Chapter 128

December 23, 2003 – 22:15

"LIEUTENANT YOUMIS?" said Sebastian, looking at him. "Wasn't he supposed to replace High Fay Zaaro?"

"Yes. These abominations reek of his essence."

A few minutes later, Coralis got back on her feet and stepped out of the circle.

"Lieutenant Youmis is exhausted. I don't think he will regain control anytime soon," said Coralis.

"And you said vampire essence was in the mix?" said Eva.

"The second time was already worse than the first time. And now this? Why here? Why our pack?" said Emma, as Emery walked back through the portal, followed by High Fay Ellya.

"I don't know why, but we will find out. That's also why I didn't want to kill the wolves. We know we can reverse it. Once the connection to their human counterpart is restored, we can question them," said Coralis, looking at the time on her phone. "I should call my mate before he gets home and worries if I'm not there."

"Ellya, we need to send a unit to capture Lieutenant Youmis. Blue Thunder said he was exhausted. We need to get to him before he regains his strength."

Emery followed Carlito and Emma to their packhouse, so that he could prepare the elixir, and Coralis left a message on Frank's voicemail as High Ellya introduced herself to Alpha Collins.

"Lieutenant Youmis? The situation is more serious than we thought. Before we appoint anyone else in high positions, we need to clean the house," said High Mage Finnas from High Fay Ellya's hologram, after High Elf Yalor was done explaining to him what was going down at Red Crescent pack.

"I bet you that you'll be overloaded with phone calls from just about every local Alpha wanting you to make them the same kind of wards that Red Crescent has," said Eva, standing next to Coralis.

"Moonlight Pearl has the same ones," said Coralis, who was thinking about what she sensed in the feral wolves. "I remember Princess Veronica telling me about the Waldorf clan researching a ghoul-summoning spell that includes vampire tissues. I wonder if it was related to what we're dealing with tonight."

"Alpha Collins, I was told that you tried to contact us. What method of communication did you use? I need you to give me an exact timeline of tonight's events," said High Fay Ellya, and turned her attention to Coralis. "I will also want your timeline of events, Blue Thunder."

Sebastian stood by the circle, while Zahir kneeled by the water ring, his hands hovering above it.

A few minutes later, Emery, Emma and Carlito walked back toward them. Emery was carrying a shoe box with two dozen syringes in it, each filled with the antidote to drain the summoning spell.

"We prepared more just in case. If this is going to become a regular occurrence, it won't hurt to have some already made in stock," said Emery.

"Ready?" said Coralis, looking at Eva and Emma. They nodded and Coralis turned to Alpha Collins. "I am about to put out the fire. We will then drain the summoning spell out of their system and put their wolves to sleep. I am not sure if the vampire essence in the spell will have an impact, but make sure none of your pack members come near us."

"Understood."

"When the summoning spell is completely out of all of them, then your members can take them to your dungeons, as I restore the connection between human and wolf."

She saw Carlito mind-linking his people and turned around to head back to the circle. From the corner of her eye, she saw High Fay Ellya and High Elf Yalor talking to High Fay Finnas through a hologram. Emery followed Emma and Eva to the circle. Coralis hovered her hands by the fire and it disappeared.

Zahir stood next to Sebastian, watching the scene within the circle. Eva grabbed a syringe out of the box Emery was holding and Emma pinned the wolf Coralis was about to bring to the surface. She could feel her hand burning a little bit from the silver particles on the werewolf's body. There was still a mixture of smoke and steam lingering in the air.

"We got lucky, I believe, but I think they're just getting started with these experiments. The vampire tissues drained with the rest of the spell as it was well contained within it, but next time, it may not be the case," said Coralis after they were done reversing the spell, her left hand lying on the chest of one of them.

"We will be investigating the situation further," said High Fay Ellya, still holding her hologram, with High Mage Finnas' holographic image floating above it. "Alphas need to be able to reach out to us whenever something of the sort happens. Radical groups are well organized, we need to work closely with all factions if we want to put a stop to this madness."

Coralis had her right hand on the forehead of that same wolf, busy restoring the connection between wolf and human. Eva signalled to Carlito to approach them, so that he and Emma could carry a first rogue werewolf to their dungeon when Coralis would be done.

"Now you can call your members to help," said Eva to Alpha Collins.

When Coralis was done, she was exhausted. Sebastian handed her a vial of Mighty Monster juice while Eva and Zahir met with the group.

"Thanks! I need to start carrying them in my arsenal," said Coralis as she got back on her feet.

Emery chuckled.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you two are together."

"Come to my wedding next week, you'll see better," said Sebastian, laughing as they walked toward the group.

"Carla and Boukya took Youmis into custody. You were correct, he was exhausted, almost stam'ed out when they found him in his home," said High Elf Yalor.

"Blue Thunder, please send us a full report of what happened tonight. I understand Yalor was the one to identify who was behind the summoning this time, but you know how exactly tonight' spell differs from the previous two occurrences and the Red Crescent pack reached out to you directly. Agent Eva Suri, I also want yours, as you are the agent Blue Thunder contacted," said High Mage Finnas.

A few minutes later, the CMMA elders left with Zahir and Emery.

"I don't know how to thank you for your help tonight," said Alpha Collins.

Coralis, Sebastian and Eva stayed behind. Eva was in Winnipeg with Emery when they got the call, but she was supposed to go back to her apartment the next day, so Coralis agreed to drop her off at her place when leaving.

"Don't worry about it."

"This is not the first time you helped our pack like that and no other witch ever went out of their way for us. I know you're not a witch, but you know what I mean. I know you are heavily hunted by a lot of people. If you ever need a place to hide, you and your mate, you can come here. Same for you, Sebastian," said Alpha Collins.

His elder son Charles stood next to him.

"I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to bring trouble your way. You need to keep your pack and family safe," said Coralis.

"No one in their right mind would cause trouble with you here."

"Blue, you know he's right. No one in their right mind would come back here to cause trouble, not after you and Sebastian literally managed to subdue a dozen feral wolves without a single blood splatter on yourselves, especially once they realized that Alpha Collins got you on speed dial," said Eva, which made the group laugh.

"To be honest, I find the timing of the attack very odd. Last night, I got into an argument with our Alpha King. The last time I had argued with him, was a few days before someone tried to bring ghouls into our pack land."