The Fifth Clan (22 page)

"Strike!" Ghost yelled.

"Good job," I told her and she smiled weakly at me. She was getting weaker by the minute. Still stronger than she had ever been but the boost she had received from my blood in the process of making her was officially worn off. She needed to rest and she needed to feed.

"We're almost there." I glanced up again, stone walls whizzing by me to find a huge set of double doors waiting at the end of the hall with twelve vampires and six wolves waiting for us.

We needed to get through those doors and taking my cue from Rachel I tapped into my Vasith head space and sent a wave of power ahead of us. Physical momentum, of which we had built up plenty, coupled with my own innate power meant the force that struck the creatures was incredible.

Bones splintered. Wood and stone shattered as the eighteen of them struck the massive doors and punched through into the chamber beyond.

I came to a stop, set Rachel down, and the three of us stepped into the Hall to face the council and Tatsuhito.

28

March ????, 2005: Scotland

When eighteen bodies come flying through a door and three others, accused of treason walk calmly through into a room with the leaders of a nation in attendance one expects a certain degree chaos and mayhem to ensue.

When you're dealing with creatures that measure their ages in centuries however there's a certain amount of latitude involved. Many of the still assembled wolves and vampires in in their balcony seats leaped to their feet but the expected general outcry didn't come.

Now that I knew what to look for however I could see the evidence of Tatsuhitos' influence. Their bodies practically vibrated with the desire to move, to attack, to do something, anything almost. An outside force however was holding them still Tatsu was affecting the minds of everyone in the room save for myself, Rachel, and Ghost.

Behind
Threntüs' chair I caught a brief glimmer of an image, a flickering shadow of a figure standing just to the side of the chair. Tatsuhito was present. Good. That would play an important role in what came next.

I strode calmly forward into the room and once again took a spot on the Seal of the Brotherhood. Kargon, healed from his attack, Keilyn, Shad, and Grim all stared down at us. Kargon appeared far less curious than he had before, not that I could blame him. Grim arched one bushy red brow at me and a small smirk twisted his lips. His eyes flickered briefly to his right, an indication to me that he knew Tatsuhito was standing there by the Old Windbags chair.

I filed the information away and refused to think about it. A wolf of Grims' age would be very difficult for even a powerful Vasith to penetrate. He had luckily retained some measure of his own will despite the machinations of an enraged boy.

"Lucy," Ghost called out as he stepped up beside me. "You got some 'splainin, to do."

I sighed but successfully hid the grin that threatened to bloom across my lips. I would not do to show the Council that I took them lightly. Smiling would imply that I was a little too at ease, given the circumstances. Rachel let out a nervous titter but quickly silenced herself. Based on the sound of flesh on flesh I can only imagine that she slapped her hands over her own mouth to silence the involuntary response.

"I came here. For no purpose other than to seek inclusion in the Brotherhood, as the father of a Fifth Vampire Clan," I called out. "Keilyn, you asked to what purpose here would be a conspiracy against me. I say now that there was no conspiracy. There was a single person, manipulating the lives of many in an effort to exact a personal degree of revenge against me."

"How can you be sure of this?" Kargon asked.

"Because he came to my cell, disguised as my old mentor, Grim." I indicated Grim in his seat with the wave of one hand and Kargon frowned. He growled and his frown deepened as he glared down at me. "Disguised, you say. You would accuse one of my Clan of perpetrating this event? You say you wish to be included yet already you bring accusations against us."

"I bring no such thing," I cut in before he could get up any steam. "The person to which I spoke was no member of the Kargoni Clan. He disguised himself, yes. But not through the manipulation of his own features. He did so, through the manipulation of our minds."

Keilyn bristled like a cat. If she'd had any fur it would have been standing on end in anger. "And now you accuse my clan."

"Not yours either, my Lady," I corrected her.

The four heads looked very confused now. "Lady Keilyn. Do you remember, some two centuries past, donating your blood, along with all the members of your clan to Threntü? I would imagine he did so under the guise of an experiment? Perhaps seeking to understand why it was that certain clans held specific powers?"

Her silence spoke volumes and the shadowy image I could see of Tatsuhito became slightly more pronounced. He was getting angry. Poor Tatsu had spent too long in the shadows, hidden away from everyone. The threat of exposure made him mad, and when he was mad his focus would slip.

"Threntü did not use that blood for the purpose he claimed. He used it to create a single vampire, a Vasith endowed with incalculable amounts of power. This vampire has been hiding in the background for quite some time. He has been manipulating you and your Children to his own end. He drew me into this event, orchestrated revealing my power only to hurt me. He is a coward and he's about to lose his temper."

Tatsuhito suddenly screamed in rage, long and loud, and he threw himself forward from the dais. Shad swore as he knocked into the Shadow Vampires chair on his way by, nearly unseating him in his rush to reach me.

Keep him angry. Keep him off balance and he won't be able to focus enough to use his gifts. So far it was working.

I barely dodged his attempt to take my head off with his left foot, executing a perfect back spin kick that I wouldn't have expected from him considering the typical Vasith propensity to ignore their physical skills in favor of the mental. Ghost growled and leaped toward him but he was thrown back with barely a glance by a wave of power.

Ok so he was still focused enough to use some of his abilities. Telekinesis required a lot less attention though so perhaps his telepathic hold on the others was still weakening.

The breath exploded from my lungs as Tatsu buried his fist into my stomach so hard I was forced double. Before he could react I forced myself to straighten up as fast as I could and the crown of my skull caught him under the chin. Teeth broke as his jaws snapped together and he staggered back, blood dripping down his chin.

"You're not going to be able to beat me Tatsu," I mocked him. He still held the
Wakazashi in his right hand but had yet to draw it. "I have quite a bit more experience than you do and I'm just stronger."

"And I can read your mind." His voice was confident but the expression on his face told a different story. He could read my mind. But for some reason he couldn't find anything about my plans on how to fight him.

I grinned at him. "When you don't want a Vasith to know what you're going to do, don't think about it." I leaped forward and drove my elbow into his chest, knocking him back a dozen steps as he struggled to keep his balance. I let him recover, not pressing my advantage.

Stay calm. Don't let your emotions get out of control, I thought. You can't afford to let anything slip.

"I don't want to kill you, Tatsuhito. Not again."

He hissed at me and threw a punch at my face. I tried to dodge but he corrected his swing in mid throw and his knuckles dug into my cheek, sending me spinning to the floor from the force of the blow. Sparks of light danced in front of my eyes for a moment but I shook them away and climbed to my feet.

Rachel cried out, her hands held out toward him and Tatsus clothes fluttered as if in a stiff breeze as she attempted to blast him away with her telekinetic abilities. Against someone of his power however she was less than effectual.

"You can't kill me," he roared. "I can predict your every move. I would kill you like I did Threntü but I'd much rather do it with my bare hands you fucking coward!" He waved one hand toward Rachel without even looking at her and she was suddenly thrown into the air to come down on the stone floor with a resounding crash.

"Not your smartest move, Tatsu," I said through a bloody grin. "You just attacked my Child. If I wasn't ready to kill you before, I am now. And you just admitted to a room full of vampires and wolves that you killed a member of the council."

Checkmate.

Get him distracted enough he'll admit to his crimes. Once he realized there were witnesses he'd attempt to erase their memory. As soon as he does he'll be distracted and...

His eyes went out of focus for a moment, panic written across his face as he reached out, trying to wipe too many minds at once. I held out my hand and pulled on the hilt of the sword he was still clutching. It slid free of its scabbard and flew toward me, Tatsu right behind it as he made a wild leap in a futile attempt to catch it.

The hilt slapped into my hand and I spun. My arm lashed out as we moved past each other across the stone floor. The blade in my hand met with no resistance as it sliced. Behind me I heard a clattering thump and then a heavy thud.

When I reluctantly turned a few moments later all I could do was stare at Tatsuhitos' body on the ground, his head resting nearby and the pool of blood that was slowly spreading across the Seal of the Brotherhood as the chaos I had been expecting earlier erupted around me as his psychic hold on the room fell away.

29

March 10, 2005: Scotland.

Madness and chaos had reigned supreme for a brief time after the short fight between Tatsuhito and myself. Keilyn was able to quickly ascertain exactly how much damage Tatsu had done to the rest of them. He had apparently been twisting all of their minds for over a century. Pushing them in subtle ways over time. All the while leading them to a greater degree of paranoia against me and the idea of a Fifth Clan.

Rachel, Ghost, and I were incarcerated again, this time without getting knocked out and treated with draconian manners. They took two days, where we were treated with a modicum of
respect and fed regularly, while they conducted an investigation and then we were released.

"Think they'll give you the key to the city?" Ghost asked. The three of us were making our way to the Council chamber again, this time because we had been summoned to appear.

"This isn't a city."

"They could still give you the key."

"Why would I want it? This place is old, drafty, cold, and it doesn't include the luxuries I have in my apartment."

"Luxuries like a bed?" He asked with a smug grin as he looked back and forth between Rachel and I.

"Exactly," she cut in with a grin of her own. It took the whole two days that we were sitting in our cell, communicating with our Vasith abilities, but eventually she started to come to grips with everything that had happened to her. There was going to be a lot more to discuss but we were well on our way.

One thing I had learned from the entire ordeal was that I had obviously spent entirely too much time alone. It would do me good to work on my Clan for a time, and to work on a possible relationship with Rachel.

Being alone left me open for the chaos Tatsuhito created. It left me open to attack and I couldn't afford that any longer.

Tatsuhito had been created out of spite, from a mad mans
want to play God and create something new, just to destroy me. In the end Tatsu killed Threntü. Literally tore the old Wind Bag to pieces with the amazing mental power given to him by the head of the Vayun himself.

A part of me pitied the child I had once known, and I admit to feeling more than a touch of guilt over my part in the whole thing. I had played the puppet far better than I thought, despite my struggles against that very thing.

"Here we go," Ghost muttered as he pushed open the doors leading into the Hall again and the three of us entered to stand above the seal once more. The floor had been cleaned of Tatsuhitos' blood and a part of me wondered how they had so thoroughly removed any trace of his blood from the stone for a brief moment before I focused on the situation at hand.

This was the day of our sentencing.

"Gabriel Winters, Rachel Monahan and Ghost..." Keilyn looked over at Ghost and her eyes narrowed. "No last name... are you prepared to hear the sentence, as decided by us, the Council of the Brotherhood?"

"We are," I said, speaking for all of us.

Shad stood, still in his shadow form and addressed the room at large in a strong, clear, voice. "Gabriel Winters. In regards to attempting to bring war to the Brotherhood we find you innocent, largely due to the interference of the vampire we have come to know as Tatsuhito."

"The council is wise." The response was traditional and tripped from my lips as easily as thought as I bowed my head to them, acknowledging their gracious generosity.

Yeah I can’t keep a straight face looking at that part either. Gracious and generous are not two words I would use to describe them.

As Shad continued I let my eyes trail around the room. I already knew how things were going to play out Tatsu had screwed everything up so badly they couldn't afford to alienate me. I had, after all, saved them from his continued influence when I killed him. If they tried to take out any of their displeasure over the whole situation on me they would end up looking bad in the eyes of their Children, and that they could never allow.

Vera stood nearby in one of the lower balcony seats, her amber eyes fixed on me but I sensed none of the hatred and hostility that I had felt before. Tatsu had obviously been taking great liberties with her emotions when it came to me.

I would still probably kill her one day.

"Thank you, Sires," Rachel said beside me and I focused my attention back on the proceedings. She stepped forward in response to something Grim had asked and produced my lighter from her pocket again. Holding it out on the palm of her hand there was a moment where everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath, then a long, slow, exhale as the lighter rippled and liquefied in her palm. It changed shape several times turning into a small metal horse, a bat, a motorcycle and eventually a coin in the representation of the Brotherhood token.

On one side of the brightly polished coin was the image of an eye and on the other, a tooth.

"Gabriel Winters," Grim said as he stood. "Given the evidence presented to us on this day, and the proof that you, and your Child, both possess a fifth power unique unto yourselves we are willing to offer you a position on this Council as head of the Fifth Vampire Clan and inclusion in the treatise of The Brotherhood of Vampires and Werewolves.

"Do you accept this appointment and will you sign the treaty to bind your clan to The Brotherhood, subject to its laws, and having a voice in its governing?"

I nodded and stepped forward. I quickly cut open a vein in my wrist to sign the contract presented by Kargon with a quill dipped into my own blood. After that was completed I stepped back and wrapped one arm around Rachels' waist and pulled her against my side.

The Fifth Clan was born and it looked to me like things were only going to get more interesting from here.