2026-03-16 19:46 - 22:32 PST
Gabriela went to investigate rumors of hooded figures in graveyards. Giovanni. She approached unseen and found a woman matching that description, and followed her into a crypt housing an empty coffin, a robe, and a broken dagger1. Gabriela revealed herself and after dispelling all worry that she was behind whatever had happened, or was here for any reason other than police business, the woman introduced herself.
The woman sighs. “I am Marta of the Pisanob family, of the Giovanni clan. You are my unlikely ally tonight, Gabriela Sofia Ortega De la Cruz.” Marta holds up the cloak. “The man I was looking for killed one of our clan and escaped. Help me find him, and be rewarded.”
“What’s his name, who did he kill, and why.”
“I wasn’t given a name. The Anziani of the clan ordered what you might call a Blood Hunt, before his gala. I do not know who he killed, though I might learn in time. I do not know why he killed this person.” Marta states directly. She starts to walk up the stairs. “Will you help me?”
“Of course.” She follows.
The pair step out of the crypt and reenter the graveyard. Marta starts to explain. “The Anziani demanded that this man be discovered and slain before his party, tomorrow. If we succeed, we will receive his favor, and possibly-” Gabriela hears a bump in the chapel.
They approached as stealthily as they could, but were spotted by a man with an emaciated face2. Then, it disappeared before them. Whatever they were up against was clearly powerful. Per Marta’s suggestion, Gabriela sneaked around the back and quietly broke in through a locked door.
Suddenly, there was a scream and a clatter. Gabriela took off in that direction only to find Marta’s flashlight on the ground, flickering, beside a door left ajar. She kicked the light toward the room and pushed open the door, revealing the figure once again.
The light pours into a storage room, abruptly revealing the same man Gabriela saw through the window. His thin, curly hair is grey at the roots. His eyes are pitch black. He wears a clay colored toga, now stained with blood. Wrapped in his arms is Marta, whose blood he drains from the fangs he’s lodged in her neck. He stops when the light is cast onto him. In a raspy voice, he speaks: “You’re free to go.”
She froze, then Marta fell out of the man’s grasp, leaving Gabriela to do what she does best: make a powerful enemy.
Alright! That works! Gabriela is going to grab Marta and get the fuck out of here!
The man reaches out to grab Marta in return. “No. Not her.” Both Gabriela and the man get a grip on Marta, but his grip seems weak and feeble. Perhaps one of the only advantages Gabriela has here. He warns, “Take the traitor, and you die, Assamite.”
They managed to get to Gabriela’s car and drive off. After stabilizing Marta, they both freaked out about it together, and drove to Marta’s sister, Francesca’s house. She told her to find Francesca at the gala3, she’d thank her properly.
Instead of going home that night and risk whatever that thing was following her back and endangering Sam, she called Zora. She managed to calm her down, and after Gabriela properly explained what had happened, Zora told her that she’d stay at her apartment. When she arrived, she texted Sam to let her know she wouldn’t be back, but nothing more. Zora warded the apartment.
On the cusp of rest, Gabriela feels her eyes grow heavy. Slowly, gradually, the emaciated face of the man creeps across her view, like a shadow stretching across a plain. He makes direct eye contact with Gabriela and whispers: “Soon.”
Footnotes
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I gotta figure out how i’m gonna link the gala, man ↩