"What no villain warnings this time?" Mother said when she entered the magical sisters room, face still icy like usual, but with the telltale sign of wrinkles at the side of her eyes. So she had heard the warnings last time before she entered. Nelly pondered if mother had been chuckling inside last time, or gotten angrier.
"I didn't think it proper with actual villains running around." Lina said, and gave up the struggle to escape from Nelly's grip. Fair, thought Nelly, in fact Nelly promoted it to a good idea.
"This seems the best place to find you three without making it a big hassle. Mind if we talk some more official stuff?" Mother said and continued after getting approval. "Walsh has been on the move and now officially taken control of the mine. With what little I had time to prepare espionage wise I only got out that they seemed very interested in some of the byproducts."
"For what use?" Lina said, always the impatient one, not letting mother get to it on her own speed.
"That I am not so certain of, the two options that keep coming up are some obscure military tech we abandoned or then brain chips." Mother said and duly noted the change in facial expressions in the room. Nelly knew mother wouldn't ask like Lina, but wait to be told. Nelly explained the part about implants and the two companies, Biorito and Second Dawn. She skipped mentioning Lalage, too raw to talk about, but added in the facts about what she though Gideon had said.
"With this second piece of information I think its fair to assume they have some technological leap they think was worth all this trouble." Cathrin drew the conclusion from the facts. "With what they had done to Lalage, they are very deep in to creating their own soldiers. The next part is just conjecture, but if they could then produce a chip to harness their soldiers with loyalty, it might be a play that is worth for them, to take all this risk for."
The four thought about the news in silence. A new level to warfare, a new tier of equipment lead without a doubt to some military aggression. There was almost no scenario where they wouldn't wish to test it out. Nelly considered the fact that in the future they could be targeted by their own loved ones. If someone got captured they could be turned against them. It wasn't entirely new of course, Nelly as a vampire knew it best, she could with enough feedings turn someone in to a complete puppet.
"I'll inform the Master of Secrets about this. Then tell me about Dove" Mother said and stood still radiating her trademark regal aura.
"We think the organization's information gathering is unsalvageable. There are too many hands that control the pie. The peace troops can probably be used in other divisions." Lina said and looked at Cathrin for support. Cathrin smiled and nodded her approval.
"Shame they have come to the end, but we did need some big changes to help some restlessness in the people. We will disband them and announce it officially as your first order. Good job Lina." Mother said and cracked a small smile her way. Lina melted in Nelly's arms, with her cutesy pixie cut only enhancing the warmth in Nelly's chest.
"What we haven't been able to find out yet, is the identity of Oracle and Beggar" Cathrin said.
"Why are you asking about Oracle?" Mother said, voice colder than usual. A light twinge of vampire energy clutched at Nelly's chest. The other girls seemed to fare worse and mother didn't seem to be pulling back her power. Nelly considered if telling her mother or testing something out was better. Minute applications of vampiric power wasn't Nelly's strong suit, but she thought this was a great place to try it.
Nelly closed her eyes, pulled out some vampiric energy from her heart and tried her best to imagine it as a blanket. Soon in front of her, she saw a translucent red veil. Now the easy part was done, now to stop the current of crimson energy with a twinge of silver, mother was exuding. With a few beads of sweat dropping on her forehead she managed to cover both sisters, and saw the current of magical energy be dispersed by the blanket. Nelly opened her eyes again and was happy to find both sisters had lost their pained expressions.
"Oracle is the one who stamped his approval on private sales in the Black Market" Cathrin managed to say after gathering her breath, the pressure now gone from her. Nelly felt proud for managing to control her powers so much smoother than prior.
"I haven't told you girls this before, Oracle is what my mother by blood given called herself" Dana said and you could make out the heaviness in her words.
The room reeled from the shocking news, now that they had time to breathe. Mother had never really talked about her mother by blood given, she just told us that the prior Arbore leader wasn't quite so nice. When mother said someone wasn't very nice, it was quite probably one of the worst people in the world. Nelly wondered how different her life would have been under a mother that didn't care. Dana was after all Nelly's first and only mother that she had, even though she hadn't been born from her hips.
"I don't think it would shock you to know that my cold expressions are due to the environment I grew up in. I swore to never take your smiles away." Dana said, expression the slightest bit warmer than before. "That is why it hurt so much, when I couldn't let Lina continue her normal life."
Lina was bawling the second mother finished her sentences. Nelly squeezed her sister for a moment, before loosening her grip and giving a gentle shove. The crying sister traipsed her way to mother, gaining the closeness both of them needed.