Chapter 22: Human Movements

At the same time, an emergency meeting was being held at Buckingham Palace.

"Colonel James, you have always been the one responsible for liaising with the vampire clan. But they have been acting quite frequently lately; don't you think you owe us an explanation?"

In a secret conference room, an elderly white man with a stern face and white hair sat at the head of the table, looking with grave intensity at a middle-aged man with brown hair sitting on the lower right.

"General John, we have indeed been handling the negotiations. However, gathering intelligence and monitoring their activities has always been the responsibility of the Intelligence Service. We are only responsible for the final negotiation phase and military support."

"After our last warning, the current leader of the vampire clan, Elder Amelia, has shown some restraint and responded directly to the recent incidents, attributing them to internal power struggles within their clan."

The middle-aged white man glanced at a fat, bald old man sitting opposite him, stood up, and addressed the white-haired man at the head of the table.

"No... General John, our Intelligence Service is only responsible for collecting and transmitting information. As for the specific negotiations, we have never intervened, and we have no idea how Colonel James conducts them. I believe the primary responsibility for this matter does not lie with us!"

The fat old man across from him did not show any weakness. He adjusted his round belly, stood up with an indignant expression, and pointed his finger directly at the brown-haired man.

"Bang... Enough! You bastards, I called you here to solve the problem, not to pass the buck to each other."

"This matter has already reached the ears of Her Majesty the Queen. I am telling you, this must be resolved within a week, no matter what methods you use."

"We maintain order in the UK during the day, but every night, these dark creatures emerge to cause trouble. This is a provocation against us. Not only is the top brass unable to accept this, but I absolutely cannot accept such a result."

"It is no longer the sixteenth century. The world today is ruled by us humans. Fran, you go and warn them one last time. The international situation is currently very tense, and it is inappropriate to mobilize armed forces on a large scale domestically. If they refuse to listen, then I will have no choice. Perhaps it is time to change the rules that have existed between humans and vampires for thousands of years."

Watching his subordinates bicker endlessly, the old man felt a splitting headache. He stood up, slammed his palm onto the conference table, and shouted furiously.

"Yes, General John!"

Seeing the old man lose his temper, the subordinates stopped arguing and lowered their heads one by one. The fat old man also hurriedly stood up and replied firmly.

"Very good. I hope you will not disappoint me this time. Colonel James, you are responsible for assisting Deputy Director Fran in handling this. Remember, this time, it is not just me watching; the upper echelons of our British Empire are all paying attention to this."

"Even Marshal Hawk is very concerned about this. Our relationship with the vampire clan has lasted for thousands of years; if handled poorly, it will disrupt some of the plans we have laid out internationally."

The old man took a deep look at his two subordinates and continued in a grave tone.

"By the way, Colonel James, haven't you been preparing a secret super-powered special forces unit? This unit has already cost the Cabinet a great deal of military funding. Both the vampire and werewolf clans are dark creatures. If necessary, this unit should be deployed. It is the perfect opportunity to test whether they can function as a decapitation strike force as estimated."

"I understand, General John."

The white man stood up and gave a solemn salute to the old man at the head of the table, though in his heart, he understood exactly what the old man meant.

Three years ago, the British Empire had assembled a group of soldiers gifted with extraordinary abilities, training them in secret to serve as a decapitation strike force on the battlefield.

Since the outbreak of the First World War, relations between countries around the world had been strained, and recently there were even signs of a Second World War erupting. As a traditional power in the Western world, the British Empire had naturally been wary of this.

According to his view, one must secure the interior before dealing with the exterior. Before external wars broke out, the internal conflicts had to be resolved. The source of the British Empire's internal strife had always been those dark creatures. As a newly promoted imperial officer, he had been looking for an opportunity to eradicate the vampires and werewolves—the sources of the chaos.

However, these two clans had been breeding and thriving in the Empire for over a dozen centuries. They were deeply rooted; not only did many ancient families have ties with them, but many high-ranking officials in the Empire had also had dealings with them. Their influence was so great that it touched the core of the British Empire's power.

Although he had the desire to eradicate these malignant tumors, he had always been powerless to do so. Even his immediate superior, General John, could do nothing about them.

But this time was different. Even Marshal Hawk, the core of the Empire's absolute hardliners, had intervened. This was the perfect opportunity to pull out the vampires and werewolves by the roots.

...

Shortly after the meeting dispersed, Colonel James hurried back to the military base to prepare for the upcoming operation.

On the other side, the stout old man Fran hurried back to his manor.

Unlike James, he was born into an ancient family with a long heritage in the British Empire and belonged to the Empire's ancient aristocratic faction.

If James was a representative of the commoner hardliners, then he was a representative of the imperial aristocratic faction.

This faction had maintained close ties with the vampire clan since ancient times. After all, the fear of death is human nature.

These ancient nobles, who had enjoyed a life of luxury and extravagance since childhood, feared death even more than commoners. Therefore, many members of ancient noble families chose to be converted into vampires when they approached death.

This was the source of the vampire clan's aristocratic Council of Elders. They controlled the deep-rooted families of the human world, continuously providing fresh blood to the vampire clan.

Over the past thousand years, there was hardly a single family among the Empire's high-ranking ancient nobility that did not have connections with the vampire clan. In fact, after more than a dozen centuries of evolution, the members of these families and the vampire clan had become so intertwined that they were indistinguishable from one another. The complexity of their relationships was beyond ordinary imagination.

"Oh... my dear, why are you home so early today!"

As soon as Fran walked into his ancient manor, a heavily made-up young woman with an alluring figure greeted him in the pitch-black inner chamber, hugging his bald head and kissing him hard.

"Sigh... don't mention it. That old man John, relying on Marshal Hawk's support, is looking down on us more and more. No, I have to contact the Prime Minister about this; I cannot let him be so arrogant."

Wrapping his arms around the woman's soft and supple waist, Fran sighed and stood up to pick up the telephone in the living room.

"What's wrong, dear? Is there something troubling you in your official duties?"

Stroking his fat chest, the woman looked at him with concern.

"It's not about government affairs, but rather that the Blood Clan's recent movements have been too noisy, causing dissatisfaction among those war-crazed fools. They want to take action against the Blood Clan. Hmph, they think it's that easy. You should also hurry and let Elder Amelia know to have them keep a low profile lately, or it will be very difficult for us to handle this."

Upon hearing Fran's words, a faint blue light flashed in the young woman's eyes, and her expression immediately turned serious.

She nodded at Fran and turned to run toward the secret passage at the back of the manor.

That’s right, this woman was a member of the vampire clan. Taking a vampire girl as a wife had become a trend in high-society aristocratic circles. Of course, not every noble took a vampire wife, but any ancient noble who was prepared to be converted into a member of the Blood Clan would basically take a vampire girl as a secret wife. This was also a means for the vampire clan to win them over.

...

"Elder, Eve is back and says she has something to report."

At this moment, in the great hall of the vampire clan, Amelia lay gracefully on the sofa, supporting her forehead with one hand. Her alluring, ornate dress accentuated her voluptuous figure, and the low-cut neckline revealed a deep cleavage.

She frowned from time to time, then raised her hand to rub her temple; every gesture was filled with elegance and nobility.

"Let her come in!"

Looking up at the female guard, Amelia sat up from the sofa and smoothed out her slightly rumpled dress.

"Greetings, Elder Amelia!"

A moment later, a gorgeously dressed vampire girl walked in, bowed slightly to Amelia, and stood there with a cautious and timid demeanor.

"Sit down, Eve. So, does Fran have more news for me to pass on?"

Looking up at the vampire girl, Amelia brushed the hair from her forehead and asked.

"He asked me to warn you that the Empire's top brass are already dissatisfied with our actions and have even begun to assemble troops to encircle and suppress us."

As an intelligence operative for the vampire clan, Eve dared not hide anything from Amelia and slowly detailed the ins and outs of the situation.

"Oh... it's that old man Hawk again. Damn him. If we had known, Victor should have killed him decades ago. Truly wretched."

Hearing her subordinate's words, Amelia also realized the severity of the situation.

Marshal Hawk had been targeting the vampire clan for more than a day or two. In fact, back when he was young, he was already a member of the hardline faction and was very hostile toward the vampire clan. It was just that at that time, the vampire clan's influence was at its zenith, and no one took him seriously.