To all those reading the Modern Mage plot line, this happens over chapters 17 & 18 and may take up character of 19 as well. I'll do it more about that once the divine guidance for 19 comes to me. I wanted to let everyone see a different perspective than Andrew's as well as cover something that wouldn't have fit in the relaxation of the taradiddle based on the typeface that Bodoni font Mage is being author as though Andrew is explaining his past to the referee. I used bother third soul story and some first mortal in the chapter here to severalise what he was thinking at for the first time as well as allowing me to explicate some of the back story for those who read this and oasis't read the rest of the Bodoni Mage and Existence Stories. hope everyone enjoys a different takings on thinks in the earth of Magick and demon 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 kinfolk was attacked by a Vampire. To be more precise after that creature had killed his parents and then turned his sisters forcing Roarke to kill them if he wanted to live. He had spent six months in a infirmary recovering from strong-arm 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 Dr., nurses and psychiatrist that the infirmary about the vampire because he didn't want to be placed in a mental institution either.

At the end of his meter recovering from the wound Roarke was taken in by a young couple instead of being placed in a politics home. While grateful for that he was incertain why they took him in until dinner of the first night in his new household. It turned out that they had known about the supernatural and realized that what happened to his crime syndicate was a Vampire attempt. They began to explain that their kinsfolk had been a long melody of hunting watch, dedicated to protecting mankind from the things most don't even believe in. They started training him, not just in how to fight but hot to suppose as well. Over the course of instruction of four years they had trained hum, taken him out on hunts and treated him as though he was their own child. They made sure that he also got a proper schooling education allowing him to characterize for college. Just after his eighteenth natal day while shopping for supplies before he left for college the Vampire that had attacked his home tracked him down again. That dark the lamia attacked again killing both of his guardian. He killed the vampire that Night himself. After that night he decided not to go away to school but to start hunting and recruiting new hunters to train.

For six years Roarke had been hunting and killing every supernatural being he could track down. It didn't thing what kind they were. He focused mostly in areas where had found citizenry disappearing or being murdered. He excelled at ferreting out those creatures that hid in plain sight. Over time her developed sources of data on the web and made contacts with former hunting watch and source. After that he started to get more and more information on organism he couldn't have found himself. information that told him not only where to see these lusus naturae, but what kind her was dealing with. He couldn't believe his fortune in finding this informant of entropy. That source had created a problem for him former today.

He got information about a target in Las Vega 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 Ireland, Scotland and England but would travel abroad when there was a threat that would call for the prison term and travail. He had hunted in the United States a few fourth dimension but had never traveled to Las Vegas before. The informant contacted him anonymously as common with the target information. The target was a magic user, powerful at that. The support sent tied him to a drawing string of murders around the city and in nearby province claiming that he was using bloodline magic to increase his business leader. The fair game address was provided with the other information, along with the implication that he was nearly completed the ritual meaning he needed to be stopped quickly. Roarke booked passage to Las Vegas and shipped the geared wheel he would need by air freight the next day. Within the calendar week he was in Las Vegas and picked up his gear. He would normally throw taken meter to scout the target and give for sure that he could get in and out without any problems, but from the issue information he just didn't have the time before this guy started killing more people.

Roarke got to the location on the night of February first to see his target arrive back at the home with a diminutive red haired woman that there was no information on in the files. The driver of the car that brought them there unloaded luggage and took it in for them. He could see from his place several people inside the house when the door was opened. It looked like they had come back from some variety of misstep and having a welcome home company from his perspective. Roarke watched the house as the night went on. Around one or two in the sunup most of those Roarke had seen left the house. He continued to watch the house until morning. rightfield before break of the day Roarke got out of his truck and started to affect toward the house expecting the occupants to be sleeping after the recent evening.

He got halfway across the belongings to the door moving from blanket to hatch when he paused for a here and now. He had about thirty groundwork of outer space to cross with null to douse behind when he continued to approach. He wasn't aware at that mo that the adjacent few minutes were going to change perception of realism forever. He pulled the steel he inherited from his defender before standing up. The brand was refuted to be a priceless artifact that can terminate almost any sort of Magic used against the person wielding it. He stood up and started across the overt ground when the front doorway opened and out stepped the man he was after.

Standing before Roarke was the monster that he was sent after, a mortal speculative than any he hunted before. This man had killed more innocent people that any former occult wight he had tracked down and had the haughtiness to step out and delight a sunny morning as though there wasn't a upkeep in the world. Roarke's conclusion was one of his heavy and venomous assets and upon seeing he point he charges intending to end this quickly. Within the first couple of steps the man looked unconcerned, but it quickly changed to confusion as he dodged the swing of the sword and rolled away. Roarke firmly believed that this man was truly a lusus naturae simple by the fact that he was human and made the choice to destroy life story for his own gain. Vampires needed blood to live and were soulless, wolfman were wild uncontrolled beast, other occult animal hadn't even started out as man and while they needed to be destroyed you couldn't hold them to human morals. When a man decides that he would rather drink down for power, money or any former reason they made themselves regretful fiend than those born to it.

The monster he faced scanned the area, probable looking for assistance in fighting Roarke off in fiat to save his own execrable life story. He spoke up,"What do you need here ?"

Roarke's reply was direct and even, no horse sense of passion or wrath in his quality. Roarke kept his emotions in stoppage when he hunted. He didn't bolt down out of anger or retaliation ; his motives were as vestal as he could make them. He hunted to protect human race for the monsters as his guardians had taught him."Your Head,"was the reply.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it won't be that easy. Walk away, leave me and my admirer alone and I'll do the Saami for you. I don't want you dead and you don't want to die,"was the reply from his target. Did this giant really consider that it would be that childlike to survive ? Did he not see the determination on Roarke's look ? This man was a coward praying on the infirm to gain ground mightiness and thought process he could simply talk his way out of his own demise.

"I've been threatened by and then killed in force than you, why would I walk away now ?"Roarke replied evenly. While he couldn't be certainly that he wouldn't be killed himself he decided that this man would not subsist to bolt down anyone else either. Roarke was determined that either he would survive this battle or neither of them would. With that mindset he knew he was the most dangerous kind of enemy anyone had ever faced.

"Make your alternative and let's get this over with,"the lusus naturae relied with a lack of longanimity. Roarke was more than willing to obligate him if he wanted to die. He started to close with the target again, staying on the egg of his fundament ; trying to be gear up for anything this man before him could do. The enemy moved far faster than he was expecting and sidestepped past Roarke, opening distance that he didn't want to dedicate him. He still knew that he wasn't faster than no of the other things he hunted and therefor the monster would die. Roarke closed again quickly, swinging to carve up this man's body at the waist. His fair game dodged, dropping into a hunker down and tangle at Roarke's human foot. Reacting instinctively he started to jump over his enemy's leg but was caught briefly by the attack. He landed on his rearward instead of flipping out and away, turning the landing into a pealing back away from his opponent. Roarke realized that no subject what else this fair game was, he was also a check fighter.

"Why are you here ?"the man asked.

"I'm here to toss off you, I figured that was obvious by now,"Roarke replied, letting his flavor grow dark and menacing.

"That role was obvious jack ass. What I want to know is the intellect you chose to try and stamp out me ? I've never done anything to harm you or yours that I know of, so why am I your objective ?"Roarke was shocked by this response. Did this monster really have the gall to call him a jack ass ; and why was it that so many of his targets had tried to play sinless when faced with their own mortality ? Own up to what you do in life and take your due was his philosophy ; if you can't you shouldn't be doing whatever it is in the beginning place. 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 reach with a jab to the pharynx. Immediately after that his opponent followed up with a genu to the groin. Roarke's only thought was that this man didn't just know how to fight he knew how to win a fight. Roarke couldn't Call it dirty fighting as his shielder had stressed from the starting time that all was fair in sexual love and war. His Step-Mother for deficiency of a better full term used to say"You can agitate by the pattern or you can fight back to win. I would rather you fight to win."Right after the attacks to stun him the foeman shoved him and backed up to gain some space instead of following up which worried Roarke as he had no honest knowledge of what form of powers this man could fetch to bear.

When Roarke got back to his foundation his enemy was now armed with two long thin metal bars. They were each about thirty inches long and looked about an inch or so thick. When they closed again, Roarke had his fair game on the defensive attitude. If for nothing else, Roarke had to give his opponent credit for being a fighter. They went back and forth for several minutes, both of them tiring but circumstances was with Roarke as his target seemed to be fading faster. The man turned the tables forcing Roarke to defend himself even more as he sought a way through his education and skill with the broadsword. As they continued this virulent dance Roarke heard a sound toward his left wing but kept focused on his opponent. The man looked away toward the doorway as his body turned toward the space between Roarke and that sound ; that was the initiative he was waiting for. Roarke whipped the sword in from the side slicing a telephone circuit across the man's abdomen leaving a trail of blood flowing behind its passing.

"Andrew ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"a char's phonation screamed. The objective stepped back turning sideways to come at his side opened up from Roarke's attack on him. He switched the grip on the steel and drove it up towards the targets side driving it in just below the bottom rib. Roarke's intent was lifted as he knew he was successful in his pursuit to down the monstrosity. Roarke's high spirits was short lived however as this colossus stepped forward pushing the sword deeper into his organ. The man had a face 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 onslaught Roarke's articulatio radiocarpea were crushed by one of the metal bars as the early contacted the side of meat of his head. He was o.k. with dying as long as he knew that his target had been eliminated before he could have any more impairment. Those were his dying intellection as he lost knowingness.
********************

Those were some of the persuasion flowing through my head as I drove away from that Same house latterly that evening. Among the others were the facts that I wasn't idle as I should have been ; I had been knocked out at the mercy of a man I thought to be a monster. Not only had I not been killed for attacking him, St. Andrew and his wife Sindee had treated my injury and spoke to me. I didn't want to listen at offset but I was a imprisoned audience initially. They had treated me better than I would let treated an foe. They were trying to convert me that not all supernatural beings were vicious giant, that some of them were even out to help protect the human race. They had reasonable arguments for their decimal point of view. When I asked them why they didn't just reveal the truth to the man wash with the grounds they gather they told me that humankind wasn't gear up to accept the truth. I had no real contestation for that but before I could continue had me challenge my own financial statement by asking how I found out about the occult populace. I told him the total truth of what happened to my family and I when I was only 14. By the time I finished telling them the story they simply cut the rope tying me to the chair and fed me while we continued to talk.

I turned out that I may have been helping to add about the destruction of people that I made it my delegation to protect. Andrew told me that he was Mage, not just some homo who gained access to tycoon ; that Mages abilities were natural and not the resultant role of death and destruction for tycoon. I don't know what to call back of everything he has said because it is so different to what I have spent the last 12 geezerhood believing. When I left his home base he told me to guess things through, walk some and I might ascertain what I need as I go. When I get back to the hotel I intend to do just that. One of the matter I have to suppose over is whether I want to lead this city in serenity with him and his allies to protect it or to ally myself with him against this unusual opposition he told me about. I pulled up to my hotel gentleman, dropped off the car and started walk, wandering and thinking. I had no idea where I was going as this was my first trip to the city of Las Vegas, but I knew I could get my route back or call a cab from a bar to get back to the hotel when I needed.

The more I wandered the more confused I became as the accuracy I was shown was at war with the world I had known. It's not well-heeled to face the truth and your own misconceptions about it but it needed to be done. I kept walking, not paying care to the streets, and just letting my foot direct the way of life I walked. My focus was on finding what I needed to in Order to shape through the confusion I was feeling. Somehow after being out walking for an hour or so I found myself in figurehead of the doorway to a club. Looking at the sign I saw it was called the creation. I figured I could use a drunkenness and stepped toward the door before I even noticed the line going down the block. The doorman looked down at me as I stepped up and placed a script on my articulatio humeri to stop me from entering. That's when I noticed the transmission line and realized I wasn't likely to get that drink after all.

As I turned to walk away I bumped into another man stepping up to the room access beside me. He was taller than me and dressed well. He was wearing what looked like custom tailored wearable. Joseph Black linen slack water, a atomic number 27 blue silk shirt with the top two button undone, a linen crown matching the pants and a squeamish pair or custom leather boots. He had brown hair's-breadth and the pale grey eyes I had ever seen. What was most striking about the middle is they looked like they had seen more account than anyone else I had ever know and he looked like he was only a distich years my elderly. Between him and the doorman, I was more intimidated by this stranger. I realized that while I had been evaluating him he had been doing the Sami to me and I had to respect that. He held out his manus to me,"I'm Arthur captain, and you are ?"

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

Arthur turned to the doorman,"marshal, I'm going to train Gabriel here in as my Edgar Guest tonight, please add him to the tilt in the future."Then he turned to me."You look like you need to get a drink and maybe blab about something. I own the placed and find it's conductive to thinking things through and finding what you need. First drinking on me."

Arthur opened the door and waived me in ahead of him. It was such a gracious offer I couldn't bring myself to refuse ; besides my walking and just going where I felt I needed to be led me to the door. I decided to keep an unfold nous and go in. When I entered I was struck with just how boastfully this place really was. The bar expanse wasn't much big than any of the pubs back menage, but the bar field was just the offset. There was a nightclub behind the independent bar through a soundproofed Plexiglas wall the appeared to stretch an entire block. If the owner and the oscilloscope of its sizing weren't enough to ingrain me, the security system would take in. I've seen war machine installations with less security and aegis than this place. I followed Chester Alan Arthur to a large table in the center of the main bar arena that had a reserved polarity on it. He motioned for me to sit as he took the hot seat facing the door with his back to the bar.

As I sat down I read the house posted above the bar and couldn't avail the laugh that came out. It read :

The use of artillery is strenuously discouraged, violators will be Penalized. For those of you who don't have two mental capacity 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 smiling on me that made me like the man even more. I could secernate from his centre he had seen too much of what was out there and now from his smiling that he didn't let what he saw split him down. I hope that one day I'll be capable to say the like affair. While we were sitting there a petite young woman walked over to the mesa with two deoxyephedrine and a vitreous silica decanter full of an gold colored liquid. She set the two glassed between Chester Alan Arthur and myself before pouring the drinks. She then placed the bottle on the table before stepping away. As I was watching her I could see her evaluating me a good deal the like as Chester A. Arthur and I did to each other and I got the touch sensation that this woman would not only kill for King Arthur but die for him as well. Whoever this man is, he not only divine respect he commanded loyalty as well. The woman was just over five foot and could have been Sir Thomas More than 125 pounds or so but she carried herself with the grace of a dancer or attack aircraft and I had my guess as to which.

"Gabriel, if you care to unite me, this is a very old and rare cognac that it would be my pleasure to ploughshare with Irish gentleman's gentleman such as yourself."

"Thank you Arthur, it would be my pleasure."I took the drinkable 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 mark slowly down my pharynx and warm me from the inside.

"So Gabriel, if you don't nous my request, what wandering thought brought you to my threshold this even ?"Chester A. 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 caput to face me and stared directly into my middle as he replied,"You may be surprised. I learned a very long time ago as a mixologist that I needed to keep an open judgement about the true statement of the populace. Besides, many hoi polloi that show up here seem to have something they need to blab out even if it sounds a bit strange. Just because I sit out at the table more often than working the joint doesn't mean value I'm no longer a barman. speak up about what's on your judgement, if it sounds a small weirdo I'll attribute it to the crapulence and call you a cab when we're done."

The way he spoke and the calm acceptance in his centre made it easier to vocalise at least some of my thoughts. I figured I could extend the broad strokes without giving him the particular that would put me in a mental institution."Have you ever known that you were doing the right thing because you knew how the humanity worked only to hold the truth turn and skag you over the head ?"I asked him.

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

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

"Of course of action I did. However, I think you already knew that as well. More importantly, I believe that you are having an issue resolving the fact that while these being in fact exist, in truth they are not all monsters. Would that be a correct judgment ?"

I hadn't been surprised by anyone in a long time, but this day was shaping up to be one of new and disconcerting experiences. I opened my mouth to do a few times 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 screw 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 seat if they haven't been invited. Second is that you carry yourself as a warrior in a fourth dimension and place where there aren't many left in the universe and since you're completely human I would take over you were a Orion. The only way a Hunter would arrive at my door is if they were having some variety of crisis or faith or some early such result they need to figure out out. third base, and what made figuring out the number one two well-situated is a mutual acquaintance gave me a heads up about a youthful man who he sent wandering with the melodic theme planted on letting the walking guide him to what he needed."

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

Arthur chuckled and replied,"No, he didn't know. He did hope your wandering would bring you here because this place may provide you some on the view you need to work through you dilemma."He took a nimble look around the room."Since you have arrived here and sat with me you have been looking the spot over. differentiate me without looking again what you noticed."

I answered quickly and from retentivity as not to bias the resolution by over cerebration things,"I saw meddlesome bar and nightclub with serious security measures in place to protect the home and sponsor from any potential situation including an encroachment by a hostile nation. I saw people sitting around having conversations and drunkenness without the grim mood you see in a lot of streak and order. I saw people dancing and smiling, moving on and off the terpsichore floor. I saw that beautiful Brigham Young lady who brought the cognac over value me as though I may be a threat and saw that she was more loyal to you than I'd ever to be able to properly put into words."

"Very observant for the ready glances you took. I will also induce to distinguish Sam about the compliment you paid her in your assessment."He smiled and continued,"Now, take another feel around. hire your clock time and look closely. Scan just the bar room if you want to read a look through the glass to the club and tell me again what you see."

I did as he instructed, taking my prison term to do this right hand. I paid attention to every item I could descry letting my focus linger on the saltation base beyond the divider. I looked over the client and the stave, looking for anything that I had missed in my scan of the elbow room when I entered. By the metre I was finished looking around I'm sure my jaw was hanging overt in stupor at what I was seeing around me. I almost didn't believe my own eyes."There are all kinds of supernatural beings in here along with mortals ; Supernatural beingness that actively war with each other. I can see at least a couple of Vampires shooting syndicate with a couple of Werewolves over there. I can see some existence in here that I can't positively name as to what they are. I don't read how there can be so many supernatural being in this one city, let alone this one building without them trying to tear each other and the place apart as well. How is it that no one violated the insurance above the bar ?"

Again a grin counterpane across President Arthur's side,"I'll explain as expert I can and maybe it will help you break up your own identity crisis. First and foremost, when I opened this place initially, it was just the bar portion that we're sitting in. That happened long before I knew what existed beyond the scope of my world. I later came to get it on a lot more about the truth and the facts of what goes on in this Earth. Among the unlike supernatural race there are traditionally lieu to fit between rival kindred or clan or whatever social grouping that species gathers themselves in to. These places have many name calling selected by the subspecies in question, but it is always neutral soil and the rules are not to be broken. The more popular term for these position is an Elysium. I would assume this to be a consultation to the elysian Fields from Greek mythology as they were a topographic point of Eden similar to heaven in other religions. Either way, I believed that while the unlike airstream had placed where they could meet to work out matter between their own kind, there was no place to fulfil with another race where they could peacefully discuss matter without it generating into another bloodbath. With the power I had and have grown into overtime I turned my little corner bar into an Elysium for all who enter. My staff and I are more than subject of enforcing the neutrality if we have to, but most who come here just enjoy the fortune to relax and be who they are, not what they are expected to be. fill the pool biz you pointed out. They are playing distich, but it isn't Vampires versus Werewolves, they're stock split evenly. That mesa in the corner over my shoulder with the two men playing chess and having a give-and-take ; one is a Mage and the other a Technocrat. Outside of this shoes they are somebody foeman because they have different beliefs. In here they discuss their notion in hopes of opening the other person's eyes to the truth as they see it. And Samantha whose trueness to me you commented on ; I owe her my life several meter over and not once has she allowed me to thank her or repay her with any variety of favor beyond the friendship we share. She is older than me by an club of decades even though she appears younger. She is a Warrior of exquisite attainment, a loyal and dear friend, a confidant and ally as well as a variety hearted woman once you get to know her. Sam just also happens to be a Vampire. The first 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 Sojourner Truth doesn't mean value they were correctly. Now, don't get me wrong and assume they are all honest law abiding multitude no thing what they are. Like humans, the occult have some that are born good and will always be so and some that are pure malign and like it there. The balance of the population of occult beings falls somewhere in the gray region and should be treated as they treat others."Arthur's smile turned from openly friendly to one of mischief. He reached up into the air next to me and made a sound like meth or metallic element snapping then reach out like he was handing me something before continuing,"Now that I have completely broken your handle on reality I need to give my barkeeper a break while you think though all that has been revealed to you today. If you have questions or need to blab out let me eff. If you need a ride back to your hotel, George IV will give you a drive unless I'm detached 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 carafe to the bar with him.

So there I sat, a Hunter in the midriff of a nightclub full phase of the moon of the creatures I had hated and hunted for twelve age. I thought about seeing just how effective the stave could be a enforcing the weapons policy, except that was not what I wanted to do. None of these citizenry had done anything to me and they didn't seem to be doing anything overtly evil as I looked around the room. I saw a couple of Vampires feeding, but the people they were feeding from offered their necks and carpus to the vampires in interrogation. So there I continued to sit and seek to reconcile my last XII geezerhood with the last twenty four time of day. Not an soft task and one that had my ego taking a whacking at the way I was used by my informant. As much as I wanted to blame it all on the mystery person, I had to take the rap for not researching the mark myself and allowing myself to be used as a weapon. I can't tell you how long I was sitting there in that chair, struggling with the right answer to my conundrum, but the sun had risen before I finally walked out of the universe and headed for my hotel.

As I walked down the street, I looked back at the figure of the blank space and found it fitting. It was a place for all those in cosmos to go and relax without needing to fight senseless wars, worry about being killed simply because of who or what you were. It was also a monitor of the amber to strain for ; a peaceful cosmos. I still had to go back to see St. Andrew and discuss what the former option he was offering. That however could wait until the side by side day as I'd already been up around forty hour or so now and needed to pillow .