Danger Line: This Means War

**Ravyn**

A few months ago, a group of wolves had chosen Huntington Beach, California as the perfect place to hide from their old clan. They'd hired the protection of three witches and four vampires to keep them safe, and it had worked …. for the most part. The Hunters who ran that area had eventually turned on them and tried to kill them by blowing up their factory home.

That was where Selena Morelli had died in smoke and flame …. and Ravyn Ambrogio was re-born from the ashes.

The Hunters had meant for me, for all of us to die in that blaze, and we would have if it wasn’t for Xavier. The entire factory was surrounded by flame, but with the back entrance he had made and my powers …. it wasn’t hard to escape unnoticed. I'd blown up the factory myself in the hopes that they would assume we were dead …. for a while, any way.

I needed time to prepare and the others needed time to mourn. The leader of the wolves, Tessa and her mated partner, Marius, had both died …. I'd seen Tessa fall myself. If I hadnt been so focused on Shadows I would have killed that blonde bitch right then and there for that. But the idiot had decided to take me on anyway. Stupid girl, but still tasty all the same. Christa had died, too, but Marianna had told me she had been working with the Helsings to take me and the hunters out. And to think I had thought her a friend.

I'd thought a lot of things about a lot of people that turned out wrong lately. Like Shadows, for instance.

He'd lied to me, told me he loved me, and yet when Christa kills a few people to make it look like I had done it, he turned on me without even asking me. You don’t do that to the people you love, and if he had of remembered our past together he would know I would never kill innocent humans.

It wasn’t hard to convince the real estate agency to let me have the biggest, most expensive house in Huntington free of charge. And it was beautiful, big enough to suit my needs, and just around the corner from the Hunters house ….

As far as I knew, they still thought we were all dead. In fact, news on the grapevine at Sanctuary is that none of them have been performing their usual duties, and that LA and the surrounding area's were starting to fall into anarchy. They needed someone to keep them in line …. they needed a leader …. so I gave them one.

And now?

Now it was time to let the Hunters know just who runs California.

"It doesn’t say anything," said Shadows, looking down at the 'note' I had left him. He picked up the dagger and turned to face the guys. "Maybe it was Boss who sent it ba-"

The dagger dropped to the floor, along with the note as Shadows froze. The others turned around and gasped, jumping out of the way, towards Shadows. With a grin I took a step forward. "Miss me?"

The binds I had placed on their magic had obviously faded, as the minute they regained their composure the Hunters were sending spells our way. That was their first mistake. I threw my hands up, along with Lucretia and Esme, and all of the spells fizzled and stuck. "Idiots," I spat, "Wizards may have more power then Witches, even me, but until you learn to control your emotions we will always win." I threw the shield back at them, after trapping their own spells.

I'd thought I could take them all out then and there, but no. I remembered too late I had started teaching Christ shields and he had learnt quickly by the looks of things. "We're stronger then you think, by that look on your face," sneered Synyster. He was right, and that just made things a little bit harder. It didn’t change my plans.

"Why are you here?" said Shadows quietly. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, or feeling …. but after his attempt to kill my …. our daughter, I didn’t really care.

"To warn you," I said, as Rev and Xavier moved up to either side of Rosetta and I. "Originally I would have left you in peace, even though you tried to kill my daughter." The look of shock that they shared told me they didn’t know everything. "You happen to know her husband, I believe? James, step forward and say hello to the people who tried to kill you."

Rev glanced at me, pain in his eyes, but did exactly as I asked. He had no choice now that I knew his true name. "Hello," he said softly, and all of the hunters looked away in shame. I had forced Jimmy to come here with us against his wishes, in the hopes his presence would stay their hands long enough to talk, but they hadn't even hesitated.

"Warn us about what?" said Shadows slowly, not looking at Rev as he stepped back again, his head bowed. Unfortunately I wasn’t entirely heartless, and I felt a twinge of guilt. Jimmy was my son-in-law now …. I should show him more respect, but now wasn’t the time to start.

I took another step forward, and noticed Xavier raised his arm to stop me but didn’t. He was learning that I was the one in control now, not him. "I had thought we could work this out like proper adults," I said, crossing my arms. "But I guess a warning will suffice. While you lot have been sitting around enjoying yourselves, the Supernatural have been reeking havoc across the state. Eighteen different cities have been hit with multiple attacks, and the humans have begun to notice."

"You're lying, we'd know!" snapped Vengeance.

I laughed at them. "No boys, I'm not lying. I'd say go see for yourself, but its not worth it now. And you know why? Because I fixed the problem, not you. California is mine. I will not be going on your little register, and neither will any one of my family. This is our town now, and if you want to stay you better start playing by our rules."

"Not a chance," said Shadows immediately. "I will not let you destroy California like you did Texas."

Again I just laughed. How stupid were these mortals? "I don’t want to destroy California, slayer. I like it here, the people are so …. Angelic."

That got the desired reaction. All four of them started throwing spells again, and like before, we stopped them easily enough. "We won't let you win," panted Shadows when they gave up.

"Oh, honey," laughed Rosetta, winking at the Hunters. "We already have."

All of us laughed as we walked out. Rosetta and I stayed until last, but as we turned around to leave, I saw too late Shadows gathering fire in his hands. He shot the fire at Rosetta, and I screamed. My shield was too slow, and the fire hit her but faded quickly as I manifested water above her head and dropped it down on her. Rose collapsed on the ground, screaming as her blackened and burnt back smoked slightly. She would live, but be scarred for the rest of her life.

Rev, Felix and Xavier came back and carried Rosetta out as I turned on the hunters once more, my gaze locked on Shadows. My eyes glowed as I backed up towards the door. "It wasn’t enough to try and kill her once? Do you want your own daughter dead that much?!" Shadows stopped and his jaw dropped. He didn’t know, but I didn’t care if he did or not. Once was bad enough, but twice? Oh no, I wasn’t going to just accept that.

"You could have lived in peace. You could have retired and been left alone, but now?" I moved to the door, the hunters following. The others were leaving, calling to me to hurry up.

"Now what?" asked Shadows. For a moment I swore I saw pain in his eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came. My husbands soul was in this man’s body …. but this wasn’t my Mattheos, and he never would be. This was just another hunter that wanted me dead. So be it.

"This means war."

Notes

Are you ready for the sequel :D