"No…no chip? But they told me…"
"They're liars," you say. "Give me their message and head north. I don't want to see you around here again, okay?"
His hands shiver. "No chip…maybe I'll just have to move and then find out when they come for me. Might buy me some time." A young mother with a concerned look on her face pulls her daughter away, nearly walking into an incoming car in her haste to avoid you. The messenger doesn't seem to notice.
"The message?" you prompt.
"Right. B wants me to tell you what a…" He clears his throat. "…complete and utter waste of his time you've been. He wants me to make it clear that your failure means that any further business between the two of you is null and void. As a matter of fact, he'd rather not see your face any time in the near future." He pauses and watches your facial expressions. You try as best you can to remain stoic. It must have worked. "Man, you don't seem the least bit perturbed."
"There's not much I can do at this point," you say. "Thank you for delivering the message. Oh, and I don't think I ever got your name."
"Alex." He sticks his hand out and you shake it. "Pleased to meet you. I've gotta go, though. One more message to deliver."
He pulls away from the wall and wraps his scarf tight around his face. "Maybe I'll be seeing you, maybe I won't," Alex says as he starts off down the street. You watch him turn around the corner at the end of the block, and wait for a minute or two before moving on, yourself.
You can't say you didn't expect this. Few Kindred look kindly on failure, and Michel Bouchard is certainly no exception. You were hoping that he'd at least give you a second chance to kill the ghoul given the extenuating circumstances, but you can't deny that his instructions had been clear and you failed to carry them out. You're going to have to choose whom you ally yourself with more carefully from now on.
With an Archon tearing through the city, you'll need to be careful where you go, so without a clear direction for the evening, you decide that the best decision is the simplest. You head home.
Next