Chapter Text
Two months it had been, two long months since the night of Baron Griffith’s party.
For most of the LA Kindred, the time had passed unremarkably, the uneasy truce settling further until the cross sect alliance’s and even friendships were practically commonplace.
But for the Valley Coterie the time had passed under an atmosphere of fear for what was happening within the Tower.
After Eva’s disappearance, the Tremere had all but withdrawn from the city, maintaining their presence in the Magic Castle but otherwise staying out of the politics between the two factions.
Jasper’s resolve to trust her had lasted impressively, but there had been nights where they worried that he may go storming over to the Magic Castle to demand answers from Strauss himself as to the location of the wayward Blood Witch.
But he hadn’t and in their downtime, Victor had found the opportunity to work further towards his mortal business practices.
It was practically mundane at this point, another one of Victor’s album releases, each of the Coterie going through the motions for the sake of the mortals partying at the Maharani.
Annabelle working the crowd as Baby B, Victor holding court in the VIP section, Nelli off corrupting hapless mortals somewhere.
Jasper watching from his customary spot within the hidden passageways, when he spotted a flash of crimson in the crowd.
Eyes wide, he leapt to a point further down the corridor, pressing his hand to the mirrored glass to try and see the individual’s face.
Cascading locks of red hair flared outwards as the dancing woman span, coming to rest with her hands on the shoulders of a darker haired woman.
Even from here, he recognized the sparkling blue eyes and the glint of pearly white fangs as Eva laughed, leaning her head into Katya’s shoulder.
Spotting a familiar, fast moving Brujah in the crowd, Jasper snarled but forced himself to stay put, waiting to see how, whatever this was. would play out.
Forcing himself to remain calm, despite whatever else may have happened, Eva would never harm Annabelle. She cared about the young woman as much as the rest of them did, had even given her one of Eva’s healing potions.
He wasn’t even sure what he’d say if he went out there. Didn’t understand why she would be here with Katya. Didn’t understand why Strauss would ever have undone what he did.
The face was the same, but this didn’t seem like the Eva he knew, he worried that this was maybe not the Eva he loved.
Her skin was flush with colour, if he didn’t know better, he would guess she had become mortal again.
And her hair, once snow white, finally gave confirmation to why she had been Katya’s crimson petal, or rather was, he frowned.
It was hard to remain positive, as the now vibrant love of his life pressed her lips to another, smiling against the older Tremere.
As Annabelle caught up to the two women, Jasper watched as she grabbed Eva’s shoulder, spinning her round to face Annabelle.
Eyes widening, he watched in horror as Annabelle bit back a scream, snatching away her hand which was charred and blackened.
In a remarkable display of self-control, she managed to hold back the sound, jamming her hand into her pocket to hide it from curious eyes.
From his vantage point, he watched as Eva smiled and shook her head, seeming to be saying something teasingly to Annabelle.
Katya’s arm snaked around Eva’s waist as Eva leaned in, whispering something in Annabelle’s ear.
And then the two Tremere turned, slipping out of the club quietly, as though they had never been there at all.
Scrambling to follow, Jasper raced for the door, slipping into invisibility as he stepped onto the street.
Eyes scanning the road, he growled in frustration before his gaze fell downwards.
Onto the small glass bottle on the end of a chain.