Chapter Seven - the punch-line
By Richard LeBlanc
The Old Church District - in happier times, it was a place where families gathered together to renew their faith in God. This area was about three square blocks of churches, one right beside the other. When things went sour and most of the local businesses closed down and moved to a better area of town, the area was almost completely abandoned. Unfortunately - the district picked up some unwanted tenants. To make things worse, as of late, children - elderly - and various other people began to go missing. Could there be a connection?
         In a dark alley, Claws and Snapps watched a huge monster-like creature walking through the streets. It was guarding one condemned church that had more graffiti on it than the ground had dirt. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize where the masterminds were playing.
         "So where do you think they are?" Snapps asked seriously. Claws looked down at him and shook his head. It was then that he noticed something odd about all of the churches.
         "Mook - do you notice anything odd about these churches?" Claws asked curiously. The Malkavian prankster sat up and looked from building to building. They were all vandalized - they were all in bad shape - they were all abandoned - it was then that he noticed it to.
         "Yeah - where are all the crosses?" he asked.
         "I guess the Baali don't like crosses - good to know. We could try sneaking past that thing - but it probably has means of detecting things unseen." He muttered.
         "You need past him? Hmm - maybe I can help." Snapps muttered. Claws watched as the Malkavian pulled out an empty pie plate, a can of whip cream, several nails, a circular piece of wood and a handful of rotten cherries.
         "How long do you need?" he asked.
         "A few minutes and I can slip passed him." he replied. The Malkavian began to assemble a treat similar to the one he made for the prince of Chamberlan. Within moments, he had a cute looking pie that had a bunch of cherries in the shape of a heart.
         "Tell me you aren't - " Claws began.
         "I'm going to ask him to be my Valentine." He teased.
         "Are you sure about this?" Claws asked.
         "Hey - I may not like using the same joke twice - but I'll make an exception this time. Now scoot - I have to get snookums attention." Snapps said madly. Claws was going to try to talk him out of it - but there was something in the Mook's eyes that told him that he was already gone. He shook his head and vanished into the shadows of the alley.
         "Time to play." He muttered. He danced out of the alley and began to sing annoying songs. The beast-like creature looked over and saw the dancing fool. It let out a howl and charged towards him. Just before he was close enough to attack - Snapps held out the pie. The creature stopped dead in his tracks. It looked at the pie closely. The tactic confused the beast. Snapps smiled - in a quick action he slammed the pie right into its face. The beast fell back and howled in pain. Snapps ran over the yowling beast - taking careful aim as to step on its face.
         It lacked the humor it had last time. Oh well - I'll have to think of something special next time. The prankster thought. If there was one thing he prided himself on it was originality.
***
At that moment, in one of the rooms of the church, Claws slipped in through one of the empty windows. He inhaled lightly and almost gagged. The stench of disease and death was thick in this place.
         "What a stink!" he hissed. He quickly tied a bandanna around his noes and mouth. It didn't make a world of difference - but it was mildly easier on his noes.
         "No doubt about it - they must be here." He muttered. Just then, something tapped him on the shoulder. He slowly turned around and saw a smaller version of the thing that Snapps distracted. He was about to attack it when it made a silly face at him. At first he couldn't make any sense of it. He then rationalized the only reasonable explanation.
         "Snapps?" he asked. The creature nodded and did a silly dance.
         "You can't be serious." He muttered.
         "Yeah I can. I saw smaller ones staggering around all over the place. Want to be my prisoner?" he asked. Claws smirked and shook his head. He hopped over the disguised Malkavian. When he turned around - Claws looked just as he did - only bigger.
         "Let's just move along." He replied. The two exited the room and found themselves in a vandalized hallway. At the same time they both pointed in opposite directions.
         "Why that way?" Claws asked.
         "I came in the way you are pointing." He replied. Just then the two heard a demonic howl.
         "Oh, and that thingy I pied was still writhing back there." He added.
         "Swell. This way it is." Claws muttered. They cautiously made their way down the direction Snapps advised. Several minutes later, the two were almost back where they started.
         "This churchy is twisty turny." Snapps stated.
         "Hush - they wouldn't be on the main floor - they wouldn't go up - that leaves down. But I didn't notice and staircases." The Gangrel stated seriously. Just then, the Malkavian cleared his throat and pointed to a bloody footprint that faced a dead end hallway.
         "Me thinks they went that a-way buckaroo." Snapps said in a mock western voice. The thing that surprised Claws was that he looked that way earlier - there was no hall there before.
         "We lost the element of surprise." Claws muttered. He shedded his disguise. Seeing his ally lose his disguise persuaded Snapps to do the same. Just then a well-dressed Baali stepped through the seemingly solid wall and looked at the two.
         "I saw what you did to my ghoul - that wasn't very nice." He mentioned calmly. Snapps shrugged his shoulders as though it was no big deal.
         "If what I was told is correct - Baali?" Claws asked.
         "Correct - not that the knowledge will do you any good. Snapps - how are you doing? Everything alright?" the Baali asked curiously.
         "Yeah - why?" he replied calmly.
          "Hmm - no reason. Your parents - how are they doing?" he asked. Snapps froze up. He shook his head and almost laughed it off.
         "Hey - you're pretty good. You must kick ass at parties." He replied.
         "Actually I do." He continued. Just then Snapps blinked. In that time - the Baali now looked like his father. He stepped back. Claws looked at the prankster and could see his hands shaking.
         "Why did you do it son?" Snapps' father asked.
         "D-Do what?" he stuttered.
         "You know what! You burned our house down and killed me you ungrateful bastard!" he scolded. Snapps fell to the floor twitching. Claws looked over at the Baali - not once had he moved or spoken since he answered Snapps' question.
         "What did you do to him?" Claws asked. Snapps was drooling and twitching on the floor.
         "Him? He saw something he didn't like. What about you?" the Baali asked curiously. Just then a ring of flames rose up around the evil vampire. Claws growled - his claws extended - he let out a primal howl.
         "Make peace with your god!" he shouted. He lunged at the Baali. The vampire raised his hand. A wisp of flame spiraled up and slammed into the Gangrel. He let out a scream. He raked his claws deep through the Baali's chest. The two vampires fell to the ground. Within seconds - the flames died down. The Baali that was confronting them was thoroughly gutted and Claws had numerous extensive burns. He concentrated on the wounds and watched as they slowly healed.
         "That - really hurt." He muttered. He looked over at where Snapps was. The young vampire seemed oblivious to anything that happened since he fell to the floor.
         "S-sorry daddy." He stuttered. Claws made his way over to where he was and shook him by the shoulders.
         "Snap out of it Snapps!" he exclaimed. Moments later - the Malkavian looked like his old self.
         "I not feel so good." He muttered. It was then that he noticed a pungent aroma that was new to the place.
         "Why does it smell like barbecued dog in here?" he asked. Claws shook his head and helped him up.
         "Never mind that - what happened to you?" he asked.
         "Me? I was minding my own business when all of a sudden my old man is giving me shit - I tell ya some people just can't take a joke." He muttered. the two looked over at where the body of the dead Baali was. Behind him was a staircase that went down.
         "Do we have to go?" Snapps whined.
         "Shut up and follow me." Claws retorted. The two cautiously made their way down the dark stairway, both wondering exactly what was going to be waiting for them down below.
***
Meanwhile, back at the quarry, things were progressing much more slowly than Bones wanted. It seemed to him as though the prince was just dancing around every issue he brought up. It was an insult that he was not going to tolerate any longer.
         "Enough Axis! I don't know exactly what kind of fool game you are trying to play on me - but it ain't going to work!" Bones exclaimed. The prince looked almost wounded by the accusation.
         "Games? Whatever are you talking about?" he asked.
         "You know damn well what I'm talking about. So what's going on? Why are you stalling for time?" Bones asked curiously. Axis shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the map.
         "So what areas did you want again?" he asked.
         "How about the highlighted areas - like I said before - and repeated five times. Keep pushing me boy - and I'll tell your friends a little secret." Bones warned.
         "Then I wouldn't have anything to lose and I would just kill your sorry ass." The prince replied. There was a certain cold truth to the prince's reply. The anarch leader sat down and sighed.
         "Your life wouldn't be worth much afterwards." He mentioned.
         "What's life without risks?" he goaded.
         "You haven't changed a bit. So where does that leave us? I mean, you don't want a war - yet you don't want to compromise?" Bones asked. Axis laughed at the boldness of the statement.
         "You stupid ignorant bastard. Exactly what do you think a revolt will do? Hmm? Let's review the best possible scenario for you. The talks here fail. You go nuts and give the order to fight. Your people cause riots - commit mass murders and so forth. A good percentage of the city is in ruins, most of the herd is gone, the province will call in the military to regain control of the situation OR the Inquisition will step in and mop up whoever won the bloodbath? What a brilliant stratagem." Axis clarified. Bones laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
         "So - and - what. You think I fear a military? Especially from this country? I have seen two world wars already - do you think anything they have remotely scares me? As for the Inquisition - those cross wearing pussies can try to play with me anytime they want. You are losing ground fast prince. What will it be Axis? Deal or death?" Bones retorted.
         "You disappoint me Bones. I thought you had more sense than this." Axis stated coldly. Bones allowed himself to laugh at the statement.
         "How many times do I have to say this chump? You don't know me - you never did. Now are you going to stop wasting my time? or is this situation going to be resolved - in a more pleasant respectable way?" Bones asked. It was becoming quite clear that the anarch leader had become deranged somewhere along the line.
***
Back in the remains of the church, Snapps and Claws found themselves in what appeared to be a catacomb. The thing that disturbed them - well, Claws more than Snapps - was that the catacomb looked to be much - much older than anything else in the city was.
         "I don't like this place." Claws muttered. They followed the extension cords and lamps down the winding corridor. Snapps smiled and found himself amused as he watched the shadows dancing in the crevices on the walls and roof.
         "I think it's cool. It's like a big fort." Snapps stated. Claws stopped and noticed his companion making shadow puppets on the wall.
         "Keep focused you dumb Mook. This could get very - " he began. Before he could finish, the ground beneath them collapsed. The two fell and banged into dozens of ledges and rocks until they mercifully hit the ground.
         "That kinda hurt." Snapps slurred. Claws shook off the effect of the fall and slowly got up. He reached down and pulled up his associate up with one arm and leaned him against a wall. There was no light where they were. The passage they had gone down had collapsed behind them.
         "Can you see in the dark?" Claws asked. Just then, Snapps face lit up. The effect mildly startled the Gangrel until he realized that the Malkavian had a flashlight.
         "Very funny." Claws commented. The two made their way through the dark tunnel. Roughly about half way, the flashlight began to flicker. Seconds later it went out and the tunnel was black again.
         "Last longer my ass - damn Energizer bunny!" Snapps cursed. Claws squinted his eyes and focused to the darkness around them. It was then that he noticed that there was a dim light coming in from the far end of the tunnel.
         "Come on. The way out is this way." Claws stated. He grabbed Snapps by the hand and guided the blind Malkavian through the darkness. Second by second - the darkness faded. Within minutes, the two were standing on a ledge that overlooked a demonic looking temple. Down below, dozens of Baali were chanting. Hundreds of dead bodies littered the ground. On the walls were manacled kindred that had gone missing during the fire bombing of the Royal Palace. They looked to be only inches away from being in Torpor. On the far side of the chamber - on the other side of the temple was a sinister looking gate. It was comprised of mutated corpses - bones - and twisted roots. From where he was - he could almost see eyes in the granite daemon's face that was carved in the granite wall above the gate.
         "This is not good." He muttered. Snapps on the other hand noticed none of this - all he could see was the flame on one of the torches that kept the place illuminated.
         "This must be where they are trying to bring that monster through." He muttered. He shook his head. He could feel something twitching. He looked over and saw that Snapps was paralyzed. His mind flashed back - he could hear the screams of his parents as the family house burned to the ground. He snapped out of it and ran blindly into the shadows of the pathway they had entered from.
         "Snapps! Snapps get back here!" Claws hissed quietly. He tensed up and looked down below - the gathering noticed him. He shook his head and whispered a little curse on Malkavians and all the troubles they caused. He rushed towards the vampires, ghouls and lesser daemons that were heading his way.
         I don't know why you bolted - but thanks a lot. He thought. He was just about to attack the nearest bunch of creatures when a violent explosion engulfed them. Claws was thrown back. He quickly looked around. He looked on the ground below. there was Skamms holding a weapon similar to the ones that were shown at the Sanctuary.
         "Skamms? What the hell are you doing here?" he asked. He hopped from the ledge and slid down until he was on the cavern floor. Skamms took a moment to reload his weapon.
         "Me? What about you? Shouldn't you be kissing Mr. Prince's ass with the rest of your crew?" he asked. Claws was going to retort when he realized something.
         "Witty - very witty. So did you hear the news?" he asked.
         "News?" he replied.
         "Yeah. Your good pal Bones took over. I guess you were gone too long." Claws answered. Skamms was blown away by the news. But instead of being mad he just laughed.
         "Tell you what - you prince's puppet - we can take this conversation up at a later date. Right now I want to purge some of these stinky bastards." He offered.
         "You don't like these Baali?" Claws asked.
         "Baali? Is that what they are? Oh well - as if I care. These are the ignorant morons that were uniting the anarchs for some reason." Skamms stated. He fired a grenade at a far altar causing it to explode.
         "It was just for distraction value. In the mess - no one would have noticed these worms summoning some daemon to reek hell on earth." Claws clarified.
         "Makes a certain amount of sense I guess - too bad the only thing allowed to reek hell on earth is me." He replied. it was then that they noticed the lesser demons stepping out from where one explosion had been.
         "Shity. This could be a problem." Skamms muttered.
         "You deal with the Baali - I'll play with their pets." Claws offered. Skamms slung the grenade-launching rifle over his shoulder and looked over at the twenty some odd Baali that were now looking at him.
         "Fucken Gangrel - you got sweet deal on this one." He muttered.
         "Stop this at once!" an eerie voice echoed. A chill went down the backs off all that heard the order. Skamms slowly looked over his shoulder at the dark gate. His eyes slowly moved up to the demonic face. The face of stone was alive!
         "Oh you have got to be joking." He muttered.
         "He is the one? This is what was delaying my return?" the demonic face echoed in clear disgust. Skamms glared at the granite daemon face.
         "Oh shut up pebble mouth!" he retorted. He quickly grabbed the rifle and fired at the face. His eyes widened as the projectile stopped in mid air - inches away from its target.
         "That was your best effort? I will be merciful little pest - I will grant you a quick death." The daemon continued. The grenade shot back at Skamms. Despite the assured fact that he would not survive - he stood his ground and watched as the projectile approached. Just then, the grenade was flung away from him and over at a group of observing Baali.
         "What?!" the daemon roared. Skamms looked over at the severely wounded bodies that by all rights should have been him. He then smirked and looked back at the face of stone.
         "What's the matter you pebble faced pussy willow? I thought you were going to ace me? Mr. Big bad rock face couldn't squish a little crazy bastard. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" he taunted.
         "My power is not yet at its peak on your world - but my time draws near. And when I take my first step back into the world that exiled me - I will hunt you down and punish your very soul for centuries!" he echoed.
         "Yada - yada - blah. Say good bye." He taunted. He fired again. This time the grenade hit the face and exploded. The entire cavern began to shake. The roof above them began to fall in several places. He was getting ready to run when he noticed the restrained kindred. Every now and so often he would hear an annoying little voice in his head that told him to do stupid things. Unfortunately he was hearing that voice now.
         "Shit." He hissed. He rushed over to where the kindred were and did what he could to free them.
         "Thank you..." one beaten Toreador muttered.
         "Oh shut up." He replied. Within minutes, he had freed a handful of the prisoners. He looked over at where the others were - they were too far away and there was no time. Conscience be damned - they had to go - and they had to go now.
***
Several minutes later, the group was topside. Skamms took a deep breath and tried to make sense of what happened back there. By all rights, that grenade should have killed him - how was it diverted at his enemies?
         "Skamms?" a voice mentioned. He looked over and saw the Gangrel sheriff limping. Apparently he was able to rescue the kindred that he wasn't able to get to.
         "You dumb fur-ball. What do you want?" he asked.
         "You did good down there." He stated.
         "Hmph. I didn't do much. The way that thing was talking - it was as though what we were doing wasn't even slowing it down. It was as though everything was still on schedule." Skamms stated seriously.
         "I heard. But the sacrifices - we freed them - weren't they crucial to his plan? Plus we destroyed the gate and all of those Baali worms." Claws pointed out. Skamms sat down and thought hard on the subject. There had to be an obvious oversight.
         "Wait a minute - where exactly is your prince?" Skamms asked seriously. Claws sat up.
         "At the quarry - why?" he replied. Skamms quickly grabbed a stick and carved an outline of the quarry's boundaries. His mind flashed back to when he was brought to that meeting. There was a lot of shit going down that day. When he was on the stage, he noticed a lot of construction vehicles there - when it was closed down?
         "That wasn't the place." He muttered.
         "What?" Claws asked.
         "That wasn't the fucken place. That big stone bastard's coming out somewhere else." Skamms said seriously. In his mind he tried to remember where each vehicle was in relation to the stage.
         "Are you sure? The altars - the gate - that huge talking daemon face?" Claws stated. Skamms heard the words but didn't remove his gaze from outline. From his memory he put a stone where the stage was. He then placed a smaller rock where he saw each large vehicle.
         "He knew - he had to know - " Skamms began. He looked at the rocks. His eyes widened and he stepped back. Claws witnessed this and was surprised by the gesture.
         "What's wrong?" he asked.
         "Circles within circles." He muttered logically. Claws looked at the rocks but failed to see what the Malkavian was talking about.
         "Come again?" he replied.
         "Look." He replied. He connected the rocks with a line. Skamms looked up at the cloudless sky and then resumed the line. When he was done, the two of them were looking at an old conjuring pentagram.
         "These good people weren't the sacrifices..." Claws stated.
         "They were the bait." Skamms concluded. The two of them looked over in the direction of the quarry. It was a fair distance away - and with the forces in motion against them - would they be able to get there in time?
To be continued...
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1