Encounters in the dark

David’s ears were ringing from the shotgun blast. The gun had gone off almost next to him and he was trying to regain focus, to understand what had happened. When he looked at his friend the mechanic, he noticed that he was covered in blood and gray matter, breathing heavily and almost growling. This second display of Celerity must have made him hungry and the fact that he was sprayed with blood and human flesh probably didn’t help him to control his inner urges. From the door adjacent to the hallway the pit-bull emerged, slowly trotting towards the remains of his master. The animal was clearly distraught and it didn’t even notice the four dumbstruck vampires standing around in the lobby. Brunswick was still shaking and when the dog sat down next to the pile of ashes on the floor, David noticed that the Brujah looked at the dog with an unnerving stare. He licked his lips and took a step forward, still having a glance of hunger in his eyes. He bent down, picked up the dog and just as everybody was preparing to witness a gruesome scene, Ian seemed to come to his senses and put the animal back on the floor. Just as its paws hit the ground, the pit-bull scurried off to the back of the living room and hid behind the couch.

“I’ll take this,” barked the young Malkavian as he grabbed the shotgun from the floor. “Everybody, look around and stock up on equipment if you can find anything of use. Meet up, downstairs, ASAP!” He stomped off towards the bedroom and emerged from the door seconds later with a small box of shotgun shells. Ignoring the other three, he stomped off towards the front door and disappeared down the hall. The soldier personality didn’t seem to irritate the others that much anymore. They had gotten used to the fact that the boy was part of the loony clan. The Malkavian usually choose their future clan members among the psychologically damaged and so it was no wonder that David had been sired at an asylum for the mentally sick. It was much easier to sire somebody, who already was insane and would fit into their ranks, than to make them crazy yourself. Their fellow team member was however a bit different, as his insanity was split off from his normal persona. Still, it was impossible for him to live a quiet life, because his other identities were constantly battling within him to take over.

When Victor, Ruthven and Ian, who had cleaned up a bit, finally came outside, David was sitting in the front seat, next to Ranjit hanging out of the window with the shotgun wailing in the air. “Come on people! Get in, it’s time to move out!” The drive back to the Gangrel Haven was used to compare notes. The team was trying to figure out, why Mike had killed himself and came to the conclusion that his paranoia had driven him to a point where the thought that everybody was out to harm him and that suicide would be the only escape. Just as they drove onto Gangrel territory, the taxi slowed down. “What’s the matter, Ranjit?” asked Ruthven from the backseat. “The tire blew out. I’ll have to change it.” The driver got out of the vehicle and took a look at the left back tire. “Well this isn’t good,” he said with a frightened look on his face. Ian had stopped his bike just behind the cab and walked over to Ranjit with a carjack in his hand. When he came round the car he noticed it too. There was a small throwing knife sticking out of the deflated rubber. “I guess you better all get out and take a look at this,” he proposed and then took a look around to find out where the dagger had come from. Ruthven, who was not about the get his hands dirty by helping to change a tire, stayed put while Victor and David got out of the car. David stormed around the car and started yelling at the scared driver, “What’s the hold up? We can’t just stop in the middle of enemy territory! Have you never learned that you don’t stop during a war, no matter what? Come on people, let’s go!” – “Stay right where you are!” The voice had come from a small alley just across the street and when they all turned around to look who had spoken, they noticed three shadows walking towards them.

Dog eat dog

The three kindred were still standing in the sparsely lit hallway, with David hiding in the shadows, when Brunswick, mechanic extraordinaire, sprung into action. He positioned himself in front of the door and readied himself to smash the wooden panel out of the frame, when the doctor gave him a calming gesture and responded to the resident’s inquiry, “We are here to ask you some questions. You have nothing to fear from us. We just want to know what happened at the mall.” The moment Victor had opened his mouth, David felt enchanted. Somehow the words of the doctor had a magic undertone, compelling you to listen very carefully and follow the directions he was giving. Unfortunately it did not seem to have the same effect on the man inside the apartment and the Brujah, who started to get impatient, decided to knock down the door and skip the measly introduction. As soon as the door swung open, his eyes fell on the growling dog in front of him. A second later he saw its master standing at the far end of the corridor, with a 12 gauge pointing at him. Before he could react, the pit-bull jumped in his direction, aiming for his right arm, cheered on by its master, “Get him Scrat!” The giant suddenly dodged and the dog bumped off his right shoulder against the wall. David was impressed by the speed with which his new friend had reacted to the dog’s attack.

“STOP!” The thundering voice of Vathek had surprised the other investigators. He was looking at Mike, the gun slinging maniac at the end of the hall and was concentrating very hard. The young vampire had heard that some of the Ventrue have the ability to control the minds of others by giving them specific commands. It was impressive to see how the man inside the apartment suddenly froze up and turned into a living statue. Just as David wanted to express his amazement, Ian once again turned into Action Jackson. He grabbed the stunned dog by the throat and darted towards Mike. When he passed a door on the right he threw the dog into the adjacent room and rushed forward until he stood just centimeters from the other man. With a quick grapple maneuver he punched the gun out of his opponent’s hand and grabbed him at the neck. The speed with which the Brujah had executed these three actions was impressive. ‘Finally a true demonstration of Celerity,’ thought David, still reminiscing the earlier display Ian had given him at the mall. When the young man had first chosen to vanish in front of the Brujah, he had tried to avoid alienating him by simply running of unseen. So he let him in on his secret, showing him how he managed to dissipate into the dark and move around unnoticed. Ian had in return shown David the merits of being a Brujah. “This is called Celerity,” he had said, before closing his eyes, concentrating real hard and then punching a whole in the concrete wall. Apparently the enormous fellow could spend some of his blood reserves in his body to accelerate his movements or increase his strength. Ian explained to him that it was an ability inherent to the more physical inclined clans, like the Brujah and the Gangrel. So there he was, standing in the door, looking down the corridor where the human statue’s neck was tightly stuck in Ian’s right hand. David quickly snuck inside and tried to step behind Mike, when he notices something odd. The shotgun that had been knocked out of the antagonist’s hand seemed to be floating in the air just next to the guy. David grabbed the shaft and tried to pull it away from the Gangrel but he noticed that, as he pulled on the gun, its former owner’s armed also jerked into the same direction. It took him a while to realize that the weapon was fixed to the man’s arm with a thin silvery wire. Victor and Ruthven, who had finally also moved down the narrow corridor, saw that David was pulling on the 12 gauge and noticed the wire glistening in the dark.

The doctor stuck his hand in his right pocket and pulled out a small shard of glass and put it in the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes and suddenly the piece of glass was hovering over his hand. Seconds later it flew towards the wire, but the impact did nothing except shatter the shard into little pieces. Apparently the wire was not thin enough to snap it with a piece of high velocity crystal. After this display of magic, David was finally convinced that Victor Brauner must be a member of the Tremere clan, who have the ability to control things with their minds and sometimes even command fire. Just as the young Malkavian tried to give the gun another yank, his opponent suddenly awoke from his frozen state. With his left hand he grabbed Ian’s wrist so hard that he was released from the giants grip. Almost simultaneously he pulled back his shotgun, put the barrel under his chin and fired. With a loud bang, the almost headless body slid to the floor and seconds later, turned into ashes.

Mike Who?

“Guys! You better take a look at this!” Even though the discovery of a human skull was not something he was particularly happy about, David managed to pull himself together this time. This adventure started to get weirder and weirder and he could not allow himself to fall into one of his dementias, every time something unnerving happened. Still, he could feel the need to give orders and have a look out for Tangos rising inside of him. ‘Get a grip!’, he thought to himself and stood up, to give his companions a better look at what he had unearthed. “I guess we can be fairly certain that the fire claimed a victim after all”, the doctor remarked sharply. “Don’t forget the void on the wall. Something was definitely between the heat source and the concrete at the time of the blast.” Ian had not forgotten the strange shape on the wall and decided to take a closer look. “I’ll just be a sec.”, he said and with a giant leap he jumped to the balcony on top of them, just next to the mark. While the three others were still looking at the skull, wondering about the extreme temperature it would take to fuse the remains with the concrete, the front door opened and the guard stepped inside. He was having a smoke, but when he saw David he threw it away and thought it best to put on his mask again. He certainly didn’t need another one of the young man’s insults. Ruthven smiled at the sight of the cigarette. He was a lobbyist for the major tobacco companies, and even though it was not as much fun watching a vampire using his product – they could not get cancer after all – he enjoyed that his industry was still going strong despite the recent bans on smoking. “Well I guess that settles it! There was definitely a person where the void is!” Ian was bending over the railing of the balcony holding half of a boot, which looked like it was salvaged out of a burnt shoe factory. “It was probably one of us, there is nothing left, not even a tiny piece of bone.”, Ruthven said with a shudder in his voice, thinking about Final Death. “That’s no way to go. Well let’s recap what we know so far.” With a hard thump, Ian jumped off the balcony and rejoined his teammates.

The group discussed what they had discovered and came to the conclusion that the fire could not have been of natural origin. The temperatures were too hot for a normal fire and the area of the fire was also perfectly round shaped. Natural fire was never this controllable. They also concluded that the two dead guys were probably Jonathan and whoever Mike had sent in as his replacement that day, since they found the remains of one human and one vampire. They shared their insights with the guard, who only added: “That fits. Mike would do anything to get away from work. Maybe the bastard is even involved in all of this. I wouldn’t put it past him. Here is his address if you want to check him out.” He handed them a piece of paper with a barely legible location scribbled on it.

It was only a short drive to the apartment building where Mike was living. When they arrived they thought it would be cautious to not alert the vampire too early to their presence. Ian broke open the door with a silent tug and they snuck up the stairs to the second floor landing. The doors looked all the same and on top of them was a small light bulb to illuminate the doorway. Except for one door on the left, where the bulb had been screwed out. As some vampires are very light sensitive, it was a good bet to start their investigation at this door. David had cowardly shifted with the shadows again and Victor kneeled in front of the door and tried to take a look through the mail slot. He attempted to open it very slowly, but as soon as he lowered his head towards the door he clumsily bumped into the metal mail cover. He opened it anyway and heard a sudden growling noise from behind the door. And sure enough, the first look he got was the broad and angry snout of a large dog drooling and snarling at the intruders. “Um, guys. I think he knows that we are here.”, said the doctor, and just as he did, the dog started to bark loudly. Seconds after a voice could be heard from the apartment, “Who-ho-ho’s there? Don’t come any closer if you hold your life dear.”

Haunting fires

“Um, hello…. Sir. Mr. Taylor sent us, and we were wondering whether you could help us out. We are supposed to investigate something here but other than the black floor outside and a void on the wall, we didn’t find anything.” Ruthven was not sure if it was the proper tone to address the giant with the meat cleaver, but he gave it a shot as he started to feel a bit lost on his supposed quest. “Taylor, huh? Typical of him to get other people to do his dirty work. I bet he didn’t even tell you what happened here, right?” It was a bit unsettling that the grossly looking brute was this friendly. Victor took the opportunity to communicate his own opinion on the matter, “Well he saw us fit to investigate in this matter; that should suffice.” – “Sooooo, you are the Butcher right?”, said Ian from the back of the room. “That’s what they call me. I can tell you work has been piling up since the incident. Now that I lost both my assistants it has gotten extremely hard to keep up with the clan’s demands. You have to know, I’m the main blood supplier for the Gangrel. I process meats and drain the blood in order to conserve it for later use.” After a lengthy conversation with the man, who calls himself ‘The Butcher’, the team found out that his two assistants Jonathan and Mike had not shown up for work after the fire. If it had been only Mike who had disappeared he wouldn’t have been surprised. It turns out that he was still a very young vampire and hated working at the mall. He even went so far as to have himself replaced on several occasions by a human. “It’s not that we hate humans, but it is always dangerous for us when they are introduced prematurely to our world. In this case, it was not that much of a problem since the guy was hoping to get turned soon. It’s still annoying when you never know, who will show up for the job. Anyway, on the day in question I was out on business and Mike and Jonathan were supposed to stock up for the next blood transport to the Prince’s Haven. I don’t know what really happened, but when I came back, the entrance was filled with smoke and several pieces of broken furniture were lying around, still on fire. I have seen neither of them since.” – “So this Mike… He seems like a ‘nice’ guy. In case nothing happened to him, where could we find him?” The butcher gave them an address and added, “So if there’s nothing else, I have to get back to work.” – “Actually”, the doctor added with reluctance, “would it be possible for me to take a look at your warehouse?” The creature shrugged, and opened a door behind the counter and went back to work. “Knock yourself out.”

David was crouched on the floor in the entrance hall, while Ian and Ruthven were standing around, looking for clues. Suddenly he heard a whisper, very faint from the right corner of the enormous hall. He thought he had imagined it, when the sound grew stronger. “It’s all your….” ‘That voice! No, not again! Why can’t he leave me alone?’ David started to panic, but he was still compelled to walk in the direction of the noise. “It’s all your fault! I thought we were friends!” There it was again, this time stronger almost like somebody was standing right next to him. He looked around, and threw a look at his team members, but none of them seemed to hear anything. There was nothing there. “You betrayed me! You are a murderer! You killed me just like you killed your grandfather! You MONSTER!!!!” The voice had turned into a deafening scream and David flinched and backed into the corner. He thought he saw something for a split second, but on a second look there was still nobody around except for the four vampires. Something suddenly grabbed his shoulder from behind. The boy jerked around and there he was, Steven, his old friend from the asylum, clear as day. David blinked and he was gone again. And without realizing it he himself started yelling, “Why can’t you leave me alone? I’m sorry…. Just let me be!” He dropped to his knees and almost started to whine, when he noticed that his right knee had hit something sticking out of the concrete floor. He looked around and noticed that his friends were looking at him with a bewildered expression. The sounds had stopped as sudden as they had appeared and he turned his attention back to the bump in the floor. Like the rest of the room, the place was covered in smut and so he started to clean the place with his hands best as he could. Ian and Ruthven were on their way over to him. Victor had just emerged from the shop and he saw that the three were gathering at a small spot in the right corner of the room, so he decided to join them. When the rubble had cleared David stood up and backed away from the place. He had uncovered a human skull, sticking out of the concrete, looking like it had been fused with the floor at an extreme temperature.

Fresh meat

Once inside the impressive shopping mall, the four investigators split paths, each of them looking around in another part of the entrance area. The floor and walls were all covered in a black substance that seemed to be smut. The air was filled with the smell of a recent fire, mixed with a note of barbecuing. The dark shadow was in the shape of a large circle but extended also up the walls, making it look like it was caused by a perfectly hemispherical explosion. Upon taking a closer look at the walls, they saw that at one point there was a void where the flames had not reached the concrete. It was about 3 meters from the floor and the size of a grown man. Ian, who found the black smut intriguing, asked the doctor for a test-tube to take a sample. Victor, who was staring into the dark beyond the barely lit entrance, turned around and threw a tube to the brute in leather. Ian stretched out his hand, caught the glass cylinder and instantly smashed it to tiny bits. Grumpily he brushed off the shards of glass and picked the broken bits out of his hand, when he realized that the minuscule parts on the floor started to move and scurried in the direction of their former proprietor. Ian rubbed his eyes in disbelief and thought he was probably hallucinating. Not willing to smash another of the fragile cylinders, he went over to the doctor and equipped with a new tube he started taking samples of the black substance. In the meantime Ruthven had joined Victor at the edge of the blast radius and they both noticed a window just a few meters from where they were standing, with the sign saying ‘Butcher’s shop’.

David, who had finally snapped out of his episode, had chosen to use one of his inherent abilities to look around the premises undetected. So he tried to remember everything his sire had taught him about Obfuscate, the ability to make everybody around you believe that you are invisible, and blended in with the shadows. He snuck past the two high society members of the team, and decided to have a look inside the shop, the two of them found so interesting. He remembered that the Seneschal had mentioned something about a man simply called ‘The Butcher’ but he couldn’t for the life of him remember what it was. When he was still in St.John’s, he had often snuck out of his room to meet his friend Seth Johnson, a fellow patient at the asylum. He was a master at opening doors without making a noise and even a shop door, outfitted with a bell, was no obstacle for the young man. With the finesse of a cat burglar, David reached up to stop the bell with his left hand and in the meantime opened the door just a slit to slide through. Serendipitous about his success, he looked around the small shop, still hidden from sight by his special ability. He looked through the smudged windowpane and saw that Victor was walking off to the shop next door and tried to pry open the door, while Ruthven and Ian where coming in his direction. Suddenly he noticed a buzzing noise from behind him and he quickly turned around to investigate. His eyes needed a couple of seconds to adjust to the half-light. He had never paid much attention when his master tried to teach him about Auspex, the ability to see in the dark and heighten your senses. At mastery you could even determine the demeanor of other beings by their spiritual aura. He shook his head to rid himself of the memories of his training and slowly recognized the silhouette of a very large being standing in front of him, with its back towards the youngster. The creature was apparently busy working on something on the desk, but David could not see what it was. At this moment the doorbell behind him rang and the noise startled him in a way that he lost his concentration and became once again visible to his surroundings. Ruthven had entered the store, the doctor and the mechanic hard on his heels, and he looked at the Malkavian with astonishment. “How did you…” – “What’s this? Who’s there?” The creature behind the counter had turned around and flicked the lights on. With a short buzzing sound the luminescent neon tubes sprung to life and bathed the room in an unnatural light. Behind the counter was now clearly visible a giant of at least 2 meters height, extremely broad shoulders and a leather mask on his face. He was wearing an apron that might have been white sometime in the past, but was now blemished with an obscene amount of bloodstains, ranging from deep red to almost black in color. In his right hand he was holding a giant cleaver; his right arm was packed with muscles and was almost twice the size of his left arm. The man, if you could call him that, was such a scary sight that the team was rather surprised when he said, “Oh hello there. How can I help you folks?”

The journey begins

Ian was rummaging through the shelves, keeping an eye out for any equipment that might come in handy on their mission, when suddenly the previously catatonic boy darted past him bellowing, “Right! Let’s get to it! We got our mission. Assembly is at 0100 hours. The enemy is at bay!” The Brujah enforcer was stunned at the sudden change in demeanor of the young boy, who was behaving like a soldier on the hunt for weaponry. David grabbed a pistol off the shelf but handled it with such negligence that the magazine fell out and hit the floor with a loud clank. With a confused look he picked up the mag, snapped it back into the gun and racked the slide. Ian, who was still watching the young man, suddenly jumped into action, grabbed the weapon from David’s hands and put the safety back on. Handing it back to him he said, “Better watch what you’re doing before you shoot yourself” The reply was equally puzzling as David said, “Thank you private!” Ian turned back towards the shelf, grabbed a tool belt with several large and heavy wrenches and snapped it around his waist. In the meantime Dr. Brauner put several tubes and supplies from a medical cabinet into his bag while Mr. Vathek was yelling on his phone in a demanding voice to somebody called James.

Once everybody was assembled outside, a taxi drove up to the curb and the driver, a Middle-Eastern looking man in his forties, stepped out and beckoned them to get in. “My name is Ranjit. Mr. Taylor gave me a location in the Woolwich district and asked me to tell you that your investigation starts there.” After a short drive, with a quick stop at Ian’s motorcycle workshop, they arrived at an abandoned shopping mall parking lot. Ian stepped off his Harley while the other team members exited the vehicle and they then all made their way to the entrance. There was a smell of burned flesh lingering in the air as they approached the building. A sentry, wearing a paper mask to apparently shield him from the smell, was standing in front of the main door. “Who’s this? Entry to the premises is prohibited!” When Ian stepped towards the door, the guard ripped of his mask, put a hand on the Brujah’s massive shoulder and pronounced with a raised voice, “Maybe you didn’t hear me, I really can’t let you in!” When David looked at the now exposed face of the guard, he noticed that his nose was in the shape of a bat’s nostrils. Startled by the view of the deformity, he took a few steps back, formed a cross with his index fingers and yelled, “Demon! He’s a demon! Holy mother of God, save yourselves!” Everybody else, including the guard, were taken aback by the sudden psychic outburst of the youth. Ruthven, who had after the first outburst of David come to the conclusion that he must be of Malkavian descent, turned to the sentry and said calmly: “Don’t mind the Malkavian. You know that they are a troubled kind. Charles Taylor sent us to investigate, so you better step aside now.” Bewildered, the guard moved and held the door open for the four visitors. “Begone demon! Thy kind will never rule this earth! You shall be cast back into the depths of Hell!” Bellowing his insults, David was pushed inside by Ian, who gave the guard a pacifying look, before disappearing behind the giant door. Inside, the Malkavian turned towards the giant and said, “Would you have some parchment and a feather with some ink for me? I have to write a letter to the Holy Inquisition post haste. They have to be informed of the abominations walking the earth in this area.” Ian shook his head and gave him a piece of paper and a pen, in the hopes that he would soon calm down.

Prince Volus's request

As promised here is the next part of David Hunter's first adventure. I'm retelling the events from memory and I hope to be as accurate as possible, but for the sake of the story I might change a few things slightly to fit the account better.

Hounds of Hell

Ian and David were led down a corridor at the end of which was a big hall, where the two gentlemen that had entered earlier where already waiting in front of a big throne. The throne had giant batwings and on it was an impressive figure, who could only be Prince Volus. Next to him was a man dressed in a suit but with a hideously disfigured face. It didn’t help that he was probably in his sixties, when he was turned. The Nosferatu was probably the Prince's right hand and therefore also a person of respect. David threw a quick look around the room and he immediately noticed the abundance of guards stationed in the ballroom. One of them was strangely scratching his ear with his foot. When the four had finally assembled in front of the throne, the Prince cleared his throat and spoke, “Thank you for coming. As you probably already know you have been called upon to help in a bloodhunt, called out by the Gangrel clan. A fellow Kindred has gone on a killing frenzy and what is even worse, he is killing our own kind. My Seneschal Charles Taylor will get you up to speed.” The Prince glanced over to his left side and the Nosferatur stood up to address the four bystanders. His gaze momentarily locked with David’s eyes sending shivers down the young vampire’s spine. “As my master just told you, this task is of the utmost importance. There have been several violent deaths and we need you to investigate the scenes and report back here with your findings. One of our dormitories has been prepared for you and you will also find some gear downstairs if you need to stock up first.” At this moment the Prince stood up and walked out of the room. It was only at this point that the four realized that the giant wings were not actually part of the throne, but of Volus himself. ‘He must be a very old and powerful Gangrel to have such explicit animal features’, David thought to himself. The Nosferatu made a bow in his master's direction and continued, “Prince Volus is one of the first Gangrel who managed to create a civilized society amongst his Kindred, right here in London. Therefore, the conduct of the frenzied vampire is even more disruptive than usual. You have to stop him at all costs.” - “What’s in it for us?” David turned his head to see who had been so insolent as to ask such a thing. It was none other than the gentleman who had first entered the building. “Well Mr. Vathek, first of all you will help to keep up the Masquerade and prevent a possible clan war along the way. As if that wasn’t reward enough, the Prince has also agreed to please you with a proper monetary recompense.”

The boy could see a smile creep on Mr. Vathek’s face. ‘He must be of the Ventrue’, he thought to himself. His sire had often warned him about them and he still remembered his voice from the day he had been introduced to the Masquerade and the different clans. “The Ventrue are the nobility of our kind. These blue bloods hold the Masquerade very dear and are often leaders in our society. As such they surround themselves with worldly possessions and often sport an entourage of both humans and other Kindred. So beware, as they don’t take kindly to our more open-minded clan members. They think us mad and a danger to the secret nature of the Kindred.” He knew he could trust his master, but the fact that this Ventrue had chosen to apply for a reward other than the fact that he would protect the Masquerade took him aback. Maybe there was more to the different clan members than the strict teachings of his master had led him to believe.

“So if there are no other questions I would suggest you all get acquainted with each other, as you will be spending a lot of time together from here on out. Consider this your Haven for the next few days, we keep a small herd if you get thirsty. Just make sure that you don’t fall into a frenzy and destroy our home while satisfying your hunger.” David couldn't help but notice the Nosferatu's pointedly glaring at Brunswick while delivering that last bit. As the heavyweight seemed to have gotten the not so subtle hint the prince's Seneschal turned his attention to Mr Vathek, while whispering something to his personal guard. The sentinel went to the adjacent room and came back with a laptop that he handed to Taylor, who immediately started typing, still throwing an awful lot of glances at the Ventrue. The guard then came over to the quartet and led them to the cellar entrance. The four of them were left alone and as they were standing there in the room filled with shelves and what seemed like several large rectangular boxes on the floor, the man with the scar broke the silence. “Well this is quite a mess we got ourselves into. My name is Dr. Victor Brauner, some of you might know me from the papers, I’m quite a famous scientist.” - “Bronswick’s the name”, said the giant with the leather jacket. “Let’s get to it, got me a sweet lady waiting back at the chop shop.” Noticing the puzzled expressions, he added “Gotta bend her frame back to shape”, which didn't really help. “Chopper needs a new transmission,” he explained. Bike repairs. 'S what I do when I'm not busting punks. Anyway, ain't you a bit green to be part of this?” Now the doctor was also looking at the young man: “What’s your name son?” David looked up at Ian and then over to the other two men and gulped loudly, “My name is David… David Hunter.” - “If they expect me, Ruthven Vathek, to sleep in these twenty dollar coffins, those animal clowns are sadly mistaken. I guess I’ll have to call James to send over a decent bed.” – “Coffins? Those are coffins? And they want us to sleep in them? Are they insane????” Vathek looked at the boy and replied, “Well the Gangrel are not particularly known for their hospitality, but aren’t you freaking out a bit?” But David couldn’t hear him. He backed away to a corner and sunk on his knees talking to himself. “This can’t be happening…. How did I get myself into this mess?”