His Beast is a wall of flame, an all-consuming fire, demanding to be fed the life of others. It burns in his gut, in his head, across the scars that cover his flesh. Nothing will satisfy it. Even the blood he takes tonight will only grant a momentary reprieve.

Cross knows this. And knowing this, he realizes that he cannot give himself over completely to that hunger. There is a difference between being a monster and being a Holy Monster. There is a difference between wanton destruction and necessary predation. It is this difference that allows him to prey on the living while still holding the Beast at bay.

And so, tonight, when he emerges from the depths of the Necropolis, a deeper darkness among the shadows, he forces himself to move calmly, methodically. He will not be some ravenous corpse, but a calculating hunter. Despite his ravaged flesh, despite the wounds given him by the Brood, he will be a Divine Predator.

  CoN, 4 suxx
Date Action Roll Result
2017-05-30 20:22:42 Robert Cross rolls 6 to Cloak of Night Intelligence 2 + Stealth 1 + Obfuscate 3 (10 Again) 2, 3, 9, 10, 4, 8, 9 4 successes

It does not take him long to find his mark. A woman returning home from work. Tired. Defeated. She would be young if not for an existence of pain, one that has marked her features with premature age. For a time, he walks beside her on the sidewalk, through the ambivalent night, unseen.

Perhaps she's a single mother, returning to children already asleep. Perhaps she lives alone or with her aging parents. Cross doesn't know. He doesn't care. All Cross knows is his hunger. And, beyond that, his task: to make this woman understand a very simple thing. Simple and painful: no matter how bad her life is, it can always get worse.

This is what he focuses on until the moment he pulls her into the shadows of the alleyway. Takes what he needs. And then, drinking from her, no matter his Holy Mission, it is only his hunger that matters. It is a lesson for both of them, really.

  Feeding Roll, 1 suxx
Date Action Roll Result
2017-05-30 20:28:35 Robert Cross rolls 4 to Feeding Roll Strength3 + Subterfuge1 (10 Again) 2, 5, 5, 10, 2 1 success

He leaves her there, unconscious and unblemished by his Kiss, in that alley. Walking back the way he came, alone now, the Blood already at work closing another of his wounds. Thinking on what he has learned tonight: no matter how Holy, when the moment comes, the Monster is always just a Monster.

1 Vitae Spent to Heal 1 Lethal