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DYLAN 'THE SLAYER' BRUCE

SABBAT TEMPLAR and CAMARILLA ANATHEMA
RUZLEKIN, THE SEED OF BURNING TEARS


HIS STORY
You won't believe the things I've seen
Far beyond your wildest dreams
I've seen chaos and order reign supreme
I've seen the beauty of the universe
so peaceful and serene
in seconds turn to violence and screams

Dylan's Life, death and embrace are a matter of record. Other texts detail how he unearthed a vampire in London during the Blitz and how his parents were killed by the Undead. The way the heart broken teenager was manipulated by the Tremere-Antetribu Diabolist Katherine (Mayfair) and his early career as a Vampire slayer need no more elaboration, nor do the sad facts about his embrace and his later induction into the Sabbat. What is less known are the stories of his unlife, of his rise to the vaulted position as a Dominion of the feared Black Hand, his association with the Sabbat Inquisition that should have been hounding him for his crimes or his unsanctioned association with the Autarkis Vampires known as the Shrikes.

Dylan's destiny seems to be plagued by the powers of Darkness and by cruel fate. His quite life was forever changed by a quirk when his Father was slain by a sleeping Vampire they unearthed one night. He seemed to Katherine to simply fall into her lap, confused and pliable, the perfect tool for her schemes. He avoided destruction by an accomplished killer due to incredible coincidence and Hitler's Blitzkrieg and something more than haphazard luck was evident in Lady Anne's reaction to that event. When the ancient Norse Ventrue Gotsdam finally embraced him, it was at the directing of the Demon Tiamat. Had any other member of the Sabbat met him in France he might never have joined the sword of Caine, and being reintroduced to the diabolist Katherine seems to convenient to be an accident.

In recent nights, Dylan has begun to learn a little of his destiny and the part certain entities have played in it. His life, and unlife, has been part of something far larger and many luminaries have plucked at the thread of fate set out for him. Dylan was guided to his position within the Sabbat by the fallen Angel Baphomet, its cult of Infernalists laying the path for his meteoric rise in the sect. Both the Black Hand and the Sabbat Inquisition found reason to study him, while the Camarilla added him to their list of most heinous criminals on little more than the say so of a slighted woman. The supernatural powers that dabbled in the destiny of the Shrikes have also seen fit to throw their weight behind events in his life and too much weird shit has gone down for anyone to believe in coincidence or accident any longer.

Kindred Most Wanted gives a lengthy description on how Dylan became the tool of Katherine Mayfair, and how her knowledge allowed him to become a vampire slayer par excellence. It also tells how the Camarilla Vampires tried to destroy this annoyingly successful killer and about the contract they offered the Assamite Clan for his eradication. Luck and an unexploded German bomb ensured that it was the Assamite who was destroyed and the book goes on to explain how the underground battle between John Dee's Tremere and Lady Anne's Ventrue resulted in the Prince of London calling off all Undead hunting the human. Later it speaks off Dylan discovery that Katherine was herself one of the hated Vampires and how, after fleeing her cold embraces he was Embraced by the 5th Generation Ventrue, Gotsdam, childe of the Demonic Vampire Tiamat and how he was eventually inducted into the Sabbat in war torn France by a close friend. Irony and sadistic fate played their hand, delivering the Neonate of the Ventrue Antetribu back into the hands of the manipulative Infernalist Katherine Mayfair. But now when Dylan returned to Katherine, it was as a damned creature no better than her and he once again became her lover.

AMERICA
KATHERINE: MUSE OF THE INFERNAL
Katherine was born into a wealthy New Orleans branch of the Mayfair family and grew up on her fathers plantation. Her interest in the Occult was first enflamed by the slaves her family employed and by the time of her debutant ball she had mastered the skills of the mambo usually reserved for the 'coloureds'. She married a cuckolded gentleman who not only allowed her to continue in her practices, but whose wealth allowed her attain rare manuscripts and books. Graduating to traditional Witchcraft, curses and hermetic formula, Katherine was already the subject of gossip and innuendo by the time her older husband left her widowed at 30.

Katherine used both her inheritance and her land to host all manner of spiritualists and charlatans, forever searching for more thrilling secrets. Her salons attracted the attention of a Southern Tremere Antetribu and he began to visit her regularly. This forgotten Sabbat wizard was an Infernalist, a thrall of the Demon Baphomet, and his consuming interest in the sorcery of the Africans had drawn him to Louisiana. In time he came to admire her single mindedness and saw her as the perfect addition to his Cult. He attained permission from his Masters to embrace Katherine and then she was taken to a graveyard for her induction into the Sabbat.

Her background in Hedge magic and spiritualism and her understanding of the Voudun religion made Katherine the ideal Sabbat Warlock, and a successful diabolist to boot. She grew in Baphomet's eyes and was employed by the cult as a seductress and a travelling agent. Her Sabbat sponsors would have complained if it wasn't for the fact that she managed to enthral a Bishop in New York and to use his influence for her own means. Towards the end of the Victorian era Katherine boarded a ship and travelled to Europe in search of the tombs unearthed by the new interest in Egypt and Archaeology. While attempting to obtain a rare artefact she came into contact with the British Tremere John Dee, but rather than falling to blows the two Vampires began to talk. Keeping their association a secret from their respective superiors they became allies and would often work together against the Ventrue and share findings. By the beginning of the second world war, Katherine was as active in Dee's war with the Ventrue as she was in her own Sabbat duties. Behind all her activities of course were the wants and desires of her true master, Baphomet!
I've seen true genius, too often to lose the meaningless
appreciation of this mediocre nation
I've heard the mind is repetition,
of empty words without tradition
Turned original verbs into submission

The move from post war Europe to America was made at Katherine's instigation and Dylan was too deep within his self-loathing to resist anything she suggested. He had earned his spurs in that land and was considered a true Sabbat by the time he first saw the statue of Liberty. The Yanks got quite a kick out the cockney accent and the hate fuelled mood swings and Dylan made, if not friends, then certainly compatriots in the younger packs. The Londoner fit right into the Sabbat mindset. He flourish in the packs and the passionate frenzy and bloody celebrations seemed to excite him that little bit too much. Dylan loved the Ritae, he loved to fight and he loved to kill. He had become the very thing he hated most in all existence and as this vile thing he was damned if he was going to be anything but the vilest creature imaginable.

Dylan wasn't just good at being a Vampire, he was bloody brilliant at it.

As any scholar on the Sabbat will tell you, there are two sure ways to rise to prominence in the eyes of the sect. The first is through cunning and manipulation and the other is through pure martial might. For Dylan, both of these precarious career paths were open. His instinctual combat prowess guaranteed him a short but glorious career as a Sabbat brave and Katherine's Machiavellian mind saw to his political ascension. The highly regarded Tremere made certain that the skills of her ferocious warrior were the talk of larger sect gatherings.

In post war America Katherine steered her protégée through the miasma of war parties and head hunts, ensuring he was in the best position to gain attention for his victories. While it is certain that there were Sabbat every bit as vicious and successful as Dylan, their body counts never received the same degree of attention from the Bishops and Priscus. Dylan was certainly an accomplished warrior, and even in these early nights his tally was worthy of respect, but his meteoric rise was due as much to PR as to his own achievements.

EARLY CAREER
I smelled this malignerance addiction,
but I guess I wouldn't be right
if I said the blunt was like a baby pipe
There ain't gon' be no revolution tonight
Half of my warriors as high as a kite
Lost and they lost all they fight

 Throughout the 1940's and 50's Katherine subtly trained her pet Brave in the ways of Dark Thaumaturgy, she utilised an unlifetime of boons and allies to increase his martial training and summoned all manner of Hellish beasts to teach him forgotten skills. While she shaped his development to her own designs she was constantly forced to head off his own self-destructive compulsions. Dylan lacked the self-discipline necessary to avoid unbeatable odds and without the infernal watchdogs his mentor placed around him it is doubtful he would have ever survived his neonate years. It took almost twenty years for Dylan to grasp the mental fortitude necessary to be a cunning warrior, to get over his driving need to prove himself against every opponent and every challenge. Eventually, through harsh lessons, subtle mind games and post-hypnotic suggestion, Katherine tempered the worst of his devil-may-care attitude into a cold and driven fortitude.

Having his, often near suicidal, escapades curtailed made Dylan unbalanced and Katherine was forced to find ever more bizarre distractions to keep him under control. She summoned Succubi for his bed and fed him drugged kine to dull his nightmares, she showered him with gifts, motorbikes, sports cars, silver plated pistols; and held debauched parties for him to celebrate every success. She indulged his taste for collecting trophies and for arming himself to the teeth. The fast cars she bought him were always full of the latest weaponry and cutting edge armaments.

She even pretended to share his concern for elderly mortals, a hang-up born from his mixed feelings for his sainted parents. Dylan had been a troubled youth and his feelings of guilt over the loss of his parents had survived the embrace and the Sabbat initiation rituals. The Ritae designed to strip away a convert's humanity simply unleashed his feral instincts and his primal nature. Beneath the frenzied zeal he still saw the faces of those he believed he had failed and only the heat of battle gave him respite from these torments. He was further troubled by the slowly dawning realisation that the viniculum had no discernable effect on him and he felt unworthy of the Sabbat. Rather than viewing this freedom from the sects shackle hold as a merit, he sought ever more dangerous missions with which to prove his loyalty. His Ventrue antetribu blood fuelled much of this need and the Bloodlines drive to be the most loyal of all Sabbat influenced his attitude from the outset.

Katherine made sure that she brokered all deals between her paladin and the hierarchies of Hell. The last thing she wanted was for the years she had spent preparing her pet killer to be circumvented by Dylan gaining his own Infernal sponsor. She went out of her way to ensure that Dylan never learnt any maleficia or Thaumaturgy that might allow him to summon Devils or to cross the Seals, and all contact between her masters minions and the Londoner went through her. All he learnt about Pit craft and the Path of Evil Revelations was taught to him by the Tremere Antetribu. Once she was sure he was sufficiently hooked on the benefitss of the pit and within her power, she took the ultimate gamble and bartered a portion of her own soul in order to improve her tool. Dylan was given the 'Psychic tracker' Investment by Katherine's masters and trained in the methods of combating Demons.

RISE OF THE SLAYER
And I've tasted, the bitter tragedy of lives wasted
And men who glimpsed the darkness inside, but never faced it
And it's a shame that most of y'all are followin sheep
Wallowin deeper than the darkness, you're fallin asleep

By the 1960's Dylan had risen to the head of his pack and had been employed as a Templar by an important Lasombra Bishop in New York. This position as trusted right hand to a man with the ear of the inner council gained Dylan the respect of his peers and meant that he was sent on several vital missions. As a Templar and a Knight errant, Dylan served those whom Katherine served. His thirst for battle was sated in missions to assassinate the enemies of Katherine's Infernal masters. He was employed to hunt down first the Cultists of these enemies, and then the diabolical creatures themselves. Dylan had graduated from a mortal Vampire slayer to an Immortal Demon slayer in less than a quarter of a century.

As part of his training and conditioning by Katherine, Dylan was taught to face the Demon world, otherwise known as the hidden. He learnt when they were weakened and how to commit the act of Rapture, effectively Diablerising Demons. He learnt to feed on the Hidden as easily as he did the living and occasionally he even managed to gain new and interesting powers from the creatures he dispatched. Baphomet and his servants honed the Vampires abilities and employed him as a weapon in their own unguessable schemes, all the time shaping him into a perfect Demon slayer.

In answer to Dylan's inquiries into the nature of Baphomet, Katherine invented a fabrication about sacrifice. She led her pawn to believe that the souls of those he killed went to their master and made him stronger. Rather than telling him the truth about gaining Investments, she told him that he needed to send a vast amount of souls to Baphomet in order to gain another 'gift'. The games she invented to distract him began to take on religious overtones, with victims being skinned alive and their hearts cut out for the blood. Her experience of the Voodoo Mambo's showmanship and the Mardi gras spectacle mixed with aspects of Aztec ritual and plain old Hollywood kitsch horror. Dylan bought into her act completely and even began to prefer ritualistic ways of killing his victims. A Vampire who destroyed his victims by tearing the dead hearts from their chest was a great terror tactic for the Sabbat. Of course, the fact that Katherine could actually barter the souls of some of these victims for real benefits from her Master didn't hurt and without ever knowing it, Dylan paid for her advancement in several paths of Dark Thaumaturgy and his own 'Teleport' Investment.

After a decade as a successful Templar/Paladin of the Sabbat and having survived countless Pack members and a host of dangerous assignments, Dylan was being courted by the Black Hand as a potential member of their brotherhood. The widely held belief that Dylan had bested an Assamite assassin sent after him while he was still mortal did much to enamour him to the more gung-ho elements of the Hand and his uncompromising determination in campaigns since his embrace made him an ideal candidate. Unfortunately the mental predations of Katherine and his growing association with the Infernal realms was beginning to tell on Dylan and his unwavering loyalty was quickly diminishing. By the time the Black hand began to secretly test him, Dylan no longer did what he for love of the sect, but he was a master at making it appear as if he did.

Now a master of Pit craft and a killer without equal, Dylan no longer sought the brotherhood he had once hoped to find among his Sect. His alienation from the blood ties of the Viniculum and the disslocation from the Undead as whole brought on by continued exposure to the denizens of other realms had severed any fraternity he once held with the Sabbat and he felt little remorse at sending the mindless thugs he drew to his packs to their certain destruction, more souls for Baphomet. Dylan had begun to despise other Vampires, as none of them seemed capable of meeting his own exacting standards. Deep within his psyche, Dylan was aware that this revulsion was really directed towards himself and was born from the fact that he was adrift without a firm direction. Throughout the early 70's Dylan did as Katherine bid him because he could see no other path and he lived simply for the fight. When he was engaged in the hunt for a target or the glory of a Sabbat war, he was happy, or at leasst too busy to dwell upon his unhappiness.

GLORY NIGHTS
You won't believe the things I've seen
Far beyond your wildest dreams
I've seen chaos and order reign supreme
I've seen the beauty of the universe
so peaceful and serene
in seconds turn to violence and screams

While the Sabbat sent Dylan on assassination missions against the Camarilla, the Infernal cult sent him against all manner of foe. Dylan killed Mortals, Mages, Garou and stranger creatures still, he butchered Vampires of both sects, as well as those from Independent clans, but it was the Ba'ali he took most pleasure in despatching. As direct rivals to the followers of Baphomet, this tiny Bloodline were often on his list and though he didn't know it, Dylan began to look forward to killing these 'Infidels'.

Membership in Dylan's pack was seen as a reward by the bravos and as a suicide mission by the sane members of the sect. Life expectancy was measured in months rather than years and Dylan was known to seek the most dangerous of missions for the glory they brought him. Occasional questions were asked about how come he always returned intact from such battles when it was increasingly common for all other pack members to meet the final death. Investigations were set up, but both Tremere and Tzimisce spies cleared the Ventrue of any misdeeds and their reports even served to increase the Bishops opinion of his Paladin.

Over the years some Pack mates managed to weather the damage as well as Dylan himself and slowly a core pack membership was established. While others who felt they had what it takes were extinguished, the most hardy and indestructible Braves lived long enough to be considered Dylan's equal. Sabbat with similar reputations and histories were drafted in and became members of the pack and eventually, the group consisted of the toughest Templars and warriors in New York. The Punk era that heralded the close of the 70's and the birth of the eighties was the golden age for Dylan and his cronies, and when Gratiano himself referred to them as 'our beloved wild boys' a name was coined for the infamous gang.

Swaggering around and thumbing his nose at authority, Dylan positively invited others to try their luck. Even after all his years in the Sabbat he still hadn't gotten bored of living with the fastest gunslinger in the west syndrome and what fights he couldn't start by simply grinning smugly at others he could always engender with his cockney lip. After all, he philosophised, why bother with witty repartee when you can just tell the jerk to 'fuck orf!' His mere presence could whip the Braves into party mood, and drunk on the atmosphere it was rarely long before Dylan and his boys got into a fist fight for the hell of it.

The Pack's growing reputation as thugs and trouble makers began to reflect badly on the Bishop, Dylan's Wild Boyz were becoming an embarrassment as he sought to redirect their energy. With a lack of cities to besiege in the local area, the Bishop had to find another way to prevent his most chaotic pack from wrecking his own Haven. While he searched high and low for a solution, the pack found their own in the shape of the Tzimisce Miriam Troy.

Embraced as cannon fodder in a recent war, Miriam had been a devoted mother in life and after surprising all with her survival; she naturally gravitated towards her old calling. While other sect members made sure to avoid the Wild Boyz, even fleeing if they saw them coming, Miriam stood her ground. To her the pack of thugs were little more than high-spirited boys in need of discipline.

The inevitable confrontation came at a Blood feast in the winter of 85, when the Wild Boyz were throwing their weight about and terrorizing less warlike sect mates in Hell's kitchen. Miriam stepped between Dylan and his victim and stared him down. When he told her to 'get the fuck out of his way' she slapped his face and told him to behave himself. Three-dozen Sabbat waited with awe for the thug to rend her limb from limb and throw her remains to his pack, but instead to their surprise he backed down. Rumblings of derision from the other Wild Boyz were met with a similar dressing down from Miriam Troy and she told the frightened Nosferatu they had been bullying to run along. Taking their lead as always from Dylan, the Wild Boyz calmed down and listened as the slightly built Tzimisce woman gave them a lecture on their behaviour. She reminded them of their potential and asked them if they really thought that terrorizing their brothers and sisters in the sect was truly the best way to utilise the respect they were given.

Finally she asked them pointedly if they were proud of being thugs and bullies and as one they look at their feet and mumbled a resounding 'No!'

Anyone foolish enough to think that the Pack had gone soft learnt to their own detriment that nothing was further from the truth. It just seemed that Miriam could not only stand up to the gang, but that she could control them too. From that Night on the most destructive and blood thirsty Pack took on anew direction. Having someone who believed in their mental and social skills encouraged them to expand their repertoire and before long they were feared as much for their amazing tactic abilities and quick wits as they were for their physical might and fearlessness. In some twisted way the two elements needed each other, Dylan and his pack needed a control and Miriam needed a focus for her affections. Miriam became the pack priest and the Gang earned itself a new name. Now referred to as the 'Momma's Boyz' Dylan's pack settled into its ideal formation.

The introduction of Miriam into Dylan's unlife was the catalyst for change and if Katherine had been more aware of the effects of this mother figure on her pawn she would have had her rival slain. Unfortunately for Katherine, she failed to recognize the entirely human relationship that had begun to develop between the two. Dylan now had someone in whom he could confide, a sympathetic ear for his growing dissatisfaction. His adherence to the Path of Evil revelations was teetering, due as much to his lack of respect for the so-called Masters of the path as to his own disinterest in its tenets. Unbeknown to Katherine or her sponsors Dylan clung desperately to what remained of his Will not through the ethics of the path but through a twisted code of honour born from his own sense of right and wrong. Dylan, like a few other free thinkers, was forging his own Path of enlightenment and if he could stave off the wassail just long enough he would soon begin to lash the beast with his will alone.

Miriam introduced Dylan to Dominique, the passionate voice of Sabbat responsibility, and her harsh questions allowed him to rediscover the love he had once held for the sect. Dominique reminded him of what the Sabbat really stood for, Freedom! This wise and powerful woman was a member of Dylan's own Bloodline and she shared much of his doubts about the Sabbat. But where he had allowed himself to devolve into a brute, she had always striven to rise above the worst aspects of the sect. Dylan was shamed, but reinvigorated, and this new sense of personal responsibility and honour allowed him to master his base nature and his beast. Dylan threw himself into mastering the tenets of the path of Harmony, albeit with his own slant, and cast off the mental shackles he had allowed Katherine and her hidden masters to place upon him.

SALAD DAYS
I've seen and experienced things
that'll push the average to the edge
and swan dive to death
I'm two guys, multiplied by ninety-three guys
Evenly balanced seein evil equally in each eye now

For the first time in his unlife, indeed for the first time in his existence, Dylan had a sense of him self. Before this his identity had only ever been the result of others opinions. He had been his fathers son, as was usual for a boy of his age, and then a tool of Katherine, embraced by Gotsdam as a tool of Tiamat, he became a Sabbat shovelhead and then a true Sabbat, part of a pack. His rise to glory was inescapable and Dylan the war hero was the construction of the Sects gathered masses, while all the time he was, in truth, the pawn of Katherine's Infernal sponsors. But now, with the affection of Miriam and the guidance and mentorship of Dominique he had finally matured into Dylan the man and he discovered he was none of the shallow characters he had been forced to play.

Foremost in his mind was the fact that he had committed crimes of Diabolism and that if he was discovered his newfound identity would be executed before it had time to flourish. He needed to sever his link with Hell and to destroy Katherine. With his descent into monstrosity reversed, Dylan eventually summoned the courage to admit his true crimes to Miriam. His adopted mother told him not to worry and began to plan a way to extricate Dylan from his situation. Part of her plan was to befriend Katherine and to offer her self up as a seemingly pliable dupe. Within a year she had gathered enough evidence for her scheme and after carefully coaching Dylan, they 'accidentally' revealed their suspicions to Dominique.

Meanwhile Dylan discovered the power of reputation quite by accident. An off hand remark to a Prisci about the lack of respect a rival pack showed to the local Bishop escalated into a sect wide belief in the packs disloyalty. In a perverse game of Chinese whispers, the simple snub grew and grew into a tale of betrayal and outright treachery. The gathered sect tore the offending Vampires to shreds without a second thought, convinced of their crimes by little more than the word of the Templar. When passions ran high and the Packs were thirsty for blood, the opinions of a Sect Hero could easily become the opinions of the entire mob. Dylan allowed himself a sly grin.

Here was the weapon he had been searching for, a way to remove powerful enemies without calling attention to himself or risking his reputation. With carefully directed whispers he could damage Katherine's strong bedrock of support, discrediting her allies and even having her co-conspirators removed. For the first time he began to understand how useful it could be to have well-respected dupes and he started to use Katherine's own tactics of helping others up the ladder of monomacy and sect intrigue.

Within a brief period of time Dylan had managed to discredit or destroy many of Katherine's supporters. Some were so set on controlling the Sabbat for their own goals that he could use Dominique's beliefs to undermine their position, while others he simply blackmailed or out right threatened into removing their support of the Tremere. He did all of this without Katherine ever realising he was no longer her puppet, and while she grew increasingly frustrated at the time he spent with Miriam and Dominique, she never once doubted he was still hers to command.

It was in the early Nineties that Dylan felt confident enough to take on his former mistress directly. With Dominique's assistance he laid a web of intrigue, convincing his Bishop that he was onto a secret cabal of diabolists within the Sabbat. He received permission to pursue his leads, and went to work in the next phase of his plan. When Katherine took a journey to her ancestral home in New Orleans, Dylan followed her south. He convinced a local pack that he was working on a secretive mission for the sect and even had them embrace a trio of shovelheads for the mission. The established Sabbat were only to happy to work alongside a minor celebrity and the new recruits were too shit scared to ask questions. He convinced the Pack that they were hunting a known diabolist and that the local Bishop was aware of their activities.

This lie worked for a while but as Katherine continued to elude him, the older Vampires began to ask questions. Being kept away from their city haven and other Sabbat troubled them and when one of their number threatened to speak with his Bishop Dylan killed him. He explained the loss of the packmate as an attack by Katherine and the addition of two skinned mortals the following night increased the other Vampires fear factor considerably. Over the following nights he killed two more Pack members and liberally spread faux ritual clues around the site of the killings. When he did eventually face Katherine, his pack were so incensed by her foul practices that they rushed headlong into their destruction in their attempt to destroy her.

Unfortunately they failed and Dylan was forced to limp off and lick his wounds. He had seriously underestimated her infernal allies and her grasp of Thaumaturgy and he realised that he could not use cannon fodder to rid himself of her. He would have to take her on himself and reveal his independence. He wasn't yet ready for such a risk and so he returned to New York. The Killer who had faced Demons and Elders alike without fear was terrified of a single Magic wielding Vampire, but it took Miriam's wisdom for him to realise that Katherine had twisted his mind in ways he had yet to fathom. In truth Katherine was no match for him, and all his elaborate scheming and puppetry was due to the control she held over him. He was incandescent with fury!

THE WAR FOR MILWAUKEE
Despite his failure to destroy Katherine in New Orleans, Dylan had still managed to convince his Bishop that he had struck a significant blow against the Infernalist enclave, having fooled everyone into believing that the lost pack had been his quarry all along, and that given time he would discover thier mysterious High priestess. In the meantime he was commissioned with leading a war party into the besieged city of Milwaukee and to assist the Sabbat forces already there in taking the prize from the Camarilla. Capitalizing on the recent demise of the Prince and the destabilizing effect that had had on the rest of the Clans, the Sabbat had spread fear and sedition throughout the city and had now stepped up to the full invasion.

Dylan led a number of War parties into the streets to butcher the tightly organised defenders and to clear the way for the second wave of Sabbat to sweep the Camarilla from the city. Years of protecting their havens from Lupines had lent the Gangrel of Milwaukee a high degree of combat expertise and the initial battles were fearsome. Countless shovel-heads and newly embraced cannon fodder were sent to their destructions while the True Sabbat co-ordinated lightning strikes and devastating death blows and by the time the war was over the Camarilla had been dealt a savage blow.

THE INQUISITION
Maybe I'm the most thorough worker on the job to you
or maybe I'm the one, who was plottin to rob you
The fear of this beatdown, the women on no cash to floss
makes most of y'all hustle ya ass off
From nothin to two mill', in five years
I'll live to see it
vanish in six months, with no tears believe it
I'll rock, twenty-eight years before the Feds can lay a trace
See they plan is to erase me, just to replace me

Dylan's cover for hunting Katherine had an unexpected side effect in the late nineties. Following the succesful campaign to take Milwaukee he was approached by the Sabbat inquisition and taken to a secret Haven to be interogated. Members of that less than popular organisation had heard of his successes in hunting down diabolists and wanted to share information. Suddenly he had the opportunity to turn the sects dedicated anti-demonic squad against his former lover and to rid himself of her cult once and for all.

Unfortunately for Dylan, his string of successes had caused him to become over confident. The Inquisition were not as easy to manipulate as the blood thirsty packs and they already suspected him of diabolism. All the time the Cockney Vampire thought he was manipulating the investigators into acting as his dupes, they were collecting evidence about not only Katherine, but him as well.

When the Sabbat inquisition had what they needed they fell upon Dylan with trickery and stealth and dragged him before an independent Bishop, a man with whom neither he or Katherine had any influence. Katherine had gotten wind of the investigation and had fled, applying to the Camarilla for asylum. Dylan, then, would have to do or now and he would bare the Inquisitions wrath alone.

His trial was attended by every pack on the East coast, not to mention such luminaries as Cardinal Moncada, Gratiano and Jalan-Aajav together with Dominique and Miriam. The arguments put forward by his two mentors and by Dominique's powerful allies would have made little difference if it wasn't for the fact that Miriam made the very risky move of naming several of Katherine's allies, including her pet Bishop. Claiming that her diabolic powers allowed Katherine to cloud even the mind of such a great man, and thus forcing him to admit that he had been spellbound, painted Dylan's Infernalism in a new light.

Decrying his fidelity to the Cardinal and the Seraph themselves, Dylan requested the opportunity to hunt down Katherine himself, to prove his loyalty or to be destroyed in the attempt. The favour of his friends in high places and the way he spoke, defiant yet befitting of a True Sabbat, swayed the crowd. The Inquisition wanted his head, but Dylan still had a wealth of grass roots support among the packs and the V.I.P.'s saw the prudence in being lenient with such an accomplished tool. Dylan was told to destroy Katherine by the next full moon or he would face the wrath of the entire Sabbat and be hunted by the very Packs he had betrayed.

THE MEETING WITH THE SHRIKES
Life! Your heart is one with your brain
Emotional or reason, now which one do you obey?
Life! Somebody callin you insane
When overwhelmed and blessed, burst in tears of happiness

Katherine was on the run, but her situation wasn't half as desperate as that of Dylan himself. Unlike him, she had allies outside the Sabbat and knowledge of the world outside the sect. When she went to the Camarilla for protection, she had a great deal to offer in the way of secrets and information, and they bent over backwards to accommodate her defection. Katherine asked for a minor Coterie from Chicago to meet with her and chaperone her into the safety of the Camarilla, a request that caught everyone off guard it seems. When the Sabbat Sorceress asked for these 'Shrikes' by name to be the independent go-between for the transaction nobody was more shocked than the coterie itself because they had never heard of the Sabbat turncoat.

Katherine had a head start on Dylan, and he knew that if she succeeded in reaching the Camarilla inner council, she would disappear and become impossible to root out. He didn't have the time for a protracted quest. His ability to track his prey had a limited effective distance and unless he knew where Katherine had fled, he would be unable to use his skills to hunt her down. Dylan was desperate enough to make a deal with the devil, however the Devil in question was a Ravnos elder known only as the Harlequin. Dylan has never told a sole what he paid for the information but the night following his meeting with the undead gypsy he was en route to Chicago.

The secretive meeting between the Camarilla Coterie and Katherine had all the hallmarks of a good movie, taking place as it did on the docks of Chicago shrouded in mist, subterfuge, intrigue and suspense. Dylan watched the Shrikes arrive from his vantage point on the roof of a warehouse. Years as a warrior allowed him to size up the opposition and as he listened to their unguarded bickering he took measure of their personalities. It occurred to him that rather than being his enemies, here were just another collection of vampires, children of Caine, manipulated and endangered by the Bitch Katherine. The way this group interacted fascinated him, so different as it was from the way a Sabbat pack operated. All of a sudden the Sabbat rhetoric about the Camarilla seemed a very long way away and the fact that they acted 'like humans with fangs' suddenly seemed more like a blessing than a curse.

His slowly blossoming grin was cut short by the arrival of his quarry. As soon as the Tremere revealed herself to the Shrikes, Dylan struck. Riding his frenzy with practiced eve he fell upon the groups weakest member in an attempt to kill Katherine and get away without too much injury to himself. His plan didn't go off as he intended. The seemingly stupid Brujah revealed his true worth in melee and what he had mistaken for a ghoul suddenly warped into a nine foot Lupine monstrosity. All of a sudden Dylan realised why Katherine had chosen this Group.

The intervention of the Shrikes prevented his initial attack from succeeding and Dylan prepared to kill them as well. While Dylan is a ferocious one vampire slaying machine with the ability to mix various fighting styles along with Dark thaumaturgy to overcome seemingly impossible foe, the shrikes themselves are no battle virgins and he was not entirely certain he would be victories against such odds. It is perhaps fortunate that that question was never answered because Katherine chose to attempt to sacrifice her would be saviours while she escaped and the tables turned.

Not having been overly keen on the mission in the first place and recognising the mystery attackers indifference to killing them, the Shrikes saw no reason to aid their ward when she betrayed them. While Dylan and the Shrikes spent valuable time shouting at each other and assuring one another that they weren't interested in each others demise, Katherine slipped away. Once Katherine had fled, Dylan attempted to leave the field without further bloodshed and finding his path blocked agreed to tell the shrikes the full story.

THE HUNT FOR KATHERINE
Yo, yo, I've seen relationships that's so sick
Life long friendships so cha-o-tic
Thug cat bangin this chick but won't kiss
Drinkin her spit, when coppin a fix for dope bliss
I got a knife and a bat, to bust your brain,
put a knife in your back
"Once in the Life" I was trifle like that
like my man Troy, who lost his days
shootin dice on worldly ways
and ended up in a early grave

He explained Katherine's crimes as an Infernalist, how she had manipulated him and how he had managed to bargain her destruction in return for a stay of execution for himself. He also showed them evidence, given to him by the Ravnos who had aided her flight and then sold the details to Dylan, of her plans to escape the Camarilla also and that the reason she had chosen the shrikes, with the aid of her Tarot cards and Voodoo rituals, was because she believed she would have little trouble killing them and making it look as if the Sabbat had succeeded in killing her along with them.

Because once in a lifetime is rough
Twice in a lifetime you combat the ghost of mistrust
Mentally cuffed, thrust by a cop thinkin he tough
You bust, Amadou Diallo is us, and what

Unknown to the Camarilla the Shrikes agreed a tentative truce with Dylan and with the information he supplied them they proved Katherine's duplicity. By convincing the Camarilla that Katherine had met her end at the hands of the strange Sabbat attacker, they bought Dylan a little time as well. Recognising the danger the Shrikes posed her, Katherine sought to destroy them, making several failed attempts to end their unlives as she prepared to flee to her family seat in New Orleans. Dylan's ability to track his prey worked against her and more than once the Tremere Diabolist cursed herself for granting him that Investment. In her own mind however, she still believed that he would not be able to end her life when it came to it and was certain that he would soon be at her side again.

By now bitter rivalry existed between the turncoat and the Shrikes as they had been both physically injured and socially embarrassed by her machinations. When she did flee the city they dropped everything to continue their pursuit. Led by Dylan, they followed her South and eventually to the Big easy. On the journey one of the Shrikes, the Tremere Klaus, defected and joined his Clan mate in return for the promise of unnatural powers. Katherine's centuries of Occult knowledge and her seductive nature came close to splitting the Coterie completely as they found themselves fighting against one of their own.

THE BIG EASY
now I'm on my knees, beggin' "God, please!
Save me from the fires of hell!

Let water water soul prevail"
- cos I can't take no more
Who's that knockin, at, my door?

Not even Klaus, Katherine's army of risen corpses and her Infernal powers could keep the Shrikes at bay for long and they eventually tracked her to her haven deep within the bayou. In the half flooded mansion her family had built centuries before Katherine prepared for her final stand. She sold what was left of her soul in return for the ability to transmigrate her soul into a new body, hoping to sacrifice her acolytes, Epiphany Proudfoot, in her place and escape the dogged vengeance of her former thrall.

with the aid of Epiphany they eventually defeated Katherines Infernal guards and the mindless corpses dragged out of the local graveyard to watch over her haven. They broke through the mansions inner defences and came upon Katherine after she had managed to swap souls with her newly embraced Childe. Thinking she had succeeded in fooling her enemies, Katherine, in epiphanies body, let down her guard and was caught completely by surprise when Dylan killed her and not her decoy. Finally Dylan was free of the albatross that had hung around his neck since the nights of the Blitz.

AFTER KATHERINE

Is that you, Pete from Cobb's Creek,
who died in my sleep?
We was playin for fun, now it's keeps

On the journey back to Chicago and in the nights that followed Dylan and the shrikes faced several dangers and a grudging respect grew between them out of familiarity. Dylan taught the Setite Teya how to utilise the strange side effects she had gained from Diablerising the Demon Kali sent to kill her by Katherine and also managed to annoy both Damien and jack enough that he got to see their fighting styles up close.

Freed of his mistress Dylan still had all the faculties and the instincts to hunt the Infernal and between pestering the shrikes and randomly killing gang bangers and lone vampires for food he would track down Demons hiding among the people of Chicago. Life as a Sabbat hero quickly lost its lustre in comparison to hunting the truly powerful and frightening denizens of Hell. Without a specific goal in mind, Dylan returned to his default mode as a thrill seeker by chasing ever more sphincter loosening foes to pit his skills against. Within a few years he had built himself a reputation among the Hidden as a slayer of Demons.

BACK TO THE SWORD OF CAINE
Like my man Mark I beat to death wrapped in a carpet
and left in the garbage, now that's cold-hearted
Ask Book he saw it, "Yo black I ain't seen (shit)
Kids in the 6, they flip for nonsense"
Poke an icepick, smokin that (shit)
since preschool fool and packin a tool, (fuck you)
Mom Dukes it's cool

Returning to the Sabbat Dylan went directly to Katherine's closest allies and killed three of them before he even presented himself to the bishop for judgment. He presented his commanders with proof of their Infernalism as well as the names of the rest of the Baphomet coven. Added to this were a few faked documents that implemented those he and Miriam wanted disposed off and enough (probably fake) evidence to clear any lingering doubt as to the bishops diabolism (which would not have existed if it wasn't for Dylan and Miriam) and he was assured of a Hero's welcome. At the insistence of Cardinal Moncada and Seraph Jalan-Aajav, Dylan was summarily cleared of all accusations and he returned to his pack.

Since first meeting the shrikes, Dylan has spent less and less time in New York and more and more time in Illinois. He eventually petitioned to be allowed to take his pack to Milwaukee. From this newly acquired Sabbat city he is able to travel relatively freely to Chicago, ostensibly on scouting missions, to speak with the Shrikes. Together with his new allies he has helped take down the Setite dominated gangs in the Calibri green, aroused and destroyed a Methuselah in Mexico and watched Jack Fletcher diablerise the former prince of Chicago. Together with the influence the shrikes hold over the Anarch's Dylan has enough effect in Chicago to dodge any rumours of disloyalty from within the Sabbat and is currently enjoying a degree of freedom as the leaders of the Sabbat follow a wait-and-see policy.

THE FUTURE
You won't believe the things I've seen
Far beyond your wildest dreams
I've seen chaos and order reign supreme
I've seen the beauty of the universe
so peaceful and serene
in seconds turn to violence and screams

Dylan's commanders in the Sabbat consider his relationship with the Shrikes as troublesome but worth watching, after all there is nothing in Sect Dogma that proscribes associating with Independent Vampires. The Black Hand itself sees no crime in the cultivation of powerful allies, especially those with a large following among the Anarch's. The Inquisition lacks the support to move against him for now, and for the majority of the Sabbat, his destruction of Katherine and the Cult of Baphomet is proof enough of his innocence. The Camarilla councils have moved his name up the Red list and he is now fourth most wanted of the Anathema. This alone makes him a feared 'bogey-man' for the Justicar to brandish in their own political manoeuvrings and a figure to plague the dreams of many Princes.

In the past year, Noddist scholars and eschatologists who want to discover what he knows about the final nights and the Shrikes themselves have approached the Dominion, extending his infamy and his appeal. Dylan is as well placed in the Sword of Caine now as he ever was and for now all impediments and enemies seem to have been neutralised. As a Hero of the Sabbat, a veteran of several high profile campaigns and a warrior of renown, Dylan's future in the sect promises to be spectacular.

HIS NATURE
Life! Your heart is one with your brain
Emotional or reason, now which one do you obey?
Life! Somebody callin you insane
When overwhelmed and blessed, burst in tears of happiness

With his white-blonde hair, a look that the unaware often put down to artificial bleaching, and his penchant for Black leather and tight fitting clothes, Dylan is firmly rooted in the Punk sub culture, a look that aids him in carrying concealed weaponry and looking tough. A long leather trench coat covers his array of armaments and adds to the swagger he adopts to cover any discomfort or lack of social skills, When you look like you might just kill somebody for looking at you the wrong way, they rarely notice that you are feeling out of your depth in the more cerebral eddies of the conversation.

Dylan is a conundrum to those who know him. An Unlifetime of self doubt and confusion have shaped his less sociable nature, while the confidence others have in his primal nature have made him more than a little cocky. Irritating, arrogant and infuriatingly obnoxious he still manages to avoid having his head pulled off by the Shrikes. Every time his companions manage to accept him for what he is, Dylan's temperament as a Sabbat yahoo shines through and fucks it all up. Despite all his quirks, Dylan works well with the Shrikes and it is fair to say that he has transferred his devotion for his pack to the Independent coterie. His destiny lies with the Shrikes, that much is obvious, and the more he learns about his past lives and the parts they have all played in them, the more likely he is to consider himself part of the Coterie.

All of that aside, Dylan is a survivor. He sleeps on the roof of elevators or in the crawl spaces of hotel ventilation systems, never allowing others the chance to get the drop on him. Even when spending time with the Shrikes he first secures several weapons caches in easily reachable locations and positions himself in the optimum location for escape. With a selection of hand cannons and knives secured about his person, usually hung from a chain weapon he uses as a belt, and with wicked blades on his boots and even sometimes a handmade weapon in his throat, Dylan is never disarmed. A master of countless fighting styles and melee weapons, he will also use machine guns, semi automatic pistols and an impressive array of Investments and Dark thaumaturgy in combat. As an opponent he is versatile and adaptive, his greatest weapons being his instincts and his wits.

Perhaps the most telling insight into Dylan's outlook can be gleaned from a comment to Teya. "If I can't beat them in an honest punch up or a sword fight, i'll shoot 'em and if that don't work, I'll smack em with a bit of magic and then teleport behind them so I can ram a sword up thier arse and stake 'em with a bit of two-by-four through their chest. So long as you kill 'em, they ain't gonna bitch about fair play now are they baby?"

Feeding restriction; Dylan has managed to promote the myth that he can feed from any young male. In truth he can only feed from those who can protect themselves. The innocent and the weak have nothing to fear from the slayer, but the well armed or anyone with the ware-with-all to put up a fight are fair game. In the early nights after his embrace Dylan seemed able to gain sustenance from any healthy male, being a good south-London boy he was more than a little sexist in his appraisal of women's ability to protect themselves, but his time with Katherine and her ritual feeding deception have changed all that. Exactly who constitutes a viable vessel and who doesn't is a matter of Dylan's own views and even with all he has seen he still believes that woman are inherently less able to fight a man and in need of his protection. This misplaced gentlemanly conduct does more to get him in trouble than he likes, but his father spent a lot of time instilling such virtues in his wayward son.

Investments seen by the shrikes: Teleportation, Psychic tracker, prehensile/lashing tail, Wings, Imperviousness to fire, Hell fire (from the hands), Shadow step, Rapture (Consuming the hearts of his kills).

QUOTE:
"Did you know that how a man's horse is depicted in his honorary statue, denotes how he died? If the horse has both feet on the ground, the guy died in peacetime. One foot raised and he died of injuries received in battle. An' if the geezer is bucking both feet off the ground then he died in battle. If they make a statue of me, I wanna look like the lone fuckin' ranger in a rodeo!"

Dylan is © White Wolf Games, appearing originally in Kindred most wanted. Since then I have used the Character in my games and he has grown from that original concept. The ways that this Bio of Dylan differs from the Cannon are only for the Spikeyverse and are not meant to be a challenge to White Wolf in any way. His life and the circumstances of his embrace are detailed in Kindred most wanted (buy it) as are the reasons his name was added to the Red List. - Spike

- Lyrics; 'Thing's I've seen' by the Spooks