Jae, Megan, and Rob pulled up in his old Cadillac and stuck their heads out the windows. Trinity and a mysterious stranger followed close behind on her bike. "There you guys are!" Trinity screeched. Garan and Crystal burst out laughing. "How did you find us?" Crystal asked, "That was really weird. Anyway who's your new friend?" motioning to the handsome stranger on the back of Trinity's bike. He was very tall, with gorgeous golden eyes and short dark brown hair that was slicked back. He was dressed rather well in khakis and a Polo shirt. "Oh, this is Alex. We met him at the arcade today. He sucked at Dance Dance Revolution so he was playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2." Jae replied. Crystal greeted him and shook his hand. As soon as she touched him a vision hit her. She and Garan were together…Alex came up behind them and stabbed her in the back. She cried out in pain and clutched her chest. Blood flowed out from between her fingers. Garan attacked him. She reeled backwards, as if his hand burned hers. "What's wrong?" Garan asked her. She looked extremely pale and distant. "No…nothing.." Alex gave her a strange look and just shrugged.
Jae started bouncing up and down. "Come on come on, let's go do something!" he whined. "Why don't we go shoot pool? We haven't done that in a while." Rob suggested. "Fine, we'll meet you there." Garan said as he reached for Crystal's hand. The two headed for her car and got in. She drove him back to Menlo to get his car. They pulled in on the second floor of the parking garage and parked next to his car. He reached over and held her, stroked her long auburn hair. She buried her head into his shoulder. "I know there is something wrong." he said. She reluctantly told him, "I don't know, that Alex character…when I touched his hand…I had a horrible vision. I don't trust him. He is kindred." Garan was silent, as if he knew something that he wasn't telling her.
They parted ways to meet everyone at Cue & Brew. Crystal arrived first at the pool hall. Garan pulled in right after. They walked in together arm in arm. The gang already had a table. Everyone greeted them enthusiastically. They picked out their cues from the rack and joined in a game of teams. Garan, Crystal, and Jae vs. Megan, Rob, Trinity, and Alex. Garan looked at Alex and asked, "So…where are you from?" Alex raised his head and glared at him. "You should know who I am, Toreador primogen."
Alexander…backstabbing Ventrue. What are your intentions here? I knew I recognized you. You're working for Paul now?
Crystal looked at Garan, then Alex. "Not here." She said to Garan.
She's right. We'll continue this at a later time Alex. Alex went back to the cue ball and hit it; missed. Garan went next and shot the ball hard, it bounced up off the table right into Alex's crotch. Jae and Rob both winced in sympathy. Alex grabbed himself and dropped down to the floor in pain. Trinity started laughing hysterically. "Are you alright?" Megan asked. He shook his head no. "Oops, sorry." Garan remarked in a very sarcastic tone. "Dude, remind me not to stand across the table from you when it's your turn." Rob said jokingly. Alex got back on his feet and gave Garan a very nasty look. They finished up the game; Garan, Crystal, and Jae won.
"Hah! We win!" Jae laughed and did a little victory dance around the table. Crystal just sighed and turned to her love. "Can we go someplace to talk? I have a lot on my mind and I have to vent."
"Sure, we can go down to the beach and chat."
Crystal and Garan walked out to her Thunderbird. It sat there silently beckoning as if waiting for her to insert the key and bring it back to life. She unlocked the doors and they got in. She started it up and pulled out onto the road heading for Port Monmouth, taking the hairpin curves of the coast road at intoxicating speed. They arrived at the spy house in record time, pulled in to the gravel lot and parked.
They both hopped out, straining to regain their balance from the loose stone. They walked toward the pier; they could hear waves gently lapping against the jetties. Crystal's heels clacked against the wooden planks; Garan silently glided as if he was floating on air. "Could you call Danielle and ask her to come here?" he asked. Crystal reached into her bag, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed.
"Hello?" the voice on the other end answered.
"Hey Danielle, come down to the spy house. Garan and I are here."
"Ok, be there in 10."
She hung up and continued walking along the pier with Garan.
Danielle arrived in 7 minutes flat. She jumped out of her car, sauntered over to Crystal and lifted her hand. "Look! It's an inchworm." She motioned to the small worm crawling up her hand. "Such a beautiful shade of green." She said. Crystal smiled. Danielle walked over to a bush and released the insect. "Isn't it funny how even the smallest things are amusing?" Danielle laughed as the inchworm crawled up a branch of the bush and disappeared into the lush greenery. "It is a trait of a vampire to find interest in everything, and a trait of the Toreador to find beauty in it as well." She turned around to face Crystal and Garan. "You will find many amazing abilities are now in your grasp." Danielle giggled softly. "Watch this…" A small rustle was heard in the distance that got closer and louder. Danielle had her eyes closed, concentrating on something in the deep recesses of her mind. Crystal and Garan looked at each other and Garan smiled at her, full well knowing what Danielle was doing. The rustling got louder and then stopped. A small, black kitten with bright green eyes jumped onto Danielle's shoulder and began purring loudly. It was Loki, the kitten that Marc had gotten her for her birthday. She laughed as she rubbed him behind his ears. "See? You can telepathically speak to animals if you try hard enough. You can do so much, being kindred. I can call upon any animal to help me if need be." She looked at Crystal, who seemed quite startled at the fact that Danielle could do all this, and actually hid it from her eyes the whole time that she knew her. "I can do a lot more, too." She said as she ran over to her car. She popped open her trunk and lifted out a pair of claws. They reminded Crystal of Vega's claws from Street Fighter. "You can use weapons like these with ease- it's funny." She laughed. Crystal's eyes fell to the still open trunk of the 3000 GT and saw it had a pair of Sais and some Chinese stars littering the bottom. Her eyes trailed up to find an emerald green scabbard strapped to the back wall of the trunk. It was a katana with a beautifully decorated dragon handle. It looked expensive. It was made of a shiny chrome- like silver with golden accents, and the dragon had emerald eyes. In it's talons lay a huge circular opal. Crystal looked at Danielle in disbelief. "How did you not accidentally show me any of these weapons? I knew about the Sais, but the sword, and the claws? They are awesome though, don't get me wrong." She looked at Garan. " I want some weapons!"
Danielle eyed Crystal. "Do you really? I can hook you up if you want." She snickered as she closed the trunk.
Garan looked at the two girls. "Ok Danielle, time to get serious. I think you should begin explaining to Crystal."
Danielle turned to her. "Oh yeah, that is why I came here. Ok, here's the story… Paul, Baldric as he was known back then, killed Merrick as I told you. Merrick was my sire, and my lover, my sweet dark prince. Paul is not part of the Camarilla as you now are. The Camarilla is the oldest and most well established of all the sects, and holds many European and "Old World" cities under it's govern. The main ideal of the Camarilla is to keep the Masquerade. In other words, we believe that because Kindred are so greatly outnumbered by kine, and also need mortals to survive that we must live in with humanity, not against it and never reveal to mortals who and what we really are. We uphold the Traditions religiously. Paul is Sabbat, a sect of vampires controlling much of eastern North America. They are violent and bestial, reveling in needless cruelty. The Sabbat believe, that kindred being stronger should naturally enslave human kind and forget the idea of Masquerading themselves, they see it as a betrayal of a vampire's true nature as a killer. They intend to rule by fear and domination, once they have murdered all of the Antediluvians- the oldest and most powerful -and are proud of the fact that they are damned. His clan is Toreador Antitribu, a mockery of the Camarilla Toreador."
Garan looked really bothered by something. He turned to Danielle and said, "I think, as much as I don't want to do this…I must ask Kuro Hana for his help once again."
Danielle looked shocked. "The Kuro Hana, Garan? But you remember what happened…"
"I know…I know…"
Crystal was absolutely lost. She had no clue what they were referring to. Garan pulled her to him and held her close. Together, they watched the opalescent moon's glow shining on the water.
Chapter 8 >>>