A/N: Hehehe. Charlie went ballistic. I love it when she does that. Okay, I'm better now. So what'd you guys think? Interesting, no? This is gonna be my mondo, very big, climax chapter. I may have to split it into two parts. So bear with me if I don't get it just right, kay? I'm trying to pack a lot of stuff in here. R&R please. With little further ado, here it is.
Disclaimers: Here's were Gregor Rainbird comes in, guys. He's my original character, remember? Like I said, please tell me if you decide to use him. I'd just like to see how you intend to do it. Other than that, all my original characters in this chappy are flunkies with few names. Use them at your leisure. Otherwise, I own nothing.
Chapter 13
Having not heard back from Charlie and only from a few of his Kindred messengers, the Prince of San Francisco deemed it best to return to his mansion to wait for Daedalus. Evidently, Kindred were disappearing all over the city without a trace. Julian feared that Charlie might be right about this Rainbird fellow. He did not like loose ends. And it seemed as though the Kindred race as a whole was one big loose end to him. Julian had talked Lillie into retiring with him to the home they both shared. However, the pair of Kindred Elders never reached the front gates.
The rear tires of their black limousine suddenly exploded, causing the car to fishtail dangerously. Cory, the Gangrel driver, pulled to the side of the winding road leading up the hill to the Luna mansion. "Hold tight, sire." he said through the lowered partition, into the back seat, "I'm gonna go see what the problem is."
Julian nodded as he clutched Lillie to him, in order to protect the Toreador. "Be careful, Cory. We don't know what's out there. It's a dangerous time for all our kind."
The Gangrel nodded and got out. Lillie locked the doors behind him. Almost immediately, they heard shots outside the limo. Lights flashed through the back window of the car and they could hear people attempting to get in. Both Julian and Lillie readied themselves for a fight as the locks were shot from the doors. The Kindred never got the chance to defend themselves as the doors were wrenched open and they were simultaneously shot with tranquilizer darts. Lillie only got a couple of good scratches into her opponent's face before darkness overtook her and she collapsed into Julian's lap. He was likewise unconscious.
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Charlie entered The Haven and scanned the crowd. It took her only a few moments to locate the person she sought. Frank Kohanek sat at the bar, having a drink with his partner Sonny. He'd lately figured out that Sonny was Kindred and was currently grilling the Ventrue on various subjects pertaining to his race. He nearly spit his drink out all over his partner when his cousin came up behind him, without warning, and clapped him on the back. "Frank," she said, "you're just the man I've been looking for."
"Charlie, what the hell happened to you?" Frank asked, turning to take stock of his cousin's appearance. She was dressed in red leather pants, black combat boots and a red leather duster jacket that fell to her ankles. Her black cotton tank top was caked in blood which was also smeared across her chest and in her tangled hair. But the features that caught Frank's attention most were Charlie's eyes. They had turned from their usual chocolate brown to bright milky green. He recognized this as an exclusively Kindred trait and blanched.
The Firestarter simply nodded. "Frank, I'll explain all that later. Right now, I need your help. Julian is in danger."
At the mention of his Sire's name, Sonny stood at attention. "Why? What's happened to the Prince?"
Charlie gave Sonny a look to quiet him. She'd been introduced to the Ventrue by Frank. However, she hadn't recognized him as a Kindred of the Clan Ventrue until now. Also, the Firestarter sensed that it was Julian's own Childe she spoke to. "The Hunters have gone after him. I don't know if they have him yet, but they will soon. Where's Lillie?"
"She left earlier with Julian. They were going back to the mansion to wait for Daedalus." Sonny replied. He was slightly panicked at this point. Julian had told him a little about Lillie's newest Childe, and something told him the situation with the Hunters needed a lot more explaining.
"Then, they've probably got her too. Damn." Charlie stated somberly. She turned around and glared at some Kindred who were staring at them. If the word got out, in the city, that all the Elders were MIA, it could create chaos within the Kindred community. Oh, this definitely had to be stopped.
"Hold on," Frank interrupted, "Could somebody please tell me what's going on? Who's after Julian? Who are the Hunters? And what do they want with Lillie?"
Sonny started to explain about the Kindred Hunters that were a hold over from what his people called the Dark Ages, when the Inquisition slaughtered thousands of innocent Kindred. However, Charlie cut him off, saying, "There isn't time for this guys. If we're gonna help the Prince, we have to get going ."
Frank nodded. He still had his issues with Luna, but he wasn't about to let the Prince of the City die, and become the next item on everyone's menu. "What do you need?"
"Do you two know of any abandoned warehouses that have been rented out to a bunch of psychotic looking freaks, lately?"
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When Cash finally came to, Lorraina felt her heart leap. Since Charlie had left, the Primogen had tossed and turned for what seemed like hours without actually regaining consciousness. At one point, Cash had gone into violent convulsions, and, when it was done, he had what looked to be an image of a ball of fire emblazoned on his bare chest just above his heart. *On the up side,* Lorraina thought, * at least his wounds are healed.*
Sasha had gone out and brought back one or two street waifs for Cameron to feed from, as he was still weakened from the drugs and lack of blood. When Cash awoke, she rushed to his side, leaving her own Primogen to regain some of his composure. "Cash," she said, "you're awake."
Lorraina rolled her eyes as she grabbed the canteen she'd retrieved from her saddle bags. "Hello, Mistress of the Obvious." she remarked dryly to the Brujah. Turning to Cash, she handed him the canteen. "How are you feeling?"
Cash chugged the water and gasped for breath, handing the canteen back to his brood-sister. For the briefest of moments, Lorraina thought she saw flames flash across Cash's eyes. "We have to stop her." the Gangrel gasped out as soon as he could stagger to his feet.
"What are you talking about?" Sasha asked as she followed Cash to the door.
"Yeah, stop who?" Lorraina chimed in. Sasha helped Cameron to his feet and they all followed the Ganagrel Primogen out of the ruined building.
"Charlie." Cash replied. "We have to stop Charlie." He motioned for Lorraina to throw him her bomber jacket, to cover his bare chest against the wind.
"Okay, I'll bite," Cameron retorted icily, angry that he'd been roped into following a Gangrel around, "Why do we have to stop your bitchy girlfriend, now?
Cash mounted Lorraina's bike and she got on behind him. Sasha got no hers and motioned for Cameron to follow suit. "Because, you jackass," Cash growled to his rival, "she's going to kill everyone."
Without further elaboration, Cash revved up the motorcycle's engine and sped off into the night. Sasha gave Cameron a shrug and followed Cash. The small group of Gangrels who remained to guard the compound while their Primogen recovered took their cue from the two Brujah and followed the two pairs into the city.
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The Prince of the City awoke with a throbbing headache. He looked around through the haze covering his eyes and quickly located Lillie. The Toreador was tied up to a chair placed back to back with his own. The Hunters had done their homework, it seemed. The chairs anchoring the two were thick, solid oak and their tether was 1000 pound test cable. Lillie was still out cold.
"Well," said a voice emitting from the vast darkness stretching out before Julian, "it seems his Highness has awoken."
"What do you want, Hunter?" the Prince growled out. His eyes shifted to their predatory state in his rage. The Ventrue was in no mood to joke around with his captor.
Suddenly, a light was turned on overhead and Julian could make out the figure of a white haired man. He wore a shirt and tie with a dark green cardigan and khaki pants. The thought popped into the Prince's head that this man looked like a sadistic version of Mr. Rogers; not that Julian ever watched public access. He simply contributed to the show's funds from time to time. Nonetheless, the Mr. Rogers wannabe seemed quite threatening with the aid of the drugs in the Ventrue's system. "Are you quite comfortable?" the wannabe asked. "The tranquilizers we utilize are specially formulated to your species' particular biological make-up."
Julian gave the man a venomous smile. "Such a gracious host. I don't suppose you'd like to tell me why you haven't just slaughtered us all, instead of taking my friends and I prisoner? This isn't exactly the standard procedure for Hunters, is it?"
"Of course," the Hunter replied, with an equally condescending air, "how rude of me. Where are my manners? You have been brought here for the purpose of providing us information we require."
"Information such as?" Julian decided to make small talk as he worked through the muddle in his head.
"Our organization would like to know the names and locations of all the other Princes in North America; as well as the boundaries of all their domains."
This made the Ventrue's eyes flare again. "And what makes you think I would ever agree to such a 'request'?"
The human smiled at him again. "Oh, I don't expect you to cooperate right off the bat. That wouldn't be very much fun, now would it? But, you see, we've captured all of the Elders of your Conclave." As the man talked, more and more armed Hunters came into Julian's view. Slowly, Lillie began to awake. The Ventrue could sense a tremor of fear and aggressiveness go through his ex, and he grabbed her hand to comfort and steady her. Like Julian himself, Lillie felt the need to poise herself for battle. That was until she noticed the steel cables around her wrists. Out of the corner of his eye, the Prince could see some Hunters wheeling in a reinforced iron cage housing a very pissed off, primal looking Nosferatu Primogen.
"We have enough enforcement to wipe out your race in this City. And we have loads of wonderful gadgets and gizmos to extract from you the information we desire. So, resist away." The man had an air of incredible arrogance about him; as if he wasn't holding three majorly pissed-off, dangerous creatures against their will. "This facility is secure enough to keep an army of your kind from getting in."
"Very impressive Mr. Rainbird. But you forget, we Kindred have a chain of command. Others will just move into our places. Then, you'll be right back where you started, and without your cache of information." Julian countered.
" And by then, our people will tear you and your comrades apart." Lillie piped up. She was quickly getting very sick of this little man and his delusions of granduer. Just because he'd managed to capture them didn't mean she owed him any respect or any leniency.
Rainbird's composure wavered at the mention of his name. However, it quickly returned over the course of Julian's argument. "I have to say," Rainbird replied, "I'm impressed. I wouldn't have thought animals like you resourceful enough to find out my name. No matter. As far as your chain of command goes, we have a few little surprises for the other Leeches like you hidden around the city." Fear welled up in Julian, but he did not lose his composure.
"So, you see," he concluded, "You really have no options, at this point. You have no one who can stop me from getting exactly what I want out of you."
"He has me." came the booming reply from the darkness surrounding them. Hunters and Kindred alike turned in all directions trying to find the source of the powerful female voice.
Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the rafters, landing directly between Rainbird and Julian. Charlie rose from the crouch she'd fallen into to meet the gaze of her Prince's captor head on. The Firestarter looked around at all the weapons now aimed at her and broke out into an unexpected grin. "Well now," she said in her best Southern Belle drawl, "you boys didn't have to go to all this trouble for littlie ol' me."
Rainbird gave her an annoyed look. "And who, pre-tell are you?"
"Oh, you might say I'm just an old friend of the family. After all, you are related to John Rainbird aren't you?" She said conversationally, "There 's a bit of a family resemblance-is the only reason I ask." Charlie made no move to free her Sire or her Prince. This seemed to intrigue Rainbird, so he refrained from giving the order to kill her.
"There should be. John was my twin. I'm Gregor Rainbird. " The lead Hunter replied. He didn't know what it was about this woman that he found so intriguing.
Charlie gave a small snicker. "See, I knew it. You two are exactly alike. Any man with that much audacity coupled with stupidity has to be a Rainbird. I mean I bet you thought this whole kidnapping thing was a pretty nifty idea, right?"
The indulgent smile on the man's face dissolved instantly at the implication that he was exactly like his late his brother. In his rage, he missed the blunt insult. "My brother was a fool. He gave up his birthright as a Hunter to play around with some kind of government experiment. It's what killed the poor bastard."
The Firestarter took a few steps toward the spitting image of her arch enemy. The men with guns tenced around her but Rainbird still hadn't given the order to shoot.
"Oh, no." Charlie said sweetly. "I'm what killed him." With a lightening fast movement, the Toreador's hand shot out to her opponent's throat. "Would you like to see how?"
A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to write this chapter. I had major writer's block. I'll try to get back to you with part 2 of this chappy.J
Disclaimers: Here's were Gregor Rainbird comes in, guys. He's my original character, remember? Like I said, please tell me if you decide to use him. I'd just like to see how you intend to do it. Other than that, all my original characters in this chappy are flunkies with few names. Use them at your leisure. Otherwise, I own nothing.
Chapter 13
Having not heard back from Charlie and only from a few of his Kindred messengers, the Prince of San Francisco deemed it best to return to his mansion to wait for Daedalus. Evidently, Kindred were disappearing all over the city without a trace. Julian feared that Charlie might be right about this Rainbird fellow. He did not like loose ends. And it seemed as though the Kindred race as a whole was one big loose end to him. Julian had talked Lillie into retiring with him to the home they both shared. However, the pair of Kindred Elders never reached the front gates.
The rear tires of their black limousine suddenly exploded, causing the car to fishtail dangerously. Cory, the Gangrel driver, pulled to the side of the winding road leading up the hill to the Luna mansion. "Hold tight, sire." he said through the lowered partition, into the back seat, "I'm gonna go see what the problem is."
Julian nodded as he clutched Lillie to him, in order to protect the Toreador. "Be careful, Cory. We don't know what's out there. It's a dangerous time for all our kind."
The Gangrel nodded and got out. Lillie locked the doors behind him. Almost immediately, they heard shots outside the limo. Lights flashed through the back window of the car and they could hear people attempting to get in. Both Julian and Lillie readied themselves for a fight as the locks were shot from the doors. The Kindred never got the chance to defend themselves as the doors were wrenched open and they were simultaneously shot with tranquilizer darts. Lillie only got a couple of good scratches into her opponent's face before darkness overtook her and she collapsed into Julian's lap. He was likewise unconscious.
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Charlie entered The Haven and scanned the crowd. It took her only a few moments to locate the person she sought. Frank Kohanek sat at the bar, having a drink with his partner Sonny. He'd lately figured out that Sonny was Kindred and was currently grilling the Ventrue on various subjects pertaining to his race. He nearly spit his drink out all over his partner when his cousin came up behind him, without warning, and clapped him on the back. "Frank," she said, "you're just the man I've been looking for."
"Charlie, what the hell happened to you?" Frank asked, turning to take stock of his cousin's appearance. She was dressed in red leather pants, black combat boots and a red leather duster jacket that fell to her ankles. Her black cotton tank top was caked in blood which was also smeared across her chest and in her tangled hair. But the features that caught Frank's attention most were Charlie's eyes. They had turned from their usual chocolate brown to bright milky green. He recognized this as an exclusively Kindred trait and blanched.
The Firestarter simply nodded. "Frank, I'll explain all that later. Right now, I need your help. Julian is in danger."
At the mention of his Sire's name, Sonny stood at attention. "Why? What's happened to the Prince?"
Charlie gave Sonny a look to quiet him. She'd been introduced to the Ventrue by Frank. However, she hadn't recognized him as a Kindred of the Clan Ventrue until now. Also, the Firestarter sensed that it was Julian's own Childe she spoke to. "The Hunters have gone after him. I don't know if they have him yet, but they will soon. Where's Lillie?"
"She left earlier with Julian. They were going back to the mansion to wait for Daedalus." Sonny replied. He was slightly panicked at this point. Julian had told him a little about Lillie's newest Childe, and something told him the situation with the Hunters needed a lot more explaining.
"Then, they've probably got her too. Damn." Charlie stated somberly. She turned around and glared at some Kindred who were staring at them. If the word got out, in the city, that all the Elders were MIA, it could create chaos within the Kindred community. Oh, this definitely had to be stopped.
"Hold on," Frank interrupted, "Could somebody please tell me what's going on? Who's after Julian? Who are the Hunters? And what do they want with Lillie?"
Sonny started to explain about the Kindred Hunters that were a hold over from what his people called the Dark Ages, when the Inquisition slaughtered thousands of innocent Kindred. However, Charlie cut him off, saying, "There isn't time for this guys. If we're gonna help the Prince, we have to get going ."
Frank nodded. He still had his issues with Luna, but he wasn't about to let the Prince of the City die, and become the next item on everyone's menu. "What do you need?"
"Do you two know of any abandoned warehouses that have been rented out to a bunch of psychotic looking freaks, lately?"
**********************************************************************************
When Cash finally came to, Lorraina felt her heart leap. Since Charlie had left, the Primogen had tossed and turned for what seemed like hours without actually regaining consciousness. At one point, Cash had gone into violent convulsions, and, when it was done, he had what looked to be an image of a ball of fire emblazoned on his bare chest just above his heart. *On the up side,* Lorraina thought, * at least his wounds are healed.*
Sasha had gone out and brought back one or two street waifs for Cameron to feed from, as he was still weakened from the drugs and lack of blood. When Cash awoke, she rushed to his side, leaving her own Primogen to regain some of his composure. "Cash," she said, "you're awake."
Lorraina rolled her eyes as she grabbed the canteen she'd retrieved from her saddle bags. "Hello, Mistress of the Obvious." she remarked dryly to the Brujah. Turning to Cash, she handed him the canteen. "How are you feeling?"
Cash chugged the water and gasped for breath, handing the canteen back to his brood-sister. For the briefest of moments, Lorraina thought she saw flames flash across Cash's eyes. "We have to stop her." the Gangrel gasped out as soon as he could stagger to his feet.
"What are you talking about?" Sasha asked as she followed Cash to the door.
"Yeah, stop who?" Lorraina chimed in. Sasha helped Cameron to his feet and they all followed the Ganagrel Primogen out of the ruined building.
"Charlie." Cash replied. "We have to stop Charlie." He motioned for Lorraina to throw him her bomber jacket, to cover his bare chest against the wind.
"Okay, I'll bite," Cameron retorted icily, angry that he'd been roped into following a Gangrel around, "Why do we have to stop your bitchy girlfriend, now?
Cash mounted Lorraina's bike and she got on behind him. Sasha got no hers and motioned for Cameron to follow suit. "Because, you jackass," Cash growled to his rival, "she's going to kill everyone."
Without further elaboration, Cash revved up the motorcycle's engine and sped off into the night. Sasha gave Cameron a shrug and followed Cash. The small group of Gangrels who remained to guard the compound while their Primogen recovered took their cue from the two Brujah and followed the two pairs into the city.
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The Prince of the City awoke with a throbbing headache. He looked around through the haze covering his eyes and quickly located Lillie. The Toreador was tied up to a chair placed back to back with his own. The Hunters had done their homework, it seemed. The chairs anchoring the two were thick, solid oak and their tether was 1000 pound test cable. Lillie was still out cold.
"Well," said a voice emitting from the vast darkness stretching out before Julian, "it seems his Highness has awoken."
"What do you want, Hunter?" the Prince growled out. His eyes shifted to their predatory state in his rage. The Ventrue was in no mood to joke around with his captor.
Suddenly, a light was turned on overhead and Julian could make out the figure of a white haired man. He wore a shirt and tie with a dark green cardigan and khaki pants. The thought popped into the Prince's head that this man looked like a sadistic version of Mr. Rogers; not that Julian ever watched public access. He simply contributed to the show's funds from time to time. Nonetheless, the Mr. Rogers wannabe seemed quite threatening with the aid of the drugs in the Ventrue's system. "Are you quite comfortable?" the wannabe asked. "The tranquilizers we utilize are specially formulated to your species' particular biological make-up."
Julian gave the man a venomous smile. "Such a gracious host. I don't suppose you'd like to tell me why you haven't just slaughtered us all, instead of taking my friends and I prisoner? This isn't exactly the standard procedure for Hunters, is it?"
"Of course," the Hunter replied, with an equally condescending air, "how rude of me. Where are my manners? You have been brought here for the purpose of providing us information we require."
"Information such as?" Julian decided to make small talk as he worked through the muddle in his head.
"Our organization would like to know the names and locations of all the other Princes in North America; as well as the boundaries of all their domains."
This made the Ventrue's eyes flare again. "And what makes you think I would ever agree to such a 'request'?"
The human smiled at him again. "Oh, I don't expect you to cooperate right off the bat. That wouldn't be very much fun, now would it? But, you see, we've captured all of the Elders of your Conclave." As the man talked, more and more armed Hunters came into Julian's view. Slowly, Lillie began to awake. The Ventrue could sense a tremor of fear and aggressiveness go through his ex, and he grabbed her hand to comfort and steady her. Like Julian himself, Lillie felt the need to poise herself for battle. That was until she noticed the steel cables around her wrists. Out of the corner of his eye, the Prince could see some Hunters wheeling in a reinforced iron cage housing a very pissed off, primal looking Nosferatu Primogen.
"We have enough enforcement to wipe out your race in this City. And we have loads of wonderful gadgets and gizmos to extract from you the information we desire. So, resist away." The man had an air of incredible arrogance about him; as if he wasn't holding three majorly pissed-off, dangerous creatures against their will. "This facility is secure enough to keep an army of your kind from getting in."
"Very impressive Mr. Rainbird. But you forget, we Kindred have a chain of command. Others will just move into our places. Then, you'll be right back where you started, and without your cache of information." Julian countered.
" And by then, our people will tear you and your comrades apart." Lillie piped up. She was quickly getting very sick of this little man and his delusions of granduer. Just because he'd managed to capture them didn't mean she owed him any respect or any leniency.
Rainbird's composure wavered at the mention of his name. However, it quickly returned over the course of Julian's argument. "I have to say," Rainbird replied, "I'm impressed. I wouldn't have thought animals like you resourceful enough to find out my name. No matter. As far as your chain of command goes, we have a few little surprises for the other Leeches like you hidden around the city." Fear welled up in Julian, but he did not lose his composure.
"So, you see," he concluded, "You really have no options, at this point. You have no one who can stop me from getting exactly what I want out of you."
"He has me." came the booming reply from the darkness surrounding them. Hunters and Kindred alike turned in all directions trying to find the source of the powerful female voice.
Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the rafters, landing directly between Rainbird and Julian. Charlie rose from the crouch she'd fallen into to meet the gaze of her Prince's captor head on. The Firestarter looked around at all the weapons now aimed at her and broke out into an unexpected grin. "Well now," she said in her best Southern Belle drawl, "you boys didn't have to go to all this trouble for littlie ol' me."
Rainbird gave her an annoyed look. "And who, pre-tell are you?"
"Oh, you might say I'm just an old friend of the family. After all, you are related to John Rainbird aren't you?" She said conversationally, "There 's a bit of a family resemblance-is the only reason I ask." Charlie made no move to free her Sire or her Prince. This seemed to intrigue Rainbird, so he refrained from giving the order to kill her.
"There should be. John was my twin. I'm Gregor Rainbird. " The lead Hunter replied. He didn't know what it was about this woman that he found so intriguing.
Charlie gave a small snicker. "See, I knew it. You two are exactly alike. Any man with that much audacity coupled with stupidity has to be a Rainbird. I mean I bet you thought this whole kidnapping thing was a pretty nifty idea, right?"
The indulgent smile on the man's face dissolved instantly at the implication that he was exactly like his late his brother. In his rage, he missed the blunt insult. "My brother was a fool. He gave up his birthright as a Hunter to play around with some kind of government experiment. It's what killed the poor bastard."
The Firestarter took a few steps toward the spitting image of her arch enemy. The men with guns tenced around her but Rainbird still hadn't given the order to shoot.
"Oh, no." Charlie said sweetly. "I'm what killed him." With a lightening fast movement, the Toreador's hand shot out to her opponent's throat. "Would you like to see how?"
A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to write this chapter. I had major writer's block. I'll try to get back to you with part 2 of this chappy.J