Bomber remembered that night like it was yesterday. It was a Thursday night. The place was hopping, and Bomber had fed from one of the Bitten who did him a favor and drank some JD, so he was feeling a little slow and tipsy.
Bomber was near the DJ’s cage, watching Kaf do his thing. The kid danced to his own music, and he was always fun to watch. The place was crowded, hopping, and making money now that school was back in session.
Anilia worked the crowd, dressed in supple pastel blue leather with steel spiked heels and boots that came up to her mid-thigh. She was hot, as usual, and she knew it. Bomber watched her, his eyes lazily taking her in, figuring he could have her later, after the place closed.
He and Lorenco had had a falling out. Since Lorenco became Prince, Bomber found that he was a lackey. Lorenco, publically, did not take Bomber seriously. In the bedroom, Lorenco surrendered to the Kiss just as readily as any human did. However, out here, he put down three Sabbat incursions, gathered up together the little bits of remnants left of the Camarilla, and brokered an armestice with the Anarchs.
Of course, it helped that Bomber was one.
There were no Anarch leaders. But by sheer force of will (and presence) Bomber was able to get most of the Anarchs to follow his guidance. The ones that didn’t, he took care of himself.
He was known as the Elder, if not by age then at least by his ability. Lorenco had taught him some basics of all the discpilines, yet would not tell him how he was able to manipulate the blood of another. Every man had his secrets. Lorenco wasn’t unusual in that.
Lor kept too many secrets from Bomber – and from everyone. Eventually they saw that their relationship wasn’t going to be beneficial to either of them, so they established a truce: Bomber would establish The Rack as an Elysium and take care of any instances in Steel Canyon, and would make sure the Anarchs were relatively good little boys and girls. In return, Lor would keep Bomber’s secrets, and, most especially, wouldn’t kill him.
Bomber tapped his foot as Kaf segued into “Galvanize” by The Chemical Brothers. As it built up, the wall behind the bar blew inward.
People screamed and Bomber jumped to his feet. Another explosion came from the other side, just upstairs. Bomber scanned the room even while he was moving. Near the entrance, the pillar cracked and the entire second floor crashed down bringing people with it and crushing the people beneath, blocking the door.
Someone grabbed his arm – Anilia, shrapnel through her shoulder like a spike. “LOOK OUT!” she screamed and gave him a hard shove to the left. Surprisingly enough, he went with it, falling into a group of people. He turned to see Amilia get covered by some liquid, and his nostrils filled with the scent of gasoline.
Another explosion shook the area, toward the back. They were blocking the exits. Bomber knew that beyond this concrete wall was the street. He ran at the concrete wall and punched it, as hard as he could. His fist went right through the six inches of concrete. In fury and near desperation, he slammed over and over into the wall, like a jackhammer. He got a hole through, big enough for a man.
Then he smelled the fire.
Bouncers arrived and started pulling at the concrete, widening the hole. Bomber kept making the hole bigger, the stones weaker, so all they had to do was pull. The fire was getting close. The gasoline was overpowering. He wanted to run screaming into the night. But he needed to get the people out…
All told, according to the papers, 18 people died in the blaze. The place went up in flames, but the surrounding areas were spared due to the diligence of the fire personnel – who didn’t care that a teenage goth club went up in smoke. None of this made him frenzy. What made him frenzy – what made him totally lose control – was seeing Anilia in an ambulance, blood all over her supple blue leather, and knowing he couldn’t help her, not with all those people around.
He ran. He ran into the night and grabbed the nearest Outcast, beating three senseless and tearing one into shreds. Then he went back to Lorenco, begging to stay the day. He hated doing that; Lorenco found it slightly amusing, which put the last nail in the coffin to make him dislike the man who had been so helpful before. Bomber fought a frenzy over that as well.
The next night, he found Anilia still in the hospital. He offered some of her blood to her, which she took greedily. They discussed what to do next.
In the flurry of insurance claims (at first, they denied it, saying it was sabotage and it wasn’t covered, but Anilia’s rotweiller of a lawyer put a stop to that), they were able to go rent somewhere else. Luckily, this place was just to the south of the university. In three months, an abandoned grocery and convenience store began to be converted into The Rack, the new Elysium.