lafayettenossie - Tumblr blog

[lafayettenossie]

The girl, just over 13 years old, with long dark hair, tanned skin and blue, almost violet eyes, woke up scared. She didn't know if she was dreaming or if it was real... If it was, she was in big trouble!

She knew that part of the city, the Saints stadium was in front of her, with its dome shape, The Superdome. But everything was wrong. The dark sky without stars but at the same time without clouds. The rotten smell. The brownish stains on the ground, the stench of iron in the air. And those vaporous shapes floating several meters above her head...

She was in the place where she shouldn't go! They warned her, she promised she wouldn't, that she would stay away from that reality... and yet she was there!

Without thinking, she entered through the half-open door, she could barely see. She remembered the old spell from that book she saw in the attic. They wouldn't let her go up there alone, she was too unpredictable and inexperienced with her powers. But she looked too much like her mother... and she did. Now, using the right words, a blue glow erupted from her right hand, intense enough to light her up and not trip over the rubble and what were clearly human remains in a very advanced state of decomposition. With disgust, she moved trying not to step on anything. She went up the stairs towards what was undoubtedly one of the emergency exits of the stadium at the foot of the track.

Something forced her to go in, she didn't know why. Even so, she opened the door by pushing the safety bar.

She was in the stadium, the grass was poorly maintained, dry and brittle as she walked. The smell was getting worse. There was a huge pile a few meters ahead. Her childish curiosity got the better of her teenage reasoning. She moved forward, trying to keep her pink stuffed slippers with a bear's head from making too much noise. She was scared.

She was finally close enough to see what that huge pile was. Insects buzzed around the mountain of corpses, because that was what it was. Disgusted, she tried to back away but saw the bloody face of one of them and understood everything...

It was her, or at least someone who was her spitting image... destroyed and surrounded by dozens of other bodies... But they were all her! With different ages, between 12 and 30 years old. All dead and terribly mutilated.

The girl understood where she was! The place where she should never go and that all her other versions inevitably visited... the reality where all of the Nimués ended up dying at the hands of...

She felt a hand grab her and turn her around. She screamed in fear, fearing that her end was near. A woman in her twenties, with long hair, tanned skin and blue, almost violet eyes. grabbed her, now covering her mouth so she wouldn't scream anymore!

It was like seeing herself in an enlarged mirror, it was herself but in 7 or 8 years!

-"Are you crazy?!!! Weren't you told never to enter this dimension? We all die here! I noticed your presence and came looking for you..."

-"I... I was sleeping in my bedroom and... I dreamed that... that nice woman... promised me that..." her eyes opened wide. That's how they did it, that's how they were drawn there!

They both heard the sound of jaws snapping in the air. They sniffed their prey and ran towards them!

-"Let's go!!!" the 20-year-old Nimué shouted to the 12-year-old. "Run!" and they both headed towards the exit. The creatures that were chasing them were very fast, they would reach them in seconds. They were able to enter and close the emergency door behind them. But the attacks of those beings were so powerful that they would undoubtedly knock it down in seconds.

-"You have to jump! But not to another time or another place. Jumping between universes... you've done it before!" he said, looking at her seriously.

-"No... I don't control it... I've only done it once... well, now twice! I don't know how..." Nimue was scared. The door was bending under her blows, the bar was about to jump!

-"Do it! I'll distract them! Go back when you're safe to your time and reality. And never come back here or you'll end up like all those..." The sound of metal tearing was the last thing the young Nimué heard: she closed her eyes and noticed how her whole being faded and entered another universe...

The adult Nimué prepared herself, the door fell and she saw how those shapeless horrors entered, jumping towards her. Blue eyes, from the darkness behind those beings that destroyed her, looked at her with weariness. Another one...

Nimue opened her eyes, it was night, she was in a humid forest and it was cold... Where was she? Or when? In which universe? "Oh, shit...!"

To be continued...

[lafayettenossie]

// OOC

I've been closing the blogs that I'm not using, (and that I'm not going to use). I'll keep this one going because it's the main one, otherwise I probably would have closed it a long time ago. I'm keeping the ClanLasombra one just out of inertia, and the other two that I have left are about characters from the Mago 20th Anniversary chronicle that I'm playing, so with the work I'm putting into the summaries and expanding the diaries of each one I'm sure that those will continue for a while.

My V5 chronicle is in another account apart from this one, so that one isn't in danger for now…

Tumblr has good things, but also many bad things. I find it complex, cumbersome and not very agile for many things. But to use it as a blog it's great… which is what I plan to use it for from now on.

[lafayettenossie]

"I can't tell you more… but I know I can help you!"

NIMUÉ.

Space-Time Witch, voodoo mambo, alternative universes jumper.

Nimué as a teen.

Based in my V5 Chronicle "Crescent City By Night".

RPG-WOD-VTM parody account. NSFW. +21 MDNI.

ABOUT HER:

Nimue is a powerful witch, she dominates Time and Space. She tries not to travel to moments close to her birth (so as not to create paradoxes that could damage her reality) and she cannot go beyond her current age (30 years old), but every time she "jumps" she creates an access in the space-time continuum that allows alternative versions of her, of different ages, to interact with her. Every alternative Nimue knows about the others by sharing their own memories and experiences of their respective parallel universes when they are in the same timeline.

Nimue is the granddaughter of the detective Nosferatu Lafayette and his wife, the Fire Witch, daughter of one of their twin daughters, Malu, of whom she is a perfect genetic copy (with the exception of her eyes, her mother has green ones and she has blue ones, almost violet). Born in 2050, she doesn't know who her father is, but her ability to contact the Loa could have some meaning…

There is something that is attracting and eliminating the various Nimue of the multiverse… This Nimue knows it, but she tries not to fall into its trap. How long she can be safe is something she does't know for the moment. The future opens up ahead of the Runaway Witch with every step she takes, just like anyone else!

The thing haunting Nimue...

MULTI-VERSE (yes, totally!) original OC, mostly based in WOD - VTM universe, but cross-overs are very welcome!

Due to the adult and dark themes discussed in this blog (violence, blood, gore, torture, drugs, sex,…), it's considered NSFW and I will only interact with +21 writers. MDNI.

F.C.: Adria Arjona (as adult) and Olivia Rodrigo (as child and teenager), this is a RP Tumblr parody account, not related to any of them in any way!

Nimué as adult.

[lafayettenossie]

// Mr. Shade, my Lasombra character. Open to rp.

"Have you heard that 'if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.'? Ok. I'm the one who gaze back at you from the Abyss!"

Mr. Shade, the 'Man in Black'.

Mr. SHADE.

Methuselah Lasombra. 4th Generation.

OC based in my V5 Chronicle "Crescent City By Night". WOD-VTM-V20-V5 account.

Mr. Shade.

Monster for ones, myth for others. A cruel, sarcastic, educated Cainite.

+4000 years-old. Sabbat Cardinal. Amici Noctis' nightmare. College professor. Autarch. Abyss Mysticism Master. Ruler of Oblivion. Obtenebration Master...

Multi-ages character: Rome Empire, Renaissance period, AD 1600s New Amsterdam, Victorian Age, Actual times.

When in Rome do as Romans...

Due to the adult and dark themes discussed in this blog (blood, violence, death, gore, sex, suicide, drug use, etc.) I will only interact with those over 21 years of age. MDNI. NSFW.

Multi-verse and crossover threads and interactions are welcome!

"The Man in Black" with a Coven and the Abyss opening over them.

F.C.: Peter Capaldi. This is a RPG parody blog, not related to him.

[lafayettenossie]

Lafayette waved his right hand at Nathaniel Nightwind's offer of another type of blood. "It's not necessary. I'm fed from home and I prefer not to drink while I work…" he said, still paying attention to his interlocutor's every word.

Hearing the name of the person he wanted him to locate, Detective Nosferatu took a small notebook and a pencil out of his inside jacket pocket and wrote down the name: "Fortune Finn." He looked at it for a few moments before asking his future employer.

"Where has he been seen? If you suspect it, there must be some indication of his presence in the city, right?" he said, hoping he would expand on what he knew about the individual. "And also, what can you tell me about him?"

REGO HUMANITAS

Surprise Starter for @lafayettenossie

That city had always been a strange place to him. He'd seen it change over the decades, yet, at the same time, stay as it always was. Nathan knew that, much like a lover in a far harbor, the city of New Orleans would always be there for him. No matter what.

He had gotten his ghouls to contact a sort of eminence in the city, a man of renown. One Francis Louis Lafayette, Private Investigator. Because of course a night predator needed a job, even the oldest ones had to.Such was the way of Humanity, such was the world.

If his message carried out properly, he was to meet Lafayette in The Rabbit Hole, a renowned club in the city. He had all night, and quite a deal of patience, so he waited on a VIP room, bottle of aged blood in the table.

[lafayettenossie]

The detective took off his trench coat, revealing a dark striped suit, with a dark shirt and a tie of an undefined color (he was not exactly known for his taste, luckily he had people around him who were subtly changing his ties and socks for less flashy and more elegant ones…) He left it next to the hat on a free chair right next to his table. Lafayette sat down in front of Nathaniel and listened to what he had to say.

"Well, I'm not normally used to drinking alcohol. Since my Embrace I haven't been able to do so, at least not like before…" Lafayette had a period of quite strong addictions during his last years as a mortal between 1917 and 1925. Even so, he picked up the glass and smelled its contents, delighting in the subtle aromas of wood that the rum still had. The blood was human, no doubt. He preferred to drink animal blood or bagged blood. He didn`t like to harm mortals unless necessary…

"You will say… Don't worry, I have until dawn if necessary!" He said with a sly smile. They were both in the same boat!

REGO HUMANITAS

Surprise Starter for @lafayettenossie

That city had always been a strange place to him. He'd seen it change over the decades, yet, at the same time, stay as it always was. Nathan knew that, much like a lover in a far harbor, the city of New Orleans would always be there for him. No matter what.

He had gotten his ghouls to contact a sort of eminence in the city, a man of renown. One Francis Louis Lafayette, Private Investigator. Because of course a night predator needed a job, even the oldest ones had to.Such was the way of Humanity, such was the world.

If his message carried out properly, he was to meet Lafayette in The Rabbit Hole, a renowned club in the city. He had all night, and quite a deal of patience, so he waited on a VIP room, bottle of aged blood in the table.

[lafayettenossie]

It had seemed strange to him… The visit of that man asking to see him in his office at the detective agency above Faulkner's Bookstore in Pirate's Alley, in the middle of the French Quarter. And his subsequent message: "Mr. Nightwind wishes to discuss a series of matters with you. He is expecting you at 'The Rabbit Hole' in one hour…"

Even so, something inside him told him that he could trust him and go to that strange meeting. He didn't know Nathaniel Nightwind personally, only his reputation… And curiosity got the better of him on that occasion. He said goodbye to his manager and ghoul Fanny knowing that the business had been in the best hands for decades.

The Nosferatu detective took a walk until he reached the place in question. The night was unsettled, dark clouds in the sky threatening rain. The weather in New Orleans was like that, a bit unpredictable.

He adopted his human form, the one he had in life, thanks to his Obfuscation discipline. He subtly asked the maitre d', holding a bill between his fingers, to tell him where his future host was. He recognized him instantly, just as he was described in books (there were no reliable photos or videos of him, for obvious reasons…) and he walked towards his table with a firm step, but looking around subtly. If it was a trap, he wasn't going to make it jump at first.

"Good evening. Mr. Nightwind, I presume…" Lafayette said, taking off his hat as a courtesy. Despite the years since his Embrace in 1925, his attire was still that of a private detective from the 1920s, trench coat and hat included.

REGO HUMANITAS

Surprise Starter for @lafayettenossie

That city had always been a strange place to him. He'd seen it change over the decades, yet, at the same time, stay as it always was. Nathan knew that, much like a lover in a far harbor, the city of New Orleans would always be there for him. No matter what.

He had gotten his ghouls to contact a sort of eminence in the city, a man of renown. One Francis Louis Lafayette, Private Investigator. Because of course a night predator needed a job, even the oldest ones had to.Such was the way of Humanity, such was the world.

If his message carried out properly, he was to meet Lafayette in The Rabbit Hole, a renowned club in the city. He had all night, and quite a deal of patience, so he waited on a VIP room, bottle of aged blood in the table.

[lafayettenossie]

// Oh, Wynonna Earp is back!!!!!!!

welcome home wynonna! your first clip from wynonna earp: #vengeance… the full special is available for free this friday 🤠

[lafayettenossie]

ROY GIOVANNI

"Death is pretty subjective, actually."

21+ Independent Muse based on the Vampire the Masquerade Verse

Name: Roy Giovanni

Clan: Giovanni

Apparent age: 35

True age: 56

Pronouns: He / Him

[lafayettenossie]

Me too, pal!

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) dir. Werner Herzog

[lafayettenossie]

Yes, I fell in love with her the first time we met...

Eiza González in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series (2014–2016)

[lafayettenossie]

My goddess when she was in the club... her temple, where her faithful went to worship her!

Eiza González

[lafayettenossie]

// Interesting...

NOLA is Burning

"NOLA Is Burning." Your boss, The Bull, the most dangerous gangster in New Orleans, has a job for you. Rescue your kidnapped lover--officially The Bull’s lover, but unofficially yours--before dawn. Slaughter everyone who stands in your way, including other gangsters, cops, and the Triad, as you slink across the underbelly of New Orleans.

https://www.choiceofgames.com/nola-is-burning/

Will you outwit your enemies or take it to the mattresses with your trusty sawtooth? Will you earn respect as NOLA’s most infamous headcrusher, or will you retire to Mexico on a huge pile of cash? To be honest, you'll probably die. But in NOLA, death is just the beginning.

"NOLA Is Burning" is an interactive fantasy novel by Claudia Starling, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based— hundreds of choices long, without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

[lafayettenossie]

Diana Selene, Nola's Mistress of secrets.

9th Generation Nosferatu.

Diana Selene, Mistress of secrets and her Spy network.

- Biography:

Diana Selena was born in Havana (Cuba) on February 15, 1886 into a Creole military family. When the war broke out in 1895, his father remained under the orders of the Spanish government, but finally decided to return to the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the conflict in 1898. The passenger ship they were traveling on was gunned down by an American ship and sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. Diana would be the only survivor of her large family and she was rescued by a ship of sailors returning to New Orleans.

Young Diana in Storyville, NOLA.

The nearly thirteen-year-old was turned over to one of Storyville's brothels as payment for future services to the sailors... Diana, at that time a lanky girl ("all legs and boobs", as she defined herself) remained under the protection of the neighborhood prostitutes, as an assistant when it came to cleaning the brothels or even being herself on occasion sexually exploited to support herself indoors, with food and shelter. From time to time the nuns from the nearby Ursuline Convent went to Storyville and on more than one occasion they took young Diana with them to try to educate her and remove her from that place of vice and perdition. She lasted a short time between the iron discipline of the nuns and used to escape to return to the neighborhood brothels. There she would befriend a strange woman, Avery, the Childe of Lawrence Meeks, the Primogen Nosferatu and lord of the Web of Spies for Prince Doran. Avery detected that Diana could be one of her agents when she verified the young girl's enormous ability to remember everything she heard and saw with complete accuracy. Diana became the eyes and ears of the spy ring in Storyville.

Unfortunately, as she grew older they ran into a problem: she was becoming too beautiful to remain unnoticed. For months they thought whether to Embrace her or not, Avery made her her ghoul to give her a little support when it came to enduring the diseases that plagued the city (malaria, yellow fever, flu, among others). When Lawrence finally gave the go-ahead for her Embrace, in 1914, to his surprise, another of the Nosferatu's Childer, Roger, would take up her Embrace as a method of trying to harm his Sire Lawrence... Of course, by doing so without the permission of Prince Dorian or his sire, to save her life Avery had to hide the neonate in the swamps and Bayou north of the city. There Diana began to learn how to control fauna for sustenance and began to take care of stray cats, abandoned dogs and rats, which would be her favorite surveillance tools ever since.

After Lawrence's retirement in 1945 and his move to Baton Rouge, and the death of Prince Doran and Marcel's rise to power in 1955, Diana returned to Nola, although always keeping a very low profile and using cats and other stray animals to spy on every vampire entering the city. She sometimes shared juicy information with both her Mawla Avery and the then leader of the Spy Network, her "uncle" Martin (Lawrence's third Childe). She never spoke to Roger again.

2005: Katrina Hurricane arrived...

And one fateful August 29, 2005 the sky opened up and engulfed the Crescent City: Katrina has arrived... Diana survived thanks to her cats, who led her out of the most flooded areas. The city was severely damaged and many of the Kindred that inhabited it suffered Final Death due to the flooding of their Havens or being washed out and succumbing to the light of day. This happened with Prince Marcel Guilbeau and with a good part of the Primogen of the city, including his Mawla Avery and her "brothers" Martin and Roger, her Sire. One of the few Kindred to survive was Antonio Calbullarshi, until then the de facto leader of the Tremere clan in the city. He was one of the first to try to unite the survivors, trying to be a leader despite his ineptitude, which he miraculously achieved... Diana would appear before Calbullarshi with a gift that would open the doors of his Court during those first days after the Hurricane: she located alive in the rubble of the late Prince Marcel's plantation mansion Marie D'Rachel, his wayward Childe and lover of the missing Prince Marcel. Because of this, and with her background, it was not difficult to become the new spymaster and mistress of secrets in New Orleans, holding the position of Primogen of the Nosferatu clan as of 2010.

Diana Selene, NOLA's Nosferatu Primogen.

After a series of adverse situations, Diana would leave the position of Primogen Nosferatu in the NOLA Court at the beginning of 2022. She would start her own company as a provider of information to those who could pay her price. The secrets of the city and its inhabitants were in her hands...

- Multiverse:

* Diana Selene met Francis Louis Lafayette in their teens in Storyville. Both became attracted and finally, with time, were good friends and when both were turned into Nosferatu, years later, she was his Mawla and trained the Nossie Detective into her Spy Network. She finally died in 2022 fighting a Niktuku after resigning from her position as Nosferatu Primogen and moving into the "private sector."

* Diana Selene survived the Niktuku attack in 2022 and continued as a free agent, informing those who could pay for her services. In that universe, Francis Lafayette died and his twin sister Marie Louise lived on...

* In 2046, a young Cuban journalist, Artemisa Luna, remembered her previous life as Diana Selene...

Artemisa Luna, journalist...

- Disciplines and Powers:

* Animalism: Diana can speak and command any kind of animals. She usually uses stray animals (dogs, cats, rats, owls, bats,...) as her eyes and ears everywhere at New Orleans. They are her Spy Network.

* Obsfuscate: Diana can hide herself and others to avoid detection, or pretend to be a certain person or go unnoticed on purpose.

* Potence: Diana is stronger than she appears at first glance. She can hit very hard and break bones with just a hit.

* Protean: Diana can see in complete darkness, grow sharp claws on her fingers or disproportionate fangs in her mouth.

[lafayettenossie]

Josephine "Joey Laveau" Archer.

Coroner's Assistant. Voodoo Mambo.

Josephine Archer, Coroner's assistant.

Josephine was born into a family of believers and practitioners of voodoo on Bayou St. John, north of New Orleans. There was a certain gift among the women of the family for speaking with the deceased and with the Loa, especially with the Ghede Loa (the family of Loa related to fertility and death)

Although Josephine grew up in that environment and wasn't unaware of rituals and voodoo, as she grew up her thinking became more and more rational, until she finally decided to study the health branch, specializing in forensic medicine and toxicology at the University in New York.

But the ability to see spiritual beings around her never ceased, Josephine could see and interact with the recently dead and the Loa would show up and sometimes 'ride' her (a term that defines the voluntary possession of a voodoo mambo by one of these spiritual beings for a certain time). During her medical training period at the hospital it would be very common for her to try to help restless spirits to advance towards transcendence. Her classmates would soon call her 'Joey Laveau' upon learning of her family ties to the ancient voodoo queen...

"Joey Laveau", Voodoo Mambo.

In a world where she developed her professional side, her family tried to get her back into the fold by all possible means, and when they failed they punished her by being turned into a Samedi, a decomposed undead creature, which fed on the blood of the living...

Joey Laveau, Samedi vampire.

However, in another world Joey became interested in resuming her family heritage and combined her university studies with voodoo rites. One night, upon returning to the apartment where she lived, she met an enigmatic gentleman who told her that there was a place where people with gifts similar to hers could develop them and learn... This aroused the woman's curiosity and she agreed to go to Strixhaven with him.

[lafayettenossie]

Previously...

Mid-August 2024. Ballroom. Bourbon Orleans Hotel. New Orleans (LA).

Me and my Childe, Coroner's Assistant Josephine 'Joey Laveau' Archer stood in front of the two people we would have least wanted to meet that night at the Hecata Council meeting place in NOLA.

-"Wow... how long has it been since we've been treated to your kindness and jovial presence, Marie Louise!"- The tone of sarcasm in Robert Milliner's voice was more than evident.

Robert Milliner, banker and mobster. Hecata Clan.

-"You know, work has me absorbed! So many crimes and deaths in the city..."- I didn't mean to be condescending, it was clear that neither of us could stand the other.

-"And you come with your Childe! It must be something important to discuss... Go ahead, you've got me on tenterhooks!"- he said while exaggerating his pose as if he were listening to my next words.

-"I was looking for someone else from the Council... Caleb won't be around, will he?"- I asked him, already knowing his answer.

The man faked a laugh. -"Our beloved leader? Caleb the Cappadocian? No, he's not around..."- And he made an exaggerated gesture with his hands pointing around him. As he did so, I caught a glimpse of the hilt of the weapon he carried in a holster: a Colt Python revolver with a 6" barrel and .357 Magnum caliber. A very powerful weapon, and surely loaded with some kind of ammunition harmful to Cainites...

.357 Magnum, 6" barrel, Colt Python revolver.

Joey snorted under her breath, she couldn't stand people like Milliner. She realized that this wasn't the time for her sarcastic comments by the way I looked at her sideways.

-"But is he still in town or is he traveling with your Sire Miriam?"- I asked the pale red-haired woman with tattoos and scarifications on her arms, legs and torso.

-"The High Priestess of the Bahari cult is in town. So the leader of the Hecata clan in Louisiana must be too..." - the young redhead woman spoke with an emotionless voice, almost as if another being used her lips to communicate through her. It was chilling!

-"Wow, thanks for the information... New bodyguard, Robert? What happened to Esther? She's had enough of your insidious personality and your misogyny?" The red-haired girl wasn't the first Lamia who had been assigned to the protection of the banker from Boston, Massachusetts, since he arrived in the Crescent City at the beginning of 2022. He wasn't loved, but the 'Anziani' considered him important enough to keep his skin intact.

-"Esther has been returned to her previous position in Baton Rouge, as protector of the city's Seneschal, Mrs. Constanza di Palermo..."- That would certainly have bothered Milliner, losing his protector because she returned to protect a Harbinger of Ashur... Caleb would surely not have been happy either, given his past with these former beings.

-"Well, she has certainly won out..."- Joey said with a shrug.

Joey's comment didn't please Robert. Not in the least. That guy was very dangerous, and grudgeful. That ran in his family! -"I think your Childe should speak only if she is being spoken to directly..."-

I waved my hand and Joey gave up on arguing with him. -"Okay... So, can you tell me where I could meet Caleb, please?"- and I looked especially at the red-haired Lamia.

Robert held his tongue and nodded to his bodyguard. -"Caleb is in his haven. He didn't say he was going out anywhere tonight."- She said seriously.

Jessie Malone. Lamia bodyguard.

-"Thank you, Jessie, right? That's your given name..."- I knew her name was Malone, that she was the most recent Childe Embraced by Miriam, the High Priestess of the Bahari cult, Caleb's personal bodyguard, and little else... Although there were rumors about her being as lethal as she was cold and cruel. As if there was someone else inside her, someone old and powerful. I saw the subtle postmortem scars on her cleavage, hidden by tattoos and scarifications. What torment had they subjected that girl to?

-"Indeed. That's my name. Jessie Malone."- And her green-brown eyes suddenly changed. For an instant they were completely black, without a trace of the white of the sclera.

What the hell did that mean?

To be continued...

[lafayettenossie]

Previously...

Mid-August, 2024. Night. Coroner's Assistant Office. NOLA. LA.

-"We need to ask some questions..."- I said to my Childe as I carefully put my late twin brother's old revolver into my bag.

-"Ok, boss. My car or yours? Or do you prefer to walk?"- Joey said to me as she stood up and prepared her street clothes.

-"Let's go see the Council. I want to know if that bastard dared to do this..."- I said with poorly concealed anger in my gaze. My green eyes sparkled dramatically.

Joey"Laveau" Archer in civil guise.

-"The Council? Fuck..."- Joey hated politicking between bloodsuckers, and there were quite a few squabbles between the Hecata.

Without saying anything else, I left the office. I waited for her in the parking lot, next to the black van that she normally used to collect corpses.

A ride to see the Council.

Within a few minutes we were on our way to our destination: the Bourbon Orleans Hotel.

There was little traffic. We didn't talk about anything in particular, the music on the radio distracted us during the short drive to our destination.

We left the van right at the entrance of the hotel, on Orleans Street, in the heart of the French Quarter. One of the hotel's doormen took the vehicle away to park it under the attentive care of the hotel staff.

The Bourbon Orleans Hotel.

Before we entered, we saw an imposing woman with dark skin, black hair and a regal 6'1" tall come out. She was one of the Lamiae, the bloodline that protected the Elders of the Hecata clan. This particular one was Maria, Miriam's Childe. I didn't stop to greet her, I didn't know what she would be doing there, she was supposed to be stationed in a small coastal town in North Carolina called Grimfield, as a bodyguard for the local Hecata leader... I noticed my Childe's eyes of wonder and desire towards her.

Maria the Lamia, bodyguard.

-"Not a good idea, Maria could tear you apart with one hand... or her thighs!"- I whispered Joey in her ear.

"You have to die of something, right?"- Joey said as I pushed her inside the hotel. At that late hour of the night it seemed calm.

The hotel staff recognized me. One of them made a gesture indicating that at least one member of the Council was upstairs. It would be enough for me if it was the right one!

We climbed the stairs to the hotel up floor. The hotel had a reputation for being one of the most haunted in the city, and for the Hecata Clan it was a good place for our arts because of the thinness of the Shroud inside. For that reason it was purchased in 2022 by the clan...

I opened the double doors of the ballroom without knocking, one of the areas with the most permeable Shroud in the entire building. Those I found there were not exactly who I wanted to see.

The Ballroom, a haunted place... and the Hecata Council place to gather.

"Good evening, Mr. Milliner. Jessie..." I said to the suited man and the red-haired woman at his side.

To be continued...