Detroit- the murder capital of the United States. A city drenched in blood and filth, urban decay and desolation. Murders, disappearances, assaults- nothing was off the table here if you were not careful enough and no one would bat an eye. A city like this was the perfect home for vampires- they stalked the nightlife of the city, adding bodies to the already existing numbers. And it was the city that Aster currently called home.
Aster was unusual- even for being a vampire. She had only recently moved to Detroit, following some information that her sire was nearby. Once she had arrived in the city, she quickly went to work using her resources and money she had saved up to open a tattoo shop to hopefully bring in some funds and for her enjoyment- tattoos were something any vampire could do, sure, but only vampires like Aster could make it a permanent thing when it was done on another vampire. It was something special she could do and profit from. Plus, she just enjoyed doing art- whether it be on a body or paper, she didn't care. Aster was also a very solitary vampire, which was unusual for vampires in the Sabbat. She preferred to keep to herself, not joining any packs or running with any particular groups. In fact, in the last city she had lived in, she had made a deal with the local Bishop to be excluded from most Sabbat related-things in exchange for her "services". Aster was a fleshcrafter, a master in the art of Vicissitude. She could take anyone's flesh and change them practically any way she wanted- which is why her tattoos would stay permanently on a vampire's body. However, she hadn't made such a deal with anyone in this city, yet. She had barely presented herself to the local Bishop- something that she knew was rude to do but she was too focused on getting herself settled first. She had no plans to leave this city any time soon, not until she found her sire.
Aster was busy at work in her shop, it was a surprisingly busy night. She didn't run the place alone, of course, she had a ghoul named Needles- he was sweet and kind, stupid as all hell, but he got shit done and that's what Aster liked. She wasn't overly kind to him, often giving him cold and short responses, but there was a reason for that- she didn't want him to get too attached to her, as ghouls usually did. But he did his job, helped her with some non-work related things (usually disposing of bodies after her meals) and didn't question her so Aster didn't mind having him around. She was in the middle of a pretty complex tattoo some big, badass biker asked for when she heard Needles call out to her as he entered the room she was in:
"Uhhh… Aster, can you come up here?"
Aster sighed, straightening up and placing her tattoo gun on a nearby tray, looking over at Needles as she pulled her gloves off. "What is it?"
Needles shifty uncomfortably as he looked at her- Aster knew he was scared of her and the thought brought a smile to her face. He cleared his throat and said, "Well… uh there's, uh, a c-customer here that, uh, wants to see you specifically." He looked away from her as if he was expecting her to hit him.
Aster rolled her eyes, looking back to the biker and muttering "Give me a moment." before pushing past Needles and into the main waiting area of her shop. There she saw a man who was looking around the shop with a curious look on his face. He seemed not to notice her as she walked into the room. Aster placed a hand on her hip, staring at him before she cleared her throat loudly and said "Can I help you?"
The man turned to her, and she noticed some things about him that were… off. His face was almost feral looking, as if he had been living in the woods his entire life and was way too friendly with the animals there. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses, which he tilted down to speak to her, and she noticed that they were almost like wolf eyes. Ah, I see She knew almost immediately what he was, though she had no idea what he wanted. The man smiled, his crooked, jagged and sharp teeth showing as he said "There is a meeting tonight. Required. I'm here to take you." His voice was low and somewhat growly, as if he either didn't speak often or it was raw from yelling of some type- Aster wasn't sure which.
Aster tilted her head, attempting to look confused "A meeting?" She was playing dumb, hoping that this vampire would think he had the wrong person and leave- she had no interest in going to a meeting, she really just wanted to be left alone. However, it seemed this vampire wasn't going to take no for an answer. He gestured to her door and said "Ya, a meeting. Let's go. Now. You don't want to keep the Bishop waiting."
Aster sighed and shrugged, "Guess I have no option here- let me tell my employee I'm leaving." She said, turning and walking back into the room she had just walked out of. She looked to her client, who looked utterly confused, and she shook her head at him "Sorry, but it looks like you'll have to come back- family emergency came up, you know how it is. Needles here will finish up with wrapping the piece for now so it doesn't get ruined- come back tomorrow night or something." The biker shrugged in reply.
Aster then walked over to her mirror and looked at herself, making sure she looked presentable. Her jet-black hair was a bit of a mess, but that was normal. She had incredibly short hair, shaved on one side and the rest of it was flipped over. It had a blue tint to it that was beautiful in the sunlight- too bad that would never be seen as long as Aster wanted to live. Her eyes shone a bright, emerald green- the only thing about her body that remained unchanged from the time she was born nearly 300 years ago. She may have fleshcrafted her body and hair but she would never change her eyes, her sire told her once that he loved the way they looked. On the side of her head, where her hair was shaved, was a tattoo- it looked like a zombie hand bursting out of the ground. Aster had allowed Needles to do the tattoo for practice and he picked the design. Aster found it a bit silly but kept it anyways since he seemed so proud of it. She adjusted her Victorian-style vest, ran a hand over her hair and looked back at Needles, "I'll be back before sunrise." She said and walked back to the waiting room.
Her "guest" looked her over, his face looking bored as all hell as he said "You ready? Let's go." Aster sighed dejectedly and said "Alright, lead the way." The man smirked, opening her door, stepping onto the street and began to haul ass. Aster was caught off-guard, she didn't expect to be running to a meeting. She had thought her chaperone would have at least had some type of vehicle, isn't that just the polite way to do things? She really didn't have time to think about it as the other vampire yelled back to her "Try to keep up, new blood! I'll leave you in the dust!"
Aster frowned, readying herself, and took off after him. She found it somewhat difficult to keep up- he was dodging through shitty alleys and poorly made roads and she was wearing somewhat restrictive clothing. But, despite all that, she managed to keep up well enough to get to where they were going, an abandoned mall.
The outside of the mall looked, well, maintained well enough for being an abandoned mall in Detroit- it had only somewhat fallen apart on the outside. Several groups were gathered around the entrance- some of them just talking, some of them building bonfires and jumping over them, some of them just standing around, watching the others. Aster looked around for her chaperone and noticed he had disappeared and shrugged, moving to one of the unoccupied spots on a wall and leaning against it- crossing her arms over her chest.
She carefully observed the groups, taking notes of how many packs were there- nothing out of the ordinary from her experience, although she didn't go to many Sabbat meetings in the past 150 years. As she scanned the crowd, she saw a vampire who stood out somewhat to her- a very, very pale redheaded man. He looked confused and like he didn't belong with any of the other groups. She watched as he too, looked around and then met eyes with her. She stared back at him and he began moving her way, much to her annoyance. As soon as he was within a few feet of her, he waved awkwardly "Hey- so do you know what's going on?" He asked with a slight Irish accent.
Aster shrugged in reply, "A meeting was all I was told- a required one or else I wouldn't be here." She rolled her eyes, looking away from him in the hopes that he would take the hint and go away. He didn't take the hint. "I'm Blue." He said, extending a hand to her. Aster looked over him and took his hand, shaking it. He looked really strange to her, wearing some weird jacket and a huge scarf. She couldn't help but notice the scars all over his face- he looked like he got into a fight with a lawn mower and lost badly. She smiled at the thought of a vampire fighting with a lawn mower when she realized he was still talking to her. "Interesting tattoo, where'd you get it?" He asked.
Aster shook her thoughts away and replied, "Ah, this one? My ghoul did it, he's a tattoo artist like myself." Blue seemed to get excited by this, "Oh, you're a tattoo artist? That's awesome, I need some work done myself."
"Oh?" Aster replied, "Well my shop is downtown if you're interested- I'm pretty sure I own the only shop that stays open pretty much 24/7. My ghoul usually works days and of course, I do the night stuff. I'm Aster, by the way, and I'd be happy to work on you if you got the cash."
The smile that Blue wore faded for a moment and he rolled his eyes at her "I'm not stupid, ya know, Aster. Why would I pay for a tattoo that'll just be gone the next day?" He looked insulted, as if he thought she was trying to trick him.
Aster laughed, loudly, and a few of the gathered vampires looked at her. She then took her hands, placed them over her head and allowed her fleshcrafting to speak for her- growing her hair from short to incredibly long, nearly down to her ass. She then moved her hands over her hair once again, turning her hair a vibrant blue color. She smirked at Blue and said "That's why you'd pay me."
Blue looked confused for a moment, "Because you can change your hair color?" He asked. Aster sighed, clearly a bit frustrated. "No, you idiot, because I'm a fleshcrafter!" She practically yelled, using her hands to fix her hair back to its original style. Blue shrugged, looking at her, "I don't know what that is, sorry. It's not a discipline I'm familiar with."
"Well, then, what can you do?" Aster asked, curious as to what type of vampire didn't know about Vicissitude. In response, Blue put up his hands and suddenly, there was a flower there as if conjured. He did a overly dramatic bow, extending the flower to her. It was Aster's turn to be confused, she looked at the flower and took it, holding it in her hand before it just vanished. "What was that?" She asked Blue- was it some type of magic? She wasn't sure.
"Chimerstry." He said proudly, "Illusion magic, basically. I can conjure basically anything I want. It's not real, of course, but I can easily make you think it's real." To prove his point, he conjured several more flowers with a wave of his hand before shaking them away into the wind, where they disappeared again.
"Interesting..." Aster mused. She wasn't familiar with Chimerstry at all, she didn't know which clan had that power- she was tempted to ask Blue what clan he was but she knew that was rude so she just let it go. Suddenly, the doors to the mall opened and a booming voice called out, "Get in here, you idiots!" and all the vampires around them began moving. Aster turned back to Blue and said, "Shall we?" and Blue nodded in response, both of them joining the crowd to head inside.
Once inside, everyone gathered around and several vampires grabbed any available seats and sat down. Aster didn't bother to try and grab a seat- there weren't enough for everyone and she didn't want to fight for a chair. She stood in the back, near Blue, and leaned against a wall. In the middle of everyone, a woman with long black hair walked over and somehow started up a huge bonfire- Aster couldn't see very well from where she was, but she assumed they had something set up ahead of time. Once that was done, the woman went to stand next to two other vampires- one of them a large, tough-looking man who was wearing a nice suit and hat. Next to him was a less nice-looking man, he looked somewhat feral and hunched over, whispering something into his arm- Aster wondered if he was Malkavian or something, he was certainly acting crazy enough. Then the large man moved forward, into the middle of the room and began to speak loudly with a Russian accent, "Sword of Caine! You have been called here tonight by the Archbishop herself. It has been a while since we last gathered and the Archbishop wishes for us to renew our bonds with a new Vinculum. Plus, we have new blood in the city." He gestured over to where Aster and Blue stood and Aster wished she could shrink away as dozens of eyes were suddenly on her- she really disliked being the center of attention. The man, who Aster assumed was a Bishop from the way he talked, smiled at her and then said, "Please, you two, introduce yourselves."
Aster looked to Blue, hoping that he would speak up first and get on with it- no luck. He was just staring back at her and then moved his hands as if to say you go! and Aster sighed, turning to face the crowd. With a shrug, Aster addressed the crowd, "My name is Aster- I own a tattoo shop downtown. I've been in the city for a few months already." She hoped that was sufficient, she really didn't want to give out more than that. Apparently, that did suffice as the large man looked from her to Blue and Blue began to speak, "Uhh.. I'm Blue. I live downtown in some abandoned church with one of my other pack-mates. That's… about it." He gave an awkward smile, looking back at Aster. The Bishop nodded in their direction and then looked back to the crowd as a whole, "Good, now that that is out of the way, everyone give your attention to the Archbishop- Carolina Valez."
Aster looked up to the second story of the mall, where a woman stood. She wore quite the revealing outfit and several piercing on her face. She had a few tattoos and she looked down upon the crowd with a smile on her face as she began to move from the second floor down to the first. She spoke and her voice carried an air of authority, "Sword of Caine," she began "It has been some time since we last met. I felt it important to call this meeting as we need to reinforce our bonds- we are the Sabbat and our bonds are what make us strong. Plus, let us not forget our two newcomers." She, too, gestured to Aster and Blue and once again, all the eyes in the room fell upon them. Aster felt uncomfortable, shifting in her spot, wishing they'd stop drawing attention to her. However, Carolina began to speak again, redrawing attention to herself, "Now, let us not waste time, my fellow Cainites. It is time, once again, to begin the Viniculum!"
The Archbishop then walked over to a table that had been set up, and a rather large bowl had been placed upon it. She stood behind the bowl, pulled out a large dagger and slit her wrist, allowing her blood to drain into the bowl. She then waved over the three vampires who were standing separate from the crowd as she said, "Come, my Bishops, and add your blood." The three of them moved over, mimicking Carolina's movements, adding their blood to the bowl. Then Carolina turned to the crowd and smiled, "Now, please join us everyone- in an orderly fashion, of course." One by one, the vampires began to rise, moving to the bowl and adding their blood in. Aster fidgeted, she really didn't want to join a Viniculum with these Cainites- not yet at least. She barely knew any of them. But she knew to not do so was basically asking to be killed. Maybe I can just… pretend to drink from the bowl, I'm sure no one would notice. She waited until an opening came and moved up to add in her blood, Blue following suit.
Once everyone had added their blood, the bowl was then raised, Carolina taking the first drink from it and then passing it around. Once Aster received it, she put the bowl to her lips and did her best not to take any in- until she heard a voice whisper in her ear, "Is there a reason you do not wish to partake in our blood, Volgirre?" Aster nearly dropped the bowl, turning and looking straight into the eyes of the woman with the long, black hair. Aster stammered for a moment, then replied "Oh, uh, I was actually just enjoying the aroma for a moment, much like you would do with a fine wine. Plus, it's been quite some time since I've gotten to enjoy the scent of fresh vitae." Aster smiled at her, then drank from the bowl, really wishing she hadn't been caught. Aster then passed the bowl over to Blue, who seemed to be a bit shaken from Aster getting caught, and he drank from the bowl right away. The woman smiled sweetly at Aster, and continued to whisper into her ear, "I am Samantha, one of the Bishops. You almost made a most dangerous mistake, Volgirre. Tell me, when the rest of your bloodline went traitor and ran to the Camarilla, why is it you stayed?"
Aster froze, she felt so uncomfortable with Samantha so close to her. She muttered, trying not to be overheard, "My loyalty has always belonged to the Sabbat- the Camarilla would never allow me to be who I truly am and the Sabbat has never let me down." Aster felt something move up her back, and she felt Samantha's hands rest on her shoulders and Aster had to fight the urge not to push her away- she hated being touched. "Good answer." Samantha whispered, her tone shifting to something more seductive. "I find you very interesting, Aster. You should come to my club sometime, it's in uptown. Come and see me sometime." And with that, Samantha removed her hands and began to walk away, glancing back to Aster one last time to wink at her.
With a sigh of relief, Aster relaxed as she walked away, noticing that half of the room had been staring at them. Most of them had disapproving looks on their faces and Aster wondered if they had overheard any of the conversation. She didn't want anyone to know about her bloodline, it would automatically mark her as some type of traitor. She looked over at Blue, who gave her a confused look back- had he overheard too? She wasn't sure but she moved closer to him and muttered "I'm not so sure I like the Cainities in this city…" to which Blue shrugged in response. "They're not so bad," he said "Pretty standard Sabbat from what I can tell." Aster couldn't disagree, this is generally how the Sabbat were- which is why she often skipped their meetings.
Once the bowl had made its rounds, it ended up back in the front. Then, Carolina turned back to the group and put her hands up in the air, causing a wave of silence to wash over the crowd. "Now, I believe it is time for us to begin the bloodfeast." She made a gesture over to the side where Aster saw a few people hanging upside down, wrapped tightly in chains and hung from the ceiling. They were a family from the looks of it, a woman, a man, a teenager and two small children. Aster looked back at Carolina and noticed a strange expression on her face as she studied the family, but she seemed to quickly snap back to attention as she said "Well then, feel free to begin." She walked over and began to feed from one of the captured humans and soon, most of the vampires followed suit. Aster stood back, feeling that she had no right to shove her way in to feed, standing next to Blue and seeing from the look on his face that he most likely felt the same. Once enough space had cleared, they both moved in and fed, the blood filling Aster with a temporary warmth that always faded all too quickly.
As Aster fed, she heard a strange sound coming from outside the mall. Unsure of what it was, she moved away from feeding and looked around- it seemed some of her fellow vampires also heard this sound as well as several of them began to look around as well. It sounded like a dull roar, but it was quickly getting louder. And then Aster recognized the sound, but a moment too late. Through the halls of the empty malls roared the engines of motorcycles, probably about a dozen, screeching loudly into the room they were all in. The riders were carrying various weapons, some having nothing more than a baseball bat but some of them had some serious heat- shotguns, semi-auto machine guns and the like. Aster looked back to see several of the vampires around her had fled, and the Bishops had surrounded the Archbishop, moving her up to the second floor to safety. Those who were left began to jump into a fight with the men on the bikes. Aster backed up, about to flee herself when a loud BANG went off and she felt immense pain in her shoulder- one of the men who had a shotgun had shot her as he drove by. Ow! Son of a bitch! I'm gonna make this guy regret that choice. She was mad. It'd been a long time since she had been in a fight but that didn't mean she was any less pissed off.
She watched as the man turned his bike around and she crouched into a more defensive position. She wasn't quite sure how to knock the guy off his bike. He passed by, taking another shot at her which barely missed her face. She looked around, spotting a stairway she could hide in. As he went to turn again, she moved, rushing for the stairway and dodging into it just as he came by- however, her leg was hit by his shot. "Fuck!" she screamed, pulling herself into a more safe spot. She looked around desperately, trying to find something to defend herself with and found a piece of discarded wood. Guess this'll have to do… She grabbed it, readying herself and she heard the bike approaching. He rounded the corner, his headlines shining in her eyes and temporarily blinding her. As she heard the bike get closer, she stuck the wood out, hoping the catch the wheels.
Luck was with her, it seemed, as the wood somehow caught the right spot in the wheels, sending the bike off course and into a nearby wall. However, the sudden wrenching of the wood into the wheels also caused Aster's arm to break as she held on, pain shooting through her again. She shook herself off, standing up and walking over to where the driver had fallen, grabbing his shotgun with her good arm and pointing it at his head before firing 3 shots. She recoiled slightly as blood and brain matter splattered all over her face and clothes, flicking some of the carnage off herself before she looked around to find Blue. She spotted him, moving up to the second floor, seeming to have the upper hand against a guy with a baseball bat. She watched as Blue took a few swings at the guy, trading blow for blow. Aster began to move, heading up to help Blue. As she got up there, she took a swing at the back of the guy's head,and hit him enough for Blue to get a good punch in from the front- causing the man to get knocked out cold and hit the ground.
With a growl of anger, Aster grabbed the man by the back of his collar, and dragging him up to the second floor. She glanced back down the stairs, noticing that all the other men in the motorcycle group either were dead or had left. She turned back to the man that Blue had knocked out and slapped his face, hoping to wake him up. His eyes began to flutter, and when they came back into focus and he saw Aster and Blue hovering over him, he jumped up and immediately fell to his knees. He fished around in his shirt, grabbing for something before he held a cross out in front of him, whimpering as he said "Please, please, I'm a good man. I'm a Christian. Please don't kill me!" Aster looked to his hands, seeing the cross held within them and suddenly, she saw red. An anger and fury that she hadn't felt in years took over her and she felt lost- everything became a blur of emotion and hate.
The anger moved through her, guiding her motions. She grabbed the man by the arms, smashing his hands into his face with all her might. She then brought her hands together, smashing her clasped hands into his head and knocking him to the ground. It was like someone else was guiding her as she repeatedly smashed her fists into the man over and over, his screams silenced by the blood filling his lungs and throat. Even has she punched, her own hands became raw and bloody, her blood mixing in with his as she continued her vicious onslaught. And then… her hands hurt, they hurt really badly. She looked down, her fury subsiding, and she saw a pile of mush. Red, bloody mush with bones and entrails sticking out from all over. Her hands were in tremendous pain and she looked down at them, seeing them covered in blood and guts. She looked over at Blue, who had a horrified look on his face and she sighed, knowing exactly what had happened. She had lost control and frenzied, killing the man with the cross. She looked back at the bloody mess that used to be a person and saw a pair of shoes standing behind the pile. Aster looked up to see one of the Bishops there, the large man who had addressed the crowd at the start of the meeting.
"Well done, you two." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "Really, just wonderful work. Thanks to you two, we can no longer get any information from him as to who he worked for." He looked extremely displeased and Aster looked down in embarrassment- it's not like she had planned to kill the man. The Bishop cleared this throat and then said, "You two are lucky that my boys are much more efficient than you." He looked behind Aster and Blue, causing the two of them to look backwards in response. Standing there was one of the packs, a group of bikers from the looks of it. They held one of the guys from the group of motorcyclists between them and he looked terrified as hell. A woman in the group stepped forward- she sported short, jet black hair and wore a lot of clothing that reminded Aster of someone getting ready for a war, mixed with the usual biker clothes- leather jacket and the like. She took the man and threw him on the ground in front of Aster and Blue and she announced, "Czar, we managed to capture one of them. I'm quite certain that he is willing to answer questions now, and if not, I'll happily beat them out of him." She looked down at the man and he squirmed, trying slightly to scoot away but failed when he realized when he was surrounded.
"Ah, the Hell's Rejects." Czar, as Aster understood his name to be, said, "I am glad you had the foresight to grab one of them." He looked down to the man and smiled at him- a sinister, cold smile that reminded Aster of the type of smile a mafia Godfather might give. "Now, I believe it is time for you to talk."
The man looked around and then threw his hands up, "L-listen, this was just a job, man! M-my boss, he took on this job from some guy who really wanted you fucks dead. He m-must of really hated you, he wanted us to set you all on fire and shit. He owns some shitty radio equipment somewhere and has some serious cash- that's all I know." Czar leaned in close to the man and even Aster felt intimidated from his actions, taking an involuntary step to the side to get out of the way. "And who is your boss?" Czar asked. The man started to shake, he was truly terrified, "I work for the Kings, man." he said, a sense of pride in his voice. Czar stood up, looking to the Hell's Rejects and nodding to them. With one swift motion, the man's head rolled off his shoulders- he had been swiftly decapitated by the dark-haired woman. Aster watched the head roll away with some disgust- what a waste of good flesh.
Czar looked over all of them, and he shrugged. "Very well then. Silver- take the Hell's Rejects and wipe out these Kings- let them know they don't fuck with the Sabbat." The dark-haired woman, Silver apparently, nodded and made a motion to her pack and they swiftly moved out. Czar then looked at Aster and Blue, his cold smile back, "and you two, you will track down whoever hired them and take care of him. Make him pay for this. Prove that you're worthy to be under me." Aster and Blue nodded, "Yes, sir." they said in unison, quickly backing away from Czar and leaving the mall- Aster making sure to grab the shotgun on the way out.