Lofty Towers (Open)

Making her way through campus, Esther pauses at the cordoned off mass of destruction. She surveys the ruins of the beautiful structure, swallowing hard. Her sharpened senses can see a figure moving around in the rubble and her beast bays at the presence of another, an agitated another. Sebastian.

Why the hell is she still here? This is her fault. It happened because of her stupidity and carelessness; that fundy bitch had tested her and found her wanting. Thankfully, so far, nothing had come back to her of Jeremy claiming any ill-use at her hands. In fact, she hadn't heard from him at all. Most likely, he had picked up and run off. She should have done the same. And yet here she is. Searching yet another night for Gryphon.

"I suppose I might as well get this overwith," she murmurs to herself, approaching a bit closer.

"Do you have a moment, Your Grace?" she says only a little bit louder, fairly sure that his senses should be able to pick her up.

"Will you walk with me?" Esther requests, "I have a few things that you should know about this."

Her normally velvety voice is low and serious, portending that what she has to tell Sebastian is most likely grave indeed.

Reaching out, Esther accepted Sebastian's proffered arm and they began to walk. "I fear that this...debacle may be, in part, my doing. If not, then it is quite egregious bad luck," she began.

"Angela and I were on our way to meet my interior designer for drinks but, when we arrived at Vera Mae's, the hostess told me that he had been and left already. With prodding and palm greasing, the bartender revealed to Angela that he had left after speaking with a redheaded woman, something having been said about meeting at the tower. So she and I came here. We were confronted by a woman, one of us, who went by the name Thea Foster. Turns out that she was a member of the Church and had taken my intended liaison in order to persuade me that, the only way to protect myself from the shadows, was to sacrifice him under the blood moon. I...declined her offer and she was furious, I could tell, but she gave the key to the car trunk where Jeremy was being kept and made her exit. I could tell the look in her eyes, though: she wants to see me damned to hellfire and Final Death for my declination. My refusal to spill blood for the Church."

Esther's normal warmth fades for a moment and she goes as cold as the air around her as she leans on Sebastian's arm. But she rights her composure quickly.

"After she left, Angela wanted to search the tower so she commanded a bird to let her know if anyone was on the top of the tower. The bird returned with an eyeball, so we made our way up into the bell tower and there was a body. A kindred body, blackened and burnt, its chest burst outward as if...if something had escaped. Like in the dreams. We called on Gryphon immediately and I stayed to keep watch while Angela took the key Foster had given me and went to find Jeremy. She did, he was traumatized and terrified and managed to get away from her and run off. I haven't heard anything from him or any rumors of me being a kidnapping madwoman so I am supposing that he has left town forthwith. Angela returned to the bell tower to tell me what had had happened, and then...all hell broke loose. The shadows attacked us, a clawed hand reaching out of the shadows itself for us. I managed to get us away instead of fighting in the mortal public. We tried to warn Gryphon but couldn't get through, so we returned. I hid us by the Robert Bell building and then, suddenly, we heard a cry from the tower - a scream of pain, one that I knew, it was Gryphon - and then the tower...exploded, crumbled. There was debris and stone and beams all around. Angela tried to get as many people back as she could and she was crushed beneath the stone. I managed to find her, get her out from under it. But we couldn't find Gryphon, and the sirens were getting closer. I managed to get us both away unseen and tend to her, but...I have searched and I still cannot find Gryphon anywhere about. She has gone to his haven tonight to see if he might be found."

Esther's grip on Sebastian's arm is preternatural, tightened with high emotion as she has spoken. "So I am come to take responsibility, Sebastian, for this upheaval and to offer my advice, if you will have it."

She could feel the gangrel's rage rising and building, threatening to break apart the shell of his human body. Her own beast backed away, pressing itself against her spine in retreat. The woman, however, still put a soft hand on his arm to try to calm his ire.

"No," Esther replied, "He was not a ghoul, did not know about me. He was just someone I kept on retainer, an interior designer for the Orchid. He'd been pursuing me for weeks and I had finally agreed to drinks that night, that was it. But...as I have said, I haven't heard anything from him, nor have I heard any rumors from the club's clients or anything of the like per my reputation."

"The body at the top of the tower, I didn't recognize him. Neither did Angela. She said something strange, though. When we were attacked she said, "His beast got out!" I assume now that she meant that body that we found," Esther then pointed out, "Do you have any insight as to that? I mean, we had nightmares but..." She let her voice trail off, reflecting the horror of such an idea.

Thank Heaven for small favors, "Then there is that at least.  I think it's unavoidable that we'll escape hunters because of this, but we can at least minimize any clues to our existence."  Sebastian's mind raced with all of this new information, it made sense that the shadows were the actual beasts of deceased kindred made manifest.  He suddenly remembered the book and amulet locked in different safes around his house.  They'd become after thoughts now that the shadow siege was lifted.  Now that they had proof that these shades were still around, he would have to dig those out sooner than he expected.  

"Were you able to find a name of the man in the tower?  Do you think Sheriff Adholfin made it out of the tower?"  He ignored all together her question about what he might know.  Sebastian wanted to know who these foreign Kindred were and how they were connected.  His beast paced wildly knowing that his territory was being infringed upon, and he would find out who and why.

"I would seek haven in the earth," Sebastian replied without thinking, then turned his head back to ruined tower, now far behind them.  Concern crossing his face.  "And I would probably be hungry when I came out, if I came out..."

It was possible that Gryphon melded with the ground to escape the tower collapse, and depending on his injuries he might not have had the energy to revive himself come the following evening.  

Good, that's one less problem I have to deal with.