2026-03-03 10:58 - 16:05 PST
Eventful night for Gabriela. She awoke hungry and took Sam with her to go hunt. They found a drug dealer, pretended to buy something, and Gabriela ambushed him. Or rather, attempted to. The man managed to avoid the strike entirely and cry out for help. And unfortunately, the first person to respond was Lieutenant Hayes.
She cuffed the dealer, though they certainly weren’t getting any blood from him. Not in front of Mordecai. He came back after using the convenience store’s phone to call the police, informing them that one of his “undercover agents” busted a dealer. He then cut down to brass tacks, asking about progress on the Sutter Park investigation. She assured him she was making progress and they parted ways.
Sam, however, was very distraught by this. She worried she wasn’t safe with Gabriela, as she couldn’t even be sure of what she was doing. She was working with the Banu Haqim her clan, the Tzimisce’s, greatest enemy, and perhaps even worse she was working with a hunter. Nowhere felt safe to her anymore. Gabriela then let her frustration get the better of her, a terrible quality to have in a mentor.
“Your clan?” Gabriela snaps. “You don’t have a clan anymore! You want to go? Then go! Run off! Join up with the Anarchs or the Sabbat and die in a turf war for all I care!” She groans in frustration. “Do you even know what I’m risking just by housing you?” The light’s turned green at this point, but the car hasn’t started moving again. Gabriela takes a deep breath and exhales. She lowers her voice back to its usual low monotone. “If you want to go. I won’t keep you. But I have no intention of harming you. Or the Tzimisce.” ~ Gabriela to Sam
Sam ran off to an alley around the corner, but no further. After a while, Gabriela went to find her, and with nowhere else to go, the two returned to the apartment. She left the keys to her car on the counter and told Sam about The Cathedral of Blessed Sacrament
“I’ll be back later.” Then, after a moment, she adds, “There’s a cathedral not far from here. They’ll let you stay there if…” She trails off. She places the keys on a table near the entrance. “I’ll be back later.”
Angry, hungry, and without any better ideas, Gabriela went to Sutter Park to confront Marouth directly. She snuck into the museum, which Marouth had transformed into a makeshift living space. Gabriela waited for Marouth to return then punched her in the stomach as soon as she got comfortable. She chastised her, asked her what she was thinking with being here or her actions recently, comparing her to another Marouth.
Marouth snapped back, that Gabriela was a traitor, to her. For joining her clan’s greatest enemy, kidnapping her newly embraced progeny, ambushing her in her own abode.
Both argued they didn’t have any choice in the matter. In any of it. Sacramento was Marouth’s. She left for only forty years and returned to find it crawling with Anarchs and Camarilla waging war in the streets.
“This city only knows violence, and so that is what I must give.” ~ Marouth
She went on to say that she could take it back. As long as the city fears her name. As long as Kabir stays crippled. And after she takes care of Zora.
“And not after I’m done with you.”
“Are you going to stop me?” Marouth brandishes her claws.
“If you make me.” She answers more assuredly than she actually is.
Marouth steps forth, as if to attack. She makes the mistake, however, of looking at Gabriela’s face. She lowers her hands. “My last mercy, as your old friend, is to give you a chance to leave, right now. If I ever see you again, I will end you.”
Her face contorts and she closes her eyes, regretting her words before even speaking them, “There are hunters breathing down my neck. And Zora, waiting for me to report back. If I leave I…” She chokes out her conclusion. “If I leave. I won’t be able to help you.”
Marouth’s anger abates at those words. “But if you stay, you will be dragged into this war. You will die on the streets, fighting for a despicable clan.”
Gabriela reaches out an open hand. “Please…” is all she can manage to say.
“Please what, Gabriela? What am I to do?”
“Please, just…” Tears well up in her eyes, and she looks down. “I don’t…” With great difficulty, she continues. “I missed you.”
A fleck of blood amasses in the corner of Marouth’s eye. “We can’t do this.”
Gabriela studied Marouth, the intentionality of her form. They voiced their regrets, but there was little to be done. They were on opposite sides of a war. They both had others they were accountable to now.
“I don’t want to hide. I want my city back.” “I’m determined, Gabriela. The Ivory Tower must fall. The Anarchs must run back to their little communes.” “Sacramento must not fall to either.”
Gabriela hangs her head, drops of blood falling to the floor where she stands. She breathes as steadily as she is able. “The hunters are looking for a vampire in Sutter Park. It won’t be long before they realize the museum isn’t being renovated. Find somewhere else to stay before then.” She walks toward the door and stops. “Please.” Then she disappears into the night.
Marouth reaches out for Gabriela, but retracts her hand as she leaves.