March 23, 1996
Coralis was in Denmark with Martha. The school had agreed to let her play in some weekend flyball games, provided that Martha would go with her: she was still considered a minor in the elemental community.
They went for coffee in town after the game. On their way back to their hotel, three vampires followed them. They sensed that something was following them, but didn't know how many people. They tried to lose their stalkers, but they didn't know the city.
"What is it this time? I want to bait them in an alley to find out who sent them and why they're after me this time. Lord Meozo better not be back again."
"Our stalkers are vampires. We should indeed get them to follow us into an alley, to at least lure them away from humans. Lord Meozo cannot return, you made sure of that."
"Authorities said that 15 years ago and they were dead wrong," said Coralis.
"You heard Borin when you returned to school in August. Even if he would have wanted to bring him back, there was nothing to work with. He and Yuril raided his lair and other known living places: they could not find any lingering essence of him anywhere. The EBEE also looked into it. Whatever you did to him will need to be written down in books for teaching, we told you that."
They turned left into an alley and stopped in the middle of it. From the other end of it, they saw four more vampires walking toward them. Coralis positioned herself in an attacking position. One of the vampires in front of them raised both of her hands, palms facing them. Coralis and Martha turned around and saw the other vampires doing the same.
"I am Nadine," said the vampire who raised her hands first. "We don't want to fight you."
"What do you want from me then? Who sent you?" said Coralis, still in a fighting stance.
"We aren't sent by anyone and it took us a long time to find you. Almost a year ago, you killed our leader, making you a stronger leader than he was. We need you to lead us."
"I will never continue what Lord Meozo started. I killed him instead of following him, what makes you think I want to take over his operations?"
"You killed him, so you're the logical successor," said the male vampire on the right side of Nadine.
The vampires wouldn't take no for an answer and kept insisting for Coralis to lead them. They became agitated and angry. Coralis had enough and killed them when they stepped closer to her.
"The school can't find out about this or they would probably expel you because we're in the middle of human territory. You did what you had to do and I think you made the right call: these vampires were turning violent. However, we both know very well that the school administrators won't see it that way."
"I don't understand why they seriously thought that I would be remotely interested in taking over Lord Meozo's position among his supporters, I thought I made that clear when I killed that thing."
"That comes from ancient customs and traditions in many mythical communities: whoever fights a leader and wins by killing him, takes over the clan, pack or whatever group they represent. Now, let's clean this mess before it attracts unwanted attention here."
A fay working for the Elemental Bureau of Elemental Energy was in the area and saw the vampires following them into the alley. He followed them and watched. While Coralis and Martha cleaned the mess, he walked away to contact his partner, and he intercepted them as they were leaving.
"I am Agent Sdyler. I saw what happened so you don't need to explain anything to me. What I do want to know, however, is who is this young mage who handled these seven vampires," said the agent, turning his attention to Coralis. "Are you truly the Blue Thunder who destroyed Lord Meozo last year?"
"She is," said Martha before Coralis could say anything. "She is a student and a reservist player for The Northerners. More importantly, she is a minor, so if there is anything that you need to know, you will need to go through me. I am Martha, her guardian. You said you saw everything, so I don't think she needs to tell you more."
Martha wanted Coralis to focus on being a student and playing flyball, she didn't want the EBEE to be chasing her. Despite playing for a foreign national team, which a lot of students resented her for, she was well-respected as a captain by her teammates.
The following week, two elders from the EBEE, Unimoto and Zora, came to the school to recruit her as an apprentice after she graduated, but she wasn't interested: she only wanted to play flyball.
During the following months, she received a lot of letters from the EBEE, with different offers, telling her how she could still play professional flyball full-time while being trained to become an EBEE agent. Considering she was a professional flyball player, she wouldn't have to attend the fast-flying training sessions.
During the summer, more of Lord Meozo's followers tried to contact her when she was in Montreal for her flyball games, and others met with her when she was in London with Erik and Henry. Some of them even tried to breach the school perimeter when she returned to school. A group of elves tried to take her with them while she was waiting for Erik and Henry in Glasgow, before going to their parents for the End-of-Year holidays. She killed them all.
A panther form wasn't convenient to walk around a town unnoticed, so she figured out a way to shift into a smaller version. Looking like a black cat, Victoria nicknamed her mini-panther version Cheetah.
Growing tired of the constant attention from Lord Meozo's followers, in April 1997, she decided to accept the EBEE offer.
"Are you sure about this?" said Martha.
"Can't say I want to do this. I want nothing to do with any of these groups, I just want to be playing flyball for the next few years, but I'm tired of not being able to go anywhere without having to either kill people or dodge them. If I am to lead any of them, it will be against them. If I join the EBEE, hopefully, they will start avoiding me instead."
"Can't argue with you on that. You'd be attached to the British EBEE, based in London, which is going to give you massive headaches just to conciliate your flyball career in Montreal and your EBEE training in London. That will not give you any room for socializing and dating."
"It is what it is, I need to make a point. I needed to pick a side, so I picked one. It's not like I plan on taking a husband or binding myself to a mate anyway, I don't think that kind of life is for me. I'm fine with burying myself into work."