Oh, Let me know that at least you will try

Emily has mostly recovered and straightened up by the time the woman reaches them, although she's still breathing heavily.

"You wanted to talk, so talk," she tells the woman. Partially because she doesn't really know what else to say, and partly because it sounds like the kind of things protagonists say in a situation like this.

The woman steps off the sidewalk into a parking lot so she doesn't block pedestrian traffic. The invisible guy (who Concordia can see, but Emily cannot) is hanging back a good twenty paces, keeping the two girls and the woman in his line of sight. The van, a few blocks away, is stopped at a red light.

"You brought some sort of monster to our city, killed it, tied up some Ventrue's ghoul, and escaped. People are scared. They sent us to capture you and bring you in for questioning, but getting information is a good consolation prize. What are you doing here? Who are you with?" She's keeping her hands where Concordia can see them, and is standing a respectful distance away.

Emily quietly relays a translation to Concordia, but doesn't wait for her to reply, instead speaking herself.

"We're with each other," she says, gesturing between Concordia and herself. "That monster was chasing her — it could follow her even if she teleported — and she grabbed me and brought me along when it lunged at me. We just want to go home. If that's ..."

She cuts herself off.

"What are you telling them?" Concordia whispers. "They just said they want to interrogate us! Don't tell them things!"

"Teleportation? Where did you come from?" Her body language has shifted: she is no longer speaking to a pair of children, but a pair of equals. She might even be scared.

"I'm originally from Vermont," she offers, because either they are in a different world (and that information is useless) or they are in her world and she really does intend to go back to Vermont.

Concordia clearly isn't going to be able to get Emily to stop talking to them. She looks pointedly at the invisible man again, in order to make the point that he can't sneak up on her.

The invisible man isn't advancing, but he does seem to notice Concordia's gaze, and flinches from it.

The woman fixes her gaze on Emily and Concordia in turn. Concordia detects a stirring from the woman, some sort of divination magic. "I believe you, strange though your story may be. And it makes sense, really, that you'd run. But even if you escape us tonight, people aren't going to give up. And at that point, you'll be lucky if you're caught by the Camarilla."

She takes another step away. "I'm going to ask my compatriots to get out of the van, so that we can talk. You have my word that they won't attack you."

That sounds an awful lot like a plot hook. Either they're about to learn who the villain of the story is — or they're about to hear about a group of rag-tag heroes, unfortunately maligned in the public eye, who will reveal themselves to be good and noble during the conflict in the second act.

Probably the first thing, though.

Emily tries to look calm as she nods, and does her best to regain her breath without being obvious about it.

The two others get out of the van. One is a man wearing a well-worn, almost tattered suit, and the other is a woman draped in what looks like ten kilograms of costume jewellery. They form a sort of huddle to speak. They're definitely keeping an eye on the girls, but if the girls made a run for it they could almost certainly make it to the subway before they were caught.

Concordia subtly looks back and forth between the huddle and the subway entrence, painfully aware of this fact.

"Emily ... are you sure talking to them is a good idea? If we make a run for it ..."

"Then they'll just track us down again," she replies. "Ducking into the subway is a temporary solution to losing them, not a permanent one."

Plus, they're about to do some exposition, and running away would be rude, she doesn't say, because she is a normal human person who relates to fiction in a healthy way.

No she's not. But she knows how to act like one, anyway, and that's pretty much the same thing.

"... and we might as well let them tell us more about their capabilities and what's going on with the local magic," she says instead.

Concordia is torn. On the one hand, she definitely does want to know more about what's going on. On the other hand, she was woken up in the middle of the night and is still sort of keyed up for a fight.

"Okay," she agrees after a moment. "But translate for me, and don't hesitate to run if needed."

The tall woman, apparently the spokeswoman, turns back. The other two keep a short distance. The "invisible" man stands further away, maintaining overwatch. A passer-by avoids him, seemingly fearful, but then continues on as though he was never there.

The woman approaches. "We think we have a way to... sort this out. My name is Florence. What are your names?" She looks at Concordia, seeming to recognize her nervousness. "Or what should I call you?"

Shoot, she probably wouldn't make that distinction if names weren't potentially involved in magic, somehow. She's read Earthsea, she knows how this goes.

But she wasn't prepared for the question, so the only possibilities that come to mind are "Ged" and "Esmerelda McFondue", neither of which is great.

"You can call me Esmerelda," she replies, because it's really only the last name that's problematic and that will give her time to think of another one. Everdeen? "And this is ... Harmony."

If Florence notices the pause, she doesn't comment on it. "Thank you. Okay, Esmerelda, the problem here is that the Camarilla laws don't have much in the way of protection for anyone who isn't a vampire. So there's not really any provision for you officially talking to us as equals, rather than as captives. But we think we've found a way to twist the laws a bit, to get you treated like Kindred visitors, even if you're actually mortal. That way you can't just be killed or blood-bound by some random neonate."

Wow, yup, there's the exposition. That's a lot to unpack. She whispers a translation to Concordia while she thinks.

... she wasn't really expecting 'vampires'. Is this a romance story? Because Concordia might be old enough for a romance story, but she definitely isn't. Maybe there are non-romance stories about vampires? She totally should have read Dracula when she spotted it in the library. People talk about vampires as though they're mostly a romance-monster, but Dracula might be, like, a horror mystery instead?

Either way, she's going to have to make sure Concordia knows not to let anyone bite her, just in case. If she is a romance protagonist, Emily's cautions will just be one of the things that keeps her away from her tragically doomed love interest, which will add pathos, and if she isn't a romance protagonist then not getting bitten is just common sense.

She realizes that she's been silent a little too long, and opts for raising her eyebrow and saying "Oh?", although it comes out a little bit jerky.

Florence nods. "Fifth Tradition: Hospitality. Any vampire visiting another city must present themselves to the Prince, and obtain the Prince's leave of presence, or they have to leave. If you two present yourselves to the Prince and the Prince grants you leave of presence, as far as the Traditions are concerned, you are vampires -- or at least, the city's Kindred will be confused enough that they won't move against you openly. We hope."

She turns to "Harmony". "Does your friend speak English or French? What language is that, anyway?"

Ooooh. Yeah. Princes and court politics. This is definitely a romance story — even Alanna: the First Adventure has a romance subplot. They're basically inevitable as soon as you enter a castle.

"She doesn't, no. She only speaks ..."

Emily turns to Concordia. "Is your language just 'Imperial', or does it have a different name?"

She blinks at the unexpected question.

"Ah, The Most Glorious and Noble Tongue of Their Majesties the Emperors, Rightful Rulers of All They Survey, and the Harmonious Empire Thereby Governed?" she offers. "Which is why everyone just calls it Imperial."

"... yeah, she only speaks a language called 'Imperial'," Emily relays. "But I can translate for her."

Speaking of which, she relays the comment about presenting themselves to the Prince.

"That actually makes sense — even barbarians may be welcomed by the governor, if they enter in the proper way and show deference to the Empire's laws. Do you think they're being sincere, though?"

Emily bites her lip.

"It's hard to tell," she replies. "But worst case you can teleport again, so ..."