October 20, 2002 – 23:45Coralis climbed to bed next to Frank. He pulled her to him and kissed her neck. She heard her hologram vibrating on the bedside table. She cursed and tried to ignore it. It wouldn’t stop and a purple light came out of it, so she turned to check where the call was coming from. It wasn’t from EBEE, so she pressed to answer it.Someone she recognized as the principal of the Winisk Elemental School came out of it. She sat straight up.“Blue Thunder, according to our records, you are the elemental guardian of Ms. Audrey Hudson. It is therefore must inform you of her disappearance.”“Audrey disappeared? When?”“It just got brought to our attention. Her roommate notified us when she realized that her bed was empty.”“I’m on my way. Expect me in your office in an hour.”Coralis turned it off and got up to get dressed.“How is that possible, I thought the school was well protected and no intruders could get in.”“I don’t know yet, but I’m going to find out and when I fi
October 21, 2002 – 03:15Coralis stood near the edge of the highest rooftop of the school building. She pulled her hologram out to reach out to Sebastian. She knew Frank wouldn’t be sleeping and that he wanted her to call him when she had a chance. She decided to call him after she spoke to Sebastian and Lizzy.Sebastian was about to answer Linda about what exactly they were doing for a living when he felt his hologram vibrating.“It must be Coralis,” he said. Lizzy stopped pacing. He answered it and Coralis’s holographic image came out of it. “Before you say anything, you need to know that Louis and Linda were there when I arrived with Stephanie. I didn’t know how to explain how you’d be at the school already or our method of communication, so uh, now they know about us.”“WHAT?”Sebastian turned around and rotated his hologram so she could see who was with him. Louis was amazed by what he saw above the device that Sebastian was holding. Coralis saw Lizzy next to Sebastian.“Did you
October 21, 2002 – 09:00“High Mage Finnas himself? Thank you for doing that. I just got back from Timmins, where the prisoners I found had been taken from. I couldn’t just leave them in the middle of no-man land, they were weak from massive blood loss. I lightly hypnotized them and they’ll wake up by their front porch. After I find Audrey, I’ll need to have that tunnel destroyed and find out why in gods world there was a tunnel linking an elemental school to a blood den,” said Coralis.“Want me to go with you to Chicago?”“Sure, if you want to. Frank is on his way here and I don’t think the father will show up. Just in case he does, I’ll set up a ward that would prevent any elemental from entering the house, except us and Andrey.”About an hour later, Coralis and Sebastian landed behind a dumpster by the back entry of The Bloody Velvet. As expected, the club was empty at this time. She was about to pull out her phone to call Veronica when one of Charlie’s guards walked out from the k
October 21, 2002 – 21:30“If you see Louis’ car, or any car owned by Audrey’s family, your duty will be to protect its occupants, ward the hell out of the car, like you’ve done at Healing Moon,” said Coralis to Sebastian.“You got it, boss. Do you think they will come?”“I hope they won’t. We don’t know what we will be running into, but we can’t stop any of them from doing so. They’re humans. I think they will, just in case Audrey is going to be there and I can’t blame them. Frank and Stephanie know the type of danger we’re heading to, do you think that’ll stop them from coming?”“Sounds like people I want to meet,” said Veronica.“No, it won’t. Louis and Linda took the revelations well, but I don’t think they are realizing what they’re probably going to witness,” said Sebastian.Coralis hovered above the address, trying to get a read of the type of wards present on the property.“I hate coven witches. I’m sensing dark magic in the wards, but I’ll be able to take them down. The roofto
October 22, 2002 – 00:45A black cat walked through Lizzy’s backyard, and a bat stood on its head and stopped by the backdoor. It scratched it. Stephanie opened the backdoor and let them in. She wasn’t expecting that sight. She had never seen a bat in her entire life, and she had never seen Coralis in that form, but she admitted to herself that she did look like a mini-black panther.As soon as Stephanie closed the door behind them, Coralis and Veronica shifted back to their true form. Molly walked into the kitchen at the same time.“Oh my! Are you two okay?” said Molly, slowly approaching Coralis and Veronica.“Yes, we are, but there was no way we would have walked around the neighbourhood looking like that. Halloween is soon, but we aren’t there yet,” said Coralis.“We might have to miss the game tomorrow,” said Sebastian, walking in the kitchen.“I made coffee when we got back earlier, should be still warm, do you want a cup?” said Lizzy.“No thank you,” said Veronica.“I need to t
October 22, 2002 – 15:00Frank opened the door and saw a man he had never seen before. He noticed a slight resemblance to Audrey: same eyes. Lizzy was resting in her room and he didn’t want to disturb her.“Does Lizzy Hudson still live here?” said the man, in a timid voice.“Yes, but she’s not available to talk at the moment. Who are you?”“My name is Pier Glozo… I know her well. May I come in? And who are you?”Frank didn’t want him to come in, but he didn’t want to talk about Audrey in the open.“Sure. I’m Frank, her nephew. Audrey is my cousin.”Pier tried to pass the door, but couldn’t. Frank remembered Coralis saying something about warding the place against elemental intruders.“We can’t talk in the open air like that and I don’t know when my girlfriend will be here to let you in through the wards. Is Audrey with you?”“No, she isn’t, but I wanted to talk about her.”“I’ll give you my cell number. What about you call me when you’re in a safe place to talk and I’ll put you on spe
October 22, 2002 – 16:50Frank looked at her. He was speechless.“Our laws and customs do not allow an elemental to make that sort of deal with a human unless he, or she, is a marked mate of an elemental. Blue and Frank are a couple, yes, but she didn’t mark him as mate,” said Sebastian.“Like how shifters mark their mate? I know all about what mates mean for werewolves, is it the same for elementals?” said Stephanie.“It’s similar. Like it is for werewolves and most shifters, the ceremony surrounding it is the equivalent of a marriage, a mate is a soulmate, but the ritual isn’t the same. There is no biting involved and there is a spiritual aspect to it,” said Sebastian.Frank was listening with interest to what Sebastian was saying. He knew that a long-term relationship with Coralis was possible, but it didn’t occur to him that their customs regarding marriage would be different, so he never thought about asking her about that.Coralis’ hologram vibrated. She pulled it out of her clo
October 22, 2002 – 21:03“Your brother should have known better than to make that kind of deal with a human, you know it’s against our laws to begin with and I didn’t have to accept it.”“That may be, but only Audrey’s new guardian can accept it and duel me, you should know better.”Coralis remembered what Frank had told her about his conversation with Pier. Feeling proud of him despite the situation, a grin appeared on her face. She held her wand tight in her left hand and had her right one stretched next to her, palm facing him.“You are facing Audrey’s new guardian,” said Coralis as she threw a laser beam at him.He tried to dodge it, but the laser went right through his left hand.“LIAR!” he said while throwing her a blast of air, throwing her backward in the air, “Audrey’s cousin said the guardian is his girlfriend. Where is she?”Coralis shifted into her panther form as soon as she passed the shadow line, and landed on four paws behind a treeline. She crouched and transformed ba
October 30, 2003 – 20:56Frank, Stephanie, Victoria, Hector and Jennifer stood behind the stadium, waiting for the team members to come out. Frank was hoping he’d be able to see Coralis. She told him she’d talk to him after the game, but she could still get called on some case right after the game.“You didn’t give her your ring, did you forget it after all?” said Victoria.“I have it with me, but I forgot about it when we were in that room. I don’t think I would have been able to give it to her anyway, she had to leave right after it was over.”“Might be better to wait a day or two, to leave time for the branding to scar,” said Hector.“Nah, unless the ring contains silver, there is no need to wait. My mother put her engagement ring back on her finger right after she received her branding,” said Victoria.Stephanie heard a text message notification from her phone and pulled it out of her purse to look at it. She read it and passed her phone to Frank.‘We will meet you guys at The Woo
October 30, 2003 – 19:46Vectan closed and warded the room to prevent intruders. Vallia turned to the furnace behind her and opened its door. Flames could be seen inside. A small copper pot was in the middle of the flames and Vallia placed a ring-shaped branding iron in it.“Blue Thunder, you may not have been raised among us, but you are a full-blooded mage well-versed in our laws and traditions. You know why I am here with agent Vallia Bilard,” said Vectan, looking at Coralis before turning his attention to Frank.“Considering where we are and what M. Frank McNally had said, I did not need to ask if revelation had been done and we can reasonably conclude that he is here on his own free will. I did explain to him what was going to happen and he was aware of our laws and traditions about mating and marriage,” said Vallia.Coralis looked at everyone. She knew there was no going back. She and the three men behind her wore their flyball uniforms, but it didn’t matter.“M. Frank McNally,
October 30, 2003 – 19:06“Aww, that was quite the unexpected moment, ladies and gentlemen. We should apologize for the longer intermission, but we won’t. Tonight, history was written in front of your eyes, as…”Frank felt he was on cloud 9 while returning to the team’s box. She said Yes. That alone was a victory. He figured that realistically, she probably wouldn’t be going home with him that night, but she was still his. In the end, that was all he needed to hear.As far as he was concerned, he and Coralis were now engaged, that was what mattered to him at the moment. If that meant 24/7 bodyguards, so be it, he didn’t care. They would figure this out, together. He didn’t lose her.The stadium staff stopped by the team’s box entryway and he got in. The people in the box ignored the game and awaited their turn to hug and congratulate him.“I knew she wouldn’t tell you no!” said Victoria, as she passed her arms around him. “I’m the one here who’s known her the longest. Didn’t I tell you
October 30, 2003 – 18:36Frank got up his seat and followed them. He tried not to think about what he just heard and focused on what he needed to accomplish. He knew that they would have a lot of catching up to do when they would finally be able to talk.They took him to an entry point of the field and stopped there. As soon as the siren announced the end of the first period and both teams reached their field entry point, the announcer silenced the crowd.Both teams stopped where they were to figure out what was going on. The stadium staff standing next to Frank ushered him to go to the middle of the field. They weren’t at ground level, but he saw a gangway forming from where he stood, leading to the middle of the field. Everyone stared silently at him.Coralis was shocked and confused. She wasn’t expecting to see Frank standing in the middle of their field. She looked at Sebastian, wondering if he knew what he was doing there. Sebastian was sporting a wide grin on his face and she fr
October 30, 2003 – 17:00Frank pulled by the sidewalk in front of Victoria’s apartment. He was about to text her that he was there, but he saw her walking out of her door, so he closed his phone and dropped it in the glove box next to him.“Ready? Didn’t forget anything?” said Victoria when she climbed into the backseat and fastened her seatbelt.“As ready as I’ll ever be, and yes, I’ve got everything I need. I’m super nervous, I’m not gonna lie, but I need to do this. Thanks for getting me in.”“As if I would want to miss that. Plus, they’re playing The Imperialists, you couldn’t have picked a better game to do this. Her three musketeers will witness it.”“Her 3 musketeers?”“That’s what I used to call Coralis, Gus, Erik and Henry at school. Gus may not be there, but Sebastian makes a better one now.”Frank and Stephanie laughed.“I can see the analogy,” said Frank.“Sebastian convinced him that he wanted tonight’s game. Frank wanted to do it last Monday, but a game against Russia… l
October 24, 2003Frank returned home in the middle of the night from a concert, where he had been interviewing the band. He knew that Coralis had a game in Europe that day, but his sister told him that they would be playing at home on Saturday. Coralis and Sebastian usually head back right after their game when they played home next, so he was hoping she’d be home.But she wasn’t. He looked at the time. He wanted to call Stephanie to see if Sebastian was home, but at 3 in the morning, he figured that his sister was probably asleep and he didn’t want to wake her up. He looked at his empty glass of whiskey in the middle of their living room table and the half-empty bottle next to it. He sat in front of it and filled his glass, hoping that it’d help him get some sleep.He missed her. He needed to know if she was okay. He wanted to believe she didn’t leave him, but it was becoming more difficult to hold on to that idea. He needed to know that she was still with him, that he was still in h
October 16, 2003For the past few days, she spent most of her time in her London flat. Her flyball team played in Europe and the EBEE had sent her on some cases around the city. Twice, she met with Sonylla, Panjik and Emery in a Pixie-run inn located near Tremblant.She sat on the foot of her bed, listening to her voicemails, just like when she started seeing Frank. It was full when she got back from the flyball field in Bulgaria. Part of her wanted to disconnect it and throw it across the room. She didn’t like the tears coming down her eyes as she listened to them. She didn’t know how to handle them. She hated the situation more than he did.She missed him. She needed him.Another part of her, however, didn’t want to send him the wrong message. She loved him, even if she didn’t understand it. She didn’t want him to think she left him just like that. She hoped that when it was over and the danger had dissipated, he would forgive her and get back to her.She knew however that it probab
October 10, 2003 – 11:30“High Mage Rollio?” said Sonylla.“I almost got captured last night on my way back from the flyball field. I didn’t even sleep at home, to make sure that whoever came after me wouldn’t find out about my human boyfriend and use him as leverage against me.”They all looked at her.“You too?” said Emery.“Yes, High Mage Rollio,” said High Mage Finnas, briefly looking at Sonylla before turning his attention to Coralis. “Almost got captured? How did you escape? Agent Gaspart Yoz managed to escape those who came after him but lost consciousness in the back of an alley. He woke up earlier this morning, but will need to remain at our clinic for a few days.”“No offence Finnas, but the answer to that question is pretty obvious if they tried to catch her while she was flying home. Blue doesn’t use portals. They would have needed at least an entire team of professional flyball players better than ours to successfully capture her,” said Emery.“This is fortunate for us, b
October 10, 2003 – 1:30“How do you think he is going to react? He loves you, madly. You know he is going to be upset and worried sick about you. However, I honestly understand why you may not want him to know where you are. We can’t lie. I mean, we may manipulate some wordings, when necessary, but if he directly asks me where you are… best if I don’t know, you’re right… but I don’t like it.”“Neither do I. I’d much rather be in bed with Frank right now, but before I come back home to him, I need to find out who sent them. These guys weren’t amateur, but whoever paid them forgot that I’m a damn professional flyball player.”“One of the bests at that. That was a dumb move on their part to try to get you while you’re flying.”“Dumb or not, they still tried. When you talk to Frank, can you please remain vague in your answers? I know he will worry and be mad at me. Our apartment is heavily warded, but I don’t know what my enemies are capable of. I need to find out who came after me tonigh