Throughout the afternoon, Chloe and her crew convinced the remaining Red Guards about the Pope's new status and told of their plan to overthrow the current leadership of the Catholic church. Everyone was so upset about the most recent target that they were looking for a good reason to take the Pope out, and this theory was offering them exactly what they wanted. Chloe was impressed with Felicity's ability to read people. Things were working just as she had predicted.

That night, they all dressed up to go hunting, and walked to their regular meeting place outside of Vatican City. But tonight they wouldn't be hunting as directed by their leader, the Pope. Instead, they would set their plan into motion. Ultimately, they were going to replace the vampire pope with a human pope. To do this, they needed to know which cardinal electors were human and which weren't. Only a cardinal elector could be elected into the Pope's position. Hopefully a few of them were human.

The Red Guards would figure out which cardinals were vampires and which ones were humans by using their light feet to sneak around the Vatican buildings and into the cardinals' rooms while they slept. Luckily for the Red Guard, the cardinal electors went to bed early because they had to get up well before first light for prayers. While they slept tonight, a Red Guard would release one drop of Holy Water onto their exposed skin to see if it reacted.

It was going to be a busy night for the Red Guard. With about 120 cardinal electors in Vatican City, each Red Guard was responsible for testing six or seven during the night. Most of them would pair up with their trusted partners, making for about fourteen successful drops of water that hopefully didn't burn. One vampire in the Catholic leadership was quite enough to deal with. More vampires would make their bid to replace the Pope exponentially more difficult.

As Chloe looked around at all of the paired up Red Guards, she found herself in an awkward position. All of her closest confidants had long-standing partners already, and three would be a lot to sneak in and out of a room. She figured she would just go alone, but then she noticed Philippe from across the room was also on his own. His partner had been turned into a vampire very recently, and he didn't have a new partner yet. She smiled at him from across the room and he grinned back with a nod of his head. They both knew this would be easier with two than with one.

"Would you prefer to do the dropping or the watching?" asked Chloe as she approached him.

"Why don't we take turns? I imagine we will find out quickly who is best at what," responded Philippe with an extended hand. She took his hand and they shook as they assessed each other, judging strengths and weaknesses. Finally, they let go and turned to join the other guards as they ran back to sneak into the Vatican's buildings.

They made their way to the first cardinal elector on their list. Jessica had made up the lists based on the location of their rooms. The Red Guards would use their speed to remain unseen by the human eye and the CCTV cameras. It wasn't something they had to use often and those who knew of their existence and special talents tended to forget how quickly they could move.

It seemed that there were about two Swiss Guards assigned to each long hallway and they generally wandered up and down with keen eyes. Chloe and Philippe came to their fist assignment and without a moment's hesitation, slipped by the two Swiss Guards and through the door before they were noticed. It helped that the Swiss Guards were chatting with one another and not really paying attention.

Once inside the room, Chloe relaxed enough to look at the rooms of the cardinal elector. Suddenly she felt jipped by Vatican City. Whereas she had little more than a hotel room, this cardinal had a small, but luxuriously decorated apartment. His bedroom was in a separate area from his living quarters. Her mouth fell into a grim line as she walked towards the door.

"I'll just stay here, then," whispered Philippe. She threw him an amused look over her shoulder, and continued on at a quick pace. She quickly opened the door and moved to the bed to stand over the sleeping cardinal. She watched him for the slightest movement as he slept so soundly. He almost looked dead with his relaxed face and open mouth. Then she dipped her finger into her container of Holy Water and put her hand over his arm, the water forming a perfect drop at the end of her finger. She watched as the water fell and made contact with his skin. Nothing happened. He didn't even move. She sighed the slightest bit and quickly left the room.

"Human," she whispered to Philippe.

"Mark and 'H' by his name," responded Philippe, handing her a pen from the desk of the cardinal. She took the pen and made the mark. She noticed a slight shake in her hand and glanced nervously at Philippe to see if he noticed. If he did, he pretended not to, and she appreciated that. She didn't realize how nervous she had been for a different outcome.

Philippe took two steps to the door and peered out the eyehole. At his signal, they both left through the door without any problems.

They next door was very nearby and they quickly ducked into the room. This time was just as easy as the first, since by now the Swiss Guards were at the other end of the hall. Chloe reflected that not much really happened in Vatican City for the Guards to watch against, never mind thinking to protect cardinals from the Red Guard. With this in mind she tried not to judge them too harshly for missing some of the movements that they should have caught. A door opening and closing, for example, even as quickly as she and Philippe did it, should have been noticed.

Once inside the new room, Chloe walked around touching some of the intricate details on the wooden walls, eyes wide at the luxury. This cardinal elector's room was even more elaborate than the room of the first. "My turn," whispered Phillip. She smiled in acknowledgement and stood by the door while he went to the room. He came back moments later looking calm, cool and collected. "Human for him, too," he said with some relief. Chloe made a mark on their list, noticing that her hand was more steady this time.

The pair completed ten tests before things got more interesting. Chloe was just starting to think that their suspicions were wrong with respect to the cardinals when she dropped the tiniest bit of water on a cardinal elector's hand and the slightest bit of fizzing started to happen. His hand jerked and he started to stir. Her eyes flew to his, struck with panic at the thought that they might open. Her hand flew to the stake at her belt as she waited for those eyes to go wide. But they didn't. The cardinal wiped his irritated hand on the blanket and rolled over with a broken snore. She quickly exited the room, hands flapping at Phillip to get out of the room as fast as he could. Philippe was out the door in a flash and they moved as quickly as possible to a more common area, away from the hallway patrolled by the Swiss Guards.

"What happened?" asked Philippe with wide, concerned eyes.

"His skin fizzled, he moved, kinda weird he didn't wake up, but I'm glad he didn't, 'cause we never really talked about what we would do if we got caught," she looked at him with panicked eyes. "I guess I would have put a stake through his heart."

Philippe's eyes narrowed, "I guess that would have been the best option. Are you sure he didn't  see you?" 

"Yes, he didn't even open his eyes," she said with some relief.

"Okay, well, mark a 'V' beside his name." Chloe looked at her list and did as Philippe said. Her hand was shaking once again. This time Philippe did notice. He put his hand over hers to still the trembling. "It's okay," he said with an encouraging look.

Chloe worked to still her hands. She relaxed her face and rolled her shoulders. She took a few deep breaths without trying to be obvious about it and then she looked back at him. "Are you ready to do some more?" she asked with a slight curve of her lip.

"You bet. I hope I get a sizzler," he said with a wriggle of his eyebrows.

By the end of the night, Philippe did get a 'sizzler' and his experience had been much the same as Chloe's. They ran out of that room quickly, too, and Chloe was comforted to see that Philippe looked just as tense as she had felt once they were back on safer territory. They shared a short discussion on how easy it would be to kill the vampires during their sleep, and wondered if they should have done it while they were guaranteed the element of surprise. But it was too late now. Hopefully, they wouldn't lose the upper hand.

They wandered back to the regular meeting spot outside of Vatican City once they had successfully tested all of their targets. Only two of their fourteen tested positive as vampires, but that was rather astounding, all things considered. They were the first to get back to the spot and waited anxiously for the rest of the Red Guard to join them. The wait may well have been the most stressful part of the night. They kept looking at the city lights in the near distance, checking to see if some sort of alarm would be sounded. Would any of the Red Guards be caught? What would happen to their plan if they were? Chloe spend a solid half hour shifting from one foot to the other in anticipation.