House Sanguis

Standing inside a covert mobile command center, Bazel put suit back on and looked in a nearby mirror to make sure that none of the wires under his clothes were showing. Satisfied with the work that had been done, he turned towards his two co-conspirators for this operation and said, "Neto, Captain Schwarz, I think we have done everything we can to plan for this encounter with House Sanguis. Hopefully things can be resolved through dialogue, but if not...well we have just the plans for that, right?"

Neto grinned maliciously while Schwarz grimly nodded, but while their reactions were not in sync they would both dutifully carry out the plan involved.

"Say your prayers men," said Neto into a microphone that was on a table in front of him, "because today we dine in hell!"

Various cheers rang out from the communication device along with some words of what Bazel assumed was prayer, he even saw Schwarz sign a cross over his chest and kiss a cross that was underneath his shirt that also had a picture of whom Bazel assumed was one of his daughters attached to the back of it.

"A man of religion?" inquired Bazel as he looked at the high level of devotion that the man was displaying, so much so that he was handling the cross like one would a newborn infant.

Schwarz displayed a bit of embarrassment, scratching the back of his neck while explaining, "I was not always religious, but about half a year ago when my mother was fighting cancer I felt that the world was crashing down on me. I aimlessly walked the streets at night with a bottle in hand, drowning out reality in drink when I stumbled across a small church that had just been erected. I ended up wandering in and the priest there heard my problems and guided me into a better state of mind. Just a few days later I got news that my mother was fully healed, so I became a bit more pious ever since. I know that it was just a coincidence, but it's comforting to think that there is a higher power watching over the faithful."

Pushing aside the random instinctual rejection that he felt when the topic was mentioned, Bazel instead said, "To each their own, so long as it does not interfere with the job at hand I could care less about what you believe. And who knows, maybe there is something out there? We are about to negotiate with shapeshifting blood manipulators afterall, anything is possible."

With that said Bazel waved goodbye to the two Police Captains and opened the back door, exiting out of the command center and out into the street. Closing the door behind him he gave one look over the vehicle he had just exited, a high tech mobile command center on the inside and a simple landscaping van on the outside, he silently marveled at the tactics of the police.

Still, he had a job to do today and so with heavy steps he made his way through the high class streets of the deepest region of West. He was all the way in the farthest most west end, even past where Zaire had been staying, truly an area of the rich elite. The property that he had been given the location of was found to be tied to one of the three organizations that had been creating dozens of brand new blood banks and drives all across the town and in the outskirts. Approaching it in person, however, he was greeted not by what could be described as a large house or even mansion but instead his eyes presented him the sight of what looked to be small feudal era castle.

Thankfully this antique of a building did not have massive defensive walls like some of its contemporaries, but instead it only had a small black colored metal gate with spikes on top of each individual bar that made up the gate.

Following the long path up to the gate, Bazel eventually arrived but did not see any kind of device to announce his presence. Though he did see a group of bats resting upside down, hanging from a willow tree that looked like it was dead and rotten.

Understanding the purpose of the bats he looked at them and said,

"I am Bazel, a Rogue who is looking for an audience with someone that matters."

His loud voice that had been directed towards the bats woke each and every one of them up. They looked at Bazel with their beady eyes, cocking their head left to right like they were sizing him up. A few moments later all the bats dropped from the tree at once, breaking into a dive and swooping down into the air just above Bazel. They then all glided into one another, colliding and combining into the shape of a man who dropped down from the air and landed directly in front of Bazel.

With sharp eyes and a piercing glare, the pale newcomer looked at Bazel and said, "I am the guard for this gate, an honorable blooded one. Rogue, we are House Sanguis not a pub for you to enter whenever you so please. Begone, or face my wrath."

The abrasive tone and the condescending attitude of the guard was ignored by Bazel completely, who surprised the guard by walking past him and into a portal of darkness that appeared suddenly.

Walking through the shadows and out the other end, he walked up the path leading to the gray stone castle that laid on the hill above while saying,

"Lead the way."

The lowly guard was no fool, he knew how to recognize a powerful ability when he saw one so he quickly leapt over the gate himself and ran in front of Bazel. With a respectful bow and even more respectful tone the guard said, "Of course honored Rogue, I will lead the way to the reception room."

Thus Bazel followed him up the winding path and through the massive front entrance, that was made up of two heavy looking ornamental stone doors that had to be opened with a mechanical contraption the size of a motorcycle, and into the building under the curious eyes of the many servants and patrolling branch family members. The destination was reached in no time at all, which was a small waiting room that was only a short walk from the main entrance.

The guard directed him to sit and wait saying, "Sir, I will inform the necessary parties that you have arrived and are waiting for a meeting." The guard then bowed once more, even more dramatically than the last, and left the room with the door clicking shut behind him.

Bazel was left alone in the room, left to admire the furnishing and design of the room that made him feel as if he were transported back in time to an ancient era. Everything around him was extremely vintage, to say the least, looking to be hand carved and crafted in a style that mimic'd an older way of creation.

'The amount of servants was high, I saw at least double digits. While I only saw three patrol teams pass by during my short walk, but seeing how big the castle is there is definitely far more than just that. Overall it seems that they have concentrated quite a lot of their resources in this one place, which makes sense seeing at it is their headquarters for their operations here. Sadly that also means I will not be able to just sneak around and run away with Lily, for I do not even know the full depth of my powers nor the scale of the enemy,' thought Bazel as he decided to go full in on his initial negotiation plan, tapping his chest twice as a silent signal of his decision to the rest of his team.

Left only to appreciate the room around him, Bazel waited patiently until finally the door opened once again. Walking in was a man who was wearing a loose fitting white robe and walking around in slippers, quite the odd combination, but as he walked over and sat in the seat across from Bazel it was immediately made apparent that the man in front of him with far more than just the odd clothing choice he decided upon.

When his blackish red eyes peered into Bazel's own abyssal black ones, he could feel the hair on his neck stand up slightly as well as the feeling of being looked at by a ghastly predator. His partner in the shadows below him reacted slightly as well, but nothing too overly dramatic which confirmed to him that the man in front of him was indeed a threat. Just not one so dire that he should flee immediately, thus the plan continued.