CbN018: Shadow Hunt
General Summary
STILL September 3rd 2017
As The Lost Boys and Sierra exit the Succubus Club, Kim gets a call. Her contact has found the van they were tracking and it’s at Red No 5.
Just as they’re driving away and are about to call the sheriff, they hear commotion behind.
Fire rages from the basement of the Succubus Club, its many patrons fleeing in horror. The fire burns the insides of the place and hisses as old released gas escapes into the night. The sky is filled with the combined raging voices of hundreds of kindred - and something angrier, excited and ancient. But Chicago is no stranger to fires, as each scorching building marks a new age. As the Coterie drives in search of their prey, they can’t shake the feeling that this might be just the tiniest spark of a raging inferno that’s yet to reveal itself.Maude looks outside the window, their mind racing with thoughts. Their faint reflection becomes clear as a mirror and they’re back in the Succubus Club washroom, blood and water dripping down their face. The memory then changes again and they’re standing in the middle of the corridors, searing pain behind their eyes and Jason’s cold breath in their ear. Finally, they go back even further to visions of the wedding.
Oh God, the wedding.
The mirror cracks and Maude is back inside the car looking at the raindrops sticking to the window.
Maude has a moment to process their feelings about the whole situation. Maude has long since come to terms with losing time. It’s a spectre that frequently haunts their undead life - what they’ve come to understand as something that could only be a symptom of their Malkavian blood. What they aren’t accustomed to is remembering that lost time. Jason’s command in the basement rings to the tune of the dancing fire raging behind them, and Maude feels caught between two feelings: the ever-present elation that Jason was concerned for their safety, and the fear of what exactly he meant by “you’ve done your job”. A ghostly singe of pain reminds Maude of what they felt in that corridor, the pain in their mind that could only be soothed by the incessant knocking of their head against a concrete wall. They realize now that remembering is infinitely more fearsome than forgetting. What they wish they could forget now is their collapse in the centre of Elysium, the very concussion of the soul that wreaked havoc inside them as they gazed into Jason’s own. The wedding. It still feels inconceivable, but Maude knows well that when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. A horribly irrational truth. A truth that has been kept for them for so long. And for why? They spent the night deliberating, trying to conceive of what they saw and what it could mean as the thoughts threatened to boil their brain alive. But now, Maude feels themself coming to a new understanding. All these years, Jason has pushed back against any inquiry or mention of Elodie, always telling Maude to learn to let go, to move on. But all this time, it wasn’t just about Maude’s feelings. If the two were… married… then it could only mean that Jason had loved Elodie too. It must be so painful for him to talk about her, the same way it is for Maude. They know what it’s like to love Elodie and the burning ache left in her place since she’s been gone. In a way, Maude understands Jason better now - this pain is something they share. But this all begs the question, if Elodie had not only Maude, but also Jason, why did she leave?
RED NO 5
They arrive with haste at Red No 5 and notice that its usual queue is absent. A police car is pulling over and two policemen step out of it, heading towards the club. Some people mill about the streets, seemingly in shock. Erzulie is at the entrance of the bar, looking worried and frazzled. The party splits: Maude, Liliana and Kim head to the entrance and Mary, Clementine and Sierra go around the back.Team Backdoor
Clem distracts an employee by the back door as Mary silently stalks inside, seeing the place in disarray but focuses on getting to the club’s computer to check the footage.The footage shows Malenkov entering the club with his two ghouls. Bennett greets the Lasombra and leads him to the bar. Malenkov demands something to drink soon after. Bennett is a bit put off but still brings Malenkov different choices of vessels from which he could subtly drink in a corner booth. Instead, Malenkov decides to tear into his prey with abandon, his ghouls standing in the way to prevent others from seeing the act, but it seemed the screams could not be contained. Erzulie and other staff members start leading the patrons out of the club in a hurry. When Bennett tries to usher Malenkov and his vessel into a different room, the Lasombra grabs him and tosses him across the bar. He then throws the now dead body of the human he was drinking from against a wall, where it falls dead with a twisted neck. His ghouls talk to a staff member and as they are about to head out, Malenkov grabs a broken chair leg and stabs Bennett through the chest.
Team frontdoor
Maude talks to the police and distracts them while Liliana and Kim ask Erzulie what happened. Erzulie explains what transpired from her point of view, though she didn’t see all of it. She sounds and seems very shaken by the events of the night. As most of the coterie and Sierra meet inside the club, Mary makes copies of the footage and incriminating club data to her flash drive before wiping it from the local storage. They find evidence of the events and a very bloody Bennett looking a bit out of sorts. Not too long after that, Alexa and Wauneka arrive to clean up the scene. Alexa has a quick interaction with Maude where she shows a special ability that allows her to very quickly decompose the body of the victim, leaving no trace that they were even there other than the blood on the floor and the rest of the mess. As Alexa works, she whispers to Maude that they should be cautious of Damien. He seems to be very angry at the moment and hates the Sabbat, so he did not take Sierra’s stunt very well. Apparently his adoptive sire and his lover Victoria died at the hands of the Sabbat during the time of war in Chicago. Alexa worries he may be volatile to further provocation by the Lasombra. After, she hands Maude a cellphone and instructs them to send the word “STINKYYYY” if they get hold of Malenkov. Mary points them to the staff member she saw talking to the ghouls last who directs them to a nearby brothel called “The Gory Pit”. Right before heading out Clementine goes to Bennett and tells him “Hey, you owe us,” to which he nods reluctantly.THE GORY PIT
The Gory Pit is notorious for its reportedly celebrity clientele. Supposedly, movie producers visit the seedy bar for a little of what goes on in the back rooms. The Pit remains one of Chicago’s most popular brothels, rumored to cater to every fantasy imaginable. Situated in the basement of an apartment building on the West Side, it is nearly invisible from the outside. They pay a sex worker on the street to help spot the small den of iniquity. A small neon sign in the narrow basement window pulsates with a red message, “Come in and Play,” but there are no other indicators a brothel hides behind the steel door. Entering the building, they go down into a small bar fronting a gambling den, which is easily accessed despite its illegality in this state. The host is Bennedict, a large, pale man in his mid-30s, wearing acid-washed jeans and sporting a soul patch. He asks them their drink and game. From all appearances, Malenkov hasn’t been pursuing his path of destruction through the brothel. They distract Bennedict by ordering drinks and sneak past him soon after. Beyond the gambling room, where a mixture of civilians sit playing cards (one of them recognizable as a local news anchor), is the brothel’s front room. It contains a small bar with a few customers, one in a bathrobe and two struggling to squeeze out of their BDSM leather accessories. They look panicked and whisper amongst each other that “there’s some extreme shit going on down there and if they don’t stop screaming, someone’s going to call the cops.” Clem tells Sierra to stay behind as they make their way further into the maw of the brothel. There’s two adjacent hallways with multiple small rooms and a large VIP room at the end of each. The VIP lounge is isolated from the other rooms and a soundproof door keeps out most of the noise, though clearly it wasn’t enough tonight. The door is locked when the group gets to it.THEY KICK THE DOOR OPEN
As the door opens into the large room, the intoxicating smell of blood hits the Coterie's nostrils. The paper lamp in the ceiling sends a beam of light through its bloodied cover, giving the room a spotted red look, while candles glow on shelves around the chamber. Malenkov sits on a large bed behind a meat pile of what was once five kine, his two ghouls languorously standing to the side of the room, sharing a joint. His beard sticks to his neck and chest with congealed blood, and his nude upper body is covered from navel to neck in thick red fluid. Bits of bone, skin, and hair cover the entire room. There are two humans still alive, one is cowering in a corner, seeming still untouched and the other is hanging from a fan on the ceiling, stomach open and guts falling out. Malenkov stands up with a satisfied smile, stretches, and places his hands on his hips about to start talking but The Lost Boys waste no time and attack the ghouls immediately. Mary and Liliana enter a frenzy at the sight and smell of the gore around them and together with Clem, they jump the closest ghoul, killing him almost instantly. Maude takes aim with their revolver, shooting at Malenkov and harming him deeply. Kim follows suit, shooting the second ghoul and bringing him within an inch of his life. The remaining ghoul goes for the knives they were using to cut up bodies, and in the struggle for the weapon, the ghoul manages to cut deep into Mary's flesh, causing her excruciating pain. As Liliana and Clementine launch themselves at Malenkov he uses his oblivion powers to darken the room and bring the shadows to life. The shadows are thick and viscous, making them all blind, suffocating the remaining ghoul to death and filling Kim's lungs, causing her to choke and gasp for air. Undeterred, Liliana manages to reach Malenkov, but he snaps a rib from the person hanging and stabs her with it. He quickly dodges Clementine's blade and takes advantage of the chaos, jumping across the room and landing next to Maude, stabbing them repeatedly. Kim knows she needs to get out of the darkness to breathe and makes a run for it, escaping the room's suffocating grasp. Liliana and Clementine pursue Malenkov, attacking him with all their might, but unable to bring him down. Mary shoots at Malenkov, but he slaps her gun out of the way and cuts her neck with the rib, leaving her in torpor. Maude, despite their injuries, takes huge chunks out of Malenkov's body, firing repeatedly until he's almost destroyed. He furiously attacks them with the rib until they too fall into torpor. And he’s still standing. Liliana jumps at him once again, only to be caught mid-air and thrown into a separate room. Clementine sees her opportunity and manages to stab Malenkov in the side of his neck, blood pouring everywhere. With a scream of pain, Malenkov pushes her back and lunges towards the exit, trying to make his escape. But Kim, still coughing up the black shadow substance, takes aim and shoots. Her bullets hit Malenkov straight in the head as he runs by, causing his body to freeze in torpor as he falls to the ground. Clem drinks from Malenkov’s ghoul and mercy kills the human hanging from the fan. As she turns around her eyes go wide as she finds Liliana, still in frenzy drinking from the untouched worker until he lies dead on the floor. This is something else they’ll have to talk about. Later. The Coterie stands victorious, but not without injuries and pain. They are battered and bruised, but they've managed to take down Malenkov and his ghouls, and that's all that matters. They'll heal, and they'll continue to fight, no matter what comes their way.The aftermath
With Malenkov staked and secured, The Lost Boys spend half of what's left of the night cleaning up. They SMS Alexa who arrives shortly after, taking over the gory scene. Alexa's eyes go wide, a creepy smile spreading along her face. "Woah..." With the Hound's help they finish business before the night's end and decide to head to their place to rest, but before then Sierra offers them a place nearby to stay. They arrive at a five star hotel called The Diamond Yama Hotel. They are walked into luxurious rooms made specifically for kindred, where they can finally take a break after many trials and tribulations. They feed from human vessels offered to them, clean up and rest for the morning. Next night will be very eventful as well, but at least for now they can relax.The Story continues in the final Chapter
The Sacrifice
The Sacrifice
Report Date
15 Mar 2023
