San Francisco by Night
Abner Zbique
I pull my way from the earth's cool embrace, my fingertips the first to taste the open air. How long has the silent mother held me? How long since despair drove me to that one decision to abandon the world above. Was I truly the last?
I recall the gentle but steady rocking of the slave ship that brought me to the New World. I remember watching the Ventrue and Toreador traders burn our villages to cinder. My tribe perished. My sire and my childe. We were the last.
I watched the slave ship's crew for nights, studying the way they
conducted their affairs, hoisted the sails, plotted the course by the stars. During the
day I sought the sanctuary of the ships bowels, hidden from the sun in the thickest
containers, protected by my fellow slaves, who'd taken strength from my blood. In the end
though, I lost control, and the Beast was loosed on my captors. The Hunger is powerful
within my line, and when the ship's
crew was gone, it turned upon my kin.
Our ship, the Abner, fell upon the rocks, torn asunder between stone and surf. I drifted ashore with the tides, there to slake my thirst once more, now on the lesser creatures. The concept of time became foreign to me. I lurked the forests, lost to the Beast. Then, one night, I would wake.
A Gangrel came to me, speaking words that I would not hear. I set upon him with the fury of the Beast I'd become, my fangs biting at his flesh. He shrugged off my attacks, overpowering me as if I were a childe. His flesh was solid, stronger than the rocks which had been my salvation, and had consigned me to this prison of Hunger.
In time, I learned his language, and we spoke of things long gone.
He left me to my ways eventually, seeking to sate his wanderlust elsewhere. When he'd
gone, I knew that my Beast would never rule again, that I would keep it in check, and
others would learn from my example. And so, I sank into torpor, digging a hole which I
pulled in after myself. In the sleep of ages, I dreamt dreams of my home, of the dark
continent, Africa, of all the wonders
I'd seen and one day would share.... I dreamt of a people called Laibon.
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