Pyre (Frerard, Rikey, Ryden, Petekey)

13: FML I Have Never Written A Fic With This Many Characters Before

Lindsey stalked angrily up the stairs leading to the church that sat innocently above the coven she had recently been forced to move to, and even though she was trying her best to let go of her irrational fury so she wouldn't scare away this vampire she had been ordered to look for, she couldn't seem to dampen down her rage.

Lindsey wasn't even one hundred percent sure what had caused her to explode in the first place, because Bert wasn't the root of the problem, she just took out her emotions on him because he was there, and it was convenient.

Despite how it may seem, Lindsey actually cared a great deal for Bert; he had been one of her mother's closest friends, and he was like a second father to her when she was growing up. Even though he was stuffy and overbearing, she didn't despise him for it, that was just the way his generation of vampires acted, and she deserved to be treated like a child after how badly she had fucked up with her own coven.

Lindsey was quite young to lead a coven, she was only a little over five hundred, but when her parents - who were the previous rulers - had been killed in the purge, everyone had turned to Lindsey for leadership, and she gladly accepted the responsibility of caring for the survivors.

Her coven had been relatively lucky during the purge; yes - they suffered heavy casualties, but they weren't completely destroyed like so many others, and they managed to fight off the humans once the initial shock of their attack had subsided.

But that luck didn't last - of course it didn't, because humans would never let the vampires live in peace. Eventually the hunters had found them again, and Lindsey hadn't been able to defeat them this time.

This assault wasn't nearly as bad as the purge had been, but her coven had been caught unaware, and most of the stronger vampires had been wiped out during the last human raid, leaving only the young and inexperienced who had yet to witness such a strike against their home.

In the end, she had no choice but to run, taking as many of her people with her as she could, but it wasn't enough. So many had fallen, even the ones who had survived carried emotional wounds, and she would live with that guilt for the rest of her life.

If anything, Lindsey was furious with herself for failing in her role as coven leader; she should have seen the attack coming, she should have done more to prevent it from ever happening in the first place, but it had been so long since the humans had found them that she had grown complacent, and her people had paid the price.

She owed Bert a massive debt for taking them in, because if he hadn't, she would have nowhere to go, and her coven would have been homeless and starving, but even though she was eternally grateful for his kindness, she just couldn't seem to stop being angry at him, at herself, at everything, but especially at the humans that had driven her people to the point of extinction.

Yes - that was the true source of the never ending hatred that burned in Lindsey's heart, and the plague that was humanity had changed Lindsey from a loving leader into a bitter version of who she used to be. She still cared a great deal for her people, but she wanted - no - she needed vengeance.

Because even though they now had a place to stay once again, it wasn't the same, and it never would be. Bert's ridiculous rules were trying - he wouldn't even let them hunt on their own, and she knew her people were struggling to adjust to the changes just as much as she was.

Lindsey just wanted everything to go back to the way it was before the purge, when they were accepted and free, not the hunted fugitives that they were now forced to live like. Of course, that would never happen, but that didn't make accepting it any easier, which was the only excuse Lindsey had for her foul temper.