American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 364 Blood Addiction
Jocelyn shook her head.

"You didn't act on a whim; this was premeditated! How could I let you go if you killed all the Shadow Hunters you killed?"

Jocelyn touched her pocket and found that her pistol was gone.

At this moment, Claire handed Roy's Smith Wesson M629 to Jocelyn.

Jocelyn felt something was off as soon as she touched the M629; she could sense that a soul resided within the gun.

"Claire, where did you get this gun?"

"Roy gave me the gun."

Since it was given by Roy, there's no problem.

Jocelyn pressed the muzzle of an M629 against Hodge's head.

"Hodge Starkweather, is there anything else you want to say?"

Hodge wore a fawning expression.

"Jocelyn, let me go! For the sake of our past camaraderie, please let me go! I'm willing to give you all my money. Over the years, I've transferred tens of millions of dollars from the Shadow Hunters, plus the hundred million Valentine gave me, it's all yours!"

When Roy heard this, he felt sorry for the Shadow Hunters. The entire organization only had tens of millions of dollars in funding. Not to mention comparing them to organizations like the Cabin, which could afford to set up secret bases with hundreds of billions of dollars, they probably couldn't even compare to criminal organizations like the Dark Web.

Could it be that many Shadow Hunters are just doing this out of passion?
"Bastard! How can you do this to the Shadow Hunters who silently sacrificed themselves to protect humanity, to the Shadow Hunters who dedicated everything to their ideals?"

So, it seems that Shadow Hunters really do this out of pure passion and for no reason at all?

It's even possible that you'll lose money!
That's even greater than some obscure author!
Under Jocelyn's rebuke, Hodge looked somewhat embarrassed, but showed no sign of remorse.

"Looks like you're beyond saving. Go to hell and repent!"

"Wait for me……"

boom!
Hodge tried to speak, but Jocelyn had already pulled the trigger, and Hodge's head exploded.

After killing Hodge, Jocelyn immediately collapsed to the ground, startling Claire.

"Mom, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm fine, just a little tired."

Claire carefully helped Jocelyn up.

Roy searched Hodge's body and found a strange USB drive in his pocket.

Jocelyn looked at Roy and suddenly spoke.

"Mr. Black, can I ask you for a favor?"

"You say it."

"With Hodge dead, the Shadow Hunters are without a leader. Can you take over the organization?"

Roy glanced sideways, somewhat speechless.

After all, if the Shadow Hunters were an easy team to lead, Hodge, as their leader, wouldn't have betrayed them.

From the conversation between Jocelyn and Hodge just now, Roy could probably glean some information.

Shadow Hunters are a group of idealists dedicated to fighting dark creatures and protecting humanity; such a team is the most difficult to lead.

Moreover, funding is a major problem. Although Hodge's words may be exaggerated, the Shadow Hunters organization has most likely gone bankrupt and may only have some real estate left.

If Roy takes over, he might even have to pay out of his own pocket. He's not so great as to spend his own money to help others with their business, after all, Roy has a large family to support.

He needed to find a reason to refuse, and at that moment Roy remembered what Saltana had said before.

“Ms. Frey, why can’t we let the Shadow Hunters team up with the FEA? Teaming up with the federal government would eliminate concerns about funding and logistics.”

This is not without precedent, for example, the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Jocelyn shook her head helplessly.

"Many Shadow Hunters are used to freedom, and FEA is not actually pure."

That's true. The primary goal of all federal agencies is to maintain social order, so FEA agents will cooperate to a limited extent with some more sensible dark creatures, such as the vampire Archina Timmitrescu.

However, Shadow Hunters are unlikely to do this; they will not cooperate with dark creatures, even if the dark creature shows goodwill.

Roy was even more speechless. These Shadow Hunters were really poor and stubborn, but idealists are all like that.

As a result, Roy was even less willing to take over; he didn't have the time to deal with Shadow Hunters.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that Jocelyn wanted to entrust the Shadow Hunter to him because of his identity as an eight-winged angel. Wouldn't it have been better to find someone with more wings to take over?
“Ms. Frey, I have a better candidate to take over the Shadow Hunter position. I’m sure she will satisfy you.”

Upon hearing this, Jocelyn frowned slightly.

"Who?"

"You'll see when you meet her. For now, let's leave here. I've already sent someone to pick us up."

In the distance, a helicopter bearing the FEAR logo flew rapidly along the highway.

Meanwhile, Valentine led Abigail to an abandoned building in the California mountains.

This place was once a small military fortress during the American Civil War, but it was completely abandoned after the end of the Civil War.

Valentine discovered this place by chance and made it his safe house.

The ground part of the military fortress has collapsed, but there is a very large underground space for storing supplies, which is sheltered from the wind and sun and is very suitable for vampires to hide in.

However, when Valentine found this place, Mexican drug traffickers were hiding there, so he could only thank nature for its bounty and reluctantly drain their blood.

Upon landing, Valentine rolled on the ground in a sorry state, his whole body twisting and convulsing in pain, much like a drug addict going through withdrawal.

"Father, are you alright?"

Abigail quickly approached Valentine to check on his condition.

"Blood! I need blood!"

Valentine's ability to transform into a swarm of bats when dodging Roy's Leviathan Axe was actually a way of dividing himself into countless equal parts. As long as some of the bats survived, Valentine's main body could also survive.

However, Valentine did not expect Roy's strength to be so fierce. With a single flying axe, Roy killed half of his little bats. The loss of these little bats consumed all of his life force.

Valentine had already lost his fighting ability by then, and he was just putting on a brave face until he arrived at the safe house, where he finally showed his weakness.

Abigail looked around. There was no one in this desolate wilderness, not even a single wild animal.

Left with no other choice, Abigail had to extend her wrist to Valentine.

"Father, drink my blood first!"

Valentine lifted Abigail's slender arm and bit down, and the little werewolf's face visibly turned pale.

A minute later, Valentine released Abigail. He still looked somewhat weak, but much better than when he was going through withdrawal.

“Abigail, I’m much better now.”

"Father, your blood addiction seems to be getting worse!" "Yes, that's why I have to find the Holy Grail!"

Blood addiction is a unique condition that has become prevalent among vampires in the last century, as fresh food has become scarce and some vampires have begun to adopt a vegetarian diet.

This means they do not directly suck blood from humans, but rather satisfy their needs through blood packs or by consuming animal blood.

However, soon, these vegetarian vampires began to suffer from a disease called blood addiction, which manifested as an ever-increasing demand for vegetarian blood plasma.

Originally, one bag of blood plasma was enough for a day, but then it required two bags, then three, four, five...

It's important to know that clean and hygienic blood plasma is not cheap. Ordinary vegetarian vampires can't even afford regular blood plasma and can only buy cheap blood plasma on the black market.

The quality of this blood plasma... go check out Da Ying's poisonous blood case!

As a result, more and more low-level vampires had no choice but to endure hunger, and then the outbreak of blood addiction began.

Vampires suffering from blood addiction, like Valentine just now, will quickly lose their rationality and become bloodthirsty walking corpses, frantically attacking living people to suck their blood.

Vampires in this state have no restraint and will directly drain their target's blood, causing numerous bloodshed incidents in Europe.

Abigail looked worried.

"But we are no match for that angel!"

Valentine fell silent.

Indeed, as long as Roy is with Claire and Jocelyn, Valentine has no chance whatsoever.

"It seems we have to lure that person away. We also need to prepare some backup plans!"

"Father, what are you planning to do?"

"I am preparing to awaken the third generation of vampires. Now is a matter of life and death. If we don't do something, the vampires will become subservient to humans!"

This is something that a proud, old-school vampire like Valentine cannot accept. They can tolerate humans being on equal footing with them, but they absolutely cannot accept humans riding on their heads.

"But once the third generation of vampires awakens, they will need to consume a lot of blood. Where are we going to get it for them?"

Valentine squinted.

"Then we'll have to ask our old friend Henry!"

In a luxurious penthouse in Manhattan, New York, a middle-aged man with gray hair is smashing furniture and venting his anger.

Hearing the commotion, a girl with a blank expression came out of the room and asked.

"Father, what happened?"

Henry turned to look at the girl, his expression twisted and contorted.

"It's the Elders! The Elders have given me another order! They want me to deal with Roy Black!"

Upon hearing the name, a subtle change occurred in the girl's face, but Henry did not notice, as he was still angry.

"Roy Black? Is that the guy who sabotaged the dark web bases multiple times?"

"It's him! This guy is not only terrifyingly strong, but even the Elders' Council can't do anything about him. He also has close ties with the authorities. They're trying to destroy me! I've put so much effort into building the Dark Web to where it is today. Can't those damned vampires show me some compassion?"

Clearly, Henry had realized that if he continued to obey the Elders' orders, given the current federal government's attitude towards supernatural events, the Dark Web would only be completely destroyed, and having a protective umbrella would be useless.

Of course, the outcome would be the same if he didn't listen; the elders would certainly not let Henry off the hook. It would just be a matter of whether he chose to protect his hard work or his life.

The answer is obvious!
"What were the elders' exact words?"

"Valentine told me to distract Roy Black. Is that guy really that easy to distract?"

“Father, I have an idea. Why don’t we invite Roy Black’s family to participate in the game I just designed!”

Henry was taken aback upon hearing this.

"You mean that game? But that game hasn't been tested yet!"

“Testing is necessary, so why not just test it on Roy Black?”

Henry looked at his daughter's face and his eyes flickered.

"Claire, you make a good point, but if we do this, we'll have absolutely no way out!"

The girl, who shared the same name as the psychologist, gave a cold smile.

(Played by Isabella Fuhrman, the one who acted in "Orphan", she's grown up to be less attractive)

“Father, from the moment you created the dark web, our family has had no way out!”

These words silenced Henry.

“You’re right. Our family has long since run out of options. This time, we have no choice but to fight to the death. I will mobilize the entire power of the Dark Web and personally conduct this test. As for what happens afterward…”

Henry started shaking his head as he spoke, but Claire seemed optimistic.

"Father, as long as we live, we can create a new dark web!"

Henry regained his confidence with his daughter's encouragement, but he soon frowned again.

"I almost forgot about one more thing. The Elders also need me to provide 1300 healthy adults in a very short time. Damn it! Where am I supposed to find so many people for them?"

It's obvious that the Elders' Council's demand for 1300 healthy adults isn't because the factory is short of workers; the outcome for these people is obvious.

No matter which country it is, the disappearance of a thousand people in a short period of time is a major event. Even if the dark web has great power, it would not dare to do such a thing openly.

At this moment, Claire spoke again.

"This problem is actually very simple. There are hundreds or even thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border every day. We can bribe the border police and smuggle those illegal immigrants away under the guise of recruitment. We should be able to fulfill the Elders' Council's requirements in just a few days."

Upon hearing this, Henry's eyes lit up.

Although it is only the year 2000, the problem of illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border is already very serious.

However, due to differing social attitudes, illegal immigrants were still considered despicable at that time, and no American cared about them.

Even the federal government views illegal immigrants as cockroaches.

Who would have thought that twenty years later, stowaways would be able to stay in hotels and even be allocated motorhomes?

"No! Using the pretense of recruitment won't work. Those illegal immigrants aren't all fools. Let's use the guise of charity instead. Anyway, the US-Mexico border isn't far from California. We just need to get the people to the Presbyterian Council, and I won't care what they do with them!"

The father and daughter decided the fate of thousands of people in just a few words.

It's easy to see from these conversations that the one who really came up with the ideas was actually the daughter, Claire, while the father, Henry, was more of the one carrying them out.

“I’m heading to Texas right now! Claire, you should come with me too, New York probably won’t be safe anymore.”

Claire nodded.

"Father, I will listen to you."

　The latter part is adapted from "Escape Room 2".

　　
　
(End of this chapter)