October 21, 2002 – 09:00
"High Mage Finnas himself? Thank you for doing that. I just came back from Timmins, the people in cages had been captured from there. I couldn't leave them in the middle of no-man land, they were weak from massive blood loss. I lightly hypnotized them and they'll wake up by their front porch. After I find Audrey, I'll need to have that tunnel destroyed and find out why in gods world there was a tunnel linking an elemental school to a blood den," said Coralis.
"Want me to go with you to Chicago?"
"Sure, if you want to. Frank is on his way here, and I don't think the father will show up. Just in case he does, I'll set up a ward to prevent any elemental from entering the house, except us and Andrey."
About an hour later, Coralis and Sebastian landed behind a dumpster by the back entry of The Bloody Velvet. As expected, the club was empty at this time. She was about to pull out her phone to call Veronica when one of Charlie's guards walked out from the kitchen door.
"Blue Thunder! It's been a while! I don't think anyone is awake at this time, are you here to meet with someone? Can I offer you something to drink?"
"BLUE!" said Veronica, coming from their service elevator. "Hey, Sebastian!"
"Oh, sorry Veronica, didn't know you were awake, you aren't usually at this time."
"She called me on her way here and for future reference, if she ever shows up here unannounced needing to talk to me, wake me up. And yes, please, get us something to drink. We'll be in my suite."
"Sorry for interrupting your beauty sleep," said Coralis, once they were into the elevator.
"Why are you apologizing? I wasn't joking with Charlie's guard. For you? I'd have his head if he'd have sent you home. You know my sleep schedule, you wouldn't have come when I'm asleep without a valid reason. If your protegee has been kidnapped, and your trail ended by a blood den, better believe that I wanna know all about it and will do anything I can to help."
A few minutes after they sat in Veronica's living room, Charlie's guard came out of the elevator carrying a tray with three glasses of red wine, and the bottle in the middle.
"Thank you Gontrand," said Veronica as he placed a glass in front of everyone, and the bottle on the coffee table. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask you what you wanted. Do you prefer coffee?"
"Hmm no, it's fine. With the night I had, wine is welcomed."
Gontrand left and Coralis told Veronica about what she saw at the blood den and how she got there. She also showed her the documents she grabbed there after killing the vampires in the building.
"See, that's also why my family loves you so much. I recognize that logo here, that's the Waldorf clan," said Veronica, pointing at the corner of the letter she was holding. "I remember Charlie talking to our father about that clan, a few years ago. They have been causing us a lot of trouble in the past. If you weren't currently in a relationship, I bet you my father would try to hook you up with Charlie."
Sebastian nearly spit the sip of wine he had in his mouth.
"You know them? Where can I find them?" said Coralis.
"A few years ago, they came here to do business with my family, but Charlie convinced my dad against it, arguing it was a scam. He didn't trust them. Whenever they were in town, police would find human bodies drained of blood across town. You finding two humans locked up there against their will isn't surprising, they aren't the type of vampires my family wants to do business with, they're more Lucas' type. I don't know where they're based at the moment, but I can find out."
A few hours later, they were on their way to Cochrane. Veronica was holding tight to Coralis.
"You know that you didn't have to come, right?" said Coralis.
"Are you kidding me? I'll get over my discomfort about travelling at high speed while hanging in the air like that, even if I KNOW that a fall from this height wouldn't kill me. Do I need to remind you that not only you have saved my brother's life AND decimated the clan that came after us, and by the way, none of Plurio's spawn ever woke up, you're also handing us on a silver platter another clan that tried something shady on us?"
"Does Hendrick still refer to her replica as the Vase of Blue Sky?" said Sebastian.
"Yes, he still does. I should have taken you to our dungeons, I think you need to see the facial expressions on the vampires whose blood vessels you froze. It never changed, and it's been 8 months."
"We're talking about the vampires you found around Chicago, right?" said Coralis.
"Yeah, those Hendrick found around town or were brought to us are piled up in one of our dungeons, but there are a lot more in London."
They landed in the woods behind an isolated warehouse late afternoon. Sebastian spotted a camera and pointed his wand toward it to deactivate it. All doors were locked and Coralis couldn't sense any lingering elemental energy.
"This place smells like vampires, but I can't detect any elemental presence," said Coralis.
"Neither can I, but if coven witches have spelled the tunnel and blood den to dissolve all energy, bet they did it here too," said Sebastian.
"Let's go check inside. Even if your protegee isn't here, we can find out where she could be. The kind of vampires operating this place are like your coven witches, they're the cockroaches of our kind. I want them dead as much as you do."
Coralis unlocked and forced a back door off its hinges, and Veronica beheaded the first vampire she saw with her bare hands.
"Can you please tell us if you saw a 10-year-old female around here?" said Sebastian to a vampire coming their way.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said the vampire, and Veronica beheaded him too.
"Remind me to not piss you off," said Coralis.
"I can say the same to you, sis, that's why we love each other," said Veronica as she pulled her sword out.
They searched the warehouse, killing everyone they saw, and Coralis picked up a sword from a dead guard along the way. Audrey wasn't there. They found a lab and grabbed some journals and samples.
Coralis and Veronica walked down a hallway side by side, each holding a sword covered in blood. Sebastian was behind them. Coming their way, they saw two vampires dressed in a red suit. A tall vampire wearing a dark red robe and hair tied in a ponytail was following them.
"Care to tell us what you know about Pier Glozo and where may I find his daughter?" said Coralis after she and Veronica beheaded the two guards.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
Coralis beheaded him.
"I think he was the head of this place. Does Charlie want his head in a spelled box?" said Coralis, holding the head by the hair.
"You're making me wet just by looking at it. Make sure to put a bow on it."
At the end of the hallway, they saw a set of double doors in mahogany leading to a large office. They searched it, and Sebastian found a ledger book. Coralis studied the entries and spotted one under the name Glozo, with an address written next to it.
"It's near Deux-Montagnes," said Sebastian.
"Let's grab any document we can find in this room before we get out of here and burn this place down. I'm sure you want to know all about the type of operation they have here. We'll make a stop in Ottawa to call Lizzy from a rooftop and grab something to eat before heading to that address," said Coralis, holding a bottomless black velvet bag.
"Damn right I do, so does Father and Charlie."
Twenty minutes later, they set the building on fire, and Veronica took a picture of it while it was burning. The three of them were covered in blood.
"All right, we're done here," said Coralis.
"I'm going to frame that picture and anonymously put it in the middle of Charlie's desk on top of your spelled box."
"You sure you can keep it anonymous? He's the one who gave us the address of this warehouse."
"No, you know I can't, but I want to see his reaction when he sees our gifts."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think there was something between you two. Hmm, I barely have any blood on myself, I suppose I'll be the one to get food," said Sebastian.
"The Swamtons thought so too. Don't worry about me, this place was loaded with blood bags. I grabbed a few," said Veronica, pointing to a bag next to her on the ground.
They took off and landed on the first skyscraper they saw when they entered Ottawa's city limit. Coralis pulled her phone out of her cloak and dialled Frank's phone number.
"We'll grab something to eat, then we'll head to an address near Deux-Montagnes. We should be there by 10."
Frank had her on speakerphone.
"You think she's there?" said Louis.
Coralis could hear Lizzy sobbing softly in the background.
"Possibly. It's an address associated with her father's family. If she's not, I'll be able to narrow down where she could be."
"Send us the address, please," said Louis.
Meanwhile, somewhere north of Timmins, Mousse Glozo received a phone call from the friend who sent her the video footage from the blood den.
"Blue Thunder is still on your granddaughter's trail, along with Princess Veronica and another mage. Blue Thunder is one thing, but I can't have Princess Veronica snooping into my business."
"That's impossible. Dwayne assured me she wouldn't be able to follow him."
"I just watched them raiding one of our labs before it caught on fire. They killed everyone in there. One of my business partners went to check on it and confirmed that the lab had been burned down to the ground, with nothing left of it. They found the ledger book, so they got your address and many more. Put a stop to this, or we end your family."