{{Continued from: Dry Run }}

For weeks now, since the night following the August court, Hyde has followed her, shadowing her every step, learning her patterns, he has watched her feed, watched her slumber. He has studied the ritual he unearthed in the musty tomes of the Tremere library, and made his preparations. Many times before tonight, he found himself poised to strike yet unable to go through with it. He knows not whether it is fear, or his conscience which stops him.

She stands almost frozen, just up ahead, looking around and listening. She pauses like this every so often, with that look on her face like the hairs on the back of her neck are standing straight up. By her body-language, she is growing increasingly paranoid with each night, he is almost certain that some part of her knows he is with her. Too many times he has been unable to resist coming within but a few inches of her, to smell her filthy hair, or brush his fingertips across the soiled folds of her dress, trying to savor those minute pleasures before they are lost to him forever...

The Beast lurking within Hyde is a feral and sadistic atavism, deriving great pleasure from tormenting its prey like some great cat which is compelled to torture and torment its food for hours on end before allowing it to die. Perhaps the hormones released into the blood by sheer dread somehow improves the taste. This was his greatest bane well over a century ago when he prowled the streets of London, and ultimately responsible for getting him caught and tried by a jury of his peers. But even the Beast becomes more clever with age, learning to make better use of its inherent gifts, even in the throes of mindless rage.

Hyde rolls 8 dice to Dex+Stealth 8,7,6,2,3, 1,8,10,6 (5 successes)

As he has stalked Beauty these past weeks, the familiar sensations have served as mnemonic triggers, bringing the Beast ever closer to the surface with each vision of betrayal, causing it to grow ever more insistent.

Hyde rolls 4 dice to Conviction (Diff 4) 2,7,6,10 (3 successes) {Hyde is now 'riding the wave'}

Some accompanying mood-music from the black heart of Iowa.



I can see you but you can't see me
I could touch you and you wouldn't even feel me
Wait a second and you'll settle down
I'm just waiting, 'til you really let your guard down
You're relaxed, you're sublime, you're amazing
You don't even know the danger you're facing
If I'm quiet, I'll slide up behind you
And if you hear me I'll enjoy trying to find you

She begins to move again, returning to whatever errand which brings her so far from the Hovel this fateful night, and Hyde moves right along with her, occasionally abusing the acoustics of the tunnels to let a growl or splash echo through the darkness, driving her fears.

Hyde rolls 7 dice to Wits+Stealth (Diff 8) 8,4,9,9,7, 6,8 (4 successes) [to remain Obfuscated]
Hyde rolls 8 dice to Manip+Intimidation 9,2,7,5,10, 7,1,10,6,2 (5 successes) [attempting to freak her out]

I've been with you all day
I'm trying to stay calm
I'm impatient and it's really hard to breathe
I'm going to empty you and fill you in with me

Lex Talonis -the law of the claw- is the cardinal rule of Hyde's philosophical Path. There is no room in the heart of beasts for mercy or forgiveness, there is only kill or be killed, and whether she will acknowledge it or not, Beauty has been slowly killing Hyde for years. He can no longer tolerate her constant betrayals, something has to give.

Just keep the violence down
Not yet - don't make a sound
Oh God I'm feeling it
It's reaching fever pitch
My skin is caving in
My heart is driving out
No mercy, no remorse
Let nature take its course

He has given this as much thought in recent months as he has had waking hours. Still, he cannot decide how to do it. Should he simply rip her throat out? Snap her neck and then beat her to death with his bare hands? Or just slowly tear her limb from limb as he recounts each of the thousands of knives she has stuck in his back?

Watching - Bring me to my knees
waiting - I am your disease
Lover - set my symptom free
Covered - you won't feel a thing
You can't feel a thing

He finally decides that attempting to inflict any sort of poetic justice would be lost on her. The heartless bitch wouldn't give him the satisfaction of acknowledgment anyway. Even when faced with irrefutable proof of her crimes, she still managed to remain sanctimoniously indignant, even had the audacity to try to claim that it was all his fault. His lip curls back in anger at the thought.

('I gave you all that I had and more. I took from others that I might give to you. You indulged yourself, robbed from my goodwill, and repaid me with naught but lies and betrayal at every turn. And for WHAT? What could you have possibly thought you would gain from any of this? -Nothing. After all that we have been through, in the end, it was all for nothing. There will be no more sacrifice, my love. How can there be? You have left me with nothing. I.. have.. nothing left for you...')

Hyde's voice breaks free from his silent musings of its own volition, booming through the tunnels. “YOU LEFT ME WITH NOTHING!!”

Hyde rolls 7 dice to Wits+Stealth (Diff 9) 10,9,10,5,9,7, 6,8,1 (3 successes) [to remain Obfuscated]
Hyde rolls 4 dice to Conviction (Diff 6) 5,4,3,10 (1 success) {Hyde reigns in the beast once more, if only for the moment}

shh, wait, shh, no, wait, wait, no, shh, wait, wait, not yet, no, wait, wait

She does not look back, she does not square off with him, Beauty does what anyone would do in her position. She runs. This is not about proving herself more powerful, it is about survival.

('If she will not even admit to her sins, there can be no absolution, only the certainty that the sins will continue. For Hyde to allow her continued existence is analogous to begging to be tortured every day for the rest of his immortality.')

I'm sweating through my veins
I'm trying to hold on
It's unbearable. It's almost worse for me
I'm gonna tear you apart and make you see
MAKE YOU SEE!

The chase is on, twisting and turning through sewer tunnels and eventually into man-made hallways. Hyde does not even notice the transition. The prey is all that matters.

('The answer is clear, it has been for a long time now; this will end no other way. How can she not see that no one else has ever loved her as he does in all of her days, and that no one else ever will?')

Watching - Bring me to my knees
waiting - I am your disease
Lover - set my symptom free
Covered - you won't feel a thing

The walls soon fill to capacity with pipes and electrical conduit, a sure sign that they are nearing the surface-world. Hyde does not care, his vision is focused to a narrow tunnel, blurred with red.

('Does her narcissism run so deep that she believes she has the right to treat people this way? That she can simply disregard the most sacred of pacts because it suits her whim and be immune to any repercussion? Tonight, she will learn how very wrong she is.')

This is the virus
THE VIRUS OF LIFE
This is inside us
The crisis, the knife

He is gaining on her, another moment and he will have her.

('The piper must be paid, the devil will always have his due. Hyde no longer cares about getting his cut, he knows there is nothing left to gain. He cannot win, only stop playing the game. But, he will do everything in his power to ensure that she is never allowed to make another suffer as he has suffered.')

It's almost time to play
It's time to be afraid
I can't control the pain
I can't control in vain
Oh God I'm ready now
You're almost ready now
I'm gonna love you now
I'm gonna break you down
I see you in the dark, I see you all the way
I see you in the light, I see you plain as day
I want to touch your face, I want to touch your soul
I want to wear your face, I want to burn your soul

Beauty passes through a door, into the service-platform of the Subway, near the Industrial district, presumably trying to lose Hyde in a public area. Hyde feels himself losing control, he has let this go too far. For a fraction of a second, Hyde is drowned in a flood of memories from a time when the two of them might have been accused of being happy. For a moment, he is lost in the glowing nostalgia and begins to reconsider destroying what he once loved more than anything else.

Hyde rolls 4 dice to Instinct (Diff 9) 1,5,1,6 (BOTCH x2) {Frenzy duration will be twice as long as normal, and Hyde has just picked up a permanent Derangement related to this Frenzy}

But the Beast will not abide his weakness. Deep down, in the dark depths of Hyde's psyche, something snaps, the vicious survival instinct within screams and claws and gnashes its teeth in outright rebellion. One of them is NOT going to walk away from this.

This is the virus, the virus of life

{{Continued in: Hopping a Midnight Train }}  

--Last edited by Mister Hyde on 2008-12-01 21:16:33 --