The Toreador Chronicles

by Soledad

Disclaimer: The characters and settings in this series – just like in the entire "Pathways" universe – belong to Mark Rein-Hagen (White Wolf), Joss Whedon (Mutant Enemy) and Russel T. Davies (Showtime). Only a couple of original characters belong to me.

Rating: General to Adults only, individually given for each part. Definitely Adults only from Part 3 upwards

Genre: Crossover with Kindred – The Embraced, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel - the Series... sort of. Consequently, it is very much an AU.

Timeline: Season 2 in Angel, the Series. Alternate Season 5 in Queer As Folk, assuming that QAF took place several years earlier and Season 4 ended in 2002.

Warnings: This series is probably a very different one than what you are used to in this fandom. If you like your characters exactly as they were in the show, or if you are a Justin fan, you probably shouldn't read this. I extremely dislike Justin, and won't be very friendly to him. If you decide to read the series anyway, please don't complain about how he's being treated. You have been warned, right?

Also, this series contains a lot of violence. As it will be posted on this site, it's a sensitized version. To read the unedited version, you need to go to the otherworlds lib LJ community or to my website, assuming you are over 18. There you can also find a cast list about who's supposed to "play" the vampire characters.

Introduction

This is an alternate universe story, a side product to my "Pathways in the Dark" vampire crossover universe. Almost every vampire character is canon, from the "Vampire – The Masquerade" RPG, but I've changed their backgrounds quite a bit. Some other characters are from "Angel – the Series", and there are also a handful of OCs, but really not many.

In this particular AU, Justin has left Pittsburgh somewhen during Season 4, receiving an art scholarship from the DeLaigle Ateliers in Los Angeles. He's left town without telling anyone where he was going, save his mother, who was sworn to secrecy, however.

Accidentally, Brian applies for a rather large job for Kinnetic, a permanent association with the famous Girard Fashion House and its associated business partners. This is a job that could feed him for the rest of his life, plus he finds the idea of living and working in LA, at least part-time, intriguing.

He can't know, of course, that his future business partners are Kindred vampires, and that they've had their eyes on him for quite some time. So he flies to LA for an interview, not knowing that this was his first step in the Dark.

Part 01 – The Choice

Rating: General, for this part

The Conclave room above the single club D'Oblique was a distinctly elegant, richly furnished room that spoke of old-fashioned taste and a lot of money. The room practically glittered in the light of the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The hardwood floors were polished nearly to mirror sheen, elegant patterns of black grain showing against the natural tones of the wood. Burgundy brocade curtains obscured the windows partially, adding to the out-of-the-time elegance of the room. Double oaken doors stood on one end, while a great stained glass window took up the vast majority of the far wall. Even in the darkness of the late hour of the night, the stained glass panel was lit from the outside, glowing in shades of red and gold.

The huge, oval table, made of dark, polished wood, stood in the middle of the room, with its head in the shadow of the glass window. Several high backed chairs of the same dark wood and red velvet cushions stood around it, as this room served both as the place of Conclave meetings and for business purposes like the one that was going on at the moment.

The host of the meeting, Toreador Primogen Victor Girard, was a tall, funny-faced French vampire with slightly long hair and a flamboyant personality, even as Toreadors go. He'd been one of the important characters of the LA fashion scene since the early 1930's, and the owner of the famous Girard Fashion House. His designers worked for the Vignes Studios in Hollywood as well as for the Jade Flower boutiques, and his personal creations were considered equal to those of Dior, Lagerfeldt or other great fashion houses.

Sitting on Girard's right was Mei-ji, also known as the Jade Flower, one of the rich and influential Kuei-yin, the Kindred of the East. The exotic beauty of Korean origins owned a chain of fashion boutiques not only in South California but also in South Korea and Thailand and held major ownership of a branch of the Bank of Bangkok in Koreatown, LA. Mei-ji co-owned this bank branch with Yoshida Ozaki, an elderly-looking Japanese Kindred who was currently sitting next to her.

The major financial power, however, lay with Louis Fortier, the 250-year-old Ventrue Primogen, who practically owned the Bank of Lyon, and Countess Andrea Visconti, a fabulously rich Brujah businesswoman, who co-owned several Italian banks with her Sire, whom she'd represented in the States since the 1940's. Los Angeles was one of the rare cities where the two ever-rivalling Clans had managed to work out a truce, mostly because of it being a free Anarch state where the Camarilla Ventrue couldn't bout out everyone else of the business opportunities.

Also from Clan Ventrue were Edward Vignes and his sister, Vera, the owners of the Vignes Studios, Madame D'Excavalier, who owned several art galleries from San Francisco to LA, and Phillipe Navital, the lawyer of both Girard and Fortier. Two more Toreadors, Alain DeLaigle, owner and head artist of the DeLaigle Ateliers and Art School and Diego Martinez, talented young web designer and owner of Diego Designs, made the gathering complete.

It was an intimidating concentration of money and influence. The Prince of the City might be the law, but financial power was here, in this room, right now. There were other Kindred businesspeople, of course, and influential ones at that. One only needed to think of Justin Davies from Winters Enterprises or the pate of Chinatown. But this particular alliance ensured the superiority of the parties present.

However, it was a precarious balance, the keeping of which required quite some effort from the rich and influential vampires currently sitting around the table. And right now, Victor Girard's long-held leading position was being threatened from within his own clan. By a mere neonate who used her influence and popularity in the mortal world – especially among people in their early twenties – to undermine her Primogen's position.

"We've walked the old-fashioned path for too long," Phillipe Navital explained with a frown. "Diego here is the only one who truly knows the taste and demands of young people today."

"Not the only one," Mei-ji corrected indignantly.

The Ventrue lawyer gave her an irritated look. "You live from the Asian market and from the Asian communities within the States, Mei-ji, which is good and profitable. But we are losing the white and black youth in California to Rebecca, and that's not something Victor could afford."

"We are working on it," Alain DeLaigle said. "I've got this very young mortal student, the artist of the currently very popular comic titled Rage – I hope I could warm him up to the idea of fashion designing. He's fairly talented."

"Is this the same comic Brett Keller wants to turn into a live action movie?" Edward Vignes asked.

Alain nodded. "Are you interested?"

Vignes shrugged. "Vera says it's good, and Brett, despite being Brujah, is a good director. No offence intended," he added, looking at Countess Visconti in apology.

"None taken," she assured him. "We aren't exactly the artistic types."

"Well, Brett makes action movies, which suits the Brujah nature quite nicely," Vera Vignes smiled. "Besides, the gay community is a wide open market among the Kine, thank their ridiculous prejudices. We could establish a firm influence there – in fact, we should have decades ago. But it still could help our campaign against Rebecca when we have a big market elsewhere. Her campaign is based on her popularity among straight men and women. We should move before she realizes the opportunities offered 'on the other river bank', as Germans would say."

"I still can't understand how Rebecca has managed to stomp such a strong concurrence out of the earth in such short time," Mei-ji said, clearly worried. Rebecca was aiming at the same population group that she was. "She couldn't have earned that much, despite being a TV star."

"A sinking one, actually," Countess Visconti added cynically. "Small wonder she wanted to establish a different business before people forget her completely. As for the financial background, I think there's nothing surprising. This is the golden opportunity for Jason Davies to land a hit on all of us who are associated with Salvador. A completely legal opportunity, I must add. And Winters Enterprises does have the necessary financial means."

"Don't forget Cha'ang, the pate of Chinatown," Yoshida Ozaki reminded them. "His ties to Wolfram & Hart secure him opportunities few other businesspeople would discover."

"Speaking of which," Louis Fortier spoke for the first time, "have you found any proof about Wolfram & Hart having ties to the Sabbat yet?"

The lawyer shook his head. "Nothing useful yet. There are indices, but no hard proof so far. We're… working at it."

"Work harder," the eyes of the Ventrue Primogen were ice cold. "We don't want another Cyrus situation at our hands."

"It's not that easy," Navital said defensively. "We can't just walk into their building and hack into their computers, you know. Their vampire detectors would catch us at once, and their guards are armed with phosphorous guns and stakes."

"Send in a mortal with C4 for distraction, "Countess Visconti said coldly. The ruthless advice seemed strangely mismatched with her aristocratic elegance, proving that not even the upper class of the Rabble was completely different. "Or some idiot Sabbat fledging to set of the alarms and get killed while you're securing the proof you need." Seeing the stunned faces around her, she shrugged. "You Camarilla types sometimes lack creativity so much it almost hurts. This is the 21st century. Use 21st century methods."

"We Camarilla types?" Fortier parroted mockingly. "I thought you were Camarilla, too?"

"I am now," she replied with a shrug. There wasn't much to add, really. Even converted to the Camarilla, the formerly Anarch Brujah remained very much the same.

"Could we, please, return to the main topic?" Victor Girard asked a little impatiently. "I'm still trying to find a working strategy against Rebecca here."

"I think Vera's idea about winning the gay community for us does have its merits," Madame D'Excavalier said. "The question is, how do we make our offers known among them on the big scale. It would require a well-organized advertising campaign. Sporadic contacts in the artist and movie world are good but not enough there."

"I think I can help with that," Alain DeLaigle said calmly. "That young mortal student of mine has spoken about a former boyfriend who has his own advertising agency in Pittsburgh. A relatively new agency, called Kinnetic. The man is well-known in the community and has worked in the ad business for a decade or so."

"We should monitor his business activities first," Fortier said. "This is not a small thing, bringing in a new player, as our business interests are fairly interconnected."

"I already had the local Nosferatu check on him," DeLaigle opened his wireless laptop and turned it around, so that the others could see the viewscreen with the picture of a good-looking man in his early thirties, with auburn hair and hazel eyes and a very sensuous mouth. "He's very talented and can be extremely successful when he puts his mind to it. He built up Kinnetic in less than a year, after having lost his former job when he first nearly won the campaign of a gay-hating police chief for the office of the mayor, and then causing the same man to fall spectacularly."

"How is the business running now?" Fortier asked.

DeLaigle switched from the picture to statistics. "It seems that the agency is now practically running itself. This is the moment we should snatch the man – he has the talent, the almost manic energy, and desperately needs a good challenge right now."

"The same report also says that he's moody, unreliable, completely immoral and wildly promiscuous," Vera Vignes remarked, checking the screen; then she added with a lascivious grin. "With other worlds, the perfect Toreador. Do you have your eyes on the man already, Alain?"

DeLaigle grinned back. "Why not? I think he'd be interested in the Embrace. He has repeatedly voiced his fear from getting old, and he has just fought cancer – the vote whether he's really won is still off, although his oncologist has just recently given him a clean bill of health. I think he'd welcome the chance to live for an unlimited length of time in his current shape."

"I thought you'd choose Blondie from the art studio," Vera teased. DeLaigle shook his head.

"No, he's much too young. We should secure his talent for the Clan one day, but he still needs years in the sunlight to completely unfold his abilities. And he'd need an ancient Kindred of a low generation as his Sire, so that he can receive the Toreador traits as undiluted as possible."

"I thought being the Childe of Leonardo would do the trick nicely," Vera commented.

"It doesn't work that way," DeLaigle said. "You can inherit the Clan traits, but not the talent. You either have it, or you haven't. Can you compare me with my Sire?"

"You're a good artist, Alain," Vera protested. DeLaigle nodded.

"I know. But Leonardo was a genius. It's just not the same. It might be something similar with Justin, which is why he needs time and the strongest Toreador source possible."

"You expect great things from this kid, I see," Girard said.

DeLaigle nodded. "I do indeed. I haven't had such a talented student for a long time, despite his damaged hand."

"What happened?" Girard asked. DeLaigle shrugged.

"Gay bashing. They cracked his skull with a baseball bat, too. He nearly died at the age of seventeen."

"The Embrace could solve that problem," Girard reminded him. "He'd become ambidextrous like the rest of us."

"Art is born from the spirit, not from the hands," DeLaigle replied. "His spirit must mature for years yet for him to reach his full potential. Then we can Embrace him. Of course, promoting him would help to win him for the Clan," he added, looking at Madame D'Excavalier in askance.

"I'll take a look," the gallerist said. "But consider also that he would need a really good education, not the half-assed one today's youth usually receives. Talent can serve to fill much of the hole in knowledge and education, but knowledge can be very helpful, paired with real talent."

"I can organize him a sscholarship at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, once he's been Embraced," Countess Visconti promised. "My Sire and I are among the main promoters of that institution. And no amount of talent can replace a thorough education of classical drawing. Even if the artist later chooses a very different style for his work."

"That's very true, Madame d'Excavalier agreed. "However, if you really want to get this ad exec… what's his name?"

"Brian Kinney."

"Of course. Kinney as in Kinnetic," the Ventrue gallerist rolled her eyes. "Could the man be more obvious? Are you really sure that he's any good? That name alone screams of a complete lack of imagination."

"I'm very sure, Madame. Kinnetic was named to create a strong and immediate association between agency and owner."

"Very well," Fortier shrugged; as the lead banker among them, the final decision was his. "If you vouch for him, your head it shall be. But if you want to Embrace him, you won't come around Blood Bonding him to keep him on a short lash. And you will have to keep him on a short lash, or else he'd be of no use for us. He can't be allowed to screw up his job in any way."

DeLaigle laughed. "Louis, I might not know of which generation I am, but I've been around for centuries. Leonardo used to have such a young rebel as his prize pupil… among other things. These people are incapable of living in a relationship as equals, and are usually awful as the dominant partner. But with he right training, they usually make the most excellent slaves."

Mei-ji shot him a rather unladylike grin. "Are you sure you're not doing this to have the biggest slut of Pittsburgh for yourself?" she asked, tapping the keyboard with a long, silver fingernail to pull up the picture of the man in question again. "I can understand you, though. He's almost disgustingly pretty, and has quite the reputation, I see."

DeLaigle rolled his icy blue eyes. "Oh, please, Mei-ji! Nobody is that good!"

"It depends," the exotic beauty winked. "A well-trained slave could be both useful and extremely pleasurable. I know what I'm speaking about."

"I'm sure you do," DeLaigle laughed. Although bisexual like all Kindred, Mei-ji was widely known to prefer her own gender. Her Disciple, a flirtatious little Chinese fetish model by the name of Bai-ling was only one of her numerous slaves, most of them female, all of them recruited in Lady Heather's BDSM club, La Lune Rouge.

"Of course," Mei-ji added, suddenly very serious, "you'll have to keep the balance in mind. Thoroughly Blood Bond and dominate someone of such a rebellious spirit as the reports describe this one would be a very… delicate process."

"Doing it without breaking his will entirely," DeLaigle nodded in agreement. "He wouldn't be of any use for us broken."

"He'd walk into the sun if you ever managed to break him completely," Mei-ji warned. "Some people just can't live with that. I've lost two Disciples that way when I was younger. Too young, actually. Too impatient to care for the balance."

"I've done this before," DeLaigle said. "And I had the luck to watch one of the greatest masters at work."

Mei-ji smiled wistfully. "I've always regretted not being able to visit Italy at that time. It must have been overwhelming to meet all those great artists and warlords and evil politicians."

"Well, we still have enough of the latest," Countess Visconti wrinkled her perfect nose in dismay. "Unfortunately, they don't have the style required from a truly great villain. Today's evil is brutal and unimaginative."

"But efficient," Fortier said grimly. "Never before were the Kine so close to eradicating themselves – and us as a result – than in our current times. But that's a question we'll have to address at another time and on another forum. Right now, we need to take care of our own problems. Alain, you'll have to ask Angelus' permission to Embrace this Kinney person. He might be Anarch, but we've elected him as our legal Prince, so we better stick to the rules."

DeLaigle nodded. "I will. By the way, I think we should snatch Kinnetic's chief accountant as well. Eventually. He seems to be reasonably good Ventrue material, although might need a regnant to function properly. Since he appears to fear aging just as much as Kinney, he might be willing to accept the Embrace."

"I'll think about it in due time," Fortier said. "It would certainly solve our long-time problem with mortal accountants – but we have to be careful. Besides, we'll have to wait with Embracing new fledglings. Angelus has requested our help with Embracing young David Nabbit."

"The David Nabbit?" the Countess asked after the first moment of shock was over. "Eccentric billionaire with Goth tendencies, 'he-who-visits-demon-brothels' David Nabbit?"

"The one and only," Fortier nodded. "The youngster is completely smitten with Angelus and has been nagging him to be 'turned', as the ignorant like to call it, for half a year or so. Ever since he discovered Angelus' true nature."

"That's madness," Vera Vignes shook her head. "The boy is unstable enough as it is – we've worked with him as he sponsored the last Dracula movie – he'll never be able to handle the Beast of Angelus' bloodline."

"Of course not," Fortier agreed, "but he's insistent, and Angelus is afraid that he – and his immense wealth – would fall into the wrong hands. We can't allow that. So we've worked out a solution. Angelus will do the Embracing and claim ownership over the Childe, but he'll only give him a very small amount of his Vitae. A Ventrue of an old line will serve as surrogate and help with stabilizing the fledgling after he awakens."

"You?" Vera Vignes asked with a frown. Fortier shook his head.

"Non, that would lead to awkward situations. I've selected Phillipe for the role," he nodded towards his lawyer. "He's an 8th generation Ancilla, almost four hundred, and comes from an excellent bloodline. Plus, he has no Childer to care for since Mariel has gone rogue, so he'll have the time to teach David to create the necessary controls. As a lawyer, he can also rationalize his frequent visits at Nabbit Enterprises."

"Not to mention securing a tycoon as a client for his firm," Countess Visconti smiled. "It might work out. Clan Ventrue would be the best for someone like David Nabbit, and even though he'd formally belong to Angelus' family, he'll have… obligations to his foster Clan as well. Securing the Nabbit billions for our side would be of great advantage. We should be careful, though. Angelus is an Anarch, not a fool. When he thinks we are trying to get our hands on what is his, our lives will be forfeit."

"We'll do nothing of the sort," Fortier emphasized. "He's our Prince; we've practically blackmailed him into accepting the position, and we need him. We'll support him with everything we have," with a faint smile, he added. "That this happens to be in our best interest is merely a coincidence."

The others laughed. The thought of having access to the Nabbit billions, soon, made them extremely content. But even though that would give them the necessary financial background to fight concurrence effectively, it didn't mean giving up their smaller, immediate goals, of course.

"So, who's going to contact this Brian Kinney?" Mei-ji asked. "And how are we going to give a plausible reason for choosing his small, new and very much unknown agency?"

"He made a successful campaign for Brown Athletics, didn't he?" Victor Girard asked. DeLaigle nodded. "Well, that's easy then. I do have some… small interest in Brown Athletics. I'll have Catherine contact the man officially… she's sheer irresistible when she wants to win a business partner over. She should have become a Toreador, not a Ventrue puffy shirt."

"I think she's quite content as a Ventrue," Fortier, the Sire of Catherine DuBois said mildly.

"Yeah, but she'd have a lot more fun as a Toreador," Girard pointed out. Everyone laughed. This was a very old running joke between the two Primogens, and since both were right, to a certain extent, it would run for quite some time yet.

"I think we've covered everything," Fortier then said. "Edward, are you giving Brett Keller green light for this Rage movie?"

"We are," Vignes replied. "I'll let Marty Fenderman play with him a little at first, but eventually, we will. We need that sort of audience for the Studios. Aside from sappy romances for teenage girls, the action-packed stuff for young males is the thing that brings in the big bucks."

"Marty Fenderman is a homophobe and a coward," Vera warned him. "He'll hate the very idea of a gay superhero and will try to change everything in the story."

"Of course," Edward nodded with a smirk, "but I don't want to make it too easy for the boy… Justin is his name, right? He wants success? He should squirm and fight for it a little. Besides, I'm curious how he's going to argue for his own work. If he's good, I might make him an assistant art director. He's the one who knows better what things are supposed to look like."

"I'm sure half of our young fledglings will be filling the theatres, once the movie is finished," the Countess rose from her seat. "Well, if that's all, I'd like to leave. I have to be in Venice tomorrow; Alonzo is going to fly me at sunset, and I need to order my papers before start. If you'll excuse me…"

"Of course," Fortier nodded. "We are done here anyway. Please give Salvador and Count Visconti my regards."

"I will," Andrea Visconti nodded to her business associates and left the room in her usual royal manner. Aristocracy was a matter of breeding, after all. Even Brujah aristocracy.

The End - for now