The next morning all five members of the Crucis Sentinels along with their Aethereal Queen, arrive at the Interpol offices of Madrid about three in the morning. They were all dressed in their proper uniforms and attire to conceal their identity. However, the offices were utterly silent, and it felt like nobody was even around as they were walking through the halls.

“What is it with crazy killers and schools nowadays?” Gamma Crucis contemplated.

“Would you like to have their headquarters being the middle of the swamp full of bugs and alligators like last time?” Epsilon Crucis ribbed.

“To the criminal mastermind, knowledge is power. Goes hand in hand,” Alpha Crucis explained.

“I thought Interpol had this all wrapped up,” Gamma Crucis added.

“I heard they did, but something happened… As always…” Alpha Crucis dreaded.

The six ladies arrived in the meeting room. It was there they found the former grandmaster of the Oleander Syndicate Dolph Eichner, operations manager of Zayne Enterprises New York Rahkaze Zayne, and Detective Constable Chloe Serpentine.

Immediately, Alpha Crucis recognizes Chloe, who was her former student at Sycamore University. However, Chloe didn’t know her since Alpha Crucis was wearing her Aethereal battle suit that concealed her identity and aura. Almost immediately, Senior Inspector Miles Renfield entered the room frantically.

“Sorry, I wanted to make sure no one was here in the entire building. The CIA told our people we had a major gas leak, and it will take us a couple of days to fix it,” Miles explained.

“Look at you, being responsible!” Lycka praised.

Miles lightly blushes as she cleared her throat, “Anyway, this is Dolph Eichner, the former grandmaster of the Oleander Syndicate and current headmaster of the Novak University.”

Dolph had his head down as he sat there and did nothing. Seeing this made Rahkaze laugh.

“Rahkaze Zayne from Zayne Enterprises New York, operations manager, and military weapons expert who will be consulting on this mission on my request. And there is our own Detective Constable Chloe Serpentine, her expertise in Psychology and Demonology. And on the screen right now is Detective Constable Senna Reese, who is our Technical Analyst,” Miles introduced, turning on the television as a brown-haired, green-eyed lamia in business attire appeared on-screen happily waving at the team.

“You really pulling out all the stops here, Renfield,” Lycka criticized. “Psychologists, weapon specialists, and now you brought in a bunch of magical females…”

“One of our own was brutally murdered, two days ago,” Miles addressed.

“Interpol?” Lycka questioned.

“Close, CIA,” Miles corrected.

“Counter Intelligence Agency are doing Aether/Nether-Related cases?” Alpha Crucis questioned.

“It was an extensive covert mission,” Miles said as everyone stared at Dolph as he looked away. “Okay, Reese?”

“She went by the name Magdalene Locke, but her real was Rachel Winehouse. Born and raised in El Paso, Texas. Would have been 43 years of age. Graduated from the University of Texas, earned a degree in pre-law, and joined the CIA right out of college… And that’s pretty much it. Her trail ends there…” Senna reported pulling up documents on the screen.

“Of course, those boy and girl scouts love their secrets, don’t they?” Epsilon Crucis jokes.

“Now let’s look at Magdalene Locke’s record. Dolph?” Miles introduced as Dolph lets out a depressing sigh.

“Magdalene Locke— I mean Agent Winehouse was recruited by Sudbina Novak, the former grandmaster of the syndicate at the age of 23. Later in her career, she was the original leader of the Wolves of Oleander. They were later renamed the Nether Elite,” he explained.

Rahkaze scoffed, “She has sat under the learning tree of Adrian Eichner for 16 years undetected… Until now…”

“You don’t understand, Rahkaze, because diaras are usually emotionally dead inside. She was like a mother to those girls. She kept them in line, she let them fail when they needed to, gave them support… She was more than just smoking hot wolf girl, Rahkaze; she was like their mother…” Dolph tearfully defended.

Rahkaze shrugged his shoulders, “If you say so…”

“NONE OF MY PEOPLE KILLED HER! SOMEBODY ELSE DID IT!” Dolph blamed.

“Do you love always being wrong?” Delta Crucis argued. “In such a toxic environment, you don’t believe for a moment that this murder was conducted in-house. She was a part of the CIA, and someone must’ve discovered that long before you did.”

“You may be the best of the best in your own little world, but you don’t know anything about real life,” Dolph insulted.

Delta Crucis might have been a little girl in the eyes of Dolph Eichner, but he was right about one thing: she is highly regarded when it comes to Aethereal magic. And yet he is questioning her logic and reasoning as she was just a naïve child.

Delta Crucis wasn’t having any of it, “Wow, this is coming from someone who was lied to during his entire reign as Grandmaster!”

“We had lots of enemies, Sentinel. More than you can ever believe. One in particular. Daemon King Siath,” Dolph dreaded.

“There hasn’t been a Daemon King for centuries. A lot of Daemon Queens, but not many Daemon Kings,” Chole corrected.

“You mean nephalems?” Miles asked.

“Yes and no. Specifically, the Royal Nephalem Order is broken down into royal hierarchies. The stronger you are, the higher the rank you have. But the only way you can raise up the ranks is to be of royal blood or have blood ties to the first Daemon King: Lucifel,” Alpha Crucis loosely explained. “Daemon King Lucifel was the first nephalem who ascended to the heavens. That’s the original story. Having been retold through various religions that were built upon creating a ‘bad guy’ to hate… But it’s no fairy tale. Most nephalems can cross into the astral planes, but Lucifel was the only one who can channel both the Aether and the Nether. Even gaining a pair of black wings, quasi-casting Lucifel as a diara. There’s even a hymn about the Daemon King. Many nephalems would change certain parts like the name of the Daemon King to fit hymn.”

Chloe felt a bit uneasy about the topic, so she decided to change the subject, “Let’s focus here. We are spitballing ideas, and we are getting nowhere! We haven’t done anything yet, and you are giving us irrelevant garbage right now, sir!”

“Then we get back to the basics. We need to find out what Agent Winehouse was working on,” Alpha Crucis suggested.

“She started working the moment she got out of jail?” Gamma Crucis wondered.

“She never stopped working. Dedicated, driven, determined… Her cover was everything, and she had learned a lot even when she was incarcerated,” Miles explained.

“Sounds a lot like someone I know…” Epsilon ribbed, looking at Alpha Crucis.

However, Alpha Crucis didn’t pay that little spat any attention, “We will check who she was affiliated with before she died. Her trail stopped cold when the old castle blew up. It’s no coincidence she was killed to keep her quiet. We go to the source--”

“I’ll see you all in the morning, I’ll have a workstation set up for you,” Dolph relented as he stormed out of the room.

“Well, it’s settled. We are going to the heart of the problem…” Alpha Crucis stated.

This made Gamma Crucis fidget in her chair, “I don’t like this, Alpha. Werewolves are one thing, but these people are psychopaths.”

“Most of the inner circle aren’t too thrilled of the rebrand either. They would rather work independently now,” Lycka reassured as this gives Gamma Crucis some sort of relief.

“Good…”

“Still, we have to deal with Quinten. She hasn’t left, working as their assistant headmaster,” Lycka wondered.

“And Adrian?” Alpha Crucis asked in a low voice.

“She has no position,” Miles answered.

“Like she needs one. Dolph might be the rooster of the henhouse, but Adrian is still the chicken farmer,” Epsilon Crucis ribbed.

“We’ll pick this up when we get there. Suits are on at all times, armed and ready. Meet up here at eight, we roll together at nine,” Lycka ordered as the meeting has ended.

This was a pretty big deal for Crux Nexus in general. Even though the Oleander Syndicate is no more, the heart and the soul of the syndicate still lies within the Novak University. But what the Crucis Sentinels and the Aethereal Queen are doing seems a bit suicidal knowing what the former members of the syndicate are capable of. However, since the common dissension among the groups is out on full display, they’ll take their chances.