New Beginnings

^ Denote: Psychic dialogue.

Chapter 12
Meditation

The night had fallen and the city was full of life. In dance clubs, human masses are swaying to rhythms that were pulsating from stereos. The streets crowed with pedestrians, while traffic horns blared, lights blinked incessantly. In homes, parents ushered little ones to bed or gathered around the television.


The situation with the Kindred was getting dire. It had been a week and half, since Julian and the other Kindred has reverted to their primitive form. It was getting bad, no longer containable. Soon the masquerade would be broken. James knew all this; but he didn’t wanted it to go that far. What was the use of being the Prince of a city, with half the population afraid of you? Daedalus had to give in. His source in Daedalus camp told him the end was near.


James called his men together. “Breakout the champagne boys, by tomorrow this city will be ours.”


A young Brujah quickly started passing out glasses of champagne. James noticed the brand. It was Julian’s Luna. How ironic, James thought, saluting the bottle mockingly.


***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***


It’s getting ridiculous, Buffy thought. She was tired of been unconscious. How many hours, how many days had passed, as she lay in that bed unconscious. “I don’t like to be sick,” she pouted at her self in a hallway mirror. She felt all icky. The Kindred was getting worse, and all she does was lie in bed. She was getting pretty tired of it.


Looking back at the day she had fought the primitives, she could see that she was walking into a trap, but with Lillie coming to her like that. But her ego got the best of her. She only saw what she wanted to see, that Lillie had come to her because they both care for Julian. Maybe if she hadn’t been worried about Julian, she wouldn’t have rushed to deal with the badness, ignoring an obvious set like that.


As she stood outside Julian’s office door, her thoughts when back to the dream she had shared with him. She hesitated before going in, coloring fiercely. She hope no one else was a telepath. Daedalus had called another meeting with the Clans member’s head, and he wanted Buffy there. Buffy was feeling a little bit shy, since the last time they saw her, blood and gore of Kindred covered her. She knows there was nothing to be afraid of because she did not do anything wrong, but it might be weird sitting down, with the killer of your kind, even if that Kindred had turned primitive.


Buffy walked into the office. Sasha rushed over to her side. “Should you be up,” she asked concerned.


“I am fine,” Buffy said, smiling slightly at the young woman.


“But you just got out of the sick bed, yesterday.”


“It’s no big. I am indestructible girl. I am alright,” said Buffy, guiding Sasha to the last two empty seats.


Avoiding Buffy’s gaze, Lillie said to Daedalus. “Why are we here? Are we going to contact James about the antidote?”


Daedalus sighed. “Julian is getting worse,” he announced. ““And its also a struggle to maintain the masquerade, with primitives all around us."


“Frank and I have being trying,” said Sonny.


“I know. I know,” Daedalus said. “But we cannot control the situation much longer. There are too many variables. We have half of the city Kindred quarantined, and half still missing. And who knows how long the infection period was. Cameron and Julian are fighting it, because they are older, but Cash is deteriorating before my eyes.


Sasha cried out.


Buffy gather her into her arms.


Daedalus quickly looked at Sasha apologizing silently for upsetting her.


“What can we do? Buffy asked, blinking her suddenly dry eyes. She wanted to rail at the fates or the powers. They had given her a few days of momentary happiness, but now it seems that they decided to take that away. She doesn’t know what the future might bring. She could be happy or miserable. But in the future, she was beginning to see Julian in it. ^‘Lissa? Little one, what is it? Why are you upset?’ ^


^’It nothing,’ she insisted’. ^


^’It cannot be not anything. It is something, because you are crying.’^


^ ‘Am not,’ she hissed. ^


^’Are too,’ he said indulgently. ^


^’Am not,’ she retorted’. ^


^ ‘Are too,’ her reaction seemed to amuse him. ^


Suddenly the situation seems ridiculous. ^ ‘Stop it,” she said, giggling silently. ^


^ ‘Good, you have stop crying,’ Julian said satisfaction in his voice. ^


“Do?” ask Lillie, interrupting Buffy’s dialogue with Julian. “We have to give in, that’s all.”


“Yea,” Sonny agreed. “You are going to give Beacham the city,” he said, making that statement sounded like a fact.


“No, I am not,” said Daedalus.


“What!” Lillie gasped her mind racing. “You have to.”


Daedalus blinked in astonishment. “I have to. I do not have to do anything I don’t want to do,” he said.


“What do you mean no,” Lillie cried stricken. “Julian is going to die without an antidote.”


Sasha wailed louder.


“Hush,” said Buffy, patting the back of distraught girl into her arms.


“This is not your city, its Julian,” said Lillie shrilly, swallowing the lump in her throat. “If it were you and me, he would have done everything to save us. Let’s put this to a vote, all in favor of contacting James Beacham, say aye.”


“Aye,” said Ben.


“One person,” she asked disbelievingly. “Sonny? He is your Primogen.”


Sonny avoided her gaze.


Turning towards the women sitting in identical chair, Lillie said. “Sasha, he is your uncle. If you don’t want to save you uncle, how about Cash?”


Sasha burst into fresh tears.


“That’s enough,” said Buffy sharply. She was tired of every one using Sasha’s grief as tool.


“What?’ Lillie said, her mouth hanging open. Swallowing her tongue, she said. “Who died and made you Prince?”


Ignoring her, Buffy turned to Daedalus. “What do you intend to do. “Are we going to steal the formula? I haven’t done any break and enterish lately,” she said with a small smile.


“We have no need,” he said quietly. “I found an antidote to reverse the virus.”


You could heard a pin drop, that’s how profound the silence was.


Lillie mind was awhirl. What I am going to do now, she thought.


Thank God, thought Buffy, bowing her head slightly. Her hair, a golden curtain to shield her face.


“Huh,” said Sonny, shock holding his tongue immobile while red tears unashamedly ran down his cheek.


“What?’ ask Sasha astonished. “How did you find it?” She said, saying what everyone was thinking. She was jubilant. Finally, they are going to get better. She didn’t have to find the strength to watch both her Uncle Julian and her love Cash die. She’s tired of being alone. Several months ago she had watched her strong grandfather Angus turn into a frail being in a matter of weeks. He wasn’t the same man, that taught her how to ride a motorcycle or to appreciate a good bottle of wine. Now to watch the last member of her family die, it’s asking too much.


“I am over a thousand years old, but this type of virus was the first I ever seen. I tried many experiments to get a cure, I also try medicine that I have, and nothing had worked. I thought at one point I should give up, but I ask my self, if I were sick, would Julian give up. And that answer was no. It is rare, when I could get an answer to a problem, then Ms. Winters gave me the solution.”


Everyone turned to look at Buffy.


Buffy shrugged.


“As a Slayer, Ms. Winters has prophetic dreams; usually it takes a Watcher to interpret them. But since she didn’t have her watcher, it was up to me.”


Buffy was exuberant. ^ ‘Julian?’^ she called in her mind. ^‘You are going to be okay,’ ^she said to him. She had gotten quite use to communicating this way.


^‘I am here Lissa,’ Julian said.^


She could suddenly feel him, a comfort in her mind. Will it be like this, she wondered. ^‘Daedalus found a cure.’^


“Well, what was the dream?” Lillie asked impatiently. “And how did you get an answer from it.”


“Dark and light must come together and energy is the key. Suddenly it came to me, energy. What is energy? Energy is our life force and Kindred life force is blood. Remember, the virus was attacking blood. It was eating up both the white and red blood cell, breaking them down. As Kindred, we walked in the dark but Lissa, as a Slayer is the Warrior of Light, so I use some of her blood to see if it would work. It did, her blood was the key all along. I will administer it to the primitives. At first, I thought I could use my blood, but it was attacking the affected blood, but not in a good way.”


“Wow,” said Sasha. “Isn’t that great,” she said enthusiastically, giving Buffy a hug. “Uncle Julian and Cash will be cured.”


“Not to sound negative or anything, but are you sure it would work,” asked Lillie, looking beautiful in dark green silk suit. Using her now healed hand to gestured freely.


“Yes, I believe it will work. I had exhausted other avenues and any possible side affect,” said Daedalus.


“Good,” said Lillie disappointed. “I am glad it will work. Your blood is special eh,” she said in aside to Buffy. Little miss perfect can’t do no wrong, she muttered to herself bitterly. “Right now, half of the city Kindred had been affected. How do we get the antidote?” Lillie asked.


“I have being also working on something else for the last couple of days. It is a sonic transponder,” said Daedalus.


“What?” said Ben.


“What does it do?” Billy asked.


“It will call primitives to one place, where we could administer the antidote,” he said.


Frowning, Buffy asked, “How does it work?”


“It’s liked a dog whistle, tuned to a high frequency, that only they can hear. We will use it to call them to a secure place.”


“What happens then,” she asked.


“What do you mean?” he asked puzzled.


“I understand that my blood is part of the antidote, but I’m not going to bleed and let them feed off me. How do you going to administer the cure?”


“No, they are not going to feed off you. “We will use phosphorus guns. We will load the guns and fire at them. Since the virus spread from skin to skin, as long as the liquid touches their skin they will be all right.


“Wait a minute,” said Lillie. “I am glad Julian and Cash are going to be okay, but I am wondering if you are quite sure her blood is the key. Suppose we use it on Julian and he got worse. What about the cure James has? Did he get slayer blood too? I thought there is only one slayer.”


“Uh,” said Ben. “I was wondering that too, but I didn’t want to voice my doubts.”


Stricken, Buffy thought, about the antidote not working. She didn’t want Julian to die.


“Listen” said Daedalus. “I have been a round a long time and if I said it will work, it will work.”


“Sorry that is not good enough,” said Lillie. “I can’t make you risk Julian’s life and the others and cure you thought might work.”


“Lillie, it is not your decision.”


“But it is my decision if you wanted to give the antidote to Cameron,” said Ben.


“Are you sure Beacham’s cure will work?” demand Daedalus.


Ben looked at Lillie, who nodded slightly.


Eyes narrowing suspiciously, Daedalus watched the interaction between Lillie and Ben. He has to keep an eye out. Lillie is up to something. Since the situation with Lissa, he has not fully trusted her.


“It might. Who would create a poison and not the antidote,” Ben retorted. “I wouldn’t. Would you,” he asked Daedalus pointedly.


“This isn’t about me, this is a about giving Julian an antidote, from a Kindred I don’t trust.


“There was another slayer,” Buffy said quietly.


“What!” Lillie said, spinning around to look at Buffy.


“I said there was another slayer. Her name was Kendra.”


“I thought there can be only one,” said Daedalus puzzled.


“Yes, I was battling a Master Vampire, when he drowned me, I was gone for a few second, but CPR was perform on me by my friend Xander. Because I was technically dead, Kendra was called to be the Slayer.


Frowning slightly, Sonny asked. “What happened to this Slayer?”


“She is dead.”


“So,” said Lillie, satisfaction in her voice. “Since this other Slayer was dead, then her blood couldn’t be integrated in the antidote.”


“I never said it was Slayer blood,” Daedalus pointed out.


“Uh,” said Buffy. “Color me confused.”


“I said we needed Lissa’s blood,” Daedalus said matter of factly.


Puzzled, Lillie tried to work it out. “But Lissa is a Slayer, you said so, or did you lie?”


Chuckling, Daedalus said. “No I didn’t lie, Lissa is a Slayer. Any Slayer’s blood wouldn’t do. We needed Lissa’s blood.”


Suddenly a roar of pain, exploded against Buffy psyche. She bowed with it. “Julian,” she gasps, almost fainting from the immense pain.


“Lissa are you alright?” asked Sasha.


“Fine,” she said, gritting teeth. “Julian,” she gasped again. It is hard trying to shield her mind against such strong emotion.


“What’s going on?” demanded Lillie.


A loud scream of pain echoed throughout the house.


“What did you do?” Lillie demand to Daedalus, as he rush out the room.


Everyone quickly followed.


In the basement, Julian twist and writhe as his inside was changing. Tissue and organs rearranging as the antidote worked to change his shape from primitive to Ventrue.


Everyone gape in astonishment at the naked Kindred in the cage.


“Did I forget to mention that I gave the antidote to Julian?” said Daedalus to the stupefied crowd.


“Well duh,” said Buffy, staring in utter disbelieve at the nude man in the cage.


“Julian?” Lillie asked, her voice drifting into a hushed whisper.


“Uncle Julian,” cried Sasha happily.


Confused, Julian dark eyes wandered about him, to rest upon Buffy, standing slightly behind Sonny.


Buffy hesitated. It looked like Julian Luna. Then his dark eyes met her hazel ones. She couldn’t think, under his steady scrutiny.


Ignoring the prodding, Daedalus was giving him, Julian continued to gaze at Buffy. After being in her thoughts for the last couple of days, he thought it would be awkward, but it only reinforce the thought that they belong together.


Lillie stood silently, watching the interchange between Buffy and Julian. They were focused on each other.


***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***


After receiving the antidote, Julian and the rest of Kindred in the mansion were going to be okay. They were still feral but coherent. Now that Julian was back, Buffy doesn’t know how she feels. She wanted to runaway, especially when she is feeling such confusion. They haven’t ‘talk’ since he recovered. Maybe it was a side affect of being primitive; maybe that is why she no longer hears him in her mind. Whatever it was, it’s a relief. She doesn’t how she can deal with him, knowing her every thoughts and feelings.


In the meanwhile, Lillie had disappeared and she didn’t care less where she was. It is interesting that she, Buffy had wanted to disappear and didn’t, but Lillie, the most unlikely person did. She still hadn’t forgotten that Lillie had led her into an ambush. What had concerned her most was the amount of blood Daedalus needed to distribute. Apparently, he only needed a few drops of blood, not buckets, Buffy had envisioned.


With some help, Buffy and Daedalus modified the Phosphorus guns, to spray the antidote on any primitive that crosses her path. She knew it was not going to be easy, when she remembered her previous encounter with primitives. There will be some causality, especially since their first instinct is to fight.


After planning all morning with Daedalus, Buffy needed a break. Tomorrow was a big day. The fate of the Kindred rested on her shoulder. She never thought she would be helping vampires, killing them yes, helping them no. It seems like life greatest irony. She strolled out into the garden. She had on one of her new outfit, a comfortable light weighted gray fleece cotton shorts with matching hooded jacket. Her feet were bare, her hair was up in a ponytail and in her hand, she was carrying several fat white candle and a few matches. Her face was devoid of any makeup. Looking at her, one would describe her as a garden nymph.


Buffy breathed deeply of the sweet scents coming off the night blooming flowers. They tickled her senses, while they swayed slowly by the hand of the continuous breeze that perfumed the air.


She had walked the garden earlier in the day carefully until she had found the right spot. She then outlined a triangle with three large rocks. This has to do, she thought.


She then lighted the white candles, which she then placed strategic allover the garden and one on the corner of the triangle facing east. She sat down with her legs crossed in the lotus position. Next, she directed her gaze to the burning candle, letting her focus soften.


She started by relaxing her body, aware of the tension in her head and neck. Relaxing her muscles in her head and face, eyes, feeling all the tension melt away. She then takes a deep breath. Exhaling and relaxing her shoulders and arms, melting all stress and tension. She continued to breathe. Deeply, exhaling, releasing all tension in her chest and lungs. Relaxing her mind, heart and soul. Focusing on the candle at the apex of the triangle.


Focus, Clarity, Balance.


She raised both hands up over your head, palms facing her head, then slowly bring them down over your forehead, face, throat, chest, abdomen, and then groin, and push out with palms facing away from her.


She quieted her mind, empty of thought, fear, worry, and anger. But she was always alert. “I gave my self clearance and balance. I am in balance with my self myself. I am in balance with the universe. I release all that that does not serve. I am walking in the love of the Goddess and the Great Spirit. All my senses are growing stronger. I am in balance and harmony. I release all that does not serve my highest good.”


She repeated the words three times, making sure she was completely relaxed.


She sat there for over an hour, centering her chi, letting her senses come alive. Bringing the Slayer forward. After awhile she stood up and looked around her. It was really a beautiful garden. She stood still for a few moments breathing in the scents around her, watching the stars go by.