Sergey, who had just returned from the city where he had spent a lot of time over the past few days, didn't let the triumvirs get any sleep.
— Ghouls! All the western kingdoms are suffering from them!
This is how the vampires learned about the recent events in the world. Both leaders were shocked by what was happening.
— Are they spreading like a virus? — Konstantin asked for clarification.
— From what we've heard, yes. Besides drinking human blood, some of them are turning people, which makes the situation resemble an epidemic.
— Ghoul-apocalypse, damn it, — the young man swore.
— Almost. Only they call themselves vampires, not ghouls. That term was introduced by Maria for our internal use to distinguish us from them. The affected territories are at the borders of Valeria, Tossal, and Orod. The magicians had the biggest problems, but they managed to fend them off and, according to unconfirmed reports, destroyed many of the vampire squads. King Heinrich is pulling the army away from the Elur borders to fight the ghouls. Things are bad in Orod, and several provinces have been lost immediately. In Tossal, it seems they are managing to keep the invasion near the borders and prevent the enemy from advancing deeper into the country.
— Wait! The ghouls call themselves vampires? — Kostya (Konstantin) looked terrifying; his face had turned pale, his eyes glazed over, and his mouth was twitching.
— Yes.
— We're doomed! — The triumvir sat in a chair, cradling his head in his hands.
— Why? — Eugene, who had been silent until then, stared at Konstantin in confusion, clearly not understanding his distressed state.
— Don't you get it? Everyone thinks of them as vampires! If anyone finds out that we are vampires, they will come at us with all their might!
— And before, they would have showered us with flowers? — The more senior triumvir reacted to his comrade's hysteria with barely concealed sarcasm.
— No, of course not. We didn't have such a horrible reputation before. Even if we call ourselves something else, the name "vampire" is now tainted forever! We won't be able to negotiate with the locals and live in peace! — The young man threw his hands up towards the ceiling in frustration and, standing up, quickly walked to the window.
— Changing the names of the beds in a brothel won't change anything, Kostya. No matter what we call ourselves, we drink human blood, and it doesn't matter what else we do or what we are called. People won't tolerate it. But Sasha was right.
— What was he right about?! What was he right about!?
— Calm down already! — Eugene snapped sternly at his comrade. — And Sasha (Alexander) was right — we didn't end up in this world by chance. And even our attempts not to kill anyone didn't change the situation. The locals, having gained our powers, are quite good at killing each other.
— Our attempts were doomed from the start. — Sergey soothingly patted Konstantin on the shoulder. — Alexander was always an idealist and he's great at believing in people and convincing others to believe in the best within us. And that's good. But there will always be a rotten apple. And we had several right from the start!
Everyone nodded in agreement.
— Yulia! — Eugene waited for the secretary to peek into the office. — Call Oleg! Urgently! Wake him up if you have to!
The girl nodded and disappeared; her hurried footsteps were heard fading away through the closing door.
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