"Do you know how unusual this is, to be here, to take these very steps?" "One is usually only fortunate enough to encounter history in its past tense." "A visit to ancient ruins, battlefields won and lost." "But to see it in advance, to know that this place in which you now stand will become one of monumental history, and to know that your hand will scratch out the old World narrative, write a new one." "The hand of a commoner, one of the mere infected, finally rising up against those who would keep us eternally beneath their feet." "And to know it will be your hand that takes the fabled Sword of Chthon, the very symbol of their oppressive rule, and use it against them." "Or will." "With you right there by my side." "Is that where you want me?" "Since the first moment we met." "You sure?" "I seem to remember the moment we met" "I was trying to kill you." "And I was intent upon having you." "Funny how things work out." "Fate does find a way, doesn't it?" "It's all ready, Marcus." "Everything installed to your exact specifications." "New ventilation interface down in the security room." "Large-bore ducts for the AC system." "And... every door now requires laser confirmation of retinal identity." "Identity confirmed." "Tucker Moffat." "What did I tell you?" "I'm good." "Yes, you are." "And I do apologize for my outburst the other day." "Hey, Marcus, I'm just glad it wasn't me you made your point on." "But I'm done with him, right?" "His last task is to show you out." "Have a safe trip home, Tucker." "Your well-deserved reward awaits you." "Until our next masterpiece, hmm?" "It's all happening." "Everything you've worked so hard for is finally going to pay off." "Actually, one last problem remains... the same one we always have it seems..." "Blade." "What about him?" "He has a habit of showing up when least expected." "I thought Chthon would do the same to him." "So where do we find him?" "That's the best part." "I already have." "Ripped By mstoll" "Blade, we should just sit tight." "I don't do that very well." "You said you wanted Marcus's plans to be happening and they're happening." "I'm supposed to have faith in him?" "No, not in him:" "In Krista." "It's exactly why you recruited her." "She can get in places we can't." "Or shouldn't, if it'd screw things up... like right now." "So just chill." "She said she'd call when the deed's done." "Seeing is believing." "Like I didn't see this coming." "Okay." "You got any idea how we're going to get into that building?" "Krista said they got security out the ass." "I know someone who has a key." "Who is it?" "It's her." "Krista?" "You got to get out." "Marcus's people are coming for you." "They're already here." "Can you hear me?" "Blade?" "Krista, we're about to land." "Um, be there in a second." "Hi." "Well, I'll tell you one thing:" "No vamps are coming in here with UV light flooding the place." "Now we're screwed." "Not while we're still breathing." "Now are we screwed?" "Give it up, Daywalker!" "Do it." "Blow it up." "Come on!" "Shut up!" "I'm trying!" "Your boyfriend's dead." "Guess you'll have to do." "What are you doing?" "Toying with you." "Are you enjoying yourself, Chase?" "Have you met our guest before?" "Shen Lu Wuei..." "Blade's weaponsmith, sidekick, court jester." "Take your pick." "If you think you can use me as leverage..." "We don't need you as leverage." "Blade is dead." "You find a body?" "Did you mount the head on a mantel?" "Then you don't have dick." "Assuming you're right, then you represent nothing more than... a liability right now." "Blade wouldn't dream of compromising his jihad in order to rescue you." "So why am I still alive?" "Because of your knowledge." "There are operations that still remain in existence." "An underground network of hunters you traffic with." "You have names, locations, methodologies, all kinds of information we can pry from your skull before we bleed you out." "I need you to leave for Toronto immediately." "I want you to oversee every aspect of tonight's operation." "Is that understood?" "Right." "Let's begin." "I'm sorry?" "Coercing our friend here into talking." "Choose your poison." "You want me to?" "Presumably you've encountered torture victims during your time in Iraq." "I'd imagine you have a fairly extensive knowledge of human pain thresholds." "Let me take care of this." "You've got other business to attend to." " You should go." " There's time yet." "Enough for me to enjoy a few more moments of this." "Just do it, you bloodsucking bitch." "Do it!" "If you don't start talking I'll go to work on your teeth." "Good." "Maybe it'll start to hurt." "Krista, I'm impressed." "Please escalate." "My pleasure." "Sir, the plane is ready." "That's enough for now, Krista." "We'll finish on our return from Toronto." "In the meantime, our friend can meditate on his own mortality." "Come." "We have a revolution to start." "They totally destroyed the place." "Blade's dead." "And we got that little bitch of his." "I know, I know, I know." "Shit." "Later." "I was just kidding about that note." "Mmm, oh yeah." "So, you're my reward, are you?" "Take your time." "I don't mind." "You do whatever Marcus tells you, don't you?" "We all have to." "Can't be too safe, though." "The way Van Sciver passes you around like a hot potato." "My chance to butter it." "You're going to need more protection than that." "Stay." "Good dog." "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." "Okay." "I'll tell you what Marcus is planning." "I'll tell you where Chthon is meeting." "I already know." "Well, then what the hell do you want?" "A way in." "No, no, don't." "Don't worry." "I only need one." "What did you say?" "I said... sun's up." "Damn it." "I'm here, Marcus." "Rest assured, everything is proceeding as planned." "I'll be taking over security." "Chase, I'm here on Marcus' orders." "Yes, and Marcus ordered me to replace you." " I didn't hear anything about..." " Or did he say remove you?" "Which would you prefer?" "I'll go do the rounds." "That's a poodle." "Lovely." "All we need now are the Purebloods and the games can begin." " You infected?" " No." "You wearing a wire or some shit like that?" "Not unless they shoved it up my ass when I wasn't looking." "Figured you were dead." "So did I, until Krista slipped me a little pick-me-up." "I still can't believe you called." "One of us gets separated, it's every man for himself." "You know that." "That's why I was surprised that you answered." "Now, are you going to tell me where you got this fine new ride?" "Same place I got that." " Their ETA?" " Five minutes." "Check on Chase." "Meet me upstairs." "Krista... get anything juicy out of Blade's little helper?" " Not yet." " Must not have squeezed hard enough." "Sounds to me like another job I'll be required to finish." "Just get this one done first." "So that's it?" "You came all this way just to say that?" "Do you roll over too?" "Catch a ball?" "You know, Chase, you and I don't have to be like this." "Too late, darling." "Now run along." "Daddy will want you to fetch his slippers." "They're here, aren't they?" "Just in the door." "I can feel them." "Not for long." "Van Sciver." "Overlord Rusk, it is an honor to gain an audience with all of you." "Almost all of us." "Yes." "Charlotte's passing came as quite a surprise." "A terrible blow for Chthon." "A sacrifice." "But after tonight, one that will not have been made in vain, yes?" "I trust you've something to present us?" "Indeed." "Await my summons." "So... what are we going in with?" "Sword, one UV glaive and two guns." "And?" "And that's it." "Great." "Oh, and one of the guns might not work." "I'll take the other one then." "Seriously, bro, what do you think our odds are?" "Whatever they are, they're even worse for Krista." "Oh, so you actually care what happens to her?" "I care because she's our way into their world." "If she dies, if Marcus goes with her, then everything we've worked for goes up in smoke." "She got us a ticket to the Pureblood Ball." "If Marcus survives and gets upgraded... so does Krista." "Then we move one notch up the vampire food chain." "I get it." "You're just protecting your assets." "That's right." "Anyone ever tell you you're a cynical son of a bitch?" "Every goddamn day." "My fellow Purebloods, we are the untainted..." "the true." "And after tonight, we will rule over even more than the House of Chthon." "I thank you all for accepting my invitation to convene." "A conclave is a rare occurrence, even for our House, the first among the 12." "And this is a time of great sorrow." "A voice is missing from our table." "Silenced by tragic circumstance." "Nevertheless, I trust that Charlotte joins us in spirit, if not in form." "And this gathering accords with our tradition." "We meet only in times of great urgency." "First, in year one of our calendar... convened by Lord Chthon himself when he took this sword in hand and ended the tyranny of Argento." "More recently, we met in the ruins of Nagasaki." "In the waning days of the Second World War, our kind made unprecedented advances amidst the disarray and dislocation." "Now we meet for a different purpose." "True, there are many pressing issues for our House:" "Our eternal war against the humans, our recent hostilities against the House of Erebus, and the returning pollution of the Armayans back into the Vampire Nation." "Don't forget the worst filth of all." "Identity confirmed." "Tucker Moffat." "After tonight," "Blade will no longer be a factor in the great game." " How can you be so sure?" " Because tonight we all become Daywalkers." "Tonight we take possession of a weapon that will cement our domination of the other Houses... the fruit of Charlotte's final project begun nearly a decade ago, finally birthed and brought to us from beyond her grave..." "Aurora." "Your prop." "And my final performance." "Everything ready on this end?" "Perfectly." "Yours?" "Poison in place, awaiting your touch." "In a very short while, the three of us will leave that room upstairs and with it, the old House of Chthon." "Now I know that your relationship has had its difficulties." "I just hope all that can be put behind us, because we are about to walk into a new world, and there is just simply no one" "I would rather take those first few steps with than the two of you." "Sir, the overlord is ready for you." "And so the lights dim." "What's he doing back in here?" "Van Sciver asked to make the presentation in Charlotte's absence." "He's a turned-blood." "Hmm, under the circumstances, I'm willing to make an exception." "Just this once." "Thank you, Lord Rusk." "And I thank all of you for your indulgence." "I'm honored to have had the opportunity to prepare this site for this momentous..." "Oh, get on with it, Van Sciver." "We are far too old to be moved by your honey-voiced ass-kissing." "And remember, you might have built this room, but that doesn't mean a turn-blood like you" " belongs here." " Or ever will." "Of course." "But I assure you, I come bearing a magnificent gift." "The gift of a new dawn for our House." "A real dawn." "One that will allow each and every one of you to experience things as you never have before, to be what you never have been." "Kill 'em all." "Familiars too." "I was hoping for something more specific." "The security room..." "looks like that's where they're pumping in the poison gas." "We'll start there and work our way up." "And when we get to the top?" " Identity confirmed, Tucker Moffat." " Kill more vampires." "I'm aware that some of you had doubts when Charlotte presented my proposal for Aurora's development." "And it did take many years and many millions of dollars to perfect." "But what I bring tonight is a prize unlike anything our House, or any other House has ever seen." "Enough theater, Marcus." "Just give us what you came to give us." "Happily." "The vaccine you've all been expecting." "The magical cure-all that will conquer our genetic weakness to garlic, silver and sunlight." "It never worked." "But don't worry," "I've come to deliver what you really deserve." "Identity confirmed." "Tucker Moffat." "Shit." "Well done, Marcus, well done." "You almost had me actually believing that Aurora wasn't the lie that you've been selling all this time." "The same lie that forced you to blow up Charlotte's plane." "Hmm?" "Friends..." "I apologize for not informing you of this subterfuge sooner." "We thought it was important that Marcus reveal himself." " We?" " We." "Chase." "Charlotte gave me a simple choice, Marcus:" "You or the House of Chthon." "And as much as I've grown to care for you," "I decided it was more prudent to bet on the House." "After everything I gave to you." "And everything you didn't." "Chase." "Chase, no." "Marcus belongs to us." "The vents are screwed." "There's no delivery system for the poison." "Yes, there is." "Me." "Get the other two working." "And then get your ass up there." "What a delightful way to end the evening... drinking the blood of a traitor." "After you watch him die, you belong to me." "Can't have a party without the keg." "Screw this." "Stay cool, pal, and no one dies." "Only if I got the one that doesn't work." "I should've let them kill you, Van Sciver." "It's nice to meet you, too, Blade." "Who belongs to who now, bitch?" "Shit!" "Damn it!" "Identity confirmed." "This about a man, Chase?" "You're such a girl." "This isn't about Marcus." "This is about me moving up in the world." "Sorry, sweetie..." "I only see you going down." "That's the mighty relic of Chthon?" "Why am I not surprised it's a piece of shit?" "Blade!" "Your death will make this night complete." "Krista!" "Shen!" "Don't try to tell me this was a win." "Purebloods dead is a win." "Marcus further up the ladder is a win." "Krista still with him is a win." "Yeah, yeah, for how long?" "Because you know the deeper she goes..." "She can handle it." "Anyone ever tell you you're an optimistic son of a bitch?" "Every goddamn day." "Marcus, what are we doing here?" "Just tying up loose ends." "Blade was a thorn in my side for quite some time." "He caused our people considerable trouble over the years." "And now he's gone." "For now." "He'll go underground, eventually reemerge in some other city." "Won't you have to do the same?" "I mean, the Purebloods are gonna be looking for you now." "No doubt." "But they'll have to be cautious." "I have the great equalizer... a weapon which targets the royal blood but yet leaves the rest of us turned safe and sound." "The atom bomb is at my disposal." "They'll have no choice but to accede to my demands." "Which are what?" "Rule Chthon, first of all." "The entire House." "Never in the history of our people has a turned-blood stood atop it all." "Now one is." "And I promise you, things'll be very different from here on out." "Especially now that Chase is dead." "We don't know that for certain." "Come on, Marcus, I saw her drop a dozen stories." "Even if I saw her ash, even if I ran my hands through the remnants," "I would still watch my back for the rest of my years on earth." "Can I ask you something?" "Anything." "How did you find out where Blade was operating from?" "Who told you about this location?" "Blade has a network of people working with him... informants, ashers, people who traffic on both sides of the fence." "We were able to intercept a phone call last week." "We traced it, followed this person here." "The rest was simplicity." "Now I have a question for you." "How long have you been working for Blade?" "Ripped By mstoll"