14. WAR
After a few months of fine tuning their plans, they were ready to make their move on the Romanians. To take advantage of their element of surprise they decided to attack at high noon, during daylight hours. The Romanians would be even less suspicious during the day because they assumed that everyone followed their laws.
Every gifted vampire knew their role and their exact assignments. They, along with the original coven of Volterra led the way. The rest fell back and were under Santiago's leadership and direction.
Athenodora was the first to capture the view of the Romanian castle. They approached from the back side this time. A great river served as a moat, separating the land they were on from the land where the castle stood. Past the river was a sheer rock face that went a couple hundred feet high until it reached the base of the castle.
They would have to get a running start to jump the river. The only problem was that there were low level guards who circled the outer perimeter of the castle. They would have to be extremely careful not to be seen by them.
Caius was the first to cross. He backed up about 40 feet from the river, then began running as fast as he possibly could. As soon as his toe tipped the water's edge he pushed all his strength into his legs and leapt across the distance. He landed on the other side quietly and successfully. Athenodora followed his example, and then Marcus, and then Sulpicia.
Aro was the next to jump and Renata was right beside him. She held a hand onto his cape so as to always be close enough to him if he needed her protection. They took off running towards the river at the exact same time and moved in sync. The edge appeared and they leapt through the air. In the middle of this leap Aro caught the glint of the sun off of a vampire's skin rounding the corner of the castle. In this split second he stopped his leap along with Renata and forced them to fall into the middle of the river. The roaring of flowing water was so loud that the guard's super vampiric hearing didn't even pick up the sound of the splash.
Aro and Renata waited under water until the guard had made his round covering the backside of the castle. However, the remarkable thing about this was that they weren't wet. As they began their descent into the river, Renata flexed her shield around the both of them. Aro was so pleased to find that not even water could penetrate the pores of her shield. Once they made their way out of the water, the others followed behind.
They scaled the steep rock face together and crouched at the upper edge. Heidi was the only one to step onto the level ground and make her way to the castle wall. She waited for the guard to make his way around to them again. When he rounded the corner she was ready for him. She showed him his most intimate of desires and he was caught off guard. He stood, stunned, admiring the thing he wanted most.
During this distraction, Corin quickly approached him from behind. He bit him and his paralytic venom immediately took place. The guard fell to the ground and made no sound. Afton was the third and final installment of this preliminary attack. Heidi opened the limp jaw of the paralyzed guard and Afton shot the flame that rested in his palm down into the victim's core. It consumed him from the inside out, easily catching fire to the flammable venom in his veins. The trio worked their way around the castle and used the same pattern on every guard that crossed their path.
When it was clear, they went back for the others to give them the okay to ascend. Everyone moved forward. Corpses still lay on the ground, smoldering in flames. When Sulpicia saw the burning bodies fear struck her. She was reminded of another time when she had watched people burn to death. Human memories flicked through her mind of her days in an insane asylum and having to watch it burn down around her. She began to shake as she became engrossed with the flesh-burning flames. Before even realizing it, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Aro quickly clamped his hand over her mouth to silence her but she shoved him off and hissed at him. Then she took off running back the way they had come.
"There goes the element of surprise," said Heidi.
Aro was angrier than he could manage. Eleazar had to place a hand on his shoulder to keep him from chasing after Sulpicia. "We must move now!" he reminded Aro.
Aro took in a deep breath and continued to move forward with the plan. They raced to the front of the building to meet the army that was now flooding out of the front gate. Afton shot a huge pillar of flame into the sky. It was a signal to Santiago to bring their army forward.
And so it began. Hand to hand combat with vampire against vampire. It was at this time that Chelsea became very important. She focused all of her energy into weakening the bonds that the army had with their Romanian leaders. Some bonds were easily destroyed causing members of their army to run away from the fight. Not only was Chelsea working to weaken their bonds, she was also working to strengthen the bonds of their own army. She helped them to remember the feelings of loyalty they had towards the Volterra coven and reinforced their desire to serve.
Afton created several bonfires around the castle so that once an enemy was dismembered they could easily throw in the pieces to finish off their destruction. Just when it seemed that Aro's army was succeeding, the sky blackened as a thousand wings blocked out the sun and the sound of a thousand hooves and paws came running in their direction. The beasts of the field and fowls of the air were now joining the fight. Aro looked up and saw Octavian standing at a balcony. He had beckoned every creature within the radius of his power to now serve them.
The creatures were no match for a vampire, but in such large numbers they served their purpose as distractions while the Romanian army could now focus on destroying their enemies. A flock of crows attacked Chelsea and she lost her focus of strengthening and weakening bonds. Now the vampires who had run away like cowards came racing back.
Wolves and bears worked against the traitors and easily gave their lives while serving as decoys. Deer would ram their antlers into the enemy only to have them shattered and to be left broken and bleeding. It was enough though to give the Romanian's the upper hand in the battle.
Octavian was not alone. He was guarded by Claudia, Dominique, and Demetri. When Afton would try to shoot fireballs up at Octavian they would dissipate before coming too close because Claudia was there to protect him. As long as his queen stood, no one could harm the king. It was like a game of chess. Though she could use her ability to keep others from using their powers too close to them, she managed to keep Octavian immune. She seemed to push her power around him, but not onto him.
Aro's army was being wiped out and destroyed. He watched the men he trained die from behind the physical barrier Renata placed around him. The victory he wanted so badly seemed to be slipping through his fingers. The Volterra coven was losing.
