"I'm surprised that you were able to find me."
"With respect, Primogen Gray, we really don't have time for the pleasantries." The Nosferatu who was hunched over at the head of the small group he'd found himself a part of said. "We need to find Benjamin and quickly."
"And why would I know where Benjamin is?" Nathaniel Gray asked with a raised brow. The man sat in the small library he had within the lodge. A commonhouse of sorts for Clan Gangrel. The two members of Clan Gangrel who flanked him on either side had clearly given themselves to some Frenzy and looked less than pleased with the non-Clan members hanging around. They did not attack, however... for now.
"You are his Mawla." Hugo Oswald Combs stated plainly.
"That does not mean I monitor his every whereabout, my young friend." Nathaniel closed the book he had been skimming during their brief conversation, setting it aside on his desk. "Clan Gangrel isn't like other Clans, we-"
"Wolf King Man." Sybil spoke, getting the attention of the Primogen, who regarded her... tensely. "May I speak?"
"... yes?"
"What will you do when the angel dies?"
"..."
Silence followed for several minutes, Nathaniel making unblinking eye contact with the Malkavian.
"... I don't understa-"
"With respect, Wolf King Man. I think you do." Sybil said.
"My sister usually is right about these things." Samuel said. "Kinda, sorta. A bit."
"Samuel?"
"Yes."
"Your mouth is open and sound is coming out. Stop."
"Okee dokee!"
"The angel... dies?" Nathaniel repeated slowly.
"And the wolf will live again." The Primogen's eyes widened a bit at the words.
"...I see." Nathaniel said. "Then, I believe, it is time that we locate Mr. Grayson... and quickly." He rose. "We shall go to his haven... the one that I gave to him..." They cloistered together, Nathaniel taking his own car with his two enforcers and the others following along. It was not a long trip, as relative as long was in trying to get around a major city in the middle of the night.
Sybil recognized the neighborhood as Ballard when they came to a stop, not far off from the Canal proper. The building that they stopped at, however, had been cordoned off with police tape. Several men in SWAT gear were outside.
"Uh... that's not a good sign." Samuel noted from where he was stuffed in the backseat between Hope and Anthony.
"Those look like the same men from Molek's Light..." Anthony noted.
"The very same." Sybil muttered, knowing by look that these were as much cops as she was a tuna fish sandwich. "... god, I miss tuna fish..."
"... what?" Hope asked.
"Focus!" Anthony said. They didn't have to focus long as a trio of men stopped the car that Nathaniel and his enforcers were in. Out came the two enforcers, their fingers elongating into razor sharp claws as they had seen on Ben a few times before, taking out the first two men immediately, their bodies falling limp to the ground. The third attempted to draw his pistol only for Nathaniel to suddenly be in front of him. The Primogen locked eyes with the man and he dropped his pistol to the ground as he stared at the old Gangrel in a daze.
The entourage got out of Sybil's car, having just witnessed the sudden carnage.
"Get in my car." Nathaniel ordered the dazed soldier, who seemed only too willing to obey, heading right over. He pointed to the two Gangrel who had come with him. "Stow the bodies. Now." They, far less dazed than the human soldier, moved to obey. Nathaniel quickly made his way to the gathered coterie. "If they have blocked off the building, then Benjamin is not here."
"Then where is he?" Hope asked. "If what the Malkavians said was true..."
"I am well aware, neonate." Nathaniel said to the Brujah woman. "We need to see-"
"Let's ask the guys you just killed!" Sybil said cheerfully. Everyone stared at Sybil for a moment. "Sammy. Help me out here."
"I really don't want you to call me that..." Samuel said.
"I'll call you what I wish." Sybil waved her twin off, heading over to the two Gangrel dragging the dead soldiers away. "Let me get a nibble, please. I'm gonna need it. So will Sammy."
"Samuel."
"Hush."
The two Gangrel looked to their Primogen, who nodded. Out came Sybil and Samuel's fangs as they bit into the still-warm corpses and drank deep. Soon the bodies were significantly more pale and the Malkavians had had their fill.
"Alright, let's do this." Sybil reached out a hand to Samuel, who took it. Closing their eyes, the two seemed completely in sync as they focused on the power of their vitae... and a vision was granted to them. Unlike those most recently that Sybil had had, this one was... different.
The men of god, with weapons drawn, attacked the wolf and the angel. They fought, their weapons useless until they brought the fire of God upon the pair and they fled...
"... that still hurts!" Samuel shouted out suddenly, startling the others. His eyes snapped open a second later. "I hate trash TV!"
"But we saw it." Sybil said. "Ben and Angel are alive... well, I mean... you know what I mean."
"We had best go looking for them, then. Quickly." Nathaniel said.
"We won't have to look far." Hugo's voice got their attention from further down the alley. "Sorry, while you all were talking, I went off for a bit." The Nosferatu gestured for them to follow, leading them to the water's edge and soon enough to an old drainage hatch. It had been rent open, the lid now half-buried in the refuse from the river. Sybil moved up, her sidearm drawn and a flashlight in the other hand that she shone down into it...
Ben Grayson lay unmoving, slumped against the concrete wall of the inside of the drain. Sitting with him, in front of him and trying her best to tend to what were clearly very grievous wounds all over his body, was the form of Angelica Knox. She looked up, shielding her eyes against the light.
"S-Sybil?"
"Yes, it's me!" Sybil said. "Are you okay?"
"Sybil, they... they hit him with something. There's so much blood... his... his wounds, they aren't closing..."
"We can help him, Miss Knox." Nathaniel said. "Let us get you out of there and we'll explain." He looked to the others. "I think some of you should go and collect Miss Penderghast."
"What? Why?" Hope asked.
"Because you will all be needed for the events to come... we must move quickly."
The evening was proceeding as expected. A few barbs traded here and there between various members of Clan Toreador. Renée hadn't made another swipe at the pair of them, although she had been very visible the entire night.
Grace had been working the room as much as possible from their position, working her way out and drawing in others. Isaac had been doing much the same, the pair of them having begun to bring in the news from elsewhere in Seattle as well as the rumors of Renée's big performance tonight being one that Clan Toreador and all of Seattle would never forget.
The play? Faust.
"If that isn't a sign that something's up..." Grace muttered.
"I know." Isaac said. "But keep your eyes peeled. Nothing is quite as it seems."
"At the risk of making a faux paus, I think I should call my coterie." Grace said. If there was trouble to be found, then they definitely needed to be here. If-"
"Yes." Isaac said. "Get in contact with them. Quickly." Grace nodded, slipping a hand into one of the pockets stitched into the inside of her elaborate dress and removing a cellphone. Quickly unlocking the screen, she quickly typed in the address in a new text message to Ben, Anthony, and Sybil, typing "Red Alert" right after. Her third message, however, failed to send through... as did the fourth and fifth.
"I've lost my signal." Grace said.
"So have others." Isaac gestured over to other tables, where others who had been on their phones for whatever reason were also expressing issue with the lack of cell phone connection.
"We need to get-" Grace started.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls!" A familiar voice boomed over a loudspeaker.
"...oh, god." Grace muttered.
"You are, all of you... guilty!" By now, the room had gotten quiet. A spotlight had appeared where the members of the Seattle Opera had been performing and in their place was a familiar-looking man in a priest's frock. "Your sins are laid bare before your fellow Kindred... and you shall pay those wanting wages tonight!"
"Anton... great..." Grace sighed, remembering all too well the man who they had found in Crane's cave-like basement among the bile and rotten flesh.
"Who?" Isaac whispered.
"Baali." Grace whispered back. "We need to go..."
"The doors have been sealed. I was going to wait for the Lady Renée's little performance... but I'm afraid the Lord works in mysterious ways..." Anton said.
"A moment!" Renée made her way to the stage. "This was not in our agreement!"
"You're right!" Anton said. "As consolation, you will be first!" Renée screamed as Anton grabbed her shoulders, his fangs popping out and digging right into her neck. Her screams turned to ecstatic moans as others began to scream... and others in the audience were revealed to be at Anton's beck and call. Weapons, previously unseen, had been drawn and were being used to cow others together in one part of the exhibition hall. Renée's body collapsed into dust at the last, her vitae drained completely as Anton wiped the last of it from his lips and watched as the years finally caught up with the Toreador. "Alright, then..." Anton said, sucking some blood off of his finger. "Let's see if we can get the real show started..."
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