Events from “Nestled Atop the Tower”

Notes by Natalie

DATE: The Night* (well, PM) of December 8th, 1994.

LOCATION: Desirée's Penthouse.

I rise from torpor first. Which is typical. My blood is stirring my still, cold body. In the early night, I just lay. Lay in the comfort and still of a familiar bed, of a restful(?) torpor. But I have things to do... so I eventually get up from my big bed and check myself in the mirror. I look at my tired eyes and pallor, my blush slowly returning to my skin. I think about the last few nights and the wildness that has ensued. I feel like a train wreck.

I... exit the room. Exiting, I find myself at the window. My senses are sharp enough to the point where I can hear it from here. Chaos. I hear chaos. The sort of human fuckery that abounds in political discontent (Which is fair. I'm literally planning to do the same. People are breaking into shit which makes me nervous, nervous about MY GALLERY in particular. The sounds of a riot from below reaches my ears... which makes me feel lucky that I live in this wonderful tower above it all.

Above the chaos... above the riot... I pull away from the window, listening for the hum of music and song, and the thrum of bass but I am met with silence. I guess we're not opening today. Ty is first to greet me with her presence. She looks hangry, her eyes off-focus. She's always really angry when she's hungry (It's not her fault though, she can't help it. Neither can any of us really). Zachary is the second. He comes out of the room I lent to him, a blood bag/contraption(?) in hand, taking a drink. Benjamin is in tow. Ty's eyes focus on Zachary immediately. Her Beast, almost palpable in the room itself. He notices as Ben goes to hide behind him and offers Thaïs some bagged blood in a backpack he's brought with him, clinking all the while. She looks at him with the eyes of a predator, considering whether to drain Benjamin as he is in-fact full of blood.

I go over.

"You can take two, no need to be hoggin'. We all need to eat." I say as I take a vial out of his bag.

Ty grumbles as she considers a murder, still leering at Ben. She eventually acquiesces to me after I stare deep into her hungry eyes and so takes her two bags and goes to the bathroom to presumably FUCK IT UP in there. I sigh, inflating my not-lungs with air and then exhaling.

I switch on the TV. Nothing too interesting for us, truly a hindrance if anything. News channels reporting on the chaos. I leave it on for a while as I hear a knock at the front door. I heighten my senses to hear if it is a human and am presently delighted to hear the heart murmur of Bernice Gray, my ghoul (love that this is how I know it's her). I gracefully wade over to the door and open it. Bernice is a white woman, in her late 30s. Dark hair; pale as hell, pallid almost; and blue-grayish eyes. Dressed impeccably by my standards and giving... MILF realness? Anyways, the thought flitters away from the forefront of my mind as she informs me that the club most likely won't be opening during the chaos of tonight and otherwise. She tells me that everyone is downstairs, awaiting my instruction.

Bernice asks about Theodore and Sebastian and I inform her of what I presume to be of their status... their deaths. She looks at me solemnly as I ask her about where to find other security people to replace my fallen knights. She enlightens me to the idea of Alexander knowing much more about this than she would.

I tell her that l'lI go with her, yelling into the room, "I'll be back!" I follow her downstairs to see all of my active ghouls hanging out at the bar in the main room. There's a bartender that's In The Know but he's assumably chill. Elizabeth Garcia, my daytime face and Alexander Chaykovsky, my head of security for Euphonia and Del Ray Tower, are both seated talking to the bartender.

Elizabeth is nervously twiddling her thumbs and nursing her drink.

Alexander is chatting with the bartender.

Descriptions of my wonderful ghouls: Elizabeth is a young Latina woman, looking to be in her early 20s. Her slicked back dark bun is streaked with stress-grays. Her skin is a medium tan/olive complexion, her doe eyes are brown eyes. She has a very anxious energy about her. Alexander, on the other hand, is a gruff tall man, a Russian American guy. Pale as paper, pale as snow. Whiter than Bernice (which is wild). His eyes are a piercing green that you could get lost in. Very, very attractive; in the grizzled bear type of way.

Their eyes both light up in recognition as I descend to the main floor. I ask everyone how they're doing. They all give various responses of acknowledgement, holding their breath. I reassure them that they can breathe and they do as such. We have quick conversations about what our action plan is going to be and I tell them that everyone can rest here as needed. I ask Alex about replenishing my personal security after the fall of Theodore and Sebastian, he informs me of avenues he has. I tell him to go forward.

After wrapping things up downstairs, with a new radio system in place, I call Elijah, my hubby, to make sure that everything is okay. He's startled at first but once he hears my voice he calms down. I ask him if he's safe and he tells me about the happenings at H&H, how he barricaded the door with Normandin. I feel reassured and make mental notes about needing to go and visit him.

"Alright, good! Stay safe, Love." I say as the elevator door opens back to the penthouse floor. He hangs up with a whispered sweet something in my ear. Adorable.

And then, BOOM. I hear the impact of something as I rush into my home. I go to the source and see Thaïs and Zachary... punching ... MY wall??? Looking at them confused, they let me know that Ty was trying to teach Zachary how to fight. I relent to the idea but tell them that he should contact Damien. Fighting is for later.

And he does so, it takes a few hours, but he does so. At 9 pm at night the call seems to connect and he begins talking. It goes on for a good bit until he collapses with blood dripping from the back of his neck. The conversation seemed to have gone south.

After recuperating, we have a discussion about what we should do next. I keep my cards mentally close to myself about my plans and let Zachary talk. He explains again about the objective of the Temple and all the possibilities of something going wrong. He shares his theory about the power of the temple; he says that people that control it have the power to change the fate of the world. Damian wants to end it. The Tzimisce are bad. The Tremere are bad. and the Mechatallooos? are also bad.

So, LOVE THAT for us. 4 ways of bad. I came up with the idea of drinking Zachary's blood and seeing if I can paint the visions or whatever I see like I did with that one painting of the city. I get out my easel and paint, putting a canvas on to the easel in the middle of the floor.

I drink Zachary's blood as he cuts his arm...

..and I am gone.