Before the dawn broke, Alaric summoned the four girls through the landbond into the main living room.
He called them urgently, insisting it was an emergency. The girls arrived still clad in their night robes, faces damp from hastily splashed water.
They sat together—five of them in total.
"The reason I called you all here so early,"
Alaric began, his voice calm but laced with gravity,
"is because of two things."
He turned his gaze to Virellen.
"First, it's about your father and mother."
Virellen blinked, her expression hardening slightly.
"I want you to convince them to drink your blood."
All four girls' eyes widened.
"If you're wondering why,"
Alaric continued,
"you'll understand soon enough. I don't trust them. Just because they're your parents doesn't mean they won't betray us—won't spill our secret. If they want to work with me in the future, they need to be bound by something. Something that ensures their silence."
