br Sighing, Rupa Luminasita Toyova tossed the keys onto the small table beside her and closed the front door to her home. It had been a long day, trying to track down Jacen, even with her Tremere connections.

br "Any luck?" came a voice from the stairway infront of her. Rupa looked up to see her niece- her great- great-great-great-great niece- standing halfway up the stairs, drying her wavy black hair with a large towel. Her large brown eyes, a family trademark, were marked with concern as she flipped the towel over her shoulder. "By the looks of it, I guess not. There's mail on the table, anyway. Looks very 'vampiric'."

br Rupa attempted to smile, but couldn't force herself to. Her niece followed her into the large dining room, set just off the hallway. Smirking, she picked up the old-looking envelope addressed simply to "Rupa", "Vampiric, indeed. Did Dritta pass her test today?"

br The teenager laughed, pulling a chair from the table and sitting down. "No, but she blames it on the professor. I think she's thinking of changing majors again- from computer nerd to computer super-nerd."

br Rupa chuckled slightly as she reached for the letter opener on the desk nearby, slicing the flap that held it closed and pulling out the paper that held it.

br "Again? Come on Nadja, I've only done that twice," another girl, slightly older though with the same facial structure, hair and eyes leaned in the doorway. "Mail call, eh? I take it Jacen was no-where to be found."

br Rupa shrugged, opening the paper as her eyes skimmed the older-style writing, not really listening to the girls.

br "Well, if you ask me-"

br "Which I didn't."

br "-Then you'd know that he's not worth it. Come on, all he does is drag you from state to state, busy with his Tremere crap. You don't even dance at home anymore, Tsuritsa's almost claimed it as her own. On top of all that, we've only seen him three times, total at least, between all ten of us. And it wasn't talking to him, either, just seeing him. How can you claim that true love? I don't think it even exists, Aunt Rupa, you know, because he..... er.... Aunt Rupa?"

br "Watch it, Dritta, or she'll give you the when-I-was-a-girl speech, and that could literally take centuries."

br "I'm the good one, remember? Heh, Aunt Rupa once said Tsura..... Aunt Rupa?"

br One more beat passed before Rupa pulled worthless air into her lungs, "I've been invited to a restoration of an old movie theatre Saturday night."

br "Sounds fun."

br "By Father Dorsey."

br A few seconds passed. "Isn't he one of the Tri-whatever in this city?" Nadja ran a hand through her wet hair.

br "Triumverant, and yeah, he is. Maybe you'll find Jacen there," Dritta said as she pushed herself from the doorway and sat on one of the serving chairs in the corner. "Logan said a large majority of canite society in the city will be there."

br Rupa smirked, "Oh he did, did he? I suppose he was here when I was gone?"

br "Uh-huh," Nadja said, her eyes sparkling. "He promised he'd teach me to shoot an honest-to-god-real gun."

br "Gun? No, not possible, Papusza. You're not even 18 yet."

br "Come on Aunt Rupa, you said we need to be taught how to defend ourselves," Dritta said matter-of-factly. "This is just another way to make your un-life easier."

br "Mortals," she muttered as she tossed the invitation on the table and walked back into the hallway.

br "Hey!! We resemble that remark!!" Nadja cried as they both bolted from the table, flying at her in mad attack. At the last possible moment, Rupa turned and took the brunt of their force, acting as a shield for them from the hard wood floor. Giggling, the girls each rolled to each side of her.

br "Honestly, Aunt Rupa, we've been talking about Jacen," Dritta sighed, propping her head with an elbow. "We're seriously thinking of finding and staking him."

br "He can't be true love, not with being a Trem. You should totally dump him," Nadja sat up, looking at the other two. "If he was true love, wouldn't he be here now, or at least know about us?"

br "He knows of you, knows how the house is run and all," Rupa pushed herself up to stand, brushing

imaginary dirt from her skirt. "He's just busy, that's all."

br "That's comforting," Nadja smirked.

br "What's the difference between knowing and giving a shit?" Dritta raised a brow, staring at the ceiling as if to find the answer. "I just can't seem to remember...."

br "Funny, funny, but watch your mouth, you're impressionable to the younger ones," Rupa sighed, glancing at the invitation left on the table. "I'll make a deal with you- if he doesn't show up here, I'll give up and just have fun until he returns."

br "Not good enough," Nadja shook her head, moving to sit at the bottom step of the staircase. "We don't need him, Aunt Rupa, honestly. I know you say you're not that powerful, but if memory serves correctly you said he wasn't that high up on the ole' Trem ladder anyway. We've got motion censors, cameras pointed at every inch of the property, those automatic weapons ready to go-"

br "Excuse me?!"

br "Okay, so weapons aren't set up yet, but Logan said he would. But, the point is that we don't need protection. We're safe here."

br Sighing softly, Rupa looked at her nieces- who seemed to get smarter and more beautiful with every generation- and smiled. "Alright. If he so much as forgets to open a door for me, I'll talk with him, but that's all I promise."

br "Good enough for now, I suppose," Dritta sighed. "By the way, can we go with you? Just us two?"

br "Absolutely not! I told you, no mortals allowed."

br "But Logan's going," Nadja whined. "He's mortal, why is he allowed and not us?"

br Rupa grinned at her nieces, "Because. He. Has. Big. Guns."

br One glance at each other and the girls broke out into giggling. Rupa wasn't going to bother to tell them that she still thought about Jacen often, just not as a lover. Not any longer- it just worried her that he knew about the girls.

br

centerbr~*~

leftbr

br "Notice anything happening lately?"

br "Oh, you mean being set aside like troublesome baggage?" Rupa smirked at the man next to her. "Trust me, I understand completely."

br He kicked at an imaginary rock in the empty hall of the theatre, shoving his hands into his pockets. "We used to be a part of all this, didn't we? They never did this before. Maybe it's just a one-time-thing."

br "I wish it was, Thomas, but as I see it this is all we're going to be doing for quite awhile," Rupa bit her lip for a moment. "After all, what am I to Jacen other than a secretary? The only thing he said to me was, 'Tremere affairs, I'll be back later'."

br The place had been silent for awhile now, most of the others busy with their own business. Rupa had known Thomas Bell as the lover of Seaton, another Tremere and friend to Jacen- but, as herself, now seemingly just a tag-along for the Tremere. They had all taken off without word, at least none to Rupa, to meddle in their Tremere affairs.

br And nothing more, it seemed.

br Alfonzo Scapelli walked down the hall, nodding to the two before heading downstairs to the main lobby. Music from the movie drifted to Rupa's ears, her Toreador blood flashing through her veins, instantly smiling, "The Wizard of Oz, and they're about to the part of the Lullaby League!"

br Rupa was a bustle of movement as she almost pranced happily to the room at the end of the hall, following the sound. Upon her first sight, she smiled- as if right on cue, the three tiny dancers barréd themselves across the spiraled ground towards Dorthy, pretty in pink with scroll in hand. She glanced at the audience to see if any others were watching the best part of the movie, and quickly spun back around through the door, blinking in slight fright.

br "Rupa?" Thomas asked in slight concern, looking through the door she just exited.

br "I... I just wasn't expecting him to be sitting there, is all."

br "Oh, Father Dorsey? Yeah."

br Rupa laughed uneasily at herself, offering an almost embarrassed smile, "It just shocked me, is all. We haven't met yet, and I wouldn't want to make a bad impression on him, being who he is and all."

br Thomas smirked, though turned his attention to the noise down the hall. Rupa realized while she was watching the dancers, the hall had filled. Her eyes widened as she saw Queotyl standing over... that kid- the same kid that was with Jacen earlier, a Tremere if she was correct- what was going on now??

br Before she knew what had happened, Queotyl's arm blew across the man, a ripple of energy pushed it's way down the hall. While it didn't affect Rupa or Alfonzo, the force shoved Thomas further down the hall, Rupa rushing to make sure he was okay. By the time she looked up, they had moved down the staircase, with the Tremere, and the hall was once again almost empty.

br "Are you all right, Thomas?" Rupa asked, helping him up.

br "Yeah... I'm gonna check that out, that guy was hanging around with Seaton and Jacen earlier."

br Rupa shook her head. That's just what she needed, Thomas getting hurt more and getting Seaton's anger pointed at her. "No, you wait here. I'll go; I need to go to my car anyway. I'll be back later."

br Without another word, she headed towards the stairs, glancing at Alfonzo before heading down. At the first landing, she was pulled behind the drapes drawn down to soften the corner, eyes blazing.

br "Not a very good vampire if I can surprise ya'," Logan said smugly.

br Rupa rolled her eyes at the man, "You're not a normal human. By the way, about Dritta-"

br "I'm not here for tea parties, Rupa, I'm here to warn you," he ran a hand through his short spiked hair. "Some people are trying to kill you- I don't know who exactly yet, some of Sin's friends is all I know at the moment, but why don't you go home for awhile until you're safe?"

br Rupa raised a brow, "You're the last one I'd expect this from. Concerned?"

br He smirked, "You wish. You're a friend of Jacen's. And Aunt to... to the Brothel."

br "Oh, is that what you call them?"

br "I try," he grinned at her. "Sometimes, they just can't handle me."

br Instead of making an argument of that point, she just snickered and slipped from the curtains, heading down the stairs again. She tried not to laugh- she'd drank a bit of Sin's blood, once, to prove her loyalty, but she knew he'd be dead before he'd be able to ask for a favor. It'd been guaranteed.

br Outside, she looked everywhere for a clue, but Queotyl and the rest were gone.