Time: Immediately following "Wolf Visions", after midnight, going into the morning of October 27, Sunday
Arriving back home at the loft in Berkeley, Jim realized Blair wasn't home yet. [Damn,] he thought, knowing he had to tell his partner about what had happened this night.
The phone rang. [Maybe that's him...] "Ellison," he answered.
The voice on the other end was emphatically not Blair's. "Detective Ellison, I think we need to talk... my name is Dr. Thorne Severan." The voice was deep and melodious, almost musical. Beautiful.
Jim sat down, hard, on the nearest chair. "Thorne... Golden Wolf!"
"I beg your pardon?"
The adrenaline rush Jim had experienced made his heart pound. "I'm sorry, I know who you are. We - Blair Sandburg and I - we call you 'Golden Wolf'. You're the wolf with a golden coat in our visions."
He could hear the smile in the other's voice, and it helped him to calm down. "Yes, that would be me, it seems, Detective," Thorne replied, amused to be so named. "Julian Luna asked me to give you a call."
"Um, is there any way we could meet, perhaps? I have so many questions for you... about the visions." Jim felt immense relief at finally talking to the one Kindred who might understand where the visions came from.
Thorne had only just arrived home at the chantry himself, getting Luna's message on his voice mail. "Not... yet. It is not yet time for us to meet face to face, Detective, I think." He closed his eyes, remembering the images of the jaguar and the timber wolf on the spirit plane. "That will come in time. Meanwhile I will answer whatever questions you have... as well as I can. Julian assures me I may speak fairly freely with you."
"You can call me Jim," the Sentinel murmured, disappointed that they couldn't meet yet. "Did you say your name was *Dr.* Thorne Severan?"
The Tremere primogen gestured to Davic, his second, to pour him some wine. "Yes, Jim, I'm a doctor of medicine... and a few other things." He smiled to himself, accepting the wine. Over the years he'd collected a number of degrees, being as comfortable in the halls of academia as he was in a laboratory. Parapsychology wasn't one of his fields of study, as no mortals could possibly teach him more than his personal experiences as Magus and Tremere could have in that area. "A scholar of life, among other things." [Like unabashed hedonist... I love his voice, I wonder what the rest of him is like?]
"Severan, you referred to yourself as a shaman in my vision," Jim commented. "By 'long study and experience', you said. And you called Blair a 'True Shaman'."
"Did I?" Thorne wondered. "Was this a precognitive vision, Jim? It's possible - I haven't said those things to you on the spirit plane yet. I have no memory of this."
"Oh!" Jim was floored. He remembered Golden Wolf had said the gathering of the seven wolves hadn't happened yet.
"You had another vision, I take it," Thorne inquired. "How many have you had, Jim? And is your... friend... Blair, does he always have a vision with you?"
"This is the third one," Jim related. "The first one was of wolves, a Raven, and two wolves who had green-gold eyes, not like the Kindred wolves. All of those have silver eyes. The second vision seemed to be a battle or argument between the Kindred wolves and four of the others, whom we call 'Stranger Wolves'. I now understand that these are true vampires? Is that right? Not Kindred?"
[Oh, my,] Thorne thought, stunned. [They're getting dragged into this rather deep. I sent them on their way during that vision, but they've learned quite a bit anyway.] "Yes, there is a small group who have settled in the city. Your second vision was of a meeting between them and some of the Kindred leaders at Camera della Luna. Tensions are still a bit high from that... and your third vision?" [And I pray to the gods and goddesses that you do not encounter their kind...]
Jim rubbed his face with his hand, feeling weary again. "Blair had those other visions with me, but he's away at the university tonight. I don't know if he sensed this one - I'll ask him when he comes home. This vision was very different in a few ways... for one thing, I was not the jaguar, though the jaguar - that's my animal spirit guide - was there with me. I was myself."
Another warning went off in the magus's mind. [Separation from his spirit self - this one is in danger somehow...] "When was the second vision?"
The Sentinel glanced at a calendar hanging near the kitchen. "Ah, let's see, the first one was last Saturday, the 19th... the second one Wednesday night the 23rd... and now this one on the 26th. I hope this doesn't mean they're getting closer together..."
[Unfortunately...] "Did you meet anyone new between Wednesday night and tonight, Jim?"
The department. The detective from Toronto. The... [SHIT!] "Damn, I forgot all about him. Yeah, Severan, I did. I can't believe I didn't think of this - the Stranger Wolf. Detective Nick Knight, another officer in the exchange program, from Toronto." Then Jim had a thought - [Do I tell him I sensed Nick wasn't mortal or Kindred?]
Thorne felt an inner chill, all his psychic alarms going off. "How do you know this Nick Knight is a Stranger Wolf, Jim?" [Something else is going on here, something Luna hasn't told me about him...]
Jim shifted in the chair uneasily. "Um... I can sense Kindred, Severan. I could tell Knight wasn't mortal, but somehow I knew that he wasn't Kindred."
The Tremere could hear the lie. [Damn, and if we were talking in person, I could get right down to whatever truth he's talking around...] Nothing he could do about it over the phone. "Nick Knight is a true vampire, Jim, you are correct. Apparently, though, he must be something of an ethical one, pretending to be mortal, if he's managed to work among mortals successfully. Did you... sense... anything sinister about him?"
"That's just it - that's why I didn't even think of him," Jim explained. "Except for... what he was... he seemed very normal, even friendly." [And that's ALL I want to tell about that little encounter,] Jim thought to himself, wary of telling another Kindred about his sensory powers. Especially one who obviously was psychic. Even though "Golden Wolf" had been helpful and was helping, Jim couldn't trust him yet. Not this soon.
Thorne sighed and made a decision. "Jim, I can help you, if you're willing. You obviously trust Julian - if he's referred me to you, you should trust me, then. I know you're not telling me everything..."
Jim closed his eyes and did not reply. It was bad enough that he'd had to tell Julian.
[He's not going to open up,] Thorne realized after a moment. [He's afraid. But then, if I had psychic or other powers as a mortal, I wouldn't tell anyone either. And... I didn't. Except to Tremere...] "Very well," he sighed. "Jim, I do want to help you. Please... tell me about this third vision. You said there were seven wolves in it..."
"Yeah," Jim sighed. [Man, it's late, hope Blair comes home soon...] "Julian said they represented the Kindred leaders. You're going to be meeting?"
Thorne almost snorted in irony. [Hell, someone tries to burn down the Haven, a new clan in town, True Undead in town, yeah, I guess that means we're due for a Conclave!] "Apparently so. We do seem to have a few issues on the table." He took another drink from his wine, exchanging a glance with Davic across the room who pretended to read, waiting for his Regent to take him to bed. [Conclave, my dear,] he told his second. [Probably tomorrow night.]
[Oh, shit,] Davic responded, eyes widening. [The attempted fire...]
[And us. And...] Into the phone Thorne continued, "Could you please describe the wolves to me, Jim?"
"Sure," Jim said, taking a deep breath. "There was Silver - that would be Luna. A small wolf with scars - Cash, then a Thin Wolf - Daedalus. I presume you know these names... I met them when I first visited Luna at his mansion with Blair last Monday."
"Indeed," Thorne replied. "And the others?"
"You... your wolf form has kind of a golden coat, and has an amulet, I guess you'd call it, Blair would know - a gold amulet on a chain around the neck, the head of a lion. But of course your eyes are silver, too." Jim shivered. [I'm actually talking to Golden Wolf finally...] "Then there was a spotted wolf who stayed rather close to Silver - I think that must be Sonny Toussaint, who's also Ventrue, the primogen? Your clan leaders are called primogen..."
"Yes, that is the term. My rank in Clan Tremere is that of Regent, the head of an order or chantry, our local headquarters. But among the other clans I'm considered a primogen." Thorne finished the wine, beginning to relax. He began unbuttoning his tunic.
"The other two," Jim went on, "one was a beautiful pure white wolf... Luna said that was Lillie of the Toreador clan. Do you know her?"
Thorne resisted chuckling, thinking of his sex partner earlier in the evening. "Indeed, I do know her."
"And the last wolf," the Sentinel continued, wondering at the change in Thorne's tone of voice. "Gray, with so much anger radiating from it like heat from a fire. Cameron of the Brujah, Luna said. I take it he doesn't get along with the others..."
"That would be an understatement," Thorne sighed. "You said I told you I was a shaman..."
"And you told me Blair was a True Shaman. What does that mean?"
Thorne let his tunic fall open. Glancing over, he noted his childe's eyes watching him avidly. Smiling, he replied into the phone, "You will learn that in time. Meanwhile, Jim Ellison, be wary of the vampire you met. Somehow I believe he could be dangerous to you. And I would like you to call me - as well as Julian, of course - if you have any more visions."
Jim murmured, "Of course. Severan... what is the significance of the visions, do you think? Why am I having them?"
[I must spend time scrying about this soon,] Thorne realized. "I'm not entirely sure, Jim, but I believe you and your friend Blair may be some sort of nexus, a conduit between the mortal spirit world and the Kindred one. We are normally hidden to mortals, but to a very few we can be detected. You detect us and experience our spirit presences in the spirit plane. I believe the visions will continue for a while."
[Fuck,] Jim thought. [First Sentinel abilities and now this psychic spirit world stuff on top of it... getting to be a bit much to handle..] "Severan, thanks for talking to me... I think I've got a lot to think about. Information helps, all I can get. Thank you..."
"Anytime, Jim. Soon I hope to meet you and Blair." Thorne wondered to himself, [Are he and Blair lovers? To be psychically connected and share the same visions... is extraordinary.]
"I hope so, too. Good night, Dr. Severan."
"Good night, Jim." [Davic, my sweet, time for bed...]
Jim replaced the receiver and sagged down further in the chair, his head spinning. So much to think about... the "Kiss" from Luna, for one thing. [So erotic, so arousing... fuck, that was a rush!] He pictured Julian Luna on the portico, his white shirt open at the collar, dark chest hairs peeking up... moonlight cast on his darkly handsome Italian features... Before Jim knew he was doing it, he was rubbing at his denim-encased hardness, remembering Luna's hands on him...
Then he sat up straight, horrified. [Shit, I love Blair! Blair is my *everything*... how can I be thinking of another man like that?] But he knew the answer, to his dismay. [Because he's Kindred and he's Julian Luna, that's why... damn, he just has this arousing *presence*...] Then he knew. [Blair felt that for Cash, I know, drawn to him, to Kindred... now I understand...]
Frustrated, Jim took himself off to bed, collapsing with his clothes still on. In moments he was sound asleep, no more dreams, no more visions of destiny.
The End
