banana It's Saturday night.. and the pressure is on! Though ...

VermainNicolaeVermainNicolae<strong>banana</strong>mattbabyNicolaeVermain<strong>banana</strong>Nicolae<strong>banana</strong>dammitwho<strong>banana</strong>mattbaby"Oh, whew. Just vampires.""If you ask me, vampires are easier to deal with thanghosts."Anatoli, of course, reaches into h<strong>is</strong> coat, producingh<strong>is</strong> ever-trusty weapons in all of <strong>the</strong>ir gleaming glory,cocking <strong>and</strong> readying <strong>the</strong>m. Secretly, Anatoli wonders if<strong>the</strong>re will ever be a m<strong>is</strong>sion he goes on where he -doesn't- have to shoot something. The thought's a bitunnerving."...usually."The metal slab clanks <strong>and</strong> rolls to <strong>the</strong> side slowly.Within <strong>is</strong> a heavy-duty reception area, or loading bay -<strong>the</strong>re are several parking spots for large vehicles, <strong>and</strong>a security booth with mounted machine gun. <strong>It's</strong> manned,just - a Kindred nobody recogn<strong>is</strong>es <strong>is</strong> scrambling insidejust as <strong>the</strong> door opens. "You could have given us morewarning," he calls out to Meghen."Well. I have a few things I was hoping to retrievefrom those servers. I underst<strong>and</strong> that it's something ofyour specialty. Th<strong>is</strong> <strong>is</strong> part of my project."Dietrich perks an eyebrow at <strong>the</strong> machine gun. "You guysdon't fuck around. Was that here from <strong>the</strong> testingdays?"Anatoli looks up from h<strong>is</strong> cocking, stopping mid-cock onone of <strong>the</strong>m. "Oooh. I thought you meant vampires whoare, eh, trying to -kill- us." Anatoli amiably locks<strong>the</strong> safety on both of h<strong>is</strong>, tucking <strong>the</strong>m back in h<strong>is</strong>coat.She approaches h<strong>is</strong> booth, smiling apologetically."Right.. <strong>the</strong>se two are here to speak to an evangel<strong>is</strong>t,<strong>and</strong> see some proof of how <strong>the</strong> L<strong>and</strong>lords have fooledeveryone recently."Guy in booth, to Dietrich: "Right.. don't get tooclose, or you'll find it still works.""Evangel<strong>is</strong>t? Did I w<strong>and</strong>er into a Spears facilitysomehow?" he asks facetiously.Meghen doesn't have a good answer, so she just smirks.<strong>It's</strong> not a very practiced smirk."Ah. I can't help but notice you look a bit d<strong>is</strong>tracted.They don't already know you're coming, do <strong>the</strong>y?"The Soroyan wilderness, dry now in <strong>the</strong> beginning ofspring <strong>and</strong> utterly barren, stretches as far into <strong>the</strong><strong>night</strong> as <strong>the</strong> eye can see around Sarah <strong>and</strong> Anton, emptyin all directions. It ra<strong>is</strong>es <strong>the</strong> question of who "<strong>the</strong>y"*are*."I hope fucking not. But I just had <strong>the</strong> terrible newsthat someone has been bugging my phones - no idea who,of course. They're all quite d<strong>is</strong>connected now,