The Crimson Tale of Conquest

Lucilla sat across from the pirate dressed Vampire. Both of them stared the other down, their respective Crimson eyes studying each other. While Lucilla's eyes narrowed in her usual glare as she scowled, the woman in front of her smiled, her two fangs glinting in the dim light of the lamp Crystal. Lucilla was tense, Cristina wasn't, not wanting to sit here all-night Lucilla opened her mouth to speak of the reason for being here.

"Cristina-"

"Pleas, call me Cris." Cristina said cutting Lucilla off and winking at her.

"...Right.... Anyway, Cris, you know the different gangs in factions in this city, right?"

"Yes, I do." The blond woman said leaning back in her chair.

"We need information of them if you don't mind." Judieth said sitting on the couch to the left of Lucilla.

"We need to know which faction has a decent reputation and a good foothold in the city." Morella added sitting on the same couch as Judieth, closer to Lucilla.

"Possibly one that wouldn't try to kill a Demon on sight. But we understand that part might be harder." Yuki Chimed in sitting to the right of Lucilla.

Raising an eyebrow in question Cristina asked, "Why do you want to know that? What are you planning to do?"

"Either hire them or try to take over it ourselves." Lucilla answered. "We need an organized group that have leverage and influence in this city, even if it's just one quadrant. Actually, that might be better."

"There are various reasons for us to do this, but a big part of it is looking for competent people who are more willing to work with someone like Lucilla." Judieth said. "Most 'up standing' citizens wouldn't even associate with her after all."

Currently Lucilla was looking for allies for various reason. Another reason she's looking for these criminal organizations that have a foot hold in this city was so she can establish herself as someone hard to remove. She may have decided to take down the Church in the heat of the moment after her mother's death, but she later realized an easier way to keep her and her family safe, plus Judieth, was to make her a politically hard person to touch.

If she can make it so that getting rid of her would cause more problems than solve it, she'll be able to keep a relatively stable life for a time. Obviously, this solution wasn't permanent, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't come after her anyways, but it'll make them hesitate no matter what decision they make. That said, dismantling the Church was no longer her main goal, just a choice scenario. That made Judieth weirdly disappointed, but when Lucilla mentioned she'll still work on ways of accomplishing that goal anyway just in case the Doctor bounced right back to normal.

Either way all her current goals entail the same steps currently so she's working towards everything simultaneously. First things first: Finding allies. Criminals aren't the most trustworthy, but they can also be surprisingly loyal if you find the right people. They planned to sort these people out later; they need to establish a connection first.

"I see." After hearing their request Cristina's grin grew wider. "I already have the perfect organization in mind. They're even friendly with intelligent monsters and Demons."

"Really?!" Lucilla and the others exclaimed, surprised.

"Yep. Though settin up a meeting with the bosses will be a bit challenging." She smirked. "Not impossible though. Look, I can set a meeting up for ya'll but there's something you'll hafta do for me and them."

"Both of you?" Lucilla questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't ya worry, you won't have to do two different tasks, our goals align so it's the same request."

"We're happy to help anyway we can! As long as it gets us a meeting." Yuki Chimed in. Yet the look in her eyes turned fierce even as she smiled cheerily. Lucilla noticed her scent turning bitter once again. "Just, what do you want her to do? Is it dangerous?"

"Ah, well... most likely." She replied with a wry grin, before looking at Lucilla again. "Remember that night when you caught me hunt'n and I told ya about those disappearances?"

"Yeah?" The Silver haired woman responded questioningly.

"Well thems peoples bodies started show'n up suddenly looking completely drained."

"Drained? Like when a Vampire completely feeds off a person?" Lucilla asked thinking back to when she saw Cristina drink that poor girl's blood, killing her.

"Precisely. 'Cept it ain't us Vampires doing this. We managed to get hold of one of them husks. Turns out they were drained of their Mana not their blood. Plus they lacked any fang wounds."

"Okay, but why would the boss of this gang care?" Judieth asked. "And are you sure there isn't just some rouge Vampire running around?"

"... Well the gang is actually run by two people... Vampires to be exact." Cristina explained hesitantly. "Now I work very closely with them and together we make sure the local Vampire population in this City don't do nothin to stir up trouble for the rest of us."

"Ah, so that's why this organization doesn't have a problem with monsters and Demons." Judieth said nodding in understanding.

"So why do you want us to figure this out then? Why does this even matter to you?" Lucilla asked.

"Well, it still looks like a Vampire is responsible. When something like this starts happening it makes them little folk scared. Then when they are scared the o'thority start gettin involved." Answered the blond pirate woman. "Honestly you stir'n up trouble refocused the public's eye from this for a while, give'n us some breathing room for a short amount of time. So, thanks." She thanked them, dropping her strange accent.

Not expecting a genuine emotion to come from this woman in front of her Lucilla and the others were temporarily lost for words. Cristina up to this point has put on a front, while she didn't necessarily lie in the things she said, her personal was completely fake. Cristina hasn't shown an ounce of her true emotional state since they've met. The fact she thanked them with what was possibly her true self was a testament to how stressed she was at this point.

"Um, you're welcome?" Lucilla hesitantly answered.

"Well then, will you help or not Lulu?" Cristina asked with a smile, her strange dialect coming back.

Frowning Lucilla elected to ignore Cristina's weird nickname to continue the conversation. "We'll help, just as long as we get that meeting." Lucilla said.

"Don't worry, you'll get that meeting, guarantee. Now then if that's all I think this little meeting about over, wouldn't ya say?" Cristina said with a smile. "I'll contact ya'll later with some extra information. There's some stuff I need to do before this partnership can begin."

"Mm. Good night."

"See ya~."

"Thank you for having us."

"Later."

Saying their goodbyes, the group left the building to head home. Walking down the empty street in the dead of night Lucilla looked up to the sky. The silver moon was behind the clouds casting a dark shadow over the city. She wasn't sure what this world had in store for her, but she was determined to make sure everyone she cares for makes it to the other side. No matter the cost.

________________________

---Cristina POV---

"Jay."

"Yeah Cris?"

Adrian who was reading at the front desk looked up from his book to see his sister. Currently her expression was in direct contrast to the one Lucilla and the others normally saw. It was one full of sorrow. The frown that now dominated her face was so prominent you would think she's never smiled in her life. She didn't cry but looking into her Crimson eyes one could see the unshed tears that lay behind them.

"We have some work cut out for us, let's get going." She said her strange dialect gone.

"What did you guys talk about?" Adrian asked, sitting up in his chair.

"Well..." Cristina proceeded to explain what had transpired in the meeting. After hearing her out her grew silent in contemplation.

"Kinda similar to how he started out huh." He finally said.

"Yeah. Though she's definitely different from him. Less radical and not interested in causing terror."

"Do you think if she would ever rise in power like him, she'll allow Vampires to stand on equal footing as the other races?" He asked looking at his sister, gauging her reaction.

"I'm not sure. Guess we'll see." Cristina said with a tired shrug." Anyway, lets head to the Headquarters we have a lot to do."

Cristina didn't think Lucilla and that man's personality matched up. No, she was sure they were fundamentally different from the man Eldon Vesh. He considered the modern world a curse, Lucilla seems to only want peace for those close to her. How she'll go about that though was still unknown. Eldon Vesh also started by gaining influence within the Criminal society after all. Though currently this didn't matter, she had work to do so she pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind.

"let's get going." The blond man said, turning off the lights.

With that the two Vampiric siblings melted into the shadows, leaving the building completely empty, the only indication they were there was the light stirring of dust.