William+Fitzgerald's+Journal+-+May+7,+1822

May 7, 1822,

We returned to Naas on the evening of the 5th in time to have dinner at the Rise & Son. It also seems that Benjamin brought in a "business associate", a man by the name of Edwin Celata. Mr. Celata seems to be a man of few words, but it is obvious from his appearance and mannerisms that he has been a soldier for some time, and is well traveled as well. He actually reminds me somewhat of Varga, somewhat, but with more modern sensibilities in terms of choice of weaponry. We did not have the opportunity to discuss our situation regarding our next course of action due to the amount of traffic at the inn, but I did get the opportunity to regale my companions with a rather thrilling account from my time spent in the war. I also made plans with James to go on a hunting expedition before returning to room at the boarding house. I fashioned a rather fine snare for myself, if I do say so, myself. It should assist with catching extra game in addition to what we manage to shoot.

The next day, James and I managed to successfully hunt and shoot a massive hart. It was so large that we needed to fashion a sled from tree branches just to get the beast back to Naas. Our hunt resulted in quite the decent payoff. Enough to afford to purchase a fine grey dappled horse with an Irish name, which is roughly spelled Treasach.

Following our results of our hunting expedition, we accompanied Benjamin Clifford and his family to a small farm house in the country where Clifford is intending on relocating his family for their protection. Mr. Celata seems to have been the one to have made the arrangements for acquiring the new Clifford residence. The farm came complete with a small collection of livestock, which makes me wonder as to exact details of Celata's "arrangements".

I've been studying the book containing information on the Fitzgerald family line for the past couple nights. My research thus far has been slow, but I have been making progress in analysing my family history. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find any information that can be of use to me at this point. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm even doing this to actually find something I can use of if I'm just doing this to satisfy my curiosity, or to prove my worth to my brother, Henry. Still, shall remain vigilant in my studies in the hopes that I'll be able to stumble upon something worthwhile.

This morning we finally sat down to settle on an actual agenda and plan of action. It seems that everyone involved in our "group" are primarily focused on protecting themselves and those who are close to them, which seems to be an easy agenda to pursue, assuming that we all act with each other's best interests in mind.

We hit a bit of a bump however, when James nominated me for the group leader, for obvious reasons, given my military experience and leadership skills. Benjamin was not, however, particularly pleased with the notion, and argued that his business skills made him a better choice for a leader.

While Benjamin's business sense and ability to devise plans is valuable to the group as a whole, and will help us to gain an upper hand, we need someone in command who can make and carry out the tough decisions, and can inspire those under his command. From what I know of Benjamin, he seems to view those around him as employees who are only valuable as long as they continue to reliably produce results, and failing to do so, are liabilities that should be removed from their position. He also, judging by his working relationship with Mr. Celata, prefers to pay others to do their own dirty work, so as to keep their hands and conscience clean. In my opinion, that is not the mindset that would be in the best interests of the group as a whole. A true leader needs to be the sort of person that never asks someone to do something that they would not be willing do themselves. Of course, that does not mean I won't assign the others to tasks in which I am not skilled, but when we find ourselves in a dangerous situation, we need someone who is willing to make and carry out the hard decisions for the good of the group. I honestly doubt that Benjamin has the fortitude of spirit to stand his ground and risk his own life to protect the rest of the group in a moment of crisis.

There was a long debate regarding the choice of our group's leadership, but I made it clear that my leadership and overall experience regarding both my military career and these "things" that we have been encountering as of late makes me the better choice for the group's leader. I'm afraid Benjamin did not take the result of the debate very well, unfortunately, even with my reassurance that I do, in fact consider him to be an important member of the team. I'll try talking to him individually later to see if I can convince him that it would be in both of our best interests if he were to remain a part of our team.

After having emerged victorious from the debate, both James and Jack expressed their concern that my past involvement with Robert might cause problems for the team. James tried to press me on my discussion with Anglade, but I assured him, as when he had asked before during our hunting expedition, that Anglade did not actually tell me much of anything. Even still, they were still suspicious of me. Everything I have done, inducing my past interactions with Robert, I have done with the best intentions for the group. Had I not made those decisions, I would most certainly be dead, and James at best, would still be undergoing torture at Bedlam Asylum! What is important is that we are all together and alive, and that we remain so. If we can work together and trust each other to long enough to actually get anything done, we all may be able to succeed at keeping each other safe. While they are still concerned about my wellbeing, they have submitted to my leadership. Hopefully Jack's loyalty will last longer than the first order I give to him.

However, now that these discussions are out of the way, we can finally get down to business. Hopefully the idea that the Hunts have devised will yield us the powers that the vampires possess, without having to enslave ourselves to their wills, or become vampires ourselves. Maybe once we get this power, we can finally be able to protect ourselves against these forces of darkness that surround us from all sides.