Konstantin arrives at the brothel run by his most recent acquisition, a woman named Cat. Several of the prostitutes making up his Herd are in her employ, and after having spent a fair amount of the night switching forms, he is starting to be a bit hungry.

Moving past the bouncer, Jerome, Konstantin gestures to Cat and heads to one of the private rooms. "The new girl, Olga," he says. "Bring her to me."

In short order, the girl arrives, dressed in nothing but a very brief, sheer nightgown. She has pale skin and long, straight, dark blonde hair... Ukranian looks. Appropriate, since she had been smuggled over from the Ukraine by her former owners. Konstantin had eliminated those owners - two small-time pimps that, as best he could tell, were independent operators, not connected to any of the big players in Sacramento's prostitution trade. He couldn't stand to see the way they'd treated the women in their stable, and doubly so since so many of the women were Russian. Konstantin had taken those girls for himself, providing them with safer and better conditions under which to work... and with occasional tastes of his blood.

As the girl closes the door, Konstantin rises from the chair he'd been sitting in and gestures for her to approach. He walks behind her, studying her as an animal studies potential prey. He would feed her more blood soon, to maintain her addiction. He was reluctant to ghoul any of his servants - past experiences had given him bad memories when it came to ghouls - but enthralling them, he had no problem with. Tonight, though, he would be the one feeding.

Konstantin isn't that much taller than the girl, even though she is barefoot and he wears sturdy hiking boots. He thus turns her toward him and lifts her chin before suddenly biting her neck to feed.

Her blood is filling, hot, sweet, even, but as she shudders against Konstantin in the throes of the Kiss, he finds the feeding somewhat... empty. He ponders this as he continues to drink, and suddenly realizes what the problem is.

This was not how he was used to feeding. This was not hunting... there was no challenge, no risk, no chase... and, thus, no victory.

He takes his fill from the girl, leaving her groggy and then calling Jerome in to take her to her room. He then sits and broods for some time, alone.

Upon joining the Invictus, Konstantin took it upon himself to behave as the Invictus, to put effort into obtaining wealth and, more importantly, influence upon the kine. He had worked hard at this, studying options and finally selecting a hunting ground in which Sacramento's other kindred had developed no great influence so far as he could tell. The effort had paid off... he had money now, and a ready source of food, and he had plans to expand his influence to other spheres by enthralling select members of Cat's clientelle - bankers, businessmen and other mortals of significant means and influence. He had been feeling proud of what he'd achieved in a few months, through his own hard work. But now, tonight, it felt empty.

"Perhaps this is why those high in the Invictus, no matter how much they have, they always want more," he muses.

As he leaves the brothel, this discomforting thought follows him out into the night.