A/N: Here's chapter fifty-five! Let's just say Cadmus has it rough in this chapter…Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bloodlines, but I do own my OCs.


Those colored contacts looked great. Hardly even recognized herself in the mirror, but were they difficult to put in. She could be very precise with her movements, slicing jugulars or specific veins, or stabbing pressure points with ease. Yet putting a colored contact in every morning? It could take up to an hour.

From Cadmus's perspective, every morning, he'd hear Angelique shower, then get out and spend up to a half hour in the bathroom screaming, either in pain, or anger with herself. Sometimes it was profanity, sometimes it was just aimless screams of rage.

But, at the end of the routine, she always came out looking alright. She'd blink her (slightly bloodshot) green eyes, comb her fingers through her black bob, and hardly recognize herself. She wore a black leather jacket with tons of zippers for all her many little weapons, her worn out gray tee shirt with an old logo on it, and a torn up pair of black jeans with work boots.

She turned out of the bathroom and headed downstairs for breakfast, digging around for some sort of sugary cereal, "Good morning."

"Hey…" Cadmus said, "Look, there's something I gotta tell you."

"Uh huh?" She sat down across from him with a box of cereal, sticking her hand in and eating out of it straight from the box.

"This room is going to be very crowded in about…five minutes…"

Her eyes widened as she stopped eating, "Cams?"

"Yeah, that's right." He said, "Slade, Miranda, couple other people. They want to have a meeting…don't know why, but they chose my place. I…just thought I should tell you."

"Should I hide?"

"That's up to you…I get that you're…nervous in front of new people. I don't mind if you stay…it's just…going to get a little crowded, that's all."

She kept eating, "I'll stay. But I won't talk." She said, "I want to listen. I want to know what's going on."

"Apparently it's about the sarcophagus. Remember how Miranda sent Slade and Tess to go bother Isaac about the Nosferatu?" He asked, "Well, I guess they got a scoop, so they want our help."

"Sarcophagus…" She muttered with irritation, "I heard a few Sabbat talking about it before I pulled their tongues out the other night…"

"You were fucking with the Sabbat the other night?"

"Yeah. I figured it wasn't any of their business. I know Miranda was mentioning it before."

There was a brief knock on the door, as Slade and Miranda entered the room, "Good evening." Miranda smiled.

Cadmus gave them a small nod, scooting his chair a bit so he was right next to Angelique, as the rest of his chairs would be taken up soon.

"So what did you find out about the Nosferatu?" Miranda asked as she and Slade sat down.

"Well…uh…I kinda figured I should wait for the others to get here…" Slade said.

"Others?"

"Yeah, I thought it would be a good idea to assemble a big team for this…because…it's pretty messed up."

Angelique felt her heart beat a bit faster, and felt even more upset that they all heard her get more nervous.

"Messed up how?" Cadmus asked.

"These monsters are apparently running rampant in the sewers, they're trapping the Nosferatu…so…I need more firepower than just myself."

Miranda sighed and crossed her legs, grabbing her book on the table and reading it, "I suppose the only thing to do now is wait for the others to show up."

Tess was the next person to walk in, "I apologize if I was late." She stepped in and rubbed one of her eyes, clearly still rather tired. "Time caught up with me."

Angelique looked up nervously at Tess, instantly recognizing her. Her heartrate skyrocketed.

Tess sat down next to Miranda and smiled at her, before turning to Angelique, "Who is this?"

"Starr. My ghoul." Cadmus said, "I haven't seen you since Santa Monica."

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" She said, her voice smooth as silk, "Nice to see you're doing well."

"Yeah." Cadmus said, then he looked at Slade, "How many other people are on this little task force?"

"Two more." Slade said, "One of them is Victor."

"The Tremere Magister?" Cadmus asked, "Haven't seen him in a while either."

"I haven't seen him since we visited Pisha." Miranda said.

"Who?"

"No one."

"So Miranda, how have you been?" Tess asked, her lips curved in a smile that made both Slade and Cadmus unnerved.

"Quite fine." Miranda smiled as she turned a page in her book, "LaCroix communicated that it is imperative to me to get the sarcophagus in his possession. I'm glad you and Slade are able to be of such help in the matter."

"Gladly." Tess crossed her legs, "There's a certain amount of joy from satisfying tasks for the Camarilla."

Slade cocked an eyebrow, naturally finding that to be a load of rubbish because the last time he checked, Tess 'wouldn't work for an institution in which its members would kill each other,' and was with a pack of Anarchs before she accused Nines of killing Grout. Even Cadmus had a hard time believing Tess's claim.

Victor strolled in next, "Hello everyone!" He beamed, "Cadmus and Miranda, LaCroix's Ventrue agents. Slade and Tess, the Toreador fledglings. And…" He looked at Angelique, "I'm afraid I don't know who you are." He took a whiff of the air, "Your ghoul?" He looked at Cadmus.

Cadmus nodded, "Starr."

"Starr. Hello dear." Victor held out a gloved hand, "Victor Madison, charmed."

She nodded timidly and shook his hand firmly, which almost surprised him due to how timid she seemed.

"Starr…" Tess said, "What a lovely name. Your parents were clearly very loving."

Angelique's brow twitched before she gave a short nod.

"I've always envied such lovely names…"

Cadmus put a calming hand on Angelique's shoulder when he was sure no one was looking, removing it once he asked Slade, "So who's the other guy who's coming?"

"Uh…well…he…he…"

Cadmus raised a brow.

"He's a fledgling…a Malkavian…"

"Yeah?" Cadmus asked, waiting for Slade to add something, "And?"

"I mean…as far as Malkavians go…"

He shrugged, "What's the big deal? I've worked with Malkavians before." He said, not many others seemed bothered by this either. In fact, if anything, Victor looked pleased.

"I'm not surprised he's late…" Tess mused, "He probably…killed the driver and drove into the side of the building…"

Slade narrowed his eyes, "No worries Tess, he'll come. Then we'll get this meeting out of the way…I know you're on such a tight schedule. Soothing the thirsty men of California is such hard work." Cadmus badly hid a laugh.

"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't do that to Ash."

"I just think you're the last person who has room to talk on who's unfit to be on this team."

She looked away and crossed her arms, "Fair enough. I just think it's fair to start the meeting without him since he isn't going to be paying any attention anyhow."

"Nonsense." The sound of the door hitting the wall was heard as Dragomir walked in, dwarfing the room with his size. He paused and gingerly moved the door back and forth on its hinges, then rubbed the small mark he left on the counter. "…apologies…" He turned back to Tess, "I heard the whore open her mouth and boiled inside, as always." He crossed his arms and stood by the table, seeing as there were no seats anyway. He grinned and chuckled softly, "I don't know any of you. Beside the whore and Slade, that is."

"I'm Cadmus." Cadmus said, "And this is my ghoul, Starr." He motioned to Angelique.

"I'm Miranda." Miranda smiled as she looked up from her book, "Miranda Frost."

"Victor Madison. Tremere Magister. Charmed." Victor held a hand out.

Dragomir shook his hand and pat his shoulder, "Ooh, I have yet to meet the magic clan. An honor."

"Oh, the honor is shared, friend." Victor smiled, "I haven't spoken with a Childe of Malkav in a few months now."

"Must have been Miss Voerman." He said, "Considering my father was rather…reclusive in his final nights."

"Yes, that's the one."

"I've yet to meet her Camarilla face." Dragomir admitted, "What, with my recent alliance to the Prince."

"You're kidding." Tess said, "He hired you?"

"Yes he did." Dragomir grinned, "I signed his fancy little paperwork and dotted the 'I' in Dragomir with a heart, too. He liked it."

Tess sighed and shook her head, "That poor, poor man…"

"Poor man indeed." Dragomir said, "So poor, he cannot afford to give me a job and pay me." He said, "I'd wanted to apologize to you, Slade, for the firearms."

"It's fine." Slade said, "The important thing is you're stocked up now, right? We're going to be fighting a lot of monsters."

"Yes. My solace allowed me to take her gun as well." He said as he reached behind his back and held onto the Spas and the Utica, "I can use both at the same time, how neat!" He laughed loudly, it rang off of the marble surfaces.

Tess rubbed one of her temples, "So, these monsters…why don't you tell us what we're diving into, Slade?"

"Alright, I'll try to make this as short and direct as possible." Slade said, "We need to find the Nosferatu to get to the sarcophagus, right? Well, Isaac showed Tess and I that monsters are infesting their homes. And our only lead is this…creepy house on the hills…it's probably filled with those monsters…"

"Yes." Victor said, "I gave the house a personal visit. And I barely escaped with my life."

"What? You went to the house?"

He nodded, "Once you told me that Isaac said the house was in King's Way, I investigated it for myself. It…it turns out the Sabbat is behind all of this."

Cadmus looked ten times as interested once the Sabbat was mentioned.

Dragomir scratched his head, "So, so, please ensure I'm getting this right. It isn't that I'm not listening, it's that…my mind tends to…plug things into equations and occasionally I make miscalculations." He quirked a brow, "The Nosferatu have the sarcophagus…and the Sabbat are responsible for their disappearance…so what is it exactly that made the Sabbat hunt the Nosferatu like game?"

"The Nosferatu are the eyes and ears of the Camarilla." Victor said, "Typically, they are treated like gold for their information. They are wise, tactful, and secretive, they are a vital part of our Camarilla. So this Sabbat stratagem is…to blind the Camarilla. Put plainly. The monster behind this is a Tzimisce." He said, then he waited a beat, "Does…no one know what that is?"

"What the hell is a Tzimisce?" Cadmus asked.

"They are the leaders of the Sabbat. If you were to call one 'inhumane,' they would most likely take it as a compliment. They act civil, like a Ventrue, or Tremere, or Toreador. One would never think that they would rule over the howling mobs that are the Sabbat. However, their polite act is merely a façade that covers their horrid experiments and slaughtering's. They have a unique flesh-crafting Discipline known as Vicissitude."

He blinked, "Okay, I'm very interested for this mission now."

Dragomir stared at the floor, his mind had wandered away as he pondered Victor's words. To gouge out the eyes and ears of a creature was effective sure. But blind and deaf creatures could function well enough. No, what the Sabbat needed to do if they wanted to be successful was take out the mind. To rot the mind away with insanity. His eyes narrowed beneath his lenses as he saw the Prince hold his head with madness, roar with frustration and collapse to his knees in despair. Dragomir held his forehead as he started laughing maniacally.

Tess jumped, then shook her head, "What a heretic…" She muttered under her breath, "So then what's the plan?"

"Fighting the Tzimisce alone is dangerous." Victor said, "I nearly perished. But, I suppose it could be because they do not like my clan much. Still, with six of us going, it should even the playing field. I have no doubt the Tzimisce is still in the basement of that wretched house, crafting more and more monsters. If we're lucky, we'll defeat him without any casualties."

"Then that should be the first place we go, to attack the source." Tess said.

Slade took a heavy breath, "All this for a freaking sarcophagus…" He said, "Alright, then we'll have to kill this Tzimisce, and then we'll find the Nosferatu."

"I met one of those…" Dragomir said quietly after getting over his fit, "A Nosferatu. They aren't without a sense of humor, but she seemed in a foul mood. Anyhow." He looked up, "Why does the Prince want a coffin? Is he planning his funeral like the kings of Egypt?"

"For Camarilla protection." Miranda said.

"Yeah, no, there's a real reason, but…I'll let everyone fill in the blanks on that one." Cadmus said.

Dragomir cocked his head to the side, "Ah…so he is…how ambitious of him…"

Tess shook her head, "So, when were we heading out?"

"Whenever everyone's ready." Slade shrugged.

As everyone else headed out a few minutes later, Cadmus turned to Angelique, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

She nodded, then paused, "If you go through hell, remember that…I'll be here. Well…not that that matters to you…"

"What? Of course you matter. Where's that coming from?"

"I don't know…because I'm…just your ghoul…?"

"Look, you're the only sane voice in my head right now. I always look forward to coming back here whenever I finish a mission, and I always want you to be safe." He said, "I know you've had a lot of regnants, and I know when we first met…it wasn't exactly on the right foot. But things have changed since then. You mean a lot to me."

Her cheeks turned redder and redder as he continued, until she grabbed his jacket and pulled his head towards hers. She planted a kiss on his cheek, then she pushed him away and stood up, facing away and crossing her arms, "Don't die."

"Uh…yeah…" He swallowed hard, embarrassed, "I won't…"


Cadmus blinked a few times at the blue house, "Hmm…looks pretty normal to me…"

"On the outside, perhaps." Victor said, "But on the inside, it's a completely different story."

A cat meowed, rubbing itself against Victor's leg. Victor smiled and scooped the cat up, "What are you doing here, kitty?" He walked over to the fence and gently tossed it over, "Shoo! You won't want to be here kitty. Go on, now."

Dragomir chuckled as he watched the cat scamper off, "The cat said it was looking for rats. Apparently there are lots of them here. Well-fed rats."

Tess glared at him, "Don't pretend you can talk to animals."

"No, I can't. I can listen. But, it's only cats. I've tried a raccoon, but…" He scratched the back of his head, "He tried to bite me in the knee."

"It's okay, Tess can talk to animals too." Slade said, with a small brown duffle bag in addition to his katanas.

Tess rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Yes, yes, go on, have a good laugh."

Dragomir peered around, "I suppose we should start with the front entrance…that's usually where they want you to start."

"Yes, well, unfortunately, the door is locked or sealed." Victor said, "I had to use the window on my previous venture."

"We all stocked up for this?" Cadmus asked.

"Yes, of course, I purchased a handgun, in the event that my Disciplines won't work."

"How much fighting is there going to be?" Tess asked, "I didn't assume much…"

"Tess, I have three boom-sticks, and you don't get to use any of them." Dragomir said, "Just a…a heads up."

"I don't want your boom-sticks." She jeered, "I don't need them."

"That's not what you said when you tackled me onto my bed back when our hearts were beating."

"What?" She scowled, "Ugh, you don't make any sense…"

"You'll find that I make plenty of sense. But your denial can fog over those ungodly memories, can't they? Your life isn't as spit-shined as you make it out to be, is it? How upsetting, best not let your new lover know…"

"Ash knows I'm not perfect."

"Oh no, I'm not talking about the dead phoenix." He grinned, "Because the phoenix is indeed dead, he doesn't last very long, now. He doesn't have enough ash for it. No, no, your new lover…a lover that has his hands on the city, that is where you will have to see the tarnished silver of your actions, embrace the rust chipping away at every choice you've ever made, and see that that is the reason why you are incapable of pleasing him."

She laughed dryly, "I think you've spent way too much time inhaling whatever fumes your sire's experiments produced."

"Fumes of knowledge." He said as he raised a brow, "I know you're jealous."

"Of you?" She scoffed, "What would I have to be jealous of?"

He laughed and shook his head, "You don't see the meaning behind my words…that's alright, you will when the time comes." He turned to Victor, "So which eye is it that we should poke through?"

"If we're lucky, there are some vines around the corner here." Victor stepped around to the back of the house, "Here, let's climb up, and there's a sliding glass door, we'll enter through there." They climbed to the top, seeing tinfoil blocking and sort of clear surface or window the house provided.

"Jeez…this is sketchy…" Cadmus muttered.

Victor applied a Blood Shield on himself, his entire body was now red and dripping with blood, "Is everyone ready? I doubt this will be easy."

"Ooh…" Dragomir grinned as he looked over Victor, who had soaked himself in blood, "What a lovely outfit." He took out the Utica and held it in one arm, like someone would a pistol, "I think I'm ready."

Tess nodded, "Let's get this done as quickly as possible."

"Alright, now these monsters, for the three of you who don't know…are these…heads…with arms…they like to…eat you…once they get close." Slade said.

They walked through the sliding glass door, and sure enough, a monster crashed through one of the nearby closets, roaring as it jumped up to attack one of them. Victor pulled out a Colt Anaconda and shot it a few times, it blew up in gore and ash as it let out a scream.

"Shit…" Slade said, "This place is creepy…"

"Yeah, why the hell are there so many flies around?" Cadmus wondered, "Unless…" His nose scrunched up when he smelled the house, he felt the wall, "Yup. Flesh…all of it. This entire house is decorated with human flesh…"

Miranda took a deep sigh, this time, like many other times, would be an opportune time to be wearing shoes, but she entered the house anyway.

"Damn…so…" Slade swallowed hard as he looked at the bed. He recognized it from the snuff films he would see with Isaac. The 'wooden' bed, was actually made of bone.

Tess looked repulsed, "How…how many people died…for this to be made…?"

"Well, you said the Tzimisce were flesh-crafters." Dragomir said, "So…it would make sense that they craft from flesh…" He looked at the half-ash, half-flesh remains of the head runners, "Both of our kind and our previous form. So…I assume if we run into any, we'll have to be cautious."

The next room they entered another monster burst through a door to one of the bathrooms, running up to swat at Dragomir.

Dragomir brought his fist down on its head, knocking it to the ground. As it gave a savage roar, ready to pounce on him again, he stepped on its arm, pinning it down. It clawed at his leg, tearing up the leather and a good deal of his flesh before he brought the Utica down on its head like a mallet. Over and over, he squashed it with the gun, like a burly spider, until it screamed and exploded with gore, "Hardy things, aren't they?" He mused as he picked up the gun and shook it, "I forgot to load my gun."

Victor picked up a small object on one of the nearby tables, it was a coil of dead flesh, that looked as if it would sooner belong to a mummy, "Childe of Malkav, catch." He tossed it towards him.

Dragomir turned and caught the object, turning it over in his palm and looking over it, "Mmm…" He stuck it in his coat pocket, "My thanks." He really had no clue what the thing did, but Victor must have given it to him for a reason, he figured.

In the kitchen, there were two monsters scurrying around, but that was put to an end once they smelled food nearby. Cadmus drew his axe and battled with one of them, while Slade fought with the other, after being bitten a few times, both monsters were brought to their end.

"How many of these are there?" Tess asked.

"Enough to drown the Nosferatu." Dragomir said lowly as he tilted his glasses down the bridge of his nose. The inside of a dark flesh-house seemed to be a difficult place to figure out how to load a gun.

A door crashed down and Tess was attacked next, the monster grappled onto her and clawed at her with ease.

She backed away and tried to kick at it, which really seemed to do nothing. She reached out to grab a table, but when the table flinched away from her grasp, she screamed and held her head, similarly as useless as the girl in the tape.

Dragomir's discolored eyes flashed up to watch Tess writhe on the ground. He chuckled and went back to loading his gun, even though he had clearly figured it out. Slade too gave a disappointed sigh to the matter.

Miranda ran in and cut up the monster with her Tal'Mahe'Ra blade, killing it in two effective strokes.

Tess shuddered and peeked out through her fingers, her clothing torn almost as much as her skin.

Dragomir stood up and twirled the Utica around his wrist, "What a nice team we have here."

They headed down the staircase next, seeing Andrei standing in the center of the basement, with Caesar flanking his left and Ferrum flanking his right. In addition to that, there were dozens of horrid humanoids all over the area, armed with knives and machetes. They had no faces, but rather, scars upon scars. Whatever semblance of faces they had were beaten of cut out long ago.

"Ah, hello young Cainites." Andrei greeted, "I see your faces are not so lifeless, your nerves' not so deadened, that you cannot express shock. Tell me, are you scared? Does my appearance frighten you? Or is it my knowledge of you that is so unnerving?"

Ferrum grinned, his canines gave him the appearance of a hungering wolf, or maybe it was the thought of killing them all that made him seem to salivate, "Maybe we should save the talking if there's a survivor…"

"Cainites?" Dragomir asked, "Are we not all Kindred? Or have you severed such…brotherly ties with us?"

"Do not be so hasty childe." Andrei said, "That is merely a misnomer, giving false life and perpetuated by the Camarilla. They are not worthy heirs to the dark fathers. No…that is the Sabbat's calling…"

"Caesar!" Cadmus drew his axe and ran at Caesar.

Caesar grabbed the arm of one of the faceless abominations and shoved it at Cadmus as if it were livestock.

Cadmus's axe locked with its machete, "What the hell are these things?" Cadmus growled, trying his best not to look terrified.

"You see, I've collected a large array of mortals to use as my slaves." Caesar said, in his snide, quiet tone, his jet black eyes growing with fascination. "It seems a certain worm has ambushed Andrei a few nights ago, so we thought that we should supply him with a small army…these humans now have a purpose in their previously meaningless lives, wouldn't you agree?"

"On the contrary, the surplus of kine act the very same as the flies in the air, the mosquitoes caught in the spider's web." Dragomir said, "Food, most definitely, but their mass numbers must be retained to retain the balance of nature. The structure they've created, the mass web, it balances us all."

Ferrum's dark eyes locked onto the gun in Dragomir's arms, before his body lit up with a greenish glow and he ran forward to slug Dragomir in the face. Dragomir caught his fist, then reared out with a kick of his own. The two got into a bitter brawl, which became even more one sided when Ferrum activated Protean.

Tess's eyes narrowed at Andrei, "Why is there so much…detestation towards the Camarilla?"

"They are false, deceptive creatures." Andrei said, "They wish to hide amongst their food. We will claim the power of the fathers and rule those pesky worms in the way it was meant to be! We need no veil to hide our true natures! We do not fear the mortals as you do."

Dragomir grunted as Ferrum stuck his teeth in his neck. "Oh, no, no, you don't want this madness, now do you?" He tried to pull Ferrum away when he continued to drink from him, gritting his teeth as Ferrum seemed to have the upper-hand with his Protean. Giving up with any sort of punches to the body, Dragomir stuck his fingers into Ferrum's mouth and yanked his jaw open, tearing him away from his neck. He then grabbed onto one of Ferrum's fangs and pulled so hard, it snapped off.

Ferrum's scream was high pitched, like a dog's, as he stumbled back and held a hand over his mouth, blood gushing from the hole Dragomir left in his gums.

To top it off, Dragomir licked the blood clean from the tooth, "Mmmmm…"

Newly enraged, Ferrum galloped forward to claw him in the face.

A blue blur flashed back to Ferrum, and he was slashed with two divisive sword strikes. Slade held his swords firm, it was hard for Ferrum to keep up with where Slade was. "I'll fight this guy at close quarters. You create a distance and make a sniping post."

Ferrum growled, baring his teeth, which looked funny with a missing fang. His eyes stopped focusing in on Slade, and instead landed on Dragomir. Slade was about to land a hit when Ferrum held out a hand and a flock of birds flew down from nowhere, clouding around his head. He charged at Dragomir with his claws out.

Dragomir kicked him in the chest and knocked him back on the ground, grabbing his sniper and firing for his chest. The bullet left a wound, but bounced off across the room, a bit of blood leaking out. Dragomir seemed perplexed, "Why is your hide so strong…?"

Ferrum scrambled back to his feet and slashed him across the face, leaving four deep claw marks. The grin on his face afterwards didn't look nearly as strange, not with the tooth already growing back in.

Slade narrowed his eyes. Whatever that green glow is, it was making Ferrum's body as hard as ever. He began to utilize his aura of Presence, trying to weaken Ferrum's attack and defense. With that and his added speed, he slashed into Ferrum with both his swords.

Ferrum grunted as he turned around and started to tangle with Slade, occasionally clobbering Dragomir here or there.

Cadmus had meanwhile defeated the abomination he had to fight, but it took quite a long while. As deformed as they were, ghouls were still ghouls, much more resilient than normal humans. He tried to look for Caesar, when another faceless ghoul attacked him, "God damn it!" He yelled, "I'll never be able to fight Caesar if I'm fighting all of these things!"

Miranda held a black-nailed hand up, and Suicide connected, the ghoul had a heart-attack and died. She smiled and nodded at Cadmus.

"Thanks." He gave a tired nod back, then Andrei walked over to oppose them, "Shit…"

Andrei chuckled deeply, sending out a colony of bats. Miranda screamed as they bit her and extracted some of her blood. She fell to the ground, paralyzed in pain for a minute.

Cadmus swore under his breath, he ran at Andrei, but Andrei summoned a horde of those tiny head runners. Some he sent all over the room, the others he had directly attack Cadmus.

As Dragomir and Slade handled Ferrum, Dragomir had left his sniper on the ground. Tess picked it up, quickly flicking the safety off and shooting at the head runners with it to prevent them from attacking anyone else who was busy. Her aim wasn't the best, but she managed to knock out a good amount of them.

"I think this one would look good with its face shaven off…" Caesar whispered into Tess's ear from behind.

She gave a rather feminine squeal for her usual octave, jumping and firing the gun at the ground. She whirled around to clock him in the head with the side of the gun.

The sound of children crying in agony could be heard, as dark shadows of the abyss began to cloak Caesar's body. The gun didn't hurt him at all. His head didn't even move. He grabbed one of her arms and pulled her closer. Then he grabbed her neck. Not to choke her, as, that wouldn't be possible, but he found it as a useful gripping point. Tentacles began to grow from his monstrous, shadowy form, and they started whipping Tess everywhere, some of the whips were so potent they lopped flesh off.

She struggled in his arms, one of her feet came up and landed on his chest. She tried to pull herself away from him with all the force she had in her legs.

Caesar shook his head, a demonic grin on his face. "Andrei! Extract her blood from her body!"

Andrei sent over a colony of bats to attack Tess while she was in Caesar's chokehold.

"Damn it…" Cadmus growled, "It's…it's Obtenebration. Tess needs help…"

"What do you suggest we do?" Miranda asked.

"We gotta…freaking get past Andrei somehow…" Cadmus said, "But how?"

A blood bolt smacked Andrei in the face. Andrei hissed with rage, "Tremere larva!"

Victor reloaded his gun, "Apologies, I was trying to do damage control on Caesar's ghouls. Both of you, leave us. Andrei and I have unfinished business."

Miranda nodded, trying to run off, but Andrei still blocked her path, "He's not letting me leave!" She shouted, as Andrei summoned a new batch of monsters.

"Then help someone else!" Cadmus shouted, "Kill that Gangrel!"

Miranda nodded. Ferrum looked to be locked in combat between Slade and Dragomir, but she drew her Tal'Mahe'Ra blade, slicing into Ferrum with it.

The blade cut much deeper than Slade's, in fact, deeper than Ferrum had remembered feeling for a long while. His eyes landed on her with a look of rage, "The hell is that?" He spat, lunging forward to grab it and hopefully break it.

Miranda jumped back. She envied Gangrel for that. They had easy access to aggravated damage with the ability to grow claws via Protean. But, as he looked down at her sword, so did she. First she put up Fortitude, so in case she did get hit, it wouldn't be the end of her. Next she put up Presence in an effort to soften his defenses even more. She snarled and gave a battle cry, stabbing him again with her sword.

He hissed through his teeth as the blade sliced clean through his shoulder, then he reached out to grab her arm and bite into it, perhaps even chomp it off.

Miranda jumped back, then her eyes widened as she was stabbed in the back by one of Caesar's ghouls. In addition to that, head runners were heading her way too, "Boys!" She called, "I need help!"

Slade nodded and sped towards the hordes of ghouls and head runners, using his speed to fight against them.

Ferrum licked his lips in a way that would have made Miranda flattered, if he wasn't thinking about diablerizing her. He reared back to claw her legs, seeing as they were so exposed. Miranda backed away again, narrowing her eyes and she ran at him to slash him.

Suddenly, a big blur of leopard-print covered Ferrum's head and face. Dragomir used his coat as a method to blind and disorient Ferrum as Miranda had open access to his chest. Dragomir laughed as he held onto the struggling Gangrel beneath the fur. Ferrum clawed at the jacket and screamed all sorts of profanities beneath it, but seemed completely unable to get his bearings.

Miranda swallowed hard, hoping her Presence would make more of mark of this free attack, as she reared back to stab Ferrum.

Ferrum screamed in pain, still thrashing around like crazy underneath the jacket as Dragomir held him back. Dragomir was about to break his neck too, before a mad flock of ravens flew down and attacked him. Dragomir dropped the jacket as he swatted the birds away, looking for his shotgun. In that sort interim of time, Ferrum jumped forward to tackle Miranda to the ground.

Miranda gasped as she fell to the ground, looking a little fearful, "Dragomir!" She called out.

Ferrum panted as he put down his Fortitude and Protean, he really had no other options. He put a hand to her face and another on her shoulder as he tore into her neck.

Dragomir's foot connected with Ferrum's ribs with the same strength of an iron bat. As Ferrum's body rolled off to the side, Dragomir fired his shotgun right at his chest. Ferrum gave a yowl of agony, dark red blood coating his entire chest. He scrambled to his feet and stomped on the toe of Dragomir's shoe, making a run for it as Dragomir winced.

As soon as he saw Ferrum was gone, Dragomir shrugged his jacket onto his shoulders and held a hand out for Miranda to get to her feet.

Miranda tried to stand, but her blood pool was very low, she felt faint, she grabbed onto Dragomir's jacket to stay aloft.

Once Slade finished the ghouls and head runners, he ran into Cadmus and Victor, who were having debatable luck with Andrei, "You guys need help?" Slade asked.

Cadmus nodded, "Take my spot. I gotta go help Tess and kill Caesar."

Slade nodded back as Ferrum ran off. He darted around, slashing into Andrei a few times as he was also smacked by a few blood bolts from Victor.

"Foolish Cainites…after I have rendered you to ash, you will have longed to wield power as deftly as I…" Andrei said, sending out some bats to ambush Cadmus as he was trying to go fight Caesar.

Slade narrowed his eyes, "Just because you surrendered to the beast doesn't mean I have to."

Andrei hissed, creating another army of head runners, but Slade flashed past them, stabbing Andrei a few more times.

"You know, I always wondered what it would be like to possess Celerity." Caesar mused, though Tess was probably unconscious at this point and no one had any idea why Caesar was still lecturing her, "And your Celerity smells very…potent…so I think I'll take it for myself." He bit into Tess's neck and started to drink from her. In addition to that, it was obvious that Caesar got bored and activated Potence, as Tess's body looked like a bloodied mess. In addition to that, Andrei sucked up most of her blood due to Bloodsucker's Communion, so it would only be a matter of time before he would get to drinking her soul.

Cadmus tried to bat Caesar off, but with that shadowy armor, it was all but useless. Caesar chuckled, "Do not interrupt me while I'm feasting…"

Cadmus shivered, tears came to his eyes, "No, Tess…" He wasn't going to stand back and watch while Caesar killed those around him again.

Slade kept speeding around, slashing at Andrei, until Andrei sunk into the ground. Slade panted and deactivated his Disciplines, "Alright…Andrei's dead…damn…but I have like, no blood left…so now what?"

"Andrei's dead?" Caesar looked up from his feast, finding the claim dubious at best, but he continued drinking from Tess.

"Damn it, what the hell is that guy doing? We gotta stop him!" Slade ran over with Victor, but the last of Caesar's ghouls began to attack them, as well as Dragomir and Miranda.

Dragomir threw his shotgun aside as he snapped the necks of any ghouls that got near him, stomping in closer to grab Tess by the neck and pull her away from Caesar. Caesar glared at Dragomir, taking his Potence fueled dagger and stabbing him away with it.

"Get him off of her!" Slade called.

"I…I can't…" Cadmus said, defeated, "He…he has this…shadowy armor…that…can't be hit by anything…"

"Yes." Caesar chuckled darkly, "Unless you have fire, magic, or sunlight, I am unable to be hurt. So I suggest you form a line right now for me to steal each and every one of your abilities…"

Victor held a hand out, a dark charm was heard. Caesar flinched and vomited up blood to the side. He got off of Tess, glaring at Victor, "Thaumaturgical magic. Tremere scum." He ran at Victor, slashing him with Potence, with such force that Victor's Blood Shield popped. Victor coughed up blood and crashed into the wall.

"No, Victor!" Slade said.

"Damn it…he's the only one that can hurt him…" Cadmus said.

"Slade, use your Celerity to distract him." Miranda said.

"I…I can't…" Slade fell to one knee, "I have no blood left…"

Victor held a hand out again, and Caesar vomited up blood, slowing him down tremendously.

Dragomir caught Tess and pulled her back out of the way. He wanted to rush in and use Potence to perhaps batter Caesar into some sort of retreat, but with so many Camarilla allies around, he couldn't risk being unveiled as a diablerist.

After another bout of Purge, Caesar glared at Cadmus, "Very well, I'll take my leave then…but know this…Cadmus…"

"What? No, you're not leaving! I have to kill you!" Cadmus snapped.

He chuckled, "Do you not want to know the fate of your wife?" He smiled, "She may still be alive. Or not."

"What the hell does that mean?"

He walked up closer to Cadmus, "Andrei grinded your wife into a little paste, and then added her flesh to one of his demons…" He chuckled for a long while after that, "Satisfied now?"

Cadmus's eyes shrunk, he fell to his knees. People thought he was going to rage or frenzy, but instead tears ran down his eyes, he buried his face into his hands.

"You have overstayed your welcome." Victor's eyes narrowed, as he used Blood Purge again. Caesar threw up some more, then he scuttled away and retreated.

Dragomir rubbed the two holes in his neck, then grabbed the tooth that he pulled out of Ferrum's fang from his pocket. He rubbed it over with a thumb before it turned into ash and fell to the floor, "Has the source been killed?"

"It would appear so." Victor said, looking around at all his weary allies, "The Nosferatu should be just beyond these doors."


A/N: Aw…how cute…Thanks for reading!