Disclaimer: all these characters belong to their respective creators. Only the plot and the Garou character Una Half Moon are mine. The Brujah and Gangrel vampires are taken from White Wolf's online vampire genealogies. I've modified their backgrounds, though, to serve my purposes better. My only vampire OCs in this storyline are Eric, The Spirit Crow, who was inspired by the interesting horror series ''The Crow'', Alonzo Solace and Sergeant Sanchez.
Rating: varies from G to R (for non-explicit m/f interaction and blood play). It might be a little high, but I prefer to err on the safe side.
Not yet beta-ed, so be merciful with a poor, non-native speaker.
INTRODUCTION
(inserted here because of the new rules)
It's rather lengthy, and you might find it boring. In that case, feel free to skip it and go right to the actual story. Should you be interested in background trivia, however – or in need of some guidance among all these characters and events – this would be the right place to begin.
This is the prelude to ''Pathways in the Dark'' – an Angel/Buffy/Kindred – the Embraced and Poltergeist: The Legacy crossover. It is an alternate universe, where all the characters of these stories co-exist. I tried to go with canon facts as closely as possible – however, I've bent them a little every time and again to make my own AU work.
In this AU I work with several different storylines (if you're interested, the framework will be displayed on this website, together with some background information, several different genealogies and – hopefully soon – a complete timeline for the whole thing), but this story is the very beginning of them.
This is a pure Kindred story, focussing on Cash and the dramatically altered situation of Clan Gangrel after the Conclave of Baltimore in 1999, where Gangrel Justicar Xavier de Calais pulled the whole Clan out of the Camarilla. I'm not a roleplayer myself, but I do believe that this is a game operative by ''Vampire – the Masquerade''. Please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken. I found this fact on White Wolfe Online and adopted it because it serves wonderfully my own story background.
In later stories, events will happen mostly in Los Angeles, because my whole AU is Angel-based, with strong ties to Kindred – The Embraced. So, there will be visits in San Francisco every time and again, and you can meet familiar faces from Julian Luna's court, mostly Cameron, whom I'm a big fan of. So, should you be a Cameron-hater, this is probably not the right story for you to read.
To help you (and, to be honest, myself) with the visualisation of so many characters, I've done some ''casting''; i.e. imagined rather well-known actors playing the different parts. It's all below in the ''Dramatis Personae'' section.
Time frame and background events:
This story happens during the summer of 1999.
At this time, Angel is already in L.A., fighting alone the forces of darkness, helping people.
Cordelia Chase tries to build up an acting career in L.A., without much success, living in a cockroach-infested motel room.
Cyrus is still the Prince of L.A., but not even the Brujah support him any more. They don't know, however, that he's allied himself with the Sabbat.
Julian Luna has broken up with Caitlin 3 years ago and has renewed his old affair with Lillie.
Cameron has embraced two Childer in a short distance and is currently grooming a young student named Nicky. He doesn't know anything about his blood-relatives in L.A. yet.
Note: despite the official timeline of Kindred – The Embraced (which states that Cash and his whole Brood had been Embraced in 1995), I follow in my AU the Swordfeast-authors, assuming that he'd been Embraced during the Clan Wars; probably at the beginning of them. I also adopted the Swordfeast-theory that Cash had been a soldier in World War Two (a war hero, actually, with lots of medals), and had been Embraced shortly after his honourable departure from the Army.
It is an established fact in Kindred canon that Cash is a gypsy and proud of his heritage. In Swordfeast, he's also a pagan who practices his old religion – a fact that I've chosen to accept as well, so I could bring him closer to Madame Zorza. In my AU, however, he takes the beliefs of his mortal tribe less seriously. And, most importantly, he's not the lover of Julian Luna!
In the Swordfeast-universe Cash's given name is Adolph. After some consideration I chose not to adopt this idea. The initials C.R. in front of his family name stand for ''Channon Roe'' – the actual name of the fine actor who played Cash in the TV-series.
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance):
Cash, the Gangrel Primogen in San Francisco and chief bodyguard of the Prince;
Julian Luna, the Ventrue Prince of San Francisco;
Daedalus, Nosferatu Primogen in San Francisco and the Enforcer of the Prince;
Lorraina, Cash's brood-sister, the driver of the Prince;
Eric, The Spirit Crow, Gangrel of the ''Coyote'' bloodline in L.A. ''Played'' by Mark Dacascos (who else?).
Rosa Hernandez (Rose), Gangrel of the ''Lupus'' bloodline in L.A.
Carlyle, leader of the Anarch gang ''La Hermandad'', Childe of Salvador Garcia, the Brujah Minister of the Eastern City of L.A. ''Played'' by Julian McMahon (of ''Charmed'').
Valeria, Carlyle's elder brood-sister and wife (yes, they are actually married). ''Played'' by Lauren Velez (Detective Moreno from ''New York Undercover'').
Jesús Ramirez, Carlyle's second-in-command, a Ventrue. ''Played by Marco Sanchez (''SeaQuest'').
Ariane, young Brujah girl, Embraced at the age of 14 as a malnourished, dying street kid. Valeria's protégée. ''Played'' by Katie Stuart (from ''The Crow'').
Madame Zorza, gypsy fortune teller of the ''Lupus'' bloodline, Gangrel Elder in L.A. ''Played'' by Katey Segal (Peg of ''Married with Children'')
Edward Blackfeather, Cherokee medicine man and Gangrel Elder of the ''Coyote'' bloodline in L.A. Sire of Eric, The Spirit Crow. ''Played'' by Graham Greene.
Isabel Manara, Spanish Gangrel of unknown bloodline in L.A.; looks like an 11-year-old girl, poses as Madame Zorza's grandchild, but is in fact, over 900 years old (most of it spent in torpor, however). She's a carrion thief (= a vampire who steals fresh corpses to feed on them).
Talking Water, Cherokee Elder of the ''Coyote'' bloodline who welcomed the first white settlers in Virginia. Sire of Edward Blackfeather and Far Runner. ''Played'' by Ned Romero.
Far Runner, Gangrel of the ''Coyote'' bloodline in L.A. Former warrior chief of the Cherokee and blood-brother of Edward Blackfeather since their mortal days. ''Played'' by the young Michael Ansara.
Una Half Moon, Alpha female of the local Garou tribe, a pack of Native American (Coast Salish) Uktena. Original character.
Salvador Garcia,
9th generation Brujah (1869:1892) Progeny of Ferdinand. Sire of Valeria, Carlyle, Gloria Martinez and Allison Maller. Minister of the Eastern City of Angels. He's said to have diablerised once during the Spanish Civil War and again diablerised Don Sebastian, the Prince of Los Angeles (1944). According to CbN2, p. 77 he is 7th gen, but he embraced 10th gen progeny, with the only exception of Carlyle. I tried to find a solution for the generation dilemma, and also made him the Sire of Sorrell and Sergeant Sanchez. "Played" by Richard Yniguez (Captain Montoya from the 5th season Babylon 5-episode "Darkness Ascending")
Contessa Andrea Visconti,
9th generation Brujah, (1852:1878) Progeny of Luigi Visconti. The wife of Salvador Garcia (not a canon fact). "Played", of course, by a young Sofia Loren.
Alonzo Solace,
Brujah of unknown generation. Garcia's old associate, currently his driver and pilot. Their alliance reaches back to the Spanish Civil War. Both the character's name and Antonio Sabato Jr as the actor who "plays" him are borrowed from the science-fiction series "Earth 2". Original character.
Allison Maller,
10th generation Brujah (*1970, Embraced in1985) Progeny of Salvador. The character's special traits were inspired by Peta Wilson's "La Femme Nikita" and therefore wears her face.
Alexei Roganoff,
Archon's eldest Childe alive, an OC, "played" by Nicholas Lea, inspired by a discussion on the "All Around You" mailing list.
Characters only spoken about:
Sergeant Miguel Sanchez, Brujah LAPD-officer, an older Childe of Sorrel (and therefore Cameron's brood-brother, even if he doesn't know yet). ''Played'' by Miguel Fernandes.
Bobby Lemon, Anarch Gangrel, member of the gang ''Night Crew''.
Tabitha Prester, Bobby Lemon's Childe, an acquaintance of Rose.
Prelude
Rating: G, for this part
Author's notes:
Before anyone runs for the phosphorous gun: I don't hate Julian Luna. Not really. I just see him a little less romantic than most people. After all, the vampire Prince of a city has to be ruthless every time and again. Otherwise, how is he supposed to keep a tight hand on the undead society?
San Francisco, 24th August 1999
Luna Mansion, Cash's place
Sitting at the darkened fireplace of his living room, in the small apartment above the garage, C.R. Cash, the young Primogen of Clan Gangrel in San Francisco, felt restless. Things weren't going well in California lately, which meant that the Prince of the City had been in a foul mood for months… well, for years, actually.
Ever since his Sire and predecessor had been killed by the hands of vengeful new Brujah Primogen, Ian Cameron (and even justfully so, above all else!), almost three years ago.
Ever since he had to end his relationship with his mortal lover, star journalist Caitlin Byrne (whom he loved more than anyone else, except maybe his late wife) and send her always for the sake of the Masquerade, more than two years ago.
And when Julian Luna was in a foul mood, people suffered around him. Because for all his benevolent activities and patient dealings with outsiders, among his own kind, the Prince could be a ruthless person.
Cash's position was particularly awkward. It had only been a couple of weeks that Xavier de Calais, the current Gangrel Justicar, dropped the biggest bombshell of Clan history, claiming to the Baltimore Conclave (on the 7th of August) to have been attacked by an Antediluvian.
Then he announced the departure of Clan Gangrel from the Camarilla.
Just like that.
There must have been serious reasons for Xavier to do that. Reasons that, unfortunately, Cash has not been aware of, being of Young Blood, which meant that he wasn't consulted by the Clan Elders. Theoretically, he had no problem with the Gangrel becoming an independent Clan – on the contrary, it suited the Clan nature a lot better than serving as watchdogs of the Princes –, but personally, it made his situation difficult, at least.
He had sworn his loyalty to Julian Luna, they were even friends, over Clan boundaries, and he felt torn apart between the loyalty to his Clan and the loyalty to his Prince. And he knew, the others serving in the Luna household fought the same inner battle.
Sooner or later, he will have to hold a Clan gathering, and they will have to make some very serous decisions.
All of them.
Technically, he might not even have the right to do that. An independent Clan had no need for a Primogen; independents were led by their Elders. Granted, in San Francisco Cash could have been considered as one of the Elders – ever since his Sire, Stevie Ray, had been killed by Cameron's predecessor, one notorious Eddie Fiori, Cash had been the eldest Gangrel in town, at least in Kindred terms.
But that didn't mean that he'd be allowed automatically to take over leadership in this new situation. Honestly, he wasn't even sure he wanted to. He'd been carrying the responsibility for almost 50 people since Stevie Ray's Final Death… sometimes he just wanted to be free again and ride the roads just like he did when he was outcast.
On the other hand, he couldn't simply abandon his Prince and friend who'd given him a home and a purpose when his own Sire wouldn't have. This friendship, the duties he had accepted when he'd taken over Stevie Ray's job, were more important for him than he'd have believed.
And, truth be told, he's become accustomed to the comfort of a settled-down life. To have a roof above his head, rooms ordered according to his own tastes, with furniture made of heavy, unadorned oak, a small fireplace, worn red oriental rugs. And to have a permanent place for his beloved books, overflowing the self-carved shelves on both sides of the window seat overlooking the courtyard.
Because, contrary to common belief, not all Gangrels were illiterate fools.
Of course, there were alternate solutions, too. He could always choose to stay in the Camarilla as an individual – everyone could join the Camarilla, regardless of what their Clan as a whole had chosen.
But the Gangrels were an especially close-knit bunch, more so than most other Kindred, except maybe the Nosferatu. Cash knew he wouldn't be able to stay in Julian's service when all his Clan brethren decided to leave. But he also knew that leaving the only real home he ever had would break his heart as well.
The phone rang. The sound told Cash's keen ears that it was a house call. Since he was off duty right now, it could probably mean that the Prince finally decided to take the time for that dreaded conversation Cash had feared ever since the Conclave of Baltimore.
He sighed and answered the phone.
"Cash."
"Luna," replied Julian's calm voice; this was new, too, this more… official treatment, as if he'd tried to make the decision easier for Cash. "I know you're technically free right now, but could you come over anyway? I'd like to discuss something with you."
"I see," now Cash was sure he'd be asked to make his decision, right there, right now.
And he knew he won't be able to do it.
Not yet.
Not like this.
The Prince seemed to know what he was thinking about.
"Don't fret, this is not about the current… situation – although we will have to discuss that, too, sooner or later."
"I know," Cash sighed. "So, what's this about, then?"
"I'd prefer to discuss it in my library," Julian answered, with an edge of order in his voice now.
So he still considered Cash to be in his service… at least for the time being. And he didn't like to be delayed.
"Could you, please, come over?" he repeated; then he added with emphasis, "Now!"
"Yes, my Prince," the Gangrel answered obediently and glared at the quietly beeping receiver in confusion for a moment, before he hung up and got to his feet to go over to the main house. As long as he still was in Julian's service, it wouldn't do him any good to be late.
TBC