The Red Guard: Vampire Hunters of Vatican City

Epilogue - The Rich, The Poor and The Ugly

Quinn looked down the crowded hallway leading to the Sistine Chapel with frustration. It was nearly closing time, but still the hallways were as full as a fisherman's net. On a whim, he turned to the stairs and headed down to the lower levels to avoid the mass of tourists flocking to see the masterpieces on the ceiling up ahead. It was amusing to watch them all stand in the room with their heads turned up to the paintings, staring with looks of awe on their faces. And those pieces of art are truly something to behold, he thought to himself. Funny how after hundreds of years, they've never lost their power.

He was on his way to a meeting with the newly elected pope of the Catholic Church, and the current leaders of the vampires and the Red Guard. An interesting assortment of individuals to be sure. He was already starting to sweat in his formal priesthood cassock. Unlike many of the Red Guard, he enjoyed wearing his collared uniform. He found it non-restrictive and conforming. He liked to conform as much as possible. Sometimes standing out was inconvenient. As he approached the antechamber of the Sistine Chapel, he hoped that Chloe had the sense to wear her nun attire. Felicity as well. But, he thought with a shrug, they probably didn't.

He climbed the stairs leading to the antechamber, walked intently through the beautiful stone hallway and approached the large oak door with a sigh. He entered the meeting room and saw Pope Francis was already there, sitting at the head of a large table with Richard, who was the leader of the vampires in Rome. Quinn wondered if Richard had known he'd be the new leader when he had killed the former one. It was a big responsibility that Richard had undertaken with limited enthusiasm. The two were hunched in deep discussion and turned to look at Quinn in unison as he entered.

"Hello Quinn," said the pope with a slight smile.

"Your Holiness," Quinn responded with a slight bow of his head. "Richard, I trust you're well." He guessed that Richard had taken the pathways underground to get here, since the sun was still up.

"As well as anyone, I guess," said Richard with a grim expression, "but we have some problems on the horizon."

Quinn felt his eyes narrow at these words. There had been one problem after another since the Red Guard had it's coupe a few months ago. The Red Guard, responsible for killing rule-breaking vampires within the city, had taken out it's own ruler after discovering he was a vampire himself. Overall, things had gone fairly smoothly. Power vacuums had been filled with the right poeple, in Quinn's estimation, but problems were bound to come to light no matter what when you were leading thousands of immortal beings.

"Are Chloe and Felicity coming? They're late," sniffed the pope.

Ah, yes, the pope's personal pet peeve, thought Quinn with some annoyance at Chloe and Felicity.They know he hates their tardiness and yet they are always slightly late for appointments. It is almost as if they do it on purpose. He would have to talk to them about that again.

"They are on their way, to be sure, Your Holiness," Quinn responded diplomatically.

"While we wait, then," said Richard with his eyes set on Quinn, "I need to know how things are coming along with your special mixture?"

I bet you do, thought Quinn. He wished he had better answers for his old friend and comrad. A vampire hunter turned vampire, Richard hated to hunt. Quinn knew that Richard had always done his best to kill only the most vile humans that he could find, but the act of eating was almost more than he could bear. "I'm still working on my ability to create large batches of the synthetic blood. But it is going to take time to be able to make batches large enough to feed the population of vampires just in Rome, never mind the rest of the world."