Jack didn't know fear until then.
It was a large room, modern, with a huge wooden table in the center and massive windows that overlooked the city night. The ceiling was raised high with an array of LEDs in ornamental patterns, and the floor was the same black marble as everything else. It could not have looked any more like a conference room designed for typical high-level business discussions.
Along the table, a quick glance revealed several objects that looked religious in origin, though he could not guess at what. There were also folders, mountains of paper, and pictures of people and things. On the walls, TVs fed streams of data, statistics and telemetry. Some he recognized as stocks and other economy angles, some as crime reports, some as usage statistics on products. It was the head of the Xnomina corporation, and all the power it held. It made it difficult to tear his eyes away.
But what scared him were the people inside it.
There were only three people in the room. The first was a tall man with wide shoulders and a black suit that might as well have said "kneel before me" on its breast. Viktor, Jack guessed. His black hair was tied into a ponytail behind his head, and his face was clearly from an older age despite his youthful appearance. He looked like he could have worn a cape and brandished a rapier, and have pulled it off easily.
Beside him was another man, but this one was dressed to kill. Jack guessed his motifs rather mafia-esque, with blazer suit, open neck, and a piercing that connected nose to ear by a chain, all under a shaved head. He was huge. That must have been Michael, the Gangrel.
Then there was Maria. She stood a little short, with a slim and tiny figure. Her hair was long and black over her pale skin, and much of her face was hidden behind it. With her white dress that seemed almost dead to the eye, she looked like a ghost. When she turned to face Jack, he found himself quaking. She didn't just look it, she felt like a ghost too. The air around her was cold — he could feel it from well over by the door — and bits of moisture in the air turned to mist around her.
She was Nosferatu.
"Ah, Mister Julias. Come in and introduce your friend." That was Viktor. His voice was smooth and had some weird mingle of foreign accents, but every syllable was pronounced cleanly. An expert in communications and, by proxy, manipulations, Jack figured. The other two stood there and leveled their eyes on Jack, and he felt even smaller than usual.
That new sensation inside him was howling to get away.
"Alder Viktor, may I present Master Terry, my childe."
"I did not realize that it would be happening so soon," Viktor said, and started to walk toward the small Ventrue. Jack did not look him in the eye, and decided it'd be best to keep his head down entirely. He gave a small bow.
"There were unexpected developments, and I was forced to embrace him early. He'd been stabbed."
"Was he now?" This time it was the Nosferatu Maria who spoke up. Jack could feel the chill in his spine when her hoarse, raspy voice hit him. If someone had been thrown into a basement and left to die without water, he figured their final words would have sounded kinda like that.
"Yes. I believe it was Rebecca," Julias said. Funny, Jack thought he could hear a moment's hesitation in his friend's response.
Alder Viktor, whatever Alder meant, walked up to Jack and looked down at him. Down didn't do it justice. It was a king looking down at his servant's servant. A god looking down at a pleb. He smiled, but Jack dared not look any higher than to see his lips and fangs.
The amount of body language reading was overwhelming. It was business, and he knew business, but these gods were all looking at him, and even a child would have noticed how they were thinking thirty steps ahead, purely on how he moved or didn't move.
"I am sorry, Master Terry, that your embrace had to be handled so callously. I am sure Mister Mire did what had to be done to save your life. Tell me, what do you remember of who attacked you?"
The gods wanted him to speak. Fuck.
"... your Excellency, I remember ... a woman of similar height to myself, with red hair," he said with lowered head. His voice wavered, and he could barely hear himself. He was sure he could hear Michael suppress a chuckle.
"That does indeed sound like Rebecca." Viktor turned and paced before Jack and Julias. His hands had slipped behind his back, fingers netted, and his face was hardened into a small grimace. "A dangerous accusation. We'll take it into consideration. In fact, it may have had something to do with your mission, Mister Mire."
"Mission, Alder Viktor?"
"Yes, it ... perhaps you should send your childe home. We have business." Viktor slowly lowered his gaze down to Jack, and the little boy averted his eyes with a snap. If he could avoid eye contact for the night, maybe he'd come out in one piece. He could still feel that thing inside him, something new and unbridled, demanding he escape these titans.
With a nod, Julias put his hand on Jack's shoulder and escorted him out of the room, before closing the doors behind them. They stopped in front of the elevator, and Julias turned Jack to face him.
"That went well," Julias said.
"It did? I got kicked out. That lasted a whole two minutes." Jack squirmed as they waited for the elevator. Some idiot must have called it back down, and now they had to wait, with those terrors behind him.
"Trust me Jack, that was a good first impression. Now, take the elevator back to the lobby and just head back to my place. Drink more of the blood I have in the fridge, and wait for me."
"How long you going to be?" Jack said.
"Don't know, but—" The ding of the elevator interrupted him. "Just get home quickly, and drink as much blood as you want. I really shouldn't just be abandoning you on your first night like this, and Viktor knows it. If he's got something I need to do now, it's important."
"Are there things I should be worried about on my first night?"
"Not if you just get back to my place quick and stay inside my apartment. I'll catch up with you later."