A/N: Here's chapter twenty-seven! Ella's sass gives me enough sodium for an entire week. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bloodlines, but I do own my OCs.

"Table for two."

"Okay, right this way."

Derek had always wanted to make that request, as childish as it seemed. It gave him a sense of pride for whatever reason.

When they sat down, Ella frowned, "Alright…" She pouted, "Can you please explain to me why we needed to do this so freaking badly?" She crossed her arms, "I thought vampires couldn't eat?"

Derek crossed his legs, "Forgive me for the romantic gesture. It's nothing more than…retaining humanity and reveling in the romantic atmosphere."

Her face softened, "Sorry…" She said, "We…can't eat…right? Or can we?"

"It's not as if it's impossible…it's simply…uncomfortable." He mused, "Our teeth are almost unwieldy with food and…it always finds its way out of our system very quickly…"

"Out of our system?"

He seemed uncomfortable around the topic, "It goes out the same way it goes in." He said, resting his hands over his mouth so it came out in a slightly mumbled fashion.

She raised a brow, "Huh? You okay, Derek?"

He shuddered, "Apologies…just…an unpleasant thought." He sat back.

She crossed her legs, "So…what do we do when the waitress asks us for our order?"

"Dominate her into tending another table."

"Oh yeah, that's right…you have that Dominate power…" She muttered, "I wish I had that…"

"We all have certain envious paths…your ability in Necromancy is certainly admirable."

"Admirable, huh? You don't seem to think that way about Phaedra's Necromancy."

He grumbled incoherently under his breath.

The waitress strolled over, "Good evening. What can I get you?"

Derek raised a hand, "You will leave us alone for the rest of the night, and tend to the other patrons."

"Very well. Have a lovely evening." She bowed and strolled off.

"Where is Phaedra anyway? New York?"

"I don't give a damn." He grumbled, before he actually thought about what she asked, "But, yes. I believe so."

"I saw a whole gaggle of them headed that way." She said, "Did the Prince tell you anything?"

"Not much. I overheard a conversation about their visit to New York, but I haven't heard of any intentions."

"I hope he left enough Kindred behind for when we need to participate in battle here."

"I believe he kept that in mind. He seems like a thoughtful Prince, I don't think he would do something so foolish."

She paused and stared at the table, "How many Princes have you worked for?"

"This is the third." He paused, "Perhaps fourth? I've just…done a lot of moving, is all."

"Do you like it here?"

He let another pause pass by, "Yes. I do." He folded his hands on the table and looked over her, "I like the tasks I've been assigned and the people I work with."

"And me?"

His straight face turned into a smirk, "That's what I was hinting at."

"It was way more than hinting."

He looked a bit disgruntled, "…w-what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing."

He raised a brow.

"Am I…" She got quiet, "Do I really look that attractive…?"

He seemed surprised, and waited a beat before a quick yet awkward, "Yes." came out.

She sighed, "Maybe we should just go…"

"W-why?" He still seem jolted, "What have I done wrong? Is this venue unpleasant for you?"

"You haven't done anything…I just…I don't know…it's depressing to be here when we can't eat…"

"Right. Well." He stood up and adjusted his tie, "Let us depart then."

"I hope you're not taking it personally."

"I'm not." It was only a bit of a fib, but as they walked back towards the red tower, it faded into the truth. Wherever he went with her, he was happy enough. Why was she so soothing to him?

She stared at the sidewalk, her eyes full of mysticism, and curiosity. Once a vibrant brown, almost amber, they now had a supernatural red glow ever since she was turned.

She looked up at Derek, "Why was I Embraced?"

He looked down at her, "Why? I'm assuming the reason many hunters were Embraced. It's against Camarilla policy, but many Independents or Sabbat Embrace hunters to give them a taste of our life, to teach them, an ultimate form of vengeance, in a way. I find it petty and miserable."

"No…but…the guy…the thing who Embraced me. He was in a cloak…he was hardly a vampire, I'd say. What does he get out of this? Who even is he?"

"A Cappadocian. I don't know much else, I'm sorry, dear." He unlocked their door and stepped in, taking out a pair of glasses to prepare drinks for them, "I'm not sure why he did it, or who he really is."

She sat on the couch, "So why does he wear robes and stuff? And a mask? Is he just trying to hide his identity…or is it something more?"

"I'm not sure…perhaps you could ask the Prince? He might know. He'd at least have a higher chance of knowing something than I would."

She looked at her hands, "What…what is my clan even…anyway? You…you always make it sound like clans have a certain job or function in this…vampire world. Like the Ventrue lead and stuff…what do the Cappadocian do?"

"I'm…not entirely sure…" He adjusted his tie and sat next to her, handing her a glass, "From our information, you and he are the only two left."

Her eyes widened, "What?"

"…I…thought the Prince had told you this…"

"Told me what?"

"You…were alone…in essence."

"A-Alone?"

"Perhaps that's the reason you were Embraced…maybe he thought his time was approaching…as of now, it is only you and he that have been known and declared Cappadocian. It's…most of the reason we've been taking such good care of you, keeping you monitored and trained well. If there were other Cappadocians around, you would be trained by one, but since there are not…I was selected."

She was quiet for a while, "So…you don't know any of my clan's history…or what happened to us…"

"I'm afraid I do not." He took a sip from his glass, standing up and approaching the windows, looking out at the cityscape.

She closed her eyes, "Right…thanks…"

"I'm sorry, my dear." He said, "Perhaps in a few years, once you've fully grasped the ideals of the Jyhad, the Prince will allow you to sire a childe, and your clan can thrive once more."

"But maybe my clan deserved to die…" She said, opening her eyes, "Who knows? Not all clans are good…and even those are arguably good, they've done horrible things too…"

"You cannot…single out a clan and call it 'evil'. Each clan is made up of individuals that vary drastically. Take clan Brujah." He turned around and started pacing in that typical stride of his, full of pomp and aristocracy, "They might seem like a batch of zealots, but there are many very devout Brujah in the Camarilla, such as our Brujah Primogen. It's a matter of the mind."

"I want to learn my history, that's all." She said, "I think that's important. Or else, how will I know what I am in this vampire society?"

"Then I would consider a conversation with the Prince. Or, perhaps the Tremere Chantry. They have many informative texts on the matter, I'm sure."

"Tremere…those are the Kindred in charge of this state, yes?"

"Correct." He finished his glass.

"What are they like?"

"Tremere?" He asked, pausing for a moment. "Very intellectual, yet, eccentric. Not nearly as outlandish as the Malkavian, but what goes in in their minds is best left unquestioned. They aren't the most sociable."

"So…I should ask them about the Cappadocians?"

"Yes, I'm sure they would have the answers you're looking for." He seated himself beside her again.

She nodded, "Alright."

His eyes grazed over her form again, before landing on her lips. He moved in to kiss her, gently holding her jaw with a hand. She kissed him back, putting both arms around him.

His hands slowly moved down to her hips, where he picked her up and situated herself into his lap.

Her eyes shrunk, "Derek…"

He pulled his lips away from hers, meeting her gaze, "…yes?"

"Maybe not…anything more than this…"

He seemed a little more hesitant than last time, before he gently eased out from under her, "Yes, that's…a fair declaration."

She kissed his lips, "Thank you though…for…helping me learn…"

"Of course, anything for you, my dear." He squeezed one of her hands, gently kissing her temple.

As he felt her cold hand in his, he wondered if he'd be able to hold off as long as she wanted to. It felt like any day he'd snap.

A modest, yet gleeful smile, and neck length black hair with a silvery streak in the front greeted Anastasia as she sat in front of the pond, staring into her own reflection.

It wasn't long however until the smile faded. Perhaps sending Cissy and Catalina to New York was a mistake after all. This left three of them, said three members were wrapped in an unsavory history too.

And it could potentially be worse now that Killian kissed her. But now she was smarter, hardened. That would be kept to herself. She wasn't dumb enough to go and complain to Skelter. Such a decision would cause the umpteenth fight between the two. And she had seen enough of those in her lifetime.

She didn't get Killian anymore. She really didn't. It seemed like one minute ago, he was mad at her for not instantly forgiving him, and the next, he's kissing her. What did he want? What could she give him that all the other women he slept with couldn't? It seemed that out of all of them, he was fixated on her.

She clenched her trembling fists. But he broke it off to begin with. All those months ago. He broke up with her. Why did he seem so eager to break up with her if he wanted her in the end? She sighed, maybe she just couldn't be single. Perhaps it provided an imbalance. One that would drive the small Anarch cell apart more than her just finally settling down and picking someone. She envied her brother. Cadmus could be single for years and nothing would happen, romance never particularly mattered to him much. He liked it, sure, but he didn't need it to survive. They were almost like cup holders to him. Useful and convenient, but not necessary for survival. It almost seemed as though the Anarchs couldn't function that way.

She thought breaking up with Skelter would clear her mind, but it's only made her more confused, and getting a blast from the past kiss from Killian sure didn't help. And being alone with just the two of them helped even less.

A croak distracted her from her thoughts. She looked around, seeing a frog in front of her. She smiled, cupping her hands together and holding them out. By either sheer luck or her ties as a Gangrel, the frog jumped into her hands.

She giggled, "You're not going to judge me, are you, little froggy?" She asked. Since long before her Embrace, she talked to animals, not caring about them being unable to answer back. She'd often make contests out of catching the most frogs in the pond back at home, whenever their parents were arguing too much to focus on them. Cadmus would find it a waste of time and if he even bothered to play, he would catch one, if that. While she would catch about half a dozen, before playing with them briefly and releasing them back into the pond.

"Who the hell's gonna judge you out here?" She heard Skelter's voice behind her, "We ain't got time for that."

Spooked, the frog jumped back towards his home, and suddenly Anastasia remembered how cold and lonely she felt. "Hi…" She said, "Did you need help?"

"No. Killian said he wanted to be alone. I figured I'd look for you. I dunno. I don't think we should be splitting up much between the three of us, but he's just over the hill, ain't that big a deal."

"I didn't mean to go far."

"You didn't. You're good." He crossed his arms and looked out over the pond, "Guess we could drink those frogs if we have to."

Her eyes tensed up, "Wouldn't fill us up."

He shrugged, "Yeah, that's a good point. Guess we'll get Killian to hunt later, he's fast enough for it."

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea…"

He stepped a little closer, "You alright?"

She nodded, "It's just…quieter…"

"Huh." He listened to the nighttime critters hum, "Another pretty good point…"

"If they fail, we all die…" Her pained eyes focused on the ground, "No pressure…"

"The group in New York?" He asked, "They got it handled."

"Can they really stop Lafayette and an Antediluvian?"

"We don't got any other choice but to have faith in 'em. We're stuck out here in the middle of the woods, three of us, in a wooden shack. There ain't a thing we can do to help. We just have to survive."

She gave a slow nod, "You're right."

Footsteps were heard behind Skelter. He turned over his shoulder and saw Killian, "Hey."

"Hey." Killian said, "Look…I'm gonna go."

Skelter seemed stunned at first. "Uh…go? Where?"

"Back to California."

"And get yourself killed?"

"I got some unfinished business."

Skelter narrowed his eyes, "You can't just leave this whole movement up to the two of us."

"I'll be back as soon as he's dead, alright?"

"Who?"

"My old man."

"You're gonna go try and kill your dad? You're gonna try an' tamper with the Sabbat? When there are three of us? Are you outta your goddamn mind?"

"Look, I'll…I'll be fine. Okay? And if I'm not…" He looked between both of them, "I'm not. I'll be back soon."

"How the hell are you getting out there and back?"

"My car."

"You're just leavin' us here?"

"You'll be fine. Give me a week. If I'm not back…I'm dead. Alright?"

Skelter seemed uneased. "You're a fuckin' moron."

"I'll see you." He said firmly before he turned away.

Skelter gave a shaky sigh, "Guess it's all on us then. Unless…" He looked out towards the moon, "You wanna throw in the towel."

She shook her head, "He'll be back."

"Never thought I'd say it, but…he'd better come back. And soon. I can't do nearly as much as I could with this damn leg…"

She turned around to face him, "You have me."

"That's true." He said, meeting her gaze, "I think we'll be alright."

"I do too." She smiled.

Cadmus closed the door behind himself in the hotel room, crossing his arms and leaning against the door, "So…why are we sharing this room?"

"I don't know…" She said, "Because…it'd be a waste of money to get two separate rooms. And it's dumb to sleep alone when there's threats around us."

"Panhard made it pretty clear we'd be safe in here."

"Uh huh." She took her jacket off and yawned, "I'll just take the floor."

He closed his eyes and shook his head, "Take the bed."

"No. I'm taking the floor." She laid down.

"Take the bed." He said, "I'll sleep on the floor."

"Fine." She grunted, getting up and getting onto the bed, "Goodnight."

He didn't respond, he more or less fell back on the floor, folding his arms behind himself to cushion his head, as he glared at the ceiling.

"What did she say about me?"

He took a deep breath, "Who…?"

"You know who."

"She wanted to know why we fighting."

"Is that it? There's no point in lying."

He snarled and slammed a fist on the ground, anchoring himself as he stood up and pointed at her, "Enough of this! There is nothing between Phaedra and I other than simple friendship. I told this to you before, but I guess you never listened. So you can take your stupid jealousy and shove it!"

She bared her teeth, "I don't give a damn if you two were giving each other hand-jobs back there, we're not together. It doesn't matter. I just don't like being trashtalked to my face, I had no fucking clue what she was saying about me!"

He crossed his arms, "She was worried about us, that's all. She wanted to know what we were fighting about. Why she would waste her time worrying about someone like you is beyond me."

"Pfft, beyond me too." She laid down again and stuffed her face into her pillow, "I'm leaving the Camarilla after this is done."

"Well, it's for people with spines, so, naturally you wouldn't fit in."

She didn't respond. After a moment, he just heard muffled snoring.

He hardly slept that night, and honestly she probably didn't much either, if their conflict was a sign of anything. The next night, Sirius had them all grouped up by a manhole in order to get to the bottom of everything, "Alright ladies, sooner we get through here, sooner we get to go back home to California." He said.

The innards of the sewers was far from gracious. But for all the smells and grime that reeked everywhere, it looked fairly typical.

"We sure we're in the right place?" Cadmus asked.

"This way." Sirius led them down a few corridors. Once they got deep enough, they were greeted with a large labyrinth of halls, going as far as the eye could see. The walls and floors were decorated with human flesh.

Catalina's eyes shrunk, "This is intense…"

Cadmus blankly stared ahead. He'd seen all this before. In fact, the layout looked identical to Andrei's.

This one was bigger however, much bigger, it made sense, considering the notes claimed it spanned the entire state. There were also large patches of fungus here and there, secreting a strange smelly ooze. And as they traversed, sickly, sticky noises were heard, as the fungal masses grew and shaped around the halls. As if the walls themselves were watching them.

"I don't like this…" Cadmus said, "This is…more advanced…than the L.A. warrens…"

Angelique coughed a bit, "Are we sure this is…safe for people who are…still living and breathing…?"

Cissy gave Angelique a worried look, then reached in her back pocket and took out a black bandana. She folded it in half and tied it over Angelique's nose and mouth, "Here."

Angelique nodded, her cheeks a little hot from embarrassment, "Thanks."

"This fungus." Phaedra mused, "What should we do about it? Burn it, perhaps?"

"I thought you were going to eat it." Sirius smirked, "That…the walls…everything. Isn't that why we brought you?"

"Ha, ha." She laughed dryly, "It's not fresh. If you were alive and the walls were strung up with meat that was years old, would you eat it?"

"You look like the type of person who would eat dirt without thinking twice."

"Mmm, yes, that's exactly the type of person I am." She muttered bitterly.

Raven somehow seemed entirely unfazed by these sights. "What is the goal, exactly?"

"To kill the Tzimisce Antediluvian." Cadmus said, "Lafayette plans to drain him and take his powers. So maybe if we stop having arguments every ten minutes about bitter clan histories, we would actually get there."

"Hey, I'm not the idiot who brought a ghoul down here." Sirius's smirk grew as his blue eye zeroed in on Cadmus, "She'll probably suffocate down here."

"Shut your mouth!"

"If I have to leave, I will, just be thankful for my help while it lasts." Angelique said.

"You'd have to be helpful in the first place." Sirius pointed out.

"Fuck you." She snapped. Sirius laughed.

"Shh!" Cadmus held an arm out, "Something's coming."

"You mean someone…right?" Catalina raised a brow.

"Definitely mean something."

"Kid's right, for once." Sirius said, "What the hell are those things?"

A large pack of humanoids ran at them. Not only did it seem like their bodies were riddled with the scars of Vicissitude, but they had strange vegetation and fungal lifeforms all over their bodies. They gurgled and growled, it seemed the infection had long since rendered whatever their natural voices were as useless. The large pack lunged at the group, reeking almost more than the scenery itself.

Mostly everyone buckled back with fear. Cadmus was the first to strike, pulling his axe out and fighting off one of the lumbering piles of weeds. Even so, these horrid monsters were as hardy as they were frightening.

Sirius frowned, "Show off…" He muttered, taking out a pistol and blasting away at the creations, though they seemed to take multiple shots to even be slowed down.

Poe sped around the battlefield, cutting through the creatures in an effort to weaken them, while Rainy took out a few pistols of her own and started blasting away.

Catalina swallowed hard, taking her sword out, she thought she had seen everything when she and the other Anarchs went on that rescue mission to save Damsel from Lafayette. But this was something else entirely.

Raven played defensively, dodging out of the way of them, refusing to engage in combat. Phaedra caught on, and used Raven's bait to her advantage. When they were distracted with Raven, she would lob their heads off with her axe.

Angelique stood a good distance away and just tried to snipe whoever she could, Cissy standing next to her and firing away with her machine gun.

Cadmus panted, falling to a knee and riddled with scars, "Those…were the toughest Tzimisce creations I've ever fought…they kept getting up…even after I slashed all their limbs off…it's like…they were more…plant than man…"

"That's cause they've probably been down here for centuries." Sirius said, "Almost like sentries, or statues." He took a deep breath, "In addition to being modified into a monster, they've got some kinda weird fungus in 'em. Said infection is most likely caused by the Antediluvian. That's why everything's so fucked up down here, think of every little monster as a piece of the Antediluvian himself."

Catalina swallowed hard again, checking herself for injuries.

"And you." Sirius glared at Poe, "That was the stupidest mistake you could've ever made."

Poe's eyes widened as he sheathed his sword, "What did I do wrong?"

"You used blood."

His eyes quivered, "But…but I…"

"I get it." Catalina said, "He actually has a point. We just entered this horrible place, and we don't know how long it is or how many things we have to fight along the way, or how many times we'll have to fight Lafayette. We can't afford to superficially use blood."

Sirius pointed at Poe, who cowered, "Where the hell did all those survival skills from killing the Nazis go, down the fucking toilet?"

"Leave him alone." Cadmus snapped.

"I'll be a blood doll, I don't care. Let's move on." Angelique said.

"Pfft, you're two fucking feet tall, you couldn't even fill one of us up." Sirius said.

"Would you stop arguing with everyone?" Cissy asked, "Christ, we're gonna take forever down here if you keep shutting us all down."

"Save it, Ravnos scum." He spat, "The minute we find Lafayette, I'm using you as bait, you're not even Camarilla. You're of no use to us."

"Whatever."

Cadmus looked on with apathy. If they were already at each other's throats this face in, things weren't looking good. He was used to experiencing the worst of it, since he was Ventrue. But he looked at the fleshy grounds, did rats not even visit down here? Or were they poisoned and rendered useless by the fungus? And what if Phaedra needed flesh? Was this all over before it even began?

A/N: Warren's V2 anyone? You better not shake your head. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Thanks for reading!