Inside the House Moments Ago
Sayuri stumbled into the house, she whirled in panic to see what had happened to Kashi. As she turned she saw another group of rough looking customers headed around the corner of the hall. She instinctively dashed away from them into the living room. Instead of being full of partygoers, she room was strangely empty.
"Sayuri over here!" Willow's voice called out from the stairwell to the basement.
Willow's head peeped up from the stairwell. She raised an arm to urge Sayuri toward her.
Sayuri responded with a mad dash to the stairwell. She very nearly bowled Willow over and down the stairs in the process. She saw Ken and Kimmy looking out from the door to the left end of the bottom of the stairwell. Obviously, that was were the indoor partygoers had taken shelter.
"Kashi said we had to get you out of here! Who are these people?! Are they after him?! Why are they after him?! Maybe we should hide in the basement! Has anyone called the cops?!" Sayuri babbled nervously.
Willow put her finger to her lips. She poked her head up again. Satisfied, she lowered herself down again.
"Gang bangers. They think Kashi gave information to the police about them. They came to get revenge.I already called for help. We could stay put until help gets here, but if they find us they might use us as hostages against Kashi." Willow mused.
While Willow seemed to focus inward on her thoughts, Sayuri looked down at the scared faces of Ken, Kimmy and a few others who'd crept closer to see what was happening. She knew from previous visits to this yearly party that the younger teens and tweens would have been in the basement.
"We can't let them get dragged into this, Willow. Kashi said to get you out of here and run home, so we're going home." She took Willow's arm and started up the stairs.
Sayuri heard yet another group pass the open archway to the front hall. How many gang members could they have possibly brought? She wondered this as she dashed, with Willow in tow, for the front door hoping to get through the hall while in the break between groups.
Willow was shocked and horrified at Sayuri's course of action. She was taking Kashi's advice! That was like asking a cosmetologist how to perform an appendectomy. Willow was powerless to stop her, however. While not extraordinarily strong, Sayuri stayed in shape. Willow, on the other hand, was small for her age and thin. She found herself dragged along helplessly.
Barging out the door and down the porch, Sayuri saw a horrifying sight. The car was blocked in. Three vans were parked in the center of the street. Two had their doors open. They were still disgorging more assailants as she watched. The now empty lead van sped away as she looked on. In the distance she could see another coming to take it's place in line. Sayuri took off across the porch and off the end, away from the attackers, who were now rushing to the house. The attackers, having seen them, headed not for the door, but after the fleeing victims.
"You can't outrun us, girly girls!" One of the assailants called out mockingly.
He and a few others outpaced their quarry and blocked off their escape. Sayuri, seeing her escape cut off, backed away toward the house. With no place to run the assailants drew up in a semi circle. They were closing the ranks. Like wolves.
Sayuri looked back toward the door to the house. She realised her assailants were too fast. She closed her hand on her pepper spray. Perhaps, she thought desperately, she could buy Willow some time!
Blinding light banished the night. The yard lit up in a eye dazzling display of brilliance. A terrible ripping and metallic tearing sound roared out, drowning out the pandemonium in the backyard. The attackers turned to see a grotesquely large, drab cream colored SUV half shoving, half rolling their fifteen passenger van in front of it. It was coming directly at them. Sayuri grabbed Willow and dove backwards. The smaller girl gave an ear splitting, high pitched squeal as they rolled together.
The attackers attempted to leap over or to the side of the van, however, their attempts were futile. Only the two at the ends managed to escape the oncoming vehicle. With a sickening crunch, the van impacted the side of the house. It had stopped, and now resembled not a van but looked more like a box of crackers that had been stomped on. Sayuri started to get up. She was dazed from the encounter. She heard loud gunshots from the other side of the enormous cream monster, but found it hard to see past its brilliantly bright head and spot lights. She could only see one of the surviving attackers. The other had already been cut off by their strange savior.
With a feline like hiss, the lone surviving female attacker leapt at an inhuman arc toward the vehicle that had plowed her comrades under their van. The driver's side door of the behemoth vehicle was already open. Someone Sayuri could barely make out was hanging out of the cab. The figure turned and leaned over the windshield. Two gunshots rang out and the assailant's chest was ripped asunder by twin shotgun blasts and her head blown from her body. As her head fell into the yard the brilliant light revealed inhumanly pointed canine teeth.
"What...what is…?" Sayuri stammered, dumbstruck.
As Sayuri watched the body shrivel. It was if it had rapidly decayed, becoming putridly old in seconds. A corpse that had been dead for years.
"Well don't just stand there gawking girls! Don't you recognize a rescue when you see one?! GET IN!" A no-nonsense, authoritarian female voice called out.
Willow popped up surprised and overjoyed. She ran to the monster vehicle with apparent relief.
"It's Lucy! Hey Sayuri come on it's Lucy! She's here to save us!" Willow called out, obviously elated.
Not sure what else to do, Sayuri headed dumbfoundedly toward the open door. Willow was already through when a 'plink' of a ricochet against the vehicle made her turn to see one of the other van's occupants had come running. This group had guns out and at the ready. Pouring on speed born of panic, Sayuri dashed on and crawled up into the behemoth vehicle only seconds behind Willow.
Inside, she slammed the door and ducked. Willow half crawled half fell into the back. Lucy had already closed the driver's side door and backed up over the body of the second surviving vampire.
"The gunshots... were you the one shooting at that one on the ground?" Sayuri asked incredulously. She had never seen anything like this before.
"Well no matter how polite I ask them, the monsters don't usually shoot themselves, sweetie." Lucy replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
She then slammed the giant machine into forward gear and, unconcerned about the hail of small arms fire, ran the other wave of attackers over. The great vehicle casually shoved their van out of the way as she did, as if it was a toy.
Sayuri looked on in a state of shock. Willow had righted herself and looked out between the seats. "Is this a Hummer? It doesn't really look like one, but it obviously started life as an APC." The tiny girl asked.
"A Hummer? This thing weighs twice as much and costs ten times more, little girl. This is a Marauder! It can eat Hummers for breakfast and still feel hungry." Lucy snorted dismissively.
"Wow! How did you get it?" Willow marveled.
"Birthday present from my granddaughter." Lucy said distractedly.
In the distance a pillar of golden-white light illuminated the Los Angeles sky like a false dawn. Sayuri gawked at the vividly bright display. Even Willow, who was expecting it, responded with startled shock.
"Damn that boy! That's going to give away his location." Lucy fretted through gritted teeth.
The light coalesced into a soundless golden, Asian style dragon roaring in fury and coiling about the sky. Sayuri's eyes watered at the brightness of this display, but she was unable to look away, transfixed by the spectacle. Lucy ignored it having both been jaded by the life of a hunter and having seen the show before.
"Why aren't' you buckled in?! Get in one of those eight seats in the back and strap down! And you missy! Get back there and strap down too! I don't need you in my line of sight and fire." Lucy barked waving them back.
"Who...what is this? What's going on, Willow?" Sayuri asked as she crawled into the back.
"This is Lucy. She's a Hunter. She protects humans from monsters. Those guys who attacked us were vampires. They're...they're out to kill Kashi, 'cause he discovered them and killed some of them last summer.I guess they somehow found out who he was." Willow confessed somberly.
Sayuri fell back into her chair silently. The only thought that seemed to be able to form in her head was the image of Judy Garland reciting her famous line from the Wizard of Oz.
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore..." She mumbled to herself aloud. She hadn't even realized she'd said it.
Police Station
Bree had gone out to her car to leave and found her tire nearly deflated. One of her former co-workers on the force told her to to pull the car around to the station's garage and use the air pump. He had found a nail in the tire and sealed the hole while she waited she was just getting ready to leave again when she saw a large group of officers headed outside toward their cruisers. Reg was in the lead with his new partner, Steve.
"Trouble Reg?" She asked casually.
"Bree! Thought you were gone." He said slowing but not stopping as he headed to his car.
"Gang attack over in Ladera Heights. Big one too. Might be something else, as well. People saw some crazy golden lights in the sky. Supposedly the same sort of thing went down during that homicide down in Compton. The one we were telling you about! Might be a gang identifier. Reg and I were asked to lead a force over to help." Steve bragged.
"Rookie! Bree is a ex-cop now. Emphasis on the EX. You can't go sharing case information like that." Reg replied testily.
"Maybe I should head over check it out. Might be some bounties in the lot you're after." Bree offered.
"You know we can't let you do that. Go home, Bree. I mean it. If I catch you near our scene I'll have you run off!" Reg threatened as he climbed into his cruiser.
"Come off it, Reg!" Bree replied.
"Better me than the brass slap you with an obstruction charge. Now go home! GO HOME! GO HOME!" Reg shot back cranking his car.
"I guess I'm going home then." Bree said as she shrugged to the maintenance man tending the air pump.
Bree pulled out of the parking lot taking a left while the squad cars took a right. Once the the squad cars were out of sight, Bree turned taking a parallel road. She began to head toward Ladera Heights and poured on the speed. If she was right about what this was, it wouldn't be hard to find the source of these golden lights.
Ladera Heights
Kashi ran and as he ran he fumed. He had kissed Sayuri! The moment was so right, yet it had been stolen! What would Sayuri think now? She would think he was involved in gangs! It was something he'd meticulously avoided ever getting wrapped up in. She would never, ever again want anything to do with him! He was so close to getting to be with the one girl who he had ever really wanted to have a relationship with and now it was ruined ruined by vampires! As ridiculous as that sounded it was the truth.
Kashi veered to the side of the road. He called on the power within himself again. He felt it flow through his body and he knew his strength had increased dramatically. The bonfire of light around him exploded upwards. The dragon that appeared when he used too much power streamed upwards into the sky.
Kashi's eyes were not on the phantasmic, glowing dragon, however, they were on his pursuers. The golden power in him suffised his muscles and the bulged with power. He reached for a stop sign he yanked it, almost effortlessly, out of the ground. A large hunk of concrete came with it. Rushing back at the vampires, Kashi swung the improved mace into their ranks.
"Why can't you leave me alone?! You've ruined my life you dumb bastards!" Kashi yelled out in anguished fury.
The vampires responded with a state of shock. The few experienced members in the group had seen such displays of strength, but, strength alone was not what disrupted them. The light given off by his aura made them fight their internal instincts to flee from the sun. As well, where the light shone around Kashi, the air seemed thicker and harder to move through. Even the boy himself, who had before had a benign, almost 'pretty boy' like visage seemed so fearsome and wrathful they dared not look upon him.
With the third blow he landed the concrete at the end of the stop sign shattered. Kashi targeted one of the vampires who was still off balance and whirled the pole around. He brought the edge of the sign itself down and sliced into the neck of his attacker. The speed and strength of the blow sliced his head right off.
Kashi looked up. Another group was headed his way. It had to be another twenty vampires at least. Kashi mind whirled. The likelihood of his survival against such numbers seemed slim. He began to work out how best to take out as many as he could. He desperately smashed away at the vampires he was already fighting attempting to finish off one group of foes before being beset by another.
Just before the other group made it to Kashi's location, a familiar Ford Fiesta pulled out of a nearby side street. Out of it jumped James. Kashi was relieved even this, a man he considered a complete moron, was some help.
"We're here to help, Kashi! More backup is on the way! Lucy has already saved your sister!" James cried out.
Kashi was momentarily elated. The hunters had come to help him! If he saw Lucy he would kiss her.
"Did she get Sayuri?! He called out while hammering away at the last attacking vampire within his reach. While the stop sign pole was tougher than the pole he'd used at the house, it too was seeing the end of it's usefulness.
"Your girlfriend, right? Yeah! She got her out too." James yelled as he fished into his holster.
James drew a weapon and started to fire. It was the smallest handgun Kashi had ever seen. The vampires that were charging down the street barely seemed to even notice. James quickly emptied his clip. The vampires that charged on from up the street kept coming.
"I swear to God, James, you are completely useless! Last time you have a flare gun now you have a BB gun!" Kashi fumed his elation at seeing him faded near instantly.
"This is a .32! It's not a toy! It's a real gun….hey! Hey, Kashi! Where are you going?! Come back!" James called out as Kashi dashed off again.
What an idiot! Kashi thought as he dashed off. Now he'd have to lure the vampires away from him. Kashi started eyeing the passing surroundings looking for a good place to make a stand again. Last time his place had been not chosen by purpose but by being overwhelmed with frustration. Perhaps if he could find a better place to fight he could finish off this next batch then find a place to lose these monsters.
Of course the vampires were likely to come back again. Kashi's thoughts turned dark once more. Even if he beat this group is this how his life would be? Living in constant fear of attack? He wouldn't be able to see Sayuri again! She would always be in danger. His friends, his soccer team they would all be in danger. He had worked hard to play college ball and possibly have a shot at a professional soccer career! Now...had every dream he'd ever had been taken from him?
A van pulled out a street ahead of him. Kashi slowed and turned to see how close the vampires were behind him. Oddly enough they were not back there. Turning back to the van, Kashi saw more than twelve vampires crawl out the side door and head for him.
Steeling himself for combat again, he ran toward a street sign. Maybe the same trick would work again he reasoned. He had nearly closed the distance between himself and the sign when a second van pulled in behind him. Now he was surrounded. Kashi pulled the sign up and whirled it in his grasp.
"Okay, who's first?!" He yelled defiantly
In answer the vampires drew guns and took aim.
"Oh, fu..." Kashi started.
His cry of despair was cut off by a large, oddly painted Silverado racing toward him backwards. It hit the first van with its tailgate, breaking up the vampire's ranks as they scrambled to get out of the way. The impact made the truck slide sideways. The vampires opened fire not on Kashi but the side of the truck. Kashi wasted no time dashing into the less organised side of the ranks. He started pummeling away using the disruption to his advantage.
"Some say vampires are monsters! I say you're all devils!" A Spanish accented voice called out from the side of the truck.
Kashi saw a very large Hispanic man step out from the front of the van, his silhouette looked very strange. There was something on his back.
"So here is a taste of hellfire!" He called out.
Flames washed out from a well crafted but obviously homemade flamethrower. The large man laughed uproariously at his panicked foes as the flames swept out from his weapon.
"That's right! Burn burn you devils!" He shouted triumphantly.
Faced with flames the rational part of many of the younger vampires brains shut off. They gave into the fear that emanated from the light of Kashi's aura and started to dash off panicked. Neither Kashi nor the large man chased them. They both focused on the leaders who, bereft of troops, were suddenly exposed. While they held their nerve they were not able to hold their ground against such an onslaught. Quickly the attackers were cleared out. The man shut off his flame thrower and turned to Kashi.
"Kashi right? I'm Jesus Mendoza. Don't worry about the ones that ran. They won't get far. I got friends out here who will look for them." The large man said as he fished out a cell phone and started to text.
"Holy God! Am I glad to see you! The only other real hunter I know is Lucy and she's not here. Was that a flame thrower? Where the hell did you get a flamethrower?! And this truck? Wow!" Kashi jabbered, his nerves from the battle taking over as his adrenaline faded.
The truck itself was an impressive sight. It had a robin's egg blue paint job with red and orange flames along the side. Kashi could see the words "Devils Burn" interspersed amongst the flames while the hood read "Jesus Saves" with a large and well painted cross in the middle.
"Like it?" My uncle did it. He's not a hunter but over the years most of my family has gotten into contributing to the fight. The idea he had is you give someone some obvious details and they'll latch on to them and forget the rest. People who see me are more likely to remember the paint job rather than what sort of truck it was or what I looked like. Then he just changes the paint." Jesus explained.
"Oh God. Hey I almost forgot James! He was back there. He tried to help. He's not very good at it." Kashi pointed out the way.
"Get in the truck. We'll head back and see what happened to him!" Jesus said shrugging out of his homemade weapon. He then placed it carefully into the back of the truck. As he got in, he noticed that Kashi's aura had not dimmed.
"Hey, can you lower that or dim it or something? It'll be hard to drive otherwise." Jesus asked. He did not seem intimidated by aura, just like James and Lucy had been unfazed by it, but its brilliance was still a problem.
Kashi blushed and frowned. "I don't know how. It'll get dimmer after a while on its own." He replied.
Jesus sighed. His eyes watering slightly from the brilliance of Kashi's aura. 'Alright. I'll just drive...carefully I guess."
A few block back shortly ago
Turning to look at the vampires, James realized they were closing rather quickly. A look of determination spread across his face as he jumped back into his car. Cranking the car he hit the gas turned and charged the oncoming vampires. The vampires ranks were scattered by the attack but few were hit and none were killed. The vampires surrounded the car. James had expected them to tear it up. Instead they drew guns and aimed right for him.
The leader pulled out a cell phone motioning for his men to wait.
"We got his position. Two groups in vans are going to cut him off. He isn't hard to find with that light show." The leader growled.
"What about this guy?" A grunt asked, motioning at James.
"Pull the juice bag out and feed." The leader said, unconcerned.
Determined not to die sitting still, James slammed on the gas and surged forward. The leader leapt out of the way, but the nearby grunt was hit and half rolled up onto the hood of the car. Seconds later James jumped the curb and hit the corner street sign. The sign bent over and the front wheels of the car lost touch with the ground. The pole wrapped over onto the hood and to cut into the vampire bisecting him at an ugly angle.
"Shoot him you idiots!" The leader roared.
Gunfire rang out into the night. James struggled to get out of his car before a bullet found him. He felt one take him in the arm. He winced in pain.
"Drop your weapons we have you surrounded!" A female voice called out as James fell out of the car.
A Dodge Charger had pulled up behind them. Someone was in the shadow of the driver's door using it for cover. The vampires whirled to assault this new target. The crouching figure didn't wait, taking their spin as hostile response the shooter fired. Unlike James, who had a reputation for his lack of accuracy, this shooter nailed targets one after the other in the chest consistently. Each of the shooter's hits took large hunks of their target's body with them. Whatever they were using it was definitely larger than a .32 caliber pistol.
James scrambled out and away keeping a low profile. He slid in front of his car. He then pulled himself up into a crouch and sprinted for some bushes. Once hidden, he checked the wound in his arm. It seemed superficial. He then started to fish around in his jacket. He had brought two spare clips. With despair he saw one was laying near his car, having fallen out of his jacket pocket. He found he still had the other one, however. Dropping his old clip he reloaded and prepared to help. He heard the gunfire from his rescuer in the Dodge stop. Despite his rescuers words there seemed to be only one. Reasoning the statement was a bluff. James burst forth out of the bush and opened fire to give the shooter time to reload.
His assault dealt a bit more real damage to the enemy than before. This time they were packed around his car, having taken shelter behind it from the shooter's lethal aim. James' brief shooting spree ended with the click of an empty clip and he dropped to his belly in the brush hoping to avoid return fire.
What he saw from his low position startled him. This time when the shooter came up and fired each bullet was followed by a contrail of gold sparks. Each round hit its target and tore through them in a eruption of gold and white. The vampires screamed in pain as the powerful energies ate away at them. When it was all over. The shooter came around the door of the car and walked over toward the fallen. James could see his rescuer was a woman. A tall red headed valkyrie who had a solid disc of golden light in the center of her forehead. He scrambled up and rushed over to her.
"Are you alright? Who are you?" he asked.
"Bree Madigan. I'm a P.I. What are they?" She replied while examining the bodies of her foes.
"Oh them? Vampires." James said. He startled slightly as two more shots rang out.
"Those two were only playing dead." Bree said still observing her fallen foes as their corpses crumpled into a mass of rot and decay.
"The magic, the blood magic, that sustains their ageless state fades in death leaving the bodies to rot away quickly. Unless they die somewhere cold or are quickly preserved they often vanish into sludge or ash. People don't often think, with modern corpses being embalmed, what years of exposure to the elements can do to a body." James babbled. He had gone back over to his car while still talking and began rummaging around in his glove compartment. He pulled out a small first aid kit and hurriedly taped up his arm with gauze and bandages.
"I know. I used to work homicide." Bree said as she walked up toward him.
"A police officer! I guess that explained the deadly aim. Um, about that light on your forehead... I've seen something like it before, but it was different. It was a small ring with lines radiating out of it, kinda like sunrays. You see there is this kid I know..." James started.
"The kid with the dragon aura? I was looking for him. I've never met anyone else with powers like mine, but I was told they would exist." Bree said returning to her examination of the dessicated corpses of her foes. She took out a pen and pulled back ones lips to get a better look at the teeth.
"Yeah! I better go get to him or he'll get cut off and killed!" James said as he put the car in reverse and started to back away. The wrenching of the car pulling back from the sign sounded horrid.
"I better follow you. A head on hit like that might have damaged your radiator. If you have to ram someone hit them butt first. If you damage the trunk at least you can still drive." Bree yelled out.
Before they could do more than get the cars turned around, James pointed at a certain truck with garish flames and a cross on the front that was speeding toward them. It looked like the cab was completely aglow.
"That's the cavalry over there. His name is Jesus, thus the joke on the hood." James said elated.
Bree, however, was looking into the passenger seat trying to get a better look at the still glowing figure Jesus had picked up. When the truck stopped and her eyes adjusted to the brightness and they widened in shock.
"Kashi? Kashi Kimura?! YOU'RE the other Chosen of the Sun?!" Bree said incredulously.
Kashi peered out of the cabin. He was confused. Once he saw who it was, however, he he became very nervous. "Officer Madigan? Umm I can explain...hey wait! Why do you have a gold disc on your forehead?" Kashi wondered aloud.
"Because she's like you! She has the same power, Kashi, only she uses guns." James explained.
Jesus looked about and checked his phone. His face turned grim. "Look, I know we have a lot we need to talk about but right now we need to get ourselves out of here and off to safety. Now Kashi is already in here with me why don't we all head out together find a place far away from here, put our cards on the table and plan our next move." Jesus offered.
"We could go to my armory out in Anaheim." James offered.
"What is it with this guy and trying to get people to go to Anaheim?!" Kashi asked.
"I told you I LIVE in Anaheim! Do you EVER pay attention?!" James yelled.
"Everyone calm down. Lets go to this place in Anaheim then I'll hear what you have to say. I think it will likely be interesting." Bree said.
Without waiting for a response she turned and headed to her car.
"Are you sure you can't tone down the arua? It's kinda hard to see you know...not to mention incredibly noticeable." Jesus asked.
"Nope, sorry. Like I said, it just fades on it's own." Kashi admitted.
"It takes about fifteen minutes to stop." James offered.
"Oh well we'll need to go slow anyway. You might have a water leak. Did you hit that sign? Ay Dios mio, you drive as bad as you shoot." Jesus admonished
"Excuse me! I was trying to toss vampires off my car!" James explained.
"Stop griping and get moving! And after we get to Anaheim, get Simone to look at that wound in your arm." Jesus said as he started his own car and drove toward James' armory.
Back at the Jones house
Fresh from their victories over the forces that attempted to turn Los Angeles into a charnel house in 2004; the pragmatic band that seized control of the supernatural underbelly of the city, known as The Seven, organized a compromise government between the Anarch and Camarilla factions of Kindred. One of the things they found early in this set up was that the Anarchs had most of the muscle and superior officers for making tactical field decisions. The Camarilla, on the other hand, had better support, communications, and strategic command abilities. Like most of the Seven's set up, it had only survived due to sheer functionality.
Maximillian Strauss looked over the younger Ventrue commander's electronic tablet. It appeared that Jeanette Voerman's late arrival had been moderated by her fortuitous placement. Once her contingent of Malkavians entered the fray, they had been able to seal off all available escape routes.
"That stops the last chance that any will get away. The scouts report corpses piled here and here. A blue pickup truck with flames, a shot up black Charger and a small crunched up Ford were seen leaving in convoy, but were too far away to stop. Sounds like he's with the hunters to me." The Ventrue reported, pointing at the screen of his tablet.
"Blast this Anarch rable! I warned them and still we are too late." Strauss fumed. He was obviously very agitated.
Strauss lifted his hand to his lips, silently fuming. He knew the giant monster of a vehicle that escaped had to belong to Lucile Poindexter at least. Only she would own such a ludicrously obvious piece of hardware. Perhaps something could be salvaged of this before the boy's head was completely filled with hunter propaganda.
The bright top lights of police squad cars flashed as the cruisers slid into place surrounding the house. The cars quickly emptied and police leapt out of their cars cutting off the street in well practiced formation. Guns drawn, they advanced on the scene.
Strauss turned around and nodded to them. "Officer Williams our people have almost finished modifying the memories of those inside. The cover story here is gang violence."
"That will dovetail well with what we have already. We'll stay out of your way until then. Let's go over what happened so we can start covering the physical evidence. Any deaths?" Reg asked.
"No. Amy will brief you, but the short answer is there were a few close calls. The owner was found mesmerized in the hall closet. His wife will need a trip to the hospital for a concussion and scalp cut. We stabilized everyone in danger of death. They were not the targets. They were just in the way." Strauss informed him matter of factly.
"Well that's good news. It's always harder to cover deaths. Still this is gonna be a lot of work. Man I can't wait for my retirement." Reg groused.
"Not to worry. Speaking of your retirement, officer, we have already have set you up with a new identity and position working for a friendly prince in Florida. Once you've moved you can stop using the grey hair color and enjoy of being a ghoul." Strauss reassured him.
"Kevin, take command. It's well past time we had a talk with the hunters about our mutual defense pacts. As well I want the target of this little drama to know who did most of the work ending this night of terror. As each group finishes up send them to Poindexter's house. The target will go there to pick up his sister at some point." Strauss stated to his Ventrue companion as he strode off.
Across the street, Brandon backed out of the bushes he was observing from. He could not overhear what they were talking about but it was obvious some very strange things had been going on. Rather than babysit the panicked guests he had rushed down a side street and hoped to link back up with Kashi. He had not caught up with him. Kashi and his attackers were so far out he had barely seen it was his friend when that crazy light show with the dragon went up. Finding he was helplessly out paced by both defender and attackers he came back.
Now all his friends and the other party goers were inside quietly doing what these strange people were telling them. Who were they? How were the police involved? Had that been Officer Williams?
When Brandon was a younger teen his grandmother had caught him hanging around with some guys that had some street rep. Panicking, she asked Williams to talk to him as part of a scared straight type speech. Williams had come over in full uniform. He still remembered the conversation.
"Why do people join gangs, Brandon?" He'd asked.
"Because when you got a gang you got someone to watch your back!" His more youthful self had answered.
"So, if you don't have a gang you don't have anyone to watch your back and protect you, huh?" Williams had asked.
"Yeah I guess. If you're not flying colors everyone knows you're easy meat." Brandon had replied.
"When I was a boy I thought the same thing, son. So, naturally, I wanted to be part of the biggest and meanest gang. The only thing worse than no gang is a weak gang that can't protect you." Williams answered.
Brandon had looked up at him shocked.
"And that's why I joined a gang and fly my colors to this day, kid. I'm in the biggest, meanest gang of them all and there ain't nobody bigger and ain't nobody meaner than my gang. The L.A.P.D. We fly our colors proud, son, and if you don't join any other gang you're under our protection. If you're in another gang, God help you son because we are everywhere." Williams had admonished him.
In the here and now Brandon narrowed his eyes and thought to himself. So alright 'Reg' whose gang proved bigger than the L.A.P.D.? Who did you change colors for? With alot of questions and no answers, Bradon crept away into the night.
Road to Anaheim
Jesus drove along carefully keeping watch on the damaged Ford in his rear view mirror. He had first snagged a few snacks from the contents of his cooler. Then, having heard from James about his new charge's obscene appetite, he offered the rest to Kashi. While the youth ate he attempted to explain the world of the supernatural as best he could. Kashi, for his part, seemed to actually be paying attention.
"So you say there is more than one group of vampires? One group is a bunch of raving monsters, like we just fought, who keep the secret of their existence through fear and intimidation? The other is more like the Mafia and stays in the shadows by bribery and influence?" Kashi asked simplifying Jesus' message.
"Right, the Mad Dogs and the Spiders, at least that's what I call them. Both of them are awful. In many ways the Spiders are worse. They use alot of mind controlling magic, you know the type. The old 'look into my eyes' kinda thing. Like in the movies. They are insidious. They have their hooks in everything. You fight them and they start pecking away at you. They'll get you fired, have doctors and reporters say you're insane, frame you as a criminal, soon you're either taken out by people who aren't even in the know or so alone they can come strike you down and no one will miss you." Jesus explained.
"Damn the Mafia is worse then a gang they are like a super gang." kashi lamented
"There is worse things than having them try to destroy you or make people think you're so crazy your life isn't worth living. What you have to watch for my man is them trying to use you." Jesus offered
"Use me? Yeah, right! Like I would work with vampires." Kashi scoffed
"Oh they're slick, amigo! They've almost gotten us before! Lucy still half thinks they have lollipop scented farts. First, they offer to help when the Mad Dogs come calling. Then, you see, they point out how much worse the Mad Dogs are while going on about how they don't like spilling blood in the street and how they too want to make things safer for the little guy. Then they help you fight the Mad Dogs. After that, they help you watch for them coming back. Soon they have you looking out with them against all their foes Just a warning if they come by. You don't have to help them fight. Then they drop the inevitable 'Well we do help you. Why don't you help us?' trick. Next thing you know, you're fighting the Spiders' wars for them." Jesus monologued
"Well, if they don't kill people in the street, aren't' they better?" Kashi asked.
"Oh yeah, sure they are! Because we all know killing people behind closed doors is SO much better." Jesus quipped sarcastically.
"Oh. I guess that's...um...not any better. I met a couple of weak vampires once. They seemed alright." Kashi offered.
"Sometimes, you'll find one or two that are alone and not part of the group who are okay. For now. In time they'll be drawn in with the others. When they first get turned, when they are fresh from having been human, they remember what it is to think and care. In time, those memories fade. After a century or two they are so divorced from what it is to be human there is nothing left but the monster. The ones who are decent and see it coming walk into a sunrise and end it." Jesus continued.
"Man, that's sort of sad. It's like no matter what they do their life is over." Kashi lamented, thinking about E. and Lilly.
"Kashi, their life was over when they died! That is sort of the defining moment of the end, you know?" He turned his attention and motioned with his head. "Oh! Here's the place. These storage buildings" Jesus pointed out.
Kashi pondered in silence while Jesus maneuvered his truck around the storage area and into the back sections. James got out of his Ford and unlocked the building. Bree's Dodge pulled in last and she hopped out.
"You must have had your phone on silent, Jesus. Lucy has been trying to call you." James said as he opened the door.
"I was busy talking to Kashi and watching your stupid little pile of crap car." Jesus tossed back.
"Oh...well, she's started a teleconference. She's taking Sayuri and Willow to her place and urging everyone to head their at once. She says it's time for a counter raid." James said flatly.
"A what?!" Jesus exploded.
"A counter raid. You know, where we go down to San Diego and stomp a mud hole in the collective backsides of the monsters who did this." James responded neutrally.
"Yeah I remember the last one. Six hunters dead! Two crippled! Everyone else wounded so badly they barely made it home. Madre de Dios! She thinks THAT'S a good idea!" Jesus roared.
"What happened in this raid? Why was the last one sent out?" Bree asked as she approached the two hunters.
"Back in 04, early part of December. The more wild vampires, the ones I call the Mad Dogs attacked L.A.; they blew up part of a skyscraper, set fire to a hotel, ate a bunch of people, the works. They were stopped partly by hunters and partly by the local 'Spider in the Web' type vampires in a turf war. Some hot headed fools decided to take the battle back to the enemy camp..." Jesus began.
"Hold it right there! My brother went on that raid. He wasn't a fool." James interrupted.
"Died, too didn't he?" Jesus countered coldly.
"He died for what he believed in! How many big attacks have there been since? Why don't you think about that, hotshot? Tonight is the first one! The raid bought us eight years of peace! How many lives did it save?! Do you ever think about that, you giant prick?!" James retorted with uncharacteristic fury.
"Alright, stop it, both of you! Just back away from each other!" Bree barked in the authoritative tone of a police officer.
"How do you guys get any monster hunting done if you fight so much?" Kashi pondered
"We are each given a message and a mandate when we are imbued with power. Occasionally, another message will show up. Whoever our patrons are, they are maddeningly vague with their instructions. Alot of how we go about making the world safer for humanity is left for us to make up and everyone has their own ideas about what that takes." James admitted while opening the storage door.
Kashi's eyes widened. Inside was a dazzling display of weapons and armaments. Lined up in an orderly fashion were racks of shotguns, various pistols, swords, knives, spears, semi and fully automatic rifles, sniper rifles, explosives and grenades. Way in the back there was a rocket launcher and an honest to god chain gun.
"Holy crap! You have all of this and you use a BB gun?" Kashi asked in an astonished tone
"It was a .32! See it goes right here and none of this was mine. This armory was put together by John. I can't even fit in his spare armor i'm about a foot shorter than he was." James said.
"Your brother was Batman?" Kashi asked, examining the armor.
"No, but he was six foot two i'm five foot four. I can't fit in his suit. It's Kevlar tactical armor with ceramic inserts. It's basicly the top of the line in modern protection or was so eight years ago. It still beats most stuff out there." He bragged.
"Where's the missing one?" Kashi asked pointing to the empty case next to the armor.
"He died in it. The armor was too torn up to salvage." James admitted quietly.
Brees eyes perused the guns. "I could show you how to use most of this, James. Your bad aim comes from never being taught. You hold your gun wrong. You overgrip very badly. That can be fixed." Bree offered.
"Really? I mean I'll never be John. He was an avenger I'm a visionary. But, sometimes I would like to carry the fight back." James admitted.
"Your brother was a what? An Avenger? Like the movie?" Kashi asked, confused.
"No it's one of our creeds our subfractions. Visionaries try to understand the reason we become imbued with power what is wanted from us where we all fit in the grand scheme of things. defenders, like Jesus, try to keep anyone from getting hurt. Judges, like Lucy, focus on meting out to individuals what they deserve. John was an avenger. He focused on retribution for those harmed.
"I had a vision when I exalted. I'm not sure what it means, however." Bree admitted.
"Exalted? Kashi used that term once too." James observed.
"Yeah...it was just kind of instinct." He looked over at Bree who nodded in silent agreement. "You had a vision? I didn't. I wonder why? I've had freaky dreams and flashes of... something. Knowledge or whatever you call it, but not like a vision." Kashi added.
"I was standing on a tall mountain. I could look out at the world around me and see far in the distance. The world was encased in a globe or dome. It looked almost like glass. High above the sun shone and from the sun came a voice who said to me; 'The world was hurt, so we wrapped it safely away giving it time to heal. You died to see this happen. Your sacrifice is not forgotten. Custodians were given orders to prepare the world to stand against those who harmed it. The world was to be ready for your arrival.' At that point I could see there was something outside the glass. Something I could not make out, but an malevolent feeling came from beyond that sphere. Then I saw that the sphere had cracks, and the cracks were both growing and spreading. The voice continued 'Time is short my Exalted. Gather the Host make use of unexpected boons. Prepare the defense of the world where others failed.' Then the dome shattered and the vision ended." Bree finished.
"Interesting. We were told to prepare the world in 2004 and early this year we were told to help those that have come. Their light will save the world." James mused.
Jesus put up his phone and walked into the storage building. He looked around but was less impressed, obviously he had seen the inside of this building before, unlike Bree and Kashi.
"Hey Simone will have to look at your arm at Lucy's. She's already headed over there. I'm going there too to try and talk some sense into these fools. You can stay or go whatever." Jesus said to James.
"I'm going too. I want to meet more of these hunters and I need to know more of what is going on." Bree said.
"So am I. I have to get Sayuri and Willow and figure out what I'm going to do now. Like how I'm going to keep this supernatural crap from spilling over and hurting the people I care about." Kashi declared
"I'm going. I think this raid is just what we need. If we can hurt the vampires that attacked Kashi, maybe we can keep them from going after him again." James declared.
"You think? You mean you really think violence is the answer? Not that I'm knocking it as a solution, just seems to go against your grain." Kashi responded.
"My mandate is to know and understand. I'm a thinker, not a fighter, but there comes a time when thoughts have to be put to actions. Like John used to say. The people who say violence solves nothing just aren't using enough of it." James said.
"Well, you better ride with me James cause your car is shot." Bree said, pointing to a large puddle under it.
Kashi began to head for Jesus' truck when Bree stopped him.
"The first thing you are going to do is call your mother." Bree said, intercepting him.
"I don't want to get my mom involved in this!" Kashi cried out.
"She's going to see the news and freak out, Kashi. If you don't call her and let her know you're okay, she might go charging down to the police trying to find you drawing attention to herself and you. Now that will drag her deeper into things. So call your mother! Be grateful you still have her." Bree explained.
With a sigh, Kashi picked up his phone.
