Jacqueline Speirs

Background

Jacqueline is a year-old neonate Gangrel who has the appearance of a 21-year old punk rocker. She is new to the Seattle area from Boston (or so she claims) and is the vocalist and frontman of the punk band Seven (no relation to VII). She resides at the bar/club where she performs most at the edge of downtown. At first, she had no covenant ties due to being so new to Kindred life, but after witnessing things nearly erupting in a war, she is extremely hesitant to even consider joining one for resentment at being used as a pawn. Though she has her secrets, being the new kid and having no one to even truly call a friend, she is quite naive and may get herself into trouble just by following her heart to what she thinks is salvation from her loneliness.

Notebook

They say inspiration can come from anywhere. I don't know who "they" are, but given that I have quite a bit of time on my hands, I suppose I can give their theory a thorough test. So here I am writing in a little black notebook about the daily events of my alleged life. Maybe some hack will want to publish it for me to become the next Anne Frank (I don't recommend it, wannabe publisher), but the hope is that maybe "they'll" be right and I'll get inspired for a song or two out of all this. So let's begin from when I arrived in the emerald city.

Page 1

My sire taught me all he could in the short time we had. He put extreme emphasis on the fact that if I remembered nothing else, I needed to remember to present myself to the city's Prince the moment I arrived. Given that I was quite sure Seattle didn't have some secret invisible vampire castle to find said Prince, I asked around for the only contact I had: Simeon Blade, an elder of my clan. He was professionally cordial and told me where I could find the Prince. Imagine my surprise when I found out that his royal highness was a woman named Genevieve Harcourt! I followed my sire's advice and was very humble towards her. Lucky for me, I must have made enough of an impression on her for she granted me a small place to call my own: my beloved El Corazón.

A couple weeks went by and I received notice that there was going to be a party held at the SAM. I tagged along with Simeon and met one big, tall, burly dude. He went by the name of Jericho and was Simeon's childe. Didn't really talk much though. Genevieve made the announcement that this party was in honor of some dude named Petrovsky. Apparently he's amazing and was awesome. Or something. Whatever. Jericho seemed a little rough around the edges about this. I guess he was equally responsible for whatever it was that Petrovsky was in the limelight for, but didn't care to make a big deal out of it. We chatted a bit and turned out his name is actually Euphonious. I asked him why he went by Jericho and his answer was as good as any: "can't really have anyone callin' ya' 'Phony', right?" Ha!

While mingling (or just sitting there, people watching, in my case), Petrovsky introduced himself to me and had a scary lookin' little dude with him. This guy's name was Little Jim. How fitting. We made small talk at first, but then Petrovsky propositioned a job for us, being that we were both new in town. I didn't have anything else better to do and wanting to fit in well here, I agreed. I called Paul, my dear Paul Holloway who I met shortly after coming to town and thought was pretty, and had him drive us over to Petrovsky's estate. There, Petrovsky filled us in on what was happening. Apparently, the Prince's hound and childe, Simone, was seen killing a human by one of Petrovsky's retainers and worse yet, he claims to have seen another human on the other end of the alley with a camera. But because this chick is the Prince's right hand man, we needed hard evidence to take care of this.

Wow, what a cluster fuck! I got some info that what had actually happened was that there were two people arguing in the alley and things got heated. When a bum came through, the poor guy got attacked. I assumed one of the arguees was Simone, but now I had to find out who the other one was. I'm no Sherlock Holmes so of course Simone knows I'm snooping around and corners me. I tell her, as politely as I can, what I know and she flips out about some lobster faced something or other and runs off. Turns out Simone had a boy toy named Rosario who was an artist. Little Jim and I sneak around gathering as much intel as two amateurs can. We managed to get a hold of a freshly made photocopy of a flyer for a midnight art opening. Smells like trouble. And toner.

We arrived at the gallery and to be less obvious, they should have had a giant neon billboard with dancing girls screaming "VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE" for the painting being showcased, was a photo realistic piece of Simone and the homeless guy being attacked by Petrovsky! Great. I've been had. Jim was able to secure and destroy the painting, but a fire had started in the gallery and Petrovsky and his band of goons burst in with guns blazing, literally. Paul got us the hell out of there and Jim said we needed to meet up with Blade. We met in an underground parking lot. A snippet of conversation I heard was Blade asking Jim, "is she with us?" and him answering "well she's not against us." whatever the hell that means. A couple people, a nervous, computer hacker type and an unsettling rough and tumble dude show up, but Blade quickly ordered them to go upstairs. Genevieve arrived and it was a clash of the titans. Blade's retainers drove by and kicked out the body of one of Petrovsky's guys. Blade demanded that a blood hunt be called on Petrovsky and Simone for endangering the masquerade. Genevieve didn't look too happy about having to call out a death sentence on her own childe, but reluctantly does. She yells that this isn't over yet and drives away. Phew. Blade escorts us up to a condo where a small group was gathered. And now Blade wants a favor. I hope that given we share ancestry, he won't fuck me over like Petrovsky did...

Page 2

In this cozy abode, the two people Simeon ordered upstairs were gathered along with a snazzy lookin' guy with a cane. The hacker's name was Mike Smith; a twitchy, paranoid type. The gruff, grungy guy was Vince, a slum lord. And then there's Gabe; an opera singer and DJ by night. Simeon comes in and says that he has a favor to ask of us. Over in Issaquah, uncontested territory, there's an old cemetery called Arkwright Cemetery and Vince claims to have some information on where to find a guy named Rafael Pope. Simeon wanted us to bring this Pope guy to him. We were going to set off the night after tomorrow.

Oh man, a lot of this night is just a haze to me, but here's what I can remember. Simeon sent us with a big heavy duffle bag saying to give it to Pope when we find him, but to not open it beforehand. Paul drove us over to the cemetery in a white van. Classic. I sure am glad the others were there to pick up on clues as to where to even find this guy. There was something about a liar's grave and Lady Grief or something or other. I found myself just tagging along. I'm not very good at cracking mysteries; I don't watch CSI. Along the way, Gabe got caught up with some of the "locals". They were none too happy about us trespassing, but he managed to sweet talk them into letting us stick around for just a couple hours with the promise of a cocktail of drugs they could inject into their herd for a rush.

When we finally stumbled upon the mausoleum where Pope was said to be buried, Little Jim ran in with the duffle bag to try to find our guy in question. That's when we were ambushed. There were rumors circulated about a mercenary, Vincenzo from Everett, who only works for a pretty penny, lurking around town. Turns out, he was lurking around us. When I had a moment, I dashed in after Little Jim. By the time I got there, Jim had the bag open and the reason why it was so damn heavy? Petrovsky's torso. Jim kicked it over to a guy who I can only assume was Pope, for food. He went way past the limit though and ended up killing Petrovsky. Eh, he was bound to be killed anyway. Less work for others to do. He still looked pretty weak and Jim was about to shove a stake through him. Man, maybe he's getting paranoia lessons from Mike! I stopped him and offered Pope my wrist instead. He seemed pretty grateful.

We made our way outside and the fight was getting cleared up. It pathetically ended like how most playground fights do: Vince gets mad, says something nasty, and big ol' mercenary runs away. As we were making our way back to the van, Pope struck up a conversation with us. He's a really cool guy! Very charming. Given that he still could use a bit more vitae, I offered my services again after he said that now we'd be family. Maybe I finally have a place to feel at home! The others seemed a little nervous, but maybe it was just the paranoia pandemic hitting them. I don't care. I don't really remember what happened after this. I just remember being really, really hungry and Mike shoving some dude towards me.

My memory skips ahead to where we were in the van on our way back to the city, but it was starting to get light. We weren't going to make it so after getting in touch with Simeon, he said to meet at Meydenbauer Center. That's Genevieve's territory, but when we got there, Blade lead us around like he owned the place and opened some trap doors to a secret basement where we took refuge. What a night.

Page 3

After that debacle at the cemetery, I noticed that although things were quiet, the air was TENSE. I wanted to know what was going on so I wandered into First Hill, looking for Blade and a black F350 pulled up beside me. It was Carlos, his retainer, and he said that Blade will call me later. Great. Way to leave me hanging after doing you a favor, man.

A few days go by and on the first night the air felt calm, Rafael came to visit me at my club! We chit chatted for a bit, and he asked if I'd like to go for a walk. Of course, I agreed. We strolled around the area and he told me a bit about his past and what Seattle was like during his time. He mentioned that Old Seattle, the underground, used to be his territory and eluded to wanting it back. After we parted ways, I used this opportunity to pay Jericho a visit.

I had no idea what I was going to do, but it kinda felt nice to have a purpose to call on someone. He was nonchalantly friendly to me (if that makes any sense), but also pretty vague. He said he hasn't had any visitors lately, but did have a call and request from Blade which he refused. I can only assume Blade was asking if Jericho would be willing to move in order to give Rafael his old territory back, but hopefully he'll respect his childe's wishes. I left to go home after wishing him well. I hope I get to know him a bit. He may not talk much, but at least he seems genuine.

As I made my way up the street, I saw that Mike was pacing outside my club. He had Xavier, a nervous doctor type I met earlier, with him. I called out to them and Mike seemed really concerned. Well, he always looks concerned, but he looked it even moreso this time. He said that it was nice to see someone after a while of tension and everyone keeping to themselves. But then he says that I need to be careful around Pope. I told him I appreciate the concern, but that I'm fine. I've made it this far on my own anyway. When I told him that I only got to spend a year with my sire, he seemed really shocked. Apparently he's been with his mother dearest for 30 years! He said it was great that I'm so put together and I called him out on flirting with me. That might have been the wrong move as it made Twitchy McTwitcherson even MORE twitchy!

I got a phone call at this time and he took it as a chance to escape. It was Blade. I asked him what was going on. He was quiet for a bit, but then said that while he admits that I did him a favor and he owes me one, and even as we share the same blood, things go deeper than blood and didn't owe me this. I was stunned. Hell, just when I thought I was making headway on establishing a camaraderie with my kin and making friends, I get reminded that I'm all alone here. Fuck, I felt like I was going to cry. But given that this was outside in public, it wasn't the best place to get blood all over my shirt. So I drowned my sorrows and loneliness in a drink. I think I drank a little too much from him, but he'll probably just think the same anyway.

The next day, I got a call from an unknown number. It was my dear Rafael! I asked if he wanted to hang out and we made plans to meet at Gas Works Park. Since he gave me a tour of what Seattle was like before, I gave him a tour of what the park was like now. I helped him out on figuring out his phone and inputted my number for him. Towards the end of our night, he mentioned that he needs help retrieving a personal effect of his that he left behind. If he were to have it again, he may consider leaving for San Fransisco or somewhere similar because the city of Seattle has changed so much for him. It's apparently a doctor's bag hidden somewhere in underground Seattle and he said that the contents would be a surprise for me. Hrm... I like surprises...!

Page 4

Xavier called me up a few days ago and said that there was going to be another meeting at the SAM at 9:30 on Saturday. And, like before, all of us, now 14 thanks to no Simone or Petrovsky, showed up on time. I sat with Jericho like before. I thought Rafael would join us, but no sign of him either. Genevieve got down to business right away. She started off with her wonderful pleasantries by accusing Rafael of being exiled due to stealing something from Lancea Sanctum and had a blood hunt called upon him. Then, to make things even better, she goes on to say, "Vince, Mike, Jim, Gabe, Jacqueline: you have 15 days to bring Pope's staked body to me or YOUR lives are forefit." Then she flashed her ever so friendly smile and dismissed the meeting. Oh god...

I nearly ran out of there. As soon as I got outside, I called Rafael. I was kind of in a panic, but he calmly reassured me that he wasn't in any sort of danger and that we could meet. He apparently was at Hemp Fest and had a few people with him. One of them was a young-business-man type, but the others were your typical low-life stoners. When Rafael and I were alone, I blurted out that I would get the bag for him. Maybe if he ran away for California, we'd be far apart, but at least he would be safe(r). He described an old store in the underground and in the back of that store, there would be a false wall. The doctor's bag would be behind that wall. I asked how I would know it was the right one and he gave me a blank smile like a parent would to try to not laugh at something his kid did. He patiently explained it's exact whereabouts again and I suppose the chances of someone else putting a similar looking doctor's bag in the exact same location is probably pretty slim. I told him I'd get in touch with him later that night and ran off to Pioneer Square. On my way, I called Blade to tell him that I was calling in the favor he owed me. I asked him to get in touch with Jericho and to have him expect me soon. He agreed, said he'd call back soon as he got in touch with Jericho, and when he called back, he told me he'd expect me at 1am.

Promptly at 1, I scurried down to where I knew Jericho usually hung around. As I got closer, I started hearing what sounded like a choir singing, but it was only the baritone section. It kept getting louder and louder the closer I got. By the time I got to our meeting place, the sound was resonating through my whole body! But when I saw the doorknob turn, it stopped suddenly and out came Jericho. He greeted me with a nonchalant "Hey, what's up?" I stammered a bit, thinking maybe I was going crazy in addition to being a fucking vampire, and asked if he heard the singing. He gave me an is-this-a-joke look and said, "Of course, it was me." I think I did the opening and closing of my mouth like a fish that Mike sometimes does out of being stunned. Jericho lead me to the store that I described. On our way there, we chit chatted about music. Turns out we have one big thing in common: music was a big part of our pasts that we (I think) miss terribly. I even suggested that maybe we should get together and sing some time... and now, looking back, that sounds pretty dumb when said aloud. Oh well. He didn't seem fazed by it. I think.

The bag was exactly where Rafael said it would be and as soon as I thanked Jericho for letting me come by to get it, I called him to tell him I had what he wanted. We made arrangements to meet at the Red Robin down at the pier. I made my way there on foot, but that might have been an error in judgement. As soon as I crossed the street near Ivar's, Sam, who I only knew by name, appeared out of the shadows and I swear, he was going to kill me. That scary fucker's scary enough without him growling at me to get away from his territory!! So I just ran. I ran so far away, Flock of Seagulls. And Sam.

We met at the restaurant as promised and Rafael seemed elated, after asking me if there were other bags there and if this was the right one, of course. I reminded him of his promise to show me what it was and it was a gilded cross. Hm, okay. Not as exciting as I had hoped, but at least I'm in on the secret now. He mentioned that he and his crew had a house party to go to in Wallingford and invited me along. I had nothing else better to do so I went. We all crammed in this beat up VW bus and headed north. When we got to the place, it was rowdy as hell. Part way through the night, Rafael took me aside and mentioned that he thinks Michael, the businessy guy, would make a good addition to our little family so he wants me to judge him. He said he would get us tickets to the opera and make it a black tie affair.

The next night, Mike and Vince dropped in to my club. Given that we were all on death row together, we tried to come up with a plan to get ourselves pardoned. We kept going back and forth on whether or not we should try to get Rafael to come in so I offered to call him up. Man, their eyes can get wide. I called him up and said that we'd really like to talk to him about the stuff that's going on. He mentioned that he's busy tonight and tomorrow, but suggests we meet before the opera to chat. He said he'll ExFed the tickets to my place. ...ExFed? Mike looked like he was going to be sick and immediately declined going. Vince said he'd think about it, but I can't honestly picture him in a tux. Mike then threw me for a loop and asked if I've seen a gilded cross on Rafael. Since he had said that it was for my eyes only, I sweetly told Mike no in order to protect the secret. Apparently it has something to do with Lancea Sanctum rituals. I got a text from Rafael saying "FedEx!!!" Ah, now, it makes sense. And he learned how to text!

We left the club with the thought that the next best move was to track down Poor Old Willie because he was known to be good friends with Rafael back in the day. We went up to a run down church on Broadway in Capitol Hill where he's been known to be, and of course, the gate's locked. A small altar boy came out from the church and when he got to the gate, he mentioned that Willie had sent him along with a message that he will see us, but not tonight. We didn't want to press the issue any further so we left. Vince parted ways with us saying he had to make some calls. While Mike and I were walking down the hill, he got a call and it sounded like the conversation was cut short. He shoved me into the coffee shop we happened to be by and told me to go get some coffee while he uses their Wi-Fi.

By the time I returned with the drinks I stared at wistfully, Mike looked like he was about to start sweating. He spun his laptop towards me and pressed play on a crappy little cell phone video. The quality was poor, but anyone could tell that it was a woman, kindred, of course, staked and set on fire. There was a glint of something that looked like a cross, one I hadn't seen before, on the ground that looked as if she had dropped it and a hand came from off screen to snatch it away. There was a bit of a scuffle before the video ended. Apparently we've now met the mysterious Melanie who was rumored to have been floating around, unassociated with anyone. Mike about jumped through the roof when his phone rang again. Cursing under his breath, he answered and I could even hear the other end of the line screaming to delete the video and that someone had gotten killed over it. He made quick work of storing it on a secure something-or-other, and had me call Vince. I simply told him he should meet us at the cafe and that we had something important to show him.

After Vince showed up and we stepped outside and showed Vince the video. As we were standing there, a sedan drove by and slowed down when it was near us. It was one of Willie's retainers and as soon as he figured out who we were, he sped off. The three of us exchanged glances and ran back up to Willie's church. The place was lit up like there was some big function going on inside. The sedan was parked there and so was a familiar looking VW bus! The same altar boy came out to us again and had a different message this time: "Things have changed, but he still cannot see anyone yet. But rejoice for Rafael Pope has returned to the fold! He was innocent all along."