Rio Grande Chronicles: Fae & Beasts

The Rio Grande Chronicles
Fae and Beasts
It was the sirens that woke Pedro this night, which was weird since he had grown accustomed to the city noise a long time ago. Police, Ambulance and fire sirens were as common as the common churning from the air-conditioner, the constant noise that that made you nervous if you did not hear it. It had become the safety blanket that he could wrap himself in before slumber, the sign that everything was as it should be and he could safely enter his vampire sleep. Yet this sound had awakened him, made him aware and invoked some internal instinct of danger. Something was wrong, out of place or something soon would be. The sharp piercing pain in his chest returned and Pedro had to sit down to not let the agony overcome him. He touched the scar in his chest with his index and middle finger, following it up and down as if to massage the pain away. It was only an inch away from his heart; the white scar that never really healed. A reminder now of an incident he rather suppress. The pain subsided and his mind resisted the urge to go back to that painful night. Pedro got up and opened the barricaded window. He quickly used his senses and knowledge of the city to get an understanding of what the situation outside was. All the sirens were headed for the military camp; he could hear from the sirens that there were ambulances and police involved. More accurately he could hear that there were 6 police sirens and 2 ambulances all heading north. Pedro turned around and faced his somewhat new apartment. To any normal person the place looked like a dump. The linoleum floor was bulging up in random places and the wallpaper was torn revealing the four previous choices of wallpaper. There was no furniture except from his coffin in the inner room and the desk and chair where the laptop, which Marcus had given him, stood. The apartment did not look like much, but it was his haven and probably the best one he ever had. Sure it was not as personal and nice as Snows haven but… well nice was a relative term he thought. To him that haven wasn’t as much nice as it was a sacrificial lair; where young children where dismembered while warlocks where chanting with burning candles in their hands, or whatever crazy shit those fucked up Tremere were into. As fucked up as he thought Snow was, he somehow pictured the Tremere clan to be even more twisted. Then again he had never found himself in a situation where he had been around a Usurper long enough to get properly acquainted. Every time he caught himself in thinking that Snow was not that bad, his instinct kicked in and reminded him that she was one of those evil Warlocks. He was not quite sure if it was the old Sabbat hate for the mages that stirred or if it was the Gangrel blood in him. Either way, Snow was one of them and he would need to be careful around her, no matter how nice she seemed. Pedro walked towards his laptop. Marcus had set it up with the newest software and updated firewalls with a secure communication between them. Pedro logged on and tried to find some news on what was happening in El-Paso. There seemed to be some shooting at Military compound. Several people were shot and the gunman was still loose. The police had stated a red alert and increased police patrol in the city until the shooter is apprehended. That was going to be a serious problem for his hunting routine he thought while he licked his fangs. He was about to turn of the computer when he noticed a blinking icon on the bottom right of the desktop. He clicked it and a message popped up. It was from Marcus. He had sent him the link to the news about the shooting and commented: “Not good! This will really fuck up our feeding”. Another message came shortly after “BTW, thought U would like 2 know this about Lustria” There was a document attached. Pedro opened it and started to read. It explained Lustria's bloodline and heritage. Apparently he had lied about being a Toreador and who he was. He was actually a Ventrue and came from a wealthy background with a high standing family. The document portrayed Lustria as somewhat a spoiled brat who never lifted a finger to get what he wanted and apparently he had some contacts in some really high places. Pedro started to type a response to Marcus after reading thru the document. “Why would he lie about who he was?” Marcus quickly responded “I don’t know, but he sure did not put a lot of effort in backing his story up. It’s almost as if he dared us to find out” “Yeah” Pedro responded. “Either that or he was just too lazy to put any effort into the lie”. Pedro was getting ready to log off and head out to see how the city life was this evening, but Marcus intercepted him with another instant message. “Don’t forget that we are meeting up at the Elysium tonight, they are putting Fame up for Trial”. Pedro had already forgotten about that meeting. It was shit like this that was the reason he hated to be on the Camarilla side. They all knew that was not going to be a trial, it was going to be an exhibition for the titled hotshots to show their fangs and power. In the end the Prince would show of some grand performance where he would make an example of what happens if you break the Camarilla code. Wait and see, he thought to himself, that is exactly how it is going to go down. He grabbed his jacket and left the pitch dark apartment, without locking the door. The way he saw it there were no reasons to lock as there was nothing of real value to steal and the only problem would be if some squatters drop by. Not that squatters would be a real problem, Pedro saw it more as a late night snack waiting for him to come home.
Marcus waited for a response from Pedro, but it never came. A message appeared that stated that the other side had logged off. Marcus leaned back in his office chair and rubbed his eyes. “Damn Gangrel, no courtesy anywhere”. The sirens were still screaming throughout the city. The air in the apartment was fouled by the smell of burnt flesh, cloth and hair. As Marcus rubbed his eyes, ash fell into his lap like black snow settling for the first time on bare ground. It hurt to move. Most of his body was severely burnt and his skin was still flaking. Just when you thought you couldn’t look any worse, he had joked with himself. He found a little comfort in it, knowing that his vitae could help him heal the damages and that he would return to his old monstrous self. But healing these wounds was hard. It was not like healing a broken arm or a deep cut. This took a lot effort and time, not to mention blood. He had tried to heal some of it but had drained himself in the process. He had a huge problem hunting in this condition. Staggering around like a half cripple was not an easy way to obtain blood. Even the rats scattered when they smelled the burning decay. The hunger was increasing and he knew he would have to settle for one of the vermin this night to get by. He took a quick look at one of his many opened windows on the computer before supporting himself firmly upon the armrest on his chair and raised himself up. Marcus had set himself up with a complex system with a private fileserver and several proxy servers and some of the most advanced hardware there is. The four monitors on his desk were all filled with windows showing live cam feeds, command screens, documents, photographs, forums, stock exchange and everything else that could be of interest to a Nosferatu. A pain filled groan burst throughout the room as he got to his feet. His wall was covered with documents and files. One wall had a huge map that covered the sewer system of El-Paso, or at least the parts that were official. Marcus knew he had been in places in that sewer that was not on that map. He had marked up with a red pen after memory the places he knew was missing. Bonita had not given him the proper tour yet, and it annoyed him that there were so many places down there he did not know of. Spread out on another table was several documents and bank transaction logs on a certain Lustria. Marcus hadn’t managed to dig up all the info himself, but his fellow clan members seemed more than happy to share. He had found Lustria to be very sketchy the first time they met. Something about him seemed strange. So Marcus started digging, and when Marcus started digging there was always dirt and gold to be found. Lustria sure had dirt, first he was not who he said he was. He was no Toreador, but a Ventrue. Lustria also seemed to have contacts and connections everywhere, and apparently had bribes and a hand down everybody’s pocket. That had led Marcus to the next thing he always found when digging: gold! Apparently Lustria had stacks of it. As a matter of fact, there was so much money connected to this kindred that Marcus wondered if Lustria himself knew how much he had. Marcus had found bank accounts in Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden and Arabia. There was also a bunch corporations and stock bound investments. Lustria’s family had a business in almost every European country and half of Asia. Some of these businesses were just shells or dummy corporations established to launder money or trick the domestic tax system. Everything also pointed to that Lustria had never gotten his hands dirty in anything. He was what you would call a spoiled brat who had gotten everything firmly planted in his hands. Marcus couldn’t help but wonder why Lustria had showed an interest in them in the first place. What would he gain from ganging up with them? Marcus was intrigued. Lustria had something the others didn’t and something he needed; Resources and lots of it. Pedro had nothing and whatever he had was tied up in his car, which by the way was trashed and on the other side of the river. Snow had a little, enough to get by at least. More annoyingly, she did not care for it. He had rarely met anyone with such little interest in wealth and resources. Having an ally like this Ventrue might bring him a step closer to achieve one of his goals. Marcus grabbed his coat and left his apartment after activating the security system and locking the entrance door.
It was a damp, hot evening. Military and police were patrolling the streets and investigating abandoned buildings. Among the worried mortals walked the kindred who tried to meld in and find the perfect time to extinguish their hunger for blood. It was a challenge most kindred were not accustomed to, with eyes and ears everywhere and with everyone one their toes it would only be a matter of time before someone would break the masquerade. In a small café on the eastside of El-Paso; Lady Snow had just received her Latte’ Macchiato. She had no idea what it was, but it was on top of the menu so it was the first thing she could think of to order. Snow picked up the spoon and stirred her coffee gently in half circular motions. In her mortal years she had never really cared for coffee. It had been more of an exotic drink from where she came from but they had always just called it coffee. They could put sugar and milk in it, but it was still coffee. That had changed in recent years. They had all kinds of different names for coffee with milk and sugar these days: Americano, Latté, Frappuccino, Espresso, Coffee Mocha and so forth. It all seemed silly to Snow, giving all these drinks fancy names when all it really was, was coffee with cream or sugar. Maybe both. She lifted the spoon to her mouth and took a sip. Coffee and cream she thought, it tasted a lot like the other coffee drinks she had tasted. Just then Henry stepped thru the door. He looked confused like he was not sure if he had come to the right place. Snow waved him over to her table. As he walked over he noticed her drinking from the cup. He shuddered at the sight. “How can you drink that stuff? It’s vile! And how do you manage to keep it down?” he burst out with a disgusted tone in his voice. Snow put her cup down and smiled. “Just one of many secrets we Tremere share” she replied “Do you want anything?” she asked him. “Unless they serve
a bucket of blood, then no” he replied. Snow quickly skimmed thru the menu. “Well it’s not on the menu, but if you’re lucky it may be part of the Todays Special” Henry gave a sarcastic smile in return. “It’s not like I love the stuff myself” she said as she pushed her cup aside. “..But it does help uphold the masquerade. It would be a little suspicions, if not rude, to come in here and not order anything.” Henry like most vampires couldn’t stand the thought of eating food or drinking anything else but blood. He had tried it in the first nights after his embrace. It had come back up as quickly as it went down. The very smell of it now turned his stomach. He leaned back in his chair. “I am guessing you didn’t call me down her to try the todays special, did you my Lady?” “In that my dear Henry you are correct” she replied. “I called you in to warn you” Henry felt like a cold breeze went down his spine. Snow started to explain how Fame had set him up in the murder of Conway, how he had dressed up like him and beat Conway to death. All the evidence pointed towards Henry and a full investigation would resolve in Henry being the scapegoat. Snow explained how she was led along in the beginning as well, but that something was off with the evidence pointing towards Henry. Fame had been clever in his cover-up and had almost closed all the gaps, but there had been one gap he didn’t recon anyone would find. The one witness he didn’t expect anyone to question. Henry leaned forward and grabbed Snows hand. “Who? Who saw it?” He sounded like a child that had listening to an amazing fairytale and was wondering what would happen next. Lady Snow smiled and squeezed his hand back. “The man with the best seats in the house. Someone who saw it all at first hand.” Henrys pupils widened as the answer sunk in to his mind. “Conway?” Snow acknowledged the name with a smirk. “But how in heavens name did you get him to witness?” Snows face went cold and emotionless. “How is not important, I have my ways. That is all you need to know” she replied in a firm tone. “How many know about this?” his voice was high pitched and nervous. “You, me, Pedro, Marcus and Holger Stein. Holger was your biggest concern, but you are not on his radar anymore. You should probably keep a low profile for a while until all this settles. Stay clear of the Elysium tonight, if anyone think you were involved in this business they will destroy you in a fraction of second. Holger cannot save you in there” She finished the last of her coffee, but two dollars on the table and got up. Henry quickly got to his feet. Snows hand came up to touch Henrys cheek. Her soft warm hand against his cold skin felt soothing for a second, until he remembered some advice he heard once about not letting the twisted hands of the Tremere touch you. Her piercing blue eyes met his. Henry could swear there was compassion in those eyes. He needed there to be at least one person in this city he could really trust. Snow broke the silence. “Do you have anywhere you can stay? Someplace you can go to?” Henry nodded. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry” Snow got up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Take care of yourself Henry. I’ll contact you when all of this mess settles down, OK?” She started to head towards the exit. Henry stood still almost paralyzed trying to process the whole conversation. “Snow?” he burst out, without really knowing what his next words were going to be. A part of him didn’t want her to leave. Some part of him wanted her to come with him and watch over him, be his mentor and guide. Protector and Lover. Lady Snow had stopped and was waiting for him to say something. “Thank you” was all he could think of that would be appropriate. Snow smiled as the door closed behind her and she became one with the crowd, smelling like coffee and Dior perfume.
Pedro and Marcus met each other at the entrance of the Elysium. “So you came?” was Marcus first words when he saw Pedro. “Like I had a choice” he had an annoyed undertone to his answer. “Has anybody told you that you look like a burnt turd?” He added as he looked at the coal on Marcus’s skin. Marcus leaned in to deliver his reply “Yeah, the fuckers in the garbage container two blocks up without heads” Pedro started laughing and Marcus joined him soon after. “I have to check that shit out afterwards” Pedro added before they walked inside. The courtroom already had several vampires of different standings spread out in their own little clicks. They noticed Jorge, the Brujah, who they had brought with them from Juarez. He was standing with some of his fellow clan mates making jokes about the other clans in the room. Jorge had a black mesh shirt that revealed a well-trained and muscular body. He had one of those clean cut badass faces, which many women found very attractive. Pedro made a joke about how he must have been a hit back at that Hollywood club. Pure eye candy. Marcus didn’t find it that funny. Mostly because he knew it was true. A lot of men at that place would find someone who took that good care of his body very attractive. “Speaking of eye candy” Pedro added and pointed towards the entrance. “Look who just arrived”. Lady Snow stepped thru the entrance side by side with Elisa Day, the Archon and closely followed by more Tremere. “Yeah” Marcus replied “Eye candy that bites”. Pedro broke out in laughter again. “Amigo, you never been with a Hispanic chica. They all bite. That’s what makes it exiting hermano”. Lady Snow and the rest of the Tremere members separated themselves from the others and made their own little group in the crowd. The next kindred to step thru the door was Lustria who was closely watched by his personal assistant. He respectfully bowed to Snow and Day and smiled at Marcus and Pedro as he passed them. Snow had heard from Marcus about Lustria not being a true Toreador, but in fact a Ventrue. Her first reaction to the news was anger, but she quickly realized that it didn’t really matter that much to her. To her there really wasn’t that much difference between the two clans. They were both pompous assholes in her
eyes that were too stuck up in their own being to realize what was happening around them. At least the Ventrue had goals and ambitions they strived to reach, she respected that. The Prince of El-Paso stepped into the room and revealed Fame staked and tied to a rack. Snows heart fell when she saw the once so bright kindred put on display like a dead animal. She knew she had done what was necessary, but she wished that it didn’t need to come to it. Fame was beyond saving though, she knew that now, but she also knew that Fame hadn’t acted out of pure evil. Snow had seen it before in others. The Malkavians had derangements as a curse and Fame was no exception. Snow recognized the patterns in Fames behavior, the narcissistic elation, the delusions of grandeur and his feeling of superiority. The Germans had called it Größenwahn, but the more known term now was Megalomania. In some strange way she found herself missing him. Seeing him now like this was more painful than she expected, she knew what was in store. The Malkavian prince started with an introduction and went on to explain the crimes for which Fame was accused. The other elders and primogen made sure to share their opinions on what they meant was a breach of the traditions. The hammer fell down hard on poor Fame and there was no one willing to stand up or speak his case in fear of being pulled in to the maelstrom of punishment. In the end the prince declared Fame as guilty and a danger to the masquerade. The sentence was destruction. Bell raised his hand and like a flash Fames body vaporized and vanished into Bells hand. The other kindred were shocked at this alarming display. Snow leaned over to Elisa Days ear. “What the hell was that? Is that one of our powers?” Day shook her head. “No, not that I know of. I’ve heard of Malkavian powers that do similar things, but only Elders know powers of such magnitude”As the kindred started to leave the Elysium Elisa Day took Snows arm to get her attention. “You need to come see me tomorrow first thing at dusk, bring your friends and that new army guy you picked up in Juarez.” Snow nodded and agreed.
The next dusk the neonates stood together waiting to speak with Elisa Day Regent of the Chantry and Primogen of El-Paso. Snow had managed to call in Marcus, Pedro, Lustria and Jorge. Elisa Day let them in and asked them how they were coping with the scenario outside with the heavy protection with cops at every corner. The archon had been called in to try and deal with the situation. Apparently a new incident had occurred. This time it was at a school and a janitor had fallen victim to murder and his clothes were removed. As the coterie investigated the area all they could find was the clothes of Samuel Jones. Jones was a soldier who recently had been stationed in the Middle East. The clothes were decayed as if they were aged. Snow immediately started to investigate what sort of power could induce such an effect. While Snow retired to her lab at the chantry the others continued to investigate. The clues were scarce however and every lead proved to be a dead end. The next night Samuel struck again. A commanding officer who recently had been in direct contact with Samuel was found killed at his home. When the coterie arrived to investigate they found a big hole in the wall in the officers home. The wooden wall seemed like it was warped and mangled. Lady Snow started to recognize the markings and understood that whatever this thing was it was escalating in power. The signs also proved that this could be the work of someone who had knowledge of blood magic. The Coterie was still left clueless about how to find Samuel and in their frustration they could not anticipate where he would strike next. As the next day followed the news reported that Samuel Jones had given himself in to the police. When he was apprehended and taken in the police car however he had apparently escaped, killing the two cops in the process. The car was nothing but a pile of dust when they found it. There was still no clue were Samuel Jones had disappeared to, but Snow was starting to think that Samuel was carrying an artifact of some sorts that gave him these powers. The others had also done research and it seemed like Samuel might be possessed by something. However all leads still seemed futile and led them nowhere. Lustria now called in his resources and made them keep an eye open for any report about Samuel Jones. The moment they heard something they were to come to him and inform him. The next night Lustria was awakened early by his retainers. They had acquired information that the library had been ransacked and that a book was stolen. Lustria quickly contacted the others and shortly they all met at the library. Several books were decayed and the signs that Samuel had been there were obvious. The book that was missing was a book about Huenco Tanks, the mountains located outside El-Paso. “That’s it” Pedro yelled. “That’s where we will find the fucker” Lustria called his Limo, but his retainers were too tired to drive after being up all day looking for clues. Jorge however always wanted to drive a limo and offered himself as the designated driver. Driving out to the desert and finding a man among all the mountain rocks did not sound like a god idea to any of them. At this point however they did not have much of a choice, and if they wanted to end this they needed to find him. It seemed like a long drive for them all. The scenery did not seem to change and at times it seemed like they stood perfectly still. Desert and tundra as far as the eye could see. Finally the boulders of Huenco Tanks revealed themselves in the distance. As they came closer they realized how hopeless it would be to find somebody out here, especially if that somebody did not want to be found. Jorge drove up as close as he could to one of the boulders. They all got out of the car. Lustria stopped and looked at all the rocks. “Wow, you know what? That seems like a lot of walking and climbing. I think I’ll just stay here and watch the limo, OK? But you guys have fun out there, and call me if you find something interesting” He got back in the car and poured himself a glass of the classiest blood found around these parts. Marcus shook his head and continued on. Jorge stopped “He is kidding right?” Pedro came up alongside him and tapped him on the shoulder. “I don’t think so amigo” he said with a wide smile on his mouth. “Fucking lazy ass Ventrue” he turned around and followed Pedro up the rocky slopes.
The sand was dry and each step filled the air with red dust. Rock formations made countless caves and hiding spots. Finding someone here could be excruciating and take days. A horrid laugh suddenly filled the air. They turned around and saw Samuel standing on one of the red rocks. He looked at them with blank empty eye and head slightly sloped towards his right shoulder. Lady Snow calmly stepped forward with her hands stretched out as if to cover the other from something. “Whatever happens, don’t let him touch you, OK?” She took another step forward. “Pedro, see if you can move around him while we have his attention.” Pedro moved to the side and carefully left Samuels sight. ”Jorge” She continued. “Ready your guns and wait for my signal” Jorge un-holstered his guns and readied a bullet. Snow used her enchanted sight to read Samuels aura. What she saw immediately made her worried, but it also fascinated her. She had never seen such a beautiful and lively aura. It was as she was looking at pure life. She knew that only fae had such auras, but she had never encountered such an entity before. Samuel smiled. “What are you looking for out here at this holy place?”
“You” Snow quickly replied.
“Well look no further, cause you have found what you seek”
“Who am I speaking to?”
“Samuel Jones, of course”
“I need to know who is using his body. Show me your real face”
“I will show you my real face if you show me yours” Samuels head shifted and leaned towards his other shoulder.
Snow chose her next words carefully. What did he mean? Her real face? Could he…? No, that was impossible she quickly reasoned. “I am not hiding any faces and have only one real face”
“If you say so” he replied with a twitch. Snow realized that there was some sort of internal struggle going on.
“You need to leave this body and go back to your own world”
“I like it this way. Leave me alone and you will not see me again. I will stay here. This is where I belong.”
“That is not going to happen, you have caused too much of an disturbance. Someone has to answer to the crimes you have committed.”
“Those people were in my way, I had no choice…” he stopped as if he sensed something. His eyes suddenly fell on Pedro who was sneaking up alongside him. Pedro started rushing towards him with claws drawn. Samuel immediately turned and met him head on. “Now Jorge!” Snow yelled as she rushed towards Samuel. Jorge vaulted forwards with his guns blazing. Three rapid shots flew across the air. The first bullet hit Samuel in the left shoulder, which spun him around and broke his focus of Pedro. The second bullet hit him on the right side of his nose. It pierced straight thru his cheek but did not seem to exit. The last bullet found its place directly to Samuels left eye. Jorge halted and lowered his guns. No way anything could survive that.
As the third bullet hit, the rest of the Samuel’s head burst open and exploded. Pedro almost expected the man to continue fighting for some strange reason. Samuels body crumbled together like a house of cards. Blood poured and flowed over the sundried rock. Or at least it resembled blood, the smell was different. This was no ordinary vitae, the scent was off. Before Pedro could get a clear scent the dusty ground absorbed the vitae as if it was desperate for any form of liquid. Pedro’s quick steps continued towards Samuels’s dead body. As he approached the lifeless body, the scent of the remaining blood changed into something more familiar. It had turned into the scent of mortal vitae. That is when Pedro noticed something around Samuels neck. A polished stone with some inscribed symbols connected to an ordinary string. One glance at the inscription refreshed a memory Pedro had tried to suppress. He knew those symbols. Not what they meant or resembled, but he had seen it before or something very similar. His previous pack members had died for a similar artifact. He had been spared out of pity, as a warning, as a messenger or just pure luck. Pedro quickly grabbed the stone and ripped it of Samuels neck. The thin string broke easily and Pedro pocketed the stone quickly before the others would notice. He heard light steps quickly approaching behind him. “Pedro! Drop it, don’t touch it!” Snows voice was fierce and commanding. Fuck! That Tremere bitch had noticed his sleight of hand. Her vampire awareness could prove to be a problem for him in the future. He could end her here, right now, before the others could reach them. It would be easy and quick he thought. Had she just commanded him to do something? That’s it, she has to go! Pedro’s vitae purged thru his body, it wanted him to draw out his claws. Then the realization arose that it was his inner beast talking, trying to surface. Snow was his friend; she had been good to him earlier. There was even a slight trust there. He purged his beast to a halt, but it was close now, the slightest tension would release it. His hand squeezed around the rock with a clinched fist. “NO!” The harsh and abrupt statement made Snow see the state Pedro was in. She saw the tension in his face, the protruding fangs and the dark feral eyes. Snow looked deep into his eyes. There was rage in there, but it was concealing something, something deeper. Pain, suffering and possibly fear. It was all there. Snow saw he was on the edge of entering a terrible frenzy. She would have to rethink her approach to the situation. Her voice changed into a softer and calmer tone. “Pedro, please drop the stone” It was a pleading voice that spoke now. “We don’t know what that thing does, it might be dangerous” The Gangrel took his hand out of his pocket and shook his clinched fist towards Snow. “I will not let this fall into Tremere hands and stored in some fucking Chantry”
-“We will figure out what to do with together Pedro. It’s you choice, but for now please let it go. Until we know what it does we have to be careful. It could be dangerous and I don’t want to see you harmed.”
Pedro’s tension loosened a bit and his arm fell down; his fist still clinched around the stone. “This is important and I am not giving it up” His voice was still tense and aggravated.
-“I am not asking you to give it up Pedro, just let it go for now until we know how to deal with it. Look around you, look what this thing is capable of. I am with you on this one. I will help you figure it out, we can work it out together. There is no need for anyone else to be hurt because of this thing. Please Pedro, let it go for now.” Her voice was now filled with worry and concern. She seemed sincere. Pedro looked at her hard, trying to penetrate her fortified personality. He saw nothing. It was like staring into a rock. Her crystal eyes reflected no emotion. Only her voice bore any sign of personality, any sign of her still possessing a soul. It all made him uneasy. He always felt there was something off with Snow, they all did, but he could not put his finger on what it was. However, her words now made sense to him. This thing was dangerous and if any of them would know how to deal with something like this it would be a Tremere. He could always rip her apart if she tried to trick him. The beast inside of him was certain of this, though Pedro had learned a thing or two about not underestimating other kindred. Especially not those that deal with unholy magic. “You have to move fast, before she can react” the beast whispered in his brain.”…and for god’s sake don’t let her touch you. That blood magic will fuck you up!” Pedro clenched his teeth together. The sound of his jaws grinding somehow silenced the beasts constant throbbing. When the time comes, he thought to himself, but it will not be this day. Snow was still standing there with her hand reaching out.
Pedro closed his eyes, then dropped the stone in the blood stained sand as he took a step back. Snow moved like a snake striking its prey and picked up the stone, holding it in its whimsy string. She felt uneasy in its presence, so she held it as far away from her body as possible. I should probably use my… Her thought ended abruptly with the sound of a berretta going off. A tremble in her hand from a shockwave almost made her drop the stone. Was she shot? She felt nothing. Then again she knew she probably wouldn’t. She started to scan herself for an entry wound, but ceased when she noticed the stone pending violently from its string. Someone had shot at the stone. Her eyes instantly fell on Jorge. His berretta was still pointing towards her and the stone, smoke steaming from the barrel. Before she knew it her focus was on his blood, his weak Vitae flowing thru his shell of a body. “Fire” a voice whispered in her mind. “Make him burn, en la sangre fuego!” Then in a flash movement Pedro came rushing forward claws drawn hammering down on Jorge.
At the moment Jorge had fired his berretta and hit the stone, there was nothing left to hold back the beast in Pedro. All the bargaining chips he had used with the beast were spent on Snow. The beast had acted before even Pedro realized what had happened. He was mid-air as his claws extended, and with his right hand drawing power from over his head he landed a blow with all his weight. It hit Jorge at the shoulder and continued down to his chest. The claws dough deep and the smell of vitae filled the air. No matter how much Jorge tried he could not absorb this blow. The pain was excruciating. The whole ordeal snapped Snows focus. She quickly wrapped the stone in a piece of cloth and headed for Lustria and the limo while hitting the speed dial on her phone. Lustria answered on the other end. He was worried, he had heard several gunshots, but had been to unsecure to go check it out. “Snow, what the hell is going on up there? I heard some gun…”
“Shut up and listen Lustria!” He stopped mid-sentence. No one talked to him like that, but he would let it slide for now. Snow continued. “I need you to find some sort of container in your limo. A duffel bag, a suitcase, anything. You need to but it somewhere safe, somewhere where only you can get to it. Do you understand?” “Yes” he quickly replied. I have a stress case and a safe in the back of my limo. Will that do?”
“That’s perfect; meet me with the stress case”
Lustria lifted the seats in the passenger area and pulled out a black heavy stress case. He had it custom made to withstand almost anything. You could literary drive a bulldozer over it without even scratching the surface. The lock was also made near impossible to break or pick. Lustria liked to think of it as potence resistant. He started walking towards Snow, somehow this did not seem like a running matter for him. “Hurry up and open it” she yelled. Lustria obeyed. He noticed the cloth in her hand with a string hanging from it. “What is that?”
“I’ll explain in a minute, but first let us get it someplace safe. Go open the trunk and prepare the safe while I seal it in here”
Lustria turned and moved towards the limo. He still did not feel like running so he walked. “Really?” he could hear Snow yelling behind him. “You can’t get your lazy ass to move any faster?” Lustria chose to ignore it. By the time he had opened the trunk, Snow had caught up with him with the stress case sealed and ready. She gave him the suitcase and so he put in the safe and sealed it shut. “Now listen” Snow told him, as she grabbed him by the shoulders. You have to store this thing somewhere safe, somewhere where nobody can get to it. Is that clear?” Lustria nodded. “I know the perfect place” he smiled. “Now would you be so kind as to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Snow slammed the trunk shut and gave him a nod. “Yes, I’ll fill you in”
Jorge screamed out in pain from the gash that now went from his shoulder blade down to his chest. His senses warned him not to lose focus on his assailant, which saved him from another crucial blow from Pedro’s feral hands. He sidestepped the blow then planted his left foot in between Pedro’s chest pushing him back and giving himself enough space to fire off a few rounds with his Berettas. His dual guns blazed as all the bullets landed in Pedro’s chest. The bullets however had little effect against Pedro’s tanned skin. None of them broke thru his skin and peeled of as if they had hit solid metal. Pedro did not even notice and charged up for another attack. He got ready to pounce, when Marcus came rushing towards him in an attempt to tackle him and pin him down. Even with the tremendous strength of the nosferatu, Marcus did not achieve the momentum he needed to overpower Pedro. As he hit Pedro with his entire body, the loose sand made him lose the proper footing to overpower the frenzied Gangrel, and Pedro merely brushed him aside as the beast focus was on Jorge and saw no immediate threat in Marcus. Seeing what the bullets did to Pedro, Jorge quickly dropped the guns and changed tactics. He knew that he was stronger than Pedro, so he just needed to overpower him, make sure those clawed weren’t pointed in his direction. A few more of those strikes would turn him to ash, he had to be careful. He tried to put his weight on his right leg to give him the momentum he needed to push Pedro back and pin him down. As Pedro lunged forward, Jorge managed to grab his arms and delay the attack, but his footing did not hold on the uneven ground and he fell down to his knee. He was completely open to attack. Pedro’s claws came from underneath and slashed him from his neck up to his right ear. Jorge felt his jaw split in three places. The claws ran thru his body like it was butter. The fear started to overwhelm him. This Gangrel could cut him in pieces in seconds. He needed distance but how? It was too late however, the beast had taken him. All the pain flushed away like a warm shower washing away black mud. Marcus smelled the beast in both of them now, their black eyes and long fangs snarling at each other. All that was once human was now gone, the beast within was in charge now. Marcus knew it was suicide to try and break off two frenzied kindred. It was over, he needed to flee. He tossed his long coat and leaped from the edge of the cliff. In mid-air he lifted his arms over his head and revealed a set of leathery flaps that went from his wrists and ended at his knees. As the wind caught a hold of him the leathery flaps made him glide steadily to the ground. Pedro and Jorge’s eyes stared deep into each other. They were dark now and now longer the eyes of Pedro or Jorge. These eyes belonged to something else, something feral. Pedro claws kept on slashing at Jorge, causing gashes of open wounds, but they did not seem to affect him as much now. The punches Jorge lashed out would have punched hole in a concrete wall, but against Pedro’s resilient skin it did nothing. They were brushed of as water to Teflon. As Pedro was re-balancing himself from another swing; the beast in Jorge found an opportunity to lay a devastating blow that hopefully would end the fight. He raised both his hands over his head and leaned his body in to perform a slam with all his strength. It was however too late. Pedro was already positioned with another strike. As Jorge let his hammering blow fall on Pedro, the Gangrel raised his left arm and blocked it. The crushing impact would easily have shattered mortals bones, but Pedro’s arm withheld. Pedro’s right arm came rushing forward like a torpedo. It hit Jorge in the gut, deep. He could feel Pedro’s entire hand inside him. In a single move; Pedro twisted his hand and spun his upper body as a projection to his arm. His hand slashed thru and exited Jorge’s body at his hip. In that moment Jorge’s mind managed to break thru. He needed to regain control or else he would be destroyed. Guts were falling out of his wound. Only the beast was keeping him on his feet now. Jorge forced his mind past the raging control of the beast. His only mantra now was to take back control; I refuse to die here tonight. The beast tried to hold on with everything it had, but had to let go in the end; Jorge’s will was too strong. The moment he pierced thru the beast and regained control, an excruciating agony overwhelmed his body. His feet immediately gave inn. Jorge’s body collapsed like a balloon that lost all its air. All he could think about was that his only chance now was to lay still and show Pedro’s beast that he was defeated. Maybe Pedro would reason with his beast and quell the rage.
Pedro’s hands where dripping with vitae. The long feral claws were now a deep red. He was breathing heavily and with a deep roaring sound. The beast was unleashed all the way, and Pedro was riding it out. He was weary of the beast, always trying to keep it concealed and use it only when necessary. The Gangrels knew what dangers applied to riding the beast, and what terrible side effect such event bore. There was still no denying the sensation it gave Pedro when the beast was finally released. The rush of blood and power running thru his body. All the pain and all the worries just disappeared. For that moment he felt invincible and he loved it. Something felt wrong this time however, something in the back of his mind spoke to his conscience; telling him that something was not right. He looked down at the mangled corpse laying at his feet, it was motionless. Then he saw the face. He knew that face. That was Jorge laying there on the brink of destruction. He saw his own hand ready to give a final blow to end it all. His beast was about to destroy Jorge and send him to his final death. He remembered now that he had called Jorge for friend once. In three seconds he was about to destroy his friend for good. He could not let that happen. Pedro forced his mind forward to intercept the beasts will to land the final blow. The frenzied beast was at its peak and strong now, but Pedro’s will to save Jorge was stronger. He just needed to subdue it long enough for Jorge to escape. Pedro saw his claws only inches from Jorge’s head when he regained control. To his surprise he felt the beast leave all together. It was done. He could see Lady Snow running up the hill approaching them. She looked worryingly at him, trying to get eye contact and see if the beast was still ravaging. When she saw Pedro’s brown eyes, she sighed in relief. On her way up, she had prepared herself for a ritual that would quell the beast. The problem was that she could only do it to one of them, so if they were both taken by the inner beast she would be in trouble. Therefore her relief to see Pedro calm, was a welcome sight. Her eyes then fell on Jorge’s mangled body. “Jesus Christ!” She screamed out as she covered her mouth as if to gag. She had seen some terrible things in her un-life, some things way worse than this even. There was still something way more grotesque to see a mangled body like this still moving, still alive. Well, sort of alive. It was sights like this that reminded her how unnatural they really were, how misplaced they were in the world of the living. In a way she envied the entity that had possessed Samuels body. When she had seen into its aura, there was so much life there, such bright and vibrant colors. How horrid she must have seemed in its eyes, contrasting her dead and grey aura.
Snows thoughts returned to the situation at hand. She kneeled down next to Jorge and analyzed the wounds. The right side of his face was slashed in three places. Flesh was hanging like sliced ham in a layer of vitae. His jaw was hanging loose, separated in three places. The left side of his shoulder was torn revealing bone and veins all the way down to his chest. Further down, his abdomen was nearly cut in half. Guts and blood was pouring out like thick dark syrup. Snow was glad that she was well fed. The sight and smell of such a scene would easily throw a starving kindred into a wild feeding frenzy. She realized that Jorge could not heal these wounds on his own at this time. Moving him in this state could prove to be fatal. She would have to mend him up before carrying him back to the limo. Snow turned to Pedro. “Go get the car started; we need to get out of here before the sun rises. I’ll take care of Jorge. OK?” Pedro nodded and looked at the horizon. They had only a few hours before twilight. This was the last place they would want to be when the sun would rise. He headed towards the limo readying the car keys. Snow started to pick up Jorge’s guts and placed them neatly back in place. She knew exactly where they went. Her hands then started to run carefully long side the open wounds, pinching them together. As her hands moved down the deep cuts, his flesh mended as if she zipped it together. She knew that it would not heal him, but it would hold him together in one piece so she could carry him back to the limo. He would still have a long healing process ahead of him. His internal wounds were still serious and it would take a great deal of vitae to mend such damage. She took his arm and put it around her shoulder and placed her arms around his shoulder blades and legs. In one gentle move she lifted him from the ground and started to walk towards the limo. In her earlier years she would easily have left a kindred like this to the burning sun. Especially someone who had pulled something like this one had at her. She had not forgotten his treachery, but he deserved better than to be left out for the red death. Pedro had the car ready when Snow and Jorge came down the rock. Marcus ran towards them. “I’ll take it from here Snow” he said as he gently took Jorge in his arms. As Snow got into the limo, Marcus leaned down and whispered something into Jorge’s ear.
Before everything went crazy on top of that rock, Marcus and Jorge had agreed on that the pendant was dangerous and needed to be destroyed. Marcus had suggested that Jorge should fire his gun at the cursed artifact to shatter it. None of them knew what the consequence of that action would be. Now all the blame lay in Jorge’s hands, and Marcus wanted it to stay like that for now. He had no interest on being on Snow and Pedro’s bad side, and would not risk their friendship now. Jorge nodded and agreed to keep their little secret hidden. He would take the blame alone on this one. Marcus placed Jorge in the back seat and went back up the rock to pick up the body of Samuel. He placed his corpse in the trunk, and got in on the passenger side in the front.
Once in the car Pedro turned around and addressed Snow. “The stone, where is it?”
“It’s safe, right Lustria?” Lustria nodded as Snow continued. “Lustria is going to store it somewhere safe until we figure out what to do with it, for now let us get the hell out of here” Pedro but the limo in gear and stepped on the pedal. Red dust from the sand rose as the car drove off. Lady Snow was staring at Jorge as they headed back to the city. She was conflicted as what her next move would be. How should she deal with him? Should she pull strings to make sure he was expelled from El Paso and back to Juarez? Or should she help him, forgive his treachery and help him heal his wounds. Her sire would have chosen the second path. I’ll give it a go, she thought. “Jorge, I can help you recover if you let me. I can help heal your wounds quicker. Know that a blood boon would be involved however. Sort of my way to know that I can trust you.” Jorge looked up at her and shook his head. “Naaawh…” His jaw was still hanging loosely as he tried to speak. Snow got the message. That stubborn mother fucker she thought to herself. Marcus turned around. “You want me to persuade him for you?”
“No, that won’t be necessary Marcus. He has to decide for himself, I will not force him to do anything he does not feel comfortable with.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “If I didn’t intend to give him a choice, I would not have asked and he would have been none the wiser of what had transpired.” Her fangs revealed themselves as she grinned. “Take us to Elisa, we are going to drop of some dead weight. “ Pedro gave a quick glance in the rear view mirror and then stepped hard on the gas. A line of dust and sand followed the path of the car, carefully settling and covering and the tracks of the limo. In a few hours the easy winds would cover the tracks completely.

Epilogue
The Coterie withheld information about the stone pendant from Elisa Day and her ilk. The primogen then quickly initiated a full investigation and autopsy on Samuels remains. To aid her she contacted her sire who quickly came to El-Paso to assist.
Lustria sealed the case away as he promised and put it under constant surveillance. He then went on with his usual business and distanced himself from the others for a while. This was too much excitement for him and these kindred seemed to find a lot of trouble. He would have to consider how involved he would be with these vampires. There was no doubt that they were valuable allies, and probably the most interesting people in El-Paso. However he needed to be careful not to be dragged into something he could not dig his way out of.
Pedro packed his bags almost immediately as he returned. The revelations of this stone pendant had brought things to his attention that he needed to figure out alone. He needed to leave the others for a while and settle some personal issues. A note on Marcus door informed the others that he would not be reachable for a while and that he would contact them again when he returned.
Even though Jorge had declined the help from Lady Snow, he healed rapidly with the help from his fellow clan members. They kept sending vessels to his apartment as he used his own vitae to heal his wounds. Before the week was over he could stand and act on his own again. He then followed up by further nurturing the relationship with the Brujah clan of El-Paso and joined their Brujah rant.
Snow was surprised with a package at her footstep when she arrived at her apartment. The package included a disc and a doll with a red cloak. She recognized the doll as a symbol for the legend about “The Red Phantom”. This puzzled her, only someone with a lot of information about her would send her something like this. The disc had a recording of the ordeal that transpired the last time they went to Juarez. The most disturbing part was the video recording of her melting a weapon in the hands of one of the thugs. She showed the video to the others and they quickly joined an investigation that led them to Juarez and to a poor minion who had been dominated to deliver the package at her door. The person who had recorded the whole ordeal had given it to a family member and all clues ended there. It proved a dead end as far as the investigation went. Somebody knew what they had done, knew who they were and wanted them to know. They would have to be careful from now on.