The Witch
Jasper follows Annabelle out of the SUV with unhurried steps, hands in his pockets as they all venture into the empty park that was so uncomfortably close to home. Well, almost all of them. Shortly after Annabelle shut the car door and hurried up the hill behind Victor, Jasper realizes with a frown that Nelli, who is usually the first to take the Ventrue’s side, is standing beside the car with a hollow, dazed look in her face - staring down deep into the treelines to the opposite side they were heading. Considering his colleague's known ability to see through the usual veil some Kindred were capable of using, Jasper halts on his way and observes around the area she is looking at, trying to see what has caught her attention so intently… but there seems to be nothing there. At least, nothing he is able to spot.
Her delay is so pronounced Annabelle also ends up noticing it and turns around, looking at first to him for confirmation of if that was something normal… But then halts when Jasper simply remains silent, still watching the blue-haired Toreador now walk down closer to the forest, away from them.
“Nelli?" Annabelle calls, stepping closer to Nelli and touching her arm gently, but the Toreador doesn’t acknowledge her, simply continuing to walk deeper into the park. “Nelli? Wha-- Nelli!"
Her hushed calling brings Victor’s attention to the scene, making him stop and backtrack closer to them with an equally confused frown. Nelli is staring forward dazedly, one arm now reaching forward as if trying to grasp someone’s hand… Though, still, even when Jasper tries heightening his senses and peer into the direction she is facing, he can’t see anything there.
“Ah--" Jasper exchanges a blank, confused look with Victor, but he remains silent.
They all approach her quietly, following her vacant lead away from their original objective. Annabelle immediately clings to Jasper’s arm, worriedly whispering to him with her eyes still glued to the blue-haired diva ahead of them.
“Is that- Is that normal?”
Before Jasper can answer Victor hurries beside them and extends a hand in front of them, gesturing for silence. Annabelle frowns at him, worriedly trying to reach for Nelli again, but Victor grabs her arm and shakes his head before she can.
“Actually- Actually- Wait! Shh! Shh!” he demands, his eyes still on his spouse.
Annabelle seems baffled, and about to protest against him, but she looks questioningly to Jasper for back-up. The nosferatu shrugs, genuinely curious and bothered by the fact he really can’t say much beyond; “I don't know what she's doing.”
“Nelli? Nelli!”Annabelle whispers once again, then yelps when the Toreador gives her no response. Victor, groaning in frustration, shushes her again hurriedly with wide gestures of his hands.
“No! Don’t say anything.” He begs in whispers, loud enough only for hopefully her and Jasper to hear. “Just let it happen.”
Annabelle grumbles and frowns at him like he is asking her to watch Nelli jump off a cliff, but resigns to finally following in silence; though still from up close. Jasper keeps himself close by as well, peeking at their surroundings while the others watch the Toreador intently, trying to keep their coast clear.
“Nelli?” Annabelle mutters again.
This time, both Victor and Nelli impatiently gesture for her to shush, which catches Victor by surprise. This brings Jasper’s eyes back to the situation at hand, especially since they finally seem to have stopped walking.
“Shh!” Nelli growls at them, her eyes still glassy, fixed somewhere ahead. “It’s over there.”
“Where is-- What-- Is, is that--” Annabelle frowns in absolute uncomfortable confusion, her eyes now darting between Nelli and Jasper. He sighs, annoyed. When did he become the entitled teacher?
“Uh. We don’t see anything either, it’s okay.” he mumbles back to her, which seems to ease her expression at least a little bit. “Just...” he trails off, gesturing to let whatever it is unfold before getting his attention fully back to the others.
“Okay.” Annabelle nods to him, sticking closer to his side.
They all wait in silence, while Nelli frowns at whatever her eyes are focused on and tries grasping the air ahead of her. “She’s… Wearing a dress…?” she mumbles to no one in particular, her eyes thin as if she is struggling to focus.
Once again, the reaction triggers back Annabelle’s impatience. She tugs at Jasper’s arm, bringing him closer so she can whisper without drawing Victor’s or Nelli’s annoyance again. Victor has stepped closer to Nelli by now, leaving them a couple steps behind to their chatting.
“Is that a thing her clan can do or--”
“I don’t know what she’s doing.” He whispers back.
But Annabelle doesn’t stop, still bubbling with questions louder and louder.
“Is there a ghost? or is that ‘the witch’?”
But at that Nelli blinks a couple times and gasps, stepping hurriedly forward and reaching more urgently ahead. “Ngh! But--” she complains, once again at nothing, then sighs with frustration and rubs her hands over her face. Whatever was happening, clearly, had suddenly stepped out of her reach.
“What happened?” Victor asks, a hand immediately on her back.
Nelli sighs one last time, shaking her head and turning on her heels.
“Let’s go, we should go inside.” she tells Victor nonchalantly, patting his shoulder and walking past him like nothing happened. “Let’s go inside.”
The ventrue frowns, absolutely confused, but she pays him no mind.
“But--” Victor tries to ask, still standing where she was.
“I-- Oh!” Nelli starts to answer something to him, rolling her eyes with exasperation, but gasps midway when, in her hurry, she doesn’t notice Jasper and Annabelle are standing in her way. She nearly slams into them, which makes Jasper frown even deeper. That is not of her usual behavior, not in a situation like this.
She finally seems to realize they’re all staring at her in a mix of confused, surprised frowns, but looks caught off guard by it. While she stares back at them at a loss of words - yet another thing Jasper never thought he’d seen of the sharp-tongued Toreador -, Victor exchanges with Jasper another troubled, confused look over her shoulder. He steps forward, and is about to ask her something, when…
“You’re being weird.” Annabelle beats him to it.
She is still frowning at Nelli with a mix of worry and uneasiness, and is clearly unaware of how off-putting her comment sounds despite its honesty. Jasper chokes on a laugh, just like Victor, and Nelli’s eyes grow impossibly wide in absolute horror and offense.
“Excuse-me?!”Nelli gasps at her, mouth still ajar in disbelief.
That seems to make Annabelle realize a bit of how her wording hit them, but she just rolls her eyes before quickly trying to correct herself. But Nelli doesn’t let her, her chest puffed up in hurt pride and clearly triggered outrage. The following moments end up being a mess of victor and Jasper trying to hold back their own laughters and Nelli and Annabelle brokenly talking over each other.
“Sorry. I mean--”
“Wha-- ME, weird?!”
“I’m sorry. It’s just, like--”
“Weird?”
“I meant, weirder then--”
“Oh, you wanna talk about weird?!”
As Nelli’s spite makes it seem she is about to pull off an example, Jasper’s laughter dies. He glares at her with warning patience, leaning forward. “If you point at me, I swear...”
The toreador halts at his comment, but smirks and arches an eyebrow. Jasper squinted his eyes and sighed out a growl at her smug expression, victorious either way on her wanted argument thanks to his snapped response. Victor and Annabelle have suddenly stopped laughing or talking, both looking between the two of them with surprise for one heavy, silent moment. Victor simply shrugs, staying out of it, but Annabelle sighs as she gets the point she is bringing across.
“Don’t point at him...” she pleads to Nelli in a whisper, clearly disappointed.
Jasper frowns, turning to Annabelle at a loss. Once again, there it was - her unrequested defense of his ‘feelings’, as if his face wasn’t something taken straight out of a nightmare. As if they were close, rather than literal strangers to each other. Be as irrational as it may, her righteous impulse still caught Jasper off guard. It almost made him uncomfortable… Especially since she actually seemed to mean it, rather than doing so to get on his good side. Had this woman really been completely unaware of their world and existence no more than a couple hours ago, to be so calm around him? Or just badly hit in the head and gone blind from it?
Nelli simply scoffs and rolls her eyes, whipping her hair over her shoulder and striding around them back towards the hill they had left behind to follow her. Victor sighs.
“We’re-- Just-- Okay, let’s just… Inside.” he asks them both, waving behind them resigned before he follows Nelli a few steps ahead. “Come on, let’s go.”
Beyond some angry bickering in mumbles between Victor and Nelli for a few moments as they make their way back to the road leading to the observatory, the rest of the way is made in silence. Annabelle follows a couple steps behind still besides Jasper, her shoulders once again tense as they trail up amidst the darkness and silence of this misplaced piece of nature. Within about fifty yards of the front door, however, the silence is broken as they are intercepted by someone that Jasper had seen a couple times in the Baron's office, though they had never officially spoken to: Eva, the ‘Witch’. A kindred of the Tremere.
Eva is tall and slender, with hair that is almost white under the starlight. She's extraordinarily pale, like chalk or bone… Even her lips are colorless. But her eyes are a deep sapphire blue, making a haunting contrast with the rest of her. She hovers into view from behind one of the pillars around the observatory, dressed in a very long, shapeless dress and a vest covered in flower appliques.
“Hello."
The Witch smiles at them cordially, her voice low and hushed as if a murmur is all she can muster. In the eerie glow of the moonlight and all the white coloring her, despite having been expected, she looks much more like a haunting apparition then all the odd behaviour Nelli had randomly broken into.
“Eva?” Victor asked politely, turning to her as she approached.
“Eva.” She corrects him gently, pronouncing the E with stronger intonation than the usual way of saying it.
“Eva. Pleasure.” Victor nodded respectfully, making sure to abide to her correction before proceeding to point at each of them. “Victor. Nelli, Jasper, and this is Annabelle. The Baron has sent us to speak with you.”
She nodded at each of them, before turning back to Victor.
“Yes, he told me what he wanted.” she confirms, her eyes already fixed on Annabelle with eerie stillness. “So, you’re Annabelle?”
Annabelle gulps before nodding, stepping forward. “Nice to meet you.”
Eva holds out her hands to Annabelle without answering, then waits. Annabelle peeks at the others but then turns back to hold her gaze, hesitantly grasping both hands in the Tremere’s shortly after. Annabelle immediately winces under her breath, but tries to mask it, while Eva simply stares closely at her without seeming to notice so.
While Nelli and Victor keep their distance, casually keeping watch around them to occupy their time, Jasper steps closer. Especially as he notices Eva’s eyes drifting out of focus, clearly looking beyond this plane, fascinated; he had always hoped to be able to witness the so feared Tremere’s abilities at work. And to have a chance with such a safe environment was beyond his most ideal wishes. Unfortunately, however, currently their awkward stare off is all he is able to gather about what is going on from an outsider’s perspective.
“I see. Yes. Yes, I see.” Eva mutters to Annabelle as if she is talking back to her, though the short woman is simply still staring at the Tremere with wide, clearly uncomfortable eyes. “I see. Oh, you poor thing. Well, let’s get this done. Shall we?”
Eva smiles gently as she finally lets go of Annabelle’s hands. Annabelle quickly rubs her hands together, discreetly pressing them against her sides as if trying to warm them up while nodding to the Tremere's question.
“Mm-hmm. Right here though?” Victor finally steps back to the conversation, sounding confused. He has one eyebrow arched as he gestures to the floor under them. “Out here?”
Eva tilts her head, thoughtful, then nods to a small courtyard behind her.
“Well, over there.” she corrects him, pointing to the small garden patch beyond the covered porch they’re currently standing under. “It’s better under the stars.”
Victor shrugs and nods, cordially waving for her to lead the way. In slow steps Eva leads them towards a small grove of palm trees close to the side of the observatory’s east wing, a little ahead of the parking lot. They all follow in silence, Jasper and Annabelle ahead of the power couple this time. The area is barely illuminated by a splash of yellow light coming from the observatory dome. When she notices them gazing upwards towards the prominent building, Eva sighs and shakes her head.
“It’s no good in there, better out here.” she assures them. When Victor and Jasper shrug and nod, she turns to Annabelle and starts fiddling with the inside of her vest. “So, Annabelle... I am going to help you. The Baron and you have questions, and this is how we’re going to get answers.”
Jasper’s eyes glimmer with curiosity when Eva produces out of her vest a shining silver cup and a very small knife, almost oblivious to Annabelle’s pale expression as he inspected the two objects attentively. They were antiques, that much he was certain. Made for ritualistic purposes, considering the intricate details carved around the holder and blade.
“It’s not very pleasant, but it’s necessary.” Eva muttered to Annabelle, almost apologetically.
That snapped Annabelle out of her shock, as she breathed in deep and then nodded with renewed, yet clearly tense determination. “I’ll-- I’ll do what needs to be done.”
Eva smiles softly at her after contemplating Annabelle’s conviction for a long moment.
“I was hoping you’d say that.” The Tremere admits with a praising nod, before extending both the cup and the knife to Annabelle. “Fill it.”
Annabelle’s eyes widen. She grows even pale as she eyes the items and Eva for a long moment, making sure she meant what she thought she did, then grimaces with a tilt of her head and grabs both items when the Tremere’s patient semblant didn’t waver.
“Aw, man...” she curses under her breath, eyeing the knife and the not small cup before gulping down her hesitation. “Okay.”
They all waited for a long moment, that quickly turned into a solid minute, while Annabelle still shifted her weight from one side to the other, and stared at both items stiffly.
“Do you need help?” Eva asked, patiently.
“Uh, n-no, I just...” Annabelle started, but then frowned and thought better, before sighing and continuing her previous sentence with a shy look. “Uh, I guess we don’t need to worry about...”
“Diseases?” Jasper guessed, with a cocked eyebrow. She nodded quickly with relief at his intervention, and even more so when he shook his head. “No.”
“Okay...” She sighed; still tense, but now not so stiff.
“Actually, we do,” Victor added with interest. “But not here like this, no.”
“Uh… Ok,” Annabelle frowned at the addendum, but shook her head and thought better than to insist on the topic. They “Sorry. I was, just...”
“I assure you, it’s quite sanitary.” Eva nodded.
“Great, ok, thank you.” Annabelle sighed, steeling herself. “Uh...”
A few more moments passed in awkward silence, as they all watched Annabelle fiddle with the blade and the cup while looking down on the items and herself, absolutely uneasy and tense.
“We don’t have all night.” Nelli groaned eventually, between teeth.
Annabelle flinches and mumbles a half-meant ‘sorry’, breathing in deep once more as she looks down at her arms. Eva approaches her a little closer then, reaching for her arm that is holding the knife and trailing down a small line over her forearm, close to her wrist.
“Here will do.” she hints, patiently and sweetly.
Annabelle tenses up to the Tremere’s touch, but then nods and rolls up some of her red jacket to expose her arm. Changing the cup and knife between her hands, she breathes in and finally slides the blade across her skin, grimacing as the mostly dull blade slowly slashes open her dead flesh.
“What’s that knife made out of?” Victor ponders, curiously.
“Silver, of course.” Eva confirms Jasper’s suspicion.
The Tremere’s answer makes Victor’s eyes go wide. He grimaces empathetically as Annabelle grits her teeth, holding back a pained grunt; silver was notoriously difficult to give any edge or sharpness to, hence most weapons made for combat purposes rarely having more than some decoration being made of it. As soon as the dark, crimson tone of her Vitae wells up out of the wound, Annabelle switches the cup and knife between her hands again so she can position the cup right under it, and it slowly begins to be filled.
Jasper frowns to the alluring, inviting scent, steeling his mindt to the rut it brings his Beast. He could feel it growling in the back of his mind, neglected and thirsty, rejoicing to the close proximity to his preferred treat. Maybe watching so closely had not been such a good idea after all… But, regardless, he ignores it and stands his ground. It was hardly his hungrier moment facing another Kindred’s blood in an inopportune moment, and he would not allow such a rare chance to be ruined for something so trivial like his own hunger by now.
In just a few moments, to Jasper’s relief, the cup is full. Annabelle carefully lifts her arm away and hands Eva both the filled cup and the knife back, before cleaning around the cut with her fingers and licking them out. She then stares at the small would, thoughtful, and tentatively brings it close to her mouth and licks it. When nothing beyond having it even cleaner happens, however, she frowns and looks at Victor.
“But, I thought...” she starts, looking between the wound and him blankly.
Jasper chuckled to her confusion, but couldn’t help to be amazed at her observation skills. He didn’t think she’d have noticed that was the reason Victor had licked down Chris’ wound back then, considering the panic and confusion she had been in at the moment.
“Ah! No, that only works with bites.” Victor chuckled at her, almost apologetically.
“Aw, seriously?” Annabelle scoffed, staring at her wound uncomfortably. “Damn it...”
They all laugh at her annoyance, amused. Eva, now suddenly with only the cup in her hands, chuckles lightly and grabs Annabelle’s arm while she is clutching to the cut with her other hand, looking around herself probably for something she could wrap the wound in.
“You can just relax. Relax. There is a way to fix it.” She cooes to her, calmly. Annabelle stops with some surprise at her, then waits. “Look at your arm, and… imagine the flesh closing. Knitting. Mending together...”
The words seemed to confuse Annabelle, but not completely without sense. She peeked between Eva and the wound a couple times, uneasily, before nodding and focusing fully on the small open cut, her eyes barely blinking, then closing down.
“Ugh. She is never gonna get this...” Nelli sighed after a little while.
“Nah, she will.” Victor dismissed Nelli's annoyance, a small smile on his face and a confident nod. Nelli gaped at him, caught off guard, but said nothing. “She is a survivor.”
And, surely enough, soon Annabelle’s flesh started so sizzle close. The tissues and flesh moving closer to each other, slowly disappearing into a tight line, then a dot, then nothing. As if no wound or gash had ever been made there. Jasper couldn’t hold back a small smile, impressed. Maybe she did have what it took to survive after all… She looked at her arm, amazed, but there was a small troubled frown in her eyes. For a moment, Jasper thought she was about to complain or protest about something, but then she simply shook her head and mumbled with herself in a hushed tone so low he probably wouldn’t have heard if he hadn’t been standing so close.
“Fuck you...” she cursed at no one with a sigh, gulping and lowering her sleeve.
Jasper chuckled, amused. He knew well what kind of dialogue that one was, and it didn’t surprise him that was her answer to it. Maybe Victor was right, after all. She probably did have what it took to pull through this.
“That is really well done.” Eva smiled at Annabelle, stepping away.
“Thank you.”
“Normally this would take a lot longer,” The Tremere sighs as she looks down the cup, before turning to them again and smiling proudly. “But we perfected a few things. Ready?”
“Sure.” Jasper stepped closer, but to the side so he could have a better view of her movements, while Victor and Annabelle simply exchanged a small look and nodded. Nelli crossed her arms and observed with a bored, indifferent gaze in her eyes, which Eva took as compliance, and finally resumed the ritual.
She holds the cup up to the night sky. Raises it first to the north and then to the east and the south and then the west. With the silver knife she touches the side of the cup again in the cardinal points of the compass, and then takes her finger and stirs the blood leftward, counter clockwise, faster and faster and faster and faster. Eva stirs the blood, and it begins to smoke and burn inside the cup. Jasper beast gnaws once more at the scent, rattling inside him… It smells wonderful. Too wonderful.
To his relief, though, soon the blood is all burned away - leaving just a black rime on the inside of the cup. Eva scrapes some of it away with her fingers, then tastes it. Jasper can see Victor and Nelli frowning to the display, slightly creeped out.
“Hmm. Mhm.” Eva mumbles, staring at the cup thoughtfully, then taking yet another small scrape to her mouth. “Hm, okay."
Then, with ominous aplomb, she turns to Annabelle.
“Annabelle, of the 10th generation.” Eva announces with regal reverence into the night silence. The number had clearly made Nelli arch an eyebrow, surprised. And Jasper couldn’t say he wasn’t also quite impressed himself. “Childe of the Brujah Clan.”
Jasper couldn’t stop himself from chuckling, the stereoticipality of the revelation catching him completely off guard. Victor, as well, groaned with an unimpressed, troubled chuckle, bending back as he rolled his eyes. How had they not even considered it before? She was pretty much a textbook impersonation of the brawling Brujahs.
“That explains a lot.” the Ventrue sighed heavily, voicing their thoughts.
“And something else.” Eva calls their attention again, ominous. Her eyes are boring holes into Annabelle by now, interest and an odd sort of amusement glimmering in her eerie blue eyes. “There is dormant magic here.”
“...What?” Annabelle gapes, and her tone is almost scared.
“Blood magic… has been used upon you, since your Embrace.” Eva confirms with thoughtful quietness, a smile playing on the corner of her lips. “I can see it.”
Jasper frowned, looking at Annabelle then Victor warily. The humor in all their faces is now completely gone, replaced by tense, quizzical curiosity. Nelli has her eyes fixated on Annabelle, as if trying to see beyond her, and Victor himself is also trading to her and Jasper a few curious, worried looks. Annabelle, however, is simply staring at Eva with wide, confused eyes.
“We’ll help you get rid of that,” Eva simply shrugs their questioning looks nonchalantly, putting the knife away then nodding to the cup before doing the same with it soon after. “This cup is all I’ll need. Come back and see me in a few nights.”
Eva then turns to Victor as she is stepping away from them, directing him a short nod.
“Tell the Baron what you need to.” she tells him, calmly walking past him. Victor’s eyes widen for a brief moment, before he swivels around to face her.
“It’s up to us to report this?” he asks, confused. “You won’t...”
Eva stops on her way, cocking her head to a side.
“I believe those were his instructions.” she nods.
Nelli sighs with a pat on her spouse’s arm, as Victor nods and shrugs the issue off.
“Okay...” Annabelle gapes, still frozen with a wide-eyed, thoughtful expression at Eva’s direction, but not quite looking at her.
Jasper can’t help but to turn his gaze down at the short asian Kindred himself, his mind bustling with even more questions than Annabelle’s seemingly lack of the usual reaction living and dead being alike always had to him. This was starting to seem more intriguing than he was ever anticipating it to be… It was odd for him to feel this curious about any actual being. Let alone kindred-world topics that weren’t directly related to his personal hobby.
But maybe this edgy fledgling could end up being a worth-while, one-of-a-kind exception. Surely, it was starting to seem so. Either one new, unusual puzzle for him to solve, or just another blatant disappointment for his long list.
Who knows.
“Thank you, Eva.” Victor mutters with a polite nod in the end, shrugging his wary curiosity and tension about the Baron topic away. “If there’s anything we can do to be of use, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Victor then turns to Nelli and the other two. “Is there anything you’d like to ask Eva before we--”
“Victor Temple,” Eva cuts his question, snapping their attention back to her. “I accept the offer of your favor. A boon has been offered, and accepted.”
They all remain silent for one long, ominous moment, before Victor smiles and nods with respectful aplomb to her. It's then that Annabelle, finally out of her shocked stupor, clings yet again to Jasper’s arm very casually and jolts him closer to herself, whispering by his ear once he has bent far enough to be at her height.
“This looks like very serious business,” she mutters at him, wary. “What’s going on?”
“It is very serious business.” Jasper nods at her, equally quiet.
She frowns with some disappointment at his deadpanned response, but after realizing she wasn’t getting any further explanation about it, she finally lets go of him.
“Okay...” she sighs in an almost pouty mumble.
Victor is looking down his wristwatch, checking the time when a loud roar echoes through the park from the parking lot. They all turn around, surprised, to find a dark-colored car barreling up the ridge of the hill, gunning it’s motor towards them at full speed.
Victor tenses up and hurries closer to Annabelle and Jasper, grabbing the baby Brujah’s shoulders and pushing her towards the observatory Eva has by now long disappeared into. Jasper cloaks himself, beckoning darkness to swallow him despite the tingle of hunger it spikes on him; after all the blood scent teasing him, he supposed it was inevitable. But the adrenaline of the sudden threat was enough to quiet down the beast into its corner.
“Did yo-- Wha--” Annabelle tries asking, confused, but Victor pays her no mind.
“Hide!” He urges her, dashing alongside Nelli to the building. “Quick, to the Observatory!”
“Just listen to him.” Nelli hisses, pulling her away too.
Annabelle frowns and immediately looks around, almost as if wanting to grab Jasper’s arm, but freezes and dashes away when he is nowhere to be seen. He keeps his eyes fixed on the raging car, carefully slipping away from its initial trajectory but staying in close range so he can take a proper look at their impromptu attackers. The car speeds past him when they don’t see anyone immediately where they had been, and slams head-first into Victor’s parked but still on SUV.
The exploding sound of the collision echoes through the night. The impact drags Victor’s car two dozen yards away from its parking spot, the squeal of the breaks and the distorted metal ringing loudly, but not loud enough to hide the howl of pain Ib, Victor’s trusted driver, lets out. Jasper peeks back to the observatory, looking for the rest of the coterie, but they’re nowhere in sight - the front door slightly open. He can see Victor peeking out from a side window, which brings the Nosferatu’s attention back to the matter at hand.
He looks back at the car just in time to see two doors being open from the new car, one in the front and one in the back from the same side. Jasper growls as he sees the driver coming into view; a squat, misshapen individual with unnaturally long arms, that is clearly not human - at least, not completely. The figure emerging from the backseat is more normal though, a tall and athletic man, but the dark of night summed to the distance gives them enough cover not to make clear their identities.
“She dead?” the tall one asks, peeking at Victor’s wrecked car.
“I dunno, I’ll go check.” the squat figure yelps, shutting the door and approaching the wreckage. He goes around the front of the SUV, clearly trying to peek through the dark windows without getting too close. “... Ugh, I can’t tell. Hold on.”
The squat man waddles even closer, reaching for the car, then a sound of rending metal announces his action even before Victor’s door appears loose in his hands above his head, distorted out of its hinges and discarts it behind him like it weighs nothing. Jasper’s eyes go wide, but he stays in position, keeping watch. There isn’t much to be seen in the dimly lit interior of Victor’s SUV from that far away, especially now with the car as twisted as it was. But it hardly was necessary; as, no more than two seconds afterwards, Ib’s voice echoes in a shout followed by several gunshots. Jasper can see the muzzle flash exploding from inside the SUV.
Almost immediately, too, Behind him the doors of the observatory slam open and Annabelle and Victor are dashing towards the vehicle, Nelli unhurriedly sauntering behind them. Jasper groans, rolling his eyes before springing himself into action as well before they get themselves killed.
He snuck closer to the thugs while they were distracted with Ib’s shooting in the car, making note of his coterie’s movements as they approached the duo from the other side - but further away. As he moved, Jasper could make out some more details about the two attackers. The tall man, who was standing a little behind the car and closer to him, had very short black hair, cut in a military cut and was wearing a long heavy coat that was definitely too warm for this time of year. He was in guard, ready for action… and very clearly breathing. Ghouls, then, considering the car crash both had just walked out of apparently unharmed.
Annabelle is still gunning towards the duo with no regard for cover, and as they reach around 20 feet from the cars, Victor leaps into the air, soaring over Annabelle. With clear supernatural strength the Ventrue propelled himself far enough that he landed with a loud bang on the hood of his SUV, looming eerily over the short man Ib was firing against. While the two thugs gasped and tensed up, focused on Victor’s beastial entrance, Jasper quickly positioned himself behind the tall man and drew his knife. He dropped his disguise as he grabbed his arm with one hand and pulled his knife over his neck.
“Can we help you?” The nosferatu smirks. The man tenses up and draws a sharp intake of breath, preparing to react - but… “Do not.” Jasper hisses in his ear, pulling the blade harder against his neck. “Move.”
Immediately, the man gives up.
Taking advantage of his hostage’s compliance, Jasper quickly peeks into how the others are doing ahead. While Victor is holding the short man’s focus in a tense intimidation contest, Annabelle has finally reached the fight. There is a loud sound of twisting metal as she disappears behind what’s left of Victor’s SUV, then three more shots are fired against the distracted man once the other door flies back against the grass.
The short man groans and staggers back a couple steps as a few of the bullets hit him, but doesn’t drop. From the now open view the lack of doors gives him Jasper can see Ib positioned on the ground half covered by the car, saying something to Annabelle then handing her a handgun. Even from afar, Jasper can tell Annabelle has stiffened and pales as she stares at the weapon.
“Point and click.” Victor yells when she doesn’t pick the gun up, drawing his own pistol out of his suit and immediately firing at the deformed man ahead, who dodges out of the way and now shifts his focus to the Ventrue.
Before he can go far though, Annabelle launches herself through the open doors of the SUV straight towards the man, gun in hand. The sight somehow it’s unexpected for him, and Jasper is almost about to admit he is impressed… But then immediately Annabelle grabs the man by his collar and slams the butt of the gun across his face.
“EAT LEAD!” she screams, proceeding tlock the man on the ground under her and beat him senseless with both her naked fist and the gun as a very inappropriate club.
“That is NOT how that works!” Victor groans behind her, jumping out of the SUV and walking towards Ib while still keeping the man somewhat on his range.
Jasper can’t help but to gape, wide eyed to the display and chuckle, definitely caught off guard all over again by the fiery short woman - but the distraction is short lived. His focus shifts back to the tall man in his grasp when he grunts annoyedly, shifting his weight restlessly to the spectacle unfolding in front of them. The Nosferatu makes sure to keep the pressure of the knife firm against him, tightening his grip on the man’s arm as a point just in case he thinks this is enough of a leeway to get away from him.
“What do you want with us?” Jasper demands in the man’s ear.
The stranger stiffens again, then clears his throat.
“Yeah, uh… We were just told to make sure none of you got out of the park.”
“Mm,” Jasper nodded, thoughtful. Misdirection. A truthful answer while still not revealing much of anything at all. This man was well trained, that much was clear. “How is that going?”
“Eh. Could be better.” he sighed.
“Who sent you?”
The man clicks his tongue and sighs, shifting in place again.
“Oh, man. This is not good. Not, not good at all...” he hisses with himself, clearly on edge. “Uh. So. Can we make a deal?”
Jasper smirks. So, well trained, but a coward. He could work with that far too easily.
“What do you want?” he encourages with a shrug.
“I’ll tell you and you let me go?”
“Sure.”Jasper shrugs. “Let’s do it.”
“Shit...” The thug clicks his tongue again, looking away as he thinks. Eventually, the man grunts and shakes his head, turning back to Jasper who waits patiently in place. “Okay. Okay. It’s McNeil, McNeil sent me.”
Jasper frowns and tenses up to the name, but wastes no time with shock; as soon as the man stops talking, the Nosferatu repositions his hands and slams the tall figure’s head against the car beside them, knocking him out. The man groans and slides bonelessly into the asphalt, giving him Jasper time to actually process the information he has got. McNeil. THE McNeil? Seems a bit of a stretch, imagining such a powerful figure sending out mere ghouls to do his job, not to mention picturing anyone that high up in Kindred society and history having any particular interest in them. Most likely it was a ruse, just a fake name they were offering to get themselves saved without letting out the truth….
But…
His eyes followed up to Annabelle, who was still frantically beating the short thug into a pulp on the floor, her violent frenzy still continuing for minutes even though the man was very noticeably no longer moving. That’s when she stops, eyes wide and breathing heavy, finally seeming to notice what she has just done. She looks up, and around to Jasper and Victor, though the Ventrue is not in their direct line of sight by now.
“Is-- Is he-- Did I--” She immediately bends down and checks for a pulse, for breath, but even with proof he was still - albeit barely - kicking, she simply stands there, staring at the man and all the blood soaking her hands and jacket in absolute horror.
Certainly, her random abandonment without any bare knowledge of her condition didn’t add up, but whoever was her sire also had to be an Elder, considering the upper generation announced by the Blood Witch.
Could it be that, maybe…?
“Um. We, we--” Annabelle stutters, still more in shock than conscious.
“Should go.” Jasper offers, tense - though for an entirely different reason than hers.
“...Yeah.” Annabelle agrees, still with her eyes glued to the unconscious man but nodding vehemently and pointing at Jasper as further point.
“Yeah.” Victor sighs as well, appearing from out of his cover with Ib in his arms. She is hurt, blood stains showing up all over even through her dark clothing, but not dangerously so. “I’m sure Eva’s has probably cleared out of here by now.”
Jasper nods as the Ventrue joins them.
“There’s another!” Nelli shouts from somewhere above them.
Jasper follows the sound with a frown, and his eyes widen in shock when he finds the Toreador perched on it’s outer wall near the dome a few stories up, clutching to the stone like some sort of insect, hands and feet clawing to the wall except for one hand which is pointing down the hill, towards the entrance… Where, indeed, they all now look at and spot the headlights of another vehicle.
“What?” Annabelle gapes, snapping a little out of her shock as she looks up at Nelli. She leans close to Jasper again and murmurs to him. “Uh… Can I do that, too?”
“Probably not.” Jasper mumbles back, deadpanned. His eyes still squinted in suspicion up to the Diva and her clearly-not-possible skill for a Toreador, but he says nothing.
It was not his place to pry after all, since Victor and Nelli’s one good side to other Kindred was how they never pried to his secrets. But, admittedly, deep down a part of him smirked; his personal distaste for the vain Toreador now enhanced with the sweet irony of their similarities between them that kind of ability implied. Oh, how interesting it would be if it was true… The pretty face and focus of the highlights, a fatally ironic example of how truly monstrous their kind could really be. Even more so than Jasper himself was.
Victor quickly opens way between then though, unphased, and opens the passenger seat door of the car the things came in, setting Ib down on it gently before running around to the driver side.
“Come on, let's go! Let's go, let's go!" He yelps to them as he gets in the busted vehicle.
Jasper quickly pats Annabelle's shoulder, urging her in. "Get in the car, come on."
Annabelle nods and opens the SUV's door, but then halts and looks back at the two unconscious men laying on the ground.
“Are they gonna be ok if we leave them here?" She asks, actually concerned about the men that had just tried to kill them off. That she had nearly beaten down to death.
“It doesn't matter." He scoffs, staring at her quizzically, but the answer sentence only makes her frown and seem even more hesitant.
Just as he is about to say something else, Nelli has leaped off the observatory wall and lands rather majestically for someone in high heels falling 14 feet, a couple steps away from them.
“Just get in the car." She pushes Annabelle in with an impatient groan, sitting beside her and closing the door.
“Yeah."
As Nelli sits down behind Victor, the Ventrue turns to her with wide, disturbed eyes. He stuttered, his eyes kept darting between Nelli and the observatory wall, but Nelli sighed with exasperation and just kneeled his back through the driver seat.
“Drive!" She yelled at him, rolling her eyes.
Victor grunts to the pressure, but turns the batted SUV around and punches it; making sure to buckle Ib in safely beside him first. The steering wheel is clearly unstable, and there is an odd noise on the tires, like some metal is rubbing down, but at least it was working.
“Ok, buckle up everyone." Victor sighed, fumbling with the wheel and gear shift awkwardly.
Clearly he was not used to driving himself around, but then again, who was Jasper to judge? He barely remembered the last time he had been behind a wheel. Even before his embrace, despite having a license cars had never really been his thing.
As Victor set them on the way down the hill, still eyeing Nelli through the mirror uncomfortably, Jasper eyed the blue haired Toreador upon this, his suspicions even stronger now that even Victor didn't know of those skills. But, indeed, there was no point in peeking into it any further now.
“Ok, dad." Annabelle scoffed in a low and unamused mumble.
Beside Nelli, the asian woman's eyes were lost between the landscape outside and the blood mess most of her arms, jacket, shirt and gun were covered in… blood that was not hers. It didn't smell so. The scent made something in the bottom of Jasper's stomach coil and uncoil ravenously, restlessly. The realization of Annabelle's mess making its scent and the equally strong one oozing out of Ib's injuries invading his senses. Ugh, just his luck…
Peeking at the headlights ahead of him, Jasper's mind raced and he quickly opened the door and jumped off the car before Victor could reach top speed. He sees Annabelle's eyes go wide and her whole body snap out of shock to learn closer and grasp for him, Nelli frowning in confusion. They both yell something, surprise, worry; but Jasper shuts the door before they can raise any complaints.
Using the last safe degree of his self control, he summons up the darkness and vanishes into the night. Jasper jogs safely out of either car's direct path as Victor guns it down the hill, following his comrades losely down towards the exit through the tree lines. Breathing the clean air in, setting the hungry Beast in the back of his mind down to its place.
Victor careens down the hill, the SUV heading fast speed towards the other car. For a moment, it looks like they'll crash, but then Victor makes way beside them and just barely manages past them with the doors scraping against each other.
There's a howl of protesting metal, but before they can react, the cotery is past them and rockets down the driveway back into downtown. The enemy car immediately roars into life and they make a sharp turn, the break squeaking against the pavement as they prepare to tail Victor's stolen car.
Jasper gauged the distance between them quickly, then dashed down the hill. Propelling himself with the aid of the downhill momentum summed and his supernatural blood, Jasper leaped into the air. It was not the most graceful of sights, a Nosferatu leaping like a monstrous kangaroo - but, at least it was effective. plus, luckily, considering the lack of obstacles in his way Jasper was still safely invisible to the naked eye. In three big leaps, he landed a hundred yards ahead of his parting point - right behind the car moments before it dashed out in chase of Victor.
As quickly as he could, Jasper jumped one more time and clung to the big spare tire behind the trunk, clinking to it with his arms and legs as the vehicle sped down the hill towards the park's open exit gate. They make quick and sharp turns as safely and fast as they can, to Jasper's dismay. Left, right, left, right! Squeal of brakes, and all around him traffic and horns start echoing from all sides. If he lets himself be seen now, a break of the Masquerade would be the least of his worries.
Jasper focuses on the inside of the car as attentive as he can, without letting go of both his supernatural disguise and his grip on the shaky tire. He can hear them rambling and arguing inside, though the voices are muffled and too mixed with the external noise around him to discern any words. His hands are aching and slipping, and the car is turning even faster and faster. Jasper clicks his tongue, annoyed. His grip is not gonna last at this speed, and he has no hope of gathering much info like this.
With a last effort, he pulled himself up and took a long, focused look at the driver and passenger in the front seats. In the glow of their dashboard instrumentation panels, Jasper can't see much of the driver - but the passenger is a woman. Of long black hair and pale skin, who us smirking and talking with a sarcastic amusement to another passenger behind them. And when she smiles she's got the longest, prettiest fangs he has ever seen. Something almost unnatural even for a Kindred. Jasper smirks, somewhat relieved. Despite the plan overall being stupid, he was sure he could recognize that profile again.
And that's when he falls off, rolling back face first against the pavement. Takes a moment for Jasper to manage to steady himself, immediately running out into a dark alley before he even measures the amount of damage this little endeavour took. He touched his face tentatively, wincing at the gross sensation of his undead muscles exposed all through his left side. Overall though, it didn’t feel too bad; the whole left side of his face was rashed from the pavement, the dry, callous gray skin his Embrace gave him gone and leaving his Vitae and dead muscles exposed to view.
It felt bad, but probably looked worse. After a few moments of careful examination between touch and with his phone’s ancient camera - fuck Victor for stashing him with that damn flip phone - Jasper concluded it wasn’t anything he couldn’t heal within the next couple hours… If he made sure to feed.
With a long, annoyed sigh to the prospect, he got up from the street and stretched his sore arms and legs, cursing mentally at the thorns across his favorite hoodie and pants as he started walking through the shadows back towards the park. Well, the good thing about a gothic style clothing and about technically not existing, was that keeping his clothes ok was very, VERY low in his priority list. And he never actually had to feel bad for it, since no one really expected a Nosferatu to do so either even when he needed to be social. Once Jasper reaches the safety of the treelines of Griffith Park again, Jasper pulls out his phone and dials down to the Baron.
“Jasper,” Abrams' voice on the other end is intrigued.
“Yes. I--”
“... I thought you were with Victor.”
The nosferatu nods through a sigh. Good, so Victor had already called him too.
“No, we split up during the car chase.” Jasper replies. “I’m assuming they called you already?”
“Yes, we’ve spoken.” The baron confirms, now slightly more on edge. “What do you want?”
“Well, I just wanted to report that I have some information they didn’t.”
The other end of the line was silent, waiting.
“Those men, that I’m sure they told you about?” Jasper starts, continuing once the Baron hums with curiosity. “McNeil sent them.”
“McNeil!?" The tense edge on the Toreador’s voice was just as baffled as Jasper had felt back when he heard it, which made him chuckle. His private conversations with Abrams hardly ever got out of a cold monotone, considering the Toreador’s open despise of his kind and Jasper’s personal dislike of everyone in general, so his surprised gasp was oddly amusing.
“That’s what they said.” Jasper shrugged through a sigh. “Under… coercion.”
Some more silence went by while the baron processed that information, the gears turning inside his mind almost audible to Jasper even through the phone. “We'll talk tomorrow night.” he eventually sighs, still tense and clearly thoughtful. Then, to Jasper’s surprise, the Baron’s tone took an oddly kind tone. “Thank you, Jasper, I won't forget it."
“Goodbye.”
It’s all Jasper says before hanging up and slowly trailing the known way home.