"When you're out there, you have to give your best. Otherwise, you die!"

Dark! A complete darkness all around me!

The only thing Max was capable to think of was darkness. Running. He had to run away from the danger because he simply knew she wouldn't help him this time. She wouldn't go after him and she definitely wouldn't kill these vampires for him. He was on his own now...alone.

Max could hear the sound of trees and shrubs swaying on the wind. He also could hear a light running steps but he couldn't say who was running behind him. It could be someone from his team or the enemy.

Then, Max turned around and saw red eyes, staring at him angrily while trying to catch him. He ran faster and his breath became even more unsteady.

"Amelia!" he shouted.

Nothing. There was only a dark forest all around him.

Max was sure this was it. This was his last day on the Earth.

As he was trying to escape a red vampire behind him, he suddenly felt dry branches under his feet. He tripped on it and flew forward. A loud yelp left his mouth as he landed to the firm ground. His face was burning and he was sure it was full of scratches.

He rolled a few feet away and then finally stopped. He groaned laying on his back.

A person running behind him stopped. Max could only hear heavy steps approaching him. He was breathing so hard.

Then, Max finally opened his eyes and saw the same red eyes staring at him. But this time, there were not only red eyes there. It was also a blade in his hand. The vampire raised it and Max closed his eyes again, praying this would be fast.

Time passed so slowly. Seconds felt like years.

When he didn't feel sharp pain going through his body, Max opened one eye and saw lightness. Not only light. He also could see a ceiling of the training room and a pair of well-known blue eyes staring at him.

"Rise and shine, sunshine!" Amelia said cheerfully with a big, creepy smile on her face.

He let out a breath in relief, his head hitting the dusty ground of training room.

"For a moment I thought you would leave me here alone," he managed to utter, before taking a few more breaths.

Amelia offered her hand to him, helping him get back on his feet. Then she turned around.

"Okay guys, the game is over," she said. "Gather around me, c'mon. I have a few things to say."

Max drifted off the dust and once again looked around. He wasn't in a real forest, no. He was actually in a training room of a big complex in Montana, in the middle of his training program. There was only a floor adjusted to the forest conditions and the room also had a few bushes. Everything else was a hologram. A game.

A few of his fellow colleagues stood right next to him, waiting for Amelia to start talking.

"Is adrenaline still running through your veins?" she asked them, smiling.

All of them just nodded.

"Well, remember this feeling well. This is how you're going to feel every time you step on the firm ground of a battlefield, eye to eye with a red vampires. What I saw today was," she paused and looked around. It seemed to Max she was looking for something or someone. "Where the hell is Boden?"

All of the trainees exchanged glances but remained silent. Amelia's eyebrows furrowed but in the next few seconds, she was already right up to the big bush, growing a few feet away from them. She reached behind and pulled a distraught and very scared Boden who apparently was crouching behind it all the time.

She dragged him by his collar and they both stood in front of them.

"This was the third time this week I found you hiding behind bushes," she stated calmly. Max couldn't see even a bit of anger on her face. "You're lucky this was only a game. You think you could get away with this in a real fight?"

As the younger vampire stayed silent, she let him go and he joined the rest of his fellow colleagues. His head was low and it seemed he didn't want to look anyone in the eye.

Amelia was completely silent, observing them.

"I understand you're scared," she started. "Well, some of you are. Some of you are confused and the others just want to prove themselves. What happened in here today was a game, a hologram. What's gonna happen tomorrow, or a day after that, or a year after that is gonna be a real life. There's gonna be a real red one standing in front of you, just waiting for the best opportunity to kill you. They don't know what feelings are, they don't have mercy and they don't think. They act on their urges. To them, we are the same as humans. You have to be better, faster and more deadly than they are. When you're out there, you have to give your best. Otherwise...you die."

Max could see some of his friends nodding their heads in approval of Amelia's words. The other looked scared, on the verge of passing out. Boden looked particularly upset.

"You all are still at the beginning. You still have time to decide whether you want this or not. Think, guys. Think well," she finished.

As none of them said anything else, she dismissed them.

-

Amelia observed all of her trainees slowly leaving the training room. Truth to be told, she felt like a teacher in high school. All of these young ones were still very green when it comes to fighting red vampires.

She knew she couldn't compare them to herself. Amelia was always fascinated with the whole vampire race. For a long time, humans had no idea vampires were hiding among them, living in shadows, in the dark.

Well, at least until a personal war between two brothers, Victor and Janus resulted with revealing their race's existence to the world and the separation of blue vampires from red ones, due to the strong disagreement on how they should treat humans.

Blue ones were capable to feel and to act on their feelings. They had a conscience. On the other hand, red ones were acting on their urges. Amelia always considered them real monsters. Animals with no capability of thinking. They thought vampires were a superior species. The strongest one. Amelia couldn't say she remembered times when they weren't in war with the other half of their race.

The eternal war. Never decreasing and never stopping.

Under Janus's leadership, blue vampires were protectors...saviors. They wanted to help as much as possible and through that, reduce the death red ones were shedding everywhere around. This was what warriors were doing. They were fighters and Amelia herself was their leader.

Thinking about all of this, she returned to her first thought. She couldn't compare new trainees to herself. Why?

The answer was always laying in her blood. She was, after all, Victor's daughter. A daughter of the most powerful red vampire in the world. Her mixed blood gave her a remarkable strength. Her abilities were stronger, better and bigger.

Boden leaving with his eyes looking at the floor started her a little.

"You, come with me," she ordered him, turned around and started leaving, not bothering to look back. She knew he would follow her. And she was right.

She could hear light steps behind herself.

Boden didn't try to catch up with her. It seemed that the younger vampire was quite satisfied with walking behind her.

They left the training room and now were going through a long hall. Amelia was observing well-known walls. They were full of pictures from different places. She was on a lot of them. Here and there were windows but right now, there were thick metal blinds on them. They were the best protection from the sun which was just about to rise.

Amelia was already tired. She wanted her bed but she also knew there was still a lot of work to do no matter of the dawn approaching fast. The night was full of activities, training with potential warriors being the most exhausting.

They finally got in one of the big lobbies of the main building in the entire complex. In the middle of it were big stairs which led them to the second floor.

She could see Boden carefully observing closed doors. The second floor was full of offices, meeting and working rooms. It wasn't the boy's first time to be here. He already visited Amelia's office, right before the start of his training period. She wanted to see each and every one of them in person.

Soon, she stopped in front of the familiar door, opening them and letting Boden in.

Her office wasn't so big. She only had one bookshelf, leather couch, a bigger desk and a chair in it. There was no any photos or her personal things.

Young vampire was just standing in the middle of a room, while Amelia passed by the couch and sat behind her table.

His eyes left the floor and fell on a bookshelf. More precisely, one of the books about martial arts. Amelia followed his gaze.

"Go on," she said. "You can check it out but I'll have to disappoint you. Martial arts aren't very useful on the battlefield. The only helpful thing is knowing how to punch, stab or shoot."

Boden immediately looked back at his boss.

"Let me tell you how happy I am for being able to learn from you," he said.

Amelia almost rolled her eyes. That was what all of them said to her. She knew they were expressing their respect to her.

"Sit down, Boden," she replied. He listened to her. "We have to discuss a few things."

She could see discomfort written all over his face. Boden knew what she's going to ask him.

"First things first, how did you end up in this training program?"

He shifted in his seat. She could smell nerves.

"Frank offered me to get in and I accepted."

Amelia didn't even make a sound. Now a lot of things were clear.

"He offered you? You mean, he forced you." Amelia stated, making him gasp. She sensed he was nervous. He kept rubbing his sweaty hands together, so she decided to take him out of his misery. "Look, I understand you're scared because he has probably threatened you into this somehow. I'm already very familiar with Frank's way of "operating". You have to tell me what he told you so I could help you get away from this because, honestly," she paused a little. There's no use in beating around the bush. She was always straightforward with everyone. "You're not the best choice for this job. You're scared, you're panicking and the only thing you can get out of this is getting yourself killed by someone."

She knew Boden was now listening. He sat there with his mouth wide open at her lack of boldness.

"I don't want to get in trouble with Frank. He told me," he stopped talking. Amelia leaned ahead, her elbows on the desk.

"He told you what?"

Boden was silent for a few seconds but then, he just sighed, looking at his lap.

"He told me he needs to complete some stupid task and bring a few new potential warriors. Apparently, I was in a good shape so he told me to show up on the orientation and to keep my mouth shut unless I don't want to end up dead," he spilled everything.

She took a sharp breath, silently cursing her fellow warrior. Frank had no shame, let alone conscience.

"You're out of this training program. Effective immediately. You're no longer a warrior trainee and the only thing left for you to do is to return all the equipment we gave you. Go back to the training area and do that."

The other vampire exhaled in relief. She could see his facial features softening.

"What about Frank?" he asked.

Amelia waved her hand.

"I'll take care of him, don't worry," she replied. "Do as I told you and see you in some other opportunity."

Boden got up but before he left, his eyes once again ended up on a bookshelf. Amelia didn't miss it.

"You can take the book. I have a plenty of them."

He smiled, thanked her and then left her office.

As soon as the door was closed, she sighed in exhaustion and leaned her head on the desk. Frank was once again pain in the ass. They had so many things to take care of and to be completely honest, she didn't have time or patience to deal with him.

Her phone's ring startled her and she jumped up, straightening herself. Then, she picked up the device and saw her cousin's name on the screen.

Amelia: "Damien?!"

Damien: "Where are you? Have you forgot we have a meeting with my father?"

She jumped from her chair.

Amelia: "Shit. You already here?"

Damien: "Yeah. Meeting room, second floor."

She was already at the door.

Amelia: "Be there in a second."

She hung up and literally sprinted down the hall, toward the meeting room. Both, Janus and his son Damien, her cousins, were already waiting for her. Every Monday, in the dawn they had meetings to discuss previous week's events or any individual stuff that might have happened.

For the previous few days, Janus was in Helena, organizing meetings and dinners with Montana's civil servants. They discussed all the important things connected to the Blue complex. The entire complex made of a few buildings and residential settlements was built in close proximity of state border to Canada. The main problem was the fact that the buildings were in Baldy Mountain, between three National Forests.

Montana State was worried about environmental protection so Janus went there to convince them they weren't doing anything objectionable and of course, to maintain long-term good relationships with humans.

As she approached the door of a meeting room, she knocked and they peeked through. Janus and Damien were already sitting at the table and waiting for her.

"Oh, Amelia, finally. Come, join us," the slightly older vampire said, pointing out to the empty chair beside him.

She smiled. It was good to see Janus again. Her uncle looked like a middle-aged man with only a few gray strands of hair and a great physical condition. No matter how old he was, he was still very much dangerous and deadly.

She approached them and sat down.

"Where were you?" Damien asked.

Amelia remembered her previous conversation with Boden and frowned.

"Cleaning up Frank's mess. As always,"

At this statement, Janus rose his head from the papers he had in front of himself and looked at his niece.

"What did he do now?"

She squeezed her hands into fists.

"He forced one of our trainees into this program. He somewhat threatened him into this."

She could see Janus taking a sharp breath.

"Can you handle this or do you need me?"

Amelia shook her head.

"No, I can handle it myself," she responded. "I swear Frank's gonna regret this and every stupid thing he had ever done."

Janus straightened several papers and coughed to clear his throat.

"Great," he said. "Then we can take care of business. First things first, I want to know all about the current situation on the field."

Amelia nodded her head in Damien's direction, giving him a sign to start talking.

"Well," her cousin started. "We finally managed to completely take over Hot Springs and we now have a full control over Niarada, Hot Springs, Plains, Weeksville, and Bend. All the important fortified field strongholds when it comes to protecting our complex."

Janus nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Any losses?" he asked, making Amelia smirk.

"None," she replied. "But the main problem is definitely the fact we're in the middle of nowhere. There's simply too many abandoned houses or smaller places where they can hide and organize themselves. In fact, more and more people are deliberately leaving this area because we're here and that's what attracts red ones. We can't control everything and we definitely can't save everyone. We barely manage to hold it together now. And the government is already very angry because of the emigration."

Janus shifted in his seat.

"Okay, I agree. But that's why we're recruiting. The key factor is to increase the number of warriors."

Amelia clasped her hands together.

"Yes, but they won't be ready either for a year," she replied. "And I'm definitely not gonna be the one sending them out there alone. We're trying to stop the disaster, not to induce one."

She knew she got him. Janus didn't have a choice but to agree with her.

"I know and trust me, I understand but not that we can just move in somewhere in the middle of Helena," he explained. "Again, we need more warriors. Do what the hell ever you need to do, speed up their training process, I don't know but find us more competent warriors."

She nodded.

"I agree. We're too vulnerable because they have access from all sides. It's forest with a few small places. It's a good place to hide but not so good when they know about it."

"Great. Then we have a deal. Since Hot Springs is now our biggest stronghold, how are you planning to protect it?"

Damien leaned against the table.

"Considering the number of our available warriors, we have no choice but to organize a watch," he replied. "We have to have more than two people out there all the time. Knowing red ones and Victor, they won't give up on trying to take it back."

The older vampire nodded in agreement. Amelia was quite satisfied with the meeting and everything they discussed. Janus seemed to agree with them on everything. She knew the situation wasn't ideal but they managed to protect themselves and the state for so long so there was definitely no reason to stop functioning well now.

"Looks like you guys have everything figured out. Amelia, you're doing a remarkable job, despite the lack of people," he said and smiled. "I'm so proud of you both."

She and Damien smiled back. Janus always told them that after their meetings.

"Can we go now? I'm exhausted," Damien asked, stretching out.

Amelia expected Janus to dismiss them but he coughed and looked at them. She immediately realized there was something else he wanted to discuss.

"Actually," he started. "I have something more to say. While I was in Helena, we discussed a situation not only on the national level but on the entire USA level."

Amelia raised both of her eyebrows in surprise and curiosity. Did the president contact Janus?

He sighed.

"The situation is complicated. There are much more attacks on people by red ones and the USA government wants us to help them. We already discussed our lack of people but I'm willing to ask Orion for help. They don't have such a crisis in Europe and a lot of his warriors could be helpful here."

This made Amelia swallow hard.

"Are we talking about a possible apocalypse here?" Damien asked with his mouth wide open.

His father nodded.

"We're not excluding this possibility. You both know red ones are strong enough to severely harm the human race," Janus continued. "So they want us to organize some sort of evacuation and to put on safe as many people as possible. Here, inside the complex."

Amelia instantly shook her head. She knew this was impossible.

"We're not big enough for this," she stated.

"I agree," Janus immediately responded. "But we came up with a plan."

"What plan?" Damien asked.

Amelia could see Janus was hesitating on this. She knew she wasn't going to like this.

"A few of...high-positioned people offered me money for a place to stay," he finally uttered.

Amelia took a sharp breath. She indeed didn't like this.

"Can you explain what this "high position" actually means?" she asked.

Janus nervously rubbed his hands.

"Celebrities," he answered. "This is about celebrities."

This was it. Amelia jumped up in anger, leaning both of her hands on the table. She was furious and her face was probably all red.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she shouted. "We're supposed to help people and keep them safe, not to play bodyguards to a few inflated jerks who think they're God's gift to the entire human race. Are you really expecting me to tell my warriors they have to take care of them?"

Janus raised his hand.

"Please, sit down. You didn't even see the names on the list."

Amelia got even more furious and started to walk in circles.

"This is bullshit!"

Damien leaned forward.

"I know we need financial help but dad, I'm with her on this," he said calmly. "This isn't our duty. I'd much rather help someone who doesn't have a place to go or enough money."

Janus shook his head in disapproval. Amelia knew he had already made up his mind.

"Just listen to me, okay? This is a great opportunity. We're gonna take this money to invest it in infrastructure. It's gonna help us save more lives. It's a good, guys. Trust me," he explained better.

Amelia raised her arms, feeling helpless. She could see Damien carefully observing her.

"I'm out of here," she said. "This is solely on you, Janus. I'm not gonna stand there and tell them they're gonna be nannies."

She turned toward the door and flew through them, out on the hallway. She was completely outraged and simply couldn't believe Janus just came up with an idea like that. Their situation was pretty messed up but Amelia strongly believed in their strength and will. They had the ability to solve it without this.

As she walked down the hallway, she saw Frank in the distance. The vampire was talking to some other warrior. He had a relaxed facial expression which made Amelia even angrier. She ran ahead, getting to him in seconds.

She grabbed his collar, pushing him up against the wall.

"What the..." he started but she cut him off.

"I'm so fed up with your shit!" she literally yelled in his face. "You're such an idiot, incompetent fool. I should've left you out on the battlefield when I had a chance."

Frank grabbed her hand, trying to reduce the pressure on his throat but Amelia was simply too strong.

"Wha...what have I done?"

Amelia got in his face, her canines getting bigger in anger.

"And you have the decency to ask me that?" she asked him. "You forced Boden to join warriors. I've had enough. You're..."

Suddenly, she felt two strong arms grabbing and separating her from Frank. The other vampire fell down and coughed, holding his throat.

"Stop," Damien said. Amelia focused on his cousin's face to calm herself down. "You're angry and frustrated with my father. I know Frank screwed up but killing him won't solve anything. We need warriors, Amelia."

She took a few deep breaths. She needed to calm down before she would do something stupid.

In meantime, Frank got up.

"What the hell is your problem? You're a lunatic!" he shouted.

Damien faced him.

"Go away before I punch you myself," he hissed.

Frank was staring at them for a few more moments but then it seemed that he decided to listen to Damien and started leaving as his head shook in disbelief.

After Frank disappeared, Damien focused on Amelia again. She was silent.

"Get your shit together," he said, his face completely serious. "No matter of what my father decides, well find a way to work this out, okay? Us needing any kind of financial help isn't questionable anymore. It's a fact."

Amelia exhaled air she was holding and nodded which made Damien smile.

"Where's Janus now?"

"He left to sleep. He said he's gonna have a meeting with all the warriors tomorrow," he explained and then led her toward the stairs. "C'mon, we should go to the sleeping rooms too. You need your sleep before you kill someone. You're too cranky when you're tired."

She chuckled a little and allowed Damien to lead her to sleeping rooms inside the main complex building. A lot of warriors had a habit to oversleep here because they often stayed at meetings or training sessions for too long. Going out after the sun rose would end up with them being barbecued to the bones.

Damien managed to find an empty room and they both entered it. There wasn't any furniture besides two beds, placed opposite to each other.

Amelia took off her boots.

"God, I need a shower," she uttered.

"Yeah, that's gonna have to wait for a little. We're gonna get up early enough to go to our houses and take a shower."

She agreed and then lay down. Her eyes found the ceiling in the dark. She could hear some commotion from the other side of the room. Damien was probably trying to find the most comfortable position.

"Have you seen the list?" she asked.

There was a complete silence for a few moments.

"Yes." he finally replied.

Amelia just nodded, despite Damien not being able to see her.

"Who's on it?"

"There's a lot of people on it actually. And a few really hot girls. You'll see tomorrow," he answered, making her chuckle.

Amelia closed her heavy eyelids, finally letting her completely exhausted body to rest. Due to everything that already happened and everything that would happen next, she needed her sleep.

All of her worries were now leaving Amelia's head. But little did she know how many new ones of they Janus's plan would bring.

-

Author's note:

This was the first chapter. I hope you guys got an idea what this is going to be about. I know that now it doesn't look like a romance story but it is, I promise. This was just an intro. If you liked it, please, consider to give it a vote or leave a comment. It would make me so happy.

I already mentioned that updates on this story will have to be once a week so I guess the next update is going to be on next Sunday!

Until then as always, stay true to yourself and have a nice day.