16: The Break

A connection is made.

Rest
Intellect 7
6, 8: Weak, +1 H

Harm 1 | Stress 3 | Blood 3 | Focus +2

Zack stirs. He still not-lives. His body is pain, his wakefulness is torment. There's caked blood in his mouth and inner throat. His muscles ache and beg him not to make them work. And he doesn't even produce lactic acid anymore!

Where is he? Not his usual tarp, so he pulls it off. Instead of his abandoned factory, he stares at an apartment with goth parafernalia. Instead of rats, Taylor Kahan rests against the kitchen counter, sipping coffee. Coffee. Her cheeks look pink. She wears jeans and a white T-shirt with its sleeves ripped off. Barefoot. She smiles relaxedly and wiggles her fingers.

"Evening." she says softly, cocking her head towards the coffee machine. "Wanna warm that blood and join me? For the good old days."

Zack considers this as he swings his feet off the couch. In his exhaustion, he had forgotten to even take off his shoes last night. He lifts his bullet-ridden T-shirt and checks his chest: the hole has closed off, but it's one ugly flesh wound. He needs new clothes too. Perhaps he will order them online and deliver them to Penelope Black, his vampiric master.

He looks back at Taylor, remembering her question. Borrowing some humanity by making blood flow is an important part of a young vampire's unlife. It's a way to stay grounded and sane after all the little joys of living. To remember. To endure. To reminisce.

"Alright." he says, and smiles back.

Make a Connection
Heart 5
4, 4: Strong + Match! Yes!

Taylor, Kerberos Tracker
[ | | | | | | | | | ]
Dangerous (🞻🞻)

Oracle
What's the Match about?
Expose Nefarious Chaos

They have a good time. Taylor proves to be an engaging conversation partner, and her warm coffee brings Zack back to simpler times. They laugh, compare experiences, even gossip. During that hour, he allows himself to forget about Gabriella, the Hierophant, even Penelope, perhaps even The Queen.

Respite
Heart 5
5, 9: Miss

To no avail. As the hour closes and the smiles linger, and he begins to realize he actually likes Taylor... his phone rings, yanking him back to the shadow world.

But before he can pick up, Taylor holds his hand a moment with both of hers. This time, her skin is warm. She looks at him, looking serious now:

"Zack. I know more about you than I've let on. I know you hate The Queen. And that she's hiding a lot of rot. Don't think you're alone in this."

She pecks his cheek, a quick pillowy burning thing, and leaves the room to give him privacy.

It's Pen.

"Child." her elderly voice rasps.

"Pen." he replies with an exhale, "Hey. Sorry I didn't reach you out before, I was--"
"I know. It is alright. But I need you to come here to chat."

'Here' always meant Penelope's Manor.

"On my way." he says, a bit bitterly. The fading, burning sensation in his cheek.

He hangs up and says loudly, "Time to clock in."

She smiles, perhaps a little regretfully, and sends him off with a blood bag from the fridge.

+1 Blood

Rusty bicycles lean against rusty chain-link fences as Zack walks outside the apartment tower. There's nobody here so he sips from the blood bag. He focuses on healing more before ordering a cab -- he can't look like a stampede went over him recently.

Heal
Force 5
5, 5: Miss w/match!

Zack is suddenly overcome with nausea. He runs to the curb and vomits violently into the storm drain. He wipes the excess red stuff from his lips with trembling fingers. Damn. This wasn't supposed to happen.

-1 Blood

Fuck it. Cab it is.

It's a long ride to Pen's. He has time to think as he avoids the furtive looks from his driver. The eternal city night passes by in its early stages.

The Agency will be out for blood, maybe. At least they will be very alert. Zack threw a wrench in their operation and, though it cost him dearly, he gained valuable data. Protecting the Facade and the Order of the Epitaph is paramount.

The cab stops by Pen's manor. He pays and limps out; the front door opens before he can knock. Inside he finds her in person, enveloped in her typical black shawl. She looks up and down at him and sighs.

"Child. Come in. You are safe here." she says, almost maternally.

Shower. New clothes. Ammo. He finally sits before her in her living room, the coffee table between them. Her dead eyes interrogate him, and he explains. The tale of his near defeat is difficult, but he tops it with the pendrive with pictures of Agent Gabriella's investigation. Or at least what she had put up on the evidence wall in her home.

Pen strokes her wrinkly chin with wrinkly fingertips, considering.

"This is grave news." she says, stating the obvious. "You did well not to kill her. We can still cut a deal with them if need be."

He nods softly, smiling with difficulty. "What... do we do next?" he queries, uncertain, fingers laced between his knees.

She looks at the pendrive, produces a laptop, slots it in. Her fingers move deceptively fast.

"The Queen is in more danger than we thought." she muses, her eyes flashing briefly, and warningly, to Zack. Then she continues, "I'll have to share this revelation with other members of our Lineage."

Overthrow the Queen
[🞻|🞻| | | | | | | | ]
Extreme [X]

Then she adds with a wrinkly crown, "More to the point. We need to cut a deal. This Agency may not be willing to kill us all, but it is a threat that cannot be ignored." A pause. "I will speak with the Queen. You will meet Shu and, through him, the Hierophant. Our lineage's position will be enhanced if we can secure a resolution that does not involve sacrificing her."

Conceal the Hierophant's crime
[🞻|🞻|🞻|🞻| | | | | | ]
Rank: Formidable (🞻)

Zack nods, stands up, frowns, "Good. It's time we put an end to this."