I awoke feeling surprisingly refreshed, if a little confused about the previous night. It would seem I became quite drunk after feeding from an alcoholic, something I would ensure I didn’t repeat.

We all headed out to the car, where I queried Christos as to what had occurred while I was .... under the weather! Van Myers had been kidnapped by some kind of mad scientist, working at a lab at the local college. He had been conducting experiments on Van Myers when Christos and Marie arrived, and a gun fight ensued. They managed to save him, and took the scientist’s notebook. It would make for interesting reading, but would have to wait for now.

Marie mentioned that she was feeling hungry, and wanted to feed before we did anything. It is a little unnerving the way vampires refer to humans in such a manner, yet I found myself looking at them in a similar fashion. Having experienced such overwhelming hunger last night, I realise I can’t deny my need of sustenance. This evening I have noticed a fine down of hair on the back of my hands. It is almost fur-like, but I suspect it may have something to do with the missing time from the library.

Marie suggested we go to some of the seedier bars in the lower class district. We may find some leads about the murderers, and could find a ‘meal’. I was wearing the suit from last night, which had holes and blood all over it. Christos and Van Myers still had their suits on, if a little worse for wear, and we would all look out of place. It was suggested we go to a store and pick up some less conspicuous attire, We decided on denim jeans and shirts, so that we blended in a little better.

We entered an area of the city I had never been in, having deliberately avoided it before. There were groups of gang members standing beside the main strip, eying us as we drove by. There were neon signs flashing above every night club, with large bouncers hovering menacingly in the doorways. Marie directed us to one of her regular ‘haunts’, but as we approached the door, we noticed the bouncers checking for weapons. As we all had some form of weapon, we discretely returned to the car and left them there. We entered the dingy club, and I was deafened by the pounding music. Despite our efforts, we stuck out like sore thumbs among the regulars.

We looked around, and Van Myers nodded towards a man in the corner. Even I could tell he was a ‘dealer’ selling his wares. Christos suggested perhaps he would be better able to get information from him, as he was used to being around people like him. Christos made his way over, and sat down. After a few minutes, he waved Van Myers over. I couldn’t hear what was being said, however I did see Van myers pull out a wad of cash. The dealer got up and motioned for them to follow him out the back.

Marie and I were left, being ogled by the leering crowd of degenerate men. Marie spied a young looking girl at a table on her own, and walked over to her. The girl seemed far too young for a public bar to me. I could now see the attraction holding Marie’s attention was a silver medallion the girl was twirling in her hand. I saw Marie try and take it from the girl, attempting to lift it over her head. The Girl became very agitated, and I could see vampire teeth emerge, as she began screaming at Marie to get away. Marie motioned for me to go over, and when I reached her, she said “you have the ability. Get her to shut up, she’s causing a scene.” I sat down in front of the girl, looked into her eyes intently, and said “it’s OK. CALM down, be nice and CALM now.” Her eyes glazed over, and her features returned to a more human form. She had stopped screaming, and was visibly relaxed now.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before Christos and Van Myers emerged from the back room. Marie walked over to them, and mentioned that the girl was a vampire, and she had a medallion with a symbol on it. It was the same as the one above the door of ‘The Edge’ club where the murders took place. Marie said that the girl refused to give it to her, and asked that Van Myers force her to give it to us. He was a lot stronger than I in his ability to dominate others, and managed to get her to hand over the necklace. He asked her where she got it, to which she replied “a small store on Twelfth Avenue. It was in the window.” She couldn’t recall the name of the store, but it was something for us to go on. Then she snapped out of her trance state, and started flying off the handle again at us. We decided then it was a good time to take our leave.

Van Myers offered little information about what had happened out the back of the club, but from what I understand, they encountered a ‘ghoul’ - a human that drinks vampiric blood for the powers and immortality it holds. Van Myers had to supply a small amount of blood to him, as well as several thousand dollars. For that he was given information about the vampire wearing the ‘Sesame Street Count’ t-shirt from the club murders. It seemed he was relatively new to the city, and had slowly been eliminating the smaller gang bosses from the downtown areas.

We headed over to Twelfth Avenue to find the medallion’s store. We came across a new age type store, with jewellery displayed in the window. Marie was entranced by all the silver jewellery, which I had figured out was her weakness. I managed to get her inside eventually, to find Van Myers talking to the Kaftan wearing store owner. Christos was flicking through some witch and voo-doo type books on the shelf. There was an array of odd creatures preserved inside bottles on a shelf that fascinated me. There was an animal foetus of some sort in one of them, and various dried plants in each bottle.

I could overhear Van Myers speaking in his dominating tone to the store owner, as he questioned her about where she got Marie’s new medallion. She didn’t seem to know where the necklace had come from however. Even when she looked at the invoice for her last shipment of jewellery, she couldn’t find it on her order form. We assumed she had been dominated by another vampire at some stage, and the necklace was placed strategically in the store. I walked over behind them near the counter, as I saw them turn it over to reveal an engraved letter ‘V’. The other medallions in the store didn’t bear the engraving at all. Perhaps the ‘V’ stood for ‘Vissago’, a vampire I had heard Van Myers referring to. For the moment we had gathered all the information we could from the woman, and took our leave.

Marie was still saying she was hungry and needed to feed. She directed us to another bar in the same seedy district we had been in. All the bars looked much the same to me, dimly lit, smoky, with loud pounding music.

Van Myers and Christos mingled around the room, while Marie and I sat at a table. A waitress came over with a drink for Marie, saying it was from a man at the bar. She motioned to a surprisingly nice looking male. He seemed almost as out of place as the rest of us. (not including Marie, who blended in all too well.) She left me at the table alone, while she walked over to join him. A few minutes later she waved me over to them. I introduce myself by name to the man, who said “pleased to meet you Teresa. It would seem you are more open with our name compared to your friend. She still hasn’t told me her name...” She looked at him, smiled slightly, and said simply “it’s not important”. He offered me a drink, which I politely took . I cradled it without sipping however, as the mere thought of drinking it turned my stomach.

Marie and the man (whose name I failed to ask) were involved in an intimate conversation, so I casually looked around the room, taking it all in. How my life has changed since my beloved sire Gordon embraced me. It was both a horrific existence, yet so liberating for me. I could never have been so bold as to go anywhere near a place like this in my ‘old life’.

I was snapped out of my reverie by Marie standing and motioning to the door. It seemed she had found her ‘meal’, and was eager to leave. I waved discreetly to Van Myers, who lead Christos towards the door behind us. Van Myers and I got in the back of the car, while Christos hopped into the driver’s seat. Marie seemed happy to get into the front seat with her man, straddling him and kissing him intimately. I knew at any moment I would hear a pleasurable sigh escape his lips, and Marie drank of him. I had noted that a vampire’s kiss when feeding, was more pleasurable to the vessel than the vampire. It at least meant once they had been bitten, they submitted readily, making our feeding a pleasure for all concerned.

I heard him submit, then saw Marie toss her head back in horror. She was looking around her, as if she was hallucinating. I realised the man had vampiric fangs exposed, as he laughed at her. Christos pulled the car over wit ha screech, and the next thing I knew, the front door beside Marie was open, the man nowhere to be seen. She was going on about how he took her ‘shiny thing’, referring to the medallion she had been wearing.

Marie looked like she was drugged out of her mind, her head rolling from side to side, and her eyes wide in both amazement and horror. Van Myers was cursing as he got out of the car. He dragged Marie out of the front, and pushed her (none too gently) into the back. She was going on about the ‘pretty colours’ she could see. Van Myers was chastising her saying “I can’t believe you didn’t notice he was a vampire, for Christ’s sake! You tried to feed off a vampire!” I sat quietly, not wanting to attract any of his anger.

We drove around, while we waited for whatever was wrong with Marie to subside. After some time, she became more coherent. Van Myers was both hungry and angry now, and insisted that we go to a club where he could get a ‘decent meal’. I couldn’t help but notice his choice of vessels seemed to be centred around young ‘yuppie’ males.

We went to a more upmarket club called “The Empire”. Our clothing still stood out, as now we were now grossly underdressed! As we walked into the club, I could see scantily clad performers on platforms around the room. They were wearing leather clothing (if you could refer to it as such, considering the few strips the had on) and were gyrating around erotically. By that time I was in overload and in awe of the whole club scene, having visited more night clubs in one night than in my entire life!

We all seemed to see him at the same time. It was the vampire Marie had mistakenly tried to feed from. He was at the bar with a female, with the same medallion in his hand. He was holding it in front of her, almost like he was hypnotising her while he spun it around from the chain. Van Myers went to take a step in his direction, when a large bouncer stepped in his way. He shook his head, as if warning him not to approach. Marie was genuinely put out, and could only stare at them.

Van Myers headed into the crowd, looking intently towards ....Louis! Van Myers began speaking to him as I approached. It was difficult to make my way through the crowd, and Louis had finished talking and left by the time I reached them. Van Myers began walking through the crowd again, with me trailing behind. He headed back towards the bar.

Christos beat us to the woman, who was staring intently at her medallion. After a few minutes, he had somehow convinced her to leave with him, and they headed for the exit.

In the meantime, Van Myers had managed to start a conversation with two young men, who seeemed in awe of him. They agreed to leave with him, and we went to the car outside. Van Myers, myself, and the two men got into the back seat, and Marie hopped into the front.

Christos had walked down the street past the car, and seemed to be trying to get the necklace off the girls neck. She wouldn’t willingly give it to him, so he broke the chain. She became hysterical, and he had to restrain her. He dragged her to the car, trying not to draw further attention to us. He put her in the car beside me, and told me to calm her down. I looked into the eyes, and said “it’s OK, be CALM, you can CALM down now.” Her face glazed over, and she relaxed.

The car pulled away, and we drove from the club. I looked over at Van Myers, and indicated discreetly to him that I wanted to share his vessels. He nodded ,and intimately bit into one of the male’s necks. The other seemed to think they were kissing, and seeemed non-plussed by it. I gently grabbed the first man’s wrist, and bit into it. He was in ecstasy, with both of us feeding from him. Van Myers left him to me, and turned to the other male, drinking from him.

After we had fed, we took all the vessels to their homes. It was better for ‘the masquerade’ that they were left unharmed. We headed to Van Myers apartment to sleep for the day.

[ The Masquerade |Redemption - The Prince | Werewolf | Library | Medallion | Nosferatu | Jan | Felicity / Reno's | Priest / Kyle | The Prince, My Sire ]

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