Opposites - ReVamped (Highlander/ Kindred: The Embraced Crossover)

Chapter 16 - Anger

The ground was hard, that much Frank found out when he was dumped out of the car directly onto it. The first thing he saw was a pair of feet, and he slowly worked his way up. The face that met his gaze did not bode well for his future. One of the Brujah that Richie had so cheerfully beaten the crap out of the previous night was leering down at him, and as he slowly climbed to his feet he became aware of the others as well.

"Not so brave without your friend, little man?" the leader of the pack sneered loudly.

A cold feeling started in the pit of Frank's stomach.

"Hey, look," he said slowly, "last night had nothing to do with me, I was just with the guy. I have no quarrel with you."

"Wrong," another of the group said from behind, "you laughed at us."

That wasn't true, but then talking a Brujah out of something they had decided were the facts could be like chiselling granite with a bobby pin. There was only one route left open to Frank, even though he hated to admit it.

"Um, look I was supposed to meet Julian Luna at the Haven, he's not going to be pleased if I don't show," the implicit warning was there, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Oh, don't worry Franky," the leader started, "we're not going to kill you. We thought we just have a little fun and rough you up a bit. Now Mr Luna might be a little annoyed at us for a while, but he's not going to go against Cameron over some bruises."

Frank had a sinking feeling that the brute might actually be telling the truth. All safe ground just crumbled away from him.

"Can't we just talk about this?" he tried, a little desperately.

His reply was a fist in the face. Now that hurt like hell, but not as much as the one which followed and did something nasty to his kidneys. Now Frank could handle himself pretty well, and he even managed to land a couple of punches, but he was not Kindred and he really didn't stand a chance. Every time he turned to try and block a blow, one of the other Brujah would attack from behind, or beside him.

He really had no idea what he was doing by the time he flailed out desperately and managed to sink his nails into flesh. His legs weren't under his control, he'd taken so many hits that he didn't know which way was up, and the Brujah were passing him around like a toy, but somehow he fell in just the right way to actually do some damage. There was an angry yell from whoever he had managed to hurt and then strong hands grabbed him and literally threw him through the air. His head found the car, and there was a nasty snapping sound: Frank knew no more.

~*~

What brought Richie to the docks he would never know, but on his way to the Haven he had been unable to resist the urge to see the water. The sight that met his eyes made him very angry, and he moved forward before his better judgement could get in the way. Frank was lying in a crumpled heat surrounded by Brujah and it was clear Frank was dead. He barely realised he had a sword in each hand as he ran.

"Which one of you killed him," he yelled at the top of his lungs.

To say that the sight of him scared the hell out of the Kindred gathered around the body was probably putting it lightly given the expressions on their faces. It seemed he was still vampire enough to fool them. These Brujah knew death when they saw it coming towards them and they ran.

The question had brought the look of guilt to one face and it was this Kindred whom Richie pursued. He dumped one sword by the side of Frank's lifeless body and then charged after his prey. These thugs had dared to touch someone he cared about and he was going to take revenge. A dagger he had lifted from Damon was very useful in bringing down the vampire before the creature could change shape or escape. A knife in the leg wouldn't hurt a Kindred too much, but it did cause the Brujah to fall.