Ashes to Ashes

by Steve Oldridge

I awoke as the last rays of the sun descended beyond the horizon, taking with them the knowledge that I would never again gaze upon its warmth and beauty. I looked over at Sara with a smile. She'd been my lover and my childer for over ten years now, and her curves always excited in me the hunger that we all feel. Maybe it was because I saved her life by embracing her, but to me she always looked alive and full of energy, even as she slept. As if she knew of my scrutiny her eyes blinked open and she turned her head towards mine, a similar smile gracing her lips.

"You remembered your ritual last night I see." I stated, giving her a huge smile of approval. "Perhaps now you are ready to learn the ways of Movement of the mind." The gleam in her eyes showed me just how potent a gift I had proclaimed to teach her, but she had definately earned it. Not two weeks ago I had begun to teach her the Wake with Evening's freshness ritual, and already she seemed to have mastered it.

She leaned across the bed and kissed me, biting my lip and hers at the same time, and pulled me on top of her. We may not be able to share each other in the traditional sense a mortal couple enjoys, but sharing blood took us to levels of pleasure that we had never experienced in our mortal lives, more than making up for the loss. I pulled back from her, wary of the hungry look in her eyes, and suggested that perhaps a hunt was in order. She licked the blood from her lips with a little pout and then hastily agreed with a fervor that told me she hadn't eaten in at least four days. I made a mental note to remind her to hunt at least once every two days the next time I went away, and then I joined her in the steaming shower.

Cleaning isn't entirely necessary since we no longer sweat, but after years of showering as a mortal it had become part of my morning ritual. Besides it felt nice to wash the grime of the city off. Showered and dressed, we decided to head downtown for a light snack before returning to the chantry for this evening's meeting of clan Tremere.

The cool Ottawa night air quickly removed any sense of warmth the shower might have brought from my skin and sent lines of steam running off of me. Sara's brisk sprint down the driveway told me that she didn't feel it was necessary to bring one of the cars, and I decided that an evening walk would be a nice change from the turbulent mayhem of my trip. I called for her to wait and trotted up beside her, no longer giving off even a trace of steam despite the fact that my breath should be visible. I decided to look into a ritual to mimic the effect when we returned, but for now I was content to hope that noone noticed the discrepancy. We headed towards the market, knowing that the clubs would be starting to get in full swing, and as she looped her arm through mine I knew that she wouldn't have any trouble finding a "little toy to play with" as she was so fond of terming it. Her gorgeous 20 year old body had been known to cause many a fight when she was mortal, and if anything her embrace had improved her looks. I once heard a Brujah say to her "Honey, you are so sexy I forgot I was a vampire for a minute there.", followed closely by "let's get it on." and a lewd smile. Mindful of not starting a clan war by destroying this poor little child, I simply left his broken corpse outside his primogen's haven. Since then Sara hasn't had many vampiric suitors.

As we approached the club, I realized that I had forgotten my fake Ontario drivers license. Normally this wouldn't be a problem for someone who is over a hundred and thirty years old, but unfortunately my embrace left me looking like a nineteen year old, and I still regularly got ID'd at clubs. Sara's look told me we weren't going back, but I wasn't worried too much. The bouncer eyed the two of us as we approached the door to the aptly named bar known as "The Cave". It was owned by and happened to be the haven of the Ventrue primogen Luther. Luther and I go way back, like fifty years, and since we both helped to set up the current prince we were enjoying the fruits of our labours, namely being primogen and having the run of the town. I could see from the crowd here tonight that Luther's financial investment in the club was paying off big time. I didn't recognize the bouncer, and mentioning Luther's name got me nowhere, leaving me with a bit of a dilemma of how to get in without creating a scene, something I try to avoid at all costs. It was Sara's turn to save me this time though as she leaned in close to the bouncer, and catching his eye said "You don't need to see his ID, He's with me." That settled the matter for the bouncer and he even forgot to collect our cover. Sara's powers of Dominate had overtaken my own quickly mainly due to my lack of interest in it. This display of it's usefulness was making me reconsider.

We quickly pushed our way into the club and headed for the dance floor. Sara mumbled something about trying it solo tonight, and I readily agreed, heading over to two lovely young girls dancing up a storm. After buying them a few drinks they were both more than willing to join me in one of the small private booths arranged in the back. I stole a little blood from each, leaving both of them tired and drained, but neither realized what had truly come to pass. On my way out I instructed a passing waitress to get them both Amaretto Sours with my compliments, and then I began looking for my love. Sara emerged from the washroom minutes later, a slight flush in her cheeks, and I noticed that the next five girls who came out were looking awfully pale. At least she'd remembered to spread her feeding out, but I reminded myself once again to make sure that she ate more regularly, and then moved to join her. We quickly stole the show on the dance floor, combining our good looks, supernatural talents, and ten years experience dancing together into a routine that probably could have won us a national dance championship or two had they not been held during the day.

We left the club around one in a flurry of applause, and departed into the night air once again, making tracks for the chantry. The clan meeting was scheduled to begin at 1:30, but it was 1:35 before the doors to my estate were opened, and so the faces that greeted me were sour and irritated. A quick "What's five minutes out of eternity?" brought smiles to my friends faces, but the older Tremere didn't seem to share in my sentiment. The fact that they thought the oldest Tremere in the city ought to be primogen certainly didn't help their opinions of me either, but they had put up with me for over a year and that made it hard to object now. I also happened to have the support and respect of all of the other young Tremere and the prince, leaving them SOL so to speak. Still, they were not the only Tremere who counted and should they complain to other elders I could quickly be removed, politically or otherwise. I made a note to myself to see each one of them privately before they left and apologize for my tardiness.

I quickly got the meeting underway, mentioning the new ritual I was planning to research and invited comment on it. The responses ranged from "Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?" to "That's a good idea but where do you begin?" The discussion rapidly turned to other projects and rituals that were being researched and the conversation grew dry and sterile. We moved from rituals to ghouls and retainers, and from that to finance. The meeting got even more boring from there...

It was nearing four o'clock, and so I decided it was time to bring out of the closet the topic that no one would discuss openly... The Sabbat attacks on the city. While it may not seem like it, Ottawa is truly one of the more dangerous cities in the world for a vampire to reside. The main cause of this danger being that both Toronto and Montreal, the two closest cities happened to be controlled by the Sabbat. Ever mindful of keeping their packs combat ready they regularly play games against each other, unfortunately using Ottawa as a stadium. For over a year now those games had been increasing in violence, boldness, and frequency, until now it was assured that at least one night a week there would be pack in town either "training", playing or causing general mayhem all of which amounted to the same thing. The masquerade had been broken over a dozen known times in the last month. The prince was helpless to stop them because of their numbers, and the Camirilla was ignoring our pleas because of internal disagreement. Last week the situation took a turn for the worse when one of the younger Tremere had been attacked by one of the packs. The only piece of him retrieved was his eyeballs, and they had been placed into the sockets of one of the stone gargoyles on my estate. His death was of a minor concern compared to the information that it brought me... They know where we live. I'd always thought of Sabbat as mindless dolts. Like drunken football players they were dangerous if you were around them, but if you were smart and avoided them then they couldn't cause you any harm. Now it seemed that they had not only found my haven, and I assure you I was one of the more careful vampires in the city, but they also knew that I was the person responsible for the life they had extinguished. This revealed a suprising intellect on their part as well as the presence of a spy somewhere within the vampire community. It also raised questions as to just what the Sabbat planned to do with this information, but if I had to harbor a guess it would be the takeover of Ottawa.

I had already informed the prince of this, but his concern was mild. We had always been under threat from the Sabbat and so we were mostly prepared already, but I thought that it might be an idea to take to fight to them. He deemed it out of the question and that was that, leaving me to prepare my clan for the assault that would surely follow. "You have all heard of poor Simon's fate I trust, and many of you have likely figured out the implications of its circumstances." I stated calmly and slowly, allowing my words to sink in. "It would seem to me that our neighbors want a piece of our territory, and I for one don't plan to hand it to them on a silver platter. It will mean extra work and time away from studies, but I would like everyone to prepare for the assault. We've all know it was coming someday, and all I'm saying is that I feel that someday is soon." The glazed looks around the table told me that my words had been heard far too many times in the past year to hold real meaning. The meeting wrapped up shortly thereafter and as I saw my guests to the door I knew that for many my words would go unheeded. We've been living in the shadow of the Sabbat for far to long now and me crying wolf certainly wasn't telling them anything they didn't know. I only wish they had listened...

Ever mindful of the growing tension building in the city I had stayed indoors, keeping busy with the promise I had made Sara to school her in my favorite path. She was showing significant improvement in the skill and she was now capable of turning on and off light switches with her mind, leading me to the conclusion I had long been suspecting. She would be a powerful ally to me soon, and no longer my pupil. I felt the same sense of pride and regret that a father feels when he knows his little girl is growing up but that she's going to develop into a wonderful young woman. My contacts throughout the city continually kept me in touch with the outside world and confirmed my greatest fears. The Sabbat were now openly walking the streets, and they'd killed another vampire, this time a young Toreador named Michael who had once painted Sara and I together. The axe was about to fall, and everyone seemed content to ignore it, but I was prepared for that occurrence too.

No one suspected that the attack had already begun because it came in a form we didn't recognize. By the time we realized the truth it was too late. The Sabbat packs had begun by pulling a few prime publicity stunts, which while a little out of the ordinary wasn't something I would put past them on a normal day. There had been a bank robbery, and in the ensuing shoot-out two cops had been killed. This was disturbing in and of itself, but what was causing real problems was the two other officers who claimed that they'd shot the robbers at least five times and yet they still got up and ran away. This blatant hole in the masquerade would have given Sirus, my beloved prince and close friend an ulcer, had he been capable. As it was he was barely managing to keep control of the media and prevent them from airing the story. Everything fell apart over the next few hours, with reports of people leaping off of twenty story buildings and walking away, gangs gun fighting with cops in public places, huge out of control fires, and even what the media was calling a "vampire attack".

We did the best we could, trying to prevent mass hysteria and uprisings, but the Sabbat had left the city in near anarchy. There was even talk of bringing the national guard in. I knew that should we somehow manage to get rid of the Sabbat this city would still not be easy to live in. The vampires of the city were doing their best to control the damage and prevent the hysteria, which was unfortunately exactly what the Sabbat wanted because it kept them busy and made them easy targets. That night seven of my kindred brothers died, including one of the Tremere elders. For some reason unknown to me I still felt that we could somehow hold the city. That we could drive them off and with a little damage control life would return to normal. I wish I'd listened to the voice of reason and simply packed up and left then because then my Sara would be alive today. We went to bed that night fully dressed, me with several stakes and a sword by my side and her with two Berettas under her pillow.

I awoke with a start in the middle of the day for the third time in my unlife and knew instantly, as I had the previous two times my evening ritual had performed it's primary function, that I was in grave danger. Sara stirred too, and I quickly grabbed her and pointed at the door. One of the advantages of living in an old home with hardwood floors is that they creak when someone walks across them. I knew after a second that there were three intruders, and they were headed for the bedroom with speed, ruling out burglary. We rolled off opposite sides of the bed and I crept over by the door while Sara took aim with her two pistols. The door kicked open, and silenced semi-automatic fire sprayed the bed that we had just left, sending up an eruption of feathers as the first of them entered the room. These guys had come prepared, but they obviousely hadn't been warned that we might be awake. My short sword swung in high, meeting the lead man where his Adam's apple jutted from his neck, decapitating him and embedding solidly in the door frame. "Shit!" I shouted, fearing for my unlife, however my cry was quickly echoed by the other two outside the door. It seems I had less to worry about than they did because by decapitating our first opponent I had left Sara with a clean shot at the remaining two. Blood erupted from a hole in one's forehead, but the other dodged out of the doorway, slugs slamming into the wall behind him. He took off at a run down the hallway, firing behind him as he went. I quickly ceased my efforts to remove my sword from the wall, grabbed one of my stakes, and breaking the wax seal I pointed at him. Sara gasped with suprise as the stake grew a set of limbs and leapt after its prey like a leopard chases down a gazelle. I followed out the doorway, Sara close on my heels now as we were both eager to see how my creation performed. The stake caught him halfway down the stairs, and sprung at him like a missile seeking it's target. My magic had saved me yet again. As the missile pierced his heart I heard a gurgle that could only have been human from his mouth, but the fact that he was active during the day had told me that long ago. Even before his body hit the floor my mind was calculating how close the sabbat had come to extinguishing my and my love's life. If not for the ritual we had cast before bed we would have been severely wounded in that first spray of bullets. As the adrenaline worked it's way out of my system I began to feel a crushing urge to sleep press down on me, and I saw that Sara was in the same condition. The ritual that had saved our lives only went so far. We barely managed to make it back to our bed before we were unconscious again. To say that the rest of the day passed uneventfully would be a lie, but as far as I was concerned there was no world outside my room.

I awoke to find that Sara had risen before me, something that hadn't happened in the ten years we'd been together, but without the ritual I was subject to the constrains that my ancient body wreaked upon me and this was one of them. She hadn't wasted time this evening for when I met her on the stairs the only trace that there had been a small scale war in here during the previous day was three large stains on the floor. She greeted me with grim look and said "Three of the primogen were taken yesterday, and Luther was one of them." "I'm sorry Augustus" she said as the tears of blood poured down my cheek for one of the few out of clan friends I had, and she rushed over to hold me. "To top it off no one has heard from the prince in a few hours. God knows how many more they got, but Augustus, I'm scared." The attack had shattered her little shell more thoroughly than one of the bullets yesterday would have and now she simply wanted out. I could hardly blame her, in fact, I did too, and I was almost ready to write off Ottawa and start again in a new town far from the Sabbat. But before that could happen I had to know if Sirus was still alive. We'd made a pact when we were younger that we would help each other out in times of need, no matter what the cost. That didn't however mean that I had to involve Sara. I left her in the house, with a cell phone, her guns, and an ample supply of my stakes and told her that we would be leaving as soon as I returned, so she should pack. Her arsenal should be more than enough to hold a wandering Sabbat or two off until I could return, and I didn't think that to be too likely considering they should think we'd been taken care of by their flunkies given how disorganized and random their attacks had been. I tucked three stakes into my belt, strapped on my short sword, and grabbed the keys to the Jag. I kissed Sara one last time and told her to call me if anything was out of the ordinary. She knew how to activate the defenses of the house by herself anyway I told myself and as the car backed down the driveway I saw the motion detectors and cameras turn on. When we settled down again I would have to view her as an equal, she had earned that much over the past week.

The fires and anarchy of the previous evening were for the most part under control, but every now and then a gang of looters would run by, causing me to tense lest they actually be Sabbat. I made it to the Prince's haven in under twenty minutes, but it seemed to me like an eternity. As I pulled up I knew that something was wrong. There was smoke rising from the chimney, and Sirus was deathly afraid of fire. The only reason why he'd kept the fireplaces in the first place was because it would look awfully suspicious to have them all removed from the grand old house. I parked my car a half block past and snuck towards the house with all the grace of a herd of Buffalo, but I still managed to make it to the door without being seen. As I pushed it open I knew that my worst fears had been confirmed. The prince's chief ghoul, a lovely young woman named Raven, lay broken on the floor. The two decayed bodies that lay next to her attested to her prowess, but the claw marks that had gutted her made me stop. Claws like that hurt humans as was to be expected, but they also left vampires with wounds that would last for days and could not be healed quickly with blood. My brooding was shattered by the screams of the prince echoing throughout the house. They were coming from the upstairs study, which meant that was where I was going. I readied the stakes for my attack, hoping that his screams would cover my approach a little.

The study lay straight down the hallway, allowing me a view of its interior. The four vampires I saw there were putrid creatures, a bunch of rag-tag fighters who looked like they'd just stepped off the set of roadwarrior. I must admit though that I was slightly less concerned with their dress than I was with the fact that one of them was holding Sirus' face over the fire. I sprung into action, releasing my third stake and giving it a target before the first had hit the carpet. The three raced in with more speed than I could generate, and it just so happened that the three they were aimed for turned towards my charging visage, short sword drawn. Only one of them noticed the three stakes charging towards them, leaving him with a perplexed look on his face as it drove through his heart. The other two were too busy drawing guns to notice the wooden missiles and they fell with smiles on their faces, believing that they could shoot me before I was within melee range. The fourth one looked up at the commotion and seeing his three fallen comrades quickly dropped Sirus' face onto the coals. The claws sprouted from his fingers as he emitted a snarl and said "Let's see how well you handle yourself without your toys!" I knew from his stance that he had not only fought against an opponent with a blade, but he felt confident that he could take me too. I was determined that that wouldn't happen. I slowed as I entered the room, knowing that my only advantage was the greater range that my sword conveyed. We circled slowly, feinting and thrusting. I knew that I could wear him down if I could just keep him at bay. He swung at me with a powerful stroke and stepped in, but I scored a grazing blow on his chest and drove him back. The fight seemed to be taking forever, and time was something I, or more specifically Sirus didn't have. On the next pass I swung wildly at my foe, turning at the same time, and pulled Sirus from the flames. The groan that came from him told me that I wasn't too late, making the effort worthwhile and gave me renewed hope, but my opponent wasn't caught as off guard as I had hoped, and he scored a deep gash in my shoulder. Spinning back around to face him I lifted my sword yet again. The grin on his face as he licked my blood from his fingers was truly animal. "I shall enjoy devouring your soul." he taunted, and went on the offensive. It was all I could do to keep him from ripping my head from it's rightful place on my shoulders and it became clear that he had been holding back. I took a series of minor hits, giving none in return. I knew that I had to do something, or I would die, but nothing came to me. One of his claws grazed my hamstring and took me to my knees. A kick sent me sprawling to the floor and I could not get up. Walking over to Siric he leaned down and whispered in his ear "A pity your champion could not protect his King." I watched in horror as my friend's soul was drained from his body. The bastard seemed to revel in my anger almost as much as the actual deed. You could almost see my rage as it lanced out towards him, but try as I might I could not get up. He walked over to me with the air of noble duelist and, placing one foot upon my chest proudly proclaimed "Oh how the mighty have fallen." I sprung into action, swinging both feet with all of my remaining strength. "Indeed" I agreed, quickly thrusting my short sword beneath his descending body. The sword pierced his spinal column just above the arms and jutted out of his chest. His unbelieving eyes flitted from the piece of metal sticking out of his chest to me and back again. I crawled over to him as quickly as I could, knowing that with every second his body was mending itself. Reaching his side I drew out my dagger and slit his wrists. It had little effect other than to buy me some time, but that was all that I needed. He watched in horror as I plunged the dagger into his chest, narrowly missing his heart. His look of confusion and relief was quickly replaced by one of sheer terror as I made the cross cut and peeled back the flesh and bones. His unbeating heart lay there before me. I cut it from his body slowly, relishing in his screams of pain and terror. I'm ashamed to admit that I was a monster feeding off of it, but after what he had done I didn't care. I took his heart from his body and threw it upon the fire, turning his head towards it first so that it was the last thing he saw as he left this life. I beheaded the remaining three, draining the blood from their bodies and used it to speed the healing process.

I left the house without looking back. I must have looked a grim visage to the poor people I passed in the street, but I didn't care, planning never to return to this horrid place again. I climbed into the Jag, and was just starting it up when the cell rang. I scrambled to pick it up and, turning it on waited for a response from the other side. Between sobs, and over the sound of an axe hitting what I could only imagine to be my bedroom door I caught "I'm sorry Augustus, but there were too many of them." I cursed, and started the car up quickly, racing towards my house at breakneck speed. "Hang on Sara, I'm coming for you!" I said, and the sobbing slowed mildly. "No, Augustus, there's too many of them. I'm going to have to do it. I have to. I'm sorry." She said, having ceased sobbing entirely now. I heard a great crash as the axe took out a large chunk in the door. "I love you hon" was all she said but it conveyed more to me than that. "Nooooooooo!" I screamed, but there was nothing I could do. The line went dead as an explosion rocked the night sky, sending a fiery cloud towards heaven. I knew that my angel went with it, but that still did nothing to ease the pain my aching heart was feeling. Since the incursions by Sabbat had been getting more frequent, I had upgraded my arsenal from several pistols and shotguns to include a few fully automatic weapons, some grenades, and a large amount of C4. Only Sara and I knew it's location, but I had never intended it to be used in this way. A trap had been sprung on the Sabbat leaving their assault in ruins, but it to contained my love as bait.

Tears flowed from my face as I changed direction, knowing that this city held nothing for me anymore. I headed for the airport, calling ahead and booking a flight that would land me in Vancouver around 3:00 am. It was the only option aside from a quick flight to New York, and right now I wanted nothing more than to be as far away from the Sabbat as possible. I stopped only once on the way to the airport, for food and to change out of my bloody, clawed up rags. The looks I received while boarding the plane were a mix of shock and horror, but I didn't notice. Ten years of my life had been shattered in a hot cloud of flames. My house, my research, and most importantly my love were all nothing more than ash now, a cherished memory that had no place in this dismal world. I landed in Vancouver international, and not knowing where I wanted to go, or perhaps not wanting to go anywhere simply headed downtown to disappear into the night..."

"That, good sirs, is how I got here, that's why I'm in this condition, and that's why I avoided your initial attempts to take me in." Silence followed, as none around the table wanted to interrupt me lest I speak again. "You tell an interesting tale," the prince said finally, "and if what you say is true then you are welcome to stay in my city for as long as you wish. I'd like for you to stay with me until we can confirm. You have my deepest regrets over the loss of your childer and your city." I managed a weak smile and said "Thank you sire, but I'll only stay here as long as I have to. I'd like to move on to the island within the month." The gasps that erupted from the table confirmed what I had been hearing about the island being a black hole for supernatural creatures. I had some suspicions though and I wanted to test them out. They left the table one by one, some solemnly, others with visible tears falling down their cheeks, but none descended from mine. The time for grieving was over. Now it was time to build power and plan my revenge, and Vancouver would be an excellent place to start. None around the table knew the extent of the power I had in Ottawa, and no one alive even suspected how it had been achieved. Vancouver was ripe for the picking, and soon I would taste it's bounty...