Shizuka looked at the now-kneeling Vampire in shock.
The way he had knelt looked…completely unnatural.
Rather than a conscious choice, the man had looked like a puppet whose strings had become abruptly cut.
Muka turned back to Shizuka.
"What I have just used is known as the 'Influence Skill'," she replied. "It's a Skill that only we possess, and is, in simplest terms, a form of mind control. According to Faye, she used this very Skill on you earlier tonight, and while in your trance-like state, you told her something rather interesting."
Shizuka's eyes widened.
Her mind flashed back to how just before Sergeant Faye had bitten her, she had felt as though she had blacked out, a noticeable gap in her memory.
Now, she knew why.
Immediately, her face hardened, and she snapped her head over at Sergeant Faye.
"Did she now?" she asked in a low snarl.
Sergeant Faye felt a cold sweat go down her back, and she glanced away nervously.
Seeing Faye's reaction, Shizuka's hands tightened to the point that her skin turned white and her fingernails dug into her skin.
It was taking every ounce of willpower Shizuka had not to slap Sergeant Faye across the face right now for such an act of outright betrayal.
"And just what secrets did I spill while I was…under the effect of this 'Influence Skill'?" Shizuka asked, still staring daggers at Sergeant Faye. "And…tell me why I shouldn't cut this traitor down where she stands?"
Sergeant Faye felt her heart jump at Shizuka's words, but she honestly couldn't blame her.
Given her actions tonight, as well as what Muka had just told Shizuka, Sergeant Faye probably did look like a spy at best, and a traitor at worst.
"Fear not, Hikiko Shizuka," Muka replied in a placating tone. "Faye Dallum is not a traitor to this 'Military Base' of yours. As a matter of fact, I really have no interest in the on-goings among you Humans…as long as it doesn't threaten the exposure of our existence."
Shizuka turned back to Muka.
"What are you, some kind of Secret Society?" she asked.
Muka remained quiet for a moment.
"In a way, I guess that would be…accurate," she replied.
Shizuka heard a weary sigh from next to her.
"Shizuka, I'm not…Human anymore," Sergeant Faye replied.
Shizuka glanced over to her out of the corner of her side, and saw Sergeant Faye looking away again.
Sergeant Faye turned back to Shizuka, and when she did, Shizuka's eyes widened when she saw that Faye's eyes had become a blood-red color.
"I'm…a Vampire," she replied.
Shizuka remained quiet for a moment as she looked at Sergeant Faye, taking her words in.
"Vampire," she repeated, before turning back to Muka.
"So Vampires…are real," she replied.
While Shizuka wasn't a walking Vampire encyclopedia like Layla, she was…familiar with them.
Being quite popular in the pop culture of the old world, she had seen them appear several times in various digital entertainment she had seen Tsukuru enjoying when she had traveled to the Green Family Estate to check up on him.
She had even seen them pop up in a few of the movies that she had watched herself on her own time.
Shizuka's face hardened.
"I knew it," she muttered in a low tone.
Her words put everyone in the room on edge.
Shizuka's head snapped towards Sergeant Faye.
"I KNEW that there was something going on with you!" she yelled in an accusatory tone. "You've been acting strange EVER SINCE YOU RETURNED TO THE BASE FROM THAT FAILED 'SALVAGE MISSION'!"
Sergeant Faye remained quiet for a moment.
She was gritting her teeth, and her fists were tightening to the point that her skin turned white.
"Of course I've been 'acting strange'," she replied in a low tone.
Shizuka's eyes widened slightly, as she could feel a tense atmosphere begin to exude off of Faye.
"How could I not be?!" Faye roared, letting out all of her bottled anger, frustration, and annoyance that she had been holding in since the last time she had left this castle. "Do you have any idea what this has been like for me?! I can't eat food anymore, and it takes every ounce of my willpower to reign in the part of me that wants me to rip apart every person I come into close proximity with, drying them dry! I feel like I've lost a whole part of me! It's like waking up in the morning, and suddenly being a completely different SPECIES!"
Sergeant Faye began breathing in and out, trying to rapidly calm herself down.
The entire room went silent from Faye's outburst.
Shizuka looked genuinely stunned as she stared at Sergeant Faye.
She honestly never thought that she would see the calm, composed, cool-headed Sergeant act like this.
The other Vampires in the room all looked at Faye with looks of disgust, them all seeing her as being ungrateful.
However, these Vampires had the benefit of being naturally-born Vampires, like Muka.
For them, being Vampires was all they had ever known, so they didn't have anything else to compare it to.
As such, they could never understand what Sergeant Faye was feeling.
Sitting on her throne, Muka remained silent for a moment.
'Honestly, I'm surprised that it took this long,' she thought to herself.
Usually, when a Human is turned into a Vampire, they have this kind of breakdown with in the first few hours.
The fact that Sergeant Faye had been able to hold it in this long just showed how disciplined she was.
Shizuka stared at Sergeant Faye for a moment.
She was…unsure of what to say exactly.
Eventually, she decided to ignore her for the moment, and turned back to Muka.
"If you 'don't care about our goings-on', then why do you have a SPY implanted on our base?" she asked. "Are you 'keeping tabs' on us, making sure we don't grow powerful enough to become a THREAT to you?"
Five of the Vampires around Muka all had to suppress a snort, choking it down, though a fragment of the sound still escaped their throats.
The idea of Humans ever "becoming a THREAT" to them sounded downright LAUGHABLE.
However, the Vampire who had been in charge of watching the unconscious Shizuka wasn't laughing.
He still remembered how easily Shizuka had been able to incapacitate him, pinning him to the wall of the room with that "Earth Wall" before the man could even react.
Sergeant Faye, having now composed herself once again, let out a sigh, her shoulders slumped.
Muka remained quiet for a moment.
"Certain…actions at your base have…given me great concern as of late," she replied. "You see, there is a certain Beast Planet who we Vampires use as a 'trial of passage' for our children and subjects. We had thought that we had driven you Humans off of it quite some time ago. Yet, our sensors tell us that you have visited this planet not once, but TWICE in the last few weeks."
Shizuka's face scrunched up into a look of confusion.
"She's talking about the recent 'Red Portal' incident, Shizuka," Sergeant Faye replied, causing Shizuka to glance over to her. "...as well as the subsequent failed 'Salvage Mission'."
Shizuka's eyes tightened.
"So that's why you wanted the Portal to Pioletic moved and locked away," she replied in a sharp tone. "You were following the orders of your NEW master, you filthy turncoat."
Sergeant Faye let out a weary sigh, and pinched the bridge of her nose.
Her head was starting to hurt, like a stress migraine.
"Just because I'm a member of the Ninth Family now doesn't mean that I've turned my back on the military!" she shot back. "My loyalties are now just…divided."
Shizuka looked unconvinced.
"And what happens when you receive an order that threatens the base?!" she asked harshly.
She turned back to Muka and glared at her.
"If he told you to assassinate Head-General Paul, would you?"
Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes.
"Shizuka, you seem to be under some kind of misconception," Sergeant Faye replied. "You're treating the Vampires the same way you would treat agents of Pure."
Shizuka tightened her fists.
"And?" she asked sharply. "What of it? How are they any different?!"
Sergeant Faye let out an exhale of air, acting like an adult who was getting tired of arguing with a difficult child.
"I do not know what this 'Pure' you speak of is," Muka replied, causing both Shizuka and Sergeant Faye to turn to her. "But I can assure you that, as long as it does not threaten the exposure of our existence, I will never give Faye an order like that."
She turned to look at Sergeant Faye directly.
"After all, if I held you Humans in so little regard, Faye wouldn't even be standing here right now," she replied.