New Beginnings

Chapter 3

The Conclave



Club Haven


In the back room of Lillie’s Haven sat several people at an oval table. The Haven was a club/restaurant owned by the Toreadors clan. For several years, the head of each clan, would meet at the Prince’s home, but after a botched assassination, they decided to meet on neutral ground. And that was Lillie’s Haven. Julian called the Conclave (where the heads of each clan get together to decided the fate of each member in their city) to order. There was Julian, who was representing the Ventrue Clan, Daedulus, the Nosferatu, Cameron, the Brujah Clan, Lillie, the Toreadors and Cash, the Gangrel’s. “I have some disturbing news. The Gangrels found out some information that will affect us all,” Julian said, looking at each member of the conclave.


“Is this about your guest? I knew, she would make you break the masquerade,” said Lillie spitefully.


“No,” Julian retorted. “This is not about my guest,” he said, glaring at her. He was fed up with her little digs against Lissa.


“What guest? And what does that have to do with the masquerade?” asked Cameron, always eager to see the other clans at each other’s throats.


“My guest has nothing to do with why we are here,” Julian growled the words between clenched teeth.

Everyone was a taken aback at the usually calm Prince, as a tense silence enveloped the room.


Breaking the tension, Daedalus said to Lillie, his voice calm and his gaze steady “You are jealous, because you are no longer in the Prince’s affections. The prince’s guest is not a threat to you and less you are a threat to her.”


“I am not threatened by a human,” Lillie retorted, annoyed at the transparency of her feelings.


“If you say so,” Daedulus said, in a deep tone. Daedulus who had help save Buffy, even spent time in her presence and knew what she was. A slayer. He hadn’t lived for over five hundred years not to recognize the hunter and killer of his kind. He and Julian had talked about the slayer role in his life and he was satisfied that Julian knew what he was doing. At least for now.


“Look,” said Julian, his voice resigned. “I am not looking to replace anyone,” he lied. “What I am here for, concerns the Kindred, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the guest at my home.” Julian was a little bit uncomfortable with fact he had just lied. Although he had left Lissa comfortably situated with Sasha, all he could think about was her, what she was doing, where she was at this moment. The harder he tried to ignore the fact, that she was becoming more important to him each day, the more it became more apparent. He knew she could take care of herself, with her being the slayer and all that. That’s another thing. Lissa was a Slayer and Slayers have this primal instinct to hunt. What shall he do, when her instinct kicks in and she starts hunting us all?


“If you can’t control your women, then you shouldn’t be Prince,’’ said Cameron, interrupting Julian’s thought.


Julian just gave him a speaking glance. “As I was saying, what the Gangrel’s found out will affect us all. Not just Ventrue, but all Kindred. Let the Gangrel tell it. Cash?”


Cash cleared his throat and lean forward in his chair. “I was at Sully’s when I heard two men talking,” he said, looking them in the eye.

***Flashback***

Sully’s Bar.

Cash, the young leader for the Gangrels, and a young tough crowd of street kids were hanging out with a couple of men from his clan in front of Sully’s liquor store. Sully’s was the local hangout for the Gangrels, not because they are alcoholics, but because one of theirs owned the bar. They were talking trash, boasting who was the better bike rider. Something or someone caught Cash’s attention. He didn’t know what it was, maybe it was a tone or an inflection in this person’s voice, but what ever it was, his instinct told him to listen. “Shh,” he said to his comrades. However, the noise was at maximum level. “Guys, shut up for a second,” he asked. But the conversation seemed to grow louder. “Shut Up!” he yelled, now infuriated. Astonished, the group turned to look at him. “Sorry, guys,” he apologized. “But shut up for a second, ‘Kay?” he said nodding his head and moving towards the slight sound he had heard earlier.


“…do you think it’ll work?” a male voice said.


“Yes, it will work. We found a Gangrel to test it out on,” said the second voice, sounding shaky and scared.


“How long is it’s effect?” the first man asked.


“M-maybe permanent. We-we really don’t know how it will affect the Kindred as yet. We need to do more tests.”


“You better pray that it works,” said the first voice, harshly. “Is it contagious?” he asked, sounding only mildly curious.


“Not for humans, but as Kindred, you have to be careful to use gloves. C-Can I ask a question.”


“Go ahead,” the first voice said impatiently.


“I thought as Kindred, you would want to hide who you are, but what you are doing might draw attention to yourselves.”


“Well yes, but I believe we can contain this. If we wipe out the Prince and all leading heads, then San Francisco will be mine for taking. I wanted to be Prince. And this way, I don’t have to fight for it. It will be handed down to me on a silver platter,” the voice said, laughing menacingly.


Then the voices faded away.


***End Flashback***


“Who were those men?’” asked Lillie, regarding Cash with somber curiosity.


“Have you met them before?” demanded Cameron, his voice held a rasp of excitement.


“What are they planning?” asked Daedalus, his expression serious.


“Whoa, one at a time,” said Cash, putting his hand up to stop them. “First of all, I never actually saw the men, I only heard them. But I know one was Kindred and the other was human.”


“How?” demanded Daedalus, speaking with cool authority.


His response held a note of impatience. “By the thing they said,” Cash admitted.


“So you don’t actually know if something is going to happen,” Cameron drawled with distinct mockery.


“Well…..” Cash stammered in bewilderment. What just happened? I was confident and but in a few minutes, they make me feel like a callow youth, by second-guessing my self. I can’t let them do that to me. I am head of my own clan.


“You might be wasting our time with a phantom story,” Cameron said, coolly. “You know how these Gangrel are,” he said to the room at large.


With a muscle flicking angrily in his jaw, Cash gave Cameron a brutal and unfriendly stare. “Look,” he said. “I heard what I heard. It is up to the conclave to decide if it has any meaning,” getting up from his chair, and moving away from the table.


“So, this is what you know. Unknown persons are working together. To do what?” asked Cameron, regarding him with impassive coldness. He didn’t care what a Gangrel thought. What he cared about was how the information was going to affect him and the Brujah.


Cash opened is mouth to defend him self.


“That is enough,” said Julian, ripping out the words impatiently. Sometimes he was tired with being the Prince. He had to put up with too much bickering. But it seemed that is what the job entails. How did Archon survived all those years? “We have to keep an eye open. Remember we must protect the masquerade at all costs.”


Lillie snorted upon hearing that.


Ignoring her, Julian continued. “I am concerned about the human Cash overheard talking. I will check with Frank Kohanek and see what he has to say.”


“Yes, go ask your pet human, about this,” said Cameron snidely. “He probably knows something about this. I don’t know why you let him live, if it was up to me he would be dead already.


“Enough! I am tired of your snide remarks. I am Prince of this city and it is none of your business what I chose to do. If I did not need you and your Brujah right now, I would show you that I am not the weak prince you and your kind purport me to be. You don’t want me to come over there and shut your mouth for you,” Julian said icily, his eyes turning wolf grey. With a small effort, he turned to Cash. “Have you determined if any of your Gangrel is missing?”


“No, not yet. But I have the word out,” said Cash, smiling broadly. He loved seeing a Brujah being put in their place.


“Good. This meeting is adjourned.”


“I will check with the Nosferatu,” said Daedalus, silently agreeing with how Julian handled Cameron. Since Archon’s death, Cameron continued to bait the Prince, knowing that Archon’s death was a realistic murder, for the wrong Archon had committed against the Brujah.


“And I will check with the Toreadors, to see if any one knows what’s going on,” said Lillie quietly. Part of her was afraid of Julian; he was his clan’s enforcer for several years, before Archon stepped down and made him Prince. And the other part was turn on. A delicious shuddered ran through her. She so loved a man in charge…


“Discreetly,” said Julian. “Remember, we may have one or more Kindred working together on whatever this is.”


Julian’s Mansion


In the meanwhile, across the San Francisco Bay at Julian’s mansion, a shadow moved hesitantly into a basement room. The room was dark and filled with shadows. He was scared. He knows that there were no other Kindred in the house, with the except of him, but he was scared never the less. There are several humans in the house, but they cannot detect Kindred. And he knew how to avoid them. But, the idea of being in the Prince’s home without them knowing terrified him. However, he had job to do. Several weeks ago, he had receive a map with the layout of the house. Now he was putting it to use. He walked inherently to the wine cellar.


The room was full of all kinds of wine. Dark reds, sweet and tart. Julian Luna was a wine connoisseur. His family for several generations owned a vineyard in the Napa valley. The shadow was a little disconcerted by the volume of wine. But he remembered what he was told. {“Luna kept at least couple of bottles from the first year of his vineyard. Put it in a couple of those.”} He found the correct vintage, but to make sure he would get Luna, he added some of the liquid to the other bottles as well. Who knew if the Prince was going to drink his special wine anytime soon? He didn’t notice when some of the liquid splashed on his hand, going through a small hole in the gloves that he was wearing.