A short review

The twist in Ghost Stories was probably clever when done with theatrical effects.

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For: Eight

Vampire: The Requiem

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For

Eight: We're still waiting for tomorrow

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six 
Seven 

Daniel's sire stepped into the light.

"What do you want?"
"I came to warn you. Daniel... feels very deeply. That was what first drew me to him. And what drove him away."
"You're saying I shouldn't see him?"
"He is what he is, you are what you are. There is no way back for him... would you want to be like he is?"
"Seems like he doesn't want it either."
"So it seems, yes." The woman smiled sadly.
"Why did you do this to him?"
"He was kind and brave, and I thought he would not miss the day like he does."

With that, she stepped away, gone into the dark.

...

Caitlyn and Gemma took Sarah out the next day, food and some drinks, believing she was suddenly single and in need of a good time. She was somewhat cheered, but not as much as they'd planned.

"So, seriously, mopey unreliable boy. Where is that going? Because the mopey is clearly contagious."
"I... I don't know."
"Welp. At least that's an honest answer."

...

She called to meet him at the cafe the next night. He was there when she arrived, reading a new book bought to make up for his lack of drinking coffee. He was already standing as she saw him, like he spotted her first... perhaps he caught her scent.

"Your, uh... maker came to see me."
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, she... wanted to warn me. About you."
"What did she say?"

She moved in and kissed him.

The Forgotten: Sixteen

Colds and snow delayed this final session, but here goes...

Samuel grabs Carlin's coat collar and it bursts into flames under his hands. Carlin snarls and struggles to get away, giving the group a chance to run past him.

Jones signals for Samuel to get back, and slashes Carlin's throat with his fingernails.

"Keep moving! He wasn't alone!" Davis calls back to them as they linger.

"How right you are." Elise steps out of the dark, red eyes catching the dim light.

Jessica steps forward, with a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter.

Elise burns.

Jessica looks horrified by what she just did as Elise runs, shrieking.

"This is too much. We have to get out of here." David leads the way to the next manhole.

Up above, they can hear the crack of gunfire in the distance.

"Are the police gonna come?" Jessica asks.
"Out here?" Mia shakes her head.

Jones heads toward the sound of fighting. Mia calls after him, but he doesn't look back.

David starts ushering Jessica away.

"Are you coming with me?"
"No. We... I can't let any of them win."

Jessica starts to nod, visibly scared and shaken.

"We'll go," Mia says, looking to Samuel, who nods in agreement.

And they go their separate ways.

...

Ending on the decision rather than the fight seemed like the right way to go.

The Night In Question

A big one-night immersive Vampire: The Masquerade LARP. In Texas, The Night In Question isn't exactly handy for me, unfortunately. But it looks preeeeetty cool.

London Kills Me. And You. And You.

Grim London, an interactive map of hauntings, murders, mysteries and more.

The Forgotten: Fifteen

Vampires and their human and ghoul supporters on both sides, and the coterie stuck in the middle.

Jones grabs a manhole, wrenches it out, and gestures for the others to get in.

Heading into the storm drains cuts off their pursuers - but the sudden rush of rats giving chase suggests someone using Animalism to get them out of the way. David puts himself between them and Jessica, and Mia joins him. She takes his hand as they run.

They run on through the dark.

"Where are we going?" Jessica asks, stopping to draw a breath, aware that none of the others need to.
"We have to get you safe," David says.
"Is anywhere safe?" she replies.

Up ahead, Jones hears movement. He sniffs the air, and a red glow burns in his pupils.

"Running from an attack on our prince. Disloyal." Carlin shakes his head. "Like your sire."

Samuel tenses defensively.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to give you a telling off. Run all you like."
"You're in on it."
"They needed someone to help bring them in."
"And my sire?"
"Please. Your sire killed you, made you this."

Samuel lunges at him.

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For: Seven

Vampire: The Requiem

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For

Seven: Love me for what I said that I would not become

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six 

Sarah moved over to where Daniel stood. He looked like he might leave, but decided against it.

"I thought I might never see you again."
"I had to make sure you were safe."
"Another...?" she hesitated to say the word vampire.
He nodded. "Matthew. I want to make sure he won't come after you."
"And you don't mean a stern talking to, do you?"

He grimaced, and nodded.

"If you're gonna fight him... does it have to be a fair fight?"

At which point Caitlyn came over, putting a protective arm around Sarah's shoulders.

"I should... I'll call. Soon." He stepped away.

Caitlyn took Sarah's hand and led her back to their table.

"Okay, I don't wanna say that guy's trouble, but..."

Sarah could just nod, glancing at the space where he had been.

...

He did call, that night, leaving a message before she got home.

"I've left something for you. It'll drive one of us off. I'll let you decide who to use it on."

She opened the small parcel to find a pepper spray that smelt faintly of garlic.

...

She had it in her bag the next night, coming back from a late class, when she felt someone might be following her...

The Forgotten: Fourteen

Jones stops the stranger before she can beat Mac into torpor. He claws at her, she returns the favour. It's all a question of who falls first.

Until Jessica arrives and hits her with her car.

...

They manage to rouse her from torpor with plenty of pig blood, pelvis still broken and chained up in the boiler room of a boarded-up apartment building.

She gives them a name, Elise, and not much else.

"What do you plan to do with me? Trade me to my brood? In exchange for what?"
"Call off the assault," David says.
"Feh. This city is ours by right. If you really want peace, you'll stand aside and let us bring Barrett and his circle down."
"And kill anyone who gets in your way?"
"You are children."

Mia leads David away.

"What do we do with her? Will any of them be more reasonable?"
"I kinda doubt it. But we have to try."

...

They let Elise heal and she makes a call, and they leave her in the trunk of a car in a lot for her brood to retrieve her.

And as they head away, they see Barrett's people coming.

Trinity Continuum

Kickstarter is up, and funded!

The Forgotten: Thirteen

Mac jumps down to join David and Samuel.

"So, you can see their faces. Can you find them? Because they don't live after this."

Samuel nods, and starts looking through the building for more details.

...

David gathers together those affected by the unknown elders. Lake's gang, Grey, Danton, Mia's sire Elena and 'brother' Sean.

"There's a war coming. Barrett took this city years ago, some of the old prince's brood made it out, now they think they can walk back in, they don't care who gets in their way."

Plans are made.

...

Jones finds the stranger. Mac comes to back him up.

"Considered my offer?"
"Yeah. How about a counter offer. Get out of town."

She considers this for a moment, then snorts derisively.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Mac says, and charges her. She takes his hits and barely stumbles, then throws him into the wall.

"You are children."

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For: Six

Vampire: The Requiem

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For

Six: Can you love me for what I've become?

One
Two
Three
Four
Five

They held hands for a moment, and then she moved in, her other hand moving to his neck to help pull him closer and into a kiss. His lips were only slightly warm, and his hands were cool as he moved them up to hold her, but that didn't stop her.

Finally, he broke away, shamefaced.

"I can't - we shouldn't - "
"Why not?" she demanded.
"I'm a monster."
"No." She shook her head once, and reached up to caress his face.
"I'm not safe to be with. My life is dangerous."
"I'm in your life already."

He looked at her, struck with guilt at the danger he'd put her in.

"I should go."

But her hand slipped to his as he put it down on the table to push himself up, and he paused, and looked into her eyes. And she moved close and they were kissing again.

She rose with him as he stood, and clung to his arm as he finally pulled away.

She followed him out, but he was gone, vanished into the darkness.

...

She looked for him the next night, called and left messages, but there was no sign of him.

...

Caitlyn and Gemma picked her up the night after, taking her out in an attempt to get her to remember how to smile.

"I've never met anyone like him..."
"Ghosts when he gets cold feet, never calls back?" Caitlyn tutted. "I've met plenty like him."

And then at the corner of her eye, she saw him...

The Forgotten: Twelve

Danni gets up, shakily. David and Jessica go to help her.

"We have to tell the others. Everybody."

They call Jones, Samuel and Mia, and agree to meet at that twenty-four cafe near the university.

Danni explains what happened. Including pointing out that they could have killed her.

Jones mentions the stranger and her offer. Mia tells the group about Danton.

Samuel asks if he can try and see Danni's memories. She's understandably wary, but lets him proceed.

And he recognizes the same lean, dark-eyed vampire who killed his sire.

"So what do we do with this? Who do we tell?" Jessica asks.
"We tell the people we care about," Mia says.

The group breaks up.

...

Jessica calls her mother, relieved when she gets a response.

Mia calls Elena... and Danton.

Samuel leaves a message for Carlin, and another for Broughton.

David helps Danni get out of town.
"You seem like a smart guy. You should be getting out too."
"I have people relying on me."
"That's not a good place to be. For them or for you."

...

Samuel and David break into the Vault so they can both look around in their own ways.

Samuel is quickly drawn to Lake and his gang's usual table. "This is where he died. They just... smashed his skull against the floor."

David looks up and sees... someone watching.

Mac.

Ursula K. Le Guin

"I talk about the gods, I am an atheist. But I am an artist too, and therefore a liar. Distrust everything I say. I am telling the truth."
The Left Hand Of Darkness

The Forgotten: Eleven

So... there's a group conspiring against the Prince. Or at least so they claim. They're kicking up a conflict with the anarchs to make him look weak and perhaps pick off some of his followers. Or so they claim.

The Forgotten has a double meaning.

This is as well as the vampires of Lawrence, who want to overthrow the Prince, and then take over as well. And the anarchs, who want to overthrow the Prince anyway.

...

Jones looks skeptical. "So why tell me?"
The stranger shrugs with her eyebrows. "You don't seem to care much one way or the other."
"Maybe not. But if you start a war, people I do care about get hurt."
"Then take them to safety."
"So you have one less enemy when it hits?"
"Yes."

The vampire lying at his feet stirs and starts to rise, growling under his breath.

"And I'm supposed to take your word for that..." Jones notes as he starts to back away.
"If you like."
"So who's in charge?"
"Oh, no-one you've met, if that's what you were thinking."

...

Samuel and Carlin move through the boarded-up house warily, Samuel heading down to the basement. He hesitates, then places a hand on the floor, still stained with old blood.

He sees a memory of his sire fighting an unknown vampire, gets a clear view of his face. Hard lines, dark eyes.

...

Mia looks for Danton around the Rack. She finds him in a club, and he gestures for her to join him on the dance floor.

"So... you're working with Stewart, in Lawrence."
"I am. I hope that doesn't make us enemies."
"Not yet. He agreed to hold off for now."
"Good. I'd much rather we were... friends. Or would that earn me an enemy in David?"

...

David and Jessica go to check on Danni, awake from torpor and recovering in a rowhouse that's been for sale over a year.

"They weren't from Lawrence. I didn't recognize any of them. But they were... I think they were old. They had that look, like they hadn't made themselves warm in so long, you know?"
"Like we don't have enough problems..." David mutters.
"Blood in the water..." Danni says quietly.

Happy new year!