I awoke to the rich taste of blood. When I opened eyes I found myself lying horizontally, strapped to a table. I was being fed from a ceramic goblet by a bald mad with ebony black skin. He was muttering something in a language which could have been Latin. The blood I was being fed tasted divine. An Asian man also strapped down to an adjacent table. We were in a room with whitewashed walls. There was a reinforced metal door which was slightly ajar. I appeared to be wearing clothes which were just rags and covered with mildew. Restrained but not gagged.

The Asian man addressed me as Tom, which suddenly brought back memories. I was a vampire and had been placed into torpor in 1940 by a blood ritual at the request of a kindred methuselah called Mithras as I was a Herald of the Sun, a worshipper of Mithras. I Had been born in 1898 and embraced in 1918. The Asian man was Dr Henry Banerjee, another Herald of the Sun who had been put into torpor at the same time.

Asked Henry asked the man who was feeding us what year and was, and was told the year was 2012. We had been in torpor for over 70 years. His name was Andolini DeSilvo. He had been tasked to administer us and get us ready, though did not say what for. The restraints were in case we frenzied when we woke from torpor, and as we were lucid he removed them. He then lead us out into an annex of a basement. There were multiple doorways on all sides, some were heavily reinforced doors, and some were normal. We were shown a shower room, and after we cleaned up he gave us new clothes. He then dragged out two older men who were both unconscious, as well as two younger women and two younger men who were bound and gagged. Andolini invited us to feed, and so we did so. Henry was very messy and killed his food. Then I had to wait for him to take another shower.

While I waited I found ancient bricks forming a knee high enclosure, and bases of several round pillars under a tarpaulin. I did not recognise what it all was, but when Henry returned he said they were roman ruins, and thought they were tied into the torpor we had been in. We then followed Andolini up a flight of steps into a warehouse which was stacked high with empty crates and containers. We went up another set of stairs into a hallway and into an office at the end. In the office was a desk and bookcases. There were also two kindred, one seated behind the desk, dressed in a suit and cravat. He looked Persian. The other was standing next to the desk and was wearing a denim jacket. He was British looking.

The seated kindred jumped up and rushed over. He shook our hands and introduced other kindred as Micky Wheeler. He seemed very excited and after some prompting, told us his name was Darius Shizari. He explained we had been put in torpor as a contingency in case Mithras needed us, and now he does. He also explained that it was a common belief in London that Mithras had been destroyed by a bomb during the war, shortly after we were put into torpor, and they believed a traitor had turned on him. The bombing during the war had also resulted in our location having been lost until recently. Darius now awaited the prophesised return of Mithras. He passed me an envelope which had been sealed with wax stamped with the Cult of Mithras crest.

The letter read:

We asked about the people mentioned in the letter and were told:
Anne Bowesley was the Prince of London. I may have met her before going into torpor.
Sri Sansa may be a warlock. The Tremere are based in West London. Darius suggested we make enquiries at their Chantry which was at the Andas hotel.
Richard de Worde was once a close confidant of Mithras but Darius did not know more.
Gwellian ferch Arwyn had not been seen in some time.

Darius said it was important that we get acquainted with modern London. There had been many changes in the last 70 years. We were in the docklands area of London and Darius suggested we visit the prince. He gave us a business card for Lady Scarlett Churchill. He said the prince, Anne, was hosting a party and we should ring the number on the card to get an invite. The number was very long, apparently everyone how has their own number. He then gave us some devices called sell phones and said we needed to use the flush of life before they would work. He gave us money, £1000, which was about 2 weeks average wages. Clearly inflation had reduced the value of the pound since we entered torpor. Micky showed us how to use the sell phones. They were very complex. As well as making telephone calls, they could also be used to access 'The Internet', which was some sort of data storage and communication system, and worked without needed to be wired to anything.

Suddenly there was sounds of gunfire from outside and Darius said hunters may have found us. He told us to check the surveillance cameras in the room next door. As he started filling a briefcase, the other two ran off to find out what was going on. We went to find what these surveillance cameras were, and found television screens showing figures approaching a building and other figures defending. They were firing automatic weapons, and judging by what we could see on the television screens and what we could hear outside, the building being attacked was the one we were in. The attackers had 'police' written on jackets they were wearing. As we watched we saw they were overpowering the defenders and breaking in. Darius gave me an M19-11 automatic pistol to defend myself.

Darius insisted he needed to finish collecting important paperwork so I waited in corridor. Mickey came up, covered in blood and a human came behind him, shooting him in the back with an automatic weapon. I obfuscated and waited until the human passed me then ripped his head off and took his rifle. Darius said there was a secret exit to a tunnel in the basement under the shower. Two more humans were climbing stairs so I ambushed them and attacked one. The other one turned and fired, shredding his colleague who I had a firm grip on. There was a brief exchange of gunfire and he was also killed by Henry. We descended the stairs to the warehouse where I saw something hovering in the air in middle of the floor. I quickly shot and destroyed it but there were two other humans in the warehouse. One threw a grenade.

I dived for cover but when nothing happened I opened fire, hitting one of the humans cowering in the warehouse. Then the grenade exploded. It was some form of stun grenade but I shook off its effects and charged the last human, quickly tearing him to pieces. We then descended into the cellar and Darius opened the entrance to the escape tunnel. The tunnel ran about 50metres before emerging in the bank of the river Thames. Nearby was two mortals in a dingy. Darius gave us a map of a good area to feed and lair, gave us a number for a taxi company called uber, then left us. We crept away, then as I was covered in blood from the fight, I broke into a clothing shop called river island and filled a couple of bags with new clothes to change into. When I had changed and disposed of the old clothes, Henry called the Uber company and ordered a taxi to take us to the docklands.

The taxi driver was from Bangladesh, and Henry spoke to him in their own language during the drive. The taxi driver dropped us off at a hotel called Travel Lodge where we took a room. Henry then called the prince's Major Domo and said we wished to pay our respects to the prince. He was told we could attend a party at the shard on the 66th and 67th floors the following evening and we should bring a gift. London must have some very tall buildings now. We slept through the day and I dreamed about a Memorial stone covered in blood, with something I could not see but was there. Figures on the stone stood in eternal strife. In the stone was carved the words 'Lest we forget'.

The following evening we went hunting in a local park. We found two youths assaulting someone in the park so I gave chase and caught one of them then fed while Henry assisted the person who was attacked. We then went to Canary Wharf as Henry wanted to buy a suit. The shops were expensive so Henry decided to find someone wearing a suit that would fit him. He found someone at a parking meter but was spotted as he crept up so I had to intervene and drag the guy behind a car. Luckily Henry was able to use the silence of death to mask the noise being made.

On the way out of the car park we were apprehended by two police officers but Henry talked to them and they let us past. Henry then called the Uber taxi to take us to the Shard. Henry wanted to visit a hospital to try to obtain the head of one of the attackers at the warehouse as a gift to the prince so we stopped at Guys hospital which was next to the Shard and he went inside. Henry was inside on his own while I waited in the Uber taxi. He came out a short while later with a bag.

We were then dropped off outside the Shard. The building was extremely tall. When we entered we found the ground floor was shops. The lifts did not have the option to go to the 66th or 67th floor but I saw several mortals behind a glass wall with more lifts behind them. The mortals were ghouls and called a lift when I said we were for the prince's party and showed my teeth, but did take our weapons and sell phones. We ascended to the 66th floor where we were met by Lady Scarlett Churchill. She took our gift for the prince, a head Henry had obtained in the hospital, and told us to mingle until the prince was ready to meet us.

There were many kindred at the party, and also many mortals who seemed willing to be food. Most seemed to be dominated or high on drugs but a few seemed to be there of their own free will. I saw a Ventrue and Nosferatu arguing and when I approached the Ventrue, called Natasha, turned and asked me and asked what I thought. The Nosferatu was called Kaleb and the problem was a hunting ground they share in St Johns wood where Natasha had the rights to the surface and Kaleb had the rights to the tunnels and sewers beneath. The argument was that Kaleb had been hunting above ground after Natasha had used her influence to reduce the mortals accessing the underground. Henry ruled for the Ventrue and Kaleb left in a foul mood.

We mingled for a while and found a group boasting about fighting hunters. Their names were Mcade, a Brujah, Patience, a Nosferatu and St Claire, a Toreador. The Toreador was extremely rude so I put her in her place by feeding from her forcibly. Henry asked about Richard de Worde and was told he should be at the party but had not appeared. He was known to patrol the underground. Sri Sansa frequented a restaurant called Subtle Spice and lived in Southall. Gwellian Ferch Arwyn's official title was pater of the cult of Mithras. He was missing but Daria at the Finborough may have a lead. It was rumoured he had been placed on the red list of the camarillas most wanted criminals as she was a diabolist.

We learned people were frightened of Mithras even though he was thought long dead. Valarius, a 7th generation kindred was his regent, and made Anne the prince after his death. He had been unhappy with Mithras's rule as prince and it was Valarius who had reported that a bomb had dropped on gun quays and destroyed Mithras during the war.

There were rumours that Gwellian Ferch Arwyn's child was killed by something called operation Antogen and his grandchild Chun Hei has sworn vengeance. Another rumour was that Sri Sansa is promoting house Karni in a current Tremere internal conflict and that there was a rivalry between Lady Scarlett and Regina Blake, a harpy, who is boycotting the event. Regina and the prince do not get on. The last rumour was whispered in hushed tones that a series of hunt clubs had sprung up recently to partake in diablery and this was proof the kindred are less scared of Anne than they wore of Mithras, and even that Anne may be involved in diablery herself.

We were finally taken to the prince by Lady Scarlett. She was seated next to a man dressed flamboyantly in hat and cape. As we saw the prince we suddenly experienced a flashback. We were in carriage, it was night time and we were in the countryside. We somehow knew it was the 17th century, sometime after English civil war, though this was long before we had been embraced. The carriage stopped outside an estate. In the carriage was myself, Henry, and another vampire we somehow knew was Valarius. It was at the time Mithras had appointed Valarius as his regent and disappeared as he had been known to do on occasion and we were here to witness the embrace of the new child Mithras had given Valarius permission for. This was the embrace of Anne. I had a memory she had impressed clan Ventrue and Mithras for putting William of orange on the throne. Inside the estate we found Anne with three other Kindred. Anne said she had offers from three other clans to embrace her. I got the impression she had set the situation up. The other Kindred were Nafeesa from the Brujah who wanted her to bolster ranks of academic women in her clan, a Spanish Kindred called Captain Jonas Ardosa of the Lasombra clan, and Lady Elizabeth Marhampten from Toreador clan who was an artist.

It was decided to have a contest of arms, art and intellect to decide who would get to embrace Anne, with us as Valarius's champions. I took the contest of arms and easily defeated Nafessa and Jonas then Elizabeth conceded defeat. Henry then competed in a poetry challenge which Jonas won. Finally Henry competed in an intellectual challenge, being asked random questions, which he won easily. Valarius then went to embrace Anne, and our vision suddenly switched to Anne kneeling in front of Mithras and being given the seal, then we found ourselves back in the present. One of the kindred elders in the room we then recognised as Captain Jonas.

Henry flattered the prince and we said we needed Mithras's seal. As soon as Mithras was mentioned she told everyone else to leave the room. She agreed to give the seal to us if we killed Valarius and brought proof of his death to her. She said he had outlived his usefulness and she wanted to remove him as a threat. She said he planned to leave the city by car this evening and suggested we arranged an ambush, then gave us his address in London. She said he was expecting a two car convoy to take him to a waiting airplane.

We were told Valarius would be expecting us to use the code word James's men. He was expecting two cars to pick him up, and be taken to a third car (which does not exist) at Fairoaks. The prince provided a ghoul to drive one of the cars and a mortal called Vicky Paderia which we requested as a snack for Valarius. She would also give us some control over where Valarius sat in the car while he was feeding. Lady Scarlett then gave us a lift key that would give us access to the basement where Anne had an armoury, and keys to a car. In the armoury was pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, grenades, And C4. I secretly planted the C4 under the seat of one of the cars where Valarius would be siting while he fed, and the ghoul drove that car 'because we did not have much experience driving modern cars.

When we arrived at Valarius's house the door was answered by two ghouls in ballistic vests. We gave the code word and Valarius appeared. He recognised us so I told him we were selected as we were newly out of torpor so were considered more trustworthy than others who were already involved in the local politics. It was a half hour drive to Fairoaks. When we arrived at the industrial estate where the third car was supposed to be, I set off bomb and the car exploded. Valarius survived the blast and crawled from car, so I filled him with bullets then went hand to hand. He was still a formidable foe and I received a lot of damage in the fight, but the explosion had done enough and I managed to take him down. I then staked him and dragged him to the car so we could make our escape as there were police sirens in distance.

We drove to a deserted storage unit where I decapitated Valarius, took his ring and left the body on the roof for the sun to destroy the evidence. We then drove back to the shard, parked in basement and went up to see the prince. She inspected the ring and asked what had happened. We described what had happened and she was pleased. She then gave us a piece of paper with an address where she said we could get the seal. It was near mansion house tube station in the financial district. Lady Scarlett received a communication through a device she was wearing on her head and said something to the prince who then announced to everyone that there were helicopters coming to take everyone to Birmingham. She then left in the lift to the basement after telling us the Shard had no helicopter pad and wishing us good luck. The lights went out and there were sounds of machine gun fire so I barricaded the door to thew room then forced the lift doors open.

Henry started climbing down the service ladder. I shut the lift door behind us, tearing at it to jam it closed. I then slid to the bottom of the lift shaft on the cable. There were two mortals in the garage with weapons so I obfuscated and waited for one to get near then killed him and took his automatic rifle. Henry arrived and we crept to the ventilation system ducting where I ripped the grill open allowing us to crawl in. We ascended in the ducts to the basement level and I broke through a fan into a store room. There was a service tunnel outside the room and we headed away from the gunfire. Henry saw torchlight at the far end of the tunnel so I obfuscated and Henry backed away and hid. A mortal approached and saw Henry. He reached for his radio so I rushed him and fed, sating my hunger.

We then continued to the end of the tunnel and heard voices from beyond a door. When we looked we saw four mortals in a sewer moving away. We waited until they had gone then entered the sewer and followed the flow. It lead to the Thames and we escaped. When we looked back at the shard we saw three helicopters hovering, and the whole area had police, black clad soldiers and black vans. Henry called the uber taxi driver who took us to a Holiday Inn hotel.

The following evening I went hunting in the local hospital, and had a nice slurp of a young nurse. Henry wandered into the hospital reception to scout it out, where he met Winston Torondo, an individual who had been his ghoul before we went into torpor. That is an enormous coincidence for Henry to meet his ghoul after being in torpor so long, but very convenient as we can lair in his house and he will be able to get Henry into the hospital to feed.

The address where we would find the seal was only about a mile away so we walked there to scout it out. The paper had 3 sets of numbers 78 87 04 as well as the apartments address. The numbers turned out to be for a lock on the door. Henry looked round the apartment and found a door with another keypad. The same numbers opened the door, revealing a room beyond. There was a desk in the middle of the room and many screens showing scenes from the area round the apartment. I found the seal in one of the cabinets. There was also a photo of myself and Henry with Mithras, and another of myself in the trenches of the great war. In seeing that photo I suffered a flashback of being near a shell blast during the war and I remembered the blast was the cause of my scars.

We saw a black car pull up outside on one of the screens and two men got out, one with an assault rifle so we quickly left the apartment by a fire exit. Outside was a suspicious individual leaning by a car. As we passed I attached him, but he was quick and managed to shot me before Henry finished him off. Henry found a set of keys in his pocket so we dragged the body into the car and drove off, abandoning it elsewhere. We then went to Winston's flat. We rested there for a few days while I healed. I spent the time reading about recent history in the internet and going on an occasional hunt.