Chapter 10 -- Shacking-Up with a Gypsy Woman in the City of Wisdom -- B.E.Z
After dispensing with my investigations in Gabrovo, I moved on to the periphery of Sofia Grad and began working with the Ravnos neonate Madame Mina. In the last few months I had journeyed to Casablanca as her bodyguard in her quest to find information or a body-relic of the Follower of Set, Vespa. While in Casablanca, I also acted as liaison between the Ravnos woman and the local Court of Shadows. Ultimately, my involvement was instrumental in the identification and acquisition of an item of sympathy with which Madame Mina could work her thaumaturgy.
Upon our return to Sofia Grad, it became apparent that Vespa had discovered our mission and was moving her influence against Madame Mina's domain of Fakulteta. Though the majority of my time spent in Fakulteta was spent allaying Madame Mina's suspicions and proving my willingness to work with her. Under that set of circumstances, I set about to negotiate with Vespa on behalf of Madame Mina to resolve their mutual conflict.
To that end I journeyed to the small city of Vratsa, the ancestral domain of the local Tzimisce ruler, Queen Lada who acted as an intermediary and guarantor of mutual safety. The negotiations proved fruitful and both sides managed to gain what they asked for, if not in the quantity that they desired.
As per the agreement hammered out in Vratsa, Madame Mina had to attend a public party held by Vespa to apologize for her interference in the serpent's affairs, after which Vespa provided Madame Mina with details of her departure from Sofia. Of course, as much as I would have liked to believe that the Follower of Set intended to follow through with her agreement, I suspected a subversive ploy on her part and prepared for as many eventualities as I could have imagined. Equally unfortunately, Madame Mina was far from the architect of her own circumstances and she was clearly working for a higher power and moved according to that entity's timetable.
A few nights later, the party was held at Vespa's mansion in Kostinbrod, both mortals and Kindred were present. As I recall, that evening seemed to last an eternity in which Madame Mina and I rubbed the greasy shoulders of Sofia's so called elite. Eventually, Vespa did bring the festivities to a head with the announcement of her departure for France.
Towards the end, I sincerely doubted the Ravnos would hold up her part of the bargain and actually apologize, but as it turned out, I was wrong. While waiting patiently for skullduggery on the part of the serpent, I witnessed a nearly believable and sincere apology from Mina to Vespa. Believing the worst to be over, I was caught off guard by Vespa's sudden emotional embrace of Mina, but as I feared the Follower of Set did have treachery in her heartless chest after all - for she cast a spell of some-kind on Mina. I was never privy to the details, but apparently, it was some sort of spell that would allow Vespa to track Mina regardless of where she might go.
And that was the end of the affair. Vespa did indeed leave Bulgaria for France, while Mina ceased to pursue the serpent woman's secrets. In addition, bringing the struggle to cessation, I also managed to gain monetary compensation from Vespa, not only for Mina, but for her sire and myself as well. Over the coming months, Mina used her new-found wealth to repair the damages to her domain. While I distributed my not inconsiderable recompense into numerous major banks throughout the European capitals and then I set off to see what could be learned of the turmoil in Greece.
