- Caitlin takes Julian to a cabin in the woods for some romance but the Bruja clan attacks. Frank is warned not to investigate the vampires. In order to prevent a vampire civil war, Archon takes responsibility for a crime from his past.
- Julian hasn't been out of San Francisco in seven years. So when Caitlin asks him to go away with her for the weekend, Julian leaves Archon in charge and goes with her sans bodyguards to Manzanita Springs in Sonoma County where Caitlin has secured a secluded cabin in the woods. Caitlin has selected this spot because it's where Julian's family is from, and she wants to know more about Julian's background. First stop is the cemetery where Caitlin sees a gravestone marked "Julian Luna, born 1830, died 1899," which Julian explains belongs to his great great grandfather.
Next stop is the Old Mission Winery. As Caitlin reads from the sightseeing brochure about how the winery was the site of a bloodbath in 1985, Julian looks around nervously. Caitlin goes on reading. The baffling thing about the bloodbath and subsequent fire was that there was blood and bullet holes everywhere but no bodies. Then Caitlin drops the bomb by asking Julian if he had anything to do with it. Julian admits that he was once a ruthless man [translation: he was once the enforcer for Prince Archon] and he did some things of which he is not proud [translation: he shot up a bunch of Brujah in the old winery and then burnt it to the ground], but he will tell her no more...only that he has changed. He refuses to say more, so Caitlin decides to play cool again and goes for a walk alone.
Unbeknown to Julian, the sole survivor of that bloodbath, a Brujah named Cameron [Titus Welliver], has reunited with the three remaining Manzanita Springs Brujah and has plans to take over Eddie's seat on the San Francisco conclave. He has informed them that Julian, the man who massacred the Brujah in 1985, is in Manzanita Springs and orders them to kill Julian while he (Cameron) goes to San Francisco to take over for Eddie. When the Brujah find Caitlin walking alone in the woods, they jump her. One of them holds a knife to her neck and orders her to call Julian. Julian, who has been following Caitlin in the shadows, leaps out from the trees and attacks them...three against one. Julian kills two of them but winds up himself getting sliced in the stomach and stabbed in the back. The last Brujah (Sorrel) turns into a wolf and runs away. Julian does the same and follows. Caitlin catches up to find Sorrel lying on the ground and Julian bleeding profusely. He refuses to go to a hospital and makes her take him back to the cabin.
Back in San Francisco, Archon suddenly senses that Julian is dying. He explains to Daedalus about the massacre at the Old Mission Winery and tells him what Julian did. He adds one more detail--that the whole massacre was based on a personal vendetta between Archon and the Brujah leader,and that he wrongfully used Julian to carry out his vengence. Julian thought he was killing Brujah in retaliation for them killing Ventrue but, in actuality, the Brujah had killed no one.
Caitlin gets Julian back to the cabin and dresses his wounds. Knowing that he is dying, Julian finally tells Caitlin the truth about himself. He tells her the true story of his involvement in the massacre at the Old Mission Winery, explains the feuds between the Kindred clans, and assures her that he hasn't killed anyone since he laid down his weapons following the massacre. Suddenly, Sorrel comes crashing through the window. He is dying and needs Caitlin's blood. Julian jumps out of bed and grabs a poker, intending to stab him with it. But Julian can't do it. Sorrel dies. Julian is himself close to death, but now Caitlin knows what to do. She cuts her own wrist with a knife and lets the blood drip into Julian's mouth until he is strong enough to drink on his own.
Back in San Francisco, Cameron believes Julian is dead and is running around telling everyone. First, he goes to Frank Kohanek and tells him to stop hunting Brujah because Julian isn't around to protect him anymore. Then he locates Cash and Sasha, warns Sasha to stay away from Cash, and offers Cash an ultimatum...support him or suffer the same fate as Julian.
Meanwhile, Julian has recovered. Now he has a decision to make. Kindred law says that humans who learn about the Kindred must be either embraced or killed, but Julian refuses to do either to Caitlin. Instead, he mesmerizes her into forgetting everything about the weekend and concocts a story about her getting sick, running a high fever, and him driving her back to San Francisco.
Julian returns to his house just in time to hear the gunshot that kills Archon. He finds Archon floating in a fountain. After burying him in his ready-and-waiting grave back in Manzanita Springs, Julian returns to San Francisco to find Cameron sitting at the conclave table in the Brujah spot. Julian leaps at Cameron's throat, but Daedalus stops him and tells him the truth about Archon's role in sending Julian to slaughter the Brujah. The primogens have ruled, by Kindred law, that Cameron's slaying of Archon was just. Julian is going to have to accept it.
Later, as Julian sits alone by the fire, he hears Archon speaking to him. Archon is dead, but he says that he and Julian are united by blood and spirit. "Lead them far, Julian," Archon says. As Julian calls out Archon's name, Caitlin enters the room. "Archon," she repeats. "That name...I know it...I heard it in my dream...you called him your 'sire.' What does that mean?"
"I don't know, Caitlin," says Julian. "It was YOUR dream." [Synopsis by bj_kuehl]
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