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.
March 25, 2002 – 19:50“Not yet, I don’t think so. I don’t know if the guy they fought against was the one trying to summon the wolves. They still need to drain the summoning spell out of the patients and fix their connection to their wolves. They’ll fetch us when it’s safe enough for us. As for the mighty monster juice, it’s something we usually give to werewolves who were grievously injured to force a shift and stimulate healing, but she’s not a werewolf, I’m not sure how it works on elementals.”“You know, we may not have been closed in recent years, not until you began dating Sebastian, but if you would have been under some kind of controlling spell, I would have been able to tell, I’m sure. I don’t like being locked up in here, especially not when my girlfriend doesn’t seem okay, but with what I saw tonight here, it kind of proves to me that neither Coralis nor Sebastian is dangerous to us and that we can trust them.”“Agreed. Same for me. If you would have acted any different or
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
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