'Qui: The Fall of Ottawa' Part 2, Chapter 5

[Please note this is not an official World of Darkness licensed product. All chapters within this setting will be available free of charge and will never be behind a paywall.]

For previous chapters all in one place, visit the collections tab. New chapters on Mondays!

Previously: Qui and his ally Sam visited a mechanic shop in the south end of Ottawa, investigating a murder. Qui was forced to remove Sam from the situation for her own safety and rewrite a portion of her memory before facing a foe that turned out to be a flesh-crafting Tzimisce vampire! What on earth was it doing here, so close to the seat of Parliament? Qui thought. Cranston was right. Prince Jonah was too weak to remain in control.

Chapter 5

The Tzimisce took several steps toward the door and cocked its head to the side as it listened for scattering prey. When it realized no one was there it swiveled in place, spine twisting at unnatural angles as it searched the warehouse for watchers and raked its long fingernails together eagerly.  

"I can feel you," it hissed through jagged teeth. "Come out and play! End times are coming, brother, and the chattel are ready for harvesting."

Qui tensed. He hadn't dealt with this type of foe in many years, but he knew that if the creature wanted to find him, it would be capable of seeing through the veil and piercing his cloak of shadows. If he wanted to strike first, he'd have to act fast. He took a few steps closer, gun drawn, and fired into the thing's center mass just before lunging and smashing its head in with his fist. 

The Tzimisce gasped and fell back, caressing its crushed cheekbone with its talons. "The policeman!" It swung its claws out, raking them over Qui's chest and tearing his light body armor nearly in half before he could dodge back out of range. "You have no business in this place! The work is not for you!"

"Shouldn't have done that," Qui muttered. He'd learned a new technique by watching Cranston work over the spy a few weeks ago, and now seemed like as good a time as any to try it out. He tensed his legs and launched himself into the air, smashing his left fist through the warehouse's metal ceiling and hanging on tight. From his new vantage point, he pulled a second gun from his belt, hidden beneath his coat. He fired downward with volatile incendiary rounds, pelting the monster with flame. He watched with satisfaction as its flesh sizzled and peeled away, leaving its already hideous face a scarred ruin. If the creature survived this encounter it would take quite some time to recover, even for one of its particular fleshcrafting talents.

"Ennis!" the vampire screamed loud enough that it caused Qui to wince and miss his next shot. "Bring our friend down to me!" It scooped up an oblong object from beside its feet and tossed the thing in Qui's direction fast enough that he was unable to shoot it down.

Sharp teeth latched onto Qui's pants and he shivered with revulsion as a spider the size of a small dog tore into his leg with ravenous mandibles. Unlike most Nosferatu, he'd never quite come to terms with his bloodline's affinity for insects and vermin; the very thought of communing with such a creature disgusted him almost as much as the feeling of it burrowing beneath his cold, dead skin. He shook his leg, but the spider was infuriatingly tenacious, swinging back and forth with him while it gnawed ever-deeper.

He tried to find his calm, a warm center where nothing could hurt him. The pain fell away, dulled as he cast it from his mind and stopped shaking his leg. He gritted his teeth and swing himself upward with supernatural strength, smashing his leg against the metal roof. He felt the spider's body break apart, raining dark red ichor onto the beast below. When he swung back down again the furry body fell, landing with a wet splat beside the vampire. Several of the spider's teeth were still embedded in his leg–he'd have to deal with that inconvenience later.

"Ennis!" The Tzimisce sounded genuinely distraught by its familiar's death and it stared up at him with inhumanly wide eyes brimming over with palpable hatred. For a moment Qui was certain that it would come after him, but then the vampire did something that he didn't expect–it ran. It ran directly toward his parked car where Sam was still unconscious, recuperating after having her mind altered. 

Qui loosened his grip and allowed himself to fall back to the concrete warehouse floor, bending his knees to absorb the shock. The pain in his left leg was so sharp that he nearly lost his balance–he'd forgotten about the spider's massive mandibles that had broken off and the impact from his leap had driven them even further in, scraping against the bone.

"Coward!" he shouted as he swung his hand up, aiming for only the briefest of seconds before firing at the fleeing vampire. The round buried itself into the doorframe, narrowly missing his fleeing foe as charred splinters flew free, threatening to set the entire shop ablaze. For a moment it looked like the monster was about to turn around and attack–Qui had hoped that the loss of its pet would enrage it into recklessness, but there was clearly something else at play here. He'd never seen a Tzimisce run like this; they were proud creatures in his experience, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. He also knew that he didn't have the time to stand there and puzzle it out while the thing ran in Sam's direction.

Qui lurched into an awkward run, following the vampire at full speed and catching up with it in the front lobby. His foe ducked at the last second before impact and raked its claws upward, skewering Qui through the meat of his thighs and using his forward momentum to hurl him through the plate glass window, shattering it on impact. 

He fell to the asphalt with a dull thud and rolled several times before managing to pull himself to a stop, his body riddled with jagged shards of broken glass. His leg was screaming at him now and he knew that if he didn't start taking this fight seriously, he wouldn't survive. Kindred of his stature were capable of ignoring high levels of pain, but at a certain point even a vampire as old as he was would succumb to their injuries.

"I didn't want to do this," the Tzimisce growled as it gracefully stalked him, stepping through the broken window on its slender legs. "I'm not supposed to make waves with the Camarilla–I was going to leave you alone. But then you went and killed Ennis!" It leapt toward him, talons stretched out impossibly wide. 

Qui raised his gun and fired, tagging the vampire twice with the incendiary rounds. It howled as it burned but still it was drawn to him in jerky movements as if its desire for revenge was an invisible tether that it simply couldn't shake free. At this rate both of them would be–

Several shots rang out through the night and Qui looked down at his gun, puzzled. He'd run out of rounds in the last barrage. The Tzimisce snarled in outrage, twisting to its left to confront its new foe just before its lower jaw was blown off and sent skittering over the pavement. Another shot hit it right between the eyes and it nearly toppled over then and there. 

The vampire screeched and staggered to the ground, its bones snapping and twisting. Seconds later it was a man no longer–in its place was a grey wolf, its fur bristling with fury. Yet another gunshot slammed into the pavement beneath it and the thing fell to all fours, loping away before another bullet could be the end of it.

Qui turned toward the source of the shots, astonished to see Sam standing there, gun held out and clutched tight in both hands, her arms shaking with fear. She was pulling the trigger over and over again, though the magazine had already run empty.