March 10, 2003
Coralis got back home in the middle of the night. They considered installing a pet door on their kitchen window. Their back door didn't have a screen door. The window did have a screened layer, but it wasn't the time of the year to leave the windows open and they didn't want squirrels to come in during summertime. It would look suspicious if only Cheetah could pass through a pet door, so they decided against it.
Once again, she had a lot of blood on herself, but her winter coat was clean. She was hoping that no one would notice the blood on her face as she crossed the street and was thankful that Frank chose an apartment located across the street from the park.
She took a shower to get the blood off her skin and crawled into bed next to Frank. He turned to bring her closer to him.
"Hey luv!" he said in a sleepy voice, as she passed her left arm around his chest. "How was your night?"
"Long and weird. Elf against pixies, goblins and djinns in the mix. We were 6 agents and apprentices trying to control the heat between the factions and were very close to human towns. Sorry to have woken you up."
"Don't ever be sorry for that. You, I can't ever be mad at you if you wake me up. Seems like there is always a conflict to resolve lately, how long until the next one?"
"Not long enough. Tonight, it was in Northern Scotland, and I know they also had agents in Southern Germany. I heard that things are also getting bad in the United States. If a war breaks out among us… it'll be bad, very bad."
She moved her hand on his ear and slid herself up to kiss his next. He flipped her on her back, so that he was above her, and using the back side of his right hand fingers, he brushed her left cheek.
"Why don't you take your eyeglasses off at night? I want to see your eyes when I do things to you, I mean, your real ones."
He lowered himself to kiss her neck, where it meets her collarbone.
"I trust you 100%, you know that," he continued. "I know you won't use your magic against me."
She grabbed his face with her right hand, resting her palm on his left chin bone.
"I know you do. You still see my real eyes… well, the colour they would be if I could fully control my inner energy. That's my way to make sure that the feelings you have for me are your own, and not what I hope you'd feel about me."
He shifted his weight on his left elbow and brought his right hand to her waist.
"I know what I feel about you, how would that change?"
"My inner magic is very closely connected to my emotions and I don't fully know what I'm capable of. The Vase of Blue Sky is proof of that. Rage, anger, frustration, these are emotions I know how to handle and control… but love isn't one that I understand well. If I can't control my anger or rage, I know what I can do by accident… but I don't know about the opposite emotions."
"You mean it could make me feel happier than I should be? If that's so, that's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm already in love with you, you know that."
"I don't know what it would do and it's not something I'm willing to experiment on. I love you, and I need to make sure that you stay yourself and not subconsciously affected by my uncontrolled emotions."
"Fine, for now," he said as he started kissing his way down, "but you know I'll be bugging you with it again later."
A few hours later, with barely any sleep, she took off to Winnipeg to meet with Panjik and Sonylla.
"Thanks again for helping me train in spirit magic when I don't even work for the CMMA."
"I don't understand why the EBEE is only giving you hand combat training. I get that you're being sent to a lot of conflicts involving vampires and shifters, but you're a mage, you also need to train your elemental energy," said Sonylla.
"I think they want to make me an easier target against other elementals. Some of the elders there are working on both sides, and we know that a lot of radicals are still trying to get me on their side. If I don't join them… some will seek to take me out before I can take them out. That's my theory."
"Which is what we've all been thinking for a while. You're already a pretty powerful mage for your age and we know you're being sent as a full agent on missions and cases when you're supposed to be in training. You do have the skills to be a full agent, hence why you're often out there alone with Eva, but you do need more training for what's coming. Hand combat training is important, but so is elemental training," said Panjik.
"I enjoy training with you, we push each other further and not everyone can handle my fire magic well," said Sonylla.
"The next training session will be at my house at a different time. Not everyone here is to be trusted, moles are everywhere. I'm afraid we're entering dark times and we need the best agents to be ready against anything, regardless of the agency they're affiliated with. If they won't train you properly, I will."
Coralis got back to her Montreal apartment early evening. Frank was there making dinner.
"Training session was good?"
"Yeah, but the next one will be at Panjik's. I think he lives in western Ontario. With everything going on, we all have developed trust issues. We know that I lot of EBEE elders can't be trusted, but the CMMA is trying to sort out who's loyal and who is working against them."
"Do you think you're on the verge of a war?"
"Definitely. At this point, I'm hoping that it won't spill over the human population or that it won't turn against humans."
"I need to leave in about an hour for the music festival, I don't know when I'll be back."
"Oh yeah, you're interviewing the bands there, right?"
"Yeah, the semester is almost over and I want to score the entertainment journalist opening for the paper."
"You decided to scratch off the openings for television?"
"Yeah, for now, I don't think I'll get a position for any channel when fresh out of school and I don't have much interest in politics. With the internship I have, I could get a job for the paper. I've got to start somewhere."
After they were done eating, Frank picked her up and sat her on the kitchen island. He stood between her legs, put his left hand beside her on the counter and grabbed her cheek with his right one.
"I don't know if you'll be home when I get back, can't be wasting time," he said as he kissed her.
Her pager went off as he was exploring her mouth.
"They can wait 15 minutes," said Coralis as she passed her right arm around his neck to bring him closer to her.
"If it was up to me, they'd be waiting forever."
Her hologram tried to go off, but she ignored it. Coralis called them back 20 minutes later.
"I've gotta go back to northern Scotland, conflict between werewolves and elves this time and Andrew said they're right next to a human town."
"Didn't you just get back from there?"
"Yeah, I swear they're leading us into war!"