"Any ideas?"
"No." Ben was bent close to the ground, examining the crime scene. Sybil had given him a pair of gloves to hide any prints as they examined the area. Chalk outlines where bodies had been found were scattered about, as was most of the objects and other fixtures within the Haven of Hope that had been destroyed in whatever struggle had taken place here.
Sybil frowned a bit as she looked the place over. There were no obvious clues as to where Angelica Knox might be, as they for now had to assume that she was the target of this attack. If she were dead, she would have had to assume there would be a body left. If she were alive...even Sybil didn't want to think about that one, wrinkling her nose at the thought of what could have befallen the redhead.
With no clues apparent to the detective, Sybil decided to seek the vitae for an omen. Channeling it, Sybil burned through some of her supply as she sought a premonition. The vision came through to her eyes, much blurrier than she would have expected it to be from before.
Water pushed against stone...three men, a father and his sons, were laughing...an angel was being thrown down into a pit of blood and gore...her fangs popped out as she bit into the ripe flesh of a still-beating heart...
"Oh no! Oh no!" Sybil exclaimed, snapping back to reality, the taste of that heart still on her lips as though she had bitten into it herself.
"What?" Ben rushed over to the Malkavian. "What is it?"
"The men...the devil men...they took the angel!" Sybil's eyes were wide. "She'll eat the heart! She'll eat the heart! We have to stop them!"
"Sybil, slow down! What are you talking about?" Ben asked.
"No time! No time! We have to go now!" Sybil said, grabbing the Gangrel's arm and pulling him from the place and out to her car.
"Such power in this little thing..." Isaac was examining the small, green orb as he twisted it to and fro in between his fingers.
"Isaac, what are you doing?" Grace asked as she entered the room, gazing at her sire from the doorway of his bedroom.
"Looking over this little gift that our friend left for us." Isaac said.
"I thought you said you were going to lock that away." Grace stepped toward him, worry etched into every inch of her face.
"I am. I was." Isaac said. "But I thought it might be useful."
"Isaac..."
"My hold on our Clan is not as strong as you might think, Grace." Isaac said. "I am Primogen by being just smarter and just more cunning than my peers. It's tenuous at best."
"And the backing of Prince Blanchard." Grace reminded him.
"Even so. It hangs by a thread." Isaac told her. "This would help a great deal.
"You shouldn't be using the powers of the living dead to keep it." Grace said.
"You say that like that isn't what we do every night." Her sire said pointedly, raising a brow at her. "And why are you wearing a negligee?"
"What? You don't like it?" Grace asked, lifting the hem of the sheer, purple fabric ever so slightly, showing off her legs. She pouted at him.
"I like it, but it's not what I'm most interested in..." Isaac smirked as he rose from his chair and approached her. Before he could reach her, however, Grace stopped him with an extended finger against his chest.
"Put it in the safe." Isaac stopped, regarding her strangely for a moment. "Put it in the safe, Isaac." The Toreador stared at his childe for a moment, her words so honeyed to his ears. She was right.
"Okay, yes." He nodded, going over to the painting on the wall.
"I still don't understand that picture." Grace said as Isaac moved it aside, revealing the safe behind it, which Isaac quickly spun the dial to in sequence to open it.
"It's The Fall of Lucifer." Isaac told her as he set the orb within, closing the safe up again.
"I know what it is." Grace said. "I just don't understand why you have it."
"As a reminder to not allow my pride to get the best of me." Isaac said as he slid the portrait back into place, the frame securing against the wall with a clicking noise. "I've had just enough nights to learn that lesson well." With the painting back in place and the safe holding its load, he felt...pleased. He knew that Grace was when he turned back to her...or, rather, to where she had been.
He had turned just in time to see that purple negligee hit the floor. The older Toreador went into his bedroom after the younger one.
Anthony made his way into Washington University's Liberal Arts building with his prisoner in tow. Robin hadn't made a sound as one expected when they had a wooden stake rammed into their heart. The approach of the watchmen ghoul had been followed by him retrieving a stretcher that the incapacitated Tremere was placed upon. Wheeled in, they journeyed beyond the public areas (thankfully abandoned at this time of night) deeper into the place and to the Tremere Chantry proper.
"Primogen Brook, I must-" Anthony had opened the door to the office and found someone new standing upon the glass floor.
It was a man in a white suit, who closed a tome that had been set on Brook's desk before and set it back down once more.
"Mr. Wallace, what is the meaning of this?" The man asked, rising from the desk.
"Who the hell are you?" Anthony asked.
"Remember your place, Apprentice." The man said. "I am Thomas Walker, proxy to Lord Samuel Blackwell."
"My...my apologies, sir." Anthony said, shrinking back a bit.
"And what is this?" The man who had identified himself as Thomas Walker stepped forward to examine the paralyzed Kindred.
"A traitor to our Clan, sir." Anthony said. "I was bringing him to Primogen Brook for-"
"Remove that stake from him immediately." Walker said, glaring at him. Anthony was taken aback, but reasoned that someone who was serving as proxy to the Tremere Lord would be able to handle anything that was set against him. He nodded, pulling the stake from Robin. The traitor gasped out, but soon resumed his undead state, unbreathing as he rose from the stretcher.
"Thank you, sir." Robin said.
"Sir?!" Anthony blinked.
"Yes, Mr. Phillips here has been our agent within the Baali ranks." Walker said. "Didn't Brook tell you about that?"
"I...what?" Anthony blinked.
"She is a very secretive sort, sir." Robin said. "It's possible that he wasn't told about the plan."
"I was never-"
"It is to be expected, but the time for that is over." Walker said. "We must have more transparency within the ranks of the Pyramid if we are to survive these nights."
"I couldn't agree more, sir." Robin said.
"Where is Primogen Brook?" Anthony asked. Walker frowned at him.
"Primogen Brook has been reprimanded to Spokane." He said. "As such, by the decree of Lord Blackwell and by the grace of Prince Blanchard, I am serving as Acting Primogen for the city of Seattle until this crisis is averted." Anthony's eyes widened. "The situation has gotten far worse than we had initially feared. We have had Mr. Phillips here working the Baali from the inside, but no longer. The time has come to go to war."
"A war..." Anthony felt his heart sink, remembering a similar sentiment from Brook before the Halloween massacre.
"We will be united, as one. As the pyramid should be." Walker said. "I know that Mr. Phillips will vouch for you, so I'm willing to overlook this lapse in judgment by you...for now."
Her heart was racing...except that it wasn't...
Her breath came in and out of her lungs rapidly...except that it didn't...
The ashes fell from her mouth...and she was still so...hungry. Angelica Knox had pulled herself free from the pile of blood and gore that her body was still largely caked with and stumbled through the darkness of the warehouse. Her mind was fevered, even now, as she managed to find her way toward a door. Something in her way screaming, telling her to get out and to find sustenance. She had to find something...she had to...had to...
Her body ached for something to...to eat...
Angelica had finally found her way to the gate, it padlocked shut. In a fit of rage, she grasped at the lock and yanked...the thing crumbling in her hands as if it were made of paper?! She didn't have time to think about it, or the inclination to think about it, as she shoved the gate aside. It rattled and that rattling echoed off into the distance. She could smell the salt in Elliott Bay, she was close to the water...something in her was pulling her toward it. Perhaps some fish were there...or a seagull or...
A pair of lights lit up upon her, Angelica turning to see the headlights of a car approaching her. It stopped just short of her.
"No! No!" She recognized the voice. Ben. Her Ben.
"B-Ben! Stay away! Stay back!" Angelica warned, even as that voice in her mind urged her to rush to him. He was so close...and so tasty. Her had the things she needed, and he would give it. He would help her. She would be fed. "Something's wrong! Something's wrong with me!"
"We know." Another figure was approaching from the car, backlit by the lights. "That's why we need you to come with us."
"The...de...detective?" Angelica backed away against some barrels that had been left out. "No, please...please..." The hunger told her that the detective - Sybil! She remembered the name - would have what she needed. What she craved. "Please, I don't want to hurt anyone! Please!" She slumped to the ground, covering her head with her arms.
"I know." Ben said. Angelica looked up to see him standing over her. An instant later, she gasped out and went ramrod stiff. She could hear and see all around her, but she could not move.
A wooden stake had found its way to her heart, paralyzing her. Ben was holding it, and Angelica could see the look on his face - the face of a defeated, broken man. He wept, and Angelica could see not tears...but blood, trailing down the man's face from his eyes.
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