Trip to the Theatre Options

[Virtue]

Dimming shop fronts dragged themselves past the cab window as Virtue peered out, shrouded in the shadowed back seat as the monotous drone of the cab lumbered it's way through the city, beams of light scanning the windows in relaxed rhythm. In times of quiet the beast does not slumber, the thirst was growing quickly within her, a week maybe two without sustenance had her drained and frustrated. The blood shortage was strangling the city's kindred and a fledgling like her had to be careful. You could get by on rats and dogs but she wasn't that desperate yet, at least she had an excuse to be her usual passive aggressive annoyed self. The cab driver mentioned something, she didn't catch it, she was more concerned about how ravenously she had been staring at him without realising it. In silence she turned to watch the city go by once more, drifting into day dream as an hour, maybe two seemed to roll by as leisurely as it was able. Soon the scenery began to change, the apartment complexes became smaller, the skyscrapers were now squatting tennant houses, plazas became alleways and gardens began making their appearance, nature's futile attempt at coexisting with kine. She responded to a vibration in her pocket with languid hesitation. Her fingers stroked the touch screen like ichor down bark, spam, the text didn't even register her concentration was that drained. Checking her inbox again she opened the last message from her sire.

From SASHA V:
L.A. General
Agreed time
Come alone
Dress casual
You know the drill.

The green glow of the phone screen seemed to wake her a bit as she lazily glanced at the driver, reigning in her rapacious bloodlust before forcing a calm nod. In an instant the car gracefully weaved toward the pavement, Virtue reached over to pay the fare, her eyes picking out the succulent veins throbbing in the wrinkled wrist the cabbie extended to accept. Not here. Damn the Masquerade. It took too much will for her to spring herself from the car, slamming the door behind her as a ploy to perhaps lull the beast into submission. 'Dress casual' meant trouble, she had on a parka with fur lined hood, beneath though a leather jacket and thick jeans tucket into rigger boots. As she made her way down the shadowed street her imagination took hold of her, trying to play what the evening had in store for her out. What did Sasha expect from her? She wasn't armed, if she needed weapons for his tasks he was usually the one to provide. All would become clear soon she hoped, though it rarely did.

Cresting a decaying brickwork corner the streets opened up to the towering beacon of light that was L.A. general, standing defiant against the encroaching night. She entered without incidence, the constant bustle of a hospital seemed to be rather withdrawn tonight, no emergencies, no chaos, fortunate for her. Passing the waiting room toward the reception Virtue moved, turning her eyes away from the gathered diseased kine, they disgusted her, but not as much as the fop doctors fauning over them. The gap between this place, where doctors picked and chose their patients and where medicine was freely given for minor ailments was a far cry from the poverty stricken 'hospitals' of her home, no wonder these people were so weak and lacking in the necessary brutality to survive without the crutch of wealth. As she approached the reception desk she remembered that the trick was not to acknowledge them, to appear so above them that they aren't worthy of your time and if they inquire about your identity it is they who are in the wrong for not knowing about your arrival. Virtue's pale cheeks burned as the disapproving gaze of the reception matron fell upon the dainty Russian doll. She simply strode on, heading for the doors she needed, gripping the handle she turned and flashed some consultant ID to the obese worker bees behind the desk, and the satisfying buzz that followed was accompanied by the lock giving way.

The monotonous whitewash corridors were difficult to navigate at first, signs often leading in circles, medical wards and departments expected to be large were in fact little more than the size of small cupboards. With no direction from her sire besides a room to meet him in it took her a frustratingly long time to get her bearings. Her earlier displeasure at being told she couldn't feed tonight until she was told to do so got her ire up, why had she not ignored her sire's instruction? Slowly but steadily she was beginning to hate him. Though with the hate came a tranquility, a peacefulness that seemed to overcome her when she thought about leaving him, it was alien to her, she had never known such a bond, perhaps her suspiscions of it's supernatural nature were true. Finally, Theatre 2, observation room. Temper flaring she burst through the door to the sight of her sire grinning at her arrival, teeth bared, turning his handsome countenance into one of dread ferocity, to a kine anyway.

'Privet Virtue!' He began in that floaty and flippant accent only drunkards can manage.
'No Russian. And that smile doesn't work on me anymore Sasha what do you want?'
'How jaded and angry you have become my childe, and lacking in respect, here. Have a drink to celebrate with me.' Sasha tossed her a bood pack, hospital sealed, a faint print from a torn of sticker read wast- on the front before becoming illegible. She passed the bloody bag between her palms, something about it turned her off, as usual the beast within wanted it anyway, but the texture of the blood, the colour, her instincts told her to decline his offer.
'You noticed then? Oh well, I had hoped you were less willful than that. Perhaps you'll live past ten years after all.' He turned on a switch at the wall and through the window beside them an operating theatre appeared, instruments and medical paraphenalia arranged obsessively around the room.
'A bloody business, surgery, though profitable. Where do you think the blood goes when they remove it so a surgeon can see his patients clearly?'
She'd guessed where this was going, this was so very Sasha trying to make a profit from the scraps people throw away, her knowledge of her Sire gave her the rest of his plan long before he'd finished explaining it to her. The medical waste, the dregs, the blood shortage was reaching crisis point and soon the kindred of this city would be out for blood, any blood. He wasn't offering quality, he was offering necessity, like a drug dealer leeching off his clientele he'd gather the waste from the hospital for nothing and sell it to the desperate weaklings. A dangerous venture, Virtue wanted no part of it as she knew he'd put her with the ghouls and theplebs dishing out sub-par blood to thirsty kindred on the street, a stupid position to place oneself in. Still it was always easier to go along with Sasha's wishes and ignore his orders later, a boon that he doted on her so at least.

'It still needs some work of course, but I'm working on cornering the market before the blue bloods get their greasy mits on it and impose their usual bourgeois bullshit laws.' He said sagely, mostly to himself, as he handed a pistol to Virtue. He often did things out of sequence.
'Take that, I've picked up a trail, I've led them to believe I'll be meeting you in there.' He nodded to the operating theatre. 'You can handle them right? Find out who they are, what they want, I leave their fate dependent on you,'
Virtue gave him a despondent glance before tucking the gun into her pocket, like she'd have any use for a gun in a hospital, his lack of foresight only served to increase the rage bubbling within.
'I knew I could count on you, I'm a busy guy, I've got to attend Elysium to answer for some other crap they think I did, oh and suffice to say this is our little secret for now.' With that her Sire departed, Virtue turned the operating room light off and waited in the darkness behind the one way mirror.

[NPC]

Greg and Chris
Anarch Ghouls

Outside the entrance they waiting as they searched for the one they sought. Two nights ago they had been approached by the one the Vampires called Zake, who was apparently an important person to the Anarch community. They knew little of what they were getting themselves into, and it seemed that Zake didn't know much more than they did. All they had to go by was a picture of their mark, and that they should keep their distance. Apparently this Sasha guy was up to something, and Zake wanted the details.

The night before they were split up, searching the few leads they had on the whereabouts of Sasha. Luckily, Greg had managed to catch him in the middle of some sort of business, and was able to overhear a meeting would take place tonight inside the hospital. Upon revealing this information to his partner, Chris, they decided to explore. Although it seemed a bit strange that the Vampires were to meet inside a hospital, they didn't question it. They had only been ghouls for roughly three months, and the more they learned of their new world, it only confused them more.

And so now they waited, for their mark to show himself. They had been standing outside for at least two hours, but still there was no sight of this mystery Vampire. Maybe Greg had gotten the information wrong, but he swore to Chris that he had heard right. They decided to go to plan B, check the meeting place.

As they strutted down the hospital isles, no one dared to stop them to ask their business. To be honest they weren't exactly sure where they were going, all they knew was that Sasha was suppose to meet an important client inside Operating Theatre 2. After about 10 minutes of wondering around the floors, they started to get frustrated. One sign pointed this way, but then another told them to return to where they came from. Eventually Chris had enough, and decided to nicely ask directions.

Shoving the nurse inside the open hospital room, Greg closed the door behind them as Chris made work of the nurse. She was scared, but he wasn't really going to hurt her. Chris cornered her, and she began to cry, sinking down into a fetal position. She continuously begged for her life, although Chris told her countless times she wouldn't be harmed as long as she told them what they wanted to know. She knew exactly where the room they were looking for was, and told them how to reach it, although it took a few minutes for Greg to calm her down enough so her words could be understood.

Now knowing where they were going, they couldn't just let the nurse go, she knew too much. But, as Chris promised, she wouldn't be harmed. Using some medical gauze found inside the rooms shelves, they bound her and gagged her, leaving her in the same corner she was cornered in. Closing the door behind them, they followed the directions she gave them and soon enough found where they were looking for.

They still hadn't seen any sign of Sasha, nor anything else out of the ordinary. As they approached the door to the Operating Theater 2, they hesitated to go inside. The door had a small window on it, but it was pitch black inside. Greg quietly leaned his head against the door, carefully listening inside for any sign of occupation. All was quiet. Either Sasha had already been here and they were too late, or they were too early. Either way, they couldn't just stand around.

Giving Chris a nod of his head to signal his intentions, his eyes shifted to the door handle. Silently Greg turned the handle, and slowly he pulled the door out. As the door opened, the hallway light poured into the large room, although it was barely enough for them to see anything. Chris entered the room first, as Greg remained outside, keeping guard of the door. The first thing Chris looked for was some sort of light switch, which he found not too far from the door.

As he hit the switch, the whole room became visible to them. The room was full of medical instruments, and looked as if it was more of a classroom than a place for surgery. He certainly wasn't quiet as he searched about the room, looking for any sort of clues that could put Sasha to the scene.

[Virtue]

Virtue ducked into a corner and draped herself backward into the shadow that covered her as the lights in the room went out. Her inner resentment at being used as a simple errand boy aside, something about Alexander's scheme didn't taste right, it was too simple for someone not to have tried before and bad blood in a time of crisis might be a bigger risk to the masquerade than he'd planned for. Risk to the masquerade, as if she bought any of it past the luxury of continued existence the camarilla afforded her. Lost in thought she hadn't noticed the large theatre doors creak open as the ghouls entered, but when the lights came on she instinctively ducked for cover. She waited below the windowsill, listening to the voices from below, but the screen between she and them muffled their words into obscurity.

It didn't sound like she'd been spotted, but she didn't quite have a plan yet. Peering over the rim of the window she took occasional glances to check the figure's position as he looked around the room. Her mind wandered to the gun in her pocket but she'd decided not to use it, Sasha giving her a gun meant this guy probably wasn't kindred Virtue was confident she could best a kine, a ghoul might need a little more leverage but she had the upper hand. She watched him circle the room once more, ready to make her move. From her hiding spot she monitored the time it would take for the trespasser to make another pass towards the observation room window and with each moment she clenched her fists a little bit tighter, let herself succumb to the rage of the Brujah that much more. Counting down the strides, 3, 2, 1.

To her feet. The figure on the other side reclined in terror as the form of a hissing vampiric teenager leapt up from below her fist drawn back like the tail of a scorpion before her knuckles drove their way toward him. Glass crumplied like paper behind the potency of her strike. Just before she connected she reached her fingers out and grabbed the ghoul by the chest, tearing him toward her with as much force as she could muster, the shattered pane creaking as she attempted to force the ghoul's body through the withered strength of the glass. Despite the aggression and adrenaline coursing through her, it took a few seconds for his form to finally bend backwards far enough to fit through the gap of the window, she finally discarded him into a corner, his broken bones would pose little resistance from now on.

Cracking her knuckles she smirked as she began the 'questioning.'

[NPC]

Greg and Chris
Anarch Ghouls

Chris

Bloody scalpels, rags, uncleaned surgery tables, it was the types of things that Chris found as he circled about the theatre. However, besides the signs of surgeries, there wasn't much that Chris could put together. He couldn't tell if Sasha nor anyone else had been here recently, or if he could pin any of the items he found to Kindred relations. As he searched, he called back to Greg on the other side of the door when he found something out of the ordinary.

Greg

Aside from a few nurses, the hallway outside the theatre room was relatively quiet. At this part of the hospital, there wasn't much business for anyone to be around aside from getting things out of storage. Although he received a few wondering glances from the nurses, no one bothered to ask his attentions. The observational theatre's were hardly used aside from classes, and didn't hold much of anything valuable, so the nurses saw him as not worth the trouble.

"Find anything yet?"

Greg called into the room as he cracked open the door, wondering what Chris had found so far. He wanted Chris to get a good look at the place, but something about the hospital seemed to... creep him out. If Sasha hadn't been here yet, he didn't want to be standing there when he showed up.

Chris

"Couple bloody rags, some used instruments, not really much go on by..."

Something in his gut kept telling him there was something he was missing, something he should know about. And because of this, he kept on searching the room, making another round about. He checked the drawers, nothing interesting... through the isles of the empty observation desks... still nothing new. He paused at one of the sides of the room, wiping a bit of sweat off of his forehead. It looked like the place was clean... He called out to Greg about his discovery.

"Yo bro, looks like the joint's clean..."

Looking above him, he realized that a giant glass wall lined one of the walls. He couldn't see inside of it, guessing it was a one way mirror... this gave him an idea. What if they found a way inside this other room, then they could wait and spy on Sasha without anyone knowing they were there! But, before he could think any more of this new plan, something caught him by surprise...

Greg

As Chris called back the news to Greg, he was glad that he didn't have to stand outside much longer. If Sasha hadn't been there yet, that meant that he could walk around the corner at any moment. He still didn't understand how Kindred worked, but if Sasha saw him standing outside the door he meant to enter, he could do some sort of voodoo brain reading thing... or something, he didn't know and frankly didn't want to find out. They were just there for information, not confrontation. At least that's what he thought.

Behind him inside the observation room, he heard the sound of glass breaking. He turned and looked through the window in the door, and to his horror he saw Chris being dragged through a window on the side of the room, by whom he didn't know. But Chris obviously was in trouble, but what could he do. He wasn't stupid, he couldn't fight a Vampire one on one. Cursing, he booked it down the hall, fiddling his hands into his pocket, trying to frantically search for his cell phone.

Chris

Whatever, or whoever, it was he didn't know. By the time he was able to react to the exploding glass above him, it was already to late. All he could do was grab at the iron clad hands that clung to his chest, desperately trying to rip them away. But it wasn't enough, he wasn't strong enough, and up he was pulled. The glass of the window wasn't completely shattered by whatever broke through it, but as he was forced through the rest of it, it certainly gave away, deeply cutting into his arms and legs.

He was helpless, this creature was so much stronger than he was. The Gangrel blood that fused inside him burned as he struggled to trigger something, some unknown strength inside him, but at this point it didn't matter. He was limp, unable to do anything as his attacker forced him into the room he was only moments earlier thinking about. He tried reaching upwards, to grab the top of the window to stop himself from being pulled inside, but she was just too strong, and he couldn't hold his grip.

It all happened to fast, and he couldn't think fast enough to react any further as his limp body was tossed like a rag-doll to the corner of the room. As he felt the impact of the wall, he heard the sound of his ribs breaking long before the pain overcame him. He was cut badly, pieces of glass still wedged into his skin. He was sure both of his arms were broken, and no matter how hard he tried to move them the pain became too much to bare, until he gave up on them. The pain in his stomach made it hard enough to breath, let alone move. As far as he was concerned, he was already dead as he stared up as his now visible attacker as she stalked her way over towards his felled carcass. He tried to beg for his life, but the words couldn't escape past his fear. He only mumbled, whimpered, and cried as he knew that his life was soon to be done for.

Greg

Plowing through the first set of double doors he came upon, he crashed into a doctor who went flying back, Greg only barely stumbling as he still ran at full speed through the hospital. With his cell phone now out, he hit speed dial #2 and pressed it hard against his ear.

Ring.... Ring.... Ring... "What?"

[Virtue]

Virtue looked at quivering wreck before her in disgust, only a ghoul could survive that. Leeching off kindred blood for a taste of the high life, parasite. Her nails dug into her palms, legs tensed as her boots took root into the floor, something within her didn't want to stop, it wanted to continue until this guy was pulp, unrecognisable, but having bested her opponent so easily she'd gathered a few crucial seconds to get her head back. No. She told herself over and over. No, calm down, you can't question him but go any further and the masquerade could be breached. The mantra of the masquerade repeated itself inside her head, a calm, logical bastion of discipline against the instinctual howls of the beast, baying for blood, it's rage uncontainable. Wrestling with the anger, hunger, hatred and frustration that drove her wrath she paused for several moments, teetering on the brink, the mere fact she was considering letting this scum live signified the beast was losing this fight. She stared at the ghoul with barely contained bloodlust, there would be no answers from him, she could see the fear and desperation within his watery eyes, the trembling lips, a lamb to the slaughter. It would still be some time before her anger subsided, but with the return of her cool calculating self came the winter borne logic. He had to die. Whoever sired this ghoul had to know about Sasha, which means they weren't some street level fledgling, dispose of him, and dispose of the body. Stalking toward him her fingers stroked against his cheek, her thirst within her raged for blood, but the sickening crack of his neck as Virtue's grip twisted it atop his spine put an end to her hunger, for now.

The intruder dead she looked around at the devastation she had caused, what a mess, she needed a quick and discrete way of disposing of the body, looking around she noted the table and an idea formed within her head. Leaving the body where it was for now she smartened the room up a bit and dimmed the lights so a cursory glance through the window revealed nothing out of place. Confident her violence would go undiscovered before she got back she slipped out of the room into the hallway. No sign of anyone, good, straightening her coat she headed down the hallway towards the wards in search of a trolley to transport the body of the deceased ghoul. First she needed something less conspicuous. As she approached the ward she dodged the glances of the receptionists and quickly surveyed the nurses present, noting a hurried younger woman with a worried look upon her face. Following after her she caught up to the nurse a few paces out of sight of the others, showing her the fake id from before and asking her where she might get some spare scrubs. Virtue grinned inwardly as the other nurse did to her, seeming relieved there was someone else as lost as she in this place, quickly offering directions to her fellow newcomer. Glad for the advice the russian terror went off to the designated changing room, ducking inside and again flitting past the passing glances of the other staff present. Perhaps the relative calmness of tonight had made everyone let their guard down, all the better for her as she changed into the flimsy pink nurses scrubs.

She knew she had to be more careful this time, doing her best to keep out of sight of staff by ducking into alcoves and closets when required she navigated the quiet corridors looking for an unattended trolley with sheet, it was harder than she thought with all the drama of a medical ward going by, who could pass up the opportunity to mingle with a new nurse? Dodging a few groups and hurrying past those who's attention she caught, her scouting mission continued for some time more before she would finally find a suitable trolley. Making her way back to the theatre with it was difficult and time consuming require patience and time which she was lacking, she hoped she had not spent too much time dallying, and wondered whether it really was a good idea to go back there. Her fight or flight instinct told her to just beat it, but that odd sense of responsibility to her sire came back fighting, she still wanted to know why as her feet carried her back to the chaotic scene, her frustration growing at her compulsion to help him and his avoidance of the subject.

[Zake]

Zake never looked back once as he sprinted his way through the nightlife of Downtown LA. You would think that at 2 in the morning people would be long asleep... WRONG! The streets were just as crowded during the night, just with a different sort of people. Instead of the business class, you had the young kines out to play now. Nonetheless, Zake passed through them all the same, trying to weave in and out of the clutter. The museum was a little further away than he thought, getting lost in the maze of alleyways put him further back than expected, but he still made good time. He hoped that the others were still following him, but he really couldn't worry about them at the moment. If he didn't hurry, Greg's life might be in danger, and more importantly the culprit could get away.

Finally after a good 15 minutes after the phone call had been made, Zake came dashing up to the hospital. Even though it was late, it was still a busy place. Maybe in other cities it wouldn't be as bad, but a city as busy as LA... yeah, there was always problems to be had. But it wasn't overly crowded, and upon running up to the main entrance Zake easily spotted the ghoul Greg, the man who was on the other side of the phone.

Approaching Greg, Zake could tell he was in a bit of shock, pacing from side to side and not yet noticing Zake. As he walked up to Greg, he hooked his hands upon his shoulders (which made Greg jump suddenly in surprise and instinctively try to defend himself, although after realizing it was Zake who was upon him, he let his guard down and relaxed himself).

"God damnit Zake, what the hell man?"

Still holding his grip, Zake looked at Greg in the eyes.

"Looks like yer ok. But we don't have much time to talk, it's dangerous for you to be here. You did well mate, let me take it from here."

Giving him a smile, he released his hard grip of Greg and give him a strong pat on the shoulders before completely removing his hands. Greg understood and did as he was told, and hurriedly left for the streets beyond the hospital. As he watched Greg walk away, he could tell that he was still very nervous. He had seem some bad shit tonight, he had done his part... now it was Zake's turn.

But, he then remembered that he wasn't alone at all. Amakae and Alexander were right behind him... right? Turned his head around, he checked to see if they had indeed kept up with him...

[Amakae]

Following Zake wasn’t too difficult since they couldn’t use Celerity out in the open like this, the night life seemed like it was just getting started. There were the prostitutes in less clothing then a bathing suit peddling their wares, thugs waddling around with their pants half way down their asses and bag ladies who looked worse then Amakae did right that moment. And just after getting into a fight with a couple of Nosferatu was warrant for looking a little unkept. It bothered Amakae that she was looking less then she had been only an hour or so before. If she had had her choice, they would have stopped off so she could clean up before going on this little errand of Zake’s. In the end, it might just get her exactly what she wanted. A spiteful ‘fuck you’ to her Camarilla sire, who swilled wine and threw money away like it was confetti.

Amakae was still getting used to LA, the streets were easy enough to navigate, especially making her way through the maze of people. But if she had been attempting to find this place without Zake or a GPS, she would have probably gotten lost. Amakae wasn’t one to actually ask for directions unless it wasn’t directions she was looking for. Stopping barely a minute after Zake had arrived at their destination in front of a Hospital, she stopped beside him just as he was dismissing what she suspected to be the ghoul that had failed to do the dirty work. Amakae raised a brow as she listened to the last of Zake’s words. He treated the Ghoul like they were equals, amakae had never seen such a thing. Not that she was cruel to ghouls, she was just used to the way the Camarilla did things and Ghouls were generally the bottom of the food chain. She didn’t comment on the strange occurance and watched the ghoul hurry off across the street.

As Zake turned his head to look behind him, Amakae grinned. “I think you win father of the year award.” She gave him a wink before taking a step forward. “So. What’s next?” She asked, there was no hurry in her demeanour. With her hands slipped into her jean pockets and her clothing hanging off of her awkwardly after their scuffle. She had at least straightened her Mohawk.

[Alexander Victor...]

Such an annoying thing to roam around a city full of kine. The rules that kindred lived by only hindered their true abilities, a situation that did not occur out in the wild. Yet Alexander was being a good little kindred and playing by the rules. Zake and Amakae were running at a pace he could easily keep up with so long as they didn’t use celerity. The mindless drone of cattle that continually blocked his path forward only served to increase his annoyance with the city. Those that didn’t see the three running and move were forcefully pushed out of the way. Alexander had no patience for being polite when running through the crowds. All of the people were wrapped up in their pointless lives to the point they didn’t see the world around them. The three kindred were running through the streets while the cattle thought that they were the top of the food chain.

After running for 15 minutes or so Alexander was content to see that they had arrived at their destination. It was the LA General Hospital; bustling with activity as doctors, nurses, and EMT’s did all they could to help the sick, weak, and dying. When they stopped he noticed Zake talking to a human and assumed from the conversation that it was his ghoul. It was odd watching Zake treat a ghoul with kindness and equality. Alexander never had much use for ghouls but didn’t see the need to pretend they were equals.

He walked past Amakae and Zake towards the entrance of the hospital. With both hands in his hoodies front pocket and the hood covering his face he approached the hospital entrance slightly more intrigued than before. He stopped at the entrance and looked back at Amakae and Zake and waited for them before he entered the building.

((OOC modified))

[Virtue]

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea. Why am I doing this? For Sasha? This is idiotic, what a fucking stupid fucking idea, that prick, and fucking masquerade too! To hell with this. Virtue's internal monologue raged as she tore down the corridors with a gurney, Brujah blood at a slow simmer she barged through the corridors, stubbing the trolly into corners to russian exclamations as the wheels cocked and swiveled in any direction except forward. The feral beast in her voice seemed to cow the kine as she passed, and rather than go any further without notice she merely made them too shit scared to question her. Theatre 2. She rounded the corner and paused abruptly as she hit the corridor on the other side. This was a bad idea, but it was an even worse idea to go unprepared. 'Take your time, slow down, think this through. If this guy had backup they could come at any time, and now you're weaponless. Not good.' Parking the trolley against the wall she surveyed her surroundings further, no guns, knives, axes or swords in a hospital, but death can still be dealt with aplomb for those with the creative knack to do so. Instantly thoughts began swimming in her head, 'defib. pads, acid, cyanide... No, more practical.' She wandered the corridors seemingly aimlessly for a while longer, the signs that marked departments becoming increasingly interesting to her.

The weaknesses of kindred, sunlight, decapitation, fire. The dawn was still some hours away so it seems the young Brujah would have to make do with the latter. Optometry, Paediatrics, the signs went on as the hospital branched out around her until one caught her eye, Pharmacy. Heading in she attained the attention of the male nurse behind the counter, who grinned with gusto at her show playful unconfidence, a touch of presence and a few whispered promises and she soon had a short window to check out the shelves behind. She wasn't interesting in the prescriptions, and so headed for the stock room. Aspirin, Cough Syrup, not the most conventional means of dispatching a Vampire, Isopropyl. Something about the label caught her eye, whether it be the word 'alcohol' or the flammable symbol on the bottle who can tell. There were a few small bottles of it left, but that wouldn't do, she fished around in the pockets of the nurse's scrubs she'd stolen. Cigarettes, lighter, handkerchief, car keys, spotting a trash can she lifted the lid and smiled as she noted a discarded plastic soda bottle. It wasn't long before she'd emptied 4 or 5 of the vials of Isopropyl into the plastic container and shut the lid. She'd finish her molotov later.

There wasn't time to explore further, she'd already come far. Rushing back over her steps she made it to the Theatre corridor once more with the trolley and charging behind it pushed it into the operating theatre, setting the gurney beside the broken window into the operating room, she rounded inside of it herself and started the laborious process of shifting the ghoul from his resting place onto the stretcher. As a final precaution she scurried back into the main room and grabbed a surgical... thing. It was a bulky and complex device but it's weight might make it an effective club. Back to the task at hand then.

[Zake]

Although he didn't know why, Zake was quite happy when he turned around and saw Amakae and Alexander still there. He had grown so accustomed to working alone, having backup with him made him feel a bit more at ease. But deep down he knew that he really couldn't be relaxed at all. He still knew very little about these kindred so he shouldn't really trust them fully just yet, but with the current matter at hand he couldn't be worried about it just now. He would just have to take his chances...

As Greg ran off, Alexander went briefly ahead to the door and waited there for whatever would happen next. Amakae looked at Zake and with a grin said:

"I think you win father of the year award."

This made Zake shake his head as he looked past Amakae into the distant downtown streets of LA, where he could still see Greg running to get the hell out of there.

"Yeah well... we were all human once, right? And besides, Greg doesn't belong to me...

Taking a step closer to him, or the door, they were both in the same direction, Amakae winked at Zake and asked about what was their next step. He turned back and glanced at her, then to Alexander, and then started to steadily walk towards the front door of the hospital.

"Now we find the bastard who killed my ghoul."

Passing by Alexander at the front door without speaking to him, but giving him a firm nod of respect, he waltzed straight into the ER entrance. Even at this time, the main lobby was full of kine waiting for their name to be called by the single receptionist who was sitting behind a desk nearby. Going straight up to her, she barely glanced up at him as she plainly snorted, "Name?"

(Presence 1, Awe) "My name? Oh that's not important, not with such an attractive young lady sittin' before me."

Glancing briefly at the nurse's name tag, he see's that her name is Nancy.

"Nancy eh? Why that's a beautiful name. Nancy Nancy Nancy... oh I can say that name over and over and never tire..."

Honestly it didn't really matter what he told this lady, he could tell her fat ass she looked like a monkey and smelled of cheese, yet she would still eat up every word he said... although it was fun to do at times, he wasn't in the mood for games. Now he easily had her attention, she was blushing bright red and seemed a bit speechless, barely able to mutter a "oooooh".

"I'd love to stay and say you're beautiful name some more, but me and my colleagues here have an appointment in the Operating Theater 2 that we're rather running late for... could you kindly point me in the right direction?"

Although a bit out of breath it seemed, she quickly explained to him the route they needed to take to get the the Operating Theaters. As she finished, he reached out and softly placed his hand on hers.

"Thank you for everything, Nancy. I hope we meet again soon."

Turning his back to the nurse, he now addressed Amakae and Alexander as he pointed off into a distant corridor.

"Looks like we're headin' that way. Dunno what to expect, so don't drop yer guard..."

[Amakae]

Amakae tilted her head to the side and nodded, deciding whether she could agree with Zake or not. He was right after all, we were all once kine and if it hadn't been for them, Kindred wouldn't exist. That would just twist some of the more aloof kindred out of joint if they heard that one. Amakae though, she was easy going. "Good point." She admitted more to herself, under her breath.

As Zake started towards the front door of the hospital, Amakae followed. Now she understood why Zake was upset about this. The second ghoul that had been with Greg, had been Zake's. And kindred rarely ghouled some idiot off the street, his ghoul must have meant something to him. Amakae had never ghouled anyone, she just liked to keep kine pets who she fed off of whenever she didn't feel like going to The Next Chapter for a drink.

Watching Zake as he Presenced the kine at the desk, Amakae lost interest quickly and peered about the waiting area and reception. It had that sterile, white wall look that most people hated. It didn't bother amakae overly much. At least it was kept clean. Amakae had a chuckle to herself as she listened to Zake sweet talk the woman unnecessarily. She would never have pegged Zake as the sweet talking kind. He wasn't even that great at it, though Amakae thought that Presence was wasted on the Brujah.

Settling her gaze back on Zake when he turned to face both her and Alexander, Amakae nodded in understanding. "You got it boss." Amakae inspected her nails for a moment, with a disapproving look. She would have to find something a little better to replace her weapons of choice. A fist did alright but nails did a lot of damamge. Unfortunately it also did damage to her carefully manicured nails. Peering down the hallway, where Zake pointed, Amakae started towards the illuminated walk way that was littered with a gourney here and a cart there and even a wheel chair.

[Alexander Victor...]

It was an interesting sight to behold, the rebel Brujah charming the kine at the front desk. Zake’s words were of no grand charming design but it was the blood that made the woman swoon. On some level Alexander respected Zake for using presence to trick the woman. Not every battle is won by fists and Zake showed more finesse now than during the alleyway fight earlier. Even then he found it hard to pay attention to Zake’s conversation. The room was hectic as tons of people littered the floor begging for help. The sound of so many weak kine made Alexander’s blood curl. “It would be so easy” he thought to himself as he could taste their sweet blood on his lips already. As much as he wanted to though Alexander did not act on his hunger. Despite the ease of the hunt there were too many around to witness.

His eyes darted from corner to corner observing the other simplicities such as the three police man armed with tasers, batons, and each carried the standard issue Gloc22. Then there were the two video cameras that they passed entering the hospital and the three other cameras that watched them now. There was no place to stay in the shadows or to stalk. The ability to blend into the crowd of a bug city, let alone a crowded hospital was lost with his humanity. While his senses where being overwhelmed a small bow walked into him while Alexander stood still. He looked down at the child with contempt and anger. The boy looked up and apologized walking around him. His left hand unclenched as he successfully held back the urge to hit the child. Zake walked down a corridor with Amakae only steps behind with the warning to expect the unknown. It seemed like an obvious thing to do and he wondered if Zake was underestimating them. Either way Alexander stayed quiet keeping his opinions to himself observing everything around him.

[Zake]

With Amakae only slightly ahead of him and Alexander close behind, the trio of vampires stalked the halls of the hospital as they followed the directions from the lovestruck nurse. Without the directions, they would have had a hell of a time finding the way with all the hallways and elevator rides. But as they headed to their destination, they kept their guard up and their senses sound. Although Zake knew what Sasha looked like, he didn't know for certain it was Sasha that had killed his ghoul, if Chris was in fact dead. Greg had only seen him attacked before he got the hell out of there, so there was still a chance that Chris was still alive for questioning. Rounding another corner, the smell of blood became overbearing. They must be close...

It was a good thing that Zake had only just fed earlier that day, otherwise the smell may have been enough to send him into a frenzy. Even though still, his clans heritage made it difficult from resisting the temptations of the beast, but his determined goal of finding his ghouls murderer was enough to help him shrug it off. Only feet from them now was a sign on the ceiling that spelled the words 'Theater 2'. The door that lay in front of the sign reflected the same words.

Without taking any time to investigate through the window, Zake slammed his foot up and kicked in the door to the theater, taking it off of the hinges as if flew a few feet into the room. He didn't wait to convey with Amakae or Alexander, they would either follow him or keep watch, it was up to them.

[Amakae]

Amakae had stepped aside for Zake as he brushed past her to violently kick the door open to the operating room, he definitely seemed to have a lot of anger built up in that large frame of his. Of course, every Brujah had that problem it seemed. Amakae was familiar with the theatre like surgery rooms, they had a large set of glass windows that were generally sound proofed and one way in appearance. A large operating area that could store a large crowd if need by and possible even two tables. She had left her self consciousness at the door, her appearance was now on the back burner of her mind.

The sight and smell that greated them had Amakae's muscles in her abdomen clenching. Not because it was sickening but because the scent that greeted her made her think of a nice delicious dinner. After the earlier fight, Amakae was left a bit peckish. She would hate to see how Zake felt after the alley way.

There was blood all over the place, the viewing window was broken and glass was spread all over the place. It looked like someone had been flayed alive with all the blood, minus the body. The one thing the room lacked was the body. Amakae stepped inside the room, ignoring the fact that her heels stepped in blood, she peered about to see if the body or any parts may be hiding around. Amakae heightened her senses for anything they may still be lurking around, she didn't want to be caught off guard while she had a look around. "Nothing, just blood." She mentioned as she peeredover at the broken window. It might be a good idea to see if there was anything within the viewing room. She would let Zake make the call.

[Alexander Victor...]

The trio had reached their destination. It was an operating room with the sign theater 2 above the door. Alexander found the name of the room odd. It was obviously for viewing surgical procedures but the irony of it being called a theater was impossible not to ponder. After all even though Kindred had no souls Kine could be just as soulless. It was the way humanity had gone able to cope with the violence of a world that lost its soul long ago. A thunderous thud awoke Alexander from the contemplation his mind had wondered off into. It had been the work of Zake, apparently taking frustration out on the door, perhaps because it was an inanimate object that couldn’t retaliate. Technically the door would have opened with a flick of the wrist but Alexander didn’t particularly care about the door’s physical structure.

He was the last to enter the room and the site that waited for them was one he could have done without. There had definitely been a fight in the room with someone as the ultimate loser. A life had been lost but the body was no where to be found. Alexander knew that the chance of the dead missing person being Zake’s minion was high. The blood though… the blood was enticing. The aroma alone pushed the very edges of Alexander’s senses. His left hand clenched onto the spot of his chest where his heart once beat. Nature was taking over as Alexander could swear that his heart was beating again. It had taken so much self control to just walk into the hospital and not have his way with the weaker cattle. Now to be enticed by a floor covered in fresh pushed the very fiber of his being on the edge.

A right hand could be seen clutching the frame where the door had once been. He dropped down to his knees trying to fight back the beast within. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, get a grip.” He repeated over and over in his head hopping to fight back the hunger. Its not as if he had not eaten recently but to be so over come with hunger was frustrating. Eyes closed and saliva dripped from his mouth followed by small convulsions. Then it happened, the beast withdrew. Alexander regained his mind and stood back on his feet. “I’ll wait outside” he said as the young Kindred turned his back on the group and walked down the hall within earshot.