The woman's hands cradled the sides of her tea cup as she watched the traffic pass on the sidewalk just beyond their table, the people seeming distant and blurry. The sound of Katarine's voice brought her back to focus slowly as she lifted the cup to drink from it.
"You don't have to do this, Maria."
The woman looked to her with a smug expression. "Why, is there someone else who can do it?"
Katarine shook her head with a deep sigh, pushing her dark, thick, ringleted hair out of her face. "No."
The woman nodded. "Then I have to." She looked across at her old friend and the crimson tearlets that welled in the outer corners of her eyes and her face softened, no longer smug and distant. "It's all right, Kat... I knew why I was coming... It is my choice... Kat..." She placed her hand over her friends and they looked at each other for a long moment, sharing thoughts of how their friendship had come to be what it was, and wondering what it would be after the night was over.
The Toreador fussed with her ringlets for only a moment longer before setting her voice and resolve. "Then let's get to the hotel. Rene will meet us there in two hours to go over the schedule again, and you must be dressed and ready when he arrives."
The woman nodded as they stood, and soon they walked down the back alleys of the city, quietly keeping pace with one another. No words passed between them for a while, but after a few blocks, Maria reached to hold Katarine's hand as they walked, smiling a warm, comforting smile to her. As they neared the entrance of the hotel, Katarine finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
"To what do I aspire, Maria? Lafayette is my Grand Sire...he is Prince of the City... He used to be a good man..." At that she covered her mouth in horror, as if she had truly realized finally the consequences of the plot she had become involved in. Maria stopped her in the elevator and hugged her tight, smoothing the ringlets over her back as she spoke softly to her.
"You aspire to protect the innocent and the weak, my dearest friend. You keep your vow to God and your brothers and sisters." She gently pushed Katarine back to look into her eyes, speaking in maternal tones. "You know, Kat, that it is not him anymore... he is long gone by the hand of that Fiend... Lafayette would not have wanted to go on like this... You knew him best... Would it not break his heart to see his power used for this?"
The Artiste shook her ringleted head and hugged her friend quickly as the doors opened. "It would... I know it is not him... It is hard, that's all..."
Maria smiled a warm smile to her as she unlocked her hotel room door. "It will all go well... I promise you... he will not suffer..." She stepped into the parlor of her suite in the Grand Marseilles, looking quickly to the returned dry cleaning on the couch and becoming nervous. She looked through the doorway to the bedroom, calling out briskly, "Bella?"
Katerine's eyes widened to the size of silver dollars. "You did not bring the child! Maria! What if something goes wrong!?"
Isabella ran in from the bedroom, crayons still in hand and a sweet smile on her angelic face, but stopped as she saw Katarine looking down at her in disbelief. Before anyone could speak, Maria scooped Isabella up and rested her on her hip with a laugh. "Soon you will be too big for me to do that!" She kissed the girl on the cheek with a smile, then shifted her tone and expression as she pointed to the clothes that lay on the couch. "Where did those come from, Bella?"
The little girl looked to them with an innocent expression. "The valley brought them," she said with a smile.
Maria laughed and kissed her on the forehead. "I think you mean 'Valet', sweetheart... but what did I tell you about opening the door?"
Isabella looked back to her with doe eyes. "But he was just bringing your dress, Mia. It was all right." She smiled, wide and sweet.
Maria shook her head. "But what it had been someone else? Someone bad?"
Isabella smiled still. "I asked first. He said he had your dress."
Maria sighed. "But what if he wasn't telling you the truth?"
To that, the little girl laughed. "But he was, Mia - see? There's your dress!"
Maria took on a stern look. "Do not open the door again, do you understand? It's not safe. I mean it this time."
The little girl frowned slightly and nodded. "Yes, Mia."
Maria twirled her around until she was giggling again then sent her back into the bedroom. "Go and finish drawing Bella - I have to get ready, and then tomorrow we go home again." She smiled as the little girl beamed at her and ran into the adjacent room, then closed the partitioning door to face a still astounded Katarine.
The Toreador held the dress ready for her to put on with a bewildered look, and spoke as she began to help Maria prepare for the evening. "How could you bring her? What if..." She stopped short and looked to Maria, realizing for the first time that this may be the last time she ever set eyes on her. The rest of her words barely slid out in a whisper. "What if something happens to you?"
Maria looked to her, bordering on exasperated. "First - nothing is going to 'happen'. Second..." She paused, gathering herself, and then continued. "Second - if something does happen, I want you to call the phone number written inside of Isabella's Bible. It looks like a date, but it isn't - it's a phone number. Ask for Anatole, and tell him you have Bella. He will come for her in less than four hours. I could not leave her at the Vineyards... not with them..." She shook her head as her words trailed into a sigh and she fastened the last eyelet of her dress.
Katarine understood, and shifted the conversation with a generous smile and a wink. "You look ravishing, darling."
Maria smiled and started to speak, but a knock on the door silenced her. She motioned for Katarine to stand near the bedroom door as she called out. "Who is it?"
The thick French accent came through the door with a brisk tone. "Rene. Let me in."
She quickly unlocked the door and then locked it again behind him. Katarine began to work on Maria's hair as Rene spoke to them.
"We will arrive at the party together. He will not suspect you, and being my date ought to add enough allure for him to choose you for the night, not to mention you are perfectly suited to his tastes. He will lavish you with attention all night. He will use Presence on you - and he has to believe it is working..." He paused, and looked to Maria with a note of concern. "Are you certain you will be able to defend against his mind probing?"
She nodded her head, causing Katarine to lose the lock she had been teasing. "Yes, as long as I don't drink."
He frowned. "He will offer you beverage after beverage, and he'll know if you aren't drinking them..."
Maria shook her head. "Katarine and I have that covered. She will replace my wine with with white grape juice, which I will drink quickly each time. Next?"
He held his concern for a moment longer, then continued. "Very well. When it is time to leave, he will escort you to his car. Once you leave the party, we will be able to hear you, but you won't be able to hear us. Here - put this on." He handed her a necklace, an exquisite diamond-inlaid choker that sparkled in the room's soft light. She put it on with a questioning look, to which he continued.
"That is a transmitter, so we can hear you. It's small enough to get past the scanners, and on a low enough frequency to be missed by their communications tower. It's only one way. Once you're in, all we can do is listen..." He let that thought digest with a frown as he unpacked the rest of the bag he had brought with him. He handed her a pair of earrings that matched the choker. "This one," he said as he distinguished one form the other, "is a detonator. There is a considerable amount of C-4 lining the inside of the belt you will wear with your dress. If you haven't eliminated your target by the time you reach the end of that hallway..." He choked back his next words.
Maria nodded. "Then I will be very thankful to have it, I know." She smiled a comforting smile, though it did not perform as intended. A little quieter, he continued, removing a small blade from the bag.
"This dagger is special. It will cause damage he cannot heal with his blood. If you can cut open the jugular and carotid artery in one swipe, you should be just fine, provided you can get away fast enough. If you can't do it the first time - I doubt you will get a second opportunity."
Katarine grimaced as she finished setting the last of Maria's curls in place. "Rene, please... we know the risk..."
Rene barked at her. "We? We?? There is no risk for you Katarine!" He threw the bag down on the bed and slumped into a chair, rubbing his eyes. Katarine frowned and went to the bedroom to check on Bella, hoping the shouting had not drawn her attention. Once she was gone, Rene leaned over in his chair to speak to Maria, his tone soft and forlorn. "If there was anyone else... if there was any other way..."
Maria stood and narrowed her eyes at him, walking to the mirror to set the last few accouterments in place. "Rene, do not begin this again," she said flatly.
He exhaled a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, deciding not to push the issue. "As you like it. He will be with no less than four guards in the vehicle, and his fortress will be crawling with guards." He looked up to her. "Do you remember the way out?" At her nod, he continued. "Once you get inside, you will walk with him to the basement floor. The last guard checkpoint is just at the bottom of the stairs. You will enter a hallway, then turn down another. The third hallway..." He cleared his throat, which Maria marked as a sign of nervousness. "The third is the one. You will see the double iron doors at the end. Beyond those doors are the women who have survived his night of torture until dawn and been given the embrace in return. Once he unlocks them, there is no chance for escape. That hallway is your window, Maria. Any sooner and the guard will hear you. Any later, and you will have twenty or better bloodthirsty, insane kindred on you in seconds. It's not a lot of time..."
She nodded in agreement once more. "I understand."
At that he rose and rushed to her, his gaze bearing down on her. "Maria, please.. reconsider my offer..."
She held up a hand to silence him. "No. When this is finished, I will return to Italy with Bella, and that will be that. If you do not understand, I will make you understand."
He turned away to keep his hurt expression to himself, and walked to the door with a sigh. "Very well. I will meet you downstairs in fifteen minutes. Don't forget the dagger."
At that he left, and Maria quickly locked the door behind him. Katarine emerged, frowning. "Why are you so cruel to him? He offers you eternity, and yet..."
Maria pulled her stockings taught and tucked the thin dagger in the top of one, interrupting her friend. "He offers me eternity? As what? His mistress? An ornament? Another piece in his collection?" She shook her head. "No thank you."
Katarine began to rebut, but found only a sigh. "Then let's go. The car is waiting downstairs, and I have seen Bella to sleep. It's time."
Maria nodded and they stared at each other for a long moment before moving towards the door. In the elevator, they watched the floors pass through the gating in silence until they had almost reached the bottom. With a grim look, Katarine turned to Maria.
"I just want you to know... whatever happens... I love you, Maria." She frowned full, and Maria hugged her tight and kissed her on the cheek, then smiled as they exited the lift. "Tell me that when we're on a plane back to Milan."
The long, black limousine pulled up in front of the Palace, and the driver gunned the engine once to alert his passengers to their arrival. Inside the back compartment of the car, Rene, Katarine, and Maria sat in silence. As Rene saw the valet approaching to open the door, he shot a glance to Maria.
"Please, at least try to act like you are happy to be my date." He tried to move towards the door, but she snatched him back in the car and threw him against the seat with a hiss.
"You will not take one step outside this vehicle until you have remembered WHY you are here. I need you focused... not pining away. Can you do this or not?" She glared at him as Katarine watched, unsure of what to say.
Rene scrolled through a list of possible dramatic responses, but in the end he decided she was right, and spoke as he sighed. "I know... I'm sorry... I'm ready..."
Maria looked at him with a hard stare, then turned to the valet opening the door, her face immediately turning to a lavish smile. As the trio ascended the wide steps, bits and pieces of conversation drifted past her ears, and she smiled and spoke pleasantly to those who greeted her as Rene's date.
Inside the Palace, a grand gala was commencing. Among the attendees were some of Paris's finest artists, poets, and sculptors, as well as Toreador from all of France's regions. It took little time before Rene was introducing Maria to their host.
"Sire, I would like you to meet Maria," Rene said with his trademark smile, "one of Italy's finest creations. Maria - this is Lafayette LeVeaux, Prince of Marseilles."
Maria flashed Lafayette a bewitching smile as he kissed her hand, and spoke in a deep, gravelly, sensuous tone. "I am honored to make your acquaintance, Lord LeVeaux."
Lafayette looked up to her with a smile that bordered on maniacal, and any doubts she might have had about his humanity were silenced. He did not remember her, and that smile was out of place on the man's once kind face. Seeing that his sire was taking the bait nicely, Rene excused himself, lest he give them away.
"Lafayette, could you entertain Maria while I go and find Katarine? I must attend to some business. It is to be hoped that it won't take long." Rene flashed his sire a smile.
Lafayette grinned between the two. "Take your time, chylde. I could hope to spend my night in no better company." He looped Maria's arm through his as he waved Rene away, walking her to the bar. "Allow me to treat you to a glass of wine, my dear. It is the finest France has to offer," he added as he slid his other arm around her waist,"for the finest Italy has to offer."
Maria smiled a coy smile as he walked her to the bar. After presenting her with a glass of white wine, he offered to show her the balcony, to which she graciously accepted. She stepped through the doors just far enough behind him for Katarine to dash up and exchange her glass for its twin containing grape juice. Once on the balcony, Maria made a small display of downing the glass, to which Lafayette only smiled.
"This must be a terrible treat for you, dear lady," he whispered to her as they looked up to the night sky. "It is not often that a mortal woman can command the attention of the Prince of the City. But you..."
Maria bit back the acid that rose in her throat at his pompous remark and flashed him an alluring smile. "Yes... I am honored by your attentions, Lord LeVeaux."
His gloating smile told her he had taken the bait in full. Another hour or so of one-sided conversation found him inviting her back to his fortress. She accepted with a flirtatious smile, and as they walked towards the Palace doors, she caught a glimpse of Rene, who tapped his throat to indicate the necklace transmitter and nodded. In moments, she was in Lafayette's limousine, heading for his fortress on the fringes of the city.
A few moments later, a black van containing Rene, Katarine, and two of Rene's ghoul-servants pulled out behind the limousine, following at a safe distance. Rene listened in on the headphones as Katarine dutifully watched a set of scanners and lights. Finally, she turned to Rene her face solemn and square.
"Approaching Fortress perimeter. Shut the lights down, Antoine."
The ghould obeyed, killing the headlights as well as the interior lights, leaving only the light from the small set of readouts in the back. Rene listened carefully to the conversation in the car, guessing that Maria was responding beautifully to Lafayette's advances and pawing by the sounds. A bitter look crossed his face as he turned to Katarine.
"He's taking the bait all right," he said with disgust
Katarine shot him a warning glance before turning back to her scanner displays. "They are pulling up in front of the main entrance.. the driver is letting them out..."
Rene growled at her. "I know! I can hear."
Antione looked back at the two with a slightly surprised expression. Rene returned his look with a glare before waving his attention away again, then holding up his hand to Katarine to instruct her to pause before finally speaking, and looking up to her with slightly widened eyes. "They're inside - this is it."
Lafayette smiled a perverted smile to the perimeter guard as he escorted Maria in the main doors. He spoke to Maria as they walked, and when he looked into her eyes she could feel the pull of his Presence on her will. She steadied her resolve and let her eyes glaze slightly as she smiled an awe-filled smile at him and looped her arm through his.
"It must be wonderful to be so powerful." she remarked, hoping an instant later that it hadn't sounded too sarcastic. His vaunting smile assured her he had captured no inkling of her resentment, and instead he made a grand gesture with his arm.
"It is wonderful," he said. "Would you like to know how wonderful it is, Maria?" He looked down to her with a intent gaze, and she could feel his powers to Dominate pulling at the edges of her will. Beneath her surface thoughts, she prayed the Rosary, the focused chant sufficient to create a barrier he could no more see past than he could penetrate. With her most submissive smile and subjugated stare she looked up to him, her voice only far enough above a whisper to contain an intimate tone.
"Will you show me, Lafayette?"
She watched with a small amount of joy as he took her vapid stare for success on his part. He pulled her closer by the waist as turned and walked down what Maria noted as being the second hallway, and took her arm with his other hand. He seemed to be enjoying his game of cat and mouse. It gave Maria no small amount of pleasure to know that he had terribly misjudged who was cat, and who was mouse, though it occurred to her that all of this was going very easy. Too easy.
In the van, Rene listened with burgeoning bitterness, and Katarine became more worried by the moment. She had taken on a second set of headphones and was listening to everything the transmitter in Maria's necklace would let her hear. She had also noticed that this venture was going far too smoothly, and even though she knew Maria was adept at accomplishing her task, the wiles of a thirty year old woman seemed to be working just a little too well on a three hundred year old Toreador. It gave her no comfort that Rene seemed not to be noticing, rather he seemed more like a jealous high school boyfriend watching his prom date dance with someone else. Katarine continued to shift the display screens in the van with occasional glances to Antoine and Henri, who sat nearly with their breath held watching the two kindred. A sudden foreboding feeling of dread washed over her as she looked to them and then Rene. A moment later, her feeling was justified as she listened to the turn of conversation as Maria and Lafayette turned the corner down the last hallway.
Maria reminded herself as the entrance to the third hallway showed itself that she was still at the disadvantage in this situation. She forced her paradigm to revolve around the fact that the man standing next to her was not a man at all, but a vicious creature who was at least ten times her superior in skill and strength, and that only precision execution of the right moves would see her the victor in this. As they stopped at the mouth of the last hallway, something that none of them had considered happened.
Lafayette pulled a large brass key from his front vest pocket, and stood firmly in place. Maria stood next to him, waiting for him to continue walking. He didn't. Instead, he handed her the brass key and crossed his arms.
"Beyond those doors, Maria, is power. It is more than even your wildest dreams, and beyond the human capacity for imagination." He smiled at her. "Open it."
Maria looked down the hallway to the double iron doors. She knew full well what lay behind them, and she thought that if she listened hard enough, she could hear them pressed against the door and waiting. She looked at the key and then back to Lafayette who only smiled a twisted smile at her. She wondered if he knew how perverse he had come to look in the past few months. He pressed at her back slightly to set her towards the door. Her first step forward was a slight stumble at his urging, to which she quickly giggled to mask as error. She began to walk down the hallway, taking slow steps and deliberately swinging her hips for a show. She knew it would make no difference to him, but he would believe the act of her, and it would buy her time to think.
She felt her stomach churn as each step carried her closer. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen. She knew she was alone in here, and that her back-up couldn't come in after her. She had to come up with a new plan - quick. She looked back at Lafayette at the mouth of the hallway. No, the guard would hear him there if he managed to cry out. . .
When she finally reached the door, she slid the key in and feigned the clicking of disagreeing tumblers. She could hear the minions he had locked away behind the barricade stir and scratch, and she knew they could smell her. Her skin began to crawl at the thought. Her mind raced for a solution . . . and then as it came to her she silently began to chant the Rosary once more as she turned to Lafayette with her sultriest pout.
"It won't open. The key doesn't work"
His eyes flicked over her with distrust, and she could feel the probe of his powers of Auspex digging for her thoughts. She calmly reflected only erotic interest, her chanting of the Mysteries of the Rosary protecting her true thoughts, though she could feel her powers to resist beginning to expire. She knew she would have to act soon...
Satisfied with his scan though still distrusting, Lafayette began to walk down the hall towards her. She shifted from one foot to the other and smiled as if she was embarrassed, waiting for him to get close. He kept a suspicious eye on her, often putting his gaze to the key that still sat in the lock.
Time seemed to slow down as Maria watched him approach. For a moment she saw him as the man who had insisted shelters be built for those who were living in the gutter, and who had single-handedly negotiated peace talks with the Garou of the nearby Caern. She felt a pang of regret at what she would have to do next. This was the last steps he would ever take. His final walk. She caught herself just before the frown took physical form, and cursed herself for nearly giving herself away. She blinked once more and he was there, placing his hand over the lock with a glance to her, and a suspicious one. She knew she must act . . for better or for worse . . . now.
His eyes barely had time to widen all the way as her foot quickly came up and made solid contact with his hand, breaking the key off in the lock. He wailed at the pressure of his hand caught in the blow and drew back with rage filled eyes, but she had already moved. She quickened her steps to move behind him, drawing the blade in one lithe movement and bringing its razor edge across his throat from behind. He held his throat with one hand and lashed out hard at her with the other, sending her reeling to the floor and back into the wall. Her vision blurred slightly as she regained her footing. He knew by now he could not heal the wound that was quickly spurting his blood onto the floor between them. He started to step towards her again, but then turned to the door, intent on the lock. With all his strength he grabbed for the bit of key that jutted from the lock, trying to turn it. Maria reached him just as he turned the lock, her blade b piercing through his heart. He lost consciousness before he could even register the exit of the blade, sliding down in front of the doors. She pushed his body forward against the doors as she saw them begin to open just a crack, and she knew he had forced the lock. Her mind raced as the doors began to shake. She quickly took off her belt and looped it through the handles with a quick fasten. Kevlar or not, it would take them no time to burst through. She turned and began to run back down the hallway.
In the van, Katarine and Rene had begun to fight, and only when Antoine finally managed to shout over them did Katarine realize what was happening.
"Rene!" she shouted. "Maria is in trouble - something is wrong!"
Rene hissed at her, his eyes growing red as he neared the verge of frenzy. "So? She needs no one, right? She can do it all by herself, can't she? So let her!"
Katarine slapped him as hard as she could and grabbed the head phones back up.
"She's running, and out of breath..." She looked at the monitors. "She's way too far away from the point of departure . . . and what's that sound?"
Maria could hear the clanging of the doors behind her. They knew they could get free now . . . if she could just get far enough away from the hall . . . She heard the doors bust open as the women behind them let out inhumane, bloodcurdling screams. She crossed herself quickly and hit the pressure button on her left earring. This was getting worse by the minute . . . and she just demolished her way out . . .
The explosion lit up the horizon visible through the van's windshield, and even Rene stood dumbfounded at the cloud of fire that rose in the night sky. He frowned and put his hand over his chest.
"That was her last resort . . . she . . ."
The perimeter sirens broke his speech, and the fortress leapt to life with guards and gunmen. Rene jumped behind the wheel, pushing Henri out of the way.
"We've got to get out of here. Shut down the equipment, Kat." He roared the engine to life as she shouted back to him.
"No! I can still hear her breathing! She's still in there! Damnit, Rene!"
He wasn't listening to her and had begun to back the van up. She sped to the front of the van and backhanded Rene hard across the face. By the time he gained his head back she was pushing a handful of pencils from the dashboard through his chest. His eyes grew wide at the insult even as his body ceased to respond. She quickly rushed back to the screens as she instructed Antoine to clear Him into the back.
"He's not dead, so be careful - and DON'T move those pencils!"
Antoine obeyed out of fear alone.
Katarine turned a watchful eye back to the monitors, then turned to Henri.
"She's headed for the front. Get moving, Henri. We're going to pick her up."
Maria rushed passed the perimeter guard who was running her way, a stiff clothesline taking him off his feet. She didn't even look back to see if he had fallen. Once past the guard, she found it easy to mix in with the confusion that had shaken the occupants of the fortress, but she knew it wouldn't be long. She ran, harder and faster, for the place she had entered, and feeling her energy beginning to threaten to give out. Resisting Lafayette's probes had taken more than she thought. Already her legs burned and her heart pounded . . . but just a little further . . .
Maria rounded the last hallway just in time to meet up with the guard she had first past on the way in. He looked at her and then narrowed his eyes. She couldn't keep his thoughts out . . . she just didn't have it in her anymore . . .
He was advancing on her in seconds, his hands closing around her throat as he cursed at her in French. Maria fought him as much as she could, but his sheer strength over powered her. She thought she heard a strange roaring sound as the edges of her vision began to fade to black, and mused with her last breath how much she was going to miss going to the Ballet.
The guard looked up as he suddenly heard the roaring sound too... but not quite in time. By the time he had faced the doors again to look at them, the black van was bursting through them, sending a spray of glass and steel both into the room and into the van. Henri slumped over the steering wheel, his face a bloody mass from the impacted glass. The guard lay under the van, a frozen expression on his face.
Katarine jumped out of the side to face the wall of guards that now were moving into the hallway, and from her side lifted an automatic shotgun. As she let loose with the trigger, bodies began to burst into flames as the incendiary rounds made contact with their targets. She shouted for Antione to load Maria's body into the van as she backed up, her shots wearing thin and the wall of oncoming guards growing thicker by the second. Once he had passed she backed up and yanked Henri's mass out of the driver's seat and jumped in, backing the wrecked vehicle out again.
As they tore down the road, Katarine called back to Antoine who was delivering CPR to Maria's motionless body.
"Is she going to make it? She had damn well better! Don't you give up!"
After several minutes Katarine heard Maria gasp for air, her breath bearing a desperate and cavernous sound. Antoine looked up to his Mistress.
"She going to make it . . . I think . . ."
Katarine sped off into the night with the burning fortress behind her. Lafayette was dead, and Rene would be furious . . . She looked back to Maria's body with a frown, then spoke through a heavy sigh to Antoine.
"Well, at least we got her out . . . I hope Italy needs Artistes . . . " |
