Feeling compelled to dress herself up, Leona put up a cheesy but at least passable woman suit from her existing closet, and hurried downstairs to get into Mercurio's car—it was rather kind of him to spare all "suspicious details" in the report for her, and offered to pick her up.
"You look like my secretary." Mercurio glanced at her basic skirt and stockings, commented, "And a first-day-on-my-job one."
Assuming he was talking about the outfit being ill-fitting and of poor quality, Leona replied: "It's not like I could afford a proper one, and walking into the head office of LaCroix Group in a punky hoodie will only attract more attentions…"
"That's not what I mean." Starting the car and turning the wheels, Mercurio smirked and his tone became more…clandestine, "I mean my secretary in the secretary play."
Taking some time for Leona to understand what he was saying, and she almost threw him out if it weren't for him being the driver, and Prince's request of his presence there also.
"Shut up…horndog."
Leona's face twitched, trying for quite a while to find a non-swearing word that could express her anger properly, only to squeeze out a noun that even she herself found weird. Ugh…just when she thought this guy wasn't just un seduttore civettuolo who played among the ladies. She scoffed so inwardly.
"Oh there's no need to be that harsh, I'm simply complimenting you…"
"That is NOT a compliment…"
They had a heated discussion about the fine line between praising women's beauty and objectifying them, which melted her slight nervousness and killed the time on the road quite effectively—in a blink, they've already arrived at their destination.
Stepping again onto this parking lot, Leona felt like it had been forever since the last time she was here. The damages of that alleged "terrorist attack" had been cleaned up and repaired quickly throughout the week, and the employees would be able to go back to work after the weekend.
The only thing that could prove the attack ever existed, was the memories of the Kindred who were there…like her.
They arrived at a hidden entrance on the exterior wall under a seemingly normal security camera, gaining the access by showing their faces to the lens, and entered into an elevator that went straight up to the secret penthouse on the top of this office building—the haven of Prince Sebastian LaCroix.
Walking out of the fully-sealed, coffin-like lift, both Leona and Mercurio spent some time adjusting their eyes for the dazzling beaming of interior—it was not a penthouse they were visiting, but a small, rococo palace built on the top of the tower: the grand, crystal chandelier, the marble statues, the indoor botanical garden, the roses on the wallpaper embroidered with golden threads, and the carpet so soft like cloud that it almost felt guilty to place feet on them…if Leona didn't know better, she would think she was teleported into the Louvre of old days.
"God…I wonder how they sleep in this shiny place." Mercurio exclaimed in a light voice, "With eye masks?"
Over there Veronica was waiting for them in a vintage creamy dress, with her hair down all the way to her waist, glittering a beautiful golden luster. She introduced Leona into the study room, where the Prince and Regent Strauss were already discussing something in there, but they immediately stopped when the visitors came. While Strauss didn't say anything, simply nodded and gave a polite but cold smile, Prince LaCroix stood up and greeted:
"Glad to see you again, Leona, and you too, Mercurio." Then he went directly into the topic, "We just need to…confirm certain details in the process with you."
And so the interrogation began—that was how Leona viewed it. She already knew her saying of this event back and forward, and this saying was built on the majority of the truth, except for the part about the Book of Nod, that she actually knew the identity of this angry spirit, and Zack…or she probably should now think of him as Ulysses. In fact, she believed it would be more convincing to say she didn't know what was the nature of the spirit inside: because she was a newbie to this whole world, after all, it couldn't be more common if she knew nothing.
However, she found it very funny to observe the Prince and the Regent in the process. Regent Strauss didn't ever speak and let LaCroix handle the whole thing, but Leona knew he wasn't absent-minded—in fact, knowing the "task" of keeping the secret at hand, she could feel the invisible pressure he brought upon her, even though he acted just like a simple listener, looking at the goblet he was swirling, seeming only interested in appreciating the bouquet of the blood in there.
While at the same time, Prince LaCroix presented himself very friendly with an open and equal posture, adding some compliments between the questions, and kept coming up with phrases like "Don't worry, we are not here to judge you" and "Feel free to say anything", as if trying to diminish the Regent's influence on her as much as possible.
If them Tremere were known to be "discreet", then the Prince probably was wanting to at least make an attempt to pry something out of her, and for that purpose, it might be better if he didn't ask the Regent to be here at all…but then, since she belonged to this clan and Strauss indeed designed the test in the first place, it was only natural he being here to hear her report.
Or maybe the Regent was here for some other issues, too—since he was already talking with Prince LaCroix earlier. Leona couldn't be sure. Anyway, she just found it almost amusing to see how two power players who seemed to cooperate closely were actually contesting even on a small matter like hers.
"Just one more question…" the Prince leaned forward as he was saying, "How exactly did you defeat that blood spirit in close combat? Based on what you told us, it was very swift, strong and of fast healing speed, then how did you overpower it?"
And Regent Strauss finally stopped his toying with the drink, looked up at Leona, too. The stares of these two superiors gave Leona shivers in her bones, but she tried to keep calm and answered honestly—she wouldn't dare to make up any lies about the combat and supernatural stuff, because these two clearly knew more about this than she did, and anything phony would be easily recognized:
"Well to be frank I was desperate: 9mm rounds obviously wouldn't work, knife wounds recovered too quickly on it, and I was running out of strength…but all of a sudden there were these…red strings wrapped in blood coming out of me…"
Leona paused, for she could see the eyes of both Regent and Prince widen when she came to the last sentence.
"Do you mean…" the Prince spoke first, appearing authoritative and pushy for the first time tonight, "that you used Thaumaturgy?"
Totally lost and unable to reply, Leona looked at Regent Strauss, while the latter suddenly just stood up and bowed to the Prince: "I'm sorry, Prince LaCroix, but you will have to excuse us—this young Neonate has to prepare herself and move into the Chantry tonight."
Upon these words, Leona could nearly see the dissatisfaction on the face of the Prince. But soon, he hid his reluctance and granted the permission for them to leave:
"…Very well, then, I won't delay you further." Then he gave a smile to Leona, "Good evening, Neonate, I'm sure we shall meet again soon."
With huge confusion and disturbance in her heart, Leona followed Regent Strauss out in a hurry, didn't even have the chance to say a proper farewell to Mercurio and Veronica, who were waiting and chatting outside of the study room.
"Come. Sebastian didn't call you here for nothing."
Watching the two Tremere vampires disappear behind the closing elevator door, Veronica said, beckoned Mercurio to enter the room with her hand. Now that there were only three of them in the study, the Prince was finally feeling safe enough to take off his diplomatic mask:
"Ahh…Tremeres. They are probably the only people who can look at the greater picture like we do, but…such an ordeal to cope with."
"I'd say the girl is just fine. She's handling everything well, considering how she got into our world…" Mercurio shrugged, "Which is kind of scary, come to think of it. I know rising up from an orphan to a professional working for the best in the business is hard, but…sometimes she reacts like a disciplined…soldier to me."
"Did you check on her background details?"
"Yeah, nothing wrong if you just look at the papers. Moved to United States in 2008, parents died in house fire when she was 14, went homeless for two years and got picked up by a social worker, continued education under a direct sponsorship from a philanthropist…all records checked. Phew, what a life she had."
After stating these facts in Leona's past, Mercurio shook his head, and Veronica let out a long, sympathetic sigh, whereas the Prince pondered over for a while like he was making a decision, and said: "I see. Send me those files after this, and…think you have some spare time, Mercurio?"
"What do you need?"
"Keep an eye on her. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to directly supervise her, since now she's a formal member of the Tremere Pyramid, but I declared my duty on her in the trial, too, so Strauss won't be against it if I send an agent to help her." Prince LaCroix stood up, paced around a little and carried on, "Just tell them you are there to partner her in jobs and give some help. A new-born Tremere who can wield Thaumaturgy without any previous tutorial is…a valuable asset, but I want to be sure she's clean."
"Understood. Should work for my schedule." The ghoul saluted freely, "And keep tapping on Sabbats, too?"
"Definitely. I want to know what they are…scheming."
After receiving all the instructions, Mercurio took off, leaving the two LaCroixs alone in this penthouse. They approached the private area of their haven and walked into a sitting room, get to enjoy some idleness and call it a night at last. Veronica helped the Prince take off his suit jacket and his scepter, put them back onto the clothes stand and tried to start a topic of leisure, but when she turned around and looked at Sebastian, she knew she wouldn't have his attention: He was on the sofa, still looking at the fireplace and thinking.
But at least at this moment, he looked only like a worried man off work, instead of the Prince.
"Still not sure about what happened that night." Noticing Veronica was walking towards him, LaCroix started talking, "Strauss came asking about what you saw in the house when Garrett Embraced that Neonate."
"What did you tell him?" Veronica asked, sat beside him.
"Not much…other than it was absolutely not a ritual for Embrace—you don't need a ritual to Embrace."
"Then…what did he tell you?"
"Not much, other than it was absolutely not a ritual for Embrace."
They both chuckled upon this sarcastic repeat. "You two will never entertain each other a genuine conversation before the world ends." Veronica joked.
"Ha, before the world ends, indeed."
Seeing Sebastian finally relax himself, Veronica held his hand with their fingers crossed, and there was a hint of consolation in her smile, but something quickly clouded her face with sadness.
"What's the matter?" So Sebastian asked.
"I just hope…it's really the last time I have to do this—to take the Sire of another Childe away to…"
"You know we have no choice, I…have no choice. This is the only way to protect that secret…and for you to survive safely." He interrupted Veronica's sorrowful words, "Don't blame yourself, their lives are on me—I'm the one who made the call…focus on the sarcophagus, if that helps at work."