Blood of The Rose
Chapter 41: The Wicked Queen
Downtown LA
Empire Arms Hotel

"Wow," Ruby squeaked, gazing up at the imposing Greco-Roman facade of the towering building before them.

Yang chuckled as she patted her little sister on the shoulder. "Yeah, classy place, huh? You ready to cause a ruckus?"

"In a five-star hotel?" The brunette fledgling giggled in anticipation. "Bring it."

Shouldering her duffel bag over her leather duster, the older of the two Kindred led the way past the marbled columns, pushing aside the frosted-glass double doors and ignoring the raised eyebrow of the burly doorman there. Ruby just flashed him a winning smile, careful to hide her fangs.

The duo strode up to the wide reception desk while the petite vampire tried not to be too obvious with her touristy gaze that wandered around the lobby. An enormous chandelier glistened overhead, brightly illuminating the plush furniture and rich carpeting. Hallways stretched off to either side, with loud music and celebratory noises coming from the left. Past the reception area was a set of elevators.

Yang made a beeline for the stuffy-looking young man in a charcoal suit and black button-up shirt and tie that matched his lank hair. His gaze took in their appearance, at odds with the elegant hotel's usual clientele, causing the corner of his lip to curl up into a discreet sneer. At odds with his haughty exterior, however, his voice turned out to be rather nasal and squeaky.

"Yes? May I help you?"

"Well hello there, handsome," Yang purred. "Looking for an old friend of ours, Jezebel Locke? I heard she's staying here…"

The man cleared his throat, straightening his posture and trying to not look like he was preening from the compliment. Poor little man, you're like putty in her hands, Ruby snickered to herself.

"Yes. Miss Locke is one of our more, umm, popular guests. Would you like me to call her room for you?"

"No, no, that won't be necessary." The blonde was turning the charm up full as she leaned forward, offering the man a nice view of her cleavage. "Been awhile, I'd like to surprise her. Can I just get a key to her room?"

His gaze flicked back and forth between her lilac eyes and generous bosom. Face reddening, he was forced to clear his throat once again to dispel the even squeakier timbre. "I-I-I can't do that, sorry… It's against hotel policy."

"Well, now, if you give me a key, I could always come by later and… give you some room service..."

Herculean effort as it was, Ruby managed to constrain the hysterical laughter that threatened to spill forth at her sister's antics.

"Um… Well, I see." He glanced around to make sure there was nobody else in earshot. His voice dropped to a confidential murmur. "In that case, perhaps I can make an exception. Here's the key to her suite, do enjoy your stay, Miss…?"

"Call me Yang," she responded, plucking the key from the receptionist's palm. "See you later, handsome," she called over her shoulder as they walked towards the elevators.

"H-Have a nice evening!" he called out a tad wistfully now that the blonde's attention was no longer on him.

Once the elevator's doors were closed, Ruby finally gave in to her laughter. "Oh my god, Yang, that was totally amazeballs…"

"Yep," her sister grinned widely, stretching her arms over her head. "Still got it."

With a ding, the doors opened once more to the foyer of the tenth floor. The siblings exited, searching for suite 1004 when Ruby let out a soft cry of discovery.

"Got it! Over here!"

Yang held up the electronic keycard inquisitively. "You wanna take point?"

"Sure!"

The duffel hit the floor with a muffled thud as Yang started pulling things out. First was Ruby's sword which she passed over before she slipped a pair of objects over her hands. Ruby paused in her renewed crooning over her recently-added sweetheart to peer downwards.

"Are those brass knuckles?"

"Not quite," Yang grinned, holding one clenched fist upright. "Silver knuckledusters. Handy against Weres, too."

Ruby shook her head in admiration of the shiny, spiked band that wrapped around the blonde's knuckles. "Any other toys in that big bag?"

"Well, there's this…" Her grin widening to epic proportions, Yang pulled out a sawed-off, lever-action shotgun. With the barrel filed down and the butt-stock removed, the overall length was less than her sword.

"Ohhh, neat!" the brunette squealed softly. "Where can I get one?"

"Nuh-uh, Rubbles, let's work our way up there," her sister chuckled while affectionately fending off the enthusiastic younger fledgling.

"But- But- But I got this!" Ruby exclaimed, pulling out her new automatic pistol from behind her back and waving it around. Her gesticulations were halted by a firm hand clamped over her wrist.

Yang sighed heavily, glancing at the door before facing her sibling. One stern gun safety lecture later, the most prominent of which was to not point it at anything you weren't ready to shoot at, and the chagrined brunette was ready, unsheathed sword in one hand and keycard in the other.

"Well, it's not like anybody told me this shit before," she grumbled under her breath.

"And that's what you got me around for, sis," Yang chuckled, shotgun held at the ready.

With a roll of her eyes, Ruby inserted the card and flung the room open. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, a Kindred dressed in lacy loungewear was sitting in a chair across from the door, clearly expecting the pair.

She rose to her feet, long red bangs swaying as she sauntered into the middle of the luxurious hotel room. "Oh, my," she murmured breathlessly. "Who do we have here? Are you believers, little morsels? Have you come for the kind of enlightenment only I can give?"

Ruby stopped just out of arm's reach while Yang slid to the side. Neither made any overtly threatening moves, though their intentions were made abundantly clear with the weaponry on display. "Um, I take it you're Jezebel Locke?" Ruby asked cautiously.

"Yes, I am Jezebel. And I have such things to show you, little morsel… such beautiful, dirty little things. Won't you come into my parlor?"

Ruby shared a brief glance with her sister. Though a bit confused by the talk of 'enlightenment', the rest of the conversation was giving her a serious case of the icks.

"Really?" Yang broke in with a lopsided grin. "That's your opening gambit, tryin' to seduce us?"

"Oh, you cannot escape me, little morsels," Jezebel continued, walking slowly around Ruby. The brunette inched to the side to make sure she wasn't blocking Yang's line of fire. "One way or another, we will intertwine our beings on the way into the Ninth Circle, and I will send you forth, full of the sweet sickness I carry."

How about that, Ruby mused to herself. Didn't think it was possible, but I found someone crazier than Jeanette. She offered the unhinged woman a glare before responding out loud. "So we can just make more dead humans, right? Like Hannah and her friend?"

The darkly beautiful woman laughed, the sound like satin sheets rubbing together. "Who better than prostitutes to carry the dark gift I bring? Ah, will they not share it with the rest of those who revel in the pleasures of the flesh?"

"Right, that's enough," Yang growled, kicking the door closed behind her and racking her shotgun. "You're sick, lady, ain't no way around it. Time to put you out of your misery."

"Oh, really?" With unexpected speed, Jezebel darted to the side, pulling a knife out from behind her back. Now blocking Yang's sight, she lunged at Ruby with a skewering strike.

The brunette yelped, jumping back and swinging her sword out to keep the attacking vampire at bay. In doing so, she stumbled right into Yang, briefly entangling the both of them. The blonde slipped out from behind, but before she could level her firearm at the other Kindred, Jezebel was there, slapping it out of her hands to roll under the bed across the room.

"Fine, you wanna do this the hard way?" Yang grinned, pulling her fists up in a boxer's stance. "Let's dance, bitch."

The redheaded vampire snarled as an unearthly light enshrouded her figure. In a blur, she smashed into the blonde, slashing out viciously, but Yang was able to twist aside at the last second. She activated her own Discipline, increasing her speed to match that of the other woman. Soon the knife was sent flying away as well, leaving them to trade a flurry of blows.

Though the plaguebearer was clearly older and more experienced, Yang's knuckledusters evened the match, her powerfully strong punches making the other Kindred's bones creak. One such punch to the middle actually caused a rib to audibly crack.

Jezebel spun low, sweeping Yang's feet out from under her, before landing a powerful axe kick that sent the blonde to the floor, stunned.

"You brazen harlot!" the redhead screeched, her fingers extended like claws as she took a step towards the downed girl. "I'll gut you and leave you out for the sunrise!"

"Hey."

She spun at the soft sound from behind her, only to gasp in pain at the sword now embedded in her chest.

"Forget about me?" Ruby smirked. The brunette slashed outward, cleaving through the plaguebearer's heart and ending her unlife with a wail that trailed off as she dissolved into fiery ash.

"Nice one, Rubes," her sister grunted as she staggered to her feet.

"You okay, Yang?"

"Yeah, yeah, not even a scratch on me." She sighed as she dropped to her knees to search under the bed for her shotgun. "Been awhile since I actually had to fight another Kindred. Must be rusty."

"Pfft, you had her," Ruby replied with soft encouragement. "I just wanted to get some blood on my new sharp and pointy toy."

"Well, ya did that for sure," the blonde laughed, her voice muffled. "Goddamn, will you… Ugh, there, got you."

The pair did a cursory search of the room but didn't find much of interest past a few books and some elegant though rather skimpy clothing.

"Y'know, this doesn't make a lot of sense," Ruby murmured thoughtfully.

"What doesn't?"

"Well… so Jezebel, here, was passing along this plague through hookers… But Damsel mentioned that the homeless in the area were getting sick as well."

"Huh." Yang nodded, tossing the knuckledusters into the duffel bag alongside her shotgun. "Yeah, there doesn't seem to be a connection there..."

"Right… unless… there's more than one plaguebearer?"

"She did go off about that Ninth Circle bullshit and all."

"Enlightenment…"

"Believers…"

"Fuck me," Ruby groaned. "So, what, we've got maybe a whole cult on our hands?"

"Could be, but let's not assume anything," Yang replied as they exited the room. "Figure we can follow-up with Damsel if she's in, then maybe check around some more."

They rode the elevator down in silence. As they passed the receptionist desk Yang tossed the key towards the surprised hotel employee.

"She wasn't in," the blonde called out cheerfully. "We'll come back later!"

And with that, they departed the hotel, heading down the street towards the Anarch bar.

"Nothing else we need to do about her?" Ruby queried.

"Nope," Yang chuckled. "Nice thing about havin' to eliminate Kindred is there's no mess, no body. Just some ash."

"Oh." The brunette frowned down at the sidewalk, slightly discomforted by that factoid.

So that's all, then, when I die now there's just nothing left to show I was even there… She shrugged off the morose thought soon enough. Sure there is, maybe not a body anymore, but I gots folk I can trust, people I'm friends with and that, I dunno, depend on me, even… Guess it's just more important than ever to leave a different kinda mark on the world.

Maybe that's what being a Ventrue is all about…

The Last Round

Passing a visibly sneering Skelter, the two Kindred headed up the back steps to the upper floor where they were assured Damsel was in residence.

"Bet you he wouldn't have even admitted to that if it were just me," Ruby grumbled.

"You wanna earn his respect, you gotta work for it," Yang advised calmly. "Ain't nothing cheap around here with the Anarchs, like I said, people are judged on who they are. So show 'im you're more than a Cammy whore."

"Right, thanks ever so much for that," the brunette replied dryly.

At the top of the steps, Damsel leaned against the wall, her pale eyes roaming restlessly. Nines was in attendance as well, though he sat at the far end of the room with a pair of unfamiliar Kindred in a hushed conversation. As her eyes lit upon the fledglings, she stirred from her languid position.

"Yang," she nodded in greeting before suspiciously regarding Ruby. "And… Cammy."

The blonde gestured for Ruby to proceed with a wink. Yeah, suppose it's gotta be me if I'm ever gonna change her attitude…

"So… about Paul… He's dead. Um, been that way for a few days… it wasn't pretty."

Damsel sighed irritably. "We told him to burn the blood and go to the hospital. Said he thought he'd get over it. Men are stubborn that way. Just proves we gotta put an end to this whole plaguebearer business."

"No arguments on either of those," Ruby chuckled. "We found the one woman who'd passed it along, killed her."

"Right on," the redhead replied with a nod. "'Cept we dusted a second one over near the convention center. They're part of some doomsday cult, apparently. No telling how many there are, but it's open season on all these sick sons of bitches!"

"Yeah, we figured that, too," Ruby agreed. "We'll start looking for the rest of them, then. Thanks, Damsel!"

"Right… And hey, Cammy."

"Yeah?" Ruby asked, pausing in her motion of heading back down the stairs after Yang.

"You're doin' alright by us," the beret-wearing vampire stated with the faintest hint of a smile tugging at her lips. "Keep it up."

"You betcha!"

Downstairs, Yang had already sidled up to the bar, knocking back a bottle of warmed blood. Nora was sitting next to her and slid another bottle over in the brunette's direction as she hopped up onto a barstool.

"Sounds like you guys have been having fun," the orange-haired girl smirked. She was wearing a white sweatshirt with the words 'Slut Like You' in pink, along with a pink ruffled miniskirt and hightops. "Any idea where you're goin' next?"

"Well, Damsel did mention the homeless around here getting sick," Ruby mused before taking a long sip from her bottle. It was good, though not nearly as good as drinking from the source. And nowhere near as euphoric as when she did so from Reese. A brief pang went through her as she realized it'd been some time since she saw the skater girl. Heh, guess I really have gotten attached to her… Wonder if that's normal for blood dolls?

She squirmed slightly in pleased remembrance of what happened the last time she gave the green-haired girl the Kiss, as she'd heard Weiss refer to it, but then focused back on the topic at hand.

"Anyways… Maybe we should talk to some of 'em outside here?"

"Hmm…" Nora drained her own bottle before setting it down on the bartop with a bang. "Want some help?"

"Think you can behave?" Yang queried wryly.

"Who, me?" Nora had such a contrived expression of innocence on her face that it made Ruby snicker. Unfortunately, she was drinking from her bottle at the time.

"Ew," the brunette complained, holding her hand under her face. "I just snorted blood out my nose."

She gave the other two Kindred a glare as they each collapsed into helpless laughter at her predicament.

"You two can just kiss my bony ass," she grumbled, giving the bartender a grateful look at the proffered towel. "But yes, Nora, I'd love for you to come along. The more the merrier."

Downtown LA

The three Kindred moved amongst the homeless crowd, gently querying about the illness that had been running through them. Their cover story, which Yang had come up with, was that they were members of a volunteer church group who were trying to help the CDC track down the cause of the plague. Liberal application of bribes helped their situation immensely, though so far they'd not had much success.

"Excuse me?" Ruby implored one man, bundled in rags and rocking back and forth where he crouched near an oil drum fire.

He paid no attention to her, though, just continuing to mutter aimlessly. "There that crab nipple 'n this'n's got crab nipple… whole lotta crab nipple…"

"Uh-huh," the brunette replied, backing away warily. She almost bumped into another homeless woman with a scarf tied around her head.

"What?" the old woman barked out. "Get away from me! Leave me alone!"

"Sorry, sorry…" the brunette apologized with her hands upraised. "Look… I just need to ask you about the sickness that's been plaguing the homeless. We're trying to help, really."

"Oh, you do? Well, I don't believe you! You're after my aluminum cans, aren't you? Well, you're not going to get them! Just get away!"

"Here, would this help?" Ruby offered the woman a ten dollar bill. "Maybe change your outlook any?"

"O-okay," the woman mumbled, snatching the money and tucking it into her clothing. "Alls I know is that old Tin Can Bill, he's been jabberin' about some kind of monster that took him somewhere ands got him sick. And that's all I know, okay, and that's all I'm sayin'."

By then, both Nora and Yang had joined her, their enhanced hearing having picked up on the morsel of information. Ruby thanked the old woman, after getting directions as to where this Tin Can Bill usually hung out, and then the three of then set off down an alleyway.

"Pretty thin," Nora remarked. "Buuut that's the best we got so far."

"Yeah, I think this actually might be a good lead," Yang mused. "Especially with some 'monster' bein' involved…"

"Like a Nosferatu?" Ruby interjected.

"Wouldn't be the first time," the blonde replied. "It's hard bein' a Nos, can't show themselves to any kine without breakin' what you Cammies call the Masquerade."

"Guess we'll find out," her sister murmured as they rounded a bend. Next to a chain link fence and behind a dumpster crouched a man in a tattered coat, a faded Dodgers baseball cap, and an emancipated, bleak look about him. He was weakly coughing, reminding Ruby of the unfortunate Hannah.

"Who's there, huh?" he wheezed out as he struggled to stand upright. "Old Bill can't see too good these days. I-is that you, Betty? I ain't got no booze tonight, so you may as well get the hell outta here."

"Nope, not Betty," Ruby replied, stopping a cautious distance away. "My name's Ruby. Bill, I heard that you can tell me why everyone is getting sick."

"Yeah… I might be able to." He peered at the three women blearily. "But I'm awful thirsty tonight, missies. Could you all spare five bucks for a man who's down on his luck?"

"Here you go, dude," Nora interjected softly as she leaned forward with the five dollar bill.

"Heh, heh… thank you much, pretty lady!" he chuckled, breaking off into a rasping cough. "I'm going to have to go pick up some hootch. For medicinal purposes, you know… heh heh heh…"

Bill doubled over as renewed coughing racked his thin frame. The brunette fledgling jumped forward to ease the man back down to sit against the brick wall. After a few moments, he was finally able to speak again.

"Now I know you ain't going to believe old Bill because I been tellin' my friends and the cops and everyone since it happened, and people just say that it's the hootch talkin', and nothin' more…"

"It's alright, Bill, we'll believe you," Ruby prompted.

"It was a monster, y'see!" he wheezed out. "A monster with his face all twisted and ugly, teeth longer'n your finger, and these eyes - piss yellow and full o' hate. I never seen eyes like that before… still givin' me bad dreams."

Yang crouched down in front of the man gasping for air in between coughs. "What happened, Bill?" she gently asked.

"He grabbed me, threw me over his shoulder, t-t-took me to the bad place… the dark place. Oh god, the smell… worse than anything I've - and then he bit me, my neck… Oh god, i-it was horrible!"

Bill was wracked with more coughing, holding a dirty handkerchief up to his mouth. When he removed it, the sharp tang of blood filled the fledglings' nostrils, though Ruby could tell it was tainted like Hannah's had been.

"Don't remember too much after that," the homeless man choked out. "Blacked out and woke up here in my alley. Haven't been feeling too well since then."

His head began to nod forward, but Ruby gave his shoulder a little shake, grimacing at the necessity of their task. "Bill! I need to know where the monster took you!"

"Came up through the sewers, he did," Bill eventually mumbled, unable to raise his head anymore. "Just around the corner there. Don't… Don't want to go back… to the bad place, friend… Don't let the monster come back… and take me there…"

As he trailed off, he slumped bonelessly forward, the last breath leaving his diseased body in a wet rattle.

"Well, shit," Nora murmured. "That's just bogus as fuck."

"Yeah," Yang agreed heavily. "Sounds like we got ourselves a plaguebearing Nossie that needs to be put down."

Ruby stood abruptly, her gaze transfixed on the corpse in front of her. "Yang?"

"Yeah, Rubbles?"

"Sword, please."

They armed themselves, Nora with a baton that Yang pulled from the depth of her bag of tricks, and then headed around the corner. The sewer manhole was there, easily moved, and the three Kindred grimly headed into the depths.

For once, Ruby wasn't even worrying overmuch about the rats.


A/N: I actually wanted to wrap this up, but then I realized I hadn't finished the playthrough for the questline. Sigh. So let me get on that, but in the meantime, we'll revisit Weiss and Blake next chapter as they track down an elusive Thin Blood.

Much love for my fantastic Beta and collaborator, SilvanaCrowe, who in-between their insanely busy schedule managed to return this on my birthday, and hugs to you awesome readers and reviewers! Knight of Everwatch, AntonSlavik020, Blacsparrow, Erenor, noone297, SirSpangler, TacoKing23, Nagaichi, the ever-fabulous zerosabers, and some Guests, love you guys!

Stay shiny!