Chapter 27

By Carycomic

COLORADO RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION,

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

(SEPTEMBER 28, 1999)

Sarah Nader was meditating in her sweat lodge when she heard the initially little voice in her head.

"She Who Sings To The Moon. She Who Sings To The Moon!"

Her eyes flew open.

"Who calls my True Name?" she demanded.

"It is I," replied the spirit that shimmered into visibility in direct response. "Vinata Kartikeya. Once of the Nagah. Now, forever accursed by them!"

"Whoa!" exclaimed the Nuwisha Dreamspeaker. "To call this surprising would be an understatement."

"You are surprised that my spirit was condemned to remain forever Earthbound- -eternally separated from my beloved Ananata- -following the execution of my corporeal form for instigating the War of Rage? You should not be. Great was my sin! So, commensurate was my punishment."

"Then, why are you here?" Sarah demanded again. "It's not to rehash ancient history. And it's not in my power to commute your sentence."

"Not directly, that is true," Vinata admitted. "But, my spirit has been invoked by a Shrouded Sun Mokole of the Untekhi Varna on behalf of two cascabel vasuki. They wish to avenge the death of one of their offspring. A young kamsa whose life essence was stolen, while she was still in incubation, by an egg sucking Ratkin Shadow Seer obsessed with likewise stealing her power while it was still untapped! Power he was then forced to share with the Leech who subsequently ghouled him. Only by slaying both that Leech and the Shadow Seer may that power be re-released. And the young kamsa's spirit thereby freed to join her own Ananata! If your friend, the Newcomer, will perform that slaying, on the vasuki's behalf, the Shrouded Sun will intercede with the nearest Nest of Elders on my behalf. Pleading with them to pardon me."

Sarah lowered her head to consider this massive request. Thereby noticing, for the first time, a Gila monster at the entrance to her sweat lodge! The eyes of that purple-and-black lizard staring at her with disconcerting intensity. And, though it only took a few seconds in real time, for Sarah to make her decision, to both her and the ex-Nagah it felt more like an eternity. Finally, Sarah looked up.

"I will ask her. But, that is all I can legitimately promise!"

"Then, that is enough."

Whereupon, Sarah watched as Vinata's spirit receded into the body of the Gila monster... which promptly made a U-turn and exited the sweat lodge.

IONIAN COMMUNE, MOJAVE DESERT,

NEAR SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

(TWO OR THREE HOURS LATER)

"I talked to some of my sources in town," said Anyanka. "According to them, the Ratkin in question was ghouled by one 'Razor Danny' Verdugo of East L.A. And he, in turn, was Embraced by a Lithuanian Temere who first emigrated to Mexico in the mid-eighteenth century!"

"So, Vinata was telling the truth," replied Ultra-Violet. "Which means all we have to do is slay that Tremere to sever the blood bond with the Ratkin. And, then, slay the Ratkin to free the vasuki's daughter."

"It might not be that simple," countered Sarah over Anyanka's cellphone. "If Verdugo is a childe-in-good-sighting, his sire might call for a bloodhunt to avenge his Final Death. Which, in turn, might lead to an all-out invasion of Sunnydale by the Mexican Sabbat!"

"They'd still have to move their forces through Los Angeles," Anyanka retorted. "And that's something Prince Cyrus isn't likely to tolerate. Let alone, permit!"

"He might if he considered preserving the Masquerade as the greater of two practicalities! And Cyrus... is a very, very experienced pragmatist."

"Then, let's split the difference," Ultra-Violet declared. "Anyanka, you go after the Ratkin. And I'll take care of Verdugo. Personally!"

LAPD HEADQUARTERS

SEPTEMBER 28, 1999

(12:45 A.M./PST)

The Huey landed on the helipad atop One Parker Place fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. And Alison Wonderland went off with the two police detectives as they had agreed en route. When asked if he would be joining them, Angel nodded. Noting, however, that he had best check in with Doyle and Faith, first.

It was the former who answered the cellphone.

"Angel! Where in the name of St. Patrick have ya been, boyo?"

"I had to wait for Kate and Francisco to finish getting a tour of the Initiative facility at Sunnydale. So, I stood guard while Sil's corpse-sicle was placed in their morgue."

"Sil?!" the Irishman echoed. "Good Good! Are ya sure she's still there?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just five minutes before ya called, I had a vision of her. She was in that zombie-lookin' bug form of hers, tearin' apart anyone who tried to stop her from tearin' this well-dressed Mexican vamp apart. Kate and Francisco included!"

"That can't be right," muttered Angel. "They're on their way to Russell Winters' house to confront him about the open contract on William Harcourt!"

"They weren't at Winters' house, in the vision. They were at Harcourt's night club! Along with Winters, his pet shyster, and Prince Cyrus, himself!"

Angel suddenly had a bad feeling about that news.

"Doyle! Don't hang up! I'm just calling Riley."

MEANWHILE, IN SUNNYDALE. . .

Amy Madison pulled open the morgue drawer. Gazing down at the naked body of Sil with a semi-dazed expression on her face.

"Ignis incede," she whispered.

Whereupon, the entire ice block caught on fire! Although, it was a psychokinetically-controlled flame that melted a hole in the ice in the exact shape of Sil. Following which, the alien/human hybrid sat bolt upright.

"Who are you? And why are you doing this for me?"

It was Lissa telepathically monitoring everything from Amy's quarters who replied, using Amy's vocal cords. "Let's just say, I'm offering you an alliance of convenience."

At that same moment, in Beverly Hills, Russell Winters was shaking hands with William Harcourt.

"I give you credit, sir," said the Newcomer plutocrat. "Not many men in your position would have the courage to meet with the enemy on his own home ground."

"Not courage," corrected Winters. "Pragmatism. After all, a full-scale gang war profits no one. Except maybe Death, itself!"

Daniel T. Verdugo grinned as he watched the exchange of half-mock pleasantries from the King O' Clubs executive office via a crystal ball disguised as a snow globe of Mexico City's Zocalo. Whereupon, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

"Lissa. It's time."

The Tlacique vampiress relayed that message to Amy, who promptly chanted the teleportation spell: "Erehtavoteg!"

tbc

GLOSSARY

Kartikeya: a Nagah auspice roughly equivalent to a Garou ahroun. Symbolized by summertime and fire.

Naga(h): generic term for the were-snake tribe. Considered by most other were-folk to be extinct! With rumors to the contrary considered to be either hoaxes; or cases of mistaken identity attributable to sightings of Setites in Serpentis mode.

Cascabel: a Latin American species of rattlesnake.

Vasuki: Naga(h)s that hatch from laid snake eggs.

Kamsa: the Nagah auspice, roughly equivalent to a Garou theurge, specializing in mind-control. Symbolized by autumn and water.

Shrouded Sun: a Mokole auspice, equivalent to a Garou theurge.

Mokole: were-reptiles comprising mostly crocodilians and monitor lizards.

Untekhi Varna: the tribe of North American Mokole including Mexican beaded lizards and southwestern U.S. Gila monsters.

Erehtavoteg: "Get ova there," spelled backwards. :-)

Ananata: anyone of a number of aquatic pocket dimensions, within the spirit realm called the Umbra, that are basically personalized versions of Heaven for each Nagah.