<div class="floatright">(http://i58.tinypic.com/30mwxg7.png)</div>Tobias stood in front of the small crowd of his employees, his staff, his family. Nearly 40 vampires stood together, working in the dark corners of the club called Nocturne, taking their food in small sips rather than draining people dry. Not all of them were completely on board with the idea, but for the moment, it seemed a safe way to survive and grow.<br/><br/>He looked out over them all, and the corners of his lips turned up in a soft smile. After a moment, he raised his hand, and said, "Silence, please. Let's get this over with, and open the club."<br/><br/>He waited for the side discussions to fade, then started. "First, I want to congratulate everyone here for helping make Nocturne what it is. We're now entering our third year of operation, and we've only had a few breaches of the rules; aside from a few now-trusted exceptions, the world still does not know that vampires exist. We intend to keep it that way."<br/><br/>He paused for a moment, waiting for the other vamps to take the warm glow of the compliment, then continued. "With the assistance of some of our allies, we've started a new advertising campaign for Nocturne, so we should be seeing some<em>new blood</em>here tonight." He smiled as the crowd chuckled at the small joke. "Treat them with courtesy, treat them with care. If you're not sure if you can drink from one of them without being exposed, let the opportunity pass - there will be more opportunities, and we're better off if they come back happily."<br/><br/>He paused one more time before going into the finishing part of the speech, which he knew wouldn't be well-taken. "Just to be clear, I'm going to restate the rules. Yes, you all know them, but it never hurts to go over them again. First, no predation. Don't drink to the level that will hurt or kill people. Small drinks frequently will serve us all better than a frantic draining of a victim. Second, take care of your partners. Whether you're drinking or just playing rough, take them to the Recovery Room when you're done." He nodded gracefully in Kitten's direction, making brief eye contact before continuing to look around the crowd.<br/><br/>"Third," he continued, "Do everything you can to keep people thinking that this is just a game, just a pretense - that vampires truly don't exist." He pulled his fine enamel fakes out of his mouth, showing teeth that looked as normal as any person on the street. "Some of you can do this. The rest... just let them think that it's too much of a pain in the ass to take it off and put it back on, if they ask." He took a deep breath, and went to the last rule, which he knew was still a sore point among much of the crowd. "And last, no Turning new vampires<em>without a damn good reason</em>." He didn't look at Angellica, the one violation of the rule that he'd taken himself before adding that last clause. "Check with me or check with Felicity. And expect the answer will probably be<em><strong>no</strong></em>."<br/><br/>He took a deep breath, realized that he'd gone pretty far into his "harsh, scary boss" mode, and stepped back. "Now, I know you're all already good at your jobs. You wouldn't be here if you weren't. So... go out there and have some fun tonight."<br/><br/>He took a step back, and waited for responses before getting ready to open the club for the 731st time.