Jakob hadn’t been here more than a day, but so far, Phoenix wasn’t too bad, and he had missed Avery — though he wasn’t about to tell him that. He leaned back in the armchair, holding a book with one hand while the other draped over the armrest, idly scratching one of Avery’s pups on the head. His arrival had been a surprise for Avery, and the way his face lit up when he saw Jakob and the pups was priceless. Jakob chalked it up to him having missed the pups, though a secret part of him even he wasn’t aware of hoped that maybe, just maybe, that look had been for him.
After a while, he snapped the book shut. The wolf next to him lifted his head, then laid back down when they realized there was no trouble. Jakob’s issue was that he had lost focus, and needed to regain it. He set the book down before getting up, then grabbed the keys to his rental vehicle, and headed out.
Avery was tending to business, and Jakob still didn’t understand why he’d taken the job — a talk to have at a later time. Now would be a good time to get a feel for the city, and its citizens. Earlier, he’d taken the time to figure out where some good places that other Kindred might conjugate could be, and combined that with a couple places Avery had mentioned. The first place on his list was a place called Arcadia — a place highly rated by Avery, as well as the city at large.
He stood in line, more or less patiently waiting to be reviewed by the bouncer before he was permitted entrance. While waiting, he looked with some measure of disgust at the group across the way, peddling their faith like good little lemmings. Upon getting close enough, he studied the bouncer. He was a big guy, older, and seemed to take his job seriously. I could take him, Jakob thought before idly turning on Auspex, discovering that the man was a ghoul. He cast aside the thought, not wanting to cause trouble — not that he was looking to start a fight, even if it had been a while since he’d had a good bash.
Most of the other patrons had been let in, but a few were given colored bracelets. He figured they were to mark underage patrons, until he saw a rainbow one being handed out. Frowning, he tried to puzzle it out, and in doing so got nudged from behind when he took too long to approach the bouncer. For his part, the bouncer was patient, and snapped at the patron behind him, sending him to the back of the line.
“Sorry about that.” Jakob offered.
“It’s alright.” the bouncer replied. “ID?”
Jakob took a moment to fish for it and hand it over. The bouncer studied it a moment, then looked at him, nodded, and handed him a red and black bracelet.
“Have a good night.” he said.
Jakob nodded, and slipped the bracelet on before heading inside. The interior was grand, if eclectic. Not his particular style, but he could see the appeal. He moved through the main floor, scanning the patrons with Auspex, and finding himself somewhat surprised at the results. Kindred and Fae alike mixed with mortals, and overall, everything seemed…fine? Intrigued, he moved through the club, wanting to explore it to its fullest.
The separate rooms were interesting, with his personal appeal being the Sidhe room. He found the Fantasy Tavern somewhat amusing, as it vaguely reminded him of a tavern from his mortal days, when he was womanizing it up back in Germany. The roof was a sight to behold, and he explored it to as much extent as he could without bothering other patrons, before heading back down to the main floor. I should feed, he thought, looking at the patrons on the dance floor. He thought better of it, however, not wanting to upset the owner, even though Avery had mentioned there were no specific feeding grounds set up yet.
Not being much of a dancer, he didn’t linger any longer, though he smiled and appreciated the view of all the pretty people that were in attendance. As he exited, he removed the keys from his pocket, heading toward the parking lot. He was passing the Lemmings, when one of them thrust a pamphlet at him and began their speech. Annoyed, he took a pamphlet, and, with an inner smirk, decided to h ear them out. If he couldn’t fight physically, he might as well fight theologically. He felt he might enjoy picking apart their faith, though he doubted he’d turn many to atheism.
He certainly got some of them riled up a bit, though they kept deferring to a Prophet, something he dismissed as hyperbole. Jakob thrust the pamphlet back at one of them, saying a few final words before leaving. As he did so, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to look. The woman standing there was studying him, smiling in a slight, playful way. She stood at roughly 5’7”, he guessed, dressed in a par of black jeans, and a very low cut black tank top underneath a light black jacket. Overall she was lightly accented with a silver necklace, drop earrings, and a stud in her left nostril. Her skin was smooth and barely pale, eyes a pale green, hair short, platinum blonde, and shaved on one side.
He smiled a little, walking away from the Lemmings and toward her. “Can I help you?”
She just continued with that lazy smile. “Just wondering who the new guy is.” she said, her voice honeyed as she eyed him up and down.
“No one of consequence.” came Jakob’s response. He assumed she was Kindred, and this was confirmed after he inspected her aura.
“Have you been to introduce yourself yet?” she fairly purred at him, moving closer, brushing her fingers against his shirt.
She has an agenda, he thought to himself, but played along. Besides — if she pointed him to Elysium, so much the better for his own agenda.
“I tell you what.” she said, walking her finger up his chest. “Show me a good time, and I’ll tell you where you need to go.”
He frowned slightly, then gently removed her hand from his person. “No, I think you need to tell me where I need to go.” he squeezed her wrist. “Now.”
She winced. “Alright, alright, let go!” she finally said, when he was close to breaking bone.
“What’s your name?” he asked, letting go.
“Tina.” she grumbled, pulling her arm close to her and rubbing her wrist. “You want to go to the Chase building. It’s downtown. I don’t know if who you need to talk to is there or not, but that’s where things should be happening. Someone there might know more.”
“Thank you, Tina.” he said, turning, and continuing his way to the parking lot.
“Asshole.” she muttered under her breath, stalking off towards the entrance to the club.
Jakob climbed into the rental, a sleek blue sedan, and took a moment to look up directions to the building in question. Once obtained, he had his phone’s GPS navigate him in that direction. Upon arrival, he noted several other vehicles in the lot. After he parked, he opted to look around the neighborhood and hunt. His preference for feeding was the age-old seduction method, however for now he was just planning to stalk his prey, get them to an out-of-the-way locale, and take what he needed and send them on their way.
Task complete, he made his way back to the Chase building, bypassed the ghouled guards after inspection, and headed up to where they directed him — the main Elysium floor. He noted a hallway that left off to what appeared to be offices, but the main focus was a large, open area where perhaps a dozen and change other Kindred had gathered. After assessing, he stepped into the room, and began taking everything in. It was easy to tell who the Nosferatu were, and Brujah typically weren’t difficult to spot either. The others were more difficult to discern, but that didn’t matter right now. Right now, he wanted to know about the city, and the easiest way to do that was to start talking to people.
But where to start?
Avery was nowhere to be found, but he didn’t want to speak to Avery. He was new, and while he may know about what occurred before his arrival, Jakob wanted to know from the people that lived here, and see what they thought of Avery. The best place to begin then, he felt, was to see if he could find the Harpy.
“You’re new.” a voice sounded from behind him.
Jakob sighed internally. He needed to be more alert — he didn’t like people sneaking up on him.
“Yes.” he admitted, turning to face the man that spoke up behind him. The other man was tall, roughly his own height, with dark hair cropped close to his head, pale green eyes, and dressed in business casual wear — dark gray slacks with a plum colored buttoned shirt.
“Have you met with Avery?” the other man asked.
“Avery knows I’m here.” Jakob replied casually.
“Does he? I don’t know that he’s had time to meet with anyone.” the other man responded, placing his hands in his pockets.
“He does. What’s it matter to you?” he inquired.
“I would be the Sheriff.” the other man said calmly.
“Oh, well. I’m Jakob.” he said, offering a hand.
“Adam.” the other man said, taking the proffered hand, shaking it. “Is there anything you need help with?”
Jakob idly shrugged. “Just trying to learn more about Phoenix. Just wondering who the best person to talk to about that would be.”
“I could give some information.” he offered.
“Thank you — that’d be helpful.” he responded.
Adam gestured for him to sit down, and Jakob sat across from him, away from the bulk of the others. Adam began to speak to Jakob matter-of-factly about the city, though it was mostly a brief history lesson — nothing terribly interesting to Jakob. That is, until he mentioned that the Avery was the third Prince to rule within the last ten years, though he elaborated no further.
Jakob wanted to question more on the topic, but someone was approaching. Quickly, he asked one simple thing. “Is the Harpy here?”
Adam nodded, and indicated a smartly dressed white-haired African-American male, who was carrying a notebook with him. Jakob managed a thank you before excusing himself, then made his way toward the Harpy.
“Are you the Harpy?” he asked politely.
“Indeed I am.” the other man replied with a smile. “Who might you be?”
“Jakob.” he replied. “I’m new.”
“Ah! Wonderful to meet you, then. How can I help you?” he inquired.
Jakob smiled. “I was hoping to hear more about the city — what the Prince is like, why there have been so many Princes in such a short of time, and about the people here.”
“I’d be happy to help. I’m Thomas, by the way.” he said, offering a hand.
Jakob nodded, and took the hand, giving it a firm, shake before letting Thomas speak — at length — about citizens of note. He pointed out current and former Primogen, Avery’s rules versus the previous Prince’s rules, and how things had spiraled with the last Prince. Jakob was intrigued by this information, as well as to learn that Adam had been the former Prince. He wondered at Avery for marking him into a position of power at all.
Jakob asked plenty of questions, and politely requested that Thomas point out people in the room he hand’t mentioned already, and to give some information about them, before asking about Thomas himself. Lastly, after a lengthy conversation, he asked about where the locals liked to hang out. Conversation over, he excused himself. A plan had formed in his mind to learn more information — he would talk to the elders of the city, as well as the neonates; fledglings would be better, if he could find any.
Mulling it over, he made a decision. He knew from Avery’s discussions with him that Vincent Dramore was in town. Not a pleasant thing, but h e’d also heard through his connections that said Gangrel had sired childer recently. Who they were and to what purpose he sired them was unknown, but Jakob felt it would be interesting to find out — so he asked around about Vince and his childer, namely from the Nosferatu, getting some interesting information, including how to track them down. Their asking price wasn’t too paid, and because he paid generously, they threw in some extra information he asked about.
Once more, he climbed into the rental, plugging some information into his GPS before driving. After some time, he pulled up into an upscale neighborhood, in front of a white, modern style house. He took a moment to double-check the address as he parked, and, after confirming it was the right place, stepped out of the vehicle, and approached the door. One, two, three knocks, and he waited. After some time, he heard someone approaching. Answering the door was a tall man, pale, appearing to be in his twenties, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved light gray shirt. Short, caramel blonde hair framed a handsome face, occupied by stubble, a set of brown eyes staring at him questioningly.
“Uhh…hi?” he asked.
Jakob smiled…perhaps a touch unsettlingly. “I’m looking for one Ryan Walker. He’s supposed to live here.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Who are you?” he said.
Jakob noticed him gripping the door handle a little tighter. Probably preparing to close the door, he thought. “Jakob. I’m a friend of Avery’s.”
“Oh.” Ryan said, looking puzzled. “Did he send you?”
“Maybe.” Jakob said, still smiling. “May I come in?”
“I guess?” Ryan said, sounding a little helpless. He opened the door further, enough so that Jakob could enter, and closed the door behind him. Ryan led him through the house, past a room on the left that, after peeking through the door, appeared to be a home gym, then some stairs leading up. There were a couple rooms beyond that with closed doors, but they ruined to the right and there, past a divider, was what must be the living room, where three other people sat.
“The four of you must be Vince’s other childer.” Jakob said.
“Maybe. What of it?” asked a redheaded male.
Jakob only smirked. “Rick Evans, I presume?” he then looked around the rest of the room. “Ned Myers, Ashley Foster, and of course, Ryan Walker.”
“How do you know us?” Ashley asked.
Jakob just shrugged, deciding he might toy with them a little, until he learned more. He dropped the smile, studying each of them in turn as he put his hands in his pockets.
“I know a lot of things, Little Miss Gamer Girl.” he said to her.
“What do you want with us?” Rick asked, his tone one of annoyance.
“To talk.” he responded.
“About…?” Rick continued.
“I need a reason.” Jakob responded.
“A reason for what?” Ned said, annoyed that Jakob was blocking the television.
“To not seek recompense.” he stated simply.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ryan wondered.
“Your sire did me a great disservice, to put it mildly.” Jakob said.
“Oh. I get it now. You want a reason to not seek revenge.” Rick replied.
“Bingo.” Jakob said, finally taking a seat. “First thing’s first. I understand Vince embraced all four of you in the same night. Why? Why you?”
They all looked at each other. Rick folded his arms over his chest, keeping quiet, as did the others. That was, until Ned opened his mouth.
“I guess it’s Nick’s fault, really.” he said. Ashley smacked him upside the head.
“Dammit, Ned, I’m going to kill you.” growled Ryan. He sighed.
“Let me get this straight.” Jakob interrupted. “You were embraced because of someone else?”
They looked at each other and nodded, before Ryan spoke up. “In short, Vince got permission to embrace us. He chose to do so, in order to keep us from being killed.”
“Now make it make sense.” Jakob said, beginning to put the pieces together.
“We were a possible Masquerade violation.” Ryan continued.
“I see. I suppose that makes sense — if it were anyone but Vince.” Jakob said.
“Not that I care, Vince is an asshole, but what do you have against him? What’d he do to you?” Rick asked.
“I encountered him once before, long ago. He left nothing but destruction in my territory when he passed though it.” Jakob said, his memory drifting back to the trail of blood and ashes that had been left in the man’s wake.
“What does that have to do with us?” Ned asked. Ashley sighed and lightly thumped him on the head. “Owww.” he muttered, rubbing his head. Jakob watched as she leaned in to give him a brief kiss on the cheek.
“How does Vince feel about the lot of you?” Jakob asked.
“Who the hell knows. He sure as shit doesn’t bother with us.” Rick piped up. The rest nodded in agreement.
“Then you have nothing to worry about from me.” Jakob promised. “Though I have to ask…do you even have a mentor?”
They all shook their head. “We’re kind of left on our own, though we haven’t been formally released or anything.” Ashley commented.
“You should work on that.” Jakob said, rolling an idea over in his head. He wasn’t Gangrel like they were. But, depending on personality and temperament, he might be willing to teach a thing or to. If he stayed, that is.
“Are you done with us?” Ashley asked.
Jakob shook his head. “I want you to tell me about yourselves. About this city. About anything you think a new guy might find interesting. Apologies for the veiled threat, by the way.”
“Can you just leave?” Ned grumbled, grumpy because he was missing his show due to Jakob’s presence.
“I’ll leave after we talk.” Jakob stated.
“You said Avery sent you?” Ryan asked.
“No, I said I was a friend of his.” Jakob corrected.
“Well, I guess we wouldn’t want to piss off the Prince.” Rick said, half sarcastically.
Jakob was amused, but he kept a neutral expression. “Problems with Avery?”
“Not really.” Ryan said. “Unless you count the cookie deliveries.
“Cookies?” he asked.
“Avery seems to have a habit of delivering these cookies that kinda pertain to recent events. No clue how he knows, but…” Ryan shrugged.
“Does he deliver them often?” Jakob asked, making a mental note to ask Avery about it.
“Just the once to me, but they were meant for Nick. Actually…it’s mostly been Nick and a couple of our other friends getting them.” Ryan said.
“Any idea what he means by it?” Rick asked.
“No, but I’m sure he has his reasons. Now — on to learning more about you and this city, if that’s alright.” Jakob stated.
They looked at each other, and after a moment, nodded in agreement before beginning to talk. Mostly, they spoke of their own experiences, and it was clear from how they talked that they hadn’t lied about Vince being uninvolved with them. In fact, they were rather bitter when it came to the topic of Vince at all, so there was no love lost there.
By observing them, he could tell that there was a pecking order of sorts. Rick was at the top, with Ned at the bottom. Ashley was partnered with Ned, and Ryan was just above Ashley in the picking order. They were for certain a friend group before their Embrace, though they did not go into any further details about that. They did, however, speak of others in the city that knew, or knew of, as well as what they knew of goings-on in the city. Through their in-between banter, he was able to pick up that Rick had a knack for the political game, or at least earning boons. Ryan had connections to the newest Fledglings in town, the childer of the former Ventrue Primogen.
Their education overall was sparse, and sorely lacking in some areas, from what he could determine. As for Avery, they really were indifferent, and as far as his policies went, found them vastly better than Adam’s policies. After speaking, he thanked them, and headed out. Now would be the somewhat more difficult task of tracking some Elders to speak with. Thomas had pointed out the former Primogen who were present at Elysium earlier, however the one man he was interested in talking to had not been present. Fortunately, he’d received information from the Nosferatu when he spoke to them earlier. Still sitting in front of where he had spoken to the Fledgling’s, he looked up the address he had been given before heading that way.
The address in question was modest for its size, at least from the outside, though based on the reputation of its owner, he suspected it would be much different on the inside. This assumption was correct when he was granted entry by the home’s well-dressed servant. Per instruction, he waited in the large foyer, and took the time to study what he could see of the ostentatious decor. Several moments later, the servant returned, and bade him to follow. The rest of the house, he could see, was just as ostentatious as the entrance.
He was led to a set of double doors, only one of which were currently open. The servant stopped, knocking on the open door to announce his presence before Jakob was allowed in. Now that he had permission, Jakob entered was evidently an office, the centerpiece of which was a large desk. There were bookshelves on the walls, and at a quick glance they appeared to be law books, which made sense, considering what Jakob had heard about the man before him, who stood and offered a hand to Jakob. They shook hands briefly before they both sat.
“Emilio says your name is Jakob?” Brandon asked.
“Yes. Thank you for seeing me.” Jakob responded.
“Of course. How can I help?” Brandon offered.
“I was hoping to get your insight on the city, and some of the people in it — being a former Primogen and all.” Jakob inquired.
“New in town?” came Brandon’s next question.
Jakob nodded.
“Thinking of moving?” Brandon continued.
“Potentially.” Jakob replied.
“Have you presented yourself to the Prince?” Brandon said.
“He knows I’m here.” Jakob said, somewhat lazily.
“Is there anything in particular you’re trying to find out?” he asked.
“I want to know if it’s worth it to settle.” Jakob stated.
Brandon studied Jakob the briefest of moments before describing the city as a place that seems to h ave a certain effect on people — that of wanting to calm down, or settle. That there was always something going on, but never anything earth-shattering. Politics, he mentioned, played their part, but most of the time it wasn’t anything you couldn’t let others handle. When Jakob asked after Vince and Avery, Brandon was more curious, and asked about payment for information. Jakob offered up a boon, but it wasn’t accepted — Brandon was merely testing him.
After the test, Brandon was very up front with information on Vince, explaining that they were good friends, that Vince’s current demeanor was different from his past, and how that came to be, even mentioning he was married. He was still impulsive and stubborn, and his reputation was still valid. As for Avery, Brandon found him interesting and idealistic, playing at mysterious and mostly succeeding. Arcadia and Tavi were mentioned as people Avery had been spending time with, even suggesting Avery was cozying up to the owner.
This…displeased Jakob, and his faced fell slightly, though he quickly recovered. He knew Avery was gay, but the idea? The idea did not sit well. Brandon must have noticed, however, as he mentioned Tavi being attractive, and the rumors about her and working her way up politically. After taunting Jakob a little with these remarks, then, and only then, did he question why it bothered Jakob. He cleared the air a little, explaining that Avery was a friend. Accepting that answer, Brandon proceeded to give his honest assessment of Avery — that he thought Avery was what the city needed.
Throughout the rest of the discussion, Jakob learned other things — such as why Brandon had become Camarilla, a little about Adam, a place where he could stay if he needed to, and explained that Tavi and her coterie were some of, if not the major movers and shakers in town. The topic of Vince’s childer came up, and a little information was given about a name that Jakob had heard earlier when he had been speaking with the Fledglings — Nick.
The topic then shifted to this coterie Avery had been spending time with. Tavi, he learned, was a Malkavian with DID, and one of those others was Brandon’s lover, and yet another was Vince’s spouse. Brandon, in no uncertain terms, gave a clear threat should Avery try to take Paxton away from him. Pivoting to other topics, they then discussed things that had happened under Adam’s rule, some places to visit, and some other names to talk to — Makya, Rachel, and Bethany were specifically mentioned. He learned, too, that Tavi’s coterie had powerful allies, and he was warned not to move against them. He thanked Brandon, and they parted for the evening, bidding one another a good night as Brandon saw Jakob to the door. Once in the car, Jakob mulled over where to go next. Getting more information on this coterie was next on his agenda, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to head back to Arcadia that night.
Most prevalent on his mind, were two things disturbing him. Most importantly, that an ancient vampire resided within the city, and was allied with this coterie. Also of importance, at least to him personally, was that Brandon knew. He knew Jakob cared for Avery, and though he had promised to keep that secret, Jakob wasn’t sure he should trust him on that.
Starting the car, he drove back towards his hotel. Foremost on his mind, by no fault of his own, was the time, centuries ago, when Avery had slept with Vlad. It had angered him so much, and he still didn’t fully grasp why. Avery was a friend, a very good friend, and Jakob owed Avery his life for saving him from the Inquisition all that time ago. But was that really why he’d spent most of the last centuries staying with Avery?
He pulled up to the hotel, stepping out of the car. He looked around, almost wondering if Avery would appear. After what felt like a long moment, and signs of no one, he headed inside, giving the wolf that had been at his side earlier a pat on the head. He was distracted, and had some contemplating to do.
Tomorrow night would be a fit enough time to look into this coterie more.