The Assassination
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| Snapps Stories The Assassination |
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| Part one: house cleaning | |||||||||||||||||||
| By Richard LeBlanc | |||||||||||||||||||
| A month had passed since the incident with the caitiff Thor. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Several hours before dawn - Axis, the prince of Eco - Dagger and Jonus, his Assimite bodyguards - Claws, the Gangrel sheriff - and four local Brujahs were on a special hunting mission. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Exactly - who or what are we looking for? Give me a hint and I can probably find a trail," Claws suggested. Axis looked around the vacant building. Everything about this had a disturbingly familiar scent to it. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "He's here - I can smell him," Axis muttered in clear disgust. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "He? He who?" one of the Brujah asked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "A dead man that walks - he has reason to believe that the old Malkavian Primogen from Chamberlan survived. We were skeptic at first - but in the past few weeks odd things have been happening - and all the clues point to him," Dagger stated. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Primogen? That lunatic Dr. Jest? I thought he got aced," Claws stated. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "You don't know this freak like I do. If anyone could have cheated death - it would be him. This is no hide and seek expedition - I want him found - I want his life ended - permanently," Axis stated. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "You want us too split up?" one of the Brujah asked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "No! That sadistic predator would just pick us off one at a time. If we want his head - we will have to act as one," Axis snapped. The reaction surprised all present. "Jest - is a sociopathic - genius. Much of what he did - got him status and acclaim - but how he did it - almost got him blood hunted. He is playing a game - if we play by his rules - we are already dead," he explained. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Sounds like this is personal. Have history with this madman?" Claws asked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "More than you need to know," he replied. Just then - the sheriff's ears twitched. He quickly looked at the walkway above. In a blur of motion he leaped almost two stories up and landed on the walkway. The others below watched as a savage slash from the sheriff sent something falling to the ground. They hurried over and saw a manikin with a happy face drawn on it. Claws hopped down and looked at what he had attacked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Thought it was our person," he muttered. Axis knelt down and looked at the happy face that had been drawn on with a lipstick. His mind flashed back. He remembered the - workshop - that he had been trapped in for almost three straight days. He remembered a sickly looking child - that had a similar happy face drawn on him. The child released him and helped him escape his madhouse of a prison. He tried to tell of his plight to people - but Jest had already convinced them of his truth. He blinked and was back. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Boss?" one of the Brujah asked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "He is here," Axis muttered. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I'm not smelling anything that isn't us," Claws pointed out. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I was held prisoner - as one of his experiments. A child - sickly looking thing freed me - he had this drawn on his face," Axis began as he was instantly up to his feet. "Show yourself! Face me like a man you gad damn coward!" he shouted. The others looked at the prince that was on the brink of dementia. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Okay - what about this? He is alive - he was here - but he left before we got here?" Jonus suggested. Claws shook his head. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "If anyone save us was here - I would have found some trace - some trail," he reassured. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "This isn't adding up," Dagger muttered - arming his pistol. "Sire - we should return - this is starting to feel wrong - dangerously so," he warned. Both Assimites stood close to the prince. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I feel it too - I feel the noose getting tighter," Jonus added. Just then - something tipped on the second level above them. The Brujah opened fire. The sounds of automatic rifles unloading echoed throughout the building. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Stop shooting!" Axis shouted - all guns silenced. A dead calm followed. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "This is my obvious statement for the week. But this is starting to look a wee bit personal for you Axis. Someone is playing you and is doing a good job of it. A damn good job. You want to come out on top - have a level head on you. You are on the brink right now - keep going," Claws began. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Perhaps," Axis began. Just then - a cold chill went down his spine. He quickly turned and saw a cloaked person standing by the door that led to the alley. "You - you people see him?" he asked calmly. They all looked and saw the cloaked person. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "He wasn't here a few seconds ago," Claws stated. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "It's him," Axis muttered. His eyes flashed as he went into frenzy. "You are mine!" he screamed as he raced at the cloaked person. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Wait!" Dagger and Jonus began as they followed. The others prepared for battle and were a few paces behind. Just as the prince was about to hit the cloaked person - he darted and was almost instantly in the alley. The prince darted out behind - the person was gone! The others followed and looked around the empty alley. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "What - is going on?" Claws muttered. he looked up at the fire escape - but no one was there. Just then - a limo skidded to a halt at one end of the alley. They all turned just in time to catch a spotlight. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Trap!" Dagger called out. He fired his pistol at the light - as the sound of a forty-caliber rifle echoed. Dagger and Jonus did what they could to shield the prince - but the hollow point shells cut through them as a tidal wave through a paper dam. After several consecutive seconds - the rifle stopped shooting. The doors of the limo slowly opened and several men in expensive suits exited and walked over to where the all but shredded bodies of the prince and his hunting party were. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "That all of them?" one of them asked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Scout said that he was with his guards - the sheriff - and some nameless Brujah trash," one of them answered as he did a head count of the rapidly decaying bodies. The leader of the mission pulled out a cell phone and hit redial. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Boss - mission accomplished. We are doing the clean up as we speak. With all due respect sire - we do not make mistakes. Understood," he concluded as he hung up. "I want this area scrounged for three blocks - all directions. If anything seen anything - deal with it in whatever way deemed necessary. Move out," he called out. The small group began to filter outward. The leader walked over a manhole cover towards the bodies. As he began to deal with the unmoving corpses - the cover slowly pushed up - two eyes looked at what the businessman was doing. Silently - the cover was lowered. | |||||||||||||||||||
| To be continued... | |||||||||||||||||||