For the Good of the Many

She and her brother in blood had always been told that, if in the unlikely event that their chantry fell, they would always find safety at the Waypoints of Janus. Such places were dedicated to the protection of kindred. Apparently, such protection was offered in a rather blanket fashion.

“Do you think they saw us?”

“No, but there’s no way I’m going in there. Not if those blood traitors use a place like that.”

“What do we do then?”

Her brother fidgeted with the toggle of his hoodie. “There’s no way we can stay there.” He looked at her with concern. “Do you remember our sire’s survival training stuff?”

She nodded. Their shared sire had always been insistent on training them in ways to survive outside a chantry. In how to protect themselves if they found themselves lost in the world. One of those was how to make a warded rest site protected from the sun that would deter others from investigating.

Their sire had never said where he had learnt it.

She got to work in making a shelter for her and her brother whilst he continued to keep an eye on the compromised waypoint.

Neither of them had expected their work to be discovered so soon. Nor did they expect to have a message waiting for them asking to meet. They definitely didn’t trust those that left the message had good intentions for them. Not after what they went through. After what they witnessed in their escape.

“You can’t meet them.”

“We can't keep running! They’ll just follow us, and then they’ll do there what they did back home.”

“You can’t meet them, that’s for sure. It's fine. I’ll go to their meeting thing and if they try anything, I’ll do the thing.”

She frowned deeply at that idea. “I hate it when you use that.” Her brother shrugged.

“It works, Sophie. I know what I’m doing, okay? I’ve got the boon marks already, so all I need is to make a pact to power it. It’ll give me an edge if they try anything.”

“I just hate how angry you get when you’ve got it up.”

The comment drew a long sigh from her brother. “I know. It's a side effect of the pact boon, though. And honestly? From what my mentor’s taught me, being a bit more angry is the least of the side effects I could get.”

“Just be careful, okay Liam?”

“I always am, Soph, don’t worry.”

“You saw what they did to Dorian though,” she pointed out, wringing her hands. “What they did to the chantry. What if they--”
Her brother in blood, Liam, put his hands on her shoulders to force her to look at him. “Sophie, I’m not going to let that happen. I’m not going to take risks. If they think it's just one person, they won't have their guard up, and they won't be expecting you. So if it gets really bad, you do your thing and give me time to leg it. Okay?”
Sophie took a steadying breath and nodded, one hand going to the row of covered and protected vials in easy access on her belt. “Okay… okay. We’ll follow your plan, and if it looks bad, we get out of there sharp.”


Despite their preparations, nothing could prepare the two young tremere for what they encountered. Nor for the strange mercy these anarch tremor showed them. Not that either of them really trusted it, especially when they were taken to the not-a-chantry; they could feel the wards and rituals around the place.

“Do you think they’ll stop us leaving?” Sophie asked after warding the room they had been given. Her brother was curled up on one of the beds in the room looking worse for wear. He always did after activating a demon boon.

“Dunno,” he replied miserably. “Maybe? I don’t know anymore.” He looked at her with pained and worried eyes. “They’re really interested in what you can do, though. If they try to--”

“I’m not leaving you behind, Liam,” Sophie snapped. “Not in Inverness and not now. We’re going to find Nicci together, and we’re going to be safe, and we’re not going to leave each other, okay? You’re all I’ve got. Dorian gave his life to protect us. Don’t throw that away trying to be all self-sacrificing.”

Liam offered her a weak smile. “Bossy boots.”

Sophie returned the smile. “Yeah, well, its my turn to be the one with a sort of plan. You focus on feeling better. Once you’re strong enough, we’ll go over the maps and work out where Nicci wants us to go, and then we head out.”

“And if these guys try and stop us?” her brother asked. Sophie flexed her fingers over the covered vials on her hip.

“They try to stop us, I’m going to show them just how scary mother nature can be.”