Sita, I don't know what to do about you, but we can try carrying you. It's too dangerous for you to walk anymore."

"I can walk just fine," she snapped back, eyes burning. "Stop treating us all like infidels Terra. You're not the only suffering vampire here."

Terra didn't answer, merely stalked past them and flung the door wide. "Move it!" She snapped over her shoulder to Brett; who skulked after her, glancing at Sita and Cale as he passed them.

They felt her reply more mentally than they heard it, "I won't return. If your bones are picked clean when I get back, I won't be sorry."

By dawn's first light, four vampires were scouting out the underground sewer and making their way to the famous, now uninhabited Chateau Dracula.

A place that held maps to the best places for a sleeping vampire, the most succulent feeding places, and the darkest, safest hideouts.

A place Terra called 'home.'

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sooo. I fucked the storyline...

and I like it.

So whoopdee doo to you.

In short, they've formed a coven which is disfunctionate and on the verge of starvation because of lack of humans and blood in the city. So now, they go somewhere else to survive. Journey, enemies...old people.

Yeah.

Don't worry, this story will be mucho long, so what i mess up now will be resolved later.

Review!

Hadasah