Please send all comments to: Mary N. Wilkerson.
Pt. 4
It hadn't taken long for the Legacy group to find The Haven. It seemed that everyone had heard of the club. From the amount of traffic in and out of the building, it appeared to be one of the more popular up-scale clubs in the city. It was beautifully decorated and the music was at once soothing and stirring. Yet something about the place disturbed Derek Raine. Something about the way certain individuals watched as people walked by them, the way some individuals seemed to move with an almost liquid fluidity on the dance floor. His instincts told him there was more to this club than it's surface beauty. Something he and his group would have to beware of.
"Derek, see the guy in the corner?" Nick commented as he pulled out a seat at their table for Rachel. "Back there with the brunette? That's Julian Luna. I pulled out some newspaper clippings on him before we left."
"Who's Julian Luna? Rachel asked quizzically, looking in the direction of the table Nick had pointed out.
"The Prince." Alex murmured, suddenly cold. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could here the voices of the dammed, speaking a name in whispered tones. Voices she remembered as having sounded afraid even to her dulled mind.
"What did you say?" Derek asked suddenly, looking sharply at the woman next to him.
"What? I … nothing, it's nothing." Alex responded, confused. She glanced across to the table Nick had indicated, noting the two people seated there were staring back. The dark-haired women looked directly at her with cold eyes, eyes that seemed to be trying to communicate with her. Alex looked away hurriedly, afraid to be noticed yet not sure why.
Derek also looked across the club at the man staring back at them. Luna was a young and darkly handsome man with a commanding presence. He appeared to be much too young to have been the same person his father had written about, yet after their little encounter with Philippe and his group, Derek wasn't willing to take anything about the man at face value. "My father's journal mentioned a Julian Luna. I 'm not sure if this is the same man. The journal didn't give a description, just that he thought he was involved in a case of arson. Nick, who is the woman he's sitting with?"
"Not sure." Nick replied, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. His hunter's instincts told him someone was watching him from behind, watching his every move. Another predator was sizing him up for the kill. It took all of his self-control not to whirl around and see who it was.
Rachel could feel the tension rising at the table, though she could not see the reason. "I thought we were here for some relaxation? Can't Legacy business wait?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yes, of course." Derek replied absently, his eyes still locked on the far table. Suddenly, the room seemed to shift around him as his "Sight" took control. He could see the woman seated with Luna, talking to something that was at once human and not human. Something that turned and looked at him with blood-red eyes. The woman turned to look at him with the same red eyes, the same hunger in her gaze. With a shudder he woke himself from the vision.
"Let's get out of here." Nick said, his voice tight. The feeling of being hunted was getting stronger, harder to ignore.
"We just got here." Rachel protested.
"No, Nick's right. Let's just leave." Alex replied, her voice betraying her nervousness. She jumped to her feet, not seeing the waitress who had been about to pass the table. The Bloody Mary the woman had been carrying was sent sailing, most of it landing on Alex's dress.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry!" the waitress exclaimed, staring at the red stain.
"It's alright, no harm done." Rachel replied, grabbing a napkin off the table and dabbing at her friends clothes. "Alex, let's get you into the bathroom and see if we can't clean this up a little. We'll be right back." She took the other woman by the arm and led her firmly away as the waitress began to clean up the mess.
Nick looked back at the table they had been watching then grabbed Derek's arm. "She's gone!"
"What?" Derek asked, turning back to see that the object of their attention was now preparing to leave. His companion was nowhere to be seen.
--
"That one knows us." Isolde commented, watching the Legacy hunters as they in turn watched her Prince. She flicked one finger imperceptibly at the dark skinned beauty seated next to the older man.
"Is she the one that was almost made?" Julian asked, his eyes never leaving the group.
"Probably. They seemed to have rather an interest in us. I do wonder what she remembers. Perhaps I should see." Isolde watched as the group became tenser, sensing they were prey among a group of predators. She could feel the eyes of the other Kindred sizing up the Kine, perhaps sensing the woman's connection to their kind. Cash, Julian's bodyguard was standing at the bar, eyeing the group with interest, especially the women. Isolde's interests lay in the men. The younger man was a soldier, of that she was sure. She'd seen that look in the eyes of her own Sire, the look of a man for whom the battlefield had once been home. The older man, from what she had heard, had the "Sight" something that could spell danger for her and her clan. It made him more dangerous than the others, and at the same time more fascinating. The two women she dismissed as not terribly interesting, though she had heard that the one might also have the Sight. "She'll be easily dealt with." Isolde thought to herself. "The door to her mind has already been opened. All I will have to do is step in." She shifted in her seat, preparing to leave.
"Not here." Julian warned, his hand dropping over her wrist. "I'll have no action taken here."
Isolde tensed at his touch. The Prince was not over-fond of his Archon, though he knew of her relationship with his councilor, the Nosferatu Primogen. For the most part, he tended to keep her at a distance, bowing to her recommendations when he must and keeping his private life out of her sphere of influence as much as he could. He had never raised his voice to her, much less touched her before. "I hadn't planned on draining her in public." She replied, gently tugging her arm free of his restraint. "I do respect the commands of the Masquerade."
"I know." Julian commented, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the group. He watched as the dark-haired woman started to stand up just as one of the staff walked by. The resulting collision drew their attention away from his table. "Now, go." He turned his eyes to see that his companion had already left. He sighed, then stood and picked up his jacket. Isolde would deal with the situation now. It was out of his hands.
Pt. 5
Rachel led her friend into the club's ladies room and firmly closed the door behind them. It was surprisingly deserted, considering the crowd in the club itself. "Let's see if we can clean this up before it stains."
"Rachel, I think we had better leave. I can do something about the stain when we get home." Alex replied nervously. She jumped slightly as the door opened and the dark haired woman who had been seated across the room from them entered.
"Dear me, looks like you had something of an accident." Isolde commented, closing and locking the door behind her. "Let's see if we can't fix that."
Rachel placed her self between Alex and the stranger, determined to protect her friend. "I'm going to ask only once. Unlock that door or…"
"Hush not." Isolde replied, using her power to dominate the other woman's mind. "Go and sit down until I'm ready to deal with you." She caught the woman's gaze and held it, her own dark eyes growing almost black with the force of her will. The Kine had been touched by darkness and some barriers to mind control. But those barriers were nothing compared to some the Ventrue Archon had seen before. They did not keep her out for long.
Alex watched in horror as her the animation drained from her friends face. Rachel calmly walked over to a chair in the corner and sat down, her eyes glassy. "What did you do to her?" She looked back at the stranger and was caught in her hypnotic gaze. Alex could feel herself surrendering to the other woman's will, not caring what might come of that surrender. She struggled to hold on to some part of herself, steeling herself to fight against the force in front of her.
"Nothing really. I just sent her conscious mind to sleep. She'll remember nothing when I leave. Now you, on the other hand, could be a problem." Isolde walked calmly up to the terrified woman and tilted her head back with one finger, examining her neck critically. "Well, as see you've healed up nicely. I pleased. Caitiff are usually such sloppy feeders. I'm told it's because no one has taken the time to teach them properly. But then, that is the price of being clanless." She tapped Alex on the chin playfully then smoothed back her hair with an almost motherly hand.
"I won't become one of you." Alex rasped, feeling her will slowly slipping away. "I won't kill."
"Probably not." Isolde agreed, gently pushing the woman back till she was stopped by the wall. "But that's not my problem. Do you have any idea precisely what happened to you? Did Phillip tell you what to expect?"
"You knew him?" Alex asked, surprised.
"He was Caitiff, like his master. Not worth knowing as far as I was concerned. We would have been just as happy to have seen him and his little band of renegades staked out for the sun, but then you and your friends did the work for us. It is because you performed this service that my Prince is reluctant to deal with you. I, on the other hand, am not so sentimental." She smiled a cold smile. Isolde could feel the last vestiges of control slipping from the woman's mind. She would tell her all that she needed to know and more, as all those who had gone before her had done. Isolde caressed the woman's cheek and began her interrogation.
--
Rachel looked down at the wet rag in her hands in confusion. Her friends dress was still wet, but the stain showed signs of lessening. She looked down and saw that some of the tomato juice stain had transferred itself to the rag in her hand. Rachel shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "Well, looks like this wasn't a good idea. I think you're going to have to send the dress to the cleaners."
Alex looked down at the stain, her mind foggy. "I guess so." She yawned suddenly, leaning tiredly against the sink. "Boy, I must be more tired than I thought. I can't seem to keep my eyes open. Maybe we'd better just get Nick and Derek and go home."
"Well, if you're sure." Rachel replied, concern in her voice. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine Rachel." Alex replied with a sigh. "Just tired. Let's get the guys and go on before they find something that needs investigating and keep us up all night."
Rachel grinned. "We could always just take the car and go get ice cream."
Alex smiled, suddenly not so tired. "Now there's a plan I could get into." The two women exited the bathroom arm and arm, walking past the shadows that shifted as they left.
Pt. 6
"She's gone." Nick stated, looking around the club. "That one that was with Luna. She's disappeared."
"And Luna's leaving as well." Derek replied, watching the stranger move with confidence across the club. He stopped to talked to various people between himself and the door, some of who Derek recognized from charity benefits he had attended. The man, or his money, seemed to be very much in demand.
"Should we go after him?" Nick asked, looking back in the direction that Rachel and Alex had taken.
"No. I don't want to leave Alex alone in this club." Derek replied tensely. "There is something about this place, something that makes me nervous."
"Me too." Nick agreed, scanning the room for the eyes he had felt watching him before. "If they're not out of the bathroom in 5 minutes I'm going in after them."
Derek watched Luna saunter towards the exit only half hearing his companions words. The passage in his father's journal had specifically mentioned coming to this place in search of a Julian Luna. It had also mentioned vampires. Yet this man seemed so human. "Philippe seemed human to me too." He thought to himself. "He proved me wrong."
--
Julian could feel the man's eyes on him as he worked his way around the club. He wondered, briefly, if the man was any relation to the other Legacy hunter he had met. That man had been a struggle to overcome, a forceful personality that he had briefly considered binding to him by bringing him across. In the end he had chosen to take the memory of their meeting from the Kine's mind and sending him home to his bed. "I wonder what kind of a Ventrue he would have made?" he thought to himself as he greeted yet another society couple looking for his assistance.
It took almost ten minutes to get across the room, with the Legacy members watching his every move. Cash was waiting for him by the limousine. "Isolde says to tell you she'll meet you at the house." His bodyguard reported, looking back at the shadows by the cars.
"Any problems?" Julian asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"Not that she said." Cash replied, opening the door for his Prince. Julian's car soon disappeared into the foggy San Francisco streets, leaving the bright lights of the club behind.
--
"There's Rachel and Alex." Nick breathed a sigh of relief. If they had taken any longer he would have had to go looking for them.
"Are you two alright?" Derek asked, concerned.
"Yes, just a little more tired than I thought." Alex replied, her eyelids heavy with fatigue. "And I don't think this dress is going to clean up with a trip to the drycleaners. Sorry guys, can we take a raincheck on this little outing?"
"Certainly." Derek said, his voice concerned. He glanced quizzically at Rachel.
"Maybe we pushed it to soon. Alex did lose quite a bit of blood and her body does need to recover. A night on the town is still a good idea, but maybe not just yet." Rachel smiled reassuringly at the two men then led the way towards the door with Alex.
Nick and Derek followed, talking quietly as they waited for the valet to bring their car. "Think we should come back in the daylight?" Nick asked, keeping his voice pitched low. He glanced at Alex's back warily, wondering if she could hear him.
"Another time." Derek replied, also watching his friend as she leaned on Rachel, laughing at some small joke the other woman had told. "We have no proof that Julian Luna or this place had any link to the vampires that attacked Alex. Only that passage in my father's journal and even he wrote that he didn't remember much of his visit."
"Maybe they messed with his mind." Nick commented, watching the people walking in and out of the club.
"Maybe. Or maybe he was drunk again." Derek replied tersely. "Either way, we'll keep an eye on this place for now. If they are involved with the vampires, sooner or later they'll show their hand. Then we'll deal with them." The car arrived and the members of the Legacy were soon on their way home, each lost in their own thoughts. "Another day." Derek thought as he watched the lights of the club fade in the distance. "I will be back to see what it was my father found here." The fog soon blotted out the clubs brightness, leaving only the lights which lead to home.
pt. 7 - Epilogue.
Julian, Isolde, Cash and Dadelous sat at the round meeting table in Julian's home, discussing the nights events. The room was lit only by three great candles on the table, the Prince being unwilling to illuminate the room for so short a meeting. "Well, will they be a threat?" Julian asked his Archon, looking at his kinswoman with concern.
"I don't believe so." Isolde replied, facing her Prince calmly. "It looks as thought Philippe nearly made a ghoul of the woman and would probably have brought her across if left to his own devices. I think she still suffers somewhat from the craving his blood left with her, but I don't believe she had time to develop an eternal addiction. She is still susceptible to the call of the Kindred, and I suspect that Philippe's master, a creature called Marcus, may in time try to take advantage of that."
"I thought all the Caitiff were killed when the tunnel was destroyed." Dadelous commented, looking at the young Gangrel Primogen.
"So did we, but one of my clan says he saw Marcus leaving through the same exit as that one we have in the Prison of Light. He may be a problem further on done the line." Cash ran his fingers nervously through his hair, anxious to be back on the street looking for the missing Caitiff. "Speaking of which, what do you want me to do with him?"
"Unless you have some proof that this particular Kindred has violated the Masquerade, then I want him released." Julian replied sternly, ignoring the disapproving look from his kinswoman. "Cash, take some of your clan members and escort the man out of town. Let him know his kind are no longer welcomed in my city."
"What must be done about the Legacy group?" Dadelous inquired solemnly.
"I think we can salvage this situation best by not interfering any further." Isolde commented, taping the table in front of her for emphasis. "If Marcus is still alive, he most will most likely take what few members of his band still exist and go to ground to lick his wounds. If he strikes anywhere, it will be at the Legacy. One of two things will then occur. Either he will destroy their House, thereby eliminating a potential problem for us or they will destroy him, riding us of the problem of these clanless ones roaming the city."
"What if the Legacy kills this Marcus character and then still comes looking for us?" Julian asked.
"We'll know if they do. Before I released the woman called Alex, I planted the thought in her mind that she should call a number if the House starts looking too closely at your affairs." Isolde replied matter of factly. " It is one of the secret numbers I have arranged to have monitored by the Nosferatu clan and can not be traced to you. We will be waiting if they ever try to find us as they did the others."
"What if they don't tell her?" Cash questioned. "I know I wouldn't if I thought one of my people had been compromised."
"It is both the weakness and the strength of these types of hunters that they believe that the strength of their ties to their house, the love they feel for the members of their fellow hunters, will always prevail over any other power. Sadly, this is not always the case." Dadelous reached across the table and silently blew out the candle before him. "I fear that this Kin's mind, once touched by one type of darkness, may be that much more open to others."
Isolde rose and blew out her candle as well. "Time will tell which is right. But for now, my Prince, your clans are safe. Let there be an end to this hunt and let us move on to other things."
"So be it, my Archon." Julian replied, blowing out the final candle and cloaking the room in the darkness which was their life.