Vampire: The Masquerade - Nirvana

The picture quality of this video screamed hidden camera, but It was clear enough to see the surroundings and the one face in the middle: it was within a rustic, cozy, well-decorated Swiss chalet, and a crying woman was tied up to a wooden chair, looking at the person who was filming this. Based on the angle of the lens and the direction the woman's eyes were looking at, the camera was planted on the person, who presumably was the Kindred that kidnapped her.

And the lady…was no other than Ginger Swan.

"What's wrong, Miss Wordsmith? The chair was not comfortable?"

The camera man spoke. Though his voice was processed and not identifiable, but it sounded like his tone was polite, and quite strange under this situation—Ginger's surname was Swan, and she was clearly not weeping because the chair was uncomfortable.

But Leona quickly realized something: "It was the line from the movie."

Ginger's role in the movie was a young and successful genius novelist from New York, with a pen name called Emily Wordsmith, and was renting a chalet in Switzerland to stay away from the big city and find the quietness to work on her new story named Laputa.

"This is how the story started, right?" Now that Leona mentioned it, some plots in the film surfaced in Mercurio's head, "The writer complained about the chair, and the male lead—the housekeeper's son, who was also a carpenter—heard it and started to build a new one. That's their first conversation."

"Yes, a shy, handsome Swiss young man who was a big fan of Emily's works and had Asperger Syndrome—Noah Müller, that's Ash Rivers' character in there." Bertram added, "And if I'm not mistaken…this chalet looks exactly the same like the one in the movie."

So what, this kidnapper was trying to…relive the film? Leona continued watching with this hypothesis in mind, and it proved to be correct: The camera man was repeating the question again and again, until Ginger Swan stopped crying and cursing, followed his lead and finished the part about the chair.

Then the video switched to another scene, where Ginger Swan was in her bedroom, and the camera man was holding a tape, doing just what Noah did in the movie: measured Emily and tailored the chair design to her body. Emily was supposed to be a bit surprised and awkward by this kind yet over-intimate offer and accepted it anyway, but clearly Ginger Swan was not in the mood to act—she was hit and had bruises on her face.

Until the third scene, her will was finally broken. Ginger was cuffed to bed, sneered at first, then louder and louder, and it eventually became a deranged laughter.

"You f.u.c.k.i.n.g loser! You are just jealous, aren't you? Couldn't bear my success, you arrogant pig!" She screamed, her face twisted, even with her beauty that expression was abominable, "Issac was disappointed at you, right? Oh, his favorite prodigy was blinded by money and fame and became an overdosed addict, Ha! That old fool would never know I drugged you and got you hooked in the first place! And you d.i.c.kless coward didn't even dare to tell him…"

And the camera man finally couldn't bear this. He let out a bestial roar and jumped on her, and the video blacked out for a few seconds.

The study room went into silence at the same time. Leona breathed deeply in and out, and said: "So the kidnapper is Ash Rivers. That's the only possibility that fits the logic."

"Hollywood bullshit, huh? Jealous actress dropped some sugar in a rising star's drink and ruined his career." Bertram scoffed, "You might think I'm biased because I'm one ugly piece, but I'm telling you, the fanciest people are always the dirtiest."

"And there are lots of things Issac Abraham didn't tell us." Mercurio sighed, with his eyebrows locked in upset.

Indeed. Both Ash Rivers and Ginger Swan were very close to Issac, It was impossible for him to know nothing like what he pretended to.

The video wasn't finished, however. What came next was still just like how it played out in the original Laputa: in a stormy night with lightnings, Noah read the novel Emily wrote to her to help her sleep, but he deliberately changed the tragic ending into a happy one instead. It was supposed to be a romantic, moving scene, but right now everything just looked horrible and pathological—there was something wrong with Ginger Swan: her eyes became turbid, her lips were all purple, and her skin was snow-white and covered in marks of black veins, like she was a living corpse, and even in this state, as if the man who was reading her book gently was a more terrifying monster than her, Ginger turned her face away from him, with her body trembling in scare at the corner.

Until the final scene in this video, she was already a complete zombie with saliva leaking out of her open mouth and skins falling apart from her arms, but Ash Rivers was still carrying her, dancing around and around in her room. In the original film, it was one of the most famous mime excerpts—Noah was watching the Tango in Scent Of a Woman, and imagining he and Emily were the ones that were dancing, showing the a childish, soft side of a seemingly awkward man who was misunderstood and feared because of his conditions, and now…

"It's just sick…" Mercurio buried his face in hands, exclaimed in disgust.

Fortunately for them, the video about Ginger Swan ended afterwards, even though based on Ash's fantasy of reconstructing the film, it was only half-finished. Leona held her forehead with her fingers, clearly anxious about Alice's fate if that was what happened to all the victims: "Any video of other kidnapped girls?"

"Yeah, but they are basically the same, despite the heroin." Bertram explained, "Though some of them survived longer by playing along better, every girl broke down eventually and got turned into zombies…Oh, speaking of which, I have no idea what kind of diseases, germs or viruses could make Ginger Swan into that thing. I already checked, it's nothing in human records, so I'm guessing it's some sort of plague made by Kindred."

Looking at the tremulous lips of Leona's, Mercurio figured out the question she wanted to ask but didn't dare to, so he asked in her stead: "How many videos are there?"

"Seven. So there's still hope for the last one."

Leona's relief was visible upon Bertram's answer. Now to her this nasty-looking Nossie was a guardian angel with a golden halo on his head: "Thank you, Bertram, you are a life-saver."

"Anytime!"

Bertram grinned and gave them a thumb-up, vanished right in front of them again—them Nosferatus have a discipline called Obscure, a power that can literally make them invisible.

"There's still time tonight, let's give Issac an encore visit." Mercurio immediately backed up the videos in his drive and packed up, seemed a little pissed-off, "This old bat really fooled us with his act. He should get an Oscar."

"Agreed." It was rare for Leona to say this word to Mercurio.

They rushed back into Hollywood, and when they arrived again at the Lalaland Jewelry, it had been closed for quite some time, but the shop manager—the ghoul of Issac's, was still there to answer the door and let them in.

So they showed the video to Issac.

"…Ha! That old fool would never know I drugged you and got you hooked in the first place…"

Issac didn't even have to stomach to finish it. He closed the video with his quavering fingers, sat there in his huge armchair, with his body sinking and shrinking into the cushion. Right now, he lost all his grace and style, really looked like a poor, helpless old man.

"Ash…Ash…why don't you tell me…" Issac whispered with his blank looks, "Why don't you tell me Ginger did this to you…Should I know, I would never ever give her any new parts…I would kill her career myself…"

"Anything you want to tell us?"

Though a little astonished about how emotional Issac was with the whole thing, Leona didn't have time to wait and went right down to the business.

So Issac took a moment and found his composure, gazed at Leona and replied sincerely: "You could guess most of it, then, I suppose: Yes, Ash Rivers is a Kindred, I am his Sire…and yes, it was me who helped him cover all those tracks, but I never knew any of his doing and would no way be a part of it. I was just…trying to protect him. I'm sorry that I deceived you.

"Ash and Ginger were my ghouls…he was always a very upright young man who truly loved acting and movies—he was born for it, so I was heart-broken when I found out he got himself into narcotics. I didn't know it was Ginger Swan, so I assumed he was just one of those weak-minded youngsters who were corrupted by Hollywood's dark side. I had a fight with him, said to him that after everybody knew him, I didn't know him anymore…he didn't say anything, and that made me even more angry. I said harsh words and he just…cut himself."

"And you Embraced him to save him?" Mercurio asked, looked not so mad at being played by Issac now.

"I knew it wasn't right…being a vampire was no way a remedy to anything, and it would be too hard for a man of his fame to live our lives in secret…the paparazzies would never let him go." Issac's spine was bent for the weight of remorse, "I told myself there had been too many talented, young people who were ruined by d.e.s.i.r.e, so I shouldn't be personal about this…but I couldn't help. I was there, and I could have saved him…"

Leona began to connect the dots: "So all this time that Ash Rivers disappeared, you were…protecting him?"

"I sent him out of the country, let him live in one of my properties in Hungary, away from any public exposure…I thought maybe after a few years, people would forget him, and by then it would be safer for him to come back. He listened to me and didn't complain about anything for a whole year, but I guess the news of Negative Zero starring Ginger Swan was just…too much for him…"

The suite was quiet for a long time, with no sound but the raindrops outside. It was Issac himself who broke the silence: "Alright, the video was filmed in a chalet that looked exactly like the one in Laputa, correct?"

"Yeah, do you know where they film it?" While saying so, Mercurio already opened his laptop, ready to search for the address of this chalet on the map.

"Yes I know, but it's simply not possible for him to do it there." Issac shook his head, "After the film the original chalet has become a vacation rental spot, very popular, he couldn't have had the privacy over there. This house he used is a replica, a very good one."

Just when the other two men were lost in perplexity, not knowing what's the next step, Leona spoke, after a long contemplation: "Still, you can track the decorations, furniture and objects used in the film, right? That degree of authenticity in the video couldn't be created by some cheap duplicates sold to usual fans, there would be high chances that Ash got them from the same source of the original movie props."

"Yes…it is worth a shot." Issac gave a praising look to Leona, a little marveled at her sharp mind, "I can call people who know the shopping list…maybe Ash is beyond saving, but at least I can help you save your friend, young one."