PLaying the Great Game
The envelope came to my rooms via messenger. Inside was the crisp white stationery the Juliet Parr uses to contact me.
"1138 St Johns Square, 10:30. Second floor library."
I pocketed the stationery and gathered my things. An electric torch in the inside jacket pocket, knuckle dusters in my outer pockets. I slipped my lock picks and gloves into the other inner pocket. I checked that my piano wire was in the inside band of my bowler hat. I picked up my walking stick and stepped smartly out into the foggy night.
What a fog! Nearly yellow soup stuff that swirled about me. Within ten strides I couldn't see my residence nor hear the screams from inside. The fog stank of chemicals and the effluvium of the humanity that lives nearby. Several of the night women I passed hacked and coughed breathing the stuff, I truly was thankful that I no longer had to.
St Johns square was several blocks away in a better part of town, so I was happy to walk it. This also made sure that I wasn't followed. Die ältesten Gewohnheiten lassen sich nur schwer ablegen. The oldest habits die hard. If only it hadn't been Berlin...
I came up to the steps of the house, a large affair. I can see at least three stories. The door is slightly ajar. As I step up to it, I hear my name softly in the night "Warin". I froze,glancing around me. That sounded like Juliet. I see no one around me, only the fog impatiently lapping at the bottom step of the front stairs like an impatient beast waiting to be fed, swirling with my recent passage.
Calling on my heightened vampiric senses, I hear several heart beats, smell the warmth of the living inside. While not very hungry, I had not fed tonight and the smell of fresh, hot blood did tickle my insides, my beast stirring and wanting to feed. I sensed no movement though, it was a house fast in slumber, though it was barely late enough for all the mortals in a house like this to be asleep. Usually a couple of servants would be up later preparing for the next day, finishing the laundry or preparing food for the morning to come. Strange.
I turned the knob, and cloaked myself mentally in shadows. I turned my mind to that place where it told mortals "Don't look here, there is no one". Moving on cat feet I passed through the rooms. The family of the house lay in various puppet stages around the front sitting room. Mother asleep over her embroidery, two girls and a son asleep on the floor, books open to reading, one girl in the midst of working on a painting. Father sound asleep in his great chair, a cigar cold in his hands. All were breathing smoothly, props set on the stage for the next scene.
Past them in the dining room and kitchen I found servants fast asleep. Serving maids were still clearing the cutlery from dinner, asleep at the table. In the kitchen I found the butler asleep at a small table, taking an evening meal while reading the days paper that the master of the house had finished with before dinner. The cook sat across from him, her head in arms on the table. The slumber that took them seemed to work fast, and pass through the house like the plague, taking all.
I reached the servants stairs and ascended, feeling a pull from upstairs. On the second floor I came to a hall, well apportioned with family paintings, and a few hunting trophies. Gewgaws marked the shelves at the end of the hallway, trinkets from travels past. Again that hand touched my mind, and even cloaked as I was pulled me on to the library. Inside the room books lined the walls, and a small snooker table filled the south corner. A large oaken desk sat to my left. "Warin, please be seated." came Juliets voice. I found her beside me suddenly, startling me slightly. She glided to the chair behind the desk and took it, sitting upright and proper, her green eyes glittering.
"Juliet you are smashing as ususal. Thank you for the invitation, to what do I owe this honor?" I took the seat across from her, studying her petite good looks. She seemed barely older than the Juliet written so grandly of by the great Bard of Avon. Her pale skin and perfect hunters dress complimenting her eyes. Her dark hair was pulled back and braided, leaving her slightly round face unframed. A necklace of gold and opals adorned her neck, two rings with sharp, beautiful stones on her hands. She watched me as a hawk studies the land looking for prey, detached and focused.
"Warin, it has been a busy summer. With the burning of the Hellsfire club, and the various murders in the city before that, keeping the mortals from looking too deeply into kindred business has been...taxing." Juliet replied, her voice barely a whisper, though to my ears it was clearly understood.
"Indeed. The business with the Entent Cordial has stirred the Kaiser to new efforts, and Germany is always creating problems for the Kings men. I have intercepted several dispatches with the Germans trying to make pacts with the Russians, the Bulgars, and the Turks. Their ambassador to the city brought in Horst Gumbal from America, I suspect they also are making deals to place Germany better in the coming war. It is the Great Game." I replied. Part of my mind reacted in shock to what I had just said, confused as to whether these things were true, or just part of a fevered dream from the day. But as the spy soldier here serving my Sire, I knew I had spoken a TRUTH. She cocked her head quizzically.
"I was unaware, I will pass this on to the Prince. I brought you here to ask your service in a matter that is developing." She said, pushing a manila envelope to me. Before I reached for it, I held up a hand.
"I must first make sure there is no spy craft afoot in the room. Let me check." I rose, tilting my head asking permission.
"As you wish. I know you must." She replied to me with a slight nod. Aware of my tics and experience abroad as a spy (or was that a part I played on High street?) she knew I would be driven to distraction until I searched the room. In searching the room I located a valise that held some odd tools, possibly doctors tools, but I was unfamiliar with them.
I set the valise on the desk, then picked up the manila envelope. Juliet said "There were items stolen from the London Museum. The people thought to be behind the theft are the Fitzroy Place gang. The gang leader was broken out of prison a week ago by a figure in red. Guards and dogs didn't detect anyone, and it's ike he just walked out of a full security prison. The full gang was observed buying train tickets to Glasonbury, and leaving town two days ago. You will also find a list of items that were stolen in the envelope."
I opened the envelope and rifled through it. Seeing all the items she listed, I slipped them back into the envelope. She sorted several peices of paper out, spreading them evenly out on the desk. I could see they were dossiers on three people. Pencil sketches showed on the top of each. "I have another matter that I also would like your help with." The first sheet she showed me was of a burly male, who had an aura of rage around him, possitively beastial.
Julia tapped the drawing. "This is Malken Fitzroy. He is a Gangrel and a ship captain that sails between London and the Continent. He is implicated in the burning of the Hellsfire club." She shifted to the next piece of paper "This is Collissa Montpelier, she is a Daughter of Cacophony that has come to the city, she also is suspected of being involved." She shifted to the third sheet, it had the drawing of a man in a duster, looking like a cowboy out of a penny dreadful. "This individual is an American Brujah named Remington Stark. He came to the city this year from America, also implicated in the burning of the club."
"Last but not least is Lord Henry Stern. He seemed to be at the heart of the killings from this summer. While he is not projected to be with the group going to Glastonbury, you should be aware of him. He is a Toreador, about your same age as a vampire. There are rumors he has made the acquaintance of a mage from France, on Stanis Nero. He bears watching." She stated, slipping the last paper aside. "I want you to get to know these people. They seem suspicious to myself and the Prince. I would like you to befriend them and report back to me about them."
"Do you suppose they are German spies?" I asked, seeing each of them taking German bribes in my head, on the damp streets of Berlin.
Why did it have to be Berlin? Gunshots and blood running down a womans pale face and golden hair...her eyes wide and staring into nothing.
Juliet Parr quirked and eyebrow and looked at me speculatively over steepled fingers. "I don't think so, but in this day and time nothing is to be ruled out. Now if you will excuse me, I have other meetings to attend to. Good night Warin."
Something made me look to my left, a sense of movement. When I was next aware I had the feeling time had passed, but I didn't remember what I was doing other than standing. Juliet was gone, with only a handful of poppies on the desk on top of the envelope for me. The house was still, and I could sense the sleeping hearts of the family and their servants. Taking my envelope I walked down the main stairs to where they slept on. I disliked feeding from any but actors, and I had noted several actors earlier this evening, judging by how they were playing their part. I fed lightly, enjoyed their warmth and then passed out into the night again. In the distance I could hear the bells ringing three AM. I shrugged my coat in place and set off for my bolt hole at St. Bernards.
Chapter 2
The next evening I arose in the hospital. Though my resting place was a dark room in the basement I could feel the that the sun had set, and night had returned. I lit a gas lamp and bathed, then changed my clothes. Having access to the hot water of the hospital was refreshing, truely a comfort in these modern times. I left my worn clothes with the Head Doctors clothes to be washed and walked out of the hospital along the mostly quiet corridors.
At Willowby lane I could a cab back towrard into the depths of the city. The hackney rolled along smoothly, and I used the easy rolling motion of the carriage to meditate and feel the night around me. The barking of newspaper boys, and steady hubbub of the city rumbled around me. As we entered the depths of the east end, I sat up with more interest, watching the wretched of the city roll by. I checked the address in my hand again, perplexed. I was deeply surprised that Rebecca Grey would live in this part of the city.
My driver pulled his horse to a stop, stepping down, a blackjack in his hand. "Beggin your pardon Guv'ner, but this is a rough part of town. You sure this is where you want me to drop you?" He was a solid lad, perhaps in his thirties. His hands were rough and calloused. His face slightly flushed with the cool of the evening breeze as he drove.
