He was glad that Lorraine had found her and more so that she had managed to keep Shayne from coming in and spewing the normal vile that came from her mouth, after all the young Gangrel Primogen couldn't afford another upset as far as his clan or the Conclave were concerned. Now the matter at hand was talking to Shayne and trying to reason with her and stop whatever scheme she had come up with, were it anyone else Cash wouldn't have worried but the girl was like a dog with a bone and she was able to come up with plans that normally worked. Rising from his seat and grabbing his jacket from the barstool Cash took a careful look around the room and then started out the door into the cool night air. As she shrugged the jacket over his shoulder's Cash stood a few steps away from her and watched in silence. It was hard to imagine that any part of the woman in front of him had been related to Zane, in personality and in appearance they were both two very different people. Zane had been handsome, beautiful even, though most Toreador were. Shayne on the other hand stood at somewhere around five foot four if she was lucky, with a cute face though it wasn't as if she was going to Miss. America anytime soon she still managed to hold her own in the looks department.

"Don't stare at me I don't like it and while were on the subject of things I don't like, the next time you want to talk to me come yourself and don't send your friends to do your dirty work," Shayne offered, her arms folded over her chest as she sighed. Right about then she could use a fix, and the nineteen year old would have settled for any of her three vices be it nicotine, caffeine, or sex it didn't matter. "Before you start yelling she had it coming."

"I'm not yelling and I didn't say that she didn't have it coming, but you can't go around threatening people to get your way Shayne," Cash began feeling as if he had turned into the over protective big brother at least for an instance. "I know your upset and I know your hurt but that doesn't give you a right to act like a heathen." She narrowed her eyes before she laughed, chewing on her lower lip for a brief second before she laughed again.

"Heathen if you want me to act like a heathen and throw a tantrum I can do that, however I don't see why you have the right to question my actions. Zane was your friend Cash, before you got too big for your britches you came to visit Grandma with him and here you stand telling me to cool it." He had no right and really she thought he should have been more upset about the trash article.

It was then that Cash realized two things, the first being that he knew the truth about what had really happened and the second being that she did not. His biggest fear was so far unwarranted as Shayne seemed to still think the death was bizarre and unusual but she didn't see anything supernatural about it. Still he could feel the array of emotions radiating off of her, anger, sadness, confusion, she was at turmoil and at odds with everything including herself. He felt a good deal of sympathy and relief at the same time, it made her much easier to deal with her. "Come on let's go howl at the moon Shay-Shay, blow off some steam," Cash offered before he looked around still assured no one had noticed his leaving. For one night Julian could survive without him and tomorrow night he would assure the Prince that there was no threat to the Kindred.

_______________________

As the night had passed on Julian Luna had bigger things to worry about Eddie Fiori was making trouble once more and it looked as if the only option to be had would be war. He had no time to worry about trivial things such as a wayward teenager, but he was concerned that he had been too harsh on Catlin. It was why he had begun making plans to surprise her for her birthday, although as he was in the middle of those plans Julian hadn't been expecting Lillie to burst through the door wearing a Cheshire cat grin across her features. She thought that she had won, but she wasn't out of the woods yet in fact the recent information he had learned had him reeling and on the edge of simply snapping her neck.

"Did you embrace him to get me to pay attention to you Lillie," Julian questioned. "I have forgiven your past sins and in digressions because I have not always been there to keep you contented, however more and more I find that you have been sharpening your claws and aiming those talons in my direction."

"When my bed was empty Julian he filled it, when I was alone he comforted me, and when you ordered it I killed my own childe and left him to die with the first light of the sun as it rose in the sky." Lillie Langtry replied, her eyes red rimmed with tears that threatened to fall. "All of this while you tried to play puppet master to the humans in your life."

"Is this about Catlin?"

Lillie shook her head before she laughed, a finger running along the edge of the table as she looked up at him and sighed. "You're trying to play God Julian, with Catlin, just like you did Sasha. You see how that worked out now, she hates you, she hates Cash, and she hates what she's become." Her heart went out to the girl but Lillie saw the truth that sooner or later she would just erupt. "All because you wanted to keep them safe while at the same time you just pulled them more and more into our world." The deal with Eddie had been made, and at least this way Lillie was certain that she could mourn him rather than simply loosing him.

He shifted straightening his shoulders before he looked back at Lillie and then shook his head before he realized that he had hurt her, far more than he had ever hurt her before. "Throw your tantrum elsewhere Lillie; I have other matters to attend to." He went back to browsing through the magazine that was set out before him waving Lillie off and ignoring her presence.

She was outraged but not surprised in the least bit, Julian had been ignoring her since he had his first interview with Catlin and now it was escalating to the point she wondered if Eddie was right, did he want to be their Prince at all.

____________________________

He had taken her to the train tracks on a lapse of judgment but Cash had only been thinking about where they had gone when they were younger, before life and un-life had made them who they were right then and there at that point and time. For the most part his company seemed to be handling it well enough, she hadn't spoken yet and was staring off into space but she was taking it better than he had thought. Dropping down onto the ground and looking up at the sky Cash closed his eyes for a few moments to collect his thoughts, it was something that he so rarely got the chance to do lately and it was a welcomed change from the hustle and bustle of his nightly life.

"You need to go home you know that right."

Without bothering to look back Shayne shook her head and then laughed. "Yeah and what do I go home too Cash, Samantha called me about an hour before Lorraine found me. Grandma is dead, Grandpa died this spring and right now things between Mom and I aren't so hot." She sighed before raking her hand through her hair making the dark colored locks even wilder, as far as she was concerned at that moment and time there was nothing left for her in Hollywood.

Cash opened his eyes and looked up watching her shadow move as she paced back and forth. "So your planning on staying here," he should have known this was coming, she had been rude before but she had lacked that certain flare to her words. They didn't cut as deep and they didn't make you want to hide your head in shame. "Tell you what I'll make you a deal, you get back into school start college and I'll help you. I have a place you can stay at."

The bottom line was that her staying caused a problem; it would put her in the middle of clan warfare. What was he supposed to tell her though that she couldn't stay there and live her life just because he was worried about things he couldn't even explain; the minute it came out of his mouth he'd get a knee to the groined and smacked. If she was busy with college he could at least argue when a problem arouse with the Conclave, and it would, that she was bettering herself and away from what was going on behind those dark dank closed doors of Julian Luna's manor.

"Wow really and I bet you aren't going to charge me rent either, and I bet your even going to tell me that if I'm a good girl and I behave you'll get me a pony," Shayne answered and then shook her head. "Give me a break Cash, the college I'll look into but I don't want you offering up a place to stay if that's what I decide to do. You know how I am and I like to do things for myself," she added sitting down next to him before she grinned. "I blame my stubborn pride."

"Your pride isn't the only thing on you that's stubborn, but if that's what you want to do Shay then its fine. I will help you find a place though," somewhere safe and out of harms way so she didn't end up like Sasha, but he wasn't going to say that. "You know it might be kind of fun having you around."

Reaching over Shayne poked him in the center of the chest as she looked down. "Might be kind of fun to have me around huh, see there's just something about that I find to be a little insulting. I mean after all I am going to have to be putting up with you."

________________________

Three Months Later

Classes had begun and Shayne found herself being busy during the day but having a lack of anything better to do at night, in fact most of her nights had been spent staring out of the window watching the city skyline and wondering what she was really doing there. Was it wise to hide from her problems somewhere else instead of simply dealing with them head on, she couldn't be certain but what she did know was that she had needed time to heal, time to adjust to the changes that had happened, and she really hadn't been finished with Catlin Bynes either. Her current company had the same problem with the woman that Shayne did, and apparently with a damn good reason too.

"She's not bothering is you," Ruth asked looking down as her young daughter crawled across the pristine floor toward the other woman cooing as she did so. "I mean I have a playpen in my car, I would hate for her to ruin something in here."

Shaking her head as she snapped back into reality or as close to reality as she would ever come Shayne smiled before leaning down lifting the little girl up. "She's not bothering me in the least bit, besides that you said you wanted to talk to me about Catlin Byrnes?" It was a different experience holding this baby since most of them cried the moment that Shayne got to close to them.

"Yeah I do, I mean I heard around campus that you've had a few run ins with her and I remember from when someone took Jesse what she was like. So willing to print and article about me being a monster, she said she wanted my side of the story but right in the middle of talking to me it was like she spaced out," she admitted, it felt good to finally have someone that she could talk to. "I read the article she printed about your brother."

"It was a fluff piece," Shayne commented settling Jesse down on the ground once more before she moved over to the over stuffed chair and dropped down into it. "What happened with your baby if you don't mind me asking, I wasn't living here at the time and right after I arrived I was going through a lot of personal issues."

Ruth Doyle leaned back in her seat and crossed one leg over the other as she launched into the story about the monster that stole her baby, how she and Detective. Kohanek had wondered the park the night of the full moon and then found Jesse hanging from a basket in a tree. Then she had gone on to explain the backlash to this as an article had been printed that talked about Ruth herself just wanting a cry for attention and creating the story about stealing her own child. As she spoke she cried the tears flowing freely down her cheeks but at the same time she smiled when Shayne offered her a Kleenex from a box on the coffee table.

"Since then I've wondered why on earth this woman had it out for me but when I went to ask her about it she told me it was a journalistic license and I should be glad that it would eventually all die down."

Rolling her eyes Shayne shifted her weight in the chair before she looked over, dark blue eyes narrowed as if she were thinking. "I think that's her excuse that it's a journalistic license when in reality she wasn't prepared for the job that she got in the first place. I mean she is the youngest City Editor in the history of the paper." The more she dug into the reporters past the more Shayne disliked her but thus far she had only been gathering information. "I'm glad that you got your baby back and I don't think you planned what happened, but I do think this reporter gave you a raw deal."

Ruth was just glad to hear someone else say that other than herself, she had no family, her friends had turned their backs on her, and up until this point the had felt as if she were nothing more than a waste of time and space but someone else believing her gave her a glimmer of hope.

_________________________

"Cash, your friend Shayne has asked to speak with me," Julian started; he was concerned about what she knew. Since Archons death things had been so calm and quiet, even with Cameron's presence at the Conclave table. "Now you told me that she didn't know anything about us are you still standing by that claim?"

"This has nothing to do with the Kindred; this has to do with Catlin. I told you that she wouldn't let go of what she did Julian and I can only monitor so much of what she does, but I know that Ruth Doyle has been to visit her which means that Shayne now knows about Goth in a since." Cash sighed as she looked across the desk at Julian. "Has Lillie talked to you yet?"

Julian Luna raised an eyebrow, his dark eyes clouded over; Lillie had said nothing to him in the last view days like she was hiding something. He should have of course known that was exactly what she was doing; hiding something from him, at least with Cash he would have a chance to deal with the problem before it tried to kill him. "No she hasn't, is there something I need to know about?"

Sure Lillie left this on his shoulders when she should have talked to Julian herself, but Cash wasn't surprised. "Frank Kohanek isn't the only one that's protected by Kindred law Julian," Cash began. "Apparently with the Kuei-Jin moving into Los Angeles the former Anarch leader, Alec, has died. They named a new leader, a Brujah who was embraced during the time of the Great Depression, Nines Rodriquez." He paused trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say next and nothing aside from just blurting it out seemed to work. "He's marked her as his own, and I doubted the fact LA is the last of the Anarch Free States would matter to them Julian."

"You're certain about this Cash?" It could have simply been a rumor but Julian doubted it, since the arrival of the Eastern Kindred he had been hearing rumors about how war torn LA had become. Whispers about the Anarchs slowly being wiped out and the Camarilla being next, it had worried him that San Francisco would be next.

"Positive, Lillie got word from one of the Toreador that she knows there." then she suddenly forgotten to mention this to Julian. "There is also the matter of Sasha, her behavior has become erratic even more so than when Eddie was Primogen. She's going to have to be dealt with Julian."

_______________________

The shower was running, steam had filled the room, and after Ruth and Jesse had left Shayne had found the CD that belonged to Zane. Up until that moment and time she had forgotten all about it, but it seemed as good as time as any to pop it into the CD player and see what was on it as she was expecting nothing more than a few unreleased songs. The surprise came when there was crackling and a familiar voice filled the bathroom, causing Shayne to slip and slid into the nearest wall before she was able to steady herself.

"Looks like if you're listening to this Shay-Shay than what I figure is about to happen has already happened, you're probably pissed as hell about it and looking for answers. Good for you, but you'll never find them." The bastard was taunting her; even from the after life her brother was taunting and teasing her. Granted as the older brother she supposed that was his right to do and he had always done a really good job of making her skin crawl, he was a creepy little shit. Reaching out and turning the volume up as she adjusted the water to make sure it was piping hot, Shayne settled back into her shower and continued to listen. "Truth of the matter is that I gave up on the dream and I let those demons that I've always had drag me down. Like Grandma always told us you have a black dog and a white dog inside of you, which ever one you feed the most eventually eats the other. You thought you were the black dog but in truth it was me, you've always been the white dog, the good one doing exactly what you should. Even the car accident with the you worked so hard to safe her life and if you could have you would have given you own for hers, the only one that didn't see that was your mother."

It was the truth, possibly, at time Shayne had wondered if that car accident hadn't been her fault in someway but she had just been a kid. She wasn't drunk and she couldn't control the weather, no matter how much she wished that she could. However the fact that he hadn't blamed her gave her that sort of warm feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Don't give up like what I did, you have a whole future ahead of you. Believe me when I say that, I have a friend that's told me your star shines much brighter than mine ever has and someday you'll make a difference in a fight that you didn't even know you belonged too. I just hope that you don't forget me when this happens because no matter what I have and I always will love you and I'll always be proud of the things that you've done with your life. When the time comes though for you and darkness settled in on top of you embrace it, don't make my mistake and let those demons drag you down into oblivion. My time is up Shay-Shay just remember that I love you and no matter what I am always with you so long as you never forget." The talking had stopped and the CD switched over to Zane singing, leaving some sort of message in his lyrics that she couldn't figure out and it would probably be some time before Shayne could ever understand what they meant.

As she stepped out of the shower and wiped off the mirror she had to wonder if he really hadn't been on drugs again as what he said had made no sense toward the end, was it possible that he had really just walked out onto a train track and taken his own life? Was it something with their family that made them absolutely insane or just certain members? Either way as she pushed the thoughts from her mind she continued to get dressed thinking about what he planned on saying to Julian Luna. It was then that she recalled the small black velvet bag that she had tucked the necklace into; reaching over into the drawer of the sink she pulled it and slipped the chain over her head watching it fall around her neck.

This was a new beginning of sorts, Shayne could feel things shifting as if the dark cloud that she had worn on her slender shoulders much of her life was finally being lifted and tossed aside. Not that it did much to chance her position, her attitude, or the manner in which she said things; it just meant that she could now move about her business without feeling like she was going to sink sooner or later.