Playing Cat and Mouse

-Narrated by Aleksei, Pander and Paladin of the Heralds of Calomena pack, early 1999.

After the first night, and after the lethal blow dealt to Camarilla, the second phase of the assault on the city began. The previous night's first waves had been a battering ram of dozens and dozens of shovelheads, though screened and controlled by a couple of nomadic packs and at least one brotherhood that had long been infiltrated in the city. Now Their Eminences had sent the Sabbat purebreds, authentic Sabbat packs eager for the order to sweep the city and begin playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with Camarilla's remains.

The more experienced packs assumed that, even if the first night's assault succeeded, we would not wipe out Camarilla forces in one stroke. So we knew that, under an attack and territorial loss of that magnitude, the smartest tactic would be to hide and withdraw, avoiding capture in the process.

Even so, Camarilla somehow scented that we expected this, and the theory in practice had less impact than the main strike. But we were lucky. Some Kindred are truly and stupidly traditionalist, which led some to return to the safety of their havens, thinking that after last night's attack we would have withdrawn, as was supposedly our habit. We did not withdraw. We kept watch on those havens with what, if you allow me to confess it, was strange Sabbat patience, and so we hunted another assorted group of Camarilla Cainites. Proof enough that not all are blessed as descendants of Leonardo da Vinci, and therefore do not share his genius or intelligence.

The worst part of this phase was that Lasombra and Tzimisce, at least those loyal to Sabbat and not to the Oradea League, learned of our success and did what they always do: take the reins once the horse is already brushed and saddled.

Considering everything had been done behind their backs and, in a way, at their expense, without their consent and certainly without their supervision, they were rather wired against Antitribu in general. Still, they promised not to be too harsh on those who instigated the assault, given its notable success... provided that the fall of the city, as always, was credited to Sabbat's High Clans.

Well, Antitribu's response was fairly unanimous: screw you.
After all the effort Antitribu put into gathering logistics and funding, they were not about to let benchwarmers walk in and claim the glory. The city was Antitribu by right, and from that point onward hostility and rivalry between Antitribu and Lasombra with Tzimisce became one hundred percent palpable.
For the moment, those rivalries did not worry us too much. Every feast breeds feuds when the prize is a fat cake. Shame things would escalate later.

Rivalries aside, while we kept sweeping street after street in pursuit of Camarilla remnants, they managed one way or another to regroup around their lighthouse in darkness: Carlak.
They gathered around him and concentrated in his impregnable bastion, the Old City, the heart of Prague as fortress-city. They spread across the area, creating invisible barriers of Kindred squads prepared for whatever came. It did not mean much, because they were still disorganized enough to let us pick off one squad or two. For me, considering the initial success, that was more than enough.
They were already biting dust.