Chapter 6 - Before the Storm
2nd February, 2021.
Act 1
Scene i: Serpents’ Clubhouse (cont.)
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Flexing at the hinges until collapse, the back door snapped open under the force of flesh-sculpted monstrosities that moved on four legs. Having already braced themselves for the intrusion, the Burien coterie and Anarchs fired into the leaping beasts, subduing them with gunfire before they had a chance to cross the room.
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Ed duelled with his walking cane, keeping distance between himself and the shark expression of the Sabbat ‘dog’. Closer to the wall, Mikhail controlled another through the smooth authority of his voice, brushing away its violent instincts until Aurore turned her handgun and finished it with multiple rounds. From the cover of the bar, El also shot at the surviving beasts as the air thickened with smoke.
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Vulnerable to fire, the Cainites instinctively fled from the main room. Aurore fled through the collapsed rear door, following Snake and the other Anarchs across the yard toward the garage, ducking under the whistle of sniper shot. Cut off by the black miasma that was building up in the room, Mikhail, Elwin, & Ed retreated into the hallway, retracing their steps to the front door.
Outside on the street, Sascha had reacted to the fire fight by reversing his vehicle back toward the clubhouse entrance as he took aim through the window at the sniper’s general direction. Taking their chance, the trio waiting at the entrance sprang out of the burning building and across to the car to take cover, Mikhail and Elwin both wounded by the hidden sniper before they climbed into the backseat.
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Taking the driver’s seat from Sascha, whom continued to cover them with his handgun, Ed clamped down on the pedal, steering away from the curb to follow the tail lights of the Anarch bikers that had broken free from the garage. A quick glance in the side mirrors warned the Gangrel of a lone rider in pursuit, closing in on a sleek sports bike.
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Within seconds the rider was beside them, spraying the paintwork with a burst from their automatic sidearm. Unscathed, Ed jerked the wheel, sideswiping the sport bike and its rider into the parked cars along the avenue where it remained in his mirrors as he sped away. Continuing northward out of the backstreets, he merged with the busy traffic flowing along the highway for Tacoma to escape in its motion.
Scene ii: Delong Park, Central Tacoma.
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Having escaped the burning siege of their haven, Snake and his motorcycle entourage pulled over to the anonymity of a suburban park whose lack of light sheltered them from the side streets, away from the highway that had brought them here.
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Leaving the pillion seat of Snake’s bike, Aurore turned to look back as Mikhail’s car approached, parking itself nearby so the Burien coterie could emerge from its doors to join her and the Anarchs on the bough sheltered pavement.
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Before their flight from the clubhouse, Ed had reminded Snake that their coincidental arrival was not part of the Sabbat’s plot, something which he asked again to be reinforce the fact that the Sabbat were their mutual enemy. Agreeing to the old man’s words, Snake listened as the Burien crew outlined their immediate need to meet with Leo, asking him to bring this and the news of the Sabbat to his attention whilst they (the coterie) return to Seattle.
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As a farewell, Aurore moved to embrace Snake in her arms, the touch of his leather jacket stirring the Beast in her kindred soul to surface unexpectedly, ivory fangs cutting the Anarch leader’s lips as she bit into them with a sensuous desire before she pulled away.
Act 2
Scene i: Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle.
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Night’s later, Mikhail received a private invitation to join Prince Oran in the Arboretum and enjoy a local performance of ‘Hamlet’. The personalized letter extended the invitation to “one other”, a partner whom Mikhail could bring to the evening’s play.
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With Ed and Elwin busy in their own endeavours, Mikhail invited Aurore to accompany him to the gardens. Dressing in their best formal wear for the occasion, Sascha chauffeured the pair to the exclusive suburbs near Lake Washington.
* * *
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Leaving the colonnade of lamps that flanked a foot bridge of moss green stone, Mikhail and Aurore could hear the orchestra strings and babble of the expectant audience which led them to the open theatre, recognizing the Prince among a small entourage from the Seattle court. Keeping distant for the moment, the pair seated themselves to enjoy the first two acts, all too familiar with Hamlet’s actions to confuse the focus of his patricidal revenge, Claudius.
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During the interlude, the Prince’s servant approached with a request for Mikhail to join Oran while the Toreador elder, Delilah, kept company with his lady friend (Aurore). As the third act commenced, Prince Oran welcomed the younger Ventrue’s company, the vivid green of his eyes watching the actors move under the stars as he made polite conversation, asking after the restaurant in Burien.
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The Prince congratulated him on removing the witness and repelling the Anarchs from the fringes of southern Seattle. Paula Lang, the witness whom had been riding with Eddie the night of the crash (Chap 3, Act 3: i) had been reported as missing on the nightly news, her desperate parents pleading with the camera for her safe return. Aware of her fate, kept hidden by Ed in an unknown safehouse, Mikhail let the Prince think otherwise. As for the retreat of the Anarchs, he admitted to Oran that the return of the Sabbat into Tacoma had also played its part in keeping Snake and his brood reticent to show themselves in the streets.
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The report of Sabbat amused the Prince, seeing it as evidence of the Southern court’s failure to eliminate the Sabbat when Leo had claimed otherwise so he could demand recompense for the Brujah and Gangrel losses. The return of the Camarilla’s enemy would be justice for Leo’s failure, keeping him pinned down in Tacoma until one side should climb out of the ruin as victor. As soon as they dared to do so, Oran would be ready to fell them and return the state of Washington to the peace of his unquestioned rule.
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On the other side of the amphitheatre, Aurore found the company of Delilah to be intimate enough to confess the broken relationship she had with her sire, Patrice Blake. The revelation of Blake’s seduction by the smouldering blonde was nectar to the elder’s ear, encouraging Aurore to recount the short time she had spent in the Tremere priest’s company. Accepting the offer to visit the Myth nightclub which Aurore habited, Delilah hinted that she could help in having her introduced formally to the Seattle court, bypassing her sire’s cold dismissal from the Camarilla.
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Concurrently with this gossip, Mikhail asked the Prince about the development of Holly Park, and man responsible, Sebastian Green. Ed had previously asked Mikhail to bring up this topic in the hopes that Oran’s influence could halt Mr Green’s ambitions for the old neighbourhood. However, it soon became apparent that Green was protected by the Prince, as he had a hand in the city’s current redevelopment around the southern neighbourhoods, including the new runway for SeaTac airport.
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Oran offered a share of the coming prosperity if Mikhail would help him in the reinvention of Seattle, and by extension, the State of Washington. With Burien situated between the Prince’s southern projects, Mikhail knew he was in the ideal location to benefit from these enterprises in the coming years.
Scene ii: Kaiser Permanente, Seattle.
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Meanwhile, in the heart of the city, an orderly pushed a body bag laying atop a stretcher through the long halls of Kaiser Permaente campus, directions on the wall indicating the morgue at the end of the basement passage.
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Once Elwin, disguised as the orderly, had closed the door of the morgue he unzipped the side of the body bag to allow Ed an opportunity to emerge and join him in the deathly cold of the facility whose only other occupants were in the drawer storage shelves along the wall.
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Having escaped the notice of the few staff who were working late in the building, the pair of kindred made their way to the office rooms on a higher level, quickly passing the name plates on the doors until Elwin found Dr Clayton’s private office, sealed over with police evidence tape. Crawling underneath it so as not to break the seal, they explored the interior.
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Dr Clayton’s medical records and personal effects had been removed by the police days earlier, after the discovery of his body in Meridian (Chap 4. 1:i). All that remained were the furniture and a computer atop it. As Elwin sat at the desk and searched the drawers for any floppy discs, Ed let his eagle eyes roam the room, looking for anything out of place when he noticed that an air vent panel in the roof was slightly misaligned. Climbing another chair to prod the vent with his cane loosened it enough to let it fall from its fixture, spilling alongside it a hidden collection of view slides and paperwork.
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Elwin immediately recognized the files as research notes connected to the Lymphogene-H trials. Holding the slides up to the light coming off the computer monitor, cell structures at a microscopic level demonstrated the effects of the vaccine neutralizing pathogens. With these visual aids to study, Elwin realised that an ingredient of Lymhpogene-H had to be kindred vitae. The revelation confirmed his own theories about the vaccine, and as he explained to Ed, gave them a temporary solution to Zeb Taylor’s condition back at St Anne Hospital.
Scene iii: St Anne Hospital, Burien.
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Later in the night, Ed & Elwin had bypassed the lax hour security at St Anne to enter the palliative care ward, silently drawing back the privacy curtains at Zeb Taylor’s bedside. During the journey from the city to Burien, Ed had begun to doubt the validity of sustaining Zeb’s life by enslaving him to the addiction of vitae, in which the kindred could ensnare mortals to serve as their blood-fettered slaves until the source was cut off.
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Looking at the frail health of Zeb as he slept unaware, the Gangrel’s thoughts returned, pushing him to ask Elwin if this were the right choice, besides the possible discovery of vitae in Zeb’s bloodstream by the hospital staff when they performed their next test. Elwin’s reply was polite but blunt; without vitae as a temporary measure to keep the cancer at bay, the man’s life would end within weeks.
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Making his choice, Ed cut the flesh of his inner forearm with the pearl daggers of his teeth, holding the flowing vein over the patient’s mouth, staining the lips and tongue in a crimson ichor. Like a parched man in the desert, Zeb’s mouth opened to catch more of the alchemical cure that would give him temporary sustain from encroaching death.
Act 3
Scene i: Port of Tacoma.
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After these events, the Burien coterie was summoned to a meeting with the Southern court, arriving at the Port of Tacoma in two vehicles driven by Sascha and Aurore. After a visual inspection by Monica, the Latino Brujah that had been tasked with the same security check months earlier at their first meeting with Leo, they were free to continue to the end of the road.
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Proceed on foot, the coterie briefly studied the background noise and animation of workers unloading cargo ships before joining the Tacoma Prince, Leo, and his entourage of loyal subjects. Introducing Aurore to the Prince, Mikhail and the others caught up with Leo, whom had warmed to their presence after the confrontation with the Sabbat, thanking them for aiding the Anarchs to escape. Leo readily agreed to Mikhail’s suggestion that the Tacoma court, Anarchs, and Burien coterie work together to repel the invading Cainites in order to protect their mutual territories.
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A night before the meeting, Ed had petitioned the elder of Clan Gangrel, Ephraim, to ask Leo that he speak privately with Mikhail during the upcoming gathering at the docks, so that he could warn the Southern Prince of a particular threat directed at him from Seattle. Ed’s impassioned speech, flavoured with the raw emotions of his rising Beast, had evidently been taken seriously by Ephraim, for shortly after the main issues had been discussed by both parties Leo asked Mikhail to ‘walk’ with him so they could talk freely.
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Accompanying the physical presence of the Prince to the harbour master’s building nearby, Mikhail waited until he was prompted to reveal his urgent message. Mikhail explained that a month previously he had been requested to use his ‘friendship’ with Tacoma to get close enough to Krystal Aguirre, their Seneschal, and deliver her an offer: if she could betray Leo and the South by removing him from power, they would reward her with a seat on the Primogen council as well as the current Brujah domains in Seattle & Tacoma.
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The possibility of betrayal soured Leo’s mood, confirming with Mikhail again and again through his questioning that the Seattle court had enough faith in their plan to successfully tempt her with the offer.
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As they waited outside on the docks, Aurore had caught Krystal’s attention, conversing with the Brujah elder about the nightclub she ‘owned’ in Columbia City, inviting her to attend one evening to experience its reputation and enjoy the company it had to offer, like herself. Accepting the business card from Aurore’s hands, the sable haired woman smiled as she assured the young Tremere of her visit sometime soon...
Scene ii: Georgetown, Seattle.
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After the dockside gathering the Burien coterie had returned north, retiring to their own respective havens in the final hours before dawn. For Aurore, home was a wide loft she had converted to an apartment on the warehouse fringes of Georgetown.
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Turning her key in the final lock, she had barely swept the door open when the purple glint of something on the floor caught her attention.
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There, as though it had been waiting for her, was the antique amethyst ring she had pawned at Stanley’s (Chap 4, 2: i).