((collab post with Instantes))

A whisper of a scent made her freeze and turned her head to the side. Closing her eyes, Juliette inhaled deeply, sorting through the various scents in the air, searching for the one that had alerted her.
It was there. The scent of a Kindred. And her bloodline told her it was Ventrue, her clan that had forsaken her.

Fear spiked along with anger. Anger at herself for having been found so soon. She had at least expected to get as far as the Anarch territory before being found.
Fear because she was aware of what a stronger Ventrue could do to her before they destroyed her. She had seen the state of Kindred after Lacroix had them tortured by the Sheriff. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Tapping into another of her disciplines, Fortitude, to increase her defense before jumping as high as she could to reach the fire escape above her head. A few more jumps got her to the rooftop. If she stayed high above the ground, perhaps she wouldn't leave a scent behind for them to track. She ran and jumped to the next rooftop, then to another, trying to keep her feet off the roof as much as possible.
When she reached the fifth rooftop she was too tired to jump anymore. Kindred had amazing reflexes, heightened senses and super human abilites, but using these cost energy. 
Sliding down the fire escape, she kept to the shadows of the alley and waited, inhaling deeply to scent the air around her. What she found was not good. The unknown Kindred, now she could pick out several, had managed to follow her. It actually wasn't that farfetched. She was still young to the world of the Kindred and inexperienced in the real world thanks to Lacroix keeping her in her gilded cage.

Her fear spiked again, like a beacon letting them know where she was. All they had to do was follow the smell of her fear to find her.
Juliette was still trying to decide what to do what she sensed them close. Very close. When several shadows appeared and headed her way she didn't bother to hide anymore. It was useless. She had failed to reach the Anarchs. Now she would enter final death.
But she would face it according to the pride in the bloodline of her clan. She would not beg. She had begged too much under Lacroix's thumb, begged for him to stop, begging him to let her go. It had always made him laugh while it left the taste of bile in her mouth.

Juliette came out of the shadows. Her perfectly coiffed hair was disheveled, her bun coming loose and several strands falling into her face, which was streaked with dirt as her white gown was streaked with dust and grime.
But her eyes... her eyes held power. They were strong and hard, holding the fire of rebellion.

"Why can't you just leave me be?" she asked, her voice full of venom and her chin lifting stubbornly. "I have no interest in your politics. All I ever wanted was to be free of your vile and cowardly Prince. My only regret is that I did not end him myself."

The voice that came from the shadow was surprisingly gentle. "Childe, who would blame you? You speak of LaCroix with sagacity and gall. You speak with anguish - with hurt. I am not him; we are not him..." Vernon stepped forth into the pale moonlight, using an open hand to indicate Aurelia by his side. "Even the Camarilla, controlling as it might seem at times, is not akin to that fool LaCroix. Listen before you judge..."

Vernon kept his eyes on this estranged member of his kin; she was passionate, rebellious, strong and fragile all at once: she immediately prompted memories of Aurelia when she had come back to him after years on trial with the Prince of London. Beneath that anger though, submersed amongst complex layers of vitriol and indignation compounded by time, there was a quietly germinating gift of brilliance - Ventrue choose their childe carefully - even arrogant and unbalanced ones such as LaCroix. What Vernon saw in Aurelia, he now saw in her.

"This is my childe," Vernon continued, indicating Aurelia again. He had sensed her fire and rebellious spirit flared on the mention of the Camarilla and its former Prince; he wanted to appease that notion quickly - so he made an educated guess. "Your sire treated you as no true Ventrue treats their progeny, I assure you of that. LaCroix and I are of around the same age - I'm actually quite confident we fought against each other, back as kine. I know trusting me seems difficult, but examine the truth you feel, not just what you see. My childe suffered early as you once did, there being little I could do to prevent it; but since that time I have done everything within my power to ensure she flourishes. Everything." He gazed deeply into her eyes with his own. The opportunity to try and dominate her arose, but he resisted. He needed to build trust, not power.

As the rain fell, finely and with no little grace as raindrops flourished over the scene, Vernon slowly raised a hand and took a slow step forward.

"Let us start with the first block of trust - the most simple one of all. My name is Vernon. Vernon Grant-Bell. My childe is Aurelia Nunez. May I have your name?"

Juliette regarded him with distrust in her eyes. She could scent no deceit in his words, but time and experience had taught her to be distrustful of Ventrue, especially male Ventrue.

His hand stretched towards her and she pulled back a little, then cursed herself for her fear and come forward again.
"My sire," she said, speaking the word acidly, as though it left a bad taste in her mouth, "he renamed me Juliette when he murdered me. He took my life from me, embraced me without my consent. Then, to cover his crime against the laws that govern us all, he kept me caged like an animal. Like a pet or a pretty doll for him to play with."
She hissed at the memory. "I will never be anyone's plaything again. I would rather enter the second death then ever be treated as he treated me. Lacroix was a disgusting shell of a kindred, not worthy of the Ventrue blood in his veins nor the title of Prince."

She put her shoulders back and shook her head, trying to shake off the darkness that threatened to engulf her as she thought of the years of torment she had endured in Lacroix's clutches.
"My name is Juliette. I have no last name. No real lineage other then my Ventrue blood. What is it that you want of me sir? I doubt you wish to have a cast off stray in your company, for that is what I have become now that my sire is dead and my bloodline has forsaken me."