"Raziel? I'm back...what the HELL?!"
Kain had walked into the warehouse to find a charred mess. The fire had been put out somehow by Raziel before it could damage the structure of the building too much, but a large area of the floor and one wall had been scorched black, and many of the crates and their contents were now piles of steaming ash and rubble. Kain grabbed Raziel by the throat.
"What in Nosgoth's name have you been doing, Raziel?!"
Raziel kicked out of Kain's grip and flipped backwards, landing in a crouch. "Experimenting."
"Experimenting? With what? How long it will take for you to burn this place down?"
"With the Reaver."
Raziel called up the Reaver, which now burned with a powerful but controlled fire. Kain momentarily forgot his anger.
"You ignited the Reaver...but how? There are no elemental fonts here, are there?"
"No. I used an actual fire."
Kain glowered. "You set a fire in here. And lost control of it, I see."
"For a moment."
"Raziel..."
"Don't try to lecture me, Kain. You do not control me any more. Despite all you've said about destiny and time, I have free will, and I will relinquish it to no one. You least of all."
Kain growled, then chuckled. "As you say. And of your Reaver's other elemental forms?"
"There is a human-made lamp in here that shines with a light that has a resemblance to sunlight. I was able to use it in a similar way to the fire, to imbue the Reaver with light. The shadows here failed to activate the Dark Reaver, possibly because they are too thin or lack any magical quality. I have not thought of a way to activate the Air Reaver."
"A useful experiment then, if also a reckless one."
"And what of your travels?"
"I infiltrated the place Luna intends to meet us tomorrow night. A gathering place called the Haven. I also saw Luna himself. For a Vampire that commands respect, he seems extremely weak. I can only assume that he hides his true power, judging by the amount of enemies I believe him to have."
"Enemies?"
"The Brujah Clan, apparently. Also a group of Vampires calling themselves the Sabbat. And two other Vampires who believed they were following me without my knowledge. From what I heard from them, I don't believe Luna knows them to be in this city."
"What now, then?"
"We pass the time until Luna sends for us."
***
Luna rubbed his temple as Daedalus finished his report. "Another world?"
"That is what Raziel says."
"At this point, Daedalus, I really am hoping that Raziel is as deluded as he sounds. I don't know what would be worse - a pair of super-powered Vampires from another world or a pair of super-powered Vampires who are insane."
"Raziel does not strike me as insane, Julian. Tormented, but not deluded. In fact, once we started to talk, I found him suprisingly reasonable."
"Do you think Caine will be as reasonable?"
"I'm afraid not. Raziel describes Caine as vengeful, dangerous and quite unpredictable. He recommended that we do not let Caine know that I had that talk with him."
"I'll agree with him there. Does this Caine really think he's the Caine of legend?"
Daedalus shrugged. "I told Raziel the basics of the story of Caine. Raziel didn't believe that his Caine and ours could be the same one. On the other hand, there are apparently some parallels. His Caine created the Clans, like ours is supposed to have. Raziel told me about his Caine warring with the world, virtually destroying it as he conquered it. At a basic level, it has a resemblance to our tales of Gehenna, at least in some respects."
"I'd rather avoid Gehenna, if it's all the same to our guest. Very well. I'll get all the security we have in the Haven tomorrow. Seeing as you and Raziel are on such good terms, you can talk to him in the basement - I don't want him scaring the humans. If Caine can make himself look human, then we'll meet in the main part of the Haven. Hopefully, you can get some more information out of Raziel in case Caine proves to be difficult. Have some Nosferatu hidden throughout the Haven, just in case."
***
Alisha Tenor looked down at the mangled corpse at her feet. "Damn."
The corpse had looked mangled even before Avid had delivered its Final Death. It had been a Nosferatu, after all. But the Nosferatu were unlikely to miss the fact that one of their number had disappeared. If they didn't work quickly, the Tremere were likely to be discovered before they could infiltrate the meeting betweent Luna and the Caine Vampire.
Avid snarled. "Blasted Sewer Rat. If only they would stop poking their deformed noses where they don't belong..."
"What do we do?"
Avid thought for a moment. "Mess up the building. Grafitti, bloodstains, a little fire damage. We'll make it look like the Sabbat."
"The Sabbat? If Luna thinks that the Sabbat's in his city, his security in Elysium will sky-rocket!"
"It can't be helped. At least he'll be chasing phantoms instead of us. We don't exactly fit the typical Sabbat description. You'd better pull a couple of humans from the street too. A few bodies will make the ploy more convincing."
"Very well. Let's hope that the Prince is too busy chasing non-existant Sabbat to bother us."
***
Less than a mile away, in a derelict basketball court, the very-existant Sabbat pack were playing a game of chase with a terrified human. They'd been amusing themselves for several hours, making sure they didn't do anything that would give away their presence just yet. Lola was eventually declared the winner of this game when the human failed to stop in time after seeing her jump in front of him. The impact broke the mortal's neck.
"I am so BORED!" Franklin groaned. "When are we going to see some action?"
"I told you - tomorrow night." Cass snapped. "Now stop whining."
"Hey Cass?" Lola asked, wiping her jacket where the very recently-deceased man had crashed into it. "What do you think happened to the first pack? I know you said they must have gotten caught, but if they had, the city'd be up in arms. So far, we've seen nothing."
"Maybe they got lost on the way. How should I know?" the Lasombra said irritably. "Who do I look like, the Memory Girl? Just keep your heads down for tonight, and tomorrow night we can kick some Camarilla ass!"
Franklin shrugged. "Fine, whatever. And where the hell's Fran? She should have been back by now."
A hideous apparition came from out of the shadows. "I've been here a while, hon. Just been laughing at all the bickering going on."
"Spying on me?" Franklin leered evilly.
"Oh, of course. My life, my love..."
"OK, children, let's cut the romance parody. Francesca?"
Francesca shrugged. "Nothing much making sense, boss. The whole city's buzzing with some wierd-ass rumours. The big one's that Caine's here."
Cass chuckled. "Caine?! Of course he is. He's probably setting up a burger bar, right next to Lillith's clothes store. Did you hear any rumours that are more credible than the ramblings of a compulsive liar?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course it's not Caine, but the word is that there are two damned powerful stiffs walking the streets right now. They kicked the collective ass of Luna's personal troop of kiss-ass Gangrel, including the almighty Primogen himself!"
Lola whistled. "They sound like my kind of guys! Maybe I can take them on a threesome in a graveyard..."
Fran shook her head. "Dunno about that. Caine-wannabe's paving the streets with the mutilated bodies of half the Vamps he comes across. Dunno about the other one's deal, but I hear he's one ugly bastard. Makes us Nossies look like primadonnas!" Fran fell silent, a troubled look appearing on her ruined face. "There's something I gotta tell you."
"What?"
Fran held out a small object, a silver ring finely engraved with the symbol of a snake eating its own tail. Cass swore.
"That's Ulrich's ring! Where did you find that?"
Fran shifted uncomfortably. "On his finger. After I found his body."
"Ulrich's dead?"
"Yeah. Someone'd ripped out his heart and drained him dry."
"And his pack."
"They were there. One big pool of slime. All that's left of them. All gone."
Cass was silent for a moment, then slammed a fist into a convinient wall.
"Son of a BITCH! Right guys, you wanted action? We'll give them all the action they can handle! Tomorrow, we're going to burn down that Elysium they're so proud of and leave behind so many bodies they'll be making this whole city one giant graveyard!"
***
Less than an hour before sunrise, Kain left the warehouse. Raziel didn't appreciate being left behind so frequently, but couldn't deny Kain's point that there was nothing to gain from Raziel sending waves of panic and hostility through the human populace. Kain wanted to learn as much about the world he'd found himself in as possible before the meeting with Luna. Though he'd never admit it even to himself, he also wanted to put a little distance between himself and Raziel's experiments with the Reaver. If Raziel ended up burning half the city to the ground while powering up the blade, Kain would rather be in the other half at the time.
Kain stopped at the edge of what was either an ocean or a huge river. He leant against the railings, and considered the position he'd been forced into. He hated to lose control of his existence, but that is exactly what had happened to him now. He desperately wanted to return to Nosgoth, if only to kill that snake Moebius. Again.
"You there!"
Kain turned around. The man who had called to him was a human, one Kain found familiar. After a moment, Kain recognised him. It was one of the law enforcers, "Police" they were called, he had asked directions from earlier.
"You're taking a chance here, aren't you?"
Kain glowered at the mortal. "My business is my own."
The man flashed a badge. "Detective Frank Kohanek. I know all about you Vampires."
Kain shrugged. "Good for you. Then you will know it is unwise to antagonise me like this."
Frank folded his arms. "I guess I'm not as smart as I look. I gather you're new in town."
Kain said nothing.
"Fine, the quiet type. I'm just warning you. I don't like Vampires in general, but I really hate the type that go on mad killing sprees. You'd better not be that type, Mr..."
"Kain, if you truly wish to know."
Frank froze. To Kain's amusement, a little fear entered his eyes. With a speed impressive for a human, Frank had his phosphorus gun pulled from his bag and pointed towards Kain.
"Has my name offended you, mortal?" Kain quipped.
"Caine...oh, I've been told about you. You've got all the bloodsuckers here falling over their butts in panic. And I've heard all about your rampage down at the warehou..."
With speed that a master of the Celerity Discipline would sell his soul for, Kain had grabbed the gun, thown it in the sea, and slammed Frank almost through a wall several metres away. Frank staggered forwards, his back and head screaming in pain. Kain punched him once, sending Frank to the floor, the world spinning and fading.
A vice-like grip on his throat brought Frank back into a concious, if painful, state. Kain lifted him up, bringing him right up to his angry eyes.
"You are close to seeing one of these rampages in person, mortal! Now listen very carefully. I have little patience at the best of times, and the last few weeks have been very trying. You are a very lucky human, because I had fed my fill before you decided to bother me. Now, to celebrate your fortune, I am going to let you walk as fast as your fragile body can carry you back to Luna, or to whoever you answer to, and spread the word that I am a dangerous, powerful, and above all angry enemy to make. Your other choice is to be scattered into the four winds. I trust I make myself clear?"
Kain dropped Frank to the ground. Frank gasped for breath, then backed away from Kain. As soon as Kain was out of sight, he dashed for his car then started to make his way to a phone. Whether it was Sonny or Luna he got to first, one of them was going to tell him just what this Caine monster was.
***
A few miles away, a Toreador was feeding on a girl he'd met in a club. The girl was quite drunk, very beautiful, and had fallen prey to the Toreador's charms easily enough. The Vampire had learned that the girl was a writer, and a pretty good one at that. Perhaps he'd keep an eye on her after this night. Talent, after all, was a terrible thing to waste.
A moment later, the matter was made academic. There was a flash of lightning, and then a huge monstrosity towered over the human and the Vampire. It was bestial, with huge muscles, black fur, gleaming white horns, and eyes that seemed to burn with hellfire.
The monster lunged, grabbing the Vampire with one hand and the human with the other. Revelling in the screams of its prey, it devoured the pair messily, smearing its mouth and the nearby walls with gore.
~No more playing games! You have a job to do!~
The voice wouldn't have been heard by the keenest of ears. It reached the mind of the monster from an immeasurable distance through the medium of telepathy. The monster growled a response.
"I hear you, Lady Azimuth. And I promise you that neither the fallen Guardian nor the Reaver of Souls shall leave this world alive!"
Kain had walked into the warehouse to find a charred mess. The fire had been put out somehow by Raziel before it could damage the structure of the building too much, but a large area of the floor and one wall had been scorched black, and many of the crates and their contents were now piles of steaming ash and rubble. Kain grabbed Raziel by the throat.
"What in Nosgoth's name have you been doing, Raziel?!"
Raziel kicked out of Kain's grip and flipped backwards, landing in a crouch. "Experimenting."
"Experimenting? With what? How long it will take for you to burn this place down?"
"With the Reaver."
Raziel called up the Reaver, which now burned with a powerful but controlled fire. Kain momentarily forgot his anger.
"You ignited the Reaver...but how? There are no elemental fonts here, are there?"
"No. I used an actual fire."
Kain glowered. "You set a fire in here. And lost control of it, I see."
"For a moment."
"Raziel..."
"Don't try to lecture me, Kain. You do not control me any more. Despite all you've said about destiny and time, I have free will, and I will relinquish it to no one. You least of all."
Kain growled, then chuckled. "As you say. And of your Reaver's other elemental forms?"
"There is a human-made lamp in here that shines with a light that has a resemblance to sunlight. I was able to use it in a similar way to the fire, to imbue the Reaver with light. The shadows here failed to activate the Dark Reaver, possibly because they are too thin or lack any magical quality. I have not thought of a way to activate the Air Reaver."
"A useful experiment then, if also a reckless one."
"And what of your travels?"
"I infiltrated the place Luna intends to meet us tomorrow night. A gathering place called the Haven. I also saw Luna himself. For a Vampire that commands respect, he seems extremely weak. I can only assume that he hides his true power, judging by the amount of enemies I believe him to have."
"Enemies?"
"The Brujah Clan, apparently. Also a group of Vampires calling themselves the Sabbat. And two other Vampires who believed they were following me without my knowledge. From what I heard from them, I don't believe Luna knows them to be in this city."
"What now, then?"
"We pass the time until Luna sends for us."
***
Luna rubbed his temple as Daedalus finished his report. "Another world?"
"That is what Raziel says."
"At this point, Daedalus, I really am hoping that Raziel is as deluded as he sounds. I don't know what would be worse - a pair of super-powered Vampires from another world or a pair of super-powered Vampires who are insane."
"Raziel does not strike me as insane, Julian. Tormented, but not deluded. In fact, once we started to talk, I found him suprisingly reasonable."
"Do you think Caine will be as reasonable?"
"I'm afraid not. Raziel describes Caine as vengeful, dangerous and quite unpredictable. He recommended that we do not let Caine know that I had that talk with him."
"I'll agree with him there. Does this Caine really think he's the Caine of legend?"
Daedalus shrugged. "I told Raziel the basics of the story of Caine. Raziel didn't believe that his Caine and ours could be the same one. On the other hand, there are apparently some parallels. His Caine created the Clans, like ours is supposed to have. Raziel told me about his Caine warring with the world, virtually destroying it as he conquered it. At a basic level, it has a resemblance to our tales of Gehenna, at least in some respects."
"I'd rather avoid Gehenna, if it's all the same to our guest. Very well. I'll get all the security we have in the Haven tomorrow. Seeing as you and Raziel are on such good terms, you can talk to him in the basement - I don't want him scaring the humans. If Caine can make himself look human, then we'll meet in the main part of the Haven. Hopefully, you can get some more information out of Raziel in case Caine proves to be difficult. Have some Nosferatu hidden throughout the Haven, just in case."
***
Alisha Tenor looked down at the mangled corpse at her feet. "Damn."
The corpse had looked mangled even before Avid had delivered its Final Death. It had been a Nosferatu, after all. But the Nosferatu were unlikely to miss the fact that one of their number had disappeared. If they didn't work quickly, the Tremere were likely to be discovered before they could infiltrate the meeting betweent Luna and the Caine Vampire.
Avid snarled. "Blasted Sewer Rat. If only they would stop poking their deformed noses where they don't belong..."
"What do we do?"
Avid thought for a moment. "Mess up the building. Grafitti, bloodstains, a little fire damage. We'll make it look like the Sabbat."
"The Sabbat? If Luna thinks that the Sabbat's in his city, his security in Elysium will sky-rocket!"
"It can't be helped. At least he'll be chasing phantoms instead of us. We don't exactly fit the typical Sabbat description. You'd better pull a couple of humans from the street too. A few bodies will make the ploy more convincing."
"Very well. Let's hope that the Prince is too busy chasing non-existant Sabbat to bother us."
***
Less than a mile away, in a derelict basketball court, the very-existant Sabbat pack were playing a game of chase with a terrified human. They'd been amusing themselves for several hours, making sure they didn't do anything that would give away their presence just yet. Lola was eventually declared the winner of this game when the human failed to stop in time after seeing her jump in front of him. The impact broke the mortal's neck.
"I am so BORED!" Franklin groaned. "When are we going to see some action?"
"I told you - tomorrow night." Cass snapped. "Now stop whining."
"Hey Cass?" Lola asked, wiping her jacket where the very recently-deceased man had crashed into it. "What do you think happened to the first pack? I know you said they must have gotten caught, but if they had, the city'd be up in arms. So far, we've seen nothing."
"Maybe they got lost on the way. How should I know?" the Lasombra said irritably. "Who do I look like, the Memory Girl? Just keep your heads down for tonight, and tomorrow night we can kick some Camarilla ass!"
Franklin shrugged. "Fine, whatever. And where the hell's Fran? She should have been back by now."
A hideous apparition came from out of the shadows. "I've been here a while, hon. Just been laughing at all the bickering going on."
"Spying on me?" Franklin leered evilly.
"Oh, of course. My life, my love..."
"OK, children, let's cut the romance parody. Francesca?"
Francesca shrugged. "Nothing much making sense, boss. The whole city's buzzing with some wierd-ass rumours. The big one's that Caine's here."
Cass chuckled. "Caine?! Of course he is. He's probably setting up a burger bar, right next to Lillith's clothes store. Did you hear any rumours that are more credible than the ramblings of a compulsive liar?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course it's not Caine, but the word is that there are two damned powerful stiffs walking the streets right now. They kicked the collective ass of Luna's personal troop of kiss-ass Gangrel, including the almighty Primogen himself!"
Lola whistled. "They sound like my kind of guys! Maybe I can take them on a threesome in a graveyard..."
Fran shook her head. "Dunno about that. Caine-wannabe's paving the streets with the mutilated bodies of half the Vamps he comes across. Dunno about the other one's deal, but I hear he's one ugly bastard. Makes us Nossies look like primadonnas!" Fran fell silent, a troubled look appearing on her ruined face. "There's something I gotta tell you."
"What?"
Fran held out a small object, a silver ring finely engraved with the symbol of a snake eating its own tail. Cass swore.
"That's Ulrich's ring! Where did you find that?"
Fran shifted uncomfortably. "On his finger. After I found his body."
"Ulrich's dead?"
"Yeah. Someone'd ripped out his heart and drained him dry."
"And his pack."
"They were there. One big pool of slime. All that's left of them. All gone."
Cass was silent for a moment, then slammed a fist into a convinient wall.
"Son of a BITCH! Right guys, you wanted action? We'll give them all the action they can handle! Tomorrow, we're going to burn down that Elysium they're so proud of and leave behind so many bodies they'll be making this whole city one giant graveyard!"
***
Less than an hour before sunrise, Kain left the warehouse. Raziel didn't appreciate being left behind so frequently, but couldn't deny Kain's point that there was nothing to gain from Raziel sending waves of panic and hostility through the human populace. Kain wanted to learn as much about the world he'd found himself in as possible before the meeting with Luna. Though he'd never admit it even to himself, he also wanted to put a little distance between himself and Raziel's experiments with the Reaver. If Raziel ended up burning half the city to the ground while powering up the blade, Kain would rather be in the other half at the time.
Kain stopped at the edge of what was either an ocean or a huge river. He leant against the railings, and considered the position he'd been forced into. He hated to lose control of his existence, but that is exactly what had happened to him now. He desperately wanted to return to Nosgoth, if only to kill that snake Moebius. Again.
"You there!"
Kain turned around. The man who had called to him was a human, one Kain found familiar. After a moment, Kain recognised him. It was one of the law enforcers, "Police" they were called, he had asked directions from earlier.
"You're taking a chance here, aren't you?"
Kain glowered at the mortal. "My business is my own."
The man flashed a badge. "Detective Frank Kohanek. I know all about you Vampires."
Kain shrugged. "Good for you. Then you will know it is unwise to antagonise me like this."
Frank folded his arms. "I guess I'm not as smart as I look. I gather you're new in town."
Kain said nothing.
"Fine, the quiet type. I'm just warning you. I don't like Vampires in general, but I really hate the type that go on mad killing sprees. You'd better not be that type, Mr..."
"Kain, if you truly wish to know."
Frank froze. To Kain's amusement, a little fear entered his eyes. With a speed impressive for a human, Frank had his phosphorus gun pulled from his bag and pointed towards Kain.
"Has my name offended you, mortal?" Kain quipped.
"Caine...oh, I've been told about you. You've got all the bloodsuckers here falling over their butts in panic. And I've heard all about your rampage down at the warehou..."
With speed that a master of the Celerity Discipline would sell his soul for, Kain had grabbed the gun, thown it in the sea, and slammed Frank almost through a wall several metres away. Frank staggered forwards, his back and head screaming in pain. Kain punched him once, sending Frank to the floor, the world spinning and fading.
A vice-like grip on his throat brought Frank back into a concious, if painful, state. Kain lifted him up, bringing him right up to his angry eyes.
"You are close to seeing one of these rampages in person, mortal! Now listen very carefully. I have little patience at the best of times, and the last few weeks have been very trying. You are a very lucky human, because I had fed my fill before you decided to bother me. Now, to celebrate your fortune, I am going to let you walk as fast as your fragile body can carry you back to Luna, or to whoever you answer to, and spread the word that I am a dangerous, powerful, and above all angry enemy to make. Your other choice is to be scattered into the four winds. I trust I make myself clear?"
Kain dropped Frank to the ground. Frank gasped for breath, then backed away from Kain. As soon as Kain was out of sight, he dashed for his car then started to make his way to a phone. Whether it was Sonny or Luna he got to first, one of them was going to tell him just what this Caine monster was.
***
A few miles away, a Toreador was feeding on a girl he'd met in a club. The girl was quite drunk, very beautiful, and had fallen prey to the Toreador's charms easily enough. The Vampire had learned that the girl was a writer, and a pretty good one at that. Perhaps he'd keep an eye on her after this night. Talent, after all, was a terrible thing to waste.
A moment later, the matter was made academic. There was a flash of lightning, and then a huge monstrosity towered over the human and the Vampire. It was bestial, with huge muscles, black fur, gleaming white horns, and eyes that seemed to burn with hellfire.
The monster lunged, grabbing the Vampire with one hand and the human with the other. Revelling in the screams of its prey, it devoured the pair messily, smearing its mouth and the nearby walls with gore.
~No more playing games! You have a job to do!~
The voice wouldn't have been heard by the keenest of ears. It reached the mind of the monster from an immeasurable distance through the medium of telepathy. The monster growled a response.
"I hear you, Lady Azimuth. And I promise you that neither the fallen Guardian nor the Reaver of Souls shall leave this world alive!"
