117



You've lost count of the number of times your fellow Kindred have cracked jokes about "sleeping like the dead," but when you wake as the sun sets, you feel like the idiom easily defines the day's dreamless passage. If you didn't know any better, you'd think only minutes had gone by even though you can feel the physical effects of your slumber renewing your body as you rise. You swing your feet out from your bed and stand, stretching out the muscles in your back with an uncomfortable snapping and popping. Maybe you're wrong and you did dream, because if you didn't, that means Elysium truly did burn.

Gerard greets you from behind his desk after you leave the bedroom. "Good evening, ma'am." It's easy to see in his face that he's deeply disturbed. "Is it true what the messengers are saying?"

"About Elysium?" you ask. Gerard nods and you groan. You still hadn't quite given up hope that it was a dream after all. "It looked like it," you say. "But we didn't have time to investigate last night. By the time we got out of the sewers it was almost dawn."

"I fear tonight won't be any less eventful," Gerard says. "The Sheriff wants you to join him on-site to help figure out what happened. And don't forget the Archon—a potential Masquerade breach of this level will draw her like a moth to flame."

"Did anything happen while we slept?" you ask. "Mortal investigations?"

Gerard shakes his head. "The last thing the Sheriff did before retiring for the day was forbid law enforcement from entering the building. It's suspicious, but far less damaging than mortal authorities digging through Elysium unsupervised."

"I'll get going," you say. Despite the dread you feel in the pit of your stomach, you must admit to a morbid curiosity. "Let me know if you hear any relevant chatter on non-affiliated mortal networks. We don't want this to get out of control."

"Already on it," Gerard says. "I'll update you if I find anything."

You grab your coat, remembering at the last minute to strap your holster beneath it where it will remain hidden from the general public. You take your last burner phone too, just in case. Normally you'd be required to surrender your weapons when entering Elysium, but somehow you don't think that will be an issue tonight.

Next

You've only just left the comfort of your haven when you feel the call of a deep, visceral need echoing throughout your undead body. You should head to Elysium as soon as you can, but even in such dire circumstances you can't ignore your vampiric nature. You should feed while you still have the chance.

Where do you plan to sate your cravings?

As soon as you approach the familiar hunting ground, you notice that three new lamp posts have been installed since the last time you were here. Several high tech security cameras that you're quite sure you've never seen have also been installed along the stairs and beside the canal. Perhaps you've fed here too often—taking a victim under such circumstances would be folly. You reverse course and try to decide on another location to hunt down a meal.

You return to Confederation Park, strolling by a monument you've passed dozens of times but never truly looked at. You can't say for certain why it catches your eye tonight—maybe the light of the moon hitting the upturned wings of a majestic eagle crowning the memorial—but you stop on the sidewalk and take a moment to admire the work its artisans put into it. Four native soldiers are flanked on both sides by a ferocious bear and a wolf, maws open, teeth displayed. A plaque below dedicates it to the Aboriginal War Veterans of Canada.

Something shifts behind the stone base, flickering just out the corner of your eye. Maybe it wasn't the statue itself that drew your attention after all. Someone is watching you, and they're doing a very poor job of trying to be sneaky about it.