Fall 1425

Everyone's breath was held as the beautiful vampire stood in front of the mirror with her neck torn open. She had her small hands fully under her skin and had been messing around in there for what seemed like an eternity. They knew what she was doing and why but they all knew that if she messed up and killed herself they too would all be dead soon. The only one with the stomach enough to watch the grim display of power was Conrad and he sat patiently staring into the dark red hole of her neck, every so often whispering a small warning. "Right, my lady. Back just a tad bit. Move that vein out of the way just a dash."

She was attempting to create a little sack in the back of her throat and affix a muscle she could use to open and close it at will. She knew the prince of Paris well and knew what might be asked of her, heck she was almost counting on it. The sickening squishy sound that had been going on for nearly 10 minuets stopped and she pulled her hands out of her neck. She sealed up the wound that would have been fatal to a mortal as easily as one would smooth back a sheet on a bed. A light pat or two and a look or four or five in the mirror to make sure it was perfect again and she turned to her awestruck audience.

"I really should teach one of you this ability so I don't have to get so messy." As she licked her hands clean of her own brackish blood. Nearly unanimously, the group shrugged and got queasy at the thought of performing such acts, even in the name of beauty. Though most loved the physical feelings that power could create, the thought of wielding it was unsettling.

"Ok, time for a test." With that said she cut open her forearm and sucked up a bit of the blood resting in there. Held it in her mouth and squished it around for a moment and swallowed.

"Oops." She said sheepishly, "this is going to take a bit to get used to." Slurping another bit out as repeating the process she swallowed again. Looked up, twitched and eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, then the other, then back again. "Hmmm, feels like it worked" She made a face like she was wiggling her tongue around the back of her throat. "Yep it is there, let's see if I can use it." She looked down at the hole in her arm and took a moment to concentrate. The wound remained. "Ha! It works because it doesn't work!" she rubbed her hand down the length of her arm and the wound disappeared underneath.

"So why are you hiding yourself" Xander started "and returning to the burned out Paris" Xavier continued "to pick a fight with the clan Lasombra?" the twin's finished in their usual stereo manner.

"Pick a fight? Not likely my dears; we are vampires, after all. All the fights I have seen between vampires have gone for the defender, not the attackers. Not that I wouldn't try to attack if the moment were right, and I was aware enough to see it for what it was." She thought back for a moment of an opportunity missed but not forgotten. "No, I have found that if you are old and plan on getting older the best thing you can do is wait for the situation to come to you, because it likely will." She strode across the room and picked up a most unique looking long sword that she had been practicing with as of late with Marko. It was at first appearance just a white sword, looking very much wooden, but if you were to inspect it, you would find that it was made of bone � living dead bone with a blood soaked marrow core and all, much like its creator.

"No, I plan on making alliances and enemies; someone will pick a fight with me. The certainty of that I have no doubt. When you rock the boat, someone is bound to get sick and attempt to order you to stop; it is at that point in which you have a decision to make based off the situation. Is the person yelling just yelling? Will they attack when they are done yelling? Could you stop them if they did? Is the rocking worth the fight? Can someone else take the blame for the rocking?"

She shook her head and her now silver hair sparkled in the firelight.

Taking a moment to look at the boys she could tell her words were starting to sink in so she continued. "The list is long and nearly endless so you have to have a few answers made up in your head before you start rocking. If you don't, someone else may start rocking you before you get the chance."

The boys were starting to see the light, so she continued. "Honestly, I wish I still had a relationship with my sire's killer. Not that I wouldn't love to get the chance to take her out of the endless night, it is just that she has two things all vampires need to make it the long haul. Luck to begin with and the power later to not have to be involved."

Conrad sat quietly in a well-lit corner, writing like always, recording the events of this cursed creature as he always did. Marko, looking even more refined than he did just a month ago and maybe even a bit larger, sat rubbing oils into the straps of his Grandfather's armor, as he often did to keep it from getting old. Cleo, just finishing with Xander's hair, stood up to stretch her muscles and walked across the room to see just what Conrad was writing. There was the sword and its reference number to a volume created the day it was too, the analogy of the rocking boat, the boys being childed, fighting is bad even when necessary, a spider making its way into the room, Marko oiling straps, Cleo stretching.

A SPIDER!?! The words rang in her brain like a crack of thunder. She scanned the room looking for the invading arachnid. The last time a spider got into the room, Marko did see it and nearly crashed through a wall jumping back to get away from it. Looking around, she couldn't see it, she looked at Conrad for help in at least pointing it out but he was too absorbed in his writing and was no use. Camille likely noticed the spider, and she knew that Cleo knew � neither made any gestures out of the ordinary; just kept on talking. Cleo's eyes darted around the room looking for movement other than the expected.

THERE! It was making its way towards Marko, of course, crawling right for the jar of oil he was using for the armor. In the amount of time it took Conrad to lift his pen and start another word, she was across the room and snatching the spider from the side of the jar. She over calculated a bit and knocked the jar from the chair it was on, but before it hit the floor, she plucked it out of the air and set it nicely back on its original surface � but not its original place. As Marko reached to get more on his rag, he tipped the misplaced jar and it began to spill; Cleo caught it and set it right back before any of the contents were lost.

"Thanks, Cleo," the giant said with a smile.

"Yes, thank you, Cleo," Camille said, looking back to give her a knowing wink.

The boys and Marko just looked at each other, knowing that the spilled oil was not a difficult thing to clean up nor an expensive item to replace. They just sort shrugged and continued on with what they were doing. Camille continued her lectures about making allies with some of the upstart group calling themselves Sabbat, and how flesh crafting was a better cloaking tool for this excursion then the obfuscate they were learning.

Cleo returned to Conrad to see how the situation looked in writing. Among the multitudes of lines there was a little note "Cleo squished spider, caught jar twice and received thanks for both." There was a little 14 after that for the footers he placed on many pages that would later read: 14. "Thanks, Mom."

Ariel(Aurilia) - Tzimisce

Golden skin and eyes with arcane and Egyptian sigils drawn around them in differing hues of gold. Symbols of power and protection run from her shoulders down the length of her arms and stop at the tops of her feet and like wise along her often exposed thighs to the tops of her feet. Long metallic silver hair nearly drags on the ground so she often wears it over one shoulder as one would a scarf. Her fingers are tipped with golden nails that have edges of silver giving them the look of ten little knives. She would scarcely look human were it not for her fluid movements and unusually bright eyes. Combined, they giver her much the same lust as the metal she represents. Other than the whites of her eyes the only other contrasting color is the red of her full lips.

Aletta - Peregrine Falcon

Multiple shades of gold give him a displacing effect to his feathers. There are silver streaks in them to match Aurilia's. His beak is shiny silver as are his barbed looking claws and to keep from the norm he has little horns spouting from his head.

Traxal - Ghoul

He has a heavy thick brow and bonny ridges cover his knuckles and elbows. Every fat cell has been removed from his body and replaced with muscle, though the effect is something quite interesting; appearance-wise, he still needs to eat a lot even for a man his size. His bones are now as dense as three men and he weighs in well over 450 lbs. Even as frightening as his details may be, he is still extremely attractive and uses that to his advantage in fights. He looks more like a beautifully crafted sword than an exceptional painting.

"Ewww, I thought of what?" - Camille