Fic: No More I Love Yous 1/1 Kindred: The Embraced
The last of the 02 Kindred fics. Tremble before the mighty awfulness!
No More I Love Yous
Lopaka Tanu
Series: Lennox pt 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Kindred: The Embraced.
Rating: Nc-17.
Coupling: Cash/Frank.
Warning: Slash MPREG Character Death Violence Language.
Archive: Yes just tell me where.
Author's Note: So you want a summary, well neah. Cash lost Frank, Frank lost his family, Frank is banished from all things Camarilla, that includes their cities and Kindred. You can never go home again is true for Frank.
Summary: An Earth Shattering event forever changes the lives of all the Kindred of San Francisco.
_________________________________________________________ Part 1 I used to be Lunatic from the gracious days.
The last of the screams filled the midnight small town. As the last death cry was silenced a roar of triumph filled the night air. The denziens of the hamlet shook in fear over the sounds. After a few moments of silence their came a knock on the town hall door. Hesitantly the representative of the town council approached the door. When he opened the view port he sighed with relief.
"Their all gone."
"That's good to hear, so now you will be moving on." It was not a question.
A deep sigh. "If that's what you want. I just need to collect what is mine and then I will be going."
"What is that?" The man played dumb as he stroked the large steel doors to the building.
"Oh man, not this shit again." He removed his glasses and looked directly in the eyes of the cowardly man. "Just hand it over, and no one get's hurt. I did the job, now I expect payment."
"What job? All we said was we would be grateful if some one were to get rid of those monsters. You did that, now we are grateful. So leave." He shut the tiny peep hole in the door and locked it shut. As he turned back to the others a hand punched through the steel door and grabbed the man by the collar of the shirt lifting him off the ground. Suddenly the hole in the door widen and the screaming man was dragged through.
The town members screamed in fright as they heard the cries of the man until they were suddenly silenced. Two clawed hands grabbed the hole and yanked the door apart through the solid steel beams. A fanged visage smiled at them. In a cultured southern accent, he spoke. "Now what we have here, is a failure to communicate." Suddenly his face contorted to barely controlled rage. "Where. Is. It."
A woman pointed with a shaking finger towards a small room. He stormed quickly over to the room and yanked the doors off its hinges. In side on a bed lay a little dark brown haired boy, curled up and asleep. Gently he knelt down and stroked the boy's hair and whispered for him to continue sleeping. He turned back towards the terrified populace and grinned at them. Their screams were heard for miles as he rought his revenge on them for kidnapping his offspring.
Cash sat behind the desk looking at the others of his clan. Six members had shaved heads to the point of almost no hair at all. The other three, women, had their hair close cropped and pulled up in a bun. Each one looked tough enough to eat nails. Cash was proud of them. The first generation of Law Enforcement Gangrel. Since the near clan war three years before, Gangrel's had been the law, only now it was official. They reported directly to him, Police Sargent Cash. What a joke.
Well he had a job to do and they had a reputation to uphold. He sighed and handed out the folders to them, all by the book officers. They took this job seriously. Children!
"Two nights ago, the citizens of a small town thirty miles out side the city were murdered. Who or what is as of yet unknown. What ever it was, was intent on them staying alive long enough to suffer for their crimes. If you will look to the photos in the back you will find what I mean. Each cut is shallow and non critical. Kidnapper was cut in to the skin across their chests. Who ever did this was totally pissed off.
"He, for we believe it was a man, shredded some of them to pieces and pulled them apart in his anger. When I recieved these prelimenary reports thirty minutes ago, they were still finding pieces of these people. What ever did this, is not human, so guess what boys and girls, that means we get to be the lucky team that gets the case.
"It is up to us to find this creature and stopp it from killing again. If, and I say if, this creature was a victim just seeking retribution, we are to hand it over to the prince. If not, well you know what we do to those that endanger the masquerade. Any questions?"
They were all silent.
"Good, now get out there before the crime scene get's too bad." When they were gone, he looked at the case file again and shuddered. Thirty people tortured to death for being kidnappers. What the hell did they kidnap to deserve this? He was about to close the file when an impression in the blood caught his attention. "Son of a bitch!"
Grabbing his duster he fled the room to his bike, he had to get to the prince immeadietly. Taking with him the picture, he folded it and placed it in his coat pocket. He hoped he was wrong and this was not who he thought it was. "Three damn years. If it was him, then that means it was..." He stopped as his eyes went silver. "If it was one of the babies, they got off easy." He jumped on his bike and took off for Manse De Luna at full speed, siren wailing.
Scene: Manse De Luna, Time Index: Ten Minutes later.
Prince Julian Luna paced his study for the fourth time in as many minutes. Something was comming, the Nosferatu were getting restless and telling him to be on the look out. Even Lilly was doing a good impression of being afraid. When the sounds of a motor cycle pulling up in the drive reached him he stopped pacing and went out to welcome Cash.
The sight that greeted him was one out of a nightmare. Cash looked like he had ridden through hell and back just to get here. His suit was tore, and his hair out of place. Not to mention the pale gaunt look. Cash had not been feeding right lately.
"What is it that you come tearing up like a bat out of hell?"
He led the Prince back towards the house as he explained. "Something took out a small community thirty miles east of here. The entire town was slaughtered by something with claws and a hell of a lot of strength. Some people were even ripped apart. The chairman of the city council was gutted, and torn to bits. What parts they could save from the crows and other birds was not pretty. The first official body count was 18, they are now estimating fourty five." He shook his head with sheer amazement. "This was done by one person Julian in the time frame of three hours."
"Do you think it was one of our own?"
"Not this Julian. The word Kidnapper was scrawled in their flesh by what appears to be a tiger claws. I know of only one thing with that strength and those talons."
"Frank!"
Cash nodded. "So it would appear. This is not the first of these murders either. There were the fifteen bodies of the Hell's Angel's found last month in northern seqoia stateforest. An entire chapter wiped out with the word murderer scrawled in their foreheads. A priest was killed in Oregon, nailed to the church's cross. He had 'suffer the little children no more' carved on his back." He smiled as Julian gave him an odd look. "The priest was a pedophile under suspicion by the local PD. They had nothing to pin on him, so he was pinned to a cross. Fountain pins driven right through his wrists. Who ever did it, knew what they were doing and was majorly pissed, cause there was a lot of damage done to his body. Broken ribs and bruises covered most of him. Bastard was still alive while all this happened. The killing blow was a railroad spike being shoved through his forehead. He wanted that son of a bitch dead."
"So what, you think Frank is becoming the caped Crusader?"
"I hope so, because if this is eye for an eye, then those people all did something too him. I don't even want to think about what that might mean." He went paler than normal. "What if he is seeking revenge for all his wrongs. We could all be in danger."
Julian gave him a grave look as they walked up the stairs. "Have you contacted the Ravnos in Miami?"
"Not yet, I came here immeadietly after realizing it might be Frank." Pulling out a photo from his suit he handed it to Julian. "This symbol was discovered in the blood found on the body of one of last night's victims. It is the clan Symbol I seen at Mare'ire Estate. No one else would know what it stood for."
"So it is either Frank, or one of his relatives."
Shaking his head no, Cash walked in to the study. "It had to be him, only he had this signet. It was the symbol of the Heir of the Clan."
Julian sat in his chair with a deep sigh. "Call the Primogens. If it is Frank and he is back, then we have a problem."
_________________________________________________________ Part 2 I used to be woebegone, and so restless nights.
Cash and Julian turned to face the woman as she entered the study from the Enclave room. Both were surprised by her disheveled appearance and lack of ornamental adornments. Cash was the first to be by her side to catch her before she collapsed. "What in hell happened to you?"
"Frank."
"Why would Frank harm you? I would think you would be one of the last people he would hurt." Julian looked at her pointedly.
She gave a short laugh. "Frank and I did not part ways under good circumstances. You could say we had a falling out over the hole Cash bash fiasco." At their looks of confusion she turned a glare at Cash. "He wanted to kill you, I wanted him to live."
"That's not all. Frank is not one to do something like this with-out a good reason. What else did you do?" Julian could hardly believe this was the Lilly, his Lilly, she looked ready to frenzy.
"Why don't you tell him lover boy? I mean you had a hand in it too." By now she was shaking out a cigarette, inhailing all the scent of tobacco she could. Before she could light it, Julian took it from her and tossed it in the fire place. "Damn it Julian, I lose my penthouse and you won't let me have one fucking cigarette. I haven't had one in over a decade and I really need one right now."
"Burning down my house will solve nothing. You and Cash are going to tell what you were talking about."
Cash turned away to look at anything but Julian as he crossed his arms. "I don't have to tell you anything."
"As Prince, I can order you to tell me anything that might effect my city. This effects my city!"
The Gangrel whirled on him in anger. "This has nothing to do with your city. It is between Lilly, Frank, and me. That is all there is to tell."
"What did you do?"
"Fine! I had one of my people keep an eye on Zane before he lost it and embraced those girls. The watcher recorded Zane having a trist in a park with our favorite former detective. I gave the tape to Cash, I had no idea what his reaction would be." Two dark looks. "Okay, so I knew, but I didn't think he would hound Frank with it all the way to New York."
"I didn't. I lost track of him after he left town. I didn't get word of his location until after he had left New York."
"Then who the hell did?" Lilly glared at the accusing stare coming from Cash.
"New York is a Brujah controlled city, only Brujah can come and go freely. So it had to be one of their kind in retribution for Cameron." All three shook their heads in agreement. "But who, there is none I would let have such a compromising tape of my chosen."
"Nor I of Zane." Lilly was about to say more, but the sqweaking of boots alerted them to the presence of another.
"Uncle Julian, what is going around here? I tried to get my bike, but the stupid Gangrels refused to let me in the garage, again!" Sasha stood in the open door with a look of annoyance and boredom.
Three faces looked at her with similar looks of revelation.
"It was you."
"I'm gonna kill 'er!"
"What have you done, Sasha?"
Sasha rolled her eyes and turned out of the room. "Freaks."
"I demand she be banished," Lilly comanded as she stood.
Cash was next to her in a moment. "Stand in line! Julian, as primogens we both demand that you do something about this, now. She has gone too far."
Julian lowered his head in acceptance. "I agree, she has gone too far this time, but we have no proof she did this. With no proof you know it will take a unanimous decision of the primogens and the Prince to banish her. I need evidence. What exactly did she do in New York?"
"I'll get you the evidence, you get rid of her." With-out another word to either man, Lilly stormed out of the study leaving both two watch her dramatic exit.
"Do you think she can do it?"
"Get your people ready Cash, we may need your squad."
"On it, we will be ready when you need us, my prince."
As Cash arrived at his apartment building, he noticed all the lights were on in his. There was movment behind the curtains. Pulling out his gun, he checked the bullets before moving towards the back entrance of the building. He climbed the stairs with as silent and fast as possible. So far there were no traces of who was in his apartment. His door was slightly ajar and light flooded in to the dark hallway.
Alarm bells started to ring in his mind as he caught hint of a familiar smell. Anger overroad his sense of judgement as he stormed in to his pad, gun cocked. "Get your whore ass out of here now!" The sight in front of him froze him in his tracks. This was something he had not been expecting.
Bound and gagged, Sasha hung from his ceiling by her feet, both wrists slit and blood dripping in a mixing bowl. On her stomach was branded the words 'Man leech'. Her eyes were red rimmed with rage as she glared at Cash. Mouth gagged, she could only mumble out incohenrent words.
She tried to show him her handcuffed arms, but she started to swing with ever motion. Soon she was moving about in a figure eight formation.
Cash started to laugh until an arm slipped around the front of his waist. Long teeth nibbled at his ear as a tail wrapped around his lower right leg.
"Do you like it, the moment I saw it on the street, I thought to myself 'Cash would love to have that hanging around his apartment. Why he had one like it the last time I was there.' So what do you think? Doesn't it just scream.... well scream?" The words were whispered in a husky passion filled voice, but there was no mistaking the deadly under tones.
Cash swallowed as the body pulled him close allowing the tail to coil around his leg, up to his groin, like a snake. Narrowing his eyes he growled out in frustration over being taken so easily. "Frank!"
"The one and only... That is unless you have been seeing another Frank, have you been seeing another Frank?"
"No."
The extremely warm body started to rub up against him as Frank purred. "Good!"
"Why are you here?"
"Strait to the point as always. Isn't that how we got in trouble in the first place, the point I mean?" Emphasizing his meaning, Frank grabbed the crotch of Cash's pants with a clawed hand. "I seem to remember you and I in a very similar position three years ago, only then you were on top."
"Frank..." a warning growl.
"Ah, so you want to be on top again?" The head pulled back from Cash's shoulder. "I can handle that."
"Here?" The stunned statement filled the apartment causing Sasha to cry out with her muffled voice.
Frank's face appeared on his perifery again. "You know, you are right. This place is a little..." He looked at the hanging Brujah. "trashy. Meet me in the place of the first in three hours, don't be late and no weapons or else." A kiss to Cash's neck over the pulse point. "See ya lover." Then he was gone.
So sudden was the loss of Frank, that Cash lost his support and fell to his knees. Silence reined supreme in the small apartment as Cash sat in his door way panting, his mind racing. He had seen Frank's work with older Kindred, ripping the to pieces like tissue paper was one of his specialties. For the first time in years he had actually feared for his life. Sasha's voice filled the room again. He looked on her face and humor over his situation.
"For that, ya will swing," he said in his best old west drawl. Standing, he shoved her, hard. Pulling his door shut, he walked away as she muffled screamed his name.
The primogen had gathered in the meeting room over the bar. Lilly was her usual imaculate self as she sat next to Cash across from Daedolus and the Brujah primogen of the week, Tsao Lin. The Chinese Brujah was scowling at the other primogen as they awaited Sonny, and Prince Julian.
Cash had called the Enclave together to report his recent encounter. In the two hours since, he had waited with Lilly and Daedolus for the others to appear. Sonny had a patrol to finish and Julian was coming with his childe. Now he was still waiting for the latter two.
His growing impatience over their tardiness and the close deadline made his temper short. Frank was growing more dangerous the longer he was out there. It was the unknown element of time that seperated him from the Frank they knew which upset him the most. Who knew how much the man had changed?
After another five minutes of his thoughts circling each other, had passed, he stood up from the table. He had arrangements to make in order to prevent any more Kindred from being hurt, if that was possible.
Daedolus had been watching the young Gangrel with a weary eye. He had recieved disturbing reports from Camilla the moment she and Frank had arrived back in San Francisco. She had asked him to keep quiet over the return for Frank's sake. He had only agreed on the grounds that if Frank had commited a crime or if Julian asked him directly he would brake that word. She had agreed after a moment's hesitation.
Now that Frank had burned Lilly's home and paid the Gangrel a visit, he was going to have to go against that agreement. Daedolus could only hope that what he had done three years before, to the human, had not caused more than the physical changes necissary for a Breeder. It was a hollow wish, and he knew it. Something had happened in the Miami clan's home that caused Frank to become considered Sabat. Now, because of that, they all may face the true death.
As Cash stood, he watched with a curious gaze but said nothing. He knew the Primogen was worried about more than he was telling and that made his judgement lapse. Trying to stop him would only succeed in getting one or more hurt. However the Brujah was not that smart.
"Where do you think you are going?" Tsao Lin stroked his goatee with his right hand as his left played with the end of his long braid. As a new Brujah in town but the oldest of his clan, he had become primogen rather quickly. His wide spaced eyes narrowed at the blonde Gangrel.
"As if it matters to a Brujah. Besides, I have other things to do than wait for two stuffed shirt Ventrue." He zipped up the front of his jacket and headed for the door but stopped when Tsao Lin called out again.
"Then perhaps you can at least tell me where Sasha is, last I heard she was scene leaving the mansion in a angry tiff followed by you?"
Cash smirked. As he answered the last two members of the Enclave entered. "Just hanging around. Now if you will excuse me I have better things to take up my time."
He pushed his way past the speechless prince and primogen as he left. Ignoring as they called out his name, Cash rushed down the stairs to the exit. He had less than an hour before he had to meet Frank, and waiting for them to do something was going no where fast. All he could hope for was a quick end to whatever the breeder wanted and that it wasn't him staked out for the morning sun.
Scene: The Rose Garden, Alexandra's old apartment. Sun Rise.
Cash squinted as the sun came up over the flowers. He had his people in place all around the building and in side. He had switched off his cell phone after the third call from Julian demanding him to explain his actions. Now all there was to do was meet with Frank.
More than roses were growing on the old balconey blocking most of it from view. Movement amoung the plants made his nerves twitch, he knew if Frank wanted him to be, he would already be dead. The lack of weapons did nothing for his skittishness.
"Frank, I'm here, show yourself!"
Noises came from behind him making him turn and face a pair of curious dark blue eyes. The elfin features contorted in to a questioning look. More sounds to his right alerted him to another set of dark blue eyes. Like cats in the dark, three more pairs appeared in the foilage that filled the room.
Slowly the first one approached him. All of three feet tall, the slinder boy cocked half smirk on the left side of his face as he stood with in arm's reach of Cash. Hands on his hips he looked Cash up and down and snorted.
Giggles filled the room before Cash was ambushed from all sides, bringing him to his knees. The leader of the pack walked over to the surrounded man and looked him in the eyes. The lop sided smirk appeared again as they stared each other in the eyes.
Cash was breathless as they hugged him again. "Hello... son?" Quickly the smirk transformed in to a smile as the boy lept in to his open arms with the others. As he breathed in the almost familiar scent of the boy, he heard the boy whisper one word that made his heart soar with joy and blood tears form in his eyes.
_________________________________________________________ Part 3 My Aching Heart will Bleed for You to See.
Scene: Alexandra's Rose Garden, Cash is being hugged by his sons.
"Daddy!" The resounding chorus of the word brought tears to Cash's eyes. Pulling the boys close, he smiled as they held on tight.
"That's enough, let him catch his breath." The gentle voice made the boys pull back and look at Cash sheepishly.
"It's okay, they were only getting to know their..." Cash looked up stopping as his eyes caught sight of the speaker. "Frank!"
"The one and only." Frank watched as Cash pulled the boys behind him. "Don't! Boys, go play, daddy and I need to talk." Reluctantly they let him go and did as they were told. When he was sure they were gone from the room, he turned back to his lover. His midnight black eyes narrowed at the Gangrel. "They are mine!"
"Then why did you bring them here? You know the penalty for coming here, death for you and them."
"Justice!"
Cash laughed at him. "Justice, for what, you brought the judgement on yourself?"
"I did nothing. It was all your fault, the change, the reason I lost my job, my family, my life. This is all your fault, all because you couldn't keep it in your pants!" Frank pulled his sun glasses off the chain from around his neck and tossed them at Cash. "I can never look Human again! My eyes are permanently frozen like this. Whenever I have Kindred blood in my system I have claws, fangs, and a tail! This is all your fault, Gangrel!"
"You had more than one hand in this too, so don't try to lay it all on my door step, Breeder." Cash regreted the term the moment he said it as Frank was instantly upon him. Fear shot through him as he felt the claws sink in to the skin over his shoulders. The look in his chosen's face was of pure insanity. "Frank! Stop, Frank!"
"Why? So I can go about being an outcast again? Moving from one town to the next being cursed by any thing and everything because I was different. People who saw me spit on me if they weren't running in fear. Do you know what it is like to see your own belly, the flat abs you once had, extend out so far that walking on all fours becomes your only means of movement? I was like a pregnant cat for the past two years!" Frank nipped at the Gangrel under him. "When I weened them last month, I decided that it was high time I took what was rightfully mine. Vengence! You destroyed my life, now I am going to end yours!"
"There must be a way..." He struggled to get out of the vice grip as he rolled the larger man to be on bottom.
"Sixty years, Cash! Sixty years from now is when I can be changed, and only then, embraced. I have to grow old for sixty years, that means not having any kids, sex, or drinking Kindred blood." As he spoke, he pulled the kindred's throat closer to his mouth. "Do you know how hard it is to go with-out blood for even a month? It is almost impossible to go sixty years." When Cash's neck was in range, he licked the struggling kindred's throat. "Been so long," he mumbled as he licked again.
Fear spiked an extra bit of strength in Cash, and he pulled back from Frank enough to brake the Breeder's hold on him. The next moment he was across the room and panting. "Get a grip on yourself, Frank. We can work this out!"
"No, I can feed, and you can die. Then I will kill your Brujah whore and the rest of that bastard clan." He closed his mouth causing his teeth to make a clicking sound. A dark smile crossed his lips as they circled each other. "If you are lucky, I might grow bored with San Francisco and move on to greener pastures after I am through wiping them out. It doesn't matter, as I have all the time in the world to do what I want. And you know what the best part is, there is no one who can stop me."
Cash stood up from his defensive crouch, and gave Frank a sad smile. "I was hoping you wouldn't say something like this. That we would have a chance to work it out."
"There is no working it out, Gangrel. You die this morning, and I am going to enjoy watching you burn!"
"Not this time, Frank. Choreth Cluhe!" Cash hit the floor as Gangrels burst through the walls, firing their weapons at Frank. He covered his ears as the screams of his mate pierced the apartment; so shrill that they cracked the glass and burst ear drums. As he closed his eyes, he tried to block out the rest of the world, the tears the only sign he was paying attention. With each shot fired he flinched.
Suddenly the room was quiet. After a moment, Cash opened his eyes to look at the sight around him. Two of his people were on the floor in pieces, a third was missing the lower half of his body, and was dying fast. The others were looking out over the edge of the balcony, eyes wide. He stood flenching from the torn muscles in his shoulders. "He's gone, aint he?"
One nodded as the others continued to stare.
"Clean up this mess. Damn it! He is stronger than we thought, we are going to have to get the rest of the clan on this one." After he had made his way over to the dying Gangrel, he lowered his head as the fledgling died in his arms. "Yeshua," he whispered. His first and only childe.
"Sir, he knew the risks coming in, we all did." Daranah Ploistie was the only female survivor of the squad, her fellow clan sisters were being gathered for removal by the five remaining clan brothers. "I am sorry we couldn't prevent his death, but as it was, I lost my childe too."
"Krystah?" He looked up at his clan sister. "She..."
"Is being gathered as we speak. There is nothing else we can do for them besides a decent buriel." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Have no fear, sir, that monstor will be made to pay for this. We will get her next time."
"Him, Frank was a man, before he became a Breeder, he was a man." He looked back to the body of his childe. "It is my fault."
"You mustn't blame yourself for the actions of that murderer. He sliced them to bits with no reguards to himself." Her voice held a tinge of awe. "No matter how many bullets; silver, lead or phospherous; we pumped in to him, he just kept coming. It felt like forever before he simply took too many to the chest and fell over the banister. If it wasn't for Yeshua we wouldn't have gotten him that far and we would all be dead." She patted him on the back once more. "Next time we will come better armed and with more people. We will end that creature's existance once and for all. Come boys, the clean up crews can take care of the bullet casings later. We got dead to bury."
As the solomn parade of Gangrels took the remains of their three fallen clan members from the room, Cash sat back on his bottom. Five minutes after they had gone, he was still sitting there. Sounds in another part of the apartment made him get up and draw his gun. He followed the squeaks and screeches to a hole in the wall that lead into the adjacent apartment. The noise grew louder when he entered the living room.
There amoung the tables and torn news papers were the kits. They all looked as one toward their sire. One smiled as he sucked what appeared to be a noodle in his mouth, but the lump that went down his throat told a different story. Cash stood there looking at them in amazement. 'How could they not have been scared when all that noise was going on?' "What are you boys still doing here?"
"Playing," came from rat boy, he was also the leader from earlier.
"Weren't you scared with all that noise?"
"No, our birth father does it a lot."
"And the bullets?"
The boy smiled. "Birth father always wins. We simply wait, and he comes eventually. He tells us not to talk to strangers and to hide when they come. That way we are never taken from him. He always comes."
"Why didn't you hide this time? Aren't I a stranger?" Cash walked closer to them and kneeled down in front of them.
"No, stupid, you're daddy."
Cash smiled at the little boy's giggle. "Stupid am I?"
"Amoung other things, or so Birth father says." The boy stood eye to eye with Cash.
"Well, then I guess that makes you stupid junior." He lashed out and grabbed the boy, bringing him down with tickles.
"Is everything all right in here? I heard noises and came to..." Daranah paused. "Sir?"
Cash let go of the boy as she stopped talking. "We are fine, have the guys bring some blankets, we got passangers."
"Where to, and who?"
"Daranah, meet my sons, boys, meet my second, Daranah." They simply stared at her as if she had grown two heads. "Looks like we got a lot to talk about. Daranah go secure things for me, I want to get them back to the Manse before anyone finds out they are here."
"Yes, sir." Then she was gone.
Cash turned back to his sons. "We are going for a little ride to meet some friends of Daddy's. You will be safe there."
"We are safe here, birth father will be here soon."
"You are not safe anywhere but where I am. Just trust me on this. Others will be here soon, and you need to be gone before then to keep safe." Cash watched as the other four looked to the leader, all with similar looks of resolve on their faces. When the leader nodded, the others stood and walked to Cash's open arms.
"For now, we will trust you. But at any point that birth father comes and says we leave, we will."
"Agreed," was the response from the other four.
Cash smiled at them. "You're all pretty smart, you know that."
"Yes." They let him go and started towards the doorway where footsteps could be heard. Cash could only watch in amazement as the boys reached out to be taken in to the blankets and arms of the Gangrel. Their leader grabbed the blanket from his kindred and walked over to Cash, handing the blanket to him. "I will ride with you to make sure you keep your part of the deal."
"All right. Lets go, boys, Daranah." As Cash led the way towards the stairs, he felt a chill run up his spine. Frank was close, and watching him. If he made one wrong move with any of the boys, all of the Gangrel were as good as dead. It was another reason that he was glad he was already pale.