The sun had finally set upon Horizon. Vengeance was realized and wrath was satisfied, for now.

The building that had once represented what was perhaps the greatest threat Wilhelm would ever face now lay in ruins. He had led the attack himself. Over a dozen Kindred had swept into the compound under his command. He would probably never know how many Kine had died that night, and would likely be scarcely able to comprehend the scale of property damage that had occurred. He would never know if any of the research, no matter how sinister the means by which it had been achieved, might have served to help usher in the transcendence he had sworn to strive for. And all of it could be laid at his feet.

And he was fine with that. He had never faced anything like Horizon before, and hoped that he never would again. Had they been able to perfect their Lost Nights virus they would have had little difficulty ashing every Kindred in Sacramento. Running would not even have been an option, as distribution in the surrounding areas was sure to be inevitable. Would every Kindred in existence have fallen? By acting to destroy Horizon he had protected every Vampire he knew in Sacramento…Prince Clarke, Ishani, Jayant…

He had preserved his own Requiem, and Victoria’s.

It was not so long ago that he would have cared only about preserving self-preservation.

Some changes were so subtle that even a Priscus of Shadows could not see them happening.