Chloe looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she opened the door for Gregory. She looked absolutely bizarre. The nun's habit fell all the way to the floor, covering the matronly shoes that had been provided for her. Her hair was completely covered with the covering Catholic nuns typically wear. She held the cross from around her neck in her hands for a moment and rolled her eyes. For someone who had not been raised in the church, this all seemed sacrilegious.

She opened the door and looked at Gregory. He smiled in return. "You look good as a nun," he said.

"Ha," she replied without humour. She looked back to her friends who were sitting on the love seat. "Wish me luck," she muttered.

"Good luck," they said in unison.

With a deep sigh, Chloe followed Gregory down the hall. He slowed down so that she could walk beside him. "I will warn you that His Holiness is not in the best of moods this morning. There have been some more tourists slain in the last couple of days. It is, truly, bad for the nation. It makes him feel unwell. He worries about the people." Chloe muffled a snort, but not very well. Gregory looked at her with questioning eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Chloe marvelled at the fact Gregory clearly had no idea what was going on. Or, perhaps he did and didn't have a problem with it. She hoped his views originated from ignorance and not apathy for the poor in this world. "I'm fine," she lied. She was not fine at all. She worried that the pope would see through her empty promises. She would have to work hard to convince him that she was one hundred percent on his side. "Hopefully I will be able to help His Holiness feel better," she said as sweetly as she could. She felt a little bit better herself when she saw Gregory smile at her with appreciation.

"That's very nice. He is approaching his twilight years and it would be wonderful if he could rule peaceably," Gregory said. Chloe nodded with a smile, but she thought he chose interesting words. They were almost a warning. She made a mental note that, while Gregory was her saviour with respect to her personal comforts, she would have to watch what she said around him. He was obviously a devout Catholic servant. Completely loyal to the Pope.

They climbed several flights of stairs and Chloe noticed she made it up without losing her breath at all. Gregory started to breathe a little bit harder as they approached the top. "It never fails," he said, "my muscles always start to burn by the top." He glanced over at her, waiting for her to agree.

"I know what you mean," she said. And a week ago, she would have felt the burn in her legs for real. But she didn't feel it anymore. She felt like she could climb stairs forever and not get tired at all.

Finally they reached a very fancy door. It was an intricately carved door made out of wood with what appeared to be golden highlights. She marvelled at the wealth on display. In any direction she looked there was gold and attention paid to the smallest little details. Vatican City was an amazing place to behold.

There were Swiss Guards standing outside the Pope's chambers. They looked smart in their billowing uniforms. They nodded to Gregory as friends would, and proceeded to open the doors. They stood aside and watched Chloe carefully as she walked through.

Upon entering the grand room, Chloe saw the Pope sitting at an ornate table with piles of papers surrounding him. He appeared to be reading over some sort of manuscript before signing it. He glanced up when he heard her feet shuffling along the ground. He frowned a little bit as she approached. "You look different in a nun's habitat," he said gruffly.

"Doesn't everybody? I mean, tucking your hair away can really change a girl... uh, Your Holiness," Chloe tried to keep things light. It was probably inappropriate, but it was also who she was, most of the time.

The Pope closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Yup, thought Chloe, I was inappropriate. She wished Quinn was here to break her neck, just to cause some sort of distraction. She just was no good in these situations.

Finally the Pope looked at her as he stood up. "I was looking forward to having another Red Guard join the ranks. As you may or may not know, the creation of a Red Guard is not a common occurrence. We are very fortunate to have you. You, on quite the other hand, don't appear to share our feelings. I don't think I've ever had anyone look at me in quite the way you did last night. I don't know what brought it on, but it was rather...unorthodox," the Pope said.

"I know," started Chloe. "I don't think it was really my fault. I was so hungry. I don't think I'd eaten in over a week, and with the transformation and all, well, I couldn't wait to eat. And then," Chloe continued, "there was suddenly all of this food, and I just couldn't wait to eat it. And, Your Holiness, I'm sorry, but you were just taking so long to take your first bite, I could hardly stand it. I thought I might go mad with desire."

Here the Pope actually laughed. "You were looking at me like that because you were hungry?" he asked with incredulity. He shook his head, "I will admit, I hear this news with some relief. I thought for certain it was so much more than that." He walked over to a window and looked out over a beautiful garden. He stood there for some time as if contemplating any number of important things that a Pope might think about. Then he turned back to her and said, "Your facial expressions, combined with your oath had me quite concerned about your suitability to the task set before you in your role with the Red Guard. You have explained your first travesty to some satisfaction. Let me hear what you have to say with regards to you second error. The error in your oath." He looked at her intently.

Chloe felt herself swallow hard. This was the part she had been dreading. She took a deep breath, "Ummm," bad start, she scolded herself, "I know. I really messed that up, Your Holiness. I wasn't prepared for the oath. I didn't know I was going to have to make one at the banquet, to be honest. And in the moment when you asked it of me, well, I was still enjoying the food quite intensely, actually. When you asked me to make the oath, I couldn't remember exactly what you had said, because I was still eating. Instead of asking you to repeat the words, I just said what I thought would be the right thing. I didn't realize until after that I had it wrong. I am... sorry," she spat the word out and cringed inwardly at her flagrant lie, "I'm sorry for that mistake."

"Ah, well. We will have to remember around here that you are particularly sensitive when it comes to food!" the Pope said with a small smile. "I will tell your Swiss Guard to ensure you are fully stocked at all times."

"That is very thoughtful of you, Holy Father. You really don't need to though, Gregory is very thorough," replied Chloe.

"I'm glad to hear it. That has also been my experience with Gregory. He is one of our best, to be sure." Chloe could swear there was the slightest edge to the Pope's words. Almost like a warning. She nodded to him as he looked into her eyes.

"So," continued the pope, "we have this issue of the oath before us. It needs to be fixed. I need  you to swear to protect the Church interests as directed by He who holds the office of the Pope. Will you so swear?"

"I will, Your Holiness," Chloe said.

"I will call two Swiss Guards. You need to declare the oath with two witnesses present." 

Chloe nodded and the Pope pressed a button near the window. She wondered how many such buttons were placed around the room. Within seconds, Guards had entered the room and were by the Pope's side. They looked expectantly at him. "I need you here to witness Ms. Desjardins' oath." The Guards refocused their eyes onto Chloe without another word.

She cleared her throat and shifted with obvious discomfort. She didn't like having everyone staring at her. She felt ridiculous in her habit, for one thing. And there were three sets of eyes to witness her lie. The greatest lie of her life. "I, Chloe Desjardins, do swear to protect the Church interests as directed by He who holds the office of the Pope."

She watched as the Pope smiled thinly. "Thank you," he said to dismiss his Swiss Guard. They promptly left the room. "Chloe," the Pope said as he looked at her sternly, "I don't know why I sense problems from you, but I do. I will be keeping a close eye on you, so please, be on your very best behaviour. Whatever you think, I can make or break you."

For some reason, these words shocked Chloe. She wasn't expecting such open hostility. She though he might be more subtle. She swallowed. "I don't intend to cause you problems," she lied. She was impressed with herself. She thought she was lying very well. "I will do my very best to serve you, Your Holiness. There is nothing I want more than to kill vampires after what they did to my boyfriend and to my life." These words were not lies. She resented the changes she'd been forced to make in her life.

The Pope nodded. "Just make sure you kill the right ones," he said. "Tow the line, Ms Desjardins." She nodded. "You may go. Your troupe has an assignment." And with that, Chloe took her leave.

~~

A/N I continue to be grateful for you as a reader. Thank you so much for reading! :) Please let me know what you think and don't forget to vote! :)