December 19th, 2020

Montreal, Canada - Lexington Avenue

Summit's Pinnacle - The Obsidian Gem

2:05 A.M.

The Obsidian Gem: an underground, luxury, condominium-styled housing complex designed, and furnished, to express a distinctly oppressive, masculine ambiance. While also incorporating a healthy amount of modern amenities that lent themselves to creating an ominous, moody interior. All of the woodwork furnishings and decorations were hand-trimmed and original in design. The upper section of every wall was lined with hand-drawn, custom-colored Library-style wallpaper. The lower part of the wall, beneath the simplistic chair rail delineation, was colored a stone gray. The ceilings were painted a bright white and a plush white area rug sat in the main living room- adding some light to balance the dark. Some of the rooms were darker than others, and this was because there were also dimmers installed throughout the complex- each separate space could have its own custom lighting. A surround-sound system was also in every room. The master bedroom was painted entirely gray, including the trim. This made the room feel larger, especially with the dramatic floor-to-ceiling drapes around the bed. And the master platform bed had an oversized perimeter with recessed storage cubbies hidden under trapdoors in the top. While the art lights set above the bed were remote switch activated and could double as reading lights with dimmer settings.

The entire complex served as a retreat- peaceful contemplation, reading, meditating, and writing.

The second largest room within the complex was the study. A lone man occupied the room.

He sat at an executive-sized, wooden veneer desk with a dark walnut finish. The man's elbows rested on the desk- his large fingers steepled together at chest height. To his left was a closed disposable phone. To his right was an open, matte black laptop with a picturesque forest vista and mountain range serving as the background- the screen's gentle, blueish-white glow illuminated his upper body and face. And although the computer screen showed the man, its color washed out the color of his eyes. What could be seen was that he wore a spread-collared, midnight blue chore jacket with two mitered pockets on the lower abdomen. And the jacket's shirt-style sleeve cuffs were buttoned at his wrists with real, navy mother-of-pearl buttons. It was a professionally casual appearance, further highlighting his handsome features.

He was staring straight ahead- a distant look of contemplation in his eyes. His pale, chiseled face expressionless.

Bzzz!

The disposable phone's display face lit up. A line of tiny, blurry letters appearing against a white square backdrop.

The man's eyes locked onto the phone. He made no move to answer it. He simply watched it with an inscrutable look.

Bzzz!

Silence. Darkness. Stillness...

Bzzz!

The man slowly lowered his forearms until they rested on the table- surrounding the phone on either side.

Silence. Darkness. Stillness...

Bzzz!

Picking up the phone with his right hand, he held it up in front of his chest, opened it with his left hand, and placed it to his ear; his left forearm laid back down onto the table.

Silence. Darkness. Stillness...

Over one minute passed without the man making any noise. He silently sat there, unblinking, and unmoving. And then, finally, a baritone voice :

"Find her."

He ended the call while lowering the phone- closing it and placing it back in front of him. He closed his eyes and then reached out and closed the laptop- the room fell into complete darkness.

Silence. Utter darkness. Stillness...

He slowly opened his eyes- two crimson-red irises shone in the dark.

December 19th, 2020

City of Saguenay - Québec, Canada

2:05 A.M.

Howling wind buffeted a snow-crusted street light at a T-intersection. The red glow of the single street light was barely visible.

The distant sound of a roaring engine.

The distinct sound of snow crunching beneath tires.

The yellowish-white glow of headlights appeared on the horizon- intermittently vanishing behind an impenetrable veil of swirling snow as the snowstorm's intensity fluctuated between bad and worse.

The headlights grew closer until finally, the vehicle's details came into focus- a modern police cruiser interceptor speeding down the two-lane street. It reached the T-intersection and hooked a left without slowing down- the rear tires briefly sliding out of control and forcing the vehicle to decelerate and regain traction. The next moment however, the engine roared as the vehicle's back tires stalled in place- violently throwing streams of powder into the air before the tires finally caught some buried asphalt and took off down the new street. The softly-glowing, red tail lights were quickly swallowed up by the cloying darkness and snow.

The streetlight turned green- its metallic frame creaking in the wind.

Inside the vehicle, the central partition separating the front of the car from the back lowered a few inches.

"Two minutes!" came an unknown male driver's voice. The partition went back up. The suspensions lurched, everyone was jostled in place.

November's phone rang. He held up the flip phone, squinting at the caller ID as the gentle blue glow of the screen illuminated his harsh features. His brows furrowed in thought- Ye Bao caught the man's expression from the corner of his eye despite the interior's darkness. He clearly wasn't expecting the call.

Flipping it open and holding it up to his ear, he coldly demanded.

"Speak."

Ye Bao caught garbled snippets, but nothing he could actually hear properly.

November's expression remained the same, but his eyes hardened. He slowly inhaled through his nose- exhaled.

"Remain near the site. Do not intervene." November ended the call as soon as he finished speaking, placing the phone into his pocket.

"The vampires are on the move- you'll have five minutes at the most." He turned his head slightly in Ye Bao's direction.

"Can you handle this?" Every syllable was slowly enunciated. The glow of passing streetlights intermittently illuminating half of his face. The look in his eyes said that there was only one correct answer. Ye Bao unflinchingly met his gaze.

"Yes. And why?" Ye Bao asked.

November turned away, remaining silent. The vehicle jostled.

"We have a problem." He finally said.

"We didn't before?" Ye Bao's voice was laced with sarcasm yet weighed down with responsibility.

"No. We had a situation. Now," he turned his head to look at Ye Bao, "-we have a problem." He turned away, continuing with:

"That was Nightwatch."

Ye Bao grimaced, leaning back into his seat.

"Shit."

"Hm. The vampire is apparently stronger than anticipated."

"How much stronger?"

"Its killed everyone on-site."

Ye Bao's heart started beating faster. Not from fear, but from excitement.

"We get its age wrong?" Ye Bao kept the hopefulness out of his voice. His blood boiled at the thought of getting to go toe-to-toe with a real vampire. It had been too long. He couldn't tell if it was him or the blood- but at the end of the day, he made a choice. Regretting decisions was fine- dwelling on them was destructive.

"No. Nightwatch confirmed its age as anywhere between two-to-four hours."

Ye Bao's singing blood paused, a frown creased his face.

"That can't be right." Ye Bao disbelief coloring his tone. There was one time where a Breach Beacon had been activated on accident when the Team Leader misidentified a newly risen vampire with a centuries old creature of the night. Ye Bao discovered how incredibly easy it was to kill a 'baby' vampire. Newly risen vampires are essentially driven by pure animal instincts until they feed enough to satisfy some unknown threshold. And mindless vampires were essentially just roided' zombies- they ran straight at you and didn't care about defending themselves against anything. So how did a two hour old vampire slaughter an entire building full of cops.

"It's correct." There was something indecipherable in his tone.

"So, I'll ask again: can you do this?"

Ye Bao silently stared out the window- his darkened reflection looking back at him as the dark, snowy world blurred by outside.

"Yes."

And just then, his eyes imperceptivity widened as a familiar building passed- the precinct was right around the corner.

Predatorial anticipation flashing behind his eyes as the whites' darkened- a single, blackened vein crawling up the side of his neck.

December 19th, 2020

City of Saguenay - Québec, Canada

2:00 A.M.

Lieutenant Aubry waved off the dozenth uniform who had approached her for the authorization of small details regarding the crime scene. She needed to warm her hands for a few minutes. Striding to her car, she opened the door and slid inside- slamming it shut. A small sheet of snow dislodged off the bumper.

There were two other other police cruisers parked to the left of the lieutenant's. Alexandre and Arthur sat in the one furthest to the left, with Evan and Arielle in the other. While Alexandre and Arthur silently enjoyed the car's heater, Evan and Arielle were discussing the terrible things they'd seen in the hospital's hallways.

"Unit Four A- Unit Four A, please respond." A stern, feminine voice crackled from the police scanner. Lieutenant Aubry's eyes furrowed. She snagged the receiver off the police scanner, pressing the button on the side and answering.

"Unit Four A here." She released.

"Four A please be advised, you are about to receive a [10-1] on your scanner dash- ignore and proceed with a [10-2]."

Lieutenant Aubry's face wrinkled with confusion but she nevertheless, pressed the button.

"[10-4], Dispatch." She hung the receiver onto a latch beside the scanner. She sniffed. Then popped open the door and got out into the snow, closing the door behind her as she walked over to the two other cruisers and slapped their engine covers.

The doors almost simultaneously opened. Evan's wheat-blonde hair crested the roof his car before the rest of him got out, resting his left forearm on the top of the open door frame.

"Lieutenant?" He called out, looking her way.

Alexandre's burly figure rested his whole arm over the top of his vehicle. Arielle's short, athletic figure walked around her car to stand on the driver's side with Evan. Arthur watched through the partially covered windshield and listened through the open door.

"Got a [10-2], I'm headed back to the station. I need you to take control until myself or the Sergeant relieve you." She looked at Evan.

'Where in the hell did Sergeant Huard get to?' She wondered. He had most likely went to his vehicle, but she had not seen him since.

"Me?" Evan incredulously asked, cocking an eyebrow and leaning his head forward as though trying to listen closer.

Arielle elbowed him.

Evan straightened up and nodded.

"Yes ma'am, you can count on me."

Lieutenant Aubry rolled her eyes and walked back to her vehicle, opening the door and sliding back inside. The door closed, the engine started- the head and tail lights coming flashing to life and settling. Snow crunched as the vehicle angled itself out of the blockade and drove onto a side road that led back onto the main one. The Lieutenant's vehicle was soon swallowed by the storm.

Arielle shook her head, turning and walking around the back of their car as she said:

"Nice going."

Evan's professionalism faded just like the taillight's of the lieutenant's car.

"Well excuse me for not jumping at the chance for more responsibility." He said in a mock-offended tone.

Alexandre simply grunted and bent down, shoving his considerable bulk back into the car. Arthur had to lean into his door- he looked like he regretted everything.

"Doesn't responsibility come with power or something?" Arielle innocently asked as she got to her door and leaned against the door.

Evan was about to scathingly respond when the sound of conversation floated to them. He turned and saw a group of three uniforms and two forensics specialists walk toward them. The group entered the boundary of the overhang, looking like a roving band of sapient popsicles. One of the specialists separated from the group and walked closer, calling out:

"Where's the lieutenant?"

"You just missed her- she's headed back to the station." Evan replied, turning to face and address the newcomers.

'Oh boy,' he thought, 'and so it begins.'

"Right then, she leave any orders about the evidence we've gathered or any new orders?"

"Actually," Arielle interjected, "the Lieutenant placed Officer Jolicoeur here in charge until she gets back."

'Damn you.'

"That right? Here we go then-" he turned back and motioned the group over before turning back and handing Evan a small, black duffel bag.

"That's one of four- we've still got markers up at the scene and there was one thing we needed the Lieutenant's go-ahead for before we start compiling the report."

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever I can do to help." Evan said, opening the back of his car door and placing the duffel bag on the seat. He shut the door and looked at Arielle with eyes that promised righteous retribution.

"Keep an eye on it for me, eh, Banville?"

Arielle roughly stood to attention, picking a point somewhere behind him and to the side of his head to look at.

"Yes sir, Officer Jolicoeur. You can count on me." She finished, mimicking his expression and tone of voice when speaking to the Lieutenant.

Before Evan could properly form a retaliatory response on the level of overkill- the specialist took advantage of the pause.

"Great. Sir, it's back inside, let me show you."

'Motherfucker.' Evan internally swore, turning and following the specialist through the main doors- his expression kept at a neutral friendliness. He really did not want to express his actual feelings about going back inside.

The last thing he wanted to do was see all that dried blood and gore dripping off the walls.

He almost shuddered as a chill crawled up his back.

A writhing sea of indistinct shadows- two colossal, humanoid figures with fiery blue eyes!

Bright flashes of orange light- jarring visuals- staggering... to nowhere.

Disorientation... converging shadows... streaking blurs... Up, yet down.

Hunger... the world turned upside down- bright red liquid fell like rain!

Confusion... a forest of dark, crystalline trees grew out of the skyground!

Pain.

Agony..

Suffering...

An indistinct figure...infinitely far yet immediately close...supporting itself against nothing yet the whole world...

Its head lifted.

Irises of cold steel!

Zoé’s green eyes flew open as she gasped for breath- a series of wracking coughs shaking her lithe form. She rolled onto her left side, supporting herself against soft, pliant ground with her right palm while hacking out wads of congealed, black blood.

Soft. Dark. Her foggy thoughts subconsciously picking out details.

A shuddering breath- the frigid air irritating her burning, sore throat.

Cold. Wind.

The fingers of her right hand clenched, her nails slightly extending into claws- scraping the snowy ground and digging divots into the earth.

Snow. Wet.

Her body seized, then went limp. She grimaced and gently rolled onto her back, her once beautiful auburn hair haphazardly splayed around her head in haggard, bloody clumps and strands. Even that simple action of surrendering to the pain elicited a sensation of stabbing agony throughout her entire body.

She numbly gazed up at the multitude of brilliant, twinkling stars intermittently peeking out of the intense cover of the snowstorm ravaging the area.

It was inexplicable... mysterious... beautiful. It made the pain almost bearable. Almost.

She closed her eyes.

The night’s events haltingly flashed through her mind’s eye. Her hands partially curled into shaky fists at her sides. The wind tore at her shredded clothing- her hair flailed around her face.

‘What have I done...’

'Why did I do that...’

‘Why did it do that!?’ Her eyes opened.

The tranquility of the starry sky mocked her. She gradually came to a decision. Groaning in pain, she rolled to her right side and slowly stabilized herself, planting her left palm onto the ground and getting her knees under her. She carefully stood- her muscles burning and sometimes outright refusing to work. She hated this feeling.

'Fuck you, Savage. Get it together.' She snarled at herself, closing her eyes.

She straightened her shoulder- fire raced down her spine.

'So you made a mistake. Who the fuck hasn't? Now fix the mistake.'

She clenched her hands into fists- bones popped.

She flexed her thighs and abdomen- agony laced down her torso and lower body.

'Banged up, but workin'- good.'

Preemptively gritting her teeth, she called upon her vitae.

Thud!

She grunted- her body spasmed forward as though someone had shoved her from behind. She caught herself with a single, shaky step. Her hands were still balled into fists at her sides, blood seeped out from around her fingers. She forcefully exhaled- looked up at the obscured, night sky as her bones shifted and musculature healed.

'Fuck you, stars.' With that out of her system, she started looking around- trying to figure out where the Beast had taken her. There were many recognizable structures, including a gas station on one side of the road and a parking lot on the other side that was for the big shopping center and restaurants. She was on the border of the city to the East- about two and a half miles from the hospital.

Scattered images violently flashed through her mind.

"And fuck you too." She absently muttered, doing her best to remain unfazed. Her expression significantly darkened.

'He's definitely not at the hospital anymore... damnit all.' She really did not want to do this.

Every natural instinct inside of her as a Sire told her that she needed to abandon her Childer and allow himself to prove he's worthy of receiving her clan's gift. She forcefully pushed those complex emotions away.

The only way she was going to survive this absolute clusterfuck was to find her Childer... and kill him.

Her Sire's words echoed in her mind. Her resolve strengthened.

Zoé reached out to the connection between herself and her Familiar- she instantly communicated what was needed.

Somewhere on the edges of the city...

Kraa- Kraa!

A raven, black as midnight alighted off a tree branch and into the night sky, easily soaring through the snowstorm and toward the city proper.