Alexander grinned. "Soldier," he said with a small nod. Perhaps the man had been captired as he ran, screaming and weeping from battle. But manners and a little respect cost nothing.
Then he fed, sinking his teeth into the man's wrist and took as he needed. The man should understand. It was much the same on the battlefield, after all. And if he didn't then that was entirely his problem.
Taking note of the prisoners, Lucian looks for the most fearless, least penitent of the "soldiers".
Before sinking his fangs into the man, Lucian looks to the others in the room and says, "My apologies for the noise this may cause."
Having said what needs to be said, he sinks his fangs into the arm of the chosen man. The formerly less fearful prison, howling in agony from Lucian's bite.
His feeding complete, he turns to Alexandru and comments, "And now you know why I seek out those deserving punishment."
Alexandru's eyes widen. "Ah, yes. I see your point."
Alexander raises an eyebrow at the other man's feeding as the man he fed from slumped peacefully, momentarily stunned (probably). "That is an unfortunate side effect," he noted. That would make it a lot harder to feed subtly. "Perhaps the good doctor can give you some ether, to knock them out beforehand?" the Gangrel suggested out of vague curiosity.
Altan was ever patient and allowed the locals (as he viewed them, though he knew they were clearly outsiders in this city like himself) to have their first pick, he approaches the prisoners, looking for one still of good health. He was a guest, and did not want to offend the Prince by neither sampling the meal put before him, nor carelessly killing their stock.
Satisfied with his selection, he carefully moves in and takes his fill.
"Will you not slake your thirst, cousin?" Alexandru asks, Elena, inclining his head in her direction. "The blood is life. The blood is power. Certainly there is no need to fear either?"
Alexander raises an eyebrow at the other man's feeding as the man he fed from slumped peacefully, momentarily stunned (probably). "That is an unfortunate side effect," he noted. That would make it a lot harder to feed subtly. "Perhaps the good doctor can give you some ether, to knock them out beforehand?" the Gangrel suggested out of vague curiosity.
Lucian regards the man briefly before responding, "Perhaps in an emergency, that would be beneficial, but I normally pick out those deserving of punishment for vessels from which I feed."
Remembering his manners after a moment, he adds. "Although I do appreciate the sentiment."
Jürgen watches Lucian take his fill with a stony eye, his lip quirking into a slight frown. "Mind that you do no lasting harm."
The corpse-like friar gets up from his seat and moves to approach Lucian. "A noble sentiment." He adds with a nod. "Let us hope that you may hold to such a conviction."
"Do you still try to hold to your vows, Friar, even in your transcendent state?" Alexandru asks the friar, genuinely curious.
"Why would I not?" The friar replies. "True, I may never look upon the gates of Heaven, but the Lord's tenets have served me well as a bulwark against the Beast regardless."
He then lets out a chuckle.
"Of course, my Prince." Lucian says to Jürgen's warning. "While my bite does not cause the euphoria in mortals common to most Cainites, it does no more physical harm than any other bite."
"That is my intention, lest the beast have other ideas." Lucian says to the friar, with a sincere smile. "To whom might I have the pleasure of speaking with this evening? Brother? Father? Which honorific is more appropriate?"
"Excuse me a moment." He says, having heard the soft gasp from the shadows. Lucian focuses his gaze that direction while walking closer, in an attempt to see who is responsible for the gasp.
Alexander shrugged. He didn't understand why others of his kind insisted on trying to deny a basic part of there real nature, just as he'd never really understood it as a human. Which was not to say you could instantly do as you wished, taking who you wished and killing where you willed. That was just as stupid. There was a middle ground, allowing yourself to be true to who and what you were without being a mindless pile of urges.
In this case, he allowed exactly what he was to come to the surface. His eyes shifted, becoming more bestial, yellow...glowing. The darkness parted and he saw into the darkness, whatever made the noise. It probably wouldn't help with there apparent fear, but then, that wasn't his goal. Only to see.
Reacting to Lucian and Alexander's sudden interest in something off in the shadows, Alexandru sharpens his senses to perceive the source of their curiosity.
When it looks like she's been seen, she starts to run deeper into the cathedral!
"We must go after her, for sake of the Silence of the Blood." Lucian says hurrying off after the frightened girl.
-------------------
The armoured figure raises their hands and removes their helmet.
"Well..."
Once the helmet has come off, the figure reveals themselves to be a woman with a squared, masculine jaw and raven-black hair kept in a tightly-bound bun. Her dark brown eyes size you up with a faint smile.
"...you could, perhaps, explain to me what business brings you here. It's rare for one of the Old Country to visit, let alone two."
"In this regard I am an extension of the will of my Sire," she replies to the lady knght. "I know not what machinations stretch from the Carpathians across the Alps and to the door of the Black Forest, but the Kindred arm is long indeed. I suppose it shall be revealed in time."
With an inclination of her head she says, "That is the convoluted way of saying that I have not been told why I was sent here."
Alexandru hurries after Lucian, genuinely concerned that the girl could reveal them to the general populace. He keeps his senses heightened, doing his utmost to make sure the girl doesn’t successfully evade them.
Alexander looked over to there host. "With your blessing, my lord, shall we bring the intruder to you?"
Jürgen glares at Alexander before turning his displeased stare on the cocky-looking knight slouched in a nearby pew. "Do so. The Silence must be protected."
------------------
The lady-knight chuckles. "Such is the way of Sire and Childe, I suppose."
"I am known as Lucretia von Hardtz."
------------------
The two Cainites run down the corridor in pursuit of the girl. The waif looks back over her shoulder and gasps in terror before fleeing around a corner!
Alexander grinned in the toothy fashion only vampires wished. "As my lord wishes." He set off in persuit.
The hunt for a threat, though in unfamiliar territory, this is something that I know. Now, to take down this prey.
Dashing past the others, Altan moves with preternatural speed in his pursuit of the unknown intruder.
"I...doubt...she..will..outrun..him.." Alexandru mutters to himself as he hustles along after the others in pursuit of the girl.
The dottore's assessment is right on the money--while the others just barely fail to catch up to the girl, the Childe of Haqim cuts her off from ducking into a side room with alarming speed.
The brown-haired waif cries out in terror and falls back, scrambling to get away. "No! Please! I saw nothing, I swear! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
-----------------
"I am here on Lord Jürgen's..." The lady knight pauses, searching for the appropriate term. "...call, shall we say. Normally, business would call me elsewhere, but he has made a rather peculiar request of me..."
"Fast," Alexander says with an admiring grin. It was an impressive thing to see, even among the undead, one who moved with such grace.
"You saw enough to be afraid, and that's enough, but it is not our place to decide what's to be done to you. This is the seat of another, and they can say what shall be done with you." Drained, one assumed. Hopefully not by that other fellow. Simply seeing what should not be seen wasn't deserving of such.
Unless one of the others wished to do the deed, Alexander took the frightened girl gently but firmly by the arm to present to the lord of this little gathering.
Having easily passed the girl and cut off her escape, with a slight smirk he is more than willing to allow to take her back to the prince. "I am sorry miss, but you have crossed from the realm of your world into ours. It is something one cannot go back from." He is ready to catch her again if she slips free of the Gangrel's hands. Otherwise, he quietly follows the procession back before the prince.
Alexandru stops running and walks to where the others have cornered he girl.
He watches her carefully, in case she tries to run again, though she would clearly have no chance of escaping the swift Assamite.
Lucian arrives at the scene, not being nearly as fast as the Assamite or the Gangrel, looks at the girl sympathetically.
"While you must be brought before the master of this domain, your death is not certain...there are less dire methods of dealing with this unfortunate situation, if he is willing."
The waif doesn't resist as Alexander hauls her to her feet and starts marching her back to the main worship area. She quietly sniffs and sobs the whole time, her eyes darting about for any possible avenue of escape.
When the group returns to the worship hall, Lord Jürgen is standing before the altar, his executioner's blade in hand. He turns a cold eye to the girl in Alexander's grip.
"Well done." His voice booms through the hall, his eyes not leaving the girl's. "Bring her forward."
The Dottore watches the proceedings with interest.
Is he going to kill her with that sword? Such a waste of vitae! She could be made a ghoul, or even changed, and made one of us. Properly trained, she could be very useful.
Alexander brought the girl forward as commanded. "Your other guest, Altan I believe, caught her in a flash, my lord. His speed was an exemplar to all kindred, and a sad surprise for this poor young thing."
He eyed the blade with a clinical view. If he was going to kill the girl with that thing he hoped there was a bath house nearby. It was going to be a horrid mess. Not to mention a waste. But if the lord wanted his dinner on the floor, who was a pitiful neophyte in the ways of the night to argue? Maybe it was a focus, to draw her attention - and fear - as he did something else? Or maybe it was simply a display of power - that he could kill the woman in such a wasteful way and none would dare say a word.
Lucian watches on, hoping for a lenient fate for the you girl, but expecting the worst.
Altan had remained silent as they returned to the main hall, but at the Gangrel's compliment, he turns and nods. Looking back at the Lord, "I am a guest in your home, I would be remiss if I did not use my talents to see this breach resolved. Will her fate be the steel then?" he asks nodding toward the large blade. "I apologize if I overstep in my words, but she clearly has some skill at subterfuge, having made it in here past any guards. Could you serve a purpose for you?"
The waif whimpers as she's brought before Lord Jürgen, her eyes darting everywhere but the imposing man.
Jürgen looks up at Alexander, listening to him before looking at Altan. "Hmm."
"I apologize if I overstep in my words, but she clearly has some skill at subterfuge, having made it in here past any guards. Could she serve a purpose for you?"
"Perhaps. Or perhaps my guards are... inadequate."
He turns his glare on the girl and grabs her by the chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. "You. What is your name?"
"S-Sophia." She stammers, frozen with fear.
"Sophia. Did your mother not teach you to stay home at night?"
Sophia swallows and begins to tremble.
"Answer me."
"Sh-she did, m'lord."
Jürgen snorts, his emotionless eyes almost crushing her into the floor. "Disobedient and foolish. What would your mother say if she could see you now, I wonder?"
Sophia's eyes start to tear up. "I-I-I--"
"Why are you here?" The prince's words strike like knives into her ears. "What did you hope to accomplish, coming here?"
Sophia starts to sob. "Men of the Lord sent me here. I was to tell them what I saw--"
"What men?"
"Swordsmen. A priest. A merchant. They spoke of wickedness plaguing Magdeburg and they sought its heart."
A flash of... something... crosses Jürgen's eyes. "Where are they now?"
"I w-was to meet them at the Five Rings, m'lord. On High Street."
The prince looks up from Sophia, to the rest of the assembled group.
"Pardon my interuption, my Prince." Lucian says before turning his attention to the girl, "Tell me, Sophia, what more did these men tell you before sending you to this place?"
Waiting for the answer, Lucian returns his attention to the Prince, waiting for any further proclamation.
"What is she saying?", Alexandru asks his companions in a soft voice, not understanding the girl's native German.
Sophia looks at Lucian with a mixture of fear and resentment. "They said that something wicked was hiding in the cathedral. That if I saw anything blasphemous, I was to flee as fast as I could and tell them everything."
Alexander moved over to Alexandru, murmuring a translation of what was being said so he could join in the conversation. It was a shame his gifts were all of the body, and not of the mind. It would be an easy solution to turn her mind against her and send her back to say she had seen nothing more than a deep prayer session with pilgrims, but it would be a band aid. "It sounds like someone else has seen something they should not have, my lord."
Altan sneers at the revelations the young girl shares. "Someone in this city suspects something, yet rather than seek the threat they fear, they send a young girl as a potential sacrifice. Such is the action of a coward. Your Lord, might we have your blessing to hunt down these men, seeking to strike down those who would both desecrate the sanctity of your halls, and use children as pawns?"
Alexandru nods at the translation of events. He speaks softly in Latin, bowing his head respectfully as he does so.
"To kill her would reveal us. To let her go would risk the same. If you wish, My Prince, I could shape her tongue so that she can no longer speak of what she has seen."
Alexandru turns his head back enough to make side-eye contact with the haughty lady vampire. He then crooks a small smile and rolls his eyes dismissively. He turns his face back and continues to address the Prince in Latin.
"It would serve as a subtle warning to the interlopers, my Prince. The child could be set free to return, but would have no means to speak of what she has seen. She would be alive and whole, showing no signs of anemia. They would know that something happened to her after she left their presence, but have no definitive proof of where and when it occurred, who perpetrated the deed, or how it was done. My work can be subtle, a changing in the length and thickness of her tongue that would be difficult to detect by one without knowledge of physiology. They would only know that the child could no longer speak to them."
He pauses a moment then adds, "I offer this only as one of doubtless many avenues, my Prince. Being a newcomer to your domain, I feel obligated to offer my abilities as a possible means to resolve this matter. It would be impolite and unseemly of me to sit by and do nothing."
He finishes speaking, and adds a slow respectful bow.
Jürgen listens to Altan's request, then to Dottore Alexandru.
He shakes his head at the physician. "No. Were her tongue to be mutilated in such a fashion, it would only draw more attention. A more subtle option will suit my purposes better."
"But as to the issue of hunting them... yes." The prince nods at Altan. "With my full authority, go forth and deal with these men. Leave at least one of them alive, if you can--I would like to know who really sent them here."
Sophia winces in fear, her legs starting to shake.
Alexandru bows his head in acknowledgement. "As you wish, my Prince." He turns to Altan and nods, making it clear he intends to join him on the hunt.
I fail to see how killing two prominent men and kidnapping a third is a more subtle plan than making a street urchin mute, but alas, this Prince Jürgen made his introduction with a beheading. We clearly do not agree on the definition of 'subtlety'. Perhaps it is a difference of culture? I thought these Germans considered themselves more worldly and refined. I thought the same of the Ventrue, as well. This one seems to be more the soldier and less the effete aristocrat.