By the time his meeting with Prince Legard had reached its conclusion, midnight was soon to arrive. The meeting itself had gone better than could have been expected; Maalik being pleasantly surprised at the tolerance Byron had shown. While it was clear that the Camarilla leader was definitely not one to be trifled with, the aged Nosferatu already found himself respecting him. Making his way back down beneath the city streets, Maalik found his thoughts drawn back to the young Kine, Cereza. Although he still did not understand why God had placed her in his path, or perhaps, he in hers, there was no doubt in his mind that there was indeed a purpose behind it.

As he progressed closer to his subterranean home, he noticed certain things that seemed out of place. There were footsteps in the dirt where there had been none just a few hours before and delicately stacked bones knocked out of place on a passageways corner. There was someone else down here in the darkness. Maalik's predatory instincts kicked in, his blood-born abilities shrouding his presence from even the naked eye. It was not long before he encountered the intruder; another Nosferatu, no less, who appeared to be stalking something themselves...

Had his heart still been beating, it may well have stopped as he noticed a familiar scent upon the air.

Cereza... he thought, feeling panic wash over him. He could not see the little human from where he was, but the fact that the trespasser was still so focused on something ahead of him gave Maalik some semblance of hope.

Maalik's long, deceptively strong fingers wrapped themselves tight around the throat of the would-be predator as he 're-materialised'; the discipline of Obfuscate abandoned in great urgency.

"Something tells me..." he snarled, his monstrous nature seeping to the surface through a thousand layers of faith, "That you are not here on the orders of the Prince..."

"N-no..." came the stammered reply.

When he spoke again, Maalik's voice was dripping with venom.

"Then heed my warning, cousin... if you ever go near that child, or trespass so close to my home without his authority again, then even the wrath of Allah will pale in comparison to my own..."

With what seemed like no effort at all, Maalik hurled the other Nosferatu back down the passageway, watching him skitter off into the darkness with considerable haste. Brushing off his robes, he was about to continue his search for Cereza. As it happened, however, when he turned to do so, he found himself chuckling.

"I should have known... Hello Cereza."