Angel Vicky

~Bonsoir~

Couple weeks for the initial fight where we decide if we win or not.

~Bonsoir~

If you want him to run off before she gets there that's also fine. Otherwise if he remains, she'll send out a note to rendezvous at the Shire again.

~Bonsoir~

And so, their training and strategy began. For the next few days Ray spent time teaching Victoria how to fight a vampire, what weaknesses to look for and what weapons to use in which situations. Meanwhile Gerald gathered every piece of intelligence he could on the current whereabouts of the Wynters and Spencer’s latest movements. Scouts sent carrier pigeons across the city with notes that the Wynters will arrive by boat to Southampton and take a train upto London within the next two weeks. They didn’t send over their clan in groups, it seemed one by one, they had crossed from France.

Lady Diana hoped her letter to the Moncourier clan in Paris would reach them in time to lend aid. It was time Victoria met her older brother. A half vampire they named James whom was taken away shorty after Diana gave birth. She barely survived the pregnancy, but Alex was there for her. She even had a C-section scar across her tummy where they had to cut the baby out, it was draining too much of her blood. Her second pregnancy came with complications too and they had to remove Victoria the same way, and then Diana was too badly haemorrhaged to have any more children. She was lucky to be alive. Thanks to the doctors of The Order with more advanced practices and teachings from ancient times being kept alive through their millions of tomes in their vast library. Something about transformation rituals had to be in there.

Victoria had a quiet moment to herself and perched herself at the piano to play something. She’d been afraid to touch the piano since her father died but it was time to pick up his mantle and honour his love of piano, of which he taught her well.

Via Purifico

Diana came down the stairs and watched her with a smile, she held a paper in her hand, which Gerald gave to her. It held accounts of the Wynter’s movements. This copy was meant for Peter Hygrace himself. Sharing their information first and being forthcoming about any intel should be received as a token of a gesture of forming an alliance. Seeing Victoria would only anger him further, but Diana was the current head of the household.

“Beautiful, as always.” She commented and walked over to her daughter, who harboured more scratches and bruises than ever thanks to her hard training. As much as she ached, her determination to be a better fighter was more important than her health. If she couldn’t defend herself or fight, she was dead anyway. Victoria noticed the note in Diana’s hands. “Is that for Lord Hygrace?”

“Yes.” Diana kissed her forehead. “I’m going over there now to give it to them.”

“Say hello to Vail for me. If you see him…” Victoria’s eyes glazed over with sadness. Diana sighed. “I’ll try.” She knew how her daughter really felt about the vampire, which Diana admittedly didn’t like but she also knew how stubborn Victoria was. She knew she loved him very much, she found some sketches she made of his portrait from his image committed to her memory. Victoria couldn’t ask Vail to meet up with her when she sported so many injuries, it would worry him no doubt.

“Wish me luck.” Diana sighed and Ray was ready to escort her to the Hygrace manor.

Angel Vicky's Sanctuary

~Bonsoir~

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.

~Bonsoir~

Victoria, Ray and Gerald returned to Crest Manor in a carriage, they all remained silent as Victoria glared at Gerald in the back of the carriage. She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. Ray felt the tension between them, he also felt it between him, Gerald and Victoria’s lover, Vail. Gerald noticed Victoria’s hard cold stare. “My dear, we are going to be spending a lot of time together in the next few weeks, so I suggest you work through whatever anger you are feeling.”

“You killed my father. And Ray knows. I found my father’s journal. Once I expose you to the rest of the Order you will be branded a traitor!” Victoria spat, yet Gerald merely huffed. “They wouldn’t believe a vampire sympathiser over me.” He sneered.

“But they’ll believe me.” Ray piped up and glared at him. “Alex was a damned fine Saint and you murdered him in cold blood.” Gerald gritted his teeth. “You dare go against me, Lord Pierce?”

Suddenly Gerald lunged at him and grabbed him by the throat. “I MADE YOU.” Gerald growled as Ray clutched at his hands on his neck. Victoria screamed out and kicked Gerald in the face with her boot. “GET OFF HIM!” It made Gerald loosen his grip, Ray pulled out a pistol and pointed it between his eyes. “You will stand trial and face justice Lord Alabaster, for what you have done!”

Victoria nodded as she panted with adrenaline as Gerald glared at Ray. The coach pulled up outside the manor. Ray held the gun to Gerald’s head as Victoria hopped out and finally, she could run thanks to the surge of adrenaline in her veins. She ran right up to the door where her mother waited for her. She had been so worried about her mother being left alone with Gerald and Lord Spencer. “Mother!” She ran right into her arms and Diana cried. Until now Ray had kept quiet about Gerald’s deed but Victoria was the one to inform Diana of the treachery. Diana looked at Gerald with pain. “You took my husband away from me, you let Spencer feed on my only daughter. You are nothing but a monster.” She walked up to him and gave him the hardest slap of his life. It paled in comparison what Victoria wanted to do to him.

“Listen, if you turn me in now, the Wynter’s win. They’ll take over London and you won’t be safe anywhere from them.” Gerald sighed. Victoria put her hands on her hips and used a stern voice as she demanded more answers. “Start talking…”

~Bonsoir~

Victoria gasped as Peter stormed his way in. She saw that look in his eyes of nearly pure rage. She wasn’t aware he’d still be able to smell the sickly sweet pheromones from their night of passion from hours earlier. But it was obvious that they’d slept together as they were both naked and only covered by the bedding. Peter was wrong about one thing, however, that he thought Victoria was taking advantage of Vail. Even if she resisted and told him no, had she denied him her blood in the first place after agreeing to let him drink from her, he still would have lusted for it and tried to take her blood by force. He made it clear he wouldn’t let her go back on her word before they became entangled in the bedsheets in The Shire.

Victoria held the bed covers up over her modest bosom as Peter told them to make themselves decent. She didn’t realise Gerald would also be coming with Ray. If she saw him again, she wasn’t sure she could contain her anger at him. She noticed Peter didn’t move from the door even as Vail told him to give them privacy. He would not budge though. She sighed as she glanced at Vail. She dragged the bed covers with her from the bed and kept it wrapped around her like a towel as she stepped into her undergarments and slid her dress over her without bothering to add the undergarment of her corset and merely left it strewn across the floor. She could pick it up later or Vail could have a servant deliver it to Crest Manor.

Her dress hung loosely, not showing off any curves as she looked at the book on the floor. She stood in front of it to hide it from Peter’s view before Vail quickly kicked it under the bed out of sight as he got dressed. She slipped her boots on and looked at Peter, her hair was still quite frizzy and messy but for the sake of mere transport back to her home, she needn’t look presentable. Her mother would take care of it once she returned, no doubt. “I only trust Lord Pierce. I don’t want Alabaster anywhere near me.” She told the Hygrace clan leader. “He killed my father. He was his best friend and he stabbed him in the back. What chance do you think you’ll have against The Order with him at the helm?” But with someone like her at the helm of the organisation, she’d make sure the Hygraces were safe. First, she needed rid of Gerald.

She followed Peter down the stairwell and was greeted with a solemnly expressed Ray Pierce and a smiling Gerald Alabastor. A rather smug smile that had said he’d won this round. He held out his hand for her to take. “Lady Crest, it is so good to see you…unharmed.” He shot a warning glare at Peter.

My Father’s Murderer

Reluctantly she begrudgingly edged toward him. But she did not take his hand, rather she took Ray’s hand. She trusted him as if he were a brother. “”Thank God, you’re okay. I was worried when you were taken…”

“I was taken to somewhere safe from Spencer.” She glared at Gerald, who remained stoic and silent on the situation. “Well we best be off. Thank you for seeing to her health, she looks much better now.” He extended his thanks to Lord Peter Hygrace. “Let’s get you home, My Lady.” Gerald snapped his fingers and Ray turned to follow him out of the estate. But before he escorted Lady Victoria away, she turned back to look at Vail one last time. “I love you, Vail.” She whispered, but he would hear it with his keen vampiric hearing.

~Bonsoir~

It's one thing to bring her back to the manor but to sleep with her under his father's roof is a very big rebellion.

~Bonsoir~

Omg Peter is so furious lol!

~Bonsoir~

Victoria had everything going against her, she thought she could seek refuge at the Hygrace manor but instead she was met with the callous heart of Peter. Even if she were successfully turned, would he still want her as part of the clan? Somehow, she had to make it worth his while, see her as a valuable asset. Which meant keeping The Order off their backs and keeping the Wynters away from them so that his son would be safe. She was going to prove that she cared more about Vail than he knew. If that meant keeping her distance so he was out of harm’s way, then so be it. She knew Vail would defy his father and sneak out to see her at first opportunity. He was head strong and there was only so much she could do without forcibly telling him to stay away. She wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to push him away, she wouldn’t want to do it.

She enjoyed his soothing strokes across her back and the sound of his voice muffled by her locks. Feeling his breath trickle along her hair. He told her it mattered not if they would be related or not, though unlikely. She likened it to a human blood transfusion. The human adopted the foreign blood into their system, if compatible. It bolstered their own blood cells to create more cells until it was back up to full capacity. But Vail said he did not even wish to try. The risk was too great. She smiled though, when he said he didn’t want to lose her. Did that mean he cared about her as much as she cared for him? Well she didn’t want to die either, not this young. She had so many things left to do and accomplish.

She noticed he had to turn away suddenly and swallowed hard as if fighting his primal instincts to feed on her. She had seen him struggle with it for the past few days. She was impressed he had managed to keep it all under control so far. There was always that risk though…

As she contemplated this, he turned back to kiss her without warning. He fully leaned over her and made his intentions known as his kiss was full of passion, unlike before when she had seduced him into it, this time he made the decision on his own. Now that she was strong enough to at least kiss back, she wrapped her arms firmly around his neck and the hand that grasped the back of her leg lifted up so he could reach further up…

---

The next morning, Victoria was awoken abruptly by a loud knock at the door. She looked up, feeling light headed and weak still from her slumber. She had no clothes on underneath the bed covers thanks to Vail the previous night. Although Vail had taken her to heaven and back again, she doubted his father would appreciate finding them in bed together like this. Since it was he who knocked impatiently at the door.