The next few moments went with a blur. It seemed the new life, or whatever unfortunate fate had decided to befall her tonight would continue to get worse. Before Lilith could answer any of the many questions and concerns that plagued Lyniss's mind, the door to the bedroom bust open, but not just like a kick open. The door itself splintered and shattered, the force of it like it was hit by a truck. Two figures moved like a blur entering the room. Their eyes were blazing red and bared dangerous fangs. Lily, reacted much quicker than Lyn expected, she was very fast, but not quite fast enough. As she attempted to defend herself and Lyniss, the monster grabbed her by the neck and out of nowhere, a steak was driven straight into her heart. Lilith went stiff and was dropped to the floor. All of this happened in a course of 3-4 seconds. Before she could even react, Lyniss felt nothing again. However, she remained awake. She could feel the stake piercing her chest, breaking her ribs and piercing into her heart. Yet, she was completely paralyzed.
The next hour was a harrowing experience. Lyn's and Lilith's incapacitated corpses were unceremoniously stuffed in the large trunk of a car, with no care for any additional harm the creatures were doing to them. With nothing to see but the dark interior of a smelly old trunk, staring into the lifeless eyes of the bartender was all she experienced for quite awhile. After what seemed like ages, the car stopped and the two were thrown over the shoulder of one of the bestial men and carried into some abandoned old theater in downtown LA.
Entering the theater from the alley, they were carried in and brought on to a stage. They two of them weren't the only ones. On the stage with them was Spike, or Jack, whatever he was called. He knelt down trying to struggle, he was gagged, bound and the creature holding him down was something out of some horror flick, it was a humanoid creature grey skin, possibly 8 feet tall with deep red eyes. He carried a wide sword that was even taller than him. He held down Jack with no effort. Jack had not been staked and looked desperate to speak.
The two were dropped beside him and the stakes were wrenched from their hearts, the pain returned as well as the ability to move. However, weak from the damage, it was hard not to just collapse onto the floor in a heap. Both were placed in a kneeling position and held down by their captors.
There were people in the audience. Scattered here and there, it was hard to make them out, the room was fairly dark. On stage the hot spotlights shone on the three, making even harder to see. Lyniss heard someone walk on stage. It was a man dressed in a business suit. He wasn't a man of large stature, but something about him irradiated power, his presence demanded respect. He didn't even look at those held down, but instead addressed the crowd.
"Good evening," the man started, in a well spoken manner with a hint of a French accent. "My fellow Kindred, my apologies for disrupting any business or interfering with prior engagements you may have had tonight. It's unfortunate that the affairs that gather us together here is a troubling one." He spoke as if the affair was business. He was formal, but spoke with no sense of anger or distress. He was entirely calm and something about his demeanor ensured that though he understood the seriousness of the matter, it was not having an affect on his composure. "We are here because the laws that bind our society together, the laws that are the fabric of our existence, have been broken."
He pauses for a moment, Spikes straining was muffled but through the silence in the crowd was quite loud in comparison, as if the seats were filled with mannequins. "As Prince, I am within my rights to grant or deny the Kindred of this city the privilege of siring. Many of you have come to me seeking permission, and I have endorsed some of these requests. However, the accused that sits before you tonight was not refused permission. Indeed, my permission was never sought at all." A hint of anger at the unusual transgression came through at this point. The man, titling himself
Prince, clearly was not pleased when those beneath him disobeyed.
"They were caught shortly after the Embrace of this Childe." He said, his composure returning, "It pains me to announce the sentence, as up to tonight, I considered the accused a loyal and upstanding member of our organization." He didn't even speak her name, as if she meant so little to him, despite his carefully chosen words. "But as some of you may know, the penalty for this transgression, is Final Death." The harsh sentence should have brought some reaction from the crowd, but they remained silent, not a gasp of breath or stirring in seats. "Knot that I am no more a judicator than I am a servant of the law that governs us all. Let tonight's proceeding serve as a reminder to out community that we must adhere to the code that binds our society, lest we endanger all of our blood." He paused for a moment before walking to Lily's side and kneeling before her. "Forgive me." He said in a faux apologetic tone, before standing up.
"Let the penalty commence." He said with a hint of pleasure. Before she could let out any chance of protest or defense, the giant man lifted his great blade into the air and let if fall heavily upon Lily. Her head separated from her body and rolled staring lifeless at the ceiling only inches away from Lyn. Only a moment later, the head started to turn pale and grey before collapsing in on itself. What once was flesh, became ash and what once was a beautiful woman was no more than dust scattered on a lifeless stage. Spike continued to struggle, he struggled with all his might, but the creature that held him was so powerful, casual, gray and emotionless as before.
Still the spectacle did not stir the crowd. "Which leads to the fate of the ill-begotten progeny." The Prince continued casually as if this was all in a days work, no remorse for the life he just had snuffed out by his monstrous henchman. "Without a sire, most childer are doomed to walk the Earth, never knowing their place, their responsibility, and most importantly, they laws they must obey. Therefore, I have decided that..." Then, suddenly out of the crowd a man, stood up and finally protested.
"This is bullshit!" Two others who were sitting with him grabbed at him and held him back. The group were dressed quite differently from the rest, while the others were dressed in formal attire this lot were dressed much more casual. The man who protested was a Spanish looking man who wore a dark blue bowling shirt over a white tee and had loose fitting blue jeans on. His attire was quite dated, though he didn't look older than about thirty. The two he was with were dressed quite differently, a girl with red hair looked like she belonged in a punk concert and the other one was a tough and handsome black man, and looked like he could have been straight out of a R&B video. A strange group to be together, but seemed to be quite a tight knit group. As though they held the other back, the others looked quite angry at the Prince.
Whispering amongst the crowd could be heard and the Prince stood silent for the moment. More stood up, joining the other's protest. "If Mister Rodriguez would let me finish. I have decided to let this Kindred live. She shall be instructed in the ways of our kind and be granted the same rights. Let no one say that I am unsympathetic to the plights and causes of this community." Lyniss was let go and she fell onto the stage, the force causing the remaining ashes on the stage scatter further.
"Now, onto the next course of business. The thin-blood. A newcomer to our community. Traveled from another domain to find refuge among what he thought kin. Thin-bloods are usually not tolerated in this community. They endanger the Masquerade with their very existence and in most cases have no direct bloodline to speak of. Powerless, weak and more trouble than they are worth. However, it has recently come to my attention that this one had come with a warning to us. A warning of an enemy encroaching on our territory. Mortal hunters with knowledge of our kind and the resources and skills to find us and bring us the Final Death. They are as we feared, the second Inquisition and if it wasn't for this wretched creature, one of my beloved friends, Therese Voreman, could have befallen a worse fate. But due to his bravery and information, we were able to arrive just in time to defeat those who wreaked such havoc on her sacred haven. As far as we know these two were the only ones local, but surely more will be sent now that the scent is fresh. I have decided that due to his bravery, he will be allowed to live as well." Jack was dropped to the floor, but as soon as he tried to get up he was struck across the head, knocked unconscious before he could react.
"That concludes our business for tonight. I thank you all for attending these proceedings, and I hop their significance is not lost." His volume decreases and he finished with, "Au revoir." With that the crowd disbursed, the lights turned off and the two whelps were left in the dark of the theater, one still unconscious and the other with a gaping wound in her chest. The grip of oblivion threatened her very existence again as she succumbed to the wound and once again fell into darkness.
Again, fate once again, pulling the near deceased back from the grip of death. The cycle tiring on the soul. Lyniss woke up, again... however, this time, she felt more, whole full and calm. Despite the horrors of last night, if now was any further along in time (as it felt like it could have been weeks), she felt okay, physically at least. She was no longer dressed, laying naked on a fairly comfortable but somewhat lumpy mattress. She was under some covers that looked second hand, could use a wash, but was fine for keeping her from being completely exposed. The room she was in was small. It was a dingy old studio apartment. The bed took up most of the room, but their was also an old box television with a bent antenna on top that rested upon a small wooden dresser that looked like it couldn't hold much other than a few outfits. There was a clock radio on a wooden nightstand next to the bed that blinked new years eve at midnight, which likely meant she had no idea what day or time it was. There was a kitchen with an old fridge, an electric range and the cabinets had a coulpe doors missing. The kitchen looked completely barren from where she sat. There was also an small rusty looking metal desk with a laptop sitting on it. Beige wallpaper pealed down showing the faded drywall underneath. There were two doors, one was likely to a hall, as she could tell from the only window in the place that she wasn't on the bottom floor. The other led into a bathroom that looks like it hasn't been used in ages. The furniture and decorations were all mismatched. Everything looked like it had been grabbed randomly from a flea market in a hurry.
A shade was pulled over the window, but she could see that it was night. It was dark and silent. The room wasn't lit by anything more than the LEDs of the clock radio. Something caught Lyn's eye. The laptop light was also blinking, showing it was on. There was one of those pads of yellow and red lined paper sitting next to it with a pen resting on it. Other than that, she seemed to be alone.
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