"There is something you should know! She is not left-handed!"
"You know they can't hear you, right?" Grace's words went unanswered as Sybil took another few shots at their pursuers. The car veered closer and closer to the remains of the Rabbit Hutch, Samuel taking a few side roads in an attempt to foil their mirror masked enemies, who weren't letting up in the slightest.
Hope was hopping between the trunk of Samuel's car and the hood of the Glaziers as they remained quite close indeed, her cat-like agility proving useful in keeping her balance. Her tire iron had gotten more than a little bloodied, and now her dueling partner was finding it rammed into their chest before she pushed them off and left them to roll along the street at top speed. The second Glazier popped up and had a far more effective contribution to the fight.
A wooden stake, something that caused Hope to cry out in pain as it was forced into her shoulder.
"Your aim sucks!" She spat at the Glazier, giving them a swift kick in the groin that sent them off to join his buddy in the road... or at least on the road. With a grunt of effort, she pulled the stake from her arm and flipped it around, ready to use it on the third member of the group.
"I think Hope's got this pretty well in hand." Samuel said, glancing in the rear view mirror. "And what a sweet as-"
"Eyes on the road, numbnuts!" Sybil shouted at her brother, who quickly looked back just in time to see a car that they were nearly going to careen into. He dodged around it, neither combatant on the back having an issue with balance... until the Glazier just outright tackled into Hope. "Oh, shit!" The Brujah and the masked Malkavian took a tumble off into the street, narrowly avoiding being hit by several cars before hitting the sidewalk. "Samuel! Turn it around! We need to get her back! Quick!"
Samuel made another U-Turn and his car swiped the front end of the Glaziers' car as he made his way back toward the fallen Hope and her opponent.
When Hope had hit the ground, it had been to roll to land flat on her back on the sidewalk.
"You have lost, Key-per." The Glazier straddled her at the waist, holding a stake aloft. "Our Master shall rise as you burn in the sunrise!"
"Can't do that... bad for my complexi-HURK!" The stake was lodged directly into her heart, causing her entire body to freeze in place.
"You have guts. I understand why you've chose it to hide..." A fist rammed directly into Hope's stomach, and she was paralyzed as pain shot through her, the man's hand piercing through her clothing and her flesh and into her actual stomach. The organ was wrenched apart and the hand pulled back, holding a now-familiar piece of metal between the bloodied fingers. "...here. At last... the final key is ours!" Hope could only watch as the man rose to his full height again and vanished before her very eyes. Her ears caught the sound of a car rolling up and the doors opening, soon enough Sybil was taking the place of her attacker.
"Eww... not the best piece of wood to have stuck inside you, huh?" Sybil winced.
"Is... is that her stomach?" Grace's voice could be heard from not far off.
"It'll heal!" Sybil said. "Crap... we need to get that key."
"She can't heal until you pull that out!" Samuel's voice came from the car.
"You're right." Sybil said. "Grace, grab her legs, we're gonna get her in the car..."
"I need to stop doing things with you people... I've had more than enough bloodied back seats for... ever." Grace groaned.
"We have to keep moving."
"I get that, but where are we moving to?"
"The docks... with any luck." Ben said, leading down another turn in the sewers.
"With any luck?" Angel asked, trailing half a step behind him, every so often glancing to the ankle-deep water they were traveling through. "...can vampires get diseases?"
"Just don't drink any blood from anything you find down here." Ben said.
"...this is a normal sentence. There's nothing insane about that at all." Angel muttered.
"Would you rather go back and get decapitated by the Sheriff?" Ben asked, giving her a pointed look.
"I like my head where it is, thanks." Angel returned the look as Ben brought them around another corner.
"Alright, I think we're close. I can smell more salt." He moved over to a ladder, grasping it firmly and quickly starting to climb up it. "Keep watch, I'll only be a second." He said, thinking they'd made enough distance that it would take a bit for Blackjack to catch up. By now, he imagined that the Sheriff had already searched the cabin and likely found the exit. It would only be a few minutes at best. Ben reached up, finding the manhole and pressing upward, forcing it from its grate just enough to look up.
A back alley. Quiet and nothing immediately apparent. He slid back down, finding Angel waiting for him there, looking worried. "Coast is clear. Let's head up."
"Ben, why are we going to the docks?"
"C'mon, we need to get moving."
"Ben. Why are we going to the docks?" Ben sighed as he let go of the ladder.
"An old friend of Nathaniel's has chartered a boat out of Seattle."
"A boat out?"
"Yes. Out of Seattle. Now let's go."
"You want me to leave?"
"Angel, if we stay here, we're going to be hunted down. The Prince will eventually get us and stake us to the eastern face of some building." Ben said.
"What about your friends? Your... coterie?" Angel asked, her eyes widened in surprise.
"They're not my friends. A coterie is not your friends." Ben said. "They're... coworkers. At best."
"You've fought alongside them-"
"For a few months, yes. That doesn't-"
"If those Baali are still out there, then they're going to need your help."
"They can manage fine without me, Angel! This really isn't the time to-"
"I think you'd best make time, Benjamin Grayson." Angel's arms crossed over her chest, fixing him with 'the look'. "You're telling me you want to just run away from all of this?"
"An hour ago, you were telling me that you thought living like this was miserable. Now, all you want to do is stay?" Ben asked, staring at her as though she'd just grown a second head.
"Running away and leaving the entire city to burn is not what I had in mind!" Angel snapped back.
"I'm not leaving anything to burn." Ben said. "Seattle has stood under Prince Blanchard for ninety years. I'm pretty sure it isn't going anywhere."
"I'm sure the Romans thought that until the Visigoths showed up."
"Angel, we need to go!"
"Then tell me that's what you're doing. That you're trying to run away."
"I'm trying to keep you safe!" Ben stared at her. "We can get a fresh start somewhere else, far away from Seattle. I can help you with your Beast and you... you can be safe."
"Where would we go that we can be safe? If I am what Nathaniel and you both said I am, then how can we be safe? Where would we go?" Angel asked. Silence followed between the two of them, marked only by the occasional drip of the water into the gently flowing muck that had them from the ankle down in it. "Ben. Where would we go?"
"We can get down to Los Angeles and then... then... I... I don't... I don't know." Ben said. He slumped against the brick wall, gazing down into the murky water encasing their feet. "I don't... I don't know, Angel. I didn't plan for any of this."
"I know you didn't." Angel said. "It's not in our nature to plan for the worst." She stepped forward, hand gently touching his cheek and guiding him to meet her eyes again, her hand lowering after that. "We take the hand we're dealt and we make the best of it. Sometimes, that means having to stand and fight. You did that before, didn't you? When Stephen Corwin tried to muscle the Haven of Hope out of business?"
"I didn't do it because of that. I did it because I wanted to protect you."
"Exactly. I'm a connection you have, right? To the world." Angel said. "You need those same connections with other people, too. A reason to care."
"Yeah, I tried the whole 'sense of community' thing before in Vancouver." Ben replied. "It's not my cup of tea."
"And it needs to be, Ben!" Angel's words caught him by surprise. "If you keep doing what you're doing, all it's going to end with you being is dead. Or old and alone and miserable."
"I'm already at least two-thirds of those things."
"My point exactly." Angel said. "That is no way to live. You have to find something to live for beyond just... y'know, this." She gestured around vaguely. "It's the only way anything is going to ever get any better."
"You make it sound so simple."
"It's only because it is." Angel said. "I ran Haven of Hope because there were people who needed help in this city. Just like your friends need your help now." After a few moments of thought, Ben opened his mouth to speak and then glanced over Angel's shoulder, his arm moving to nudge her to the side, keeping her on the wall. "What are you-?"
"Shhh!" Ben hissed, a finger to his lips as he stopped moving and held as still as possible. In the distance, at another intersection, he could see lights as several figures were making their way parallel to their tunnel. The bulky shapes looked to be figures in cloaks. "Great... cultists..."
"Cultists?" Angel asked, managing to turn and look as the group moved past them.
"So... I guess we're getting involved..." Ben said, moving toward the stone walkway and out of the muck.
Sickle met claw again and again and again as the two clashed.
"Surprised you can even manage Protean like that at your age, old man." Astaroth hissed at Nathaniel through clenched teeth.
"Only break it out for special occasions." The primogen's words were far sharper than his abilities. Despite the Baali's jibes, he knew very well that he was out of practice. Ageless though he was, a need to fight had not been a strong one for not a few nights. He needed to end this quickly, before the ritual was disrupted. He dove back in a feint, dodging another swipe from the woman's sickle and moving toward the tree line. With Blackjack distracted by his three rogue Hounds, he needed to pull Astaroth away from the lodge.
The mark on her forehead worried him. A sigil in blood, no doubt Thaumaturgy of one kind or another. Without his books, he wouldn't be able to dispel it, at least not in the conventional manner. To disrupt it, he'd have to get a hit on her, a prospect that was becoming less and less likely as she pushed her advantage given by him giving ground. It seemed, at the very least, she had no interest in entering the lodge, although this did little to aid him on the ground at the moment.
He just hoped that Anthony had completed the ritual.
Inside, Anthony had definitely not done that. Instead, his defense had been broken through and he found himself thrown right into not one, not two, but three of the room's walls by the spellcraft of the other Tremere who had entered the room to stop him.
"You could have made this so easy, Anthony. You could have joined me when I asked you to." Robin tutted.
"Fuck you." Anthony groaned out.
"Oh, I'm afraid we closed that door some time ago." Robin snickered as a wave of his hand kept Anthony pinned to the third wall. The other three were now focused on the Maw of Lotan.
"Then I guess... I can drop the pretense." Anthony said. One cue, one of the Tremere began to reach for it and their hand began to smoke as though a flame had erupted from within their flesh. They pulled back, howling in pain. Robin and the other two looked confused. "Little safeguard... just in case one of you decided to show up."
"You snake!" Robin snapped at him, pulling an athame from his belt. "I'm going to make sure you bleed your last tonight!" He pressed hand into Anthony's forehead and began to chant. "Carnem ad lapidem. Carnem ad lapidem."
'...flesh to stone? What is he-? NO!"
"Caro ista mortua durabit et fiet sicut sonus." At Robin's words, Anthony could feel his vitae being yanked from him. He found himself unable to move against the telekinetic force, pain shooting through his body. At last, he was unable to resist the need to scream, to give his body some kind of catharsis for the intense pain shooting through him.
The small pack that had made their way from Portland had finally gotten to their destination. Hiding out under the radar of the Camarilla, they had kept to their mission of bringing down the Fathers. One it was known, had been in Seattle for some time. A Methuselah or perhaps even one of the original thirteen who still existed to this night kept in bondage deep below the city. Now, they were poised and ready to bring an end to this being once and for all.
The monster's cult, the Glaziers, had been operating all throughout Seattle and their own little Malkavian had managed to give them an in on their operations. Now, Tessa was sitting in the back of the van going through her little trance state as the others prepared for the battle.
Bradley, a Tzimisce by blood, was busy sharpening the talon-like appendages he'd twisted his fingers into being. Near him, a Brujah named Blanks was getting together weapons and a lot of them. Guns, knives, grenades, explosives. It was some sort of domestic terrorist's wet dream, yet it was all for the purpose of completing their mission. With the state that the city had been in for the last few nights, few were going to know any difference.
"Are we ready?" Gus, another Brujah and their wheelman, spoke from the front of the van.
"Almost. Tessa got our explosives together, now we just need to get the armaments in order." Bradley said, glancing over to the mute Blanks, who gave a nod. "Tessa?" He asked. The Malkavian remained in her trance.
"Oh, let the nutjob stay... she's been creeping me out the last couple of nights." Gus said.
"Her gift from her blood has helped us before, it's going to do so again tonight." Bradley said. "You should be more accepting of her. She is, after all, our sister."
"I'm aware." Gus said. "Doesn't mean she doesn't creep me the fuck out." There was a loud click as Blanks put a magazine into a rifle and tested the sight. He looked at Bradley and nodded. It was at that moment that Tessa came from her trance.
"They are gathering." She said. "We can take them all in go."
"Splendid. Then let's get going, we're burning moonlight." Gus said.
"First, the Vaulderie." Bradley said, reaching out with his hand to claim a wooden bowl he had brought just for the occasion. "My blood springs from Caine, and is gladly spilled in his service." With the slice of a finger, he cut into his own flesh and blood pour out into the cup. In turn, some blood was taken from Blanks, Gus, and then Tessa until the bowl was filled. Bradley raised it up toward the roof of the van. "Praise Caine! May the bonds be broken!"
"Praise Caine!" The other three Kindred echoed as Bradley took a long sip from the bowl, then it was passed around to the others and all had drank from the contents until it was empty once more. Bradley then placed the vessel on the floor of the van and retrieved one of the weapons from the cache that Blanks had gathered together. With that, the pack began to arm themselves, and were soon heading out and into the remains of what had once been a bar called the Rabbit Hutch. They swept the ground level and found nothing, soon journeying down into what was left of a basement access.
Into the sewers tunnels they went, not going far before they found themselves entering water... and swimming. Passing down into a lower tunnel, their lack of need for breath saw them successfully journey down into another chamber. Coming up from the surf, they found themselves in an old room where a bunch of the water system's pipes traveled through, surrounding them with the sound of running water. One of the pipes had begun to drip, leaving a great deal of standing water that reflected the glint of lanterns that had been set about the room.
"What is this?" Gus asked, keeping his rifle handy as they did a scan of the room, finding no sign of anything Kine or Kindred apart from themselves.
"This must be the chamber that Tessa saw." Bradley said, gesturing with a finger. "I'm pretty sure that that is the door in question." He was pointing to a massive, circular metallic disc in the floor at the dead center of the room. It was covered in Thaumaturgical symbols, with four keyholes in its makeup as the only visible breaks in it. "Alright, let's set up the explosives." The four moved about the room, each one heading to one of the support pillars. One pack was attached to each side, the detonators set. "Alright, let's head for minimum safe distance... anything that's left after, we can take down with rifle fire." The group began to move, save for Tessa, who stood staring at the door in the floor blankly.
"Tessa? Let's go." Gus said.
"He's in so much pain." She said, almost speaking as someone half asleep. "He's been trapped down there for so long..."
"Turn off the radio, Tess. We gotta move." Bradley said, walking over and nudging her with the butt of his rifle. Still, she did not move. "Tessa, that's an order! Let's go!"
"No..." Tessa stood unbowed, still staring at the door. "No, it's too late to go..."
"She's fried. Let's blow this place and go!" Gus snapped.
"Watch your tone!" The Tzimisce turned to him and fixed the Brujah with a death glare. With Gus cowed, Bradley turned his attentions back to Tessa. "Tessa, baby... please... please, come on... we need to go."
"It's too late... the pieces are already here." Tessa said. Blanks made a loud yell. Though mute, he had certain sounds to alert the group to certain dangers they may face. Bradley recognized it as the signal for hostiles. He turned from Tessa, seeing multiple Glaziers appearing in and out of the darkness.
"Light them up!" Bradley shouted, the three Kindred not enamored by the door pulling the triggers and letting the bullets fly. After all emptied their magazines, Bradley quickly moved to reload. "Check your targets! Check your targets!"
"I don't think we hit anything!" Gus shouted. There came another shout from Blanks, this one of danger. They turned just to see Blanks hit the ground, his gun clamoring to the concrete floor as two of the Glaziers were dragging him back into the darkness by his legs.
"Blanks! No!" Bradley popped another magazine into his rifle, and fired some shots, but found his targets were already gone. "What the-?"
"They're using Obfuscate!" Gus said, having reloaded his own weapon.
"Bunch up around the door. Keep your eyes peeled." Bradley moved to the door where Tessa still stood, standing now back to back with Gus as Tessa continued to stare blankly at the door.
"Where the hell are they?!" Gus asked, keeping his gun trained at the darkness, turning his sight on any sound he heard that wasn't himself of the other members of his pack. No Glaziers seemed to move out of the darkness. There seemed to be nothing in the darkness, but as Gus had said, the mirror-faced bastards were putting Obfuscate to use in a big way.
"Steady..." Bradley said, shaking significantly less than his comrade.
"They're out there-"
"Steady..."
"I can't hold-"
"Steady!" Bradley's words of caution were ignored as Gus screamed out bloody murder and charged off into the dark, firing wildly. Within seconds, however, the sound had stopped and they heard a loud "HRRRK!" and heard the sound of the Brujah's gun clattering to the ground. With that settled, Bradley turned to Tessa, who remained almost catatonic as she stared at the door. He grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her to look at him. "Tessa! Tessa! Snap out of it! We need to go! We need to go now!"
Tessa gave no answer, now staring blankly at his chest.
"Tessa, baby! Please!" Bradley urged.
"Advance upon them!" A voice from the darkness cried out, and for the first time Bradley could hear the footsteps approaching. He pulled the detonator from his belt and embraced Tessa. After priming it, he sighed deeply.
"In Caine's name." He pressed the button, expecting a cataclysmic explosion to consume them, the door, and everyone else in the room and possibly people unfortunate enough to be within a few hundred meters of the building they were under. Nothing happened, and the footsteps were growing closer. "What the-?" He leaned back from Tessa, looking in confusion to the detonation device.
It was at this moment that Tessa struck, ramming a wooden stake right through her lover's heart and leaving him paralyzed on the spot. Bradley's eyes had widened when he felt the impact and were now frozen like that as he could still see and hear everything around him.
"Welcome to our ranks, dear sister." He heard a voice from over his shoulder.
"I heard his music, calling to me." Tessa said. "His honeyed notes drip drip dripped into my ears. I could not ignore him." One of the Glaziers moved into view, holding for Tessa a robe and one of their masks, which she took.
"You are ready to ascend to your place and become one of We Who Shall Fix The Mirror?"
"Of course." Tessa said, slipping the mask over her face and disappearing beneath it, gazing at her paralyzed lover. "All praise to Lamdiel..."
"And you have even brought our Lord a gift..."
"Of course." Tessa said. "After all, he would like a hot meal..."
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