Scorpion watched as the Imperial soldiers moved in their PA gear. This time they paid attention and moved slowly allowing them to adjust to the highly advanced armour. After the guy he shot a couple of days ago, it seemed that they finally took his instruction on board. The Imperial soldiers, as a general rule, trained in spear, shield and sword tactics leaving bows to those who had used them for years.

He took a quick glance at them and watched as they worked though pulling the string and knocking an arrow. While proficient, he still wasn't sure if it was going to be enough to face guns. Unlike the archers, who needed mass units to fight, the EDF operated in groups of 4-8 or 12 soldiers giving them tactical flexibility. A normal squad of 8 soldiers was made up of a leader, either a Sargent or someone of a higher rank, with a designated second. Two members of the squad would be jet troopers, one heavy weapons expert or sniper while the rest would be riflemen of various skills.

Normally specialist drivers, explosives experts or communications experts would be the standard. But it was all down to availability as some squads had mechs while others were made up of drone commanders and snipers. The war had sapped a lot of standardisations within the EDF. But in some ways, this worked well for the organisation as it allowed them to deploy varied and mixed teams into a field. The problem being that this created somewhat of a logistics nightmare for supply personnel which in turn created a shortage for weapons and gear.

At the very least, parts, weapons, ammo food and other necessities that make an army work were the same. An example would be the Anteater assault rifle. No matter where you were in the world, the weapon was a 60cm caseless bullpup with a built-in grenade launcher and a magazine of 30 7.62x51mm rounds. While they were variants, all used the same parts and operated the same. In a way, it was the same with swords, spears and archery. Maybe some variance in techniques.

Shaking his head, he watched as the forces continued with their drills with some hope spiking inside him. He had no interest in seeing the Imperial win, nor did he expect them do. They were just cannon fodder for his main plan. He had found some of his old friends in jail and moved them into… strategic positions in the Imperial army. They had been 'acquiring' weapons and gold for a particular purpose. But it wouldn't do well the tell the Emperor that. He might get away with this plan.

He continued to walk though the formations making minor corrections with some of the soldiers. But always making plans inside his mind about what to do, making plans in his mind.

OOOOO

The northern nations were cold but that was suitable for the Vampire nations that sat there. Unlike the nations to the south, they largely remained at pace and kept to themselves. But they did trade for others. Things like information, technology, resources and territory were always in demand. Now with the Demon Bugs making a move, that demand had turned to EDF military resources. While vampires weren't weak, far from it, the problem was that only applied to individuals not their nations as a whole.

When it came to vampires, age was power. The longer one lived, the more that vampire would lean and the greater their power would become. A newly born vampire, either naturally or bitten, would be more or less a superhuman with an aversion to sunlight and blood drinking tendencies. They would be weak compared to a vampire of 50 or 100 years. But even they wouldn't be able to stand the hordes of alien monsters that the bugs were bringing to the table.

It was a problem that the EDF knew well. During World War 2, the Axis had access to the most powerful and advanced tanks at the time. But when they were few and expensive when compared to the cheaply made and massed produced Sherman, those advanced tanks crumbled. It was a question of quantity over quality. That wasn't to say that there weren't other factors involved, such as material, fuel, resources, manpower and more. But it was one of the factors involved.

The Vampires were, effectively, Axis tanks and the Bugs were Shermans. They needed a counter in order to offset the numbers involved. Which was where the EDF came in. While they didn't have the numbers, they did have the experience and technology that would be able to help the vampires.

Countess Venessa smiled as she watched from the helicopter as EDF vehicles landed and deployed outside her castle. She had sent word in advance and her personal guard worked with the troopers being deployed. Crates and machines she had never seen before were unloaded and moved into positions while other EDF troopers moved into town.

The countess just watched with interest as they moved with purpose. It was clear that they knew what they were doing. The helicopter landed, Sleena was the first off, her team volowed by Venessa and a Australian commander.

"We need a room to use as a command post," he said. "We also need to talk to the other counts about seeing up outposts in their territory,"

Vanessa nodded. "I understand and will send word as soon as soon as I can," she said as she led the group into the castle. "As for a command room, you can use the dining room," as she spoke, she led them into a large rectangular room. "I hardly ever use it for dining outside of dealing with human or demi-human dignitaries,"

"Fair enough," the commander said as he walked into the room and looked around.

"Are you ok mistress? It was a long flight," Sleena asked as the commander looked around.

The commander just smiled. "I'm good. Just a little shaky from the ride. I'm more interested in you, are you feeling light headed? Hungry? Light seeming brighter?"

Now that the vampire mentioned it, Sleena did notice and nodded. Vanessa nodded as well before looking over one of the maids who stood by a door. The woman nodded and walked over and held out her hand to Sleena. Venessa pulled the slave back exposing the wrist to the EDF soldier.

"The virus that creates a vampire works better when injected to the neck. That way it can permeate the brain and take over. But if you inject it anywhere else the anti-bodies of the body react and attack the virus quickly. In done enough times, then a person becomes immune to the virus. This allows us to feed on them without risking them turning into more vampires," she said. "But you still need to be aware of how much blood you take,"

Sleena swallowed as she looked at the exposed flesh. "The human body contains between 8-10 pints of blood," she said as she stepped forward.

"Indeed, and we vampires only need 2 pints every 3 days. But we take 2 every day to keep on top of it," Venessa said.

Taking the maid's arm Sleena's fangs extended while she pulled the wrist to her mouth. After a lick, she sank her fangs into the maids tanned flesh, piercing it and letting the blood flow into her. The mind winced but otherwise stood motionless as the soldier drank from her. The commander returned and watched as his soldier drank. He swallowed before looking to Venessa.

"The room will do, when can we expect the other counts to respond to a summons?" he asked.

"A day to send the messengers, a day or two for all of them to arrive," the vampire said.

"Would it be quicker to send a message both ways and one of our vehicles to go pick them up?" the commander asked taking a glance at Sleena.

"Yes, that would be quick. I shall inform them to be aware of a new method," she smiled before the maid grunted and tried to pull away.

Both the commander and vampire looked to Sleena who had developed red eyes. "Shit," Venessa said as she moved quickly to slam her first against the soldier's head.

That pushed her off the maid and Venessa moved to knock the woman out with a quick blow to the head. Sleena fell down in a heap while the other maids came up to assist the maid who was being fed on.

As they did so Venessa cursed in her native language. "Should have seen this coming," she muttered and she got down to check if she did any major damage.

"Problems feeding?" the commander asked and the vampire nodded.

"New vampires tend to be hit and miss when it comes to feeding. Some can control their urges while others cannot," she said with a sigh as the maids picked Sleena up. "It's nothing to worry about, but I will need to train her how to feed and control herself," she stood and looked to the commander. "I may have to take her for a few days so that she can control that urge,"

The commander nodded back. "I had orders that basically said something similar. We have concerns that people will want to become vampires, so we need to develop policies based around that," he shrugged. "That and future recruits being vampires,"

Venessa smiled. "Well, then I'm happy to help,"

OOOOO

Itami read the report while the mages continued to clean up the corpses of the demon bungs. But most of them dragged the more intact specimens to their labs. Which wasn't a surprise. During the war, scientists did their best to grab whatever corpses they could get their hands on for experimentation. While they were discouraged from doing so, the EDF basically said 'let them, but protect them'. The same orders effectively applied to mages as they had a similar desire for knowledge. The only difference was that mages had magic, but that didn't mean much to the EDF forces who grouped up with the mages for added protection.

"Is something wrong?" Rory asked as she noticed the look on Itami's face.

"Yeah, in the past, before the war, we have these paramilitary groups who sold drugs among other things. Narcotics that effected people badly. These groups were called the Cartels and effectively rand the nations that they were stationed in. After the first war, the UN council decided that there could be no other terrestrial threats. That forced other nation to disband their armies and have their forces join the EDF. This included mercenary groups, but it was the militarised criminal organisation that's the problem," he explained not stopping for any air.

"I assume that these 'Cartels' were part of the problem," Leiei asked Itami nodded.

"They were, they had high end military equipment and were looking to get their hands of EDF tech, something we couldn't have," he replied.

"And you couldn't have that so you destroyed them?" Rory smiled.

Itami nodded with a sigh. "Looks like some took some chances with getting into the EDF," he pulled back and rubbed the back of his head. "Ahhh and I wanted to read the new manga," he moaned.

The two girls next to him just shook their heads while Talos walked up. "Mr Itami, I cannot thank you enough for you and the EDF's help," he said with a bow.

Itami shrugged and bowed as well. "It's of no consequence," he replied. "However, I need to leave as I have new orders,"

"New orders?" the Arch-mage asked with some surprise. "What for?"

Itami's expression became dark in a single moment as he looked at the elf. "The EDF does not take lightly to traitor," he said, his voice betraying his anger and fury at those who would be betray humanity, betray the EDF.

Deep down, he wanted to read the latest manga making his heart weep. But in order to do so, he had to kill a traitor first.