Mercy sighed as she sipped the tea before her, eyes trained completely on the two clones of her sister that sat in the seats opposite her, the sound of sheer mayhem echoing through from the corridor outside the room that she had stationed herself within.

"Mother really is causing hell this time"

The voice was like a demonic version of Hope's, filled with malice as it snickered and turned to its counterpart. Mercy would never understand why her sister had created these two, could only think that it had been whilst she had been under the effects of the cocaine.

"It would seem so… You'd think these vampires would have just acquired the drug for her after three days of all her clones running riot"

Mercy did her best not to look at the second clone, not wishing to see the rotting corpse that was this creation. It was this one that she understood the least. Hope had created it nearly eighty years ago and, at first, it had appeared like any other clone her sister created until it became apparent that it was aging. With each passing year, Hope watched the path her true body should have taken if not for the interference of Mercy through the deterioration of her creation, watched as she became a middle aged woman and felt a strange sense of peace when the clone seemed to fall into a state of slumber after only twenty years, appearing dead as Hope was given the knowledge that she would have lived to be no older than forty if not saved from the passage of time.

Mercy had understood for a short amount of time Hope's desire to see what would have happened, but she had lost such comprehension when the clone had then woken, eyes dead and lifeless, skin a frightening shade and lips tinged blue as it became apparent that this clone was not like the others. A reanimated corpse that had full control of its own self. It was horrifying and dangerous. And Mercy hated it.

"How long will these withdrawals carry on?"

The corpse seemed to be looking around the room with a sense of boredom, turning to its counterpart as if questioning why they still sat drinking tea with Mercy when they could have been out causing mayhem with their kin.

"I don't know… Hope has spent the best part of a century taking cocaine every night to silence the voices of all her clones only to have it ripped from her grasp by vampires that know rock all about how to handle what happens when she doesn't get it. The problem with the mother of all highs is that, eventually, you'll always get the father of all comedowns"

From the corridor outside crashing could be heard as the clones continued to bring havoc to the Volturi, both clones looking toward the door as they gathered intel through the link they shared with the others, the none corpse like one giving a sigh as she poured them each a fresh cup of tea.

"I wish there were human's in this wretched castle, or at least one's within hunting range. It's been far too long since I tasted flesh"

And there was the second problem. The two clones that Mercy hated most were a self-aware zombie and a cannibal with murderous tendencies. And it was a nightmare keeping them under control.

Mercy felt a sigh escape her lips as the door to the sanctuary she had created was thrown open, two bodies bursting through and slamming it behind them as she met two pairs of ruby eyes, the first looking manic as his own eyes locked upon the two clones opposite her, a snarl ripping from his throat as he sent a deathly glare towards Mercy.

"All hell is breaking loose throughout the castle, your sister's clones are ripping the building apart, the woman in question is currently lay within her own room, writhing in agony, screaming for drugs I have no clue how to obtain with sweat dripping from her skin… And you are sitting here sipping tea with her creations!"

Mercy simply chose to look at Caius, registering the sheer panic within the male vampire, how his eyes dilated, how he seemed to care little for the fact that he looked like a bus had just hit him in favour of worrying for a woman he barely knew, before finally giving a sigh of annoyance and speaking, pretending to not notice how Aro seemed torn between his fascination with her or the two clones that sat with her.

"What you don't realise, Caius, is that I am actually doing you a great favour"

"A favour! You are doing nothing!"

"My dear… Would you care to explain these two for me?"

Mercy smirked. Aro had caught on it seemed.

"I call them Zeena and Canna. They are two of Hope's most horrifying creations"

"I resent that remark"

Glaring at Canna, Mercy continued with her explanation, occasionally sending a scolding glance towards the two whenever they tried to leave the table.

"Zeena, as you can see, is pretty much what modern society would call a zombie. She is a representation of what my sister would look like if she had been allowed to age and die like a normal human. However, unlike the modern concept of Zombies, Zeena is able to function and communicate completely on her own, her intellect is off the charts, and, unlike the other clones, she cannot be destroyed. A gift my sister added when she created her almost eighty years ago.

Canna, on the other hand, is my sister's right hand creation. She would normally be the one to take care of Hope's business whenever Hope was either too wasted from the drugs or suffering from withdrawal. This is because Canna is a carbon copy of Hope in every sense of the word. Most of the clones have thoughts and opinions of their own, Hope likes to give them free will, but Canna thinks and acts exactly like my sister. There's only one thing that Hope made different about Canna."

Mercy felt her stomach churn at the last memory of Canna that she had. Even after all the messed up things she'd done in her life, nothing could have prepared her for seeing Canna chewing happily on the arm of one of Hope's rival drug lords.

"What is this difference?"

"Canna is also a method of disposal, a cannibal… She eats the corpses left behind by myself and my sister. Team her with Zeena and you have a perfect team for strategy and clean up when Hope is otherwise occupied"

There was silence for a moment as the two vampires seemed to process the information before Aro took the opportunity to speak, amazed beyond words with the discovery and slightly disturbed by the questionable mental state of the fair haired drug addict.

"So… The reason you are sat here is to keep them from causing trouble?"

"Yes. Zeena and Canna are my sisters most dangerous creations. You don't want them running around the corridors"

Caius felt his stomach flip as he gathered his courage once more and chose to simply leave the room, his mind weighed down with information and the knowledge that there were still multiple copies of Hope running rampant. He just wanted to go and sit with the clearly deranged woman, try to ease her pain as she passed through her withdrawal symptoms.

Mercy watched as he left before turning to Aro, who had now taken a seat beside her, clearly intent on learning more about Zeena and Canna from the clones themselves.

"If your brother has a thing for my sister, like I get the feeling he does, then he's in for a seriously messy ride. She's at least seven over-flowing buckets of fucked up"

Aro didn't respond, only nodded his head as he thought upon his own situation with Mercy. He had a feeling that Hope wasn't the only one that had a fair few screws loose. But how were he and Cauis meant to connect with women who clearly felt nothing pure within their tainted hearts?