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A smile flicked across his face while never really touching his slate grey eyes.
He moved the kings pawn forward two places
His voice echoed around the mostly empty room
"And so it begins", "your move Mr Wax"
Sean O'reilly -Havoc- my furry ball of death (werewolf)
Norda Cantrell - my new 'ling
and Carter Hall (my new invictus)
The splashing of the water against the bows of the yacht was calming him down, he was stood at the very front of the ship with his back to the cabin when he heard the polite cough behind him.
"Simon you've received another three requests for help from three different cities should I prioritise them in the usual way?"
He received a grunt of acknowledgement and started to turn to leave but hesitated before going back below decks, Casey Connor had worked for Simon Devlin for nearly half a century now and had shared a part of the curse that affected the powerful figure in front of him and which kept both of them young. He knew his old friend's moods better than almost anyone on the planet and he could tell that something was on Dev's mind.
"Anything I can help with?"
The rough deep voice always gave him shivers as it emerged from deep in the chest of the man in front of him
"Has Riley replied to my email yet?"
"Nothing yet, but it's only been a couple of hours"
Casey was shocked at the speed with which his boss turned around and snarled at him
"That shouldn't matter not with the stakes as high as they are. This could mean Bitta's life and I won't see her die, not on my watch."
"But she's just a Crone, she's not unconquered would it really matter if she died?"
"Either they all matter or none of them do, Bayzaark have been friends to me and if I don't help them in their time of need I'm not the man I like to think I am. Alert me the second I get a reply from Riley and in the mean time send three of the students down to the training room I feel the need to work out some aggression."
Casey turned away and let himself back into the cabin, he'd not seen Dev like this since 1972 just before he had been driven into torpor for that first horrible time when Casey had feared for his own life because Devlin had not been there to provide the blood he needed to survive. At that time he had hated Dev a bit for not bringing him all the way over but Ana had come to keep an eye on the body of his master while in Eclipse, and she had kept him young with her own blood while they both patiently waited for Simon to heal and wake. They had waited for 20 years and every year Ana came and left a father's day card by Simons side.
Sometimes Casey worried about the life his boss lived, he kept himself to such strict standards that one of these days he was going to unwind in one violent backlash and some one was going to have to pick up the pieces and that would be a hell of a mess to clean up.
I've had an interesting couple of weeks, my childe Anastasia returned from duty and has taken up the charge of protecting Prince Burke in Middlesbrough we then attended the gathering in halifax, which allowed me to discuss things with the other ranking member of the Thorned Wreath in the UK, Alder Tremayne he seems to share a lot of qualities with myself (including a love of bikes and an attitude that Ana describes as being all cowboy) As usual at these big gatherings everyone was painfully polite to each other and I told Ana to keep an eye on various people who were known for acting like morons and took the time to look in on the Crone ritual the things people put themselves through in the name of enlightenment never fails to amaze me. Spent the rest of the first night talking with various elders of the Invictus and putting the world to rights, if we could breath and drink I'm sure brandy and cigars would have been passed around, I swear it's like being part of a Gentleman's club from the Victorian age (well considering how many of us are Victorian Gentlemen and Ladies it kind of makes sense)
The second night was a particularly interesting night as an assassin managed to sneak past security and kill one of the gathered Kindred , it was found where this VII assassin was and we gathered a warparty to deal with them. For the first time in decades a full cells worth of the Thorned Wreath went to war and I was their leader, we managed to inflict major casualties on the enemy with no losses on our side.
I need to rest up as I took a spear through the chest and it hasn't healed properly yet, so I bid you good night
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
Construction has started on the academy when it is finished it will be a fine place to train and a good place to live. I'll have to make some room in case travelling members of the order need a safehouse.
The situation between the Fiefs of Southwark and London seems to be getting heated, I'm keeping an eye on it and if diplomacy fails I'm sure I'll be getting a call to provide a cell to bust out the hostages. Tremayne is based near there maybe I'll send him a letter to ask about the situation and what he is doing to resolve it.
Other than that the nights have been quiet recently, I still don't trust Newcastle to leave Leland alone but I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.
Anyway back to the practice room I have lessons to impart to my first students, perhaps I should hire Harvey to teach them how to fight with their bare fists he seems to be good at it from what I saw in the Gardens the other day
But maybe I should give it a chance it's not as if anyone is going to read this other than myself and it'll give me the chance to sort things out in my head and make sure I don't just rush into things without thinking.
I've been told that one of my major character flaws is a tendancy to be a tad impulsive but it's something I've had to deal with for a long, long time and I'm sure I'll be dealing with it for a long time to come.
It's been a busy time recently a friend of mine named Leland has been elevated to Prince of Durham and Tees Valley and has granted me permission to rebuild the Northern Academy in his area so finally we will have a place to train again. Already I have recalled my childe from her duties and sent for our other trainees. It does mean that Durham is about to be flooded with the unconquered but I'm sure Leland could use the company.
I'm amazed at some of the other Kindred I meet sometimes I wonder what their Sires saw in them when they made them, for example I met a Carthian in York at the last meeting (I know a Carthian in York ,what a surprise) I can't even remember his name although Bitta called him Kitten Fister for some reason that I dread to think about and this little shit warns me that the Invictus would try to manipulate me and that I should watch myself, as my favourite Carthian Mr Kovacs would say "What a Motherfucker" from listening to other conversations this guy had he does nothing for his covenant, and nothing for his city in fact he seems to be the very finest example of a "Goldbricking douchebag" that I've ever had the misfortune to meet. Perhaps I should shoot him in the face, nah the Consul wouldn't approve and I like her, she at least has some goddamn fire and wants to do her duty to covenant and city.
Oh I attended Wakefield before the York and Alder DeSelby was playing morality games again trying to make people play god with other people's lives, it's this kind of shit that gets the Invictus a bad name ok I get it you're an evil bastard there is no need to ram it down people's throats.
Makes me think back to some thing my sire said to me words I've always tried to live by
"Don't take shit off no-one, judge a man on what he does not on how he looks, and try to be a good man because there are way too many of the bad"
