"Are you certain about his Joseph?" Abigail asked walking around the new room.
"We must tell Sully. With his help, I can protect you from anything," Joey replied.
"What if he doesn't agree?" she asked almost trembling.
"He will," Joey answered.
"But what if? What if he orders me out of town?" she questioned scaring herself by her own words.
"Then I will leave with you, but that won't happen," Joey assured placing a strong hand on the woman's shoulder.
"I want to believe," she replied.
"I won't let anything happen to you. Do you believe that?" he asked.
"Yes, I do," she answered feeling her scared emotion swell up inside her.
Joey hugged Abigail. He felt her cling to him tightly. He lowered his head into her soft curls allowing her scent to fill his head.
Two doors swung open interrupting the couples embrace. Sully entered the room, the doors closed behind him with no help. He watched the two jerk away from each other as if they were school kids caught by their parents.
"Sully, thank you for seeing us," Joey said walking to Sully and hugging him.
"Of course Joey. You know my house is always open to you," Sully replied returning the hug, his eyes fixed on Abigail.
"You remember Abigail from the club?" Joey asked releasing his hold.
"Of course. A friend of Joey's is a friend of mine. You are welcome here," Sully said taking three large steps to where Abigail stood. He took her hand and kissed it in an almost bow like fashion.
"Thank you," she replied with a small curtsy and tried to hid a smile.
Sully released Abigail's hand reluctantly.
"We need your help Sully," Joey broke the silence.
"We?" Sully asked raising an eyebrow.
"Abigail is an old friend from Massachusetts. She's come to me for protection from the Vigilante," Joey explained.
"The Vigilante?" Sully asked surprised. "What does the Vigilante want with a human?"
Joey looked to Abigail. Her face was serious. She gently fell into the couch next to where Sully stood.
"I'm a witch," she said softly.
"A witch? Joey?" Sully asked confused.
"She's a trusted witch," Joey assured.
"I still don't understand what the Vigilante want with a... a witch," Sully asked, the last word sticking in his throat. He felt himself sit next to Abigail.
"I saw something that would endanger them if revealed. They want me dead," she said looking down at her hands.
Sully leaned back into the couch, deep in thought.
"Please Sully. I can't do this alone," Joey said still standing, watching his prince intensely.
Sully looked over to Abigail. She seemed so fragile, so vulnerable. He watched her stare at her hands. He listened to the fast beat of her heart. She had to be very scared. He knew a witches heart beat was slower than a normal mortals. Abigail's seemed to race, it echoed through his head.
"Sully?" Joey asked nervously.
Sully nodded. "I'll help, under on condition," he answered.
"Anything," Joey replied.
Sully turned to Abigail who had finally looked up from her hands.
"I need to know everything. I need to know what you saw," Sully answered.
"Ok. I believe I'm suppose to tell you anyway," Abigail replied.
"Abby? You said you couldn't tell me," Joey answered.
"I was told I had to find the prince of San Francisco. To tell him what really happened," Abigail explained.
"Really?" Sully asked intrigued.
"Russell asked me to," she answered.
"Russell? Russell's dead," Joey replied.
"I know that. He told me before he died," Abigail said.
"Russell was killed by bounty hunters," Sully replied, the words stung him.
"No, he wasn't. That's why I'm in danger. I know what really happened," Abigail explained.
"I knew it," Joey said aloud.
"Explain. Tell me everything," Sully instructed, sitting up in the couch.
"Russell was planning to go to an important elder's meeting. See, some of the elder's were trying to meet with the Vigilante to see if they couldn't come to some common ground. To live somehow in peace," Abigail began.
"Yes, I remember Russell telling me he was planning that. I told him he was crazy. That the Vigilante were too wild and rebellious to listen. Him and the other elder's never made it to the meeting though. They were jumped in their haven's by bounty hunters before it even was started," Sully explained.
"No, they weren't. Listen, Russell came to me. He knew me through Joey. We had become close after Joey left to come back here and Russell decided to stay. He told me of the meeting and he asked me to accompany him as protection. He told me to keep out of sight and to do my best to protect them. He had a bad feeling but insisted on going to the meeting anyhow," she went on.
"Sounds just like Russell. Always doing what' right for the Masquerade, never thinking of himself," Joey replied.
"Go on," Sully requested.
Abigail began to unravel a story from which only herself and the Vigilante knew.
***flashback***
"There has to be some way all of us can live in peace," a Tremere elder said.
"Your clans are weak. The Masquerade was made only to keep vampyres in line, to avoid us dominating. The elders were scared of young vampyres taking over and created those dumb rules," the Vigilante elder replied.
"These rules have governed us since the beginning of our kind," the Toreador elder added.
"They are old rules for old times. You all walk amongst mortals, those inferior to us all. They are nothing but food," the Vigilante said.
"It is true their blood feeds us, however, there is no reason to kill them," the Gangrel elder tried to reason.
"A hunter kills it's prey. They don't take what they want and let it go. It is in our being. We are killers," the Vigilante shouted.
"If you place a feast before a starving man, he will eat it all in fear of it being taken away or going bad. What then does the man have to eat? He has eaten it all and before long will go hungry again," Russell said breaking his silence.
"What are you talking about Ventrue?" the Vigilante asked irritated.
"I mean without rules, our kind could and would go crazy. Killing for the mere rush, and not for food. The mortals may be our food, but we do need them to survive. If we kill them all, dominated them, then we starve either from no food source or they will run in fear of us," Russell said calmly.
Abigail watched Russell debate calmly. His presence was so strong, every vampyre there had to have felt it. He was the most respected of all who had attended.
Abigail repeated a protection spell from her hiding spot. She was already tired. She concentrated on her protection spell, trying also to conceal herself especially her heartbeat. She knew if any of them found her, she'd be killed and if Russell were to stand up for her, he would too, respected or not. He would have been found guilty of breaking the Masquerade himself. The sin of telling a mortal, even if she were a witch what he was and above all, bringing her to the other vampyres.
The others would have seen it as an endangerment, not protection. The very thing he was fighting to uphold, he himself was breaking.
He had told Abigail he was merely bending the rules. She had already known Joey and Russell were vampyres and been their friend for many years. It was her power to be able to sense any vampyre. That was why he needed her there.
Russell wanted to know if anything felt wrong to her. If an elder wasn't vampyre he had needed to know. He also asked for her protection. Not only for himself, but for the entire council in case of a bounty hunter.
Abigail felt herself grow more tired. She prayed the meeting to be over quickly as her strength was beginning to falter from the spell.
"Obviously there is no agreement with any of you. You are all a bunch of old crones. You'll never understand us," the Vigilante shouted standing up to leave.
"Please sit back down. We must find some way to live peacefully," Russell asked.
"Peace? This is what I think of your peace," the Vigilante said opening the door.
Over a dozen vampyres filled the room, most taking a place with stake in hand to an elder. Then a man entered the scene.
Abigail was caught off guard. She quickly changed her spell trying to get her herbs together to protect the council not from bounty hunters but from their own kind. The Vigilante.
The last young man to enter was well dressed. He was covered head to toe in the latest Gucci suit and accessories. Unlike the other Vigilante, this one looked professional, his dark hair cut short and his face clean revealing dark eyes.
"Good day gentlemen," the new man said.
"You. I should have known," Russell replied.
"Hey Russ," the man waived then continued. "I'm giving you one final chance to convince your clans that Vigilante ways are the new laws."
"Or what?" the Toreador asked.
"Or you die. As well as your clans, one by one," the Vigilante announced.
"You won't get away with this. Our clans know we're here. They'll know what happened," Russell said still calm.
"I don't think so, see we will mame you then take you to your haven's to kill you. That way it looks like bounty hunters," the man laughed.
"It'll look suspicious when we all show up dead but your clan survived the attack," the Tremere said struggling.
"That's why we're killing one of our own as well," the man smiled.
"You're insane," Russell replied.
"Some say so," the man grinned. "Mame them! Then take them to their homes and finish the job. Remember no biting, it has to look like bounty hunters."
The Vigilante obeyed. Abigail desperately tried to finish as the room erupted in violence. Her hands shook hard and her eyes filled with tears knowing she'd never make it in time. Protections spells always took time.
When Abigail finally got herself together and regained her concentration, the shuffle in the room quieted. Abigail peered through her hole in the wall.
The entire room was thrashed. The Vigilante were no where to be seen. A few elders remained on the floor, dead for the most part. She caught a glimpse of movement on the floor. Her heart stopped, it was Russell covered in blood.
She ran out of her hiding spot and knelt by his side. He was cut and bleeding everywhere. Blood ran from a huge gash in his head.
"Russell, oh goddess, Russell. I'll get you out of here," she said trying with all her strength to help him up.
"No, Abby. Get out of here before they return. Tell the prince of San Francisco. He'll help," Russell chocked.
"I can't leave you. Please try my love," Abigail cried.
"Go sweetheart. Remember I love you. You must tell the prince. He will take care of you and know what needs to be done. Go now," he ordered.
Abigail cried holding Russell in her arms. She scarcely heard the person walking in. He stood blinking at her almost stunned to see her.
"Go," Russell whispered giving her something in her hand. "One day we will be reunited."
Abigail jumped up. The vampyre snarled. She bolted, the vampyre steadily at her heals. She ran through the outside forest. She weaved through the trees, not able to shake him.
Abigail was relieved as she approached a nearby mortal tavern. When she entered the bar, it was filled with people, most very rough looking. Relief swept her as she recognized some of her own coven members inside.
Abigail rushed to the side of a man at the bar. She was completely out of breath and could feel her strength quickly fading.
The Vampyre that had chased her burst into the tavern, his fangs bared and eyes blazing with hatred. Every gruff member in the bar stood up grabbing various weapons around them. The vampyre stood still watching them eye him. "You won't get away," the vampyre snarled then race out of the building. He was followed by tavern members, their weapons held high.
"Abby, what on earth?" the man next to her asked in surprise.
"I was in the wood, he came from nowhere," she replied starring at a large gold and diamond ring that was given to her by Russell.
She quickly tucked it into her pocket. "Jacob, I need to go home."
"Come on, I'll help you," he replied.
***end flashback***
"I never told any of my coven members anything. They think the reason I left was for a person quest, to learn more about myself. They never asked any questions," Abigail finished.
Sully had taken a position back into the couch. He was trying to process all the information she had just given him. He wasn't sure what he now believed.
"I knew he couldn't have been killed by bounty hunters. I just knew it," Joey stated now sitting next to Abigail in a nearby chair.
Abigail was trying to fight left over tears. Her emotions ran wild when she had told the story, but she hardly had noticed.
"I think this is for you," Abigail managed to say pulling an object from her pocket. She handed the item to Sully. He took it gracefully, starring at it blankly.
"Russell's ring," Sully said aloud.
"Oh my! Russell," Joey managed to say feeling his own emotions fill him.
"Well help. I swear by this ring, I'll protect you with my own life," Sully said his eyes glowing silver.
"Thank you," she smiled at him.
"I won't allow anything to happen to you, ever," Sully smiled back at her.