[h3][b]Nyarlathotep[/b][/h3][hr] [b][u]~ The Week Prior ~[/u][/b] A pleased smile slithered its way across Nyarlathotep's lips as she took in the chaos unfolding before her. Well... 'took in' wasn't the right term for it exactly. She basked in it truthfully, as there wasn't anything else that brought her quite as much amusement or joy as cutting loose every once in a while to toy with the Earth and its inhabitants. Be that by driving them stark raving mad, forming her own cult, or manipulating humanity in general just for the hell of it. Her regular job: otherwise known as fulfilling those tasks directly assigned to her by her father, the other members of his court, or the rest of her kin, was nowhere near as relaxed, which was why she loathed it as intensely as she did. Even so, she tended to execute their requests with the utmost solemnity and caution, lest she suffer for dallying or making a mistake. For the Sultan's wrath was something that not even a creature as ancient and mighty as she dared risk, regardless of if that was by association or not. Taking the wineglass that sat on the nightstand to her left in hand, Nyarlathotep undid the uppermost button of her dress shirt--she'd dressed for a business meeting despite having nothing of the sort planned in her cosmic itinerary--to expel more heat as the fires blazing through Cairo's streets had begun to make the hotel room she was lounging in just the tiniest bit stuffy. Swirling the crimson liquid briefly, she took a sip, letting the alcohol dance across her tongue for a beat before downing it alongside the rest of the glass the very next moment. Just as she was about to pour herself another, however, a knock on the door gave her pause. Not because of its unexpectedness, mind you, but because this was just the summons she'd been waiting for. While nowhere near as reliant on her prescience as her nephew Yog, she was still an Outer God. Knowing things that most shouldn't was just one of many specialties she possessed. Setting the glass aside for the time being, she made her way from the bed to the door in a single fluid motion. Opening it, she took the note from the thrall without so much as a [i]'By your leave'[/i] or [i]'Thank you'[/i], then slammed the door in his face. Even if the man standing before her hadn't been one of Dracula's underlings, all he would have seen was a very attractive businesswoman sheltering in her room while the city around them rioted and burned. Nothing of note in other words. After all, an evacuation order had yet to be given, and who was she to brave the chaos unfolding outside? Better to shelter in place like all mortals did when confronted with something they couldn't control than brave the unknown, especially when she was pretending to be one of them. "Now," she began as she climbed back into bed and examined the note, the screams and shouts of the rioting masses serving as the perfect backdrop. "Let's see what Vlad wants from me this time." [b][u]~ Present Day ~[/u][/b] Nyarlathotep's gaze wandered from the note to the back of her chauffer's seat then back again for the entire ride to the ancient vampire's castle. A few hours later and she found herself sitting outside the castle's gate alongside a smattering of other vehicles, most of which had already started to pull away while some busied themselves still with the disengorgement of their monstrous passengers. The council had come out in force tonight it seemed. "Punctual as always I see. Damn bootlickers..." she muttered as she existed the black SUV she had been ferried up here in. Her clothing melted and flowed as she went to form a skin-tight bodysuit of black and crimson, while her nails lengthened, hair turned white, and eyes flashed a bloody crimson as a distinguishing mark streaked its way down the left side of her face. Making her way through the gate and up the fortresses' monolithic steps, she entered the main hall and made her way to the council chamber-- heels clacking noisily against the tiled floor with each step she took. Upon entering the chamber she took a seat directly across from the hunched over count, casually tossing the placard that had been placed there to denote the seat as someone else's aside as she did so. Once sufficiently settled, she noted the vitae staining Orlok's jowls with a smirk and chuckle. "I told you that not being able to see yourself in the mirror would come back to bite you in the ass one day." With that bit of pre-meeting jabbing taken care of, Nyarlathotep quickly turned her attention towards the young shifter sitting at the far end of the table. There were others seated about at this point as well, but she would get to them in due time. Or maybe not. It wasn't as if linear time or the proper order of things was of great importance to her either way. "He knows. He just doesn't care," she said, jerking her thumb in the vampire's general direction. "Like talking to a brick wall, that one, except the wall's more likely to listen than he is."