Chapter 1 | Northwest

Vampire: North-West by Moonlight

Chapter 1 – A Tale of Two cities.

[8th January, 2021]

Act 1.

Scene i: University of Washington Medical School, Seattle.

Prowling the corridors of the medical school in the dark hour of midnight, Elwin Caffrey explored the upper level of the building until he found the office door he had been looking for.

Stealing within the unlit room, Elwin gently reset the door before his hand swept over the light switch, illuminating the office cabinets and refrigeration units along the walls. Peering back through the view in the door to be certain that he was alone, Elwin then returned to his task, removing bags of red human plasma from the cold units and placing them into a backpack.

Testing the filing cabinet drawers to find them locked, the young prowler searched the cluttered desk, discovering a spare key taped to the underside. With this he was soon able to access the patient records, flicking through the manila folders to retrieve those he felt would be valuable for his client, a rival pharmaceutical business.

Having been a medical student himself, and an intern working for some of the larger hospitals in the city, Elwin was curious enough to pry into the files to try and understand what value his clients might see in them. Most of the charts concerned cancer patients who were the subjects of an experimental vaccine known as ‘Lymphogene-H’. The vaccine seemed to have been effective in reducing cancer cells during the initial tests.

Distracted by the patient charts, Elwin recovered his wits as the sound of voices approached in the corridor, doorhandle turning as he folded himself into the shadows under the office desk.

From the vantage under the desk, he could see two pairs of legs enter the room, one dressed in comfortable leather shoes and a raincoat, the other pair slim jeans and sports sneakers. A younger woman’s voice explained to the male’s rough responses that the office had been burglarised in the previous month. The man in the raincoat passed the desk to make some preliminary searches around the refrigeration units, mentioning to the young woman that there had been a spate of such burglaries from Seattle blood banks during the past two years.

Switching off the fluorescent lights on their way out, the detective and faculty staff’s conversation faded down the hall until Elwin was once again alone, emerging from the desk cautiously to gather the patient files and Xerox them in a clerical room nearby.

Leaving the building via a roof access, Elwin fled along the heights with his mind and backpack heavy; Det. Winslow had almost caught him red-handed, a tenacious adversary that had made his unlife hell ever since he had been given a police record for stealing hospital inventory at St. Anne’s.

Scene ii: State Route 518, SeaTac.

Pacing the shoulder lanes of the highway west toward Burien, an old man and his dog were revealed in the headlights of passing vehicles, dishevelled like the rambling homeless except for the heavy camera held round his neck.

Ed Clarke, former union activist during the Boeing cuts of the 1970’s, now a freelance street photographer for hire, was feeling restless that night when he observed the development of the third runway near SeaTac Airport. On the cyclone fence around the site were bill boards that grinned back at him with the face of Sebastian Green, a ruthless developer knocking down the old estates of South Seattle.

The sight of Seb’s false charm had upset Ed’s nightly walk, stirring memories from the mundane existence he had known before his embrace into the city’s vampiric underworld.

Arriving at a homeless camp making use of the overpass to shelter from the frequent rain, Ed gathered near the warmth of a barrel fire were other misfortunates dwelt, conversing with them as a familiar identity known around the southern neighbourhoods.

Exchanging a couple of dollar bills for information that could lead to his next expose in the underground papers or galleries, the pauper beside him suggested he keep a lookout for a strange figure that had been drinking the blood of sleeping homeless.

As they spoke, Ed became aware of a lone motorcycle wheeling into distant view. The rider had removed their helmet, watching the small camp under the bridge for a short time before they too became aware of Ed’s focus. Disturbed by the old man’s attention, the rider turned back from whence they had come, giving Ed one last glance over the shoulder before they sped away from the scene.

Scene iii: Smith Tower, Pioneer Square.

Elevator doors opening onto the 35th floor of the exclusive tower, Mikhail and his bodyguard followed the veined white marble and gold of the foyer to the cocktail bar with window views over the city skyline, fading to black where the waters of Puget Sound occupied the impenetrable horizon.

Mikhail had been summoned by the local Ventrue to finalize his acquisition of a property to the south, recognizing an attractive businesswoman with pale hair and an aristocrat’s demeanour. Joining her at a table beside a window frame outlook of Seattle’s downtown lights, Miss Delagny offered him a portfolio for a commercial building on 152nd Street, Burien. The premises had been a Chinese Restaurant known as ‘Emerald Gateway’, but had been unoccupied for some months.

The gift of the property came with certain conditions of course, and Delagny carefully explained that there had been a fracturing of the Seattle Court, resulting in a breakaway group establishing themselves in the city of Tacoma and nominating a Brujah from amongst them as a false ‘Prince’. Their grievance with the north had come after a bloody conflict with the Sabbat, in which the Brujah & Gangrel clans claimed they had suffered the most without any recompense for their bravery.

Oran, the true Prince of Seattle, as a result of this breakaway was authorising Mikhail to inhabit the southern neighbourhood so that the Seattle Court could reinforce its territorial claims, and prevent the Tacoma Court from winning any further converts to their cause.

Asking the businesswoman for the names of the false Prince and his council, he learnt that the former was known as Leo Carr, advised by the mysterious outsider Krystal Aguirre and a Gangrel elder.

Agreeing to the conditions of Delagny and the Prince, Mikhail accepted the portfolio of property deeds, leaving his untouched wine glass on the table as he rose to take his leave from the evening’s business.

Returning on the elevators back to the street level, Mikhail brooded on his recent arrival to the city of Seattle. The Antonov bloodline had sent him from Russia to ingratiate himself into the growing tech industries of the US. The haven provided for him by the family had been compromised not long after he had settled into the city, one of his bodyguards murdered and dumped as a warning that had attracted too much attention from the local police.

He would continue evading this unknown enemy, balancing the danger alongside his new responsibility of enforcing the Seattle Court’s claims to the south. He was a patient man, and felt confident that sooner or later he would uncover those whom plotted against his family.

Act 2.

Scene i: 152nd Street, Burien.

Early the next evening, Elwin and Ed were leaving St Anne’s Hospital after helping a homeless victim that had been injured near the roads. The two kindred had known each other for some months, sometimes working together in the hustle of the downtrodden neighbourhoods.

Exchanging small talk as they walked street lamp avenues, they halted at the crosswalk for traffic when they noticed a car parked outside the old Chinese restaurant on 152nd street. Another pair of gentlemen had just emerged from the vehicle, scanning the street outside the boarded up facade of the empty business.

Aware of the attention from across the road, Mikhail and his personal guard walked over to introduce themselves, hinting that he was aware of Ed and Elwin’s true natures as kindred, like himself. Mikhail explained that he was a foreigner to the city, and in need of local advice, inviting them to join him within the old restaurant to speak freely.

Once inside the shopfront, the three vampires seated themselves on the available restaurant furniture whilst Sascha the bodyguard and Ed’s bloodhound watched the street entrances.

Continuing their discussion from the street, Ed and Elwin warned the Ventrue that the neighbourhood of Burien was claimed by the Tacoma Faction, whom would not be pleased once they learnt of Oran’s gift to Mikhail.

Until that night, both of the local kindred had remained neutral. Clan Tremere had abstained from helping either court, leaving Elwin undecided. Ed, as a member of the Gangrel tribe, could have followed his sire and joined the southern separatists, but had remained instead close to his mortal family near Seattle.

The three agreed to work together and carve out some influence around 152nd Street. To succeed in this endeavour, they would need more information about the rift between the courts in the hopes they could somehow play both sides until an obvious victor began to emerge. They would meet again at the restaurant on the following night, after they had each explored more of the city and gauged the opinion of its hidden elders.

Scene ii: Point Defiance Zoo, Tacoma.

Driving through the thin populations along the nightscape of Interstate 5, Ed made his way south toward Tacoma. Merging with another vein of traffic to leave the highway, he was soon navigating the streets of the old city, empty shopfronts with peeling sale signs a common sight in the stagnant economy.

At the northern limits of Tacoma Ed arrived at a rundown zoo sheltered in parkland, leaving his vehicle to climb over the barrier gates. Most of the exhibits had been closed, and those animals that remained stared at the strange figure whom approached the derelict habitat of the lion exhibit.

Calling out to the shadows of the concrete den, Ed went to his knees as a sign of submission, asking for an interview with the grandsire of all Gangrel within the state, Ephraim.

Spiral horns protruded from the void of the cave, and a being that walked on four limbs revealed itself, studying the younger Cainite like an animal stalking prey.

Ephraim listened as Ed’s voice echoed in the enclosure, asking the elder for advice about the recent developments in Burien, and which Prince should they obey as the true leader of the Seattle-Tacoma region.

The elder’s terse reply was to condemn Oran as a snake, advising his grandchilder to honour Leo’s claim instead of the Ventrue’s.

Scene iii: St James Cathedral, First Hill Seattle.

During the events of Ed’s meeting, Elwin had returned to the heart of Seattle to find his own sire in the renaissance architecture of St James cathedral. Traversing the avenue of pews that faced the raised altar, he scanned the obscure recesses to make sure the church was relative empty, save for a lone soul in prayer before the votive candles.

A priest was attending to the altar when Elwin interrupted his duties. Father Blake recognized his childer’s voice, turning to greet him with a genial embrace before he asked the nature of Elwin’s visit.

The younger Cainite replied that a foreign Ventrue had just been given some real estate to manage in the disputed territories, at the request of Prince Oran. After the cold standoff for more than a year, Oran’s move would no doubt provoke the South.

Guiding their conversation into the privacy of a storage room that housed holy statues and iconography, Father Blake conspired with his pupil to learn the source of Mikhail’s wealth by remaining close to the foreign Ventrue.

As for choosing a side, the priest reminded him that the Tremere had been advised by the European courts to allow the Seattle power struggle to resolve itself. However, Blake could see the advantage of having Elwin becoming an informant, and if he was caught the priest would simply explain to Oran that it was the clumsy mistake of a neonate.

Agreeing to keep his sire informed of events in the south, Elwin left the storage room at the cathedral wing, passing back through the midnight silence of the nave. Glancing briefly at the votive stand to find it now unoccupied, he departed the sanctuary of the building to tread the late night streets for home.

Scene iv: SeaTac Police Department.

Whilst the Gangrel and Tremere had sought for the advice of their respective elders, Mikhail toured Burien and the neighbouring developments around SeaTac. Passing the administration buildings of City Hall, Mikhail asked his chauffer-bodyguard to park their car close to the police department and wait for his return.

Within the lobby, a plump African lady sat behind the admin desk, offering a casual greeting as she turned the pages of a magazine. Catching the attention of her eyes with his own, Mikhail asked to immediately speak with the captain on nightshift.

Obeying the request, the desk duty officer phoned the captain to summon him into the foyer, introducing him to the persuasive hold of the Russian’s presence. It was not long before Mikhail was seated in Capt. J ‘Cob’ Johnson’s office, making polite conversation as he wrote in his cheque book a generous donation for the department, enough to equip them with extra squad cars.

Thanking the new restaurant owner in earnest, Capt Johnson assured him that there would be extra patrols around Burien to deal with the petty drug-dealers and vehicle theft that was common in the southern neighbourhoods.

Act 3.

Scene i: Emerald Gateway Restaurant, Burien.

The coterie of vampires met again the next evening, ushered into the upstairs apartment that served as an office. Mikhail had organized a team of shop renovators to begin remodelling the restaurant during daylight hours, and a late night contractor was still occupied below them on the ground floor.

Each of the trio spoke in turn about what they had learnt. Ed outlined the present landscape of the clans, with the Ventrue, Toreador, and Malkavian’s occupying Seattle and the northern districts. The Brujah and Gangrel controlled the southern neighbourhoods leading out from Tacoma, as well as their old hunting grounds in West Seattle. And the remaining local Camarilla, Clans Tremere and Nosferatu, had remained impartial to the stalemate conflict so far.

Ed’s simple advice from the Gangrel had been to support Leo’s claim. Elwin repeated his own clan’s attitude on the situation, adding that he was not against the idea of speaking with Leo to negotiate their claim to Burien, before he (Leo) might learn of them through other biased informants.

Seeing the necessity of a sit down with Leo to measure his strength against the Seattle Court, Mikhail asked how they might go about making contact with the Tacoma Prince. Ed answered that he had a phone number that had been given to him by his sire, by which he could reach the Tacoma clans.

Listening to the handset as he dialled, an answering machine at the other end introduced the opening hours of a laundry business until the beep. Leaving his name and the restaurant phone number on the recording, he replaced the receiver and waited in silence like the others for any hint of a response.

Presently, the phone rang in conformation of their message and Ed returned the handset to his ear. A dry voice asked why he had used the unlisted number, allowing him to respond with a request to speak with Leo during the next meeting of court or any other convenient time.

Weeper, the Nosferatu whom he was speaking with, informed him that there were no immediate meetings scheduled for the Tacoma Court. However, he would pass on the word that Mikhail, Elwin, and Ed were desperate to make contact with Leo. Weeper confirmed with Ed that he would call the restaurant again the following evening to update them on their request...