Eliza's eyes widened at the mention of Lamech himself. The girl's blood was far stronger than she imagined, and that was intriguing to the former duchess. She was, however, momentarily distracted at the mention of her lovely portraits.
"Oh? I'm so glad you like them." Eliza smiled brilliantly, hopping up from the couch and walking to her portrait with a slight bounce in her step. She turned and did her best to duplicate the pose, standing next to it.
"Of course it's hard to duplicate such sheer perfection, but I'm so very fond of it. I just had it done this very year by a Toreador artist I met in the Mediterranean." The Lasombra gestured to the one of her sire and grinned ruefully. "Yes that is my sire, Adria. We had one done of her too, but she just couldn't stand the blemishes. She wanted it burned, but I told her I just HAD to have it. Personally, I'd rather tolerate a few small defects in paint than risk forgetting just how beautiful we are."
Eliza returned to sit next to Genevieve, resting her hand on her clan-mate's thigh. "Maybe one day we can have one done of you too. You say your grandsire is the King of Shadows himself? How fabulous. Have you... met him? I'm so very curious. I've only been able to imagine what he might be like so far."
The servant simply nods his head and grabs a set of keys from his belt before leading Vezina back through the inn. They pass Vezina's room on the way to the ghouls room and the servant unlocks it. The room looks similar to her own though for some reason something strikes Vezina as odd when she looks the room over.
The servant is still nervous and keeps glancing around as if he's afraid the innkeeper is going to find him looking over the room. He looks at Vezina as if he would like to get back to his duties but he's unsure if he should just leave. For some reason Vezina cannot make herself step into the room almost as if there were some invisible barrier blocking her entrance to the room.
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"It is reassuring to be able to look upon your own visage, especially with our dreadful curse. I suppose it could be worse however, we could have been embraced into one of the low clans."
Genevieve says in regards to the painting, before smiling as Eliza sits back down.
"Unfortunately I have never met him or at least I don't think I have. My sire described him as being nothing more than a living shadow when he met his embrace. The way he described it sounded even more sinister than any use of obtenebration I've ever heard of.
It can be a bit daunting to realize your only one generation removed from such a powerful being. Perhaps some day we will both get the chance to travel to Castel D'Ombro and see the Court of Shadows itself. The quickest way to get such an honor of course is to become more powerful."
Sliding into the darkness that had peeled away to her sight, Anabelle approached the bear quietly. She felt a touch of fear, knowing that if this plan backfired she would well suffer a true death, and it would likely be that no one would discover her corpse for a long time to come.
Standing before the bear, she locked its gaze onto its closed eyes, waiting for the animal to awake, to speak with it, and carefully reached out to set her hand upon its head, gently running her fingers through its fur.
It took only a moment for the implications to register in Vezina's mind as she could not pass the threshold of the room. From her vantage point, she quickly bent her superior perception to glancing into the room, looking for anything noteworthy that might lead to some indication of the innkeeper's whereabouts. A journal perhaps, though she doubted the man might be literate... though perhaps enough to keep a ledger? She was also interested in smells, wanting to get the man's scent so that she might, if necessary, track him as a hound tracks the fox. If she saw anything of note, she would ask the servant to get it for her, commanding him to do so with the power of her blood, if necessary. She had the feeling that a ward against her kind might not pertain to the children of Seth.
Eliza's eyes lit up with awe, imagining the shadowy creature that was her antediluvian. "He sounds magnificent! Dreadful, yes... but still magnificent. So very powerful.."
The Lasombra woman's expression softened when Genevieve explained the pressure to live up to her power. She felt sorry for the woman, being thrust out on her own so early in her unlife, but she also sensed an opportunity.
"It can be daunting especially for one so young. You could think of it as a gift though, the potential to be so powerful. I have some experience to draw from. Perhaps I could help you achieve your potential if you'd like. I could be a mentor for you, perhaps like a stand-in for your sire despite my inability to approach his power or experience of course." Eliza quickly added.
After Genevieve replied, Eliza thought back to her words about the court of shadows. Very intriguing sure, but there was something about the name of the castle. Suddenly a light flashed in Eliza's mind, and her eyes narrowed in concern.
"Please tell me that Castel D'Ombro bears no relation to one D'Ombro of Gravesend, the infamous pirate and slaver..."
The bear is deep in hibernation, barely moving as Anabelle stalks into the cave. She finds it far in the back laying asleep and is able to walk right up to it. The cave is tall enough that she is able to stand and as she puts her hand on the creatures brown fur it stirs. The creature lumbers to it's feet but it stops and looks at the intruder sleepily it's eyes locked with her own. The monster would be roughly the same height as Jourdain if it stood, though it's size is far bigger.
It bellows out a loud growl as if trying to scare her at first but it doesn't attack. It settles down seeming to sense that Anabelle isn't a threat and huffs and barks out a few more times. It seems to be curious why the other creature woke it from it's rest. It doesn't seem to be the brightest creature but that is partially because it is slow from having just woken.
Fun fact of the day. Brown bears went extinct in England shortly after the Norman conquest.
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Vezina picks up a strange scent from within the room, slight as it is. A rare incense that she seems to remember reading about as being used in blood sorcery. The only other items of interest that her keen senses pick up is a small wooden box sitting with a small leather bound book.
It takes some time for Vezina to command the servant to retrieve the book and the box so that she might see them. Eventually she is able to compel him to retrieve the items which he does with little trouble. The ebony box is beautifully carved with letters from several languages, she recognizes the Greek but can make little of it without knowing the other languages. The book is written in what Vezina believes to be German or one of it's derivatives.
The servant having retrieved the items stands looking frightened off to the side of the doorway. He watches Vezina expectantly as she looks over the items as though waiting for further orders.
Yes, another one. The ebony boxes have to do with the main plot.
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Genevieve seems open to the idea of Eliza mentoring her though she doesn't immediately answer in that regard. Even for a Lasombra so young she can tell when to think and when to speak she merely says she'll have to think about such a proposal. She does add that the idea is appealing and that she will consider Eliza to be a close friend and confidante.
At her final question she almost laughs before explaining that D'Ombro the pirate is more of a nickname. She is unsure of his real name though she does indicate that he is likely one of the local Amici Del Nocte along with Jourdain. She supposes the nickname comes from him being of their clan and their ties with shadow rather than having to do with the castle.
I knew I should have come up with a better nickname for the pirate, D'Ombro just means the shadow. Castel D'Ombro, the castle of shadows and the main Lasombra fortress where the antediluvian is rumored to lair, supposedly somewhere near Sicily. They actually have nothing to do with each other, except that he is Lasombra. If you want to know what an Amici Del Nocte is ask your mentor when you get the chance.
Fingers slowly sliding through the creature's fur, Anabelle smiled softly, keeping her eyes locked with the animal's own.
"I am to share this home with you. I am no danger to you. Perhaps you could be a danger to other intruders though," she whispered softly. She hoped this worked, it had been many years since she conversed with a beast, and those times had been simple orders; easy to follow, no complexities. This would be slightly more difficult.
The trace of the rare incense explained the invisible barrier. Blood sorcery -- how strongly she desired that potent knowledge. It was the one birthright of her clan that she regretted having been denied. The flight from the Carpathian mountains of her homeland had rendered Gyulu's own powerful koldunic magics useless. Her sire had spent much of his time in his library, researching whatever hedge magics and rare fragments of references to blood sorcery he could obtain. His desperation to discover a replacement for the power lost made it clear to Vezina that above all other disciplines, she must discover this power for herself. If this ghoul or his master possessed this knowledge, she must have it from them.
She ordered the servant to retrieve the strange box, which she looked over with a cursory glance. This item would need further study in the comfort of her own room in the other inn. Then, once she had figured out as much as she could on her own, she would seek the knowledge of others. Perhaps the Lord Chamberlain himself - or at least his library.
At last she gave attention to the servant himself, doing his best to quell his fear. She needed him to forget the specifics of what he had seen here.
"Walk with me," she said, at this point expecting him to follow without the use of her domination discipline. She took him to the room where her own throat had been slit a night ago and once behind the closed door, fed from him under the guise of an appreciative gesture. She would leave him sleeping on the cot, only taking a small bit of his blood and licking the bite marks cleanly away.
"You have served me well," she told the dazed man as he lay in the stupor of the Kiss.
Wrapping the box underneath the folds of her cloak, Vezina tucked it away and left the Gilded merchant for her own room at the other inn where she was currently staying, and where the rest of the earth that she had not taken with her was hidden. Only once she was safely within her own room and had privacy would she take out the box and examine it as fully as she could.
Eliza is disappointed that Genevieve didn't jump at her offer, but she smiles, nodding to her clan-mate. "Of course darling. No need to rush. Patience is often a sign of wisdom after all."
After hearing that the two D'Ombros weren't related, Eliza looks relieved but also curious. She hasn't expected him to be a member of her own clan of all things, but it did make sense. Eliza noted to herself to perhaps pay D'Ombro a visit at some point.
Eliza leans back on the couch and closes her eyes, listening to the soft purr of the flames on the other side of the room sitting beside Genevieve in the safety of her haven.
The bear seems to enjoy Anabelle petting it's fur. However it does give her a bit of a scare when it puts it's paw up as if to playfully bat at her and easily knocks her down. Before long it settles back down into it's former position and begins to drift back into sleep, leaving her to explore the cave a bit.
The bear seems to understand what Anabelle wants despite it's thought pattern being far different from even her own. It might be more wise to say that the large creature has no problem with the her sharing the cave. It might not help her defend herself from attack but it would certainly defend itself if attacked which should be enough.
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The servant follows her much as she surmised he would and doesn't object at all as she suggests showing her gratitude. The rest of the trip back to her own inn goes smoothly, the two kindred watching the inn giving her barely a cursory glance as she leaves the inn.
Once safely back in her temporary haven she takes the box out to examine it. The small box looks as if it should open though there seems to be some method which even Vezina's keen intellect is missing. The ebony is exquisitely carved in the various languages as she had seen in her cursory examination. The Greek words on the box translate literally as "All-giving" or "All gift".
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"Yes, indeed it has been a long night," Genevieve says lounging beside Eliza before slowly turning her head and smiling.
"I fear I won't have enough time to safely make it back to my own haven for fear of the dreaded sun. Might you be willing to trade a minor boon for a night's stay in your own haven, my dearest friend?"
"Sleep well then you brute," Anabelle whispered with a soft smile, slowly getting back to her feet, rubbing her shoulder where the paw had connected with her flesh.
Walking around the bear, the Scotswoman looked about to see what else the cave had to offer, where she could rest during the daylight, where good defensive positions might be. The place seemed more and more like a home with each step she took across the rocky floor, boots scuffing at dirt.
Eliza opened her eyes and smiled. "Of course you can stay Genevieve."
Getting up from the couch, Eliza walked over to the candelabra and bent down to blow out the candles, leaving only the flickering flame of the torch which she didn't even give a second glance as she walked back and offered Genevieve her hand. "And I insist that you do so in the comfort of my bedroom." Eliza said with a wide smile before leading Genevieve through a large wooden door.
The room was smaller than the main room with no windows and was mostly composed of a large black canopy bed. The wavy curtains draped from the top of the canopy appeared to make the bed covered in shadowy tendrils. The wood itself was also black and thick with intricate carvings, and the blankets were a dark shade of gray. The only other thing of note in the room was the wardrobe that Eliza was standing in front of stark naked as she'd already discarded her deep red dress. After taking some time to fold her dress, Eliza bent down to retrieve a silver nightgown, slipping into it.
Eliza turned, donning her shimmering silver nightgown with another identical one folded in hand. She offered it to Genevieve with a smile and waited as her clan mate got changed if she chose to, sitting on the edge of the bed. Once Genevieve had gotten in bed, Eliza got up and closed the bedroom door, sealing off the last remaining glow of light and crawling onto her bed next to Genevieve. After pulling the covers over herself, Eliza let out a contented sigh, laying on her back as she stared up into the canopy, letting herself fade into the protective shadows until rolling to the side so her lips were next to Genevieve's ear.
The sun quickly rises over London as the cities unknown masters fall into their torporous sleep. The various members of the latest coterie of kindred fall asleep wondering what the next night will bring.
