29 - Vampire the Masquerade
The Ankaran Sarcophagus
At this point, I wasn"t sure how much my cab driver knew. He claimed to be working for the prince, and I had no doubt that he was reporting my activities to LaCroix. I figured the prince knew about Wesley and my haven in Malibu. He probably also knew that I had a car. But I had kept him out of the loop concerning the Giovanni estate. Every trip we made there we used Wesley"s Mazda.
We were ready. Both of us were taking our weapons. In addition, Bertram had gotten us six blood packs. We were carrying them as well. Oh, and I had purchased a new backpack. We jumped into Wesley"s truck and headed up to the estate.
We parked the truck just below the bend in the road that led to the driveway and walked. There was a goon standing guard outside of the garage. Another goon came out of the mansion and gave him some orders. The first goon disappeared into the garage. We went in and I dropped him into a trance. Next Wesley and I found some rope and bound and gagged the guy. Then we went to the secret door.
"Here"s the deal," I instructed Wesley. "Stay about ten yards or so behind me. If I find the sarcophagus, I will yell. If you think that I am in trouble, you jump in. But be quiet and don"t do anything stupid."
"Gotcha," Wesley said.
The passageway was about ten feet tall and ten feet wide. That was plenty of room for the sarcophagus. It sloped gently down and, about half way in, turned to the left. I figured we were heading to the mansion, and I was right.
The tunnel leveled, and the walls were wet. I figured we were under the gardens. Then it opened into a large, circular sub-basement. There, at the far end, sat my prize. There were two doors, one on my right and one on my left. As I walked toward the sarcophagus, two Chinese vampires came out of the doors. Kuei-Jin. No doubt about it.
"You!" one shouted. "Your presence here violates the agreement between Prince LaCroix and our mistress, Ming Jaio. Leave immediately!"
"Listen," I explained, "I don"t know anything about any agreement between the prince and Ming Jaio. My mission is to recover the sarcophagus. And I intend to do that. You have a problem with that?"
"Leave now!" the other vampire commanded. "Leave, or suffer the Final Death!"
"No way, Jose!"
Well, the three of us closed. I had my katana, and went to work. One of the vampires had a katana, and the other had some sort of claws on his hands. And they started to cut me. I yelled for Wesley, and he jumped into the fight.
Now I knew that Wesley was a Brujah for sure. He came in with the shotgun loaded and ready. And he put a round right into the head of the guy with the claws. There was a pause of a few seconds, and I heard the shotgun fire again. Wesley"s guy turned to ash.
But the pair had done some damage to me before Wesley had jumped in. I was really bleeding. I was using my katana. My enemy had a regular katana, and I could not get close to him. Things were looking dicey.
I didn"t know how much blood I had lost, but I figured I had one chance. I hit him with trance. He stopped, and laughed at me.
"Foolish Kindred!" he shouted. "You think your powers can harm me? I am too old, and too strong!"
His stopping was his mistake. Wesley put a round in his head, and that forced him to his knees. I put my katana in his heart, and then Wesley put another round in his head. He was gone.
"Better use some blood packs," Wesley said. "You look bad. Real bad."
I was weak. They had cut me, and some of the cuts had healed but not nearly enough. I grabbed two blood packs out of my backpack and chugged them. I sank to my knees. I could feel the healing process ramp itself up, but I knew that it would take some time. I sort of caught my breath and then stood, looking at Wesley.
"Let"s get this damned thing out of here," I said. "I don"t know if anyone heard those shots or not, but if anyone did we are in a hell of a lot of trouble."
Well, Wesley and I worked the sarcophagus up the tunnel and into the garage. Next Wesley ran down to get the truck, and I stood guard. About this time three goons left the house and started walking toward the garage. I was angry. All this trouble, with me almost getting the Final Death, to get the sarcophagus, and three goons were going to stop me. No way in hell. I was mad. I grabbed my McCluskey.
I crouched low, beside one of the limos, and watched them enter. I was low on blood, but the bleeding had stopped. I did need to feed. I decided to take a chance.
I dropped trance on the closest one, and hit the next with purge. When he vomited, I put two rounds from the McCluskey into his head. The third fired a round from his pistol into me, but I think the Beast took over. I fed, and I drained him. I fed on the guy in the trance, and, when I was full, I broke his neck.
I knew someone had heard the shots. I didn"t care. I watched for the truck. After a few seconds, it appeared. I was still pumped. I think the Beast was still active. I grabbed the sarcophagus and loaded it by myself and then I jumped into the passenger seat.
"Get the fuck out of here!" I shouted.
Wesley didn"t say a word. He drove the truck down the road as fast as he could take it. We headed to Malibu. I finally had the sarcophagus.
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Don Roble
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Jack
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