Chapter 130

December 24, 2003 – 16:30

Louis handed Frank a drink after Linda collected their winter coats.

"I remember that night she took down your former leader. I heard a lot about him, but nothing good," said Stephanie.

"Took down former leader? Is it the duel you mentioned last year when they explained what a traditional duel was?" said Louis, looking at Stephanie.

Stephanie nodded to her uncle.

"Frank told us that you're close to Coralis, are you like her?" said Molly.

"Coralis? Ah yes, I keep forgetting she's also known under a different name. I'm not exactly like her. I'm a werepanther," said Samantha, following Frank to the basement.

"I remember seeing her transforming into a panther the night she killed Dwayne," said Lizzy.

"Some mages learn to transform into an animal of their choice. Blue can shift into a black panther," said Sebastian, leaning on the chair Stephanie sat on.

"She looked like a black cat when she came back from that house with that Veronica girl," said Molly, coming down the basement carrying a tray of appetizers.

Louis brought a few more foldable camping chairs. Frank and Samantha each grabbed one. Samantha didn't know anyone else in the room. She had seen Stephanie and Sebastian a few times before but wasn't sure if she could fully trust the rest until she remembered what Coralis had told her in the morning.

"She started being hunted by radicals when she learned about animal transformation. Walking around a city as a panther wasn't practical, so she told me she learned how to transform into a mini-version of it when she didn't want to be seen," said Frank.

"That alone tells you how powerful she is. For a mage, animal transformation is a skill to develop, and we don't shift into multiple animals, nor do we miniaturize ourselves afterwards," said Sebastian," said Sebastian.

"Our former leader was afraid of her. He would stir up problems with just about all werewolf packs, makes us fight for him, but would run whenever she'd show up… except that one time," said Samantha.

"Make you fight for him? How old are you? How old were you?" said Lizzy.

"I'm 16. I was 12 when I met Blue and she took down our leader… almost 2 years ago."

"Just before she told me all about the supernatural."

"There were so many wolves and panthers injured that night. We were lucky she wasn't out of the country," said Stephanie.

"Wait, so, you're a werepanther, meaning you can transform into a panther instead of a wolf, correct? Do you change form during a full moon, or am I ignorant about that too? If Coralis, or Blue, took down your leader or duelled him, does that mean she killed him and took over?" said Raymond.

Stephanie and Frank chuckled. Sebastian was glad that he wasn't the one being grilled with questions this time, but he wanted to be able to help out Samantha, just in case she became overwhelmed. Samantha looked at Frank, uncertain, and he nodded at her.

"Yes, I can shift into a panther whenever I want, except during the full moon. Like with werewolves, we are either born as one or become one if we get severely bitten. I know my father was one too, but he left when I was a toddler. I can shift anytime I want because I'm a born one and of my bloodline, but full moons will force me to shift."

Glancing at Frank, she raised her left hand, turned it into a panther paw, and shifted it back to normal a few seconds later.

"You're from a bloodline that can do partial shift," said Stephanie.

"Yeah, it seems so. My mom was barely home, she didn't know I was like my dad until this last full moon."

"Oh, Lords! How did you manage until now?" said Molly.

"Dinner will be ready to serve when Coralis and Audrey arrive," said Linda, coming down the stairs.

Louis stood near the staircase and passed his arm around her waist, listening attentively to Samantha.

"It was fine until I turned 11 when I had my first shift. I never was close to my mother and never understood why. I was home alone when it happened the first time. I didn't understand what was happening. I ran. At the time, we lived in Laval near a wood. Stephen smelled me out. Stephen was my former leader."

Samantha was staring ahead of her as she was telling her story.

"Do you want water or something else to drink?" said Lizzy.

"No thank you," said Samantha, glancing briefly toward her. "I was grateful at first that he'd help me out understanding what I was, but then he expected me to get involved in fights to solve problems he started, along with some others. One night, when I was 12, he was causing problems with a weretiger near a werewolf pack in Lachine, and it's how I met Blue. She got involved."

"I've heard about that," said Stephanie, grabbing an appetizer. "I wasn't working at Healing Moon yet, but Clarissa told me about it. Weretigers aren't common at all around here. I think they took him down, but a human kid was bitten. The kid had been transferred to Healing Moon along with some others."

"Jeremie?" said Samantha, and Stephanie nodded at her. "Blue didn't come with us to Healing Moon, but gave me and Tom her pager number. She didn't like that Stephen was making us fight, but at the time, she couldn't do anything about it, so she told us to reach out to her when needed. She said she didn't know if she'd be able to call us right away, but she would when she could."

Frank remembered when he and Coralis started dating, when they were together sometimes she'd walk away for a phone call.

"Even if just to talk?" said Frank, looking at her.

"Yeah. Whenever I needed to rant, I'd page her. My mother was never home, or barely. Often, during the full moon, I crashed at Victoria's or Tom's aunt and uncle. I remember once, I had an argument with my mom and couldn't reach out to Blue. I acted out and ended up in a group home. I found out afterwards that she had been fighting in a duel. It made me realize that I had to work on patience."

Samantha paused, remembering what happened that night. Frank closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the story he heard the day he found out about what a traditional duel was.

"Were you there that night she's talking about?" said Raymond, looking at his brother.

"More or less. I've heard the story about that duel a few times. I didn't know what they were when that happened, so I gave her a hard time over it that night," said Frank, looking at Raymond.

"When Blue gets here, mark my word, I will tell her 'I told you so,' said Sebastian, getting up to refill his glass of wine.

Stephanie looked at her man.

"Yeah, you did tell her that it was time for her to tell Frank the truth."

"Yeah, I did, and so did her friend Victoria," said Sebastian, glancing at her as he returned to his seat, "but honestly, had I been in her shoes, I don't think I'd have done differently."

"I got placed back to my mother about a month later. There was a witch we knew who'd provide me, Jeremie and Tom with potions for when we had to prevent a shift from happening during a full moon. When Blue killed Stephen and took over the clan, things got better. She told the clan to decide on a new leader among ourselves, but we never did. To us, the strongest had to lead, and she was the strongest even if she wasn't a werepanther."

"That's what I was wondering. How can she lead if she's not a werepanther?" said Raymond.

"She challenged the former leader. Human and panther form only, no magic involved," said Stephanie.

"Yeah, our kind doesn't hold elections like humans do. She challenged the leader in the middle of his madness and won, so she took over our clan. She can shift and fight as one, that's all we care about."

"From what I understood, you're now staying with Frank and Blue?" said Linda, then looked at Frank. "Sorry, I've been watching too many news reports lately, the nickname stuck on my tongue."

Everyone laughed.

"Don't worry, everyone calls her like that. Just make sure no one else outside of us can associate Blue Thunder with Coralis Golmar," said Frank.

"True. Our country may not be hunting down the names written on the global lists, but they are killing anyone they think is a witch. The witch who was providing us with the potion to prevent us from shifting during a full moon has been captured and killed last week," said Samantha.