~~Antoinette~~
"It burns?"
"Burns is too strong a word," Daniel's voice said over the phone. "But the contents burn. I witnessed some incendiary explosives as well."
"Terra Den's work."
"Undoubtedly."
She groaned as she rubbed her forehead. Seated in her beautiful chair, in her beautiful office, at the top of her beautiful tower, all she felt was rage. How dare Garry, how dare he flirt with the edges of her commands.
"Response from the city?" she asked.
"No police or firefighters yet. And I haven't heard any gunfire."
"And the Kindred?"
"I've seen nothing to suggest a Masquerade violation."
If someone violated the Masquerade, the situation would have been far easier to resolve. Execute the infidels, and silence those who complained. But the more Garry and Michael dodged her rules, the more her power slipped away. How much longer before the Carthians or Invictus proclaimed her an unworthy Prince?
Would that be so bad? Dolareido was her city, despite Jacob's claim of co-ownership. It was her experiment, her time and effort that had produced its balance. And for all its troubles, it was one of the more peaceful cities when it came to the covenants. She was proud of her work.
But the more things slipped through her fingers, the more she wondered if her efforts were in vain. Would it not be better to simply leave, establish a more secure power base in a smaller area with no other Kindred presence, and enjoy blissful centuries with Jack?
As much as the idea pleased her, she knew it would not be enough. Despite what absurd and juvenile romantic fairy tales suggested, one could not find contentment in romance alone. One needed to find their own reason to exist, something that drove them and gave them purpose. And while her research into realms of ephemera were of great interest to her, it was her quest to prepare for the future that drove her. Dolareido was the fruit of that preparation, and she would not abandon it on a flight of wistful whimsy, or disparaging anger.
If she had to kill Michael and Garry, and whomever believed in their cause, so be it.
"What do you think, old friend?" she said to the phone on her desk.
"I think Garry has been careful. Anyone who sees this will think the building's been attacked, but nothing here suggests paranormal activity." Doubtlessly, the man was giving one of his stone glares at the building as he spoke. "Conspiracy theorists and journalists alike will have fun theorizing about underworld crime, but nothing more."
"Daniel... do you consider Garry's attack to be a breach of my rules?"
"Much as I hate to say it, no."
"Do you think I should change my decree?" Kindred were staunchly advised to avoid killing each other in Dolareido. She had said as much in Primogen meetings and public gatherings alike. But there had been no official declaration. As long as they upheld the Masquerade, and did not interfere with her city on any meaningful scale, Kindred were allowed to kill each other. And indeed, sometimes they did, despite the assurance from the Carthians and Invictus that no murders had been performed. Pretty lies.
Cooperation, that was what she strived for in Dolareido. Cooperation. It was one of the reasons she kept as much distance from the covenants as she did. History and psychology alike taught the folly of a heavy hand. If she changed her ways and adopted the role of totalitarian, she knew it would end in disaster. Perhaps now, perhaps in another hundred years, it would eventually end in catastrophe.
"I think if you get between these two angry, fighting dogs, you're likely to get bit, Ann. Michael can probably pull ten, maybe twenty of his strongest to fight us, and Garry could likely convince most of his covenant that we should be disposed. And nothing unites people quite like a common enemy."
She groaned again as she cradled her forehead, and combed her hair over her shoulder with her other hand. "Agreed."
"I did see Sándor nearby."
"Understandable. If he is to replace Azamel, then I am sure he wishes to be aware of what the covenants do."
"Should I... ask him, about the tears?"
"No. Jack and his companions will handle the hunt from that angle. Natasha will approach it with the aid of the werewolves." Forced aid, but aid nonetheless. "We will continue our own pursuits as we have." Dangerous games and deadly uses of Daniel's Auspex.
"Understood." Daniel hung up, and Antoinette turned to her laptop.
Camera feeds showed the contents of several of her cells. Humans, kine she had abducted years ago, and rendered catatonic with drugs. Kine who deserved it. Would she sacrifice another, and summon Black Blood once more? The spirit refused to cooperate, but she was not without the power to force a discussion. The dark creature was not omnipotent.
Sighing once more, she shook her head and closed the laptop. A knock at her door announced Elaine's arrival, and Antoinette smiled.
"Come in, my dear."
"Ann," Elaine said as she entered. "Trouble?"
"As always."
"Garry being a pain in the ass, mm?"
"Naturally."
"I could seduce him, perhaps?"
"He is homosexual, Elaine. Quite immune to your charms, I suspect."
She rolled her eyes as she sat down at her desk across from her. "This is why you should abandon this city. It is slippery, and refuses to bow to your ideals. The Ordo would much prefer you focus on your studies."
"I am sure they would. But the Ordo remain blind to the future." Before Elaine could retort, Antoinette waved a dismissing hand. "How goes your attempt to steal Jack's curse for yourself?"
Elaine half grimaced, half smiled. "Come now, you know it is not that simple."
"Is it not?"
"No, it is not. Do not presume to know my intentions, or that I am so shallow as to be motivated by greed and nothing else." Her smile did not falter. "And besides, if you truly felt that way, you would not have let me as close to the boy as you have."
Antoinette grinned at her. "Do you think I ever let my guard down around you, old friend?"
"Why, yes, I believe you do." Elaine returned the grin as she leaned forward over the desk. "At least a little."
They laughed. It was good to laugh. The games they played, as insidious or manipulative as they may be, would not break their friendship. Others could not understand, but none of them had friendships as old as Antoinette and Elaine had theirs. What games Elaine played would come to light eventually, and until then, Antoinette would keep an eye on her. But she also trusted her, and had much more pressing concerns.
"Jack," Elaine asked, "is he not at Xnomina, and the fire?"
"No, he is elsewhere."
"If he were, would you interfere?"
"I have instructed Daniel that, if Jack is found in a situation where his death is inevitable, he is to save the boy. And from there, Jack will be prohibited from operating with the other covenants. Effectively dead."
"All to maintain your glorious neutrality and indifference."
Antoinette squinted her eyes at the woman. "I see you have come to make a point about something."
"Of course. I see this growing war between the suits and the anarchists, and I believe it is foolishness."
"Naturally."
"I meant your refusal to take sides."
Ah yes, this again.
"In the last city you laid claim to territory, what balance did the Kindred strike?" Antoinette was referring to Berlin, a city her old friend had taken up residence in for several decades during the 1900s. She also knew how this conversation would go, they had had it before, but such was the guilty pleasure of elders and elder kine alike, repeating conversations.
"The First estate ruled, and the Second Estate was their close ally, similar to Dolareido. But the Carthians outnumbered them, like a growing swarm of vermin. It is far easier for a lout to recruit a fellow lout, than for the others to grow their numbers."
"Did they fight?"
"Frequently. There was no active war, as per usual, but the Prince was always one transgression away from demanding it."
"And you saw no possibility for peace?"
"No."
"Then, which side would you have picked?"
Elaine leaned back in her chair as she looked down. "I am not sure. They left me to my pursuits, and I never interfered."
"Did you consider any of their views more worthy than the others?"
"No."
"Then--"
"I was not Prince of that city, Ann. You are Prince of this one. I did not care if Berlin's Kindred killed each other, nor if the city suffered for it. I only cared for my experiments. But Dolareido is your experiment, and you are the Prince of it."
"You ask me to play favorites, when that itself would damage my experiment."
"Better that than war."
"You said yourself that in Berlin, it did not come to war." True outright war was terribly rare among Kindred. Elders ruled, and elders were far too paranoid to risk their second lives in a struggle that, to them, was ultimately a fleeting moment in a lifespan measured in centuries. The purge Antoinette had herself enacted was an exception, not the norm.
Naturally, Elaine had been thinking of the purge as well.
"Ann, you fought Lucas and killed his bishops, and you did so because the man was a stone's throw away from assaulting you with over a hundred Kindred. If peace and cooperation was possible, then--"
"Cooperation is possible. It is simply a matter of time and effort to find the balance." And that time was running out. The fact her fellow Kindred could not appreciate the impact the exponential growth of technology would have on their futures, was forever infuriating.
"And if it is not?"
"Then we are all doomed, Elaine."
