A/N: I'm trying to update a little more frequently now that people are showing more interest in this story. I'll keep it up as long as I can but please forgive me if I go a while between updates. Let me know what you think of this chapter, okay?

Disclaimer: I own Jessie Renard, Amelia St. Cloud, and a few minor characters. Everything else is someone else's bag.

Chapter 9

Jordan Cavanaugh dazedly looked around the lushly decorated office. The last thing she remembered clearly was being in an autopsy room with Bug. She vaguely recalled being on a rooftop with Peter, but it was hard to make out the details of that memory.

Now, her senses were coming back to her after what seemed to be a long while. Her hearing was the first to process. Muffled voices, that sounded like they were coming from another room a minute ago, where defining themselves. Now Jordan realized that the people talking were barely a few feet away from her. In fact a man's voice, which she quickly put together as Nigel's, seemed to be coming from the chair right next to her.

"…and I don't care who the hell you think you are! I will bloody well worry as much as I bloody well please!"

A woman's voice, from somewhere in front of Jordan, tried to sound soothing. "I understand your concern Mr. Townsend. But the effect will wear off momentarily. Honestly, I have not hurt her in any way."

"Tell that to my head." Jordan said, a hand going to her temples which had begun to throb. Her vision had finally righted itself and she gave the blond Prince a glare. Everything was beginning to come back; the weird flying smoke-guy, the attack on Garrett, the rooftop, everything.

"Okay, now that I've officially entered the Twilight Zone, with the migraine of the century I might add, would anyone care to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Nigel looked into Jordan's eyes. After a moment, he seemed satisfied that she hadn't been lobotomized and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "You had me worried for a minute there, darling. You didn't say a word the whole way here."

"And here would be…?"

"You are at my home Ms. Cavanaugh. May I call you Jordan?"

"Sure, if you'll tell me who you are, what's going on, and what the hell you did to me up on that rooftop."

The blond lady smiled warmly. "My name is Amelia St. Cloud. I've brought you and Mr. Townsend here to my home for your own safety. There is a very dangerous creature loose in the City and he seems to have set his sights on you. As for what happened on the rooftop, let's just say I have a hypnotic personality."

"Why do I think that's not the whole story?" Jordan retorted. Nigel was staying strangely silent during this whole exchange.

Again Amelia let out an amused chuckle. Her green eyes danced in mirth. "You do so remind me of your mother.

"That's the second time you've mentioned my mother. Did you know her?" Jordan stared at Amelia. She looked to be in her early fifties. Her golden hair was turning to wisps of white at the temple.

"Yes I knew your mother. She helped me out of a tight spot once when she was a young girl. We were quite good friends up until she passed away." At this, a shadowed expression passed over Amelia's face. "Before she died, I made her a promise that I would protect you if circumstances ever led you into my world. And now, regrettably, that seems to be the case."

"Your world?" Jordan looked confused. She glanced over at Nigel to see if any of this made sense to him but his eyes were stubbornly focused on Amelia.

"The world of the Kindred." Amelia replied, bringing Jordan's attention back to her. "We're a breed apart from humanity. We exist in the shadows. Some would call us vampires. But unlike the vampires of myth, Kindred do not kill humans for pleasure or food."

Jordan nodded, taking deep breaths as the information set in. It actually explained a lot. "So that guy who attacked us at the Morgue was…?"

"One of us, yes. Although, he was a Ravnos. Clan Ravnos does not abide by our rules of the Masquerade. They have no qualms about killing, which is why my people are out trying to catch him as we speak." Amelia looked troubled for a moment before returning to her previous neutral expression.

"What's the Masquerade?" Jordan's migraine was beginning to intensify but she couldn't let the subject go.

"The Masquerade is a code of conduct that all Kindred live by. It allows us to blend into human society so your people will not hunt us. Among our rules are the tenants against killing and against revealing our existence to humans."

"But you've just revealed your existence to us."

Amelia grinned, "Actually it was the Ravnos who broke the Masquerade. I'm simply fulfilling the promise I made to your mother. I'm telling you this to protect you. Because, if you're anything like she was, you'll probably get yourself into a heap of trouble trying to figure this all out on your own. I hope I can save us all grief and answer any questions you have up front."

Jordan nodded, accepting the older woman's explanation. "Okay, then what's all this business about clans?

"Kindred are divided into different clans based on our bloodlines. Each clan has different characteristics. I am part of Clan Ventrue. In general, we're the ones in positions of authority within Kindred society. Your friend Jessica is a member of Clan Gangrel. Gangrels are gypsies. They're fiercely loyal creatures and tend to stick to themselves. But in the cities where they settle, they often act as Enforcers for the Prince. The Prince of the City is the leader of all Kindred in a given area. I just happen to be the Prince of Boston."

"But you're a girl, how can you be a Prin…..Wait…. Jessie's a vampire?" Jordan's eyebrows shot into her hairline as her brain caught up with her. She turned to her boyfriend, who looked like he was trying to disappear into the floor. "Did you know about this?"

Nigel shot Amelia a panicked look. She decided to take pity on him. "Mr. Townsend has been in our confidence for many months now. Almost since he met Ms. Renard, if I'm not mistaken."

Jordan's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Nige, what's she talking about?"

"I wanted to tell you, luv. Honestly." Nigel's eyes were downcast in guilt. "I really did want to tell you, I just couldn't."

"Tell me what? You're ex-girlfriend, who's now dating Peter, just happens to be a vampire. And you couldn't tell me!" Jordan lately realized that she'd begun shouting halfway through her sentence. She gave a mental shrug and decided just to go with it. "Why the hell not!"

"Because it would have meant his death." Amelia cut in. "He joined an organization of humans who know about Kindred and cooperate with us. As a member of the Herd, Nigel was sworn to secrecy about our existence. The penalty for breaking that oath is death."

Jordan's mind was reeling and Nigel seemed to have literally sunk into himself. But before the brunette could put her two cents in, one of Amelia's guards burst into the room. Nigel recognized him as the brute that'd bruised his wrists back at the Morgue.

The Prince of the City looked annoyed. "What is it Lionel?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you my Prince, but I have an urgent message from Cash." Lionel looked nervously at the two humans in the room.

"It's alright Lionel you may speak freely. What is the message?" Amelia tried to look patient.

"The Gangrel Primogen of San Francisco requests permission for an emergency Embrace, Sire."

"Grounds?"

"The female Gangrel is dying. She's slipping into Torpor. He has a Herd member on hand willing to provide the needed transfusion. Cash says the man has already been claimed by the San Francisco Gangrels." The tall burly Ventrue was shifting nervously from foot to foot.

For a moment, Amelia looked like she was mulling the idea over. She then nodded to her bodyguard. "Tell Cash he has his permission. But the Fledgling can't be allowed out of the house afterwards. And I want the young one presented by his Primogen, in my office, after the First Torment subsides."

Lionel nodded once and made a swift exit. Amelia turned back to her stunned guests and smiled. "Now, where were we?"

Peter had an iron grip on Jessie's limp hand. She was lying on a bed with her hands and feet bound to the bedposts. This has to work, he thought. I can't lose her. Not now that I've just found her again.

Cash was pacing the length of the small guest bedroom. Scenarios of Jessie dying and leaving him to hunt down the Ravnos that killed her ran through his head. It was one of the few times in his life he'd been relieved that Stevie-Ray wasn't around. Cash would not have relished his Sire's reaction to Jessie getting hurt. Of all his Childer, Stevie had been most protective of J.J.

Finally, the Ventrue guard arrived to tell them they had Amelia's permission to proceed.

Cash took a deep breath and turned to Peter. "Are you sure about this, Rocky?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I weren't sure." Peter replied, removing his jacket. His eyes were still locked on to Jessie. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep her alive."

"She's gonna be pissed when she comes to, you know. I mean, I know what it's like to have a perspective Childe snatched out from under you. It's happened to me twice. It really bites." Cash retorted.

"At least she'll be alive."

"I know but I just want you to be sure that…."

Peter cut him off, placing a hand on Cash's shoulder. "Look, man. I'm positive about this. You're my best friend Cash. And I was planning to join the family anyways. It's where I belong. Okay?"

Cash nodded reluctantly. Peter took another deep breath. He walked back over and set down on the bed next to Jessie. "Okay, let's get this show on the road. What exactly do I do?"

The blond Gangrel pulled a wicked looking hunting knife out of his boot. "I'm gonna have to slice you. Then you need to place the wound to her mouth. When she gets enough blood in her, she'll probably wake up in Frenzy. That's why we tied her down. Then, I'll take it from there."

"Right." Peter said, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt and handing his wrist to Cash.

"This is gonna hurt like hell." Cash warned.

"Just do it."

Peter gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as he felt his friend cut into the flesh of his wrist. He felt a sharp pain and warm liquid running down his arm. He opened his eyes and spun around toward Jessie, placing the spurting cut to her open mouth. It was a few very long seconds of feeling his blood drain away before Peter saw any change in Jessie.

First, he saw her throat muscles begin to move as her swallowing reflex kicked in. A second later, Jessie's eyes snapped open. They were predatory and glowing. Then, she latched onto the wound and began to struggle against her bonds. Peter again gritted his teeth against the pain of having his lifeblood sucked from him. After a few minutes, he began to slump over as dizziness and darkness started to overtake him.

Cash rushed over, prying his friend away from his Frenzied brood-sister. He lay Peter down on the lushly carpeted floor for safety's sake. He had a gauze bandage ready to wrap around Peter's injured wrist. As he applied the first-aid, Cash could hear Jessie growl slightly in the background before settling down into a soft purr as she fell back to sleep. He couldn't help but shake his head at the irony of the situation. Here, he had lost two women he loved to Embraces by other Sires, and he was about to do the same thing to Jessie in order to save her life.

"Alright, Cash man. Time's a wastin." He mumbled to himself before taking the hunting knife to his own arm. He made the same cut he'd made on Peter and lifted it to the younger man's lips.

Peter was quicker to respond than Jessie had been. This left Cash very grateful that he'd fed well before he'd gotten the call from Peter about the attack at the Morgue. Though, Peter was still unconscious, his hunger left nothing to be desired. The least Cash could do was make sure Peter would be as strong as he could be going into the First Torment. The body's change from being human to being Kindred was an exceedingly painful process and blood hunger only exacerbated it.

Cash felt a flood of memories from Peter as the Embrace went on. First, there were memories of two twin boys playing together as children. Then, there were images of the twins joined by a young girl as teenagers. Cash saw Peter's memories of medical school and being stung out on drugs. And finally there were images of his time at the Morgue.

When he was sure Peter had taken enough blood, Cash lay him down on the bed next to his sleeping girlfriend.

Bandaging his own wrist, Cash opened the door to the hallway, sticking his head out. "Hey, Lionel! Where'd you run off to?"

The Ventrue guard appeared seemingly out of nowhere, carrying a bottle of blood wine. He held the bottle out to Cash. "The Prince suggested I bring you this."

The Gangrel gave a grateful nod before pulling out the cork with his teeth and chugging the contents. Lionel raised an eyebrow. "That's a very good vintage, you know. It should be savored."

"Yeah I'll have to remember that next time." Cash retorted sarcastically between gulps. Returning to the room, he slumped down in a chair across from the bed, leaving Lionel to wander off. Taking in the scene of the couple on the bed, Cash sighed tiredly. "You two are gonna have my work cut out for me. But just so you know, you both are gonna owe me big for this one when we get home."