A Scripta

The Poison Girl was a dive. That's immediately what Kalius thought when he walked into the bar.

Pinball machines lined one wall, the bar lined the other, a jukebox took center stage at the rear wall. The two men walked through the doorway and headed away from the bar so they could get a look at the patrons.

Somebody put "Du Hast" by Rammstein on the jukebox, and the hard guitar pumped through an excellent and loud speaker system. Dmitrius tugged on Kalius' sleeve and pulled him toward one of the pinball machines. The man in the "Night Devil's" jacket shoved against the machine, trying to force the ball to stay aloft. Dmitrius gave it another shove, and tilted it.

"Hey!"

"Where's Josef?"

"How the fuck should I know?"

Dmitrius gazed at him. "Are you sure you don't know?"

The man rubbed the back of his head, the hackles on his neck suddenly rising. "Uh, well, he said he was gonna get somethin' t' eat outside."

Dmitrius thumbed at the door. "Right out there?"

"Guess so."

Kalius shoved open the door that said, "Fire Exit". He looked around the corner, and Dmitrius followed him. Kalius heard sounds of passion coming from behind one of the cars. Dmitrius nodded, and the two men split up to get on either side of a man and a topless woman in a passionate embrace - at least it looked like it from a distance. But upon getting closer, he was sucking her neck, and she was moaning in pleasure, shoving her hips against his.

Dmitrius waited, and when Josef raised his head, he saw Dmitrius standing there, nonchalantly leaning against the car's trunk. Josef turned his head to see Kalius to his right.

"Aw, baby, don't stop," said the girl in a heavy drawl.

"We got company, bitch," he snapped.

The girl looked over to her left at Kalius and flicked back her hair. "You wanna run too?"

"No, thank you," he said.

She looked back at Josef. "C'mon, baby, we ain' done..."

"Yes, we are." He got up, shoving the girl off him. She stumbled up, her huge breasts shaking. Kalius saw her pink tank top and picked it up, handing it to her. She put it on - it barely covered her breasts. She humphed and, grabbing her heels that were almost as tall as she was, stormed back to the bar. Josef turned to Dmitrius. "So what--" Dmitrius grabbed Josef and threw him into the car, making a sizable dent in the trunk. Dmitrius held him down with one hand. "What the fuck!"

"You control the Bloods."

"Yeah, so?"

"They attacked Kalius yesterday."

He was silent for a minute. "I didn't do that."

Dmitrius pressed hard on Josef's head. "Who did? And don't dick us around, because we killed an assassin sent after me last night and we are not in the most pleasant of moods."

"How the fuck should I know?"

"Josef, they're your army." Dmitrius took a fistful of Josef's hair and lifted the head up, then slammed it down again, making a much larger dent. "You're responsible."

"Wait, wait! Fuck, sheriff, wait!"

Dmitrius didn't release his hold. "We're listening."

"Ratchet, one of the boys - he said some of the homies - some guy came along - gave them drugs and made them stronger - never got to check - "

"Where's Ratchet now?"

"City morgue, some guy slashed his chest open."

Dmitrius looked up at Kalius who nodded once. Dmitrius lessened his hold slightly, but kept his hand on him. "You have no idea what guy?"

"Goddammit, sheriff, I told you, I never got a chance to check it out!"

"Let's go check it out now." Dmitrius lifted the Brujah Justicar by the scruff of his jacket and turned him around to face him. "Ride with us."


Brandy opened the door to the drug house and saw Josef there with two men behind him. She put the gun she was holding behind her back. "Joey--"

"Who came here a week ago and talked to Ratchet and Flyboy?"

"Uh, some guy..."

Josef grabbed the girl by her throat. The gun came out and she shot him point black four times before he crushed her hand around the gun. His back exploded onto the two men behind him, flesh and blood covering them. Josef shoved the woman into the house. Dmitrius shut the door as Josef fed on her, draining her dry.

"Ugh, All Five." Josef spat blood. Josef swiveled his head around, his wounds healing near instantaneously. Kalius had his sword, and Dmitrius stood cautiously. He sniffed the air, and headed upstairs. They followed him, and Josef stopped in front of another young man. Kalius said, "That was one of them."

The man was caught in the throes of a drug-induced dream. Josef bent and bit into his wrist, then licked the blood welling there. "What the fuck..?"

Dmitrius and Kalius watched Josef stand up. "Either he's been given blood everybody in the four corners, or he's--"

Dmitrius stated, "Sabbat."

Josef looked at the man. He bent down to drink. Dmitrius sighed and turned away. They went back down the stairs, shoved aside some waif who stood in front of them, demanding money, and went back outside to the car, which was still in one piece.

"Sabbat destroyed my house. Assassins usually work for the Sabbat." Dmitrius was disappointed that the Assamite didn't talk, even as he threw her remaining head and torso into the fire.

"They probably sent those Bloods after me," Kalius said.

Dmitrius nodded. "I can't go after them alone."

"Is there some neutral ground?"

"They don't respect it." Dmitrius drummed his hand on the passenger side door of the car, then pulled it open. "Let's go, then."

The two men pulled into the garage back at Rowena's, and her Cadillac was gone. They went to the top of the stairs in the garage and saw the night butler. "Dmitrius, Kalius, something is wrong with the mistress."

"What?"

"She awoke after you, and she immediately had to go, she said. She didn't feed from any of us."

Dmitrius looked at him curiously. "I'll speak with her when she returns."

She returned about an hour before sunrise. She looked very confused, foggy, and walked right by Dmitrius when he tried to talk to her. She went directly to the vault.

"Rowena, what's wrong?"

She silently went into the vault and tried to shut the door. Dmitrius stood between the vault door and held it back. He was far stronger than Rowena was, but she was determined to pull the door shut. Finally, he stepped inside, and she slammed shut the door, locking it. Without looking at Dmitrius, she went to her casket.

Dmitrius knew what this was. She was under a thrall. Dmitrius paced.

He had told no one, not even Kalius, of his tenuous bond with Rowena. He found her during the Portuguese Inquisition, after her sire had been given the auto-da-fe and was set out in the sun. She was weak and starving, and he gave her his blood. He gave her a taste again, in Colonial America. If he did it for a third time, she would be in his thrall. But someone was beginning to control her now.

Something had happened last night because she was already asleep when he came downstairs. Tonight was probably the second bite. Tomorrow would be a third bite, and she would be in someone else's thrall, absolutely devoted to this other person.

He walked back and forth near the casket. He didn't want to enthrall her. He wanted her to be his friend. But what's to say she wouldn't turn on him in the evening, and then kill his beloved?

Savagely, he bit into his wrist. His face was dark, determined. He slowly placed his gouged out wrist to her lips.