Kora was not exactly thrilled to be walking into a staff meeting wearing only a singular piece of fabric that was designed for adorning pieces of furniture, but if nothing else, a life of being known as part of the lycanthrope nobility had led to a sense of confidence in most situations, and the woman walked into the meeting room in a tablecloth with a total lack of concern.
She dropped into a seat and turned it in the direction of the head of the table, where three of the higher ranking officials within SCION were seated. She knew who they were. Pretty much everyone knew who they were, agents of SCION who had proved themselves sufficiently in the field that they were called upon to strategize instead of put their hides on the line in the field. You didn't get into a top spot just by showing up of course. All of them were pretty well-known and talked about, and, from at least Kora's point of view, envied just a bit. Of course, she was not about to admit such a thing because, if nothing else, two were vampires.
A neatly-dressed woman of japanese origin sat at one side, her hair tied back and a laptop sat in front of her. Aiko Wakahisa, also going by 'Yokai', a vampress originating from the Edo period, and one of SCION's most successful spies and intel gatherers. She had contacts, leads, and people to lean on for details almost everywhere, and any shady activity that was known about tended to reach her ears before most anyone else's. So the frown on her pallid face meant that things were going to get interesting.
Leofric Wyndham. What you might call and old fashioned fellow, in that he was in the 21st century still wearing a regimental jacket draped over his shoulders. Of course, he didn't look a day over thirty. Vampirism did that to you. Still, he had been leading armies before half those present had even been born so, you had to assume hat the dark-haired man knew what he was talking about to some degree, and his record as a commander spoke for itself. He cast a glance at Kora and smirked.
"Lovely dress Norrevinter. Very avaunt-garde."
Saffiya Elmessiri, 'Sekhmet'. A lore expert. A magic user, and a werecat. The egyptian woman non-chalantly toyed with one of the talismans that hung round her neck as she looked over a set of a few print-outs and scratched down a few notes, symbols and numbers, onto a notepad. Looking for a pattern, no doubt.
Behind them the blue moon of SCION was projeted up on the wall, along with the silent promise that they were being watched by the organization's enigmatic benefactor, and it was this disembodied voice that spoke up.
"Good morning everyone. Thank you for coming. I hope you're all well. I see we have a few new faces here, and would like to welcome our new trainees, Crystal, Jonah, and Liam. Welcome to SCION, the three of you.
Now, onto business. A matter has arisen that requires the organization's attention. Miss Wakahisa, I believe you've compiled a report?"
The vampress nodded and rose to her feet, pressing a key on her laptop that caused the moon projection to snap to the picture of a map, the twisted lines of roads and streets indicating some kind of built up area.
"A contact in the North Yorkshire constabulary contacted me yesterday about a string of brutal murders that have been taking place around York, England. And by brutal, I mean that half of the victims tend to be missing by the time they're actually found. The press have become aware of one or two, but the force are keeping the whole thing at a low level on account of the large number of visitors arriving for the city's viking festival."
Had Kora been a wolf at the time, her ears would have pricked up, and she sat forward in her seat. Aiko had little concern for that, spoke further.
"This was of little concern to us, until in the early hours of yesterday a body was reported in that our contact describes as an 'unknown creature'. My informant in the police is very familiar with most common cryptid species, but has no idea of the origin."
She cast her dark gaze upwards.
"Dr Kovalenko, have you gotten any data from the sample you received."
Oren had materialized in the doorway, some notes in one hand and what remained of the green vial in the other.
"It's blood." the hungarian biologist responded.
"But unlike any other sample I have examined before."
She walked over the table to roll the sealed vial into the middle.
"The colour is from biliverdin, a bile pigment in the plasma. This is similar to skinks of the genus prasinohaema. The blood cells inside it...the structure has almost entirely broken down...but what I have seen of it is...unusual, to say the least. It bears resemblance to no existing species." she paused a moment.
"Including all cryptid blood samples on record. This is...new."