The Masquerade A Night on the Town

Diabolique

Diabolique

They see me rooooollin.
The sun had already been set, as winter brought about an earlier night. To accommodate the change, Alexander allowed his bank to maintain longer hours of operation. Shifting focus to this bank, Alexander DeManoir had been working for the better part of an hour before the Thirst hit him. Some time later, there was a tumbling, followed by a thud. From within the safety of Braxton Bank, Alexander had been feeding on the sweetest of his most recent interns; an intern who now lay face-down on the floor at his feet.

Not dead, just weak.

Having cleaned himself with a handkerchief, he stood, adjusted his suit-jacket, and turned to walk out of his office. "That will be all, dear. Do make sure you lock up for me, won't you? I expect to be occupied for the remainder of the evening."

Making his departure, his destination would be Club Bastille. A sort of makeshift haven that served as a night-club. In truth, the easiest way to explain it would for it to be called a halfway house or orphanage. Many young Kindred who were recently Embraced often ended up at Bastille, seeing as they had nowhere else to go.

A necessary annoyance.

Inside, the music thumped with every rhythmic beat. The bass echoed throughout the building. The scent of alcohol, smoke, lust and depravity filled the air as men and women both played this odd game of cat and mouse, catch and release. As was most often the case, Alexander settled himself in the upper floor of the club, where he observed those below him. Here, he would sit and watch... for now.
 
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***

Somewhere in London... 4am.

Despite her asociation with Anarch, Ixis had never been to London before, and had no idea of the lay of the land here. As she drived around for the past hour, all she culd sense is the overall prezence of her kind, thru-out the city. Even at this hour, alot of passer-by culd be seen out on the streets. Plenty of easy meals for a vampire, but Ixis has fed, just a day ago, vhile still in France, so she didnt need more vitae just yet. Her first idea vas to go to some hotel, and get a room, but no hotels she vizited in the past hour, managed by humans, akcepted new reservations at these hours. Only one even had its front entrance un-locked. So she had a choise... she culd wait until early morning, before the sun rises, and try then, or she culd find some other place to crash temporaryli, until she culd find a good hotel. Money vas not a problem, she had a decent amount acumulated over the decades, both in paper, gold, and on her credit cards, akcesible from several off-shore bank accounts she had, from all kinds of shady work she did, and looted from her victims.

No... money vasnt a problem, but the time of her arrival vas. If she timed it a bit beter, and arrived before midnight, she culd have booked a room, easyli. But as it vas, she had to do vhat she didnt like - find a safe house for the Kindred.

"Great... first time here, and I'l have to slum it like that." she thoght. She didnt exacly know her-self, why she dis-liked others of her kind so much, but she did. Asyde from reminding her of vhat she was, she didnt like most of the other vampires' atitude toward the world. Most tended to insulate them-selvs from the mainstream society, and not asociate with "food". Most also had a bit of a air of arrogance about them, even toward other Kindred, especialy young ones, like her. Of course, not all wer like that, in fact many neonates like her wer prety cool to hang around vith. But even most of them didnt have such a close asociaton with the mortals as she did. Most akcepted that they wer no longer human.

Ixis never did akcept that. Just one of many ways she defied her Sire, who-ever it vas, for doing this to her. It vas the main reason why she liked the company of Kine so much. It maked it easyer to pretend she vas still human. Easyer to live in denial. At least until hunger reared its head, or she felt the burning touch of a sun-ray on her skin, and reminded her she is not. Or until the teddy bears needed cleansing, to guide her. That contradiction vithin Ixis ruled her existence. On the one hand, she vas, even now, just a young woman wanting to have fun, and enjoy life... even if that life vas taken from her long ago. On the other hand, her bodycount on those same humans she liked to identify vith, vas higher then most other Kindred, owing to her madness, and needing fresh blood to drain from her victims, to soak the teddy bears in. Once she vas in the grip of it, she didnt feel anithing else. No compassion, no restraint. No guilt over vhat she wuld do. In her mind, it vas necessary, to guide her.

How-ever, the one other pozitive of her distancing her-self from her vampiric nature the rest of the time, vas her remarkable control over her Beast. Ixis did not Frenzy. Ever. She simply never had the urge to. In all her time as one of the Kindred, she never lost control of her-self. Maybe it vas because of her madness providing the same outlet for it, or maybe it vas just her inner hatred of vhat she vas, but the fact is, Ixis never lost control. It vas something many older and more powerful vampires culd not do, and it maked her proud of her-self, rationalizing that because of that trait, she managed to retain some of her lost humanity. It vas just a rationalization of course, the things she did vhile in the grip of her madness wer sometimes worse then vhat most other Kindred wuld do while Frenzying... but it comforted her, in her mind.

***

Engrossed in her thoghts, Ixis kept driving around the city for another half a hour, not going aniwhere in particular, just looking for the tell-tale signs of a Kindred safehouse. Finaly... she found one. A pretty classy-looking nightclub, vith a big neon sign Cub Bastille, in front.

"Club Bastille? 'Bastille'? Seriusly? Vhat is this, am I still in France?" Ixis chuckled at the name, as she parked in front. But the sign vasnt what got her atention. It vas a very small, very random looking grafitti on the facade. To any human, it wuld look like a random piece of "street art". But Ixis recognized a Kindred glyph, vhen she seen one, even if this one vas heavily stylized, no doubt to pass as a simple grafitti. This place, vas a safe house. As good a place as any to crash, and besides... it looked lively! After a long drive, Ixis wuldnt mind haveing some fun.

Colecting her purse and hanging it over her sholder, she steped out of her car, and headed for the entrance, and a pair of bodyguards there. One vas human, the other... yes... the other vas one of her kind. One look in-to his eyes told her that.

"Hi there!" she greeted them both, vith a sweet smile, in her heavily akcented English. "New here, looking for a place to have some fun. Mind if I go in?", her voice just the right mix of nonchalant and sultry, that she generaly used in casual convo. The question vas adressed to both, but her eyes stayed on the vampire one. Since this place vas a safe house in disguise, it wuld be up to that guy to let her in.

He eyed her a bit, vith a mix of suspicion, since she vas a Kindred he never seen before in here, and lust, because of her atributes, before he just given her a nod and a sligt smile in return, nodding her past.

***

Insyde, Ixis started moving and twerking, completly spontaneusly, in rhytm to the sugestive techno beats blasting out the speakers. The place vas packed, even at this hour, and the atmosfere insyde vas a mix of sensual and out-right lustful. The Kindred woman smiled... this vas her kind of place. As she danced, she looked around her, geting a feel... mostly Kine, vith a few of her own kind mixed in, but not that many here on the dance floor.

Two levels to the club... the ground one, vhich vas obviusly the dance floor and bar, and the upper balcony, vhere she assumed the VIP lounges wer.

And on that upper floor... Ixis tensed sligtly. In her time as a vampire, she has not yet sensed a Kindred prezence as... strong... as that. At least not that she remembered. She culdnt pin it down, she vasnt that attuned, not to mention she prefered to avoid inter-acting vith her kind whenever she culd, but she culd feel it. Somewhere up there, in those booths, watching.

"Is... is that... a Elder? Wow..." she thoght. Then she chuckled nervously to her-self. Wel, as far as introductions wuld go, she may as wel introduce her-self to the top dog first. She never met them, but she heared storys about the Harpys, and there superior condescending atitudes. If she culd skip them entyreli, and get the Elder approval directly, so much the better!
 
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Vitaly Volkov - Club Haven Bastille

A scarecrow of a man slipped out of the bus just a few blocks down from the club. He stepped off the bus, sunken blue eyes glancing down the intersection each way as the machine behind him rumbled off down the dark road. The neon sign lashed to the side of the building, hanging out over the street, that was his guide. He followed the sign down the street, a weathered green backpack slung over his shoulder bouncing noisily in the quiet night.

The bouncers eyed him with a guarded caution as the skeleton approached. He stared over at each guard for a moment, and saw one wince noticeably upon seeing the Malkavian ring dangling from his neck. The detail didn't escape the notice of the gaunt newcomer, whose slim smile was barely noticeable under the neon lighting.

"It's a family ring." He remarked to the bouncer. "My brother has one too. Maybe you've seen his. Shaved head, same blue eyes, a bit... crazy at times, but a solid guy. You know him?" He emphasized the word in an almost unsettling way. The kindred at the door shifted noticeably, though his partner didn't elicit quite the same reaction.

"What do you want?" The other bouncer barked, annoyed by the strange man's rambling.

"I'm here to work on fixing up your network. Making it more secure, and the like." The visitor replied in a relaxed manner, his voice quiet, but easy enough to hear in the still night. "I was hired by somebody working for some fellow named 'Xander di Manor,' or something along those lines. Took me quite a while to get that name though. That guy hides himself eerily well. Seems almost supernatural, if you ask me." He remarked. The kindred bouncer shifted again. To him, the newcomer acted just like a Malkavian would. Dangerously casual, and slightly unhinged. Butchering an elder's name, and speaking it so casually. Who did he think he was?

"What's your name?" The kine bouncer asked again, folding his arms with a frown.

"Vitaly Volkov, good sir, Vitaly Volkov." He replied easily.

The kine bouncer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, they're expecting you. Head across the main floor, up the stairs, and take a right. It's the second door on the left. Ask for at the bar for Ezekiel if you need anything more than that." He jerked a thumb behind him, and the kindred guard opened the door for him to enter.

Inside, the music pulsed and reverberated through the building, every inch of the place soaked in emotions and energy. Vitaly passed though like a pale ghost as he made his way to the stairs, shouldering his way though the crowd, seemingly unaffected by the energy that pulsed though the soles of his shoes and echoed in his skull, and slowly made his way up the stairs, his eyes wandering over the club, absorbing every detail of the place. He looked up at a window a floor above him, dark stained one way glass, and had the suspicion he was being watched intently. Still, in his clumsiness, he bumped shoulders with black leather clad dominatrix. His ghoulish mug looked back at her briefly, the silver, malkavian ring dangling from his neck, maintaining his gaze just long enough to see long black hair and a face around mid twenties, but looked away just as quickly, without apologizing.

Pushing open the door he was directed to, he found himself half isolated from the sound of the club, alone with a small, locked server cabinet and a computer. He sat down on a cheap swivel chair and logged onto the computer with a set of credentials he had been emailed previously. After downloading and starting several scripts to run in the background to do some work for him, he leaned back in the chair, and started digging though the computer. It was a curiosity driven habit for him. Whenever he was required to work on something, he wanted to know just what it was he was trying to protect. Most of the time, it was something his employers very much did not want him to see. Vitaly didn't particularly care.He passed through a handful of folders before settling on one labelled 'potential recruits.'

He clicked twice, and found the folder locked by a password, though it didn't take long at all to crack. Once he was inside, he found nearly a hundred profiles of different individuals.

A profile was enough to get him intrigued. Talks of sects. Clans. Supernatural powers. Kindred. Kine. Vitae. Some masquerade. It was all deeply confusing, and deeply interesting. He took a moment to export the folder onto his own computer, which distributed it to his other devices. It would be interesting to read later, in the privacy of his own home, though perhaps reading one more wouldn't hurt...
 
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"Hey! Watch your step!" Ixis growled at the back of a skinny human guy who just bumped her. From that brief look at his face, she actualy vasnt all that sure he vas human, since she seen ghouls prettyer then him.

But, too much in the groove of the place to pay it much mind, she returned to her dancing, for a minute or so... before something else penetrated. That ring around the guy's neck... for some reason, Ixis felt familiar vith it. It reminded her of something from her past. And it maked her feel sligtly... unsettled.

"That thing... that ring... vhere have I seen a ring like that before? Somewhere.... east? But no... NO! No, the teddy bears always pointed me west... so it cant be. But I KNOW I have seen a ring like that before!" she thoght, brow frowning. Then she set off thru the crowd, after the weird-looking Kine who bumped her.

***

...as sudenly, the server room seemed to... darken... around him. A deep, un-natural darkness, making even the light coming from the monitor seem diluted. And a couple moments later, a cold hand landing softly on his sholder, folowed by Ixis's voice:

"Why do I get a feeling you arent suposed to be looking at that, my over-curious frend? But as they say, too late now... you just opened a can of worms!" she purred in his ear, her eyes flicking over the monitor.
 
Vitaly Volkov - Technical Room in Club Haven Bastille

Vitaly didn't hear the Kindred behind him enter, he was too engrossed in his reading to be listening for the gentle creak of the door, even if the intruder wasn't trying to hide it. When the screen dimmed, and the edges of his vision seemed to fade into darkness, he wasn't immediately concerned. When a hand wrapped around his bony shoulder, and a voice whispered a subtle threat in his ears, then he finally though it warranted a response.

There was a strange look on Vitaly's haggard features, something between bemusement and questioning confusion. He swiveled halfway around in the chair without rising, unhurried, and looked over his shoulder to the newcomer. It was the black leather clad woman he bumped into earlier. A voice in the back of his head told him this might be one of those ''Kindred", and the darkness one of their "Disciplines", and that he was really talking to a vampire face to face for the first time. Still, there was no reason to be worried. He had his reassurances.

"Listen, lady, miss, ma'am- no, mistress! That's the one. You look like one of those girls at a BDSM club in all leather. You're just missing that little dorky leather captain hat that makes you look like a kinky nazi. You know the one I'm talking about!" He replied, amused. He pointed a finger right above her head, right where the hat would be. "You should really get one of those. It'd complete the whole outfit-ensemble, I think."

"Anyway-" He just said, wiping the bemused smile off his face, leaving just the mere ghost of it on his features, "-I'm just here working on this club's network. Hired by some proxy of some guy named 'Xander di Manor' or something like that. I don't know. So, mistress, I'm just here doing my job. I'm a simple man, doing simple things, trying to put food on the table." He glanced down at himself briefly, considering the irony of that statement, before continuing.

"Anyway, can you go? You're dimming my monitor, and it's making it kinda hard to read."
 
Ixis was a bit confused... this Kine seemed like he already vas in on the secret. His adressing her as "mistress" only confirmed that. As did his lack of suprise at the things he akcessed on the screen. She glared, not sure vhat to make of it. As a new-comer to London, she realy didnt know much about who belonged vhere, but this human seemed at home among her kind.

"So let me get this straigt... you are one of the familiars? Wel why didnt you say so? But if you are a familiar, why wuld you poke around your master's private files? Potential recruits? I doubt he wuld apreciate this very much." she sayed, watching the man carefuly.

"Who is your master, aniway? Are you branded? Lets see it." she added, then pointed at the ring around his neck, finaly geting to the real reason she cornered Vitaly like this.

"And that ring... where did you get that? It looks... familiar. I... I think I have seen one like it before, way back east, not long after I was embraced. But I'm not sure."
 
"Uhh..." Vitaly's mouth hung open for a moment. Somehow, it seemed, he managed to bullshit his way into making her belive he was a vampire servant. A familiar, whatever that entailed. Apparently having a master. He was half tempted to correct her, but he wanted to see how deep the rabbit hole went. Though the fact that she relaxed when she though he was in on the "Masquerade" was somewhat disturbing. And a disturbing hint that what he was reading might be real.

"Yeah... something like that..." He said cautiously, his tone noticeably changing. Bullshitting was not his specialty, by an stretch. Half truths, then, he decided. "The rings are to mark us as claimed. I don't know who is pulling the strings personally, he's a bit of a recluse, so I can't help you there." He was thankful that, for some reason, she seemed to know about as little as he did.

Reluctantly, though, he lifted the ring necklace off from around his bony neck, and handed it over. Truthfully, if she knew anything about it, it would be disturbing, to say the least. The fact that his late father had them, before he slowly went insane was not comforting. "I was told to patch up the network, and browse through some promising recruits to send them back to him." Vitaly replied, watching the handling of the ring very closely.
 
So enraptured vith the ring, as she taken it in her hand, Ixis didnt even notice the glaring change of voice from the man, or his blatant lie about it being a "mark of the familiar". She may not have been a very typical Kindred, but she known enogh to know how the marking of servants works. They wer branded, not given rings. Especialy not rings as valuable and ornate as this one.

Or... "enraptured" vasnt the right word. "Mesmerized" may be more accurate. She recoiled sligtly as she grasped the cold metal of the ring, her dark eyes starting to take on a sligtly red overtone, and in that instant, a flood of... impressions... come flowing in-to her mind. Not memorys, but... images. Disturbing ones, but at the same time, ones she felt intimately familiar vith. She had no idea how.

Very old, very ornate, maked from gold etched vith Latin words translated as Malkav's Seal, and a very old-style Kindred glyphs etched on the insyde, vhich translated as Thee Of Malkav's Blood the ring seemed to warm up, as her hand grasped it. As if it... recognized her.

"Malkav's Seal... Malkav's Seal... Malkav..." Ixis's voice turned more and more quiet, licking her lips, as she vas flooded vith a deluge of... mixing emotions. She stil had no idea why she reacted so strongly to this ring, but... she felt, instiktively, that it had something to do vith the one who turned her. Or if not him, someone of his blood.

"Thee Of Malkav's Blood..." she read the inskription on the insyde, her voice sounding haunted now, in Kindred glyphs. Old-style, she vasnt even sure she translated them right, but she culd get the gist of it. Finaly, her eyes gone up to meet the man's gaze agen.

"Where did you get this?" she breathed a question, brandishing the ring close to his face, vhile she griped the bony man's sholder a bit harder then she intended, her Vampire strength making the bones in it shift a litle.
 
Vitaly felt entirely uncomfortable, the way she looked at the ring, the way she moved, and the eerie fascination she held while staring at the ring. His ring. He was ready to snatch it back as it dangled in front of his face, the silver reflecting colors off the computer screen in the dim room, but the pressure on his shoulder, the vice like grip that locked him in place.

He remained relaxed, though, relaxed as he could, given the circumstances. His free hand leaned over the back of the chair. There was a deadly sharp straight razor resting in his pocket, well oiled and ready to swing. Vitaly wasn't sure if he could kill a vampire, but slashing its throat open would help to slow it down, at the very least.

"I told you, Mistress, it was given to me by another." He said it truthfully.

Given to me by my brother, pulled off my father's corpse.

"It was given to me to mark who I was."

As a member of my family, not some insane vampire cult.

"And I'd very much like my ring back, mistress." He said sarcastically.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small notification pop up, a orange glow over his file transfer indicating it was complete. He smirked a little. The data was his, now. Now, he had leverage.
 
"Mark you who you are? And who ARE you? Familiars arent given rings to mark them. Especialy not rings bearing ancient Kindred bloodline markings on there back." Ixis demanded sharply, the statement puling her back from her reverie, and helping to remind her that the man didnt answer her question in the first place, about being a familiar or not. Also, the pop-up on the computer screen behind him got her atention...

"File transfer complete... ? What, did you COPY this?! Ok mister, looks like you arent going aniwhere." she growled, then puled on his sholder, to yank him to his feet.

"Lets find your master, if you have one, and talk to him. And if not... wel, I'm the last person who wuld have a problem vith someone's curiosity, but a Kine trying to expoze the Masquerade, goes way beyond curiosity. Like I sayed, you just opened a can of worms. Lets go!" her grip on his sholder increasing, as she marched him out the room. As if by magic, as soon as they wer out of the room, the un-natural darkness receded to normal levels, since they wer out of the spell Ixis cast on the room.

"Shit... vhen the fuck did I start caring about upholding our laws... ? But it wuld go a nice way tovard making me akcepted in the city! A Neonate who un-covered a atempt to expose the Masquerade? Has a nice ring to it..."

In the back of her mind, she remained pre-ocupied with the ring, how-ever. Malkav's blood? Did that mean... did that mean she her-self was Malkavian?
 
It was an ice anger that Vitaly felt, a kind of half psychotic anger that made him want to tear his own guts out. His mind, though, his mind was all venom. Just as the pair reached the door, he ducked, and twisted violently, wrenching himself from the iron grasp of his captor. His shoulder made a sickening pop sound, wrenched nearly far out of the socket to dislocate it, and the collarbone shifting. Pain spiked up his shoulder, riding up his neck, but it was secondary to the half-crazed skeleton. He stepped back into the room, but it was clear from where he was that whatever was hiding behind the one way glass a floor above just saw him, if they were watching. He staggered back a few more steps, before swinging his arms wide.

"I don't think you understand the gravity of this fucking situation, you undead bitch. Your whole fucking secret, your fucking masquerade, it's in my fucking domain now." He swung his arm back, gesturing at the technology behind him. "If I die, or go missing for more than twenty four hours, my information goes straight to someone who's going to figure out where the fuck I went with their last goddamn dying breath." He took a few heavy breaths, his eyes full of spite.

"When they find out that the last thing I sent them was a list a hundred men long, they're gonna think its a fucking hit list. And when the first one of you assholes doesn't die after taking a bullet to the chest cavity?" Vitaly chuckled, a deep, sadistic chuckle. "Light the fucking torches, baby," He crooned, half singing, "the witchhunt begins."

"I came hear to do a job, and your bullshit confirmed that this wasn't some 9 year old's fantasy musing about vampires in modern society. Now we can do this one of a couple ways." He took aother few steps back, and pulled a phone out of his pocket, hit a few buttons without looking, and had his finger above the speed dial, primed to hit it.

"Either you give me back my fucking ring this god damn minute, or we're going to have some crispy fucking kindred real soon." He delivered his ultimatum with sweaty brow, shaking hand, and twitching lip, looking thoroughly unhinged.
 
Despite her-self, Ixis vas taken a little back by this guy's zeal, locking eyes with him. She culd hear the tendons poping in the human's sholder, vhen he twisted free, but he didnt seem to care. And that look in his eyes... pure psychotic rage.

"Wow... lucky me this guy isnt one of us, he wuld be a Frenzy-psycho! I kind of like him... to actualy threaten me in here, a haven? This guy has more guts then most gang members I dealed with. Or he IS just crazy... and suicidal."

She culd just rush him, overpower him thru brute force, and take the phone, or conjure up more phantasmal shadows to distract him, and take the phone, or even settle this vith her knife, at the back of her waist, but she decided to try talking first.

"Mister, take a look around you. You are in OUR domain here. If you try making that call, it wuld be the last thing you ever do. Oh and as for the witch-hunt? Do you realy think you are the first who tryed to expose us? Do you have any idea, how much in over your head you are? It hapened before, many times, several that I heard of, and I'm not even that familiar vith our history, many more before I vas what I am now, over the centurys. Sure, you have a few copyd files? Big deal. Especialy vith the way you act, most investigators wil dismis them as something you yorself maked-up, to get atention. They'l probably have you comitted. And we have people in the police, too. Evidence can get misplaced, certain palms greased, and before you know it... nobody seen or heard anithing. So all you'd get out of it, is losing your life. Is that what you want? Take it from me, being dead isnt very fun. So I try to pretend to be alive." she stated, admirably calm in the face of his belicosity.

"Now... put that phone down, and come vith me. This dont have to end in your death, and honestly, I kind of like how brave you are, human. But if you keep this up, you WILL end up dead. Vhats your name, aniway? I'm Ixis." she tryed a smile on him.
 
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Vitaly giggled. It was an ugly harsh giggle. He gave Ixis a sly smile. "For a bitch that could be over a hundred years old, you sure are stupid. You think I'm going to go to the police with this? You're not listening!" He started pacing in the narrow confines of the room, slowly back and forth from wall to wall, his eyes locked onto the vampire.

"You remember the term I used. Witch hunt. A god damn witch hunt. What's going to happen when one of you fucking freaks has their guts sliced open in the street, only for the crowd to watch it heal itself over. What's going to happen when you fucking animals live while we dance in your chest cavity. And what's going to happen when we get videos of this spread to the masses, demonstrations of this held in every backalley street for those who want to watch, huh? We won't go to the police, no, we won't go to some special investigator. We'll go to the mob. And it's the mob that you monsters are afraid of." He said, pointing at her. Even with the disgust and rage on his features plain to see, he was thinking clear as day.

"There's seven billion of us. Seven billion. You think you can hide from that, once the word gets out? You think you can fight back against that, if things go south for you? You're going to be ground up like sausage and fed to the dogs. You're hiding- hiding behind this masquerade because you're scared. Cowards hide. Cowards bribe. You're rats. You're fucking rats. And I can smell it."

"This is your last god damn chance." The scarecrow stated, holding his arms out, open wide. "Give me MY GOD DAMN RING BACK, or you'll see if Vitaly Ivanovich Volkov is scared of death! Are you going to take the chance of damning your people here, or are you going to hand it over?" He hit the ringer on the phone, threw it on speaker, and threw it on the ground between them.

***Calling: Саша...***
 
.... Arms Of The Abyss ...

Sudenly, from the walls, the floor, and the ceiling, shadowy tentacles sprouted out, to ensnare and entangle Vitaly, one of them wraping up tightly around his mouth, before the second word vas out. They pinned him down to the chair, and held him completly imobilized, and gagged.

Calmly, her black-ish red eyes locked on him the vhole time, that red-ish overtone in them sligtly more pronounced now, because of her own anger, Ixis taken a pair of steps closer, to pick up the phone. Once she did... she crushed it in her palms, vith no more dificulty then a human wuld crush a cardboard box. Despite being only a Neonate, Ixis vas already several times stronger then a typical human of her size. Some of the crushed plastic and glass cut her palms, but the cut started to heal almost as soon as it formed, as she tossed the shatered pieces of the phone, asyde.

"Just be grateful you didnt try this on some other Kindred. Most wuldnt have been this restrained, vith some human threatening our future. Some wuld have riped you to pieces by now. Lucky for you, I dont like my kind all that much. And I agree... we are monsters. Freaks. I felt the same way, vhen I realyzed vhat I become. I know how you feel. I felt that way. And thats why I wont kill you for this."

It vas curious. The more unhinged Vitaly become, the more calm Ixis felt. She smirked.

"Too bad I'm not the one you'l have to convince, tho.", as she culd feel that powerful, over-bearing prezence of a Elder, aproaching the room. This close, there vas no mistaking it.
 
Vitaly was alarmed as the tentacles ensnared him, but not surprised. The disciplines mentioned on the files of the recruits, this must be one of them. Still, he knew that if he managed to survive this, and get his brother's help, they could make life very difficult for these vampires very, very quickly. Even if he didn't, with the short, very short call to Sasha's phone would make sure someone was there to get his ring back, even if he wasn't around to wear it.

Vitaly strained slightly against the black tentacles, barely able to move with the pressure bearing down on him. With one tentacle gagging him, he made no more attempt to make more noise, his eyes just watched with cold venom, and contempt.

"You just made a very, very bad mistake." His eyes read.

There was a momentary silence between them, the door insulating most of the sound from the rest of the club. Still, he could make out a few noises close to the wall. The calm, slow, heel-to-toe rhythm of dress shoes on a hard floor clacked closer. A few muttered words of respect. 'Sir.' The metallic jiggle of the brass doorknob to the room. Vitaly felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, as if some predator hid just around the corner. And from the way Ixis was acting and what she said, she felt something similar too, except far, far worse. There was a lapse in concentration, either because of the newcomer, the overconfidence, or both, and as the door slowly swung open, he could feel the tentacles loosen.

He didn't waste his time.

Vitaly pushed backwards with both feet as hard as he could, barely slipping free of the tentacles, and threw himself out of the chair and through the side window. Even as light as he was, it didn't take much force to shatter the glass, and he went sailing out of the window in a hail of glass splinters, crashing loudly on the plastic lid of a dumpster in the side alley. He could feel those glass spikes edging into him through his threadbare clothing as he rolled of the dumpster, and crunching under his knees and palms as he hit the asphalt. He took off in a haphazard, unbalanced, frenzied run, nearly slipping and falling as he scrambled into the yellow glow of the electric streetlights.

He fell backwards as he hit the concrete sidewalk, groaning as he hit the ground. More than one passerby looked at the sudden appearance of the beaten scarecrow with curiosity, but nothing more. Vitaly gazed into the alley to look for anyone following, but his vision was swimming. He pushed himself to his feet, and stood off balance, swaying as he slowly backed away from the alley.
 
***

20 minutes later... 4:30 in the morning.

Vitaly thoght he got away... there vas no pursuit from the Kindred of the club, no sign of Ixis, as he now waited 3 blocks away, trying to sumon a taxi, stil shaken up. He found one, and got in, and told the driver vhere to take him. As they drived, a set of head-lights in the rear-view miror kept folowing them. Not aproaching, but not losing ground, either.

Finaly, as the taxi turned in-to a relativly deserted street, the head-lights behind growed larger, until they rezolved them-selvs into a front of a stylish-looking metalic-purple sports coupe, a Ford Puma. The sports car easyli over-taken the slow cab, and puled a sharp stop in front, suprising the cabbie.

"Vhat the bloody hell... ?" the man stamered, breaking sharply, making Vitaly bang his face on the front seat.

... Shroud Of Night ...

Sudenly, the whole world outsyde the cab vent... black. The same un-natural darkness, as the one in the server room, before Ixis entered it. The cabbie franticaly turned on the interijer lights, vhich only shined like a match-flame in a void. They didnt iluminate anithing, evrything vas still almost pitch-black.

"Mister, vhat did you get me in-to here?!" he turned tovard Vitaly, only able to see him as a shadow, acros the back seat. Those wer the last words the man ever spoke. Thru the inky darkness, Vitaly culd hear the driver-side door opening, before the man let out a choked-off scream, sounding like he vas being strangled, or... bitten. He culd see the out-line of two heads, not one, and the second head seemed to be snugling-in to the neck of the first. The cabbie's hands franticaly flailed around, one of them banging on the safety-glass betwen him and the passenger compartment vhere Vitaly vas. That hand had blood on it.

*click*

Both sets of door-locks on the rear seat sudenly vent shut, as someone flicked the master switch on the dashboard. Vitaly culd not get out animore.
 
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It took Vitaly about five minutes of driving to realize he was being followed.

He watched the rear view mirror through the safety glass as the coupe followed doggedly, leisurely behind them. He pulled micro splinters of glass from his palm using his teeth, spitting the bloody shards into an empty cup before moving on to work on another. The few drops of blood that welled up from the wound he rubbed into his threadbare shirt. At the moment, he looked more dead than alive.

There was a constant look of annoyance on his features, the face someone would make when expecting to be pissed off just about any second. He didn't have to wait long. The purple car blocked the road, throttling him forward into the seat in front and exacerbating the headache he felt coming on. He looked out the window, and saw the purple car blocking off the city street before the world went black outside the cab. There was no doubt about it now. "Should have taken the fucking bus." He muttered.

As the cabby yelled at him, Vitaly pulled the straight razor from his pocket and unfolded it before yelling back, though not to the cab driver. "I hope you brought my fucking ring. Ready to fork it over now?" From the sudden screaming of the cabby, and the clicking shut of the doors, he guessed not.

Vitaly turned around and made a long, quick cut along the rear window gasket, before kicking it out, the laminated panel cracking and bulging slightly before giving away in one sheet. His feet trampled loudly over the trunk of the cab as he climbed out, stumbling onto the street, vertigo making it nearly impossible to move normally. Trying to get his position, he ran to his right, and exited the dark shroud underneath a poorly lit construction scaffold, nearly running through the window of a cafe storefront.

"She doesn't want to be seen." He thought. "She still has to uphold this masquerade bullshit. More people means a better chance of me getting out alive. Doesn't matter what kind of devil possessed killing machine she is, enough people and she'll have to think twice."

Vitaly picked up a loose brick off the ground and tossed it through the window. Even before the glass had all hit the ground, a warning alarm began to screech, echoing loudly through the quiet streets. There was no doubt it could be heard quite a ways away. "The police station is three blocks away, Ixis!" Vitaly bluffed, struggling to shout over the high pitched alarm. "They can hear this siren from there! You'd best fuck off before they get here!"
 
"Ok, dickhead... you want to play the loud-game, we can play the loud game." Ixis scowled, just finished vith feeding on the cabbie, her tongue lustfuly licking the corners of her lips, of any left-over blood. She didnt intend to feed any time soon, but this... annoying... human and her konstant use of her abilitys have drained her, significantly, over the past 30 minutes. The cabbie wuld survive, she didnt drink that much of his blood, but he vas unconscius and wuld stay that way long enogh for more Kindred to arrive and spirit him away, to keep him from teling anyone vhat he seen and expirienced. He wuld probably be killed in te end aniway, as far as Ixis known her kind, after more of them fed on him, but at least she wuldnt be the one to kill him. Or perhaps turned in-to a ghoul. Those wer Elder DeManoir's orders. No un-necesary deaths, but no expozure, either.

He vas very clyar to her, in no un-certain terms, that she vas to blame for Vitaly's escape. She did release her atention, the tentacles loosened, and he got out. If she had any hope of being akcepted in the city, she had to get the elusive Kine back. Alive. And he vas realy starting to piss her off.

She ended the Shroud, vhile she reached in-to her purse, and pulled her Glock out. Sometimes, simple solutions work best.

"Thanx for the siren!" she shouted back at Vitaly, before she raised the gun, and fired... aiming for the thin man's right thigh. Vith the alarm blaring so loudly, she didnt have to worry about gun-shot being overheared over it. The round riped-thru Vitaly's thigh, making a hole and a messy exit-wound on the other side, before burying it-self in the wall behind.

As he colapsed to the dirty street, moaning, Ixis aproached, puting her gun away in her purse once more. Efortlessly, she hauled him back up, griping him tightly by the neck.

"You just had to make this hard, didnt you? DIDNT YOU?!" she screamed at Vitaly's face, before backhanding him vith one hand, hard enogh to break his jaw. Then, throwing him over her sholder, she retreated back to her car, put him on the cramped back seat, after she found and took his straigt-razor away from him.

"Durak." she growled a Russian word for imbecile, reverting to her native tongue in a heat of moment, as, vith a screech of tires, she akcelerated the car away from the scene. There vas stil no police in evidence, but that wuldnt take too long. She had to be away before that hapened. Looking in the rear-view miror, she culd see another car stoping by the cab, and a couple of black-clad figures picking up the cabbie and carying him in-to the car. She smiled. Good. No loose ends.
 
As Vitaly collapsed onto the ground, one hand clutching at the wound far harder than he needed to. He clenched his jaw hard. I should have known about the gun. Should have kept moving. I should have taken the bus. I shouldn't have used the razor to get out of the car faster, I should have...

CRACK

Vitaly could feel blood welling in his mouth. At least one tooth was kocked loose by that blow, and given the pain in his jaw, and the way his teeth shifted overall, there was probably something broken. Thankfully, it was only on one side. The fracture wasn't replicated on the other, at least not that he could feel. Yet. Still, he wasn't entirely sure what was happening anymore. There was some white noise, before he felt himself being tossed roughly, not unlike like a sack of wet potatoes, into the back of a car.

"Дурак." He heard in flawless Russian.

"Ты говоришь по-русски? Что ты хочешь, сука?" You speak Russian? What do you want, bitch? Vitaly replied. His Russian could nearly pass for a native speaker's, but his words were slurred by the broken jaw and a degree of delirium. The bleeding skeleton took a moment to wade through the haze in his mind to try to figure out his situation.

He looked down at his leg for a moment, and watched as the wound poured blood all over the interior of the car. There was a flicker of a smile, remembering his own experiences trying to wash blood out of a car. If nothing else, that sure as hell is going to piss her off. Still, I'm conscious, which means nothing major was hit. My blood pressure's already low enough, if I lose much more blood I'm going to pass out.

His head rolled back, thudding against the seat, rolling with the turns as he stared blankly at the ceiling. He did get one important piece of information, though. She shot him in the leg. They wanted him alive. If he had a weapon, he had a hostage. Not that it did him much good now. At this point, though, Sasha was probably putting the pieces of the puzzle together, though he'd probably want to grab a vampire first and figure out how to kill it before charging into a nest of them. Two, three hours, Vitaly guessed, as long as he wasn't moved from the club.
 
"Я просил вас об этом кольце по какой-то причине, идиот. Это не должно было быть так, если бы вы только что сотрудничали." Ixis growled in reply. And it vas true. All of this hapened because of this guy's idiocy and stubborness.

She glanced back at him, and vas annoyed to see his blood pouring all over her back seat. Plus... the smell of it vas straining her self-control, as she licked her lips. But she didnt get a answer, even tho he probably heard her before he passed out. He vas unconscius, by the looks of it. The blood loss vas severe, but she figured she wuld get back to the club in time for it to be attended to. She figured the Elder wuld have someone ready for that. All she wanted right now, vas to deliver him back to the club, before sunrise.

And it was close. Over the horizon, she culd alredy see the first reddish rays poking. Dawn vas coming. Stil not intense enogh to affect her, but she culd feel her skin heating up... slowly.

"Damn it." she muttered, reverting back to English, since she generaly spoke it more these days, the last time she used her langage at all, vas many years ago, back east.

Reaching to the glove compartment, she taken out a pair of shades, and put them on. Those early rays definitly didnt agree vith her eyes, even as weak as they were.

Vithin a few minutes, she raced back to the club, where she culd see most of the guests gone, and the club closed. A pair of Kindred wer expecting her, who helped her get Vitaly out of the car, and carry him insyde.
 
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