“Ah, I see…” Alicia replied to Marilyn. “It seems I might have misunderstood your words. Apologies.” She gave her a little nod before taking another sip of her tea.

It seemed most of them were relatively new at their job. She was still not sure how the witch system worked. Was there an age limit for how long a girl could be a witch? Too old and you would just lose your power? Or perhaps they were really the first generation of witches?

She had tried asking things like that to Aether. Alas, she remained tight-lipped on the subject, always dodging the question, before steering the conversation to an entirely different direction.

She listened to Veronica's explanation on why they were gathered there. To her dismay, it was indeed a legitimate threat that needed their cooperation to fight against.

"Not just one developed Hyde? But five?" she asked in disbelief as she leaned forward, slamming her hands at the table, making her chest bounce, showing off her cleavage to the girl. "How could it be so? Haven't we already hunted enough of them?"

She returned her bottom back to her seat, looking uncomfortable and at edge as she started biting her lip, while her index finger played with her hair.

"I have fought a developed Hyde, you know." She suddenly told her. "Barely managed to run away, with my body bruised all over. That power… just a single witch wouldn't be able to deal with one."

Without realizing it, she formed fists with her hands. She wanted revenge. Revenge for what the Hyde had done to her. Not only that she had defeated her, she had humiliated her as well, by destroying her witch clothes in their fight. That damage transferred over to her real clothes, which made her have to return to her mansion wearing a scandalously tattered dress. Thank the Lord no one actually saw her, or at least, that's what she believed.

"This is a serious matter indeed!" she continued, now crossing her arms under her chest. "I agree with you. We have to exterminate them before they grow even stronger!"

When she asked if any of them had tracking abilities, she shook her head.

"Unfortunately, I don't," she answered honestly. "My ability is mobility and combat related. Can’t really track or detect Hydes as you want.”

When Veronica brought up how the coven would also be used to train those who hadn’t mastered their witch power, she commented, “That could be useful, though I myself feel that I wouldn’t need such a training myself.” She already felt confident enough on her abilities after all.

-----
After they were finished with their meeting, they began their night patrols. Everyone there was already used to wandering around in the streets of London, or even outside of it, as their duty as witches required them to do so. Hydes tend to appear in the night after all, like the monsters they were.

Alicia walked calmly in the middle of the group. As usual, she remained vigilant; her eyes darting around back and forth, just so she would not be caught off-guard.

She, of course, like the others, was already wearing her witch garb. She had to be ready to fight at any time after all. However, she had not summoned her mount yet. No need to expend her energy on the summoning process if she had not yet needed it. Best to conserve her magical energy instead.

Lucilla then suggested that those with tracking skills to immediately use their abilities.

“I could do an aerial scout from above,” she offered. “However, I do not know how much I could see through this fog.”

That offer was soon withdrawn however when they found what they were looking for. A group of Hydes clearly draining the lifeforce out of a number of humans.

[i]Urgh, disgusting[/i], she thought to herself. She could never like the way they clung onto a human like that.

She immediately stepped forward, intending to finish them off. But then, Veronica stopped her, as she told her that there was something quite unusual about them.

And indeed there was. Instead of finishing off their targets, they instead simply… walked off after draining just some of their energy.

And they all walked off to various directions afterwards, separate from each other.

It seemed a split up was in order.

“Very well.” She nodded to Sophia’s suggestion. “I can go with you.”

“Be careful,” she then said to the others. “Something’s definitely not right here.”