The Serpentis power Heart of Darkness normally takes hours to perform upon other vampires, and only works at the dark of the moon. Some elders, however, can pull the heart from another vampire’s chest with a quick snatch. This does not destroy the victim, unless the attacker then destroys the stolen heart. Heart Thief is not an easy power to use despite its speed, but few Discipline effects can place one vampire in another’s power so suddenly and completely.

System: The character must expend one Willpower point. Removing the heart of a reluctant vampire is a difficult feat, comparable to staking: the attacker must garner at least three successes on a Dexterity + Brawl attack (difficulty 9). The victim may use Fortitude to “soak” the attacker’s successes, but mundane Stamina has no effect against this magical attack.

A vampire who loses his heart this way takes one unsoakable level of aggravated damage, and receives