Brooke ran her fingers gently across the spines of the ancient tomes in the Glaive library, her eyes closed as she reached out with her mind, searching for the faintest traces of either Capper or Gliss in the room.

Her talk with Rune hadn't given her much more to go on than what Finbarr had already reported, but he'd directed her at least to the correct part of the library. In her early days with Glaive, Brooke had spent a lot of time down here, trying to embrace the new life that had been thrust upon her, learning the histories of her new family, but rarely had she thought to delve this far back into the lore of the world.

With Finbarr out keeping an eye on both Capper and Gliss in the city, that left her free to pursue less conventional avenues of enquiry. So she returned to the room where she'd found them a few nights ago, like revisiting the scene of a crime. With years spent honing her skills with the clans meditation tutors Brooke knew how to trace the vestiges of an Aspect, especially a powerful one like Capper's. Even Gliss, despite her apparent low-born stature had a disproportionately resonant presence. It was like following footsteps in soft snow, trying to track them before another layer could fall and cover them up.

Luckily this room of ancient texts didn't see many visitors. Aside from Rune's barely detectable Aspect the only firm presences she could identify were her two culprits. But culprits of what?

For the best part of half an hour she patrolled the room, fingertips roaming over the delicately preserved spines with the gentleness of a warm breath. She closed her eyes, focusing her Aspect as she'd been taught, pushing it out from her body in a bubble of ethereal energy, waiting for it to meet the residue of the other vampires who'd inhabited this space. On she went, book after book; shelf after shelf.

Many of the volumes still held the faint lingering sensation of either Capper or Gliss, or both. She noticed that most of those with Gliss's mark on them were written in ancient Vampyr. She squinted, thinking back to the lessons of her induction into the clan. Her knowledge of the language was a little rusty, but she could make out the titles well enough. What she saw only deepened her confusion. When Finbarr had mentioned myths and legends he hadn't been kidding.

Eventually, unable to pick a specific tome, she started hauling them off the shelves at random; any that had the slightest hint of Capper and Gliss would have to be examined. Squinting under the light of the gas-lamps she started trawling through the ancient scripts, looking for any clues to what they were looking for.

Touching them helped. As her fingers brushed the ancient pages echoes of their investigations could be felt. Following the strongest vibrations through the tomes she, at length, managed to hunt down some particular passages they'd focused on. Wandering, obtusely written passages from aeon-dead scholars and monks filled her mind with wild stories and monstrous imaginings. She frowned, trying to disentangle the myths from what she could recognise as reality without much success. This was glorified folklore dressed up as historical record.

Brooke saw nothing here that would have been of interest to either of them, but unless her senses were badly failing her, this miasma of half-truths and fairy tales had been what held their attention the most. Stories of warlords from before the clans, before Veridian Shores washed over her like murky river-water. But in one passage she did spot a word she recognised that had survived the march of legends: the Drucatta. Her fingers rested against that page, feeling the strength of Gliss's Aspect skulking there. What tied the ancient vault of the Baelock Clan to their investigations of these ghost stories?

Feeling a headache beginning to swell behind her eyes from reading the ancient Vampyr glyphs, she lit a cigarette, tearing her eyes away and thoughtfully burning her way through it as she tried to make some sense of her findings. What possible link could their be between these fictions and fantasies and the most powerful clan in the city? She'd been privileged enough years ago on a delegation to the Baelock estate to actually see the entrance to the Drucatta – an impregnable monument of stone and metal that would defy all comers. And more importantly, what could Gliss want with it?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of singularly heavy footfalls that she had grown to recognise all too well. With her fingers still resting against the pages of the tome she looked up to see Finbarr looming out of one of the adjoining corridors. She frowned when she noticed his black guard attire was scuffed and ripped.

"What happened to you?"

"There was another incursion tonight," he told her quickly. "A group of hunters from Hearth were feeding in the eastern docks."

Brooke blinked in surprise. "The docks?! By the First, what were they thinking?"

"They're not thinking much anymore." He tugged his duelling rods free, examining the points with a critical eye. "Most of them ended up getting ashed."

"Most?"

"Some ran away. We let one of them go."

"Why?" Brooke straightened up, folding her arms. "Was that Capper's idea?"

"It was Gliss's."

A shudder of fury flashed through her but she suppressed it trying to focus on the facts. "And why were you taking orders from her?"

"It wasn't...orders so much. In the fight she saved Beel's life. Then she caught one of the Hearths when they tried to get away. Said we needed to make an example."

"I suppose we can't argue with that," Brooke conceded reluctantly. "And then what did she do?"

"Stabbed the prisoner in the stomach and sent her back to Hearth with a message that if any more of them were caught we would destroy the whole clan."

Despite her instinctive distrust and dislike of the other vampire, Brooke had to admit that she'd probably taken the most sensible course. Hearth were a small clan, not worth troubling with unduly, but sending a message that Glaive still strongly defended its borders would play well in the Synod.

The Synod. She glanced sharply back at open book where the passage lay open, describing the inner sanctum of the Baelock mansion. It couldn't be a coincidence. She remembered Capper's words: working another angle. She hoped to every deity she did and didn't believe in that he wasn't planning anything foolish on what might be the most important night of their lives.

Though even if he wasn't, that didn't mean Gliss didn't have some scheme waiting to be hatched that might well plunge the whole city into a war. She had a feeling the clans of Iron Hollow would watch with nothing but glee if their southern neighbours fell into total disarray. With relations at an all time low, a disruption at the Synod could certainly accomplish that.

Composing herself, she turned back to Finbarr. "Where are they now?"

"They gave our offering to the Elders," he replied. "Tranna took Gliss back to her chambers. Last I saw Capper he was talking to Tithe – I don't know what about. Couldn't get close enough to hear them without it being obvious."

"Very well." She gave him a curt nod. "Get some rest, Finbarr. I think you've earned it."

"Milady." He dipped his head respectfully, before rotating and lumbering from the room.

Brooke turned back long enough to close the ancient book and return it to its place on the shelves. Then she too stormed from the library, climbing the estate's corridors until she reached the passages of the west wing where their 'guest' had been given lodgings. Her mind burned with questions; accusations.

A few turns later and she reached the room, marked by the tall figure of the current guard on duty, Tranna. The female vampire turned and lowered her head in deference as Brooke approached.

"Stand easy," Brooke told her, eyes fixed on the burnished wooden planks of the door. "Is she in there?"

Tranna nodded. "Yes, Milady. Has been since she returned from the hunt."

Brooke pursed her lips staring at the door behind which her nemesis waited. Did this make sense? Did she really need to force this confrontation? Something in her rang with warning, an indefinable sense of wrongness that she just couldn't place. Without definite evidence what did she hope to accomplish? Nevertheless she couldn't bring herself to walk away. Balling her hands into fists she took a step forward.

Something else twanged in the back of her mind, but this was something very real. She flinched, trying to place it.

"Milady?" Tranna asked uncertainly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm not..." Brooke stared hard at the door, searching her mind to figure out. "Have you been in there recently?"

"I haven't. No one really goes in there – she's got the place to herself."

"I see."

With her jaw tightly clenched she stepped closer again. The sensation in the back of her mind grew stronger and now she could place it. It was Gliss's Aspect, but something about it felt different, somehow emptier, as though she wasn't all there. No presence had ever felt like this. She looked at Tranna.

"Do you feel that?"

The guard looked nonplussed. "Feel what?"

"Never mind." Tensing, in one smooth motion she took the final step forward, wrapped a hand around the door-handle and swept the door open.

What she found inside made her stop dead.

Gliss sat cross legged, eyes open wide and wild, glaring daggers of pure hatred that made Brooke physically shudder. Suddenly the emptiness that she'd perceived in the other vampire's Aspect vanished, replaced by a torrential rush of being that almost made her vomit. For a brief instant she felt as though the room was crammed with a thousand vampires, a city of Aspects, each one searing and raw; a collection of brutish, animal minds that filled her with revulsion.

She staggered for an instant before reasserting her own presence on the room, gathering herself and meeting Gliss's blazing stare. The tide of phantom Aspects receded as quickly as it had risen, leaving a strangely fragmented presence that seemed to be scattered around the room. As Gliss rose slowly to her feet, however, the tendrils of her Aspect knitted back together into a tangible force.

And that's when the rage really hit home.

The memory of the other vampire's ferocity in the training arena flashed through her mind, but Brooke stood her ground. Now that she had a chance to examine the girl she saw a tiny prick of blood on her thumb, a fraction of a second before Gliss turned her hand away.

Feeling Tranna's presence moving up behind her gave Brooke the little jolt of reassurance that she needed to take another step forward.

"What do you want?" Gliss snarled suddenly, her voice hoarse and dry. "You can't just come barging in here."

Brooke bared her fangs. "You really don't understand how things work around here, do you? I'm an Elder-Blood – you're an ostracised stray. If I want to walk into a room in this mansion I can do it."

Gliss's teeth ground together audibly but her eyes flickered to the guard standing in the doorway and she swallowed whatever she really wanted to say. Instead she clenched her hands into fists.

"Then what can I do for you, milady?" she spat with undisguised contempt.

"What were you doing?" Brooke said, indicating Gliss's hand with a nod.

"I was meditating."

"By cutting yourself?"

She saw the glint of fangs as Gliss half-opened her mouth in a silent snarl. In response, the guard took a step forward until she stood alongside Brooke.

"Answer her," Tranna said, her voice calm but firm.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Slowly and deliberately Gliss opened her palms, spreading them wide for both to see. Brooke's brow furrowed in frustration at the sight of the vampire's pale, unblemished skin. Gliss had kept her hands out of sight for just long enough for the small cut on her thumb to heal. There wasn't even a stain of blood to prove otherwise.

But Brooke knew what she'd seen, and what she'd felt.

"I'd be very careful about playing games with me, Gliss," she threatened. "You might have Capper wrapped around your finger, but some of us know better."

"Does that bother you, princess?" An evil grin flashed across Gliss's face. "What Capper does is his business. If he wants to spend time with me maybe you should just get used to it."

Doing her best to contain her bubbling anger, Brooke let out a long, steadying breath and nodded to the guard. "Leave us."

"Milady?" Tranna looked perplexed by the order.

"Outside. Now."

The icy hiss was enough to get the point across and Tranna slipped out of the room without another word, shutting the door behind her. Silence enveloped the two vampires as they stood, eyes locked, Aspects churning in the air between them.

"So what happens now?" Gliss asked, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Are you going to interrogate me?"

"You know, Gliss, the one thing I would love more than anything in the world, is to believe that you can be trusted," Brooke replied quietly. "Capper seems to think that you can, but I know him. He wants to see the better side of the world, no matter the realities. I'm not like him."

"There's a shock."

"Go ahead, make your jokes, but I don't give a damn what you think of me. All I care about is what's best for this clan. So tell me, Gliss, why is it you're so interested in the myths and the legends that pre-date this city? Why are you following the footsteps of some barbarian warlord? And why are you so interested in the Drucatta?!"

The last word finally slipped through Gliss's carefully crafted veneer of cold disinterest. It wasn't much; a flicker of the eyes and a tightening of that sarcastic smile, but it was there. Brooke felt a surge of satisfaction and pressed on.

"So what is it?" she persisted. "Why would a stray from Iron Hollow be interested in the reliquary of the Baelock Clan? Why would a clanless vampire be so determined to dig up the wild stories that come before Veridian Shores even existed?"

"Maybe I'm just an enthusiast," Gliss snapped. "Maybe, since I'm going to be stuck here for a while I want to understand just what I've walked into? Maybe you're just jumping at shadows, looking for enemies where there are none."

"Maybe." Brooke shrugged. "But I would rather be suspicious and alive than a trusting pile of ash."

"That's your problem." Gliss's expression of mild amusement faded and she took a step forward. "Capper made me feel welcome here, a courtesy that no-one else seems to have grasped in this bureaucratic snake-pit. I've got nothing for you, Elder-Blood. You want an enemy? I'm sorry, I can't help you. All I'm trying to do is stay alive and if that offends you so deeply...well here I am."

Brooke stiffened at the outburst, a tiny twinge of doubt igniting in the back of her mind. There was the possibility, however small, that all this time she had been overreacting. But she wasn't ready to just roll over and play nice just yet. She hadn't imagined those voices; the presence of a whole army of vampires just lurking on the edge of Gliss's Aspect. The girl was lying about something.

"Then keep your secrets if you can," Brooke told her, turning for the door. "But whatever else he is, Capper is my friend. If you use him – if you betray him – there is nowhere between heaven and hell that you will be able to hide."