Page 162 of Claim of Blood
Outside the Night Court’s walls, opinion is more fractured.
Local witch covens and shapeshifter packs have maintained strict silence, though sources suggest emergency meetings have been held across the supernatural community. “Everyone’swatching to see how the vampires handle this,” said one anonymous supernatural resident. “If they fall, we all fall.”
I spoke with former residents of Innsbrook, the once-affluent neighborhood now home to the Court’s central estate. After the reveal, most humans vacated in a slow, fearful trickle. But some, like 83-year-old Donald Whitaker, stayed.
“They never bothered me,” Whitaker told me from his porch, coffee in hand and hunting dog snoring at his feet. “Hell, they paid their HOA dues early. Didn’t throw wild parties. Now everyone’s run off, acting like the devil himself moved in.”
Do you feel unsafe now? I asked.
Whitaker squinted at me. “I feel unsafe when people like you start knocking on doors with a tablet and a camera.”
Then Whitaker told me to get off his porch.
Not everyone shares Whitaker’s calm. Sarah Chen, who moved her family to Kansas City last month, told me by phone: “How do you sleep at night knowing there are creatures that could drain you dry living next door? How do you trust your own government when they’ve been hiding this for God knows how long?”
As I left the Nocturne building, I noticed something the federal agents probably missed: every entrance was equipped with new security scanners. When I asked building security about them, I was told they were “standard upgrades.”
In the new world we’re all learning to navigate, “standard” doesn’t mean what it used to.
Article #3
“This Is Our World”: An Interview with Stefan von Rothenburg
By Eleanor Hayes, Senior National Affairs Correspondent
TheWallStreetJournal
August11 | Opinion & Analysis | Front Page Feature
WASHINGTON, D.C.— As global markets adjust to the reality of vampires, witches, and shifters living among us, the political divide surrounding the “supernatural issue” is rapidly widening. In certain circles, one name keeps surfacing—an old name, often whispered, now spoken aloud on the floor of Congress: the Rothenburgs.
The centuries-old family of supernatural hunters—long believed to be nothing more than folklore—has reemerged with a message. And Stefan von Rothenburg, current field commander of the North American branch, has stepped forward to deliver it.
We met at a secure facility outside Boston, where I was searched three times and made to sign an NDA I am told is now void. Von Rothenburg, a tall man with frost-gray hair and an athlete’s build, did not rise when I entered. He simply nodded.
“Welcome to the part of the world no one wanted to believe existed,” he said.
The rest of our conversation unfolded much like that first sentence: measured, direct, and deeply unsettling.
Eleanor Hayes: What would you say to Americans who’ve woken up over the six weeks and realized they’ve been sharing their neighborhoods, their schools, their governments with supernatural entities?
Stefan von Rothenburg: I’d say you haven’t been “sharing” anything. You’ve been fed on. Manipulated. Studied. You just didn’t know it yet.
Hayes: That’s a bold claim.
Von Rothenburg: Is it? Vampires don’t just feed. They lure. They draw you in. They look like us, talk like us, love like us—until they don’t. Until you’re beneath them and you realize you never had a choice.
He folds his hands on the table, his eyes sharp.
Von Rothenburg: These aren’t neighbors. These aren’t colleagues. These are predators. And the world is their feeding ground.
Hayes: Can you provide examples of this alleged manipulation?
Von Rothenburg: Look at your own government. Senator Vance has been voting on defense appropriations for six years. How many of those votes benefited vampire interests? How many contracts went to companies with supernatural ties? We’re conducting a full audit now.
[His voice grows heated] Nocturne Intelligence has access to centuries of insider information. Trade secrets. Government communications. They’ve been positioned to manipulate markets before your great-grandparents were born. How do you compete with that kind of advantage?
Throughout the interview, von Rothenburg repeatedly referred to the supernatural as “infiltrators,” “instinct-driven,” and “subversive.” When asked about the possibility of peaceful coexistence, his tone turned paternal.
