November 20, 1800. 4:08 a.m.
North forest
Mika let out another howl. Where the hell was he? She glanced around listening carefully. She heard a twig snap behind her and turned around just in time to have her face pressed against what used to be a completely white tunic.
"Erk....Selendrile? Please let go of me...." she croaked, struggling a little against the strong arms surrounding her.
After a particularly tight last hug, her sire relaesed her and stepped back. He cleared his throat.
"Well, Desmona will be pleased that you're still with us."
Mika burst out laughing. Sure, he was all business now.
Selendrile cocked his left ear forward, his trademark gesture of annoyance. She continured giggling. Considering the fact that his ears were those of a wolf and were placed neatly atop his head, that gesture of annoyance was really quite cute.
"You don't take me seriously. That's the problem with this relationship." Selendrile shook his head. "Other neonates respect their sires. And then there's you."
Mika grinned. "Yeah, sure, you're the perfect serious, noble loner. Prime example of our clan."
"You insolent little whelp. I don't know why I'm so glad you're alive. I really don't." her sire grinned back.
"I'm not alive."
"Well, if you're going to be picky, then I don't know why I'm so glad you're still moving."
"Master!" an excited shout interrupted their banter.
"Stop calling me that!" Mika snapped even as the young girl ran up and threw her arms around Mika's neck.
"Oh, did I mention she wouldn't let me leave her with Canis and Odin?"
"No, actually, you didn't. Yes, Ana, I'm alive. Or, well, moving. Let go of me. Why is everyone mauling me tonight?"
"Because we thought you were dead, Master. Completely." Ana answered, deliberately emphasizing 'master'.
"Don't make me strangle you. Why must you call me that?"
"Well, because you are."
"Technically, the dominator IS the master of the ghoul." Selendrile added.
"Why must you work against me?"
"Because."
"Great reason."
"Master, what happened?" Ana intentionally changed the subject. "Are you alright? We heard about the council being destroyed."
Mika sighed and leaned back against a tree. "That was what I wanted to ask you. We don't know much; only that the council was destroyed and that the house they gave us was ransacked. We aren't sure by who, we weren't there when it happened. But in one of the rooms upstairs...." she looked up at her sire. "Do you remember in Edinhoven? The smell of the church where the Society centered their Inquistion?" Selendrile nodded darkly. He remembered all right. "It was that same smell. By one of the beds."
Selendrile and Ana both stared in shock. For a Gangrel, or even a Gangrel ghoul, finding someone's scent was the equivalent of finding their fingerprints. If not more serious.
"So we're going to stay here until we've figured out what exactly happened." Mika contined. "Since we know the council was destroyed, we think there might be Kindred working with the Society against us."
A low growl sounded from Selendrile's throat. "That's the most...unlikely combination I've ever heard of!"
"I know that!" Mika threw her hands out in frustration. "But we don't have any other explanation. We just don't KNOW. So that's why we're staying. To hurt the Society in any way we can and in the process find out what happened." she paused, observing the agitated expression on her sire's face. "You have a problem with me killing Society members?!"
"Of course not!" he snapped. He began to pace around the tiny clearing. "But if you're right..." he paused, stopping in his tracks. "If you're right, and the Society has really allied themselves with vampires..." he shook his head. "They're going to a lot of trouble to get rid of you all. A LOT of trouble."
Mika sighed. "I know, I know. But I have to stay. I've spent the last century hunting lupines; I can take care of myself." not seeing any of the thinly veiled concern leave his face, she added, "I'm not a childe anymore."
"You're MY childe." he reminded her. "My only one. I would appriciate it if you didn't get yourself killed."
She lowered her head, knowing full well that that was a close to a sentimentla statement as any Gangrel ever came. "I'll be fine."
They stood there for the next few minutes in a silence that really wasn't at all awkward.
Finally, Mika looked at the sky. "It's going to be morning soon. The others are going to want me to check in. And you still haven't told me what the outside world is doing about all this."
Selendrile sat down on a nearby log, sweeping his tail out of the way as he did so. "Well, from what we can tell so far, every clan is blaming some other clan, but none of them are doing anything about it. Basically, they say that they didn't want it to happen but now that it has it doesn't really bother them. None of them even asked about what may have happened to the people they sent. Except us, of course."
Mika nodded. She figured she probably wouldn't be mentioning that to the others.
"And according to Xavier," Selendrile continued, "the Camarilla has said that they 'do not condone what has happened to the Switzerland Project, but they feel that it was in the end for the best and that future relations between Camarilla, Sabbat, and Independant should be much more limited'." he rolled his eyes. "A big long bureaucratic way of saying they don't give a damn."
"Wonderful." Mika sighed. "Well, we don't need them. Amy is putting together some magic tracking thingy that will let us monitor the Society by ourselves. We can handle it. Trouble, is the council members were supposed to send us ghouls to do the actual monitoring and tell us where we had to be and when..." her voice trailed off and her gaze shifted to the girl standing to her left. "Ana...did you have any plans for the next couple, oh, years? Decades?"
Ana gave her a sidelong glance. "I have a feeling I do now..."
"Very perceptive." Mika grinned. She glanced at the rapidly paling horizon. "Selendrile. Can you keep it a secret that I'm still around? We're trying to prevent chance of betrayal if there is a mole in the Camarilla."
"Sure. But I have to tell Desmona. She threatened to call blood hunt on whoever did this if you ended up dead. Feel loved."
"Oh, right. Well anyway, I have to get back before sunrise. Ana's coming with me."
"Fine." he nodded. "She's your ghoul in the first place." He got up. "I'm glad you're safe. I'll be back from time to time to let you in on anything momentus that happens, alright?"
"Alright. We do need some contact with the Kindred world." then she added, "And please don't worry about me. You know how tense I get when I know you're worrying about me."
"I won't worry." Her sire smiled.
"Good." Mika smiled back. Then she ran off into the trees, Ana in tow.
Selendrile watched her go, the turned his attention to the fading sky. He would stay here today, but he'd have to start making the journey back to Amsterdam tomorrow night. But there was still a little time.
There. It was almost gone, but he could stil make out the star on the horizon. "Look after her, alright?" he said quietly. "Make sure she doesn't build bonfires in the sitting room or anything."