The Red Guard: Vampire Hunters of Vatican City

Chapter Six - Making an Oath

They all clattered around the long banquet tables, mouths watering as they looked at the delicious looking food. There were so many creative dishes around the table that Chloe was having a hard time deciding what to eat first. She knew she wouldn't get to try everything with so much variety. She thought she'd take a bite's worth of as many things as would fit on her plate. She started to reach for a particularly scrumptious looking roast of beef when Quinn quickly slapped her hand away from the table. "Not yet!" he whispered into her ear. "You need to wait until the Pope arrives and takes the first bite."

"What?" demanded Chloe with a hiss. "Why?"

"It's called respect, Chloe," he said with a roll of his eyes. "The one who pays is the one who eats first. It's pretty common knowledge. It's called... manners."

Chloe had the grace to look at least lightly embarrassed, but inside she actually felt a little under-appreciated. She looked around at the food mournfully as she thought. The old coot is only alive because of me... or least... after I kill a few vampires, he will only be alive because of what I do. So, eventually, she reasoned with a tilt of her head, he should show some appreciation. Like, letting me eat whether or not he's taken his first bite.

"Hey, Chloe," whispered Felicity from across the table, "What's going through your mind? You look a little peeved."

"Nah," replied Chloe, "Just thinking about the little things."

Felicity raised an eye brow at her, "Sometimes the little things can do you in. Like nails in a coffin. Little things can seal your fate."

Chloe looked at Felicity with some surprise. It seemed like a pretty deep, thought-provoking thing to say. For some reason she hadn't expected it from Felicity. The comment made her like Felicity more. She smiled at her and Felicity smiled back.

Chloe looked around as she heard the scraping of chairs and shuffle of bodies standing up. She followed everyone else's motions as they stood up to welcome the Pope into their midst. As the guest of honour, Chloe was sitting at a table very close to the Pope and she had a great view of him as he entered the grand room.

Chloe couldn't help but notice his apparent youth. Every picture of the Pope she had seen made him look a little bit older. But, while his hair was certainly white, his face was not very wrinkled at all, even though it was thin. She always thought chubbier faces tended to more wrinkle-free than thinner faces. This was not the case with the Pope. The only thing that, perhaps, aged him was his greyish complexion. His eyes struck her as being sort of weasel-like. They were small and he was squinting them a lot on top of that, making them appear even smaller. His eyes darted around the room until he saw her, and to her surprise, they got even smaller as he took her in. His face became harder somehow and she felt a growing sense of unease as he continued to stare at her. If the eyes were the window to the soul, then his was intense and creepy.

Chloe shuffled her feet nervously. She fidgeted, but held his gaze with her own. She would not back down from this man. Not ever. She couldn't help feeling a little bit defiant towards him. She pretty much disagreed with every single thing that he stood for. She faltered in her thinking as she felt a nudge in her side. She glanced over to Quinn who continued to stare straight ahead.

With their eye contact broken, the Pope continued on to his place, greeting his friends along the way. He shook hands and smiled. There's some obvious small chat going on, thought Chloe, meanwhile, I'm starving. God, if there was a baby somewhere nearby, He'd probably stop to kiss it! Finally, he reached his seat.

"Let us pray," the pope announced.

Chloe let out the softest of groans as the pope said a short prayer before starting to sit down. A young teenaged boy had pulled out the Pope's chair and waited for him to sit. The boy pushed the chair in as the Pope lowered himself and the chair was adjusted to the Pope's specifications. He looked out to his guests and gestured for them to take their seats.