"Let me finish the worst part myself, madam."
Mercurio came into the conversation with two glasses of champagne. He and the Prince had been listening to them for sometime now, but it was not until he spoke that Leona realized his presence. She looked little bewildered and murmured in panic: "Sorry, I didn't mean to poke…"
"No it's ok. I meant to tell you…sometime on the road, anyway. We are partners and we are dealing with the Giovannis, so you have rights to know what's my take in here." As if not wanting to dwell on the matter for too long, Mercurio continued in a rather hurried pace of talking, "So to put it simple, Olivia was found by the Bellini's people who were sent to America to find us. We caused a big scandal back in Naples and a war between the two families, and my father's health collapsed, so he agreed with Paulo's truce in hospital bed, under the condition that I would be punished and exiled from Italy, never coming back.
"Basically, Olivia lied to Paulo, said she was abducted forcefully to come with me, and…I wasn't able to touch her because 'she kept fighting back at me', so Paulo was still willing to marry her. She told him where we lived, and I was captured and got something as a payback from the Bellinis: they made me drink acid, just enough to ruin my face and voice without taking my life…Then they took Olivia back to Naples, left me alone in New York."
Finishing the sentence, Mercurio sipped on his whiskey shakingly, as if this strong, stimulating liquid reminded him of that horrifying experience, while Leona was gripping the slender, delicate glass in her hands, with the strength that could almost break it, not knowing what to say. It was Mercurio himself who ended this speechlessness on the plane:
"Well…as you can imagine, with my condition at that time, I couldn't keep normal jobs so…I was back being gangsters again, and my look actually became an advantage in this career and I rose up very quickly. Then I got lucky and chosen by the Prince, became a ghoul, and they helped heal all my wounds and scars, too…so now, you know about me as much as Mr. and Mrs. LaCroix do, partner."
Leona gave Mercurio a warm smile as he called her partner, and Prince LaCroix nodded back as the ghoul saluted him with a toast, explained everything in a…bigger picture: "It was all Giovanni's doing. By then Falcone and Borsellino were working hard to expose the Sicilian Mafia, where the Giovannis traditionally had dominance, so they got worried and wanted to expand into Campania. With the Napolitanos and Bellinis feuding against each other, it would make it easier for them to seize control."
And they surely succeeded. Even though the Napolitanos tried to calm the situation as fast as possible by painfully sacrificing Mercurio, Giovannis still managed to sneak in and turn many of the Camorra clans who were uncertain about which side they should stand on into their puppets, planting and making ghouls here and there. As for what came of the Bellinis and Napolitanos, "I didn't find out." Mercurio said, "For all I know, they could be eliminated and long gone."
As the conversation went, daylight was taking over the sky, and the three vampires went to sleep in the specially-made, all-sealed cabins. When the night descended again, they've already arrived at Paris.
Too busy studying hard and working hard all the time, Leona never had thought about travelling within the States, not to mention in Europe, so this trip was refreshing to her sore eyes, even though at night the Paris city was less colorful and lively. These old, ancient European cities had a vibe of history and mystery, because almost every building had experienced time and marked one uniqueness of one particular era, and those freshly-built, modern architectures formed a artistic contrast with their elders, adding a sense of drama, like the existence of themselves symbolized the constant battle of the new and the old in this modern age.
After they settled down in the hotel, the first thing they did wasn't preparation for attending the Night Feast—that was how they call this event formally, but to visit the family cemetery of the human LaCroix descendants, who were the offspring of the younger brother of Prince LaCroix himself and died out two years ago. It was a very brief ritual, Leona and Mercurio simply needed to stand behind, allowing the LaCroix couple a few minutes to leave a bouquet on each tombstone.
It was hard for Leona to imagine what it felt like, to watch generations and generations of one's own family rose up and eventually perished, since she was young to the night, but watching those white, dewed lilies lying stately on the greyness of death was sentimental still, then after this fleeting moment of solemnness, they got back to their schedule.
The feast will be held in a mansion in the suburban area of Bordeaux, a mansion huge and extravagant enough to house and entertain all the invited guests for this one night. After the Night Feast—the first and biggest event of the whole annual gathering, and the only one that Mercurio and Leona had to be present—followed a series of parties at the private residences of the guests, and according to the Prince, he and the Prime Judicator could handle most of them on their own, but just not to cause any doubts, them two would have to at least choose to attend some of these small occasions.
Leona used to think Prince LaCroix's penthouse was the peak of luxury. She couldn't be more wrong. The mansion they were seeing right now was the haven of the Camarilla Prince in Greater Europe, and what greeted Leona's eyes first was a massive courtyard built like an intricate maze of bush fences and flower beds, where you could literally get lost in all kinds of unexpected sceneries behind the turning points, with even a private golf park at the back of the house. As for the mansion inside, it was properly decorated like a palace, and the humongous size of it didn't cause any repeating or simplification in the interior design—it was a collection of glamor from all over the world.
"…OK, I'm scared. I just hate this kind of old-fashioned, blue-blooded upper-class gatherings." Looking at the shining crowd in the magnificent dining hall decorated in ancient Roman style, Leona took a deep breath in and breath out, started to look for comfort from Mercurio at her side, "You…you've been to occasion like this before?"
"Hell no…God, don't they have better things to do?"
Mercurio was totally startled, too, especially when some of the Kindred men and women looked at him lustfully and even touched him—for European vampires, ghouls' status could never rise as high as where Mercurio was in North America, and he was all well-dressed and pretty, so most of the people here thought he was some…pet. Gave him goose skin to watch some of the Kindred here demonstrate their pretty ghouls like playthings on the tables.
And the presumptuousness in material pleasures wasn't limited just in their opinions about ghouls. Though both Leona and Mercurio came as the "minions" of Prince LaCroix so they weren't the guests of honor, since Leona was at least a vampire, she could still enjoy the "dishes" they provided for Kindred, and they went out of ways to create new methods of consuming blood: for this feast, they built up a blood fountain in the middle of the room and the guests could choose all different kinds of skewers to dip and eat, ranging from charcuterie and vegetables to fruits and chocolates.
Even just for Leona, who as a Kindred should be obsessed with the taste of blood with all her passions, this was…too much. Though LaCroix had told her that European Kindred are averagely older than the American ones and thus tend to have…proclivities to entertain their long unlife, what she saw was…in her opinion, a freak show.
So Leona and Mercurio decided to get out of here, into the outdoor area, where it was quieter and the view was beautiful too: there were pools with blooming lotus and stone bridges over them, lovely wrought iron pavilions and fountains surrounded by mermaid statues, waiting for visitors to discover on the winding path in this garden.
Just when they were chatting away about the kinky guests they met in the mansion, a blonde woman caught their eyes, who was sitting by the pool with her palette, brushes and easel, painting a work that was too early and vague to identify what it was about. Since she was a vampire, Leona assumed that she was on the guest list, but unlike everyone else who was doing their best to look good, what she wore was actually a pure white cotton dress like a pajama, and she was bare-footed.
Mercurio recognized the woman: "Oh, it's the Voerman sisters."
"Sisters?" Leona was confused—there was only one woman sitting there.
"She's a Malkavian, and she has two personalities: Jeanette and Therese."
Now that Mercurio mentioned the name of Malkavian clan, Leona understood why: they were the clan of…many people would say, both madness and true wisdom. As the history recorded, the two Antediluvians who founded the Nosferatu and Malkavian clans were cursed for their extreme crimes in the betrayal—extreme even compared to the other eleven: Nosferatus had to bear their twisted visage for generations for their founder had…immoral carnal relationships with his children, and Malkavians would be always demented for their ancestor blasphemed Cain. Though they are…crazy in many different ways, all Malkavians share a strange gift, something they call "the Insight" that can lead them through lies and see the truth, or some may say to even foresee the future.
Just at the same time the "Voerman sisters" had noticed Mercurio and Leona, smiled and waved her hand to beckon them to approach. Though feeling a bit strange to talk to someone with actual…mental illness for the first time, the woman seemed friendly and non-violent—almost pure and happy like a child, actually—so Leona rested her heart and walked close to her.
"Hi! I'm Jeanette Voerman, me and my big sister have been expecting you two." She said with an ethereal, sweet voice, "Ha, you guys are lucky to meet the cuter one first!"
"You are expecting us?" Mercurio raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Yes…there's something we have to ask Leona about."
Jeanette's face suddenly got sad from the original joyful expression, like a fall from heaven to hell. Feeling concerned because the rapid change of her attitude, Leona asked what she wanted to know, then Jeanette simply held Leona's hand and closed her eyes. After an awkward period of silence, there were broken sentences and words springing out of her lips:
"Coffin, yes…and the grey little singing bird…Apostles of Yama…it's going to explode…oh god, what a bloody sacrifice…Salu…Salute? Salvation? Salu…oh father, what's in your body…it's Salu…oh father, oh father, It's burning! It's burning! Rage against the darkness!"
Jeanette suddenly opened her eyes and gripped Leona's hand tightly, spoke with a deep, mature voice of a woman like she was a different person now—maybe she was indeed changed into the other half named Therese, Leona had no way to be sure:
"…What? What's going on?"
"It's important, phoenix, you must remember what I said." The Voerman dragged Leona close and said very slowly, making sure she knew every word, "When you heard the news of our death, be sure to collect all the paintings of fable before Bach ruined everything!"
Then she let go of Leona again out of the blue, turned to work on her painting with a blank yet zealous look in her eyes. No matter how Mercurio and Leona called out to her, she wouldn't respond anymore, and wouldn't stop the brushes in her hand.
So they just left, like two lambs lost in the garden, because those words of the Voerman sisters really troubled their minds, especially Leona, since she was the one they were seeking. "This doesn't make sense to me at all," Leona shook her head, "and...did she just call me phoenix? What does that mean?"
"I have absolutely no idea. I mean, she's a Malkavian, they always speak riddles."
But something in Leona's intuition told her to value these words, even though they seemed totally gibberish...and also, that was the only thing interesting she had heard tonight. She spent the rest of her time at the feast to memorize and ponder over all of them, until the party was finished and they got to escort the LaCroixs into the car. The moment they drove away from the mansion, the Prince—who looked just now so enjoying the night—finally had the chance to sigh and show his truthful disgust and tiredness. It was the only time Leona heard Prince LaCroix cursing:
"God, I hate these old bastards."