“I do not believe Anthony has anything to do with Kane or his actions,” Athelstan de Britannia said into the silence after Shuten Doji’s proclamation. “I have known Anthony for a long time. He is not the kind of man who would ever join Kane--not after what that man did to Lilith.”
“Even if we all agreed that Anthony is not allied with Kane, it does not change the fact that Kane is inhabiting his brother’s body--if we are to believe that Kane did indeed possess his brother,” said the woman of Spanish descent. Anthony was struggling to place her name. Martina? Margarita? It was something with an M.
“What does that have to do with my participation in this meeting?” asked Anthony.
The woman frowned. “Well…”
“Kane cannot gain any intel from this meeting no matter what. He is possessing my brother’s body, not mine, and he is not here. I fail to see your point,” Anthony.
“Anthony brings up a good point,” Naamah said. “Whatever is truly happening, Kane cannot gain any information here.”
“That doesn’t stop him from telling Kane about the meeting afterward!” Damon shouted.
Naamah glared at him hard enough to silence the man. “If you truly think Anthony would tell Kane anything, then you have not done your research. I suggest those who are ignorant keep their mouths shut.”
Angrat Bat Mahlat coughed into her hand. “I believe maybe we should proceed with the meeting. We all agree that something needs to be done about Kane. That man was a threat before he confronted Lilith, and I have no doubt that he remains a threat now that it’s become obvious he is still alive. I’d like to nip him in the bud before he can cause further disruptions to the status quo.”
Everyone soon settled down. Anthony glanced at Vlad out of the corner of his eye, but the man did not appear interested in saying more. In fact, he did not seem interested in this meeting at all.
What’s his deal?
Anthony had only met Vlad once in the past during his time in Lilith’s harem. This man had never been lively, but he appeared even more dead than before. That was what made his outburst against Anthony so strange as well. It was more like him to simply keep his mouth shut.
The meeting proceeded after that… but it really didn’t amount to anything. While everyone agreed that Kane needed to be dealt with, no one could agree on how to deal with him. Some suggested assassination. However, no one knew where he was hiding. That changed into a discussion on how to find him, but nobody seemed capable of coming up with ideas.
The biggest problem is how no one can agree to work together, Anthony thought.
Everyone seemed more interested in what they could gain from this situation than they did resolving the problem. Greed had proliferated the top echelons of most every nation. Even Britannia and Russia were not immune to this.
Anthony sat back and closed his eyes as he listened to these people continue to talk in circles. He was starting to get a headache. If they all just pooled their resources, they could probably deal with Kane. At the very least, he would not be able to remain hidden if every force within UENO joined hands to find him.
Of course, there were some people who agreed with his idea and were attempting to convince everyone else.
“We need to find and destroy him immediately,” Elizabeth said. “If he is not dealt with quickly, he will destroy all that we have worked for.”
“Him and what army?” asked the Prime Minister of the Atlantic Federation. “He is but one person.”
“He is not just one person,” Sasha said. She had not spoken yet, but now she did, and all eyes turned to her as she continued. “I have been destroying warehouses that were transporting a variety of nonhumans that were turned into ghouls. We have evidence that Kane was responsible for this. What warehouses we managed to destroy were just a drop in the bucket, or have you forgotten what happened in south-western Europe?”
Everyone went silent. They had seen both the news and the social media posts.
“We did not see Kane among them. How do we know he is responsible for this?” asked Damon.
“The idiot speaks again,” Secilia said.
Damon glared at her while Brianna elbowed the woman in the side.
“Who else could be responsible for this?” asked Anthony. “Only a vampire can create ghouls, and only a progenitor is strong enough to create so many.”
He didn’t bring up that all the ghouls had been other vampires and beastkin. It was already an established fact that didn’t need to be re-hashed, and he wanted to move this along.
“I also believe that Kane is the only person who can accomplish this,” said Naamah.
“Then why don’t you allow me to lead the coalition to find and deal with Kane?” suggested the Prime Minister of the Atlantic Federation. He was a human man with a large gut but a strong back. He looked like he might have once been powerful in his youth, but age was catching up with him.
“And give you carte blanche over our military forces? I think not,” scoffed a man Anthony didn’t know. He was from the Americas. That much was clear from his crisp business suit and the logo of some corporation imprinted upon it.
Another from the Americas spoke up. “Perhaps if you were willing to enter a contract for our forces…”
“You would seek to profit during an emergency?” asked the Atlantic Federation Prime Minster in disgust.
“As though you’re any better!” another man shouted.
And once again, they all began shouting.
Anthony sighed and was about to rub his temples when a pair of hands reached up and began doing that for him. The hands were small, and the fingers delicate. Marianne’s. She was right behind him, tenderly rubbing his temples as the rest of the UENO delegates bickered like children.
They’re all so greedy…
The Atlantic Federation only cared about expanding his influence and using this situation has leverage, the people from the Americas were only interested in lining their own pockets and increasing the technological prowess, while those like the Prime Ministers of Spain and Greece simply didn’t want to deal with this since they lacked a strong military presence. Shuten Doji only cared about fighting, and Ivan just wanted to display Russia’s strength. The only people who seemed to really want to deal with Kane were Elizabeth and Naamah, but they were just two voices among many.
I have a feeling that we are going to be here for a while…
***
Nothing was resolved on the first day. Anthony had expected this. All of these people in positions of power were more interested in their own interests than the interests of the world--even if they really should put the world’s interests first. Really, it should be obvious that what was best for the world would also be best for them. However, greed had a way of making people very near-sighted.
The first meeting ended after several rounds of arguing. Angrat Bat Mahlat had called the meeting to an end after seeing how heated everyone had become. Members of her harem led every delegation to their own rooms.
Anthony’s room was quite large and luxurious. As much as he hated the woman, he had to admit that she had great taste. The decoration was understated. There was a much heavier focus on creature comforts than ostentatious presentation. Lilith had also much preferred being comfortable over displaying her wealth and power.
“Well, that was the single most pointless meeting I have ever witnessed,” Secilia said as she sank onto the couch, brought out a handheld game console, and turned it on.
“I hate to agree with you, but I feel like all we did in this meeting was waste time,” Brianna said.
“It was a huge waste of time,” Secilia said.
Trinity was sitting in another chair as Marianne served her tea. She thanked the vampire with a smile and said, “People in power like that have too many self-interests to truly cooperate. All they care about is their own personal gain.”
“I wish people in power were more selfless,” Anthony said with a sigh. He was sitting on the couch with Secilia.
Trinity could only grin wryly. “If they were selfless, they would not seek positions of power. It is because they are selfish that they have risen to their positions.”
“I know. But I can wish.”
She shrugged. “Sure, but wishes won’t change our reality.”
Very few people in this world were truly altruistic in this world. Even Anthony could admit that his reasons for wanting to join forces and deal with Kane were selfish. He wanted to defeat the man who was inhabiting his brother’s body, and possibly see if he could bring his brother back. He still did not know if Calvin’s consciousness was still there, or if it had been destroyed, but he would not rest until he had an answer.
“Is there anything we can do to make these people cooperate?” asked Anthony.
“We can try to play to their avarice,” Trinity said. “We’ll need to figure out what each person wants and then find some way to give it to them.”
“But there are problems even with that,” Marianne said as she finished serving everyone tea. “Nobody is going to admit they want something since they do not want to be seen as selfish, and suppose we do find out what they want and it’s something detrimental to us… could we reasonably give them what they want then?”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
“What a pain in the ass,” Secilia grumbled.
“Marianne, you're better versed in politics than me. Can you work with Elizabeth to find out what each member of UENO wants? We can decide what to do once we have that knowledge,” Anthony said.
“Um… I’ll do my best,” Marianne agreed to help him.
“Thank you.” He smiled, then opened his arms. “Come over here.”
Marianne blushed bright red as, under the watchful gaze of the other members of Anthony’s harem, she gingerly came over and allowed him to pull her into his lap. As her small but pert bottom settled on him, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. She squeaked only slightly when he buried his nose into her neck. He spent a moment just embracing her before a thought occurred to him.
“Gitsune Hagaromo did not show up,” Anthony said at last.
“She did not,” Trinity said with a nod. “I wonder why.”
“Give me a moment.”
Secilia stopped playing her game, pulled out a laptop, and placed it on her lap. She hooked it up to her IDband, created a virtual keyboard, and typed away. Moments passed before she frowned.
“Weird…” she muttered.
“What is?” asked Brianna.
“I’m trying to access Japan’s internet…”
“Trying?” said Anthony. “Meaning you can’t?”
“It’s down.”
She turned the laptop to them and showed everyone the screen, which said that the internet was unavailable. An error code that Anthony didn’t recognize was being displayed on the screen.
“What does that error mean?” he asked.
“It could mean anything,” Secilia said as she shifted the laptop back to begin typing on it. “The government could have intentionally disconnected it, someone could have attacked the exchange points where internet traffic passes, the undersea fiber optics cables could have been destroyed, it could be a cyberattack, infrastructure failure for one reason or another… give me a moment and I’ll try to figure out what’s going on.”
No one said anything as Secilia worked. She was trying to find some access point that would let her access Japan’s internet. Her fingers flew over the keyboard before eventually stopping. She spent a moment staring at the screen, then slowly closed it, leaned back, and looked at Anthony.
“Well, I can confirm this was not an infrastructure failure. It was a deliberate shutdown.”