There's no wind tonight, the streets below me are nearly empty of people. I've been up on this rooftop for the last 4 hours and there's another 6 more to go. The streets beginning to die down, not that it was that busy in the first place. No, most people don't bother coming out this late at night. Not in this part of town and not with the weather dipping to -2C. I can hear a dog barking a short distance away and the raised voices of a domestic dispute coming from a building 3 doors down from the one I'm on. The smell of the dumpster in the alleyway to my right comes wafting up and I think I recognise the smell of badly burnt toast and rotting vegetables. I try not to breathe at all but it's still there. Sometimes the sharpened senses that come from being dead is not as much a blessing as I'd like it to be.

It's been 2 weeks since the takedown. 7 since the former Sheriff, Martin Laurence died. A long time in times like these. Too long but there's no help for it. Thoughts of the last 2 weeks run through my head alongside the words that come murmuring into my left ear. One of the first order of businesses for me had been getting one of the Prince's ghouls to come along and dictate all the Sheriffs files to tape. Got a ton of them now, I keep listening to them all the time. Hell, got the bloody stereo on when I'm asleep during the day. I don't know if it works, if I'll remember any of it but I can't afford to not do it. Doesn't matter, on over-watch like this it sure as hell gives me something to listen to and it's useful data. Laurence had a lot of information set down, quite a careful planner. Meticulous. Got to love a man like that, at least if your following in his footsteps.

After the come down on the Sabbat haven there was no stopping the information from flowing. Good for my reputation and my paycheque but no good at all for keeping a secret. It'd have been nice to have a few days leeway without it becoming known so easily but those are the breaks. Elysium's moving already and I'm not surprised. Nasty surprise that one. I don't know where it is now actually. Don't need to know just yet, I've got a lot more work to get done and I know the Keeper. She's good at what she does and I have to trust her to be able to do this. I can't oversee everything no matter how much I want to. Let me give you a quick strategic overview. Very quick, very brief. On the Sabbat's side they've got speed, numbers, a disregard for the Masquerade, good tactical and strategic planning, knowledge of the city and the ability to dictate the pace. By nature of what my job is, we're reactive. Jobs to protect the city after all. They've had a mole in the city for years, the amount of information that they could have gotten in that time is unknown. On our side we have me. That's really it. We don't have any other advantage. Nothing that can be exploited. Oh sure, we can talk of larger mortal influence, the fact that on average we're older and of lower generation. Then there's home ground advantage of course and all the other personnel within the city who aren't bad at their jobs like the Keeper. Except none of that is worth shit in an outhouse because we can't co-ordinate our forces and they have a lot better information than us. They know the rest there is to know, they've likely planned and prepared for it all.

No, the only advantage we have is me. Not boasting of course. Well, not much. As the new Sheriff I'm the one with the biggest target on the back. They might want the Prince, but to get to him they need to go through me. I'm the one who's meant to co-ordinate activities in the city, to make sure people play nice. And I'm unknown. They don't know me, don't know what I can do or will do. They can't judge me and without that ability they have to estimate what I can do. Guess. That gives us an advantage. Maybe. If I can exploit it.

They can't guess what I'm doing because they don't know me. But they have to take account of me somehow. And to do that they have to rely on the information they can get from the Nosferatu and also past experience with people like me. Sheriffs. I'm still wondering how the hell I ended up like that but hell, done is done and I've got to deal with the present. Still, if I do what every other Sheriff does or would do I'd lose. It's that simple. We don't have the time, the knowledge or the resources to play the game using their rules. Of course others might say it's not really their rules, it's our rules. Rules we all set out and played along a long time ago. Me, I never cared for rules. Just results.

The documents in the safe were useful certainly. It gave some information on things we needed to know, things such as the more recent correspondence between Stone and the pack. Some data on havens and the like. But not all of it. Stone and the other 3 Sabbat we have are currently getting their minds picked. I handed it over to the Tremere that I found on my team. My team, strange thought that. Don't like the Tremere much, don't trust them at all but the man that wanted the job, could do it and I've got security cameras recording their every action and word. They might get something out of this, I'm sure they will. But they know better than to fuck with me on the information that I want, 'cause it's their asses on the line too. No, damage limitation is well underway. We brought in a few bulldozers and other toys and currently nearly all their havens that we know of are wrecked. There's no way they're going to be able to use them. Same thing for their weapon drops, I had a few people go over and pick them up. Useful and thoughtful of them to provide it for us if they are somewhat rusty and require repairs. I didn't take them all, didn't wipe out all the havens either. I figure I might just use it against them. Currently got the few havens left that we know of under surveillance. If they get used we know of it and then, maybe we track them down further and maybe we can just step on these bastards when we need to.

My mind returns to why I'm the Sheriff once more and I sigh to myself, knowing why. Because I was good enough to do the job, slow enough not to get out of the line of sight and dumb enough to say yes. I know the city pretty well, after all I've been there for 2 and a half years. Pretty long for me but I had a reason. You see, about 8 years ago I got a rude wake up call when a group of hunters nearly took me down. I hadn't realised how far and fast the world had changed. Oh, I kept in touch with certain parts but I hadn't with most of it. And so while I thought I was pretty safe I nearly waltzed into an ambush. Pure luck got me out of that one, luck and a bit of skill. So, I've gone back into training for the last 8 years.

4 years and a bit ago I heard 2 of the 3 Kindred in this entire world that I'd trust with my back were in the same city; Gotham and weren't leaving anytime soon. I figured why not and went to pay them a visit. To cut a long story short; I arrived in the city 2 and a half years ago and have stuck around since then, mainly keeping my friends company and training myself to catch up on this weird, weird world.

Sandra Montgomery and Janus. Sandy's Clan Toreador though she's not your typical Rose. She's no art fag or social butterfly though she can certainly hold her own in those stages. She's more Brujah or Gangrel than Toreador to tell the truth. One of the best blades-woman I've ever seen and a hell of a lot faster than I am. She's the one who taught me that trick, how to move faster than any mortal can. Not all of these things come innately. She's impulsive, smart and has one hell of a set of instincts in the field but when it comes to strategic or long range planning she falls flat. Not one of her strengths but at least she knows it. She's trying to learn at least, Janus is good company for her in this sense.

Janus. Well, he's Clan Nosferatu. Ugly fellows though I have to admit I've seen a few Gangrel who look worst than them. They've also got one of the best information networks out there and all of them seem to know how to do that disappearing trick. Very nice, I really have got to find the time to learn that trick. He's one smart man. Personally, I'd say he's the smartest one of all 3 of us and none of us are exactly that slow. The man's got more knowledge stored in that head of his than most libraries and best of all he's got a love for things that go boom. A man after my own heart.

Yeah, they're good friends. I'd trust them with my life and I've done so in the past. I guess sitting out here I am trusting them with it again. We've had a lot of adventures together. All 3 are older than me, some like Janus very much older. I sometimes wonder why they think I'm in the same class as them really, but then again I doubt any of them could take me on and confidently say they could win. Vice versa too. I guess that's why we mix so well.

I got a few more things ticking over in the city. Got Sandy and Janus and the rest of those I halfway trust working on some of the most thorough checks they can do on the people I have to work with as Sheriff and I'm also cooking up a few other surprises in the city. But the problem is, all this is damage limitation. And the big kablooie is coming soon. Won't help to fix the leaks in the ship if we're still headed for the rocks.

Which is why I'm seated on the roof of a building, listening to the droning voice of a ghoul and scanning the street below me with a pair of binoculars. I'm not really that interested in the street actually. More the building that lies 3 doors to my left on the opposite side of the street. A Sabbat pack haven. No, they've not gotten into the city. I'm not in Gotham anymore. Where am I? Guess you could call this the staging grounds for the Sabbat. At least for this attack.

No one in the city knows I'm here. Not even the Prince. That really pisssed him off when he asked for my plans. But I don't trust him. Oh sure, the chances are that he's not Sabbat. If he were we'd all be dead by now. No, I just don't trust him not to open his mouth at the wrong moment. That and the fact that if I told him I was walking into the spiders' lair he'd freak the hell out. I don't really blame him, I'm freaking too and I know the reasons for this. I'm changing the rules once more of the game, cheating if you will.

One problem of planning a siege on a city is the amount of preparation you have to do. Doesn't look like much but it's there. Training, picking up new weapons, making sure you have the transportation and the places to stay, training, co-ordination of forces, more training, working out your strategy as things change and you get more information and even more training. You got to figure things out, got to make sure everyone knows their job and where to fall back to if things go ape-shit. Got to know where you can find the right bars, got to make sure everyone knows who is who, or at least work out a way for them to tell quickly. No, looks deceptively simple but its not a matter of running into a city and trying to kill everyone you see. Trust me I know. Planned and participated in more than one.

All that really means is that you're going to be making a lot more noise. It shows up on the screen; all that noise, if you know what to look for and have the right contacts. I don't. Luckily Laurence does. Or maybe I should say he did. Nice thing about the way we work is that in most cases there forms this nice little bureaucracy of things, someone reports to someone else who then reports to someone else and so on and so forth. Thus whilst killing the guy on top removes the co-ordination of the entire thing, once you put someone on top again he can get back all the resources and information that was there if he knows where to look. Nice. That's one plus point. Another is that people like me who have no idea on how to play the control and inflfuence game can still use the information you get from these things. And of course, if no one really knows that the guy at the top of the food chain is a vampire, well... the Masquerade can't be broken now can it?

Which is how I figured, well no. Confirmed that this is the city where they will stage the attack from. It was the only logical choice but hell, the Sabbat haven't always been known for their logic. So here I am, scoping them out and working out the rest of my plan.

They look pretty ready by now. I figure another 2 possibly 3 days before they make their move. Hopefully the loss of Stone and the pack in the city threw them. It must have, at least a bit, but I can't count on that fact to give me an advantage. No, I have to do something unexpected. Change the rules again.

It's not been easy keeping hidden from people. Oh sure, I'm good at it and I've been here before it fell to the bloody shovel-heads so I know my way around. Still, it's not been easy, not with 7 packs here. I'm willing to bet the number of people going missing has really gone up over the last month. Not surprising with over 50 Sabbat in here right now. Too many but then again, from what I've seen 4 of those packs are going to be on the move, maybe 5. No, feeding isn't going to be a problem for them, not too soon anyhow.

My mind comes to a conclusion and I nod to myself. Tomorrow night then. I know the leaders are going to be heading for a meeting tomorrow. Seem to do it every 2 or 3 days. I'd love to take the leaders down, all of them. Well, all 9 that seem to make it to those meetings anyhow. I'm no fool though. Good as I am, I ain't that good. I'd be able to walk away from a fight with any one of their pack leaders. Hell, with any 2 of them. But they've got their equivalent of a Prince in there and whilst he might not be as powerful as my immediate boss, he sure would give me a run for my money. On a good day maybe. I'd have surprise on my side, but that won't be enough. Not by half. No... got to play another game.

With that final thought I'm standing up, moving away from my post. Time to go. I won't learn anything more than I did the night before. Law of Diminishing Returns. I got a few more things to do before tomorrow night if I don't end up dead.