Chapter 28

~~Julias~~

He still wasn’t comfortable with the Primogen. Much as he had confidence in his abilities and intelligence, they were older than him, stronger than him, and, although he was loath to admit it, they were probably smarter than him. All his poker skills, tested every time he had a conversation. No wonder Viktor turned to stone over the centuries.

White walls, black ceiling, fancy leather chairs, and a glass table. A sight he’d grown to hate over the past few months. But at least the view from the glass wall out into the nightlife of South Side was beautiful; not that he’d get to look out it properly from his seat.

“Get your guys to back off, Maria.” Garry, dressed for the street, threw some papers onto the table. “You’re ruining good people’s homes.”

The ghost woman shrugged. “Only kine.”

“My friends.” The Gangrel glared at her, and Julias winced. Enough malice there to melt ice.

“Yes well, you make friends with kine and expect me to adjust my business strategies because of it. No.”

Business strategies made Julias smirk. She’d said it with just enough inflection to imply the real reason: Garry had been seen destroying some of the Lancea et Sanctum’s precious artifacts, after Lucas died. Not that Julias hadn’t expect that. When your enemy dies, it was customary in many places of the world to burn everything they owned. But Garry had jumped on the opportunity to dig through Lucas’s things in Tony’s old complex very, very quickly.

The tunnel had since been sealed off, but too little too late. Would Damien care, once he found out? Maybe, maybe not.

Julias looked to the Prince. She was leaning forward to put her elbows on the table, fingers netted together and placed to her upper lip. Pensive. To Julias, it sounded like squabbling children, but maybe that was just something he’d have to get used to. When fighting over something, everyone turned into a juvenile delinquent, or at least pretended to be.

The sheriff wasn’t here today though. Interesting.

“The Mirrden district is on the edge of our territories.” Garry tapped the papers on the table. “And you’re doing construction all over it. Not exactly a big leap to think Xnomina will push into the rest of the district.”

And he was right of course. The corporation was run by Kindred, but it was a public and known corporation. Far as the humans knew, Xnomina bought the city rights to start construction on the Mirrden area. The process of moving who lived there out of there would be painful to them, no doubt, but Maria knew Garry was rather fond of the area and its people. Probably the tipping point on her decision.

“It may come to that. And if it does, perhaps the border of our two territories should be addressed? It ran down the middle of a small district; slide it over five feet and it will no longer.” Maria reached out for the papers, the pictures, shrugged as she glanced them up and down, and tossed them back onto the table. “You have no legal claim.”

“Legal? Who gives a shit about legal. I’m telling you Maria, you’re stepping into my territory,” Garry said.

Julias looked to Jacob. The Nosferatu was leaning back in his chair, wearing the dark robes he liked for meetings, and he was rocking back and forth a little with his hands hooked behind his head. Not bored though; the conversation seemed to interest him. Probably fuel for more of his games.

But before Maria could respond, Michael threw a finger at Garry.

“You have nerve. I had three Kindred report in of broken bones. One lost a finger. All caused by Carthians.”

“You had your people running on my side of the fence, Michael.” Garry snarled, a real, Gangrel snarl at his fellow Gangrel. “And not just exploring fledglings. You had dangerous people looking into my business, so I roughed them up. So how about fuck you?”

An unusual amount of heat from Garry. Julias raised a brow, and looked back to Antoinette. She was steel, but she did glance his way a moment before looking back to the arguing group.

“How about you Julias?” Garry pulled out some more papers and threw them onto the table. “Think I don’t know what you’ve been up to?”

His raised brow raised more. But feigning innocence with the man was a bad idea. Much as Garry was loud and loved to push for a fist fight, he was crafty. Maybe that was why everyone acted like children the moment they were fighting over something, to make themselves look more stupid than they were? An interesting strategy. Good poker players.

“What have I been up to?”

“Some eyes told me you’d been talking with Damien.” The papers were reports then.

Everyone tensed, a single moment of tightened muscles, before they hid their response. But everyone saw everyone’s reaction. Kid was a hot button.

“I have been.”

“Yeah well, not sure I agree with where that’s going.” He raised his hand and started counting off his fingers. “Went to Damien. Then went to Maria. Some eyes told me you’re looking to revive the Second Estate.”

It was Antoinette’s turn to raise a brow.

“Is this true, Mister Mire?” she said.

“ ... it is.” He put his hands on the table, and looked to Maria. A wince from her too, but she shrugged and motioned to him. “I’ve spoken to Damien, and Maria about this. But we didn’t plan to bring it up until we’d discussed it further.”

Jacob laughed, a hard chuckle that shut everyone up and turned them all to face him. But he said nothing, only smiled his eyeless smile, until Antoinette groaned, rubbed her forehead, and looked at Julias.

“Arrogant of you, Mister Mire. You were there during the purge; it was a difficult time for all of us. And now you undermine me? You?”

He’d expected either coldness from the Prince, or some fire. But she was looking at him with a mix of concern and pain, as if he’d hurt her.

Had he hurt her?

“I’m not trying to bring about another Lucas, Primogen. Even Maria does not want that.” And she didn’t. She didn’t want the violence and mindless destruction Lucas brought, none of them did; except for perhaps Viktor. Good riddance.

“Then what are you doing?”

“Trying to give people a chance. Damien is not Lucas, and it was Lucas who made the Second Estate so violent, to push for constant expansion at the cost of the other covena—”

“The Invictus profited, remember?” Garry leaned in close, and stared Julias in the eye. A little more sneer and Julias was sure there’d be dog drool on his lip. “The First and Second Estate, lovely bedfellows.”

He really didn’t want to have this conversation yet. Not enough information, not enough feel for the mental state of everyone, trying to play poker without knowing people’s quirks or habits.

“Garry, you know me well enough to—”

“Viktor’s childe? Think I have the right to be a bit suspicious, especially after what you did to Mike.”

Mike, the hacker kid. Right, Julias had wiped his mind of memories, invaded his brain.

Shit.

“Viktor’s mission, Garry, his orders. I did what I could to—”

“You violated him.”

“I didn—”

“Don’t give me that shit Julias. You act like the nice guy, but—”

Enough.

Julias snapped his hand out and grabbed the man by the neck. At some point, they’d both leaned in more and more, until Garry was in striking distance. And he wanted to hit him, god he wanted to hit him in his idiotic, short-sighted Carthian face.

No one moved. Everyone went silent, and stared. Jacob’s jaw dropped, but that didn’t stop him from smiling like a jackass. Garry could have retaliated, but he just stared at him with wide eyes.

“Stop. Interrupting. Me.” He shoved the man back into his chair before he stood up, and slammed his palms down on the glass table. Fuck these elders and their pompous garbage. “Shut the fuck up, and listen, you simple, myopic fool. Damien is not Lucas, just as I am not Viktor. Damien is willing to revive the Lancea et Sanctum, with the sole purpose of preaching his religion. And not the ‘dominate everything’ version either.” He offered Maria a small glance before looking back to Garry, and the Prince. “No power, just a voice. He deserves a chance, and the Lancea et Sanctum deserve a chance.”

He sat back down, and glared. Not like him to get angry, but at that edge there was a flash of white in his eyes, and he just wanted to rip Garry apart, get into his head and force him to tear off his own fingers. Bastard was too strong for Julias to get into his brain, but the imagery was pleasing nonetheless; at least, until he noticed Jacob in the corner of his eye. He was still smiling, and looking straight at Julias.

“Boys,” Antoinette said with raised hands, elbows still on the table, “let us not revive old hatred, especially now that many of the people responsible for them are gone. Mister Mire, Madam Turio, you have talked with the boy about this?”

Maria shook her head. “I haven’t yet, and I would have liked to before we proposed this. But we knew others, Garry in particular, would balk at the idea.”

“He is not the only one who would.” The Prince got up, and walked over to the window. No one joined her, they never did. But then, she rarely got up from the table to stare out the window like that. “People died, Mister Mire. People close to Garry, and others close to myself. The purge was a horrible time for all of us. Not only the purge, but just a few weeks ago, I had the retired Archbishop, thirty of his subordinates, and Damien at my doorstep. Lucas died, I nearly died, and the blood of thirty Kindred soaked my hands, and my sheriff’s sword. I listened to that man preach of Longinus’s mission as he assailed my home with bullets. As Damien’s sword tasted my blood. And you ... dare to ask Damien of this before speaking to me?”

No pause, no shift in inflection, nothing to give up the lie that she or the sheriff were the ones to kill Lucas. She’d be the sort to talk during poker, and dance around the lies she’d weave, the false tells, the fake reactions for each hand. Scary, when you were good at it.

And he didn’t know what to say. He sat down, brought a single finger to his lip, and stared at the table. He was supposed to have a speech made, points to argue, evidence to overrule opinions. But Garry threw him a curve and he didn’t have anything prepared. He—

“That is a good point.”

They all turned to Jacob.

“What is?” the Prince said.

“Well, if Lucas and his little army got slaughtered, why is Damien still alive? Why’d you spare him?”

“I...” With a long sigh, Antoinette walked back to the table and sat in her Princely chair. What would she say? If it had been her choice, she wouldn’t have spared him. The only reason Damien was still sucking blood was because Jack let him live. “I ... saw the broken look in the boy’s eyes, before Lucas was dead. He was ... different.”

Julias could feel his lip trying to smirk, and spent every reflex he had to keep it still. Jack’s words.

Maria and Garry looked at her, then each other, and then lowered their eyes. Michael didn’t look like he cared about any of this, but Jacob, the bastard Jacob was grinning as he listened, and waited.

“Then, you agree with Julias,” Jacob said, “about Damien. He’s different than Lucas. And you might not like the Lancea et Sanctum, but it was Lucas who lead to the purge, right? I say give the kid a chance. Worse comes to worse, you can kill him.”

The Prince leaned forward over the table, and glared at Jacob. Oddly on the point of the Nosferatu. Did he know about Jack? No, he couldn’t have, Beatrice wouldn’t have told him. But the old bastard had a habit of knowing things he shouldn’t; fact of history.

“ ... you make a solid point, Jacob. I will consider it.”

Julias smirked, and leaned back in his chair. Woman was trapped. She could have exposed that Jack was Lucas’s killer, and that she would have killed Damien otherwise, but it’d risk Jack’s life to Maria.

She really did love him.

Back in his mansion in Rich Side. Victorian building, big fancy windows, classic colorful furniture with curving wooden legs, and white pillars. Too old fashioned, even for him, or at least he thought it was. But now that he owned it, and walked around in it, part of him enjoyed the silence, the space, the vast rooms with massive curtains and massive paintings. He stood there, sipping a glass of blood, while admiring them. It gave him time to let his thoughts drift, wander, and reflect. The mansion was growing on him.

Did Jacob know Jack was responsible for Damien’s survival? Maybe, if he managed to eavesdrop on their conversation with him. The bastard was too damn smart too, like Antoinette. And where was the sheriff? He rarely missed a Primogen meeting. The Prince had seemed a little distracted during the meeting, but he’d thought it might have just been because of the typical Invictus Carthian bitching about territory.

He did wish his fellow council members wouldn’t antagonize the Carthians so much, but their actions were reasonable, if aggressive. Xnomina was a corporation, it needed to expand, and it was in Invictus interest to defend its expansions, even if that meant rubbing up against the Carthian border. And it was in Invictus interest to guard itself against Carthian aggression in general; both sides itching for a chance to throw a punch, and the Carthians did love to throw that first punch. They could play victim all they wanted, the Carthians had a long history of starting wars.

The door knocked, the knocker resonating the whole building with its thunderous crashes. He sighed, walked down the curling stairway into the grandiose lobby, and opened one of the enormous wooden doors.

“Hey Superman.”

“Beatrice. Damn, I am glad to see you.” He stepped aside to let the Nosferatu in.

“Oh?” With a grin, she stepped into the lobby and over to the fancy couch. She had a big box against her hip, and was dressed in some jeans and a black tank top. He considered buying her some better clothes, but then, he doubted she’d be comfortable wearing a suit regularly as he did.

“Yeah. Mind stuck on work, need someone to yank it away.”

“I am good at that.” She put the box down by the couch, sat down, and hooked her arms over the back of the seat. “I mean, I could ruin it, and tell you I don’t want the Carthians and Invictus fighting to get any worse, but I assume you’re already fighting for that.”

“I am, ish. Turio and MacDonald have their reasons, and ... and...”

“And?”

“You remember what I said to you, that first night at my apartment?”

“Hit me.”

“That I was sick of Kindred scheming?”

She sighed, and nodded before motioning for him to come join her. “Yeah, I do. Didn’t take long to get pulled into it, did it?”

She knew where he was coming from, she must have. Becoming a member of the Circle of the Crone was a big change for her, and Julias doubted Jacob treated his people like Garry did. Girl was probably neck deep in his scheming, and Jacob played the long game, the big game. And now Julias was too, as a member of the triumvirate of the Invictus.

He sat down next to her, glass still in his hand, and eyes on the main door. “Life was simpler, back then. I miss it.”

“Do you? You’re making changes now.”

“I am but it doesn’t seem to be helping much. Viktor’s methods may have been brutal or manipulative, but they worked. I’m trying to play peacemaker with the Carthians, and Garry seems insistent on refusing my aid.”

“Can you blame him?”

“ ... no, I can’t. I ... let’s not talk about that. And sorry for dragging you into it.”

She laughed and shrugged. “It’s kind of nice, honestly. With the witches, every conversation I have I have to deal with their vices at the same time.”

“Mm?”

“Yeah. No group meetings, we just talk to each other when needed. Jennifer and Othello always have some kine between their legs or on their laps, mid conversation.”

He tapped a finger against his chin. Figures the witches were brazen about their lust, but actually having conversations about covenant matters during sex was a step beyond.

“ ... like what you see?” he said.

Again she laughed, louder this time, and her mouth opened further than a human would be able to. Much as he loved her, and thought she was sexy as all hell, she did have crocodile teeth along her cheeks, and her jaw could open like a crocodile’s too. Scary.

“Not gonna lie, it get can pretty hot sometimes. But hey, we’re an item right? Trust me?”

He smirked at her, and slid a little closer on the couch. “Definitely.”

“Ok, good, cause I mean ... they have sex. A lot. And I’m just standing there, and, you know ... watching, and sometimes I watch for a little longer than I should, and then I feel guilty, and it’s very un-witch like. I’ll lose my license.”

She was showing a side he hadn’t expected. A dash of worry and sprinkle of shame. Adorable.

“As long as you don’t join in, watch all you want. I trust you.”

That put a smile on her face. “Awesome. And uh ... been meaning to ask you something related.”

“Mm?”

“Jennifer, she ... she umm ... she ... really wants to join us. In the bedroom.”

He raised a brow, and set his drink on a nearby couch side table. “Jennifer, the young Ventrue? Looks a little like you?”

“Yeah, she’s been pushing on that angle. Can’t help but say it’s a bit tempting.”

“Attracted to her?”

“Yeah! I mean, uh ... well, she is pretty hot.”

He chuckled and hooked his arm around the back of her neck and shoulders, so she lowered hers and slid into the nook of his chest.

“Sounds like I’d be a third wheel.”

“No! No ... well ... maybe?”

“Let me think about it. I don’t know her very well, barely ever said two words to her.”

“Perfectly get it if you say no. I really like this thing we got going here, and I’ve seen threesomes ruin more than a few relationships.”

The idea had appeal. Jennifer was a beautiful creature, and from what Beatrice said, it sounded like she had an attraction more to Beatrice than him. And that idea had even more appeal.

But Beatrice was right, it wasn’t a decision to make quickly. He’d have to think about it.

“Think it’ll take something a little more than a bit of sexual confusion to break us up, Beatrice.”

“I am a good catch.” She pushed against his chest until he was on his back on the couch, head on the couch arm, and she lay upon his chest, cheek to his sternum. He could feel the sides of her huge teeth touching him; scary, and thrilling.

He hugged her, hands to her back, one sliding up and down her spine. But, after a while, it slid up to her neck, along through her hair to comb it, before it slid to her jaw, and then along her teeth.

Such. Huge. Teeth. Terrifying sharp things that belonged on a crocodile. A normal, human looking mouth with normal teeth and lips from the front, and then monstrous teeth where her cheeks should be. Combined with her green snake eyes, she really had the monster girl thing going for her. She opened her mouth enough for him to slip a finger between some of her huge fangs, and he plucked at one of them with a fingernail.

She melted. Her mouth opened a little more, while her hands hugged his chest and tugged on his suit.

“I like that,” she said.

“Having your teeth touched?”

“That you like touching them.”

Maybe he was feeling a little guilty for this thoughts about the Nosferatu in the tunnels. Or maybe he did like her teeth; they were badass.

She pushed herself up a bit, elbows and arms on his chest, and opened her mouth while looking down at him. Open wide. He could see the long tongue she had, and its slightly serpentine shape.

“Jack used to describe for me a kink he had, involving monster girls. Things like snake women, or spider women, and such. Scary women, oddly sexy, powerful women.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I told him he needed to get laid,” he said.

She laughed, and leaned back down to put a kiss on his chin. “Is he why I turn you on?”

“Maybe a little? I thought about it after, and had to admit, there’s something alluring about it. Didn’t really understand though until I saw you.”

“Aw. Then I owe the kid.” She set her head back on his chest, and lightly stroked his arm as she got comfortable.

Just two lovers, lying on a couch. No drama, no issues. He was jinxing it, thinking such thoughts, but damn it was nice to be able to close his eyes and hold someone he loved.

“What’s in the box?” he said.

“Ah, sexy fun times.”

“Of course.”

“Right? So, find me the fanciest room in the whole place, so we can defile it.”

~~Natasha~~

Find the spiders, find the spiders, find the spiders. Find a needle in a haystack, a poisonous, dangerous needle. Wonderful.

She walked the streets of Devil’s Corner the moment dusk arrived, and began exploring. A dangerous, horrible place Devil’s Corner come nightfall, especially for women, but she wasn’t afraid of the kine. And, like all Kindred, a part of her hoped someone would try and mug her or such, so she’d have an excuse to break some bones. No vampire was immune to the temptation to indulge in a little power.

But, all was quiet in Devil’s Corner. A man had been taken according to police reports, a Mr. Tenmer. One disappearance too many, and people were starting to hide in their homes more come dusk. A lot of blood and damage had been left behind. Weird damage, like in the other disappearances. Related? The Prince didn’t know, and from what her source told her, the two incidents were only related by proximity, the spiders and the disappearances.

Which could have easily been a lie. The source also said the spiders were in the tunnels of Devil’s Corner. Also could have been a lie, but it’d be a weird lie. The Prince assured Natasha her source was likely serious, likely genuine, and also likely hiding something. Typical Kindred scheming.

She’d poured through the records of the police, examined every detail of the disappearances, and the odd marks left behind. The Prince had access to all the police files, even the ones the Invictus thought they had under their thumb. Sneaky. And their files showed all the details, all the pictures, all the shots showing the carved up street and walls. So, being a thorough investigator, she was going to look into the disappearances too. Not like the few spiders she found at the Elysium tower were a good lead; it was a building, and they were normal spiders.

She still had one option though. She descended a subway stairway, and with a key given to her by Daniel, she opened the door into the city’s underbelly. The covenants all had access to it, which meant she had to be on guard for running into other covenants. Maybe she’d run into Vivienne? A smile sneaked onto her face as she thought of her childe back in the Invictus fold. The girl was too much like her.

The tunnels, dark and comforting; or at least they used to be. She could see well in the dark compared to most Kindred, which meant she could see in almost complete black. Sith sight, according to Jessy. She chuckled and moved along through the old paths, but the chuckle sounded forced even to her. Not too easy to be comfortable in the tunnels when she still had images of ghosts grabbing her legs from the shadows. To top it all off, now she had images of spiders doing the same, or leaving giant webs for her to stumble into.

A particularly scary dream she’d had had her trapped in a coffin — so quaint — while being eaten alive by hundreds of spiders; not so quaint. Some Kindred she was. Really have become a big baby, haven’t you?

She felt for the pistol underneath her suit jacket. It was there. She felt for the small sword beside it. There. If she had a flamethrower, she might feel a bit better, at least until she set herself on fire and turned into a puff of smoke and ash in half a second.

She shook out her shoulders, and stepped onto the subway platform she’d found. A few Nosferatu liked to hang out here, members of the Invictus but otherwise too weak and malformed to join them topside.

“Miss Halla,” she said.

Liliana Halla pulled her tattered old blanket down from her head, and raised her eyes to look at Natasha. The woman sat in the corner of the big, empty place of abandoned booths and ticket gates. Half of her face was covered in eyes. Actual eyes, with eyelids and eyelashes and everything. Maybe twenty eyes fighting for space along her cheek, jaw, temple, and a few on her neck.

But Nosferatu were Nosferatu, and such disfigurements were just that, disfigurements. She’d long learned to look past them, enough for conversation anyway.

“Madam ... I suppose I can call you whatever I want now, eh Natasha?” The woman, a petite thing like Natasha, rubbed some sleep out of one of her extra eyes, and smiled.

“Yeah, that is true isn’t it? Liliana.”

“How are things in the dragon order?”

“Little terrifying, really.”

She laughed, and gestured to the Nosferatu beside her. “More than Bob?”

Ah, Bob. Bob did not look like a Bob. Bob looked like a classic vampire, the ugly ones with a dozen large fangs overlapping the bottom lip, pointed ears, bald, no eyebrows, and veiny pale skin. Pale eyes too. He had long fingernails that looked like they belonged on an old corpse, and he used them to fidget with the big, dark, dirty robe he wore.

He offered a small wave, before he looked back down and continued fidgeting with his robe some more. Bob was a quiet man, a nice man. She’d personally given him assignments involving information warfare, and it’d been a failure. But when she gave him some assignments involving violence, roughing up some ballsy Carthians, he’d performed well. He wasn’t happy about it, but you couldn’t argue with the results. At least, the Invictus wouldn’t. Ends always justified the means in the First Estate.

“Yeah, more than B-Bob. Prince is Prince for a reason, and I’m reminded daily. Not that she reminds me, just that ... yeah, the stuff we d-d-deal with is terrifying.”

Lil nodded, and Bob did too. “What brings you to Vander Street?”

“Looking int-to something. I assume you know about the d-disappearances?”

They nodded. Course they did, they hung out beneath Devil’s Corner. She didn’t follow it by asking though; they wouldn’t be able to answer her. Invictus, not Ordo Dracul, they weren’t supposed to share information.

But maybe she could get a little something.

“How about spiders?”

They both blinked, looked at each other, then back to her.

“What about them?” Lil said.

“You tell me.” Natasha put up her hands, and stepped up to the Nosferatu before sitting down on a nearby crate. “I’m calling in a ff-favor. Point me in a direction, anything that’s unusual and spiders are involved.”

She was showing her hand. Now they knew she wanted information about spiders, and that she probably didn’t have any information of her own. But the Invictus weren’t her enemies, and these people were her acquaintances, former partners. She could get away with exposing her neck a little. Hopefully.

“Spiders. Spiders. Bob?” Lil looked his way with a shrug.

“ ... spiders.” A deep, rough voice on the gentle Bob. “ ... I avoid the tunnel beneath Ronder Street. The lights don’t work there, and before they stopped working, I found a lot of spiderwebs. Large, and a lot of them.”

Not exactly unusual, but not normal either. A cozy middle-ground of lukewarm that would probably lead to nothing, but was still a better lead than the nothing she had.

“Thanks a lot B-Bob. Lil. I owe you.”

“A strange thing for one of the few Ordo Dracul to be looking into,” Lil said.

“Strange is what we do.”

“Wait,” Bob said. “You asked about the disappearances? What’s the connection?”

Lil elbowed him in the side. “Hey.”

Natasha put up her hands. “K, I think it’s ss-safe to say we’re all a little in the d-dark here. Which is why I’m looking into it.” Grinning a sly grin, a grin worthy of the Prince, she stood back up and waved. “But ... sorry. Can’t tell you anymore. And I wouldn’t p-presume to call in anymore favors of you. Let’s just pretend this whole conversation d-didn’t happen.”

Lil and Bob sighed, but nodded, and returned her wave. She had a few more favors she could call in if she wanted, and they knew it too. But, that was a bridge she didn’t need to burn.

She couldn’t tell them she had no idea if there was a connection. There was exposing your neck a little, and then there was exposing all of it. Way too in the dark to be exposing anything really. It was a gamble.

Ronder Street. It was on the edge of Devil’s Corner, where the city came to a hard stop with only a few buildings before the dry forests and rocks beyond awaited. Most of the action in the city’s dirty hole happened in the center, like the disappearances; she’d have never drifted to the edge if it hadn’t been for Bob’s tip. Still, could be a dead end. Only one way to find out.

A long walk through the tunnels to the Ronder Street subway. And, to her surprise, no more Nosferatu were found. Well, it was a big city, the chances of running into more Kindred randomly in the tunnels were small, but walk long enough and you were bound to run into another eventually. And she walked a long time. Passed Ferning and Main Libera streets, passed Jameson, and Henmark street, and deeper into the older abandoned subway tunnels. Older and deeper both, because Jacob had a thing for them back in the day, according to the Prince.