Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah:

Finding the Lost

Notes by Anthony

“Gwen had little time for Tala’s existential crisis. Gwen informed us that she had been invited to the Sabbat’s Il Gran Ballo on Christmas Eve. There was a new sheriff in town, and the Giovanni needed to make friends. I told her what I dreamt of last night, and that I needed to attend as well. Asa, supportive as ever, said he would go and protect me. Tala, too. I admit, listeners, it was nice knowing they had my back. Nice to have people I can rely on. Maybe even trust.

“Tala asked about our sires. Asa shared the story I told you earlier. Diane had saved him, and the Tremere took her. Her last words were to ‘find the Malkavian.’ I told them an abridged version of my own siring. For listeners who missed that broadcast on November 29th, Immanuel commanded me to fall asleep on my walk home from the radio station and drained me of blood before feeding me his own. I was left stranded in a park with less than two hours before dawn. Fortunately, a car hit me, and the driver agreed to take me home rather than to a hospital. A couple nights later, I felt Immanuel burn himself alive rather than surrender to the Mechatine chasing me. 

“Asa and Tala stared at me with undisguised pity. My Embrace had been twenty two days ago. Fifteen, if you don’t count time travel. I felt the grin freeze on my face. I was grateful when Tala shared her story. She was a shovelhead, so she had been Embraced and left to fend for herself. If she survived, she was worthy. Gwen told us she had killed her sister in a ritual battle, with the winner granted the Embrace. Gwen didn’t appear affected, but it can be difficult to read her. I can’t imagine growing up in a vampire cult left her with a lot of healthy ways to express her emotions.

“At the time, I was too focused on my own plans. I wanted to contact Comet and Theodore. Prentiss, too, if I could reach her. But I was afraid of Damien tracking me through the Cobweb and finding Gwen’s apartment. Before we left, Gwen ordered Paolo to pick up supplies. I requested a microphone and audio cables. Tala asked for arts & crafts supplies as well as selenite, aquamarine, onyx, and a moonstone. Asa asked for an axe and a baseball bat. Gwen asked for corpses. I assume that was for some necromantic rituals, but I didn’t ask. 

“While Tala and Gwen went off to talk, Asa made Ben dinner. Ben said he wasn’t hungry but ate the sandwich after I asked him too. Asa then asked if I could teach him how to use the Cobweb so he could contact Diane. I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but I told him it was unlikely. The Cobweb was the gift and curse of the Malkavians. I had pulled non-Malkavians into the Cobweb before, but it left them stunned and insensible. I told him I’d try, though. We’ve already broken so many rules of how things “should” be. What’s one more?

“When Tala returned, the four of us set off with the unconscious Cedric to find a big mirror in D.C. Gwen elected to stay behind, though she gave us the keys to a car and a blank check in case we needed to buy something. She was conducting a ritual to find Giuseppe. 

“It wasn’t pretty out there, listeners. At this hour, the bars should be swarming with twenty-somethings in far too little clothing. The air should be thrumming with club music and drunken laughter. Horns honking as dumb kids run out into traffic to catch up with their friends. Instead, days-old trash dusted in snow covered the sidewalks and spilled out into the street. Sirens wailed. It felt like we were already too late to stop the apocalypse.

“We pulled up to ‘Miss Pixie’s Furnishings and What Not.’ Asa took the lead on our negotiations with the pink-haired, middle-aged Miss Pixie. It’s funny, listeners. I have spent my short unlife surrounded by persuasive people. George was always in control. Nothing fazed him. He would have manipulated Miss Pixie and laughed at her as he did so. Thaïs was an immovable object and unstoppable force. She could have just barged in and taken command. Desirée never used her powers on me, but I could see the way humans and vampires alike leaned into her. Like gravity had shifted beneath their feet. Miss Pixie would have worshipped her.

“Asa wasn’t like Thaïs or Desirée or George. He told as much of the truth as he was able. Our friend was unconscious after being attacked. We needed a place to lie down. Asa promised he would watch the store and lock up for her. I could hear the honor in his voice. Asa was genuinely just asking for help and offering it in return. Miss Pixie opened the door and let us in. She left the keys with Asa and headed upstairs to bed. She might have been awake for days, worried about her store. I was glad we could give her some comfort.

“I’ll have to do a real advertisement for ‘Miss Pixie’s Furnishings and What Not’ once the world stops ending. The floor was a maze of silk-covered sofas and antique wooden cabinets and bookshelves filled to bursting with silverware and toys and costume jewelry. Colorful oil paintings adorned the walls alongside velvet, moth-eaten curtains and hand-woven Turkish rugs. Ben and I could have spent hours here, making up stories about every knickknack and hidden treasure. 

“But we were on a mission. Tala directed me to a full-size mirror with an elaborately carved wooden frame in front of a four poster bed. She performed a ritual on the mirror as we carried Cedric in and laid him on the bed. I sat next to him and stared at the mirror. I thought of Theodore, opening the door to the underground library. Theodore hand in hand with the girls I had rescued.

“Theodore was sitting on a motel bed. The curtains were drawn. I couldn’t tell where he was, or if he was in D.C. at all. He was surprised I wasn’t dead. Like Joan, he had tried to contact me via the Cobweb while I was time traveling and felt nothing. He said that D.C. was lost, and he was on his way to Chicago. He sounded nervous, though. I had a feeling he was still on the outskirts of the city. Caught between the Sabbat inside and the Lupine outside. He had tried to convince Cedric to leave with him, but Cedric had refused.

“I told Theodore what Damien had done and my plan to wake Cedric up with a Cobweb conference call. Theodore agreed to contact Comet for me. I asked about Prentis, and his face fell. She had died screaming. Ripped apart by some Sabbat monster. The Cobweb buckled under her rage. Theodore nodded as the motel slipped away from me. He wasn’t going to risk the same fate. 

“While she cast another spell on the mirror, Tala told me to tell Comet that I was a friend of Rose. After a few moments, I felt Theodore’s presence like a cold wind on the back of my neck. I let him in and found myself in a small, makeshift tent. A young man with spiked hair sat on a cot next to a cookstove. Cans of Chef Boyardee and half-filled bottles of water and yellow fluid littered the floor. I remembered the radio stations warning of protestors camping east of the Capitol.

“Comet was not happy to see me. Called me “Prophet” like it was a curse. Fortunately, he didn’t have to like me. I told him I was just here to help Cedric. That I was friends with Rose, and she vouched for me. Comet looked puzzled. Jinx used to date a boy named Rose. But, hey, it was almost 1995. Comet wouldn’t judge. I blinked as I tried to process this. I told him Jinx had joined Damien to free the lady in the lake. Comet didn’t seem surprised. Jinx had desperately wanted the Malkavians to be a “vamily.” Maybe Damien had offered to be the brother that Comet never was. 

“Comet agreed to help, and Theodore stepped into the tent. He must have been giving us privacy. It seemed silly, but I reached out to hold their hands. I joked that this was how it worked for Care Bears, right? At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt our chances. Comet rolled his eyes at the reference but held on tight. Cedric appeared in the circle we formed. He was curled up and shivering. I reached into his mind and felt a deep, yawning void. I was grateful for the grounding squeeze of Theodore’s and Comet’s hands as we descended. I could feel Cedric rising to meet us. Whatever shadow or fog had its grip on his mind was dissipating. He didn’t wake up then, but we felt sure it would only be a matter of days. I thanked them, and Comet cut the connection.  

“We left Miss Pixie’s lovely establishment and drove to rejoin Gwen. It wasn’t good news. Ruth had Embraced Giuseppe. They were hiding in a small shed in Burke Lake Park in Fairfax. 

“You know, I’m glad I can talk to you, listeners. You help me process things that fly by me in the moment. Last night, Gwen shared that she killed her own sister to survive. Now, she had lost her brother doing something I had asked her to do. Remind me to check in on her, listeners. 

“At the time, Gwen didn’t seem to want dwell on it and asked what we had learned. She was particularly interested in Prentiss, asking if that was her true name. A Seth A’dar who had fallen in battle against the Sabbat would make a powerful, angry wraith. I could feel the rising sun pulling at my eyelids. She followed me into the bedroom, asking if I could read Cedric’s mind and learn Prentiss’s name. I was too tired to feel ashamed as I stripped to my boxers in front of her and Ben to put on the ritual muslin. I collapsed onto the bed as Tala dragged Gwen to her room.

“I dreamt of a monster. Two women were merged together and wrapped around a poll. Combined, they stretched far higher than a human, like holiday lights strung around a lamppost. They looked at me with hope and sadness and despair as they sang. The sound was unnatural. No human throat, or throats, could have made those melodies. And yet, my eyes welled up with tears. It was the most beautiful song I had ever heard.”

“I had just finished recounting the dream to Ben and changing out of the muslin when I heard Asa shouting. Cedric was awake! I ran as fast as I could to their room. Cedric was sitting up on the bed, sipping from a blood bag. Listeners, I was so relieved to see that familiar, haughty look on his face. I sat on the edge of his bed as the tale of the last few nights came out in a rush. I had just about finished when Gwen burst in, claiming that Cedric owed her and the Giovanni a life debt and she wanted to know Prentiss’s true name. Cedric pursed his lips and refused to answer.

“I redirected the conversation and asked about Desirée and Thaïs. Listeners. I pray to anyone out there that what I’m about to tell you isn’t true. That Cedric’s friend Peter Forsythe was mistaken or lying. That this is all a big misunderstanding. But I had a feeling it wasn’t.

“Two nights after we stepped through the Bubble, on December 11th, a Ventrue elder named Barnaby Wilcox went missing. His car was tracked down to a rundown apartment complex. Forsythe didn’t know how the Tremere figured out Desirée and Thaïs had diablerized him, but I had some theories. I could have walked in the front door and relived his murder just by touching the right surface. I couldn’t be the only kindred with such psychometry. Last Cedric heard, a blood hunt had been called on them for such a ‘flagrant violation of Camarilla law.’ 

“My eyes burned. My vision filled with red. Blood dripped down my cheeks and onto my pants. Someone let out a ragged sob and I realized it was me. Asa sat next to me, and I buried my face in his chest. First George had diablerized that Tzimisce, and now Desirée and Thaïs were being hunted like rats in a cage after killing and eating Barnaby. Is it my fault, listeners? Does anyone who gets too close to me turn into a monster?”