Chapter 91

June 8, 2003 – 14:00

"Lucas! That smells like him," said Trisha.

"Nah, that has an EBEE stench," said Eva, sniffing the air. "Only Blue has officially been sent here. The smell purge probably was just in case I'd be here, but I agree with her, this looks like a setup. In the middle of a human town like that, either they want to force her to expose herself to humans to solve the case… or they hope to be able to take her out alone when she searches for the missing people. Moreover, Elder Alfredino sent her. I rest my case."

"Remember last year, some elders at the EBEE worked with Lucas and Plurio to take down my family, but they failed. I think the setup isn't just against Blue, it's also to expose us. Why else would they leave corpses drained of blood for humans to find? The EBEE sent Blue, but we never called them. Weird stuff, we deal with Blue directly," said Veronica.

"All right, so we will solve this case the old-fashioned way and talk in code between us when town folks are around," said Coralis, her hand on the door handle. "Here is what we will do. We will go next door to confirm our theory, and then we check on the corpses. We will decide on our next steps then. Veronica, got an extra blade for me?"

"I got you, sis, I got you. Let's be the best damn cops they ever met."

Coralis opened the door and headed to the kitchen, where Jan was. He was pouring coffee into a third mug.

"Just in time! Milk and sugar? Did you find anything helpful?"

"Yes. We will need to check your neighbour's house to confirm a theory," said Coralis, looking around Jan's kitchen. "No milk and no sugar for me."

"He passed me his house key before we left the church, just in case you'd want to have a look there. You can bring the mug with you."

The women followed Jan to the neighbour's house. Coralis wanted to take off her eyeglasses but didn't want Jan to see her eyes. She knew that she'd have to train harder to be able to fully control her energy so that it wouldn't reflect in her eyes, but she kept focusing on different aspects of her training.

Once inside the neighbour's house, Coralis closed her eyes and forced her energy into her free hand, to get a sense of the lingering energy in the room. When she got the answer she was looking for, she opened her eyes back up, took a sip of coffee and pretended to inspect the house with Eva, searching one room after another.

"She's been taken by the same people who took your son," said Coralis when she returned to the living room where Jan was.

"How? Are you sure they didn't leave on their own?"

"They disappeared from here and the kidnappers used some sort of gas," said Eva.

"Kidnappers? Plural? What about the bodies we found?" said Jan.

"I think they were two, possibly three. It's too clean, tracks have been covered meticulously. This isn't the work of a single individual. As for the bodies, we need to have a look at them next," said Coralis.

They finished their coffee and Jan took them to the morgue.

"The church is down the road from here at about 5 minutes walk. I'll go back there to check on the residents. I'll give you my cellphone number, call me if there is anything or when you're done here."

Coralis activated a mute-ball as soon as he was gone, and Veronica took a closer look at both bodies.

"Blue, look at this," said Veronica, pointing at a symbol on the inside of their left arm near the armpit. "This is a setup for the both of us. Expose witches and vampires to human folks and make us look like the demon-summoning kind."

"Indeed, that symbol has no meaning and no power," said Coralis as she hovered her left hand above it after removing her eyeglasses, "and we aren't dealing with amateurs. Eva, they used gas to purge smells in the houses they got taken from, but I doubt they purged the smells in their car. This is what I suggest we do next. Eva, have a look in their cars and try to pick up their scents."

Coralis pressed her left hand on the chest of one of the corpses to see if she'd find something abnormal within the body.

"Trisha," she continued, moving her hand to the victim's forehead, "can you look around Jan's property and his neighbour's for any trace of blood? Veronica, you and I are going to have a closer look at the town city limits, at every point of entry, through road and forest. Did you come here by car?"

"Awesome plan. I came here by car, yes. We'll stop there first to properly arm you with blades."

Coralis called Jan to let him know that Eva will need to search the cars of the missing people while Trisha searches around his property and his neighbour's.

"Have they been kidnapped by the same people who killed my citizens? The county hasn't sent us a coroner yet, did you find out how they died? I mean, how was there no blood left in them? It doesn't look like an animal attack."

"I believe they have been killed by the same group of people who took your son and your neighbour's wife. Stay together for now. Once she's done inspecting the outside of your properties, Trisha will stand guard where your citizens are gathered. We have theories on the cause of death."

An hour later, Eva called Coralis.

"You were right. They didn't bother to purge any scent in their cars. Where are you at? Did you find anything useful?"

"I think so, yes. Look up the sky and watch for a laser beam. That's where we're at."

"I see it, I'm on my way."

15 minutes later, Eva met with Coralis and Veronica.

"Trisha didn't find any blood around the house of the missing citizens. There is no need to question the families of the deceased, I prefer we focus on finding the possibly still living ones and who's behind this hellshit before the town folks find more bodies," said Coralis.

"I agree, and we know it's connected. The families of the deceased won't tell us more than we already know," said Veronica.

"I'm picking up their scent, it's coming from that direction," said Eva, pointing toward the forest behind them.

"All right, let's go. Keep in mind that we're dealing with unknowing humans. If we find those behind this mess, we will keep two or three alive and in cuffs, to show the mayor. Veronica, you could then take them to your dungeon, and we tell them that we're taking them into custody, so technically, we wouldn't be lying to them," said Coralis.

"Awesome plan, but let's just hope that we aren't going to traumatize the victims when we find them," said Veronica.

Coralis pulled her wand and cast a spell toward their shoes.

"That's to make sure they won't hear us coming."

"Meh! If they see us fight the old school way, no shifting, no magic and no vampirism involved, they'll think we're some sort of special secret agents as they see in movies," said Eva.

"All right, so a mage, a werewolf and a vampire walk into a forest pretending to be human. Let's see how the story goes," said Veronica.