5 ER oem Ce CCR gOBy Myranda Kalis ated by Mark ReinsHagen Vampire cCredits Author Acknowledgements Author: Myranda Kalis, The author would like to acknowledge the in ance of Jacob Khinde Vampire and the World of Darkness created by valuable a Mark Rein® input on systems information and shower St sme system designed by Mark _ vinityon this book, whether ornot he believes in his Rein*Hagen own divinity; Janet Trautvetter, who provided re- Develovert Wathewiitiarland search links and demanded good character lon ; Myca Vykos in return; and Sarah Roark, v : vided moral support and periodic d MET Translation: clworth someone else to write a vampire love scene Art Direction, Layout & Typese Jollensten Front Cover Art: John Bolton Front & Back Cover Design: B« ky Jollensten © 2003 White Wolf Publishing, All rights re 554 LITTON Dr served. 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This al and supernatural elements are fiction and intend ‘ontains mature content Reader discreti a free White Wolf catalog call 1-80 eck out White Wolf online at hetp:/syww.white-wolf.com; alt dvised on is mes.white PRINTED IN CCABLE OR CONTENTS Prelude: Earthly Pleasures Che pope er One: On Hunger and Its e Noctem Cl hapt er Four: Sing Sweet and DeadlyPRELUDE: EARCHLY PLEASURES rvaloverina time when «time ina forest Breer e asly nthespring, during the feast-night n with the rains More Cainites and mortals were present than Thad thought tose singingamong the trees, laying their c the base of Ilias’ carven throne of wood a hich hedid He was down among his followers, dancing to the music of flute and tambour around a bonfire burning juniper and rowan, glotious in his ecstasy. His coppery hair, woven with, acrown of lowers, shone in the fitelight as he approach his gleaming skin only a shade paler than the short run wore, and Iwas struckdumbby his ma passon that ose fom him ik ame itself. Never before hi I seen eyes so full of eitality belonging 10 one of our kind reflecting such pure and unfettered joy in existence. He greeted Velya with a teasingsmile, a jest and a kinsman’s kis. And then, h My grandsite Gesu was considered an unliving saint among Cainites. Even so, 1do notbelieve that | ever stood in the presence of something truly divine before that night. lias cel Frames smiled gently upon me and spoke my name in sreeting, and at that moment, everything but he and I ceased tocexist. He took my hand and drew me tohis throne, where we sat and spoke deep into the night as though there was no one else present. He coaxed words from me that I never through 1 would speak to another being, and he spoke to me of the way he foll the passion and pleasure it could sive me would I but give my soul to its keeping Pleasure and passion lie atthe core of the task he ime, before sending me to the gates of Fath the pleasures of the flesh, anc] physical comfortisin no way abhorrent to me for spiritual reasons, By that same token, neither have I existed in astate nce of my every fleshly whim has b ‘option open to me. Symeon, childe-in-spirit to Ant Gaul, childe-in-f > objection to rel connfort but frownedon self-indulgence, believing ttoweaken the mind and comupr the soul joroccupy dus, he ificence, by thefierce fed any Pecru’s monas: tery. 1am not unacquainted wit to Gesu, found T cannot say that, even then, [agreed with chat vie Now that Syineon is deeply engaged in diplomacy and poli tics, [find myself with both the leisure time and the freedom to engage in pursuits he would never tolerate were ] more closely supervised. On the surface, Father Petrus monastery is similar to many other such places. On the surfice, all ofthe proprieties are observed an honored, wich the standard vows of silence and poverty and acts of compassion arid Christian charity to the community that hucklles in its shadow. Iris pasing odd that most ofthe brothers are fairly young, but considering the more disturbing oddities abroad in nt that ist decid edly lesser peculiaccy Beneath thae surface, ‘The Scantovich are the mastersofeverysensuousartever smaginedand condemned asa mortal sin, Daughtersandsons alike ate raised to regard the ways of the flesh as the birthright and are instructed from childhood to hon natural talents and appetites Father Petra’shouse sone ofthe places they come toleam both the theory and the practice of AD OF SIN+ x pleasure, exercising theit craft on each other and on those select mortal and tal pat sue nature. Th wong the most skilled purveyors of sensuality inthe work capable of makingeven dead flesh sing beneath their touch, nswho know ofthe cloister’ The upper hallsofthe monastery are entirely normal. No ld ever think it is not be. The lower halls, however, are another matter entirely. Burrowed deep into the hillon which he monastery sis, thes uty rarely een anywherein the East, even inthe strongh¢ st nobles. As Father Petru led me through the chambers to view whachis establishment had t by it Evenmysite'shaven inrich anddecadent Constantinople was Jess generously embellished than this place Visitor uninitiated in its secrets chambers contain a level of high : Tvasstr The air in every chamber was warmed and scented by ts burningexotic woods and other fragrantessencesand lit with candles of beeswax or lamps fueled by perfumed oi, covered in shades of colored glass or painted vellum. Nearly eface was richly decorated: Wooden and ivory panels cd the walls, carved in scenes explicit and abstract; the ceilings were painted with erotic frescoes friezes of gods and their lovers ran in bandh statues hid in nooks shadowed for love play. cross the walls; ani Inoneroom, the floor wascovered ankle ep in mounss ofthe finest fursand contained a boy clad in nothing but his own exquisite hair, a night-dark waterfall strategically ar ed to conceal more than it revealed as he reclined amid a king's ransom in lynx and ermine. In another chamber, of translucent silk and lamps shielded in green and lade, the brown skin of a boy who must of a sunny for gracing the oil been purchased in the marketplace of some Egyptian ity. His voice was sweet as a flute, and his undulati revealed the fact that he had been cut quite expertly Father Petru invited me o touch and sample wherevecl desired before making my final choice, and | admit that [did it wasa banquet for every sense, and having dened those [found the opportunin nat senses for so long > rat ‘cating. | peered through carved wood eady retired for the youth behind which other patrons had evening's revelry, indulging in the viea voyeur. In one such room, I watched as a beautiful strapped itd frame and arouse taken by ahalf-dozen ofhisfellowsas hisCainite patron knelt beneath himand lapped away the blood thar flowed down his thighs. In another, I was beckoned to enter by a Cainite woode partaking of the blood of not one, but three comely vesces dragged beyond the possibility of resistance as he played with their flesh using hooks and needles of hone and copper. lent Fim my asistance fora timeand was rewarded with adr ofthick, sweet vitae for my efforts dra head and lin any tongue long al I found ny companion for the evening in one of the smaller rooms off a rear corridos, where the less favored brothers displayed themselves. When I ftstsawhim, I did no enticely understand why he was act amon, for he was ch nat lighte most beaurifl a)Inthe thei chaerns w ter chambers, none of the youths disph ‘more than 14 years of age, at most. Th enchanting creature was no boy, no apparently vin dlefiling. He wasat least theage th ace, talland slender, longof limbs and innocentripe fort athe time of my Eral nely made IL-but-naked inaneseofembroideredeushions drugs, amusing himself while he waited for ‘ome who would recognize his worth. I stool at thedoo hamber, the heavy curtain closing it of from thehallheldin \d watched him for al beforeletting the curtain fall at my back, indicatingmy choice and soft, patter The object of my attentic but fora sing glance — an elegant inclination of the head and neck as tumed his eyes on me, a slight arch of back and hips as he suetched to his full length before me. His eyes, [ could not helpbutn ignored m ice, were green, a deep forest green flecked with brovnandrimmedbyoutrageous! anembellishec by any cosmetic artifice. His hair was a cascade of wheat y longlashes, gollen curls spread across a d ushion, caught ith delic orgwisted silver wire set w ments of beaten gold and h freshwater pearls. Bands worked metal and three different shadesofamber ringed his sand fingers, ankles and throat, raciny his nudity rather thin obstructing it, catching the light of the sinele lamp dangling overhead as one slender hand moved thythmically herscen his milk-white thighs. and he tangofsweat and musk The air was thick with the 0 fall on him at once. A part of hy I was even hesitating. was all co ‘me demanded to kno lo not ed that 1 should exercise patience and sample this, dklight in as many ways as I could. Ie pleased me, at that moment, to wait and watch him as he finished, his back arching slightly, slim hips rolling, a soft, contented sound ihisperfect mouth. Heskimmedhisfingertipsthrough the results of his exertions, cloudy droplets clinging to pale carl and lcke offering mea hand scented with the perfume of his own body. | accepted it and let him draw medown into the mass of pillows and coverlets, We reganled each other for a long moment, his eyes meeting mine without any trace of fear or modesty, and I admit that it was strangely refreshing co have someone look pon me without dread or reverence or envy or hate. The ear is eyes was, in fact, oddly warm, almost wistful gave trailed over me, taking in the quality of tay garments, and there as bis head tilted, feline-curious. L lingering here ‘amined him in return, reaffirming my initial asses {ure beauty, well kepc and fair as moonlight on w rotfavless—twocleepscars grooved the insidesofhi and several more peeked through the metal encitc mits Sorachow, those marks, chose imperfections, threw the of the whole inary relief the way alheadless, armless st: sive for the thin, ks. inp that it He reached our and caressed my cheek, and I allowed himthe liberty. Silenely encouraged, he continued on, undo inthe clasps and ties of my clothing, casting asic nts y > esi} aenees fe more naked than he, without even a scrap of T felt the Beast « never enjoyed exposing myself com: [fle myself and moved at on behing | within me Thave discomficed pletely, even involuntarily. My bedmate soothe me, From beneath a cushion, he drew a len carminesilk, stroking it slowly back and forth across my loins before draping it across my lap. | felt a low sound, halfway berweenapurranda growl, wellingin my throat, and allowed it the ait necessary co take form He smiled, a flash of sharp white teeth, and ro me, reaching up to lower the lamp flame and to blown-glassbottle froma nook in the hips as he rerurned, writhing his own slightly as he di showing me hisrenewed desire, arousedleven by my cool lesh The sweet scent of roses wound even more inten ind us as he worked the bottle open and poured a stream of oil down the center of my ches omer. Hestraddled my hands [have ever exper | He wrung sensa He had the most s I seill cannot adequately exp coaxed my body tions from me that | thought I would never feel again, that I thought I had left behind with lfe and breath, [wa lost from theinstanthisoil-slickedpalmsstrokedover my skin drawing a moan from my throat and 9 cry from my Beast, and [ ifro the moment, to him and my desite for hhim. His teeth and tongue nipped rensingly at my throat and collaebones, his thumbs languorously nipples, and | allowed them to harden, huxur he sensation, lung to his on one of The scent of the rose water in which he bathed hair, mixed with the tang of blood as a sharp edg his bracelets cut into his wrist. The way he caressed ony manhood — [permitted the blood toflush into it, whimpered he took me in. The taste of him, asit spread acrossmy a thick, salty wine, spilling heat into me as | held tightening around my waist, pulling me in deeper His bracelets, biting into my hands as [ held his wri down, and the expression in his eyes, darkened, drowsy, ashe looked up at me, blood spilling across his throat and down his first and last rime. My re: chest, ashe spoke Oo retumed to me, and I st consider whar I should de next, I could feel the unsteady fluttering of his heart ag el Tknew that if J for several days, but with the stro ofa revenant, he would eventually recover. J could have him again, could attempt co recreate, in greater detail, this expe rience. Another part of ne regarded thisexperience asalready perfect in many ways, that I should end it deliberately and savorthe vividness ofthat ending. That indlge desires learr one fils with «thar unlie offers, only noth oneself Despite the myriad possibil one way allows a Cainite co parsue such a goal, and Ihave only just stepped fully upon it Tam Myca Vykos, childe of Symeon, childe of Gesu, childe of he who iscalled the Dracon, chile of the Eldest, and I am also, finally and completely, a child of Sin. As I write these words, the sounds of the revel taking place in the ing my choice, ond rebirth. Thisnight, [have taken and [feel the freedom of tha in every inch of flesh. garden outside reach me,acelebration hon: my acceptance, the last of my own inn change in eve My mente doesnot sleep, for our kit of blod need no sleep daylight hours, but he is content to lie still against me, his golden-red-haired head resting on my kelly, one hand still cupping m raderment, the admit hot. He knows I rake inspiration in his passion as well wisdom. On this night of a of the rites of spring, my and I ac my side. I know th jond the torpid reningasl write, He knows itis my ye sensation, the rhe ar in me is still nights — my frst cel 1c initiation into the ways of Sin Trust recotd my insights while the understanding sill pulses within me like a second heart. For know now fo fully apprectateforthe fust time, why [came to this roadand why so many others before me have corm We Cainites are creatures of stasis. We remain the same, unchanging, yeat after year. Oh, we may change our ‘outward appearance in some small way —or in some great way, as many of the Shaper’s blood are wont to do — but that is merely the surface, insubstantial, hollow, a change not of content, but of form. Beneath our elegant and predatory exteriors, we cower in fear of ourselves, in disgust and self-loathing, and hose parts of ourselves that we cannot bear to admit helong to us in the most primal ofall ways, our darkest hungers, our deepest wants. The Beast. e id hate it, we bind it with chains of self-denial, n it with all our wills, we deny it, we deny ourselves, an Isavail usnathing, fo the Beast car entry. Itis us, an we give it the power to control and consume us. It is the ultimate self-defeating vicious cirele. We bring upon our- selves the thing that we most fear, the of self, hecause of the parts af ourselve toda way, never be truly refused we areiit. By denyjin, t, we strength, hsolute destruction we cannot hear to Only a few among our kind reject this folly, a few hildren of Caine who look unflinching upon the darkness ithin themselves and embrace it where others quail and e. We have never been many, we children of Sin, bu then, those who choose truth and self-knowledge’ an: freedom have alwaysheen the lonely voices of reason. And Iwillnoe make the mista progenitors have mae will not choose fear or ignorance sfwhoand what Lan nor reject mys Lnot cower in cerror of myself will nor hate mysel Jam Myca Vykos, and one night, the world shall know The History of the Wad of Gin Where did i 2 There are as many answers to that Cainites in this world. 1 have studi das deeply as I can into the shared past of our kind, and yer, I cannot answer tha uestion, not complet In principle, the Road of Sin has existed since the firs of our kind, the Dark Father himself, shook his fist in the face of Heaven and rejected the right of the One who had spoke th words —%( uld | repent? For what beg mgiveness?” — was the first spark of the road lit, The Ds Father spoke those words, but it seems that he himself did .ot yet fully comprehend all that they could mean. It was after the of w nly after he vani destruction ied from among our kind f Enoch, that the first glimmerir » shape, nuine historical worth has been handed the Very little down to us from the time of the Second City. Ind writingsof many elders whocould personally recall thar tw cor whose sires could recall it, are notably terse with regan the city and what happened within —and, ultimately, to it. The most extensive records of that time wete, of cour until recently under the protection ofthe Keeper of he Faith the guardian of the grear Library of the Forgotten in Constantinople, who, along with het apprentices, scribed the memoir left behind by her sire, the Dracon, Tite SECOND CITY LAY UPON A RIVER PLAIN, A PLACE OF LUSH GREENERY, OF GOOD SOIL AND FRESII WATER, OF FORESTS IN WHICH TO HUNT AAD PIELPS IN WINCH TO PLANT GRAIN. THE CHILDREN OF BUILT SETTLEMENTS THERE OF MUD BRICK AND. MILLED STONE, AND THOSE SETTLEMENTS ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF THE LOST AND SCATTERED CHILDREN OF CAINE, WHO CAME TOCETHER IN THOSE PLACES TO RE BUILD WHAT THEIR FOOLISHNESS HAD COST THEM ONCE. THE CREATEST OF THOSE SETTLE: ENTS WASCHOSEA TO BECOME THE SECOND CRADLE OF CAINITE CIVILIZATION, A. CITY WHOSE NAME HAS LONG BEEN FORGOTTEN ANP THAT I WILL NOT SPEAK, EVEN TO You, MY WISEST CHILDE. 10 SOT KNOW WHICH OF TIE ANCIENT THE BROODMATES OF MY SIRE, FIRST CHOSE THAT PLACE, BUT BY THE TIME I CAME TO IT IVENTRUE] HELP THE REINS OF RULERSII?, AND HAGIM THE STAFF OF THE LAWCIVER THE CITY HAD ALREADY SEEN MUCH IN THE WAY OF STRIFE: COMPETITION WAS. RIFEAMONG THE CHILDER OF ALL THE CLANS, FOR WEALTH, FOR STATUS, FOR PRIDE, FOR VEN- CEANCE, FOR AMUSEMENT. AAD THERE WERE SUBTLER INFLUENCES AT WORK, AS WELL. IT WAS BEEN SAID THAT THE CHILDREN OF CAINE CANNOT INNOVATE, BUT ONLY STEAL THE INSPIRATIONS OF OTHERS. THOSE WHO SAY THIS NEVER WITNESSEP THE FEVERISH PACE OF INVENTION WITHIN THE SecoND Crry AMONG. OUR KIND. IN ENOCH, IF AS BEEN SAID, CAINE RULED WS KIND AS A CHIEFTAIN RULED IIS TRIBE - STRAICHTLY, NARROWLY AND WITH AN IRON HAND, HE LIMITED BOTH THE: NUMBERS OF HIS CHILDREN AND THEIR INDULCENCES. HE LIMITS, AND THE PUNISHMENT FOR TRANS GRESSING THOSE LIMITS WAS THE PINAL DEAT. No SUCH UMITS EXISTED IN THE SECOND CIry, AND IT WAS AS THOUGH A THOUSAND THOUSAND YEARS OF PENT UP CHANCE HAD ERUPTED ALL AT ONCE, MAD SPILLED FORTH LIKE A SECOND PELUC! BETWEEN THE WALLS OF EVERY PAL- ACE, NEW EXPERIENCES WERE BEING SOUCHT, BEING CONCOCTED, BEING REFINED. SOME OF THESE WERE SUBLIME (I CAN STILL RECALL THE SWEET ACHE IN MY THROAT AND THE BURA OF THE TEARS THAT STUNG. MY EYES WHEN FIRST | EARD THE SONCS SUNG IN CREETING TO THE SIGHT IN THE CREAT TEMPLE OF THE DARK MOTHER), AND OTHERS STILL WERE PERVERSE (I SHALL NEVER FEEL SENSATIONS AS DENSELY TANGLED AS THOSE TEXPERIENCED IN THE PLEASURE-OUSES OF TAT CITY AND REGRET THAT KNOWLEDCE AST REGRET LITTLE ELSE IN THIS WORLD). THE REFINED AND THE EARTHY, THE MATE RIAL AND THE SPIRITUAL, BLENDED THEMSELVES TOCETHER IN UNPREDICTABLE, FASHION IN NEARLY EVERY CORNER OF THE cIry, AND IT WAS A BANQUET FOR THE SATIATION OF EVERY IMMORTAL DESIRE. TRYING TO STEM THE CHAOS THAT FLOWED THROUGH THE STREETS, TO EXERT THE CONTROL OF LAW AND MORALITY AND CONSCIENCE UPON IT, WAS OPTEN AS FUTILE, AS TRYING TO CHANCE THE COURSE OF A RIVER WITHA SINGLE. STONE Other writings have confir within the Second City — thi thicd and fourth generations against the lis Caine’s rigidly authoritarian rulership. Fear of the Dark ather'svengeance seemed quite absent in no small number wumeration of vices,