The Red Guard: Vampire Hunters of Vatican City

Chapter Nine - Joining the Ranks

Chloe stumbled out of the Pope's chambers. For some reason she felt relieved just to be alive. She smiled nervously at the Swiss Guards as she walked by them and started down the hallway back to her room. She shuffled along in her nun's habit. She wondered how nuns lived in these things. They were not exactly comfortable and she felt so plain with her hair all tucked up with no makeup on. She could see how they could adhere to their oath of celibacy if they walked around like this all day long. She couldn't wait to go shopping with Felicity.

She was about half way to her room when Felicity and Quinn popped out in front of her, from where she couldn't even guess. She'd been so self-absorbed, she hadn't even noticed them until they called after her. "How did it go?" asked Quinn.

"Did he forgive you your trespasses?" asked Felicity with some degree of mockery.

Chloe closed her eyes momentarily and smiled a little bit at her friends. "Yes, I think so," she replied.

"You think so?" questioned Quinn.

"I don't think I'm totally forgiven," she said. "More like, I'm on parole. He's watching me. That's what he said." Felicity and Quinn exchanged looks. It didn't appear to Chloe like they liked that very much.

"Huh," said Quinn.

"I guess we'll have to lay low until things smooth over," said Felicity lightly. Chloe looked over to her with some surprise. She hadn't really realized that Felicity felt the same way she did about everything. She supposed she shouldn't be surprise. Felicity seemed like a pretty cool kind of person.

"It shouldn't take long," Quinn said as they continued to walk down the long hallway. "A few kills and we should be good."

"He mentioned 'killing the right ones'," Chloe said, "What's that all about?"

"The law breakers. We can only kill the law breakers. Otherwise, the vampires are protected by the Pope and we are not to lay a stake on their precious, blood-sucking hearts," replied Felicity.

"Don't worry. It's pretty hard to kill the 'wrong ones'," explained Quinn, "we go on hunting missions with pretty explicit instructions."

"Height, weight, eye-colour, ethnicity, what they were last seen wearing," said Felicity in a deep, authoritative sounding voice. "If they have a picture, they give it to us. I don't know how they get the pictures, but they do quite often."

"Probably from the CCTV," saidQuinn.

"Hmmmph," started Chloe. "Does CCTV pick up voices?"

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't," said Quinn.

"Let's hope," said Chloe as she looked purposefully at a statue with suspiciously black, shiny eyes. "I think we should be a little more careful about where we talk. This is the House of His Holiness. There is no reason why he shouldn't hear every conversation that occurs within his walls."

Felicity and Quinn drew in deep breaths. "That would explain quite a lot, actually," said Quinn in a tight voice.

"For two people that seem pretty smart..." Chloe said with a half laugh.

"No kidding," replied Felicity with a blush on her face.

They finally reached Chloe's room. She turned the knob and walked in. She went directly to her closet, hoping to see her hunting gear hanging there. She let out a sigh of satisfaction when she saw the red and black outfit suspended from the hanger. "Well, looky here, would ya?" she said with a big smile on her face.

Quinn and Felicity strode over to checkout her new duds. "Congratulations," said Felicity as she slapped Chloe on the back.

"Nice work, Chloe. You're officially one of us," complimented Quinn.

Chloe continued to look at the clothing. It represented many different things to her: A new life, acceptance, revenge, justice, friendship. She looked forward to putting it on. Her life was about to get much more interesting. "The Pope mentioned that we have an assignment?" she asked.

"Yes. We are supposed to go out and stop a vampire who has been killing rich Romans in the area. Another one. Rather odd, really. The vampires usually adhere to the rules pretty stringently," said Felicity.

"Especially near Vatican City. It is regarded as highly irregular to have so many rogue vampires in such a short period of time. We usually only get to hunt when we are sent to other cities around the would as back up. Yet here we are, tempted to call in for back up ourselves," reflected Quinn.

"When do we start?" asked Chloe.

"We start training as soon as you get your gear on. We have a power nap before dinner. We start hunting at sunset," recited Felicity.

Chloe nodded. She tentatively lifted the hanger out of the closet. She enjoyed the weight of the clothing. There was some obvious protection built into the design with stiff leather in the areas that would cover the most vulnerable organs. She placed the clothing on the bed and ran her fingers over the intricate stitching. It was a work of beauty, just like everything in this place. "Who makes these?" she asked.

"The nuns make them. Lots of prayer goes into these... if that's something that matters to you," whispered Quinn reverently.

Chloe licked her lips as she rubbed the smooth leather and fingered the firm buckles. "It's funny. I've never been the religious sort, but for some reason, that does actually seem to matter to me. It makes me feel better somehow," she observed.

"Life and death situations do that to people, don't they?" breathed Felicity. "Perhaps there is a god, after all."

Chloe hissed in a quick breath, slightly caught off guard by the intimacy of the moment. "Well, let's get this show on the road, shall we? I'll get this on and then I'll meet you guys in the training room." Quinn and Felicity grinned with anticipation and quickly left her to prepare.

Chloe took the habit off as quickly as she could. She hoped it would be a long time before she had to put the stiff, scratchy, lack-lustre clothing on again. She threw it in a heap behind the love seat. That was what she thought of that. She smirked as she thought about poor Gregory finding it there. He would be positively scandalized.

She quickly did a smell check. She'd been pretty stressed out during her meeting with the Pope and no amount of deodorant or antiperspirant would have saved her from the stress BO she currently had. She recoiled as she took a whiff under her armpits and shook her head in disgust. If nothing else, the nun's outfit had held it all in somehow. She looked over at the pile of black cloth with new admiration. Duly noted, she thought.

She knew she would stink after training, but she decided there was no need to gross everyone out right away. After the briefest of hesitations, she jumped into the shower and quickly, but thoroughly, washed and scrubbed at her most offensive areas. Then she washed them again. Once out, she reapplied a thick layer of antiperspirant and did another sniff test. She thought she passed.

She scooted over to her dresser, got fresh undergarments and then stood by the foot of her bed contemplating her hunting gear. It was time to put it on. She started to separate the pieces and slowly put herself together. She looked at herself in the full length mirror and gave herself a mental high five. Since no one was here to say it, she told herself how amazing she looked.

Just before leaving, she threw her hair into a pony tail and grabbed an apple out of the fridge. With new confidence, she left her room and headed to the training area... where, she was sure, her confidence would be knocked right out of her.