Upon entering suite four of the Santa Monica Suites, Celeste was sure she fucked up. The suite was pretty damn classy and well furnished, but the man that was splayed across the couch was a heap of bloody pulp; there was no way that he could still be alive. At least, that was what she thought until he groaned weakly, possibly because he sensed her presence. She approached the couch and the man struggled into a semi-prone position.
"Those mothers, they ripped me off!" he groaned. "I'm dying here!"
"Are you Mercurio?" She asked, hoping he would say no, hoping he would say Mercurio would be arriving soon after he got some help for this guy. It was a hope against hope; she already knew that, but still held on to that one thing.
"Uh, yeah," Mercurio replied. "You're looking for the Astrolite?" He grunted in pain. "I can feel a draft on my fuckin' insides! They shanked me, the bastards! The blood ain't workin' no more. I feel like my head's cracked. I think my eye's been popped."
"Should I call an ambulance?" She offered.
"No, don't do that!" he replied quickly. "I got a record back east; I'm heat bait! Don't even touch that phone! No cops!"
"Fine, have it your way." Celeste appeased him. "What happened, anyway?"
"I got...I went..." Mercurio paused and tried to look at his torso, wincing the whole time. "What's this lump? Is that my rib? Holy shit, is that my rib sticking outta my side?" He looked up at Celeste. "You gotta take a look and tell me."
Celeste leaned over a little and took a cursory look. There was a nasty welt on his side; it looked like he took a hell of a shot from something blunt, but no rib.
She couldn't help herself, though; she had to try for some levity. "Yup, that's a rib, alright. I'd say you've about five minutes, tops."
"I'm lying here bleeding to death and you're crackin' wise? I don't need this crap!"
"Okay, okay, my bad," she said. "Can you tell me who did this to you?"
"The Goddamn Chemist; can't trust anyone in LA." Mercurio grumbled. "I verified him; organization looked reliable. He mixes up speed, his crew sells it. He occasionally does explosives, so I set up a drop. So I show up at the beach with the money, right? Four of his guys show up out of nowhere, hit me with a bat! Junkie pricks; now my head feels like I got a horse kicking it." He paused to cough; a spittle of blood escaping from his lips. This was bad.
"I never should have gone in alone – amateur move." He said. Celeste guessed that was his way of owning his own part of the mess he made. "I shoulda handled those pricks; god-damned Cali-rat bastards!"
Celeste said nothing; letting the Prince's man continue his rant.
"Those cocksuckers left me for a stiff." He reported. "I had to crawl to my car, crawl my ass up here; the vamp blood's the only thing holding me together. But they got the money, they got the Astrolite...SHIT!"
"Wait... vamp blood?" Celeste asked.
"Ah, right..."he groaned. "You're straight off the bus, aren't you? Once a month I get fed vampire blood. It heals me up faster, and makes me stronger than a normal human. I don't age; you wouldn't know to look at me, but I'm pushing sixty."
"So where do I find the Astrolite now?"She asked.
"Those small-time sons of bitches live out in a dump on the beach; four or five of 'em. The one with the explosives is Dennis. He's got my money too, that prick."
"Well, it looks like I'm going to have to go get it back, then." She said. "But first, is there anything I can do to help you?"
After a short gripe about his condition and complaining about springing a leak somewhere, Mercurio asked if she get something for the pain. She agreed to find something for him.
"One more thing," he called to her as she was about to leave. "About the deal; if you tell anyone about this, I'm dead. I mean it. I'm beggin' you. I got ways of getting people whatever they need, so if you shut up about this I can help you out."
That was interesting. Mercurio fucked the dog here and he knew it. So far the only ones that knew were him, her, and five or maybe six soon to be very dead junkie thugs. The fact he was begging her for his life and bartering with her meant he also knew that she pretty much had him by the balls. He might be LaCroix's bitch boy, but she was in position to put him down.
"That's good to know." She said. "See you soon, Mercurio."
Celeste left the suite and headed straight for the clinic; reasoning that if she was going to find something for Mercurio that would be the best place to go. The guy that ogled her when she passed by the first time was gone. She went inside the clinic; noting quickly the place had a distinct run-down feel to it. There were a number of people in the waiting area, and one person at the front desk. Celeste skirted the desk and started down the hall into the actual clinic.
"Excuse me," the woman at the desk called after her. "I have to ask you to wait your turn to be seen. As you can tell, we're very busy right now!"
"Oh, right," Celeste replied. "How silly of me; I'm not actually patient. I'm here a friend of mine. She was in that car crash?" It was a bluff, but she figured a generic enough description might sound legit.
"I see," the woman said. "Well, I guess that's alright then. You can go on in, but take care not to disrupt anything."
Celeste thanked her and proceeded in. That was when it clicked in her head she had no idea where to look for painkillers; was there a stockroom? Would they be in one of the doctor's office? She doubted she would find anything in the operating rooms, but she would look in those anyway if she could.
Celeste heard a faint groaning in the first O.R. she passed by, the one closest to the admissions room up front. Out of curiosity, she peeked inside the room and on the table was a young woman, about her age, with shoulder length red hair and a pair of spectacles. Her yellow tank top was blood soaked, and she seemed to be having some trouble breathing. Why was it everyone she met seemed be either inebriated, insane, or critically injured tonight?
Since she was there, Celeste stepped into the Operating Room; not expecting to find anything, but checking just in case. She could pretend to be an intern or something if the red head said anything to her, and pretend this was her friend if any of the staff came by.
"I...need a doctor, please..." the red-head moaned.
After a tertiary scan of the room, Celeste determined it was empty. She told the red-head she would see what she could do, the red-head complaining her insides were hurting as she left. Moving in deeper into the clinic, she found a doctor, a black man with dreadlocks. To be fair, he was working on a patient, some dude who looked to be in pretty bad shape; possibly dead already. Still, Celeste felt she had to try.
"Excuse me..."
The doctor whirled around with a flash of impatience, probably from being overworked, which quickly turned into a mask of professional 'bedside manner'.
"I'm sorry miss, but you're going to have to wait outside like everyone else. No exceptions." He said.
"But there's a girl in the other room and she looks like she's going to die."
"Look here; I'm the only physician here and we're twice as busy as usual at the moment. I'll get to her as soon as possible." He replied. "Talk to her. Try to keep her awake."
It was true; he was very busy. That didn't change the feeling that she was being brushed off.
"But..."
"I have a man here with a bullet in his head!" He interrupted her. "I had my nurse page doctor Roberts half an hour ago and I'm sure he'll be here any time now. Until then stay with your friend and make sure she doesn't go into shock. Please, I must go."
"Okay..." Celeste replied, not quite sure if she liked this doctor very much. She went back to the room with the red-head in it; she didn't look good at all.
"Can someone call my grandma, please?" she cried. For reasons that Celeste couldn't quite define, this plea of the red-head tugged at her heart; dead as it was in her chest. Then she got the idea. Mercurio said that the Blood could heal humans. She could heal this girl up right now and to hell with that ego-centric, self important doctor.
She could do it; but should she? Would that violate the Vampire Code thing? What was more important; what was legal or what was right? Should she keep cover and let this girl die, or maybe save her life? What would Jack say? Jack said to keep every shred of humanity she has left. If she fed this girl just a little bit of her Blood; just enough to heal her up, and then took off, would anyone ever even know? Saving someone's life was certainly the humane thing to do. Wasn't it? But the code...
Fuck the code. Stopping a senseless death was far more important, especially since there would be no proof she did anything wrong. Yes, saving a life was the humane thing to do, and keeping humanity was more important than some stupid rule that fell into the category of 'no shit, Sherlock' when it came to self preservation.
"Hang on," she said with the best bedside manner voice she could manage. "I can save you." As the red-head with the yellow spaghetti string tank top and cargo pants groaned and moaned, Celeste made a small slit in her own wrist with one of her fangs. A line of crimson life formed on her skin, and she brought her wrist down to the red-head's mouth.
With the speed of desperation, the red-head grasped Celeste's wrist and began to drink like a fiend getting her fix; Celeste actually had to put some effort into taking her wrist away, licking the wound to seal it back up. How did she know to do that? Maybe it was just instinct.
The red head swallowed hard and gasped for breath. Breathing heavily, Celeste was astonished at quickly the girl recovered.
"Who...who are you? What did you to me?" She asked.
Celeste considered using her new powers to make this girl forget the whole thing; maybe even convince her she was never as badly injured as she was, but quickly decided against it. She had been though enough already and did not deserve to have her mind screwed around with too.
"It's nothing you need to worry about." Celeste said. "I only wanted to help. Why don't you get some rest, and then go on home?"
Internally, Celeste cringed at such a weak answer, but it was all she could come up with. Before she could draw any more attention to herself, Celeste left the red head where she was in order to resume her search for Meds for Mercurio. She took a look in an empty operating room, thought about looking in an administrator's office, but opted to check the office of a Dr. Malcolm St. Martin instead. There she found a bottle of Morphine; just what she was looking for. Celeste palmed the Morphine and stuffed it into her handbag. She looked at the computer and contemplated hacking it, but figured she didn't have time for that. While she had no objection to keeping the Prince waiting, she was willing to give Mercurio the benefit of the doubt. Besides, if she had any intention of exploiting the fact that she's cleaning up the mess he made, she needed him alive and healthy. Having what she came for, Celeste left the clinic and returned to Mercurio's suite. As she stepped out of the clinic, she noted a slight change in the air just seconds before it began to rain. Maybe that would help wash away the blood on the stoop.
Celeste entered the suite, this time not bothering to knock. Mercurio was still on his couch, motionless. She moved in closer to make sure he was still breathing; the last thing she needed was a dead agent on her hands, especially since she still needed to know where the dump on the beach in which the junkie pricks that had the explosives actually was. As far as she could tell he was still alive.
"Hey, Mercurio," she said loudly to stir him to awareness. Considering how beat up he was, he actually came to fairly quickly and was remarkably lucid. "I got something for you." She held out the Morphine, which Mercurio clutched at greedily, popping the lid off and dry swallowing two pills. She gave him a second or two for the drugs to start to kick in.
"Oh, Christ, I needed that." He said.
"You're welcome." Celeste responded. "I hope it helped. Now, about that Astrolite; you said those junkie pricks had it in a dump on the beach. Where is this dump, exactly?"
"For fuck's sake!" Mercurio objected. "I'm lying here in a pool of my own blood and you're asking me for directions?"
"If you're going to be like that, I'll just have to contact the Prince and tell him you fucked up and now we can't get the goods because you're not being helpful. How does that sound?" Celeste countered.
Mercurio's attitude changed double quick once she mentioned the Prince. "Two days dead and you're already starting to figure out how the game is played," he muttered. "Fine, I'll tell you. It's on the beach, through the gate, up the stairs and on the right. You got that?"
"Yeah, I got it. I'll be back when your mess is cleaned up." She said on her way out again. "Get better, champ."
Celeste contemplated going back to the Asylum to see if she could get a little pick-up, but decided instead to get down to business and made her way to the parkade that advertised beach access instead. She followed the signage until it took her to the access point. There she found that access to the Pier was blocked off by a gate which was manned by a few of Santa Monica's Finest on the other side, and a doorway which apparently led down to the beach itself. The cops were congregated around a body suspended on a streetlight-type lamppost, if one could call the shredded mess of flesh on the post a body that was. It did not take a genius to figure out this was the latest work of that serial killer that was in the news. Though it was starting seem unlikely that she was being sent to collect explosives to address a serial killer problem, it was also certainly possible this killer was indeed a problem; a problem for the code thing that they were all supposed to be upholding. It might be a good idea to learn what the cops knew, and then she could decide if she cared enough to disclose what she found to the Camarilla. Not so much to earn any favor, but more to keep the secret a secret. She supposed she could fill Jack in if it was relevant...
Apart from one of the cops being certain that the level of carnage was not humanly possible, and another that was making jokes about vampires or werewolves, Celeste saw no threat to the Code in their investigation just yet; it was most likely they figured some jackass was setting a pack of dogs on his targets before putting them on display. That didn't mean the killer wasn't in fact one of them and therefore certainly a threat to their secret, but it did suggest to her that the investigation wasn't headed that way; at least not yet. That was good; it meant that she might have time to look into it herself. Right now, it was time to get to the beach, and start dealing with her current task of getting out from under the dandy in the suit that called himself Prince.
The beach access was a long and winding ramp that eventually took her to the beach, where she almost bumped into a dark skinned woman that looked a little bit like a gypsy to her.
"Over there." The gypsy woman said, "Through the gate and up the stairs."
"What?"
"The men you are looking for; that is where they are." The gypsy explained, and then walked away to join a small group of beach going bums gathered around a fire where they seemed to be chilling out and listening to crappy tunes on an old ghetto blaster.
How did she know about that? Celeste was about to ask her, but then decided against it for the time being. Obviously she had the gift of sight, evidently very similar to the gift she had before Javier went and ruined that for her. Instead she mumbled a word of thanks and took a mental snapshot of her for later use; it might be handy to have a sighted person around. Instead she bypassed the beach bums; one with longish hair and no shirt, another casually dressed, and a third guy in a rock t-shirt and a mohawk. She made her way to a chain link gate which opened easily enough and she went up the stairs. As she did, lightning forked across the sky and she spotted a wolf running along a nearby cliff. She suddenly wished she would have thought to hold on to the .38 that Jack had lent her the night before.
After what seemed like a ridiculous amount of stairs she came to a short path which led to a shack of house. In front of the house there was a white on red magic school bus van, and beefcake of a guy armed with a baseball bat standing guard with a smoke going. This was most likely the guy who ambushed Mercurio. As Celeste came closer to the house, Beefcake saw her coming. He pitched his smoke and strutted towards her, bat in hand. Maybe it was just because he was shirtless, but it looked to her like he was flexing. He probably thought he might be able to look all tough and hardcore; he was probably thinking he might be getting some loving tonight. That angle might come in handy.
"Help ya?" Beefcake asked. Not much of a greeting, but he's probably not paid to be friendly.
"Relax, big guy," she said, hinting at a flirtatious tone. "I'm here to buy you know what from you know who." She struck a pose that suggested she might not be paying entirely with cash.
Beefcake looked her over and adjusted his jeans. How typical, Celeste thought to herself. "Alright," he said finally, "you can go on in. And if you really want to make my night, go ahead and start some shit in there, 'cause I would love that, bitch."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Thanks." Celeste replied. Beefcake stepped aside and let her pass. Celeste climbed the rickety stairs onto the dubious porch with a beach towel draped over the rail and stepped into the house.
Mercurio was right; the place was dump. She wouldn't have thought it was possible, but this place was even worse than her apartment. The front room had a lone occupant who was playing some stupid ass video game or another; she never really understood gamers, but it was a thing. She breezed past him and went into what passed for a kitchen where two guys in black hoodies were playing cards. Outside, she could hear a large dog barking and clawing at the door. Next she went through a laundry room and came to door that she presumed was a bedroom repurposed or doubling as an office. She knocked on the door and let herself in. Inside there were two men; one white and one black. The white guy looked a lot like the three she had seen walking in, and the black guy was decked out in white dress clothes and had enough 'bling' on him to convince Celeste that this was Dennis, the man in charge of this crew.
Dennis took one look at her and nodded appreciatively.
"Uh, huh," He said. "Alright, sister, you look at me real good. Before we do any business- before anything changes hands, I want you to listen up and hear this. If you try and cross me, I will fuck you. If you tell the cops about me, I will find you and fuck you. And if you are a cop, I will fuck you and your whole family, including that squirrel in your front yard. Now that we have the terms all cleared up, how can I make tonight the night you reach the full potential of your ecstasy?"
"That's a lot of fucking, Dennis," Celeste said back. "You went and got me all excited. Maybe we can start there?"
"Oh, ho!" Dennis laughed. "I get where you're comin' from! Alright, we'll see about that, but business before pleasure. I know you didn't come all the way out here for some loving, sister. What is it that you did come out here for?"
"See, here's the thing. I represent a certain party that needs to remain anonymous, and this party has a problem they need to go away." Celeste replied, opting for a version of truth. Our sources tell us that you are just the right guy to come to if we want the materials to make that happen. Are you picking up what I'm laying down here, Dennis?"
"Now that's a funny coincidence." Dennis replied. "You're the second person tonight to come around with that kind of a story. I'm sure you can understand why I'm wondering how it is you would know to come to looking for me."
"What do you want me to tell you? I don't make the decisions. I just go where I'm told to pick up and drop off. That's it. That's how it works. The less I know, the better it is for everybody in event something goes sideways."
Dennis thought this answer over, and then shrugged and gave a quick nod of apparent satisfaction.
"So if I'm the second one tonight, I take it you do have something that can make a problem go away. I was told to specifically ask about Astrolite."
"Sure, okay, I got some. I'm glad to get rid of it, to be honest. The stuff's too dangerous; it's like TNT's bigger, meaner cousin with a prison record. That's why I'm willing to let you have for a little less than the going rate."
Celeste stepped up closer to Dennis. "How much less are we talking about, Dennis?" She said invitingly.
Dennis was quick to pick up the cue. He glanced over her shoulder and shooed the other guy out of the room. She grinned and waited until she was they were alone. Playing with the buttons on Dennis' shirt, she dominated him into standing still a moment before bearing her fangs and biting into his flesh. His life slipped from his artery and into her. Dennis was considerably stronger than she had anticipated; almost as good as the first feed she had. As he did threaten her upon their first meeting, Celeste felt no need to refrain from draining Dennis the Chemist dry.
Once Dennis was dry, she did a quick pat down and found he had a very nice blade on him. She took that and the Astrolite, which was on a desk behind where he was just standing. Taking a quick look around the room, she couldn't see anything that might be Mercurio's money. Too bad, too; she somehow doubted she would have time to search the whole house before Dennis' boys figured out what was wrong with their boss. In fact, she might just have to deal with them, too. Astrolite and new knife with her, Celeste left the room and started her way out of the house. She got as far as the kitchen where Dennis's number two guy was gabbing with the card players.
"That was fast." Number two commented. "You must have some real fancy skills to get the man off that easy."
"He's completely drained." Celeste commented back. The three junkie thugs all giggled at that. Then Number two sauntered back towards the room. Celeste waited, standing close to the card players, knowing exactly what was about to happen and planning out her strategy.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" Number two shouted. The card players scrambled to their feet, one of them reaching into the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie for a gun. Celeste immediately triggered her Purge spell, causing both of the card players first to gag, and then to vomit copious amounts of blood. She then moved behind the one with a gun and slit his throat with Dennis's knife, taking the gun with her free hand as she did. As number two ran back into the kitchen, Celeste shot him in the face. Then she whirled around to fire again at the gamer, hitting him in the shoulder. By then, the other card player had recovered enough to make an attempt at tackling her, but was weakened enough that he tripped over his own feet, making for an easy kill as he struggled to get back onto his feet. That left Beefcake outside, though Celeste was quite certain he wasn't going to be too long in getting into this. He did say he was actually looking for a fight, didn't he?
Sure enough, Beefcake was on the move, charging at her from the living room, bat ready for a home-run swing. On reflex, Celeste used her blood strike on him, both stunning him and taking a bit his life force from him all at once. The she charged at him, fangs out. Beefcake apparently had quite the constitution; he had recovered quickly enough to be able to swing the bat and slam it hard into her abdomen and forcing her to crouch and drop the knife.
"You really did make my night, bitch." He said, lifting the bat over his head.
Celeste clutched the knife and stabbed him in the side. A look of shocked anguish filled Beefcake's eyes as he coughed up blood. Blood; it's always blood. Now she was hungry again. Fangs out, she jumped on Beefcake and bit into his flesh and began to feed. This one was a health nut; lots of good stuff in him. Apart from that damned cigarette, he was clean. With Beefcake drained, Celeste remembered the gamer. She winged him, but he might still be alive. She went over to check on him. The gamer, trembling and losing blood fast, saw her coming and tried to lift a gun from where he was semi-prone on the filthy floor. Celeste easily pulled the weapon from his grasp and used it to finish him off; it was a mercy killing, really.
The dog outside was going ballistic. She considered taking it out, too, but saw no need for that. It was outside and fenced in the yard; no threat to her. However, since the occupants of the house were now out of her way, she did have small window of opportunity to search the house for Mercurio's money. Checking each room, she found nothing of use to her apart from ammunition for her two new guns and a duffel bag with which to carry her loot. There were plenty of drugs in the house, but she had no interest in that scene. Maybe it was in the vents? One of them, in the laundry room, was actually a door itself, leading into a tiny furnace room. There she found a briefcase, and in that briefcase was an envelope containing $250. She took the envelope and crammed it into her handbag. As she left the house, she seriously considered keeping the cash to buy herself a more suitable outfit. It was more likely she would need to use it as hush money for those beach bums in case they heard anything.
Why was she always thinking like this now? Was this that Beast Jack told her about?
She supposed it didn't much matter. It was very much as Mercurio hinted at; it was a game, and like Jack said, she had to do what she had to do. With that in mind, she made her way back to the beach until she approached the group of beach bums with their firs in the drum and their ghetto blaster. One of them, the shirtless one, glanced over his shoulder and saw her coming. He gazed up into the night sky and let out a sigh of apparent exasperation.
"Look, we know we can't hunt here, alright?" He said once she was in earshot; Celeste noted he had an unmistakable Australian accent. "We're minding our own business, there's no need to beat up on the runts.
Initially, Celeste had no idea what the Aussie was talking about until she saw that he had fangs. The odd thing was, something seemed wrong with him though she couldn't quite place it. He didn't look like any emo-goth pretender that she'd ever seen, so she doubted that was it. Curious, she exerted her blood to take a peek at the Aussie's aura. The color of it was similar to what she saw on Jack, but nowhere near as clear. Was this guy a vampire, but some kind of weaker version?
"Wait, what are you talking about?" She asked him.
"Do you mean to say you're not here to run us off?" the Aussie asked.
"No," Celeste replied slowly. "Why? Is that a thing that happens a lot?"
"We're all getting pretty sick of it, to tell you the truth." He replied. "It's always someone citing domain, or in the worst cases hunting us for sport."
Celeste wanted to call bullshit on that, but after her first night, she wouldn't put much of anything past that asshole LaCroix and his totalitarian style of rule. Just the same, she figured that maybe this guy might be able to inform her on just how sick this new game really was.
"What?" she asked, feigning shock. "Why?"
"Damned if I know," the Aussie replied. "We all seem to have come down with the same disease...ah, hell, who am I kidding? We're a bad horror movie, alright? Thing is, we seem to be the weaklings, the mistakes. You types call us thin-bloods, but I say we're all equally screwed."
This must have been one of things Jack meant to cover before her ride to Santa Monica; one of those things he figured she'd figure out. 'Thin-Blood' was definitely something she never heard before, not even in her studies of the occult before she met Javier. Though she was hesitant to give up any weakness she might have, based on what this guy was saying and how he was acting, she figured the Aussie and his little gang were no threat to her; they were more scared of her than anything else. She could afford to be somewhat honest with him.
"Honestly, I'm pretty new to this myself." She said. "What exactly is a Thin Blood?"
"All I know is you don't want to be one." The Aussie replied. "You seem to be in the club. You tell me."
Was this Aussie mother fucker trying to barter information with her? Or was the paranoia of her beast talking to her?
"Okay, maybe we can figure this out together." She suggested. "Let's start at the beginning, shall we? How did this happen to you?"
"Well, I came into town for the surf tourney, see? It seems like years ago, but I'd guess it was maybe six months ago. Every night during the finals, I'd hit that local diner after the beach parties started to fizzle out in the wee hours. That's where I met her. She had a natural beauty. She wasn't like the plastic dolls that littered the sand, so I introduced meself. I remember how she seemed grateful for the company. Her name was Lily. Then, a few nights after that we were alone on the beach and she tried to tell me what she was, but I didn't understand. So she showed me. I was furious with her when I took it all in. I cursed her and left without really knowing what I was. Now I realize how she must've felt. So here I am now, a mystery to meself."
Celeste blinked. Here she was thinking she had it bad. At least her maker had a clue what he was doing. At least she had others who were willing to take a stand for her. At least she had someone who was willing to at the very least point her in the right direction. At least she was allowed to feed properly. This guy, and presumably his maker and probably this crew around him were left completely in the dark and reviled for it. For all she knew, his maker was, as he put it, either run out of town or hunted down for sport.
"Is Lily dead?" She asked.
"Clinically, yes." He answered. So he probably worked out that he was a vampire or at least something like a vampire. "But honestly, I don't know. I suppose I'd have moved on by now if I didn't think she might show up one of these nights. There's a lot left I've got to say to her."
"I take it these others here with you are thin-bloods as well?"
"Aye, most of 'em just recently arrived in LA after being run out of their home cities by the Sabbath or some such group or gang or whatever. They're even more in the dark than I am. They're a good bunch, but they've been through a lot."
"Maybe I'll look into this whole Thin-Blood thing." Celeste said.
"Hope you have better luck than I did. No one's been particularly friendly to me in this city. The only reason we're still in Santa Monica is because nobody's chased us out yet."
Maybe it was one of those scraps of humanity Jack was talking about, but she couldn't help but feel a kind of pity for this group; kind of like how she'd feel when she saw staring orphans on those charity ads on television. She said she's see what she could dig up.
"We'd appreciate that." The Aussie said. "Oh, before I forget. The name's E. The black haired beauty is Rosa- sees the future, or so she says. The nervous bloke is Copper, and the one who can't speak straight is Julius."
"Right, thanks, E." Celeste said. "Do you have any idea where I can start looking?"
E shrugged. "Nobody seems too interested in talking about it. Maybe you could find something at the diner; that's where it all seems to have started."
That wasn't much of a lead, but better than nothing. It was possible someone there might know this Lily girl or where she might have gone. Celeste told E she would see what she could do. Seeing no reason not to, she decided to see if any of these other thin-bloods could add anything. Celeste started with mohawk, who had a terrible stutter which indicated to her that he must be Julius. Partly because she didn't want to deal with trying to decipher what he was saying, and partly because Julius clearly didn't want to talk to her anyway, she simply said she was sorry to bother him. Next she talked to Copper, who was full of questions about ways he hoped he could be turned back into a human. Celeste saw plenty of opportunities to screw with poor little Copper and pump a bunch of cash out of him, but that seemed too cruel to her; he was suffering enough. It was best to be straight with him and try to get him to accept what he was now. With his head hung low, Copper wandered away. She considered talking to Rosa, but decided it was best to get back to her original task, first. It seemed she wouldn't have to bribe the thin-bloods, after all.
Leaving the beach, Celeste made a quick stop back at her apartment to drop of the Astrolite before going back to Mercurio's. It was probably a little conspicuous to wander around town carrying explosives around. Once the Astrolite and her duffel full of loot was secure, she went back to see Mercurio. She thought about stowing the cash and telling him she couldn't find it, but figured she screwing with him enough as it was; holding his fuck up over his head. Then again, making Mercurio wait meant making Lacroix wait. Maybe she would just make one quick stop at the diner to see what she could find out about Lily, first.
The diner, much like most of Santa Monica, had really gone to seed. The place was certifiable den for bacteria and who knew what kind of food-borne diseases. The floor alone would be enough to make her gag if she were still human. Given the late hour, it didn't surprise her that the place was nearly deserted other than a couple of guests at the front counter, a cook who looked like he never touched a bar of soap in his entire life, a cashier that reminded her a little of her grandmother, and a lanky dude standing off by himself who was just finishing up a call on his phone; it sounded like he was leaving a message to so some delivery service or something. He glared at her, making it clear he had no interest in being sociable.
Celeste approached grandma. Grandma asked what she'd be having.
"You ever see any pale, strange types in here late at night?" Celeste asked, immediately feeling rather dense, considering she may as well have been asking Grandma if she'd ever been in the diner before.
Grandma peered over her glasses at her. "Is this a trick question?" she asked.
That was a fair response. "How about a couple, say a few months ago; surfer dude and a pretty girl?" Again, Celeste kicked herself in the ass internally. She probably just described about half of the regulars to come into this dump.
"Let me think...Oh, yeah! About four dozen of those a week." Grandma replied.
Again, that was fair. Celeste would have to do better if she wanted to figure any of this out. What the hell, she figured; maybe out of context she could get away with it. She asked Grandma if she ever heard the term thin-blood. Grandma said that rang a bell and asked if it was some kind of tropical disease. "Something like that, yeah." Celeste confirmed. "The girl I'm looking for might have used the term; possibly even recently
"Oh, that girl," Grandma said. "Yeah, I remember her. Nice girl. Not like a lot of the junkies and crazies that come in here every night. She left a tip, but didn't order a thing. It was weird, 'cause she looked so hungry, but she just sat there with full glass of water talking about this and that; she seemed lonely and scared so I let her be until we had to close up. She left her stuff behind. I kept it aside in case she came. You seem to know her. Why don't you take it and give it back to her once you find her?"
"Thank you so much." Celeste replied. "I'll be sure to do that."
"Here you go, then," Grandma said, handing over a handbag. Celeste went back outside before going through the purse. Inside the purse, she found a picture of a girl, on the back of which was written her name and the month the photo was taken- August. Also she found a set of car keys, a wallet with $350 in cash, and a receipt for a bail bond from Kilpatrick's for someone named Rolf Toten. Making sure nobody was paying her too much mind, Celeste took the cash and made quick work of switching her own stuff into Lily's purse which was nicer than her own- or at least bigger. It looked like, if she was going to find Lily, she'd have to pay a little visit to Kilpatrick's and find out why Lily was bailing Mr. Toten out of jail. If Kilpatrick's Krime-puter was as good as advertised, that should be easy enough.
Now it was really time to touch base with Mercurio proceeded back towards Mercurio's apartment; the rain had indeed diluted the splatter of blood on the steps, but the building foyer and the hallway was still a mess. As she passed by one of the doors in the hall, it sounded like someone was having a very good time; a woman was laughing. In his apartment, Mercurio was still laying prone on the couch, but at least this time he seemed to be conscious. He was a little groggy, probably from the morphine, but conscious. That was an improvement.
"Hey, Mercurio, I got your Astrolite back." Celeste said.
"Yeah? What about those bastards? Did ya waste them?"
"Damn rights I did. They gave me no choice. You should've seen them suffer."
"Good, I'm glad to hear it." Mercurio said, managing a malicious grin of vindication. "Hey, did you find my money?"
Celeste pondered one last time telling him she couldn't find it, but ended up handing the money over. Mercurio said he could use it to buy himself some new kidneys.
"So what's the story with that Astrolite, anyway?" She asked.
"The Man needs you to make a place disappear." He replied. "It's a warehouse that looks to be a Sabbat interest."
'The Man' was trying to make her his errand girl; to get her to do all his dirty work. That was, of course, assuming he wasn't counting on her getting fried in this particular chore. Well, at least it was the Sabbat she was fucking up in process. That was something.
"Where is this warehouse?"
"Alright; there's this guy." Mercurio began. "He's one of you types. I never met him, but I've heard lots about him. His name's Tung; Bertram Tung. If anyone knows more about this city than me it's him. The problem is he's hiding out at the moment."
Great; here we go on a ghost chase. That's just perfect. Now in order to locate this warehouse I'll have to find this asshat Tung, which probably means I'll have to run some bullshit errand form some other tight assed Cammie fucktard. She had no option but to play along.
"Why is this Tung guy hiding?" She asked.
"Tung's hiding out because of Therese Voerman; do you know her? Wait, you're still fresh, so probably not. Anyway, word is Therese and Tung are feuding. I don't know the details, but my take is Tung figures Therese has a hit out on him so he's laying low until Therese calls it off. So if you're gonna blow that warehouse into orbit anytime soon, you'll have to get Therese to call off the feud."
"Aw, shit..." Celeste cursed. "Fine; what can you tell me about this Therese?"
"I know she's the woman around these parts; a real power player. Nice enough body for a dead chick...no offense... but she's got all the personality of a brick wall. She's runs the Asylum Nightclub along with her sister Jeanette. Freaky place; I try not to do business there myself."
"I know that place." Celeste countered. "I checked it out while situating myself. I met Jeanette briefly. What can you tell me about her?"
"I don't much like Therese, but I can respect her." Mercurio answered. "Jeanette is...well, she's something else. I don't think she's quite right in the head, and, well, call me old fashioned but I heard things about her that I don't feel right talking about in front of a lady."
"Well, Mercurio, call me old fashioned, but I feel like a solid knee to the groin will make any man talk once he recovers.
"Right; gotcha. See the thing is she's got a body built for bedrooms, I know a few people who claim to have conquered that territory." He said. "You insisted I talk, so there it is. I guess it don't matter much anyway. Therese is the one you'll need to get through to if you want to get Tung to come out of hiding."
"Fair enough. Thanks for the info; I'll get right on it." Celeste said, leaving the apartment. She would, of course, do what needed to be done. She did, however, see an opportunity to make 'The Man' wait just a little bit longer. Before she dealt with his probable suicide mission, she would indeed look deeper into this Thin-Blood thing. Based on what she found in Lily's bag at the diner, her first stop would have to be Kilpatrick's Bail Bonds.
Kilpatrick's was located around the corner from the diner and nearby an apparently abandoned Sunco gas service station. There was also an auto wrecking company on the block. She stepped into the bail bondsman's office. A fat man with a crew cut and dark sunglasses was sitting behind a computer, clearly so deeply enthralled with whatever he was looking at he didn't even notice her coming into his barely clean establishment. The place reeked of testosterone, pizza, and donuts. Fortunately for her, the Amazing Krime-puter was boldly advertised with a huge sign on one wall with an arrow pointing down at a computer. Celeste wasted no time making her way to the computer; she wanted to spend as little time as possible here. The radio was on; playing the Deb of Night. Some weirdo named Gomez was ranting about something stupid. Whatever it was, Gomez was certain it was life changing for everyone in the country.
Before she could do anything on the Amazing Krime-puter, the fat man rose from his chair, which squealed in relief from being released from the pressure of his weight. He waddled over to where she was.
"Hey there, hot stuff," he greeted with a hint of what sounded to her like a hint of a Boston accent. "Welcome to Kilpatrick's 24 hour Bail Bonds. My name's Arthur Kilpatrick, how may I be of service to you?"
"I take it you run this business?" Celeste asked, hoping she sounded more official than felt.
"I sure do. I'm a third generation bondsman. I got a few employees, but I run most every aspect of the business myself."
"Odd, because the only one I see here is you."
"Well, I gotta have a few bondsmen to keep the place running 24 hours, right? Plus we gotta have at least one bounty hunter on retainer. Of course, I like to pull the graveyard shift, 'cuz that's when all the good and crazy shit goes down around here." Arthur replied with a giggle that for some reason made her think of Jell-O.
"I bet." Celeste replied. "I only barely moved into the area, and already I get the idea Santa Monica seems like a place I might want to rethink living in. Just saying, you know what I'm saying?"
"Well, my business ain't bad, I can tell you that." Arthur countered. "Santa Monica used to be a pretty nice place, but it's gone downhill over the last few years. We do a higher volume of business than we used to, but now we gotta deal with a lot of bail jumpers and crap like that."
"It's funny you should say that." Celeste said. "I just so happen to be looking for an old friend of mine that's supposed to be in the area. Now, the last I heard he had a run in with the law. I saw an ad about your Krime-puter, and thought I might be able to track him down with that."
Arthur raised an eyebrow from under his sunglasses.
"I know, I got questionable taste in friends." She said. "I guess friend isn't quite the right word. The scumbag owes me some money."
"Oh, I get it," Arthur said with that Jell-O laugh of his. "Hey, sister, if you don't want to go into details that's fine. Tell you what, you go on ahead and see what you can find. Just remember if you need a hand with that, don't hesitate, that's what we're here for."
"Thanks, Arthur; I'll keep that in mind." Celeste said as she made a B-Line for the computer. For a split second, she contemplated going through his emails, but having into account the time on the clock mounted on the wall read it was a little bit past midnight, she decided it was in her best interest to move things along. She went straight to the log that entitled Bonds Issued.
There she found a file which was cataloged alphabetically. Since she knew the name she was looking for, she went straight to the category marked "T" for 'Toten'. Sure enough, there he was; Toten, Celeste clicked on her new 'friend that owed her some money'. She found it was indeed her scumbag Rolf Toten, with a bond of $15,000 written on August 22, 2003. There was a Bond number and an Immigration Case file number. No address logged, but there was a description of a '77 Lightningbird car with a driver's licence and a plate. Apparently Arthur has a thing about immigrants; there was a note recommending this guy go back to Germania.
Among the things in Lily's bag was a set of car keys. It was entirely possible the car was still in the area, unless Rolf jumped bail with the car, though since she had the keys, that was unlikely. It wasn't much to go on, but it was a start. She logged out, thanked Arthur for all his help, and went out to see if she could locate the red Lightningbird, licence plate GUYCONI. The first place she thought to look was, of course, the Parkade by the Pier. It seemed nothing in the new world of hers was ever so easy, but maybe this one time...
One thing that could be said about the rain; it certainly had a way of emptying out the streets, not that there was much going on this night in the first place. At any rate, Celeste got back to the parking garage in no time at all, and made easy work of finding the Lightning Bird with the matching plate. The car was in pretty decent shape, and she did have the keys. Jack did say that this sort of thing was her new normal. Would it be so bad if she took the car as a kind of payment for helping these Thin-Bloods out? After all, they were sort of second class Kindred, anyway...
But no; even in her new reality that was wrong. That was no different than mistreating any of the marginalized minorities among the humans. Besides, it was only a matter of time before Arthur sent in a Repo Man to claim his collateral. Instead, she simply searched the car, starting with the trunk.
"Bingo," she muttered. In the trunk she found a book – specifically a journal of some sort – clearly written by this Lily girl. Quickly she perused it; most of it was pretty banal. Met Rolf, thought he was amazing, one thing led to another, now she's a vampire (well, sort of). Bails Rolf out, and then Rolf ghosts her. Meets E. Turns E. Tries to explain, E ditches her. She's really hungry, misses E, even more than Rolf. She's really hungry, doesn't want to hurt anyone. Hears that there's blood in the clinic. Decides to try to steal some. No entries after that.
Maybe Lily got caught. Maybe that weird creep Vandal did something to her. If that's the case, she's probably dead...deader. Still, she ought to check it out. Celeste headed for the clinic, trying to work out a way to get past Vandal as she did. What was the name of the Vamp that Mercurio said was the big player around here? Therese, he said her name was. Maybe Celeste would drop that name on the creep. That was, of course, presuming he was running his little market with her blessing. Actually, even if he wasn't it would still work. If he had the blessing of Therese, then Celeste would say she was there at the request of Therese. If not, then she would bribe her way in with her silence. If Therese is half as big a deal around here as Mercurio says, then Vandal will have to cooperate either way. Failing that, she could just say she's on a mission from the Douche bag Prince.
Celeste got to the Clinic even quicker than she did the garage. She tapped lightly on Vandal's window to get his attention.
"Well, if it isn't all business Betty." He said, almost hissing. "Need a fix, Betty?"
"Hello again, Vandal," Celeste greeted without correcting him on her name. It seemed better that he didn't know that, anyway. "Actually, I need to get into the back room."
"Sorry; employees only. Them's the rules of the Queen Bitch herself."
"Well, lucky me, then," Celeste countered. It was time to make her play. "The Queen Bitch sent me. You can go ahead and call her if you want." She just had to hope he wouldn't call her bluff.
"She did, huh?" Vandal asked, obviously suspicious. That was when she noticed that for all his creepiness, Vandal did have very bright blue eyes. If they didn't glint with what looked like a kind of madness, they would even be pleasant. "Well, the Queen Bitch told me never to let anyone back there. I remember her repeating it over and over and over in that cold pretentious voice of hers."
Shit, he's not buying it. Well, it's clear he doesn't like her much, which means his obedience is based on necessity and fear more than anything else. She could play on that.
"You don't want to disappoint her, do you?" She warned. "Go ahead, call her. Or better yet, I will, and I'll tell her you're not cooperating." She reached into her bag and pulled out a cell phone. "Maybe she'll go easy on you because you're following her original order. Maybe that's more important than my errand, even if she assigned it to me as a favor to LaCroix..."
Vandal half whimpered, half growled. "Open," he said finally as he pushed a button to buzz the door to one side unlocked.
"Thank you," She said sweetly as she went around and inside the back area. After checking a few of the empty rooms, she found a computer. On the directory was a file called freezers, which required a password to access. She made easy work of hacking the password (ambrosia), and then looked at the temperatures of the three freezers. The third one was noticeably warmer than the other two; was that significant? Possibly. There was also a file that revealed the pass code to the freezers; 1969.
Celeste logged out of the computer and located the freezers. One of them had an electrical lock on it, which she presumed the combination of was the pass code. She punched in 1969. It opened to her. This led her to a tiny chamber with a big lever on the floor, which she pulled to pen another door which led into a room with a couple of dentist chairs. One of them was covered in a mess of blood, setting her teeth on edge a little. The other was occupied by a semi-conscious girl with reddish-blonde hair wearing a tie-dyes tank top, blue jeans with flared ends, and a pair of white sneakers. What the hell was Vandal doing; harvesting her? What kind of fucked up place was this? What kind of sick bitch was Therese to allow this, let alone apparently sanction it? It's bad enough that Kindred feed on humans like prey, but to farm them like this? It was enough to make her think long and hard about trying to maybe figure out a way get consent from her prey or something.
She would have to think about that later. Right now she had to do something about what she was seeing right in front of her. She was starting to get the idea that Kindred 'society' was some kind of monarchy type of police state, but this was too much. If this was the kind of thing that Jack and that Nines guy were disdainful of the Camarilla over, then they definitely had good reason. As it stood right then, this was certainly the girl in the photo of Lily's things she got from the diner. This was Lily strapped to the chair. Celeste approached Lily carefully, taking note of the locked door across from the chairs.
Lily was muttering. "The Hunger...I NEED it, a drop of it on my tongue... trickling down my throat...like a flash of heat in my brain...I can smell it everywhere...blood..."
So, this was what the Hunger was like if they went to long without. Jack wasn't kidding when he said blood was their heroin. As unpleasant as it was to see the Beast up close and personal like this – like watching a Junkie jonesing for a fix – it was probably good for her to know what it was like; to know what to avoid.
"Lily? What happened to you?" Celeste asked, not sure where to begin.
"Let me go." Lily replied. "It's so painful; like I'm going to die. It's calling to me, I never felt like this before. I CAN SMELL IT EVERYWHERE! I HAVE TO HAVE IT!"
"Alright, alright, calm down and hold still. I'll let you go." Celeste said. She thought about giving her some of her own blood, but thought better of it; she had no idea what would happen if a vampire gave another vampire some vampire blood. For all she knew, it could make things even worse than they already were. Given how screwy Santa Monica seemed to be, maybe that was the issue. Vandal selling vampire blood to vampires.. Instead, she merely undid the straps that kept Lily bound to the chair.
For a moment, Lily sat in stunned stillness. That was until some tech or intern unlocked the door and stepped inside.
"SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!" he exclaimed as Lily leapt from the chair, bounded off a wall and landed on him, tearing at his throat to drain him dry. It was Celeste's turn to stand still in stunned silence. Finished and apparently satiated, Lily turned her attention to Celeste as she slowly got to her feet, and satisfied grin on her face.
"The heat; mmmm, so satisfying." She said. "I drank all of it; I drank until I heard his heart stop and I was sucking on a dry dead artery. It was... euphoric." She glanced down at the husk of a man at her feet; her grin quickly faded and turned into a grimace of regret and despair. "But...I... killed him." She began to weep. "I've...I've never killed before...What happened? What came over me?"
How was Celeste supposed to answer that? This was all so new to her. The best she could do was guess that this was what Jack meant when he was talking about the Beast.
"As far as I can tell, the Beast took over. I suppose it happens." She replied. "I'm told that's a bad thing, but don't worry, I won't say anything; it looks to me like you've been through enough shit already."
"I don't know what that means!" Lily exclaimed. "All I know is that it felt so right at the time!"
Celeste shushed her, suddenly aware that Vandal was still around and might hear them. That was not an issue they needed right now.
"I tried to steal some blood," Lily said, lowering her voice. I was hungry, and since I'm not allowed to hunt in town and heard they sold it here, it seemed like my only choice. Well, they caught me and I was trapped and strapped to that chair. I thought I'd never escape. But now I've killed a man. I have to get out of here."
"I know that, Lily," Celeste replied. "E sent me to find you."
"How do you know E?" Lily asked.
"Met him on the beach." Celeste answered. "He told me your story, and I said I'd help you out if I could. What do you know about thin-bloods, anyway?"
"As far as I understand it, a thin-blood is a vampire whose blood is weaker than most." Lily answered.
This much Celeste had already gathered. The term 'thin-blood' sort of suggested that; albeit in pejorative fashion. She asked Lily to go on; she would most likely do little more than tell her side of the same story E told her which would likely be what was written in that journal she found in Rolf's car, but Lily looked like she needed to tell the tale; maybe for closure or something.
Lily went on to say that her sire (Rolf) told her thin-bloods were apparently a bad omen or something, and that his group wouldn't take her in; they said she was a liability. So Rolf basically dumped her like a bad investment. Celeste didn't say anything, but inwardly she hoped this jerk off Rolf found the wrong end of a sunrise. Then she talked about E, and how mad he was when she tried to explain everything to him, how he pushed her away.
"I should go," Lily said. "Probably out of the city, and soon."
It would have all too easy to extort her; part of her wanted to, for all the trouble she took. The reality of it was, though, Celeste couldn't quite bring herself to do it. She'd keep the bag, but that was it.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. This city is bad news. You should go see E first though. He wants to see you, and he says he forgives you."
"E doesn't hate me anymore?"
"He never did, sweetheart." Celeste answered. "You know how guys get, right? Sometimes they say stupid things in the heat of the moment. He's sorry he pushed you away."
"I'll go see him. Thank you."
"You're welcome." Celeste said. "Now get outta here, kiddo." As Lily turned to leave, Celeste had an afterthought. "Hey Lily, hold up a sec!"
Lily stopped. Celeste fished the car keys out the bag and tossed them to Lily, who caught them awkwardly. "Those were Rolf's." She explained. "Apparently he ditched his wheels as much as he did you. The way I figure, you've earned them after what he did to you. If nothing else, they'll help get you and E outta this dump, right?"
Lily gaped at the keys, looked up at Celeste, smiled, and ran away.
Celeste gave Lily a head start, and then left the room from the door the tech came in. Vandal was waiting just outside the door, arms folded over his chest. He looked royally pissed off.
"Why'd you have to let that bitch out?" He demanded. "Now there's one less Phil in the world. Why'd you go and let her eat him, huh? Now I'll never get to do that bastard in myself! And I'll have to clean up after that stupid little bitch. Well, you know what? No Blood for you! No more!"
Just how much power did Vandal have in this shithole city, anyway? How close was he to this Queen Bitch Therese? Celeste was thinking he was probably in a similar situation as Mercurio, but that still meant he could cause a lot more trouble for her than she needed right now. It was probably best to try to appease this creep somehow.
"You said yourself, Vandal; I'm a right down to business type. Remember that?" She said. "So tell me, how can I make this right?"
"I know what you're thinking," Vandal replied. "I'll tell you right now I don't do dead chicks. That's a mistake I'll never make again. How do you think I got all caught up with Queen Bitch in the first place?" He hesitated in whatever passed for deep thought in that twisted mind of his. "Tell you what, there's two ways to make this right. You can tell me a story- a good and gory story of one of your kills; unedited- or you can find me a replacement cow. Your call."
"I'm no killer." Celeste said dryly. "I'll see what I can do about a replacement.
Vandal looked both disappointed and amused. "Have it your way." He said. "Your account is suspended until I see results. Now get out of here before I change my mind."
"Fine," Celeste said, breezing past him towards the exit.
"You're not a killer yet, Betty!" Vandal called after her, chuckling. "Not yet, but sooner or later you will be. You all do."
The thing was, he was probably right. Hell, after what she did at the beach house, it could be said he was right. She was dead maybe twenty four hours and already she was starting to get used to the idea that this was her reality now. As Celeste made her way upstairs to exit through the main doors of the clinic, she pondered whether she should be relieved or disturbed that she was getting used to her new life so quickly. Along the way, she took a peek in the Operating room where she helped that red-head; the girl was gone. It was all Celeste could do to hope that was the end of that exchange. Glancing at a clock, Celeste saw that is was much later than she realized; the Sun would be rising shortly and it was in her best interest to call it a night. She hurried out the front door, and crashed into the wide-eyed wonder.
"Hey, watch it!" he said in a whiny voice.
"Excuse me," Celeste said, intending to carry on past him.
"Oh, Wow, man!" He exclaimed. "Say that again!"
"Celeste paused, puzzled at the request. "Alright; excuse me."
"Oh, yeah! I knew it!" He shouted. "I saw you earlier tonight, both here and at the Club, and I could just tell, you know?" He leaned in closer. "You're a vampire, aren't you?"
That was when Celeste noticed the cartoon vampire patch on the breast of his leather jacket. He didn't look particularly like any Gothic wannabe type, but who could ever tell for sure?
"What are you talking about?"
"Look, it's okay, sister," the guy said between excited giggles. "You can tell me. I'm a ghoul."
"Fine, then, yes I am, but keep it quiet." Celeste warned.
"Oh, right," the guy said, putting a finger to his lips before giggling again. "This is so awesome! When I saw you earlier I could just tell by the way you moved and by your fangs, so I was hoping to run into you and say, you know, what's up?"
"It's a pleasure, I'm sure." Celeste said, already starting to lose patience with this ghoul. Still, she figured it might be wise to know who's who around here; to know whether she was stepping on toes and such. Since she already had an idea how ghouls were made, she wouldn't need that information, but she should know which Kindred this ghoul was subject to. "So you're a ghoul, huh?"
"Yeah, and it's awesome!" the ghoul answered, a little too enthusiastically for her liking. "The name's Knox Harrington." He extended a hand to shake. Celeste took it and told him her name.
"So, Knox, what are you up to, anyway?" She asked.
"Oh, nothing, really. Just waiting for my master." Knox replied.
"I see," Celeste said. "And who might that be?"
"His name's Bertram Tung." Knox said eagerly. "He's a Nosferatu!"
That was serendipitous. That was the name of the guy Mercurio told her she would have to get information from to locate the Sabbat warehouse. Maybe she wouldn't have to deal with the Queen Bitch Therese after all. Maybe this guy could set up a meet.
"Well, isn't that something. It just so happens that's the man I'm looking for." She replied. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad. I just need some information and I hear he's the guy to get it from. You wouldn't by any chance know where I could find him, do you?"
"Actually, no, I don't." Knox answered. "See, whenever he needs me to do something for him, he just sort of appears!" He giggled again. "So now I'm waiting for him to get more instructions on a super secret assignment."
"What assignment?"
"Well, I don't know if I should tell you..."
"Come on, Knox," she coaxed. "Maybe I can help you out, and then you can put in a good word for me so I can talk to him."
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Knox agreed. "He's got me followed this new vampire in the city; he's some kind of Asian vampire. The problem is, I swear it's more like he's following me! It's got me really freaked out, to be honest."
"I think I can help you with that."
"Right on!" Knox said gleefully. "Okay, so like I said, he's some kind of Asian Vampire. I don't know much about him, but he did drop this ID card." He handed her a drivers' licence; obviously not his own as the picture was of a black man. "It's not his, but I don't know; maybe that guy knows something about him..."
"I'll check it out, Knox." Celeste said, putting the card in her bag. "Just be sure to tell your master I helped you, and that I really need to speak to him."
"I will! And thanks, man!" He said as she headed back to her dump of an apartment.