October 31, 2003 – 06:00
"Why?" said Frank, frowning.
Coralis sighted when she saw the confusion on his face.
"I'm not saying I won't complete it ever, but not right now, for more than one reason."
"I won't change my mind about you if that's what you're worried about," said Frank, remembering what Sebastian had told him.
"I know, I'm not doubting you," said Coralis, putting on her underwear before going to the table to fill a cup with coffee. "I remember what you said on the field and afterwards."
"You want to be sure that you won't change your mind?"
"It's not that either. I can't change my mind about you, we're past that point," softly said Coralis, lifting her branded finger. "We're in the middle of a witch-hunt, where everyone everywhere is persecuting anyone they think is summoning demons and hellshit like that. You walking around with what looks like a tattoo linking you to witches isn't safe."
"I didn't think of that, but from my understanding so far, they're mythological symbols, not related to witchcraft. I'd need to be careful where I'm walking shirtless."
"True, but most people don't know the difference, and it'd still link you to a targeted one. It doesn't make a difference under this political climate. I may not be a witch, but I'm currently being listed as one. That being said, about 3 years ago, I met with a childhood friend of my birth mother. She didn't know anything about my bloodline, besides my grandfather telling my birth dad never to mark his mate. I need to find out why."
He stayed silent for a minute, thinking about what she just said.
"I remember when you and Seb explained the mating ritual to my family, that was less than 3 years ago."
"Yes. When we dropped off Audrey that night, while we waited for your aunt, Sebastian admitted to me that he nearly proposed to your sister, but felt that it wasn't the time. He wasn't sure if your sister wanted him that way, considering what it meant to us."
"Really?" said Frank, refilling his cup of coffee.
"Yes, so I mentioned to him about what I just told you. You had already hinted at the topic, but like I've told you before, you needed to figure out what you wanted, so I told him that I'd tell you when we get there… and, well… you caught me off-guard a few hours ago… so here we are."
Frank laughed at that.
"I guess I did."
"In the letter that I mentioned that night, my birth father told me my true name, but he did not pass down that warning. I know I've got an aunt somewhere, his sister. She should be still alive, maybe she knows something."
"One of the relatives you mentioned as 'don't wanna be found'?"
"Yes. I'll try to reach out to said friend again, to see how I can contact said sister if she is still alive. Before I complete the bond with you, that's something I need to do."
"Vic told us that someone used your true name to summon you once before, and she also said something about hearing it from demons when Steph asked something about the absence of a surname. Those demons, were they the ones to summon you?"
"No. Those demons had lured Victoria and I to a hidden room, and that's the name they used when they saw me. That was before we found the letter. Lord Meozo was the one to summon me."
He was relieved to hear that she wasn't questioning her commitment to him. Although he didn't like them, her reasons made sense to him. She wasn't trying to go back on her decision, so he still felt secure in his relationship with Coralis.
"I was supposed to go to work at 11, I think I should call my boss now to let him know that I won't be coming."
She looked at him, sitting on the bed.
"We can continue this at a different time if you need to leave now."
"No, this is more important. I don't know when the next time will be, and we haven't slept the entire night. It's only a meeting at 11. I'm supposed to be covering a movie release in the evening, I might make it to that one, we'll see."
Frank grabbed his pants to pull his phone out of his pocket.
"One last thing I should mention to you about the mating mark," said Coralis, and Frank stopped what he was doing to look at her, "unlike Stephanie… you'll probably be seeing disturbing memories that have been buried deep down. I don't know what you will see… but if we're talking core memories… you won't be seeing happy ones, and it would probably upset you."
"Are they what gives you nightmares sometimes?" he said, still holding his pants.
"Not exactly," she said and stood up to grab her cloak in the middle of the floor. "I'll get us more coffee."
While she dialled for the innkeeper to order another pot of coffee, after rendering her satellite phone untraceable, Frank dug into his pants pocket to retrieve his phone, but his hand fell on the box containing the engagement ring. He had forgotten about it. He pulled it out and dropped his pants on the floor.
She held the phone with her right hand when she brought it to her ear. He looked at her left hand alongside her, her branding was now bright red and very dark blue with a silvery shine, and still crusted. He remembered what Victoria had said the previous night about it. He took the ring and went beside her. She was talking to the innkeeper when he grabbed her hand. She glanced at him, and he brought her hand to his lips to kiss its backside.
She ended her call as he slid the ring along her branded finger.
"I forgot to give this to you, my apologies," said Frank before kissing her.
"I see you came fully armed. I couldn't turn you down, uh?"
"That was the idea. I didn't know where you were, but I knew where you'd be. You never miss a game," said Frank, pulling her again into his arms. "I wish I could pull you away from all of this, but I know it's not something I can do. I can only hope that the damn hunt will end soon."
"Hope so too. I need to find you a bodyguard today," said Coralis, parting from him when she heard a knock on the door.
She put her cloak back on before answering it.
"Wouldn't it be more obvious and raise flags if people see me walking around with bodyguards? I mean, I don't mind it if it can put your mind at ease, but I wonder if it'd have the opposite effect," said Frank once the door was closed again and a new mute-ball became active.
"You're underestimating my contacts, hun. For the past 3 weeks, two of my panthers have been keeping an eye out on you because I needed to be sure that you weren't on anyone's radar. Last month, you told me you were looking for a cameraman or someone to help you with sound and recording when you interview artists. Did you find someone?"
"No, I haven't. I'm still too new in the field, so it's not that simple."
"You remember Jessica? Your sister's boss?"
"She's a werewolf, right?"
"Yes. Liam, her son, does that type of stuff, think he's about our age. I've got no issue to pay him to protect you at work, and on papers, he'd be your assistant, or whatever you need him for," said Coralis while refilling her coffee mug.
"I'd need to meet him, but it could work. When will I be able to see you again? Or at least hear from you?"
"I'm leaving for Asia tonight. I'll think of something to talk to you without raising suspicions on your end and to let you know when I can see you again."
"Luv, you're overthinking it. It's very easy for me to justify calls from unknown numbers without even telling a lie," said Frank, grabbing his pants again.
"How?"
"As far as everyone is concerned, I just got myself a fiancée who has deep trust issues and holds dearly to her privacy. That's not a crime. They're after Blue Thunder, but no one knows anything about Coralis Golmar. Let them think she's a human living off her inheritance. Maybe your nickname used to protect you from your foes, but right now, it's your civil name protecting you."
She stared at him, not knowing what to say. She realized that he was right.
"How about this," continued Frank, pulling his phone out of his pocket, "you worry about protecting me from your people, and I worry about protecting you from my people? We're a team, luv."
She walked up to him to kiss him.
"All right, deal! One more thing. If someone ever comes for me, and I'm not around, send them to me, no matter who it is. If you claim that you don't know, most of my foes aren't above torturing people or getting into people's minds to get the information they want, and I can't have them touching you if they think you're lying."
"How would that be protecting and helping you?"
"By keeping yourself alive, and ensuring I won't go on a rampage that would get me killed. I can fight them if they come for me, but I don't want them touching you to get to me."
"Oh, all right then. I send them to you and warn you when they're gone?"
"Sure."
He looked at his phone and saw six missed calls and over a dozen text messages.
"Damn, it seems I was distracted. I'll look at them later, it's probably people asking about you."
His phone vibrated. It was his mother.
"Yes, she said yes," said Frank as he picked it up and put her on speakerphone.
"Aah, that's great news, I knew she would."
"As if I could have answered differently."
"Frank was so worried about you, I'm glad to hear you two are together right now. I was also calling about something else."
"Did something happen? I had tons of missed calls and text messages, I thought it was from people wanting to know her answer, but maybe not?"
"It's about her and Sebastian, so probably both."
Coralis frowned, wondering if she should call Erik and Henry.
"Me and Sebastian? What else happened, besides what went down at the flyball field?"
"Countries have updated their lists of most wanted witches and persons of interest. Apparently, some of them got killed and it needed to be updated, but the UK will be using them too. You are now 12th on their Most Wanted Witches list, and Sebastian is now listed on the Other Ones of Interest list."