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 crate.
"For you, from King Matthew."
"Can you please put it in my room? I'll look at it when I get back."
Coralis took off to Winnipeg. She was supposed to go there the next day, so she was wondering what was so urgent that she had to be at High Fay Ellya's home. She had never been there before.
She thought about the previous night, about the person that Sebastian saw fleeing. She thought about her meeting with her elders. She knew that the EBEE had people monitoring the situation in Chicago, but what bothered her was that their informant attempted to stop her from defending Prince Charlie and that she nearly got into trouble for it.
She found the location and admired the view before landing right by the front door. If she hadn't known where it was, from the coordinates, she probably wouldn't have seen it. It was made of green bricks, stationed between two very large trees with very thick foliage covering the entire rooftop. Three stories high, its shape was very irregular, bricks weren't layered in a straight line.
She rang the doorbell and a male fay answered. He looked no older than 30, but he could very well be 150.
"Blue Thunder," said High Fay Ellya from behind, indicating the greeter to let her in, "here you are. How did you manage to pass through the wards? I was expecting you to reach out at my hologram once you arrived to the coordinates that I sent you."
"I sensed some wards, but when I looked down at the coordinates I received from you, I saw your house."
"Hmm I am not sure if this means that I need to redo my wards or that you have fay blood in you. I'll have to ask Sonylla at what point she saw my house when she followed Panjik. Unless they've been here previously, people won't be able to see the house, but some fay bloodlines can see through that glamour."
"I am definitely not a fay, no offence to you."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Your use of light magic intrigues me."
Coralis followed High Fay Ellya to a large room situated beside the lobby. Panjik, Sonylla, High Mage Finnas and two elves that Coralis didn't know were there, sitting on tall green chairs located around a large wide table of oak.
"We're only missing Emery and Eva Suri, they should be here soon," said High Mage Finnas.
"May I ask why we are holding the meeting here instead of at headquarters?" said one of the elves.
"In light of recent information, there is a potential that we could also be having a mole. Until we know for sure, and destroy those working against us, if it's the case, it is better to hold sensitive meetings away from suspected eyes and ears," said High Fay Ellya, while her hologram vibrated.
She pressed to answer it and Emery's holographic image came out. Eva could be seen from behind his back. She closed her eyes for a moment and made her house visible to them. When she opened them back up, she looked at Coralis and got up to walk to her front door. She came back a few minutes later, followed by Eva and Emery. Food and pitchers containing a light blue liquid appeared on the table.
"Let's get started, shall we?" said High Mage Finnas as he stood up. "According to Emery's report, there was an EBEE mole spotted at the scene last night, who is believed to be an informant for Alfredino, an elder there. Sebastian, his apprentice, stated having seen him fleeing during the attack on Prince Charlie."
"While we know that the EBEE were monitoring the situation between King Matthew and his brother Lucas, which could explain the presence of an informant, I find it troubling that he attempted to stop Blue Thunder from interfering against Prince Charlie's attacker when that failed, instead of staying to help, which implies that Alfredino might have been working on Lucas' side," said Emery.
"If we believe that at least one EBEE elder is working with Lucas' clan of rogue vampires, why is agent Blue Thunder here?" said the elf who had been questioning the meeting place earlier. "How do you know he worked for EBEE elder Alfredino?"
"I remember seeing him with elder Alfredino the last time he came to Winnipeg," said Emery.
"Agent Blue Thunder has been working on that case alongside Eva for quite some time and has been questioning the instructions given to her," said the other elf before looking at Coralis. "You probably don't know who I am. I am High Elf Yalor, for the CMMA. Next to me is Zahir, one of our agents who's been investigating some prominent elf families."
"I met with them earlier today. Elder Alfredino questioned me on why I helped defend Prince Charlie. It sounded like I wasn't supposed to step in, but didn't elaborate on why I shouldn't have interfered. Sebastian told me about that person fleeing the scene, but we've been suspecting that they might be planning something against them when they asked me to cut ties with the Chicago royal vampire family and elves attacked their club shortly after," said Coralis, looking at High Elf Yalor and Zahir.
"The whole thing stinks. Did they ever tell you why they wanted you to inquire about their family heirloom when it'd have no use to them and it wasn't something they would have a reason to seize?" said Eva.
"They never did. Whoever wanted the Vase of Crimson Sky would also want to kill Prince Charlie, unless we're talking collector, and clearly, that person wanted him dead," said Coralis.
Their meeting ended in the middle of the night. The CMMA elders told her that she wouldn't have to attend their meeting the next day, but Panjik offered to help her train on spirit magic, as he was also a spirit mage. She also wanted to do combat training with Sonylla, so she agreed and decided to sleep in Winnipeg that night.
Her training session with Sonylla was interrupted by Eva.
"Blue, we need to go the The Goddess' Gems pack in Ontario, near Sudbury. Djinns were spotted roaming around their borders."