They arrived at the ladder leading to an ally merely a few feet from Lazarus's above-ground haven within a matter of minutes. They climbed up the sewer ladder and Lazarus pushed up the manhole cover with as much ease as most would click a mouse. "Lady's first" he said cackling, allowing Clarice to writhe thru the open manhole.
"I'm no 'lady'." Growled Clarice as she came to her feet and looked around the ally which was devoid of light. The building Lazarus had made himself home in used to be an old two story restaurant named "The Pasta Palace" which used to hold old memories for most of the elderly citizens, but no longer. Rumor had it that it was haunted, which Lazarus didn't debate or defend. The status of the comdemned dilapidated building suited him just fine; he claimed it kept people from entering.
"Perhaps..." cooed Malakai "-but your the only woman in the coterie." he said as he lifted himself out.
Clarice fought the urge to pout, she spent too many years being the only girl in a family of 5 brothers and her dad to ever be feminine and she knew it. To many years of playing soccer with her cousins, basketball with her oldest brother, play fighting with her two younger brothers and having childish but fun belching contests with her dad. Dad never made a lot of money, but he always made sure the home was loving and they had fun with what they had, he was a high school gym coach so he never ran into a ball shortage, hence all the sports. He died about 10 years after mom ran off with the neighborhood priest when Clarice was only 7 years old, after that Clarice was not one for religion in the least.
"OI!" snapped Lazarus "-snap out o' it ducky we don't have time for old memories a' the moment!" he said shaking her.
"Sorry." mumbled Clarice letting her hair fall in her face.
"Leave her be Lazarus..." said Malakai softly "She's had a lot to adjust to in the last few weeks and a short time to do it in given the scenario."
Lazarus curled his upper lip in disgust. "Tru' as a' might be guvna' we don't have time for this now. We have a job ta do and times not a' our side." Lazarus's face fell then and he gingerly removed his hands off of Clarices shoulders. "Trust me luv... I know what you're goin' through. It's difficult a' first to leave the life ya had behind, leavin' ya family n' friends. But es for the best, if ya love em' enough you don't wanna drag em' down ta hell wi' ya." With that said he lightly put his right hand on Clarices left shoulder, whose body was shaking a bit due to fighting back the tears that have been building up unshed for so long. "But'-" he continued "we're ya family now... so no worries'." with his free left hand he softly lifted her face to look at his, her bottom lip quivering slightly. "And lets save thos' tears for later... aye?" he said with an understanding smile nodding slightly. "Right now we gotta go give that snake charmer wha's comin' to her... nothing like a good smack down to let everything feel right again." his smile grew bigger and almost comical. Clarice gave out a small yet sincere laugh and nodded smiling back. "Good." said Lazarus whose eyes now had a look of relief to them.
"We are family... I've got all my sisters and me..." said Malakai singing and smiling at the same time with his eyes closed, dancing slightly to music only he could hear. The tags on his purple leather dog collar clinking as he swayed.
Lazarus gave him and appraising look then shook his head. "Bloodly Malkavians." he said still shaking his head snorting a bit, fighting not to laugh, he started walking away from Malakai a few feet as if the being caught in public with Malakai at the moment would drastically lower his reputation.
Malakai then grabbed Clarice's hands and led her into a slow yet steady ballroom dance she was unfamiliar with. As she blushed so hard it almost hurt he began to spin her around while humming a tune loudly.
Lazarus broke out in to a fit of loud cackling laughter and pointed at them as he clutched his sides with his free spider like hand with bloody tears going down his cheeks.
Clarice blushing wildly from embarrassment finally broke out of Malakai's grip. Malakai merely shrugged an "ah well" gesture and then proceeded to look into the night sky as if he was finding something to humor him up there. Clutching her head from the dizziness Clarice mumbled "Could we go inside already..?" While looking around to be certain nobody saw the display.
Chuckling Lazarus said "Yeah yeah..." and jumped through the nearby open second story window.
"Showoff..." grumbled Clarice, while Malakai just smiled.
"He enters from above, due to the fact all the entrances below are sealed up to keep undesired guests out... you know that." said Malakai grinning.
"I know... but does he have to make jumping through a window on the second floor look so easy?"
Malakai just shrugged and laughed, as his grin grew bigger. Suddenly the old steel door, which lead to the old kitchen made a "clunking" sound letting everybody know it was unlocked. Malakai entered first, his trench coat swaying in the air as he gave that graceful walk that made it seem like he was rehearsing for some role in a movie, full of cat-like grace and an air of uncaring.
'When do I get my signature walk...?' thought Clarice as she shuffled up the small set of concrete steps leading up to the door. She walked through to hear a weird hissing sound in the dark and a set of animalistic eyes gazing at her unwaveringly. Clarice stopped and let a stillness take over her body that only the undead and animals seemed capable of. Lazarus gave a reprimanding shout from another direction.
"Squeaka's! Ya know betta' than that; you know Clarice!" Suddenly the lights of the kitchen flickered on to reveal a monstrous looking dull white rat the size of a basset hound. Squeakers sniffed the air and gave a small growl to its self as if admitting its embarrassment. Eyeing Clarice it slowly walked toward her, sniffing the air in her direction. Clarice bent down gulping holding an outstretched hand in front of Squeakers. Who gingerly sniffed the index finger and began to lick the tip of it.
Clarice smiled a bit saying softly "See? I'm not so bad."
Malakai strode into the room and smiled at the scene, "It'll get used to you sooner than most given the fact of your gangrel heritage, given the beast so very close to your soul."
Clarice petting a happily grinding its incisors Squeakers, who blinked lazily, smiled. "Speaking of which... what more can you tell me about my clan?"
Malakai leaned up against the cabinet and gave a breathy sigh. "Well, as soon as we find where exactly Niles is he can tell you a hell of a lot more than I can."
Clarice let out a sigh. "Why did he just embrace me and leave?"
Lazarus answered that question while he walked to get a bowl out of the nearby sink. "That's just wha' the gangrel do luv... a quick bite em and leave em fast bit."
Malakai started humming the song 'little red corvette' upon hearing Lazarus's reply.
Lazarus gave him an odd look and said... "I said "BITE em and leave em fast" not "LOVE em and leave em fast."
Malakai smiled and said dreamily "Close enough I love that song..."
"Would you all stop talking about how the lyrics go to Prince songs and please just explain it to me?" Clarice snapped.
Lazarus chuckled "Eh, sorry 'bout that... The gangrel favor embracing loners and survivors luv... they like hard cookies they do." he said while pouring some strawberry yogurt covered cheerios into a bowl. Squeakers ears perked up and sniffed the air hungrily. "I guess they figure that the giving the embrace than leaving is a test of some sorts to truly test the metal of their childe. Your lucky Malakai came along when he did ducky, else who knows what would have happened? Those Sabbat assholes may have found ya... bad lot they are." he said while putting the bowl down in front of a squeaking squeakers.
Clarice watched squeakers hold a pink cheerio in his paws and much on it hungrily. She couldn't help but smile watching such a warped looking giant rat eating something so girly looking.
"Why did he save me then... if he was just gonna embrace me and leave?" Clarice said delicately.
Malakai gave a graceful shrug. "Perhaps because he thought that anybody cunning enough to get away from a she-serpent like Cassandra earned the right to bare gangrel blood? It's a rarity that a human manages to away from any vampire... especially someone as conniving and strategic as a Setite. They aren't the kind of clan that enjoys anybody getting out of their scaled clutches..." mused Malakai
Lazarus chimed in "They're almost as good as nosferatu n' "strategic thinking" ducky... but we nosferatu can be fa' worse than any setite, we just aren't as... flashy?" he chuckled.
Malakai smirked "Indeed... no clan is quite as lethal in their search for secrets and knowledge as your clan Lazarus, save perhaps the tremere, but their only thirst for knowledge involves magic and the occult."
Lazarus made a "hooo boy" face and said "tha's for sure... damn warlocks..." as he watched Squeakers lick his bowl clean. "But still... we nos'ies... we have eyes everywhere..." he beamed at squeakers "don't we, me lil chum?" Squeakers gave an almost sinister sounding squeak at gazed back at his master while standing on his hindquarters.