February 17, 2001 Coralis flew to the flyball practice an hour earlier to attend a meeting with the team officials. She remembered what the EBEE elder agents had told her a few days ago. Despite the confidence she’d shown during that meeting, she was hoping that she’d actually be able to renew her contract with The Northerners. She also remembered the elves attacking the royal vampire family in Chicago, and Prince Hendrick calling her the next day to let her know that their elf prisoner was a militant for a movement pushing for the elementals to go out of hiding. She felt that the elves striking King Matthew’s stronghold a few hours after EBEE elders told her to cut ties with the king’s youngest child wasn’t any coincidence, but she had to be able to prove it. “Three days ago, we received words from an EBEE representative, verifying that your contract with us was going to end, stating that it was in everyone’s best interest. However, as you know, we have been discussing extending y
February 18, 2001She stood in the middle of the EBEE main meeting room, with Andrew to her right. She didn’t want to be there, she knew that it meant trouble. She focused on steeling her mind, harder than she ever had to, harder than she did when facing Lord Meozo. Her mind went to Frank and she wondered if it wouldn’t be better to break up with him. She knew Princess Veronica could handle herself, but she also didn’t want more trouble coming her way: she didn’t want more attacks on the royal vampire family and wondered if it was related to her. “Blue Thunder, it was brought to our attention that your contract with The Northerners had been renewed for another 3 years. Is that correct?” said Phraton. “Yes, it is correct. I told you that my flyball career wasn’t going to end at the end of this season. When I agreed to start an apprenticeship with the European Bureau of Elemental Energy, I made it very clear that my flyball career was going to be my main focus, until it would be time t
April 11, 2001 – 10:00 Stephanie McNally, Frank’ sister, had been working part-time at Healing Moon, a clinic specializing in werewolf health, for the past few months. Located in a wooded area west of Mirabel, near Saint-Hermas community, it was considered a neutral ground for werewolf packs and other clans of shifters. She worked there with her friend Clarissa. For the local population unaware of the supernatural world, Healing Moon was considered a trauma centre for animal attacks. Locals would also bring their cats and dogs there for their regular checkups. Stephanie, however, knew better: two of her childhood friends were werewolves. She’d known Clarissa and Lily since elementary school, but found out the truth about what they were when going on a camping trip with them at 12. Clarissa knew that Stephanie was considering a career as a veterinarian and wasn’t afraid of werewolves, so she got her to start working at Healing Moon. She walked into the clinic to start her shift, an
April 11, 2001 – 11:05 “Yes, definitely,” said Coralis and looked at Emma, then at Jessica. “Once we figure out what we’re dealing with exactly, we’ll need to test you two out as well. I’m not sensing damage on your connection to your wolves, but he drew blood, so we’ll make sure that you’re not infected as well. Anyone else got into contact with them?” Emma and Jessica shook their head. “No. He arrived here last night and passed out as soon he passed the front door. He didn’t wake up until this morning,” said Jessica. “I smelled Turmeric on both of them, think we’re dealing with coven witches?” said Eva, sniffing the air toward Emma and Jessica. “I’m not smelling it on them.” “Think we’re dealing with something worse. Coven witches might have a hand in this, but there is something else at play. Owil’s connection to his wolf was cut off, it’s like someone highjacked it and was trying to summon his wolf. We’ll need to run some tests on his blood to determine what he’s been injected
April 11, 2001 – 12:10 “Technically speaking, I’m an elemental mage. A spirit mage to be precise. Some kind of witch according to uh, human lore.” “A mage? Wait, so a witch and a mage aren’t the same thing?” “Not at all. Most mages find it offensive to be called witches. Personally, I don’t really care, even if I don’t like the majority of witches. The main differences are in the way we use energy and how we call for it, but I do understand that even within the supernatural world, people don’t know the difference between a witch and a mage.” “Daaamn! Wait… can I say that or is damn a word I should avoid using? I’m sorry, I thought I knew all about the supernatural when I found out about werewolves, but clearly, I don’t know anything about it. I mean, I will always remember you saving my mom’s life a few months ago, but this explains so, so much. Can you fight like that because of what you are or it’s a skill you developed?” Coralis wanted to laugh over the damn comment, but she co
April 11, 2001 – 12:55 As soon as they walked into the clinic, Emma gestured for Coralis to follow her. “I gave him enough sedative to keep him out cold for hours, but it’s already wearing off,” said Emma, as Coralis removed her eyeglasses and slid them into her cloak. Coralis followed her to Luke’s room and saw him fighting his restraints. She rushed to him, brought her left hand to his chest and stared into his eyes. A light glow was coming out of her and everyone in the room gasped. Gradually, the patient calmed down. “Someone was trying to summon his wolf,” said Coralis. She removed her hand from his chest but kept looking into his eyes. “How is it even possible?” said Emma. “I know that demons and some mythical beings can be summoned, but I’ve never heard of a werewolf, or even of a Lycan, who could be summoned,” said Jessica. “That’s what we will find out when Eva comes back,” said Coralis. Stephanie was still in awe by what she saw. She didn’t know that demons exist
June 22, 2001 Stephanie McNally decided to join her coworkers for dinner and drinks after work. Emma’s pack was based in Saint-Jerome, a city near their workplace. They went to The Wooded Tavern, a restaurant bar located right outside of Emma’s pack-land. The establishment looked like a bungalow and sat at the end of an off-road that was hard to notice from the main road, because of the dense forest hiding its entry: people had to know it was there. Despite being operated by werewolves, local vampires would sometimes hang out there. The Northerners’ team members enjoyed going there once in a while after a game, when they didn’t want to be interrupted by fans or journalists. “It’s Friday night, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m in no rush to go back home. Wanna go to The Wooded Tavern?” said Steven, one of their defenders, who was in his first season with the flyball team. “I’d be down for that, actually. Frank is working tonight and I didn’t get called by any agency for a case
June 29, 2001 – 14:51 Coralis was at her flyball practice, one of the last ones of the season. When she would be up in the sky during a flyball game or practice, she’d usually leave her hologram on the ground or in the locker. However, she was expecting a call from Eva, regarding the ghoul case they had been working on the previous week, so she kept it on her. The practice was almost over. She stood on the ground, in the middle of the field, listening to Brono’s briefing. She felt her hologram vibrating and pulled it out of her cloak. She walked away from the group to answer it. “Can you come pick me up at metro Henri-Bourassa? Healing Moon is requesting our presence,” said Eva. “Healing Moon? Right now?” “General Tobly wanted to send me and Emery there, but apparently, the Healing Moon insisted on you and me. High Fay Ellya agreed, because it involved ghouls, and well, it could be related to what we’d been working on in Grenville last week. She warned them that it could take long
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
December 20, 2003 – 00:15 (Scotland Time)Coralis closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wanted to rip their eyes out and strangle them, but she knew these girls were humans, most likely heading to the same destination as she. She believed Frank when he said nothing ever happened with that actress, but she didn’t like these girls talking that way about her man.She was thankful to have her wrist binds so she wouldn’t break storefront windows by accident. Her eyeglasses only prevented her from using her eyes to direct her elemental energy and to camouflage their elemental colour but without her wrist binds, her elemental energy still leaked through her pores and she could still use her hands to direct it. She walked away and headed to the bar before she did anything to these girls and ended up in jail.Her flight landed in Montreal early morning. She had a game in Mexico in the evening but decided to skip practice time just so she could spend more time with Frank before she had to
December 19, 2003 – noon“There is still a hold on your name, right?” said Erik.“In Scotland? Why not in London?” said Henry.“Yes, but considering Blue Thunder is technically a citizen of England, she doesn’t have jurisdiction over me. I could still be walking into a trap, however, so I still made sure of that. Not sure why she wants to meet there, but I think it’s better there than in London. Even with a hold on my name, I’m not too keen on walking around the SIS headquarters. Taking my flight from Scotland instead sounds like a better idea anyway.”She tried to call Frank on her way to Scotland but got no response. She hoped he was still asleep and tried not to overthink it, but she was worried. As she was hovering above the meeting spot, Frank called her back.“That was you trying to call, right?” said Frank as soon as she answered.“Yeah, everything okay?”“Yes. I was in the shower. Wanted to take my phone in the bathroom just in case you’d call, but my scattered brain forgot it
December 19, 2003 – 09:00Coralis and Andrew entered the meeting room, dragging a restrained Xanita with them.“What is this?” said Alfredino.“Xanita Aza is the one who killed Minister Luke Massina and we sent a copy of our evidence to British authorities,” said Andrew as he played the video timeline assembled by Erik and Henry. “Do you want to handle her yourself, or shall I hand her to the authorities?”“It seems we owe you an apology, Blue Thunder,” said Rolland, watching the video.“The warehouse we searched never had any cursed weapons. It was merely a ruse Xanita used to get Blue and me away from the hotel. Want to tell me again how in gods worlds Massina’s murder got pinned on my apprentice when we were nowhere near the vicinity of his hotel?”Phraton tried to say something but Alfredino quieted him, using magic to shut him up.“JORGIE! Jorgie Fluk gave me that tip about that warehouse!” said Xanita, panicked.“Oh, we know about that, don’t you worry. Unlike you, he’s been mak
December 11, 2003“WHAT?”“I still need to find evidence to prove it or force her to confess, but I was right. Blum was protecting someone. Xanita never received a tip about that damn warehouse.”“That explains why Gus could never find anything relevant or suspicious about it, besides someone tampering with their security cameras.”“Basic human material wasn’t difficult to tamper with. We probably were the only two elementals to have ever set foot in there. Do you know if Sebastian is available tomorrow?”“I don’t know. We don’t have a game tomorrow, but lately, I talk to him only when I’m in my London flat. Only place I can talk safely.”“I’ll check with him then. Remember when Xanita said she had a call to take and came back with that so-called tip?”“Yeah, and thinking of it, she was also the one who sent us to that warehouse.”“She had been talking to Jorgie. Erik and Henry are on their way back to where you guys live, they’ve been a great help.”“Jorgie? The same Jorgie who’s bee
December 9, 2003Early in the morning, while Frank was busy preparing coffee, the doorbell rang. He stopped what he was doing and frowned, wondering who could it be.The bell rang again and again. Coralis came to his mind and he dropped the spoon of coffee grind that he was holding to rush to the buzzer. He pressed to unlock the door below and opened his entry door to find out who it was. Down the stairs, he saw Samantha, panting. She looked up toward him.“Hey, M. Blue! Sorry to show up at this time; I didn’t know where else to go.”“Uh, it’s fine. Come in,” he said as he let her in. “What happened?”“My mom just found out about me. She wasn’t supposed to be home, or I would have gone to Tom’s aunt probably, I don’t know. During the full moon, I can’t control my shift, but I can usually shift back just before dawn.”Samantha paused. She stood, her legs slightly apart and leaning over, her hand resting on her knees.“Your mother came back while you were still in panther form?” said Fr
November 23, 2003“If you must know,” she said, forcing herself to speak sweetly, “he does not reside in London. He is busy with work and I am obviously occupied away from him.”Behind her calm demeanour, she was raging. She knew that Rolland had something up his sleeves by letting her stay at her London flat instead of locking her up in a cell. She wanted to kill the guard and fly to Frank, but she knew doing that would make it worse for them. She had to let them think she was playing their hand, no matter how hard it was. She missed him.He let go of her cloak and she jumped down on her back porch. Once back inside, she activated a custom mute-ball before calling Frank. Her pager went off as soon as she put her hand on her phone. It was her contact from MI6.“Blue Thunder on the line.”“It’s been a while since we talked, you and I.”“Given the recent events, can’t say I missed you, no offence.”“Can’t say I blame you. A report recently came to us from Clear Valley, which contradicts