Vampire

Vampire:??the Requiem

Manchester: the Endless Waltz

Episode 2: Drink Deep ??? Part 2

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????????????????????????Following the escape from the police officers in the Northern quarter Dina, the sweaty Nosferatu, thought it would be best to keep a low profile and so returned to her underground abode where she could be of better use watching the media and news networks and the internet. Meanwhile Verity, the leather clad Mekhet, headed back to the museum where the others would meet her.

????????????????????????At the offices of Chamberlain Odans, Verity, Dimitri, Kane and??Thessaly??were able to reveal what they had found out. Dimitri???s discovery of the poem, and of course the coins and feather plus the ghostly like encounter made sense when compared to the things that Thessaly saw in her vision. There was an obvious connection to Bacchus, and of course rituals related to the veneration of that god. But of course there was the image of the blade and the owl. Odans then made it clear that the vampire body from the Northern Quarter crime scene needed to be destroyed, and so reluctantly Dimitri, along with Kane, headed back to the coroners offices. Meanwhile Verity and??Thessaly, like true Crone Acolytes hit the books, searching for any clue of Bacchus and links to vampires and the Kindred. With the aid of the books in the library and what books Chamberlain Odans would allow them to looks at the two Acolytes uncovered the myths of the Strix and the legends of the Julii, a vampire Clan that existed in??Rome, rumoured precursors of the Ventrue Clan. However most of these stories are simple legends but it all fitted, so maybe there was some truth in the matter.

????????????????????????Kane and Dimitri got access to the morgue, Dimitri making it the second night he had been there. There were a few officers about since the bodies from the Northern Quarter. It did not take long for Dimitri and Kane to get hold of the files for the bodies and they started to remove the vampire body so that they could destroy it. The preliminary autopsy report for the vampire had copies of emails between the investigators at the crime scene. There was a lot of disbelief related to the case. Most believed the vampire corpse was that of a person suffering a degenerative disease. But more important to the investigators was not the lack of blood in the woman???s corpse, just like the other woman from the night before, but also the second body to have a missing heart without any sign of intrusion into the body. The investigators were stumped. The temperature in the morgue dropped, condensation formed on the lockers. Then Dimitri???s mobile phone began to ring. The screen looked weird, as if corrupted, and it read ???NUMBER UNAVAILABLE???. Dimitri just pressed the cancel button and ignored the phone, but then, looking at the lockers, he could see his reflection. He could SEE his reflection. And looking back was not just himself, but a snarling beast, lipless fangs and bloodshot eyes. Dimitri held his nerve but it was clear something was not right. Kane then heard something from behind, and he turned about to see a young woman, lank blonde hair, stair down at the floor and dressed in a white shift dress. Her hand suddenly pointed at him and then she walked forward, flickering. She then looked up and Kane and Dimitri stepped back as they saw her throat was ripped open, her tongue hanging from the gruesome wound. She mumbled about the blood, her killer and that they were the same as the beast but not like her killer. She wanted revenge. Then her head tipped back and the neck wound tore open and wide revealing a lamprey like maw and the tongue twitching, bile pouring from its mouth. Dimitri broke, and ran down the corridor until he was far enough away to calm down. Kane however stood his ground and the apparition disappeared, leaving slimy ectoplasm on the tiled floor of the morgue. The Kane???s phone rang. He answered and was met with static and wailing. It then rang again. He had a text from an unknown number. It was a name. Brian Mathews.

????????????????????????Returning from the morgue Kane met up with??Thessaly??while Dimitri returned to his haven to recover. Kane told??Thessaly??that the ghost of the woman had terrified Dimitri to the point of tears, blood tears. Verity headed off to discover more information with regard to the identity of Brian Mathews, as he was a missing person case, and had been missing for 2 weeks already.??Thessaly??had another task. In her research she had pieced together a ritual that would allow her to summon the ghost, this Brian Mathews if he is in fact the killer. Chamberlain Odans commented that this would be Thessaly???s first ever time communing with spirits, and that such an act should not be taken lightly, but that he would not stop her as it is an important part of the cults of the Crone, and her own progress into the mysteries and her own spiritual progression. He suggested that, as this ritual would hopefully resolve the case, should be performed at a secure temple of the Cult of Hathor. He provided them with transport to it and accompanied them to the temple which lay in the south of??Manchester.

????????????????????????The location of the temple was an old power substation, and arriving there Odans organised a number of ghouls to watch over the temple and provided security (this also meant keeping anything in if it tried to escape). Within the basement, between the pillars was a dark chamber, and from the ceilings hung red drapes. The stench of blood and death was thick and a sandstone altar sat at the north of the chamber, with a statue of Hathor overlooking the altar. Kane and??Thessaly??disrobed and cleaned before donning ritual robes.??Thessaly, with Kane stood next to her, placed the altar to the east and began to outline with chalk a ritual circle and began to start a cleansing ritual. Once complete she began the summoning ritual, her ritual circle included a triangle to the north-west where the spirit would be contained. With a swipe of a dagger she slit her wrist and allowed her blood to pour within the triangle.

????????????????????????From nowhere a wind began to blow and from a point above the triangle oil and paint began to drip down. From the pool emerged the dark being, the shifting form, long teeth and red eyes. It growled and confirmed it was Mathews and asked why they had summoned him from his slumber and not the others. Then it shuddered and the teeth merged and formed a white beak, the figure began to smoke, the oily substance evaporating and it spoke a tongue never heard on Earth, a guttural language. But one thing did make sense. A single word. Julii. And then with a talon like hand it reached forward and began to past the barrier of made by the protective triangle.