Shattered Scepters

DISCLAIMER:
The Clan names, discipline names and structure, titles other things are copyrighted to White Wolf Game Studio neither I, nor this story, are affiliated with White Wolf or any of their associates or subsidiaries, nor I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. You can stop reading this now and have a nice day :~)

A/N: The character “Lollipop” frequently quotes lines from movies, books, songs, TV shows, video games and just about any other source you can imagine. If you see a line you think you recognize from somewhere you’re probably right, I as the player have been collecting these sayings for well over a decade (and even I don’t remember where all of them came from) and it is therefore impossible for me give credit beyond this note.

~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~**~~*~~

CHAPTER 3: UNDERGROUND

Stephan ran outside, his Regnant staggered to her feet and balancing herself against the wall. He rushed to Isabella to determine the extent of her wounds.

“Isabella, are you all right?” Stephan asked, seeing a fair amount of blood on her abdomen.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

“Something has invaded the Nosferatu domain and has been hunting them, slaughtering their ghouls and servants. Kit came to Stark for help, and as Kit was leaving he was attacked, but not killed.” She pulled out her firearm, and began heading towards the street. “And now we’re going after it.” She growled through her teeth, her fangs began to extend with her anger.

Stephan pulled his Magnum from the holster at the small of his back, hidden beneath the flannel shirt and prepared to follow Isabella and the others. “You’re not coming.” She said upon hearing his approaching footsteps.

“With all due respect…”

“You have your orders!” she snapped frustrated that the rest of the group was getting so far ahead of her. Placing a hand on his chest she pushed him away; from time to time Isabella forgets how strong she truly is, and this is one of those times. She watched, somewhat concerned as Stephan flew about four feet before landing heavily on his shoulder on the pebbled walkway, and then slid another two feet before stopping in front of Lollipop. Isabella watched as the Malkavian helped her ghoul to his feet, content that he suffered no injuries from his short flight she turned to join the others, it wasn’t that she did not trust Stephan to watch her back it was simply that this thing has been targeting ghouls recently and she wanted Stephan safe. She turned to continue her journey and nearly bumped into Frank, the powerhouse of the Brujah clan. Like the rest of his clan he wore pretty much whatever he damn well pleased, but unlike to the others it did not consist of torn jeans, biker boots and a leather jacket, after all, he would argue, he’d all ready been through high school. Tonight he wore his steel toe work boots, faded 501s with a black tee-shirt advising the world to “Fuck off, I’ve got enough friends.” His thin frame, short red hair and wire rimmed glasses belied his strength and speed.

“Problems with your pet?” Frank asked his distain for ghouls evident in his tone. His pale blue eyes seemed almost white in the soft glow of the moon as he glared just over Isabella’s shoulder at Stephan.

“No problems.” She briskly answered, refusing to follow his gaze. “And he’s not my pet.” She snarled.

“Ghouls are dangerous.” He said, pulling a large survival knife from the sheath strapped to his back. “If he disobeys, you should put him down like a rabid dog.”

“I like to think of them as loaded guns.” She countered, taking one perilous step closer to the Brujah. “Powerful weapons.” She added

“Even a loaded gun is dangerous if the wielder is careless.” Frank pointed out. “And you do not have your father’s skill.” He threw in as a final blow.

“Fuck you, Frank.” She snapped, storming past him to join the others where waiting near the Nosferatu secret entrance.

--------------------~*~--------------------

“Stephan, are you all right?” Lollipop asked, helping him to his feet. He gasped with pain as she carefully touched his right arm.

“I will be fine.” He assured, politely removing her hands from his injury, again careful to avoid eye contact.

“But you’re bleeding.” She protested.

“It is nothing.” He insisted, watching Isabella and the others disappear into the night. Suddenly Lollipop was blocking his view, speaking in a low tone.

“You are bleeding, and surrounded by Vampires who can smell blood.” She pointed out, showing him only the barest of hints that she actually something upstairs besides cotton candy and cobwebs. She grabbed his good arm and led him back towards the house, the woman who welcomed them earlier stood nervously by the door, ignoring the pair and watching the group of vampires. Lollipop got her attention and was quickly directed to a first aid kit and bathroom.

“Take off your shirt.” Lollipop ordered, sitting on the marble bathroom counter and squealed something about it being cold. Stephan refrained from sighing and pulled off the flannel over shirt, he was surprised by how quickly and painlessly she cleaned and covered the wound. He looked at the bandage with an approving nod.

“My sister was a tomboy so I learned First Aid real quick. What’s going on out there?” she asked, jumping off of the counter, landing uncomfortably close to Stephan as he pulled on the torn flannel shirt. He relayed the information he was given by Isabella as she cleaned up the evidence of her medical skills.

“So why are you not with your Reggie?”

“Her orders were…wait, my what?” Again she caught him off guard. She giggled and explained the term ‘Reggie’ as ‘Regnant’ he only nodded. “Her orders were that I am to escort you and keep you out of trouble.”

“Would you rather be with them?” she asked, slipping the First Aid kit back under the bathroom counter. Stephan politely looked away as she bent at the waist, her short skirt flipping up to reveal her lack of underwear. The sparsely decorated bathroom gave him little to look at, other then the door knob… yep it has two screws and a lock just like every other bathroom door knob.

“My Regnant has enemies and I believe she could use someone to watch her back.” He explained.

“Does she know she’s not liked?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it odd that you were left behind?” she asked, the sudden change in the direction of the conversation threw him. “I mean, if this thing is hunting ghouls, would a Ventrue not have an issue with bringing you along as bait?” she questioned.

“Most Ventrue would not have an issue with that you are correct.” He answered, quickly catching up with her in the conversation.

“And if Isabella knows she’s not like and if she trusts you would she not bring you along, if not for bait then to watch her own back?”

“That would be the logical assumption.”

“Does she not trust you then?”

“An alternative would be that she is trying to keep me out of the line of fire.” He proposed, his gaze resting upon the small gold locket she wore.

“But, does she consider her own existence more important than yours?”

“I cannot answer that.” He said.

“Based upon other Ventrue would my assumption be correct?”

“Yes.” He answered, deciding that now would be a good time to leave the small confines of the bathroom, unfortunately the bathroom door opened inwards, forcing him to nearly press his body into hers in order to open the door. She stood her ground, unaffected by the sudden invasion of her personal space.

“Then we’re back to her not trusting you.” She reasoned, following him.

“Being a ghoul has little to do with trust and a lot to do with usefulness.”

“Well, then, lets go be useful.” Lollipop said, once again grabbing him by his hand and leading the way towards the front door.

“My instructions are to keep you out of trouble and I do not think that by letting you join them in their hunt that I fulfilling my orders.” He explained, twisting his hand to grab her wrist and halt her progression to the door.

“How are you going to stop me?” she playfully asked, stepping closer to him again invading his personal space. Stephan stood his ground, his eyes careful to avoid hers, something she was beginning to notice, and become annoyed by.

“Why don’t you look me in the eyes?” she asked, allowing him to keep his grip upon her.

“There are those among your kind that can manipulates mans will.” He explained.

“Well, I can’t do that so look me in the eyes or stare at my tits.” She ordered.

“At the club, when you were dancing…?” he began, his voice flat, despite his confusion, ignoring the invitation to stare at her chest.

“Yes?” she drew out, doing her best to match his expression.

“I felt as if you were reading me as if I had no will. I felt I had to approach the stage.” He confessed.

“I was reading your aura, that’s how I knew you were a ghoul, but I can’t explain the last part…so, let’s go.” She added in her normal bubbly tone, she walked towards the front door, Stephan still holding her wrist.

“I really do not think this is a wise decision on your part. No one knows what is hunting the Nosferatu or their ghouls.” He pointed out.

“Stephan, I am going either with or without you, which would you prefer?”

“Do you have any weapons?” he relented.

--------------------~*~--------------------

Contrary to popular belief the Nosferatu do not dwell solely within the sewer lines. A city’s infrastructure is a complex labyrinth of service tunnels, sewer, gas and power lines and then the Nosferatu complicate things even more by adding their own secrets tunnels, the entire concoction was be enough to make Daedalus’ head swim. It was through a secret entrance that Kit led the group, consisting of two Gangrels, three Brujahs and a Ventrue, into a dimly lit service tunnel. Kit was quick as he threads his way through the tunnels. Frank and Katilla, one of the Gangrel, had no problem keeping up with him, the others; however, were having a difficult time, but their determination to not be lost in Nosferatu territory a powerful incentive. No one in the party spoke, as they followed Kit, and then without warning the lights went out and the party was surrounded in blackness for 15 seconds before the emergency light s kicked in.

“Kit?” Katilla asked, her voice holding a dangerous tone.

“This is not my doing.” He confessed, scanning the area before him for any possible attackers.

“There!” Frank exclaimed, pointing to a shadowy figure behind them. Everyone turned just in time to see the shadowy run back down the hallway they had just traveled. Frank gave chase, moving faster then anyone else in the group, yet despite his speed the creature eluded him. Katilla was close behind with the rest of the group falling behind.

Frank wondered where the creature was running as Kit had not indicated any secret passage ways along the corridor then without warning it threw itself into a seemingly solid wall, which immediately gave way, revealing a crudely constructed hallway leading to a tunnel that had barely enough room to crawl. Frank wasted no time in mimicking his prey’s movement, trusting the barrier would give way just as it had for his quarry. He cleared the 2 foot distance and dove into the tunnel as it slithered down the claustrophobically tight opening, Frank did not ponder the tightness of his surroundings, only followed the dark shape before him.

Katilla watched both the shadowy figure and frank disappear into a wall; she stopped and glanced back at the rest of the group who were quickly closing the gap. She went to the wall and pushed in the area where Frank had vanished until she found the secret panel.

“You didn’t tell us about this tunnel.” She snarled, suspecting treachery of the Nosferatu’s part.

“This tunnel....” He countered, pushing the panel aside to view the hole himself “…was not made by Nosferatu hands, nor any we control.”

She sighed heavily, and slinked into the tunnel, which was so narrow, she was forced to belly crawl its length. She did not like the confines of the tunnel, but it was not bad enough to prevent her from following Frank who was now far ahead of her. Looking straight ahead she could see the movement as Frank emerged from the tunnel and continued his chase, she was relieved to see the small exit slowly growing larger with each passing second, she could hear the shuffling of those behind her as well as the young Brujah whine about his dislike of small spaces. Katilla grit her teeth to keep from saying anything, instead she tried to focus on the exit, through which Frank had had vanished, it was now no more than 10 feet from her a distance she eagerly closed and spilled out onto a concrete floor. She leapt to her feet and quickly took in her surroundings. The tunnel spilled into a medium sized cave-like construction dimly light by a string of twinkling holiday lights, five paths were presented. The largest was directly across from the small channel she had slinked through, two small passage ways were on either side of the main opening before. On either side of her were two more tunnels, their endurances large gaping holes like mouths, waiting to devour those foolish enough to venture further. All five tunnels and their connecting corridor seemed to have a virtual net of wires with dim light bulbs spaces far enough apart that wide spaces of blackness occupied the small weak pools of light. There was no sign of Frank; she knelt down and studied the ground, the concrete and rocks yielded no clue as to his direction. Somewhere in the distance liquid too thick to be water, dripped in a steady rhythm; however, the acoustics of the tunnels and the cave made it near impossible to determine the exact location. Katilla hazard sniffing the air, perhaps she could catch Frank’s scent, but all she smelled was clean, damp soil and the mustiness often associated with deep old caves, beneath that was a whisper of the familiar copper scent of fresh blood drowning in fear. She closed her eyes, focused on that sweet, delicate clue; there was something else to the blood, something not human but well known to her.

“Kindred.” She whispered under her breath.

“What is it?” Kit asked, correctly reading Katilla’s predatory crouch.

“Fresh kill.” She explained her gaze never leaving the dark path before her as her eyes began to glow red, allowing her sight to penetrate farther into the tunnel. She breathed in again, “Spilt Kindred blood.”

“Which way?” Isabella asked.

Katilla only briefly glanced at the other passageways before growling the words “This way” and dashing into the darkness leaving the others struggling to keep up.

--------------------~*~--------------------

Lolli giggled as she jumped off the ladder with only three rungs left. Stephan momentarily thought about asking her to keep quiet, but then reasoned that if she wasn’t going to after the three times he asked, she probably would not after a fourth. He sighed quietly and kept a sharp eye out for both the rest of the party and for the thing they might be hunting.

“Hey, what’s this button do?” Lolli happily whispered an instant before pressing the shiny, alluring button before Stephan could stop her. Suddenly the lights went out and the couple was surrounded in complete blackness.

“Well, that answers that.” She stated matter-of-factly as the emergency light flickered to life.

“Would you please refrain from pressing any more buttons?” Stephan politely asked, without any trace of the anger or frustration he might have been feeling.

“You’re so serious.” She teased, popping another candy into her mouth.

“There is an unknown assailant in these tunnels hunting and killing Nosferatu, it would be safe to assume that this thing would have no trouble eliminating a single Malkavian and Ventrue ghoul.” He explained.

“It’s only death. There are far worse things…trust me.” He happy, perky voice taking such an ominous dark tone that Stephan dared to glance back her and immediately wished he hadn’t. Her intense green eyes mirrored her tone, reflecting a glint of the madness that only Malkavians comfortable tread in.

“Which way?” she asked, her voice again, happy and perky, this sudden change was more than unnerving. Stephan pushed his feelings aside and opened that the sixth sense many ghouls acquire through their bond to their Regnant. He had to trust himself, reaching out hoping to find his master, searching for her faint spark in the dark. A spark of coldness that beckoned him, called to him and despite his loathing of it, he found a comfort in its familiarity.

“This way.” He said in a hushed tone, making his way down the dim corridor and taking the first right. Lolli was following close behind, clutching her small metal purse. Stephan continued to listen to his instinct, hunting that elusive cold spark following it blindly into Hell.

Lolli gasped and clutched Stephan’s shoulder “Something just brushed past my left leg.” She whispered. She looked down searching for the offender before giggling in relief. “It was just my right leg.” She explained.

“Perhaps we should go back.” He reasoned she was obviously not in a serious enough mind set to continue this hunt.

“No way! We’re being helpful!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice. “What was that?” she asked, taking off deeper into the passage. Stephan had no choice but to follow, partly because of his order from Isabella, but mostly because the Malkavian had a tight grip on his wrist as she hastily made her way after her quarry. Was this assignment a punishment? Again he found himself searching his memory for any action he might have done to displease Isabella enough that she would place him in charge of a Malkavian no one knew anything about.

--------------------~*~--------------------

Frank relentlessly followed his prey, who seemed to match Frank’s speed and agility as it quickly ducked into one corridor after another as if hoping to loose the determined Brujah in a dizzying game of hide-n-seek. The old Brujah was not so easily fooled and kept pace, rounding the last corner only find it had stopped running and was facing him, landing a powerful blow to Frank’s midsection and sending the Brujah flying back into a rock wall. Frank slumped to the floor still clutching his knife, and quickly recovered enough barely sidestep a lunging shadow, who turned quickly and pushed Frank off balance before it began to back track. Frank stumbled to his feet and quickly gave chase, part of him enjoyed the thrill of the chase but another part of him was frustrated by the elusiveness it demonstrated.

Once they were heading down a straight path, Frank threw his survival knife with deadly accuracy and all the anger he had. She steel flew at frightening speed before burying itself into the target’s left shoulder. The monster cried out in pain and fell to the ground, sliding a couple of feet from the sheer force of the impact. Frank ran and pounced upon his prey as it began to twist an arm to pull out the knife. The thing somehow managed to twist enough to roll Frank underneath, it screamed again as Frank grabbed the knife and began twisting. The voice the scream belonged to was defiantly male and was some how familiar, but the more Frank tried to place it the more he found he couldn’t…it was like trying to hold water.

It decided to use Frank’s momentarily distraction to its advantage and rose as if floating off of the knife Frank still held. Stunned Frank watched at it clung to the ceiling, seemingly effortlessly “What the fuck are you?” Frank demanded, again on his feet but crouched, ready to leap. The thing only laughed and cocked its head, looking down at startled Brujah from the highest point of the corridor.

A cocky laugh escaped his lips before it scurried along the ceiling, vanishing into the darkness.

“Damn it!” Frank cursed, yet again chasing after it; he watched as the thing rounded a corner and disappeared into thin air. Again anger began to creep into his eyes as he scanned the straight pathway before him. He turned to look behind him, still seeing nothing “Damn it!!” he roared, punching a wall to relieve his anger.

--------------------~*~--------------------

“Did you hear that?” Isabella asked, hearing the faint echoes of Frank anger.

“Sounds like Frank.” Kit observed.

“It is.” Katilla confirmed, continuing her prowl towards the blood “He’s angry, not hurt.” She continued, pausing long enough to consider which path direction to take, a faint glimmer to her left caught her attention focusing on it, she knew she found the source of the blood she was trailing. Her eyes followed the drips upward to their source, a mangled corpse, at least the torso of one, hung tangled in the exposed wiring.

“Who is that?” Katilla asked, pointing to the dead body. Kit brushed past her, gazing up into the familiar face.

“His name was Brian, one of our fledglings.” Kit reported with a sigh, not looking forward to breaking the news to Brian’s Sire. Personally, Kit never cared for Brian, he was annoying in that “trying too hard to fit in” way.

“The body is fresh, no more than 30 minutes old.” Katilla reported
“Where are his legs?” one of the Brujah asked, she sounded disturbed by the sight. Lizzie never could stomach violence.

“This is how we’ve been finding them; their lower halves missing as well as the heart.” Kit explained, walking away from Brian’s corpse.

“How long did it take us to reach this point from the discovery of these tunnels?” Isabella asked, a thought occurring to her.

“Twenty five minutes.” Lizzie answered, glancing quickly at her watching.

“Then it has to be close by.” Isabella theorized.

“What?” Lizzie and Kit voiced in unison.

“The body is 30 minutes dead and it took us 25 minutes to find it, then it should be safe to assume that the killer is still nearby.”

“She has a point.” Kit said, looking about, as if he could see the murderer in the shadows.

“Yeah, and the killer might have slaughtered him and left five minutes before we found the tunnels.” Lizzie reasoned.

“It fed. There’s not enough blood to support your theory. Plus there are teeth marks on his throat.” Katilla said, looking closely at the surroundings and the corpse.

“Teeth? Not fang?” Isabella asked, stepping forward to examine the wound herself. Katilla nodded and stepped aside, allowing the Ventrue the room she needed.

“What the hell…?” Isabella questioned, reaching up to move the head in order to get a better view and found something unusual in the in the wound.

“There’s something in the wound.” She announced, plunging her fingers into the gore to retrieve the small item. It was slick from the blood and hard, but difficult to make out. Reasoning that her shirt was ruined, she used it as a rag to clean off as much of the blood as possible in order to examine the tiny clue better.

“It looks like a tooth. A human canine, unless I am mistaken.”

“A human did this?” Lizzie skeptically asked.

“A human would not have the strength to do this much violence to even the weakest of our kind. I have heard of an instance where Kindred did not have fangs after he was Embraced.” Kit volunteered and then quickly added “Although this is extremely rare.”

“Perhaps someone with Spirit Touch could learn more.” Lizzie volunteered.
A soft shuffling sound silenced any further conversation, reminding everyone about Isabella’s earlier observation about the killer’s proximity. Everyone turned towards the sound, Isabella keeping a tight grip on both their only clue and her gun. The shuffling grew louder as it neared, yet no one saw anything.

A dark blur pushed pasted, Isabella, Kit and Katilla almost knocking them over and headed towards Lizzie, dragging her into the shadows, kicking and screaming. The group turned and followed Lizzie’s deafening scream like a morbid bread crumb trail.

--------------------~*~--------------------

Stephan had finally managed to convince Lollipop to both stop running blindly towards almost certain destruction and to let him take the lead. Cautiously he lead the way down the down the same tunnel his Regnant had walked no more than 15 minutes ago. His instincts told him to turn left, but there was no where to turn.

“Something wrong?” Lolli asked, correctly reading his body language and again hinting at intelligence.

He explained his dilemma between his instincts and what his eyes were telling him.

“Then listen to the walls.” She suggested as naturally as if she were suggesting he pull over and ask for directions at the next gas station. She closed her amazing, clear green eyes and focused on using only her acute sense of hearing.

Stephan watched as she walked, almost touching the wall he had indicated. Occasionally she would either nod or shake her head as if she were hearing some conversation in her head. She paused about 10 feet ahead of him, listening closely before breaking into a giggle fit.

“This wall is funny. It told me a riddle, wanna hear it?”

Stephan sighed, approaching her as he explained, rather patiently, his lack of interest in riddles. She moved away from the wall, stalking toward Stephan in a manner that was both seductive and dangerous. The predator prowl he’d often witness other Kindred use moments before pouncing upon an unsuspecting prey. Slowly she circled him; he made certain to keep her in his sight, turning until his back was facing the wall she just left.

“Riddle me this, Batman...” She said her voice low and throaty as she began to close the gap between them. “When is a wall not a wall?” she asked, Stephan backed away, trying to keep a safe distance between him and the lunatic. Her eyes held a hungry look that had nothing to do with blood.

“When it is a door.” She answered in her normal bubbly tone as Stephan took that final step back and stumbled into the hidden passageway. She walked past the quickly recovering Stephan and examined the narrow tunnel.

“I vonder wot Herr Freud vuld make of dis.” She said in a bad German accent, studying the tunnel as if it were a mystical wonder carved by some ancient race. Stephan just looked at her, not quite prepared to test his wits against hers.

“After you.” She graciously offered.

“What happened to your running head long into almost certain death?” Stephan found himself asking, also peering into the dark tunnel.

“Bravery and I are not on intimate terms. My natural curiosity is tempered with caution, thus I've lived long.” She said with a playful look in her eyes and an expressionless face.

Stephan shook his head and entered into the tunnel. Lolli crossed her arms and pouted for exactly 30 seconds, no one was catching the random quotes she was throwing out. She had been quoting, TV shows, movies, songs and video games and nothing how disappointing.

**Aw well, commercial break over time to return to our broadcast.** She thought and then followed Stephan through the tunnel.

“Would this be a bad time to mention my fear of enclosed spaces?” she asked.

“Yes. Yes it would.”

“Well then it’s a good thing I’m not then.”

Stephan emerged at the same crossroads, looking at the five different paths. Lolli soon and rather ungracefully tumbled out of the tunnel and into a small heap on the floor. Stephan offered her a hand and helped her to her feet.

“Thank you.” She sincerely said, accepting his hand.

“You’re welcome.” He stammered taken back it was the first time a Kindred had thanked him for anything. She smiled at him, and it was a brilliant smile that light up her entire face.

“Which way?” she asked, looking at the multiple choices.

“This way.” He said, walking down the dimly lit corridor, cautiously following his Regnant’s trail.

Lolli continued to follow Stephan in silence, occasionally looking over her shoulder. She could not shake the feeling that they were being watched. Almost 10 minutes into their exploration Lolli stopped, the voices were frantically whispering; it was as if they were desperately trying to warn her, but they could not agree on a single message. Some were anxiously ordering her to hide, others were hysterically telling her to run and other still were just huddled in a corner whimpering and crying.

**Lolita run!** A single familiar voice shouted above the confusing commotion.

**Sidney?** Lolli reached out for that familiar comforting voice, wrapping it about her like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night. A dark shadow entered the farthest intersection and paused, staring at her.

**RUN!!** Sidney screamed.

When the shadow began to move towards her Lolli wasted no time in turning to run, grabbing Stephan she took the first turn which fortunately had a shallow alcove nearby. She ducked into the recess, holding Stephan close, pinning his back to her chest as her other hand immediately clapped over his mouth. Not knowing about the pursuer Stephan struggled against her grasp; however, lacking the strength to break free he settled for twisting into a position where he could aim the gun at her heart. If he pulled the trigger there is a possibility that the recoil might damage his wrist, but it would buy him enough time to draw the other gun.

“Be still.” She hissed her mouth so close to his ear he could feel the heat from her breath. The sound of someone approaching stopped him from struggling. He and Lolli stared at the alcove’s entrance; soon a tall imposing figure blocked the opening. It peered into the shallow cave. While it was too dark to make out any facial features, Stephan was sure it was looking t them…at him specifically…and yet it was not seeing them. It looked to the left and to the right before taking a step towards them, cocking its head as if listening for them. A low growl of frustration rumbled in the darkness as the shadow angrily left.

Lolli kept them hidden until she was certain the hunter was gone and until the voices were nothing more then ghostly whispers at the base of her skull.

“I’m sorry if I startled you.” Lolli said, releasing her grip. “There was no time to warn you.”

Stephan wasn’t sure what to say, a Kindred had never apologized to him for anything. “Thank you for hiding me.” He said upon finding his voice. She shrugged, indicating it was no problem but a scream silenced her before she could say anything else. The pair looked at each other for a second before rushing out.

They ran as fast as they could, trying to locate the source of the scream and running into Frank, in Lolli’s case it was literal as she fell back onto the floor. Again, Stephan helped her to her feet.

“I thought your master ordered you to stay behind.”

“My orders are to escort her and keep her out of trouble.” Stephan corrected.

“Oh, this is the best place to keep her out of trouble.” Frank said sarcastically looking around at their surroundings. “I’ve heard rumors of the Brunos brutality. I pity you.”

Another scream stopped any further conversation as the trio pursued the screams, Frank moved much slower then he had earlier in order to keep pace with the Malkavian and the ghoul. The rounded a corner and found a massive shadowy figure throwing Lizzie up against the ceiling who fell with a bone breaking snap. Rendered unconscious, the hunter moved in for the kill.

Lolli stared at the attacker with her inner eyes, seeing the invisible energy that surrounds it, its aura. She hoped to gain some insight into the thing they were attacking, what she saw terrified her; she took a hesitant step back, covering her mouth to stifle the gasp. Frank took the opportunity and tackled the monster as it loomed over Lizzie. Lolli pushed her fear away and rushed in the pull Lizzie to a safer distance.

“Help me.” Lolli said, as she grabbed one of Lizzie’s arms. Stephan was quick to follow, pulling the unconscious Lizzie around a corner and, hopefully, out of harms way.

“I saw its aura!” Lolli urgently whispered.

“What did you see?”

Lolli never got a chance to answer a roar of pain from Frank pulled their attention back to the fight, which was not going well for Frank. The monster had slashed at Frank’s abdomen, ripping open his stomach.

“That should not be possible.” Stephan heard himself saw, watching as the Brujah’s intestines began spilling out.

“We can’t let it bite him!”

Blood was flowing from Frank’s neck, gut and legs, his wounded legs refused to support his weight and he crumbled to the ground.

“Distract it! Let me get behind it!” she hastily said, then disappeared into the shadows. Not knowing what else to do he took careful aim and fired, the bullet flew true and struck the creature’s center mass. It moved away from Frank and focused on this new prey, it cocked its head and moved towards Stephan who fired three more times. Stephan was beginning to back way for every step it took forward and backed around a corner, careful to avoid the still unconscious Lizzie.

Lolli giggled and thing turned just in time to catch a knife swinging up, catching it in the face. Dark red blood splattered on the earthen walls and the creature staggered back, but Lolli kept progressing forward her blades flashing in the dim light. Frank watched as she spun and sliced, it was like watching a well choreographed dance. It swung its powerful claws at the delicate looking Malkavian who merely threw herself backwards, landing on her hands, swinging her feet up and catching the shadowy figure in the chin she flipped back over onto her feet and continued her deadly dance, not allowing the creature another opportunity to attack. It roared a deafening scream of fury and pain as it leapt to the ceiling and scurried away, leaving a stunned Frank staring at the blood splattered Malkavian. She stood perfectly still, her eyes closed, head slightly cocked as though she were listening to a delicate minuet. She suddenly opened her hands, dropping the twin blades she had, she opened her eyes and looked at Frank, the dark maniacal look in her eyes fading to the bubbly innocent look as the words “I feel your pulse slip through my hands like a slow fat slug” spilling from her lips.

“Are you ok, Frank?” Lolli asked, her voice again cheery and bubbly the dark look vanishing from her eyes as she knelt down to help him to his feet.

“I’m fine.” He said, brushing her away and standing under his own power.

“Are you all right?” Stephan asked, coming back into view.

“I think I swallowed my bubble gum.” Lolli responded with a truly worried look on her face as she spoke.

The rest of the group finally caught up with them, Isabella eyes burned with anger when she saw Stephan. Slowly she walked toward her ghoul; Stephan stood his ground as there was nothing else to do.

“You had your orders.” Murder poured into her words as she closed the distance.

“Hi!” Lolli said in her hyper perky voice, jumping between Stephan and his Regnant. “I thought I’d be helpful.” She said grinning like an idiot. Isabella’s dark gaze moved from the Malkavian to her ghoul, silently asking if this was true.

“Yes, ma’am it is true, and your orders were for me to escort her and keep her out of trouble.”

“We will discuss this later.” Isabella said each word slowly so that their meaning was not lost on Stephan, who only nodded in understanding.