Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.03 - Above One’s Bend

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The Vampire With No Name 1.03 - Above One’s Bend · Dubious Creatures Presents

0:28
The. A highway wanders through the
1:22
desert. A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty
1:26
dive bar. A coyote shrieks out to no one
1:30
in particular. Someone's bleeding out in a
1:33
bathroom stall. The stars tonight are bright,
1:37
but not nearly bright enough. This place does not exist.
1:43
And yet here you are. Welcome to San Arroyo Kindred.
1:50
We here at Dubious Creatures present to you the Vampire with
1:55
no name. This location?
2:00
Who else knows about it? Just just just one other person.
2:09
And she looks to Ash and is like, I don't really want to say
2:15
this, but I'm going to say this. The the the person who's letting
2:20
me stay here is my my ex-husband.
2:26
It's Ash's older brother. Oh shit.
2:32
And Full disclosure, looking at and some if you know what the
2:38
name Crawford means in this town, you know that well because
2:44
it's under his name. There is probably a small
2:50
platoon of accountants and lawyers who know of its
2:53
existence. Eventually I was here when the
2:57
name Crawford first entered this town.
3:01
Do not lecture me. Still, I suppose it will suffice
3:06
for the time being. It is small and relatively
3:09
containable, and provided your or my spouse does not come
3:16
knocking anytime soon, it will suffice.
3:20
He, he shouldn't be. He hasn't said anything.
3:24
He's very good about letting me know when he's coming over.
3:27
And she, like, sits there real proud, like trying hard to keep
3:32
it together. Then you should dissuade him
3:35
from making any house visits in the near future.
3:39
Can't do. Will Astor's lack of sire being
3:46
issue or? Yes.
3:49
Then is it possible for someone not that not her sire to take
4:00
her under accounting I I don't think I can volunteer but.
4:05
No, but not entirely off the mark either.
4:14
Your new acquaintance, Miss Asher, is under a similar
4:20
circumstance at the moment. She like era her fives you.
4:25
Yeah, no, they didn't want to keep me with the original
4:28
because they it'd be a bad idea to put 2 the two of us in A
4:32
room. Oh, we'll talk about that later.
4:36
Yeah. Chicks wrist.
4:38
At that point you can see an old, and I do mean like, not
4:43
like a fancy Rolex, but like an old wristwatch.
4:51
The kind that looks like it could probably be used as an
4:54
improvised weapon in a pinch. As you can imagine, I have other
5:00
things to attend to tonight. Want us to stay, but then I
5:04
guess. Yes, if any of you were to flee
5:07
the immediate premises then I would have to find you and
5:11
neither of us would enjoy the resulting encounter.
5:15
So please. Just a random question for for
5:18
me is I'm not the only one that stays in that hotel room?
5:22
Should I dissuade the other person from going back there
5:24
anytime soon just in case somebody gets a an idea to
5:29
attack someone that's not me? If you're referring to Mr.
5:34
Passmore, he has been chastised. I can.
5:41
Only get my fucking hands on him again.
5:44
As amusing as that would be in the short term, I would not
5:48
recommend that. I've been told.
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You will stay put and the situation will be sorted.
5:57
Do I make myself clear? Yeah, Mr. Do not let anyone in
6:06
here that is not me. When you leave can I can I re
6:16
ring camera? Can I put that back up?
6:18
No. OK, thought I'd ask.
6:22
And as he says that, he walks out the door and literally pulls
6:25
the ring camera off of the door and shuts it behind him.
6:31
Yeah. Yeah.
6:34
I have other people after me. I really actually needed the
6:37
camera it'd. Be nice to have people who
6:39
actually care where you are. Wait, who's out?
6:43
You. OK, buddy.
6:45
That's fine for you. Jeremy, by the way, you asked
6:48
what my name was earlier. Yeah, Jeremy, Jeremy I.
6:52
Feel like we've met before but I can't place your face.
6:56
Don't worry about me, I'm just recovering alcoholic.
6:59
He's just going to kind of like walk over and just sit down.
7:03
Does alcohol affect us? No did.
7:06
We get a rehab. Together.
7:10
Where was that clinic? You know, I don't remember where
7:12
my clinic was, actually. Yeah.
7:14
Absolutely, I don't really where mine was either.
7:17
I the, I'm going to kind of look back up the door the, the guy,
7:21
he's gone, right? He's gone, but if you were to
7:26
look at the window you can see there is a looks like an old
7:32
beat up sort of flatbed truck that appears to have parked
7:36
itself maybe a block down from where your where Crow's vehicle
7:43
was parked that definitely wasn't there before.
7:45
That a familiar truck to me. Yep.
7:49
Crow, we should pull your car into the garage if we're not
7:55
supposed to I. Mean if they'll let me get in my
8:00
car without putting a bullet in my head.
8:04
I mean, I'll ask. They're not going to shoot you.
8:08
Yeah, I think they'll do something much worse.
8:12
Yeah. Yeah.
8:15
Yeah. Thank you.
8:17
Might just be safer, at least for tonight, just to leave it
8:20
there. I think I know the person who
8:23
drives that truck. I mean, they're interesting and
8:29
I wouldn't want to get on their bad side.
8:32
That's not on this at all. The first thing she did was
8:38
compliment my chest and then say she would shove A stake through
8:41
it. I feeling better now, so I
8:47
wanted to apologize for whatever I said earlier and whatever I
8:52
did earlier. I I recall somebody like, did I
8:54
grab you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do
8:57
that. It's OK, it's just strange men
9:02
grabbing me. I'm it's been a week.
9:08
That's your action action. There was an action soundtrack.
9:13
OK, that's that's the thing. All right, deep breath.
9:18
OK, By the way, you're pro that guy who we all I noticed didn't
9:27
mention to the scary people who visited.
9:30
He has like tension music and then are you, are you OK?
9:37
Yeah, why? You're Are you sure?
9:43
Positive. Sure, OK vibe.
9:47
The the the vibe not not not good vibe.
9:50
Like I feel like I should ask if he's hit you.
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Oh. My.
9:56
That's a hell of a fucking question for a first meet, but I
10:00
guess since we're asking them he's never hit me
10:03
unconsensually. OK.
10:08
OK. That's OK.
10:11
That's that's that's that's. I'm going to reach out and give
10:15
Crow a high 5. Since we're asking the awkward,
10:19
unusual questions, Astor, you said there were people coming
10:23
after you. Do I?
10:26
Have to hope you didn't. Do I have to kill my fucking
10:32
brother? God no, your brother's a St.
10:36
Ash ash like like literally does a double take.
10:40
I'm sorry, the fuck? Did you know he was in anger
10:44
management? No, I anger management is the
10:50
least of his problems. I don't know.
10:53
He's been really good to me. I I I called him with a doozy of
10:59
a situation. Did he give you a house to stay
11:03
at? Mm hmm, they sure did.
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And I wish any of my exes had given me given me houses.
11:15
Wish I had a house. This is like.
11:17
This is like find. This is like finding out that
11:20
Hitler was a vegetarian or something.
11:24
I can't. OK, like there's a lot to unpack
11:30
there, and I feel like any familiar comparisons to certain
11:36
historical figures is probably not accurate.
11:42
But they do the like, they do the little head wobbly of like,
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yeah, 5050. It depends on a lot of things.
11:52
Yeah, it. Wouldn't be that bad.
11:54
Stress level. Stress level.
11:59
He ever Has your ex-husband ever hit you?
12:02
Since we're asking about our boyfriends hitting people and
12:06
she's going to shoot a dirty fucking look at Jeremy.
12:10
He never hit me. He's definitely hit a wall.
12:14
Oh fun, I'm. Pay to have that fix.
12:18
This is why we usually choose the bear.
12:20
Yeah, Oh my God. Yes.
12:22
Am I the only one that has a healthy relationship here?
12:25
Well, mind's. Not being healthy.
12:27
What are you talking about? I don't have a relationship.
12:31
As you're all having this lovely conversation, you all, you all
12:38
feel this sudden wave of tiredness.
12:42
Almost. Fuck, some of you realize some.
12:50
For some of you, it's familiar. For others it's a bit more of a
12:52
weird sensation. But maybe one of you checks your
12:55
phone and realizes just how early in the evening it's
12:57
gotten. Fuck I.
13:01
Yeah. If soon.
13:06
Effects you like it affects me. Y'all should probably just stay
13:09
here. Yeah, I gotta.
13:12
I'm going to let my boyfriend know what's something.
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I'm going to lie, I I don't know.
13:18
We're at a day spot. We went to a day spot.
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Fuck it, I don't. I don't know.
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Do you have that? Do.
13:24
You have a bathroom with no windows.
13:27
I do actually. Great, I'm crashing on the top
13:31
there. OK.
13:35
I have to. I'll take.
13:37
I don't know. Do you want to share?
13:39
The bed with me, is that weird? No, not really.
13:42
It's. A California king.
13:44
It's pretty plush. That's a I'll, I'll crash out on
13:48
a, on a floor somewhere here. Actually a, a let's see.
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I'm going to do something here. I'm going to use double talk and
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I'm going to say something that everyone can hear and then
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something only one person can hear.
14:01
OK, go ahead and give me the Rose check, please no.
14:05
No, still, still not getting hungry.
14:08
So what Jeremy says to everyone is like, yeah, I'm just going to
14:11
like, crash out on the couch somewhere.
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But what Ash hears is only you can hear me right now.
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And something is very wrong with the relationship between Crow
14:23
and her boyfriend. Ash like I think like subtly
14:28
flashes a like like extending a thumb just to like acknowledge
14:35
the receipt of the message and gives like a little nod before
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heading to the aforementioned bathroom to go crash in a tub to
14:45
sleep off the day. The good news is that Astor,
14:49
having gotten a very up close and personal example of what
14:53
happens with the sun, probably taking steps to light proof the
15:00
house. Every every window is covered in
15:04
like thick double lined blackout curtains that can be drawn and
15:09
like. Zipped down Alaskan like polar
15:14
night blinds. Probably very useful even if you
15:20
don't live in that particular part of the world.
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They cover every window, including the one in the
15:26
kitchen. It was you all bunk down for the
15:30
night in your various corners. The sun rises and you all sink
15:42
into sleep. That is not quite sleep except
15:55
for you Astor be still fall unconscious.
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But ever since this happened to you, you've been having you
16:06
don't even know if you want to call them night terrors because,
16:11
well, that implies there's some sort of randomness to it.
16:17
It's been the same damn thing every night for weeks.
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You wake up and there's blood flowing out from underneath the
16:31
kitchen door. Not this again.
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You don't want to open the door, but you know.
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Super don't. You know that it won't end
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unless you do it. She opens the door.
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It's the same thing every time he's hanging there from the
17:01
ceiling. They all are.
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All. Yeah, there's more.
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More than could possibly be packed into your kitchen.
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But you're not in your kitchen anymore.
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You're somewhere else, somewhere cavernous, and they're all hung
17:20
up, strung up like meat. Do I recognize these caverns it?
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Mean intelligence plus survival check.
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That is 2 successes. Something about them seems
17:38
vaguely familiar, but maybe it's because you've been having this
17:41
damn dream so much. The same figure hunches at the
17:47
center of all of it, amidst all the blood streaming down,
17:51
turning the dirt floor into Crimson mud.
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He's hunched over some kind of blade, a long, almost sickle
18:01
like weapon. You can hear the ugly scraping
18:06
noise. You know.
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You know what happens next. I sure do.
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You know what happens next, and it's.
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Awful. But it won't end until you do
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it. OK.
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You'd get closer, and the figure who now maybe reminds you a
18:34
little bit of that creature you narrowly escaped earlier tonight
18:43
looks over its shoulder, at you, through you with eyes like
18:50
burning coals. There's a blur, a moment of the
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last thing you always see before you wake up.
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Cold sweat is the sight of that sickle blade Lancing down
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towards you to remove your head from your shoulders.
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Every time you swear you hear it.
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You hear it kiss to the air. You feel it just barely kiss the
19:15
edge of your throat every time you wake up.
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Could everybody please give me a Rouse check?
19:26
Oh, we're getting hungrier. Oh, I don't get hungrier.
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God. Definitely get hungrier.
19:33
Jeremy's still riding that hunger one.
19:40
Same here. No thanks, I'm getting used to
19:45
going to bed when it's dark, not waking up when it's dark.
19:49
Because you still will remember what a sunrise looks like.
19:55
You still will remember what this city looks like when it's
20:01
illuminated by more than just St. lights.
20:04
But that's not for you, not anymore.
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But you all awake various locales.
20:14
Raleigh, your phone's blowing up.
20:17
Oh shit, fuck, forgot we meant to let Taylor know that he
20:24
wasn't going to be back. Yeah, several text messages
20:32
followed by a couple of missed calls.
20:38
Going to head into a part of the house that there's no one there
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and I'm going to call him back. He picks up immediately.
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Oh my God. Wait, I'm so sorry.
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Fuck. I Where are you?
20:58
I'm I'm at a friend's I I got a little too drunk at the party
21:05
last night and I crashed on their couch.
21:09
Oh, thank God, thank God, I thought.
21:11
I my tolerance is still a little fucky from that hospital visit
21:19
and I wasn't having attention. I'm so sorry.
21:27
I've just got you, all right. Like the last thing I expected
21:30
when I finally get out of the fucking editing room is that
21:35
it's fucking, it's on the news. Like the the fucking place you
21:38
were going to, it was on the news.
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Shit, fuck what? I don't know.
21:44
I don't know, some like fucking one percenter outfit decided to
21:49
get into it or something. Honestly I was just OK.
21:55
Well. I'm so sorry.
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I'll come pick you up. I'm a fucking mess and once she
22:03
wakes up I'll I'll get her to drop me by the hotel I need.
22:07
I need a shower right now. OK, I mean just.
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Yeah, I'll be, I'll be back soon and I just want to like make
22:16
sure that. Yeah, because we're this close
22:18
to putting a bow on everything. And then the the moment, the
22:21
second we are, we are well and truly blowing this popsicle
22:26
stand, I swear to God. We are, we're just getting as
22:31
far fucking away from here as we can.
22:33
I'll, I'll let you know. I I'll be back soon.
22:36
Yeah, OK, OK. I'm sorry for worrying you, I I
22:43
didn't mean to. People are going to start
22:46
accusing me of dating a much younger woman at this point
22:49
because I swear to God I don't think I'm finding more Gray
22:54
hair. Slay.
22:56
I am so sorry for how stressful these last few months have been.
23:00
It's. It's fine that that was just the
23:04
stupid attempt at humor. Look, just stop.
23:08
Stop getting into life or death circumstances outside of your
23:13
job. Please, I'm so yeah, I broke my
23:17
promise. It's literally all I ask.
23:21
Soon as this fucking movie is done LA fucking back in LA,
23:25
staying in the condo. Yeah.
23:29
So we're close. All the cheeseburgers I do
23:31
believe I promised. Oh God I miss cheeseburgers.
23:36
OK, love you. I'm really glad you're OK.
23:41
I'll just let me know when you want me to swing by.
23:45
Yeah, yeah, I'll, I'll let you know once Astor wakes up.
23:49
I'll at least make sure. Yeah.
23:52
Is she from the? Is she from the rap party?
23:54
No, we're we actually realized we're both LA transplants.
23:59
Oh yeah, no, it's, I mean it's like a bedroom community now or
24:04
some. Kind of a.
24:06
Yeah, anyway, I what time is it? Look at the time on my phone.
24:15
It's maybe around 9:00-ish in the evening.
24:20
Yeah, yeah. I I guess sorry for waking you
24:26
up. It's.
24:28
It's fine I I should have sent you at least a drunk test text
24:33
message before I passed out, but I think I passed out in the
24:35
fucking Uber. Yeah.
24:37
I mean, yeah, maybe just take it easy for the foreseeable future.
24:44
Yeah, Oh, last night was a learning experience.
24:49
I'm really tired of those. All right, good.
24:52
I love you. I love you too.
24:56
Please stop hyper aging me. I guess it's just a call.
25:02
I will do my best, I will be home soon.
25:05
OK, I'm going to. I'm going to hang up now.
25:07
Please, unless you're doing premieres, please do not show up
25:11
on my TV again. That's all I ask.
25:14
I think I can promise that. All right, cool.
25:18
I love you. My.
25:19
Let me just hang up. Just kind of like slide down the
25:25
wall and just put my head in my hands.
25:27
Just be like, God, what am I going to fucking do?
25:31
The rest of you are all up and about doing, well, really
25:36
whatever it is you want to do in the moment.
25:40
None of you exactly have the most as stacked social calendars
25:44
as dear Raleigh here. Jeremy is going to fish like a
25:47
battered like half pack of cigarettes out and is standing
25:52
like I'll have opened the back door and I'm going to be
25:54
standing outside kind of lighting up.
25:56
And if anyone else comes up, he'll kind of like wiggle the
25:59
pack and offering to anybody who wants to.
26:00
Come out, I think Ash is going to come out and take in the
26:08
evening air. You have to admit, some nice bit
26:13
of real estate your brother managed to get.
26:17
You can actually see all the way down to downtown from here.
26:23
Never used to stop and appreciate the little things
26:26
till I serve it out and kind of taking a slow slow like pull on
26:30
the cigarette. Ash accepts that and I think
26:36
yeah, and flicks out old fashioned, a little bit more of
26:40
an Old fashioned lighter and lights it up.
26:42
So do you want to talk about that little?
26:48
What? What you said last night before
26:50
we all went to snooze. Do you remember how the music
26:55
got all fucky wacky for me before the monster showed up?
26:59
Yeah. It it also changed when he
27:02
showed up not like immediate danger, but like ominous and
27:08
then she just something and then like.
27:11
Shit. I've seen a lot of people who
27:14
aren't just like families are taking advantage of them and
27:18
people are taking advantage of them.
27:20
And I felt like she should have been cringing every time he
27:25
reached for her and she didn't and it felt weird.
27:29
It sounds like they have a bit of AI mean an unusual
27:33
relationship and I'm not going to listen.
27:38
I I'm not, I'm not discounting you.
27:40
I like, I think it's a little weird too.
27:43
I'll keep my eyes up. Like I'm aware how I I sound
27:48
here. Like I, I'm talking about like
27:53
music in my head and like I get it, like I sound nuts.
27:57
Like it pulled me here and like you guys got told to go here.
28:03
Like somebody like implied that I should go here, but I, I
28:06
didn't show up to the party because like I got told to go up
28:09
there. I was someone mentioned it would
28:11
be a good spot, but I followed music and I kind of like blanked
28:15
out and then I was there. So whatever happens, like I, I
28:19
needed to be there for it and. I, I've got a sister like you.
28:26
Maybe not like exactly the same, but like, I trust your
28:31
instincts. Like if those hunches in the
28:35
music keep turning out all right, I'll keep believing in
28:40
you, because that's all. Right.
28:42
You'll you won't be the first person who's given up on me, and
28:45
you won't be the last. Don't.
28:46
Don't think. I promise you're not going to
28:48
commit to him. Ash Like quick question, how
28:53
tall is Jeremy? He's actually pretty.
28:55
Tall, he's like super skinny though, so he's like almost 6
28:58
feet, yeah. Yeah, so, so she looks up and
28:59
was like, trust me, I, I'm, I got a lot more patience than I
29:07
look like. The fists are mostly just for
29:09
people who deserve it. What did the the biker say?
29:14
Like why do you why do you throw him through a window and then
29:17
laying on him? You know the sister I was
29:20
talking about the the one who's a little bit off.
29:25
He kind of grimaces, but kind of says yeah.
29:31
Said some shit about her and well, I have a temper.
29:37
It didn't get better when I died.
29:39
I got a drinking problem and sobriety fucking sucks.
29:44
Did you know when it we can't taste it?
29:47
Trust me I've tried and like hey weird question.
29:54
Like does blood taste like shit to you?
29:58
What do? You mean?
30:00
The way my sire explained it is that like we're we're is that
30:06
we're picky eaters or at least her family or whatever is.
30:12
So like the last the couple, the couple times of like drank I've,
30:18
it's really not been great. Like I, I don't know what it is,
30:22
but it's just like it. It has not been particularly
30:25
good. Did you before you died?
30:28
Were you a Scotch drinker? Scotch, tequila, vodka, I mean.
30:33
OK, so like, you know, like when you pour someone like a really
30:38
peaty Scotch, like where you can like taste.
30:41
The mud. Yeah, you know how like some
30:44
people really love that and other people don't?
30:46
Yeah. Think about your thing like
30:49
that. There's just, there's a flavor,
30:51
you just have to find it. But it's like, it still tastes
30:55
good for you, right? You don't like, you don't want
30:58
to spit it out. I I haven't been in anyone.
31:03
Oh, they they like not OK. I'm a I spent more time throwing
31:10
up an attempt to UN cold Turkey myself than I did trying to do
31:15
anything else and his, you know, looking at me.
31:20
I have I don't have any money, so it's not like I'm going to go
31:23
clubbing and such as there is in Santa Rosa.
31:27
And I also haven't really gotten hungry.
31:32
I just, I don't know, maybe it's the all the alcoholism, but like
31:37
I was, I was trying to cold Turkey before I tied and it
31:42
wasn't going well. So maybe it's that just carrying
31:46
out. Well, I mean, it's doing that
31:51
like going just flat out cold Turkey that that does take out
31:55
so. Yeah, I met someone.
31:57
I had fun for the first time and I could like think clearly for
32:00
the first time in I think years. Probably.
32:07
Yeah, I quit drinking, I'll say, because I wanted to keep that
32:12
wanted wanted the feeling to keep going and I didn't want to
32:16
like numb out. I've been numb for a while and
32:18
then some asshole. I don't I don't know.
32:22
I got they kept trying to get drinks into me and when I woke
32:28
up like this. Jesus, so do you.
32:32
Do you know who your sire is or? Apparently I left quite a trail
32:38
crawling to her while I was bleeding out.
32:43
Shit, Yeah, it was fun. I mean, I got tossed off a
32:47
building. Yeah, I am pretty sure there was
32:55
a head on me and well, that's problems for another day.
33:01
OK, he's going to drop the cigarette after taking a last
33:04
puff and like, snuff it out. Let's go find everybody else.
33:08
All right, let's go do this Scooby-doo shit.
33:14
Indeed. And does everyone else kind of
33:19
re coalesces? There's another knock at the
33:24
door. I'm getting real tired of this.
33:31
You and me both. OK, I'd.
33:36
Better not be Zach, swear to God.
33:38
I would cry. I would legitimately cry.
33:41
I think I would just come spontaneously combust among.
33:45
Someone check the peephole. Aster goes and checks the.
33:48
Peephole. It's handsome.
33:50
Oh my God. She opens the door and like.
33:56
He's looking considerably more put together then before the
34:01
notably on the jacket is missing now he has the sleeves of what
34:06
appears to be a new button up rolled up to the forearms.
34:11
He does. You do notice that he's a lot of
34:12
looks, like burn scars, like old faded waxy patches of skin on
34:21
his hands and forearms. Good evening.
34:25
It's. Your waves again.
34:28
He shuts the door behind him. The situation has been assessed
34:36
I. Don't like that?
34:45
Just like in my assessment in rehab where they told me that I
34:48
needed another six weeks. Not dissimilar.
34:52
Oh. Shit.
34:55
There are a considerable number of the higher ups that wish to
35:06
have this situation sewn up and quickly on Parse.
35:15
At the moment, the lot of you, given that you were front and
35:20
center to the old affair, are in a unique position.
35:27
You are culpable not by deed but by association.
35:33
But most of you are still under accounting.
35:39
And As for the rest, well, think of it as an opportunity in
35:46
disguise. They have sent me to deliver
35:52
something of an ultimatum. You may either throw yourselves
35:56
individually in the mercy of the court, which I will be blunt,
36:04
not all of you would survive. Or you may complete a task for
36:10
the court, although once I tell you the particulars of the
36:16
latter, you may yet prefer the former.
36:18
I'll. Take the, I'll take the task.
36:22
I know who's not going to make it if I go on.
36:25
I don't think I'll make it if I go in there.
36:28
What do they want us to do? The creature that detects they
36:36
were free to find it and destroy it.
36:41
To adjust that so as I like, pull up my shirt and look at my
36:46
wounds. There's more.
36:49
Of course, there's more. We, one of you managed to injure
36:57
it. It's vitae was left at the scene
37:01
and because of it we were able to confirm its identity.
37:07
And this is where the situation goes from thorny to fraught.
37:16
I will tell you this now because I have been placed in charge of
37:20
supervising you for the duration of this, and while I will not
37:26
hinder, neither can I help. If not simply because this is a
37:35
violation of my assigned duties, but because of who this was I
37:42
am, how would you put it too close to the case?
37:49
So who is this vampire? Former vampire Kindred?
38:00
Apologies. His name was Masaf.
38:06
He was once a greatly respected, greatly feared member of our
38:13
community. He was an old friend.
38:18
And now he is lost. And there are those who because
38:23
of who he was, not the least because of what he once
38:27
represented, who will try to leverage the situation and no
38:36
doubt complicate the task that has been set before you.
38:44
Now you understand why the first option might seem preferable.
38:49
Might be, but at the same time I think courts just looking for
38:58
any excuse to get rid of me. That is not incorrect.
39:04
I think that. Some of us, gosh, we'll glance
39:07
towards Astor, won't particularly have the chance for
39:14
much of a case. 20 years ago I might have said you had a
39:19
fighting chance, but now? But now?
39:25
No. No, there will not even be the
39:28
semblance of a fair trial. I suspect I will be blunt.
39:34
They expect you to fail. They expect you for no other
39:38
reason than perhaps because it is expedient for you to sell
39:42
your own lives dearly and lead the true glory hounds among us
39:48
to the current lair of the beast that was once my friend in the
39:53
hopes of gaining status in the effort.
39:59
And that is just the Vipers in this particular nest.
40:04
There are others who will be even less subtle.
40:10
God, it's like I didn't haven't even left LA.
40:14
I feel that on such a level. He sits down, hands on his
40:20
knees, just looking, still quite intense, but also very, very
40:26
tired. I was at the choice.
40:31
The choice is yours. Sounds like we're going to go
40:33
hunting. I don't know about anybody else
40:35
but. Yeah, I mean, Benjamin Franklin
40:40
had some advice about this. We should all hang together, or
40:43
we'll all hang separately. Yeah.
40:48
I mean, I kind of appreciate that.
40:51
Thanks everyone. It really backed up right now.
40:56
And then Aster looks to crow. Yes.
41:02
How you have a voice too? How do you feel about all of
41:05
this? I mean, I'm not in any
41:08
particular mood to throw myself at either situation, considering
41:14
both of them pretty much. Well, I guess I can let yeah, I
41:19
guess I can just let you guys deal with the thing and I'll
41:25
stand back and cheerlead. At least that's a lesser chance
41:29
of me dying. Pragmatic and nothing else.
41:34
I know where my skills are and fighting is not one of them at.
41:40
Least two of us can fight. You talk to a bird.
41:45
I got you all day. And that might be really
41:48
helpful. Actually, it might be.
41:53
I still require an answer. I don't think anyone's going to
41:58
beg for mercy. I think everyone wants to try.
42:01
We'll hunt your monster. Took in trial by combat.
42:04
We'll kill your friend for you, don't worry.
42:08
Sounds so. Awful.
42:09
Yeah. I wouldn't put it that way.
42:11
I. Don't know what the court really
42:15
is, but I have a memory of bleeding out on a very fancy
42:19
floor while a lot of people laughed.
42:23
I don't want to go back. Stands up I Under normal
42:32
circumstances, this would be. As I said before, there is a
42:39
proper way to do this, but those of us who still believe in the
42:45
proper ways of doing things are in the minority.
42:48
These notes, and as I cannot stay to assist you, I will
42:55
simply tell you this before departing.
42:58
As you've probably already gathered, secrecy is paramount.
43:04
We have a name for it. This name is the Masquerade.
43:09
It is the most sacred of our traditions, or near enough to
43:17
sacred for creatures such as us. If nothing else, this creature
43:24
that you were hunting threatens this masquerade, and I do not
43:29
tell you this so that you will go out into the night for the
43:33
sake of your fellow kindred. I tell you this so you will do
43:39
it for the sake of those you still hold close.
43:42
Because when the masquerade is imperiled, people die.
43:50
You will find there are very few things we won't do to maintain
43:57
the secrecy. Is this understood?
44:03
Loud and clear. Yep.
44:06
Yeah. Yeah.
44:10
Or just nods. I will be watching, but I will
44:16
leave you to prepare. And with that, he exits just as
44:24
quickly as he entered. OK, well that's sounds like
44:33
we're going hunting.