This is our job!

The three people emerging from the alley were heading right for the taxi and its passengers. One of them was dressed in a kaki t-shirt with camouflage pants and combat boots. His hat was sporting a symbol that Ian thought looked familiar, but he was unable to place it. Next to the military walking muscle, a woman was walking towards them. She was however in a somewhat covered position and as she came nearer it became visible that she had blood around her mouth. Although she was dressed in dark pants and a black tank top, she looked more like a wild animal than like a woman. The third guy was even creepier. He was dressed in a long dark coat and his face was disfigured by several scars. His baldness didn’t help to make him less hideous, as it revealed his pointy ears.

The look of these three dingy characters sent shivers down Ranjit’s spine and he slowly backed away towards the trunk of the car. When David saw the guy in military garment he stood still and commanded, “Look alive private! Sergeant John McCain from the 32^nd regiment! What’s the situation? Has the enemy advanced to this front yet?” –“Man, what the hell are you talkin’ about, fool? There ain’t no war going on here. Are you insane?” The muscleman’s response baffled David. ‘What does he mean, there is no war going on?’ he thought to himself and turned towards Ian, who was standing next to him, still clutching the carjack in his right hand. “Brunswick! Did you know about this? Did command send anything about a ceasefire agreement? What the hell is going on, private?” Ian, who was growing tired of David’s delusion and was starting to get worried about the motives of the three strangers, chose to ignore the young man’s ramblings and addressed his counterparts, “What do you want?” His gaze fell on a shiny dagger, just like the one sticking from the back tire, glistening in the bald man’s hand. The three were obviously vampires and had no real intentions to hide that fact. They had probably never heard of behaving low profile. The ugly guy in leather was probably a Nosferatu, and the girl seemed to be of Gangrel origin. Ian couldn’t be sure about the guy in military clothes although the symbol on his cap did resemble his own clan insignia. The Nosferatu took a disapproving look at the investigators and said with contempt in his voice, “You better listen to what we have to say, if you don’t want to end up like your tire.”

The Gangrel woman bent her body into an upright position and added hysterically, “So you are the four, who were sent out to replace us. You want to steal our hard earned money and get all the thanks, is that it?” Ruthven had also finally gotten out of the car and looked at the whole scene with a questioning look. “And for what would this gratitude be received? What do you think we are cheating you of exactly?” – “Ha, so the old fool, didn’t tell you?”, the woman snapped back at him, turned to her friends and added “He hires somebody else, while he has a team on the hunt and doesn’t even tell them about us. What a manipulative dick.” She turned back towards the four baffled investigators and gloated, “We were the first on this case and we will finish the bloodhunt so we can get paid. I would recommend that you will no longer interfere with our investigation or you will suffer the consequences.” Ian was clutching his fist and tried to control his anger. The arrogance of the woman was insulting, to say the least. The woman turned around and said to her comrades, “I think they got the message”, and the three disappeared back into the alley they came from. Victor and Ian were glaring at the dark corners on the opposite side of the street and it seemed like they would jump on the Brujah’s bike at any moment now, to pursue the arrogant trio. David, who was still captivated by his soldier persona, spun around and yelled, “Ok let’s get this tire fixed and drive back to base. The mission is more important now. We have our orders! Where is that damn driver? Ranjiiiiiit!!!” – “Are they gone?” The voice came from the back of the car. Ian, who was still shaking with anger, opened the trunk and pulled Ranjit out with one arm. The man blushed and bent back inside the trunk to pull out the spare tire. With the mechanic’s help, the deed was done in a matter of minutes and the team was back en route to the Haven.