The Gallery 

In the dead of night, two Kindred stalked outside an abandoned middle school in the McKinley neighborhood of Tacoma.

"Hurry up would you?" A lean, blonde woman barked.

"Unless you want us to be found, you'll be a bit patient." A red-headed man responded, picking at a lock.

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes with a huff, "This is McKinley for crying out loud, it's not even one of the claimed neighborhoods."

"What do you mean? Just last week that old lady started working as the overseer, remember? Sasha was talking about getting a visit from her."

"Right right, that old, what was it, Ventrue? Well, even if she's one of us she's still just some old bitty. If the information I paid for is anywhere near correct, then it's worth whatever little risk exists."

"Ugh, you really went to Traffic Jam?"

"Trust me, it wasn't my first stop either, but despite the total dive that the bar is, the information they sell is top-quality. Honestly, it's a bit terrifying."

"You didn't have any of the products they're peddling did you?"

"Puh-lease! That's like asking if I got my fillet mignon from the fucking dollar store! Anyways, just get back to the lockpicking, if you're so worried about the nanny."

"I'm just saying, that shit can seriously mess you up. I had this buddy, South Line, he went there one day asking about some human chick, had a bit of their stuff, and then the next time I see him he's worked into a paranoid mess talking about how nothing was real! It was insanity!"

"Is that the Malkavian friend? What else do you honestly expect?"

Before he could respond, a fortunate click was heard, and the woman let a toothy grin flash in the darkness. "Let's get a move on."

Making their way through the abandoned and derelict school, the woman kept turning her head and the flashlight through the various halls and rooms.

"What're we looking for anyways?"

"According to Walker, there's something underneath this place, and someone was looking for it before, but only made it so far before they threw in the towel, so look for anything that's an open hatch, or that looks cleaner than the rest."

"What makes you think there's anything down there if the last guy gave up?"

"If the information is right, and it better be for what I paid for it, he gave up cause he couldn't make sense of some information, but unlike him," she paused and pulled out a small black notebook from her blazer pocket, "I have a bit of a codex on hand."

After a few more minutes, the red-headed kindred gave a whistle of recognition, partnered with a snap, and pointed towards the corner of a former classroom.

In the corner, there was a hole in the ground, with the dust clearly not at the same thickness as the rest of the room, with the flashlight catching the glint off of the very top of a metal ladder.

"Well done Oscar, hope you're not claustrophobic."

"C'mon Alice, I'm sturdier than that."

While it took some extra shimmying from Oscar, the two of them made it underneath the school and entered a passageway of smooth gray stone.

"This the place? It looks pretty unassuming."

"Well, I assume it's just the path to where we need to go. Although," she looked behind the two, seeing the wall behind the ladder, "Only one way to go from here."

The two of them walked forward for a few minutes before the pathway took a sharp left, which resulted in another long tunnel.

Along the way, the two of them saw various marks on the walls, ones that appeared to be from claws, some that could've been impact marks from bullets, and some that looked like they were cut with some kind of blade.

"This wasn't mentioned in the notes." The woman said, nervousness fluctuating her tone a bit, as she flipped through the black notebook.

"Are you sure we've got the right place?"

"Well as sure as I can be, I mean how many secret underground pathways could there be in Tacoma?"

"Beats me, it's not like I explore this damn city too much."

"Ugh, I get that. I can't wait to get something meaningful so we can head up north."

"Do you think if it's a big enough find, we'll get some nice position?"

"HA! Yes, we'll find some dusty old relics and become the new primogens!" The woman said dramatically.

"Oh come on, I'm not that cocky, but maybe I'd get to be a hound or something! Really able to start busting some heads!"

"Hmm, well I can see it happening." She replied, giving a side glance to her companion. "Maybe I'd get to be something like a Harpy. Although, I'd really like to aim for the Keeper of Elysium truthfully."

Before Oscar could make a quip, Alice held a hand out, and the two of them stopped.

"Look at that, this room is a lot bigger." She shined her light at the corners of the walkway, as the room ahead went far beyond the dimensions of the hall.

Lifting his flashlight up, Oscar whizzed past what was in the middle of this room, not catching it by the time the light moved, and instead saw what was on the ceiling of the room, large fluorescent lights.

"Look around for a switch, there should be something to light it up."

With an affirmative nod, the two went to either side of the hall and looked around for the light switch.

They spent some time searching in the darkness, feeling up against the wall, but finding nothing.

As Alice was searching, however, she suddenly heard what sounded like a breathy sigh.

"Complaining already? It's barely been a few minutes."

"What're you talking about? I didn't say shit." Oscar replied, further away than she expected.

Before she could retort, she heard the sound again, although with what sounded like a whine at the end of it, coming from behind her.

Walking a few steps in that direction, her light hit the bottom portion of a square stone pedestal, with a gold plate on it.

She knelt down to read the plate, seeing that it read "The Tree of Unlife, made April 18th."

As she read the words aloud, she heard the noise again, right above her.

Against her better judgment, she turned her attention and flashlight upward, as her light caught the crimson sheen of what appeared to be a nervous system spread out and twisted to resemble a tree, with bones strewn across its passageways, and a still-beating heart, pounding quickly yet quietly, in the middle next to a pair of moving lungs.

Already terrified, her light went up further, until it caught the bloodshot eyes of the poor art piece, who didn't have the energy to scream but instead let out panicked, wheezing breaths.

"Oh, jesus christ!" She exclaimed, tremors palpable in her tone, falling backward onto the floor.

"What? What's wro-" Oscar began, before the turn of his flashlight revealed another project, an abomination of flesh, bone, and sinew stretched into the figure of a weeping willow.

"I think we need to get the fuck out of here!" Oscar said, rushing to pick Alice up.

As she got to her feet, however, the lights overhead flashed on, and a figure could be seen at the end of the hall.

She was almost the stereotypical old woman, short and on the chubbier side, with a slight hunch, as well as a thick head of white curls against her aged skin, wearing a pink floral dress and slippers, with a pair of silver glasses.

"Leaving so soon, dearies?"

"M-Miss Lowe! H-How odd to find you here at this hour." Oscar said, almost quaking in his boots.

"Well I don't think it's that odd for an old woman to spend time in her gallery, is it?"

"Y-Your gallery!? You made all of these...all of these things!?" Alice shouted, anger replacing her fear.

The older woman scoffed at the sentence. "I know my arboreal period isn't the best of my works, but calling them merely things is rude dearie!" She stepped closer to the pair.

"Shouldn't you have better manners, especially if you're seeking to join the Camarilla?" Her tone turned sharp, as did her eyes, as she focused on the two intruders.

"P-Please. Jojo, let's talk, you must understand the lack of upward mobility here in Tacoma, as a fellow Ventrue, don't you see that Seattle holds the true power here?"

"A Ventrue?" The woman asked with a laugh. "I suppose that is a reasonable assumption to make, but let this be a quick history lesson for you youngsters." She walked forward as the bones of her hand extended from her fingers, into devilishly sharp claws.

"Not every Dragon is of the Sabbat."

"You're a fuckin Tzimisce!?" Oscar exclaimed in shock.

"You're a monster!" Alice screamed, pulling out a stiletto knife.

"Oh dear children, we are all monsters! But, I would consider myself a monster of two qualities." She stepped closer, her body growing larger, more bones protruding, and her own teeth starting to sharpen into anglerfish-like protrusions.

"First, I know how to be loyal." Her legs developed a cat-like shape and musculature, and her spine twisted around to give her a streamlined gait.

"And I have the decency to wear my monster proudly."

As a sharpened tail of bone shot from her lower spine, her cat-like eyes trained in on the pair of Kindred, and she pounced, with the echoing screams not escaping the confines of the abandoned school.

A few days later, a tall and thin man, with bright yellow hair and eyes and a permanent cocky smirk on his face walked through the now almost empty gallery.

Wearing a black cropped leather jacket and jeans, with a bright yellow shirt and a striped scarf of the same two colors, his outfit could best be described as 'caution-tape chic'.

"Moving out the art pieces? Imma miss those guys, always had so much to say!" He quipped as he met the old woman at the far end of the room.

"Yes yes, I appreciate your passion Walker, but my arboreal period was finished anyways. I'm moving to more of a mythological inspiration now."

The rows of eight square podiums on either side were almost empty, save for the last ones.

On the left, sat what used to be Alice, whose body was cut at the elbow and thigh, and from her mouth to her navel was spread open and hollowed out, save for her heart and lungs, with teeth-like bones lining the outside of the cavern. Her back muscles and skeleton were flayed out, giving the appearance of sinuous wings. All of this was a piece titled 'Harpy.'

On the right, sat what used to be Oscar,  whose body was hunched over and broken in places to give the appearance of a ravenous dog, as his own muscles and nerves were spread along his back to appear like peaking streams of fire. His head was misshapen to have the snout of a dog as well, and his pried open mouth held his heart, as his shoulders were turned into facsimiles of dog-like faces as well, their own snouts molded into a wide grin and frown respectively, a mask of comedy and tragedy, each holding one of his lungs. This piece was titled 'Hell Hound'.

As the pair marveled over the sculptures, both of the victim's eyes moved to look at their oppressors, as Walker gave an enthusiastic wave.

"I hope you're here to uphold your end of the deal, Mr. Walker."

"Of course! I am a man of integrity and honesty!" He said, very obviously crossing his fingers with his left hand while pulling out two notecards with his right.

"Two cocky camarilla hopefuls gone, two locations of abandoned Sabbat projects, just like usual."

Jojo let out a sigh as she looked at the addresses. "To think my clan cousins would be so wasteful, so hasty, and so artistically uninspired. Well, someone must clean up the mess. Thank you, child."

"As always, it's my pleasure ma'am." He said with an exaggerated bow.

"Say, would you like to come up for some tea? I think there's a Golden Girls rerun tonight!"

"Oh, consider me sold!"

The two of them continued on with the casual conversation, and Jojo flipped a large switch along the hallway towards the exit, leaving the two new sculptures in the dark, entirely alone, except for each other's company.