Stolen Blood Ch 1 Lighting the Candle

[Jennifer Hazelton]

Jennifer had arranged for a meeting with those who needed information about the very imminent threat of hunters in the Domain. She had asked for Liam to go and speak with Otto on his questions and to drive Otto to the meeting, which was located at Lotus.
"If you need to invite anyone to this meeting, I can pick them up." Liam offers to Otto. Liam will be driving Otto to Lotus.

Lotus was a two-story Salon designed to host meetings of intellectual nature. This evening, there was no time on looking at the art on display in the middle room or to stop in Jennifer’s personal office to speak on her extensive library of literature.
Liam would lead all guests to the large boardroom where a wooden table decorated in a table runner of Nosferatu green was in the center of the room. The table had a dark wood box segmented to offer writing paper and writing utensils in the center of the table. A corkboard situated at the west side of the room where all could see it featured a map of Sacramento. The Ridge Motel was indicated with a textbox and a red tack. Several cards and different colored tacks were on the side.
This is an ideal place to share all information about the mortals and hunters to formulate a plan.

Jennifer sat at the head of the table.

@Otto DamoclesImpaled

[Otto Schneider]

Otto was becoming accustomed to Liam. And he honestly couldn't tell how he felt about it. The competing views of ingrained Sanctified Doctrine, Ventrue noblesse oblige, and simple familiarity were making it hard to pin down his feelings or the Ghoul. But it hardly mattered, in the short term. He could work with the man. "Good evening, Liam." He greeted simply before stepping into the vehicle. "We'll be stopping for one more, tonight. Mr. Azoth will be at this address..."

The Ventrue Priscus will be awaiting the Mekhet patiently in the car, and once they arrive at the Lotus follow behind the more junior Kindred into the Salon.

[Kylar Stern]

Kylar arrived to be picked up at the location he told Priscus Schneider. Seeing the vehicle pull up he made his way to the vehicle and before getting in gave Priscus Schneider a proper bow. "Evening Priscus." Kylar Stern says as he gets in and shuts the door. "Where are we headed?"

[Jennifer Hazelton]

The Seneschal looked up as the Priscus and the Mekhet were escorted into the boardroom by her Ghoul.
"Priscus Schneider." A deep nod was given to the Priscus of Lords. This nod reflects the standing that Otto Schneider currently enjoyed among the Kindred of the Domain. Respect had been earned by the Ventrue and Jennifer was observant in demonstrating proper etiquette regarding respect.
"Azoth." Jennifer gives the Kindred a very slight nod appropriate to the standing of one Acknowledged in the Domain.
"Please have a seat and help yourself to the supplies. If you have locations that should be added to the Map, please do so.

"I want this to be a place where we can share information with one another. This is a time sensitive situation. While we slept the Day away, Mortals were continuing their machinations.
Behind me," Jennifer indicates the cork board. "- is a site that Liam informed me of being relevant.
"Thank you, Liam. As you were a witness to some of the events, please feel free to remain in order to supply information as requested." The ghoul made a small nod and stood by the door. He was present to give responses to what he had observed, likely to assist Otto in recounting events.

[Otto Schneider]

"The Lotus." Otto replied simply to the Mekhet, not elaborating further until they had arrived at the venue. "An establishment under the ownership of our hostess. Let's go." With that, the Priest stepped out of the vehicle, following after Liam and occasionally glancing towards Azoth.

"Seneschal Hazelton, a pleasure as always." He greeted the Nosferatu warmly with a deferential bow, even as her sibilant speech grated against the part of his mind that kept him wary of other things that went bump in the night. "Well, for the sake of not overloading our friend with too much at once," The Priest began before taking a seat. "I'd defer to Azoth on whether he has any burning questions. I have, for the sake of keeping matters under wraps, spoken in very general terms until now. And in the event that doing that has caused any... misconceptions, I think now would be a good time to clear the air." He turned in his seat to face the Shadow, hands folded in his lap.

[Kylar Stern]

Kylar Stern walked in after the Priscus and when they met up with the Seneschal he gave her an appropriate bow before saying "Seneschal, it's a pleasure but from what Priscus Schneider has mentioned I wish it was under more social circumstances."

Kylar took a seat and listened as both the Seneschal and Priscus spoke. When the mention of questions came up Kylar took this as his cue to speak up. "I have several questions regarding recent events. How was the breach of the Masquerade documented, considering my understanding from both experience and my sire’s teachings that the curse should distort our images? What intelligence do we possess about the group that has emerged? Are there indications of professionals among their ranks? What is their level of organization; was it a rapid assembly or the result of a prolonged effort to reach their current structure? Lastly, do we have any information regarding their leadership?" Kylar's head was spinning a bit with the rapid-fire questions, but he knew he had to be brought up to speed quickly.

"Sorry for asking so many questions, but I know I need to catch up quickly so we can move on to the next steps."

[Jennifer Hazelton]

"Yes, a pleasure to be operating under our own power." As some were not free to do so.
"Yet there is much to discuss. Let us focus on the time sensitive investigation before us."

As there are questions, Jennifer's eyes flick to the Ventrue. She did not answer the Mekhet's questions. She was aware of certain behind the door talks and decisions being made. Was the Priscus knowledgeable on these questions?
"There needs to be an exchange of information. Liam has shared what he witnessed, yet I am curious what your opinion is, Priscus Schneider. What is the fate of your Clan mate?" Jennifer is pointed.

[Otto Schneider]

There was a slight grimace from the Priest at Azoth's onslaught of questions, but he ultimately nodded at the end as he looked at the Shadow. "All reasonable inquiries. I will try to go through them in order."

"It's true that Kindred seldom show up clearly in photography or even video recordings. But that isn't guaranteed. I know that through concentration and force of will, and assuming they are aware of the act in advance, a Kindred can stabilize their Beast enough to appear as a kine would. There may be other means of achieving this, but the implication that the subject of this video willingly appeared is... worrying."

"I have met with them in person, pretending to be a similarly concerned citizen. And unfortunately, they are more knowledgeable than they should be. I'm not sure if they're 'Hunters' in the sense that they've inflicted Final Death before, but they know about 'vampires'. Their information is thankfully somewhat limited, but they peered past the Masquerade well before organizing their neighborhood watches. They at least are aware of certain commonly attributed traits of the Curse, namely the need to feed on Vitae and an aversion to the sun. Another small comfort is that it seems that only a handful of them know any of this, a small inner circle. Most other volunteers are probably just regular people who think they're looking out for kidnappers and nothing more. But based on our conversation, I wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to recruit more. I got the impression that this group of hunters has been operating before now and this just represents a recent effort to find Kindred."

The Ventrue sighed deeply, an affectation to signal how vexing the situation was. "Their leader is a woman named Kristen. Curiously, she had actually assisted Priscus Silvers and I several months back when we were dealing with a specter in the local park. I'm not sure if she really remembered me, but she has a concerning amount of knowledge about the supernatural. And worse, this hunt for Kindred is a personal matter. She claimed that her sister was the victim of a Kindred, hence her determination to hunt us."

Otto turned to look at Jennifer before refocusing on Azoth. "And here's the worst part: they're holding a Kindred captive. Mr. Jake, a member of my own Clan, was captured by them while attempting to feed. They didn't catch him in the act, but they had enough suspicion to detain him. I made reasonable appeals to them about operating on scant evidence, the consequences of extralegal activity, but hunters aren't rational people. He is holding himself together remarkably well, all things considered, but he can't hold on forever. I'm afraid the Beast will cause him to try to feed on one of them. We need to extract him from their custody as soon as possible."

[Kylar Stern]

"Apologies again for the slew of questions. I attempted to keep it to what I felt would be needed to move on." Kylar thought a bit, "So there are a few things that concern me. As a Dragon I am aware there is a way for us to alleviate that aspect of the curse. That is why I was concerned because if they were caught we may be dealing with a fellow Kindred with uncanny control over their Beast."

Kylar brought out his smartphone, "Hope you don't mind me taking a few notes, this Kristen lady, do we have a last name. f I had her full name it would make it easier for my Contacts to locate her and get some dirt on her." Kylar finished typing in his phone and then looked up again, "The fact that they have so much knowledge about the Kindred makes me think they either have a Hunter on their side or maybe even a fellow Kindred, not necessarily working with them, but maybe providing them with information about us."

"Now that is a deeply disturbing detail. Not only the fact they were able to detain him, but the fact that they are capable of keeping him detained." Kylar eyes then darkened, "So you know where they are keeping him detained. Would you be able to get me floor plans of the area. We may have to break him out before they are willing to release him. Either way I would be willing to attend a meeting with them if you would like the backup."

[Jennifer Hazelton]

There needed to be a time and place for delegation. If she always stepped in and spoke certain words before others had a chance to, then she would be snatching away their chances to change their projected roles. As a supporter of the First Estate, Jennifer wholly believed in Meritocracy. If one was able to prove their skills and mental acuity, then they should be able to enjoy the benefits. In the First Estate, that was normally attracting a teacher. Yet now, Jennifer had watched Priscus Schneider with open curiosity as he spoke. Where was he taking them in how he revealed his information?

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-01-17 09:24:32	Jennifer Hazelton rolls 9 to Hide emotions (Composure + Empathy) (10 Again)	9, 5, 3, 2, 8, 8, 1, 6, 10, 3	4 successes

As Priscus Schneider shares his information, emotions were pulled tighter. Jennifer’s expression changes to polite expression of observation. Jennifer did not reveal any of her personal thoughts or expressions such as surprise on her face. This was not a short game that was afoot.

Her brown eyes take in both Azoth and Priscus Schneider to address the question on images. Losing their anonymity was not something that Jennifer had agreed with at the time and certainly did not approve of now. Yet she had not been consulted in that idea that it was still biting at their heels.

“Was there any statement of what they intend to do with Mr. Jake? As the first priority is to remove the opportunity to observe a Kindred under distress. This is the blade that hangs over our necks as a guillotine; if Mr. Jake breaks then these Hunters and Mortals will have their proof. They may never leave this Domain until we root them out if they have proof of a single Kindred." Eyes flick to Azoth.
"For surely, Mr. Jake allows these mortals to think him cowed by their petty strength. For if he were to bolt, he would have to reveal either his superior strength, his speed, or a Blood Gift. He knows that the Priscus knows of his Plight, and would have conveyed that to the Alder Prince.

The first priority is to respond to this site at the Ridge Motel and remove the Kindred immediately. Is there anything more that you can tell us around that goal?
Does anyone have any ability or knowledge that will assist in the objective to remove Mr. Jake and deny these Hunters any sight of a Kindred?”

Dark eyes flick to Azoth's phone. Younger then, she decided. Would you be able to get me floor plans of the area... Now Azoth enjoyed a pointed look of the Seneschal.

"We may what?" Jennifer feigned mishearing. For surely, when one sat in the presence of herself, they did not declare Domain wide plans, did they?

Her gaze returned to Priscus Schneider.