2026-03-05 10:37 - 13:05 PST
Gabriela awoke in the morning to find Sam slumped against the couch watching another Hallmark Christmas movie. The two watched it together, and Gabriela asked about what Sam got up to last night when she was absent from the apartment1.
“One of my powers is being able to summon animals. Weird power for a vampire to have. The blood is gross, but I guess it’s safe.”
“Where did you go?” The victim was safe, certainly, but it’s possible she was being watched. Was animal summoning an exclusively tzimisce power? Probably not, but still.
“No where dangerous, mom.”
She curses quietly to herself in Spanish. Otherwise she elects to ignore the comment. “Where specifically. There’s always a possibility you’re being followed.”
“Geez, do you have to be so paranoid all the time? I went outside to an alley so people wouldn’t see me summon a bunch of rats to eat. Ugh, just saying that sounds gross. Then I walked around a little.”
She wears a look of something akin to pity as she climbs into the driver’s seat of her car. “On what street? There’s loose Anarchs prowling the streets looking for fights.” She remembers her first encounter with Sam. “Or you might be mistaken for a human by someone hungry.”
Sam chafes at that comment and looks ashamedly downwards. “I’m sorry about that, okay? That was stupid of me. But I shouldn’t have to get lectured at for just going outside.”
Sam picked out a bounty for them to go after. A woman, drug dealer, gang related. Sam also suggested they go in with a better plan. She would get the target to the car, where Gabriela would ambush her. Better position in case something went wrong.
They had no trouble tracking down the address, but when they got there, the door was already open. Gabriela approached to investigate, spotting a Nosferatu vanishing into a shadow. She stepped inside the house and called out to them. They spoke briefly and the it was revealed their target had been made into a ghoul. She offered to let them feed anyways, but doing so would reveal that Gabriela was fostering an unsanctioned kindred. If that got out, it wouldn’t end very well for Sam, or Gabriela2, and it might even reflect poorly on Zora and, by extension, Kabir. She returned to the car and informed Sam who said she could take care of blood for the both of them.
They conversed during the drive. Sam asked about Gabriela’s history and (with some prodding) she managed to convince her to tell her about her embrace way back in the early 1800s (Sam knew that Marouth was supposedly around during that time as well). She chose to be a vampire. Zora, her sire, was hunting a vampire who’d killed Gabriela’s sister. She offered her a chance at revenge, so she took it.
“Did you end up killing that vampire?”
She maintains a stoic expression as best she can. “We did.” Then after a pause, “Zora and I continued to work together after that for a while.”
“Well, that’s good.” Sam stares out the window, silent.
She takes a moment to realize why Sam might be quiet. Then, she considers something. Should she tell her about…? No, but… “I knew someone else who Marouth sired once. She was… treated poorly. She got a bad start in this world through no fault of her own. She… had to figure things out by herself. It’s a shame.”
“Explains the way she taught. Once I got the basics, I was on my own to try hunting.”
“She shouldn’t have done that. You have a lot of potential.”
Sam looks to face Gabriela. “You think so?”
She casts a glance at Sam. “I know so. I am only as old as I am because Zora helped me get here. I owe a lot to that old woman.”
Sam expressed some apprehension about getting that old, that things might grow boring. Gabriela pushed back on that, and that seemed to convince her. Either way she didn’t need to worry about it. In the end, they didn’t go after another bounty, but instead visited the Malkavian cattle farms on the city’s outskirts3.