Victoria listened to Gerald talk for a good fifteen minutes and explain the Wynters’ plan. Still with a gun to his head courtesy of Ray. He had informed them that the Wynter clan were back with a vengeance after recruiting strong players, they had been turning humans into vampire soldiers for their cause and they were now descending on London with full force. Victoria was the key to keeping their army strong and healthy. They were here to exact vengeance on the Hygraces and any other clan in the vicinity who got in their way. Their motto was clear – join us or die. The Order could not stand against such a force. 

“Then why did my Father have to die?!” Victoria sought to understand. They sat around the table with their cups of tea and sandwiches. Gerald sighed. “If he exposed my plan to the hierarchy then he would have risked everything I worked for to keep The Order safe without knowing of our unofficial assistance in return for leaving us alive. I would pass them off as non-threats while they didn’t obliterate all Saints. If the Head knew…he’d go to war and we would not survive this. Alex was a necessary sacrifice. If you want revenge, I understand but I was trying to keep Ray and my fellow comrades and their families safe!” Gerald pleaded as Victoria’s eyes streamed with tears. There could have been another way, surely?

She grabbed Ray’s gun and pointed it at Gerald’s forehead and pressed it hard into his skull. She growled and her hand shook. Gerald was ready to die, he’d accepted his sins. She gritted her teeth as she let out a distressed scream and threw the gun across the room in pure rage. She couldn’t kill him. If he was right about the Wynters, they’d need all hands on deck to defend against them. Gerald let out a large sigh of relief.

“We fight. We cannot let them walk all over us!” Victoria put her foot down. She turned to the others, they saw the burning resolve in her eyes. “What doesn’t kill me…makes me stronger.” She declared with a confident nod and Diana nodded. Ray stood up. “I say we fight. All of us. The Order. The Hygraces. Anyone who would band with us to drive the Wynters back. If we don’t pull our forces together, we will all die at their hands.” 

Victoria nodded. “It won’t be easy to get Peter Hygrace on board, but we have to convince him…somehow.” 

“Let me try talking to Lord Hygrace. Parent and parent.” Diana spoke up and suggested as Victoria agreed with a smile. There was one other person she could call on. The father of her first born. Lord Frank Moncourier. She kept it to herself as she excused herself to write a letter. 

Ray then walked over and holstered his gun. “We need to tell Rogers.” He told Gerald. Samuel Rogers lead The Order currently. The Order was so old that its Founder was lost to the sands of time. As they left, leaving Victoria alone with her thoughts finally, she sat down and put her head in her hands. This was all such a mess and she didn’t know when she would get to see the man she loved again.