The room where the actual meeting was taking place was like a part of another building. It looked like they tore down the entire building and built a new one in the same place but this room was untouched since the original skyscraper. By the looks sometime in the 50's. The walls were covered in thick mahogany and not just cheap boards entire wall was made of 4 pieces of at least an inch thick wood. ALL the walls were. The table was giant and made of now rare type of oak, but it was likely plentiful then. All Chairs were like mini ottomans and by the smell of them antique, this entire room reeked of money, old, old wealth. One might use the term generational wealth, but Rand had a pretty good idea whose cash it was. His Pack and the Third pack swept the room for the third time all seemed fine. He just had to accept some things were beyond his control. Both Corpses and the Pure teams already finished their sweeps minutes ago and he knew he was just holding things up. His jaw tightened as he gave the sign. Everyone moved out but him, there was no way he was leaving the room empty for a second. 8 hidden cameras ensured him that others were watching just as closely. As per some signal, Three doors opened and members of his pack brought in Trumvrat, while Anasthasia and her gaggle brought in members of Eclysiarhy. Finally, the Pure Rand knew only like Elysah Brough in members of the Prime with his group. Anders Stood on the right side of Septa Mhyrr, Gar right of Spiritwalker Elysa, and Rand right of the wheelchair with Thane Varga. They all seemed physically so outmatched by their counterparts, Ecclesiarchy had five members, and the oldest one was a woman who looked at the end of her 30s which meant she was at least millennia old, well oldest looking than the High Count himself, of course, whose grays, at the perfectly done thick hair just accentuated his black hair. Perfect look of a still vital 50-year-old. No one knew for sure his age, although speculation ran rampant. Their intelligence managed to narrow it down to no less than 3,000 years. Rand was in his company more times than he cared to remember and he was pretty sure High Count Szabo was around before Christ was even a tear in his heavenly father's eye and saw both the rise and the fall of Rome, maybe helped out a bit. If things go south he was the priority target, Dona and Kai were to assist in taking Triumvrat out with Gar. Anders and I, well we were there to protect retreat until cavalry arrived. Five packs were already shifted in the hallway and if Corpses thought that hidden two inches of steel would buy them time they thought wrong. As soon as Triumvrat was safely out even the fly was to leave the building without my approval and a full-scale attack was to commence. The first five packs were all on High Count, some thought it overkill, and I on the other hand was pretty sure we wouldn't make it through alive. But that is not what a good leader says to his troops, I BS'd my way out of that one and just hoped we would be enough to keep him on the premises until the rest of Fangs were taken care of. Then was just a numbers game. Even High Count couldn't survive the constant pummelling of hundreds of Packs. He would fall.

His eyes briefly scanned the Pure. There were six of them. Or more precisely three pairs since each of we a husband and wife pairing. On the Right was a couple that if it weren't of their size could walk straight off Tolkiens Elf mythology. Incredibly fair skin, Both of them had hair slightly under a shoulder with a pair of braids making something like a crown around their forehead, hair was nearly golden more than just blond and their eyes were the clearest blue he had ever seen. He was certain they would give certain deceased Austrian painters an erection. Pair next to them and by that virtue in the middle had a skin color of the mahogany walls around them, only thing dividing them from their Subsaharan roots was their hair and eyes that were of the same color of gold and blue as their neighbors from either side, and to that point all the Pure. The pair on the far left were from Asia, small differences could hide it from most but the husband was Japanese and the wife Chinese. As the mentioned bodies go all Males were around 7 feet, encased in muscle, females were equally tall but their muscles were built for agility. The Pure as the myth goes were forefathers of all hybrids, they were first and they were truly immortal. They would stop aging at 35 and seemingly have it best of all of them. No downsides, no weaknesses, superstrength, superspeed. The only way of killing one is decapitation, which is significantly complicated when the only transformation they have is turning their outer layers into some sort of living stone. Rand saw Zwehander being broken on the neck of one without leaving a mark. other one tanking full 400 magazines of 50 cal minigun with only 400 pockmarks and a lot of stone dust to show for it, for third of the second before he had entire still red hot barrels of minigun shoved up the operator's ass all the way to the firing mechanism, gruesome way to die especially that wasn't what killed him. Minigunner being Corpse just hurt him very, very much. The Pure waited patiently until his own wounds healed and barrels cooled, stopping the smoldering stench coming from Vamp's mouth. Then ripped his head off. I wasn't sure about all that "our ancestors" part but for sure I never relished the prospect of fighting them. Fortunately, we stood in their good books, and aiding each other was not uncommon, but like all of us they had their rogues and sometimes they would wander into our backyard. Four times those rogues nearly killed me in one one-on-one, being saved last time by the arrival of the rest of my pack and half 7th pack. I managed to kill one...once. By in full War Form Standing on his shoulders and pulling and wrenching this way and that until finally, his head ripped off. It took me 15 minutes and quite a few broken bones later since he didn't go quietly into the night. After that. Spookpacks were sent after them since the best strategy is to behead them before they harden their skin. And "Hit them and leave before they know we're ever been there." is basically the motto of the Spookpacks.

High Count Szabo opened "I give the motion to start the meeting, all in favor?" nods go around the table "For the record High Table convened by who's request?" Previously coached by Thane I answered trying to keep all emotions out of my voice. "Rand Steffanson, Alpha of the First pack and overall Warchief of the Nations New York State Chapter." Anesthesia added, "The Motion was seconded by Anesthesia Sokolov Capitan of First Reaper squad, based on findings of our own Specialist." I was pleased I wasn't thrown under the bus after our spat in the hall. But the Captain was apparently far too professional for that. High Count nodded "Recorded. The meeting can start."

The opening was a pretty dry retelling of the previous events, also the main reason why after active duty I wasn't going the political route. This was mind-numbing. I noticed I wasn't the only one bored out of my mind, Anesthesia stood slightly behind the Ecclesiarchy with her hand at waist level one above the other, and tapped her small finger against the palm of her other hand as they were placed one above the other. Another tic, I might revise my theory that Corpses couldn't make new ones after death. It suddenly stopped. I raised my eyes just to find hers watching me. caught red-handed I gave a small shrug and covered my mouth from cameras and others pretending to scratch my stubble I didn't have time to shave and mouthed to her "Boring", surprisingly, she gave me a half smile and also almost imperceptibly nodded. Well, she was bred to be a warrior like I was, I doubted she enjoyed this much. Finally, we got to the new stuff. One of the Pure Primes whose name I forgot, a white male on the right asked. "Did the joint science team finish their findings?" Thane nodded and pressed the button on the table "Please let the scientist in." A small door to the side opened and three Humans walked in, I recognized the one who was with us in the shelter, our guy Lubov, and the third one was unknown to me, meaning he was most likely from the Pure. They stood in front of the large table dwarfed by its size they looked like three boys who misbehaved and now were facing consequences in the principal office. The dark-skinned male of the Pure asked, "So gentlemen have you reached a consensus?" All three nodded. Lubov took a step forward, he was a man in his 40s, predisposed to rotundness and baldness, he already had a badly disguised combover to hide a bald patch, I assumed he'd soon start to shave his head. His appearance aside as his a very frequent patient or visitor to one of my guys I knew him not only to have an extreme amount of patience with his sometimes rowdy patients but generally to be a kind man. "My colleague Dr. Perkins" he nods to the Vamp doctor, has done an incredibly thorough job on the field and all of his analyses were independently collaborated with Dr. Tariq and me. Together we got to work in the main laboratory and found a few important things, first what we believed to be a piece of the claw from the perpetrator, and second was one hair that could belong to him, actually, that is near certainty. "Could you explain that further Doctor?" Thane interrupted "Especially the part where Perkins missed so important evidence." added High Count looking at his specialist like he already thinking of the best ways to flay him. Even someone diagnosed to be a psychopath by me, someone with 0% of medical training got slightly paler and I heard his heartbeat elevate under his boss's gaze. "Dr. Tariq discovered them so I think it's best this part to be left to him." The man who stepped forward was of slight caramel complexion and youngest of three, maybe in his early 30s. Certainly quite a genius to be recruited by the Pure at his age. "Thank, you Dr. Lubov. Would you help me with the slides please?" Soon projector comes to life. "The claw was easiest to miss and hardest to spot. Slide one, please." A picture of the opened ribcage showed up "As you can see it is invisible like this. Slide two This is how Dr. Perkins would see it, does anyone notice it now?" The picture is zoomed in on the ribcage substantially, likely imitating that magnifying glass on his head I squinted...and came up with zero. "We saw nothing either, so we placed the body under the high-end microscope in this facility this is the highest resolution we could get that is still useful. You'll notice it is grided, those are each separate pictures later composited into the whole. Does anyone see it now?" I tilted my head slightly and shifted my eyes allowing different spectrums to take me, I wasn't sure but...I raised my hand. Dr. Tariq slightly blushed. "Eh, you three messed grand reveal." I looked around, High Count and Anesthasia also raised their hand. "We will, naturally go by seniority. High Count which picture is suspicious to you" "I suspect nothing boy. It's T-247." Slightly chastized Dr.Tariq quickly bowed "Of course, my apologies. Do the other two concur?" both of us nodded. High Count waived his hand magnanimously "Let the children show what they learned from their elders so far." I looked at Anesthasia she looked at me, and after a second nodded to the screen for me to go first. I cleared my throat "That blood smear on the rim was not a blood smear at all, not all of it at least." I looked at her and nodded, and she continued smoothly "My belief is that piece of that is claw in question, it broke off after entering the rib, and due to blood smear blood that stayed under it when it went through the meat and organs masked it. Visually is invisible because it's likely hazy white, easily hidden by cartilage."

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Dr. Tariq nodded "Next to the last slide, please. The picture was under the bluish light and the part three of us pointed to was now obviously a different color." "We placed it under an instrument that measures the density of the material, and it popped right out. We removed it." The last slide showed a small piece of hazy white tip of the claw. "It is pretty small about 2 millimeters. Together with color, it was impossible to notice with the Human eye, under the circumstances Dr. Perkins was in at the time. Also, it should be noted that everything was pointing at the rogue Canis Canis subtype, their claws range from black to light gray, never white. So he was per the evidence presented looking for Black to Gray spot." Asian female from the Pure asked "And the hair? Also are we certain it was not contaminant but the same creature?" Dr. Tariq nodded to Perkins who managed to recompose himself "At the time I've done a preliminary autopsy, the body was held on ice, which is sufficient for a short duration but due to circumstances longer exposure can freeze some bodily fluids or lead to things to stuck together. In this circumstance hair, from the head, we believe, to the lower part of the ribcage while it fed. Once the body was transferred to the proper facilities, it was found almost immediately, as is it from the same suspect that's why it lasted this long, we were doing DNA test twice per sample to avoid false positives/negatives. Both times the positive, piece of claw and the hair come from the same creature with 98% certainty. "So if you have done DNA tests you should know what is it." Septa says for the first time "Right?" All three doctors shuffle nervously "Usually yes." "Usually? A nicer way of saying, not now." Septa was never known for her tolerance for BS. Lubov steps forward as he knows her better than others "This case is special." High Count now interferes "How?" Lubov and Perkins look at each other and then at Tariq "We would like to get an expert opinion before giving anything certain." Thane asks quietly and that quiet makes his voice all the louder "And if you were to be uncertain?" Three men look at each other and one after the other give a nod to Lubov "If I were to speculate I'd say we jumped from our usual horror to science fantasy because Sir in my professional opinion, and the opinion of my colleagues. This creature was made from the bottom up in the laboratory, which is just a part of the bad news. Preliminary measurements place him at roughly 8 ft, however, other measurements indicate it's at the most teenager, but I'd put that at the lower end 11 or 12 human years, prepuberty that is. There is no saying how large it will be once fully grown nor a timeframe for how long will it take to happen."

There is a half-amused, half-frustrated chuckle from the High Count "You want to say for all the money and care we spent to convince Humans we are beings from scary movies and fairytales can be blown wide open by a tantrum of a literal child?" Perkins looked at his shoes but found the balls to answer "Yes sir."