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9.00 pm Sunday,  9 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. St. Leonards

HOW ARE YOU? I texted from inside the shielding covers of Under the Black, Red, and Yellow.  Don’t get me wrong, the book was a real insight into the society beyond the Veil, but I’d missed one of Eclipses’ earlier texts and was concerned about how she was.

I shouldn’t have been.  A few minutes later, a reply came through.

THE HARBOUR LOOKS NICE. Hmm.  Were her investigations not going well?  

WANT A LIFT? I like a good read, but after two hours of study and condescension from the Tremere clique, I was ready to leave for the night.  I just didn’t want Dominic and Mads to know I was off to find Eclipse.

I’LL BE HERE WHEN YOU SWING BY.

In contrast to what I wanted to do, I settled back in my chair as if getting comfortable for a long night’s reading and watched the other two over my book. 

Dominic seemed content.  He went in search of more books and returned with a collection about spirits and the Industrial Age.  Mads was restless.  She found a book called,  Calling your loved ones back for a final word, as well as others on spiritualism from the turn of the Twentieth Century. I knew she’d seen her share of death and loss. Was she looking for a way of reconnecting with her lost husband and friends? Would she ask them the same thing she wanted to ask Izac?  Not for the first time, I wondered about Mads’ intentions with our coterie.

From my readings, besides an image of Shadowland society and religious imagery, I gleaned two of what, in another life, I would have called spells. My first spells.  It seemed a long road to this moment.  I devoured every fact, every morsel until I understood them.  Not just how to do them, but why they worked. 

The first required the caster to focus on the random imagery of their dreams. Using the power in the vitae,  I could tell something of my future.  Dreaming again, even with the chance of learning something useful, was not appealing, at least presently.  The second seemed more useful. By placing a symbol on a threshold, such as the door to my apartment, it would inform me if someone walked through. Dominic’s question about whether I had ensured the apartment was secure prompted me to think. Though sunlight wasn’t an issue, what about unwanted intruders? I made a note to put it into regular practice.

9.00 pm Sunday,  9 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Circular Quay

Eclipse put away her phone and looked out over the dark waters of the harbour.  The Harbour was never truly dark. Even outside of Vivid, the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and walkway around the Quay were always permanently lit up. Eclipse loitered around the Museum, trying to learn something useful. But the more time she spent there, the more attention from the nighttime population of The Rocks she was attracting.  It was like they could almost sense the darkness that lurked within her.  They were prey animals, spying a tiger stalking through the nearby grass. Most just kept their distance from her, but some knew there was safety in numbers and tried to scare her away.  The more self-conscious she felt, the more attention she seemed to gather.

“Hey, what are you doing there?” Someone walking past had stopped their phone in their hands.  She turned and started walking away. The one with the phone seemed appeased and continued on their way. From the periphery of her vision, however, she could feel eyes watching. She soon spotted another, tracking her through the shadows, hunting her. She could have led him to a quiet alleyway and turned on him, but then what?  

Instead, she steered towards the more crowded spaces and blended in.  She watched from a recessed doorway as her shadow started searching the crowd for her. Eventually, he drifted off and was soon lost to the night. She waited thirty minutes before moving off into The Rocks again and making her way back in the area around the Museum.  She said she’d be waiting there.

Once more, she attracted glances.  Sighing, she sat and waited for me.

9.10 pm Sunday,  9 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Crow Bar

Being Sunday night, Stallion made good time and crossed Sydney while we were still hanging around the library. Finding the bar empty of coterie, Stallion was left with time to think…a dangerous presidence.  He surmised that his problem with gathering a herd was not him, but the place.  Maybe, if he tried somewhere new, he’d find a better class of livestock.

He dragged the bike off the back of the Bronco and headed out to Summer Hill for no other reason than the name sounded ironic for a Vampire.  He stopped outside the first pub to draw his attention, unironically named The Summer Hill Hotel.  It looked like a good place. The sort of place where everyone would know your name. Brushing off his coat in an attempt to spruce himself up, Stallion squared his shoulders and headed inside. 

9.20 pm Sunday,  9 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. St. Leonards

I sighed. Dominic and Mads were taking their sweet time leaving.    I tried not to fidget as I watched them slowly finish up, rise from their seats and hand in books.  I leaned back further into my chair and waited. Mads didn’t interrupt me to say goodbye.  Dominic seemed to be studying me for a while, but eventually left without a comment.  

“Where are you heading, Mr Giovanni?” I heard Mads ask, “I could do with a lift if you’re heading to the bar.”

“Certainly.”

“The books you were reading…” I didn’t hear the rest of that conversation as they headed out into the street.  Slowly, I climbed out of my chair and closed the black book in one smooth motion, checking out the library window to make sure they weren’t in sight. It seemed the coast was clear.  Returning my book to the shelf, I too slipped out into the night and headed for The Rocks.

“The books you were reading, on spirits and such, right?” Mads asked Dominic as they walked to the car and eventually entered traffic for the return trip over the Bridge.

“Yes,” Dominic replied noncommittally.

“Are you particularly…inclined in that way…disciplines-wise?”

Dominic turned in the driver’s seat and gave her an incredulous look. He kept his thoughts to himself for the time being and returned his focus to selecting his lane over the bridge, “I’ve been known to dabble.”

“I know I’m no Giovanni, but would you be willing to take on a student?”

Now, Dominic did laugh, “You don’t know much about the Giovanni, do you?”

Mads shrugged, “I mean, there weren’t any in my past circles. What would be your price?”

He shook his head adamantly at his passenger’s ludicrous suggestion, “Oh, you could not pay me.  There is nothing you could do to give away family secrets. Luckily for you, there is someone who is in the good graces of some of the family and is not bound by said family loyalty.”

“Who? Who is it?” The trip across the bridge, a distance of slightly more than a kilometre, had so far been a rollercoaster for Mads. Yes, Dominic knew Necromancy.  No, he would not teach it for any money or boon, for the sake of his family’s name. But he knew of one who could….

“Rain knows a few things if you’re willing to learn from somebody.”

Mads’ head whipped back over where they had just been, where I was supposedly still studying in the library.

“God-fucking-dammit!” She sighed and remembered her surroundings, “Well, thank you for that information, Mr Giovanni.  Now, if you don’t mind, at the next red light, I’ll jump out. The walk back will do me good.”

Dominic smiled and, without a word, took the first exit off the Western Distributor, depositing Mads in front of Customs House, Circular Quay.  She would find out later what the cost of that little piece of information would be.  For her part, Mads stepped out of the car and didn’t think another thought of Dominic, or his insular Giovanni family. She sent a text.

MR G. SAID YOU COULD POSSIBLY HELP ME.  ARE YOU STILL AT THE LIBRARY?

My phone buzzed just as I was getting to the Audi.  Mads again, clinging to my coat like a burr.  I thought to reply, but slowly returned the phone to my pocket. At least, if I saw her later, I could say I’d missed the message, engrossed in my readings.  I climbed into the car and headed off. I’d been gone longer than I’d wanted and was worried about how Eclipse was.

As for Eclipse, she was standing in the small park between the Museum and the Cahill Expressway, keeping clear of the glances and hushed conversations from the people walking around her.  Like the tiny island of green, she was an island, a lonely spot in the middle of the hustle and bustle.  That was how Mads, who had intended to take the train back across the Bridge, found her. A small black smudge in a square of green night. She was staring up at the ugly square building that now housed the Museum of Contemporary Art as if it held all the secrets to unlife.  Quickly, Mads slipped into the crowd, and kept her eye on the lone Eclipse.  

The hair on the back of Eclipses’ neck prickled. She was being watched again.  She wasn’t sure if it was the same stalker as before, but this time she’d make sure she lost her tail.  She left her post by the Museum and  headed for the covered walkways of the rocks, the quiet passages where only foot traffic can go.  Behind her, she could hear the sharp rap of a woman’s heel on the asphalt. Slipping into a dark corner, she turned on her Obfuscate and disappeared.

Passing Eclipses’ hiding space, Mads searched around, adamant it had been Eclipse she’d followed in.  Mads spun around, checking behind. The passageway was empty, but she was sure she’d seen Eclipse walk this way.  She tilted her head, listening for footsteps walking away, the sound of life.  But of course, we’re not alive. There are no bodily actions to give us away.  No respiration, no heartbeat.  In the end, Mads had to give up in defeat and walk away.

9.20 pm Sunday,  9 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C.   Summer Hill

This was more like it. There was a group of guys looking to party until dawn, and a group of girls who had drunk enough not to be overly concerned with what day it was.  All of them flocked to Stallion, his gangster-made-good image suggesting that he knew how to have a good time.  For a moment, Stallion was overwhelmed with the attention.  He’d planned just to find a group of friends to join, but the eight now gathered around looked to him for ideas. There was no one telling him what to do. It was sort of…freeing. 

Fuck it!  Let’s party!

Dominiating the pool tables, Stallion ordered food and drinks for all.  He joined them in eating and drinking, feeling smug at his ability to fit in.  Yeah, just as he guessed, the problem hadn’t been with him at all.  It was that rotten place Dominic ran.  If that felt disloyal, Stallion did not remember as his new friends called him over for another round of drinks.

9.30 pm Sunday,  9 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C.   The Rocks

The Audi cruised along George Street like a predator.  Stepping out from her sheltering alleyway, Eclipse watched the car go by.  There was something familiar about this moment. Was I always passing her by without really seeing her?  What if she walked out in front of the car? I’d have no idea what I’d run into.  Would she make as big a dent in the Audi as something had in the Ferrari?  Somehow, she didn’t think so.

Having lost Eclipse, Mads was pursuing other prey.  She hadn’t fed, and The Rocks at this time of night seemed rich pickings for a meal. She looked out over the herd moving and grazing before her.  She was looking for the ones alone, the ones without friends or family watching their backs.  The weak ones.  There was a woman, neither young nor old, who was in that middle ground of quiet desperation. She aimlessly wandered, watching the movement of light over the water as her mind chased memories of other times.  Not far away was an older man, looking miserable.  Liver spots had already taken up residence on his high forehead.  He ate alone, as if waiting for someone who would never come.  She glided over to the woman gracefully, one with the crowds but not of them, and gently bumped into the woman.

“Oh, God, I was completely in my head. Are you okay?” What was meant to be a gentle bump became a full shoulder charge as she misjudged her strength.  She nearly knocked the woman down, gaining a few looks of surprise and concern.

“I’m fine,” She glanced at Mad’s, her face creased in concern, “ Are you okay? You look pale.” 

“I just tripped up on a loose paver. It took me by surprise. I’m Mads, by the way,”  Mads said, feeling as though she was quickly losing control of the conversation.  She needed to move this woman out of public scrutiny and somewhere a little more private, “I do feel a little dizzy, now that you mention it. Mustn’t have drunk enough water. Sorry for disturbing you.” She swayed precariously on her feet and turned to make her way to one of the secluded alleyways.

Unfortunately, the woman did not take the bait and follow.  Never mind, there were others, and Mads circled the block to line up her next victim.

I circled the block looking for a parking spot.  With no idea that Mads was only tens of metres away, I struck out for the museum in search of Eclipse.

Mads weaved through the alfresco seating outside the small restaurant where the man ate. He was more than halfway through his meal when he looked up to see Mads glancing at him from another table. His lips quirked up in a smirk of recognition.  He turned back to his meal. Mads bought him a drink, and when it arrived, moved to his table.

“Well, hello, sweet thing.  How can I help you?” He said with the swagger of a man who does not see reality when he looks in the mirror each morning.

“I noticed you were eating alone and wondered if you’d mind company?” She said, placing the glass down. He took it as his right and slugged down the middy of ale before speaking again.

“Well, I’m kind of finished.”

Mads had to work hard not to roll her eyes at the odious creep. These social niceties were tedious.

“I’m waiting.”
“Well, I’ve got fuck all.”

“Hmm, not much for small talk, what else do you use that mouth of yours for?”

“Ha, wouldn’t you like to know?” She smirked, feeling more confident with this turn in the conversation, “What are we standing around here for?” 

“Well, let’s go.” He rose from the remains of his meal, and together they left the restaurant.

“I know a place,” She whispered, taking his arm like a lover.

“I have a hotel room not two blocks away,” He insisted and marched down the main road. 

“Oh? Which one? I might know a shortcut.”

“The Sydney Harbour Hotel, down Argyle and Kendal.”

She smirked and pulled him playfully down an alley that was a shortcut, but also contained a dark, and at this time, private courtyard.  As they passed the open gates to the courtyard, she dragged him in, throwing him against an old brick wall under the bows of a small tree. The spot was idyllic for lovers, and it was just what Mads wanted.  

She launched herself at this thick neck.  He pushed her away without difficulty.

“Oh, you’re frisky,” She said, his voice thick… aroused, “Nah, we’re going to do this my way.”

Spinning her around, her face met the brick wall as his meaty fist held her head in place as he unbuckled his pants.  Mads wasn’t taking this without a fight. Grabbing his hand on her head, she spun around, attempting to tackle him to the ground. Instead, she was caught in a tangle of limbs and clothes. She dragged his trousers down to the cobbled ground. She herself on her knees, head high with his groin, his dick poking boldly into her face.  Two hands dragged her in, she didn’t relent, using the momentum to swivel her head and bite hard on the inside side of his leg.  Her teeth scraped at the bone of his femur as she found the femoral artery.  Blood drawn to the area by his arousal gushed into her mouth.  Hot blood hit the back of her throat, and she gulped it down greedily like some starving beast. She had her fill and drained him dry in minutes. He collapsed in a heap underneath the bows of the tree.  His life had expired long before she was finished.   

Saited, Mads took a moment to revel in the feeling. It was all well and good pretending with Rain and the others in the bar, but when it came down to it, she was a predator.  Even the cocktails of the bartender there couldn’t hold a candle to living, vital blood. Had it been worth all the struggle, his humiliation of her? As long as no one found out, what was the problem?  

Eventually, she got up, brushed herself off and dragged his limp carcass deep into the shadows where she went through his pockets. She found a wallet containing trinkets from a life decades in the past, a phone, a passcard to the hotel room, and a set of car keys, along with a crumpled packet of cigarettes and a cheap Zippo lighter.  She returned the car keys, cigarettes, lighter and phone to his pockets.  She slipped out a few notes from his wallet, not enough to be missed, and returned the rest.  The passcard she kept for easy access.

The death had been so sudden that there was little to clean up. She took a moment to redress him.  They were going to go back out into public again, and he needed to look his best. Then, pulling one limp arm over her shoulders, she placed her arm around his back.  Holding him tightly to her, she stood.  Like a puppet tied to her with invisible strings, he stood as well, his head conveniently sagging onto her shoulder.  

The image of such a slight young woman physically carrying a full-grown man of more than a hundred kilograms was so incongruous that the human mind assumed he must be walking himself.  And indeed, as Mads cleared the alley and returned to public view on Argyll Street, it did look like a young woman, maybe a daughter or family member,  helping a drunk bastard back to his room.  She entered the hotel, rode the lift to the second floor and used the passcard.  Once the door was closed, she dumped the body on the bed, checked the room for any incriminating details and quietly left.

I was standing outside the Museum of Contemporary Art, wondering where Eclipse had gone. Flicking on Auspex, I watched the telltale auras inside the building as they went about their evening activities.  One aura was still on the ground floor, likely an office or possibly a security area.  Two auras swept through the first and second floors, obviously on patrol.  Three others were located below ground, near the area where the heart was stored.  All of them were pale blue, verging on grey…bored and unsuspecting. Thankfully, all of them very human.  Good.  It seemed that the heart didn’t have a supernatural guardian.  Better for us.

I glanced around me, again hoping to see Eclipse, or at least her dark aura. What I did see was an empty footpath, and then, Eclipse, aura, and all, as if stepping out of a tear in reality.  

“That is a mighty powerful trick you have there,” I said as she walked up, looking pleased for herself.  Her aura, a sea of pale green and dark blue with the underlying static, said more.  Distrustful, suspicious and anxious.  She needed help.

“Yeah, neat trick. “ She pulled out her phone and pulled up a set of PDF blueprints for the building.

“I think if we study these, we could probably find a good point to get in.”

“I knew bringing you in was a good idea, “ I said with feeling, “For my part, I can tell you there are six individuals currently in the building and they’re all very, very bored.”

From the other end of George  Street, out stepped Mads, a swagger in her step.  Her aura, layers of bitter-brown, fearful-orange and depressed-silver, belied her confident, casual appearance. It seemed we were all hiding tonight, even if we were in plain sight.

”Oh, and watch out, Mads is prowling around,” I nodded in Mads’ direction as I pulled out my phone, sharing the text.  The question of Mads was getting tiresome. Her clinginess was no endearing her to me, especially on the eve of an art gallery heist.

“Hmm, I saw her before.” Eclipse acknowledged, her eyes narrowing.

We watched Mads walk down to the Quay and look out over the water in contemplation.  As she headed along the handrails along the water’s edge, she glanced up and noticed both Eclipse and me standing there.

“Mads!” I said now that it was clear she was heading in our direction, “I only just saw your message.  I would have gladly given you a lift here if I’d known.” She looked at both of us in suspicion, and I had to admit it did look bad.  Sometimes you get caught in the lies.  At those times, it’s best to see what the other person’s next move is.

“I don’t know what you two are up to, and I’m here to help.  I have a few debts to pay, and I have a proposal for Rain, if he’s willing to take one on.” Better than expected, but I was curious as to what Mads would want with me.

“I’m sure there’s a better place to talk,” Eclipse said cooly.  Whatever had convinced Eclipse to take in Mads originally had certainly cooled recently.

“Do you need a lift somewhere?” I suggested.

“I have a place nearby, though I wouldn’t want to implicate you in anything.”  Mads’ aura flared orange at the thought of the ‘place’ she had in mind. Now the clues were making sense. The swagger. The flush to the skin. The fear of discovery, perhaps? Certainly, Mads had been busy since leaving the library with Dominic and not in a way she was at all pleased about.  No, we were not going back to the ‘place’ she had found.
“To the car it is, then,” I said and started slowly leading the way to where I parked the car.  Eclipse, done with The Rocks for one night, followed.

“To the car,” Mads agreed and tagged along behind.

9.40 pm Sunday,  8 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C.   Crow Bar

At the bar, Dominic had just settled down to his favourite task of the evening, going over the books. This night, his eyes glanced over Giuseppe’s latest exploits.  His business was expanding well, albeit slower than expected.  Giuseppe had to handle interference from the local groups, be they into narcotics, the white slave trade, or plain organised crime. Still, what he did have, he was keeping, be it in brick and mortar or favours.  He was establishing himself a firm base on which to build upon, and Uncle could not be more pleased.

Bruce was still working on a dossier of likely candidates for Dominic’s experiment and needed a few more nights to complete it.  Dominic was looking forward to Bruce’s findings.  They were going to make a big difference to business going forward into this new and shiny Twenty-First Century.

10.15 pm Sunday,  8 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C.   Summer Hill

“Let’s party until dawn!”  Was the cry from one of Stallion’s feisty herd of reprobates.  The rest echoed the sentiment and went back to their drinks, their dancing, their pool and their drugs.  Stallion in the think of it could not have been happier. No one looked at him like he smelled, no one suggested that he was dumb or forgetful, or socially inadequate.  They wanted him there, and he was happy to oblige. 

And the thought of partying until dawn like the good old days sounded just about perfect.

10.15 pm Sunday,  8 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C.   Summer Hill

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Alicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into the likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Police ‘premiere’ detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

El Torcedor: “The Twister” or ore accurately, “The Fleshcrafter” A Tzimisce from South America

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Kenneth Stahl: South African Giovanni (exiled)

Lady Merritt Stone: A very old and powerful vampire that has taken an interest in Izac.  Rain spoke to her about the Coterie and Izac’s mission

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador. Oscar Wilde.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Prestiege: The speak for the four Tremere met at the Blavatsky Lodge.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Baali: A bloodline bent on keeping beings old before time from waking up and destroying everything. Eclipse and the Days of the Week are Baali.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Brujah:  One of the twelve clans of Cain. 

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Children of Osirus: Bloodline outside the Caine family tradition who practise Bardo, a discipline to control the beast. Izac’s current Bloodline.

Children of Seth: Bloodline the Prince is rumoured to be (originally?)

Clan or Bloodline:  From one of the children of Caine or subsequent established lines of vampires. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Gangrel: A bloodline of vampire.  Stallion’s Bloodline.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Giovanni: A vampire bloodline that keeps within genetic family ties. Dominic is a Giovanni.

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

The Red List: a universal kill list of vampires.  Maintained by the Camarilla, anyone on the list can be mudered without question.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

The Theosophical Society:  A private society of learning and tolerance based out of the Blavatsky Lodge, St. Leonards (https://sydney.theosophicalsociety.org.au)
Tremere Pyramid: A strict hierarchical structure that all Tremere are part of.  Every member knows their place within the Pyramid.  The antidiluvian, Tremere, sits at the top of this pyramid.Below him, the number seven is repeated through the clan’s structure.

Toreador: Bloodline of Vampire.  Rain’s Bloodline.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

6.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Blavatsky Lodge, St Leonards

It was supposed to be a simple night at the library.  Go to the library and spend a few quiet hours expanding your knowledge of our world.  We’d studied for hours on end in Dominic’s library back at the bar. Simple.

As soon as we’d entered the foyer of the Blavatsky Lodge, Eclipse started acting strange.  It was like the door was on fire for her, too bright to even look at without burning.  Even after I opened the door and interposed myself against its threat, she still acted like everything there was lava.  She became so agitated, I was concerned she would frenzy.

“I should just leave…I don’t belong here,” Eclipse said, scaring me most of all by turning to me and pleading, “Please, can I please leave?”.

“Yeah, yeah, no problem, I’ll get the door,” I said, opening the door and once more placing myself before it.  She scuttled past, her head down, the white-eyed look of panic clear even on her partly obscured face. She didn’t wait in the foyer, but continued out of the building to the footpath, where she took a moment to breathe and collect herself. 

“What was that about?” I asked, joining her in the street, “Do you want to talk about what happened there?

She just stood there, shaking her head as if she, too, couldn’t understand what had happened. She was still jittery, her arms wrapped around, shying away from the building as if it might explode in flames.

“We went to the Orthodox Church, you even knelt and prayed in the backyard.”

“That was a whole lifetime ago,” She shivered, unable to even look at me. Yeah, a whole five days ago.  I could relate.  I had two days’ seniority over her.

“Well, what do you want to do?” Meaning for the rest of the night

“Leave.” She stressed, still shaken.

Eclipse was too wound up in her fears to notice that passersby were looking at us strangely.

“What?  Haven’t you seen someone with Asperger’s before? She has issues with new places, okay?” I barked after them in self-defence.  Eclipse’s seeming collapse was getting me jumpy.  Grabbing Eclipse’s arm, I started to march us down the street.  I was looking for somewhere, anywhere we could sit down and have a private conversation without looking out of place.  

A lit doorway and a sign reading Moon Phase Cafe offered a space to stop and gather ourselves.  For pretence, I bought two cups of coffee and set them between us at the small table.   Eclipse was looking more herself now, though still agitated by her experience at the library. 

“Mads and Dominic are on their way. What do you want me to tell them?” I asked, breaking the growing silence between us.

“You could have gone inside,” She replied, comprehending how this looked. An adult male with a scared and confused young woman. And that was just those who knew no better. I had to have a story to tell Mads and Dominic.  Otherwise, they were going to ask questions.

“I would have just left.” She sounded defeated by her own betraying nature.  

“That’s an option. I can go back and…what are you going to do?  We’re not far from the Museum as the crow flies.  You can just walk over the bridge, or take the train to Wynyard?” I cringed. I hated even suggesting she be left alone.

“My concern is, whatever triggered you in there, could trigger you again…and you’d be alone.” She just sat there, her eyes darting back and forward, and she tried to make sense of her new worldview.

“I know you’re capable and strong, much stronger than me…”
“I don’t need to be looked after like a child.” 

“And yet,” I said quietly so only she could hear, “You couldn’t walk into a library.”
“A very specific library.”

“Yes, but the world is full of specific places. Do you even know why it triggered you?”

 I was starting to gain an impression of what had happened and was fearful that she’d go into a murdering frenzy at the sight of turmeric coloured Hare Krishnas or massacre a restaurant full of patrons at the sight of a Buddha or a Lucky Cat. How was she supposed to go anywhere, continually fearing the sight of religious symbols?

“How are you going to protect yourself from that happening again?”

“I have a clue… I know I can learn protection.  Something to do with your sight.”

My sight?  “What? Auspex?” Besides discovering the wonders of blood on Milk Beach that first night, Auspex was the first of my abilities I’d learned to use. And yet, I really had no idea how it worked.

“I’d teach you, if I knew how I did it,” I confessed

“We’re just not educated in that kind of knowledge transfer,” She acknowledged, and I wondered if her mind went back to when her sire taught her obfuscate. Was it as simple as having the desire to learn and drinking the vitae of another who possessed the skill?  

Eclipse lapsed into silence again as her mind spun through possibilities of its own.  I was left to contemplate what I witnessed.  The symbols on the door were an odd mix of quasi-religious and devotional from all over history.  I wondered about the old vampire stories, the laws, and the legends discussed in the Dracula play: a dislike of garlic, running water, and sunlight hurting us, being afraid of the sight of a cross and a stake through the heart to kill.  

Sunlight was a genuine concern. Stallion’s small altercation with a few stray evening beams testified to that.  Fire was also a problem.  We’d all felt the fear at the open flame in the kitchen.  But we’d cross running water dozens of times over the ANZAC and Harbour Bridges, with no ill effect. I was walking proof that staking doesn’t kill a vampire, though we’re not fond of the experience. And until tonight, I would have thought we were proof against religious symbols after our visit to the Orthodox Church. Even Dominic’s office held a small Catholic cross.  It didn’t make sense unless whatever had changed had occurred recently, like five days ago, when she first met up with her new friends.

“Look, I know you have friends…outside the coterie, that is, do you think any of them would know what’s going on?”

She glanced up, a look of surprise and concern flittered across her features, “Perhaps.”

“I know…I know you have other friends…another life…”

“You make it sound like I abandoned you.” She said, as a throwaway line, something ridiculous said between friends.  And I know she hadn’t, and yet, I couldn’t look at her and found myself contemplating the quickly cooling coffee in front of me. 

“Oh, Rain,” I heard her say, “It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.”

We’d figure it out.  Okay….

“So, maybe friends, maybe something I can teach you, but do you know what you’re going to do tonight?”

“I can make my way back to my friends. I can find them.”

“Okay…are you right for cash?”
“Yeah, I’ve always got something,” She said, calmer now that she had a plan of action. “Is there anything I can do for the plan?”
“Yes,” I warmed to the idea, “You won’t be able to get in, but you can walk around, see if you see any weaknesses, details about security…” Talk of the plan returned my mind to the present, and the two turning up at the library expecting to see us there.

“Oh, and if the others ask, say I said something inappropriate about your relationship with Izac and you stormed off.”

For a moment, she looked confused.

“For when they ask questions as to why you’re not there.”
“Ah.” She always was very smart.

Back up the road, Mads found the library and walked in.  It was smaller and quirkier than she’d imagined a library being. There was no heavy wood furniture, and no dark recesses in which to hide. Comfortable chairs with colourful prints were sprinkled through the metal shelving, as were tables with chairs for quiet conversations.  She looked around the space, spotted a group of four kin sitting together.  There were even a few kine quietly doing their thing.  She saw no one she knew, however, and sent me a text.

AT THE LIBRARY. WHERE ARE YOU?

“Good evening, Mads,” said the cultured voice of Dominic as he entered the library, “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Oh, what a pleasure meeting you here,”  She said, a little louder than is strictly acceptable in a library. “Did Rain invite you too?” 

“I technically invited Rain,” Dominic took in the library and noted the same four individuals as Mads.  He scoffed at the idea that they called themselves a Chantry, though they were as close to a Chantry as the Tremere got to one in Sydney.  He also spied a Librarian, quietly putting away books and headed off in their direction in a quest for information on the indigenous afterlife of Australia.

My phone’s jittering alerted me to the present and the two waiting at the library. 

“I have to go. Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” I said, pulling out my phone and confirming it was a message from Mads.

“I’m fine, go.” She said, shooing me away.  

RUNNING. THERE MOMENTARILY.

Dominic found the book titled, Under the Black, Red and Yellow, a discussion of the modern afterlife of Indigenous Australia. With a few others that sounded interesting, he took a comfortable seat not far from the Tremere four.  Mads, now assured I was on my way, slumped into a chair beside him.

“Something to cure your curiosity?” She asked, peering around at Dominic’s book. He had nothing to hide and showed her the title.

“The afterlife here is quite different from the afterlife in, say, the United States or Europe.”

“Really?” Mads swivelled around, now seemingly interested.

“Yes.  The afterlife here is like a walk in the desert, very interesting.”

“Yeah,” Without any context of what the afterlife’s outside of Australia was like, she was left with little reply, “Is death your specialty?”

“More of a hobby, but I am a mortician by trade, “Said Dominic, getting comfortable with his subject and with Mads seemingly, “It makes it easy to disappear bodies.” 

“Being a Giovanni, that checks out.” She nodded.  

Dominic, either to educate the next generation or just to shut her up, handed her a book, a more practical guide to meditation and The Dreaming.

Dissolution of Self to the Otherside.

The two of them sat in companionable silence, reading up on death and the Shadowlands here in Australia.  For Dominic, it was confirmation of what he’d already discovered.  The book detailed the society of the Kingdom of Clay and how it was set up. There were two major factions, the Natives and the Foreigners. Below them, there were seven minor groups. Supernaturals like werewolves and other lycanthropes, the fey and what was called the ‘Colonisers from the Otherside’, those who died overseas and made it to the Kingdom of Clay through the Afterlife,  all generally sided with the Natives. All other groups were lumped in with the foreigners born in other lands.

A lack of respect for the land, love, fear and hatred had built walls between the two major groups. It was clear to Dominic that bitterness on both sides meant great opportunities for neutral parties to make deals, pitting one side against the other for personal gain.  Fascinated, he settled down into his seat to read and meditate.

Jhor, or death energy, found at specific access sites, was discussed, as were the places themselves. Access points were mostly sites where massacres had happened in the past.  Many of these were listed in the book with a potted history of the massacre, noting them as good resonating spots. 

On meditation, Mads was wrapping her head around the idea of meditation techniques and mantras to help create a mindless state and therefore the ability to hyperfocus.  One idea could be given room to grow in the mind and flourish without distraction. The analogy Mads took away was a computer with all its utilities and subroutines stripped away, allowing for the processing power to work on one single task.  Given enough time, the book seemed to indicate she would be able to lift the veil between life and death and see the spirits around her.  

Racing up the Pacific Highway back to the library,  I found both Dominic and Mads engrossed in their reading. Dominic had, of course, found the black book.  It was galling. I’d waited a week to read it and be pipped at the post. Still, I had plenty to research.  I figured the Sabbat would be a topic best reviewed in Dominic’s own library, but surely the library would have something on the power behind religious symbols, especially like those on their front door.  

As I scanned the shelves for useful titles, I  spotted the four kindred sitting together, their little coterie of mystery. They must be the Tremere that had the deal with the Tuesday night Mages. The Thursday nighters? I reminded myself that Sunday was free-for-all, a no man’s land of the esoteric library world. I guess that these Tremere had nowhere better to be.

I scoured the shelves and stumbled across a book titled ICONES DEORUM, or The Icons of the gods. Quietly, I took a seat not far from the other two and began reading.

6.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Wetherill Park

Across Sydney, in a seemingly abandoned warehouse, Stallion was waiting for his bat. As the blush of day left the sky, there was a flutter of leather wings and a squeak of a frustrated bat. Opening the men’s toilet door, Stallion was pleased to see only blackness beyond the warehouse roof, and the bat flapping around his head.  He fed it an apple, and as the bat chewed through the delicious fruit, Stallion laid out the terms of their agreement.

“I will provide fruit if you allow me to use your body.”

“Hmm, good fruit.  Use my body? How?”
Prompted, Stallion started his ritual of Subsume the spirit and tried jumping his spirit into the bat.. The first failed attempt only roused the bat to take a bite out of Stallion’s neck. 

“Sorry, sorry!” He yelled, pulling the bat away and staunching the blood.  It didn’t need any encouragement and flew to the rafters, high above. Stallion tried again, but this time, he focused on pushing his spirit out to the bat and taking over its frail body. 

He was flying!  The body knew what to do, it was so easy. He flapped around the warehouse for a moment, getting used to his new body and view on the world.  The wings flapped as they were meant to, his body twisted without thought as he turned and swooped down.  Below, his body stood just where he’d left it, still as a statue.  With an exuberant swoop, bat-Stallion headed out the small window and into the open air of the night. 

He had no particular mission, no actual destination in mind, he just wanted to fly. Flipping and spinning and soaring with no boundaries or limitations through the velvety night sky. He felt the aircurrent buoying up his wings, the sounds and scents of the night filling in the details of the world around him. And when he clicked, the whole landscape flashed into existence in his mind, turning night into day. It was everything he’d hoped for and more. For two hours, he revelled in the new world that had just opened up to him.

6.50 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. St Leonards

While Stallion roleplayed being a bat, Eclipse was left sitting in front of the quickly cooling black coffee, roleplaying at being human. It seemed to be a symbol of her life: cold, black, dead, and left behind. 

Distracting herself, Eclipse pushed the coffee aside and pulled out Izac’s tiny journal. Instead of searching for insights within its pages, she pulled out a pen and left a short note to Izac on the off-chance he ever got to read it. Once her words were down, she returned it to the inside pocket of her jacket, closest to her heart.

Once more, there was nowhere for her.  She couldn’t go back to my apartment, it was swipe card access only, and I had the only card. 

A PASS CARD WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE. ♥️ She texted me, but received no reply.

Finally getting sick of pretending, Eclipse got up and left the cafe, and started walking down the long hill to the Harbour Bridge.  She thought about going back to the Shrine.  There she could at least relax, and possibly find out how the others dealt with a world full of religious symbolism. 

She caught the eye of a boy at a bus stop shyly watching her. His eyes huge behind his glasses seemed in awe of her and her black witch mystic. He was nice, bookish and skinny, someone in another lifetime she may have stopped to talk to. He wasn’t Izac, though, so she ignored him and kept walking. 

There was a difference between a nice boy and a good boy.

“Hey there, Rain.  Weren’t you coming with someone?” Mads looked up from her book and discovered me sitting opposite.

“Oh, Rain. Glad you could join us?” Dominic glanced up at Mads’ words.

“I  didn’t want to disturb you, you both looked so…involved with your books.”

“That’s quite alright,” Dominic said, closing the black book and handing it to me, “I think I’ve gleaned all I’m going to get from this one for the moment.” I received it gratefully.

“Is Eclipse coming?” Mads asked again, time for me to bite the bullet.

“I did come with Eclipse…”
“Where is she now?” Dominic asked, casually enough, but his parental concern was showing.

“Well, on the way here we had an altercation…small argument…I may have said something about Izac…”

“She is very sensitive on that point.”
“Yes, well, that’s why I’m late. I chased after her, and then I got your text.  Sorry for not being here.” I said to Mads, who waved it off as nothing, and Dominic went back to a small stack of interesting reading. And that was it. Eclipse had nearly frenzied, not fifty metres from where we sat.  It’s so easy to deceive when you give people what they expect to hear.

Behind Dominic, I noted the four Tremere doing a bad job of trying not to be caught watching Dominic and Mads. 

“You two have caught the locals’ attention,” I said low enough for Dominic and Mads to hear.  

“You did mention quite an enigma of a person,” Mads said pointedly.  I had mentioned Izac by name, but I had the impression they were watching Dominic and the unknown, Mads, maybe trying to size them up.  

Dominic looked over, but even the inept eavesdroppers were able to turn around in time not to be spotted by him. 

‘You know you’re really bad at that,” Mads said loud enough for the whole library to hear.  The Librarian poked their head around a shelf, and one or two other patrons thought it was time to leave.

One of the Tremere, a man by appearances, stood up from their table and walked across, leaning over Mads and speaking down to her in the comfortable chair. 

“This is a library.  There’s no reason to shout.”
“It’s rude to stare,” Mads replied as loudly as before.

“No, it’s not.” The Tremere replied, looking down their nose at Mads, “What is your name?”

“I believe this is a place of reading, not conversation,” Mads replied, rebutting the condescension with plain ordinary snark. 

The Tremere tried another tack and turned to the senior member of our group, “Is this your childe?”

“Ah, no.  This is a tagalong,” Dominic replied, all his urbane calm and assertiveness coming to the fore, “Some of my adoptive children have a tendency to pick up strays.”

“Do you know if they were taught manners?”

Dominic leaned around the Tremere, “Were you taught?”

“Yes,” She replied through gritted teeth, “But at the same time, I don’t like being stared at.”

“Ah, apologies,” I now decided to wade in and see if I could calm the waters. “We’re all here just to learn. Sorry, for disturbing you.”

“The correct answer. “ The Tremere smirked, and I had to keep from sighing as their saccharine patronism, “This is not a place of reading but a place of learning, and I know you’ve learnt plenty here, from what we hear.” 

I tried not to blink. What had they heard? It wasn’t hard to imagine, and I started getting a sinking feeling.

“That’s curious. Isn’t it only your second time here?” Dominic now forgot his readings and turned to me.  I told him about losing Lenny to the Mages when I informed him of the arrangements. He was enjoying this.

“‘Tis only my second time here,” I agreed, dreading what was coming next.

“But what about your first time?” The Tremere asked with fake empathy that would have made Mads want to punch them, “You learnt something very important.”

I smiled, said nothing and patted the black book I was still yet to read.

“Unfortunately for you, please do feel free to interject, but you left something behind. Rain, oh yes we know who you two are, but not this one.” He swiped a hand at Mads as if brushing her off his sleeve, “Rain came with another, but left alone.”

The world slipped away from underneath me as I felt the guilty helplessness of that night.  I glanced over at the table, where I had left Lenny, reading through books very much like the ones I had in front of me, thinking everything was fine.

“We had a good chat with them, it seems he’s doing very well.” 

I couldn’t look at anyone, not Dominic nor Mads. The words on the page I was staring at blurred and became meaningless. 

He was alright.  He was doing very well.

“Thank you,” I said, almost inaudibly, “He’s been weighing on my mind.”

“It was a shame to lose him,” The Tremere said, and if it had been anyone else, it would have sounded sympathetic.

I swallowed. Some habits are hard to break. “Yes.”

“Though they would have taken him, “ He added, and I did take some comfort from the words. I had had no choice.

“Yes, that’s what I feared.”

“Yes, well, no use in crying over spilled cadaver…” The Tremere said, sending a shiver up my spine.  I focused on the good news that Lenny was safe and doing well, ignoring the mangled idiom.

“We completely understand your interest in all things Afterlife,” He changed the subject, glancing at Mads, “We’re not sure about this one’s interest, it’s a bit odd.  Meditation is good for the spirit, though.” 

“All information is useful,” I added.  

It was clear this Tremere wanted to be known as some wise sage, a knowledgeable type that the simple and more practically minded could come for advice and wisdom. I wondered if they’d be as charitable if Dominic hadn’t been sitting there.

“Quite right,” He nodded to me and huffed a hearty, yet mirthless laugh.

“So, how is your evening?” Dominic now took control of the conversation, saving me from more of their fake sympathetic drivel.

“Splendid, getting ready for the big night.”
“Yes, many people are. I’m hoping the young ones are ready for it.”
“Oh, they never are.”
“No, no.”

Now, having taken control of the conversation, Dominic changed gear and steered it directly to where he wanted it.

“I see the old place has taken on a different look since Pitt Street.” I didn’t know what he meant by that. The Library?  The whole society? I sat silently and listened to the master at work.

“Most assuredly. There was a lot of discussion and argument, and there was not a small amount of bloodletting and spontaneous combustion, but we came to a good agreement in the end.”  He was talking about the fighting over the library that the mages had referred to.

“The place was almost hanging by a thread over there.  I recall it being barely three rooms.”

“It was neglected. But once we came here and solidified a position, it felt right to have a…centre.”

“It’s good to see the centre back up again,” Dominic nodded sagely, aligning himself with the Tremere’s self-opposed image of themselves. 

“There always has to be one for a pyramid to grow,” And now they were talking in some sort of code. Was it a Tremere thing? Part of their mystic image?

“The Blavatsky House is woefully under managed at the moment,” And now, he turned the screw.  It was a delight to watch.

“We… appreciate your interest…”

“It is due for a bit of restoration, a little facelift.  It is a beautiful and important place. There are not a lot of places we can…read up on our interests.”

“We will keep that under advisement.” And the Tremere backed down, humbled under Dominic’s Charisma and influence.

“Certainly, just a personal observation.  You understand.” Having completed putting the Tremere in his place, Dominic sat back and returned to his book.

Of course, that meant the Tremere returned to the weakest link in the group.

“So Rain, expecting to lose anything else this time?”

“That is certainly not the idea…” I began, but they had their own agenda.

“You’ve seemed to have done the reverse this time.  You came with another, and now it’s just you.”

They saw Eclipse’s episode. 

“Yes, that was a disagreement. It was fortunate that it didn’t spill out into the library and disturb you, good people. Otherwise, I would imagine we would have had this conversation quite a bit earlier.”
“Hmm, possibly.  What caused it?” 

It is never a mistake to plan ahead.

“Ah well, she’s young and I just think she needs to get out, see other people.  To not be focused on one person. She disagreed.”

Dominic looked at me oddly for a moment. Something in what I’d said didn’t click for him. He knew we were as thick as thieves.  But the moment past, and he thought better of it, or at least kept it to himself.  He may have agreed for all I knew.

I change the subject back, “I am deeply grateful for you telling me about Lenny.  It wasn’t the best of situations.”
“Hmm, favour for a favour?” He suggested, “This humble Chantry can divine some information for you, if you so wish.”
Having seen the divinations of Bobby Listner I was keen to see how the Tremere’s blood magic worked, but there is only so much of a patronising buffoon one can take.

So, I chose to misunderstand, “Oh, I’m happy to do the legwork myself, but thank you for the offer.  I’ll keep it in mind.” I patted the black covered book once more.

“Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays,”

“Thursdays?”

“Our time.”

Of course.  Still, at least they thought I could be useful to them, which may be handy in the future.

7.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Circular Quay

Across the stretch of water that surged under the Harbour Bridge and down through The Rocks to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Eclipse meandered.  The Art Deco-inspired building the Museum now occupies was once the offices of the Maritime Services Board and had something of that officious, bureaucratic gravitas about it.  Its stonework was like many of the buildings built at the same time, the warm coloured Sydney sandstone that sparkled under the artificial lights of night. With a small lawn out front and a row of flags, the building looked more like a small centre of state than an art gallery.  

As she made her way through to Circular Quay, Eclipse noted the number of people out.  It was warm, and the night was clear, perfect for Sydneysiders taking a walk after dinner, or the die-hard partiers getting one more shout in before the working week’s return.  It would be easy to lure someone off the streets into the side alleys and out of sight.  It would be easier if she could drive a car.  She was getting used to these obtrusive thoughts, her vampire thoughts.  Still, it wasn’t why she was here, and she turned her back on the crowds. 

Focusing her attention on the building, she walked around it, noting its structure, security and access points.  There were two entrances at the front, though only one was in the new annex, a collection of black and white boxes, which was now used during opening hours.  A low hedge ran along the front of the old building, which could hide the activity of anyone digging their way in. She was certainly not equipped with earth-moving claws like Stallion, and she was sure Rain would not appreciate an earthen entrance. 

Around the back, she spotted a second entrance for staff use after hours. A possibility, but this was covered by CCTV cameras in all directions.  Possibly not an issue for her, but would be for Rain unless he came up with some costume to get himself inside unrecognised.  At the rear of the building, she found a remnant of the old safety equipment, a metal drop-down ladder that provided access to higher levels and the roof. 

Besides flying, she couldn’t see another way in and, after noting the ladder and its mechanism, turned away and slipped into the crowds.

8.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Wetherill Park

After two hours of life as a flying fox, Stallion returned through the window into the warehouse and landed on his own shoulder.  Returning to his body was easier than leaving.  His spirit knew how to fill this space, and it slithered in.  

“That was fun!” He said, more to himself than the bat stirring on his shoulder

“What happened?” The bat yawned as if awaking from a long nap.

“You don’t remember what happened?”

 “ No. Where’s my apple?”

“I gave you the apple before we began.”

“Oh.  Anything else?” The bat asked, yawning again.

“Not tonight.”
“I’m going to sleep.  I’m tired.” Flapping its wings heavily, it leapt from Stallion’s shoulder and headed for the glass window and into the night. 

“See you when the…sun sets…..twice…” Stallion wasn’t sure if the bat had understood. He hoped so. He could see how the flight had tired the little mite, and he worried how the flying fox would cope after such a strenuous night.  He watched it escape the warehouse and then returned to the men’s toilet to grab his jacket.  It was time he made an appearance at the Crow bar.

8.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Circular Quay

After her altercation with the “Chantry fops”, Mads paid close attention to the Tremeres. She knew them, and though they did have powers beyond the ordinary for kin, they had very little influence in Sydney and relied on the mysticism of the clan to give them any cred. Anyone with real power and influence, like Dominic, would not concern themselves with this four, and Mads was sure that Dominic’s presence had made the brief contact less…sticky. She had no doubt they could have disappeared her eyes or sent her screaming from the library, haunted by illusions.  Instead, she was politely given a stern word. 

 She listened to their conversations about hermetic law, wondering when the real pyramid would be built here in Australia, and moaning about the lack of resources from their brethren overseas. It was all very cliquiey political stuff and in the end she bored of their voices and blocked them out.

Dominic knew a little more about the local Tremere.  In all of Australia, there was maybe only twenty individuals and by their traditions, they would call themselves Sons of the Ether or Etheric. Still, the inner workings and politics of the Tremere were virtually unknown to all outside the clan, making him wonder.

“I must say, I am curious how everything is now that everything has settled down,” He said, directing his comment to the table of Tremere.  I had no idea what he was talking about and put aside my reading to pay attention.  The Tremere, too, seemed to have difficulty with Dominic’s enquiry.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, obviously, the Adjar and its affiliates went through a bad period almost twenty years ago.”

“Yes, the old Prince’s revenge didn’t quite work out.”

That did catch my ear. The old Prince?  Abram’s down in Canberra?  So, the old Prince hadn’t been quiet in his retirement.  

“Well, I’m glad to see the place has found its home,” Dominic replied, and that seemed to be the end of the conversation for him.  And me, on the edge of my seat to know what revenge the old Prince had concocted.

“As are we.”

Eventually, I couldn’t contain my curiosity any longer. 

“Excuse me, what you said there was very interesting. The old Prince’s revenge?”
“A bit before your time,” The Tremere glanced back at me, the condescension thick and cloying like humidity in summer.

“Ah yes, who were they, and what was their revenge?”

He settled down to give his lecture to the poor and stupid, “It’s not a revenge,  but a series of revenges. You know how Ventrue are, this is all long-term planning with quarterly reports and annual quotas…it’s all very business-like. His name was Abrams, he was the previous Prince that our current Prince ousted, and now he sits in his humble exile in Canberra.  All alone. No one would dare talk to him. But he has his petty revenges through the movers and shakers.”

“In Canberra…there he’s right on the…”

“…pulse, exactly. And still he can’t get rid of one poor, vain Toreador Prince.”

“He might not want to.”

“He’s been trying to.  Why else would he make a living hell for the rest of us?”

Abrams made life difficult?  How?  How had he used his influence in the Capital to cause problems in Sydney?

“Surely you must remember from your earlier days, the streets used to be flooded with people, drunk, high and ripe for the picking. People went missing all the time, and no one cared. ‘It’s the Cross ‘, they would say, ‘they’ll  turn up eventually.’ And now?” He blew onto his fingers and mimed the disappearance of a better time.

“Abrams, from Canberra, did that?” Not being a local, I had only a vague idea of the lockout laws.  All I knew from the anecdotal sources was that there had been a vibrant nightlife once in Sydney. Now it was a sterile wasteland of corporate power. I’d thought the lack of social life in Sydney was our current Prince’s fault.  Discovering that he had little to do with it was a revelation.

“You know my name, friend, can I know what you call yourself?”

“I, ” The Tremere raised themselves in their seat as if presenting to an audience and not just the three of us, “Am known as The Prestige.”

God save us from wannabees.

8.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Somewhere in Punchbowl

It takes no thought to look after a single red heifer, and Izac had been alone with his thoughts for a long while.  When Lady Stone next made an appearance, he was ready with questions.

“Do you mind if I ask a personal question?”  A single large eye from the red heifer turned in his direction suspiciously.

“Go ahead?” Lady Stone said, her rich, cultured voice echoing off the bare walls of his vigil cell.

“You said you were the reason the red list exists.”

She turned, acknowledging the statement, but said nothing.

“What did you do?”

“I refused to die,” She replied matter-of-factly.

“As simple as that? You must have pissed off the right-wrong people.”

She shrugged, her shoulders rising and falling like a dancer and glanced away, “A never-do-wellian here and there.”

“Pissed off the right-right people then,” Izac said, but the Lady had said all she was going to say on the matter.

“I do have one more thing?  Considering that you have a task for me, and you seem to have a lot of tendrils out there. What’s the Prince’s purpose here?”

To this, she gave one of her rare rye smiles, “Why, to be.”

“That’s it.” Izac was disappointed, but that possibly said more about him than the Lady.

“That’s all, to be?”

“I thought I was very clear.  He is a god playing dice. Roll the dice, see what happens.  To be.”

“Oh.” 

“It’s okay, I’ll switch the light out for you.” She said, leaving him alone once more.

“Oh no.”

8.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Somewhere in Punchbowl

*****************************************************************************************

Eclipsed thoughts:

The Break Up

Fuck! Fuck! 

For a moment, Eclipse loses the feeling of the floor beneath her feet. 

Her body forces unused lungs to move, hands shoved into pockets, and her eyes focused on the carpet beneath her. It feels like all of her is burning from within. A panic attack turned to 10. 

“Let me leave, please.” Eclipse thought begging was a trait to die in the pit but she would do anything for Rain if he just let her the fuck out of here. 

A reassuring hand grabs onto her arm as she stumbles out of the library. She can hear Rain attempt to speak to her but her head pounds against her eyes. 

Is she crying? 

Rain rubs a handkerchief to her face, then her cheeks. He’s saying something about sitting down but they keep walking. 

What was that? 

Fucking hurt is what it was. 

It can be explained…

The smell of caffeine is something that Eclipse hadn’t known she lost. 

Rain hovers for a moment. His hand holds the lid of a paper cup as he set it in front of her, his chest lightly brushing her arm as he takes a moment to stare at her. Eclipse lets him. She’s let him down enough to allow this. 

Maybe Rain asked, maybe he didn’t but by the warmth against her hands and a peer under the lid told her it was a long black, her favourite. 

Claudia used to whine whenever she asked for one. Wasting her beans on ‘liquid shit’ is what she used to say.

“Are you okay?” 

The question hung like a noose around her neck. Or was she hanging from her foot? 

No, she’s passed that tarot card. 

“Fine,” is all she could manage as her hands brought the coffee close. 

“What was that?” Rain pushed as he sneakily pricked some blood into his own americano before taking a sip. 

A few moments turned into a few minutes before Eclipse could find the answer within herself. 

The pit. The Baali. She has darkened. Has turned her back to what is holy and she will pay a painful price for doing so. 

Mother would not be proud. 

Not even five fucking days. 

“Eclipse,” Rain’s hand grabbed onto her shoulder as he pleaded. 

“It’s okay Rain,” her lie couldn’t convince a fly, “it’s something I have to deal with.” 

“I wanted to take you to the library… you love books,” he looked sad. 

“Go without me.” 

The look in his eyes told her more than what either of them were willing to speak. 

Stay with me, those eyes pleaded, don’t leave again. 

“You act as if I’m breaking up with you,” Eclipse tried to joke but it hit a brick wall. Rain looked close to tears. 

Shit. 

Rain’s phone buzzed and his heartbreak left with the notification.

“Look, I have to go.” When’s the last time she got stood up? “I’ll tell the others I made a comment about Izac and you are upset with me. I have to go.” 

I have to go keep up appearances is what he forgot to add. Rain’s a magician, remember? 

Everything is a show. 

Alone in a coffee shop. 

She’s missing her laptop and notebook. 

Notebook…

Left to protect the only thing she has left of Izac, Eclipse pulled out his journal that always sits in a hidden pocket of her leather jacket, against her heart. 

The pen was knocked into the spin as if it was waiting to be picked up again. 

By the time she was done writing, her coffee had gone cold. How long did she sit and ruminate over these pages for almost boiling water to go cold?

Long enough to regret her efforts, selfish enough to keep them in the book. 

Eclipse collected herself. Cleaned up her clothes, brushed her fingers through her hair and fixed her bangs. A man watches her from a table. Glasses, laptop case and probably a cappuccino. She knows the type. 

Not Izac.

No, he is not and Eclipse isn’t hungry enough to leave a trail. 

Eclipse lets her legs wander. 

She’s washed down the gutter and left to dry. Again. 

Cold. 

Black. 

Dead. 

Dawn is not warm, it’s a black sun. 

Can you feel that? 

The black smoke around her can pool at her feet. Its tendrils turn into a chain in her grasp. Just one sentence and she can pull one of them forth from the depths itself. 

The chain disappears as she peers over the harbour bridge. Almost similar to the view from Rain’s place but touchable. 

Eclipse is the most inhuman she had ever been and yet, this scene is only missing a group of friends and a drink. 

We need a new name. 

This is a perfect place to think of one. 

Notable NPCs

Abrams: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Alicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into the likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Police ‘premiere’ detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

El Torcedor: “The Twister” or ore accurately, “The Fleshcrafter” A Tzimisce from South America

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Kenneth Stahl: South African Giovanni (exiled)

Lady Merritt Stone: A very old and powerful vampire that has taken an interest in Izac.  Rain spoke to her about the Coterie and Izac’s mission

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador. Oscar Wilde.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Prestiege: The speak for the four Tremere met at the Blavatsky Lodge.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Baali: A bloodline bent on keeping beings old before time from waking up and destroying everything. Eclipse and the Days of the Week are Baali.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Brujah:  One of the twelve clans of Cain. 

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Children of Osirus: Bloodline outside the Caine family tradition who practise Bardo, a discipline to control the beast. Izac’s current Bloodline.

Children of Seth: Bloodline the Prince is rumoured to be (originally?)

Clan or Bloodline:  From one of the children of Caine or subsequent established lines of vampires. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Gangrel: A bloodline of vampire.  Stallion’s Bloodline.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Giovanni: A vampire bloodline that keeps within genetic family ties. Dominic is a Giovanni.

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

The Red List: a universal kill list of vampires.  Maintained by the Camarilla, anyone on the list can be mudered without question.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

The Theosophical Society:  A private society of learning and tolerance based out of the Blavatsky Lodge, St. Leonards (https://sydney.theosophicalsociety.org.au)
Tremere Pyramid: A strict hierarchical structure that all Tremere are part of.  Every member knows their place within the Pyramid.  The antidiluvian, Tremere, sits at the top of this pyramid.Below him, the number seven is repeated through the clan’s structure.

Toreador: Bloodline of Vampire.  Rain’s Bloodline.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

3.40 am Sunday, 2 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

The meeting broke up, and Stallion saw no reason to stick around any longer. As far as he was concerned, this whole night was a waste of time.  He’d got nothing out of it, and it had only got in the way of plans.  Now that the stupid meeting was over, he quickly left the lounge without a word and headed down to the carpark.  Within minutes, he was out on the main road heading west.

Mads had similar ideas about getting high, but she required a visit to the bar first. 

“One more to round off the night, please, Delith,” she said, placing her empty glass on the bar.

“So, what’s happening there, sweetheart?”

“Nothing much, how about you?”

“Hmmm, wineing and dining,” Delith said with a mysterious smile.

Forewarned of Delith’s shenanigans by me, Mad’s was more than a little suspicious of the bartender’s grin.  

What did she actually mean by wineing and dining?

“Ah-ha, Fascinating,” She replied blankly, watching as Delith made the drink.

“Yes, I am.”

Delith gathered the drink’s components, poured them, and dropped them expertly into the shaker until two loud clinking sounds alerted Mads.  She watched in fascination as the contents of the can started fizzing, and bloody foam overran the can. Delith slammed the lid on the shaker, her eyes wide in panic.

“This one looks interesting. What do you call it?” It was Mads’ turn to grin, and she realised that Delith’s sneaky plans had gone awry.

“I call it, ‘Let’s do it again’,” Delith said without a pause, cracking open the shaker and pouring the drink into a glass.  She placed the glass in front of Mads, who shook her head sadly.

“Oh no, if this is something new, I insist you try it first.  Only fair, it’s your creation.”

“Or for somebody else?” Now she wasn’t even trying to hide the fact she’d spiked the drink.

“Oh no, I think this one is for you. In fact, I insist you drink it….otherwise…” Mads’ smile became just that little more predatory, “…There are rules we all have to follow here…it would be a shame if someone complained about the barstaff slipping Micky Finns to the guests.”

“No, it’s fine,” Delith leaned in so only Mads could hear, “Chloral hydrate doesn’t break Elysium.”  

Mads was fed up with tonight.  Between Stallion’s attempt to dominate her, her contact’s cool response to what she’d found out, and now Delith’s attempt to drug her, it had been a complete waste of her time.  

“Well, you have an excellent night, and good luck to whoever that goes to,” she said, taking herself back to her hotel room for the night.

Eclipse was the only one left at the table. She was here to listen to what I had to say, and I’d wandered off with Dominic.  She could have been relaxing back at the Shrine, under the soft light of the chandelier.  Instead, as far as she was concerned, the travel had been a complete waste of time. 

As Dominic guided me not to the office as I’d expected, but to one of the private rooms, I quickly sent a text message to her.

WAIT?

I was relieved when a moment later my phone buzzed.

I’LL BE HERE ALL NIGHT.

4.00 am Sunday, 1  hour until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Leaving me to cool my heels in the private room, Dominic returned moments later with a pot of red paint and two spirit jars identical to the one he’d used at the farm.  Turning on Shroud sight, I witnessed the walls of the room expand and shiver around me as the veil lifted, showing the room in the Shadowlands. Dozens of ghosts, from women dressed as flappers to eighties businessmen in over-padded suits, every era and every walk of life were represented. It was them we were here for, so I drew on my necromantic training and cast Lifeless Tongue. I assumed we were here to request the aid of the spirits in some way and wanted to be prepared to help.

Dominic spent some time painting a circle on the floor, filling in the runes and joining the sacred points to complete his protection circle. I’d not seen him paint the circle in the barn, and I watched each rune and line as it was drawn, noting the relationship between each to complete the ritual. 

“So, you remember our trip out to the farm?” He asked, standing back to check his work.  

“Absolutely,” I nodded, wondering what the next step of this plan would be.

“How far have you been?  Where have your studies got to?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve done nothing since the farm,” I admitted.  Still, when you considered that I’d spent time with Brendan, noted the change from Luna to Eclipse, discovered the hiding place of the founder Wid and mapped out his home in Port Kembla, gone to the theatre, lost Izac, found his heart and then been ensorceled by Lady Merritt, it was hardly surprising.

He didn’t look pleased. “You’ve done absolutely nothing.”

“It’s been a busy week.” Honestly, it’s on my list of things to do, but chatting to the departed kept slipping down the priorities list.

Disappointed at my lack of dedication to the craft, he returned to his circle, took up one of the spirit jars, and stepped into the centre. Holding the spirit jar in the crook of his left arm, he grabbed a spirit.  It was violent without any thought for the ghosts, like plucking recalcitrant fruit from a tree. Pulling back, something small gave way, and he looked in his hand to find a gun made of the ghostly ectoplasm.  A relic. 

Relics were items that were significant to one or many ghosts, so much so that when the person died, they took a replica of that item into the Shadowland with them.  Not surprisingly, the ghost he’d taken it from wasn’t happy and wheeled around to claim it back. In fact, several spirits seemed enraged by Dominic’s indecent treatment of one of their own.  Dominic didn’t seem concerned.  He thrust the gun into his shoulder holster on top of his own gun and grabbed for the angry ghost again.  

Seeing the potential danger, Lupara appeared in my hands. Dominic seemed quite at ease stuffing the ghost forcefully into the jar.  I was wondering if this little ritual wasn’t more about me and my inability to get more information out of Mads than it was about manipulating spirits. Not that he seemed to have a problem in that department. The ghost lashed out, but Dominic was ready and moved behind the spirit, grabbing it in a headlock. As he forced the spirit into the jar, the ghost gun relic followed its master, and the ritual was complete. I could see from the expressions on the remaining ghosts that Dominic had thoroughly put the fear of Giovanni into them, and they were taking their opportunity to leave.

I stood there quietly, trying to understand what we were doing here. Dominic had stood up from the booth like…well, the phrase was completely redundant in his case, but like he’d seen a ghost. Something about our discussion of Lady Merritt had disturbed him, and I’d hope he’d tell me more in private. Quietly, I had also feared that in an attempt to break all ties with the Lady, he’d try wiping my memory.  Now it seemed neither of those outcomes was likely. Still, what was his agenda with this…ghost harvest?

When I felt I could interrupt him without breaking his concentration, I broached the subject.

“What’s this in aid of?

“Spirits are useful.  They can be made into servants. They’re also very lucrative. One of the most useful things they can do…” He stopped, thought better of his lecture and stepped out of the circle, handing me the empty jar.

“We can talk about that later.  Before you can do any of those things, you need to convince them with that songboy voice of yours.”

Right.  I was getting a necromantic lesson. Good.  What about Lady Merritt?

“Or you can force them into servitude.” He finished holding up his jar, “Now it’s your turn.”

“Do I need the jar?” I asked, unsure of the purpose of the jar beside a prison.  What if you could convince them to come willingly?

“If you’re attempting to capture, you will need the jar.”

Lupara returned to her holster, and I took the jar in both hands.  Was I attempting to capture a spirit? I knew that physically taking hold of the dead was beyond my skill, but I could see them and talk to them.  

I stepped into the circle, “Oh, please, please stay,” I called to the fleeing spirits, putting the jar down between my feet, “Please, friends. We don’t have to resort to the violent actions of the Giovanni.  I just wish to talk.”

Dominic laughed.  It burst from him as the spirits scattered.  Saying his name was a mistake. It was like pouring detergent into oil and worked just as quickly. One by one, they either winked out entirely or melded into the walls, floor or ceiling and disappeared.

“Dammit!” I nearly kicked the damn jar away in my stupidity, but thought better of it, “Oh well, live and learn.”

I watched the last few spirits flee for their undead lives and wondered what they had to fear. They were dead, surely, the worst was over.  I said as much to Dominic, who smirked.

“Besides a few rare examples, the dead are as boring and fearful as the rest of the human race.  If anything, they have more to be afraid of.”

“Like what? What’s to be afraid of once you’re dead?”

I was making Dominic’s night tonight.  Once more, he started laughing.  Not the burst of unconscious joy but a knowing laugh, reminding me how much I had to learn.

“There are the wraiths, what you saw here.  When they succumb to their shadows, their darker sides permanently, they become spectres like the one out at the farm. A twisted version of a spectre, exposed too long to Oblivion, becomes a nephwrack and revels in doing evil. Then there’s a whole range of creatures of Entropy that consume ghosts entirely.”  He started listing a slow progression from thinking beings trapped between life and the Afterlife to monsters of horror and terror, and the creatures that feed on them. It was a whole ecosystem outside the biological, and when we were lucky, they paid us no regard.

“At the end of it all, the Shadowlands are just another place to be.”

“It seems I need a little more practice,” I stepped out of the circle and went to hand back the jar.

“I’ll leave it in the library for when you’re ready to have another go,” He said.  As I was getting the impression that talking to these flighty characters was more like hunting, I wasn’t sure if I was interested. Still, hunting after a mark is not much different, especially one who was smart.

“And don’t worry about failing on your first outing, most people trying it do,” Dominic said, and I was surprised by his supportive words. He didn’t have to say that, he hardly ever said things like that.   I nodded, genuinely thankful for them and followed him out of the room.

“It’s time we be off home,” Dominic said, looking at his watch.  I checked my phone and realised I had only a little more than an hour left before sunrise. 

“Do you mind if I borrow the car again, Mr Giovanni?  I’m concerned I’m running out of time.”

“Sure,” He replied without a thought and started heading down to the carpark, his Mercedes and home. 

Having left Eclipse waiting for what I considered a trifle, I headed straight back to the booth.  Eclipse was the only one left waiting, her sullen, dark eyes flickering up to mine in rebuke at leaving her alone. I did not care.  She was still there.  I had asked her to wait, and she had. I beamed at her. 

“You can be angry with me, but at my place, come on, let’s go. I have so much to tell you.”

To Eclipse, as she walked along behind me, something looked different about me, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

4.20 am Sunday, 1  hour until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Wetherill Park

On the quiet streets of Sydney, Stallion returned to Wetherill Park at about the same time Eclipse and I left the Crowbar.  As soon as he was sheltered behind walls, he drew on the power in his blood and called on a bat. Nothing came to his call.   He waited and tried again, this time with a different animal, this time a bird.

His raucous calls echoed through the empty warehouse.  After a few minutes, he heard a beating of wings at a window, the click of a beak as it knocked at the glass. He’d failed to open a window, and a cockatoo was now smashing itself senseless against a window across the warehouse.  He ran across and opened the window, allowing the bird to flutter in, landing on a stack of empty crates nearby. 

Using his feral whispers, the screeches of the bird suddenly resolved into words he could understand.

“I would like to offer you…” He started, only to be interrupted by the bird.

“Why?”

“Why, what?”

“Why did you call me?! Why?! Do you know the time?!”

“Well, you know,” As if that were an answer.

“WHY?!”

“I want to offer you refuge and food. All I ask is to use your body for a little while. Now and then.”

“Food? What food?”

“Fruit.  Seeds.” Stallion replied, having none of either.  Dammit, he meant to get some on the way back.

“Food?  Food now!” The cockatoo demanded.  

“Ah, you’ll need to come back tomorrow night, then.”
“I’ll be sleeping.” It said, staring at Stallion pointedly through one eye, as if he were an idiot.

“Tomorrow night.” Stallion said and pointed to the door with the men’s toilet sign on it, “You’ll find me in there.”

“Okay, “ The cockatoo agreed, and because it was slightly smarter than Stallion, it looked to the window, “Leave that open.”

“Okay,” Stallion agreed, and the cockatoo launched itself into the air.

“Bye!”

2.00 pm Sunday,  4 hour until sunset  5 days until the Succubus Club Wetherill Park

As promised, the cockatoo returned, clawing and fluttering at the door to the men’s toilet.  Due to Stallion’s lack of clarity, the bird had decided it had waited long enough for food and had arrived several hours before sunset.  In saying the cockatoo was smarter than Stallion, was not saying much, and it was now hammering at the door for its promised food.

Stallion awoke to scratching at the door, and the doorknob jittering as if someone was trying to turn it. He got up and answered the door. Sunlight didn’t scatter the warehouse with weaker evening light as it had a previous early evening. The sun was still high in the sky, filling it with the day’s glare.  The sunlight did not make it to his dark corner, but from every crack around a door, through every window and seam in the walls, sunlight pure and brilliant poured in.

Stallion disappeared under the power of the blood into a frenzy.  The door opened, the cockatoo swooped around to enter the toilet, but it never made it past the threshold.  Faster than the eye could detect, a clawed hand snatched the bird out of the air and stuffed the screaming creature into Stallion’s waiting mouth.  With a single bite, the screeching ceased as he tore the bird in half and swallowed its head whole.  Most of the rest followed it, a fallen wing and a few feathers, all that was left to say it had ever been.

The beast, satisfied its tormentor was dealt with, returned to its sleeping place and fell back asleep.

6.10 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the Succubus Club Wetherill Park

Stallion awoke later, confused by the foul taste in his mouth and the feathers stuck to his face.  He tried to remember what had happened, but all he could recall was the flash of sunlight and a bright yellow crest.  His mouth was dry and sticky.  Fishing around with his fingers, he pulled out a long, bright yellow feather. He tried again, and there were more, some even the large white feathers of the tail and wing of a cockatoo.  

He stood with a handful of soggy, bloodstained feathers in his hand, wondering what had happened to his friend of the night before.

“Must be like what they say about spiders in your sleep,” He mumbled and took a step.

Clok! On the toilet tiles.

Klok-clok! As he took two more steps towards the mirror.

He looked at his face in the mirror. Besides a smudge of blood and a few more feathers, there was nothing to see.  He then looked down to discover what had been making the weird noise.  Where his bare pink feet had been were two round hooves, smaller than a horse’s, starting where his sockline would usually be and ending in a solid mass of nail on the floor.

“What the fuck!” He stumbled back, and his small round hooves tripped back with him, keeping him stable and sure.

He attempted to put his shoes back on until he got to the bar.  The hooves broke straight through the front.  If you weren’t looking too hard, it looked like he was wearing novelty costume hooves over his Nikes.  

It was too much.  He still hadn’t flown high, and somehow he’d lost another minion! To top it all off, he’d somehow lost his feet!

Determined to complete his plan, Stallion finished dressing and left to buy apples.

6.10 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt and Pyrmont

Closer to the City, the rest of the coterie were waking to the new night. Mads awoke in her hotel room with no idea what her day would entail.  So far, she’d done everything she could think of to find Izac and come up with nothing.  All she had was the vague hope that Izac would possibly, one day soon, return to his coterie.  She checked her phone. No messages or calls.  No one was looking for her or wanting to talk, just like it had been for the last fifty years.

 At Pyrmont, Eclipse awoke to another night.  The apartment was quiet, I hadn’t risen, and the space was hers to explore. She wandered around the apartment, taking in the vibe of the new Rain. There wasn’t much to say that anyone lived in the space, except in the master bedroom, where a few items she remembered from the house now littered the space, and in its ensuite.  In the centre of a room tiled in mirrors sat a single chair.  In a house with almost no furniture, a chair was in the middle of a mirrored room, drew attention.  She knew I…take a particular pride in my appearance, but this layout seemed a little extreme even for me.

She wondered if this was part of some new dirty secret that I was keeping from her.  With that in mind, she sat down in the chair.  The view was hypnotic.  In every direction, she could see herself going on into eternity. It was when she turned to look behind that she saw it.  Something was there.

Wherever she looked, it was around her, cloaking her in an aura of darkness.  At first, it seemed like a visual artifact, like moving from bright light into a shaded room.  An optical illusion brought on by the mind trying to make sense of the signal sent from the optic nerve.  And then, she could feel hands resting on her shoulders.  Six hands, a pair for each of the men she’d murdered.  Like paldrons, they sat perched on her slim shoulder, their presence behind like an attached cloak, constantly weighing her down, always following her wherever she went. She saw their bones, ribcage, long arm and leg bones, the tops of skulls and hip bones, in a pile around her feet as if she were sitting on that throne, on the start of her hill of bones. 

In every direction, going on into infinity, she saw herself and them, her sins and knew there would eventually be a time that she would no longer see herself for the darkness and bones surrounding her.  

Mother would not be pleased.

With a jerk, she stood up, and the vision disappeared. Now, there was just Eclipse, staring back with eyes wide but otherwise still.  She reached up and touched her shoulder and collarbone. There was nothing there but the thin black cloth and lace of her dress, nothing for her hand to grasp. But she could still feel them there, the hands grasping her shoulders. It felt like the hands of the Days of the Week drawing her out of the pit.

No, I never left the pit.

I woke not long later and took a moment to revel in the feeling of…peace.  After a lifetime (living and undead) of being awoken by nightmares, screams and fear, I woke to the silence of the coming evening.  The soft noises of neighbours below going through their evening rituals, the movement of someone in the apartment with me.  That, most of all, I soaked in. The apartment already seemed less empty with Eclipse there. So much had changed between us, I chided myself for thinking she’d want to stay, and  I rose to find her.  

She was in the living area, quietly looking out at the view of Pyrmont and western Sydney.  Somewhere, past the ANZAC bridge, was Leichhardt and the Crow Bar, but right now we were high above it all, and me without a care in the world. The same could not be said for Eclipse. She looked worried. She looked like she was focusing all her attention on trying to hold something in. 

That morning, after returning from the bar,  I had shared everything that had happened since I last spoke to her.  The search and discovery of Izac and Lady Merritt.  The conversation I had with her, aided by the recording I’d made, with me filling in Merritt’s parts as best I could.  Eclipse noted I shared barely anything about her with Merritt, a point I was currently proud of, and listened to Merritt speak of the Sabbat and Vaulderie without saying a word.

Most of all, I shared with her the plan to rescue Izac’s heart.  We’d continued well into the day, sure in our light-proof bunker in the sky and had only crawled to bed when we could no longer focus on what we were talking about.  It had been like old days…no, better than old days because we’d taken as much time as we needed to just talk. This uptight and withdrawn Eclipse was not what I’d expected to find the following evening.

“Good evening, “ I said quietly and roused her out of her introspection with a start.

“Good morn…. evening,” She replied and stared at me a moment, as if checking me for my shadowy follower.  After a moment, she was satisfied and returned to her stiff, uptight pose.

This morning, it was time to share my tentative plan for getting the heart.

“I’ve emailed asking for an evening inspection of the building with plans to hire the space at a future time. With my presence and your obfuscate, I hope to get us down to the archives where the heart is. From there, you can take the heart and simply walk it out. Of course, no plans survive contact with the enemy, but that’s the basics as they stand right now.”

“What about disguises?” She asked, “The roles we’re playing?”

“I was hoping that you could walk in undetected, as you are, no need for disguises.  As for me, I can arrange an outfit that hides my features. For that, it depends on how long you can go unnoticed.”

“So, we’d be going in as some representatives of a company who want to hire the…gallery.”

“That’s the plan as it stands.”

“How about blueprints?  Have you looked at any?”

“Plans of the building’s public spaces are online, and I know them well.  It’s the private spaces we need access to, and sadly, those are not available to the general public.”

She sat quietly thinking over what I said to the point I started to get nervous that she was having second thoughts.

“Maybe I’m overthinking this.  What do you think?”

“We can be more overt, “ She said eventually, with a thoughtful look, “We need to find out how much security there is.”

I shrugged.  We could and probably should have taken at least a week to find out about security and their routines, but I was very aware of the clock ticking.

“We have four days…well…three nights now, “ And though we could ram raid the place, I’d rather no one knew anything had occurred.  I certainly didn’t want anyone to know we’d been there.

“Seeing as though this is right under the Prince’s nose, I’d rather he not know something happened.”

“I understand why you want to do this subtly, “Besides it being my middle name?, “But we’re vampires.”
“I intend to use all the skills and tricks we have to hand.  I just want to go in, take the heart, and leave everything intact, including the staff. Like nothing happened.”

“So, when do we do this?  Tonight or tomorrow?”  

That was the question, wasn’t it?  When?  But I did have an answer for tonight.

“We have until the night before the Succubus Club, but tonight I do have an appointment with a library,” Knowing her penchant for knowledge, I dangled the information in front of her teasingly like a tasty morsel.

“At which library?” The Eclipse fish snatched at the bait, and I smiled, pleased to be able to introduce her to a rare treat.

“The Theosophical Society Library, across the Bridge in St. Leonards.  I…” I stopped, my words caught in my throat as I remembered who I had last been there with.

“Giovanni once spoke about that library, but he never took me there,” Eclipse said, unaware of my sudden silence.

“I had made an appointment with him to go to the library tonight, though with everything, I don’t know if he’s still free.”

“You could have gone last night,” she rebuked. Even with hindsight, I wasn’t sure how I would have done things differently.
“Last night, as you have heard, was very busy.  For reasons, I have only Sunday night to be in the library, so it’s tonight or next week…after the Succubus Club.” And who knew where or what we’d be then.

“Reasons being?” 

“Reasons being….” The thought stung, but she had to know if she wanted to go there in the future, “…mages hang out there.  Sunday is a sort of free-for-all day.”

“Ah.”

“I….I left Lenny with them last time I was there.” 

“Oh,” and it sounded like old Luna. A ‘though I told you so’ Luna, who still knew something about empathy.

“I didn’t get to tell you about that, did I.”

“No, I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, yeah.  They make it quite clear it would be in everyone’s best interests if I just got up and left him there.  Like a stray dog by the side of the road…” Lenny was the last I would lose.  The very last. “They convinced me they would take him in…I let them convince me.”
“I’m sure with us, he wasn’t exactly staying on the path of humanity,” She said.  It was an odd way to say it, but I couldn’t argue.

“Yes.  Regardless, I can only hope he’s with them and that leaves Sundays as our day to visit the library.”

Eclipse thought for a moment. I know she’d had her share of hardships in the past, but I didn’t get the impression she had much experience in larceny. I didn’t rush her and let her come to her own decision.  The library was a good move tonight. We could do a little research and refine our plan before the big push tomorrow.  It seemed that she agreed, and after thinking, she nodded.

“I’ll do this for Izac.  I can’t say I’m doing it for Mz Marritt.”
I ignored the slight on the Lady. They knew no better.

“It is for Izac.  She doesn’t need it.  She just said he needed access to it, which was an odd way of saying it.  It was like he didn’t need to keep it, which I must say I’m all for.  If you can live without the chance of being trapped inside your own body, that sounds fine with me.”

“I know it wasn’t taken from him in a conventional manner.”
My mind raced through conventional ways, and I shuddered, “No, seeing and thought he’s walking around without it I’d say that’s right.”

“Maybe it’s an affinity thing.”

So Eclipse was in for the library trip.  Next was Dominic, who hadn’t mentioned the library to me since I’d told him about the Sunday open hours.  I texted our adoptive father to see if he was still interested.

HEADING TO THE LIBRARY.  ARE YOU FREE?

6.20 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt 

Dominic was just waking up as my call reached him at home.

HEADING TO THE LIBRARY.  ARE YOU FREE?

CERTAINLY.  THIS WILL BE NOVEL. Dominic replied and headed down to his crypt with the spirit jar from the night before.

“The first spirit for the new year,” He said to the silence that greeted him and placed the jar on a shelf.  Heading upstairs, he refreshed himself with a drink and sent a text.

DO YOU WANT ME TO PICK YOU UP OR MEET YOU THERE? 

MEET ME THERE, I replied as Eclipse and I got ready to leave.

Not far away, in the same suburb, across the road from the bar, Mads knew she had to get up and start her day or go insane. 

After dressing, she returned to her phone and texted Eclipse to see what she was doing.

DO YOU GUYS NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING TONIGHT?

Eclipse checked her phone as we took the lift to the basement carpark.

“Do you want Mads to join us?”

Mads. I’d forgotten about her in today’s plans.  Always sticking her nose in, always asking just the right questions.  Still, what was a trip to the library going to tell her about us, except we could read and had eclectic tastes?   

“Ah, suuure?” I said, feeling very unsure.  “The more the merrier, I guess.”

“I’ll ask how she feels about books,” Eclipse said with a rare, rye smile and texted back.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BOOKS?

“What the f….books?” Mads said out loud, trying to discern more from the text than there was. 

BOOKS?

SURE YOU’RE PART OF THE NEW BRUJAH? WE’RE GOING TO A LIBRARY.

I CAN STAND A FEW PAPERCUTS. I’LL MEET YOU THERE.

With a smirk, Eclipse sent Mads the address.  

6.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the Succubus Club Wetherill Park

At almost seven o’clock on a Sunday night, the Wetherill Park Coles grocery store was virtually empty.  One staff member now held down the whole checkout section as Stallion clip-clopped through.  Other staff were stacking shelves or sending the floor cleaner down the aisles in preparation for the next day’s business.  No one cared for the six-foot-tall, blonde Adonis, his apples or the odd way he walked. 

“Have a good night,” The cashier called automatically, but Stallion was already tripping away over the polished concrete floor of the shopping mall and back to his warehouse abode.

Finally safe in the warehouse with his bribery fruit, Stallion once more called on a winged creature to attend him.  A bat fluttered in the open window once left for the cockatoo and flapped around the ceiling looking for a place to perch.  

Though many small insectivorous bats live in the Sydney area, when someone thinks of bats, it is the large dog-faced fruitbats or flying foxes that people think of. A regular sight almost every night, the three species that lived around Sydney weighed about as much as a small cat, with wingspans nearly two metres wide.  It was one of the larger black flying foxes that now fluttered around Stallion, its long snouted face staring down at him from on high.

“Hey, I’ve got some apples here.  Do you want them?” Stallion said in his Feral Whispers.

“Food. Give!” Said the bat with less attitude but with equal gusto to the cockatoo.

Stallion handed out an apple, and the bat swooped it up in a clawed foot and found a place to hang while eating its prize.

“So hey, I’ve got more apples in this bag here.” 

“Yeah.” The flying said without enquiry.  It wasn’t as bright as the cockatoo. 

“When you’re finished with your apple, come and see me in my office.” He pointed to the Men’s toilet door.

The bat, faced with a whole delicious apple, and the promise of more, took his time.  Stallion was left alone to ponder.

6.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the Succubus Club In Transit

The Audi smoothly entered traffic, and Eclipse and I were on our way to our next adventure together.  At least that’s how I saw it.  Things may not be the same, but I was enjoying having her back in the passenger seat beside me again.  It was Sunday.  I’d been staked on the previous Sunday. Whatever darkness had fallen on her had occurred while I was away at the farm on the following Wednesday or Thursday.  A few days,  a week ago, both of us were forever changed, and yet here we were together, travelling to the Theosophical Society in companionable silence.

Dominic too was readying for a night at the library.  He checked the weather schedule and noted it would be overcast with little chance of rain. He figured a light suit would go unnoticed on a night like this and found a pure ultra-fine merino suit in light grey.  Dressing carefully, he checked his appearance before heading down to the Mercedes and out for a night in town.

Mads stepped lightly out onto Victoria Road and checked her app.  There was a bus to Central where she could catch the train across the Bridge to North Sydney and St Leonards.  She ran her fingers through her long auburn hair several times and shook the clumps free before checking her makeup in her phone camera and heading out for a night in town.

6.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Blavatsky Lodge, St Leonards

A benefit of life at night is that parking ceases to be a hassle.  I found a spot near the Lodge and we were inside in minutes.  I was looking forward to introducing Eclipse to the library. Its collection was small but specific.  It seemed tailor-made to the needs of a neonate trying to grasp their role in a society that was millennia old and sunk deep into myth, legend, and fable.  Through the small street door into the foyer and across to the library’s glass doors, I led us confident that we’d learn something of interest.  

The symbol for the Theosophical Society shone warmly in the dim light of the foyer.  I remembered noting it in my last visit, the mix of symbols from an ancient ouroborus, an ankh, a Star of David, a swastika (that I was coming to understand was an asian symbol of good luck) and a hindu Om. A mash-up of religious metaphor and philosophy, shining out for the enlightenment and betterment of all.

Eclipse hissed as if in pain and turned away from the door. Surprised, I spun around to see her eyes wide in fear, clutching herself as if she’d been struck by lightning.

She looked like she was about to go into a frenzy.

I looked behind her, then turned back to the door, looking into the library, trying to see where the threat lay. It was Sunday night, the library was quiet, and we were alone.  

“What? Where is it?

“I…I can go in, but you have to block the door,” She said, not daring to glance in my direction.

“The door?” I looked at the door, studying the five symbols as if they were weapons. They were all symbols of life, peace, and luck, all projecting positive messages of hope and goodwill, and every single one was religiously important to some culture of faith at one time or another. Eclipse would have come across these symbols in her studies at university, if not her readings in Dominic’s library. What could be so harmful to a millennial, even one as educated as Eclipse? Was this another mark left on Eclipse as part of her darkness?

“Okay, I’m opening the door now,” I said, careful to keep myself between it and her. I opened the door wide.

Eclipse shuffled forward, head bowed in fear of seeing the door, her limbs tightly wrapped around her lest she even touch it. As she walked through, I pulled out my phone and took a photo. I hoped Dominic might have some ideas about what was going on.

Now inside, Eclipse still looked shut down and terrified.  She didn’t dare look at the shelving for fear of the same or other symbols decorating the book covers. She couldn’t stand a rack of newspapers and magazines all on religious and theological topics.  She looked like a cornered dog, scared and huddled in a corner, wanting to just disappear into the ground.

“I should just leave…I don’t belong here,” Said the woman who spent whole nights in Dominic’s private library, not to mention public and university ones. “Please, can I please leave?”

6.30 pm Sunday,  12 hours until sunset,  5 days until the S.C. Blavatsky Lodge, St Leonards

******************************************************************

Eclipse’s thoughts:

The Pit

Do you see it? 

At first, probably not. It’s lingering. Like when the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention. Something is there. Nothing in sight. 

Then, it sets in. 

Things moving in the corner of your eyes. Something constantly standing behind you. You’re too scared. Too much of a coward. Why won’t you turn around? 

You turn. 

There is nothing. Nothing but a feeling. 

Like you’re in a pit. 

Searching…

Searching… 

It’s there, can’t you feel it? 

It brushes just outside your fingertips but your body is failing you. Your own blood pulls along your feet. The red carpet laid out to your death bed. 

The blackness is at the edges of your vision. 

Why not accept it?

Did you ever leave that pit?

It’s a pathetic excuse. 

Wanting to survive is so animalistic. 

The blackness is a part of you. 

It coils around me. Hands of the dead latch onto my shoulders, caress my neck, claw at my black. 

I can finally see it. 

This room of mirrors is not my reflection. It’s my reality. 

I can see this fate’s thread. 

This blackness, I’ve seen before. I closed my eyes in the pit and opened them to this reality. The one I am bound to create. 

These bodies will become bones to a throne. 

This darkness, the ground and the sky. 

The price I pay for my life. 

The hidden Harbinger of a new dawn. 

Why must I see him in everyone? 

When will this dead heart give up? 

If I cannot have, I will take. 

If I cannot keep, I will kill. 

Do you not understand, Luna? 

He will not love a monster. 

The eye of the storm always passes. 

I miss him.

The things I love, I destroy.

Izac’s thoughts:

Second Thoughts

He sits, eyes beyond the window
Motionless as though in rigor
A time to think
To take inventory
Hate, for the world he was born to
If he could curse it all he would
The lies, the obfuscation
The honeyed words veiling agendas
Fear, time filled him with it
His past, his present
The future he dreads to realise
The shadows stretch to him to hide within
You must betray your heart

Silence, once re-assuring now echoes in an attempt to stir it into conversation. A beaten dog, left for so long, now being offered the hand of the one who caged it. The first try, I barged in, as if stoking its anger would promote a response.
Nothing
Waiting it out, leaving the door open for it to emerge on its own
Nothing
A mutual desire
“We both want to keep her safe”
If we are one and the same, then I hope we could at least agree on this.
It’s a bit possessive don’t you think?
“What’s wrong with having something to protect?”
You end up killing those
“I want to change that”
You always were an abuser
You always felt more comfortable holding the knife
It’s a voice that rumbles in the back of my head, I can understand its animosity. Left alone to stew and fester hatred towards its captor. I fear to let it have its way but as I’ve been told, I need to come to terms with it.
With what I am
I need to be the first to extend the branch
“I want to turn a new leaf, what can I do to show you?”
I want something more than steak. It doesn’t have to be human but… something big
Something messy…
Lady Stone could help with that, perhaps she could organise it whilst I’m stuck here. Passing the time with little to do but count the scratches in the floor.
Maybe the Lady could give me something to –
I’m back in the room, what day is it? A moment of panic
“Are you still there?”
Where’d you go?
It almost sounded concerned
“I don’t know, what happened?”
Don’t know, you just started moving around a lot, I couldn’t find you though
The absence of memory leaves room for other thoughts
“What are your thoughts on Lady Stone?”
She hasn’t given us a reason not to trust her, I think she is on the level
I agree…
Downstairs, Lady stone awaits with a cow. A red Heffer to be precise, a sickle rests gently in her hand. She says she wants to make it significant. As much as I’d like to make something of this first step forward, I’m not ready to kill.
I never agreed to it, I don’t intend to now.
She takes a step back, removing the blade from the beast’s throat
“We do this, we do it my way”
Silence, I can feel its focus solely on what is in front of us. My eyes lock onto its neck
Blood
Life
Prey
Feed
Warm blood fills our mouth. That mangy stray in the alley has nothing on this. It floods into our throat, and we imbibe it like a thirsting man in the sea when the storm lets loose. Its everything we want. It is our nature to feed on living.
Blood, so much blood. We drink, and drink
And drink…
We want more; we want it all
I want to see the light leave your eyes –
“Enough”
I pull away, before I lose myself in the rush. I stagger like the bovine in front of me; the force of will to restrain myself wasn’t a small one.
“You got what you want, consider this a start”
Another broken promise
Another broken promise…

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Alicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into a likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Police ‘premiere’ detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

El Torcedor: “The Twister” or ore accurately, “The Fleshcrafter” A Tzimisce from South America

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Kenneth Stahl: South African Giovanni (exiled)

Lady Merritt Stone: A very old and powerful vampire that has taken an interest in Izac.  Rain spoke to her about the Coterie and Izac’s mission

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador. Oscar Wilde.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Theosophical Society:  A private society of learning and tolerance based out of the Blavatsky Lodge, St. Leonards (https://sydney.theosophicalsociety.org.au)

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Baali: A bloodline bent on keeping beings old before time from waking up and destroying everything. Eclipse and the Days of the Week are Baali.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Brujah:  One of the twelve clans of Cain. 

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Children of Osirus: Bloodline outside the Caine family tradition who practise Bardo, a discipline to control the beast. Izac’s current Bloodline.

Children of Seth: Bloodline the Prince is rumoured to be (originally?)

Clan or Bloodline:  From one of the children of Caine or subsequent established lines of vampires. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Gangrel: A bloodline of vampire.  Stallion’s Bloodline.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Giovanni: A vampire bloodline that keeps within genetic family ties. Dominic is a Giovanni.

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

The Red List: a universal kill list of vampires.  Maintained by the Camarilla, anyone on the list can be mudered without question.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

Toreador: Bloodline of Vampire.  Rain’s Bloodline.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

1.30 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club In transit

Eclipse was on her way back to the bar when she thought to text me.

WHERE ARE YOU?

V.I.P. PRIVATE ROOM WITH MADS. 

NEW INFO ON IZAC?

LATER, I had so much to tell her, but so much to ask.  Besides all the news of Izac, we had a burglary to plan.  And I, for one, couldn’t wait.

 NOT FOR PHONES – ONE ON ONE.

1.30 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Stallion was busy trying to put his newfound knowledge to practice with the diehards left in the bar.  He was trying to find the rowdiest, the one most like himself, but they were all pretty rowdy at almost 2 am on a Sunday morning. He couldn’t work out who he should approach first.

He tried the girls, putting on the charm and trying to show them how much like his namesake he was. That didn’t go well.  The girls sneered at him as if he smelled bad and physically walked away,  gaining more negative attention for his actions than positive.  The guys in the group, hoping to score with the girls, also rejected him, fearing whatever had turned off the girls who affected them. 

Disillusioned, Stallion slunk off outside to behind the bar. He was sick of being rejected, sick of being on the outside.  With his Beast Sense, he started calling to the locals who hung around the skips out the back. 

Mads and I were chatting when the text messages came in from Eclipse.  She leaned over my shoulder as I replied to the last message.

“Now, Mads, that message was for Eclipse,” I chastised, knowing it did little damage. Mads now knew I had something to tell Eclipse alone, and didn’t trust the phone system with it.

“Sorry, my eyes wandered,” She replied innocently.  But that had been her M.O. since arriving the night before.  She was always hunting for information, never convinced we were giving her the straight line on Izac and his whereabouts. Or was it all about Izac now? Maybe, like My Lady Merritt Stone, she had her own reasons for knowing about us.

“Is everything okay?” She asked, deflecting.

“Everything’s fine,” I replied. She was getting far too comfortable. “How about yourself?  Weren’t you going to have a meeting with someone?”

She brushed off that question with a hand, “Oh, come and gone.”

First I’d heard, “It was about Izac, right?  About the man in the car?  Tell me all about it.”

She made a few sounds as she decided what to share about her meeting.  I waited in silence, sure that whatever came next was as far from the truth as she felt comfortable saying.

“It…was…illuminating.  A possible way to find the guy, but it’s going to require something rather special.”

Well, nothing was for free, and nothing good comes cheap. Dominic was rich to the point that money meant very little.  If he were brought on board, it was as good as done.

“Okay, so what are they asking?”
“For something well beyond our power or scope at this point,” Not money then. A boon beyond our powers to fulfil or an item well beyond the mundane.  Now I was intrigued. “I think it’s best we find an alternative route.”

Another dead end, and I was disappointed.  Still, if Lady Merritt kept to her word, then all the hunting for Izac could cease, and we just needed to keep an eye out for his return.

“As I told you, I don’t know if hunting out Izac’s kidnapper is going to matter much anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Mads asked, genuinely concerned.

“He will be turning back up…sooner or later.”
“When?” She asked as if time really mattered.

“Sometime…that wasn’t provided.  Is there a time limit I’m not aware of? Do your burning questions for Izac have a due date?”

“Ak…” She tried brushing off these questions as she had the others, but didn’t have a pithy throwaway line this time.

“I know it’s been some time since you last saw him.  You’ve been waiting a while, what are a few more days?”

“It’s been a bit,” She replied nervously. I was closer to her secret truths than she liked, “Look… did you talk to him… did you speak with him…?”  Curiouser and curiouser.

“No, no, I talked to Lady Merritt, the woman who caught me.”

“Probably the person who hired the Banu Haqim.” I’m glad she was keeping up, but the Banu Haqim wasn’t the focus of our search. Izac was.

“Yes, her or the organisation she works for, certainly.”

“That was pretty bold, approaching her like that,” Mads said, turning the conversation back on me…my favourite subject. 

“In my defence, I didn’t know she was there when I searched for Izac. And I did find him.”

“And when you say found him, found him where?” This was getting closer to information only shared within the coterie.  I looked above me, imagining Dominic still behind his desk.
“I’m sure that sometime soon, Dominic will come down and we’ll have that promised meeting where everything can be revealed.  But that is a meeting agenda item, at the moment.”  In my mind’s eye, I could see Dominic listening to my cries from below and disregarding me with one of his exasperating smirks.

“Regardless, it was clearly suggested that we don’t want to be going there.  Unless you see a future for yourself as ash.”

“Yeah, well, when’s this meeting happening?” Impatient Mads was back. 

“That is the question.  Eclipse is on her way, as you saw from the message. Dominic set this meeting, but when he graces us with his presence is up to him. I wonder if I should call Stallion?”

“Ah, you don’t need him,” She said, quickly, and I wondered what had happened between the two of them. As far as I knew, they’d not met outside of the interview in Dominic’s room. Still, her sentiment was so close to my own at the moment I had to laugh.

“I knew I liked you, Mads.”

“Like he tried getting handsy with me in the bar. Who does that on a first date?” She complained, enlightening me to my ‘brothers’  misdeeds.  No wonder she was glad to see the back of him. 

“Was it a date, was it?” I asked with a smile, but she wasn’t in the mood for more playful banter.

“Just a figure of speech, Rain, a figure of speech.” She rolled her eyes, and I gave in to her grievance.  

 
“I’m just having fun.  I’m here to enjoy this drink and your company, and whatever conversation you’re willing to share.” Still, I could sympathise. I’d had my share of run-ins with Stallion.

“He’s not a gracious fellow, but he’s proven to be particularly resourceful when the chips are down.” 

“Yeah, well, his first impressions were terrible,” she said.

“Second and third as well, I’m afraid. I’m often surprised by his depravity.”

“What does anyone see in him? Has he always been like that?”  

“As someone who has known him for less than three months…yes.”

She stared at me, perplexed that a vampire would think making Stallion a good idea.  Having met Whiteshark, I can only assume he’d found a kindred soul.  Still, the discussion of Stallion was pointless and depressing.  I changed the subject.

“You said you spent some time getting an education.  What have you studied?” Most people like talking about themselves.  Up to this point, Mads was proving an exception, but I wasn’t done yet.

“Oh…I was…kept…I was…sheltered.” Suddenly, the urbane and articulate Mads stumbled to find meaning, “Like the way things…normally run.  You get made and then you get educated.” It was like she was trying to find the words to explain why the sky was blue.  There was an explanation, but everyone just took it for granted.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I laughed at the thought that there were normal ways for things to happen.  Maybe for normal vampires. But, it seemed those rules didn’t apply to Stallion, Eclipse or me.

“Taught how things operate.” I could weep.  Wasn’t that was I was asking for with almost every waking breath? How things operate.  What is important?  What was no longer significant?

“So normally, your sire would be there and would take you in and educate you for…a decade or two?”
“Something like that, yeah, that’s what I meant by education.”

“Our education was a dinner at one of the local restaurants,” I said flippantly, then just as quickly took it back, “No, of course our education is still continuing.  This is Dominic’s idea of education.  The formal component was only a few hours on our first night.”

“And how long ago was that?” See what I mean about Mads being slippery?

“Only a couple of months.”

She looked askance at my statement, as if unsure of believing such ridiculous claims.

“That’s….unorthodox,” She finally admitted, which said more about her than me. Regardless of how she came into these nights and her history with Izac, she’d been brought up properly as far as most of vampire society thought.  Merritt had suggested that some thought otherwise.  That the practice of leaving fledglings to sink or swim was better, for what…character building?

“I’m starting to believe so.  Listening to your tale of the everyday vampire.” I admitted with all seriousness, and she finally accepted the truth of what I was saying.

“It adds a new perspective.”

“Speaking of that, and this may be a sensitive subject, did you get the impression that Izac had decades of education under his belt when you met him?” 

I wanted to know more about their relationship, what had brought them together and finally tore them apart.

“To be honest, “ She finally said after a long pause, “I haven’t seen him since that night.”

 I shuddered visibly at the recollection. I knew that my image of that night was corrupted by a failure on my part, but also Izac’s own emotions, distorted what I saw. Still, I’d asked about when they’d met, and she spoke about that night in the alley, the last time she’d seen him.  

Or was that attack the first time they’d met. 

“Look, I haven’t seen him for a very long time.” 

“As I understand, it  was a pretty harrowing night.”

Another long silence.

“If anything, he was like an animal.” Was it really so hard to equate that behaviour to Izac?  Hadn’t I seen it in my own home? Felt it as he drew a gun on me in the bar? No, he leapt to violence, but there was an intelligent mind behind the threat.  An animal would be instinctual and reactionary. His violence was calculated to make an impact.

“Amazing,” Was all I could say.

“It’s a word.  Not the one that I would use.” 

“It’s like we’re talking about two different people,” I admitted, not wanting to belittle her experience, but knowing another Izac.

“That remains to be seen.  People don’t change.”

Now, as to that, I had personal experience,” They do, though. I have, in only a week. I think they have a powerful enough experience, people can change, for good or bad.”

“Give it time.  When he’s backed against the wall, you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

I thought I had.  In the feral bar bitten in the leg, his hand mutilated by his own gun, Luna threatened in the nearby room and mentally assaulted by the image I’d picked up from the feral’s mind, he stayed…human. If he’d wanted to, I have no doubt he could have torn those two ferals apart.  Instead, . Angry, fearful, shocked and in pain, Izac had dealt with the situation like…a human.  Just as I thought I was getting a handle on our little cloud of gloom, Mads just handed me a whole new chapter of Izac to make sense of.

In the alleyway behind the bar, Stallion was looking for a friendly face.  After a moment of rwoars, meows, and prrrts, a skinny tabby sauntered around the bins.

“Prrrt?” It asked, rubbing up against his leg.

“Ah, Frederick, another night, another night of being rejected,” He said, crouching down to scratch his companion’s head, “How’s your night been?”

“Yeah, tonight’s been fine.  The kitchen threw out a few choice scraps.  What brings you out here, buddy?”

“I just need some cheering up.  Ladies, can’t win them, can’t live without them.”

“Why don’t you just take them?” Said the tabby who didn’t look like he could take on a stiff breeze.

“Ah, humans be different,” Stallion shrugged. He didn’t know why and didn’t much care, but he knew it to be the truth, “Culture or something.”

“Yeah, you’re weaker.  Just take’em.”

“And that’s your advice?”

“That’s me.”

“Ah, Frederick, you never cease to cheer me up.”

“Hey, can you bring out some meat?” 

“I’ll think about it.”  

1.40 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club In transit

Across Sydney, Eclipse’s Uber arrived, and a woman who looked like she’d been born middle-aged leaned over and opened the door. 

“ Where to?” She asked in a perfunctory way that did not encourage conversation. That was fine with Eclipse.  This wasn’t about entertainment. She had a place she had to be.

“The Crow Bar.”

“Is that the name of the place?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” She pulled her phone off its cradle and tapped the name into the browser, “Ah…the Crow Bar on Parramatta Road…Leichhardt or Burlington Street, Crowsnest?”

Eclipse rolled her eyes, “Leichhardt.”

The driver copied the address into her GPS, “Do you want me to put something on for you?  I’ve got to focus on the road, you know.” The drive pointed to the radio.

“Just music,” Eclipse settled herself in the back seat, “I don’t have a preference.”

“Alright,” The driver turned on the radio and Treasure by Bruno Mars rumbled through the seat where a subwoofer was hidden.

1.40 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

As the clean, funky base bounced around the V.I.P. Lounge, Dominic made his appearance. He glanced at the bar, empty of the Delith, but also missing the presence of the new star of the bar, Rumplestiltskin. Roaming the room, he greeted the locals and shook hands with new guests. I spotted him about the same time he glanced around and saw Mads and me in the corner.

“Sir, please, join us,” I called, and with a drink in hand, Dominic obliged.

“Hello Rain, learnt anything new lately?” He asked and I had to admit to not a lot.  Besides musings on how well Mads knew our Izac?  

“I learnt I have a very great tolerance to whatever they serve at the bar,” And I got up to get another.

Dominic took my seat as Mads leaned across the table to confide in Dominic.

“Does he often drink that much?”

“Oh, you know, all the Roses like to be watered.  Flowers are greedy for sustenance,” Dominic explained, waving away her question, “But how about you?”

“Yes, I’ve been enjoying this…castle you’ve built for yourself.”

“Just one of the things I’ve acquired in my time,”

“You must have acquired a lot.” Mads once more turned the questions back on the questioner.  If I’d been at the table at that moment, Dominic would have received a knowing look.

“Before I started my second life, I was already very successful in business.”

“Being a Giovanni, I’m sure you found that to be quite useful.” Dominic silently raised an eyebrow, and she quickly added, “ Meaning no disrespect.  It’s to your credit. Yours is a big family, and someone needs to run the books.”

“I ran my own books and made my own fortune.  You hang around long enough, you get to learn how to make a little cash.” Dominic qualified, once more showing his pride in being a self-made man.

“You should regale us with those stories,” Mads leaned in, almost hungry for information.

I was watching the two of them from the bar, aware that Dominic was doing the bulk of the talking.  I saw Mads lean in, insinuating herself into his space, and I wondered what her intentions were for our adoptive parent. Hey, if you’ve got chips to put down in the game of life, put them down where they count.

I wasn’t going to rain on her parade.

2.10 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Stallion was still outside in the alley talking to the cat when The Notorious B.I.G. came over the bars ‘sound system.  His body started bopping to the bass and rapping the lines along with the master. This was Stallion’s vibe, and as the baritone voice rapped through his troubles, Stallion started feeling his mojo return.  Yeah, things were looking pretty bad right now, but as Biggie Smalls would say, “Time to get paid,

Blow up like the “World Trade”!”

Waving off Frederick, he headed back inside for a second round.  Inside, he joined a group of three who looked like they were partying hard until morning. Unfortunately, their will wasn’t as strong as his ability to repel them.

“I think I’ll make it a night, what about you two?” One asked.  A second agreed and prepared to leave.

“Nah, he’s cool.  Hey, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

He waved off his companions and turned to the increasingly forlorn Stallion.

Okay, so the Riz doesn’t work, how about just paying them?  Stallion turned to the bar and called for a round of drinks for him and his remaining companion. Delith, as usual, greeted him at the bar.

“So, Stallion, hunting?” She asked quietly for only him to hear.

“A bit, how about yourself…oh wait, you’re working!” He joked in reply, gaining for himself a scowl.

“Very funny. So what do you want for him?”

“A Henny.”
“Make it a double, get him quick?”

“Nah, I’m going to surprise him with a double latter on.”
“Ah, slick. I see. So one Henny and one for you.  I’ll short pour yours and add a little colouring so it looks the same.”

Stallion grooved back, dancing through the waning crowd and handed over the Henny to his new companion.  It was gone in seconds, shot straight down the eager throat.

“Nice, thanks.  Ah, have you got anything stronger?”

“Than top shelf?  Well, what do you want?” Stallion asked, a little taken aback. He had a history with drugs, but it didn’t go much deeper than a little weed.

“Hmm, well, I don’t have much on me tonight…I got some cigarettes…with other substances…?” He went to his ever-present bum bag.

“What other substances?”

“Just the Mary and Jane kind.”

The guy shook his head as if being offered a turd in a rapper, “Nah, man. Don’t worry, I’m gonna bounce. If you had some dust…maybe, but nah…”

“Maybe I’ll catch ya next time. Set something up proper.” Stallion said, trying not to let his disappointment show.

“Maybe. Well, you know where I’m gonna be,” And the nameless partygoer found another group to hang with, leaving Stallion once more alone.

Fuck! 

2.40 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club In transit

Eclipse’s ride finally arrived back at the Crow Bar.  She paid with her credit card and entered the bar to see Stallion bopping alone to music. Being careful not to catch his attention, she headed towards the stairs to V.I.P.  Stallion spotted her as she moved with purpose across the common room.

That was it.  That was the last straw of the miserable night. Three strikes and he was out of there!  Forgetting the partygoers, he followed Eclipse downstairs, veering off and heading for the garage.  It was time he got back to his plan of heading home and drinking.  He was going to fly high one way or another. Yeah, that had been the plan all along.

Eclipse was well aware that Stallion was following her.  When he continued down to the garage, she thought no more about him and entered the lounge, looking for Rain. She spotted him in a booth with Dominic and Mads, sipping a drink.  Thinking he could always do with another, she went to the bar, ordered two and took them both over to the booth.

It had been a long night and I hadn’t seen Eclipse once until she made for our booth.  I was surprised at her confidence and how she walked and held herself.  So unlike Luna.  It really wasn’t surprising she’d taken the new-old name. I gave her a nod of acknowledgement and turned to Dominic.

“Sir, do you want me to text Stallion to join the meeting?”

“No one let him know that?” Dominic asked, breaking eye contact with Mads, “Sure, bring him downstairs.”

I sent a text, assuming Stallion was still upstairs in the library.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, BUDDY?

Just as Stallion was about to put the key into the ignition of the Bronco, his phone started buzzing and rapping in his pocket. 

 Leaving the keys in the ignition, he texted back, PLANNING TO FLY HIGH. YOURSELF? 

BIG MEETING REGARDS IZAC. WANT TO JOIN?

Stallion didn’t feel like dealing with the whole coterie at the moment.  He’d had enough of this night and was planning on washing it all away.  Whatever they decided would be fine with him.

I’M A LITTLE DOWN IN THE DUMPS. AM I NEEDED?

Really?  He’d been fine in the library, hadn’t he? 

REALLY?  WHERE ARE YOU?

THE GARAGE.

I’M COMING TO YOU.

I turned to the table apologetically as Eclipse placed a drink in front of me. Just my luck, free drink, and I have to find out what’s up with the coterie’s Neverman.

“It seems our Stallion is feeling a little blue. I’ll go have a chat and see what’s up.”

Eclipse was not pleased.  The glass swerved on its way to me and settled in front of Mads, who happily accepted.

Dominic sat back and watched the new Eclipse.  He really hadn’t had a chance to watch his childe since her name change, and he was surprised at what he saw. A new energy, a light in the eyes, a more erect stance and a more self-assured look.  He knew that look. She’d killed that night, and not to feed, not in self-defence, but for the sheer enjoyment of it.  Ah, his childe were going up, and so quickly. 

Engaging his Shroudsight, he tried to discern if the dead still hung on her person. For those at the table, his eyes went white, the pupils flashing with blue flame.  Suddenly, the lounge grew larger to accommodate the number of dead in the place.  He was gratified to know that if he needed to pay with spirits, the bar could provide, but he could see nothing hanging around Eclipse…at least at the moment. Whatever she had been up to had left no trace. 

Good.  Very good. 

“I see you’ve been hunting.  Did you get any good catches?” He asked her, disregarding Mads sitting right beside him.

“Productive.”

“You should tell me about it sometime. I’ve been known to make a killing at times.” He smirked, enjoying his little joke, “Take a seat.”

Eclipse said nothing, but pointedly took the seat next to Mads instead of him.

I was oblivious of the family tensions as I made my way down to the garage and found Stallion seated in his car.  Where Eclipse carried herself with the air of authority, Stallion looked like a whipped dog.  Bottles of the cheap bourbon he was so fond of littered the passenger seat beside him. Miserable and alone, he looked ready to bolt, even if it was in a late-model Bronco.

I pulled out my phone and decided to break the ice with something I knew he’d like.

“Hey mate, what’s going on?  You said you’re a bit down?”

“I ran out…tried to strike up something…couldn’t strike it…struck out…know what I mean?” Stallion faltered through his story of woe.  I wasn’t quite sure what he meant.  Did he mean metaphorically or physically?  It was hard to tell with him.  Physically, violence has never been my thing, but you don’t deal with people on a regular basis and not make it to home base now and then. As I’d not heard of any fight, besides the one with Mads, of course, I assumed he meant metaphorical and moved on.

“Struck out?  Upstairs?…”
“Yeah, no luck with anyone.” I assumed he meant to feed upon.  

“Well, that happens. You know, even the best predators in this world don’t catch every prey they’re after. The best, I think, are seahorses.”

“A seahorse.” His voice was monotone and unimpressed.

“They have the highest percentage of strike to catch rate. Then again, they go after teeny tiny fish, and you, Stallion are not going after teeny tiny fish.  You’re probably going after the most dangerous prey of all.”

“Sure.” He didn’t seem impressed.  I moved on with my phone.

“Anyway, I’ve got something for you,” and bringing up the photo app moved to an image I’d been fooling with since he’d mentioned the tattoo. Now, like a tentative owner corralling a recalcitrant pup, I offered the tasty treat and stepped forward.

It was a symbol meant to represent all of us in the coterie. All five of us were symbolised one way or another. Dominic was at the start, our sire and originator, an inverted comma. The tail of that led to the claw marks of his favourite, Stallion.  I put myself next, the daisy still standing for resilience and beauty regardless of how far I move from its original meaning.  The bleeding heart and moon were obviously Izac and Eclipse, now more than ever her symbol.

“I have a tattoo design,”

“Oh, you have one already?” His voice perked up, “I always knew you were an artsy fella. Maybe I should have taken you to spray paint some buildings instead of bloody Izac.”

“Ah, I’ve done that,” The thought led to painful memories of Lenny, running through the night, terror, joy and life, “That’s…in the past now.”

I turned his and my attention back to the piece, “It’s a little symbolistic.”

“So, I’m guessing the moon is Luna….” He said, making a meal out of working out each part.

“Which one are you?”

He looked confusedly down at the image on my phone.  I sent him the image, and he brought it up for himself.

“I don’t know if any one speaks to me.” That was not a good sign. “Which one am I supposed to be?”

I pointed out the four claw marks across the top.

“For your claws.”
“Oh yeah,” He smiled a little in realisation. Like stepping back from a pointalist painting and seeing the whole scene for the first time, “Oh yeah, I have shown you those a couple of times.”

“Here’s our sire, adoptive at least, and you’ve seen this before,” I pointed out my flower, and he nodded his head.

“I’m a little bit confused as to how this is Dominic. And why are there five? Shouldn’t there be three symbols?” He pointed to the inverted comma. 

“It starts dialogue, when someone is speaking… when you write it down.  He is our start.” As to the number, I was a little confused.  Did I not understand the brief?  Didn’t he want a symbol for the whole coterie? Had he just wanted something for us three? The siblings? My heart melted a little at that moment for my problematic brother.

“Well, it was just an idea. I was looking for something to tie us all together.  We’re very…different people, have you noticed?  I guess that’s because we have different sires, but it doesn’t mean we don’t belong together.”

He shrugged and nodded, “We make do with what we’ve got. And in this world, I don’t think we get to pick our friends.”

I was going to correct him, but maybe he was right.  The nature of the vampire meant we had to be careful who we brought close and who we excluded.  But it wasn’t the point I wanted to drive home at that moment.

“You certainly can’t pick family and Stallion…we’re family. Better or worse, we’re brothers.”
“Taken the wrong way, that almost sounds insulting.” He smirked, and I knew he’d cheered up, at least a little, “But I know you better than that, Rain.”

And I had to admit, he did, at least in this.

“Does it?” I pleaded ignorance, “I don’t know, I’ve never had a brother. You’re going to have to teach me that stuff.”

“I can teach you about many things,” And now, the old Stallion was back, swaggering in the driver’s seat, “As you may guess, I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I could take you out for a cruise on the bike. I may need a bigger bike…up those CC’s.”

It was time to head back. “Regardless of future shenanigans, you are part of the coterie, and there is information to share.  You’ve heard some of it, do you want to hear some more?”

His shoulders slumped, and his attention turned to the gates leading out onto the road beyond, “Honestly, Rain, I…” I was losing him. I jumped in to intercept his thought.

“I’d really appreciate your insights.  Sometimes you surprise me with your leaps of intuition. We’re not alike, and so our minds run along different tracks, go in different directions.”

“Wait…I do?  You do?”  I’d caught him off guard with that, and I had to smile.

“You do…”
“For someone like you…I thought you were always one step ahead. At least try to be.”

At least try to be.

“Whereas I live in the moment. I take things as they come, yeah,” At least he thought he did, but it enabled  him to catch his second wind, “I might as well join you.”

“There you go,” I grabbed his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, “Have you had a drink tonight?”

“A few.”
“Well, you can always have another, right?”

“Preferably not on top of my head, this time?” He said and lost me for a moment, “Unless, us two want to sit and think up some funny shit.” He stepped out of the Bronco, and we climbed the stairs up side by side.
“Why would you put a drink on your head?…unless you were dancing, then that would be a good reason to put a drink on your head.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” 

Back at the booth, Dominic was questioning Eclipse as to her activities for the night, with Mads silently watching on.

Dominic was really warming to the topic, death and mayhem always hitting him right in his shriveled up heart.

“Luna, do you want to share?”

“Not particularly.”
“Did you enjoy it at least?”
“Of course. Did you think seeing me hunt the night before wasn’t for fun?”

“Everyone hunts for fun. The stuff that happens in here is just business, ” Dominic’s fiery blue eyes scanned the lounge, seeing all the ghosts that spoke of the ‘business’ done in that space, “But fun is fun!”

“It was…an interesting time,” Eclipse said, choosing her words carefully.

“Well, at least you one-upped Rain and did not acquire a spectral leash.”

She didn’t look surprised. “Good to know I’m not haunted.” She knew that everything that junkie had been had gone into the stone. There would be no hauntings when it came to the sacrifices. Still, that was not information for Dominic. So, with that vague reply, Eclipse felt the conversation was over. She wasn’t here to talk with Dominic. Talking to him only got her in trouble. She wanted to hear what Rain had to say.

Still, Giovanni was grinning.  It was like he knew something, and it made her nervous.

Stallion and I joined them in the booth just as the conversation died.  Both of us noticed Dominic’s eyes, though only one of us knew what it meant.

“Woah, what the fuck!” Stallion exclaimed.

“Oh, seen anything interesting?” I asked him, recognising Shroud sight.

“I’m just enjoying the scenery,” Dominic replied, “I’m sure you’ve done it before, Rain.”

I winced a little.  I was very aware that Mads was absorbing everything we said and did.  Maybe it was just her nature, but I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more nefarious about her information gathering.  I did like her, I just didn’t trust her.

Stallion looked at me as if he’d never seen me before.  Well, good.  It is always better to be underestimated.

“Still, anything interesting to see?”
“Just the remnants of those never destined to leave.” Interesting.  I filed that little piece of information away as Dominic turned the group’s thoughts to the reason for the gathering.

“And now to the good boy.”
“Don’t you mean the pretty boy?” Stallion asked, with a smirk.

“Where should we start?  From the beginning?” I asked sitting next to Eclipse and Stallion beside Dominic.

“Why don’t you start? You did see him in the actual location…beat my scouts.” Dominic said, and I accepted the compliment.

“Yes.  So, as soon as we returned from the theatre last night, I did a little astral travelling and found him in a warehouse in the Bankstown-Punchbowl area. There, I caught the eye of a very powerful vampire, the lovely Lady Merritt Stone, even though  I was incorporeal and undetected by Izac himself. Tonight, I was able to talk to her, about her intentions for Izac and us. “

“She is getting him ready for some great purpose, and he will be set free sometime when she feels his ready. From how she spoke, it sounds like he will have his freedom before the Succubus Club, so in a few days.”

“She did not tell me who she was, other than her name, nor did she tell me who she works for, but again, there was the suggestion of the Sabbat.  She believed that her desires aligned with his…whatever that means.”

“And how much do you trust this bitch?” Stallion asked, and I was instantly on the defensive. Then again, he didn’t know her.

“Me?  Ah, well, I’m not unbiased when it comes to the Lady, I will gladly admit that, and I’d appreciate you speaking of her with respect at least when around me.  You’ve not met the lady, so I will forgive you this once.”

“Wow! Defensive much? Okay.  Jeez, Rain, take a chill pill.” He replied. It was this bright and witty banter I’d drawn him back in for…and now I had it.

“You know, Rain, you really shouldn’t trust a vampire you’ve just met,” Dominic added his parenting advice.

“She kept her word. She said she would leave me, and she did.  We talked, and it was a…mutually pleasant conversation. I don’t suggest you believe everything she had to say, but what would be the point of her lying?  She could have dominated me and sent me into catatonia, but she didn’t. She could have left me with no memories of our conversation, but I have all my memories.”

“Where?” Mads finally broke her silence, “Where did this happen? Just at the club or somewhere in particular?”

“I was at my new apartment when we had the conversation.” Dominic knew more, but in mixed company, I didn’t feel the need to share about Lucretia.

“And where is he going to be released?  You said, he will be released.”
“No where, no when.  But it is my impression that it will be before the Succubus Club,” I couldn’t help looking at Eclipse at this point.  We had four days to get the heart, so it seemed Izac wouldn’t need it before then at the very least.”

“So no words were actually spoken?” Stallion asked, picking on a thread I didn’t think he’d see, “This is just your interpretation of what she meant?”

“Literally true.  See, this is what I mean, Stallion.  Insightful, “ I looked around the table. “That is another point.  It was my mind translating The Lady’s thoughts and vice versa. So, there may also be a translation issue.”

“Also an infatuation issue, “ Dominic added, unrequired.  I thought I’d clearly stated that already.

“I admit a bias, but that doesn’t mean I’m not giving a truthful report…as I understand it.”

“But that doesn’t mean the bias doesn’t exist,” Eclipse said, and it was the first time I’d heard from her all night.

“Does the bias go both ways, or is it all one way?” Stallion asked, and I allowed myself a moment to fantasise.

“She saw me when no one should have.  She then went out of her way to communicate with me, treating me as an equal instead of just a tool. And she treated me fairly when she didn’t have to.  I take that all as a good sign.”

“And you couldn’t use your charms on her?  Give her a little Riz?” Stallion again. It was clear how little he understood.  

“I have my mind, which wasn’t a foregone conclusion at the beginning of the conversation.  And I think I know enough about human nature to know she enjoyed the conversation as I did.”

“Ah, so she had you by the balls.”

“Metaphorial mind balls, yes. Far more dangerous. You can live without balls, but try doing that without a mind.”

“I think I’d kill myself,” Stallion confessed, revealing the difference between us. He had given up his mind, and though I was still intact, definitely that short time with a gap in my memory was going to be nightmare fuel for months to come.  And it wasn’t as if the equipment was all that important, anyway.

Dominic laughed out loud, recognising, as I did, the irony of Stallion’s statement.  Eclipse looked intently into her drink as Mads’ eyes flashed back and forth across the table, trying to catch the unspoken joke.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Stallion picked up the mood at the table and once more surprised me with a little introspection, “When was the last time I had an erection?” His face paled as he realised he couldn’t remember having one for months.

“God!” he cried out in anguish, his blond head falling into empty hands. It seemed that for Stallion, the raising of the flag had been a defining feature for him. He was impressively built, I can attest to that.  I could see how it would come as a shock to someone whose literal name described his defining feature.

“Can we please get back on topic?” Eclipse asked with a sharp retort.

Fair enough, “What would you like me to expand on?  This is all new to you so let me know what doesn’t make sense.”

She stared back balefully as if I’d brought her here under false pretenses.  Patience, a little more patience.

“Did she say anything else about Izac?”

Yes, but that’s for you, and later,  I thought and instead said, “Our shining knight has a quest. She thought it was ridiculous for him to try to do it on his own.”I glanced at Eclipse.

“Does anyone have any idea what this mission is?” Dominic interjected, and I stayed silent, looking around the table as if I would also like the answer to that. Dominic too, did his share of reading the group.  What was interesting was Eclipse was looking at me as if she could see right through to all my dirty secrets.  I don’t know if it was me or her, but It had always been hard to lie to her.

“With this woman and her ability to dominate, we have to work out what this quest is. It might not be exactly voluntary.”

“You made a very good point early, Mr Giovanni.  They’re paying a lot for Assamites. My lady Merritt is a very powerful vampire…these people aren’t messing about.  Maybe this is political.”

At this point in the meeting, Eclipse went all introspective and quiet.  As the rest of us mulled over conspiracy theories, she searched her memory for what she knew about Lady Merritt Stone. Her eyes shifted back and forward as she moved from one snippet of found knowledge to another. The longer her introspection went, the more distressed she became.  I couldn’t help but see the fear in her eyes as she glanced up and the tears made her green eyes black.

She physically had to compose herself before sharing what she knew. “Merritt.  There have been a few of that name, but the earliest and the one they all claim lineage to is 4th generation Torreador.  The others are all 5th and 6th generation.” And with that, her mouth snapped shut, and I knew…knew in my heart there was more to the story.  I wanted that information more than I wanted anything in my life, but here eyes and words were closed to me…at least at the moment. I smiled, and I could feel my fangs showing.

She thought we were in grave trouble.

“Anything you want to share?” Dominic, having seen her expression too, asked Eclipse, and she shook her head violently.

“I’m just worried about Izac.”

“You’re always worried about Izac,” He pressed with unusual force of personality, ”This is different.”

“Sure, you know me that well?” Eclipse stared straight at Dominic, a single tear of blood falling from her eye to be hastily brushed aside.
That was her mistake.

Suddenly, Dominic’s flame blue eyes turned black, and his voice took on a tone of authority I knew and feared, “Speak!”

“Merritt is very powerful, at least 4th generation. She popular among Torreador, they even claim to know her or be related to her. She has many aliases, including the name she gave Rain. The Encyclopedia Vampirica states she was a big name in Victorian London up until the 19th Century.”

Dominic sat back in his seat and mulled over what she had said. It seemed to register something with him. His usually stoic features slackened as his draw dropped at what he had recalled. If I had to give name to his expression, I would say that Dominic was afraid. Not for the first time, I had to restrain myself from peaking into one of the coterie’s minds.

As if knowing my mind, his black orbs fixed on me.  I quickly turned away. If I could help it, I didn’t want to be enthralled to Dominic’s Dominate.

“Well, Dominic?” Eclipse broke the silence of the table, emulating his command of a few moments earlier, “Are you going to speak?”

With a sudden jerk, Dominic rose from the table.  Whatever he’d remembered, he decided he needed to act now.

“Sir! Please, tell me,” I said, hoping he would give us something before putting his plans into effect.

But he hadn’t forgotten me, it seemed. “Rain. How would you like to brush up on your spirit manipulation?”

That was not the response I expected. We’re talking to spirits? Now?

“Ah, yes…okay.” “Let’s go for a walk.” Dominic led the way out of the Lounge.

 I stood to follow and remembered the table.  Remembered Eclipse, and the promise of more information, “Sorry, Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems I’m going for a walk.” 

Warily, I followed Dominic upstairs.

3.40 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

*****************************************************************************************

Eclipse’s thoughts:

Destination: a deadline

“He’s on a quest.”

He always has been.

I knew it. Those hours of us, together on a studio apartment floor as he meditated. Built something just within reach but out of sight, I knew. 

I could see it. I could sense it.

In the back of the car. 

My world was silently loud. His hands on my back. His hands around me. Then the lights came back on.

Steady.

I held onto his shoulders.

Ready.

I crouched with him. Held him close as he fell into me. 

Aim.

The world was falling around us. I didn’t care for anything else. I knew what I was looking for with him in my arms. 

Run.

The others were in the car but all I could care for was your hand in mine. 

You’re gonna go far.

That’s the song I played for you. I had been ignoring it but my heart knew you were aiming for greatness. To be something better than the box the world had placed you in.

Of course you were on a quest, you wayward soul. 

Your book sits against my chest  and everytime it thumps a beat against my heart I know you’re heading to something. 

“She thought it was stupid that he was trying alone.”

I was hurt at first. Rain looked me dead in the eyes as if I failed you. 

I have. 

I have failed you.

With no sun, the moon was left to consume me and I have fulfilled my birthright. 

‘”the darkening of a heavenly body”‘ is a translation of my birth name. 

So, my sun. I hope, pray, that you succeed in this quest.

Or so help God. 

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Alicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into a likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Police ‘premiere’ detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

El Torcedor: “The Twister” or ore accurately, “The Fleshcrafter” A Tzimisce from South America

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Kenneth Stahl: South African Giovanni (exiled)

Lady Merritt Stone: A very old and powerful vampire that has taken an interest in Izac.  Rain spoke to her about the Coterie and Izac’s mission

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador. Oscar Wilde.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Baali: A bloodline bent on keeping beings old before time from waking up and destroying everything. Eclipse and the Days of the Week are Baali.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Children of Osirus: Bloodline outside the Caine family tradition who practise Bardo, a discipline to control the beast. Izac’s current Bloodline.

Children of Seth: Bloodline the Prince is rumoured to be (originally?)

Clan or Bloodline:  From one of the children of Caine or subsequent established lines of vampires. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Gangrel: A bloodline of vampire.  Stallion’s Bloodline.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Giovanni: A vampire bloodline that keeps within genetic family ties. Dominic is a Giovanni.

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

The Red List: a universal kill list of vampires.  Maintained by the Camarilla, anyone on the list can be mudered without question.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

Toreador: Bloodline of Vampire.  Rain’s Bloodline.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

12.00 am Sunday, 7 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club The Harbour Mill, Pyrmont

Sunday.  

I went to say goodnight, but the silhouette had already disappeared from the mirror.  She was gone, and I was alone.

My mind was mine again, with no holes to probe and worry over. In fact, I had the original memories as well as the modified memories living side by side in my mind. The cognitive dissonance was intriguing, but not disturbing, as I understood its source.  Like my love and obsession for the lovely, Lady Merritt.  She had bewitched me, and that was fine.  

I did check the reflection one last time.  Nothing there but me and the plain white walls of the apartment. I have to admit, it was a little disappointing.  I spent some time trying to get down her likeness in one of Lenny’s old sketchbooks and was quietly pleased with the results.  I particularly liked her eyes, the last thing I remember seeing of Merritt.  Her dark and alluring eyes. 

After committing Merritt’s image to paper, I finally inspected the apartment.  It was pleasant.  The master bedroom was secure from sunlight and functional, and the top deck was inviting with sweeping views of the city’s west side. Yet, I was alone.  The first few days at the old Pyrmont place were hectic but communal as both Stallion and Luna did their bit to help make the old place home.  The apartment, by comparison, was beautiful, clean, modern and completely devoid of life.  I made a promise to change that as soon as possible.

Finally, I pulled out my phone and started searching for information about the Museum of Contemporary Art. Before being embraced, it was a regular haunt of mine during bad weather. It was in Circular Quay, where the tourists and day trippers flock, and good busking is easy when the days were fine. Being free, I could walk its halls for hours, taking in the wonders of modern art and the creativity of the human mind.  I knew the public side of the building well, but I needed access to the archives and storage basements, somewhere I’d never been. I groaned when I read their opening hours, closing each day at 5 pm. Even in winter, I would never again be able to visit as a member of the public.

Right now, I had four days in late spring, and there was no hope of getting in to reconnoitre. The job would have to be outside official hours, which was another frustration.  I disliked roaming around at night, as it looked more suspicious than during the day. During working hours, dozens of staff, working crews, and deliveries would make it easy to slip in and out. I could say I was on official business, visiting a friend or lost.  Even if you could gain access at night, the trick was not being detected. 

 That made me think of Eclipse and her new Obfuscate ability. How well did it work against security cameras?  Stallion’s boast about securing his home at the warehouse also sprang to mind.  Did he have anything that would hide objects and people from detection?  

Getting in would be relatively easy.  On the website, I spied a venue hire enquiries option and sent a short email about meeting a representative onsite after hours. It was getting out with the heart that would be the trick. I checked the maps of the public areas and noted the emergency and the staff doors I could remember.

It was midnight when I thought about returning to the bar. I now appreciated Merritt and Lucretia’s time for planning and machinations.  I felt the pressure of the four-night time crunch, and as usual, I wanted to rush down there and see what could be done.

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, I reminded myself and sent Eclipse a text instead.

WE NEED TO TALK ♥️, and was gratified with a reply a few moments later.

C U WHEN I CAN. WHERE CAN I FIND YOU? 🖤 She was busy? Doing what? Not that I want to deny the girl a life, but I hated to admit, I’d not seen her all night.  We’d come a long and lonely path since those few short weeks at the old place. 

PROBABLY THE BAR. LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU’RE FREE. I texted back and grabbed the pile of keys from the hallway floor before leaving to return to the bar.

12.00 am Sunday, 7 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

Stallion was dutifully reading his dummies book of dealing with people.

It was all about treating people like you wanted to be treated. Treating them in a way that showed you thought they were valuable. Seeing things from their perspective and showing that you were listening to what they had to say.  Sounded like a lot of God botherer stuff to Stallion, but it made sense that Dominic would think highly of it all.  He was an I-talian.

By midnight, he was done for one night and looking for a drink.  He headed to the Common Room where the premixed, take-away stuff was kept.  Saturday night, the common bar was full.  As he waited to be served, he watched the crowds, remembering his talk with the foreign vampire the night before.

A stallion does need a herd, right? He thought, catching the eye of a few in the crowd.  

Mads was downstairs, drinking and considering her choices.  She was thinking about how she would pay off her costly search plan.  The drinking wasn’t helping solve the problem, but it did give her mind something to do.  Bored, she thrust her hand into a pocket to pull out her phone and found a scrap of paper.  She remembered seeing the scrap of Hotel note paper beside her phone when she woke up that evening.  On it was a three-digit number, presumably a room number, and an eleven-digit number starting 04.  A mobile number. Curious, she rang the number on the paper.

“Hello?” I answered the call ss I made for the Audi in the apartment block carpark.   I could hear Dominic lecturing that you never answer an unknown number. As I’d given my number to a few people in the last few days, I answered it and took the risk of a phishing call.

“Hello?” Said a confused-sounding Mads on the other end. Gratified,  I connected the phone to the Bluetooth in the car and drove out.

“Is that Mads?  It’s Rain.”

“Oh, oh, the note makes more sense now,” She said, sounding relieved. “Why did you leave the note?”

“It was for you this morning, in case you woke up and didn’t know where you were. I must say, it’s nice to hear from you.”

“You too, “ She sounded distracted and more than a little drunk, “Sorry, I’ve been preoccupied. Where are you? Oh! Sorry, yes, you said, you were at your new apartment.”

“I am…or was.  It’s fine, plain but beautiful.  An empty canvas, one might say.  Open to putting my touch to it. I’m on my way back to the bar now…”
“Do you want me to save you a seat?”

“Absolutely,” At least someone was pleased to see me.

“Okay, I’ll hold the fort and have drinks waiting.”

“Thanks, Mads.  Oh…” At the thought of a drink, I was reminded of the delightful cocktails from the night before.

“Is Rumplestiltskin on?”

“Ah, no, just Delith,” Mads replied with a deflated intonation that I felt at the mention of Delith.

“Okay..”
“You sound so thrilled. I’ll see you here soon.” She hung up, and I asked Google to save the last number under ‘Mads’. 

Putting away her phone, Mads returned to the black contemplation of her future in debt to some of the most ancient and ruthless of our kind. She ordered another drink.

Dominic was having a quiet night.  Having gone through the local books, he checked his messages for emergencies. 

Nothing.

He then decided to check the rumours of Delith using Disciplines on the guests.  Moving to the security room, he checked CCTV cameras, watching the way Delith interacted with the customers.  He was well versed in Dominate and was sure he’d see signs of it. But, as he went through footage, he saw little sign of any Masquerade breach.

She was quirky, he had to say that.  A real character.  She had some weird facial expressions sometimes, and she had a stare that would bore through concrete.  Yes, he could see how the younglings would think she was up to something, but his experienced eyes saw no harm. Still, a bad reputation for her is a bad reputation for the whole bar.  He made a note for Bruce to put Delith in the Common room bar, at least for a while.  At least, until this all blew over.

He checked his communications again for information on Izac. Nothing as yet. Still, early days.  He only went missing the night before.

He then looked over his overseas investments.  It was like being a farmer. You didn’t make the milk, but you managed the cows that did. It was all just a bunch of numbers on a screen, but it spoke of confidence and fragility to him. Rumours of acquisition and new expansion opportunities.  

He spent some time on his own machinations, determining who did what for him in his local business. Giuseppe was wet work and damn fine at it and Bruce was intell and surveilance, of course, but what of the childe?  Stallion would make a good scapegoat if ever required, and Rain…a spy? Possibly a well-placed mole.  Yes, being the boss was knowing all your pieces and how best to use them.

12.00 am Sunday, 7 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club The Sanctum

Eclipse put away her phone and whatever future idea I had and returned to the present around her. The sacrifices were now in cages tens of metres below ground. Those who were conscious were moaning and wailing.  Hers lay oblivious in a drug-filled stupor of their own choosing. 

Let them rot, she thought.  It was easy to be disgusted with creatures that allowed themselves to be put in such a situation.

She looked around her.  The cages, the racks of clothes, the pool of blood and the big opal slab. Sometime on the trip back in the car,  it had turned midnight.  It was Sunday, her day, and yet she had no knife.

And she wanted one.  The desire for it burned like the black fire within her. 

Monday and Tuesday were hiding somewhere, pretending they didn’t exist. The sounds of My Chemical Romance echoed from some other part of the Sanctum. After the night’s debacle, she wasn’t surprised. Thursday and Friday, were sitting around the table where they’d first talked. They were just chilling, talking, and reading. Waiting around for her to do her thing. Of Saturday, there was no sign.  They’d done their duty for the night, so they had no real reason to be at the Sanctum.  And there was no Wednesday. The gang was all there.

Get it out of the way.  Get it done.

Squaring her shoulders, she walked up to the table where Thursday and Friday sat, making a beeline straight for Thursday himself.  

“Hey Sunday. What’s going on? “Thursday said casually, “What happened to the other two?  They looked like whipped cats.”

“Irrational decisions were made,” She said without hiding her own displeasure.

“Is that why we have three in the cage?” He sighed, “It’s not a good look.”

“Not a good look, is it?” Eclipse was confused. Monday and Tuesday, had considered it a good idea to have a few spares.

“You’re a bit young. We used to have a lot of their kind.  A little bit of a faux pas has become a crime of late. I assume it was your idea.”
“My choice.  I was told to have a type.”

“I figured.  Monday and Tuesday don’t normally go in for such exotic tastes as a rule.  But, you clearly wanted something, how can I help?”

“I was curious if you still have the knife you used during the sacrifice.”
“My knife,” He said,  claiming ownership and dominancy in one breath.

“Yes.”
“Do you want to use it as a once-off or ongoing.  You understand, the cost would be different.”

Eclipse ground her teeth and held her anger, “I intend to go out to Lightning Ridge. Plans are in the works, but it will be a while.  What’s the cost?”

“It’s a very nice blade…” Upselling.  Eclipse could see where this was going, but what could she do about it?

“What are you offering?”

“Clearly, I don’t have anything to offer,” She said, her arms out wide, showing everything she was.

“Favours.  Secrets.  Recommendations…” Thursday suggested, and Eclipse rolled her eyes.

“Selling myself for favours?”

“It’s more about having a reputation for being useful.”

Eclipse sighed.  Fine. “The use of the knife for a favour.”

“Nothing I’d risk your life, of course.  It’s an inconvenience for me to lend you the knife. Expect a similar inconvenience in the future. Deal?” Thursday held out his hand, and Eclipse took it. In the periphery of her vision, the black flames coalesced around the room.

“Let me get my kris for you,” Thursday got up and returned a moment later from deeper in the catacombs with the blade.  With solemn and silent ceremony, Thursday handed the blade to Eclipse, handle first.  She took it just as silently.  Going to the cages, she sought and found her junkie, slumped where she’d left him, oblvious to everything.  

With one hand, she picked him up and dragged him to the altar.  Lying him bonelessly over the iridescent stone, she paused a moment as she felt the tension of the snake within her.  She felt the coils tighten as it leapt to take control of her and the blade.  Pausing, she held back the snake’s eagerness and made it wait for her.

“Would you like to watch?” She said, turning to Thursday and Friday. They joined her, a triad around the altar and the ready sacrifice. She didn’t need a grand fanfare or even all the Days of the Week to witness her. All she needed was this moment and the knife in her hand.

The snake watched, the anticipation now an ache within Eclipse.  She raised the knife, aimed for the centre of the chest and plunged it down with all her might. The blade slipped through as if the sacrifice was nothing but an illusion.  Their eyes opened, bugging out in surprise and shock, though no sound passed their lips.  Suddenly their body…melted, dissolving away like water to be absorbed by the stone. The sacrifice was dramatic and over in seconds.  

Curious.  What a weird way to die, she thought as the last of her sacrifice disappeared as if they were never there.  And maybe, they never were. Was there a death if there was nothing to show they’d lived?

Thursday and Friday applauded as Eclipse pulled the knife out of the stone and handed it back.

“Nicely done, nice-ly done,” He congratulated her, taking the knife back reverently.

“And what are you all doing?” Eclipse asked conversationally. She wasn’t sure why they were all there if it wasn’t their day.  

“We do what we do.  Some learn, some read, others plan or stockpile for winter,” Thursday said, and as Eclipses’ frown deepened, he went on to explain.

“It’s pretty tricky getting people during a world war.”

“You were alive then?”

“Of course, it wasn’t that long ago.”
Eighteen-year-old student Luna, with three generations between her and the last world war, would have thought it a long time ago.  Eclipse, with a little more perspective, knew better.

“No, it wasn’t.”

The conversation, having run its course, Eclipse was left just standing, looking around as Friday went back to their book and Thursday returned his knife to its safe place.

“Do you want somewhere here to sleep? Or do you have other accommodations prepared?” He asked, as he started down a hallway she’d missed before.

Eclipse hadn’t thought where she was going at night’s end.  Back to the bar, she’d assumed, always back to the bar. 

“I do have a coterie,” She said, but even to her, that explanation sounded lame. 

If they knew what I was…what I had done…

However, Thursday seemed to misinterpret her meaning, “And we are pleased to have you.”

“If I were to stay here, where are the rooms?” She asked following Thursday down the hall,  it opened into subterranean chambers. 

“Around.  Some of us have brought in furniture, so many rooms are fully furnished and quite comfortable…proper goosefeather, you know?”

Eclipse was gracious enough to make an impressed expression, and Thursday gave her directions to a few that were free.

“Four of five minutes that way.  You can’t miss it.  The common room has a candle chandelier and real fainting couches.”

“I’ll be sure to go visit it.” She acknowledged Thursday’s suggestion and followed his directions.

1.00 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

Mads was getting a very accurate impression of the coterie. They never seem to be around, never seem to be together.  How did they get anything done?  And to that matter, what was being done about Izac?

She searched the crowd around her, looking for someone who could help.  Who knew?  Maybe there was one of those 8th or lower legendaries here already.  What there should be, at least a few of, was Nosferatu.  The communal, subterranean misfits of the Vampire world.  They knew everything, and what they didn’t know, they could find out, for a price.

Mads started looking for the telltale signs of illusions, the shimmer where reality met the fake. As she paid attention to the customers of the lounge, she saw many very ugly individuals, but none as creatively hideous as Nosferatu.  Annoying.  Any other time you’re wading through them, but when you actually want them, nothing.

She went and ordered another drink.

“Hey, good looking,” It was Delith, ready with a friendly gesture and almost predatory smile, “Did you need any help sorting Stallion out?”

“No, I could handle him, but thanks for the offer. “ Mads replied.

“I saw.  You screamed so well.”

And yet you did nothing, she thought, but kept that to herself,  “You have to have your ways about you.”

“You certainly do,” Delith laughed, and Mads didn’t see the joke.

“Hey, curious.” Instead, Mads pulled out her phone to a copy of the Assamite and the Mustang and turned it to face Delith, “Have you seen this car at all?”

“Yeah, I have,” She said after a moment, looking over the image, “It’s weird.  Why do you ask?”

“It’s a pretty cool car, and I’d like to talk to the owner and see where they got it.”

“Ah, I like you, Mads, so a bit of friendly advice.  Don’t worry about it.”

“What do you mean, ‘Don’t worry about it?’”

“It’s better if you don’t know.”

“But I’m curious.”
“Look, you can be a little cat about it if you want, but I’m just saying…leave it alone.”

Mads reached out and caught Delith’s hand as it withdrew from handing over another drink.

“Delith, please. What do you know?”

“Okay, well…you didn’t hear it from me, but that’s the boss’s car.”

Mads wasn’t sure if Delith was bullshitting to get her off the case or that’s who she really thought the car belonged to.  Either way, it was clear Mads wasn’t getting any more out of Delith.

“Really?”

“Yes, and I didn’t tell you. You can be pretty forceful when you want, so just keep it to yourself.”

“Okay, well, thanks,” Mads took the ordered drinks and returned to her table.  

A moment caught her attention, and she turned to see Delith slinking away from the bar into the back.  A few moments later, she was heading up the stairs at a fast pace. Leaving the drinks behind, she followed, watching as Delith bypassed the Common room and climbed the stairs to the office.  She knocked and, when ushered in, closed the door behind her.  Mads quietly climbed the stairs and pretended to be on the phone while listening in to the conversation above.

“Hey, Boss. I’ve got some uncomfortable news to give you.”

“And that would be?” Dominic’s voice replied.

“You know that new pretty thing that’s been hanging around downstairs? Causing a ruckus?”

“Mads? The one who has been talking to the group lately?”

“That’s the one.  Um…I think she might be more forthcoming with some things.”

“Hmm.  Has she been attacking anyone?”

“Oh no, she was just looking for information on one of your vehicles.”

“Ah huh.”

“Yeah, a dark blue Mustang? For some reason, she thought it was yours. A bit weird.” Mads couldn’t help reacting to that piece of nonsense.  She may have thought she was offering Dominic a tasty rumour, but all she was doing was muddying the waters for herself.

“That is weird. I’m not much into American muscle cars.  At least not a Mustang.”

“What would you like me to do about this, Boss? I came to you before doing anything else.”

Dominic took his time to reply, obviously wondering why Mads would believe a car she knew was owned by an Assamite would belong to him, “Well, the mistake is in her court. Mads doesn’t know what they’re talking about.  Just keep your ears open for anything else about the car and who it actually belongs to.”

“Sure, I could do that for you.”

“Information is money.”
“Definitely, Boss. Very smart of you.”

Mads had heard enough.  She casually made her way back down the stairs to the lounge and waited for Delith’s return. A moment later, Delith returned to her place at the bar looking like the smug fool she was.

I drove the black Audi into the Crow bar’s underground carpark without incident and handed the keys over to Bruce.

“Smooth.  Now we know who the adult is.  Next time you and Izac are heading out in a car, you can drive,” Bruce said as I walked past on the stairs.  I distractedly accepted his praise and continued my climb. As both Lucretia and Merritt had said, I would have liked more time for planning and machinations. But I knew I was expected back at the bar and had already been away too long.

I was currently trying to remember if Izac ever mentioned the name of the bar where he contacted his werewolves. I remembered the mention of a Mother Pasta, but how to contact her?  I didn’t feel like ringing every bar in the rocks to determine which one she was at.  I was also thinking the Nosferatu could be of use. As they’d likely sell information regarding the heart to others, besides my own personal history with them, I put that idea aside for now. 

Dominic was behind his desk, the master of all he surveyed.  Of Stallion, there was no sign.

“So, you returned.  How is the house looking?”

“The house is beautiful, thank you, “ I replied with genuine gratitude.

“Excellent. I’m glad you like it.” 

“And thank you for taking my phone call earlier.  I needed someone to bounce off and…it seems that’s you.” Also with genuine gratitude.  I’d been spiralling, and he’d pulled me back. 

“The only person you will ever get advice for free from is your sire…or adopted sire.” My rebellious mind flickered to Garcia.  I had to put that one out of my mind.  He made his position clear when he left me in the sand. For a fraction of a moment, I let my thoughts wander to what it could have been like awaking to these nights with Merritt to guide me.  

“I wanted to let you know that I communicated with The Lady at the house.  She was very interested in knowing about the coterie.”

“That’s a little off kilter, “ He said, and his usually implacable expression looked a little concerned. “Did you happen to catch her name?”

“She calls herself Merritt, “ I pulled out the drawing of her and handed it to Dominic. He took it, studying it for a long while before finally putting it aside, saying nothing.

“I may be hearing from Merritt again.  In fact, I know I will.  She said that Izac is destined for some great purpose, and she’s helping him fulfil it.  He’s to be given his freedom at…sometime, she didn’t say when, but I have the impression it is before the Succubus Club.”
“She didn’t happen to say where he is?”

“No.”

“You understand the concept of a pawn, don’t you?”

“A pawn? As in Chess, not the seafood?” 

“Yes, as in Chess.”
“I know that both Izac and I could be considered that. Tools. Which one of us are you referring to at the moment?”

“No, that is a damned dirty lie,” He replied as smoothly as he’d said anything, but there was a spark of indignation about it, “You may be a pawn to your sire, but I’d never throw you away needlessly.”

He knew just the right things to say, damn him.  Once more, making a contrast between himself and Garcia, and now, Merritt.

“I’m sure if I end up in the garbage, you would have got a good price.” I smiled back.  

“Izac didn’t seem to be willing to do…a lot of things before his disappearance. Did he seem happy to you before last night?”

I remembered that grey cloud that settled around Izac as he spoke to the Prince.  The agitation and guilt he bore just before walking out of the theatre.  No, Izac was many things, but happy was not one of them.

“No. He carried a very great weight on his shoulders, “ I admitted.

“Now, I’m a betting man.  And if I were to gamble on our Izac, I would gamble that, whatever his grand purpose, he’s not exactly happy to be doing it. He’s being coerced to do…something. And, you and I both know there are many ways to coax someone into doing something they don’t want to.”

I nodded, “Yes, there is.” I recalled the interview Izac had had a few nights ago. He’d seemed a little more sure of his course after, though no less unhappy.  Yes, he was being coerced, and from more than one direction.

He changed the subject, “Do you know that your recent companion, Mads, is showing around an image of that particular car we’re looking for?” He asked.  He didn’t surprise me.

“Ah.  She is keen, you’ve got to give her that.”

“She seems to know a lot.” He said, without context. Was this his way of asking me to find out? I’d try, but she had played her card pretty close thus far.

“How did her meeting go?”

“As far as I know, she’s still waiting in the lounge.” That was likely to get anyone antsy. It sounded like she could do with the company. 

“So, what do you plan on doing right now?” Dominic asked, seemingly all recent conversations put to the side for a little casual chit-chat.

“After my conversation with Merritt, I realise I need far more education in history, especially the Sabbat.  Do you think your library has anything on the Sabbat?”

“Little bits here and there,” Not what he wanted to hear. Try again.

“I did say I’d make myself available to Mads, so I’ll go and see if she’s up for a conversation.” This was what he was looking for. I started to wonder why he was being so cagey.  Habit?

“Try to coax out of her who owns the blue mustang.”

“I don’t know if that’s going to matter.”

“But she may know.” This seemed to be his concern at the moment, I started towards the door.
“Information is information, right? It makes the world go around.”

“If you could find a number plate for that car.  It would make it easier to find.” I stopped in my tracks and pulled out my phone.  The image was grainy, but the fluorescence on the licence plate stood out clearly against the dark body of the car.  I gave it to Dominic without a word.

Silently, Dominic searched the plate and found it belonged to a rental company.  The name the car was signed to was Johan Smyth.  Our driver was not a Johan Smyth.  The car was a dead end.

“As I said, I’m not too worried about Izac’s return, “ I said.  It was obvious to me that whoever Dominic had on the case was not coming in with results. “It’s just a matter of when and if he comes back to us.”

“Did he ever tell you anything about what he was running away from? Did he know what he was supposed to do?”

We can always find his when the Prince is gone.

Luna had said that in this very room, talking about Izac’s heart.  They wanted Sarrasine dead, or at least incapacitated.  No, that was not the memory to fall back on right now. I thought of that evening in Dominic’s Villa.

I think,  together, we could do great things here in Sydney…

Let’s…can we take it one step at a time?

“Ah, he has a mission, of that I’m sure, but up to this point he’s been very cagy about it.  I’ve reached out to him and offered my help, but he doesn’t trust me. I’m hoping nearly frying my brain with Merritt has hopefully earned me some trust.”

Dominic looked through me as if investigating the truth written on my soul. His eyes narrowed, but there was no hint of recrimination, no follow-up question, and thankfully, no Dominate.

“Well, whatever Izac’s mission is, we need to find out.  Remember, politics will get you killed. And this is starting to smell of politics.”

“What do you mean?” I had no doubt he spoke the truth, but was unsure of his perspective on the last few days.

“A disappearance.  The Banu Haqim involvement.  The Prince’s interested.  Your mental brainwashing. So-called glorious purpose.  These are the hallmarks of a political coup. And between you and me, Rain, this is the sort of thing that kills young kindred like yourself.”

I couldn’t help but shiver.  

“That is certainly not my intent,” I agreed quietly, hoping Izac would return very soon.

“It would be a shame for my first set of adoptive children to be turned into a pile of dust.”

I nodded in silent agreement and shrugged, “I’m not sure what I can find out while he’s not here.”

“Well, possibly not you, but Luna did spend a lot of time with him.  Possibly she knows something.”

Deflect! Deflect! Deflect!

“There is something.  She’s changed her name.  She publicly announced last night that she wanted to be known as Eclipse.”

“That’s interesting.”  Was all he said.  It felt like betrayal, but she’d said it in front of strangers, Dominic was going to find out eventually. “That will never hold up on her false paperwork.”

Which sparked a request of mine.

“That reminds me.  New home, new life, new identity.  My old fake ID was one I stole months ago and wouldn’t pass serious questioning. I was hoping I could get a new ID under the name Christopher Milbourne.”

Dominic made note of my request before pulling out his own phone and sending a text to Eclipse.

WE HAVE NEW DETAILS ON IZAC. WE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE THEM WITH YOU WHEN YOU’RE FREE.

And with that, I was dismissed, “Rain, if you want to keep our latest guest entertained, I’ll arrange a new ID for you.”

“Thank you,” Taking my cue, I left to find  Mads.

1.30 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club The Sanctum

Lying full length on a chaise lounge supported by hundreds of years of heavy goose feather padding under the twinkling lights of the chandelier, Eclipse felt her phone buzz. Langously reaching for her phone, she was returned to reality when she spotted the text was from Dominic.

WE HAVE NEW DETAILS ON IZAC. WE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE THEM WITH YOU WHEN YOU’RE FREE.

Her moment of luxury was over.  She spun to a sitting position and started getting ready to leave.

What do you care?  Said Luna, her beast, It’s only Izac.

That’s exactly why I have to go, She replied silently and started finding her was out of the catacombs.

1.30 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

She wasn’t hard to find.  

Mads was nursing a drink at almost the same spot I’d left her earlier in the evening.  Suddenly, I felt tired.  Tired and hungry.  Between Lucretia,  the jump scares that were Merritt’s appearances, and Dominic’s dire predictions, this night was stretching very long indeed.  I made straight for her table.  She beckoned me over and put a glass in front of an empty seat.  I took to them gratefully, falling heavily into both.

“It must be something if you’re that washed out from checking out your new place,”  She said as I finished the first drink and made a gesture to the bar staff for a second.

“It is…extravagant….”
“Clearly by your reaction.”
“It’s been…a night…” I looked around the bar. It was busy as usual, and what I had to say was not for public consumption, “…I won’t go into details here, but I had a little altercation…”

“Do you want to take this to one of the private booths?” She suggested, which I gladly accepted.  

She led the way to one of the private rooms off the hallway to Time Out.  I hadn’t realised she knew they existed, but I was glad of the privacy they offered. I wasn’t oblivious that I was now alone with the lovely Mads.  Shame she could never hold a candle to Merritt. No one could.

“So, tell me.”

“I have to tell Eclipse as well…but you’re here and that makes the difference.  When we first lost Izac, I did a little Astral travelling to find him.  And did.  I also caught the attention of a very powerful and quite old kin.  She used a very interesting power on me, a tag, homing beacon, a tracker, you might say.”

“A tracker?  What do you mean?” Mads leaned in, curious. 

“Well, she called it The Kiss, “ I said, hoping she could shed some light on what Merritt had done, “Does that mean anything to you?”

She shook her head, “That sounds ominous.” She was a good listener.  I continued.

“I believe it’s a Thaumaturgy…a type of magic.”
“Usually, the fewer syllables, the more dangerous.” I had to agree.

“Anyway, she caught up with me while I was away.”
“Are you being tracked now?” She looked concerned.  It was concerning.  It was why I didn’t want to come back.

“No.  I don’t believe so.  I could see her in mirrors, and since we had a conversation, she’s disappeared.  It was why I’d been away so long.” I gave her a guilty look, knowing I’d kept her waiting.

“And what did this old and powerful vampire tell you?” There was a bitterness to her tone.  Was it jealousy? Why would it be? Resentful?  Of what? Being the playthings of powerful others?

“Mostly, it was what I could tell her.  She wanted to know about us…the coterie that is, not you, so be thankful. Why?  I don’t know why we’re so interesting to everyone.  Maybe it’s just because of Izac.”

“Maybe this person only has eyes for the coterie for some reason.  Maybe some designs of their own.” Mads is so canny. Without me mentioning it, she’d deduced the why on her own.  I was truly coming to admire her quick mind.

“I wouldn’t mind a few designs made on me,” I smiled at the thought of Merritt. Again, the keen eyes and quick mind of Mads’ picked up some of my mood.

“Are you smitten?  Are you smitten right now?!” She asked with such genuine good humour, I laughed. It was just the sort of banter one would expect from a friend.

“I will admit that Merritt is mighty impressive. We had a conversation, and it was very amicable.” 

“Maybe we should stay on topic,” Mads replied, and the moment was gone. 

“She said that Izac had some grand purpose and would be set free sometime soon. It will be up to him if he returns to us.”

Mads didn’t bother hiding her resentment this time.  She rolled her eyes dramatically and snarked back, “Oh please. Isn’t it nice that the special little boy has a purpose?  Who would have thought?”

She sighed, resigned for now, “Fine, if he’s coming back eventually, I guess I can wait…as usual.”

“It seems like it all kicks off…she did mention the Succubus Club.”

“The illustrious party going down in…less than a week?”

 “She called it The Event. I don’t know if we should expect to see Izac then, or what, but he’s alive and needs to remain that way for a while.  It doesn’t sound like we’ll get anywhere with our search and rescue plans.” That reminded me of what Dominic had mentioned upstairs.

“Oh, and I don’t think sharing that image of the car around is going to do much good.”

“Yes, because I’ve been trying to find him,” She said as if we hadn’t. She was frustrated and bored, it was only natural to get desperate. 

“I appreciate that.”

“I was hoping Delith would have loose lips and start getting people interested.”

“Unfortunately, it looks like that’s a dead end. It seems it was a rental under the name Johan Smyth.” I broke the bad news, “See, we are trying to find him.”

“So you’re telling me we have to sit on our hands and wait dutifully in the club for him to appear?”

“Look, we’re all getting together to have a discussion about this. I’m sure you’d be welcome to join.”
“Sure, I’ll tag along.” She said, as if we could stop her.  I just wish I knew why she wanted Izac. “So when is this lovely little meeting happening?”

A change in tack was in order.

“You know what?  I don’t mind. I’ve had enough of machinations for one evening and feel things could do with a little slowing down. Let’s just enjoy ourselves.” And I took my new glass, clinked it against her and drank it down.  I was thirsty, and the two glasses, so far, hadn’t even touched the sides.

“Patience is a value that is essential in kindred society, but I haven’t learnt that lesson,” She said scathingly.

 I smiled, “I know exactly what you mean.”  Ah, the good old days of a week ago, how we miss you, “But I had a very close call recently and realised I had not given near enough time to enjoy myself. So, drink up as the next round is on me.”

With a rye smile, Mads took up her glass and drank as well, “To the meeting then?”

“To the meeting.” I agreed, toasting her with my empty glass, “Things are happening.”

She didn’t look pleased, but with grudging grace accepted the state of things as they were.  We had to wait.

“Let’s just enjoy ourselves. At least for a little while.”

“I can only promise to try.”

“I accept.”

Upstairs, Stallion had forgotten all thought of going home. He was in the thick of the partygoers in the common room.  Yes, it was obvious when you thought about it.  A Stallion needed its herd. It wasn’t that hard.  Treat people as you would want to be treated.  Make them feel appreciated.  Listen and see things from their perspective.  And until then, he could always shout them drinks.

1.30 am Sunday, 6 hours until sunrise. 5 days until the Succubus Club In transit

Eclipse was on her way back to the bar when she thought to text me.

WHERE ARE YOU?

V.I.P. PRIVATE ROOM WITH MADS. 

NEW INFO ON IZAC?

LATER, I had so much to tell her, but so much to ask as well.  Besides all the news of Izac, we had a cat burglary to plan.  And I, for one, couldn’t wait.

************************************************************************************

Ekleipsis

You haven’t changed.
What?
You betray your family, your community, your God. Now you hold a knife behind your back, at the ready for the people around you. You haven’t changed, Eclipse.
I tried to trust people.
And you abandoned them. First it was your mother, then Matthaios, followed by Claudia. Then what about your old coterie? Having fun in the charade you’ve created. Convincing each of them you haven’t changed. You abandon those closest to you.
They abandoned me.
…
This is not a white leather couch, tucked away in a dark living room in an Italian villa. It’s comfier but it lacks any warmth.
“Sitting in the dark is not the healthiest thing for you, Luna.”
No, it’s not. But the chandler burns so brightly I could convince myself, even for a second, it might be the cold warmth of the sun.
The cold warmth of your embrace…
What are we doing here?
Coteries. A headache, a lifeline. She’s split in two again. The same questions, different headings.
Who would you choose, family or foes dressed as friends?
Have we ever truly changed?
If Eclipse has proved anything, it’s that her loyalty can be brought. The chip? Her soul. Her life. Her favours.
As her boots echo through this cave, she blends with the shadows. Flick, flick, flickering in and out of reality.
Do you see it now?
Us playing dress up?
No. Our purpose.
That’s what she’s always wanted. Changed her name, sacrificed who she used to be to try and be something.
“Where did I lose you?”
Where did I lose myself?
No. No, not lost. Broken into a thousand fucking pieces and picked back up again.
Sometimes to save something, you have to destroy it. Build it anew.
If she could breathe, this night air would cool her lungs. Rain needs her. Maybe he was right. Her actions will always speak louder than her words.
Izac. Rain might have new information on him…
Do you think he could do it?
I think he could accomplish anything.
The train’s speed blurs the scenery. Concrete jungles amalgamated with glitches of greenery. It’s quiet this time of night. People leaving the bar scene on the last trains join her in solemn silence. On her God’s day, they all accept their spiritual shortcomings in the after-waft of alcohol. She can still see the way that man’s body flowed a river of blood before vanishing.
She has two choices. Continue on this road or achieve something greater.
‘Information on izac?’
‘I’ll tell you more at the bar.’
As the train hauled to a stop, her reflection on the window stared back at her.
Slowly, it was starting to sink in.
Oh, so you finally decided to actually fucking pay attention to me for once? Gonna listen to my advice now?
If I had followed through with what we wanted, we would be dead.
You’re a buzzkill.

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Alicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into a likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Police ‘premiere’ detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

El Torcedor: “The Twister” or ore accurately, “The Fleshcrafter” A Tzimisce from South America

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Kenneth Stahl: South African Giovanni (exiled)

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Baali: A bloodline bent on keeping beings old before time from waking up and destroying everything. Eclipse and the Days of the Week are Baali.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Children of Osirus: Bloodline outside the Caine family tradition who practise Bardo, a discipline to control the beast. Izac’s current Bloodline.

Children of Seth: Bloodline the Prince is rumoured to be (originally?)

Clan or Bloodline:  From one the 13 antediluvians. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Gangrel: A bloodline of vampire.  Stallion’s Bloodline.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Giovanni: A vampire bloodline that keeps within genetic family ties. Dominic is a Giovanni.

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

Toreador: Bloodline of Vampire.  Rain’s Bloodline.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

10.30pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club The Harbour Mill, Pyrmont

“I just want to get to know who they are,” She replied quickly, which seemed to be the truth as far as it went.  It still didn’t explain why we were so interesting to her.

“I can tell you all about them.  We’re not that interesting, really.”

“You can do that, can you?”

“I’m very perceptive.”

“Sure, how much time do you have?” And once more, though there was no intonation, there was a feeling that she were settling down…getting comfortable.  I had captured her interest a second time, it seemed. 

Good.

“We can start and see how we go, “ I said, dropping my suitbag behind me in the hallway.

“That would be splendid.  Speak to your heart’s content.” And even though there was no rise in tone, I was sure she was smiling and wished I could remember her face.

“And if your information is as good as I think it is, I’ll fix that little thing in your head. Sound good?”

I took a cleansing breath in and let it out slowly.  These may be her rules, but we were playing my game now.

“We’ll see.”

“Splendid.”

I was standing in a hallway, looking side on at a floor-to-ceiling mirror.  If we were to have a conversation, I wanted to be comfortable. I emptied my pockets, which contained two sets of keys, my wallet, coins, and phone.  I leaned back against the wall beside the mirror and slid down to sit cross-legged on the cut-pile carpet.  I placed the phone down beside the wall and turned on the dictation app.  If the Lady decided to mess with my mind again, at least this time I’d have a record. 

“So?  Who goes first?” She asked. I could see the shadow move in the mirror.  It was almost like sitting casually side by side, if you didn’t take into account the odd monotone voice. Obviously, there was no actual sound from her end. The voice and words were my mind’s attempt to translate her projections.  I wondered what words she’d used, and would there be local variation or phrasing that denoted an overseas or even non-English speaker. It was amazing how unsatisfying telepathy was for those of us who dive into the richness of human communication.

“Why do you have our Izac?  What do you have in mind for him?”

“I’m trying to mutually assist him in reaching his desired goal.” She replied carefully.  Even though I understood it was my own wording, she seemed to be picking her ‘meaning’ carefully.  Still, this was good news.  If Izac was useful, he wasn’t likely to be killed any time soon, at least by the Lady and her group…whoever they were.

“I’m preparing him for a quest.”

“Right. Good.  I’ve told him so myself.  He couldn’t do it alone.”

There was a…not the sound of laughter, but the emotion of dark humour. She thought that was funny.

“I amuse you?”

“The idea of Izac completing his task alone.”

“Yeah,” On that we could agree.

“Well, I didn’t find it amusing, and I told him he was going to need help. Someone he could trust.  Can he trust you?”

“As much as he can trust any of our kind,” She replied. Yes, while their goals lay on the same path, he could trust them. 

“That’s a sad and sorry place,” I commented, having experienced the amount of distrust and secrecy firsthand.

“And yet here we are talking freely.”

“Yes.” Yes, of course I was.

Her turn.  

“So, outside of Giovanni, who is the next member of the coterie?” Oddly phrased.  Was she looking for the next most important, or just the next member that came to mind? I decided she meant the former.

“I’d say me.  I’m clever and resourceful and try to be useful to the coterie,” It sounded like I was going for a job interview, but as I’d spotted her twice, she knew I had some skill.

“All things are useful in their own way, “ Ouch!, “But what drives you? Other than a sense of belonging.”

Both times, her insightful phrasing were like papercuts to my psyche. Then again, maybe having a sense of belonging was a trait universal.

“Belonging is…me. Belong to something…be part of something…bring others into my community…my family. To belong to a something…greater and help in its building.”
“Hmm,” Where the sound usually held any number of meanings depending on context and intonation, here I could glean nothing.  

I thought back to the aura, the sense of her mission being spiritual and for the good or betterment of… someone.  Innocence and spirituality, with the excitement of finding something new and interesting. I changed my tack.

“To be part of…a divine spark…? Know what I mean?”

“I know exactly what you mean,” She replied, “There are plenty of ways to reach such a goal.” 

A woman with a spiritual bent, who believed in something beyond herself.  It didn’t have to be a god, it could have been an ideal.  It was an interesting nugget of information that I noted and moved on.

“It’s really a matter of how many lives you ruin along the way.” 

“I try to improve lives,” I really did, “So’s Izac.  Though sometimes he gets it wrong, I must admit.”

“Everyone gets it wrong,” She replied, and agan I had to agree, “How many lives would you destroy for a polio vaccine?” I took her meaning, but the example was odd.  We’d had polio vaccines since the mid-fifties and sixties. The Lady had proven herself to be powerful, but now I was getting a hint as to how old she must be.

“How many lives do they destroy denying people vaccines? All we can do is move forward and leave the judgments to history.”  I replied. It sounded callous, but it was true.  You don’t go out of your way to cause suffering, but no planning sees all implications.  Often, only through failure do we find our greatest achievements. 

“That’s a lesson he’s learning at the moment.  Death can be good, but it is not a requirement.”

I took heart from that statement.  This was not a woman who wanted results at any cost. I settled back into the conversation.

“There’s usefulness in everyone.  It just depends on what you do with forever and what that actually entails.”

Forever.  I don’t know if the human mind was meant to encompass the meaning of the word.  Maybe that’s why all the elders I’d met so far seemed so distant and inhuman. 

“So that’s yourself.  We know what Izac is after.  Have you given any real thought to what Dominic is after?”

Recognition, I thought, He offers Ambrogino everything he wants and still is treated poorly.  I didn’t think Dominic would appreciate me being that open with this unknown woman, so I stalled.

“He has a lot of what he’s after.  He’s worked hard and has wealth and influence without the notoriety…”
“I guess you’re young.  You haven’t made the connection.  When you speak of a Giovanni, you are addressing two separate entities.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“There is Dominic, who is a Giovanni, and then there is The Giovanni.” Oh boy, she was so close to what I had been thinking, I wondered if she did have access to my thoughts after all. 

“Which is much more of a…communistic entity.”

“Yes!” I agreed, “Dominic is The Family, as well as the man.”

“So even though the individual Dominic may be satisfied with his wealth and power, what does the Giovanni want?” 

So close…She said I was young, maybe I could play on that.

“Yes, what does The Giovanni want?  I’m afraid I’ve had precious little experience on that.  I’ve met very few Giovanni to know. It would be interesting to find out.” 

“But you have met others?” She asked outright, and I found myself answering just as bluntly.

“No.”

Lying is often just a different way of looking at the truth.  Giuseppe, though of the family, was a ghoul and didn’t count as a full fledged member.  Ambrogino was a Capadocian and identified as something other than the Giovanni that came after him. Lucretia was his child.  In my head, she was also Capadocian, or at least separate from the family by Ambrogino’s machinations.  So, it was a form of truth to say I knew very little about The Giovanni.

She seemed to accept my view of the truth and moved on to our next subject.

“Can you tell me more about the other members of your coterie?”

“Weren’t we doing quid pro quo?”
“Yes, you caught on quickly.” Ah, she could flatter me all day long. “What other question do you have?”

“I appreciate you’re helping Izac. It may just keep him alive, but maybe not….” What did I want to know?  Her name?  Did names really matter outside of social niceties?  I searched my mind.

“I guess what I’m thinking is how I can help?”

“What an odd expression,” She said after a long pause. 

“I’ve asked him this before. He knows my mind. I’m willing to help.”

Another long pause, and then, “Are you able to get his heart?”

Obvious Izac had been very truthful with the Lady.  I imagined that outside Izac, Eclipse and myself, only the Prince would have known about that little detail.  

“What a thought! “ I said with a smile.  Out of the coterie, I was the only one who could probably pull it off.

“In the very near future,” She qualified, and my expression dropped. 

“Truthfully, and we’re being truthful here, I do know where it is.  As to getting at it…” I hadn’t started even perfunctory research for a job of that scale.  Rob from the Museum of Contemporary Art? The thought was thrilling.

“Still, there’s no one else in my coterie…” There was Eclipse.  She had that obfuscating ability and wanted Izac’s heart back, only second to the man himself, “…the experience to do it.”

“I have a plan B if need be, but if you’re available…and willing.”

“I’d have to replace it with something. We don’t want to tip them off to its disappearance too soon.”

“Hmm.”  No words of advice or brainstorming ideas.  Just the monotone, meaningless sound to show she was still listening.

“I would like to present him with his heart,” I smirked. Yes, the idea was growing on me.  

“He just needs access to it. Nothing tricky.”

Access?  Could I take him to it?  Instead of taking the heart, I somehow find a way of taking him…to his heart? No, as soon as he saw it, he’d want it back, and I couldn’t blame him.  No.  Stealing the heart is the plan.

She continued, oblivious to my internal machinations.

“With the right abilities, it could be hidden or at least its presence wouldn’t be noticed.”

The right abilities huh?  Nothing that I knew…but someone in the coterie might. Beside burning me, I wondered what other things Stallion had learnt in his Thaumaturgy studies. Hadn’t he been working at protecting himself?

“So, he would need access to it but not necessarily possess it?”

“He’d need to touch it.”

“Ah.”  

I must say, I’d never considered what Izac would do with his heart when he got it back.  If I had to imagine anything, I guess it would consist of some sort of rough surgery.  Still, keeping his heart safe somewhere other than his chest would be a good idea.  As someone who has been staked, I can firmly attest to.

“If none of his coterie can help, there is a plan B I could enact.” She was giving me a way out, or at least a fallback position.

“Okay…I may have to get back to you on that one.”

“I would need to know the night before the event, that would be appreciated,” She said, and I noted she was still using language to obfuscate her meaning.  ‘The Event.’ We were talking mind to mind, why not say The Succubus Club?  Maybe this event, which seemed like  I’d been living my whole undead life for, had a greater significance to the wider vampire community.  It also meant that Izac would need his heart before the big event. Whatever was being planned was for that night. But she’d said I’d have to get in contact with her.  The thought of having her phone number was enticing, but I had the feeling she wasn’t a lady to carry one.

“As lovely as our conversation is here, and I’m willing to continue, I don’t want you in my head forever.  How do I get in contact with you?”

“I’ll contact you at a predetermined time after this conversation. I don’t have the time to piggyback you for days.  I would pick the right time and the right moment.”

So, don’t call us. We’ll call you.  Story of my life.

“I will contact you the night before.”

“The night before,” I repeated. It was like trying to arrange a date for the Prom, “It leaves it close, but okay.”

I had to admit, she’d been more than generous with her answers at this point. It was time to offer up some answers of my own.

“So, you would like to know whose next?”

“Hmm-mm.”
“Originally, there were three of us who awoke in the sand together.  The next is not the greatest of us, but he’s strong.  He goes by the name of Stallion, which may give you a clue as to what he thinks of himself. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything now. He’s…if you wanted him, you’d need to get Dominic on side. “

“Any particular reason you’d phrase it that way?”

“He’s very…loyal.  Perhaps you can think of a few reasons why he might be that way. Seeing as though you are in my head.”

“The Kiss affects many in different ways.”

“The Kiss? Is that what you called it?” It was certainly effective at getting someone’s attention.

“There used to be a term for it before the words. That was the way things used to be. It was always expected that you would be…beholden.” For a monotonal voice, there seemed to be an awful lot of stress on ‘used to be’.  

“That’s what started one of the great conflicts of our kind.” A history lesson.  Did I recall from my readings that the children were fed up with living under their elders and rebelled?

“I can imagine.” Living forever under the authority of an ever-increasingly cold and distant elder would be incredibly frustrating. Add on to that the paranoia that they’re coming to get you, and we’ll be singing, ‘Can you hear the people sing’ before you know it.

“I don’t know how much of kindred history you know.” 

“I’ve recently been told my knowledge is potted and spotty.”
“So you don’t know much about how the Sabbat came to exist.”

The Sabbat.  One of the three big factions in Kindred society.  Outside the Camarilla and the Anarchists, they controlled the day-to-day lives of many Kin all over the world.  They believed that one day the original elders of the clans would awaken to eat their children.  Talk about daddy issues.

“No, but I do know they exist.”

“Nothing about their beginnings and where they started?”

I was starting to see why Dominic had such an extensive library.  Besides planning a theft, I need to hit the books again.

“No, ‘fraid not.”

“There was a time when all kindred were bound to one another.  That seems to have lessened over the preceding generations.”

“Oh.” I didn’t have words.  Drawing together…working together… Damn her, she knew what to say.

“So, bound…how?”

“Bound by blood.  Like a good child in a family…they were always subservient to their elder or sire.” 

I couldn’t say I knew much about that.  

“So not a cultural…it was the blood itself?”

“In this case, it would be the blood.  It wasn’t tied to any specific clan. You’re fortunate to be in a place where it is not forced on you or set down in code.”

I knew that Sydney was seen as a Free City, but it wasn’t until this moment that I understood what that really meant.  Not that there were a few rules past the traditions.  We were free in ourselves, and not bound by our…for want of a better word..condition, to obey.  As one who took the rules of law as more guidelines for living, I suddenly understood why it was good to be Prince.  

“This sounds like something I want to know about.”

“Ask around.  Pick up a book.”

“The trick is knowing which book.  You can spend your lifetime reading. Which I’m not adverse to, but there’s far more to life than other people’s words. I’m more of a hands-on, face-to-face sort.”

“You have lifetimes for it.” And yet, as usual, I was expected to know it all yesterday.  

Slow is smooth.  Smooth is fast.

“I can see now why a library is such an asset.”
“They always were. Shame the great ones were lost throughout the ages. There are only a few of the old ones left. But someone like you would not be able to gain access to anyplace like that.”

The Philosophical Society library called.  Tomorrow night was Sunday.  What a week we’d had. I hadn’t run out of local reading, yet.  Access to restricted collections could wait. I changed the subject.

“So, we were talking about Stallion.  He was the first I saw as I came out of the sand without a sire.  That’s not strictly true. Dominic was there, but he is not our sire.” I was trying to draw her out on this subject.  It had always stung that Garcia was not there to guide me through this life.  From the start, I’d felt abandoned, and no amount of boons after the fact was going to fill that…need for acceptance. She didn’t disappoint.

“No, not uncommon for those who are part of your clans.  They seem to have an overabundance of bastards.” I’d been called worse. 

“I wish I’d known a little more about Kin culture before…taking a dirt bath.”

“The…dirt bath is not a particular requirement.  More of a cultural rite of passage. At least, the way it’s understood.  If you were truly meant to live, you would find your way out. Otherwise, you’d stay dead in the dark.”

God. What a thought.

“As it comes to your education, which you seem to be surely lacking, if you have to wait a century before you’re let out in the world, you would have time to learn these things.”

“A century!”  Dominic was talking about twenty years, and that made me itch.

“Oh, however long the sire decides the education is required. At the very least, it’s decades.”

“And here’s me hoping to fast-track things.”

“You have.  Very clearly.” She said, and I wasn’t sure she meant it as a compliment.  I decided to take it as one.

“Which led to this conversation.”
“Hmm-mm.  Now I believe I’ve answered some of your questions, if I may ask another in return?”

It was only fair. Besides, I was running out of topics myself.

“Please, turn and turn around.”
“And there was a third one you mentioned?”

Luna…Eclipse. She was right. I was always protecting her. 

“On the beach?” She prompted as I had gone quiet, contemplating what to say.

“Indeed.  There was the three of us.  Lovely Luna. She’s …young. Stallion’s young, but in comparison, she’s still a child. In saying that, she knows her mind…probably more than me.”

“Most of our kind, before the dawn of technology, would be embraced in the mid to late teens.”

“Well, then she’s very average, and I’m the outlier.” 

“It happens.  Some of our kind were embraced in their twilight years.”  

Twilight years?!  Now hang on a minute.

“Well, I feel privileged to be in my prime.  Not so old as life is already a drag, but old enough to have a little experience.”

“Assuredly.” And I definitely took that as a compliment.

“What motivations…what soft spots can you tell me about?” She asked, and I was reminded this was not a delightful conversation but an interrogation.  As much as I fantasised, she was not my friend.  Still, it was pretty clear what my answer would be.

“We’re young. We’re…I’m…fumbling in the dark of these nights.  I constantly ride the dichotomy of not knowing where the dangers lie, and yet I have powers enough to get myself into trouble…as you are now a witness to.”

“So, in the case of soft spots, I can already tell, yours is belonging and losing in the pursuit. Izac is trying to be a good person despite it all.  And from what I can surmise from Dominic, his value and personal accomplishments are dwarfed by The Giovanni.” 

She took my breath away.  I knew all that to be true, and yet I said none of those things. Our Shining Knight. Dominic’s desire to be recognised and…how did she know…how?”

‘How could you even know…how…is it the bloodlines…my bloodline…that means…I will…loose…what I care about?”

“Your bloodline does tend to be fickle.  There will be seasons you take on new ghouls in scores and other times…you will find they’re no longer in style.” That I didn’t like hearing, but I knew I was easily distracted by the new and exciting. I wanted to prove her wrong, but so far…I was a textbook case.

“Bloodline.”
“Yes.  You could say a clan affliction.”

“Well, I didn’t expect this to be a therapy session.”

“You call it therapy.  I refer to it as more of the soul than the soil.” I wasn’t sure what to make of that.  Was she saying we were picked because we already aligned with our bloodline’s tendencies, or that the bloodline itself made us who we are? I wondered, did it really matter in the end?  As if in response to my internal monologue, she continued.

“After you’ve met a million people, you start seeing the patterns.”
Yes, I understood that.  The predictable nature of human beings was how I made my living for years.

“I can tell you, you don’t have to meet a million people.  Just a few thousand. People are, on the whole, predictable.”

“I like to see the differences.  Plenty of people waste their lives on these inventions. Instead of swords and boards, it’s a gun.  Instead of a gun, it’s an electric screen.”
“They’re all just tools,” I said, again wondering how old The Lady was, “They have an impact, change how we do things, but not the why. That’s never changes.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” I smiled and leaned my head against the chrome plastic frame of the mirror.  I hadn’t had such an open and rewarding conversation with anyone since… Luna in the car.  God, how that memory stung.  The Lady was either playing me like a harp, or I’d found my perfect woman. Shame she was probably hundreds of years old and way out of my league. Ah, a bloke can dream.

I steered the conversation back to the task at hand.

“And then there’s Izac,  our Knight in Shining Armour, our latest member and the most mysterious.”

“Everyone assumes mysterious, but they don’t know pettiness when they see it.”

I genuinely laughed out loud.    Everyone looked at Izac as something exotic,  unusual, and rare.  It was like getting a jewellery box from Cartier and finding cheap plastic trinkets inside.  It sounds mean, but I know he means well.  Maybe the Lady was what he needed to find his focus.

“So true! But I wouldn’t tell him that, “ I chuckled, and not for the first time, wished she were actually there beside me.

“He believes he’s on a mission.  Our paladin.”

“And don’t they have such a great track record in history?” 

“Yeah.  That’s why I keep saying we need to…I know my faults…strike that, I know I have faults…I know I need to bounce stuff off others…and so does he.”
“Well, I am not that being.  I am merely putting him on a better path than he was given.”
“I don’t mind being that person,” Though I’m sure he’d much prefer Eclipse….he didn’t even know she’d changed her name, “If you can give him a better path than he was working out for himself…”
“Or rather than being a holy assassin, he can find some sort of enlightenment.” Another religious image.  If the Lady were a nun, I would be deeply unhappy.

“I have to admit, that sounds good. I don’t know if he was built to be a holy assassin.”

“It’s something he’ll need to reconcile with.”

“So that means we’re going to get him back?” 

“He’ll be freed. What he does is up to him.”

Okay.  It’s a little hard to hand over the heart if he doesn’t show up.

“So, no need to go into Punchbowl, guns blazing or some sort of nonsense that Dominic might suggest?”

I could hear a scoffing laugh at the back of my mind and knew instantly what she thought of that idea.

“I assume you.  If you were to kick down the proverbial door, you would all be ash before you stepped through the threshold.”

Nope. Nope. Nope.

“See, I’d rather do this.”

“It works. Some people don’t have the patience.  They’ve still to learn those lessons.”
“Goodness, I’d rather do this than almost anything.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s a real sense of purpose when you act for the right.  But I’d rather spend days talking than…getting dirty.”

“Hmmm.” And what did that mean?  

“Which makes me think. Would it be useful to you if I introduced you to Dominic and the coterie, as we are now?” At least they couldn’t blame me for any deep secrets the Lady picked up talking to them.

“I don’t think so.”

“I was hoping you’d agree to that one, as then I could leave straight away and set up the meeting.”

“Sure, I’m not here to make friends or acquaintances.  I’m merely collecting information.”
“I just thought you’d appreciate the contact.”
“Contact isn’t required.  Subtlety is required when it comes to matters of Jihad.”

Jihad. War.  Particularly, the war with the elders. Was that what we were getting into?

“Well, it was just a thought.”

“When I need something, more often than not, I take it. I don’t need any of you, I just need to understand what I’m setting up.”  Were we the roadway or were we the roadblocks? This was more the language expected from an elder, and it made me shiver. 

“As you’ve so easily shown with the abduction of Izac. Within ten minutes of his disappearance, he was outside a three-kilometre area. That was impressive.”

“Needs must.”

And with that sombre note, I found I’d run out of speaking topics. I was torn. I wanted to get back and tell the others what I’d discovered, but at the same time, I’d not felt so heard in a long time.  It had been a good conversation, one I wasn’t likely to repeat anytime soon.

“And that is our coterie.”
“I understand. Two would not be an issue, and from what I suspect, two wildcards. You haven’t mentioned Luna much outside her capabilities.”

And I hoped she wouldn’t have noticed.

“When I say she’s young, and she is in years, she’s still finding herself.”

“Sure, most of the best kindred tend to be under the age of ten.”

Ten!  God, what monsters are they making?

“Sorry to say, I don’t find that at all a good idea.” 

“They have no humanity to cling onto.”
“But neither do they have any sense or rationality.”
“You get that with time.  But at that age, they have no regrets, no hangups.”
“They’re minds, their intellects, aren’t fully formed.”
“They don’t need to be.”
For what?  To grow and build a society or to be soldiers? 

“That sounds like you’re making…tool, not people.”

“I can assure you, for most of them, it is quite the opposite. At least for the ones that live longer than two hundred years.”

Outside of parental care, they could never have known love. Sacrificial love. All they’ve known is to take and expect others to give. It was all too horrible.

“I can’t imagine that.”

“You don’t have to, you can meet some if you’d like to. The experience is unpleasant.”
“Oh, I don’t know if I want to meet a ten-year-old that’s two hundred years old. They sound like they’d be…mean.”

“With the exception of one of them, they are unmistakably no longer human.”

Exactly.  

“I can appreciate that. Lord of the Flies is real and evident in every school yard the world over. On top of that, significant power.”

“It’s less of the brain. That develops over time.  It’s more they don’t have any of those complicated emotions.”

That’s what makes a well-rounded human…human! 

“Nothing to emotionally leverage…No empathy…”

“No melancholy, no guilt, no shame.  Eventually, they grasp, given enough time, the consequences of certain actions, of course.  I’m sure you, being of your vintage, as I am, given enough time, you’ll think and plan.  You’ll take time to…. pause and contemplate. Late nights pondering. It’s not the case for them. It’s not required.”

Yes.  True monsters. No thought, just action. Like highly intelligent and powerful monsters. I’m sure they learn to fit in, but down where their true selves lie, they are ravenous monsters.  I didn’t think we could agree, so I changed the subject.

“So, you’re freeing Izac sometime, what he does with it is up to him.”

“Correct and as it should be.  You could be like some in the Sabbat that keep a quadraplegic as a mascot of sorts.  You don’t seem that callous.”

What an odd thing to say, “Now why do you say that?  What does Izac have to do with a mascot?”

“I listen to how you speak of the rest of the coterie.  You refer to them as people and not a means to an end. Coteries normally exist for one of two reasons.  Mutual benefit or protection.  The Sabbat have more of the right idea of bonding together, but in the end, it is always the same result.”

She’d mentioned bonding together earlier, that before kin were expected to work together under their elders.    

“That doesn’t have anything to do with…”Once more, I scoured my mind for the word, “Vaulderie?”

 As soon as I recalled the word, it inserted itself into our conversation, my mind translating her thoughts.  When she’d been talking about the blood bonding, she’s been speaking of Vaulderie, or its result, vinculum.

“It’s been mentioned a couple of times within the coterie. Mentioned and dismissed.  Not something for the modern nights?”

“Very much so, just not for most.”

“I’m going to find out about that.”
“And you will.”

“What are your intentions with us?  Now that you know us, that is?”

“Oh, my intentions are minimal.  My focus is on Izac, hence I took him. I have an interest in his…resolution. To see his quest fulfilled.  I’m just trying to understand, if anyone, in the coterie would pervert that.”

“Interesting.” Yes.  Neither I nor Luna were an issue. Dominic would try to stop us if he knew.  Stallion wouldn’t care unless told otherwise by Dominic.  Yes, she knew what she needed to know.

“Speaking honestly, Dominic could turn a buck if it were war or peace, though he has enjoyed peace. He’s grown large and fat under the Prince.”

“The Prince is a different concern, and none that any of you need worry about.”
Well, that stopped that line of conversation.

“My focus is Izac.  Besides being mysterious, his ambitions are interesting. Ambition is a terrible thing for our kind.”

I felt like I was getting mixed signals.  On one hand, Izac was interesting for his ambitions, and on the other hand, it was a terrible thing for Kin.

“Why so?  For when they’re achieved?”

“What does an eternity of continuous failure look like?”

Many ways not to do something.  Failures are how we learn. Without failure…I wouldn’t exist.

“If an intelligent mind is put to a task, though failure is inevitable, there should also be triumphs. Failures light the path to success.”
“There are many ways to skin a cat.”

“Why yes.”
“So, your ambition is to live in peace, forever.”

“I don’t think I get a say in that. I’ve not known a lot of peace. For my part, I live in peace with those who also desire peace.  But none of us gets to determine the times we live in.”

“When you live forever, peace will be a case of continuous failure.”

Now that was a sentiment I could understand. In a very long life, I could see that times of peace would end up just breaths between battles.  So be it.

“Another day at the office, then.”

“Quite well put.”

“Are there any other strange dealings or phenomena that may interfere with Izac’s quest?”

Oh, a demon in a watch?  A tree that grows bodies?  Dealings with werewolves? Powerful Kin that hold sway over portals to the Afterlife? The curious interest of the Prince himself?

“No.  As I said, we’re not very interesting. You did pick up the most interesting of us, I must admit.  You’ve got good taste.”

“Flattery will get you somewhere.” I imagined a smile somewhere on a blank face I could no longer imagine. This time, she changed the subject.

“The Event will be occurring in six nights.”

“Yes, in  a few hours it will be five.”

“So I will contact you again in four. Is there any question you would like to ask before I depart?”

“Two, actually.  What may I call you?”

She took a long while to reply to that. Did everyone she knew already know her name, so she never felt the need to give it, or was it the opposite, that she never gave it at all?

“Merritt.”

“Thank you, Merritt.  The second is, can I have your face back, please? You’ve left a big hole in my mind, and that’s important to me.”

“Are you sure you want it?” An ominous question.  Still, I did not like the feeling of knowing my mind was incomplete. Better to suffer (if suffering was the word for it) for love of the Lady and know my own mind than…be Stallion.

“Your memory will be returned to you.  I can’t return it the way it was taken.  I will have to do it a different way, and you will have to accept the baggage with it. But, you did ask for this.”

“Alright,” I accepted. What more could I do?

The silhouette turned, and for a long moment, eyes flashed and locked with mine. A powerful…. wave… presence…. force dominated by mind for a moment.  As it washed over me, my thoughts were once more all my own…and the compulsion of love and devotion to Merritt manifested once more.  This time, I knew what it was.  I was bewitched by a powerful, beautiful and charming woman…what man would want less?

This time, I was going to try my hand at drawing her likeness. 

I went to say goodnight, but the silhouette had already disappeared from the mirror.  She was gone, and I was finally alone.

8.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

The shark hunted for its next prey. Sinking into the depths, the predator could smell fresh meat.  The schooling crowds covered his tracks as he spied the catch, the flash of copper a dead giveaway.  With instincts honed over years of survival, the shark makes its way…

“Hey, Stallion, haven’t seen you in a while. Watcha been up to?” Delith called.  Mad’s looked up and spied Stallion walking across the V.I.P. Lounge. His surprise ruined, Stallion jigged towards the bar.

“Has it really been a while?  We were only up to no good a couple of nights ago,” Stallion said, not particularly interested in a conversation with Delith. He has a score to settle with Mads. He ordered two of what Mads was drinking and waited for his order.

“Usually you guys are up to a riot a minute,” Delith commented, showing once more she knew a little more about the coterie than was healthy. 

“You know me too well, “ He replied, revealing his secret weapon, “As you can see, I have this shark puppet.”
“Um-hm,”

“It cleverly hides the buzzer underneath. “

“Yeah, “

“I shake someone’s hand…buzz-buzz.”

“Scandalous. “ She dropped the conversation. “Are you looking for anyone?”

“I’ve already spotted someone.”

“Okay then, you enjoy your drinks then, “She said, and presented the drinks with a stylised flourish and a wink.  Oblivious to any foolery from Delith, Stallion took his drinks and headed for Mads’ table.

Without a greeting, he sat down and handed her one of the glasses.

“Er… thanks for the top-up,” Mads took the offered glass suspiciously. “I’m afraid I don’t…”
“No worries. So, are you joining the coterie or is this just a temp thing?” Stallion interrupted, getting down to business.

Mads gave an empty chuckle, “Joining is not my style. I’m just happy to help out.”

“So you’re independent.”
“In a way.” Mads took a sip of the new drink, found it to be good and accepted Stallion’s awkward greeting.

“If you’ve got time, “ Stallion said, leaning back in the chair with a swagger, “I can show you many things.”

Mads’ lips twitched, “Oh, what are you going to show me, huh?”

Stallion looked around the crowd and smirked, “Probably nothing in here, but somewhere else…somewhere, private.”

Intrigued and unsure if Stallion was flirting or serious. She was sure that the Gangrel had no murderous intentions…at least at the moment and felt there was something more mischievous at play.

“I’m sorry to disappoint.  I’m actually waiting for someone at the moment.  What exactly do you want to show me?”

“You know.  Have a little open chit-chat. Get to know each other better. Like, why you’re after Izac?”

Mads rolled her eyes and sighed, “I had this conversation with Rain.  You were there.  He’s an old friend and I’m trying to find him.”
“You say that,” Stallion said, sitting up and leaning across the table to Mads. “But we can be more open with each other.” If he wasn’t giving off a creepy pick-up vibe before, sitting so close Mads couldn’t help but get a whiff of damp earth.  She didn’t budge from her seat, but now all her nerves were on edge.

“Can we?  I barely know you.”

“And I barely know you.  You be open with me and I’ll be open with you.”

This had gone far enough.  As far as Mads was concerned, the conversation was over.

“Look, I don’t fuck on first dates.”
“Ah, but you do fuck with first dates, don’t you?” Stallion grinned, catching her with a pun.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Now, I’d like to mention here that any other man, drunk or otherwise would know he was in trouble as soon as the ‘what’s that suppose to mean?’ question was pronounced.  It is a clear indication to most that beyond this point, there be dragons.  But Stallion, oblivious to the choppy waters he was now entering, continued blythly on.

“Just be a bit more open.  What do you want from us?”

“Nothing.  Izac.” Mads’ hands were on the table, ready to either push herself up or push the table into him.

“Our Special boy?  You were angry with him?”

Mads thought for a moment. If giving him something will make him go away, then it would be worth it.

“I admit, I’m looking for a small amount of closure.”

“Not murderous intent, then? Maybe torture, but not murderous?”

Mads looked around the room at who might be listening.  What was this talk of murder?

“Listen, Madeline.  You can be honest with me, I don’t have to tell the others. “And without warning, Stallion brought both his hands up from under the table and tried to grab Mads’ shoulders.

Mads’ knocked his hands away, “I don’t fucking know you.  Who do you think you are?” She turned to leave the table, aware that half the room was watching their little scene.

Stallion grabbed for her wrists.

Mads yanked her hands away, Stallion following, tumbling on the ground at her feet.  For good measure, Mads’ took her unfinished drink and tipped it over Stallion’s sandy hair.  Now, all the room was watching.  

“You keep your hands to your fucking self, okay?” She said, desperate to leave the situation. She started walking away.

“You know I’m a bouncer.  I can kick you out.” Stallion rose, dripping with blood.

“Go ahead! I’m not staying!” She called over her shoulder.  

Stallion followed her up the stairs and towards the exit through a sea of whispered conversations.

8.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

A key turned in the locked door of Dominic’s office, and Bruce’s head popped through the opening.

 “Sorry, you know I wouldn’t bother you unless it was important.”

“I understand,” Dominic said, carefully returning Mother’s head to her resting place and giving his full attention to Bruce. 

“Stallion is causing a bit of a scene downstairs. Everyone was watching.  I thought you’d like to get involved.”

“Alright,” Dominic rose without another word and smoothly started heading down to the common room. 

“Now, are you going outside?” Stallion asked as if he were just doing his job, keeping the peace instead of being the instigator of the crime.  Mads did not reply, hitting the common room floor and storming across to the exit.  

Hovering in the kitchenette of the common room bar, Bruce stood watching as a very familiar set of leather-heeled shoes clicked down the stairs behind Stallion.

“What the hell is going on with you two?” Dominic’s voice, low and quiet as the black-suited businessman brushed past Stallion to stop Mads in her tracks.

“Keep your dog on a short leash! He was getting handsy in the middle of a bar for no reason!” Mads rounded on Dominic, indignant at the way she’d been treated.

“Stallion?  What happened?” Dominic glanced at Stallion, wanting to give the boy the benefit of the doubt.
“She’s saying that, but really, it was just a friendly gesture, “ Stallion replied, the same hands now held out in a gesture of nothing to hide.

“Okay, you go stand with Bruce a moment,” Dominic pointed to Bruce, and Stallion complied without comment. “ Mads, will you please give me a moment as I check the video cameras.  I won’t be long.”

She shrugged as if it mattered to her, “Go for your life.”

True to his word, it only took him a moment to see where the fault lay.  Mads had been minding her own business when Stallion seemed to try to make a move on her. He was rebuffed, didn’t like it and grabbed her, resulting in him overbalancing and falling to the ground. It was unsavoury and unfortunate, but there didn’t seem to be a breach. 

Meanwhile, Stallion stood beside Bruce behind the bar.  Blood from his head now stained a couple of white bar towels red as he tried to scrub it off.

“What the fuck do you think you were doing? You never shit where you live.” Bruce mumbled to Stallion so only he could hear.

“It was a private conversation, “ Complained Stallion, throwing the latest towel in disgust.

 “I was just trying to take some advice. Never give up more information than you get out.”

 “ Fair enough. You should have found some place less obvious if you wanted to try something with her.”

Dominic was gratified to still find Mads waiting in the common room when he returned.

“Mads, I want to offer you my sincerest apologies.”

“It’s alright, I suppose,” Mads replied, slightly mollified, “But that guy’s crazy. You should keep him away from the customers.”

“I don’t know what he said to you, but from what I can see, he definitely overstepped his bounds.  Please, you are still my welcome guest, and I’d be happy to take you back down and buy you a drink by way of apology.”

Reminding her still had a meeting arranged for this very bar, Mads allowed Dominic to sway her

 “It’s fine.  I don’t want to make any more of a scene. By the way, do you have any private rooms I could borrow for my meeting? I haven’t learnt the full layout of this place yet.”

“I think they’re all empty at the moment.  You’re welcome to take one, please,” And with the smooth sophistication honed from decades of experience, Dominic led Mads back downstairs.

“Stallion. Office. Now.” Dominic said without interrupting his stride on his way to the office.  

“Anything for me, boss?” Bruce asked

“No, just keep an eye on the place. I’m going to be busy having a conversation.”

He continued climbing the stairs to the office, Stallion in tow, before they reached the office and the door was closed behind them both.

8.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Prymont

I pulled up outside the old Harris Street house. Nothing had changed since I’d been here with Dominic for our Necromancy lesson. Was it possibly a little creepier? As if creepiness were a moss that collected over time? Regardless, I stepped up to what had been my front door a week ago and knocked.

“What the hell is it this time?!” Barked Lucretia from behind the door.

Confused, I leaned in, going for my phone, “Lucretia? It’s Rain. Have you…is someone causing you trouble?”

“Oh,” The door opened, and Lucretia stood there looking as stony-faced as always.  It was a family trait, “Don’t worry about it.  Why are you here?”

“Several things, actually,” I looked behind her.  Things looked as bland as normal. “Do you mind if I come in?”

“Sure,” She stepped aside, “You know you don’t have to ask permission.  It’s not like, in the movies, you can just come in.” 

The comment about the movies threw me until I realised she was talking about Dracula and his penchant for being invited into a home.  I smiled, if only it were something as ridiculous as a superstition.

“Ah, I am very aware you live here now.” 

“Well, the respect is appreciated.”

I walked in and allowed her to close the door. 

“Firstly, I wanted to see how you were. It’s been a few days since our last lesson, and I don’t know if anyone is stopping off to see if you need anything.  It’s got to be lonely here.”
“In that regard, I am perfectly fine,” She replied quickly, brushing off my concerns.

“You enjoy the solitude?” I know some find being alone…restful.

“Meditations. Machinations. Plans that are decades or centuries in the making. Normal things.”

A little insight into the mind of an elder.  Though I don’t feel I have to be as reactive as I once did, last night’s upset showed that Vampire society in general doesn’t work on a night-by-night basis.  

“I’m slowly coming to understand that it all takes time,” I confessed, walking into the sparse gallery, the chez lounge the only piece of furniture in sight.

“Well, I’m here to help.  Even if it’s just a walk around the block, just to get a different view than these empty walls.

Lucretia went over to the lounge and sat down, silent and imperious.  She was not interested in a walk. I continued with my list of reasons for visiting.

“I also wanted to extend my thanks to Ambrogino through you for Lupara.  I recently had the opportunity to use it, with startling results.  A cylinder of…something was ejected from the gun.  I was wondering what it was and if you’d find it useful.”

“Do you have it on you?” She asked with some interest, and now I wished I hadn’t left it behind.

“It’s at the farm. I do have to make a trip out there soon.”

Her interest cooled, “Sure.  Well, when you get it, you can bring it back.” Good.  As one of the very few elders I knew, I wanted Lucretia to think well of me. 

“If you can find a use for it, it’s yours.  I also have a little information.  I met an elderly gentleman last night called Padre Cerano.”

“Hmm?” Her eyes narrowed with the mention of the Padre’s name, but I ploughed ahead, hoping I would at least learn something interesting about the old man.

“He’s made it very clear he’s interested in returning to the Shadowlands.  It seems he’s had some problem getting back.”
“Hm, you should probably stay away from him,” Lucretia warned without explanation.

“Really?”

“You know how dangerous it is there. Imagine how dangerous the sort of person who lives there is.”

Point taken. Still, It seemed like a very easy win-win if she helped the old man on his way. 

“We were in the bar. It wasn’t like I was alone with him,” I replied, “I felt pretty safe.”

“Do you think that would protect you?” And now she was looking at me oddly, as if through 3D glasses and trying to pay attention to the red and blue versions of me independently.

“Do you really think he’s that much of a problem that he’d break Dominic’s Elysium?”

“I don’t know,” She continued to stare through me oddly, “There appears to be something different about you.  He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

She was so serious, I thought back over the conversation with the old man.  He’d been quiet for the most part, ashamed of his eating. When provided with a little privacy, he’d been very open and generous with his time and knowledge. He’d said he saw himself as a mentor and teacher to the younger generations, and he certainly came across as that.

“Him. No.” I said and considered that the evening had not been incident-free, “I did have an altercation with a very powerful…someone.” And I described the Lady from the night before.  How her dark hair fell in billowing waves around her flawless face and dark eyes.  I found a few of my words from the night before and described her in enough detail so that if Lucretia knew her, she would be recognised.

“Hmm, that’s very odd, “She said after some time thinking, “Tell me what happened.”

“Well, it may amuse you to know, we’ve lost Izac.  Izac, our little grey cloud.  Ambrogino threw him into the Shadowlands when he said he didn’t believe in hell.”

“Yes, the bleeding heart,” She confirmed, and I continued with my story.

“I did a little astral travelling and came up right beside him. He wasn’t alone. He was with the woman I described, who saw me, though I was still in my astral form. In one breath, she demanded I leave but also seemed to…” It was hard to say what she’d done as I was having a hard time admitting it to myself.  In the end, I shrugged and confessed, “She’s hard to get out of my mind.”

Lucretia withdrew into herself for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, she looked around and through me. 

“Hmm, that does sound like something we can do something about. It looks like you made a mistake.  It’s not your fault, these things happen.” She said, sounding like a GP giving advice to a young man with his first STD.

“And now I feel rather foolish,” I admitted to her, grateful she was there to help. I let go of some tension I hadn’t realised I’d been carrying and rolled my shoulders, ready to accept whatever she did.

“Describe her again, please?” She asked, and I did, lamenting my lack of artistic talent. I would have loved to have painted her like Lenny could have. Even a sketch would have been useful. But all I had were my words. 

“Her eyes have changed colour,” She finally said, and my heart lurched in my chest at the thought of finally knowing who my mystery woman was.

“Her eye colour has changed?  So, you know who she is?”

“Yeah, I’m going to need you to leave.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. That wasn’t the answer I was expecting.  A vague handway away, a confession she didn’t know her name, but only her reputation.  Sure, I was hoping for a name, but I live in hope. What I hadn’t expected Lucretia to do was turn me away.

“Right now. Don’t ask questions.” She said in the same blank voice that she always spoke, but this time there seemed an urgency to it.  I admit, I stood there stunned, sure if I could just understand what was going on…

“Leave! Now!” She said, and this time there was no doubting the urgency.  I stepped back.

“Okay, Lucretia,” I replied slowly, heading for the door, unable to hide my disappointment, “I’ll leave.”

I stepped out and closed the door behind me, standing on the doorstep for a moment, trying to make sense of what had just occurred.  She’d used a discipline, of that I was sure. Something like my Auspex to recognise there was something…wrong.  Something that didn’t just impact me but also her somehow.  Stiffly, I returned to the car and sat behind the wheel.  Pulling down the sunshade to reveal the mirror behind, I also tilted the rear vision towards me.  I’d never tried looking at my own aura before. It seemed a little narcissistic, even for me. But now, I opened my sight and looked into the two mirrors.

At first, it was hard to tell.  As you can imagine, the colours were swirling to match my confused state.  I let them settle and tried to see beyond them to something… that wasn’t me.  A darker outline, a silhouette of a woman, not Avel, sat just behind my head.  Colours that weren’t mine swirled around it, creating a double halo in the rear vision mirror.  Excited violet, innocent white and spiritual gold. Whoever they were, they believed in what they were doing was important and were interested in our interaction. As I watched, trying to make out details, I saw a dark hand rise and touch the lips in a gesture for silence.

Like seeing a ghost, I jumped out of my skin and whipped around, praying there was some obvious, unconsidered reason for this shadow’s appearance.  At that moment, I would have taken a crazed serial killer in the back of the car over a mysterious animated shadow. I was being stalked by…something, and I had no way of determining its purpose or intent.  Was it just marking me so the woman knew where I was, or did it have a more of an objective?  I knew for a fact it wasn’t a spirit.  Spirit auspexs tend to be weak and intermittent, and this was pale like any other vampire’s. That meant that drawing upon my necromancy to speak to it wouldn’t do any good.  Still, if it was a self-aware projection of a vampire, maybe I could just talk to it.

I looked back into the mirror. The shadow was still there. I could almost feel it watching me. 

“What could you possibly learn from me?” I asked, feeling foolish as I sat seemingly talking to myself.

Though the shadow was feminine in form, the voice I next heard was very monotone and genderless. Like simple computer voice synthesisers from my childhood.

“There’s plenty to learn.  I don’t know much about your friends.”

“I’m willing to tell you.  Tell me where you are and I’ll come to you.”
“You don’t need to do that, just yet, “The voice was appalling.  There were no nuances, no rhythm or pitch to give me any clues as to what they thought.  It was like listening to a script read by the teleprompter instead of the actor, “All in due time.  Right now I’m just learning.”

Learning. About us? Even under the worst police scrutiny, I’d never felt under as much pressure. An unwilling spy for…who? For what purpose?

“I’m uncomfortable with that.  I go back, and you’ll come along for the ride? Just ask me what you want to know  or….or I won’t go back to the club.” 

“I wish you hadn’t said that,”  The voice said.

“I have a place.  I will go to that place and stay there until the Succubus Club, and then…we can talk.”

I found myself sitting in the Audi outside of the old place at Pyrmont. I remembered something happening…something bad.  The sunshade was down, and the rear vision mirror was askew.  I spent a moment putting them right as I tried remembering what had happened. I remembered talking to Lucretia, she’d been happy to see me but was busy at the moment and asked if would I come back and see her another time. That in itself seemed odd.  She was never happy.  

The image of a feminine, hazy blur came to mind. It was reminiscent of the Woman, but when I tried to recall what she looked like to compare…there was nothing. Even the words I could remember telling Dominic had no meaning to me.  The feeling of dread grew.  I probed around the edges of my memory, feeling like you would a bad tooth to find where the problem lay.  I had a hole in my memory.  Some part of my evening had been modified, manipulated to hide…something.

I sat rigid in my seat, my mind going through the possibilities.  I thought about going into Lucretia and asking her what we’d spoken about. Besides the thought of revealing to her I was losing my mind being very unappealing, the dread told me to stay away. 

I locked the car door and turned on the engine.  I tried locking the door again and when I didn’t hear the engine purring, I tried the key again, making the engine grind in protest. Checking my mirrors three times, I turned out into the empty street and started for the apartment.

8.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Sydney

The night was cool and fresh as Eclipse, Monday and Tuesday drove out to The Block in Redfern. 

Monday, the quiet of the two was driving, already on the hunt.  Eclipse silently watched from the back seat as they sat hunched over the wheel, scanning the early evening crowds for potential prey. It reminded her of a lion watching behind tall grass, calm but aware of everything. On the other hand, Tuesday, in the front passenger seat, was a collection of nervous twitches and jitters.  Where Monday was silent, Tuesday was effusively talking shit about the ritual and how easy it was going to find a victim or two.

“Hey, I might even snag myself a spare while we’re here.”

As for herself, she wasn’t sure what was going on.  They said they’d help her find a sacrifice, but how and who? As the long ride around Redfern continued, she became more and more irritated with Tuesday’s blathering and more respectful of Monday’s focus.

“So, is there a plan?  I’m not a mind reader.” She finally asked, breaking her own silence. 

“We’ll see how you handle yourself,” Replied Monday, not taking their eyes off the crowds.

“What, like a test?”

“Hey, we can’t hold your hand forever,” Tuesday replied with a giggle.  No, not nervous, Eclipse thought, more eager for the hunt to begin.

“Or maybe you just like a show.  I have been known to impress,” She replied, and Tuesday snorted.

“See, you made a good choice with this one, Monday.”

 Monday was less supportive, “Such enthusiasm.  Most end up cry their guts out of their first.”

Eclipse shrugged. In her short life she figured she’d seen enough not to blab like a baby at the first sight of blood. 

“Do you not remember when you threw me into a pit of bodies?”

“It’s not personal.  We all went through it,” Monday said matter-of-factly.

“And you were squeamish?”

“Different time.  Your generation usually have no link to death.  In our lives we cut the heads off animals for meals, you buy them wrapped in plastic in the supermarket, “ Monday said talking as if their times were the good ones.  Soon their monologue took a more spiritual turn.

“Taking a life with so much importance attached…its something different again. It’s a very important job and we want to make sure you can do it correctly.”

“So I won’t disappoint,” Eclipse replied and like Monday started scanning the crowds for potential victims.

A child of the Western Suburbs, Eclipse was aware she knew almost nothing of the Redfern Indigenous Community.  Was it large and sprawling?  Was it close-knit and defensive? She had no idea.

“What sort of scene are we walking into?” She asked, trying to get a sense of what they were up against.

“Destitute,” Tuesday said, “At least it was last time I was here.  Not that much could have changed in fifteen years, right?”

“And are we using this car to get them to a second location? They have to be held for a night, and I don’t have a place.”

“We’ve got you covered,” Said Tuesday almost boastfully, “We have holding cages on site.”

“Really, we just want to make sure you don’t have an issue with…scruples,” Monday added, turning off the Great Western for the urban sprawl.

“Scruples?” Eclipse asked, unsure what they were talking about.

“Yeah.  You can’t…feel for your sacrifice.” 

“I’ve learnt in these nights, empathy doesn’t get you much anywhere,” Eclipse said, and the other two nodded at the sage wisdom of the youth.

9.00pm Saturday 11 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crowbar

“What the hell, Stallion!”  Dominic roared, confident that this voice would not carry beyond the soundproofed walls of his office.

“I was trying to be a bad cop and get a little extra information out of Mads.”
“In the middle of service? Are you serious?  You couldn’t have found a better place to try and do that?”

“I was sure she’d be more even-tempered with other people around,” Stallion shrugged, showing a lack social knowledge that made Dominic wonder if he wasn’t raised in a crate.

“No! Not in front of everybody! When have I ever interrogated people in front of complete strangers?”

“We were at a booth.  People tend not to listen in.” Stallion justified, failing to reach his audience.

“You were on the floor in the middle of the main V.I.P. Lounge, Stallion.  The illusion of privacy provided by the booths is just that, an illusion.”

“ Well, I guess that was my bad,” He replied sullenly, “I wasn’t going to go into details, anyway.  I was trying to lure her away.” 

“And you thought that would go unnoticed? Blurting out you’re a bouncer and abusing your power.”
“That was only after she poured the drink on my head.”

“That was only one wrong thing in a whole wrong thing.  Everything was wrong. Didn’t you get that?  Subtly.  If you want to get something out of someone, you don’t go in heavy-handed in a public place. In public, you calm down, you act natural, you may use hints in innuendo if you wish to intimidate, but you certainly don’t pull out your morning star and start bashing them across the head.”

By now, Stallion was fed up with the conversation.  He appreciated Dominic being so kind about the issue but he was over-talking about it. He’d tried to do what he’d been told by Dominic only the night before. It wasn’t as if it was much of anything.  He’d only grabbed her. It wasn’t like he slapped her or anything.

“Well, like I said. I was trying to lead her somewhere else.  The Time Out room.”

By now it was clear to Dominic he wasn’t getting through.  With a huff of frustration, Dominic held up a finger.

“Just wait,” He said and went through to the library where he found a well-worn copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  Returning to the office, he dropped the tome in Stallion’s lap. Stallion flipped through the pages of dense text, and even Dominic had to admit that Stallion would need something more…rumedial.  He returned to the library and found Social Collaboration for Dummies. This too was added to the pile in Stallion’s lap.

“Read that.  Learn it.  You could have got so much more out of the person with just a little gentleness.  It was totally the wrong approach.  Don’t ever do it again!”

10.20pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Prymont

My driving, much like my current state mind, was going around in circles. I’d get to a turn off, second-guess my memory and continue straight until I realised my mistake and would have to go around the block. At the same time, my thoughts were swirling.  If there was a gap in my memory I could identify, were there parts of my memory I wasn’t detecting?  Had I been subjected to the same memory treatments as Stallion and had no recollection? I was getting to a point where I couldn’t trust anything that I thought was true, and there was no one to ask to confirm anything.  Eventually, after the third time I’d driven past my turn off, I connected my phone to the car Bluetooth and rang Dominic.

What I didn’t know, he was already in a fantastic mood after balling Stallion out and was even now  helping him   through the book.  He saw the call come through on his phone, and he rolled his eyes.  Another one of his special children.  He took the call.

“Yes, Rain? How’s the new place?”

”I just…just go around in circles…um…there’s…I don’t know…this is stupid, I shouldn’t have called,” I said, all the words falling out in a high-speed jumble.  I should have pulled over, but the constant motion of the car gave my hands something to do.

“There’s something wrong…I…don’t know what to do about it?”

“What’s the last thing you remember about it?” Dominic said with his calm assurance.  It cut through the chaos in my head and gave me something to focus on.

“Last thing…I went to see Lucretia, to make sure she was okay and share some news, maybe pick up the old paintings… anyway…then she said she was busy and I had to leave….and then, the image of the Lady…from last night… had been so clear…all I get now is…blank…nothing…she’s gone. But I know she exists…I saw her… described her to you…”
“Described the Lady to me?” Dominic interrupted and again gave my mind a touchstone to cling to.

“…I…can’t…there’s words, but they don’t mean anything anymore.”

Dominic was quiet for a long time.  

 “Yeah, someone has definitely been playing with your mind.”

It was like receiving a pronouncement that I had a brain tumour, or was suffering Alzheimer’s Disease. My memory, the one thing I have always relied upon, was untrustworthy.  Faulty. Damage.

“Is there anything I can do about it?” Treatment doctor, please tell me I have a chance.

“Well, I could try reversing it,” He said, and the vitae from my veins, leaving me cold.  The same sort of thing he did to Stallion.

“I can fix things. You would have to come to me for that.”

“Wot you did ta Stallion?!” I exclaimed, the cockney in me having its say in the heat of the moment, “You’ve gotta be kiddin’.  Have you seen the basket case he is?!”

That didn’t go down well, “I don’t think he’s changed that much to be honest.”

“I can’t communicate with him about anything from our past because for him it doesn’t exist.” At least my indignation allowed me to forget my own wretched position.  No, Dominic doing what he liked with my mind was not an option I was willing to contemplate, but now at least I could contemplate other things.

“I can’t live like that!”

“You already are.  You’ve just told me you’re circling the block trying to remember what’s been taken.”

“I am,” I admitted, and finally found the corner for the fourth time.  I took it and found myself in a tree-lined avenue leading to the apartment block.

“Have you had a look at your new place yet?” 

“No, but I’m nearly there.  I…I’ll go to the apartment and…”

“Well, have a think about it,”

“…I’ll have a think about it.” 

“And remember, if you want me to undo it, you’re going to have to come to me willingly.  Like Stallion.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

I knew my memory about the Lady had changed.  I knew that my conversation with Lucretia wasn’t natural or normal even for her.  It had also been changed.  

“Lucretia may know something.  My memory of the conversation I had with her was…odd. I think it’s false. Maybe she could give some clues.” I suggested with not much hope.

“I could make some time to go see my Aunty,” He said after a long pause, and I had to accept that, that was probably the best that could be done at the moment.

“She seemed to have been harassed by someone before I arrived. She wouldn’t tell me what it was about. Told me not to worry about it.” 

“Well, that’s interesting,” Dominic’s urbane voice took on a sharper tone. Messing with the brains of the childe is one thing, but you never mess with The Family.

“Okay, I’ll go check out the new place.  Um…thanks, Dominic,” I hung up and used the security swipe card to drive down into the underground carpark of my new home.

Dominic put away his phone. Bothering Aunty Lucretia was not high on his agenda that evening.  He knew she appreciated her privacy and wouldn’t want a third unsolicited visitor.  Still, it was a concern.  Who was dominating his childe? His wards. He recalled the description of the Lady that now eluded me and once more tried to recollect if he knew of such a person.  Moulding the minds of the young was his job. 

He glanced over at Stallion, reading his book.  Yes, if anyone was going to dominate them, it would be him.

10.30pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Redfern

 Gone were the old terrace houses and indigenous graffiti that marked The Block.  Redfern, like much of Sydney, had undergone a facelift in the last decade and was now a sleek, modern inner-city suburb to rival its richer cousins to the north and south.  In saying that, it was still a housing commission area.  Student and other low-rent accommodations were common.  More importantly,  it was still the heart of the City’s Indigenous population.  

Past all the stainless steel, concrete, and bright-coloured corporate signage, some of the old terrace houses still leaned, propping each other up like the drunks on the footpath.  Here, the new shiny gentrification hadn’t reached and may never have known it existed.  Here, the old 70s station wagon cruised.

Eclipse was watching the people like a cat watching the mice at a bag of wheat.  She was looking for the slow ones, the weak ones, the ones that no one would notice if they went missing.  Two targets caught her eye, one homeless man nursing the remains of a bottle to his chest, another passed out, a needle still in his arm. Either one would be good, and she assumed that,  with help, the unconscious one would be the easiest to get into the car.  But with a little persuasion, the drunk may walk himself in. 

She waved for the car to stop just down from the junkie and climbed out.  As she did she used Mask of a Thousand Faces to mould and reshape her appearance. Clothes and hair were still hers, but the face and height were Mads. It was an odd amalgam of the two of them that she hoped would help keep her safe from a camera or nosy locals.  Eclipse then turned on Obfurscate and slowly made her way down the footpath to the junky sure that at least her approach would go unseen.  

When she reached the junky’s side, she crouched down and shook his shoulder.  He wore a hoodie three sizes too big that seemed to double as a sort of makeshift sleeping bag. He was rake-thin and out cold.  He was perfect. Finally, she called upon her vampire strength to pick him up and carry him to the car.  No one stopped her.  No one asked what she was doing. No more hassle than picking up a big roast of beef at the supermarket.

The days of the Week applauded as she returned to the car, stuffing the unconscious body in the back like bulky luggage. 

“Well done.  You look a bit…well, we get it.  You certainly don’t look like you.”

“Well, it was the first time using that ability,” She admitted, allowing her own features to return, “It’s not really my forte, yet.”
“Sure.  Ready to take him back?” Monday asked, turning on the indicator to enter traffic once more.

“I am,” Eclipse said and meant it. She’d done it. Now all she had to do was deliver him, and the sacrifice could go ahead as planned, her place assured. The cold fires sated hopefully for another week, “Unless you guys want a turn.” She pointed out the drunk.

“What do you mean, a turn?” Tuesday asked.

“You were all excited about this hunt.  Am I the only one catching?”

“Good point,” Said Monday, turning off the indicator and putting on the handbrake. From an internal pocket, he extracted a hypodermic needle, expertly palming it before stepping out of the car. With an unhurried approach, he crossed the road and was beside the drunk as he finished his bottle.  There was little protest as the needle was jabbed through clothes and flesh, and soon Monday returned, the slumbering drunk slung over one arm.

Now, the twitching Tuesday wanted to get into the act.  Without a convenient drunk of junkie, Tuesday got out of the car and did a standing jump up to the first floor of the nearest terrace house. Landing heavily on the sagging verandah, the ancient facade groaned and snapped.  Voices of shock and surprise went up as rotten timbers and ancient flakes of paint rained down on the car. Neighbours’ lights went on. Like a coiled snake, Tuesday waited in ambush as a man stumbled, bleary-eyed, out to see what the noise had been.  With one arm lashed round his shoulders, the other twisted his head with a jerk.  Even from the car, Eclipse could hear the snapping of vertebrae as the man cried out in shock and slumped paralysed into Tuesday’s arms.  

This was insane!  They were meant to be showing her how to hunt and here was Tuesday bring down the neighbourhood on their heads. The alarm was raised!  Eclipse and Monday scrambled to be ready to go. Tuesday, the man slumped over one arm, leaped off the verandah to the ground in front of the car.  Eclipse had already opened the door for Tuesday to stuff their victim and themselves into the back seat.

“Drive! Drive!” Tuesday yelled with excitement as Monday dropped the handbrake and they sped off into the night.

10.30pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club The Harbour Mill, Pyrmont

This was not how I’d hoped to arrive at the new apartment, only an hour before.  Shaken and distracted, I found one of my two parking spots and turned off the car.  Taking my suit bag from the back seat, I locked the car, checked it was locked and locked it again.  In the lift, I checked the floor number against the details in my phone, thought I knew (or thought I knew) it off by heart. I tapped the security card as the lift reached every level until the tenth where I got out and scanned the hallway.  There were only six doors.  I went to each one, checking the number on the door to the information in my phone before trying the security card again.  A satisfying click proved I had chosen correctly and slipped in the door and shut it quickly behind me.  The door locked with another satisfying click, but it didn’t stop me from checking the lock three times before finally passing over the threshold and into my new home.

Down a cream carpeted hallway that split into small rooms ahead and to the right.  I stood at the intersection, frozen by indecision.   As I turned from looking down the hallway to the bedrooms back to the path leading to the kitchen lounge, a flicker of movement caught my eye. Beside me, a large floor-to-ceiling mirror reflected light down the windowless hallways, providing an extra feeling of space. It also reflected swirling auras of mottle shifting colours. I didn’t remember turning on Auspex, but here they were, an aura of a confused vampire swirling around my head.  Why didn’t I remember using Auspex, and on what?  I filed the thought away and turned to put my bag in the master bedroom. 

A black shadow, out of the corner of my eye, slipped in behind my own reflection.

I leaped back, stumbling to flee the apparition in the mirror.  Nothing was there.  I spun around, hoping to catch something behind me, but all was as it should be.  I was alone. And yet, when I turned away from my reflection, the black image of a woman stood behind me in the corner of my eye. The dance of spinning on the spot went on for several minutes as I lost and regained the image only perceptible in my peripheral vision. It was like my central vision couldn’t hold the impression that my peripheral was seeing. There was another blockage… or was it the same one?  Was it the Lady herself following me around and  trying to strip all memory of herself from my mind?

“Who are you? What are you? What have I done….what can I do to appease you?” I heard myself say, my voice strained and high-pitched.  

“Me? Well, we have met already.  I just need some information.  If you’d been kind enough to let me know what I need,  I can be on my way.” Said a voice neither male or female with a lack of intonation I found disturbing.

“Information?” About me?  If this was the Lady, did she want information on Izac…maybe confirming what Izac had told her?

“Sure, yes,” I continued to engage the images at the edge of my view as I slid my hand into my pocket… “What do you want to know?” …and tried a sneaky text to Dominic.

I HAVE A SHADOW.

“As a trade, as you did see me and would like to see me again, either tonight or another night, I’d like to see the rest of the coterie.” The voice continued in seeming ignorance.  It seemed they did not have access to my thoughts, which was interesting in itself.  

“See the rest of the coterie?” I repeated her question, stalling for time, “I don’t know who you’ve seen.  I don’t know what I know anymore.”

“I’ve seen you.  And I’ve seen Izac. And when you saw me, you thought I was the most beautiful thing in the world.”

“You’re the Lady,” I acknowledged quietly, nodding to the shadow in greeting.  The silhouette and voice were galling, but at least now I knew who I was talking to.

“Yes.”

“So, I saw you last night.  Have you been with me the whole time?”

“No, I just made it easier to locate you,” She replied simply as if it were nothing to reach out and affect an incorporeal being. 

“So, how long have you been with me?” I repeated, I was drawing the edges around that blank space in my mind. Not before last night, and possibly not before whatever happened at the Old House gave me the black feeling of dread.

“Ah, for a bit,” Vampire vague.  It was a habit I needed to cultivate.

“Can you be specific, and then I’d know if you’ve met all the coterie?”  More vamping, hoping to draw out something else from the Lady.

“I was in the car with you, “ The silhouette waved its fingers at me, and I thought back to the mirrors in the car.  Yes, it seemed we had spoken before, but in the car it had ended with a black hole in my memory and a feeling that nothing was right.

“I was with you and the Giovanni…witch…that probably wasn’t Lucretia, was it?”

“My adoptive sire is Giovanni, if that’s what you’re talking about,” I deflected her question. I remembered Lucretia asking me to go, though that memory was definitely modified.  If Lucretia had seen the silhouette…I shuddered, concerned at how much risk I’d put her in.

“And what’s his name?”

“Dominic,” I answered.  This was all public record. We’d been introduced to the Prince as Dominic’s adopted childe.  Was she only confirming what she already knew? Or was she from out of town, as Dominic had suggested the night before?  

“And when do you intend to see the rest of your coterie? Barring Izac, of course.”

I shrugged, unsure if she could even see the gesture, and answered honestly, “I’m concerned about your intentions for my coterie.” 

“I just want to get to know who they are,” She replied quickly, which seemed to be the truth as far as it went.  It still didn’t explain why we were so interesting to her.

“I can tell you all about them.  We’re not that interesting, really.”

“You can do that, can you?”

“I’m very perceptive.”

“Sure, how much time do you have?” And once more, though there was no intonation, there was a feeling that they were settling down…getting comfortable.  I had captured her interest a second time, it seemed.  Good.

“We can start and see how we go, “ I said, dropping my suitbag behind me in the hallway.

“That would be splendid.  Speak to your heart’s content.” And even though there was no rise in tone, I was sure she was smiling and wished I could remember her face.

“And if your information is as good as I think it is, I’ll fix that little thing in your head. Sound good?”

I took a cleansing breath in and let it out slowly.  These may be her rules, but we were playing my game now.

“We’ll see.”

“Splendid.”

10.30pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Mads, now in one of the private rooms usually set aside for those willing to put down good money or favours for the privilege.  Like the Time Out room, what happened in here was nobody’s business except those who went in.  

After an hour waiting, Mads was disappointed when it was one of her sire’s lackeys and not her sire that entered the room and closed the door.  More so that it was this lackey. They’d never appreciated why her sire had embraced her.

“You wanted to speak?”

“Nice to see you again, too,” she replied sarcastically, and gestured to a seat beside her.  They took one opposite her instead.

“Enough of that.  You caused a big scene, and now I’m here. What do you know? I hope it’s important.”

“I got us a private room.”
“You’re risking a lot,”

“I know,” Mads admitted and allowed the seriousness of the moment to tame her tongue, “But, I think it’s worth it considering that I had a breakthrough.”
“Oh really?” The representative said unimpressed, “Enlighten me.”

“I have a lead as to where… my friend is.  But I have to get in contact with his captors, the Banu Haqim.”
“Hmm,” A sound neither negative or positive.  At least he hadn’t stood up to go.

Mads pulled out her phone and scrolled to the image of the Blue Mustang and driver outside the Crow Bar.

“This man…this man.  If I can speak to him, I can bust this wide open.”

“Hmm, bit rich for your blood.”
“That’s beside the point.  Do you know who he is?”

“It’s not so much knowing as how to get in contact with them. But again, it’s expensive.”

“How expensive?”  Mads leaned in, she could almost sense the victory.

“Blood of a certain kind. To be paid near or on completion.”

“Can you tell me what sort so I can start looking?” Surely not too much of a problem. Vitae was a rare but not unusual currency for vampires.

“Usually eighth generation or lower.” The bottom fell out of Mads’ plans.

“Oh, right.  Well, that’s going to be a challenge.” she said trying not to sound as crestfallen as she felt.

“As a said, too rich for you. At least you know he’s not dead.”

“Now.” Who could say in another night, maybe even tonight.

“If an Assamite is behind this then if the point was to kill him he’d just be dead.” The fact that a professional on this task did give some assurance of Izac’s safety.

“Still, I need to find this guy.  He knows where…he is.”

“Look, this is not the days of yore where you just look for the bad guy and shoot them up.”

“Do we know anyone who could pay that toll?” She hoped that her sire would come to party on this one and pay up. 

“Still too rich for you.  You could never pay it back.”

“So, you’re telling me I’m fucked.” Mads spat, finally letting her frustration show.

“I’m not saying that.  You just don’t have that option available to you. We understand it’s important to you, not to anyone else.”
“Many other people think he’s important, so I can tell,” she replied.  The whole of Sydney it seemed.

“ Okay.  Options…options…options…”

“You could always set up another stooge and make them do the rounds.” The representative suggested with a shrug.

“That’s a good option.  Yeah, I think I have someone in mind.”

“What? The one you had the performance with earlier?”

“Something along those lines.” She waved away the question vaguely hoping they wouldn’t press for details. There weren’t any.

“Any other pieces of information?”

“I’m assuming you have no other useful information that can help me with this?”

“A lot of important people seem to be gathering around your target.”

“What makes him so special?” She said with real irritation. He was never very special when I knew him.

“I don’t know.  He seems to be of your pedigree.”

“Yet powerful ones flock around him like a murder of crows.”

“Well…you’re the one who’s supposed to be telling us about it.” The representative glowered and she dropped the subject.

“Maybe I should try…no…I have a few ideas, “ She tried to sound confident.  One wasn’t a few but it was a start.

“Anything else?”

“I guess that’s all I can do for now.”

The representative went to rise, “I’ll let them know you didn’t completely waste our time.”

“It’s always nice to see you too,” Mads accepted with as much grace as she could muster.

“Yeah, don’t make a habit of it,” and he slammed the door of the room behind him.

10.40pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Sanctum

Now from the passenger seat, Eclipse watched her two companions as they drove across Sydney to the Days of the Week hideout and Sanctum. Monday was irritated at the mess Tuesday had made of the job.  Tuesday had the good grace to be embarrassed for their botching of the job.  

They’d gone out to show her the right way to do things and Tuesday and nearly caused a breach in the Masquerade. She was sure within the close community of the Days of the Week, tonights excitement would not go unnoticed.  There would be repercussions.  

As for the take that night, the one with the broken neck was conscious but still, only able to take shallow breaths. The other two were still unconconscious. At least that part of the night had been successful. Three victims of the snake’s preference, who knew how many more it would take.  It didn’t matter.

She thought for a moment maybe black mailing Tuesday into giving her a favour. Something like, ‘hey, we don’t have to say anything to the others about tonight…” or possibly, “…we just went out, helping the new kid find their first sacrifice, right?”  In the end, as in most things, Eclipse decided on silence being the best course.  Her action spoke better than any words did this night.  She’d proven herself equal to the task, even superior and that had to count for something.

The car eventually pulled up beside the old abandoned house surrounded by trees.

Monday turns to look at both Tuesday and Eclipse, “Okay, from here on everyone carries their own.”

Eclipse shrugged, “That’s fine,” She said know that she was often underestimated because of her size.

And that’s just fine with me, She thought to herself as one by one the sacrifices were taken from the car and man-handled down the steps and into the tunnels under the house.  

10.40pm Saturday 10 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

There was a knock at the door to Dominic’s office as Dominic was helping Stallion understand the nuances of the text he’d been given.

“Col-lab-o-ration,” Stallion sounded out the second word of the title of his new book.

“Yes.  Working together,” Dominic explained.  At this rate, it was going to be a very long night.  He took the chance to have a break and opened the door.

Mads, sullen and…maybe a little humbled, was standing behind the door.

“Come on in, Mads” He said and invited to her to take a visitor’s seat. Dominic could smell business.

In a huff, he grabbed his books and took them to the library to read out of sight of Mads.

Mads opened the conversation. “I have a rather big favour to ask, but first I’ll lay on the table everything I’ve learnt, since this is about your coterie member. The man who took Izac.  We can get in touch, but it’s costly.  The price is rather exceptional blood.  That of an eighth or lower.”
“Hmm, Ancient blood.  It doesn’t just hand itself over.”

“That’s why I came to you.  You’re older and have many more contacts.”

“So you want me to act as your middle man?.” They were now talking business, and business was always Dominic’s favourite topic.  He sat back in his chair, steepled his fingers and waited to see how much Mads was willing to go into debt for.

“No, I simply want your help, “She qualified.  She would already be in debt for the rest of her undead life if the price for the vitae was to be believed. She wasn’t interested in another large debt to a Giovanni. Still, a moderate debt could be done, “I was hoping you could help point me in the right direction.”
“What favour are you willing to offer for this ‘…pointing you in the right direction…’?”

“What could I do for the illustrious Dominic Giovanni?” She said, hoping to sound more confident than she felt.  It came off sounding sarcastic.

“Do they want a particular vintage or just the age that matters?”

“The age,” She agreed.  That had been the only stipulation required.

“If I point you in the right direction.  Do you have the currency required?”

She internally winced, “Probably not, but I’m asking your advice.”
“Oh, multiple favours.  For me?  One mid level favour to be paid at a latter date.”

“That’s fine.”

“But the individual, whoever that is, is going to require quite a bit more.  How much vitae do you require?”

At his Mads cursed herself silently, “A vial or something?  To satisfy some thirst.”
“A blood bags worth?”

“I wasn’t told any specific amounts and I didn’t ask. My bad, I guess.”

Dominic thought who he could contact.  Eighth or older. There weren’t that many in Sydney. There was the Prince, but he would be far too expensive.  He could ask the family, but there again, he liked his independence and didn’t want them involved. The most likely way was to put out feelers through the club. Maybe someone would know the Banu Haqim. Maybe the car.  It all depended on how much you wanted it all to remain secret. The Nosferatu may know. For the right price they’d keep it to themselves.

“Do you have any family members you could ask?” Mads asked, showing she was on the same train of thought as he was…if a few stations behind.

“The Prince..you can’t afford and I won’t get Family involved in this one.  I could send out feelers through the club and get back with a price.”

“Thank you.  That’s a good place to start.  Better than where I was twenty-four hours ago.”

Dominic leaned across the table and held out his hand to shake.  With some gratitude, she took it.

“This place is pretty quiet tonight,” Mads said by way of small talk, now that the business was concluded.

“Saturday night, many people are out sightseeing.”
“I meant more the coterie. No one seems around.”
“Oh.  I have a good idea where most of them are.” A thought that he hadn’t seen Luna for a while sprung to mind.
“They don’t seem to be…Giovanni…how did you run into them?”

“People come up to me and ask favours knowing I can deliver.  I get paid in favours.”

“Someone asked you to take them in?”
“Yes. But enough of that.  I have to get onto the thing that you asked me for.”
“Yes! I won’t disturb you any further.”

Mads returned to the V.i.P lounge unsure where anyone was or when they were likely to return.  Dominic went and found his right hand man.

“Bruce. Put the word out I have a client willing to pay for elder vitae.”

“Okay, sounds good.  Anything else?”
“No, I’ve got to keep an eye on Stallion he’s messing up again.”

And he returned to he office and by the night’s end he would have learnt his lessons.

11.00pm Saturday 9 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Alicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into a likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Policed premiere detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

El Torcedor: “The Twister” or ore accurately, “The Fleshcrafter” A Tzimisce from South America

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Kenneth Stahl: South African Giovanni (exiled)

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Clan or Bloodline:  From one the 13 antediluvians. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves Izac is familiar with this 

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

*Sarrasine, a novella by Balzac.  Sarrasine is a sculptor who is infatuated with an Opera Singer, Zambinella. She thinks herself cursed and deflects his advances.  At a performance, Zambinella is revealed to Sarrasine to be a castrato.  In a rage, Sarrasine attacks the singer, only to be cut down and killed by their bodyguard.

5.40am Saturday Fifty minutes until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

Fifty minutes before sunrise, Eclipse exited an Uber outside the Crowbar.  Morning was coming, and she had little time to waste. Entering the hotel, she registered and took a suite as the sun slowly rose above the harbour. A new day was dawning.

6.50pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Wetherill Park

Stallion awoke to an empty toilet stall.  His companion from the last few days now safely flushed down the stormwater drain outside, Stallion got to work on his renovations.

He knew theoretically how to meld with the earth, but the concrete floor and network of piping under the warehouse were between him and the natural substrate.  Drawing on the blood he let his talons grow long.  With a down strike, he thrust them into the thick concrete slab in one of the toilet stalls. The heavy concrete broke like cookies, the reinforcing bar inside snapped away like dried sticks and the heavy ceramic plumbing smashed like china plates. He tore aside electrical conduits and bent copper water pipes until, almost a metre down, he hit earth.  

He tore up a patch of flooring a foot square so his bare feet could touch the earth.  Standing, he listened to the blood in his veins, directing that sense down through his feet and into the ground.  He spent ten minutes exploring the earth below the warehouse, pushing his new discipline until he was satisfied he at least knew what it could do.  

5.40pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

I awoke to the braying of an alarm.  I’d set my phone to wake me before sunset and quickly busied myself packing my few possessions and dressing for the day. Thoughts of the Lady so strong in my mind the night before now seemed like a vivid dream.  Something like fever dreams that, once the fever has gone, cease to have the influence they once had. I was a little sad about that.  I rather liked the idea of the perfect woman.  Of course, I chided myself that there was no such thing…that would require there to be perfect people, and they did not exist.

With all I owned packed into one suit bag, I left the suite for (hopefully) the last time and headed for Mad’s room.  There was no guarantee that she was still there, but as most of us woke naturally at sunset, it seemed a fair bet I would bet her to the punch. Pulling out a deck of cards, I leaned against the wall beside the door and practised moving them around.  It was the simplest and earliest form of magic I’d ever learnt, but unlike the disciplines I’d recently acquired, they needed constant practice to keep the movements fast, smooth and seamless. 

Besides, it kept my hands busy while I thought about the day. It seemed that my new home was finally available for me to move in. It was technically still in Pyrmont so I hoped that any other ownerships that may have come with the old building extended to the new residence as well. I’d left a lot of Lenny’s paintings at the old place and while the cards flipped and fanned I contemplated a trip to visit Lucretia. She was my teacher after all.

6.50pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

Mads awoke in a strange bed in an unknown room.  Quickly, she whipped off the bedclothes, scrambled for her phone and pulled up a maps app. She was still in Leichhardt, still technically at the Crowbar.  Breathing a small sigh of relief, she then tried to recall what had happened the night before.  The memory of meeting Luna-Eclipse, heading for the Crowbar, and meeting the rest of the coterie, following Eclipse to the apartment building and being caught by Rain. All the memories were there, with an accompanying headache that may or may not have had anything to do with what she’d drunk. After the interview, there was just a collection of blurry images, poorly taken memories marking how she’d spent the rest of the night.

She sat and looked around her.  She’d been lying in bed with the bedclothes tucked in around her.  Nothing of hers was missing, and besides the headache, she felt…sound.  Someone had brought her here and made sure she was comfortable before leaving her…unmolested. Why?

She needed to talk to her Sire, but not being of the current era, they were unreachable via telephone. Flipping now to the messaging app, she sent a text to a few of her contacts.

NEW DEVELOPMENT ON TASK. NEED TO TALK.

Out of habit formed from a lifetime of waking up in bad places, she crept to the door and looked out the peephole.  Nothing. She closed her eyes and listened.  Off to the left, she could hear the soft slapping and flicking of paper or cards but could make nothing of it.  Slowly, she cracked the door and peeked out.  I was there, immaculately dressed for another day, my suit bag at my feet and a pack of cards flipping and fanning through my hands. 

“Good morning, Mads…switch that, good evening, Mads,” I said, cheerily correcting myself, “When does that stop being a thing?”

“Give it time,” She replied, seeing I didn’t seem interested in bursting into the room and stepped out into the hallway, “Good evening, yourself.”

“How are you feeling?” I popped off the wall and made the cards disappear.

“Hazy.  You brought me up here, right? I can’t remember. There’s a lot of blurry images.”

“Yep, you weren’t in good shape to be left alone,” I recalled the sleaze who’d thought he found a free meal, “Anything planned for today?”

“Developing the little passion project we share.  I’m hoping to make a little headway on it, “ 

“Oh?” I said, eager to hear what she had in mind as we walked side by side to the elevator.

“It’s going to take some time, but I have a little spare time. What do you have in mind?”

Oops. I was moving into the new apartment tonight, but I didn’t think any of the Giovanni would be pleased with me taking Mads along to the old house, even for a short visit.

“I’m hoping to finally settle down in my own place instead of rattling around in this hotel,” I admitted.  

Mads made a face, “I always found that staying in one place was pretty boring,” She replied.  

Brujahs. 

“I’ve never really had a chance to be in one place for very long,” I confessed.

 She looked at me as if I’d said something strange, “I can see we have very different beginnings.”

“Probably,” I smiled and pushed the button for the lift., “Come on, I’ll shout you to a snack down at the bar.”

6.50pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

Eclipse awoke refreshed and feeling good.  She’d spent so long in a state of high anxiety that she’d forgotten what it was like to just…be.  She’d slept conscious-free and now felt reinvigorated, ready for what the day offered.  

 From her spot on the bed, she scanned the room for cameras.  The hotel was a Giovanni business, after all. Satisfied there were none, she got up and pulled out Izac’s small notebook. She’d read through it before, but this time, she had a little more context to some of what had consumed Izac’s thoughts. What had once sounded like mad ravings was now coming into sharper focus.  

Golconda.  There was lots on Goldconda. 

Settling back on the pillows, she turned to the first page and started reading.

6.50pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

Dominic awoke safe in his private space.

 In no hurry to get to the bar, he potted around for a while, grabbed ingredients from the basement, and carefully placing them in a suitcase. He had a chat in the crypt for half an hour, not concerned if he received an answer or not. When things were as they should be, he dressed and headed out to see what the night had in store.

7.00pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

It was early, and the Crowbar V.I.P room was virtually empty.  I was looking forward to another round of Rumplestiltskin’s cocktails, only to find Delith smiling at us from behind the bar. Imagine my disappointment.

“Are you okay? You look like you’re thinking about something really hard,” Mads commented.  

I schooled my expression to interested urbanity again, “Just feeling good today.” She was quick, I’d have to be careful around her.

“Hey! How are you both doing?” Delith called, and Mads stepped up to the bar.  I followed, curious as to what Delith would try pulling.

“I don’t think I had the pleasure of meeting you,” Mads said smoothly, turning on her usual charm. 

“I’m Delith, welcome.” She extended her hand and they shook.
“Nice to meet you.  The name is Mads.”

“Enchanted.” Delith beamed.

I didn’t know if I should laugh at the display of high charisma beings trying to out Riz each other or join in.

“What are you up to?” Delith turned her attention to me, “I thought it was more Luna that picked up the newbies.”

I acknowledged her insider information with a nod and a smirk, “Mads is just helping us out for a little while.”

“Really?” I’d made the comment too tasty.  She’d taken the bite and was running with it.

“Yeah, just a friend.” 

“Oh, so does the boss know?”

“Yeah, I’ve talked to him.  We’re all square with him. “Mads fielded nonchalantly, and I stepped back, watching Delith.

“Well, that’s good.  As long as you treat him right, we’ll treat you right, right?” Delith dropped any further enquiry into our business and got down to hers, “What would you both want tonight?”

We order two ordinary reds.  Without Rumplestiltskin there, there was hardly any point in ordering otherwise. 

“A double claret, coming up!” She winked and showed a fang as part of a cheeky smile.  If we hadn’t been in the V.I.P. lounge, I wondered if her smile would have constituted a Masquerade breach.  The glasses were provided, and as she handed them over, she made eye contact with Mads.

“Oh, and Mads, it was lovely to meet you.”

Mads blinked and seemed a little confused, “Nice meeting you too.” Nothing else seemed to transpire between the two of them.  I’d been ready for her mind-reading shenanigans, but in the end, I saw nothing, and Mad moved towards a table as if nothing had happened.  In the end, I just chalked it up to Delith, trying to make a good impression.

“Just be careful around Delith,” I said quietly to Mads as we took our seats, “She’s well known for trying her tricks.”

“Tricks?  What sort of tricks has she got?” 

“She’s tried to read my mind and I know for a fact that she dominated a friend of mine.  Nothing serious, yet, but she’s…very ambitious.”

“I thought it was a bit of a weird interaction, “ Mads looked back at Delith now busy with a new customer, “She seemed nice…I don’t know.” She looked a little confused again. 

“She may have tried it with you,”  I was sure Delith had tried something.  Who else was she trying it on with?  Did it threaten Dominic’s vaunted claim to Elysium? Or was she one of his side hustles to gather information?  I mused on it for a little while until small talk drove it out of my mind.

“So, tell me about this new apartment you’re moving into?” Mads played the interested friend and obliged with what I knew about the new place.

“Just a little place in Pyrmont.  I haven’t been there yet, but I’m looking forward to making my mark on it. This is my first chance to really belong somewhere.” A pang for the old building, but I wasn’t sharing that with Mads.

“It’s overrated,” she replied as one who knew what it was like to have a place they could always go home to.

“May I ask where you were before coming here?” I said and had a strong Deja Vu of asking Izac that exact question out on the docks at Botany.

“I’ve been…in the vicinity for a while.  I grew up here, “ She replied vaguely, “That was…before my new life started. In that time between then and now…I’ve been getting a little tutelage.”

If she was the same age as Izac, or thereabouts, that could mean she’d spent maybe twenty years learning.  I nearly groaned audibly at the thought of that much tutelage. That was more than most university degrees, and I’d failed to show enough interest in finishing high school.

“Yeah, I could do with a little of that myself, ”I admitted and hoped that mine wouldn’t take anywhere near as long, “Our society is rich but full of sharp edges.”

“It’s a sprawling web, that’s for sure, “She agreed, and I appreciated the image of the predator waiting in its web, “Not hard to get cut by it, that’s all I can say.” Still, the concept that even the society that we were trying to build our lives in was predatory sobered both of us.  Conversation ceased as we spent a few moments looking into our respective glasses.

7.30pm Saturday 11 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Pyrmont

His renovations complete, Stallion rode out on his bike to the old house at Pyrmont.  He hadn’t been back to the old house since the night Ambrogino took ownership.  As his bike pulled up in front, his senses rebelled against the foreboding feeling the place now held. Once a welcoming home, the place now seemed…abrasive, as if it no longer recognised him as an occupant.  He imagined that haunted houses must feel very much like this one.  

“What am I walking into?” He said to himself with a worried glance up a the place.  Regardless, he kicked down the stand on the bike and walked up to the door.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Nobody answered.  He was about to knock again as the door slowly creaked open, and Lucretia peered around behind it.  

“What are you doing here?” She asked, recognising the Gangrel as one of her nephew’s bastard children.

“I was wondering if Ambrogino was around,” Stallion said, trying to peer around Lurcretia guarding the door.

“Odd question,” She said, confused, “Why do you want him?”

“Ur…um…,” Stallion hadn’t expected an interrogation.  Frankly, he hadn’t made any plans, “He seemed a pretty powerful guy, and I figure he was someone I could learn a thing or two.”

What Lucretia thought of his suggestion, he couldn’t tell. Lucretia was like talking to a statue.

“What do you offer for this boon?” She asked in her emotionless voice.

“Hadn’t thought about it, really.” 

“You better think quick. Now we’re negotiating. Information uniquely yours? Something only you can do? What is it you can offer?”

“I don’t really know.  I’ve only been around for a couple of months.”
“Well, until you do, here is your first lesson.  You will only ever get a free meal from your sire…adopted sire. Goodnight.” And with that, the door slammed shut, the wind of it tussling Stallion’s blonde hair. 

7.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

Dominic arrived in Leichhardt just as the night was started to heat up. The streets were full of cars looking for parking,  people in couples and small groups looking for a good night out.  Serenely, he drove his car directly into the underground carpark under the Crowbar.

His first stop was the Security room where he accessed all the cameras.  Scrubbing through the last twenty-four hours, he noticed only one concerning item that was out of the ordinary.  At only fifty minutes before sunrise, Luna disembarked from an Uber and entered the hotel.  If she’d left it any later, she’d have been a dark smudge on the pavement in front of the Crowbar instead of safely installed in one of the hotel suites. When she was older and had more of a feel for where the sun was in its cycle, such lateness could be excused. He made a note to have a word with her and continued to his office.

He went through the books, pleased at the hefty increase in revenue, finance and gossip coming into the bar. Much of it was just small amounts from many patrons, but some came with names.  Padre Craneo was one that came up a few times.  Once for the use of the Time Out room to feed and once for a substantial offer of ninety thousand Euros and information relating to the Shadowlands. He knew the Padre was a new figure in town, though very old himself. He disappeared for a long time, and it was only in the last twenty years he’d been active in Mexico and Europe. He was a specialist on the Shadowland and was known to have gathered substantial information. It seemed fortuitous that the Padre had come to the Crowbar at this time.  He made a note to seek out his new customer and moved on.

Another name, more of a title, appeared up in the ledgers. El Torcedor was hosting an event at the old medical theatre at Sydney University.  Invitations were moving through the Vampire network, and information about it had made it to Dominic.  El Torcedor was a Tzimisce from South America. Sabbat affiliated. South American Tzimisce! He rolled his eyes and moved on.

The third was only intimated by the moments of money, items, and information Dominic saw in his ledgers.  Unclaimed bodies going missing.  Organised crime on the increase.  These were all the signs of another Giovanni being involved, but the name linked was not Giovanni.  The only name that came up was Kaanes. Dominic knew there were Giovanni in the Lowlands of the Dutch, but more likely, amongst the Afrikaans of South Africa.  As most of that part of the family mainly kept to themselves, this left only one kindred making waves through the Sydney nights.  Kenneth Stahl, an exiled Giovanni. He’s the only Kaanes that travelled outside of  South Africa. A real piece of work that Dominic would easily spot due to his strawberry blonde hair and penchant for wearing white business shirts with the sleeves rolled up with khaki pants.

His notes made on the interesting individuals of Sydney nights, Dominic did his usual lap of the bar: the common room,  the private rooms and finally the V.I.P lounge.

7.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Leichhardt

The notebook was small, and she’d scanned the pages quickly.  Eclipse now sat on the bed contemplating what she’d learnt. It wasn’t much.  At one time, Mads had been an important…friend…leader…  She’d had a strong relationship with another friend called Joel. Izac was quoted saying she’d been a ‘calming influence’ on all of them.

On Golconda, there was more fragmentary information. He’d been reading a book in the library and had an image in his head about Golconda being some sort of…salvation.  No details, though.  It seemed that Izac had been more delusional than she’d thought.

Another dead end.

8.00 pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Mads and I drank our drinks and chatted about nothing. I was getting to like this one, which was going to be a problem if we ended up having opposing views about Izac.  He was a grey cloud of misery, but he had a vision for the world, though delusional, I could get behind. Besides, he was our grey cloud of misery. 

Mads was his opposite in many ways. Articulate, charming, and interested.  I couldn’t pin down any particular agenda with her, but she knew how to hold a conversation.  She was also the same height as me, which was a refreshing change in the land of the giants.

Dominic made his entrance to the V.I.P. Lounge, looking like the Lord surveying his lands.  I waved him a greeting from our table. He nodded, recognising our presence and continued with his rounds, first to the bar and then around the room until he made it back to us.

“Good evening, sir.”
“Good evening.  Enjoying yourselves?”

“Yes, thank you, as always, “ I had his attention, I took the opportunity to ask a favour, “I was wondering if I could borrow one of the cars.  I’d like to make a trip out to Pyrmont if I may.” 

“Ah, you want to view your new place,” He assumed, and I didn’t enlighten him otherwise. I’m not sure why…old habits? Maybe because it’s often better to ask forgiveness than seek permission.

“Certainly, ask Bruce for a set of keys.  Maybe take…Madeline..was it?” He gestured to Mads, who seemed surprised to be mentioned.  

“Huh, sorry?  Yes, that’s me,”
“I was just suggesting that you go out with my young protege here and look over his new place,” Dominic suggested, and I inwardly sighed. Just when I thought I’d dropped Mads off somewhere safe for the evening.

“Oh, yeah.  I’m down for an inspection.  I do have a meeting here in a few hours…sorry, I should have come to you with it first.  I’ve organised a meeting. It’s relevant to us finding Izac.”

“And what was your interest in Izac again?” Dominic asked.

“I knew him from a long time go.  I was in town and was hoping to catch up,” She supplied sweetly.  That I didn’t believe a word of it didn’t matter. I’d already told Dominic what I thought. I just drank my drink and listened to their conversation.

“Quick question.  Was he always a vegetarian?” Dominic said, and I was surprised.  After being continually lectured on not showing my hand, he was spilling the largest bean in Izac’s pile. In public.  Now, Dominic, for shame!

“No.  You asked me this before, Mr Giovanni, “ The question had touched on something deeply unhappy in Mads.  If she didn’t have a meeting later that evening, I’d have been worried about her drowning herself again.

“Have I?” The Old Con, I almost laughed, “I must be slipping.”

Mads lifted a hand to her brow and sighed, “Believe me, I don’t remember much of that night, but that, I do. I still have the headache to show for it.  Whatever your bartender gave me, it was a hell of a ride.”

“We have a lot of…interesting people coming in recently.  Staff and customers. That particular individual knows a trick or two when it comes to his alchemy.”  Dominic said, and I wondered where they all came from.  I assume many were drawn here by the big event.  How did he get a hold of them?  I would have to find out.

Mads thought so, too, “You’ve been hiring a few interesting sorts in preparation for the big event, I’m guessing.”
“I try to draw more interest to the pub, especially with everyone in town for the Event, yes.”

“Looking to rub shoulders or gain the attention of…appropriate ears?” Mads said, then instantly retracted the statement, embarrassed, “Sorry, that was rude of me.”

“You’re not wrong,” Dominic seemingly took no offence, “It’s always good to have fresh bodies in the place.”  He laughed.  The irony wasn’t lost on either Mads or myself.  

She changed the subject, “Well, if we’re going to see this new place …as long as we’re not too long. As long as we’re back by ten?”

I had to cut this off if I was going to visit Lucretia tonight, “I really can’t say. As I’ve said, I’ve not seen the place. If it’s a problem…”

“ You could always go after your meeting, “ Dominic suggested, “It seems like a quiet night tonight.”

Maybe because we’d been talking about the apartment, maybe because her insight was beyond anything I’d experienced before, Mads seemed to notice my reticence.

“Rain, if you want to check out your new place alone, don’t feel like you have to take me along.  I’ll keep to my own company.”

I could have kissed her. Maybe I should sometime. 

“If you don’t mind, “I replied apologetically, breathing a sigh of relief, “I’ve not seen it yet. I don’t even know if it’s furnished.  I’d been be embarrassed to show it in less than its best.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Mads accepted my apology, but still glanced knowingly over her glass at me.

“There have been people working on it.  It may be done by now,” Dominic oblivious to the subtext between Mads and I.

“Half-finished would be worse than never started,” I lamented, “No, I’ll check it out, and then when it’s ready for guests…maybe I’ll have to invite you over.” 

“Enjoy your new place,” Mads said, as I rose to leave, “Embrace the experience of a place you’re settling down in… for a while.”

For a while, huh?  It seemed like our Mads wasn’t looking to stick around anywhere for long.

“And don’t forget to take some toys with you,” Dominic added.  Though the gripping fear of guns had gone with the spirits, I still didn’t have the need to surround myself with weaponry as Dominic did. I don’t know if it’s his own brand of paranoia or the simple fact we were raised on opposite sides of the pond. Even Mads made a face at the thought of having to go tooled up.

“Just in case.”

“What?  Other than my usual?” Lupara was always with me, and he knew it.  

“It’s always good to have a backup.”

With another thanks to Mads, I Ieft them in search of Bruce.

“Mr Giovanni, before you go,” Mads caught Dominic’s sleeve as he too made to continue his rounds, “When all this is done, do you mind if I stay in contact from time to time, do you? I’d like to start my own move up through the world when all this is said and done, and I realise that you are someone who could help in that endeavour.”

Dominic turned back to Mads, the new smell of business wafting through the air, “Certainly.  I’ve funded many projects in my time.  Though the interest can be killer.”

Mads smiled, and raised her glass to Dominic, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Dominic continued his tour, keeping an eye out for the Padre whose presence he’d noticed me with the night before.  Luna was also conspicuous by her absence.  He’d seen her visit the Time Out room during its…occupation by the Padre on the CCTV.  That was more concerning than her absence at the moment. Such a powerful individual should never be met with alone.  Still, the interview had been no more than ten minutes and Luna had walked away again.  A more fortunate outcome than most, he suspected.  Checking the Time Out room he was pleased to find it was spotless with no sign of the previous night’s use.    He nodded satisfaction at Bruce’s good work. Dominic made a note to commend him for such a fine job. 

8.00pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Burwood

Having been rejected at the door to his old home, Stallion rode out to a late-night joke shop in Burwood.  Happily, he moved through the isles of cheap toys and trinkets,  filling a handbasket with items:

A hand buzzer

A shark hand puppet

A semi-automatic cap gun

A flick-comb

He paid in cash from his bum bag, which the sales clerk recognised smelled distinctly herbal.   Slinging the plastic bag with his few treasures over the handlebars, Stallion finally headed towards Leichhardt and the Crow Bar.

8.00pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

There was really no other place to go. 

Leaving her hotel suite, Eclipse wandered down to the Crow Bar in search of the elusive but all-important Bruce. She found him in the armoury, shelving the new stock. Eclipse looked at the boxes of guns, some only seen in war movies, arrayed around him but said nothing.

“What the hell are you doing here, Luna?” He asked, turning around to find the silent Luna behind him.

“Looking for you.”

“I’m flattered, but you’re not my type,” Bruce snarked, turning back to his work.

“You wish,” she replied, completely disinterested in what he found attractive. “I was more curious to find out if you’ve made any headway in finding Izac.”

“I was looking for him?” He said, seemingly in genuine surprise.

Eclipse paused for a moment, letting that sink in.  He was either being an arsehole, which…it was Bruce, or Dominic had never asked him to look for Izac.  

For a beat, the breath froze in her lungs.  

“Unless you expect Giovanni to do all the work then, yes, yes, you should be looking for him.”

“I have other people for that.  He’s not that important.”

“Whose looking for him?”

“It doesn’t matter,” He dismissed her concerns to concentrate on his work, “the boss knows.”

The darkness boiled inside her. The urge to bite Bruce, snide head off, was a real and present threat.

“Cool.” And she was.  Frozen to the core.

Her eyes dropped to the boxes around her.  Being eighteen, female and living in Australia, her exposure to munitions was limited.  There was a large pile of handguns, a long tube with a trigger and sight, some military armour and generic crates.  Nothing as familiar as her flick knife.  Nor as interesting.

She left Bruce to his inventory, the clod lump inside her only thawing enough to allow movement.  Oblivious, she nearly crashed into Dominic, who was making his way down the stairs from the Lounge.

“Luna, how are you this evening?” He asked as smoothly as his top-shelf whiskeys.

“I’m fine, how are you,” She replied automatically.

“I was concerned to see you arrive home late last this morning.”
“I had enough time,” She tried to sidestep his conversation as she passed him on the stairs.

“You’re young, you don’t always know how much time you have, and a small traffic jam can stop you from getting back. You don’t want to end up a shadow on the pavement.”

“It was a bit close,” She admitted, just so he’d drop the subject, “I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Of course, you can always camp in…someone else’s for the day.” 

She shrugged.  She had thought about it, “There was a possibility, but I’d rather be back here.”

“Fair enough,” He bowed and let the subject drop, “And what are you looking for?”

“Something to do, really,” She confessed. She had many things that needed doing, but without help from at least one of the Days of the Week she wasn’t sure how she was going to achieve it.

“I thought I’d help Bruce if he was doing anything about Izac, but apparently, he’s not important enough, ” Her eyes stung, but she’d cried enough. She brushed the impulse aside, “But you know, it’s fine as long as you know.”

“Bruce is a very important individual to our little social circle.  He does do things to cover up for you, but he doesn’t do things…for all individuals.”  Eclipse knew what that meant.  As an adopted childe, she was important. Izac wasn’t. 

The ice burned.

“ I have other people who are more experienced…more specialised at finding missing people.  Last night, they narrowed it down to a suburb.”

I would have taken offence at that point. I’d narrowed it down to a suburb, thanks very much. But I wasn’t there.

“As for the boredom, you will experience lulls from time to time.  In lives as long as ours…it happens.  I expect it to be quiet tonight.” He said.
“Anything interesting happening with the others?” 

“Rain is going to his new apartment. I haven’t seen Stallion yet, I’d say he’s on his way back from the warehouse. The new person, Madison, is in the V.I.P. Lounge.  As I said, a quiet night.”

Eclipse nodded, and decided to find Mads.  She started climbing up into the bar.

Delith was behind the bar, busy chatting with a customer.  Mads was at a table alone.  Neither interested Eclipse.  She scanned the floor for any of the Days of the Week and spotted Monday and Tuesday.  She let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and made her way over to them. 

Mads, listening to the room as usual, spotted Eclipse saunter across the floor and stopped at a table with two strangers.  Heightening her senses, she sat back and listened in to their conversation.

“Sunday, how are you?” Monday said, “We were just talking about you.  We were curious as to how your preparations for tomorrow are going.”

“I’ve made none at all,” She confessed.

“Well, you don’t want a toddler from the hospital…it’s a bit… unseemly.”

“I have some decorum.”
“We’ll see.  You do show a lot of promise. We hope you live up to it.  We’re just living it up. Do you want to join us?”

“I’d love to,” Eclipse replied and gratefully took a seat.

“Have you met the bartender before?” Monday gestured to the bar and Delith.

“Yes, she’s….very eccentric,” Eclipse said diplomatically.  

“She’s very humorous.  She’s very much of our clan.  When you have your nose up too high, you can’t see what’s going on around you.”

“I don’t know what she is, “ Eclipse confessed. All she knew Delith was a pain in her arse who seemed to get away with murder.

“Not to put down the efforts of the one who is training you, but she’s…what do they call them now…the Nobles?…the merchant Princes?….the Ventrue?”

“I think I remember that being mentioned before. It explains a lot.”

“It certainly does.  We hear things. We’ve met with the same people. You don’t have to worry about the Padre, but don’t get too friendly with him, “ Monday said, and Eclipses remembered only the old man’s kindness in not revealing her real nature, “You are not experienced enough to deal with his kind.”

I did great with the old man,  She thought to herself, but said nothing that could upset her new friendship.

“I guess I should be pleased you’re keeping tabs on me.”

“He’s powerful.  Just be careful.”

Enough about Padre. Eclipse dragged the conversation back to what she’d been wanting to discuss with them for days, “I’m curious. How do you prepare for your day?”

“It depends.  If there’s a big event on…say, the Olympics, we might take ten in a week.  When things are quiet, there are always streetwalkers, a curious lawyer or detective sniffing around is always convenient, ” Monday listed off, and all sounded reasonable to Eclipse.  She wasn’t sure about actually putting it all into practice.  That’s when Tuesday surprised her.

“You’re of this time.  You know more than us about how people meet up and interact.  How would you go  about it?”

“That’s just it.  I don’t have transport. I can’t drive.”

“That is a problem. You can always tell them there’s a really cool party and get them to drive you. You can hunt closer to the altar but never shit where you eat. You don’t want to draw unwanted attention.”  

Eclipse remembered the drive out to the abandoned house that must have taken almost an hour, the long, dank walk through underground passages that led finally to the Days of the Week sanctum.  It would be tough, but she could do it…she just needed a little leg up this first time. 

“If you take them from all over, no one notices.  A missing person here, an overdose there, a suicide somewhere else…it just depends on how much effort you want to put in.  It’s amazing once you start how the weeks just roll by.”

Monday turned to Tuesday, “Say, Tuesday.  Do you have any spares you can give her?”

Tuesday mulled over the idea, “Perhaps.  What are your preferences?” They turned the question back to Eclipse.

She knew who she needed to find. The dream had been very specific about the tiny little black figures dancing to the serpent’s music.

“Targetting the…displaced.  Natives?”

“Good choice.  There are not many around, but no one’s paying attention to them either. They go missing all the time,” Monday nodded thoughtfully, “Very wise of you.”

Inside, the echo of Luna cringed against being praised for murderous racism.  Eclipse wasn’t quite what she thought of it all.

“Can I get some help the first night?”

“Would you like us to lure one to you, or would you like to go somewhere  you can get your own?”

“I’d like to pick my own amongst the herd, “ Some of Eclipses self-confidence reasserted itself.  This was her sacrifice, after all.

“Sure, it’s a farmer’s market.  Pick your own!” Monday said happily.

“When would you like to do it?  The night of the sacrifice or tonight?” Tuesday asked.

“Are you free now? Is tomorrow more convenient?”

“There’s always time to rock around Redfern.”

“What do you say, Sunday.  Shall we take a trip around The Block.”

Eclipse smiled, and saw it echoed in Monday and Tuesday’s expressions, “Why not?” She agreed and was first to stand from the table. 

“Nights a-wasting!” Monday, the most eager of the two followed suit, “Let’s go!”

Monday and Tuesday followed their Sunday out of the room.  At her table, Mads watched them go.  She was still nursing a sore head and, above the bustle in the room, hadn’t heard more than one word in three of their conversation.  Still, what she had heard made her think.  On another night, she may have tried to follow them, but tonight she had plans.

8.20pm Saturday 11 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Stallion rode down into the private parking under the Crow Bar, his treasure swinging in their plastic bag.  Dominic was waiting in the carpark.  He spied Stallion’s bag of tricks and gave him a quizzical expression.

Stallion was always up to some trick or jap, usually at his siblings’ expense. Stallion caught his eye, and a mischievous smile forced its way across his features.

“Ah, Dominic.  Just a few things.  Nothing bad, just a little…subversion?

“And what are we subverting?” Dominic asked, the benign parent figures as always
“Dunno. Just practising.  I got the buzzer.  I have a shark puppet to cover the hand buzzer, and hopefully, things will go well for my next victim.”

“Happy hunting.”

“Anyone around?” Stallion asked as if it had nothing to do with his collection of trinkets.

Dominic looks around the carpark.  It was just them.

“The rest of the coterie?”

“A few of them are in the V.I.P. Lounge. Some are going out later.”

“I wonder what they think about my little prank?” The mischievous smile was back, unrestrained this time.

“I thought you’d got past pranking your siblings,” Dominic said is a way that suggested his disapproved without actively saying Stallion should change his mind on the subject.

“You can never be too sure.  Besides, Mads is new. Initiation has to happen.” Stallion said with the conviction of a old hand in the business of pranking.

I turned up still looking for Bruce and found Dominic talking to his favourite child in the carpark.

I was surprised to see him there, “Oh, you get around, sir,” 

“It is my establishment, “ He reminded me, and I inwardly sighed. Yes, yes, it was, but not forever. First, the apartment, then my own club.  But all in good time.

“It is indeed,” I stepped out of his way and noticed Stallion looking pleased with himself, a plastic shopping bag at his side.  

“Good evening, Stallion.” I tried to read his expression for clues as to what he was up to.
“Good evening, Rain,” He said casually enough, “Are you off somewhere?”

“Why would you say that?” 

Dominic silently handed over the keys to the nondescript Audi sedan.

“Ah, nice. Thank you.”

“Whatever you do, don’t pull an Izac,” Dominic warned, a spark of humour in his cold dead eyes.

“I intend to go there and back…and hit nothing invisible, ” I assured him, “But if I do, I’ll tell you straight away.”

He laughed at that.  It’s nice to be able to read your audience’s level.

Stallion looked confused.

“Don’t you want me to drive you?” He asked, and I almost regretted my plans.  I had planted that silly story about his car for just this purpose, and it may have given us a chance to spend time together without one of us being incinerated.  

“Not his time, brother. I’m going out by myself to see the new place.  I want to take in the vibe for a bit.  Mads was right. I just want to feel it out first.”

“Ah, you have a new place, do ya?” He asked, and instantly, and now I regretted telling him anything.  I meant it when I told him I didn’t want him under my roof.  Not that he remembered. No, Stallion and I would never be friends. It was futile thinking otherwise.

“I’m sure you’ll…be able to look…distinct…in your style,” He said stiltingly.  Dominic looked at me, then at Stallion. Without a word, he turned and walked back upstairs. 

Equally as silent, I headed for the car.

8.20pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Dominic headed not back into the bar but upstairs to his office. He checked that the two rooms were clear of his childe, then silently closed and locked the door. 

He sat down carefully behind his desk and manipulated the secret compartment hidden deep behind wood and leather.  With reverent care, he pulled out the skull hidden there and brought it up so the empty eye sockets were level with his eyes.

“Hello, Mother.  There’s a lot of interesting things happening…”

8.30pm Saturday 12 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

I pulled up outside the old Harris Street house. Nothing had changed since I’d been here with Dominic for our Necromancy lesson. Was it possibly a little creepier. As if creepiness were a moss that collected over time? Regardless, I stepped up to what had been my front door a week ago and knocked.

“What the hell is it this time?!”

*****************************************************************************************

Eclipses eneravations:

Complicated

What would you be writing now if you had your book? 

Would it be of the people you’re meeting?

Would you write about the woman Rain saw, who was talking to you? Would you write of her presence?

What of the man who stole you away? 

Did you know I was seconds away? 

All this time. All this fucking time and I missed the 10 seconds that mattered. 

burn it all

You said Mad’s taught you discretion. She plays her cards close to her chest but what is a hound to a lioness? It is but a rat to a snake. 

Let us out. 

You were so hopeful. You had some sort of direction before meeting all of us at the dock… Do you believe it? About Golconda? 

If Mother met me now she would kill me on the spot. 

Can you understand that? It is not blackness that surrounds me. It is miasma. 

God has abandoned me and in his absence the end of the world is being inscribed. 

The rest of my life is a clay tablet, the serpent the inscriber. 

Can you see what I’ve become? 

Can you comprehend what has become of me? 

Maybe I don’t want you to understand. I do not want you to see into this pit. No. No great height for you to fall.

Maybe… 

you are strong enough

…to prove me wrong about Golconda. 

Maybe I want you to come home to stay gone. 

Stay gone. 

*****************************************************************************************

Izac’s Thoughts:

First Steps

Vague shapes surround Izac
Near a hundred strong
People
Faces lost to time, or ones he can’t bring himself to see
Two stand in the arena
This eye of the storm
No, four
A royal, a businessman, a girl
Izac
He holds his bloodied heart
The others blur as one in front of him
Only one of which he is willing to give it up to
“You must betray your own heart”

The others search, the serpent did not take the curious observer.
She could have, possibly even ruined him, but she seems confident they won’t find us, at least until the Club.
Part of me hopes she is wrong.
To understand the world, I need to understand myself
Come to terms with my nature
While I look for answers beyond me, she insists to look inward
I dwell on the who, but never the why: the reason for the slaughter, the hunt
“The ends justify the means”
She talks of killing as justified, given the circumstance
The ghouls in the bar sprang to my mind, an act of self-defence with deadly consequence.
Its not the same, its all a matter of where the line is drawn
The urge, the impulse, the Beast
It is not separate
I and it are one and the same
To come to terms with it is to travel the path
I can hear it, deep within
A whimpering dog, starved and chained
Is this what I have been doing to myself?
Punishing nature, rather than taming it
She offers to help, her price to be paid during the festivities
Another of her experiments, like the Prince?
I fear her intentions for me, her words cryptic
Like a choice that must be made
“You must betray your own heart”

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Alicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into a likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Policed premiere detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

El Torcedor: “The Twister” or ore accurately, “The Fleshcrafter” A Tzimisce from South America

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Kenneth Stahl: South African Giovanni (exiled)

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Clan or Bloodline:  From one the 13 antediluvians. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves Izac is familiar with this 

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

*Sarrasine, a novella by Balzac.  Sarrasine is a sculpture who is infatuated with an Opera Singer, Zambinella. She thinks herself cursed and deflects his advances.  At a performance, Zambinella is revealed to Sarrasine to be a castrato.  In a rage, Sarrasine attacks the singer, only to be cut down and killed by their bodyguard.

1.30 am Saturday 5 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club 4 Phillip Street, Leichhardt

I climbed the stairs and grabbed the door handle.  The door flung open, and Mads was on the other side, her hand came down like a vice over my wrist.  Almost on instinct, my experience in the Time Out room proved invaluable. I parted the veil and became incorporeal.  Mads’ hand closed on nothing. The lack of resistance overbalanced her, and Mads fell forward into the doorway, succeeding in stopping a headlong fall down the stairs only by the supernatural speed of her reflexes.  I flickered back to corporeal as she looked up at me in surprise.

“Ha, neat trick you’ve got there,” She said with a laugh. She raised herself gracefully from the ground, and I prepared to call for Stallion’s assistance. 

“Ah ha, “ I agreed without explanation. She either knew my interest in Necromancy from my discussion with Padre or didn’t.  I wouldn’t enlighten her either way, “You’re quite slick yourself. How did you get up here so quickly?”

“I’ve learnt a thing or two in my time,” She replied enigmatically.  Well, we can both play that game, it seemed.

“Well, maybe you’d like to tell us all about those. I’d think Dominic would like to have a chat with you.”

“About?”

“To start with, your interest in our Lu…Eclipse,” I’m sure I winced when correcting the name.

“What?  I saw a friend. I just wanted to see where she was going. Someone can’t be curious?”

“Friends usually walk with friends, not sneaking around behind them, hiding on rooftops. As for being curious, it’s probably not a good idea around us.  So, if you don’t mind coming along.”

“I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t, “ Mads said, seemingly without concern. 

“Excellent.” I didn’t let down my guard.

I followed Mads back down the stairs to where Stallion was standing in the doorway to a neat, modern, though empty-looking apartment. Dominic was standing with Eclipse, who was furiously scrubbing at her face with the back of her jacket sleeve.  The smeared blood from tears gave her face a flushed, almost living appearance.  The streaked mascara told the same tale it always had.  As much as she’d tried to look cold and unfeeling, she was missing Izac terribly. The image was so much like that from the earlier vision that I relived the self-recrimination and loss. And they weren’t my emotions to feel.

“Look who I found on the roof,” I said, noting the awkward scene.

“Hello,” Mads chirped, but it was clear that neither of us belonged there, “I think they’re in the middle of something.” I had to agree.

“Shall we return to the bar and leave you two here?” I differed to Dominic as he seemed to be getting somewhere with Eclipse.

“If you don’t mind,” Dominic replied without turning around, and that was all I needed to clear the room.

“Stallion.  It looks like we have some time to talk about that tattoo design.”

“Yeah, looks like there’s nothing happening here,” He glanced around, profoundly unimpressed.

“Yes, yes, the party is over,” I sympathised, and he joined Mads and me heading back to the Crow Bar.

“It’s a shame. I was expecting something exciting.”

Eclipse’s dark eyes balefully watched as we left her alone with Dominic.  

Once the external door clicked shut, Dominic returned his full attention to his adopted childe.

“So, when we’re ready, we’ll go get him,” Dominic said in tones that only assured success.

“We’ve got to find him first,” Her voice was emotionless and empty like the space around her.

 “We’ll find him. And then, we’ll take him back.”

“I’m running out of hope. These nights are just getting bleaker and bleaker,” Eclipse confessed what she’d been keeping to herself all night.  She had no hope at all.  Not for Izac.  Not for herself.  There was only the empty blackness.

“At some point, you have to resolve that for yourself. Because one day, you will want to part from me and the others, and you will be alone. Until then, you have us, and while you do, we will never stop looking.”  Dominic said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his personal Beretta, “Now, I’m going back to the bar. You take whatever time you need here.” He placed the gun on the coffee table where the little notebook had been a moment before.

Eclipse stared at the gun, bloodshot eyes flicking up to meet Dominic as he straightened to leave.

“Just in case,” He said casually, his eyes not leaving hers.

“Thank you, Dominic.”

“Whatever you do, please resist that urge to rescue your friend alone.”
“I already ran that out of me, “ She sighed heavily and took the gun, tucking it in her jacket pocket.

“Things happen in an instant.  Recovery takes time.” And with those parting words of wisdom, he left her to her grief.

Look, you have friends here.  Maybe they care. Perhaps they want something, The voices blended and shifted in Eclipse’s mind. It was hard to know who was speaking. She brushed the aside with a practised mental hand and sat heavily on the lounge.

Where was she going from here?

Izac…well, it was probably good he was gone.  He’d been a confusing distraction, and now she no longer needed to pretend.  Sunday was only two sleeps away and she didn’t have the first clue where to find a sacrifice one or how to get it out to the stone.  And then, there was the Padre’s announcement in front of everyone about the darkness coiling inside her.  What was she supposed to do about that?  Her fingers toyed with the pistol in her pocket as the questions swirled around in her mind.

1.40 am Saturday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club The Crow Bar

Mads was very obliging on the short walk back to the bar.  I had the feeling she was getting exactly what she wanted.  I didn’t mind that so much as long as I could also swing a win for our side.  She was too smooth and slick by half to have just happened to meet Luna alone, wandering around in the Prince’s domain.  In a few hours, she’d insinuated herself into our group. For what reason?  Now I understood Izac’s meeting was no accident, I couldn’t look at this serendipitous meeting with innocent eyes.

I led Mads upstairs to the office.  I had no idea where else to take her where Dominic would likely look for us.  I let her and Stallion go ahead of me into the room, turning on Auspex.  Stallion’s usual calm blue aura twitched with a brown, bitter irritation that contrasted starkly with Mads’ white innocence and pale blue calm.  Though I wasn’t buying the sense of innocence coming from Mads, I thought I better deal with whatever was going on with Stallion before it became something worse.  

“You feeling okay, Stallion? Something on your mind?”

“Augh, it’s just that this one jumped me in the V.I.P. Lounge trying to get here earlier, and now we’ve caught her following Luna.  I want to know what’s going on?”
“You and me both, “ I leaned on the leather-topped antique walnut desk and turned to Mads sitting quietly in one of the guest chairs, “You’ve following Luna all night.  What would you like to tell us about that, Mads?”

“Just simple curiosity,” she replied with wide-eyed innocence.

“No, no, no. Let’s start at the beginning. Did you follow her down to the Quay so she could find you there? You certainly convinced her to bring you back somehow.  It seems you quite charmed our, Luna. So I ask you, what’s all this about?”

“I didn’t make her bring me back, “ She started to look a little put-out, like I was blaming her for doing something wrong, “I just put the charm on, and one thing led to another.”

“Your charm, “ I had to admit she certainly knew how to use it, “What, like this?” And I turned on Presence, focusing all my attention on her. Instantly,  I saw her breath catch, her eyes dilate as she stared at me in fascination. 

“Now, I won’t lie, that was pretty fucking impressive,” She smiled.  A guy could get used to that sort of attention.

“Did you do something like that to her?”

“No! No, nothing like what you’re showing me right now! No, I…this lighting is really good for you, do you know?”

I glanced at Stallion, “I have to use this more often.  Remind me, okay, Stallion?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Stallion replied, looking at Mads as if he hadn’t seen her before.

“Oh no, this is all for me!” Mads laughed, resting her elbow on the desk, her head on her hand, looking up at me adoringly. Through her aura swirled a lovely shade of deep red. I had to admit even under the influence, she knew how to charm.

“I like this.  You’re focused, and we can talk, can’t we?”

“Of course.”

“So, you come into our coterie, and you’re welcome, but you’re coming on a little strong, getting a little close…”
“Oh, I’d like to get close,” She leaned in. 

“We can talk about that later, “ I smiled at her sudden lasciviousness and returned to the topic, “I’d like to talk about why.  If you want something, maybe that’s something we can help you with.”

“Why? I’ll tell you the same thing I told Luna…I mean Eclipse now, whatever that’s all about.  I’m looking for an old friend. This was the last place he was located.  I asked around, and you guys seemed to be the most prominent people. Now  I understand I should have come to you first.”

“Of course, it’s what I do,” This was an excellent night, “So tell us about your friend. What’s his name?”

“His name’s Izac.”
“Hey, I know that guy,” Stallion said from behind, and I turned to see him leaning back against the wall behind Dominic’s desk. 

“Do you?” Mads briefly turned to Stallion, her interest in the topic overriding her focus on me for a moment, “Rain, do you know Izac?”

“Yes, “ I nodded, connecting the Mads of Izac’s mumblings with the individual before us.  It seemed his past had followed him to us.  Who knew what was in store for his future?

“Of course, we’d have a shared acquaintance.”

“I don’t know if you’re exactly in his good books,” Stallion added, and I wondered where he remembered that from. A stray memory left my Dominic’s deep clean?

“I’m sorry, is the Gangrel with you?” She asked, turning back to me. 

“Stallion is of the coterie,” I metered my words carefully.  Her powers of observation took me aback.  I know I’m new, but I’m sure I couldn’t have worked out a bloodline that quickly.  Mads was clearly either a potential asset in tracking down Izac or a substantial liability to us all.

“Now you’ve told me the truth, and I’ll tell you one.  We’ve lost him.  We lost him tonight.  He walked out of the State Theatre and disappeared.  By the time we thought to check for him, he was already out of the City.’

The once large lipid eyes narrowed in annoyance.  The lips thinned into a scowl.  Mads did not like that information at all. 

“We know who he was with…well, we know what they look like.  We have a car description, license plate and the time they left this bar.”

“So, Izac was in this little coterie?” She asked.

“He was.”

She laughed, and the laughter held all the warmth of a winter’s night on a London street corner, “He found friends. How nice.  Tell me, are any members of your coterie gone now? Suffered a horrific death?”

A flash of the alleyway full of bodies sprung to mind.  Yes, she could be very dangerous.

“I think…Izac is a very different person from what you remember.”

“And I aim to find out.  I have some questions for him.”

I was sure she had more than just questions for Izac, “I know he did not have happy memories of those times.  And he wasn’t happy with us either, but he could live with it.  There was…stuff he couldn’t live with when he was with you.”

She didn’t like hearing that. She laughed again to cover her discomfort, “Let’s get back to the topic.  Where’s this licence plate number?”

“All in due time, we’re currently looking for him…” Stallion began sounding very formal, the authority in the room. I pulled out my phone.  I’d taken screenshots of the driver from the CCTV screens and showed her.

“Have you seen this guy before?” I paid no attention to the image on the phone, I watched her aura as it swirled ominously.

“A mercenary Assamite, how fun,” Her physical expression was calm, her voice light and casual, but the aura lost its pale blue.

“Izac was taken by a mercenary?” Stallion asked as I watched the white turn silver, static enter around the edges of Mads’ aura.

“Yeah, you give him what he wants, and he’ll do your job for you. For the right price, you could probably get information from him.

”Our investigation just got steep, hasn’t it,” I glanced at Stallion, who seemed to enjoy this interview.

“Would you know how to contact this person?” He asked.

For the first time since meeting her in the bar, Mads looked unsure. With the degrading aura, I assumed the mercenary was not someone she was looking forward to dealing with.

“Mads, I’d love to have a conversation with them.”

“Do you know how to start a fire?” She finally said, her tone matching the fearfulness of her aura, “Possibly, but are you ready for what happens after? There are always ways to get in contact with these people.  It all depends.  Do you want it fast and dirty or clean and quiet?”

“I’m sure Mr Giovanni would prefer clean and quiet,” I replied at the same intensity.  

“I could make a call,” And the bravado and self-assurance was back. 

“We should wait for the others…” Stallion began, but I had more questions.

“Yes, good suggestion Stallion ,but I have another question, “ And to Mads I described the Lady, the woman that even now was clawing for real estate in my mind.  I described her in detail as I had done for Dominic and watched for her answer.

“She may have hired the mercenary, but she certainly has Izac.”
“I haven’t a clue,” She said, almost annoyed, “Look, we find him, we find her, right?”

“Find the woman.  Find the man,” I agreed.

At this time, we heard Dominic’s footsteps climbing the stairs.  I moved to the second visitors’ chair and waited for Dominic.

“Ah, everyone seems to be in my office again, “ He said coolly.  He was annoyed I’d brought Mads here into his inner sanctum. He probably would have preferred the punishment room.

“Sorry, I wanted to make sure you found us.” I apologised.  Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.

“Is there any particular reason you wanted me to find you?” He was mad. I chose not to assume it was all directed at me.

“I assumed you would like to chat with Mads here. She’s full of information. She knows who our driver is, at least by reputation if not by name.”

“A merc for hire of some sort,” Stallion added, showing he had been following along with the interview.  It seemed that even a mind wash sobriety sat well on him.

“An Assamite mercenary, “ I added. I vaguely remembered something about the bloodline having another name.  The Banu Haqim.

“So, a sellout,” He said, explaining that most Assamites are assassins often used by Princes.

“Yes, probably hired by my Lady to find Izac,” I found that thought particularly galling. She wasn’t sending hired help to bring me to her. 

“Is there a guild of mercenaries?” Stallion asked, and I had to turn in my seat to ensure he wasn’t joking, “Or does he work solo?”

“No, there is no guild of mercenaries.  Mercenaries just are, “ Dominic replied, “ You find them, tell them what you want and pay them what they ask.”

“It’s all freelance work,” Mads confirmed, showing she knew quite a bit about this world.  

“Guild…organisation…close enough.”

“Still, it’s something we can look into,” Dominic added, and once more, Mads became the focus of the discussion.

“Dominic, Mads is here looking for Izac,” I informed him, assuming this would gain his attention.

“You mean the vegetarian had friends in other places too?” It didn’t.

“I can tell you he’s not vegetarian!” Mads added with energy.  The thought of Izac as an innocent had sparked something in her.  I nodded sadly, my suspicions confirmed about the nightmare I’d gained from the keys earlier.

“He is now.”

“He certainly is now,” Dominic laughed, taking his rightful place behind the desk, “There was no way Izac could have had such friendly relations with the werewolves unless he was.”

“That’s what I’m saying, Mads, “I added, “He’s not the same guy anymore.”

That gave Mads pause.  Still, the resentment burned with her.  She wouldn’t be satisfied until she saw for herself.

Not wanting Mads to give a false impression, I dropped the Presence but kept up the Auspex.  I watched as her colours swirled in confusion.  It was disappointing to see her scowl only deepened.

“Did the lights flicker or something? It’s done you no favours.”

“No comments are required, thanks Mads.” I smoothed back my hair and tried to get the conversation back on track.

“So Mads has some information.  She mentioned she could make a phone call regarding our Assamite mercenary, and…currently, our courses align. Finding Izac. What she wants to do with our Izac when we get him back is another thing. She says she wants to ask him a few questions.”

“I’m not shocked, really,” Dominic said, leaning back in his chair, his hands steepled in front of him, “He is the biggest curiosity in the whole kindred.”

“Yes, I started hearing rumours around town of someone fitting his description, and that’s the reason why I started circulating.”

She made it sound like she had the same general curiosity as everyone in Sydney, but I wanted to test my theory.

“You hinted at a darker past.  It wouldn’t have to do with bodies in a dark alley, would it?”

I made her blink.

“Oh well, “ She said with a laugh. She was full of cold humour, “Not my body, of course.  Mine was draped over the hood of a car.  Beside the point, I guess.”

“How do you know him?” Dominic asked, now showing his interest for the first time.

“He murdered my husband and best friend.”

And there it was.

“Interesting.  By killed, do you mean turned to ash or drained him? Is that when he turned you?”

Mads’ expression did not waver, but her aura dissolved into silvery sadness, swirled with orange fear and edged with anxious static.  This recollection was uncomfortable for her, no matter how good she was at hiding it.

She said nothing.

“What I’m asking is, were you mortal at the time that it happened?”

“Hmm, that could be…let’s… let quickly… let’s just stay on topic.” Deeply uncomfortable.

“Izac is the topic of all these questions,” Dominic replied.  This is what I’d wanted, for Dominic to push her and for me to sit back and watch what happened.  The silver became more dominant until she had a silver halo of grief.

“And I and my past is not, so please, let’s stay on topic.” She repeated.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said, trying to sound sincere.  Whatever had happened, it had happened made a profound effect on both Izac and Mads.  He had turned himself around.  We were yet to see what it would make her do.

“I know he’s sorry for what happened, too.  He’s trying to find a way of making up. I know that probably doesn’t mean much to you.”

She was deeply uncomfortable but barely showed it. She had nothing to say, and neither did it seem to change her mind.

“Are you looking for answers from him?” Stallion asked.  To her, that was the last straw.

“I need a drink,” She said vehemently, standing from her chair.  For her, the interview was over.

“By all means,” Dominic said, officially concluding the discussion.  Mads wasted no time and left the room.

1.40 am Friday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club 4 Phillip Street, Leichhardt

For once in their short time together, Eclipse and Luna found themselves aligned.  No matter how much she tried to distance herself, Eclipse wanted Izac and his calming presence.  They had considered using the gun on themselves.  They heard another suggestion (she was never after sure if it had been the Snake’s or the right-hand of Satan’s), burning down the apartment and seeing it all disappear in flame. A clean fresh start, closure and catharsis. In the end, she looked around the apartment, picked up a few things, left the formal clothes behind, and locked the door behind her.

She returned to the Crow Bar and entered the V.I.P. lounge with a destination in mind. She was looking for Padre Craneo. Instead, she saw Mads ordering a drink from the new bartender.  Tthe cubical the Padre had been sitting now empty.

Carefully, Eclipse wove her way through the thinning lounge mindful to keep out of Mads’ eyeline, and entered the hallway to the Time Out room.

“…something very intoxicating and make it a double…” Mads ordered from Rumplestiltskin.  

“Are you looking to pass out? The sweet embrace of oblivion?” They asked, once more pulling out their bag of tricks.

“No, I just…need to get out of my own head for a while.”

“Of course.”

Her drink, when it arrived, was strong and smooth, soothing the harshness of her memories and quickly making the edges of her world blur.  She missed Eclipse sneaking around the crowd and out the back behind a curtained hallway.

Eclipse had read Encyclopedia Vampirica and knew what the old man was and where he’d probably be to indulge his eating habits. She knew the Time Out room well.  With a gentle but decisive tap, she made her presence known to the current occupant.

“Mndr!” A muffled voice called from inside, and she slid the door aside and stepped in.  She didn’t need to count the limbs to know there was more than one dismembered body in the room. There were more like eight. The Padre, stripped of his rich outer garments, was wrist deep in the body cavity of one, pulling out entrails and stuffing them into his mouth.

“Oh!  You’re fine with cadavers, right?” He said, swallowing.  He seemed surprised to see a neonate again that evening.

“Yes,” she replied blandly as if being asked if it was alright if he could finish his prayers.

“Well. What are you waiting for?  Close the door,” He didn’t wait to finish his sentence before stuffing another fistful of innards into his mouth.

“Sorry to interrupt you.”

“Not at all. We all need to feed, and clearly you have some urgent business.”

“I have a question to ask about what you said earlier. You mentioned a darkness around me.  I was wondering if there’s there a way to get rid of it?”

“In what sense?” He seemed genuinely intrigued.  Though he himself had suggested to have that darkness seen to like, it was a cancer or disease. He now sounded like it was more of a disability, something to live with than have removed.

“Padre, I strayed….very far. I’ve strayed so far I’ve come back around.”
“Hmm, from what I understand, you have two options the same as anyone. The final death.” Clear, effective and very final,  “The darkness is you, after all.  You can’t really be separated from yourself.”

“The other?”

“The other is…just a theory.  You could attempt Golconda, the promise of the angels.”

Eclipse sighed.  Still… a theory could be proven.

“What’s the process?”

“Wa wong man com-bli-ca-ed brocess…” He replied, his mouth full of…food.  The gore dribbled out the front of his mouth, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.

“Please, finish your meal,” She said, more disgusted with his eating habit than he was eating.

He swallowed and tried again, “A long and complicated process taking centuries.  Supposedly, only one of the three managed to do it.  The darkness is tied to you directly, so even if you were able to start the process, it would stop you,” He said as if not talking about her life. Either as an offering in sympathy or some unknown nonsequitur, he held up a freshly severed arm, the blood still dripping from the cut end, “Would you like some?”  

Eclipse took the arm and drank.

“And that’s why you won’t succeed.  You have to give that up for a start. How long do you think you’d last then, huh?”

Eclipse, dropped the arm back into the pile, his message received loud and clear. She changed the subject.

“What do you do with the ones like me in your group?” 

“Yeah, like-minded individuals are always useful tools.  Some are soldiers, some are spies… all that sort of thing.”

What little hope Eclipse had thought to find in this exchange now evaporated.  She was tainted with the Snake forever and of no better use than as a soldier or spy in others’ plans. Distractedly, she looked around and saw the Padre’s red gowns laid carefully over a chair, a white mask in the shape of a skull carefully sitting on top.

“Have you travelled much since Mexico, or did you arrive here straight from there?”

“I’ve been travelling…twenty years since the incident.  It’s a matter of finding places there’s…opportunity to go back to the other side.  You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“The wall? The veil between here and there?” 

“Oh, so you know of it?”
“Intimately,” She knew it well. It all seemed to fall apart from that moment the corporate werewolf introduced themselves to Rain only a week earlier.    

“Well, you must intimately tell me when you were there.” He rose from his meals, his watery eyes having no problem fixing on her now.

“There’s a residence…” Eclipse started, unsure how much she should say…could say.

“Go on.”
“It’s a house in Pyrmont.  I can give you the address, but it’s under Giovanni’s control.”

“You seem to know a lot about this. Tell me about them?”

“The Giovanni’s?
“Yes, the apparent obstacles you are mentioning.”
“Well, Ambrogino Giovanni has taken a deep interest.  His daughter-neice is in residence there now.”

“I’m sure he would.” 

“He’s looking for something.”
“He always has been.”
“Think he’ll find it?”

“I hope not.”  Padre now stepped away from his meal, his whole attention on Eclipse, “Anything else?”

“Werewolves.  The Gangrel in our group talks too much.  He big-named himself and made a deal…there’s a hole in the wall, literally.”

“And where is this hole in the wall?”

“There’s two.  One leads out into the Nofreatu tunnels around Sydney, the other past the Veil.”

“Interesting.  So a way to possibly bypass these obstacles?”

“I hope you find this useful.”  Though the old man was undoubtedly creepier than she’d seen in the bar, telling him had felt….invigorating…a weight lifted from her that had never been hers to carry in the first place.  Something like confession.

“It is.”

“It’s thanks.” She admitted.

“For what?”

“Not ratting me out to the others.  What I am…it’s a death sentence.”

“So now we use the power of the ignorance of others, right?”

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them?”

“Exactly,” The Padre smiled. It would have been kind if it hadn’t been stained red, “And now I’d like you to FORGET.”

The word was charged with power and it struck Eclipse like a psychic blow.  She blinked and suddenly, the memory of their conversation had been about the darkness and her two choices.  His instruction on being a better person and his kindness as he spoke about working towards common goals. They shared the sacrament together, something Eclipse hadn’t done in years. 

“And now you are leaving.  Goodbye, ” He dismissed her and returned to his meal. 

As she slid back the door to the Time Out room, blocking sight and sound of the Padre’s meal, she found she still had the same problems she went in with.  Death or the impossible.  One she wouldn’t do and one she couldn’t do. She also needed a victim for the ritual in two days two…one night.  She couldn’t get in touch with the Days of the Week to help, and she didn’t know her strategy to get one.  How could she find and lure someone out to the stone?  She tried working out what her skills were what assets had to hand, and came out short.  She didn’t know who she was now and barely knew what she could do.

Then maybe it’s time you get out there and found out, Said the voices in chorral disharmony, Maybe you should go find out who you are away from the shadow of the others.  Go out and discover yourself.  Shed some blood.  Shed the misery around. A death was taken from you. The least you can do is give some back. Yes?

“Yeah,” She said out loud and returned to the V.I.P. lounge.

1.40 am Saturday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Mads had gone to drown her memories.  Stallion continued to hold up the wall. Dominic and I stayed seated, but now we discussed what to do about our latest stray.

“She’s a wealth of information, but her motives make her unreliable, “ I  said.  We could probably work together getting Izac back, but that was as far as our relationship with her should extend. At least at the moment.

“Maybe after she’s drunk a bit, she’ll open up more,” Stallion suggested. 

“Adding another person to your coterie?” Dominic asked, glancing between the two of us.

“Are we?” Stallion looked at me.

I shook my head, “She’s out looking for revenge on one of our coterie.”
“Are you sure it’s revenge?” Dominic pressed.

“Izac did kill….whoever it was…” Stallion said.

“Her husband and best friend, “ I rolled my eyes, “I can tell you Mads is still greatly affected by the events between her and Izac.”

“But we don’t know how long ago that was, and time heals most wounds,” Dominic shrugged, “Or gives you more wounds to worry about.”

From personal experience, if alone, pain and trauma compound until it’s all there is.  We always remember the bad.  It was survival instinct.  I grumbled something to the effect, and let it be.

Dominic changed the subject, “So, just out of sheer curiosity, what exactly have you told this new person?” 

Stallion went to answer, but this question I wanted to field myself, “I showed her the driver, who she identified as Assamite.  I asked about my Lady and gave her a very detailed description.  She didn’t know her.” I shrugged, “She offered to make a phone call to see if we could get in contact with the driver.  That’s about it.”

“Remember, every conversation is a negotiation, “ Dominic replied in the voice he reserved for his lectures and education. “Try to get more than what you get back.”

“I felt I got quite a bit,” I bridled at his reproof, “We didn’t know about Assamites. We didn’t know he was a mercenary. I thought it was an organised group. This could be just an individual with cash.”

“It would be an organised group hiring someone with cash,” Dominic qualified, and I bowed to his greater experience.

“Do we know if he pissed off someone recently?” Stallion asked.  With Izac, he didn’t need to piss off someone to be on their list, he just had to be.

“No, but we do know he’s the curiosity of the city.” Dominic vocalised, and I nodded.

“Everyone wants to know him.”

“Everyone wants a piece.”

Stallion thought a moment.  I was coming to dread these times, “Didn’t something happen between him and the Prince?”

How would he even remember that?  I looked to Dominic, whose face was as inscrutable as ever.  He seemed to drift off into revelry of his own for a moment, letting me deal with the question.

“He went to see the Prince,” I brushed the idea aside, not wanting discussion on the subject, “Dominic, you’re making that face again. I’m always concerned when you make that face.”

“What, smile?” Dominic replied, returning to us.

“Yes.”

“I have my moments.  You have to enjoy life while you can.”

2 am Saturday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Eclipse was not currently enjoying herself.  She had avoided the inebriated Mads in the V.I.P lounge and now stood at the top of the stairs facing the common room.  From there, she could continue upstairs and see what the others were doing in the office, or she could head into the Common room and…take what was owed.  

She thought of the others, what they would think of her, their expressions of sympathy, and it turned her stomach.

Why do I care what they think?  Why do I care what anyone thinks?  Stuff them and their sympathy! She thought and let her booted feet lead her towards the bright lights and happy sounds from the Common room.

2 am Saturday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Mads may have said she was enjoying herself if she had been able to put two words together.  Rumplestiltskins mixture was effective, and very few of Mads neurons were talking to each other. Her thoughts were happy and carefree, swimming in a haze.  The haze extended out to her vision.  Anything beyond two feet was just a blur, and she found herself face-to-face with strangers, looking for someone she knew.

“Hey, Luna…er…Eclipse…” She grabbed hold of a woman with blonde hair and heavy eye makeup, “No…you’re not who I thought you were…urgh…sorry…it’s been a night…” 

“Let go of me!” The woman protested, shaking off the befuddled Mads into another stranger’s arms.

“Well, hello.  Are you alright? Here, have a chair. You look like you need to rest.” Said another voice, as she allowed herself to be directed, “I’m….young girl…uh…okay…” She gave up and sat when the hand gently lowered her into a seat.

“Here, we’ll put you in a private booth…”Said the voice, in a calm soothing tone that felt good…felt safe…. Her head rested on the table, as she let a hand smooth back the hair from her face.  It was such an old sensation it tapped into memories of being calmed by a parent after a nightmare or illness.  The gesture was…nice…relaxing…restful…

2 am Saturday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

“So, what are we saying? We’re letting Mads in as long as she provides information?” I was trying to pin down the group’s stance on Mads. I figured if she was going to hang around looking for Izac, she might as well make herself useful. 

“Right!” Stallion agreed, “Use and abuse, got it.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“We can, but just remember to get more than you give,” Dominic said, and I once more felt his disappointment in me.

“Once again, I thought I did pretty well,” I grumbled before adding, “And I think she’s already been well abused.  I don’t think we need to do anymore.”

“I mean, “Stallion qualified, “It depends how far we need to go. Interrogation and all that.”

It wasn’t the first time I was seeing Stallion not as a brother of the coterie, but as just someone who happened to be around. I ignored his latest suggestion and changed the subject.

“Well, the night is…late.  Should I see about getting her a place at the hotel?”

“If you’re looking for a cheap place to sleep, I’ve got a joint that I’m using,” This was the first I’d heard of Stallion having a place. I knew he practised out at some warehouse of Dominic’s but accommodation was a new development, “I’m thinking about redecorating.”

“Where are you staying, Stallion?”

“Ah, in a warehouse.”

As I said.  Someone who just happened to be around.  

“In a drafty warehouse? Aren’t you afraid of someone coming in during the day?”

He shrugged, a glint of crafty knowing lighting his eyes, “Yeah, well, there are ways around that.  And with the redecorating, there’ll be a new way of dealing.”

Out of morbid curiosity, I wanted to know what he intended to do out at the warehouse to keep himself safe.  At the same time…did I really care?   Stallion didn’t need any prompting and continued to share…overshare the details of his set-up.

“Yeah, I have a little snack pack out there, but it’s a bit clotted at the moment.  Chewy,” He nashed his teeth, and I worked hard to keep a blank face.  I’d spent most of the evening with an old man chewing on a human arm bone, and it was Stallion talking about clotted ‘snack packs’ that turned my stomach.  

“I’m thinking it’s an acquired taste,” He added in response to my silence.

“It could be worse,” Dominic offered, “He could be into rats.”
“At least there wouldn’t be a vermin problem,” I mumbled in reply.  This was getting us nowhere.

“By the way, Stallion, why don’t you come here?  I have a gift for you,” Dominic now took off his suit jacket, unlatched the cufflink of his left sleeve and rolled up the material, offering his wrist to Stallion.

Stallion looked at the wrist as if it were a tempting morsel. 

I knew enough of that blood to know its effects.  That both Luna…Eclipse and I had the same effect, proving to me that Dominic must have done something more than rearrange Stallion’s brain furniture.  I stood silently by as Stallion struggled with some inner conflict.  To drink or not to drink.

“I have no good reason to refuse,” He said after some moments of inner turmoil and gratefully took Dominic’s arm.

“Wrist for wrist?” Stallion offered up his own arm to Dominic, who quietly shook his head.

“You need your strength.  I want you practising tonight. Have some of mine; it will help you with your studies.”

Stallion looked like he’d been offered a great gift, and yet something in him still resisted, thought the wrist was less than a foot from his mouth.

“No time for study tonight. I want  to get in a little renovation.”

“Then you’ll need to extra energy.  Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“No…but why are you refusing? Wouldn’t I just replace the blood I give you with your blood?” A spark of intellect still rebelled in Stallion, thrashing against the echoing spaces of his mind against…whatever was happening before me.

“You could think about it as a refusal if you want,” Dominic said, sounding hurt, “But there were a few things you wanted me to do, remember?  This was one of them.”

I watched from my chair, flicking back and forth between the two of them.  Blood drinking was a significant way of forming bonds, I knew, but this was all one way.  Like ghouls, or…I thought of the Prince’s blood I’d taken and wondered if he’d try the same with me. Maybe I should look into the significance.

“I just don’t know why you’re not taking mine,” Stallion’s argument repeated.  He was running out of excuses.

“I don’t need to.  But we made a deal, so I’m keeping my end of that deal. Your sire is offering you his wrist. Isn’t that a good thing?” Dominic was getting tired of the game he’d created between himself and Stallion. When Stallion continued to baulk at the offered blood, he let it do the work for him.

“Drink,” He said the word heavy with power, and I once more felt the backwash from Dominic’s Dominate.  A shiver went up my spine.  If he dominated me, would I be able to resist like Izac had at Pyrmont?  I wasn’t sure I would.  Without another word, Stallion took the wrist and drank, “Don’t worry, just drink my child.  You’ll feel better when you do.”

“Aren’t you afraid you’re screwing with his brain?” I asked Dominic as I remembered the other times Dominic had dominated Stallion.  The first time was our very first night.  

“I’m making it so I don’t have to screw with his brain ever again,” Was Dominic’s glib reply. 

It seemed Stallion was paying attention, “What? You’re screwing with my brain?”
“You asked me to, remember?” 

“Is that an oxy…moron?”

Well, it wouldn’t have been the only one.

“Drink,” Dominic said again, and Stallion did.

“You tell him enough times to drink, he’ll drink you dry,” I said seriously.  I knew Dominic was old and could take care of himself, but Stallion was strong even before letting the blood carry him away.  If Stallion had a taste for Dominic’s blood, surely it was only a matter of time. 

“No he won’t.  I’ll tell him where to stop when it’s appropriate,” Our sire replied self assuredly.  All I could think was, ‘Pride goes before the fall.’

Stallion stopped drinking, proving his point.

“I hope so for your sake.”
“It’s more for Stallion’s sake.” That got me thinking.  Dominic had taken the adoption of us three very seriously.  I’d already caused him to call in family and cost him personally millions.  He’d shown compassion with Eclipse in the apartment.  Even Stallion had been less unpredictable recently.  Maybe he was a good Father.  I wouldn’t know.

“Out of the three of us, he has diablerised.”

“Hmm, tastes nice,” Stallion said, smacking his now ruby lips, “Do you want some, Rain.”
“No,” Besides the thought of choking down burning razor blades, it seemed very rude to offer someone else’s blood to another. I was glad it was not my blood that Stallion had a fixation on.

“Rain’s tasted before,” Dominic smiled, and I involuntarily swallowed.

“Ah, so you’ve been sneaking a little blood behind all our backs,” Stallion said smugly.

This was what it would always be like with him.  Continually explaining the things he’d asked Dominic to make him forget.

“It was called a punishment.”
Stallion blinked, “Punishment for what?”
I sighed, thinking of the loss of Pyrmont.  I wondered if there was something to salvage from the old place.

“I did ask that at the time, “ I looked up at Dominic, but he was too busy dressing again to notice, “It was punishment for being  responsible for  what happened in the house.”
“I don’t understand.  How is it a punishment?”
“Don’t worry about that.” Obviously, the conversation was turning down paths that Dominic did not want Stallion’s remaining brain cells to follow.

I returned to my original question, “Do you want me to take Mads to the hotel tonight?  Unless my apartment is available, I’ll be heading that way anyway.”

“Hey, we don’t know anything about her,” Stallion now fixed his attention on me, “She could be dangerous. She may try to take advantage of you.”

“If she does, and for some reason I don’t like it, I can always do what I did on the apartment building roof,” I replied cryptically.

“What did you do when you went to the roof?” Stallion asked, now interested.

“Ahh, “ I replied with my own smug smile and left it at that.

“You have your backup piece?” Dominic asked, adding his own advice to this conversation.

“I have Lupara,” I said, flipping her out of her holster on my back, “And my knives.”

“Excellent.”

“I always have Lupara,” Which made me think of less than a week away, “That’s a thing.  Succubus Club, it won’t be appropriate to take her there, surely? And I can’t just leave her anywhere.”

“No, you can’t,” He agreed, “You can hide it on you. Just don’t pull it out in the middle of a crowd.”

I nodded, “Then she’ll go, “ With one hand, I flicked up the jacket back, and with the other, I returned Lupara to her place. Like she was never there.  Magic!

“Oh, and about the Stray.  If she doesn’t have a place, tell her we can offer her a temporary room at the hotel.”

I nodded again and left them talking about Stallion’s renovations.  

Good.   I wanted to keep her close. 

“What are your renovations?” Dominic asked as Stallion also prepared to go.

“Nothing much, just a little digging.”
“You have all your materials?”
Stallion looked at his hands as if they had answered the question.

“They are tools, not materials.  You’re not building a cave for yourself there, are you?”

“No, nothing like that.  Just getting down to the dirt.”

“Hmm, “Dominic said, unsure what Stallion would need of dirt but deciding he didn’t need to interfere just yet.

“You’re taking quite a liking to that little warehouse. Are you sure you don’t need any materials?”

“Well, it feels like I could melt into the ground.  I’d like to practise in private. So, to do that, I have to get past the concrete.”

“You know the place is for lease?  You could have someone enquire about it for you.”

“Nah, sounds like too much paperwork. This way, its free.”

“I was thinking of your future.  You have a false identity. You have some money.  You could always start a business there.”

Stallion face darkened at the thought of work, “Are you asking me or telling me.”

“I’m letting you know your options,” Dominic replied diplomatically.

“Nah, it would make me feel rooted…stuck…you know.” Stallion made to leave a before being pulled back by Dominic’s parting words.

“Have a think about it.”

2.20 am Saturday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

The V.I.P. room was thinning as I made my last trip down the stairs that night.  It was easy to spot Mads, slumped over a table in a booth, being tended to by a stranger. It looked like I may have just come in time to save her.  Shame.  She’d never remember me sweeping in and saving her at the last minute.  I walked over quickly and made my presence felt.

“Mads!  There you are! I’ve been hunting all over for you,” I said, offering a huge smile to the guy giving Mads his personal attention, “Looks like she’s overindulged on our excellent barman’s cocktails tonight. I’m Rain. Thanks for helping out.”

“Ra….Rain? Rain…pitter-patter, pitter-patter!” Mads mumbled into the woodgrain of the tabletop, and giggled.

“Sure,” The guys said, stepping back as if relinquishing claim over the prize, “Is this one of yours?”

“Yes, she is, as you can see, pitter-patter.”

“I didn’t want to be rude…”
“No, thank you for looking after her. She’s had a trying night, I’m afraid.”

“ I was going to wait and see if anyone claimed her… courtesy.  You might want to put her on a better leash. You know, it’s rude to take things from others.” 

My smile stiffened. We were all predators here.

“I appreciate your courtesy,” I replied without taking my eyes off him, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” He turned away, unhappy having lost his prey.  I was grateful for the influence of Dominic over this place to keep his Elysium. 

I turned my attention now to the barely conscious Mads in the booth. She had left herself so vulnerable in a strange place with no one to watch her back. I understood the need to let loose, but even a child such as myself knew the threats that lurked everywhere. I was one of them, and so was she.  I quietly contemplated Mads relationship to Izac.  Their friendship before…what I assumed was the alleyway…what they could possibly mean to each other now.  I could only imagine that once we find him, someone was due a lot of heartache.

“Do you have a place you’re staying?” I bent down and whispered so only she could hear.

“Ah…Ja…hm…naa..no’ re’lly.”
“No, really, huh? Well then, maybe just for the short term, we’ll put you up, okay?”

“You-re da best….but I’m mm keeping myself for a’nudder…the one tha’ is RAIN!”

At least she was a happy drunk, “I do like you like this.  Come on, let’s go up and put you to bed.  You’re own bed.”

Putting my arm around Mad’s back I helped her up.  In a unhurried, shuffle and we walked across the V.I.P lounge and climbed the stairs.  We crossed the Common room like old buddies heading home after a good night out.  I spied Eclipse in what used to be our corner of the common room. Her eyes drifted over the merry-making crowd as usual. Usually, she’d scan the crowds as you would scan the brush strokes in a painting, allowing it all to blur in a beautiful whole.  What wasn’t usual was the predator look, the hunger in which she now hunted each individual.  Like a cat in the shadows as mice frolicked in a loose pile of grain.

 I shrugged.    She’d made it clear that she wasn’t interested in friendship with me anymore. It hurt, losing my vision of a future where the three of us worked together to make the nights what we wanted. It hurt more to know I’d lost her trust and her compassion.   

For a fraction of a second, her eyes scanned the room in our direction.  Her eyes glided by.  She didn’t even move in her seat.  

I guided both Mads out the door.

The cool morning air awoke both of us as we tandemly walked to the hotel, “You know Rain, you’re a really cool guy.”

“Yeah, I know.  I hope you feel the same way tomorrow.”

The hotel was happy to provide a room for a guest of Mr Giovanni and I saw her into her room and bed.  Before leaving, I scribbled two numbers onto a sheet of hotel stationery. One was my mobile. The other, my room number.

2.20 am Saturday 4 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crow Bar

Eclipse was scanning the waning crowd for her prey.  There were a few possibilities.  

She saw Rain with Mads draped over his shoulder.  He seemed to have it all under control, and if there was one thing about Rain, he could handle himself.  They left, and not long later Stallion sauntered through the common room for the door. He raised his chin, acknowledging her, and she did the same in reply. 

 Dominic came down some time later, taking a last look around the premises before leaving for the night.  He spotted her before she saw him and took his chance to sneak up on his childe sitting in the shadows.

“Behind you…” He whispered, and she slowly turned to see him standing less than a metre away.

“Oh!”

“I know that look. Who’s tonight’s victim?” He asked, looking around at what was left of the crowd, a smile lighting his face.

“There’s a couple.  One…fesible…the other…I could make it work.” She nodded at the one who had been making eyes at her ever since she came up. She turned on Presence and focused it in his direction. She was gratified when he turned and gave her his full and undivided attention. In fact, the whole group he was near turned and whispered, “Who is she?”

“Well, monster.  Go get them,” Dominic took her seat in the shadows… and watched.

Leaving the table, she stepped lightly across the Common room in her prey’s direction. She looked up through her veil of black hair, her eyes never leaving his. He straightened and smirked, sure he’d caught himself the best catch in the whole place.

“Hey, good looking.  What are you doing?  I haven’t seen you around.”
She shrugged, “Maybe you should visit more often.”

“Maybe I should. What are you doing tonight?” 

“I’m looking for something to do.”

“Yeah, what a coincidence, I know a few somethings.”

“Hmm,” she smiled and there was nothing innocent or coy in it, “Something like you.”

“Yeah?” He couldn’t believe his lucky night, “Well, I know a place where the drinks stay cold.”

“Sounds like my sort of place,” She whispered back, the breath tickling the hairs on his neck and sending shivers down his spine.  He quickly fumbled for his phone and called an Uber for 19 Margret Street, Petersham.

The house was small and humble, squeezed between two neighbours as equally uninteresting.  He led her in with all the eagerness of a schoolboy, down the narrow hallway to the kitchen living space, where he went to a collection of wines still in crates.

“White or red?” He asked as she stood looking around at the drab surroundings.  

“Red,” She replied, noting the granny flat in the back but no one else in the house.

Good.

A glass of red wine was handed over, a wide grin painted across his face.  She took the wine, touching his hands as she did. At the same time, she stirred the blood and used Dominion.

For a moment, the piece of meat in front of her was only a distant writhing memory as she saw into the dark recesses of his mind.  She saw the things that he never shared with anyone, moments of humiliation, emasculation and deep regret.  His relationship with his mother was…complicated through years of verbal, physical and psychological abuse. 

“Say, do you like things a little rough?” He asked, his hands now trying to take possession of her. She stepped lightly away, “Or maybe not.”

“Why do you think you get to put your flithy hands on me?” She said, tapping into that scar of abuse that ran right through his psyche, “You. Do you think You found Me?  No, I found you and I will do what I like with you.”

The guy, whose name she never asked and would never know, put down his Heineken, his eyes dilated, his face expressionless in shock. He stepped back and bumped into the kitchen cabinets.

“You thought you were in control with your cheap red and your drab little house? You sad creature.  You deserve to be meat and drink.  Mindless cattle to the likes of me!”

From a draw behind him, he clumsily pulled a kitchen knife.  From her pocket, she gracefully drew her switchblade, the sharpened edges glinting under the incandescent blub. She moved first, with all the grace and speed afforded to her by the blood. Before he even raised his weapon in defence, nine centimetres of the switchblade was embedded in his forehead. There was no protest. The knife dropped from his nerveless hands.  He breathed out a sigh and began falling.  Before he even touched the ground, she was at his neck, taking back the blood she used to draw him to her, to lead to this moment.  

The heart, ignorant that the body was already dead, pumped the blood into her mouth, and she savoured the warmth and life of it.  She hadn’t feed so well in days, maybe weeks.  As she lowered the twitching body to the ground, she continued to drain it dry. She knew once more why she’d killed that first night. The feeling of power, of control over life and death.  Life that was now hers.  Death that belonged to him.

When she was done and he was empty, she grasped the ebony handle of her blade and pulled it out of his head with a jerk.

It was what he deserved. What they all deserve, Said all her voices and she joined in the choir, All the Izac of the world.  And I am owed their deaths.

3.40 am Saturday 3 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Petersham

**************************************************************************************

Eclipses thoughts:

Heartbeat

You know what comes next, don’t you? 

Of one mind. 

On the same side. 

We should pull the trigger. 

I’ve died twice…

Am I not happy? 

Am I not proud? 

I sacrificed it all. Everything I have had to give to the pathetic existence of reality. 

Can you see it? 

The soft rays of sunshine. A figure sits beneath a tree. A flower in hand. 

He waits for us…

The image cracks. A belief crumbling on an unstable foundation. I know it’s not true. 

Flames replace the sun. A coat of burning black. Everything falls a top a throne of bones. 

I’ve seen the truth. A world he would never want to live in. One I must create. 

Because the blackness is apart of me. 

Because I’m not strong enough for Golconda. 

Because he wants a garden but I burn everything I touch. 

The metal is cold in my hands. Mt Druitt prefers its shanks and knives.

Takes an idiot to miss the temple. 

Pull the trigger. 

I should. 

Why can’t I? 

Maybe I killed a version of him to feel something. Maybe I need to realise I’m not worth saving. 

I am a monster. I have the most blood on my hands. No washing can make them clean. No actions will bring him back to me. 

I’m drowning. 

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Allicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into a likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Policed premiere detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Banu Haqim: Also know as Assamites, Assassins though sometimes just mercenaries for hire.  

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Clan or Bloodline:  From one the 13 antediluvians. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves Izac is familiar with this 

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

*Sarrasine, a novella by Balzac.  Sarrasine is a sculpture who is infatuated with an Opera Singer, Zambinella. She thinks herself cursed and deflects his advances.  At a performance, Zambinella is revealed to Sarrasine to be a castrato.  In a rage, Sarrasine attacks the singer, only to be cut down and killed by their bodyguard.

12.00 am Friday 9 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crowbar, Leichhardt

While a party with half the coterie was happening downstairs, Stallion was up in the library, studying.  He’d learnt a new trick, a tattoo that would stay on a vampire.  He was now sitting back in the wingbacked chair trying to imagine a coterie tattoo, something to bring the group closer together.  He had to admit that his artistic talents did not extend to drawing.  That had always been in rap and music, naturally.  He needed help, but where was everyone else?

In the carpark, Bruce was busy with the current bags of inventory when Dominic found him.

“What do you want boss?”

“It’s time to go shopping,” Dominic replied, “A possible new supplier.”

“Where?” Bruce forgot about his crates of drugs and was now fully invested in the conversation.

“Here. One of the private rooms.”
“Mine or your forte?”

“I think we shall see,” Dominic replied and led the way to where the seller had been asked to display his wares.

The Ventrue was busy setting up his wares as Dominic and Bruce entered the room.  At first glance, the product wasn’t as state-of-the-art as promised.  Riot gear a few years out of date, second-hand assault rifles, shotguns, and assorted pistols.  Dominic’s eyes dropped to a grenade launcher.  Bruce caught his glance and raised his eyebrow in interest.  Dominic inspected the items, picking each up expertly and breaking them down to look for wear, serial numbers and grime.  He found all three, but also that all the items were intact, in working order and only needed a little attention to make them usable.

“These will have to come off,” He gestured to several guns with serial numbers, and Bruce quickly made a note.

As he made it to the end of the display, he waved to the small collection of semi-automatic handguns, the grenade launcher and M4s he’d put aside.

“A lot are no good.  These are in reasonable condition and can be cleaned up, so where would you like to start?”  He pointed at the grenade launcher, “What are you asking for this package?”

The Ventrue opened his stance, arms outstretched in the time-honoured expression of a salesman making an ‘honest deal’.

“This will be a big deal, and I don’t expect to see you anytime soon, so we should talk about accessories, miscellaneous parts and rounds before getting down to pricing. I can probably get you a bulk deal on the lot.”

“Sure, why not.”

Lists of rounds, normal and incendiary, types of grenades, suppressors, slings and harnesses were shared like simple line items on an Excel spreadsheet.

“No bayonets, of course,” The Ventrue said with a smile, “We’re not living in the dark ages.”
“No, indeed.  That’s what my hands are for,” And Dominic flexes fingers that, even before turning, knew how to dispense damage, “Why use a knife when you can rip someone’s head off.”

The Ventrue’s eyes grew wide with the thought, and Dominic waved away his concerns.

“So, what is your price?”
“Sixteen mill.” He announced, and the room of three men was silent.  Even at Australian prices for weaponry, the price was outrageous. 

The Ventrue, however, was ready with his spin, “You want grenades, right?  These are not available to your every day hunter, and as I said, I expect this to be a large purchase.  You won’t want to see me for a while, and I can assure you, sixteen will keep me…cosy in whatever storm you’re choosing to start.”

Dominic surveyed his purchases again.  What he was getting now may not be the full 16 mil, but with the chance he’d be able to make a similar one in the future, it seemed a decent deal.  

“It’s only money, “ He shrugged and held out his hand for the Ventrue to take, “Deal.”

“Thank you. I’m going to take myself off and have a nice holiday.”
“Be sure to have a drink from our latest bartender before you go.”
“Maybe, but I hear Libera is good this time of year, so if I may, I’ll organise your order and be on my way.”

“Oh, we didn’t make a deal for the riot gear,” Bruce mentioned as it seemed the shopping was completed.

The Ventrue looked to Dominic, “Go on, no extra charge.”

The Ventrue left to sort out the delivery of the extras as Bruce and Dominic looked over the haul.  Nothing spectacular, but it would sizably boost their arsenal.

“Make sure none of these are linked to any murders, and make it your priority to get rid of those serial numbers,” Dominic ordered, and Bruce nodded along.

“ Sure.  We’ll take  them out to the farm to repurpose.”

12.00 am Friday 9 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crowbar, Leichhardt

At a table in the middle of the V.I.P. lounge, Eclipse and Mads were quietly sipping drinks and sharing gossip.

“So what do you do to kill the time?” Mad’s asked, which had Eclipse thinking, What didn’t they do?

“This group doesn’t sit still. A night is never wasted, “ Eclipse replied casually, providing no details.

“You must have something on then.”
“We did. We left.  A play by Dracula.”

Mads made a face, “Gauche!”

Mads leaned back and listened to the hum of voices in the bar.  More than usual, her ears were able to tease out the diamonds from the dross of chit-chat.  In a private booth with its curtain drawn, Rain sat talking to a couple, the sounds of crunching and slurping clear from behind the velvet.

“You seem distracted,” Eclipse said, catching Mad’s attention.

“I…hear things…I have a knack for it.  I thought this place would be livier with talk.”
“Friday night, the common room upstairs would be livier, “Eclipse suggested, but Mad’s eyes were focused on the curtained booth.

“I think I’d like to see what Rain is up to.  Would you care to join me?” Mads rose, and Eclipse was once more left with nothing to do. She looked around the room, hoping to find one of the Days of the Week that she could talk to.  None of them were currently in sight. 

Finally, she gave in and left the table with Mads, “Sure, but I can’t say I’ll stay the whole night.” 

There was a small lull in the conversation at my table as Padre took a moment to eat.  I was feeling pretty good.  I did know that being a baby at the literal adult’s table had caused some upset, but I’d hoped I’d overcome any bad feeling by offering the Padre a place to eat in peace.  I must admit the drinks made by Rumplestiltskin also had their desired effect, and I was just relaxing into the buzz when two attractive young women headed towards our booth.  It took a second glance to realise that the women in question were Luna and Mads.

“Hey!” I straightened in my seat, “Friends, welcome!”

 “Rain and company?” Luna said smoothly but didn’t take a seat at the booth beside me, preferring to stand.

 “Padre and Alicia, this is Mads, a new acquaintance, and Luna, my sister in the coterie.”

“I’d thought you’d pin me as something different, Rain,” Luna replied and not the first time in our acquaintance, she had me gobsmacked. Was there a problem with me calling her my sister?  She’d not mentioned it before.  

The Padre, who had once more hidden his meal, seemed to be paying close attention to Luna.  I knew that look. I make it every time I’m trying to discern someone’s aura. In reply, Luna seemed to take in the Padre over the rim of her glass.

“There is something strange about you, child, “ The Padre said. A man of few words, we all became silent to listen to what he had to say, “You are not of the major clans.  What bloodline are you?”

I had to school my expression not to look stunned.  She was labelled a Brujah from our first night out of the sand, but as I glanced over a Luna, expecting her to deny his assessment, she looked away.  She was working out her options in front of this ancient, and I now realised what had happened to Luna a few nights ago. Her strange friends had somehow convinced her to change her bloodline.

“But Padre, “ I finally said as the silence became obvious, “She’s Brujah.”

“I may be straying, but I am part of the rebel clan.” She added unconvincingly.

“You may have at one time. But something has happened to you.” The Padre, now paid no attention to the rest of us and leaned across the table to Luna, “If I may, I’d like to take a closer look at you. My eyes are not as good as they used to be, you understand?”

“Does it matter where I come from?” Luna said, and Allica and the Padre scoffed.

The Padre gestured for Luna to come closer, and she obliged him with a step.  He leaned in further, clearly wanting to whisper something to her.  Of course, I heightened my senses, hoping this was the answer I’d been looking for. I saw Mad’s lean in with the same expectation, no doubt.

“We have some of your kind on our side,” The Padre whispered, giving her a knowing look. She nodded in reply.

What is that supposed to mean?  Was she part of his church now? Some of her kind? What was she? And whose side was the Padre on?  I was starting to feel the iceberg of vampire culture and history loom far larger than I’d imagined.

“Nice to meet you, Padre. Though I may have strayed , I know that not all of the faith are bad.”

“It’s good to see some that do in these dismal times,” the Padre nodded again in reply.

“Where do you come from Padre?” Luna asked

“Originally out of India.  I spent some time there and on the Otherside.  Met some nice people…you know there’s no bigotry on the other side. I learnt a lot, too.”

The Otherside, in Death.  Right at that moment, I felt that meeting the Padre and Alicia was fate.  I forgot about the drink, the lady, everything and focused on Padre and his story.

“But it’s not quite the same.  It’s nice just to lie down and let it go. It’s nice to be in a city that is not rife with conflict.  Nothing like Mexico.  It’s very peaceful.”

“As I’ve been told,” Luna replied, “There’s no revolution to be had in Sydney.” Now, who had told her that?

“There’s revolution everywhere if you know where to find it.  You can fight for cheaper food, freedom,  or kindness. You can fight for anything if there’s enough people who want it.”

The Padre, who had slipped into a revelry for a moment, fixed his eyes on Luna, “There is a question that Alicia and I have been asking ourselves, and as you’re all quite young, I wonder. Have you found your purpose?”

“Yes,” Luna replied quickly, and I had to nod.  Wasn’t that the first thing I’d asked her when I noticed the change in her?  She hadn’t answered me then, but here for the Padre, she responded quickly and with assurance.

“Eternity is long, and you can’t spend it adrift, or else you tend to drown.”

I beg to differ.  I’d spent almost my entire life adrift. A few more centuries bobbing on the currents of society sounded just my speed.  But to each his own.

“That is a way of seeing it.  You would have done well in the dark ages,” The Padre joked, and Luna laughed gently.

“Forever is not forever.  It feels much longer.  You will eventually change with things around you. How long can you stay a statue and not crumble without good foundations? This will become more apparent to you after a few centuries.”

Dark and profound.  I’d seen something of that statue quality in Ambrogino and Lucretia.  They were walking anachronism, out of step with everything around them. But where Ambrogino had his purpose, his mission on the Otherside, Lucretia seemed adrift, only tethered to the here and now by his force of will and ambition.

Still, the Padre only had eyes for Luna.

“One of you seems earnest.  Luna, was it?”

“Eclipse would be more fitting,” Luna replied, and again, I was left breathless.  Eclipse?  Her living name? I didn’t like the sound of that.  Whereas Luna was light in the darkness, a guide and comfort, the Eclipse was the blotting out of light, the purposeful absence. No wonder I’d been feeling cold in her shadow of late.

“You have a lot of potential. You haven’t thrown your hat into the ring now, have you?”
“No, I’ve been trying to keep out of things, but I tend to find trouble.”

There was a flash in the old man’s eyes, “It seems that way.  There’s a darkness coiling around you. You’ll probably want that checked out and sorted.”

So the darkness in…her wasn’t permanent?  It could be… exorcised?  There was a time only a few nights ago when she thought she could exorcise me.  I didn’t expect to do the same for her.

“Thank you, Padre,” She said respectfully, and the Padre turned his attention to Mads.

“Mads, was it?  You definitely seem like a  Brujah.  Filthy, unkempt, with a sense of nobility.”

“Ah, a product of my upbringing,” she smiled.

“Whether boiled leather or picked cotton, it looks the same.  Do you have a purpose?”

“Yes, for now.   I have a drive that keeps me going forward. After that, who knows?  I might find something else.”
Code again.  This was only confirmed when the Padre replied.

“Hmm, well, happy hunting.”

And then the Padre turned his attention to me. 

“And you, Rain?”

Everyone else had been so cryptic and secretive.  I suspected he used Auspex or something similar when talking to…Eclipse.  Still, I didn’t necessarily think there was much danger in revealing my vision.

“I want…to return the life to the nights of Sydney.  That may sound like an irony for a…dead creature, but this town used to shimmer with nightlife and could again. That can only be good for our kind.  Caine himself saw a role for us as leaders. Is it so wrong to want that again, here?”

Alicia winced at the name of Caine.  I know he’s not the father of all that walk the night, not even all vampires.  That didn’t make his legacy any less valid.  We’re here. We exist, so why not enjoy what we have? Unfortunately, Padre cringed at the sentiment.

“You know surprisingly more than you should, but there is a part of that story you don’t understand yet. Sure, some of us led and ruled, but we were never too good at it. Not in the forefront, at least. As for vibrant or dead cities…after you’ve travelled enough, you start to get a feel for a place, and this place is old. Old before the city. It has seen plenty of death. Plenty of life.  It has survived worse and will become something again. It just depends on how much death before… the soil is fertile again.”

Ominous.  Things have their seasons and cycles.  It was heartening to think it could become the Sydney I wanted…but how much violence and bloodshed would there have to be to make it happen? Maybe I needed to reconsider.  So, I shifted the subject sideways to something I knew he’d be happy to speak on.
“As to what came before, I have an interest in that. The Dreamtime. The Otherplace.”

“You refer to my journeys?”
“Yes, your journeys.  I would be fascinated to hear…I have only stepped a foot into the Otherplace, and I  know there are cities full of beings out there. I have a…link to the death…have all my life. I don’t know if that’s my place, but…”

“You do have the stain of such…interesting…I presume you practise the same disciplines as myself?”

“Yes.”
“That’s very nice.  When it comes to the other place, as far as you can travel in any direction, there is a lot you can learn.  I knew a lot of this before…my change. It’s a shame. I was awakened once, and that’s now forever denied to me. That’s why I don’t keep to the same level of etiquette or protocol as the rest of our kind would.”

“You…were a mage?” It couldn’t be helped, Lenny sprung to mind.  

“All those of my line are,” He replied simply.

“I wish I had met you before.”
“And now you have,” And he laughed, but there seemed very little joy in it, “There is a reason why our curse is so much stronger.  We got greedy. We tried to take something that wasn’t owed to us and paid a high price.  A group of us who worshipped death tried to take it onto ourselves…and we got it. And unlike the Tremere, we were never as…showy about it. But there was a cost.  Most of us keep to ourselves. It’s easier that way.  I know that some of our kind have an issue with killing. I don’t have that luxury. I spent a long time searching, and I did find a city, a very special one. At the moment, and I don’t know why, it’s been harder to find.”

“A city on the Otherside is now harder to find?” I wondered what Dominic or even Lucretia would say to that.

“Yes.  Still, I’m stuck on this side for a bit until I can find it again.  Until then, while I’m here, I’ll be an educator and mentor to those willing to accept.”

“Well, I’m glad I met you today, sir,” I said with all sincerity.  He was a man looking at the world at the end of a long life, and unlike many, he’d been gracious enough to share, though I’d still stumbled around like a baby.  Still, I couldn’t get out of my mind the idea some like Luna…Eclipse belonged to his organisation.  Alicia had mentioned a group that she and the Padre had belonged. Besides the Sabbat and the Camarilla, I’d heard of no other groups (though one currently was holding Izac, that was definite).

“Alicia mentioned earlier that you are part of the same organisation.  I would hear about it if that were something you could talk about?”

“We…do not subscribe to the two common sects, the Ivory Tower and the Sword. I’ll interact with the Sword if I have to, but I am not one of them.”

I quickly scanned my memory for the imagery. Ivory Tower.  Camarilla.  The Sword…the Sabbat?  

“You’ve certainly come to the right place here.  We don’t seem to have a lot of either.”

“You won’t see much of either in these dark days.  It’s a shadow war they wage. Neither are willing to spend the resources on taking this place. “

“Well, I want it,” I found myself saying.

“If the Prince could hear, he would be much dismayed.”
“I would gladly work with the Prince,” So why wasn’t I?  Hadn’t he offered a place by his side not once but twice? Because, even for me, it was too simple.  Too easy a deal. There had to be a catch.

“And as with all great stories, the second in charge rises up and kills the king. To coin a phrase, they upgrade to a new model.”

This was not a conversation I wanted to have here in the V.I.P lounge, certainly not with Mads and whatever Luna was now.

“I don’t know about that.  You mentioned about working from behind the scenes?”  

“Yes, it’s just a case of how you wish to spend your time, “ He looked to Alicia, who was getting up to leave, “But we have spoken quite a bit, and it looks as though Alicia has things to attend to.  I would like to feed if I may.”

Our time was up, “Thank you, Padre.  Alicia, it was a real pleasure to speak with you.”  I stood to let her leave.

“Thank you for your…time, Padre,” Eclipse said, “Do you plan to revisit?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” the old man replied, and from that, I took comfort in knowing that there were more chances to speak with this old man.

“Yes, well, so much to see, so much to do,” Alicia said by way of a farewell, “Time to see what the rest of the city has to offer.”

We left the Padre to his eating as Mads, Eclipse, and myself moved away.

“Rain, do you talk to everyone who walks through these doors?” Mads asked me.

“It would be impossible, but I try to,” I replied, wondering why Mads would ask.

“Socialite,” the now Eclipse said as if my complexity could be explained with one word.  

“And what was all that with you?  You changed your name?” Mads asked Eclipse as we returned to the bar and Rumplestiltskin.  I said nothing.  What I wanted to know was not that she changed her name, but why to that one.

“It seemed appropriate,” Eclipse said, not making eye contact.

“It’s a beautiful name,” I commented, and her eyes met mine for the first time since the introduction to Mads.

“Thank you, Rain. It means a lot coming from you.” For a moment, I felt maybe we could reconnect and make something new from what remained of our friendship.

“I am your friend. I just don’t know what that means to you anymore.”
Slam!  The dark curtain fell over her expression, and whatever friendliness disappeared, “I’m sorry Rain. It seems I lost something along the way.  I don’t necessarily want what I can’t give back.”

“Okay,” And that was it. We’d be dodging around it for days.  I nodded to Mads, put my empty glass on the bar and left the V.I.P. lounge.

“Way to crush a guy’s heart,” Mads said to Eclipse as they watched me climb the stairs.

“What heart,” Eclipse replied cooly.

“Well, none of my business, “ Mads brushed the encounter aside, “I think I’ll rummage around here for a while and see what I can hear.”

Eclipse skulled the last of her drink in salute.

“Here, I’ll give you my number if you want to talk.”  Mads suggested and numbes werey exchanged.

12.40 am Friday 8 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crowbar, Leichhardt

Stallion had an idea and he needed to share it with someone.  He pulled out his phone and thought for a moment who he should ask first.  Izac had gone AWOL, and Luna wouldn’t help out of spite.  That pretty much left…

My phone rang as I climbed the stairs up to the office. A glance told me who was calling.

“Yes, Stallion,” I said, walking into the office.  I spied a set of keys sitting on Dominic’s desk.  They made it into my pocket.  Habits are hard to break.

“Come in here,” Stallion said over the phone, though I was just next door.  I stood in the doorway, leaning on the door jam, waiting as Stallion took a moment to work out how I’d responded to his call so quickly.  

“You’ve been…not busy.  What are you up to?” I asked.

“I’ve been looking up more stuff. See if I can help Izac in my own way.”
“Yeah?” That got my attention.  Until that moment I hadn’t been sure if he knew or cared Izac was missing, “What have you got?”

“Not much, but I do have something to … help us…come closer,” He said, opening the book he’d been reading at a page. 

I didn’t know if to be flattered or concerned, “What do you mean, ‘us come closer’?”

“I know you’re a little bit of an artsy fella, and maybe we could make up a design for a permanent tattoo…for the coterie.”
“What does it do?” I asked suspiciously.  Stallion didn’t do anything unless it was good for Stallion.

“It’s permanent.  It doesn’t go away. It doesn’t fade away like a normal tattoo with our bodies the way they are.”

I had just come from speaking of mages, the Otherland, organisations working within our society, and whatever Eclipse was, and here was Stallion spending hours of his unlife learning how to make a tattoo permanent on undead bodies.  I sighed and was thankful that it kept him out of trouble.

“Sorry, Stallion and I’m not doubting your abilities with magic, but you’re not known for your artistic talents. And if this is permanent…”

“I’m not saying I’m doing it.  I’m just saying we can work together on some designs and come up with something for the coterie. Then we get a professional to do it.” 

That way seemed to lead to madness and the death of a good tattoo artist.

“It seems it’s quite common for neonates.” He read from his book.

As if I needed more labels proclaiming me to be a baby.

“It’s also seen as a sign of disrespect, depending on the branding.”

“Branding?”

“Yeah, some are like cattle, they get branded…There’s a bit of history behind the ritual, is what I’m saying.”

“Your selling this idea so well, Stallion, “ Like, I appreciated that the guy came to me with the offer, but how did I explain this without pissing him off, “The idea of being branded like livestock to look like a child forever….yeah, that sounds like something I want to do to my eternal body.”

“Nah, you know that’s not what I mean,” The book shut with a snap.  When sober, Stallion was very thin-skinned.

“I’m sure you meant it with the best intentions,” I agreed.  I have no problems with tattoos, and I have to admit to having a few ideas. But tattoos, like brands, made a stand. They told everyone where you belonged, and after tonight’s conversation…maybe after this entire week, I didn’t know where that was anymore.

I changed the subject and pulled out the keys from the desk. 

“I’d be happy to help with a design, but speaking of talents, there’s something I’d like to try if you don’t mind watching on for a moment.”

“Talents?”
“It won’t look like much to you, I’m afraid, “ I spun the keys around a finger as I dragged up one of the other plainer, less comfortable chairs in the room.

Trying to get as comfortable as I could, I held the keys loosely between two cupped hands and drew on my Auspex.  I had a hunch the keys were from Izac. I’d seen them once or twice before.  If they were, they may give my abilities something to hook into.  I let my thoughts slip away, and I fell…

…into a dark alleyway full of corpses, a woman crying could be heard behind… I turned to see Luna… tears streaming down her face…the feeling of being torn away from something…the vision repeated and repeated, cycling over and over like a nightmare I couldn’t wake from…

“Rain?” Stallion said, watching me in a rictus, frozen in my vision. It looked like I was being electrocuted, “Rain, is this supposed to happen?  Maybe I should get Mr Giovanni in on this.”  He picked up his phone for the second time in as many minutes.

RAIN’S FROZEN IN THE OFFICE

Dominic was also returning to the office after his shopping expedition. It wasn’t long before he was standing in front of my shuddering body, a smirk on his face.  He noticed the keys clutched now between clawed hands and quickly pulled them out. He easily recognised them as the keys to Izac’s apartment.  He looked down at his foolish child and didn’t think the stake was required this time, but I would be that way for a while.

“Yeah, he just pulled them out and said he wanted to try something, and then…he ended up like that,” Stallion said. 

“Stallion, would you be a pal and ask the bartender for a drink for someone in a daze?”

“Oh, a wake me up.”
“No, after what he’s going through, that will be the last thing he needs.  No, just a gentle knocking.”

“Right-o, “ And Stallion headed down to the V.I.P. Lounge while Dominic tried to make my body sit comfortably in the leather wingback chair.

He giggled, “I’ll see you in a couple of hours, ” and pulled a book from the library and made himself comfortable, “Hmm, the Personal Histories of the Giovanni. A little light reading.”

Mads was scouring the V.I.P. lounge for gossip, and Eclipse was at the bar as Rumplestiltskin made her another drink when Stallion came down the stairs.  

“Hey Luna, it looks like Rain’s at it again,” Stallion said as she joined her at the bar, “Do you want to head upstairs and see what’s going on?”

“What?  Did he do something he wasn’t supposed to?” She asked, interested but without concern.

“I don’t know.  I don’t know what’s going on.  I’ve got Dominic in there watching him. He’s pulling this weird face like he’s stuck in time or something.”

“What are you doing down here, then?”

“ I was told to get him a drink.”

And this was when Stallion first noticed the seven-foot-tall luminous bartender.  Stallion’s blonde eyebrows disappeared into his shaggy hair.

How long’s he been here?

“I need a drink for someone who just woke up,” He said, though dozens of thoughts about skin tone and gangly limbs went through his mind.

“Just woke up?” Rumplestiltskin said, his luminous brows creasing in confusion, “That’s a bit strange.  Tell me more.”
“Hey, that’s what I was told, ‘Get a wake someone up drink.’” 

“A drink to wake up or they’ve just woken up,” the bartender qualified again.

“Just woke up,” Stallion struggled to keep his expression straight and watched as the creature behind the bar put black orbs and fins, a white powder smelling of bone meal and blood, in a cocktail shaker.

“Here’s the drink, enjoy.” The drink was handed over, and with a smirk that meant trouble for someone, he turned to leave the bar.

“Hey, can I get in on this?  Sounds like fun,” said the tall auburn auburn-haired Mad’s who had positioned herself right behind Stallion to hear the conversation.

“Who are you?” 

“Didn’t we meet?  The name’s Mads,” she held out her hand for Stallion to shake.  He instead put two hands on the glass as if to keep it safe.

“It’s a restricted area.  I don’t think you should follow,” He tried edging around Mads, who adroitly moved in front of him again.  Eclipse just stood back and watched the social train wreck over her glass.

A flash of something came up Mad’s eyes, and her brow furrowed.  She couldn’t make out what he was.

“You are an enigma.”

Not sure what to make of Mads advances, Stallion quickened his step, moved past her and disappeared upstairs with the drink.

Mad’s turned to Eclipse in shocked indignation.  Eclipse rolled her eyes at Stallion’s awkwardness and continued to wait for the Days of the Week.  She wondered what they were up to, who they were murdering and what she was going to do when Sunday finally rolled by.  

I’m fucked.

Stallion carefully took the drink up two flights of stairs and placed it on the library desk.

“Well,” Dominic said from above his current read, “Give it to him.”
“I thought you wanted it for later.”
“I was the one who told you to get it.”

Stallion squeamishly looked over my frozen body, “I guess I could blindfold him and then feed him.”

“Oh, for the love of God and all the saints, Stallion, just give him the drink.”

“I was joking about the blindfold, “ Stallion said to my unresponsive body and poured the drink down my throat.

…and into a dark alleyway full of corpses, a woman cried and I cried too as knew I was now trapped forever in the spiraling nightmare of loss and self-recrimination.  And then something new, a coolness, a sharpness, like a slap and the imagery, the feelings and sounds faded to black and blessed release.

I woke up in Luna’s chair, looking up at a grinning Stallion.  The keys were gone, and I felt…like I’d run a marathon.

“Why am I here?” I looked around and saw Dominic in the chair I had been in only moments ago to me…or was that hours…

“Dominic…I…”
“You had an episode when you picked up this set of keys,” He held out the keys in his open palm before they disappeared into his pocket.

“Ah…oops!” I held my ringing head in my hands and waited for the bells to stop, “I thought they might have been Izac’s….I don’t know what I saw…I don’t want to see it again….bodies in alleyways and…Luna…Luna!  They had to be Izac’s keys.  He must have come back at some time.”

“What, Mr Squeaky-clean, wasn’t so clean?” Stallion asked with a snigger, which I didn’t appreciate.  I could have done with another one of those drinks, but wanted to be part of whatever was going to happen next.

“Do you feel it was a past or future image?” Dominic asked and tried as I might I couldn’t tease out what the surreal nightmare scape had told me.

“Past and future,” I shook my head and regretted it, “Both, mixed going on and on…I won’t be doing that again in a hurry.”

Dominic giggled in his chair, and though some time I’m sure I too, would see the funny side of this experience. At the moment, I felt like last week’s ground mince, and even gave him a look of disapproval hurt.

“So what the point of all that, again?” Stallion asked, and I remembered he was also in the room.

“Sorry, I had thought to tell you what I was seeing, but…I botched the reading and…” I shrugged as I let my aching body sink into the chair, “I can confirm they are his keys, but as to where he is…” I gently shook my head this time.

“Where did you find the keys?” Dominic asked.

“They were on your desk.  We must have missed them the first time we came up,” I had a perfectly good reason. One perfect woman. What was their excuse?

“They are the apartment keys I gave him,” Dominic confirmed.

“That means he came back to the bar.  Sometime before we arrived in the taxi, he was here.”

“Well, he was here before the theatre,” Dominic replied to pick holes in my logic. I could almost scream, but Stallion came to the rescue.

“We could always check the CCTV to see when he was here,” He said just before I could organise my thoughts to speak.  

“Yes.  When did he come in? When did he leave? Did he come with someone? What car were they in?” 

1.10 am Friday 8 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crowbar, Leichhardt

We went to the security room and reviewed the night’s recordings.  We finally found him several hours earlier, walking through the club alone.  While we were still at the State Theatre, he was calmly climbing the stairs and placing the keys on the desk before leaving again.  He didn’t talk to anyone. He left no note.  Nothing seemed to be making him do this, and he looked sort of at peace with everything for the first time since I’d known him.

I flipped to the external cameras and scanned for cars in the area. A dark blue Mustang pulled up in the side street beside the hotel, and Izac got out. I noted the license plate and zoomed in to get an image of the driver. A man in his 30s, calm and casually speaking with Izac, his skin was ebony black, and his eyes were a striking pale blue. It would be hard to forget such an individual.

I reversed the recording back to when they arrived. They came up the alleyway. Izac got out and walked first, not to the Crow Bar but to a block of apartments opposite the bar.

“Where is that?  What is that?” I asked.

Downstairs, Eclipse was fed up with waiting for the Days of the Week. She finished her drink, waved goodbye to to Mads, still stalking the room and headed upstairs to go back to the apartment. The apartment she didn’t want to go back to because he wouldn’t be there…No, it would only remind her of him…No, sentimental claptrap, she just didn’t belong there anymore.  But where else was there to go?  She walked through the common room and out into the early morning air, unknowingly leading a following Mads straight home.

Dominic spotted Eclipse and Mads leaving the bar through the live feeds on the upper monitors. 

“Hey, that woman tried to talk to me earlier,” Stallion pointed out Mads, clearly tailing Eclipse.

“The stray following the lost, “ Dominic said, gesturing for us to get up, “It seems our Mads has her own agenda.”

We rushed down the stairs and sauntered casually but with purpose across the common room and out into the night.  I stepped back and held to the shadows while Dominic and Stallion tried to blend in by looking casual. Of Eclipse, there was no sight, but we could just spot Mads stepping into the apartment block across the road.  Dominic nodded. That was the building, and we jogged down the street and caught the external door to the apartment just before it shut.

1.15 am Friday 8 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club 4 Phillip Street, Leichhardt

As Eclipse climbed the stairs, she thought about what to do when she arrived at the door to the apartment.  If she had been lucky, Izac would have left the door unlatched for her.  If she wasn’t, and the way the night was going, why would things change, she’d have to break it down somehow. She reached the door and tried the handle, and by some miracle of love or forgetfulness, it turned under her hand.  She pushed the door open and stepped in, the door clicking as she engaged the deadbolt inside.

Mads, standing on the staircase, heard the click.  Her perfect hearing told her just which door the escaping Eclispe had entered. With deliberate carefulness, she climbed the last few stairs to the landing.  

Eclipse inside looks around the apartment.  Besides a few clothes strewn on the ground of the bedroom, there was nothing to show that someone had lived there.  Two someones.  Her eyes scanned the room, not expecting to find anything, and landed on the small notebook sitting on the coffee table next to the TV remote. Pouncing on it like it was prey, she scrambled through the little book to read the last page:

I don’t know where I’m going.

 I don’t know who I am.

 I can’t be everyone’s tool anymore.

 I’m sorry I wasn’t stronger.  

That I wasn’t enough.

 I failed you Luna. 

 I’m sorry.  

Maybe I’ll see you again, its only eternity. 

I love you.

The tiny notebook, crushed between fingers, and Eclipse shook.  Much as I had less than an hour before, her body tensed and spasmed.  It wasn’t grief! No. Grief was for those who didn’t already bear emptiness inside them. This was not loss. This was anger, rage in fact, for the one who presumed to love her and left her behind.  She was incandescent, her beast threatening to burst out and destroy what remained of the human.

At the door now, Mads could hear sobbing, muttering and unintelligible noises of suffering.  She could hear Stallion and Dominic climbing the stairs. Knowing she’d have little time, she quietly took the stairs up to the next floor and waited.

Climbing up from the street, Dominic now didn’t bother with stealth.  He owned this building, and he had the keys to the apartment.  Stallion followed close behind, his shadow in all things.  I hung back and checked the dark spaces in case Mads had hidden herself. Old skills came to the fore, and I let the other two storm ahead, making noise and causing a distraction.  Eclipse had made it clear she didn’t need me, but what was Mads doing getting inside Eclipse’s life? Making friends with all her associates? I was hunting a stalker.

Dominic and Stallion made it to the door.  The sound of unbridled sobbing was clear.

“Where’s Mads? She was ahead of us?” I asked quietly, stepping into a doorway out of sight of the stairs and scanning the hallways.  It was empty.

“We’ll get to that in a bit,” Dominic said, using the keys on the doors and walking in.

Eclipse, almost bent over sobbing, had only a fraction of a moment to hide the small notebook in her jacket before Dominic strode into the room and picked her up. She was a mess. Blood tears made black from mascara made rivulets down her face, her expression a contorted mess as she tried to hold back more tears. She was damned she’d cry in front of Dominic.

“We found footage,” He said quietly as if it were an apology or excuse.

“Of?” Eclipse said, wiping her face and trying to look more composed.

“Of Izac entering a car.  We have the license plate and the car’s direction.  Is that why you’re crying blood?”

“I can only hope to find him,” She said, her voice stifled by emotion too large to contain.

“I’ve got my men looking for him. We know the license plate, and the driver’s description.  Why don’t you come back to the Crow Bar.”

Eclipse stood swaying on the spot, unsure what to do. What would Luna do?  What did she want to do?

“There’s nothing for you here,” Dominic looked around the apartment saw the clothes and nothing else. In a voice almost caring, he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Eclipse shook her head, “It won’t bring him back quicker if he comes back at all.”

“What makes you feel he’s not coming back,” Dominic asked.

“I could call a dog if you like, track his scent?” Stallion blurted in.  Eclipse pulled away, and Dominic turned to face Stallion, the moment lost.

“I think we’ll go with the other clues first if that’s okay with you, Stallion.”

Outside the door, I was listening.  I knew Mads was here somewhere, but unless she somehow made it into an apartment, she had better skills at hiding than I did. I left my post and started down the hallway, trying doors to see if any were open.  None were, there were no voices behind them. Coming back along the hallway, I spotted a door at the top of the staircase with a sign saying, ‘Roof Garden’. As it pays to be thorough, I made for the stairs and up to the roof.

Mads was on the roof, holding the door ajar. She’d been listening to the conversation below when she spied me, heading purposefully in her direction. She prepared herself, waiting until I opened the door.  

I made it up the stairs and grabbed the door handle.  The door flung open, and Mads was on the other side, her hand coming down like a vice over my wrist.  With a strength far greater than my own she tried to pull me up onto the roof.  Almost on instinct now, my experience in the Time Out room proving invaluable, I parted the veil and became incorporeal.  Mads’ hand closed on nothing as I slipped through her grasp.

1.30 am Friday 7 hours until sunrise. 6 days until the Succubus Club Crowbar, Leichhardt

****************************************************************************************

Eclipses thoughts:

Flowers

He sees us. 

Luna…

What if it’s not too late? 

Luna..

What if we can still be saved? 

Luna… please…

There is a darkness coiling around you. 

It’s choking me. When can I lay my head down? 

I had my bed. I could have laid down but I wanted to live.

Where is my fight?

Where is my fire? 

It’s cold. So, so cold. 

Where are you, my Orpheus? 

Will you lead me out of the cold and dark? 

I don’t know if this storm was predestined. My fate told of my darkness but not this emptiness. Not this despair. Not the fire gutted out of me. 

I don’t think I can go back. You saw an afterlife but you haven’t seen what I have seen. You haven’t met the serpent. You don’t understand. How could you? I’ve become a monster. A harbinger of eternal night. No one can save me. Not even myself. 

So, I’ll keep a hold of your note. A piece of myself that I cannot seem to shake. Cannot bleed out or run from. Your love follows me. It fucking haunts me. 

I’m sorry, Izac. As much as I have tried I cannot cut you out of my chest. Not even the serpent could take that from me. No void within me can consume my love for you. 

We’re doomed. 

Let me shed these bloody tears for us. For who I was and what we once were. 

I don’t know if you’ll come back. I don’t think you’ll like the version of me you’ll find sitting here. The ghost of the woman you once loved. 

I’ll let her lay her head down. 

I hope you don’t find me in this bed I have made. 

Notable NPCs

Abram: Ventrue, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Agaricus: Children of the Moon, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Allicia: Toreador Vampire met at the Crow Bar

Ambrogino:  5th Generation Vampire, Cappadocian and Elder of the Giovanni Clan.  

Avel:  Rain’s mother, a wraith.

Beelzebub: Fallen angel, demon entity in Rain’s pocket watch.

Blanco Falzo: A  man who had made into a likeness of Stallion’s dog for a time.  Now deceased.

Bobby Lisner: Malkavian seer who lives in an old Sewer pipe in The Rocks.

Brendan Virgil: A.K.A. Miss Divine Intervention.  Rain’s close friend.

Bruce: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni

Cabolut Hazzim: the name given by a vampire who cleared out the homeless at Rain’s old squat. Prince’s Assassin.

Days of the Week: Pseudonyms for members of the Baali group Eclipse (Luna) is now part of. 
She is Sunday, and they are missing Wednesday. Tuesday seems to be their nominal spokesperson, though they seem to have no leader.

Delith: Ambitious Ventrue bar staff at the Crowbar.

Detective Woodman:  NSW Policed premiere detective and a sufferer of schizophrenia.  He has an assistant currently called Notetaker.

Doctor Willis Hodge: Ghost acquaintance of Dominic Giovanni’s from the Coroner’s Court.

Founders of Sydney Masquerade:  Those still alive:  Abram, the Ventrue, in Canberra, Wid, the Nosferatu in Wollongong, Agaricus, Child of the Moon, Tasmania, Montague Layton, Toreador current whereabouts unknown.

Francis Tuttle: Name given in charge of the investigation into the deaths of homeless in Surry Hills.

Garcia: Sire.  Unknown location.

Giuseppe Giovanni: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni and nephew. 

Lambach Ruthven: Kin met at the theatre.  Sire of Dracula. Drug addict.

Lenny: Rain’s Ghoul and artist friend, now with mages.  Location unknown.

Lucretia:  Childe of Ambrogino, now caretaker of the Pyrmont House and teacher to Dominic

Madeline Blackwell: Ghoul of Mr Giovanni, working at the State Coroners Court.

Montague Layton: Toreador, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Night Rider: Red-haired vampire?  Works for the Prince.

Pangea: a Nosferatu (tunnel builder)

Padre Craneo:  Nagaraja vampire met at the Crow Bar

Paul: a Nosferatu of the sewer rats

Prince Lodin: Prince of Chicago (until his final death in the 90s) and sire of Al Capone.

Prince Sarrasine (Sar-ras-seen): Toreador Ruler of Sydney*

Sebastian Melmoth: Kin met at the theatre.  Powerful Toreador.

Shara-had: Banu Haqim (Assamite).

Sparrow: a Nosferatu of the warren in Pyrmont, closest to home

Teeth of Titanium: Werewolf dingo met in Leichhardt.

The Woman: A powerful being of unknown name who kidnapped Izac and enchanted Rain.

Tom: A sleeping head awakened by Dominic in the Dreamtime.

Wid: Nosferatu, and one of six founders of Sydney Masquerade

Glossary of terms:

Anarchists: a faction of Vampires.  Caused issues in Los Angeles recently, killed the Prince.

Antediluvian: from before the time of the biblical flood.  The third generation that were the progenitors of the thirteen clans of vampires.

Bone Gnawers: A pack of werewolves

Blood hunt:  A process to destroy a vampire who has broken a tradition.  Specifically mentioned in the sixth.

Blood worm: What a possessed vampire can turn into.  

Black Spiral Dancers: A pack of werewolves that worship a being of entropy.

Canaanites: Those descended from Cain, the first murderer and vampire.

Camarilla:  a faction of Vampires closest to the Princes.  Believe in hierarchy and order.

Clan or Bloodline:  From one the 13 antediluvians. 

Christopher Charlton: Rain’s pseudonym.

Marauder: A mage gone mad.  Living in his own pocket dimension that answers to the whim of his broken mind.

Diablerie : the drinking another vampire blood and soul

Favour:  How Vampires pay for things they want or need doing.

Fetter: A place, person or thing that binds a wraith to the Shadowlands.

Ghouls: Servants of a vampire who have been fed vitae.  They are loyal, stronger, and more resilient, and sometimes, they show other powers gained from the blood. They must receive the blood at least once  a month or they return to being human. Can be addictive.  

Glasswalkers: A pack of werewolves Izac is familiar with this 

Hunter:  Members of the Society of Leopold, a branch of the Catholic Church.  Fanatical vampire hunters and killers.

Kin: Short for Kindred. Vampires, a name among themselves

Kine: Humans

Marauder:  a rouge mage, often mad. They are likely to act in a way that exposes the Otherworld of the Masquerade to exposure. 

Masquerade : The rule that keeps vampire society safe.  Hiding ones nature from the world.

Nagaraja: A bloodline that are obligated to eat the flesh as well as the blood of their victims.

Men in Black: An international unit dedicated to controlling supernatural and alien entities.

Sabbat: a faction of Vampires that believe that the progenitors of the clans will one day awake and eat all their young.

Traditions: Six laws that vampires live by.

Vaulderie: A ritual where Kindred swear loyalty to each other.

*Sarrasine, a novella by Balzac.  Sarrasine is a sculpture who is infatuated with an Opera Singer, Zambinella. She thinks herself cursed and deflects his advances.  At a performance, Zambinella is revealed to Sarrasine to be a castrato.  In a rage, Sarrasine attacks the singer, only to be cut down and killed by their bodyguard.