Unedited
Back in Romania

Far away in Evangeline's homeland in an English manor sat the most English vampire in all of history. Elliott Edward Redmond twirled the cup of earl grey in hands. He wore a dark blue high collar suit, under his jacket he wore a white crisp white shirt covered with a vest the same color as his suit. His hair the color of white snow was an abundance of curls. a single curl fell on his forehead contrasting with his eyes, the color of ice. In fact ice was the best way to describe the leader of Redmond coven. They called him just that the Ice Prince, named after his demeanor and his power, where Michael was shrouded in darkness, Elliot was shrouded in the bitter cold.

His thoughts were just as occupied as his cousin Evangeline's. Who would dare lay a hand on the vampire royals? A man who wants a death wish would be the fervent answer to that question, now to find him that is the difficult part. Rats, they're pesky animals, forever hiding in the earth yet managing to spread so much terror and fear.

He had called their French cousin to tell him of the new developments and the meeting, Elliot walked away with a much expanded colorful vocabulary. It appeared that even after all these centuries of life a few words had evaded him, and with the ever changing English language he had very little doubt that his cousin would keep him up to date. Conjuring up his power he transported himself to the top of Everest.

Once there he inhaled deeply breathing in the cold air into his lungs. The top was bare only sporting a few rocks and white snow, the whole world could be seen from here if it wasn't night, instead of the world an almost inky blackness could be seen for miles and miles. The wind blew bits of ice and snow making the cold night air even colder. The moon was his only audience. As soon as the thought entered his head it was interrupted by a ball of lighting behind him alerting him to the arrival of the others he turned nodding to each cousin in welcome.

Michal stood in front of him, his dark shoulder length mane blowing in the wind, his red eyes staring out over the mountain and that dark sarcastic grin at home on his face as usual.

Luis' expression was the exact opposite, his handsome face the color of toasted almonds rivaled a thunder cloud. With his short boyish brown hair and hazel eyes he looked the youngest out of the coven leaders but he was the oldest. His temper was also the quickest to rise. Most mortals would think him not a day over eighteen while the others could be placed at their twenties but truly he was older than Michal by 300 years. He turned to Michal and cursed him in French, "I hope that you have bought us here for a good reason Michal. What is this I hear about a revolution? I was under the impression that you had already killed you brother don't tell me you've failed. "

"Calm down cousin," Michal patronized, "the summit is not very wide you might throw yourself off it in a fit."

Safe to say those words did nothing to calm down Luis, in fact it aggravated him more. Just as he was about to spew something vulgar Elliot came between them.

"Calm down you fools we came here to discuss the potential fall of the world as we know it remember," He reminded irritably.

"Right," Michal replied sarcastically rolling his eyes.

Seeing the two had stopped their pettiness he nodded towards Michal to begin, and he did. All reports of taintbloods were spoken of, the body of Maxwell shown, the bloodwood incident, and the human and wolf who had taken down a more than ten taintbloods and changeling in one night.

"Well that is quite something," Luis mumbled afterwards. "If what you say is true then that means there are others working against us in our covens."

Elliot leaned back and inhaled the freezing cold air, "it will not be difficult to find them, and all we must do is look at the families that have opposed us in the past. I do not think that any of our brethren would take part in this folly."

"For the right price they might," Luis interrupted. "You see the thing is that over the centuries our families have made many enemies, some vampires and others not. I know for a fact that the phoenix witches are still sore about the past. When will they get over it, I don't know. Other than that, the outer changelings of the covens should be looked into as well."

"Hmm," mused Michal. "Jarod might still be miffed about the thing in the court of King Charles."

"Did you really have to kill his wife?" Luis shook his head unbelievingly.

"Oh you know just as well as I that as well as I do that she was bat. He was better off without her."

Elliot sighed. "There are many who would wish to take the royals down, you are our king Michal that was decided long ago. Maxwell's discovery puts things into perspective. If the enemies are vampires then it will be easier to find them than expected. There are only two types of vampires in the vampire kingdom changelings and pure bloods, there are thirty of us, ten in every coven and we each have give or take twenty changelings. We will weed out the traitors with ease."

Luis nodded in agreement. "We can count the Clemtons and the Reynolds amongst them. Not only have they refused to accept the names of their sire but they were the changed during the second hunt my brother Reynard transformed them in payment for their help. They are not really a part of any of us and they have made that clear over the years. We should also take heed of the Jonas Quintin and his brother. They are close to Austin Vasquez who was bosom buddies with that piece of filth you called your brother Michal."

"Yes that fool Percival would be a part of it most definitely, he has wanted a seat on the council for a long time, and Jonas has always been a threat," Michal agreed.

Clemton was from the Devarux line. Luis' younger brother sired Percival during the vampire hunting a period of three years in which a secret Christian organization had found out about their existence and tried to eradicate them all. Michal's mother had fallen to the hands of their leader who had executed her brutishly, Michal's father had raked his fangs over his bones peeling with them all his flesh and skin. But another result of those years was the transformation of Percival Clemton who quickly found his retched match in an American actress Brooklyn Lain. They both were less than pleasant.

"So we should pay each of these people a little visit, no?" Luis smiled spinning on his heels, he looked over the mountain with a sinter gaze.

Elliot who had gone very quiet unbuttoned his collar, sat on an icy bolder and spoke, his hair no different from the color of the frozen snow around them ruffled with the wind, his gaze was cold and calculating. "One thing doesn't make much sense, these people have always been our enemies, and without this uprising we could have named them without hesitation. They have never been powerful enough to move against us nor will they ever be. "No," he nodded slowly. "Something has changed, and whatever it is it has given them enough gumption to rise again especially after the fall of your brother," he said looking at Michal. "I don't believe for a second that they would have enough courage to stand against every vampire in the realm, something must have changed."

"As astute as usual cousin. Your mind never ceases to amaze me," declared a feminine voice behind them. The all turned to look at the speaker. In front of them stood Evangeline Van Hurst in all her beautiful glory, violet eyes priced the three around her the only ones she had left to call family, Babette her friend and companion was as usual on her right.

An awkward pause ensued as Michal laid eyes on his beloved for the first time in a century. The last he had seen her, Hitler and Stalin had taken hold on human race. She looked just as he remembered her, her long black windswept hair was no better because of the wind and yet she still looked beautiful. Her violet eyes looked around with an unfathomable emotion, he wished to know what she thought of him and did she ever think of him. She averted her eyes braking their stare and walked up to them.

Elliott rose and hugged her "welcome my dear," he said kissing her on both cheeks. Luis came over and did the same hugging her tightly. She barely even looked at Michal.

"You have been away for so long Eva we thought you dropped of the face of the earth, what has this idiot done this time darling tell me and I will shake him for you," Luis fussed. He only acquired manners when Evangeline was involved.

Evangeline lips twitched at the corners as they always did when she tried to suppress a smile and as always she failed, her lips curved upwards and pushed the apples of her cheeks showing of her dimples as she let forth a full blown smile. She patted Luis's hand and sighed her smile melting of her face, "never matter about that. I am here because I happen to have some information that you three might find interesting."

Elliot got up and gestured for her to take his place on the bolder and she gladly accepted, they stared at her waiting for her to continue.

"A week ago I was visited by your mother Michal," she said without looking at him. "She visited me to confirm what I had felt that week. A particular unrest with the dead. It started as a slow shifting and then became full disturbances, it was the first sign that something sinister was happening deep in the shadows."

There were three dimensions on earth the present world, the elven realms and the shadows. In the shadow existed demons, old gods, and souls of the dead. When the dead were laid to rest they went to a special section of the shadows called the realm of the dead, there the dead be judged based on the lives they lived. The demon realms held dark entities that roam the shadows. Some of them are so dark that they live under lock and key tied down by exorcist of the past, some were good only showing themselves to help others or if the need ever served them, and some were neither good nor bad. When unrest happens in one section the entire shadows start to shift, the greater the unrest, the greater the shift.

The last time she had felt this kind of shift was when some phoenix witches had attempted to wake up the serpent demon the do their bidding, they failed but she had still felt the turbulence they had caused.

"Your mother told me that someone was messing around in the shadows," she continued. "Someone from this world is trying to summon something they shouldn't. I packed and left with Babette, we traveled around the world in disguise gathering information. Imagine my surprise when I found out that vampires were involved. I quickly realized that it was only a selected few and went to discover them. You were right, Clemton, Ronald's, and the Quintin brothers are involved. But that was not the end of the revelations, I found out that in the last past year the phoenix have been cutting off all of their ties to their fellow covens, and that quite a number of wolves and witches from other covens have gone rouge. They all seemed to have traveled to the phoenix plains, why I cannot fathom." She shook her head her eyebrows furrowed.

"I have tried to get my minions pass their borders but I have no control over that. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't of the most importance, this is no longer a little pathetic farce by a group of lowly changelings, this is much bigger, this is the 16th prophecy of oracle Madera."

The three looked on their eyes becoming grimmer with each word she spoke.

"Bloody hell," Elliot cursed. It must have inspired Luis because he added a few words as well. The king of vampires just stared.

"If I remember that prophecy spoke of the end of the world. A war created by supernatural creatures that wish to disrupt the order of our world and step into the light to control it and remove the humans from power," he said.

Evangeline looked at him for the first time that night. He looked the same, long black hair the flowed down the nape of his neck and those red eyes that were the source of her nightmares.

"Yes I believe it does. But that is not all, it speaks of how to stop the war as well and I think that if you wish to survive the chaos once again, than it is in our best interest to help stop the war."

"And how does the prophecy suggest that we do this?" Luis asked folding his arms.

"By finding what my minions also cannot find, the golden wolf. Something is stopping me from locating him or her, we need to find this wolf and bring them to power. If we don't it will be a most unfitting end to the victorious trio and their vampire kingdom. We must find and help the Golden Wolf if we are to do so." She finished.

"I suppose we must although it would be dreadfully tiring. I will go to Diana and see will her luck be any different, her gift of sight might open doors," Luis sighed.

Elliot turned from the group abruptly and bid them farewell telling them he would search on his end, he always did that whenever Diana's name was mentioned.

Since the two were not actual mates and were the product of an arranged marriage before they were all transformed on that fateful night, they had none of the attractions that mates had, instead they were like a human married couple who had skipped the courting stage. It was clear to all who saw her that Diana was very much in love with her husband but the same couldn't be said of Elliott. It was in his nature to be cold to everyone but the meter seemed to dip hundreds of degrees below zero whenever he spoke with or of her. Cold was no name for his behavior, icy blizzards on the Antarctic ice had more warmth than him.

Luis watched Elliot leave not bothering to wait for a reply with a frown on his face, turning to Eva and Michael he bid them au revoir and snapped his fingers disappearing in an instant.

On that cold windy night on the highest summit in the world stood the king and queen in silence. They looked out over the mountain as the snow and ice blew heavily their feet sinking into the white ground. The king face was blank as the snow around them and yet his mind was in turmoil. He desperately wanted to reach out and touch her, pull her close to him if only she wouldn't resist his caress, but he knew she would, she always would. He was sorry, how many times would he have to say it?! How many time would he have to beg?

The Queen stood beside him oblivious to his feelings, she was too busy urgently trying to fight of the same wave of pain that overtook her whenever she saw him. It would all come back to her, the agony, the loss, the horror, the nightmares and even betrayal, they would pile up on her almost suffocating her bringing back the unwanted memories of her weakness and fear back then. All of those things, all of it, he was the reason for them. She couldn't help herself, every time she thought she could forgive and move on the sight of him would bring the memories flying back the pain that came with them never far behind.

Swallowing deeply she called for her companion and at the acknowledgment from her moved away from the king to leave. Before she took a second step the king extended his arm grabbing hers and yanking her around to face him. They looked at each other, her eyes filling with the look of dismay her mouth wide open in horror at every passing second. Black furrowed brows framed his shiny eyes filled with misery at her look. Desperately she began to tug her arm anxious to get away from him.

"Please Eve I am sorry for everything, come home with me please I beg of you," He entreated his voice filled with tremors. The queen's movements became more frantic as she tried move away from him.

"Another century Michal, just one more. I can't now, please let me go," She pleaded.

He closed his eyes and let go, startled by the sudden freedom she stumbled back falling on the ground; dusting of herself he watched as she ran away from him for the tenth time. Within a flash she was gone and he was left wondering had she ever been there.

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Yes! Two. Comment if you see anything and vote if you like.