**3rd Person POV**
Several days later the world woke up to an orange hue. It was a beautiful day if only it did not spell doom on the world. The moon meant that all creatures were at full capacity and so they all thought they could use this time to impose their strength on others. The vampires of the North Coast especially decided that it was time to exterminate the werewolves and take over their land. They had been motivated by George to do so. George's plan had been to use them to conquer the werewolf land and once he had achieved immortality by killing Regina, he would impose his rule on them.
Major Drieden spat in frustration at the messenger before him. The messenger, Curtis, wanted to recoil at the stench of the phlegm that landed on his face but he remained expressionless. Major Drieden was not one to be trifled with. It was rumoured that while the vampire kings were regarded as the most powerful in the land, he was in fact the one who held real power. This was his mission and he was pissed that things were not going as he wanted them to.
George was meant to be present to walk him through the maps one more time. He had been planning this raid for years but he still wanted to make sure that everything was in place before he instructed his men to move.
“Ashton!” Major Drieden shifted his attention from the messenger to a man approaching him.
“Major, it's unfortunate but I believe George is no more. He was ambushed by some villagers,” said Ashton. He was an advisor to Drieden’s king and to Major Drieden himself. He was very influential in the vampire realm even though he held no real title.
“How sad! Perhaps it's for the best. We were going to kill him anyway,” said Major Drieden, shaking his head.
“We march forward then!” shouted Major Drieden giving his men the command to march out of the holes they had been hiding in for months. Major Drieden had a wide smile on his face as his men approached the mouth of the hole that would take them into the heart of the Shadow claw pack. Drieden knew from his research that this was the strongest pack in terms of military. If he could capture this pack, the rest would be a walkover for him.
His men marched forward at his command while he remained in the rear. Some might say that he was a coward remaining in the rear to preserve his life in case there was trouble out front. Drieden however felt that if his life was compromised then so was the battle. After all, he was the best warrior strategist in the entire vampire realm and he needed his head on his head in order to be the strategist that he was. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was openly critical about how he fought his battles since he seldom lost a fight and more so, the few who had dared to voice their criticism were dead.
He observed as his men reached the very mouth of the hole. Before any of them could walk out of the hole, a loud explosion reverberated where they were underground.
Major Drieden took cover just like many of his men who had managed to survive the hit. When the impact of the explosion was done, Major Drieden stood up to assess the damage that had been done. Their underground camp was no longer underground as gaping holes had been created that uncovered them to the world. Major Drieden noted that a great number of his men had been left severely injured. On any other, he would have told his men to retreat but the fiery red moon was in the sky. There was something about the moon that made men impulsive. Even though they had lost a lot, he felt like they could still conquer the city.
“Get your lazy asses up! We have a city to conquer!” his voice stirred the men up.
With a roar, they jumped out of their hiding place and made a meal of the city.
****
No one could have anticipated the damage that would ensue with the fiery red moon. Dagen was in the study with Edvin and his top majors in the army. Tyler was also present. Dagen never saw eye to eye with Tyler but he trusted Tyler's analytical skills.
“The homes of our people are well guarded. The bombs we planted were able to reduce their army significantly,” reposted General Hadad.
“But they are targeting homes, huh? Why won't they come here or attack our military?” quipped Dagen, worried that something was wrong.
“It could be that they do not have enough men to do so but they will request back up. We have to prepare for that,” returned Tyler.
“We need to secure our borders. We must ensure there is no way, more of those vermin can flood our cities,” said Lord Edvin. Dagen agreed but they had stretched out their military capacity and there were no more soldiers to spare. If they send the soldiers trying to fight off the vampires that were already within the city then there will be no one to protect the people inside the pack.
“Can we recruit more men?” asked Dagen.
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, new recruits will only be a burden to the existing army. We must not be too concerned with the numbers we've got but in the efficiency of our military,” replied Tyler.
“A solution then?” quipped a frustrated Dagen.
“We should reinforce those parts of our borders that are left unsecured. For instance the dark forest. It's the only part of our border that is undeveloped and undermanned,” returned Tyler. It was because of ideas like this that Dagen had brought him on board.