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"...what is it?"

CJ grunted, his eyes locked on the wooden shipment situated in front of the main gate leading to the palacial Hollywood Hills home of Eva, Yanci, Gwen, Henry, and the recently added CJ. CJ had been Andre's right hand for the Bloods, as well as for the private security forces at Eva's disposal. After surviving Compton, then Vietnam, CJ had settled in as security for several black celebrities in the LA area such as Marvin Gaye and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He was turned by a wild, mad, Brujah who was using mass embracing as a weapon. The tactic backfired when CJ survived, gathered his bearings, and joined with the Bloods to hunt down and end the Brujah madman. His incredible focus and will having lead him through the change with but minor freaking the fuck out, it wasn't until the job was done that CJ began to truly understand what he was.

Andre had been so impressed that he kept an eye on him. Through the years it was CJ who quickly raised through the gang's ranks to Andre's side, not other members of the gang that could claim more seniority or better connections. Andre had always been one to give the most shits about "getting shit done." On that note, there was no one better in the gang than CJ. It was CJ who survived the worst of the fighting when LA went to war with itself after the Kid's great reveal. It was CJ who delivered Andre's heavy chain to Gwendalyn, a heavy chain for heavy news.

The dog took a moment. Not only because the dog was specially trained to smell for explosives, but because it was walking up to a group of Kindred. The K-9 unit was trained to do with animals as Kindred, to assist the dogs not have the typial reaction to Kindred. The dog had a job to do, and though it took a moment of gentle persuasion, it wasn't long before the dog went right to it. It was CJ who made the announcement. "It's clean." 

Gwen thanked the K-9 unit. In her past life she had loved dogs. In her current life she was indifferent, but the ability to sniff for bombs was something she could love even in her current life. She had stopped her new blood red Ferrari California T HS near five yards away from the gate. It was at the end of a canyon road in the Hollywood Hills. This gate was just the largest, and privacy and security fence around it just cut off this street from the private stretch of road that led up to the house itself. 

Quickly, with ease, CJ ripped the top off the box. After some digging the card was found, the bottle with it found. CJ blinked up at the woman he had only known from afar for most his Kindred days. "Gallery 66, it says."

Gwen smiled. "It's an invitation. Thanks CJ."

"Yessir." The box was removed, the card and bottle handed over to the human before he climbed back in the Ferrari. The gate opened and Gwen put Samual Graham's back firmly into the luxury leather seat of the Ferrari cockpit as the supercharged V8 rocketed them towards the house. With the noise of the engine, Sam didn't even bother to speak, not until she slung the Ferrari around the marble fountain surrounded by the red brick, grass gridded, driveway of the home.

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"This...is an incredible house."

Against the glittering twilight sky of Los Angeles, the house appeared on the hill as as a crowning achievement of comtemporary home architecture; blocks of glass and white stone and wood and even more glass. It's exterior was washed in exterior accent lighting, most of it yellow gold against the house, but hues of blue and purple here and there. Gwen had to laugh. "I remember when Eva had it built. It's a shame she isn't here for me to introduce you." 

"You miss her?"

The smile was gone on the former starlet's face. Car stopped, engine off, the driver side door opened and almost at the same second the passenger door opened for Sam. The human man blinked, and to Gwen, the blink was painfully slow. "You're, uh..."

"Really fast?"

Sam laughed, his two day growth scratched at just under his chin as his mind took a few moments to process what just happened. What was happening to him. Gwen had to wonder if he knew how impossibly deep he was already in. "That I am."

The "girl" appeared at the wider than most front door: black denim short-shorts, white tank top, a black bra outline visible through the thin white cotton. "She's...staring at me...is she going to..."

Gwen laughed, despite herself, "No, she's not going to eat you." [i]...I don't think.[/i] It wasn't until she looked at the girl that she realized something was off. Something wasn't right. "Bring the bottle and card, Sam," Gwen tossed back at Sam without looking back at him, her eyes focused squarely on Yanci as she closed the distance between the Ferrari and the Baroness. 

"The surprise attack on San Fransisco."

That was all Yanci gave her, but between that and the near numb look on Yanci's face..."It didn't go well, I take it?"

"Worse. It wasn't a surprise. Someone, something, was waiting on it. It was taken out before it hit San Fransisco."

Gwen wanted to reach out and grab the girl, to pull her close and kiss those lips, to stroke her hair and tell her it'd be okay. The mantle of power was a son of a bitch, and it weighed on Yanci the way it never weighed on Eva. Gwen settled on a hug, but Yanci's reaction was muted as her facial expression. When Gwen pulled away, it was with a kiss on the girl's cheek. "We'll figure it out. Have you told Henry?"

Her head shook, her wavey dark brown hair swaying slightly as she did. "Not yet. I don't know where he is. I was...dreaming."

"About what? Was it just you?"

Her head shook once more. "No. It was Eva. I don't know why, but we were reliving..."

Yanci trailed off, but not because of the dream. Gwen knew why, she could feel the warmth and the beating of the heart behind her. Gwen pivoted on her heeled boot, and smiled once more, her voice honey. "Yanci Carolina, may I present to you a young actor--"

"--Samual Graham. You played the autistic kid in the Disney Channel movie?"

The young man chuckled, and nodded quickly, like he was talking to a studio head. "I did, yes ma'am," the [i]ma'am[/i] accented with the hint of West Texas twang. 

"You didn't overdo it. I heard you fought with the director?"

Sam's smile was Hollywood; present, bright, but only surface deep. "Yeah. He wanted me to exaggerate the performance more, and--"

"--your sister is autistic."

Sam's blue eyes touched Gwen's with a quick glance before going back to Yanci's. "She is. I wouldn't budge, he threatened to have me replaced, Disney wouldn't let him."

Very slowly Yanci's lips curved into a faint grin. "You still think that was Disney? What's the card and bottle?"

Gwen took that one, "There was a shipping crate at our front gate. CJ had the bomb doggos take a sniff. Clear, so he opened it. The bottle and the card inside."

Sam handed Yanci the card, and the Baroness took a quick glance, flipped the card, her brows arching a touch. "Gallery 66? I've heard of it. Something that came across my desk...maybe we should take a trip? If we can find Henry."

Gwen just happened to catch a figure in one of the second story windows. It was a large figure, cloaked in shadow of a barely lit room. "He's here."

Yanci's eyes followed, her tone still half in a dream, "Good. Wanna go tell him?"

Gwen shook her head, faux exasperation, "Rachel would be disappointed," she said as she pulled out her smartphone, and conducted the text to Henry. 

"I've done other roles."

Yanci blinked, a blunted delayed reaction to the voice, like it took her a few beats to realize someone had spoken, and where the voice had come from. "Do you know what we are, Sam?"

There was no hesitation, and only traces of fear, "Yes, I do. Gwen told me, ancient mysterious rulers of Hollywood and Los Angeles. Which makes me wonder, because I played Kit Carson in a cable movie once, got me interested in him, and he was around back then. I have to ask..."

There was no disconnect of dream now. When Yanci stared at Sam, it was with fresh intensity, and all her focus. "Why do you ask that?"

The tone was enough to even make Gwen look up from the phone, and the texts she had sent Henry, along with the sexy gif. "Yance?"

"The dream," Yanci began, "it was the night after the battle at Rio San Gabriel."

Gwen's eyes narrowed in concern. "Before my time, Yanci, want to explain?"

She didn't need to, Sam did, "Between the Mexican army and the US forces sent by President Polk. 1840...ish."

"1847. I didn't care. I didn't like the Mexicans, but didn't trust the Americans." Gwen's eyes peeked between the two of them; Yanci recounting an ancient battle, Sam absolutely intoxicated by the tale, "the Kid went to Eva, nervous, anxious. 'Is it Lubbock? It has to be. He's sent the Americans here to find me. He's sent the Americans here to punish me.' It was insane paranoia. Eva calmed him, and dealt with it...like she always did. She met Fremont before, and liked him well enough, but it was Carson that truly impressed her."

Sam's eyes were saucers. "You met him?"

Yanci smiled, small and sad, "I did. Eva introduced us. She said she first met him under moonlight, near a river. He pulled his rifle on her; she described as part feral. The violence coming from the man...his sheer will to survive. They spoke about California. They spoke about it's beauty. They talked about the deserts they both had crossed at various points. Eva had been with the Spanish when they came in to establish missions, to start setting up ranchos. Eva was ready for California to grow. So one night she comes in and declars, 'We're supporting the Americans.' She had to convince the Kid, but of course, she did. Eva worked the Mexicans, gave them a false sense of security. She even got them to march out into the field--near the San Gabriel river, so the fighting didn't hurt the dusty little town that was Los Angeles back then. She knew what LA would become..."

"...that's incredible. Can I ask you more?"

"Another time, prehaps." The voice came from behind Yanci, and snapped Sam out of his amazement. A masculine voice, a man's voice: Henry Locke.

"Henry, Sam. Sam, Henry. Henry is part of our little family." 

Sam smiled, shook Henry's hand, and tried to play it cool...but that was becoming harder and harder for Samual Graham. 

"Come with us, Sam." Yanci said it as if she said it in an impulse. It wasn't; Gwen understood. Eva shared the dream with Yanci, then Samual appeared and knew it. Moreover, he'd played Kit Carson. Those weren't accidents. That was Eva's long game. Gwen hadn't known Eva and Kit Carson were passionate, but the way Yanci told the story about Eva meeting the man in moonlight...

"Thank you. I've never heard of Gallery 66, sounds fun."

Yanci's sad smile went into a half-smirk. "It's not for humans." The admission put a distinct look of concern on Sam's face; a look that led to Henry, Yanci, and Gwen sharing a short laugh at the sight. "It's okay, Sam. You're with us. We're not fitting in that fucking Ferrari though."

Henry's tone was as full of a smirk as his lips. "They can take the Ferrari. We can take my car, see who gets there first."

"You're on. To the vamp-mobile, Sam!"