Chapter 30 – The Fate of Doctor Grout

September 26, 2004 = Saturday

~Doctor Grout~

I sat here, waiting for my own demise. I had little hope left that my Faustian bargain would save me and she would arrive before Prince Lacroix's agent arrived, and that I would perish this very night. I had no idea whom he would send, but my fear was the big brute of a sheriff would be sent to destroy me. He feared me that much.

The voices had guided me in the required mysticism for my particular strain of vampirism, allowing me to place a 'spell' over my test subjects. When, or if, anyone should come to the house against my will their sanity would break and cause them to attack said person. I could only hope that the sheriff would be taken off guard and I could gain the upper hand in our altercation, but I doubted it.

'She is coming,' one of the voices whispered, and I nodded absently as I moved to the balcony where I hoped to meet her.

My first defense was already in place in a skeleton I had acquired from a local cemetery. It lay on my bed, chained and with a wooden peg through it's chest and the ashen remains of a barbecue pit were spread out over the skeleton. If all went well, one would simply cast their eyes on my 'corpse' and walk away, reporting to my hated oppressor that I was dead. I couldn't be so fortunate, but such was my life at the current time.

On the balcony overlooking the parlor, I waited. Several of my test subjects milled about the room, but as they were causing no mischief, I let them be. My eyes were transfixed on the door, my ears listening for any sign that she about to save my God-forsaken soul.

Then, without any warning whatsoever, the door to the hallway beyond opened and in walked my savior, Ming Xiao. She was wearing a gold colored cheongsam, the typical long dress of her Chinese ancestors. Like most Chinese dresses, hers was form fitting and caressed every curve of her body. She advanced slowly, but she dismissed my test subjects with only a glance.

"Doctor Grout," she said, as she stopped some five meters from the balcony, "I believe I am here to safeguard your security."

'She lies,' I heard in the cacophony of voices that assaulted me. 'She wishes you dead!'

I shook my head lightly, trying to dispel myself of their influence. Surely my savior was not here to kill me. I was too valuable as an insider of Lacroix's circle, the secrets I held could be invaluable to ridding myself and the city of his hideous visage.

"You have come alone?" I asked, and she nodded. I might have believed her if not for the voices had not whispered me the names and locations of the five men and the van waiting for me at my own gate outside.

No, I was not to survive this night. I only wished to know why she had decided to betray me.

"So Cai Huan, Yang Jie, Zi Su, Mao Fu and Sun Wu are not waiting to haul me off to the Fu Syndicate building?" I inquired, watching her expressionless face break into surprise as I named off each of her henchmen awaiting outside. She soon steeled herself, and crossed her arms in anger.

"How do you know those names?" she demanded of me.

"My particular clan, Clan Malkavian, has an insight into others," I explained to her. "It's also how I know you are lying when you say you have come to uphold your end of our bargain."

"I see," she said, allowing now emotion to pass across her face. "Such an unusual clan you come from. I have not been able to learn anything of your clan. As such, I will not be carrying out a strict interpretation of my deal with your prince."

I stared hard at her, wondering what my fate would end up being. I had been councilled before to record that tape for the female agent that Lacroix would soon send, and to leave my 'corpse' behind for her to find, but I was hoping for another option to present itself, and I could only move the chess pieces I could see. It would seem Lacroix also formed a relationship with the dreaded Kue-Jin, the Kindred of the East, but the queen he moved to intercept me had her own ambitions.

"So what interpretation of your deal with the prince are you going to carry out?" I asked, as she moved her hand to an item hidden behind her back.

"Only that I remove the problem you are causing him," she said as her hand came out wielding a wooden stake. I had no more turned to flee than she used some unknown power of her people to stretch her legs to slide over the banister. She tackled me, and we rolled once to the large rug in the center of the room. The stake was brushing against my suit, but I was able to hold off the arm.

"Zài jiàn," she said, cracking a mischievous smile as once again her limb stretched. There was no hope of blocking the ensuing attack, and the last I felt was the stake pierce my heart.