Alexander's POV:

Guilt was riding high on my chest as I sat in the dark, knowing I was leaving in only a few hours. We were leaving at 6 am, a little before the alarm would wake Arianne up. Of course, she'd be furious when she arose from her slumber to find that I was gone after I promised her I'd stay here, she'd get over it after a while. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too mad...

I always felt a little weird for being awake while she slept, it felt like I was watching her too much, but I envied her. I missed sleeping regularly, it was nice to break away from reality. Now, I could go nights without even feeling the slightest bit drowsy. When I did sleep, nightmares overshadowed my dreams. There was no winning. The only time I felt sane at night was in her presence just... being beside her. The way her face scrunched up when she stirred from her sleep slightly, the way her chest slowly rose and fell and just how soft her face was; she was so beautiful, and I'd be an idiot to let Austin capture me again.

This wasn't only for Arianne, this was for the benefit of everyone and I couldn't mess up. Austin was too big of a risk to keep around for much longer. I had to get my revenge, despite the General's stern warnings not to kill him.

The time to be in the hangar, ready to leave, came much sooner than I'd like. Sergeant Bailey, the squad leader made sure we were all present, had all our gear, and knew what the mission was. How could we forget?

There were multiple rows of VTOL aircraft, ones I'd never seen before. They looked extremely expensive. I couldn't help but wonder where the funding came from.

"We got this, don't even worry," Jayden said to Leyton just beside me, "with the Incredible Hulk, no one can stop us."

"I thought I said not to call me that?" I rolled my eyes at him, even in this serious situation he was making jokes at my expense.

"It's a cute nickname," Jayden winked at me. "When you get angry, you change. Maybe not big and green, but the concept is the same."

"Shut up."

"C'mon, I'm messing with you! We're finally going to do something together," he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer towards him than I would've liked.

"Yeah, and hopefully not tugging each other off," said the General who had just entered the room.

"That's not my job anymore, Arianne has taken the throne," retorted Jayden, followed by a dramatic sigh.

I stared at him incredulously, my mouth ajar. Even the General flashed him a confused, borderline concerned look. What would possess him to say something like that? I was straight, but if I was gay, Jayden would be the last guy I'd let-

I shook my head to clear it of those thoughts. They were not what I needed; I had to focus on the mission and getting it over and done with. We couldn't afford to make any mistakes, not now when we could be so close to winning.

The General's cold stare lingered on Jayden before he walked along the line the eight of us formed, staring each of us in the eyes as he passed. He then came back down, checking our gear and making sure we were ready.

My body was rigid with anxiety, but I couldn't let him see. I couldn't let anyone see. I had to do this.

"You know your mission: capture and extract Prince Austin of Drecott alive, and try to extract the hostages. Do not alert civilians. Do not attack civilians. Body cams stay on at all times. Do not put the mission at risk. I'll be watching at all times. The chopper is waiting in the bay. Good luck," the General stated, standing at the front. He saluted us and we did the same back as we headed to the helicopter.

*

It wasn't until I was in the helicopter and we were taking off that my mind finally wandered to Arianne again, who'd be waking up soon to realise I wasn't there anymore.

Leyton must've caught wind of my sudden realisation as he shot me a look as if to ask 'what's wrong?'.

"If Austin doesn't kill me, then Arianne most certainly will," was all I said, guilt (and fear) running through my veins all over again.

He cracked up, not even trying to console me, instead, he agreed.

My earpiece began to ring and I looked down at my smartwatch to see it was the general. I rolled my eyes, we'd hardly even left. What could he possibly want so soon?

"General Cory Phaeus?" I ask, trying to mask the annoyance in my voice.

"I'm not the General..." That voice was not the General's, it was female, and it wasn't Iyeong, although the tone was very similar- on the verge of snapping. It was Arianne.

My head snapped up and I locked eyes with Leyton, who pursed his lips and looked away, removing himself from the situation. She sounded furious and I knew I was in for a ride.

"You couldn't leave a note?"

"You wouldn't have been any less angry with me if I wrote you a whole essay to explain myself."

I heard her exhale heavily down the line, "Alex..." was it disappointment? Anger? Annoyance? I couldn't tell. But I knew whatever it was, it wasn't good. She wasn't happy, and in my mind, I promised I'd make it up to her whichever way she wanted. This would put so much burden on her at this moment, so much fear and anxiety, but only for a moment. This was for the greater good.

"I'm the prince, I have to."

"I can't lose you," her voice cracked a little and that guilty feeling intensified, making my stomach knot up.

"You won't."

I couldn't make her any promises, no matter how much I wanted to. If this all went wrong and I had promised her it wouldn't, I'd be a liar, after filling her with so much false hope. But I also didn't want to crush her spirits- I wanted her and everyone else to keep a positive mindset, I wanted their support.

"You can't kill him."

A warning I knew I full well had to abide by, though if it was left to me, I'd kill him in a heartbeat and not think twice about it. I was certain most others wanted him dead, it was just the General who demanded he remained alive. If push came to shove, however, I'd do what needed to be done.

No regrets.

"We're not human, we don't do things like you guys do."

"He said something similar."

God, I shouldn't have said that.

"You just make sure you come back," she stated firmly, and it sounded supportive enough.

"I always come back." I'd come back, and I'd keep coming back. I didn't want to lose her, and I wouldn't, not now, not ever.

She was silent then I heard her murmur, "I don't know how to end this," and I couldn't help but snicker to myself slightly.

I'm definitely coming back to you.

"General, make sure she eats and takes care of herself while I'm gone," I ordered, maybe the first and last order I'd ever be able to give him.

Arianne had tendencies to kind of self-destruct whenever she was stressed, she may not have noticed it, but even in my absence, I knew she did. Stress and she were not good friends. I knew the general wouldn't take an active part in making sure she stays well but, he'd get someone to do it for him, and that was good enough. Besides, Charlotte and Leandra were there too.

"You're not in control down here- but I will, after all you're doing for us," his voice wasn't as firm as it usually was, which was a good sign.

The beep notified me that the call had ended, and a heavy breath evacuated my lungs.

"The wife giving you trouble, eh?" Jayden nudged me.

I flipped him off and rested my head against my seat, all that was left to do was wait. Two hours had never felt so long, yet so short in my life.

The helicopter landed further away from the drop-off-point and consequently, further away from Austin's castle. There was too much smoke and fog and the city had too many high rise buildings to fly through safely. If we wanted to get out, we needed our choppers.

We jogged lightly, as to get out of the fog faster, and to get to Austin faster and the further in we ventured, the worse it got. The smoke clogged up our lungs and we couldn't see further than maybe 10meters around us.

Just what we needed...

The high rise buildings were mostly apartments, for the less wealthy residents, those who didn't have money to spare on extravagance, from what I'd seen. Having not visited Drecott in a long time, my memory of the place was foggy.

The streets were practically empty, which was better for us. We didn't know who was we'd encounter. Those we did come across, would probably attack us. It was probably teeming with Hunters; those who had to hunt for blood, and they were most likely blood-deprived.

As we continued to advance after 20 minutes of almost nothing, the Sergeant sharply raised his fist in the air, signalling for us to stop. As our footsteps came to a halt, so did the ones tailing us.

All of us were being stalked like prey out here, and if the smoke parading around us didn't let up soon, we would be. Relying heavily on our hearing in a foreign country put us at a great disadvantage.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

I felt my ears twitch at each closing of the valves belonging to a foreign heart, trying to piece together which direction they were coming from.

A skid to my left and a sudden increase in said heartbeat caused my body to launch itself to the side, missing the body thrown at me by mere inches, but the soldier behind me wasn't so lucky as the rabid vampire beat him down to the ground, fist after fist was thrown at lightning speed. The downed soldier reached down for his blade, and one hit, straight through the skull was enough to stop the attack. He cursed under his breath as he threw the corpse from on top of him and wiped himself off.

Silence fell upon once again, and the Sergeant started up a light jog again.

"The smoke is making this infiltration more difficult than I'd like. The inner-city will be practically smoke-free, so stay on guard in the meantime," said the General through the earpiece.

"Just saying, filters would've been very useful here, you know, for smelling," Jayden responded in a playful tune.

"We need to be able to see and hear as well, smart ass," Sergeant Bailey retorted. He didn't seem to like Jayden very much, it was understandable.

"See this," the sergeant turned to Jayden, who flicked him off, "and here this: ass-hat."

Even though Jayden was technically right, and filters would've helped a lot for us to at least be able to smell danger, it didn't stop me from telling him to shut up. Our hearing was pretty much all we had going for us at that moment, and we needed to be silent.

30 minutes later and we'd already had to fight off another three Hunters, and it was eerily silent once again until my ears perked up once again.

The was a long slide and then a step, a long slide and then a step. The sergeant raised a hand again and pointed ahead to where to sound was coming from. It was a person, I could hear their faint heartbeat, it was a lot softer than a Hunter, so I know they probably wouldn't pose a threat against eight of us.

A silhouette began to form in the distance, and soon enough, a man hobbled out from the shadows. A few soldiers stood ready to attack, and even Sergeant Bailey was on edge as the old man approached slowly.

He stopped just a couple feet in front of us, his small eyes alternating from a deep green to a dull red.

He cleared his throat, "you young men ever heard of the phrase: the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" The man's voice was forced. He sounded as weak as he appeared, clearly deprived of blood.

Sergeant Bailey took a step towards the man, "excuse me?"

"I had almost everything before this war, then than prince... Austin, he removed his name from the treaty." Austin's name sounded almost painful for him to utter, clearly, he harboured the same hatred for him I did. "He then proceeded to drain funds from the elite to fund a war no one wanted- well, no one with rational thought left. Now look where I am; fending in the shadows, almost a hunter, with nothing but a thirst that cannot be quenched."

"Your point?"

"I don't know how you intend on entering the castle, but I know a way; the dungeons on the north-west side of the castle-"

Suddenly all sound was blocked from my ears and instead, was replaced by the erratic thumping of my heart. My chest felt tight with dread as moments from being down there, in the basement, attacked my mind, in short, unrelenting bursts. It was hard to hear anything the man said after 'castle' as my mind went into panic mode and I tried my hardest to calm down.

No one seemed to notice, which was good.

"Alex, your-"

"I'm fine just- I need to concentrate. Please." I didn't listen long enough to determine whose voice was talking through the earpiece. But I needed to focus. I'd be fine, this wasn't the first time I'd experienced that feeling and it wouldn't be the last.

"You want some kind of reward for committing treason?"

"All I ask is that you do what you came to do."

I caught the Sergeant reaching into the pouch that contained his blood-pack, he was going to give it to the man. I tossed mine over instead, and the man just about caught it. Everyone else needed blood more than I did to even be able to fight half as good as me. I could do without it much longer, and I had reserves anyway.

Sergeant Bailey narrowed his eyes at me and I simply shrugged. He started jogging again, and just as I passed him, the old man thanked me.

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Hey guys, apologies for taking like a month too update. I didn't have a laptop for writing and my phone was just. so. distracting. Also I suck at writing any scene with action in so I deleted and re wrote this so much. I'm sorry if it sucks lmao. But thanks for your patience! The chapter is a lil bit longer than usual, hopefully that makes up for me slacking.