After a short debate they decide to check out the address Miss Opal gave them for Nathaniel Dubois’ old apartment. When they get there they find an old dilapidated building with no power and it doesn’t look as if it’s been occupied in months. Jack and Charles stay with the van; this isn’t a good neighbor hood. The rest go to check out the building.
They enter the building, find Dubois’ old apartment, the Dubois Designs sign is still affixed to the door. Kaspian tries to pick the locks on the door but fails. So Tina just kicks the door open noisy but efficient. The place is deserted, but they find a good stash of Liquor in the cupboards. Upon closer inspection Kaspian finds an old receipt for a liquor store just up the block. Kaspian, Tina, Jessie, & Cecelia went to the liquor store. Kaspian spoke with the clerk and asked if he had seen Nathaniel in lately, the clerk was unsure of when he had been in last. Tina persuaded the clerk to give them Nathaniel’s address after he told her that they deliver to Nathaniel fairly frequently.
They returned to the van, and told Jack and Charles they had an address for Nathaniel. Our group proceeded to the address of Nathaniel’s apartment. Finding a place to park was a complete pain, so Jack let everybody out and he circled the block a few times and found a parking place, but he stayed with the van. Tina and Charles circled around the back of the property to try to climb the fence that surrounds the property. Tina got over the fence with out a hitch but as Charles climbed the fence he was spotted by someone inside the building, who called the Police. Jack hearing the call on the scanner called Tina’s cell phone and warned them the police where on their way to check out an intruder.
In the meantime Kaspian, Jessie & Cecelia were right out front. Jessie picked the cipher lock on the gate and they gained access to the grounds. Kaspian made quick work of the front door lock, as Tina and Charles joined the others at the front of the building. Kaspian got the lock open and they all entered the building. They found Nathaniel’s apartment on the second floor. They knocked and Nathaniel opened the door and invited them into his home.
Nathaniel, who is Kaspian’s sire, told Kaspian he had been expecting him to show up at some point. Kaspian asked why he created him. Nathaniel told him that Sarah Cobbler paid him to,”pick a mortal and Embrace him/her at a specific place and time and then abandon him/her.” The characters decided to let Nathaniel live, Nathaniel being appreciative of this gesture told them he would help them all deal with the adjustment to their new existence. Nathaniel also told them who the other sires are but he didn’t know where any of them except John Harley Matheson could be found. He also did not identify who was whose sire.
One of the names that Nathaniel gave them was Lucas Gates. Kaspian used his contact in the police department and found out that Lucas Gates is wanted in Florida, Mississippi, & Louisiana and is on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. He is nicknamed “The Ghost” by the FBI, because he leaves nothing at any of the crime scenes.
As they were driving Tina got a flash of absolute sadistic pleasure and when it passed she felt completely covered in filth and a keen sense of having completely violated and killed someone. They determined that this had to be blood sympathy in action. So they continued to drive around the area, they all got a flash of Predator’s Taint from down an alleyway. Jack pulled into the alley and they found an adult male in the alley. When the lights from the van hit the male he turned and snarled at our fearless group. As he turned around they saw him drop a male victim. Kaspian, Tina & Jessie get out of the van to talk with this individual; as he turns around to face them they notice he has a badge on his belt. He identifies himself as Detective Peter Lebeaux. They speak with him about Lucas Gates and impart the info that Tina has due to blood sympathy. Peter uses heightened senses and gets the impression of Gates killing a female very quickly then rapidly heads off in the direction of the old Rosewood Motel. Peter warns the characters that Lucas is extremely dangerous and evil is his middle name might be his first and last too.
Jack knows that the Old Rosewood has been converted into apartments, and that this a very dangerous place to go at anytime, but lately the drug dealers have really been infesting the area.
Jack gets a hold of one of his contact in the gangs and places an order for firepower. After, a stop at an all night pawn shop for brass knuckles for Tina and Jessie. Jessie makes a run into Walgreens and buys 8 1 quart glass bottles and a terry cloth towel; she also bought herself a Louisville slugger baseball bat.
While Jessie was shopping Jack’s buddies came through with shotguns some incendiary rounds and a couple of flash bang grenades. Tina & Kaspian took some of the liquor from Nathaniel’s old apartment. So the group makes some Molotov Cocktails and arms themselves for the confrontation to come. Jack text messages Alexander to let him know they have found Lucas Gates in the old Rosewood. Alexander texts back that there is an open Blood hunt on Gates declared by Prince Vidal. And to let him know what happens with Gates.
So the characters enter the Rosewood’s front door. They find three thugs at the back door, guarding the stairway going to the basement. After a brief struggle: one of the thugs is thrown through a wall, one of them has his jugular ripped out, the third one peed his pants and fled down the stairs and the one with his jugular ripped out was thrown at him they both landed in a heap at the base of the steps. Two more thugs attempt to stop our wonderful heroes, but they are flat out intimidated by the guy with blood all over him from ripping out the jugular, Kaspian. So one of them asked where Gates is and they are told that he might be in the building but not for sure. As they head back up the stairs a very emaciated female approaches Charles and tells him Gates is on the 4th floor.
After finding several people living in the building families and the some others just living in the apartments. The characters get to the fourth floor. Tina purposely tries to activate blood sympathy with Gates, she gets a flash of the door to 4D and also the fact that the room has lots of gasoline in containers, and a somehow sadistic pleasure over the inferno that IS gonna happen. Tina tells the rest that he’s in 4D and no fire or spark gasoline is present so be careful. Tina has stated her intention is to beat the crap out of Gates.
They enter 4D and find no one in there. However, Lucas says from the shadow in the corner, “this place is a tinderbox,” and you can hear a Zippo lighter snapping open and closed. Tina attempts to punch Lucas in the face and completely misses him but gets her brass knuckles semi embedded in the wall where he was just standing. Lucas just laughs at her. He picks up one of the gas cans and starts spilling it around the room
Charles is guarding the stairway Jack heads down the stairs and notifies the residents of the building to get out due to a potential fire problem up on 4th floor. He gets everyone out then positions himself outside the windows of the 4D watching them from the ground with a shotgun loaded with incendiary rounds.
Tina again attempts to punch Lucas she grazes him in the shoulder. He drops the gas can & snaps open the Zippo and lights it. Kaspian flees in complete fear of the fire. Just as Kaspian flees 8 thugs are coming up the stairs at Charles. Kaspian in a complete fear frenzy plows through the 8 thugs and bodies and body part go flying over the railings and through walls on his way out of the building. Tina being ever perceptive realizes that Lucas is just barely keeping his fear of the flame in check.
Lucas drops the lit lighter and jumps through one of the windows, Jack aims and fires catching Lucas in the abdomen with the round and igniting the jacket he is wearing. As Lucas hits the ground he rolls with it putting out the flames but he is motionless in the ground.
Jessie makes an awesome grab for the lighter as it is falling to the gasoline soaked floor. She catches and closes the lighter before it can ignite the gasoline all over the floor. Tina being just thoroughly pissed jumps out the window after Lucas. When she gets to the bottom in a complete fit of rage she attacks Lucas thoroughly draining him of his vitae.
“As the last of his blood trickles away down your throat, you feel the taste of ash in your mouth. You know from talking with Father John that it is possible to consume a vampire’s soul, but did a monster like Gates even have one? And then you feel it. You don’t know if you’d call it a soul, exactly, but everything that Gates was, everything that defined him, the strength of will that drove him and the desperate, depraved desire for bloodshed that led him to murder you and God knows how many women, slides into you like the blade of his knife. You consume it, you swallow it, and you draw power from it. You feel your Embrace again, the pain of the murder and the violation of his fangs in your neck…but this time, you feel what he felt. You feel the near-orgasmic pleasure at ending a life, at watching a woman twist in pain beneath you. The part of you that is still you, still Tina, recoils from that, trying to latch onto the years you’ve spent fighting against this sort of horror, fighting to empower yourself.”
Jack contacts Alexander and let him know that Lucas is dead and what proof is Vidal gonna need to prove that Gates is toast. Alexander tells Jack he will get back to him on that, but pictures will be a must.
Just to be safe Cecelia helps Tina through covering up the tracks that he has been bitten by a Vampire they get a shard of wood and stake him and then wrap up the body in some old curtains and move body to van. Alexander calls Jack and tells him Vidal wants to see the body. Jack informs Alexander that they have found two more of Sarah’s experiment and they will bring them with as well.
Our illustrious heroes are now enroute to Vidal’s with the body of Lucas in the back of Jack’s van.