Blood of The Rose

Chapter 24: Don't Judge A Book

Santa Monica

Ruby trudged down the street, her hands stuffed in her jeans pockets and head downcast. Weiss walked by her side, seemingly giving her space, but the brunette knew her friend was watching her with concern out of the corner of her eye.

As they passed the diner, the platinum-haired fledgling took her by the elbow and steered the two of them across the street to avoid the resident doomsayer. The raving madman was in one of his usual moods, hefting his sign overhead proclaiming the coming end of the world as he harangued all within earshot.

"We are living in the last days of the last age of mankind!" the tattered man rasped, marching back and forth along the street corner they'd just departed. "Repent your wickedness and atone in these, your last hours!"

Rather than an amused chuckled as such rantings would usually elicit, instead Ruby let out a rather despondent sigh. Yeah, I have a lot to atone for, what am I even doing… Is this what I have to look forward to, berserking every time I don't feed often enough? Who'll be next, huh? Some kid? Someone I know? Would Weiss be able to control me if I lost it like that again?

Her head slowly rose as she retreated into her usual stoic resolve, pushing her reservations back again and simply determining not to let it happen again. At this point and time, while she was still trying to complete the tasks set before her and escape Santa Monica, she really didn't want to dwell on exactly what had happened earlier with the prosthetic maniac, just the consequences and prevention of it ever happening again.

She even chuckled lightly as she saw Weiss' pale blue eyes flickering over the destination building with a goodly amount of disdain. "I will scout out the neighboring yard," the other fledgling stated. "Just to make sure there are no surprises later."

Ruby gave her an amicable nod, glancing over at the fenced-in abandoned gas depot. "Okay, sounds good, Weiss. Thanks."

They flashed each other a quick smile before going their separate ways. The brunette pushed the door to the bail bond shop open, presented with a scene unchanged from the last time she'd visited. Not that I really expected any differently.

Kilpatrick groaned slightly as he lifted his bulk up from the chair to greet her. "Hey there, kiddo, what's shakin'?"

"Um, hey, Kilpatrick…" She rubbed the back of her neck hesitantly, deciding to just come right on out and rip off the bandaid. "Sooo I got some bad news. Um… I kinda found Carson, but he's not coming back."

"What? Ain't comin' back? What do you mean he ain't comin' back?"

"Yeah, he's… dead. He was killed by a psychopath on the case he was working." Ruby offered up an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry."

Kilpatrick sighed heavily, leaning back against his desk which creaked ominously against his weight. "Well, shit. That's too damn bad, I tell ya what. He was a good guy. Man, that's a tough one to swallow."

The brunette continued to smile sympathetically as she watched the man struggle to maintain his attempt at a tough-guy demeanor.

Finally, Kilpatrick cleared his throat as his voice became more businesslike. "Well, hell. That really leaves me in hot water, kiddo. Gonna cost old Arthur real good."

Ruby's smile became somewhat more eager at the news, though she tried very hard to stamp down on her enthusiasm because of the news she just delivered. "So, what's the problem? Anything I can help with?"

"Yeah, yeah, maybe… I got this guy with a sheet a mile long, put in on three warrants. His girlfriend put up for the bond and now he missed a court date. I can't get in touch with either of 'em. Want a job?"

As much as she tried to curb her enthusiasm, she was unable to suppress a giggle at that. "Do I? I mean yeah, definitely!" Ruby frowned momentarily as something tickled the back of her brain in reminder. "Um… can I get paid for finding Carson still, even if I couldn't bring him back?"

"Oh, uh, yeah… yeah yeah. Sorry about that, here ya are." Kilpatrick opened up a desk drawer and rifled through a small cash box before handing her five twenty-dollar bills.

"Cool beans, thanks!" she grinned. "Sooo what would you like me to do?"

"Well, it won't be much of a job since you ain't licensed and all, but until I can get me another bounty hunter, or I can get ahold of that chick up in LA, I need you to find out if this guy skipped town or what."

"Awesome, can do!"

"Great, great." Kilpatrick settled his frame back behind his computer once more and tapped a few keys, peering at the old CRT monitor. "Alright, the guy's name is Mike Durbin. Goes by the name 'Muddy'. His girlfriend put up the bond. She lives over there above Trip's Pawnshop. Her name is Marian Murietta, but I haven't been able to get in touch with her."

Ruby nodded sagely, now trying to act a bit like she knew what she was doing with this whole bounty hunter thing. "What's this guy's record look like, then?"

"Well, he was brought up on manslaughter charges years back but he got acquitted. Since then he's been in and out for this and that, small time stuff mostly."

"So what'd he do this time to need bailed out?"

"Most recently?" He tapped a few more keys. "He was brought in as part of a big case on stolen auto parts. It's this big chop shop thing that's goin' on in Santa Monica. Been in the paper."

"Okay… So, above the pawnshop, right?" Right next to the Haven, easy enough...

"That's right, Marian Murietta, in them crappy places above the pawnshop."

Ruby rubbed the back of neck awkwardly. "Heh heh, yeah, really crappy I'll bet…" she mumbled, though Kilpatrick ignored her and plowed on.

"Find out where the hell Muddy is, where he's going, whatever. But be careful. You're not licensed and if anything bad goes down, I don't know ya, ya hear me?"

"Yup, I hear ya."

Kilpatrick gave her a grateful nod. "Alright. Come back when ya got some info. Thanks in advance!"

Ruby gave him a cheerful wave as she skipped out the door. "See ya!"

Her earlier morose feelings were once again firmly buried, she could deal with it when she had the time. For now, though, she just needed to keep in mind that she needed to feed regularly. I can do this, don't let myself get hungry, and everything will be fine, no worries, I can do this...

As she left Kilpatrick's to stroll along the sidewalk, Ruby immediately spotted Weiss standing in the shadows cast by an overhead sign from Brother's Salvage. The other fledgling was motionless as she leaned against the signpost in between the junkyard and the old fenced-off Sunco gas station.

Approaching her friend, she snorted in humor at the sign hanging right over Weiss' shoulder on the gate to the salvage yard. "No trespassing; violators will be shot, survivors will be shot again," she read out loud with a giggle.

The brunette Kindred opened her mouth to greet her partner but then jumped slightly as the doomsayer barked out his latest denunciation, seemingly directing it straight at the pair of girls. "The bones of your ancestors will rise up and reclaim the flesh that they lent their sorry progeny!"

Ignoring the raving man, Weiss inclined her head towards a gap in the fence. "There's a light coming from inside there."

Ruby peered inside the yard, observing several giant rusty upright tanks, like squat grain silos, that must have been used to store gasoline. The closest one seemed to have a large tear in the side. Sure enough, her enhanced eyes could make out the hint of a flicker of light from within. "Whelp, let's do this, then."

The pair of fledglings pushed through the gap, eyeing the spools of razor wire atop the fence, and headed directly for the gas tank.

The tear was deceptively large, at an angle so it was barely noticeable from the street. Ruby easily cleared it, stepping through and looking around warily. Inside was a solitary figure, wearing jeans and a wooly green overcoat and standing with his arms crossed and a smirk upon his face as if he were expecting them. Behind the vampire was a computer set up on top of an old wooden spool for telephone wire, attached to a web of electrical wiring and the like that disappeared somewhere into the darkness. Next to the computer rested a stained mattress on the floor and a candle flickering atop a crate that must have served as an end table.

As Ruby focused in on the figure, she quickly ascertained that he was obviously Nosferatu. The brunette shuddered at the otherworldliness of his visage. An oddly misshapen and hairless lump of a skull was adorned with beady, inset red eyes and a mouth full of uneven pointy teeth. The Kindred's left ear was fully formed and had a loop earring, while the other seemed to be just a slit in the side of his head. She tried very hard to keep a grimace off of her face as she was forced to deal with the most frightening and disfigured of all the Kindred races that she'd dealt with so far.

The Nosferatu addressed Ruby first as she cautiously approached. "Look who finally made it. Thought you'd never find me, did ya, sweetheart?"

His voice was slightly raspy but deep and smooth nonetheless, even so it sent chills up her spine.

"You knew I was looking for you?" Ruby retorted curiously.

The vampire, presumably Bertram, nodded. "I've gotten good at knowing when I'm wanted." He turned to Weiss next as she stepped up alongside the brunette. "Figured a childe of old Ozpin would have gotten her to me sooner than that."

Weiss huffed irritably and crossed her arms. "Well, you didn't exactly make it easy on us with your little feud."

"Yeah, heard from Jeanette, I guess Therese is outta the picture now, hmm?" He grinned, pointed teeth gleaming in the dim light. "Interesting, indeed. And so now there's you two."

Ruby gave a hesitant little wave. "Yup, there's us. So, then, you must be Bertram Tung, right?"

"The one and only."

The brunette glanced over at Weiss. "Um, yeah, heh heh… So, I'm Ruby-"

Bertram chuckled, cutting her off. "Oh, I know all about you, cupcake. And that you've got something big you need to do, so either someone has a lot of faith in you… or they want you out of the picture. Hmm… interesting choice, either way."

"How do you know about me?" she returned, a bit perplexed. Everyone seems to know about me, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that...

"News travels down the Kindred grapevine like wildfire. And that courtroom spat between La Croix and Nines Rodriguez is a juicy little morsel, and you in the middle…" A small, grey tongue darted out to lick his lips, forcing Ruby to suppress another shudder. "How interesting."

"Enough of that, if you please," Weiss interrupted firmly. "We require assistance on behalf of the Prince."

Bertram smirked at the haughty Ventrue girl. "Of course, of course… So what did you need me for, then?"

"So, there's this warehouse that Mercurio told us needs blown up…" Ruby began hesitantly. "One run by the Sabbat…"

"Ahhh, I see. Yeah, I've been watching the place. The Sabbat has a bunch of lowlife humans working day and night to move stuff through there. There's some major staging going on."

"Just humans?" the brunette frowned.

The elder Kindred nodded. "As far as I can tell. The humans seem to know the score from the way they've been talking. I think most of them have aspirations of joining the next graduating class of shovelheads. Ugh, losers."

That revelation caused Ruby's eyes to widen in disbelief. "They know they're working for vampires?"

Now it was Weiss' turn to nod distractedly. "Yes, the Sabbat tend to make sure everyone knows precisely who they are dealing with."

Bertram chuckled in agreement, the sound like rusty pipes being scoured out. "Got it in one. So if you get in there and have to bust some heads… don't feel bad. Think of it as 'upholding the Masquerade'."

"So you can get us in there without being detected?" the platinum-haired fledgling pressed.

"Sure can. Just tell me when you're ready and we'll leave. Once you're there, however, you're on your own. You'll need to get into the place and plant the explosives in the middle office to take the whole structure down."

"Okay, well…" Ruby caught herself before she could chew on her bottom lip again. "We need to get the Astrolite back and run a couple of errands… So, first thing tomorrow night?"

Bertram grunted as he glanced down at an expensive Rolex watch on his wrist. "Yeah, time's running short until sunrise, I guess that's for the best… Come back when you're ready to go, then. But don't take too long fledgling, you definitely need to do this tomorrow night. This isn't really something we planned around your schedule."

"Okay, thanks, Bertram," Ruby stated gratefully. "See you later, then!"

Weiss inclined her head slightly as she went to follow her partner out. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Tung."

"Anytime, fledglings, Bertram chuckled. "See you tomorrow, then."

The two young vampires made their way from the gas station, and upon Ruby's urging swung through the garage on the way to Mercurio's.

"So this automobile we're looking for," Weiss commented as they strolled through the rows of cars. "It was collateral for a bail on some European man who might be connected to the thin-blood you are looking for?"

"Lily, right, she had the bond in her purse." Ruby pursed her lips as she spotted another red car at the end of the row, in a dark corner of the garage and far from where sunlight might reach. "I'm hoping to find something, anything, really, 'cause otherwise this is a dead end… Oh!"

They paused behind the older model vehicle, with a license plate that read GUYCONI.

"And this is it!" the brunette announced cheerfully. She reached down and quickly discovered, much to her surprise, that the trunk was actually unlocked.

The two fledglings peered inside the cluttered trunk space curiously. Among the usual trash and discarded car parts, Weiss daintily pulled out a small book with a plain brown cover, handing it over to her partner. Opening it, Ruby noted a feminine scrawl across several pages. "Hmm, looks like a diary…" She turned and rested her rear against the bumper, reading out loud for Weiss' benefit.

4/30 - I met a guy today at The Asylum. He's SO beautiful, oh my god. His name is Rolf and he is from Germany. European men are just so classy compared to boring California boys. He asked to see me tomorrow night. I wonder if he's rich. He looks rich. I'm going to go shopping tomorrow and pick up something that won't make me look like a big, fat pig. Can't wait to see him.

5/21 - I think it's getting pretty serious with Rolf. He told me he wanted to give me something very special next week and if it's what I think it is, it's about damn time. I thought Europeans were supposed to be less uptight about this sort of thing.

6/06 - I woke up at 9PM today. That would be strange in itself, except I don't remember going to sleep last night. In fact, I don't remember anything since last Saturday night when Rolf was over…

6/10 - I woke up late again. I haven't eaten anything in four days. I don't know what's wrong with me…

6/11 - Rolf came over last night. He said the reason I hadn't eaten anything was because I needed blood. He said it was all I could eat now, that I wouldn't feel hungry any more if I drank some. He had a bag of it from the local blood bank. I tried to refuse but I couldn't. What's happening to me?

7/26 - Rolf said he's going to have to leave soon. He said people are trying to force him out of the country. He didn't say anything about taking me with him.

8/22 - I had to bail Rolf out of jail today. He was arrested because his visa expired. He looked frightened. I'm afraid he's going to leave.

12/07 - I haven't seen or heard from Rolf since the night I bailed him out. I don't know what to do. I thought he cared about me. Why did he do this to me…?

4/15 - I talked with this guy I met in the Surfside until five this morning. When I told him I had to go, I felt like Cinderella. He seemed like a prince.

4/16 - I met that guy from the Surfside again. He has no idea what I am…

4/24 - I brought E, the guy from the Surfside, back to my apartment last night. He said that he's going back to Australia in a few days, now that the tournament's coming to an end. I don't want him to leave. I've never felt this way about someone before, not even Rolf.

4/25 - E kissed me last night and I couldn't stop myself from biting him in his neck. But I drank too much and… I gave him my blood to save him. When I explained it all to him, he said he never wanted to see me again. What have I done?

5/08 - I haven't been able to feed since that night with E. I'm afraid of what will happen. I remember Rolf brought blood from the blood bank. Maybe if I can sneak in, I can grab a few bags and get out before anyone catches me.

Closing the diary and tucking it back amongst the detritus in the trunk, Ruby curiously peeked into the car itself next, shading her eyes against the window. She could see lots of blankets piled around in the backseat. The brunette surmised that Lily must have been forced out of her apartment with no way to pay for it, using Rolf's car as a place to hide during the day.

Ruby let out a soft sigh as she stood back up. "That's a sucky way to get through the unlife," she mused. "I wonder if there's something we can do for Lily and E both, if we can reunite them…"

"I think it's a worthy cause," Weiss stated softly. "Perhaps after our current quest. In any case, it would appear that the trail now leads to the blood bank, which is the last place Lily said she was going."

"Right." Ruby nodded firmly. "And there's no time for that now, but I'll just make a mental note to check down there in the next few nights or so."

"So, Mercurio's next?"

"Yup. We still got time, right?"

"Perhaps another twenty minutes or so, but yes, we should be able to manage."

With another nod, the brunette closed the trunk and headed towards the garage exit with Weiss at her side.

One last stop before we rest for the day… And then, finally, we can do the last job and get out of this town for awhile.

It's a nice place to visit, but I am so done living here...

A/N: Alright, so we tied up a couple of loose ends here, but that will be it before we advance the main story ahead. The Muddy questline is pretty important, but that will definitely wait until we have some more characters introduced, and likewise for the Lily quest. Next week, though, the girls are gonna hit a warehouse. Easy pickings, right? Heheheh...

Hugs for my wonderful Beta and collaborator, Live to anger the World, and more of the same to all you lovely readers and reviewers! Sharkdude5, noone297, carpenter656, AntonSlavik020, Mossblomma, Crescent Sunrise, kinigget, Blacsparrow, kaiju62, TacoKing23, many thanks! Also, I seem to have missed out on notifications for about half of the reviews from last chapter, so apologies for not responding to all of you!

Stay shiny!