January 9, 2004“So this is what a folks arena looks like,” said Coralis, standing in front of a downtown building. “It’s like an indoor stadium, right?”Stephanie laughed.“You’ve never been to a concert before?”“It’s not like I ever had the time to do anything that normal people do. There have been a few concerts that your brother wanted to take me to, but I always was in the middle of some mess somewhere, so he’d go with Mark instead.”“What about when you were a teenager?” said Stephanie as they got in line. “I know you went to a boarding school, but you didn’t stay there for the summer.”“I was either in group homes or staying at Erik’s and Henry’s house. Victoria wanted to go to one once when we were 13, but I couldn’t get permission from the head administrator.”Stephanie looked at her friend. She forgot a moment that Coralis didn’t have a normal childhood. The heavy rock band The Moonlight Hammer was in town. Frank was covering the event and had been able to get parterre tick
January 4, 2004 – 16:00“I remember Dad telling Donny and Robbie, our older brother,” said Dawn, still unmoving. “But he never told them why.”She opened her eyes back up and stared at Coralis.“You look so much like Dad, it’s not funny. He never spoke of his family god and always worshipped our mom’s one. I’m a water mage, just like our mother and the name Golmar is from her bloodline. It’s the surname of a water mage bloodline. He never told us why he refused to acknowledge his family god and insisted that my brothers practice water magic.”“Really?” said Coralis, looking at her aunt in disbelief.“Yes,” said Dawn, returning to sit next to Coralis. “Donny always thought he was a wind mage. He found out that he was a spirit mage from Lord Meozo. When he went into hiding in his family temple with your mother, he hoped he could learn about his true family god. When I met them there for your introduction to the gods, he didn’t tell me if he found out.”“Maybe it’s just me being ignorant
January 4, 2004 – 15:00Coralis got out of the taxi and looked at the house standing in front of her. Frank wanted to come, but he had an event to cover and couldn’t find a replacement. Part of her didn’t want to be there and wanted to call a taxi to go back home, but she knew she couldn’t. It was time for her to meet Dawn, her dad’s sister.She took a deep breath and walked to the door, hoping it wouldn’t get emotional, not like it did when she met with Dorothy for the first time. She rang the doorbell. No answer. She rang it again, thinking that if she had to ring it a third time, she would leave.A few minutes later, a small woman opened the door. She looked like her, but shorter. Coralis wanted to remove her binds to see if it was true that her aunt lost all of her elemental powers, but decided against it, especially not in the open like that. She could only hope that she was walking into friendly territory, that she didn’t have a foe waiting for her behind the door.“I wish I cou
January 1, 2004Coralis sat in a church between Frank and Audrey, listening to the pastor perform the wedding ceremony. Part of her wanted to sit next to her flyball team members, who sat near the back of the church on the groom’s side, or next to Erik and Henry, who sat behind her team, but she knew that her place was on the bride’s side, with the family who was also about to become hers.She didn’t want to think about her own upcoming wedding and was happy that this day was all about Sebastian and Stephanie. She was merely there as a witness and spectator. She wanted to forget about everything else, and merely be a woman watching her friends getting married, but she couldn’t stop herself from worrying about what could happen.She knew that High Mage Finnas was sitting at the back of the church, but she didn’t want to look in his direction so it wouldn’t raise suspicions. Thankfully, the majority of the people in attendance knew about the supernatural. Stephanie’s coworkers were werew
December 24, 2003 – 19:00“Sally has been killed?” said Sebastian.Samantha nodded and answered Linda’s question. Frank looked at his sister. He knew she was also worried. The doorbell rang and he jumped. Louis went upstairs to answer, followed by Lizzy.“Congratulations!” said Louis as he let Coralis and Audrey in. “We saw on the news. The UK is no longer hunting you down.”“And no longer stuck on house arrest in London,” said Lizzy as she hugged her daughter.“I told you so!” said Sebastian as Coralis walked down the stairs to meet with the others.“Don’t get too comfortable, we’ll be moving to the kitchen to eat,” said Linda as Coralis gave a confused look to Sebastian.Sebastian told her the discussion they had before she and Audrey arrived as Frank led her to the kitchen, his hand on her lower back.“By the way, Sebastian, Emery is now a wanted witch. He was 49th when I checked the lists after talking to MI6.“Frank mentioned something about names when I started calling you Blue,
December 24, 2003 – 16:30Louis handed Frank a drink after Linda collected their winter coats.“I remember that night she took down your former leader. I heard a lot about him, but nothing good,” said Stephanie.“Took down former leader? Is it the duel you mentioned last year when we were trying to get Audrey back?” said Louis, looking at Stephanie.Stephanie nodded to her uncle.“Frank us that you’re close to Coralis, are you like her?” said Molly.“Coralis? Ah yes, I keep forgetting she’s known under a different name. I’m not exactly like her. I’m a werepanther, a different type of lycanthrope,” said Samantha, following Frank to the basement.“I remember seeing her transforming into a panther the night she killed Dwayne,” said Lizzy.“Some mages learn to transform into an animal of their choice. Blue can transform into a black panther,” said Sebastian, leaning on the chair Stephanie sat on.“She looked like a black cat when she came back from that house with that Veronica girl,” sai
December 24, 2003 – 06:00Coralis was making coffee when Samantha woke up.“Good morning, Samantha! You’re up early.”“I couldn’t sleep. Are you sure it’s fine if I come with you guys tonight?”“Yeah, if they told us you’re welcome to come, then you are welcome. They’re very nice people, and they know about us. Well, they know about me and Sebastian, Stephanie knows about you, they won’t mind what you are.”“If they know I’m not human and still want me to come, I think that’s already more than I can hope for.”“Think about it, I rank 11th on the global list of witches to kill on sight and they still want me to marry into their family. What does that tell you?”“All I need to know.”Twenty minutes later, while the girls were making breakfast, Frank woke up. It had only been 5 days since Coralis returned home after a long absence and to him, it still felt like it was the day before.“Considering the time it was when you got home last night, shouldn’t you still be sleeping?”Coralis jump
December 23, 2003 – 22:15“LIEUTENANT YOUMIS?” said Sebastian, looking at him. “Wasn’t he supposed to replace High Fay Zaaro?”“Yes. These abominations reek of his essence.”A few minutes later, Coralis got back on her feet and stepped out of the circle.“Lieutenant Youmis is exhausted. I don’t think he will regain control anytime soon,” said Coralis.“And you said vampire essence was in the mix?” said Eva.“The second time was already worse than the first time. And now this? Why here? Why our pack?” said Emma, as Emery walked back through the portal, followed by High Fay Ellya.“I don’t know why, but we will find out. That’s also why I didn’t want to kill the wolves. We know we can reverse it. Once the connection to their human counterpart is restored, we can question them,” said Coralis, looking at the time on her phone. “I should call my mate before he gets home and worries if I’m not there.”“Ellya, we need to send a unit to capture Lieutenant Youmis. Blue Thunder said he was exha
December 23, 2003 – 21:00 The Northerners were playing at home that night. When the game was over and she and Sebastian were about to take off to go home, Coralis received a call from Emma. She signalled Sebastian to wait and put the call on speakerphone. Emma was in a panic.“BLUE, can you come RIGHT NOW?”Sebastian suddenly got worried.“Where? What’s going on?”“Is Stephanie okay?”“Here at Red Crescent pack. Yes, Stephanie is fine. She left Healing Moon at 9 to go home. She’s not here.”Sebastian was relieved to hear that and swore that if Stephanie still wanted it, he’d complete their bond when he got home, even if he knew Coralis was probably right: the mark was a seal.“I’ll be on my way. I’m close by,” said Coralis, ending the call, and took off, Sebastian following her.“What do you think happens this time?” said Sebastian, as he was trying to keep up with her.“I don’t know, but I’m guessing she couldn’t reach out to anyone at the CMMA. Remember the last time they got a hol