Ravnos/Ravnos

[Queen of Hearts]

Johnne/Edwin: Clint
Czigany: Alice



Czig:

Jazz was playing somewhere. The soft drift of the music wafted from its source down to the waterfront where she was crouched in the blackness. She was covered over with the image of the ground that she huddled beside but the illusion would not stand up to some drunk stumbling into her. And then she’d have to kill him, of course. Her eyes searched the dark waves for the rowboat, the freeway sound a few miles to her left the only noise excepting the music from wherever and the tiny slosh of the waves against the rocks. The waiting was the hardest part, sitting alone in the darkness while your partner in crime retrieves the shipment. Not that she was -afraid-, not much could really harm her. But blowing the cover of the operation would be really annoying to the organizations they provided for. The modern tune sliding through the air ended and something a bit older came on, something that she recognized, one of the first Gershwin tunes, The Man I Love.

~The tinny sound of the phonograph played the brand new song, the crowded room resonating with the low murmur of voices underneath the refrain.“Some day he'll come along, the man I love. And he'll be big and strong, the man I love.” The tune was catchy and she found herself humming along to it under her breath. Nodding to the guy behind the tiny bar, she ordered up another glass of the gin he made in the back room here. She was still getting used to it, the only liquor she’d had regularly before coming here was the ubiquitous tuica prevalent in her home country. Taking a careful sip and trying not to grimace at the taste, she reached a hand up and adjusted the headband around her newly shorn locks. It was odd to not have the heavy weight of the thick braids twisted up there. He had said though, that it really made her stand out and they wanted to blend into the crowds.

All of a sudden, her headband was tugged at and then her hair was mussed roughly. With a surprised squeak, she whipped herself around, growling a bit when she saw him, standing there with that big grin on his face. “Damn you, you know how I hate when you do that,” she said to him in their native tongue, her tone that of exasperated fondness. He’d been snatching her hair ribbons since he’d sat behind her one day so long ago in the little schoolhouse. She’d been more than surprised when he’d come to her window one night and asked her to run off to America with him. Even more so at herself for agreeing. Posing as brother and sister, they’d made there way here. Only to find that there was no promised land like they had thought, but just more of the same, although not quite as bad. She rather enjoyed the American music.

He’d been off tonight, meeting with some people that he thought might prove the answer they’d been looking for. Frustrated with the lack of available jobs, they’d heard rumors of underground smuggling that were terribly tantalizing. So much money was being made, but getting from rumors to fact had been difficult, but judging from the way he was grinning, it looked like there was a light at the end of the tunnel. “You did it,” she said to him, not a question but and affirmation. He was not so reserved and swung her into a dance. “Sure did, babe,” he said to her, still grinning. She sighed at his boyish exuberance, but couldn’t help matching his smile. He had a right to be excited after all, and she was too, she was already starting her planning even as he ordered a drink in celebration.~

That had started the road to where she was now, the memory fading as the tune did and she continued peering over the water, finally rewarded with the sight of the lightless boat, poling its way across the two mile thick river separating America from Canada. Silently, he came into view, her eyes seeing easily through the images of a flock of swimming geese. Without a word, she helped him bring the craft to the shore, tying it off on a rock and unloading, assembly line like. Then they loaded the product up into the SUV waiting at the road, deflating the boat and storing it away in the modified cargo areas, putting the luggage and other covering things on top. He climbed into the driver’s seat while she pulled out the map and began drawing precise measurements on it, and only once the vehicle was pulled onto the road did the illusions disperse.

Pulling into a motel an hour before sunup, he went in and purchased the room, paying in cash so there was no paper trail. They’d found out the hard way that she was more recognizable than he, having had a close call. It seemed night desk clerks always remembered the women guests. Heading next, to the little free standing bungalow they’d been granted, they backed the car into the spot, changing the license plate under the cover of “unloading” their luggage. Once inside, she opened the suit cases and pulled out a series of blacking out curtains, covering over the blinds in every window. Nodding as she double checked over it, she moved the ragged sofa in front of the door. On impulse, she flicked the clock radio on while he stretched out across the bed, leaving the door open. Finally finding the jazz station, she stretched along the couch, the melodies taking her again back in time.

~A few years later, they were one of the most successful teams of smugglers out there, expanding from just the booze to everything a person could want. They proved to be astute on the shifting winds, getting out of the booze business right before Prohibition was repealed, avoiding getting caught in the swamp that most of their ilk did when suddenly there was no profit and excess product. Through the Depression, they added luxury foodstuffs to their arsenal, and then one day, they had a new customer. A gentleman who ran a company that provided rides for fairs and the like. He said he had something that might interest them. His offer was one they couldn’t refuse. ~ The memories faded along with the music as Czigany melted into dreamless slumber.

Johnne:

As the light slipped from the heavens in a brilliant display of colors painting hues of rainbow against the horizon, a man’s eyes open whilst laying atop a bed in pinstriped suit pants and a tank top t-shirt.. Not sure where he was in that sudden awareness of waking from slumber, he looked about and remembered that they were in a motel room off the beaten path in the middle of a run. Blinking a few times to allow himself time to reacclimate to his surroundings, he sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face before muscle memory caused him to reach out to the nightstand and take the Colt 1911 in his hand, check to make sure a round was in the chamber, and holster it in the shoulder holster. The carpet was stained in the seedy motel from years of use, and the walls that once were white were now aged and nicotine stained from previous guests whom had smoked in the room. Cracking his neck, he looked over and saw she still slumbered..and such a erotic interlude of demonic dreams she was. They had been through much in their time together…only today did he realize the date. Standing to his feet, he walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror for a moment. The images of the past flooded his mind as he played over the mental film of their lives and what they had seen and been through since they had met so long ago.

Supplying alcohol, arms, and even at times human trafficking through black market trades, the two were infamous throughout the underworld despite the fat that few had ever met them. Those that did meet them, Czigany and Johnne were able to convince they were nothing more than middle management and not the ringleaders of the smuggling ring in the underworld circus of sins. Stepping back into the bedroom from the restroom, he placed a coin in the slot on the headboard of the bed causing it to vibrate beneath her to wake up. A strong Romanian tongue called out to her in their native language

“Czigany…time to wake my love. Tell me… Turning to his side, he slapped his stomach a few times with an open palm to emphasize fitness “…do I look like someone that is a hundred years old today? Or at least would be had I not been reborne to the night?” Walking to the window, he pulled back the covering and curtains to look out to the parkinglot in the front of their room and there vehicle parked there quietly in the early eve. Seeing a police car parked across the street running radar on people traveling down the road, he mumbled under his breath “The fuzz is here..but I do not believe they are here for us. Just some fat cop running Radar or Lidar…something like that.”

Czigany:

As the surface she was stretched out upon began to move, the woman was instantly awake, her eyes flashing open at the same instant as her left hand found her pistol, one of a smaller scale for her more diminutive hands compared to his, and her right hand flexed and a knife slid down from where it had been sheathed within the long sleeve of her blouse. She grumbled under her breath as she heard her Johnne, calling out to her in the tongue of their birth. Laying back down, she listened to his voice, the liquid syllables ever beautiful to her ears. A soft chuckle came from the youthful looking female as she gave in to a slow languid stretch upon the bed before opening her eyes to the man who had been her partner in life for a very long time. “You’re as handsome as you always were, you vain creature,“ she teased him as she stole from the resting place and came up behind him, herself answering in the same language. Slipping her arms around his waist, she rested her cheek upon his back a moment, hugging lightly, then drifted back away, not one prone to displays of affection. “O suta.” Czigany said thoughtfully, considering such a big number. It did not seem so long to her. “Fericit Ziua de naştere,” she said softly to him, lifting a hand to twitch the curtain aside to also peer at the police car without.

Nodding in agreement, she let the curtain fall, wandering in the bathroom to check her attire over, smoothing out the wrinkles that inevitably formed whilst sleeping. Admiring herself in the mirror just as he had a moment, she shrugged and then stepped lightly to the window in the bedroom, pulling down the heavy coverings she had put up to block the sun while they slept. All window were denuded in such a way, herself always methodical and in the same pattern. Folded exactingly, they were then settled within the large suitcase, which the tiny woman easily carried to the door. “Take the suitcase to the auto while I tidy,” she requested of him, Also, pay.. She nodded once, keeping to the language until necessity forced them to switch to the american. The tongue was so much less elegant and seemed flat to her ears even after all this time. Pulling some cleaning things from where they had been sitting, apparently unused for much time, underneath the sink, she began wiping down the little place, especially where any fingerprints might have landed. “Always leave place better than you find it,” she said softly to herself, a phrase from her mother’s lips that came back to her at such times, though this was more in the interest of saving themselves from any investigations. She ran the vacuum, then emptied the bag from it, encasing that within the garbage bag and taking the black plastic with her as she emerged from the small building, peering at the sky a moment, then taking the trash to the dumpster on the other side of the lot.

Nodding to him as he emerged from the front office, she opened the back of the SUV and checked it over. The suitcase lay in place, precisely where she preferred it, and she hid a smile at him automatically adjusting her idiosyncrasies after this time. A satisfied nod that the contraband below were well hidden, she closed the doors tightly, offering the office a friendly somewhat shy smile as he glanced at her while he flicked an ash from his cigarette out the open window of his patrol car. She pretended not to notice him looking her over with interest. It was something she seemingly could not avoid. She was just a little bit exotic, not the average all american girl and it tended to attract the males. It had come in handy a time or two but mostly it was her bane due to her visage and figure remaining in memories long past when they’d forgotten her Johnne. Hoping he did not take it farther than the cursory glance, she slid herself into the passenger seat of the car, pulling out the map from the glove box and tracing the next part of the journey with her pink highlighter. Once that task was completed, she opened the glove compartment, pulling out a cell phone and opened the empty back of it, plugging the battery from her pocket into the empty cavern.

She turned it on as her Johnne climbed into the drivers seat, handing him the map as she listened to the messages. A slight furrow creased her brow as she listened to the final one and she shook her head softly as she shut the phone off, removing the battery and replacing the pieces from whence they came as the truck pulled onto the freeway. She reclaimed the map and picking a red marker this time, she drew a perfect square around an area, then lifted the pink highlighter again to re-route. “Our monstru friend tells us that the conducător in the area is having a bad week,” she explained softly, completing the reroute, then offering him the map once more. Sliding off her shoes, she tucked her little feet up onto the dash, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up before rolling down the window and staring off into the darkness. The night wind was as sweet to her as the allure of the open road and she hummed a very old dancing tune from their childhood as she watched the lights of civilization fade in and out while the car flowed along the river of concrete to their next destination.

[Queen of Hearts]

Johnne:

Driving along the country highway parallel to the river, he looked over to his beloved seated in the SUV next to him. Her feet were resting on the dashboard in front of him, and the built in GPS beeped occasionally to update their location with points of interest. Looking past her out the window to the river, he returned his eyes to the road after a moment. We should be in Norfolk in about two hours. Speaking once more in Romanian to her, his words broke the silence of the interior of the SUV. “The shipment should be there ready to be sighed for on Dock 9 and transported to the warehouse. The customs agent you paid off should have the forged declaration, and then we just have to make sure it is loaded on the ship. The buyers should be there as well, so we will take payment then. And after that, we will deliver the case to the Lieutenant Commander on the Naval Yard.”

Though he was fully aware she knew the plan, he spoke it out loud yet again as though going through a mental checklist in him mind. All was taken care of, but yet he still found himself in the habit of checking and doubt checking things with her. This was the fourth time he had repeated the plan to her in the last two days, but it was a habit she had long since come to terms with. More likely than not, she merely tuned him out during these times as he was speaking mostly for his own satisfaction anyway. Reaching over and pressing play on the cd player, the music was an escape from the droning road noise beneath their tires. Navigating the roadway, he looked over to her and grinned “The road did not look so winding on the map did it?”

On the narrow country highway the large SUV made good time as they crossed the North Carolina boarder into Virginia. Passing a police car in one of the one horse southern towns, he shook his head already knowing what was coming. And he was right. In an instant, the bubblegum flashing lights atop the old cruiser came on and the Sherriff chirped the siren a few times to let them know to pull over. This was the problem with taking alternate routes, there was not enough time to negotiate free passage with the local law enforcement as there are far to many agencies. At least with interstates you only had to pay off one agency, the state patrol. Pulling the SUV over to the side of the road, the gravel beneath the tires indicated a slowed pace and he pulled to a stop and placed the vehicle in park. Glancing over, he saw her reaching for her gun tucked away between the seats. Shaking his head to indicate she should wait, he rolled down the window and greeting the over weight Sherriff. From the expression of the middle aged man, he could tell he did not trust the tattooed and pierced looks of the two Romanians. Johnne knew the only reason they were pulled over is because they were outsiders on this stretch of road at this time of night. A “welfare” check is how it would be written in the police blotters, he just knew it. Though he knew Czig was ready should anything turn south for them.

Being asked to exit the vehicle, Johnne nodded and opened the door and followed the Sherriff to the front of his patrol car with his flase driver’s license and registration. The documents would stand up to even the toughest of critics, but Johnne still did not like having to deal with the man. Looking to the police cruiser, he noted there was a dashboard camera in the cruiser. If something did happen, they would have to make sure to take the recorder in the trunk with them. Though a moment later, his thoughts were distracted when he heard the ring tone of his cell phone echo out from the SUV. Only a handful of people had that number, so it must not be good news.

Edwin:

A deformed hand of elongated fingers picked up a prepaid cell phone and dialed a number. Tilting his head as he listened to the ring on the other end and waiting for the person to answer, the Nossie found himself playing both sides against the middle this night. Hearing a feminine voice answer the phone, he was surprised for a moment before stating in a slimy voice, “Where is Johnne” Hearing Czig say he was being detained and questioned by the police, the Nossie stood up in his chair and began to pace wondering how to play his hand right now. He had never spoke to either of the Romanians, but he knew a great deal about them both. Finally nodding to himself, he continued “Well then, it looks like the deal is to be with you. I am going to give you some information that will save your lives collectively. And I expect to be paid for it once you are in the clear. I want the latest of electronics. Computer, scanner, and al the software and hardware I will need to build a hacking network. It will be delivered to the abandoned apartment complex in Brooklyn, NY” Giving her the address, he awaited until she said they had a deal to continue

“You need to get Johnne out of that right now. Get out and go. The Brujah and the Gangrel have found out about your plans somehow. No doubt someone in your organization talked. They are on their way to Norfolk right now. The longer you are delayed by the cops there, the closer they get. Now, rumor has it that the buyers are already in Virginia, so you can not change the location or time of your meeting, but you need to make sure to up your security to buy yourself some time. Also, consider escape by way of the water. The two brutes will not have the time to secure a water vessel to give chase. But you have to act quickly. My informants tell me they are already in Maryland and only a few hours from Norfolk. Each minute you are held there, they get closer.”

Hanging up the phone, the Nossie dialed a second number..one of his ghouls. “There will be a number of packages arriving at your old place. Make sure to bring them to the alternate location. I will have someone else there to pick them up and bring them to me. They should be here within the next two days. Camp out there and wait. I will pay you in blood after this is done.” hanging up the phone again, he chuckled and looked around to the office in the graveyard. Time to close up shop here. With any luck, Marek and Liz would not find out he had a hand in this, but just in case it would be better not to let them know where his office was again.

Czigany:

As she watched the scenery, she had been thinking of their childhood so long ago and she blinked at him as he spoke, then automatically tuned him out. He was just repeating the plan again. It was one of his few truly annoying traits, but she could overlook it. And so she did, her mind sweeping forward to consider their next move, their next plan as he talked to himself out loud. He started a CD and she blinked a bit at him, chuckling softly in response to his words. Chuckling to his statement, she nodded, for it had two meanings. The present course they traverse in life as well as the one they drove along. She continued to enjoy the peace of the scenery, until it was shattered by a few bursts of a siren and the flashing lights of the local authorities. She flashed him a worried look as they slowed down to the side and she casually reached for the hidden weapon but he cautioned her to patience and she bowed her head a moment, then returned to watching the officer as he left his car and walked around to them.

He was one of what they called ‘good old boys’ and she had a feeling that he was going to find a way to charge them with something. And so many things could go wrong from that. A delay to make them miss their cargo drop, or even worse, a delay until morning. And if they decided to search the whole car…Her thoughts broke off as Johnne’s cell phone rang, and she stared at it dumbly before hesitantly reaching to pick it up. Ordinarily she would not have but he was detained and this had to be important. “Hello?” she said softly into it. A rather odd voice on the other end demanded to know where her love was. She glanced out the back of the SUV, answering softly. “We were pulled over by the local sheriff. They are speaking with him,” Czigany answered. The voice on the other line was quiet for a while, assumeably digesting this information. At last he spoke, offering a quick deal to her. It was slightly baffling but deals were easily broken after the fact and he said that this was something they needed to know. Grabbing a pen, she wrote the address down in carefully perfect letters upon the map in her hand and affirmed the deal verbally with him.

Frowning as he told her to get Johnne out of there, she opened her mouth to ask a question and then nearly dropped the phone as he casually informed her that their two biggest enemies were hours away. After that, she simply listened silently to his suggestions, going so far as the thank him politely. He was still useful and as such, he would be treated with respect. She snapped the hone shut, staring at it a moment as she absorbed the news, then she turned to look at the police and Johnne. Edwin was right, this was taking to long. As she surveyed the police car, she noticed the camera on it thoughtfully, and then she smirked as the perfect idea came to her. She knew that the big Gangrel rode a motorcycle, presumably the little bitch that was his sidekick did too. So she quickly crafted an illusion. With all her focus, she created a small spark, then two on the horizon, and caused them to zip by at something akin to a hundred miles an hour. They weren’t perfect, she didn’t have an exact recollection of the Gangrel‘s face, nor did she know what kind of motorcycles she should make. These were identical and very generic, but they would only be on the camera’s footage for half a second, if that. But the image of the brute was perfect. She’d seen a lot of the woman when they’d clashed one time in the American Southwest, after all.

As she sunk into her seat, she would have collapsed if she’d been standing, the policeman quickly finished with Johnne, giving him some sort of verbal warning, then hopping into his car and taking off after the two bikers. He would, of course, have recognized the images as well as the fact that it was of her casting and would likely have a host of questions and imprecations so she forestalled him. Without opening her eyes, as she felt the driver’s side door open, she held up a hand and spoke in a weak voice. “They’re together. And they’re after us.” She paused a moment. “The Nos. Deal Info for computer stuff.” She lifted the list of things that he had requested, the delivery address at the bottom. “Says to beef up security, maybe escape on water.” She slitted one eye open the look at him. “Blames our organization. Who else knew our route, Johnne?” She closed the eye and leaned back. He would take care of everything now, and she would be fine after a meal and a day’s rest.

Johnne:

Entering the car after the Sherriff took off after the vision, Johnne was about to chastise her for such a stunt as that, yet he heard the broken words of her exhausted form and nodded. Pulling the gear shift, he pressed the accelerator and took off into the night at a much faster rate. Looking over to her exhausted form, he pulled in to the nearest convenience market that was open at this late hour. Walking up to the door, he entered amidst a mirage to make it appear as though he were someone different entirely..the sherriff that had just pulled them over. Looking around for a moment before speaking to the teenaged clerk, he used the same accent the Sherriff had knowing the store’s CCTV would only pick up the images and not the sound “Can you unlock the bathroom for me?” As the teen was about to hand him the keys, Johnne held up his hands to show the lighter fluid and cigarettes to indicate he could not hold the keys. With a sigh of being bothered, the teen exited the store and began to walk around the side to where the bathroom was only to have Johnne grab him by his hair once they were out of the camera’s sight and shove his head through the open passenger’s side window to let his beloved feed. As Czig held the boy and fed, Johnne looked around before removing his coat and tossing it into the back seat of the SUV. Wearing a shoulder holster atop a white wife beater, he watched his beloved feed and instantly the power return to her. Upon receiving her fill, Johnne replenished his own stores before releasing the boy and pulling a revolver from his beltline. The revolver belonging to the sherriff. Evidently Johnne had swiped it at some point during the traffic stop style shake down. Placing it against the dazed boy’s chest, he pulled the trigger causing the boy to fly backwards to the ground while blood splattered into Johnne’s face and onto his white tanktop. Removing his t-shirt and tossing it into the trashcan, he dumped in the entire container of lighter fluid before sticking the boy in there headfirst. Pulling a book of matches from his pocket, he stood back and struck the head against the diamond shaped strikeboard and tossed it into the garbage can. Instantly a blaze began to roar and lick at the rafters of the convenience store. By doing this, Johnne had successfully removed any trace evidence that might exonerate the sherriff that would be on the boy’s body. Tossing the gun into the blaze after wiping it clean from fingerprints, he grinned and returned to the driver’s side of the SUV and tossed Czig the pack of cigarettes while climbing in and starting the vehicle once more.

“Rest now. We still have an hour or two until we are there my Beloved” Opening his cell phone, he turned on the Bluetooth capability to use its handsfree capabilities over the vehicles GPS system speakers. He then began to make calls to a network of contacts to get more guns down to the docks as well as securing waterway travel should the information Czig had received was right. Looking over the notes she had quickly scribbled down, he made yet another call on cell phone to make sure payment for the information was seen to. Information like this was worth its weight in blood. And obviously someone that new this much had even more information held close at hand and could disrupt the internal balance of a smuggling ring should payment not be received. Pressing the accelerator to the floor, he looked over to Czig as she recovered in the reclined passenger’s seat. Slowly, he spoke to her as the city lights of Norfolk came into few

“We are here now Czig. Hopefully we are here well enough in time to lay the trap for the brutes before they too get here. You see to the security, I will see to the shipment. While you are setting up security, see if anyone is looking strange. If you can not figure out who the leak is by the time the deal is done, we leave everyone behind for the Brujah and Gangrel to devour. Better to start from scratch than have tis happen again. How these two keep finding us is beyond me.” Placing a hand on her forearm before exiting the vehicle, he looked to her closely “And be careful. We were lucky in Arizona.”

Exiting the vehicle, he made his way to the warehouse and began to talk with a few men while waiting for the buyers to show up with the money. Nodding to the custom’s official he had paid off, the customs agent stamped the declaration on the side of the containers and left with the forged paperwork to file in the morning. To anyone that inspected the shipments, it would bare the documents of Air Conditioning parts going to Venezuela and El Salvador, yet inside there were enough arms to outfit a few hundred men with AK-47’s and a variety of pistols. Looking around, Johnne was carefully biding his time while Czig ordered the extra men to vantage points around the docks and in various gangs spread throughout the warehouse alleyways to make sure all avenues of approach were covered. Telling himself he was in good hands, he hoped only she would not get involved and put herself at risk. They had have close calls with these two before.

Czig:

Czigany knew nothing until a fresh life was pressed to her lips and she drank eagerly, not knowing or caring how her beloved had provided exactly what she needed as always. She smiled at him as he then drank from the youth, kissing his bloodied lips softly before he set the boy up and shot him. The blood spattering across the white of his shirt was almost artful and she grinned while she watched his preparations. He was very thorough, one of the reasons why they had lasted so long together without being caught by the authorities. She admired the blaze as Johnne climbed into the car, catching the smokes and pulling one out for each of them, lighting and handing him his. Czigany nodded softly to his request, and laid back and closed her eyes, laying in stasis while he made the necessary arrangements for protecting themselves against this threat. She started to remind him about Edwin’s payment but he took care of that next and so she relaxed a little more, her body unmoving as her mind catalogued and planned along with her mate. She lay inert until he told her that they had reached their destination and she settled her seat once again upright, glancing around at the surrounding area outside. Nodding softly as he gave her the instructions, she smiled a bit at him. She already knew what to do but he was an obsessive double checker. And she knew the leak must be driving him crazy. She smiled at him as he told her to be careful and she squeezed his hand, whispering to him, “I love you.” as she always did when they were headed into a dangerous situation.

He slid from the vehicle to take care of the shipment and she hopped out the other door. It was her job to set the trap for those damned Jews. How do they keep finding us? she wondered to herself, not for the first time, recalling Arizona as he had reminded her. They had been lucky. The two of them could take on one of the other vampires but with them working together, Czigany and Johnne were in trouble. The head of security handed her a map and she looked him over but could detect no signs of duplicity in him. Or any of the others as they were spread in groups waiting for her deployment. She sighed and reluctantly made the decision to leave them behind t get killed. It was a good contract with the security company and they had done an excellent job. Hopefully the CEO would still be willing to work with them. If not, they could find another, though this company had been good to them since they picked them up right after Arizona. She made a note though, to have their contact there checked out again. You never knew what you might have missed the first time and they could not afford to take losses like this every time those two hopped into town.

She spread the map out on a table, the head of security leering at her and if she were mortal, she’d be extremely glad of Johnne’s presence. He tended to stand too close and to have a good long look at her when she leaned over. As it was, it was a brief annoyance in the manner of, if he was looking at her, he wasn’t looking at the map. “Here.” she told him, glaring into his eyes until he looked where she pointed. “I expect they will come from this way given what we know of their heading. He is very large, but she is the real threat. Get her down first.” She didn’t bother to glance up, knowing that they wouldn’t listen to her on that point but she had to make it. The most fatal flaw that guards like this had was believing what they could see and the Gangrel’s huge size would forever seem like more of a threat. Hopefully though it would make sure that they didn’t hesitate when it came to slaughtering a female as petite and lovely as that Brujah bitch.

After receiving their assignments, they spread out to take their places and she picked a good vantage point with one of the teams, intending on directing things from the field as it were. Johnne would likely be upset with her for that, but he was busy and this was her gig. She was just running over in her mind all possibilities of where a leak could be when a shot rang out from somewhere to their west and the team she was with grabbed their rifles and took their spots. All was silent a moment, and then everywhere seemed to burst into gunfire at once, keeping their two enemies pinned down in a small area. Or so she thought, until, under the cover of the darkness, the brujah jumped up out of nowhere and starting hacking through member of this team like a bowling ball knocking over pins. Fortunately, Czig was quick enough to crouch down and do a simple ‘seeming’, an illusion of an unbroken brick wall where she was. She watched without moving until the bitch dragged off the poor bastard with the broken arms, and another few heartbeats just to make sure, then dispelled the illusion and crept back to where Johnne was waiting. She slipped an arm around his waist a minute, tilting her head to look up at him. “I think its time we go,” she said quietly.

[Queen of Hearts]

Johnne:

As gunfire broke out, Johnne did not even bother to look up as though to keep a cool front in front of the clients. The buyers looked worried and began to draw out weapons from their coats before looking around for something to shoot. A security team with automatic weapons moved in and escorted the buyers onto an awaiting speed boat while men on forklifts loaded the containers on a transport boat and take them to the waiting ship for the buyers. Johnne, ever cool and collective, did not seem bothered in the least by the gunfire in the distance, and this in turn caused he buyers to reholster their weapons knowing Johnne had it under control….but little did they know he was only acting to have it under control. The truth was things were spiraling downward quickly, but he did not want to give that impression to the buyers. Opening the briefcase an seeing the money, he nodded and shook the men’s hands before they departed to the freighter in the harbor. The Customs Agent, thinking this was a federal raid, took off running to his car and fled the area quickly as the security team set up a defensive perimeter. As Czig approached him and indicated they should leave, Johnne nodded before motioning for her to wait a moment. Walking up the metallic stairs to the catwalk of the warehouse, he propped a .50 Barrett Sniper Rifle he had hidden there on the railing and took aim at the captured security guard. The optical of the scope fell to the large Gangrel, then the Brujah, and finally to the security guard. Deciding he only had time for one shot, he thought it would be better to shoot the guard and prevent him from talking about their plans than to try to hit one of the vampires. Squeezing the trigger, the shock form the rifles recoil tossed his shoulder back and shook the railing it was resting on. “Fuck me” he exclaimed in Romanian before walking back down the stairs and motioned to the head of security to follow him

Cast us off, then you and your men kill the intruders. There are only two of them, lightly armed with close combat weapons. You should be able to make short work of them.” This, Johnne knew, was a lie, but it would provide a buffer so he and Czig could escape by the water. Stepping onto the large yacht, Czig had already motioned for the Captain to start the engines as the ship’s ropes were untied from the pier. And that is when all hell broke loose. Gunfire erupted in the warehouse amidst the sounds of twisted metal, screams, and animalistic howls. The captain gunned the engine causing the anchoring point to break free from the dock as one of the guards was trying to undo it, and snap back splitting open his head and killing him from the blunt force trauma. Another guard got tangled in the ropes and was dragged from the docks by his foot. He flailed behind the boat trying to breath in the wake of the yacht while trying to untangle his foot to no avail. Pulling the Colt 1911 from his shoulder holster, Johnne shot the man to put his out of his misery of drowning slowly before cutting the line and turning to see Liz run to the end of the dock and watch them escaping by sea. Holding up his middle finger to her, Johnne chuckled and turned around to look at Czig “Well beloved, whomever our leak was, they are dead now. I doubt the fury of the Brujah will be able to leave any alive for questioning. All the same, could you call the company and tell them we need a new team to meet us in Deleware. If those two figure it out, I want another buffer zone. Tell the security company their agents failed, and they will need to send a clean up crew to the docks. We don’t want to risk having the police around snooping and finding out about the buyers. It would be bad for business if the shipment did not make it.”

Only now did he allow himself the moment to exhale deeply knowing how close they came to those two again. If a perfect world, Czig and he would lay low for a year so the Brujah and Gangrel would lose their scent, but this was not a perfect world, and as such they had to finish another deal lest they ruin relations with the Giovanni that had hired them for this next job. Pissing of the human underworld, pissing off the Giovanni was quite another. And from the sounds of it, the Giovanni were looking to gain an upper hand against the cursed Tremere and take the city of Wilmington as their own as it was the axis point between shipments between the Northern and Southern States. Only now that it had slowed did Johnne step close to Czig and wrap his arms around her before kissing her deeply and stroking the side of her face with his thumb idly tracing her ear affectionately. “You did wonderful Beloved. You saved us yet again from those fucking Jews. With any luck, everyone is already dead and out plans dead with them. Now come, let me show you something”

Taking the briefcases from the deck to the main bedroom below deck, he opened the snaps and dumped the bills onto the bed before pushing her down atop them. Crawling atop her as they lay on the dirty money, Johnne’s features softened as the two shared this moment between them. Kissing her once again, the two truly were a modern day Bonney and Clyde. They didn’t need the money, they just could not fight the urge for ill-gotten gains. It was the trill, the surge of life they felt when completing the transaction amidst all the troubles and still found their payday. And tonight disruption, as deadly as it was with the two Israeli vampires, only heightened the excitement and made it so much more enjoyable an aftermath. Tracing his fingers down her flesh, his teeth bit gently on her bottom lip as he rolled in the money and pulled her now atop him. This, it would seem, was reward worth more than the money. The shared excitement of the caper, and the bliss following is success.