Reflection: Show Me Your Fangs

I would like to remind you of a few facts about both the writing process of this book and of the character you now know to be called Grey Cardinal. 

First: I wrote this in October of 2025, while the Epstein scandal was surging but we didn’t have access to any of the files that I can remember. My comments back then were written with my (now confirmed) belief in the corruption of our system to abuse these underaged girls, and the scene with Allen was meant to reflect my disgust with said system. However, Emily’s reaction was meant to represent something else entirely. 

There may be some that think of Emily’s defense of her and Allen’s actions as victim blaming, and nothing can be farther from the truth. Her reaction was meant to reflect the people out there who see the bars of their cage are gilded and thus they want to protect that. The “Sure it hurts me to keep doing this, but it either pays well or I don’t know anything else” crowd. Emily is a strong-willed girl who was forced to grow up to survive a terrible situation and saw being called a child as exceptionally insulting considering all she’s gone through, despite the fact that she is still very much a child. 

I used to teach high school students, and one of the most important lessons I learned about teaching high school is that these children didn’t see themselves as children. They saw themselves as adults, which some were due to age (I worked in rough areas where some of my students were nineteen or twenty in their junior or senior years) whereas others were adults in their responsibilities. This was either due to the parentification forced upon them to take care of their younger siblings because their actual parents weren’t, or financially because they needed to contribute to the household in order to keep it afloat. Grey’s response was meant to remind Emily, harshly since that was the only way to get through to her, that she wasn’t an adult and very much not in control of her situation. And that brings us to our second point. 

Second: Grey is flawed. He is a hypocrite and arrogant. 

“But isn’t Grey meant to be a reflection of you?”

Yes. I am flawed. 

I can sometimes be a hypocrite despite my desire not to be. I preach peace and understanding of other viewpoints, but feel the urge to react violently or aggressively against those whose beliefs run in violent opposition to my own (Fuck ICE. Fuck Nazis. If you don’t share that belief, fuck you). I also have a bad habit of thinking I know best when it can be proven quite easily that I’m just as incompetent or overwhelmed as most other people who are just doing our best to survive in this world. 

World of Darkness characters aren’t meant to be heroes. They’re monsters. They’re a reflection of the worst parts of ourselves given power in a world that is (somehow) even worse than our own. Grey is a reflection of what I would be if I had that power, not what I hope I’d be, but the flawed person that I am granted power I should not be allowed to wield because I cannot trust myself to be responsible with said power. I idolized Spider-Man as a kid, and he did teach us that ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ I feel that I am too flawed to live up to that ideal, and despite wanting to do the right thing, mine and Grey’s flaws would push us both to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. 

The interaction with Allen and Emily is a prime example. Deconstructed, Grey acted in a similar fashion to Allen throughout the whole scene. Firstly, he looked down on the staff despite saying in his mind how it was important to know them. They weren’t invisible to Grey, but he was still rude and abusive towards them, using his power on them to get exactly what he wanted without having to wait or worry. While he didn’t speak down to the valet, he didn’t respect him, and the concierge was just an obstacle that he toyed with because he could. Personally, I feel no one should ever treat staff in this manner. They are people and should be treated as such. Grey, while looking to use the rules of this world he’s forcing his way into to his advantage, is falling into the trap that all people in the world of wealth and prestige fall into: they become slaves to the rules they hope to exploit. 

Secondly, his treatment of Emily is also very similar to how Allen treated her, though in the opposite direction. Where Allen treats a child like a woman (which in Allen’s mind means more of an object than a person), Grey treats a person like a child. Both characters take away the autonomy of the person they’re dealing with. 

Both are pushing her around to get what they want without any consideration of what Emily wants. I don’t want to go into detail about what Allen wants from Emily, but we can all extrapolate from the incomplete data, but Grey’s is just as simple. He wants to protect a child because, just like the flaw of the person who inspired him, he feels he knows best. And while I agree with the reasoning he used (since I’m the one who wrote it), that she doesn’t understand the mess she got herself into, it was the way he speaks to her that really shows just how flawed the thinking is. The only reason it works is because of his power, but kids that age are exceptionally obstinate, more so when what they’re doing has been working for them and the adult telling them otherwise hasn’t shared the life experience they have had. Without his ability to manipulate her thoughts, Emily definitely would have dug in her heels and pushed back. 

We have to remember something that vampiric characters in modern literature make us forget: Vampires are monsters. They are not the good guys, and while they can be tragic figures, they are predators. Grey is just as much a predator as Allen is, but that is because he hasn’t hit his stride yet in this World of Darkness. The game focuses on the characters we create trying to hold onto their humanity despite their newfound vampiric nature. That is held together by those we surround ourselves with. Currently, Grey has only interacted with human monsters, human victims, and the beast inside his own head. If you’re sitting there saying you don’t like Grey, I don’t blame you. Right now, he’s not being very likeable. 

However, most people who don’t get any pushback from those around them aren’t very likeable. That is why all vampires, if they want to survive the World of Darkness, need what is called a coterie. A group of other vampires, similar in age and experience, to help guide each other through the world and not let it turn them into a fully fledged monster. While we can never truly be free from our monstrous natures, we can be made better by those we keep around us, and as you will soon see, Grey will begin to build what he needs from a place of what he thinks will further his goals. Hell may be other people, but salvation is too.