2026-03-10 20:18 - 21:53 PST
Sam left a note for Gabriela, saying she’d be back later. Gabriela took the opportunity to lay flour traps along all the entrances to the apartment. She was already engaging in a lot of things that could get her executed, and now she was about to offer her help to the Second Inquisition.
She met Mordecai at the agreed meeting place, a house Bryce Olson used to occupy1. They sat down, and asked each other a series of questions.
“The guys in the van. Who were they and how long have you been working with them?”
“Society of Saint Leopold. Or, as the government calls them now, Second Inquisition. They got me out of Annapolis and posted me here.” “Why did you choose to lie to your sect about me?”
“I don’t imagine you and your sire got along particularly well, so I’m not sure how firm a grasp you have on clan politics, but the gist is that mine is a recent addition. And I’m not exactly thrilled about it2. And if they get their hands on you, they’ll kill you. I don’t want that to happen.”
“One of my happiest moments of my undead life was leading my sire into the church he led and watching him eat a dragon-fire round from the agent I had tipped off.” “Your turn, next question.”
“What clan was your sire? Sheriff’s looking for a Nosferatu3 and, if I didn’t know what you looked like, I’d be inclined toward that same assumption.”
Mordecai then took the opportunity to reveal his reflectionlessness, a trait associated with the Lasombra.
“Why don’t you want to see me killed? I hunt people like you.”
“So do I. Thought you knew that.”
“It doesn’t seem like it, with the type of people you keep bringing in.”
“I don’t bring vampires to police stations, Hayes.”
Gabriela asked about his position with the Inquisition, that they didn’t treat him well. She thought they were squandering his potential. He didn’t see it that way.
He asked why she killed vampires.
“Because they deserve it.” “They’re parasites. They kill to live. Some kill just for fun. They send people to fight wars over philosophies that don’t hold up to the slightest of scrutiny. It’s pointless. It’s entertainment. It’s disgusting.”
She asked his long term goal, and he explained he intended to let the Camarilla and the Anarchs kill each other, even strike down a high status kindred if he got the opportunity. And when the war was done, the Inquisition would pick off whoever was left.
She told him his plan was shortsighted and stupid. And that she’d help him, so he didn’t get himself killed before seeing it to fruition. He offered to get her into the Inquisition, but she refused.
Finally, he asked her about the Blood of the Clans, she’d asked him to help her collect. She explained it away as a weapon currently in possession of the Malkavians. Not ideal, but currently they were helping her. Then, they parted ways.
She returned home to find Sam asleep on the couch. Save for the door, none of her flour traps were disturbed. She sat down against the sleep and fell asleep near Sam, filled with dread.