Brotherhood of Betrayal- World of Darkness

The Nature of the Beast, Part I: The Nahualli

2010-12-16T16:41:00.001-06:00

((Another Flashback! New story should be back again in the next week or two! Until then, more excerpts from Harper's unlife before Chicago. For reference, the post that comes before this one, chronologically, was "An Unexpected Outcome" posted on 7/8/10))

I sat across from Giuseppe in a dark, quiet room. He was so still that it was easy to forget he was there at all. I was so engrossed in my meditation that when he spoke I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"What are you, Harper?"
I blinked against the darkness and shifted. I didn't really get sore muscles from sitting in one place too long anymore. Small favor.

I groped for an answer. I could see his silhouette, darker against the blackness of the room. He was watching me.

"A vampire..." I said lamely.
"Is that how you define yourself?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I frowned and thought about the question. It wasn't something I'd ever really considered. These sorts of existential questions where becoming more and more common place. I found it frustrating as hell.

This instance was no different. "I'm a woman.. not human anymore. A monster.."

"You think you are a monster?"

"No.. I.." I made a frustrated noise. "I'm not alive anymore.. I have the Beast..I'm different."
"And the beast makes you a monster?" He asked. He kept his voice neutral, so it was impossible to judge what a right answer might be.
I sighed heavily.These questions never had right answers.. "I don't know. I'm scared that it does."
I hugged myself tightly. This had been a topic I'd been dwelling on a lot lately, the fear that this new 'beast' would turn me into some crazy murdering psycho eventually. "But I've seen humans become monsters too, without the beast along for the ride...so what does that mean for us, having the extra push in that direction?"

He regarded me, and I could feel the intensity of his gaze, even without being able to see his eyes. Finally, he stood. "What does it mean to be human?"

"I don't know." I said. I did my best to keep my voice from sounding like a scared child.

"Do not be so quick separate yourself from humanity. You are different, truly, but perhaps not in the manner you are thinking."

He got to his feet. "We leave first thing tomorrow night."

"Where are we going?"
"Mexico City." He opened the door, I blinked against the flood of dim light that spilled in from the hallway.
"Why Mexico?" I fought to keep my voice neutral. I didn't want to think about Mexico, and I really didn't want to go back.
"To find an answer to your question." He said, then disappeared down the hallway.

****

The next night, I shoved a few things into a small duffel bag. Mostly just a couple changes of clothes and a few weapons. Vampires tend to travel light.

I zipped the bag and opened my bedroom door to an empty apartment. I moved quickly towards the door. There wasn't any rush, but if I slowed down, I was afraid I'd start thinking too hard about where we were going. I'd start remembering the hot jungle, the sounds of the animals, the top of that impossibly tall temple.. the feeling of the knife as it..

I picked up the pace and jogged down the stairs, foregoing the elevator.

I met Giuseppe down at the car and said nothing. I just tossed my bag in the trunk and slide into the backseat. Mona dropped us off at the airport.

I got to fly on my first chartered jet. It made traveling much simpler. Commercial jets hold all sorts of dangers to someone who is highly allergic to sunlight. It's also not the best idea to put a wolf in a compact metal tube with a bunch of sheep, with no way out for either of them.

Safety precautions aside, flying in a private plane is just plain nice, vampire or not. It helped keep me distracted for awhile.

The trip was a good deal shorter than I was expecting. We stepped out into the cool night air, and I found I was significantly less terrified of being here than I thought I would be. That said, I still had no desire to revisit that fucking temple.

Thankfully, I didn't have too. We weren't headed to the temple. We were going to the University of Mexico.

It was late, so the campus was sparsely populated. Both of us looked young enough to avoid suspicion, regardless. Giuseppe walked quickly towards one of the academic buildings, and despite the fact that I was several inches taller than him, I had to lengthen my stride to keep up.

Apparently we were on a timetable.

We stopped in front of the only building sporting a guard. He sat near the entrance, in a golf cart, pretending to doze, but he noticed us as soon as we stepped out of the shadows, even with the hat pulled down so far over his face. Giuseppe walked towards him, signaling me to wait.

They conversed briefly, in Spanish. I didn't catch a word of it, but after only a moment, the guard got out of his golf cart and unlocked the door, motioning us inside.

The interior was dark, the moon shining through the windows cast weird shadows on the floor and walls. Giuseppe led the way down a hallway, making a few turns here and there, until we were standing in front of a door that looked just like every other door in the building, with the exception of the man standing in front of it.

Where the hell was he taking me? The new guy opened the door for us, then followed us inside. What came next were a series of hidden doors, descending staircases, and finally an old elevator that opened up to a small cavern lit by torches.

The cavern looked like a small, round amphitheater. Benches were carved from the stone, 360 degrees around a flat lowered areas that held a stone table.

No, more like an altar. An altar large enough for a grown man to lay on. It was carved with symbols that I guessed were Aztec in origin. Torches adorned each corner.

And it was stained with blood.

What the fuck was going on?

Giuseppe and I sat about half way down the rocky benches. I tried not to look as uncomfortable as I felt. The torchlight danced across the room. There were several others present, about a dozen, already seated. At least three of them were vampires, the rest were either mortal, or something else entirely. There was a quiet tension in the air, but it seemed ritual, like the tension itself was part of whatever event we were about to witness.

We didn't have to wait long before the sound of drums filled the room, though I saw no drummers. The beat was slow at first, almost like a heartbeat. Then, it quickened, like startled bird...

No, I realized it felt more anticipatory than that. More like a wolf giving chase to a deer. It was excited and primal. My own beast started uncurling, and I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. I glanced at Giuseppe, surprised, but he was staring at the altar.

I followed his gaze and saw a man were no one had been standing a moment before. He was dressed in what I could guess was traditional Aztec ritual costume. He wore an ornate headdress of feathers and jewels. His shoulders and chest were bare, and he wore a loincloth that looked like it had been donated by a leopard. His forearms were covered in leather gauntlets studded with more stones and smaller feathers. His feet were bare.

And his face was painted like something from a horror flick. His eyes were circled in black. White and black paint made his lips look like a set of skeletal teeth, and red smears marred his high cheekbones and ran down his chin. Even from a distance, I knew it was blood, and I knew he was Kindred.

He held up his arms, and the drums ceased abruptly. He held out his hands and all eyes turned to watch a young vampire walk slowly down the isle, towards the priest. He was olive skinned and incredibly handsome. His hair was jet black, and oiled till it shone in the torch light. His lack of clothing, save a loincloth, showed his toned and sculpted body. As he passed me, I could tell his skin was soft and utterly flawless.

He stopped beside the priest, who raised his voice to address the crowd. He spoke in a rolling baritone, and completely in Spanish. Giuseppe began translating for me, and I had to lean closer to hear him over the echoing acoustics of the small cavern

"Today, we gather to partake in Tezcatlipoca's Gift! This man was granted the knowledge of the Smoking Mirror one year ago. Since that time, he has been treated to any luxury his heart desired, any comfort that pleased him. Any pleasure, save that of freedom!"

The tension returned. It was like the whole room was holding its breath. I found myself leaning forward in anticipation, despite the fact that I had no idea what was about to happen. A glance at Giuseppe told me he was doing the same.

"Tonight, we grant him that final comfort!"

The young vampire squared his shoulders and held his head high. I watched as his muscles tensed. He inhaled deeply, like he was preparing himself for a heavy physical blow.

Despite these warning signs, I was still caught completely by surprise when the priest laid on hand gently on the man's shoulder...

And slammed an obsidian knife deep into his sculpted chest.

I was too shocked to move. All I could do was watch in stupefied horror as he dragged the blade down, creating a huge gaping maw of a wound. I heard ribs snap, and the rational part of my brain wondered how he managed to break through bone with the famously brittle obsidian.

The young vampire did not flee. He did not cry out. His eyes went wide and his body rigid with pain. He arched his back and balled his fists, but nothing but a quiet, strangled gasp escaped him. The priest dropped the knife, and I prayed that it was over.

But deep down, I knew better.

The priest shoved his hand, none too gently, into the hideous wound, up to the wrist. With one quick jerk, the priest tore the vampires heart from his chest. He held it up for all of us too see. Vitae dripped from his fingers. There were cheers from several of those present. My body felt like ice. I was locked in place, unable to do more than watch in horrid fascination as the priest picked up the fallen man and laid him on the altar. He took that same obsidian knife and began to skin the vampire. We were close enough to hear the muffled cries of the victim.. he was being flayed alive.

I nearly vomited all over that stone floor when the priest finished (he skinned with the speed of someone well practiced) and took the flayed skin and draped it over his own shoulders.

His booming voice rang out again as he took up one torch and turned the altar into a funeral pyre. It wasn't until the vampire went up like dry kindling that I was able to tear my eyes away. I flinched back from the fire and began shaking as the spell of the gruesome ritual fell away like broken glass.

The priest was speaking again, but if Giuseppe was translating, I didn't hear it. I looked up, panicked for a moment, my thinking brain still shocked into silence and my fear looking for the one familiar face it knew would be close.

Giuseppe met my searching eyes with a mirror of my own horror ridden expression. He was just as disgusted and disturbed by the ritual as I had been.

"Who..who are these people?" I managed to whisper.

"The Nahualli." He replied, his voice quiet and hoarse.

We turned together and watched the flames until there was nothing left but ash. We sat there until the cavern emptied, and we were alone. I felt like I was in shock. It took a good 20 minutes before my brain kicked back on, and I was filled with a tidal wave of conflicting emotions. Disgust, horror, rage, fear, excitement, joy, despair.. I hated myself for not trying to stop them, and while the thought of what they would have done to me had I tried was terrifying, more so was the fact that part of me reveled in the entire atrocity. That monstrous part of me screamed for joy when the hunter tore the heart from his prey.

Is that what I had to look forward too? Would that part of me overwhelm the rest, one day?

I closed my eyes against tears I hadn't even realized were falling and took several deep breaths to steady myself. When I finally managed to get it under control, I looked up to find Giuseppe watching me, his expression grim.

"Did you know?" I croaked. It came out more accusatory than I meant it too.
He shook his head, and I thought I caught a glimpse of a haunted expression behind his eyes.

The elevator opened behind us. A Hispanic man stepped out, dressed in gray slacks and a tweed jacket that almost hid the fact that he was in ridiculously good shape. His hair was black with streaks of silver, which made him look older than he was, at first glance. He couldn't have been more than 40. Or at least, that's how old he would have been when he died.

Giuseppe stood, and I followed suit. My legs hardly wobbled at all.

"Please, Come." The man said, in perfect English. It wasn't until he spoke that I realized this man was the priest I had just witnessed slaughter someone and wear his skin like a cape. Rage bubbled up inside me again. I must have done something to give it away, because Giuseppe caught my eye and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. I stared at him, fine tremors making my clenched fists shake. Giuseppe just looked at me, unflinching, until I finally dropped my eyes. I took a deep breath and tried to relax my hands, forcing as much anger down and away as I could manage.

Then we walked up the aisle and stepped into the elevator with a monster.

****

A few moments later we sat in two comfortable leather chairs in a well furnished office. The walls were lined with degrees and awards, and the bookcases were overflowing with books and manuscripts. Professor Ramirez, as the placard on the expensive desk labeled him, sat across from us, the picture of scholarly politeness.

The image was slightly marred by the bits of old blood I could see under his fingernails.

"Mr. Santore, it is a pleasure to see you again."
He looked to me. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Reynaldo Ramirez. Professor of Ancient History. Can I get you anything at all?" He asked, his demenour surprisingly pleasant.

"What the fuck is going on?" I demanded, finally finding my voice.

He nodded to himself, unperturbed by my tone. "The Ritual of Tezcatlipoca's Gift. It certainly can be jarring for those who have never witnessed it before. It is for that reason, among others, that we tend not to allow outsiders, as a general rule."

"Why?" Was all I could muster.

"How familiar are you with the culture of the Aztecs?"

I said nothing. He continued, unfazed. "The primary god in the Aztec pantheon was Tezcatlipoca. He was an evil god, lord of famine, deceit, and disease. His name meant 'The Smoking Mirror' because he represented all that was veiled in the world." He went over to the book case and pulled down a large volume. He opened it to a picture of an etching. It depicted a ritual of human sacrifice. Bodies lay everywhere across the top of a temple. I couldn't help but shudder. It felt too familiar.

"However, Tezcatlipoca also had another side. Another identity, if you will. This other side, to the Aztecs, was another being entirely. Tezcatlipoca could also appear as Quetzalcoatl, god of light and knowledge." He replaced the book on the shelf and settled on the edge of his desk. "There is no evidence, in Aztec spirituality, that Tezcatlipoca ever tried to reconcile these two sides of himself. You see, Tezcatlipoca was the dark reflection of life, a smoking mirror of perception. But, like the Kindred, there remained aspects of good within his being. The Nahualli believe that this is reflected in us.We enact these rituals to honor our own Smoking Mirrors. Just as this," He gestured to his comfortable office. "Is one aspect of myself, so the darkness is one as well. I seek to subsume neither. It is balance that we seek, and such balance can only be achieved if we honor every aspect of our beings."

I gaped at him. "But you tore out his fucking heart!"

For the first time, Ramirez's expression darkened. "I am well aware of what occurred tonight."
"But how could you.."
He cut me off, his voice hard, eyes flashing. "Carlos was a willing participant in the Ritual. And more importantly, he was my friend. He knew what would happen to him, and he wanted it. I mourn for the loss.. but I take comfort in the fact that he spent the last year of his existence in luxury."

I tried to speak, but couldn't. I was at a complete loss. I looked to Giuseppe for help, but he sat silently, his expression unreadable.

The angry seemed to drain out of the professor and he gave me a smile that might have been apologetic. "It is a difficult thing to grasp, a foreign philosophy to one such as yourself. I understand that, from the outside, such a thing must seem..barbaric. But I assure you, these rituals serve an important purpose. While so many of our kind hide behind the guise of civility, pretending to be something they are not, we embrace both our humanity, and our monstrosity, in order to be a whole and unified being. " He stood and straighten his jacket. "Is there anything else I can do for you this evening?"

I just shook my head, dumbfounded.
Giuseppe stood and nodded to the professor. "Thank you for your time."

He gave us a gracious smile. "The pleasure was mine. Please, feel free to stop in whenever you like."

He held the door for us as we left the office.

***

I was quiet as we made our way back to the airport. Giuseppe let me stew for awhile.

I felt like I needed 50 boiling hot showers to scour away the memory of the night. I couldn't wrap my head around how anyone could possibly enact such brutal ceremonies. Balance? That hardly seemed balanced to me. How can polite words and a genteel manner balance out horrific murders? And he had said 'rituals' as we were leaving. Plural. I didn't even want to consider what other despicable acts the Nahualli used to give honor to their Beasts.

We were seated on the plane, awaiting takeoff before I finally spoke.

"I don't think I understand the lesson here." I said, somewhat bitterly. "From what I can tell, I should lock up the Beast and throw away the key."

Giuseppe looked at my over the top of his steepled fingers. "That is because the Nahualli are only one example.. the first half of the lesson. They represent one extreme." I made a disgusted noise in my throat, that he ignored. "They prove the things that the Beast is capable of, if left unchecked."

I sunk low in my seat, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to block out the sight of the gaping wound, the smell of charred flesh....

"So what's the second half of the lesson?"

"You will see when we get there."

I sighed heavily and stared down at my hands. Not for the first time, I wondered when the day would come that my Beast would do something awful, and how much longer it would take before I was happy to let it..

Aftermath and Foreshadowing.

2010-12-03T18:24:00.000-06:00

I pulled up a chair and settled across the small table from Giovanni. He looked at me over the top of his latest project, silent and waiting for me to speak.

"I got a hold of Giuseppe. He said that the beetles could be a Lancea Sanctum thing...but probably not Birch." I kept my voice low. No one was close enough to overhear us.

Gio looked back at his work and shrugged. "Much too subtle to be Birch. Any other suspects?"
"I"m not too familiar with all The Sanctified in town. The only other one that I know of is Sylvia Raines. I've heard she's Birch's rival... and though shes not too terribly old, has an impressive gift for Theban Sorcery. Doesn't mean its her, but that's my exhaustive list."
Gio frowned. "Name sounds familiar. Would I know her?"
I smiled bitterly. "She was with the Prince when he came to kill me."
"Ahh, yes. I remember."

"Why would she, if it is her, do it though?" I mused. It was mostly a rhetorical question. We didn't have enough information to do anything more than speculate.

Gio was silent for a moment. Then I saw that smug grin. "We should ask Frost when he's awake."

"Yeah we.. wait what?" I gaped at him, eyes wide, and glanced at the darkened doorway of the room the kid was in. "Frost? Are you serious?"

Giovanni nodded, and a surprised laugh escaped from me. "Well damn...I see now why you told Nobody to leave his knives."

Gio nodded. "So.. Mona is the Seneschal in New Orleans now? How'd that happen?"
I quickly sobered. I crossed my arms with a frown and looked at Gio a moment before answering. "That brings up another concern I have with this whole Lancea Sanctum thing. Mona isn't Seneschal, per se.. but Monica De La Croix, respected member of The Lance, is. She looks remarkably similar to one Ms. Mona Cross. Even vetted by the Lance.. extensively, I would imagine."

Giovanni gave a low, conspiratorial chuckle. "He's a clever son of a bitch, isn't he? I even know how they did it."
I looked at him expectantly.
"Yousef's desk in the secret room."
"The papers that you were going through?"
He nodded. "The same."
We shared a brief moment of amused silence.

I broke it. "Tommy called me earlier."
"To tell you about Giuseppe?"
"Yes and no." I rested my elbows on the table and leaned forward. "I think he was trying to get a read on me." Gio snorted. I continued. "He was voicing concerns about Giuseppe taking too much power, too quickly, and getting corrupted by it."
"And there would be little reason for Tommy to say things to the person who works the closest to Giuseppe unless he was trying to gauge your reaction."
I nodded."They could really fuck up his plans. But there's not too much that I can do about it. Guiseppe will have to take care of that. And it doesn't help that they hate him."
Gio gave me a sardonic smirk. "Who doesn't?"
I started to protest, then caught the gleam in his eye. He was such a smart ass. But at least he understood, to an extent. Giuseppe was family.

I sighed, resting my chin in my hand. "They just don't get it. They live in a world of black and white."

Gio rolled his eyes. "Oh they get it. They just don't care"
I looked at him skeptically. "I disagree...but it's unimportant."
He set down his tools and leaned back in his chair. "They're job is to be the upstanding citizens. Ours is to police the night. They'll keep doing what they always do, because that's what they feel is needed. We'll do the same, in their own upstanding way."

I waved it away. "The Asylum keeps bugging me. It's holding a whole slew of unknowns right now. Giuseppe said that neither he, nor Ray, were responsible for Natalie.. now we have these weird ghost bindings, using Smoking Mirrors... and no real idea of who might have done it."

Gio shrugged, looking mostly unconcerned. But then, that's how he always looked. "They were amplifying insanity. That gives us a suspect right there."

I drummed my fingers on the table and frowned. "You think Traveler was involved? That he did it?"
"No. I think the man with the flute did."
I considered that. It didn't feel right. "Doubtful. He was crazy, certainly, but I never felt as much malice from him.. at least not enough to put something like that together."
Giovanni looked at me with patronizing skepticism. "Really, Harper?"
I scowled at him. "Look. I'm not going to say its not possible. I won't discount that its a solid idea, but we shouldn't assume, one way or the other."

He accepted that with a shrug. "Maybe another Promethean made her?"
"Another possibility...but how did it get the parts?"
"You know.." Gio said thoughtfully, "the New Orleans Natalie said that Stone was followed.. ghosts on his back of people he'd killed.. what if he's not the mastermind behind all this? What if someone is using him?"
I shuddered. "God help us all. He's a big enough problem without having to deal with a potential puppet master.."

Silence followed once again. Gio just waited. None of these things were what was really bothering me, and he knew it.

It was a long moment before I spoke again. My voice was quiet, lower than last time. "Nobody ran today. Again."
He leaned back casually in his chair. "Yes. He did."
"I'm beginning to think we may not be able to trust him." I said finally.
Giovanni barked out a laugh. His voice was quiet, but not nearly the hushed tone I was using. "Trust? Harper, look who you hang out with. A death mage who cares more about ghosts than living people, a gangster who signed a, quite literal, deal with a demon, a shady faery assassin..and then there's you. A secret mongering blood sucker with daddy issues," I glared at him, but there wasn't much venom in it. "...and the airheaded, idiot werewolf."
"He's alright." I muttered absently.
"yeah. He's a good kid. Too good, really. Note to self, see to it Ori gets more jaded."
I rolled my eyes at him, my expression dour.
"None of us trust each other." He said.

"You know what I mean." I snapped.
Giovanni heaved a long suffering sigh. "We're all useful, and act in accordance with our nature. And we stand up for each other."
I stood and began pacing a small path in front of the table. "And what happens when we can't rely on that anymore? We're stronger than the sum of our parts, when we work together. We lose something important if all of us aren't on the same page." I stopped and glared at Gio, expression hard and unyielding. "You don't leave anyone behind."
He shook his head. He thought I was being silly. I knew I was being practical.

"He brought us help, didn't he?" He asked me softly. I frowned and started pacing again, eyes on the floor. "He doesn't usually run.. you don't usually fixate on finding one lost soul.." I hesitated, sparing him a glance. he met my eyes and held them. "What makes someone go against their nature?..Stress. The Freehold is about to get demolished. The guy is a freakin' powder keg, ready to go.. he's about to come apart at the seems. Its enough to make anyone act erratic."

I scowled but sunk back down in my chair. I didn't like it, but Giovanni had a point. "Fine. I'll cut him slack.. for now.

Gio nodded and his smug smirk returned. "Good."

I eyed him. "Speaking of that demon.. care to extrapolate?"
Gio's eyes shone with amusement. "First him, now me, eh?"
I held out my hands, palm up. "Just covering all my bases." I said sarcastically.

He gave a small one shoulder shrug. "Fair enough... I made a deal with Yzzacks. She kept me alive, gives me fun tricks.. I provided her with a way to experience the world on a daily basis. More accurately, our world. She's a demon of chaos. We are her entertainment."

I snorted but didn't deny him. We did tend to stir up trouble. "So how much control does she get over you?"
"So far, she hasn't exercised any."
"That's inspiring." I muttered.
"Harper, we work together because it's useful, and when it's not, we get out of each other's way and try not to step on each others toes. If one of us needs help, they usually get it. That's what we have here. And it will stay that way until someone is no longer useful.. and then they won't be around anymore. If I had it my way, I'd be up there hunting down and killing Mattheson. But we've got other things to attend to here, for now. Even if it doesn't concern me as much as finding Mattheson."

It was a little startling, but not all that surprising to hear Giovanni sum up his view of our little group. We didn't agree, though. He saw everyone here as tools in his tool box. Means to ends. Sure, he was willing enough to help us out.. because he was smart enough to know that abusing tools breaks them.

It was possible there was something else there. He did seem to get pretty pissed when any of us got roughed up.But if there was, he kept it locked up pretty tightly.

I had a different view. I wouldn't go as far as to call them friends...Nobody, especially, annoyed me too much to qualify for that.. but they were comrades. You might not like a soldier in your platoon, but you'd risk your life for him in a heartbeat.

I let it go, for now. It was food for thought though.. and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit disappointing.

But I said nothing about that. Instead, I focused on the issues at hand. "We might need Mattheson, you know."
Gio's voice went hot with suppressed rage in an instant. "I'm going to kill him."
I meet his fiery gaze with cool and collected eyes. "I'm not saying I'm going to stop you.. but there's no reason we can't both have our way."
"You'll have to keep me from it long enough to get your shit done."
I smirked at him. "I do love a challenge."

His eyes narrowed, just briefly. "We all burn for our sins."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. "God, you're melodramatic."

Nobody walked by, heading to the room our illustrious visitor was in.
Gio's anger vaporized, like it had never been there at all. "Oh! Watch this! It's gonna be good!" Gio murmured to me in a conspiratorial tone.
I grinned slightly and shifted on my chair, craning my neck to see into the dark room.

We heard the sound of a muffled gasp, a quiet sound of surprise.
Gio looked perplexed, and rather disappointed. "Damn.. I would have expected more screaming."
I shook my head and stood. "Is he hurt?"
Gio nodded. "He's pretty banged up. Not fatal or anything, or I would have had you look at him already. But I'm sure he could use some attention."
I started for my kit, right as Nobody called from the room, "Harper! Get your kit and get in here!" His voice was urgent. I looked at Gio and he just rolled his eyes. Guess Giovanni wasn't the only melodramatic one in the house.

I went for the kit. I grabbed the handle and pulled the heavy kit over one shoulder and appeared in the doorway only a moment later.

Frost looked awful, which probably explained Nobody's distress. Both eyes were swollen shut, his lips were cracked and bleeding in several places. He had contusions all over his head and face. His body proved to be much the same. He had fingers bent out at odd angles.

All in all, he was in bad shape, but Giovanni was right, nothing was fatal. Just..really ugly. Nobody was crouched next to his chair, and I could smell fairy dust in the air.

Or that last part might have been my imagination.. coupled with deductive reasoning that Nobody had already tried to heal some of the damage. I pushed him away and got to work on the unconscious man. Correction.. unconscious boy. The kid couldn't have been older than 16.. but it was hard to tell with his face so messed up.

I went about setting fingers and other broken bones. When I cut his shirt off, I sucked in a quick breath. Ribs poked out through the skin. I began to reconsider my original assessment. I kept one eye on him as I set the bones back into place. He never stirred. He was completely out.

Which might not be a good thing, considering the extent of the trauma he took to the head.

I had just finished wrapping his ribs when Nadi walked into the room. She looked at Frost, then at me. Or more specifically, the blood all over my hands. "May I help?"

I stood and took a step back, gesturing with the towel I grabbed to wipe my hands. "By all means. I've done all I can do."

She gave me a curt nod and stood next to the chair. Her hands hovered over his ruined body for a moment, trying to find somewhere to rest them that wouldn't cause him pain. There was no safe place. Finally, she just touched her finger tips to his shoulders, closed her eyes.. and made with a light show.

It was hard to tell what she was doing with all the magic flying around. I thought she might be moving her hands, but it was nigh impossible for me to look at it for any length of time. It wasn't blinding or anything... it just made me uncomfortable. couple that with the fact that she was speaking in that weird language that made my brain hurt, and you have the beginnings of a major migraine.

But it didn't last long. When she stepped back, he looked a million times better. He looked.. human again...for lack of a better term. He had also transitioned from unconscious from pain, to sleeping peacefully.

Nobody shook his shoulder gently.

He groaned and rolled his head forward, blinking furiously. "Uh.. where.. where am I?"
"Safe." I said softly.
"Frost, what happened?" Nobody asked with the same gentle tone I had used.
"Who..who are you people?" His eyes wouldn't quiet focus.
"Friends.. why did the men take you?" I asked him.
He furrowed his brow, as if trying to remember, then muttered, "Because they.. found the egg.."

And that was too much for him. He feel back into an exhausted sleep. None of us were willing to wake him again from it. He might have been mostly healed. But that kind of beating takes it out of you. Not only physically, but emotionally and mentally. He needed sleep to recover, in more ways than one.

That didn't keep me from being more than a little frustrated though. The idea that someone in the Lanceum Sanctum had ghoul plants in the Santore tower made me very nervous. I needed to know what he knew. I felt like I needed it in a hurry too.

So I decided to read his mind. It's a remarkably easy thing to do, generally speaking. It gets a little tougher with supernaturals, but changeling or not, if you're unconscious, its hard to battle someone snooping through your head.

So I did it.

And it HURT.

There was a barrage of information too overwhelming to process. I wasn't just watching one movie on fast forward, I was watching 5 of them, all at once. My brain isn't made to undertake that much stimulus all at once. It was information overload. There was so much to process that I couldn't feel my own body anymore. My consciousness was overwhelmed. I was locked into this nightmarish movie reel, where the images weren't terrifying as much as they were just oppressive in their quantity.

It felt like years before I came back to myself, gasping and covered in blood. I was curled on my side on the floor, lying in a rather large puddle of dark vitae, the werewolf on top of me. I was aching, inside and out, exhausted...

and hungry.

"Get. off." I croaked. Ori jumped back, fast as lightning.
"Fuck me.." I cursed, spitting more blood.
"Not even with someone elses cold, dead dick, Harper." Giovanni replied. He must have showed up while I'd been out. I glowered at him. Leave it to Giovanni to take my expression of pain literally.
"Funny.. weren't you the one talking about being inside me last night?" I shot back, my voice thready and lacking the sarcastic conviction.
Gio put on a horrified face, eyes sparklingly behind the mask. "Not like that."

I pushed myself up on my elbows.

"What did you see?" Nobody blurted. I just held up a hand and he feel into an impatient silence. Jesus Christ he was pushy.

"Ori. Do me a favor."
The werewolf looked at me uneasily. "What?"
"My room. Dresser. Left drawer.. two vials. Get them. And get them quickly." I coughed up more dark blood, and something more solid. My control was quickly waning.
"What is it?" He asked suspiciously.
"Just GO!" I snarled, my voice choked and strained.
"Blood, you idiot." Gio said, simultaneously.
Ori bolted from the room.
I clutched my head in my hands and tried not to look at Frost. He was still covered in blood. Even dried, I could smell it. I focused on not breathing. Which also meant not talking.

Ori was gone only a moment. He handed me the vials, and I spared no time in guzzling the contents of both. I tossed the glass aside and shivered. The blood wasn't warm, but it at least took the edge off. I sat up slowly, taking the towel Gio handed me and mopping at the vitae on my face as best I could. I still probably looked like something out of a horror flick.
"Was that the werewolf blood?" Nobody asked.
I nodded.
Ori went a shade pale. "Mine? You kept that?"
I raised a brow at him. "Well.. yes. That's what it was for.. backup." My voice sounded normal again.. mostly.
"Have you tried the changeling blood yet?" Nobody asked.
I shook my head and ran my fingers through my hair. It was nigh impossible. Red locks were plastered against my face with the dark fluid, and more of it was soaked into my scalp. I settled for smoothing it out of my face for now. "No. I don't know what it will do to me. Her's either." I gestured to Nadi with the towel.

"I'm looking forward to the day you get really desperate and need to take some of my blood. I'm very curious as to what effect that will have." Gio said thoughtfully.
I grimaced and leaned heavily against an empty chair. I didn't trust my legs yet. "Me too, Giovanni.."

I went silent and hung my head for a moment. I felt like shit.

Then the memories all came crashing back to me, and I smiled. I remembered it. All of it. It hadn't made sense at the time, but once my brain got around to interpreting it all, it was right there.

I looked up to tell the others and the words died in my throat.

Nadi had my blood on her hands. She had, presumably, tried to help Ori hold me down. As I looked up, she had just finished wiping her wet hands on the sleeve of Nobody's t-shirt. He glared and simply leaned down...

"Don..!"

The word didn't even manage to make it out before he had leaned down and licked the blood, staring at Nadi.. trying to unsettle her.

"Fuck.." I said with feeling.
Nobody suddenly twitched.. shook himself. "Hot DAMN!" He did a freaking standing back flip. I shit you not. A back flip. I rubbed my eyes. Goddammit.

When I looked up again, Gio was smirking at me. "Well.. this should put your fears to rest."
"Not really.." I grumbled. I watched Nobody freak out from the effects of the vampire blood.

"I feel like the shit!" He exclaimed. he was brething heavily, and if he had eyes at the moment, I knew they'd be heavily dilated.
I fixed him with a cold and serious glare. "We need to talk later.. in private."
He looked like he wanted to be concerned about that, but he was too high to give a shit.

Just. Great.

I stood, shakily, and sat in a chair, instead of in the pool of cold blood. I knew that I'd need to clean up pretty damn fast.. before Nobody came down off his high.. and thought maybe it would be a good idea to take some of it with him.

I was now faced with an interesting problem. I set it aside for now. I needed to tell them what I'd learned in case it started to fade.

I had seen 5 sets of memories at once. Information overload. The seizure wasn't surprising. My head wasn't meant to be able to interpret that much information at once.. unfortunately.

But I remembered all of it now. Frost would never stay dead.

He had never escaped from his Fae keeper, the Queen of Frozen Needles. He'd struck a deal. And from what I knew of Frost, that was rather in character for him. As long as he came back to report to her, she would let him go. Whenever he died, he'd appear back in her domain, and make the report. An egg would appear, somewhere in the world, never in the same place twice.. and once it was broken, the person who did the deed would become Frost.. sans all memories of his previous lives. I had watched as an art collector accidentally dropped the egg, a large piece of what resembled black polished glass. It shattered when it hit the ground.. and when he looked up again, he'd taken on Frost's features.

He betrayed many changelings during his first life. Dozens, maybe hundreds of them, dragged back into the realm of their captures.. it was enough to make me sick... if I hadn't seen what came next.

During his second life.. he actually found a freehold. A family. And eventually he died. He appeared back in her realm again.. and he lied. He told her half truths and complete deceptions. He did not give up a single changeling. But she knew it. And what more, he knew she'd know. She tortured him. Time in that place.. its weird. I had countless memories of the pain she inflicted on him. I don't know if it was days, weeks, or several lifetimes. But he never gave them up.

And when someone found the egg, he was freed from her.

But it happened again. Three, four.. and finally five times that egg was cracked.. five lives he lived. He only ever betrayed his people the first time. And so he was tortured.. every time.

I focused on the most recent memories. Five men in suits grabbed a kid off the street and forced him to break the egg at gun point.

Then, the beatings.

I started in on the information. Nobody didn't let me get past "struck a deal with a fae" before he freaked out.

"Is the freehold in danger?!" He demanded.
I scowled at him. "Calm your ass down and let me finish."
He started to get up in my face and go off about how important the freehold was, I cut him off. "It's fine. Sit. down." I gave him a look that said I'd rip his fucking teeth out if he came any closer.
He glared at me. He didn't sit, but he didn't come any closer either.

I went through the information, eyes unfocused, trying to visualize all the scenes as I spoke.

"Did any of the guys who grabbed him have a fucked up ear?" Giovanni asked, looking thoughtful.
"Yeah.. one of them." I confirmed.
"He's dead. He was one of the guys in the security room beating the shit out of Frost." Gio said.

I nodded, and looked at Nobody. "Can you teach him how to use his powers again?"
"Hell yes I can."
"You're powers are different, though." I pointed out.
He shrugged. "Similar enough. I'll figure it out."
"Keep in mind, this isn't a matter of breaking down a dam and letting his memories flood back. He's a blank slate..though, there are certain qualities that were pretty consistent.."
"I'll figure it out. Either way, I can't take him back to the freehold until he's trained. Too many enemies that might take advantage of him.." Nobody said.
"DON'T take him there!" My vehemence surprised everyone, including myself.

Everyone blinked at me. "I just said.. I wasn't going to.." Nobody said reproachfully. "But why do YOU say I shouldn't?"
"Because.." I searched for the words.. and couldn't find them. I had the memory, right there in my mind. I could see the reason.. vivid as could be.. but I couldn't say it. Instead, I crossed my arms and scowled at them all. "Just don't, alright?"

They regarded me a moment more, then turned back to the conversation. "You'll have to teach him to fake it." Gio said.
"I'm not sure I want to do that to him.." Nobody said, softly.

"Let him decide." I said.

Nobody nodded. He started looking Frost over again, making sure he was going to be alright. He grabbed a pen and paper and started scribbling a note.

I got up to clean up the mess. My legs were only a little shaky.

It didn't take long, really. I looked down at myself, covered in cold vitae.. I looked up to find Gio watching me. I brushed past him, heading for my room, and a shower.

"Totally worth it.." I murmured to him as I made my way down the stairs. I didn't have to look back to know he'd have a giant smug smirk plastered all over his disgustingly Italian face.

***

I descended the stairs towards my room and knew he was behind me the whole way, padding along on silent feet. He wasn't trying to sneak up on me, it was just instinct. I heaved the reinforced door open and stepped inside, turning to face Nobody just as he pulled the heavy thing shut behind him. Colors of anxious fear danced through his aura.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"
I looked him up and down, my frown pensive. How much did I want to tell him? At least enough to scare the bejezzus out of him..."The blood."
Excitement flared for a brief instant, along with a combination of colors I'd come to associate with addiction. Desire, hunger, loathing.. it was a complex medley.
"It was a rush." He said quietly.
I nodded slowly, eyes continually flicking over his aura. It was the only sure fire way to read Nobody when he didn't have a face. "Yeah. It is. It's also highly addictive."
The excitement was replaced by scarlet fear.

"You're shitting me." He said, voice lacking conviction.
I met his eyeless gaze with a steady stare. "Not even slightly. It's the best drug you'll ever have. How do you think we keep ghouls around?"
He started fidgeting nervously. "So.. is there a way to break it?"
"Its just like any addiction, Nobody. Willpower. Don't take another hit for long enough, and you'll be fine. But every time you give in to it, it will make the next time that much harder."

If it sounded like I was talking from experience, it's because I was. I knew a thing or two about addiction.

"So am I a ghoul now?" His voice took on a slightly frantic edge.
"No. Ghouling someone takes an act of will. You... you're just an addict."
He got a little green. "Shit. Shitshitshit."
He didn't have to say what he was thinking. I should have known better.

We both knew it, and as much as I love opportunities to give Nobody shit, this was hardly the time. I actually felt bad for the guy.

But then, I'd been addicted to vampire blood before. He had no idea how bad it was going to get. Not yet, anyway.

I managed not to shudder when I thought back to those nights, locked in a windowless room. Pleading with Giuseppe to let me out.. to share his blood.. or let me hunt. He did neither. He kept me in there, and taunted me with it.. until I got over it.

It was a horrible experience.

"So what do I do?" Nobody said, interrupting my memory.
"Well, we could lock you in a room for weeks and force you to get over it.." He jerked in surprise. I continued. "But that would pose more than one logistical problem." I gave him a wry smirk. He glared at me.
"Look, its just something you'll have to push through. There is no magic cure. Its a drug, like any other. It's up to your own willpower and determination to not give into it every time you see vitae..."
He gave me a dubious look. I winced slightly. My propensity for bleeding from the eyes was going to make this harder on him.

"But.." He began, aura now a whirlwind of surging colors, strong, conflicting emotions. He wasn't taking it well.

But there wasn't anything else I could do. I sighed. "It's on you to beat it. You'll be fine. Now get out."

He seemed about to protest, but thought better of it and just left instead. Shaken.

If he only knew. I didn't mention anything about the Vinculum. That was secret that I kept to myself. Giovanni knew.. but I doubted he'd say a word. But maybe I should tell Nobody. He was freaked out, but not freaked out enough. I could see the wheels in his head turning, nearly as well as I could see his aura. He was weighing the pros and cons of being a ghoul.

The problem was.. he didn't know all the cons.

Hell, I would be lying if I said it wasn't tempting to slip him more blood.. bind him to me further.. two more drinks and he'd have a damn hard time ever running away from our fights ever again. I wouldn't have to ghoul him.. just be his fucking pusher.

I shook my head to get rid of the notion and turned on the shower. I didn't trust the Vinculum. I didn't like it. It could be a useful tool, but I was skeptical of how far one could really push it before it snapped, and the victim's will overwhelmed it. I'd take real loyalty over supernaturally induced love any night.

I knew of too many people who'd defeated it.

And logic aside, I just couldn't do that to any of them.

I spent awhile in the shower, letting the water beat away at the dried blood. It took several shampoos and a lot of prying with my fingernails before the water flowed clean into the drain. I tried to let the temptation flow away with it.

I was only partially successful

An hour later I padded barefoot into the lab, scrubbing my wet hair with a towel. Gio was the only one around.

"Thank you for your time, I will see you soon." Giovanni said into his cell before hanging up. He looked up at me with a grin. "You free for the rest of the night?"
"Let me check my calendar..." I paused, draping the towel over my shoulders. "Yes." I said, dryly.
Giovanni continued grinning, impervious to my snark. "Good, because we need to go visit someone who might be able to tell us more about Stone."

I blinked at him. He just grinned wider. The bastard.

***

We parked in front of a tall office building, the same place Giovanni had killed the demon. The security guard gestured to the elevators and we headed to one of the upper floors.

"So this Pelinore guy.. any idea what he is?" I asked as the elevator rose.
"Not really... but I have a few guesses." Giovanni replied as the door slid open with a soft ding.

We entered the main door of the office, into a reception area that was exquisitely decorated. All dark woods and deep colors.. hammered gold and polished metals.. it was gorgeous without being ostentatious.. It looked very, very expensive.

"No wards.." Gio muttered as his eyes roamed the room.
I frowned and took a closer look. I took a few steps into the room and turned in a slow circle. "More than that.. no natural wards. There's not even a threshold..."
Giovanni followed my gaze and nodded.

The door frame was slightly crooked There were peices of the aritecture that would noramly form a natural barrier, but they had all been tweaked jsut slightly to avoid the formation of any sort of threshold. Quite purposely.

It was bizarre.

Gio shrugged. "Guess he doesn't need them."
"Or is trying to make a point.." I muttered.

There was no one to greet us in the front room.
I started towards one of the carved doors. "This way.."
"How do you know?" Gio asked, following behind me.
"I smell blood."

We opened the heavy door and found ourselves in a parlor. It was decorated with the same expensive decor, but still managed to be comfortable. There was a serving tray on a low coffee table. It held two glasses and a decanter of a amber liquid, probably scotch or brandy, and a matching goblet that was full of blood so fresh it was steaming.

It took all my self control not to bolt to the table and chug it. I was still starving. We entered slowly, regarding the room with the same intensity as we had the previous one. But my gaze kept sliding to that goblet.

It felt like years before we made our way to that table. I picked up the cup and inhaled deeply. I wasn't so starved as to not take precautions. Coil training had helped me hone my...palate, if you will.

Female.. between 18-22, healthy, and free of drugs, as far as I could tell. It had also been given freely, more than likely. That part had nothing to do with Coil training. It was only minutes old, and it sat in the glass too cleanly to have been taken forcibly. I set it down with a great effort of will. My hand shook just slightly.

Gio picked it up and waved it under his nose like a fucking sommelier."Ahh, A-.."
"AB+ actually.." I said, blandly.
He smirked at me and put the glass down. "You'd know better than me.. you're the bloodsucker."

"There is actually little sucking involved in the process. It would be, therefore, more accurate to use the term, 'blood drinker' rather than 'blood sucker'." Said a cultured voice from behind us.

Pelinore was a pale man, just about as pale as me, which is saying something. His eyes were a pale shade of gray, the sclera tinged slightly pink. His hair was platinum blonde, the kind that usually only comes from a bottle, unless, like Pelinore, you happen to be an albino. He was only a few inches taller than me, which put him at about 6 feet. He was dressed in a tailored, three piece suit and has impeccable posture. His stride was sure and graceful. He held out a manicured hand to me as he approached. A diamond ring glinted on one finger.

"Ms. O'Shea, a pleasure to meet you."
I shook the offered hand. "Pleasure's mine." I said without smiling.
"Please. Sit." He gestured to the couches surrounding the coffee table, and sat. He took the decanter and poured two glasses of liquor. He sipped one.

We sat, and I picked up the goblet and drank. I figured if he hadn't fucked with the scotch, he hadn't fucked with the blood.

Besides, it was getting cold.

He settled back into the seat and rested his ankle on the opposite knee. "So tell me.. what can I do for you?"
Giovanni leaned back as well, but he didn't touch his drink. I never thought I'd see the day that Giovanni proved more paranoid than me. "Like I said before, I need information on Mattheson.. and Stone.. whereabouts.. abilities.. anything else that you might find useful.."

He took a thoughtful sip. I found myself leaning forward in my seat and forced myself to relax, and sunk back into the leather.
"Stone.. is distinctly difficult to pin down. Considering that he is closer to the source than either you or I, and has been alive for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, he has measures in place to disrupt any attempt to find him."

I focused on his aura as he spoke. It looked normal.

"Understandably." Gio said.
Pelinore looked at me. "Surely such things, and the nature of their usefulness, would be well within your realm of comprehension." I just nodded. He continued. "As for his abilities.. that is difficult to assess as well. He has had a long time to hone his skills, many opportunities to practice. He is powerful."

Giovanni's face split into an arrogant smirk. Pelinore regarded him with a pale raised brow. "You are passant.. strong.. however.." he held up his glass. "Take this, for example. Several different scotches may come from the same distillery, undergo the same process, sit in the same vats, use the same malted barley..however," He took an appreciative sip, "...age plays an important roll in the quality of the scotch. Some things simply only come from age, and not sheer strength."

Giovanni waved a dismissive hand. "I'm more concerned about Mattheson."
"Ah yes.. but fortunately, those two circles seem to be concentric, do they not?"
Gio shrugged. "I suppose so."

Pelinore set the glass on the table. "Matheson's power lies in his vices. He indulges them at whim." He looked thoughtful. ".But then, we are all creatures of our vices..."
"We know something about that." Gio said with a smirk in my direction.
"We all do." Pelinore continued. "In fact, indulging in such things are the wellspring of our power. Matheson.. loves a fight. He revels in being above the mortal law. He is well suited to the world of organized crime, in that way. He insinuates himself within an organization and becomes invaluable. Then he leaves when it begins to bore him. The situation in Chicago became too.. complicated." Giovanni looked overly pleased with himself. Pelinore didn't seem to notice. "New York is much more suited to his tastes right now.."

"The Genovese Family." Giovanni said.
"Indeed."
"And his powers?" Gio proded. His voice betrayed a trace of his eagarness. It was understandable.

Pelinore gave a delicate shrug. "Less substantial than Stones, truly. However, he is not weak. During our encounter, only the first two punches made any difference. After that, he was notoriously difficult to injure."

Pelinore had fought Mattheson? That was certain an interesting tidbit..

Giovanni's grin was fierce. "I guess its a good thing I don't plan on injuring him, then."

Pelinore just nodded. "There is more information that Icould give you.. surveillance that could be set up, wire taps acquired, contractors hired.. but it would be.. expensive. "
"How expensive?" I asked, as Giovanni said, "What do you want?"

A small smile graced his face. "I want for nothing. But those who would obtain the information have prices of their own."

Giovanni nodded understanding.

"Could Mattheson be a weakness to Stone?" I asked in the pause. I'd let Giovanni run the show mostly, get his information on Mattheson, but Stone was my focus.
"Most certainly. " Pelinore said, as though it should be obvious. "There are rituals that are have been known to destroy entire bloodlines."

Maybe Rowan would...
"No." Gio snapped. His gaze was intense and serious. He really did know me way too well. I tried to give him an innocent smile, but all I really managed was a impudant smirk.

He glared at me a fraction of a second longer before my smirk faded and I urged him on with a tilt of the head. There were other things we needed to know. He gave me a sight nod.

Like I said. Too well.

"Maybe you can tell us.. a few years ago, there were 13 young women named Natalie G. They were all killed at roughly the same time on the same night. The whole thing was made to look like a ritual of some sort...We have it on good authority that Stone killed one himself."

Pelinore's gaze was suddenly far away. "Yes.. 2:07am on August the 3rd.."

Gio and I stared at him, both caught off guard. "Do you know what the ritual was for?" I managed to stammer through the surprise.

Pelinore's eyes came back to reality and settled on mine. "Some things require ritual to summon. Some things require an offering.. a sacrifice. We killed them because this one needed a sacrifice of innocents."

Surprise was replaced with instant rage. Red and scalding. Had I still been holding the goblet, I probably would have crushed it. I managed to keep my anger in check. My stare was probably more of a glare. Pelinore met my eyes steadily though.
"What did you summon?" Giovanni said. His eyes flicked to me and narrowed for the briefest of moments. He was telling me to cool it. I gave him a much less subtle look that told him to fuck off.

Pelinore's voice became hushed. "Something brilliant.. and high above what we could ever possibly reach. Something gloriously bright.."
"Why?" It sounded more like an accusation than a question when I said it.

Instead of answering me, Pelinore stood and walked to one wall. He punched a quick series of buttons on a small key pad. We heard the sound of a mechanism coming to life. We heard heavy locks resound from both of the doors in the room. The room literally decompressed as the wall opened to reveal a large trophy case with a vaccum seal.

In the trophy case were two huge feathered wings, both ending in bloody stumps. Exactly what you'd picture an angel's wings to look like, soft white feathers that almost glowed. And they'd been ripped off.

"Quashallim..." Giovanni whispered.
"We all kept trophies.." Pelinore said, putting one palm flat against the glass and looking up at those wings with something like longing written across his face.

"What did Stone keep?" I asked, staring at the case.
"Pieces..Components. Blood, hair, fingernails, bits of bone..presumably to fuel whatever rituals he was conducting off in his own corner. As for myself.." He paused, then shivered slightly, tearing his eyes away from the glass to regard us. "I was just in it for the fight. A once in an existence experience.."

I sat back down on the couch, having jumped to my feet the second the doors had begun to lock. I pursed my lips, pissed, but kept my damn mouth shut.
"Did you take her eyes?" Giovanni asked, steel in his voice.

The wall slid back to hide the trophy case again. "The young woman I was.. responsible for.. had just lost her mother. To cancer. Despite our best efforts, the disease overtook her. She came to me, after that. Rather than be responsible for raising two young siblings, she made a bargain with me. She already felt her life was over." He shrugged, as though it was just another every day business transaction. "I took care to be sure she went gently..after that I do not know, nor do I care to know, what became of her body."

He returned to his seat on the comfortable couch. "You could perhaps inquire to Mattheson about that, however."
Giovanni's grin was more like a baring of teeth. "I was hoping you would say that."

"Why are you helping us?" I asked. I was a million times more suspiscious than I had been five minutes ago. Maybe I was slipping..

He steepled his fingers and regarded me over the top of them. "One could argue that I am not. If you begin pursuing avenues against Thomas Mattheson, it is surely to attract the attention of Stone.. a fate I would not wish on the direst of foes." He paused, gaze shifting to Giovanni. "One could also say that I am curious. How far are you willing to tread into your other nature?"
Gio just shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned. "If my family is any indication, as far as necessary."
Pelinore raised a brow. "Mattheson and Stone hardly hold back.."
Giovanni made a sour face. "Not that family. Either way, its good to know we aren't the only ones who are driven by curiosity." He smirked at me, I gave him a chilly little smile.
Pelinore seemed to ignore our exchange. "Indeed. several of us even have a little wager going on you."
"Bet the farm." Gio said, without hesittation.

Pelinore smiled. "As far as I know, only one of us has a farm. Is there anything else I can assist you with?"
"I'd like the names of the ones who can look in on Mattheson, if you would.."
"Certainly" He produced a pad and a pen from a pocket and scribbled something, handing the paper to Gio. Giovanni pocketed it without looking. We both stood at the same time, without a word or look at the other. "Thank you for your help..." Gio said, sincerely. "Though, I must ask.."

Pelinore stood as well. "Yes?"
"Out of curiosity, who are you betting on?"
"You of course, however, technically, we all are."
"So its not a matter of if I fall, but how long it takes?"
Pelinore's smile became cryptic. "Please let me know if I can be of further assistance."

We left. Most of my rage had subsided, and all that was left was a slow simmering anger. As we exited through the reception area, there were now two attractive young women at the desk. one had a thick bandage on her left wrist and was sipping at a glass of orange juice as she worked. They both gave us sunny smiles as we stepped into the elevator.

The Chicago air was chilly as ever when we stepped out onto the side walk, but I hardly noticed. Snow crunched under our shoes as we walked back to the car.

"You know..." I said, breaking the evening stillness. "I've been trying to figure out what that ritual was for.. well, since we found out it was a ritual at all. The answer seems.. somewhat unsatisfying."
"Oh?" Gio said, distractedly.
"Though.. I suppose now the question is.. what kinds of rituals do you need angel parts for?" I said thoughtfully, then glanced at Gio, frowning. "And how did you know the word..what was it? Quashallim?"
"Yousef. He mentioned once that he had hunted one.. and would never do it again."
I pulled up short next to the car and glared at him. "Yousef was involved."
Gio opened the passenger side and glanced at me over the roof of the car. "Lets talk about it back at the shop." And then ducked his head into the vehicle.
I looked around, suddenly feeling exposed, but saw nothing. Not that that meant a damn thing. I got in the car and we headed home.

****

The pack was getting ready to head out when we stepped into the relative warmth of the shop. Roxanne looked up as we came in and gave a curt nod. "Gotta go. Just got a call that something happened in our territory."
I raised a brow. "Is everything alright?"
She nodded. "I think so. We left Tommy to watch it. I trust him."
I managed not to roll my eyes. I had to admit, as annoying as he was, he got the job done. Usually.

"How're they doin' anyway?" Giovanni asked as he settled himself down in front of one of the numerous work tables.
Roxanne gave him an incredulous look.
I shrugged, leaning back against one wall. "They don't tell us much."
"You know, unless they do something amazingly silly.. like bring someone back from the dead." Gio said, cheerfully.
Roxanne bared her teeth in a grin, her eyes flashing angrily. "Keep talking and I will tear your throat out with my bare hands and make you eat it." The last words came out as a snarl.
The rest of us went still. Nobody and I exchanged a look, Becca had gone pale. Nadi was, as always, unphased.
Gio just started working on the gizmo sitting on the table, utterly unconcerned. "You know where I live."
A growl that was not human in the slightest trickled from her very human lips. She balled her hands into fists, spun on her heel and stalked off into the other room.

Tension eased out of the rest of us.

Gio never looked up, but his eyes flicked in Davareaux's direction. "She's going to get herself killed."
Davareux's expression was bored. "Yeah, those guys mouthing off all the time.. real dangerous." He said sarcastically.
Gio shrugged. "One day, it might."
"Haven't seen it yet." And he followed after Roxanne.

"Care not to get us all maimed or killed trying to prove your points, Giovanni?" I muttered darkly. he ignored me.

"Everything is fine, as far as we know." Larissa said, answering Giovanni's original question. "They're all in one piece.. well.. except Karl."
"Say what?" Nobody piped up.
She smiled. "He went and lost an arm."
Gio an I both looked up sharply. He gave me a shit eating grin, and I couldn't help but laugh, albeit without much humor.
Larissa furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Left or right?" Gio asked casually.
"Left..."
Giovanni jumped up and grabbed a wooden box off one of the tables. "Can you give him something for me?" He handed her the box, she struggled with it a moment. It wasn't heavy, but it was rather ungainly. Stepping Feather took it from her. Larissa still looked confused, but she was also used to us by now, I was sure. She didn't press the issue.

Besides, it would be rather obvious what was going on once Karl opened that crate and pulled the Hand of Glory from the packing material. As though we needed to give Karl any more help in being a fucking badass..

But hey, none of us felt like lopping off an arm to use the thing.

"It's good to have you back, Stepping Feather." Nobody said and offered his hand.
"That it is." Giovanni agreed.
Stepping Feather juggled the box to get a free hand and traded grips with the changeling.
"It's good to see you again." I said with feeling.
He set down the box and pulled me into a tight hug. I grunted at the strenth of it, then hugged him back fiercely, so much so that I even surprised myself. We both pulled away smiling.

He retrieved the box and left with Larissa. Alexandria appeared from the other room and followed them out a moment later, giving us a wave.

The shop was suddenly quiet again. Gio's tools made soft buzzing and chirping noises. I pulled up a stool and watched him work for a few minutes. Becca wandered off with Nadi, and Nobody left. I had no idea where Ori had gone off too.

I let the silence stretch for awhile, watching the tools move as I rolled the nights events over in my mind.

We knew three of the thirteen murders. Maybe four. Stone, Pelinore, Yousef, and possibly Mattheson. And we knew why, at least mostly. To kill an angel. I shuddered at the thought. I was by no means a saint, but even to me that hit a sour note.

I could assume that the parts Stone took were for his rituals to summon these gods we've been busy stopping.. but it might be more than that.

And then there was the issue of Yousef's trophy. What was it that he kept? And was it still in the shop?
And what would we do when we finally found Mattheson? How could we use him against Stone? I didn't know enough about blood magic to even hazard a guess, and as Giovanni had already pointed out, talking to Rowan about it would probably be a bad idea...

Maybe Father Nico could help.

The image of those bloody wings came to mind again. And Pelinore. I wondered what I should do about Pelinore...

"I don't like him." I said, finally.
Gio just kept tinkering.
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. It was another problem for another time. "What names did he give you?"
"Names of those like us, I suppose, but there's one name not on the list, the first one I'm going to talk too..a man who works in tv repair shop and specializes in surveillance."
"Well.. at least we have a decent lead now. That's slightly more than we had earlier tonight..." I muttered.

"Yup. Time to see what's further down this rabbit hole, Alice." He winked at me.
I stood and gave him a mock scowl. "Don't call me Alice..."

As negative as I'd sounded, it was true that we'd gotten some important answers tonight. And saved a friend. I couldn't really complain about that. The complications would just make things more interesting.

Problems aside, it had been a good night, and we didn't get many of those.
Giovanni's laughter followed me as I made my way down the stairs, smiling as I closed myself in my haven of darkness for the day.

Delayed Again

2010-11-16T22:59:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the delay again. New post will be up soon. Hopefully by the end of the week. If not, by the beginning of next week. We will be taking a break from the WoD campaign until our awesome ST is done with finals, but should resume very soon. The next post will catch the story up to current state, and if needed, I'll put some filler posts..either more flashbacks, or maybe some new adventures that I made up all by my lonesome.

Thanks for reading!

Tracking Down Ghosts, Part II

2010-11-05T16:09:00.003-05:00

The others were nearly done with their reconnaissance by the time Nadi and Alexandria made it over to the sewers nearer to Maury's home. The others had been able to take cars, or at least some form of public transit. The two mages had to walk through the dark tunnels. Nadi was none to happy about that. Ever since she'd seen Stone in his true form (or maybe it wasn't his true form, but it terrifying nonetheless) she'd been afraid of the dark. She also had little desire to run into Joseph Traveler again.. but she wasn't going to say anything in front of anyone else.

So she and Alexandria got to go into the sewers. Nadi had a rather good memory, and navigated the tunnels well in the dark. At every few turns, she would call out in hopes that she could talk to the Collector before he jumped them.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Nadi called in her low voice. The acoustics of the sewers sent it bouncing down the tunnels in eerie echos.

A familiar voice responded, somewhere above them, or in front of them.. .or maybe behind them.. the echoing tunnels made it nearly impossible to tell. "You are not alone.."

The sisters stopped walking. Nadi didn't try to sweep the flashlight about to look for the Collector. She knew it was a pointless gesture.. even if it would make her feel less nervous. "This is my sister, Alexandria."

"Does she promise to do no harm?" The voice was androgynous, with a hissing and clicking quality to it, almost like a trio singing three different parts in a song at the same time.

"If no harm is done to me..I agree." Alexandria responded, eyes roaming the darkness, searching for the bearer of the voice.

"Why are you here?"

"We are looking for Stepping Feather."

"The Indian?"

Nadi nodded. "Yes."

"You are too late." The Collector hissed in its disjointed song. A creepy, disturbing, and terrifying song that shot right through the reasoning part of the brain and straight to the animal instincts, the part of the brain that has nothing to do with rational thought, and everything to do with fleeing dangerous predators in the dark.

But Nadi was not one to be ruled by her baser instincts. Her head was screaming at her to runrunrun.. get into the light.. it was the only place safe from getting devoured. But she stood her ground, and didn't so much as flinch when the Collector seemed to materialize in front of them, appearing from nowhere.

The vampire was all long limbs and disturbing features. It was virtually naked, dirty and torn rags hanging from its freakishly thin apendages, but it was still impossible to tell if it was male or female. Lank, greasy hair fell down to the middle of its back, and would serve as a veil for its face had it not had patches missing. Its teeth were pointed and stained. It stared at them, somehow intimately aware of where both of them stood, despite the fact that it had no eyes. In fact, it had no eye sockets. Just smooth skin on an uninterrupted plane of the face. Its nose was barely more than two holes in that plane, which was only truly broken by its mouth and its dangerously sharp fangs.

It also looked like it had a bad run in with a chainsaw. Or more accurately, an angry werewolf. Bloodless gashes adorned its skeletal frame. Angry wounds that were slowly knitting themselves closed, even as they watched.

"You fought?" Nadi asked in a tone that was only a little more breathless than usual.

"Yes, we were both very injured." It tilted its head to one side, a very bird like gesture. "He is alive." it said as though it suddenly realized that might be important to the mages. "He made it past all the extra security measure, all the mazes.. all the traps. I found him in Maxwell's study."

Nadi blinked once. Her version of a very surprised expression. "What was he doing?"

The Collector made a long series of clicks before answering. They echoed off the walls and cement floor. "The same thing Maury.. and you, did while there... went through books."

Books.. it was possible that if she could see what he'd been reading, she could make a guess as to where he might head next. "Do you know which ones?"

The Collector bared its teeth in what was probably a smile. "They all look the same to me, but you can ask Maury."

Nadi frowned. "He saw Stepping Feather?"

The Collector disappeared, its voice floating back to them in an eerily disembodied manner. "He did not leave his sanctuary. However, he was the one who informed me the Indian's presence. It was rather... embarrassing."

Nadi and Alexandria exchanged glances, then continued through the tunnels until they arrived in Maury's study. When they stepped foot inside and closed the large steel door behind them, they heard another heavy door open and shut, and a moment later, Maxwell Maury stood across the room. "You are looking for the lycanthrope that broke into my study earlier this evening." He said without preamble.

Nadi just gave a small nod. "We know he's gone now, I was wondering which journals he was going through."

He reached over and removed several leather bound journals from the shelves and held them out to her. "He seemed to be particularly interested in the entries concerned with the Cook County Asylum."

Nadi gave a curt nod and handed the books back to Maury. They both turned from each other, and walked away without another word.

Nadi pulled the door closed behind her, and opened the mental connection to the rest of the group. He is heading to Cook County. We should hurry.

****

The car came to a stop, gravel crunching under the tires. I had filled Davareaux in on the way over, telling him about the last time we had been here, chasing after the serial killer. We'd given life to the Promethean that had been put together from the pieces of all the Natalies that had been murdered, then we'd run from the monster known as a Mask, who shrugged off bullets, knives, and death magic like annoying mosquito bites. The Natalie Promethean was the only reason we'd made it out alive. Somewhere during the chase things had been set on fire. I think Nadi had been responsible for that one, but I couldn't be sure. It had been a pretty hectic situation. It hadn't been pretty, and I made sure he knew just how dangerous this place was.

The fire hadn't taken out the whole place, as I thought it would have. One side of the building was charred and sagging, but the other side was mostly still intact. I had no idea how the firemen had put out the blaze without getting their heads bitten off by an angry, nigh invulnerable monster.. but they had managed. There was police tape across the gate, which was unlocked.

I pulled out my cell and dialed Martindale. I needed to know if the Mask was even still there. He had said they'd send a team down to take care of it. If the Mask was gone, that would make our snooping much simpler, and much less deadly.

"Hello?"

"Martindale.. Hope your night is going well. I need some information... did your guys ever get the Mask in Cook County?"

He gave an irritated grunt. "We looked everywhere. Had a whole team of your guys with me," I scowled. I was a long way from considering Taskforce Valkyrie 'my guys'. "There was no Mask."

I blinked, taken off guard. That was probably one of the last answers I had expected. The Mask was not a subtle creature. I doubted it had the wherewithal to hide successfully from a trained strike force. Irritation colored my voice and made my words sound slightly harsher than I intended. "Well that's fucking convenient."

I could almost hear Marindale's teeth grinding. He spoke with them clenched tightly shut. "Seeing as how something I've been hunting for years slipped through my fingers, again.. I'd say its decidedly inconvenient."

I rolled my eyes. Sarcasm was lost on some people. Or maybe it was just that much of a sore spot with him. I steered the conversation in a slightly more productive direction. "Do they usually just leave like that?"

"Usually, once a mask has made a nest, it won't leave without killing anyone trying to make it, as well as any person in the general vicinity."

"Where the hell would it have gone, then?" I asked, mostly to myself.

"There are all sorts of old sewer tunnels under that area.. maybe went down there..Why the sudden interest in the Mask?" He asked.

"Business bringing me back. Needed to know what to expect."

"Are you there now?"

I glanced up at the haunting building. It looked even more daunting than it had before, the charred and melted places made it seem nightmareishly resilient. "Yeah."

"You loaded for bear?"

I put a hand on one of the flash bangs I'd thought to take from the lab. No as much as I'd like to be.. I thought.

"Always." I said.

"Be careful."

I smirked at the phone. "Why Martindale, it's almost like you care."

He snorted. "Care, nothing. If you get torn to shreds, I have to deal with the fucking paperwork." And he hung up on me.

I put the phone away and Davareaux quirked a brow in silent question. I gave him the short version, then we ducked around the police tape and started walking through the tall grass. I decided to start at the back door. First, we'd retrace our steps from our original visit, then head up to the upper floors.

If the mask didn't show up to tear us apart, that is.

The back door was unlocked, even cracked slightly. We opened it as silently as possible and took careful steps into the dim building. The lower floor had been hollowed out, most of the interior walls gone. I was surprised it was still standing. It also made me realize that the Mask wasn't the only danger of being in such an unstable building. Vampire or not, being crushed by giant slabs of concrete wouldn't feel good, and wouldn't lend itself well to outrunning murderous monsters.

The kitchen looked unremarkable, as it had the first time we'd been here. I switched all communication to the mental link between Davareaux and I. I had no idea how sensitive the Mask's hearing was, and had little desire to find out.

If I give us more cover, will you be able to see?

I'm not really using my eyes. he replied, even his thoughts were quiet. I saw his nostrils flare, scenting the air.

I nodded once and let the darkness grow around us until it was downright inky. The shadows were so dense that they were nearly solid. I couldn't help but feel a little pleased with myself. I was getting better with the power. I briefly wondered if that reflected my mental state at all. Too soon to tell. I let my pupils expand to fill my eyes so I could see through my own creation, and we started down the hallway. Davaruex took point, and I gave him the directions.

First stop: the boiler room. It was a dead end, one entrance, one exit.. but it was necessary. We descended the stairs slowly and silently. Any small noises made where muffled by the darkness that followed us, keeping pace with our steps.

The subbasement looked no different than it had 2 months ago. The message was still scrawled across the wall in huge letters..lyrics to 'Weird Science', and a bent and mangled gurney that had held Natalie. It was still a mystery who had written them there, who had put together the Promethean. Giuseppe had said it hadn't been him, or Ray. I tore my eyes away from them, and focused on the task at hand.

I trained all my attention on my nose, and inhaled slowly.

Old dust.. ash (an involuntary shiver ran down my spine), sweat, and perfume. But the sweat smelled.. off somehow.

That sweat smells weird, but I can't really figure out how. Can you smell it? I asked Davareaux silently.

He came to an abrupt stop and held him arm out in front of me. I came up short. Then I heard it.

Breathing.

Deep, heavy breaths came from the furnace in the corner. The breathing of a huge sleeping creature. The doors were shut, and the metal bars on the doors looked like a giant hand had crushed them together and twisted.

One of the benefits of lacking a working circulatory system is that when you're terrified, your heart doesn't pound so hard in your head that you can't hear anything else. So I could hear every move the Mask made as fear shot through me like lightning. I had no illusions that I could take on that creature, even with Davareux and his rifle around.

Davareaux seemed to be of a similar sentiment, because we both started taking very slow, silent steps backwards, towards the stairs. We walked up them backwards, eyes never leaving that furnace. Once we reached the first floor, I shut the door to the lower levels and a small portion of the fear leaked out of my body, leaving behind a nervous caution. Mystery solved. I wonder how they missed it..

Davareux just shrugged, and we continued our silent search of the Asylum.

There was nothing much left of the first floor to search. Even the room that had been filled with furniture, the obstacle course that we'd had to transverse with the Mask hot on our heels, had been reduced to a room of piled ashes. So we hit the stairs, and made our way to the second floor.

I found myself coming up short at every little sound. I was wound tightly, but I found it to be essential to my survival for once. I just had to hope that I'd hear the screaming metal if the Mask made an attempt to exit the furnace.

At the end of the 2nd floor hallway, there was an area of the ceiling that had collapsed, allowing access to the room above. I paused and regarded the area with a pensive frown.

What? Davareux asked silently.

We never came up here, the first time, but we had gone over the floor plans pretty thoroughly before we showed up. It was a couple months ago, but if I remember correctly.. this room isn't actually accessible from the third floor. According to the blueprints, It shouldn't even be here.

I took a few steps forward and peered up into the room, but the angle kept me from seeing anything but ceiling. I climbed up the fallen support beams as quietly as I could, pulling myself out of the way to allow Davareaux to follow me.

The room was in similar condition to the others, but had a few additions. There was a CD player sitting on an old table, the plastic on the Play button cracked and mashed. Next to the player, there was a compact, makeup brush, and a few other beauty supplies. The brush handle was slightly bent, and the compact was cracked down the middle. The smell of perfume hung lightly in the air, the same perfume I had detected in the boiler room.

Strange.. Davareaux thought, I smelled that scent in New Orleans before too..

I picked up the compact and flipped it open. It stuck for a moment, the plastic sticking together at the seams. Once I managed to pry it apart, I saw that the makeup inside was similarly damaged. Seemed like whoever was using it had a hard time controlling their own strength. I focused my voodoo on the mirror.. but saw nothing.

Instead, I felt something. Emotions. fear, self loathing, sadness, a gut wrenching loneliness.. and a myriad of other feelings, some conflicting.

But the important part was the fact that I felt each emotion thirteen separate times.

Damn.. I didn't know she'd come back.. I put the compact back down, taking a few long breathes to steady myself..remind myself that the feelings weren't mine. I couldn't afford to get distracted.

We left the room and used the stairs to get to the rest of the third floor. I wondered where the Natalie Promethean was, if not in her room.

In another room on the third floor, right next to the stairs, there was an old fridge, handle dented. When opened, it revealed rows of yogurt, and other healthy snacks. The place hadn't had electricity in years though, and everything in the fridge was spoiled. I grimaced and closed it softly. Seemed like she was going through the motions, being as normal as she could be.

Poor girl.

I heard something move on the second floor landing. I looked up sharply at the door and froze.

Someone is on the landing.

Davareaux didn't say a word, merely unslung his rifle and held it against his shoulder, aiming at the door. I pulled out two obscenely sharp knives. We stood that way, still as death, as quiet footsteps came up the stairs to the third floor and stopped outside the door.

"Whose there?" a rough voice said from the other side of the door.

Daraeaux exchanged a look. He inclined his head to me. He was taking my lead. I inhaled and exhaled slowly and quickly ran through my options. I didn't have many.

"People not looking for trouble." I said quietly.

The makeup compact I'd examined earlier slid under the door, mirror open. "Tell your friend to drop his gun."

Davareaux kept the rifle trained on the door. "Are you absolutely sure about this?" He murmured to me, almost inaudibly.

I put my knives back in their sheaths, and made them disappear. "No, but I don't see another option."

He only hesitated a moment before slowly lowering the weapon to the floor.

The door opened a few inches and a hand came around the door, fingernails painted pink, but poorly, like she didn't have very good fine motor control. Natalie peeked around the door, just enough that I could see only one bright green eye. She blinked in surprise. "Oh!.. It's you."

I gave her a strained half-smile and nodded. "Yeah. It's me. Sorry to disturb you. We didn't know you were back.

She pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked into the room with a plastic bag of groceries. The makeup on her face was poorly applied, and her eyes still looked a bit suspicious. Other than that, she was very attractive. It would take someone who knew what they were looking for to pick up on the imperfections.. the way she walked with a slight limp because one leg was slightly longer than the other, for example.

But that's to be expected when you're body was sewn together from the pieces of 13 different women.

She opened the fridge and began to take things out of the bag and set them inside. It was mostly health food. I felt a pang of sympathy for her.

"When did you get back?" I asked, voice now made soft out of concern, rather than fear.

She was in the process of putting a glass bottle of Agave juice in the fridge. Her hand convulsed around it when I spoke, and the bottle shattered. She looked at it and sighed, then picked up a towel to wipe her hands. Her voice was quiet, and seemed slightly haunted, or maybe bitter. There were too many emotions there for me to tell. I didn't look at her aura. I didn't want to see visual evidence of her emotional turmoil.. turmoil that I felt at least partially responsible for.

"Traveling was hard. I tried hitchhiking. But in the end, they all wanted one thing." Her expression hardened. "I got tired of hiding the bodies." She raised her eyes to mine, as if daring me to judge her. But my face was a mask of concerned interest, and nothing more.

I just nodded. "How do you avoid the Mask?"

She went back to putting the last few items in the fridge and shut the door a bit more forcefully than necessary. But she didn't seem angry, just uncoordinated.

"When's he'd asleep, we get along just fine. When he's awake.." She smiled a bit, sadly. "Well, it's something to pass the time. The hard part was hiding him from the agents."

Mystery really solved. I was glad they hadn't found Natalie. I was also glad that she hadn't felt the need to beat the shit out of a group of heavily armed agents. Might've been fun to watch though.."How'd you do it?"

She shrugged. "Put him in the furnace... what are you doing here?"

I sighed and rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand. "Looking for a friend. We think he may have come here.."

"No one was here when I left, a couples hours ago." She set some canned food up on a shelf. "Can't go into the grocery store.. but they always throw things away.." she said softly. I managed to keep my wince internal.

"Would you know if anyone had come in since then?" I doubted she had any special way to keep track of the whole building, but I'd been wrong before.

She just shrugged. "You can try the 4th floor... but I don't know what's up there."

I regarded her with a tilt of my head, a bit surprised. "You've never been?"

She shuddered very slightly. "No.. something up there.." Her eyes drifted towards the ceiling. "...scares me."

I frowned and started to reply, when Nadi spoke up on our mental radio channel.

He is heading to Cook County. We should hurry. Nadi's voice was calm, but still managed to convey urgency.

"Is it alright if others come in? Most of them are the same people from before, when you woke up. We think our friend might be upstairs.."

Natalie looked at me, her face stoic and serious. "If they come at me, I'll kill them."

I nodded. "I understand. They won't hurt you."

She nodded slowly.

Go ahead and get your asses over here. But be polite. Natalie is here, and everyone damn well better leave her be. I growled, picturing the room for them.

Why would we hurt Natalie? Gio's voice echoed in my skull about a half second before the entire group stood around the room, all of them looked a little green around the gills, but everyone managed to keep their lunch.

Giovanni looked at Natalie, who was tensed, ready to make a move if she had too.
"Oh! Hi!" Giovanni said in a quietly cheerful voice.

She seemed to relax just slightly. "Hello.."

We didn't have time for any more pleasantries if Stepping Feather might have come this way. I jerked my chin at the stairs. "Only place left to look is the 4th floor. Is everyone ready?"

Everyone murmured an affirmative. I pulled a plain white card from my pocket and held it out for Natalie. "I may not get a chance to see you again before we leave, depending on what's upstairs. If you need anything.. don't hesitate to call me."

She reached out, her fingers trembling, and took the card with forced gentleness. I could see that it was taking all her will and concentration to not destroy the card. She managed to take it from my hand while only slightly creasing the paper.

I gave her one last nod, and we turned and headed up to the 4th floor.

****

We stopped on the landing, just inside the door. The place was preternaturally dark. Even with my night vision, I couldn't see all the way down the hallway. My skin was trying to detach itself and crawl away.. which was probably a wiser decision than the one I made to stay.

Giovanni took a slow breath, and a glance told me that he was working his mojo. His eyes had rolled back into his head, and he seemed to enter a trance like state. He was reading the building. Suddenly, a mental picture of the floor we were on appeared in our heads. There were several rooms on either side of the hallway, then the hall opened up into a larger area at the end, with two medical bays. There were evidence of presences in each of the rooms.

10 of them.

There were also black half circles on his mental blue print. two at the end of the hall, in each medical bay, one on the far wall of a room on the right side of the hallway, one directly across from it on the far wall of a room on the left, and one directly behind us.

Those presences are ghosts. I'm not sure what those marks are, though.. and the ghosts are moving. Gio thought.

We watched as figures exited the rooms and filled the hallway. They were moving towards us, and they did not look friendly. The closest ghost watched us with hollow sockets filled with fire, instead of eyes. His limbs were grotesquely distended. It looked like he'd tried to claw his way out of something so fervently that it had destroyed his fingers. Now, past the last knuckle his fingers were nothing but bone, dripping a continual stream of blood.

And he was just the beginning of the horrors that were pouring out into the hallway.

I closed my eyes and focused on the map, trusting the others to keep watch on our new friends. Something about those marks was eating at me.. some connection that was probably important.

Then I had it. I inhaled sharply. Look. I drew a mental line between the points. Starting with the medical bay on the right, and drawing a straight line to the mark behind us, then back down to the other medical bay, then diagonally across to the mark in the room on the right, then the room on the left, then back down to the original point.

It makes a star, Giovanni. This isn't good. What are those things?

Gio's tone held an edge to it. I already said, I don't know. But there should be one directly behind us.

Everyone turned to look but Gio and Davareaux. Gio held his trance state, and Davareaux was watching Larissa, who was, oddly, in a similar start as Giovanni. There was nothing but a blank wall behind us.

Roxanne jumped up, easily reaching the area of wall right below the ceiling, and ripped through the plaster.

Behind it, was a piece of black glass in the shape of an oval.

My eyes went wide. No one touch it! I snapped.

Everyone glanced at me, surprised. It's a smoking mirror. I explained.

I turned back to the hallway, as did everyone else. We could see more of the ghosts Giovanni had been talking about now. They were all continuing towards us, slowly and deliberately.

I pulled out my side arm and ejected the magazine, sliding a new one home. The bullets glowed with a faint blue light.

Remind me again what a smoking mirror is? Giovanni asked in a conversational tone, like we weren't about to get munched on by the stars of Thir13en Ghosts.

I eyed the threat nervously. A mirror that shows you what you truly are. The Nahuali in Mexico are known for using them. When the New Orleans group found one on the temple top in Mexico, Jaleel touched it and it threw him into an immediate frenzy. Stone had set it up to eat the ghosts.. or absorb them.. whatever.

The mirrors aren't eating these guys. Nadi thought.

No. I said grimly. They aren't.

"What do you want?" Gio said, eyes still rolled back in his head, but he was facing in the general direction of the closest ghost, the one with the ruined fingers.

Its mouth twisted and its body shook in an unsettling manner. Its eye sockets burned with a wild insanity, its voice was rough and hoarse. "To be.. free.."

Nadi shouldered to the front and looked out over the ghosts with a small frown. She seemed completely unafraid. Which was fine, because I was plenty scared for the both of us. Ghosts might not phase her.. but these things were something out of my worst nightmares. "What is binding you here?"

Another ghost, the one directly behind the first, answered. He had on odd contraption wired into his skull. He shook spasmodically as blue currents of electricity traveled across his body. His flesh was eaten away, wounds I recognized as severe electrical burns, the flesh charred and smoking around the open gashes. "He bound us, with the mirrors!" its body convulsed and its voice went high with rage. I saw lighting crackling in the back of his throat. "We want OUT!"

I held my gun down at my side, for now. The first ghost was getting closer, and I had no intention of letting it touch me. "Who bound you? What would you do if you got out?"

Another ghost responded. He was so tightly wrapped in a straight jacket that the movement to simply open his mouth was a violent tearing and ripping motion. The jacket had become part of him, and every movement tore at his flesh. His head twisted in an impossible manner. "Inflict the madness!" His eyes flashed and bored holes into my skull.

I met those eyes full of nothing but rage and insanity, and felt something inside my head snap. A deep, penetrating fear blossomed in the pit of my stomach, and the hallway and all the people in it suddenly felt cramped and restricting, like the walls were closing in. I looked aroud wildly for a moment before I forced it down and away, and made myself look back up at the approaching horde, but a fine tremor had begun in my hands.

Nadi's voice was much more calm and concerned than mine would've been, had I trusted myself to speak at that moment. "We can't let you out, but we can help you be at peace.."

A ghost near the back of the hallway that was covered in badly sutured incisions in places that no sane doctor would ever cut and had scalpels coming from the tips of its fingers threw back his head and let out a sound that might have been a scream, or might have been hysterical laughter."There is no peace for us! Only madness!"

He glared at her with those same eyes, and she shrunk back from him, if only slightly.

They're strong... really strong. But there is one in the far right corner that hasn't come out yet. Gio muttered.

I took aim at the closest ghost, but waited to pull the trigger. Is there any reason we should stay up here? Because running seems to be the smart thing to do right about now.

I'm already gone! Get your asses out of there! Came Nobody's response. I spared a glance over my shoulder and saw that, sure enough, the changeling was no longer on the landing with the rest of us. My vision flashed red with rage. He'd run. He'd left us there, and run away like a coward. The rage was too intense to keep to myself, and I knew that everyone on the mental channel got a good dose of it. But I hardly cared. I focused on the incoming threat instead.

Nadi looked to another ghost. "We can help you pass on from here."

"There will be no peace!" Another shrieked. it was covered in hypodermic needles. Huge syringes stabbed into its eyes and more decorated its body like gruesome spines.

As if I didn't have enough reason to never use intravenous drugs ever again..

They surged forward again, still out of physical reach, and began to twist and convulse, becoming more and more horrifying with each passing moment.

That last ghost.. its really, really angry. Nadi thought.
Dangerous? Gio asked.
Maybe moreso than the rest of them, yes.
Then I don't see a reason to stick around. I growled. I wanted to get out of there just as much as Nobody had. But I wasn't about to leave everyone else behind to do it.

"Who is the ghost still in his room?" Nadi asked.
One ghost looked like he may have been, at one time, a security guard. He held a billy club that was stained with blood and other things and his uniform was in tattered rags. Strings of rusted barbed wire dug into his arms, chest and neck, oozing blood. His face was twisted with crazed violence and cruel intentions. He twitched and let lose a peel of laughter that sent shivers down my spine. "New patient.. just got here.. days ago."

I doubted highly that these ghosts had any accurate sense of the passage of time. For all we knew, "a few days ago" could have been hours..or decades.

These guys aren't old enough to be this damn powerful.. this doesn't make sense. Gio said, his tone frustrated.

He was right. I didn't know much about ghosts, but it always seemed like they needed to be pretty damn old to even be worth mentioning. These guys were 60..70 years old, tops. But we could fell the power coming off of them in waves, and they had physicality manifested with ease, and remained that way.

The one time I saw the Natalie ghost manifest, she'd done so for only seconds, and had been utterly exhausted afterward.

The mirrors. The mirrors were focusing their strength.. playing double duty. They weren't just holding them up here, they were allowing them to grow in power. The star pattern was amplifying their strength. They weren't trapped up here so they couldn't hurt people.. they were trapped up here so they could grow.

So that they could hurt people more later.

It was difficult to keep from pulling the trigger and trying to blow the ghost to bits, but I managed. We need to get the hell out of here before we can't anymore.

The ghost feels like Stepping Feather's memories felt... Nadi said, interrupted my train of thought.

"Of course it does!" I snarled, out loud.

It didn't surprise me. We'd been having that sort of night. But I was done putting up with this bullshit.

"Fuck this!" I whirled around to face the door.

But I wasn't running. I aimed for that damned piece of black glass and pulled the trigger. The blue tracer round left the barrel and hit the mirror right in the middle. There was a muted WHUMP, like a cannon ball being shot into feather pillows, an explosion of blue light and dark glass, and the mirror fell to the ground in a million tiny pieces. "Take them out, and do it fast! They mirrors are focusing their power. Destroy them all and we might actually have a fucking prayer!"

No one questioned it. I had the most experience with the mirrors, so they took my word for it. They never stopped to question what would happen if the ghosts got out.

Probably because none of us untended to let any of them leave.

Nadi threw out her hand and energy rolled off her fingertips. I heard the sound of falling glass in the back of the hallway. Alexandria disappeared, and we heard more shattering glass in the room on the right.

"Now this is something I can actually do!" Ori said and bolted forward, dodging around the ghosts like they weren't even there. He threw open the door on the left and lept, sticks coming down hard on the mirror.

Giovanni's eyes rolled back to a normal position and he pulled out his shotgun. We traded a glance. I winked at him, and he turned away with a smirk and leveled the shotgun down the hallway.

Time to start the fucking party.

Gio lined it up where he knew the last mirror would be, and let the shot fly. I wouldn't think that a spray weapon would be that accurate at such a distance, but it not only shattered the glass on the med bay, but also the mirror high up on the wall, behind the plaster. The runes on the gun glowed a fierce red.

The darkness suddenly felt a little less oppressive.

The ghosts, however, will still just as terrifying.

They howled in equal parts fury and glee began to rush at us. We all heard that last door slam open.

Nine huge dire wolves burst out into the hallway, made entirely of shadow. I booming voice rolled over us from the back of the room.

"I'm tired.. of being bound. I'm tired.. of darkness!"

Three wolves lunged at a ghost that was sheathed in iron. Black metal bands encircled it at the ankles, knees, wrists, waist, elbows and shoulders. Bands were also screwed into place over his mouth and eyes, and what looked like iron nails were driven into its ears. He was floating, as if underwater, feet never touching the ground.

The wolves tore it to pieces.

Nobody, where the fuck are you?! Gio demanded as he took aim at a ghost so emaciated that it looked like a skeleton covered in a thin layer of skin. Its mouth gaped, larger than it had any right to be, yawning like a chasm. Its ribs broke through the skin, and its movements were a study in contradictions, agonizingly slow, but somehow urgent, yet tentative. Giovanni blew its head from its fucking shoulders.

Getting backup! He called back

He was going for the Mask. I wasn't sure how good of an idea that was, but I had none better, so instead of criticizing, I lined up my sights on the ghost who was half straight jacket, the one who had scared the ever loving bejezzus out of me, and pulled the trigger twice.

Blue tracer rounds erupted from the barrel and slammed into center mass. The crazy apparition howled, and then just fell apart. He unraveled, almost like a mummy, and disappeared. I allowed myself a satisfied smirk. It gave new meaning to the term facing down your fears.

Around us, other ghosts were falling under the teeth of the shadowy wolves.

And then we heard another howl. One from far below us.. along with the sound of screaming metal, and then the tearing of concrete and rebar.

The Mask was coming.

Ori had traded his sticks for his rifle and landed several shots in the forehead of one that was barely more than a mass of smoldering and burnt flesh, skin sloughing off as fire chewed its way across its body. The bullet holes matched the gaping eye sockets, eyeballs hanging like deflated balloons on its cheeks, presumable burst from pressure or heat. I caught a glimpse of Mr. Scalpel fingers reach for Nadi, and she fell back, eyes wide and panicked.

Then she threw out her hand and the ghost just fell to pieces in front of her.

The others were busy as well, but that was all I had time to take in before the floor in the middle of the hallway buckled and split open. The beastly arms of the Mask reached up and hauled its huge ass through the hole. It immediately began grabbing for the remaining ghosts, tearing chucks of the specters off with his teeth.

He was eating them.

"He's binding them to himself.." Nadi said quietly as she climbed to her feet.

A familiar figure stepped out of the room on the far side of the hallway, the Mask between us and him. He was dressed in thrift store rags, and his face was set in a grim expression. The wolves fanned out in front of him, snarling and snapping at the Mask as the monster finished its meal.

He was going to stand and fight.

"Nadi! The journal!" Alexandria yelled. Nadi produced the slim volume from her pocket and the two of them started reading quickly, voices rolling over the words, speaking in a language that made my head throb.

Stepping Feather tensed, and sprung forward, charging the new enemy.

The words reached his ears half way down the hallway. I watched as his expression and his aura shifted. He twisted his body mid-leap and turned it into an artful dive, sliding between the massive creatures legs. He came to his feet on the other side in one smooth motion and ran right for us. "For fucks sake! RUN!"

None of us needed to be told twice. We turned and ran for the stairs. Giovanni jumped down the damn hole that the Mask had made, and met us on the first floor. Nobody and Natalie appeared from a small alcove in the wall they'd used to avoid getting in the monster's way. Natalie gave us a brief nod, cracked her knuckles, and started striding purposefully towards the stairs to face down the Mask.

We didn't stop running until we were clear of the fence. We heard a loud roar, and the sound of concrete shattering.

Stepping Feather skidded to a stop and looked at Alexandria. "Soo.. are you still mad at me?"
Her eyebrows went up and she blinked at him. "A little.. but this really isn't the time for that, don't you think?"
Stepping Feather nodded vigorously. "Yeah. Good. Mind getting us out of here?"

She smiled fiercely, and a moment later, we all stood inside Giovanni's shop, trying not to vomit all over his floors.

*****

Daraveaux was carrying Larissa, limp in his arms. She had stopped shaking, and was now completely unconscious.

"How is she?" Nobody asked in a low voice.
"She'll be fine.. she does this sometimes." Davareaux answered, just as softly. But the lines around his eyes stood out more than usual, and his expression was tight with worry. He went into one of the bedrooms and closed the door behind him.

We stood around the lab..more accurately, we stood around Stepping Feather. Everyone but Roxanne, who made a beeline for the kitchen and start taking out enough food and beer for a small Army.

I half-sat on one of the work tables, a small satisfied smile on my face. "How're you feeling?"
Stepping Feather looked thoughtful. "It's weird.. it's like.. I died.. and was buried alive. Then, I had to dig my way out, and ran all over the city, got trapped in some creepy as shit asylum, then had memories forcibly shoved back into my head.."
I grinned at him. I couldn't help it. "How did you get stuck up there anyway?"
He gave an easy shrug. "I was tracking scents, you guys.. I went up there, and then I couldn't leave. Simple as that."
Giovanni settled himself on a stool and leaned his elbows on the table. "Well you are half dead. Makes sense."
Stepping Feather's expression twisted into comical consternation. "I gotta go through all that again?"
Gio chuckled. "You were dead. Leaves a mark." He inclined his head ever so slightly in the direction of Larissa's room.

Roxanne returned with mounds of food and made sure that Stepping Feather ate. I'd never seen her in mother mode before. I did have to admit, it was a more characteristic response to Stepping Feather's return than seeing her break down in tears would have been. Any time anyone got close to him, her muscles tensed. She never actually made anyone move away, but the protectiveness was definitely evident.

Ori had a goofy ass grin plastered over his face. Not that I could blame him.

"Hey Uncle John."
Stepping Feather's eyes widened like he'd just seen Ori for the first time. In his defense, we'd been pretty preoccupied before. "Well holy shit! When'd you get so fucking tall?!" He pulled Ori into a bear hug. Ori laughed and hugged back, thumping his back.

Stepping Feather pulled away and looked closely at Ori's face. "Damn..its like looking in a mirror.. a taller, uglier mirror.."
I choked back a laugh.
Stepping Feather took a long pull from a beer. "So what the hell? Last I knew you were doing shit in Las Vegas. Now you're running with these guys?"
Ori blinked at him, a bit confused. "You..uh..sent me.."
Stepping Feather blinked right back. "Was it.. like a vision? or a dream..?"
Ori nodded and grabbed a beer for himself. "A dream I think.. not sure, I was smoking some pretty wild stuff."

"Then Giuseppe threatened him if he didn't help us." Nobody chimed in.
"Yeah, that's kind what he does...." Stepping Feather paused and looked at Nobody with a grimace. "I threw you down a flight of stairs.."
Nobody smirked. "Yup."
Stepping Feather rubbed the back of his neck and took another drink of his beer. "Yeah..uh..sorry about that.. it was a weird time for me.. I was in a bad place.."
Nobody shook his head. I got the idea he as smiling, but with no face, its hard to tell. "No worries."

Ori disappeared for a moment and came back with a box of clothes. He handed it to Stepping Feather. "Here, you look like a bum."
Stepping Feather grinned. "A handsome bum."
He proceeded to to strip out of the old thrift store clothes.. he hadn't stolen underwear. He changed right there in front of god and everyone.

And I figured, if he wasn't embarrassed about changing clothes in front of all of us, I had no reason to be embarrassed about watching him do it.

"So, what have I missed?" He asked, looking around the room at everyone.
"I killed Citysmith." Ori said smugly.
All of our heads swiveled in his direction at once. I arched a brow at him. Gio smirked widely, Nobody shook his head, and Nadi and Becca both just stared.
"All by yourself, eh Ori? You are a pillar of humility." My sarcasm fell in puddles on the floor.

Stepping Feather stared too, for that matter, mouth agape for a moment. "...Why?"
"Bale hound." Ori said simply.
His mouth snapped shut. "No shit.. man.. you think you know someone.." Stepping Feather said, shaking his head.

We spent awhile filling him in on what he'd missed out on. The serial killer, our banishment to Maury's place, Maxwell's death.. we spent a lot more time on Pain of Animals, and the fight with Citysmith. Anything we could think of. And we talked about nothing. It felt good to be able to talk to him again. It felt good to know that I'd been able to help him.

"So what about New Orleans?" He asked finally, looking at Roxanne.
"I'll fill you in when we get home."
"And when is that?"
She shrugged. "I can get tickets for tomorrow."
"Or I can take you there now." Alexandria said. She'd been so quiet I'd mostly forgotten she was there.
"Well what does Davareaux think?" He asked innocently.

A brief, but uncomfortable silence fell in the room
"We'll talk about it when we get home." Roxanne said in a flat voice.

"Oh.. yeah.. you see.. during the Pain of Animals fight..." Ori began.
"Shut. Up. Ori." I glared daggers at him.
"She said she'd tell him when they got home, you idiot." Nobody said, his voice tinged with a sneer.
Ori held up his hands. "Oookay. Shutting up now." He gave Stepping Feather a helpless look. Stepping Feather just offered a small shrug.

Davareaux reappeared then. "She's awake. She wants to see you."
Stepping Feather nodded and disappeared into the bedroom without another word. I heard crying a few moments later, but made a point not to listen in anymore than that.

I do respect peoples boundaries occasionally, believe it or not.

Gio sidled up next to me. "Ever heard of voodoo that makes beetles crawl out of a mans throat?"
"Beetles? Sounds familiar.. but I couldn't tell you where I've heard of it. I can try to find out though."
He nodded and went back to a low table in the corner. "Good.. because they were crawling out of one of the guards throats at the tower.."

I fell still as death and stared at him, surprised, and more than a little suspicious. He ignored me. The ass. I shook myself, brushing it off for now, and took out my cell and sent a quick message to Giuseppe.

___

To: G

Stepping Feather is safe and sound. On an unrelated note..Do you know what kind of voodoo would make beetles crawl out of a mans throat?

___

I only had to wait a moment for the response.
___

From: G

Lanceaum Sanctum. Not Birch's bag.

I'm proud of you.

___

I smiled. I'd be damn if I ever admitted to anyone how satisfying that little phrase was, coming from him.. but I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't like reading it.

And I was never one for overly emotional displays of affection.

___

To:G

Doing what I can. I'll keep you updated. Have fun in NOLA.

___

I snapped the phone shut and put it away.

Everyone had split off to do their own thing. Giovanni sat in the far corner of the lab, watching me. He knew me well enough to know when I'd want to have a conversation. Everyone else was either in another room, or involved with their own shit.

The warm fuzzies were retreating... replaced with the knowledge that we still had a lot of work to do..I felt my expression twist into something grim. There were still important issues to take care of.

Like the possibility that one of our own might one day leave us up shit creek with no paddles and a hole in the boat.

I walked towards Giovanni. It was important to appreciate the small victories.. and I thought getting Stepping Feather back a rather large one, all things considered. There was a part of me that felt satisfied and sated for the moment. Giuseppe's text had helped with that.

But I didn't have time to bask in the glow. There was still too much to do.. and no rest for the wicked.

I pulled out a stool and sat across from Giovanni. He and I had a lot to discuss.

Tracking down Ghosts, Part I

2010-10-29T16:47:00.000-05:00

1/12/10

For the second time that day I woke up to the phone ringing. At least this time the caller waited until the sun went down. I stood and answered the call, holding the phone between my ear and shoulder as I got dressed.

"Whats going on Tommy."
The werewolf on the other end of the line sounded tired and suspicious. Welcome to my world.
"Pack get there okay?"
I strapped on my holster. "Not sure. I haven't been up stairs yet. But I imagine if they didn't, the others would have let me know by now."
"Good.." He paused. I frowned and grabbed the sheaths for my knives, two of them now lined with silver, just in case.
"You gonna talk or sit there and imagine me half naked? I hate to tell ya, but I'm putting clothes on, not taking them off." I slid the knives into their respective homes. My voice held an annoyed edge that put a little more bite into the words.

"Mona is the new Seneschal of New Orleans...under a fake name, as a member of the Lancea Sanctum." Tommy said, finally.
I nearly choked on the next smart ass remark that was on its way out of my mouth. It came out as a barking laugh. But Tommy wasn't laughing. Hell, Tommy sounded downright bleak.
I scowled silently at the phone and sunk down onto the foot of the bed. "And this is something that bothers you, I take it?"
"He's gaining more and more influence. I'm just waiting for the day when the power corrupts.. if it hasn't already." He said in a low voice.

I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and forefinger. This could be bad. The guys down in New Orleans didn't like Giuseppe. The feeling was mutual, but this level of suspicion could lead them to fuck up Giuseppe's plans, just out of spite. If he had finally managed to get someone of his into a position of power in New Orleans, I wasn't about to let Tommy or Karl fuck it up because they lacked the ability to understand anything but black and white. I also wondered why Tommy was calling me about this. He knew I had a relationship with Giuseppe that was significantly more positive then anyone else in our group, and he wasn't really the type to call someone to get them to talk him out of anything.

Which meant he had another motive for calling me about this. Beyond keeping me up to date on what was going on. I resisted the urge to bitch him out. It wouldn't help. I decided to take a different route.

I sighed. "Look, Tommy. I know you guys aren't fond of Giuseppe."
Tommy grunted.
"But give it a chance." I continued. "He hasn't gone off the deep end, and if he's doing this, you know he has something important in mind. If he's turned into one of the bad guys.. you'll find that out soon enough. But if he hasn't, and you blow the whistle on his charade, there is no going back. You could fuck up something that would have helped everyone. You don't trust him, I get that.. but don't jump the gun. He has good intentions, believe it or not."
There was a pause as Tommy considered what I had said.
"It makes me nervous that he's building up so much power, so fast."
I sighed, my voice sounded strained and tired. "His methods may be less than savory, but he's effective, and so far, our goals have lined up pretty well. I'm not asking you to trust him. But give it some time."
"And if he has let the power go to his head?" Tommy asked, searching.

Ah. That was his agenda. He was trying to gauge my loyalty. My connection to Giuseppe made him nervous, and he wanted to figure out just how much I'd support my sire.

I lowered my voice to barely more than a whisper, my tone serious. "Then you won't be the only one after him."
Tommy considered that for a few heartbeats. "Alright. I'll talk to Karl, see if I can talk him out of telling the world. Let me know how the hunt for Stepping Feather goes."
I muttered ascent and hung up the phone.

I sat there for a minute, contemplating the call. I was annoyed, and worried. It annoyed me that Tommy was so concerned about my intentions.. and it worried me that he and Karl might feel the need to fuck up what I knew to be Giuseppe's very carefully laid plans. But there wasn't a lot I could do from here, except pretend to be opening up to Tommy a little, and hope he took my word for it. He was too trusting, but I could used that to my advantage.

Of course, if I were being honest with myself, I'd realize that it wasn't completely an act. There was that little voice in the back of my head, the one that had the same fears as Tommy.. but every night, my vision went a little less black and white.. a little more gray, and the voice got quieter. I'm not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but I ignored it, either way. I trusted Giuseppe. I wouldn't be so willing to help if I didn't. He and Mona had become family, and I'd rather walk out in the noon day sun than let anything happen to either of them.

I stood and finished prepping. My movements were short and angry. I was ravenously hungry, moreso than I usually allow myself to get. I shut the door behind me and went upstairs, furiously shutting out the soft voice in the back of my head that was asking me to tally up all the people who had ever killed me.

****

I leaned my head into each room and beckoned the others join me in the lab. Ori was asleep on the couch and wouldn't rouse when I called him.. or slugged him.. so I grabbed a magic marker from the lab and waved it under his nose until he sat bolt upright, sputtering and pawing at his forehead. I tossed the marker into his lap.
"Wake up. I'd just hate to have to use that thing again. Come on."
Ori followed me into the lab, grumbling.

We sat around one of Gio's tables as he worked on one of his projects with a small blow torch. I sat at the far side of the table from him.

"Karl called me this morning. " I said without preamble.

Gio looked up sharply and flipped up his welding goggles. He put one hand on the torch value, making the flame a bit smaller. "Doesn't that.. never happen?"
I nodded. "He had important news. They found out who Stone's son is."
"Oh yeah? Who?" Gio asked, the others watched me intently.

I met Giovanni's eyes and held his gaze. "Thomas Mattheson."

Giovanni's hand spasmed on the value of the torch and it flared suddenly, setting the entire table top on fire. I jumped back faster than I thought possible, chair clattering loudly to the floor.

"Jesus H. Christ, Giovanni!" I snarled. I was glad I'd chosen the far side of the table.

"I'm going.. to kill him." He said in a quiet voice.
Ori grabbed Gio's hand and angled the torch upward, and off the table, then put out the flames. "Weren't you already going to kill him?"
"I'm going to kill him.. slowly." Giovanni all but growled.

"Is the pack here?" I changed the subject away from one that caused Giovanni to light shit on fire in my presence.
Gio exhaled slowly, then his eyes rolled into the back of his head for a moment, before he shook himself and nodded. "All but Larissa."

"Okay. I'll be back." I headed towards the door. As an afterthought, I poked my head back into the room. "Oh, and Mona is the new Seneschal of New Orleans."

I left the surprised laughter behind me and went out in search of prey.

***

I wasn't in the mood for the usual seduce-some-guy-at-a-bar act. I was too angry. Too hungry to be that subtle. I was worried, anxious, pissed, and annoyed. I needed to hunt in a way that I hadn't done in quite some time.

It didn't take me long to find a lone drunk staggering down the road, and even less time to see the shadow that detached itself from a small alcove and followed the guy into the alley. I waited until the mugger had the drunk pushed up against the wall to jump his ass.

And I missed with the first grab. The mugger spun to face me, letting the drunk slide to the alley floor.
"What the fuck?" He pulled out a gun. And then he shot me.

Or shot at me, in any case.

I was pissed now. I flowed around the bullets like water and rushed the fucker. I twisted his gun arm back behind him in a hammer lock, spared a glance at the drunk, who thankfully, had passed out, and sunk fangs into the asshole's neck.

My throat convulsed, trying to take in as much blood as I could, as quickly as I could. I nearly lost myself to it, at one point. The compulsion to take too much, to keep drinking that warm, coppery sustenance until there was nothing left was so strong it was painful. I could compare it to someone eating a huge steak dinner after fasting for 3 days, but that didn't even come close. It was more like a drug fix a week into your withdrawal symptoms.

It was a hunger.. an addiction.. and it was the only thing that actually made me feel alive.

And when I tore myself away from it, it felt like I was ripping out a fucking rib. The need hit me like a physical force.. but I did my best to ignore it, sealed the wound, and let the mugger slip bonelessly to the asphalt. His face was pale, his lips looked almost bloodless... but he was alive.

But I was still hungry, dammit. I found myself staring at the drunk man, unconscious on the ground. But I forced myself to stride purposefully away, instead. I had work to do tonight, and his blood was too diluted with alcohol to allow me to think straight. So I walked out of the alleyway, and called an ambulance for my little anemic friend. I'd taken enough that he would probably need medical care. But he'd live. I stuck around long enough to confirm the sounds of sirens, then started walking back to the lab.

****

I focused on the problem at hand in order to shut out the pulsing hunger. I didn't have time to find anyone else tonight.

Stepping Feather had gone to places he'd either already been, or we'd already been. Of course, all the places he'd been, we'd been too. Was he having some phantom memories? I'd like to think that, but it seemed unlikely.

What was much more likely was the idea that he was following the scents he found at his grave. We'd all been there, as had the members of his pack. It would explain why he'd gone to the lab, before he'd seen the note. He followed our trail there.

Which meant.. we had a place to start looking.. well.. places.

I quickened my pace.

***

I hurried into the shop and back to the lab. Ori stood in the doorway to the kitchen, shoving beef jerky in his mouth. "Well aren't you looking fat and happy. Had a bite?" he said through a mouthful of food.
I arched a brow at him. "Pot calling kettle?"
He held out a piece of dried meat and grinned at me. "Want some? I found it on top of the fridge."
Giovanni looked up sharply and choked back a laugh before continuing his work. Ori just gave him a perplexed frown at continued to eat.

The pack appeared in the doorway, joining the loose circle we were forming around Giovanni's work table. I didn't waste any time getting down to business.

"Judging by the places we've already spotted Stepping Feather, or seen evidence of his passing, we can assume that he's tracking the scents that he picked up at his grave site. It's more plausible than fragmented memories, at this point." I pulled a street map I'd grabbed on my way back out of my coat and laid it out flat on the table. Gio handed me a red marker. I started marking through the places he'd already been with a big red X.

"How do we know he's following our scents?" Nobody asked, skeptical.
I shrugged and tried to feel as confident as I was pretending to be. "We don't.. but its the only lead we have right now. If we don't assume it, then we have no idea where to start looking." I turned to Nadi, standing quietly next to Becca, who was making a point to look everywhere except at Roxanne. The werewolf seemed obliged to do the same. "Once we find him, will you be able to give him his memories back using that journal?"

Nadi pulled the slender notebook out. "I'll have to ask my sister.."
I nodded and looked back down at the map. We'd been all over the city. We had a lot of ground to cover. Call her. We're going to need the help."

Nadi pulled out her cell and dialed a number. She had a brief conversation then looked up at Giovanni, snapping the phone shut. "Open the door."
Giovanni nodded, got s distant look in his eyes for a brief moment, then Alexandria was standing in the middle of the room with us. A growl bubbled up from Roxanne's very human throat, somehow making it more menacing than it would have been if she were in a wolf form. But she didn't say a word to Alexandria, and Nadi's sister said nothing to her.

"Okay.. we've got a few key locations that we should probably hit. We've been all over town, but some places more than others. I think we should focus on the places that all of us have been. Or at least, most of us." I circled five separate areas of the map. "The Santore Tower, Maury's place, The Library, The Shedd, and Cook County. If anyone can think of any others, feel free to speak up."

No one said a word. They looked thoughtfully at the map.

Larissa (who, consequently, was not looking at the map) sighed. "He has been speaking with Spirits of darkness.."
Ori's face paled. "Oh shit..."
Larissa frowned at him, and I had a feeling she rolled her eyes, but I coudln't tell from behind her sunglasses. "It's not like that. They are like any other spirit.. not inherently evil.. but it will make finding him much more difficult."
I smirked to myself, examining areas of the map. I flicked a glance at Ori. "Shadows have their uses."
He snorted and crossed his arms. "Yeah. Skullduggery." He said with a scowl.
My lips twitched into a brief smile. "I like to think of them as stealthy shenanigans.."

"We will have to split up.." Nadi remarked quietly, interrupting Ori's response.
I nodded. "Yeah.. don't want too.. but its the easiest way to manage it. Who wants to go where?"

After a bit of discussion, we decided that Becca and Ori would go to the Library, Giovanni and Roxanne would go to the tower, Alexandria and Nadi would go to Maury's, Nobody and Larissa would go to the Shedd (there was some debate on that one, but I had no desire to go back over there right now, vampire territory or not.), and Davareaux and I would head to the Asylum.

"Only one of us can have the journal.. what do we do if we find him?" I asked, looking to his pack.

"Try to hold there as long as you can, and call us." Davareaux said, his voice grave.
Larissa tilted her head to one side and went still for a moment.."There.. now we are all connected. Will your thoughts to the others, and we will hear it." She turned and looked at me before I could even speak, smiling slightly. "And don't worry.. we can only hear what you choose for us too."

Everyone nodded, somber and serious. No one said what everyone was thinking.

We'd lost him so many times already, how the fuck were we going to slow him down this time?

***

(((note: the next few scenes happen nearly simultaneously, for the sake of the story, the scenes Harper wasn't directly in will be in third person. This will be divided up into two separate posts, due to its length.)))

Ori and Becca walked up the familiar steps to the Library. Becca held a collar and leash in her hands, just in case Ori needed to get wolfy. No sense in getting detained because of a leash law violation while on a time sensitive investigation.

"Hey, while we're here, we can check out that new issue of Highlights." Ori said lightly, falling back on his usual distraction when he as nervous- humor.
"Hell yeah.. I'm behind." Becca said without missing a beat.

They noticed something was off almost immediately. There was no guard the door. They exchanged a look, and Ori put one hand on the door, pushing it open slowly. It swung inward on silent hinges.

The Library interior looked normal. Some of the lights were out, but it was after hours, and that wasn't unusual. Lights still burned in the upstairs, were Volkas would be hard at work. Ori's nostrils flared.

Familiar scents came to him.. burnt coffee, newsprint.. and the familiar but distinctly out of place smell of fresh blood. He bolted up the stair, Becca only a few steps behind him.

The smell of blood became stronger, and when they rounded the corner, they discovered why. Volkas lay on the floor, a small pool of blood forming around his head. His chair was fallen to the side, a few newspapers scattered, but for the most part he seemed to have been caught unawares. Had he struggled, had there been an actual fight, the place would have been torn to shreds. He was breathing shallow breaths, alive, but completely unconscious.

Becca leaned down and picked up the plastic handle to the coffee carafe, now only adorned with broken glass. She looked at Ori, eyes wide. "What the hell happened?"

"Not sure.. but.." He crouched next to Volkas and looked at the head wound. "He shouldn't still be out. The wound looks mostly healed... that's weird, right?"
Becca shrugged. "I'unno. I'm not a medic."

Hey Harper.. He look like he's gonna be okay to you? Why's he still unconscious? Ori projected his thoughts through the link Larissa had established, holding the image of Volkas in his mind for her reference.

The contusion looks mostly healed.. and there really isn't that much blood. If he was human, I might be worried about a concussion.. but he's not. From here, it looks like he'll be fine. Harper answered, almost immediately.

Ori stood, perplexed frown crossing his face. "Lets look around. If he was only hit with the coffee maker, he'll be fine.. maybe he'll be awake when we come back up."

They made their way through the library, hyper aware of every little sound, every small movement, even though they both knew that if Stepping Feather wished it, they'd see neither before he jumped them. All the guards but one were unconscious, slumped over in chairs, sitting leaned against walls.. out, but not injured.

One guard though, was feeling his way along the wall, eyes open, but unseeing. He looked frustrated, scared, and tired.

Looks like everyone is out.. except one guard, who is blind. Ori said to everyone.
Ugh.. I know now he feels.. Nobody grumbled.
Did you talk to him? He may have some idea what happened. Harper asked.
Talk to the blind guy. Gio thought, at the same moment.
The blind man may be able to help. Nadi suggested, simultaneously.

Nah. Ori said with a dismissive wave of the hand that only Becca could actually see.
Harper's voice took on an undercurrent of irritation. Why the hell not?
Ori shrugged. It's a hunch. He's not important.
Gio and Nobody let out exasperated complaints, and Harper somehow managed to convey that she was rolling her eyes, just by the inflection in her voice. Becca...
Yeah, I'm on it. Becca replied.

She stepped around Ori and walked towards the blind man, letting her boots fall loudly on the floor, so he's hear her coming.
The guard froze. "Whose there?"
"Friend of Volkas.. we came to see him and saw that you looked like you needed help. What happened?"

The guard swallowed and took a shaky breath. "Yeah.. I recognize your voice..don't know what happened.. everything just suddenly went dark.. all the lights, I guess. I've been trying to make my way back to the security office for an hour.."
Becca and Ori exchanged a look. Stepping Feather was probably long gone by now.
Becca waved a hand in front of the guards face. "Is everything still dark now..?"
"Yeah.."
"Can you show us where the security office is?" Ori asked.
Becca blinked at him, then covered her face with one hand, shaking her head.
Ori scowled. "I mean tell us what direction its in.."
"There are signs.." The guard motioned vaguely towards one wall, which had directional arrows leading to the office. They helped the guard back, and let him sink down into a chair on the far side of the room. Becca shivered. The last time she'd been in here, there had been a man with a newspaper shoved down his throat so hard it killed him. She hugged herself and tried not to think about it.

"There are security tapes.." The guard said.
"Ah! My specialty. Lets see what we've got." Ori said, leaning over the keyboard.

He rewound the tapes and played them forward at double speed, until an unfamiliar figure appeared. A man in what appeared to be stolen thrift store garb entered the library, and guards started to fall unconscious. One camera showed Volkas look up sharply, jumping to his feet and knocking over the chair right before 9 huge dire wolves made of solid shadows flowed out of the book shelves and lunge for him. He tensed, but before he could move to defend himself, Stepping Feather stepped up silently behind him and brings the coffee machine down across the back of his head. Volkas slumped to the floor. Then he was gone.

Ori took the footage and motioned to Becca. They headed back up the stairs to check on Volkas.

He was still unconscious.

"I have an idea." Ori strode over to the counter where Volkas kept the coffee and grabbed a bag of it. He opened the top and waved it under Volkas' nose, waiting expectantly.

Nothing happened.

"Wow...you really have a gift, you know that?" Becca shook her head and stepped over to the cabinet, pulling down the first aid kit that was sitting on the top shelf. She pulled out a small packet of smelling salts, shouldered Ori out of the way, and held them under the unconscious werewolf's nose before tearing them open.

Volkas came too coughing and sputtering. Becca and Ori both jumped back quickly as soon as he moved, wary of how he might react upon waking.

Volkas groaned and rubbed the back of his head. Becca helped him stand. Ori grabbed a damp towel and tossed it to him. Volkas started wiping the blood from his face and head. "He appeared from no wheres..."

"Yeah.. uh..I'd make you coffee.. but.." Ori held up the plastic handle of the coffee carafe, and gestered helplessly to the wreckage on the floor.
Volkas waved a hand dismissively. "Eh.. easy enough to replace. Was your uncle, yes?"
Ori nodded, expression turning grave.
Volkas turned slowly, taking in the room, then grunted, pulling out a file drawer. "He took records."
Ori blinked. "Records? Didn't see that on the tapes.."
Volkas shrugged and closed the drawer. "Cook County records it seems. Do you have the tapes?"
Ori nodded and handed him the footage.
Volkas took it from him. "I will take care of this. Go find your uncle. He is not here, now."
"Will do.. uh.. see ya..sorry.."
Volkas grunted and waved them away, then turned to grab a broom.

Ori and Becca exchanged a glance and headed silently to the door.

***

The Shedd parking lot was mostly empty. Nobody and Larissa approached the doors quietly, Nobody's head whipping this way and that, on the lookout for danger. Larissa just stared straight ahead, sunglasses still in place, red tipped cane swinging in front of her silently. The lock on the doors posed little problem to the changeling, and they slipped inside.

There weren't many lights in the Shedd during off hours. A few safety lights gave just enough illumination to make the place more creepy, rather than less.

Fucking vampires.. Nobody grumbled, internally. He didn't hear Harper say a word, but felt the distinct impression that she was laughing at him.

The weird shit didn't start until they made it into the main area of the building. Nobody looked up sharply, and held a hand out to stop Larissa. By the glow of the safety lights, he could see fog rolling slowly towards them. It hung low to the ground, and flowed around the floor independent of any air currents in the room.

There's fog on the ground.. don't know what it is..

Larissa nodded slightly. I'm stepping sideways. And then she was just gone. Nobody continued to watch the fog suspiciously.What do you see? He asked.
I don't. Larissa responded, her tone dry.
Nobody groaned silently. Man.. I just pulled a Tommy..
She didn't laugh, but Nobody could perceive her amusement nonetheless. There are a lot of spirits..
Any Stepping Feather might have talked to? Nobody asked, staring at the approaching mist.
I doubt he had many words with the fish spirits. She replied, drolly.

Nobody took a few careful steps back as the fog rolled towards his feet. The fog is still coming.
Larissa sounded distracted when she thought, There is something over here... but I don't know what..

Nobody took another step back and scowled at the floor. Fuck this.

Suddenly, the whole aquarium was full of light. Fish darted back into their holes, startled by the sudden illumination. Nobdy stood in the middle of it all, giving off rays like the noonday sun.

And it revealed the Larvae, crouched in what had been darkness. Before Nobody could utter a word, the vampire charged him, landing a closed fist blow to his chest.

Nobody jumped back, sucking in the breath that had just been knocked out of him and prepared for another charge, knives appearing in his hands... but the Larve just stood there. Muscles twitching in an effort to restrain himself, and eyed Nobody's weapons.

A bestial growl trickled from his throat. Nobody glared, but gave no ground.

The larvae increased the volume of his growl, and razor sharp claws slid silently from the tips of his fingers.

"Okay! Okay!" Nobody said, finally, and let the knives clatter to the floor.

The Larvae seemed greatly disappointed.

A moment later, a huge dire wolf appeared in the middle of the room, jaws locked around what appeared to be nothing but a shadow. She jerked and pulled, and the shadow wrestled right back.

Nobody threw up his hands. "Woah! Hey! Both of you stop! We're on the same side!" Then he added in a quieter voice, to himself, "more or less.."

"Her first!" The shadow snarled.

"Larissa." Nobody said, the word more a gentle request than a harsh command. Larissa's eyes darted to him and she hesitated briefly, then released the shadow who had solidified into the form of Thaddeus, the khaibit. She allowed herself to shift into human form.

The Larvae started to stalk towards the blind werewolf, claws tensed. Thaddeus held up a hand. "Stand down." His was much more a harsh command than a gentle request. The Larvae stopped, body shivering with suppressed rage.

"I didn't realize the Shedd would be guarded from there." Larissa said, her tone approving.
"Too many of you running around this town for it not to be." Thaddeus said in a rough voice. "Why are you here?"
"Looking for our friend." Nobody said, eyes still resting on the Larvae.
Thaddeus crossed his arms and scowled at them both. "You could have, you know.. called."
"Sorry. Harper didn't tell me the place was guarded all the time. She's rather incompetent." Nobody responded sourly. He made sure everyone on the mental channel heard him say it. A few of the others chuckled, but Harper didn't say a word. However, he again got the impression of smug amusement, with a slight under current of annoyance that gave him at least minor satisfaction.

Thaddeus shook his head. "He hasn't been here."
"Okay.. sorry for the intrusion." His eyes flicked between Thaddeus and the Larvae. "Can I take my knives, or is your pet going to gut me?"
Thaddeus' eyes glinted with dark amusement. "He isn't my pet."
"But you can get him to back off." Nobody said, giving Thaddeus a pointed look.
Thaddeus' mouth twitched into a small smirk. "Take your knives. Get out."

Nobody bent to retrieve his weapons, keeping his eyes on both vampires. He took larissa by the hand and slowly backed out out of the room. he didn't turn around until the doors were shut behind him. He exhaled harshly and re-sheathed his knives. What the hell, Harper?!

He felt what passed for a mental shrug from her. Honestly? I didn't know it would be guarded 24/7. I'm not all knowing when it comes to other vampires. I rarely participate in their bullshit.

Fucking incompetent Nobody muttered, and continued grumbling all the way back to the shop, using terms like 'secret monger' 'completely useless' and 'dragged out into the sun' in as many colorful variations as he could think of.

****

Giovanni pulled out his cell and hit a speed dial number. Sansome answered on the second ring. "What do you need, Gio?"
"We're still hunting for Stepping Feather.. and I was wondering if you'd seen hide or hair of him at the house."
"Nah, he hasn't been around, far as we can tell."
"Okay, keep an eye peeled for me?"
"Sure."
"Where's Bella tonight?" Gio asked.
"Tower. Why?"
Gio gave a low chuckle. "Oh this is going to be fun..."
Sansome sighed and hung up the phone.

Giovanni and Roxanne pulled up the the Tower not long after that. The guys at the security desk nodded Gio through, but glared daggers at Roxanne, barring her entrance. The look said that there was no way that she was getting through. Roxanne gave them a grin that was more a bearing of teeth.

The guards both stood, muscles tensing.

"Oh for Pete's sake.. she's with me." Giovanni said, annoyed. the guards didn't look happy about it, but they backed off. Roxanne strode through the metal detector and the machine didn't so much as beep. The huge shard of glass she wore openly on her hip gleamed her defiance at the machine.

They hit the elevator, and Giovanni let his eyes unfocus, and began to feel the pulse of the entire building. It was a nifty tool to have, and would make their search much faster. He could sense everyone in it. Vitorri and Bella where in the penthouse, a few others scattered here and there...

And one person in intense pain and feeling immense fear was in the security office.

"Something's wrong in the security office.." he said, his voice quiet and distant.
Roxanne glared at him. "Where?"
"We're going there now.." And suddenly the elevator began to go back down, stopping two floors below. The doors rolled open almost before the car came to a complete stop and Roxanne was off like a bolt of lightning.
"Third door on the left!" Gio called after her, then hurried out of the elevator himself.

He remember to feign the limp again right before he got to the door. The smell of blood was thick in the air as he stepped inside the office. One man wearing the security uniform was dead, crumpled in a bloody heap on the floor. Roxanne stood over the other, his thigh torn open in a long gash, blood flowing freely from the severed artery. He was getting very pale, very fast.

Next to him, there was a young man duct taped to a chair. His chin was resting on his chest, his face a mask of bruises, cuts and blood. A few of his fingers were bent at odd angles. He was barely conscious. Giovanni limped over and raised the kids chin to get a good look at his face.

Giovanni's expression split into a huge grin and he lowered the kid's chin gently. "We're taking him with us."
Roxanne regarded the prisoner with a sneer of contempt. "Weakness."
Gio frowned at her. "Short sightedness." He reached down and started peeling away the duct tape.

Roxanne shouldered him gently out of the way. "I'll get him. You've got a bad leg." She gave him a pointed look, then her eyes flicked briefly to the wounded guard. Giovanni gave her a faint nod, then stepped foward and glared down at the bleeding man.

He forced the man to crane his neck to look up at him. He wasn't about to get down on the guards level. He was above that.

And besides, its hard to crouch with a gimp leg.

"What the hell were you doing?"
"Following.. orders.." The guard gasped.
"Whose orders?" Gio demanded. His voice carried an air of indignant authority.
The man opened his mouth to speak, to give him a name.. and then he started to choke. He began clawing at his throat, gagging and wheezing as dozens of black beetles began flowing out of his mouth in waves. Giovanni watched, perplexed, as the man died from a combination of blood loss and suffocation. The beetles scurried away.

"Interesting." Giovanni turned his back and walked out of the room, following Roxanne to the elevator.

We're bringing someone home. He broadcast to the whole group. His tone was smug.
Who? Harper asked immediately.
Its a surprise! He thought cheerfully.
He grinned at the annoyed growl that proceeded her next question. Not Stepping Feather?
No. He was never here.. but its someone who should be just as dead. He replied. He ignored the rest of the questions from everyone else, content to make them wait until everyone was home to reveal the identity of the kid laying across the backseat.

He glanced up to the mirrored windows of the penthouse as they drove away, giving the steering wheel a thump with his fist to punctuate his disappointment.

He'd really been hoping to get Bella and Roxanne in the same room and watch the show...

****

(((I'm stopping here for this post since it is already so very long. I will try to post the second half of this scene tomorrow, but if i can't manage it, it will be next week.)))

On the Hunt

2010-10-15T11:43:00.001-05:00

Becca and I made it over to the Crowbar and were greeted by Nobody, appearing out of the shadows of the building. I'd called him on the way over.

It was late on a Wednesday night, so the bar was relatively empty. A few booths had people in them, and there was one familiar person sitting at the bar. Shay McGuiness gave us a two fingered wave as we entered and went back to her drink. I wasted no time in walking up to the bar on the side that was unoccupied and waving Mac over. He gave me a surly nod, not looking too happy to see me.

But Mac always looked like that, so I didn't take it personally.

He walked over and looked at us expectantly. The others ordered, and after he got their drinks, I leaned across the bar and started talking in a low voice.

"Have you seen Stepping Feather around here at all?" I murmured.

His eyebrows went up and he just looked at me. In the quickest and most concise way possible, I explained what had happened.

He made a noncommittal noise in his throat when I had finished. "Feel free to look around, but I haven't seen him."

I nodded. "Downstairs.. its locked, right?"
He nodded in return and produced a key from his pocket.
"May I? Just in case."
He didn't say anything, but handed me the key. I stepped back from the bar, key not leaving my hand, and surveyed the room. Nobody and Becca wandered over to talk to Shay.

"Hey Shay, how's it going?" Nobody said as he set his drink next to hers.
"Good!" She took a large drink from her glass.
"Hey.. have you heard anything from that mage guy...?" he asked, voice lowered.
"Uh, you need to be a bit more specific.."
"You know, the one we got the coins from..." his voice went quieter.
Shay's eyes went wide. "Oh! That guy. No, actually.. and that's whats weird. I haven't heard anything at all."
"That's good though, right?" He said, nervously.
She shook her head vehemently and took another long pull from her drink. "Not. Not at all. Those guys? They don't just let things like that happen without some kind of revenge. usually violent revenge. It's making me nervous, truth be told. It's weird.. way too quiet, know what I mean?"

I tuned them out after that. It was another issue for another night. Stepping Feather first, murderous mages later.

I took a moment to concentrate my senses on my sense of smell. It was weird for me to be tracking someone by scent, not really something I was used to, but for now, it was all I had. I picked up his scent again, but it was old, like it was leftover from before his death.

But I followed it anyway. I found myself making slow circles around the room. Only one person was really sober enough to give me weird looks that I ignored. The scent spiraled from the outside to the inside of the room. Nobody was beside me when I stopped in the middle of the bar. I frowned, confused.
"It's a searching pattern." Nobody said quietly. "You were tracking the scent right? And that's why you were walking in a spiral. That is the most efficient way to search a room."
Ah.
"Makes sense.. confirms that the scent isn't as old as it seems to be. Also means that he searched this whole room, and Mac never saw him once. Lets try the basement." I said.

I told Becca to stay up stairs, in case he showed up. She struck up a conversation with Shay and they were arguing good naturedly about something as Nobody and I disappeared into the basement.

The scent did the same spiraling action down there. The trapdoor to the subbasement was still covered by crates and boxes.

But I was nothing if not thorough. I started pushing the obstacles to the side. Nobody helped me without a word. We both knew that, as secure as an area may seem, Stepping Feather knew how to get into places. I slipped the key in the padlock and jerked open the heavy door. I started down the narrow stairs, but Nobody didn't move to join me.

"I'll stay up here. I wouldn't put it passed Stepping Feather to lock us down there."

I made a noise in my throat that might have sounded like an agreement, and made my way down the stairs.

The steps were familiar, and I had no trouble finding the light switch. Usually I wouldn't have bothered with lights, but my night vision can sometimes miss details, and I was already more hungry than I should've allowed myself to get. I didn't have time to feed right now, and the beast was getting cranky.

So I hit the lights. The room was just as we'd left it. Stepping Feather's scent was here, smelling even older than the rest of the bar.. and the fine layer of dust on the table, chairs, and floor seemed undisturbed.

My footsteps echoed quietly through the bomb shelter. It seemed much more lifeless than I remember. Forgotten, almost.. like no one had been down here since we'd left...

But that wouldn't explain why the photo on the desk was eschew.

I stopped in front of the writing desk. There was no dust here, and the papers looked like they'd been rifled through. The photo sat in its plain frame, facing the left wall, instead of the room at large, as it usually did. It was a small thing, but the photo had always been a mystery to me when we had been using this place as our headquarters. I would sit and stare at it from the far end of the table, wondering who the woman was with Mac.

I inhaled slowly, and let it out with a loud sigh. He'd been here. We'd missed him again.

Or maybe not?

I grabbed a pen and a blank sheet of paper. I penned a quick note. It was a useless gesture, more than likely. If he'd already been here, it was doubtful that he'd come back, but it was worth the 30 seconds it took me to scribble it down.

Stepping Feather,

We are here to help you. We can help you remember, and help you find your pack. Please, let us help.

We will be at Al'makour Antiquities. We wish you no harm. We are friends.

-Harper O'Shea

I signed my name to the note... and then everything started to go dark. The lights in the room didn't dim, my vision did. I set down the note and shifted the focus of my heightened senses from my nose to my eyes.

It was probably the only reason I didn't go completely blind. Shapes swan across my vision.

"Stepping Feather! Let us help you!" I called, uselessly. I couldn't think of any other reason I'd be randomly going fucking blind. I bolted for the stairs, avoiding the table and chairs more by memory than by sight. As I reached the landed I heard a surprised grunt, the sound of someone falling, and a dark shape rolling down the stairs towards me. The trap door shut, and I heard the lock click and crates shoved over the floor.

Nobody cursed and tried to stand. "I can't fucking see!"

I reached out to Becca. I wasn't used to using telepathy when I couldn't see the person, but the link between her and I was strong enough that the thoughts flowed into her mind with relative ease.

He's here, locked us in the sub basement. Bring Mac.

I heard her heavy boots running across the floor before I even finished the message. She ran down the stairs.. I heard a thud, a startled cry, and then the crates being slid away and the door opening. I smelled the heavy metallic scent of blood. Quite a bit of it. I tensed, commanded the vitae, and felt my pupils expand, hoping it would counteract the weird semi- blindness.

Boy did it ever. Everything stood out in sharp relief, I could see everything, and it was like looking at a negative image. I could count the lines in the grain of the wooden stairs. I could see individual dust particles.

It was fucking distracting.

"Boss, you okay?" Becca called down from the open hatch. She sounded a bit winded.

"Yeah, is he gone?" My voice was rougher than I would've liked. I helped Nobody up, and got him up the stairs, into the basement.

When I got to the top, Becca's eyes were a little wild, pupils too large.. she looked pretty freaked. "Yeah.. I mean, I don't know if it was him. All I saw was..like.. a shape made of light.. and then it was like the bottom fell out of a can of soup..." She pointed at Mac.

Mac stood near the stairs.. trying to hold in his intestines. He'd been slit clean up the middle. His shirt gaped over the wound that would've been lethal to a human being, and blood oozed freely from between his fingers and onto the floor.

I tried not to stare.

"Got himself down there, eh?" Mac said, voice tinged with pain.

I nodded. "Yeah.. I left him a note.. but I doubt he saw it."

"Blinded me and threw me down the damn stairs.. I smell blood, whose hurt? Mac?" Nobody said. He took a couple steps towards the werewolves voice. "I can help."

Mac's response was a low growl.

Nobody stopped moving and held up his hands. "Fine.. shit.."

"He ran.. but he didn't try and kill anyone.. so that's something.." I muttered, trying not to focus too much on the intricate patterns swirling in the blood that dripped steadily onto the already messy floor.

"That guy got gutted!" Becca said in a voice that was too loud, and thready with panic and fear. She pointed at Mac, as though I hadn't noticed.

I just shrugged. "But Mac's a werewolf."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Mac interrupted her.

"She's right. He knew.. he was just trying to slow us down."

My vision began fading back to normal. I let my pupils contract and found that I could see normally again. I pulled out my phone and shot off a text to Ori.

To: The Mutt

He was here, locked us in the basement, ran away again. Be on the lookout. Left him a note, but I don't know if he saw it. We are coming to you.

---

A moment later I received a text back.. but it was from Nadi, not Ori.

From: Nadi

Apparently dead girls do it for Ori, including you... you make his dick erect.

----

I fought back the surprised laugh. I really didn't want to know what had prompted that text message. I responded with the first thing that came to mind. I was grateful for the distraction.. Mac's blood was everywhere.

To: Nadi

That is probably the most terrifying thing I've heard all night.... he has a penis?!

---

I kept the texts to myself as we headed back upstairs, Mac making a stop in the office to change into a clean shirt that was identical to the one he'd been wearing. He told us to get the fuck out, which we promptly did and made a beeline for the Hair of the Dog.

I kept wondering is Stepping Feather got my note. Giovanni was at the shop. I debated going straight there, but I figured he'd be more likely to go find Ori..

The Hair of the Dog was about as packed as the Crowbar hadn't been. The bartender, a couple regulars (including SouthPaw), and two men I didn't recognize, plus Nadi and Ori sitting at the usual table. The auras of the two new werewolf faces danced wildly, and I watched colors of alarm and fear spike through as Nobody and I walked in. They kept giving us sidelong glances.

Our reputation proceeded us, apparently.

Both Nadi and Ori had beer. We sat and filled them in. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen him.

About then, Giovanni walked in. The new guys' auras freaking out more.. faces going pale. One of them tossed his hands up and stalked out the door. "Fuck it! I'll take my chances with the Lex!"

The other remained, but continued looking nervous.

Ori watched him go and shrugged. "I guess we made the ghost wolves nervous.."

Gio smirked and sat. Something was eating at me.. something I wasn't taking into account, but I couldn't place it. I was too damned thirsty to focus. We filled him in as well as everyone had a drink..but me.

"And I left him a note but..." I paused. Giovanni was here. That meant.. no one was at the shop. I let fly a string of curses and jumped to my feet.

"What did it say?" Gio asked, giving me a strange look.

"That he could find us at the fucking shop!" and I bolted for the door, the others close behind me.

The shop was dark when my car screeched to a stop, tossing up loose gravel I was out of the car almost before it stopped moving.

I forced my senses to sharpen and looked, listened, and smelled for any sign of Stepping Feather.

There were faint scratch marks on the front door, and one window.

But he was gone. He'd seen my note. He'd come here, and no one had been home. So he'd left.

How the fuck could I have let this happen? Why didn't I tell Giovanni to stay put? Because I didn't expect him to come out. I thought he'd stay here.. I didn't think it would be an issue.

I was a fucking idiot. I sat down on the front steps, heavily. Ori had shifted to his wolf shape, and was trying to track his uncle.. but it was no good. There was no trail to follow. I never knew a wolf could look so frustrated.

The others looked around the shop. I stayed put. I was marveling at the scale of this simple fuck up. I may have cost us our one chance of saving him. All because I didn't make one simple phone call.

How could I have been so bloody stupid?

An ear splitting howl rang out from the roof of the building.

Literally, ear splitting. I had my senses on overdrive. Ori had gone up to the roof, and let loose a ridiculously loud howl without any warning.

I clasped my hands over my ears and cursed, long and loudly.

At least, I think it was loud. Ori's howl had caused my ear drums to burst. After the inital sound of the howl, all I could hear was a dull ringing, and feel the sharp pain in my head. When I looked up, the others were watching me, mild amusement on all their faces. I flipped them all off. They disappeared inside the shop.

I watched Ori for a moment, and let him get off another couple howls before I coaxed vitae to my ear drums and knit them back together.

I heard answering howls.. but as I watched Ori, he seemed to get more agitated, rather than less. He paced on the roof, like he didn't like what he was hearing.

After about 5 minutes, I heard, "Hey! Harper! Can you hear yet?" Giovanni's voice came floating to me from inside the shop. I ignored him. I suppose deafness has its benefits. I wouldn't have to listen to Gio is I was deaf..pretending was almost as good.

A moment later, I smelled blood. The beast stirred, more forcibly this time, than earlier at the CrowBar.

I closed my eyes, and shoved it down and away. I didn't have time for that right now. Not tonight. I was about to look around for the source of the smell.. but it found me.

I small pool of blood flowed past me, stopping on the sidewalk at my feet like the blob in that old movie. I watched, perplexed, as the pool stretched, lengthened, and became very neat and precise cursive lettering.

I need your help inside.

I looked over my shoulder, and Giovanni was waving at him, shit eatin' grin on his face.

He was really having way too much fun with this whole.. deal with a demon thing. I stood and went inside, the pool of blood followed me.

"You're a fucking show off, you know that?" I grummbled, sitting on one of the stools.

"What? I didn't know if you were still deaf!" He protested. The blood was making little circles around the base of my stool.

"Ever heard of pen and paper?" I tried very hard not to watch the blood.

"No fun in that.. hey! hungry? You can have this.." The blood continued to slide across the floor in my field of vision.

I tried to laugh scornfully, but it came out strained. "No. Because one of two things will happen. I'll either spontaneously catch fire, or you'll continue to be able to move that blood around, even when its in my body.. and I have no desire to have any part of you inside me, Giovanni. Ever."

He grinned at me. "You loss."

I just grunted.

He lead the blood around the lab a little more before allowing it to dissapate. Then he grabbed a cardboard box and set it on the table next to me while he muttered to himself.

"I should do that in a vampire club or something.. it would be like cats with a laser pointer.." then, to me, he said, "can you do your voodoo on this stuff? It's my mom's.." He handed me a lock of dark hair, tied with a blue string.

I took it without a word. After a moment of concentration, handed it back.

"Sansome cut it from her in the hospital, then walked into a room with Guiseppe, Vittorio, Mac and Davareaux.. pretty much all there was too it."

He nodded and handed me a file.

"Medical records. What do you think?" he said.

I scanned over the file. It was mostly normal, until I got to 1986. "Heavily redacted in 1986." I said, Givoanni rolled his eyes. "says those present were the father..not Mattheson, of course.. Sansome, a cousin Vittorio, and a nephew Jesse.."

I looked at that thoughtfully a moment, a bit confused.. When I looked up, Giovanni was giving me the "are you retarded" look.

"What?" I said crossly.

"Nephew Jesse? Giuseppe?" he said.

I dropped the file on the table and rubbed my eyes with one hand. "It's been a long night, alright? I'm a little out of it."

It was becoming evident that I was entirely too preoccupied to be useful to anyone right now. I heard another howl erupt from the roof.

Nobody cursed from the other room and I heard him head to the roof. He and Ori appeared a moment later, both looking annoyed.

"What happened?" I asked Ori.

He shrugged and crossed his arms, looking glum. "I called for him, but he never answered. Traded insults with a random member of the Pure, and Calvin kept telling us both to shut the hell up. That's it, really."

I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes and managed not to let fly another tirade of pointless curses.

Giovanni provided a distraction. He held up a small gold locket. It held two photos inside, and it spun slowly on its chain. "Does anyone recognize the guy? He looks familiar, but I can't place it. He's apparently my grandfather."

Our collective jaw hit the floor.

Nadi recovered first (her jaw didn't so much drop as just twitched, anyway). "That is Liborio Bellomo.. suspected street boss of the Genovese crime family in New York."

"Oh.. well then." Giovanni peered at the photo intently, then clicked it shut and put the locket in his pocket.

I shook my head. "Its getting late.. and my brain has officially reached its absorption limit for the night."

And with that, I retreated to my bedroom to escape the sunrise.

***

Stepping Feather towered over me, menacing growl trickling from his bloodstained muzzle. His claws glistening with crimson in the moonlight. I could see his breath, and his eyes flashed with rage and accusation. I held silver in my hands, and it glinted dangerously.. but the blades hung useless at my sides, in hands that wouldn't raise against him. I stared at the beast, and couldn't feel afraid. All I could muster through the guilt and remorse, was a resigned sort of calm. I looked at the battlefield, my comrades absent.

Just me and the beast that was once Stepping Feather. There was blood on my knives, but I couldn't remember whose it was. There was a gruesome, bloodless gash down the back of my left leg the rendered it useless. I could feel the muscles trying to knit themselves back together, with little success, using the small reserve of vitae I had left.

He would charge, any second.. and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I could hear whispers in my head.. ridiculing and accusing me. They got louder and louder, drowning out even stepping Feather's echoing howl as he charged at me.. until all I could hear was...

Dennis Leary's I'm an Asshole ?

The nonsensical noise shattered the nightmare, right as the huge man-wolf raised his claws to strike me. It feel away into a million pieces. But it left behind the emotions. Those weren't a product of the nightmare.. those were all mine.

I fought my way up to the surface and opened my eyes. The room was dark.. as always.. and I could feel sun, somewhere high above me. I gave an involuntary shudder as I sat up.

A-S-S-H-O-L-E! Everybody!

I grabbed for my phone and silenced it. Normally a phone call wouldn't be enough to rouse me from my death like coma during the day.. but the call was from Karl.. and that was enough of an anomaly to break through my oblivion. I was surprised the bastard even had my phone number, and I idly wondered how dirty it made him feel to call me. I smirked a little at that, allowing the last of the dream to fade into the background. I pushed a button and held the phone to my ear.

"Have you found anything?" Karl's rough voice demanded before I even had a chance to speak.

"Mornin' Karl. Pleasure to hear from you!" I said with sarcastic cheerfulness. "You'll have to be more specific."
"About Stone." He spat.
I closed my eyes briefly. There was almost too much going on to keep track of these days."Not yet."
Karl practically growled at me. "You've been prancing around Chicago for how long and haven't found a damn thing?!"
"I'm sorry. We've been a bit busy" I snarled back.
"With what?!" he demanded, incredulously.
"Dealing with the New Prince, for starters." I grumbled.
"And how the hell does that effect you?"
"Seriously? Vampire, remember?" I said with scorn.
"Yeah. I remember.Do you remember that we have priorities that come before that shit?"
"God Karl, I am so heartbroken that you aren't in Chicago anymore. I miss these pleasant talks." My voice hardened. "'Find Stone's son' doesn't give us much to go on, you know."
"Oh, don't worry honey. I've already dealt with that one for you." He said with a mocking laugh.
I grit my teeth until I could practically hear them grinding. "Please. Do tell."
"His name is Thomas Mattheson."

That brought me up short, robbed me of my scathing retort, and turned me into a speechless blob for a good 15 seconds.

"No shit?.. We know where that asshole is...and have been making plans to take him out. He's in New York." I said, finally.
"Good. That's what I like to hear." he said, his tone as condescending as ever.
"We'll take care of him." I growled into the receiver, and the line went dead.

I laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Mattheson was Stone's son. Which meant that Giovanni was related to Stone. It also pretty much cemented that Stone wasn't a vampire. He'd never been trying to cause eternal night. We'd misread his intentions, based on faulty information. We had assumed too much.

No, he wasn't trying to blot out the sun.. he was trying to bring hell to earth.

I wondered if Giuseppe had known about the connection.. but dismissed the idea. It was possible, but I doubted it. I didn't see any benefit from withholding that information.

But then, I'd been wrong before.

I looked at the dark display on my cell and thought about calling or texting Giovanni, letting him know that Stone was his grandfather.. then set the phone aside on the nightstand. They'd gone to pick up the rest of the pack.. and I didn't want to deal with anyone right now. Especially not them. It could wait until nightfall.

The dream came drifting back to me. I still couldn't understand how I screwed up so badly. As soon as Giovanni walked through the door of the Hair of the Dog, I should've made a beeline for the shop. Hell, I should've told him to stay put in the first place.

Would Stepping Feather be with us now if I had? I wrote the note. I asked him to trust us, to come find us.. and then no one was there when he did.

How could I have been so fucking stupid?

I sat up again, rubbing my temples. There was a dangerously sour sensation growing in the pit of my stomach. I knew that feeling. I knew how crippling it could be.

Guilt.

I stood and started pacing the short length of carpet at the foot of the bed.

The feeling grew, the more I thought about it. The more I replayed the events in my head, thinking about what I could have done differently, what I should have done better. My insides tied themselves in knots, and I felt nauseous, despite the fact that I no longer had a functioning digestive tract.

I hauled off and punched the cement wall, out of sheer frustration.

I felt several of the bones in my hand and wrist fracture from the impact. The pain shot up my arm like white hot fire. I bit back a curse and sat down heavily on the end of the bed, right hand laying uselessly in my lap.

The pain helped clear my head. Better than a bucket of ice water to the face. I sat there, and let it hurt. I even tried to make a fist, which elicited an involuntary gasp.

But if I focused on the pain, I could ignore the festering mass in my stomach. I could think clearer.

I felt something cool slide down my cheek. Tears. I'd been fucking crying. Frustrated tears. How god-damned pathetic. I brushed them aside scornfully with my uninjured hand. My fingers came back wet, and I knew, though it was lost to the darkness, the tears would be tinged pink.

I looked around the quiet room and wondered what the fuck I was doing. Obsessing..fucking crying over things I couldn't change. I took several deep breaths, and exhaled slowly. I quieted my internal turmoil, and allowed the bones in my hand to knit themselves back together.

What I was doing right now was completely useless. Yeah. I fucked up. But it was done. I'd be much better served figuring out how to learn from it than by sulking in the dark.. punching walls.

I had to move past it if I was to be any help in tracking down Stepping Feather. Guilt was only useful if you could use it to manipulate others.. not if you let it manipulate you.

I laid back on the bed again, resting my head on the pillow, and my hands folded across my stomach. Tonight, we'd find him, and give him his memories back.

We'd find him before the Pure did, and tear through any of them who decided to get in our way.

The Search Continues

2010-10-01T15:44:00.000-05:00

The mood was tense as we headed to the Library. There was minimal discussion. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. I didn't know about the others, but I knew Ori and I were on the same wave length. He was staring out the window, nervously fingering the gold scarf he constantly wore. I had to make a conscious effort to stop drumming on the steering wheel in my own version of nerves.

In a way, the knowledge that Stepping Feather was in danger was more bothersome than the nights leading up to the battle with Ophios. That was an outside threat, a danger that would end in one of three ways.. victory, death, or both. It was a straight forward situation.

But this? Stepping Feather had been a friend. A comrade that we had already lost once before. Now, he was back.. hope dangling just out of reach.. and on the other end of that string of hope, was a fire that was slowly eating its way down to our outstretched fingertips.

It would burn us if we didn't grab hold in time to snuff it out.

A friend becoming an enemy, not out of betrayal, but because of an odd and unforeseen twist of fate.. that was worse than facing certain death.

I wouldn't let it happen again. There wouldn't be another Driscoll, not if I could help it.

I pushed the dark thoughts to the back of my mind where they could fester and leave me in relative peace for the time being as we pulled into the Library parking lot. We were waved inside by the guards, despite the late hour, and found Volkas in his usual place, coffee pot smelling of scorched caffeine. Giovanni grabbed a filter and went to work making a new pot.

"Thank you." The polish man said. He stood to greet us as we entered. His demeanor was calm, but there was an undercurrent of worry, and excited anticipation, like a kid about to open Christmas gifts.

"You say he stepped over, while he was in the grips of death rage? How do you know this?" Volkas asked, not sparing any time for pleasantries.

"We could tell that he'd stepped over, me and Nadi both.." He jerked his thumb at the demure death mage standing behind him.

"And I could feel his rage." I said, simply.

Volkas shook his head in disbelief. He stood and filled a white syrofoam cup with coffee and gulped it down like it wasn't fresh off the burner. It reminded me of how other people drink alcohol when faced with something they don't know exactly how to handle.

"This shouldn't be possible." He held up a hand to forestall our objections. "It must be studied.. looked into. If this is true.. it is an amazing and important discovery." His eyes were serious, and a touch excited.

"Well, my talk with Vitorrio is sure going to be interesting now.." Giovanni muttered to himself.

"I'll take care of that." A familiar voice rang from the open doorway. Sansome stood behind us. God knows how long he'd been there. I managed not to stiffen on reflex.. he still made me nervous. I wasn't yet 100% sure that he wasn't looking for a reason to use my spine as a tug-o-war rope.

"Oh.. good! one less thing on my plate." Gio said. He leaned on his cane, mostly out of habit.

"Oh, he'll still want to talk to you. Just leave this business about side stepping to me." Sansome said.

Gio shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Volkas, we need to find him. He doesn't remember who he is. We have to find him before the Pure do." For once, I let the emotions show. I generally hide what I'm feeling behind a mask of anger. Its just easier that way. People don't know what to expect. It also helps that there are a lot of things that we deal with that piss me off.. but this time, I let the worry show on my face, and color my voice. My words held just a hint of the desperation that was crawling around inside my chest, wrapping itself around my still heart. I needed to find Stepping Feather before the Pure did.

Volkas didn't know me well, but I was hoping he knew me well enough to understand.

If the darkness could take someone like Stepping Feather, whats to stop it from taking any of us? We all danced so close to the edge. Finding Stepping Feather was about more than saving a friend.

His eyes widened, and he searched my face for just a moment. I also caught Ori's look from the corner of my eye, but I didn't turn to look at him. I think he was surprised. I suddenly felt distinctly uncomfortable, and more than a little exposed. I crossed my arms tightly over my stomach.

Volkas reached out and took Ori's hand while pulling out a large knife. He put the tip to Ori's palm, asking permission with his eyes. Ori gave a slight nod and Volkas drew the knife down his hand, splitting the skin and causing blood to well up to the surface. He let go of Ori's hand, and licked the bloody knife blade. He then took the same blade, still bloody, and cut his own hand. The blood mingled on the glinting steel, bright scarlet in the low lights of the library.

An involuntary shudder went through me as blood was spilled. I could practically taste the coppery substance in the back of my throat.

"Have any of you ever tasted his blood?" Volkas asked, serious eyes staying on my face.

I nodded, more vigorously than I meant to, trying to clear my head. "Once or twice, yeah."

He handed me the bloody knife. I hesitated, but only briefly, and also tasted the blood on the knife. The sensation shot through my body like a current of electricity. It took more self control than I was happy with to keep myself from licking the knife clean.

I looked at Volkas expectantly, knife held a little too tightly in my hand. The mask was back now. I didn't want anyone to see into my head right now. No one else would understand.

"I will need your blood." He said, nodding to the knife.

I used the blade to cut into my own palm, willing the vitae to the surface as I did, leaving a small amount on the blade as it passed through my skin. The cut was closed before the blade even left my palm. Volkas gestured to Ori with an incline of his head, and I handed the werewolf the knife.

His face was a mirror of what I felt my own looked like right about now. Grim and determined. We locked eyes, only briefly, as I handed him the hilt of the bloody weapon. A silent understanding passed between the two of us, right then. He would do anything to find his uncle. He'd crawl his way into hell itself, to save his family from the Pure.

And I'd do anything to help him.

Ori ran his tongue along the blade, eyes on mine.

Volkas took the knife back from him. "Through her memory of his blood, you will find him. Now go."

We all turned to the door and made our way out without another word. Sansome with us.

Nobody called right before we stepped out of the Library.

"Whats up Nobody?" I sadi into my cell.

"I have updates. Can you put me on speaker? Its important." His voice had an agitated edge to it that I wasn't used to hearing. I pulled everyone into a side study room, put the phone on speaker, and set it in the middle of the table.

"Go for it. Everyone is here." I said.

"Okay.. I just left the freehold. We still need to find someone to take that damn sword, but I've got no idea where to start. If any of you guys get any bright ideas, let me know." He paused, hoping for some sort of solution. But no one said a word. He sighed before continuing."I talked to Dana about the Strix.." He suddenly had much more of our collective attention. "She said that they usually follow the Julii.. but she also said that the dragons would know if the Julii were awake. They would sense it.. or something. And she says that they're still sleeping. Which means the strix should still be sleeping too. Apparently the Julii were the embodiment of Rome.. all its glory, brains, power.. and the madness near the end. Also? If all that is true.. Gaius isn't Julii. To be fair, I was thinking back on it, and he never actually said he was Julii. He just claimed the city in their name."

Holy shit.. the faery was right. Shows what I get for assuming.

"That and.. I made a promise to deal with the Strix." he paused, waiting for someone to challenge that decision.. but I just shrugged. "Fair enough. We don't want them here any more than you do.. but how exactly are we supposed to kill them?" I asked.

"We have to figure out whats bringing them here.. and kill it." Nobody said. "I talked to Donkulzon.." He was interupted by a chorus of "what the fucks?" from a couple of us around the phone.

"The dragon guy who's trying to wreck the freehold?" Gio said, incredulously.

"Yup. I didn't know it, but he's been stopping by the freehold once a week and scaring the living shit out of everyone. He's threatening to destroy it if I don't find someone to take the sword. He's also threatening to bring the Faceless King out to take it.. and I'm not really cool with that.. so we need to find someone to take this fucking sword."

The Faceless King, from what I'd been able to glean, was the fae that kidnapped Nobody as a kid.. the guy who made him into a changeling. Apparently, they didn't get along.

"But he also gave me a little bit of insight into the strix problem. He said to find an old one who could change his blood... and we'd find what was bringing the Strix."

Giovanni gave me a significant look, which I dutifully ignored. A short list of people popped into my head.. and I didn't like the conclusions I was coming too.

"The question is, did the person change their blood into that of the Julii, or was he Julii, and changed it into something else?" Giovanni asked. No one spoke up, everyone held pensive frowns. Gio tapped his cane on the wood floor. "Okay.. we need to get our priorities straight. There is the issue of Stepping Feather, the sword, and the Strix."

"The strix haven't shown themselves yet, so I don't think that should be top priority." I said.

"Agreed. We need to find Stepping Feather, first and foremost." Gio said, Ori exhaled, not needing to fight the battle he'd been ready to wage to find his uncle first.

"Awesome.. maybe I'll get to kill more werewolves!" nNobody said, voice excited.

Sansome leaned over the phone. "Have we ever told you how much we love you?"
"Hey! I've never killed a Forsaken.. and don't plan to unless you try to kill me first." Nobody said, defensively.
"There is a great thing about plans..." Sansome said in a droll tone.

There was a pause.."Gio, we need to talk, I'll meet you back at the shop." Nobody said, and disconnected the call.

I slipped the phone back in my pocket and turned to the impatiently fidgeting werewolf. "Ready to go?"

Ori just nodded once and pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning against.

"I'm coming too." Nadi said, quietly.

We didn't argue. We'd need the help. We let Giovanni have the car, and Ori, Nadi, Becca, and myself set out to try and track down Stepping Feather

*****

I could smell.. practically taste, his blood. Ori scented the air, melting down into his wolf form when we were free from observers, and we went to work, following a scent trail that we shouldn't have been able to follow.

After some searching, we found ourselves on the shore of the lake, in Hyde Park. I looked out over that placid water and shivered, the memory of the fear and determination of that night, and the memory of tasting the blood of a god ran through my head. The shore looked mostly undisturbed, like the battle had never even happened.

"This is where we fought Ophios. And that.." I pointed to a small pier, my nose telling me that Stepping Feather had moved in that direction. "Is where he died."

Our shoes made quiet noises on the boards of the wooden pier. Ori's paws were silent. He sniffed around the area, pausing on one of the wooden posts used to anchor small boats to the dock. It was clawed and cracked, like someones hed had been slammed into it, rather violently.

Looks like a scuffle. Ori pawed at a dark stain on the wood. It's blood, but not his. Can you see what happened? He raised his eyes, still a startling shade of blue, and looked at me expectantly. I didn't know wolves could have expectant faces.. but then, wolves couldn't usually talk straight into your head either.

I laid a hand on the broken pylon and focused.

I saw Stepping Feather, in his own wolf-shape. He stood on the pier, looking lost and confused. A noise behind him caused him to whirl, hackles raised, and a low growl trickling from his muzzle. he lunged.. but I couldn't see who the attacker was from the angle. The vision ended.

"Someone snuck up on him.. he attacked.. that's about all I got."

"Someone died here." Nadi said, looking out over the water. "But I don't think it was Stepping Feather."

I ran my hand down the drying blood on the pylon. "Yeah.. not his blood.."

Maybe he threw his body into the lake? Maybe we could find it. You uh.. don't need to breath right? He waggled wolfy- eyebrows at me.

I scowled at him. "I'm always the one who has to go dig dead people out of the fucking lake..." I might not need to breath, but that lake was fucking cold. I took off my suit jacket, my knifes, and my gun, handing the coat, sheaths, and holster to Becca. I took two steps towards the water, and paused.

Fuck it. There was no way in hell I was ruining my good suit for this bullshit. That, and I'm sure it would be a great way to make Ori feel distinctly uncomfortable.

I started unbuttoning the green silk shirt to reveal the simple black bra underneath. Ori blinked, surprised. I tossed the shirt to Becca, then stripped off the slacks too. I stood on the pier in nothing but a black bra and panties, hands on my hips. The lack of clothing really put emphasis on how deathly pale I really was. The moonlight washed out my skin even more, leaving my body to closely resemble pure white alabaster. I let my pupils expand until they filled my eyes. It probably looked more than a little unsettling.

I turned and dove into the frigid water without another word.

Have you ever swam in Lake Michigan in January? It's fucking cold. Its really fucking cold. Thankfully, I didn't have to search long. I found the body only a few yards out, the tides not yet having the time to drag him further. He was stuck in the branches of an old submerged tree, which was the only reason he hadn't been floating on the surface. I yanked him free, and drug him back up onto the shore.

Any idea who this guy is? Ori asked.

"Fuck if I know.. but.." I retrieved my cell from Becca and snapped the dead man's photo. I sent it with a message reading "recognize this asshole?" To Giovanni, and to Volkas.

Nadi was glancing between the dead body, and Ori with a pensive look on her face. "Where did you get those tattoos?" She asked him.

Sansome gave them to me after the defeat of CitySmith. Why?

I frowned at them both. "What tattoos?"

"He has silvery markings when I look at the spirit side of things.. this guy doesn't." She explained. "Do all werewolves have those?"

For one reason or another, usually.. yeah. If he doesn't, it either means he's really new.. or that he's Pure. Ori's inner voice sounded disgusted.

Just about then, my cell buzzed.

___

From: Volkas

Nabil Luoma. New member of the Lex Talionis.

___

Gio responded with something similar a few moments later, courtesy of Sansome.

"Well, we know he was Pure.. and we also know that Stepping Feather has now run into the Lex.. I don't think thats good news." I said, thoughtfully.

But he killed one of them.. thats good.

"Yes and no.. they'll be gunning for him now, if they figure out who did it..we need to keep looking."

The other nodded silently. Nadi and Becca pushed the body out into the water again and Nadi held up a hand. The body began to quickly rot away, and after a moment, nothing was left but sludge that mingled with the gentle waves.

I grabbed my clothes from Becca, slipped my shirt back on and started buttoning.

Wait! Stop! Can you do me a favor and run down the beach for me?

I smacked him upside his furry head and was rewarded with a startled yelp. I put the clothes back on while Ori hummed the theme to Baywatch in my head.

****

We left the Lake behind us and continued to follow the trail. It brought us to the meat packing district. Despite the fact that Pain of Animals was now in check.. the place still felt eerie.

We also couldn't follow the trail into the area. The scent of blood was heavy on the air, too much blood to be able to differentiate one from the other.

Ori shifted back into his human form and glowered. "What do we do now?"

I ran a hand through my damp hair, frustrated. "I don't know."

"This way." Nadi said, and started walking.

Ori and I exchanged a look and a shrug, and followed.

"I can see the trail..a little. Its difficult, because there are a lot of different traces of spiritual energy.. but his goes this way.." She picked up the pace, and we did likewise.

She stopped about two thirds of the way from the building where we had contained the heart. "He stopped here.. circled around..."

I looked around.. frowned.. why here?.. I stared down at a puddle that had formed on the street.. and suddenly it came to me. "This was where we fought that woman made of blood.. when Roxanne showed up and helped us.."

There was no pool of blood now, not here in the real world, and according to Nadi, not in the spirit either. We moved on, relying on Nadi to guide us through the maze of worn down buildings. She paused in a narrow alleyway and looked up at a high window. "He went up there.. jumped up the walls it looks like."

I walked around the front and tried the door. It was locked. Ori was right behind me. He put a hand on my shoulder to move me out of the way, then kicked the door twice, combat boots rattling it, then splintering the lock and slamming the door against the wall.

"All better." He said with a grin, and jogged quickly up the stairs. We followed at his heels.

The room we ended up in wasn't impressive by any means. It had trash piled in the corners, a couple over turned chairs...

And a view of the entire district. It had windows on all sides, and was high enough to get a great view of the majority of the area.

"Why would he come here? Its just an empty room." Ori said, kicking a soda can across the floor.

"Sniper nest. This must have been where Davareaux was positioned during the fight." I muttered as I turned in a slow circle to take in the room. I stopped facing Nadi. "Where too next?"

She shook her head. "I can't tell. The trail ends."

Ori looked dejected. "Just.. ends?"

She nodded. I inhaled deeply, on the off chance I could catch the scent of his blood again..

But couldn't. There was too many competing smells. Too much death here. Too much blood.

But there was something else familiar..

"Hey.. do you.. do you smell that?" Ori said, sniffing the air. "Smells like... ozone? That's kinda weird."

Ozone? He was right.. That was it..

"Nadi, do you remember how to get to Marv's place?" I asked with a smirk.
She gave me a confused look. "Yes. Why would you want to go there?"
"Because we smell ozone. We always smell ozone around the Prometheans. He.. or one of them.. was here." I said.
She remained unconvinced. "How do you know it was him, though?"
My smirk faded into a frown. " I don't.. but at the moment, its all we have to go on, so I'm going to take a chance."
She stared at me for a couple heartbeats, then nodded. She led the way back down the stairs and towards the Hair of the Dog.

I texted Giovanni.

To: Gio

Going to see Marv.. he may have seen SF

___

From: Gio

Tell him I said thanks again.

___

Ori pulled up the rear. "So.. whats a Promethean?"

*****

We stood in front of Marv's shack, in the middle of the junk yard. The yard wasn't far from the Hair of the Dog, and it continued to amaze me that he could live here, in the city, and not effect it with his disquiet. Wonders never cease.

The others looked at me expectantly. I stepped forward and knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately, but only enough for the large man to look at us, and it was not a friendly look.

"What do you want." Marv said, his voice gruff.

I decided to go with honesty. "We're friends of Giovanni Santore.. and he asked us to convey his thanks again for your help...We're looking for our friend.. Stepping Feather. We tracked him to the meat packing district.. to places his pack had been.. and lost the trail there. He doesn't know who he is..We picked up your.. or someone like you's.. scent, though. We didn't know where else to look. Have you seen him? Native American.. kinda looks like that guy.." I jerked my thumb at Ori who gave a sheepish smile and waved.

"And why should I help you?" Marv growled.

I inhaled and let out a large sigh. "I would owe you a favor.. a huge favor..other than that, I can't give you a good reason. We just want to find our friend."

He looked over my shoulder at Ori. "He visists places he recognizes.. places people he knew have been?"

Ori nodded, but said nothing.

"Then you do not need to look for him. He will seek out his blood." And Marv slammed the door in my face. I scowled at the worn wood, then turned back to the others.

"We need to go to other places he'd recognize, and places you frequent, Ori." I said as I took out my cell.
___

To: Gio

If you're at the shop, stay there. We think SF is going places he recognizes, and places Ori has been. Keep an eye out.

___

From: Gio

I'll keep my eyes open.

___

"Giovanni will keep an eye on the shop.. we should go to Mac's.. he was with us down in that bomb shelter before the battle with Ophios." I said.

"I think we should go to the Hair of the Dog. I frequent there a lot.. and its right down the street.." Ori suggested.

I was considering our options when my phone buzzed again.

___

From: Gio

He was here.. but only for an instant.. used the roof as a spring board and kept going. All I know, is that he headed East..

___

The only problem was that both Mac's bar and the Hair of the Dog were East of the shop.

"He was at the shop.. and he's headed in this direction. At this point, we can't afford to miss him again. Ori, you and Nadi go to the Hair of the Dog, and Becca and I will go check out Mac's. Hopefully one of us will be able to find.. and help him." I said, trying to keep a level head, trying to maintain the hope that he'd actually pause long enough for us to give him back his memories.

We parted ways, and Becca and I took off towards the Crowbar at a run. It wasn't far, but I didn't want to risk losing him again. I scented the wind and hoped that I'd be able to smell him coming...

And get to him in time to save him.

The search begins

2010-09-20T12:24:00.000-05:00

We settled in back at the shop. I didn't bother changing, just draped the suit jacket over a chair, and sat with one leg thrown over the armrest. "We need to find out more about the Julii."

"Yeah yeah..Julii.. vampires, all that.. I want to find Stepping Feather." Ori said. He stood in front of my chair and stared down at me without speaking for a moment. I quirked a brow at him, hands folded over my stomach. "Can you tell me about him? I only knew him as a kid..." he pulled up a chair of his own.

I just shrugged. "I don't know if I can really be much help. I didn't know him that well either. He ran with Larissa, Roxanne, and Davareaux, who you've met, at least briefly. He's helped us out several times in the past.. always in a good mood, from what I could tell, and always entertaining to be around." I shrugged again, feeling useless. "I liked him."

Ori sat back in his chair with a look of exaggerated shock on his face. His eyes looked panicked, but his aura flashed with colors that I'd started associated with an oncoming sarcastic comment. When you see something like that as often as I do, it starts to become pretty easy to identify.

"You... like people?!" He gasped.

I crossed my arms and just gave him a bland look. "It's a rare occurrence." He grinned at me, I gave him a mock scowl. "And getting rarer by the day."

"Well I'm going to go look for him." Ori stood but I held up a hand to forestall him.

"We don't know where to start, Ori." He began to interrupted, but I glared, and he quieted. "I'm not saying we shouldn't look. I want to help you find him. But we need to figure out where to start." I said sharply.

"We could start at his grave.." Ori said, his tone uncertain.

"You already said that you lost the trail there. We need somewhere else to start, if we can help it." I said, thoughtfully.

Ori sank back down into his chair."Would his pack know? They would know, right?"

"Probably, but I don't have their cells.." I said with a frown.

"Becca may have Roxanne's number..." Nadi said softly. I looked up at her, confusion written across my face. "They used to date."

I stared at Becca, who shifted nervously. "Look, I'm not going to call her.. that was a long time ago."

I continued to stare at her incredulously. "You dated... Roxanne?"

She grimaced and nodded. "yeah..uh.. it was.. rough."

I bit back a laugh and instead just nodded. "I can imagine... its fine. Don't worry about it."

Ori, Nobody and Gio gave me a look that said when the fuck did you start caring about peoples feelings?

I shrugged to the unspoken accusation and pulled out my own phone. "I'll call Tommy. He may know."

When the werewolf pickup up his phone, he sounded groggy and mostly asleep.

"W..what?" he grumbled.
"Tommy, do you know how we can get in touch with the pack? We need to
talk to them about Stepping Feather. We are trying to track him down,
but don't really know where to start.."
"Bad idea...the pack doesn't know he's alive yet." He yawned.
"Why the hell not?" I said, crossly.
"Wouldn't believe it. Roxanne would freak out.. don't worry about it.
I already sent help."
"Who?" Suspicious... who, me?
"You'll see." And the asshole hung up on me.

"Well that was fucking helpful..." I briefly wondered if there was a way to throttle someone through a telephone line.

"I can try Giuseppe.. he may know.." I said, lamely.
"Oh, yeah, see if daddy can help!" Ori said, feigning giddy excitement.

My eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and I fought not to crush the cell phone in my hand, mid-text message. My head rotated slowly in Ori's direction, who had a shit eating grin on his face.

Giovanni spoke up for the first time since we got back to the shop.(It was a miracle, really, I didn't know he could actually keep his trap shut for that long without passing out.)
"Eh, all little girls have daddy issues." He winked at Ori.

I sneered at them both and went back to my texting. I had no witty retort.. but that was fine. I knew were they both slept. And I was keeping a list.

Giuseppe didn't respond. I put the phone away. "Nothing."

Ori stood up again. "Well, time to start searching."
"I'm not fond of the idea of just blindly running around Chicago looking for him.." but I stood up as well.

"It's a big city." Giovanni added.

Ori frowned at us. "Look, lets just go to his grave and see what we can find. nothing else is helping."

"Alright. We still have a few tricks left, in any case." I put my suit jacket back on.

Nadi and Giovanni stood as well, Nobody remained seated.
"You guys have fun." Becca said, settling deeper into the sofa.
I arched a brow at her. "You aren't coming?"
"It's fucking cold out there!... " she heaved a giant sigh. "FINE..I'll get my coat."
"Do what you want, you don't have to come with us. You can stay here with Nobody."
"I'm coming.. I'm coming.." She grumbled. I just shrugged. I honestly didn't care either way.
Nobody's no face rippled. "I'm not staying anyway. I need to go by the freehold and talk to them about Marinas."

"Have fun with that. Lets go." I grabbed the car keys and headed out.

***

The grave site was filled in when we got there, but you could tell that the earth had been disturbed. We stood around the freshly turned earth in a loose semi circle. Gio stood a little bit back, eyes seeming to glaze over a bit.

Ori made sure the coast was clear and did his wolf impression. He started sniffing around the site, but seemed to grow more and more frustrated. Then, his ears perked up and his eyes got wide, like he'd figured something out.

I knelt down and dug my fingers into the dirt and concentrated. I saw nothing but blackness, and felt fear, terror, and then an all consuming rage. My own beast roared in response to the familiarity of it. I broke contact quickly and shut that door as fast as I could. I took a couple steps back and shook the grit from my hand. My voice came out slightly choked, like I was holding back strong emotions. "He was pissed... really pissed."

Wolf- Ori rolled his eyes at me. I returned the look with a scowl. Ori, unable to find a scent trail to follow, shifted back. "He's a werewolf. Care to point out anything else painfully obvious?"

Nadi chimed in and interrupted my witty comeback. "He stepped over...that's why you can't smell him.."
Ori nodded. "Yeah, I figured that out too."

I regarded the filled in grave site with a frown. The amount of rage I'd felt.. there was no way he'd been in his right mind. And I'd seen a rampaging werewolf before.. it was a state that resembled my own state of frenzy, if exponentially more destructive. When I was like that.. I couldn't think. Just fight or run...

"Ori.. is it normal to be able to step over when you're frenzied?" I asked, finally.
Ori looked at me like I was looney. "Of course not. Stepping sideways takes too much will...wait wait wait.. you aren't suggesting he..?"
"I told you. He was really pissed. That wasn't hyperbole. He was frenzied, Ori. Why do you think I took my damn hand out of the dirt so fucking fast? I didn't want to freak out too."
Ori shook his head in disbelief. "But that's just not possible!"
I crossed my arms and scowled at him. "And a werewolf coming back from the dead usually is?"
"No, but.."
"Can you step over and ask a spirit where he may have gone?" I said, ignoring his objections.
But he shook his head. "Gauntlet is too strong here. The Slaughter House Five only want to the real tough guys to be able to make the transition. They don't want to bother with the pushover spirits, they they built it up in this area. Besides, spirits aren't really my forte..."

"We have company." Giovanni interrupted, suddenly. He'd been silent the whole time (Guinness World Record, I'm sure), eyes glazed over, looking at nothing. He still stood in that quasi-meditative state. "Started to the north, then suddenly jumped Southwest."

Ori and I exchanged a glance, and bolted to the Southwest. The area was wooded, we weaved through the trees, trying to catch up to our mystery person...

And came up short in front of a still smoldering cigarette butt..but not person.

But we both picked up on the new voice talking to the others back over by the grave site. We jogged back over to find Alexandria, Nadi's sister and accomplished space mage, talking to Nadi..

So this was the help Tommy was talking about. I'd only met Nadi's sister once before.. at the battle with Ophios. She had reacted just as strongly to Stepping Feather's death as his pack had.

Currently, she and Nadi were talking to each other in a language that made my brain hurt. It also made me feel like the little kid whose parents are spelling words so she won't know whats being said. Fucking Mages.

"He doesn't know who he is." Nadi said suddenly, in English. Alexandria nodded.

I felt my eyes get big at that revelation. No wonder he hadn't come forward. He doesn't remember. I suddenly felt very nervous, and pretty damn worried. There was some threat on the edge of my consciousness, something that I knew I should be scared of, besides the simple idea of Stepping Feather being lost and alone. Something Big.

But I couldn't quiet grasp at what it was.

Nadi gestured to the air around the grave. "Can we take the memories with us?"

Alexandria looked thoughtful for a minute. "Do you have a journal or anything?"
Nadi dug into her bag and produced a slim notebook. Then Alexandria made with the mage voodoo. I'm not really sure what happened, but I could feel a build up of energy, then a rushing sensation, then an almost audible pop... and there was writing on the blank pages of the notebook. It flashed silvery, again in that strange language, then faded into a mundane to-do list, in English, once again.

"When we find him, we can give him his memories back." Alexandria said, passing the notebook back to Nadi.

"But where would he have gone?" Ori said, his voice tinged with concern and possibly something slightly more panicked.

"We can start looking for him where you'd start looking for any run away. Homeless shelters, food banks.. places like that. He might go back to places that would be familiar to him in the city, though he wouldn't know why they felt familiar." Alexandria said.

I nodded. "We can track those places down. We already know of a few of them."

"Good. I'll start running down the shelters. Let me know if you find anything." She gave Nadi a wink.. and then disappeared..

Becca sidled up next to Nadi, now that her sister was gone. "Next time I go to the gym, wanna come with me?" She asked, suddenly.
Nadi raised one eyebrow "Why?"
Becca paused..then meekly said, "To lift weights."
Nadi's expression turned sour and she fixed Becca with a glare. Not her full on 'intimidate the shit out of you' cold look, but this one wasn't too bad.
Becca put up her hands in a defensive gesture. "What! Shes hot!" I had to bite back a laugh. She wanted Nadi to look more like her sister. I did the smart thing and kept my mouth shut.
Nadi turned and started to walk away from Becca, who followed behind her, trying to salvage the situation. "It runs in the family?" She said, nervously.
Nadi kept walking, not really headed to anywhere specific, just away from Becca. "I'm telling my mom!" Which told me Nadi wasn't as upset as she seemed, as the comment didn't seem entirely serious.
"...Is she hot too..?" Becca asked as she trailed behind Nadi.. then a root snaked up around her foot and she tripped, stumbling forward. "Ack!"

I took a few steps away from them and pulled out the phone. As amusing as the squabble was, we had shit to get done. I sent Tommy a quick text.

From: H
To: Fluffy

Thanks for the help.

----

From: Fluffy
To: H

No problem. Did you find anything?

----

From: H
To:Fluffy

He dug his way out in a frenzy..then went through the gauntlet the same way. He also doesn't remember anything.

----

Instead of a text, my phone rang. I answered, and gave Tommy all the details.

"Hey! Tell him..'unrecognizable growling and yipping noises'" Ori said.

Seriously. he started growling and shit, talking in that weird werewolf language. I just glared. Like I was going to relay that. "No."
"Aw..why not?" Ori whined.

"Hey, was that the werewolf that is hanging around you guys now?" Tommy asked over the phone.
"Yeah, unfortunately." I grumbled.
"Let me talk to him."
I handed the phone to Ori.
"Heeey.. Tommy right? Whats up? Thanks for the help, by the way." Ori said into my cell.
"No problem, but listen.. this whole thing with Stepping Feather is getting worse by the minute. He doesn't have any memories. Technically, right now.. he's a Lost Cub... Any pack could claim him."

"Oooh shit.." I breathed. That's what I hadn't been able to put my finger on. That was the huge threat that was hanging on the edges of my brain.

Stepping Feather was a prime target for the Pure.

"The Lex Talonis is a huge pack in Chicago. You guys need to find him fast.. before the Pure do." Tommy said to Ori, whose face had gone white as a sheet. Whiter than mine.

Ori hung up the phone and handed it back to me. He immediately took out his own, and dialed another number. I heard Volkas' voice pick up the other end. "Volkas! Hi.. its uh..Ori.. we need help. Stepping Feather is alive.. and he doesn't know who he is.. and did I mention he sidestepped while in the middle of a death-rage? Yeah.. we're on our way."

He hung up the phone and started jogging towards the car. "C'mon!"

New guy same as the Old Guy?

2010-09-04T15:06:00.000-05:00

(A heads up to all you beautiful readers out there, I am going to start doing 'guest spots' on the blog every once and awhile. This is where other players will submit posts from their own characters perspectives. I don't know how often this will happen, or when it will start, it depends on when the first person gets an entry done. I just thought it would be fun to have some differing perspectives in here. Our ST will also be posting an entry from the NPC of his choice. Should be fun! Blog will still be updated weekly, and I will be sure to indicate when posts are guest appearances. Thanks for reading!))

January 11th, 2010

I sat on the floor at the foot of my bed and prepared myself. Sunrise was coming, and I needed to be ready if I was going to be successful in remaining awake as it rose. I found myself struggling to clear my mind, to fall into that meditative state. I inhaled.. and tried to release the tension on the exhale. I loosened the vice grips I had wrapped around my chest, willing myself to be calm with each breath.

Usually, I could drop right into meditation. Tonight, I had to let go of the anger and residual panic from Giovanni's death. I pried my mental fingers out of the worry and anxiety over the new prince, and let it fall away. I released the stress of the minor annoyances..I went through every strong emotion I'd experienced that day, and made them all disappear.

It took some time. I felt when the first rays of the sun peaked over the horizon, and I wasn't ready. I fought to maintain my control in the face of the instinctual fear. I was safe in the basement of the shop, but part of me sought escape. I battled that part, fatigued already from the nights events. I struggled and fought to keep myself conscious.

I had to overcome it.

Slowly, I gained ground. I pushed it back. I fell into my meditative state, and knew that I'd be able to stay awake. I would, however, be punished for it. My concentration suffered, but there was nothing I could do about that. Consequences occurred when you forced your body to do things it was not meant to do.

I let the pitch darkness of my bedroom be my comfort. Comfort and solace from a world.. a whole world.. that was, for the next 12 hours, trying to kill me. It was an odd and sobering realization, that the world itself sought to purge my existence.. images of what those warm rays of sunshine would do to my body nearly tore me out of my calm.. but I persevered through it.

And eventually, I realized I could change it. Not this instant, maybe not in the next week.. but like everything else, my body was mine to control.. mine to change.

This weakness was only another flaw to perfect.

When I opened my eyes again, the room was still blissfully dark, and the sun was still blazing in the sky somewhere above me. I wasn't sure if I had been concentrating for minutes, or hours. Regardless, I knew my meditation wouldn't led anywhere else today, my brain was too fried from all the events of the night before, and the strain of staying awake. I considered, briefly, allowing myself to sleep.. but it would feel like a failure.

So I stood and opened the door to my room. I stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened for noises of life above me. I heard nothing. I began a slow ascent to the landing. I knew there were no windows in the lab, and that the storefront of the shop couldn't be seen behind the maze of boxes, but walking up those stairs was difficult, nonetheless.

When I finally reached the top, I found the lab empty. I padded silently between the work tables, giving the Bunsen burner a wide berth, not bothering to turn on any lights. I examined each of Giovanni's works in progress, taking care not to disturb any of it. beakers of god knows what sat bubbling away, some with small flames below them, some fizzing of their own accord. One gave off a pale red glow. I relished the solitude. I couldn't remember the last time I was in the shop, alone. If only it weren't daylight, I might just poke around in the shop itself, instead of limiting myself to the lab.

There was a note stuck to one wall, done in thick black marker in Giovanni's scrawling, and terrible, handwriting.

Gone out. Be back soon.

The black marker sat on a stool right under the sign.

And it gave me an idea. I picked up the marker and walked to Ori's bedroom door. I tried the doorknob and felt a surge of triumph as it gave a soft 'click' and opened inward.

Ori lay in bed, sprawled across its length, legs tangled in the comforter. He didn't so much as twitch when I slipped inside his room.

I was never one for practical jokes, growing up. I was anti social and grumpy, with a dry sense of humor that I didn't reveal often. Mostly, that's still true. But I found that, recently, I had started to take myself a bit less seriously. Not much, and I wasn't sure why, but the jokes seemed like a way to retain a vestige of sanity in our chaotic world. That, and it served to annoy the fuck out of the others, which was rewarding all on its own.

Becca and I had traded practical joke blows before, and Giovanni had declared war on me when he'd epoxied my door shut. I felt it was time that Ori got a taste of what it meant to run with us.

That, and I had to pay Stepping Feather back somehow. Since he was dead, his nephew would be the next best thing.

I didn't actually think I'd pull it off. I figured he'd feel it, and wake up.. or smell it, and wake up.. or hear the squeaks as I dragged the thick marker over the skin of his forehead, and wake up.

But he didn't, and once I was done, Grigori had "BALLS" written across his forehead in lovely block letters. I took a moment to admire my handy work and turned around to see Nadi watching me from the doorway. I gave her a lopsided smirk and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind me.

"Morning." I said quietly.
Her eyes narrowed just a touch and she stared at me.. and suddenly I knew what it felt like to others when I was examining their auras. I felt like I was being inspected.

That, out of anything, put me in a great mood. Nadi may have a poker face, but for once, I could tell I'd unnerved her. She'd never seen me awake during the day. As far as she knew, it wasn't possible.

I could see her come to the realization that it was really me, and not some impostor. "Morning.."

"Did you find anything else at the Library?" I asked, schooling my expression to read polite curiosity instead of smug satisfaction.

"A few historical details concerning Rome and the strix, but I'll go over it with everyone once they're up." And with that, she disappeared into her room with a couple suspicious glances over her shoulder at me.

Becca intercepted me on my way back into the lab as she returned home from the gym. She was still breathing a little heavy, but had barely broken a sweat. She was on her way to take a shower.

"Pulling an all nighter again, boss?"
"Looks like it." I affirmed.

She nodded once, disappeared into her room, and came back out with 6 big, thick gray beach towels and a box of thumbtacks. She vanished through the maze of crates into the front of the shop and I could hear her tacking towels to the walls above the windows.

That actually made me smile. Rebecca was a helluva girl. I felt a familiar pang in my chest that I always got when I considered my roll in her situation. I worried that she'd grow to resent me one day, or maybe she already did. I pushed the thoughts away as she reappeared.

"Thanks.. I appreciate that." And I meant it. She returned my smile and continued on into the bathroom. "Anytime!"

I settled in a chair in a dark corner of the lab with a pen and a small notebook. I spent the next hour trying to figure out what I would ask the Prince in our meeting. I wanted to be as prepared as possible. It was too often that I found myself at a loss when faced with someone who could actually answer my questions. It frustrated me.

I heard the shop door open and someone enter. I heard the familiar step tap step that signaled Giovanni's movements. It wasn't a bad idea for him to keep using the cane. It would be easier for him to catch people unaware. I approved.

"What the hell?" I heard him mutter. He'd noticed the beach towels. He continued his monologue as he wound through the crate-maze. "Something isn't right.." He paused in front of Nadi's door. "Sounds like shes sleeping.. she sleeps? That's new.." He continued down the hall, and I heard him jiggle the knob to Nobody's room, but found it locked.

Finally, I heard the soft creak of Ori's door opening, and a quickly stifled laugh. Giovanni bolted through the door of the lab and went straight to one of the drawers. He had a huge grin on his face. He dug through the drawer until he pulled out a thick magic marker, turned, and bolted back down the hall.

That was probably the fastest I'd ever seen that Italian move. He hadn't even noticed me in the corner. A few moments later, he strolled back in, laughing to himself, and put the marker away. He tore his note off the wall as he passed. He shut the drawer and finally turned on the lights and looked out over the rest of the lab... and spotted me writing in my little notebook. It was enough of a surprise to make him jump.

"Gha! Huh..? uh..." He looked over his shoulder towards the store front windows. "This is a bit counter intuitive."

"Yet here I am." I said, dryly.

Gio eyed me a moment, then shrugged and sat down on a stool. "Well.. uh.. I guess that explains the beach towels tacked over the front windows."
I gestured to Becca's room with my pen. "Yeah.. Becca did that..it makes me less nervous when I walk past the doorway..but isn't really necessary, seeing as the lab has no windows."
Gio gestured to the cabinets."Well yeah.. there are a lot of things in here that are highly sensitive to light and heat."
I crooked an eyebrow at him. "Like vampires."
He rolled his eyes. "Well duh.. but others things too.. chemicals that, if sunlight hits them, might burst into fla..shit."
I gave him a pointed look over the top of my notebook.
He waved his hand, searching for the words. "No, but I mean, things that would just turn to ash... dammit.. stuff that might just completely dissol..fuck." He glared at me with mock severity. "You know, you really have quite a bit in common with the highly dangerous and caustic chemicals that I keep around here."
I looked back down at my notes and jotted something down. "Yeah.. I had a boyfriend that told me that once."

Gio paused. The silence stretched for a moment.

"Does he still have a face?"

I smirked and looked at him over the top of the notebook, eyes glinting with amusement. "Not a pretty one."

Giovanni laughed, shaking his head. "I take it that work of art on Ori's forehead was your doing?"

I set the notebook down and leaned back in my chair, fingers laced together behind my head. "I have to stay entertained somehow. Now what," I leaned forward again, pointing to the old, leather case that he'd set on the floor in front of the drawers. "Is that?"

"Something I want you to take a look at." Gio grabbed the case and set it on the worktable. he undid the catches and pulled it open to reveal a very old, but very well maintained, Civil War Era surgical kit.

I walked over, leaned over the kit, and ran my fingers across the instruments. It was an antique collector's wet dream.. and held my fascination almost as much. Without even really thinking, I still myself, and unfocused my eyes, asking the implements to show me their secrets, my fingers resting on the oiled leather of the case itself.

Sadly, they didn't have many. They had been used countless times to mend wounds during a time of war, and when the war ended, the kit was put away, only to be later sold and resold before ending up here.

"Civil War field kit, it looks like. Where did you get it?"
"Same place I got this."

I watched as Giovanni reached into his suit jacket, then into his shirt, then into his skin and removed a laptop with a 17 inch screen from his torso. Shocked as I was, I managed not to jump backwards, and just blinked at him in surprise.
"Well that's new. How did you do it?" His torso was completely unharmed, and the laptop looked pristine, save for a couple bloody fingerprints on it, long dried.

"Some of my new fun tricks. What can you get off the laptop?"
I opened it and powered it on, ignoring a specs of blood that dotted the screen. The only thing of interest on the hard drive were video files, filed away deep within random directories. I opened the first one and visibly grimaced. They were torture videos. People in an old dentists chair as a slender man in a nice business suit cut them to pieces. The office looked very upscale, professionally decorated, which made the scenes all the more surreal. The interior designed probably hadn't counted on the decor being accented with fresh blood.

I wasn't squeamish, but these were awful. It gave me flashbacks to the gruesome ritual Giuseppe and I witnessed when we visited the Nuhauali.
"What the fuck, Gio?"
"Keep going." He said. He leaned over my shoulder to watch.

Each video was the same, but with a different victim. There were dozens. It looked like he was hollowing them out, and keeping them alive as long as possible. I felt nauseous as I watched him cut out a mans tongue with slow deliberate slices of an old scalpel. I was suddenly grateful I had only Spirit Touched the case, and not the implements inside it.

The man seemed to increase in size as the videos progressed, until he was ridiculously overweight in such a way that it looked like he'd been forcibly shoved into his skin.

"Skip to the last file." Gio said.

I double clicked on the last video and watched a similar scene. From off camera, there was a knock on the door. The man looked up from his work with a sour expression and left his victim. There was a sound of exploding wood, a strangled gasp, and a few seconds later, Giovanni walked on screen. He examined the victim, who looked very dead, then the laptop. He jumped when the man groaned behind him. I watched as he considered his options, then slide a scalpel from its leather case.

Then there were pounding footsteps. Giovanni looked up sharply, and stood to face an opponent off the screen. He pulled Dumah from absolutely nowhere, chain wrapped about his wrist and digging into his flesh, took a shooters stance, and unleashed its fury.

The double barrels roared with red flames wreathed in green. He stepped to one side as the beasts momentum carried it past him, even with half its head missing. The thing was huge and bullish, with scarred and disgusting flesh that looked rotten and burned. Its hulking mass lay still on the expensive looking carpet.

"Oh! This is where I pull a you!" Gio said excitedly, as though we were watching home movies.
I watched as Gio nudged the creature with his toe, then held out a hand. His fingers hovered over the putrid flesh.. and something ethereal looking began to flow into his palm. He stood there and drank the creatures essence with his hand, until it faded into nothing. Then, he used the scalpel the way he'd intended before being attacked. It was a mercy.

He looked up again, said something to someone off camera, and the video ended.
"Did you just eat that thing?" I couldn't help but feel slightly grossed out.
"Stone.. glass houses.." Gio retorted with a raised brow.
"Fair enough." I muttered. "What was it?"
"Greed demon. It was wearing the accountants skin. I think he was making another suit out of the guy in the chair."
I shuddered visibly. "Nice to know what you do on your nights on the town. Who was it that came in once the video ended?"

"Oh! I almost forgot." He reached into his torso again and pulled out a business card. "Can you dig up any info on this guy?"

I took the business card from him gingerly, but it was perfectly dry. "Now you're just showing off."
He just grinned at me.

"Pellinore." I read.
"He's weird in some way, but I don't know how. You know that door you heard explode? He fixed it... In about 5 seconds."
"Nice."

About that time, Nobody walked out of his bedroom, stretching his arms high over his head. It was a gesture that I expected to be accompanied with a yawn, but he currently didn't have a mouth.

"Where you been, Gio?" His voice still held that edge of sleepiness. "And how the hell are you awake?" he said to me.
I motioned him over and started the video from the beginning. "Enjoy. I'm going downstairs. Don't tell Ori."
"Don't tell Ori what?" Nobody asked. Gio laughed.

I sent Becca to take down the towels and made sure I was in my room before she did. I didn't want Ori to know what I'd been up to. As far as he was concerned, I couldn't be awake during the day.

I closed myself up in my room. I wasn't long before I heard Ori's door open. I sharpened my hearing as well as I could to listen through the floor. I couldn't hear the normal level speech.. but after a moment Ori became much...louder.

"Oh what the hell?! Who did this?!" He cried. I grinned.
"Well if you guys didn't do it, who did?" a pause.. then "But why would Becca do that?!" I heard him stomp across the floor into the other room where Becca was probably watching TV. "Did you write Balls on my forehead?" another pause... then I heard him stomp off, only to change his mind and stomp back. "Did you draw the dick on my face?" I bit back a laugh. That had, apparently, been Giovanni's handy work. Ori stomped of again, and I heard Becca call loudly after him, her voice holding an edge of laughter. "They wouldn't do it if they didn't care!"

And while I didn't really want to admit it, she was right, at least partially. As annoying as I found the mutt, I wouldn't even waste my time if I genuinely hated him. That, and I wanted to see how he'd react.

After that, I heard the water come on in the bathroom, and run for a good 20 minutes. Occasionally I could hear Ori grumbling. I was satisfied.

Once Ori got cleaned up, I heard everyone leave. I settled in to get more reading done until night fall. I was expecting to be left in peace until then.

I was very wrong.

2 hours later, I heard Giovanni stomp his way down the stairs. That wasn't unusual.. he had a few things that he stored down in the basement, in one of the other rooms. I ignored his racket and kept reading.. until he flung my bedroom door open, one hand stayed on the knob.

"Stepping Feather is alive." And he slammed the door shut behind him, leaving me to gawk at nothing.

I recovered quickly and bounded after him, taking the stairs two at a time. I burst into the lab only a few paces behind him.

"What the fuck are you talking about Giovanni?!" I demanded, angry. If this was a prank, I'd remove his tounsils in the messiest way possible.

"YOU!........BALLS!" Grigori pointed an accusing finger at me from the other side of the room. Opps.. blew my cover. I glanced at him and winked.

The proceeded to ignore him completely.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't stutter. Stepping. Feather. Is. Alive." Gio reapeated.

I scowled at him. "Yeah, I heard you the first time. How, When, Who would be nice."

"Why would you do that? I didn't do anything to you!" Ori continued to freak out.

Gio also ignored the rambling werewolf. "When? about 20 minutes ago. We went running," he said that word with relish, "and found his open grave.. he had clawed his way out. How? I have no idea. Who?... Karl."

A huge smirk split my face. "That chauvanistic sonofabitch! Where is Stepping Feather?"
"We don't know. Can I see your phone?" I gave him a curious look, but grabbed my phone off my belt clip and tossed it to him. He tapped away on it for a minute and handed it back. He had changed Karl's contact information to read "The Candyman", when previously it had read, literally "chauvinistic sonofabitch."

"Gha! Look at me when I'm talking! Do you have any idea how long it took me to scrub that off?!" I did, actually. He was lucky. When Stepping Feather did it to me, Giuseppe sliced off a chunk of my forehead to get rid of it. I, however, continued to ignore him.

I raised a brow. "The Candyman?"
"Yeah.. Because the Candyman can." Gio said with a smirk that mirrored my own.

"I can't believe you!" Ori was practically shouting. Giovanni turned to him, finally.
"If it makes you feel any better, Stepping Feather did it to her too."
Ori paused. "Really?" An evil grin came over his face and he stuck his finger in my face. "HAH! Serves you RIGHT!"
I just turned to regard him calmly, and spoke in the same way I'd address someone who had gone batshit crazy. "Well of course.. why do you think I did it to you? Until now, I'd thought Stepping Feather was dead, and therefore, beyond the reach of my revenge."
Ori scowled at me, the expression sat oddly on his features, which weren't as practiced at the look as mine. "One of these days, Harper!"

I just crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. "What? you'll whine all over me? I'm practically shaking in fear."

He glowered at me. I returned to ignoring him.

"Does his pack know?" I asked Giovanni.

"Well is Karl did it, surely Tommy would know about it right? He would have told them." Nobody pointed out.
"I don't know if I trust Karl to have said anything to Tommy. And even if he did, Tommy could tell us where he might have gone here in town." I dialed Tommy, but got no answer. I put the phone away, annoyed.

"I'll try him again later." I muttered. Nadi appeared in the doorway.

"Whats going on?" She asked, voice utterly devoid of grogginess, even though I knew she'd just woken up. We filled her in, she, in turn, told us what she'd found at the library.

I was glad no one had a chance to push the issue of finding Stepping Feather. They all knew Ori would want to see his uncle, alive and well. I didn't need any of them realizing that I wanted to see him almost as badly. Stepping Feather had been one of the few people I honestly enjoyed being around. I had felt his death acutely, even if I wasn't part of his pack.

He'd been the one who had first taught me about werewolves. He'd changed for me in the woods on the way to Mexico, and helped me understand the Uratha a little better. He tried to prepare a mortal to go up against the monsters. He and Roxanne had saved my life from a frenzied wolfman, making sure it only got a sample of my insides, instead of the full entree.

I wanted to find Stepping Feather. I'd help Ori track him down any way I could, if only to see him with my own eyes. I owed him that much, if not more.

Nadi didn't find anything else of supernatural relevance in the library, but she found a few interesting details in the historical context of Rome. We sat around the work table while Nadi told us that the Julii was the name of a patriarch family in ancient Rome, legend says this is the line that Romulus and Remus themselves were descended from. Their progenitor was Aeneas, the last survivor of Troy.

She told us that the term Strix was also used for a modern genus of owl, they were carnivorous, nocturnal, and their eyes tended to be highly reflective.

"Wait.. highly reflective?" Giovanni interrupted.
"Yes.. why?" Nadi said, brow furrowed.
"Son of a.." He leaned over and snatched his goggles off the table top and put them on. They had a reflective sheen to the lenses, and they would have looked like bulging orbs to someone with an untrained eye. "What do I look like?" Gio demanded of everyone.

"You really think thats why the guard attacked you? because of the glasses?" I asked, skeptical.

He stripped off the glasses and threw them back down on to the table. "Why else? He only went after me. He totally ignored the rest of you."

I couldn't help but smirk a bit. "You either have terrible or amazing luck, Giovanni. The chances, not only of you running into him, but doing so while wearing the goggles? Being the only one to be wearing the goggles? That takes skill."

He crossed his arms over his chest and muttered to himself, Nadi continued with her report.

There was a similar creature in Romanian legend called the strigoi. I knew before Nadi even said it that they would be monsters that fed off flesh and blood. They were closely related to vampire myths, and I didn't say it, but there were myths even among kindred about the monstrous strigoi.

The Strix of legend had three possible origins. They were either born that way, old women put under spells, or changed themselves with an infernal pact. One superstition claimed that they could only be killed while feeding.

It was interesting information, but I wasn't sure how useful it would be. But regardless, it was good to have too much than not enough. I headed back to my room after that. I need to prepare for this evening, and mull over the revelation about Stepping Feather..and I was having a hard time concentrating with the sun up behind the walls of the lab. I preferred not to have the others see me struggling.

*****

This was the second night in a row that I was nervous going to the Aquarium. I really didn't know what to expect from this guy. Placing myself in such an open situation frayed my nerves, and sent my understandable paranoia into hyper drive.

But I needed questions answered, and he was the most direct source of information that I had. I wasn't stupid enough to think asking a few questions would be harmless, but it was an opportunity I seldom had.. to ask direct questions of the primary source of information, and I intended to take advantage of it, consequences be damned.

That resolute attitude didn't help with the nervousness though. The best I could do was make sure it didn't show on the outside (Gio would never let me hear the end of it).

It took me awhile to figure out what to wear. It seemed silly, but it held some weight, whether I liked it or not. It was one of the many reasons that I disliked vampire politics, even if I did use them to my advantage at times.. anything could be used against you. Even your clothes.

I wasn't trying to suck up to the Prince, but I also knew it wouldn't hurt to show a little bit of respect. After some debate, I decided on a pair of dark slacks, emerald green silk button down shirt, and a dark suit jacket. It was one of the few outfits I had that was actually tailored, and it looked damn good while leaving me enough range of motion that I wouldn't be constricted in a fight. Plus, green was a good color for me.

When I appeared back upstairs, the others were also ready. Ori looked the same as he usually did, not feeling any need to dress up, Nadi looked like she'd changed into fresh clothes that looked like what she usually wore, only sans the wrinkles normally in attendance due to long hours of studying, and Becca hadn't changed either, save for the addition of lipstick.

Giovanni and Nobody wore tailored suits over solid colored shirts, neither had a tie on.

The three of us looked like we might be on our way to a board meeting.. or a mob hit. Business attire really is very versatile, when you think about it. I rested my hands on my hips and regarded Giovanni with a raised eyebrow. "How many of those suits do you own, Giovanni? I'm not sure I've ever seen you wearing anything else."

"No need to be jealous that I usually have better fashion sense than you do, Harper." He said with a smile.

I just rolled my eyes at him and made a conscious effort not to mess with my clothes, less it be taken as a self conscious gesture. "Is everyone ready? Same rules as last time. No weapons, no violence, ect, ect."

"Yeah, we know. Lets go." Nobody said and led the way out to the car.

The Aquarium was nearly deserted this time around. There were only a couple other vehicles in the parking lot. We added the sedan to the scant ranks.

Rowan was waiting for us. She did to us what Loki had done the night before, marking us with her blood magic. But her's was much more potent. Nadi blinked a few times, as though trying to clear dust from her eyes, and gave a minute frown, but said nothing.

The Aquarium was different already. The raised Dais near the back of the room that Maxwell had used as his seat of power was completely gone. Instead, a simple but attractive wooden desk sat in the very middle of the room, putting the person who sat behind it at the same level with anyone who might approach it.

And Gaius Marines sat behind that desk. He was dressed in a suit, a modern suit, and stood when we entered. Rashida and Thaddeus, the khaibit, stood at his right and left. The gangrel was not in attendance, that any of us could see.

He began speaking in Latin, Rashida translated for him.

"Welcome! Please, make yourselves comfortable." There were already chairs waiting for us, so we sat. I worked very hard not to show my nervousness in front of the Prince. Giovanni didn't bother to try to keep his mouth shut.

"Wolf-boy isn't around tonight?" He said suddenly. Thaddeus translated our words into Latin for the Prince.
I'd have held my breath if I'd still been breathing. But Gaius simply laughed. "No, the Larvae is not here. I heard about that incident, and I do apologize for his rash actions... I hope you are no worse for the encounter."
Gio just shrugged. "Better, actually.. I was hoping to say hi.."

"The larvae does not with another encounter, I'm afraid." He seemed terribly amused by the whole situation. "To what do I owe the honor of this meeting, tonight?"

"We're here to introduce ourselves.. and ask a few questions." I said. No sense in beating around the bush. "I'm Harper O'Shea..."
"Giovanni Santore."
"Nobody." Gaius chuckled a bit at that.
"Urd." Nadi said simply.
"Grigori Ironfeather."

He nodded to each of us in turn.

"Is it true, that you were the ones who were instrumental in defending this city against the god, Ophios?"
I nodded, "We were."
He bowed deeply to all of us. "Then it is my great honor to meet all of you. I thank you, deeply, for your selfless service to this city. I can only hope that you will continue to protect Chicago, and pray that you will not need to."

We all looked at him, stunned. It was not at all what any of us had expected. He seemed genuinely delighted to be meeting all of us. Genuinely honored. It through us all for a loop, I think.

I smiled a bit and leaned back in the chair. "That's certainly not something we're used too."

His frowned and nodded gravely. "Yes. My Sensechal informed me about the events that transpired between you and the late Maxwell Clark. But I can assure you, I will not be repeating his mistakes. I am sorry that you were treated as anything other than the heroes that you have proved yourself to be. His treatment of you was.. regrettable, and I hope will not be taken as a reflection upon the Invictus as a whole. Now please, what can I do for you?"

"We have a few questions for you." I said.
"Please, continue."
"What will you be changing in the city? What can we expect to be different?"

"The difference between myself and Maxwell will be our commitment to the laws governing this city. Maxwell established his peace, but felt himself above his own rules. He broke them, and he was lax in enforcing them on others. This is what allowed the city to become endangered. I will not be so foolish. I am here to protect the kindred of this city, and I will react with swift punishment for any one who violates the Pax of Chicago. It is not Maxwell's Peace, or my peace..it is the peace that belongs to this city."

Giovanni spoke up. "And what is your stance on the other supernaturals in the city?"

"Maxwell felt that this city would be best served if everyone kept their distance from one another. I feel this to be foolishness. I wish to protect my people, and to do so, I must assure cooperation between the powers of Chicago. I have already scheduled meetings with the Santore Family," he nodded to Giovanni. "And plan to meet with the Magus within the city as well..." He looked at Nadi. "You cannot be held by our rules, this I realize. I would request, however, that you not harm any of my people."

Nadi tilted her head to one side, considering his offer, and formulating her response. "I can make no guarentees, especially if one of your people is threatening me, or my friends.."

Instead of becoming angry, Gaius nodded. "I understand. But may I ask that you contact me, if possible, should you encounter problems with my people? I would appreciate the opportunity to deal with the.. situation, personally."

She shrugged. "Sure.. if I can... should I give you my cell number...?" She asked, uncertain. We were all aware of the lack of technological skills for many of the older vampires. Especially ones that had been asleep for centuries.

"I am afraid that I am very slow to learn new technology...But you should be able to contact my advisor, if needed." He then turned to Nobody.
"I am seeking out your people, however, you are be your very nature, difficult to locate. I am in need of an emisarry to begin talks with your kind...."

Nobody shrugged, nonchalantly. "I'd be happy too."

Gaius turned his attention back to me. "Are you familiar with the concept of Hiketeia?"
"No, I'm not."
"It is an arrangement that was common during my time in Rome. A king's subject could come to him and invoke Hiketeia. If this were to be done, the king would be obligated to provide this person with protection. In exchange, the subject would undertake tasks for the king."
I simply raised a brow in silent question, and let him continue.
"Hiketeia is not something that I can offer you, as it must be enacted by the subject. If a King were to refuse a request for Hiketeia, it would be an action looked upon with much disgrace. In the same way, the subject was expected to complete the work for the king.. and if he did not, that violation of Hiketeia was severely punished. I would ask that you consider this idea. If you do not wish to pursue such a thing, I would be understanding. I felt, however, that the knowledge might be beneficial to you..."

It was an interesting concept, and more than that, it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this probably was not something that he spoke about with many other kindred, yet he was telling me, specifically. I wondered if it was because he wanted to make sure I was protected, or if he wanted to be able to call on me at any point. "I'll consider the offer." And I would.. I found the idea that he would need me to complete tasks an interesting one. It would be fair to assume that such tasks would give me insight to the new Prince. I did not, however, feel the need to have anyone telling me what to do. It was a dilemma.

He shook his head with a small smile. "Once again, it is not something that I can offer you, it is something that you must invoke. I simply felt the inclination to inform you of the idea."
I had the urge to roll my eyes, but I didn't. Semantics were always a pain in the ass. I just nodded, instead. "I'll keep the information in mind, then. Thank you."

"How is it that I will contact you?" Gaius said to all of us. We looked at Giovanni, and he pulled one of our many burn phones from his pocket, and tossed it up to Rashida. She caught it in one hand.

"We do not need to send a messenger..?" He asked to her in a low voice. (Gio translated)
"This is the messenger." She replied.
He furrowed his brow, obviously a bit confused by the device. "How strange.."

He turned back to the rest of us. I jumped at the chance to ask my other questions, the ones we had been researching for the past evening.

"Who are the Julii? The ones you claimed the city in the name of?" I asked.

His expression faltered. A look of great pain came across his features. It was the first time during the meeting he'd had anything but a pleasant expression and posturing. "It is not a subject I wish to speak of. I have been informed, since I awoke, that the Julii have not been seen for a very long time. All of them sleep, or worse. This, I discovered just this evening, and it causes me great personal pain."

"What happened to them..?" I have a habit of pushing touchy subjects, and it often gets me into trouble.

His expression hardened. "I will speak no more of the Julii."

I let it go, at that. Antagonizing the Prince would only be useful if it served to provide me with information, and this subject did not promise to be one that he would be even slightly forthcoming with. I changed the subject.

"I know that you have been asleep for a long time, but I'd regret not asking, anyway. Do you know anything about Jeremiah Stone, or his son?"
He just shook his head. "The name does not sound familiar, but I will see what I can discover for you."
"That would be greatly appreciated." I nodded my thanks. He was being so damn helpful and pleasant. i didn't really know how to handle it. I'd been prepared for closed off and mildly hostile.. but not friendly. It was throwing me for a loop.

Giovanni jumped in when I fell silent.

"What are the Strix?"

"The strix are creatures of evil. They inhabit the bodies of the dead. They have the ability to jump from dead body, to dead body, and are therefore very difficult to eradicate. If they are present, you will begin to see many corpses, very soon. They feed blood and vitae and are not restrained in doing so."
"How?" I asked. I was curious as to how similar to vampires they actually were.
"Messily." Thaddeus said in his deep voice.
Gaius and Rashida both nodded.
"So they can jump from body to body.. does that include vampires?" Nadi asked, with a sidelong glance in my direction.
God I hoped not.
"No. They cannot inhabit the bodies of the kindred." Gaius said, and I felt my shoulders relax slightly. "The only way to tell if a body is inhabited by a Strix is by the eyes. They will become highly reflective."
Giovanni snorted. "Yeah, we figured that out."
Gaius smiled a bit, at that. "Yes, that was why the Larvae attacked you last evening. He is dedicated to battling the Strix, and in his zeal, mistook you as one of them."
"He didn't let us get a word in." Ori said, a bit defensively.
"The Larvae is a beast who cannot be reasoned with. He is very dedicated to protecting me, and will go to great lengths to do so. He does not, however, wish for a rematch." There was an amused shine to Gaius' eyes.
"How long have you been working together?" Nadi asked softly.

It was about that moment that we heard the rustling of feathers.. and the Larvae's hulking form appeared from the shadows behind Gaius. He looked bigger than I remembered, no longer being compared to Giovanni's demon form. He said nothing, but his gaze was cold and predatory. His muscles sang with tension, like he was ready to spring at a moments notice, given the slightest provocation, or even just the passing inclination, reason or no. It sent a chill down my already cold spine. It reminded me of The Unholy, and was a glimpse into the possible outcome of allowing the beast to gain too much control.

Giovanni waved cheerfully.

"We met in the colosseum. When I was young, I was noxii.. captured and forced to battle. I proved effective, and as an adult, I became auctorati, a gladiator by choice. The Larvae was to be our sport. I did not find it fitting that I should battle an opponent while he was held helpless, in chains. I refused. I defended him until he was able to destroy his bonds. We fought the other combatants together, and were victorious. He has been my protector ever since that day."

The Larvae just took a step closer to the desk, and stared menacingly at all of us. He was very very good at it.

I wanted to steer the conversation back towards the issue of the Strix.. and the passage Nadi had found came to mind. I knew it mentioned the Julii, but surely we could discuss it and leave the name out of it. It was important for us to know what we were going to be up against.. and I felt it an inevitability, not a possibility, that we would face the striges.. Ori's dream was still fresh in my mind. "We found a passage concerning the Strix.. one that perhaps you could shed some light on for us..?" I looked at Nadi for a bit of help recalling the actual words, but it was Giovanni's big mouth that fucked up the rest of the meeting.

He immediately began quoting the entire passage, before anyone could stop him. "In Caverns, do they sleep. Dead founders, Dread Julii, burned by the fires of the sanctified lance. They must remain asleep, or be outright destroyed, for if they wake, the Striges will... the rest of it was burned off."

I glared daggers at him.

Gaius' face clouded over once more. Sadness, pain, and suppressed rage. His voice takes on a weird, quavering and echoing quality to it. I felt an edge of power to his words. the Larvae must have, as well, because he took a threatening step in our direction. "I will not speak of the Julii."

I wanted to punch Giovanni. We could have asked him about it without mentioning the sore subject, but Gio had to just go and blurt out the whole damn passage.

"Is there anything else?" His tone suggested that there better not be. And there wasn't.. for now. We'd exhausted all of our questions for the moment.

We stood and left, saying our goodbyes. He still looked very, very pissed. As we left, Rowan cleaned her blood from our foreheads, and we felt her power fall off of us like water. Nadi glanced back over her shoulder, into the Aquarium, her brow knit together.

We all got back in the car, and headed back to the shop.

"Well, that went better than I'd expected.. even if Giovanni was dead set on pissing him off." I muttered.
"He was really pleasant.. I don't trust it." Ori said sullenly. I just shrugged.
"Can't say I disagree with you, but you have to admit, it went pretty smoothly, for the most part." I glared at Gio. He ignored me.

"There was a large buildup of destructive power, as we were leaving." Nadi said from the back seat.
"What do you mean?" Nobody asked.
"Like something very destructive was about to happen."
I rubbed my eyes. "I thought his voice sounded weird. Wouldn't surprise me if shit was about to hit the fan.. I'd hate to think what would've happened if it had..."

"You can't trust the bloodsuckers." Giovanni said finally, with a smirk in my direction.

It was my turn to ignore him. Besides, I had to be honest..

He was right.

Sorry!

2010-08-30T13:11:00.003-05:00

So I did not get that second post up last week, as I had hoped, But I will have it up in the next couple of days. Sorry for the wait.. work has been a little nuts lately!

The Death of Giovanni Santore

2010-08-23T22:52:00.003-05:00

We had some discussion that we needed to take care of, but I had other things that I needed to do first. I left the others in the lab and went to my room. I needed to make a couple phone calls, out of earshot.

I called Father Nico first. One of the other priests answered the church phone, and gave me more unsettling news. Father Nico wasn't in. And the priest didn't know where he went. I'd never known Nico to leave the church. He was trying to stay under the radar. I wondered if he'd decided to have a meeting with the new Prince as well. If he had, it was possible that I'd be able to get more information about Gaius from him... I thanked the priest, asked him to let Father Nico know I called, and hung up. I hadn't know Nico too long, but the change set me on edge, regardless. Another mystery.

I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at my phone. I did not want to make this second phone call. I didn't want to be a source for Taskforce Valkyrie. It made me feel like a good little pet, which in turn made my stomach turn. It was also why I'd decided to make the calls in private. I didn't need the others dogging me about it. It was a touchy subject.

But for now, I needed to play by their rules, until I could figure out how to use the situation to my advantage. I didn't have to give them anything that I found important.

I dialed the number, an operator picked up the phone.

"How may I direct your call?"
"Captain O'Donnell, please."
"And who is this?"
"O'Shea"
"One moment please."

I was silently thankful they didn't believe in hold music. I only had a wait a handful of seconds before O'Donnell's voice came on the line.

"O'Shea.. what you got for me?"
At least I didn't need to waste time with pleasantries with O'Donnell. I appreciated that.
"A report.. quite a bit of shit going down out here."
"Alright, tell me what you've got, and I'll tell you how much of it we already know."
"The Prince was offed tonight.. new guy moved in."
"So we heard.. there is quite a stir on that one. Know anything about the new guy?"
"No. Not yet.. we just got back, and I haven't had a chance to start digging. All I know is that he's Roman.. and his name is Gaius Marinas."
"Fair enough, keep digging."

As though I'd stop even if he told me too.. but I didn't say it, I just kept going.

"Citysmith is dead."
"We know."
Fair enough, it had been over a month..
"So is the serial killer."
"We know that too. One of our ghoul plants informed us."
I frowned at the phone. Ghoul plants? My natural paranoia flipped to overdrive. What ghoul plant? Whose ghoul?
"Did you know the Santore's took over Citysmith's territory?" I said with a frustrated edge in my voice.
I was finally rewarded with a long pause from O'Donnell.
"Really."

I didn't bother to bite back the sarcasm. "That's surprising, you seem to be so well informed." I silently hoped I hadn't just given up the wrong piece of information. I figured that would be common knowledge..
It was his turn to sound annoyed. "Not all of our contacts have the same expertise and connections that you do.. which is why I said 'tell me what you got, and I'll tell you what we've already heard' and not 'don't tell me anything, I've heard it all.'"
I made a noise in my throat that might've been assent, or might've been annoyance, depending on who you asked.
"Fair enough. I've also got some information about Birch that he gave me. And by gave, I mean I stole it, but its not the sort of thing I can give you over the phone. I've got it all on a flash drive."
"South Highland and 13th Street in 2 hours for the drop. Anything else to report?"
"No." I said, gruffly.
"Okay. Keep up the good work soldier." He hung up.

I put the phone away and resisted the urge to take a long, scalding hot shower. Not for the first time, I wondered what would happen when I finally dug the chip out of my shoulder and told them to shove it up their asses. I didn't doubt for a second that O'Donnell was anticipating such a move, eventually. It was something to keep in mind. How could I throw then for a loop?

I stayed down there for awhile, considering my options.

When I went back upstairs, Nadi and Ori were gone, and everyone else was sitting around a work table in the lab, discussing our next course of action. I pulled up a chair.

"So what do we do now?" Nobody asked.
"I don't know.. wait and see? I'm not sure what else to do at this point. All my contacts are indisposed right now." I said, thoughtfully.
"I'm not keen on sitting around waiting on shit to happen." Giovanni said as he worked on the gauntlet attached to his arm. "I need a test subject."
I glared at him. "Don't even think about it."
He rolled his eyes at me. "Not you!"
We heard the front door of the shop open. Gio got a downright giddy look on his face and slid off his chair and hobbled to the doorway, standing to one side.

Ori walked in, and Giovanni punched him in the arm as the werewolf walked by. The glove buzzed briefly, but nothing else happened.
"Damn!" Gio exclaimed.
Ori looked at him, slightly horrified. "Were you trying to electrocute me?!"
Gio shrugged and walked back over to the table, removing the glove. "What? I need to test the thing, and you heal really fast." Gio started rummaging through shelves until he found a large piece of metal.
Ori stared at him. "You're fucking nuts!"
"That's what I keep telling him.." I muttered.

Ori pulled up a chair while Giovanni set out working with a sheet of metal.
"So, I think we should go check out that warehouse." Ori suggested as he gave Gio suspicious sidelong glances.
I gave him a skeptical look. "But we already know what was in the crate."
He looked confused. "We do?"
"Gaius." I said simply.
"But that box was huge! And it took 12 of those weird looking guys to carry it! Why would it be that big to hold one short guy?" Ori protested.
I shrugged. "Hubris? You really think he'd sleep in a tiny little coffin?"
"I still think we should check it out. There might be more there."
"Doubtful" I muttered.
"Oooh, do you have a magic ball that tells you everything that's in the warehouse? That's so handy!" Ori said with a frown. "If you don't want to go, I'll just take Nobody."

I glared at him and crossed my arms. "If you want to go, then fucking go. I didn't say you shouldn't, and I didn't say I wouldn't. But I have somewhere to be in an hour. Wait until I get back, until Nadi gets back, and we'll go together. Just in case."

Ori made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "We'll go on ahead.. I just want to scope it out. We won't go inside until everyone gets there."

"I really don't think that's a great idea." I said, sourly.
"As far as bad ideas goes, its one of our more harmless ones." Gio said as he pulled the circuitry off his power glove. "Besides, all his cronies will be at that meeting right?"
I frowned at them all. "Maybe, maybe not...Fine. Becca and I will meet you over there. Don't be stupid."

And I got up and walked out of the lab knowing they didn't know how to be anything but.

I wasn't really trying to discourage Ori from digging up information. I was just pointing out the potential downsides.. and I felt like the others weren't being careful enough. There might still be defenses around that warehouse.

I put it all in the back of my mind, grabbed Becca, and headed out to the drop point. I wanted to get there earlier to scout it out, and it wouldn't hurt to spend some time with Becca.

The intersection was home to a Blimpie. Other than that, the area seemed pretty mundane. We got sandwiches and sat on the outside patio. Becca tore into hers like she hadn't eaten in a week. I watched her, more than a little jealous. I ate my own much more reservedly. Food just didn't taste good anymore.. and the knowledge that I'd violently puke it up as ash later sullied the experience.

"I remember sandwiches tasting better than this.." I grumbled quietly and took another small bite.

"Oh.. man, I guess that really blows, huh?" Becca said through a mouthful of bread, cheese and meat.

"It's certainly a downside." I made a face and put the sandwich down. "You know, I got accused of being bulimic a few times in high school since I was so skinny.. never actually was till now."

Becca started laughing and nearly choked on her soda. My lips twisted into a small smile. We chatted about nothing for awhile longer.. small talk mostly. We had more important things to discuss, but neither of us were stupid enough to do it out in the open. It also felt nice to be normal for awhile. I hadn't taken much time to do normal.. human.. things since I got to Chicago. I remembered now why Giuseppe had stressed the importance of them. It was nice to pretend that the world was a nice place for a few minutes. Even if it was all a lie.

We were there for about half an hour when a man walked past our table, stumbled, and spilled our drinks all over the place.

"I am so sorry! here, let me clean this up!" He fumbled for napkins and began mopping up the liquid frantically. I scowled at him and shoved a wad of napkins at him... with a thumb drive tucked inside. "Watch where you're going next time."

He continued to apologize profusely, made some feeble attempts to wipe up more soda, dropped money on the table to cover our ruined (but already mostly eaten) sandwiches, and hurried away.

Becca and I tossed the remnants of our soggy sandwiches and left in a huff. Or at least, I was in a huff. Becca was just telling me to calm down...until we were safely back in the car.

"I feel like a spy. Whats next? Stealing launch codes from the Russians?" Becca said with a grin.
I shrugged, dropping the feigned displeasure, scowl disappearing like it had never been there at all. "It seems silly, really.. but then, I can understand the desire for secrecy. You can't really be too paranoid when your dealing with the people we're dealing with." And I firmly believed that.

That said and done, we headed to the docks, and I hoped profusely that the others hadn't gone and done something retarded while I was gone.

****

It didn't take long to get to the warehouse.. but it was long enough for the shit to hit the fan. We pulled up near the building, a couple hundred yards away.. just as I saw fire shoot up into the air near the entrance. I recognized that fire. It was Dumah, Giovanni's shotgun.

I bailed from the car and took off at a dead sprint before the car had even stopped rolling. I smelled the blood as soon as I opened the car door. I was there in seconds, rounding a corner, knives already drawn, to see Nobody, Giovanni, and a burly vampire I didn't recognize standing around a cargo van with the drivers door open, the soft bing bing bing of the door ajar alarm echoing from inside the vehicle. Giovanni was already in his demon form, Dumah trained on the unknown vampire, and he was bleeding very heavily. It had already begun pooling at his feet. The vampire's shirt was on fire.

I took it all in in an instant. The vampire took one hand that bore huge hooked claws, and brushed away the fire that had hit him square in the chest like it was nothing. Gangrel. Probably the wolf we'd seen earlier at the Shedd. His muscles bunched as he prepared to launch himself at Giovanni again. I knew Gio couldn't take another hit. It was miraculous that he was conscious, my enhanced hearing could pick up on his thready pulse.

I did the first thing that came to mind when faced with an opponant that would tear me to shreds in a fair fight. I made the fight an unfair one. I blinded him. Shadows flowed from my fingertips and wrapped around his head like black, inky, bandages.

It didn't do a damn bit of good. He lunged before the darkness closed in, so his trajectory was already set. We watched, helpless, as he slammed his claws into Giovanni's chest with a sickeningly wet, tearing sound, and held him up, off the ground.

Time seemed to slow as Gio's eyes rolled back in his head and his body convulsed....

And I heard Giovanni Santore's heart explode in his chest.

Dark heart's blood poured down the gangrel's talons, it looked black in the moonlight.

His aura winked out...

Then flared a bright, sickly green until he was wreathed in flames.

It all happened in less than a second.. less time than it took the beast to react. Gio's heart burst on one beat, then continued pounding as though it hadn't just been ripped apart. Without any decipherable movement, Giovanni's body was now suspended just above the tips of the vampires claws. His eyes rolled forward again, and they burned with that same sickly green fire.

He stared down at the vampire with an angry and terrible look on his face, smoke pouring from his mouth and nose. It smelled of brimstone.

"You have no idea who you're FUCKING WITH!"

And he balled his fist and slammed it with impressive force right into the side of the Gangrel's face. We couldn't see his jaw crumble due to the shadows coalescing around his face a moment before the fist met with his chin, but everyone heard the sound of shattering bone and tearing flesh.. and before Giovanni's fist came out the other side, the vampire exploded into a cloud of mist that was quickly swept away by the lakeside breeze.

The van continued to sound its soft little alarm. Other than that and the drip drip drip of Giovanni's blood soaked clothes, the dock was silent.

We all stared at Gio as he lowered himself to the ground and folded his wings against his back. I was pretty sure I'd been the only one who heard his heart explode.. but the others had seen the shudder.. and we were all too familiar with what that usually indicated.

I recovered first. And I was pissed.

"What the FUCK?! You see why I hesitate to let you assholes wander off without me? What happened to staying your distance and just fucking observing?" I hissed, trying not to scream at them.

"Hey, we didn't go inside.." Nobody said defensively, but his argument held no conviction. Ori trotted up in wolf form, joining to party late. I assumed he'd been perched somewhere with his rifle.

I pointed at the padlocked door, lock hanging open on the chains. "Not for lack of fucking trying!"

I leave them alone for 30 fucking minutes and one of them practically gets gutted. I don't know how Giovanni was still alive, but I did know that he was damn lucky.. and that his luck would run out eventually. None of them were paranoid enough for their own good.

"Lets get out of here.. I don't want to deal with that guy again." Gio said suddenly, ignoring my smoldering demeanor.

Ori and Nobody hesitated. "We're already here.." Nobody said slowly. "And I'd hate for this all to be for nothing." Ori just jerked his shaggy head at the doors in earnest.

I glared at them, but bit back a comment. I was curious as well, and there were unlikely to be any other guards around... I hoped. If there was, hopefully Gio's little show would convince them to stay away.

Gio shrugged. "Oh..what the hell. Lets do this quick before that asshole comes back."

He turned on his heel and strode up to the door, picking up his goggles as he went. They had been thrown to the concrete in the scuffle.

We all stood to the side as Gio pushed the doors open, preparing for another attack. I was ready to douse what little light was there to mask our movements... but it was unnecessary. The room was devoid of threats.. and pitch dark.

I felt my pupils expand to consume my entire eye, and the scene faded from inky black to dim twilight.

The room was empty, save for a huge mound of white dust that was several feet high. We entered cautiously, continually scanning every corner for danger.

But we were alone. Wolf-Ori padded over to the huge pile of powder and began to dig, tossing the grit into the air. We watched, curious, as Ori latched his jaws around something, and dragged a dessicated corpse half way out of the pile.

He backed away and came to stand next to us. It was one of the weird looking body guards. His skin was shriveled and dry, eyes cloudy and unseeing. I crouched next to the body and looked him over. He looked like he'd been dead for only a few hours. There was no blood pooling in any part of his body. That, coupled with the look of him, told me how he'd died. Someone had been very hungry.

I could guess what had happened, but it was pure conjecture. I needed harder facts. I needed to make the other's epic fuck up worth something.

I stuck my fingers into the dust as though I was trying to get a handful of it, and focused.

**

I saw a large quarry, filled with unhewn marble, in a location I couldn't quite place. I watched as it flashed forward, a giant solid piece of rock being shaped and carved and chiseled and polished.. I watched the sarcophagus being fashioned over the course of several mortal lifetimes. Sculptors that spent their entire lives creating this work of art that now lay in complete ruin at our feet. I watched as Gaius laid down in the tomb, and saw it buried deep beneath the mighty city of Rome.

Then blackness.. a large cracking noise and a swath of light cut across my vision, the body guards face appearing in the crack...

Then nothing.

I heard, "Oriori" in the blackness.

**

"Oriori? I rise?" Gio asked. I must have said the phrase while I was out.

I wiped my hands on my jeans and stood. "He was sleeping in it.. and they opened it. Other than that, I know that it was buried beneath Rome for a very long time. That's all I got."

Giovanni looked thoughtful. "Wonder why they woke him up?"

I just shrugged. "I don't know. Could be they needed him to replace Maxwell, but why him, specifically? But who is they? Rashida? The Invictus? We can't know for sure..yet." I took another long look around the warehouse. We were very exposed, standing in the middle of the large, open space. "Lets talk about it back at the shop. I want to get the fuck out of here."

Everyone nodded agreement. As we walked away, Becca knelt and pulled something out of the fine, powdered marble. It was a pry bar.

"I'll be taking this.." She muttered, and walked out behind the rest of us.

The gangrel was still nowhere to be seen, thankfully, and we made it back to the shop without incident.

Interesting things began to happen once Giovanni approached the front door, however. The entrance swung open of its own accord, as per usual, but Giovanni stopped short, as though he'd hit an invisible wall.

"But you've already been inside." He said, presumably to himself. He paused, as though waiting for an answer, then rolled his eyes. "Fine.. Will you please come into my shop?" And he stepped over the threshold. "Are you happy?"

We all exchanged worried or confused glances, and followed Giovanni into the lab. I leaned back against one shadowed wall and eyed him closely. "What the fuck is going on, Gio?"

He gave that annoying smirk. "I'm two for two."

I grit my teeth and tried not to let him piss me off. It took a great deal of self control. "Yeah, I can see that.. how?"

I saw that damn twinkle in his eye that said he was about to do something that he knew would get under my skin. A second later, someone was standing behind him.. something that was wearing an old fashioned dress and parasol.. and whose head was completely engulfed in vibrant, dancing flames.

I visible flinched away from him, and he was awarded a rather nasty scowl. But he just smiled. "You're an asshole, Gio."

"Yzzacks, say hello." Gio said with a grin.

The voice sounded like smoldering coals, yet managed to have a quasi-feminine edge to it. It sounded amused. "Hello.."

Ori stared, open mouthed, and Nobody gave a low whistle. "Is that the.."

"Chaos demon that Theo brought over? Yup." Gio interrupted.
"That is fucking creepy." Ori muttered. Becca nodded in agreement.

I leaned back further into the gloom of my little patch of wall. "I heard you're heart explode, Giovanni. What the fuck is going on?"

"I died. I just didn't stay that way. Yzzacks and I have an.. arrangement now."

I crossed my arms and regarded him thoughtfully, making a point to look directly at the flaming demon, as uncomfortable as it made me. "What kind of arrangement?" My voice was dripping with suspicion.

Gio's only answer was a smile. I managed to keep myself from forcibly wiping it from his smug face. I was more concerned than angry. Concerned how this would effect him..and the rest of us. Demons were unpredictable.. and while it would no doubt lend itself to some interesting events, it also had the potential to screw all off us over in a very unpleasant and unexpected manner.

"So.. what about Cheshire?" Nobody asked, suddenly.

If I was breathing, I'd be holding my breath. I hadn't thought about that.

Giovanni just shrugged. "My death dissolves our agreement. This was mostly his doing, anyway."

"How so?" I probed.

"It was in his best interest to keep me alive." Giovanni said. "He's free now.. which will be interesting all on its own.." He pulled up a stool and settled onto it. He was moving differently. I'm not the only one who noticed.

"Hows the leg, Gio?" Nobody said suddenly.

Gio grinned and flexed his leg, swinging it freely. "Its great.. you know, that will probably freak me out later, but right now, I'm just going to enjoy it."

I rolled my eyes at him, though the movement was a bit lost, probably, since I was standing in the darkest part of the lab, seeking refuge from the flaming woman-thing standing a few feet away. "You just died and signed a bargain with something that looks like its perpetually on fire.. and carries a pretty little parasol, to bring you back to life and your worried about being freaked out later because your LEG is all better?" I scowled at him. "I'm so glad your priorities are in order." The sarcasm dripped off my words and formed a puddle at my feet.

Gio just shrugged. "Yeah, but she's new.. the leg has been fucked up for the last few YEARS of my life.. and, ironically, I had to die to make things better for me."

A ghost of smile crossed my face. With that, I understood a little better. I'd been through the same thing, after all. I made a soft noise that might have been a chuckle. "Story of my unlife."

Gio leaned back against a work table, resting his elbows on it. "But you see, the difference between you and me, Harper babe.." My brief moment of good humor turned to sour annoyance. "...is that I can still get a tan."

My smart ass comeback was cut off by the slightly disturbing laugh that bubbled up from the chaos demon standing behind Giovanni. "Oh and you will!" She (can demons have gender?) said. Talk about foreboding.

It was about that time that Nadi came back. We filled her in pretty quickly, and she, in turn, filled us in on what her research had given her. It wasn't much.

After six hours of research, she'd uncovered a single scrap of information directly referencing the Julii. It was "The Hidden Rome." A treatsie/conspiracy written by Marcellus I, circa 389 CE. It read,

"In caverns, do they sleep. Dead founders, dread Julii, burned by the fires of the Sanctified Lance. They must remain asleep, or be outright destroyed, for if they wake, the Striges will.."

And the rest had been burned away. 389 was the year the library in Alexandria burned.

"Well shit.. what the hell are the Striges?" Nobody said with a huff. He seemed as frustrated as I felt. It was not often that Nadi came back with only table scraps. On the other hand, I found myself sort of.. excited. The prospect of discovering aspects to such a difficult mystery would be pretty fucking worthwhile.

"A legendary creature of ancient Rome. A nocturnal bird of ill omen that fed on human flesh and blood.. similar to a vampire. However, it was more a product of a metamorphosis, rather than a risen corpse." Nadi said, with a small shrug of apology my way. I waved my hand dismissively. Can't argue facts.

"The Lanceum Sanctum.. are they the ones Deuce was talking about earlier?" Nadi asked.

I nodded. "Sounds like it. Its interesting that they may have a role in this, but it makes a certain amount of sense. What I want to know is.. how are they related? Why would the Lance want to destroy the Julii?"

"You know who might know.." Ori said slowly, eying me.

I scowled at him and leaned deeper into my shadowy part of the wall. "NO. I'm not calling that asshole unless I have ZERO other options."

"Oh! please! regale us with your other options! Because from where I'm sitting, he's all we've got." Ori glared back at me.

"No." I hissed, "He isn't."

"Oh? Who else then?" Ori crossed his arms defiantly.

"Rowan and Father Nico, to name two." I shot back.

Ori's voice got louder. "Who you can't get a hold of because they're probably in those meetings!"

My voice got quieter, but no less annoyed. "You're absolutely correct. So tell me.. where exactly do you think the leader of the Lanceum Sanctum in Chicago would be right now?"

Ori opened his mouth to respond.. then abruptly shut it and just frowned at me.

"Hah!" Nadi exclaimed suddenly. Our argument dissolved and we both turned to stare at her. She was tapping away at her cell phone..and something had amused her enough to get through her poker face. We all watched, absolutely stunned and transfixed, as Nadi let out another brief chuckle.. and then put her phone away.

"I am so turned on right now." Becca said, quietly.

"What was that about?" I asked as I turned my aura sight on her, then cursed inwardly as I remembered that she'd done something to get rid of her fucking aura.

"Nothing important.. so if we don't know much about him, what about his bodyguards? Why did they tell you this was a family matter, Harper? Why did she keep saying, 'All must serve'?" She smoothly changed the subject.. and I let her. I made a mental note to find out who she'd been talking too.

I took a long breath, and exhaled it slowly, letting it take away the distracting emotions. I needed focus.

"They're Khaibit.. same as I am. It's a Mekhet bloodline with the ability to manipulate shadows. Traditionally, the bloodline was part of the Cult of Set. The Order of the Phoenix protected the world from evil during the day, and the khaibit protected the world at night.. keeping it safe from the creatures of darkness.. by becoming darkness itself." I held my hand up in front of me. The others watched as inky shadows oozed from my upturned palm, twisting and writhing around each other, and around my arm, like black vipers.

"But the Cult of Set doesn't exist anymore." Nadi pointed out.

I closed my fist, and the shadows disappeared, almost as though they seeped back through my pores. "Not officially, no. The cult faded away, but the Khaibit still exist. Now, most Khaibit act as retainers. Butlers, assassins, or bodyguards to anyone who can afford them. Its seen as a status symbol to be able to afford a Khaibit servant." I made a face that spoke volumes of how I felt about that.

Nadi nodded, taking it all in. "So.. is it rare to find a Khaibit who doesn't have a master?"

"Pretty much unheard of. I'm an oddity. I'd rather focus on the traditional role, so I made it a point to never mention my bloodline to any of the other kindred."

Nobody's aura suddenly flared with colors of impudent glee. His voice was sarcastic and belittling. "So Giuseppe isn't your master? Pulling your strings?"

The troublesome emotions that I had quieted a few moments before flooded back to the surface. The beast howled in outrage at the direct insult to both myself, and my sire. It surge forward to take the reins and destroy and devour the insolent insect.. and hit a brick fucking wall. Visions of violence danced through my mind, but I let the movies play, and forced myself to react in a manner that would prove much more scathing.

A dangerously playful smirk crept across my lips. I turned my head almost lazily towards the changeling, eyes cool and collected, not a hint of the deadly passion going on behind them visible. "No more than you are."

His aura flared angrily. "Yeah, but I have a choice."

"Hah!" I scoffed.
"You wish." Giovanni added.
Nobody's aura turned sullen.

I could have ripped out his spine for the insult, but he wanted to make me angry. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. But I'd remember the remark.

I did things for Giuseppe, and helped him with his plans, because I wanted to, I felt it important... And he'd helped me out of trouble more than once. He wasn't a master.. he was family. He and Mona both. To suggest I was nothing more than hired help was an affront to us both.

"So is Rashida a friend, then? If she's Khaibit too?" Trust it to Nadi to stay on track.

I made a face. "I wouldn't go as far as to say that. I'd be lying if I said I knew Rashida's motivations. She's helped me out before, but that doesn't mean much. I don't know what she's up too."

"I see." Nadi said, thoughtfully.

The others were being particularly infuriating tonight. These assholes could really try my patience.

We sat in silence a moment. We had so many question, and had very few ideas on how to get the answers.

And then the obvious source hit me right between the eyes. Figuratively speaking.

I broke the silence in a quiet voice. "We should request an audience."

Everyone looked up, stunned. I don't think it was the statement that surprised then, but rather the fact that I was the one suggesting it. One by one, their faces went thoughtful as they each realized the importance that action held.

We had been holding the new Prince at arms length, using stealth and contacts to garner any information on him that we could. We were treating him as we would treat Maxwell.

But he wasn't Maxwell. He was a new prince, one who was keeping the old advisors, and had new ones that knew more about us than we were comfortable with. I had planned to stay under Gaius' radar as much as possible, but I realized that was a fool's dream. Not only would Norris mention us, but Rashida would as well. She had already ensured we would witness the power change.

Not only that, but we were the ones who had set the plan in motion to defeat Ophios.. and he'd made it a point to mention that event.

We were too notorious to be left alone. My curiosity was raging, and we needed answers. I needed to know more about him. I needed to know what he would be expecting of the kindred in Chicago. While I was fine with the concept of forgiveness over permission, I had gotten the distinct impression that Gaius wouldn't fall short where Maxwell had. There would be no mercy for anyone who broke the rules, whether in ignorance or not.

And it wouldn't hurt to be polite.

The others seemed to have come to similar conclusions.
"Is there a protocol for that sort of thing?" Nobody asked.

I pulled out my cell and started scrolling through my contacts. "Depends on the Prince. I'm not even sure we'd be able to get in right now, what with all the meetings that are probably going on. But I can find out."

Alex Gutierrez. He was one of the few Dragon's in town that I knew of, and he might be able to help. He was a lawyer, one that still practiced, and a relatively young vampire. Not much older than me, I think. But the important part was that he was a lawyer, was probably familiar with this sort of politicking.. and he was likely to talk to me.

He'd given me his office number when I had returned to Chicago with Mona. A receptionist answered in a cheerful and professional voice.

"Gui and Associates, how may I direct your call?"
"Mr. Gutierrez, please."
"I am sorry, but Mr. Gutierrez is not currently available. May I have your name so that I can inform him that you called?"
Damn. I figured he'd be in. Then again, tonight was a busy night for many of Chicago's kindred. "Harper O'Shea. If you could just let him know I called, and would like to speak with him at his earliest convenience, I'd appreciate it."
I could hear the receptionist typing away at her keyboard. There was a brief pause, then her voice came back on the line.
"If you like, Ms. O'Shea, I can provide you with his personal cell phone."
Wait, what?
"Yeah.. that would be great.." I grabbed a pen and paper, wondering what just happened, but not willing to question my good luck right at that moment.
She read off the number, I read it back to her.
"I would suggest contacting him by text message right now. He is in a very.. important meeting, and a phone call could prove too.. disruptive." The receptionist said with a weight to her words that suggested she knew exactly where Gutierrez was, what he was, and what he might be doing.

I thanked her and hung up the phone, my expression bemused, if not slightly amused as well.

"What just happened?" Giovanni asked.

I held up the paper with the phone number on it. "Apparently, I'm in the system, and the system says I get the personal cell number."

Gio shrugged, unconcerned. "I suppose notoriety has its perks. So this Gutierrez guy is a vampire? I've heard of him.. how does he still practice law?"

"It doesn't surprise me that you'd recognize the name of a good lawyer, Giovanni Santore." I said blandly. "As far as I know, the story is that he has solar urticaria, so chooses to run his practice at night. He has a partner that takes care of anything during the day."

"Solar urticaria?" Gio's voice was twinged with suppressed laughter. "So he's.. allergic to sunlight?"

My mouth twitched into a faint smile. "The best lies are the ones that are technically true."

Gio chuckled and I set to contacting Gutierrez.

---
To: Gutierrez

This is Harper O'Shea. Your receptionist provided me with this number. I was hoping you could advise me on how to request an audience with the new Prince.

---

I only had to wait a moment before my phone buzzed in reply

---

From: A. Gutierrez

Working on that with N now. Did you see it happen? N says he saw your crew here.

---

To: Gutierrez

Yeah, we had front row seats.

---

From: A. Gutierrez

New Prince is keeping things pretty much the same, so schedule things with Norris. He remains Sen. Aside from M, no other big changes. Strange.

---

It really was strange. Alex's informaiton did little to sooth my nerves or offset my paranoia.

---

To: Gutierrez

Very. Any idea when a good time to contact N would be? I don't want to interrupt anything important.

---

From: A. Gutierrez

Might want to give it a night to calm down. I'll drop your name for, what, 7 tomorrow night? I can get you some more intel, too.

---

I was a bit taken aback by how helpful Gutierrez was being.. but I wasn't going to complain.

---

To: Gutierrez

That would be greatly appreciated.

---

From: A. Gutierrez

I'll mail you the bill.

---

I put my phone back in my pocket with a small smile. "7pm tomorrow night. Be ready, we don't want to be late. Figure out what you'll ask him now."

Nadi nodded, then said, "I'm going to do more research. I'll be back later." And walked out.

I didn't bother saying anything to the rest of them. I just nodded to Becca, and retreated down into my room. I had many more questions for Giovanni, but sunrise was close, and I had other work to do.

I turned on my laptop and set to work retrieving the mysterious text messages she'd been receiving. It wasn't a terrible difficult task.. but the result only served to reaffirm to me that she was not beyond pissing me off.

The first message was actually an email from Nadi.

--My mistress would like you to call at your earliest convenience.--

I read that three times, confused. What the fuck was she up too? The response came in the form of a text message.

--Tell your mistress that my earliest convenience will be precisely 3 hours after she starts being important. I'll need the time to make sure that I'm not dreaming, then decide whether or not I really give a shit. <3 SB --

My jaw dropped straight to the floor as I continued to read. I was too stunned to be mad.. yet.

--Can you tell me a specific time when that might be? I am a bad judge of such things.--

Nadi was texting with Solomon fucking Birch!

--Maxwell is a smear on the Shedd floor and there is a lot to do. Like try and figure out whether or not this gives me a reason to slaughter all of my enemies now, or whether I should let them destroy each other. Tell you what, snuggles... I'll call.--

---

--Important decisions for an important being. We look forward to your call. K. thx. bye.--

And the last line from Birch nearly made my yes bug out of my skull.

--You're the only one of them that I find worthwhile.--

The anger kicked in, after that. I swore to myself and was on my feet with my hand on the door before I forced myself to stop. I took a step back, and drew in a deep breath. I exhaled, and sat down slowly. I was honestly surprised that Nadi would pull this type of bullshit.. but I couldn't deal with her the same way I dealt with the others. First off, I didn't want her to know that I could hack into her cell. Secondly, I wouldn't be able to get her goat as easily as I could the others.

She had also, inadvertently, given me a useful piece of information. Information that neither she, nor Birch, knew I had.

Now I just had to find a way to use that to my advantage...and figure out what the hell I was going to say to Solomon Birch when he called my phone..

And really? Snuggles? What the fuck.

Sorry for teh Delay

2010-08-23T10:18:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the Delay guys. It's been a super crazy couple of weeks. I will be posting the story from last week later this evening, and I'll work to get another out by Friday to make up for my tardiness!

The Prince of Chicago

2010-08-06T09:57:00.000-05:00

I was nervous going to court that night. I didn't like not knowing what was about to happen... and there was also the small caveat that I had not been to court since Maxwell rescinded the kill on sight order. I had no desire to see the traitorous Prince again.. especially not in a place of his choosing. But my curiosity was my undoing.. I couldn't keep myself away, nerves aside. I had to know what was happening.

Once the sun went down, we all piled into my car and headed over to the Shedd Aquarium. I filled them in on the rules on the way over.

"So, no violence." Nobody said, a tad disappointed.
I nodded. "Right.. not only that, don't take any weapons in." I held up a hand to forestall any complaints or excuses. "They will be found. Trust me. These vampires didn't get to be as old as they are by having shitty security. Something else that should be noted, is that the acoustics of the place are weird. Be careful what you say. There are areas that you can stand that will allow you to hear conversations on the other side of the room. It'll be pretty easy to pick up on where these places are, but regardless, keep your mouths shut." I looked right at Gio when I said it. He ignored me. "Also.. don't mention the khaibit, or anything else we've been dealing with lately."

Giovanni took his sawed off shotgun out of his coat and proceeded to stash it in one of the secret compartments we'd found in the car. "You sure they'll let us in at all?"
I gave him an unpleasant smile. "They'll let you in. They won't like it.. but that will just make it more fun for me."

We pulled up to the Aquarium and piled out of the car. As we approached the front door, Loki's expression turned sour. I gave him a big smile that was all teeth, and not even slightly friendly. He narrowed his eyes at me, suspicious, then looked at the others behind me.

He crosed his arms and stood in our path. "What are you doing here?" He demanded of the others.
Gio started to explain. "We were invi.." I held up a hand to cut him off. He feel silent, and I dropped the smile, glaring at Loki, face set and determined.
"Because they have the right to be." I said firmly. My narrowed eyes dared him to fight me on it.

His jaw twitched in annoyance, and he sounded tired and irritated. He bit his thumb until it bleed. "Fine. Do you agree to honor the rules of Elysium?" He stepped forward, thumb outstretched to mark their foreheads, Ori first. Ori took a step back and looked at me. I gave a small nod, and he stood still as Loki rolled his eyes and smudged a bit of vitae on Ori's skin. He did this to each one of them, asking them the question, getting his affirmative answer, then marking their foreheads.

He paused when he got to Nadi. "Fuck.. I don't even know what to do about you."
It occurred to me that Loki, being Mekhet, could probably see her lack of aura as well.

"Nothing?" She suggested.

Loki scowled and made her take the same oath as the others, with a look on his face that said he knew it was completely pointless.

He seemed relieved to be rid of us as we walked into the Aquarium.

The usual people were present.. Birch stood off to one side talking with Sylvia Raines with a look of faux polite interest. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing when Nadi caught his eye, gave an overly cheerful smile and waved.. to which he responded by giving her the finger, then pretending it had been unintentional and waving with an expression that was half forced smile, half intentional sneer.

He wasn't the only one who noticed us. Eyes kept drifting in our directions, hushed conversations took a different direction, some outright stared... we mostly ignored them. Gio walked beside me, cane tapping the floor, muttering under his breath. " one.. two.. three.. four.."

I couldn't tell if he was aware of it or not.

Near the back center of the room stood a large dais. Maxwell was seating there, Norris stood next to him. When Norris spotted us, his face remained neutral and he spared us a nod. I watched his eyes linger a moment on the choker around my throat. He made no motion toward it, but it was an acknowledgment of my new station, nonetheless. Maxwell stood, and motioned us over. I was tempted, briefly, to ignore the summons.. but I decided to play nice.. for now. We approached the dais.

"Welcome to Elysium. What is it that I can do for you tonight?" Maxwell sounded like the gracious host. I expected to hear suppressed annoyance or anger in his voice.. but it wasn't there. Even his body language seemed relaxed and open.

I gave a small, one sided shrug. "Not a thing." I expected that to get a rise out of him, but outwardly, nothing changed. His aura, however was boiling with anger and frustration. He didn't like that we were here.. and I was completely okay with that.

He gestured to the aquarium glass, marine life swimming by, oblivious. "Well then.. please, enjoy the evening. I apologize for not having refreshments for those of you who partake in such things, is there anything I can get for you?"

"Well, yeah.. actu.." Ori started to say, but I cut him off midsentance. "They're fine. They are already accustomed to your version of 'hospitality'." I said, keeping my voice as neutral as possible, as though it was merely a statement of fact, and not a not-so-veiled insult.

"I could really go for a ham sandwich.." Giovanni said suddenly. I resisted the urge to glare daggers at him. The fact that Maxwell's eye twitched slightly was enough to keep me from being annoyed at Gio.

"How about a deli tray?" Maxwell said, blandly. His aura flared with annoyance and ire.

Giovanni just chuckled. "I'm just kidding.. we're fine." He smiled that ingratiating smile.

"This is a place where old grudges are forgotten," Maxwell began. I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at that, but said nothing. He continued, "At least physically. There are some here who might be rather sensitive, however.. so I would take care not to anger them.." His eyes wandered briefly to Solomon Birch, who was still talking to Raines.

I fought not to roll my eyes. I wasn't concerned with Birch attacking us here.

"Please, enjoy the Shedd. This will act as repayment of my debt to you." Maxwell nodded to us, and went back to doing his own shit. It took every ounce of restraint not to start screaming at him. Allowing the others into court was repayment for saving the city? For putting our lives on the line to prevent utter disaster? Not to mention the later betrayal and death warrant! For anyone watching, I'm sure my aura was positively blazing. But I didn't let it show.

Just another illustration of how the Prince of Chicago treated those who saved his precious city. Inwardly, I seethed. Outwardly, I feigned bored indifference.

Everyone stayed close, in a loose group, waiting for whatever it was that Rashida had been talking about. Giovanni tried to find the areas of the room that took advantage of the strange acoustics, but those spots were mostly taken. Finally, he resigned himself to talking with Deuce Carter. I was only half listening to their conversation. Deuce, one of the few vampires that wasn't annoyed at our presence, was giving him the run down of the 5 covenants and their role in the city.

He had just finished talking about the Carthians when the party really started. My sensitive hearing picked up the uncertain edge to Loki's voice as he questioned another new arrival.

"Do you swear to adhere by the rules of Elysium?"
Then an unfamiliar voice, speaking in Latin. "Haud."

I turned to look, finding it unusual that someone would answer Loki's question with "Not at all."

So I was the least surprised when Loki came flying through the room and slammed into the thick glass of the Aquarium.

There were a few startled exclamations, then the room went so quiet that the marching feet sounded thunderous. A literal phalanx of the odd looking men we'd seen on the boat pushed its way into the Shedd, and headed right for the dais.

We stood together and exchanged glances as they approached. We were close to the dais, but off to one side. But this group only had eyes for Prince Maxwell. What the hell was going on?

The phalanx stopped moving and parted down the middle, as though triggered by silent command. Amidst the huge guards, there was a man. He only stood about 5 fee tall, but had a distinct air of authority.

The man's guards fanned out to form a semi circle around the dais. Maxwell stood, aura flickering with rage and confusion.

The small man spoke with a deep, booming voice.. in Latin. I only knew a few words, so I couldn't follow. Giovanni began translating to us in a low voice.

"I hereby invoke the rite of Monomacy, I challenge Maxwell Clark, Prince of Chicago."

Maxwell stepped forward, body language no longer laid back and polite. He glared balefully at the newcomer. "Who are you? Whatever authority you think you have is not recognized here."

Maxwell looked at Norris expectantly. The Seneschal nodded slightly, and when the man began to speak again, Norris began to translate for the crowd.

"I am Gaius Marius, and as Sextus of the Invictus, I declare you unfit to rule this city."

A surprised murmur began to build within the vampires gathered.

"Under your rule, you have allowed rivals to make a mockery of your authority, foreign gods to invade this land, and enemies of your throne go unpunished. I am providing you with two courses of action. Stand down, and forfeit your crown to me, or accept my challenge, and prove yourself worthy to rule the city of Chicago."

I fought not to gawk. He was challenging Maxwell? Holy fuck.. I knew, before Maxwell even nodded, that he would accept. His folly was written all over his aura. He was boiling with anger and contempt towards the upstart. He didn't seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation. I knew that he didn't have to accept, he could have them all thrown out and continue ruling the city. But he would accept... because Gaius hadn't said anything that wasn't true.. and Maxwell felt the need to defend his honor and authority.

It was a ridiculously stupid thing to do.

Maxwell nodded to Norris, who disappeared briefly only to return with a broadsword. Maxwell removed his shirt and took the sword. Gaius disrobed all the way down to a a loincloth, and took the gladius that was offered to him by one of the weird looking body guards.

The crowd was completely silent. Maxwell stepped off the dais, and the two began to circle each other.

Maxwell darted froward and brought the large sword down in a diagonal slash. Gaius caught the blade on the edge of his own, and turned the sword aside with a jerk of his arm. Maxwell stumbled past him.

While Maxwell was recovering, Gaius turned to the room, arms raised, playing the crowd. And I had to admit, it seemed damned impressive. Nobody was so taken by the simple maneuver that he erupted into cheers. It was echoed by a smattering of excited applause that was quickly silenced.. as though those clapping hadn't meant to react. Only Nobody seemed unapologetic about his reaction. I saw a smile creep onto Gaius' face.

Maxwell's aura blazed with fury. "You will do me the honor of facing me!" Maxwell said in a loud voice. Gaius, instead, turned his back on him completely, arms still raised to the crowd.

Gio leaned forward and murmured in my ear. "Christmas came again!"
I kept my eyes on the duel and concentrated on entering Gio's mind. I had no desire to be overheard.

I have no love for Maxwell, but Ori's vision worries me. Will he be good for Chicago? or a worse devil?

Gio shrugged to the silent musing and responded in kind. We have no choice. Let's see the play, then decide how to avoid it jamming into our backs...

One.. two.. three.. four..

I gave him a sidelong glance. Yeah.. you're fucking nuts, by the way.

Maxwell practically roared with rage and charged the smaller man, infuriated that Gaius would disrespect him so. He should have known better to rise to the bait. It had been an obvious ploy. I watched Maxwell grimace and stumble backwards as Gaius struck, not even turning around, burying the gladius in the Prince's shoulder, just under the clavicle.

I was probably one of the few in the room who realized just how fucked Maxwell was now. I knew that, in that position, the sword would cut off the majority of his arm's range of motion. But if he pulled the sword out, he'd have to deal with a rather nasty wound.

Yet even still, Maxwell let his pride and anger get the better of him. He raised his broadsword as high as he could, and charged, yet again.

Because the first two charges worked so well for him.

It seemed to move in slow motion.. at the last moment, just as Maxwell started his swing, Gaius whirled, wrapped one hand around the hilt of the gladius, yanked it from Maxwell's shoulder, and cut the Prince of Chicago's head off in one deft swing.

His head made a hollow sound as it hit the floor, and a hissing noise followed as it, and his body, dissolved into nothing but ash.

The Aquarium was silent as a tomb... and that silence roared in my ears.

Gaius Marinas handed the sword to one of his guards and stood on the dais, somehow looking impressive and imposing, despite his small stature.

"I claim this city for the Julii!" He scanned the room slowly, taking it all in, or perhaps letting us take him in. I couldn't decide which.

"My Seneschal?" He said, and Norris gave him a deep bow, still translating for us. "The Prince of the Lance?"

Birch looked at him, utterly unconcerned, like the spectacle we all just witnessed wouldn't effect him at all. "Yes?"

"We have much to discuss." He stepped down off the dais and headed for the doors. He only paused briefly, when someone caught his eye. "Rowan.. it is good to see you again. You have not aged a day."

And he walked out amidst his guards. As the doors to the Aquarium swung closed, shadows wrapped around the entire group, and I caught site of a wolf skulking away from the building.

Loki broke the stunned silence. "Well who the hell is going clean this up?" He said with a scowl.

"I will." Gio piped up.

Loki turned and glared at us. "Get the fuck out."

It broke the spell of disbelief that held most of the other kindred rapt. Everyone started talking and slipping away, off to spread the news, more than likely.

We left. I didn't say anything to anyone. I still wasn't sure how to react to the situation. I hated Maxwell.. but he was at least a known variable. This guy.. god only knew what he'd do with the city.

And he had reason to pay very close attention to us. That didn't sit well with me.

In the car, everyone broke out cell phones. Nadi called Martindale, who already knew based on what he'd been hearing on peoples minds, Giovanni called his family and Michael Walsh, Ori called the Whispers, and Nobody called Mathias.

I sat in the front and watched Becca drive. I'd do my calling later.. but I only had two people I wanted to inform.. and neither of them could communicate with a voice message. The rest of my phone calls would be to gather information, and those I wanted to contact wouldn't be available right now.

But I could at least text Giuseppe.
---

To: G
From: H

Ever heard of Gaius Marius?

---

He responded almost immediately.

--
To: H
From: (Blocked)

He's in Chicago?

--

To: G
From: H

He just offed Maxwell.

--

I silently admitted that typing that out gave me more than a little satisfaction. There was a moment before the next text came through.

--

To:H
From: Blocked

War is coming to the windy city.

--

The sinking feeling in my stomach became a knot. I sat quietly for a few minutes, willing it away, dispensing with the useless fear, before I responded.

--

To: G
From: H

How are the Khaibit involved?

--

From: G
To: H

Their master has finally awoken. He has been asleep for a long time.

--

I inhaled and exhaled slowly and put the phone away. War wasn't anything we hadn't already seen. But we needed more information. We always needed more information. For now, I considered the implications for us. People would think we knew it was going to happen, why else would we have been there? And why did Rashida want us, all of us, to see it?

Giovanni finished his last phone call and tucked his phone into his coat pocket. he caught my eye in the rearview mirror and smirked.

"At least we got our favor before he was offed."

I blinked in surprise. "Jesus, Gio!" but I couldn't help but chuckle darkly. His favor had been more substantial than we'd originally thought.. or he'd originally intended. He'd effectively given us front row seats to his own execution. In retrospect, that was rather generous of him. "I suppose that is one way of looking at it."

We arrived back at the shop just as everyone finished up their phone calls. The city would be alive with gossip tonight, and we had plans to make.

On the Cusp of a New Chicago

2010-07-30T15:25:00.000-05:00

January 9th, 2010

A month had passed since the fight with Citysmith, and for the most part, things had been quiet. Everyone had been focusing on their own shit. Nadi disappeared for awhile without a word to anyone, then showed back up yesterday and offered no explanation.. but then, no one asked.

Nobody and Ori had been training, mostly, and doing god knew what else during the day. Becca had started working out almost obsessively, probably in an attempt to distract herself from the fact that Nadi had up and vanished, and that I had been rather scare too, spending the majority of my time with Father Nico since my induction into the Sworn of the Dying Light three weeks ago. I'd already learned a new Coil, and changed my blood to enhance my already supernatural healing capabilities.

Giovanni had been holed up in his lab working on more of his mad scientist shit. His current project with a gauntlet that he had given an electrical charge. So far, he hadn't been able to make it discharge its entire load on contact, but he kept fiddling away.

Tonight, however, signaled the end of our vacation from overly dangerous situations. Ori walked into the lab holding a sketch pad and looking a bit nervous. "I think you guys should see this.."

We all looked up from our respective activities. Gio held out his hand for the pad. "What, did you have another freaky dream?" He asked as he looked over the pencil drawing Ori had rendered. "What exactly am I looking at here?" He asked and passed the pad to me. It made its circuit around the room.

"Chicago.. crumbling away, leaving gleaming white marble buildings underneath.. a perfect, and more terrible version of the city, with a tower stretching up to the sky, and skeletons hunched over people inhaling the life off of them." Ori said as he settled into one of the arm chairs.

"I thought we took care of that problem already when we killed Citysmith?" Gio muttered to himself.

Ori shrugged. "I just had the dream today.."

Nadi stared at the image, aura dancing with curiosity and a mild frustration. Suddenly, she grabbed her laptop and a couple of her old textbooks and began furiously flipping through them.

"Something strike a cord?" I asked her. She held up a hand to forestall any other questions as she flipped pages. Everyone went quiet and waited for her to finish. It only took about two minutes.

"Trajan's column." She said finally. "The tower in the center of the image looks like Trajan's Column." She began to read from her computer screen. "It's a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near the Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in 113 CE, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bass relief, that artistically describes the epic wars between the Romans and Dacians."

We looked at each other, perplexed.

"Walking dead and roman architecture.. whats the significance?" Gio mused aloud.

Ori just shrugged. "I dunno, vampires maybe? But they were just skeletons.." He looked at me, helplessly.
I frowned at him. "Don't look at me.. I don't specialize in dream interpretation. Ask the faery.. I think he eats dreams sometimes."

Ori glanced at Nobody who just shook his head.

Ori looked thoughtful for a minute, then pulled out his cell phone. "I'm going to call the Whispers. Maybe the skeletons represent some kind of spirit." He dialed a number and waited patiently for a voice to answer. I recognized the tired voice as Sleepless William.
"Hello?"
"Hey! William! I have a quick question for you. So I was taking this really great nap earlier and I.." click.
Ori just grinned at us and pulled the phone away from his ear.
"He hung up on me.."
I had to look away to hide the smile. Ori loved fucking with Sleepless William, and despite myself, I found it hilarious.

He dialed again, and I could hear someone pick up the other end. "Fucking.. you talk to him." then another voice came on the line, a woman's voice, and she was laughing."Heeey Grigori. Whatsup?"
"Hey Heather. William isn't too pissed is he?" Or asked without a shred of apology in his voice.
"Naw, he'll get over it." She replied. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, I uh.. had a weird dream last night.. skeletons draining the life from people.. and a roman tower in the background of a crumbling Chicago.. any ideas?"
"So the walking dead drinking from people? Sounds like vampires to me.."
"No no.. like. the skeletons were standing over the people and..ssshhhhuuurrrp.. you know? They weren't really drinking.."
Apparently, Heather was as confused by Ori's sound effects as we were, because she responded with,
"Just standing over them and ssshhhhuuurrp huh? Caaan't really help you there buddy.."
"Damn.. well.. okay, I was thinking maybe a spirit of some kind.. anyway.. do you know anything about Trajan's tower? Roman architecture?"
"Uuuuuh.. no....what?"
"Trajan's.. nevermind. Thanks for the help."
"Yeeah.. sure.. any..time?"
And she hung up. Ori looked pretty disappointed.

We kicked around ideas for awhile, and I peeked over Nadi's shoulder at the articles she was skimming, and something caught my eye. There was a point in ancient Roman history when Egypt was Rome's biggest political rival. I knew someone old enough to remember that..but when I opened my email to send a message to Rashida, the Khaibit, I already had a message from her waiting in my Inbox.

Weird. I double clicked the messge

January 10th, 2010
All Must Serve.

What the fuck did that mean?

Giovanni noticed my perplexed expression. "What is it?"

I read the email to them then asked, "Does anyone know the significance of January 10th?"

Nobody shrugged. "Court maybe?"

Why would Rashida reference the next Court? She didn't even live in Chicago.. but it wasn't a bad suggestion, so I pulled out my phone and shot off a text to Deuce. I'd been avoiding Court since we'd moved out of Maury's place, so I wasn't sure of the dates. He confirmed that there was, in fact, Court being held tomorrow at the Shedd Aquarium.

"January 10th was the day Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon." Nadi interjected suddenly.

"Wait.. what?" My voice betrayed my sudden feeling of unease.

She read us the excerpt. "The river is notable as Roman law forbade any General from crossing the Rubicon with a legion. The river marked the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul to the north and Italy proper to the south; the law thus protected the republic from internal military threat. A Roman General was thus obliged to disband his army before crossing the Rubicon, otherwise both he and his men were guilty of high treason and sacrilege, and automatically condemned to death. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army in 49 BC, supposedly on January 10 of the Roman calendar, to make his way to Rome, he broke that law and made armed conflict inevitable. According to historian Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase ālea iacta est..meaning,"

Gio interrupted her. "The die has been cast."

She nodded.

I scowled and shut my computer. "I don't like this. It's way too coincidental."
"You should know better. There is no such thing." Gio chastised.

"Well I'm going to go talk to Volkas. Maybe he knows something." Ori suddenly announced. It was a decent idea, and no one else had any better ones, so we all went with him.

I was surprised at how quickly we all jumped to action because of a simple dream. It was either because we were all very concerned.. or we'd all been very bored. Probably a little of both. It was frightening to think that we all got our rocks off by putting ourselves in danger on a constant basis.

***

The coffee pot sat on the warmer, dregs of the last pot burning to the bottom of the glass. Giovanni paused to make more before we approached the table where Volkas sat, dozens of newspapers spread out before him. He was looking through them at a hurried pace, muttering to himself in Polish. Something seemed to be bothering him.

"What is it I can do for you?" He said to us, without looking up.

"Our furry friend had a weird dream we need some insight on." Gio said, pushing Ori to the front.
Volkas set down his pen. "Dream? eh.. I will try, but I am not Cahalith. What is your dream?"
Ori took a moment to describe to him what he had already showed us. Volkas paused in his review of the papers, looking dubious.
"Skeletons sucking live out of people. Walking dead, yes?" He looked at me, but I just shrugged. It was likely it was symbolism for vampires, but I really had no clue.

"Well, I mean.. maybe.. but it might be something else...what about the roman architecture?" Ori said, skeptical.
"Yes, because I know all about roman architecture and the living dead. Give me a moment and I will prepares a lecture on the issue with my large amount of expertise."

I managed to suppress my laughter before it escaped and ruined my humorless facade.

"Do you not know of anyone else who might know more about the roman architecture? Because I do not know much. I focus on the stocks.." Volkas gestured to the papers in front of him.

"Well.. I don't.. but Harper might.." Giovanni gave me a pointed look. It took me a second to understand who he was referring too. I didn't feel like laughing anymore.

"Fuck you Giovanni. No. I will not talk to Solomon Birch just because he might know something about Rome. Forget it."

Nobody smirked at me, he thought he had my number when he said, "What if he's our only lead?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared. "What exactly do you propose I say? 'Oh hey, Birchy, sorry to disturb you, but do you know anything about Trajan's Tower? Why? Oh, no reason..just curious is all.' Yeah. I'm sure Birch would be very forthcoming." I scowled at him and leaned against a book shelf.

"What are you looking for?" Nadi said quietly to Volkas, joining the conversation.
Volkas turned and gestured to the piles of papers. "Patterns. I watch stocks.. find patterns.. but it makes no sense. Stocks of stable companies have fallen for no reason. Cannot figure out why this is. Very strange."

That piqued everyone's interest. "What stocks?" Gio asked.

"Technology firms, mostly." Volkas said.

Gio leaned over the werewolf's shoulder. "Any of them owned by the family?"
"I do not think so, unless they are shells set up long ago, before I started watching. Here." Volkas grabbed a piece of paper and began writing out some information. He spoke while he wrote. "Beshilu have been very quiet too. It is unusual."
"Like someone made a deal with them?" Gio asked with another significant look in my direction.
"What? Giuseppe?" I made a disparaging noise in my throat. "Unlikely."
"You said it yourself that he did it before." Gio pointed out.
I shrugged. "Its a possibility, but that was minor. Remember what Volkas said about deals with the Beshilu before."

Gio remained unconvinced.

My eyes flicked to each person in the room, individually, scanning auras as I went. II watched auras more often than I didn't.. this wasn't an unusual occurrence, but it was worth mentioning this time.. I was in for a surprise tonight. As my eyes wandered to Nadi, I watched as her aura sparked, flickered.. and then exploded outward in a wash of color, leaving behind nothing in its place. I jumped back, caught utterly off guard.

"What the fuck did you just do?!" I exclaimed loudly, the quiet of the library making it sound positively thunderous. She just gave me that blank, impassive look.
"What do you mean?"
I stared at her, then looked at everyone else.. all their auras were still present. They swam with colors of confusion and amusement. Nadi's was just..gone. Slowly, I forced myself to relax. "Nothing.. don't worry about it."

Everyone just looked at me like I was nuts. I kept sneaking glances at the mage. Her lack of aura completely unnerved me. She was already enough of an unknown as it was, able to completely hide what she was thinking and feeling.. and now I didn't even have my normal recourse to judge what was on her mind. I wasn't sure how to deal with that. It also made me suspicious.. why had she done that at all?

I decided to ignore it as best I could for now and focus on the issues at hand. It was difficult.

"What are the companies that have the crashing stocks?" Giovanni asked once my outburst was finished.
Volkas handed him the piece of paper and spoke while Gio was reading it. "Very strange. Those stocks.. always been strong. Never a bad day. No reason for them to be falling.. usually.. media coverage over something like this.. but no.. nothing to explain this." He sounded worried.
Gio frowned and mulled over the paper. He handed it to me, and I did the same. It got passed around the room. None of the companies looked familiar.

Allette, Inc (ALEA)
Icon Technologies, Inc (IACTA)
East Summit R&D (EST)

They were all technology companies, but all focused on different areas of the industry. They weren't closely related.. not even slightly. But as Nobody was puzzling over it, I had an idea. I snatched it back from him. "The codes..the Nasdaq abbreviations.." I looked at it again and began to piece it together. Giovanni grabbed it from me, and I let him.

"Son of a Bitch.." he grabbed a pen and wrote out the symbols by themselves.

ALEA IACTA EST

"ālea iacta est." Giovanni said aloud. We all fell completely silent. Tension in the room rose drastically.
"The die has been cast.." Gio murmured. Then, in an attempt to break the foreboding gloom, just stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket and shrugged. "I guess a month reprieve is all we get from the weird shit."

I latched on to the more light-hearted turn of conversation, attempting to forestall the uncomfortable feeling of worry growing in my chest. I forced an amused smirk. "Gio, a month for us is nearly long enough to be considered a sabbatical."

Volkas frowned down at his papers. "So this was message.. but I do not think message was for me. Who could make such a message?"
"For us, maybe?" Nobody suggested.
I dismissed that with a wave of my hand. "Unlikely. The only reason we found it was because of Ori's dream. Too big of an unknown for it to have been directed at us.."
"Then who?" Ori asked, agitated.
No one spoke up with an answer.

"Whoever sent this.. has large power.. to make stocks drop with no reason and no news coverage? That is not easy task." Volkas said quietly.

"So what do we do now?" Ori asked, disheartened.

I said nothing. I was too busy mulling over the possibilities.

"Well.. I could call Bella, see if she saw anything.. she's a Cahalith too." Gio suggested as he brought out the cell phone. No one had any other suggestions on where to go from here, so he dialed his sister. I felt like we were running all over town looking for someone to tell us what to do. I didn't like it.

I heard her angry and curt voice pick up the phone. "You have exactly 10 seconds to tell me why I shouldn't just hang up on you. I'm busy."

Giovanni's face darkened, his aura flashed with irritation and anger. His voice became just as terse as hers. "Our Cahalith had a dream about the city of Chicago being overrun by skeletons eating people and the city burning down and being replaced by perfect, tainted, white marble. Seeing as we thought we'd taken care of that problem, we figured it was fucking important."

There was a pause. Then, "Meet me at the new office." And she hung up.

Gio frowned and shoved his phone in his pocket. "Crazy Bitch."

So we left Volkas and headed there. The place had been cleaned up since we'd flushed out the old occupants. One would never know it had been the sight of a battle for the life of the city. The guards waved us in. When we reached the top floors, every thing was a bustle of activity. Bella wasn't in sight.

We could hear people yelling behind the big, heavy office doors.
Gio limped up to them. "Hey, Ori.. open these for me."
"No knocking?" I asked with a small smirk.
Gio snorted. "Fuck no."
Ori put both hands against the heavy wood and shoved. His muscles strained with effort, but the doors swung open.

Vittorio and Sansome were inside, arguing. They didn't even look up as we walked in. Giovanni pulled out a lighter and lit a cigarette.

Vittorio, once again assuming the role of the feeble old man, looked up from his wheel chair and frowned at Giovanni. "Can you not smoke in here? I'm on oxygen!"

Gio smiled and limped over to the desk. "Its electric." He held up the e-cig. Vittorio rolled his eyes. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one Giovanni fucked with on a regular basis. Sansome nodded to all of us and left.

"So whats going on?" Gio asked, gesturing to the hallway were people were hurrying too and fro.

"Wish I knew. Something is going on, but I don't know what it is. What are you guys doin' here?"

"I had a weird dream.. we were hoping someone here could help me figure it out." Ori said. He described the dream to Vittorio, who shrugged.
"I don't know what it means, but something big is coming our way. I got this letter from family in Italy. He says we should get our people off the streets." He looked directly at me. "Your boss agrees."

I just raised a brow, but said nothing. I had nothing useful to add. My time was better spent adsorbing the information.

Vittorio handed the letter to Giovanni. It was written in Italian, so Gio had to read it aloud for the rest of us.

"One of our boats left port two days ago, unscheduled. There was no manifest, and it wasn't supposed to be at sea for another week. Eye witnesses saw a woman directing 12 men loading a large crate onto the ship. The men looked strange. They looked like someone had cross brew them with pitbulls- large heads and a stocky upper body, but with arms that looked too long for the rest of them. We didn't get a description of the woman.

That's all we know. Something big is coming your way. Keep the family off the streets.

-Fredrico"

Something occurred to me. A thought that made me very uneasy. I suspected that the woman might have been Rashida.. but I had no proof, only the evidence of coincidence. I kept my mouth shut.

"That's it?" Gio asked.
"That's it." Vittorio confirmed.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked softly.

"Get my people off the streets." Vittorio said matter of factly.
Ori shifted uncomfortably. "Does that include me?"
Vittorio turned his chair to regard the other werewolf. "You're part of the family.. but only as much as you wanna be, kid. I'd say yeah, stay off the streets, but you can do what you want. One more black sheep in the family ain't gonna make a difference, as far as I'm concerned."

"Bah bah.." Gio interjected as he reread the letter to himself.

"We need some eyes on the docks." I said suddenly.
Ori grinned. "I can probably get into the security system, rig up the cameras.."
I grimaced, skeptical. "You think the docks will have cameras in all the areas we need?"
"Well what else are we going to do?" Ori said, somewhat defensively.
"Vittorio, when is the ship due in?" I asked.
"Don't know. We don't have any info other than what was in that note.." He said.
I ran through all the people I knew who might know anything about the docks, and came up with one name. Dumptruck Ned. "You know.. let me make a call."
"Yeah.. I got someone who may know something too.." Nobody added.

No one said what we were all thinking. That this was a bad idea. What we should do was lay low, and see how it all played out.. but we couldn't. This was our city now, and Ori's dream had us all concerned for its safety, once again. We'd get to the bottom of what ever the fuck was going on. As far as bad ideas went, it wasn't our worst, not by a long shot.

Ori decided that it would be a smart idea to go bother Bella, who had appeared outside the office barking orders at people.

"Uh..hey.."
"What?!" She demanded, whirling on him, aura swirling with rage.. more than normal.
"Did you have a dream too?" He asked nervously. "I can't figure out what it all means."
"My dreams are none of your business." She snarled.
Ori took a step back from the crazy bitch. He wasn't so much intimidated, as he was just at a loss on how to deal with the overly pissed Bella.

So Gio tried his hand instead, since it was slightly less likely to get bitten off.
"Look, we're trying to help. Any insight you could give us would make the situation easier. Just tell us what you saw."
"I'm taking care of it." She growled.
"That's great, but we need information." Gio pressed.
"I didn't have any fucking dreams!" Bella yelled, balled her hands into fists, and stalked away, heavy footfalls practically shaking the floor.

So that's why she was so much angrier than usual... I watched her aura as she went, a swirl of conflicted emotions, all overlaid by a crushing rage. She looked like a walking time bomb.

Ori broke the tense silence, tearing his eyes away from Bella, and turning back to the rest of us. "Well that box was huge if it needed 12 guys to move it..it would be hard to hide, right? We could call around, ask if anyone has seen it."
I dismissed that with a wave of my hand. "Its easier to hide than you'd think. I could hide it, given the time."
"Really? Damn.." Ori looked thoughtful.
"We're going to have to go check it out ourselves." Giovanni said.

Nobody hung up his cell and walked back over to the group. "Roy works on the docks. I just set up a meeting with him. He may be able to help."

I pulled out my own phone and started to dial a number. "Lets go, then."

So we left, and I called Ned on the way over to Roy's.

"Hello?"
"Hi Ned.. How you doing?"
"Sam as ever, what's up?"
"I need information concerning the docks.. there is a boat coming in that's not on any manifest, carrying some mystery cargo.." I began, but he cut me off.
"That's not really my area of expertise, Harper."
"In and of itself, no. But you deal in hiding things.. and that's what I'm calling about. The boat is carrying a huge box that will need some safe, secret place to be held. Do you know of any in that area?"
His voice took on an annoyed edge to it. "Your asking me to give up hiding spots? If I told you, they wouldn't be secret hiding places anymore."

We piled into the cars. I held the phone with my shoulder and started the engine.

"Not one of your hiding places. I know better than that, Ned.. but I figured you might know of someone else's..." I let the question hang there.
I could hear him considering a moment, then finally he said, "So what are you offering for me to give this up?"
It was my turn to pause and consider. He had charged us 20k for the pickup and securing of the documents from Yousef's.. and this was only information. However, it was potentially dangerous information for him to give out. I knew Giovanni still had a big chuck of cash.. and it didn't hurt to be generous to my informants..
"12,000 and a favor to be named later."

"12k and a favor.." He paused to consider.. it wasn't a long pause. "Did you know there was a fire in that district a few years back? A lot of the warehouses destroyed. But there was one place that never went up. All the buildings around it were blazing, but it didn't get so much as scorched. Number 856."
I took out a pen and jotted down the information. "Thanks, Ned."
He hung up. I made a mental note to get him his money in the next couple days.

We pulled up to Roy's place. He lived within walking distance to the docks. When we knocked, he answered the door in a bathrobe, looking half asleep. "Hey..c'mon in"

We filed in, and Nobody filled Roy in on what we were looking for. He got very alert, very quickly.

"Come with me." Roy grabbed his huge wretch that I was accustomed to seeing with him at all times.

We walked down to the docks and stood in front of a locked gate.

"The ship your talking about docked last night." Roy said, pointing to a boat, docked 100 yards away.
Ori's eyes went wide. "What? But it left Italy two days ago!"
I stayed on task. "Did you see what was on it?"
Roy shrugged. "Naw, they cleared us all out. Whatever it was, it wasn't normal procedure. We didn't see anything.."

We regarded the msytery ship from behind the gate. From here, it looked totalyl mundane. But if they'd cleared all the workers out of the area, something was definitely going on.

Roy looked at all of us and sighed, theatrically. "I'd go in there with you, but.." He gestured widely with his arms. "There's just nothing I can do, I got a job to protect.. I mean.. I just can't help.." and he brought his hands down to hang at his sides in a gesture of defeat.. but not before his wrench clanged loudly off the padlock on the gate and it clattered to the ground.

"See you guys later." And Roy left.

We watched him go, waiting for him to get out of sight before taking advantage of his parting gift.

***

The boat itself looked innocent enough, moored and silent, one guard pacing the deck. We stood hidden by a few large crates and debated what to do, speaking in low voices.

"I see 3 living things on the ship.." Nadi muttered.
Ori set himself up among the crates, in an area where he had full sight of the deck of the ship. He leveled his rifle and peered through the scope. "Damn.. that looks like one of the guys described in the letter. That asshole is UGLY."
We took turns glancing through the scope. He did indeed stand up to the description from the letter.. but his aura read completely human. Unsettling.

"They probably moved the crate off by now.. do we really need to check out the boat? Why not go find the warehouse?" I suggested.
Gio shook his head. "Its the family's boat.. I want to check it out. Besides, its practically deserted right now.. we can scope it out and see if they left any clues."
"Clues? What are you, Scoobey Doo?" I said sarcastically.
"Naw, that'd be me." Ori said with a grin.
"We're already here, might as well take advantage of it." Gio said.
"Alright. Boat it is.. Nobody and I can sneak aboard and take a look around. You guys set up down here, in case we need backup."

"Should I go up on the boat with you?" Nadi asked.
I looked at her skeptically. "How stealthy can you be?"
She looked thoughtful for a moment, honestly considering the question. "I'll stay down here."

"Have fun, Daphne." Gio said with an ingratiating grin.
"As long as none of you are Fred, I'll take that as a compliment. Daphne was the attractive one." I murmured as I stripped off my coat to prepare to slip into the icy waters of Lake Michigan. I handed my coat and gun to Becca. I kept the knives

"If we get spotted, just try to make it back into the water." I said to Nobody.
"Yeah, yeah."
Nobody and I both paused briefly, allowing the darkness to conceal around us. I was a bit surprised when he did it.. I didn't know he could use some of the same tricks I used. It hardly mattered. We needed to get around to the other side of the boat, to avoid being spotted by the guard.

We were able to scale one of the mooring lines with little incident, and the boat was mostly deserted. We slipped past the ugly as fuck guard, who looked much more imposing from up close, and made our way into the cargo area. The ship creaked and groaned at our passing, moving gently in the water.

There were boxes stacked everywhere, as you'd expect.. but no sign of the large crate described in the letter. There was, however, a space where the crate had been. It was 8 feet wide and 10 feet long. My mind raced with the possibilities of what could be housed in such a large container.

Having found where the cargo was not, Nobody and I headed back up to the deck. There were a few other areas we still needed to check.

That's where we got made. We were creeping silently across the metal floor when we both felt it start to shake. Loud, pounding boot falls came from behind us. We turned in time to see two of the guards bearing down on us, following the wet footprints we had been leaving, unbeknown to us, in our wake.

Stealth be damned, we made a break for it. We bolted for the railing, both jumped for it, still several feet away from the edge. Right before he made it over, a guard slammed into Nobody and knocked him onto the deck in a flying tackle.

I grabbed the rails before I fell into the water and swung myself back up in a rare show of athleticism. I wasn't about to leave him behind.

Maybe I should have.. because right as my feet met the ground, I also got tackled to the fucking floor. The guard sat on me, pinning my legs and holding me by the throat. Nobody was pinned in a similar fashion, except the giant of a man had both Nobody's wrists held down in one hand.

I had two options. Wrestle with the huge guy, who was obviously ridiculously stronger than me.. or cut a bitch.

I chose option B. I had a knife in my hand and was dragging it across his face faster than he could blink. It should have been a deep and painful gash.. but it wasn't. It felt like trying to slice through hide, rather than human skin. He grunted and turned his head away as a thin trickle of blood oozed from a cut that would probably only need a few stitches, instead of a wound that cut half his face off.

I had just enough time to realize we were well and truly fucked before he removed one hand from my throat, balled it into a fist the size of a Christmas ham, and punched me right in the fucking teeth. I felt several bones in my face fracture (and a few teeth shatter), and saw stars when the back of my head snapped back so forcefully against the metal ship deck that the noise resonated through the entire boat. I think he said something to me, in Italian, but I couldn't tell over the ringing in my ears.

I was trying to think of a way out of this mess through the cacophony in my head when Giovanni landed beside us in his demon form, and folded his wings against his back.

Thaddeus the Khaibit landed beside him, looking rather pissed. No one was throwing punches.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

"You stole my family's boat, we wanted to figure out what was going on." Giovanni said, his voice deeper and more commanding than usual. It was also very angry.

"That was foolish of you." Thaddeus sneered. He waved his hand, and the two guards released us. Nobody and I got to our feet, (me, a bit shaky) just as Ori and Nadi walked up the gangplank.. with Rashida. I'd have been more proud of my deductive abilities if I could think past the shard of bone lodged in the back of my right eye.

"We needed it." Rashida said simply with a cryptic smirk.

I put one hand on either side of my nose and shifted it back into place with a painful and audible POP. The blood did the rest. I coaxed it to repair my nose, and the fragile bones in my face and tried not to curse like a sailor at the pain.

"What did you need it for?" Gio demanded.

"It was a..family matter. We are done with it now." Rashida was staring at me.

"The family doesn't know whats going on." Gio protested, fists clenched at his sides, glaring daggers at her.

"Not your family, Santore..." She gestured casually to me. "Yours." My only response was to frown in confusion. A Khaibit matter? Rashida's gaze met mine, and I felt like she was trying to bore holes in the back of my skull.

"All must serve.." She repeated the cryptic message, and it came out sounding foreboding as she continued to hold my gaze. "We will see you in court." She suddenly broke eye contact and turned to regard everyone. "As heroes of this city, perhaps you should all attend.."

Then darkness coalesced around them both.. and they were gone.

Giovanni immediately pulled out his cell phone and called Vittorio to tell him we had the boat back.

All must serve.. that made me nervous. I knew that, historically, the khaibit were a bloodline of servants. First to the Cult of Set, battling the evil in the night.. and now to anyone with the right budget. I had no desire to be someone's hired help. I felt much more comfortable taking on the more traditional role. But Rashida's words rang in my ears and felt heavy in my mind. What were they planning?

"So.. what do we do now?" Ori asked.

"We go to court." I said simply.

But I knew there would be nothing simple about it.

Even more Secret Secret Societies

2010-07-23T11:09:00.000-05:00

Father Nico answered on the second ring. "Hello Harper, what can I do for you?"

"How are you this evening?" It behooved me to be polite..

"Well, as most others.."

"I'd like to speak with you in person...tonight, if you have the time."

"Concerning?"

I paused, considering. Father Nico would more than likely know what I was talking about without having to spell it all out.."The Five of Coins, and the significance of the Blue Dragon."

"So this is Order business? Not personal?"

Personally important.. but it was Order business, regardless. "Right."

His voice and demeanor changed so suddenly that I didn't even have time to react. The friendly, easy to talk to priest vanished, and what sounded like a completely different priest with Father Nico's voice said the next words.

"You will arrive in two hours. Wear the proper attire, supplicant." And he hung up on me.

I sat there a moment, stunned. I had not known Father Nico for very long, but I'd never heard him give an order. I'd never heard his voice so cold and direct, either. It was like he'd put on a mask once it became 'official business'.

Or perhaps took a mask off. I was acutely reminded of how little I knew about the ancient vampire.

Once his words sunk in and I got past the sudden shift, I became a little perturbed. He'd called me supplicant. I wasn't usually hung up on titles, but I was pretty proud of my advancement in the Coils. I hadn't been able to claim the title of Scholar of the Untamed Hunger for very long, but I was pretty certain Nico knew it.

However, I wasn't going to correct him. I was going there, asking for instruction and information. He was not only centuries older than me, he was also of significant;y higher rank within the Order. He could call me what he wanted, though it didn't mean I had to like it.

Then I spent the next 10 minutes mentally berating myself for giving a shit about titles at all.

After that, I got to work figuring out what the 'proper attire' was. Thankfully, that didn't take long. I remembered reading something about it in the Rites of the Dragon.. I retrieved the old book from its hidey hole, and flipped to the appropriate page.

Apparently, I should wear brown. I dug through my closet. I had a few sets of brown clothing.. but it didn't seem quite appropriate. I had the feeling this was going to be rather ritualistic. I spotted the robes I'd worn at the monastery in Japan near the back. I took them out and laid them on the bed, then sat on the floor and took the remaining time I had left to meditate.. and get into the right frame of mind. I didn't usually have the patience for ritual, and I knew it. Preparing myself would go a long way to help prevent me from making a fucking fool of myself.

When the time came, I left the room and headed out. I didn't pass anyone on the way, so I didn't have to deal with any obnoxious questions.

***

All the lights in the church were out, save for one candle. Instinctually, I didn't want to approach that candle.. but it seemed rather pointless to skulk in the shadows all night when there was someone waiting to let me inside. It was a young priest, one I'd seen in passing a few times before. He didn't say a word to me as he opened the door and motioned me inside. He took me into a study, removed a few books from a shelf, and the bookcase slid sideways to reveal a dark passage.

I was starting to feel like I was in a spy movie.

He held out the candle to me. I can see in the dark, but I figured the candle was significant somehow, so I took it from him. I stepped inside, and he left.

The first thing I noticed, oddly, was the smell. Incense. Since I wasn't breathing, that was particularly odd, but it seemed to creep up my nose despite a lack on inhalation. It was strong, but not unpleasant. In front of me was a long winding staircase that went down into what I presumed would be a chamber at the bottom.

There was a very faint red glow coming from below me, but the stairs themselves were dark, save for my single candle. I gave the stairs a cursory once over before proceeding down, and noticed more candles adorned the walls, one on each side, spaced a few steps apart. The wicks had never been burned. They looked like they had been placed here just for this occasion. So despite my distaste for open flame, I began lighting them as I walked down the stairs.

I was surprised to find that I could smell them, even through the incense. They weren't made from wax, but from tallow.. rendered fat, though I wasn't quite sure how I knew that.. it seemed significant, but I had no idea how.

I went down the stairs in a criss-cross pattern in order to light all the candles. I noticed that the stairs, while covered with a threadbare carpet, had blue tiles that seemed to form a pattern. The carpet obscured most of it, but I had an idea what it might be.

I could hear nothing but the faint sound of a low fire in the chamber below me.

When I made it to the bottom, I saw the room was small and held two braziers, the thin smoke of incense wafting from them. There was a doorway on the far side of the room. As I approached it, my candle suddenly went out. The room was lit only by the smoldering coals in the braziers, and the glow from the candles lining the staircase that did not reach far beyond the arch I had just entered through.

Father Nicolai's voice echoed through the small chamber.

"Who walks the path?"

"Harper O'Shea," I paused, biting back the urge to give my normal title. "Supplicant."

"When do you walk the path?" I couldn't tell where his voice was coming from. but I knew from my studies the correct answer to the question.

"In the Twilight.."

"What do you seek?"
I hesitated. The question was unexpected. Little did I know, all the others would be as well. So I answered as honestly as I could. "Knowledge."

"Good." The voice came from my left. As I turned, I could see the faint silhouette of Father Nico framed in a small alcove I had not noticed before. I turned to face him, still holding the extinguished candle. My night vision allowed me to see that he wore formal robes, adorned with an azure sash that hung around his neck. There was a stiff formality to his demeanor.. but there was to mine as well, so I couldn't judge.

"You have been tested, both by your sire, and by your actions since your arrival in Chicago. You have sought out mysteries and recovered several items of great power."

He paused, regarding me.

"But tell me, what have you learned of your companions?"

I stopped to consider before answering. "They're generally good people, though their methods tend to fall short of upstanding, the intentions are good. They're loyal, and brave, if also annoying and foolhardy.."

Father Nicolai's eyes narrowed slightly. His body language told me he wasn't happy with my response. "I ask for specifics, and you give me generalities. What have you learned?"

I hesitated. I could go on for hours about most of them, but I just wasn't sure how much detail he really wanted. I was floundering. I had been completely unprepared for this.

"Giovanni is a member of the Santore crime family, and an arrogant ass. He's a Lucifuge, so he is demon blooded, and thinks of everyone around him as a tool for him to use. He might very well be going insane, as it is, he has become obsessed with inventing useful tools using what appears to be mostly fringe science...Nobody is an assassin for the court of Autumn and is rather good at his job. He is a mirrorskin, able to take on anyone's appearance. He's trying desperately to fill the shoes Frost left behind, and is scared shitless about going insane, which is apparently something that plagues many changelings. He's good with stealth, knives, and generally any other sneaky behavior. He's not above killing to advance his agenda, yet also seems to have some compulsion to protect helpless people that perplexes me..Nadi.. I don't know much about. She was a college student, now a mage. She seems particularly adept at Death magic.. but at least a bit knowledgeable about several other forms as well. She is reserved, quiet, and enjoys learning. I have no idea what her motivations may be. As for Ori.. he's a werewolf, a Cahalith Bone Shadow, specifically. He's now a member of the Santore pack, but seems to find more comfort in us, than in them. he seems leery of his own kind, and goes out of his way to avoid them usually, which I find odd for a pack animal. He trusts too easily."

I fell silent. Nicolai's body language did not improve.

"How will you protect them."

"Any way I can." The answer came out before I had a chance to think about it. Nico just stared at me, silently. I inhaled and exhaled slowly, and tried again. I didn't know what he wanted.. specifics? How could I know all the potential threats that might come up?

So I tried something a little more specific, but it still fell short of what Nico was looking for, apparently. "I'd obtain more knowledge concerning their enemies, and focus on exploited their weaknesses, as well as improve myself to make this a viable option.."

Still no signs of approval. I felt like I was blundering through a room of furniture blindfolded, continually banging my shins on the same low coffee table.

"How would you destroy them?"

I was again caught off guard by the question. My mind was racing, trying to figure out what the right answers to his questions were.

"Nobody relies on his job and reputation to give him the identity he needs, since his appearance is so fluid. I would put up surveillance in order to intercept his orders from the Court and cause him to fail his assignments, damaging his reputation. I'd plant cold iron on him, to cause the other changelings to distrust him even more. I'd put him in situations that would force him to enter the hedge on a regular basis, and plant thoughts in his mind to question his sanity. I would take away his reputation, identity, and sanity until he was s useless madman." I was surprised at my own words even as they came out, surprised I'd even thought all those things about someone who I considered an ally, even if he was annoying as fuck.

Nico just stood silently and waited for me to continue.

"Grigori.. I could simply stab him in the back with silver given his propensity to trust us so easily.. but that would just be killing.. not so much destroying.." I paused a moment to think before continuing. "He feels like he has found a place to belong, here. First, I would set up a series of accounts and deals that made it look to the Santore's like he was betraying them, working with their enemies. They would turn into a thorn in his side, if not kill him themselves.. I would sow seeds of doubt about the others.. Nobody could screw with his dreams..."

"You would use the changeling then?" Nico asked.

I nodded. "It would be easy enough to bride Nobody to change his dreams into visions of betrayal and lies.. Nobody enjoys fucking with people, and I should be able to convince him to do it, if he thinks its just to give the wolf a hard time.. I'd make Ori doubt it all, and send him into a depression, taking away everything he's achieved.."

I stopped there for a moment. The next person on the list was Giovanni. I had to think long and hard about that one, and the plan that I came up with was shaky at best.. but it was all I could think of as I stood before Father Nicolai.

"Giovanni's downfall is his pride. It fuels him, and keeps him going. He has to be able to protect those he cares about, and if he can't, it will damage that pride, that fuel. I would begin to take away those he cares about, render him unable to help them in any fashion, destroy his pride, and render him ineffectual." I felt the answer was lacking.. but on the spot, it was, sadly, the best I could come up with.

"As for the mage.." I grimaced. "I honestly don't have any clue."

"So you do not know how you would destroy the mage?" He asked.
"No."
"Good."
I blinked in surprise.

He continued. "Are you willing to learn things that you ought not know?"
I fought down the smirk. "Yes, I look for those things especially."
"Are you willing to be taught by one who does the same?"
I wondered what it was he knew that he shouldn't.. considering his age, probably quite a few things. "Yes."
"Are you willing to forsake your other teacher to learn these things?"
"Yes." I lied before I even thought about it. Inwardly, I cringed.. he'd see through it. It was a mistake to lie to him.. but it had jumped from my mouth before I'd had a chance to stop it. Giovanni was rubbing off on me. I needed to be more careful.

"Do you swear to aid me in any way I see fit in my pursuit of the Great Work, until I, and only I, decide that you have progressed enough to pursue your own version of the Great work?"
I nodded slowly. "I do."

He reached over and threw a fine dust on the smoldering coals beneath the brazier. They flared with white fire. I managed not to flinch.
"Remove your robes." He ordered.

I slipped off the brown robe, folded it and placed it in his out stretched hand. He placed it over the now burning fire, and the cloth began to burn. The smell of burning wool mixed with the incense, which made it less tolerable, rather than more. I felt more comfortable in my street clothes now then I had in the old robes.

Nicolai held out his hand to me, and in it was a dark blue choker, adorned with a simple silver ouroboros. I took it from him.

"Welcome to the Sworn of the Dying Light, Apprentice O'Shea. This will be the indication of your station. You're training will begin tonight. You have.. much to learn. First, you must admit your faults. You seek to discredit, and inconvenience the changeling.. kill the werewolf.. and injure the Lucifuge.. but you failed to explain how to destroy any of them. There was only once that you admitted that you did not know how to accomplish this. You were willing to forsake useful teachers in order to learn other secrets...both of these things are foolish."

I inwardly cursed myself. Meditation hadn't helped, I'd still managed to make a fucking fool of myself. He continued.

"If you are asked again whether you would give up such a thing and you must answer yes, you better be certain that you are lying." He leveled a glare at me that told me he knew exactly how truthful I'd already been.

"I have not taken on an apprentice for a long time, and I do not teach fools."

I nodded, and once against felt like I'd embarrassed myself greatly.

"You will remain here until one hour before sunrise. Breath deeply, and think on these things."

He departed up the stairs and I heard the door slide shut behind him.

I sat down on stone floor and tried not to beat myself up. I'd fucked up.. but I could learn from my failure. Berating myself did me little good.

The incense became more and more over powering. I inhaled deeply and felt the heavy air sting my nose, throat and lungs. It made my head swim and I had to fight to stay conscious. The smell overwhelmed all my other senses, I felt blind, deaf, and mute.

Amidst the incense, I realized that I had had a hard time articulating things that I already knew, and a difficult time admitting what I didn't know. I had much work to do, in that regard. I felt lucky that Nico was willing to take me on at all.

I sat in that room for hours. Eventually, I began to taste copper in the back of my throat as I breathed the smoke. I felt thick tears pool in my ducts then slide slowly down my cheeks. Normal smoke would make any normal persons eyes water, but these vapors were going further than that. I was weeping blood. My insides constricted harshly in hunger, despite my recent feeding.

After what seemed like an eternity, I heard a chime from high above me. The noise shocked me out of my trance, it was the first noise, aside from the smoke, I had heard since Nico left. I swan back up to the surface through the haze of incense. I heard the door above me slide open. It was nearly sunrise.

I staggered to my feet and up the stairs. When I reached the top, and the door shut behind me, I gasped, taking in as much of the clean air as I could to purge my lungs of the infectious incense. The air was abnormally cold. The first breath was pure and clean, the second stung my throat, it was so chill, and the third breath was so frigid it caused me to cough violently, a fine red mist erupting from my throat and freezing instantly.

I was completely famished. The last time I had been this hungry had been in Japan, staying among the Mekhet at the monastery.

But beneath the desperate, clawing, raving hunger, I noticed something. I could feel the vitae in my body.. what little was left.. and it felt different.. thicker.. more substantial. I smiled faintly and quickly made my way back to the car, and drove myself to the shop as the sky began to lighten.

When I walked in, Giovanni was awake, tinkering with something on his work bench. He glanced up briefly and looked me over critically. "What, did you have a date or something?"
I pictures how I must look. Normal street clothes, but the choker was new, I wrecked of potent incense, still had traces of bloody tears on my cheeks, and probably seemed either very embarrassed with myself, or smugly proud.. but probably a combination of both.

I just gave him a small, cryptic smile. "Something like that."
He bent back over his project."Bet you sucked him dry eh?" He paused, and looked up again with a pained expression. "Sorry, my jokes are bad at 6am."
My smile shifted from cryptic to mildly amused. "Only at 6am?"
He grinned at me. "They're worse any other time."
I just shook my head and walked past him to the basement stairs, heading for bed.

"I can certainly agree with that."

Like Sire like Childe

2010-07-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

((This is current time line. After the battle with Citysmith.))

I woke up to darkness. It wasn't unusual, my room was in the basement, and my door didn't allow much through it. But this darkness was thicker than usual, and felt familiar.

I sat up and swung my legs off the bed. There was someone sitting in the arm chair across the small coffee table. Giuseppe.

He was shuffling a deck of cards that looked too large to be normal playing cards. He spoke without preamble.

"I command you to torture a captured prisoner so as to intimidate his comrades. Do you obey? Or refuse?"

I was used to situations like this by now, and gathered my wits about me pretty quick. It wasn't an actual command.. This was a test of some sort.. and it felt familiar. I slid off the bed and settled in the chair opposite him. I considered the question. I would go to great lengths to find another way to get the job done.. but that wasn't the question. I thought back to when we'd been attacked by Valkyrie. I would've resorted to torture, had my other methods not worked. I didn't like the idea, but I recognized its necessity at times.

"I'd obey."

He took a card off the deck and laid it face up on the coffee table. Ah. Tarot cards. Something clicked in my head, a memory falling into place. I'd taken this test before, when I'd first been inducted into the Order. Giuseppe had not administered it, though. I wondered why he was giving it to me again. I'd been under the impression that it was a 'new member only' kind of deal.

He continued

"You have pursued a traitor against your king for many years. At long last, you bring her to bay, only to have everyone around her swear solemn oaths and offer persuasive evidence that she has amended her ways and now leads a righteous and loyal existence. Do you punish her for the crimes she committed long
ago, or do you give her a second chance?"

"Give her a second chance." but watch her like a hawk. I don't forgive easily, or often, but I have my moments..

He placed a card in another location on the coffee table.

"You have evidence that a powerful lord has committed treason. He is ensconced in a fortress, and removing him will be difficult and dangerous. But it will cost him time, men and money if you make your attack, so he offers riches, titles and territory to me if you will overlook his previous betrayal...do you attack, or do you accept his terms?"

"I attack." I'd be loath to let him bribe me to ignore a betrayal.

He placed another card on the table. He placed a card on the table after each question. Sometimes in a new position, sometimes on top of another card.

"You know a woman has been falsely imprisoned. DO you implore the judges to reconsider her sentence — a process that may take months — or do you offer to take her place as a surety."

This one required less thought. I wasn't altruistic enough to put myself in prison for someone else, wrongfully imprisoned or not. I had shit to do. "Implore the judges." Besides, I could break them out later, if need be.

"You have sworn total loyalty to your master. He orders you to rob a poor man for the benefit of a rich one. Do you remain true to your oath, or do you refuse?"

I mulled over this one for awhile. If Giuseppe told me to do this, would I? Probably.. if only because I trusted it was necessary. The situation could always be rectified later if need be.

"Stay true to my oath."

"You are sent to parley with a violent and intolerant tribe. Their customs call for the imbibing of strong drink. You have chosen to abstain from such liquors. Do you drink in order to make peace with the tribe, or do you decline?"

"Drink." I said without hesitation.

"After a lengthy pursuit, you catch up with your enemy, only to find that a fall from a horse has left both his legs and one of his arms useless forever. Do you avenge yourself, or do you decide your enemy is no longer a threat and let him
live?"

I knew all too well that an enemies mind could be much more dangerous than his arms or legs. "I avenge myself."

"You have confessed a sin, and your priest imposes a penance upon you that seems disproportionately harsh. Do you meekly perform the penance, or do you avoid the penance and pray for forgiveness and understanding despite it."

This question was a little tougher to get my head around. I'd never been very religious, so I had trouble picturing myself in the situation. But ultimately I decided that if I had the faith to confess, I'd probably have the faith that the penance was just.. probably..

"Perform the penance."

"It is war, and you are on the defensive. You see
a much larger force fast approaching. Do you retreat by stealth, or do you entrench yourself and prepare to fight."

"Retreat." Live to fight another day. I was no coward, but a doomed battle is seldom worth fighting.

"A debtor has defaulted on your loan. He promises that if you but wait six months until his caravan returns, he will pay you triple what he owes. Do you take possession of his home — the loan’s collateral, or do you grant him the
extension?"

"Grant him the extension." Money seemed a silly reason to take someone's home, especially if it isn't necessary..

"Your cousin is in danger of being sentenced to debtor’s prison. Do you lend her money, with little hope of repayment, or do you let her suffer the sentence?"

"Lend her the money." I don't care about many people, but I wouldn't want any of them in prison, even justly.

"You are dedicated to a noble cause, but your organization is perilously low on funds. Do you think stealing to uphold the larger cause is justified, or would you would rather see the cause fail than dishonor it with theft?"

I rolled the situation around in my head for awhile. When I came to my conclusion, I was a bit surprised with myself. I wasn't sure when I'd started to believe that the ends justified the means.. "I would steal."

"A fellow lord despises you, but you are enamored with his daughter. He is a master swordsman. Do you risk his wrath to woo his beautiful daughter?"

"Most certainly." I said with a smirk.

"Your feckless retainer, though unquestionably loyal, has failed you again. Do you give him another chance, or do you dismiss him for incompetence?"

Whats the point in having an employee if they're not getting the job done? "Dismiss him." I said with a flick my fingers.

"You have a store of seeds, and your family is starving. Do you grind up the seeds to make meal for your hungry children, or do you plant the seeds in hope of a greater yield in the spring?"

They may starve to death before spring, and feeding them now would buy me more time to solve the problem. "Grind up the seeds."

"Your innocent friend is falsely accused of a dastardly crime. Do you perjure yourself to free him, or do you remain silent but honest?"

"Perjure myself." I've never been above lying.

"A beautiful woman, whom you’ve loved from afar, offers to abandon her second husband and elope with you. Do you accept?"

"Yes." Whats the point of loving her if I didn't?

"You are judging a man accused of stealing a horse and running it until its leg had broken. It emerges that he stole the horse to get his ill child to a doctor, lest she perish. He cannot pay the horse’s value. Do you lighten his sentence, place or do you obey the letter of the law?"

"Lighten the sentence." I've never been one to follow rules unquestionably.

"After a hard war, you are ordered to break bread and make amends with old foes. Do you remain wary of your enemies and scrutinize them
for any sign of treachery, or do you make a concerted effort to obey your orders and forgive?"

"Always wary." Only a fool wouldn't be.

"You have been rewarded for your courage with lavish and extravagant gifts bestowed by a figurehead of the court. Do you keep the gifts, or do you give them away to people who will use them more wisely?"

I thought back to the sword, and the Aegis Kai Doru. I had not wanted to give that thing up. "Keep them."

"You are given the honor of hosting a feast on a beloved holiday. Do you splurge and spend to your very limit, or do you hold back and spend the barest
minimum?"

I frowned. I hate all or nothing questions. "I suppose since I don't have an option in the middle, I'd spend the barest minimum."

He didn't react to my qualifying statement. He placed the card and then set the deck on the table. There were seven stacks of varying sizes spread across its surface. He picked up five of them and shuffled the cards back into the deck. Then, he put the two remaining stacks next to each other and looked at me.

"Choose."

I looked at him, then at the stacks. "What do they represent?" I didn't recall choosing between two piles the last time I took the test.

His voice adopted a slightly harsher edge to it. "Choose."

I regarded the decks a moment, but there was nothing to go on. So I tapped the stack on the left. He picked up the pile, removed one card, and set it aside. The rest were put back into the deck. He held it out to me. "Shuffle."

I did, then handed them back. The questions began again, but took on a different tone this time, more harsh and negative. What was surprising was the fact that they also became easier for me to answer. I didn't have to think as long on each one. The answers, for the most part, just flowed. I wondered what that said about me..

"Your neighbor, preparing for a trip, leaves her car momentarily unattended. You can steal a bottle of fine brandy, or a small box of jewelry. Do you take the jewelry, or the the brandy?"

"Jewelry."

"You meet a beautiful and desirable woman who treats you with haughty disdain. Do you trick or intimidate her into bed, or do you earn her admiration so that you can reject her?"

I couldn't keep the smirk off my face. "Earn her admiration."

"Your honor is being besmirched with ridiculous calumnies. Do you spare no effort to find the source of the rumors, or do you consider it unimportant?"

I really don't give a shit what rumors people want to spread. "Unimportant."

"An irksome associate has invited you to a lavish feast. Do you gorge yourself at her expense while ignoring her company, or do you ply your host with drink, hoping she will humiliate herself?"

"Ply her with drink."

"A colleague offers to recommend an expert assassin-for-hire to slay a slippery foe of yours. Do you pay the killer’s high fee, or do you search for a less expensive alternative?"

Quality costs.. Money would be worth the surety. "Pay the fee."

"Would you crawl and beg like a spaniel to please a new lover?"

My face twisted into disgust. "Fuck no."

"A man who has wronged you flees across the ocean. He is no longer a threat, but he is now beyond your reach. Do you pursue him, or forget about him?"

"Forget about him." Until he comes back, and is once again a threat at least.

"You are planning a burglary that will ruin a rival, when you learn that he’s earmarked the money for a new business venture. In a few weeks, his vaults will
contain even more cash, and his other assets will appreciate as well. Do you wait to rob him until after his investment pays out, earning you more and hurting him less, or do you ruin him immediately, earning yourself less but hurting him more?"

"Ruin him immediately."

"Your sworn enemy has hidden herself in a town under quarantine. Do you adopt the humiliating disguise of a leper for a chance to kill your foe, or do you insist that your enemy know he was slain by you?"

"Dress as a leper." Just seems more efficient..

"You have come to possess a rare and renowned drug. Do you keep it for yourself, or do you give it to a paramour to make her yield to your
advances?"

This one stumped me for a few moments but ultimately I decided I'd give up a drug if it would help me reach my goals. "Give it to the paramour."

"You have conquered an enemy town and pillaged the treasury. Do you quietly slip the treasure back to your own vaults, or do you spend the treasure on a triumphal
celebration of your own glory?"

I waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "My own vaults." I wasn't Giovanni. I didn't need to tell the world how great I am.

"You stand to learn embarrassing gossip about your rival, if you can endure the endless prattle of a courtier. Do you endure the chatter, or do you not bother?"

This was probably the easiest question of the entire test. "Endure the courtier."

"The opulent clothes you’ve ordered to impress the Emperor arrive, but they’re too small. You’re expected to meet the Emperor at a lavish soiree in three days. Do you starve yourself for three days to fit into the
clothes, or do you simply wear something you already owned?"

"Wear something I already own."

"A courtesan of notorious skill and beauty insists on an outrageous price for her services. Do you gladly pay, or do you haggle shamelessly?"

"Haggle." No reason to give up things I don't have to give up.

"You are at a wedding feast when you get word that a bankrupt debtor of yours is trying to flee town. Do you let him go to savor the celebration, or do you leave to thrash and imprison him?"

"Leave." Social events be damned, I'd get my pound of flesh.

"You behold a high priest in a disgraceful state of drunkenness. Do you believe you are better than him, or worse?"

"Better."

"You have an opportunity to moonlight for extra money without your master’s knowledge, but to do so you must sneak out each night. Do you enrich yourself dishonestly, or do you not bother?"

I paused on this question. Money? Probably not. But I changed the question in my mind. If I knew I could enrich myself some other way.. more Coils, more information.. I gave Giuseppe a small smirk when I finally answered. "I'd sneak out."

He didn't so much as bat an eye lash. He just continued with the test.

"You have slain an enemy and plan to hang his severed head from your castle wall. His lovely widow comes to you and begs that her husband’s corpse be released
unmolested for a dignified burial. Desperate, she offers to give herself to you for one night in exchange. Do you agree to her proposal, or do you turn her down?"

I'd like to think I'd turn her down, yet give up the body without collecting on her offer. But that wasn't one of the options. Either way, her offer would hold no interest to me.. "Turn her down."

"You are invited to a bounteous feast, but it is to be held many miles away, and the road is arduous. Do you take the journey, or do you decline?"

Again with the fucking social functions.. I wondered who made this damn test. "Decline."

"You are defending a captured palace, and the gates have fallen. You must flee. Do you burn the palace behind you as you flee, or do you leave it intact so that you may retake it in the future?"

"Leave it intact." I'd get my shit back, by god.

"A tedious, gossipy old nurse is the only servant allowed access to a beautiful young maiden whom you’ve been eying. Do you feign friendship with the nurse to get access to the girl, or do you not bother to tolerate the tiresome hag?"

"Feign friendship."

He set down the last card. I watched in the darkness as he slid all piles but one to the side. Apparently I didn't have to choose this time. He picked it up and drew one card, setting it face down on the table. Then, he went back into the deck and removed another single card.

He picked up the card from the first set of questions and turned it over in front of me. It was the Hermit. He watched my face as he explained the meaning.

"Your nature disposes you to solitary efforts and contemplative pursuits. Considering every side of a problem is your great strength. Being unable to choose between options is your great weakness. You work best with time to consider, study and find a compromise between all factors. Anything that forces you to rush, guess or make do will drain you."

I considered that a moment. It seemed apt enough, though I liked to think I was better at rolling with the punches than the card suggested. It was something to think about..

He gave me a moment, then proceeded to turn over the card from the second set of questions. It was the King of Coins.

"Your faith in a better future ably equips you to build for it, and even when you fail you can start over with good cheer. With some luck and discernment, you can
accumulate great wealth and power, and that is when you must choose. Will you spend what you have in pursuit of that brighter future? Or will you decide the bright
future has arrived?"

I never really considered myself someone with vast amounts of 'good cheer', however, despite the overly sunny explanation of the card, it hit on a few good points. I don't think I'll even feel like my 'bright future' has ever fully arrived.

He put a finger on the last card, tapping it. "This.. is your fate card."

I perked a brow. "Alright.."

He flipped it over and laid it on top of the other two. I got the impression that I should consider it more important. It was the Five of Coins.

"The thoroughness with which you can grind down an enemy, whether the cause be personal, political or philosophical, is breathtaking in its awfulness. Never act rashly — such passion is not you. Instead, make your plan with care, plot each deed with foresight and step by step you can produce total ruin..." It may have been my imagination, but his voice seemed tinged with pride.

I was slightly taken aback by the last card. Not because of what it said, but because it sounded so much like Giuseppe. I wondered if he had gotten the same card when he took the test. I knew we had similar characteristics, but I was surprised at the extent of it... was I really that much like Giuseppe?

"Are you surprised about these facets of yourself?"

I nodded slowly. "A bit.. but I suppose not as surprised as I would have been before we killed Citysmith. I've been.. reevaluating myself a lot lately.."

He leaned forward. "I have a proposition for you."

My expression shifted from contemplative to curious. "Okay.."

"You have met the priest, yes?"
I nodded.
He tapped the stack of three cards that rested on the table between us. "Take these to him."
"Okay.." I waited for him to continue, to finish with the proposition, but he didn't. The shadows coalesced around him, and when they thinned, he was gone.

In his place was one last tarot. I stood and retrieved it. It was hand painted, as all the others had been, in his own style. I don't actually think it was a card that exists in the Tarot deck. The art depicted an oroborous identical to the one he had tattooed to my arm, but in blue.

I grabbed my weapons and my coat, gently placing the cards in one of the inner pockets, then headed upstairs.

****

"Hey, Boss.. you got a package."

I stopped and backpedaled back into the living room where Becca was watching TV, head in Nadi's lap as the mage read a book. I school my expression to only show the curiosity towards the package, and not the annoyance at the display of affection. "Where did it come from?" I was suspicious.

"The PO Box. I checked it while you were out. It's from New Orleans. I think its just papers. Its on the table in the kitchen."

"Who was it addressed to?" There were any number of people who could be sending me shit from New Orleans..

"Allison Damore.. that's you right? The Post office didn't screw it up?" She lifted her head to look at me and gauge my reaction, but I didn't give her a chance to make an assessment. I turned on my heel and walked into the kitchen.

"Boss?" She called after me, her voice slightly uncertain.

But I ignored her and grabbed the thick envelope. I tore it open and pulled out a relatively well packed file folder, sat, and began spreading its contents out onto the kitchen table. Becca wandered into the room and peeked over my shoulder. Her aura flickered with nervousness.

"Yes, it's mine." I said, answering her earlier question so she wouldn't think she'd fucked up. "Thanks." I added as my eyes were skimming the papers.

"What is it?" usually Becca didn't pry, but I think she was looking for something to say to play off why she'd walked into the room.

"Surveillance data from a PI that I hired to watch some people in New Orleans.." I read through the report quickly, then started flipping through the pictures, spreading them out on the table.

Becca turned to leave when one particular photo caught her eye. "Surveillance on strippers?" she asked incredulously.

I smirked faintly and set another photo of an attractive woman dancing next to the first. "I guess so. Though she wasn't a stripper when I started watching her."

"Who are they?" I glanced up at her as she leaned over my shoulder, examining the images. The nervous colors in her aura returned, uncertainty, and a very brief flash of what may have been jealousy. It made me wonder how on earth some Kindred could maintain more than one ghoul and not have them hate each other..

"These three are all related to a guy I killed back when I was first embraced. This," I tapped the picture of the stripper. "Is a girl he worked with."

Her aura flared with curiosity, but she didn't say anything. But I decided to answer anyway. "I lost control when I fed and killed him." My stomach started to knot, I paused and fought back the feeling until any emotion associated with the murder was gone. Old habits die hard I guess. Funny that I still had moments of regret about Vincent, yet not a moments pause about Ray, which had been intentional.
"Giuseppe knew it would happen, and sent me on a little mission to watch the ripple effect the death had."

Her aura flickered briefly with fear when I mentioned the murder. "Does that happen a lot..?"

"Only the once.." My voice was quiet. "I've been following it ever since. When I had to come up here, I hired a PI to watch for me and send me reports...now, I need to go over this shit.." I looked at her pointedly. I didn't mind her questions, but I was on a schedule, and needed to go through the stuff uninterrupted for a few minutes.

"Oh! Right. Sure thing." She headed back into the living room.

That was probably the most politely I've ever told someone to leave me alone before.. but then, Becca didn't annoy the shit out of me like the majority of my other 'housemates'. I also felt responsible for dragging her into this mess, and was still somewhat unsure of how she felt about that.. even if she had agreed to the terms.. it was probably a little silly to feel that way about an employee, but there it was, nonetheless, even if it was milder than it had been when we first arrived in Chicago.

I pushed the thought from my mind and focused on the task at hand. There was a good deal of information in front of me, and I wanted to make some sense of it before I left for the night.

It took a good hour to read over everything in the file, most of it seemed unimportant, but I didn't want to dismiss anything until I was sure.

The father was still alive, which I found a bit surprising. He'd been drinking more and more, his health rapidly declining.

Vince's brother had been sent to prison for a couple months for burglary.. he wasn't any less angry. He'd fallen in with a white supremacist group. They convinced him to shift his rage to the people who undoubtedly killed his brother.. the blacks. I wondered if this may cause more killings. I decided not to dwell on the thought. The deed was done and there wasn't much I could do about it.

The girl that had loved Vince from afar had quit the bar. If the conversations I'd overheard while in New Orleans were any indication, it was because it reminded her of Vincent. She now worked at a strip club (hence the photos) and had recently been approached about starring in a few adult films. Reading over the report, I was a little shocked. Each time I got more information about this trail, the more it surprised me how large an effect one death can have on people's lives. But then, that was the point.

There was a silver lining to all the bad news, though. Vincent's sister had reacted in a more positive way to the death. It had given her a renewed sense of purpose. She had quit her dead end job and pursued her dream of acting.. and had been rather successful. She had been cast in a few local plays, and was making a name for herself. The self confidence was spilling over everywhere else too. Apparently one of the director's had been making passes at her during production. She had consistently turned him down. Two nights ago there was an after party, and he had forced himself on her.

I coudln't help but smile when flipped the page and saw the photo of the guys knee. Compound fracture. Looked like she kicked him as hard as she fucking could right in the side of the knee. He was currently in the hospital, and judging by the extent of the injury, and my own personal experience with my own knee being fucked to high hell, he would be very lucky if he only had a minor limp for the rest of his life.

I shut the file and sat back in the chair, thoughtful. The option that currently presented itself could be sticky. I wondered, not for the first time, if I should interfere. I didn't honestly think I could help any of these people. I certainly didn't want to admit to the brother who had really killed Vincent. And I found that I actually had very little sympathy for them now. Each one of them had made their own decisions. I tipped the domino, but they had options, just like I had when Driscoll died. One action could have far reaching consequences, but didn't take away free will.

However.. prodding things a little might turn up something interesting. Change the experiment up and see what happens?

Damn, did I really just refer to it as an experiment?

I suppose its an apt enough description, and I had certainly began to develop a scientists detachment. But that also meant that changing the control group would render the experiment moot. I would no longer know what was a cause of the death, and what was my meddling.

I gathered up all the materials and returned them to the envelope. I took it all down stairs and put it behind lock and key in my bedroom. It was tempting to stir the waters, but ultimately unwise.

I did, however, send Giuseppe an update. I sat on the edge of my bed in the dark and sent him a series of texts. I was mildly annoyed that I couldn't just call him, but it was an unfortunate, and permanent, side effect of separating his Ka from the rest of him. And not the worst of them either.

I decided to even clue him in on what I'd been thinking. He probably wouldn't respond, but if he did, it might give me an idea on what steps to take next..

---

From: H
To: G

I considered interfering, to see what might happen. However, I think it would be better not to taint the process at this point. I want to see the effects of his death, not my meddling.

--

To my surprise, the phone buzzed with a response almost immediately.

--

From: Blocked
To: H

I'm proud of you. Enjoy your studies with Father Nicolai

--

From: H
To: G

Thanks, and I will.

--

I took out my phone and dialed the priest.

An Unexpected Outcome

2010-07-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

(( Flashbacks continued...but not for long! ))

The tattoo didn't stay that night, or the next, or the next. Every night for two weeks, Giuseppe would put the same tattoo on my forearm- a small, stylized ouroborus. And every night upon waking, my body would reject it, and the tattoo would flake off as if applied with paint.

But that was the point of the lesson. Giuseppe told me that it was possibly to change the vampiric form. We did not have to be static. He would go on about the importance of change, and how we should never fear it, but embrace it. It took two weeks of this lesson before I finally got it. I listened and meditated on the ideas, along with the lessons I was learning from the Dragon's Tail, and tried my best to take them all to heart. I'd been Giuseppe's protege for a couple months now, and I realized that I didn't want to let him down.

It seemed silly that I'd feel that way about my murderer.. but there it was. So gradually that I hadn't noticed it, I'd started to care about the asshole. No one had ever spent so much time trying to help me improve myself. He'd successfully convinced me that he needed, or at least wanted, my help. It was becoming much easier to make excuses for his previous actions, God help me.

Then, one night.. it happened. As he was applying the ink, I felt myself slip away. It's not really an experience that I can describe, except that it felt like peeling away a cocoon. It felt like it lasted for only a few minutes, but when I came back to myself, I was sitting in the same position, but it was the next night, and my tattoo was still intact. Just to be sure, I tried to used the blood to heal it.. and grinned widely when nothing happened. I felt accomplished.. but the feeling didn't last long. I still had too much to learn..

The lessons became more grueling. The nights started with combat training. The second I woke up, Mona was there, beating the tar out of me with those goddamn knight sticks. The first night, I nearly lost it on her. The beast nearly took over on sheer reflex. I didn't understand what was going on. I woke up, she beat the shit out of me, and then left. I laid there, bones broken, a couple compound fractures, and knitted myself back together, anger, fear, and confusion festering in my gut. When I could stand again, I went to track her down. I found her in the kitchen, drinking coffee like nothing had happened.

"What the FUCK was that?!" I said as my jaw shifted back into place.
She just smirked into her coffee cup. "Combat training." Then she stood, set the cup in the sink, and walked out the door before I could respond.

That was how I woke up every night after that.

Then Giuseppe started teaching me more about the blood. I'd wake up to beatings, then have to sit in a room and meditate all night, without feeding. Night after night we did this, Giuseppe always right there with me, depriving ourselves of sustenance.. it become nearly impossible to maintain my focus. Sometimes I'd be allowed blood to heal myself up, but other times, I was forced to go through the lessons with bones I didn't have the ability to fix. Giuseppe would bring in just enough blood to keep us from losing our shit.. but never enough to fill me up.. it was a maddening and painful process. I lost track of how many nights we did this. It took all my concentration just to maintain my composure, I didn't have any energy to waste on counting nights.

Then the training shifted gears. He called off our fasting and began bringing samples of blood to taste. It got to a point where I could tell just by tasting the blood what animal it had come from.. and even down to the breed of the dog.

Conversations with Giuseppe changed too. Instead of answering questions, he began to ask them. Frustrating riddles that I'd have to spend all night puzzling over, then when I finally came up with an answer, my reward was another, more difficult question, usually without even a clue if I'd gotten the first one right. At one point, I spent two weeks doing nothing but trying to sink a nail into a board with one blow of the hammer. It was infuriating. Night after night.. wake up, try to defend myself against Mona, then nothing but hammer on a goddamn piece of wood. A week in, I hit my fingers for the 100th time that night, snapped and went ballistic. I vaguely recall tearing the board into tiny pieces while seeing a lot of red.

A new board was there the next evening. It took two full weeks before I could get that nail in in one swing of the hammer.

Oddly, during all of this, I never considered leaving. It was painful, frustrating, stressful, and rewardless.. at first. But I'd developed a sense of determination. I needed to prove to myself that I was worth all this effort. It was still hard to believe the Giuseppe needed me. The night I killed Vincent was the last time I thought about slipping away. That's not to say I didn't get livid with them both sometimes. The nature of the training made that unavoidable.

Then one night, after several months of the abuse, it all began to fall into place. Mona, once again, beat the shit out of me. Once that nightly ritual was finished and I used nearly all of my available vitae to heal myself, I went to go play more 20 questions with Giuseppe. I sat there, hungry, frustrated and disheartened and tried to focus on the barrage of questions. My head was starting to ache, and I'd had enough. He asked another question, and I nearly bit his head off with my answer. All my pent up vexation came spilling out in that one answer, which turned into a 10 minute screaming rant, and when I was finished, I just glared at him.

He met my gaze impassively. "Good." and he stood and walked out of the room.

I sat there, dumbfounded. Then that turned into intense satisfaction, and a renewed sense of accomplishment. I really was making progress.

The next night, I woke up, and before I had even realized what I was doing, sped the blood through my muscles. My hand was a blur as I caught Mona's knight stick as it went for my head. I held the stick and smirked at her. She gave an unsettling grin. "Good job. This means I get to go faster now."

And she proceeded to kick my ass.. again. But it was worth it this time. I left that room feeling bruised, broken, and satisfied.

***

It was one of our few moments of down time, roughly 8 months since Giuseppe had turned me. All three of us were in the living room. Giuseppe sat reading a book, Mona reading a police report, and I sat watching them both.

I broke the comfortable silence with a question. "Why stay a ghoul?"
Mona spoke without looking up. "Well, I have a day job." She held up the police report. "And we need someone who can get things done during the day without bursting into flames."

"Do you want to be a vampire?" These questions had been bothering me for awhile, and it wasn't until very recently that Mona seemed at all approachable. I'd actually been talking with her, sans knight sticks, pretty regularly now. She wasn't as aloof and pissy as she'd been at first. She seemed to start opening up more to me as I gradually ceased treating them both, especially Giuseppe, with such deep seated distrust and suspicion. Eventually, she'd even busted out old photo albums and showed me pictures from the 40s of her and Giuseppe. Her, dressed in nurse garb, him as a priest. It was odd seeing him with short hair, and her in a skirt. She'd given me a little bit of background on them both. I found all of it fascinating.

She set the police report on the coffee table. "Did you know that Dracula had three wives?"

I shook my head.

She continued. "The warrior, the scholar, and the beauty. For Vlad over here," she jerked a thumb at Giuseppe. He gave her a small, amused smile over the top of his book. "I'll keep doing what I'm doing.. but eventually I'd like to focus on more scholarly pursuits.."

"Fair enough." I lapsed into silence. Mona had surprised me, but that just proved that I didn't know her as well as I would've liked. She also made me wonder which bride I was going to be... which was weird to consider at all. I looked between the two of them and suddenly realized that for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was somewhere I was supposed to be. I suddenly knew, without a doubt, that I would fight to protect that. Giuseppe and Mona had, for all intents and purposes, become like family to me. A very weird, dysfunctional, and unusual family.. but one nonetheless. How I could find myself so attached to people who killed me, and nightly beat the shit out of me, I wasn't sure. Maybe it was because they were the only ones who ever gave me a second glance...

Well, the only ones in a long time. I pulled the dog tags out of my shirt. They hadn't gotten frosty since I'd died. Driscoll had tried. He'd worked his ass off to get me out of my shell and all I did was hate him for it. And now he wasn't around for me to apologize to.

I made a decision, right then. "I need to go to Texas." They both looked at me, then at the tags. Giuseppe nodded.

Mona put the report away. "I'll take you. We'll head out before sunrise tonight. Takes about 9 hours to get to Fort Sam.. The trunk is sunproofed."

I didn't ask how they knew were he was buried.

***

Mona waited with the car as I had hopped the fence, since visiting hours ended at sunset. She was giving me some privacy, and it was appreciated.

I took my time. I wandered the gravestones for awhile. I knew exactly where he was buried, but I didn't know exactly what to say. I didn't even know if he'd be around. I let the cool breeze, deep shadows, and uninhabitated surroundings reassure me as I wound my way slowly between the graves. Finally, I stood in front of his gravestone. Jordan Driscoll. The dog tags clicked together softly in the breeze as they dangled, the chain coiled around my fist. The place was virtually silent, and I was the only visitor at this late hour. That was just how I wanted it.

I took out a vial, and put a drop of liquid in one eye, and one on my tongue. My nervousness increased as the world shifted into black and white. I could now see that the graveyard was full of ghosts... but Driscoll wasn't there.

"Jordan?" Nothing. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck self consciously. I knew he wasn't here, but I had to do it anyway. "I.. wanted to apologize. For taking the tags.. and for treating you like shit. You were.." I hesitated. I felt really stupid talking to thin air. "You were a good friend. I'm sorry."

I laid the dog tags on the headstone, letting the chain pool between the two pieces of metal. They winked dully in the moonlight. I wondered if he'd actually forgive me.. or if he even could. He had wanted to kill me.. but I was already dead. I didn't know if that's why he was gone, or not. Maybe he'd passed on. I knew jack shit about how ghosts worked. I stood there, awkwardly, for a few more minutes.. but nothing happened. At least, nothing with Driscoll. I did, however, feel a little better. Hopefully he could find some peace since I wasn't being such a bitch to him anymore.. and since I couldn't find him, that would have to be enough.

I walked away, leaving the tags on the headstone. I made a more direct route back to the car.

"Get your answers sweetheart?"

I came up short when I heard the voice off to my left as I approached the fence. My hand was on my gun and I'd forced vitae through my muscles on reflex. There was a man leaning against a tree wearing a cowboy hat obscuring his face. He looked familiar, but I was having a hard time placing him.

"It was an apology, actually.." I said. He tipped his hat upwards and looked at me with a friendly smile. It was Carter. He was head of the Ordo Dracul in New Orleans. I'd only met him once, when I'd been inducted a few months ago. He always seemed nice, and spoke with a rather charming Texas accent. I relaxed slightly and took my hand off the pistol.

"But you came out here lookin' for somethin' by makin' that apology.."

I gave him a faint smile. "I found it.. I think. But he wasn't here, so I'm not sure that he heard me.."

"Eh, the dead are an odd lot. There's no tellin'.."

"To what do I owe the pleasure..?" I asked. Him appearing in the graveyard of my dead friend, 9 hours away from where he should be, was disconcerting, despite his friendly disposition.

"Just thought I'd drop in and say hi. I like to check up on my people now and then."

I started to respond but he cut me off. "I also wanted to give ya a word of caution. Yer sire's got a lot of enemies. You'd best watch your back, your guilty by association, at least until you start doin' like him and pissin' people off yourself."

I smiled. "Yeah, I figured I'd need to be careful. Than.."

"I said watch your back." He cut me off again, and this time his voice held no trace of an accent, and his eyes no longer looked friendly or amused.

I froze, taken aback at the sudden shift. He stared at me, hard and unblinking, until I nodded, and he could read the comprehension on my face. He wasn't about to let me make light of the potential danger I was in, apparently.

Once I nodded, his face shifted back to a friendlier expression, and his voice affected the southern drawl once again. "Good. Give your sire my regards, and Mona over there." He pointed to the waiting vehicle, I glanced over, wondering if she could see us, but we were just out of her line of sight. When I turned back around, Carter was gone.

Well fuck.

I jogged back to the car.

"How did it go?" Mona asked when I hurried to the vehicle.

"Fine, I guess. He wasn't there. I talked anyway.. and Carter paid me a visit.."

"Hm.. what did he have to say?" She had automatically started scanning the area. The information didn't surprise her, but seemed to put her on edge a little.

"Told me to be careful about Giuseppe's enemies." I opened the passenger side door and got in the car. She did the same.

"It's a good piece of advice."

I nodded and she pulled out onto the street. "I know. But he's a lot better at going undetected than I am. What keeps the fuckers from coming after me, if only to get to him?" The idea was chilling. I didn't think I was a helpless duckling, but I had no illusions about how powerful some of the people were who would just love to get their hands on Giuseppe.

Mona just shrugged. "Simply put, us. Don't let it get to you. Giuseppe will make sure you've got the skills you need to take care of yourself, as long as you stay smart, and grow eyes in the back of your head."

I relaxed slightly in my seat. I was hoping she'd say something like that. It calmed the nerves, at least a little.

Mona and I headed back home. I told her stories about Driscoll, she shared a few anecdotes about her and Giuseppe from decades ago. It was a good ride.

It was a good ride home.

Following the Dragon's Tail

2010-07-02T12:33:00.000-05:00

I had horrible dreams that first day. Nightmares that kept going through my head on repeat, visions of the temple, of killing those kids, over and over again. But I couldn't wake up from them. While that sun was out, I was at the mercy of the dreams, chained there, reliving the acts of violence over and over again.

On the plus side, there was no such thing as restless sleep for me anymore. I felt it, the moment the sun dipped under the horizon. My eyes popped open automatically, and I was fully awake as I felt the blood surge through my body. As I swung my legs off the side of the bed, I was silently grateful for the nightmares, in a way. It kept the hope that the whole thing hadn't been real out of my mind. I didn't have to deal with the crushing realization of my condition when I woke up. There was no illusions that it had all merely been a dream and I'd wake up alive and well in my own bed.

It was a weird sort of blessing.

I sat there for awhile, collecting my thoughts. I tried not to think about the dreams, about the dying kids.. instead, I tried to school my thoughts and direct them towards what I would ask Giuseppe tonight. I didn't feel the blood moving anymore, but I felt hungrier.

Giuseppe was waiting for me in the study. I settled slowly into one of the armchairs. I tried to get comfortable until I realized it wasn't an issue of posture.. I felt uncomfortable in my own body, not in the chair.

Giuseppe was reading, and didn't look up until I spoke. Then, he closed the book softly and set it on a small end table that hadn't been there the night before.

"When does it stop feeling so weird?"
He his mouth twisted into a very slight smile. "That depends entirely on what you consider 'weird'. It will take some time for you to become accustomed to it. How long, depends on you."

I nodded slowly. "Fair enough.. why did I nearly freak out and run out the door in the airport when another vampire came up to me? It didn't happen with you, or with Sundown." The word still felt strange to say.. vampire. But I had come to a decision when I woke up that night, before I'd left my room. I'd decided that hiding from the situation was pointless and pathetic. I may not like it, but it was what it was, and the faster I could get over it, the better. The self pity was gone, replaced by grim resolve.

"The predatory part of us.. the beast.. recognizes other vampires as potential threats. The reaction varies from a strong desire to run away, if the vampire is perceived as more powerful, or a desire to kill, if they are not. There are ways, however, to mask the... 'scent' of the beast from other vampires. This is why you did not 'freak out' when confronting Sundown and myself."

"Makes sense.. is there a way to keep this thing from taking me over again like it did on.." I paused, fighting back the memory, "...on the temple?"

"The beast is a part of all vampires, and it can be a struggle to retain control. The beast becomes more difficult to control in the throws of strong emotion, or hunger. If you allow yourself to go too long without feeding, the beast will force you to do so, and the end result usually tends to be rather..messy."

"The vampire asked me about clan.. and mentioned something called 'The Invictus'.."

Giuseppe nodded. "Your clan is the bloodline that you are embraced into. It will be the same as the bloodline of the one who turned you.. your 'sire'." He put a hand to his chest. "We are referred to as Mekhet..."

The night went on like that for hours. I grilled him endlessly on anything I could think of. What it meant to be Mekhet, about the beast.. and he answered some questions that I didn't think to ask. It was weird, Giuseppe being so forthcoming. Certainly there were some questions he didn't answer, whether because he couldn't, or thought I should find the answers myself, but mostly he gave me whatever information he could. And it was a lot to take in. Clans, covenants..he told me how to 'get along' in vampire society. There were rules, more rules that I thought vampires would have.. but a society needed rules to survive, even a society of monsters. He told me about the blood.. there was going to be a lot to learn about the blood.

He showed me how to use it to sharpen my reflection in the mirror. Looking at myself for the first time since the embrace was not a fun experience. I looked.. dead. My face was ashen, high cheek bones making my face look ghoulishly gaunt. No wonder people had been staring. I stood in front of that mirror for a long time, coming to grips with it. It wasn't until I had regained my composure that he taught me how to make myself look alive, using the blood, stressing the importance of hiding in plain sight.

He took me out, after that. We went to places with people. He showed me how to tell if someone was sick.

"Why does it matter if they're sick? How can a vampire get AIDS? We don't have normal physiology. Not that I'm eager to munch on the neck of a HIV patient.. but still.." Honestly, I wasn't eager to munch on any people..
"You are correct in one manner. We cannot contract the illnesses of those that we feed upon. However, we can act as carriers. Feed from a sick individual, you will pass on that illness to others that you feed upon."

My eyes widened a touch at that little tidbit. I realized I'd been unconsciously hugging myself. I forced my arms back to my sides. Talk of feeding was making me uncomfortable.

"You must never underestimate them, Harper."

I looked up sharply, somewhat confused. Giuseppe was watching me intensely.
"Why would I?"
"Perhaps not now, but in the future when you have learned what you are capable of, it will become very simple to view them as nothing more than prey. You would be wise to avoid that notion. They may only be mortal, but they can accomplish great things if given the right motivation. There have been many vampires that were felled because they did not think much of their 'prey'."

I turned away and watched the crowd again. They were nothing special from where I was standing.. but I had faced down vampires, werewolves, and other nightmares and had survived to tell the tale. It was true that human beings could accomplish impressive things if determined enough.

Giuseppe continued. "You are different from them now..."
I snorted. "That's nothing new." I interrupted.
Giuseppe gave me a scathing look. "You may not have felt very connected to your fellow man before, however, I assure you, this will prove to be much different. You no longer have the common trait of life with them. However, that does not mean you should seclude yourself from them. Those that do find their humanity slipping away at an alarming rate.."

I didn't really understand it at first, it took a few weeks before it started to sink in. I was different now. Emotions felt different.. desires, needs, everything.. felt unfamiliar. I slowly realized what Giuseppe had meant. I could feel the pull of the beast, fighting to do things that made me cringe, and the beast salivate.

So with Giuseppe's encouragement, I did things to keep some semblance of connection to the mortal world. Normal things. I went to the movies, to bars.. that early on, feeding wasn't involved. Giuseppe wouldn't let me feed on people yet.. which.. I was okay with. At least, part of me was. It was a lesson in self control to ignore the pull of hunger in crowded places.. but I managed.

Something else unexpected happened because of those trips. I realized I could really do without intimate social interactions. I had always been anti social.. but I'd never wanted to be. I'd always hated the people who could talk to anyone, be the life of the party.. but I'd been forced to do all those things in the weeks leading up to Mexico. I'd played the flirty club girl..among other roles.. and realized I found it.. distasteful. I much preferred to sit alone and people watch, or talk with someone with whom I had a genuine connection. The idea of being a social butterfly now seemed frivolous. None of those people actually cared.

So fuck em.

There were still moments when it was necessary. It was like a mask to slip on to meet a goal. One that felt oppressive and annoying, but still had its usefulness. Giuseppe encouraged other similar masks. He would talk to me often about the importance of change. Vampires were static creatures. Hell, I woke up with the same hair every night, regardless of what I'd done with it the night before. It was important not to become stuck in a routine. I didn't realize that this was more than just a philosophy until after I'd followed the Dragon's Tail.

****

A few weeks later, Giuseppe abruptly ended another philosophy lesson with a phrase that did not sound nearly as foreboding as it should have.

"We are going out." It was around 2:30am. It wasn't unusual, so I followed him through the streets without protest. I didn't bother asking where we were going, he wouldn't answer me anyway, and I'd know soon enough.

We stopped in a dark alleyway across the street from a bar. The place was already closed, the only movement inside were bartenders cleaning up the place.

"What exactly are we doing?" I muttered in a low voice.
"Hunting. Go."
I blinked at the abruptness, but gathered my wits pretty quickly. A lone bartender had exited the place and was walking towards the parking lot. He was, apparently, supposed to be my prey. I didn't feel very predatory at that moment. I knew that I shouldn't just go up and assault the guy.. I didn't want to blow my cover. So how did I go about getting him out of the open and none the wiser? Giuseppe hadn't given me any clues, but I was starting to get the idea that Giuseppe's idea of object lessons entailed pushing me in the river and seeing if I could figure out how to swim. I think he enjoyed watching me flounder at times.

I was terrified. I didn't want to feed from this guy. The concept of eating people still didn't sit well with me. But the other part of me had been yowling for it for weeks. It was getting more and more difficult to ignore it when I was out in public. So doing this, taking a little blood from this guy.. was definitely better than the alternative.. losing control and killing someone.

So, my wind working at light speed to figure out some ploy, I walked towards the guy. I kept to the shadows at first, until I figured out what angle I was going to play. I paused in an alcove, mussed my hair a bit, ditched the light jacket I'd brought for the sake of blending in, and made sure my clothes were slightly less than straight. Then I stumbled out of the alcove with a bewildered look on my face, my best impression of a confused, drunk chick.

"Hey.. hey have you seen my car?" I slurred just a bit, stopping right in his path.
The bartender stopped walking and gave me a half-assed smile and shook his head. "What type of car is it?"
"Blue Taurus..or a black Mazda.. I don't remember which one I drove.."
He glanced around the nearly empty parking lot and shrugged. "I don't think its here.. do you need me to call you a cab?" He seemed helpful, but annoyed. He was probably more than ready to be home.
I forced myself to giggle and tried not to let it make me sick to my stomach. "Well not here.. it was in the next lot over..can you help me?" I pointed through an alleyway to the neighboring street.

His smile started to crumble. "Look, I gotta get home.."
"Oh please? It'll only take a sec.. and I'm freezin' my tits off out here..see?" I reached for his face with one hand to illustrate, and he pulled back out of reflex. Which was fine, because it gave me an excuse to 'accidentally' lose my balance and stumble right into him.
I giggled again. "Oops.. sorry.."

He held me awkwardly and gently pushed me away from him. "Jesus, you are cold." He signed, looked around at the empty street then down the alleyway. "Alright, I'll help you look, but if its not in that other lot, I'm calling you a cab."

I gave him my best drunk smile and hung onto his arm as we turned down the alley. I started nuzzling his neck once we were about half way through the dank passage.

"Hey.. I've got a girlf.."
And then I bit him, and he stopped talking.

The first time I'd fed from a person, I hadn't been in control of myself. The beast had overwhelmed me and taken over my body and mind. The memories were still fragmented.

This was all me. The moment that hot blood hit my tongue, I knew why vampires hunted humans. The rush was a thousand times stronger than any morphine high I'd ever had.. and 10 times more potent than the animal blood I'd been subsisting on until this point. I drank long and deep. I could feel it coursing down my chin, and at some point I know I'd gotten him against the wall, my fingers in his hair pulling his head back to an awkward angle.

I nearly lost myself. In a panic, I realized I'd lost track of how much I'd taken. How many mouthfuls of blood equals a pint? Had I killed him? No, I could vaguely hear him making small noises, which meant he was still conscious. The rational part of me struggled to pull my body free of him. But the blood was heady and intoxicating. I didn't want to stop.. but somehow I managed to force my fingers to uncurl and begin to release him. I started to lift my face..

And couldn't. There was a hand on the back of my head, forcing me to keep my fangs in the guys neck. The thin reign of moderation that I'd managed to wrap around the beast suddenly snapped, unable to withstand the screaming desire for more blood. It drank, while the rational part of me struggled weakly to stop it. But the beast didn't stop until his heart stuttered once.. and then stopped. Then, sated, it stalked back into the shadows of my head. I tried to pull back again, and realized Giuseppe was no longer holding me in place.

I laid the bartender gently on the asphalt and turned slowly to glare balefully at Giuseppe. My face was covered in blood, my eyes were on fire, and if it had been anyone else standing there, it would've been scary as hell. Giuseppe wasn't impressed. My voice was rough and feral. My hands were shaking in rage. It was a fight to keep from screaming at him. Instead my voice was dangerously quiet. "Why did you make me kill him?"

He looked at me, unconcerned. "I did not. You are welcome to blame me, however. I provided you with a choice. Contrary to what you may believe, I only held you there for a moment."

My stomach twisted itself into knots. "You're going to tell me if I'd tried to stop a second time you wouldn't have held me there again?" My voice was bitter. The anger was rising.

"It is irrelevant, you did not try a second time." He said matter of factly.

I looked down at the body and felt something inside me break. I wanted to blame him. Giuseppe had made me kill him. He'd made me murder this random guy, who hadn't done me any fucking harm..

But he hadn't. He had facilitated.. but I had pulled the trigger. I wasn't able to control it. Even that rational part of me, the part that almost won out.. had been hoping it would lose.

But that didn't mean I wasn't pissed at Giuseppe, it just meant I was also pissed at myself. I clenched my teeth and glared daggers at him.

"It was necessary to illustrate a very important lesson. It is called Following the Dragon's Tail." He crouched down and pulled out the bartender's wallet. He tossed it to me. I swiped it angrily from the air. "Every death has effects.. consequences. You will follow the effects of this one."

I scowled at him. "And if I don't want to play this little game?"
His expression never changed. "I assure you, it is not a game. This is not an action to be taken lightly. It is a terrible thing.. that was completely necessary. If you do not chose to continue with the lesson, then we are finished, and this man's death will have served no purpose."

I felt anger and outrage bubble up, threatening my control. Once again, I was forced to shut down the majority of my emotions, to keep the beast from gaining footholds in my fury. I crushed the wallet in my fist and we stared at each other for several minutes. Giuseppe watched me like a statue, as though he could read my thoughts. I weighed my options.

It was possible, if I stayed, that Giuseppe may make me do more terrible things.. but it seemed unlikely. It was counter to everything he'd already taught.. but so was this, from what I could tell. But I couldn't just let the guy die for no reason. If I went through Giuseppe's little 'lesson,' there was nothing keeping me from leaving after that. Maybe I'd even decide Giuseppe had been right.. but I doubted it. I'd killed a man.. but if I went along with it, it would give me some time to do right by this guy's family, if he had one. And there was always the fact that it wasn't entirely Giuseppe's doing..

That was the thought that really made up my mind. I had murdered someone. I could blame him all night long, but I hadn't resisted. I had made the choice. I'd lost control...I couldn't just walk away and pretend it hadn't happened. Maybe I felt like following this trail would be my punishment.. or make the death mean something.. but either way, I couldn't pretend it wasn't my fault, and walk away..

I cursed long and colorfully and tore my eyes from Giuseppe. I knelt by the quickly cooling corpse and took all his valuables. He didn't have much besides the wallet and a cellphone, but I wanted it to look like a mugging, at least from the outside. He wore a simple ring that I hesitated to take.. but in the end also put that into my pocket. No normal mugger ever killed someone by exsanguination. I just hoped that no one would look that hard.

I flipped through his wallet. He had his tips for the night, a drivers license, TABC card, a photo of a woman, and a couple credit cards. I took the drivers license and put everything else back and put the wallet in my pocket, then I turned my back on Giuseppe and walked away, only pausing briefly to retrieve my discarded jacket.

****

His name was Vincent Hughes. I went to his apartment. I'm not sure why.. I think I wanted to be sure there was no one waiting for him to come home... thankfully, the place was dark. I heard no signs of life from within. I thought briefly about going inside, but there were bars on the windows, and I didn't have so much as a bobby pin on me to even attempt to pick a lock.

I sagged against the wall in the darkened hallway of the apartment building. I was not looking forward to this little assignment. Surprisingly, most of my anger had drained away, leaving me depressed and hollow. I liked to think that I had no illusions about the type of person Giuseppe was. He had never come off as a bastion of morality. He'd been willing to sacrifice all the others to get to me. It shouldn't surprise me that he'd kill someone if he thought it important enough..

What did surprise me, was that he didn't. I did. I'd never killed in anything but self defense before, at least not when I'd been in my right mind. Those kids on the temple.. I'd stopped having dreams about them. That guilt was quickly fading. They'd been dying long before I'd sunk my fang into them.. but this?

Giuseppe had told me it would be difficult to control myself. That's why I hadn't fed from any people yet. I knew it, intellectually. But now I understood on a whole new level. Now I got to see, first hand, the consequences of losing control. Maybe the lesson really had been necessary.. how easy would it be to give into the beast and take a life when you had no idea the ripples it caused.. the far reaching effects.. people could easily become nothing but cattle, if you refused to notice how one death could effect so many other things.

My thoughts were morbid and self loathing as I left the building. I used a payphone and called into the police department, anonymously, and reported the body. I was pretty sure I was only supposed to observe, but I didn't have much time tonight, and wanted to move it along. Besides, better the family know now, then to wait and wonder for hours or days.

I gave it some time, and since I was pretty familiar with the process, arrived at the morgue only a few minutes before the family. I sneaked into the morgue. I knew the place well enough, I'd transported my share of bodies there, back when I had a normal job. Two people showed up that night. An elderly man, and someone closer to Vincent's age, maybe a bit younger. There was enough of a family resemblance that it would be pretty safe to assume it was his brother. I wasn't stealthy enough to actually be in the room when the family identified the body, but I saw the faces as they left. I heard the wailing. Something inside me withered. The old man left looking wretched and haunted. The younger man had the look of someone holding up a dam that was about to burst.

I went back to the haven feeling like someone had put vice grips around my heart. I didn't speak to anyone, I just shut myself in my room and let the unseen sun steal me into oblivion.

****
((a reminder to anyone who may need it, Mona is a detective for the New Orleans Police Department, and, like Giuseppe, has been a ghoul for a very long time. She's now Giuseppe's ghoul..))

The next night I got straight to work. I asked Mona if she could run down the addresses for Vincent's family. To my surprise, she'd already done so, handing me a small piece of paper. I still wasn't sure Mona liked me being here too terribly much, but it was hard to tell. She didn't talk to me often, but then, I was usually busy learning shit from Giuseppe. I thanked her and left.

There were three addresses on the piece of paper. Two apartments, and one house in the suburbs. I headed there first, as it was the furthest away.. and was the father's house. I figured it was likely that everyone would congregate there.

And I was right. It was late enough in the evening that all the friends of the family had already left, or were in the process of doing so. Soon after I arrived, there were only four people left inside the house. The two from the morgue, a woman who shared the same family resemblance, and a girl who matched the photo that had been in Vincent's wallet.

I watched them grieve. It was probably one of the most unpleasant things I've ever had to do. I watched the sister get into a fight with the brother, a screaming match that devolved into her breaking down into tears and crying into his chest. The elderly man didn't speak much. He ignored offers of help. It was like his other kids weren't even there. It didn't take long before he disappeared into his bedroom for the night...but he didn't sleep. He just stared at the ceiling.

The woman on the couch, Vincent's girlfriend, just sat there, tears continually rolling down her pretty cheeks. She, more than the others, looked stricken. She was the only one who eventually left the house. The others stayed to find comfort in the presence of family.

So I followed her. I followed her for a month. I checked in with the other members of the family, but its difficult to keep tabs on so many people at one time. The longer I watched, the more detached I became, and the more I realized how much one death could effect the world around that person.

I watched as Vincent's girlfriend fell deeper and deeper into depression. She had been cheating on him. Her guilt fueled her grief, and wouldn't allow her to let it go. Eventually she swallowed two bottles of sleeping pills and washed them down with a fifth of vodka. When I got to her apartment that night, I found her dead, surrounded by photos and letters. It cut through my detachment enough to shake me. I decided that I'd had enough of this experiment for one night, and went home.

***

I closed the door softly and rested my forehead against it with a sigh.

"She killed herself today. The brother resents Vincent for dying and leaving him to take care of their dad, and the sister has actually started visiting her father more since the death." My voice was quiet.

"Is that all you have found?" Giuseppe asked from the shadows of the living room.

I shook my head and turned around to lean on the door. "After a month? Not by a long shot. This is going to be a long project isn't it?"
He nodded. "Some kindred follow the Dragon's Tail for generations."
I looked at the floor. "I can see why..." I had only just started to observe the ripples. I knew they would spread out and out and out. The prospect of documenting it all was daunting.

He turned and walked back towards the bedrooms. "We have work to do."
I blinked, confused. "What?"
He did not turn around. "Following the Dragon's Tail is an important exercise, however, there are other lessons that hold equal value. Your nights will encompass both." And he disappeared into the dark hallway.

I stood there a moment, considering my situation. I had been doing almost nothing but follow this trail for the past month, and something unexpected had happened.

I had become grateful for the experience.

Every night, I could feel the beast wrestling for control. And now I knew first hand what consequences letting it loose might bring. It really was a good lesson...one that would help me retain my humanity as I became more and more familiar with what it was to be a vampire.

As important as this lesson was, and would continue to be for the foreseeable future, the thought of other, less morbid pursuits put me in a slightly better mood. I pushed off the door and followed Giuseppe down the hall. That night, he gave me my first tattoo.

The Following weeks

2010-06-28T10:34:00.000-05:00

Sorry for a lack of post last week. As most of you know, I'm currently working on a short film, and was swamped with that all last week and just didn't have the time to put anything up. There should be a post up this week.. theoretically. I don't have alot of filming, but I do have alot to do at my normal job, but I'll try my hardest.

As for the schedule, the plan currently is to begin with the game again on the 11th of July with a few one on one scenes with the characters, since not all of us will be able to be present. Group sessions will start the weekend after that. So there will be new and exciting adventures soon! Thanks for continuing to read through my flashbacks. I still have lots more of them to post for weeks in which we don't have a normal game.

And I hope you are as excited as I am about getting back into the current Chicago storyline!