Sheilina got into her car, slightly dazed.  Frost invited her in, and 
then kicked her out?  And she had this feeling he wasn't going to give 
her the crystal.  She needed to get it.  Someone was coming who would 
destroy us all.  If he got the crystals...

A couple hours later...

   Sheilina knocked on the door in front of her.  No answer.  "Come on, I 
know you're in there.  Open up."  Finally, the door opened and she saw 
Nalal.

   "Come in quickly."  When he had shut the door he said, "You back 
already? What's wrong? Couldn't find Frost?"

   "No-o, I found him. Basically got the door shut in my face.  He said to 
remind you of Ypres?  Said you'd understand.  And he won't give me the 
crystal when he gets it, I know he-"

   Sheilina suddenly froze.  She saw the future what was in store for 
them, all of them.  New Chelsea, the world, everyone.

   Nalal looked at her.  She wasn't moving, barely breathing.  She wasn't 
even blinking.  He saw a tear slide down her face.

   Suddenly, he realized what Frost's words had meant and forgot all about 
the girl standing two feet in front of him.

   "Ypres," he whispered.


     - End of post.
       Sheilina,
       Caitiff.



Frost felt like ripping his heart out.  The pain he felt was nearly
unbearable.  He needed to be strong, not so much for his sake but for 
the others'.  Frost felt like something was wrong, as if the balance of 
good and evil was somehow offset and that the earth itself was being 
torn apart in the imbalance.  Frost stood still.  The very fate of the 
earth and the future of every creature on the planet depended on the 
Crystal of Darkness never coming together.  Frost closed his eyes and 
dropped to his knees. He pulled his sword out and planted it in the 
ground.

 "Teacher," he cried out into the emptiness, his voice full of pain. 
"The Crystal of Darkness is coming together, I'm powerless to stop it."  
Masamune began to glow softly, and a blue mist began to seep from every 
part of the sword.  Slowly the mist swirled forming the figure of a man.  
The man was clad n Japanese armor his face was old but emanated strength 
and discipline.

 "The balance is offset, darkness and light are under siege from a new 
force.  Light has lost its once mighty armies.  It now only resides in 
the hearts of the chosen awaiting release."  Frost looked up at the 
figure. "Frost the light is inside you." The warrior looked at Frost 
"You have grown stronger every day since you came to learn the ways of 
the chosen warrior.  Now you find a force that no one person can defeat. 
It does not matter if this person follows the ways of light of darkness 
this force cannot be defeated by either one alone."

 "This force - you mean Specter?" Frost was confused

 "She is a part of it, yes. But a small part." The warrior closed his 
eyes. "Be warned Frost.  This force exists beyond the bonds of good and 
evil. It is timeless and would seek to destroy everything and consume 
every soul, good or evil.  It can only be stopped when the earth itself 
swallows it and cradles it inside hard stone for eternity."  The image 
began to fade. "Your role in this is unclear.  You can be the destroyer 
or the one who defeats the force.  But know this: the darkness ahead of 
others rises from the darkness behind you.  You must turn and face it or 
forever be it's pawn.  Farewell."  The image vanished.  Frost lowered 
his head.  It was clear what must be done.  He couldn't let the others 
face Leick.  He had to do it alone.  He pulled his sword from the 
ground.  He walked away from the house towards the garage where his car 
was situated.  He got in and drove towards the city.  He was going to 
face his destiny. As he drove off the only words he could think was: 
'Great destinies all too often involve great funerals'.



      - End of post.
        Fredrick Frost,
        Caitiff.



The light from the crystals joined into one bright color of a shade 
no-one had ever imagined before, yet alone seen. Leick held all four of 
them in his hand and watched the play of colors.

   It had been a simple thing to take the crystals of blood, fire and 
death from Laplace. The Toreador fool had no idea what they were. Leick 
had subsituted them for cheap imitations he had purchased elsewhere. The 
Prince would never know.

    He sat back in his chair, deep underground in his secret haven only 
a few in the city knew about, and all of them Brujah. The crystals were 
safe here. And soon Leick would have them all.


     - End of post.
       Rutger Leick,
       Brujah Primogen.



Frost stopped the car at the side of the road. This was it. The spot 
Airegon had told him about. He swung over the door of the car, removing 
the key from the ignition. Slowly, he swept his eyes along the road. Ah, 
there it was! The entrance to the sewer system. Frost was no stranger to 
the rancid underbelly of the city, having used it to hide at least once 
before, but he had never been here. 
    Dropping onto his belly, he squeezed into the narrow opening at the 
side of the road. Must have been easier for Airegon, he realized as the 
skin scraped off him. But eventually he got through.
    He stood ankle deep in the most disgusting of filth but took no heed 
of it. He was on a mission, single-minded. Airegon had given him 
directions and Frost proceeded to follow them to the old subway station 
Leick called home.


LATER


Finally, Frost thought. This looks like it. Peering into the darkness, 
he made out two Kindred standing before an entranceway. Leick's guards. 
And they'd seen him. He drew his sword and advanced slowly. One guard 
pulled what looked like a wooden stake from his pocket.  As he tried to 
lift his arm Frost swung his sword at the young Kindred's head.  As the 
head fell off, the body dropped, decaying quickly to a dried husk. The 
other Kindred was so frightened by this action that he tried to run into 
the station seeking the defense of his Sire.  As he did, Frost plunged 
Masamune through the Kindred's torso.  Frost retracted the sword, and as 
he did so the youngster fell to his knees and Frost decapitated him 
also.  Stealthily, Frost moved towards the door hoping his attack had 
not been noticed.  He opened the door slowly sensing only one more 
Kindred presence in the station.  Leick's presence.  He moved, quiet as 
a ghost, toward the room he could feel Leick occupied. A strange glow 
emanated from beneath the door.  Taking one deep breath, Frost kicked 
the door open.  He entered and saw Leick sitting in a chair.  "Leick 
give me your crystals," Frost demanded. "You can't handle them - you're 
being controlled."
    Leick swiveled round in his chair, obviously startled but not 
worried. He felt invincible.
    "Controlled by whom Frost?" Leick said in a calm voice. "I am no 
man's pawn. You think I became this strong by letting myself be 
controlled?"  Then, fast as a lightning bolt, Leick leapt up and grabbed 
a sword which hung decoratively on the wall. Frost was unable to respond 
with the same speed lacking the Celerity which Leick possessed (though 
the Brujah himself had only weak Celerity). Then he lunged at Frost. 
Leick held the sword in his left hand and the Crystal of Oceans in the 
other. Frost dodged the attack with ease ('clumsy - he obviously had no 
training') and hit Leick on the back of the head with the flat of 
Masamune as he went by. The Primogen stumbled and fell, his sword 
clattering out of his hand as he did so.  He shook his head as he heard 
Frost's foot steps approaching.  Frost slid Leick's sword away with his 
foot.  Leick help up his right hand and opened his palm hoping the 
crystal who flash again.  Nothing happened.  He kept his hand up 
clenching his fist.  "You can't have it it's mine!" he almost sobbed. As 
he spoke, Frost swung the sword and Leick felt that a great weight had 
been lifted from his arm. Looking up he saw that Frost had cut off his 
hand. Leick was losing blood fast.  He lost consciousness a moment 
later.

 Frost looked around the room.  Leick had left the remaining crystals on 
a table on the far side of the room.  Frost bent down and picked up 
Leick severed hand.  Prying the crystal from it, he then walked to the 
other side of the room and took the rest of the crystals.  As he exited 
the subway station he felt another presence. One which hadn't been there 
before. One he knew only too well.

    "Specter!" he snarled, turning to face her. There she stood, glowing 
brightly (or maybe that was a trick of the light), left hand held 
outwards.

    "Thank you my son," she said softly. "You have done well. Now give 
me the Crystals you have taken."

    Frost felt the tug of her will, but drew on Masamune's strength to 
resist. "No!" he declared. "I'm not working for you. The Great Crystal 
cannot be allowed to form!"

    "Fredrick," she said, a hint of ice in her voice now. "We had an 
agreement. I want those crystals."

    Why not? Frost thought. No! That's her mind games. She can't have 
them! He shook his head, trying to wipe the fog from it. "No," he said, 
less convincingly this time.

    Then Specter's eyes began to glow red, and her hair blew as in the 
wind, though Frost felt no breeze. A deep hatred poured from her and 
Frost felt the full force of her anger. "You will give me them now!" she 
yelled.

    Frost could no longer withstand it, even with the Masamune's 
protection. And besides, what harm could it do? She didn't have all the 
crystals.

    Grudgingly, he handed over the five crystals he just retrieved, plus 
the two he always carried with him in the small pouch. The Methuselah 
took the 'gift' eagerly - perhaps a bit too eagerly. Then Frost saw why, 
as Specter took another five crystals from her dress. She had all 
twelve!

    "No!" Frost yelled. "You fool! You can't do this!"

    "Why not?" she asked him. "Not long ago you were willing to help me, 
but now some Cainite with too much time on his hands has convinced you 
it's evil. But the power comes from the wielder. I will be all-powerful. 
It is my force, my will which will rule the Kindred world. It is my 
choice."
     
     "You're wrong," Frost said quietly. "Don't you see what you've - 
what we've become? We have killed and maimed and stolen to retrieve 
these things. They're using us Specter. Your will is *not* your own."

    Not heeding his words, the ancient Kindred held all twelve crystals 
together in her hand. A bright light, as bright as a thousand suns, 
filled the room. But strangely it did not hurt Frost's eyes. He watched 
as the crystals seemed to become pure energy. Twelve colors rose up and 
danced an intricate dance in the air above Specter's hands. Then, when 
their dance was done, they smashed together in a loud bang, and the 
light faded. When his eyes adjusted, Frost saw a large black lump 
sitting in Specter's hands, glowing with a deep blackness, a kind of 
anti-glow which seemed to suck the light from its surroundings. It was 
the Crystal of Darkness.

     Just then there was a loud rumble in the earth. The ground below 
them shook, and Frost thought it was an earthquake. But it wasn't. It 
was something worse.

     Beside Specter a huge crack opened in the Earth, and a stream of 
red light shot up from it. There was a voice... no not a voice. But an 
emotion that spoke to your soul without words. He heard it asking 
Specter to free it, to use the Crystal to unleash its power. Together, 
it said, they would be unstoppable.

     Frost didn't know what the 'voice' was, but knew it wasn't good. He 
tried to move, but couldn't. Now with the Great Crystal, no-one on Earth 
could withstand Specter's will. Suddenly, Frost remembered Nalal's words 
about the earth rising up. Was this what he meant?

     Specter raised the Crystal above her head, and Frost saw it suck 
the light from the deep crevasse, building its power. She was going to 
do it, she was going to free... whatever that was.

    "No!" he managed to yell. "Specter don't do it! Throw the Crystal 
into the hole, destroy it!"

    "I can't!" she yelled. "It won't let me!" In that moment, Frost saw 
the Specter he had first met so long ago now. Back then she hadn't been 
so evil. The Crystal had corrupted her in its effort to form itself, but 
now she saw what she had become. A tear ran down her cheek, falling into 
the endless abyss.

     Then, something Frost would never have expected in a thousand years 
happened. Specter turned to face him, Crystal still held high. 
"Good-bye," she whispered, though he could not hear her voice above the 
roar of the Crystal's power absorption. Then, the ancient (most ancient) 
of beings stepped off the ledge, into eternity.

     The chasm shut on top of her, never to open again. He couldn't 
believe it. She had given her life to save the world. Though he had 
turned against her at the end, Specter had proved herself once again a 
friend to Kindred and Kine. Frost sank to the spot where she had 
disappeared, and wept.



      Later, he stood up, his emotions spent. He could not be here in 
the city. Not now. There was someplace else he needed to be.

      With that, Frost got up and walked away, into the darkness.



           - End of post.
             Fredrick Frost,
             Caitiff.



Sheilina opened her eyes with a start.  Where was she?  Outside.  
Nalal must have left and moved her.  Then she remembered what she had 
seen and looked around.  She was still here.  New Chelsea was still 
here. Had the destruction of the world been stopped?  But how?  And why?  
She had to find out.  It had all been so clear.  That being that was 
with Frost in the subway, she had seen her put the Crystal together.  
And she had called that evil thing, which destroyed everything.  What 
had happened?  Her foresight had never failed her before?  What was 
wrong?
   Sheilina found her way out of the woods and to her car.  She quickly 
drove off towards Frost's house.  It was nearly daylight.  She had to 
ask him what had happened.
   She needed to know how he stopped it.



       - End of post.
         Sheilina,
         Caitiff.



Through the haze he heard a light voice, whispering something. What 
was it? The black fog that penetrated Leick's vision would not lift, and 
he could barely move at all. The voice came again, as though from a 
great distance. Female. Who was it...?
     A touch, on his face. The cold hand of a Cainite. The voice came 
through clearer now. It was still hard to hear.
     "Master," it said. Leick recognized it now. Lyta, one of the last 
surviving Brujah in the city. Dear Lyta had returned to help him. 
"Master," she repeated, "drink of me, heal your wounds."
     Although he still could not see, the strong scent of blood thrust 
itself upon Leick's senses. It gave him the strength to lift his head 
and bite upon the object before his face. It was Lyta's wrist, she had 
opened it, spilling her lifeblood for him to drink. The warm fluid 
trickled into his mouth, awakening his deep hunger. He had lost so much 
precious blood when his hand was removed - and Kindred needed to 
conserve their blood much more than Kine. He sucked now, hard as he 
could to draw as much of the crimson fluid as he could. It poured in a 
small stream down Leick's throat. His vision began to return as he 
drank, he became stronger.
     The fleshy color of Lyta's arm showed itself before his eyes. 
Slowly, Leick withdrew his teeth from her wrist and moved it up to a 
faster source of supply. Her neck showed on his hazy vision, and he 
savagely clamped his jaws on it. She gave a quick gasp (of pain or 
pleasure Leick could not be certain) as his teeth closed, but the 
Primogen gave no heed. He drank deeply as her hot blood pumped from her 
arteries, flowing generously down Leick's throat, where it fed his 
energy - healing him. He closed his eyes, feeling his rebirth as the 
blood began to course through his body, regenerating it. Lyta's body 
became weaker in his hands, and he held her up. He continued to drink, 
even faster now. His senses overwhelmed him. The taste of the blood, 
salty and thick, as it poured down his throat; the feel of her flesh, 
losing its life before him; the renewed vigor his body enjoyed, as he 
sucked again and again, draining her; the rich smell of the blood as 
some of it spilled to the floor. 
      Now the blood came fastest, and Leick felt like a new man. He bit 
hard at Lyta's neck, nearly breaking it in two at the joy of his 
healing, the pleasure of her death at his hands. After that, the blood 
flow trickled to a stop, and the feeding was over.
     He let go of Lyta's lifeless body, and it slumped to the floor. The 
mild shivers he often felt after a feed calmed down after a minute as 
Leick stood still, experiencing the last aching minutes of the act he 
had just performed. As the pleasurable feeling began to fade, the 
Primogen brought himself back to reality. He looked down at Lyta's 
decaying body. No-one could know of this, he realized. Kindred looked 
upon Diablerie as disgusting as incest. He would have to dispose of the 
body. Leaving it for the daylight to take care of should do it.
      Then the Brujah looked down at the stump of his right hand. The 
arm was much shorter now, Frost had lopped it off well below the wrist. 
The flesh wasn't mangled or ugly; it had been a clean sweep that sent it 
flying. The edge was smooth except for a small amount of blood clotting. 
He licked the wound clean, sometimes Kindred could regenerate flesh this 
way, but only small amounts and usually only with self-created wounds. 
His arm looked better now, but not much.
      It was the crystals, he decided. They made me act rashly and 
stupid. I wouldn't normally have been so careless. It must have been the 
crystals. But where were they? Leick no longer felt their presence in 
the city. If Frost had removed them...
      Frost. That Caitiff would have to be dealt with. But not in a 
fight, not like last time. We'll both be reaping the consequences of 
that one for a while. No, I must return to the shadows, work from the 
darkness. He will pay. Yes he will.
      Leick raised his arms to the sky, currently well above the many 
metres of rock which separated the subway station from it. He felt alive 
for the first time in a long time. Today's events had taught him a 
lesson, one he would learn from. Tomorrow would see a new Rutger Leick.


      Alone in his cavern, Leick danced around the corpse at his feet 
until it was time to go to sleep.


         - End of Season 1.
           Rutger Leick,
           Brujah Primogen.