New Beginnings

Chapter 7
Primitives


* Quote from the Kindred website.


When Frank walked boldly into Julian Luna’s San Francisco mansion, if he was apprehensive about being in a room full of Kindred, he didn’t show it. However, the last thing he had expected was chaos he was seeing. He thought to ignore the invitation, inviting him to this party, but then he remembered that that fox Lissa Winters might be there. So here he was.


Several men grouped together, having an intense conversation. Each of them uneasily staring up the stairs, wishing someone would tell them what’s going on.


“What happen?” asked Frank, walking up to the nearest man.


The men ignored him.


“Hey buddy, what’s going on?” he asked, tapping a man on his shoulder.


He shrugged off Frank’s hand off his shoulder. “What is it to you, human,” the man hissed, drawling the word human to sound like an insult. “Didn’t you mama teach you not to butt in when your betters are having a conversation?”


“Well, my mama taught me a lot of things, one of them is how to kick your butt,” Frank shot back.


“Who and whose army,” the man said, hands doubling into a fist.


“Marcus,” someone hissed. “Do you know who you are talking to? It’s Luna pet human.”


“I don’t care,” Marcus retorted.


“But I care,” a man said, walking forward. “Ignore Marcus, he said to Frank. All Kindred knew Frank was under the protection of Julian Luna but right now, he needed to know that, if Luna dies, then the protective he had is gone. Then he will be fair game. “He has a bug up his butt, before he embraced.” He drew Frank aside. “Julian Luna had some kind of seizure,” he told him.


“What?”

Julian Luna just collapse from some sort of seizure,” the man repeated sympathy in his gaze.


“Yea, I am wondering if he’s going to die,” one of them admitted. Suddenly around them was a tangible tension.


“Only a Brujah would have thought about something like that,” someone muttered, breaking the tension.


“Oh come on,” he moaned. “Everyone is thinking it but does not have the balls to say it out loud.”


“All I am thinking,” said Marcus. “It is time for a Brujah to rule San Francisco.”


“Or a Toreador,” some one else said.


“Is he going to be okay?” asked Frank, ignoring the banter around him. Frank decided not to dwell on what should happen to him if Luna died. He looked around the room, seeing frighten people huddled into small groups, speculating on the fate of Luna.


Shrugging slightly, the man walked away from Frank.


Upstairs in Julian bedroom.


“What did you do?” Cash accused Cameron, one eye on him and the other on Julian.


“I did nothing,” Cameron denied, a little bit shaken by the night advents. But he would not admit that to anyone.


“Yes you did,” Cash retorted, scared. It’s scary to see a strong person like Julian Luna suddenly collapse. He wanted answers and he wanted it now. “You were standing next to him when he collapsed.”


“No you have it all wrong,’” Cameron denied again. Panic welled up in him. “No, I tried to help him.” Turning towards the group in the room, he beseeched them. “You guys saw that I helping, right?”


“Liar, you hate Julian and all Ventrue. You would see all of them dead,’ said Cash, trying to find something or someone to blame.


“Enough!” said Daedalus. “Enough bickering, it is not helping Julian.”


“Oh my God he’s changing,” said Buffy, ignoring the arguing behind her.


“What!” said Cash said shocked, halting his walk towards the bed.


Everyone looked towards the bed in a degree of horror. Although he was unconscious, Julian was changing, physically. Phasing. He was part human, and part animal.


“Don’t touch him!” Daedulus shouted. “He might be dangerous.”


Lillie paused in the act of touching Julian. “Why is he changing?” she asked bewildered.


“I don’t know. He seems to be reverting to what we once were. Primitives,” said Daedalus.


“What do you mean?” asked Cash, taken back. He just couldn’t believe what he was seeing.


“Don’t you know your own history boy?” asked Daedalus angry. He does know why Julian was changing, he can’t explain it. He was scared like everyone else, but he would not admit it, plus he’s fed up with these young generations. He understand that they have seen the years he had lived, but that was no excuse for ignorance.


“What does history has to do with this situation?” Cash asked annoyed. This was not the time for a history lesson.


* “In ancient times, the Kindred were savages, merciless killers who hunt humans at night. Among their unspeakable atrocities were the practice of stealing babies and draining their blood. * The Kindred had to leave behind what we were.


“Look it is not the right time for a history lesson,” said Buffy, interrupting, what seems to her a long-winded speech.


“Does she have to be in here?” Lillie demand, her eyes narrow upon Buffy with disdain.


Everyone ignored her.


Suddenly, Julian flayed his arms, catching his claws on Buffy’s arm. “Ow, Ow,” she cried, holding her bloodied arm to her chest. It was a deep scratch. She imagined she could even see the muscle. A wave of nausea swept over here. She took a couple of quick breaths, as she felt bile rising up in her throat. “Quick, get me something to tie him up with, preferably a chain.”


“Are you okay?” asked Sasha concerned, rushing towards her friend. She then pressed a white cotton cloth to Buffy’s wounded arm. She was scared for her Uncle Julian. No one seemed to know what was wrong with him.


“Yes, I’ve had worse scratches,” she said tightly, fighting down the pain.


“I told you all, she shouldn’t be here,” said Lillie annoyed, that once again everyone was ignoring her.


“Julian is dangerous in this state,” said Daedalus. “We must all stay away from him.”


Everything seemed surreal to Buffy. It was like deja vu. She looked at Sasha wrapping her bloody hand and tuned out the activity in the room. Sunnydale had been on her mind lately. For the past two years, that town was the furthest thing from her mind, but since she arrived in San Francisco and met Kindred, everything and everyone reminded her of Sunnydale. Frank, who reminded her a little of Xander and Cash’s protectiveness towards Sasha, Willow and Oz and now Julian turning feral. She shook her head to clear out the imagery. “I know what to do, we need to chain him.”


“What do you mean we should chained him?” asked Lillie


“Look,” Buffy said exasperated. “Julian doesn’t know what he is doing. In this state, he might hurt somebody. And I know how to handle him, because my best friend boy’s friend is a werewolf, whom we had to chain at least three times a month,” she quietly.


Ignoring the conversation behind him, Daedalus took charge. With both Cameron and Cash’s help, he quickly binds Julian to the bed, with the chain Cash had provided, quickly avoiding Julian hands.


“Werewolves?” Lillie asked her eyes searched the room, touching on each of them in disbelief. “Werewolves,” she repeated. “They don’t exist, they are a myth.”


“A myth?” asked Buffy incredulously, strolling around the room to keep her mind off the pain in her hand.


“You need to see a doctor,” said Cash, frowning slightly, noticing how Buffy was cradling her arm.


“I am fine,” she said. “I don’t like doctors,” she muttered under her breath.


“Okay, if you won’t go to the doctor, at least let Daedalus look at it.
That wound seemed severe.”


“Fine,” she said, through clench teeth, as Daedalus probe her wound.


“It will need stitching,” he said, turning to Sasha who was at the other side of the room, watching everything and everyone nervously. “Please get the medical supply out of your Uncle’s bathroom.”


She nodded and rushed out the room.


“I’ll heal this in no time,” Buffy said softly. “Slayer healing and all that.”


“Well yes, you probably will, but it still needed to be cleansed”


Buffy nodded. “I can’t believe you think Werewolves are a myth,” she said to Lillie, picking up conversation, she had left off. “Just like Vampires are myths, right.”


“I am over 1000 years old,” Daedalus said to Lillie. “I live a long life. As Kindred, you should know all kind of creature called this earth home.”


That shut Lillie up for a few seconds.


“How do you know all this?” Lillie demanded of Buffy. “Did some one tell you,” she asked, eagerness sounded in her voice. “Someone had broken the masquerade,” she accused.


“No one had broken your silly masquerade. I would be deaf and dumb, if I didn’t figure something was going on,” said Buffy. “Especially since I was in the room when Julian changed. Remember I was the one to call it to your attention. No human does that. Plus I knew about Vampires since I was fifteen years old,” she said, wincing slightly as Daedalus continued to probe her wound.


“What, you knew about Kindred for four years. You’re what? Nineteen?” asked Lillie, couldn’t wrap her head around the idea.


“No,” Buffy said quietly. “Fourteen years. I had known about vampires, no,” she said smiling slightly. “Kindred for fourteen years. I am twenty nine years old.”


“Twenty-nine? But-but you don’t look a day over nineteen,” Lillie said shocked.


“Thank you,” said Buffy. No one likes to hear that he or she looks older than they were.


That shut her up for the next few minutes. She stood fuming in a corner of the room watching the occupants. How does a human know about the masquerade and kept it all these years.


Sasha ran back into the room with the medical supplies, where Daedalus proceeded to cleanse, sew, and bandage Buffy’s arm.


If Lillie had used her Kindred senses, she would have known what was so special about Buffy. But she was only seeing with her human eyes and that limits her, especially because of her jealously.


What Daedalus and Cash saw was a powerful young woman, with a golden light that always surrounded her.


Because Sasha was newly Kindred, she saw only saw a friend., plus she was a new vampire. She hasn’t learned how to used all of her senses yet. And Cameron sees what he wanted to see, a human.


“Can you do something to help Uncle Julian,” Sasha beseeched Daedalus.


“I don’t know,” said Daedalus, shaking his head sadly.


“Well, I for one am getting out of here,” said Cameron.


“You are leaving?” cried Sasha.


“There is nothing for me accomplish,” he said, wiping his damping palms on his pant leg. For the past half hour, he was feeling dizzy and his skin felt like fire ants had crawl over it. Surreptitiously, he started to scratch.


“It is just like a Brujah,” said Cash. “Running when the going gets tough, always looking for number one.”


Sasha gasped.


Cash turned to her and said. “I am sorry Sasha, I didn’t mean all Brujah.” It seems like he was always apologizing. It was going to take more than few months, to over come centuries of hatred.


However, Sasha ignored him. She pointed to Cameron who was weaving and swaying in the doorway. He then collapsed in a seizure.


Sasha screamed loudly.


Frank and several Kindred rushed into the room.


“What’s going on here?” He questioned his cop eyes quickly ascertain the situation. One man he now knows as the headman for the Brujah since Eddie Fiori died, writhing on the floor and Luna tied to a bed with chains. What kind of freaking shit is happening?


Daedalus melted into the shadows.


“Out!” Buffy shouted.


“Don’t worry, everything is alright,” said Cash smoothly, moving the men towards the door.


A phone suddenly chimed.


Frank looked down and searched his pockets. “Kohanek,” he said answering the ring. It was his partner Sonny, telling him about a woman seeing a monster.


“Why us,” he asked striding back down the hall. For the last couple of months, whenever there was a strange case, they given it to Sonny and Frank. It was as if he was a magnet for weird. “Listen partner, some thing is up with Luna. They have him chain to a bed,” he said matter of factly.


“What!” Sonny said stunned.


“Yea, he had some accident or something. They won’t tell me a thing,” Frank said, his voice oddly gentle.


“Where are you?’” Sonny asked curiously, his voice without any inflection.


“Luna’s. We were invited to his get together, remember the one you couldn’t attend,” said Frank driving away from the mansion.


“How is he?” he asked, his voice thick and unsteady.


“As I said, they won’t tell me a thing. He is your boss. Why don’t you find out?” He could stand it more. It took a while to get use to the idea, that his partner was one of them. Kindred. He didn’t want Luna to die. But he didn’t give a shit, about them in general. When it comes down to him and some asshole, who’s not human, he hopes he comes out on top. And he doesn’t care if anyone knows especially his partner.


“Frank!”


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


Meanwhile in Julian’s room, Frank had left a group of confused people wondering what was going on.


“He seemed to attribute the same symptoms as Julian,” said Daedalus, walking over to Cameron, who continued to thrash about in a seizure.


“Do we know what it is, and how they get it?” asked Buffy, fear and anxiety knotted her insides.


“No, I don’t,” Daedalus said, for the first time sounding scared.


“Okay, this is what we are going to do,” said Buffy, instinct taking charge. “Since we don’t know how this is transferring. It may be something he ate or drink, but whatever it is, we will do a little research and fight this thing.”


“Who died and made you boss,” asked Lillie, her tone nasty. What’s happening, first Julian, now Cameron. Is it catching? A war of emotions raged within her. Fear, confusion, insecurity and anguish. Oh, what if she caught whatever they have?


“Someone had to lead. Do you want to do it,” Buffy asked, glaring at her. When Lillie didn’t say anything. She said. “Well I didn’t think so.”


Ignoring the bitterness between Lillie and Lissa, Sasha was just happy someone was doing something.


“Everyone has to wear gloves, until we know what we are dealing with,” Buffy continued. “If what this is, only attacked Kindred, we needed to know, before it go after human next. In the mean while we’ll move Cameron next door,” she said, striding forward towards Cameron.


They all rushed to help.


“One person only!” Yelled Buffy, but she was talking to an empty room.


After they got Cameron situated, he was tied to a bed with a chain, like Julian. They breathed a sigh of relief.


“Someone needed to see if anyone else was affected. Both Julian and Cameron were in the same room and both are exhibition the same symptoms,” Buffy said tiredly, looking around the room, rubbing the small of her back. The first time in a while she was helpless, the only thing she can do at this moment was to lead. These people had lived along life. They had seen bad things come and gone and if they are looking worried, then the situation is bleak indeed.


“I’ll go,” said Cash, wandering out to the hallway. He paused at the top the stairs. He flexed his right arm. For the last couple of minutes he was experiencing a tingling sensation in his arm. He decided it was nothing to be concerned about.