<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Alberto Davide</div><div class="spoiler_body"><div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/GRxKIId.jpg)</div><br/>Don't let the papers tell you otherwise: the Davide family still runs more of Las Vegas than They want you to believe.  Sure, the big name hotels and casinos are run by corporations, but there's plenty of other ways to make a real buck in this town, and the Davides squat upon a fair number of them, always interested in getting a bigger piece of the pie.  Alberto was never certain this destiny was for him, though.  There was a certain element of madness the expectations his family placed upon him, expectations he never felt entirely comfortable taking on; they wanted a strong-speaking take-charge man, and though he's become a man capable of such things, he doesn't -like- that kind of responsibility.  There was a time he tried to escape this fate, but a tour in the Army only put him in Iraq, in the middle of a conflict he found senseless and unwinnable... and after he accepted an honorable discharge, he was drawn inexorably back into the periphery of his family's struggles, now merely equipped with skills to deal with the violence in his life to come.<br/><br/>Alberto keeps himself in shape because there's nothing more pathetic than a gangster gone to seed.  His awareness is sharp, his reflexes honed, and he is and relatively disciplined, and these were the qualities that drew his domitor-to-be to the disaffected veteran.  The changes demanded of his lifestyle with his first taste of the Blood were... frustrating, at best, but also liberating, in a way -- he's gone underground, now, ostensibly to throw off police attention and in fact to more directly mind those needs, and while he is permitted to keep in touch with his family, he is at least free from their expectations that he fight their bloody, senseless war.<br/><br/>Little does he know that a much darker one awaits him.<br/><br/>Alberto Davide<br/>Nature: Soldier<br/>Demeanor: Bravo<br/>Clan: Tzimisce Ghoul-to-be<br/><br/>ATTRIBUTES<br/>STR 3   CHA 2   PER 2<br/>DEX 3   MAN 2   INT 2<br/>STA 4   APP 2   WIT 4<br/><br/>ABILITIES<br/>Alertness 3      Drive 1   Computer 1<br/>Awareness 1   Etiquette 1   Investigation 1<br/>Athletics 1   Firearms 2      Law 1<br/>Brawl 1   Larceny 2      Medicine 1<br/>Intimdation 3   Melee 1   Technology 1<br/>Streetwise 2   Stealth 1   <br/>Subterfuge 2   Survival 1<br/><br/>BACKGROUNDS<br/>Resources 1<br/>- One part stipend, one part earned income.<br/>Contacts 2<br/>- His connections remain to the Davide family, as well as to fellow armed services veterans in the Las Vegas area.<br/>Double Life 1<br/>- Alberto shows up when he can for the important family dates: birthdays, holidays, and otherwise.  For now.<br/>Domitor 3 <br/><br/>DISCIPLINES<br/>Potence 1<br/>Auspex 1<br/><br/>VIRTUES<br/>Conscience 2<br/>Self-Control 3<br/>Courage 4<br/><br/>Humanity 5<br/>Willpower 6 <br/><br/>Blood Pool 0/2<br/><br/>MERITS/FLAWS<br/>Concentration [+1]<br/>- Life in the military taught him how to focus in the worst of cases.<br/>Under Surveilance [-2]<br/>- Local police have evidence suggesting Alberto has gotten up to shenanigans with the family after his discharge from the military, but have not of yet been able to pin anything on him.<br/></div></div><br/><br/>Alberto grimaced when he saw the name pop up on his phone.<br/><br/>It had been innocent bodyguard-security work this far in their association, and he'd learned a few things just by the layout of the place he'd been hired to protect -- the big one was that Andrei had genuine enemies, or at least reason to believe he had genuine enemies.  You didn't lease a penthouse and close yourself off from the light if you didn't have legitimate concerns about people breaking and entering.  Andrei was charming enough that Alberto was pretty sure these enemies were professional rather than personal, but he didn't recognize any photos, marks, or other symbols that indicated the man belonged to any gang or family -he- knew about.<br/><br/>For the life of him, though, he still couldn't quite understand what had motivated him to take the job.  But Andrei was an itch in the back of his mind, a riddle that didn't have an answer, and when Andrei had said he needed someone to help him out on a long-term basis -- someone who wouldn't be afraid of a little danger -- Alberto had agreed.  He'd done some digging over the past several days, trying to find out more about his new employer, but Andrei was a damned cipher -- word on the street said he was a frequent, deep-pocketed gambler on the casino scene, who won enough to look great but lost enough to not be a nuisance to the casinos.  As a Davide, there was only so deeply Alberto could dig without drawing attention on behalf of the family -- and he was not ready to take that risk for them.<br/><br/>He had other commitments.  He had other obligations.  He'd had -plans- tonight, even if those plans were just 'bury his face in a stripper's tits'.  Every bit of wisdom he'd picked up at his uncles' knee said, 'Don't look at that message.  You're done.  You quit.  You don't know this guy, but he knows you enough to tap you, get in your head, play you like a fool.'<br/><br/>Alberto unlocked his phone, read the message, and willed himself to put the phone back in his pocket.<br/><br/><tt class="bbc_tt">Be there in twenty.</tt><br/><br/>Fucking hell.<br/><br/>*<br/><br/>Seventeen minutes later, Alberto put in the key, opened the lock, and knocked twice before opening the door and stepping inside.  A quick visual sweep of the exterior had yielded nothing of interest, and the only thing he could hear was the usual dull roar of Vegas at night.  Situation normal.  The place was Vegas nice, which meant an interior selected for its artistic impact and not for the collective price tag.  Whatever Andrei -really- was, he had taste -- and you didn't get that by being new money.<br/><br/>Steeling himself for the weird, inexplicable flutter in his stomach that happened every time he saw him, Alberto began looking for the boss man to find out what he needed.  More of the same, he hoped.  Like as not, though...