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[Drakilian]

Waiting in the dark of the warehouse, his presence cloaked by darkest magicks and his form enhanced beyond the wildest dreams of even the most exquisite of mortal specimens - as much an assassin as the one he hunts even now, whomever was responsible for killing the amiable Roland Durocher.

As he goes over the details of his plan once more in his mind, much to the Prince's inestimable glee, Steeple's heightened senses pick up the thud of approaching footsteps - the scrape of skin against dry stone and then wood as John climbs up the window to the warehouse overlooking the scene of the murder. He sees the Brujah warrior drop down to the ground from there, before cautiously standing up and examining his surroundings - his eyes glossing over Steeple as he does so. Steeple sees his eyes narrow as calls out then - "Steeple? Are you here?", his hand dropping to his sword.

[BerkaZerka]

Steeple springs forward with the thirsty bone sword, letting it seek John's flesh, before yelling out accusingly, "TRAITOR!!!"

[Drakilian]

Moving very carefully - aware that the fact that John was deliberately looking for him meant that his obfuscation would be worth very little without additional stealth - Steeple approaches John from the side, letting the man walk in slowly deeper into the room. He slowly draws his sword out of its scabbard, the slight rasp of metal against leather standing out against the silence in the warehouse.

"Did the assassins get him?" John mutters to himself.

Behind him, Steeple draws his own blade - Eternal Thirst almost hums eagerly in his hands as he gets ready to sink it into the small of John's back.

Through some preternatural luck, or maybe a slip on Steeple's part, John turns around at some innefable sound - in time to see Steeple run him through with Eternal Thirst, though not nearly enough time to counter it. The blade goes up to its hilt in John's flesh, and Steeple sees whatever colour might have been in John's face disappear as the sword begins eagerly sipping away at his blood.

John stumbles backwards from the impact, pulling Eternal Thirst away from Steeple, and falls into a pile of lumber, sending the wood scattering and crashing against the ground around him.

He looks up at Steeple, betrayal and anger both clear on his face - "Why?"

"Better hurry", Maurice whispers.

"The sword might devour him before you can."

[BerkaZerka]

"Because Vladivostok chose you!" Steeple accused, (boosting strength as much as possible) and attempting to ram his sword through John's leg.

I will not disappoint you my grand prince! Steeple thought - letting his mentor's wisdom fully drive his current actions.

He must be assimilated!!!

[Drakilian]

As Saladin walks away from the group, he discretely reaches into his pocket and slips a pebble into his mouth, initiating contact with his mentor, Ashrad.

Immediately he feels a query coming from the old sorcerer - Salah? What is it?

[Daedalus]

"Amr Ashrad." He begins. "We have run into quite the situation in Venice. Roland Du Rocher was murdered, and the culprits are pinning it on us. But all is not lost as of yet." He pauses to let the words sink in.

"So far we know that it has something to do with men of the holy church, some Spaniard named Rodrigue De Navarre. And that's not all. We found a Setite dagger in their possession. I contacted you to let you know of the situation here and, by your grace, use any available clan resource in the city to get to the bottom of this."

[Drakilian]

Steeple leaps towards John and tears the sword out of John's gut, throwing him to the floor, before driving it back in through his leg - pinning the Brujah to the ground. John reaches up and grabs Steeple's leg, his grip far weaker in the throes of death than it should be but carrying the strength of the hot-tempered philosopher's clan all the same.

He drags the Malkavian to the ground with him and for a moment both opponents lie prone on the ground, holding each other rather tightly in an almost intimate embrace.

For a moment, John's grip falters and Steeple smiles.

"Now strike!"

His fangs sprout through his slightly parted lips and he throws off John's grip while sinking his teeth into the Butcher's neck.

The Brujah's soul is torn apart by Steepleton's iron will, he didn't even need Maurice's backing, the rock holding the strength of the dozens of souls Steeple had assimilated into his own and his glorious lord's minds.

In some way, Steeple is almost disappointed. There was no dramatic scene, no titan's struggle, no terrific fight between two equals for Vladivostok's favour.

Just a slaughter.

"Good, good... Hahahahahahahaha!"

Maurice's laugh goes on a while, the sound echoing across the warehouse walls. It's a while before Steeple realizes he's the one laughing.

He hasn't felt this good in years. The children he'd devoured were nothing compared to this. The Tzimisce's childe might have been comparable, but he'd been in terrible condition from the fight with the Vozdh and the war ghoul both. He flexes his fingers and is content with the knowledge that new power runs through his veins.

Clearing his throat, Maurice continues, "Now, to shift the blame for this heinous murder!"

[Drakilian]

"Hmm..."

Ashrad is quiet for a moment, then - "I already know about the situation Saladin. I am the one who sent the Eyes of Alamut to Venice to direct the operation. Were Husayn still alive it would have been him but, as you know..."

Saladin is given pause at this revelation - the Eyes of Alamut. Fatima Al-Faquadi, the desert keep's spymaster. Where Husayn had been a legendary assassin, Fatima was an infamous spymaster. Beautiful, all-knowing and deadly - it was only right that Husayn and she had been lovers. The two together had a reputation and measure of strength comparable even to Ashrad. They were unstoppable.

And now she was here. Orchestrating the murder of a key member of the Ventrue delegation in Venice. One who seemingly had ties to the Setites...

[BerkaZerka]

"Easy as oats!" Steeple says, feeling great - "There is a nice trail of our legless friend's blood, leading here from the alley by the inn. The Templar fellow is sure to follow it here. We just blame it all on him!"

Master Plan determined, Steeple wonders what he should do with the bleeding guy...

[Drakilian]

"Nothing more than a liability at this point. I mean, I guess if we keep him alive until tomorrow he heals just the slightest bit we could interrogate him? Though there's not much time left in the investigation for that."

Maurice's approach is rather flippant, he clearly couldn't care less for what happens to the mortal hunter.

[BerkaZerka]

"Now where is the fun in that?" Steeple asked with a devilish grin - "When we can use him to leave old Gauthier a nice slap in the face!"

"We'll turn him for the Templar to find! That should put a nice bee in his bonnet! Mwuhahahahahahahahha!!!"

[Daedalus]

Saladin is in a bit kg shock ät the revelation. The eyes? Here?

"I see." He replied. "How are the setites connected in this? It must be something big if you sent her."

[Drakilian]

There's a bit of silence before Maurice bursts out into a maniacal bit of laughter, "Ohhh Steepleton sometimes you surprise even me with that wicked mind of yours! I love it. We'll drive the beast into a veritable frenzy!"

Heading back into the warehouse to where he'd earlier stashed the body, Steepleton finds the man still unconscious and untouched.

Reaching down to him, Steeple snaps the crippled hunter's neck - extinguishing the light of his soul with a disgustingly negligible amount of effort.

As soon as the man is dead steeple sinks his fangs into his wrist and holds the bleeding appendage above the hunter's mouth. A trickle of blood pours down the thing's throat...

Steeple gets up and steps away then, giving the creature no more of his blood. In a few short minutes, the hunter would spring up, screaming - in the worst pain of its life, searching for any blood it could find. It would enter a frenzy that could be calmed by nothing less than blood or death, and Gauthier would find it.

He makes it out of the warehouse in record time.

"Where has that Maximus gone off to? Moving by air would be safer, to help throw off the hunt's trail...", Maurice mutters

[Drakilian]

"The war effort. We wanted to delay it. Hence the terrible attempt at pinning the murder on your group - Fatimah probably just picked the closest group of cainites for the job. Maybe she was taking advantage of your presence for an easy scapegoat. Rather cold-hearted of her I should say, though not particularly surprising, she's always been opportunistic.

The humans aren't going to wait around forever. The crusade has its own impetus, its own mortal puppetmasters. The arguing delegations have already spent weeks trying to figure out where to lead the crusade. Any time any of the delegations has gotten a leg up on the others, Fatimah has sabotaged the negotiations. A scandal here, a disappeared member there, sometimes she's even taken the stand and spoken for more than one of the factions. She's one of the only people we have who's good enough to fool Alliprando. Narses could probably find her if he was looking but he couldn't care less about the crusade, too obsessed with his not-so-secret war on Michael.

We also recently discovered a setite presence in the city, and the Eyes have been busy expunging them from the proceedings. Fatima's probably trying to expose the conspiracy through your investigations while wasting more time.

Listen, Saladin, just play along with everything for now. Fatimah wouldn't do anything that would result in your destruction. If things get to that point i'll order her to save you herself, alright? She knows what she's doing."

[BerkaZerka]

Steeple hurried away, before ducking into an alleyway to climb up onto the rooftops. There he waved his arm to the night sky, trying to signal his progeny.

"PSSST! Maximus!" he hissed, hoping the gargoyle was still keeping an eye out for him.

"Well, I suppose we could go by rooftop, if Maximus is otherwise occupied," Steeple quipped to Maurice, "I do feel a new vigor in my step from the evening's festivities after all, haha!"

[Drakilian]

Within moments of his gesture, Maximus lands silently, the gargoyle kneeling low before his lord.

"Yes, Master?"

"Bastard! Killer! Murderer!"

Steeple's eyes immediately dart to the right, where he'd heard the voices cry out from. Empty air, but it felt like a crowd - women and men alike, shouting.

"You're vile. Scum."

This time the voice is low and grating and dangerous. The insult is growled into his right ear, and the one-armed malkavian jumps back and into a low stance at the provocation. Nothing is there.

Now Barabus' voice, "You're pathetic. Still running from me." A heavy thump behind Steeple, but when he turns all he sees is Maximus, still kneeling, still waiting - head down, eyes closed.

"Still too weak to face Vladivostok so you're killing people barely associated to him."

The rasp of a knife coming out of its sheath, and still Steeple feels blind - unable to see what's happening around him.

Barabus' voice again, this time closer. "Admit it. You're just as much of a monster as the man you would destroy."

[Daedalus]

"As you wish." Saladin says with a nod. "What would you have me tell the others? Act as i know nothing? Or would you have me aiding her in any way?"

[Drakilian]

"Do nothing, nothing at all. Fatimah is doing excellently, worry about yourself. "

[BerkaZerka]

Seeing Maximus still so composed, gave rise to the realization that this had to be Steeple's mind playing tricks on him again. That, or it was some kind of rebellion occurring in the prison of his grand consciousness.

'Rebellion?' Steeple thought - incensed and suddenly offended at the idea. How dare they get uppity with him - he was making them something greater than they had once been! Just as he had done for Barabus! They were ungrateful wretches!

"You're all in my head!" Steeple abruptly raged - "Get back in my head!"

Then doubt... What if it really was Barabus standing there? He did have extracurricularly enhanced demonic powers at his disposal after all...

Trusting in Maximus's keen awareness and reaction time, Steeple then ran to leap off the rooftop - pointing as he jumped into the air - "To the palace Maximus! Fly!"

'This is where you catch me midfall and we leave the scene dramatically,' Steeple thought to Maximus, as he watched the ground quickly getting closer...

[Drakilian]

Maximus leaps off the roof with such sudden force that he sends it crashing down behind him, his massive, bulky form finally, for the first time, making the epic amount of sound that it SHOULD make. Tearing through the air, the gargoyle slams into Steeple like a brick wall - if Steeple had been mortal he has no doubt he would have been knocked unconscious by the catch, as is he's left rather dazed.

Before long Maximus' flight stabilizes and he's resumed his abnormally silent movement. He carries Steeple in his arms like one might carry a babe, moving across the night sky dizzyingly high, with nauseating speed. Steeple forces himself not to look down, and contents himself with the knowledge that Maximus is supremely loyal. A drop from this height would be it for him, vampire or not.

"Woooooooooooo!" Maurice shouts.

"We're king of the woooooooorld!!!!"

The wind tears at his clothing and numbs his body, he has no idea how Maximus can tolerate it so easily, naked as he always is. He suspects the gargoyle's thick skin must provide some significant measure of protection, enough that the blood does not freeze in his veins. He remains far more limber than Steeple in the cold night air.

They reach the palace in less than five minutes. When it ends Steeple finds himself somewhat disappointed. Scary as it was there was a certain exhilaration in flying like that which he somehow doubts he'll ever truly experience for himself without wings of his own. Incredibly convenient as well - not as much as teleportation, perhaps, but he understands more than ever the power of High Clan Tremere's slave bloodline.

Maximus leaves Steeple on one of the parapets atop the palace towers before resuming his skybound vigil.

[Daedalus]

"I Will take the information to my final resting place should it be needed then." Then he wonders if he should tell the Amr about Husayn, or, if he should be silent. Be loyal to the clan, or his beloved mentor. Then he remembers both of them probably his mentors.

He decides to be silent for now. "I Will contact you if the situation grows more dire. I will continue my own investigation for now."

Then, he Will go to the palace to look for Hashim.

[BerkaZerka]

"A father couldn't be more proud of his loyal son!" Steeple remarked about Maximus's awesome display of speed, power, and stealth.

Reflexively taking a deep breath of the fresh night air, Steeple then looked down over the parapets to the city below. Activating his enhanced senses, he tried to see if he could spy a glimpse of any of his compatriots.

'Things will probably get ugly tonight,' he thought to himself facetiously, 'and I'd hate to miss it!'  XD

[Drakilian]

The assassin makes his way to the palace in good time, the guards at the gate greet him as usual and when he passes through the palace gates he finds himself back inside the courtyard.

[Drakilian]

Looking out over the parapets, Steeple's sharp eyes catch a glimpse of Saladin as he enters through the palace gates, standing out amongs the pale Cainites and the olive-skinned locals.

[Daedalus]

Saladin Will start to ask around if anyone has seen Hashim.

[BerkaZerka]

"Oh, I wonder what he's on about?" Steeple quipped. "Maybe we can catch him if we hurry..."

Steeple then made his way down to the square in order to intercept Saladin before he could get very far.

[Drakilian]

Confident in his own abilities and that of his servant and, deciding that, if he wanted to incercept Saladin in a timely fashion, he would have to engage in some risky maneuvers, Steeple backs up and takes a running jump into a dive off the tower parapets, plummeting over 50 feet to the ground.

"Catch me Saladiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin"

"Worst case, Maximus will save you!", Prince Maurice says reassuringly.

Catching the Malkavian's maddening dash and cry, Saladin looks up in surprise, curses and quickly casts a spell catching Steepleton out of the air, depositing him safely on the ground.

The ghouls and vampires in the courtyard cheer and clap at the spectacle.

[BerkaZerka]

"Bravo! Good show Saladin old chap!" Steeple says, pausing to give the crowd a gracious bow.

"So, I seem to have the rest of my evening free," he then continues, turning back to his compatriot, "what say I join you for the rest of your investigatory hijinks?"

[Daedalus]

Saladin stares at the malkavian in disbelief. After a moment he nods at crowd to acknowledge them.

"Don't do that." He says sternly. "I heard malkavians are supposedly a little bit off, but that doesn't mean you should dive off buildings. It could be bad for your health." He scolds.

"Also have you seen Hashim?"

[Drakilian]

"What's Hashim?" Prince Maurice asks.

"Is it some sort of exotic arabian dish?"

[BerkaZerka]

"Ooh, sounds tasty!" Steeple remarked to Prince Maurice.

Then to Saladin he answered, "Afraid not, but with his name and a short ritual, we can find and follow his tracks right to him."

Of course, Steeple was referring to his Illuminate the Trail of Prey spell - though perhaps Saladin already knew were the man would be.

[Daedalus]

"That would appreciated." Saladin says with a slight bow to the audience.

"I asked him to watch over your former servant Barabus, and he should have returned by now."

[BerkaZerka]

"Barabus eh?" Steeple frowned, "I've been meaning to deal with him..."

"Well, I suppose the best place to start is where you last saw Hashim (or a place you know he would have been later)."

"Lead on!"

[Daedalus]

"Then we won't need to go anywhere. This is where i last saw him and Elias."

"Both of them went after him."

He gestures at a nearby gate. "That way."

[BerkaZerka]

Steeple, casts his Illuminate the trail of the Prey spell, to detect and follow Hashim's tracks.