This isn't just about impressing Julian, but about checking the quality of Lettow's goons. You don't want amateurs watching you; they might make a mistake and put you in danger.
You leave Julian outside your room, where he starts sweeping your Mitsubishi for bugs while you pad down to the far side of the garage.
"The Chinese guy was there," you hear a voice say. "He's doing…I don't know, I think he's offering him a job."
You hide in the shadows and memorize the features of the two men as they come around the corner. One is Carlos, the music lover from the Elysium, looking tired and angry. You don't know the little guy with the Arizona Diamondbacks jersey and the gold necklace.
"Why do we have to wander around here like assholes?" the little guy says. "Isn't there a camera?"
"Fuck if I know," Carlos says. "But this new vam—um, this new guy, Lettow thinks maybe he's with the SI."
"Can we say SI?" the little guy asks.
"I guess? Like, we can't say it on the phone, I think. Look, it's a half hour to sunrise, the new guy is all snuggled down. Let's get some coffee and see what Lana's doing."
You don't hear the response as the two get into their car, a powder blue Lotus Esprit Turbo, and take off blaring Perturbator.
Next
They're right to be afraid of the Second Inquisition," Julian says when you get back. "The SI has infiltrated the US government. Or maybe it always was the US government. Who knows? Prince Lettow is hiding how afraid he is. If he thinks you're involved with them in any way, he'll panic, and you know what Princes do when they panic."
He takes out his phone, checks the time, frowns a little.
"You're going to need better security than this if you stay here," he says. "What are you going to rig up? Cameras? Poison gas, like we used in Fort Worth? Maybe, uh, laser trip wires."
Despite the late hour, it takes a while to get Julian off the subject of security.
Finally he drops his voice and says, "You need to be ready for the SI, Krarr. Anyway, I've been thinking about Aila."
"That withered old mummy got the last laugh, didn't she?" Julian says. "I'm just glad you're not full of regret. Her Blood gave you strength, Krarr—strength you needed to survive."
"To survive in exile, because anyone could have seen the stains on my soul," you say.
"But they've faded," Julian says. "And the power you took did not."
It's true. You can still feel Aila's stolen power. And sometimes, especially when the Hunger is upon you, you can still hear her thoughts, screaming through your withered veins.
"It's almost sunrise," Julian says, checking his phone again. "I'm late for prayer." He slips a business card out of his Glitch hoodie and says, "With my Usurper contact dead, my old Denver company, 2100X, is…on hiatus. But I'm still thinking about the future. The twenty-second century. Think about that, Krarr—it's a sort of blank spot in our imagination. I mean, human imagination, too. We talked about the twenty-first century as kids. We can still, in a way, imagine the far future. But what's coming? What's it going to be like eighty or a hundred years from now? Because I plan to be there. And I want your help."
You're getting the impression that the Camarilla wants you. Maybe Prince Lettow just wants you as a patsy in case the Second Inquisition hits him like the fist of God, but he hasn't mistreated you yet. And you know that Kindred of the Camarilla do not serve two masters.