What I Am

The cast of "What I Am": (back, left to right) B. Dave Walters, Jason Carl, Alexander Ward; (front, left to right) Erika Ishii, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Taliesin Jaffe

### Cast

Erika Ishii
B. Dave Walters
Alexander Ward

### Special Guest(s)

Taliesin Jaffe
Bex Taylor-Klaus

### Broadcast On

Twitch
YouTube

In this episode, Victor's claims to the barony of the Valley may be harder to enforce than he thought, and a mysterious guest threatens to throw the coterie into chaos. Guest starring Taliesin Jaffe and Bex Taylor-Klaus.

## What I Am

*"Gasoline, saccharine*

*I've got no reason for the state I'm in*

*But I know what I am, they know what they are*

*So let me be."*

― Band of Skulls, ‘I Know What I Am’

## Plot Synopsis

Griffith college has been rocked with scandal when anonymous hackers uncovered that members of the Board have been accepting huge sums of cash from questionable sources.

The coterie is meeting at Victor's office at Griffith college. Victor asks Ramona to watch over Griffith College now that the coterie's dominion has expanded, to which she accedes, but does have a few requests (schematics of the area, etc.). Victor & Annabelle reveal to Jasper & Ramona that the band Sour Sugar, who often plays at the college, had drafted Victor's son, Isaiah, into Blaine's service. Annabelle went to a meeting on campus of those involved in the leak, and Sour Sugar was present at the meeting. Annabelle and Jasper tailed the band as they made their way to a concert. The attendees enjoying the concert were taking a drug called "drops" that looks like blood.

The coterie decides to go to the bands performance that night to further investigate. There is a man in the crowd who does not appear to be a student or faculty. He has a punk-like appearance, with a leather jacket and brightly colored hair. Annabelle recognizes him as her sire, Carver. Carver had been admiring Annabelle and her group (including key members, Mark & Eleanor) for a while, especially impressed with Annabelle, prior to turning her. After the band's performance, more students arrive at the quad, clutching pieces of paper that they circulate amongst each other. Each paper contains a list of the suspicious donors. Each is a corporation that Annabelle's group has protested within the last year, including the name of the senator whose building she had burned down. As Annabelle begins to see more and more people from her group arrive, she realizes that a protest is about to happen. Victor texts Ebe to follow Sour Sugar, and the coterie and Carver head back to Victor's office at the Temple School of Music on campus.

At Victor's office, Carver discusses that he is back in LA to take stock of the state of the city as a member of the Anarchs, whose group is feeling threatened and is preparing for a potential war. It is also revealed that Carver turned Annabelle to save her life, as Nick tried to kill her after she burned down the senator's building. Finally, he mentions that he has been tracking thin bloods in the area, which includes the members of Sour Sugar. The coterie and Carver decide to head to Sour Sugar next.

Victor texts Ebe and she informs them of the whereabouts of Sour Sugar. They arrive at a dilapidated two-story house in an old neighborhood and proceed to break in. Inside the house, they find a laboratory with supplies and equipment for making and distributing the blood drops. Annabelle finds a group of thin bloods packing drugs. A young woman steps forward. She has thin blond hair cut very short and a wiry build. Annabelle pretends to be there to buy drugs. The woman names a "Tommy T." as a source and also references both herself and Clay, who is upstairs, as being in charge, and that the whole lot of them are in trouble. Victor confronts Clay, only to give in to hunger and drain him fully. The remaining members of Sour Sugar flee, two of which are inadvertently killed by Jasper. Francis is incapacitated and Annabelle talks to him using Awe. Francis says that Blaine is after the coterie because he wants the college and Hollywood. The drops were Clay's idea. They make a person feel good and also more susceptible to vampiric powers. The coterie allow Francis to help up one of his maimed friends and escape with a warning to leave town and to not talk about any of this. Victor texts Abrams the information he has learned about Sour Sugar, the thin bloods, and the drops, while careful not to mention Carver.

## Featured Characters

### Valley Coterie

* Annabelle
* Jasper Heartwood
* ~~Nelli G~~ (absent, mentioned)
* Victor Temple

### Returning

* Clay
* Francis
* Ramona

### Mentioned

* Ellenore
* Ib
* Mark Temple
* Nick

## Locations

* Griffith College
* Thin-blood hideout

## Cast

### Core Cast

* Jason Carl *as the Storyteller*
* Erika Ishii *as Annabelle*
* B. Dave Walters *as Victor Temple*
* Alexander Ward *as Jasper Heartwood*

### Special Guests

* Taliesin Jaffe *as Carver*
* Bex Taylor-Klaus *as Ramona*