Chapter 25: Rötschreck

For a while there, Dave felt things were just like old times. For the first time since they'd met, Grey talked about the good old days, back when they could go out during the day without bursting into flames. After all that had happened, the ordeal with Maria and her family seemed like something that had happened to someone else. It made it easier for Dave to laugh about it, which helped him keep his mind of the fact he had almost sucked all of the blood out of a man. Grey had stopped him before that happened, thankfully, but now Grey was acting like he didn't remember that or anything that had happened after. As if that wasn't enough to freak Grey out, he topped things off by taking a sudden dive into the stairs. And just when he was starting to think Grey was improving in the crazy department. At least they were standing at the bottom, otherwise things might have ended up much worse.

After what had happened the last few times, Dave was hesitant to go to Grey. He braced himself for the worst as Grey rose. The hole in his shoulder wasn't even completely healed yet.

"Let's get this over with," Grey said. He kept his back to Dave.

"What? But you just- I mean I don't think- why did you…" He paused to find a better way to voice his confusion. "Dude, what the fuck?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Dave," Grey snapped. He started up the stairs. "Not here."

Dave followed him. "Okay, but when we get back you've got a lot of explaining to do. And don't say I wouldn't understand, either."

"Fair enough." Grey glanced over his shoulder. "You wouldn't want to understand."

"Aw, fuck you and your English degree."

Tense silence was getting to be their default state together.

Grout's inner sanctum wasn't as bad as Dave expected. After all the sad, broken people they'd found in the mansion- people Grey probably didn't remember- Dave had expected a real chamber of horrors at the center of it all. Something with lots of blood, maybe some corpses, really psychotic shit.

What he got was a shrine to a forgotten era. If not for the woman suspended in a glass dome like a music box dancer, the room would have looked fairly normal. Dave circled around the class case. The woman was pretty obviously dead, but she was also amazingly preserved. A metal rod disappeared under the long, old fashioned dress she wore. He tried not to think of exactly where the rod went. As horrible as the thought was, it was it made him smile. He looked over at Grey, who was examining an ancient looking Victrola across the room. "You think he stuffed her or something?"

Grey turned the gramophone and moved the needle to the record. A big band dance number filled the room. At the same time, the pole holding the frozen upright slowly began to turn. When the woman was facing the double doors at the far side of the room, there was a loud click. Dave tense, expecting some kind of trap to spring.

Nothing happened.

"This is it, I think," Grey said.

Dave followed Grey to the doors, all the while thinking the worst was probably yet to come.

He was right, even if he couldn't have possibly expected what was beyond the door. The attic room was a dark hole compared to the brightly lit shrine it connected to. The only piece of furniture was a metal frame bed. There weren't even any sheets on it, there were just shackles attached to the skeleton lying on the bed. A stake was driven through its heart. As Dave slowly approached the bed with Grey, he saw the skeleton was surrounded by a pile of ashes.

"Is that…"

"Who else." Grey sifted his hand through the ashes and rubbed them between the fingers.

"I don't get it." Dave shook his head slowly. "It couldn't have been the stake that killed him. I mean, I was staked…" In drawing breath to speak, Dave smelled something odd. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

"You're right," Grey said. His voice had that horrible distant quality to it again. "It was likely what was done after he was staked."

"Lacroix's gonna be pissed," Dave looked up as he finally realized what that smell was. "Do you smell something burning?"

"Grout!" The bellowed name drew their attention to an open door on the far side of the room. Firelight was flickering just beyond it, which explained part of the smell. "Lay low and be cleansed by flames!"

Grey ran to the door. Dave followed, though he regretted it once he saw what was on the other side. The door opened on a narrow balcony overlooking the massive ballroom at the center of the mansion. A man with graying blonde hair was standing on the balcony across the room. He wore a long leather trenchcoat and a crucifix that glinted in the light of the flames. Unlike the guys they'd encountered back at the Ocean House, Dave got the feeling the man was the real deal. He seemed unconcerned that flames were licking up the walls on either side of them, while the sight alone terrified Dave. He fought to maintain composure. It wasn't near them yet, though it was spreading quickly.

"I'm not- neither of us is Grout! You already killed him!"

"Grout is dead?" The hunter looked genuinely surprised. "A pity it could not be by my own hand!" A made a throwing away gesture, or maybe it was meant to indicate the spreading flames. "No matter! Soon your self-made kings and false prophets, and all who bear the mark of the beast, will be washed from the earth, for the coming of the Lord!"

"Hold on a second!" Dave yelled. "Can't we talk about this like rational hu— people?"

"Not when everything is on fire," Grey hissed through clenched teeth.

The hunter crossed his arms, still completely unconcerned about the fire now crawling across the ceiling.. "As you burn, tell them it was Grünfeld Bach who sent your damned soul to that lake of fire! All agents of Satan shall return to whence they came!" He opened his arms wide and stared up at the roiling flames. "Let this righteous display serve as a promise to all who serve the archfiend LaCroix! I'm coming for you, LaCroix! By the power of the Lord, I will cleanse your black soul!"

The fire was coming towards them. If the lunatic across the way wanted to burn in the righteous flames he set himself, he was welcome. Dave turned and ran. Grey followed close behind him. They didn't go far before they encountered more flames. They tried another way, only to find more blocking their way. They were surrounded. The heat was terrible, the smoke would have been choking if either of them still breathed. Dave turned in circles, searching for some way out, but all he could focus on was the flames. He tried to call out to Grey for help, some direction, anything, but the fear rose in him like bile.

The thing instead him was terrified, and so Dave was terrified. It was impossible to fight in when death was all around them. Instead of words, an inarticulate howl rose from his throat. The red haze that clouded his vision was barely noticeable with the fire all around him. The Beast fled. Burning timbers collapsed around it as it ran, but that was all the more reason to keep running. In the end there was only one way left out, an open door, a darkened room the fire had not reached. The window was not open, but that did not stop it. The Beast lept, glass erupted with it out into the night.

It left Dave lying in the front yard of the burning mansion, only slightly singed. He coughed, even if there was no real reason to. His clothes were, miraculously, only slightly singed.

But he was alone.

"Grey?" Dave clambered to his feet. No answer. No sign of Grey either.

He looked up. The mansion was engulfed in flames. Just looking at it made the Beast stir uneasily once more.

"Grey!" Dave yelled. "GREY!"

Right on cue, Grey jumped from the same window Dave had come from. Dave was so relieved to see he was okay, he didn't think to get out of the way. He put his arms out, but by then he only had time to catch him right before they were both knocked to the ground.

The cab was still waiting for them. The driver said nothing about the fire, or how they looked, or how they smelled. Dave liked that kind of professionalism.

Lacroix wasn't happy to see them back in his office.

"The primogen still haven't been contacted by Grout. I thought I made it clear that you were not supposed to come back until we had heard from him."

Dave and Grey exchanged glances.

"Grout's dead," Dave said.

"His voice is silenced," Grey agreed. Dave shot him a confused at that. He'd gone hours without saying anything weird like that, and now… Grey simply smiled.

It was a bad time for questions. Lacroix turned from the window. The look on his face was worrisome. "Grout's dead?" he demanded. "What?"

"Yeah," Dave said. "And there was this guy, Bach… He set the house on fire. Nearly killed us both."

"He says hi," Grey added.

"Bach!" Lacroix put a hand to his head, like the name alone made his head hurt. "Every time I think he's lost the scent..." He clenched his hand into a fist. "So, Bach killed Grout to draw me out."

"Not exactly…" Dave said.

"Grout was silence before Bach arrived," Grey said. "Strange that I didn't hear it… I should have… I usually do… Hmm."

"Bach is a hunter." Lacroix stalked around the desk to face the two of them. "They stalk and kill our kind to appease their God. But like many mortals, their so-called faith is nothing but a conduit through which they quench their killing urge." He stopped when he was standing a single pace away from them, so close that Dave leaned back a little when Lacroix yelled, "Who else would have killed Grout?!"

"Uh, well…" Dave said. "Nines was-" Grey hit him.

Lacroix leaned closer. "Nines was what? Let him finish!"

Dave looked helplessly to Grey. He hadn't meant to say it, but that plus Grey hitting him for mentioning it made it impossible too backpedal. "Nines was leaving the mansion when we got there."

The words came out in a rush, like saying it quickly would soften the blow. It didn't.

Lacroix looked shocked. Grey looked furious. Dave seriously wished he was somewhere else at that moment. Lacroix ignored Grey in favor of Dave. He'd been the one to blurt it after, all. "Look at me… Are you sure it was Nines Rodriguez? Because if it was, the consequences… Do you know where this might light?" The calm that washed over Lacroix was more terrible than any look of anger. His voice dropped to a whisper, "Do you have any idea?"

"I, uh…" The look on Grey's face was giving Dave a few unpleasant ones. "I just know it looked like him.

"It means..." Lacroix stopped and finally looked to Grey. "Under most circumstances, I would call a blood hunt on the murderer immediately. However the Anarchs of this city may interpret such an action to be a declaration of war." He and Grey were practically staring each other down. "I do not want a war with them."

Lacroix turned from them and walked back around his desk. "This decision will take some time."

Dave watched Grey closely. Grey looked like he was contemplating something incredibly stupid, but the Sheriff was also watching him closely. The Prince ignored all of this as he stared out the window. "I need to confer with the primogen on this. In the meantime, I've come to a decision on the Ankaran Sarcophagus, and I believe that for the safety of the inhabitants of this city, we need to place the sarcophagus under Camarilla protection, until its contents can be confirmed."

Dave already knew where this was going. "You're becoming quite indispensable to me, so - out of all my available personnel, I'm going to entrust the retrieval of the sarcophagus to you. It was quietly delivered to the Museum of Natural History a few hours ago."

"But I just… We almost-"

Lacroix turned back to him, his eyes narrowed. "Let me finish."

Dave shut his mouth. Grey was still unnervingly quiet.

"You don't like me, I'm quite aware of this," Lacroix said. "I can be a bit harsh at times, I know… but you must remember, the responsibility of this city's Kindred rests on my shoulders. So naturally, I cannot always be a patient man. But you have been of service and it is appreciated."

"This also is very important, thus why I must call upon you once more. You success in the previous assignments has been unprecedented. Now, more than ever, I need your skill."

The flattery meant nothing to Dave. But he couldn't refuse, especially after what he'd seen Lacroix do to Grey the night before. He didn't argue, and Lacroix went on. "The Ankaran Sarcophagus was quietly delivered to the Museum of Natural History a few hours ago. I would like you to bring it back here for safekeeping."

Dave glanced at Grey, who was still no help. "Fine."

"It's crucial we get the sarcophagus in our possession within the next few hours." Lacroix opened a draw in his desk and tossed a small ring of keys to Dave. "Those are the keys to the roof access of the museum. We couldn't have you walking in through the front, now could we?"

"I guess not," Dave said sourly.

Lacroix ignored his tone. "The sarcophagus should be in an examination room of some sort. There's a small security staff on site, but I don't want a massacre. Mortals are just as easy to deceive as they are to kill." He smiled at Dave. "But I'm sure you're well aware of that by now."

"Yeah…" Dave said. "Can I go?"

Lacroix waved him off. "The car is waiting. Oh, and as with the Dane, you are not to open the sarcophagus, understand?"

Dave nodded. Grey silently followed him to the elevator.

When they were halfway down, Dave said, "I think maybe I better do this one on my own."

"I think you're right," Grey said. His expression was very dark. "There's some things I need to take care of."

Dave nodded. "Just… just tell Nines I'm sorry, alright?"

Grey said nothing in response to that.