You take a mortal man, And put him in control Watch him become a god, Watch peoples heads a'roll Just like the Pied Piper Led rats through the streets We dance like marionettes, Swaying to the Symphony Of Destruction Acting like a robot, Its metal brain corrodes You try to take its pulse, Before the head explodes Just like the Pied Piper Led rats through the streets We dance like marionettes, Swaying to the Symphony Of Destruction The earth starts to rumble World powers fall A'warring for the heavens, A peaceful man stands tall Just like the Pied Piper Led rats through the streets We dance like marionettes, Swaying to the Symphony Of Destruction
When one has no goal, no purpose, awakening is almost instantly tiring. With Sebastian dead, the Rat has no idea what to do next. Lonewolf and Exclamation Point are awakening, though Hercule lies asleep. Strangely enough, Gold Dust lies asleep, though she is usually among the first to wake. No one takes much notice, though, as they forage for food and any helpful remains from the night before. Outside, the fire has died down to but a few tiny embers. As they are drinking down the dead Malkavian's stored blood, Lonewolf begins to watch Gold Dust. She is twitching, and every so often making the slightest sound. Suddenly, her eyes snap open. The look on her face is almost shocking. It is like a different person. There is no compassion or sensitivity in this face, it is one of pure determination. She stands, and begins to move.
The Rat goes to Gold Dust and asks where she is going. Gold Dust says only that there is something she has to do, her voice imperative. The Rat senses what may be going on here, and bars her way. Gold Dust instructs her to move, repeatedly, until finally, the tiny blonde haired Toreador intimidates the Ravnos to the moving. Gold Dust then begins to walk through the forest, and they all follow her, not sure if they should try to stop her or not, but quite certain they don't want to lose her.
They move through the forest, Gold Dust never missing a step. They continuously ask her what she is going to do, and she says she isn't certain yet, but that there is indeed something she has to do. They ask her why, and she gives them a look as if they had just asked why the moon rises every night. They ask her what might happen if she did not do what she has to do. She tells them that this is inconceivable. Indeed she cannot fathom a circumstance in which she did not do what she had to do. They leave the forest, and enter back into town.
Gold Dust moves in a straight line, regardless of what is in her way. She walks across the street, and Lonewolf rushes to push her out of the way of a car approaching fast. She continues, moving through someone's yard. A man emerges from his house screaming, and Lonewolf claims he is a police officer and orders the man back into his house. Finally, though, Gold Dust moves into a restaurant, and into the kitchen. A manager of the place steps in front of her and says she must go back. She insists that he "move", but he does not until Lonewolf, using his newly learned skills, assumes the identity of an employee, and says that Gold Dust is a surprise health inspector and gets them through. She continues until the group enters a small, run down jazz club called the Bucket Of Blood. There, she stops and sits at a table.
The group begins to check the place out. There are a few mortals hanging around, and a band that seems to be taking a break up on stage. The Rat asks Gold Dust what they are doing here, and she says she must think. She seems on the verge of tears. Finally, Gold Dust whispers that she is sorry, and she stands and moves to the stage. They try to stop her but it is useless, she makes her way onto the stage. One by one, she gives each member of the band a hard look in the eye, and they seem entranced. She goes to the microphone and takes hold of it. Slowly, the band begins to play, and then... Gold Dust sings.
I see a red door and I want it painted black No colors anymore I want them to turn black I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes I have to turn my head until my darkness goes I see a line of cars and they're all painted black With flowers and my love both never to come back I see people turn their heads and quickly look away Like a new born baby it just happens ev'ry day I look inside myself and see my heart is black I see my red door and it has been painted black Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue I could not foresee this thing happening to you If I look hard enough into the settin' sun My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes I see a red door and I want it painted black No colors anymore I want them to turn black I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes I have to turn my head until my darkness goes I wanna see it painted, painted, painted black Black as night, black as coal I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black
Outside, to all of their terror, they see a black van parked nearby. They feel watched. They go to a Mitsubishi dealership and Lonewolf again employs his talents to impersonate a Mitsubishi salesman, and manages to acquire a vehicle for them. Together, the pack climbs into the car, and they spot the van down the street, still following. They take off down the road, and make their way out of town. The area becomes more and more remote as they make their way down a road in the midst of the forest. The van pursues relentlessly, though never approaching. Finally, once they are far out of town, though, they decide to end the pursuit. Hercule loads his grenade launcher.
Hercule stands up, his upper body out of the sunroof, holding the grenade launcher. Very suddenly, their driver slams on the brakes, and the van comes closer, too close to spare them. Hercule fires, the recoil of the weapon slamming into his shoulder, and a projectile flies, barely slow enough to be visible, crashing through the windshield of the van, straight to the cargo area, where it explodes. Vampire bodies fly out of the vehicle, some of them almost instantly ashing, some crawling for a bit before dying. They have just enough time to be proud of this shot before they see a dark shape flying from the van overhead, gunmetal glinting in its hands, landing in front of the car and opening fire with two weapons. Tires pop and the vehicle slides to a halt.
The vampires pile out of the vehicle, weapons blazing as dark skinned, black clothed men return fire. Hercule takes a powerful blast to the head and is rendered unconscious, but the others manage to fend off their foes. Sensing that they don't' have much time and need to get out of sight, they grab up Hercule and make their way into the forest. They move as quickly as possible, though they know not where they are going. They sense, also, that they are still being followed...
The coterie continues on, coming to a farm house on the side of a road. They hop the fence and feed from some of the horses. They explore the house and garage to find that the truck's tires have been slashed, and each member of the family that dwelled in this place has been decapitated in their sleep. As has become instinct to this group of vamps, they immediately find any weapons in the house and stock up, all but the Rat, who goes out into the field and begins attempting to explain to the horse just what has happened here, and asking for it's help in transporting her to town. She doesn't get far, however, before she notices that someone is coming from the woods, approaching. She rushes to the house and tells the others, who immediately set up at the windows, preparing to shoot Jonas. Gold Dust is hidden in the downstairs closet. Hercule readies his grenade launcher.
There is utter silence as they watch Jonas from the second floor windows, peering over the awning as he comes closer and closer. Hercule takes careful aim, wanting to eliminate the Assamite in one shot. Hercule fires, and in the split second in which the projectile is moving, Jonas moves faster, leaping upward, sword drawn, slashing straight through the explosive and flying in front of the blast of flame, landing on the awning, breaking into the house through the glass. What follows is a frenzy of shots and slashes in the second floor hallway, everyone taking damage, Hercule being thrown out of the window, before Jonas leaps over the railing to the first floor, taking shots as he does so. They follow downstairs.
Hercule gets up and throws the door open to see Jonas's glocktastic spitting out shots at him, he is blasted to the ground as the rest of the coterie is spreading about the first floor. Jonas rushes through the rooms, dodging shots, and blades, straight for the closet where Gold Dust is hidden. He grabs her up and unloads his weapon on the vampires. He holds Gold Dust hostage. Lonewolf fires as the Rat rushes jumping up onto the banister on the stairwell to boot Jonas in the head. He flies at her, throwing his empty glocktastic straight to her forehead. She is knocked back as he makes it up onto the stairwell and to the second floor.
Lonewolf, the Rat, and Hercule chase him upstairs and loose shots after him even as he leaps out of the window. Exclamation Point, however, rushes outside through the door. Jonas is exhausted and wounded from this brutal exchange and runs for the woods. Exclamation Point fires at the escaping blur, but Jonas disappears, taking Gold Dust with him. It's all over.
The coterie gathers together and is now faced with the decision of what to do. Things seem to get worse and worse, without even a symbolic ray of sunshine to brighten up their lives. They have lost Gold Dust and are now stuck at this farm house. The Rat continues to talk to the horses, but they are in no mood to help her. Soon enough, something comes from the woods. They are all prepared to fight, but put away their weapons when they see that it is, in fact, Gold Dust.
Sadly, Exclamation Point and Hercule quickly recognize that this is not Gold Dust, but merely her specter. They attempt to ask her what has happened. She tells them that she was blindfolded and carried a great distance. Then, for a time, she waited with Jonas. Other men came, and there was arguing and yelling, before she was thrown into a vehicle and taken away by men she had never seen before. They try to get more information, but Gold Dust only cries and soon, vanishes away.
Lonewolf, via his nearly destroyed cell phone, finally gets in touch with Thomas, the intelligent ghoul. They discuss recent events, and Thomas gives Lonewolf the information that he had been ordered to search for. He gives Lonewolf the location of Black's estate, which is near to the towns that the vampires are currently between. Thomas promises to call a taxi for them to get them to town, and Lonewolf informs his ghoul that he intends to go to Black's estate. Thomas is shocked and frightened, and says that they should not go until he has done something. Lonewolf orders that Thomas come down to meet them as well.
The taxi arrives and the coterie piles in. They make the ride to town without incident. Once there, they procure a hotel room, and Lonewolf gets a call from his ghoul. Thomas tells them that he has found a mercenary who lives in the area, and gives them the address. They are already guessing who it is. Lonewolf and Exclamation Point decide to go together while the Rat and Hercule go for supplies. Lonewolf and Exclamation Point make their way through town on foot, headed for the mercenary. They don't know what exactly to expect, they never could have guessed quite what they found.
As they get closer to the address, they find a body in the street that has been chopped to pieces. They continue and find another body, and another. The more they move, they find bodies littering the streets, blood everywhere. Almost every house has been broken into. They step through organs and entrails getting closer and closer until, in the front lawn of the house they are to approach, they see a sword standing in the dirt. They pick it up, and cautiously they go inside. Inside, they find a dead mortal on the ground, bled dry and still clutching a bottle of booze in his hand. And lying on the couch near him is, of course, Jonas.
Jonas, though unarmed, seems hardly to care that the two vampires have come into his home. He is drunk and irate. He decides that now is the appropriate time to vent his frustrations about the world, how he hates everyone and everything, including the werewolves he was recently doing business with. He hasn't had a decent paycheck in quite some time. The werewolves didn't pay him because he failed to make his kill. Black's men didn't pay him aside from offering him membership with their cult, which he didn't care to take. They ask why Jonas didn't simply keep Gold Dust then, and Jonas tells them the unsettling fact that these vampires are more powerful than he.
Through slow, arduous conversation, Lonewolf and Exclamation Point, returning the Assamite's weapons, convince him to take the job of helping to rescue Gold Dust. They take him back to the Rat and Hercule, who aren't entirely pleased about the choice of hired help. Together, they go to a bar and find a young man whom Exclamation Point seduces and make their way into his apartment. Exclamation Point ties him down and then offers him to Jonas for food. Jonas, not hungry, simply slices the man to bits, although after he has expended a great deal of blood to get the alcohol out of his system, he does suck on the sheets for a while.
It was decided, then, that there was little time to lose. The coterie, plus Jonas, prepared briefly, then agreed to take Jonas's SUV, with the blackened windows to allow sleeping inside of it. They piled in and began to drive at Lonewolf's direction. They discussed the plan of entry based on Jonas's minimal knowledge of the cult. They decide to split into two groups, one of which will attempt to disguise themselves in whatever the cult members are wearing and enter through the main entrance, and the other will attempt to sneak in a back entrance and look for Gold Dust. They unanimously decide that they must avoid combat, considering that these vampires are more than a match for Jonas, and Jonas is the most battle-hardened vampire on the side of the rescuers. Thomas will arrive and be in contact with Lonewolf, who can order him to make a distraction when the time comes. Closing in on the mansion, they park the car off road, and head for the place where they all may die.
The resident illusionist creates the visage of a fire in the woods. As hoped, it is enough to draw a ghoul to investigate. The ghoul totes his rifle into the woods, and when the time comes, it does him little good. The coterie quickly dispatches the ghoul and proceeds as planned. Lonewolf takes on the ghoul's image, and his clothes, and they return to Jonas's SUV. All but Lonewolf hide in the back, concealed by the darkened windows. Lonewolf drives to the gate, where the second ghoul was just about to investigate after his companion. Lonewolf lies and says that he is bringing the SUV for Black, and gains entry to the compound.
The lot is massive, containing expanses of trees and at least three buildings that they see as they drive along the path. There is a stable, a small house, and of course, the great mansion at the center of the plot. In the woods, the strange, naked, bald ghouls skulk about, all identical and grotesque. As they drive, they see a great procession of vampires in black cloaks slowly making for the main building. Deciding that they need such disguises, they make for the smaller house. Once there, Jonas and Lonewolf and Hercule get out of the vehicles. Jonas and Hercule hide as Lonewolf goes to the door. He lies to the vampire inside to acquire cloaks, but he deception fails and fighting breaks out. The Rat and Exclamation Point rush inside as the fighting happens. The battle is short but brutal, the Lasombra springing black tentacles and thrashing the coterie about. No one escapes unharmed, but in the end, the Lasombra fall and the coterie takes the cloaks.
Having all donned the cloaks, the five rescuers make their way outside and begin heading toward the main building. They decide to split up. Lonewolf and Hercule go to join the procession as the Rat, Exclamation Point, and Jonas seek a back way in. Joining the procession, Lonewolf and Hercule find themselves surrounded by the black cloaks. Looking under the hoods, they see only blackness. Not mere shadow, but a deeper blackness. Desperate, Hercule pulls his hood as far forward as possible, and Lonewolf deepens the shadows under his own hood. The ruse seems to work, and they draw nearer to the house. In back, the Rat, Exclamation Point, and Jonas indeed find an entrance, one that is sunken as to grant access to the basement, guarded by several ghouls. With ultimate audacity, the three vampires make their way to the door, demand entrance, and are granted it.
Jonas, the Rat, and Exclamation Point move quietly down a long corridor of dank stone. There are few doors, and the rooms beyond them are empty, full of books and useless trinkets. The Rat examines one room, and it seems that, before the occupant deserted it, he was copying books, the most interesting of which is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy and so on, of the Book of Nod. The Rat pockets it and they return to the hall. Gazing down into the darkness, they see the hall split in a T intersection. Ghouls are there, and also, directly before them, a wooden door. Somewhere above, they hear chanting.
Hercule and Lonewolf have stayed with the procession and entered the building. They stand in a great antechamber, and they hear the chanting as well, somewhere within the place. The men in black cloaks stand all around them, none of them speaking. The room, and the hallway they enter into after it, glow of wealth and power. Slowly, the procession moves down a hallway, where on the walls hang paintings that appear to be little more than utterly black canvas in a frame. The Lasombra look on them with interest, but even Lonewolf's immaculate eyes cannot make out any form in the blackness. Finally, they step through a doorway into a great room, the chanting echoing inside, heard by hundreds of black cloaked cultists all gathered together.
A man in a red cloak instead of the black is walking about, his chant filling the room. Lonewolf and Hercule search the room for Gold Dust but don't find her. The man in red seeks out cultists and sends them to the center of the room where each will spill his blood into a great bowl, and each will then drink from it, becoming bound to the others. Lonewolf and Hercule attempt to avoid him as they search, but it is useless. Each and every cultist goes through this, and so does Lonewolf and Hercule. They begin to sense that the ceremony is proceeding quickly, as the alter and the bowl are removed from the circular tiled area in the center of the room. In all their searching about the room, they see no sign of Gold Dust.
Still hearing the chanting above, the Rat, Jonas, and Exclamation Point watch the wooden door. They realize that it is the same two ghouls continuously walking past the door, right to left, and know that the hall must travel in a circle around the room beyond the door. Knowing time is of the essence, they make for the wooden door. They are stopped by a ghoul, but convince him that they were sent by Black for Gold Dust. The ghoul asks if something is wrong with the machine, and they of course answer yes. The ghoul opens the door for them.
The three enter through the door to find Gold Dust tied on the floor in this circular room. They speak with her briefly only to suddenly realize, the chanting above has stopped. Just as they think to grab up Gold Dust and go for the door, there is a great rumbling and the floor lifts. Within moments, the doorway disappears beneath the floor, and the platform they stand on rushes toward an opening ceiling. Within moments, they find themselves standing in the center of a great room, surrounded by hundreds of silent, staring cultists.
There is utter silence for several moments as no one seems to know what to do, and all eyes are on the vampires on the platform. Finally, the man in red comes forth, and throws his hood back, revealing himself to be Black� a very angry looking Black. He walks to each of them and throws their hoods back. To the Rat's great relief, he doesn't seem to take any special interest in her. He proceeds to mock them for their foolishness, particularly Jonas, who should have known better. He offers the Assamite the chance to live if he gives up the others. Jonas, after a moment of thinking, goes out into the crowd to find Hercule and Lonewolf, whose phone has just begun to ring. It is Thomas, and he has arrived. Lonewolf tells Thomas that he needs his help immediately, and tells him where to find Hercule's grenade launcher, which was left in the SUV. His phone is quickly smashed, and he and Hercule are herded to the center of the room with the others.
All together standing amongst hungry looking Lasombra, death seems very close. The Rat decides, though that she won't go down without at least wreaking some havoc. Creating the most devastating illusions she has ever attempted, she conjures the forms of three great crinosed werewolves crashing through the ceiling. There is instant pandemonium in the room as these garou crash and throw themselves about and panicked werewolves flee and attack, hurting themselves and their friends in the process. An explosion is heard at the entrance, and many Lasombra go to see what is happening. Machine gun fire follows. Thomas has arrived.
The coterie rushes into battle, fighting the hordes. Every shot hits, it is impossible not to. The Rat and Exclamation Point try to protect Gold Dust. Black angrily rushes them only to be intercepted by Jonas, who stabs him and leaps with him up to an indoor terrace. Black draws a sword and the pair duels. Jonas is wounded, and the coterie becomes to busy fending off Lasombra to see how it ends. The Lasombra still have no realized that the werewolves are not real, and are still fighting them. To add to the frenzy, Lonewolf has begun flinging his flares at the Lasombra, starting fires, killing off the vampires.
Hercule lets loose the fury of every weapon he carries, emptying shot guns and pistols and sub-machine guns as much as he can, though more often they will be bashed or ripped from his hands by the crowd. He is pummeled and stabbed again and again, and eventually finds himself lifted off of the ground, carried weaponless, battered, and helpless by dozens of hands and tentacles. They take him outside, discussing what to do with him. Finally they name a place where they will take him, but it means nothing to him. He is thrown in the back of a van, and he sees and hears no more.
In the great hall, the battle is ending. Thomas's machine gun sounds no more. Jonas is gone, and so is Black. The Lasombra have realized that the werewolves are not real. Gold Dust lies in the center of the room, in the circle. Lonewolf, the Rat, and Exclamation Point are all staked on the ground, helpless. Now, it begins. Each surviving Lasombra begins to move. They stand amidst the blood and fires, and throw off their cloaks. Each is naked now, and holding nothing save for a ceremonial dagger. Each finds their place and stands still, chanting in unison. They lay down on the floor where they had stood. Finally, each holds the dagger to his own chest, to his own heart, and plunges it in. Blood sprays upward from every body. It flies as if from geysers, shooting out, far more than could have been held by the bodies. The blood gathers, alive, swirling about, covering everything, until finally, it all rushes to the center of the room in a great red torrent, before washing down, losing life, receding to the floor, pouring outside.
When it is over, Red Lonewolf takes a long moment to realize that he is not really paralyzed. Somehow, the stake has washed out. His battered psyche strains to think of something, anything, to do in this situation, but he finally simply stands and looks about. The only bodies in sight are those of the Rat and Exclamation Point, unconscious but clearly not dead. He begins to walk, in a trance, for the center of the room. There, he finds the body of Gold Dust. For a moment, he feels a surge of hope, but then it fades as he knows that she is dead. Why she has not turned to ash, he does not know, but he knows she is dead. As he looks upon her body, he remembers their experiment with the girl, drinking, and he hears her voice telling him, "Just Inhale�". Slowly, then, her body does begin to disintegrate, but it does not turn to ash, it turns to gold dust. And as it clouds around him, Lonewolf inhales. And consciousness is gone.
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