I ran into something a little worrying the other night. I mean, okay, it's no strange thing seeing "vampires" around Manssen Park. Mostly pretenders from what I can tell, but some of the Disciples are real blood-drinkers. Creepy bastards, skulking around playing occult games with blood it's all code and they know it, but they like to keep up the illusion.
Anyway, I was on my way back to the nearest Hardline and started to cut through an abandoned lot under an onramp about a block away. Some lucky instinct stopped me before I'd gotten more than a foot or two past the hole in the fence. There was a whole crowd of them down there, gathered around a group of five standing in precise v-formation. Even aside from their tight organization, it was easy to tell that core group apart from the gang gathering around them.
They were better dressed, for one thing. There was a sort of aura around them, invisible but tangible: pure power. Especially the leader, in an odd mix of modern and anachronistic clothing with his face partially obscured by the upturned collar of his coat. At first I thought maybe this was the fabled core leadership of the Disciples until I realized the two at the ends of the V were holding a couple of the gang members, restraining their struggling with no apparent effort at all. I crept closer, until I could hear what the leader was saying.
"You think that you are safe here, defending your little piece of ground from other Exiles. To what purpose? I assure you, none of this escapes his notice. He only allows you to continue because he thinks you weak and insignificant. And you are. But together, we have the power to topple the petty despot from his seat."
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Casually raising one hand to shoulder height, he merely crooked his finger and the two at the back stepped forward, dragging the captured Disciples with them. No one tried to stop them. Not even when the screaming started.
His voice was calm, raised just enough to be heard above the ongoing "demonstration". Everywhere he looked, the lesser blood-drinkers fell back a few steps, milling aimlessly as they tried to avoid being singled out. "You will fight alongside us, or suffer the consequences of defiance."
I'd had enough. It was hard to get out of there without being noticed, and I took my time. There's no way I would have survived if that group had caught me. The screams and pleading followed me all the way to the Hardline before choking off quite suddenly. A moment later the sound was replaced with a murmur of voices, volume rising as it slowly resolved into a rhythmic chant.
"Malphas. Malphas. Malphas."
I couldn't jack out fast enough.
— Neurophyte, HVCFT Novalis II
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