After a long and pretty tense discussion with his wife, Oliver decided that the time he had before he would meet Neiurmuu should be spent better than arguing with her. He decided to go to his kids' room. Oliver had two young boys, Mike, 9, and Daniel, 7. They were the most important beings for him in the whole world and one of the reasons he decided to become a gay prostitute and a drug dealer, to give them a better future in the eventuality of his demise. However, after the vampire miraculously cured him of his cancer, Oliver had no reasons to continue this lifestyle, yet he was into a bigger trouble. He had to become the what? Assistant? Slave? Puppet of this vampire? He wanted this day to end without him having to meet his healer but whenever he thought about no showing, he would remember Neiurmuu's words about what would happen if he would betray him. The images of his dead and bloodied children that his imagination formed in his head were too much to bear, so he had to see this through.

"Daddy, look at what I've drawn in the Arts class today!"

His older son, Mike, was a very talented boy who enjoyed drawing. Oliver was proud of him, as he was quite skilled at drawing too when he was a boy.

"I like it very much! Look at the details!"

"It's not that cool!" Mike's younger brother, Daniel, retorted. "It looks like a soggy diaper".

"Daddy!"

Oliver laughed. This little competition between his sons was quite endearing, as it reminded him of the one he had with his brothers when they were children. Oliver grew up at a Midwest farm, so life was tough for him. He wanted his own children to have everything they need to grow safe and happy.

However, the clock was unforgivable, as it was time itself… 6 PM would draw near, so he kissed his children and exited their room. In the hallway, his wife, Jane, stopped him on his way out of the house.

"Ollie, about what happened…" Oliver interrupted her. "Please… let's not talk about this anymore. I have to go somewhere. When I come back, we will sort this out." He gently touched his wife's hair and exited the house.

5:56 PM. He was outside Neiurmuu's room. Oliver's blood was frozen. It was now or never! Suddenly, a voice called him from the inside.

"Jimmy, please! Enter!"

Oliver remembered that James Connolly was his new identity. He entered the room and saw Neiurmuu completely naked, savoring a glass of…something. Even though he knew what was in the glass, as vampires drink only blood, he preferred to think of it as wine. It was a far less disturbing thought. Yet, the Kindred looked incredible. Oliver had sexual encounters with men just to make cash, not because he was gay but even he couldn't help but to admire the body of the vampire. Neiurmuu had a well-toned body, but full of scars and weird tattoos. His penis was immense and even though he saw many male sexual organs, this one was much bigger.

"What? You are surprised that finally you see a real cock, not like those peckers you usually suck? I guess the Americans are not only fat but they have small dicks too!"

"Please, Mr. Neiurmuu. You are making me uncomfortable."

"Oh! How? By talking dirty or by drinking this cup of blood naked? Well, if I'm making you uncomfortable, then when you will see the stuff that other Kindred do you will what? Throw up? Ask them to be nice? You will blow my cover! Either you start to act as a man or I will unman you, as you seem to hate being a real man!"

The thick accent of the vampire only made the threat sound worse. Twenty minutes later, Neiurmuu dressed himself and handed Oliver a box. "Open it, Jimmy boy!"

Oliver opened the box and there, he found out a BDSM collar. "I'm not going to wear that!"

"For a drug dealing man-whore you have a lot more opinions than you should, don't you think?"

"It's not about that; it's just the fact that I have dignity!"

Neiurmuu laughed. "Dignity? You have dignity? Well, let me tell you something about dignity. In my world, there is no dignity. There is blood, there is madness, murder! Dignity is off the table. Don't get me wrong, I respect you as a human. I don't care if you got fucked in the ass or if you snorted half of Colombia! Vampires are the least judgmental creatures of the Earth. You are a human being and you made a choice. But there comes a time when those choices will come and bite you in the ass. And when that happens… The last thing you will need in order to survive will be dignity. Do you think there's dignity in drinking blood? But we have to survive!"

Oliver understood. He knew that if Neiurmuu really wanted to humiliate him, he would have done it easily. "Fine, I will wear the collar."

"Good".

They exited the hotel and they entered in a limo. Neiurmuu smiled towards Oliver. "Almost all the vampires in the world are divided in clans. For the time I will be in Los Angeles, I am Tapio Kuura, a Finnish Toreador."

"Well, aren't toreadors Spanish?" Oliver asked innocently.

"Toreador is one of the vampire clans, stupid… And do not ask idiotic things there! They will know you don't know shit about us and will kill you."

The thought of dying was pretty disturbing to Oliver.

After half an hour, they arrived to a huge tower Oliver recognized as being the Venture Tower, the HQ of an international corporation. "Mr. Neiurmuu…"

"Kuura, stupid! I am Tapio Kuura now!"

"Mr. Kuura, isn't this the HQ of that shipping corporation?"

"Yes, but this is also a Camarilla front!"

"Camarilla?"

"Kindred clans are divided into sects, each with its own ideology. The Camarilla is one of them. But we will talk later after this. For now, we have to meet with the prince."

They entered the tower. Neiurmuu talked to a security guard that granted them access to the elevators.

"To meet Mr. Strauss, you have to take the elevator to the penthouse level."

"Thank you! Let's go!"

"Who is Mr. Strauss?" Oliver asked.

"The new Camarilla prince. He took over in 2004 after the last one tried something stupid and got a suntan. Also, this guy is a Tremere, so we have to be much more careful. These Tremere are specialists in magic and mind reading. But this should fix it!" Neiurmuu put his finger on Oliver's forehead.

"What have you done?"

"I put a mental barrier that would impede Strauss from using Dominate on you. Even though it's Elysium, I wouldn't be surprise if that warlock would try something."

'Dominate' and 'Elysium'. Two new words for Oliver. This vampire world looked so… foreign to him.

The Prince's office was huge, looking exactly like in the time LaCroix held it, with the exception of the French themed paintings that were changed to Crusade themed ones.

"So, I am glad that we have a guest in our city. Whom I have the honor of speaking too?"

"Prince, I am Tapio Kuura, a Toreador from Helsinki, Finland. I am a ninth generation Kindred, sired by Jaane Toivonen, Camarilla prince of Helsinki."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Kuura. How long you will stay here?"

"I was sent by my sire to find someone here. A mortal. I will probably stay for a month"

"I see… It's he the mortal?"

"No, he is James Connolly, my paramour."

"I see. While you are here and you behave yourself, you are welcomed in Los Angeles!"

"Thank you, prince. I brought you a gift!" Neiurmuu gave the prince an old book. "It is the only copy of Erik the Dreamer's writings. A famous Finnish Malkavian Methuselah who had the power of dreaming about the future. I know you will find the lecture… delectable!"

"I can't thank you enough, Mr. Kuura. Be welcomed here! And to your companion as well!"

"Thank you!" Oliver spoke. Such decisiveness was good in the eyes of Neiurmuu.

"I won't waste your time any longer, Prince Strauss. I will leave!"

"As you wish. Goodnight!"

Outside the tower, Oliver was pretty cheerful. "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Well, it was. He scanned your mind, but he found out only information that confirmed my story. Information I planted there with my barrier. Tremere motherfucker…"

"Well, why do you hate him so much? He seems rather pleasant, for a vampire."

"The Tremere almost destroyed my clan… But that's a story for another time. Go home now and… take off that collar."

These words were the kindest words the vampire told him all the night. "When I will have need of you, I will contact you! Until then!"

For the first time, Oliver was happy. He knew that he will return home to his family, even to his wife, who cheated on him. He took a cab and returned home. Jane was asleep, as well as the kids. Oliver was content that they were safe. He finally rested, after two days of fear.