To all those reading the Modern Mage storyline, this happens over chapters 17 & 18 and may demand up theatrical role of 19 as well. I'll know more about that once the inhalation for 19 comes to me. I wanted to let everyone see a dissimilar view than Andrew's as well as cover song something that wouldn't have fit in the rest of the narrative based on the face that Modern Mage is being author as though Andrew is explaining his past to the subscriber. I used bother third person tale and some first person in the chapter here to differentiate what he was thinking at first as well as allowing me to explicate some of the back history for those who read this and haven't read the rest of the modern font Mage and Existence Stories. promise everyone enjoys a different take on thinks in the macrocosm of Magick and Monsters that I am attempting to bring you all into.

Gabriel Roarke had been a hunter for over a decade, ever since he recovered after his family was attacked by a lamia. To be more precise after that creature had killed his parents and then turned his babe forcing Roarke to kill them if he wanted to live. He had spent six calendar month in a infirmary recovering from physical trauma he'd received from surviving that night and cleaning up the mess so that he didn't go to jail for murder. He didn't tell the police or the doc, nurse and psychiatrist that the hospital about the vampire because he didn't want to be placed in a mental institution either.

At the end of his time recovering from the injury Roarke was taken in by a young couple instead of being placed in a government household. While grateful for that he was unsure why they took him in until dinner of the low night in his new home. It turned out that they had known about the supernatural and realized that what happened to his kinsfolk was a Vampire onset. They began to excuse that their home had been a hanker line of Hunter, dedicated to protecting humanity from the things most don't even believe in. They started training him, not just in how to fight but hot to cogitate as well. Over the course of four years they had trained hum, taken him out on hunts and treated him as though he was their own tiddler. They made sure that he also got a proper school education allowing him to qualify for college. Just after his eighteenth birthday while shopping for supplies before he left for college the lamia that had attacked his category tracked him down again. That dark the vampire attacked again killing both of his guardians. He killed the vampire that night himself. After that Nox he decided not to go away to shoal but to bulge hunting and recruiting new Hunter to train.

For six years Roarke had been hunting and killing every supernatural being he could get over down. It didn't subject what kind they were. He focused mostly in areas where had found the great unwashed disappearing or being murdered. He excelled at ferreting out those puppet that hid in knit slew. Over time her developed sources of information on the web and made striking with other Hunter and informant. After that he started to get Thomas More and more information on existence he couldn't have found himself. Information that told him not only where to find these behemoth, but what kind her was dealing with. He couldn't believe his portion in finding this source of information. That source had created a problem for him sooner today.

He got entropy about a target in Las Lope Felix de Vega Carpio who was said to be a danger not just to the people in the city around him, but to others around the world. Roarke spent most of his time hunting in Emerald Isle, Scotland and England but would travel abroad when there was a threat that would ask the clock time and effort. He had hunted in the United province a few metre but had never traveled to Las Lope de Vega before. The witnesser contacted him anonymously as usual with the target info. The target was a illusion user, powerful at that. The documentation sent tied him to a drawstring of execution around the city and in nearby Department of State claiming that he was using blood magic to increase his power. The prey speech was provided with the former information, along with the import that he was nearly completed the ritual meaning he needed to be stopped quickly. Roarke booked passageway to Las Vegas and shipped the power train he would need by air freight the adjacent day. Within the workweek he was in Las Vegas and picked up his gear. He would normally have taken time to scout the aim and reach certain that he could get in and out without any job, but from the add info he just didn't have the time before this guy started killing more than people.

Roarke got to the location on the night of February first to see his target come back at the star sign with a midget red haired woman that there was no information on in the files. The driver of the car that brought them there drop luggage and took it in for them. He could see from his position several the great unwashed inside the theater when the door was opened. It looked like they had come back from some variety of slip and having a welcome nursing home party from his perspective. Roarke watched the theatre as the night went on. Around one or two in the morning well-nigh of those Roarke had seen left the house. He continued to watch the house until good morning. Right before sunrise Roarke got out of his truck and started to displace toward the star sign expecting the occupants to be sleeping after the late evening.

He got halfway across the property to the doorway moving from cover to encompass when he paused for a moment. He had about thirty feet of space to cross with goose egg to duck behind when he continued to approach. He wasn't aware at that moment that the next few transactions were going to change perception of reality forever. He pulled the sword he inherited from his guardian before standing up. The sword was refuted to be a priceless artifact that can stop almost any kind of thaumaturgy used against the soul wielding it. He stood up and started across the spread terra firma when the strawman door opened and out stepped the man he was after.

Standing before Roarke was the monster that he was sent after, a person worse than any he hunted before. This man had killed more barren people that any former occult creature he had tracked down and had the lordliness to mistreat out and enjoy a gay morning as though there wasn't a care in the macrocosm. Roarke's finding was one of his greatest and deadliest assets and upon seeing he target he charges intending to end this quickly. Within the first mates of steps the man looked unconcerned, but it quickly changed to discombobulation as he dodged the golf shot of the sword and rolled away. Roarke firmly believed that this man was truly a monster simple by the fact that he was human being and made the choice to demolish lives for his own increase. Vampires needed blood to live and were soulless, werewolves were angry uncontrolled animate being, other supernatural creature hadn't even started out as human being and while they needed to be destroyed you couldn't hold them to human moral. When a man decides that he would rather kill for power, money or any early reasonableness they made themselves worse monsters than those born to it.

The monstrosity he faced scanned the area, probable looking for assistance in fighting Roarke off in monastic order to relieve his own low life. He spoke up,"What do you need here ?"

Roarke's reply was direct and even, no sense of rage or anger in his tone. Roarke kept his emotions in hitch when he hunted. He didn't pop out of ire or revenge ; his need were as pure as he could make them. He hunted to protect humanity for the goliath as his defender had taught him."Your heading,"was the reply.

"I'm sorry to let down you, but it won't be that easy. take the air away, leave me and my booster alone and I'll do the same for you. I don't want you dead and you don't want to die,"was the answer from his target. Did this giant really conceive that it would be that wide-eyed to make it ? Did he not see the conclusion on Roarke's face ? This man was a coward praying on the watery to gain mogul and thought he could simply talk his way out of his own demise.

"I've been threatened by and then killed better than you, why would I walk away now ?"Roarke replied evenly. While he couldn't be sure as shooting that he wouldn't be killed himself he decided that this man would not live to bolt down anyone else either. Roarke was determined that either he would hold out this fighting or neither of them would. With that mentality he knew he was the most dangerous variety of enemy anyone had ever faced.

"shuffle your choice and let's get this over with,"the monster relied with a lack of solitaire. Roarke was more than willing to oblige him if he wanted to die. He started to conclude with the quarry again, staying on the chunk of his feet ; trying to be set for anything this man before him could do. The enemy moved far faster than he was expecting and sidestepped past tense Roarke, opening distance that he didn't want to kick in him. He still knew that he wasn't faster than no of the other affair he hunted and therefor the monster would die. Roarke closed again quickly, swinging to divide this man's consistence at the waist. His target dodged, dropping into a crouch and sweeping at Roarke's substructure. Reacting instinctively he started to jump over his enemy's leg but was caught briefly by the onslaught. He landed on his back instead of flipping out and away, turning the landing into a roster back away from his opposer. Roarke realized that no matter what else this target was, he was also a trained fighter.

"Why are you here ?"the man asked.

"I'm here to vote out you, I figured that was obvious by now,"Roarke replied, letting his tone grow wickedness and menacing.

"That region was obvious old salt ass. What I want to know is the reasonableness you chose to try and kill me ? I've never done anything to harm you or yours that I know of, so why am I your object ?"Roarke was shocked by this reply. Did this demon really have the saddle sore to ring him a jack ass ; and why was it that so many of his fair game had tried to recreate innocent when faced with their own mortality ? Own up to what you do in liveliness and take your due was his philosophy ; if you can't you shouldn't be doing whatever it is in the start space. Roarke knew many would see him as little more than a murderer even though he did what was needed to protect others.

Roarke closed again a little more cautiously and started his swing trying to bisect this man from shoulder to opposite hip. His foeman reacted quickly, stepping inside his range with a jab to the throat. Immediately after that his opponent followed up with a knee to the groin. Roarke's only thought was that this man didn't just have intercourse how to fight he knew how to win a fight. Roarke couldn't call it dirty fighting as his guardians had stressed from the start that all was fair in love and war. His Step-Mother for lack of a effective full term used to say"You can fight by the rules or you can fight to win. I would rather you fight to win."right wing after the attacks to bedaze him the enemy shoved him and backed up to hit some space instead of following up which worried Roarke as he had no true knowledge of what kind of powers this man could bring in to bear.

When Roarke got back to his foot his enemy was now armed with two foresighted thin metal bar. They were each about thirty inches long and looked about an inch or so stocky. When they closed again, Roarke had his target on the defensive attitude. If for nothing else, Roarke had to yield his opponent credit for being a fighter. They went back and Forth for several minutes, both of them tiring but chance was with Roarke as his target seemed to be fading faster. The man turned the tables forcing Roarke to hold himself even more as he sought a way through his training and skill with the broadsword. As they continued this venomous dance Roarke heard a sound toward his left wing but kept focused on his adversary. The man looked away toward the door as his body turned toward the space between Roarke and that speech sound ; that was the opening night he was waiting for. Roarke whipped the steel in from the side slicing a line across the man's belly leaving a trail of parentage flowing behind its passing.

"Andrew ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"a woman's part screamed. The objective stepped back turning sideways to descend at his side opened up from Roarke's attempt on him. He switched the traction on the sword and drove it up towards the quarry side driving it in just below the bottom rib. Roarke's spirit was lifted as he knew he was successful in his seeking to kill the monster. Roarke's lightness was curt lived however as this monster stepped forward pushing the sword deeper into his reed organ. The man had a look that Roarke recognized from his own mirror. It was a look that said that while I may be dying but I'm taking you with me. Faster than he could react to the tone-beginning Roarke's wrist joint were crushed by one of the alloy Browning automatic rifle as the other contacted the face of his head. He was ok with dying as long as he knew that his target had been eliminated before he could cause any more harm. Those were his dying thought as he lost knowingness.
********************

Those were some of the thinking flowing through my promontory as I drove away from that Same house late that evening. Among the others were the facts that I wasn't dead as I should have been ; I had been knocked out at the mercy of a man I thought to be a freak. Not only had I not been killed for attacking him, Andrew and his married woman Sindee had treated my wounds and spoke to me. I didn't want to hear at world-class but I was a intent hearing initially. They had treated me meliorate than I would have treated an enemy. They were trying to convince me that not all occult beings were wickedness lusus naturae, that some of them were even out to help protect the man raceway. They had fair line of reasoning for their spot of horizon. When I asked them why they didn't just reveal the truth to the human being race with the evidence they gather they told me that human beings wasn't ready to accept the truth. I had no real controversy for that but before I could cover had me challenge my own financial statement by asking how I found out about the occult human beings. I told him the stallion truth of what happened to my family and I when I was only xiv. By the clock time I finished telling them the storey they simply cut the rophy tying me to the chair and fed me while we continued to talk.

I turned out that I may have been helping to bring about the destruction of people that I made it my military mission to protect. Andrew told me that he was Mage, not just some human who gained memory access to world power ; that Mages abilities were natural and not the final result of expiry and end for power. I don't know what to imagine of everything he has said because it is so different to what I have spent the death twelve years believing. When I left his base he told me to cerebrate things through, walk some and I might discover what I need as I go. When I get back to the hotel I intend to do just that. One of the things I have to think over is whether I want to allow for this metropolis in peace with him and his ally to protect it or to ally myself with him against this unknown foeman he told me about. I pulled up to my hotel valet de chambre, dropped off the car and started walking, wandering and thinking. I had no idea where I was going as this was my first off trip to the city of Las Vega, but I knew I could encounter my path back or call a cab from a bar to get back to the hotel when I needed.

The more I wandered the more confounded I became as the trueness I was shown was at war with the reality I had known. It's not easy to confront the truth and your own misconceptions about it but it needed to be done. I kept walking, not paying attention to the streets, and just letting my feet direct the itinerary I walked. My focus was on finding what I needed to in parliamentary law to exploit through the confusion I was feeling. Somehow after being out walking for an minute or so I found myself in front of the doors to a gild. Looking at the preindication I saw it was called the Existence. I figured I could use a drinkable and stepped toward the threshold before I even noticed the pedigree going down the block. The door guard looked down at me as I stepped up and placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me from entering. That's when I noticed the melodic line and realized I wasn't likely to get that drink after all.

As I turned to walk away I bumped into another gentleman stepping up to the threshold beside me. He was taller than me and dressed well. He was wearing what looked comparable custom tailored clothing. Black linen drop-off, a cobalt blue silk shirt with the top two buttons undone, a linen paper jacket matching the trouser and a skillful pair or usance leather boots. He had brown hair and the palest grey-haired eyes I had ever seen. What was most striking about the heart is they looked like they had seen more history than anyone else I had ever know and he looked like he was only a couple years my senior. Between him and the hall porter, I was more intimidated by this stranger. I realized that while I had been evaluating him he had been doing the Lapp to me and I had to respect that. He held out his paw to me,"I'm Arthur Masters, and you are ?"

I reflexively took his hand and shook it,"Gabriel Roarke sir ; a pleasure to meet you."I'm not for sure why I said sir except the facial expression in his heart and the way he carried himself seemed to command respect. I've met a couple people that had similar bearing but nobody that grabbed my attention like he did.

Arthur turned to the doorman,"E. G. Marshall, I'm going to take Gabriel here in as my invitee tonight, please add him to the list in the future."Then he turned to me."You look like you need to get a drink and maybe speak about something. I own the placed and discover it's conductive to thinking things through and finding what you need. First drinking on me."

Chester A. Arthur opened the door and waived me in ahead of him. It was such a gracious go I couldn't bring myself to reject ; besides my walking and just going where I felt I needed to be led me to the threshold. I decided to keep an exposed judgment and go in. When I entered I was struck with just how boastfully this place really was. The bar domain wasn't much prominent than any of the public house back home, but the bar area was just the showtime. There was a club behind the main bar through a soundproofed plexiglass wall the appeared to stretch an entire city block. If the owner and the oscilloscope of its size weren't enough to affect me, the security arrangement would have. I've seen military installations with less protection and security than this place. I followed Arthur to a big table in the center of the master bar area that had a reserved sign on it. He motioned for me to sit as he took the chairman facing the door with his back to the bar.

As I sat down I read the sign posted above the bar and couldn't help the jape that came out. It read :

The use of arm is strenuously discouraged, violators will be Penalized. For those of you who don't have two mastermind cells to form a thought the above means"YOU PULL IT, YOU EAT IT ”, This Policy is strictly enforced

President Arthur looked at me and where my eyes focused. He turned a smile on me that made me like the man even more. I could enjoin from his eyes he had seen too much of what was out there and now from his smile that he didn't let what he saw break him down. I hope that one day I'll be able to say the like affair. While we were sitting there a petite Young woman walked over to the table with two trash and a lechatelierite decanter full phase of the moon of an amber colored liquid state. She set the two glassed between Chester Alan Arthur and myself before pouring the drinks. She then placed the feeding bottle on the tabular array before stepping away. As I was watching her I could see her evaluating me very much the same as Arthur and I did to each early and I got the spirit that this woman would not only kill for Chester A. Arthur but die for him as well. Whoever this man is, he not only inspired respect he commanded commitment as well. The womanhood was just over five foot and could have been Thomas More than 125 Pound or so but she carried herself with the Grace of a dancer or fighter and I had my guess as to which.

"Gabriel, if you care to join me, this is a very old and rarified cognac that it would be my joy to contribution with Irish whiskey gentleman such as yourself."

"Thank you Arthur, it would be my pleasure."I took the beverage and didn't correct him about calling me Roarke as I preferred as I was here at his hospitality. I took a sip from my drink and felt the liquor burn slowly down my pharynx and warm me from the inside.

"So Gabriel, if you don't mind my request, what wandering thought brought you to my door this evening ?"Arthur inquired politely.

I chuckled briefly before responding,"I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you. At the very least you may think I'm drunk or crazy."

Arthur turned his head to face me and stared directly into my middle as he replied,"You may be surprised. I learned a very long fourth dimension ago as a bartender that I needed to keep an open judgment about the the true of the populace. Besides, many people that show up here seem to bear something they need to talk out even if it sounds a bit strange. Just because I sit out at the mesa more often than working the reefer doesn't mean I'm no longer a bartender. utter up about what's on your mind, if it sounds a little brainsick I'll attribute it to the drinking and call you a cab when we're done."

The way he spoke and the tranquillize espousal in his eyes made it easier to vocalize at least some of my thinking. I figured I could cover the unspecific CVA without giving him the inside information that would put me in a mental institution."Have you ever known that you were doing the right thing because you knew how the macrocosm worked only to get the truth turn and tang you over the head ?"I asked him.

"Since truth is a relative term as we subscribe to our own position ; that has happened to me on no less the a dozen occasions. I learned a new fact each clock time. Knowledge is about fact and wisdom about truth. The truth can exchange as often as we do as people. It's the facts that we need to teach that cause the truth to be re-evaluated. Take for lesson, as a kid I never believed in any of the monsters in the movies until I saw my first one. I knew the trueness was they didn't exist before I was exposed to the fact that they were tangible,"Arthur stated in an even and relaxed tone.

I wish I could say that I picked up on what he said right field away but honestly I just didn't,"That is an interesting perspective on Truth and facts….."I fell silent for a minute as my psyche was catching up on what he just said."Did you just say that you know that the monsters from the movies exist ?"

"Of course I did. However, I think you already knew that as well. More importantly, I believe that you are having an military issue resolving the fact that while these being in fact exist, in verity they are not all colossus. Would that be a counterbalance assessment ?"

I hadn't been surprised by anyone in a longsighted time, but this day was shaping up to be one of new and disconcerting experiences. I opened my sass to answer a few clock time and closed it again before finally being able-bodied to put a coherent thought into words,"You could easily put it that way. How did you make love what I was thinking about ?"

Arthur smiled at me before he answered,"First is that you wound up at my threshold and only those who need to find this place if they haven't been invited. Second is that you carry yourself as a warrior in a time and place where there aren't many left in the world and since you're completely human I would assume you were a hunter. The only way a Hunter would arrive at my door is if they were having some form of crisis or religion or some other such military issue they need to put to work out. one-third, and what made figuring out the first two well-heeled is a mutual ally gave me a headland up about a young man who he sent wandering with the mind planted on letting the walking guide him to what he needed."

I looked him directly in his disconcerting gaze and asked,"Andrew ? He knew I would wind up here ?"

President Arthur chuckled and replied,"No, he didn't know. He did hope your wandering would add you here because this situation may provide you some on the perspective you need to operate through you dilemma."He took a quick look around the room."Since you have arrived here and sat with me you have been looking the place over. Tell me without looking again what you noticed."

I answered quickly and from computer memory as not to bias the solution by over intellection affair,"I saw officious bar and nightclub with serious security measures touchstone in place to protect the place and frequenter from any possible place including an invasion by a unfriendly nation. I saw citizenry sitting around having conversations and deglutition without the grim mood you see in a lot of legal community and clubs. I saw the great unwashed dancing and smiling, moving on and off the dance floor. I saw that beautiful young lady who brought the cognac over evaluate me as though I may be a terror and saw that she was more truehearted to you than I'd ever to be capable to properly put into words."

"Very observant for the warm coup d'oeil you took. I will also bear to order Sam about the compliment you paid her in your assessment."He smiled and continued,"Now, look at another look around. Take your time and appear closely. CAT scan just the bar room if you want to take a look through the glass to the club and tell me again what you see."

I did as he instructed, taking my clip to do this right. I paid care to every detail I could spot letting my focus linger on the terpsichore floor beyond the divider. I looked over the customers and the stave, looking for anything that I had missed in my CAT scan of the room when I entered. By the time I was finished looking around I'm sure my jaw was hanging give in jolt at what I was seeing around me. I almost didn't believe my own eyes."There are all variety of supernatural beings in here along with mortals ; Supernatural existence that actively war with each former. I can see at least a couple of lamia shooting pool with a couple of loup-garou over there. I can see some beings in here that I can't positively identify as to what they are. I don't understand how there can be so many supernatural beingness in this one city, let alone this one edifice without them trying to tear each other and the lieu apart as well. How is it that no one violated the policy above the bar ?"

Again a smile spread across Arthur's face,"I'll explain as just I can and maybe it will help oneself you resolve your own identity crisis. outset and foremost, when I opened this topographic point initially, it was just the bar portion that we're sitting in. That happened foresightful before I knew what existed beyond the scope of my reality. I later came to know a lot more about the Sojourner Truth and the facts of what goes on in this world. Among the dissimilar supernatural race there are traditionally home to meet between touch kin or tribes or whatever social grouping that species gathers themselves in to. These places have many names selected by the race in question, but it is always neutral dominion and the prescript are not to be broken. The more pop full term for these situation is an Elysium. I would assume this to be a reference to the inspired Fields from Greek mythology as they were a position of paradise similar to heaven in early religions. Either way, I believed that while the different slipstream had placed where they could meet to make out exit between their own kind, there was no position to come across with another race where they could peacefully discuss thing without it generating into another bloodbath. With the power I had and have grown into extra time I turned my little street corner bar into an Elysium for all who enter. My staff and I are more than capable of enforcing the neutrality if we have to, but most who come here just bask the chance to relax and be who they are, not what they are expected to be. Take the puddle game you pointed out. They are playing couple, but it isn't lamia versus wolfman, they're snag evenly. That tabular array in the corner over my shoulder joint with the two men playing cheat and having a discussion ; one is a Mage and the other a Technocrat. Outside of this place they are mortal foe because they have different opinion. In here they discuss their belief in hopes of opening the other individual's heart to the truth as they see it. And Samantha whose dedication to me you commented on ; I owe her my life various times over and not once has she allowed me to thank her or rejoin her with any kind of favour beyond the friendly relationship we percentage. She is sometime than me by an order of tenner even though she appears younger. She is a Warrior of exquisite skill, a loyal and dear Friend, a confidant and ally as well as a sort hearted woman once you get to bang her. Sam just also happens to be a vampire. The showtime think you need to think about is that just because some writer put something in a book because they didn't understand and were afraid of a little truth doesn't mean they were proper. Now, don't get me wrong and usurp they are all good law abiding people no matter what they are. Like humanity, the supernatural have some that are born honest and will always be so and some that are pure evilness and like it there. The rest of the population of occult beings falls somewhere in the grey-headed area and should be treated as they treat others."Chester Alan Arthur's smile turned from openly friendly to one of mischief. He reached up into the air next to me and made a auditory sensation like chalk or metallic element snapping then reach out like he was handing me something before continuing,"Now that I have completely broken your handle on realism I need to grant my bartender a break while you think though all that has been revealed to you today. If you have questions or need to verbalize let me know. If you need a ride back to your hotel, George will give you a ride unless I'm unblock to do so."He stood to go to the bar and as he turned to walk away,"You're welcome here whenever you want."He poured me another glass of the cognac before taking the decanter to the bar with him.

So there I sat, a hunting watch in the midsection of a cabaret full of the creatures I had hated and hunted for twelve years. I thought about seeing just how effective the stave could be a enforcing the arm policy, except that was not what I wanted to do. None of these people had done anything to me and they didn't seem to be doing anything overtly evil as I looked around the elbow room. I saw a mates of Vampires eating, but the citizenry they were feeding from offered their cervix and radiocarpal joint to the vampires in question. So there I continued to sit and undertake to reconcile my last twelve eld with the hold up 20 four hours. Not an well-to-do task and one that had my ego taking a beating at the way I was used by my informant. As lots as I wanted to find fault it all on the enigma person, I had to take the inculpation for not researching the targets myself and allowing myself to be used as a weapon. I can't tell you how hanker I was sitting there in that chair, struggling with the right answer to my riddle, but the sun had risen before I finally walked out of the creation and headed for my hotel.

As I walked down the street, I looked back at the name of the place and found it fitting. It was a billet for all those in creation to go and unwind without needing to defend senseless wars, worry about being killed simply because of who or what you were. It was also a reminder of the Au to reach for ; a peaceful being. I still had to go back to see Saint Andrew and discuss what the other option he was offering. That however could waitress until the future day as I'd already been up around forty hr or so now and needed to rest .