Blood of The Rose

Chapter 6: Ghouls

Santa Monica

Ruby walked through the alleyway from the Asylum club, retracing her steps back to the apartment. She paused at the entrance next to the hospital, surveying Main Street with her newly-heightened senses from her earlier feeding.

The first item out of place that she noted was the fresh splash of blood on the sidewalk in front of Mercurio's apartment building. That didn't bode well, but by this point she was resigned to nothing ever going easy for her.

And then, directly across from her, she spied a muted flash of alabaster. Weiss was hovering there in the shadows of the palm trees cast by the street lights, her pale blue eyes focused on the brunette. With slow, measured steps, Ruby cautiously approached the platinum-haired fledgling, and Weiss continued to watch her approach intently.

She stopped a couple of feet away, eyeing the long white bag once again slung over the pale girl's shoulder, obviously concealing her weapon though Weiss hadn't made any mention of it yet.

"I'm sorry," Weiss began contritely. "I… I'm not used to this, being forced into… into an instructional role." It was obvious she'd been concerned for Ruby, but she was trying to conceal it. "I feel quite badly that I've been unable to help you."

"No, Weiss, that's not the case at all," the brunette reassured her. "Look… I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to lose my temper like that, I just…"

"You were hungry," Weiss finished for her quietly. "I understand."

"Yeah… So, it turns out I'm more of a hands-on learner. Um…" Ruby scuffed her shoe against the grass. "Maybe we can meet in the middle somehow?"

"I think that is something we can try," Weiss agreed with a small smile.

Ruby nodded, relieved that she hadn't screwed up with the other girl as badly as she thought she might have. "Sooo… noticed the blood over there."

"I did as well. We should check on Mercurio. First, though…" Weiss indicated the pawn shop behind her. "We should investigate this shop, see if you might be able to procure another baseball bat and ammunition for the pistol in your pocket."

"Sounds good!" the brunette grinned.

Tripp's Pawn Shop, Santa Monica

The door chimed as they entered the relatively brightly-lit shop. The antechamber they found themselves in was bordered by a chain-link wall, as was the rest of the store. There was a gate directly in front of them to pass through, but the actual merchandise was all separated from their touch. At the far end, behind a window and a mechanism to pass through goods and payment, was a brown-haired scruffy man of medium height. He wore a worn tan shirt with some sort of band logo on it, messy brown hair, and the look of a stoner.

"Uh, h- hey," the man, presumably Tripp, stammered.

Yep, Ruby chuckled to herself. Sounds like a stoner too.

"Hi there!" the brunette chirped out loud.

"Uh, how's it goin'? You, um, lookin' to buy or sell or…?"

Ruby gave him her best winsome smile. "Do you sell weapons or ammo?"

"Umm… no, not... not really," he mumbled unconvincingly. "Sorry."

Weiss took a step forward. Ruby immediately noted how her voice became firmer, more forceful, once again reminding her of the man who bit her, when he told her to be silent and still. No matter how many times I see her do this, it's still gonna give me the shivers.

"You will sell your weapons to us," Weiss intoned.

Tripp blinked his eyes uncertainly. "Well… okay. Hey, it's cool. I'm overstocked anyhow. Take a look and… feel free to come back any time."

As he pulled out a crate and sat it on the counter on his side of the chain link partition, a sudden thought came to Ruby, causing her to squeal quietly.

"Ventrues can use the force! Sooo cool!"

Weiss gave Tripp a polite smile. "Thank you for your cooperation." She turned to Ruby then with a frown. "Stop that!" she hissed.

"Sorry, sorry…"

Inside the box was a knife of dubious quality, another thirty-eight revolver, and some appropriate ammo. Ruby picked out a couple dozen rounds, paid for them, and slipped the loose bullets into the other pocket across from where her gun rested. This is overstocked? Really?

"Alright," Ruby murmured as they headed out. "Mercurio?"

"Mercurio," Weiss agreed.

Mercurio's Apartment, Santa Monica

The pair of fledgling vampires followed the blood trail right to Mercurio's apartment door. Sharing a brief look of concern, Weiss stood by with her hand inside her white bag while Ruby clasped her little revolver in her hoodie jacket pocket. The brunette cautiously eased the unlocked door open slowly, only to spy an unmoving form collapsed on the couch.

Ruby peeked inside, determining that at least the main room was deserted, before edging in the rest of the way. Weiss brushed past her with a nod to check out the bedroom and kitchen. She returned within short order with another nod.

The man on the couch was in seriously bad shape. He was wearing black dress slacks and shoes, a blue sports coat and a hideously ugly purple wide-collared shirt right out of the 70's. His face, partially visible from where he sprawled, was battered and bruised, blood pooling from numerous wounds on chest, arms, abdomen… Ruby frowned at the sight, it was a miracle he was even breathing. Crouching down she got a better look at the man's face, framed by lank brown hair that was matted with sweat and blood. She reached forward cautiously and poked his cheek.

With a sudden movement, he gasped and tried to sit upright. The motion tore another painful gasp from him, and he slumped back partially onto one elbow to prop himself up.

"Those mothers… ripped me off," the man groaned, his voice heavily laden with a New York accent as he struggled to speak. "I'm dyin' here! Ugh!"

One of his eyes was swollen shut completely. His jolting movement had caused more blood to pool on the couch. Ruby couldn't help but stare at all that red, glistening blood, licking her lips absentmindedly. She started slightly when Weiss clasped her hand over the brunette's shoulder, snapping her out of the reverie. Giving herself a shake, she looked down at the mostly broken man sympathetically.

"Um… What happened to you?"

"I got… I went… Ugh…" Mercurio hacked weakly. "What is this lump? Is this my rib? Oh, holy shit, my rib is pokin' through my side?! Oh. I'm all numb… you gotta look and tell me!"

Weiss shouldered Ruby aside to peer closely. The brunette noted that her companion was obviously not breathing, and she made a note to do the same.

"It's just a broken bottle," the platinum-haired fledgling stated haughtily. "Now, tell us what happened to you."

"Weiiiisss…" Ruby complained quietly.

"Fine, here," Weiss sighed. She pulled the bottle out in spurt of blood, causing Mercurio to groan in pain. Ruby took a quick step back and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. The hunger began gnawing at her insides, but she pushed it down firmly, easier now since she'd recently fed. Once she felt herself back in control again, the brunette looked over at Weiss once more.

The white-haired Kindred was unblinkingly staring up at the ceiling, frozen like a statue. After another moment she dropped the bottle to the side and took another step back to stand next to Ruby. "Well?" she finally demanded, her voice muted.

"Goddamn chemist!" the man ranted harshly, pain still lacing his words. "Can't trust any operators in LA. I verified him, organization seemed reliable. Guy mixes up speed, his crew sells it. Occasionally does explosives. I set up a drop."

Mercurio grunted in pain as he shifted his position slightly. "I show up at the beach with the money, right? Four of these guys, they come out of nowhere. Junkie pricks - hit me with a bat! Head feels like I got a friggin' horse kickin' it." He coughed weakly, sounding like he had fluid in his lungs. "I never shoulda gone alone… amateur move. I shoulda handled those pricks. Goddamn dirty Cali rat bastards… Those cocksuckers - beat me rotten, left me for a stiff. I had to crawl to my car, crawl my ass up here. The vamp blood's the only thing holdin' me together. But shit, they got the money, they got the Astrolite…"

"Vamp blood?" Ruby broke in curiously.

Weiss nodded absentmindedly by her side, but before she could answer, Mercurio spoke up again.

"Right, you're straight off the bus. Figured Ice Queen here woulda clued you in on this kinda stuff." Weiss interjected with an indignant "Hey!", but Mercurio ignored it and continued on. "Once a month I get fed vampire blood. Heals me faster, makes me stronger than a normal human. I don't age. By lookin' at me, you wouldn't realize it, but I'm almost sixty."

"And you shouldn't be expending what little energy you have left explaining things I am perfectly capable of explaining myself," Weiss chastised him arrogantly.

Mercurio grinned at her, exposing his blood-stained teeth. "Then why didn't ya?"

In response, Weiss just sniffed indignantly and turned away with her nose in air. "So where do we find the Astrolite now?"

Mercurio sighed heavily, ending in another wracking cough. "Those small-time sons of bitches live out in a dump on the beach. Five or six of 'em. The one's got the explosives is Dennis."

Ruby and Weiss exchanged a glance and a shrug. "Ummm, sooo…" the brunette drawled uncertainly. "How do we get there, exactly?"

"Layin' in a pool of my own blood and you guys want friggin' directions!" the man grunted irritably. "Right, alright. Uh, down the street, in the parking garage, stairs down to the beach, on the right. Those better not be some o' my last words."

Weiss sighed with just as much irritation. "Anything else?"

"You gotta… gotta get it back from 'em. Maybe reason with 'em, maybe break in, I dunno. God, I wanna kill 'em. Do whatever you people do. I blew it, I know."

Ruby took a step forward again, concern in her eyes. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Yeah, if you could… unhhh… Something' just started leakin'..."

"Again," Weiss murmured. Ruby shot her an exasperated look as Mercurio continued.

"I need somethin' for the pain."

Ruby nodded confidently. "I'll try to find something to bring back for you, okay?"

As they turned to leave, Mercurio halted them with a hand raised in supplication.

"Hey, one more thing, about the deal. I mean it - you tell anyone about this, I'm dead. I'm beggin' ya. I got a way o' gettin' people what they need. You don't say anything, I can help you out."

Ruby nodded once more. "You got it, Mercurio. See ya."

"Try not to die while we're gone," Weiss called out mildly over her shoulder.

The pair of fledgling vampires paused together outside the apartment.

"So, on to the beach?" Weiss prompted.

"Um…" Ruby furrowed her brow. "How about you go scout ahead, see what they have? I'll try to find something to help Mercurio with the pain."

"We don't have the time for such foolishness!" the platinum-haired Kindred declared.

"Well… weren't you going on earlier about how the Ventrue are all about paying debts? And gathering power and influence?" Ruby spread her hands, trying to appear reasonable. "This guy's important to the Prince, and I got a feeling it'd be really helpful for him to be in our debt."

Weiss opened her mouth to retort, but quickly closed it again as she regarded the brunette consideringly.

"I'm impressed," she finally stated. "Your reasoning is sound, and besides that, it might earn us some favor with the Prince as well."

Ruby nodded, but smirked as she couldn't help one more jab. "Also, it's the right thing to do."

"And there it is," Weiss sighed with a roll of her eyes. Her tone, however, lacked the biting quality that had been evident for most of the evening. "I'll meet you at the beach house, then."

"Right. Stay safe."

"You as well, Ruby."

Santa Monica Medical Clinic

Ruby trotted across the street to the medical building, pausing at the sliding-glass-door entrance and poking her head in. The reception area was fairly small, lined with old plastic chairs and bland beige wallpaper. The counter across the room looked like it could withstand an assault by an armored vehicle, the thought of which made the petite brunette chuckle, remembering that old 80's movie with the killer android plowing into a police station with a car.

"Heh heh," she snickered under her breath before adapting a bad Austrian accent. "I'll be back."

She took a quick peek at the crowded room of people waiting to be seen, easily a dozen or so, and the attentive nurse at the counter, before ducking back out again. Yeah, way too conspicuous, and I don't have the time to do this the legal way… Whelp, time for the Smilin' Jack approach.

The brunette turned and walked around the corner to the door for the Blood Bank she'd observed before. Fortunately the heavy steel door was unlocked, so she cautiously pulled it open and slipped inside.

She found herself in a stairwell, a sign leading her down towards the Blood Bank itself, but she ignored that for now, along with another set of stairs which went up. Right now she was looking at a glass door that led into the back of the clinic. The brunette gazed at the ceiling, seeking out security cameras but finding none. Too easy, she smirked.

Unobserved for the time being, Ruby crouched and slipped her lockpick set out. Her tongue poked out between her teeth and she worked the tools, taking slightly longer than before as it was a bit more complicated of a lock. She flinched as she almost nicked her tongue with a fang. But she had it jimmied eventually, slipping the tool back in her pocket before sneaking into the hallway.

A muted voice over the intercom asked for a Dr. Malcolm to call the operator. Otherwise the clinic was fairly quiet, just the buzzing of the overhead fluorescent lights and the distant beeping of medical equipment. No orderlies walked the hall and there was no sign of any other medical personnel. The corridor itself was as dingy as the rest of the clinic seemed to be.

Down at one end, Ruby spied the lobby with the waiting patients. None of them seemed to be paying her any mind, and the reception desk wasn't in view, so she decided to walk up in that direction and try the first door there for some medicine that would help Mercurio.

She slipped through the door marked as Room One, and froze in her tracks. Why didn't I consider the possibility that there might already be a patient inside?

The tall girl was actually sort of cute in a nerdy kind of way, if one ignored the copious amounts of blood smeared across her torso and legs. She had short, bright red hair, an orange tanktop, nice jeans, and heeled boots. The injured girl lay on her side, obviously writhing about in pain. Dark-rimmed glasses couldn't conceal her bright green eyes as she slowly blinked them at Ruby. The fledgling fortunately knew better by now than to breathe. Shitbiscuits, I really should just turn around and-

"Uh… Please… please get a doctor…" the girl mewled piteously.

Ruby found herself hovering over her. The accumulated injuries looked pretty bad, like she was hit by a car. There weren't any broken bones that she could see but she'd lost a lot of blood, likely some sort of serious internal injury as well. The brunette poked her head out into the hallway and looked around fruitlessly, of course there were no medical personnel at all nearby still. What kinda lame-ass hospital is this?

The girl gasped, plainly somewhat delirious with pain. Ruby couldn't imagine that she'd been seen by anyone at all yet.

"Unnhhh…" the girl moaned, curling up in a tight ball. "Can someone… call my grandma… please…?"

Oh this sucks, this really sucks all kinds of ass… But what the hell can I even do here? Ruby chewed on her lip thoughtfully, but as her fang grazed her lip she remembered something about what Mercurio had said about the vamp blood keeping him alive. The specifics escaped her at the moment, but the brunette was pretty sure all that was required would be for her to share some of her blood. She felt absolutely terrible for the girl who looked to be the same age as herself, entirely too young to die like she did…

"Okay, um…" The fledgling returned to gently rest a hand on the other girl's forehead momentarily. "Look, I think I can help you a little, okay? Just… Just stay with me…"

While the girl groaned painfully, Ruby turned once again to close the door all the way shut behind her. She bit down on her wrist, careful not to lick the wound closed, and brought her arm up towards the girl's mouth while rolling her onto her back with her other hand. The redheaded girl swallowed convulsively as the liquid dripped down her throat, but then after a moment began to gulp greedily. After half a minute, Ruby fervently hoped what she'd given her would be enough to last until she could get proper medical help. She pulled her wrist back and licked the wound closed. Sure am glad I already fed tonight.

The girl immediately pushed herself onto her side, swallowing thickly. A small smile began to creep across her face to replace the look of agony, and she turned her head to stare in awe up at Ruby, who was growing just a little uncomfortable now at the attention.

"Mmm…" the injured girl sighed, panting lightly.

"Um…" Ruby began edging towards the door. "Are… Are you alright now?"

"You… wa- Who… wh- who are you?" the redhead stammered softly. "Ohhh… What did you do? What did you do to me?" She sighed again, long and drawn out and almost ecstatic-sounding.

Ruby was becoming seriously unnerved by this point. Maybe I wasn't supposed to do that?

"Uhhh… Nothing. Yep, nothing at all. I gotta… I gotta go. Bye!"

With that, Ruby dashed out of room, shutting and then leaning against the door before closing her eyes wearily. "Stupid, stupid, stupid…"

She resolved not to let Weiss know about her indiscretion, there was no way anyone could find out about it, right? Yeah, 'cause that's exactly how my luck has been going the last two nights…

The next room she stopped at had a couple of voices within, so she bypassed it. The third, however, had several pill bottles left out on the counter, which she scooped up eagerly. Much to her chagrin, they were estrogen, not pain relievers.

"Nope, that's not gonna help him any. Well, I mean it might, if he wants to be a girl. Not gonna judge. No, c'mon, focus Ruby, focus…"

At the end of the hallway were rooms on either side. One of them was labeled Administration, which seemed a likely bet. She paused, checking for sound, and darted through the unlocked door when she heard none. Inside was a desk with a rather old computer, causing her to snicker softly. Some computers here are as old as the vampires are.

As the brunette walked around, she noticed a book on the desk titled Computers for Grandma. Ruby laughed outright at that. "Seriously? Oh, this one should be easy."

Sure enough, the password was on a sticky note (lakers2010) on the edge of the ancient CRT monitor. Ruby sighed amusedly. "Yep, master hacker at work here, watch my l33t skillz, man…"

She opened the clinic email program, searching for maybe something on where the meds might be, and immediately came across an interesting chain.

(Subject) A little help

(From) Fred Dingo

Hey, Danny. I could use a little help down here. Can you go up to Controlled Substances for some morphine? I'm pretty busy right now. Thanks. F-Dog.

Ruby sighed once more, a bit more morosely, before reading on. Controlled Substances. That sounds very… secure.

(Subject) re: A little help

No, it's not for my personal use, you bastard… I didn't know they were out upstairs. Maybe you can get some in Malcolm's office. BTW, your mother wears combat boots. F-god.

"Oh, real original there, genius," Ruby snorted. She didn't bother with the rest of the email chain, heading back out into the hallway to look for an office labeled Dr. Malcolm. As it turned out, it was the one just across the way. This time it actually took a few tries to get lock opened, as it was quite a bit trickier.

Inside the office and on the desk were three bottles of morphine and a syringe. She quickly snatched them up. Already wasted enough time here, let's head back to Mercurio.

Mercurio's Apartment, Santa Monica

In the apartment once more, Ruby paused hesitantly at the doorway. Mercurio looked to be even more dead than before, if that were even possible. She strained her senses, though, and picked up on faint but ragged breathing.

Ruby took a few steps over to dubiously poke his cheek once again, since that seemed to work well enough the last time.

"Hey, Mercurio?" she called out softly. "Wakey wakey!"

Mercurio groaned and struggled upright, grunting in pain. "Unh…"

"Hey there," the fledgling began. "I brought you some morphine. Hold still."

She really didn't know much about administering medicine, but she'd watched enough TV shows to know you had to get air bubbles out of the syringe. She wasn't expecting the spurt of liquid that shot out, and her thumb twitched reflexively, shooting more of the precious substance out and across the carpet.

The brunette sighed irritably at herself as she tried again. Fine, so I'm no nurse, alright?

The man on the couch was suitably appreciative once she managed to give him a healthy injection. "Ahh… ohh… Oh, holy Christ I needed that."

Ruby grinned at him cheerily. "Whelp, hope it helped some. We'll be back soon with the Astrolite!"

"Yeah, thanks kid, I'm just… gonna… go back to sleep…"

He was snoring before she'd left the room.

She paused prior to exiting the apartment building, clutching the revolver briefly in her pocket with determination. Okay, so now I just need to meet up with Weiss and we can deal with these druggies. Easy peasy.

Of course, by now she should have known better than to make such ludicrous statements.

As she stepped off of the last step and onto the sidewalk, she heard a voice speak up from behind her shoulder.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't Little Red. Care for a chat?"

She turned to regard the cigar-smoking man in the white jacket from the theater. He grinned widely, giving her a tip of his bowler hat as he twirled a cane in his free hand.

"Promise not to bite," he chuckled darkly.

A/N: Oh, I'm sure that little thing in the clinic won't come back to bite you in the ass, Ruby. Absolutely positive… Riiiight… At least Ruby and Weiss have reconciled somewhat. For now. Now, what could such a fine, upstanding character as our cigar-chomping rogue want with our heroine, hmm?

For those unfamiliar with the game, you might be a tad confused by the title. In Vampire the Masquerade, a ghoul is the servant of a vampire (disparagingly referred to also as Renfields), who drinks of their blood and thus become bound to them. Mercurio is the ghoul of Prince La Croix. This will become more relevant later on, just file it away for now. Next up, we get to see some more combat from the sismance duo (props to zerosabers, I do like that so much better than womance).

Further props to my fabulous Beta and collaborator, Live to anger the World (Mercurio is their BAE), and fluffy Neo hugs (heh) for the reads and reviews! AntonSlavik020, Herofire, Sharkdude5, zerosabers, OneTrueArkos (you do you, dude), carpenter656, Whispering Kataclysm, Athkore, Chim3r4, Nicodemus Cain, Reaper Whisper, Heil96. Welcome aboard for the new readers! See you next week!

Stay shiny!