Fifth Night. Part 4.

Fate (and the dice) seem to smile upon Alexander Kane was he tries to find a way to complete his mission without murdering innocents.

Thursday. 03:00am. Streets of the Industrial District.

Kane is happy. Very happy. His original plan for sowing chaos - the Hierophant's orders - involved murder and at least a little treachery - and a little treachery was a lot more than he was confortable with. The waitress didn't know, but that altercation with the lycans might have just saved her life - and Kane was content: for her and for him, given that it all seemed like an opportunity for doing his job without staining his honor.
His plan is to follow her home. Let's see how the scene holds up -- another 10. We're still fine.

Rolling Secure an Advantage (Stealth, 6). 8, 5, 4. Weak hit. +2 focus. She is unaware of his presence, and Kane follows her home through the wet, empty streets of the Industrial District.
Question: she lives in a house? 50/50. 34. Yes.
Question: does she lives alone? 50/50. 82. No.
Question: who lives with her? 25, 37. Create Group. She lives with her family: mother, father.
Question: are they still awake? Is there movement in the house? Very unlikely. 31. No.
Question: does she enters immediately? 50/50. 96. Extreme no.
Question: why does the extreme no means? 93, 9. Trap building. She feels trapped in her own life. She stands near the doorway and moves like she wants to leave, like she wants to be anywhere else. Kane reads her like a book, because he himself has felt the same things many times - and he remembers his artificial desire to please the Hierophant, born of her forced blood-link. The waitress sits on the doorstep and lights a cigarette.

The wet streets of the Industrial District stretched out before Alexander Kane, glistening under the muted glow of streetlights. The faint sound of dripping water echoed through the empty alleys, punctuated only by the soft scuff of Kane’s boots as he followed the waitress. She moved with a brisk, uneven gait, her shoulders hunched against the night, her anger and frustration radiating outward like a physical force.

Kane trailed her effortlessly, a shadow among shadows, his focus honed and unwavering. The encounter at the diner had already given him more than he could have hoped for—division among the wolves, resentment simmering within their ranks. And now this: a young woman on the fringes of her pack, isolated by circumstance and dissatisfaction. It was more than a lead; it was an opportunity.

She turned onto a quieter street, the glow of the diner fading behind them as the neighborhood shifted into something more residential. The buildings here were smaller, older—houses that spoke of modest lives lived in the shadow of the district’s factories and warehouses. Kane slowed his pace, keeping his distance as she approached a modest two-story home with peeling paint and a single porch light glowing faintly above the doorway.

But she didn’t go inside.

Kane slipped into the shadows of a nearby alley, his figure blending seamlessly with the darkness as he watched her linger at the doorstep. Her keys dangled loosely in one hand, but she made no move to use them. Instead, she stood there, her posture tense, her head tilted slightly upward as if she were searching the night sky for something that wasn’t there.

She shifted her weight, turning the keys over in her hand before letting out a soft, frustrated sigh. Then, almost as if she’d forgotten where she was, she sat down on the doorstep, her shoulders slumping under the weight of something unseen.

Kane’s sharp eyes narrowed as he observed her every movement. She wasn’t just tired. She was restless, trapped. The way her hands fidgeted, the way her eyes darted toward the empty streets, the way her foot tapped an uneven rhythm against the step—it all spoke of someone who wanted to be anywhere but here.

He understood that feeling intimately.

From his concealed vantage point, Kane’s thoughts drifted to his own forced allegiance, the artificial loyalty born of the Hierophant’s blood-link. He had felt that same weight, that same quiet desperation to escape a life that no longer felt like his own. Watching her now, he could see himself in her movements, her hesitation.

She pulled a cigarette from her coat pocket and lit it with a flick of her lighter. The small flame danced in the darkness before settling into the faint orange glow of the burning tobacco. She inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in her lungs for a moment before exhaling in a long, slow sigh. The curl of smoke rose and dissipated into the night, as transient and fleeting as her sense of freedom.

Kane leaned against the brick wall of the alley, his gloved hand resting lightly on the strap of the courier bag slung over his shoulder. He didn’t move, didn’t even shift his weight, but his mind worked quickly, turning over the implications of what he’d seen.

The wolves’ arrogance, her isolation, her discontent—it all painted a picture of a pack unraveling at the edges. And if there was one thing Kane had learned in his years navigating the shadows, it was that chaos often came from within.

He waited, patient and silent, letting the smoke curl through the air as the waitress sat alone on the threshold of her life.

Now here's the question: Kane is hungry (he is sitting at Blood 2 / Hunger 3), which could create predicable, yet unfortunate, circunstances. However, the opportunity is too great to pass up - he can't be sure there will be another opportunity as good as this one to approach the girl. He'll risk it.
Question: has Kane heard the girl's name in the Diner? Very likely. 21. Yes.
Rolling on the name table... 93. Her name is Valentina, slightly latino girl. Her name makes him remember LIna.
I'll have ChatGPT roll her up as an NPC. Using UNE, it rolled her as a "Careful Healer". Very interesting. Her name is Valentina Perez.

Kane won't use his Sixth Sense, but he'll observe her for a while, trying to decipher the best approach. I will roll Secure an Advantage using Intellect (7). 7, 10, 7. Damn. It's a miss. I'll roll to Pay the Price. 42. "The ambient introduces a new hazard." I think I know what happens, but let's roll just to see.
Rolling... 33, 49. Destroy interior.
Ok. What I thought would happen is that Kane waited too much and one of the lycans comes after her, making it impossible for him to talk with her. However, after rolling "destroy interior", what I think happens is that one of the lycans from the bar do appear, but he is... malevolent. He humiliates her, tells her to remember her place, how her dreams are separating her from the pack, etc. He does so as if trying to help, but it hurts her deep - it "destroys her interior".
I'll roll to confirm it, but I like the idea.
Question: is this what happens? Likely. 30. Yes it is. It seems the dice are on our side.
I'll let chat gpt handle the fiction before Kane makes his entrance.

The streetlights flickered faintly, their glow struggling against the weight of the night. The world around them had fallen into a quiet rhythm—drops of water trickling from gutters, the occasional distant rumble of a passing vehicle, the soft crackle of Valentina’s cigarette as she inhaled deeply.

From his vantage point in the shadows, Alexander Kane observed her with the meticulous attention of a predator calculating its next move. Her posture, slumped but tense, spoke of someone unraveling. The weight of her life seemed to press down on her shoulders as if the air itself conspired to keep her pinned to the ground. Kane saw it all—the frustration, the yearning, the quiet despair—and for a moment, her name lingered in his mind like an echo.

Valentina.

The sound of it reminded him of Lina, though they were nothing alike. Lina’s vibrancy was a constant contrast to the shadows that surrounded her, while Valentina seemed tethered to them, unable to escape. Still, the similarity stirred something in Kane, a faint flicker of emotion quickly smothered by the cold, calculating focus he carried like a shield.

He had spent too much time watching.

The sound of approaching footsteps broke the silence. Kane’s sharp eyes flicked toward the source, his body tensing instinctively. A figure emerged from the direction of the diner—a Lycan, unmistakably so. His broad frame cut through the mist like a storm front, his gait heavy and purposeful.

Valentina Pérez.

Kane watched as the man approached Valentina, his face hard with the kind of authority that came from wielding control over others. He stopped a few paces from her, his presence looming over the quiet moment like a dark cloud.

“You’re not home yet,” the Lycan said, his voice low but dripping with condescension.

Valentina glanced up, startled but quickly masking it with a hard set to her jaw. “I needed air,” she replied curtly, the edge in her tone betraying her discomfort.

The man chuckled, a sound that lacked any warmth. “Air? That what you call running away these days?” He stepped closer, his shadow falling over her as she remained seated.

Valentina’s fingers tightened around the cigarette, the faint tremor in her hand betraying her anger. “I’m not running,” she said quietly, though the words seemed to lack conviction.

The Lycan leaned down, his face inches from hers, his voice dropping to a venomous whisper. “Don’t fool yourself, Val. Every time you dream about leaving, you’re running. Every time you sit out here alone, thinking you’re better than the pack, you’re tearing yourself apart from us.”

The words hit her like a blow, and Kane could see it in the way her shoulders stiffened, her chin dipped. The man didn’t stop.

“You think they care about your little fantasies? Your books, your dreams of running off to play doctor somewhere? You think that’s what we need?” His words were quieter now, each one delivered like a dagger. “We need loyalty. And right now, you’re anything but that.”

Valentina’s head snapped up, her eyes blazing. “I’ve given plenty to this pack,” she hissed, the words trembling with suppressed rage. “Maybe too much.”

The man straightened, his expression shifting from anger to something colder, more calculated. “Then maybe it’s time you remember your place. Before you lose it.”

He lingered for a moment longer before turning on his heel, his footsteps heavy as he walked back the way he came.

Valentina sat frozen, her cigarette burning low between her fingers. Her breath came in shallow gasps, her chest rising and falling with the effort of holding herself together. Kane watched her from the shadows, his instincts warring against one another. The opportunity to approach her was razor-thin, but the scene he’d just witnessed lingered like smoke in his mind.

This wasn’t just a woman on the edge of her pack’s protection. This was someone breaking, piece by piece, under the weight of her life.

Kane will wait just enough so the lycan is far away enough to not hear him, before approaching, hands raised, trying to look non-threatening. "I'd say I'm sorry I've followed you, but I could not help but hear that. Not sorry I've followed you anymore. Are you ok?"
And he'll go from there, trying to seem compassionate - because, in truth and in a way, he really is. He'll explain that he followed because he wanted to talk to her, and if she seems worried about the 'pack' things he might have overheard, he'll just tell her not to worry, because he knows. Let's ask some questions, roll some dice, and see how AI handles the fiction.

Secure an Advantage (Using charm, so 6). 9, 1, 1. It's a weak hit - but we scored under our hunger dice. Kane succeeds, but it is not really him that succeeds - for a brief momment the hunger and the beast speaks louder than himself in his mind, and he manages to approach her in a good way because of his predatory nature, and not because of his genuine compassion.
How does she reacts to him? 43, 91. Fail time. She fails time. She hesitates for a while, but ends up opening up. She thinks she is a failure and her dreams are a joke.
Question: does she notices that he is a vampire? Very likely. 75. She barely does. It takes a while, a long while, but she notices.
Question: how does it affects their talk? 31, 48. Excitedly interesting. Damn, the dice really are on our side. Even though she feels guilty and ashamed of her dreams making her drift away from the pack, Valentina is loyal first to herself - and she finds it exciting to talk with someone that her abusers hate.
Question: she seems wants saved or empowered? Odd means saved, even means empowered. 30. She wants to be empowered.
Question: does she seems at all flirtatious? 50/50. 60. No. Good. Its easier for Kane like this.
They'll have a long talk about dreams, faithfullness and duty, where Kane will even open up a bit about his life story, telling her about how in his early years his sire wanted him to work exclusevely for her, and how hard it was to make his own way, but how fulfilling it is now, and how their relationship has mended over the years. He'll try to stirr Valentina towards the need to make her own way in life - and subtly point out how it is impossible to do so while the lycans and the vampires in the industrial district are mingled.. He'll try to make it so it seems her idea that if the alliance broke, she'd be able to flee in the chaos and go find her dreams.
Rolling Compel (with glamour, for charming) +1. 1, 10, 3. It's a weak hit. It works, but "there's a demand or complication. Envision it."
Rolling... 5, 97. Ambush vulnerability. I don't know what this could mean. Oh... Oh damn. Yes I do. I think stupid Kane is really caring for this girl now. He was ambushed by her vulnerability. This can very well become a big problem very soon.
Question: is this really what happened? 50/50. 2. Extreme yes. Great. The dice weren't so much on our side after all.

The Lycan’s footsteps faded into the distance, their heavy echo swallowed by the quiet hum of the Industrial District. The air hung still around Valentina, thick with the acrid scent of her cigarette and the invisible weight of her anger. She sat slumped on the stoop, her face partially hidden behind a curtain of dark hair as the faint orange glow of the cigarette flickered against her fingers.

Alexander Kane watched from the shadows, his sharp gaze fixed on her with a predator’s patience. He had waited just long enough to ensure the Lycan was out of earshot before stepping forward.

The sound of his boots on the damp pavement was deliberate—not loud enough to startle her, but just enough to announce his presence. His hands were raised, palms open, a calculated display of nonthreatening intent.

“I’d say I’m sorry for following you,” Kane said, his voice low and calm, carrying the faintest trace of warmth. “But I couldn’t help overhearing. Not sorry I followed you anymore.”

Valentina stiffened, her head snapping up to meet his gaze. Her dark eyes narrowed with suspicion as she tightened her grip on the cigarette, her posture shifting defensively.

“Are you... okay?” Kane continued, his words slow and measured.

She didn’t answer immediately. Her gaze darted over him, taking in the dark coat, the calm demeanor, the sharp features softened by the dim light of the stoop’s overhead bulb. Kane held her gaze, letting the silence stretch just long enough for her to speak first.

“You followed me?” Valentina said, her voice sharp but unsteady, her body language still taut with suspicion.

“I did,” Kane admitted, lowering his hands slightly as he took a single careful step forward. “Because I wanted to talk to you. And because what I heard back there...” He let the sentence trail off, his tone gentle but weighted. “No one deserves to be spoken to like that.”

Her lips twisted into a bitter smile, and she took a long drag from her cigarette before exhaling sharply. “What do you know about what I deserve?” she muttered, her voice thick with sarcasm.

Kane tilted his head slightly, studying her. “More than they think you do,” he said quietly.

The words hung in the air, disarming in their simplicity. Valentina’s expression faltered, the sharp edge of her bitterness dulling just enough to let uncertainty seep through. She stared at him for a moment longer, her eyes scanning him like she was trying to piece together a puzzle.

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice quieter now but no less wary.

Kane offered the faintest hint of a smile, a calculated move that made him appear both approachable and enigmatic. “Someone who understands what it’s like to feel trapped,” he said. “That’s all you need to know for now.”

Valentina’s hesitation was palpable, the internal conflict playing out in the way her fingers twitched against the cigarette, the way her shoulders rose and fell with each measured breath. She wasn’t convinced yet, but she wasn’t pushing him away, either. Kane could feel her uncertainty like a thread stretched too thin, ready to snap—or unravel.

“I don’t know why you’re here,” she said finally, her tone still laced with suspicion, “but if you’re trying to help, don’t bother. No one can.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Kane replied, his voice soft but steady. “If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be sitting here, would you?”

The remark caught her off guard, and her gaze flicked away from him, landing somewhere in the middle distance. She didn’t respond, but the faint tremor in her posture spoke volumes.

Kane took another step closer, the calculated distance between them shrinking. “You don’t have to tell me everything,” he said. “But I can see it. You’re not like them. And you don’t want to be.”

Her head snapped back toward him, her eyes narrowing once more. “You don’t know anything about me,” she said sharply, though her voice lacked the conviction to carry the insult.

“I know enough,” Kane said, his tone firm but not unkind. “I know you’re here because you’re tired of being told who you are and what you can’t be. And I know that, deep down, you already know the answer to all of this.”

Valentina stared at him, her cigarette burning low between her fingers. The suspicion in her eyes began to shift, replaced by something else—something more complex.

“Who the hell are you?” she asked again, her voice quieter now, almost a whisper.

Kane hesitated for the briefest of moments. “Someone who’s walked the same path,” he said finally.

It didn’t take long for her to realize what he was. The signs were subtle—his unnatural stillness, the way his voice carried an edge that seemed to bypass the ears and sink straight into the mind, the way his eyes seemed to catch and hold the faintest light.

Her lips parted slightly, the pieces clicking together in her mind. “You’re...” She trailed off, the word hanging heavy in the air.

“Yes,” Kane said simply, meeting her gaze without flinching.

Valentina’s breath hitched, and for a moment, he thought she might bolt. But instead, she tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as if reassessing him.

“You’re one of them,” she said slowly, her tone more curious than afraid.

“I am,” Kane admitted.

The silence that followed was heavy but not hostile. If anything, Valentina seemed more intrigued than alarmed, her gaze studying him with a new intensity.

“They hate you,” she said finally, her voice low and thoughtful.

“They do,” Kane replied.

Her lips curved into a faint, almost bitter smile. “Good,” she said softly.

Kane raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing, letting her words settle into the quiet space between them.

As their conversation continued, the tension began to shift, transforming into something quieter, more deliberate. Valentina’s words grew steadier, her sharp edges softening as she began to open up. The vulnerability she had tried so hard to hide slipped through the cracks, and Kane listened carefully, his own hunger momentarily forgotten.

She didn’t ask to be saved, and Kane didn’t offer. But as the night stretched on, it became clear that what she wanted wasn’t a hand to pull her out—it was a flame to light her way forward. And for the first time in a very long time, Kane felt something unexpected: the weight of someone else’s hope. It was useful, heavy, dangerous, and utterly undeniable.

The Industrial District of Santa Maria was quieter now, the hum of distant factories muted as the weight of the night deepened. The streetlights cast long, fractured shadows across the cobblestones, their glow mingling with the mist curling from unseen grates. Alexander Kane lingered in the shadows just beyond the stoop, his sharp features softened by the dim light as Valentina’s words hung between them.

“It’s not just about them,” she said, her voice quieter now, almost lost in the silence of the street. “It’s about what I owe. To my family, to the pack... to the people I’ve let down.”

She glanced at him, her dark eyes searching for something—judgment, maybe, or absolution. She found neither in Kane’s gaze. Instead, he watched her with a quiet intensity, the kind that saw straight through her words to the heart of what she wasn’t saying.

“You owe them nothing,” Kane said, his voice low, deliberate. “Not if it costs you everything.”

The two of them talked as if the minutes were hours, the world around them falling away like mist evaporating under the first light of dawn. Valentina’s guardedness crumbled slowly, piece by piece, until the weight of her frustration spilled out in waves. She spoke of her life among the Lycans, of her dreams of studying medicine, of the guilt that gnawed at her for wanting something so different from the life the pack had laid out for her.

Kane listened, his stillness uncanny, but there was no impatience in his posture. When she hesitated, he prompted her gently. When she faltered, he let the silence speak for itself. And when her voice cracked with emotion, he didn’t look away.

Finally, she paused, her gaze fixed on the cracked pavement. “It feels impossible,” she admitted. “Like every time I take a step forward, they pull me back ten steps. How do you fight that?”

Kane leaned against the railing, his coat folding around him like the shadows themselves. “It’s not easy,” he said, his voice thoughtful. “When I was first turned, my sire wanted me to be everything she needed. Her tool, her enforcer, her shadow. Nothing else.”

Valentina’s gaze lifted to meet his, her brow furrowing slightly. “What happened?”

Kane’s lips curled into a faint, humorless smile. “I resisted. At first, it was clumsy—acts of defiance that only brought me more pain. But over time, I learned. I found ways to make my own path, to carve out a life that was mine.” He paused, his tone softening. “It wasn’t easy. It took years of struggle. But eventually, even she saw the value in it. Now? We respect each other in ways we never could have before.”

Valentina’s expression shifted, a flicker of something like hope breaking through the cloud of doubt. “And that worked? Just... walking away?”

“Not just walking,” Kane said. “Fighting. Building. And sometimes...” He let the words linger, his gaze sharpening. “Sometimes, you need chaos to clear the path.”

Valentina tilted her head, her curiosity slipping past her caution. “Chaos?”

Kane shrugged, his voice casual but heavy with implication. “When the balance breaks, so do the chains. The Lycans’ alliance with the vampires? It’s unnatural. Forced. It won’t last. And when it falls apart...” He let his words trail off, watching her closely.

She stared at him, her thoughts visibly turning over his words. “If it fell apart,” she said slowly, “it would be... easier. To leave. To get out of here.”

Kane inclined his head, neither confirming nor denying her conclusion. “Easier, yes,” he said. “But the choice would still be yours. No one can give you freedom, Valentina. You have to take it.”

As the conversation unfolded, something shifted between them—something Kane hadn’t anticipated. He had come here with a purpose, a mission to plant the seeds of division and chaos. And yet, as Valentina’s walls crumbled, as her dreams and fears spilled into the quiet night, Kane felt the weight of her words in a way that was... dangerous.

Her vulnerability wasn’t just a crack in the pack’s armor. It was real, raw, and unguarded in a way that pierced through his cold detachment.

She wasn’t just a pawn anymore. She was a person—a fragile, desperate, human person—and Kane realized with a jolt that he cared.

Now - Kane doesn't own a cellphone, so he can't get her contact info. He knows where she works, but he can't contact her there, because of the lycans. He has to do something and seize the opportunity he has right there.
What does he do? 12, 8. Bestow benefits.
He'll keep talking with her, leaving the alliance between the lycans and the agoreans out of it for a momment. He'll tell her how, if she managed to get free, he'd find a way to help her pay for med school - vampires have deep pockets, being immortal and everything.
Secure an Advantage, Gla (6). 3, 10, 8. Weak hit. +2 Focus.
And after she's hooked, he'll slowly guide the conversation, as if by chance, to the alliance between lycans and agoreans. He'll get her to ask what she could do to help it fall apart.
How is she feeling? 83, 43. Positively healthy. Well, she's better now. Her hopes are getting up. That's great.
And when she asks what she could do, Kane will give her Lina's information - "She's called Dusk. She's a friend. Tell her you met Pope. She'll arrange a meeting for us, tomorrow night. Far from here. Somewhere safe. We'll talk about removing your shackles, how about that?"
Now, for the grand finale of the night... Rolling Compel, Gla (6). 7, 6, 3. That would be a miss - but I'll burn my focus, and turn it into a Strong Hit. It worked. Valentina is hooked.

The faint glow of Valentina’s porch light cut through the murky darkness of the Industrial District, illuminating her weary face as the conversation continued. The suspicion that had once hardened her features had melted into something softer, more vulnerable. Her dark eyes, previously filled with quiet despair, now shimmered faintly with the first fragile sparks of hope.

Kane leaned against the railing, his posture relaxed but deliberate. He knew the moment was delicate—one wrong word could snap the fragile thread he had spun between them. Yet, he also knew he couldn’t let the opportunity slip away.

“You ever think about what it’d look like?” he asked, his voice low and almost casual.

Valentina tilted her head slightly, her expression turning thoughtful. “What what would look like?”

“Freedom,” Kane said, his eyes meeting hers. “No pack. No expectations. Just you and the life you’ve dreamed of.”

The words seemed to hang in the air, heavier than the mist curling along the pavement. Valentina’s lips parted, but no words came. Instead, her gaze dropped to her hands, her fingers twisting idly around the hem of her jacket.

“I’ve thought about it,” she admitted finally, her voice soft. “But it’s just... it feels impossible.”

“It’s not,” Kane said firmly, his tone steady. “It’s hard, yes. But impossible? No. You just need the right support.”

She looked up at him, her brow furrowing slightly. “Support? From who?”

Kane allowed a faint smile to cross his lips. “From someone like me. Someone who understands what it’s like to want more.”

Her expression shifted, a flicker of cautious curiosity breaking through the doubt. “You’re saying you’d help me?”

“I am,” Kane said. “If you can find a way out, I’ll make sure you get where you need to go. Med school, a fresh start, whatever it is. Vampires like me—we’ve got deep pockets, after all.”

The faintest smile tugged at the corners of Valentina’s lips, though it was laced with disbelief. “And what do you get out of it?”

“Call it an investment,” Kane said smoothly, his tone light. “The world needs healers, doesn’t it?”

The weight between them lightened just enough for Kane to guide the conversation toward the real heart of the matter. He moved subtly, carefully, letting her questions lead them to the delicate subject of the Lycans’ alliance with the Agoreans.

“Your pack,” Kane said, his voice dipping slightly, “it’s tied up in things that are keeping you chained. That alliance? It’s not just suffocating you—it’s suffocating all of them.”

Valentina’s brow furrowed, her suspicion flickering back to life. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” Kane continued carefully, “that if you’re looking for a way out, it might mean loosening those chains. Breaking the ties that keep you stuck here. You’re not the only one who feels it—your pack is fractured. They just don’t see it yet.”

She leaned back slightly, her arms crossing over her chest as her gaze turned inward. Kane let the silence stretch, watching as the idea began to take root.

“And what am I supposed to do about that?” she asked finally, her voice hesitant but steady.

Kane smiled faintly, his expression softening. “You don’t have to do it alone. I’ve got a friend—a performer named Dusk. I'll give you her number. Tell her you met Pope. She’ll arrange a meeting for us tomorrow night, far from here, somewhere safe. We’ll talk about removing your shackles. How about that?”

Valentina stared at him, her expression a mix of doubt and something warmer—something dangerously close to trust. “And you think this will work?”

“I do,” Kane said simply.

The faint mist of the Industrial District clung to the air as Valentina nodded, her movements slow but deliberate. “Alright,” she said finally. “I’ll do it.”

Kane allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. “Good. You won’t regret it. Just don't mention me to anyone.”

She nodded as she slipped back inside her house, the door clicking shut behind her. Kane lingered on the stoop for a moment longer. The faint glow of the porch light illuminated his sharp features as his gaze lingered on the street ahead.

Valentina was hooked. The seeds had been planted, and the next move was hers.

But as Kane turned and disappeared into the shadows, the weight of her vulnerability pressed against him like an unseen hand. The lines between manipulation and genuine care were blurring, and Kane knew that the chaos he had begun might consume far more than just Valentina’s world.

Now I'll definity advance the Elegy about sowing havoc in the Agorean movement. Kane wanted to do so without having to deal with high-ups -- he wasn't much for the spotlight -- and that is precisely what he's managing to do.

Thursday. 05:15am. Evelyn March's Haven. Industrial District.

For the other matter at hand, it's probably around 5am. Kane needs to go home asap, or else he's getting toasted in the sun. Mother's haven is close by though, and he'll certainly be welcomed there. Let's just see if he and Evelyn are going to chat before going to bed.
Is Evelyn March home? Very likely. 16. Yes, yes she is!
However... is she awake? Very unlikely. 100. Extreme no. She's so far deep down in sleep that not even a blown-out war could wake her up. It's getting there, getting in, and going to bed. But...
Is there a blood doll available there? Someone he can feed off? Nearly certain. 18. Yes, yes there is.
Is it someone Kane drinks from often? 50/50. 37. Yes. Good - familiar blood is all the better.
He'll go to his maker's haven, feed and sleep.
Rolling for Feed vs 5. 4, 4, 5. Strong hit. +2 blood, keeping the poor creature alive. It's more than enough to take the edge off.

The Industrial District’s shadows stretched long as dawn crept closer, forcing Kane’s steps to quicken. Evelyn March’s haven stood ahead, its familiar gothic silhouette offering the promise of safety. The air inside was heavy with the scent of old stone and lavender, the quiet so absolute that Kane knew without a doubt Evelyn was deep in her daytime slumber. Not even the end of the world could wake her now.

Descending to the lower level, Kane found a familiar face—a blood doll who greeted him with quiet deference. The ritual was quick and practiced: Kane’s fangs sank in, the warmth of blood washing away the sharp edge of hunger gnawing at him all night. He drank sparingly, enough to settle his hunger but not to harm, before pulling away with a murmured thanks. The man reclined again, his breath steady as he drifted into restful stillness.

Kane moved silently to his usual room, its heavy curtains drawn tight against the encroaching dawn. Shedding his coat, he sat on the bed’s edge, his thoughts lingering on the night’s events—Valentina, the wolves, and the chaos he had begun to spin. As the haven’s quiet wrapped around him, he lay back, his mind turning over plans and possibilities before the deep pull of sleep claimed him.

The weight of his centuries pressed against him as he lay back, letting the cool embrace of the haven’s quiet fold around him. The sun would rise soon, but it didn’t matter. Here, he was safe.

For now.