Check the Palace real quick to see if the Lady Abigail has returned, she hasn't. Go back to work on the search spider. Apparently Kat released some blockage earlier because it hits me as to why we haven't gotten any hits. We were looking for overt supernatural instances. Conquest is a bit more subtle then that. And with that revelation I notice that the Governor of New York who is running for President has become considerably more popular in the last few months. I immediately inform the others.
We debate about how to approach Terrance Franklin. He is a well known public figure so we couldn't attack him outright. We were going to have to convince him to give up the mote. The question was whether we would take the straight approach or strong arm him. We figure first we need to talk to him to see what kind of person he is. I point out that the Prince of New York probably knows the Governor or has the connections to get us to see him. So we head on over to New York City. When we get to the New York Palace there is a strange feeling to it. The receptionist was actually expecting us and they let us upstairs without any hassle. When we get to the top floor we see a snack cart and follow it since we know Lylith will be at the other end of it and where she is the Lady Abigail will also be. The snack cart leads us to the huge stone doors that is the entrance to the round table room. They open for us and inside is a lot of tired and angry looking people and in the center of the room is Lylith's sword. Looks like all the supernatural leaders of New York City are here as is The Lady Abigail. Noticeably missing is Prince Caleb. Lylith is looking quite angry and the Lady Abigail is not happy. She motions for us to join her and we get some nasty looks from the others present. I return the looks with my own "Ya thats right bitches" look. She tells us that Prince Caleb has been murdered. Nobody outside the room knows and they have been in here deliberating for the past few days as about what to do. We tell her why we came originally and we will stay and find the killer. She thanks us but wants us to continue on our mote hunting mission as it is more important than anything else. We do find out that Prince Caleb was a friend of the Governor and had even sent some supernatural bodyguards to protect him. This would at least give us a start. As we were discussing things I made a copy of when Lylith dragonstriked Vincent's limo and of him running out on fire and me impaling him with the stake. I figured it might cheer her up a bit while she is stuck in here. With that we took our leave and headed to Los Angeles. I had hacked into the Governor's campaign office earlier and retrieved his itinerary so we knew exactly which hotel he would be staying in.
Before we head into the hotel we break the golden rule and disarm ourselves. The Lady Abigail said this Governor was a decent man and quite reasonable. He was aware of the supernatural even if he wasn't one himself. So we were going to play it straight. I gather all our weapons and throw em into a bag. I will put them into an extra dimensional space so we can retrieve them if needed. Feeling quite light we head into the hotel. We get singled out right away as a mage in a uniform and some goons comes straight to us. He is all uppity and demands to search us. Danno gives in grudgingly while I refuse and recite the 4th Amendment . I'm about ready to get all Libertine on him but we need to be able to see the Governor so I relent. After our quite illegal search we tell him we need to speak with the Governor. We drop the Lady Abigail and Prince Caleb's names and we inform the mage the Governor is in extreme danger. He of course wants to know exactly why but we convince him we can't divulge that information. He just needs to understand that the Governor came in contact with a power that many nasty things were looking for. Apparently the reason the security has been tight is because there has already been several attempts on the Governor's life and they have been supernatural in origin. Thats enough to convince him we may be able to stop this and he brings us upstairs.
The Governor was expecting us. He had already begun to feel the presence of Danno and I. We try our best to tell him what it is he possesses without telling him exactly what it is. As the conversation unfolds he begins to put two and two together and pulls out a bible. He is a man of faith and can sense the divinity within him right now. We finally tell him what mote he carries and that we need it. He questions whether he was chosen to carry it. With it he could do good himself. We tell him that we were chosen for this task and explained how we came together. How we had signs pointing our way. He didn't have any signs and that makes him ponder. He asks for time to think about it and says he will give us an answer in the morning. We agree and they lead us out to a room for the night. Several hours later we hear shouting and running and what sounds like gunfire. Without much thought I immediately reach into the extra dimensional space and retrieve our weapons. We suit up and head out into the hallway.
We head straight for the Governor's room and find he is safe and the mage is there. He tells us the ground floor has already been taken by several vampires. I tell him we need to leave now and get the Governor too safety. He wants to know how and I say we can portal out. He is concerned that it takes too long to do that and I drop my hung portal right there and step through. Danno puts himself in the door and attempts to hold of the bad guys while the rest of the room escapes. Soon the mage follows me and the Governor soon after. I tell him we are in our sanctum in Chicago and it is safe but we need to move the Governor into a hallway for cover. I had to remove the lock on the portal so right now anything could come through. The mage and I keep ourselves between the portal and the Governor as the security team continues to come through. Less than a minute later Red and then Danno come through. As soon as I see Danno I know he is always the last and I unravel the portal so nothing can follow it through. Everybody just kinda stands there breathing heavy but not saying anything. The Governor is quite speechless. He gives us all a glance and then says that he believes the mote does belong with us. He has his own mission. He asks how to release it and I show him by releasing my own mote. Then with some surprise on the other's faces I hand the mote to Red. He is a bit taken back and I ask him if he is ready for it, if he knows what it entails of him and what he must do. Red nods and so I give him the green mote. The Governor has the white in his hands and gives it to me. With that we can feel the increase in power as three our now present. I ask the Governor where he wants to go and an hour later his security detail and him step through into another location in Los Angeles. They are aware that there will probably still be a few more attacks before the bad guys figure out he doesn't have what they are looking for.
The rest of us our still kinda in shock. Not having to fight for a mote was unexpected. We more expected us having to kill a prominent public figure or his hordes of subjugated sleepers. Perhaps this was a bit of Karma for all our non-violence of late. Anyways, now that we finished our mission earlier than expected and since we had the power of the three, Danno figures he might be able to take a look at Prince Caleb's remains and get an idea of who killed him. So i fire up Cygin airlines and we go back to New York.
We march right on upstairs and into the round table room. The Lady Abigail smiles a little, she senses the third mote. Danno asks to see the remains and does his little death trick. He tells only us and the Lady Abigail that he saw McBeth stabbing the Prince with the Spear. The Lady Abigail goes all wrath and brings out the flaming sword and everything. I almost shit my pants. She glares at McBeth and makes him appear right in front of her and drops him to the ground. With a quickness beyond anything we have seen she pounces on him and has the sword at his throat.
[cliffhanger!!]
Everything happens so quickly McBeth is still kinda stunned. He decides that maybe he can make a run for it but the Lady Abigail appears in front of him and slices him deep with the flaming sword and throws him through a sheet of supposedly unbreakable glass. He is pretty much done at the point. Before he turns to ash we ask him some questions. First we want to know why as to which he replies that he wanted to be the Prince. Usual vampire crap. We ask why Samiel let him have the spear and he says he helped Janus get the Phoenix gate and merge with Stephen, use of the spear was repayment of the debt. We then ask where the spear is now and as we expected Samiel had it again. McBeth begged for his life and said he knew something that could help us if we let him live. I told him if he tells me he has my word that I will let him go. He is dumb and agrees. He tells us Samiel is hunting down Malcathet as we speak and plans to kill her with the spear. I tell him that I will uphold my end of the bargain and move out of his way. McBeth doesn't realize that I'm really moving out of the way because I don't want to be in the firing solution as I feel the familiar build up of energies behind me as Lylith unleashes her dragon strike obliterating McBeth. Turning back to the group I can see the look of concern in Ohm's eyes so I scry on Malcathet and see her on a building fighting Samiel. I had already used my emergency portal earlier so it was going to take an hour to get back to Chicago and we all knew Malcathet didn't have that time. I reached deep into the supernal and attempted to make a portal appear now. I wasn't looking forward to that nasty abyssal creep that I was going to feel but we didn't have time. The portal opened without any issue and then I remembered that Lylith was here and she scares the Abyss away. We all jumped in and I was able to figure out what rooftop the fight was happening on. The others piled into the Prius and Danno drove like a bat out of hell but it was still going to take them 15 min to get there. I told them to track me and then I willed myself to the rooftop, hopefully I could at least help her hold him off till the cavalry arrived.
Samiel was a little surprised to see me there and Malcathet looked a little relieved. I told her the others were on route but it was going to take them a few minutes to get here. She fought defensively while I tried to make Samiel kneel before me. I hadn't really had time to explore the powers of my new mote so my first attempt failed. Malcathet said she had a plan and to give her time as she started up what looked like a summoning ritual. I had to try to make him kneel again. This time I embraced the inner warlock and unleashed my nimbus and told him to "fucking kneel" and this time he did. He fought it like a champ but he couldn't win this contest. Samiel actually looked a bit panicked which I was enjoying. He just kinda scowled at me and stammered out the words to activate the Phoenix gate and then he was gone. Bastard. Shortly after there was a woosh of air and I turned to see the Prius sitting on the roof. Malcathet had summoned the whole damn car with it's passengers. Showoff.
Malcathet said she knew where Samiel was staying and wanted to go take care of him and so did we. Problem was our major mode of transportation was stuck on the roof for a bit. Malcathet had her wings so she could glide her way there, Danno turned into a bat, Ohm turned into a hawk and the three of them started flying there. Red turned into a wolf and leapt across rooftops and ran there. I would wait for them to arrive and then teleport. That left poor Padre who needed to call a cab. I poofed him down to the ground at least to save him the embarrassment of having to take the stairs too. I'm going to have to redirect my current line of study when we get back to the warehouse. We can't have anyone needing to take a cab to a fight, that's just embarrassing.
Once we all get to the hideout of Samiel which is apparently a meat processing plant. Danno turns into mist and heads in via a fan up near the roof. Samiel is hiding in the rafters waiting for us. Malcathet and Red lead the way through the door looking for traps. Malcathet says that Samiel is afraid of fire so she puts up an aura that will make Danno immune to it and she sets the place on fire. Danno and Samiel go head to head while Malcathet waits for the right moments to strike. Danno keeps giving Samiel hugs while I wait for him to try to escape and attempt to counter. This goes on for a while and I'm able to keep him from escaping the easy way, this keeps him tied up and using his energy. Samiel is taking alot of hits but his dual nature is giving him twice the resilience. Malcathet finally manages to get the spear away from him and things are looking up. Then out of the blue Malcathet throws down some orb and a portal of some kind appears. Much to our surprise three figures dressed in white step through. It is the hunters we don't like very much. Malcathet gives them the spear and steps through the portal. We are all just stunned. We were not expecting to be betrayed by her. The hunters tell us they will not interfere and are only staying to make sure Samiel dies. We finally finish off Samiel and the hunters takes their leave. Ohm is pretty freaking pissed at this point and charges the last one. She was expecting his attack and puts up a shield that knocks him back. Ohm asks her why she is doing this and working for the evil guy. She says he has control over them and she leaves. In the meantime Samiel gives the Padre the Phoenix gates and murmurs something I didn't quite hear. The fire seems to get really intense all of sudden and we get the hell out of there. Without a car and a portal the others have to take a cab and I will myself back to the warehouse. Ohm heads to Malcathet's lair and find a note. She says she is sorry she had to do this but she had no choice. She says that Donovan has her soul and this was the only way to get it back. Ohm goes off to be alone while I head to the palace to inform the Lady Abigail of what happened with Samiel and the spear.
It's been a really long fucking day.
Cygin
<-----AEMP----->
Another crazy night. Very relieved to have the mote of conquest. Still kinda shocked that we didn't have to fight for it. Very pissed that Prince Caleb is dead. I actually liked the guy. I knew we should have taken out Samiel when we had the chance and forced him to give us the spear. Extremely pissed we got fucked by Malcathet. We saved her ass and this is what we get. I could give a fuck that Donovan had her soul and she might go to hell if she died, she is going to go to worse places when Donovan completes his goal because she just gave him half of what he needs for his next step. She could have said something, we could have helped. Donovan isn't going to give her soul back, he doesn't share. Just as we cross one target off our list we have to add another. If she ever shows her face again I will make her fucking kneel and take her to the Lady Abigail so she can melt her fucking face.
On the other hand I am glad that Stephen is dead, again. And to have the mote of conquest calms me a bit. This mote feels right, feels like it was meant for me. This is my destiny and no one will stand in my way. Fuck I'm tired.
</----AEMP---->