As the Hour Appproaches As the Hour AppproachesIC: Tyrone walked down the moistened sidewalk towards the theatrer he worked at.
The night was dark a starless and a slight fog had swept over the cityafter
nightfall. This was weather Tyrone could not apprecaite. The climate of the
Caribbean is what he loved.
Mentally, he cursed the frenzy that forced him to retreat north.
Southern women with all the spicey food they ate did make them very tastey
but unfortunatly their daddy's don't like their young girls becoming a
snack.
He bagan putting himself in a bad mood so he changed the subject. He turned to the play he was working on. Something by a man called Congrieve. Maestro knew nothing about this playwrite and did a quick serach online. The only Congireve he found was one that worked with rockets! Not exactly his taste but his talents srteched so far there was no way he could do bad. Arriving at the theatre and eager to get out of the rotten weather he escaped into the building and quietly entered. He wanted to make his arrival known atyer dinner.
ic: Christian just stared, his mouth gaping open, his eyes wide as plates, unable to believe what he was seeing. But there it was, Jason Ellison, the swaggering fool of a Toreador, who acted as if he could crumble empires with the flick of a wrist, getting his just desserts from a wandering guitar playing vagabond. ~I guess it is true what they say. You can't judge a book by its cover. I never would have thought Ellison would cower like that, especially backing down from the likes of Talbot. No offense, old chap, but you don't exactly strike fear in the hearts of evil-doers. Still, you sure seem to have made Ellison a little lighter in the loafers. Maybe Ellison is just all talk. But I doubt he's the biggest of our problems. Not by a long shot.~
Christian finally turned his attention back to the
group and came into the circle of introductions,
extending his hand to Talbot. "Hi. Christian's the
name. Listen, I hate to be rude, and thanks for
sticking up for us and all, but we really should be
going. We have some... digging to do, evidently.
It's going to be a busy night." He looked around at
the others, one eyebrow raised as if to ask for a
second to his proposal.
Syd was the first to speak,
"You're right Christian, but I think we should first
find out why Mr. Talbot decided to grace my shop with
his presence." Anique looked for all the world like
Christian can only imagine he looked like when he met
Tyrone- star struck. Sarah, as usual, looked like she
was listening to two different conversations and
trying to understand both. Will, well he was still
stashed away in the VW, looking for all the world like
a lost puppy.
"It's simple. I got a note from some
guy, just had this address on it. Thought I'd better
see what it was about." Talbot said.
"This just gets thicker and thicker by the minute. I
can't even keep it all straight in my head anymore"
Christian said, actually shaking his head as if to
un-muddle the conflicting messages inside. "Look,
Talbot, I don't know about anyone else, but I think
you've already proven that you've got no love for the
Toreador. So you're either crazy, or brave, or stupid
to have done what you just did. In any case, you're
in the same boat as us now, and that boat's name is
gonna be Titanic if we don't do something about it."
IC: ~"GO GUY WITH THE BIG SWORD!!!"~ Becky was cheering as Talbot impressed upon Ellingson the idea that he should leave quickly. Becky then turned to Sarah and helped her back up off the ground again. They both listened to Christian hurrying through preliminary stuffs wanting to get back to last nights mission but Sarah stood looking like a deer int he headlights lost as to what should be done.
At the mention of the other note she runs up to
Talbot, "Let me see it."
Talbot returns a strange look and asks, "What did you
say?"
"Please let me see the note you recieved" Sarah said
in a much calmer voice and held out her hand. Talbot
hands over the note and Sarah opens it quickly along
with her note and then runs to Sydney. "What do you
think, the same right?"
Sydney pausing for the mooment in thought
replies,"Similar a the very least." Sarah Gives the
note back to Talbot and has three anxious faces
staring at her wanting an explaination. Sarah turns to
Syndey looking for direction as to whether to spill
this morning's events or wait until more is known.
Syndey replies with a nod and Sarah takes a seat at
one of the tables.
"This morning when i got up to leave i was meeted at
the door. Jack Remington was there as i was leaving
and he pressed this note into my hand." Sarah stops
and looks to everyone to see any sort of reaction but
mostly everyone looked impatient to know the rest.
"Well i hurried home to my apartment without stopping
and then read the note which had the address of the
Maple Leaf Inn on it with a room number, Talbot's room
number" as she finished the sentence Talbots eyes grew
in size but he waited to speak. "I called the number
but no one was there in the room so i then called
Sydney and we discussed the meaning of the note and
why Jack would give me or any of us a note. Lastly i
compared Talbot's note and my note and they have very
similar handwriting on them" Sarah stopped allowing
everyone to digest what she had just said.
~Jack i hope you are not trying to screw with us cause
that Talbot doesn't look friendly~ Sarah thought as
she watched Talbot take in what she had said.
IC -
The theatre was mostly dark as people began to
wind in. The sigh pointed out two rather monotonous
playing rooms, the first decked with a homemade sign
written in wild green letters "Six Characters in
Search of an Author - Luigi Pirandello" the second
said in a more tasteful black magic marker "The Way of
the World - Congrieve." Tyrone shrugged and wandered
through the second door, scanning his part, and the
small crowd of actors who were chattering on about
thier dislike of night rehearshals. Tyrone thumbed
his hand through the playscript titled with his name,
and the chacter name 'Fainall' He narrowed his eyes
and set to scanning his parts.
Rehearshal was fine, the director was annoying,
and people seemed rather glad to get out of the stuffy
rehearshal room after the first session. As people
spread into the darkened theatre, Tyrone walked
steadily away from the mass of actors herding out of
the building like cattle. He walked, tall and
difgnified, avoiding the swarms of lesser actors as he
strolled towards the back entrance.
And the mirror moved.
Tyrone blinked, as the vague feeling that he was the butt of some minor Malkavian prank passed over him. He straightened himself, narrowed his eyes, and continued onwards.
The mirror moved again.
Tyrone slitted his eyes, and checked to see if he was being followed. When he was sure that he wasn't he paused, debating whether he should not care and get the hell out of there, or whether he should go back and check it out.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jack remington checked behind his shoulder, and
finished printing out the envelope before deleting all
traces of the correspondence from his computer. He
scanned the one-way mirror of his office, and hastily
applied postage to a large envelope before picking up
his cellphone and checking behind his shoulder again.
"You're sure that area 447 southwest in the city
was closed three months ago?"
He nodded at the reply.
"And there have been no
repair crews in that part of the city for over a
month."
Another nod, and a jerk to look behind him.
"Yes, you will be well compensated. I will make sure
of that." He turned the phone off with and audible
click, and gathered the papers that were coming over
the fax machine, hurredly stuffing them into the large
brown envelope. He deleted the fax machine's memory
core, sealed the evnelope, and quickly stuffed it into
a bag sitting under his desk.
A noise in the corridor made him jerk his head shrply up, and he watched as actors began to pour out of the rehearshal room. He moved behind the one way mirror to get a closer look. His head snapped again, in a gesture of recognition, as a large stately black man walked past the one way mirror. Remington blinked, slightly startled. ~Wasn't that the man Ellison had to go harass last night? What is he doing here?~ He spun to gather his coat when he noticed the man glance behind his back. Remington paused and stared straightforwardly at the glass, pulling the bag and the envelope up from off the chair.
After making introductions, Talbot sits at the table with the others, wondering about the notes. "Someone was in my room last night. Christian, I would have sworn you were there, but apparently, by the look on your face, you've never seen me before. So, who the hell was it? This Jack person must have been there as well, or else how would he have known about me to give you that note? Either way, someone obviously wanted us to meet, for whatever reason. And now I'm curious as to why. Anyone have any ideas?" Talbot looks around the table, searching for any indication that someone might know what was going on.
Christian leans back and rests his elbows on the armrests and
steeples his fingers in front of his face, "Well, we obviously have nothing
in common, you and us I mean, with the exception that neither of us likes
that leech Ellison who you so kindly got rid of. Now, Sydney here is curious
as to why you decided to "grace his shop with your presence", so do tell,
why are you here?"
Talbot leans forward in his chair, "Tell you the truth, I
just came here to find out who the hell was in my room last night. I don't
even see why anyone would want to break into my room. Now, if this Jack
person might know anything about it, maybe I need to go see him. Who is this
Jack guy, anyway?"
IC: Christian sat impatiently while Talbot explained his presence in the bookshop, and ended with the very same question that had been bugging Christian since his latest vision. "Who is this Jack guy, anyway?"
Christian twiddled his fingers nervously, casting his
eyes about from one member of the motley group to the
next, not quite sure what he was waiting for. Nobody
had any answers yet, and the further they got tangled
in this mess, the more questions they had. Christian
only knew one thing for sure- he'd lost his backpack
and couldn't draw. And that made him nervous. He
must have left it at the Nosferatu's place, caught up
in the fervor of a treasure hunt. But now another
kind of feeling overwhelmed him- a nervous paranoid
feeling that he should be doing something... something
to figure this all out.
"Look, guys..." Christian nervously spoke as he rose
from his seat, "I have to go back to my place for
something. I'll meet you back here in a little
while." He headed for the door, his hands now jittery
as they grasped the handle and opened it wide,
lurching out onto the street in a near run, leaving
the bookshop door wide open. He practically flew down
the street, running the few blocks toward his basement
apartment, hoping that he'd find a spare pad of paper
and some pencils. He slowed the final hundred yards
to his door, his mind a whirl of confusion and
unanswered questions. ~Dammit, why can't I figure
this one out? It seems so obvious that Remington is
just using Ellison, but Ellison seems to have such a
grip on him that it hardly seems likely. I've never
known a Ventrue who would let a Toreador treat him
that way. Well, wait.. I've never even known a
Ventrue, have I? So there goes that theory. But Jack
does seem to have something up his sleeve. He
certainly has a hidden agenda. Keys keys keys...
there you are... come on, open! Ok, now where would I
have put them?~
Christian started to rifle through his things to find a sketch pad, but then noticed a peculiar thing. Somebody had already torn apart his things. Somebody had been there, looking for something, and they'd not spared a single thing in their search. Not that Christian lived in opulent splendor, but his grimy little mattress was even sliced up, his $20 stereo wrecked, and his paintings all torn to shreds. ~Even my paintings!!! The bastards! What the hell did they want? I don't have anything.~ He didn't know what to do, but he sure knew he had to find something.. even a scrap of paper from the phone book would do at this point or he'd go out of his mind. Finally, he found a sketch pad, half used, and a black pen. He frantically sketched the picture of Ellison, helpless in the huge hand of Jack Remington, just as he'd seen in his vision. He still didn't know what it meant, but the tension in his body visibly eased. He looked at the page for a few more seconds, then flipped back through the pages for fun. He must have drawn most of this before he left New York. Mostly it was pictures of his former friends and his sire. After events took place, many of the drawings now made more sense to him. For example, the picture of his sire attacking the Prince of New York- that had happened, and she'd barely escaped with her unlife. Staring closer, his jaw dropped open in a startling moment of recognition. ~There... behind the Prince.. no, it can't be... ~
IC: Sarah watched Talbot's face change as he spoke
about wanting to know why Jack had been in his room
the previous night. He made the large vampire on the
way to the nos' place look like a docile compared to
him. Anger grew on his face as he demanded to know
about Jack.
~Considering what he did to Ellingson i don't think we
want him seeing Jack. Damn! Jack what are you trying
to do here, split us up or pull us together? i gotta
change the subject~ Sarah starts to speak when
Christain bursts out the door after something and she
stops with her mouth open. In a moment she starts
again and by now everyone is looking at her with her
mouth open.
"Do you have something to say or are you catching flies?" Talbots asks.
"Ummm... yes i do have something to say." Sarah pauses thinking quickly as to how to change the subject from Jack to something else. "I think.. I mean we need to do some digging tonight before the meeting" Sarah satnds there still like a toy doll waiting for a response. Anique remembers the mission from the night before and eagerly invites the new handsome visitor along. Sarah watches as the group tries to organize itself, only a few hours before the big meeting.
"Where, exactly, are we going?" Talbot queried,
looking apprehensive.
A slow expression of forlon confusion filtered
across the faces of his companions, and Anique slowly
drew out a soiled piece of paper.
"We, got this
from an, *ahem,* rather insane Nosferatu." She handed
the piece of paper over to Talbot as Sydney
surreptitously looked behing his back, as if searching
for something.
Talbot passed the paper between his hands. "This
looks like a map - a kid's map." he remarked. And it
did - it looked suspisciously like a child's treasure
map.
Sarah nodded feebily. "We were advised to check
that out."
They set out, the four of them, like hardened
soldiers through the back alleyways of a darkened
city. Past the glitz and respectability of the hotels
and theatres, art musuems and parks of the well-to-do,
back into the part of the city where whores reigned in
thier brothels, and the casual traveler was sometimes
frowned upon, sometimes used for idle amusement or a
quick way to earn that night's spending money.
Sydney shook his shaggy head and looked around,
think that he was evry much in a bad pulp fiction
novel.
Anique kept the lead, with the map, which was a
hazardous route to say the least. Vampires, in
general, flinch at little, but the prowlings of things
they could barely focus even auspex heightened eyes
upon, and the ever-pervasive scent of gasoline that
seemed to be seeping into thier all too flammable
bodies was of little comfort. "Are you sure whoever
sent us this map wasn't leading us on an elaborate
wild goose chase for thier own amusement?" Anique
gritted through her teeth.
"More like a convienet locale for our final
deaths." Talbot muttered back grimly.
"I'm sure it's trustworthy." Sydney shot back,
almost a little too quickly. They truged on for a few
more seconds.
Anique stopped, causing sydney who seened lost in
private reverie to smack squarely into her back. His
blue eyes widened to enormous proportions, and he
stammered from behind his riff of unkemp hair "Oh,
God, Anique, I didn't well..." He swallowed, offering
her a hand. "Are you allright?"
She gave him a strange look, and straightened
herself before pausing and pointing to a crumbling
stone building. "The map says to go through there,
and on the other side there is a service conduit that
goes underground."
"Well, then go through there." Talbot replied a
little irritable, pointing at the remnants of a
delivery door.
"Why? I've led this entire way..." Anique
challenged. Sarah began to rock back and forth on her
heels as the argument continued. Finally she pulled
the piece of paper out of Anique's hand.
"Fine, if
you guys don't stop fighting, I'll lead!" and she
scurried off into the warehouse with the others at her
heels.
Inside was dark, feebily lit from the flasing
sign across the road that garishly read "SHOWGI LS!!"
and spilled neon pink light across the inside of an
closed auot-body repair shop every three seconds. It
was clammy, smelling strongly of oil and rust, and
filled with the kind of cars that you just wouldn't
want to be seen driving.
"Why do we have to go through this place?" Anique
asked, feeling sheepish.
"I think because there is a junkyard that is
attached to the garage, and whoever made the map feels
it was easier to get through the garage that over the
junkyard gate, and from the state of the lock we just
bypassed, I'd be inclined to believe them." Sydney
replied.
They began to spead out, slowly working their way
to the opposite door, trying not to disturb things
when the piercing noise of dogs burst from the junk
yard outside.
"Which one of you did that?" Talbot hissed. He
was returned by three very innocent stares. They
froze and waited for the sound to stop.
It got louder.
They started to turn around and get the hell out
of that place, when Sarah stopped, and pressed her
small face against the window. "Sydney! Sydney!
Look over here!" Sarah's quiet whisper pierced the
intervals of silence between the scuffling of canine
feet and yelps. Lights had begun to go on in the
junkyard, but for the time being the garage was
undisturbed.
He looked out, and for a second or two, he almost
believed that his heart stopped. That was before he
remembered that it had stopped several years ago.
Striding across the junk yard was a very large man
with ebony skin, a red sash across his toned chest
that did not even attempt to hide the fact that it was
built for a double-barreled shotgun, very neat hair
fell down around a face that looked like it belonged
on Wall Street, but was marred by the gold piercings
sticking out of the left ear and even more shockingly,
through the wrists. He was clothed in a long leather
coat that was extremely well cared for, immaculate
black trousers and black leather dress shoes. Anique
and Talbot had succumbed to curiosity and fell over by
the window as well.
Anique sucked in an unnesecary breath. "Why the
hell is the Scourge here?"
"To kill us." Sydney offered bleakly.
IC:
Anique was feeling aprehensive about this whole excursion. Something
just rubbed her the wrong way...maybe it was the seedy area of town
they had headed into, or the smell of gasoline in the air...or maybe
it was the eerie shadows that the skeletons of old vehicles cast onto
the ground in the junkyard...Anyhow, this warehouse didn't please her
too much either. Suddenly, the barking of dogs shattered the still of
the night air like a gunshot blast. Everyone ran over to the window,
and Anique followed. Peering through the dirty plane of glass, she
could see the scourge headed through the junkyard.
"Why the hell is
the scourge here?" she whispered.
"To kill us!" said Sydney. This
caused Anique to suck a breath through her teeth, although the
neccesity to breathe had ceased years ago. Instinctively, she reached
out and grabbed ahold of Talbot's jacket sleeve. He turned his head
and looked down at her, looking slightly distracted. She gazed up at
him, her eyes glazed over with fear. "The Scourge is a very scary
guy....He might try to hurt us, Talbot!" She turned her head back and
gazed out the window, her eyes following the scourge. She felt like a
rabbit being hunted by wolves. The Scourge walked accross the
junkyard over to the side of the warehouse. The group ducked behind a
stack of crates, hoping he wouldn't hear or see them. Sydney was
looking visibly worried. He was starting to fidget, tapping his
fingers against his leg. Anique hoped he'd be alright. She realized
that she was still gripping the sleeve of Talbot's jacket, and let it
go. 'how embarassing!' she thought. 'now they'll all think I'm
scared...well, I am, but...at least I shouldn't show it so damn much!"
A loud scrape of metal on metal echoed through the still night air, as
the scourge opened a door to the warehouse. Through the dusty air of
the warehouse, the group saw the scourge enter the room. His
impressive visage was even more frightening up close. The spikes
through his wrists glinted like talons, and his red sash looked like a
splash of crimson blood.
"I bet he does WONDERFUL things for the
masquerade" thought Anique sarcastically to herself. Suddenly another
door opened in the interior of the warehouse. A shriveled looking
older man hobbled into the center of the main room. His aura was
human.
He looked like a thin, twisted version of Santa Claus, with
deep, sunken eyes. "Here is your key, Sir" he croaked, as he handed
the scourge a ring with several skeleton keys attatched. "Now, I
don't want no trouble 'round here. He got enough with them punk kids
hanging out, smoking up out there in the yard...We don't like it
much when the Fuzz start hangin around, pokin their noses into my
buisness...We keep to ourselves around here. You just keep that in
mind, Sir". The scourge nodded, and pocketed the keys.
Talbot grins as Anique turns her head away, and catches Sydney jittering
behind him out of the corner of his eye. "Quit squirmin' around like that,
or he'll see us for sure!" Whispers Talbot in a very irritated manner, and
turns his head back to the Scourge, as he takes the key from the old man.
And, as the Scourge pockets the key, Sydney's foot catches the side of a
crate, sending a light scraping noise just inside earshot of the Scourge,
who's head snaps in the direction of the noise.
The Scourge looks up at the slight scraping noise he hears from the back of
the warehouse, scanning the area for possible intruders. As he looks over in
the direction of the crates, he begins walking over, to get better coverage
of the area.
Talbot signals to Sarah to hold Syd calm as he pulls Anique closer, and
together, the group makes their way to the wall, where the crates are
stacked. Once there, a wall of crates emerges in front of the group,
blocking the Scourge's view of them. Talbot holds his finger to his mouth,
shushing Sydney, who reguardless of the illusion, is still attempting to get
to the window and find an escape route.
The Scourge walks around the wall of crates, seeing nothing behind them but
more crates. Yet, there must be someone here, for he feels a presence, and
just as he reaches to start moving the crates, a small tabby jumps down from
the nearest stack of crates and runs out of the warehouse. Giving the cat a
blank stare as it makes it's way out of there, the Scourge walks back over
to resume his conversation with the little man.
As Sydney realizes that the Scourge is on his way back to his conversation,
he begins to calm down, and Sarah relaxes her grip on him. Talbot is
reluctant to release Anique from his grasp, but does not want the others to
see the reaction she causes in him, so he gently pushes her away, so they
all can see each other.
"Stay here." He says to his new friends as he turns
and walks through the new wall of crates, leaving the other members of the
group staring. And reappears through the wall whispering, "Ok. He's gone,
and the little dude is back in his office. Where to now? And with that, the
stacks of crates vanish, leaving only the original stacks left standing...
IC: Sarah pulls out the map again from her pocket and
tries to figure out which way to go again. As she
stares at the map Becky is at her side asking
questions of her non-stop.
"what were you guys doing? Playing make pretend? You
acted as if somehting was there blocking your way.
Who were you hiding from cuz it really didn't help
standing there in the..."~
In a poorly controlled whisper, "Will you please shut
up Becky?!" Sarah blurts out and then points to a
location on the map, "This is where we need to be next
guys." She points to a back door of the shop that
leads to the junkyard. She waits a few moments and
then sneaks along the perimeter of the room followed
by talbot, anique, and syd. Becky walks to
the door directly and picks on Sarah for taking such a
long route. As they reach the door sarah looks to
someone else to lead now in this game of follow the
leader.
IC: As the group hid behind Talbot's illusion, Anique couldn't
help but be impressed by his abilities. She knew what he was
doing, and that it wasn't real, but she couldn't see through it! And
that cat was such a perfect explanation that the scourge was
sure to overlook them! But Talbot turned and shook her off his
arm....she couldn't help but recognize the sinking feeling that
welled up in her chest. "Usually I wouldn't give a rats ass!" she
thought..."What is wrong with me?...well, he IS cute...but ME,
caring what a man thinks of me? Something must have slipped
in my Malkavian brain! But, then again, he must not even LIKE
me...brushing me off like I were a pesky fly. Humph. Well, I'll
show HIM just how brave and useful I can be..Im not one of
those wimpy girls who cringes at her own shaddow (just at the
scourge) OH HELL who am I kidding!!!"
Just as she finished her
thought, the group began to move accross the warehouse,
towards the door that led to the junkyard. Sarah thrust the map
at the group, trying to get someone else to take it. In a flash of
insanity-induced bravery, Anique reached for it. "Take THAT,
Talbot!" she thought..."I can be brave too...whether you like me or
not...damn it! what have I gotten myself into?" She looked at the
map, pointed to a part of it marked with a red X--located behind
a pile of smashed up cars.
"Well then, We go HERE...X marks
the spot!" She said, and took up the front with deliberate, brave
strides, hoping the Ravnos would notice her courage.
As the group exited the building with Anique at their lead the group moved towards the spot marked X. Exiting the building 4 large dogs come up to the group showing their teeth and growling loudly. Becky runs behind Sarah who jerks back from her doing so leaving the three "adults" to deal with the situation.
IC: Christian hurried out of his apartment, not bothering to lock or even close the door this time, since he had everything that really mattered to him in his spare backpack. Inside was about $100 in cash, a few assorted useless items, pencils, and the sketchpad that had caused him so much grief but a few moments earlier. He rushed back to the bookshop as fast as his feet could carry him, getting back to the shop faster than he'd raced home. He was disappointed to find nobody but Will inside.
Will still sat in the VW/bookshelf, a mess of tangled
hair and wild eyes. He started at Christian's
entrance into the shop, but soon calmed down to his
normal state of panic. He jumped out and hurried
over, nearly shouting..." They all went and left me...
they said something about digging... finding
something... I don't know what to do... They didn't
tell me what to do... Should I go after them?!!"
Christian, nearly as excited and paranoid as Will at
this moment, would normally have laughed at anyone
asking his advice. But right now, he'd rather be
finding the rest of the group. He didn't like being
alone when the stakes were this high.
"Yes Will, we
should go after them. But give me a minute here... I
have to see if I can remember the map... Good thing
for us I have a head for that sort of thing"
Christian sat and tried to remember where the X had
been, and how to get there from here. Will paced
nervously back and forth, mumbling to himself
"...don't like this one bit... should not have gone...
got a bad feeling..."
"Got it!" Christian jumped up and grabbed Will by the
shirt sleeve, racing out of the store over Will's
objections. He was somewhat surprised himself at his
enthusiasm to rejoin the others. But for once, he had
something. For once, his visions might actually give
them an edge, or at least a little bit of ammo going
into this meeting with Freewater. Now he just hoped
that the others had been as lucky in their search.
He and Will arrived at the junk yard and looked
around. They had not taken the same route as the
others, but had arrived outside the main gate. As
they looked for an entrance, Christian noticed Will
get even jittery... and quiet (a rare thing for Will).
Christian put his hand on Will's shoulder and gave
him a questioning look. All poor Will could do was
point a shaky finger at a side door to the yard.
There, opening the gate and walking out, was a man
that Christian could only describe as bloody damn
scary. Too tall, too big, and too angry looking for
words. He walked away from them and left the door
swinging open. Thinking quickly, Christian left Will
and ran to the door, barely catching it in time before
it shut. He looked back and motioned to Will to
follow. He moved out of the shadows slowly, looking
this way and that, then scampered across the road like
a squirrel, avoiding the lonely glow of the only
working street lamp. Together, then entered the dark
yard and made their way around the stacked cars to
where Christian thought the X had been located.
As they rounded a turn, they were greeted with the
sight of four large, angry black dogs running around
another stack of cars and stopping just at the edge,
growling and snarling at something. Christian
approached stealthily, using his vampiric gifts of
obfuscate to remain relatively hidden from view. Will
hung back, his usual brave self. Christian turned the
corner just a few yards behind the dogs to see what
they saw. Anique stood with legs spread, body held
low, knife in one hand pointing towards the dogs, the
map in the other. The stranger, Talbot, stood beside
her with sword drawn in a defensive position. Sydney
looked ready to fight, too, but Sarah stood a bit
back, looking content to let the bigger kids take up
this brawl. Christian looked around for something to
use as a weapon, digging in his pocket and feeling the
small gun there, but wanting something a bit more...
sudden and final. His eyes drifted to the 10-tall
stack of cars right next to the dogs...
~This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy...~
As Christian and Will were sneaking up on the dogs, Anique and Talbot stand
on guard, protecting Sarah and Syd, and waiting for the dogs to attack.
Talbot hated the idea of killing these dogs. He likes dogs, and these were
some pretty rotts. But if it comes down to it, hey, what's more important,
y'know? Just as he was contemplating this, he could hear the back door of
the warehouse open behind the stack of cars...
Christain and Will were hiding behind the corner, sneaking up on the dogs when
around that corner, the door to the warehouse swung open, and the little old
man poked his head out and a piercing whistle emanated from his mouth.
"C'mere boys! It's suppertime! I got a nice juicy steak for every one of ya!
c'mon!"
At their master's bidding, the dogs' noses poked up in the air, anxious for
the scent of raw beef. As a group, the dogs ran to the warehouse door,
looking back once then turning back to the door, for if Master says come,
you come...
Talbot sheathes his sword, eyeing Anique's defensive posture as she puts her
knife back in it's sheath. ~Oh, come on, man! You saw how she acted in the
warehouse! She DON'T like you! But damn, those jeans sure do look good
wrapped around her... oh, shit!~ Talbots eyes snap to the ground, trying to
look away as Anique turns to address the group and resume the conquest...
IC:
The shoulders of five vampires collectivily
relaxed, and started moving towards the stack of cars,
muttering hushed greetings to Christian and muted
thanks to Talbot. Only Will stood tense, quietly
quivering, unused to seeing illusions perforned with
skill before him.
The group moved silently through a large swarm of
flies. ~I wonder how many of these are the eyes and
ears of Nosferatu, getting a damn good laugh at our
expense?~ Sydney thought. They moved forward, Anique
skillfully hiding all notions that flies sickened her,
she looked like a queen, marching through the town
square.
Will stayed back, wringing his hands in
worryment.
What were they looking for? Sarah wondered. She
could see cars, bits of junk, metal, piles of spare
parts, scraps of leather and the like. But the map
didn't tell them what they were looking for. Juat
where to go. And it said here, so here they looked.
It was Christian who found it. Heard it, more
accuratly. As Sarah was sullenly kicking a pebble
towards a particularly unremarkable car, the little
stone dropped, and Christian's senses, already acutely
aware from the incident with the dogs, heard a slight
'sploosh' as pebble hit water.
"Hang on a sec" he whispered, and crouched down
to inspect the ground. There, under the gutted
interior of a car was a drainage ditch. It looked
like it might connect to the city's sewer system.
"Should have known a Nos would lead us to a
sewer." Talbot noted wryly. "We're going to have to
do this quietly." he added.
Will, in the back of the junkyard started to
pace.
The car was a burned-out husk, tastefully
unlocked probably dur to the fact that the door didn't
have a handle, much less a locking mechanism, and
lacking a floor in the front (lacking seats too, but
this seemed a small matter). Sarah, the smallest, was
able to slip into the open window and get her thin
fingers into the grate of the drain.
"Can you pull it up?" Sydney asked.
"No - it's stuck!" she said after some exertion.
"Is it rusted, or just too heavy for you?"
Christian queried.
"I'm not sure." she whispered back. "I'll open
the door and let you have a look." She fiddled with
the inside of the door for quite some time before
pushing it gently open.
Will couldn't stand it anymore. He borke into a
run, before remembering he had to be inconspicous, and
slowed down to a fevered trot. He stood next to
Sydney and tugged frantically at his sleeve.
"Sydney, what...what time is it?"
"Shhh, Will. It's 11:40."
Will eyes bugged out, and he continued in a
barely contained whisper. "Sydney, Sydeny! Prince's
meeting! midnight, tonight! In the elysium. If we
don't come, she said that the scourgewas
allowedtoseekoutand stake anyonewhodidn'tcome!! we
should go - before we end up like Murrrrray!"
Sydney considered this for a moment, and held up
his hand. "Guys, We might want to stop. Even if the
Scourge is patrolling this area, I think we might want
to visit here again. Unless we all want to be
outlaws, that is..." He held his hands out, as if
open to any solutions.
ic: "Oh yes!!" Christian blurts out, a little too
loud for everyone's comfort as they all wince slightly
and look around. "Sorry.. What Sydney said... I just
remembered... Here.." He quieted his speech to just
above an excited whisper as he rummaged through his
backpack and withdrew a pad of sketch paper, then
quickly flipped to a page and presented it to Syd and
the rest of them for inspection.
"Well... What do you
think of that, eh?" He pointed to the picture's top
left corner, where a figure stood just behind an
opulent throne in an equally opulent room. Upon the
throne sat the Prince of New York, surrounded by his
court of advisors and sycophantic servants. Just in
front of the Prince, a wild-eyed woman was shown being
subdued, although not too successfully, by two large
men in suits; she brandished a long wicked dagger, her
sharp fangs displayed in a feral gesture of hatred and
madness, she struggled to get at the Prince. The
picture, although only a sketch in pencil, seemed
almost to come to life. It was easy to imagine the
scene. But away from the central action, just to the
right and behind the Prince's throne stood...
IC: Jack quickly grabed his things and caught up with
the actor ahead of him. Pushing a piece of paper into
his hand hurriedly passing him.
"See you later tonight" He said quickly as he left to
his car leaving a rather confused Tyrone standing
there. Tyron stared as the other kindred left and
then looked to the sheet of paper in his hand.
On it was typed,
Tonight be at the Elysium at 12am otherwise we will be searching for another actor for your role
