Chronicles of Cain

Satarin's face twisted, "Yes Sire I know of him. Has he crossed his boundaries?"

Nodding, "Yes he has. He and David are both going to find life very unforgiving. David was told to watch him two days ago and has not reported to me as of yet." Steven stood and paced the room. "David will be the easy one to get rid of. The Cardinal on the other hand will not be that easy. I need you to follow the Cardinal and report to me every night on his whereabouts. Can you do that?"

"For the right price anything is possible. I will put my best men on it."

Steven smiled an evil grin, "Yes do that. I need to know his every move." Steven reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a blank piece of paper. The paper had holes punched through it. He handed the paper to Satarin.

"Braille?" Satarin asked.

"Yes I try to accommodate everyone that works for me. This is a voice pager number that I will be checking. If you need to speak with me then leave you number and I'll get back to you. Otherwise just use it to report." Steven walked back to the throne.

"Yes Sire. I will get right on it." Satarin bowed and then turned to leave.

Steven watched as the man walked out of the Hall without hitting or bumping anything. He smiled thinking of the first thing the poor blind man did hit. Perhaps he would fall into the elevator shaft. He thought about calling for a ghoul to find him and save him from his inevitable headache, but then the doors to the Hall opened.

Steven watched as David walked in to the grand hall. David had a certain glow about him that caught Steven's attention. David almost skipped into the hall, singing a tune as he did so.

David was a big man of sort, black shoulder length hair, red mustache, various tattoos on his arms, and wearing a black Dallas Stars shirt and sweats.

"Why the happy face?" Steven asked unable to hide his annoyance. Since the beginning of his rein as Archbishop he had been able to read the minds of those that served him, but now he was unable to read David's mind.

"Oh nothing really." David continued to walk towards the Archbishop humming a tune.

"Then why are you here?" David's approach suddenly striking Steven as odd and abnormal. "And what of those Assimites that I told you to dispatch last night? Have you heard from them?"

"No I have not. Though I don't think they will be reporting anytime soon." David smiled big.

"And why is that?" Steven asked in annoyance.

"Well I had a visitor earlier this night as I left to give the Assimites your order," his voice a reptilian whisper. "It was the Cardinal and he informed me of your refusal to terminate that Ventrue reject, Ian. Well," David smiled a joker's grin, "we had a long discussion about the future of Dallas. And instead of sending them out for the Cardinal I send them after Hellblade."

'So this is where it is going,' Steven thought, 'they have decided to get rid of me and David is here to do the deed.' Steven spoke to David smiling as he did so, "You know as well as I do you cannot defeat me, David. I've beaten you once before and I'll do it again."

"I recall you hitting me from behind Steven. If I hadn't showed mercy you would be dead now."

"But you did! And now I rule Dallas. More powerful than you could ever hope to be, because you lack the drive it takes to get true power!" Steven rose from the chair he sat in, and walked towards the Bishop.

David stopped, "Just because I refuse to sell me soul doesn't mean I don't have the drive!"

"You are a vampire! You are going to hell any way! Why not sell your soul, but that is what separates the blessed from the cursed.

"When you begin to think of your unlife as a punishment then it becomes a burden and then a curse. But I revel in my unlife; to me it gives me the chance to learn all the knowledge I can and to become as powerful as I can." Steven spoke as if the whole world were watching and listening to his wisdom.

"And to what good has it come of you?" David looked behind the Archbishop and at that moment something stabbed him in the back.

A sword blade reached out from Steven's chest pointing to the sky in salute. The blade pierced his chest and steam rose from the wound as acid ate at Steven's dead flesh. He could see the jagged edge of the blade, knowing in an instant that it was of Assimite decent.

"Where is your precious power now?" David spat.

Steven whirled around to find the Cardinal backing away from him. "You!"

David seized the moment by reaching up and grabbing a hold of the Steven and sword that was still in him and using it to throw him across the room. Steven landed on the end of the hilt driving the sword further into his body. David slowly stalked his prey and Steven watched in amazement as David's hands began to change. The nails on his fingers split and the tips of bone white claws pushed through. The claws grew several inches before ceasing their growth. David pounced slashing at Steven with the lethal claws, striking him across the throat and face. The claws dug deep into Steven's flesh opening it wide.

Steven screamed in pain as he tried to defend himself, but the damage had been done. Although, the Archbishop wasn't totally helpless, he had only one chance to survive this, so he closed his eyes concentrating on the blood in his system. The blood flowed to his muscles and his muscles responded to his calls. Steven felt the muscles in his body pulsating with strength. He could feel them grow stronger and stronger with each drop of blood he used.

David approached him intending on killing his victim, but Steven surprised him with a blow of his own. Steven struck David with such force that ribs could be heard as they snapped. The force of the blow sent David flying back to the wall. Steven stood as David slid down this wall, but the blow just wounded the Bishop.

David was back to his feet at incredible speed and before Steven could react David was one him. His claws stabbed him in the stomach, throat, and head, but he would not take his life.

Steven was a bleeding mass of dying flesh when David stopped looking down at the creature he once called Sire. "Now it is your turn to die." David nodded to the Cardinal and the Cardinal left to get the guards.

David kneeled before the Archbishop as he pulled a wooden stake from his belt. He moved high and brought it down in a wide arch towards Steven's heart. Though when the stake got with in inches of the Archbishop's heart the stake crumbled to dust. Steven smiled a bloody grin.

"I thought you may have that protection on," David stated as he pulled a second stake out. "Now this one will hit its mark." The stake plunged deep into his chest as David laughed.

Steven felt his body loose all feeling and motion. His eyes could only watch as David stood and opened the door.

When the Cardinal returned he had six guards with him. "Take this man outside and stake him to the pole we have setup out there. Please be as brutal as you want, he just killed the Archbishop." The Cardinal turned to David and smiled.

4

The travel through the umbra was a simple one, although most lupines find travel in the umbra a dangerous and exhilarating one. The Garou are natural travelers of the umbra and find that its creatures are more fantastic than any writer could create.

The Hellblade moved across the umbra at the speed of thought. Only the most courageous would dare to enter the umbra in Dallas. The effect of the evil in the city was echoed in the umbra. Its dark presence was home to a variety of twisted beings. Banes, Nexus Crawlers, and Weaver spirits were just a few of the creatures that roamed the Dallas area.

Banes, creatures made of evil spirits, swarmed to the great chaotic cities of the world as if they were bright beacons welcoming all evil into its mists. Banes laid their larvae in pits throughout the city. Letting them feed on the creatures that accidentally wandered into these pits.

Nexus crawlers, one of the most feared creatures in the umbra, frequented the city in search of unsuspecting lupines to possess. Nexus crawlers had the body of a gigantic spider and tentacles that circled it mouth and fangs. It has the power to warp and pervert reality at will.

Weaver spirits come in many forms throughout the umbra, but the most common and most feared is spiders. Weaver spiders take the reality around them and unweave its natural pattern and change it. Making it into a part of its web.

A dark building rose up into the night, surrounded by banes and dark energies that could be seen in the umbra. The evil present was like a rippling shadow that engulfed the Cathedral and all within it. This was his destination.

Hellblade slowed his momentum as he neared the Cathedral. He saw, at his approach, that a witch-burning stake had been erected just outside the Cathedral walls and the guards looked as if they were placing wood kindling at the base of the stake. He also noticed that the gates were closed and shut. Though he had no proof, he was sure that David had poisoned their minds against him. He wanted to enter the Cathedral, but getting himself killed wouldn't do him or the Archbishop any good at this moment.

Hellblade stepped from the Umbra by the street corner, though a puddle of water that lay on the ground, and began to sniff the air, hoping to find Alison's familiar scent. He was rewarded; her scent came to him as if she were standing right next to him. He guessed that she was a block or two away and after a moment of running from alley to alley, Hellblade finally pinpointed her position.

He ran to her as fast as his supernatural legs could carry him, and in half a moment she was found a few yards away.

She was beautiful, she wore a tight black suit used for cat burglary, and her dark brown hair was long and flowed in the tender caresses of the wind. She had no visible weapon; indeed the only thing she had was a black bag used for hiking. She backed away from four dark skinned Assimites that stalked her. They all wielded swords waving them at her.

Hellblade knew that they were lethal in a group so to even the odds a little he ran up behind one of them, grabbing him and lifting the Assimite over his head bringing him back down across Hellblade's knee. Hellblade heard a crack and the Assimite fell limp in his arms. Hellblade didn't drop him however. Instead he swung the body at another Assimite smashing his head open, but unsure of the damage the lupine jumped, at the vampire that lay on the ground changing his form as he did. The human appearance that he had melted away as the bones of his body shifted under his skin. His muscle rippled, stretching his skin as they too grew and the beast inside him emerged. The Hellblade locked his jaws around the vampire's neck in a deadly bite. He threw his head back and worth tearing and gnawing the vampire until it crumbled in to dust right in his mouth.

Alison saw the attack before Hellblade initiated it and was ready to strike at the other two. When Hellblade began his killing the other two vampires were surprised.

It wasn't until Alison reached into her bag and pulled out a glaive, it's three-foot long blade glistening in the street lamps, did they seem to come to life and react. The first vampire bolted, while the second lingered a moment too long. He watched helplessly as the blade severed one of his legs, and he fell to the ground screaming in pain. Alison pounced, her body turned shadow and changed in waves as the crippled vampire scrambled back away from the black mass of folding flesh.

Her skin bubbled, as her bones seemed to shift and reshape themselves A fine hair grew over the length of her body and her hands became clawed as her human head melted away revealing one that resembled that of a coyote. She landed on him, biting at his face and tearing at his arms, until he too became dust.

The other vampire had gotten away, using the shadows to hide his departure.

"Why were they after you? Did you blowup one of their beds or something?" Hellblade growled as he chose to take his human form. The great beast curled up as the hair and claws sank back into his skin. The beast melted away leaving Hal Williams. Hal was the face behind the Hellblade and although they had a lot in common, Hal believed that they were separate beings. The Hellblade could not make Hal kill and Hal could not make Hellblade not kill.

"I don't know why they attacked me." Alison watched, as Hal now stood naked and smiled admiringly. "They said you had betrayed them and I was your cohort. What did you do?"

Hal kneeled down and took a shirt off one of the vampires and put it on. Then he took a pair of pants and put them on, "I did nothing, it was David."

"David? What could he do?"

"He found out that the Archbishop had freed Ian D'Amour and now he wants to over throw the Archbishop with this news. I suppo-"

Alison hushed him and listened into the wind.

"What is it?" Hal asked in a whisper.

"David and the Archbishop."

"We must warn him! Where are they?"

Alison pointed towards the Cathedral and Hal pushed past her running towards the Cathedral remembering the stake.

Alison followed not prepared for what she saw as they rounded the corner to the Cathedral. Before them stood the stake and bound to that stake was Steven cursing at David and the Cardinal as they watched an Assimite light the wood at Steven's feet.

It caught like dry leaves and spread around the stake in a blaze. Steven's curses died away.

"Nooo!" Hal screamed as he rushed towards the burning pyre, his rage becoming physical as his body changed into The Hellblade. "Nnnoooo!" His scream caught the attention of the Archbishop and his eyes widened as he saw the Hellblade running at him, intent on keeping him from death. Steven cried out and his words found their way into Hellblade's head.

"Stop! Hal stop. NOW!" Hellblade stopped and starred into Steven1s eyes looking for some explanation. "You cannot die now, and," Steven looked around him, "you would die my friend. You must go so you can help Ian D'Amour avenge my death. He owes me his life and that is how he will repay me."

Steven looked down at his burning body and returned his sorrowful gaze back to Hellblade. "I will miss you, my friend, but you must go and maybe some night in my next life I will find you again. Remember me Hal; remember the good times we had. I will and it will be this memory of you and all my other friends that will bring me back to you. Be at peace my friend."

Hellblade's eyes filled with tears as his body changed back to its human form. Hal stepped forward, "But Sire..I.I"

"Go now my friend. Go." Hal took a step back. "Go. Go!"

Hal turned his back on his Archbishop and, with much grief, left.

Alison was crying when Hal walked up next to her. She spoke no word as she looked into his tear stained eyes. They embraced long and hard. She glanced up only to see Steven's body go limp and hang on the burning stake.

"Lets go," Hal spoke softly.

Alison pulled away and looked into his eyes once again, "Where do we go from here? Where can we go?"

"To find Ian D'Amour," he said simply.

5

David watched as Steven's body burned. The Archbishop also watched, but he watched David, staring at him with so much hatred that it almost ignited the air around David. Even as the skin of his legs melted and ran down stake Steven didn't let out a scream or even a shout of pain. Just giving David the stare that promised death. The flame labored up his chest and stung his eyes, but he still looked unflinchingly at David.

David saw the body go limp, as the fire touched Steven's face and hair. He saw the eyes burst and sizzle down his blistering face. Then without warning Steven's head jerked up and let out a scream. David smiled, admired how long Steven had held out, but it was only when Steven started the cry for help did the smile fade.

Steven's voice was not his own. The voice seemed younger somehow, but how could that be? He tossed the thought aside. Turning them to more pressing matters. "Now," he turned to the Cardinal. "This leads me to my next action. The lupine Hellblade."

"Who?" asked the Cardinal.

David smiled, "Yes that's right. Steven kept that part from you. He had a lupine as the captain of his guard. He is called Hellblade. His real name is Hal Williams."

They both turned and walked calmly back into the Cathedral.