February 17, 2002 – 16:00 (London time)“Lucas’ vampires were indeed spotted roaming the forest in suburban Chicago, and a few attacks were reported. A few humans were found drained of blood by local pixies. Last night, a clan of goblins helped Lucas’ vampires to attack King Matthew’s warriors who were patrolling the forest and I’ve been notified to get there as soon as possible. I’ve done what I’ve been tasked to do. You instructed me to intervene if tensions between King Matthew’s family and Lucas’ clan escalated into a war, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”“There have been reports about Prince Charlie getting directly attacked after it was over and that you stepped in. Why?” said Alfredino.“Sirs, my apprentice has done exactly what she was expected to do. If Prince Charlie was attacked, we can reasonably conclude that it wasn’t over after all, so her actions were justified. Anything else?” said Andrew.“That will be all,” said Rolland.“This is getting stranger and stranger. I
February 17, 2002 – 22:00 (Montreal time)“Wait, was it on something like this that my sister called Sebastian last night?” said Frank while drinking the rest of his coffee.Their bell rang and Victoria went to answer it, meeting the visitor down their stairs.“No, as far as I know, Stephanie does not have a hologram transmitter, unless she called Sebastian’s satellite phone number,” she said while getting up from chair and heading to her bedroom to grab her cloak and paraphernalia. “Sebastian has a mobile phone, and there was phone a signal where we were.”“Do you also have a satellite phone?”“Not exactly, our holograms have a satellite mode, but there is no way I’m going to use it to call you, can’t risk the EBEE finding out about you, can’t risk your safety. If you can accept all this, I’ll get a mobile phone.”“I have to go too. Talk to you tomorrow?”“Sure, good luck at school tomorrow.”Victoria came back inside as she was about to walk out the door, carrying a closed wooden cr
February 21, 2002 – 16:00Frank rang Victoria’s doorbell. She let him in.“I’ll be ready in a minute. Come in,” she said from the landing above the stairs and returned inside her apartment.“Are we going there by car or a different method? I meant to ask Coralis, but forgot about it.”“We’re going there by car, yes. The game starts at 18:00 tonight, but we should be there on time, even if there is traffic on the highway.”“I’ve been looking forward to it, honestly. The last few days, it’s been all my sister can talk about and well, I’ll get to see what Coralis actually does for a living.”“You’ll like it, I think. I know you’re not a sports fan, but you’ll probably enjoy the atmosphere. Plus, it’s indeed a pleasant way to introduce you to our world. I mean, to what we are, as that sport is rooted deep in mage culture. I take that you’re not too mad anymore at me and Coralis?”“I’m still a bit upset, but more about the fact that you guys didn’t tell me sooner. I haven’t seen Coralis si
February 21, 2002 – 20:43Just before she reached the ground, she stabilized herself and circled the field, barely a meter above the ground. Frank didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he released it.“Did you really think she was going to hit the ground?” said Victoria.“Yeah, I really thought that,” he said, in a shaky voice.“Blue is too good for that. Oleandro, the Spanish captain, is a very strong and aggressive player. He is often butting with Blue, but she is just as ferocious as he is and knows how to fool him and his team. She drops low enough so that the defenders won’t pay attention to her, and will pop back up where no one is expecting her. Blue and Lydia are pros at these tricks,” said Hector.“I see what you mean,” said Frank, as he watched her rise back up at high speed like an arrow, and catch the ball thrown by Lydia above everyone’s head, just to send it straight through their opponent’s net.The Northerners won the game 15 to 13. After the game, they wanted
February 21, 2002 – 21:35“Oh, that’s a good question!”“I mean, perhaps you don’t really have that kind of story, but from what I gathered so far, you do have a reputation, and you just confirmed having a lot of enemies, so someone out there is bound to have a story to tell out of spite.”“I do have that kind of story, and I can see some of my enemies coming to you that way.”“I’m listening. I’m only asking for one.”“I was 15, in my 6th year of elemental school. That year, I qualified for the World Elemental Tournament, with Vic and some other students. It was hosted by an American elemental school. There was a combat competition. Two competitors would fight each other to submission, using magic and hand combat skills. The other competitors would form a circle around them.”She paused and watched patrons driving in and out of the parking lot, remembering the incident.“During the quarterfinals, Victoria fought Reggi Nezo, a fire mage. He won, but after the battle was over, he didn’t
February 21, 2002 – 22:10She looked at him, nodded and jumped on her stick to leave. The entire way to her meeting place, she kept replaying her conversation with him in her mind. She would need to find a different way to keep him safe. She knew that if she moved with him, it would be harder to keep her enemies from finding out about him.She activated her invisible glamour a few seconds after taking off, which made him think of something else he wanted to ask her. He walked toward the bar to meet up with his friends.“Here you are, finally!” said Sebastian as soon as he saw him. “Where’s Blue?”“She got called to a meeting in Winnipeg while we were talking outside,” said Frank as he sat across from Sebastian.Victoria sat to his right, Stephanie across from her. The rest of the group sat on the other side of Stephanie and Victoria. They weren’t paying attention to them.“CMMA? Did she say who called her? I know she normally wouldn’t, but now that you know, maybe she did… hopefully?”
March 25, 2002 – 16:15The Northerners’ practice was nearly over. Coralis stood on the ground, her chin resting on the tip of her stick as she listened to her coach. Her pager went off. It was Stephanie. She figured she’d call her back when practice was over, as there were only 15 minutes left to it.A few minutes later, Sebastian’s phone vibrated. He looked at her, and her pager went off again.“I’ll go call her back, sounds like an emergency,” whispered Sebastian in her ears.She nodded. He came back 2 minutes later and raised his hand to signal the coach’s attention.“I’m sorry, coach, but I need to leave now, and so does Blue,” said Sebastian.She looked at him, suddenly worried, thinking something must have happened to Frank.“Very well, we’re almost done here anyway. Everything okay?”“Yeah, if only bad guys only did their things when we’re off work.”Sebastian turned around to walk toward the locker room, Coralis following closely behind me.“What happened? Is Frank okay?”“Tro
March 25, 2002 – 17:15He found the audio settings and turned the sound on.“The room reeks of turmeric,” said Eva after she shifted back.Coralis kneeled next to the patient, placed her left hand on her chest and stared down into her eyes. She searched for her wolf.“The spell is stronger than last year. Her wolf is completely feral and unhinged, the connection between human and wolf is all destroyed, but I should be able to reverse it once the summoning spell is out of her system.”“We caught the fay who did this last year.”“We’re dealing with a different one, a stronger one.”A yellow glow could be seen coming out of Coralis, and A fell asleep. Jessica approached the patient with a second syringe filled with a sedative and injected it.“For good measure.”“Won’t hurt. I managed to override the spell, but I don’t know how long it will take for the fay to regain control.”Emma passed the chains around A’s wrists and ankles. They stepped away from the bed and walked out of the room.
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
November 14, 2003Before she could leave the meeting room, a furnace appeared behind the elders. Rolland stood and grabbed the casting iron lying on top of it. Its tip was shaped like a small straight line. With his other hand, he took the can of silver that was next to it and sprayed silver on the casting iron tip.Watching Rolland make the preparations to bar her EBEE tattoo, she felt relieved. She would no longer be attached to the EBEE. She would be free.“It has been brought to our attention that you recently took a mate. Do you understand that mates are a distraction in our line of work and a potential weapon to be used against us?” said Rolland as he approached her with the casting iron.“I understand,” she said, looking at him as she wondered if he meant it as a threat.Rolland pressed the casting iron three times on Coralis’ skin, where her EBEE tattoo was. The three burned lines formed what looked like a triangle. Lines all intersected with each other, except that a line wou