Boom!
A vast aura of darkness surged from the Élysée Palace. A blood-red Radiance crossed the crescent moon, and the once-quiet night took on a foul, murky air.
Bilborn stepped out of the palace, a sinister smile on his pale face. His frail body seemed to hold boundless vitality, and power radiated from his every movement.
Sensing the changes within his body, he smiled.
Vampires? We're the noble, elegant Vampire race.
"Mr. President."
The secretary had just returned after arranging for someone to delay Saint John XII. He froze when he saw Bilborn coming toward him.
"What is it?"
Bilborn had just gained power and eternal life. Without realizing it, his outlook had changed, and so had his tone.
The president seems strange. He's different from before.
The thought flashed through the secretary's mind, but he quickly suppressed his surprise. "The experts are on their way and should arrive tomorrow. When would you like to meet with Ms. Lisa and Mr. Simon?"
"Not yet."
Bilborn spoke flatly. "Have the Intelligence Department keep Lisa and Simon under surveillance. I want to know their every move. And keep it discreet."
Before Napoleon had turned him, Bilborn might have mistakenly taken Lisa and Simon for Gaul's own supernatural assets.
But now that he had been turned, he knew those two had deceived him.
Concern about the Church's scandals? Admiration for Voltaire? Hmph. It had all been a cover. Those two were clearly spies sent to Gaul by the Papal State.
"Understood," the secretary said. Yet he could not help wondering, What happened while I was gone? Why did the president suddenly change his mind?
"And summon these people."
Bilborn listed more than a dozen names.
The more the secretary heard, the more astonished he became. Every name belonged to a faction leader or