Visions of Betrayal
“ You will answer a few questions to confirm my studies. Blink once for yes, twice for no.” Her voice had dropped into a set pattern, like a flight attendant reciting safety protocols.
“ Did you recognize me?” Lewis blinked once and she seemed impressed.“ Interesting. Perhaps we are finally getting somewhere.”
“ Did you recognize the man who bumped into you?” Lewis blinked twice.“ Not even when you kill him 76.3 % of the time? Hardly a creature of control, are you?”
Lewis was beginning to feel the rage return. How dare she do this to the Primogen of the Brujah!
“ You do not have the right to the name Brujah. You are an animal. I am doing my best to discover if there is the slightest talent left in your bloodline, anything left of the True Brujah. We have played this scene countless times, and we will play it countless more until I am satisfied. Eventually, you might start to see beyond your limited temporal vision and remember something. Until then we shall continue.”
Lewis felt something ripple around him as she closed her eyes. The world begun to spin, and he felt dizzy and sick.
He stopped for a moment, pausing to catch an odd feeling of déjà vu, but that was apparently all it was. Then he noticed a woman across the street tapping on a tablet.
Tempus
Fugit
A man asks a psychic if he can truly see into the future, to which the psychic answers in the affirmative. So the man punches the psychic in the face. As the psychic lies bleeding on the ground, wondering what he did to provoke such violence his attacker leans over and says“ I bet you didn’ t see that coming!”
We hear that joke a lot.
It is a valid question, though. How could a Clan with a command over time itself fail to predict their own demise at the hands of their childer? Undisciplined, uneducated, rebellious, thuggish childer at that? But we did see it coming. It was our choice to let it happen. I should admit that we were still caught by surprise in many ways. I will leave aside the usual arrogant bluster that we were somehow tricked or betrayed to other Clans. Denial is only a salve for the ego, and we are here to learn, not play the pissing contests of other Kindred.
While we did fail to stop the usurpers, we were not unprepared. In fact, we had been planning for it for quite some time. It simply happened earlier than expected. From the very beginning, we foresaw that Kindred society was doomed, and our only way to survive was to remove ourselves from it. We planned to become hidden and forgotten, to escape the Jyhad that will destroy everything.
Visions of Betrayal
To those in the modern nights, the idea of Kindred slaughtering each other is not unusual. In fact, the idea of us living together in peace is both strange and a little frightening. In the days of the First City, however, even though we were still blood drinking monsters, the Kindred seemed to get along. One suspects the presence of Caine may have had something to do with this.
But we could see a change was coming. Every time we were able to peer into the future, it was one of blood and vengeance. It was not hard to see where this might come from. The monster within us lies close to the surface. We are one of the few Clans to exercise any real control over our passions. So we were able to calculate the outcome of what we were seeing: the Kindred will feed upon themselves until none of us are left.
So we took the only sensible course of action. We decided to leave them all to their fate. We began to stockpile resources and quietly acquire the most valuable lore we could find. The necessity for secrecy required us to take our time. We are patient creatures if nothing else. Our work ensured than many supposed“ lost texts” remain hidden in our archives.
We thought we would have more time to prepare, but the Jyhad began its first slaughter much earlier than predicted, with the culling of the Second Generation. We took no part in this as a Clan, but that is not to say some Brujah were not involved. Many younger Kindred joined the Third Generation in destroying their leaders just for a sip of their precious vitae.
94 TRUE BRUJAH