November 21, 3:25 a.m.
Dead Horse Inn
Michaela grabbed another rat. Such wonderful creatures they were...red eyes, wiry fur, violent nature. Scrounging through garbage to get their food, tormented by every human they came into contat with, chased out of homes, threatened with traps and poison, yet few humans could boast that they had ever killed a rat. True survivors, these were. Rats would make good Gangrel. Too bad the Tzimisce already stole the concept of the Ghoul Rat.
She let the rodent go and scamper off under the nearest pile of garbage. She didn't catch them in order to do anyhting to them. She just wanted to play. And there was certainly nothing else to do with Sugar inside spending some quality time with the bar. Mika had never liked alchohal much....especially not the kind that would probably be sold at a place called 'Dead Horse'.
She spent a few more minutes playing with the rats, but then she just got tired of waiting. She circled to the side of the building and entered through an open window. A few of the drunks stared at her for a moment, then called for more whiskey.
Sugar shook her head as the gangrel walked up to her. "What was wrong with the door?"
"What was wrong with the window?"
The Ravnos shook her head. "So, what's going on?"
"Nothing. That's the problem. Are you going to be in here all night?"
"Um...maybe."
"Then I'm leaving. You said you were only getting one drink."
"Oh, alright, alright!" Sugar downed the remainder of her whiskey and slammed the glass down on the bar with a satisfying thud. "Damn this stay with a partner stuff."
"You didn't have to come with me." Michaela reminded her as they left the bar before the barkeep realized that Sugar had failed to pay her rather large tab. "You could have gone with one of the others. Courtney was going to a bar, I think."
"Oh sure. I'm going to go get a drink with her. Really." Sugar rolled her eyes.
"I thought you two were getting along better now....."
"She's hellspawn. The devil's bride incarnate. And from what I saw of her the last time we were here, a succubus as well." Sugar shrugged. "But she's not bad to talk to on the rare occasions when she's not being a total demoness."
Michaela stared. "Well...then....alright, whatever you say."
The two of them cut through an alleyway. "We should get out of here." Sugar remarked. "Bad things always happen in alleys."
They stepped out onto the somewhat broader street a moment later. "I would think bad things could happen anywhere." Michaela commented. That was when the beam fell.
"Watch it!" Mika yelled, shoving Sugar out of the way and jumping off in the other direction herself. The Ravnos caught her foot on a cobble stone and went sprawling three feet to the left. And that was probably a good thing, since the flaming beam of wood fell right where she might have landed when Mika pushed her had she not tripped.
"Hellspawn!" a voice screamed from above them. "You will be destroyed in the name of God!"
"What the HELL?!" Sugar jumped up.
The man on the rooftop above them-assumambly the one responsible for the beam- took off down the street, jumping from roof to roof. That didn't indicate that he wasn't human or anything; not when buildings were this close together. No, he was human enough.
"Come on!" Sugar took off after him, leaping to the top of the building in a single jump.
"No, wait!" Mika shouted. But it was too late. The Gangrel shook her head in exasperation before following the Ravnos to the top of the buildings.
"Sugar!" she yelled, running and jumping as fast as she could. "Come back here!"
But her partner had gotton a head start and was already three rooftops ahead.
"Hurry up!" the Ravnos yelled over her shoulder. "what the hell are you yelling at me for?! Human on his own, easy pickings!"
"You moron!" Mika screamed. "You're heading right into a trap!"
"Yeah, right!" Sugar picked up speed, bounding across the roofs and finally jumping down after the man and chasing him into the street.
"Why won't you listen to me?!" Mika growled under her breath as she chased her partner down the road.
Sugar raced after the man. He had jumped off the roof onto a horse, and now he had added speed along with the head start that Sugar had almost closed. Oh well. That just meant it would be a little longer until his death. This was such fun. Chasing humans down and gutting them like fish. She had thought the Gangrel would understand.
The man made it as far as a small inn (not the Dead Horse) when Sugar grabbed his animal's tail. The horse panicked and threw the rider back. Suagr ducked to avoid being hit by the man. She let the horse go. No need to punish the poor beast for its rider's crimes.
Behind her, the man gathered his wits and tried to run. Too late. Sugar grabbed him by the throat and lifted him a few feet off the ground. "Throw flaming logs at me, will ya?" she began to slowly crush the man's windpipe. "So, did you think you were gonna be some sort of vampire slayer? You're awfuly sloppy."
"Y-you think--you--you've won!" the man gasped out.
Sugar considered for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
The man managed a sneer as his face began to turn purple. "You--will--a--all--be destroyed--God and his followers--we wi--will--wipe you ou--"
His esophagus made a crunching sound not unlike the one Sugar's boots made in the rocky dirt. The Ravnos smirked and drew his corpse close. She was still sucking the body dry, right there in the middle of the street, when Michaela came running up.
"Want some?" Sugar extended the carcus, still holding it by the neck. "There should be some left; I'm done--" she cut off abruptly as Michaela let out and angry snarl and sent the corpse flying into the road with a sweep of her hand.
"Don't EVER do that again!" she yelled.
"Do what?!" Sugar yelled back. "Chase down some renegade kine with a hero complex?! What, you thought he was gonna kill me? Or is this about the damnable Masquerade?!"
"It's not about the Masquerade!" Michaela groaned. "It's about the Society!"
"Oh sure, this guy was from the Society." Sugar rolled her eyes. "Such a sloopy method..."
"He wasn't meant to kill us! He was meant to do exactly what he did. Get your attention and get you to chase him. He was leading you, Sugar! That's one of their favorite tricks. Send one renegade to make a sloppy attempt and then get the target to chase the renegade in the hopes of having a little fun and a bite to eat, and then the renegade leads the target right into a Society stronghold!" she threw her arms up in furstration. "They use our arrogance against us. You never expected any real threat from one lone assasin, did you?"
"Arrogance?!" Sugar spat. "There was no threat, Greywauld! I caught him, didn't I? How could that measly nag have outrun me?!"
Michaela grabbed her arm. "Let's get out of here. He obviously wasn't trying to lead us far."
Sugar groaned but allowed herself to be dragged. "Why? You think they're gonna ambush us? Bring it on! I'm sick of just sitting around! I want to fight! A real fight, I mean, not just strangling some kine in the street. How can you, of all people, tell me not to?!"
They stopped outside the Dead Horse. "I want to fight too, Sugar." Michaela told her. "But on my own terms. It's better to know what's waiting for you. Especially when you're dealing with the Society of Leopold." she turned and continued walking down the cobblestone street.
Sugar hurried after her. "How come you know so much about these guys?! I mean, I can see that you hate 'em, but did you fight 'em before or anything like that? And why the hell are you acting like you're scared of them?!"
Michaela stopped in her tracks and spun to face the Ravnos. "Scared of them, am I?" she stared long and hard at her companion. "Very good. I am scared of them. I'm not too proud to admit it."
Sugar stood there, stunned. "But...WHY?! They're just humans!"
Michaela let out a harsh, humorless laugh. "Just humans. Yeah. That's what I used to think." she glared at Sugar. "But I know way too well what humans are capable of. Especially these humans."
"Whoa....what the hell happened to you?"
Michaela turned and began to walk again. "Suffice to say I know firsthand what they're capable of once they trap you in their strongholds. Don't fall for their traps, Sugar."
Sugar stood there in the street as the Gangrel vanished. That certainly explained everything. Michaela had been captured by the Society. Well, now Sugar knew why the girl was so paranoid. She probably would be too.
Sugar began to walk back to the Dead Horse. She still couldn't believe Michaela had actually admitted to being afraid of them, though. Why would she reveal something like that; and sound as if Sugar was insane for not being afraid of them in the process? Well, no matter what the Gangrel thought or what she was afraid of, Sugar knew she could take on ten humans, even ones from the Society of Leopold. She understood why Michaela acted the way she did, but that didn't mean Sugar was going to imitate the behavior. She had a nasty habit of never believing anything unless she saw it for herself. That tended to get her into trouble sometimes. There was always a little voice in the back of her head telling her to heed other's warnings, but she never really listened to it. Besdies, personal experience was worth all the advice in the world.
She stopped outside the bar. She probably shouldn't go in, the barkeep might remember her. Instead, she jogged down to the inn she had left the corpse by a little while ago. The bar was still open there. Had to love these all night bars in big cities. She went in to try to drown that little voice in her head and build up another astronomical tab to skip out on before morning.