To all those reading the Bodoni font Mage plot line, this happens over chapters 17 & 18 and may take up voice of 19 as well. I'll know more about that once the inspiration for 19 comes to me. I wanted to let everyone see a different perspective than Saint Andrew the Apostle's as well as cover something that wouldn't have fit in the residuum of the story based on the face that Bodoni Mage is being writer as though Andrew is explaining his past tense to the reader. I used bother third someone narrative and some first person in the chapter here to severalize what he was thinking at first as well as allowing me to explain some of the back narrative for those who read this and haven't read the relief of the Modern Mage and Existence narrative. Hope everyone enjoys a dissimilar take on thinks in the world of Magick and demon that I am attempting to bring you all into.

Gabriel Roarke had been a Orion for over a 10, ever since he recovered after his family 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 experience. He had spent six month in a hospital recovering from physical hurt he'd received from surviving that nighttime and cleaning up the mess so that he didn't go to jug for murder. He didn't tell the constabulary or the doctors, 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 time recovering from the accidental injury Roarke was taken in by a young twain instead of being placed in a government home. While thankful for that he was unsure why they took him in until dinner of the first night in his new home. It turned out that they had known about the occult and realized that what happened to his kinsfolk was a vampire attack. They began to excuse that their family had been a long line of hunting watch, dedicated to protecting mankind from the affair most don't even conceive in. They started training him, not just in how to agitate but hot to think as well. Over the form 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 school education allowing him to qualify for college. Just after his eighteenth birthday while shopping for supply before he left for college the Vampire that had attacked his family tracked him down again. That night 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 school but to start hunting and recruiting new Orion to train.

For six old age Roarke had been hunting and killing every supernatural being he could track down. It didn't matter what kind they were. He focused mostly in areas where had found multitude disappearing or being murdered. He excelled at ferreting out those animate being that hid in field ken. Over time her developed sources of information on the web and made contacts with other hunters and witnesser. After that he started to get more and more information on beings he couldn't have found himself. Information that told him not only where to find these monsters, but what sort her was dealing with. He couldn't believe his destiny in finding this source of data. That source had created a problem for him in the first place today.

He got information about a target in Las Vegas who was said to be a risk not just to the people in the city around him, but to others around the Earth. Roarke spent nearly of his prison term hunting in Ireland, Scotland and England but would go abroad when there was a threat that would require the time and effort. He had hunted in the United States a few times but had never traveled to Las Lope de Vega before. The source contacted him anonymously as common with the target information. The target was a magic user, powerful at that. The certification sent tied him to a cosmic string of murders around the city and in nearby state of matter claiming that he was using parentage legerdemain to increase his power. The object savoir-faire was provided with the other information, along with the implication that he was nearly completed the ritual signification he needed to be stopped quickly. Roarke booked musical passage to Las Vegas and shipped the gear 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 have taken time to reconnoiter the butt and make indisputable that he could get in and out without any problems, but from the cater information he just didn't have the clock time before this guy started killing Sir Thomas More people.

Roarke got to the location on the night of Feb first to see his fair game arrive back at the menage with a petite red haired woman that there was no entropy on in the Indian file. The driver of the car that brought them there drop baggage and took it in for them. He could see from his position several people inside the theatre when the doorway was opened. It looked like they had come back from some variety of slip and having a welcome home party from his perspective. Roarke watched the theater as the dark went on. Around one or two in the morning time nigh of those Roarke had seen left the home. He continued to watch the firm until forenoon. Right before cockcrow Roarke got out of his truck and started to actuate toward the sign expecting the resident to be sleeping after the later evening.

He got halfway across the attribute to the door moving from cover to cover up when he paused for a consequence. He had about thirty understructure of space to cover with nothing to put off behind when he continued to draw near. He wasn't aware at that moment that the next few minutes were going to exchange perceptual experience of reality forever. He pulled the brand he inherited from his shielder before standing up. The steel was refuted to be a priceless artifact that can give up almost any kind of Magic used against the person wielding it. He stood up and started across the open 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 person worse than any he hunted before. This man had killed more innocent hoi polloi that any other supernatural creature he had tracked down and had the arrogance to step out and savour a gay morning as though there wasn't a care in the world. Roarke's decision was one of his bully and baneful asset and upon seeing he target he charges intending to end this quickly. Within the outset couple of steps the man looked unconcerned, but it quickly changed to disarray as he dodged the swing of the sword and rolled away. Roarke firmly believed that this man was truly a teras simpleton by the fact that he was human and made the pick to ruin lives for his own gain. lamia needed blood to live and were soulless, loup-garou were crazy uncontrolled beasts, former supernatural animal hadn't even started out as homo and while they needed to be destroyed you couldn't hold them to human morals. When a man decides that he would rather pop for baron, money or any other reason they made themselves worse goliath than those born to it.

The devil he faced scanned the area, probable looking for assistance in fighting Roarke off in order to relieve his own pitiable aliveness. He spoke up,"What do you require here ?"

Roarke's reply was direct and even, no sense of fad or anger in his tone. Roarke kept his emotions in stay when he hunted. He didn't belt down out of wrath or revenge ; his motives were as pure as he could spend a penny them. He hunted to protect humanity for the behemoth as his guardians had taught him."Your question,"was the reply.

"I'm sorry to let down you, but it won't be that leisurely. Walk away, leave me and my protagonist alone and I'll do the same for you. I don't want you utterly and you don't want to die,"was the answer from his target. Did this behemoth really think that it would be that simple to survive ? Did he not see the purpose on Roarke's font ? This man was a Coward praying on the weak to gain ability and persuasion he could simply talk his way out of his own demise.

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

"Make your pick and let's get this over with,"the lusus naturae relied with a want of forbearance. Roarke was more than uncoerced to oblige him if he wanted to die. He started to close with the target again, staying on the Ball of his substructure ; trying to be ready for anything this man before him could do. The foe moved far faster than he was expecting and sidestepped past Roarke, opening distance that he didn't want to render him. He still knew that he wasn't faster than no of the early things he hunted and therefor the monster would die. Roarke closed again quickly, swinging to separate this man's body at the shank. His object dodged, dropping into a crouch and sweeping at Roarke's feet. Reacting instinctively he started to leap over his enemy's leg but was caught briefly by the fire. He landed on his back instead of flipping out and away, turning the landing place into a pealing back away from his opponent. Roarke realized that no thing what else this target was, he was also a condition fighter.

"Why are you here ?"the man asked.

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

"That role was obvious tar ass. What I want to bang is the reason you chose to try and obliterate 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 answer. Did this monster really hold the gall to forebode him a jack ass ; and why was it that so many of his prey had tried to play innocent when faced with their own death rate ? Own up to what you do in life story and accept your due was his school of thought ; if you can't you shouldn't be doing whatever it is in the first position. Roarke knew many would see him as little Sir Thomas 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 enemy reacted quickly, stepping inside his range with a jab to the throat. Immediately after that his opponent followed up with a articulatio genus to the groin. Roarke's only thought was that this man didn't just bed how to defend he do it how to win a fight. Roarke couldn't call it dirty fighting as his guardians had stressed from the beginning that all was fair in lovemaking and war. His Step-Mother for lack of a skillful terminus used to say"You can fight by the rules or you can fight to win. I would rather you fight to win."Right after the onset to daze him the foe shoved him and backed up to advance some space instead of following up which worried Roarke as he had no straight noesis of what kind of ability this man could institute to bear.

When Roarke got back to his infantry his enemy was now armed with two hanker slenderize metallic element legal community. They were each about thirty in long and looked about an inch or so thick. When they closed again, Roarke had his target on the defensive. If for nothing else, Roarke had to give his opponent citation for being a fighter. They went back and forth for several minutes, both of them tiring but luck was with Roarke as his target area seemed to be fading faster. The man turned the tables forcing Roarke to represent himself even more as he sought a way through his grooming and skill with the broadsword. As they continued this deadly dancing Roarke heard a sound toward his left but kept focused on his opponent. The man looked away toward the door as his torso turned toward the place between Roarke and that sound ; that was the opening night he was waiting for. Roarke whipped the sword in from the position slicing a line across the man's abdomen leaving a trail of blood flowing behind its passing.

"Andrew ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"a charwoman's articulation screamed. The target stepped back turning sideways to come at his side opened up from Roarke's blast on him. He switched the grip on the sword and drove it up towards the prey side driving it in just below the butt rib. Roarke's spirit was lifted as he knew he was successful in his quest to down the monstrosity. Roarke's elation was short lived however as this monster stepped forward pushing the blade deeper into his variety meat. The man had a flavour that Roarke recognized from his own mirror. It was a spirit that said that while I may be dying but I'm taking you with me. Faster than he could respond to the tone-beginning Roarke's wrists were crushed by one of the metal bars as the other contacted the side of his pass. He was alright with dying as long as he knew that his target had been eliminated before he could get any more trauma. Those were his dying thought as he lost consciousness.
********************

Those were some of the thoughts flowing through my mind 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 suffer 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, Andrew and his wife Sindee had treated my combat injury and spoke to me. I didn't want to take heed at first but I was a enwrapped audience initially. They had treated me better than I would have treated an opposition. They were trying to win over me that not all supernatural beings were wickedness monsters, that some of them were even out to avail protect the homo wash. They had fairish parameter for their period of eyeshot. When I asked them why they didn't just uncover the Truth to the human race with the evidence they gather they told me that world wasn't ready to take on the truth. I had no real argument for that but before I could continue had me dispute my own statement by asking how I found out about the supernatural world. I told him the integral truth of what happened to my family and I when I was only fourteen. By the prison term I finished telling them the narration they simply cut the ropes tying me to the chair and fed me while we continued to talk.

I turned out that I may take in been helping to bring about the destruction of hoi polloi that I made it my mission to protect. Andrew told me that he was Mage, not just some homo who gained access to powers ; that Mages power were natural and not the result of decease and destruction for mogul. I don't know what to think of everything he has said because it is so unlike to what I have spent the endure twelve years believing. When I left his home he told me to believe things through, walk some and I might determine 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 conceive over is whether I want to leave this city in repose with him and his allies to protect it or to ally myself with him against this strange enemy he told me about. I pulled up to my hotel man, dropped off the car and started walk, wandering and thinking. I had no approximation where I was going as this was my first off trip to the city of Las Vegas, but I knew I could regain 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 bedevil I became as the truth I was shown was at war with the realness I had known. It's not gentle to confront 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 feet direct the path I walked. My direction was on finding what I needed to in lodge to work through the mix-up I was feeling. Somehow after being out walking for an hour or so I found myself in front of the threshold to a club. Looking at the sign I saw it was called the Existence. I figured I could use a drinkable and stepped toward the doors before I even noticed the line going down the block. The doorman 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 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 door beside me. He was taller than me and dressed well. He was wearing what looked like custom tailored article of clothing. black linen slacks, a cobalt blue silk shirt with the top two clitoris undone, a linen jacket matching the pants and a squeamish pair or usage leather boots. He had brown hair's-breadth and the pallid grey optic I had ever seen. What was most striking about the eye 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 class my senior. Between him and the doorman, I was more restrain by this stranger. I realized that while I had been evaluating him he had been doing the like to me and I had to respect that. He held out his hand to me,"I'm Chester Alan Arthur master, and you are ?"

I reflexively took his hired man and shook it,"Gabriel Roarke sir ; a pleasure to meet you."I'm not sure why I said sir except the expression in his oculus and the way he carried himself seemed to command respect. I've met a twain people that had similar bearing but cypher that grabbed my attending like he did.

Arthur turned to the gatekeeper,"E. G. Marshall, I'm going to take Gabriel here in as my guest tonight, delight add him to the list in the future."Then he turned to me."You look like you need to get a drink and maybe tattle about something. I own the placed and find it's conductive to thinking things through and finding what you need. low gear drunkenness on me."

Arthur opened the threshold and waived me in ahead of him. It was such a nice go I couldn't bring myself to decline ; besides my walk and just going where I felt I needed to be led me to the threshold. I decided to keep back an open mind and go in. When I entered I was struck with just how large this place really was. The bar area wasn't much larger than any of the taphouse back home, but the bar area was just the beginning. There was a nightclub behind the principal bar through a soundproofed Plexiglas wall the appeared to stretch an entire block. If the possessor and the scope of its size weren't enough to impress me, the security measure placement would take in. I've seen military installations with less security and trade protection than this place. I followed President Arthur to a orotund table in the gist of the independent bar expanse that had a reserved signaling on it. He motioned for me to sit as he took the professorship facing the room access with his spine to the bar.

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

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

Chester Alan Arthur looked at me and where my eye focused. He turned a smile on me that made me like the man even more. I could tell from his eyes he had seen too much of what was out there and now from his grin that he didn't let what he saw break him down. I hope that one day I'll be capable to say the same thing. While we were sitting there a petite young woman walked over to the table with two shabu and a crystal carafe full of an amber colored liquid. She set the two glassed between King Arthur and myself before pouring the drinks. She then placed the bottle on the tabular array before stepping away. As I was watching her I could see her evaluating me practically the same as Arthur and I did to each other and I got the touch sensation that this woman would not only vote down for Arthur but die for him as well. Whoever this man is, he not only pep up obedience he commanded loyalty as well. The adult female was just over five foot and could have been more than 125 Irish punt or so but she carried herself with the grace of a social dancer or champion 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 pleasance to parcel with Irish whisky gentleman such as yourself."

"Thank you Arthur, it would be my pleasure."I took the drink 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 throat and warm up me from the inside.

"So Gabriel, if you don't mind my asking, what wandering thought brought you to my threshold 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."

Chester Alan Arthur turned his caput to confront me and stared directly into my oculus as he replied,"You may be surprised. I learned a very long sentence ago as a bartender that I needed to keep an open judgement about the trueness of the reality. Besides, many people that show up here seem to stimulate something they need to talk out even if it sounds a bit strange. Just because I sit out at the table more often than working the stick doesn't mean I'm no longer a mixologist. Speak up about what's on your creative thinker, if it sounds a little crazy I'll attribute it to the drunkenness and shout out you a cab when we're done."

The way he spoke and the steady acceptance in his heart made it easier to vocalize at least some of my thoughts. I figured I could shroud the large-minded virgule without giving him the details that would put me in a mental institution."Have you ever known that you were doing the decent thing because you knew how the world worked only to have the truth bend and smack you over the pass ?"I asked him.

"Since truth is a congeneric term as we subscribe to our own perspectives ; that has happened to me on no less the a XII occasions. I learned a new fact each time. knowledge is about fact and wisdom about truth. The truth can change as often as we do as people. It's the facts that we need to learn that cause the the true to be re-evaluated. shoot for model, as a kid I never believed in any of the fiend in the flick until I saw my first one. I knew the truth was they didn't exist before I was exposed to the fact that they were real,"Arthur stated in an even and relaxed tone.

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

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

I hadn't been surprised by anyone in a long metre, but this day was shaping up to be one of new and confuse experiences. I opened my mouth to serve a few clip and closed it again before finally being able to put a coherent thought into words,"You could easily put it that way. How did you sleep together 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 shoes 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 world and since you're completely human I would assume you were a hunter. The only way a Hunter would come at my room access is if they were having some kind of crisis or faith or some early such issue they need to exercise out. Third, and what made figuring out the first two easier is a reciprocal ally gave me a psyche up about a young man who he sent wandering with the approximation planted on letting the walking guide him to what he needed."

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

Arthur chuckled and replied,"No, he didn't know. He did hope your wandering would bring you here because this piazza may ply you some on the perspective you need to work through you dilemma."He took a quick looking at 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 memory as not to predetermine the answer by over thinking things,"I saw busy bar and nightclub with dangerous surety measures in lieu to protect the place and frequenter from any possible situation including an intrusion by a uncongenial nation. I saw people sitting around having conversations and beverage without the dour mood you see in a lot of bars and baseball club. I saw people dancing and smiling, moving on and off the saltation base. I saw that beautiful young noblewoman who brought the cognac over judge me as though I may be a threat and saw that she was more fast 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 have to tell Sam about the compliment you paid her in your assessment."He smiled and continued,"Now, claim another look around. get hold of your prison term and look closely. Scan just the bar room if you want to take a look through the methamphetamine to the nightclub and tell me again what you see."

I did as he instructed, taking my time to do this right field. I paid care to every item I could espy letting my focus linger on the dancing floor beyond the divider. I looked over the customer and the staff, looking for anything that I had missed in my scan of the room when I entered. By the fourth dimension I was finished looking around I'm surely my jaw was hanging undefended in shock absorber at what I was seeing around me. I almost didn't believe my own eyes."There are all kinds of supernatural organism in here along with somebody ; Supernatural beingness that actively war with each other. I can see at least a mates of Vampires shooting pocket billiards with a couple of wolfman over there. I can see some beingness in here that I can't positively distinguish as to what they are. I don't understand how there can be so many supernatural beings in this one urban center, let alone this one building without them trying to bust each former and the place apart as well. How is it that no one violated the policy above the bar ?"

Again a smile scatter across Arthur's face,"I'll explain as best I can and maybe it will help you resolve your own identity crisis. low and foremost, when I opened this place initially, it was just the bar portion that we're sitting in. That happened hanker before I knew what existed beyond the scope of my cosmos. I later came to know a lot more about the truth and the facts of what goes on in this world. Among the unlike supernatural races there are traditionally places to meet between match clans or tribes or whatever social group that species gather themselves in to. These places have many gens selected by the backwash in question, but it is always neutral territory and the rules are not to be broken. The more popular condition for these places is an Elysium. I would accept this to be a reference to the Elysian Fields from Greek mythology as they were a place of paradise similar to heaven in other religions. Either way, I believed that while the different races had placed where they could contact to work out issues between their own kind, there was no place to adjoin with another raceway where they could peacefully hash out affair without it generating into another bloodbath. With the power I had and have grown into overtime I turned my little tree bar into an Elysian Fields 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 enjoy the probability to decompress and be who they are, not what they are expected to be. Take the pool secret plan you pointed out. They are playing pairs, but it isn't Vampires versus werewolf, they're split evenly. That table 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 place they are mortal foe because they have different impression. 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 loyalty to me you commented on ; I owe her my life several times over and not once has she allowed me to give thanks her or repay her with any form of favor beyond the friendship we share. She is honest-to-goodness than me by an order of ten 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 kind 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 volume because they didn't understand and were afraid of a slight Truth doesn't mean value they were right hand. Now, don't get me wrong and assume they are all good law abiding people no matter what they are. Like humans, the supernatural have some that are born good and will always be so and some that are thoroughgoing evil and like it there. The ease of the population of occult beings falls somewhere in the gray expanse and should be treated as they treat others."Arthur's grinning turned from openly friendly to one of mischief. He reached up into the air next to me and made a sound like methamphetamine hydrochloride or metal snapping then reach out like he was handing me something before continuing,"Now that I have completely broken your handle on realness I need to give my bartender a prison-breaking while you think though all that has been revealed to you today. If you have interrogative or need to lecture let me know. If you need a ride back to your hotel, George will give you a ride unless I'm free 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 Methedrine of the cognac before taking the carafe to the bar with him.

So there I sat, a hunter in the middle of a nightspot full of the creatures I had hated and hunted for dozen years. I thought about seeing just how effectual the staff could be a enforcing the weapons insurance 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 couplet of lamia feeding, but the people they were feeding from offered their neck and wrists to the vampires in query. So there I continued to sit and attempt to reconcile my last xii years with the last twenty dollar bill four hours. Not an well-situated task and one that had my ego taking a beating at the way I was used by my informant. As much as I wanted to charge it all on the mystery mortal, I had to take the blame for not researching the targets 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 proper reply to my conundrum, but the sun had risen before I finally walked out of the beingness and headed for my hotel.

As I walked down the street, I looked back at the epithet of the situation and found it fitting. It was a place for all those in existence 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 gold to strain for ; a peaceable existence. I still had to go back to see Andrew and discuss what the other selection he was offering. That however could waitress until the next day as I'd already been up around forty hour or so now and needed to pillow .