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doubt that she is.” He told her steering her back towards the meeting room for lunch.
    Things were due to be tense, with any luck they had done as Kira had asked and made their lists.
    He was hoping for a few more missing. It wasn’t something that he personally wanted, but it was needed for support. The more support they had and the more respect that they could gather, the easier it would be for the archon’s to grant them with nest status. They needed to be invaluable.
    Taking the lead Kira walked in first, by his count they were ten minutes late so everyone was already there and in their places. There were two spaces left together in between Ramona and Elise, undoubtedly things had been planned that way. Kira grinned sitting down next to Elise. Once she was seated Merrick sat next to Ramona keeping his body language very submissive.
    ~21~

    “Sorry we’re a little late,” His posing Archon politely told the room. “I hope I didn’t miss anything important.”
    Elise gave her a smile. "Not at all. Marcus and Bettina only just arrived. It seems they have a few more missing than they thought."
    "So it's as I feared, and you? How are your people faring?"
    "We are all accounted for and in the states, so as of now we are ok. I have put out the call to return to the compound."
    "Very wise of you." She smiled laying her hand on hers before turning from her dismissively and looking toward the others. "And the rest of you?"
    Olivia nodded. "Jasper and Olga are missing in California."
    Ramona sighed "And I've been unable to contact Lillith, my daughter, and her small nest. I'm not worried though," She said haughtily. "I doubt she's been taken, my daughter can take care of herself as could the others."
    "Still, it bears being cautious. Now this begs the question, do we have any leads?"
    "We have some," Kira informed them sitting back in her chair. "Merrick dear?"
    She'd switched from love to dear and it was at least some sign that she'd been listening to him.
    This was his moment to talk and lord knew he wasn't going to get many of them. Careful to walk that fine line of informative and assertive he leaned forward placing his elbows on the table. "Of course Archon," he smiled. "We haven’t found a lot. Everything’s clean, all the sites of abduction and drop off points of the dead. I say drop off points because the boys we've found weren’t killed there and as of yet we haven't been able to find the place of death, hopefully it’s where the girls are. Either way it’s all clear, I struggle to use the word military but it sure looks like it. My guess is that it’s ex-military or they at least have some working for them."
    Olivia looked at Elvin, her Defteros and husband. "Then it is as we feared. Both Jasper and Olga are ex-military, and not taken easily. I only hope that they are ok. Unless..." she mused and looked at Elvin. "There might be another answer to this riddle, one that I had dismissed months ago, and perhaps shouldn’t have."
    Merrick almost bit his tongue from hurrying her along; thankfully Kira stepped in squeezing his shoulder. "Well do share...please."
    "The Lamia legend." she said simply, lowering her eyes. "Anya had talked about it several times before her death, asking if it was possible, through alchemy or magic to turn a human with no snake blood in them at all into an Ophidian."
    "I haven’t heard of that... is it possible?" Kira asked with a frown, this wasn’t a possibility they’d discussed.
    "No it’s not, A human has to have some snake blood in their background, and only then can there be a possibility, but it’s slim. That’s where the Lamia myth comes in." Elise said and looked over at Marcus, who picked up where she left off.
    "The Lamia myth has been around as long as the sub species of snakes have been around. A woman half snake, half woman, engaging in sexual congress on a regular basis with willing human consorts so they become like her, allowing her to breed, which is utterly