New Years Day, 1198 A.D.
I am pensive about writing what I am about to next, for I believe that I may be witnessing the darkness sucking in a vampire I call friend. He is powerful and has powerful enemies but I believe his worst threat comes from himself. I think back to what started this all, I think it was the Prince of Paris and her worthless gauntlet running. She asks too much for the party to accept and there is where I think the problems began. He is a troubled vampire and the shadows pull on his soul more than the others. The night of the wolf attack was I think the darkest shadow began to grow. That severely damaged the party and again I had to be contained (what would they do with out me) and only the leader of the pack made it out. That was a misfortune again for us, for I volunteered to scout ahead, spring a trap I could likely avoid and give the gang a needed warning. Sure enough there was a trap, Zeus noticed a form, the body of the werewolf leader, stuck like a pincushion with arrows between some trees. I didn't notice the trap, like some novice, until it was sprung and I was nearly punched full of holes myself. Zeus is so much more alert than I, when he disappears I should take that as a sign and skedadle myself. He screeched out his normal warning to the gang behind and they all came running prepared for most things, to bad I can't teach people what he was really saying. There really is a different screech from "Found the wolf dude" as opposed to "Lots of men with arrows". Oh well, their loss I guess. The battle ensued and things got nasty fast, Zeus picked out a cloaked archer running through the trees. He was snapping off arrows at the gang as they were trying to take down one of the other Tzimisce dogs that ran amok during the Halloween festivities. A fog rolled in that seemed to make the human archers stop but that was of little concern for one that doesn't breath. Ramiro was taking it hard, stupid feathered sticks protruding from his body, though none important enough to stop him. I followed Zeus' unerring directions to find the other archer. As I came upon him I caught out of the corner of my eye Ramiro go down, Neheb and IK continuing the fight to fend off his devilish attacks. The archer would not get another shot off. I pounced on him, fumbling his last shot, and tried to sink my teeth into him. I bit down hard and to my shock, nothing! Crap, I thought this is the other Tzimisce, but that sobering thought came a second to late. He had dropped his bow by this time and he sank his hands into the back of my legs, literally. Here I thought, all these years of unlife ended in some stupid forest for a stupid mission. Somehow he gave up before my last breath, per say, and I got a tooth in. Ahh, blood again. Its taint was that of an evil Tzimisce but it was nourishing none the less and I was nearly out, I could feel it! I contained the beast, but I took his vile unlife anyway. That was new experience, the rush of power, and the feel of his knowledge's pouring into me it was exhilarating and nauseating all at the same time. I felt wonderful and tingles rippled across my skin but I also felt like I wanted to puke out the deed I had just done, repent the fact that I felt good. At least that was until I stood up. There stood IK over the body of the last opponent and lying next to him were the bodies of Ramiro and Neheb. We won the battle, but it cost more than we had to give.
The rest of the trip through the forest was uneventful. I kept the body of the vampire that took out Neheb and Ramiro for him to properly extract revenge for his deeds. Upon reflection of the events that happened due to it I wonder just how crazy I am? The answer comes to me though as clear as a scream from the bloody throat of the tormented, YES! I would repeat my actions if I had to do it all over again. IK found nourishment in the form of criminals and feed them to Ramiro, I woke up the night he finally did in time to hear the last of the three bodies slump to the ground. He exited the room, looking like himself, just about and questioned the humans and ghouls if there was something left for him. They pointed to the staked body we brought for him. I couldn't see from where I lay what he was thinking, was he angry for the troubles this vampire caused the group, was he distraught over the death of Neheb or was he just getting more animal than before and decided to add this empty soul to his. When he finally came up from the corpse he looked even darker than before. The glint in his eye no longer silver, that was gone, replaced instead by wisps of shadow. From that day since I don't think that I have seen him without shadows circling him. We began another leg of the trip up stream that night. It took over a week for us to reach the home of the Brujah and they were cordial, if not down right pleasant. Gabriel has shown his contacts to be no less unerring than the others have. The boat trip was also, thankfully, an uneventful trip except for Ramiro, he was an interesting show. He seemed intent in what looked to be self-mutilation. Early nights and late mornings Ramiro seemed to be experimenting with something. He would press his hands into his torso, sometimes so hard against his undead flesh I thought he might push a hole into himself. To my bewilderment on the third night he did! The first night he changed his left side to several shades of brown ranging from pale tan to black. The second night he caused part of his chest to get permanent wrinkles and finger marks, becoming some odd color of orange. Now, on that third night, his right side was devoid of skin, ribs and organs were exposed. The skin appeared to have melted at his touch. It was a wretched show, but when I looked up at his face the glint that had disappeared days before was back, if only for an instant. If not for the fact it was a horrifying display it would have been considered a good moment. When he made those break through I knew were it was coming from. The tingles I still felt I had not explored, and hadn't really planed to but after seeing that my curiosity was peaked. That night I rubbed my finger down the back of my hand and thought of the color that was there so many years ago. Nothing happened, but I tried again, and again till I saw the hint of a tint I have not seen in far to many years. Another pass or two with my finger and the golden brown of my life like skin reappeared. I was ecstatic, and the nauseated feeling I had for so many days seemed to be forgotten for a minute. I swiped my whole hand across the back of my other and sure enough the color came flooding back, another swipe and it was gone, just like that. I tried something more complex, pinching the fold of flesh between two fingers I pulled and it stretched up to their tips almost like it was putty. The skin was flexible and nearly see through, it was amazing. For years I had shaped stone into figures, letters and textures and now my whole flesh felt like one big block of malleable granite. These nights in the castle of the Brujah I have spent hours contemplating the implications of power like this and have decided that this is a good thing. I can paint my face now with my hands and become the jester I always have thought myself to be. I know this power can work on others and will practice till I can leave my living victims a little better than I found them. No longer being the parasite I have so long been on the world of the living. As for my traveling companions, they will finish the mission they have been given and in the process wipe out all the Tzimisce in their path. Ramiro is becoming quite the leader, his constant shadow play has given him a darker presence and others in even the court of our esteemed Brujah seem to feel his confidence. I never see his shadows fade anymore, except when he is being addressed by a higher-ranking member of the court or he is trying to persuade someone and not intimidate them. Once the wounds of the party are fully healed we head to Rome to ask for some big nasty dude or another. That though is another story for another night, I have a particular dead lady to check up on this evening, I'd best not be late. Ah, another night in the unlife of a Vampire.