June 8, 2003 – 16:45They chuckled as they got deeper into the forest. The scent trail led them to a clearing and a hunter’s cabin at the back of it.They saw five goblins playing cards outside of the cabin. Coralis, Veronica and Eva stood behind the tree line and watched the goblins for a minute.“If the vampires involved don’t have a daylight bracelet, they won’t stick their nose outside. We each kill one goblin, tie up the other two and we then go into the cabin,” said Veronica.They bumped each other’s fists and walked toward the goblins. As soon as they saw the trio approaching, the goblins stood up, accidentally reversing the card table.Without stopping nor saying a word, Coralis and Veronica unsheathed their swords and Eva pulled out her knife. The goblins walked toward them.“What are you doing here? You aren’t supposed to be here,” said one of them.The women quickly beheaded three of his companions and Veronica got behind him, grabbed his wrists and pushed him down. Coralis
July 20, 2003Despite going to bed in the middle of the night following the celebrations of winning the Silver Cup, once again, Coralis woke up early. She hoped she wouldn’t get called by the EBEE to go on a case. She knew Frank would be working all day, so she agreed to meet with Panjik and Sonylla for training.Frank woke up while she was still busy making breakfast.“Morning luv!” he said while standing behind her kissing her neck with his hands on her waist.“Morning!” she said, turning her head to kiss him back on the mouth. “Breakfast is almost ready.”“Still wanna go train today? With the workload you’ve had for the past few months, I’d think you deserve a break,” said Frank as he filled his mug with coffee.Frank sat on a stool by the kitchen island.“Yes, I need to. Panjik wants to help me train my spirit magic and give additional fire magic training to Sonylla, and I won’t pass on that. I was supposed to go to London for hand combat and weapon training with the EBEE… but I’l
August 3, 2003Coralis was at Panjik’s house for training. She went to London earlier that day for hand combat and weapon training and flew directly to Panjik’s afterwards. She was in the middle of a fight with Sonylla when she felt her hologram vibrating. She decided to ignore it, thinking it was the EBEE.When they were done, she pulled her hologram out of her cloak and saw that she had a message coming from Erik. She pressed to view the recording.‘Sis, call us back whenever you can. We have information regarding who broke through our wards 2 weeks ago.’“I remember you mentioning that. It was only your room that was turned upside down, right?” said Sonylla.“Yeah, my roommates in London think they were looking for something specific, but nothing was taken out of my room, so it could also be a warning.”“Everyone knows you got people after you. Against what would they be warning you,” said Sonylla.“That they know where she lives and can override her security wards,” said Panjik.“I
August 19, 2003Coralis arrived at the flyball field 30 minutes before practice started. There was no game scheduled for that day, as the new season hadn’t officially started, but it was the first practice of the season.Sebastian arrived shortly after her, holding a coffee cup in his hand.“You look like someone who could use a mighty monster juice,” said Coralis to him.Sebastian looked around, to make sure no one else was in the locker room.“I could use one of those indeed. I was so tired that I didn’t even think of taking some vials with me. How ironic considering I’m your supplier of mighty monster juice in times of need!”Coralis laughed at his comment.“That’s pretty interesting, indeed. What kind of mission have you been sent to?”“No mission. Well yes, maybe we could say they I got the mission accomplished, but it got nothing to do with the CMMA… although I will need to contact them after practice.”“You’re rambling. Spill.”“I barely slept last night,” said Sebastian after
September 3, 2003 – 21:00“I told them I didn’t have it. It wasn’t technically a lie, as I didn’t have it with me.”“Make sure they don’t see you going to any of your storage units,” said Erik.Coralis sat on the living room couch and was on a holographic call with Erik and Henry. They couldn’t prove that the EBEE elders had been talking to her mother’s relatives and the EBEE French elders didn’t know anything about it.“I want to move it, but it’s too risky. It is in the one I rented when I decided to relocate what was in my cousin’s unit to another one elsewhere… specifically for that kind of reason. I didn’t know if my relatives on my mother’s side knew about her storage unit.”The base of her hologram, which sat in the middle of her living room table, turned blue and she decided to ignore it, thinking that whoever was trying to call her could wait. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Frank getting ready to go shower.“It’s better if it stays there, think about it. They tried to b
September 3, 2003 – 21:45“Repeat that, please?” said Frank, quickly turning his attention to him.“The US posted a list of 50 witches that are to be killed on sight, and another one called Other Ones of Interest that are to be arrested for questioning. Me and my brother aren’t on them, neither are Sebastian and Gus, but Blue is,” said Henry.“We knew that I’d be a target if a war were to break out, can’t say I’m surprised, but 19th out of 50 names?”Frank passed his arm around her shoulders. She was leaning her elbows on her knees.“Most of the names listed aren’t even witches. Some of them should be on that list, yes, but most of those posted on their lists are elementals that stood against radicals,” said Erik.Henry pushed the lists into the hologram so that Coralis, Frank and their guests could see it.“Holy gods from above! Andrew is 26th and Sonylla is 48th. Eva and Veronica are listed on their other list,” said Coralis.“Why are you ranked higher than your mentor?” said Sebast
September 4, 2003 – 7:30“The corpses with the fake sigil tattoo? Hold on, I’ll put you on speakerphone. I’ve got a crowd over here who’ll want to hear about this.”“Yes. Oddly enough, there is no picture of them in any papers. Is Eva with you?”“No, but Sebastian is.”“Hello Veronica,” said Sebastian, holding a cup of coffee.“Oh good! Hi Sebastian! You are going to want to hear about this. I’m sure you remember the gory night against Lucas’ vampire last year?”“You’re talking about the night when a djinn tried to kill your brother and Blue stepped in, right?”“Yes, that night. Turned out that the vampires we killed, at least some of them, had the same tattoos on their left arm, right below the armpit. Papers are showing pictures of two of them, their left arm above their head, so their tattoos are clearly seen in the pictures.”“We burned them all, did we miss some corpses?”“No, we didn’t miss any, I’d set myself on fire on that.”“In which papers? I wanna see,” asked Gus.“Jorgie,
September 10, 2003 – 21:30“An unlikely ally?” said Coralis.Frank and the four mages stood in the kitchen around the kitchen island, deeply invested in Veronica’s story.“Very unlikely. A few days later, the citizens’ relentless plea fell into the ears of a sympathetic CIA agent. Intrigued, the middle-aged agent decided to visit them to find out more. He had met the one called Blue Thunder once before, and he remembered seeing a camera surveillance footage showing her and a young male seemingly deactivating a nuclear weapon on an isolated island. He knew she was no evil.”“Fart in the Sea. He saw me and Blue,” said Henry, looking at Coralis. “Erik and Gus were standing guard. We were all wearing an invisible cloak then, but it fell. When we got home, Gus managed to hack into their surveillance system to scrub the footage clean, but he couldn’t find it… that agent must have intercepted it before Gus got to it.”“A CIA agent? What’s his name? I mean, how do we know for sure he won’t do
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
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