Chapter 29 – Museum Break-In

October 2, 2004 = Saturday

After dropping Sammie off at her apartment, I headed for the museum. Thankfully, Sammie had told me how to get to the museum so I wasn't going to get lost and made good time to the museum where I parked out in the parking lot, just west of the building.

I looked up, to see the air conditioning system on the roof in the waning light. I smiled, then jumped into the shadows cast by the large system so that I was standing on the roof. I stepped around the AC system to find the roof access on the other side as I donned a ski mask I had borrowed from Sammie and my old leather gloves. I then pulled my lockpicks and opened the door, heading downstairs to get scared by a velociraptor posed as if attacking.

I pulled my pistol and was about to fire when I realized it was a trick. Still, I approached it cautiously, keeping the pistol ready. A note on the wall, caught my eye and I pulled it off to read it. 'Damned funny! You scared the crap out of the cleaning crew. Now would you put the damned raptor back in its exhibit? Oh, and don't leave your keys lying around or Marshall will fire your ass.'

I tossed the paper aside, and headed through the door, scanning the exhibits near me. Not finding any missing a guest, I headed left to check out those exhibits when I hear the footsteps of a guard coming my way. I ducked into the shadows, covering myself with them and let the guard walk right by me. It was kind of nice, if weird to be so easily overlooked. Once he was past me, I let the shadows go and slipped out and around the corner. Still, no exhibit was missing it's raptor, so I started looking around for a way downstairs. I found one with a T-rex skull over the stairs, and was heading down when I heard a sound like a roar. My ears pinpointed it to the skull, my eyes just barely seeing the glint of the speaker before the sound of running shoes made me vault over the railing to crouch in the darkness under the stairs. Several guards with the guns out checked just about every square inch around me, while I stay cowered in the shadows. I could almost hear Lasombra whisper kill them in the back of my skull, but I refused as I waited it out.

Once they left to patrol other areas, I kept to the shadows as I looked around for the offices. One door was marked Museum Security, which I avoided like a plague. Lord knows I didn't want to just march into their office and say hello. The next door, across the atrium from me, was marked with an authorized personnel only sign. I checked that door, finding it locked so I pulled out my lockpicks and quickly forced my way through.

Inside was a small cubicle setup of four desks, with a door in the back. I checked it, finding it was also locked. I had to try several times to get through the lock, finally aligning the pins in the correct sequence and opened the door to reveal a staircase going down. With the heightened security, I stuck to the wall as I went down, then almost had a panic attack as a guard turned right in front of the stairwell as he waited by the door to the stairwell.

It was a good thing I did, because waiting for me in the doorway was a security guard who had his hand on his holster as he looked around. I backed off, trying to figure out what the best way forward was going to be. If I charged the guards, alarms were sure to go off and bring the local cops. That left me with going in silently, but just how far could I push it? Could I jump through shadows I couldn't see?

I inched back to the railing, and waited for the guard to look away. When he did, I vaulted the railing as silent as a mouse before ducking under the stairway and back out of sight. The area didn't have as much shadow as I wanted as it was lit by a pair of vending machines, but it was out of sight of the guards. I looked past the guard to the shadow on the floor, and pushed my sense of sight into it. I looked around, finding another shadow running along the ceiling. I concentrated, and managed to push my sense of sight into it and was congratulated with seeing the hallway with a green line running down it. I followed a shadow along the wall and soon was looking down a different section, this one protected by camera. I concentrated once more, then jumped into the shadow under the camera, finding myself past most of the guards.

Dropping down, I moved slowly along the wall into an area that didn't have doors large enough to get the sarcophagus inside. Those doors I passed, not wasting my time with searching for miscellaneous artifacts. Besides, the sarcophagus was likely to be under heavy security, which meant likely behind more security guards. Following the green line, I found where it intersected a red one, which ended at a secured door with a keypad. Figuring I hit paydirt, I was just about to pop the keypad apart to try and force it when I heard a guards footsteps coming. I ducked around the corner and used the shadows on the wall to watch him come at me. When he was about to turn the corner, I snapped back to my own eyes and charged him,

He wasn't expecting my attack, and I spun around to plant him hard against the door. It held, but he was knocked senseless and I pressed an elbow into his neck to choke off any cries for help while my hand held his wrist well away from his gun.

"Code," I growled, as I held him there with my potence as he fought me. My chokehold was strong enough to make him gasp, so I backed off the hold and sucked in some air.

"Two-three-five-eight," he breathed, and I quickly thumped him against the door to knock him out, then drug him to a nearby office with a still unlocked door. Inside, I pulled his shoe off and used his laces to bind his hands, then pulled his other shoe and sock and made a makeshift gag. I was about to smile when I realized I had everything I might need, except for the feeling of hunger. I lifted the guard back to his knees, biting his neck as he head lolled to the side.

After drinking him deep, I let him drop back to the floor, then locked the door as I went back to the keypad-locked door and tapped in the code. The door buzzed as it unlocked and I quickly stepped through into the hallway and went deeper into the maze. I found nothing but a single camera as I walked down the hallways, almost laughing at the simplicity of the security here. A drop gate was all that secured the loading docks, which led to a single door past that. The only thing I saw that seemed to be any kind of security was a large window right before the door.

I snuck a glance through the glass, finding a pair of security guards watching the monitors and door, then sighed in frustration. I needed to get past the door, but without knowing what was beyond it, stood no chance of jumping there. Reaching out to the shadows, I pushed my sense of sight to the shadow under the door, but was unable to push my way past it.

Withdrawing back into myself, I then concentrated once again, wondering if I could jump my way under the door when I felt myself shift. I didn't understand what was happening, and as I looked around at myself, found only an ink-like blot upon the tile. Smiling inwardly, I moved through the door, and found my new form slid easily under it to find myself in another hallway, this hallway had a T-junction at the end of a long line of laser beams. A shift in the shadows at the far end gave me pause, and a quick look in the shadows at the far end told me it was a guard leaned up against the wall just out of sight and stretching his aching muscles in an attempt to stay awake.

Pulling back from the shadows again, I looked up with my inky body and started trying to climb the wall. Instead of climbing, I felt like I was floating, with even my sight rising until I was now moving along the tile on the ceiling. My new form raised the tile, and I crept through the ceiling over the wall and was able to slide back into the room across from me, finding myself in some kind of storage room. I dropped back to the ground, sliding out into the middle of the aisle before resuming my human shape.

I looked at my hands, smiling at the new ability I seemed to have, then looked to the door that was the last obstacle, hopefully, to the sarcophagus. I opened to find Beckett noisily sliding the top of a crate off which took the side with it to land with a thump. I removed my mask as I looked at the contents, hoping to find the sarcophagus but instead was a desk. Beckett only looked at it for a second before scoffing at it and coming around to look at me.

"I can't understand why someone would go through the trouble of stealing a box with a very ancient corpse," he said leaning against the desk as he pulled a flask from inside his jacket and sipped it. "This city's not that dull."

"Hello Beckett," I said, addressing the much older kindred. He smelled kind of earthy, but not in a disgusting way. "What are you doing here? Looking for more rumors to discredit?" I snarked, remembering our last encounter.

"Indeed," he said, smiling a bit to show his teeth. "I'd heard of the speculation about the sarcophagus containing an antediluvian and being a portent of Gehenna and it was making me cringe. My guess is that it's a Mesopotamian king. I needed confirmation. Besides, these are the kinds of ridiculous, superstitious assumptions I came here to debunk."

"Antediluvians? Like Lasombra?" I asked, trying to keep neutral.

"Indeed, but no one I know has ever met one," he said, filling in the blanks for me as he went on. "But each of the clans and their bloodlines supposedly trace their origin to an original vampire, an antediluvian. Some swear these grandsires still exist into the present. But then, both kindred and kine believe a lot of strange things."

"Gehenna," I breathed. "The kindred apocalypse when our ancestors rise to eat us."

"I see someone has been doing their homework," he said, again the corners of his mouth tweaking upwards in a smile. "I've found little direct evidence to support it until a few years ago when Zapathasura supposedly rose and began devouring his children. After his alleged death, his bloodline went crazy and they began to kill and devour each other as cannibals. Few survived the ordeal, but it does make me wonder. Either way, humans and kindred are just as capable of managing their own destruction as a deity. A self-realized Gehenna warrants more vigilance than a god-induced one, don't you agree? Such is my argument, which so frequently falls on deaf ears."

I leaned against the door as I took in his words and thought about Lasombra trying to rise again through me. If it hadn't been for being electrocuted awake earlier, I might not have risen at all. "You should believe in it more," I said softly, gathering my will as if it were sands falling through my fingers. "I found Lasombra in the shadows, stuck there."

Beckett's eyes locked on me as he studied my sunken posture. "You aren't lying are you?" he whispered. I nodded, then decided to show him my favorite trick and stepped through the shadow to the desk he leaned against. He immediately jumped to his feet, then whirled as I tapped him on the shoulder. He looked to where I had been to where I was standing now, and I could see his nostrils flare as if he were sniffing. Remembering what Jean had said about Gangrel having a wolf's sense of smell, it was likely he was following my scent and his eyes widened in belief as he figured out I had transported myself here.

"Shadowstep," he breathed as he put the pieces together. "I've only heard of ancillae and elders developing that ability. So unless you diablerized an elder recently," he said as he studied me, trailing off into thought as I sat on the edge of the desk.

"Lasombra is rising again through me," I told him, deciding someone should know. "I found him when I attacked someone with my shadows, and they pulled me in wherever they were sent. He wanted out, so he's using me to rise again."

"I believe you," he said as he continued to study me and my subdued posture. "In cases of diablerie, the diablerized vampire becomes like an infectious body, trying to subvert it's host and use it for its own ends."

"So how does one kick the infection out?" I asked him.

"Usually, as in life, your body rejects the infection. My advice to you is to keep in touch with your humanity, as that seems to keep most diablerists sane even as it costs them their precious peace of mind in the process."

"So, if I'm a good little girl who obeys the rules of society and helps others out, I won't lose myself to this asshat?"

"Should be," he noted for me. "Most of the time, the victim of diablerization isn't strong enough to even survive the process. That said, most of the time even elders can't survive the process. Think of it like a nervous tic, most of the time it's unnoticeable. Then in certain situations, you find yourself succumbing, most of the time unaware of what's going on."

"Thanks, Beckett," I said as I looked around. My mind chewed on what he said, as Beckett himself cocked his head as he turned towards the door.

"Well, my work here's stolen away into the night, think I'll do the same," he said as he walked out the door and closed it behind him. I heard two footsteps before everything became silent, and I figured he went wolf and stole out some way I hadn't seen. I concentrated on my bike, then stepped through the shadows to it's location, just as a large white wolf ran across the parking lot. It howled once as it run, and I smiled at Beckett's somewhat playful attitude.

Settling myself onto my Harley, I grimaced at the thought that I was about to have to deliver the prince some bad news. Well, there's only one way to get through it, and I brought the bike to life and headed for what was sure to be certain death as I knew I would get blamed for this.

I parked in front of the Tower, not five minutes later and went inside. Chunk sat with his head nodding down to his chest, and my boots clicked on the tile as I got closer which brought him awake.

"Ah, 'scuse me," he said, yawning and stretching. "Starting to doze off there."

"Lacroix's expecting me," I said and he nodded.

"Uh say, fruit pie," he said, sounding somewhat unsure as he looked at me with sleepy eyes. "If you're still up in a few hours, why don't you stop by for my break and I'll treat you to donuts?"

"I'd love to," I say, hedging away from the overweight security guard, "But I've got business to attend to. Sorry," I said, mocking a wince but he just brushed it off. "See you later."

"Later, cupcake," he said as I stepped around the partition to the elevators, finding the elevator already waiting for me when I get there. It rose swiftly through the building, and I stepped out into the Camarilla headquarters to find it practically empty. I crossed the lobby to the private elevator and took it up to the top, and entered Lacroix's office to find Lacroix alone in the room as he looked out the window behind his desk.

He didn't turn to face me when I get closer, and I stepped up behind him without a word when he silently began, "The folly of leadership is knowing that no matter what you do, behind your back there's hundreds certain that their own solution is the sounder one, and that your decision was the by-product of a whimsical dart toss," he said, turning finally to face me.

"I pronounce the blast sentence and I soak the critical fallout," he said gesturing to emphasize his words. "I make the decisions no one else will. Leadership, I wear the albatross and a bull's-eye."

I smiled at the prince, even as my stomach dropped into my boot somewhere. What was I supposed to say to that? "I've met few who speak ill of you, sir," I say, and watched his face contort with a grimace.

"I've had my fill of sycophants," he said, as he went to sit down in his chair with a huff, "I need adjutants I can trust."

"While I can't speak for the rest of the city," I stated, hedging my bet with the prince, "My only concern is that you seem to favor one punishment for any crime. Besides that? I'm fine with you as prince."

"Hmm," he said, as he deflated. "My apologies. I've been fielding calls all evening. It's become wearisome," he said, as he steepled his fingers. "The blood hunt on Nines Rodriguez for the murder of Alistair Grout was called early this morning before the sun rose. Rodriguez's execution is only a matter of time. I have lit the fuse," he said, turning to his desk and opening a drawer for a ledger of some sort, "If a war ignites, it's my head they will sharpen the pikes for. At least I can rest easy in knowing that you, my most promising attendant, has relieved me of one encumberance tonight. Do you need assistance bringing the sarcophagus upstairs?"

I slumped, it was now or never. "I'm sorry, sir," I said as I hung my head. "The sarcophagus appears to have been stolen and a desk put in its place."

The prince jumped up at that, knocking his chair back to roll against the windows. "Stolen!"

I nodded, and was about to open my mouth to speak when he continued on. "Stolen?! How? Who would," he said, finally leaning over his desk as he calmed himself down and thought over the situation. "Oh, Gary," he finally said, after a minute of him thinking the situation over. "Gary, you treasonous maggot! I should have anticipated your treachery, sewer rat!"

That name rang a bell in me, and I looked at him as he collected his chair. "Let me guess, he sold the information to someone else who had the balls to steal it from the cops."

"Precisely," the prince chewed out. "I need Gary found, but more importantly, I need that sarcophagus secured. If there is something supernatural within that is capable of escaping and slaughtering hundreds to fulfill its hunger, it is my responsibility as prince to contain and neutralize said threat."

"Yes, sir," I said, standing ready to handle anything he gave me. He looked at me, his features softening as he took in my attire and ready posture, and then grinned.

"Did you have any military aspirations?" he asked, and I shook my head in a silent 'no.' "Your bearing is one I find only in the most dedicated of agents. I like that," he said and I smiled that my subversion was working. I could really care less that he got his precious sarcophagus, but if I could help the Anarchs rip this thing apart, I would.

"I need Gary," he said, biting his tongue from saying killed, and instead said, "found, and the sarcophagus secured. The sarcophagus and its occupant might be, exploited, causing who knows what catastrophe to this city if it were to fall into the wrong hands. The Nosferatu lurk in the filfth below the streets of Hollywood, but not even I know just where they hide. Also, Hollywood is, unfortunately, lacking in any Camarilla loyalties.

"Hollywood's baron is an Anarch named Isaac. Isaac's more civil than the Anarchs in the downtown area, but" the prince paused as he sat back in his chair, "Nonetheless, he wears his distrust of me on his sleeve. He may know how to contact the Nosferatu."

"I'll find him, sir," I said, then turned to walk to the door with no further word when his next words stopped me.

"Before you go, Miss Flores," he said, and I turned back to him, my phone buzzing that I had a text. "You've no doubt formed some inkling of a disdain for me that you can't name. I'll agree that allowing you to live past your trial has been difficult for me as a Ventrue, but I am also willing to look past it as a prince. I'll give you a headstart for tonight, but tomorrow I am going to open the city to a hunt for that sarcophagus. If you can bring me the sarcophagus before sunset Saturday evening, I'll not only call our current boon settled, I'll give you the privilege of siring a childe."

I perked up at that, because it meant that I was one person closer to making myself a primogen. "I'll get right on it sir," I told him as I headed for the door. This time the prince let me leave, and I passed his sheriff on the way in. I squeezed myself against the wall to allow the big brute room as he passed me in the hallway, and I took the elevator down and left the tower.

I sat atop my bike, thinking over my options when I decided I better check my text message. It was from my ghouls, saying they had an emergency, so I headed home. It was still early in the evening, only like eight, when I pulled back in front of the house. There was a strange car parked in front of the house, but the lights were on. I went in, finding Brian sitting on the stairs, the .357 I had given him was hanging with the handle out of the top of his pocket.

"Mistress," he said, as he saw me. "We got a slight problem."

"Name it," I said, hoping it wasn't the Sabbat.

"Some guy followed Heather home," he said and I shook my head as he filled me in. "He got lippy with me, pulled a knife so I tied him up and locked him in the master bathroom. Heather is watching him right now."

"I'll take care of it," I said, then put a hand on his shoulder. "You did good, Brian. Thanks," and the ghoul perked up at that. Brian led me around to the bathroom where Heather sat on the furnished bed watching a door while she chewed on her nails.

"Mistress," she said, acting panicked as she stood as I came into the room. "I swear I didn't mean for him to follow me home. I met him at the liquor store in Santa Monica and he followed me back saying he could make me scream in pleasure. As if," she said, rolling her eyes a bit before hugging herself.

"You know who your mistress is," I said smiling and opened my arms and let the woman get close. Once she was in my arms, I held her, and I swear she was close to tears as she hiccuped in my arms. "It's okay, Heather," I cooed as I held my crying ghoul.

"It's just, you want us to keep things we do a secret and I bring home a guy who's a creep," she sobbed into my shoulder, and I patted her back. I could feel something in me shift, and I felt happy as my ghoul let out her frustration. I didn't know exactly what caused it, but it seemed she had been worried I was going to hurt her for failing me.

"It's not your fault someone followed you home. Next time, if this happens, have Brian deal with him okay?" I said and Heather nodded, finally getting control of herself now that she knew she wasn't in trouble. "Go get some rest, you look tired," I told her and she nodded and headed to her room. Once she had left the room, I went to the door for the master bathroom and opened it. The lights were on, and there was a young guy with brown hair tied up with lots of duct tape to a wooden chair. Even his mouth was taped. I yanked the tape off, much to his dismay and waited for him to get over it while I tried to figure out how to keep him quiet.

"What the hell is this shit?!" he screamed at me. "Let me out, goddammit! I'll kill that motherfucker that locked me in here!"

"You'll do no such thing," I said, as he struggled to get free.

"Psycho-bastard locked me in here and beat me up, hit me over the head and tied me up. What the fuck!" he said, struggling against his bonds. "Who the fuck does that?!"

I nodded, and hoped he was just as afraid of the cops as I was. "If I let you go, will you leave and never come back?"

"Hell no," he said as he struggled again. "My old man's a cop. I'm coming back with the full force of the law and arresting that psycho!"

I shook my head, then slapped the tape back over his mouth and walked back to the door leading into the master bedroom. I was running out of options with this guy, and that left me one. "Brian, would you mind doing some fishing?"

"Sure," he said as he leaned against the door.. "Bass, barricuda, tuna, yellow tail?" I let my fangs slide out, and Brian chuckled. "Shark, my favorite. I'll get the boat," he said as he left. I turned back to the 'snack,' hiding my fangs as I did so.

"I would have let you go if you had just said you'd leave in peace," I told him and his face went white. I grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him to face the large mirror over the sink with my potence, and his face searched the mirror for me. I put my hands on each shoulder, then whispered in his ear. "There's a reason you think we're mythical creatures," I tell him, hearing him scream through the tape. "Too bad this is a lesson you won't survive to learn from," I tell him as I force his head over and bite into his neck. He kept screaming into his gag as I fed, his blood tangy as I swallowed mouth-full after mouth-full. I don't stop until long after the blood thinned and finally quit flowing.

With the kid dead, I let his head hang forward, and shut the door behind me as I left. I can hear footsteps overhead and Heather complaining about having to drive Brian to Santa Monica. I sighed, shaking my head as I spot Constance smiling at me from upstairs.

"Well?" I said, once I had joined her on the second floor of the hous.

"I thought you weren't coming back tonight," she said.

"So, how's your homework?"

"It's done," she said, leaning up against me. "You want to look at it?"

"Not really," I tell her, as I pull her tight. "Why don't you show me which room you chose?" Constance squealed at that, practically dragging me to the far corner on the south-west side. Her room had a great view of the ocean and was close to both stairs giving her great access to the entire house. The only downside was her room was right over the kitchen, which was often the busiest room in the house, and the loudest.

"I checked all the rooms up here, and this one has the biggest closet," she said, showing me the spacious closet where her clothes were already hanging. "I was thinking of a bed or something here," she said, motioning to the interior wall next to the great room, "and putting a desk over here," she said, motioning to the area by the closet. "That way, I have the best view at night when I sleep or when I'm working at my desk."

"Looks good," I say, wrapping my arms around her as she's facing the sea. "You like it here?"

"Oh yes," she said, as I nuzzled her neck. I wasn't really hungry, still stuffed from all the blood I've taken, but I licked at her neck which made her moan as I breathe on the wet spot. She leaned her head over, giving me great access, and I force my fangs out and slowly puncture her skin and start to lap once at her blood. She moans, bucking against me as she enjoys the sensation of me draining her life from her.

I don't take more than a mouthful before I pulled my fangs out of her neck and lapped the remaining blood off her neck to leave it clean. Constance was limp in my arms, and I folded her up where she wanted her bed, and used her bookbag for a pillow. She looked so peaceful then, as I looked down at her, that I went ahead and turned out the light and shut the door to allow her to sleep.

As I headed down the stairs, I couldn't help but think that somehow, in Hollywood, my life was about to get even more complicated.