I'm the Mother of the Heroine? (Book 1)

Chapter 32

Damon:

"Michael, what have you found out since last we spoke," I asked as soon as I stepped foot inside of the Network.

The Network was a room that held numerous blinking dots that connected to all of our Assassins, whether out on Missions or on Stand By. If I were to tap on one it would pop up their information, location, any Mission they are currently undertaking and their health status. It was also a way to speak with them without being noticeable. A type of telepathy device had been created by our Tech Stein in order to accomplish that bit. 

Stein had always been technologically savvy; mixing magic with ancient Dwarven technology but had only recently within the past two years delved further. If a Mission hadn't left him crippled, he'd probably rather be out killing than staying safe at Head Quarters. 

"Stein has been going over the data Nicola released after death," Michael turned to face me as he pushed his blue locks from his face before continuing, "Apparently there were some things that she had left out, whether intentionally or not."

Stein picked up as he begun tapping at something that looked vaguely like a mix between a keyboard and a honeycomb, "I was able to pull the memories from her Hive Disc as it made its way to the Mother. They were fractured considerably due to the corrosive magic but since you killed her before the magic could proceed further I was able to piece together enough to give you a decent answer to many questions."

I watched on as Stein's eyes flickered quickly among the data flashing across the wall in front of him. To me it appeared in codes which only made my eyes hurt from staring so instead I observed the boy. He was merely nineteen and had lost his leg at seventeen. He was sitting in a chair that had roots for wheels and moved by Stein using his Earthen Magic. For someone so young he held seven stars just like me. 

His hair was clipped so short that the once mass of black curls had become mere stubs. Without the mop of hair to detract from his face I'd discovered he had a rather girlish face. High cheekbones and long curled charcoal eyelashes that hid molten silver eyes that seemed to swirl with knowledge were on full display now. I'd begun to wonder if he'd cut his hair because he no longer needed to blend in to do his job or if it was easier to assess information without the hair distracting him. 

A punctual tap of his finger had the screen's writing to merge and begin to form an image. 

"It'll take a few minutes before it begins to clear up enough to make sense of everything happening around."

"This is Nicola's memories?"

"Yes.. Well, what I could piece together of them at the very least," he added as he kept his eyes on the screen. I realized he was using his magic to help stabilize the images taking shape. 

Michael stood to the other side of Stein as we both observed the screen. 

It had started off with vague images moving to quickly to process and causing the screen to blur further because of the speed of the movement. Mostly prominent though was the splashes of red which wasn't that concerning for any of the participants of the room, considering our occupation. 

When the image cleared enough we could see she was in an elaborate hallway. Flooring made of a carpet so red it almost looked black cushioned her footsteps as she cautiously made her way down towards the Master Bedroom. Vases and paintings lined the walls, breaking apart the monotonous way. Once she reached twin doors made of gold with carvings of babies and angels she seemed to hesitate. 

"This is where she must've smelled something. She mentioned pausing to investigate even though that's not something usually done."

"Look! There!"

Stein snapped me out of my conclusion. He'd paused the images going on the screen and in the corner of her vision we could see something that slightly chilled me. On the door, one of the baby carvings had eyes that had turned pitch black and were staring straight at us. No, her. Either her or us, it didn't matter. The point being that whatever it was, was looking this way and Nicola hadn't realized. 

"Do you see that?"

Michael pointed at something else and when both Stein and I looked we realized it as well. There was something black crawling out of the carpet but the hallway was so dark Nicola hadn't registered it. If Stein hadn't slowed down the images we wouldn't have noticed it. 

"Let me play the memories in regular speed and then I'll go back and slow down the frames so we can see it better."

As he played the memories, it simply went from looking at the door to her turning around to a blank wall. Which made no sense to me because she'd said there was a closet behind her. 

"Stop." 

Stein listened to my command and looked at me questioningly. 

"Nicola mentioned that she opened a closet door across from the Master bedroom and something with red eyes grabbed hold of her. Where's this door?"

Stein looked back at the images and shrugged his shoulders before saying, "I've read about Demon's before and they are one type of creature that can easily take control of a Human's mind and manipulate it to their whims. She probably did think she saw a door but this is what was really being seen by her."

I nodded my head and he continued playing the memories in real time. We watched as she pulled out an ancient Offense&Defense Array with shaky hands before activating it. She'd closed her eyes so we were given nothing new. 

Once finished with that, Stein went back and slowed the entire memory down and we watched as something with soulless black and red eyes crawled along the floor. Each frame had it shuffling closer and closer until it's face superimposed almost completely into Nicola's and all we could see were it's soulless black and red eyes looking at us. 

Something black begun to seep out of the screen and it snapped me out of my trance. Using my Shadow and Dark Magic I shattered the memory, folded the mass of corrosive magic inside my own and sent it off to the Deathlands where Shadow's ruled supreme.

Stein sat petrified where he'd been mere millimeters away from suffering the same fate as Nicola. 

"Next time, check for viruses Stein."

He nodded his head in acceptance. 

A/N: I literally creeped myself out with this chapter so much that I'm unsure I want to run to the bathroom right now. o.o Dang it, it's 2 a.m. my time. lol