Jakob had left the ranch in Montana some time ago, beginning the rounds of checking in on the spy network he maintained. He’d long since taken over the portions that the rest of his now-former coterie had controlled, dealing with the network more expertly and effectively than they had. While few of them were ghouled anymore, all of them had been at one point to enforce loyalty via the blood bond, and he visited in person often enough to keep it enforced.
Presently, he found himself at a pawn shop in Chicago, waiting for the executor to close shop, so business could be handled. While things were being wrapped up, he browsed, until the last customer left, and the door had been locked. They then talked, going over what news there was to be had. Jakob thanked him, and headed for the back door, pausing when he heard the proprietor mutter, grumbling about not being his own boss anymore. Slowly, silently, Jakob walked back.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Fucking Christ, don’t do that!” the proprietor snapped.
Jakob ignored him. “I asked a question.”
“I didn’t say anything.” he said, with a slight sneer.
Jakob simply stared at him, making a few slow, methodical tsks. With this one, intimidation was best when discipline was warranted. The proprietor looked unnerved.
“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Jakob said. “I heard what you said.” With a rush of movement, he was behind the proprietor – Kevin was his name, he happened to think – and he had him by the back of the neck, and his head was rapidly meeting the glass countertop of the jewelry counter in front of him. “Now – apologize.” he said.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Jeremy sputtered, the product of his fear beginning to dribble down his leg.
“Good.” he said, releasing him and taking a step back. “Don’t forget to work on that order for Avery, you hear me?”
“Y-yea, yea. Sure.” he said, his hands shaking slightly as he returned to end of night duties.
Jakob walked away, his footsteps heavy, and then finally the back door opened and closed shut. Kevin breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and began talking to himself as he counted down the money from the drawer and making note of it. “Fucking faggot. Like hell I’m going to do work for that fucking flamboyant Mexican motherfucker.”
A growl sounded from behind him, and he suddenly found himself planted against the counter again. Jakob was on full vampiric display, fearsome and angry. “Fist of all, you fuck,” he began, “Avery is Spanish, not Mexican, you racist twat.” he continued, slamming Kevin’s head into the counter with each next word for emphasis. “Second of all,” he yanked Kevin’s head back, and with a swift, angry motion, he grabbed the other man’s attention. “Secondly, gay or not, Avery’s a better man than you’ll ever be.” he said, snapping the guy’s neck as he slammed his upper body through the jewelry counter.
The silence that followed could almost have been considered deafening, were it not for the ticking of some clocks.
“Ah, fuck.” Jakob said aloud, when he realized Kevin was dead. “Avery’s gonna kill me.” he said, muttering to himself as he did his best to cover his tracks by destroying security footage and making it look like a robbery. Kevin had been a favorite for leads on items Avery occasionally liked to collect. Well – time to find a new guy he thought to himself, jotting that note down into his phone once he got back to his hotel room.
His next stop was New York, Montreal, and finally Los Angeles, to get a bead on the latest news. Once in New York, he checked in with Gabriel to make sure things at the ranch were running smoothly, then got to work, touching base with contacts, the spy network, and generally playing nice.
It wasn’t until he got to Los Angeles that he heard about the successful expansion of Anarch territory. He grinned at that news, it was about damn time, too, he felt. Though, when he heard that the new territory was Las Vegas, he grew concerned. Avery, he knew, had been tapped by a Justicar to take over the territory, though he was unclear on the details as to why he needed to be tapped. Since Avery had left with his main pair of wolves, Jakob hadn’t heard from him. It hadn’t been a concern until now, as Jakob figured that Avery was busy getting things. But now? Why were things suddenly Anarch? What had happened to Avery?
He picked up his phone and dialed Avery, but only got voicemail. He kept trying, growing increasingly more concerned that Avery didn’t answer, though he tried telling himself that the phone had probably run out of charge.
“Dammit!” he yelled, chucking his phone. Fortunately, it landed on the bed instead of embedding itself into the nearest wall. Snatching it back up, he looked up travel times to see how long it would take to get to Las Vegas, and grumbled when he realized he’d barely have time to get there if he drove. Instead, he scrambled to get a plane, chartering the next flight out headed that way – he didn’t care about the cost, and it wasn’t like he was limited on funds anyway.
By the time the Uber got him to the airport, he barely had enough time to catch his flight, but he managed to make it. While on the flight, he made arrangements for him to stay at a hotel near the airport, simply for sake of time. He’d have enough time to secure the room before he had to bed down for the day, and the next night he’d begin hunting up information on what had happened, hoping to arm himself with enough knowledge to rescue Avery, if that were the case.
When he landed, he was grouchy, though he took no notice of it. Everyone around him came across about as sophisticated as a New York cabbie on a hot night with broken air conditioning in the car, bad traffic and a shift full of shitty fares. He remained singularly focused, though, on getting to his room, sealing it off, and bedding down. Tomorrow he would track down a vampire or a ghoul, and begin to ask questions.
The following evening, Jakob checked out of the crappy little motel and hit the streets, trying the usual sorts of haunts for vampires and their servants. Eventually, he ran across a vampire, a meek little thing making their way toward the strip after feeding. He was the first supernatural of any kind that Jakob had spotted so far, and he was trying not to let that fact worry him further.
Approaching him from behind, he whispered. “So what’s new in town?” The vampire jumped, startled, and hissed reflexively, trying to use Presence on h im, but failing. “Relax, friend. I’m new in town. Just want info. I can make it worth your while.” he said, flashing some cash.
“What do you want to know?” the younger guy asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Why is the city no longer Cam, for starters.” Jakob stated.
“Prince announced that, he and some Sabbat he partnered with, along with Smilin’ Jack, are turning the city Anarch. Told everyone that didn’t want to be here to get out, had the night. That was about a week ago.”
“Anyone of note?” Jakob asked, trying to be patient.
“A guy named Brandon Decacious.” he said.
Jakob raised an eyebrow. “Is the Prince even still alive?”
“Yea, yea. Like I said, he’s the one that switched over. He’s still runnin’ things, I think.”
“Know where I can find him?” Jakob asked, slowly peeling bills off a wad, watching as the vampire’s eyes fixated on the cash.
“I heard rumor he stays at the Montecito. Dunno more than that.” the vampire said.
Jakob peeled off a few more bills, and tossed them at the vampire’s feet. “Thanks.” he said, turning to walk away, quickly – before the other vampire could notice he was gone. It was worrying, hearing that Avery was working with Brandon. Brandon had quite the reputation as long as Jakob had started hearing of him centuries ago, and he was worried about Avery all over again. A tiny part of his brain whispered to him; what if it’s a Vlad situation all over again?
Growling, he balled his fists and walked toward the strip to find the Montecito. He’d gotten a block away, when a discarded newspaper caught his eye. Forty-seven dead it proclaimed. There was a photo as well, of a woman strapped to a cross. He studied the pic intently before reading the accompanying article, then scrambled to find a local newscast on YouTube, Vimeo, or somewhere that covered what the article was discussing. Sure enough, it showed what the articled had described – the woman bursting into flames. “Well, this is a shit-show.” he muttered. He continued on, more determined than ever. Just as he spotted the Montecito, however, the city’s bright lights went dead. The sudden pitch-black put people into a panic, and avoided the panicking cattle as he made his way toward the building he needed to go to. Power was out, but he still had a task. Oddly enough, the light at the Luxor was still on, and it gave him pause for a moment, but he put it at the back of his mind.
By the time he reached the Montecito, lights were back on, people were talking and calming down, going back to their gambling. His eyes scanned the hotel in short spurts, again trying to find a ghoul or vampire he could question. After a while of looking lost, he was approached by a pretty Latina security guard. “Can I help you, sir?”
Jakob looked at her, automatically putting on a smile and turning on the charm. “Um, yes.” he glanced at her uniform for a name tag, before returning his attention to her face. “Alyssa, is it? I’m actually trying to find someone. I was supposed to meet them here, but unfortunately I’ve forgotten exactly where we were supposed to meet.”
She looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but then smiled in return. “I’ll see if I can find someone to help you, Mr…?”
“Messner.” he responded.
“Mr. Messner. I’ll lead you to one of the bars where you can wait. I’ll send someone to find you.” she responded, still smiling. He took a moment to pass her a flirtatious compliment, one which made her blush slightly, and watched as she walked away, talking into a walkie on her shoulder after a moment.
Haven’t seen a mami that pretty in a while, he thought to himself as he approached the bar. He ordered a drink, just a shot, since he wasn’t keen on doing more than was necessary to blend in, despite being able to eat and drink fine. It took some time, but a man eventually approached him.
“Mr. Messner? My name is Danny McCoy. I was told you’re trying to locate someone. Maybe I can help. Can you give me a name, maybe a description?”
Jakob took a minute to study Danny, disguising the moment behind the last of his drink. “Avery Guerrero.” he said, noting the slight change in Danny’s stature, before he gave the description.
“Well, Mr. Messner, I’ll see if I can find him for you. Is there anything we can offer you while you wait? Complimentary meal at one of our restaurants, a line of credit, perhaps?”
“I’ll do a bit of gambling. Blackjack, I think.” Jakob responded.
“Very good. I’ll have someone see if Mr. Guerrero is in the casino for you.”
“Danke.” he said, using German as another hint for Avery – assuming he could be found.
After Danny walked away, he did in fact head to a blackjack table, but only idly gambled as he waited, trying not to betray his impatience. Eventually, Danny returned with a couple of other men.
“Mr. Messner, can you follow me please?” Danny asked.
Jakob got up from the table, collecting his chips and pocketing them before following. He suspected that he was about to be detained – and he was right. This only served to raise further questions for him. He was left there for a while, but eventually the door clicked open, and an older man walked in.
“Mr. Messner…” he paused for a moment. “Is there another name I can call you?”
“Jakob.”
“Jakob, I’m Ed Deline, I own this casino. What I’d like to ask is what you want with this supposed friend of yours, someone who intensely values his privacy.”
“I promise you, Avery knows me.” Jakob indicated.
“Well sure, that’s what you say, but I have no proof of this, and if he has nothing to go by, he won’t be meeting you.” Ed said.
Jakob studied Ed for a moment, determining he was a ghoul. “Mr. Deline,” he began. “If I give you a question to ask him, would you relay it, and see if he’ll agree to meet with me?”
“I’ll give it a shot.” the older man said casually.
“Ask him this – ask him if I finally apologize properly for Carmen, will he stop reminding me of why Vlad was called the Impaler?”
Ed looked at him like he might be crazy, then reiterated the statement before saying he’d return. Jakob idled in the detainment room, bored. He’d had his cell taken away as a precaution, so there were nothing for him to do. So, he composed a drumbeat while he waited, to annoy those keeping watch on him if nothing else. He was irritable at the moment, and needed some kind of outlet so that he didn’t go off in a display of power.
Eventually, Danny returned. “Follow me up to the nest.” he said, handing Jakob’s phone back. He pocketed the phone as he followed Danny, and headed into what appeared to be the security control room. There, in the center of the room, talking to an Asian kid sitting at a large rack of computers, was Avery.
Ass. He waited for Avery to notice him. Hopefully, Jakob’s patience would hold out, because right now, he wanted to clock Avery for making him worry.