Tyler Nightshade of Torredor, the Enforcer, was healed, and had come back to help us retake our city. He called a meeting, breaking the news that Lady Allissa, the Prince, had run off to Europe, leaving us to whatever fate we would receive. Then, he appointed himself as acting Prince as long as we were at war.
I was pensive. I mean, Tyler was strong, experienced, and had dealt with our enemy before, but I wasn’t sure what kind of leader he was. The only opposition came from the Malkavian, Lord Brendon. At least, he looked like Lord Brendon, but claimed to be a fellow clansman from some kind of parallel Malkavian world. Well, that’s what I got out of his demented ravings. There was a general undertone of distrust, so Nick Gunner spoke for Tyler.
Needing to be in good with both Gunner and the Enforcer, I also stood and argued for him. The whole thing was making me nervous, but I tried to conquer the unidentifiable pit of fear within. I guess it was the strain of knowing that we were surrounded on all sides by the Sabbat, but I couldn’t speak with the power I’d once had. My oration petered out and I took my seat. With no one willing to fight him for Prince, Tyler declared martial law, posted guards at every door, asked to meet with the Primogen in twenty minutes, then dismissed us.
As we all dispersed to various rooms, I went to talk with Juniper and discovered that she was with Claudia, also a Gangrel, and apparently, her sister(the two sharing the same sire). I told them about Lord Michael, though Juniper already knew. Unsure of myself, I asked for the Right of Primogen, that is, I asked for leadership of the clan. They willingly agreed, but shortly, we were approached by a slick-looking man.
He was smartly dressed, had impeccable, delicate, manners, and introduced himself as Jared, a Gangrel. I looked him over, but he was like no Gangrel I’d ever seen. He carried himself with great dignity, and had a cool confidence that would have better fitted a Ventrue or Giovanni. He had no interest in speaking with Juniper or Claudia, preferring instead to speak down his nose to me. I did not want Jared, whatever he was, to take that attitude.
"You’re new in Swarthmore, aren’t you? Well, as we have just lost our leader," I began, but he cut in.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard; you’re Primogen."
"I hope that will be…acceptable," True, I was barely hiding my anger and asking Jared if he would challenge me, but you have to admit, at least I was tactful. The weasel-looking man slunk away without a word.
Passing the time, I returned to the meeting room and decided to wait there until Lord Tyler called for the clan leaders. Sitting silently in thought was Lady Meredith. She hardly looked up when I came over.
"Do you trust Tyler?" I asked, wasting no time with formalities. I guess ‘How about this weather?’ and ‘How’s the family doing?’ are needless and banal greetings that, fortunately, have no use or purpose in Kindred society. Besides, Lady Meredith was very serious and down-to-earth, and right then, I needed to talk business.
"He does know what he’s doing with the Sabbat, but beyond that, I don’t know."
"True, I mean, who else could lead all of us? Lady Allissa skipped out, Lady Mae is somewhere in Georgia, Lord Brendon, if that even is him, is insane, and you, well," I trailed off.
"Yeah, they’d never let a Tremere rule the city, but you know what, we can let Tyler lead us against the Sabbat, then, if he refuses to step down, we can get rid of him," she replied. I nodded in agreement, and just in time, for Prince Tyler, accompanied by the rest of the Primogen, entered the room.
The meeting began, and our Prince advised us to check out our clans; arm all members, teach them to fight, and get them to swear an Oath of Fealty to the city. He also warned against Sabbat infiltrators. They would have black lines in their auras which would show up on a scan, and some might be susceptible to silver.
"My Lord Prince?" I asked.
"Yeah, what?"
"Two questions. First, I don’t have Auspex and there are some members of my clan who I don’t trust. Second, what’s the situation? Is Swarthmore totally surrounded by Sabbat-held territory?"
"Well, ask Lord Brendon, Lady Meredith, or myself to scan them and ascertain their loyalty. As for your second question, yes. People, don’t expect the other Camerilla cities to come to our rescue, ‘cause we’re on our own. I have a few allies I can call in, but it will be up to us to drive the Sabbat back to the east side of Hell or wherever they came from.
"For now, thin out your ranks. If you have people who can’t fight, we can at least rely on them as medics. Try to organize some night-raids on local blood banks; we are going to need that blood. Finally, arm yourselves. Weapons are cheap, and you can get them from myself or Mr. Gunner. That’s all for now, dismissed."
I exited quickly, gathered my clan, and took them outside to talk. As I told them the Prince’s orders, a big guy came out of Obfuscate among us.
"Holdin," he said.
"Pardon?"
"Holdin, that’s my name. I’m Gangrel." He replied.
Again, I didn’t trust that he was a clan-brother, but said nothing of my suspicions. Juniper and Claudia would be, I realized, better medics than fighters, so I instructed them to be careful, stick together, and not tarnish the name of Gangrel. I also told them that the whole clan would need to be scanned. Yeah, I knew that the girls were what they said they were, but I didn’t want Holdin and Jared to catch on that I didn’t trust them.
Bringing my clan inside, I returned to the meeting room to find Lady Meredith and asked her to scan the auras of my two mystery Gangrel. Jared went first and submitted. Using Dominate, Lady Meredith interrogated him,
"Are you Camerilla?"
"Yes."
"What clan?"
"Assimite." I caught my breath; Jared was a professional assassin.
"Why have you come to the city?"
"For wealth."
"Who is your target?"
"They have all fled."
She brought him back to reality.
"Why did you lie to me?" I asked calmly.
"It’s easier than the truth," he replied, then left the room. Holdin was next. I told him the same thing I told Jared; that he was being scanned, not because I didn’t trust him, but because the city needed his loyalty.
Holdin resisted the scan, and went into Obfuscate, making him untraceable by me, and though Lady Meredith turned on her Heightened Senses, she could not find him either. I ran into the other room, searching for the Prince to warn him of an Assimite and a possible Sabbat roaming the house. There was no need, however.
Catherine, a young Malkavian, ran into the room screaming, her neck reddened with blood. Crying, she clung to Calli, and sobbed that an Assimite with Wolfclaws had tried to kill her. I yelled and drew my claws. Why did the bad guys always try to pass themselves off as Gangrel? Tyler scanned the room, and brought Jared out of Obfuscate. The assassin did not beg for his life, but only insisted that he did not have a present target, and had not attacked Catherine.
With about twenty guns in his face, he was shown the door, and told never to return to Swarthmore in his natural(or in our case, unnatural) life. I told the Prince about Holdin, and instantly, anyone with Heightened Senses was sent on perimeter alert; all the Camerilla in the house were brought into the central room for safety.
Soon, two Ravnos brought Holdin in at gun point. Gunner searched him, finding a gun and three stakes. He showed no remorse. Tyler demanded to the Assimite’s target, and Holdin professed that he had been contracted to investigate Catherine, and he had discovered that she was sane.
I must admit, I had to choke back a laugh. That girl was a wacked-out Malkavian if ever there was one. The assassin was also kicked out, and the mortals brought back into the room. I was enraged, and paced around the meeting room with the Wolfclaws on my left and only hand, drawn.
"Why do the traitors always have to be Gangrel?" I shouted.
Looking up, I saw that the French woman who we’d saved when Swarthmore burned, was standing in the doorway. Fear struck me as I realized she, a mortal, had seen me with my Wolfclaws drawn. Unknowingly, I’d defied the cardinal law of the Camerilla; I’d broken the Masquerade, and for that I would be killed. Working quickly, and noticing that no other Kindred had seen what I’d done, I moved over to slash her throat.
"It’s all right," she said, and I saw that she wasn’t breathing.
"Well," I spoke, quite taken aback, "welcome to the club. When did this happen?"
"Earlier tonight. You know, it’s a bit like being in Brussels; all the real action is on a totally different level." She replied.
I made some polite excuses and went to talk with Mace about getting a gun. The Ventrue are very rich, and my clan, being broke, needed money for weapons. Before the Sabbat took over, I had been waiting to approach Mace about aiding her with the over-throw of Lady Allissa in return for protection. She was close with Gunner, who was close to the new Prince. Now, humbled, I asked for help.
"You need money, right?"
"Yes, do’joro Mace," I replied, using a Siberian slang word meaning ‘high one’ or ‘leader’, used as a sign of respect.
"What do you have to offer me?"
"My loyalty."
"That is not something tangible. I ask again, what do you have to offer me?"
I though hard. I could teach her the discipline of Earthmeld, but I wanted to keep that within my clan. The only other things I had were the silver wolf ring of my father’s, and the Ceremonial Pack Stones of Gangrel. The ring meant a great deal to me. I’d been forced to pawn it to survive while in Leningrad, and upon coming to Swarthmore, the Prince, Lady Mae had given it to me in exchange for loyalty(I still have no idea how she acquired it). Also, it was silver, and that could be of some use against the Sabbat.
I gave Mace the stones, knowing that they had no magical powers, and she promised to give them back to me when I repaid the loan. Taking the thousand dollars she gave me, I ordered a gun from Gunner. He promised that I would have it in a week, but our business was interrupted.
A mortal, a real estate agent, I think, was asked to leave, resisted, and had to be removed under Dominate. I settled, exhausted, into the couch, and listened to Catherine imitate Prince Tyler. It was quite amusing. Suddenly, he stormed in, demanded all the Camerilla in the main room, and scanned us.
Our Prince revealed that the mortal may not have been just a mortal. He had returned to the house, lured a Ravnos outside, and the poor Kindred was found with three holes in his chest. Fortunately, the Ravnos was strong, and had not been killed. Everyone was placed on double alert, and warned not to look into the mortal’s eyes. Eight had, and Tyler asked to see them after the creature, or whatever, had been captured and/or killed.
Nervous, I went into the meeting room where Catherine lay twitching on the floor. Thinking that it was normal for her, I started to leave, but a voice caught my attention. A blind Kindred, clan unknown to me, was calling out.
"That gentleman who made her twitch, don’t let him leave the room; he’s a hunter."
I looked over, and a strange man was sitting in one of the deep chairs, smiling. Lady Meredith tried to calm Catherine, and the blind woman repeated her warning.
"It’s OK, he’s still here." I told her.
Mace came to the doorway and started shouting, but I couldn’t hear, because Quietus dropped on the room. The man hefted a stake into Lady Meredith’s back. I shouted out silently in alarm, and ran into the main room where there were sounds. Panicked, I searched my mind for an anything that might help her, but knew that my closest ally had been killed. I ran, searching for the Prince. People were running around in confusion in the main room also.
"Lady Meredith’s been staked!" I shouted, but we had, it appeared, other problems. Two policemen and a policewoman entered, guns drawn. All who had Obfuscate went into it. The rest of us were forced up against the wall and searched. Tyler and Gunner came out of Obfuscate behind them and tried to knock them out. A pair of handcuffs fell to the floor.
Rage overtook me as I gave into the frenzy and the Beast. Ever since my months of torture by the KGB, I’ve frenzied at the sight of whips, rope, chains, handcuffs, and tasers. My Wolfclaws ached to be drawn, and a howl escaped my throat. Mace caught me before I broke the Masquerade, and calmed me down by throwing me into the meeting room while Tyler dealt with the police.
There, I found Lady Meredith healing, for the stake had glanced off her side. Indeed, I was glad to see her still living. The blind one, Sara, told us that there was probably a hunter in the city, and he must have been the one who attacked the Ravnos. I mentioned that she should tell the Prince, but then we were called into the main room, the police having been sent away with no memory. Lord Ian of Torredor had told them that they were drunk, and they staggered off.
Hanging out, I learned Obfuscate from Juniper, and was pleased to now be able to hide myself from the police in all future conflicts. Moments later we heard sirens, and Tyler told us to evacuate the house; the policemen had called in a gas leak, thinking that was what made them pass out, and the fire company was on it’s way. We left, falling back to Gunner’s house just before dawn. We’d survived that night, but only danger lurked in our future. The Sabbat were still out there, and coming closer every night.