Attack at the Rayne Mansion

 

November 11, 2008

 

 

Daniel and Steven are home upstairs looking at some books they have. One of the mystical alarms goes off, and the front door opens. As they look downstairs, nobody is visible in the entryway. Perplexed, they look at each other as they scan the downstairs entryway.

 

Gordon enters the house and goes directly to the kitchen. He has an odd craving and starts getting something to eat; he’s in the mood for steak maybe.

 

Daniel and Steven move down the stairs and hear someone moving around in the kitchen. Slowly, they try to sneak over to see what is going on.

 

Gordon hears a noise outside the kitchen door. The hairs on the back of his neck go up as it sounds like someone trying to sneak up on him. He figures they are close, maybe right on the other side of the door. He draws his gun, leans back lifting his leg, and kicks the door wide open.

 

Steven, next to the kitchen door, is listening intently with Daniel behind him backing him up. Suddenly the door flies open and Steven is able to stand back to avoid getting hit. Even so, there is now a gun aimed right in his face as the person from the kitchen is yelling. Even as he is avoiding the door, Steven’s mage site can identify the figure in the kitchen as a vampire as he lifts his weapon into firing position.

 

Gordon begins yelling at the person on the other side as he aims the gun right in his face. Suddenly, as he confronts the two people he can sense the smell of blood coming off them, and they smell good. But even through the bloodlust, he recognizes Daniel and Steven and lowers his gun…as Steven’s gun goes off.

 

Steven’s weapon discharges as he empties the clip. All but one round manage to impact the stranger in the doorway physically lifting him off his feet. The body slams into the floor with a loud thud and a splatter of blood. {Taking 9 lethal}. Steven reloads and walks into the kitchen, and it is as he is looking down that he realizes he has just shot Gordon

 

Daniel, watches as Steven tries to kill Gordon as the gun goes off seemingly forever and Gordon falls to the kitchen floor. Steven tries desperately to help his friend as blood is pouring out all over the place. It seems as if Stevens efforts are actually forcing more blood out of Gordon than trying to keep it in. Daniel asks if he should call for an ambulance. Steven yells back yes as even more blood pumps out of Gordon.

 

Gordon, using his new abilities, concentrates. The wounds on his body slowly begin to close. As Steven watches, the blood actually starts to pool up and be absorbed back into Gordonss skin. Steven backs up quickly from his former friend and yells up to Daniel to wait. Gordon gets up, facing his friend, and asks him “Why did you shoot me?”

Steven asks, “Why did you become a vampire”

 

Gordon walks back into the kitchen and tells his story about what happened in New Orleans that created his new condition. All the while, preparing his steak as if he hadn’t just been riddled with bullets.

 

“….and so the good news is, I don’t seem to be effected by the sun. I have some other weird abilities. Like you Daniel, I can tell you cut yourself shaving this morning,” says Gordon without even turning around to look at either of them. Daniel gets the shivers thinking about what Gordon has just said.

 

Driving through the suburban area of Chicago, Captain Andrew Carter can’t help but notice the neighborhood looks kind of run down. Oddly enough, as he comes up to his destination, the house looks very nice. In the driveway are a brand new 2008 Mustang and a 2009 black pickup truck. Capt. Carter parks his Government Issue car and walks up to the house. The door is open, but he still rings the doorbell.

 

“Are you expecting someone?” asks Gordon.

Steve shakes his head and walks to see who is at the door. He is walking slowly still in a daze after shooting his friend and listening to the story. He does not even realize that he still has blood on his hands and clothing. Opening the front door, he sees a large built gentleman, maybe 30 years old in blue jeans and a bigger winter coat. He has the air of a soldier, similar to Gordon.

 

Smiling at the man who opened the door, Andrew immediately sees the blood and the somewhat discouraged look on the guys face as he slowly places his hand on his sidearm. “Um…is anything wrong?” he asks, indicating the blood.

 

“Oh, no, everything’s fine. I was, um…making a steak.” answers Steven. Steven is a burly fellow.

Capt. Carter can see Daniel behind the doorway. Daniel is a young guy, good looking. Maybe 22-23 years old. “Did you slaughter the cow in the kitchen?” Andrew asks. Then as he sees Gordon walk up he continues “were you the cutting board?”

 

Gordon is about 29 years old, 6’ 210 pounds, with the military bearing of a soldier himself.  He has a tattoo of an hourglass inside his left arm. As Andrew looks at him, for a split second, Gordon’s eyes seemed blood red. He feels something bad and unsettling about this person, but he is not certain what it is.

 

Michael pulls up to the house listed on the business card. There are multiple vehicles in parked in front, and as he looks up, he can see a group of people standing at the front door. Hopefully one of them is the person he is looking for. He places the business card on the clipboard with the map, grabs his pack, and exits the car. All the people in the doorway watch as he walks up.

 

Michael is in his early twenties, dark hair and eyes. He’s fairly well build and at six foot tall is actually shorter than some of the men at the door. His loose fitting leather jacket is buttoned to keep out the winter chill. He doesn’t smile as he comes to the door.

 

Looking at the clipboard, he asks “Excuse me gentleman, is there a Benjamin Rayne that lives here?

“Doc has been gone for quite awhile,” answers Steven.

Suddenly a cell phone rings and Gordon answers it. Ironically it’s Ben saying “they are after us, stay together, gotta go!”

Gordon pulls his gun and immediately aims it at Michael. He then says “that was my uncle on the phone, Benjamin, if you were sent by him, come inside.”

Michael smiles and nods, acting totally nonchalant about the gun being aimed at him. As he walks inside and gets closer to the weilder of the gun, Michael can tell the person holding the gun has the scent of undead about him. Possibly a vampire? Michael wasn’t certain, but it was something interesting none the less.

 

“That was just Ben, he said stay together and something about ‘they are after us’.”

Steven reaches down and pulls out a gun and closes the front door, “what do you think he meant by that?”

In response to everyone having a gun out except him, Captain Carter suddenly starts yelling.

“Now wait a minute!  I don’t know what the fuck just started happening in this house, but I need to know pretty quickly! What is going on!”

 

As if in response to his question, Michael hears a car in the distance, it’s getting closer and moving fast.

Michael sees the other fellow tilt his head, he has heard the car too.

“Get Down” yells Steven, although in the back of his mind he thinks the car sounds familiar.

 

Outside, the car flies into the driveway way too fast. It clips the mustang and plows into the Camry.

Michael sighs, first his home, and now his car. Gunshots go off as Benjamin (Doc) runs up to the house as he is wildly shooting behind him.

 

“That’s Doc, let him in!” yells Gordon.

Bullets hit the house from the car that was chasing Doc. As Carter watches, a bullet hits one of the front windows. The window cracks from the bullet strike as the bullet falls to the ground without penetrating. Then, as he watches, the glass repairs itself as the cracks disappear. Andrew’s eyes go wide. As Steven opens the door Doc rushes in and falls to the floor. Gordon and Michael can smell blood on him.

 

Daniel looks outside as the assailant’s car drives away. He manages to get the plate of the older make beamer as it pulls away.

 

“Um…we still have the first aid kit? Oh, hi, my name is Doc,” as he holds his hand out to Andrew.

“I have training if you need me to help?” says Andrew casually as he looks at Doc’s wounds.

“Oh good, then you do this…” as he then just lies down on the floor waiting to be healed.

 

The scent of the blood is really calling out to Gordon. And although he is able to fight off the feeling, his fangs extend. “Whoa, whoa, go to the kitchen!” yells Steven.

“I can’t believe you just sent your vampire to the kitchen…” says Michael casually.

“WHAT!” says Andrew.

“WHAT!” says Doc.

 

They look at Michael, realizing they have no idea who he is, then both look to Steve, and finally to the closing door of the kitchen. Doc nudges Carter to keep bandaging, and begins to tell what happened.

 

“A bunch of goons showed up at the clinic and tried to kill us. As soon as they saw me they started opening fire. They had some sort of machine pistol. They are probably going to be back. You should put up wards if possible.”

 

Again, as if on queue, Doc’s car explodes as an RPG round hits it. Without a second pause, all the vehicles begin to explode. As Andrew is watching out the window, an RPG round shoots right at the house and explodes just out front of the porch. As he watches, and is diving for cover, he sees it explode as normal, and then compacts back into itself as if there is no damage. Gordon comes running out of the kitchen eating a piece of very raw steak

 

“Um…they are here,” says Doc.

“I can’t believe they just blew up my new truck,” says Steven as they go over to the newly installed gun vault and open it. Carter and Michael just follow them there and look inside. Opening it, there are racks and racks of weapons. As Andrew looks around, there are silver bullets, rock salt bullets, holy water balloons, every form of supernatural devices he could think of. Andrew had been told about monsters and such, but these people obviously believe it. It was all just too much for Andrew to get his mind around.

 

Machine gun fire hits the windows.  It doesn't work any better penetrating than the RPG, but the attackers are nothing if not persistant.

 

“There were four or five people at the clinic, but they didn’t stop. They started going for the survivors like they were trying to get rid of witnesses. I don’t think they are going to leave. I barely made it to my car as it was.”

 

Michael watches all this with some amusement. The house seems well protected and warded, and the people seem overly armed and ready to fight. The silver made him somewhat nervous, but the arsenal was well stocked. He is still curious what the vampire has to do with things, and the poor government person looks totally freaked. All in all, it was an interesting night. Hopefully he would get a few clues before everyone was killed.

 

Suddenly, Gordon’s cell phone rings, it’s one of his neighbors “should we call the cops? Do you need help?”

“No, they will just get killed. We are going to hold up for a while, so just stay inside. We should be good by sunlight.” Michael files this information away along with the rest of the things he has been witnessing.

 

Steven calls Julie “um, Julie? Don’t come over tonight, we are kind of under fire at the moment”

“We? Who is over at the house? And we had plans!”

Steven tells her quickly what is going on.

“So, doc made it? Good, I’m over at the clinic now. Sounds like you’re probably safe.”

“Well, we have four slags of metal out front where our cars used to be. They wrecked my brand new truck!”

“Well, that’s good Doc made it out, they killed people on the street and then went inside and put two bullets in the head of any survivors. A very professional and thorough killing job.”

“We think they might be vampires. By daylight we should be fine. Don’t send anyone, just call back in the morning and see how things are.”

 

Looking out the window, Michael sees a tracer round shoot at the house. It hits and cracks the window, as the round is slightly glowing as it sits there held in air, and drops. Obviously the bullet was something more than just a tracer.

 

Gordon and Steven come out of the vault with NVG’s and bullet proof vests. They hand them out, even to Michael and then proceed to turn out all the lights. Michael nods his thanks and promptly places the NVG’s into his backpack. The vest looks big enough, but could pose a problem. He ties it to the pack, so a double layer of protection on his back.

 

Steven looks out the window with the NVG’s can see one person crouching with no gun visible as he’s watching the house. He acts like he is listening to something. Daniel was watching out the window but then he moves to the center of the house and goes quiet. It’s as if he has tapped into the house. Suddenly he speaks, “There are a dozen people outside, and half have guns, half have bats. One of them is walking around handing out cylinders. I tried to coax one of the guys into being jealous and starting some infighting, I don’t know if it worked or not, probably not.”

 

The cylinders are revealed as flashlights as the house is lit up and they aim them at the house looking in the windows. The second the flashlights went on, several of the guys moving quickly run up to the house and are inching around to the doors and big windows.

 

Michael asks Gordon if any of the old myths are accurate about vampires, he says no. So Michael does know that fire works, but is not certain about anything else.

 

Suddenly a man appears outside the main window, and begins tapping on it. “This is obviously the Rayne household?” he asks, his voice sounding of a European accent.

“What do you want?” asks Steven

“Your heads on a pike.”

“Well, that isn’t going to happen.”

“There will be a reckoning for your friends as well. We have your scent; we will be able to find you. If you do not even know your own history, I will not enlighten you.” The man then turns and walks away.

 

Everybody suddenly gets very cold, especially Michael, as they feel the heat pulled from their bodies causing everyone except Gordon to shiver. As all their body heat, and the heat from the kitchen, rush through the house and goes out the door and hits the man as he is walking away. He turns, his expression turns into a snarl as it blackens showing his red eyes and fangs, and suddenly he disappears around the side of the house.

 

“Did you do that Dannie?”

“Yeah, I took all the heat from the house and shoved it up his ass.”

“I hadn’t noticed…,” says Gordon.

 

The flashlights stop shinning in the windows and it becomes quiet outside. It is obvious that they have left.

 

Steven tells Doc about the call from Julie and that everyone was killed at the clinic.

 

While they are talking, Michael goes outside to where the European vampire was standing. His face shifts slightly as his nose extends, and he is easily able to get the scent of the creatures that were there.

 

{Jon Goranson: you get four different scents but only the one on the porch is really distinctive enough for a real identification, three of them just smell like "generic" vampires to Michael}

The lights come on inside and outside the house.

 

Michael comes back inside and suddenly the people who trapped him inside the house want to know who he is and what he is doing here? Michael picks up the clipboard and pulls out the buisiness card. He explains how he took a pack of cards off some people that attacked his family and killed his brothers. All of them had an “X” on them except for two. One was for Doc, the other was for Maxwell Clarke - Also in Chicago, a penthouse in a downtown apartment area. Michael also explains he is from out of town.

 

The party listens to the story and for some odd reason believe him without question. They offer to let everyone stay since it is late and the cars are all destroyed. Even so, they all go outside to check out the slag that was their vehicles. Pulling and prying to get at things. They take the salvaged items back inside.

 

Andrew is able to salvage his weapons. One of the items is a scope from a superior officer named “Hendricks” that can see body temperature. Steven uses it and sees that Gordon is at room temperature and Michael is at a temperature of 103 degrees, so he’s running hot. He thinks that is odd, but says nothing.

 

Staying at a room in the house, Michael can sense the portal in the basement, but can’t get to it. He can also sense that the undead were here at some point but it’s an old smell.

 

Gordon wanders the house, unable to sleep. At 3am as he is down in the basement area, he suddenly falls to the ground unconscious.

 

The next morning, walking downstairs drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette, Steven comes across Gordon’s body. He rushes up and checks his pulse…then realizes that won’t work. He then rolls wits+occult for inspiration, lol, and remembers reading that when daylight comes they become dead bodies during the day. He realizes how unfortunate this would be and inconvenient. Worried about the sunlight that is coming in through the windows; he picks him up and moves him to the cot, and covers him to keep him out of the sunlight.

 

Andrew finds a gym and starts using it. Finishing from his exercising, he goes to the gun room to see Steven standing over Gordon. Daniel, hearing the voices, comes downstairs to see what is going on.

As they are talking, Michael walks down. He asks if he could be allowed into a room in the mansion. The room is the one with the node in it. Before Steven can answer, Gordon wakes up. His skin suddenly turns black and then back to normal. Steven recognizes it as Death Magic.

 

Suddenly, a familiar shiver runs up Michaels spine as he senses a spirit coming into the room

He draws his dagger and calls fourth his sight.

Over in one corner is a man, trying to get into an area but can’t get in. Michael assumes it’s the area where the node is at.

Very calmly, Michael tells everyone what he sees. They are quiet and just look at him. The spirit can hear him too and asks if he can hear him. Nobody but Michael can hear the spirit, but Steven is able to tell something is there, just not what

Michael: Yes...I can hear you.

Brad: help me.  I was killed.  And I don't know what happened to my daughter. We were together last night in the park and then we were attacked by thugs.  I was hit by the knife as I held them off and told my daughter to run. I thought she was running away but I don't know for sure if she made it. The attackers were a gang or some youths or something.

 

Michael identifies the man to Steven when he asks and asks for information about his daughter.

Michael tell the others what the spirit said, asks for names and the name of the park, and says the spirit was 50 years old. His daughter is Felicia Winters, 19, attending IIT on the south side. His name is Brad Winters.

 NO!  I will not cross over until I know if my daughter is safe!

Brad moves over the work bench and looks at the scope looking at it. Then he moves away and over towards Carter. He is looking at him curiously, Michael asks if he knows him, he says no as Brad is trying to grab his arm

 

The hair on Carters arm rises as if by a cold breeze.

 

 

Brad tries to jump into Carter; he jumps back as Michael swipes at it with his dagger and tells him to stop

Why not? I think I can possess him.  Then I can help my Felicia!

Brian moves toward him again from another angle away from Michael, who moves up again with the dagger so he stops

Fine.  When are you going to help her?

Michael says “As soon as these people get dressed. Do one of you know a cop that you could call and get information from?

 

Steven calls Julie. She is curious about Michael and asks to talk with him. The others listen to strange answer from Michael, about being a crescent moon and some other odd phrases. Michael, seeing them trying to listen in, talks softer into the phone, upsetting Steven. He finally hands the phone back.

 

Julies says there was a murder, they found the body of a man, and the cops are investigating right now.

Steven tells her the name of the man, asks about the daughter, and then decides since the cops are there they should go out for breakfast.

 

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