Your persuasion is good enough that the intruding vampire coterie gets the message. It is confirmed that they vacate the area and are none the wiser about their coterie mate Hooper, regardless that lots of their questions went unanswered. Your actions, overall, were enough to cover any evidence of Victor's Beast mode. He is safe. For now.

Everyone gets 8xp for completing the chronicle.

Victor lets out a sigh of relief upon hearing that the other Coterie has left their territory. He's dealt with no small amount of unpleasant emotions in the last few days after this incident, but at least he no longer has to fear for his life at least until the next Chronicle where the Coterie gets assigned a mission to go fight cultists or whatever. He turns towards the rest of his Coterie. "I have said multiple times that it's difficult for me to be sad when I'm in a Coterie with people like you and I stand by that now. The four of you have been there for me over the last few days and I'm grateful for that. While I won't call myself the victim of this, it has been hard coming to terms with what I did to that man and I'll have to live with the knowledge of what I did for the rest of my life. But at least I'll live and that's because of you working to save me. Thank you."

Alana nods and waves her hand dismissively with a shrug. "Mistakes are Mistakes. You live, you learn. Next time you will know better. Isn't that right  Sorrin?" She glances to Sorrin in reference to the issue that had brought them all together in the first place, a playful smile on her lips. 

Victor chuckled nervously at Alana's reference to that night three years ago. "Yeah, let's try and make this the last time we lose our heads and commit a murder that we have to cover up."

Sorrin gives a sad smile at the reminder of that event, but pats Victor on the shoulder, "Few people in this world are perfect saints my friend. You've done plenty good, so be proud of that....that being said, hopefully, we can avoid these kind of situations." Sorrin gives a small chuckle to that.

"Yes. I might stay in the mansion for a little bit, lay low, de-stress, that sort of thing."

While laying low at the castle, Victor finds Aless during a quiet moment. "If you don't mind, I have a question for you. How did you come to meet Harold?"

Alessandra had been mulling about the castle, mentions of redecorating passing her lips as she walked the halls. Harold had been beside her, taking note of things she wanted to change, nodding passively, signing suggestions every now and again for assistance in making a final decision. When she seemed pleased with the final product (mentally, of course), Harold bowed to her and set course for his room to begin the preparations, just as Victor approached her with the question. A slender brow raises, and a smirk is tugged at the corner of her lip.

"I met him when he was at his lowest point."

"It was a gruesome sight..." She says, her tone solemn. "They cut out his tongue... castrated him... I don't know how many of his bones were broken... There was so much blood... I was so sure he was going to die with the damage caused to him. He was so weak, he couldn't get out of the bonds that bound him to the tree... It looked to me as if they did just enough damage to him to make him powerless, useless, to only let the sun be the cause of his final death."

"... And then all was history." She concludes with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I helped him, and as repayment, he gave me his eternal servitude. Of course, I have given him the option to leave if he ever found himself unhappy, and, well... He's still here." She prides herself on that note. "Anywho, does that answer your question, my dear? I apologize if it wasn't as... exciting as you thought it might have been."

Victor feels his heart breaking for Harold as Alessandra tells her story. The Nosferatu was a kind man, keeping the castle in perfect shape and attending to everyone's needs and receiving nothing in return outside of the Coterie's affection. How could anyone do that too him? "I certainly wasn't expecting it to be that...intense. I can't imagine being cruel enough to do that to someone." He feels unsure of himself as he says that, recalling his recent murder of Hooper. "I'm sure that you think I've got quite the nerve to say that after what I did, but I at least hope that I wouldn't engage in such cruelty while I'm able to control my body."  

His hand slowly moves to take Alessandra's as he looks her in the eye. "You're very kind to have saved Harold in his hour of need and to provide him with a home where he is treated right. He's lucky to have you, as we all are."

Alessandra smiles at Victor’s touch, gently squeezing his hand as she spoke. “Harold has never confided in me about who had done it to him. A vampire, I’m sure, perhaps even a group of them, but never who specifically.” She sighs, her eyes focusing on their hands now. “I understand his reasoning behind it though... He knows me well enough that if he let it slip, I would stop at nothing to end their lives for what they did to him. Masquerade breach and all, I wouldn’t care.” 

There was an intensity in her eyes when she looks back up to him. “And the same goes for everyone in the coterie. You all are very near and dear to my heart. If anything happened to any of you, I will kill whoever or what ever dared lay a finger on you all. I can promise that.”

Victor knew that Alessandra wouldn't hesitate to bring her vengeance down upon anyone who harmed a member of this Coterie, they were a family after all and every one of them would do the same. That didn't make it any less heartwarming to hear her say it, right here and right now. "And I would do the same. I love each and every one of you, more than I've loved anyone else."

Alessandra let’s a small bout of silence settle between them for a moment before she smiles to him softly. “Has there been anyone else you’ve loved, Victor?”

"Well I loved my family and my friends and I still do, but it's been over twenty years since I've seen any of them and I'll never get to see any of them again. I don't love them any less, but you all have become my new family over the years, if that makes sense. But if you're talking about romantic love, the 'I want to raise kids and grow old with someone' love, I never met anyone during my mortal days that I had that spark with." 

“Really?” Alessandra asks, a bit surprised at that statement. “No one at all? No high school sweetheart, or college girlfriends that didn’t sweep you off your feet?” With her free hand, she pinches Victor’s cheek. “You’re quite handsome. I find it hard to believe no one snagged you when they had the chance!”

Victor smiles as she expresses her surprise at him not having any girlfriends when he was younger. "I mean, I had that crush in highschool that I told you about and I had a few flings in college, so it's not like I was a total virgin, but no, back in those days I mainly just fooled around. Although I'm sure that if I didn't get Embraced that night, I would've settled down as I got older, or as my parents started nagging me to give them some grandchildren." He has a slight chuckle at the thought of that. "Although, if I did have a lover or something, it probably would have made the whole leaving the old life behind thing more difficult than it was. And it would also mean that I'd technically be cheating on her every time I had sex with you, or Misha, or Alana." He says with a laugh.

"Well, now that you know of my disappointing love life, was there anyone that you loved? I'm sure that someone as beautiful as you must've had no shortage of suitors."

Alessandra chuckles lightly at his words, beginning to lead him to the foyer so they could converse more comfortably. "Of course I did," She answers finally as she sits down on a couch. "In a time way back when, even before being embraced, I used to sing in bars and pubs to make a living, so, yes, I had many suitors, but only one caught my eye." As she says this, her eyes glaze over. "He was a half-orc named Oskar, a craftsman in a small town I had the pleasure of visiting. I stayed there for a week or so, and he showed up to each and every one of my performances. Went and sat at the bar, but never drank anything, always watched and listened to me, like I was the only person there. He always made a point to compliment me at the end of the set, which, believe it or not, I didn't get much of, as most people were too inebriated to do so, and always gave me these little wooden statues he carved out of wood."

"On my last day there, he asked me on a date, convinced me to stay just a little bit longer, and all was history..." She smiles at the little memory. "After two years we got married, had a child..." Her smile fades. "There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think of them."

Victor follows Alessandra to the foyer, making himself comfortable as she tells her story. He listens intently and as she gets to the end, he doesn't need to be told what happened to her family. The words she says and her faded smile are enough to let him know that this wasn't a story that ended happily for her. 

"I apologize for your loss and for bringing up bad memories. If it's any consolation, I found it sweet how he kept coming back to that tavern every night because he was so captivated by you. It sounds like he was ahead of his time." He said, referring to how Oskar was captivated by her back then similar to how so many people are captivated by her now. 

"I never knew that you could sing though. That's something new."

"No, no, don't fret. I stopped myself just before getting to the bad part, haha," She forces a small laugh and waves a hand dismissively. "Besides, I've done my fair share of bringing back bad memories to some of the others in the coterie, so I believe it's only fair." She sets hand hands on her lap to smooth out her dress. "As for singing, after everything that happened... I gave up on it. I turned my sights on the path of adventuring and did that for a time. Aah, there's so much in my past life I remember so freshly, but there are some things I do wish to forget."

"Well that's a relief. I certainly don't want to be the cause of your distress, but if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I happily volunteer mine." Victor says, with a small smile. "I think that we all have some things from our former lives that we'd wish to put behind us. In a way, I'd say that getting Embraced is a way to start anew, don't you agree?"