She stripped her gear off and laid down on the bed. She was tired and knew she should have a nap before heading out for the night, but her head was spinning with the plan that was quickly forming in her mind. As she talked more with Johnny and his partner Sigur, she started to really see that there were more Red Guards that wanted to change the way things were than she had first realized. She knew that if her plan was solid, she could have over half of the Red Guard on her side. What she needed was a safe medium to get her message out.

As sleep slowly came to her, dreams of killing tonight's target entered her head. She tossed and turned and woke up in a cold sweat. There was a distinct feeling of being unrested in her body, but it was time to get going. She looked at the clock, saw that dinner was already being served and she quickly got up to brush her teeth. After pulling on her hunting gear on she headed out the door.

Dinner was all laughs and light-hearted conversation. Chloe really enjoyed the meals they all shared together. Even Jessica turned into an easy-going person when she was shovelling food into her mouth. It was good bonding time and Chloe was grateful for these moments. These were the times she loved her new life.

Chloe had watched many of the Red Guards as they left the banquet hall and was amazed at how they transformed as they left dinner to prepare for a night of hunting. All of their expressions hardened and their faces looked intent as their thoughts turned to death and killing. They clearly worried about the safety of themselves and their friends. She knew that she was worried too and she could feel her own face turn serious as she walked down the hall to the main entrance.

She met up with a very serious Quinn and Felicity and they walked over to the rest of the Red Guard. They were passing around a picture of tonight's target. The picture showed a female vampire dressed in black leather looking over her shoulder as she walked down a dark street. Her black hair was tied up in a stylish messy bun and her eyes appeared to be black in colour. She is the perfect shadow, Chloe thought, she is going to be hard to see in the night.

Chloe felt around her gear to make sure she had her gun and an extra round of bullets. They had been progressing well with the bullet technology and had their reliability steadily increasing. She had a few stakes in her belt as well. She felt confident that she might be able to succeed in gaining the Pope's trust tonight, even though it made her sad.

They all started out into the night, talking tough to boost their mettle. After a few steps, they quieted down, preparing for the hunt. They walked to the meeting point and broke into their small groups. Chloe stood with Quinn and Felicity and Johnny and Sigur walked over to join them. "Wanna stay close to each other tonight?" asked Johnny, "We can back each other up if needed."

Felicity looked at Johnny appreciatively. "Sounds like a good plan," she said with a smile. "A block a part at all times?" she asked.

"Roger that," said Sigur with his Nordic accent. Chloe grinned at him. She liked the things he said; she thought he was funny.

Chloe, Felicity and Quinn started down a street while Sigur and Johnny took the next one over. Felicity took the lead tonight and Chloe enjoyed the run as she kept pace. She watched for a tall, slim, shadowy figure as she went, but nothing seemed to be triggering an alarm in her brain as she went. She saw some interesting humans doing some interesting things, but she quickly disregarded them as unimportant.

Suddenly Chloe noticed a fast moving shadow and her brain registered something that needed attention. The only problem was that her brain also registered that this vampire was not her target. It was a male vampire appearing to follow a human who was walking aimlessly towards a tight street. Chloe stopped her run and turned quickly to follow the pair. She caught up, careful not to make a sound. She grinned as she realized she was stalking a stalking vampire.

She watched as the vampire trailed behind the human, who happened to look like a refugee fresh off of the boat. A young man of perhaps twenty. He looked happy to be in Italy, away from the ravages of war and hunger. There were many churches in Rome that opened their doors to the needy for meals throughout the day, and this young man looked like he had taken advantage of these offers.

The vampire was analyzing the refugee's movements and Chloe could see the vampire smile as the boy disappeared into the shadows. The vampire quickly followed and Chloe did too as she reached for the gun in her belt. Chloe saw the vampire jump on the humans back and bite into his neck. She raised her gun into the air and let out a single shot. The vampire swung around and met her eyes. He hissed at her and jumped down from the human's back.

"What are you doing?" the vampire demanded.

"What are you doing?" she threw back at him. She suddenly heard four other sets of footsteps approaching and figured her friends were behind her.

"Chloe, he's not doing anything wrong," came Quinn's voice.

Chloe frowned deeply as she stared at the vampire. He stared back at her with a fierce look in his brown eyes, which had started to turn red. "You're out of line, Red Guard," he said.

"Yeah, well, I'm the one with the loaded gun, so maybe you better rethink what you're doing and go," said Chloe as she raised her gun once more.

The vampire looked to her friends and hissed once again. He looked back at the young man who he was in the middle of draining. The man was lying on the ground in a daze. He glared again at the Red Guards. "The Pope will hear about this... and that," he said pointing at the human, "is your problem now." And then he ran off so quickly he was almost a blur.

"Oh crap, Chloe," groaned Quinn. "Why did you do that? You interrupted the hunt. And now we have this to deal with. We are going to be way behind the other groups."

"Not to mention dealing with the Pope when he finds out... which it sounds like he will," murmured Felicity.

"But how could I walk by this scene, knowing I could help?" asked Chloe.

Johnny looked at each of them with some panic. "What are we going to do with him?" he asked. "If we leave him, he will turn into a vampire. Or, we can bring him back the Vatican and try to save him. Save his soul... if you believe he has one to save," he shot a look at Chloe.

"The Pope seemed pretty happy to have a new Red Guard when I came along, maybe he'd be just as happy to have one more," suggested Chloe.

"He was happy to have an upper-middle class human become a Red Guard. Just like every other Red Guard in the ranks," said Felicity. "The upper-middle class saving the upper-middle class or rich. I don't know how he'd react to having this poor soul there." She gestured to the still body that lay on the street now motionless. She had a doubtful look on her face.

They all stood and thought things over for a moment. "He looks upper-middle class to me," said Sigur finally.

Chloe looked at him appreciatively. "Me, too," she said with a challenging look thrown Felicity's way.

"Oh, fine," she muttered.

And with that, they ran over to him and Johnny lifted him up into his arms. They took turns running with him to the Vatican. They rushed him through the hallways and Chloe was surprised to notice that nobody even looked their way. She guessed they were used the seeing the Red Guard do odd things. They ran down several flights of stairs to the medical room and laid the body on the same medical table Chloe remembered from just a few days ago.

"So what do we do?" asked Chloe.

"We don't do anything," said Quinn. "You guys go back out. I will take care of this." Quinn was moving quickly around the room getting the necessary needles out of drawers and jars of liquids out of fridges.

"You have the right Red Guard on your side," said Felicity with a grin. "Stopping the virus is kind of his thing."

Chloe should have guessed, since Quinn was the first person she had met. Still, it surprised her and she looked at him with new admiration. "Wow, Quinn. I didn't take you for a genius, yet here we are," she said with a laugh.

He looked at her with mock offence and then said, "You guys go. You can still get to the target before anyone else if you're lucky. And Chloe," he looked at her intensely, "You need this."

She agreed and gave her head a quick nod as she turned to leave. She felt the others follow her. "You're going to owe him some kind of favour. He's putting his neck out for you," said Felicity.

"Yes, well, I hope I don't break it by accident," she replied.

~~

A/N Thanks again for reading! ❤️ Don't forget to comment and vote! xx