"I am, and I'll provide the necessary texts for you to begin your arcane journey. We can conduct the transaction right now, if you'd like."
She tosses you the ring. You can see the vitae swirling around in it.
"Walk with me, brace yourself for some pain, and we will discuss its operation."
You slide the ring onto your finger and wince as a hidden blade on the inside slides into your flesh. But Dr. Caul proves to be an excellent teacher, and you soon learn how to move vitae to and from the garnet ring.
You feel it fighting for control, and force it to yield to you through strength of will. Dr. Caul looks a bit surprised by the extent of your power.
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Dr. Caul smiles, a dazzling expression that ripples across her face and momentarily makes her look like a real person, not an animated corpse. But then her heavy brows knit together in thought.
"This will take careful timing," she says. "Ideally, here is what will happen—IC-12 here gets into your car, so it looks like I'm going to Tucson to speak directly to Prince Lettow. I will drive to where the vampire hunters are staying. I know several Camarilla fronts between here and Tucson. When we reach one, you text me with a number that corresponds to where you are, and then real-me tells the vampire hunters where you are. You stop to get gas. They show up. You peel out, leaving IC-12 vulnerable. They burn her to ash. Since you're at a Camarilla front, at least one of Prince Lettow's retainers witnesses my destruction."
You've tangled with hunters before, so you and the Tremere go over every possible detail and angle of approach until late into the night. Despite the loss of so many of her occultists a few nights ago, she also manages to wrangle up some suitable blood dolls for you. Even better, her on-site mechanics fix your Mitsubishi up. By the next evening, you're full of vitae and ready to go. Dr. Caul slips a positively antique burner phone into your front pocket.
"Text me when you find a good place," she says. "I need to prepare a good disguise so I can meet the hunters."
"You've wandered the highways for too long if you fear a van full of scrub hunters," Caul says. "Consider this a learning opportunity and a chance to hone your skills."
Caul disappears to make plans.
IC-12 isn't much of a conversationalist, but she can follow basic instructions and even recite a few rote sentences. You stick a pair of cheap sunglasses on her face so no one notices her vacant stare.
An hour outside Tucson in a place called Mescal, you spot an eagle circling overhead. You can't tell if it's Riga, but from the overcrowded look of the nearby mobile home park, you know that the Kindred are active here.
You pull into one of the twenty-four-hour gas stations Dr. Caul believes Prince Lettow monitors, a rundown Quick Mart between an upscale residential neighborhood and those mobile homes. The "woods" dividing the communities are full of concertina wire to keep people on their side of the line.
You send a text to Dr. Caul: 8.
This is the eighth of twenty-three locations you and she planned on. She'll pass the message along to the vampire hunters, who have already been alerted to your movement in the area. Then all you have to do is shove IC-12 out the passenger door and get out.
This is a good location: the garage near the gas station belongs to Prince Lettow, and another one you passed a mile back has the karambit logo of one of Julian Sim's companies—you noticed it on your way here. Two defensible locations within a few miles isn't bad.
You park the Mitsubishi in an out-of-the-way spot and get IC-12 outside so you don't lose the car if someone blows her up with surplus military weaponry. Then you circle the Quick Mart on foot, checking for ways out of town both in your car and on foot.
When you get back within sight of your car, you spot a black Econoline van rolling slowly through the Quick Mart parking lot. Off-road light bar, rear winch, tinted windows…those are hunters.
They park, and four men hop out of the back of the truck armed with a mix of shotguns and machetes, good weapons for putting vampires down. The driver is the last to exit. Like the others, she's wearing body armor, and her neck is conspicuously protected by an iron collar.
These aren't frightened amateurs. Still, when they spot IC-12 and start closing in, you realize that Dr. Caul's plan is working. They'll be able to surround and destroy her without difficulty, and you have a clear path back to your car.
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