Chapter 79

October 22, 2002 – 16:50

Frank 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 cloak to answer it. A woman she didn't know came out of it.

"Hi! I hope that I am not bothering you. I'm Lucida Chorm. My daughter is a friend of Audrey and she gave me your hologram code so that I could reach out to you on her behalf. I'm also reaching out to you for their friend Cynla Dupuis and her parents."

"You're fine. I gave my hologram code to her friends, yes, so that they could contact me if they find out anything or if they think of something else they forgot to tell me when I was there."

"There was something else, yes, that I think you should know… and I also wanted to know if you were close to finding her."

"I'm listening."

Audrey's family were silently watching the conversation between Coralis and Lucida Chorm. They were all still amazed by holographic communication.

"My older son went to that school. He graduated this last June. Two years ago, three students disappeared from there and were never heard from again. Just like with Audrey, the school said they left on their own, but my son doesn't think they did… and my daughter doesn't think Audrey left on her own."

"There were more disappearances from that school? Honestly, I'm not surprised after what I discovered there. Audrey didn't leave on her own, I found a tunnel entrance deep in the forest, near their land border. The tunnel had been spelled by witches to purge lingering energy and it led to a blood den run by a clan associated with Lord Meozo."

"HOLY GODS FROM ABOVE! Did you find Audrey there?"

"No, but we will probably have her back by tonight. Once we have her back, I will seek a transfer to the Northern Labrador Elemental Institution. The CMMA will be investigating the school. They will probably want to talk to you about that disappearance case, would that be okay?"

"Yes, most definitely. Schools don't usually accept transfers in the middle of the school year, but they won't tell you no. Honestly, I also want to transfer my daughter there and I guarantee you that Cynla's parents feel the same."

"If you want to, I can inquire for you about it. With the CMMA involved, they'll be more inclined to accept other students transferring from Winisk."

"I would like that, yes. I will speak to Cynla's parents, they live close to us. Cynla and Bomita have been friends since they were toddlers. If I transfer Bomita, Cynla will want to go too and I know they became good friends with Audrey."

"I'll get back to you about it. Thanks for the information you gave me, that's very appreciated."

Coralis disconnected the call and turned to the other people in the room, who were still staring at her hologram.

"In a way, your kind isn't that different from us. Elemental parents are just as concerned about their children's safety at school as any human parents," said Linda.

"The incident she mentioned from 2 years ago is quite disturbing, especially when thinking about the tunnel you found there. I will tell the CMMA about it," said Sebastian.

"I will do the duel."

"You know that you don't have to go through with it. Audrey's father made that deal with a human, which is yet another infraction."

"I know, and I am not happy that Frank made that deal without knowing what a traditional duel was, but that's on me. Think about what we just did to their coven or what I've done since Audrey disappeared. If we're being honest, I probably will end up destroying whoever took her one way or another."

"Does a traditional duel really mean a fight to the death?" said Frank.

"Yes. It is a one-on-one type of battle. Anything goes. You win when the opponent dies," said Coralis.

The room went silent, absorbing what she just said. Lizzy was sobbing.

"You've been involved in traditional duels before, right?" said Sebastian.

"Yes, once before."

"The battle against the former werepanther leader?" said Stephanie.

"No, but I guess you could include it since it also turned out to be a battle to the death. The other traditional duel I got involved in was last year around the holidays. I needed to destroy a cursed weapon in Northern England. As it turned out, it was protected by a relative on my mother's side, who recognized my energy signature. I ended up duelling for it."

"Last year? You mean around the time I was being an idiot and gave you a hard time over your lack of availability?" said Frank.

"Yes, but don't worry about it… you couldn't have known. Audrey's original guardian is about 150 years old, he's Pier's cousin. His elemental energy isn't that strong, but he is an old one and well-versed in dark magic. I can defend well against dark magic, so I think I can win the duel."

Sebastian walked out of the room to call High Mage Finnas. Frank got up to go to Coralis and he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head.

"I'm sorry, luv, I had no idea what it meant, or I wouldn't have agreed to it. Pier seemed genuinely afraid of you, well of Blue, he desperately wanted you to back off."

"Was it Dwayne? You can win, right?" said Lizzy.

"Yes, Dwayne Glozo is Audrey's original guardian. They are an elemental family that is part of a blood witch coven. We burned most of their village, killed a lot of their members and we were making our way through addresses of members living outside of their compound when we got the location of Dwayne's cabin, it's near Ottawa. We decided to stop here before going there."

"150 years old? And he's still kicking? Damn, how long does your kind live," said Louis.

"Yes, he's still well alive. How long we live depends on the bloodline. Some bloodlines are considered semi-immortal and can live up to 500-600 years old. Before you ask, I do not know about mine."

Sebastian walked back to the living room.

"High Mage Finnas and two CMMA officials will be present at the duel, to make sure that Audrey will indeed be returned to her mother if Blue wins."

"Can they stop the duel from happening?" said Molly.

"No, because Blue agreed to it."

"She said that you two were heading to Dwayne's cabin… you were closing in on Audrey… had I not made that deal… we would have gotten Audrey back sooner without her fighting for her life tonight… right?" said Frank, his arms still wrapped around her.

"Yeah, we were… but it doesn't mean that Audrey would have been there and like she said, she probably would have ended up fighting him to death anyway. She's been in a lot of deadly situations before. I am sure she will win against Dwayne, there is no way that he's more powerful than Lord Meozo was," said Sebastian.

They all wanted to go to the meeting place. It was in the middle of a forest near Oka. Coralis tried to discourage them from coming because she didn't want them to see her that way, but she knew she couldn't stop them from coming. She was reminded about the gruesome scene they saw the previous night when she killed a bunch of vampires with Princess Veronica. Linda decided to stay behind, so they wouldn't have to take a second car.

High Mage Finnas didn't object to it and tasked the two representatives with him to set up a protective ward around Audrey's family, to make sure no spell gets to them by accident. Vectan Iridian was one of the CMMA representatives present. He was instructed to stand by the Hudson family and make sure that no one from the Glozo family approached them.

At 20:55, Coralis saw Dwayne walking toward the fighting circle. She was with Frank, standing within the shadows of a hunter shack close to it.

"I need to go. It's time."

"Come back to me," he said as he kissed her.

"I will," she said as she returned it.

"I love you," he said.

She stepped out of the shadows and walked straight to the circle without looking at anyone in attendance.

"Well well well," said Dwayne as she entered the circle. "Here I thought that I was going to fight Audrey's new guardian, her cousin's girlfriend. The agreement wasn't with you."