How Do You File a Case for Killing Vampires?

The once lofty Phoenix, which would only alight on the branches of a golden parasol tree, now sits before Andrew Will, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney, with disheveled hair, dark circles under his eyes, and a disheveled appearance.

Jack Arden, who should have been the next head of the Arden Family and a pampered young master supported by the family foundation, now had to scrape together money from all sides and even seek help from old friends in the family to afford the trip to the West Coast.

It is said that even a dead tiger retains its might. Although the Arden Family has recently been targeted by various parties, especially by that ruthless bastard Tony Stark.

Although those at the heart of that circle knew that once they took action, they would leave the Arden Family no chance to return.

However, many outsiders who are unaware of the truth still believe that this Old Money family, which has survived since the Mayflower Compact, will one day return to its former glory.

So Jack Arden met with Andrew Will, the district attorney, without any trouble. He immediately asked, "What's the progress of the investigation into the Henry Brown murder case?"

Andrew Will sighed helplessly and said, "There's no progress; it's simply impossible to get going."

"That damn bastard killed my grandparents! So many witnesses!" Jack Arden, disheveled and exhausted, slammed his fist on the table. Even in his fallen state, he retained every trace of his former scion's mannerisms.

This slightly displeased Andrew Will. But he still got up, closed the office door, and drew the blinds shut.

Then he said, "Mr. Arden, without a body, without a bloodstained murder weapon, and only with witnesses, this case cannot be solved no matter what."

"If there were surveillance footage capturing the entire incident, from the time the Ardens were alive until their murder and complete disappearance, we could also cite the provisions regarding Mutants' special abilities as strong evidence."

"Then we can try to recreate the Mutants ' abilities to prove the authenticity of the surveillance footage, rather than just the special effects in movies and television."

"Without CCTV footage, no matter how many witnesses there are, it's useless. Or rather, the witness testimonies alone are enough to send them to a mental hospital for life."

Jack Arden said angrily, "Are you just going to let this go like this? Using other corpses as substitutes, fabricating evidence—I just want my grandparents' death certificates!"

Ultimately, it was all for that piece of paper confirming his death. Andrew Will thought to himself.

The Arden Family's current situation is entirely due to the "disappearance" of the couple currently in charge of the family.

Even if a family member tries to forge a letter of appointment, others will scrutinize it from all angles to find flaws. If even the slightest flaw is found, they will be sued in Court for "forgery."

Normally, no one else would be so meticulous in verifying the authenticity of the letter of appointment. But in this situation, no one would turn a blind eye and prevent them from seizing the Arden Family's assets.

In short, as long as James Arden and Lilith Arden don't step in, the actions of others won't end.

This is precisely the point that the Arden Family cannot achieve.

With a regretful expression, Andrew Will shook his head and sighed, "Mr. Arden, this is completely impossible. The risk of fabricating evidence is too great. As long as a third-party forensic agency gets involved, the matter will eventually be exposed."

"Furthermore, under the investigation of Stark Industries ' appointed lawyers, there is clear video and time evidence proving that Henry Brown entered Montecito's mansion from the time he was arrested."

"What If...? he were in a third-party location with an unknown status, we could investigate the possibility of accomplices. But today he was arrested in the Arden Family mansion, so there's no way he could have had any accomplices assisting him."

"Without accomplices, he also didn't have enough time to dispose of the body and cover up the crime under the noses of a group of Bodyguards, achieving a perfect cleanup where not even a trace of blood could be found."

"Based on all the evidence, there is absolutely no support for the claim that the Ardens, your grandparents, were murdered. The only reasonable explanation is that your grandparents left voluntarily and disappeared from public view."

Taking a few deep breaths, Jack Arden seemed to have made up his mind and said, "I can tell you a family secret. My grandparents underwent conversion by a Vampires elder and became Vampires."

"I think that Henry Brown took advantage of such an opportunity, using a special weapon designed for Vampires, to kill my grandparents. Would that constitute murder?"

District Attorney Andrew Will shook his head firmly. Did he not know about this? He had long ago found this one plausible possibility among that pile of illogical testimonies. But this possibility could not be used as evidence in Court.

Andrew Will stated, "For a felony murder to be established, there must be a motive, a murder weapon, and a victim. Without a motive, it may become manslaughter rather than murder."

"Without the murder weapon, we need to see what kind of weapon it was and whether its existence can be indirectly confirmed as being in the possession of the murderer. But without the victim, it's impossible to link it to murder under any circumstances."

"No matter where it's buried, even if it's decomposed to the point of being just bones, it must be found. Even if it was dissolved by chemicals and flushed down the drain, wherever it was disposed of, there will still be evidence such as bloodstains."

"A scientifically verifiable and reasonable explanation is extremely important. Claims like becoming Vampires and leaving no trace after death should never be heard in court, and judges won't believe them."

Jack Arden slammed his fist on the table in exasperation. "But it's true!"

Compared to the Arden Family scion's anger, Andrew Will's composure grew, and he said, "Vampires, magic, curses—those terrifying Monster that only exist in bedtime stories—they're only meant to appear in stories."

"Do you know how terrible it would be What If...? they had to appear in real society and be believed by a judge or jury in Court?"

"We can arbitrarily accuse someone of murdering a Vampires with silverware. Since we don't need a corpse as evidence, how many people do you think would be sent to prison for this serious crime simply because someone dislikes them?"

"We cannot even verify whether the defendant is innocent, because there is no deceased person and no murder weapon to examine. We are asking the judge to convict based solely on eyewitness testimonies."

"At that point, how can an innocent person protect themselves from such false accusations? This kind of thing doesn't only happen to ordinary people; how will those with a certain status protect themselves?"

Jack Arden, with a hint of helplessness in his voice, said, "Did my grandparents die in vain?"

Andrew Will said, "It's a pity, but unfortunately, this matter is no longer just between the Ardens. There has also been a debate about this within our system."

"But no one supports opening this door to grant Vampires the same rights and protections as humans. As far as I know, there's even pressure from within the Vampires community opposing such a thing."

Jack Arden asked, sounding bewildered and almost tearful, "Why?"

Andrew Will said, "Those creatures who consider themselves to be more evolved than humans are ashamed to associate with humans, let alone be protected by human laws. Doing so is simply trampling on their self-esteem."

"Furthermore, for them to receive special protection, they must first be legally defined, like people with disabilities or those with mental illnesses. Then they need to be registered. It must be clear under the law who is what and who is not."

"Even Mutants can't do this. Would creatures that can only avoid the Sun Pharma and move in the Dark World accept such an arrangement?"

"As for your grandparents, our opinion, to put it bluntly, is that they don't even want to be human anymore, so why should they need the legal protection that only humans need? Sometimes, you can only choose between being human and not being human."