"For once in his miserable existence," Qui mutters. You follow him up to street level, the canal at your back. You may not be able to see the source of the flames, but the twisting trail of billowing smoke lit by a nearly full moon tells the story clearly enough.
"Elysium is burning."
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Chapter 8 Scrutiny
You've lost count of the number of times your fellow Kindred have cracked jokes about "sleeping like the dead," but when you wake as the sun sets, you feel like the idiom easily defines the day's dreamless passage. If you didn't know any better, you'd think only minutes had gone by even though you can feel the physical effects of your slumber renewing your body as you rise. You swing your feet out from your luxurious bed and stand, stretching out the muscles in your back with an uncomfortable snapping and popping. Maybe you're wrong and you did dream, because if you didn't, that means Elysium truly did burn.
Gerard greets you from behind his desk after you leave the bedroom. "Good evening, sir." It's easy to see in his face that he's deeply disturbed. "Is it true what the messengers are saying?"
"About Elysium?" you ask. Gerard nods and you groan. You still hadn't quite given up hope that it was a dream after all. "It looked like it," you say. "But we didn't have time to investigate last night. By the time we got out of the sewers it was almost dawn."
"I fear tonight won't be any less eventful," Gerard says. "The Sheriff wants you to join him on-site to help figure out what happened. And don't forget the Archon—a potential Masquerade breach of this level will draw her like a moth to flame."
"Did anything happen while we slept?" you ask. "Mortal investigations?"
Gerard shakes his head. "The last thing the Sheriff did before retiring for the day was forbid law enforcement from entering the building. It's suspicious, but far less damaging than mortal authorities digging through Elysium unsupervised."
"I'll get going," you say. Despite the dread you feel in the pit of your stomach, you must admit to a morbid curiosity. "Let me know if you hear any relevant chatter on non-affiliated mortal networks. We don't want this to get out of control."
"Already on it," Gerard says. "I'll update you if I find anything."
You grab your coat, remembering at the last minute to strap your holster beneath it where it will remain hidden from the general public. You take your last burner phone too, just in case. Normally you'd be required to surrender your weapons when entering Elysium, but somehow you don't think that will be an issue tonight.
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