Vampire: The Endless Waltz
Episode 5: The Price of Blood – Part 3
Kane, Dimitri and Thessaly sat in the shadows watching the Kindred of the Ordo Dracul leave the Wyrm Nest, heading back up to the surface and the junkyard. Some remained with Zahred Zilber in the pit for a moment. He regard one, a man called Oliver, a man dressed in red with a gold stitched emblem of a dragon holding an axe, and addressed him as Companion of the Sworn of the Axe. He asked that he be vigilant. With the possible chaos that the Carthian election will cause they must now prepare for the Invictus to do what they do best, look out for their own and destroy their allies. Kerkoft must not know of his identity and their dragon nests must be protected from those Sanctified and Acolytes. He then addressed Lauren Esten, and though distraught at the loss of Liza, she agreed to do her best to ensure that the nature of the Ordo Dracul remained secret within in the Carthians. She understands that she must go before the tribunal and do her best to make the most of this distraction and point the Invictus out as the true culprits who destroyed the Prefect.
Once the Kindred had left the basement Thessaly, in the dark aided by her heightened senses, went over to the pit and looked about. She studied the strange sigil on the ground, the broken vials, the bowls left about holding fluids. The sides of the pit bore Enochian runes while the sigil on he floor, scratched into the dirt, was a mix of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. To her trained and educated mind the whole things made no, and Thessaly got out of the pit more confused than ever. She then heard movement from above, and the entrance that they had taken in was opened and there was the sound of footsteps.
Dimitri, Kane and Thessaly moved quickly into the dark, finding places to hide. Kane had his rending claws ready, and Thessaly watched the wide figure move in the dark, sniffing at the air. His hair was long and matted and his eyes glowed with an eerie green hue. Thessaly watched the figure in stalk about in the dark. She could hear the whispers of Gregorian chanting from somewhere. She spoke to the dark. She called for Pan, the horned god to come to help her. She slit her hand and made the sign of the horned god.
The entire chamber dropped in temperature, and in the dark was heard a deep sorting. The a loud roar and bellowing. Like jack hammers some thing stamped about in the dark, and Thessaly watched the green eyed Kindred shrink back into cover. Then she saw it. It was a bull, and she could smell meat and rotting flesh. She watched as it’s innards dripped top the floor and the horns were serrated blades. It roared again. There was more movement as more Kindred came down from above and the place was lit up. The green eyed Kindred attacked the beast, his claws gripping the blade horns of the bull. He struggled in the face of the creature, eyes meeting the bone crushing mincing grinders that the bull has for teeth. Kane, Thessaly and Dimitri broke cover and ran. Kane was first, his big cat form bounded up the steps and out of the junk yard. Dimitri and Thessaly were just behind, and Thessaly shocked those ghouls outside, bearing her fangs an unleashing her inner beast, terrifying the on looking mortals.
The next evening the group reconvened and met with one of Nails’ associates. They were told to go to a car park where they were shown to Dr Tobin’s car. With a bit of work the car was opened and they were able to search around inside. In the boot they found a pass card to a carpark at the Cheadle Hulme Hosptial, what was once the Manchester Asylum. They also found crumpled photo copy of a page from a book written in Arabic. The label of the page bore two numbers. One began with MMU, the other with AZ. Another lable gave a page number and the name of the book, Kitab Si’lat. They were ready to go to the asylum but another call forced them to take more immediate action. Dr Hugo called them to say that a silent alarm had been triggered in the UMIST bioresearch labs and that they should get there immediately. As it was closer than the asylum they headed here first. They also learnt that they had been given permission by the Chairman to count this as a bloodhunt and that the third tradition was not in play for those who had broken into labs.
At the Mill, the biochemistry labs, the coterie headed to the front door and gave the security code to the guard on the night shift. They were let in, given the appropriate security cards and allowed to make their way to the fourth floor on their own. At the fourth floor, before going into the Astra Zeneca labs, Kain once more shifted form to that of a panther and began to search for a scent. Thessaly and Dimitri made their way past the security double doors and could see the lights on. They all walked in just as they caught a large biker type walk out of the labs holding a cool box. Behind the vampire was Robert Woking, the business man lacky of Kerkoft and also coterie member wiuth Annabel Barbican and Jacob Lewis. The biker fled, using preternatural speed, and Kane lept forward giving chase. Meanwhile Robert fired a pistol, hitting Dimitri in the shoulder, and Thessaly lunged forward. Enraged Dimitri charged Robert, his vitae fuelling his blow, and sent Robert flying backwards through the door. Both Thessaly and Dimitri then lunged at Robert, Thessaly taking a gunshot to the shoulder at close range. Both vampire began to grapple and bite at Robert, tearing bloody chunks from his neck and throat until he was drained of vitae and Thessaly devoured his soul.
On the roof Kane, in panther form, chased down the biker, his claws cutting into his arm. There was a scuffle but the biker just fell backwards off the roof. Kane lept after him but realised that he had disappeared, and so midair shape shifted to his raven form.
In a dark tunnel the biker opened the cool box and looked at the vials of blood, and overcome with hunger he gorged on the blood in the vials, feeling his body crack and shift, bone bursting from his body.
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