[justify]THE FLAMES BEGIN
WATCH AND LET THEM JUST SWALLOW US WHOLE BABY
He was sick. Fucking sick of hiding in fear or them any longer. He watched his friends, his family, his mate – all of them die under their knives. Under their grimy human hands. What made them so much more special? He was a brilliant creature. Unparalleled senses, fast, strong, immortal. Not them. They were weak, frail, and so horribly mortal. At this point what left was there to do but fight back? He had done so much running, so much grieving and starving. Even their name struck fear into any creature, Dalen or human alike.

Defiance.

He didn’t understand what it even meant. Defiance to what? The creatures that had been living on this world for just as long as humans, even more. Creatures that existed and hid from them for what seemed like forever. And now what? They were no longer feared or admired. They were hated and considered pure monsters. Monsters that they thought they can expose safely with these stupid laws set in place. But a golden cage was still a cage.

He was just Nickolas Artoli. A lone vampire. A no body. His clothes were scratched up and nearly useless. His eyes were underlined with dark circles, jaw bone heavily defined along with his ribs sticking out from his stomach and chest. He was starving.

And yet, still a nobody.

But that was going to come to a swift end.

He snuck through the darkness, lip curling back to shine his slightly yellow-colored teeth towards the building in front of him, smelling the danger inside. Humans and hunters alike probably celebrating another days work of causing his kind chaos and death. He could hear them laughing, cheering. They sounded almost drunk. Something that made it all the while better for his plan to be carried out.

With a silent hiss he spun off the top of a gallon of gasoline he was holding against his leg, swallowing tightly as he turned it, walking down the side of the building and poured it evenly, watching the black oil cover the wall of the building everyone had come to fear more then anything else in the world. His expression was purely bitter as he finished off his gallon, going through his tattered pockets to reveal a box of matches.

His bitter expression turned a little more ecstatic as he jerked the match across the back of the box with a quick movement of his hand to light a flame at the end. With a sharp laugh he tossed it into the waiting dangerous liquid-covered walls of the Defiance Headquarters, watching with victorious glowing eyes as a red hot light struck up almost immediately. Flames licked up the walls, black smoke billowing like from a mouth of a dragon as they rose further and further up the walls, spurred on only by the gasoline.

Lance was grinning. With another bitter laugh he turned to grab his other gallon sitting near his foot, turning quickly to move and pour more --- but the ground was slick with the already seeping gasoline – and his body fell back into a growing puddle of oil, the open gallon in his hand splattering all over the ground and wall of the opposite building .

The vampire had a split second to scream out before the flames shot up the lined out bath of gasoline, engulfing him in fire as it crawled up the opposite building’s wall greedily. The humans from the Defiance building were already crying out in shock as the flames grew near their windows, melting their glass as it grew and grew. And kept growing.

Lance didn’t even have a chance, as he was burned alive by his own plan.

But the flames kept growing and growing. It broke into the storage place near by; swallowing up whatever belongings may be inside, only spurring it on. The Defiance humans and hunters alike were trying to douse the flames but they were dangerously stubborn. Most of them trying to put them out got themselves surrounded, and screams and cries of agony filled the midnight air.

The unbarred heat didn’t do any good either, and tiny sparks of flame would drift off the engulfed in flames buildings and start the process over again. Soon all of down town were watching the fire get nearer and nearer to them, and more cries were added to the fray. Get water! Call 911! Everyone was scrambling around, sirens screaming through the night air.

Soon more then storage and abandoned buildings were engulfed -- but apartments and businesses. More screams filled the night air. For once Dalen and humans littered streets, coming together in a inaudible agreement to save their city. As soon as the vampire back streets were threatened, the streets were covered in leeches, walking past humans like they didn't exist in attempts to get more water to where it was needed. The air was filled with ash and smog, ruining the sky and making it seem night for the days to follow. Bedfordshire fought against the fire as best as they could -- but they couldn't save everything.

Or everyone.

Defiance Headquarters were practically leveled, just a wilting place filled with hidden bodies and old stone frames. The Black Horse Bar, made from wood still from the olden days burned down within seconds. Apartment complexes were nearly no longer existing.

The entire town rallied to stop the fire before it got to Homer. No one wanted to see the village burn down, dalen or not.

That was where the fire ended. Claiming buildings and lives alike.

But the few of Defiance that survived were not all too happy. Harlow, his office and work all destroyed in the fire, has decided to do one last hit on the Dalen population -- hitting where it mattered the most. Kale Fox had always told his fellow vampires that the synthetic blood had some sort of catch twenty-two involved -- and he was very right. While the town struggles to recover from the extensive damages -- vampires are starting to die. Dr. Grant struck right into the forced meals that vampires had been drinking every day, putting a poison he had created himself in a large shipment of the bottles.

Defiance had always regulated the sythentic blood -- waiting for a perfect opportunity.

Vampires, young and old, are coming down with sicknesses, some even becoming deadly. A fever that claims them, and currently incurable. All you had to do was ride it out and hope you didn't drink too much. But Harlow underestimated his manufactured disease -- it's gone air borne.

There is no known to reason why some are immune then others -- but even humans are being hit. People are hiding in their homes, the ruins of burned down buildings littering the town, and the streets are eerily deserted. Everyone is silent, even the government.

Bedfordshire is at its worst.

"QUARANTINE? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?,"