A monster chases you through the graveyard. It taunts you, always with a smile and two mismatched eyes staring out from the darkness. It comes with flickering ghost-light and yowling laughs. It dresses like an entertainer, but tonight you’re the entertainment. Claws run down your shoulder and you turn, only for another slash across the opposite hip. The cat plays with you, toying and laughing. A gentle kick to the back sends you stumbling forward, and you break into a run.

Originally from Japan, the nekomata are a strange bloodline of chostcallers and mediums who take the form of the split-tailed cats of folklore. They deal with the dead and when they can, they taunt the living. Fickle and curious, the graveyard cats are dance with the dead and cause hauntings, as well as act as mediums to relay messages between the living--or damned--and the dead. Often dressing like geisha or in the gothic lolita fashion, these strange yokai Mekhet often sit in graveyards, happily conversing with the dead and mocking the living and kindred alike. They deal in secrets like all of their clan, but where others pull them from the mind, this bloodline of primarily female felines prefers to use ephemeral entities as

Background: In ancient Japan, domestic cats that lived long enough were said to become nekomata, their tails splitting in two. These cat yokai would dance and cause poltergeist activity, and were often accompanied by the same pale glowing light that was often known as the kitsune- bi or foxfire. Other legends say that the yokai known as nekomata originated in the mountains, and that they were the size of dogs, and would devour unsuspecting villagers. There is many a woodcut of one of these nekomata tearing into the neck of a victim. Some in the bloodline will say that they were the source of these legends of trickster cats and mauling monsters. Others say that the hundred-year old cats that became yokai were the first of their Bloodline, and embraced their human victims. The legend of being embraced by demon- cats is often dismissed by other kindred, but then again there are stranger things in the world of the damned. The Becoming: There are many reasons for a Graveyard Cat to embrace, or to act as avus. The most common, though, is simply seeing something weird about their childer. In modern day, those with an affinity for the gothic and macabre are often seen as good candidates. The would- be poet who sits in the graveyard dressed in all black. Some are mortal mediums, who entice one of the nekomata. Many nekomata choose not to embrace but instead to uplift Revenants, seeing them as being close to the very corpses the cats talk with. And of course some see a pretty young thing, embrace her, and quickly grow bored. The graveyard cats are, after all, as flighty as their namesakes were in life. In the Danse Macabre: The nekomata are a strange clan, and many wonder why they’re allowed to exist in the All-Night Society when they’re clearly a potential masquerade breech. And it’s true, the Graveyard Cats do have strange physical traits that are clearly unnatural. Those who flaunt such traits quickly learn that a sheriff’s bite is as bad as his bark. But many elder Kindred, particularly those from Japan who grew up hearing tales of both the folklore nekomata and the bloodline itself are unsure how much to attribute to either, and would rather not feel their claws. More than that, though, the nekomata are so damned useful. Even amongst those Kindred aware they aren’t the only walking dead, ghosts are so often forgotten about. The corpse cats known otherwise, and dealing with them affords one knowledge that only the dead can know... for a price. Nickname: Graveyard Cats, Catgirls Clan: Mekhet Bloodline Bane: Every Nekomata has the Tenebrous Curse of their parent clan. Common Banes are Cat Queen (as the Rat King Bane, but with cats) and Face of Hunger (the nekomata’s face often becomes more catlike). Repulsions and symbols often take the form of dogs, water, and other things that cats traditionally hate. In addition to this, the bodies of the nekomata change and warp. The thing they all have in common is that each of them has heterochromia. One eye becomes a pale, steel blue while the other is either yellow, green, or brown. Their ears grow and become furred and feline, often moving up the side of their head until they’re at the top of their skull. Tails sprout from their backs, which on top of the masquerade breeching can also frighten the kine and make sitting difficult--though many nekomata prefer to sit seiza, on their knees, for this reason, though others sit seiza because it’s proper--and once they increase Blood Potency the first time after joining the Bloodline, the tail splits into two. Hands and feet having sharp nails and soft fur are also common. While many choose to hide these the old fashion way, with hoods and gowns, as long as a member of the bloodline knows the Protean ability Aspect of the Predator, she can spend a point of Vitae to activate that power and remove these unnatural features. Bloodline Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Obfuscate, Protean

Yureigan The nekomata have a connection to Death. Every nekomata gains the yureigan, or Ghost Eye, devotion upon entry into the bloodline. By concentrating as an instant action, the cat can focus her senses beyond the material world and into Twilight. In addition, she can speak with and understand anything there, so long as they share a language. Dismissing the yureigan is a reflexive action, but while it’s active the nekomata is at a -3 penalty to notice anything physical that might draw her attention. Legends among the clan say that the first of the bloodline was taught this devotion by an actual cat. It would certainly answer quite a few questions, but many see this as just a fairy tale.

Kitsune-bi Though it’s more associated with the kitsune, foxfire is traditionally found dancing around the nekomata as well. By spending a point of Willpower, the nekomata conjures up a ball of blue-green light like a will-o'-th’-wisp or St. Elmo’s Fire. It dances around and illuminates an area equal to the graveyard cat’s Resolve + Composure. Those who’ve never seen this before gain the Spooked Condition if they fail a Resolve + Composure roll. This Devotion costs 2 Experiences.