June 8, 2003 – 11:00
Coralis hovered above the rooftop of Eva's apartment building. Because of her line of work, Eva didn't want to live on any pack lands, to prevent endangering innocent pack members if one of her enemies decided to seek out revenge against her.
Given their long list of enemies, Coralis had her building warded recently, to prevent any elementals from entering Eva's building, except for her very short list of trusted ones. She also warded it to allow Eva to go in and out of her apartment using portals to and from her rooftop, without any human seeing anyone mysteriously appearing and disappearing from it.
"I hate portals, but I think I'm going to start using that method when coming home covered in blood," said Coralis as Eva sat behind her.
"Are we still meeting with Princess Veronica in a small town near Chicago called Clear Valley?"
"Yes, Alfredino sent me there. I called Veronica right after I ended my call with him. No one in her family called the EBEE and she said that she was going to meet me there along with one of her warriors. All I know is that 2 humans have been found dead drained out of blood and that goblins were spotted nearby."
"I spoke to High Mage Finnas while waiting for you. He didn't know anything about it, which he didn't find surprising. He found it odd that the AEEA doesn't want to get involved, considering goblins are helping the vampires and are causing havoc near human towns. He also said he was planning another meeting at High Fay Ellya's house."
"Honestly, I do want to find a way to be able to walk out from the EBEE without endangering Frank and his family and I'm down to collaborate more with the CMMA, but I don't want to transfer there. I'd rather find a job as a pack witch, or something like that. Think packs would hire me?"
"Think Emma and Jessica would get their Alphas to fight over you and one is bound to get offended if you choose the other pack. I had no trouble convincing High Mage Finnas that I needed to go with you, but he wants me to let him know if backup is needed. He doesn't want a repeat of last year's vampire war."
An hour later, Coralis hovered above the meeting spot with Veronica. She texted her the location of where she was about to land.
"Hey, girls! I swear, you two are the only non-vampires we trust at the moment. Hmm, besides Sebastian and Emery, we do trust these two as well… but you two are the best. You remember Trisha, right?" said Veronica, waving toward the dark-haired girl next to her.
They followed Veronica to a church, where the town residents have gathered. A middle-aged man walked up to them and shook Coralis' and Eva's hands.
"Hi! Is one of you Agent Blue Thunder? The agent that was sent to us?"
"Yes," said Veronica, waving her right hand at Coralis. "This is Agent Blue Thunder and beside her is Agent Eva Suri, her partner. Blue, this is M. Jan Smith, the mayor of Clear Valley."
"You may just call me Jan."
"His son and his neighbour's wife went missing. Last week, they found the bodies of a resident drained of blood in the middle of the road by the gas station. They called the county police, but they never came. They found another body yesterday afternoon. At the same spot, also drained out of blood, and also a resident," said Veronica.
Coralis and Eva glanced at each other.
"Citizens are now afraid to come out of their homes. A man called me this morning. He said he was going to send you to help us," said the mayor to Coralis, "so I gathered everyone here, thinking it would help to keep everyone safe until you arrived. Well, not all citizens are here, but those who reached out to me or didn't feel safe at home."
Coralis took a few steps forward, to have a better look at the town residents who were gathered. A lot of them were staring at her, others were busy tending to their children and she saw the pastor discussing with a few of them. She estimated that there were about 200 people gathered in that church.
"Is the spouse of the woman who went missing here? Would it be possible for me to examine the bodies found drained out of their blood?" said Coralis.
"Yes, he's the grey-haired man talking to the pastor over there, and yes, I'll take you to the morgue when you want to see the bodies."
"Eva, can you please meet with the spouse and find out where and when he saw his wife last?"
"You got it!"
"Jan, what can you tell me about your son's disappearance? Where and when did you see him last."
An hour later, the four women were at the mayor's residence, in his son's bedroom.
"May I offer you something to drink? Coffee?"
"Sure," said Coralis.
"I'm a widower, there is no one else living here. I'll be back when the coffee is ready. If you need anything else, please let me know."
As soon as he was gone, Coralis gently closed the door and activated a mute-ball.
"This is beyond odd and I have a very uneasy feeling about it. I think the case is real, but something about it feels like a setup," said Coralis as she took off her eyeglasses.
"Do you think Alfredino has an informant around here like he did last year?" said Eva.
"Want me to call Hendrick for backup?" said Veronica.
Coralis walked around the room, looking everywhere, as she released some energy to sense for lingering ones.
"No need for backup, at least not yet, and yes, I'd be willing to bet that Alfredino got an informant parked nearby. Thanks for helping, Veronica, I'll probably need your expertise when we examine the corpses."
"Bodies found drained out of blood in the middle of a human town are bad press for us, you don't need to thank me, you aren't pulling a favour here."
"This is indeed beyond odd. I'm not even smelling anything in here. As if whoever took him purged any smell to ensure the victim couldn't be found, no trail to follow," said Eva.
"Do you think it's a vampire working with a witch?" said Veronica.
"No witch involved. The room has indeed been spelled, but not by a witch. We are dealing with goblins using a fay-made spell in gas form, working with vampires," said Coralis.