The Red Guard: Vampire Hunters of Vatican City

Chapter Thirty-Three - Blood in the Chapel

The Red Guards got busy inviting the vampires into Vatican City. Chloe had to hand it to Ethan, his people seemed to know exactly where to go. They had all proceeded with confident determination. Once all of the vampires were within the City, the Red Guard started to move towards the meeting place. Chloe hoped the Pope would be there as determined by his regular schedule. He was supposed to be holding a private mass for his cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel.

Chloe looked around the outside of the Sistine Chapel as they approached. The lights were on inside the building, as they always were. It was undoubtedly the most popular place for tourists to visit. The most famous paintings in existence were on the ceilings. Chloe remembered staring in awe at those works of art, only a few weeks ago. The building was empty of tourists now since it was almost ten o'clock at night.

The Red Guard arrived and appreciated that they could not detect the vampires hidden somewhere in the vicinity. The vampires would show themselves as needed throughout the process of tonight's activities.

They spread out and prepared to enter the chapel at various entry points, blocking the movement to or from the proceedings. They noticed many of the Swiss Guard casting them curious looks, but would leave them for the vampires.

Chloe could hear the Pope's voice delivering what sounded to her like a very boring sermon. She went through her doorway, which was the furthest one away from the Pope. It allowed her to face the Pope from the moment of her entry. He was in the pulpit standing higher than everyone else. His voice faltered as she walked into the room and he glared at her fiercely. She smiled.

He cleared his throat and tried to carry on with his speech. He was talking about The Last Supper. How ironic, thought Chloe with a grin. She let out a soft laugh and gave a loud cough, trying to get everyone's attention.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded. "This is a closed service for the cardinals. If you want a meeting, we can speak later."

Chloe narrowed her eyes, but continued to smile. "I think we need to have a meeting now," she said with an edge in her voice.

"How dare you!" he began with heated venom in his voice. But at this point, the rest of the Red Guards entered the room from their various points of entry and the Pope went silent as he looked around the chapel. He made note that all of the Red Guards appeared to be present. "I see," he said gruffly. Chloe could swear that his hands were moving under the pulpit and she thought he must be pressing the button to call in the Swiss Guard. He would be surprised when they never came. With the gruff and somwhat angry words of the pope, the cardinals started to speak to each other and the room filled with surprised chatter. A few, about fourteen, Chloe thought, got up and walked to stand by the Pope.

The Pope looked around quickly and decided to use the confusion of the cardinals as a good time to make His exit. He made eye contact with His closest cardinals, who stood around Him, and as a group they made a move to leave through the back entrance of the pulpit. They were startled to see that Red Guards blocked their way. Quinn was up there and he cast a smile Chloe's way.

"Looks like you can't get out that way," Chloe spoke loudly as she continued to walk down the aisle towards the Pope. She saw the Red Guards at the entrances around the room fall in line behind her as she approached the pulpit. She noticed that Gerty was right behind her, beside Felicity.

The human cardinals were still sitting, finding it hard to move around with all of their complicated garments restricting them. They watched what was happening with some fascination. The Pope turned to fix his glare upon Chloe once again.

"You... I always had a feeling about you," hissed the pope. 

"Where is Jessica?" demanded Gerty from beside Chloe.