She skipped back to the club feeling light and refreshed. She was glad she had taken a shower to remove Derek's vampire scent from her skin and she was glad she had packed a change of clothes. She would change as soon as she reached the club and dispose of the clothes she was wearing now. She and Derek had agreed to meet in two days' time to talk about their progress with some sort of plan. She thought it would take form after she spoke more with Quinn about his skills.

She had begun to suspect that he had some sort of specific skill set after they had turned the wretch into a Red Guard, but she'd let the idea simmer in her subconscious for a few days. Only tonight had a bell gone off in her head. If he was her guy for the virus, maybe he could be her go-to for other complicated issues as well.

She arrived at the club and went right in. The party within was still raging. She had been gone for about two hours, and she knew Quinn and Felicity would be ready to head back home to sleep. She hoped they were still here. She had the key to their locker and she got her bag and took it to the washroom. She quickly changed into fresh clothes and put her smelly ones in the trash bin. Then she went back into the main part of the club to look for her friends.

She went to the bar to order a drink and then found Quinn and Felicity dancing, drinks in hands. They looked like they had been dancing hard for a long time, with flushed faces. They saw her and cheered at her arrival, making her smile. "It's about time!" said Felicity.

"Yes, we can finally go home!" agreed Quinn. They both walked to her and started to walk her out the door. She was surprised by their reaction as she quickly finished her drink and left the empty glass on a table as they walked out the door.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"A few of the other Red Guards walked in about ten minutes ago. They haven't seen us yet, but it seems like a good time to depart," said Felicity. "I'm tired anyways. Six in the morning comes early."

As they walked towards the gates of Vatican City, Chloe looked at Quinn with keen eyes. After a moment he noticed. His face scrunched up a bit and he asked, "What?"

"Just wondering about all your work with the virus. How did you know how to stop it?" she asked.

"It's actually a long standing practise that was passed down to me when I first turned, about eighty years ago," he answered. He looked uncomfortable, like he wanted to say more, but wasn't sure how to start.

She continued to look at him critically.

"What?" he asked again.

"There's more to this story. I can feel it," Chloe said.

"Okay, well, at one point, not too long ago, actually, the Pope wanted me to further my understandings of the process, so I went to school for chemical engineering. And I learned a lot actually. In fact, my ability to successfully halt the virus has increased from about a ten percent success rate to about a fifty percent success rate. The Pope was very happy and started to give me new tasks to complete for him."

"Such as?" asked Chloe.

"Now, don't get too excited, Chloe. I've never really thought anything of it until lately, with all of this vampire talk. It's all kind of put a new spin on things, that weren't there for me before. The Pope and the some of the other Cardinals and Archbishops use special creams and drinks. I made them before I took the engineering courses, but I was able to make them stronger with the knowledge I gained from my schooling." He stopped when he saw Chloe's face started to look a little crazy with excitement.

"Oh, don't stop now," she said. He looked at Felicity and she had a big grin on her face, too. "Tell us more about the creams first."

He grinned. "You know, I was never one to connect the dots, maybe that's why he picked me. I'm smart enough, but I never think about more than I have to. And before I went to school, I never knew about the properties of the chemicals I was mixing together," he sighed. "Okay, so the cream has many of the same ingredients used in sunscreen."

"Oh. My. God." said Chloe in a hissed whisper.

"This never seemed odd to you?" asked Felicity.

"Not really, no. There was all this talk about UV rays and everything, I just thought the upper levels of the Church wanted extra protection," said Quinn with a cringe. "But, actually, it's the drinks that are of particular interest." He looked at them, with his own excitement growing. "Back in the day, they were just a gross mixtures made, I was told, for a special transubstantiation ceremony held for the highest ranking catholic servants."

Chloe interrupted, "Pardon my ignorance, but what is transubstan.... whatever that word was?"

Quinn looked at Chloe with genuine shock, "You really did grow up a heathen, didn't you?" he asked. "It's the ceremony where they turn bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Then the whole church partakes."

"Eww, that's gross. But it doesn't actually turn into that, right?" she asked.

"I think they believe it does. Anyways, that doesn't matter so much. The high ranking Catholic servants would partake of this special mixture that I made. I don't know how often or who, precisely, but I would make it in very large batches."

"What was in it?" asked Felicity.

"A whole bunch of stuff. But once I knew more, I realized that a lot of the ingredients were blood based. I was, and am, making them what would be regarded as a blood substitute of sorts. Almost like a super blood, very nutrient and oxygen rich."

"This could be the answer to all of our problems," said Chloe with a smile.

"How so?" asked Felicity.

"Well, for starters, this is pretty solid evidence that we have a vampire problem within the Church itself. But also, we have a solution to the problem of vampire food. We don't have to breed a poor population, or have need of any human population for vampires, if we have another possible food source."

"Hold on now," said Quinn, "the drink is very expensive to make and difficult to produce in large quantities. Production could be an issue."

"In addition, vampires like to hunt. You can see on their faces," Felicity added.

"Yeah, well, I liked killing that vampire, too, but only because it was necessary. Perhaps the goal of the Red Guard changes as the vampire way of life changes."

"Perhaps," agreed Quinn.

"The question remains, then, who takes over the Catholic Church?" said Felicity as she looked at her friends.

"I think we need some more input. Should we catch up with Johnny and Sigur?" asked Chloe.

"Yes, but maybe the rest of the Red Guard as well," Felicity offered. "We need as many on our side as we can find. And they need to know the truth to make the right decision."

"That might be a good idea," thought Quinn, "I think we should start by telling a few people at a time."

"If we do it through word of mouth, we run the risk of being outed by someone. And then we will never get anything off the ground because we will be dead. In our sleep. Piles of ashes," said Felicity.

"Since you put it that way, let's tell everyone at once. At least we will have a fighting chance if someone doesn't seem to agree," acquiesced Quinn.

"Okay, but Johnny and Sigur first," said Chloe. "I think it would help if we have some people on our side before we do a big reveal. We may have some push back. Think of Jessica."

"Jessica might surprise you," said Quinn. "There's nothing she likes to kill more than a vampire." He grinned as he thought of it. 

~~

A/N Thank you so much for reading! How do you think this news will go over? I'd love to hear what you think...and as always, don't forget to vote! <3