Simon's Appartment, 8:30PM, June 30, 199X
A small part of Simon was incredibly nervous. His mentor informed him that tonight would be the night he would be introduced as a true neonate. The idea of meeting so many powerful creatures filled him with joy. The fact that they would likely loathe him diminished such feelings. Even still, the sheer amount of potential knowledge and partnerships that could await were simply too much to pass up, even if that was not an option he had.
As the soft knock rapped on his door, Simon grabbed his cane and hobbled over to open it. A fearsome man stood outside, his horrifically disfigured face no longer shocking to Simon. Not after he saw worse every morning he looked in the mirror. "It is time, boy," snarled the man, his guttural voice lacking a shred of kindness. "Are you ready?"
As ready as I'll ever be... "Of course, doctor."
Downtown Salem, Massachusetts, 9:00PM, June 30, 199X
Seems a bit gaudy, thought Simon, looking at the bright flashing lights of the nightclub. He expected something a bit less... flashy for a hidden vampire gathering place. He just hoped he wouldn't stick out too much. Sure, he looked young enough if you could see the age past the horrific scarring, but a cane user was not exactly common in a dancing environment.
As if reading his mind, his sire glared at him. "Leave that here," he growled, pointing at the cane. "It would attract far too much attention."
Simon frowned. Sure, he could limp around without the cane but it made him look more pathetic than he already did. He didn't have a Herculean shape to him, to be sure, but he looked like some sort of cheap zombie extra.
"And don't worry about our looks," spoke up Simon's sire, snapping his fingers. A bizarre feeling fell over Simon before he realized that he couldn't see his body or that of his sire. "Now let's stop wasting time."
Simon followed his sire into the nightclub and up the stairs, doing his utmost to avoid muttering under his breath about how uncomfortable limping around made him.
As soon as the two entered the VIP room, their illusion dropped. As his sire moved off to speak with some others, Simon hobbled to the nearest table and noticed a young woman was sitting there. "Is this seat taken?" he asked, gesturing to the seat he was using to support himself.
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior ValThe Nightclub, 9:10 PM. June 30, 199X
Lita witnessed more Kindred walk in, and one came towards her table. It was a young and weak ugly man who walked with a limp, obviously a Nosferatu or at least a severely scarred victim of an accident prior to embrace. Either way, Lita felt sorry for the nervous Nosferatu and said "Sure, you can sit down. So far it's just me at the table. Name's Lita, what is yours?"
Around this time, a tall man with dark slicked-back hair, clad in a black business suit walked in. This was Caesar, the Prince of Salem. Everyone stood up in reverence, including Lita.
Caesar sat at the desk in the corner of the room and addressed the vampires of the Camarilla.
"Gentlemen, we came here to discuss serious business but first, we must address our newest inductee. Doctor, will you present your childer?"
A Nosferatu stood up and signaled for the weak Nosferatu to come over and introduce himself, saying "Simon, don't be afraid, come up and introduce yourself to Caesar."
edited 24th Feb '15 4:20:52 PM by PaulieRomanov
The Night Club
Damn this music, loud and throbbing, North thought, not like the sweet music of space and the song of stars. Professor North shook himself back to the present and mingled with the crowd to blend and observe. Those moon people have been here before, I'm sure of it. Not too long and he noticed them walking in. They were so obviously not human and yet so clearly human at the same time it almost made him laugh. The moon people Professor North was in awe of their grace and beauty... well most of them for their beuaty. He noticed a handful that appeared to be disfigured and yet they still possesed that amazing quality. North chuckled and noticed they were all heading towards the vip section. Hm, well duh.
Saint LaughterDowntown Salem, Massachusetts 9:00 PM, June 30, 199X
Damien took a long swig of what was left of the bitter coffee in his thermos. He hated this. Salem? SALEM?! Of all places to be sent in the US he was practically in New England territory, aka the general area where weird shit happens.
Agent Fox checked his badge, check, his sidearm, check. Ammo? 3 magazines. He picked one out and looked at it, the silver tipped bullets were expensive, not to mention getting them blessed but out here you could never be too sure.
He didn't know why but every case he was sent on drew him into weirdness, 2 years ago he investigated a string of disappearances in Maine... turned out to be alien abduction, something he assumed was only avoided through luck.
No one believed him of course, he had to come up with a tale about Swamp Gas and toxic chemicals. And even then the story was spotty.
Damien stepped out of the rental car. Agent Fox had been sent down from Special affairs to investigate a string of murders down here in Salem. He had kept to himself about the idea of vindictive witches considering how awful the witch hunts had been, another possibility was vampires or werewolves. Though knowing his luck he was also bound to find suicidal cultists worshipping some ancient elder being.
He stepped into the Night Club and began his search, the one thing the victims had in common was this place. This nightclub had been in each of the stories, and when something happens enough it stops being a coincidence.
The Nightclub, 10:30 PM, June 30, 199X
The meeting had been adjourned, Caesar had addressed the crowd about the gruesome murders Lita and everyone else had heard about on the local news, and that they should be vigilant and find the killer to protect the Masquerade.
The green-eyed brunette wanted to go back to her trailer on her acre of land, the land that her family owned for generations and that she fiercely defended with her unlife. But that would not be happening tonight. As she walked through the nightclub and exited into the parking lot, she saw a man in a suit and trenchcoat questioning club goers, standing next to a local police officer.
"Good Lord, the cops are here? I know Caesar has most of these guys on the take, but you can never be too careful. I just hope these murders don't blow back on us. This whole thing is creepy, I swear to God it is." she thought to herself. The green-eyed brunette tried to blend into the crowd, but a cop said "You ma'am, the one in the tank top, we need to ask you some questions!"
Walking up to them, I calmly said "What seems to be the problem, officer?"
The Night Club
North was about to crash the vip section when he saw what looked like a Man in Black walk into the club. The feds! He panicked and ran into the closest restroom. Once he made sure he was alone and the door was locked, he opened his coat. A bunch of plastic bags tumbled out. Two were filled with ground, green herb. Another two were filled with pills of various cosmic colors and shapes. One bag was filled with fine, blue powder. He carefully put the bag of blue powder into his back pocket and then placed the green bags and one pill bag back into his coat. He took the other pille bag, shook out two yellow ones and a blue one, then placed the bag into his coat. He looked at himself in the mirror and exclaimed, "Bottoms up!" He popped the pills into his mouth and swallowed. Bitter, of course. But potent. He walked out of the restroom to see where th efed had gone.
Saint Laughter"Ma'am I am here to investigate a string of murders. I was hoping to question the local public. I am special Agent Fox with the FBI."
He inspected her more closely, pale skin, shrunken eyes. Suspicions arose, he didn't make it known as the higher ups had said they wanted explicit evidence and no mentions of swamp gas.
"Have you seen or heard anything odd or unusual around here? Late at night?" Damien could tell someone else was looking at him, he dismissed it. FBI agent at a nightclub? Bound to stick out.
Nightclub Parking Lot, 10:21 PM, June 30, 199X
Lita was now concerned, the FBI was involved and there was no way Caesar had that much influence. But she decided to answer the agent's questions.
"Well, I spend most of my nights at my trailer on the outskirts of town, but I only went to the nightclub to visit an old friend of mine from high school. I am just as puzzled about these murders as you are. I usually stay at home during the night. Well, if I do see anything suspicious, I will let you know, I swear to God I will. Good luck on catching the son of a bitch who's been doing this."
edited 24th Feb '15 6:15:02 PM by PaulieRomanov
The Night Club
North didn't see the fed anywhere in the club and most of the moonies had left too. Some still mingled in the crowd and they fascinated him, but he had noticed a sort of hiearchy and wanted to find the big fish. He exited the club.
Parking Lot
Herod North stopped in his tracks immediately when he saw the fed talking to one of them. He's talking to the moon person and he looks like an observant fellow. North sort of hid in the shadows to watch the fed and the moonie. Great Ghroth, what does he want?
edited 24th Feb '15 6:19:21 PM by WolfAmongGods
Saint LaughterHe cocked a eyebrow, from her tone. He could believe it, Fox handed her a card with his phone number "Should you find anything call that number," he stated before adding in a joking tone "Ghosts, aliens or vampires. I'll come looking."
He waved before stepping out and climbing back into the rental car, he sighed. He needed to find the Inn he was going to stay at... and a new thing of coffee at this rate.
Did he really just dismiss the moonie? Does he know? Should we tell him? He could aid in our investigation as well, but how best to approach him about the supernatural? He doesn't look like a conspiracy nut, but who knew? Maybe it'll interest him. North had a brief conflict within himself about what to do about the fed and decided to approach him once he blew of the moon person. All I'll do is just introduce myself and ask a couple of question is all I'll do. He told himself as he walked towarrds the fed.
Saint LaughterAs the VIP room emptied, Simon grunted as he got to his feet. He felt really disappointed with the whole ordeal. On the one hand, learning of those murders did intrigue him. On the other hand, the sheer lack of knowledge regarding it all frustrated him. He wanted to learn from all these ancient beings but it felt like there wasn't a lot of that going on.
That one woman who he had spoke to earlier at least seemed open to discussion. As he hobbled down the stairs, he cursed his infernal weak leg. The Embrace should have healed that wound from the car accident but it only made it worse. He wished his sire wasn't such a useless stone wall with discussion of medicine or he'd be able to start learning more about why this anomaly occurred.
As he was about to exit the club, he spotted the woman from earlier. She was speaking with someone else... An FBI agent. He didn't remember any of the vampires at the meeting wearing such an outfit, which made him suspicious. But that would be something to muse about some other time. As he slipped out the door, he began to limp away from the club and the gathering group that were standing around outside. He had some information to go over himself and he did not want to risk being at a disadvantage against the likes of an FBI agent. That was not a battle he was willing to risk at the moment.
edited 24th Feb '15 6:56:30 PM by EviIPaladin
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior ValDamien pulled out his cell phone and turned on the light in the car to see if he had any messages or voicemail. Nothing. Not even a single note from Vergil about his actual car.
He sighed and tucked the phone away, he looked up and saw a man approaching him. Looking for a authority figure? Maybe he had info about the murder cases, he poked his head out "Sir do you require any help?"
((I know what I require. Sleep. Goodnight.))
Herod North waved slightly and spoke, "Ah, hello, I happen to see you talking to a particular girl just now and well, you wouldn't happen to be investigating the killings?" North laughed and shook his head, "Perhaps we could be of some use to each other then. I was consulted a few years ago about a similar style of murders, as I happen to be the regions foremost expert on occultic matters and of history and science, I worked with the NSA to track down the killer. He was a cultish maniac obssesed with human sacrafice. It was not a pretty case."
edited 25th Feb '15 8:13:00 AM by WolfAmongGods
Saint LaughterLita's Trailer, Outskirts of Salem, 11:00 PM, June 30 199X
After a long and arduous night, Lita finally returned to her haven, deciding to sit down and relax on the chair and enjoy a bag of refrigerated hospital blood. Unfortunately for her, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Lita, this is Martin, your Primogen. We need to talk. I'm calling every Gangrel in Salem to meet up at the cemetery to discuss something urgent."
"I'll be there."
All Lita wanted to do was relax and watch TV, but that was not in the cards tonight.
Professor North shifted slightly and spoke in a low tone, "Well, they want to keep it on the hush hush if you know what I mean. The last investigator didn't last very long afterwards. Apparent suicide, hung himself." North put his hands in his pockets and his eyes started darting around. He had to cut this short. Sweat as starting to bead on his forehead and he knew his puils were dilated. He pulled at his collar a little and spoke, "Yes, well, the thing is, did you notice anything odd about the girl you were speaking to?"
Saint LaughterDamien had seen this attitude before, he was hiding some deep shit. Just like the Chief of Police back in Maine during the Alien incursion. Agent Fox was now regretting not being able to keep one of the alien blaster rifles. Those were awesome!
"What? Is she a alien? A servant of some dark elder god that you follow?" Fox asked in a half joking manner.
North's expression darkened a moment until he realized the agent was joking. He laughed and said, "Oh what because this is Maine? Yep, we're all cultist!" He winked at the agent and continued, "Well, you never know what's ou there I suppose." He fumbles in his coat and hands over his card to the agent. "Just... if you run into anyhting weird or unexplainable, call me and I'll take a look. I did for the nsa guy, but he ket things from me. I think that's what did him in... he wanted to know." north shook his head.
Saint Laughter"I knew it..." was Damien's only thought, just that little joke had cracked his shell a bit. North, whether or not if he was a cultist was definitely involved and knew of a cult in town.
"Thanks to you professor, I got my first lead," Agent Fox mumbled to himself before starting up the car. He just needed to find out more and hopefully get started on the case.
Herod North starts backing up saying, "I'll be happy to be of help if you find anything interesting." Witht that, he turned on the agent and started heading towards his car. He felt naseous and light-headed. Everything was changing to a paricular shade of orange. North had to sleep this off.
edited 25th Feb '15 7:12:00 PM by WolfAmongGods
Saint LaughterThe Nightclub, 10:30 PM, June 30, 199X
Murder and intrigue - old hat for a select few. The call of the network had com weeks ago to them. This meeting was predictable.
With their 'Kaiser' Caesar's blessing of semi-silence the kindred of Salem trickled from the VIP lounge and amidst the grinding herd below. No other predator had found so compliant a prey in this plane, and they were in no position to object. However two mismatched figures were too disjointed from this reality to be truly subsumed - or perhaps too keenly aware of its true nature. Only Malkav knew.
The hulking, flame-haired one chuckled quietly, black eyes dancing with the neon display, "What a party - I almost wish I were once again a mayfly, be blind to the freezing truth and dance oblivious to the puppeteer..." The deep and lively voice rambled then sighed.
"And miss all the true, horrible fun? Now I know you better, Rotterdam." His waif-like companion replied, a wistful smirk crossing painted blue lips letting words roll like song. "Monsters masquerading as their cattle. Hmm, and men as corpses just a moment too soon." She added, spying a few mortal figures too serious for this place. She could see the vaguest hint of madness to their auras, as if they were still dipping toes in the pool before the dive. The woman, Berlin, tapped her fingers to an arbitrary but important order against her neck - feigned as scratching.
Rotterdam grinned broader to Berlin and both wordlessly choose to exit - The woman finding her thoughts too itchy around these people and the man finding his disposition to the scene changing with the scent of alcohol.
Recent Murder Scene, 11:00PM, June 10, 199X
Rotterdam and Berlin meandered their way to the site of the murders, taking a few minutes to observe the goings on in the parking lot - The FBI agent from the club was interviewing a relatively young kindred as well as some educated moon-child. The green-eyed seer caught wind of an omen suggesting their significance to their futures. A part of their reasoning for exploring the tragic alleyway. It was so quiet now, but echos of its violence and blood remained. They stepped over and under the crime tape with hardly a thought.
"The humans... They haven't left much." The big man scratched his beard, looking to the dark sky and breathing in the night. "I smell shattered mirrors."
Berlin shook her head, "Only their shallow evidence was taken, I think, dear brother." Her voice sang, hands to the ground as she studied what only she could see, "So violent but I think to a particular rhythm - something other, but what... I see why Caesar is so concerned." She stood and straightened herself, suddenly grinning to her companion, "It would make a glorious dance, this place's song."
edited 3rd Mar '15 2:23:21 PM by Lt.BGob
“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Downtown Salem, Massachusetts 9:00 PM, June 30, 199X
Night had fallen and Lita had just got the call from Prince Caesar's trusted ghoul, the call said that a meeting was called at the local Elysium and all Kindred must attend. The young brunette redneck knew never to question the Prince and knew she had to attend. Getting in her truck, she drove down to the local nightclub where the Elysium would be held.
Upon arrival at the club, Lita aimlessly wandered through the crowd of dancing ravers, past the aura of smoke machine fog, neon lights, and pulsating techno music as she casually crept upstairs into the VIP area where the meeting would take place. Entering the room, she sat at a table by herself, waiting for more Kindred to show up.