The Fifth Clan (20 page)

"Catch," I told her and lightly tossed it in her direction. She let out an indignant squawk but her hand shot out, reflexes highly enhanced beyond her experience and she caught it neatly. "Please demonstrate the Fifth Power if you would Rachel." I mentally crossed my fingers and prayed that she would be able to do it. If she couldn't we had a few serious problems facing us.

"We have asked for no demonstrations." Kargon had leaned forward in his seat as well. At his age very little happened that surprised him anymore, the curse of a long life. I imagine this unusual occurrence was his idea of front row seats at an MMA fight. Free entertainment for the masses. I'm pretty sure I'd heard a rumor once that he had been around when the gladiatorial games were being played in Rome.

"Is not a demonstration of a viable clan-centric power a requirement for inclusion into the Brotherhood?" I asked. "Those of you that know me are aware I'm not one to play politics. So let me cut to the chase. Someone, I had thought Threntü but I have since been informed of his death, has gone to a great deal of trouble in the last month to force me to reveal my power to the vampiric and werewolf community at large. I do not like being played with and I know that thoughts of war and conflict have concerned you all since that information was revealed. I
have no problem with defending myself. But I will not be someones pawn in this plan."

You speak of a conspiracy
.

I shuddered slightly when
Keilyns' voice echoed inside my head. Her lips didn't move but by the reactions I could tell she had broadcast the thought to everyone in the room. Rachel shuddered, almost violently, at the sudden intrusion.

To what end? What purpose could there be in forcing war or conflict, as you say, against you?

"It is no secret that I have made enemies. I am at once more powerful and weaker in many respects than the individual clans. My creation was intended to create a single leader to unite the clans. I have no idea why you, and the other heads, humored Threntü in his initial decision to create me in the first place but his plan failed.

"I cannot unite the clans under a single leadership. First that would require you to abdicate your rightful positions as Sires of your clans. Second, as it has now been proven, I am the scion of a new clan and cannot rule over the other
s as you would not be asked to govern the Kargoni or Shadu. So where does that leave us?

"You can try to have me killed to avoid complications. Or
you can accept me as a new clan head and we can proceed forward."

"You seem to feel that you alone could defend against all of us here?" Kargon asked. He did seem interested, almost amused by the very thought.

"You have no idea the true extent of my power. That is the only reason I have been left alone for this long." It was a calculated bluff on my part. If they decided to attack me now I would be hard pressed to escape. Even with my speed and strength and the powers of the clans at my disposal I was at a severe disadvantage.

"You sill haven't explained why someone would persecute you in the manner you have suggested Gabriel," Grim cut in again, trying to keep things on track, bless him.

"No, I haven't. And until I can ascertain for sure who was responsible I cannot even begin to guess as to their purpose. It could be political. It could be for personal gain in some manner. It could even simply be a personal vendetta against me. I have no idea. I would like to head off having the entire Brotherhood against me however if I can help it. Hence why I come before you today seeking to establish myself as the head of a new clan.

"I wish only to be left alone, but since I apparently cannot do that then I wish to be included as a productive member of
the Brotherhood for the benefit of all our kind."

It wasn't a bad speech at all. Now I just had to hope it worked. I really didn't want to have to kill anyone today if I could help it. I would. But I didn't want to.

"Since when have you been a team player?" Kargon asked.

"Since it has been made clear to me that I either play the game or find myself with a
bull’s-eye painted on my back. I do not like being a target."

The four heads exchanged glances, faces unreadable and I didn't even try to read their emotions. Keilyn would have felt the attempt and there was no point either way.

"I believe that, at the very least, a demonstration is not a poor idea. We should see if he even has a claim as the scion of a Fifth Clan." Thank you Grim. I really needed to buy that man a fruit basket. Or a moose to hunt. Something.

"Agreed." Kargon stood and leaped easily down from the platform. "I would view this closely if I may?" I nodded. That was a good sign. He was asking permission, even though there was no way I wouldn't grant it, to view my first Child closely. Something that custom still dictated and his sticking to conventions meant he was honestly considering the idea.

He walked forward to within twenty feet of Rachel and that was when the wheels fell off the wagon. I felt it. A sudden pressure against my mind. Something I had been trained to notice but most others had not. I felt a spike in my adrenalin, a trigger of the ingrained fight or flight response that was so much stronger in the animalistic nature that was Vampires and Werewolves. Every wolf in the room suddenly howled, a mixture of rage and indescribable fear as the wave spread through the room.

Rachel.

Poor Rachel who was unprepared and undertrained had no defense against the instinctive reaction the wave produced.

She dropped my lighter and threw herself at Kargon teeth bared and hands extended. She pushed past his feeble attempt to guard himself, still staggered by the wave himself, and rammed her forehead into his face. His perfectly sculpted nose was crushed by the blow and bright blood spurted across them both. Reaching out she grabbed one of his arms and with a savage twist dislocated his shoulder and broke his fore arm and elbow.

I went to run toward her, to pull her off of the Kargoni leader when Keilyn stepped in. Metaphorically speaking.

She reached out with her powerful mind and lifted Rachel bodily into the air. In the span of ten seconds the attack happened and had been stopped. Rachel hung impotently in
midair, writhing and twisting, hissing like a cat as she attempted to reach for Kargon.

"There will be order in these chambers!" Grim bellowed and the howling wolves stopped suddenly as their Alpha commanded them. The Vampires were less inclined to listen to him but still settled back into their chairs. Most of them had made to leap down into the central chamber with me when the wave hit but they were slowly beginning to gather their wits.

The only thought that could pass through my head was just how undeniably bad this whole turn of events was.

"Gabriel Winters. Your Child has attacked the head of one of the Four Clans. As a Child can only cause such action through the direct order of their Sire we can only infer that this entire attack was orchestrated by you to cause the war you claimed you wished to avoid." Shad was glaring at me from his spot still sitting in his chair atop the dais.

This was very, very bad.

"As such you will both be incarcerated until such time as your punishment can be determined by us, the Council of the Brotherhood."

I opened my mouth to speak but Keilyn shut it for me. Her mind overwhelmed mine and Rachel and I both fell into a deep sleep.

The last image I remember seeing before my consciousness
failed me was that same shadowy figure standing behind Threntüs' chair. Somehow, I knew, that figure was responsible for everything that had happened to me, and everything that would happen in the near future.

26

March ????, 2005: Scotland

"You know I had kind of figured that being a Vampire now would mean that I wouldn't get knocked out so often."

"Try not to think that. If you expect to get knocked out every other minute you won't be as surprised when it does finally happen."

"You know I never got knocked out at all before I started hanging out with you fools."

"I'm sure Gabe will appreciate that knowledge when he wakes up."

"I'm awake."

I opened my eyes. I was lying on a stone floor, staring
up at a stone ceiling in a stone room. I'll give the architects something for consistency of building materials. I wonder if this place was built by the same guy that designed the all metal room.

Turning my head, I saw Rachel sitting on the floor against one wall with Ghost sitting beside her, his long legs stretched out in front of him. A heavy steel reinforced wooden door blocked the entrance and on the other side of the small barred window I could see Grims face peeking through into our cell. He smiled broadly when he saw me move and Rachel turned at the sound of my voice to look at me.

"About time you woke up," she said. "I would have thought you'd be up before me, healing faster and all that."

"Yeah but for the start of this you were stronger than I was remember? Bloods equalized by now so you'll have dropped down to my level at this point." I studied her quietly for a minute and she started to fidget. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Her face screwed up into a pained expression I had seen before but couldn't quite place. "I was thinking about how to change the lighter and Kargon walked up. Next thing I knew it was like my mind shut off and my body was moving on its own. I tried to stop and I couldn't... I couldn't control myself."

The proverbial
light bulb went off over my head as the information clicked into place and I understood the pained expression she'd held moments before. I had seen similar expressions on the faces of other humans many times in the past. It was the expression of pained confusion that one gets when portions of their memory have been modified or erased by a heavy handed Vasith. I had never been particularly subtle in the use of my skill and apparently whoever had taken control of Rachel's body to attack Kargon wasn't either.

"That explains a few things at least. What are you doing here?" I asked Ghost.

He scowled and crossed his arms. "I tried to jump into things when they went to take you two away and I was hrwn in here with you for my efforts." I chuckled a bit and turned back to stare at the ceiling.

Rough blocks of stone mortared together with the kind of expert construction that was required in centuries past. Todays construction was pretty shoddy in comparison to the castles and structures built in the 14th and 15th centuries. When new construction methods were introduced that were faster, people used them. Just because something was new didn't make it better in my opinion.

"When did people stop building things the way they used to?" Grim asked through the door. His voice sounded odd to me, too light, too high. "Seriously. Just because something is new doesn't make it better."

My blood suddenly ran cold at the same time that I saw Ghost perk up and turn to look at the image of his Alpha. If I hadn't been a Vampire I would have shivered and broken out in a rash of goosebumps across my entire body. Slowly, I turned my head until my eyes were facing the door, and the small window of light that
Grims' face was visible through. The face that peered in at me didn't seem entirely right. The square jawed seemed a little more pointed, the deep furrowed brow seemed smoother, the eyes set shallower in the skull.

Ghost stood and backed up toward me, dragging Rachel behind him. She still didn't understand that something was very, very, wrong, but Ghost wasn't going to let her sit there alone.

"You're not Grim," I whispered, so quietly that even Ghost standing beside me barely heard it.

The figure masquerading as Grim did though. He wasn't using his ears, so that certainly made it easier to determine what I was saying. I surged to my feet, feeling significantly more strength in my limbs than I should have by all rights considering the recent turning of a Child and a distinct lack of feeding in the last several days. Anger and adrenaline are wonderful
motivators at times.

Ghost grabbed my shoulder, preventing me from launching myself at the door and I fixed the strange Vampire with an angry glare as his smile widened, slowly. I was still wearing all my clothes, boots, pants, coat, and shirt but all of my weapons had been removed, obviously enough. All of the obvious weapons at least. Tapping into my fifth power I dissolved the buttons at the cuff of my coat until they pooled in my palms.

"So who are you?" I asked. "You're a much stronger telepath than I've ever encountered."

"The Old Windbag kept me rather well hidden. He created me in secret. For no reason other than to fight you."

"He does things like that," I admitted. "He always was a meddlesome shit."

"Never could accuse him of being the warm and fuzzy type," Ghost cut in. Rachel responded immediately to a quick mental command from me and kept low to the ground and out of the way. I didn't want her getting hurt when and if this resorted to battle.

"A least he was honest about his flaws." His face twisted angrily. "He was a manipulative, old piece of garbage but he knew it and made no apologies for it. You. You pretend to be a friend. You pretend to be family. And then you break a little boys’ neck. You burn whole villages to the ground. You kill innocent bystanders caught in your one Vamp war against the Brotherhood instead of acting like a true monster should and going after the one that created you!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Who the fuck are you?" He snarled,
Grims' face twisting and deforming even more as his careful psychic control slipped and I was beginning to see through the illusion. I raised my arm, hardened the liquid metal in my hand into a dozen thin needles, and pushed them with my mind. They shot from my hand and slipped through the bars in the tiny window at him.

He managed to knock away half of them but six of the needles slipped through and embedded themselves deep into his left cheek. He snarled and ripped the needles from his face, kicking the door open with a thunderous bang as his illusion dissolved entirely and I got my first good look at him.

He wasn't exceptionally tall at roughly 5' 10" but he was extremely thin. Less emaciated than Keilyn, more wiry than atrophied. His black hair was cut short and bangs hung over his forehead framing a pair of dull blue eyes that might once have been brilliant except for the naked hatred and vitriol hiding behind them.

An expensive looking dark green silk dress shirt hung on
his wiry frame like it was still on the hanger. It might have fit nicely on me but it was too large for him by far. Black slacks hung low on his hips, a leather belt at the tightest notch barely stopped the pants from falling around his ankles. Italian leather shoes adorned his feet, scuffed and marred by wear.

Ghost snorted. "All dressed up and nowhere to go?" he asked.

All of this I noted dimly as he stood outlined by the door frame. What really took most of my attention was the sword he held in his right hand. The black scabbard, polished lovingly for centuries by my own hand. The hilt, worn smooth by the callouses on my palms after years of training.

"Why do you have my sword?" I whispered. Anger began to grow, burning in my chest. I never understood that expression about a persons heart leaping into their throat. I'd had enough times where I was choked with emotion or shocked to my core but this time was different. I distinctly felt as if there was a lump in my throat that I could barely speak past and I could feel my blood pounding through my veins.

"It isn't your sword," He hissed. His eyes narrowed dangerously and I began to feel the pressure of a telepath against my mind. "This sword never belonged to you." He held up the Wakazashi. The one Tatsuhito had held in Japan two hundred years ago. The one I took when I killed him.

"That sword is mine. I was going to use it to kill Threntü for what he caused but I hadn't had the chance."

"BULLSHIT!" he exploded. His face twisted into something ugly as he screamed at me and a touch of madness could be seen in his expression. "You never tried to use it. You never wanted to. Not really."

"You don't know anything about that situation. You weren't there. You don't know what control he had."

"I was there Gabriel. I was there in the flames and the snow. You, carrying a Katana and wearing nothing but a white hakama. It took years before I understood how you were able to walk across the snow without leaving any footprints." He held the sword up and looked directly into my eyes as icy fingers of terror began to grip at me.

“'I have no home Tenshi-nii-san,'” he said in Japanese, his eyes cold and devoid of the tears that had once dampened his cheeks. “'It has burned to the ground already.'”

Tenshi-nii-san. Only one person had ever called me that. And I killed him two centuries ago.

"Tatsuhito?" I breathed, scarcely able to believe that it might be true. "Is that you?" I had switched automatically to Japanese when he did.

His smile was less than warm. "True enough. I've gone by Tatsu for a long time now. No one has called me Tatsuhito in over a hundred years."

"What happened?" Not the best question under the circumstances but
I’m sure I can be excused for that. I was reeling internally. Tatsu was alive! More than that he was apparently behind everything I had been put through lately.

"You killed me, that's what happened."

"I didn't want to." I muttered.

"Then why did you!
Answer that for me, Gabriel. Before I have you killed. Why did you do that to me? I loved you." He was getting worked up again. The blood had stopped dripping from his cheek as the wounds my needles made healed themselves. Further proof, if any was needed, that little Tatsu was a vampire. "My village was burning. My father was dead. All I wanted was the comfort of a friend and you broke my fucking neck!"

"I didn't have a choice." It sounded weak even to my own ears. Ghosts grip on my shoulder was the only thing keeping me from sinking to my knees. His presence reminded me what was at stake in this confrontation and my mind began to whirl faster than ever.

"What reason could you possibly have had to kill me, Tenshi?"

"I was trying to escape the village. I needed to leave before more of the villagers found me. I didn't want to hurt anyone else. If I had tried to leave you would have raised a call. You could have told them which way I had gone. I didn't want to hurt anyone else. I had to leave without being seen."

"That's weak, Tenshi-san." His eyes bored into mine. Two centuries of hatred built up within him. All directed at me. And all well deserved.

"What happened?" I asked again.
"How did you end up like this?”

"
How else?" He leaned one shoulder against the door frame, one leg crossed over the other so his toe rested against the ground and his arms were crossed over his chest. "Threntü. That meddlesome wind bag was there in the village that night. He had me turned."

"But, you're a Vasith, not one of the Vayun."

"I'm what the Vasith wish they could be. He had me brought to a chamber where a pool had been prepared. Filled with donated blood from every single Vasith in the world. He laid open my veins and submerged me in it. The blood worked. It probably shouldn't have since I was already dead but it wasn't long after that it revived me."

I became a telepath unlike any this world has ever seen.

The feeling of his voice echoing inside my head was like the physical blow of a hammer. I staggered back at the immense pressure I felt and nearly fell to my knees. Only a determined stiffening of my legs and Ghosts support prevented me from falling over like a felled tree and a trickle of blood escaped my nose that I quickly wiped away.

Even that brief contact with his mind told me how powerful he truly was.

"You're how I knew where to find Ghost and Grim?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Hey, I went to a lot of trouble building that hiding spot. If I had wanted it known I wouldn't have gone to so much effort to hide."

"Ghost?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Yeah."

The pieces were starting to fall into place. "You're how Claus and Vera found me. You put the information into our minds. Why? Why do all this? Why go to all the trouble to expose me when you could have just killed me at any time?" I really wanted
to know. I couldn't understand why he would go to all this trouble when a simpler method would probably have worked more effectively.

"I wanted the rest of them to see you for what you really are," he snarled. He stood up straight and pointed the sword at me, still in its scabbard. "A weakling and a coward. You claim to be someones friend just until they become a burden, then you kill them."

"Coward?"

"You have all this power Gabriel. You have the ability to start a Fifth Clan. To bring the Vampires out of the darkness and into the light again. We only hide as much as we do because we are so few in number. The Council made sure to limit the numbers of vampires but you could have made us strong if you had simply come forward.