All eyes are locked upon Felicia as they silently await with bated breath for the witch to fulfill her promise and reveal all. Meanwhile, by the witch's visage, she appears to be pondering. After a few minutes of silence, she utters aloud...
"Let's see; where to begin?" She quickly scans about at all those present in the study and realizes that she has everyone's full attention. "I suppose the best place to start would be to confirm that Gamma Ray was correct in his assumption that the werewolf child is indeed the daughter of the luna of the recently massacred Shadow Hunter Pack..." Felicia takes a moment to take in a breath. "And … yes … it's true, the Demon Lord is adamant about finding out her whereabouts; and has his underlings and minions frantically scouring this world to discover her location."
Despite the fact that they had their suspicions of this all along, this revelation is still a lot to take in; and the silence that was already prevalent in the room has become even more stifling. Felicia, realizing this, takes a brief pause before explaining...
"This is why it took three months to get them here. It was decided that if they were brought here directly from Romania the demons would be able to easily pick up on their travel route and trace them to you. To prevent this from happening … at least to the best of our abilities … a complex plan was meticulously thought out and devised; with multiple measures and counter-measures ready to be implemented at a moment's notice depending upon the current situation at the time."
Beta Stephen interjects, "And, thus the need for all the secrecy and covert-like behavior..." He quips, "This sounds more like a Black-Ops mission instead of just transporting some kids."
Felicia chuckles, "You have no idea." She looks as if she's taking a brief moment of reflection. "Then again, I suppose I don't either. From what I was told by the heads of our coven, there were multiple parties of escorts that were passing 'the package' ..." She looks to Teresa to explain. "That's the code term they referred the three of them as, 'the package'" She continues, "Anyway, 'the package' was passed on and off to the different teams … us being the last team obviously … and it's our understanding that each team had no idea what the previous or next team was assigned to do. They were only informed about their own part in the transport."
Gamma Ray inquires, "Excuse me, Felicia, not to sidetrack from what you've been telling us; but I heard that … although then again, if the information was accurate … anyway … I heard that a few weeks before the demon attack, the Holy Guardians of the Realm had taken some of the breeders and all of the pack's children to Vatican City; offering them protection from the Demon Lord. So, assuming the information was accurate, why wasn't the luna's daughter sent with them?"
Felicia answers to the best of her ability. "Bear in mind that this is only speculation on our part, but our best guess is that the luna didn't want her daughter taken in by the Holy Guardians of the Realm. It's pretty well-known that the luna never approved of their policy of using Acrilian werewolves as their own personal weapons in the fight against the demons." After a brief pause, "Besides, when you think about it, if the luna did send her daughter to Vatican City with them, surely knowing this the Demon Lord would send his forces there after her. As far as we can tell … besides wiping out the last existing Acrilian werewolf pack … one of the main goals of the Demon Lord is to kill the luna's daughter."
"But why?" Teresa asks Felicia, "I don't understand; she's just a baby … why is he so hellbent on killing her? I just don't see the point of it."
"Teresa, how knowledgeable are you about Acrilian werewolves?"
"Admittedly … probably not that much. I do know that their breed are highly skilled fighters; especially when it comes to fighting demons."
Felicia clarifies, "Actually, not just fighting, but also detecting, hunting down, and killing demons. One could say that Acrilian werewolves are the apex predators when it comes to eradicating demons … which is why they've always been seen as the biggest threat to demon kind; and why the demons are fervent over eliminating them. That alone would be reason enough for the Demon Lord wanting to hunt down any surviving Acrilian werewolves."
Teresa mutters, "I suppose."
"But that child is a luna's daughter … the last existing Acrilian werewolf luna's daughter..." Felicia goes on to explain, "Thus, destined as the next luna. … Teresa, the Acrilian werewolf breed consists of only she-wolves; and, with the exception of the pack's luna, there are only two types, breeders and fighters … fighters making up the majority. The breeders are responsible for the procreation of the pack; self-reproducing asexually, giving birth to anywhere from one to three she-pups on average every other year between the age of sixteen and thirty-five. However, as the exception, the luna will give birth to only one daughter during her lifetime after the age of thirty; and this child becomes the next luna of their pack."
"So, following that logic, she'll eventually have a daughter of her own after thirty; and, that child will also be destined to be a luna."
Elder Elliot unceremoniously chimes in, "Yes, they'll be destined lunas without packs; considering that the Demon Lord's forces wiped out the last known Acrilian werewolf pack." He looks to Felicia. "Tell me something, you wouldn't happen to know if there happen to be any other lunas left in Vatican City with the Holy Guardians of the Realm?"
"No; as far as we know whenever an Acrilian werewolf pack agreed to hand over some of their pack members to join the werewolf force under the Holy Guardians of the Realm, it was mostly fighters, with an occasional breeder, or two … but, never a luna to be; for obvious reasons."
"Hmm; I see … interesting." The elder displays a Machiavellian-like visage as he slowly rubs his chin between his thumb and index finger; looking as if he were plotting some devious scheme. "So, I suppose the Holy Guardians of the Realm weren't too happy about losing their last chance of getting their hands on the daughter of an Acrilian werewolf child. When you think about it, one could most assuredly assume that that child would be considered an enviable, prized possession without a doubt."
Speaking now in a tone which clearly indicates that she's leery of the intent behind the elder's last comment, Felicia hesitantly replies...
"Well … yeah … they obviously weren't too happy over the luna's refusal to send her daughter with the other children from what I heard. Again, though it's merely our speculation, they clearly were hoping to finally get a luna in their ranks." Felicia looks to the alpha. "That being said, Alpha Julian; should they happen to find out one day that she's here, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they tried to reach out and negotiate with the Rainier Pack to take her into their custody." A distinctively nefarious smirk emerges upon that already Machiavellian-like visage of the elder, as he mumbles under his breath...
"My, wouldn't that make for interesting negotiations. Surely, we could receive some pretty valuable favors from them."
The elder is now so lost in his scheming thoughts that he's unaware that the alpha's sister is menacingly ambling over towards him. She comes up beside the elder and firmly grasps onto his earlobe; then yanks his head over towards her mouth, and threateningly whispers in his ear...
"Listen to me; and listen good, you old, conniving scalawag of a wolf … don't even think about using my daughter as some sort of bargaining chip for whatever greedy little plans you may concoct in that pea brain of yours; because if I ever even suspect that you're plotting anything, I swear to the Moon Goddess herself, I'll rip your head off from its neck. Got it?"
Wincing from the excruciating pain, the elder squeals out a whimpering, "Got it."
The alpha walks up behind his sister and firmly places his hand on her shoulder; not to hurt or subdue her, but just as a way of getting her attention...
"That will be enough, Teresa. I believe that Elder Elliot has suffered enough at your hands tonight; don't you think?"
"Okay … if you say so, Julian." Before she releases his ear, Teresa leans back in and whispers, "But I'll be watching you … so, don't go doing anything that could bring harm to any of my children." She pushes him away, then walks over beside Felicia.
"Relax, Teresa..." The alpha walks up behind the elder … who is now gently rubbing on his aching ear in an attempt to ease the pain … and lightly pats on his back as he assures his sister, "No one is going to be making any concessions with the Holy Guardians of the Realm. No self-respecting werewolf would have any dealings with those pious zealots … am I right; Elder Elliot?"
The elder quickly concedes, "Yes, my alpha, you are right."
"Good. I'm glad that we're all on the same page now."
The alpha heads over and steps behind the large mahogany desk; taking a seat in the wing chair. Assuming that familiar seemingly laid-back, but also regal-looking, positioning of leaning back into the chair, and then crossing his right calf over his left thigh; the alpha once again methodically taps his fingers upon the chair's arms. He looks at Felicia...
"And, now that we cleared up the matter with the werewolf child … moving on to our next matter of discussion … the dampyrs."