Chapter 15

March 13, 2000

Coralis had to attend a mating gala hosted by the Swamtons, a prominent fay family. They wanted their eldest son and heir, Ollyo, to find a bride. They invited dozens of single elemental women of prominent families or who were powerful. Coralis didn’t want to go. She knew Ollyo very well: he was always surrounded by all kind of women. She didn’t think that there was any species that he didn’t sleep with. She dated his cousin Rowan for a short period of time, but his father was always in their business and they ultimately realized that it was better for them to remain friends instead of pushing for a relationship that would feel forced.

The Swamtons were close to Coralis’ parents. They told her to bring a single friend with her. She was still a little bit angry at her parents: she thought they should never have gotten involved with Lord Meozo in the first place and stood up to him, but she didn’t know what their deal was exactly with the Swamtons. She also remembered her dad’s warning in his letter, about not trusting anyone. She suspected that the fay family was connected to the rise of the movement against humans, so she decided to go with Princess Veronica, the youngest child of King Matthew, thinking that maybe they could find out more about what they were up to.

Coralis had no interest toward Ollyo Swamton and the feeling was mutual. She refused to be tied up to him. However, his father kept trying to push them together.

“I really don’t get the Swamtons obsession with me, I’m not even a fay, I’m mage. Even Ollyo is not interested,” said Coralis while she sat at the bar with Princess Veronica. “The way I look at it, either it has to do with my parents, or they want me as their personal weapon.”

“I’d say all of the above. Your parents were involved in a lot of shady craps and we know that they want you on their side in their campaign agains humans. Part of me gets it: it would be nice to not have to hide, but I can’t stand behind the way they go about it. They don’t want equality, they want superiority, to be above everyone else. I can’t trust them,” said Veronica.

“They have a paw in just about every cookie jar and have a lot of influence in the investment sector. I want to know what they are up to, but there is no way that I am going to bind myself to playboy Ollyo, can’t do it. I’m just thankful that they don’t know my civil name and think that my parents actually named me Blue Thunder.”

“Hmm, I think I have an idea for that. Actually, I got a great idea that could potentially get them to back off on you AND spice up this evening a little bit. You got any romantic interest toward any males in here?”

“Nope, the single chicks in here can have them.

Coralis saw Rowan approaching the bar, but she wasn’t worried about him overhearing them talking against his family: she knew that he was close to his father, but not with the rest of them. Syllyan, Ollyo’s father, was the brother of Rowan’s father.

“Perfect! See the pillar over there not far from the VIP area?” said Veronica, with her hand pointing to a large pillar located by the shadows that were on the left side of the VIP area.

“Yeah, I see it.”

“What about we pretend to hide behind it and get into a heated make-out session? Let them think we got the hots for each other.”

“Hmm, that might turn on Ollyo,” said Rowan Swamton from behind Coralis, “but I know that his dad wants the bride to only have eyes for his eldest son… so your idea might work, Princess Veronica. If you need me to, I could spread the rumour among the family.”

A grin appeared on the face of both women.

“Ok sure, let’s do this!” said Coralis. She chugged the rest of her drink, took Veronica’s hand and led her to the pillar. “Wanna go full groping or keep it family friendly?”

“Depends on who’s watching. I don’t think we will need to strip down, but let’s give them a show with our clothes on, while pretending to think that the pillar is hiding us. Tonight, honey, you’re mine!”

The two women walked behind the pillar. Veronica pinned Coralis against the pillar, grabbed both of her hands and kept them above her head against the surface of the pillar.

“Ready to play?” Veronica whispered in her left ear.

“I was born ready, my love.”

They could feel eyes on them, so Veronica started kissing her ear, then her neck and collarbone. Coralis pretended to moan while Veronica tried to hold her laughter in.

Meanwhile, Rowan walked into the VIP area to sit with some of his cousins who loved gossiping and told them that he had just seen Princess Veronica and Blue Thunder making out on his way in. It didn’t take long for the Swamtons to seek out Coralis to have a chat with her.

“You do know that your family was very close to ours, right?” said Syllyan.

His wife was sitting to his right, Rowan’s parents were sitting on the couch to his left. Coralis was sitting on Veronica’s lap on a single seater sofa. Coralis saw more fays around the room, but she only knew a few of them.

“I’m aware. As you probably know by now: I have been very clear that I have absolutely no intention of following in their footsteps.”

“That’s really a shame. Your parents had so much hopes for you.”

“You can’t actually be saying that Blue failed her parents,” said Veronica. “I mean, she’s quite the superstar among the mages. I know that my dad would be proud of me if I had that track record at that age. Isn’t it why you wanted her to come to a mating ball that she had no interest for?”

“If you must know, Princess,” said Syllyan, “my wife and I had an agreement with Blue’s parents, that if neither of our eldest child had found a mate, they would marry each other.”

“No offence, sir, but I will not be doing this. My parents are dead, as you all know very well, so they can’t confirm this. Whether or not you like it, Princess Veronica and I are together and I am not planning on dumping her for someone who drops his pants for any female he sees,” said Coralis, caressing Veronica’s back with her left hand while her right hand was loosely wrapped around her neck.

“I have too much respect for the ruling vampire family of the Chicago area, so I will not be discussing this matter further tonight, but know that this is not over. I do not wish to offend King Matthew’s family,” said Syllyan.

Veronica drank the rest of her beer and stood up, wrapped her right arm around Coralis’ waist and walked out of the VIP area, heading back toward the bar.

“That was fun,” she whispered in Coralis’ ear, “we should do that more often.”

“Thank you for saving my soul on that one, I owe you.”

“Are you kidding me? I think you are the only witch out there that my family trusts at the moment. You’ve been more effective handling our mess than any of the so-called agents who supposedly came to help us. Trust me, you don’t owe me anything on this.”

“Still, thanks a lot for that.”

“Don’t you find it interesting that in the banking world, the goblins are known to be shady and untrustworthy, while people would trust the fays with everything they own?” said Veronica. “In fact, the fays are just as bad as the goblins, if not worse. They could be trying to sell your grandmother behind your back and you would never know. With goblins at least, you know what to expect.”