((Or children, no wait that's parents. Mwahahahahahaha!!

((A few small dishes perhaps.....oh no, they're patens :P :P

((Just post the next bit damn it!

((nice post Sor....interested to see what he's up to now. if Bill becomes a Vamp i'm afraid Gabriel will just have to kill him.

On the journey home, Sorenti closed his eyes, leant his head back on the rest and tried to relive what he had seen before. At first everything was black, then slowly a light grew from the centre, expanding outwards until finally he could see the scene in full colour. His brow creased with the effort as he desperately sought to hang onto the image, there, right in the middle, was what he was searching for, the answer to so many necessary questions. Then again came the flames, though this time without heat, he watched until the picture had burnt away to ashes as before, then slowly opened his eyes.

Bill had sat watching the emotions cross Sorenti's face for the past hour, his head rested on his hands as he studied his employer. As Sorenti opened his eyes, Bill hastily looked away, pretending to read a notice on the compartment wall.

"No Bill!" said Sorenti, "I cannot tell you"

"Oh no sir, I wouldn't presume to ask or wish to know anything that was private to you" Bill replied cautiously

"Ahhh, but you do William, you do" Sorenti said with a slightly cruel smirk, "your mind is not as closed as once it was, perhaps you are losing your edge!"

"I c..can assure y..you that I am still at my peak, sir...I...I..." Bill struggled

"Enough!" Sorenti snapped, then took a moment to calm himself before continuing in a very hushed voice. "Look Bill, you have served me excellently during your entire employment, but what I must do next....I.....well, I'm not sure if I can do it alone.."

"Anything at all I can d..." Bill started, but Sorenti cut him off

"Please, I have some serious things to consider, some of which affect your fate, your status and mine as your employer, others which.........Bill, do you trust me? I mean with your life?" Sorenti suddenly asked

"Implicitly" came the curt reply

Too fast for mortal eyes to see, Sorenti struck out at Bill with a small dagger, stopping it against the tender flesh of Bill's neck. Bill neither flinched, nor recoiled a fraction, instead, he merely tipped his head away from the blade, thereby exposing more of his neck to Sorenti. Replacing the dagger in his sleeve, Sorenti scratched his chin, his cold eyes piercing like lasers, straight through Bill, as if he were seeking his very soul. The old Ventrue frowned darkly, then his expression gradually gave way to a somewhat more relaxed look. All the while, Bill looked calmly back at his boss, yet inside he was almost quivering with a mixture of fear and shock.

"At the airport, make the arrangements for us to travel to Venice, we'll leave at sundown tomorrow," Sorenti whispered as he lit his first cigarette of the trip.

"So....so we're not going home? Sir?" Bill asked, trying to hide his bemusement.

"I think I just answered that, please do try and keep up William, we'll pay someone to take our seats back to Cascadia, just in case we are being followed, but we have a lot of work ahead of us yet and I am not going to travel in a box if I can help it. Oh and you better arrange for my jet to meet us at the Venetian airport, I've got a feeling we won't be able to use normal airlines quite so easily for our next move." Sorenti dismissed Bill and closed his eyes again, savouring the smoke. Bill Tanner shook his head slightly, then shrugged as he left the compartment of the train to call the airport.

((will we ever see our poor Sorenti again? :(

((lol, depends who "we" might be, if you mean "the miserable undead of Cascadia" :wink: then yes, very much so hehe, but not quite yet!

((gonna move to a new thread as the storyline alters direction now ;)