[Vampire/Hunter] The City: One on One (Actual Play)

[Cam]

Hi Everyone,

You know, foreigners living in Tokyo often have odd schedules. Recently, myself and my friend Mike discovered that Mondays are both free for us, but (surprise surprise) not for anyone else we know. So we decided to try something different: to play a shared one-on-one campaign where we took turns alternating Player and GM duties.

Mike had picked up Hunter, and I've long been a fan of Vampire. So we decided that I would make up a Hunter (and Mike would GM the Hunter sessions) and Mike would make up a Vampire (and I would GM the Vampire sessions). The characters wouldn't start off being aware of each other, but they would start off in the same geographical area and their stories would somehow intertwine and effect each other.

We decided to do this to keep things exciting for both of us; since we keep swapping GM and Player duties there's no way we can plan upcoming sessions, and we certainly can't plan some kind of predetermined ending. It's almost all improvised.

So, with this in mind, we sat down and worked on the basics of the campaign:

1. Stylish and Cinematic: Mike and I are big fans of Michael Mann, especially films like "Heat", "Thief", and "Collateral". We wanted the game to exude the same kind of urban cool, so when we are describing things to each other we take care to note how streetlights play across concrete and chrome, etc.

2. The City: We decided to set the game in a nameless East-Coast city, thereby allowing us all kinds of creative freedom. We can incorporate all kinds of cool urban locations that we've seen before, safe in the knowledge we aren't messing with a real city's landscape.

3. Two Driven Urban Professionals (The Characters): Quite a lot of Michael Mann films feature two driven urban professionals facing off against each other (while sometimes sharing some kind of bond), the best example being the Pacino/DeNiro characters in "Heat". We really like this, so we decided to follow the same formula for our game.

Mike is playing David Cale, a professional bodyguard who worked for the government (even doing Presidential service) before going into the private sector. (Imagine the Kevin Costner character from the "Bodyguard" but played by someone way cooler, like Pacino maybe, and let's just have the "Bodyguard" be directed by Michael Mann while we're at it, 'cos then the movie would've been okay)

I am playing Mickey O'Reilly, a professional thief specializing in breaking and entering whose closest relationship is to his "fixer" Pauly. (Imagine the DeNiro character from "Heat" or the James Caan character from "Thief")

4. Canon takes a backseat: As you've no doubt noticed by now, we're far more concerned with emulating a certain style of storytelling and a certain style of story than immersing ourselves in the old World of Darkness (yep, we're going old school oWoD here ... although Mike just picked up the nWoD corebook the other day and we're thinking about changing over ... though we're not sure how the whole Hunter thing would work). So that means sometimes oWoD canon takes a backseat to our "vision". Just wanted to give you fair warning here before anyone sets the "badwrongfun" ninja squad on us!

Don't worry, it's not too far different to what's printed in the books; in fact, it's very close. The vampires have a masquerade, and they have their traditions, and they have a Prince and Elysium and Conclaves. But we don't delve too much into that (Clan politics have been pretty much entirely dropped), instead choosing to focus on the new vampire David Cale and how he reacts on a nightly basis to what he's become.

Similarly, Mickey O'Reilly isn't an "average guy", which flies in the face somewhat of Hunter's recommendations that players make up "average guys". Mickey's a fairly competent guy, and that fits in with our Michael Mann "Urban Driven Professionals" vision. Nonetheless, he's still a guy, and the Hunter sessions we've played have indeed sometimes focused on Mickey's reactions to the horrific situations he's found himself in.

After each session we've written up a bullet-point summary to help us remember everything. We tend to improvise a lot during the sessions, so we definitely need a written reminder to help us keep everything straight and to maintain continuity. I'll be posting those bullet-point summaries, so please keep that in mind if they sometimes skimp on the gory details. (For example, it just says "they talk about vampires" instead of recounting the whole conversation) That said, if you have any questions or want to know more, I'm sure Mike (and myself) would be happy to tell you.

Okay, so, first up (in the next post), the Vampire prelude...

Cheers!
Cam.

[Cam]

Vampire Prelude

* David Cale leaves the Secret Service (for which he'd performed a number of duties, including Presidential Bodyguard Detail) to take a job a "Defcon 1", a new security/bodyguard firm set up by his old buddy/boss Lance Bishop.

* Cale is one of Defcon's first employees, and together he and Bishop work hard to build up the firm.

* After a year or so, Defcon starts building its profile. They land a contract to bodyguard a number of economists attending a conference.

* Cale is bodyguarding Dr. Stockhausen, keynote speaker at the conference. As Cale is driving Stockhausen out of the conference, a team of professional Italian kidnappers swiftly rams the car. Cale gets into an intense car chase and then a shoot-out with the kidnappers. Cale is successful in protecting Stockhausen, but unfortunately has to use deadly force to dissuade the kidnappers.

* This incident boosts Defcon's profile dramatically. Defcon starts picking up wealthier contracts and clients. Justin and Joanna Templar hire Defcon to bodyguard their daughter Bianca, who has just returned to The City from a finishing school in Switzerland. The task is assigned to Defcon's best bodyguard, Cale.

* After bodyguarding Bianca for a couple of months, and escorting her everywhere, Cale foils an attempt to drug Bianca at The Blue Velvet (a popular ambient club in The City). Cale notices something floating in the bottom of Bianca's drink, and catches a glimpse of the waiter slipping out through the back - and Cale realizes he's never seen that waiter working at The Blue Velvet before. Cale knocks the glass out of Bianca's hand just before she drinks from it.

* Bianca, distraught, demands that Cale take her to "Helton". Cale drives her to the Hilton Hotel, and Bianca starts crying saying "Helton Helton, take me to HELTON. At the Templar Building." Cale, a little confused, drives Bianca to the Templar Building. Cale meets someone called Davis, head-of-security. Bianca is swiftly ushered into a plush suite on one of the top floors of the building, but Cale is firmly but politely told to go home and come back early the next evening.

* Cale picks up Bianca at the Templar Building, and meets Geoffrey Helton. Bianca introduces Helton as an "old family friend". Helton offers to take Bianca and Cale out to dinner to thank Cale for saving Bianca. They have dinner at "La Mer", a very high-class floating French restaurant in the Bay area.

* Not long after this meeting, Defcon is bought by The Templar Corporation. Lance Bishop is still in charge, but is now answerable to The Templar Corporation. Templar Corp insists that Cale is bumped out of field duties, and given managerial duties with one exception: Bianca Templar. Templar Corp insists that Cale and only Cale be her bodyguard. Bishop doesn't like losing his baby, but can't really say no because of the incredible amount of money Templar threw at him.

* Cale continues bodyguarding Bianca. It soon becomes clear Cale is the only constant in Bianca's life; she has no real friends in The City, just sycophants and scene-queens that hang around her. Bianca starts to develop feelings for Cale, and the two draw close.

* Cale and Bianca have a second dinner with Helton, this time at the Imperial Palace, a Chinese restaurant on the top floor of the Imperial Hotel. As they are leaving the hotel, Helton's car is attacked by four assailants. Cale leaps out of his car and helps defend Helton and Davis. Together, Davis and Cale repel the assailants (who must definitely have been hopped on PCP, considering the way they shook off the first couple of blows and gunshots!), but Davis is wounded in the fight.

* Cale is asked to bodyguard Helton while Davis recovers from his wounds.

* Cale and Bianca's romance continues.

* Davis recovers awfully quickly from his wounds...

* As Cale and Bianca are about to drive into the Templar Building's carpark one night, Cale notices the security guard slumped over his desk. Cale is about to put the car into reverse when six assailants open up on his car with automatic weapons. The car gets shredded and stops moving. Cale opens fire, putting up a hell of a fight, as does Bianca (Cale gives her his back-up piece). They take down three of the guys, before the murderous hail of automatic fire tears Bianca and then Cale to pieces.

* Cale, in his dying moments, sees the three survivors as they inspect their handiwork. Cale will never forget their faces:

1. An extremely blonde, Aryan looking guy. Muscular and well-built.
2. A tall guy with a hawk-like face, and long black hair tied back into a ponytail.
3. A dark haired guy with Mediterranean good looks. Actually, he looks a lot like the waiter at the attempted drugging of Bianca...

* Not long after the three leave, Helton walks up to the car, and apologizes for being too late to save Bianca and Cale. He offers Cale a chance, however, for revenge. Cale says yes to this offer, and Helton nods, slicing open his wrist and letting the blood drop into Cale's mouth...

And that's about it! Helton let Cale stay in some apartments in the Templar Building while Cale came to grips with his "change". Helton instructed Cale on the basics of feeding, and the need for secrecy (The Masquerade). The next session will start not long after this...

[Cam]

Hunter Prelude

· Mickey O’Reilly is contacted by Pauly, his fixer. The score is to steal a shipment of diamonds that is being kept for one night at the Bayside Docks.

· Although Mickey usually works alone, Pauly has organized a team for the score. Joe Cary is an electronics expert. Abel is a safecracker. Marvin Ye is a computer expert.

· Watching TV Mickey sees a report about a murder. The victim has been mostly drained of blood. Suddenly the words “DELIVER JUSTICE TO THE GUILTY” flash across the screen. Mickey rubs his eyes in disbelief to see the screen has returned to normal, featuring the detective in charge Guy Trujillo.

· Led by Mickey, the team starts the score not long before dawn. The team drives in dressed as technicians, complete with overalls and a bogus worksheet. Abel is busy cracking the safe when Marvin reports that the security company is sending down a patrol car; they seem to have noticed their computers have gone a little buggy. Mickey realizes they don’t have time to successfully complete the score, and he orders the team to “walk away”. Everyone is frustrated, but they do so, narrowly missing the security patrol car.

· Pauly contacts Mickey with a very lucrative score, in order to make up for the lost diamonds. The score is indeed lucrative, with the principal offering a cool $100 000. Mickey has to break into an art gallery housed in the main building of the Templar Corporation and steal a piece of Sumerian art called “The book of Erishkigal”. Interestingly enough, that particular piece is not listed as being on display in the museum.

· Mickey researches the Templar Corporation, and discovers the “securities consulting firm” has been kicking around since the American Civil War and pretty much constitutes a private army. Templar Corporation employees are currently stationed in Iraq. Mickey puts two and two together, and figures that “the book” was most likely looted from the Museum of Baghdad.

· Strange dreams and signs plague Mickey. He drives to the center of The City to find it curiously deserted. The neon signs are all blank. Suddenly, strange figures begin shuffling towards Mickey out the darkness. Spooked, Mickey runs to his car, as one of the figures lurches to the window. Mickey is shocked to see the figure is a walking corpse! Mickey suddenly wakes to find himself in his own bed … fully dressed and sweating.

· Mickey discovers that Templar takes security very seriously. Scouting the building reveals it is something of a mini-fortress, with very tight security. While scouting out the building, Mickey is assailed by the stench of rotting flesh, making him run to the toilet and vomit. Leaving the toilet he sees many of the security guards are walking corpses! A gaunt, unbreathing man asks Mickey if he is okay. (This is David Cale, main protagonist of the Vampire sessions) Mickey stammers out a “yes” and hurriedly leaves the building.

· Mickey asks Pauly for the name of the principal. He gets a name: Ambrose Niles.

· Mickey launches his plan to get into the Templar Corporation building, recruiting Marvin Ye to help jam the Corporations camera systems. Mickey follows a tech-services worker home on Friday night and steals his pass card. Not long after sundown, Mickey uses the pass card to gain access to the building, and makes his way to the art gallery. “The book” is nowhere to be seen, but Mickey spots a false door. Opening the door Mickey climbs a long flight of stairs, leading to the very top floor of the Templar Building.

· Mickey finds himself in a massive room, with three sides being huge glass windows overlooking The City. He spots “the book”, which is a stone tablet held in the arms of a statue of Erishkigal herself. This statue stands in the middle of a pool. The pool appears to be full of blood. Mickey takes off his shoes, rolls up his trousers, and climbs into the pool. As soon as he grabs the tablet and puts it in his bag he gets a call from Marvin: Mickey’s set off pretty much every alarm possible. Mickey sprints for the stairs, which are closing automatically. He just makes it, and spins around to see the gaunt man from before (David Cale) rushing for the door. The door locks shut and Mickey runs down the stairs.

· Mickey runs to the elevator, and runs headlong into a vampire who grabs him by the throat and throws him down the corridor. “What the hell are you?” Mickey gasps. “Wouldn’t you like to know!” the creature hisses through a fanged maw, charging towards Mickey for the kill. Mickey throws his hands in front of him, defensively, yelling “get the fuck off me!” There’s a brief flash, a spark, a smell of ozone, and the vampire’s gone flying back down the corridor. Mickey, eyes wide with fear, charges down the stairs to the underground garage as he asks Marvin to open the main garage doors.

· Mickey smashes a car window and leaps into a car, hotwiring it. Just as he takes off, the vampire comes running and leaps onto the roof of the car. The creature punches its hand through the metal roof and begins clawing at Mickey. Mickey slams on the accelerator, crouches down in his seat, and aims the car for the garage door which is only halfway open. Slamming into it rips off the top half of the car, taking the vampire with it (with a hellish shriek!).

· Mickey keeps driving, ditches cars, and then drives to the drop-off point. A limousine and a man in a suit are waiting for him. The man takes the tablet from Mickey and shows it to someone in the limo who nods. The suit then gives a briefcase containing $100 000 to Mickey. He says “pleasure doing business” and smiles revealing a maw full of fangs. Mickey stands shocked, as the limo drives away. Briefly, the license plate changes and says, “Deliver justice to the guilty”…

[Cam]

Vampire session 1

· David Cale is at the Templar Corporation, investigating a highly unusual break-in. A thief broke into one of Helton’s private quarters and stole an ancient Sumerian tablet which Helton calls “one of the spoils of war recently taken from Persia.” During a dramatic escape the thief scraped one of the few other vampiric employees of Templar (Johnson) across the ceiling of the garage. The remains are taken to the top of the Templar building for the sunrise.

· Cale briefly talks to Helton, promising to retrieve the tablet. Helton points out a murder in a newspaper, the victim curiously drained of blood. Helton asks Cale to keep an eye on this situation, as it could be a potential breach of The Masquerade. Any such offenders are to be killed. As Cale leaves he smells the blood in Helton’s glass … and yet again it is maddeningly familiar.

· Cale spends some time consulting with Davis, official head-of-security for Templar and ghoul. They agree to shake up the local underworld community.

· Cale checks the Templar database for possible criminal contacts and fixers, and comes up with three names. Paul DeHaven, specializing in theft. Chuck Novak, specializing in muscle and “wetworks”. Giancola, an all-rounder with a finger in many pies, including owning or managing The Enigma, one of the coolest clubs in The City.

· Cale calls his friend the Deputy Chief and asks to talk to him about the murder. The Deputy is happy to talk to Cale as it turns out this is actually the 5th murder in a string. The police have done their best to keep this out of the media, but it appears the killer is becoming bolder with each murder, and more savage too. Early murders appear to have been committed with knives, while the most recent is almost animalistic in nature. Cale and the Deputy meet at Romeo’s Diner (Cale has an untouched coffee). Cale reads through the Deputy’s case files, and promises to let him know if he learns anything.

· Cale decides to talk to Giancola at The Enigma. Grabbing two attractive women from the line, Gina and Julie, Cale walks to the front door armed with a fistful of cash and vampiric powers of Dominate. Cale easily gets in.

· In the club runs into a rather territorial vampire called Lawrence.

· Cale talks to Giancola, giving him his business card. Giancola assures Cale he had nothing to do with the break-in at Templar. As they talk in the V.I.P. lounge above the dance floor, Cale spots one of his killers from a year ago; the dark haired guy with Mediterranean good looks. He is walking towards a backdoor with Gina and Julie.

· Cale excuses himself, and climbs to the roof. 30 feet directly below him he sees his killer giving the girls some coke and trying to have his way with them. He’s rather forceful and is definitely taking advantage of them. Cale steps off the building and drops right behind the scoundrel (Anthony Corelli).

· Corelli spins around, thinking Cale has only walked up behind him, warning Cale “not to go fucking around with my action.” Cale tells the girls to run, and then starts laying into Corelli. Corelli pulls a gun and puts three rounds through Cale’s gut. Cale dives for cover behind a car, and Corelli follows thinking Cale is down for the count. Cale effortlessly springs to his feet and slams Corelli down to the ground with a spinning kick. Cale leans in to rip the gun out of Corelli’s hand, but Corelli manages to put two more shots through Cale’s gut. Angered, Cale picks Corelli up and hurls him against a wall. Corelli slumps to the ground with a crunch and some broken bones.

· Cale leans over Corelli and spits the five bullets out into his hand. Corelli is almost mad with fear. Cale smiles and says he is the guy Corelli killed a year ago and that “payback’s a bitch!” Cale tears Corelli’s throat out and gorges on his blood.

· Cale, worried about the shots fired near a mob-owned business, dumps Corelli’s body into the car and drives away. He grabs a mobile phone and a wallet from Corelli, then dumps the car (and body) into the bar.

· Cale curses himself for indulging in animalistic behavior and not taking the chance to interrogate Corelli. His bloodlust has been satisfied, but he’s learnt no answers.

· Cale realizes that the Underworld is a domain that’s no doubt been claimed by a vampiric resident of The City. Cale wants to make sure he doesn’t step on that person’s toes, so he goes to talk to Helton to find out who that vampire is.

· Helton is at the ultra-modern opera center, attending an after party. Entering the room, Cale can’t help but think of a small fish tank filled with some normal fish and too many sharks. The vampires in the room circle the human herd in languid circles, slowly closing in.

· Cale talks to Helton and discovers that a vampire called Josef von Burian has claimed the Underworld as his personal domain. Helton points Josef out in the lobby below. Helton and Burian have clashed in the past, but Helton says both have come to realize the other provides “necessary services to The City.”

· As Cale leaves the after party two vampires approach him. Camille and Gregory seem very interested in “the young one” (as they refer to Cale). Cale has the distinct feeling the two are checking him out.

· Cale goes home and watches “Blade” an awful lot of times.

· Cale wakes up to news headlines that Gina has been killed in the parking lot of The Enigma. The Deputy calls Cale and asks him to come down to the crime-scene. There isn’t much Cale can do at the crime-scene, but he’s worried that this is the work of a vampire who is becoming more and more bestial. Could it be Lawrence, who seemed so territorial in the nightclub?

· Cale decides to get pro-active about tracking down his killers. He goes to the girly-bar where Chuck Novak usually does business and trails him home. Later that night, he breaks into Novak’s house and interrogates him. Cale asks for the name of the person who organized his murder. Novak locks up briefly, grabbing his head in pain, before finally stammering out the name Josef von Burian. Cale nods, and as he is leaving tells Novak to “forget this ever happened.” Strangely, this comment makes Novak’s eyes widen in horror. Cale quickly leaves.

· Cale reports back to Helton and tells him about Corelli and Burian. Cale is apologetic that he killed Corelli, while Helton seems to enjoy the story, listening with a quiet pride in Cale’s murderous abilities. He tells Cale that “you shouldn’t think you are like them. You look like them, but you are not like them. If you think too much that you are like them, it will hold you back. You are so much more than human Cale. You are the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing. And I very much look forward to you becoming a wolf.”

· Helton is angered to hear that Burian has basically declared war on him. Cale asks why Burian would do such a thing, but Helton has no idea. Helton warns Cale that killing Burian would break one of the only solid laws vampires really have. The punishment for taking the life of another vampire is murder. Helton says that he will give Cale as much protection as he can if he decides to take down Burian in his quest for revenge, but he must be discreet about it. Cale nods and leaves the room.

· Cale, in an effort to find the stolen tablet, stakes out Pauly’s bar. Sure enough, after a while he spots the thief (who he briefly glimpsed). Cale follows the thief, and watches him drive to The Enigma. The thief gets out near the murder scene, and takes a bit of a look around. He then walks inside the club, and spends some time talking to Giancola. While the thief is talking to Giancola, Lawrence suddenly appears near Cale. Lawrence seems very suspicious of Cale, and says that he hopes Cale isn’t making any sloppy mistakes.

· The thief leaves the club and Cale follows him back to his apartment. Cale decides to talk to the thief, and asks the night man to buzz him in. Cale is surprised when the night man says “sure” and lets him in. Cale takes an elevator and moves to the thief’s door. The door quietly swings open revealing a dark Spartan apartment. The thief talks to Cale from the shadows, but after a while sits opposite him, a gun in his hand the whole time.

· Cale and Mickey (the thief) have an extremely tense conversation. Cale is astonished that a human can see him for what he is. Mickey is astonished that Cale isn’t automatically trying to kill him. Cale asks Mickey how he can do it; Mickey says he doesn’t know. Cale guardedly gives Mickey some respect for breaking into the Templar building and taking down Johnson; neither are easy feats. Mickey nervously fingers the pistol, and Cale tells him “that’ll hurt like hell, but you’ll need more than that to take us down.” Mickey says he’s passed on the tablet; Cale says that’s cool, he won’t hurt Mickey, he just wants to know who has the tablet. Mickey gives a name: Ambrose Niles.

· Mickey, meanwhile, asks if Cale is responsible for killing Gina near The Enigma. Mickey knows he was there because Giancola told him that a guy called Cale from the Templar Corporation was looking for him. Cale says he didn’t kill Gina, and Mickey slowly nods.

· Cale puts a business card on the coffee table, slowly stands to leave. Mickey asks Cale if he had a choice; did he choose to become a monster? Cale remembers Helton giving him a chance for revenge and saying yes. Cale lies to Mickey and says “no, no choice”. Mickey then asks, “Can you stop?” Cale shrugs and replies, “Can you?” With that, he leaves the thief alone in the empty darkened apartment…

[Cam]

Hunter session 1

(Overlap with Vampire session 1)
· Mickey reads a report of a sixth murder. A woman called Gina has been savagely killed and dumped in the carpark of The Enigma nightclub. Mickey drives to the club, and spends some time looking around near the scene. He walks into the club and spends a little time talking to Giancola. Mickey asks if anyone suspicious has been hanging around the club, and Giancola says a guy from the Templar Corporation called David Cale has been asking questions about a score. Mickey thanks Giancola and drives home.

· The vampire David Cale comes to visit Mickey in his apartment. Mickey and Cale have a conversation (see Vampire session 1 notes). Mickey is somewhat surprised that Cale doesn’t attack, and scratches his theory that Cale is the serial killer. He also detects a note of self-loathing in Cale’s speech, and wonders if all monsters truly are monstrous.

(Hunter session 1 begins)
· After Cale leaves Mickey realizes his apartment has been compromised. Mickey packs up his tools, grabs all of his weapons including his Benelli M4 semi-auto shotgun, and drives into the night.

· Mickey checks himself into a hotel. He realizes that if Templar Corp has tracked him down, his accomplice Marvin Ye is also in danger.

· Mickey drives to Marvin’s apartment, pays him the $20 000 he owes him, and convinces Marvin to pack up his computer gear and leave. Mickey assures him “it’s only a precaution”, but this is a lie.

· Mickey drives to Pauly’s bar. Mickey tells Pauly that a Templar employee visited him and that his apartment has been compromised. Pauly realizes the danger of the situation and sets up an “out” for Marvin. He also offers an “out” for Mickey. He refuses, deciding to stay on in The City and figure out what the hell is going on. Pauly says he’ll set up the “out” anyway. Mickey says goodbye to Marvin, feeling bad he’s turned the guy’s life upside down, but happy that he’ll probably live.

· As Mickey leaves the bar he sees a neon sign which briefly flashes “YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO”. At the same time he hears a woman scream from a nearby alley. Mickey bolts to the alley, pistol drawn. He finds a fearful woman slumped to the ground, and a vampire holding a bald guy up by the throat. “Put him down!” Mickey yells. The vampire tosses the man to the side, and charges towards Mickey. “Get back!” he yells, and with a spark and a smell of ozone the vampire flies across the alley and slumps stunned to the ground. “Get the girl and get out of here!” Mickey yells to the man. Mickey is then astonished to see the guy pull a silenced MAC-10 out of a bag and then repeatedly hose the vampire with automatic fire. Mickey’s worried about the authorities and is unsure of how to respond to this vampire-killing stranger. “Sun’s comin’ up, help me drag it into the street, will ya?” he says to Mickey. Together they drag the vampire’s corpse into the street, where it bursts into flames as the sun rises.

· Mickey drives his newfound ally, Lane, to a diner for breakfast. Mickey notes Lane has prison tattoos, and a sloppy style when it comes to eliminating the undead. Nonetheless, Lane has been hunting monsters for about a year, claiming to have taken down 12 of them. He’s also the only person in the whole world who doesn’t think Mickey is going insane.

· Mickey takes a calculated risk and asks Lane to meet him near The Enigma the following night. “And don’t bring the girl” Mickey says.

· Mickey meets Lane the following night. Lane has indeed brought the girl, Tracy, along. She obviously doesn’t want any part in this. Mickey gives her money for a taxi and tells her to go. Mickey and Lane argue, but Mickey reasons that Lane would only end up getting the girl killed.

· Mickey and Lane walk around to the back of the club, and break in. Mickey explains he is going to get some information which can lead them one of the “big fish” of undead society: Ambrose Niles. Curiously, Mickey seems to have trouble remembering that particular name.

· Lane stays by the bar while Mickey chats to Giancola. Mickey explains that he wants to set up a meeting with the people who set up the Templar score. Giancola is surprised Mickey isn’t getting that info from Pauly. Mickey explains that Templar heat is on all of them; after all, didn’t a Templar employee walk into The Enigma and start asking questions? Mickey says he’ll take care of the situation, but he needs some way of contacting the principal. (Of course, he’s also approached Giancola about this because he doesn’t want to put Pauly in any danger.) Giancola says he’ll be in touch.

· Mickey looks to the dance floor, and sees Lane pushing his way through the crowd. He’s headed towards a vampire who is seducing an attractive woman.

· Mickey runs to the dance floor and intercepts Lane just before he pulls out a weapon. “There’s plenty of people packin’ heat in here Lane. You don’t wanna pull a piece in a mob joint. Take my car keys and bring the car round the back alley. I’ll meet you there.”

· Mickey follows the vampire and its prey. Mickey momentarily stops at the bar and orders a glass half filled with vodka. He then follows the pair into a back room. The vampire starts to feed on the woman, prompting Mickey to throw his drink over the back of the vampire’s head. The creature turns with a snarl barking, “go!” with a commanding voice. Mickey holds the creature’s stare, and its eyes widen. It throws itself at Mickey who throws his hands in front of him yelling “get the hell away from me!” The vampire flies against the wall with a sudden spark, which ignites the vodka. The vampire fearfully starts trying to put out the flames, and then lunges again at Mickey with animalistic fury. It is again mysteriously thrown back from Mickey who runs to the back door. Lane is waiting holding the M4. Mickey grabs the gun saying “Give me that. I’ll take care of Michael Jackson.” He walks back, points the shotgun in the vampire’s face, and then fires three times. The vampire’s head disintegrates, the girl goes hysterical, and Lane laughs as he drags Mickey out into the alley and then into the car. The car screeches off into the night.

· Mickey is somewhat shocked by his bravado in facing down the vampire, but feels good about what he did. Lane laughs and says “and I thought you were a professional!” Mickey, however, realizes that such bravado could easily get him killed in the future, and decides there has to be a way of taking down the monsters in a methodical, calculated manner.

· Mickey and Lane sit in a diner, watching a TV for any news on the nightclub shooting. None is mentioned, although there has been another savage murder. This time in a park downtown. Mickey is tired, and decides to investigate in the morning.

· Mickey is woken by a call from Giancola. If Mickey wants to get in touch with the principal of the Templar score, he needs to find someone who once worked for Calumay Incorporated called Rojas.

· Mickey and Lane visit the site of the latest murder. Mickey chats to the beat cop at the crime scene, and finds out the victim’s entrails were strewn around the trees. Mickey and Lane spend some time discussing the nature of the murder. Lane isn’t convinced that it’s necessarily the work of an unnatural predator. Mickey, however, is sure that it is the work of the supernatural.

· Unsure of how to proceed on the serial killer front, Mickey decides to look deeper into Ambrose Niles. He gives the name Rojas to Pauly to track down, and spends some time looking for any mention of Niles. It appears Ambrose Niles is a very uncommon name, and only comes up with 2 references to such a person. One is from 1683 and the other is from 1741.

· Pauly contacts Mickey and tells him Rojas did some kind of muscle work for James Skye, one of the top guys at Calumay Incorporated. Mickey realizes Skye must have contact info for Rojas somewhere, and decides to break into Skye’s office.

· Mickey breaks into Skye’s office, but with a complication. While disabling the motion sensor, he is interrupted by a security guard. The guard doesn’t buy Mickey’s story that he’s a tech-services guy taking care of some routine business, and asks to see his work order. Mickey, keeping his back to the guard as long as he can, reaches into his toolkit and pulls out a pistol. He bundles the guard into a closet keeping the gun in the guard’s face. Mickey hopes the guard’s fear kept him from getting a good look at Mickey.

· In Skye’s office Mickey finds a file on Rojas, including parole reports. He also finds files on 4 other guys, all of who have worked in criminal enterprises. One of them is Alexander Sloan, the vampire who Mickey delivered the book of Erishkigal to. Mickey makes copies of the files and leaves the building.

· To complicate things, Mickey learns the serial killer has struck again. This time the victim is a high-profile one: James Skye.

· Mickey pays a visit to Chuck Novak, a fixer known for organizing muscle. Mickey pays Novak $5000 for info on Rojas. Novak gives him an address. Mickey also shows the pictures in the other files, including Sloan, but Novak says nothing.

· Mickey drives to the address, and finds a steakhouse restaurant. Mickey takes a seat and orders a steak and spots Andreas Rojas working there. Mickey is shocked to see Rojas has the potential to turn into some kind of horrid primal beast!

· Mickey drives to a nearby diner, and tapes a rented cell phone under one of the tables (he used a fake I.D. to rent the cell phone). He then parks a fair distance away, and takes out some binoculars. He calls the steakhouse on his own cell phone, and speaks to Rojas. Mickey tells Rojas to meet him at the diner at table 5.

· In a few hours, Rojas appears at the diner and sits at table 5. Mickey, watching through his binoculars, calls the call phone strapped under the table. “Hi Rojas. Bet you’d like to know who this is. I know what you’ve been up to pal. You and your friend Am … Ambrose Niles. Yeah, that’s right, I know what you’ve been up to you freak. You monstrous freak. I know what you’ve been doing and I know what you are. Goddamn you make me sick. Walking around, so high and mighty, thinking you can slaughter people like cattle. Well, guess what buddy? The herd just woke up.” Rojas is furious at this point, and crushes the rented cell phone as Mickey laughs. Rojas jumps into his car and drives away.

· Mickey, however, drives in the other direction, back to the steakhouse. He poses as James Levine, new parole officer for Rojas, and asks to talk to the manager. Mickey gets Rojas’ home address from the manager, and also gets information on his work shifts at the restaurant for the next couple of weeks. Mickey asks the manager not to say anything to Rojas. “This is part of a larger investigation, and we don’t want to tip him off or anything.” One of the waitresses says she thinks she caught Rojas eating some raw steaks in his breaks.

· Mickey calls Lane and asks to meet the next day. Mickey tells Lane they’ve got a break; they can get some information on one of the monsters working for Niles. “Daylight?” Lane asks. “So, this thing isn’t a suckerhead?” “No. Actually, I think it could be like the very first monster you ever saw. Something that can turn into 9 feet of pure primal rage.” “Oh, that’s just freakin’ great,” Lane moans, “silver bullets are just so goddamned expensive.” Lane hangs up, leaving Mickey to stare quizzically at his phone thinking “what???”