Wednesday, February 26

Dictated to phone, very faint car sounds in the background...

I have eternity to develop many skills, but I feel as if I have but minutes to develop patience...

...and quite possibly hours for a hardened heart.

At the beginning, I brought Max up to speed of recent events. Chronos brought a new person into our meeting, a woman named Rose Alexander. A mortal, who at the beginning had a very vague understanding of the supernatural, Max woke her up very violently. That being said, she is a spoiled brat, relying on daddy's money and lacking any and all sorts of manners. Her father is the head of a multinational corporation that deals with investments, and apparently property holdings. Her father also has dealings with the supernatural, which I will cover in time.

Network Zero gave us a few leads. Messages and calls were sent out and only Greyson did not answer. I received a surprising answer from Marcus Purcell, in proxy for Agnes, stating that she would not be attending and that I would be spoken to later. I will also cover this in time.

We decided to follow a missing persons report, all centered around a single building. Arriving there, we were able to utilize a man named Guillermo to get inside. We managed to get down to the basement  and then were promptly scared witless by a door, causing us to high tail it out of there. As we fled, I noticed that Guillermo had been captured.

My ire already high, I was able to tamp down my fear, gather most of my team. Max, showing an hitherto unknown facility for subtlety, conned a security guard into leading us down to the basement again. Rather than repeat what caused us to run, I was once again able to use my blood to manipulate the lock and open the door, successfully.

We made it inside and, within one of the first rooms we searched, we found people suspended, bleeding into collection bins. To be clear, Max found it...

...I was getting hungry and thought it best to keep clear of it.

The second office held a Kindred, who immediately incapacitated Max. With Max paralyzed and Rose...actually, I was thankful that Rose was quiet for the moment...it left me to answer the Kindred's questions. This fellow was slightly fat, mustachioed, he looked Italian. He was pale, dressed nicely, and carried a cane. He smelled, faintly, of rotting death.

He wondered, rightly, what we were doing in his building. I immediately threw out the story of us being specialists and told him what we were investigating. He explained that his family had recently fallen into financial hardship due to the deaths of his two brothers. He was trying to recoup the family losses by launching into a business of this type.

When I was introduced to the Camarilla, I was informed that my hunting activities were all well and good, but if it came to Kindred matters, then I would first inform the Camarilla. That memory firmly implanted in my mind, I took him up on his offer to leave, provided he released Max. He also gave us Guillermo, whom Max carried off. As we were leaving, Guillermo noticed that Rose was trying to return to the other Kindred. We dragged her back along with us, even as she was kicking and screaming. I was able to force her to calm down with a bit of a focus of blood.

So then we were treated to dinner (including a bottle of blood for me) by Guillermo. He spent most of it caring for Chronos or flirting with Rose, but he did take time to answer our questions. He also informed us that he was "fey." Given his knowledge of the supernatural, I assume he has been around for a long while.

Now, I have three problems. First, Rose. Her ties to Kindred notwithstanding, she is a spoiled brat with no manners and a death wish. Guillermo was kind enough to feed us and she still persisted in being rude. Tact...I will beat it into this team if I have to.

Second, the Kindred - the butcher. Guillermo heard someone call him "Giovanni", which gives me enough to give to a "trusted" member of the Camarilla. I've asked my Sire to set up a meeting with the head of the Carthians. If I bring them a sort of gift when I go to formalize my allegiance, I might be accepted more readily.

Finally, this conversation I am set to have with Marcus - about Agnes. I am not looking forward to this. It is not going to go well for my state of mind, nor my last attempt at keeping something from before my Embrace. Leaving emotions aside and speaking practically, it will shoot the Ultor project in the foot for the time being.

I am driving, waiting to hear from either Marcus or Viviana. I plan on feeding first, so that I have a clearer focus. I must only find some appropriate targets.