She was dead. There was no clearer way to put it. There was no more final word to be placed on her epitaph. She, who had been the closest thing to a sister he’d had, was no more.

Porter had been pacing the floor ever since his return to the temporary haven the imperfect coterie shared....

[i:fc2d66db58]When Gabriel, Kathy and Montcalm had finally arrived on the scene, they’d witnessed something they probably shouldn’t have. The battle-charred clearing was inhabited by only two figures. Luckily neither of which was Ali.

Gabriel could only stare dumbstruck at the lowest of the figures, Julius unconscious on the earth. Above him, a massive black furred wolf stood snarling as they approached. Kathy’s keen sight had recorded the faint circle of blood that encased the strange duo. A wolf marking it’s territory perhaps?[/i:fc2d66db58]

Now Porter could only stare into the great hearth that warmed his chosen chamber. Terrible hunter’s eyes picking out the finer details among miniscule explosions that sparked and crisped over the fire wood.

He wouldn’t cry. Tears were no longer a part of who he’d become. No. Instead he would miss her in his own, some would say barbaric, way. And as with most of his kind. He would go on.

[i:fc2d66db58]“Here’s to you old woman. I hope you found peace.”[/i:fc2d66db58]

He had gone through the battles in his head countless times. Trying to pin blame on either himself or another. But blame wouldn’t bring her back. And sitting wallowing in your own self pity never worked. So rubbing his fire stung eyes, he tied a borrowed robe around his naked form and decided to shake the conjurer awake.

He opened the heavy oak door that separated him from the rest of the building and loped towards Julius’ room.

Quickly rounding the ornately carved chair in front of the fireplace, and stepping deep in to it's perfectly crafted alcove, Cyrilynn tipped back her head and spotted a small hole with a sparkling diamond at it's center. A tiny breeze nipped down from above, ruffling Rogan's thick hair. She let her vampiric night sight take over as she examined the bricks in the mortar work and then started the search for the keystones.

Looking down, she saw a faint shadow of the painted rosette that had once been the center of this fireside grate. Placing both feet squarely on it, she reached up into the dusty and lightly sooty space, feeling for the first protruding brick on the right hand side. One such presented itself right away and she counted three up and two over to another protrusion on the right. Pulling gently, she felt the shift and heard a faint click.

Reaching now with her left hand, she found an indentation and counted three bricks up and two to the left. This one she pressed in on. Again a shift, followed by a click and a clever little shelf swung out and away from the main chimney in between her outstreatched arms. Old ashes drifted down, finally disturbed after their centuries of rest. A tingle of some unknown sensation trickled down with the falling motes.

Letting go [b:cf8c5709d1]only[/b:cf8c5709d1] of the right trigger, the Tzimisce reached up and probed with touch alone for the crate she knew would be there. The tips of her fingers brushed ancient wood and she nearly jumped out of her skin as a small jolt ran down her arm. Stiffening, she brought her disordered senses back in to control and grasped the edges of the box. Nothing else evinced itself and she pried her treasure off it's ledge.

The weight was heavy and she grunted as the item dragged at muscles. Adjusting for the unexpected heaviness, she elongated her arm and set the precious item on the floor and went back to thoroughly rummaging the secret niche. Again, that unnamed feeling that had tickled her senses, but NOT that electrical snap that had scrambled her synapses. Her hand unerringly settled over bone and she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this, too, was a femur. She felt the light pull of a silent humming from it.

Pulled from it's aged hiding place, she scrutinized what she held. For unexplained reasons, she felt a urgent desire to touch the tip of her tongue to the long shaft and without realizing it, she did. The taste of it was old, like she expected, and very, very familiar. Her eyes grew to saucers as the answer swept over her in a rush. Tzimisce, this was Tzimisce!! She stood entranced until a low moan from without the alcove recalled her to the present. She tucked her find inside her jacket. This was hers since it was never mention in the instructions given for the commission. She intended to look in to it later.

Stepping away from the fireplace, the commissioned item in hand, she heard the tiny snicks that told her the compartment had disappeared back into it's concealed recess. Starting at the Bishop's seat, Cyrilynn began dispatching the remaining pack members that had once held sway here. Stepping out of the feast hall, she glanced back at Desiree Cardigan and beheld a sleeping Sabbat queen, seated on her throne, before her truly dead subjects that hung like gruesome garlands in front of her. The departing vampire closed the door quietly.

After dealing swiftly with the two remaining grounds guards, Cyrilynn rode the hog into El Paso and left the bike, key in it's ignition, in the back part of a shopping mall parking lot. Walking some further ways into the heart of the city, she traded the bikers jacket and leather boots for an alley bums torn and fading overcoat and his ratty sneakers. Making sure to keep ahold of her own trophy. Walking two blocks away, she stooped her shoulders and ratted the black hair into a tangle mass then wandered around for a while, all the while, keeping either to shadows or using Obfuscate to mask herpresence.

Descending to the subways, she slipped in to the mens room with the saddle bags from Rogan's bike still slung around her neck where she'd put them earlier. Discarding the bum's stinking rag in the trash and transferring the leg bone to the bags, she cleaned up a bit and combed the hair into a neat ponytail and then strode out and down the street as a much more fit man. It didn't take long to find a second hand clothing store where Rogan found a suitable dress and shoes. Masking it under some jeans, he entered the uni-sex dressing stalls and shifted into the image of a middle aged but cleanly dressed woman. A bit of molding and the Harley's saddlebags passed for a suitcase. The woman paid for a pair of jeans and left the store.

Hailing a taxi came next and, soon, she set foot in the private hangar where Serai awaited her. Nodding to her mistress, she lead the way aboard the jet and secured the hatch doors. Going forward to tell the pilot to get underway, she returned to buckle herself in to the seat opposite the one her lady had settled into. Folding her hands calmly into her lap she gave a brief rundown on the transfer of the child and the servants to the plane and the packing of what little they'd brought with them. The plane taxied the run way and took to the night skies.

[i:cf8c5709d1]"My lady,....."[/i:cf8c5709d1] Serai began hesitantly, [i:cf8c5709d1]"there has been news from our contact in Marseilles and it is........... disturbing."[/i:cf8c5709d1] Cyrilynn, who had closed her eyes momentarily, opened them and stared at her assistant. The ghoul shifted uneasily and then plunged ahead. [i:cf8c5709d1]"It seems that an unknown magus abducted a Prince there and her lover tried to rescue her. In the ensuing mage fight, the chateau, where the battle was waged, was reduced to so much rubble and she was killed outright. Slain with a sword stroke to the neck."[/i:cf8c5709d1] When Lady C. said nothing, the handmaid's announcement dropped in to the void, [i:cf8c5709d1]"The Prince that was slain was Comtesse Eveshka Shuvolov of Touraine . The lover was Mr. Julius Darrant of Darrant Industries. He is, as of our last comminque, still alive."[/i:cf8c5709d1]

Cyrilynn closed her eyes and pursed her lips. [i:cf8c5709d1]"Ah, the Toreador Doll and the Tremere Wizard."[/i:cf8c5709d1] The whisper was flat in it's tones, almost dispassionate. Silence once more stretched as the Scorpion digested and examined this information in her mind. Presently, she waved the conundrum away. [i:cf8c5709d1]"This changes nothing, my dear. We proceed as normal, with one exception. I will deliver this crate personally. I can not trust it to the hands of my minions nor will I place YOU in the path of the danger this commission represents."[/i:cf8c5709d1]

[i:cf8c5709d1]"Don't misunderstand me here, my love."[/i:cf8c5709d1] Cyrilynn hurried her words to prevent the protest and inquiries she knew would come. [i:cf8c5709d1]"It's not the danger of the dueling wizards but that of the commission it's self. There is something mysterious and unknown about it and what I don't know, I can't trust. What I can't trust, I will NOT put into hands of the blind. No, my pet, this one must be my responsibility." [/i:cf8c5709d1] Serai wisely kept her objections to herself.

Shortly, Lady Cyrilynn bestirred herself from further contemplation of this new developement and gave the handmaid one more instruction, [i:cf8c5709d1]"I'd like you to fetch the phone and get me a direct line to Mr. Durrant. I wish to speak with him personally and [b:cf8c5709d1]no one else[/b:cf8c5709d1]."[/i:cf8c5709d1] Then she sat back and waited for the transmission to be put through.

Julius stared at Khemintiri. Measha padded across the bed and nuzzled her briefly, before jumping to the floor and disappearing under the bed. After a moment Julius fell back, his head disappearing into the well worn groove in the pillow. [i:546f891e61]"I don't have time for your games."[/i:546f891e61] He said at length. [i:546f891e61]"She's gone and that's all there is to it."[/i:546f891e61]

As if on cue, Measha reappeared, jumping onto the bed to land on his chest, letting out a small miaow, halfway consoling, halfway piteous. [i:546f891e61]"That's a pretty ring, you have there, little one."[/i:546f891e61] Said Khemintiri, reaching towards Measha. Julius' eyes flicked open. [i:546f891e61]"Don't you touch that!"[/i:546f891e61] He snapped, recognizing it as the one he had given to Eveshka, a lifetime ago, it seemed. Khemintiri serenely folded her hands in her lap. [i:546f891e61]"Mrrph?"[/i:546f891e61] Said Measha, holding the ring under one paw.

[i:546f891e61]"I made that for her."[/i:546f891e61] Said Julius and placed it upon Measha's jewelled collar. [i:546f891e61]"I made it so that if she was in danger... I..."[/i:546f891e61] Head buried into pillow once again, the tears welling up in his eyes. Measha curled up next to him, licking the tears away, gaining strength, now that her mistress was gone.

[i:546f891e61]"I'm not playing games."[/i:546f891e61] Said Khemintiri slowly. [i:546f891e61]"I realise you have no reason to trust a word that I say, but you must trust this. I loved her too and I have seen her too."[/i:546f891e61]

Julius pulled himself up and sat looking at Khemintiri, searching her eyes for lies and deception. [i:546f891e61]"Even if I do believe you, what then?"[/i:546f891e61]

The door opened and Porter loped in. [i:546f891e61]"Look, Wizard, You have to pull yourself together."[/i:546f891e61] He began in his rough voice. [i:546f891e61]"Gabriel daren't come near you, Kathy is falling apart trying to hold you together and I am fed up of sitting in this dreary hotel."[/i:546f891e61]

Julius looked from the ancient gangrel to the setite and back again. [i:546f891e61]"Porter, it's not as simple as..."[/i:546f891e61]

Porter growled, loudly. [i:546f891e61]"Get out of that bed and start acting like the man I know ye can be, wizard. Falling into the black pit of depression isn't going to help anyone."[/i:546f891e61]

The gangrel walked over and threw the covers from Julius, dragging him from the bed. Measha dived for cover. After a moment a pale and shaky Julius was sitting on the opposite side of the bed from Khemintiri. [i:546f891e61]"That's better. Now get yerself up and find one of them suits you like so much. Oh and while yer getting dressed, perhaps you might want to tell me what [b:546f891e61]she[/b:546f891e61]"[/i:546f891e61] He pointed at Khemintiri [i:546f891e61]"is doing here"[/i:546f891e61]

Almost automatically Julius went to the wardrobe and found one of his usual Armani suits, Porter harrassing him into movement all the while. [i:546f891e61]"She's... erm. Porter, you remember Khemintiri, who shares the same hallucinations as me? Khemintiri, I don't know if you were ever formally introduced. This is Porter, who does some clever stuff with feathers and lightning."[/i:546f891e61]

Khemintiri nodded as the phone began to ring. [i:546f891e61]"I wonder who that can be?"[/i:546f891e61] Queried Julius, quite obviously starting to lose the plot, his grief and the odd situation taking on a surreal air in his tired mind. [i:546f891e61]"Khem, would you mind getting that?"[/i:546f891e61]

Khemintiri looked at Julius for a moment, then reached toward the receiver. [i:546f891e61]"Yes?"[/i:546f891e61] She said, then listened for a moment. [i:546f891e61]"It's for you."[/i:546f891e61] She said, laying sensuously back across the bed, displaying her perfect body to the two men, as she held the telephone at arms length towards Julius. [i:546f891e61]"Some woman, calls herself the Scorpion."[/i:546f891e61]

[i:546f891e61]"Of course, who else would it be."[/i:546f891e61] Said Julius in a voice tinged with mania, as he took the phone from her. [i:546f891e61]"Julius speaking."[/i:546f891e61] He said to the phone. [i:546f891e61]"Meet me in Marseilles, we're all here, perhaps we can have a little party."[/i:546f891e61]

Porter looked about the room. The Camarilla's most wanted woman, her startling beauty displayed for anyone to see, was stretched langourously across the bed. Julius was talking to someone called Scorpion and apparently on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Clearly, it was going to be another long night.

Swells of fluttering red light emanated from the brightly burning crimson star that hung in the sky creating an eerie halo effect. The waves of red floated softly into the surrounding sea of blue and gradually dissipated before surrendering it's hue and disappearing completely. That star, which had so abjectly consumed Gabriel attention the past several nights, remained motionless, both taunting and intimidating.

All the doomsayers and would-be prophets in the Kindred community had marked the celestial body as a certain herald of Gehenna, and while Gabriel had never put much stock into the ravings of such unsound prophets, he could not deny his curiosity and it's odd similiarity to the legends of Nod.

Undoubtedly, Pieterzoon would scoff at his wonderings as the paranoia of a young Kindred. Accusations of Gabriel's reading too much into his Elder's dogma would follow until the young Ventrue would either agree with him or leave out of annoyance. Jan had a way of making Gabriel feel ludicrously young and foolish at times, but he carried with him an air of confidence that was extremely comforting in such uneasy times both within the world and the clan itself.

The soft murmur of voices, with the clear exception of Porter's boisterous bark, drew his attention from the sky and back towards the suite's primary window where three figures lounged about in Julius' bedroom. Julius stood talking on the phone. His face reflected his emotional state, an almost maniacal mixture of pleasure and lunacy. Clumps of raven hair jetted from his normally smoothed scalp, a result of the wild fits he had been prone to in the past several nights.

Two figures idly sat on the bed, one familiar and one not. The former was Porter, his powerful frame still glowing with his victory over Ali. No matter what company he kept, there was no denying that the hunter was still very much alive in the ancient Gangrel. The latter was a bit more of an enigma. She was of course ridiculously beautiful, as most Kindred women seemed to be in recent nights. But she discharged something uniquely appealing, something in her careless eyes.

An amount of charisma backed by confidence. Not the false confidence most of these bloodsucking lapdogs oozed, but a true self-assurance that could not be argued. The dapper Ventrue wondered whether that confidence was a sign of good fortune or danger. She was either a fool, or very accomplished. And given the sort of associates Julius generally attracted, Gabriel was betting on the latter.

[i:30d9953544]"Gabriel, it's here!"[/i:30d9953544]

The glass door slid open and Tyler's face appeared, pulling a rather bulky trunk in tow. He hurried the steamer over to where his master stood and hefted it onto the patio table, positioning it directly in front of him.

[i:30d9953544]"It took a bit of doing with the increased security measures in the States, but I managed to find a contact in a local knives and novelty store who agreed to ship it out with a crate of bowie knives. After that it was a simple matter of having a point man at the warehouse to retrieve it and...and well here it is."[/i:30d9953544] Tyler's pride was apparent as he unsnapped the final clasp and opened the case.

Inside, lay an object wrapped in a satin sheet and held tight by a thick layer of foam casing. With a certain degree of respect, Gabriel pulled the satin aside, revealing the reflective surface of a blade. A blade that he was very intimate with. For all it's symmetry and beauty, the sword had stricken the lives from more foes than Gabriel could hope to recall.

The katana was seamless, a perfect blend of craftsmenship and old world technology. Granted he was not as familiar with it's balance as he was with standard rapiers, but as his Sire had promised, it would come in time. It was not only effective as a weapon, but effective as a symbol of power. Gabriel had received the sword as a token of trust and an affirmation of his abilities. And even now, LaMagra was as glorious as the day he had set eyes upon it.

He shut the case and set it delicately by his feet.

[i:30d9953544]"Thank you Tyler. As always, you've proven invaluable."[/i:30d9953544]

* A note about the Red Star reference in the first few paragraphs. Undoubtedly, other participants in this thread have seen the authors ramblings about White Wolf's upcoming Time of Judgement, in which Gehenna arrives and the Kindred are effectively wiped from the world. This post is not meant to display any attempt by the author to include that premise in the thread or in our version of the World of Darkness.

To the best of the author's knowledge, the Red Star had already been included in threads in the past and therefore should exist within this setting. Any mention of it is only the author indulging his own interests. Thank you and good night.

He had never seen her so frail looking and distraught before. Her eyes usually emerald green eyes were now downcast and the sparkle that they once held seem to be ebbing away from her.

It had taken her an hour to retell what had happened over the past few nights in full detail and he had wiped the blood tears away from her pale cheek as she had laid like a child in his arms, clinging to him for comfort and answers that he could not give.

A late night call had sent him rushing to be with her, the hushed voice and the intermitent sobbing down the line was too much for him to bear. Knowing that their meeting would be intense, he had sought loan of a haven for day, Kathy had been reluctant to leave the rest of them, but he had insisted that he had to see her to learn the full story of all that had happened, thus she had lain with gabriel until he had fallen into a deep sleep and crept from his bed just as dawn approached.

[i:c9b35a9e9a]" And what of Gabriel, how has he taken all of this?"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

[i:c9b35a9e9a]" He just sits most nights on the balcony, and ...and he dreams a lot, violent dreams, I see it in his eyes when he wakens, but I dont know what off, I'm reluctant to ask, I don't know if I want to see what the future holds, He blames himself for Eve's death, but it was noones fault really, I'm just so tired and I don't know what to do, Julius is so irritable at times and refuses anything I try to do for him and yet at other's he clings to me as he cries, and I don't know how to help him"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

[i:c9b35a9e9a]" Gabriel maybe is coping with all that has happened by blaming himself, which is not right as you say, but maybe that is where the dreams stem from, as for Julius, there's little you can do except give him support, he is grieving badly, and must be allowed to, next comes you, your hiding something from me, when you were sleeping earlier, I tried to see some of your pain and anguish that you are feeling, you let me see some of it as I probed but then the shutters came down, now why is that?"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

Kathy slid away from his embrace and looked at him accusingly.

[i:c9b35a9e9a]" Don't look like that, I was worried, you were exhausted when you arrived, so I let you sleep for awhile and then I grew curious, you can't berate me for that, out of everyone, you are the one that my heart belongs to and you know that"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

Her slender figure arose from the bed and she walked to the balcony and pushed open the doors.

[i:c9b35a9e9a]" I've heard that when you were in York, you met another kindred, not unusual you might say, but then I heard you sneaked him out of the city, he was about to be blood hunted kathy, and you risked own safety to take him to cascadia, now why would that be?"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

Kathy continued to look out of the city, fighting the panic that rose inside her, did he know about nerov and what she was doing?

She almost gasped as she felt his hands gripping her shoulders and then his breathe on her neck as he whispered to her.

[i:c9b35a9e9a]" Yes I know who he is, and what he is, but I'm yet to find out what need you have for him, but I will, whether from your lips or another, but heed my words, I will find out"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

kathy's eyes opened wide in shock, never had he spoken to her harshly before, but her stubborness outdid itself as she turned around and looked at him, a smile painted on her face.

[i:c9b35a9e9a]" Really my love, you make a lot out of nothing, I merely offered him safe passage and was at no risk, gabriel wouldn't allow it ....you know that"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

he stood and marvelled at her, the ability she had to change her moods so suddenly made him almost envious, but he knew it was a facade, and her world might soon begin to tumble.

Taking his hand she led him back to the bed.
[i:c9b35a9e9a]" I must go soon, if Gabriel awakens and finds me not at his side, he might not be too please, come tell me all that has been happening to you"[/i:c9b35a9e9a]

[i:b6e7b4ac56]“Wonderful. Tremere. Snakes. How is it I always land in among the worst?”[/i:b6e7b4ac56] Porter grunted, his irritation more than apparent as Julius scrambled around the bedchamber dressing with one hand. The other holding the phone.

[i:b6e7b4ac56]“If you decide that you need me. Page me.”[/i:b6e7b4ac56] Porter imitated a businessman before striding out the door. His aggressive stomp sending the bedside cabinet flying. Khem could barely contain her amusement as Julius let out an over-long sigh.

[i:b6e7b4ac56]“It’s all falling to pieces.”[/i:b6e7b4ac56] Julius groaned, watching the Gangrel walk along the corridor.

--------

The bar was almost empty. Porter, dressed for once, had taken seat by the bar itself. His back to the scant few denizens that continued to drown themselves. Not particularly clever strategically. But he wasn’t expecting trouble. Nor would he care if it found him.

He feigned a smile. Trying to appeal to the Kine barman’s instincts to serve, and waved his money.

[i:b6e7b4ac56]“Shouldn’t be drinking. Man of my condition.”[/i:b6e7b4ac56] The barman smirked quizzically. [i:b6e7b4ac56]“Condition huh? And what would that be?”[/i:b6e7b4ac56] Porter nodded.

[i:b6e7b4ac56]“Oh. I’m dead.”[/i:b6e7b4ac56] He grinned darkly. Then reassured the frowning figure. [i:b6e7b4ac56]“Ok. Well maybe not yet. But the doctor said it looked bleak. So...gimme a Guinness. Oh and a Macallan. No ice.”[/i:b6e7b4ac56] Irish and Scots, he mused, can’t beat ‘em.

The barman walked off, returning, in time, with both drinks. He disappeared again with the notes, reappearing with Porter’s change. The Gangrel nodded in thanks then took a mouthful of the smooth, creamy beer.

His beast recoiled, forcing him to tighten his knotting stomach. Swallowing he focused on the flavour before slapping the scotch down a moment later.

The hours passed. And in those hours, the ancient had noted with much sorrow, that the alcohol failed to numb his head. All he’d gained it seemed, was a stronger gut.

The bartender looked on, impressed that the be-maned stranger could certainly handle his drink.

He stood as last orders were called. Tipping the barman before walking out into the street. The drifter look he’d adopted fitting well with his mane of hair, stubbled face, and wolfish gait.

[i:b6e7b4ac56]“Well Porter old bean. Guess it’s time to lay in the bed you made.”[/i:b6e7b4ac56]

He whistled as he headed back to the hotel, a strange calm settling over him. The beast slumbering in his throat for the first time in days.

[u:73684cfd85][b:73684cfd85][i:73684cfd85]The next day.[/i:73684cfd85][/b:73684cfd85][/u:73684cfd85]

Montcalm had sent them. Four of Touraine’s finest.

The four Toreador walked quickly and quietly into the room. Their slippered feet barely whispering at their approach. They stopped opposite the door and began to dress as befitting the training studio.

The tight, cloth padding and masks made them look all the more ridiculous. The way they stood, like effeminate seamstresses with exaggerated needles made Porter stifle a chuckle. He dressed, again unusually, in loose leggings. His muscular torso and wild hair opposing the maestro quartet’s clean lines.

They bowed in recognition. Though he could tell by the mutterings, that they considered him uncouth and in need of a lesson. So he merely grunted at the nodding heads and perused the weapon table.

His eyes immediately fell upon hers. Eveshka’s rapier and it’s partner Main Gauche, sat glinting coldly. He considered them, then took each blade in his hands, raising and lowering them as though accustoming himself to their weight.

[i:73684cfd85]“Hmmm bit too airy. But let’s see.”[/i:73684cfd85] He spoke evenly and softly. The softness catching all four off guard.

[i:73684cfd85]“Before we begin. What do I call you?”[/i:73684cfd85]

The Toreador swordsmen raised their masks. Each speaking in succession. Each speaking with overblown self assurance.

[i:73684cfd85]“Aubin.”[/i:73684cfd85] A fair faced youth spoke. Though his fair features weren’t mirrored by his eyes. Porter saw cruelty in those gleaming orbs. And it made him smile.

[i:73684cfd85]“Rodrigo.”[/i:73684cfd85] The second spoke with greater arrogance than Aubin. And he did so with a Spanish accent.

[i:73684cfd85]“Batisi.”[/i:73684cfd85] The third was dark skinned and even through the padding, Porter could see he was massively muscled.

[i:73684cfd85]“And you?”[/i:73684cfd85] He motioned to the fourth, evidently female.

[i:73684cfd85]“Xiang.”[/i:73684cfd85] Her eastern features shone among those of the others. Her waif-like frame made her look more a dancer or a sister than a warrior. But Porter knew better than to judge women like that. He remembered Encarmine.

The five soon-to-be combatants raised their various weapons in salute.

Cyrilynn frowned down at the phone in her hand and then dropped the reciever into it's cradle and waved her ghoul to take it way. The young woman returned it to it's accustomed cabin space and returned to her seat once more, questions piling up on her face, unasked. Her mistress frowned even more and replayed the past, abrupt conversation over in her mind again, trying to find it's flaws.

Lady C. had waited for the connections to her client to be made, via the agreed upon numbers, with her head cradled in the comfortable embrace of the plane's seat. Lightly dozing after such a strenuous affair, garnering and conserving her strength. She heard, but paid very little attention to Serai's words, until she heard her say the client's name. [i:1c249b30fc]"I have a personal connecting call for Mr. Julius Darrant. Would you please inform him that the Scorpion would like to speak with him?"[/i:1c249b30fc] She then handed the instrument to her now attentive employer.

[i:1c249b30fc]"Julius speaking."[/i:1c249b30fc] was the terse introduction. [i:1c249b30fc]"Mr. Darrant,"[/i:1c249b30fc] the Tzimisce began formally, [i:1c249b30fc]"I offer my condolences on your loss. I understand what it is to lose someone who is more than close to one's self."[/i:1c249b30fc] Silence stretched and she could hear movement, the rustle of clothing as well as scattered phrases here and there on the other end. And she could hear the heaviness of her client's breathing as he struggled, inwardly and outwardly. She decided to plunge on.

[i:1c249b30fc]"I have obtained your.....crate....for you and am ready to make the delivery, Mr. Darrant. [b:1c249b30fc]In person.[/b:1c249b30fc] I would like to meet with you, if you would but tell me where would be convenient."[/i:1c249b30fc] She heard a quick intake of breath and the answer was snapped back at her, [i:1c249b30fc]"Meet me in Marseilles. We're all here, perhaps we can have a little party."[/i:1c249b30fc] [i:1c249b30fc]"As you wish, Mr. Darrant. I will be at your hotel in twenty four hours or less. [b:1c249b30fc]I[/b:1c249b30fc] will find [b:1c249b30fc]you[/b:1c249b30fc],"[/i:1c249b30fc] and, annoyed for some odd reason, she depressed the receiver button to end the call before he could say anything further.

What did he mean by "we can have a little party"? Just him and her? Was he going to try to seduce her? She gave an unladylike snort. As if. Then she shook her head, realizing just how ludicrous that was. The wizard had just lost his lover and was sorrowing greatly! Allowances had to be made and, somehow, she just couldn't make what she knew of him into a Lothario.

Then an alarming thought occurred. Not MORE people to have to know who and what she was!! Her fists balled in her lap and her face tightened in anger. This was [b:1c249b30fc]NOT[/b:1c249b30fc] acceptable!! Drumming up her own clientele was one thing, but having a room full of people suddenly aware of her other profession was another. He'd done business with her before and he knew her requirements. Grieving or not, this was going to cost him! This called for some alternate planning with some safety measures. [b:1c249b30fc]AND[/b:1c249b30fc] a bonus for the extra effort to cover her tracks. She smiled grimly.

[i:1c249b30fc]"That secretary of Mr. Darrant's was rather forward, my lady. She practically purred the gentleman's name when she informed him of your call. AND, she even chuckled! Such familiarity!!"[/i:1c249b30fc] Serai huffed, as she drew her mistress back to the present. The Tzimisce gazed at her handmaid and the servant immediately folded her hands in her lap and sat to attention. [i:1c249b30fc]"I have new instructions for you, my dear, and we have a new destination."[/i:1c249b30fc]

[i:1c249b30fc]"We're to touch down, briefly, at the strip on the estate. Off load the servants and most of the items to be returned to the manor. Keep back only what is needed for the two of us for an extended stay in Marseilles. We can pick up anything that needs replenishing there. Send the child back, as well, with our most trusted servant. Leave him or her general instructions to care for the girl and allow her supervised run of the place, so that she can become accustomed to it. Have the jet refueled and restocked from the hangar. You and I will sleep on board. We will depart as soon as I have awakened and have finished my daily routine. Oh! And have someone bring more of my private stock of vitae over for us."[/i:1c249b30fc]

Lady Cyrilynn looked her handmaid up and down, then nodded her head. [i:1c249b30fc]"Serai, I want you to know that this mission is becoming more involved than I am happy with. I intend to meet and discuss, with Mr. Darrant, a change in the payment for delivery of this crate. Considering that he is a wizard and grieving vampire, I might not be able to return to fetch the crate I will leave with you. I want you to take to the skies and run for as long as you can, never staying in one place for longer than you have to, if you don't hear from me on our private line within two hours after I leave you."[/i:1c249b30fc] Serai's eyes grew wide and their expression took on a tormented look

[i:1c249b30fc]"You know the Swiss bank account number and you have a stock of my vitae on board. It should last you for quite a while. If you find a suitable place, bury the damned thing where no one else can find it, then promptly forget it.....if you can."[/i:1c249b30fc] The Tzimisce paused a bit, turning possibilities over in her mind. [i:1c249b30fc]"[b:1c249b30fc]IF[/b:1c249b30fc] things should turn out all right after that point in time, I will try to raise you on the plane's phone. If I call you my "little bitch", then you will know that everything is cleared for your return. If I should address you as "my pet", then you will know that I am being forced to recall you or that it is someone else. You will then continue to where ever you are headed. Do you understand?"[/i:1c249b30fc]

Serai nodded her head, her heart swelling with black misery that she dared not allow to show on her countenance. Her lady arose from her seat and held out her hand to her beloved. [i:1c249b30fc]"Come, my[/i:1c249b30fc] "little bitch". [i:1c249b30fc]We have time before we reach our destination and I would spend it with you."[/i:1c249b30fc] Cyrilynn pulled her lover up from the seat and into arms that tightened painfully around Serai's slight frame. She elongated her fangs and brushed them along that swan-like neck, leaving little scraped marks that dribbled blood.

Lapping them langorously away and sealing the wound, she nibbled her way to the younger woman's lips and then sank them in hard. Serai moaned and swayed, her eyes closed in ecstasy, as she allowed her master to pull her darkened thoughts of a future without her away from her contemplations of it. Lady C. brushed her hands down past the perfect mounds of her breasts to the nipped in waist and captured a hand. Releasing the now aroused woman, she tugged gently and led her into their sleeping compartment and closed the door.

Unexpectedly, Batisi went down first.

The quartet had moved as one, two parrying Porter’s best. The remainder lashed out with ferocious accuracy, tearing a ragged hole in Porter’s leggings. However in retaliation, Porter clubbed the hilt of his rapier across Batisi, sending the muscled man stumbling as he lost his balance. Not that it really slowed their attack. Porter’s strike left his left side open, giving the others more than enough time to slash at him. The blades being specially prepared, easily slid through his skin’s supernal defences. He hissed at the sting each blade kissed upon him and spun the main gauche madly. Forgetting himself for a briefest of seconds, the dagger was whipped from his outstretched fingers by the deft strokes of Aubin. The cruel-eyed Toreador followed his disarmanent with a playful whip across Porter’s fingers.

Porter clenched his fist, hearing the beast’s song in his head. A chorus begging, whining for release. Gritting his fangs, he suppressed his nature.

[i:eb29cc951d]No. As a man. A man.[/i:eb29cc951d] Porter growled to himself.

He leapt clear of the three whirling edges, bringing his foot up into Batisi’s face as the black man tried to stand. It knocked him out cold.

Xiang lashed out, drawing a faint red line along Porter’s forearm, the Gangrel dropped his rapier then.

Rolling clear, Porter grabbed a broadsword from a display mount. Raising the suddenly fearsome weapon so that it’s point aimed at the advancing three. Xiang kept her rapier. But now faced with such an imposing sword, Aubin and Rodrigo reconsidered. Aubin took a sword not unlike Porter’s, Rodrigo choosing a circular shield and morning-star.

Porter stepped forward, twisting the blade in his arms, bearing it’s weight on his left shoulder as the three attacked. Aubin swung low, trying to cripple his foe, hissing once as Porter easily deflected the clumsy attack. Twice as the feral brought the weight of his blade down on his upper arm. The Gangrel drew the sword back before it cut too deeply. But the damage was done. Aubin, although a master with a rapier, wasn’t ready for the weight of a broadsword. Nor was he prepared for the crippling injury said edges delivered. He fell to his knees, receiving a mocking glare from Rodrigo.

Porter looked at Aubin. The cruel streak in the youth’s eyes was gone. Replaced by humiliation. He grinned.

[i:eb29cc951d]“Better luck next time, cub.”[/i:eb29cc951d]

Aubin looked at his feet, nursing the gash in his arm before he retired to the side of the now roused, Batisi.

His gloating could have brought him to his knees, had Rodrigo’s swing connected. But the wily Gangrel ducked, then blocked Xiang’s thrust with the hilt of his sword. The woman tutted but stepped clear of the blade’s extended range. The dance continuing as Rodrigo swung again, blocking Porter’s riposte with his shield.

Cursing, this time audibly, Xiang lashed out. Her seemed maturity receding as Porter grabbed one of her ill-placed legs and tripped her. His sword tip grazing her throat as she snapped her eyes to his.

[i:eb29cc951d]“Now now child. Not too hasty.”[/i:eb29cc951d]

He nodded to Rodrigo then dropped the heavy blade, taking a Targe and Sgean Dubh from an adjacent table. The weapons so familiar to his people felt strangely at home in his weathered grasp.

He clashed shields with the Spaniard, locking blade around chain and gaze to gaze. Buffeting each other away, the two entered a series of parries, blocks, feints, lunges and swings. The overall effect, that of two Capoeira experts leaping and kicking at the other’s head, but missing by the grace of expert timing.

[i:eb29cc951d]“You fight well. For a Gangrel.”[/i:eb29cc951d] Rodrigo’s slight wasn’t subtle. But Porter had heard worse.

[i:eb29cc951d]“And like so many of your peers. You smell.”[/i:eb29cc951d] Porter blew a raspberry at the now affronted warrior. Following it with a pout.

Rodrigo remained cool. Drawing a lethal, bludgeoning arc in the air with his morning-star. The heavy spiked ball spinning on it’s chain.

Porter watched the motions as he would the coils of a rising cobra. Noting with each, the angles, the instinctive mathematics of it all, before stepping forward, knife held forward.

The chain struck his knife, violently wrapping around it as Porter released his grip. Delivering a painful, but non-lethal bop to Rodrigo’s nose.

The Gangrel dropped his shield. Playfully kicking it across the floor to the others. Before saluting them.

[i:eb29cc951d]“Au revoir mes chéris.”[/i:eb29cc951d] He blew the four Kindred a playful kiss farewell. Then left.

"We shall speak again, Julius," said Khemintiri in a silky voice. She stood up displaying her perfect body in all its glory and then simply vanished.

((I had to get her out of there as i will not be free to post for a bit)).

(( Been researching Fae as I know little of them to write up a tale at the moment... Will post soon when I have a better idea what Mora is dealing with... ))

She sat at the antique mahogany desk pondering the downward trends in both the NASDAQ and the PSE. It was time to cash in on some of her more risky stocks and invest in more stable blue chips. She needed to send a letter to her broker. [i:db900bba34]"Shaundra,"[/i:db900bba34] she called through the open door to her study, [i:db900bba34]"I need you to take a letter for me."[/i:db900bba34]

A slim black woman came through the door, white business suit a dramatic contrast against the chocolate skin. Her dark hair was swept back in a bun, lively eyes shining brightly with suppressed mischief. Not that her mistress minded that impishness, in fact she almost encouraged it. [i:db900bba34]"I'm ready."[/i:db900bba34] her husky voice was a compliment to the fresh loveliness of her face as she perched in the chair in front of the polished furniture crossing her legs and opening the steno pad.

[i:db900bba34]"Dear Mr. Smythe,"[/i:db900bba34] her employer began, [i:db900bba34]"I have been remiss in not reaching you earlier as I have been travelling extensively these last few months."[/i:db900bba34] She paused for a moment to consider her next words. [i:db900bba34]"I felt that it was time to contact you as...."[/i:db900bba34] her voice faded out and Shaundra looked up to see what had caused her to come to an abrupt halt. Her eyes widened with concern as her lady's eyes were glazed over and blood-sweat was pouring down from her forehead. The amber stone resting in the center of her brow flared to life, bathing the room in tawny light. Elzbet's assistant wondered if this would be a good vision or a bad one as most were generally bad these days.

Just then a blaze of lightning split a darkening sky, followed immediately by the crash of thunder and the clouds opened up to a deluge that began slashing at the windows. The frozen figure in the executive's chair bowed backwards, screaming in agony. The secretary dashed around the desk to attend her mistress, who was awash with brilliant light. She firmly grasped the rigid body as it continued to jerk and shake and pulled her to the floor of the study, averting her head as the light stung. Sounds of horror and anguish issued from the clenched lips and those sightless eyes stared into nothingness.

Finally, with a last drawn-out moan, the body went limp and the eyes slipped shut, the amber glow recediing. Shaundra went to the door and called for a few servants to carry the unconscious woman to her chambers, then followed so that she would be on hand to record everything that her mistress would dictate upon waking.

*****************
Elzbet awoke to darkness, which was good, as her servants were aware that light tormented her eyes after her visions. And this was the worst yet. Sitting in the chair behind the desk the other night, she had felt the storm increasing rapidly and knew that it was mage-induced. It was followed by mind-stealing grief that had washed over her and the visions had begun. Images of a man and a woman, love etched in every feature.

The man appeared familiar, but she could not place where she had seen him before, not with the scenes pouring through her mind. The woman she didn't know at all. They had flashed through quickly, like a strobe light, and just when she thought them done, a wave of rage and hatred scorched her senses and the omens began to take on a more dangerous aspect. Blood, mortal and immortal alike, flowed like a river, fire flew from the same man's fingers and seared the land, all the while, a cruel, mad intensity spread through his visage. Of the unknown woman, she saw only a void where she should have been.

Although these were mere possibilites, and not yet facts, it still shook her to the core and she couldn't find it in her to utter the words to the waiting assistant, whose presence she felt the moment she opened her eyes. Instead, she gave instructions for the ghoul to research the incident from the night before, and sent her on her way to begin her task. Sighing with unabated weariness, she settled down to sleep for a little longer, energies still depleted by her internal struggle to maintain spiritual balance in her world.

*****************
Fully rested now and sitting upright in bed, pillows propped behind her, with a multitude of newspapers spread across the quilt, Elzbet was perusing the business section, having never gotten around to sending that letter to her man of business. The article was about companies which almost always posted gains. There was Microsoft of course, as well as a score of others, one of which included a company she'd not paid much attention to before. Darrant Industries. She picked up the laptop sitting beside her and typed the name of the company into her search engine .

She spent several minutes navigating the site looking at the company charter, prospectus, stock prices and dividends. Thinking that this was a company she might consider investing in, she clicked on the Officers tab and sipped her favorite vitae while waiting for the download. Julius Darrant was obviously a very private person as there was almost no information about him or his start in the business world or even at the company, but there WAS a picture. She clicked the icon and as the photo flashed on screen, her blood ran cold.

[i:db900bba34]"Shaundra!"[/i:db900bba34] she yelled at the top of her lungs. The nubian maid came running, and in a slightly out of breath tone said, [i:db900bba34]"Yes, mistress?"[/i:db900bba34] [i:db900bba34]"I want whatever you can find out about Julius Darrant, and I want it as of yesterday."[/i:db900bba34] Her voice was curt, one that she rarely used and Shaundra knew that it wasn't directed at her as her lady was still staring at the screen. She turned to start this new task, but turned back as her employer spoke again. [i:db900bba34]"And, if you have to, go hack in to what ever website you can get in to, discretely, of course. I want [b:db900bba34]everything[/b:db900bba34] you can possibly dig up in the public domain."[/i:db900bba34]

A young man, beardless of face, tall, thin and gawky, knocked on the suite door and waited, fidgetting, in the hallway. Presently the door was opened by Tyler, Gabriel's manservant, who quirked an eyebrow at the urchin before him. [i:38f3a300ce]"I'm expected by a Mr. Julius Darrant?"[/i:38f3a300ce] The boy's adams apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed in his nervousness. He pleaded entry with his eyes.

[i:38f3a300ce]"And [b:38f3a300ce]WHO[/b:38f3a300ce] should I tell him is calling?[/i:38f3a300ce] The boy dropped his gaze down to his misfit Nike tennis shoes and whispered, [i:38f3a300ce]"Um.....tell him it's the Scorpion and that I'm here to discuss payment."[/i:38f3a300ce] The youth peeped up under impossibly long black lashes to see how the news was received. A puzzled look crossed his face as he wondered how something so wholesome looking and clean could bear a streetgang name these days. He shrugged his shoulders and went to inform the magus of his unusual visitor.

The door having been left open in the servants bemusement, the lanky adolescent peered, wide-eyed into the apartment and took a tentative step up to the threshhold but went no further. Porter was taking advantage of the solitude of the suite's livingroom area and had kept to his rakish form, long after his physical workout. He was heartily sick of lurking in his own room and he wasn't quite ready to spend any more time on the Gabriel's balcony. Julius was in his room, again, atteneded by Kathy. His bouts of grief still came but it did seem as if rousing him from the bed had helped. A little.

Porter had started forward after Tyler left to inform Julius, when his olfactory senses kicked in and left him with a scent he'd not encountered in some time. It halted him in his stride and the small hairs on the back of his neck raised up. A growl rumbled up from his chest. [i:38f3a300ce]"You're a Tzimisce. What are you doing here?"[/i:38f3a300ce] Despite his initial reaction to this.....thing....before him, Porter was intrigued with this new developement. The "boy" stood his ground and calmly looked him up and down. [i:38f3a300ce]"And you're a Gangrel, aren't you?"[/i:38f3a300ce] The eyes lit up with a salient hunger and the right hand, hanging quietly at his side lifted upward and halted.

In tones reserved for judges of the bench, the young lad asked [i:38f3a300ce]"May I have permission to lay hands upon your skin that I may I feel of your flesh and bone? I request no more than that."[/i:38f3a300ce] Porter blinked for a moment or two and then gave a terse reply, [i:38f3a300ce]"No."[/i:38f3a300ce] Sighing heavily, the creature standing framed by the door's sill, dropped the hand it had partially raised and the light in it's eyes died away as it arrogantly continued to study his form. If anything, the hairs on Porter's neck rose even more and his beast began to stir.

Just then, a door opened from across the room and the Scorpion beheld Julius in a less than perfect state, despite his tailored suit, considering their past meetings with each other. His aura carried a great deal of sorrow with chips of madness whirling there. The boy stiffened. Julius had been followed out by Kathy and Tyler. Those assessing eyes suddenly went steel hard and the childish mold of the lips thinned into total displeasure. [i:38f3a300ce]"You and I have much to discuss, Mr. Darrant. Is there some place we may speak privately? Without the audience."[/i:38f3a300ce]

Kathy gasped at the affrontory of the juvenile. Julius's eyes narrowed and he nodded, [i:38f3a300ce]"This way."[/i:38f3a300ce] then he turned and opened a door that lead into another sitting room. The Scorpion quickly crossed the penthouse threshhold, at the implied permission to step in, and followed his client into the room, shutting the door firmly on the astounded faces. Julius stalked half way into the chamber and turned back to his visitor. [i:38f3a300ce]"Welcome to Marseilles."[/i:38f3a300ce]

[i:38f3a300ce]"Thank You"[/i:38f3a300ce] The reply was in decidedly dry tones. Cyrilynn wandered around the room, examining things with a studied nonchalance, picking them up and putting them back in their precise position, all the while keeping her eye on her erstwhile client. [i:38f3a300ce]"I apologize for the somewhat disorganized state of things, but......,[/i:38f3a300ce] a shadow passed over his countenance and he sighed wearily, [i:38f3a300ce]"there have been some unpleasant times."[/i:38f3a300ce] He plopped into a nearby chair and regarding the wandering form through hooded eyes.

He waved this hand and a case appeared on a nearby table, openly displaying the correct amount of agreed upon bank notes. The assassin/thief wandered over and stared down at them, then raised a cool look over the offered settlement and announced, [i:38f3a300ce]"I'm afraid that our......agreement....needs to be altered. [b:38f3a300ce]YOU[/b:38f3a300ce], Mr. Darrant, have been less than forthright about this mission and, in addition to that, you have broken trust with me!"[/i:38f3a300ce] She dared him to disagree with her.

The Tremere's eyes narrowed and he replied in flat monosyllables. [i:38f3a300ce]"You have not chosen the best of times to try my patience."[/i:38f3a300ce] The indolent slouch he'd adopted when he first sat down slowly became an alert posture. A sure sign of his rising preterbation that Lady C. missed entirely as she sauntered away again. [i:38f3a300ce]"I sent you for a crate of goods, I expect delivery."[/i:38f3a300ce]

[i:38f3a300ce]"I acknowledge the commission, Mr. Darrant, and I have tried to make allowances for your grieving as well, however, you have taken it upon yourself to expose my face to a number of unknown personages and...."[/i:38f3a300ce] With a slash of his hand, the magus interrupted the beginning tirade, [i:38f3a300ce]"On the contrary, it is [b:38f3a300ce]you[/b:38f3a300ce] who came to my door, telling all and sundry your identity."[/i:38f3a300ce] The Scorpion sucked in a hissing breath and spun around, temper ignited, [i:38f3a300ce]"Au contraire, mon ami, [b:38f3a300ce]you[/b:38f3a300ce] were the one who "invited" said personage to your little "party"[/i:38f3a300ce], he replied in scathing accents.

Julius snorted, [i:38f3a300ce]" You broke your own cover and I will take no blame for that![/i:38f3a300ce] He all but spat the accusations back in Cyrilynn's lap. [i:38f3a300ce]"[b:38f3a300ce]WHEN[/b:38f3a300ce] did I ever mention your name?"[/i:38f3a300ce] The young man deflated his anger with a sigh, [i:38f3a300ce]"You didn't,"[/i:38f3a300ce] and then flared again, [i:38f3a300ce]"but your overly familiar "hussy" of a secretary did that for you!!"[/i:38f3a300ce] [i:38f3a300ce]"Perhaps I should send her your regards."[/i:38f3a300ce] The Tremer's voice clearly indicated that Cyrilynn had mistaken his "secretary's" idently but, again, she was oblivious to nuances.

Lady C. sneered, [i:38f3a300ce]"Oh, I suppose, now, that that's [b:38f3a300ce]another[/b:38f3a300ce] person you've spread my alias to?"[/i:38f3a300ce] Julius's face took on the aspect of sheer boredom with the whole conversation, which seemed to be getting nowhere. [i:38f3a300ce]"The crate, now, if you please."[/i:38f3a300ce] The youth's chin set in determined lines and he planted his feet solidly as he studied the mage in the chair.

[i:38f3a300ce]"Not so fast, Tremere! You've been [b:38f3a300ce]less[/b:38f3a300ce] than honest with me in regards to this whole escapade. First you fail to fully inform me as to the true nature of this item and the you try to gloss over your inability to keep to my requirements regarding the conclusion of this venture."[/i:38f3a300ce] She licked suddenly dry lips but forged ahead anyway. [i:38f3a300ce]"I will require a bonus to make up for my efforts to maintain my anonymity."[/i:38f3a300ce]

There was an ominous silence that almost had Lady C. running out of there. [i:033ac1c091]"I see."[/i:033ac1c091] was uttered in colorless tones. Then the eyes assessed the vampire before him and said wonderingly, [i:033ac1c091]"You have no idea, do you?"[/i:033ac1c091] The silence stretch further, [i:033ac1c091]"Alright, what is it you want?"[/i:033ac1c091] The Tzimisce trembled inwardly. This was the tricky part.

[i:033ac1c091]"Information. Information regarding the wizard that you have been involved with and don't bother to deny that you haven't been. My sources are quite unerring in that respect. I wish to know his clan affiliation and status. That alone would be sufficient."[/i:033ac1c091] If the wizard that had cut down the Comtesse Eveshka was Sabbat, she fully intented to be in on the kill.

A sudden cloud passed overhead, causing the room to darken and shrink in on itself. [i:033ac1c091]"What do you think you know."[/i:033ac1c091] Now the voice was dead in it's delivery. Cyrilynn chose to lose her temper than to give in to the creeping dread she was beginning to experience. [i:033ac1c091]"I know that Comtesse Shuvolov has been seeing him. I know he has strong ties with you, I just don't know [b:033ac1c091]what[/b:033ac1c091] those ties are. I was also informed that she had a, shall we say, difference of opinion with him"[/i:033ac1c091] If meeting the Final Death could be called that!

Julius's eyes took on heat at the thought that this upstart had managed somehow to find out about Goratrix. How had she done it and what was she going to do with it? Blackmail him!? His mouth set in grim lines and his ire did a quick leap into the all-to-familiar arena of his anger. He stood up, very slowly and very menacingly, flickers of flame appearing in his eyes. [i:033ac1c091]I warn you, you are treading a very dangerous road. I suggest you hand over the goods, take your money and be on your way, like a good little Tzimisce."[/i:033ac1c091]

Anger surfaced quickly at the threat implied and Lady Cyrilynn strightened up and warily balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to make a run for it if necessary. [i:033ac1c091]"You don't scare me, wizard. I hold something you want and you'll never get it if you eliminate me. All I ask is the information on that unknown magus. I have very good reasons for wanting to know."[/i:033ac1c091] She bared her fangs at him and almost hissed.

[i:033ac1c091]"Perhaps I should simply rape the information from your mind, stupid little idiot, then burn you to a crisp!"[/i:033ac1c091] He roared and the Scorpion stood her ground despite the increasing sense of imminent danger. [i:033ac1c091]"You could, but I'm afraid it's already too late. The item has left. Given time, I can retrieve it. But come, you only delay the inevitable."[/i:033ac1c091] She knew she held all the cards....for the moment.

The Tremere looked at her with pity in his faintly glowing orbs. [i:033ac1c091]"You overestimate the importance of the package. [b:033ac1c091]PAIN![/b:033ac1c091]"[/i:033ac1c091] She had no time to dodge or run as excrutiating pain started to radiate outward from her chest. She dropped to the floor and writhed there for mere moments before her whimpers changed to moans.........but not those of a person in torment! Julius watched, stunned, as she slowly brought her upper body off the floor and propped herself on her skinny arms before raising a face to him, one filled with ecstasy and lust. [i:033ac1c091]"That won't work, sorceror."[/i:033ac1c091] She gave a husky laugh.

[i:033ac1c091]"We could do this all day and I would only beg for more!"[/i:033ac1c091] She licked her lips in anticipation. The magus's brows snapped together in faint disgust and sarcasm dripped from his voice, [i:033ac1c091]"Oh, my apologies, perhaps something a little more subtle....?"[/i:033ac1c091] [i:033ac1c091]"[b:033ac1c091]Desperation! Loneliness!![/b:033ac1c091]"[/i:033ac1c091] The assassins eyes widened at the next words and a quiver rippled the length of the thin body that lay half supported on the carpet. Again, icy claws of emptiness and loss for her own beloved sire coursed through Lady C.'s mind, only this time it was backed by powerful magic.

She could not withstand the potent combination and she crashed back to the floor, blood tears streaming down her own cheeks. [i:033ac1c091]"You think,"[/i:033ac1c091] she choked on them, [i:033ac1c091]"that you're the only one who's lost a loved one?!?? You don't know the meaning of loss until you..............!!"[/i:033ac1c091] [i:033ac1c091]"[b:033ac1c091]DON'T I[/b:033ac1c091]"[/i:033ac1c091] he snarled, [i:033ac1c091]"then feel [b:033ac1c091]my[/b:033ac1c091] pain.....!!!"[/i:033ac1c091]

Julius let himself tip into the madness that he'd so desperately tried to deny since Eve's death, then cupped it in mental hands and poured it into the weeping Tzimisce before him. The door to the small salon flew open and those who'd gathered in the outer room rushed in to see what was occurring. The voices raised in anger, then followed by anguished cries had them fearing for Julius once again. Uncertain what they could do, they only knew they had to try. They didn't get very far into the room before they halted at the tableau before them.

Julius stood holding a hand above the boy, a mask of anger clouding his features. They could only stare at the drama unfolding. The recumbent figure on the carpet convulsed and screamed out a name, [i:033ac1c091]"[b:033ac1c091]Toisol![/b:033ac1c091]"[/i:033ac1c091] in a cry of anquish as great as the wizard's own, that echoed down memory corridors. Julius screamed maniaclly, [i:033ac1c091]"You feel my pain now, Tzimisce. [b:033ac1c091]GIVE ME THAT CRATE[/b:033ac1c091]!"[/i:033ac1c091] She could only continue to sob out her own despair and sorrow. She shook her head in negation, whether to deny the man towering over her or her own black thoughts was not apparent.

[i:033ac1c091]"Fool. Only now at the end, do you understand. Play with fire, get burnt by fire. To hell with you, I no longer want it!"[/i:033ac1c091] As Julius's eyes turn to pits of flame, she could see only her death and the stark realization that she had grossly underestimated the man she was dealing with. The Tremere raised his hand as the group by the door finally unfroze and chaos broke loose. Kathy screamed, high and shrill and Gabriel shouted, [i:033ac1c091]"[b:033ac1c091]NO![/b:033ac1c091]"[/i:033ac1c091] and took a tentative step forward. Porter launched himself in a forward run in an attempt to restrain the mad mage but was repelled by some kind of force shield, which laid him flat on the floor.

Gesturing with a flick of his wrist, the demented wizard launched the boy's body from the floor to a wall across from them both. The Scorpion landed with enough force to crunch bones and grind them. Flame fetters slapped around his arms and legs, pinning them there, as they ate in to the flesh with a slow burn. Lady Cyrilynn's vision greyed and then cleared enough to watch dazedly as he walked over to her.

As he looked her up and down and then stepped back, his hand filling with energy that she knew would end her very short unlife, he remarked in an oddly reasonable voice, [i:033ac1c091]"This will really help relieve the tension, Thank You for visiting."[/i:033ac1c091] Closing her eyes, she spiralled down into a darkness that was cold and forbidding, a Hell of her own making.

It had taken the better part of a week to find all the information about the very private Mr. Julius Darrant. One such piece of data that wasn't public was the fact that he was a mage, [b:ab1d3a3371]that[/b:ab1d3a3371] was something she'd already known, the storm had told her so. She was also aware that his beloved had died the Final Death and, further, he was growing emotionally unstable. The visions had told her that. If she didn't reach him soon, those visions would become reality and the world would not be a safe place for mortal OR vampire.

Entering through the revolving doors of the hotel, she marched up to the concierge. [i:ab1d3a3371]"How may we help you?"[/i:ab1d3a3371] came the bored and snobbish tone of the man behind the Italian marble countertop as he looked her over. Exerting a little of her limited Dominate, she impressed him with the image of a small woman in a smart business suit, briefcase in hand. She queried him, [i:ab1d3a3371]"I'm here to see Mr. Darrant. He is expecting me. Which suite is he in?"[/i:ab1d3a3371] her voice reflecting brisk impatience. After that the kine behind the desk snapped to attention and gave her the floor and suite number with appropriate respect. Without another word to him, she pivoted on her heels and went to the elevator and rode one to the penthouse floor and exited to the left.

A wave of building fury slapped at her and she drew in a startled breath. The sensation of it was familiar enought to have her sprinting the length of the corridor to reach the door, her great cape swirling around her slight form. Reaching the only entrance in the hallway, she felt sudden energy crackling beyond the portal and she knew the mage that was causing it was the same one who had swept Marseilles with chaotic weather followed by searing anger little more than a week ago.

She could ignore the physical storm and had almost banished the aura of bitter sorrow from her sphere of influence when the intermittent waves of anguish had caused her to be thrown into further darkening dreams. All she had to go by in her search for this man was a playboy-handsome face from her sightings. The problem was that after a couple of days Shaundra had amassed enough information to let her know that her quarry was [b:ab1d3a3371]MORE[/b:ab1d3a3371] than just a pretty face. And, it was enough to make her cautious about approaching the Tremere Pontifex. However, there were a number of reasons which had made it imperative for her to seek him out now instead of later.

First, was that his occassional fits were rolling off of him in waves of burning wrath spreading from his hotel out, causing a higher than normal crime/suicide rate in the immediate area. Second was that the visions were not going away, in fact they came with steady frequency now and some were approaching down right horrific. Last but not least was that his grief was fueling itself, not lessening, as it should have done, often leaving the sky sullen and dark with drizzly rain seeping down upon the infected city adding to the already depressed atmosphere.

She levered down on the main panel's latches and pushed them open, to behold a rather eclectic coterie trying to get it's collective body into another smaller room across from her. Hurrying forward, she laid a hand on a man's arm and gently pushed him aside. Without realizing it, he complied, his attention fully taken with the drama unfolding. She then gently wedged herself between another male and a female figure before slipping easily through.

A Gangrel in human form, lay sprawled upon the floor, shaking it's head as if it had slammed face first in to a solid wall. Mr. Darrant stood in front of a gangly youth, whose wrists where shackled with flames to another wall. She recognized that he was Tzimisce, and unless she was sadly mistaken, badly hurt and in need of medical attention and replenished blood. Eerily calm and steady, the enraged sorceror stepped away from his victim and raised his hand, bright fire coalescing into the palm of his and [i:ab1d3a3371]"This will really help relieve the tension. Thank You for visiting."[/i:ab1d3a3371]

Ice-blue eyes, assessed the battleground swiftly and fixed upon the maddened vampire's form. Stepping forward and through the swirling energies that had bounced Porter so effortlessy, the slight figure in a flowing sea-green gown that swept the carpet of the chamber, reached up and flattened her left hand gently to the mage's back, centered upon his unbeating heart. A golden glow began at the touch point and spread to encompass them both.

Sinking inward to grasp the jumbled emotions that fueled the man, the grief and, most importantly, the spell, Elzbet drained what he had so easily pulled from the air and disspiated it into the floor of the building and from there, to the earth below. Like water flowing through a sieve, the build up of mage-energy died away, the fireball sinking to a pinpoint of light and then nothing at all. The flame fetters releasing their prisioner to lie unconscious upon the rubble-strew floor. Startled beyond measure, he turned in her arms, her delicate hands never losing contact with either him or his clothing.

Captured in her pools of crystal blue, the scorching glare of his eyes was doused by the glimmering sea of peace there. The two stood entranced for mere minutes and then a shudder passed through his frame once, then twice and with a whimper of soul-shattered pain he buried himself in her sheltering embrace. His knees giving way and they sank to the floor, racking sobs tearing through him with heart-rending intensity. Everyone stared at the pair in total silence as ripples of peace whirled outward from them and flowed back, like waves on a shore, in a constant stream, to the crying man in the woman's lap. She, in turn, curled over him, head bent, whispering softly in his ear and stroking his hair.

How long they stayed suspended, in time, like that, no one could begin to assess, but slowly the radiance surrounding them receded, gone only after Julius's inner storm was spent and his body lay relaxed in acceptance, his breathing even and rythmic. With the glow gone, the strange woman looked up to the surrounding group, her eyes cool and calm, her face, drawn and pale. [i:ab1d3a3371]"You may take him to his bedroom now, "[/i:ab1d3a3371] her soft voice falling into the well of silence, [i:ab1d3a3371]"he will sleep until the healing in his soul is complete."[/i:ab1d3a3371]

With that, the Gangrel arose from where he'd sat and watched the proceedings, gathered up Julius's lax body and bore him away. The others turned speculative gazes upon this mystery person, with the ability to heal a vampire's raging Beast, and saw a calm and confident woman. And most interesting enough, her hair of midnight black was caught up in an elaborate medieval-style hairnet, studded with amber and other semi-precious stones, the length of which appeared to hang past her waist. A sterling silver band encricled the crown, cradling a large topaz in the center of her brow, all of which was anchored together into one single headdress.

Attempting to stand, so that she could speak with all in this place, she only succeeding in landing heavily on her bottom as dizziness swept her perceptions Her eyelids resembled bruises, and she blinked once. Gabriel, taking pity on her, reached down with his only hand and helped her to her feet. She rose up with the assistance, but swayed on wavering legs. [i:ab1d3a3371]'Who [b:ab1d3a3371]ARE[/b:ab1d3a3371] you?"[/i:ab1d3a3371] he asked, curiousity in every syllable. [i:ab1d3a3371]"How did you know what to do to help him?"[/i:ab1d3a3371]

[i:ab1d3a3371]"I am......"[/i:ab1d3a3371] her softened tones shook and she continued to sway in place, [i:ab1d3a3371]"Elzbet....and.....I...."[/i:ab1d3a3371] Whatever the rest of her response would have been was lost to darkness as Elzbet crumpled against his body, leaving him to call for help before she crashed to the floor again.