Santiago, Bane of Princes

Court was held again this evening. One of the more memorable in quite some time. Not much occurred prior to our formal court save for some rumors flying about that Miss Ethel, aka Lady Francisco had decided to take advantage of the tradition of Elysium and make her presence known.
Mind you, this is the woman responsible indirectly for innumerable kindred deaths as well as the addiction of a large populace to kindred vitae through the distribution of her supposed "energy drink". The woman herself was fairly unimpressive in appearance, of moderate attractiveness with a decent taste in fashion. She had an air about her of confidence, one might say overconfidence, even hubris.
Once the actual court began, the floor was opened to new kindred to make their presence known. Master Montoya and Mister Santiago came bearing red and gold sashes similar to those I wear. While I found the display to be designed as a jab at my person specifically, I could not fault them for choosing to participate. Imitation after all is the sincerest form of flattery. Miss "Baby Girl" warned our Prince that she had a new childe to introduce to him but that introduction would be better left to a private audience, evidence pointing that perhaps this new childe had a somewhat illicit genesis. Prince Eric formally withdrew his claim to praxis over Los Alamos and formalized a personal domain throughout the city itself, and rightfully took on the mantle of Viscount of Los Alamos. Shortly thereafter Madam Lucia of the Crone served as a messenger of the dark lady, expounding on the villainy of Miss Ethel. I found there to be quite a bit of courage displayed given that Miss Ethel sat merely across the grand table a few seats away while the disparaging occurred. Her message was interrupted briefly by Mr. Santiago, now herald to his Majesty Prince Maladante, my guess is as some sort of sharing his distaste of the crone and nothing more than that. I was most disappointed by the chuckles of Father Cade who could not help but find humor in the presence of Miss Ethel during the ordeal. I circumvented the table and approached him, warning him that if he was to continue being impolite to Madam Lucia while she had the floor, that we were going to have issues. The chuckling stopped.
Unsurprisingly, Miss Ethel then introduced herself to the congregation of kindred, announcing her intentions and announcing a willingness to work within society. She did so with an air of arrogance I had not seen since Alder Murdoch, seeing no wrong in her past actions, as well as little care for lip service for the praxis itself. Court was adjourned though the political discussion continued. Things began to turn into a game of cat and mouse between Master Montoya and Mister Santiago, as Master Montoya was both cordial and polite to this newcomer as keeper of Elysium, though Mister Santiago very publicly chastised him for giving this enemy of the praxis the time of day. After Miss Ethel continued describing her operation, up to and including embracing farmed human children to obtain the ingredients for her beverage, I could not help but feel disgust, and a lack of all empathy for this woman. We were in the presence of a sociopath, wearing a porcelain mask of civility. I found myself agreeing with Mister Santiago, and began to question why it was that this woman was not exterminated at the first opportunity.
Prince Maladante returned... threats became less and less veiled, and conversation less and less muddled by the desire to maintain decorum resulting in the ultimate expulsion of Miss Ethel from Elysium grounds. Individuals were set on Miss Ethel as informants, to keep tabs on her location while a blood hunt was organized.
The hunt itself was quite underwhelming. A mass of us congregated and waited for a forcefully summoned Ethel to make herself known to us. Instead, the ghouled body she was riding arrived, which was revealed when Father Sabaska hastily attempted to stake her. The woman died, and much as things tend to do, there were witnesses and the police were alerted. It is amazing how effective and ineffective the human authority can be. Lady Fate is a cruel lover, and tonight she desired to see us suffer the hardships dealing with a fast response time. Viscount Smith was present, and his mastery of dominate made quick work of the breach itself. I watched from the shadows with a sense of pride in the efficiency he displayed.
I was later made privy that a member of the Nosferatu, Mister Rochelle, broke into the police vehicles to make off with any electronic evidence of the scenario.
After the situation was neutralized, we returned to Elysium where the Prisci convened to finally select our harpy. As Miss Foster was not present yet again, Madam Lucia of the crone became our primary candidate. We met and unanimously selected her to represent us once all airs of neutrality and cooperation were addressed thoroughly. The Second convening of court for the evening began with a formal declaration of our new harpy as well as her subsequent praise toward Mister Rochelle for his quick action in dispatching further threat in the situation that evening. Mister Bosen was then given the floor upon which he gave praise unto the various members of the court who had served its purposes well. Prince Maladante took the opportunity to give similar praise, in particular to that of Prince Emeritus, Viscount Smith. The topic abruptly took a turn for the worse when Miss Baby girl derailed the situation once again onto the topic of embrace. Shortly Thereafter Mister Bosen asked for permission to embrace, as did mister sunshine. Mister Maxwell expressed a personal distaste of the situation as it appeared to be some form of double standard, but who knows what deals were arranged behind closed doors to sate the wrath of our Prince. Mister Santiago took the opportunity to reveal in an elaborate sequence of question and answer with our prince, the identity of his childe- Master Montoya. He prefaced the revelation prompting, nay daring the prince to destroy his illegitimate childe. With a key word, Mister Santiago unlocked some understanding within the Manchurian mind or Master Montoya. Needless to say I was not surprised at this revelation, though I was subconsciously driven to pace near the doorways to vent my anger with the man for his open defiance of Kindred tradition. Once court ended, it took every ounce of my being to abstain from outright torporing Mister Santiago. Instead I elected to show my distaste for his actions by placing a well deserved fist into the center of his face. Master Montoya drew upon the powers of the Daeva blood to ensure that I did not go further than this. I was prepared to loose esteem among my peers to make a point. Nay, Santiago continued his social barrage, claiming that I was a coward for turning my back on the situation. It was very difficult to abstain from humbling him, though the offer was made. Though he refused, he proudly proclaimed a test of the mind, and hit some command on a hand held device resulting in a lock down on the facility. I was given two minutes to find a way out or surely he would blow up the edifice. His bluff was called, and his elaborate plot quickly foiled by a sequence of blood miracles. Sister Morgan Vaughn turned the lock on his reinforced doors into ash, and Bishop Sabaska his explosives into a clear fluid of some sort. Master Santiago was foiled again.

I left myself leaving and asking myself how it was that Mister Santiago was able to get away with his ability to inflict a sense of demoralization toward the praxis of every city he served within. My observations lead me to believe that because he chooses to berate the prince with what is "the obvious" and to some extent dare him to do what must be done, the kindred reflex is to provide resistance to being compelled to do something. Princes are to some extent honor bound to defy his orders because it is the best interests of any praxis holder to not be seen as a puppet. The puppets may dance but I wont stand idle any longer while your antics weaken the first estate.