Istanbul, Turkey

That night was very cold but the heat generated by Michael's body raised the air's temperature. The Toreador Methuselah's face was bright as the sun and he wore a broad smile:

"Antediluvian, you can't imagine how grateful I am to you. The diablerist's willpower was waning but your presence gave it that final push over the cliff's edge. For that, I thank you."

"Michael, there is something you must know. I came to this city in search of a demon but seeing you back means… it was no demon."

"It was no demon, of course. It was my Holy Spirit, my Dracon."

"Dracon… Is he with you?"

"No, Antediluvian. He is not."

Michael approached Saulot and said:

"He heard my call, from wherever he was… He knew I was still here, still fighting. My beloved Holy Spirit…"

"The forces of evil are attacking us at every step."

"The forces of evil? You mean to say that we are attacking each other at every step. We are the evil, Antediluvian. But I will change that."

"How?"

"The Dream was the only oasis of peace those of our kind had. Now, it is time for a new Dream to be born, one that will not be destroyed by demons."

"This city is different than the one you lived in, Michael. Your Dream will fade in this place full of torment."

"True! This is why the Dream will be rebuild elsewhere."

"Where?"

"Not here."

"That's not an answer."

"But it's the only one you will get, Antediluvian. I do not know if I can trust you yet. But that could change, if you help me find the Dracon."

"That is my intention, too."

"Good. Let's go."

"Please… you can't go into the city naked."

Michael smiled and used Obfuscate to disappear. Saulot said:

"Do you have any idea where he is?"

"I sense him."

"Good."

Paris, France

Malkav held a blood bag near Johann's mouth, begging his childe to drink from it:

"It's very tasty! Come on, drink!"

The boy closed his mouth, refusing the vitae. Malkav said again, pleading even more:

"It is good for you. Without it, you'll die. Come on, drink. Just a sip! Help me, corpse!"

Lazarus said:

"I am here to guard the boy, not to fulfill your father fetish. He'll drink when the Beast within him will go insane."

"He has no Beast within him. Just… light."

"Yes, and I am a little bee, flying from flower to flower."

"You are a fly feasting on corpses, Lazarus. Try yourself, my dear."

A pale and emaciated woman took the vitae bag with her bony hand and said to Malkav with a soothing but deranged voice:

"Maybe he prefers the bottle. Yes, the bottle!"

"Good idea! Fetch the bottle."

Nissku said:

"We have baby bottles here?"

Malkav replied:

"We don't?"

"Of course we don't. Hold on, father. Ah, here it is."

Nissiku took out a red baby bottle from the inside of his dark purple coat and gave it to the woman. She said:

"Thank you, Nissiku. You know, maybe he is wet. Wet babies don't drink blood."

Lazarus said:

"You aren't serious."

"Of course she's not. Sister, can't you see the boy is big? He has no need for diapers and all that."

"Ah, you're right."

Malkav replied:

"Beautiful child, do you want to see your brother Nissiku juggle with axes?"

"Yes, I am a good juggler, I have to say."

The boy did not answer. The Antediluvian and his other childer were desperate:

"Please, in the name of all that is holy, tell me: what do you want in exchange for a sip?"

Nissiku juggled with axes in front of the child. Even though Lazarus could see the Methuselah was very good, the boy remained silent as a grave. Malkav was almost in tears:

"Oh… Nissiku, please, cut off your arm."

"Which one?"

"One you use the least."

Nissiku chopped off his left arm. The Bride said to Johann:

"See? Blood! Doesn't look yum-yum?"

No reaction. Malkav said:

"What does a boy like you want? You have blood aplenty, carnage… what more could you want?"

"A normal life, away from the likes of you?"

"It's you, corpse! Your negativity is making the baby uncooperative. Leave!"

"Your brother told me to stay here and stop you if you disturb the boy in any way. A thing you are actively doing."

"Stop me from what, corpse? From feeding my childe?"

Malkav then focused on Lazarus but the Methuselah said:

"Do you think I could have survived for thousands of years in Egypt without strong mental barriers? You are madness made flesh, Antediluvian, but my mind is stronger than your madness."

Malkav hissed:

"We shall see."

Lazarus then said:

"But you know something, madman? Do what you will."

The Cappadocian left the basement and after a while, he fell on his knees, holding his head:

"This… took more than I believed it would."

In the basement, the Bride and her Cainite brother Nissiku tried to make the boy drink but after many tries, they gave up. Malkav said:

"Please, childe, you have to drink."

The boy eventually said:

"The wolves would howl tonight. They will come here. The snake will fight the devil itself and live…"

"My baby! Well… your uncle is very resilient, unfortunately."

"No devil will kill the serpent, but the dead man."

"You'll die too, father."

Malkav smiled:

"You really know everything."

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The woman's ears almost burst when she approached the city: the music, the noise and the vehicles, all of this foreign to her. She already missed the forest and the companionship of the savage beasts. The woman felt him approaching, or rather… it. Before her, a large monster that would tower over her looked at her with two red eyes. She smiled, a feral grin that almost brought the beast into submission:

"Hunt with me."

The monster nodded and started to run at breakneck speed, followed by the woman. She did not feel shame for her nakedness, instead enjoying the feeling of the cold air on her body. Deep into the forest, they fought a bear, its blood serving to nourish both of them. She then said:

"What were you doing in that city?"

The beast spoke with a woman's voice:

"Killing a Setite."

"Did you do it?"

"I did. Its blood sated me."

"Careful, my childe, the blood of Sutekh brings only darkness."

"Isn't there so much darkness inside me? What matters a little more?"

"I am glad you don't victimize, but do not underestimate Sutekh's blighted curse. The beast inside you had red eyes. The blood of its creator only roused it more."

"It is fine."

"I felt that madman's ritual with such intensity that almost drove me mad. I can't even imagine what it did to you."

"It was… violent."

"Yet, you are still here. That lunatic and Sutekh killed the Assamite demon worshipper. Your brother told me that Saulot was there too and even the Lasombra and the Cappadocians."

"If they are Sutekh's allies, they must be destroyed."

"Any ally of Sutekh must die but Saulot… there must be a reason he allowed his monster of a brother to get close to him. And this is why I need you. Your brother told me that another one of our blood is there, filled to the brim with Malkavian blood taken from the Child of Dread."

"The one of our blood drank from Nicolaus? Then he is lost to us. Any vampire who drinks from that maniac will go crazy and Malkav's ritual would only make that happen sooner rather than later."

"Go to him. Remind him what he truly is and that he has the power to conquer the new Beast he has in him."

"As you wish."

"I will go to another one of our blood, with the exact problem."

The beast nodded.

Alexandria, Egypt

The booming voice of Set roused his descendants. The Antediluvian then pointed to a young human girl sitting in front of him, dressed in a white gown. He said with glee:

"She is the only daughter of her father's body. He wishes to marry her to an old and rich cleric from Cairo. The father preserved his daughter's purity for nineteen years and he would have continued to do so until the moment it would have been taken by that old fart. However, why should a miserable human have something so delicious? Why not us?"

Set approached the girl and said:

"Are you ready to receive the most beautiful gift of them all?"

"I am, Divine One!"

"Look at her, children! She is willing; she comes to us begging to receive the gift. She wishes to get married! But… where is the bridegroom? And the father? Get them in!"

Two vampires brought two elderly human individuals in that hall, both of them tied with rope and with gags in mouths. The vampire gathering laughed at them. Set said:

"Now, now, cutie, look at daddy!"

"Hello, father."

"Mhmmmm!"

"Remove that from his mouth!"

"Adiva! Adiva, what happened? Who are they?"

Set said:

"They are the army of God! Moreover, I am God!"

"The only god is Allah, blasphemer!"

"I am older than him, thus I am the true God… Hetiptah! Come forth!"

A tall, bald, tanned and muscular man descended towards Set, kneeling before him and saying:

"Divine One."

"Hetiptah killed two Camarilla Alastors! Two of them, gone! He shall be celebrated tonight. And what better way to celebrate him than allowing him to taste the ripeness of this fruit in front of us?"

The vampires exploded in applauses. Adiva's father said:

"You… you will not rape my daughter!"

"Rape? Who said anything about rape? She wants it! She craves it! Tell your father, sweetheart, do you want to be taken and made a goddess by Hetiptah?"

"Yes!"

"See? She chose but then again… I think it is the first and only choice she truly made in her life… Begin, Hetiptah!"

The Setite ripped the girl's gown, exposing her body to the entire congregation of Cainites. Set was ecstatic, dancing around the bed while the father was screaming. Hetiptah then plunged his face in Adiva's nether regions. Only a trickle of blood would fall on her thigh. Set then killed the girl's fiancée by drinking his blood. Soon after, Adiva fell down. The Antediluvian approached the father and said:

"Watch what the power of a true god is capable of! Do it, Hetiptah!"

The other Cainite bit his wrist and dropped vitae in the dead girl's mouth. She then awakened, to the father's horror. Set said:

"Welcome to your new life!"

Adiva then jumped over the bed, reaching her father and drinking from him. Set said:

"Isn't it perfect? The first drops blood she takes as a Godly Child is exactly from the one who gave her the human life…"

Suddenly, the girl's head fell off her shoulders, her sire's too. The vampires screamed but Set remained calm:

"That's a record, I think. Twenty seconds spent as a vampire… Welcome, Troile…"

The Brujah Methuselah who stole his Antediluvian status and blood from his sire was shaking in front of Set, as savage as an animal, craving for vitae as a mare in heat craving for horse prick.

"I heard you were in the area, diablerist. You left a bloody trail all over the coast. I heard you drained almost five thousand people. Wow. I'm impressed. What happened, Troile? Normal vitae can't get yours up?"

Troile attacked Set but the serpent struck him so hard, sending him into a wall.

"Leave us, children."

Before Troile could react, the entire congregation left the room, leaving Set and the Brujah Antediluvian there.

"Alright, Troile, let's talk…"

Istanbul, Turkey

"Traitors… demons…"

"You know, I was trying to keep you alive. Now, you insulted me. You'll die!"

Gratiano finished the prince of Istanbul with his new sword, a Japanese katana. He then looked at the throne room and said:

"Looks like the cleaning lady has a lot of work to do."

The Lasombra then sat on the prince's throne, waiting for a signal from his Antediluvian partner. Not one, but three people arrived in the room at the Topkapi Palace: Saulot, Michael and a monstrous being. Gratiano said:

"Put some fucking clothes on you, man."

"I am Michael!"

"And I am Gratiano the Lasombra, but you don't see me flaunt my… shit in front of people."

"No clothes are worthy of the Father."

"Oh, you're one of them… why the hell I'm interacting only with guys like that?"

The monster snarled:

"And you're the Dracon."

The Tzimisce nodded. Saulot said:

"We need to talk, Gratiano."