Chapter 33 – Verdammt Wir Leben Noch

October 2, 2004 = Saturday

It was with a some trepidation I headed up to King's Way. I hadn't faced but a few kindred in battle, winning against Jezebel and Kanker due to my shadows, and only by my shadows. In a straight up fight, I was probably going to lose. At least now I had the Spas fifteen, and I hoped the fancy ammo worked as planned. If it did, I could incinerate Andrei in seconds. If it didn't, well, I still had the katana on my back.

It didn't take long for me to find the house, a large two story with several garage doors facing the street. I parked my bike behind the fence, where it wasn't easily seen. While I could step back to it anytime I needed to with my shadow abilities, I was going to have to follow whatever conduit Andrei had to the Nosferatu.

Stepping to the front door, I tried to open it, but the handle spun freely. I tried budging the door with my shoulder and potence, but it was solid as a rock. I looked around for windows, but they all seemed to be solid panes of glass with tin foil covering them on the inside. Circling the house, I came upon a trellis where vines grew to the second story.

I climbed up, soon finding myself on the third floor balcony. Looking around, I found a sliding glass door with tinfoil taped over it, making it a poor man's sun shield. I tried to slide the door open, but it was locked. I looked at the glass door, then pulled my Glock and blew the glass apart. I probably should be mortified at causing so much property damage, but one look inside and I decided to torch the place as the walls were covered in so much blood that the wallpaper looked like viscera. Grimacing at the sight of the room, I looked up to see even the ceiling looked bloody, making the room feel as if it were once a living thing.

I stepped through the door just to hear the screech of one of those little monsters. I had barely had time to turn before it tackled me to the floor, it's claw-like feet ripping at my duster as we fell. Thankfully, it fell off when I hit the floor, and I brought the Glock up, firing directly into its face and destroying it. Being so close to the monster as it blew up, I could see the fiery ash I would associate of a kindred dying mixed with the blood and viscera.

'So they are at least part kindred,' I mused, getting back to my feet and reloading my pistol with a fresh clip. I looked around the room, finding a pile of bones in the corner. I toed some of the cloth aside, finding out that it was the remains of the woman in the tape. I went through the door into the hallway, finding it had some sort of upstairs study with bloody chairs.

Another of those little monsters came out a far door, and I leveled my pistol, firing twice before it could even screech it's warning. I kept my pistol aimed at the far door, using my powers to see into the shadows as if it there were lights on. I found it an empty room, and turned back to take in the hallway better. The house seemed to be growing bones, as they were sprouting out and back into the drywall as if they belonged there. I didn't dare touch the walls for fear of getting blood on me, but at least the floor seemed to be made of solid wood.

I found the stairs down, finding they ended in a dining room and kitchen combo. One of the monsters took notice of me, screeching just as I put another round down it's open mouth, silencing it. It tried to shake it off, but I followed it up with several more, until it was destroyed.

I cast around, not finding any more in sight, but grimaced at what I did see. Seemed like they butchered meat here, several slabs of rotting meat chunks giving evidence to that fact. A rustle behind the center island brought my gun up, and I found another of the little monsters pawing at a cupboard. I fired three rounds into the back of its head before a screech behind me made me duck and turn as another one came into view. I fired wildly, emptying the clip as it launched itself at me, covering me in ash as it disintegrated right in front of me.

I raised myself up, reloading my clip from rounds in my bag. I then continued down the steps, finding myself on what was likely the ground floor. There was another set of stairs beside the entryway door that led down, and I followed it into a parlor type room. The door in the corner began to bang, and I brought my gun up just as the monster behind it broke the door off its hinges. Lining up my shot before it could pinpoint me, I blew it away with several well placed shots.

Noting the last door, I opened it to find it was a long set of stairs going down, where what I could only assume was a man as he worked on something I couldn't see on a table in front of him. Figuring I had finally found Andrei, I looked around the ruin of a house and decided I needed to destroy this before any kine found it.

Going back up to the kitchen, I used my potence to yank the old gas stove out of its hole and break the pipe that was there. I could hear the hiss of the gas as it flowed into the room, then went back to the parlor and used my lighter to start a fire on one of the old armchairs. Hoping my homemade bomb worked, I then took the stairs down to meet Andrei.

It was on the first step I decided to use the Spas on Andrei. Taking a moment, I put my Glock back in its holster and pulled the assault shotgun out of its bag, making sure the weapon's safety was off. Andrei didn't take notice of my arrival until I was nearly at the bottom of the stairs when a step creaked as I stepped down it. It gave me a chance to see what he was working on; a person laid out on the table in the center of the room.

Andrei turned to face me as I came around the banister at the bottom of the stairs, Spas in hand. He didn't seem to pay it any mind as I faced him, and I steeled myself from his icy glaze. He didn't even look human. His eyes were yellow and orange, giving him an alien look with skin of leather and absolutely no hair at all. If I didn't know he was kindred, I'd probably take him for an alien on his say so alone. He had spikes coming through his trenchcoat, giving him a sinister look. Even his hands didn't have much semblance of normalcy, looking more like the claws Jean sprouted that night in her pickup.

"Hello, young Lasombra," he said in a deep resonating voice. It was probably the one part of him I found comforting. "I see your face is not so lifeless, the nerves not so deadened, that you cannot express shock. Tell me, young one, is my appearance that frightening?"

"It's unsettling," I admitted. "So you're Andrei? Leader of the Sabbat?" I proffered. Andrei dipped his head in acknowledgement, a smile quirking his face.

"I would have hoped you tracked me down on your own merit, young one," he went on. "But I find it more likely you were sent here to kill me."

"It's always an option," I halfway joked. "It's not like kindred leave evidence behind when they die. I doubt you'd be able to find a speck of Simeon's corpse on that stage they decapitated him on."

"Oh, so true," he said, a smile again quirking his lips. "I have known many Lasombra over my long years, and the one tenet of their clan I find most appealing is their desire that the strongest survive. You have done well on this, having your family ripped from you, your life torn away, your own body assaulted, yet here you are. Richer than you were before, more powerful than Simeon could hope to attain, deadlier than almost any pack I have, yet I wonder why you take orders from that puppet prince?"

"Because I can't fight an entire city," I told him, and he frowned. "You have other ideas?"

"I am but one kindred, yet I have repeatedly thwarted their attempts to stop me, and now," he said, turning back to the table where I watched as he warped the man on the table even further until he turned into one of those wicked little monsters. It thrashed a few times, then fell off the table to land on its feet and looked up at Andrei.

"Go little one, join your brothers," he said and it scampered off through a little doorway set low into the dirty floor. "Blessed little creatures, my szlachta. I have broken through the crust of their existence and brought forth their greatest strength; mutability. Coaxing bone, weaving flesh, and lacing sinew tight until it's straining to lash out! Perfect creatures to drive the Nosferatu from their nests. The sewers beyond are filled with my creations, and now the Camarilla is blind to the Sabbat's designs. All done by one kindred."

"Good point," I said, looking around the walls at the people who were chained there. "Where do you get the people for this?"

"Illegals, mongrels, caitiff, Thin Bloods, the bane of both kindred and kine society," he said in a dispassionate voice. "They are of little consequence to authority as they are to me. It is a, culling, of sorts."

I toed through the pile of clothes beside the table, thinking Andrei was just about as nuts as the prince. "So, what are you going to do with the Anarchs once you subdue the Cammies?"

"They can join us, or join the Camarilla in their final death," he said, and I shook my head when my boot unearthed a tie dyed halter top with a familiar pattern.

"I presume you have a position for me in this grand scheme of yours?" I asked absently, spreading it out to see the familiar yellow and orange of Lily's top.

"Simeon was our Archbishop, heading the various packs we were to use as a military force," he prattled on, though I was past caring. Finding Lily's top here could only mean one thing, and I searched the walls for E. "He intended you to be a Bishop, but if you were to come back, I would be more than happy to extend his title to you."

I locked eyes on a man hanging in the far corner, and my hands gripped my Spas tightly. "So generous," I said, turning to face Andrei. "And if I decline?"

"Oh, childe," he said chuckling. "You have lived in my good graces since you were captured by the Camarilla. My packs have hit many of the weak among them, silencing some. Though they have wished to come after you, I have denied them this. Celeste especially wants the chance to face you for destroying the plague she was creating and ruining her life in the Tremere, pitiful spawn that she is. To stand against me is to face her. Is that what you wish?"

"What I wish," I said, turning to face him fully as my rage built, "was to be left in peace. I didn't want my life ripped apart. I didn't want to be kindred! AND I SURE AS HELL DIDN'T WANT MY FRIENDS TO DIE!" I yelled, pointing the Spas directly at Andrei and began pulling the trigger as fast as I could. Each shot let out a roar of flame that engulfed him, the bright flash blinding my sensitive eyes. I was sure that there'd be nothing left when I finished putting the eighth shot into him, but he just chuckled as he patted out the smoldering ruin that was beginning on his shoulder.

I could only stare in disbelief as Andrei stood there chuckling in the ruin I had made of his dark red trenchcoat, which was about the only damage I had done. I could see the hardened armor his skin made, articulated and hardened like the shell of a beetle.

"Peace it is, then," he said, raising his hand. "Peace of the grave!"

Loud screeching filled my ears as more of those szlachta poured out of pipes set into the walls. Dropping the empty Spas, I hesitated for a brief moment before yanking my katana from it's sheath on my back and slicing the first one as it leaped for me. Two more tackled me from behind, their claw-like hands ripping at my duster.

I rolled forward, shaking the two off my back, slicing my katana at several more. Panic filled me as I struggled to stay upright as several more tackled me from the sides, their claws ripping my duster to shreds. I did a quick hand-stand-flip combo that put me over the mass of creatures, and I swiped at the nearest one to leave a deep gash on its forehead. I landed on my feet, grabbing the katana in both hands and activating my potence as I swung again, hoping the former Kue-Jin's sword was up to the task required of it. The sword bit deep, cutting several in two to leave them piles of ash and bloody chunks. I couldn't even keep track of how many there were, just kept the sword swinging at anything that seemed to move.

An ear shattering boom rang out over us, and part of the ceiling cave in over the stairs to engulf them in flames.

"What have you done, you miserable puppet!" Andrei roared as he took in the devastation upstairs.

"Made sure that no matter what happened down here, I shut your operation down," I told him as his creatures backed off. "One kindred with a mission," I bounced back at him. Another piece of the ceiling fell from the kitchen area, and he regarded it with cold compassionless eyes.

"Then you can burn with my creations you were so eager to destroy," he said, turning his back on me as another piece of the ceiling fell. The old wood must be pretty dry to catch fire and go so easy, and his szlachta attacked me again en masse.

Using my potence, I continued to swing my blade for all it was worth as I ducked under or rolled over the creature's attacks. Another piece of the ceiling fell in, driving me back as the fire nearly caused my beast to take over. An unven step brought my gaze to the ground, and I saw my Spas and where I dropped it.

I picked it up, stashing it back in my duffle before looking at the ceiling to see it had become a fiery inferno up there. It was burning too hot, and my beast screamed at me to run. I watched as the creatures split up, trying to find a way around the fire so they could attack me, when I made my move. Using my potence, I jumped the fiery debris and bolted into the tunnel Andrei had disappeared down.

Turning back to the fiery basement, I watched as the building began to collapse and the surviving creatures were trapped in the blaze, ensuring their death. I paused to take stock of my duster, finally removing it and tearing the sheath out of the back so Heather could reuse it again.

Moving away from the wall, I headed off down the sewers, my hunger growing from overuse of my vampiric powers.

=o=0=o=

I clawed my way up the muddy bank, my internal clock telling me it was nearly dawn. I had gashes all over my back from where I kept getting pounced by Andrei's creations. Turns out, they had a knack for getting into tight spaces where you didn't think they'd fit into. I paid for that lesson dearly, and had to get used to carrying my sword in one hand and Glock in the other.

As I finally stood on the bank, I took stock of everything. One thing I knew for sure, as I stood there with Katana in hand, I was completely out of ammo. My duffle was long gone, my Spas now held across my back with a strap of cloth as if I were a militant guerrilla fighter and my Magnum and Glock out on display for all to see.

I started walking away from the underground lake that I had been dumped in after getting through the last trapped door. Seems like the Nossies had been doing their best to stop the szlachta, but that wasn't the only thing Andrei had been making. One of his creations was even larger, almost eight feet and pure muscle and was capable of ripping gates out of stone. Good thing the damn thing was all muscle and no brain, because I was able to slip past it to cut its Achilles tendon which made it fall and I could cleave it's head off with no problem.

I had to hand it to the Nos, they picked one hell of a back door to their lair. No living person could survive the trip, not unless they packed, and could use, scuba equipment, but here I was, squishing my way forward in my soaked clothes, water sloshing in my boots with every step. Gary was going to laugh his ass off when he saw me.

I was still hungry, even after slaking my thirst as best I could. I managed to find an access to the surface streets, momentarily leaving my guns behind to go feed. I found a bar near the sewer access and began to start seducing anyone I could. It took four necks to slake my hunger, surprising me. Apparently as Lasombra changed me to accommodate his desires, kine no longer satisfied my thirst for blood.

I shook my head at the thought that soon I wouldn't be able to feed normally at all. One thought did creep into my head, even though everything I knew about what I was becoming told me it was wrong; I needed kindred blood. I thought of what I had done to Damsel when we were alone and cringed. Now I wanted VV's neck? What was I becoming?

I slogged along the tunnel, determined to ask Beckett if I ever saw him again when I started to see doors set along the path. I passed by many of the plain wooden doors not even bothering to check to see if one held Gary. Had to figure the Primogen would have a fancier door than just a simple wooden one.

After a multitude of doors I found one ringed in green lights. I opened to see a young Nos tapping away at a computer screen. "Wow! You really opened it!" he said, not even looking up at me. "I can't believe you just opened it. What kind of a freakin' idiot just opens it.?"

I closed the door silently before I had to deal with a kindred break down and kept going down the line of doors in the tunnel. It wasn't until I found one with purple lights that I tried it again. Inside was a woman talking to a marked up picture on the wall. "Just look at her! Too fat, big teeth and her complexion! Does she wash her face with a cheese grater?"

I closed the door quickly, then did a double take at my bony body. Too fat? There was nothing left! Suppose it could have been that time of the month and was left bloated for eternity, but no. I had to be starved for a week first.

I continued on, crossing a chasm where water ran along, presumably to the lake. There was a metal walkway over it, and I crossed over to find myself in a small cavern with a large set of double doors at the other side. I passed over and walked up to the doors, opening them to see another tunnel that led around a bend.

I followed it to find a dinner party. At least it should have been a dinner party. The 'guests' were actually corpses sitting propped up in their places with dead rats on the table.

"By the clack-smack cracking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes," I heard Gary's voice say, though I couldn't see the tuxedo wearing kindred. "I don't remember seeing you on the guest list for the dinner party. We're having a wrap party for the Misfits about forty years late. Cast and crew only, boss."

"Funny, Gary," I said, forcing a smile on my lips even though I felt like shit, and probably looked it. "The prince sent me to talk about the Ankaran Sarcophagus."

"You don't say," I heard him say. "You should have got here sooner. That lot's been sold."

"Who bought it?" I asked him, hoping it could be that simple to finish this run but knowing it wouldn't be.

"I like to discuss business face to face," he said, then chuckled. "Up for seeing what I really look like?"

"Sure," I said, preparing myself to see the ugly mug of a Nos again.

"Are you sure?" he asked, trying to mess with my head in whatever mind games he liked to play. "You don't want my image in your subconscious. It's the stuff nightmares are made of."

"Remind me to show you what's in the void," I said, smiling at the silence. "I've seen kindred adopt psychosis at the shit in there, and I'm still here, doing the work of the prince."

"Behind you, boss!" Gary shouted, misting into existence as I turned to face him, sworg poised to block an attack that thankfully wasn't coming. He had the bulbous, hairless cranium I was coming to expect from all Nos and Elven like ears. And while he still wore a tux, it was minus it's sleaves.

"Delighted," I said, lowering the katana. "Now where's the sarcophagus?"

"Where, where, where did it go?" he said, rubbing his chin. "That thing gets around more than Mae West. Why, might I ask, should I give you that information?"

"Because I got rid of Andrei's szlachta for you, clearing out the sewers so you wouldn't lose anymore kindred. You lost a one, by the way. They ganged up on him before I could save him."

"Oh my hero," he said in a somewhat sing-songy voice that made me want to stab him. "Had it not been for that damn Tzimisce, you'd still be searching under rocks for us. It was hardly a favor, but, I know where your prince's prize is. There's very little that doesn't leak down into this place. Tell me boss, you ever gone up against a Kue-Jin?"

"Yeah, I have," I said, and Gary snorted in laughter.

"That's a good one boss. You been feeding near the skids again?"

"Where do you think I got this?" I said, holding up the katana to him. Gary looked at it, then shook his head sadly.

"Damn, you have beaten a Kue-Jin," he said as he handed me the sword again. "The Kue-Jin are vampires, but not like kindred. Sometimes known as vampires of the East, but they ain't kin. They're just someone else that, if you aren't careful, might give you the Final Death."

"Taking down this little sucker for Tung nearly got me killed," I said and Gary's face smirked at that. "Damn guy was blindingly fast and an astonishing jumper. Apparently he was scouting for the rest of his kin. Making a play?"

"Maybe," he said, his hand scratching at his chin again. "We've been fighting them for years, only making peace this last year because we both couldn't keep the fight going. Heard that got a new priestess from China, and it looks like she's about to start the war up again.

"That's one reason I sent Barabus into Chinatown, doing some snooping, a little hacking and make some contacts. Problem is he's not been checking in, and I need to know what happened."

"Sounds simple, just find him, and if needed, break him out if the Kue-Jin have him?" I asked and Gary nodded.

"Head for the Golden Temple in Chinatown," he said, giving me a place to start. "It's a piss poor copy of the real place. That eyesore is where you'll find the leader of the LA Kue-Jin. They call her Ming-Xiao. Just talk to her, find out where my boy is, and get him back. Once he's safe, I'll tell you everything you need to know about the sarcophagus."

"Great," I said, as I felt the sun rise. "I'll just head out there this evening."

"In the meantime," Gary said as he leaned against the wall, feeling the sun rise as well, "I got a room you can lay out in. You'll be safe, I promise."

"No thanks," I said, shaking my head slowly. "You got an easy access out?"

"A risk taker, eh?" he said then nodded his head to something behind me. "That door will take you back to Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It's actually the front door in, and how we usually get in and out. You'll be the only non clan member that knows of it, so keep it a secret."

"Sure," I said, heading for the door. "I'll let you know what I find, but be warned, the prince isn't happy with you right now. He wants that sarcophagus bad."

"Then maybe next time he can pay me to not tell anyone else what I told him," he said with a chuckle as he disappeared in front of my eyes.

I took the door out, finding myself in a hand dug tunnel that led to a ladder. The ladder led to a heavy door with interior hinges, and after swinging it out, found myself back in the mausoleum where Ginger Swan was buried. With the light becoming bright out, I stepped home through the shadow, coming out in the one thing I wanted more than anything after being through who knew what muck, the master bathroom.

I didn't even announce myself to my ghouls, just started to strip my ruined clothes and bathe while I could. When the door opened, I checked around the edge of the curtain to find Heather picking up my ruined clothes and a look of utter disgust on her face.

"Just throw the clothes out," I said as I lathered up. I didn't pay any attention to her after that, but concentrated on getting clean.

When I stepped out, everything was cleaned up and a gray silk bathrobe was hanging there waiting for me. I slipped it on, stepping out to find Heather and Samantha waiting for me.

"Where's the duster?" Heather asked me.

"Shredded," I said, and she made a pout-y face. "Got attacked by some small creatures that ripped it to pieces, brought back the katana and it's sheath, but that was all I could salvage out of it."

"Wonder if kevlar would hold up any better," Samantha added to the conversation.

"What's kevlar?" Heather asked her.

"Bulletproof cloth," Samantha said, looking at my ghoul. "Enough of it together and you can stop a rifle shot even if you're right at the end of the barrel it's fired from. It's supposed to be stronger than steel, so maybe it will help against knife attacks."

"Can you get a hold of some?" Heather asked, and I smiled at her take charge attitude.

"Maybe," Samatha said. "Let me make some calls."

"You two handle that," I said, yawning as I was so tired. "I'm going down to bed."

I left the two to talk over my next duster, going downstairs to find my bed. I shut myself in my room, heading over to my now finished bed and pulled back my deep purple satin duvet. The sheets under the duvet were silk and the same deep purple as the duvet. I sat on the bed, looking down at my overstuffed pillows. Heather must have had a very fun shopping spree at my expense, but I couldn't fault the ghoul for wanting her master to have the best.

I lay back in the bed, covering myself up as I began to drift off to sleep. If I had any thing bad to say about my bed, it was that I only slept in it for so many hours before waking. Otherwise, it sat unsused.

Oh well.