Inception

Music fills my ears, as I rest upon the rooftop of the old tavern, its lively, haunting tune reminding me of old times.  I smile to myself as the voices below match faces in my memory and I hear the lively conversation of the evening crowd, all settling in for a nights gossip over warm ale and stale bread.  My foot dangles off the edge of the roof, and my bare toes feel the first hint of summers warmth lingering in the evening breeze.  Dusk has just barely dipped beyond the horizon, the sky still showing hints of purple and pink kissing the low lying clouds over cliffs.

I practically flew out of the cave when dusk came, risking the slight tan to gain ground away from that dismal hole in the wall.   I wear a tattered cloak over a pale blue cotton dress.  I never wore dresses before, they seemed entirely impractical to me.  But this one was just my size and I liked the way it flowed, so I helped myself to it.

My lessons were endless and I awaited each night eagerly, wanting to know my full potential, eager to put myself to whatever test Sire set me to.  He was, like he always was.  Brutal, efficient, thorough.  But....as we hunted, as he taught me, as I learned and grew in strength and skill, as I stretched my wings under his constant supervision, I saw something in him that I had never known in all the time in his service.  He began to reflect my own eagerness, and once in a while, I would see my Sire actually smile.  I had of course, over the years, seen him put on his polished, practiced polite society smile for the elites, and they considered him one of their own.  But never had I seen my Sire enjoy himself.   I began to see it in him as we trained and it brought me a strange sense of satisfaction.

I was so eager to please him. It was bewildering really.  I had always been so sure of myself in his service.  I knew my skills and knew how to apply them and did so without hesitation at his orders.  It was of course the same way I had conducted myself with Commander Maverick, right up until the moment he was out ranked by My Lord, and in that moment, I had to reveal my true loyalties.  It was bound to happen eventually.  Colin died for it.  I did him a favor if you ask me.  He died a hero, they put up a bloody statue in his honor.  He was spared the fate of growing old and useless in the eyes of everyone who had once looked up to him.   

I let out a contented sigh and pull myself to sitting as a pair of men staggered out of the front door of the tavern, two floors below and I roll to lay on my stomach, watching them pass beneath me, blissfully unaware of my presence.  I toy with the idea of separating them but the night is so young and I am in no hurry.  My hair is loose and down around my shoulders, and finally clean.  My Sire had pointed out a few days ago that I had crawled out of the grave six weeks earlier and had been sleeping in a cave since then after I had gracelessly washed myself in the blood of my first real hunt.  I had gone wild with the lust of my new life and my sire had patiently allowed it, letting me revel in the drunken power of my new found abilities.

My leathers were in tatters, my hair was a matted mess and I am quite sure I looked like a nightmare if my prey's reaction to the sight of me was any indication. After a much needed bath and some basic grooming, I actually did feel better.   As I bathed, I marveled at the smoothness of my skin, tracing my fingertips over scars that were no longer there.   All the brutal lessons of Yuen, the training wounds from Kjyrn, the injuries from my days in the hands of the True Sons, my broken nose, my leathered back where Mother claimed her pound of flesh.....it was all...gone.  In its place, smooth, alabaster silken skin...flawless, perfect.  I was not certain why I deserved these gifts, but accepted them with a humility and gratitude that was impossible to explain.

The wind lifts my hair up and around my face, and in the same instant I feel my Sire stirring at the edge of my awareness.  He is approaching and will be here in a few minutes.  Having that sense of him lurking at the boundaries of my senses was very calming.  He is so certain in his conviction, so steadfast in his purpose, so dedicated to his cause.  There is never any doubt in his mind as to his place in the world and his goals for it.  It is a stance I completely respected and could identify with.  I once served him with such self assurance in my skills, and yet now, all I wanted was for him to be proud.  I feel him closing the distance between us, and so I rise to my feet, and turn to face him.  His silent arrival is greeted with my traditional, nodded bow. "Good Evening Sire" I offer him quietly.

"Barely at that" comes the monotone reply as his eyes drift over the last of the deepest purple at the edge of the horizon.   "But I understand your desire to be far and away from our current accommodations" he concedes.  "it is rather....primitive".  His eyes roam over a young couple approaching the front door of the tavern beneath us, and I see the beast flicker faintly in his eyes.  "are we to hunt tonight Sire?" I ask him, in an attempt to follow his train of thought and admittedly, my mouth watered at the idea.  "No" he replies without turning to me, "tonight you will take me to the Cabal" he announces.  "It is time they answer for their part in my misfortune".

He gives me no time to respond and simply moves to the back of the building and leaps from the roof, landing in the alley behind, blending effortlessly into the shadow, knowing full well I would be right behind him.  "Lead the way Childe....I think they deserve a visit at home....as was paid to me".  I nod again, and move out ahead of him, slipping like a wraith through the streets and up and over the useless wall that surrounds the village.   I move as he taught me, using my heightened grace to slip soundlessly through the darkness, traveling the grasslands until the rising walls of the city dominates the landscape.   We circle west and approach the western gate, a single guard poised to its left, and a few scattered archers roaming the wall high above.  I pause, looking towards my companion, "suggestions Sire?" I muse quietly.  "Use what you know" he instructs me, and then waits expectantly.

I look back towards the guard, the wall, and lower my cloak from my face and turn away from my Sire and step out of the shadows, walking up the center of the road towards the guard.  The soldier sees me after a short while, approaching barefoot, cloak down and unarmed.  It is when I have closed the distance enough for him to hear me effortlessly, that I offer him a soft smile. "Good evening sir" my voice is soft and lilting, and he can not seem to stop his lips from curling into a return smile. "might I trouble you for just a moment?" I ask him sweetly.  "Yes miss, what can I do for you?" he seems almost bashful and I could have sworn he was going to dig the toe of his boot into the dirt and follow it with an "aww shucks".  I can not help the small giggle that lifts from me as I picture it and this brings a flush of color to his cheeks.

I am barely a few feet from him, while overhead an archer passes by, looking down upon us briefly apparently unconcerned.  He moves overhead as I take a moment to wrap a long silken strand of hair around my finger, allowing my dark eyes to settle upon his wide, infatuated blues ones.  "I was hoping you see..." I begin, stepping a pace closer, "that I might know your name" I offer.  I truly cared not about his name, all I could focus on was the artery in his neck, just below his tanned, healthy skin, pulsing rhythmically.  I tear my eyes from his throat and lift them back to his pale blue eyes.  He appears caught off guard by my question and stammers a reply, "it's Drunnel" and to this I nod, "You must be new" I smile, and he nods, his confusion clear. "How did you know that?" he asks, "I know a lot of the militia" comes my reply.  I simply stare at him then, allowing my lessons to settle in, and I can see his eyes dilate as he returns my unblinking stare.  "Drunnel...." my voice is like warm caramel, "be a dear, and close your eyes" I command.  He does so, without hesitation. "excellent" I coo, "now, you keep them like that until you can no longer hear my steps, and then I want you to forget me....".  He makes no reply, but his eyes remain closed as he stands rod straight at his post.  I turn to the shadows and beckon to my Sire, and then pass through the gate unhindered  making sure my steps were clearly audible until we were around the corner lifting my hood a moment later.

My companion slips through the gate unseen and follows me northward, the only comment offered was "you are learning".   I duck into the entrance to the dump and scale the lower wall, and leap to a warehouse roof, moving north again, keeping to the rooftops until I stop and point at an alleyway that can not be seen by the main road.  "that is the entrance" I inform him, but he shushes me in his next breath and points further north, where a loud scream then echoes down the hidden alleyway.   In the next moment, swords clash and another cry of pain erupts from the building at the end of the alley.

"That's the Cabal's main hideout" I inform my companion, who is watching the scene unfold with rapt attention. "It appears Childe, that someone may have started the party without us" he informs me.  "shall we join them?" I ask, turning my attention to half a dozen guards who have jammed open the wall that leads to the Cabal headquarters and more troops arrive, storming down the alleyway and leaping into the fray of battle.  "No....let's just see how this plays out" comes the reply and so from our perch, we watched as the Militia raided the Cabal.   "it's Renault" I comment idly, pointing to a particularly enthusiastic participant on the Militia side. "yes, I recognize him from the courtyard" comes a grim reply, recalling the night the Commander had come to arrest him.  "I do believe he is in command of this little escapade" he informs me as we both watch the man bark orders at armed militia soldiers.

We remain still, quiet and keenly interested as we watched the Militia decimate the Cabal ranks, slaying them outright in their beds in some cases.  My keen eyes follow a slippery little waif of a girl, sprint from shadow to shadow as she tried desperately to avoid detection as the militia cut through her friends.  She escapes through a crack in the wall few would have been small enough to follow through, and slips away into the night.  "clever girl" comments my Sire, and we allow her to keep her hard earned victory.  It is over quickly and when the dust settled, the Cabal had been utterly destroyed.  Not a single member remained in the building.  Those who had escaped had scattered through the city, those who did not were dead or on their way to the noose.

My Sire finally stands from his crouch and leaps down into the alleyway, the entire event taking place in less than an hour.  The building had been cleared, four guards were posted at the busted wall where the secret entrance used to lie, the rest were combing the city trying to pick up the stragglers that had escaped.  He looks up to me and signals to remain where I was, and so, from my perch I watch him approach the Cabal headquarters and pluck a torch from the alley wall and enter the front door.  He was gone only a short while before he emerged again.  In his wake, a soft orange glow was beginning to fill the room.  Soon, smoke began to plume out the front door and before I knew it, the entire main floor was showing signs of catching.  He returns to me and sighs, "I may not have the answers I sought" he muses, "but I do have the results I wanted" he adds as a small, satisfied smile plays upon his lips. "The Cabal is a bloody memory, and the Militia were polite enough to get their hands dirty doing it and any link to me they may have found within that building is now beyond their reach".

He turns away from the growing inferno now attracting the attention of this end of the city, as alarms rise and shouts begin to fill the air and we quickly put distance between us and it.  He does not look back as we race silently through the night, our steps mere whispers upon the roof tops.  It is he who leads now and his path is true, and I quickly realize where we are headed.  We land upon the roof of a familiar building and I look across the wide, brightly lit roadway.   We were truly in the lions den as it were.  Before us, the rise of the Delmarii City Stockade, directly linked to the Militia Barracks and the palace itself.  While behind us, dwelt the towering presence of the imposing Goliath of white marble, known as the Temple of Vitas, a place my Sire had warned me intensely about.  Beneath our feet, was the Delmarii City Courthouse.  I am not left long to wonder why he would risk coming to such a hostile place when the entire city was on high alert.  He casts his eyes to a balcony not far below, "now then" he murmurs thoughtfully, "about my ledger".