Chapter 5 - The Order

• Sophia POV
• When I enter Perseus' room, Miriam and Claire are already there and all the machinery and equipment, for the procedure, is already there as well. I assist them to set everything up and it isn’t long before all is set and ready for the dialysis to start.
• "Hey, Soph? I couldn't make that request for you today. I didn't see Lord Hyperion today." Miriam tells me.
• “Well, I’ll be here anyway.” I reply as I take a seat in the chair closest to me. “If you could ask someone to bring my notebook, I would really appreciate it.” I ask her in return.
• "Claire? If you see Hyperion, could you possibly please ask him for permission yourself? I’m headed home now." Miriam states.
• “Thanks Miriam. Hope you sleep well.” Claire replies.
• “Hey, Soph… Take care, okay?” Mirriam says as she leaves.
• "Always!" I replied.
• I find the end of the conversation strange, as I watch the two leave the room. I take my phone out and start looking through videos on TikTok. Not even 10 minutes pass before I feel Hyperion's presence at the door. Don't ask me how I knew he was there. I just know that I know.
• “Good evening, Miss Sophia.”
• I look up at the man, who is called the head of the family.
• "Good evening." I responded to his greeting. "The hemodialysis should take around 5 hours to complete.” I inform him by means of an update.
• “I know. I just ran into Doctor Miriam as I was getting off the elevator. She already gave me an update. She also told me that you had a request?”
• I look down and open the messaging app.
• Me [Oh, I want to kill a lot today, I don't even care how many… And I'm going to take explosives!]
• Vic [Hahahaha! Did you get the authorization?]
• Me [Hey, who's going to deny my little angel face anything?]
• Claire [Fallen angel right?]
• Me [HAhahahaha! Surely my place in hell is already reserved.]
• Mi [*Devil emoji* This one is so you.]
• Me [Absolutely!]
• Me [Where’s Dylan?]
• Claire [I don't think he’s left work yet.]
• Me [Ok. I'll come back later.]
• I turn off my cell phone's screen and look at Hyperion, who had taken a seat in an armchair directly across from me, on the other side of the room. He’s staring at me. No, he’s scrutinizing me.
• “Your natural smile is so much prettier than those politically correct ones you wear for public display.”
• "Um, thank you. I guess.” I arch my left eyebrow at him not quite knowing how to respond.
• “Even now, I'm trying to decipher who you are. You clearly demonstrate that you dislike the people on this floor, judging without knowing the facts, I assure you. But you are also open to seeing beyond appearances."
• I don’t say anything. I just let him continue speaking.
• “I've had several reports that you and Alexander are getting along very well and that you haven't once complained about having a bodyguard.”
• I tilt my head to the left, which is a habit I developed over the years, when I’m trying to make sense of something.
• “But, please, enlighten me as to why you dislike ‘people like us’, as you put it in the conversation we had on our second encounter, so much?”
• “People who think they rule the world and that money can buy everything. I don't like those kinds of people and that's what you proved to be, at first. I didn't expect you to do what I asked, but in times of desperation, desperate measures are called for.”
• They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and Hyperion's soul is a mixture of both fun and seriousness.
• “Besides, I shouldn't have been the one chosen to take care of the patients on this floor. I’m only the Head Nurse and Doctor Miriam is the Head Doctor. She has much higher qualifications than I have.”
• Hyperion was quiet for a few moments, considering his answer and choosing his words carefully.
• “I agree that money can't buy everything. Most of those who are around me aren't bought by money. They do what they do out of honor and loyalty.”
• His words don’t make much sense to me. I knew the world of billionaires and I knew it very well and the way I know it is much different to what he’s describing, but I keep my expression neutral.
• “I know you may not believe it, but it's the truth. We hardly involve the family in these circles. My contacts are different though.”
• I take a deep breath, the conversation is going in a direction that I don’t like.
• "Some people say we look like mobsters. In a way we are. But don't worry, there's nothing illegal about the family business and we despise that sort of thing."
• I look for some indication that he’s lying, but I can’t find any and my instincts say he’s telling the truth.
• “However, when we're around here, it appears very normal to find people willing to sell themselves. So when I saw that you weren't like that, I was pleasantly surprised and that's been the best thing that's happened since I arrived here. To have found you.”
• His words could be taken as a flirtation. A pickup line. But somehow I knew that that isn’t what he meant.
• Honestly, I don't have much to say to him, so when Claire walks in carrying my small suitcase with my laptop, I silently thank whoever or whatever is in control.
• “Hey! Here it is! Please just ask them to wait for me. It’ll take me around an hour to get home and I still want to buy popcorn and wine!”
• Claire utters excitedly and I turn to her with a small smile playing on my lips.
• "It will be comical OR hilarious to see Tremere play drunk!”
• I comment with a low laugh.
• “At least I'm not a pyromaniac! La Sombra!" Claire rolls her eyes and lets out a low laugh. "Only you can play a vampire who likes fire."
• “What can I say? If I'm going to die, I’d rather go out with fireworks!" I comment as I open the bag and remove my laptop from it.
• “Well, at least you already gained fame for having killed that rank 3 werewolf. Who would have thought that you only needed some C4 paste explosives to kill a rank 3?!… But you were crazy when you said you were going to fight hand to hand to get the paste stuck in his fur.”
• “What can I say? I laugh in the face of danger!”
• “Turned into Simba now, huh?”
• “At least you get the reference… But seriously, it was epic. I barely made it out alive and almost got blood-bonded to survive.”
• “It was definitely epic! I hope to have more scenes today seeing as it’s the last session.”
• “I hope so too. We are, after all, invading Caern, spreading corruption once and for all!”
• “Man, when you talk like that, I even miss the face-to-face meetings.”
• “Me too, but go home!”
• "Yes ma'am!" Claire reached down and took my hand and kissed it. “Thank you for releasing me, my countess.”
• “You are released, my servant. Now go and fulfill your mission. Who knows, I might let you drink some of my blood on your return." I say in the tone of my huskier, deeper, gaming character's voice.
• “Heavens! You don't play fair! You are already wanting to increase my blood-bond, aren’t you?”
• “Hey, what else can I do? At least, that way, I'll always have a servant. Besides, your character loves my blood.”
• “Of course you have the advantage because you bought the Addictive Blood perk!”
• “Hey! I had perks to spend. It's not my fault you guys bought other stuff."
• “I know. You are a naughty bitch.”
• "I am for sure! And very proud of it!”
• Claire rolls her eyes and promptly leaves the room. I smirk and take a deep breath, switching my laptop on.
• “Should I be concerned?” I hear Hyperion's teasing question.
• “Oh! No!… I only kill virtual people. It's a role-playing game. Today we're going to finish the game called Vampire: The Masquerade Campaign, which is currently a very popular game. In this instance, my character is a very old 9th generation vampire. La Sombra is one of the clans, which bears the pyromaniac defect. Our mission is to invade Caern, which is a place with great magical power. These places are protected by werewolves, who are divided into tribes and within the tribes there are packs, which can be mixed or pure. In this case, my group of Vampires that will enter Caern, will reach the center, carry the magic power and transform it so that we can use the magic energy and in so doing, take the power from the werewolves. If we succeed, I'll probably become the Prince of the city. Prince is the title given to those who run the city.”
• I explain it as simply as possible, without taking my eyes off my laptop screen while opening all the applications I need to play the game.
• “That is, if no one betrays me…” My demeanor turns serious.
• “If one of them betrays me, and I manage to stay alive, then I will take revenge. Nobody messes with Alana Lafai!” I smirk.
• "Anyway, it's something really cool and it helps to distract me from my day to day issues."
• I finish preparing for the game and look up at Hyperion. He seems to be lost in deep thought. I check on Perseus and enter my notes on the tableted report, which is that there has been no change, so far. I also note the information provided by the monitors and write them down as well. I need to do this every half an hour. I set my alarm on my cell phone to alert me at the correct intervals.
• “I don't particularly like playing Vampire: Masquerade that much. I much rather prefer playing Werewolf: Apocalypse, because there's nothing more awesome than turning into a 3 meter tall animal to defeat your enemies, or anything from Cthulhu. Insanity is definitely my middle name. That's for sure.”
• There are still 20 minutes left before the start of the game, but the crowd is already entering the virtual game room. I put my earphone in my left ear only and leave the microphone off.
• "Hmm... I didn't know there was such a thing." I finally hear Hyperion say.
• “Games of this type and style are called tabletop RPG's, which is basically playing as a character. You can choose to be anyone, anything or any being you like… It has everything. I prefer that to playing online, or going out for drinks. Although going out for drinks at a nerd or a geek bar is pretty cool too.”
• I know my eyes are bright and I can hear my excitement talking about it. It's one of my favorite hobbies. Whenever I could, I would bring someone with me. Maybe that’s one of the things that put me off Joshua. He doesn’t like gaming.
• “Interesting. Very interesting. Who creates these games?” I see that Hyperion is genuinely interested.
• “Many people and companies create these games, because the themes can be created with anything we can think of or conjure up. The possibilities are as endless as the thoughts and ideas of the human mind. It's almost like asking about who created the movies we watch. There are thousands of directors and screenwriters, just as there are thousands of software specialists and developers. Basically, someone comes up with some imaginary scenario, that somebody then creates the rules of the gameplay for it and then another someone develops the program and puts it to the test to see if the idea holds merit and works. I hate creating the systems, but I absolutely love creating the stories. Especially the horror stories.”
• “I see, but have you ever considered the thought that some of these stories are real?”
• “It is said that all myths carry some truth. It’s just that the human mind refuses to process it. I've seen people arrive at the trauma unit with severe cuts and injuries due to abuse from another person. But instead of the patient's mind acknowledging the trauma, their minds make them believe that their pain was caused by a clawed monster instead of registering the fact that the damage was inflicted by another regular human being. I, for example, am told that there are werewolves in the forest, I prefer to believe that they are merely saying this to prevent me from going into the forest. I believe that people who live close to forested areas would, perhaps, tell that to their children to simply keep them from wandering off into the forest so that they don't get lost.”
• “In a logical way. your explanation makes perfect sense.”
• "Yeah, I know." I smile at him sincerely and then hear my name being called through the earphone. “If it gets too loud, just let me know.”
• “Hmm… Actually, I was going to ask you to turn it up loud so I can also hear it.”
• “Better…” I grab the other pair of bluetooth headphones and toss them to him. “So you also listen and we don't disturb your son. Just don't be scared, sometimes there's screaming and stuff.”