Drusilla was on her best behavior while Mathew yelled at her. " You violated one of our most important rules, you can not allow fallen creatures to survive" he spouted like he was giving a sermon, " we can not fight the forces of the night at our discretion, we must always fight it no matter how pretty the face. You are weak, I am going to personally speak to Cardinal Delacroix about you. I will not tolerate weakness in my sect."
Drusilla drew one of her daggers out and slammed it into the table with resounding force. " Then you do it" she said, " you go to that Church you cut their throats. I will not do you dirty work."
" How dare you speak to me in this tone" shouted Mathew, although it was the same tone Drusilla always used with him, " I am your superior, and I will not accept a rebel such as yourself. Get out of my sight."
Drusilla pulled her dagger from the desk and left. She never felt so low in her life. She was supposed to save lives not needlessly take them. Drusilla went back into her room and opened her coat. She was still bleeding from the wound she received in the house. It was a minor flesh wound, nothing more than a glorified scratch but these were the ones that seemed to hurt the most. Drusilla sat down and tended to her wound. She could feel the loneliness in the walls, it didn't make a mage for her to figure out she was not welcome here, her kind were never welcome anywhere. Drusilla tried to block out her gloomy thoughts and went to bed.

Celestine stood in the back of the room and let Dante rant. She'd never seen him this pissed in person before and had to admit it was unnerving. He was pacing about the room like a caged tiger, he was raving, gesturing about wildly. They'd just gotten word that somebody had taken out two of the Black Hand, Celestine personally was rather happy. They didn't need these outsiders ruining the balance in town. They'd worked too hard to establish the balance and to see it burn down was very distressing. " I want them all dead" said Dante, so angry his fangs were now fully extended and his face started to turn into the sickening ficsage of blood rage, " Giovanni, I want them brought to me dead. You kill them, I say kill them all."
Giovanni stood like a statue, " We need to regroup, we didn't expect the Chosen to move so swiftly" he said, " I am gathering my men all together. Your intelligence is not the best and we are having trouble tracking down the members."
" Talk to Devon and Celestine" said Dante, waving his hand at them, " they are supposed to know."
" How can we?" asked Devlin, " this is a big city and we have little information about them, for all we know now that they know the Black Hand is here they could have gone to ground and it will take months to track them down."
" We aren't even sure which group struck them" said Celestine, " please give us some time."
" We don't have time" said Dante, a fierce stare glaring at her.
" We will do our best" said Devlin, " may we know where you are staying to make sure that this doesn't happen again."
Giovanni gave Devlin the information, as he did he tried to stare the calm vampire down. It was certainly a sight to see for Celestine, it was like two pieces of granite trying to force the other to burst into flames. Devlin was cool and unmoved by the gaze of Giovanni, his fearsome reputation didn't impress him. Devlin had been around too long to be impressed by someone like Giovanni, he was nothing but a killer there was no class in his application of their profession. Giovanni handed Devlin the piece of paper and turned and left with his two cohorts in tow.

Celestine met Devlin at 10050 Cielo Drive, neither was happy over the situation. " So what now?" asked Celestine, " we aren't going to help them track them down, are we?"
" Of course not" said Devlin, " Dante has gone too far this time, I am going to have nothing to do with it. I'm going to make myself scarce for a few days. I suggest you follow suit."
" I'll see you later" said Celestine.
Devlin left and Celestine decided to do the same, best to stay out of the way of this mess.

Only a few miles further up the hill from Celestine, Malcolm and others were sitting with Ebenezer in his sitting room. " I just got word that the Church has sent a Cherubim Assassin here to help clean up the mess of the Black Hand" said Ebenezer.
" Really, they actually think the situation is bad enough to send one of them here?" asked Jack, " lord maybe I should be looking into life insurance."
" Excuse me" said Charity, " I hate to sound like a complete moron here but could somebody give me a quick overview?"
" Cherubim Assassins are the elite of the Order of the Holy Blade" said Ebenezer, " they group was first started in the 18th century in Italy when gifted children were starting to appear in their orphanages, this is where the use of Cherubim comes from, they are taken out of the orphanages at an early age and put through a rigorous training where they shape their magical abilities as well as their minds to fight the forces of darkness with a fanatical devotion that is second to none. There aren't as many as there use to be and they are used extremely sparingly in order to preserve their secrecy."
" They are tenacious like badgers" said Jack, " once your in their sights it bye-bye."
" I thought the Church was opposed to magic" said Charity.
" They are" said Ophelia, " they crimes against mages are well known and wide spread in their attempt to monopolize the fight against vampires, but like many things they like to bend the rules to suit them."
" But this doesn't change the fact that the Black Hand are still here and probably paranoid as hell right now" said John.
" This might be good for us" said Ebenezer, " now they will be in one place."
" Only if we could find them" said Charity, " Dante has zipped himself up like a strait jacket."
" We can go ask a few guys" said Malcolm, " I can think of one guy who might give us a hand."

Eddie Jones walked into the backdoor of his EZ Pawn store, a bag from In and Out Burger in his mouth. He kicked the door closed and heard, " Hello Eddie."
Eddie turned and groaned. He pulled the paper bag from his mouth, " Fuck can't this wait?" he asked, " god I just got lunch."
Standing in his backroom was Malcolm, John and Jack. " Nope" said John, " we require you special assistance."
" Look I don't know anything" said Eddie, " leave me in peace."
" Eddie, Eddie" said Jack, " we know you know every time a new vamp comes into town, you pawn their goods, you deal a little blood under the table, you even peddle a few lives one every once and awhile. Never forget you are only alive because you have proved to be useful."
" Look you guys have scared my regulars into the ground lately, I don't know what you guys did but my business is suffering" he said.
" Really, maybe we'll just tell the Holy Blade boys what you are up to" said Malcolm.
" Ah shit those bible thumping fuckers are here now?" asked Eddie, " shit I'm moving to Vegas those freaks would never touch that city. Okay, shit you guys could just put my nuts in a vise."
" That is still a possibility" said Malcolm, " now we all know the Black Hand are in town, and we would like to find out where they are staying so we can bring the welcome wagon by to welcome them to the neighborhood."
" That is what got everybody so spooked" said Eddie, " shit I thought it was rumor mill shit again. Fuck this is getting out of control. I wish I could help, sooner those fuckers are gone sooner business goes back to normal."
" Any thoughts, or do we bring out the vise?" asked Jack.
" If anybody would know it would be that taco vender Carlos Diaz" said Eddie, " that fuck deals blood wholesale out of a blood bank by UCLA. Carlos is a crazy fuck, drinks that shit himself."
" Thank you Eddie" said Malcolm, " enjoy your lunch."
" If you're going to rattle his cage I suggest you check out Fancy Dan's Classy Ladies" said Eddie, " he likes holding court there."
The door closed and Eddie flopped down in his broken easy chair, " God I'm in the wrong fucking business" he groaned, " why in the fuck did I agree to peddle their shit in the first place? Because you're a dumb greedy fuck that is why."
Eddie unwrapped his first burger when he heard a loud pounding on his front door. Eddie sighed and tossed it back in the bag. He walked out to the front and knew today was going to be world class fuck of a day.

Jenna and Melinda walked into the EZ Pawn and glared at Eddie, " Ladies" he said, " I'm clean, I ain't peddling stolen anything anymore."
" Sure" said Jenna, " Eddie you might be a good liar but I'm a better one and I can tell that your full of shit, but we don't care."
" We want to know everything you know about Chris Fontain" said Melinda.
" Oh fuck what did that shit do now?" asked Eddie, " I swear that little shit has more balls than brains, he whack somebody in a robbery or what?"
" No the city wants to give him a check for back taxes" said Jenna.
" He use to come peddle his stuff to me" said Eddie, " he thought he was some master burglar but it was shit. I heard he went the river a few years back after he tried to knock over some record bigshot's place."
" You haven't seen him since?" asked Jenna.
" You of all people know my policy is no felons" said Eddie, " you go up the river your are on the banned list."
" You wouldn't know any other guys fencing his stuff would you?" asked Melinda.
" Maybe, I remember haggling with him a couple of times and he would threaten me that he would go to Blue."
" Blue?" asked Melinda.
" Fred Baines, he run a surf shop in Long Beach" said Eddie, " no class hesher, will take anything for a buck to put into his bong."
" Thanks Eddie" said Jenna, " keep it on the straight and narrow eh."
" Yah straight and narrow" said Eddie.
The cops left Eddie who walked back into the backroom and once again fished his burger out of the bag when he heard a hammer click. " Oh fuck now what?" asked Eddie, " look if you're going to rob me fucking rob me just let me fucking eat!"

" I wouldn't want the shit you're peddling" said Celestine.
" Christ I must be paying off sins for other peoples' lives now" said Eddie, " what the fuck do you want?"
" The Chosen" said Celestine, " have they paid a visit lately?"
" They were here not twenty minutes ago" said Eddie, " I sent them after Carlos Diaz, let them rough that greasy spic up some."
" What did they want with him?" asked Celestine.
" They are looking for the Black Hand" said Eddie, " and what the fuck is Dante thinking bringing those lunatics here? He really wants to start a fucking war? This ain't exactly the wild fucking west anymore."
" Hm" said Celestine, " keep up the good work Eddie."
Celestine left through the backdoor and Eddie promptly locked every door pulled the shades and retrieved his bottle of Johnny Walker from under the counter and calmed his nerves with half the bottle.

Drusilla felt even lower, she was forced to sit in Father's Carpenter's office and listen to Cardinal Delacroix inform her of how she was supposed to operate while Father Carpenter grinned like a sick little shit. Drusilla finished the conversation and quietly left the room. She calmly walked out of the building and climbed into her car. Drusilla drove, she just drove around and around. She wanted to kill Mathew, hack him into little bits and toss them one by one into a fire. He hated her and made it his duty to make sure she was miserable. That wasn't a very difficult task, Drusilla was use to being half fear and half reviled by everyone around her. She was not a typical Cherubim, she didn't fit in. It was just like the orphanage, the training academy, she was an outcast among outcasts. Her drive ended back at the Church, she had no where else to go. She went back to her room and tried a couple of spells she'd hope trying and smoke out the other Black Hand members, the sooner they were gone the sooner she could go home. But tonight wasn't her night, she was unable to concentrate properly and every spell failed. She knew they were out there but there would be no epiphanies tonight. It was best to check this day off as a complete waste and hope tomorrow would be better.
Drusilla changed into her black silk pajamas and crawled into bed. As she drifted off to sleep she thought she could hear a soft meowing outside of her window. Curious she got out of bed and ventured to her window. Outside sitting on the fire escape was a small black kitten who looked lost. Drusilla opened the window and the cat immediately ran over to her. She leapt into Drusilla's arms and rubbed her body against Drusilla as she purred. " Hello little friend" said Drusilla, " are we lost?"
The cat meowed at her, " I know the feeling" said Drusilla, " why don't you stay with me? I would like a friend like you."
Drusilla carried the cat over to her bed and let the cat find a comfortable spot in the bedding before she climbed in. Drusilla watched as the cat did battle with a loose piece of string on the comforter. The sight made Drusilla laugh, a sound that was so foreign to her that she stopped not fully believing she had just done it. She pulled the cat close and gave her nose a kiss goodnight.