Feuds Of Immortality

Hello! I am writing a story and would like to share it with you. It is a on going process so please bear with me and any comments are welcome to be posted on here. Thanks for reading!

Feuds of Immortality
"Yes!" shouted Julius Stevenson, from a 3rd story balcony that was about to crack off of the very wall of his chantry. With a piercing arm gesture he pushed his arm down toward the ground towards a gargoyle and roared "All but the last are killed, take the staked one and hold him in the cells below!!" As he pulled his arm back from the balcony he felt the structure of the balcony about to give completely and gently stepped into the door just as the 20 foot by 25 foot balcony cracked off the outer exterior and crushed what remained of the pillars that were still standing below. Looking down from the make shift opening he stood with pride in his chest and blood on his hands as the last order was given, and it was given by him. The double glass sliding doors that used to be where he was standing lay shattered at his feet. The blood from his robes dripped off in streams down his right hand as he finally let it lay limp at his side. The hellhound bite that broke the elbow had been a hindrance during the battle and he had to improvise by using his bad hand. 4 of his 10 childer and grandchilder had died but they had taken down 10 hellhounds and 7 gargoyles, the last of which was being carried into the holding cells. Two of the bulkier gargoyles hoisted it into the air and made off with him, dragging the spear tip of a 7 foot wooden spear shaft along the ground which transfixed the beast for now, in suspended animation. "Not a Fiend to show for it though…well…besides her" There had been none present at the battle out in the open, but one was in the woods that were being searched at this very moment. The heat was starting to agitate him slightly making his layer of robes stick to him with the combination of humidity and blood. The temperature was about 90 degrees for about 3 days running and it showed no signs of letting up. He'd be damned again and painted with the very crest of the Tzimisce before he took off his battle robes now though, the Tremere did not shy away from anything, especially some superficial agitation. Soaked with the blood of two Gargoyles, one of which he killed himself hand to hand fed Julius’s hermetic minded ego with a buzz of power, a heady brew indeed.

Questions were forming in his mind as fast as he answered them. With each new one he found it more and more difficult to answer them with any accuracy without knowing much more about the situation. That would be coming soon though. "But how did they get control over 7 gargoyles?" He didn't even realize he said it out loud at first, but as he saw one of the beasts of burden below stop and look up at him not knowing what to say, if it should say anything; he commanded it to watch the grounds for any more that may come. It bent down slightly, stony huge muscular legs extending themselves into the air as it took off. It was no doubt they were the most pathetic creatures he had ever encountered, but they did their job good enough. Over 7and a half feet tall and huge disfigured wings combined with a rocky exterior and shit for brains did make a somewhat good war machine, even if they did come from some of the most hated clans of the modern nights.

Before leaving the balcony he concentrated and tightened his mental control and carved a circle in the air, his blood flowing out of his finger tips feeding the thaumaturgical blood spell. He expanded his senses into the realm of spirits to make sure that no other surprises lay in wait. He never took any chances. Upon assuring himself that the battle was well and truly over, he returned to the 2cd story waiting chambers to deal with the person who just happened to warn of the incoming attack mere moments before they hit. Those few moments had been just enough time to do what needed to be done. He opened the steel door after typing in the 5 numbers and proceeded into the holding area. A gargoyle was slumped along side the wall; it's back running parallel with the wall, lying on its side. It was a massive one; if it were to stand it would be at least 8 and a half to 9 foot tall. Its twisted wings were over 8 feet long each, the base of them connecting to the back was a foot and a half themselves. It's arms were almost twice as long as a mans and its legs were as big as medium size trees. Blood ran along the cracks in its body where the stone hide had chipped away from the fighting. From where Julius stood he saw this one on it's own with 2 gargoyles and on of his childer, unfortunately, it was his first childer, and THAT pissed him off. That brought his blood to a boil almost to the point to where he wanted its blood to boil where it was laying. His teeth were already out, and before he knew it his hand was halfway raised to do it before he realized, and put it down. He heard sniffing noises from his left, and saw that one of the gargoyles had started to smell the cooked blood on his hand. He backhanded the beast and kicked it for good measure. While not as big as the other, this one was still a match for any man at 7 feet. It whimpered at once and skittered alone the floor over to where the other one stood guard by the slumbering beast. As he stood he went over how it went. He had run out onto the balcony just in time to see all ten massive hellhounds bounding out of the woods surrounding the house. One of them leapt up to the 1st level balcony and jumped against the wall to get to the second one. It ran inside and in a matter of moments it came rushing through the door 10 feet away from him. He waited until the last moment and moved to the side, but was too late. It bit into his arm but its weight carried it over the edge and he was able to pull away. On it's way down he boiled its blood and saw it's brain burst out of its eye sockets afterward. As he had backed away from the balcony edge, he heard screaming in unison from above, 20 feet away coming in at a 50-degree angle were two gargoyles side by side. He smiled as he remembered casting the flames into their faces, blinding them. One had hit the side of the balcony, taking a chunk of it with it along with one of the pillars below. The other flew straight into the house through the glass doors. He ran into the house in time for the gargoyle to mutter something and grab him by the throat. Obviously the beast didn't know he was a vampire he thought to himself, because it kept squeezing, giving him enough time to conjure fire up his left and uninjured arm. The beast laughed as it saw the building inferno, but screamed in agony as he gripped the beast's face with his hand. He felt the eyes sizzle away at once, and it wasn't long before its mouth was liquefied too. He poured the fire down its gullet and by the time he stood up the poor beast started to die. While most gargoyles were immune to fire on the outside, their insides were much more vulnerable. It might have burned half of his hand, but the rush he felt afterward was enough to go back out onto the balcony to continue.

His thought process was interrupted, and he hated that too. "Master Stevenson!" Sounds of furious running came from the open steel door, and Pete Dowley a recently turned Tremere came running up to him with urgent news. "Everything is going good sir except one thing, one of the beasts swear that it felt a presence in the house just as the fighting started. One of the others did as well and that one went into the house. We have just found the missing one and it has been ...tampered with..." "What in the hell are you talking about Dowley? Tampered with? It could have a ice pick sticking out of its head for all I know, BE MORE PRECISE!!" "Yesshs sir! It..we believe that someone has done something with it's mind but we don't k...we're not good enough to" "You're not good enough because you don't try hard enough! Bring the damn thing up here and go get Jacob. Tell him to check out the worthless brute and tell him to get back to me if we need to kill it." At that last sentence the other gargoyles in the room hunched down even farther. As Dowley left, they knew that if they were to ever rise about the head height of their master, he would kill them without thinking. Julius put his hands together and rubbed them, and told the two scared beasts to put the chains on the one on the floor, making sure that all of them were connected. Over 20 chains from 3 different sides were wrapped around the beast, its neck, arms and legs. This had always worked in the past and should do here, even with the monstrosities' huge size. "Julius?" A deep booming voice came from behind him and echoed through the steel chamber, cells as big as a room with nothing in them but buckets. The bars were massively thick, every bit as thick as a full-grown mans arm. He was inside the biggest cell, and the sliding cell door was open. Jacob Richards came into the cell and upon taking up a stance beside him, he said "Someone has wiped its memory from everything in the past night. It doesn't remember anything about any attack. Whoever did it was well versed in disciplines of the mind. I can't break the barrier now, but I will if given about 2 hours. Killing it would be a waste because we can use it for spare parts if nothing else. Also I brought her up here like you wanted."

"Dowley!!!!!! Bring her in here and stop looking at her chest for once!" "Sorry sir, of course sorr-" "I am going to be surprised if you last the year Peter, if you want to be a member of this Chantry you had better start being a man." Said Julius. He hated the little worm just like he hated most other apprentices because of their extreme lack of knowledge, and the resources he had to waste to teach them. Janice, the woman in question was quite the looker. She had severely curly hair down to her mid back which was so vibrant red that anyone who didn't know her would have surely thought it was dyed when in fact it was natural. She was a good 5 foot 8 inches and had the look of a woman with a little bit of flesh on her weighing about 145lbs. A good part of this as Dowley had intensely been studying was her chest. She was well gifted in that area. Julius knew better. Her master had done it because he was almost obsessed with women. She was not built per say, but a healthy toned look was not quite right either. She was for all intents and purposes, curvy. Her face was slightly rounded and she almost had a babies’ chin. Her features were accented all the more because of the contraption she was in. A metal collar around her neck connected to a long metal bar that went from the base of her neck in the back down to below her butt. Her arms were handcuffed and chained to it too. She had nothing around her ankles, which, if no one else, stuck her alittle odd.

They all stood in front of the open cell, the gargoyles were behind the older Jacob, which stood off to the side of the rest of the group. And most importantly, between Janice and the door. Janice wasn’t about to leave though. She had enough of her life with her former master, sick bastard that he was.

Julius said "So, a pup of a Tzimisce lord rats on him and saves a Tremere chantry from being destroyed, and now you wish to know where you stand with us. I have to tell you Janice, it doesn’t bold well for you. Although, I guess you could say that were the situation turned around, you would be in much deeper shit, but not by much.." Just as he said the last bit he brushed his hands along her breasts, just to see her reaction." He was right and she did back away slightly, but caught herself, and stood her ground. Dowley was stunned. "Sir she did save our lives, surely we could show her so-" Immediately Julius shoot him a look and using his own prowess with the powers of the mind, he made Dowley shut up and indeed, even piss his pants. Upon Dowley’s mental return to himself, he knew what had happened and ran out of the room straight away. "Idiot." Julius started to walk around his prey like a big cat licking it’s lips before the kill, almost feeding off of her fear. He could barely see it, but it was there, in the trembling of her wrists against the cool steel. That’s all he needed. He rushed up behind her, grabbing the bar and yanking her head back; it strained her back to be arched like it was, but she endured it. "So little doggy, why have you left your master? Do you want to turn to the other side? Perhaps you want to join the Camarilla, in all of it’s bullshit glory? No? How about being a slave for the rest of your life?" This, while not what she had in mind, was not as close to what she had to endure before. A tear slipped out of her eye at the thought of her ex lover. A blood red tear, for a man who warmed her heart even after death, but that bastard of a Tzimisce killed him. . . or as good as. He forced him to go and fight when he knew he couldn’t win. And since Winston was dead, she might as well be too. She just decided to help the other side while she was at it. She decided to remain silent. "Ahhhh, thank you for that little description. It was quite informative." "What?! What did yo-" " I am not an imbecile child, I am a Tremere leader, and I find it quite enjoyable to read peoples minds when they decide to take a trip down memory lane."

Janice was crying out of both eyes now, her rounded cheeks were smeared with blood after Julius took his hand off her lower jaw. She put her head back down so she could look at the beast in from of them all. Julius went straight into the cell to examine the beast as Jacob was doing. Jacob had a sour look on his face, one that was not a good sign and Julius knew it. "What is it?" Jacob replied "This gargoyle looks familiar. Too familiar in fact." He bent down and put his foot on the beasts jaw, the latter being the much bigger of the two. He opened it’s mouth and nodded to himself and muttered a curse. "Don’t talk to yourself old man, what is it." "It was one of ours.." Jacob rose after shutting its mouth; upon composing himself he explained how he came about it. "About 7 years ago I implemented a plan, a branding if you will of the beasts that we kept here at this chantry, just in case we needed to know. The simple ritual turned one of their wisdom teeth jade colored green that would glow if you were to put a light next to it. This is one of ours alright. That crazy Tzimisce has ripped it out. He knows their Sorcery then, and that makes the fight a little less inviting Julius." "Yes yes yes at any rate, so he’s a freak with a trick, oh well. Know, I want to get into this things mind and see what I can really learn." At that everyone stepped back away from the cell and Julius pointed toward the beast and insisted his own two brutes be in the cell with the door shut just to make sure.

"Pull out the shaft." Every word spoken to the gargoyles, Janice noticed, were berating and harsh. Not at all what she had expected, and was not even accustomed to it. She herself had not seen this one with the others when they were getting ready to attack back at her masters house. There were but six. This one came from somewhere else, at least that was what she thought. 'This damn metal bar!' She yelled to herself inside her mind and she stopped herself from thinking at once because as she looked up Julius was staring into her, rather than at her. He put his attention back to the cell. As the bigger of the two beasts grabbed the wooden shaft, he risked a look back just as a force came from out of nowhere and hit it in the face, almost breaking its jaw. "Hurry up pathetic dog!!" It’s master was 10 feet away and couldn’t have possibly fit through the bars but he always did, he managed to beat them with horrific force even when they were longer away from him. And that is what scared them. It grabbed the wooden shaft and gave it a good twist as he pulled out on it. The tip was broken off and the shaft finally came out. Both of the smaller gargoyles scrambled back against the wall as the huge body of the thing started to shake and convulse. Before long it tried to stand only to be held at a bent over stance. It strained upon the chains and bellowed out into the room. Its voice was louder than a grown mans’ scream and twice as mean. It stopped all of a sudden, realazing back into a kneeling position before doing the same thing again, stretching the chains and trying to pull down the very walls around him. Two of the chains broke, but their were plenty more. It once again rested in the kneeling position, with its head looking at everyone, stopping on Janice, and then lowering himself so that his line of sight was the floor before him. Julius was overwhelmed was enthusiasm and ambition. 'The thing has good control.' He thought to himself. While Jacob on the other hand was trying to remember what manner of vampire this gargoyle was and when it was embraced. He didn’t think it was a Nosferato hybrid, it was too damn big. It had to have been a cross between a Tzimisce and a Gangrel, both of considerable power to be able to make one of this size. Jacob was not in charge of the creation process of the Gargoyles, and upon his failing to recall the beast in particular, resigned himself to watch the rest.

Most gargoyles could hardly speak a word, and even more couldn’t have a powerful enough mind to be able to protect themselves with but this one was special indeed. Upon his 3rd try, Julius momentarily gave up trying to break into the beast’s mind because he saw something that was not right by any means. The beast was looking at him, and it was almost smiling. It put it’s head back down into a hanging position and spoke in a harsh serrated voice, but still understandable by anyone. Indeed Jacob thought to himself as the beast spoke, much too understandable. "Why do you nottttt killll meee…" "Are you scared I might rip your head off myself bastard Stevenson!!! RAHAHHHHHH!!!" It strained against the chains again and as it did Julius walked over the threshold into the cell and stode straight infront of the beast and stood his own ground saying "If you can rip my head off, then do it filth." It was almost a whisper, and the beast knew what game he was playing at because he just looked straight into Julius’s eyes and stayed still. "I thought not. You are in a position to do one thing shit-face, and that’s to do what I say. Don’t like it do you? I can assure you, you will like it a lot less before I’m done with you." Julius stepped back about 3 steps and began humming to himself for a moment, and the next the beast couldn’t see because the blood in his eyes was on fire!! It felt like a wave of red ants had gone down into his insides and were biting and tearing at his blood! He tried to shift out of his position, left, right left right, Pop! One more chain went but he was being held down now by the other gargoyles and couldn’t sway anymore. He opened his mouth to scream and the pain subsided alittle as he felt his closest friend in his mind taking on some of the pain for him. "No Dem…us…ahhschchc You’ll killll.. urselff" the beast roared inside of his head, but to no avail. The pain stopped. Julius had stopped for the moment, he had concentrated very well on that one and the beast was bleeding out through the chains that bound it. Its face was covered with blood as it ran out of its very eye sockets. It could still see though. The creature knew he had won the round. He didn’t scream and that got Julius’s attention even more. Janice couldn’t stand it anymore. She ran at the open cell, planning on knocking Julius over so that maybe the beast could do something back to him. She got almost all the way but she stopped. She was still running but in mid air! Her legs stopped kicking at once, and she glanced down at the floor that she was 2 feet above. Julius still had his back to her but he did speak loud enough to where she could hear him very clearly. "You have feelings….for a gargoyle….how touching. Attacking me however, is not." He whirled around and came up to her. The beast saw a chance and urged his body to greater strengths. It spend some blood and it was able to break 2 more chains. Both gargoyles on either side of it pushed it back to the floor, holding it their, while Julius dealt with Janice.

"You wish to do something? Please do. Or can you not even raise a fist against me? I think you should have a lesson when it comes to approaching me in a manner I dislike." Janice was about to spit in his face with what little blood she had in her stomach but as she tried to, she felt a pressure pushing against her chest. It was right in the middle of her upper chest. Her sternum was being pushed against…by thin air! She realized he must be able to manipulate force of some kind and tried to kick out but couldn’t. The pain was getting more severe now, she could actually feel some of her ribs cracking inside of her as they gave way to the pressure. She opened her mouth to scream as she felt 2 of her ribs snap and was dropped to the floor with a thud against the wall. She held her rib cage trying to ease the pain and then she saw it. She saw the gargoyle looking at her with remorse …but there was something else their as well. The blood that was running down his face wasn’t all from the injury on his head…

Julius saw her looking at something and turned around at once. "Oh now this is goooood, a gargoyle crying?! AHAHAahahahhhahah ahahha!!!!" Julius couldn’t help himself. "So you feel for her! Perhaps, just perhaps, if she becomes a resident here, you could even share a damn cell!!!!" Julius ran up to the Gargoyle and kicked it in the face, knocking out some of its teeth. Janice knew that if there was ever a time for her to leave, it was now. She suddenly had a new take on life, and decided it was much better if she didn’t hang around the enemy of the one she hated. She knew that Julius was getting worked up and if she timed it right, Jacob would be too involved to catch her on the way out the door.

Julius was not slowing down a bit. He started to mock the gargoyle about having feelings and how it would never be able to love because it was too ****ing stupid. Then Julius had a wonderful idea. "Wait." He backed away from the gargoyle and told the others to loosen their grip upon the monster. "I know. I am being mean. I am not being generous. As a matter of fact, I would almost say I was acting out of character, but I am going to pass an idea by you." He bent down to look into the beast’s eyes that were at a deep brown, all the way through with no pupils and at least the size of a silver dollar each and said "What if I could let you two be together, in a way that you would want?" He could see the sheer distrust immediately on the gargoyles face. Jacob saw it as well and knew their was something weird going on because most gargoyles didn’t understand when a master was bullshitting and when he wasn’t. This one however…

"Well? Does that sound good? It does to me." Julius smiled a smile that almost split his face in half. He turned to Jacob and said "Well, it would seem as though since my gargoyle master has left us this night Jacob, you will have to take up where he left off. Please get the necessary components ready, little Miss Janice shall be joining our friend in the cell after all!" Janice had only known true fear once in her life and now she had known it again. "Very well." Jacob said with a smile that would make a snake sick, and left the room. "And as for you big boy, you had better hope I don’t get sick you of too quick, or I’ll turn you into parts." Julius pointed right at the creature’s head when he said it. The other two gargoyles were holding the bigger one again. A scream could be heard from outside even through the stone block wall and it was a blood curdling one. Julius snapped his head around the opposite direction that Janice was in and she knew it was time. He was 20 feet away and distracted. She kicked off the wall to give her even more momentum and raced for the open door. The beast saw this and Julius felt it. Before he even turned his head around his hand was up and he was uttering something. The creature was hearing that voice again and it was screaming. "Lose yourself damn you!! Lose yourself to the beast inside!!!!" The voice roared and it didn’t think twice, and frenzied. It sent blood coursing through its legs and put its feet on the back of the wall for good measure and pushed for all it was worth. It did it so fast that the other two didn’t have a chance to react in time. It broke the six remaining chains that were attached to the walls and pushed the bigger of the two completely off his feet. It went skidding across the floor straight into Julius, knocking him down and crushing him. The backlash from 4 of the chains hit the other smaller gargoyle almost all at once, 2 of the chains nearly decapacitating it, but in the end knocking it down as well.

He got to his feet, raving mad, and started to go for Julius even though its arms were still bound with chains. Julius had to use every bit of strength he had. The smaller gargoyle that lay in front of his was getting to his feet and was about to back up on top of him but he ordered it forward. Even in the face of death, it followed his command. He grappled the hulking moster, but couldn’t push it back any farther. Julius was blind in one eye because blood was rushing into it constantly. He summoned every bit of mental energy he had and forced himself to cast. His power was on the back of his smaller gargoyle now. Julius’s power and the smaller gargoyle were too much for the beast and it was being forced back into the cage. The voice came back into the creatures head again, "COME ON!!!! You’re almost their!!!!" It screamed as the brute finally broke the chains holding it. The other gargoyle was up now both grabbed the monster. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" It screamed out and punched the bigger of the two foes in the stomach, but he felt something go. He could feel the air on the other side of the gargoyle on it’s hand. It looked down and pulled its hand out to see that it had grown 8 inch claws! It swung them without thinking, cutting the bigger of the foes head clean off before it had a chance to react. The smaller one turned to run but still had its wing cut clean off at the base of the back. The force of the blow was enough to send it sprawling though, and it sent the smaller gargoyle straight onto Julius. Blood squirted out of Julius’s mouth from the instant pressure. The beast ran toward the wall to try and break out.

Janice was running down the hall that lead up the main holding cells. She came out of it and saw stairs that led down to the front door. The hallway continued on to the other side and it was a good thing too because their were two Tremere that had just ran in the door. They began to run up the stairs right away. One got to her, but she was able to shoulder push him down the stairs. The other one got out of the way and continued up. She got down to the end of the hall and heard Jacob’s voice behind her screaming for others to get her. She opened the left hand door and saw that they were stairs that led down. She went down them as fast as she could. She was half way down when they got to the first step above. She turned herself around again to grip the door handle with her hands that were behind her back, and ran for it. She saw the back door and decided if she was able to get out into the opening, she would have a much better chance. Suddenly the whole place sounded like it was about to fall down as a gigantic boooommmm rattled the 2cd story up above. She looked out the door and saw that the river was just beyond the row of trees! There river must go right through the woods she thought to herself as she flung herself out the door. The two Tremere got to the bottom of the stairs to feel another shake of the structure, and decided to carry on. As they got to the back door, they looked around and went out and that’s when it happened. Jacob saw two apprentices die before him, only feet away. The creature hit the wall for a 3rd time and it finally gave way. Huge chunks fell and as it flew into the night air, the chunks of stone fell and crushed the two new apprentices.

They never had a chance. Janice knew she couldn’t look back now. She heard all kinds of things happening; Jacob was shouting at the top of his voice, half the place sounded like it was falling to pieces and all she knew was that she needed to get out of there, "AHHHhhh!!" She fell. She got her shoe caught on a tree root and went head first into a tree. She lay stunned for a little while. She knew she had to keep moving or she would stick around to see a fate worse than death, that being the life of a gargoyle. She picked herself up and stumbled along. She was almost there, only 20 feet away from the river that would wash her away from all of this suffering forever. She was being blinded by the blood that was flowing into her eye but it didn’t matter, 4 more steps, 3, 2, 1, her foot went into the water. She kept walking but she stopped for some reason. She looked down into the water and saw her reflection with her good eye that wasn’t being bloodied. She saw her natural form, untouched by anyone’s fleshcrafting or Thaumaturgy, and she thought of her mother, because she looked the exact same way. As she was thinking, she let her body start to slip into the water, but was caught and she didn’t fal---caught!! "What! Who the ..what AHHHHHH!!!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as she looked down around her waist to see a gigantic arm wrapped around it, pulling her toward the sky. It flew along the water, not beating any wings but just moving at a very fast pace. She screamed again but the creature put its hand over her mouth. Which also covered almost half of her upper body. "If you want to see the night sky beyond tonight please for both our sakes be quiet."

Oh…my….god. She stopped squirming. She stopped trying to kick it, and she even shut up.

"Thank you, that makes things much easier. Hang on, we are being followed.." Its voice was not so deep but it was still rocky or grainy. She was beside herself. She had always thought without a doubt that gargoyles were not very intelligent, weren’t smart, and couldn’t hardly finish a sentence. In the past she wouldn’t have even let anyone tell her otherwise. She didn’t know what to do. It spoke like a man! What’s more, it sounded intelligent!!! It was too much for her. She was losing it and just let herself lay limp in it’s arms. She didn’t know if this was fate or what, but it had to be something. The beast flew hard to the right and down into the woods. They landed and she began to walk away to get her footing, but he picked her up and carried her over behind some trees. He put her down and told her to get down on the ground and kneel over, putting her head to the earth. She did not like the sound of this and started to back away. The creature said "If you leave me now, you will be taken back, please we don’t have time!" It was a harsh whispering voice, but it still held promise of safety from the Tremere. She agreed. She almost yelped when he covered her with his body completely, but not crushing her. "Please be still and quiet. No matter what you see, if you don’t move or make a noise, they won’t see us an-" Crash, Crash! Two new gargoyles landed in the same spot where Janice and her companion landed. The started to look around and smell the air and Janice almost tried to whisper, but remembered what he had said.

He, being a he, instead of an it. It changed everything she ever thought about them. She wanted to warn him about her blood, and that they might be able to smell it. She soon realized though that it was not a problem. She smelled piss everywhere. It covered the ground, and was momentarily fresh, as in the last couple of hours. Had he chosen the spot to lay down, because of it? She didn’t know, but closed her eyes and hoped. The gargoyles were about to come over to the spot where they lay and then they heard the same thing as Janice heard. Howling. Off in the distance, multiple howling; More than one. The gargoyles looked at each other and decided to take off. While fighting one gargoyle was ok for them, fighting a pack of raging mad wolves was quite the other. The took off. Janice stood up after he got off her, and asked if he could do something about her metal bar and cuffs. He reached a hand around behind her and snapped the metal bar like a twig and pinched the cuffs. The broke instantly. Seeing the beast in the half light of the moon made her realize just how big he was. He was 9 and a half foot tall and must have weighed over 900 lbs. He looked into her eyes with a longing that she didn’t understand and she looked at his facial expressions with a curiosity that would have to be followed up on.

His head was huge. The Jaw structure alone was bigger than the biggest dogs. He didn’t have a snout or long face, it was just a huge half malformed human face covered in cracked stone. He had ridges along the upper side of his eyes that extended around his head and where he would have hair, he had a almost polished bald portion that was unlike anywhere else on his body. She thought this might be a weak spot, but didn’t know. "We need to go unless you think you can handle whatever’s coming…" He looked over at the coming noise about a half a mile away and squinted his eyes. They grew big again when he looked hat her. "We will leave now, please.." He held out his hand, and she took it. He scooped her up and flew straight up into the night sky. The flew up at least 1000 feet so that they would not be hassled. She had spent some more blood to heal her head injury, which had stopped throbbing now.

For the first time in a long time, she felt free. She looked down at the landscape below and saw the river winding it’s way through the land and the moon light bouncing off of the river here and a lake their. She saw lights ahead and was pleased to see the city again. Not pleased about what was in the city, which was part of what she wanted to get away from, but still nice to see. They had kept to the river though, a strange course, she thought to herself. "Would you be angry if I asked where we are going?" "I would not, no. You will be mad at the answer however, Janice." There was something in the way that he said her name that almost made her feel uncomfortable, but she didn’t know what it was. "Why would I be…" She saw why just as she asked it, not even realizing that she should have known. The river goes right behind the Tremere’s house, but that’s not the only house it goes behind. 30 miles on the other side of the city of Little Rock 30 minutes drive away from the city limits, was a Mansion that had been there for the better part of 25 years. A huge place, resembling the royal houses of England themselves in beauty and stature, her Master and Sire’s house awaited beyond the woods and she did not know what she was going to say or do and looking into that water of the river, all she wanted then was her dead mother.

1 week later

"We have another 20 minutes before we leave so please, if you have any last minute packing to do, do it now and make sure everything of value of yours is locked in the appropriate places. Remember we will be gone for 1 month. I believe most of you remember what happened last year. If anyone comes to 'our' house again unexpected, I better be able to insure myself that you will watch over things. I do not like uninvited guests, and rebellious chi-, family are treated the same. I know that some of you mourn the death of Amber and her cohort but betraying me to the Setites will not be stood for. Nor will betrayal against each other. My rules of life are quite different than those followed by most of the rest of our kind. I make them so that we don't end up killing ourselves over petty squabbles, I would like if we remained family." As the vampire Demodus Morlandski (pronounced Dim / o / Dus ) stood at the end of the rather long banquet hall he spoke his last words and gave one of his childer a stern look. The entire brood was present. His own little family. There were over 30 vampires there in all, every one of them were modern day people (that is to say embraced within the last 25 years) except his two wives and himself. Mostly everyone was dressed just like anyone else on the street. Janice blinked furiously sitting in her chair looking at the wall opposite to her plate. She could feel his stare on her momentarily as a silence hung in the air over the entire table. Some knew that something big happened a week ago when the Master came home with slashes and huge cuts all over his body. Only his butler and very close friends knew, and of course Janice. She could still hear that scream that echoed through the Tremere cells. Now that she knew what had caused it she found herself thinking of it at odd moments, making her think about her sire all the more which was the last thing she wanted.

The table itself was long and slightly narrow with exactly 35 spaces for people. The chairs were decent, maybe 200 dollars each, not too vain, but nice to sit in. Her fingers slipped into the grooves between the silver buttons that held the smooth fabric down on the arms of the chair. She didn't have to worry about protecting her mind for any mental intrusions because it wasn't allowed. That didn't mean that she wasn't scared to death that one of the people in this room besides Demodus would find it out somehow and try to kill her. She carried a dark secret and she wasn't about to let anyone else find out about it that didn't already know.

That was the fact that she had betrayed her family here and her master above all and even knowing his laws she meet him that night when she got back and she had yet to be convinced that this trip wasn't her last supper so to speak. She thought that someone would have found out what had happened and what she had done. She had sat down tonight in front of everyone and not a soul had given her a funny look, even hardly a second glance. She knew that most of them were also slightly scared at doing something wrong, but that alone wouldn't have stopped them from shouting out 'betrayer' and starting a mob. She expressed the fear of mental intrusion to her sire and he explained to her that simply that "Anyone who broke the law of intrusion would feel their own mind freeze up and they would start foaming blood at the mouth, unable to speak." He said it was a relatively safe and easy ritual to do through Koldunism; it just needed a few changes to fit the situation. When he explained how it worked, she wished she hadn't asked. He said that the ritual gave the power of knowing to a air spirit that would instantly know the offender and proceed to force its way into their mouth and start to force blood up through their mouth, indicating that they were indeed the one doing it. He displayed this for her himself just to show that he was also not immune to the effects of such a power. She had seen a slight change in him since she had come back, one not entirely noticeable by anyone except her.

"Good luck, to everyone." Demodus said in a rather cheerful voice. As he stood, all eyes were on him. His wives who where usually at his sides on either side were at the University campus preparing for any attacks while he was away. He had already given his love to them, and would not be seeing them again for a little while. He was dressed in black Docker pants and a simple red short sleeve shirt.

Along with time came change and change for better or worse must be accepted he kept telling himself; and so too one must change their outfits with it. Oh he still had some of the traditional stuff, but that was for another time. His left hand rose from his side and everyone else stood. He bowed first to them low, so low that he couldn't even see them. He explained the reason for this to each one of them when he trained them for their dinner parties saying "If I expect any respect from any of you, I have to show you respect first." The rest of them bowed in unison, back. A butlers' spoon against a glass dismissed them all. Demodus walked his way over to Janices' side as everyone was filling out and put his hand on her shoulder to show that he wanted her to stay behind. After everyone left the room and the butler shut the door she had backed away from him slightly putting room in between the two of them just in case this was it. Her movement garnered a slight smile from him. "I only wish to ask you something on behalf of a friend Janice, it is rather interested if it did its job properly or not." "Whom are you talking about?" Replied Janice. "Sheaa, show yourself here in the plate." Demodus held up a silver plate so that the reflections of them both were in plain view. "Now watch. I will pull away from it and you will see it" He pulled himself out of the reflection and moments after a misty shape in the form of a face appeared for only a second and seemed to smile before creating a slight breeze by her hair before dissipating. She dropped the plate when the unfocused whoosh of air fluttered past her and down the hall. "Sheaa was your personal guardian tonight. I told you Janice, I will not let anyone harm you. Not while I have the power to stop it here." She didn't like the Kolduns of the brood or the almost religious like fevor that they followed it with. He was the one teaching them but that didn't mean that she had to like it at all. She would prefer it if no spirits were to ever have been brought into the world at all so that at least people would know that they are not being watched all the time by things. "Now, we must make haste; we have to go soon. Your things are already in the car, I suggest you go to the library and see if you can find anything that will occupy yourself during the times when we are not going to be together. I'll meet you at the front door ok?" "Yeah, I'll..I'll be there." "I haven't let you down yet Janice, and I don’t intend to. I will not go back on my promise."

She noticed that he almost called her childe again. It wasn't the fact that she hated it so much, it was the fact that he did. It wasn't something that you called someone on a regular basis in his mind, and as such he started to call everyone by his or her first names instead. Trust was to be earned with honey, not an iron hand. She walked away from him then. She put her fleeting trust in him to not stab her in the back. She went to the 2cd level of the library where her personal section was and decided that instead of taking one of her books she would go downstairs to the translation section and take out a Book on Spain. That was where they were going after all. She grabbed it and rushed up to her room to get her makeup carry bag that had the usual stuff. Keys, makeup, pictures, paper, pens, money, phone numbers, books, checks, notes, candy, gum, hair brush, manicure kit and a 8 inch knife. She was going to have to carry the book, but no matter. It was carry that or the knife and while she wasn't worried about carrying a knife around the people she was going to be travelling with, she didn't feel like having to explain how she accidentally killed the driver if he slammed on the brakes, sending her knife into his back through the seat. She was amazing herself. She was actually paying attention to detail for the first time that week. The rest of it was still a daze, but she was promised time to think about that later.

Walking down the 4th story hallway by himself, Demodus (not his given name, but one he answered to anyway) thought of how best to explain the situation to his friend who was waiting patiently upstairs for their game to continue. He opened the door to the game room where a variety of different things were to be played only to notice that his friend had already left. Rounding the pool table and walking over the cords of the video game controllers, he came to the chess table where all the pieces had been rearranged to their original positions save one. The black king was gone. He knew that would happen. Bastard loved that piece. Demodus had 'made' all the pieces himself from quality materials imported from the some of the finest chantries... around the nation. The black ones had to be treated of course to get the black sheen on them, but they were no less precious. Demodus could only smile. It fitted him after all, the black king. "hmm hmm mmm" he chukled to himself. He enjoyed his games. All kinds from games of the mind like chess to games of the reflexes like these relatively new machines that had 4 pieces on them that would light up in a certain pattern and get faster as the game went on. They were wonderful self-testing devices. Getting sidetracked, need to leave the game room now. He had to visit the library himself to get the new book that he had stolen from the chantry across town recently. It was a history of their clan, and he would be soaking it up with every part of his being. After being 5 minutes late he came walking down the main stairs and upon closing his mobile phone, he opened the door for Janice. She picked up her bag and followed. They were getting into the University's car. He owned it after all anyway. Blood bonding all the boards' members were necessary after the almost complete take over of it by the Tremere and Setites 3 years ago.

The car had been outfitted with new windows. They didn't have the traditional window tinting, they were a new type of plastic that was bullet proof and was black through and through but still allowed outer viewing. It was mirrored on the outside but the people on the inside could see out good enough. The trip was only 4 hours anyway so they could afford to travel the main roads. Demodus looked at the house one more time just to take it all in. The double front oak doors were massive. 15 feet tall and 4 feet wide, they presented a presence in and of themselves besides the fact that they were a 3rd of a foot thick. "These doors..." He reminded himself had been the front line of more than one battle down through the years; the first being well over a hundred years ago.

This is a continued story from the first 3 parts: By AcrypT

Janice stepped out of the car along with A woman named Amy. She looked like more of a girl really. Around 18 years old, no bra or underwear, and only wearing a plastic tank top shirt and mini pants that almost covered her butt cheeks. But none of this worried Janice. Nope, not even the fact that the girl had stared at her for more than an hour once on the trip. It was the fact that the entire time that Janice had spent at that damned house she had never heard this girl speak; ever. She went everywhere with him when he went out into the city or anywhere else for that matter. "Are you going to come or are you just going to stare at her Janice.." She snapped her head up almost instantly as her sires' voice addressed her. She didn't even glance at him. Two servants were unloading the luggage as Demodus, Janice, Amy and the driver walked down toward the boat. It was a nice yacht, about medium sized and it was pearl white. The servants were loading the boat up with the gear from the car and after about an hour making sure everything was in place, they set sail. The power yacht was of European design, but at 181ft long and 3 decks, it was rather nice. Up on the main upper deck Demodus was talking to Thomas, the owner of the boat when Janice came through the main deck door just in time to see Thomas getting his share.

"I am sorry Thomas, but I can't have you argueing with me anymore over petty matters, when I say we have to go now, we go and we don't wait until some dock controller says otherwise, do you understand?" A hoarse choking noise came from the captains throat as he tried to speak. Janice almost couldn't watch. She didn't agree with the way he did alot of things but had learned her lesson well enough the last time she interuppted him. The cold earth made for a lonely home... She looked back in time to see Demodus put his thumb claw through his wrist on his other arm and put it to the ghouls mouth. As the ghoul began to drink, he released his neck to a degree, and finally pulled the young blonde haired main away from his wrist. The young man went down to his knees and croched down as his stomach contracted once, twice and finally a third time as it tried to vomit up the foreign substance, but in the end, he stood up again, tears on his face. "I..I won't dis disobey you again master, I promise with my very life I promise please I" "Make sure that you don't Thomas, because now you have let an unknown into the equation. Look."

He pointed back toward the docks where the lamp posts were shining down on the wooden planks with a dull yellow haze. What stood out more than anything though was the limo that had pulled up to the very docking point where the boat had left. 4 shapes had gotten out of the car, one with long hair. They stood just outside of the lights glare, but still within viewing. "They were following us for about an hour and now I don't know what they are going to do, much less who they are. Go down below and change our route, ..." Demodus looked at Janice for a second and said " We will be going to Spain after Azores now." The younger musculed man took off at a hurried pace and shut the deck door firmly behind him.

"Must you insist on looking at me like I have just killed someone; it had to be done, I can't have him telling anyone we run across that he has alot of people below deck." "But...we don't have a lot of people.." Janice said with a slight questioning tone. "That's what Florida is for." "What do you mean, exactly." " I mean that when we get to Florida, we are going to shore and we are going to find plenty of people who want to go for a party on a yacht on the docks where their will be plenty of drinks. Most people who go down their do not have alot of family life to worry about and won't be reported missing for some time. " Janice looked almost disgusted at the thought. He was just going to take those people away from their lives forever, feed off of them and maybe even kill them.

"You can't do this, please there is another-" " Will you stop being my conscience for one minute and think logically woman. We are going on a boat trip and it is going to be a little long. We will stop off at Florida, and after that we will go to Bermuda, then on to Azores which will be our last stop until we reach Spain. I am pulling a couple of favors as it is to get us a good meal at those places. I will not have your nagging about mortal concerns. You have to accept what you are because you asked for it. I will not have a guilty conscience for embracing you and giving you what you wanted." "But you took what I wanted away from me!!! You made my lover practically kill himself for you and your stupid hate of the Tremere! I won't let you destroy anyone else's lives for some petty vengance an-" "Petty vengance!!! ararahhhh"

Demodus was shaking. His face changed ever so slightly as his lower jaw pulled itself back just a tiny amount as his massive fangs came down, almost twice as large as a regular vampires and his voice had changed from it's regular deep tone to a hoarse meaty voice that was half full of malice. "I have saved you from a fate worse than death twice now and still you defy me!. I haven't and didn't send him on any such errand. He wanted to go! I had to stop him before he left without the others! That's right! Their were others besides him that night, it was just unfortunate that he-" "That was killed?!" screamed Janice. "He was killed because you told him about a local Tremere chantry that had just been found out about, by you!!" She shoved a finger in his face, not caring if he was close to frenzy or not. He turned around at once and gripped the metal hand rails that surrounded the deck. He controlled himself and let go of his anger, squeezing the bar until it gave way under his hand, bending like a thin piece of aluminum. He couldn't do it. He couldn't break the promise that he made to Winston, he would not.

"Now you feel guilty, well it's not good enough! I caught the last glimspe of him as he got into the car. I saw him for the last time and I didn't even get to see his face! You let them go and didn't help them yourself you selfish bastar-" She had stopped just shy of letting herself go and do whatever it took for him to kill her when she saw something she had never seen before. A tear had fallen off his lower jaw and had hit his hand. The moonlight reflected its rich red color as it faded into shadow around the curve of the side of his hand. "You think I have no idea what so ever about love do you?" Demodus whispered to her. You want to see me as a monster soo much just like most of our clan when you just can't, and tears you up inside. If I was the monster you so paint me I would have snapped your throat by now and drained you for the upstart childer you are Janice. But I haven't because despite what you may think about me and the fact that I am many things, I am not a monster. I have seen what you saw at that house a week ago. I saw and felt your fear as you stood before him and those gargoyles. You constantly compare me to the very enemy I loathe but you got a real taste then. Even though it pains me to say it, you deserved what you got their." Janice had nothing to say. She honestly couldn't say anything back to that because she did go of her own free will and didn't care about the consequences of it.

"You call my vengance a petty thing but I can assure you, you have no idea of the scope that my vengance encompases against them. For three of your lifetimes Janice I hunted them down for one reason alone and in the end, they were still able to keep what was rightfully mine away from me." He turned around with his back to the moonlight and faced her; his features were almost completely shadow except for his bloodstained hand. She told herself that she had to be seeing things because the blood was disappearing before her eyes back into his skin. He must have licked it.

"What did they take from you that could possibly be anywhere near what you have caused me to lose." She wasn't going to give in just because he shed a tear, this had been building in the house for a while now and she was finally letting it all out. She started to cry slightly herself now. He held up his right hand to where his pinky finger shone in the moonlight, bearing the ring that had been there for over 200 years straight. A single band of gold, almost in pristine condition for its age. It would be just large enough for a womans finger. He said nothing. He knew that Janice was smart enough to know that since that ring was a wedding ring, she had better stop pressing her luck because it wouldn't last. "But you are married..to two different women even, you-" "I have been with Carmilla for 34 years and Saki for 5, they are my loves now, but before I was put into torpor, before many many things that I have done, I was mar, joined with another; and I'm not married to them, we are joined. I refuse to use the married term as it implies being religious. As small as it was, he could see a slight smile on the left side of her cheek. He knew that that was all he needed to press on. "I know you don't believe every word I say, but trust me on this one. This trip to Spain is to show you something. It's something you need to see, in order to believe me.

He had lost a wife, or as close as. She instantly felt like a true ass. Well she did ask for it, again. "I..I didn't mean th-" "You don't have to say anything. I don't expect you to. In fact I expect you to sit there and be a pig-headed as the first day I met you, only this time, I'm glad you don't have a vase handy to hit me with." "Hey I loved that vase. You came into my house completely unexpected and you broke in! What was a woman supposed to do? Just sit there and be bitten?" He turned to her as she shifted closer to him, crossing her arms. "Something like that yes.." "Teaches you to knock before you come in. The way I was then all you had to do was say something and I might have just invited you in and taken you to bed anyway." She emphisized the word anyway to such a degree that it made her sound like she was gagging for ..something. He went to put his arm around her and she moved away and swished her hair in his face saying flatly "I am still mad at you so don't try any funny business." He exhaled deeply and chukled slightly as he was about to say something, but changed his mind. He smiled slightly and looked up into the night sky wishing he knew who the hell was after him this time.