I Left My Kindred Heart in San Francisco
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson
Summary:
Just when the Cainites of San Francisco thought they might have some well-deserved peace and quiet, Hawk arrives in town. Bearing a message from Elder Cedric of the Ventrue to Julian Luna, Prince of the city. A message that could herald the end of Ventrue Princehood in San Francisco...
Rating:
This 'ere is NC-17 territory, due to violence and sexual contents.
***** Disclaimer *****
You know the drill... Mumble, mumble not mine, mumble mumble belongs to Marvel, Spelling and White Wolf. I'm just borrowing. Use Hawk or anything else that is mine without asking first and I'll yank your brain out through your rectum, replace your vocal cords with Fran Dretchers, tear your skin off and then I'll think of something that'll *really* hurt as an encore.
Feedback, questions and corrections accepted at:
hawk@telia.com or ICQ:21771860
Other stories and updates found in Hawk's Galaxy at:
http://hem.passagen.se/hawkgts/
***** Stop reading this shit and move along to the rest *****
"speech"
*emphasis/shouts*
/thoughts/
*/telepathy/*
~translation~
+soundeffect/radio/telephone conversation/TV+
"Messenger... Me! Bloodless old paranoid fool..."
Cash slowly closed in on his prey, he had always preferred to pick vessels that would provide him with a little entertainment and a good fight. Since he started working for Julian, he had been forced to cut back on that since he was now more of a public figure. But this was just too much of a temptation, the vessel he had set his eyes on this time was a tall younger man with broad shoulders. He had been following his target for two blocks now, cautiously stalking his victim to learn more about him before it was too late.
"'You owe me' he said." the victim-to-be complained and kicked an empty can of coke that was lying on the pavement. "'Consider this small favor a down-payment on what you owe me' he said." the stranger complained. "Stinkin' old fool. Why couldn't he just have sent a darn e-mail?"
Cash shrugged and decided that it was time. His victim approached a good place for what Cash had in mind, a dark alley where they could fight it out in relative privacy. Cash quickened his steps and moved up on his victim's right side. He didn't waste any time, he just took one last look around to make sure that nobody was watching them, then he tackled his intended victim into the alley. The young man let out a surprised 'Ohmpf', but moved further away then Cash's tackle should have propelled him. He took a few quick steps, then twirled around in a defensive position.
Cash merely smiled, the fact that his opponent obviously knew how to defend himself would only make his victory sweeter. His victim surprised him though as he cast one look at Cash and then snorted.
"Oh, come on. Go home and prey that your mother doesn't trash you silly, little man." he said, his voice dripping with contempt. "Normally, I'd be glad for a little something to let out my aggressions at, but I have important business to conduct elsewhere." he added.
"I like you cocky bastards, defeating you always makes me feel good about myself." Cash replied with a smile, but his opponent just shook his head and stood up straight, abandoning his defensive stance.
"I don't have time to play with you. Here's my card, call me tomorrow and we'll arrange something." he said and pulled out a card from his sleeve. He moved to leave and held the card out at the surprised Cash who almost took it, then reacted. He grabbed the left wrist of the man and prepared to throw him into a wall. He never even got close.
The younger man reacted instantly and Cash didn't even see him move as he twisted his arm away and instead slammed the palm of his right hand into Cash's chest. The force behind the blow was staggering, Cash was hurled back and thrown into the wall behind him. Since he didn't need to breathe and was pretty used to pain, he came back sooner then any ordinary opponent would expect. This one apparently did, because he easily dodged the punch Cash threw at him. To top it all off, Cash found himself bowled over from a swift and powerful low uppercut to his stomach.
Cash cursed himself and this bad habit of his, but he was still confident that he'd win out in the end. No mere human could hold out for long against a well-trained Cainite such as Cash. But he did grow seriously worried as the human dodged, deflected or just ignored everything Cash hurled at him. Punches that would have put a human down, hardly seemed to affect him, at least not for long. Cash decided to give in, he had hoped that he wouldn't have to draw upon his Kindred powers for this, but he had no choice.
He felt his supply of stored blood quickly shrink as he used up some of it to become stronger, thanks to his training with Deadalus. He struck again and this time his opponent was the one who was thrown back by the force of a blow. Cash tried to follow up with a kick, but his opponent sidestepped it. Cash tried to react fast enough to the altered situation, but his opponent moved forward and grabbed the back of his head before Cash got a chance to do anything. Cash tried to get out of the deadly grip, but wasn't quick enough. His opponent shoved him headfirst into the brick wall a couple of times, then yanked Cash back and threw him across the alley like a rag doll.
"I'll be leaving now. You can stay here and think about just how stupid it is to assault someone like me. Have a continued good night." the stranger offered and walked back towards the street.
"Someone like you? Kindred?" Cash asked and stood up, healing himself as he did so. His opponent stopped dead in his tracks and turned around with a suspicious look on his face.
"Kin-what?" he asked and tried to look indifferent, but it was already too late. His initial reaction revealed that he knew what Cash was talking about. Cash took a second look at his opponent, it wasn't someone he recognized and the way he looked limited his possible identity severely.
"You're Ventrue, aren't you?" Cash asked after taking a second look at the fine cut of his opponent's clothes. He didn't behave like the stereotypical Ventrue, but the arrogance certainly seemed to fit the profile.
"What's it to you, Gangrel?" he asked defensively, definitively confirming the suspicions Cash harbored. This was a Cainite, even if his distinctly human coloring had thrown Cash off. He was a little pale, but not Kindred pale. He merely looked like a human who had spent too much time cooped up inside.
"I work for the Prince and you have not presented yourself to him." Cash replied and blinked as the man laughed.
"Is that why you jumped me?" he asked incredulously. "Dear Gods, don't you think that a little more preparations and some backup might be in order?!" he exclaimed.
"Well... Actually I was just looking for a meal." Cash admitted sheepishly. "I like a good brawl." he added, although he wasn't quite sure why, but something about his former opponent made him feel like he could trust this man.
"It was that, I'll give you that much." the stranger admitted with a rueful grin. "But I'm way out of your league, Gangrel."
"Remains to be seen." Cash replied and shrugged. "I'm Cash."
"I'm Hawk." the stranger replied. "I'm in town to deliver a message."
"To whom?" Cash asked and rubbed his left shoulder. The worst of his injuries had been healed, but the shoulder was still hurting. But he didn't want to use up any more of the blood he had stored away to heal it, just in case the current situation turned ugly.
"The Prince." Hawk replied. "I was on my way to The Haven when you decided to jump my bones, I heard that he was there tonight."
"First street to your left, second to your right and straight ahead for a hundred yards. You can't miss it." Cash advised the taller man. "I can't go with you, I have to find myself a meal." Cash apologized and watched silently as this 'Hawk' character shrugged and followed his directions. When Hawk took off to his left, Cash pulled out his cell phone and dialed the guards that was with Julian now. Then he called for a ride, the warning should make sure that the guards around Luna were extremely cautious, but he wanted to be there in person in case things turned ugly.
"Odd fellow." Niklas mumbled to himself and winced as the various sore spots made themselves reminded. He sighed and then resigned himself to the situation, he would have to use up some of the blood in his pool in order to heal himself. Cash hadn't been that good, but he'd allowed the other Cainite to land a few hits, just so he wouldn't give away just how good he really was to his opponent. After unarmed training sessions against Logan, Remy and Scott, a brawl in a dark alley wasn't much of a challenge.
He hadn't really expected to bump into other Cainites this quickly though. He *really* would have preferred to hold off that particular experience until he arrived at The Haven. Cedric had advised him that the ritzy nightclub was the favored meeting place of San Francisco's Kindred. But more importantly, it was also the favored hangout of Julian Luna, the Prince of San Francisco.
Niklas soon found the place and scouted it for a while, taking notice of all entrances and exits, where the guards were placed and the others who also staked the place out. Security was good, but had a few flaws. Perhaps deliberate ones, perhaps not. /The Keeper must be pretty lax or have a reason for the openness surrounding the Elysium./ he thought as he headed for the entrance.
He had noticed Cash sneaking in through a backdoor to the place when he snooped around, so he wasn't surprised to find out that the odd mix of Gangrel, Toreador and Ventrue guards at the entrance was expecting him. He was asked to leave his weapons at the door and he reluctantly gave them up. He had expected something of the kind, so he hadn't come heavily armed. But his Beretta 92F, extra clips, five knifes and the Walther TPH he gave up made them raise an eyebrow or two. He had considered wearing a few PlaSteelico knifes, but he was glad that he hadn't. The odd plastic alloy wouldn't alert a metal detector, but the Kindred were cautious of stakes, so they frisked him as well... Thoroughly...
"That's the family jewels, if you think I'm keeping a grenade there, you're giving me *much* more credit for courage then I would." Niklas commented at one time during their search for weapons. Shifting uncomfortably on his feet as they searched his genital area for contraband.
"You can enter." a slender Toreador finally declared haughtily. Niklas would have dismissed him as the weaker of the guards, but the way he moved suggested that he was the most competent of the group around him. He knew at least one Martial Art and was *good* at it. A single opponent didn't pose much of a threat, so Niklas wasn't particularly worried about him. He knew that the skills he had absorbed was enough to hold his own against the best the world had to offer.
But what did worry him was that there were Kindred about, lots of them. Humans weren't a problem, he could wade through armies of them and even had done so on occasion. But a single Cainite could pose a serious problem, now he faced five guards and the Gods only knew how many other Kindred were around tonight. His mutant powers did give him a slight edge and he knew that he at least had a fighting chance even against a powerful Elder in a fight one on one. He could probably handle two reasonably powerful Cainites at once. But if they all decided to turn on him, he'd be up to his neck in hostile Kindred.
He was good, but not that good. Nobody was, Rogue might possibly stand a chance, but only because her mutant power allowed her to dissolve Cainites with a mere touch. He winced, he would have to tell her about that, or she might find herself turned into another half-vampire. She had touched him though and he'd survived, something he was immensely grateful for.
He mentally shrugged and started to concentrate more on his surroundings, this was neither the time nor the place for being inattentive. He sidled up to the bar where he ordered a beer, then had to go through the agony of actually selecting a brand. He finally settled on a Bud, after all, when in Rome...
He declined a glass and roamed the club for a while, watching the people and taking notice of the mood in the room. He was asked to dance and agreed, he drained his bottle and put it down on a passing tray carried by a cute waitress. The woman who asked him to dance was attractive, but she wasn't anywhere near the sort of women he'd grown used too after hanging out at the X-mansion. Niklas found himself enjoying the dance though, even if he used it mostly as an excuse to keep an eye at his surroundings without giving anything away.
It didn't take him long to spot Julian Luna, the Ventrue prince of San Francisco. But he was obviously busy at the moment, because he was talking with a beautiful blonde. They were both nursing drinks, but seemed more focused on their conversation then anything else.
Then he became distracted himself as the woman he danced with grabbed hold of both his butt-cheeks and leered at him. He very briefly entertained the idea of a one-night stand, but decided against it. He wasn't involved at the moment, so he was theoretically free as a bird. But he did have hopes about hooking up with Jubilee again, so he had decided to swear off women while he pursued her.
He gently removed her roaming hands and danced another dance before he excused himself. He had spotted Cash over at the bar, so he sauntered over to him. Cash nodded cautiously at him as Niklas sat down in the seat next to the cautious Cainite.
"The woman he's with, is she one of us?" Niklas asked and nodded at Julian.
"No." Cash replied. "She's Kine." he added and let his gaze sweep across the room, keeping an eye out for trouble.
"Does she know?" Niklas asked and glanced across the room himself. "I don't feel very comfortable here, not having introduced myself properly and all that. I'd like to get it over with, even if I can't give him the message in here."
"No, she doesn't." Cash replied.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Niklas asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No." Cash agreed. "I don't." he generously added with a slight smile on his lips. It swiftly vanished though and he glared hatefully at five newcomers. Niklas followed his gaze and observed in silence.
"Tremere?" he queried after taking in the arrogance, the way they were dressed and the way they held themselves.
"Brujah." Cash replied. "The guy in the middle is Cameron, the Brujah Primogen."
"They look more like Ventrue or Tremere then Brujah." Niklas commented as he looked them over once again. "That Cameron looks absolutely vile, one can almost smell the slime oozing beneath the surface all the way over here." Niklas added. "But he has good taste in women." Niklas whistled as a gorgeous young woman sauntered over to the table and sat down. Cash glared even harder and growled quietly to himself.
"Sasha." he muttered. "She's my girlfriend. My *Brujah* girlfriend."
"A Gangrel with a Brujah girlfriend, working for a Ventrue with a human girl?" Niklas asked incredulously. "This is one *interesting* town!" he exclaimed. "But enough of that, I need to introduce myself." he finished and moved towards Julian. Cash quickly abandoned his fierce study of the Brujah and intercepted him.
"You can't!" he protested. "Caitlin is a reporter."
"A Prince with a human reporter girlfriend who doesn't know about us? Jeez, he'd *better* hope that none of the higher ups hears about this. Don't worry, though." Niklas said. "I'm smooth." he revealed with an amused smile. He moved up to the table the Prince occupied and clasped his hands together. "Julian, how nice to see you again!" he exclaimed and swiftly reached out to shake Julians hand.
"I'm sorry, I don't recall..." Julian protested and looked covertly at Cash, trying to find out what was going on.
"Tom Hawk, from Kindred Spirits? We met six months ago at Lillie's party, we talked about a business Ventrue... Sorry, venture. That I wanted your approval and backing on?"
"Oh yes, sorry." Julian apologized. "We really should talk about that." he agreed. "How about tomorrow evening, my place?" Julian suggested with a friendly tone, but with a look in his eyes that revealed that if his suggestion was refused, nasty things would happen.
"I would be deeeeeee-lighted!" Niklas exclaimed enthusiastically. "But I can see that you're busy, so I'll leave you two love-birds alone now." he added and looked at Caitlin. "Even if it truly is a shame to have to remove oneself from the presence of such a gorgeous lady as yourself."
"Thank you." Caitlin replied modestly. "I'm Caitlin Byrne, city editor of the Times."
"Tom Hawk, CEO of the Kindred Spirits Dating Service. Charmed." he introduced himself and kissed the hand she held out for him to shake. "But I'll leave the two of your to enjoy yourself, you two obviously has no need of my services." he said and headed back towards the bar. He smiled as he ordered a shot of Tequila, he had been somewhat overly obvious, but it was his first time introducing himself to a Prince in public, so he didn't feel too bad about it.
He covertly peeked at the Julian and Caitlin. /Editor? Wowzie, what a powder keg!/ he thought to himself, but admired Julian's courage. Consorting with an editor of a respected newspaper was *not* a good way to earn goodwill from the higher ups. He was rarely concerned with things like that for himself, but a Prince certainly couldn't afford that luxury. If a Justicar found out, Julian wouldn't have the survival potential of a fly in a bug-spray factory.
But then again, a Prince who controlled the Ventrue, had firm backing by Gangrel, Nosferatu and Toreador probably were someone who knew what he was doing. Niklas spotted Lillie, the Primogen of the Toreador of San Francisco, moving through the crowds. Cedric had provided him with pictures of the major movers and shakers in this city, so he knew whom she was.
At first he thought she was heading for him, but it appeared as if she had something to discuss with Cash who lingered nearby. It was too much background noise for him to hear what they were saying, but at one point in the discussion, they both looked at him for a while. Perhaps she had spotted him talking to the Prince, perhaps her men at the door reported the fact that he had been armed or it could be any of a dozen other reasons.
He sighed and decided to leave, the Prince knew that he was in town and he'd formed a tentative connection with Cash. It was a good start, so he'd better leave while he was ahead. He got his weapons back without any problems, the guards were probably used to guests packing heat. He hailed a passing cab and gave the address to the hotel he was staying at, then leaned back to brood in solitude on the way back.
"What have you found out?" Julian asked as soon as Cash entered the room. The younger Gangrel nodded in greeting at Deadalus who was leaning against the wall behind his Prince.
"Not much. Nobody in town has heard of him before, we don't know where he's staying and it's entirely possible that he just came up with the name to throw Caitlin off. I've done a nationwide search and found only three Tom Hawk, the files should arrive from the police in a few hours." Cash replied.
"You seem nervous, Julian." Deadalus hinted and took his seat at the table.
"We've had a lot of disturbances lately, first with Eddie and now finally with Archon Raine's death. There hasn't been a Justicar in San Francisco for a long time now, I'd like to keep it that way." Julian replied. "I'm worried that it might be impossible to prevent that, the murder of an Archon will attract the attention of at least one Justicar. Possibly more then one. Who knows what they'll find out if that happens?"
"You're just worried that they'll force you to kill Caitlin." Lillie commented.
"If I reveal how you risked the Masquerade, she won't be the only one I'll be forced to kill." Julian responded heatedly. "But you are right, Caitlin is a threat that no Justicar would overlook. I have to eliminate the threat she poses before we get an impatient visitor whom might choose to do so on
his or her own."
Niklas briefly considered sneaking inside, but decided against it. There was no way of telling how prickly the Prince was without spending more time around him. If he behaved badly, he might never get that chance. Not that he had any serious desire to do so, but it would be plain stupid to pass up a chance to get to know one of the larger movers and shakers in the west.
Niklas didn't conduct much business in the western part of the USA. He had investments in a couple of restaurants in LA, was a partner in a few local fashion houses and he owned a modeling agency in LA. Through companies that were owned by companies he owned, he had a few interests in the entertainment industry, but nothing really big. But with a partner like Julian Luna, things might change in a pretty rapid pace.
Niklas had never thought of himself like greedy and he certainly hadn't been gunning for power before. That had just been a side effect of his success in the computer industry and the need to find some other fields to invest in. He'd invested quietly and all over the world, becoming silent partner here, purchasing 10% of the stocks there and so on. Niklas had mainly focused on food and fashion, mostly because those were two fields where his cousin hadn't bothered to invest much. That way he didn't have to compete with him and probably saved a whole lot of money in doing so. Competing with Erik would be costly, both financially and emotionally.
Besides, Niklas always pulled out when he knew beforehand that he didn't have a chance of winning. He couldn't match Erik financially and he certainly didn't come anywhere near his cousin in contacts. Erik had his fingers in every pie, spies everywhere and he seemed to know almost half of the worlds population by its first name. The fact that he ran the worlds largest organization of mercenaries and assassins didn't help either.
Niklas didn't have any desire whatsoever to butt heads with his cousin. He might be rash, pig-headed and hungry for challenges, but he wasn't stupid and suicidal. He once again thanked all higher and lower powers for the promise to stay out of Europe's computer industry that he had managed to get from Erik. The promise had been kept, with only a few exceptions, Erik stayed out of Europe and Niklas stayed out of the rest of the world. Niklas distributed Erik's software in Europe and Erik allowed Niklas to export his Kryptology over the entire globe.
Niklas cleared his mind of all distracting thoughts, he needed to stay focused on the task at hand. If nothing happened, he'd be allowed to meet Julian Luna in a few minutes. He took a deep breath of air, then stopped breathing. He didn't need to let on that he was different from any other Cainite. The fact that he wasn't entirely Kindred, the fact that he seemed to have the best of both human and Kindred worlds had caused quite a lot of envy back east. With a little luck, word hadn't spread this far west just yet. Niklas didn't doubt that it eventually would, but hopefully not yet.
He stepped out of the car and walked onto the mansion grounds. He ignored the Gangrel that hid in the shadows beside the path and they pretended to ignore him. He thought he spotted a few burly Ventrue at a distance as well, but couldn't be sure that it wasn't just Gangrel who hadn't turned quite as animalistic as the other ones yet. Niklas frowned, the level of trust between the Ventrue prince and his Gangrel allies seemed uncanny. If he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't have believed it.
There might be something else behind it all, perhaps the Gangrel had decided to take control over the city and taken the Prince hostage. That might explain the tight Gangrel-kept security. But then there was The Haven, the little security that existed seemed to be shared by Gangrel, Toreador and Ventrue. The level of cooperation between those three clans here in San Francisco hinted at something that Niklas found hard to imagine in the company of Kindred, trust.
A tall female Ghoul who regarded him coldly for a moment before she stepped aside and allowed him to enter was the one who opened the door for him.
"Greetings. Tom Hawk, I'm here to see the Prince." Niklas said and placed a feather-light kiss on her hand. She gingerly removed it and nodded haughtily.
"Come this way." she told him and swept away, marching proudly through the mansion until they came to a large chamber with a large table in the middle. A table already partly occupied, something Niklas hadn't expected. He was expecting to meet Julian, perhaps also a couple of bodyguards and servants. But the persons around the table were Primogens, Julian had called in his friends and allies for this meeting. Something Niklas wasn't quite sure what to think of. It might be a very good sign, but it could also be a *really* bad one as well.
He recognized Lillie Langtry of the Toreador. Cash who seemed to represent the Gangrel instead of their Primogen, Stevie Ray. Deadalus of the bestial Nosferatu, the first time Niklas had ever seen one of their Clan. Archon Raine of the Ventrue was absent and nobody seemed to fill in for him either. Eddie Fiori of the Brujah was mysteriously absent, but considering the troubles that Cedric had told him about, that wasn't all that surprising.
The fact that Stevie Ray and Archon Raine were missing did present a mystery though. According to Cedric's report, those two were Julian's strongest supporters. Niklas shrugged and remained standing, waiting to see what would happen. He was immensely curious, this was the first time he'd bothered to follow the usual courtesies. The last time he saw the Prince of New York, Niklas almost killed him and caught it all on tape in order to scare the hell out of New York's undead. That was in another timeline though, if this meeting went well, Niklas decided that he'd follow the common courtesies in NY as well. No use in pissing anyone off, not now when he didn't have the powers needed to survive such a thing any longer.
He shuddered at how careless he had been, at the time, he'd been in possession of a power that enabled him to phase select parts of his body. By phasing his entire body, except for his claws, he could have waded through armies of Kindred without even breaking out into a sweat. By morphing into Rogue, he probably still could, but he didn't really like being in the body of someone else. It was almost always confusing and if he changed gender, it made his hormones go on a stampede for hours after the actual shift.
/Besides, it's hard to focus on anything at all when there's a set of breasts attached to my chest./ he thought and smiled absently as he waited in silence for something to happen. Then something did.
Julian Luna entered through a door in the other end of the room, he went directly to his seat and sat down. He absently gestured for Niklas to seat himself and he did, taking a free seat and smiling nervously as everyone just looked at him in silence. In order to amuse himself while he waited, he used the computer in his head to check out recent developments on the global stock markets. The global index had went down by 3% in the last two weeks, but the drop had evened out in the last two days. He fretted for a moment or two, then sent out the orders to his brokers to start buying more.
It was best to strike while the iron was hot and the prices were low. Even if the drop continued, he'd earn back any temporary losses when the market went up again. The real advantage of having a lot of resources was that he was able to ride out any downs and even profit on them, by buying cheap and then rake in a nice profit when things brightened up.
"Cash said you had a message for me." Julian suddenly said and Niklas cleared his mind of financial matters in order to concentrate at the business at hand. Niklas looked at the others around the table and raised an eyebrow in question. "Anything you have to say to me, you can in front of them."
"As you wish." Niklas politely replied. "The Tremere are planning to establish themselves here in San Francisco, a site for their chantry has already been selected and prepared. There's about fifteen Tremere ghouls in the city already, Kindred will start to drift in during the coming week."
"Why?" Julian asked. "This city is strained enough as it is, it can't support a larger Kindred population without endangering the Masquerade."
"Who knows what the Tremere thinks?" Niklas queried. "I certainly make no claims of doing so. Perhaps they're planning to whittle the Kindred population down, perhaps they disagree with your assessment, perhaps they've misjudged the Cainite population or any of a number of various reasons."
"Who is the message from?" Julian asked suspiciously.
"Cedric." Niklas replied. "He said you'd know that it's authentic by this phrase. 'Remember the favor'."
"I do." Julian replied. "Message received. Now on to other matters, namely you." Julian added and stared intensely at Niklas who stared right back at him. "Who are you?"
"Tom Hawk is the name I go by. I was sired by Gerald Smythe of Rotterdam and I am of the sixth generation. Currently based in Salem center." Niklas replied and saw how Cash pushed two files he had in front of him to the side. He stared intently at the remaining one and pushed it towards Julian after a cursory look at it. Julian accepted it and read silently from it, then looked up at Niklas with a curious look on his face.
"Special Agent Tom Arnold Hawk, born in 1975. An employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mutant Affairs division. No known home address, just a mailbox in Salem Center. No living relatives. Exemplary record. Excellent education. Drives a 1963 Corvette." Julian said and tossed the folder aside. "All lies." he added with contempt.
"Well now, I wouldn't be very smart if I used the truth, now would I?" Niklas asked with a sardonic smile. "I'm sure you realize that, after all, I doubt that you go around saying to everyone that you were born in the nineteenth century. But, it's not all false. I have the drivers license, passport, weapons license, badge and ID to back me up." Niklas replied and smiled faintly.
"Well, it's a good fake identity, I'll give you that. You have a valid social security number, insurance, telephone bills and the works. There's even a history of you available, at least in their computers. But when we asked for anything that you've signed, we couldn't get it because nothing could be found."
"Well, one tries, but nobody's perfect. Even if I do come darn close." Niklas modestly replied but reminded himself that he would have to take care of that little detail as soon as possible. Aging some papers so it seemed authentic wouldn't be hard, but smuggling them into the archives in question would be harder. Niklas didn't quite know how to arrange that, but Erik probably did. After all, he'd gone under a false name for years and not once had it caused any problems. Even though he'd been under investigation by just about every law and security agency in America and some in other parts of the world.
"Tremere..." Deadalus suddenly muttered and clenched his fists. "There's a reason why they've never established themselves here, I think its time to remind them of it."
"Deadalus, the Nosferatu can't start a clan war against the Tremere. That could shatter the Masquerade." Julian protested. "I know Saulot was a friend of yours, but the havoc you caused the last time cost you your Princehood! It was only Archon's intervention that got you off that easy. The Justicar wanted your head on a silver platter!"
"I was Prince of the city, I had the right of destruction." Deadalus replied, somewhat sulkingly.
"You were the Prince of San Francisco?" Cash exclaimed, obviously surprised by this revelation.
"Deadalus fall from grace was the trigger for the clan war that Archon ended." Julian replied, absently drumming his fingers against the table. "But that is all in the past, what worries me now is the future..." he said, then focused his eyes on Niklas. " and the present." he added.
"Well, if the present you're thinking of includes me, I can relieve your mind a little bit. I'm not staying, I'm going back to Salem just as soon as I've reported to Cedric. I may contact you at a later time though, I might just have a business proposal or two for you." Niklas said. "May I leave?" he asked then, standing up in preparation to leave.
"You may leave." Julian replied and they all held their tongues as Niklas left the room in silence.
"His real name is Niklas Jonsson, a computer tycoon from Europe. Cedric doesn't know who embraced him, but it can't be very long ago because he was born in 1975. If this is a false identity, it's a *damn* good one." Julian reported. "He's obscenely wealthy, donates large amounts of money to charity and is the largest private owner of rain forest in the world. He ruthlessly controls the European computer community and his cousin, Erik Jonsson, does the same in the rest of the world. He's the sole owner of HawkTech and Hawk Inc. HawkTech is an umbrella organization for hundreds of smaller computer-related companies. Hack Inc is an umbrella organization for thousands of non-computer related companies. Hawk Inc is one of the largest moneylenders in the world, they supply visionaries with money in return for partnership. Niklas is confirmed Ventrue, but Cedric don't know who Sired him. But he is of the sixth generation and have displayed some highly developed skills in several Disciplines, 'Disciplines not commonly associated with our clan', to quote Cedric."
"Who is this 'Cedric' and why haven't I heard of him before?" Cash interrupted.
"He's an ancient Ventrue Elder, he's been around for at least nine hundred years as far as we can tell. He's constantly declined positions of authority, instead settled for suggesting replacements for himself. He has no official authority and no official standing in the Camarilla, but it's rumored that his opinion is greatly valued by the Inner Council. It's rumored that he's got at least four Princes in his pockets and that when he says 'jump', most of the East Coast asks 'how high?'." Deadalus replied, coming out of his funk for long enough to reply. "He's a staunch opponent of the Sabbat, rumors say that he's the sole reason why their control over the East Coast is starting to fall apart."
"I owe him one, he negotiated the truce between me and Cyrus." Julian revealed. "Cyrus was prepared to launch an all out attack to take the city, when Cedric flexed some Ventrue muscle. I don't have any of the details, but from what I've heard, Cyrus was terrified for weeks afterwards." he said, then looked at the others around the table. "We have to find out where the Tremere are planning to establish themselves. While an all out war is out of the question, perhaps we can persuade them to find somewhere else to settle down." Julian added. "Spread the word on the streets, I want that location before this night is over."
+Yes?+ Cedrics customary dry greeting came over the line.
"It's me." Niklas begun, then moved on. "The message is delivered and received. By the way, you need to update your information. Archon Raine, Primogen Stevie Ray and Primogen Eddie Fiori have all suffered the Final Death."
+I'll look into it.+ Cedric replied. +I do have an additional favor to ask of you though.+ Cedric added and Niklas winced. He debated with himself for a few moments, then slouched in resignation. He couldn't start his career in the Kindred society with a reputation for not repaying his debts.
"What is it?" he asked and closed his eyes, expecting the worst.
+The Tremere chantry. That clan can not be allowed to establish themselves in San Francisco. That would interfere with my long-term plans for the entire area.+ Cedric replied.
"Stopping them would probably include violence and perhaps even a few Final deaths." Niklas said and waited for a moment. "I might be new to our society, but that is not customarily asked for. It fact, it's expressly forbidden."
+Your debt would be cancelled and I am prepared to offer you compensation for your services.+ Cedric replied, without missing a beat. +Besides, if you used your gray matter, I'm sure that you'd be able to come up with a non-violent way to keep them out.+ he added.
"What sort of compensation?" Niklas asked, becoming a little more interested. Cedric might not wield the sort of power that Erik did, but he wielded power in areas that Erik didn't even know about.
+What would you like?+ Cedric countered.
"Your protection." Niklas replied. "My Childe, Ally McBeal, has to be protected. I want you to lean on everyone you know in and around Boston, I want everyone to know that you've taken her under your wings and will deal harshly with anyone who tries anything fishy with her."
+Deal. The Tremere doesn't get into San Francisco and McBeal will be just as safe as the Prince himself.+ Cedric replied.
"The last Prince died, Cedric." Niklas replied dryly.
+None within the Camarilla will harm her.+ Cedric replied. +I cannot speak for the Independents or the Sabbat.+
Niklas thought about it for a few moments, then nodded. Then he remembered that Cedric couldn't see him and chuckled sheepishly before he replied.
"Deal." he agreed and felt as if a large burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He still had to worry about rabble, humans and the really persistent bastards, but Ally was now a whole lot more safe then he was. "I'll make sure that they realize that San Francisco is a very unhealthy place for Tremere."
+I'm assuming that you'll stick to the Traditions?+ Cedric asked with his dry and emotionless voice. +Because even if I could, I wouldn't protect you if you crossed the line.+
"Cedric!" Niklas protested innocently. "When have I ever broken the Traditions?"
+How about right at your Embrace, when you yourself Embraced that lawyer without permission or during the Clan War in Boston?+ Cedric countered.
"Aw, that? Hardly worth mentioning..." Niklas protested and smiled, even though his verbal opponent couldn't see him.
+By the way, the Prince is now aware of your real identity.+ Cedric announced and then hung up.
"Smug bastard." Niklas muttered and hung up in his end as well. The fact that Julian knew who he really was could present a problem, but he knew that he risked recognition from the moment he decided not to wear a disguise.
But now he had other problems, he needed to find out where the Tremere planned to establish their Chantry and then make sure that they couldn't. He walked over to the other end of his motel room and popped open the locks on one of his suitcases. He removed his trenchcoat and tossed it over the back of a chair, then started with the empty shoulder holsters. They didn't remain empty for very long though, because the next two items that he picked up were two Beretta 92F pistols. A few extra clips were brought up and placed in rubber strappings attached to the holsters.
A knife was strapped to each of his wrists and he briefly considered bringing the shotgun as well, but decided to leave that out for now. He did place a few stakes in strings that had been sewed on the inside of his trenchcoat, then decided that he was ready to play. He didn't expect to have to use any of it, but he preferred to be ready when he didn't have to be. Especially if the alternative was to *not* be ready when he had to be. He had been in the later situation once or twice and he didn't like that at all. He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the shotgun as well and fastened that to yet another string inside his trenchcoat. He pulled it on and adjusted it a little bit, trying to get used to the added weight and bulk it now contained.
He removed his sunglasses and popped out the lenses we was wearing, carefully placing them in their little plastic container. He absently pocketed the container, then tossed the sunglasses onto the nightstand beside the unused motel bed. Now was no time for holding back, not if he were to stop several Tremere mages on his own. But first, he needed information. He picked up a palmtop computer from his suitcase and smiled faintly as it lit up and displayed a map over the surrounding area. A bright red dot was pulsing in the middle of the screen, displaying a map over the area and the dot symbolized Kindred. In this case, Niklas himself. Niklas smiled and turned it off, it was no use wasting batteries until he was back inside the city and could start his search for the Tremere.
The little mini-Cerebro unit had actually been developed by Professor Charles Xavier, for the sole purpose of tracking Mutants. But with only a few modifications in the way it looked mutants up, Niklas had been able to alter his unit so that it found Kindred instead. But one rather recent discovery was that he could also use it to track down those with Kindred blood in them. He could use it to track down the Ghouls of the Tremere Warlocks.
He smirked, this was going to be one interesting night.
Erin Mueller sighed as she closed the cargo doors of the large, now empty, truck. She and her associates had spent a lot of time hauling the cargo into the large building. She double-checked that the large cargo doors were closed, then she walked around and hopped into the truck, slipping into the driver's seat while she waited for the others. The passenger door opened and she absently turned the key, starting the truck.
"Hi." someone said with a voice that Erin didn't recognize. She turned her head around and pulled back in astonishment, a young man was sitting next to her with a smug smile on his lips. "You're just *dying* to tell me who you were moving that shit for, aren't you?" he asked and it was then that she first noticed that he was pointing a gun at her.
She actually wasn't, but she was willing to reveal the name and location of someone who probably did have the answers the young man was looking for.
Billy 'Bulldog' Crenshaw spluttered and gasped for air, fighting to get one last breath of air into his lungs. His eyes were bulging and stared with astonishment at the man who now held the bulky trucker by the neck, dangling him about two inches over the ground without any visible effort.
"Now, let's try this again, shall we? I'll ask the questions again and you'll come up with a much more polite answer then 'Screw you, fuckface!'. What did you move, whom did you move it for and where did you move it?" he asked and then eased his grip a little bit, enabling Billy to take a shallow breath of air.
Cash pulled back into the shadows and quietly observed as that Hawk character hoisted a man at least three times his own weight up into the air with one arm. Cash own contacts had all directed him to this man, a mover who just recently moved to the city and brought his entire company with him. A Company loosely connected to other companies that were associated with Clan Tremere. But it appeared as if he had been too late, Hawk had already arrived with interrogation on his mind.
"Answer me!" Niklas commanded and the man started to choke as he apparently tightened his grip again. "Bah!" Niklas exclaimed as the man refused to speak, then he tossed him across the alley and into a brick wall. Before the mover had slid to the ground, Niklas directed a shotgun at him that he pulled out of his trenchcoat with a practiced move. "If you don't have any answers, you're useless to me. I guess I'll just have to destroy you and your master both. If I had the answers, I'd only have to kill you and leave your master alone." he said and pumped a bullet into the chamber with an ominous 'cli-click' noise.
"You'd leave my master alone?" the bulky man asked submissively.
"Of course." Niklas replied. "I want to know what the bastard is up to, if I don't know that, I'll have to kill your precious master. Just in case that piece of crap is doing something that can damage my interests in this city."
"She's moving here." he replied. "She and the others, we've just spent the last five days preparing the building."
"The address?" Niklas asked.
"Corner of fifth and Sallinger." the ghoul replied instantly.
"Your masters name?" Niklas asked and lowered his aim, until the shotgun was directed at his prisoners crotch.
"I can't!" the ghoul whined, tears appearing in his eyes.
"*Tell me her name*!" Niklas commanded and Cash almost found himself wishing he could reply. He knew that tone of voice, Niklas was Dominating the ghoul, using his Cainite powers to get obedience.
"Da-Danielle Emway." the ghoul replied and then gasped as he realized what he'd just said.
"Thhhhhhhhhank you." Niklas lisped and then clicked the safety on his shotgun on again. "Have a good one." he added and then turned around to leave. "Cash, are you coming with me or did you have something else you wanted to ask him?" Niklas asked as he passed the container behind which Cash was hiding.
Cash reluctantly came out and walked side by side with the other vampire. He had a few questions he wanted to ask, but kept silent, unwilling to admit that he was curious.
"Anything your team has found out that you're willing to share?" Niklas politely asked and Cash shrugged.
"Nothing specific, just a lot of rumors. That guy was my first solid lead of the evening."
"Bummer." Niklas said with a pleased grin. "I guess being restricted to the night shift does have a disadvantage or two. Ghouls and mortals can be used for the daytime search, but the interrogation has to be conducted by someone you trust. Something that in Kindred society usually translates to the Cainite in question. That's something I find refreshing about San F, it actually appears as if Gangrel, Toreador and Ventrue *trust* each other. Astonishing..."
"I thought you were going to leave town." Cash said and looked suspiciously at his companion. Something about him inspired trust, but the whole thing felt unnatural, so Cash held his own reins tightly. He suspected that the Elder next to him was a master of Presence, it wasn't unthinkable that he was utilizing some sort of ability to inspire trust in those around him. The others didn't appear to have noticed this or at least hadn't commented upon it. But as a Gangrel, Cash was more of a creature of instincts then the others were. When his instincts told him something, he listened.
"So did I." Hawk replied. "So did I..." he repeated. "Cedric told me to stick around and make sure that the Tremere leaves town before I do." he explained and shrugged. "I wasn't very keen on doing that, but the deal he offered me was just too tempting to pass up on."
"So, you'll be around?" Cash asked and tried to keep his thoughts on the subject bottled up.
"I'm 'fraid so. But don't worry, I'll stay low and get out of your hair just as soon as the Tremere leaves town." he replied with a smile playing on his lips.
"Howdy, ma'm."
Danielle shivered and spun around, ready to pounce if that was necessary. Her fingers were slightly curved and she was ready to instantly sprout claws. The voice originated from a young man, who leaned against the wall next to her bedroom window.
"Nice night, isn't it?" he continued and smiled, seemingly amused by something. "No need to worry, I don't intend to harm you." he said disarmingly. "Unless you like it that way, of course." he added with a sultry leer.
Danielle snorted and continued to walk towards her cupboard where she sat down in a comfy chair. She grabbed her favorite ivory-handled brush and started to do her 'thousand strokes'.
"Get out." she ordered absently, this intruder seemed harmless enough. Even if that was a misassumption, she felt confident in her own skills and ability to deal with such a minor threat as this.
"Are you absolutely sure?" he asked, suddenly standing behind her. He deftly removed the brush from her hands and continued brushing her hair.
"You sure have a lot of nerve." she said archly and tensed a little bit. It was bad enough that he'd somehow managed to slip past guards and top-notch security, but the fact that he'd managed to avoid being detected by her made her a little nervous. Perhaps she'd been wrong in thinking that he was a minor threat. She wished that she were facing the other way, so she could sneak a peek at his aura, but she couldn't turn now, not without arousing suspicion.
"Well, that too." he agreed and chuckled warmly as he worked his way through her wealth of dark hair. She felt him bend down and heard a deep sniff. "You smell good." he commented as he moved away, once again concentrating on her hair.
"I should call the guards, y'know." she murmured and relaxed as he tossed the brush aside and started to massage her shoulders. She wanted to moan in pleasure, but kept it bottled up.
"You should." he agreed. "But then I'd have to flee and you'd never see me again."
"I'm not seeing you now." she replied and shivered, those hands, they felt *soo* good.
"That can be remedied..." he murmured and bent down over her, working his hands on her waist as he slanted his lips upside-down over hers for a brief moment, then kissed the tip of her nose on his way back into an upright position. His hands moved back up as well, just barely grazing her breasts, perhaps accidentally, before they settled on her shoulders again.
She smirked and relaxed even more, she'd just had a brief glimpse of his aura, but that had been enough. He was mortal. It was possible to disguise an aura, but she knew how to look past that. She still recalled her Embrace, five hundred years ago. She had been a successful Mage, one of the few female Europeans to wield any serious power. Then, she'd attracted the eyes of Clan Tremere. After much debate, she'd been Embraced under great secrecy by the current seven Elders of the Clan.
She hadn't been publicly revealed to the Clan until after almost four hundred years as a Cainite, she'd been one of the Clans most potent secret weapons and very successful in her various missions. Then, she'd botched and revealed herself as a Vampire to the Mages she was working with at the time. After that, she had to flee and since her cover was blown anyway, she'd been publicly announced to the Clan. Her failure hadn't been taken lightly, it'd taken her this long to redeem herself somewhat. She was still a far cry from her former glorious status with the leaders of her clan, but she was at least accepted and respected by the Chantry she now controlled. Soon, she'd teach the vampires of this inferior city to fear and respect her as well. Then the Elders would know that she was still a force to be reckoned with.
"Distracted, are we?" the young man asked and she roused herself from her daydreaming. "Not exactly the reaction I was looking for." he confessed and chuckled good-naturedly as his hands left her back and shoulders to work on her left arm.
"All right, mister." she snapped and pulled her arm away from him. "Just who are you and what are you doing here?" she demanded of him and stared authoritatively at him.
"Testy, are we?" he replied and flashed his teeth at her, normally shaped teeth. "You *really* need to learn how to unwind." he commented, took her right hand in his and then placed a soft kiss on each one of her knuckles. "I'll come back some other time when you're more relaxed. See ya." he said and backed away towards her open window. She turned around and looked at him as he blew her a kiss and then leaped backwards out of the window. She rushed forward with a concerned look on her face, her bedroom was two stories above the ground! She stuck her head out of the window and looked down, just to see him land softly, aided by two bungee-cords that he'd apparently fastened to her roof before he sneaked into her bedroom. He must have grabbed them on his way down and used them to break his fall. He let the cords go and they sailed up into the sky and landed on top of her roof. He blew her a kiss once again and then sneaked away, vanishing behind a large bush, cut in the shape of a gorilla.
She kept looking, but didn't see him emerge from behind it, not even when one of her guards walked right up to the bush in order to relieve himself. Danielle frowned with disgust and reminded herself to have a stern talk with her personnel about urinating in her price-winning garden. Then she closed and locked her window before she discarded her gown and slipped beneath the covers. She clicked on a button on a remote lying on her bedside-table, then relaxed as metal shutters were pulled in front of the windows. She smiled in contentment and started to doze off for the day, only slightly concerned about the strange intruder.
Niklas stepped out from the shadows in his bathroom and exhaled, his appearance changed slightly and he relaxed as he was once again back in his own body. Morphing into his cousin Erik was even more unpleasant then changing gender, he rather spent time as a girl then his cousin. During the hour he'd spent as Erik, he'd come up with a large number of *very* unpleasant ideas. Erik was without a doubt one of the planets greatest minds, but his thoughts were more often then not directed at new inventive ways to cause death, pain and destruction.
He shuddered, he could be pretty heartless when the situation required it, but he was nothing compared to Erik. But, the shift had served its purpose. Since Erik's eyes worked in the same manner as Niklas own, he'd almost charmed that Tremere lady out of her panties. But the best of all was that since Erik wasn't a vampire, his aura hadn't given him away as a Cainite.
During the brief moment when Niklas had been both Erik and himself, she wasn't looking and certainly not concentrating. During that split second, he'd copied her and then once again become fully Erik. He smiled as he thought of the chaos he could cause in the body of a Tremere elder. He chuckled and shook his head in amusement. He'd wait until right before sunset, then he'd start using his new body to wreck havoc unto the Tremere. When he'd finished with them, they wouldn't even think of trying to establish themselves in San Francisco ever again.
"But first, perhaps I'd better see what that would be worth to the Prince." Niklas said to himself and smiled in a predatory manner. He was getting good at this whole favor/debt concept that was so popular in the Cainite world. Just because Cedric had asked him for this favor and offered a reward for it, there wasn't anything that prevented him from trying to get some sort of reward for services rendered from the Prince as well. "Perhaps I'd better stop talking to myself as well..." he mused and started to take off his clothes. He set his alarm for three, then snuggled up in bed to rest. He wanted to get up early though, that way he'd get a head start on the remaining Kindred population of San Francisco who'd be sleeping for a while longer then he would.
"Caitlin, nice to see you again. Waiting for Julian?" Niklas asked and briefly considered sitting down at her table, but decided against it. No use in pissing off the Prince if he didn't have too.
"Tom, hi." Caitlin absently greeted him, then started to glare at her pink drink again, frowning in concentration.
"Trying your hand at telekinesis?" Niklas joked and smiled. "I thought it was customary to practice with spoons."
"No, just got a lot on my mind." she replied.
"Wanna brood in alone in silence or do you need to talk to someone neutral?" Niklas asked, reluctant to get involved, but raised to be polite even if it could cause problems for him.
"I'd like to brood in silence for a while." she replied and smiled faintly. "But thanks for the offer."
"De nada." he replied and took a free table in the other end of the room, where he could sit with his back against the wall. He quietly studied the flow of people in the room and ordered a bottle of tequila and a glass from a waiter who appeared just a few seconds after he settled down. It appeared as if business was slow at the moment, but then again, the Kindred hadn't started to arrive yet.
The fact that he was half-mortal and was able to endure sunlight gave him a huge edge over the real Cainites who had to stay out of direct sunlight. But the sun was setting now, some of the braver ones would without a doubt be out by now. He frowned as the man he now recognized as Cameron, the new Brujah Primogen walked into the room with a following of goons. He covertly watched them as they took a table in the other end of the room, huddling up against the wall, just like him. He didn't like the idea of approaching the Prince under the watchful eyes of Brujah rabble, but he had to talk to the Prince before he made his move.
If he wanted to indebt Julian Luna, he'd have to make the arrangements before he acted, otherwise the old rascal might not recognize the favor. Niklas relaxed slightly as Lillie arrived with a few Toreador, the Toreador weren't traditional fighters, but they could be lethal in a battle due to their unnatural speed and grace. Soon after that, a pack of bikers arrived. They were Kindred, his mutant power told him that. Judging from the way they frowned at the Brujah, he guessed that they were Gangrel.
He slowly downed drink after drink as he waited for Julian. It wasn't certain that he would arrive, but since Caitlin was here and there seemed to be something going on, Niklas was willing to bet that Julian would show up.
He was slightly spooked as Caitlin suddenly took a chair at his table, he'd been concentrating so much on the Cainites that he hadn't noticed the human walking up to his table. He cleared his vision and absently refilled his glass with the last of the tequila in his bottle.
"Wow." Caitlin exclaimed. "You thought I needed to talk to someone?" she asked incredulously.
"What?" he queried and looked curiously at her.
"You finished a whole bottle of tequila, all by yourself."
"Oh, that." he replied and shook his head in bewilderment. "I have a liver condition, it breaks down this stuff a whole lot more faster then it should. I have to drink at least this much, just in order to get slightly tipsy. In order to get really drunk, I'd probably have to empty a barrel or so."
"I've never heard of a condition like that." she said, her voice tinged with disbelief.
"Well, I can touch my nose with my fingertips, walk on a straight line and I could probably manage a backflip as well if I had too." Niklas replied and stared morosely at the empty bottle. He held it up at the waiter and jiggled it. The guy looked a little hesitant at first, but eventually came over with another bottle and the check. Niklas sighed and pulled out his wallet, paying in cash. He did have a Platinum card in Tom Hawk's name, but he was reluctant to use it. He'd always preferred to pay in cash, even if it was a bother to constantly carry money around. "Want some?" he offered and held the bottle up against Caitlin who downed the last of her pink drink and held out her empty glass at him. "Buckle up, missy. This is goin' to be a *wild* ride." he said and poured tequila in her glass.
"Bottoms up." she said and waited as he brought his glass up to his lips, then they both tipped their glasses back and downed their respective glasses.
"So, feel like talking or are you just here to hog my tequila?" Niklas asked and refilled their glasses. He waved the waiter over again in order to ask for some salt and lemon, he usually didn't bother with that crap when he was drinking. But now it was a social event, not a way to dull his memories and relax his tense nerves, so a more civilized manner of drinking would be preferable.
"Both actually." she replied. "I thought about what you said, talking to someone neutral. I've talked with Julian about it, but I get the feeling that the topic is making him uncomfortable or that he doesn't take me seriously."
"All right, the busy absentminded boyfriend syndrome, I'm familiar with that. What is the problem that you think makes him uncomfortable?" he asked, graciously accepting a plate of lemon slices and two saltshakers from the waiter while he waited for an answer.
"I've been... About a week ago, I took Julian on a trip away from town. I got sick and we had to return. Ever since, I've been having these strange horrible dreams... Nightmares." she begun and took a deep breath. "Not just at night either, sometimes... Images just comes to me, flashes of things that never happened. Impossible things. Julian, wounded and dying. Julian, fighting monsters. Both the monsters and Julian becoming wolves. Myself, cutting my wrist open." she revealed and shuddered in revulsion. "Julian, staring at me with glowing eyes." she added in a half-whisper. "Telling me that I have to die or become one of them, that he won't let that happen to me."
If Caitlin hadn't been so involved in the telling of her story, she would have seen Niklas turn pale and a sickly expression drift across his face for a brief moment. The face soon assumed it's natural happy smile and he slowly regained some of his color as he calmed down. This was a problem that he *really* didn't want to handle. Not only did he risk pissing Julian off, he might also become involved in a serious breach of the Masquerade. Now he *really* needed to talk to Julian, the Prince needed to do something about this situation. Having the Prince of San Francisco in debt to him would be useless if the Prince was executed by a Justicar before the debt was paid off!
He quickly refilled his glass and drained it quickly, absently listening as Caitlin kept on talking, describing the 'nightmares' in horribly graphic details. The same descriptive quality that probably made her a great writer embellished her reaccounting. Niklas had seen some pretty nasty things since his powers kicked in, but her lurid descriptions made even him feel queasy.
"... heard him call out 'Archon', when I came to see him. That's the same name I remember from my nightmares. It scares me." Caitlin finished and then looked down at the tabletop. "What if it wasn't all dreams? What if my subconscious has sublimated my old fears that Julian is a mobster into nightmares where he's a monster? Perhaps my subconscious is trying to tell me something?" she murmurs, obviously not intending for me to hear her musings. But my enhanced senses easily picks it up and I shudder as I try to think of something to say.
"Well, I've never been much for interpreting dreams myself. Dreams are just plain weird and I'm not convinced that some hidden message can be gained from mulling them over and over again." he started and then sighed. "But it has helped a few of my friends, once they deduced what their dreams was trying to say to them, they relaxed and the dreams vanished. Personally, I think the dreams kept coming back because they feared them. Once they'd rationalized them as messengers, they didn't fear the dreams and their minds could come up with other things to dream about." Niklas continued. "If I had to come up with something that this dream is saying..." he begun and took a sip of tequila before he continued. "... it's that you've been hurt badly in the past and fears that Julian is going to do the same." he finished. Caitlin flinched somewhat and he knew that he was on to something.
Niklas felt like smiling, but kept the smirk off his face. Everyone had been hurt at one time or another, but it appeared as if Caitlin had been *really* hurt. He was normally a quite gentle person, but now he almost felt pleased that someone had hurt her. It would make her think even more about what he was about to suggest.
"You've obviously made up your conscious mind and rationalized that Julian isn't like that. You've put it out of your mind and decided to enjoy what you have instead of fearing for what you might not have in a near future. But your subconscious won't let go of your fears, so you dream, dream about the monstrous Julian hurting you, hurting others." he said and stared covertly at Caitlin who appeared to be deep in thought as she listened attentively to what he said. "You're afraid that Julian will be a repetition of what hurt you previously. Weather it's an abusive boyfriend, a lover who left or whatever, you're obviously afraid that Julian will do the same."
"You're probably right." Caitlin conceded. "I have been hurt before and that made me keep some distance to Julian for a while. But then something happened, I don't quite know why, but my fears evaporated between one day and the next."
"Well, I'm guessing that you'll sleep better tonight." Niklas said and finally indulged himself with a small smile. "Perhaps there *is* something to be said for dreamreading." he commented and refilled his glass once again.
"Perhaps." she replied and smiled weakly. "Thanks." she added earnestly.
"De nada. My parents always told me to help out whenever I can." he replied and downed his drink.
"That liver of yours must be truly amazing." Caitlin commented. "There's almost two whole bottles in you at the moment and you're still able to talk coherently."
"I could act affected if you'd like." he offered with a smile. "To tell you the truth, I am." he admitted. "I can tell, y'know? Because I always get more talkative when I'm affected." he revealed. "I also tend to leer and make passes at every girl in my field of vision." he admitted and smiled predatory at her. "But not you, I'm excluding you, because Julian would have my hide otherwise." Niklas whispered in a secretive mode as he glanced around the Haven, wondering where the hell Julian was holed up.
"The Brujah is up to something, Julian." Lillie said as she stared down at the room below the window, keeping an eye at Cameron and his thugs. "I can feel it."
"They're always up to something." he replied and took a sip from his glass of wine. "What *are* they talking about?" he snapped and glared at the table against the wall that occupied most of his attention. Lillie followed the direction Julian was looking in and was hard pressed to hide a pleased smirk. Caitlin was sitting at a table talking with the new Cainite in town, two glasses and two bottles of tequila on the table. She also saw that Gareth, one of her human retainers, was sitting on the table next to them. She'd given her orders to have the new guy watched and it appeared as if Gareth was in a position to listen in on their conversation.
"Gareth is there, he'll know all about it. I'll ask him to come up when they've stopped talking." Lillie replied and Julian grunted in reply. "But Cameron is who you should be concentrating on at the moment. Just look at him, that pleased smirk, he's up to something serious. You know what his goal is, he wants to be Prince of the city! You've got to concentrate on preventing him, San Francisco would fall apart under a Brujah Prince!"
"Assassamites, Brujah and Tremere. We're getting pretty crowded, Lillie. I heard rumors that Malkavians might be coming here as well. The Masquerade might shatter if I allow them, the Camarilla will investigate if I refuse them. But Malkavians are better then Tremere, Deadalus will go berserk if they establish a Chantry here."
"Do you know where they plan to settle?" Lillie asked.
"Yes, Cash got the name of the warlock in charge of the move and the address. I asked the Nosferatu for more information on her, when I have that, we'll have to come up with something to keep them away from this city."
"How did he manage that?" Lillie asked curiously and took a sip from her glass of red wine.
"I didn't ask." Julian replied. "When it comes down to Gangrel interrogation, it's better to remain unaware of the actual process."
"They've stopped talking. Tom, Niklas or whatever his name is, is talking on a cellular telephone. Caitlin left for the ladies room." Lillie reported, since Julian seemed lost in thoughts and hadn't noticed the change. He blinked slowly and nodded absently.
"You'd better bring Gareth up here." he said and stared at the man in the room below. "But wait until after he's finished talking."
"Are you spying on me?" Niklas asked incredulously, trying to keep his voice down. With all the Toreador around, skilled in the use of Auspex, there was no telling how many people in the room could hear him, even when he was whispering.
+Of course not.+ came a snorted reply over the telephone. +I am however keeping an eye on what is happening in San Francisco. When your ugly face started showing up on surveillance videos, I took a personal interest. I just thought you wanted to know that some guy named 'Gareth' is spying on you. I just saw Julian Luna and Lillie Langtry talking about it.+
"I appreciate your concern, but I sort of suspected something of the kind." Niklas replied. "After all, this is Toreador party central and they can be pretty darn attentive at times."
+We're going to have a pretty long conversation someday, I've got tons of questions about Kindred. I've learned a lot from watching surveillance videos, but there's a lot that can't be learned from video footage.+
"That wouldn't be a good idea. I'd better hang up before you get me into more problems then I already have. If you want to make yourself useful, e-mail me an address where I can get my hands on some firepower. Feel free to take the 'fire' in firepower quite literally."
+Flame-throwers and incinerary ammo? I can arrange that, it won't be cheap, but I can arrange it. I have a whole range of cool stuff developed with your kind in mind, not much of it in San Francisco at the moment though, but if you can wait a day or so, I can get you some *really* cool stuff.+
"A small flame-thrower and a box or two of 9mm incinerary ammo will do just fine." Niklas replied and sighed, Erik always went over the top. Especially when it all came down to violence.
+I have a grenade that I think you'd like. First it bursts and sends out a gust of gas, enough to fill up an entire 25x25x5m room. Then it ignites, setting the gas on fire. One grenade in The Haven and San Francisco would suddenly be missing the larger part of it's Vampiric population.+
"You have a twisted mind." Niklas said and frowned. "But none the less, I think you'd better send over a couple of them as well. I might just find a use or two for them."
+If you like them, then you'd *really* like the Tasp. It's a...+
"Orgasm inducing weapon, yes, I'm familiar with it. It's messy, but certainly more fun to use then a Taser or rubber bullets. But I think the other goodies will do, if I need someone to come, I'll arrange it myself." Niklas added with a sultry leer. Considering that his cousin had access to advanced flying cameras camouflaged as common flies, chances were that he was watching him right now.
+Y'know, you really shouldn't go around accusing others of having a twisted mind. You're no mister straight-brain yourself!+ Erik replied and Niklas smiled.
"Be that as it may, I think I'd better hang up now before one of the eavesdroppers in here decide to trace this call."
+Fat chance of success, but you're probably right. See you around.+
"Yeah, see ya."
"Gareth." Lillie greeted the slender man who entered the room. He tip-toed up to her and gently placed a kiss on her hand.
"Lillie." he replied and bowed for Julian who was seated behind her desk. "Mister Luna."
"What have you got for us, Gareth?" Lillie asked and gestured for Gareth to take a seat while she leaned back against her desk, offering Julian a nice view of her shapely backside in the process.
"The woman was complaining about bad dreams, nightmares. She dreamt that Mister Luna was a monster with glowing eyes." Gareth replied and chuckled. "Some people have the oddest dreams." he added with a smile before he continued. "The guy you asked me to keep track of interpreted it for her, said that she probably had been hurt in her past and that she now had these dreams because she feared that it would happen all over again. She admitted that he might be right about that. She remarked upon his ability to drink without getting drunk and he replied that he didn't hit on her because Julian Luna would have his hide." he said and cleared his throat. "Then his phone rang and she excused herself, said she needed to visit the ladies room. I only heard one end of the conversation, but it was obvious that he was aware of the fact that he might be overheard. He did order weapons though, 'firepower' as he called it. A flame-thrower and nine millimeter inciniary rounds. He also mentioned orgasm weapons, Tasers and rubber bullets."
"I might just have to talk with this 'Tom Hawk' once again, he seems to be overstepping a few boundaries. Or at least preparing to do so..." Julian said and frowned. "Go out there and ask him to come up here, will you?" he said and looked at Gareth who nodded gratefully, pleased to get away from the intimidating Julian Luna.
"Julian Luna wants you in Miss Langry's office. Now." a smartly dressed fellow said and Niklas looked up from his beer with a confused look on his face. The guy in front of him was a human, but he recognized him. He had been sitting on the table next to him and Caitlin while they had been talking. He cursed himself, he'd only been on the lookout for Ghouls and Cainites, not ordinary humans. He'd forgotten that not everyone in a Vampire's pool of resources were equipped with powers that enabled him to sense them.
"All right." he replied and drained his beer, leaving a few bucks as tip underneath the glass, before he walked towards the office in question. He briefly regretted his drinking, but he'd needed something to take his mind off Julian while Caitlin was talking. He'd tried to appear unaffected, but he knew that he wasn't sober. He could fake it pretty well while he was sitting down, but he had to grab the railing when he walked up the stairs, because he wasn't quite sure that he'd make it otherwise.
He took a moment to compose himself before he knocked on the door, then he took another one to check out his power sensing to see what he'd be up against. Only two Kindred, but he wasn't familiar enough with them yet to be able to sense who they were. Julian was probably one and common sense declared that the second would be Lillie, but he couldn't say for sure.
+knock+ +knock+
He gave the door two whacks, then he entered and sauntered into the office. Nodding briefly at Julian, then he placed a wet kiss on Lillie's hand before he slumped into a chair in front of the desk.
"Wazzup?" he asked and made a little tent with his fingers, succeeding to place all five fingertips against each other at his second attempt.
"You're ordering weapons, I'd like to know what you're planning to use them for." Julian said and glared at him. Niklas merely shrugged, he knew that being overheard was a chance he was taking in The Haven.
"Nobody. I just like to be prepared, that is all." he said, taking special care to pronounce everything properly. He couldn't let on the fact that he was tipsy, they might try to use that against him. "But I was wondering what it would be worth to you if the Tremere suddenly decided that San Francisco really isn't a good place for a new Chantry?"
"There will be no violence, no killings. Not for as long as I am Prince of this city." Julian snapped and clenched his fists.
"I wasn't suggesting that!" Niklas protested and hiccuped. "But what would it be worth to you, if the warlock in charge turned out to be a traitor who suddenly decides to burn the Chantry down?" he asked with a pleased smirk.
"Quite a lot." Julian admitted. "What are your demands?" he asked.
"Domain and Creation." Niklas replied without hesitation. "I want the Hawk Inc office here in San Francisco off limits to other Kindred. I'd also like to have your permission to Embrace someone."
"That's outrageous! You're crazy." Lillie protested.
"Be that as it may." he said and hiccuped again, then swallowed some air in the hopes of stopping them. "But whatever else Julian does, the Tremere will realize the outside influence and do their best to avenge his interference. My way guarantees that the Tremere won't start throwing accusations at Julian, they'll have problems enough trying to cover up the fact that one of their own has gone stark raving mad."
"You can arrange this?" Julian asked.
"Yes, I can." Niklas replied with uttermost confidence.
"The Domain is yours when that happens." Julian replied.
"And the rest?" Niklas prompted.
"I wish to observe the potential Childer first." Julian replied. "I won't grant you permission to Embrace just anyone." he explained.
Niklas thought about it, it would have been much better to get carte blanche, then he would have been able to pull Ally into town, introduce her to Julian and claim that he'd just Embraced her. Then he'd be able to bring her to Boston and direct all questions about her creation to Julian. Now he would have a right of creation, one that he'd probably never use. He had no desire to inflict the life of a Cainite upon anyone. The three times he'd done that so far, had been to 'save' lives that had already been lost.
Callisto had been dead when he found her and Marrow was only barely clinging on to life, but died before he had time to do anything to preserve it. Ally had died in his arms, beaten into a pulp and then shot as an encore. No matter how good his reasoning had been, he had a slight feeling that he'd done the wrong thing by Embracing them, by turning them into Cainites.
"All right." he agreed. The value of a right of creation that he'd never use wasn't much, but at least the fact that he had that right would translate into some measure of respect from the other Kindred in San Francisco. Besides, the fact that he'd indebted Cedric was payment enough for this small favor, anything else was just icing on the cake.
Danielle Emway thought she heard something and instantly became aware of the fact that there was someone in her room. She heard someone pacing back and forth in front of her bed. She kept still, not giving away the fact that she was now awake as she considered the intruder and just how someone had managed to get into her bedroom.
The windows had metal shutters drawn down over them, shutters that only she had the remote for. The door was locked and bolted from the inside. The small ventilation ducts weren't large enough for someone to use and there were no other weak points that would allow someone a point of entry. Of course, it might be possible for a vampire able to take the form of mist to get in through the ducts, but that was precisely why she had powerful fans mounted in front of that ducts.
Since she was still breathing, metaphorically speaking, she decided to take a chance and open her eyes. She opened them and relaxed, shaking her head at the nerve of her mysterious intruder.
"May I ask just what *you* are doing here?" she demanded and the intruder turned around and smiled at her.
"Waiting for you to wake up, miss Emway. It's a glorious evening and I think you should be enjoying it, instead of just sleeping the night away like you are right now." he replied. Then he pulled his T-shirt off and tossed it at her cupboard, then his pants followed and were soon joined by his boxers. She raised an eyebrow and smirked as she took him in.
He had muscles in all the right places, well-shaped legs and a shaved chest without even a hint of hair. She glanced down and nodded approvingly at what she saw. She'd had bigger, but this one was more then adequate. He pulled the covers away and laid down beside her, looking up at her roof for a moment. Then he rolled over and positioned himself above her, lowering himself until their noses were bumping against each other.
"Hi, you." he murmured and placed a soft kiss on her upper lip, then her lower lip and then slated his lips against hers. She responded enthusiastically, giving back just as good as she got and then some. She'd been thinking about this ever since he'd sneaked into her room and then just vanished. He pulled away for a breather, something Danielle didn't need to concern herself with.
"Hi, you." she responded and then raised her head to reclaim his lips, forcing them open so she could shove her tongue into his mouth. He didn't seem to mind that very much and she discovered to her surprise that her oversized T-shirt was being pushed upwards. She obediently raised her arms to allow him to get rid of the annoying garment. He pushed it up and back, but it just slipped over half of her head before it got stuck. She briefly worried as both her arms were caught behind her head and her line of vision was blocked, but all worries were forgotten as he kissed her again.
She growled as he left her mouth and slowly worked his way down, placing soft kisses on her cheeks and licked her neck before he moved on to the hollow at her throat, suckling at it for a moment.
"Release me." she commanded and struggled against the T-shirt that kept her arms locked and vision blocked. He merely emitted an amused 'tsk' and then moved even lower, pushing the white satin bra down with his nose before he placed a soft kiss on an already erect nipple.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" she heard him murmur and then he found other ways to keep his mouth occupied. She strained against the confiding fabric and struggled to get her arms free, she needed to touch him and she needed to do it now. She whimpered at her failure, he was holding the T-shirt so far back that she couldn't do much about her situation.
"Release me, *please*!" she pleaded with him and he relented, pushing the T-shirt all the way off her. Then his hands slowly moved down her arms, caressing her all the way down to her chest where he struggled with her bra for a moment.
"Daft contraption." he muttered around her nipple, then he tore the straps to her bra apart, apparently stumped by the clasp. Free at last, she stroked his back, caressed his shoulders and tickled his ribs as he returned the favor with her stomach, breasts and ribs. She wrapped her legs around his waist, then rolled over, forcing him to lie on his back. "Top of the world, Dani. Top of the world..." he murmured and rubbed her breasts with his hands, licking between them with an unusually dexterious tongue.
She grabbed the sides of his head, holding him steady as she devoured his lips with hers. His hands went south and grabbed her ass, making her yelp in surprise. He merely chuckled and then moved his head up, sealing his lips to hers. Then she heard the sound of fabric ripping and felt something moving at her nether regions. It appeared as if her companion wasn't a very patient man, if something didn't come off in time, he just tore it apart.
She made a few grinding motions, rubbing herself against him, causing both of them to shudder with pleasure. His hands were back on her ass, cupping her, increasing the speed of their now mutual grinding. Then he suddenly rolled them over, once again taking the top position.
She let out a 'omph' as he settled down over her, pressing her down with his weight. Her arms were suddenly caught as his hands grabbed her wrists, he quickly put her arms against each other and held her with just one enormous hand. He raised his head slightly and just stared at her with a feral grin on his lips.
She shivered, she hadn't really paid any attention to his size before, but now she felt intimidated. He was larger then her, much larger. His muscled body also revealed that he was stronger then her as well, probably much stronger. She could increase her strength with her Cainite powers, but it'd probably take quite a lot of blood to become stronger then her bedfellow.
"I'm sorry, Dani. But you and your Clan should never have tried to work your way into San Francisco, it's off limits for the Tremere." he said and she tensed up. He suddenly changed subtly, not by much, but she could tell that he'd been using some sort of means to disguise himself. She gasped as she saw his extended fangs, but couldn't react in time to stop him from plunging them into her left breast. She struggled, but his hands held hers in a grip of iron and his free hand held her head where it was. His body was pressing down on her and his legs were keeping hers pinned down.
"Damn yo..." she started, but trailed off as the Kiss made her listless and drowsy. She struggled, but didn't manage to gather up enough resistance to shake it off. He took his time, slowly drinking from her, draining her blood practically drop by drop. Then he suddenly stopped, licking her wound to heal the marks from his teeth and then he looked apologetically at her.
"Sorry, Dani." he told her and then headbutted her, slamming his forehead down on her. She groaned and blinked, trying to clear her field of vision. She was just as durable as any other Kindred were, but that headbutt had a lot of power behind it. It was followed by a second one and a third and even more after that. She soon lost track of them and eventually couldn't stay conscious any longer.
"Damn you, Erik!" Niklas hissed as she got off Danielle. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind from his cousins evil influence. He'd only thought to lull her into a false sense of security, then take her out as gently as possible.
But after morphing into Erik, he soon forgot all about that. His mercenary cousin wasn't exactly the epitome of pleasantness. Oh, he might *act* nice enough most of the time, but he wasn't. The cold-hearted bastard had deliberately set out to seduce her, he usually managed to retain his own thoughts and mind after morphing, but some people influenced him, some more strongly then others. When he turned into Charles Xavier, much of Xavier's thoughts and values were still there. But when he turned into Erik, he really did turn into Erik.
That was one of the main reasons why he tried to avoid it. But Erik was more or less perfect, they both looked almost exactly alike and Erik had a large number of extremely useful skills and powers. When Niklas shaved regularly, he was often confused with Erik. They were built pretty much the same, Erik had darker skin and weighed a little less. But otherwise, they might just as well have been twins.
Growing up, people often thought they were. A couple of years ago, they'd had their DNA tested, just out of curiosity. They'd both suspected for years that infidelity had been involved, that one of their fathers had slept with both sisters and conceived at the same time. But, they'd been wrong. They really were cousins and nothing else.
But while both of them were willing to stretch their own moral boundaries if it were necessary, Erik did that even when it wasn't. The man was perfectly willing to kill, maim or torture, do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals. In Erik's mind, a good end justified any means at all to get to it. Niklas knew that he'd raped, killed, tortured and preformed acts so revolting that even hardened criminals would feel inclined to go around a corner and puke their guts out.
He shook his head, trying to clear his mind once again. He hoped that he wouldn't have to return to his cousin's body anytime soon, for now, he was more or less done with it. He had the girl he needed, he'd already picked up some hardware and another couple of things that he'd asked Erik to locate for him. He picked Danielle up and slung her over his shoulders, combined his body with the powers of Psylocke, stepped into the shadows and emerged out of another shadow in his own room.
He dumped Dani on his bed, then turned to a black bag that was one of the other things he'd asked Erik to get for him. He opened it and looked down at enough pharmaceuticals to kill a third of the continents population and incapacitate the rest. The seemingly innocent bag was crafted out of two layers of Kevlar, with a metal net made out of Adamantium between. The padding inside was made out of Semtex. The handles contained extremely sensitive sensoring devices, as soon as someone touched the handles, a whole batch of samples were taken. If even one of them didn't match up, the Semtex would blow up, destroying the contents and everyone within five meters of the bag.
He quickly raked through it, bypassing bottles and containers by the dozen until he found the one he wanted. He grabbed one of the needles lying on the bottom drew out about five cc of the brownish liquid from the bottle. He quickly found the correct place to inject it in, did so and shot her full of it. He shook his head and smiled sheepishly, he never would have thought that his time as a junkie would actually prove useful someday. He put the needle back into the container, because he couldn't leave it lying around in the wastebasket. There were still enough residue left within to provide a team of scientists with enough to go on if they wanted to make their own batch.
He couldn't allow that, not when this was a drug that had been developed with Kindred in mind. It might prove lethal for a human, but for Kindred it was just an extremely potent sleeping drug. The dose he'd given her should be enough to keep her under for at least twenty-four hours. Enough time for him to make good use out of her body. He looked at the suitcase he'd placed underneath the bed, then smiled. More then enough time for what he had in mind.
Niklas walked into the lobby, the guards smiling as they let him in. He smiled pleasantly back and sucked down some air into his lungs, making full use of the body he currently had. He walked over to a room in the center of the building, then smiled at the surveillance camera as he opened the suitcase he had been carrying. He displayed the contents, so anyone in the other end of the camera would see what it was. Then he pressed the detonator, mimed 'kabooooooom' at the camera, then simply left the room.
He sneaked into a janitors closet after making sure that nobody could see him do so, then he morphed into Elisabeth Braddock and disappeared into the shadows, emerging from the shadows in his dark motel room and swiftly abandoning Elisabeth's body in favor of his own.
"Kabooom." he said quietly to himself, then smirked as he thought about how this would affect the Tremere when one of their own, the appointed leader of this Chantry to be, placed a highly explosive device right in the middle of it. But he was far from done, *very* far as a matter of fact. He looked at the girl who was lying unconscious on his bed, it was a darn shame that he had to do this to her, but what he gained from all of this more then compensated for that.
He looked at his clock and the girl, he didn't know how long it had been since she had fed, so he would have to make sure that she had some blood. He certainly didn't want to be responsible for starving her to death, even if his actions probably would ensure that she were killed by her own Clan once he released her.
But that was one thing, he could accept that. He'd warn her about it, then she'd at least have a chance to run and survive. But starving someone to death was unacceptable. He pulled out a knife and slit his left wrist, then placed it against her mouth. Her predatory instincts took over and she fed, even though she was unconscious. He allowed her to drink enough to get her by for two days, taking away six days from his own time. His enhanced healing and immune system made his blood last longer, but now he'd soon have to feed again.
But first things first, now he had to continue to spread confusion in the Tremere ranks. The members of the Warlock clan would start to arrive in greater numbers after midnight, he would use his newly copied body to stir up some problems among them. He grinned, without their chantry and with a leader gone crazy, the Tremere would have to pull out of the city for the time being.
He absently licked his wound shut, then transformed into Elisabeth again. He had things to do, people to meet and disasters to arrange.
"Hello, Cameron." a female voice said and the Brujah Primogen jumped in his seat, turning his head around to stare in confusion at the girl behind him.
"Fuck!" he exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"
"Aw, did I scare you?" she drawled. "Completely intentional, I assure you." she added, then smirked as she walked around him and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. "I'm Danielle Emway of the Tremere." she introduced herself with a smug smile.
"What's a Warlock like you doing here in San Francisco?" Cameron snarled.
"Measuring up the Brujah defenses and strength of their Primogen." she replied, then licked her lips. "You see, we're going to settle down here in San Francisco, but the city is already overpopulated. So, we thought we'd carve away some dead Brujah meat to make room for us." she calmly replied. Cameron's eyes bulged and he reached for the sawed-off shotgun he kept taped underneath his desk. She placed her bare foot against the desk, then the entire thing caught on fire.
Cameron yelped and jumped back, cursing at the pain his scorched hands caused him. She had jumped away from the desk and was now standing on the other side of the miniature bonfire she'd created, looking calmly at him.
"Consider this our declaration of war, Brujah. You and your miserable Clan have crossed the path of my Clan for the last time." she stated, then just seemed to slide into the shadows in one corner of his office and vanished without a trace.
His door was suddenly shattered as his bodyguards made their way into his office, alerted by Cameron's yelp and the roaring of the flames.
"Put that out, preferably before someone calls the fire department." Cameron ordered and walked out. "Get my car, I'm going to The Haven." he snapped and stalked on. "Get me an escort." he added. "A heavily armed one." he finished.
"Julian." Cameron snarled and sat down at the Prince's personal table while two of his men dragged Caitlin away from it, leaving her with Cash who hadn't even had time to react before Cameron was seated and his two men blocked his way to Julian's side. "The Warlocks just declared war against me! What the hell are you doing letting the Tremere into the city?" the enraged Brujah Primogen snarled viciously.
"War?" Julian exclaimed and leaned forward, instantly forgetting the rude way in which Cameron had initiated this conversation. "They're here and you've met them?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?" Cameron replied sarcastically. "One of them, a really sneaky bitch, set my desk on fire and declared war against my Clan!"
"Sounds a little hasty, they must be better prepared then I had been told. If they're cocky enough to try something like this, they almost have to be well prepared for retaliation..." Julian mused out loud, then blinked. "She set fire to your desk?" he asked, his tone of voice clearly betraying confusion. "However did she get close enough to do that?"
"I don't know!" Cameron complained. "One minute, I was... Uh... Working on something... The next, she was standing right behind me. She talked to, taunted and threatened me, then she turned my desk into a bonfire with her foot!" he ranted, then looked seriously at Julian. "Did you know that they were in town?" he asked, only barely managing to hold his Brujah temper under control.
"I heard that they'd planned to open a Chantry here and I've set a few things in motion to prevent them, we're overcrowded enough as it is." Julian replied. "I didn't know that any Tremere had arrived though, I only knew about a couple of Ghouls who're preparing the new Chantry."
"If you give me the address where they're planning to move in, I'll..." Cameron began but trailed off, thinking things through. "I'll make sure that everyone in my Clan makes sure that nothing illegal or overly dangerous takes place when Sasha is around. I'll let them know that I'll come down like a pound of bricks on everyone who fails to protect her from any outside threat." he swore and actually appeared to mean it.
Julian was completely immobile, if Cameron enforced that, Sasha would be safe. But he understood that if he gave Cameron that address, he wouldn't be able to prevent the ferocious Primogen from extracting a horrible revenge. But what he'd get in return almost compensated for the trouble a Brujah assault upon the Chantry would cause him and the Kindred of San Francisco if the humans got a whiff of what was going on.
"Sorry, Cameron." Julian finally replied regretfully. The city and the Masquerade had to be his first priority, Sasha's safety couldn't compare to the well being of every single Kindred in town. "Violence is out of the question at the moment, the Masquerade must be my first concern." he explained. The Brujah Primogen looked surprised, then his features changed and he almost looked respectful for a few moments. "I ask that you keep your Brujah in check, for just another night or two. The problem should be resolved by then. If it isn't, we can return to this conversation then."
Cameron appeared to think about it, then reluctantly nodded and stood up. He signed for his circle of Brujah that it was time to leave, then he turned to Julian again.
"You've got two nights, Julian." he agreed. "I suggest you make good use out of them." Julian nodded and dismissed the Brujah Primogen with a wave of his hand. Caitlin and Cash instantly appeared, Caitlin sitting back down and Cash leaning down to whisper in Julian's ear.
"Is everything all right?" he asked and Julian turned his head around so he could whisper to Cash without Caitlin overhearing them.
"More or less, the Tremere just declared war against Cameron and his Brujah." he whispered right back. "Cameron agreed to give me two nights. After that, he'll unleash his rabble at the Tremere. Find Hawk, I want to have a word with him about his progress." he explained, then turned towards Caitlin. "Cameron asked me to convey his apologies, but he had something urgent he wanted to discuss with me in private and not much time to do it in."
"What sort of 'business' could the head of the San Francisco underworld possibly have with you, Julian?" Caitlin asked and Julian raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her.
"Cameron and the Mafia?" he exclaimed. "You must be joking, the last I heard, the police suspected Eddie Fiori of maintaining that position."
"Eddie Fiori is believed to be dead." Caitlin replied and Julian did his best to look surprised.
"Dead? When? How?" he asked and leaned back.
"Well, no body has been found and there's no other evidence of foul play. But he *is* missing and Cameron has been seen talking to a lot of Eddies old associates." she explained, looking pretty pleased over the fact that she knew something that Julian didn't.
"I don't think Eddie would have gone out without a fight, if that was the case. We would have heard of it."
+kabooooooooooom+
Everyone inside the club jumped in their seats as a thundering explosion was heard in the distance.
"Perhaps we just did..." Caitlin commented.
"Who knew about the Chantry? Someone must have let something slip!" Vincent raged and slammed his fist down onto the tabletop.
"Calm down, Vincent." Danielle told him. "That's what we're here to find out." she added and looked around the conference room they'd rented. "Is everyone here?" she asked.
"Everyone is here." Vincent replied.
"Good!" Danielle exclaimed cheerfully. "Vincent?"
"Yes?" he queried as she walked closer to him and placed a hand on his right shoulder.
"You're it." she said, then Vincent roared in agony as his clothes suddenly started burning. She quickly struck out to her right and set fire to the clothes of Roderick to her right. The others cursed at her treason, then watched in amazement as she leapt out through the window and flew away, almost faster then the eye could follow.
Vincent brushed out the last of the fire and panted furiously, the burns were painful, but not as serious as they could have been. But one thing was certain, Danielle were going to regret this treason for the rest of her miserable un-life.
"Honey, I'm hooome." Niklas exclaimed after stepping out of the shadows and morphing back to his own body.
"We... We-leafe meh." Danielle mumbled, the drugs in her system apparently starting to wear off.
"Sorry, I'll have to keep you here for just a little while longer. Then I'll drop you off at a location of your choice. You might not want to, not after you find out what I've been doing. But that is a conversation we can have when I'm done and your head have cleared." Niklas explained. "But until then, I think it's time to give you another little shot." he added and reached into the little black medicine bag, a little black bag filled with all sorts of amusing substances.
"Nuh-uw." she protested feebly.
"'Fraid so. You're not afraid of needles, are you?" he asked, saw her nod fiercely and shook his head. "Bummer." he commented and prepared another shot that he deftly injected into her lower back.
"Bahwsardh." she cursed.
"Mind your manners, Dani." he admonished her. "I hope you don't kiss your mother with that mouth."
"Phrikh." she grunted, then appeared to loose consciousness.
"Yes, it was." he agreed and patted the spot where he'd injected the needle. "Because you couldn't have been talking about me, right?" he asked the unconscious woman in his bed, then sighed theatrically at the silence. "I must brush up on my conversational skills, it's not good for business if I make pretty girls fall asleep whenever I open my mouth." he commented to himself, then smiled as he laid down on the other side of the bed. "Jeez, I crack myself up." he said and closed his eyes, preparing to catch some shut-eye while he could.
"Is this..." Julian began, but trailed off.
"Yes." Cash replied with a subdued voice as the two of them watched the firemen searching the rubble for survivors. "This was going to be their Chantry." he added, then smiled slightly. "Not much chance of that happening now."
"I suppose not." Julian replied. "Any suspects?" he asked Cash.
"The security personnel called in the police and they looked at the surveillance tapes while the bomb squad tried to figure the device out. They say it was a woman who planted it, but they haven't managed to identify her as of yet." Cash replied. "Sonny looked at the tape, he'll recognize her."
"Think the firemen are going to find anything?" Julian asked.
"No. According to Sonny, the entire building had been evacuated. The bomb was found almost instantly, because the woman who placed it behaved so odd. According to Sonny, it was almost as if she wanted to be seen placing the bomb." Cash replied. "Anyway, the security people tried to figure the bomb out at first, then they called the police who sent their bomb squad over. They struggled with it for a while, then had to give up as well. The building was evacuated as soon as the bomb was discovered, so once the bomb squad left, there wasn't anyone left in the building."
"We'd better be going. I have to set some things into motion, if they try to buy another building, I want to know about it." Julian said, then smiled. "I also think I'm going to put a building or two up for sale, perhaps we'll be able to flush them out. It all depends on how much they really want to establish themselves in my city."
"I'm here to see Cameron." Niklas stated as two Brujah stepped out of the shadows to stop his advance. "Here's my hardware." he said and slowly removed a Beretta 92F from a shoulder holster underneath his left arm and a Ruger GP100 revolver from the one on his right.
"Is he expecting you?" one of the goons demanded
"No, I don't think so." Niklas replied. "Just tell him that Tom Hawk is here and that I have some interesting information concerning the current Warlock situation."
The goons mulled on that for a while, then one of them finally nodded and headed for Cameron's door where he knocked, stuck his head in for a while and then waved Niklas forward. He smiled and headed for the door, entered the office and inclined his head a little bit in greeting and deference as he stopped in front of Cameron's brand new desk.
"You had some information?" Cameron suggested after a few moments of silence.
"Yes." Niklas replied. "I know where the Tremere went after their new Chantry blew up." he revealed, then waited for Cameron's reaction. The Brujah Primogen was motionless for almost ten seconds, then he smiled.
"Name your price." he said, without revealing anything.
"Only that Julian never finds out that I was the one who told you about it." Niklas replied.
"What do you get out of this?" Cameron asked, glaring suspiciously at Niklas.
"A city without Tremere." Niklas replied with an amused smile. "They were brave enough to risk the wrath of Deadalus and his Nosferatu, but if they have to fear you and the Brujah as well, they'll have no choice but to find somewhere else to establish themselves."
"There has to be more." Cameron stated quietly.
"Yes. But that has nothing to do with you. As a matter of fact, it doesn't even have something to do with this city." Niklas replied.
"All right." Cameron agreed. "Julian will never find out about where I got the address from. If he asks, I'll just say that my Brujah tracked them down."
"Works for me." Niklas stated, then stood up. He slowly withdrew a note from the pocket of his shirt, handing it to Cameron who looked at it and smiled ferally. "Nice doing business with you, Cameron." he said and headed for the exit.
"Likewise." Cameron responded.
Niklas closed the door behind him, then got his hardware back from Cameron's thugs, who seemed somewhat reluctant to part with the pieces. He'd loaded both guns with Deothermite ammo, bullets that upon impact would ignite, explode and send burning pieces of almost inextinguishable burning material into the surrounding tissue. It was devastatingly effective against Cainites, especially if a round struck the head or chest.
The scientists Erik employed had come up with the idea and Erik was just about to start selling it on the black markets around the world. That was just the tip of an iceberg though, Erik had even more nasty shit up his sleeve, some of it that he wasn't going to make available for people outside of his own organization. The bullets didn't look any different from ordinary rounds, so perhaps the Brujah had just taken a liking to the feel of his guns. Niklas shrugged, he knew he had at any rate. Whenever he walked around without at least one piece, he felt naked.
He left the building and hopped into the waiting limousine, telling the driver to take him to The Haven. Cash had tried to call him, but Niklas had purposely turned off his cellular phone, making himself unavailable. It was now time to make an appearance as himself, even though he didn't really like it. The Cainites wouldn't tell on him, reveal his identity to the world. So that wasn't his major worry, what worried him was that he was starting to like mingling with the Kindred. The intrigues, the struggle and the secrecy was exiting, it almost aroused him physically.
The car suddenly stopped and Niklas realized that he'd sunk into one of his absentminded modes again, when he just drifted through life on autopilot, while his mind was occupied elsewhere. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts, trying to focus on the present. He sighed as he had to surrender his hardware and sighed again as the guards at The Haven searched him.
He rolled his eyes as they forced him to give up the additional hardware, a second Beretta 92F strapped to his back, a knife on each of his forearms and four more on his legs. They didn't find the PlaSteelico knife on his back though, the plastic alloy blade was hanging suspended from his opulent silver necklace. Their metal detectors just passed right over the knife without finding it.
But at least security was better then with the sloppy Brujah, they'd accepted his two pieces and then just assumed that he didn't have anything else. He could have blown Cameron away, then disposed of the guards without any major problems.
He absently said hello to Sasha as he passed her and enjoyed the confused look on her face as she tried to recall ever meeting him. He didn't make any attempts to engage her in a conversation though, not only had he larger fish to fry, but Cash might not appreciate it either. If it had been just any Gangrel, Niklas might have ignored any possible outbursts from the green-eyed monster, but since Cash was a Primogen, Niklas decided to step lightly around his girlfriend.
He finally spotted Julian, but he was busy talking to Caitlin, while Cash covertly watched the Prince from the bar. He wanted to talk with Luna, but not badly enough to risk his anger by interrupting his conversation with Caitlin. So Niklas headed for Lillie's office instead, intending to find out a little more about the Toreador Primogen. Besides, she owned a lot of clubs on the west coast, he had interests in the entertainment industry. If nothing else, they'd at least have business to discuss.
It turned out that she wasn't there, so he sighed and headed down to the bar instead. Cash splitting his time between watching Julian and talking with what appeared to be other Gangrels. Niklas sighed, Cash wouldn't appreciate being disturbed, he had enough to think about. Julian was still engrossed in conversation with Caitlin. Lillie wasn't there and he didn't know anyone else in the room.
He ordered a bottle of beer and walked around the room two times before he found an empty table by the wall. He sat down and leaned his chair against the wall. Pulling up another one to rest his feet on while he waited for an available Prince or Primogen to chat with. He got a few visitors of both sexes who tried to start up a conversation, but Niklas kept his replies monosyllabic, discouraging and eventually drove off everyone who approached him.
He brought out his mini-Cerebro unit, disguised as a palmtop computer. The hotel where the Tremere warlocks still hadn't attracted any of the glowing dots that signified other Kindred. The five Tremere Kindred within the hotel were the only Kindred in the area. Even though he'd given Cameron the correct address, he hadn't made a single move against them yet.
Niklas swore under his breath, then returned the Cerebro to it's armored shell attached to the left side of his shoulder holster. If the Brujah didn't finish off what he'd started, he'd have to come up with something else. The Warlocks still hadn't decided to leave, they were just concerned about extracting a horrible revenge upon Danielle whom they thought had turned against them.
He looked again, but Cash was busy, Julian was busy and Lillie was still a no show. He sighed, then placed the bottle in the middle of the table along with some spare change he had in his pocket. He grumbled to himself as he sauntered out of the club, but he didn't have much of a choice. If Cameron wouldn't move against the Tremere, he'd either have to make sure that they thought that Cameron was gunning for them or arrange it so that somebody else actually did gun for them... Literally!
He entered the limousine and was just going to tell the driver where to go when there was a knock on the window of the door he'd just closed. He looked over and saw one gorgeous example of female body. He hesitantly lowered the window and reached for the Ruger GP100 revolver he'd reclaimed from the guards at the door, holding his hand on the handle as the girl outside moved away from the car and looked in through the window. /Sasha.../
"Hi!" she greeted him. "Nice car." she added.
"G'day. Well, yeah, I suppose that it's more or less acceptable." he replied. "What do you want?" he demanded.
"A ride." she replied and batted her eyelashes at him.
"Where?" he asked suspiciously.
"Where are you going?" she countered.
"Julian Luna's mansion." he replied after a moment. She blinked, then suddenly turned all serious on him.
"Why?" she demanded suspiciously.
"I'm going to see Deadalus, I've heard that I can find him there." Niklas replied. "But surely Cash can give you a ride if you need one?" Niklas added, then closed the window. "To the Luna mansion." he told the driver, then leaned back in his seat with a smile as Sasha started pounding on his window and roof.
"Do you want me to stop for the young lady?" the driver asked, probably used to clients stopping to chat with and pick up both hookers from the streets.
"No." Niklas replied. "That wouldn't be a good idea." he added with a smirk. "Not a good idea at all..." he chuckled as he looked back at Sasha who stared after the car with burning eyes. "A woman scorned..." he mumbled, then shrugged. He'd be out of town long before her enemity could cause him any problems. She could make up a lie or two and possibly make Cash a little agitated, but this limo was equipped with hidden cameras and microphones, he could present the Gangrel with evidence of his innocence if he should need it.
"Deadalus?" Niklas inquired as he descended the stairs. The Ventrue and Gangrel guards at the mansion hadn't been very forthcoming about what he should expect. They'd directed him down the stairs and relieved him of his weapons, all except the PlaSteelico knife on his back. A weapon that wouldn't be of much use against a Cainite. He stopped at the end of the stairs, slowly allowing his eyes to get used to the darkness. "Deadalus?" he inquired again, looking around the basement for the intimidating Primogen of the Nosferatu.
Niklas used his power and almost instantly pinpointed a supernatural entity just a meter or so away from himself. Deadalus had apparently concealed himself with Obfuscate and waited unnoticed to see what Niklas would do. He briefly considered placing a well-aimed kick into the Nosferatu's midriff, but he ignored that brief impulse in favor of turning to look directly at the spot were Deadalus was standing.
"Hello, Deadalus." Niklas said and smiled benignly at the Obfuscated Kindred in front of him. "Nice to not-see you." he added.
"I assume there's a reason for coming down here to see me?" Deadalus asked as he suddenly became visible to the naked eye.
"Well, I was longing for your charming company..." Niklas started. "It's always nice to exchange pleasantries and all, but yes, I do have another reason for wanting to see you." he continued. "I was wondering if you had been able to find out where the Tremere are hiding out, now when their Chantry-to-be has turned into a pile of useless rubble?" he finished.
"No." he replied.
"Then I'm wondering what you'd be willing to pay for that particular piece of information." Niklas said and smiled. "Because I just happen to have it."
"What did you have in mind? I'm assuming that you've already thought of something that you want from me?" Deadalus inquired.
"Besides the fact that you can't tell Julian where you got this information? No, actually I haven't." Niklas confessed. "I was sort of hoping that you'd be able to suggest something acceptable." he admitted, then smiled. "But let's just say that you owe me one, I'm sure I'll come up with something, sooner or later." Niklas suggested and brought out a note from one of his many pockets. "This is the address, do you want it?" he asked and held it out at Deadalus.
The Nosferatu Primogen stared at the note for almost half a minute, then he slowly reached out and took it.
"Excellent, I'll call you about that favor sometime." Niklas said and looked around the basement, his eyes stopping at a painting of a child. He took a few steps closer, before he even noticed that he'd started moving. He stopped and just looked at it. The painting just reached out at him, pulled all the strings and made him feel just plain miserable. The painting conveyed sorrow, disgust, longing and an incredible sense of emptiness with a dash of loneliness added to the mixture.
"Wow." he mumbled and shook his head. "Incredible." he added with a subdued tone of voice.
"Do you like it?" Deadalus asked curiously.
"I don't think 'like' is the correct word for it. But it sure does bring emotions to the surface, it's almost as if it can reach my soul and yank it all out into the open." Niklas replied, then turned away from it. "That should be in a gallery or a museum." he stated, then moved a few steps away from the painting. He knew that it was just a painting, but it really creeped him out.
"Thank you." Deadalus murmured modestly.
"You painted it? Christ!" Niklas exclaimed. "Was it from your imagination or did you have a model?"
"I had a model." the old Cainite replied.
"Jeezus, poor kid." Niklas said compassionately. "Who did what to him and where do I find the one who did whatever it was?" Niklas asked and clenched his fists.
"He's dead."
"Oh." Niklas exclaimed. "Good!" he added fiercely, then looked at Deadalus. "What are you going to do about that?" he asked and pointed at the paper with the address. Deadalus looked at it, then looked back up at Niklas, fangs extended and a predatory look in his eyes. "Thought so..." Niklas mumbled, then smiled. "Happy hunting." he said and headed up the stairs.
"G'night, Julian." Caitlin said, then kissed him softly for a few seconds before she pulled back and stood up straight.
"Good night, Caitlin." Julian purred, grasped her right hand and placed another soft kiss on her palm. "Sure I can't persuade you to take me in for the night?" he asked as he turned the hand around and kissed each of her knuckles.
"Julian." Caitlin berated him. "My cousin is visiting and staying in my home. You know that."
"Yes, I know." he said, then placed kisses on each of her fingertips before he finally released her hand. "Good night."
"Nightie-night." Caitlin said and walked away, heading for the exit. Almost instantly after she'd left, Cash approached the table.
"'Tom Hawk' is buzzing all over the place." he reported. "He's visited both Cameron and Deadalus, he also spent some time here, apparently waiting for you or possibly me, then he left to see Deadalus. He tried Lillie's office, but she's at that Toreador party tonight."
"He's visiting all the Primogens." Julian said, stating the obvious. "How come your Gangrel have managed to keep track of him tonight?" he asked.
"He's travelling in a limousine tonight." Cash replied. "Before, he's walked and always managed to shake his followers. We don't quite know how, but it appears as if he's able to become both invisible and scentless. Sometimes, he just appears to vanish into thin air."
"I've heard that some Gangrel and Nosferatu Elders have that ability." Julian suggested and Cash reluctantly nodded.
"I can't imagine anyone teaching that ability to someone outside the Clan." Cash muttered. "It's not the sort of thing that it's prudent to pass on to outsiders."
"That would have to mean... What? That he's extremely skilled in Obfuscate? Protean?" Julian asked, fishing for a little more information.
"A little bit of both actually." Cash replied evasively. "He'd have to master both Disciplines and then some." he finished, then clammed up.
"He couldn't have done that, not if the 'Niklas Jonsson' identity is real. Nobody can learn so much in such a short period of time." Julian said. "I have been fretting over a possible investigation by an Archon or Justicar, ever since Archon Raine died. I think that's what we're up against here."
"You may be right." Cash admitted. "If he's skilled at Obfuscate and we've already established that he is, he could take on the looks and mannerisms of someone else. A public figure might be a little risky, but it also served to stop us from looking further. When we discovered that 'Tom Hawk' was a false identity and that his 'real' name was Niklas Jonsson, we never thought to look beyond that."
Julian nodded and clenched his fists.
"By doing that, we allowed an Archon or possibly a Justicar to conduct his or her investigation unhindered." he stated morosely. "Now contact has been taken with the Primogens. I think I can count on Deadalus to speak well of me, but Cameron..." Julian said and shuddered. "He wouldn't hesitate to sell me out."
"Do you want me to get him for you?" Cash asked. The young Gangrel Primogen was always eager to make a move against the hated Brujah, any move at all.
"No." Julian replied. "I can't afford to alienate him now, not while the Tremere is trying to establish themselves and I'm under investigation." he added. "I'm going home, Cash. I need to speak with Deadalus."
"Honey, I'm hooome." Niklas exclaimed as he walked through the door, then he suddenly found himself flung back at the wall by an unknown force. He grunted and swiftly ducked as the broken-off leg from a table came hurling at his chest. The improvised stake splintered against the wall. He threw himself forward and only barely managed to avoid another leg that impaled itself in the wall behind him. Danielle was still lying in bed, but she'd apparently managed to shake off enough of the drugs effects to get the blindfold off. He dodged a chair that suddenly hurled itself at him, then everything suddenly turned calm again.
He glanced at the bed and swore, she was pale as a sheet. Danielle had probably used up all her stored blood in her attempt to kill him. He rummaged through the black bag of pharmaceutical supplies and swiftly prepared another injection, then quickly injected her with it before he drew one of his knifes and slit his wrist, putting it against her mouth.
She drank greedily and he gasped breathlessly as the pain/pleasure of the Kiss overwhelmed him. But he was low on blood himself, so he yanked her away from his wrist and licked the wound close before she was anywhere near drinking as much as she needed. He put the blindfold back on, then blinked as realization struck him. She should have been out of action for far longer then she had, but she had been drinking his blood. Blood that contained a synthetic healing factor. A healing factor that probably worked on eliminating the drugs in her system right now. But the small amount of blood and healing factor she'd gotten wouldn't last very long, but he would have to either increase the dose of the drug he gave her, or give it to her more often.
Either way, he'd have to watch her much more closely then he previously had. But for now, he had to hunt. He needed blood and he needed it now. He wouldn't last more then two or three days as it were, he didn't even have enough blood in his system to use any of his Cainite powers without falling into torpor.
He swiftly checked a list of criminals in San Francisco and headed out to find a couple of them to feed on. He might just as well make sure that he wall fully stocked, just in case.
"Well, if it isn't mister Rude himself." Sasha exclaimed as she noticed the mysterious guy from the limo, leaning against the pool table as he waited for his opponent to break.
"Sasha." he greeted her with a slight inclination of his head, then shook his head as his opponent made a more or less perfect break. "Playing against this guy has already cost me five-hundred dollars, I don't want to have a jealous Cash after my hide on top of that. So, scram." he added, then winced as his skilled opponent swiftly downed several balls in a row, finishing with a flourish. "Make that six-hundred dollars." he grumbled.
"I think I'd like to see them now." his opponent declared. "If you're in trouble with Cash, I don't want you owing me anything and then get yourself killed before you can repay me."
"Fair enough. They dough is in the car, I'll go get it." the mysterious fellow replied and left the table.
"If you don't mind, I think I'll follow you." his opponent declared, then signed for three of his friends to follow.
"Don't you trust me?" the man who seemed to know her exclaimed with wide-eyed disbelief written all over his face.
"Before you get yourself killed, what's your name?" Sasha asked.
"Tom Hawk." he replied as he headed for the exit, Sasha following curiously to see what would happen. The limo was parked a little further down the street, the player with friends was obviously impressed as Tom opened the door and stepped inside without hesitation. "Come on in, have a drink." he offered and the four goons stepped inside. Sasha hesitated for a moment, then she entered as well and closed the door behind her.
Tom opened the bar and reached for a wallet he had lying there, then suddenly exploded into action before he laid his hands on it. Before Sasha had time to react, he'd knocked two guys out, shoved an elbow into the stomach of his pool opponent and kicked the groin of the last moron. While the last two were grunting in pain, he launched two swift punches that knocked them out cold as well. He smiled at her, then reached into the liquor cabinet for his wallet and a bottle of Whiskey.
"Can I offer you a drink?" he asked as he pocketed his wallet and poured himself a glass of Whiskey.
"What?!" she exclaimed, still reeling from his sudden outburst of violence. "Why did you knock these guys out?" she demanded to know.
"I'm hungry and have to feed. Unconscious vessels are easier to handle then conscious ones." he replied. "Do you want one?" he asked and then ignored her as he reached for the pool player, extended his fangs and then started drinking from his neck. He stopped pretty quickly, then tossed him aside and moved on to one of the others. Sasha hesitated, but figured that she might just as well take him up on his offer. Then she wouldn't have to bother hunting herself.
Tom drank from all three of them, but left them alive and with enough blood in their systems to survive. She hesitated for a moment, then followed his example. When he appeared to be finished, he crawled over in the front seat, it appeared as if he'd got rid of his driver. He swiftly drove down to the docks, where they left the four unconscious men in a garbage container. Tom jumped into the driver's seat again, then drove away and reached for a cell phone that he used to call for an ambulance.
"Where to, miss Daisy?" he suddenly drawled and looked back over his shoulder, to where Sasha was sitting and sipping from a glass of red wine.
"The Luna mansion would be nice." she said and smiled pleasantly. He nodded slowly, then expertly drove through the shabbier parts of the city until they got to the classy neighborhood where Julian lived. He drove up to the front entrance, then got out the car and opened the door for her.
"We're here, miss Daisy." he announced, offered her a hand and bowed gracefully as she got out.
"What's with the 'miss Daisy'?" Sasha asked and he looked confused for a moment.
"Haven't you ever seen 'Driving miss Daisy'?" he queried and she shook her head.
"Oh well, shit happens." he stated with a grin, then closed the door as she stepped out. "Fare thee well, fair maiden." he said and sat down behind the wheel again. "See ya." he finished and then closed the door. She was just about to knock on his window and invite him in when he took off, the tires squealing on the pavement as he pushed the pedal to the metal.
Sasha shrugged, the amount of guards on the grounds suggested that Julian was back at the mansion and if Julian was back, that meant that Cash was back as well. No matter how much fun it might have been to find out more about Tom Hawk, spending some time with Cash would be even better. As the man in charge of Julian's safety, Cash was almost as busy as Julian himself, so getting to spend some quality time with him was extremely rare.
She walked up the stairs and the guard at the door opened it for her. She nodded gratefully at him and entered the opulent mansion, then realized that she and her 'driver' had been spotted. Julian, Deadalus and Cash were waiting for her in the hallway.
"Hi." she greeted them. "What's up?" she asked.
"Niklas Jonsson, Tom Hawk or whatever he calls himself now, why did he drive you here?" Cash asked.
"Tom Hawk. I bumped into him at Franks, he lured four guys into his car and started to feed. I joined him, then he drove me here." she replied. "What's it to you?" she asked hesitantly, wondering what she'd done wrong. She could understand if Cash was angry, because she had seen his jealous streak before. But she couldn't figure out why uncle Julian and Deadalus looked so upset.
"He first introduced himself as 'Tom Hawk', but we soon found out that it was a false identity. Then we managed to find another one, namely 'Niklas Jonsson'. But that can't be possible. If that's his real identity, then he can't have been Embraced for more then a year or so. But he's apparently enormously skilled in Disciplines that doesn't come natural for Ventrue. The 'Niklas Jonsson' identity is apparently false as well, but we haven't found out the real one yet." Cash explained.
"We think he's an Archon, sent here by a Justicar to investigate recent events here in the city. He might even possibly be a Justicar himself, but we haven't been able to confirm anything yet." Julian added and Sasha swallowed nervously. She hadn't been Kindred for very long, but she'd been one long enough to hear some of the scary stories about the Justicars and their Archons. "He might not even be a 'he', it's entirely possible that it's a female Archon or Justicar, merely posing as a man."
"Did you tell him anything? Do you remember anything odd? Did he look directly and intently at your eyes?" Deadalus inquired.
"No, I didn't tell him anything. Well, he did call me 'miss Daisy' when he drove me over. No, he didn't look directly at my eyes and no, he didn't Dominate me in any way." Sasha replied irritably, her frenzy-prone Brujah blood shortening her fuse.
"Cameron said that he didn't ask much, that he just came to 'pay a social call'." Julian stated. "Apparently, that's all he did here as well." he added with a slightly suspicious glance at Deadalus.
"He could be skilled enough to alter both mine and Cameron's memories." Deadalus stated. "Our first priority should be finding out who he really is."
"I'll call Cedric." Julian suggested. "He sent him here."
"Or that's what Niklas claims anyway..." Deadalus muttered. "I don't think we should accept anything he's said so far, perhaps not even what he said about... the... Tremere..." he continued, but trailed off in the end. "Excuse me." he said urgently. "I have to check something out, before it's too late." he finished and ran away from the other three, leaving them staring in confusion after their departed friend.
"Bhastarhd." Danielle muttered in her sleep and Niklas sighed, rolling onto his stomach. He once again glanced at the mini-Cerebro unit, not really expecting any changes but becoming pleasantly surprised as he saw another Kindred approaching the Tremere in the hotel. It could be another Warlock who'd just arrived, but he didn't think it was. He had a gut feeling that this was exactly what he'd been waiting for, a scout from either the Brujah or the Nosferatu. When the scout had confirmed their presence, he'd have the war he'd been waiting for. The Tremere would be driven off and he could leave, go back to the academy.
He rolled out of bed and hurriedly got dressed, hesitated as he contemplated what sort of hardware he should bring and eventually decided to go all the way. The shoulder holsters he decided to wear contained Mac-10 SMG's and had several grenades strapped to it for easy access. The holster on his right hip contained an Ingram SMG. The one on his left, a Desert Eagle, drilled for .357 magnum shells.
He shrugged into his trenchcoat and fastened the El Diablo automatic shotgun to the string hanging from his right shoulder, making it easily accessible in a pinch. The string from his left shoulder got the honor of holding up a 9mm MP5 SMG.
He looked over the collection of guns he'd brought and also grabbed a custom-made six-shot revolver, drilled for the extremely powerful Casull shells. He hadn't even bothered to load that with any special sort of ammo, even a Cainite would be forced to take a breather after taking a shot from that.
He put that in one of his many pockets, using a thin Velcro-strap to make sure that it wouldn't fall out. He smiled, the tailor had been sort of weak in the knees after Niklas had placed his order with her. Fifteen trenchcoats of the same model, in the same color and with the same modifications. Modifications that obviously served no other purpose then allowing the wearer to pack enough heat for a small army.
But considering the price Niklas had to pay for them, he guessed that the little woman had been more then reimbursed for any temporary discomfort she might have felt about having to modify all those trenchcoats.
He swiftly activated his mutant powers, combined his own body with the powers of Elisabeth Braddock AKA Psylocke, then stepped into the shadows and out of another shadow on the roof of a building overlooking the small hotel where the Tremere were staying. He quickly released Elisabeth's powers and breathed deeply. He cursed the fates, before a little accident involving alien technology, near death experiences, ancient almost omnipotent spirits and his girlfriend, he'd been able to use the powers from a whole horde of people at once, without getting exhausted.
Now, he could only take on one set of powers without effort and a side effect of that was that he also morphed into the one he borrowed those powers from. He could remain in his own body and still use the powers of someone else, but that now required effort. It was something he found opportunity to curse at least four or five times a week, whenever he came across a situation where the old version of his powers would have come in pretty darn handy.
He pulled out the Cerebro unit, tracking the genetic anomality that was approaching the hotel. It was passing the street below him, so he leaned over the edge and looked down, but couldn't see anything. He controlled the Cerebro unit again and shrugged, whoever it was down there was Obfuscated beyond his ability to detect it.
He briefly considered letting loose with a barrage of bullets, to make the Tremere a little jumpier and more likely to detect the intruder. But he was counting on the fact that they'd preformed their disgusting rituals, some of witch should be capable of detecting any intruders. If he could use rituals like that, he knew that he'd Ward every single place he ever stayed in, just in case.
Apparently, they had. Because the intruder soon came scurrying out from the hotel, without the protection of Obfuscate. It was Deadalus. Niklas smirked, now the Tremere knew who they were up against.
"It was Deadalus!" Roderick hissed, his voice colored by panic. "The Nosferatu know where we are and we don't have ample protection."
"Calm down." Vincent advised him.
"If you had been here when the Nosferatu declared war on us, you wouldn't say 'calm down' to me!" Roderick snapped. "Deadalus and his sewer rats almost destroyed us. We called in reinforcements from three other Chantries!" Roderick ranted. "All good that did was make it possible for two of us to get away from San Francisco and Dorian is *still* in torpor!"
"Calm down." Vincent repeated. "You're forgetting that the Nosferatu also suffered losses, I heard that it took years before they even had a shred of their former power and that they're still a far cry from the might they wielded back then. We have the upper hand now, the Nosferatu haven't participated in any wars since then. We're the experienced ones, we know how to fight."
"So does Deadalus!" Roderick retorted. "And now he knows where to find us..." Roderick whispered, staring nervously around the room. "Once he's got his Clan together, we're doomed."
"Julian. What a... pleasant surprise." Niklas said. "Please, sit down." he added and gestured at the free seats at the table. He took a large bite out of his hamburger and gulped down a few sips from his coke before he continued. "What can I do for you?" he asked and ate a few fries while he waited for a reply.
"You've been meeting with the Primogens, I'd like to know why." Julian said and Niklas nodded.
"Just being polite." he replied casually, then took another bite of his hamburger. "Mostly to maintain common courtesy, but also to discuss some business."
"Fine." Julian dismissed the reply without even seeming to listen to it. "What are you doing to settle the Tremere issue?" Julian then asked, looking intently at Niklas who calmly sipped from his coke under his scrutiny.
"Got their Chantry out of the way, confused the hell out of them when their own leader turned against them..." he replied, then looked at his clock and smiled. "... and they're about to become even more confused." he continued. "They'll be out of town before the night is over." Niklas promised.
Julian looked skeptical, but nodded. Niklas expected him to leave, but it appeared as if he had something else on his mind.
"Are you an Archon or a Justicar?" Julian suddenly asked and Niklas raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question.
"Why on earth would you think that?" he asked and laughed. "The Camarilla Inner Council probably isn't very fond of me in the first place. They wouldn't elect me to the position of Justicar and I doubt that they would approve if I were to be appointed Archon." Niklas replied, then finished the last of his burger and fries. He slurped up the pitiful remains of his coke, then reached for the milkshake.
"Considering certain recent events and the sudden appearance of a low-generation powerful Cainite, I wouldn't exactly call those suspicions unfounded." Julian stated calmly.
"Well, perhaps not." Niklas conceded. "But I can assure you that I have nothing to do with Justicars and Archons. Unless they're investigating me, that is." he said and shrugged. "But I like to think that I would notice or at least suspect something if that was the case."
"Do you mind telling me why they would do that?" Julian asked. Niklas appeared to think about it for a while, then shrugged.
"I guess not. Just existing seems to be enough, the fact that I'm skilled, of a low generation and still breathing doesn't seem to help either." he replied then smiled. "That I seem to have the best of two worlds isn't very popular, especially not among those who miss their breathing days."
"Still breathing?" Julian exclaimed. "How is that possible?"
"Well, I never really died when I was 'Embraced'." Niklas replied, using air-quotes. "Some sort of freak accident, because that has apparently never happened before. Anyway, I'm still breathing, I can eat and I can still drink." Niklas explained. "It might be possible for me to have children, but I haven't tried." he added.
"That's... Impossible." Julian croaked.
"No, it's not. I'm sitting right in front of you, aren't I?" Niklas finished the last of his milkshake, then burped. "S'cuse me." he said sheepishly. "Anyway, that's part of the reason why I don't want the Tremere here any more then you do. Cedric revealed that they have been planning kidnap me in order to experiment with my blood, so I'm not very fond of the Clan Tremere."
"How were you able to persuade their own leader to turn against her Clan, the Tremere are fiercely loyal." Julian asked curiously.
"Sorry, Julian. I do want to keep a few secrets." Niklas replied. "That is on a strict need to know basis and *I* am the only one who needs to know. I do have a question for you, however."
"And that would be?" Julian asked when Niklas didn't say anything else.
"A human for a girlfriend... An editor of a respected newspaper... When you're the Prince of a large city and responsible for maintaining the Masquerade within it... Are you out of your mind?" Niklas asked. "If an Archon or Justicar ever hears of it, you'll be staked out in the sun and left to die!" Niklas hissed.
"So, why don't you tell them?" Julian asked.
"I could." Niklas agreed. "But once they've dealt with you, they probably would start paying more attention to the pesky half-Cainite who turned you in." Niklas added. "Since more attention is one of the things I need the least, I think I'll just keep my oversized mouth shut."
"Time is running short, the Tremere are apparently not satisfied by coming here. They've also declared war against the Brujah." Julian stated. "I don't know how involved you are in that, but I do not wish to see Clan war break out. The Nosferatu are also sure to find out where the Tremere are hiding out, so there might be more then two Clans involved. So you'd *better* make sure that they've left the city by dawn." Julian added and then stood up. "You have this night, then our deal is off." he finished before he left the sleazy diner, his bodyguards taking point, flank and rear positions around him.
He looked at the remains of his 'breakfast', left some tip for the waitress and then left as well. If he was as short on time as that, Danielle had better make another appearance. She was the one best suited for it anyway, she could counter a lot of the surprises that the Tremere was sure to have in store for any intruders.
Niklas stepped out of the shadows, but instead of transforming back into himself, he morphed directly from Elisabeth 'Psylocke' Braddock to Danielle Emway. He briefly considered the fact that the bodies he used the most belonged to women, but shrugged it all off. He could analyze his actions later, now he had a bunch of Warlocks to freak out.
Thanks to Elisabeth's shadow teleporting, he was just a few rooms away from his goal. It shouldn't be too hard to persuade a few measly Cainites that San Francisco was unhealthy for them, not when he could impersonate Cameron, Cash, Deadalus, Danielle or even Julian. If they thought that the entire city was gunning for them, they'd soon run with the tails between their legs.
He walked up to the door and realized that in this body, he didn't have the equipment he needed. He briefly turned back to himself, pulled out a grenade that he placed on the floor, turned back to Danielle and picked it up. Having several different bodies with different sets of equipment was a bother, but also extremely practical. While his version of Danielle wasn't armed, his own body was armed to the teeth. He could walk right through a metal detector as Danielle, morph back into himself and fire away with the arsenal he was carrying around. He wasn't quite sure how it worked, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to know either.
If he spent some more time in Erik's body, he might be able to figure it out. But since that was such an unpleasant experience, he didn't want to do that. The strong minds always retained more of their original thought patterns then the weaker ones. Charles Xavier and Erik Jonsson were the worst of them all, while he was in their bodies, he practically were them.
He pulled the pin out and knocked calmly on the door. He heard voices from within and a brief whispered discussion.
"Who is it?" someone finally called out.
"Reinforcements." he whispered and smirked as someone inside unlocked the door. He yanked it open a little bit and tossed the grenade in through the crack. "A present from Danielle Emway!" he shouted and then slammed the door shut. Using Thaumaturgy to hold it shut, he ran away from it and threw himself to the ground.
+kaboooooooooooom+
He stood up and quickly ran back to the room he'd come from, then he turned into Elisabeth and vanished into the shadows. He didn't go back to the motelroom though, he emerged on the room above the Tremere hideout. He opened a window, then turned into himself and relieved himself of a MP5 SMG. He placed that on the floor, along with some rope with a grappling hook at one end of it. Then he turned into Deadalus.
He fastened the hook, grabbed the MP5 and then lowered himself down until he was in level with the room below. He smirked as he saw Tremere Warlocks battling the flames, but one of them was lying on the floor, seemingly in torpor. He kicked a window in, growled menacingly to attract the attention of the Tremere and when he had it, he unleashed a rain of lead at them and when his clip was out, he let go of the rope. In mid-fall, he turned into Rogue of the X-men and simply flew around a corner and up onto the roof. He briefly considered making an appearance as Cameron, but he heard sirens approaching and people were gawking out through the windows of nearby buildings. He decided that enough was enough, the Tremere would have enough problems trying to get away without being noticed. He sat down and looked at his mini-Cerebro unit, amusing himself by tracking the Tremere on the small monitor.
"Danielle has joined forces with the Nosferatu!" Vincent exclaimed, carrying Salvador de Cruz in his arms. The old Spanish Tremere had fallen into torpor after standing almost exactly over the grenade when it exploded. Vincent still had problems believing that Salvador had made it, but the old monk had always been a lot stronger then he looked, one of the reasons he had been Embraced in the first place.
"That was no ordinary Nosferatu either, it was Deadalus." Roderick hissed, supporting a badly burned Alberto Consignilere, who was too weak to do anything but walk in whatever direction Roderick steered him. "I told you that we weren't ready for something like this, I told you that!" Roderick ranted.
"Yes, you did." Vincent snarled in agreement. "But we don't have time for that now. We have to leave the city."
"But... What about our Ghouls?" Roderick queried.
"Forget them. Deadalus and Danielle made it past them, they probably killed them all. There is no other way they could have gotten past them. They had the building completely covered, everything from roof to cellar windows were being watched. There's no way they could have gotten past our first line of defense." Vincent snapped. "Forget about them and start thinking about cars. We need transportation if we are to get out of the city."
"Perhaps I can be of assistance?" someone asked and the three Tremere stopped. Alberto had been blinded, but Vincent and Roderick focused suspicious glares at the lone man who'd stepped out of the shadows and spoken to them. He tossed a pair of keys from hand to hand. "I have a car. A limousine with black windows, black curtains and three suitable vessels, waiting to be emptied." the stranger added.
"How much?" Vincent asked and studied the man closer, he was visibly armed and didn't even bother hiding it.
"Oh, I don't want money." he said and made a dismissive gesture. "I just want all four of you to remember me, because I might someday ask for something in return."
"Who are you?" Roderick asked nervously and the stranger smiled.
"Tom Hawk of the Ventrue." he calmly replied. "Do you want the car?" he asked and held the keys out with a smug smile on his lips.
"We'll take it." Vincent replied and grabbed the keys. "Where is it?"
"Just around the corner." Tom replied. "Have fun and remember, no speeding." he added as the four Warlocks kept on moving, ignoring him.
"Oh, this is marvelous." Niklas gloated as he heard the limo start and drive away. Not only were the Tremere out of the game, but he'd also managed to swindle possible future favors out of them in the process. All in all, a profitable affair, even if he might never see the four Warlocks again. The important things were that Cedric would protect Ally. That the HawkTech building was off limits to the Kindred of San Francisco. That he had the right of Creation, a right that he was pretty sure he'd never use. Perhaps he'd be able to convince Julian to let him trade it for something else, but the chances of that ever happening were *extremely* slim.
But, everything besides Cedric's promise to keep Ally safe were just icing on the cake. That promise was what made it all worthwhile. Niklas stepped back into the shadows, morphed to Elisabeth and shadowported back to his room. Something struck him in the forehead in the same instant he returned and he stumbled back as he automatically shapeshifted back to himself. Something sharp struck him in the stomach and he gasped as Danielle suddenly leapt at him. Before he could raise his arms to defend himself, her fangs darted into his neck and she started to suck the blood out of him.
He gurgled a weak protest, but was unable to muster enough willpower to beat her off. He felt himself growing weaker and knew that he had to do something, but he felt *sooooo* good. He'd let her suck for just a while longer... /Just a little while... Oh, what the heck, let her suck for a few moments more... Just a little while longer.../ he thought as he became more and more drowsy. /No. Haffta... Haffta stop her. Gotta, gotta shake her offa me./ he thought, suddenly changing his mind.
He reached up with his right hand and grabbed the back of her neck, then he yanked with all his strength. He yelped in pain as her fangs pulled away a sizeable part of his flesh, the power of his arm still hadn't lessened. She flew through the room and slammed into the wall on the other side, Niklas swiftly shook off the unnatural drowsiness he'd felt while she fed and he burned some of his blood in order to heal himself. He felt the wound in his neck close itself, loose flesh reattaching itself and missing parts being swiftly replaced.
His hands suddenly held MAC-10 submachineguns pointed at her, but he didn't shoot her full of lead. He just kept them pointed at her. She didn't seem very interested in charging him and he really didn't want to kill her either.
"I'm done. You can go." he said and staggered over to the bed where he sat down heavily. "Your Clan believes that you're a traitor, so I'd stay out of their way for the next couple of centuries or so. I'll still take you anywhere you want, just name the place and I'll have you there within a few minutes." he promised, then leaned back against the pillows propped up against the headboard on 'his' side of the bed.
"I'm bound..." she muttered and stared at him in shock. "I'm held in Thrall, by you." she whispered with a strained voice.
"No, that can't be..." Niklas began to protest, but trailed off. "First when you, then again when and now when you..." he babbled, then groaned as he realized the truth behind her statement. He'd been too shocked and dazed to notice it, but she was correct. The three times she had fed on his blood had pushed her over the line and into a Blood oath. "Gods!" he cursed. "As if I didn't have enough problems..." he muttered.
She just stared at him and he thought that she seemed even paler then she had before. She clenched and unclenched her fists, looked at the mess they had made out of the room and then back at him. She appeared to think about attacking him, but apparently decided not to, hindered by the Blood Oath and not willing to go through the effort it would require to try to harm him. She headed for the one chair she hadn't managed to destroy and sat down, staring quietly at him.
"Well..." Niklas said and stopped, not quite knowing how he would continue.
"Well..." she mimicked and chuckled a humorless chuckle.
"This wasn't exactly how I had planned this. I was just going to drop you off somewhere, perhaps in Australia or something." Niklas said. "Establishing a Blood oath was not of my schedule for today, I'm more or less certain about that."
"I can assure you that entering one wasn't part of my plans either." Danielle replied icily. "You bastard." she added venomously and shook her head.
"Me?!" he exclaimed. "You're the one who attacked me, just when I was about to release you!" he protested.
"How was I supposed to know that?" she asked, then stood up and started pacing around in the room. "Blood bound..." she muttered and shook her head.
"Do me a favor, will you? Stop pacing like that, calm down." he said and sighed, the sight of her pacing the room was making him restless. She immediately complied, sitting down on the foot of the bed, then laughed hollowly.
"Dear lord, I'm already following your orders!" she exclaimed, then curled up on the bed in a fetal position. "I might just as well go to the beach and get a tan, my life is over." she whimpered.
"The Tremere have left the city." Niklas reported. "I doubt that they'll return anytime soon." he added.
"Yes. I figured as much from watching the news." Julian commented and gestured at the TV, where pictures of the burning motel were displayed as hysterical reporters screamed about explosions, the gunfire and what was believed to be a conflict between various members of organized crime.
"Those pesky mobsters, I wonder why they can't seem to play nice with each other..." Niklas mused, then an amused smile suddenly appeared on his lips.
"I suppose you had nothing at all to do with this?" Julian asked.
"Who, me?" Niklas asked innocently. "Of course not." he chuckled. "I hear that the Nosferatu and the rogue Tremere lady joined forces and mounted a joint attack. I think the watchers Cash placed around the place even managed to take a few pictures, although I haven't been able to confirm that just yet."
"They did." Julian replied. "Apparently, Deadalus has learned how to be in two places at once and gained the ability to fly."
"Wow, I'm impressed." Niklas exclaimed. "Does he give lessons?"
"No." Julian replied. "I don't suppose you know anything about that either?"
"Not very much. Although I suppose that a Tremere Gargoyle could use Obfuscate to disguise himself to Deadalus, then fly away." Niklas replied.
"Why do I get the feeling that you have prepared yourself for this line of questioning?" Julian asked helplessly.
"'Always be prepared.', Julian." Niklas answered. "That was just about the only thing I learned from my time as a boyscout. Always be prepared..."
"Officially, there's nothing I can do. There's no proof that you even have been near the Tremere." Julian started to explain. "But if I ever find out otherwise, I won't go easy on you. I never authorized the destruction of other Kindred and I certainly never approved of outright warfare in my city."
"I still don't understand why you think I had something to do with all this." Niklas said innocently.
"Drop the act. Tom, Niklas, whatever your name is... You could just as easily use the power of Obfuscate to assume the identity of someone else. I know that you're involved here, I just don't know how much of the carnage is your doing. The fact that both Brujah and Nosferatu have reasons to execute this attack clouds the issue, they could masquerade as someone else just as easily as you could." Julian stated, then glared at Niklas who sat calmly in his seat, sipping on a glass of red wine.
"Julian, I assure you that even if you went through the place with forensic experts, having them check every single molecule in there, they wouldn't find anything at all that comes from me." Niklas stated calmly. "Obfuscate can only change the appearance, not the DNA. Have the police sweep the place if you want, there won't be a single speck of my DNA anywhere nearby."
"If it didn't look as if the hotel would burn to the ground, I might consider it." Julian replied. "You're still not off the hook from the Archon suspicions, by the way." he added. "I now know where the Justicars are, so you're not one of them. But there's no way to keep track of all the Archons around."
"Julian... If I *were* an Archon, do you really think that you would still be Prince of this city?" Niklas asked and waited for a reply.
"No." Julian admitted after a while. "Not if you were a loyal Archon." he amended and Niklas shrugged.
"Well, I wouldn't concern myself overly much with that, because I'm leaving." Niklas said and drained the last of the wine. "I'm going back east where I have other obligations to deal with."
"Really?" Julian asked, seemingly a little surprised by Niklas statement.
"Yes. I have Childes to watch over, people to meet and obligations to fulfill. My trip here was just to repay a debt I owe Cedric, if it hadn't been for that, I never would have come." Niklas replied. "What happens in the Kindred society of the west is of no more then passing interest for me. As long as the east isn't affected, I really couldn't care less." Niklas admitted. "Although I do confess that I'm no big fan of the Tremere, not after I found out that they want to perform all sorts of weird experiments on me and my blood."
"Speaking of favors and repayments. The HawkTech building and the block around it is now your domain. I suppose I'd better take a look at the one you wish you Embrace as well." Julian stated.
"Well, I haven't set my eyes on anyone yet." Niklas admitted with a shrug. "But if I do, I'll let you know."
"I won't wait indefenetively." Julian advised him. "You have until the end of this millennium, if you haven't found someone by then, I'll revoke your right of Creation."
"I'll keep that in mind." Niklas casually replied, not letting on that he never had any intention at all of creating a new vampire.
"So, when are you leaving." Julian asked.
"Sunrise." Niklas replied with a slight smile. "Anxious to get rid of me, are you?" he asked and then smiled even wider. "Well, I don't blame you." he added. "I'll have a few more drinks while I wait for the sun to come up, then it's time to head east."
"Why sunrise?" Julian asked, seemingly stunned by the reply.
"So that no Kindred will try to follow me. There might be Ghouls or humans following me, but any Kindred eager to track me down will be too busy worrying about the sunlight to follow me." Niklas replied.
"Won't you too have to worry about the sunlight?" Julian asked.
"No, because I'll be resting up in the back seat of a limousine." Niklas answered with a pleased grin. "It's the only way to travel." he added with a pinious expression on his face.
"Well, you've been useful to have around, but I can't say that I'll be sorry to see you leave." Julian admitted after a while. "Now, if you'll excuse me. The night is young and I have to feed." he said and stood up. The bodyguards surrounding them stood at attention and spread out, preparing to protect the Prince on his way to the door.
"Good night." Niklas replied and gestured to the bartender with his empty glass. A waitress quickly scurried over and carried it away, along with a request for a bottle of Tequila. He had some time to kill, he might just as well keep his hands and mouth busy while he did so. He briefly considered joining Danielle, but he didn't want to face her yet, not while he was still sober.
"Blood Oath..." he grumbled to himself, then shook his head. That certainly hadn't been a part of his plans for this trip. Danielle now saw him as the central figure of her life, the man around which the world revolved. Since he was a pretty compassionate individual, the Blood oath also affected him somewhat. It wasn't anything nearly as strong as the emotional bond he could create with his eyes, but it was enough to make him like her and desire to protect her.
He was grateful for the fact that he hadn't used his own body when he had attempted to charm her. Erik had more or less the same power as Niklas had, but his were weaker. The effects of his eyes were not as strong and it didn't last as long. If he'd used his own body, he'd have to deal with both the emotional bond and the Blood bond. He had enough problems resisting temptation as it was, he had *no* desire to add to them.
If he were to have a chance at ever dating Jubilee again, he couldn't sleep around with every girl he happened to bump into, Embrace or Blood bond. He feared that she had enough problems to mull over, even if he didn't sleep around. The waitress arrived with his wine and the tequila. /Down boy, down!/ he thought desperately as he studied her curves when she walked away. He downed his wine in one large gulp, then turned to the tequila for rescue. He hadn't gotten any since the other dimension and it was making him jumpy. He supposed he should deal with it, but he would have to make at least one more attempt to ask Jubilee out first. If that failed, he could start looking for entertainment elsewhere in order to keep himself occupied until she relented.
/If she relents.../ he thought morosely. He stared at the tiny glass the waitress had supplied him with, put it aside and poured the clear drink into his empty wineglass. He finished half of the bottle in a rapid, break-neck pace, then leaned back in his chair. That was a thought he didn't want to consider, it was entirely possible that she'd only fallen in love with him because of his mutated eyes. If that was the case, it was entirely possible that she didn't want anything at all to do with him now. He cleared his mind of those thoughts, if he gave in to that line of thinking, he would soon need to order another couple of bottles. A bottle was one thing, he could explain that away if someone asked. But if he downed two or three, people would be harder to convince.
Others approached him as he waited for sunrise, but sent them packing. He wasn't in the mood for company and certainly not in the mood for any additional temptations. The mere knowledge that Danielle was waiting in the limousine outside and that the Blood oath gave him a certain power over her was bad enough.
"Hello, Danielle." Niklas grunted as he hopped into the limousine. "Had a pleasant night?"
"Oh, yeah. Marvelous." she grunted and gestured at the television screen. "Night-time TV, there's nothing quite like it."
"Well, I'm guessing that it's preferable to being captured by Julians Gangrel enforcers or spotted by any remaining Tremere Ghouls." Niklas commented with a shrug. "Almost anything is." he added.
"Well, it was you who put me in this situation." Danielle accused him. "What made you come up with the wretched idea that assuming my identity was the best way to drive us out of the city?" she inquired.
"Chwan't, sorry. *Can't* recall exactly what gave me that idea. But I think it had something to do with the fact that nobody would ever suspect me of any foul play if they saw someone else doing the nasty stuff." Niklas said and shook his head. "My recollection is a little fuzzy right now." he mumbled and looked out through the windows, looking at a world that slowly become brighter and brighter as the sun began to rise. "Head for Salem center." he said and the computer controlling the car now quickly processed the order, found the site he was asking for on a map of the world, used GPS to determine it's own location and then started. The computer found the best route, used the Internet to find out about any possible obstacles or problems along the way and then headed east. Swiftly leaving the city of San Francisco. He had planned to just teleport back, but that wasn't advisable now when he had company who probably would ask more about the teleportation.
She might be under a Blood oath, but she could still turn against him. Everything required was a little strength of will, something an Elder Tremere probably didn't have any major problems summoning up. He was tired as hell, but couldn't bring himself to sleep, not when he was alone in the car with her. Once she fell asleep, he'd allow himself to doze off for a while. But until then, he had to remain awake and try not to let on just how drunk he really was.
He could try to use his eyes to charm her, with an emotional bond on top of her Blood oath, she'd have an even harder time attacking him. But he was too depressed for it to work, all good that would do him was to put her into an even deeper depression then she already was. Then there was the problem about just what he should do with her. She had resources of her own, but chances were that Clan Tremere knew about them and would try to track her down if she tried to access them.
He couldn't leave her in San Francisco either, that would be just as bad as turning her over to the Tremere. Julian would interrogate her and soon find out the truth about the recent events in the city.
He couldn't bring her to the mansion, the X-men might agree to take her in. But he didn't want her to know that he was a mutant and he definitively didn't trust her with the address and identities to the other X-men.
He sighed, he would almost have to put her up in an apartment at The Elysium in Boston. With his protection, she might actually stand a chance of surviving for a while, even if the Tremere were established in Boston. With a new identity, perhaps a slightly modified appearance on top of that, she might actually be able to start all over again. But he didn't like the fact that having her in Boston, while allowing him to keep an eye on her, also put Ally within her reach. The *much* older and more experienced Tremere sorceress could have Ally enslaved within a week if she set her mind on it.
But he couldn't just drop her off anywhere to fend for herself, not now, not when he'd bonded her. The two-way relationship created by the Blood Oath made him feel somewhat responsible for her, so just
leaving her somewhere wasn't an option for him any longer. He did have a few favors to call in from the Kindred of Boston, so if he kept her there, he'd at least be able to provide her with a certain amount of protection. But first he needed to deal with the way she looked
"What are your thoughts on plastic surgery?" he asked and smiled at the horrified look on her face that one simple sentence produced.
Niklas forced his eyes away from Danielle and tried to concentrate on his laptop. Danielle had fallen asleep several hours ago. He'd managed to doze off for a couple of hours, but then woken up and been unable to fall asleep again. So he'd pulled out a laptop and started getting some work done, he didn't really need to use the laptop since he did have a computer connected directly to his brain. But he'd gotten into the habit of using more conventional means while he was around others, even if Danielle wouldn't have a clue about what he was doing if she woke up and just saw him stare at nothing. She'd probably think that he was just lost in thought or something, but he'd whipped out the laptop anyway.
One of the backsides of his lifestyle was that he was constantly straining to catch up on his work, he had tons of e-mails to answer, reports to read and questions to answer. He browsed through reports about the fashion industry in Europe, the yearly budget for the Japanimation studios in Asia and hundreds of descriptions of newly discovered viruses.
+bing+
The annoying sound indicated that a high-priority e-mail had arrived made him sigh, those always meant trouble of one sort or another. He'd never gotten a high-priority message that meant good news. It opened automatically and quickly covered the entire screen. Niklas quickly read through it and groaned, his employees had found out that he was in San Francisco and used couriers to get a bunch of papers there that he needed to put his signature on.
"Dammit!" he cursed and sighed again. He looked at the sleeping Danielle and the clock, it was in the middle of the day. The chances that she would wake up were almost less then zero. She wouldn't know if he teleported away from the car and returned to San Francisco for a few hours. He put the laptop aside, locked it and vanished into the shadows in the car, just to reappear in the closet of his office in San Francisco. He stepped outside and into the opulent office, glancing around it. It looked just as when he'd left it.
This was one of his least used offices, before he found out that he was a mutant and turned into a vampire on top of that, he'd spent most of his time in Europe. His four offices in America were only visited about once or twice a year, max. The one in New York was an exception, he usually went there about five times a year. But the ones in Denver, San Francisco and St. Louis were three places only rarely visited. He sat down at his desk and pondered his surroundings for a moment, looking at the office and the marvelous view of the city he had. He sighed and turned on the computer in front of him and started a lot of programs, making it seem as if he'd been there for a while. Then he looked at the intercom and tried to recall the name of his assistant here in San Francisco.
"Carl, do you have those papers I needed to sign?" he asked and waited for a reply.
+Mister Jonsson? Is that you?+ Carl asked after a few moments, clearly surprised at the presence of his boss.
"Sure am." Niklas replied. "I've working for a while, but I guess I can't hold off the autograph session for much longer." he said and chuckled pleasantly, putting his assistant at ease.
+I'll have them sent up from the mailroom.+ Carl promised. +There's also been a few changes in staff since you were here last, do you want me to bring them by to meet you?+ Carl asked.
"Perhaps later, Carl. I'd like to get the rest out of the way first, so I can take a breather without having a guilty conscience for doing so." Niklas replied and chuckled again. "Did you get the latest instructions from Kylie?" Niklas asked, referring to the woman who ran his companies while he was busy.
+Yes. I did.+ Carl replied neutrally.
"Good, I want your thoughts on that after lunch. I think I might have to ease her workload a little, some of those suggestions of hers probably won't go over too well here in the west." Niklas said and reminded himself to get Kylie something nice for her birthday this year. She had done a marvelous job in keeping the company afloat while he had been busy with other things. But the strain was clearly getting to her, because sometimes lately she almost seemed to loose her edge and nose for business.
+I was thinking just about the same thing myself.+ Carl replied, obviously relieved that he wouldn't have to be the one to bring up some of the blunders Kylie had made. +Will you be able to meet with the software designers today?+ Carl asked and Niklas sighed, this was one of the main reasons why he tried to stay away from his offices as much as possible. If he was easy accessible, people always wanted to drag him into long and tedious meetings. So he did most of his work from home or on the road, going from place to place without having a real reason for going.
"Don't schedule anything, Carl." Niklas told his assistant. "I might go down a few floors and have a chat with them at the afternoon break for coffee, but I make no promises. It all depends on how much there is for me to sign."
+It arrived in a large box, chief.+ Carl informed him and Niklas groaned, knowing that he'd be busy for most of the day, reading and signing papers.
"If someone is going out for takeout, sign me up." Niklas said, his voice heavy with resignation. This were going to take longer then he thought it would."
Niklas swore under his breath as he stepped out of the cab and walked the rest of the way. It appeared as if a traffic accident of some sort was blocking the way, so he swiftly decided to walk the rest of the way to The Haven. He glanced at the clock, it was just half past four in the afternoon. Danielle probably hadn't woken up yet, but he had spent a lot more time at the office then he thought he would. Now he needed a stiff drink to get back to normal. He'd worked through all breaks, signed papers until his right hand had gone numb and spent an hour talking with Carl about how he should run things here on the west coast.
All in all, he'd much rather fight it out against a fierce opponent screaming for Niklas own destruction then spend a day at any of his offices. The thought that if he did spend more time at his offices would lessen the intensity of his rare visits had occurred to him, but he had no desire to test that theory in reality. When someone controlled as much as he did, there really was no 'manageable' workload, no matter how often or rarely he saw the inside of his offices. If he came in more often, his employees would just be more likely to come to him with their problems instead of solving them on their own. So even if he did come in more often, it wouldn't make things easier because then he'd just get more work to disrupt his peace of mind with.
It appeared as if five cars had slammed into one another, but authorities had already arrived, so Niklas just walked past the carnage without really caring about it. He saw Caitlin on the other side of the street, walking side by side with someone who was wearing a presscard clipped to his jacket. Probably one of her reporters who had covered the accident. He ignored them both, first he needed that drink and then he'd have to return to the limousine before Danielle noticed his absence. The car was computer-controlled, so fortunately there wasn't a driver around who would notice his absence.
He was deep in thought, but still kept up his paranoid habit of scanning his surroundings. He saw Erin Mueller and Billy Crenshaw, but it took a few moments for his brain to catch up with what his eyes saw. He saw them in the car driving down the street, two others that he didn't recognize sitting in the back seat. He saw them, but was too late to prevent them from doing what came next.
Erin, who drove the gray Taurus, pressed down the breaks and shoved a revolver out through her window. Her three passengers followed quickly followed her lead. Niklas threw himself forward and reached for his own pistols, but it was too late.
A hailstorm of hot lead whizzed through the air, entering the target and the wall behind it. Niklas screamed in outrage, anguish and frustration as Caitlin was thrown back, struck by a multitude of bullets. Her reporter tried to throw himself out of the way, but several bullets struck him as he jumped out into the street where a passing ambulance fronted him, instantly ending his life.
+bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+ +bang+
Niklas emptied his two Ruger P85's, turning the four Tremere Ghouls into bloody pulps. Billy had apparently noticed Niklas, so he managed to squeeze off a few rounds with his UZI, but Niklas hardly even noticed the bullets that managed to hit their intended goal. He got up onto his feet and got rid of the empty clips, reloading his pistols as he crossed the street. The policemen who had been standing around at the scene of the accident were on the move, heading in his direction. He holstered one of his pistols, but opened fire with the remaining one. The policemen scrambled for cover as bullets headed in their direction and Niklas reached Caitlin's body. He holstered the remaining pistol, bent down and pulled Caitlin's body into his arms.
He gurgled as a bullet entered his back and exited through his left shoulder, the policemen were responding to his attempt to get them to stay away. He ran, used blood to become faster and some more to heal his injuries. More bullets struck him and he almost dropped his valuable load as one of them struck him in the left leg, causing him to stumble. He turned a corner and stopped at the first door he saw. He aimed a vicious kick at it and rushed into the apartment building where he found what he was searching for almost instantly. Large, nice shadows. He combined his body with Elisabeth's powers and rushed into the shadow, emerging out of another one inside Julian Luna's mansion, in the conclave room.
"*Julian*!" he roared, desperately hoping to be able to wake up the old vampire in time. No more then a minute had passed since Caitlin was shot to death, but she didn't have much more time. Niklas kicked the door down and desperately looked for assistance, but found none. "*Julian*!" he yelled again and headed for the stairs, figuring out that the Prince probably slept on the upper floor. He kicked down the first door and looked inside, but it appeared to be some sort of library. He continued to his left, picking a direction at random. "*Julian*!" he screamed and kicked down another door, looking into a room where he saw Sasha and Cash sleeping in a bed. She was stirring, but didn't open her eyes. Cash opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but he fell back against the pillows and dozed off again.
Niklas cursed the situation at hand. He sometimes forgot how much an advantage he held over full-blown vampires, it took quite a lot to wake a sleeping Cainite when the sun was still up. He kept on moving, kicking down another door just to find an empty servant's quarters.
"*Julian*!" he screamed again, desperately hoping that the old buzzard would be alert enough to get out of bed before it was too darn late. A servant came running, a gun in his hands that he directed at Niklas. "*Where is Julian Luna*?!" Niklas screamed at him, enhancing his question by using the powers of Domination he had at his disposal. The Ghoul used the hand that held the gun to point back the way Niklas had come from and he instantly headed in that direction. As he passed the Ghoul, he launched a roundhouse that knocked him out cold before the daft bugger would recover enough to shoot Niklas in the back.
"Julian!" Niklas tried again and kicked down all the doors he passed on his way, desperately searching for the Prince. "Figures..." he muttered as he kicked down the last one and found Julians opulent bedroom. "*Julian*!" he screamed and Julian sat up in bed for a moment, but fell back down as sleep reclaimed him. "We don't have time for this!" Niklas complained and rushed up to the Prince, kicking him in the stomach. "*Julian*!" he roared again and tossed Caitlin's limp body onto the bed beside Julian, then reached down and slapped the Prince as hard as he could. "*Wake* the *fuck* up!" Niklas screamed.
"What the hell are youghhhh..." Cash demanded to know from the doorway, but he crumbled and fell asleep on the floor before he got any further then that. Niklas cursed all higher and lower powers, Julian appeared dead to the world and there wasn't anyone else around. He leaped across the bed, landing on the other side of it were Caitlin's corpse was lying spawled across the bed.
"I didn't want to make this decision on my own..." Niklas complained and then used his own now extended fangs to slit his left wrist open. He forced Caitlin's mouth open and put his wrist against it, cursing the fates that once again made him inflict the curse of Caine upon another. She remained motionless for several seconds, but then the potent blood that he fed her started to take hold on her body. The mystical properties of the Kindred blood reanimated her, slowly bringing her back from the dead. She moaned around his wrist and started to suck blood out of his system.
He turned into Jean while she fed and swiftly entered her mind with the telepathic powers he now possessed, forcing Caitlin to spend the blood she now had in her system in a manner that he decreed. Her horrible wounds started to heal, bullets still lodged within her body popped out and wounds started to close. He felt himself grow listless, Jean had nowhere near his supply of blood and she was more human then he could ever hope to ever become again. He morphed into Elisabeth, now using her telepathic powers to continue to mend Caitlin's wrecked body as Caitlin continued to feed.
Fortunately, he didn't have to change again, because it appeared as if Caitlin had drunk her fill from him and the two women he'd morphed into. He turned back into himself and tore off her clothes, making sure that everything was healed. He didn't want to leave her with any wounds, wounds that she'd have to deal with every night of her new unlife. He glanced over her entire body, then turned her around and checked that side of her as well. But it appeared as if he'd taken care of everything. He tossed the clothes aside and put her underneath the covers with Julian, then walked over to sit down in a throne-like chair Julian had against the wall. There were Ghouls standing in the doorway, armed Ghouls, but he ignored them. They had apparently seen what was going on and decided not to stay out of it, now they looked curiously at him.
"Get out." Niklas told them tiredly and stared at the door lying on the floor. "Call a carpenter or something, see what you can do about fixing the broken doors." he said and closed his eyes as he thought back on his recent actions.
"We can't allow you to stay here alone with the Prince, he'd have our heads." one of the Ghouls said and Niklas shrugged.
"I'm not leaving her here, I have to watch over her." Niklas said without opening his eyes. "Dear Gods..." he mumbled and buried his head in his hands. "I've done it again..." he said and tears started to trickle down his cheeks. "I've done it again." he repeated and started to cry in earnest, sobbing out loud as grief and guilt overwhelmed him.
"Hmmmm... Caitlin?! What are you doing here?" Julian suddenly asked and Niklas opened his eyes, looking over at the bed where Julian had just woken up.
"She's recovering from her Embrace." Niklas said with a dead voice. "She was shot and I brought her here for you to decide if you were going to Embrace her or let her rest in peace. You didn't wake up, so I finally decided to Embrace her." Niklas explained as Julian sat upright and stared at him in shock.
"How did you get in here?!" Julian demanded to know, his voice somewhat on the shrill side.
"I teleported inside and started kicking down doors until I found you. When the Ghouls saw what I was here to do, they apparently decided to let me live and allow you to pass sentence." Niklas replied.
Julian just shook his head and looked at Caitlin, then suspiciously back at Niklas. He put his hand against her chest and frowned suspiciously.
"She's still breathing." he said and glanced at her, studying her a little closer. "Her coloring is still human."
"All my Childer are like that." Niklas replied. "Trust me, she's Embraced." he added and nodded at the blood on the covers. "The blood in your bed is all hers."
"Who killed her?" Julian asked, his eyes glowing and a feral look starting to take over his face.
"Tremere Ghouls." Niklas replied. "They apparently thought you had something to do with the destruction of the Chantry and decided to get revenge by killing your girlfriend. They didn't outlive Caitlin." Niklas added and only just managed to restrain himself from spitting on the carpet as a way to convey his contempt for them.
Julian fell silent as he contemplated Caitlin, ignoring Niklas presence in the room. That was just peachy with Niklas, he'd calmed down somewhat, but he still didn't feel ready to be around others. He sighed and looked at his clock, confirming what the computer in his head had already informed him of. Time had passed, a lot of it. Danielle was probably awake by now, wondering where he'd gone off to and where the car was taking her. She wouldn't be able to control it, she wouldn't even be able to open a window. He looked at Caitlin and was instantly torn over what he should do next.
Since he'd Embraced Caitlin, she was his responsibility now. He would have to teach her about her unlife and what it was like being one of the Kindred. But he couldn't leave Danielle on her own either, not after what he'd done to her. He sighed and looked at Julian who was still watching Caitlin in silence. There was a chance that it would cost him more then he could afford, but perhaps there was a way to make temporary arrangements that would enable him to get Danielle settled in Boston.
"Julian..." Niklas began, not quite certain of how he should proceed. "I have to go, I have important obligations back east that cannot be postponed." he started and looked at Caitlin who was still asleep, probably exhausted from her ordeal.
"You're taking her with you." Julian suddenly said with a sad sigh.
"I hadn't thought of that." Niklas admitted. "It would make things easier for me, but I don't think Caitlin would appreciate it very much. Especially not since her cousin is staying with her at the moment." Niklas continued.
"How did you know that?" Julian asked, trying to keep the suspicious tone out of his voice.
"She told me." Niklas replied. "I'm surprised that Gareth didn't tell you about that." he added and looked at his sleeping Childe with a sad look on his face. "I have to go, but I can't take her with me." he said and looked back up at Julian who seemed to understand what it was Niklas was asking of him.
"I will care for her." he said and Niklas nodded, overwhelmed with gratitude.
"Thank you." he whispered and walked over to the bed where he looked closer at the sleeping beauty lying beside the Prince of San Francisco. "Are you going to tell her that you're the Sire?" he asked neutrally.
"No." Julian replied after a moment. "I won't lie to her, not any longer. Now that she's one of us, she deserves to hear nothing but the truth from my lips. I tried to keep her out of my world, but I guess it was a futile attempt to begin with."
"That it was... That it was..." Niklas agreed and shook his head. "We're corrupters, Julian." he said and closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself. "We corrupt everything we come into contact with. We stain their purity and rob them of their innocence."
"That we do... That we do..." Julian agreed and looked at Niklas with a newfound respect in his eyes. He held out his hand against him. "I will care for her until you return." Niklas looked at the offered hand for a moment and then grasped it.
"Thank you, Julian. Thank you." he said sincerely and then looked at his clock. "I have to go. You have my number. If Caitlin asks, give her that. I will be back, but it'll probably take about a week." Niklas told Julian.
"We will be waiting for you." Julian replied.
"Oh, send me the bill for the doors." Niklas added and grinned for a split second when he almost managed to forget what he was doing here. "Goodbye." he finished and then merged with the shadows in the dark room, leaving Julian to explain everything to Caitlin when she woke up.
"Well, what do you think?" Niklas asked after Danielle had checked out the apartment from top to bottom, taking her inspection from room to room.
"That I'd really like to know how you pulled off that stunt with the shadows." Danielle replied, referring to his sudden appearance in the car and their joint departure from it. She had been awake when he emerged from the shadows and almost scared her half to death. Since she already knew that he could do it, he'd taken them both directly to Boston instead of crawling across the country in that snail of a car.
"I'm sure you do." Niklas replied, but didn't elaborate or explain anything. "It's only temporary, of course. You're free to find a place on your own as soon as you're settled here in town." Niklas continued. "I'll get your new identity and everything else in two days. If you need anything, anything at all, just tell one of the Ventrue you met downstairs." he finished.
"You seem to vield a certain amount of power here." Danielle commented. "Are you the Primogen?" she asked curiously.
"No, not any longer." Niklas replied. "But I was Primogen during the recent problems here in town. I resigned after the war was over, but they still remember that I'm the only reason there still is a Ventrue presence in Boston."
"What about the Tremere?" Danielle asked and swallowed nervously.
"Oh, they also remember that I'm the only reason there is a Ventrue presence here." Niklas replied and smiled faintly. "Maya Gonzales is the new Primogen, she was the most powerful of the ones who survived the war." Niklas added and shook his head. "She's eight generation and quite skilled, but due to the losses lately, she doesn't have a single Ancillae or Elder among her followers. There's just her and a bunch of Neonates with less then ten years of unlife behind them." he continued. "That's one of the main reasons why I think you'll be welcomed, they're in desperate need of reinforcements. We just have to make certain that nobody will be able to recognize you." he finished.
"Why are you doing this?" Danielle suddenly asked and Niklas smiled sheepishly.
"Aw, I've always been a sucker for a pretty face." he joked. "But the Blood Oath is the main reason, I'm a big softie at heart, so it affects me too." he admitted. "At first, I just thought I could drop you off in Australia or something, but that wasn't possible after you drank my blood for the third time."
"Hm." appeared to be all she had to say to that. "So, who am I going to be?" she asked. "Do I get to pick the name?"
"Pick away." Niklas replied.
"Monique Montague." she said instantly and Niklas shrugged.
"Sure thing, works for me and it saves me the effort of coming up with something on my own." he said and smiled faintly. "Well, miss Montague. I'm afraid that you're going to have to manage on your own for a while, I have a life to get back to." Niklas said with sigh. "The bartenders are Ghouled and there's an ample supply of vitae available under the counter. I'll be back in two days with your new identification, your passport and the new credit cards. If there's anything else you need, you have my number." Niklas said and handed her a note where he'd written down his personal number where she would be able to reach him at all times.
"Thank you." she said and Niklas sighed, feeling the guilt overwhelm him again. If it weren't for him, there wouldn't be a need for her to thank him. He smiled sadly and placed a soft kiss on her forehead before he left the apartment, leaving her to fend for herself. Now he just had to come up with a believable explanation for his absence from the X-men during the last few days. He had said that he was going to the office in Denver and thanks to his fiddling with the mutant tracking system Cerebro, it would have seemed as if he was if one of the X-men felt like checking up on him.
He sighed as he melted into the shadows in the hallway and instantly removed the fake signature from Denver, restoring Cerebro's ability to track him down as he stepped out of the shadows in his room at the mansion. He sighed as he looked at the devastation, it appeared as if the fairies had engaged in a pillow fight. There was also evidence of at least one incident with whipped cream. The open closet and the mess therein suggested that one or more of them had been trying on his clothes. On top of that, the monitor of his laptop computer had been cracked.
"There's no place like home." Niklas said in a defeated voice and went to get the cleaning supplies.
THE END!
