| 4. More bad news.
Lilly called Julian from a taxi. “We need another emergency meeting” – she said. “They are here, in the town”. When she arrived, Julian was awaiting all primogens.
“So, they just let you go”? – asked Julian.
- You don’t believe me?
At that moment, Cash entered the room.
- Caitlin…
- What?
- She disappeared. I tried to contact her but…
Julian looked shocked. But the nightmare has just only begun.
Now it was Daedalus’ turn to bring bad news.
- Julian, Cameron has refused to come. I am afraid, he is on their side.
Julian eyes became green. – Why some many bad news tonight?
- This is not all, Julian – continued Daedalus. – We lost Chicago and Miami. One prince was killed, another… betrayed us.
- So, they want a war… they will have it. Daedalus, any information from the Tremere clan?
- They refused to help us. This new clan, they did not kill other kindred in the NYC. They control the city, I expected the massacre, but apparently, nothing like that happened.
- So, Tremere are going just to sit and wait? They are not going to enforce the Camarilla law?
- They prefer peace. So, if this new clan does not kill us, the Nosferatu clan also will try to be neutral.
- Daedalus, I counted on you…. And you too…
Julian sat down. Everything was ruined. He remained silent for several minutes. Then he said: “well, we still have some time to prepare before they dare to attack us”.
5. The end of the Masquerade.
But he was wrong - they had no time. Suddenly they heard few gun shots and voices downstairs: “Don’t move, or I will shoot you!”. Everybody turned their faces to the door, the door opened, and they saw a girl with unnaturally blue eyes and black hair.
- My name is Selene, she said. I am a primogen of the new clan
- I don’t believe, how could dare you, Sabbat, to come here. To *my* city…
- It is no longer *your* city. And we are not the Sabbat. We are the 3rd force. We are the *future*. No wait! – she noticed that Julian wanted to take a sword. – I don’t want to kill you, even it is very easy, you are so young, less then 2 centuries old.
“You see”, she continued, “You Kindred are so stubborn… with your so called “Masquerade”. Do you really think humans don’t know about us? Give me a break. Just use a Google search and you will find a lot of interesting things. Do you want to survive for the next century with your old SSNn? Do you know that any attempt to obtain a biometric passport will make obvious that you are not humans? Can you imagine the number of people confused with finding more and more the same 50 or even 100-years old fingerprints in the FBI database? It is just a matter of time when we will be all exposed. So we must act ASAP.
All the movies, little green men… Mortals got used to it. They will accept our existence. Yes, we are the night creatures, but… humans respect all sorts of differently-challenged people, so, they can also accept blood-dependent sunlight-challenged creatures. (Lilly smiled) Are you afraid of the “hunt”? I am not. Do you know what I am really afraid of? The number of wanna-be vampires and ghouls. Imagine, how precious is that gift – the immortality. So *we* are going to save our species, and we are going to redefine the rules.
If you join us, you will have an unlimited amount of the artificial blood… yes, it can not be compared the real one, I would say, it sucks (Lilly smiled again)… but… the quantity, as I said, is unlimited. You don’t need to do any criminal acts at all to survive. The era of the Masquerade is ended. Period. A new era begins. Are you with us? It is up to you.
As she walked towards the door, Julian stood up and said with desperation in his voice: “So, nobody is going to help me kill this Sabbat bitch”?
Selene opened the door and turned around.
- And by the way… if you want to follow the Camarilla law and to continue with that “masquerade bull****, then go ahead, but you will have 2 small challenges first. Enter!
Two women entered the room. The first one was Sasha.
- Are you going to kill me, uncle? - She asked.
Another one was Caitlin. But… What happened to her? Her heir… it was black. And her eyes…
Julians’ eyes are widened in a horror.
- Caitlin… are you embraced… by *them*?
The end.  |