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« on: November 08, 2015, 01:20:59 pm »
Carpe Noctem
Burning of the Illuminated Meetinghouse in Bavaria, Victorian era 1800's
The last two inanities watched as the meeting house went up in flames. One of the burghers had alerted the Courts to their presence, probably in the hopes of being embraced. Ever since France the Courts had been on high alert, not willing to risk another war. Robespierre had killed too many, Napoleon had conquered too much and Lady Reason had converted more than the vampires could handle. Another Revolution, another Reign of Hope, and entire countries would revolt. So they struck at the Eye, destroying their meetinghouses and burning their books where ever possible. Many Brothers and Sisters had been killed in the last few months, so many that the future of the Order was in question. These two men were the last of the Bavarian House, the first House. As they watched two decades worth of progress fall into the flames hate rose up in their hearts. Three months later the same two men would attend a secretive Conclave in London and take control of the Order with a mass vote. The Eye was to go into hiding once more. No more revolutions, no more grand actions. They would kill and push from the dark, manipulating humanity against the enemy. They would build up vast libraries of information hidden in deadly mazes deep beneath cities and in the most inhospitable wilderness. They would seize the night and push the undead from it by silver blade and ancient book.
Carpe Diem
Return of the Illuminated Brethren, Chicago 2010's
The bloodsucker could only let out a gurgled scream as the silver blade bit into its neck, foul black blood shooting out across its reading room. The masked figure held the monster down until it stopped squirming, taking one last stab at it before they were satisfied the job was done. They then stood up and motioned for the rest of the cohort to enter the building, rappelling lines whirring quietly as the other figures entered. They ransacked the library, killed the monsters spawn in their bed and took anything of worth from the creature's horrible laboratory. As they left charges were placed on key points in the house, each primed to go off when a single button was pushed. That morning police and reporters flooded the scene, a respectable citizens house destroyed; another terrorist attack, the third one that month. The only clue to the perpetrators was a single eye, painted on the ground outside the gate. The old vampires, so old the rest of their Court could only guess at their age, felt something close to fear in their hearts. Visions of mass beheadings and burnings, of Paris atomized. The Illuminated Brethren had returned at last.
