Melissa stood before Asylem, the crowds of fetishists starting to shrink as more went inside. The young Ventrue found it a bit strange that the Clan leader worked here. Then again there is that mind control and feeling superior to others thing...Guess it fits. Flipping her hoodie back, she worked her way inside and quickly finding herself more than a little out of place here. Wonder where she is....

Victoria sat at the bar watching the club around her. A new arrival had made arrangements for a meeting so she found herself killing time. She wasn't waiting long before she felt her wasp stir and react the presence of another beast. The black leather clad Harp looked from person to person until she singled out the source.

As she stood up she wondered what it was about Ventrue and all the women as of late. A clan mostly populated by large male populations and we get nothing but women. Odd. Maybe too many dirty old men? She thought in amusement.

She approached the woman and grinning. "Good evening. Miss Payne, I presume?"

Payne...how quaint. Some sire's idea of a joke perhaps? The Ventrue did unfortunately have their...other reputation after all.

Melissa once again felt the fear of her Beast within. Even though she kept having the irresistible urge to start fleeing out the door, she managed to quash it before she made an idiot of herself. "Good evening Miss Stamford. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice." She said, trying her best to be respectful towards the Priscus and harpy. She did have to admit, she was nowhere hear as bad looking as she feared.

"There somewhere we can talk in private?" Melissa asked, eyes snapping back to the face of Victoria.

"Of course. We can use one of the back rooms," Victoria said as she turned and nodded to a the back section of the club.

"This way," she said and then with a smile Victoria turned slowly made her way toward the back of the club.

The sound of creaking leather could be faintly heard as she moved and her whip coiled and hanging from her waist bounced off her thigh as she walked. When she reached on of the rooms she let Melissa enter the room first. What she found was a room decorated in two styles. The front half had plush couches and lounges along with a large round padded table. The far end of the room was bare concrete and had various tables and bondage gear set up and ready for use.

Victoria gestured to the sitting area as the woman entered and then closed the door behind them locking it. Then she made her way to a couch and sat down facing the other woman before crossing her legs.

Melissa was a bit surprised when she was confronted with the back room. Though thinking on it, she really should not be considering where she was. As she sat down, she tried to keep her mind focused on the conversation and not...Well that. "Thank you again. Honestly I thought you would have better things to do that see me." She said smiling.

Noticing the direction of the woman's gaze Victoria suppressed the grin she felt. Looking at Melissa with a reserved expression she finally smiled politely and spoke.

"Don't mention it. I do have a number of things on the agenda, but I always enjoy meeting family. Tell me about yourself. Your sire, where you come from, your covenant, and what brings you here."

This again? Well, maybe she might know more. "Well since you asked. I came from Los Angeles. As for Covenant, I don't really belong to any. Why I'm here in Sacramento...Well, I pretty much woke up here. Dead." Melissa's tone turned quite bitter when she mentioned that. "That pretty much brings me to my sire. She pretty much vanished when she did the deed, leaving a bunch of crazy notes about being dead. Didn't believe it at first until some of the obvious started to happen. Right now I'm trying to see if theres anyone that knew her. Been told she was here for a while before running off to LA. Her name was Cassandra Grey." Her gaze subtlety changed from interest to scrutiny. She was looking hard for even a hint of recognition.

Victoria's pleasant smile froze and her expression noticeably darkened not in an unfriendly manner, but deathly serious. She looked at Melissa for several long minutes without saying a word finally she spoke up breaking the silence.

"Who have you told of your sire, and how much do they know?" She asked simply.

That was not the sort of reaction Melissa was looking for. Of course, her sire was insane but her notes did mention that everyone else was. I'm starting to wonder how true that is. Then again a masked man in the basement trying to pull a Phantom of the Opera did make that statement somewhat valid.

"Er...So far only you and Seneschal Staley know, though he didn't know much about her." She said hesitantly. "...Why? She do something wrong here?"

"So he knows Cassandra Grey sired you here? That could prove problematic..." Victoria thought for a short moment. "It may be too late to keep it quite if he knows everything, but it would go better for you if you don't tell anyone else who it was. Somehow I doubt someone like her had permission. How much do you know about our kind. Do you know what it means to be Ventrue?"

"Uh...She didn't do it here in Sacramento." Melissa explained. "I was in LA when it happened. She and some bitch she had with her jumped me in an alley, sucked me dry and started force feeding me blood. Pretty much blacked out and then I woke up here." She said, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples as she tried to sort though the the anger and frustration that always seemed to lead back to that moment in time not so long ago.

She pulled some stray hair out of her face and looked at Victoria. "She wrote some stuff on the kindred on a stack of notes when I woke up. Pretty much told me to read it. Most of it was gibberish, but some of it seemed to hold up as far as I could tell, like Traditions and the Prince. Told to burn it after that. Bitch forgot to mention why we should stay away from fire." Mels teeth grinned for a second as she thought about that. It was possibly the worst joke she had endured for some time. As for the Ventrue, she wrote some stuff about them but it was short. Just said 'You are Ventrue, you rule, you control, you crush all beneath you, you win.' Other than that, I have no freaking clue."

"Well, that changes things then. If I were you I would still refrain from freely offering the identity of your sire without need. While to my knowledge she didn't break any laws while here...it could effect opinions of you negatively." Victoria paused and looked to the woman for a moment before continuing. "I assume when you met with the Seneschal he went over the laws of the city with you? Do you have a place to stay yet?"

Guess she wasn't popular here. "I'll keep that in mind." Melissa said, already starting to calm down as the conversation shifted back to business. "Yes to both. Went over them when I was seeing him and..she was nice enough to give me a place to stay before leaving me." While she talked, her eyes started to stray down towards Victoria's whip. Wonder how much she uses it? Must have a lot of f-AH! Focus! And just like that they were back looking at the Ventrue's eyes. "Anything else?" Said asked with a smile.

Victoria shook her head in the negative, "I think that is all. Unless you had anything further to discuss. However, I will want to meet with you again. I feel that we have much to discuss regarding your blood's heritage. I will not leave one of the family ignorant of it. So after I have your contact information feel free to leave."

"Of course. You have been very helpful so far." Melissa said. She pulled out a spare piece of paper and a pen from her purse. She looked up as she scribbled in her info. "I don't suppose there is something you can tell me about the family? Knowing a little always helps in the long run."

"The way that Ventrue embrace is not the way that you were embraced. It is more fitting for a Gangrel or Nosferatu embrace not a Lord. We watch, wait, plan, execute, and there is a long training period.Your sire was...unorthodox to say the least."

"Concerning the Ventrue. If a city's population is like a business, then we are the management, board, or CEO. We command, lead, our right by blood. We have done so since the nights after the Roman Camarila. We were tribal chiefs, Lords, and Princes of the damned and of kine, or humans if you will. I can tell you about us, our history, but it is difficult to explain how to act like a Ventrue and for you to fully grasp it. It is in your blood, and something that is instilled by your sire's tutelage. It comes with time."

Victoria paused for a moment before she continued, "It is something we do not talk about, but power has its price. Throughout history power and madness were many times two sides of the same coin. It is no different with us. Our clan has a tenancy for degeneration into madness, and I'm afraid your blood especially. Cassandra, your sire, was a Malkavian a bloodline given to irrecoverable madness. It is likely the...eccentric nature of your blood has not awakened yet, but it is always a threat. This is why the Invictus is so important."

"The Invictus through discipline and rigid social rules helps focus your mind and actions. As time goes on for you, you will find it difficult to remember kine behavior and to fit in. The Invictus provides a place for leadership and order to guard against the beast that dwells within us all."

Well, does make sense with all that talk about ruling everyone. Melissa thought as Victoria talked about the Clans position. Her pen kept scratching away at the paper while she watched and listened to her. Mel didn't think it was that bad so far...

...Until the subject of insanity came up. A nice little hole was punched through the paper as there was just a hint of fear in her eyes. she didn't realize her pen kept tearing away as she went on. Memories of dreams she had, all of them real in some way. There was that hint she could be crazy, but deep down she knew she was right, that she was more sane than everyone around her. But now the fact that her own blood would drive her off the deep end, the very thing she was always sure about in life and the beginning of her Requiem being destroyed...That terrified her. The fact that she was starting to think she was crazy was not helping her at all...

She looked down and blinked. Most of her writing was reduced to a tattered mess of crumpled paper and nervous tears. "Oh! Sorry." She murmured, quickly fishing out another spare piece of paper and scratched her details once again. "Thats...Quite interesting. I might look into the Invictus a some point."

Victoria reached over and pulled a few tissues from a box, stood up and made her way over to the woman settling in beside her. Reaching over she handed the tissues to the woman while smiling reasuringly. "Part of the process of acceptance into the Invictus is to be apprenticed to your sponsoring member to learn what you need to know to get by before being released as a full member. I think it would be good for you as it would give you a good grounding in understanding kindred society and it could even give you some practical knowledge of your clan. It is something to keep in mind at any rate. So if you need someone to talk to I can most often be found here or in court when I'm not busy."

"Thank you." She said as she dabbed some tissue against her tear ducts. She had to pause and stare at the little droplets of crimson that stained the paper. It hit her a little harder that she was not as human as she thought she was. Another little thing to get used to if she wanted to survive.

"I don't know who would sponsor me. Maybe..." She looked at Victoria for a moment, but shook her head. "No, I should think more on this before jumping in. Anyway, here is my info if you do need to call me." She said, handing her Priscus the new scrap of paper. She was starting to smile again, the idea of going crazy sinking into the back of her mind to trouble her another time.

Victoria nodded in agreement as she took the woman's contact information. "I agree. You should take your time and think about it. If it is something you want, well, you know where to find me. When you are ready and have suitably composed yourself you are free to leave." After a quick pause she looked to the woman inquisitively, "Unless there is something else you wished to discuss?"

Melissa smiled, but shook her head. "No thank you. I think I've kept you distracted by me and my own problems for one night." She said as she tried to push everything out of her mind. It didn't take as long as she thought it would to chase them away till she could contemplate in private. "I will call you if I make up my mind..." She paused as she looked at the private room before the slightest of smirks started to stretch across her face. "...Or maybe other things. Who knows?"

"If you ever find yourself curious..." Victoria smiled back at the woman leaving the invitation regarding play unfinished. "Good evening, Miss Payne."

"Good evening, Miss Stamford." Melissa said. It wasn't long until the young Ventrue had put the sounds of leather and riding crops behind her and went back into the dark streets of Sacramento.

Very tempting offers. Better keep it in mind, while I still have it...

End Scene