Chapter 7: Part 1

The Sabbat is a loose sect of vampires that believes Cainites should accept their vampiric nature and subjugate humanity as the inferior species. Also known as the Sword of Caine, the sect has the stated goal of destroying the Antediluvians, who they believe are the masterminds behind the Camarilla and the Jyhad. The Sabbat is at best ironic, at worst dangerously hypocritical. It is composed of both the oldest and the youngest vampires in the world, who rejoice in their damnation while fearing for their souls, and fight against the Antediluvians, the elders, and their own pack members.

2 Months After Cassandra's Abduction

Liam leaned against the wall. Around him the Mexican vagrants were shuffling around minding their own business. None looked his way. Normally the sight of a white male, over six feet tall with dark hair, in a dark suit just standing would look suspicious. Most would think American and then looking for drugs. But no one was looking at him because no one could see him. He was standing perfectly still in a shadow cast by a street lamp. The darkness camouflaged him perfectly. There was no one who could see into it to see him…accept a Lasombra or a Kindred with a high level of Auspex, the supernatural heightened senses.

Mexico City was the capital of the Sabbat. Unlike the Camarilla which held Venice as their unofficial seat of power. The Lasombra were the leaders of the Sabbat like the Ventrue led the Camarilla. So by default Mexico City had a larger population than most of the Lasombra clan. However he hadn't seen many. There were few in sporadic havens that he had located but not the normal masses that there should have been.

Liam left the comfort and protection of the shadow to walk down the street. He had been in the city for three days to gather information. So far he had found nothing which was in and of itself information. The Sabbat had moved the majority of their power base out of their capital. It had been his plan to return to Colorado and report his findings but now Liam knew he would have to stop in the southern states and see if the Sabbat presence has increased. If they had then it would be a reasonable conclusion that another push was being ready to go north.

Liam walked by a café that he had known well nearly two decades ago. He passed it by not looking inside. Mexico City may have fewer Kindred than it normally did but it was still Sabbat central. And being this close to the Regent and the Cardinal of War was not a place to linger.

The Sabbat was organized to mock the Catholic church. At the top was the Regent, and then below her were the Cardinals, then the Archbishops who were like Princes in the Camarilla, then Bishops. After the Bishops there were the basic packs with a ductus to lead the group and priest to make sure Sabbat interests were met. Ironically the Sabbat was founded on the notion of individualization and freedom but compared to the loosely controlled Camarilla the Sabbat was far more organized and individual freedom was frowned upon. And should anyone step out of line there were the Paladins and Templar ready to destroy unruly disciples.

Mango watched the ring. It was really a pit filled with sand not an actual boxing ring. Inside a Kindred was beating up another. The dominating vampire stood up and turned his back confident in his victory. His bright green eyes were luminescent. "Big mistake," Mango said under her breath. The Ventrue took a dive as his opponent got up and planted her foot in the joint of his knee. He spun around only to have his face meet a swinging boot that broke his jaw by the sound of the 'crunch'. He slammed into the sand but wasn't out…at least not until the other fighter jumped on him and started bashing in the side of his head with the narrow palm of her hand…she kept his head in a lock and just kept slamming on him, again and again.

The referee, a ghoul, jumped in the middle and with the physical strength of a ghoul broke the two vampires apart. When both fighters were done showing off their fangs they stood away. The ref pointed in the woman's direction indicating winner. The small group of onlookers cheered some and grumbled too. The two vampires shook hands and departed the ring climbing out up to the main level.

Mango offered Samantha Carter a towel. Sam stood up and took it wiping sand off her brow and shaking it out of her blond hair. "Thanks." Mango smiled her normal teenaged uncommitted smile but said nothing. "What?" Sam asked when she finished shaking sand out of her hair.

"I was just thinking that you Ventrue love to show off too much." The girl smiled. "I wouldn't have stopped till your eyes bulged out at the least."

When Samantha had committed herself to joining the fight and learning about how to survive as a Kindred Liam had started by teaching her how to fight. He pulled some strings and Mango became Sam's teacher/partner.

It had been awkward because the two had a mutual respect as friends, and even still Mango still had the human notion to defer to her elders in other maters. Carter had a good 20 plus years on her since Mango was just now 16 years old. Mango at first tried to be more of a partner and took it easy on Sam. But Liam Sage had broken Mango out of her reluctance by reminding her that Sam needed to know how to stand real pain and heal a broken body if she was going to survive at all. And if Liam thought they were being too easy with one another he would shoot at them with a rifle.

That was one reason Sam had learned how to master her new vampire body so effectively. Mango had six months of battle experience and her Brujah blood gave her two advantages over Sam. First, celerity the super speed that let Mango move fast and attack in rapid succession and then potence which was super strength. Mango inflicted a lot of broken bones on Sam. But then Sam had to learn to force her body to heal. So in short Sam had learned fast in a mater of weeks and now was learning with other Ventrue in the Prince's private gym guided by his elite guards.

Mango normally wouldn't be allowed in here but Sam brought her along. Fighting wasn't their only bond either. Mango was also a key to Sam's socializing with other kindred. Often they met at the Devil's Den where they talked about life, such as it was, as vampires. Mango, Kim, John and Punk told Sam about the day to day vampire business and she talked about how to get on in the 'mortal' world. The conversations were sometimes dreary but never dull.

Samantha didn't go out to fight with them again but she had assisted in several internal matters. The Sheriff, a independent Gangrel, had a small army of deputies. These deputies were often grabbing up kindred to assist in capturing vampires that were being brought in for various reasons; often breaking either the Masquerade or killing a human without cause. There was one case where a Kindred had embraced a human which carried two crimes; the first was murder since an embrace was in fact killing a human to create a kindred and the second was stealing the right of creation which only the Prince could give permission for. The vampire had been promptly beheaded by the Sheriff the moment they brought him in. The new vampire was also killed…nothing personal but the Camarilla didn't need weak children that would be a drain of resources.

Samantha at first was a bit squeamish about helping in Camarilla maters of justice but remembering how her friend Cassandra had almost been killed by Sabbat had made her suck it up and push forward. And even though her rational human sensibilities were often offended there was some part of her that liked the violence. As an officer in the Air Force she had always been a professional and a scientist and a leader…there had never been the approval to use violence that there was among the vampires. It was very freeing.

Liam Sage was seen less and less but Sam still got the surprise visit or phone call. He was technically still her Master/guardian but his tactics were clearly geared to letting Sam progress on her own with minimal intervention. And he said that he had other things to do that didn't involve watching her.

Carter's life at 'work' had also improved. At least to her own perception. Now that Sam had stopped fighting the change she had been briefed on what the Nosferatu had done to help safeguard the SGC. Most of it was simply information gathering and alarms. There were few booby traps but the warning system was the main focus. Unfortunately there was no way to prevent a determined Kindred from entering the facility. It only took the right disciplines and a keen mind. So they devoted most efforts to making sure that whoever snuck in couldn't do it quickly and not without being detected.

Sam's responsibility was in two parts. First she was the primary eyes and ears about what was going on in the SGC. Everything that passed Landry's desk passed hers eventually. The second part was facilitating the Camarilla's agents. If a kindred needed to sneak into a area she made sure it was scheduled to be vacant. The three new SFs were ghouls and Sam made sure they didn't catch anyone's suspicion.

That had probably been the hardest thing for her to do. Being apart of the Kindred's world was easy when it didn't involve betraying heir oath as an officer. However the Liam and the Prince were adamant that the Kindred would not tolerate divided loyalty; she had to pick a side. In the end she only chose the Camarilla because they understood the threat and what they were doing would ultimately also help the SGC stay secure. However the price was that a foreign authority had the ability to move through out the secret Air-Force base and learned everything that the SGC learned. But the same could have happened if the Camarilla had infiltrated the IOA…which they had, Sam was sure, but she couldn't prove it.

There was one draw back to accepting her existence as a vampire. Sam was able to welcome Daniel and Vala back but the closeness they had once had wasn't there. It might be chocked up to time spent apart but really it wasn't Daniel or Vala, it was her. Sam was now keeping a big, dangerous secret from some of the people she trusted the most…and that was it. She didn't trust them anymore. Not with the Kindred's secrets. That hurt her on a deep level which Carter then glazed over by throwing herself more into her Vampire life.

Daniel Jackson closed the book he was using to translate an obscure script. Looking up at the clock on the wall he grimaced 2 o'clock in the a.m. Damn I need to stop doing this. Working all night long used to be easy but That was 10 years ago. Time was catching up to him…ironic given that his profession was digging up old things.

Taking off his glasses the man felt his stomach growl. He felt like he needed dinner. For no particular reason the archeologist let his gaze drift slowly to the right and for the briefest moment a person was in his peripheral vision. Instantly he focused and turned his head but nothing was there.

"Okay," he said to himself. Ever since he and Vala had returned to the SGC there had been this…feeling. There wasn't any other word for it. There was this oppressive feeling in the air, like the SGC was under a permanent dark cloud…or like the air was damp and heavy. But that was all it was. The personnel were mostly the same, business was pretty much the same. At the same time not.

Forgetting his urge to get something from the cafeteria he reflected on this. Not for the first time he had thought he had seen people just out of site or in dark rooms. However once he turned his head or flipped the light switch there was always nothing. He had told Vala about it but she made jokes about the base being haunted.

Despite her jokes Daniel wasn't as comfortable at the SGC as he used to be. Maybe that was why he was so down. Daniel was aware that Samantha, one of his best friends, was not the same person he remembered either. Of course that wasn't such a big a deal. The original SG-1 had been disbanded for several years and they had all gone to their own projects. Jack, was now a two star general in DC. Teal'c, played politics and ambassador for the free Jaffa. There was news that Teal'c's son was about to have his first baby. Daniel couldn't think of Teal'c as a grandpa. Sam had been in charge of the Atlantis expedition for a year and then her own starship…and that had ended tragically. And then there was him and Vala. Oh and Cameron was retired and flying experimental aircraft for the Air Force…apparently a contract job paid more, and to quote his friend, "Its grate, I get to fly the newest planes and whenever a general complains I say 'hey I'm under contract'. Best job in the world."

Change had come to the SGC. The kind of change this place had resisted for nearly 10 years. The experience of being the first station, the first post to open the stargate had been a monumental step for a lot of the people involved. The SGC had kept most of its original staff for years. But now things had changed, people had grown up and moved on with their careers.

Daniel smiled sadly at that feeling. The SGC wasn't home like it had been. The people that made it home weren't here. Yeah, that had to be it. So maybe the SGC was haunted, but by memories, good ones.

Sam and Mango walked on the sidewalk. After the gym there was little else that needed to be done. Mango had the evening off and Sam was free till morning. Sam had once thought about inviting Mango and Kim over to her house but that was too close to Cassandra. Even though she felt that she trusted Mango, and Mango knew about Cassandra it screamed of bad idea. She wouldn't even be able to explain how she had met the teenager.

It was getting close to the time Mango would normally say goodnight so she could go grab a bite. Sam wasn't feeding yet. Liam and the Camarilla had stopped providing blood but Carter was stealing it from the SGC's blood reserve bit by bit. Mango would have thought it was funny accept that feeding was never a funny thing. It was the biggest divide between vampire and humans. One ate the other.

Mango was about to say goodbye when Sam's second cell phone beeped. It was a general text message. Sam flipped the phone open and red.

Try to catch the red-eye downtown. Remember finders Keeper, looser weepers.

Carter showed it to Mango. It was a mass text that someone in the Camarilla sent out. Every Kindred in the city with a cell phone would be getting a message like that. It was basic code. The translation was a Kindred had given into the beast and needed to be captured. When a vampire let the beast take over their eyes turned red. Samantha had heard it was the demon looking out through the host's eyes. The second sentence was a code identifying the clan of the vampire. Keeper was the nickname for Lasombra as in "brother's keeper". Since Lasombra were almost exclusively Sabbat than that meant this was also a Sabbat vampire loose inside the city limits.

Mango gave the cell back and looked tense. Any vampire that had given up its humanity was dangerous. The beast didn't always make a vamp go feral. Sometimes it just let them be completely evil, like torture for torture sake evil. A lot of Tzimisce were supposed to have let the beast out. That's why they could be so monstrous and not care. The beast also gave its host a big boost in physical speed, strength and all around nastiness. So it was in short dangerous. A Lasombra was even worse.

The Lasombra were dangerous because of their extreme Darwinism. They were kind of the Sith of the vampire world. They had potence, and dominance; but their biggest power was Obtenebration, the power to manipulate shadows. They could do virtual anything from shifting a shadow on the wall to blacking out a city block if that had the juice for it. But what was the most scary ting about that power was that only they could use it and the could make the shadows come alive…tentacles that could rip you apart or shadow monsters that would eat your insides out. So again the Lasombra clan were scary vampires.

Liam entered the dark smelly room. To his left was a bar and on the right were tables and chares. Dead humans lay all over the floor. Kindred sat with their feet up guzzling down blood or licking it off the table. He walked in and went up to the bar. "Hey, I'll finish him off." He pointed to a young human literally hanging from a meat hook where liquor bottles should be.

The ghoul grabbed the man without ease and pulled the large meat hook out. The human blood bag had been hanging from the bones in his shoulder…the pain was so great the man was nearly catatonic. Liam took the human gently and walked with him to a dark corner. He sat down and the human slumped against him moaning slightly. The smell of tears, urine and dried blood was pungent. The mouth moved but there weren't any words. Liam looked into the round eyes.

Liam let the man's head fall back. He extended his fangs and bit into the neck. The body tightened to resist but that subsided into a low pleasure shiver…and then there was nothing. Liam let the body fall to the floor drained. It was that quick. The guy probably had been hanging on that wall for more than a day. These children had no idea how unsanitary it is to feed like this. But they weren't really feeding because they were hungry. They were reviling in their dark powers and their new superiority over the rest of humanity. Torture and pain, a vampire's biggest turn on

Liam leaned back and listened to the young vampires talk.

Note: sorry for the wait. Work is taking alot of my attention. Same excuse as before so please review and I will do my best. If you are one of my regular readers I am getting back to my other stories as well.