Two girls walked from the Middleton Mall. They eached carried a bag, filled with clothes and the like. They spoke to each other. Such frivolous matters Thought Therocrar. He was perched above the entrance to the huge complex, hidden by the darkness of night. He stalked silently behind them, using cars for cover. He was hungry, and ravenously so. The vampire hadn't eaten in 4 days. Therocrar walked up behind one of the girls. "Hello." He grabbed both girls and ran towards the shadows, their screams carrying into the night. He fingered the knife in his pocket. As soon as he stopped, Therocrar swung the knife, killing one of the girls. Then, he bit deep into the other girls neck. She screamed again, and then went limp as he drained her of blood. Therocrar then drank from the other girl.

Marius was never quite so discreet, vampire were to be feared not to hide and skulk. He strode into the mall, in his mid blue Prussian uniform, still in good condition despite it being nearly one hundred and seventy years old. Although he'd repaired it almost religiously over the years, the braid had been hard to find. His pale, waxy face immediatly attracted notice, but within a few moments he had grabbed some girl by the throat and dragged her to a dark corner. She was screaming and fighting, but it was to no avail, the creature was too strong. He looked into her eyes, his piercing grey ones into her almost crying blue.

His hands grasped her tightly, forcing her head back. Finally shegave a last scream before Marius buried his fangs into her and drained her to the last. The salty tang enticing to him. After her finaly convulsions had ceased he let the girl drop, leaving her like a discarded toy. He began to walk out of the now paniced mall, but before he did, he caught the scent of another one of his kind.

"Hello, lesser being." Therocrar jumped down from his hiding spot above the entrance. He had returned. as his thirst wasn't quite quenched. Therocrar wasn't quite sure what he thought about this newcomer. He must certanly be very powerful indeed; He had just managed to kill a girl in full light inside a crowded mall. Yes, this one wasn't one to cross, thought Therocrar. He put his hand inside his shirt, fingering his knife, just in case, and waited for the immortal to respond.

At the greeting Marius snarled, his fangs were very obvious. He eyed the newcomer suspiciously, then looked deep into the others eyes, his own grey ones could usually nail a person to the wall with their glare. "You call me lesser." He almost spat the words out, each one was filled with distaste. "You hide and skulk about, snatching a meal when you think no one is looking and you call me lesser." he put a hand to the Prussian cavalry sabre he always wore at his side, ever since 1876.

He also noticed the other's hand insside it's shirt, "Put that dagger down, it won't be any use." He began to think about where this vampire came from, and who it was, "Tell me, who are you." Even though he had a german accent, the menace came through clearly.

"If either of you draw at all, you won't retain the hand to do it again."

Llehna had arrived, seeing the carnage in the center of the mall. Another Amman, fortunately, had been about, and was disposing of the body while she handled the two fools.

Her dark eyes snapped, the petite form that was usually graceful and laidback had a more deadly, sinuous curve to it. No, this Amman was not pleased, and when she was angry, there was a certain neurotic aspect that one did not want to offend against.

Drawing nearer she glared at both, voice hissing coldly in warning.

"No blades shall be drawn here - not without severe consequences."

Her eyes flashed to Marius.

"If you are ever seen in public in that attire again, you had better be sure it is Halloween, else you may find that your head is removed from your body, am I understood?"

Yes, the Amman were strict, and very very unpleasant to cross. Being older had advantages and powers that younger vampires could not rival, and the oldest Coven strove with all their powers to keep vampires hidden from Mortal knowledge on a large scale. Which exceluded prancing about the mall in a Prussian uniform.

Lucius stood across the road watching the two vampires bickering indecisively. He smiled and put his hands behind his back and held them there. He watched as the vampire attacked the girls and then the other appeared and they had started quarrelling like some school children. He approached them both, tonight he donned a long black coat as if from a sci-fi movie, but it echoed more sophistication rather than science fiction. Underneath his shirt was white and the collars raised high.

He saw the member of the Amman appear suddenly, giving the two vampires a caution on their behaviour in the street.... slightly sinister her tone was. Lucius had met the girl before and was intreeged to introduce himself to the small crowd.

As Lucius approached his stride increased more and more. In this instance of meeting he sensed he was the eldest.

"Tell me who you are" The vampire spoke, Lucius arrived and smiled.
"My name is Lucius... Marius, yes I know who you are" He turned to the other. "Therocrar, put the dagger down... you know you will not harm a soul here tonight" He waved his hand and the dagger fell to the ground.

"Yes, I call you lesser, Marius was it? I have the intelligence to stay hidden. Mortals don't know we exist, and it should stay that way. Killing a human in the middle of a crowded mall doesn't help that, unless you can become invisible. As for me, Therocrar Decimus, servent of Emperor Titus, even through death." Therocrar didn't like this. Too many vampires at once. They outnumbered him, and he couldn't fight them off. Therocrar's anger was boiling up inside him. What fools. Therocrar was sickened by this one. Too stupid to understand that stealth when necessary isn't dishornable.

Lucius laughed and approached Therocrar in a non-violent fashion. He could feel the eyes of the other immortals on the back of his head. "Therocrar, please your anger and frustration is echoing out through your words and actions, sustain yourself and have some dignity for god sake"

Lucius had blasphemed and it was not in his nature.... God had abandoned him now anyway; there was no point in tiptoeing around the Almighty’s good name.

Llehna was not altogether happy to have another intervene. She was not particularly amused at Therocrar's less-than-subtle performance, either. Neither vampire were high on her list of favoured persons at the moment.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked between them.

"And next time, Therocrar, a little more tact might not go amiss. Anywhere so public as a mall can be a public event waiting to happen. Behind the mall, in the parking lot, these are places where muggers and other offenders lurk. You would be wise to implement such observations and restrain your apetites to more susceptible prey."

"And you!"

She rounded on Marius.

"Go somewhere and get out of that bloody uniform before someone notices it. Once you may pawn it off as a party costume, or what have you, but regardless of how you think it should be, you are not to casually stroll among Mortals in garb that is a hundred years out of date. Is that clear enough for you?"

Her tone was steely, a thick Scottish burr in it highlighting the fact that it was not really a question, or a rhetorical one at the very least.

"And me my dear?" He smiled and turned to the girl in a flattering motion. "Do you have advise for me?" He turned back to look at the vampires, young ones they where and their experience was limited. "The Amman, merely the vampire police... Listen children, and you shall learn" He winked at Llhena.

Llehna's gaze to Lucius was piercing, face still unruffled, which made her flaring eyes all the more disturbing.

It was the second time this particular vampire had arrived on the scene when she had been observing or intervening in the ill-fated actions of younger, or simply more careless, vampires. A slender brow arched up over a clear, dark eye, lips pursing slightly in annoyance. Was he baiting her? She wanted to lash at him, but was smart enough to know better. After all, nothing he had said was directly offensive. His wink got a flat look from the vampiress, and she narrowed her eyes, dating him... Hmm... He had the best of her, which was something that rarely occured... Still the gap was not so wide between their ages to give him an incredible upperhand, but she would be mindful of the seniority. She wondered why he was not Amman... He had not seemed particularly glad for the overt display of hostilities towards Mortals in the mall...

"No."

Lucius smiled and turned back to the vampires that had not spoken since the member of the Amman had arrived. He surveyed them from head to toe and took in all the knowledge he could. They had not spoken from her arrival... this was strange and in some ways awkward for Lucius.

"Speak... one of you" He darted in an angry tone but in the same time not loosing his coolness and sophistication. "Or I am afraid that the Amman will have something a bit more to say" He looked at the girl, looking into her soul and in ways judging her existence.

He had a tendency to do so; it was an old habit that Lucius had developed over the years. She was true to her duty and her soul was loyal to the Amman it would seem. Something had roused her though… and she had become more cautious with the people she became accustom to it would seem.

Marius could accept the need to be less ostentatious with his feeding, but when there was such a scent on the air he would have been hard pressed to supress himself. "I apologise for the mess," His eyes held anger, but it was not for the Amman, he'd heard of these ones before, always trying to keep the peace. When would they see that a vampire was far superior to any human. But remove his uniform, that was an insult to him. "I will not remove this uniform. Never." his voice had lowered dangerously, they suggested him losing one of the last things that mattered to him.

"I wore this against the French in 1876, I wore it when I was given the Iron Cross. There is only one way this uniform will ever leave me, and that's in death." If they wanted him to lose it, then they would have some severe trouble. He let his hand drop from the hilt of his sabre, but that fire was still in his eyes.

Lucius immediately laughed. "I admire your courage young one" He spoke as he adjusted the collars on his shirt and buttoned up the long jacket. His face spoke a truth that he did not himself, the veins where faint at the side of his eyes but showed a life of persecution and fear. He had changed since he killed his maker all those years ago and it was his time to give back to the Vampires what he owed the one who made him.

"I am not one to fight, but in situations it is necessary... this one I find is no such case, will you risk the vampire nation from being discovered for a small amount of pride you foolish vampire?" He echoed through the night air

Llehna listened with a sardonic half-smirk on her face, eyes simmering with a warning to Marius as she ran her eyes over him slowly, from head to toe. Finally, they rested on his own eyes, unflinching, piercing, reprimanding.

"I have ever been a proponent of negotiation, and therefore compromise. With this allowance, I will condone the terms that you yourself have set. I do not ask you to throw away your uniform, but you will wear it no more unless an occasion calls for costume. If you do not, then you will be liable to whatever punishment the Amman deem necessary: death, if that is what it takes to elicit your compliance, since that is the term you named. You have your choice. Make it."

She waited, deceptively calm, voice casual, but sterner than it was wont to be. Her arms were crossed beneath her breasts as though she were simply waiting for something, which in a way she was, but the way she stood indicated that she was lax, though in truth she was ready to pounce on either one of the gentlemen, should they dare squabble with her.

"Your apology, however, is noted. If you galavant in your uniform in the privacy of your home, then all the better for you."

"Imagine with me, if you will for a moment, someone seeing you running about the city dressed so, even in the dead of night. Should they sight you, they would assume you had gone mad, and naturally require law enforcement and perhaps physicians to deal with you. This would invitably lead to a few medical discoveries that would be highly, decidedly unfortunate..."

Her eyes narrowed. It was so obvious. As Lucius had said, in so many words, would the man be so pig-headed as to risk their entire race? The balance was so delicate, and one catastrophe could break it. What mattered it if he had the uniform when he would die at the hands of Mortals, and lose it along with his life. It was, indeed, a selfish form of madness.

"Do not think, however, that I give this warning only for the rest of us, though that indeed deserves a great amount of consideration... For your own sake, you would be wise to stick to more modern apparel."

"I leave you with a decision, with terms of your own making. If you are discovered again in similar fashion, you will regret it. We will be watching you."

With that, the vampiress spun on her heel and swayed away, a fluid glide that managed to also have a stalk to it.

"If we are just going to stand in the around talking about a uniform, then we might as well hang a sign around us that says 'Hello. We are Vampires.' Let us continue this on the roof, for I smell a mortal coming." And with that, Thercrar ran straight up the wall, leaving the other to vampires to follow.

Marius hated creatures that didn't have courage to stand for themselves, but maybe that vampire had a point. He may have charged down french grenadiers in his day but a bunch of police with those new pistols might be a bit much. It hurts his pride in his kind, but he knew they were not immortal. "I'll wear a modern coat over this so the mortals don't see it, but all the same it won't make much difference." He pointed at his heavily scarred face, which was pale and waxen, "this does kind of mark me out." He couldn't climb as well as the other could, but he had some benefits.

Marius seemed closed his eyes and with a minimum of fuss began to lift gently from the ground, then he began to hather speed, knowing that if the mortal saw him, he'd get another berating from that Amman. He touched down on the roof, moving away from the edge of the building to avoid being seen.

The wind whistled and blew a few leaves from a fallen tree along the place where Lucius once stood. All that remained was a distorted shadow in the distance and the sense of a watchful eye.