p style="font-size: 16px;
margin-bottom: 24px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif;"Thornwood was a community perhaps two or three hundred strong, mostly one-storey prefab wooden buildings. A hotel, wooden and windowless, loomed over the structures around it,
and the van pulled into its modest /The Anarch community's three leaders were waiting for them in the pub, and Tom, the bearded brujah, raised his hand to Shen and Olivia as they /"Good to see you guys again. And your…
friends." The kindred nodded to Tony and Clive. "Dick, can you show our new citizens their quarters?"br /With a reserved smile to Olivia, the massive mute kindred guided the Ravnos pair away. Olivia took a seat at Tom's table as Shen went to the bar for blood. As backwards and insular as Thornwood was, there was something oddly freeing about the lack of masquerade. em style="border: none; color: inherit;"You still can't drink the blood. You don't know who might have tampered with it/em. Olivia shut out the intrusive thoughts, rubbing her /"Long drive?" Tom's tone was /"A little," she admitted. "When did you guys start getting em style="border: none; color:
inherit;"werewolves/em guarding the roads?"br /Tom and Harry exchanged a look. "Too late is when," said /Harry nodded. "Turned up after we'd finished clearing the Beasts-that-Stare from the forest. Would've been useful for that job, but no."br /Shen set a pint glass full of blood down on the table and pulled up a chair, Salt and Pepper sitting quietly at his feet, unfazed by the other vampires. "You had any more attacks?"br /"Not since Samuel and Olivia dealt with the base," answered Tom. "Their population levels are back to normal now. Plus, the weres are keeping them quiet."br /"We'd like to stay here for today," said Shen. "I'd like to check on all the previous victims. And the children."br /"Of course." Harry looked a little troubled at the mention of the children, Olivia thought. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. The Syndicate, John's group, had been using young teenagers as incubators for the spirit creatures known as the Beasts-that-Stare, a process which seemed to strip the higher mental faculties from the victim in exchange for a new Beast. Or was it soul? She had never quite been able to determine the difference between the two; perhaps they were simply different words for the same /"Are they any better?" She asked the question, knowing that it was an empty /"The weres claim to have sent for some sort of spirit healer for them," said Tom, sounding a little bitter. "The parents are pretty desperate,
they'll clutch at any straws they're given."br /Shen looked interested. "You know how they're planning to do it?"br /"Fuck knows. Were magic." Tom took a draught from his own glass of /Olivia looked to Shen. "We could ask them."/p
margin-bottom: 24px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif;"Thornwood was a community perhaps two or three hundred strong, mostly one-storey prefab wooden buildings. A hotel, wooden and windowless, loomed over the structures around it,
and the van pulled into its modest /The Anarch community's three leaders were waiting for them in the pub, and Tom, the bearded brujah, raised his hand to Shen and Olivia as they /"Good to see you guys again. And your…
friends." The kindred nodded to Tony and Clive. "Dick, can you show our new citizens their quarters?"br /With a reserved smile to Olivia, the massive mute kindred guided the Ravnos pair away. Olivia took a seat at Tom's table as Shen went to the bar for blood. As backwards and insular as Thornwood was, there was something oddly freeing about the lack of masquerade. em style="border: none; color: inherit;"You still can't drink the blood. You don't know who might have tampered with it/em. Olivia shut out the intrusive thoughts, rubbing her /"Long drive?" Tom's tone was /"A little," she admitted. "When did you guys start getting em style="border: none; color:
inherit;"werewolves/em guarding the roads?"br /Tom and Harry exchanged a look. "Too late is when," said /Harry nodded. "Turned up after we'd finished clearing the Beasts-that-Stare from the forest. Would've been useful for that job, but no."br /Shen set a pint glass full of blood down on the table and pulled up a chair, Salt and Pepper sitting quietly at his feet, unfazed by the other vampires. "You had any more attacks?"br /"Not since Samuel and Olivia dealt with the base," answered Tom. "Their population levels are back to normal now. Plus, the weres are keeping them quiet."br /"We'd like to stay here for today," said Shen. "I'd like to check on all the previous victims. And the children."br /"Of course." Harry looked a little troubled at the mention of the children, Olivia thought. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. The Syndicate, John's group, had been using young teenagers as incubators for the spirit creatures known as the Beasts-that-Stare, a process which seemed to strip the higher mental faculties from the victim in exchange for a new Beast. Or was it soul? She had never quite been able to determine the difference between the two; perhaps they were simply different words for the same /"Are they any better?" She asked the question, knowing that it was an empty /"The weres claim to have sent for some sort of spirit healer for them," said Tom, sounding a little bitter. "The parents are pretty desperate,
they'll clutch at any straws they're given."br /Shen looked interested. "You know how they're planning to do it?"br /"Fuck knows. Were magic." Tom took a draught from his own glass of /Olivia looked to Shen. "We could ask them."/p