Vampire

Vampire:??the Requiem

Manchester: the Endless Waltz

Episode 2: Drink Deep ??? Part 3

The spirit before Thessaly and Kane taunted them, before unleashing it's power upon them. Flies were buzzing all around, and the bird flapped it's wings. Then it lashed out, it's alien mind burrowing into that of Thessaly, shattering her control for a moment. The Crone Acolyte gripped her dagger tighter and continued to chant, try to force the spirit from this world.
The spirt cackled and shimmered for a second and soon there were 3 more all about them. Kane had opened his eyes to see the horror, alerted by Thessaly's screaming. The spirit owls then ascended and dived forward, all four burrowing into Kane, feather falling all around. His body hit the floor and convulsed. Thessaly examined him and could see his normal brown eyes had now become glimmering yellow, the same eyes as the Strix. She stepped back. Dawn was approaching. She plunched her dagger in the chalice of water and began to chant again, trying to exorcise the spirit from Kane. But still nothing changed, and Kane stood up. His hands had become black talons like that of a vulture, his teeth were protruding and he snarled and laughed, mocking Thessaly for wasting her power. This new beast struck out out Thessaly, trying to grab her, but to no avail, and instead lunged out with tearing claws and slashed her arm. Thesssaly once more cried out in pain and her chanting became more desperate.
Kane's body slumped to the floor. The spirit had gone and soon Thessaly was also overcome with sleep as the sun broke the horizon outside.

Meanwhile that evening Verity had gone to the apartment of the previous victim to try and find more clues. She had learnt that Brain Mathews, a missing person, was in fact a painter. She was hoping that there may be some sort of clue there, maybe a painting that Brain had created. Searching the apartment turned up nothing, just a number of paintings on the wall, none by Brian. Desperate Verity called out to the woman. "I'm trying to help. Give me a clue. I know you don't rest." At that the lights in the flat flickered, the radio buzzed on an the TV switched on to white noise. A moment later and the TV showed the room in which Verity stood. But of course the was no CCTV in the room. THen on the TV she could see the dead woman stood behind her. Looking around Verity saw no one. On the TV the figure was now right behind Verity, whispering into her ear. Then there was darkness and the painting on the wall where Verity was looking began to shudder. THe paint became wet, pealing like skin, flies buzzing from the moulding flesh, rats scratching behind it. Verity held her nerve and then the light were back on and the painting was back to normal. Verity pulled the painting down, took her knife from her boot and tore open the back of the painting and found the name of the painter and now knew from where it had come from. A small gallery in Castlefield called the Fitzpatrick Gallery of Modern Art.

Also during this time Dimitri had gone off somewhere, apparently back to his flat, shaken by the ordeal of the night.

The next day Verity reported her finding to the Chamberlain before going to the gallery. Meanwhile that evening Thessaly and Kane awoke and were found by the ghouls who were left in charge of watching the site. Thessaly and Kane headed to see the Chamberlain . Dimitri informed them by phone that Brain Mathews body had been found by the police and so Kane headed to the morgue while Thessaly then went back to Salford to see out her sire, the Magus Gregor, head of the Cult of Cernnunos of the Circle of the Crone.

At the morgue Kane easily gained access with his false ID and also having been a paramedic he knew how to look the part. Wainting for the right chance he snuck into the main autopsy room and looked at the report on the body of Brain Mathews. The man had been killed before dumped in the water. His throat was slit, his tongue removed, his mouth filled with pomegranite seeds and grape seeds, and two coins under the eyelids.

Meanwhile Thessaly was at a block of run down flats in Salford. Taking the stairs down she arrived at a door, the paint peeling, and knocked. A man answered, one of Gregor's students. Thessaly was let in. The flat was dank and dark, lit by candles. The walls were stained with filth and had red and gold celtic runes painted on them. THe kitchen was not much better. The flies were buzzing over a sink filled with a dark red viscous liquid, cardboard boxes with soaked with filth, rats and animals whine from inside cages that stank of shit and piss. She made her way to the living room where a few wooden benches were sat and a wooden chair decorate to look like a throne. Behind it was a hole in the wall that had been smashed open so that the next flat could be accessed. In the shadows beyond shadows could been seen to move. The student went through the hole and then returned, asking for Thessaly to sit. The student went to the kitchen while from the other flat Gregor emerged. His lipless smile, his skin grey and mottled, his head bald except for a few whisps of black hair, and his body almost emaciated and naked save for the green robe that he wore. The student returned, have killed a cat, with a chipped Disney mug, filled with blood.
Thessaly explained the situation, asking if a Cult of Bacchus operated in teh city. She also asked about the Strix. The magus could answer a little on both subjects. He knew of no cult and that the Strix were a fear creature in the time of Rome, but had not been seen in many centuries. But he was aware that their appearance was a sign of trouble. He gave her a pendant of knuckle bones to act as protection and then sent her away with the orders to return with what she could from the people who had been summoning the Strix and this ghost.

AT the art gallery Verity met the owner, and they talked some time about Brian Mathews, and the owner explained that he had not seen Brain in some time and that they had only sold a few pieces of his work. However, Verity was able to listen in, using her vampire ears, on a private conversation between the gallery owner and a man called Oliver. It seemed Oliver was watching Brain Mathews girl friend and that she had been causing them problems, apparently she had evidence that Brain had been last seen at the gallery. THe woman was to dealt with.

Verity got the detail for Brian's girlfriend and drove off on her bike. Arriving at the apartment she explained to the girlfriend that she was in trouble and that Verity knew from who. Verity got in and checked the apartment. Then she spotted that across the road on the roof of another block was a man. Verity called for the girl friend to get down, but then it became clear that this wasn't going to be her death. Verity looked on as the man was knocked off the roof by a shadowy figure. Oliver fell to his death, hitting the pavement.
Verity, knowing this flat wasn't secure, g
rabbed the girl friend and made their escape, heading to Verity's haven.

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.