Following the directions I had obtained from Natalie, I arrived at the gathering place for the Kindred of this "Wasteland". She had called it "The one hope", but anything named "The Wasteland" admittedly did not give me feelings of security. One thing that I learned early on, however, is that nothing about life is either easy or safe.

There were two houses in the area, presumably both kindred controlled, and I saw a natural flow of pale-skinned, dark-clad people to the second. Following the flow, I entered the dark house to hear soft, beautiful music coming from the far room. I came upon several individuals gathered to listen to the singing of another. One even joined in, but he in no way could match the proficiency of the other singer.

Remembering my priorities, I turned to walk up the stairs. A voice came from behind me of a man asking if he knew me. I looked at him and introduced myself. He said his name was Nathaniel. He took me to the one in charge, called the "Lord" who was named Kai. There, I declared myself as a Malkavian. I figured it was as good a clan as any. Plus, they would have a higher respect for me when they saw that I was, for the most part, sane. Kai and myself exchanged a few words and then I walked back down the stairs.

The young man singing was now alone, so I decided to enter and introduce myself. We talked about music for a short time and then he sang "Who wants to live forever?" for me. I was impressed, and I told him so.

It was then that a tall man clad in black with a pentagram painted on his face entered into the room and remained in a corner. I asked him if he needed any help, but he ignored me and left.

My mind back on it’s proper track, I asked the young vocalist, whom I now knew to be Brian, If he was of Clan Toreador. My assumption correct, I further inquired if he was the primogen of the clan in the area. He told me that in The Wasteland, there are no primogen and if someone wants power they just have to get in good with the "Hierarchy".

He couldn’t have put it more bluntly than that. I dismissed myself and walked out the door. There was a small gathering in front of the door. A man there was asking if anyone knew where the Lord was. I ask if he meant Kai and he seemed confused. After telling him that Kai was the Lord he just shrugged his shoulders, remarking "With all the deaths around here it’s hard to keep track."

"All the deaths?" I asked, curiously.

"Yeah. And it’s funny. So many die and yet we still have the same number of people." commented a woman to my right with raven-black hair.

I wasn’t contemplating that thought long before a huge, inky, black blob dominated the area ahead of the house. I instantly recognized it as one created by the Lasombra and pulled my sword from it’s sheath in preparation for the worst.

After the passing of about ten seconds the blob faded. I saw a large man that in a flash put away two submachine-guns and shoved a stake into the chest of another man, who had ashen bullet wounds spattered all over his body.

Many, including Kai, Nathaniel and I, surrounded the fallen one as the large man told us that the act was in self-defense and the darkness had been created by the one who attacked him. I helped them with mediating the situation and Kai, Nathaniel, the large man and several others took the staked body down the road to sort things out.

Upon arriving there we discovered, with the help of the raven-haired woman who was a Tremere named Clara, that the staked one had shot the larger man out of fear that he was after his friend "Billy".

As we learned this, the tall one in black I had seen before blinked into our vision and shoved a stake through the larger man’s back.

My sword already drawn, I walked to the now staked vampire to defend him, but his attacker had fled. They told me that the one who attacked was Billy. To make sure that the first body was not tampered with, I returned to it. Sitting nearby the body and praying I found a man in a black duster and hat. Extending my hand, I introduced myself. He ignored the hand, but said his name was Simon. I asked him to guard the body and I walked back to the staked body of the larger man.

It was lucky that I did, for shortly after Billy came of out nowhere with a chainsaw attacking his prone enemy. I thrust my sword in the way and asked him the reason for his anger. He told me that it was because the larger man, "Anthonie" had hurt his friend. Now fully understanding the situation, I explained it to the others and we all walked off. Kai assigned me the duty of making sure no one followed. I followed this order, relaying it to the others and one unruly individual shouted back "Fuck the Lord". I made sure to make a mental note of who he was.

As we all gathered some distance away, Anthonie was unstaked. It wasn’t long before Billy attacked Anthonie again. Before Anthonie could react, Billy had disappeared. Anthonie and Kai entered into a heated argument, and Anthonie stormed off. As he began walking away, he was blasted in the head with a shotgun by Billy who disappeared again. Anthonie was obviously a more elder vampire for he simply continued walking away.

I was now convinced that Billy was too dangerous to exist and Kai told me to stake him if I saw him. I had other plans on my agenda, of course. I found Anthonie with the intent of taking Billy out if he struck again but Anthonie told me he didn’t feel safe and that he was leaving.

Billy appeared again and was talking with Kai, who told everyone else to stand back. When they finished talking, Kai told me that "Everything is under control." I decided to believe him for a time, and he finally acknowledged me, thanking me for my help.

Kai gathered everyone up to tell them to "be nice to Billy", saying that he was a "touchy person". He then had me find Nathaniel and Cristofer, the Deputy. I also met Listette, the 1st Lieutenant. Before we had talked long, I saw Anthonie walk through the crowd and onward towards the old house.

Kai told me to go after him but it was too late. I heard several gunshots and raced to where he had gone to find nothing but a pool of blood.

I ran back to tell the others of this and the said that it must have been "the anarchs". I was surprised that they didn’t assume it was Billy, but I didn’t argue.

Nathaniel, using his "Presence" power, told us that Anthonie had been killed. Kai gathered everyone and ordered a hunt on all anarchs. Soon, there were two staked vampires. The first, who I recognized from before as the one who didn’t know the name of the Lord, was found to have had a hand in killing Anthonie. We also found that they had killed the one who attacked Anthonie. I had to respect the anarchs on a base level. It seems that they killed for no other motivation than the pure pleasure of killing.

While we weren’t paying attention, the first of the anarchs was unstaked and ran off, but just then the supposed leader of the anarchs, the one who had said "Fuck the Lord", appeared and we attacked him. He was then staked and on the ground. When the body disappeared before our eyes, Kai drew his gun in anger and fired off the entire clip into the skull of the staked anarch, and Nathaniel soon followed his lead.

We began organizing to defend against an attack and Kai promised to teach me the power of "Obfuscate". I saw a young girl with a submachine-gun climb to the roof of a nearby shed.

I was helping Nathaniel with tactics and I overheard Kai and another gentleman talking about "the dragon, the phoenix and the unicorn".

I didn’t know what they meant but I didn’t have much of a chance to think on it before several anarchs, including the two who had escaped from us before, blinked into view a distance off and began spraying bullets into the crowd.

I used a nearby car as cover as I ran towards them, a series of explosions going off behind me. The anarchs were taken off guard by an attack from the lady on the roof. My question about Kai’s previous conversation with the gentleman were answered, for I saw a small dragon savaging the anarchs, tearing them apart. A brightly plumed bird, I assume it was the "phoenix", came from the sky and tore at the faces of the anarchs.

In a span of about five seconds, the three visible anarchs were killed, but there were still explosions behind us. I saw the dragon form into Kai, and Nathaniel arrived, pointing out the direction of another anarch that needed to be taken out. We began walking to where he pointed as, in a flash, an anarch came out of Obfuscate and pounded the Lord into the ground. Behind me I caught a glimpse of Simon throwing himself on grenades to save us. Done with Kai, the anarch then tossed me into Nathaniel, knocking us both to the ground, and surged forward, driving his flaming fist into Nathaniel and killing him.

The girl on the roof probably saved my life. She shot off several rounds into the anarch, distracting him from killing me. The anarch picked me up and tossed me into her. Before we could recover, the anarch had run off.

I jumped off the roof to find Billy laying crumpled and bloody on the ground. The girl jumped off as well, but as she did so she tried to shoot Billy, but by then he was gone. I then heard shouts of "Hunters are coming! Run!", and I did just that. But I will return..

Over the week I had Harrison Reynolds, a police officer I had befriended shortly before coming, make a sketch created of the anarch that murdered Kai and Nathaniel. I took the picture and had several copies made.

On the way to the gathering, I met a new Tremere by the name of "Bunky". I thought it was a strange name for a Tremere, but I kept my mouth shut to avoid being rude. I handed the man a picture and continued on.

As I approached, a non-combatant I had seen at the last gathering told me of Cristofer’s desire to talk. I handed another copy of the picture to that man and walked on towards Cristofer. Cristofer seemed to be talking with two men that I had not seen before.

As expected, Cristofer offered me the position of Deputy and I eagerly accepted. He then walked past me towards a prone, wounded body. Cristofer pulled out his gun and saw that the body would no longer have a discernible head.

After inquiry, I discovered that it was the body of an anarch named "Bond" that had attempted to kill Listette. Cristofer gave me permission to attack any anarch that I found.

It was just then that I found an anarch. Standing confused and bewildered, I stared into the eyes of the ring leader of the anarchs that I thought had been slain by Kai last week. I drew my sword from it’s sheathe and sliced at his legs.

The anarch was ready for my attack, but apparently not ready enough. My sword missed it’s legs, instead splitting it’s gut wide open, magical energy pulsing from the sword to incinerate the parts of the anarch’s body near the cut. Stunned that none were joining in my attack, I stood there in surprise, but the Phoenix I had seen from the other night came into view and clawed at the anarch’s head, driving it into unconsciousness.

One of the men near Cristofer gave his name to me as "Thomas" and he drew some blood from the fallen man to question it. It was found that the fallen one was not who we had thought, but a relative with the same face. As he struggled to rise, the anarch ordered my death and stormed off.

Billy let us know that he had been listening in on the conversations of other Brujah and that they were also anarchs. Billy went about staking them. After some measures, Cristofer and myself managed to calm Billy down. I took the alleged anarchs to the side to talk to them. The Brujah known as Vollan and Avatar were fairly respectable and intelligent, but the one who called himself Jason seemed like a generic Brujah fool. I did, however, manage to convince them that Peace was the best choice for the time being.

It was then brought to my attention that the same anarch that had ordered my death had made a threat on Claire as well. Cristofer asked me to bring the anarch in for questioning and I complied.

Not surprisingly, the anarch’s response was "Fuck you", and I quickly returned to Cristofer and obtained permission to use violence in retrieving the anarch. I ordered the Phoenix man and Thomas to take the anarch down as it was walking off with Vollan, and such was done.

Vollan flew into a rage and charged us, but was subdued through force before even getting close. I approached the anarch’s body and finished it off with a vertical slice of my beautiful sword. Vollan’s body was lifted and taken back to the gathering.

After Vollan recuperated, we explained that we did what had to be done. Vollan was angered, as is expected from a Brujah, but the logic reached him. I allowed to Brujah to use me as a conduit for his anger and the single punch that followed was staggering, but not overly painful.

I then turned to the girl that I remembered saving me from atop the roof of the barn. I introduced myself to her and she said her name was Tia. Due to her efforts in battle the previous week, Cristofer and myself offered the young lady the position of Second Lieutenant, but she declined.

I nodded to her and went about spending more time getting to know the others. The Tremere were growing very strong, for I met several new arrivals to the clan. I also met a new Brujah that dressed and acted more like a Ventrue.

"Michael", as he calls himself, then warned me that the other Brujah were planning retribution for the death of their brother, and a cousin of the one I had slain, by the name of Connor, was leading them. Another reoccurring statement was "Kias will be mad." Kias was apparently an ancillae Brujah whose butt everyone kissed for reasons yet unknown to me.

I then went from person to person, having them prepare for a Brujah attack. Once again, Tia mounted herself on the roof of a nearby building and Thomas organized the other Tremere for battle.

The Brujah came again, but this time in greater numbers. I looked on Connor to see the same face as the other two Brujah that I had slaked my sword’s thirst in.

I argued with Connor in harsh tones for some time before we reached an agreement. During that talk Avatar and Jason made significant headway in convincing me of their stupidity.

The talk ended peacefully, the most amusing part of it being that they believed it was the Phoenix man that had killed their friend and not myself. A blood bond was promised to the Brujah in return for the crime done.

After the Brujah had walked off I found that our "deal" was but a mere trick and that the Phoenix man was being bound to Cristofer already.

It was then that I realized that I had not seen Listette since right after the attempt on her life. Remembering that the Brujah were out for her, I took my concerns to Cristofer. After searching for a time, we were relieved to find that Listette was alive and that no harm had come to her.

A short time later Cristofer and I decided to appoint Connor as second Lieutenant to appease the Brujah and possibly prevent future chaos. This did please them, and Connor’s loyalty to Cristofer and myself grew.

After Connor walked off, Thomas came to me with complaints of the Brujah plotting against the Tremere. I wasn’t surprised, but nonetheless I suggested that Thomas obtain a tape recorder to prove his allegations if he expected us to do anything about it.

Early in the night as it was, my vampiric hunger for blood was beginning to become unbearable, so I gave in. I departed from the gathering to hunt.

Later in the night I was told that Simon had called in a vampire hunter and it was killed upon arrival. It seemed like a logical process to me, bring the hunter to where you are and fight it on your own land.

This night proved to be very productive. All my plans are slowly coming to fruition. It is only a matter of time, and as Gehenna will prove, time is most certainly on my side.

The kindred gathered at an old farm house, the owner of which is still unknown to me. It was a cold night, but peaceful. Bodies huddled around twin fires to preserve the masquerade. I forced my body to shiver in the cold air.

Although my attempts to contact Cristofer over the week failed, he was nonetheless the first I encountered. I caught our new Lord as he was walking some distance from the others, contemplating.

We shared greetings and I took Cristofer to the side to talk, suggesting that the next Lord after his graduation be Michael of the Brujah. Cristofer agreed. We also shared the view that Thomas should be the next to fill the spot of Second Lieutenant when the inevitable death of Connor occurred.

The two of us then called a meeting for the remainder of the hierarchy. Listette and Connor were soon present. Cristofer announced to us that he would be leaving to New York with Kias to fight against the Sabbat. As I had denounced the position, Michael would be the Lord in his absence. When Listette and Connor asked to why I had turned the offer down, my given reason was that I felt myself best suited to the position of Deputy and didn’t trust myself with the right of destruction. Connor showed interest at assuming the position of Lord should something happen to Michael. The "valiant martyr" that I was, I put Connor’s "fears" to rest by assuring him that I could handle the position should that occasion arise. Listette jokingly said that she would be my "conscience".

We dispersed and I sought out Thomas. I assured the Tremere that even thought I publicly claimed to be neutral, I was completely against the anarchs and would help him should help be needed.

After that, I spent a great deal of time getting to know the other kindred. The peaceful one that Tia seemed to be enamored with was named David. There was also a new Toreador who called herself "Moonbeam", and a Ventrue named Seth. Seth was obviously a neonate because he did not quite seem to completely grasp the concept of the representatives of the clans not being primogen.

There were other new kindred there as well, but none of them left a strong impression in my memory.

In conversation with Simon, he shared his idea of addressing the sub-units of kindred as houses instead of clans to preserve the masquerade.

Thomas motioned to me, and took me to the side to converse. The Tremere pulled a small object from his trench coat. It seemed that Thomas had taken my advice, for he played a recording of a conversation between Connor and David. The recording was hard to hear, but their voices were identifiable as well as something to the effect of "There are two of them now in the hierarchy. They need to be taken care of."

Using my normal method of keeping everything in the open, I took the tape to Connor and David and played it with Cristofer present. Connor gave me some obvious lies in an attempt to cover it up, but I didn’t buy them. David seemed irritated. Nevertheless, whatever plans they had been concocting were abolished right then and there.

After that, I handed the tape recorder to Thomas and returned to socializing. Cristofer then made public his departure and how Michael was to take his place in his absence. I made my way through the kindred and started getting to know the "lesser Brujah".

As I was talking to the Brujah, I saw Billy’s guitar case fade in and out of existence sporadically. I asked what it meant and Claire told me that when Billy was holding a guitar case he was in his "Jonathan" personality that I had been told of.

I approached Cristofer to the subject, as it was a blatant break in the masquerade. Cristofer agreed that if Billy screwed up again he would have to be executed.

Billy screwed up again.

In conversation with Thomas, I learned that Billy had attacked and staked Moonbeam for what was allegedly no reason.

I relayed this information to Cristofer and a hunt was declared on Billy. I drew my sword and began inquiring random kindred as to Billy’s whereabouts.

Thomas called me over to show a note posted on a wooden pole. Written in blood, the note said something to the effect of "You have betrayed me. I will kill you all." It seemed that Billy had overheard the declaration of the hunt, presumably in using his power of "Obfuscate" to be invisible.

We dispersed, readying ourselves for attack. I suddenly saw Thomas running across the field. Billy "blinked" into sight, brandishing a shotgun and aiming at Thomas. Thomas raised his arm for magic and Michael fired at Billy with a submachine-gun filled with sulfur ammunition. In a matter of seconds, the Malkavian was incapacitated.

We ran to Billy’s unconscious body. A Brujah took the chainsaw from Billy’s possession as if he had found a new toy. I took the chainsaw from the Brujah and destroyed it. We discussed what was to be done with the madman, curing his dementia if possible. They said that there was a child of Osiris named Sarah that might be able to do it, but another pointed out that a Malkavian’s dementia could never be truly cured. In hindsight, I think it may have been best if I had pointed this out, as a "fellow Malkavian". It was concluded that Billy would be put in the care of a group of cultists that formerly served a Nosferatu of high esteem by the name of Alucard. He would be in their care until either proper mental treatment could be applied, or the passing of three weeks, when we would be forced to destroy Billy.

Michael and I departed to drive Billy’s staked body to where the cultists made their home. They seemed an odd lot, but I felt as if I was not the one to judge, so we dropped Billy off and returned to the gathering.

When we returned to the gathering, we were informed that an agent from N.S.A. had arrived and was talking to Cristofer about an "addition to the existing treaty".

I knew nothing about a treaty with N.S.A. I was shocked enough to know that humans actually knew about kindred. To avoid any uneducated comments, I stood back as the conversation continued.

The agent was talking about leaving an official representative from N.S.A. with the kindred to assure "proper conduct". I was insulted by the sheer impudence of the agent, but I remained silent.

Cristofer turned to walk off and ponder the offer in silence. To everyone’s surprise, the N.S.A. agent drew twin machine-guns and let loose a spray of bullets into Cristofer’s back.

Cristofer fell wounded to the ground. I let loose a Banshee’s wail and the other kindred joined me in my attack, striking in retribution at the agent. Simon threw himself into the barrage of fire to save the man’s life, but Listette still managed to hit the man with a blast from her S.W.A.T. shotgun, sending his body flying to the ground.

In the midst of confusion and blood, I capitalized on the opportunity, drawing my sword and slicing the agent’s wounded body in two, his guns with him.

A heated conversation was sparked about what was to be done about N.S.A. I suggested killing all of the mortals that knew of us, but the less extremist kindred said that would only result in us all being slaughtered.

The final decision was to cover up the death and deal with the agents from N.S.A. one at a time, taking care of the problem as it continued to present itself.

Michael and myself took the two halves into the body and chopped them up into small pieces, mixing them in with the manure to decompose.

Simon was recovering, but he seemed particularly distraught. I am beginning to think that the continued connection between Simon and vampire hunters is neither simply a coincidence or the way he expresses his love for human-kind.

After that situation was taken care of, the night was calm. I met a new Toreador by the name of "Scorpion". His friendly personality did not reflect the connotations that come with his name. He was dressed in black, as many at the gathering were, but I took special note of the metallic sets of claws on his hands.

Moonbeam seemed to be hardly even disturbed by Billy’s attack. She didn’t deviate from her usual happy smiling self.

I wandered from the gathering some time before midnight and decided to pay a visit to the cultists taking care of Billy. I didn’t and still don’t completely know who Alucard was, but it was irrelevant. The information I had was more than enough to see that Billy would never again cause us trouble.

I did not go to the gathering this week. I am staying at home to increase my power in Celerity. This heightened power will be enormously helpful in combat, for I will move with blinding speed against my foes. I must be strong to join to the Unseelie.

I plan to ask Listette to teach my the power of Obfuscate. After I have learned a sufficient level of that power, the darkening of my eyes caused by the faerie sight will mean nothing. This is being put at the top of my list of priorities. Without the sight of faeries I will be unable to see the Unseelie for what they are when they come to find me. I must also have the ability to see Seelie, so that I may convert them to our cause or destroy them.

Along with the Celerity, I have been consumed with creating defenses for my haven, both mundane and magical. I have set up an extensive array of faerie wards, especially at the single trail leading to the church. My survival training at the academy has also proven useful. I have created a large amount of traps of various kinds.

It is possible that none will ever attack me here, but that is a risk I am unwilling to take. I have a destiny to fulfill and that will be rather difficult if I am destroyed.

I was told by Connor that he would get in contact with me over the week, but I have received no message from him. I have to wonder if it is due to Brujah incompetence, a lie, or a simple loss of interest. Or.. perhaps he came to my haven to converse and managed to destroy himself in one of my traps.

The thought of finding Connor impaled at sliced into minuscule pieces does bring a smile to my face, but I am not sure that the results of such an occurrence would be completely desirable.

Without Connor, the Brujah would have no control, and would slip into a murderous rampage. It is extremely likely, with their anarchistic tendencies, that I would be one of the first targets. As I have said before, my death is an eventuality I would prefer to avoid.

Next week I will return, stronger than I was before. All the puzzle pieces will fall into place. There is no other possibility.