April 16, 2002 – 16:00“It is what it is. We have about an hour before we have to leave again for the game. Honestly, I’m starting to truly understand how you felt when you decided to tell Frank the truth about us. Stephanie already knew about me when we met, so I never had to do that.”“If you’re full-blooded, but grew up in group homes and orphanages… how did you find out? Did you receive a letter like that?” said Frank looking at Coralis when she stood by the invisible door, about to take it down.She stopped her movement, but kept staring at the door.“Two agents came to visit me and my cousin.”“You have a cousin?”“Had.”Coralis took down the invisible door and returned to the living room, followed by the men. She stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at Frank’s family. Frank stayed by the doorway, leaning on it. Sebastian stood close to Coralis. She took a deep breath.“I do not have much time, so I’ll try to quickly rip the bandage off, so we can answer as many q
April 20, 2002 – 14:00Vectan Iridian and Roberto Swanson stood on Lizzy Hudson’s front porch. It was a Saturday afternoon. Before ringing the doorbell, they took the time to walk around the duplex, trying to sense any elemental energy signature lingering around.“I’m not getting any read, not even a lingering signature,” said Vectan.“Me neither, so the signalment has ground. Humans live here, with the likelihood of a young female elemental who hasn’t come into her power yet, and probably had no prior knowledge of what we are,” said Roberto.He pressed on the doorbell and Lizzy opened the door a minute later. She let them in and the agents introduced themselves. Vectan and Roberto looked around and saw another human female and a young elemental.“I am Lizzy Hudson, and uh, this is Molly, my sister. I showed her the letter and well, she was here when Coralis and Sebastian explained to us what it was, so I asked her to be here today. Is that okay?”“The caller mentioned having to do a
April 20, 2002 – 15:15The women all looked at each other and they headed back to the living room.“Given the circumstances, I’ll admit, we couldn’t have picked a better elemental guardian for you. If the father tries something shady, he will quickly live to regret it,” said Roberto.“I remember well the night I got attacked by thieves, I didn’t stay to watch her fight, but she did jump in against four guys, two ambulances were needed, and only one escaped. I knew she was skilled… and my daughter saw her a couple of times at work… but you sound like you know both of them very well… and what about Sebastian?” said Molly.“Coralis Golmar is a full-blooded mage. Like Ms. Audrey Hudson, she grew up among humans. I remember meeting her at a group home in Montreal, with her cousin Nadilla de Lima, 12 years ago. Sebastian Larameer is also a full-blooded mage. The sport you mentioned, flyball, is extremely popular among mages and both of them play on the national team. They are very well know
June 30, 2002Frank taped up the last box and placed it on a pile of boxes beside his door. He didn’t have much to move, most of his belongings were still at his mother’s apartment. He had packed the majority of the stuff he had at his dorm during the week, but there were still a couple of items left to pack.He heard the door buzzer and got up to answer it.“It’s me,” said Carlos.He let him in.“I just got done packing, Mark should be here soon with the truck.”“You don’t have a lot of boxes and most of the furniture belongs to the dorm, are you going to be able to fill an apartment? It’s not furnished, right?”“I’ve got a lot more stuff to grab at my mom, but no furniture to pick up there. We will pick up a bed, a dresser and some boxes at Coralis’. She’s in Korea at the moment, but Victoria will be there to help us. As for the fridge, stove and washing machines, Coralis has arranged for delivery and I’ll receive them in 2 days. We will see about the rest when she gets back in town
July 5, 2002 – 22:15Coralis hovered above the coordinates of the address sent by Frank. She had written down the address of their new place before she left for Asia and converted it into coordinates through the satellite function on her hologram. It was late evening.Before heading to her new address, on her way back from India, she made a stop at an electronic store run by a werewolf. There, she bought a burner phone and had it arranged so that she could push the call into her hologram, when in satellite mode, and make the call made to and from it untraceable. She needed him to be able to reach out to her if he ever was in trouble, or saw trouble.Anna, the werewolf who served her, was from Emma’s pack. She knew exactly who she was. Her mate and husband was one of the werewolves Coralis fixed the connection between human and wolf. From the moment her mate came back home, Anna swore to herself that she’d do anything she could to serve that elemental if she ever needed anything. When
July 6, 2002 – 01:00“Wait, it worked? That was what? 5 months ago?”“Damn right, it worked. As far as Father is concerned, you’re now considered like family.”“I wasn’t sure if it would. I’m still a beginner when it comes to creating spelled objects and never done a cursed one before. You found out who was after your family?”“Oh yes! The vampire we captured that night wouldn’t talk, kept claiming he didn’t know anything about it, so my dad killed him. The troll, however, turned out to be a chatty box. He did not appreciate the djinn controlling him that night, he didn’t want to attack Charlie, so he talked out of spite.”“Never piss off a troll, people say.”“You know it! He didn’t know much about the vase, but he said that the djinn had been mentioning the name Alfredino a lot and that he’d been talking to an English vampire from London the night before, at a motel in the outskirts of Chicago.”“Hmm so that English vampire is probably the one who wanted the vase.”“Yes, but not for
July 6, 2002 – 01:20“Really??” said Coralis.“Really. They are all piled up in some dungeons in London and they still look the same as they did when you froze their blood vessels. Alfredino and his cronies may not know you made that replica, but you’re the one who told them where to find the Vase of Crimson Sky. I bet that they want you dead now. You need to stay away from them.”“You sound like Sebastian. That’s what he thought when they sent me to fight your war back in February.”“Hendrick has been trying to locate other vampires who mysteriously collapsed that night, and guess what? We found quite a few around Chicago. Between us, he started referring to the replica as the Vase of Blue Sky. A few clan members came to us, asking us if there was a new disease affecting vampires after their friends or roommates collapsed and never woke up.”Frank started laughing again in Coralis’ neck.“Damn! Well, Plurio was an old vampire, he probably got more spawns across the UK and the US. I w
July 6, 2002 – 18:50Frank looked at Vic. He didn’t know how to answer it.“Blue wouldn’t willingly do something that would endanger King Matthew’s family. I don’t know what you heard about the vase or what was said about that specific case, but you know that she’s probably their most competent agent,” said Victoria, looking at Frank from the corner of her eyes.“I know that. Some elders at the CMMA want her to transfer to their crime and security department, I’m not questioning her skills. The Vase of Crimson Sky is supposed to grant vampires who bathe in it godly powers and allow them to reproduce, to give them born heirs. I know the EBEE wanted her to inquire about it, and that it got stolen,” said Ralphonse.“Wait, the EBEE wanted Blue to inquire about that specific object, and it then conveniently got stolen? That sounds shady like hell,” said Jennifer.“Some CMMA elders think so too. The thing is, there is a rumour going around, coming from London. The thief has been found dead
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