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 those cadavers in any papers. Is Eva with you?"
"No, but Sebastian is."
"Hello Veronica," said Sebastian, holding a cup of coffee.
"Oh good! Hi Sebastian! I promise you, you want to hear about this. I'm sure you remember the gory night against Lucas's vampires last year?"
"You're talking about the night a djinn tried to kill your brother and Blue stepped in, right?"
"Yes, that night. Turned out that the vampires we killed that night, at least some of them, had the same tattoos on their left arms below the armpits. Papers are showing pictures of two of them, their left arms above their heads, so their tattoos are visible 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, that cockroach! It was in the middle of the night and barely any moonlight illuminated the forest. Bet you that he took advantage of the chaos to snap pictures before you two started to clear the scene of evidence," said Sebastian.
"It was in many Chicago's daily papers, along with the coverage of the damn witch-hunt. Are you talking about the guy who yelled at Blue when she saved my brother's life?"
"Yes, I saw him leaving the scene when she turned the djinn into a pile of corroded bones. He is an informant to Elder Alfredino," said Sebastian.
"That alone proves the betrayal theory," said Erik.
"I don't recognize that voice as well, do I know you?" said Veronica.
"Princess Veronica, right? We met once in London. I'm Erik Fullemon. The guy who asked you about which paper is Gus, and my brother Henry is also here. We arrived in the middle of the night to help Blue keep her man safe and blur the trails leading to her."
"I like you then."
Coralis told Veronica the theory they discussed the previous night.
"That would explain why they're trying to keep her undertrained," said Frank.
"It also proves that the Clear Valley case back in June was a setup. Blue isn't undertrained, but sure, let them think she is. Blue, did I tell you that since Clear Valley, Hendrick has been calling us the sisters who make hell shiver?"
"No, but I suppose we are. Clear Valley wasn't that far from where most of the battles happened during Lucas's war," said Coralis as the people around her laughed.
"I'll let the dust settle a little bit, and I'll send Trisha with one of Hendrick's men who were there to speak with the town citizens, to see if they believe the propaganda against us and that you're one the who killed their residents," said Veronica.
"Jorgie was also in northern Scotland, when you animated the ghouls. I wouldn't be surprised if we see pictures of your glowing zombies in the human press," said Sebastian.
"At this point, it wouldn't make a difference if they also used that case against me. If that case is also going around, it could explain why Andrew ranked lower than me: he was there and helped me with that spell, but he wasn't the one controlling it," said Coralis.
"The glowing zombies… you showed me a video of it, I think," said Frank to Sebastian.
Sebastian nodded.
"You and Emery were there but weren't supposed to be. If Jorgie saw you… it means that you two might become other ones of interest," said Coralis.
"One last thing, beloved sister of mine. I better not hear you feel guilty about me being on that list. If it weren't for you, Plurio would probably be ruling over Chicago now, and you can imagine what would happen. I think me being a person of interest is a small price to pay. Clear Valley was a setup for the both of us."
"Wanna bet that you're on that list because they think you're Blue's lover?" said Henry.
"I didn't think of it, but you're probably right. If that's what they think, then it should help to keep Frank away from their radar."
Erik and Henry left after she hung up with Veronica to go to their flyball field, but they flew back after their game. Gus stayed to research everything he could about the Silverling Heart and what it looked like.
During the week, Gus bought a stainless-steel necklace, and Coralis managed to turn it into silver using some technical information she found in the book that Frank gave her the past Christmas. She then moulded it into what looked like the Silverling Heart.
September 10, 2003
A week after the witch-hunt started, Erik, Henry and Gus watched Coralis make preparations to spell the Silverling Heart replica while Frank attentively watched the late evening news report.
The international witch-hunt was all the news could talk about. Some countries, such as Canada and Korea, participated without following the posted lists because they had conflicting reports about some of the names and were arguing that they would probably need a witch to kill a witch. After all, among the eleven elders of the MCAM, three were listed on the main one: High Mages Rollio, Janne and Vinna.
Coralis heard her phone ringing from the living room table and went to pick it up. She saw it was Veronica, so she put the call on speakerphone as she answered it and put it on the kitchen island counter to continue what she was doing.
"You got news for me?"
"You know it. A witch, a wolf and a vampire walked into the forest pretending to be humans. What could go wrong, right?" said Veronica.
The guys laughed, including Frank from the living room.
"Ooh, I see I have an audience, even better," continued Veronica.
"We've been helping Blue to get what she needed to forge a replica of the Silverling Heart, which we're going to nickname the Blueling Heart," said Henry.
"Oooooh, I do want to hear all about it. I've heard about that necklace. It's supposed to make any elf wearing it immune to silver, right?" said Veronica.
"Yes, and it's also believed to allow the wearer to create silver out of nothing and mould it into anything. How about you tell me what you found out this week, and I tell you then about what we're up to?" said Coralis.
"Deal! Right, so, as I was saying, a witch, a wolf and a vampire walked into a forest pretending to be humans. Valiantly, they fought the goblin and vampire monsters and saved two residents from a nasty doom. Unbeknownst to them, more bad guys hid in the forest and snapped pictures of the defeated goblins, who were also sporting devilish tattoos near their armpits. Alas, the sleeping goblins were deemed too ugly to pass for humans in the press."
"You were right, they had been moved while we were in the shack," said Coralis as the guys around her laughed.
"I've got to say, I admire your storytelling skills," said Henry.
"Thank you! I've been polishing off my storytelling talent for two centuries, I indeed became a pro at telling stories."
"Knowing you, I'm sure you aren't done with your story," said Coralis.
Frank joined them in the kitchen, standing next to Coralis.
"You know me so well, beloved sister of mine. When they returned to town after slaying all of the monsters, the townsfolk welcomed them as heroes, cheering their victory over evil. Following the witch's advice, the mayor performed a cremation ritual and turned the cadavers into ashes before despicable folks could use them for nefarious purposes."
"That explains why their pictures weren't posted in the papers. Their tattoos were harmless, but we knew it was a setup. I recommended he burns them before those who set us up came back, or before other people saw them and got the wrong idea. I'm glad he listened to me."
"What I find disturbing in this story so far, is that it also proves that some cockroaches at the EBEE have been planning on taking down Blue for a very long time. The vampire wars and the Vase of Blue Sky saga were over a year ago, and some of the vampires there, if not all, had the same tattoos as the humans found dead in Clear Valley had?" said Erik.
"Isn't it interesting?" said Veronica.
"Seb will want to know about that," said Frank.
"He should be here at any minute," said Coralis, looking at the time. "He was waiting for your sister to be back from work."
"As months went by, the townsfolk continued to tell their children the tale of the three brave warriors who saved their town from a horrible fate. One day, the news that there was a warrant for the arrest of their beloved heroes and that one of them was sentenced to death reached their ears. 'LIES!' they screamed, fists in the air."
"They don't believe that she is a witch or that she is summoning demons?" said Frank.
"You'll see. Angry, the town mayor and his citizens were determined to protect their saviours and rectify the lies, but no one would listen to them until their protests landed into the ears of an unlikely ally."
"An unlikely ally?" said Coralis.