Chapter 11: Blood Spilled for Little Gain
Gale flew high above the roads of Pownal. She'd spent the evening and most of the day following the truck which carried Benjamin. It wasn't easy of course, with the truck moving fifty miles an hour and her hawk form just barely managing to keep up. But now that the roads were getting riskier for the driver she was able to get closer.
On either side of the road, if the truck turned just the wrong way, it would end up crashing into a ditch. It might not be enough to cause an explosion, but it would confuse things while she made quick work of Benjamin. The others need never know she had been there.
Gale folded her wings and dived.
Trent was dead asleep as the truck wound its way through Pownal's back roads. It was comforting being back in the town he grew up in, and it wouldn't be long before they were back in Bennington.
Suddenly, something caused the driver to curse and yank the steering wheel hard to the left. Trent woke up, startled, "No don't-"
It was too late. The truck veered off the right sliding down a hill. The guard tried to hit the breaks but it was useless as ice and slush flew everywhere. Younger trees were snapped in half as it barreled downwards.
"Jump!" The guard shouted.
"What?"
"Jump now!"
Trent struggled to open the passenger door as the guard leapt from the driver's seat.
The guard hit the ground hard, grabbing a dead bush to keep from falling further. He looked down as the truck slid further.
"Kid! Get out of there!"
The truck finally hit a rock and flipped over onto its side. There was no sign of the Ventrue, or his own guys climbing out. It slid further down until it finally hit a muddy bank. Fortunately, the gas tank didn't explode. The guard waited while his injuries and lacerations healed themselves.
He scanned the area above and below. At the truck he could see the other guards struggling to get the cooler door opened. The guard got to his feet and used his preternatural abilities to keep his balance as he moved towards the vehicle to help.
Something hard hit him from behind and he stumbled forward. Shock preceded the pain as his stomach was torn apart by a jagged tree stump. His sight began to fade as a hawk flew towards the truck and transformed.
Gale stood before the truck as the rear door slid open. One armed Brujah and one badly injured Tremere were all that survived the crash. The remaining Brujah flew to hard into the front of the cabin and Benjamin was struggling to get free of his restraints.
"Stay where you are!" The remaining guard shouted, raising his gun.
Gale looked down on the guard, who was still crawling on his hands and knees to get free of the truck. She held back a grin and simply held out her hand. Though she was still learning many things her telekinesis was considerably advanced. It was one of the skills she used most often to impress the Vermont Wiccans.
The gun flew from the guard's hand and into hers, flipping itself around so she could slip her finger around the trigger. She fired once and the Brujah exploded in a cloud of smoke.
Something brushed past her and it didn't take her long to realize it was Benjamin. He snuck up behind her and threw his arms around her. She struggled against his powerful body as he leaned in to speak, "Why this betrayal?"
"I am not betraying anyone," Gale replied. "I am acting as my prince has instructed me."
She strained her arm to place the gun at Benjamin's head. Benjamin let go and leapt from her range. Gale looked around, reaching out with her senses but finding nothing.
"The prince is most displeased with your actions. By his power bestowed upon him by the Motherhouse I have been charged with this responsibility. You have been sentenced to Final Death."
"Then you die an honorable death."
Gale felt a sudden spasm of heat grow from within her. A flame overwhelmed her body and began to consume her.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Benjamin appeared in front of her as she fell to her hands and knees. The snow beneath her began to melt and the ground became muddier.
"I'll face the prince myself," he said, looking the initiate in the eye as she burned. "But I'll be damned if I'll let a childe end me."
"In that case…you're damned."
Benjamin frowned. He turned around slowly to see a badly injured vampire childe with a rifle in his one good arm. The sound of gun fire echoed throughout the hills, and the subsequent explosion ricocheted even louder.
Trent dropped the rifle and fell to his knees. Blood soaked his clothes and everywhere else, but he didn't have enough strength to replace it. He exchanged a look with the now smoldering Tremere. Though she was now well beyond communication, he thought he could see a sign of gratefulness in her eyes.
"You're welcome," He said. And then he fell to his side and slipped into torpor.
Snow fell over Bennington once more. The occasional police cruiser and the random evening motorist were the only people on the road this evening. Silence gripped the tiny city like a vice, choking the sound but allowing the life to breathe.
Silently they walked towards the building. Some in groups, some alone, some in human form others as animals. Bats hung from the light posts, keeping a silent vigil on the Chantry. Several wolves congregated near the house while "investigators" searched it for evidence.
There was a new blood hunt now. And this time there were new retributions to be had. Only this time it wasn't just the Gangrel who had been wronged. Gangrel, Brujah, and Ventrue, all had a score to settle with the Tremere. Happy to see the Tremere getting what they had coming, the Tzcimizse were only too eager to help with the search, and they used every locator spell they knew of. The Lasombra had been ordered to help out in anyway possible and the Toreador and the Nosferatu were staying out of it.
As Zarius' enforcer Sean was authorized to take whatever actions were necessary
"She must have seen this coming," Andrew told Sean. "Amanda and Tanith cleared out of here long ago."
"They might have gone to New York," Another Gangrel suggested. "Bastian has a reward for her capture and that would make New Hampshire a suicide run."
"I have Gangrel all over the bypass and every other road going right through to Troy." Andrew said. "I even have them checking the wild areas where she might try to hide out."
Sean was resolutely silent the whole day and evening. Rage burned within him like a roaring fire on a steady diet of gasoline. When nothing could be done in the town he returned to the college and sat in the student lounge. The human students paid him no notice and the Kindred gave him a glance over and a reverent greeting. Sean shut them all out.
When the rage finally subsided it was almost two in the morning. Christmas Eve was still a week away. To his surprise, Mary stepped into the lounge and sat down in one of the chairs. Sean was lying down on the sofa staring up at the ceiling. A heavy clump of snow slid off the roof, making the only noise for a while. It was Mary who broke the silence.
"I wonder what I'll do with his present."
"What?" Sean said, not looking up.
"His present, Trent's I mean. Of course I give them to all my children," Mary went on. "I wasn't too sure what to get him, his tastes changed so often in the last five years. Well, you remember of course."
Sean didn't say anything.
"Trent had such a passion for the world and the way it worked. He never hated anyone really, even if they did especially evil things to others. He wouldn't have hated Benjamin or Amanda."
"I lost my best friend and my childe to Tremere bullshit," Sean said, the rage threatening to rekindle again. "I'm not in the mood to hear how I should forgive and forget."
"And I never want you to forget," Mary said firmly. "I want you to remember Trent and Kyle and the people they were. Don't become so consumed with vengeance that you forget the people you loved."
"I'll never forget them."
"Good. Because Zarius needs to know you can still lead the Gangrel. You should hear him speak of you Sean. Zarius was impressed with the way you forced your clan to work with the Brujah, ignoring clan rivalry to serve all Kindred."
"I blackmailed Bastian."
"However you did it. The time to make a decision is coming near, and neither of the Tremere are being too helpful in locating their primogen."
Sean sat up so he could look directly at Mary.
"Kyle was doing some investigative work on Amanda's cell phone wasn't he?"
Mary smiled. The old Sean was coming back.
"Yes. Zarius also asked me to give you this." Mary produced a blank cassette tape. "Kyle suspected something from Amanda, and he and Zarius asked her to record something she had said."
"He knew I'd find something," Sean said. He took the tape and held it in his hands, remembering Kyle. "I'm never gonna find another one like him."
"Never." Mary agreed, placing her hand on Sean's knee. "If you live to be a million years old, no one will ever be quite like Kyle. I know because no one will ever replace Trent either. That pain must be even deeper for you since you knew and loved him before we met."
"If you knew…" Sean thought for a moment. "That is, knowing what you know now…would you do this all over again?"
Mary smiled as she rose from the seat. Before she left the room she stopped and looked at him.
"You know the answer to that."
"It is with great regret, and utmost embarrassment that I must inform you of the traitor within my clan's ranks. I came upon one of our initiates speaking with someone, possibly one of the insubordinate creatures who trespassed into Vermont and violated the Masquerade. She had been…orchestrating the murders of Gangrel in the area in order to cover up for her own doings here. While your primogen has been chasing the Maine Tremere all over Vermont, Elizabeth was siring Caitiff who were also taking attention away from her."
Sean rewound the tape and played it again. He was sitting in the office of one of the professors, who was away for the Christmas Break.
"It is with great regret, and utmost embarrassment that I must inform you of the traitor within my clan's ranks."
Rewind and play again.
"-great regret, and utmost embarrassment that I must inform you of the traitor within my clan's ranks."
Not there. Fast forward.
"-came upon one of our initiates speaking with someone, possibly one of the insubordinate creatures who trespassed into Vermont and violated the Masquerade."
He could sense the deceit in her voice. Although this was Amanda repeating what she said for the recorder, the lies were still as strong as if she were standing there talking to him. But by now it was obvious she was the culprit.
"Why didn't I act on my instincts," he berated himself.
Sean checked his e-mail for any messages from Kyle. There was a new letter from James Reed, and two more letters from Aaron in Canada. The first one said that Aaron and the Montreal Gangrel successfully cleared out a derelict apartment building used by the Setites. The second one was a request to confirm that Kyle was now dead. Word traveled fast in the Kindred community. Sean typed up a brief response and invited Aaron to come down as there would likely be a funeral service for both Kyle and Trent. He hesitated to add Merry Christmas.
There was a knock at his door. Sean looked up and saw Gunn and a dark skinned boy standing in the hall.
"Where the hell have you been?" Sean demanded, standing up.
"Please," Gunn held out his hands. "Let me explain. The Assamites were wronged as much as you were."
"Well it's funny how I remember Allen attacking us."
"Allen was not entirely under his own control." Gunn said, turning to the neonate beside him. "This is Dennis. He was innocently dragged into all of this. Let him tell you what he knows."
Sean considered it for a second. Then he sat down and gestured that they do the same. He listened quietly, letting his anger died down as Dennis said what he had to say. He spoke briefly about his life in New Hampshire and his choice to take Sarah and run for better or for worse. And finally he ended with his embrace by Allen, and how the other Tremere thought he was Amanda.
"Allen had been meeting with Amanda secretly," Gunn said when Dennis was finished. "We knew he had to have some reason so we didn't question him. You know our clan is dwindling here, with just five or six Assamites in the entire New England area."
"So Allen thought Amanda might make things good for you if he went along with what he asked." Sean summed up. "And when she found out that he likes to play by his own rules she took control of him. That doesn't give us Amanda."
"Actually," Dennis spoke up. "The phone that the girl called you with…wasn't Amanda's."
"Ivan Rochbergh is our new primogen," Gunn said. "He ordered me to get Dennis out of the police station, and then he located the phone service Amanda's phone was connected to. A Boston based service called Distance Wireless."
"Never heard of them."
"Few people have. They serve a localized area of Boston and Maine. Ivan ordered a contact of his to do some detective work and he discovered that the phone Amanda was using was not listed to her, but to a main named Leigh Zeus."
Sean was confused for a minute. Then he remembered something about Amanda's past.
"Lazarus?" He thought out loud.
Gunn nodded.
"She was trying to get him to come out here," Dennis explained. "So she kept causing trouble here in Vermont and using his cell phone so that if Benjamin couldn't lure him out his cell phone bill could."
Sean smacked himself on the head.
"I never figured it out."
"Amanda had this all planned to the letter," Gunn said, assuring. "We didn't even see it coming."
"Will you bring that to Edgar?" Sean asked. "He can track her down with his location magic."
"I'll do it. But Dennis has a request to make of you."
Sean raised an eyebrow.
"It's about Sarah," Dennis said. "We got her out of the police station. I love her and I want her to be with me forever."
"I can't give you permission to embrace her. That's up to Ivan and the prince."
"I don't want her to be an Assamite. I accept what happened to me and I'll serve my clan now that I know what's expected of me. But I know you guys have a free embrace…and, I think Sarah would make an excellent Gangrel."
Sean sighed and sat back in his chair. He looked from Dennis to Gunn.
"How old is she?"
"She'll be eighteen next October."
"Alright, in honor of the help you've given me and my clan and because you lost your primogen through his poor judgment…when she is old enough I will embrace her."
"But why can't you embrace her now? You were sixteen and I'm seventeen now."
"You and I were embraced under tight circumstances. I've got laws I have to obey just like you do now. That being said, Sarah can't know anything about Kindred until the time before she's embraced. And even then she must be given the choice."
Gunn placed a hand on Dennis's shoulder.
"Thank you," Dennis said, catching the cue.
With a customary bow from Gunn, the two Assamites went to Edgar. Sean immediately dialed Zarius' office number to tell him the news.
