The Brothel. Strange place. His initiative lately had been getting out of hand, he thought. But he felt like there would be a clue here, something. No, it probably wasn't what Joseph would have wanted him to be doing. But it was a lot more interesting than sitting at his house with Joseph's ghoul Elizabeth, nice as she was. Arthur found her tranquil to be around. There were few women he liked so much yet felt so little attraction to, and it was something of a relief. He could relax with her, talk about everything, and she seemed to like to listen to him. He could think better about research when he talked it out to her receptive presence. Soon Li was nothing like so soothing a companion; she was attractive and repulsive at the same time. He couldn't help his reaction to her, but he wanted no part of it. Arthur had plenty of control to ensure she wouldn't get past his guard.

Anyhow, she'd make an excellent date. In the shadow of Soon Li's exotic looks and fuck-me fetishwear, he'd be nearly invisible. He could make his observations and enjoy the place in his own way.

Arthur let her drive so he could stare at her, performing a necessary desensitization to her appearance if he was to carry out his plans to the best of his ability. The woman was simply astonishing. In her skimpy bits of leather, she managed to look like a teenager experimenting with being naughty, and simultaneously like a woman who knew precisely the effect she had on everyone who saw her and gleefully played it to the hilt.

Arthur had asked her advice on what to wear, though he had ended up dressed quite a bit more conservatively than she'd originally suggested. Still, the tight rubberized zip-necked black T-shirt, and the all-leather jeans it was tucked into, were not his usual look by a long shot. His hair was held back by a band of leather studded in long chrome spikes that occasionally scraped the back of his neck. He had to lean forward a bit in his seat in the car, and keep his head turned to the side; if he looked straight ahead and leaned back they'd stick right into him. The zipper-pull dangling against his chest was in the shape of a chrome ankh.

Soon Li drove with grace and precision, not that Arthur noticed. What he noticed was the tiny bead of perspiration at the hollow where her neck met collarbone. He noticed, too, the way her breasts moved as she breathed. He noticed the slight curl of the dark hair at her temples, and the contrast of vivid red lipstick against the pallor of her flawless skin. He noticed the way the leather strap's tightness made only a small bulge, as though her flesh were soft just a centimeter down and beneath that was hard muscle. His breathing and heartbeat accelerated as he looked, then slowed again as he became accustomed to the view. He noticed that too.

As they walked into the club, their senses were assaulted by the noise and confusion of the interior. It resolved itself into the patrons of the Brothel, the music they listened to, the lights and shadows of the dance floor and seating areas. A study in chiaroscuro, a cacophany in F minor.

Most of the patrons of such places fall into certain categories, Arthur thought, filing each of the ones he saw into a tentative slot in his mental model. The ones who think it's fashionable, who are trying to be avant garde, who view the clothing and the shock effect as the desired end. The ones who feel they have nothing to lose by exploring their darkest impulses. The ones who got dragged here by someone - victims, sometimes, or sight-seers. The ones who came to hunt their prey.

There were a lot who seemed not to care that they were conventionally unattractive - fat, ugly, scarred and disfigured. In most places such people did not like to wear scanty clothes that showed off their bodies. Here that was not the case. There was a fetish for everyone, Arthur thought. There was apparently a popular one suited to Soon Li, a pretty Asian female. She already had what looked like an entourage of suitors gathering, and he stayed near but not too near, attentive but not claiming the limelight of her attentions.

The place had been more enticing in the idea of it than it was in the reality, Arthur was thinking. He knew he was drawn to the ideas and human urges that were the foundation of this place, but he was finding their realization thin medicine. Soon Li, while visually stunning, wasn't a person he could succumb to in reality. He could not imagine discovering anyone here who would be. He had not really thought he would, but there was always in the back of his mind, the knowledge that there was a chance. And if he found the right person... well... once he was Kindred, he could bring her into the Tremere circle, as his own ghoul perhaps. In the meanwhile, much could be enjoyed. If not, he had time, all the time he would need... all the time there was.

Adrian watched the two, as yet unnoticed by them. Soon Li, vibrant seductress. Arthur Wake, her quiet but watchful companion. Ghouls the both of them, Tremere to be precise. Addicts like himself; unlike him, slaves as well. What were their hungers, what could he offer them? He pondered this as he watched. To Soon Li, he speculated, an audience. Give her her own group of idolizing worshippers, she'd enjoy that, Adrian thought, and I can make it fit her like a glove. And for Arthur, Adrian realized, as all such detached thinker types, what would take him over would be to be snatched from his safe watcher standpoint and into the thick of things - to be made to feel, not think. He plotted, ever alert, smiling wickedly to himself at his thoughts.