Chapter 95: Alex – Blood Debts Must Be Paid in Blood. It's Time to Collect.

In Underworld, Amelia was barely more than a background character—a glorified extra.

She died almost instantly upon appearing, ripped apart by a pack of werewolves led by Lucian. They drained her blood dry, giving her a death so swift and unceremonious, it seemed like she had no narrative weight whatsoever.

She came off as pathetically weak.

But the truth was far from that.

Amelia held an extraordinarily high status within her vampire lineage—second only to Marcus and Viktor.

And her actual strength?

Nowhere near as feeble as it looked on screen.

After all, how could someone like that become an Elder?

"Mr. Alex, excuse me, but could I take a look at the Sovereign Ring?"

Amelia stepped forward without any pleasantries, cutting straight to the chase.

"Of course. Feel free to examine it."

Alex handed her the ring without hesitation.

Amelia gave it a brief but focused inspection, and almost immediately, her expression darkened.

She glanced at Alex, and her entire demeanor shifted.

Then she bit her finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the ring.

The instant it touched the surface, it was absorbed like water into a sponge.

And in that moment—

Amelia felt it. A crushing, undeniable suppression rooted deep in her bloodline.

"Amelia pays her respects to the Supreme One," she said, eyes wide in shock as she bowed deeply.

Kraven, who had been standing beside her, also froze. Realizing what this meant, he bowed at once, matching Amelia's respectful posture.

Alex gave a faint nod and leisurely took his ring back.

Then, with a calm air, he said, "Dracula told me that from now on, I'm your master. I wonder—do his words still carry weight among your people?"

A cold sweat broke out across Amelia's forehead.

Dracula wasn't just any vampire—he was their Progenitor. A sacred, untouchable figure worshipped across all undead clans.

And yet this man before her spoke of him with casual familiarity.

More importantly, Dracula had personally entrusted the Sovereign Ring to this man. That said more than words ever could.

Could it be that Alex had taken the ring by force?

Amelia didn't even consider that possibility.

Because it was simply impossible. Utter fantasy.

Dracula was the strongest being in existence, a godlike force no one could hope to challenge.

Who could've possibly accomplished something so absurd?

"You must be joking, Supreme One," Amelia said quickly, "On behalf of our entire undead lineage, I pledge our loyalty to you."

"Good."

Alex was quite satisfied with her response.

Without hesitation, he issued his first orders.

"Two things. First, I need a place to stay. Second, I need you to investigate someone for me."

"What would you have us do, Supreme One?" Amelia asked at once.

"William Stryker. Military rank: Major—or maybe Lieutenant Colonel. I forget.

Anyway, he has a secret research base on an island somewhere. I want you to find the exact location of that base."

Since things with the Black King had finally wrapped up, it was time to settle accounts with Stryker.

And if possible, maybe trigger a new mission along the way.

Alex had originally planned to ask Charles for help using Cerebro, but plans rarely go unchanged.

Who would've thought he and Charles would part ways so soon?

Given the circumstances, asking Charles for help again was out of the question.

That was why Alex had made it a priority to take control of this undead clan.

Sure, his powers had skyrocketed, and his super hearing could now cover far greater distances.

But he wasn't Superman—just 35% of Homelander.

People plotted to kill Homelander all the time in The Boys, but he never heard a whisper of it.

Even now, Alex's hearing only just managed to cover all of New York.

He'd tried to pinpoint Stryker, but came up empty.

Which meant: time to fall back on traditional intel-gathering methods.

"A military officer?"

Amelia's face darkened with concern.

"Supreme One, I'm afraid this may be beyond our current reach."

"Indeed," she added. "Over the years, we've developed some influence in human society—but the military is another beast entirely. Penetrating their ranks is nearly impossible."

"You're not lying to me?"

Alex's eyes gleamed with a piercing intensity as he locked gazes with her.

That didn't match what he remembered about vampires.

In the Marvel universe, vampires had their fangs sunk deep into every level of human society.

"I swear by Dracula himself, every word I've said is true."

Amelia smiled bitterly.

"Our clan isn't one of the major lineages. In truth, we're only considered a mid-tier group."

"Even counting all our safehouses and this castle, we barely number over three hundred."

Alex frowned slightly.

It seemed he'd made some incorrect assumptions—either due to flawed intelligence or simple bias.

Vampires weren't a monolith.

They were split into many clans and factions.

This particular clan from Underworld had barely 300 members—far less influence than he'd expected.

And of course, his impressions were based on the modern era—decades from now.

This was still the 1960s. Context mattered.

Alex gave a small nod.

It was clear now that relying on this clan alone to find Stryker's hidden base wasn't realistic.

But that didn't mean he was out of options.

If they couldn't locate the base, then what about the man?

And there was someone out there who knew exactly where that secret island was.

The gambit.

In the Wolverine storyline, Logan had stormed Stryker's base with gambit leading the way.

Even if Stryker remained out of reach, there were still backup plans.

"In that case," Alex said after a moment's thought, "I want you to track down William Stryker's whereabouts as quickly as possible."

Even if they were just a mid-sized clan, they'd existed since the fifth century.

They'd been operating in America for hundreds of years.

Given that much time, it was inevitable they'd planted roots across all sectors of human society.

Their influence couldn't be underestimated.

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