NationStates Jolt Archive

Vibe! was indeed as skilled as billed and in just minutes Luois's face was done and the artist taking a quick snapshot with his digital camera. "For Ze 'folio!' He exclaimed as she ushered Dana into the chair and proceeded to go to work on her.

He kept up a stream of chatter as he had done during his work on Louis, just street comments and such but it showed that his personality as much as his skills was what made him so popular.

When he was finished he took a picture of Dana as well. Then when asked how much he lowered his voice.

"For you Mr.Wolf nothing at all. It was a pleasure to paint you. I never expected to see you in peson and it has made my evening. Are you heading for the street carnival?" It was an easy guess as the lights and cheerful noise of the carnival could be seen and heard even though it was some three blocks away. He frowned a little as Dana nodded. "Be careful I've head that there are three different gangs of pickpockets working there."

"Thank you." Louis replied, "You do some of the best work I've ever seen."

Louis looked over at Dana and asked, "How long before do we have to wait before it'll smudge?"

"Yes we are, can you recommend any of the activities or shows?" He asked as he listened to the comments about the pickpockets, hoping thier date would not be harrassed by thieves.

"Yes we are, can you recommend any of the activities or shows?"

"Oh yes!. The candied apples are wonderful. The fun house is unabashedly old fashions and fun, and very seriously, the the trio at the Flambeau stage is better than anything you'll listen to at the Ultimate Idol." Vibe! entheused. "You might want to hurry, they should be starting soon." He shooed them on their way aw Dana lightly touched her face paint .

'See, dry already." She took his hand and headed toward toward the Carnival skipping happily as she laughed.

"Thank's for the suggestions." He replied as they were shooed on their way. He chuckled when Dana tested the face paint with her finger, but smiled when she took his hand as they headed to see the sights. He, while not skipping, had a definate bounce to his step.

The street carnival was in full swing, full of people taking advantage of the nicer weather. The games had thich bunched of watchers as those participaing tried to toss pennies into narrow mouth bottles, or hit spinning wheels with darts or pellets from airsofft guns. The rides were filled with shrieking teens, and several bands provided an assortment of muic over the multi acre site. The smells of all sorts of 'carnival' food filled the air.

"Lets hit the Fun House first to get us in the mood how about?" Dana asked as she took it all in.

Louis tried to take it all in, all at once. It had been more years than he'd liked since the last time he'd been to a carnival like this and he was having a blast, especially because of Dana's presence.

"That would be great." He replied with a smile and a 'kid in a candy-shop' look.

How was you sleep?

"It was just that, sleep. I don't dream, maybe its a gift, maybe its a curse. In the near thousand years I've been kindred, I never have."

He pushed himself out of the bed, and swung his legs over to the floor, pushing himself up to his full height, rising still till he was on his toes. His arms stretched up, reaching for the ceiling, his fingers full extended. He came back down to his feet, and twisted and bent different parts of his body, getting a satisfying return of cracks and pops. "That always feels good."

He looked around breifly, and spotted a pad of paper. "Mind if I borrow this?" he asked, taking the pen from Jazz, and quickly jotted down a grocery list of goods. Weapons, special types of ammunition, and other toys needed for the job at hand.

He dropped it on the table. "I'm gonna grab a shower, get dressed. After that, I think we should contact the teams, see if they picked anything up today. Then get back on the road. Oh, and I have to say," Davos commented, walking towards the shower, "you are probably the first women I have ever met, Kindred or not, that has been just as attractive in the morning as she was when she fell asleep."

Admiring his lean but powerful form as Davos stretched, Jass sat up in bed, beginning her own yoga stretches from a lotus position. Jazz started to reply to his comment about the teams when his last comment caught her completely off guard.

"you are probably the first women I have ever met, Kindred or not, that has been just as attractive in the morning as she was when she fell asleep."

Wide eyed she could only stare at his back as he vanished into the bathroom. Then she flumped down on the bed, hiding her face in the sheets, for she knew her cheeks were burning. Jazz also knew, then and there, that Davos Santari was worth more than just casual intimacy, which she'd never done anyway, but this was more than... Davos Santari was was worth waiting for...and that she would wait...

Quit fussing like you were a human, and get moving woman! She chastized herself as the faint sounds of the shower reached her. With an amused chuff at herself she was up and dressed in minutes flat. She stepped into the bathroom, with a long sideways glance at the tempting figure in the shower, she washed her face and ran a quick brush through her lusterous hair. Dark jeans, a midnight blue silk turtleneck and a long ,sleevless cleric coat in a heavy tapestry cloth of dark blues and muted golds. Grabbing up his 'shopping list' she headed out to find Kai, and breakfast.

She found his luggage beside the door, and she brought them inside, leaving the bags on the dresser for Davos.

Kai looked up from his reading as she slipped into his room. His eyes were warm as he drew her into a hug. "Sleep well?" He sat back down, pulling her into his lap.

"Yes, no dreams"

"You two.."

She laid a finger across his lips "You know "no", but maybe... eventually."

Kai did know that she and Davos hadn't- the residual scents and other telltales weren't there. "Just you be sure, and be happy...Now, you were a quart low last night, and didn't take care of it...What is it that Esther says?..."Manga, Manga! " He did a terrible imitation of a fake Italian accent, as he stretched his head to the side, bareing his neck.

Jazz couldn't help but laugh as she bared fangs and gracefully pierced his neck, drawing deep from 'her' demon.

She was possibly unique in the vampire world. She hadn't fed from other than her two retainers, or the others of her team - himself, Jason, and Lethe, since her Sire had abandoned her. And while he was with her he had decreed that she feed only from him. Jazz had maintained that it was her Sires continual attemts to bind her to him, an effort that had continually failed. Even back then part of her had known to wait for a partner, for she would not accept a master. She hadn't needed to feed weekly, much less daily, for two centuries and Kai's unique blood was potent enough to carry her for nearly a month. So she never really had fed from humans, and had no desire to.

Kai sighed as she finished and kissed the wound closed. "You are an absolute witch!" He shivered with the pleasure coursing though him "and never forget that I am always here for you."

"I've offered often enough."

Now it was his turn to hush her with a finger across the lips. "And I've turned you down every time. No more discussion. Having me around keeps other sorts from making a play for you..and thats one thing I wanted to discuss with you. Last night when I was airborn I 'smelled' something of brimstone and death. Just a wiff, but if the black priest's Adversary has put his minions in motion, this could be far more than we have planned for."

Jazz frowned, and stood "We need to incorporate that possiblitiy into our planning. We must not get over confident." She handed him Davos's list "Here's what he wanted if we don't have it get it, asap. Main briefing in half an hour."

She headed back to her bedroom. Calling out to Davos as she entered the bedroom "Your shopping list will be filled shortly and briefing in half an hour."

"That would be great."

Dana laughed and still holding on to his hand trotted over to the rear of the short line waiting to be admitted to the fun house.

Once inside she teased him over looking so fat in the 'majick' mirror and shrieked with laughter as the 'down' steps actually took them up...

But she stopped dead as she saw the tumbling tunnel..."Oh Oh. I forgot about that possibility.."

1x Heckler and Koch G36C w/ Aimpoint M3 Red Dot Sight, Knights Silencer, 2 30 round magazines
1x Sig Saur P226, 4 extra magazine
Willy Peats
Ammuntion: Silver Ace rounds (silver bullet), Silver Ace Paint Rounds (silver bullet, silver nitrate incased capsule), Standard Jacketed Hollowpoints, Vampire Specific Incideary Rounds. Need it in 5.56 and .40SW
One clean cell phone, no trace, with a fresh sim card


The list was fairly simple and straight forward, nothing out of the ordinary. Davos wanted the weapons as more of a backup than anything else, he would rely primairily on his own powers to do his dirty work. He also needed the new cell phone for contacts. Wihtout a doubt, the Motorolla SLVR he had been given by the Camarilla was bugged and traced. With vampires working with lycans, it was more than obvious that the Camarilla was in on what ever was happening.

His shower was breif, but promising. He washed away the dirt, grime, and blood still left over from the previous night's battle. He was carefull not to use any heavily scented soaps; lycans could pick up the scent of a vampire easily enough, they didn't need any help. Then again, he was hoping to be able to mask any scent with a well aimed shot from distance, then move in. The key was investigation, not hunting. That would wait for another night.

He exited the shower, and dried of quickly, grabbing a pair of black 'tactical' style pants that Jazz's help had brought in. He grabbed a UnderArmor style black shirt that hugged his frame, tucking it into the pants, and grabbed a pair of sneakers. He finished drying himself off, stretched again, and left the room, heading to the briefing.

When Davos exited the concealed and secure bedroom a young female vampire was waiting for him. Her brunette hair was pulled back into a thick pony tail, and she wore a tactical out fit much like his. She was of middling height, slim and sure in her movements. Lethe may have not been a vampire for even six decades, but she was more powerful than most.

She introduced her self to him, her voice respectful.

"Lord Santari, I am Lethe, Jazz's chief of security. I wanted to let you know that the equipment that you requested is being brought up now. May I escort you to the conference room?"

She led him to a concealed stair case "Your palm code will admit you to every part of the complex." The staircase spiraled down a level to open into a spacious confrence room.

"Also I will be glad to answer any quesrtions you have about the troops at your disposal." Her soft voice carried more than a hint of pride. The operatives at his disposal were all hand picked, well trained and enjoyed their work.

There was a long table against one wall with a number of gun cases laid open, displaying the items from Davo's shopping list.

Kai looked up from his computer screen and nodded agreeably to Davos. What looked at first to be a floor to ceiling window shifted abruptly as the immense plasma screen now displayed a map of Carnival.

A vampire that Davos had seen, but not been introduced to was in the corner, at a small desk engrossed in a phone call. He glanced up and nodded at Davos's arrivalas well but almost instantly turned back to his low voiced intense conversation.

Jazz was sitting in a heavy leather executives chair but her attention was glued to the small moon cat that was currently lapping blood from her wrist.

He chuckled as she teased him abou the mirrors and generally had a good time. Seeing her stop dead at the tunnel, he likewise paused and asked, "What's wrong?"

ooc: Tumbling tunnel?

OOC: The cylinder that rotates around the narrow walk way, painted black with a white spiral stripe that induces some vertigo?

*****************************

What's wrong?"

"Ooh, I don't think I can do that. Even this far back it's making me dizzy." Dana looked pale, or was it just the weird mix of that the different colors of lights added up to? Though there was despite the cool air a faint sheen of sweat on her brow.

"I'd forgotten about this part, it's been so long since I've been through one of these."

"Would you like to turn back then, or have me carry you throught?" He asked as he looked at her and noted that she didn't seem well. "Are you sick?"

ooc: Ah.

"No, I'm not sick, just I don't think I can do it. and ...You'd carry me?" Dana finally caught that part of what he'd said. "Doesn't that make you dizzy at all?"

"Hey! you old people better get moving or the creepy guy with the fake blood will come squirt ya with it!" a high pitched, annoying voice caused Dana to look down. She frowned at the kid with an over sized lollipop and moved aside so he could squeeze past and scamper across the narrow walk.

"No, I don't want to go back." She bit her lower lip and looked up at him "How about I close my eyes and you lead me across?"

"Yes I would, and it doesn't make me dizzy, or at least not enought to cause problems." He replied as he likewise stepped aside for the child with the lollipop.

"I'd be honoured to." He replied as he held out his hand to Dana.

With a slightly strained smill Dana took his hand and firmly shut her eyes. Okay, I'm ready. Lead on McDuff" She tried a small joke as instinctively her other hand came out to balance herslef as she took a couple of small steps to the side, so that Louis could get past her easily.

Louis gave her hand a light squeeze as he stepped past her and began leading her throught the tunnel, being sure to support her incase she stumbled. Once they were throught, he said, "I'm nay McDuff, but I have lead thee safely throught the tunnel of tumble m'lady." A roguish grin on his face.

I'm nay McDuff, but I have lead thee safely throught the tunnel of tumble m'lady."

Dana's eyes flew open and she threw her arms about him. "And you shall be rewarded most kind sir" And she kissed him most thoroughly.

As she did so, several figures clad all in black, and moving with unnatural speed and silence, landed surrounding the couple.

Jazz finished bonding the moon cat too her, her face shadowed and soft, as it curled up in a small warm lump purring loudly. She looked up and motioned for the briefing to begin.

Kai brought up airline passenger lists, highlighting four names.

"We have these four known Lycans aboard Pan Am flight 574 thats due in at 0120 hours, thats in about six hours. These other fourteen names were made through the same ticket reseller and at the same time." He highlighted more names "So it would be logical to assume that they are all Lycans, Three of their six man heavy strike teams."

"None of those names have made reservations with the car rental places, but at the Lycan head quarters we found two fifteen passenger vans, a pair of cargo vans, and three large sedans, I would guess that they are supposed to have been met at the airport by those already here." Kai added before nodding to Lethe.

Lethe stood as the display changed to a video file. "Their headquarters is shelled inside a large ware house type building. It was leased some thriteen months ago on a two year lease. This is in one of the remoter commercial discticts close to the airport, lower class, as one can tell by the condition of the property. Most of the surrounding businesses are marginal or closed, so they have lots of privacy in an area where no one pays too much attention any way."

"This will show you that they were apparently residing there as well as having it as their operational head quarters."

Louis returned the most throught kiss, when he caught sight of, thought the corner of his eye, a few people dressed in black. They were most certainly not normal and he wondered if they were the Prince's enforcers or something worse.

As it was, he subconsiously stiffened slightly as he saw them, his mind whirling about possible defences, reasons for thier presence and how best to keep Dana in the dark, but also, and more importantly, safe.

Dana had closed her eyes, lost in the kiss had had no intimation that the couple was about to be assaulted as the closest figure grabbed a handful of her heair and violently pulled her away from Louis. Her arms werew about his waiste but the forcefulness of the actions pulled her free of him, but it threw Louis off balance for a moment.

In that moment Dana was thrust rudely into the hands of one of the other figures as the one that snatched her way pivoted out of the way so that two others could attack Louis from the front, while another came at him from behind.

As the two attacked him, and more importantly attacked Dana, he dodged to the side, rolling so he came up near her and whoever attacked her. "Who are you?" He asked as he prepared to utilize one of the vampiric disciplines to instill a pacifism in all that heard.

He would prefer not to, but knew he would if it became necessary.

The attackers did not answer as one spun in a tight blurr, his heel connecting with Louis's midriff, throwing him away from Dana, and off his feet. Whomever the attacker was he was as fast and as strong as a vampire. Though their scents were not those of a vampire.

The one with a fist full of Dana's hair, kicked her feet out from under her, forcing her to fall hard to her knees. She screamed in pain and tried to jerk away but couldn't.

Louis grunted as he was kicked, thought it wasn't as bad as it might have been. His eyes flared ever so slightly as he began singing softly, his words carrying to the ears of the attackers. He infused the lullaby with the powers of Madrigal, which would cause the attackers, whatever they were, to begin to fall asleep.

All save the one holding Dana began to sway and slump, their eyes glazing over as the suscumbed to the Louis's power. Dana too found herself falling into Morpheus's grip.

All save one...and he screamed then pulled Dana tighter to him. "My Lord will have at least one soul to feast on!" Throwing her over his shoulder he truned and began running full speed away through the twists and turns of the Fun House.

"That's just not nice." He thought with a growl as he took off after the whatever. "Your boss will not feast on Dana's soul." He yelled back, adding the power of the Shattering Cresendo. It only had a single target and that was the one who was making off with Dana as he persued, also at full speed through the maze of the Fun House.

The king and George were finishing their meeting. "Now, is there anything else that I can do for you?"

"Get me to the dragon's cave."

"More easily said than done, I'm afraid. All dragons live in the mountains, most in specific zones dangerous to fly over and impossible to reach by wheeled transport. Alas, I have nobody available to take you to the cave."

"Then I shall fly myself there." George stood. "Do you have anything in the lines of a Harrier?"

"Harrier?" the king asked.

"Something that will take off and land vertically, but is a jet in flight. I don;t like choppers."

"I have something."

Dana's captor gasped in pain as the effects of Louis's vocal attack washed over him. He stopped and grabbed a faintly glowling amulet in his free hand and crushed it. The pair vanished, leaving nothign but the pieces of the amulet and an audible pop of displaced air behind.

Louis let out a howl, that would in all likelyhood terrify most of the people within the building, and prompt the owner to make it over as a house of horrors as he saw Dana and the whatever disappear. He cursed before seeing the pieces of the amulet. Quickly scooping them up, he ran out of the funhouse and headed a phonebooth. He was going to take it up with the Prince and the vampire would get an earful.

As he dialed, he sincerly hoped the Prince could solve the problem promptly.

George followed as the king took him to a private courtyard. They stopped in front of a row of planes.

"These are I-67 Drakes. Self-fueling. The technology is higher end weapons and navigation systems, but the plane itself is the true beauty. Titanium jet engines that rely entirely on air and electricity heat sources. The armor is Titanium alloy, but the real beauty is the outer covering. It is a titanium-carbon matrix of interconnected bucky-balls. Unobtanium. Energy absorbant. Impact absorbant. Converts raw energy into useable forms. Jets swivel, allowing vertical take-off and landing, air braking, and temporary hovering. Absorbs radar and heat signature, so you're invisible unless to the naked eye or laser guided weapons."

"What's the range and fuel?"

"Given the right conditions, unlimited, and ambiet energy. This is one of the first nearly ideal machines."

George didn't believe the king. "Impossible. The moving parts would create friction, friction that would require energy to overcome, resulting in a loss of energy available for useful work."

"What is the definition of an ideal machine?"

"100% efficiency of any object capable of converting energy from one form to another. Impossible to acheive. Friction causes a release of energy in an unuseable form, normally thermal energy, along with instances of photo and sonic energy, all of which is unuseable. The key to proposed machines would involve elimination of friction, an impossibility due to the fact that friction keeps machines together."

"Who said anything about eliminatig friction? It is necessary, and unavoidable. But who said that thermal energy is unuseable? That is what we have changed. Unobtanium converts raw energy, notably thermal energy, into electrical energy, using two converters located under neath the wings. Keep the thing in sunlight, and it will never stop flying. There is a fuel tank, and it does require periodic refueling, but that is very infrequent. Mostly, it is used for take-offs when you're trying to get out on a winter night. It's yours."

People scattered before Louis's racing figure, and for what seemed to be hours, but was actually only a few minutes he searched until he found a phone booth. 616-359-7486 then an automated voice, speaking in a register that only Vampires could hear, asked Louis to imput the code. He tapped in a seven digit code...

Kai noted that a local call was coming into the line that had, before the incident been reserved for Kindred to check in as they reached Carnival. He almost let the voice mail take it but then double checked the location of the phone. He frowned slightly as he noted that it was a street corner phone. Before it could go to the voice mail he had it switched over and caught Jason's attention.

Jason rose and came over to listen to Kai's soft whisper. "I'll take it in the outer office." He nodded and stepped from the room so as not to interupt the video of the Lycan's headquarters.

He picked up the phone and tabbed the appropriate line. "Yes?"

"First of all, who is this?" Louis's modulated but still stressed voice asked, "And regardless I'd like to register a request for aid, and officially check in."

He was feeling more stressed now than he could remember ever being and some of it came throught no matter how much control over his voice he had.

"You sure?"

The king nodded. He and George went back, bot the bag, and repacked the euipment. Then the king handed George a map. "Directions. Take the bird that I showed to you. You can take off from this courtyard, and land when you have finished. We'll know."

First of all, who is this? And regardless I'd like to register a request for aid, and officially check in."

"My name is Jason, I speak for Jazz, who currrently holds Carnival at the bequest of the Camarilla and the Sabbat." Jason could tell that speaker was very stressed and wondered if the request for aid was occassioned by finding an expected host simply vanished. "Might I have your name and the nature of the aid needed?"

"My name is Louis Wolfe." He replied, thankful he'd managed to find a phonebooth with a door, "And I was just attacked by entities that are not human but also neither lycan nor Kindred, and appearently utilized an amulet to teleport. They also kidnapped my date."

George took his gear and went to the plane. He climbed in, looked over the controls, which were easy enough to understand for certified pilots, and turned the bird on. Increasing the thrust, he began to ascend. At 400 meters he swiveled the engines, and then throttled it. The plane zoomed off. George played around with the controls for a little, and found that it handled well. Inputting the coordinates, he was given bearings, and he turned off to the marked path. The plane offered an auto-pilot, but George refused. He would be putting the plane through its paces for the next forty minutes.

As he listened to Louis, Jason keyed in his name into the desktop. The data base confirmed the name as Kindred, and gave the location of his residence. A note of updated intellegence added that the reclusive celebrity would be appearing as a judge on Carnival's Ultimate Icon program. Which explained his sudden presensein Carnival. How ever Jason had other factors to consider, but now was not the time to debate them.

"Mr. Wolfe, I will have some one..." He crossed referenced the location that Louis was calling from and found a nearby restraunt. "Pick you up at the Blue Moon Diner. It's sign should be visable from where you are at. Go there, get a table, say you are waiting for the rest of your party. Stay there, where the public nature of the place can protect you."

He made his good byes, and hung up. He slipped into the briefing, quietly explaining what needed his attention to Jazz, and left. It would take a good hour to get to the restraunt, and that was if the traffic was light.

Louis nodded, a gesture that wasn't entirely useful on the phone. Looking up he noticed the sign, and informed the phone operator he saw the sign. Hanging up, he headed to the resturant and took a seat. When the waiter came over, he passed the same message that the man told him about waiting for the rest of his party.

The briefing was thorough, Leth and her teams were well trained and very profecient in the latest surveillence technologies.

"Davos I can turn off the power to the warehouse at any time, and I can cause delays in those planes landings if you'd like. The flights have alrady taken off and the delays in landing will only be for about an hour, maybe two, if I take down a portion of the airports computer system." Kai noted.

"They've checked some heavy baggage, specialty weapons and gear most likely. We can have it arranged to that those get mislaid in the unloading, a further delay. And if the expected vehicles don't show up to transport them, with the flight arriving late and such we can create further delays there. I figure at least another two hours" Lethe added with a tight grin. "We could hit them at the airport. My teams preformed well last night, and if we hit them before they get theri gear they would be at a distinct disadvantage. And the airport is a safer place for a fire fight than the streets of Carnival." She added.

"However we have an additional problem" Jazz spoke up, as she had finished sorting out the memories the Moon Cat had given her. "There is another Tremere in the city, one that might be as pwoerful as the one you faced Davos" She reached out mentally and gave them the face as seen through the Moon Cats eyes - replaying it's memories of watching the attack and destruction of the Lycan. "That doesn't mean he's on our side, but we do have to factor in the presence of yet another Tremere."

Louis stretched and ordered a glass of water and a slice of chocolate cake while he waited for the person. As the waitress brought it over, he thanked her in a calm voice. His external appearence of being calm, cool, and collected was drastically at odds with his state of mind which was frantic with worry about Dana, trying to figure out who had abducted her and why and how he was going to get her back.

Slowly eating the cake, the chocolate helping to soothe his mind slightly, thought they were fighting a rear-guard action.

Jason tossed the keys to the valet but told him bruskly that he'd only be in for a moment and just hold the Bently there.

Striding into the restraunt he quickly spotted Louis Wolfe, despite the face paint.

"Mister Wolfe I am Jason, we sopke earlier." He nodded toward the door. "We need to get moving, and I apologise for my delay, the traffic is attrocious tonight."

He led the younger vampire, after taking care of the bill, out to the midnight blue Bently and once inside he turned the key and they were away.

"Now, please give me a more thorough account of what happened." He requested.

Louis looked at the vampire, wondering whether he could actually help. With a mental shrug as he was the best bet at the moment, he began explaining the events of the funhouse debacle.

George set down the plane on a small space of flat rock. The environment was warm, mostly due to the hot springs just a hundred yards east of the plane. George turned to the north, however, for that was where his adversary lay. He began the trek, one that would take him approximately twenty minutes, if he didn't want to break a sweat. The dragon knew he was here, and based on what he had read, was aware of the danger that George presented. By God's Will then.

"I see. That is mos unusual. There had been no reports of a human sacrifice cult cropping up here in Carnival. But I have to admit the previous Prince was lieing in hie reports to the Camarilla, and completely faking others."

Jason revealed the general facts of the abrupt and unexplained disappearance of Carnival's resident and visiting vampires. " There might be a link betwen the two, but we will need more information before judging definitievly. And you will be safer with us, and we can provide you with bodyguards as well."

"Well they'd better damn well not touch a hair on her head." He growled, "And since you are the representative of the local prince and you or he decide to assign me bodyguards then so be it, but I still have obligations with the show." He added as even those would not get in his way if Dana's location was discovered. Very few would be happy if they got in the way between him and Dana.

And since you are the representative of the local prince and you or he decide to assign me bodyguards then so be it, but I still have obligations with the show.

Jason just shook his head as he pulled into the high rise condos' private parking garage. " Jazz may have come at the request of the Camarilla, but please, Mr. Wolfe if you value your fangs, dont' make the mistake of calling her the Prince. She is not in any way, shape, or form, she has far more interests that one little city, even if it is the magnificant bright light called Carnival." His voice held a wealth of sarcasm when he spoke of the city. There were many Vampires that would give anything to control such a city as Carnival, too many to easily count. But Jazz wasn't one of them, and never would be.

'And yes I am aware of your reasons for being in Carnival, and we certainly wouldn't want to interfer in your obligations."

"If she's not the Prince, or would that be Princess, what is she?" He asked as he got out of the car. "And if she doesn't wish to be a Prince then she is most certainly a rare Kindred and one I think would be interesting to know."

He likewise didn't get involved in politics and perfered living away from the chaos of vampiric politics.

"And if she doesn't wish to be a Prince then she is most certainly a rare Kindred and one I think would be interesting to know."


"Most would say that Jazz is the... oh how did it get put? aah, here we go 'But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.' Kipling, the Just So Stories" He chuckled as the elevator closed behind them and began carrying them towards the penthouse."Much like our Jazz, though not too much. Jazz is her own person, and her abmitions are far different than most."

The door whooshed open before them and Jason led Louis into the penthouse past the guards.

"Please make yourself at home while I check on the status of our current operations. If you are hungry there is a stock in the fridge in the kitchen. Or if you need it 'live' just ask for some one over the intercom phone, it's five on the dial."

"She sounds like an interesting person to meet and know." Louis commented, "And I'm fine in the blood department."

He looked around the penthouse for things to do while he awaited his host's finding out the current status of the operations that were being conducted.

George hiked up the trail. Before him was a cave, not the typical giant opening, but rather a large tunnel that the dragon would enlarge as it grew. He had the gear that was necessary. Everything else was in God's hands.

He stepped into the tunnel, keeping his footsteps quiet to minimze the sound, as the rock would easily amplify it. It allowed him to hear another sound, the sound of two footsteps, unmistakenably up ahead. Humanoid in appearance, but with a smell of sulfur. Demons. Two of them. His mental senses confirmed it. He wasn't willing to see if they tried to probe him or not. He had company not of the dragon, and that was bad.

Jason was back shortly with the amulet that Louis had found. He had put it back together as best he could and showed it to Louis. "We may have a problem, and I've let Jazz know. Unless I put it back together completely wrongly this is the symbol of a powerful cult long thought destroyed."

He waved a hand towards the room he used as an office. "Would you care to come look over the information we have? I'm sure our data is no where near completely, and perhaps you might have some information we don't."

Louis got a worried look on his face when Jason talked about 'long since dead cults' as generally there were very good reasons that they had been destroyed.

"Yes I would appreciate it and anything I can add is good." He replied as he knew he'd feel horrible if anything happened to Dana because of him. It wasn't often he formed a close bond with a human and thus felt all the worse when something happened to them.

"Yes I would appreciate it and anything I can add is good."

Jason gave him a knowing look. "It's always hard to hang out with the mortals isn't it. But it's that drawing away that costs most of us our humanity I think, and so does Jazz. It's better to be hurt when they grow old and die and have an open heart, than to lose that heart just to spare it hurt."

He turned the computer monitor so that both of them could see it and began calling up the information.

Centuries ago, one of the earliest vampire bloodlines made a pact with the devil, sacrifices of their own kind in return of an eternal night. An eternal night that fotunately never came about as other found out about their intended mass sacrifice. The ending had been bloody, violent, and barely won by those who interveined. They tried to erase all accounts, all memory, but fortuantely for their 'descendants' they hadn't.

The information was scant, and fragmented but what there was utterly terrifying. And explained the mass vanishing of Carnival's vampires.

Louis gave Jason a slightly startled look as he listened to him before reading the article on the computer screen.

His eyes widened as he absorbed the information. "I can understand why they'd want me, but not Dana, unless they intend to Turn her, but then they could just abduct any humans, unless she's the 'consolation prize'." He said before continuing to mutter in that vein for a bit before he began rambling.

"I can understand why they'd want me, but not Dana, unless they intend to Turn her, but then they could just abduct any humans, unless she's the 'consolation prize'."

Jason nodded grimly at Louis's commnet. "She may be just that, used as a sacrifice to draw up a lesser demon to do their bidding, since they have, *apparently* not been able to garner enough energy from the mass dissappearance to effect their plans." He knew that was only a hope, since they didn't have any idea if the 'big one' hadn't already come and was just biding it's time. It ws frustrateing having so little information to go on, and he was very unsure if there was any more information out there to be had.

Jason's comment had not been the best he could have made, as Louis shot him a tortured look. He was most unhappy with the situation and had he known where the cultists were, very little would have been able to keep him away.