Crosses to Bear

Rapha called the pack together to plan a response to the new found opposition they now had to face.

"Brothers and sisters we find ourselves with a cross to bear because of the cancer we have allowed to survive in our territory.  I believe it is time we discuss how to excise this blight upon the Sword's honor....Oh yes, and we should do something about that Cross vampire that is even now in the thrall of the Setite's blood drug.  We should put him through the cure.  Or at least turn the situation to our advantage."

Alexis perks up. It's face twists with a slight curiosity.

"While you were handling business we discovered that besides the weak-willed pawns of the Camarilla the foolish devotees of the Ancient Serpent are also infesting the night in the Sword's rightful city. There is a priestess of considerable power in control of the vice ridden South Side neighborhood. Her control of blood magic is impressive but it has made her haughty and that is the opening we can exploit to make her heart's blood our own. She already believes that her power has granted control of Cross and I, but she was foolish enough to dismiss that my own power would grant me the knowledge of how to break her hold. Cross is not so lucky but that can either be remedied with some time in the hole or shaped so that her belief in her control of him can be a tool we can use to exploit to her."

Alexis slowly digests this information. It's brain perks with ideas and plans. An ancient serpent would be a delightful treat the pack would be deserving of. One that is best drawn out with careful planing and pack tactics.

"If we purge him of his symptoms, she may become aware. We are going to have to string the puppet for awhile. We may need a pair of expendable eyes on South Side."

"I would tend to agree ductus.  Might I suggest we assure our control over the situation then.  It may be to our advantage to have the Lasombra spend some time working subtle controls into this Cross.  Like my own blood, most of the serpents can manipulate emotions but not the mind.  It would be unlikely she would detect control of this sort.  If we break her hold outright or I attempt to assert my own powers of the blood over him she is very likely to recognize the danger and remove the hold as I did with her own powers."

Rapha paused a moment considering his next words.

"There is also another matter of great importance for the good of our pack and the whole of the Sword... our so called bishops.  Neither has properly followed the Ritae and been reconized by the Blood Bath.  Not once have the Sermons been spoken during an Esbat, nor have we performed the Games of Instinct or done but a single Fire Dance.  They have not even brought the traitor who would claim their title to justice."

His words begin to punctuate with sharp chops of the hand and snarled phrases as the Beast begins to feed on the delicacy of immortal anger given voice, "Worse still the Sword's enemies close in about us and they fail to act.  We uncovered the nest of snakes within the city and though he was within it De la Cruz walked away.  He even had the temerity to accuse our pack of weakness for not destroying the enemy he refused to face. Sadly he is the better of the two.  The esteemed Nathan Graves did not even show his cowardly face.  He who admits in open requests to the Sword that he is ignorant of the events and enemies that dwell within the city he seeks to rule, and that he is powerless to act against them without others doing his rightful tasks.  He who stood against Bishop Hunter in support of the traitor Desantes even after the proof of Hunter's words were proven in the ordeal of the Monomacy."

He falls into a short silence seeking to wrestle the Beast back into its prison within the maze of his mind.

Alexis' eyes went from narrow planning to wide open, while listen to Rapha's words on the bishops. It may be a blessing that Murphy isn't in the room to hear this. He may have flow into one of his righteous rages. Alexis wouldn't blame him, this isn't effective. Alexis hates ineffective things. Inefficiency leads to issues for survival....

It places it's hands on Rapha's shoulders. It was like putting you hand near an abused dog, not sure if it will bite or cower. "It looks like my experiments will have to be postponed. It may look like I'll have to draft up new ideas anyways." It walks away back to it's lab and stops briefly "You may want to talk to the priest, it looks like you and him have some things in common."

Murphy walks in from his ritualistic PT session. "Looks like I am late for a meeting. What's happening?"
He listens as Alexis fills him in, and his hands clench tight into fists at his sides. "I understand, let us not go into detail again and tempt our brother's Beast. I guess stepping away for our research and development might have been poorly timed, Lexi."
Murphy gives Rapha a calming look as Alexis steps into her lab.
"I know we have not had much time to talk as of late, personal matters of mine and Lexi's have kept us distant. Too distant, it seems. For that, I apologize, brother. Let us talk now. Lexi is perceptive to many things, and she is correct. It seems we share a common hatred. For soldiers like us, there are few better bonds."

"Curious that you see me as a soldier brother, when I think of myself more like to a priest." Rapha reaches into his shirt to take out one of his charms, a coin, Roman, so worn by sand and centuries that it is almost unrecognizable.  "But those are nothing but two sides of the coin, the worth of each only determined when backed with the other.  And that, truly, is what concerns me here Murphy, those who would call themselves bishops only acknowledge the one to the neglect of the other."

Rapha begins to pace the floor rubbing the coin between his fingers, his voice taking on the air of one recounting a lesson, "We are the Sword of Caine, the weapon that will cut through the Ancient's power when Gehenna descends upon us.  But a sword of itself is nothing, it is the strength of the arm that wields it and the conviction in the warrior's soul that makes it deadly.  These so called bishops have shown they understand that the Blood grants us strength, but they allow the soul of the Sword to wither and so the city has grown weak.  The betrayal of Desantes, the heresies spoken of by Hunter, the failure to perform the Ritae, these show that a canker grows in the soul of the Sword....And it is the clergy, with the leadership of powerful, righteous bishops that must cut it out.  If we are to build the Sword into a true army, one that will bathe in the blood of our cattle, and shall march to Gehenna through storms of the Ancient's pawns' ashes we must be lead by those worthy of the respect they seek to demand."

Murphy's stoic face lets slip a small grin as he listens to Rapha's words.
"Those are wise words. We cannot be strong of arm without first being strong of spirit. It is our conviction in the Truth of Caine that holds us steadfast against the powers of the Ancients. And it is the sacred Ritae of the Sabbat that keep us connected to that Truth. I am shocked to hear some of the things you tell me. And given what the Archbishop has told Lexi and myself, I am surprised nothing has come of it yet. Perhaps it is time to push the pieces into place and set the machine into motion."
"Future actions aside, your anger has stirred something in me. I have not heard that form of anger for quite some time. Not since my mentors taught me the Truth of Caine. Those sound like the words of one who walks with Honor and Respects the Sabbat and its Code & Ritae. Are you a fellow Knight, brother?"

"A Cobra Knight! Now that would be a sight to see!" Rapha chuckles with what may be actual mirth. "I do not think my blood were destined for the front lines of the crusade's battlefields brother. I follow the path of the Unifier, albeit within the tenets of my religion. But one does not grow to be a babaloricha without understanding the importance of maintaining the strength of the soul."

"Again we find ourselves proving that it is with two sides that we find value in the coin. The Knights stand as paragons of the Code of Milan, Caine's laws and the Ritae. By example do you show the Sword how to be united in righteous fury and loyal service. But every army needs generals and intelligence units, those who will do whatever is necessary to see victory achieved. This is the place of the Unifiers. We build the networks of power to make our cities bastions of vampiric might and tear down the Camarilla's defenses layer by layer. In this we also know the great value of the Sabbat's Ritae and the laws of Caine, without them we are divided and directionless, a mightly rabble not the united Sword of Caine we must be to stand against the Ancients."

"Sadly this is the state we are in within this city. We are leaderless and without purpose. Our pack is wiser than most and so we are effective in our tasks, but in this we are virtually alone. The rest are, how do you say it here, a herd of cats?"

Murphy laughs at Rapha's last comment. "Yes, it definitely feels like a herd of cats."
"As our pack priest, I am relieved to know you are on a respectable path. This should cause very little conflict with any of the others. And, it seems the path laid out before us will strengthen both sides of the coin. But, I have a few things to do to prep for Esbat, I think I am on the verge of something big here."
Murphy's mind drifts off as he leaves.