BEING CHARMING IN VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADEBLOODLINES

The most cultured thug in town gets more than he bargained for.

- By Ian Evenden

Cyprian Maggard thought this would be so easy. Following an extremely good night out in Santa Monica, he awoke to find that he'd been embraced by the underworld of vampires, who are apparently everywhere, run everything, and are the only people worth talking to.

He came from privilege and expected to remain there, not even bothering to change out of his red shirt, while his floppy hair looks exactly as it did that exciting night. Is this because vampires don't change their clothes, or because he's waiting for his valet to do it? Whatever, Maggard was a shoo-in for clan Toreador, with his love of art and sitting around musing, as well as his preference for talking his way out of situations rather than fighting.

Things haven't been going entirely his way since he became a vampire, however. He thought he was going to be manipulatively loquacious, putting his social skills to work to get what he wants and quickly, surrounded by an adoring entourage of beautiful people of multiple backgrounds and gender identities.

Instead he's a street thug, sorting out arguments with his fists, going on a shotgun rampage, and definitely will be asking searching questions of any more sets of identical twins he encounters. Appreciating art has got him attacked by a blood monster, and someone tried to kill him with a severed arm. Also he has a headache, having just been clubbed unconscious after getting out of a taxi. He's in the gutter, but looking at the stars, and surely the only way is up from here.

Cyprian is now downtown, in territory recently claimed for the Camarilla by Sebastian LaCroix. That doesn’t stop the Sabbat from slinking around, popping out of alleys to deal out beatings, and it’s from one of these that our foppish protagonist is rescued by Rodriguez, who offers to tell him the real story about what's going on.