October 21, 2002 – 21:30
"If you see Louis' car, or any car owned by Audrey's family, your duty will be to protect its occupants, ward the hell out of the car, like you've done at Healing Moon," said Coralis to Sebastian.
"You got it, boss. Do you think they will come?"
"I hope they won't. We don't know what we will be running into, but we can't stop any of them from doing so. They're humans. I think they will, just in case Audrey is going to be there and I can't blame them. Frank and Stephanie know the type of danger we're heading to, do you think that'll stop them from coming?"
"Sounds like people I want to meet," said Veronica.
"No, it won't. Louis and Linda took the revelations well, but I don't think they are realizing what they're probably going to witness," said Sebastian.
Coralis hovered above the address, trying to get a read of the type of wards present on the property.
"I hate coven witches. I'm sensing dark magic in the wards, but I'll be able to take them down. The rooftop isn't warded, so we will land on it."
"Productive day so far, unrooting the cockroaches of our respective kind. I need to partner with you more often," said Veronica.
Coralis and Sebastian landed in the middle of the rooftop and shrunk their sticks into keychains. They sat on their knees and put their hands on the ground, both closing their eyes.
"You're right, their wards are easy enough to take down. The two of us should be able to do it quickly," said Sebastian.
"I'll watch for incomers," said Veronica.
A few minutes later, Coralis and Sebastian got back up on their feet. Coralis and Veronica jumped down on an upper-floor balcony, while Sebastian flew to the ground to stand guard in case Audrey's family decided to come.
"Looks like they left in a hurry just before we arrived. Someone must have warned them," said Coralis.
They didn't find anything on the upper floors but found a lot of open food containers that were barely touched, a few half-emptied bottles of beer and some chairs reversed across the ground.
"She was here?"
"Yes, and I'm sensing panic in the lingering energy coming from her. She didn't want to be here. Let's search this place for anything we can find, especially for a basement and hidden rooms."
Five vampires came out of a trap door located in the middle of the kitchen. Veronica unsheathed her sword and beheaded two of them while Coralis pulled the heart out of two of them.
"Now talk," said Coralis to the fifth vampire, while pulling her wand to restrain his movements. "Where is she?"
"You're too late, you'll never find her."
Veronica appeared behind him and brought her sword by his neck.
"We can do it quick, or we can give you a long and painful true death," said Veronica while Coralis looked him in the eyes, thinking of turning his blood into battery acid.
"NO! PLEASE STOP!"
"Tell us where she is," said Coralis, increasing the intensity of her spell.
"I swear I don't know where she is, but I know they're part of the Coven of Unholy Saint Mothers. I swear that's all I know."
Veronica passed her swords through his neck.
"We make a good team, don't you think?" said Veronica while walking to the living room to wipe her sword on the couch before putting it back in its sheath.
Looking through the front windows to check if Audrey's family had come, Coralis saw Louis' car surrounded by vampires and Sebastian maintaining a protective shield around it.
"Holy gods from above, there is an infestation outside," said Coralis as she rushed to the front door.
Veronica pulled her sword back out and followed her.
"They're coming from everywhere," said Lizzy, panicking.
"Don't worry Aunt Lizzy, Sebastian is very powerful, and so is Coralis," said Frank.
"Hopefully Coralis comes out of the house on time," said Stephanie.
Louis didn't know where to look. He didn't feel that he was in danger, it all felt surreal to him.
Veronica quickly got behind some of the vampires while Coralis stood in the middle of the yard, both of her hands in front of her, palms facing the vampires surrounding the car.
"See, told you we had nothing to worry about," said Frank as he saw heads rolling off some vampires and others collapsing after their eyes rolled into their skulls and black blood came out of their mouths.
"I wasn't afraid for us, but I was for Sebastian standing outside the car," said Stephanie.
When all vampires were down, Sebastian let go of the protective shield and used his wand to unlock the doors. As soon as they heard the doors unlocking, the car occupants climbed out of it. Louis and Lizzy came out of the front doors, while Frank and Stephanie came out from the back.
"I'll admit, I was afraid for a second and I was tempted to get out of the car to help, but Sebastian damned made sure that we couldn't unlock any doors," said Louis, looking around. "Now I see how you easily saved my sister's life 2 years ago. Were they really vampires?"
"Did you find her," said Lizzy.
"She was brought here, but they left soon before we arrived. I know which coven of witches we're dealing with and I got a brick of evidence that High Mage Finnas will want to have," said Coralis, her hands still covered in blood and with blood splatters across her face and cloak.
"Definitely not the greatest way to introduce you to this world," said Sebastian, looking at the scenery around him. "This is not something I would want any humans to see."
Veronica still had her sword in her hand, just in case more would come, and Coralis remained where she was, looking around. There were over a dozen dead vampires scattered on the ground. Frank went to where Coralis was.
"Are you okay?" said Frank looking closely at Coralis.
"Yes, don't worry, none of that blood is mine," she said, turning to her friend. "This is Princess Veronica, she helped us locate the vampires who've been helping Audrey's kidnapper, which led us to this address. We need to go back in to collect more evidence before we burn the place down."
"They were vampires yeah, but most of us aren't nasty like that," said Veronica.
"Like people say, just rip the bandage off," said Louis to Sebastian.
"Do you think more will come tonight?" said Sebastian.
"I doubt it, but I don't want to take any chances. You should head back to Lizzy's, we'll meet you there once we're done here," said Coralis, as she started dragging the bodies in a pile with Veronica.
"Are you really going to burn that house down?" said Louis.
"Yes. I burned down the blood den this morning, we burned down the warehouse earlier and this house will also go down in flame. Our laws allow me to take any actions I see fit against those who took her or were involved, so I will keep doing so until she is found."
"At this rate, they might decide to return her to her mother on their own. You said you know with which coven her father is involved?" said Sebastian.
"That would be the ideal scenario and yes, I know which coven I'll be burning next."
Meanwhile, Mousse Glozo reached out to her son.
"YOU IDIOT! YOU AND YOUR COUSIN BOTH!"
"What happened?" said Pier looking at his daughter lying down on a bed, her body facing the wall, refusing to look at him. "We left as you told us to do."
"Blue Thunder just burned down the family house. There is absolutely nothing left from it."
"That's impossible, no one should have been able to pick up any trail when Dwayne took Audrey out of the school, and why would she be after us? Her mother is human and I never told her about what we are."
"That's for you to find out, son, before the Waldorf clan kills us all. Princess Veronica is with her, they aren't happy."