Player: Stephen Pearson

Background

I guess even vampires get bored, huh? I mean don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the hunt - taking on the contract, stalking the prey, finding the perfect moment to strike - just like the viper. But now that I'm "Kindred" as those self-important ones like to say, I find that the challenge just isn't there anymore. I'm quicker and stronger than I could ever have been as a human, and it's done wonders for me. I can charge higher rates, take on better contracts, not to mention scare the shit out of the targets.

A couple of years ago though, I thought of a new way to challenge myself. I mean fuck, we're in this whole new dark supernatural world now, why not do something with it? So I figure - stop taking the easy money and taking out mere mortals, and start looking higher up the food chain. So I've started taking out otherworldly work. Fellow Kindred, mages, even took out a Werewolf once - that shit was all kinds of fun. Hell they all bleed just the same...well I guess vampires don't but you get my point. All this I did alone - left my previous employer behind and struck out solo. Less restrictive, and that's the way I like it.

Stuff changed somewhat for me a little over a year ago - I met a girl. Not in the stupid fuckin' romantic eyes-across-the-room type nonsense, but someone I find interesting. People in general don't interest me one bit, so this was fucking new. I was in a bar & grill place in the north of the city, observing my latest target. The contract was incredibly simple. Two Kindred, hiding out in the city from an elder they owed debts to back in Dallas.

Now I don't need to go into detail but perhaps I got complacent or something, I dunno. In any event, it somehow got all fucked up and they saw I was onto them - they quickly grabbed a human shield, a woman. Now obviously the dumbasses didn't realise I'd have just gone right through her, she was no concern to me. But what happened next was interesting. I used my Disciplines to gain an advantage over the first target and quickly disabled him. I turned to the second, only to find the woman had been able to break free herself, allowing me to get the better of the other idiot and take him down too.

I dragged them both outside and finished them off; my employer would be providing a cover story. The woman followed me and complimented me on my fighting skills. We got talking, again unusual for me, and she told me her name was Rachel. Over the course of more meetings I discovered that she had been training in martial arts - the only thing to keep her focussed after her family had been killed in a car accident. However, her trainer had refused to teach her the more lethal moves, and she had seen that I had that knowledge. She begged me to train her too. I figured what the hell, a human retainer could come in fucking handy from time to time, so I agreed.

For the last year I've been training Rachel, and even got to trusting her. Very recently she started to ask questions - where my unnatural speed and strength came from, why she only ever saw me at night, why I never ate (how the fuck did she notice that?). In the end I told her of my true nature, and was surprised at how easily she took it. Which was good because it'd have been a shame to have to kill her. Maybe she thinks I'll Embrace her, I dunno.

So that brings us up to where we are now. I dunno what the future holds for me, but as long as people keep sending the paychecks my way, I'll keep doing their dirty work. Someone's got to.