June 29, 2000 - 22:00
Frank and Mark entered a bar located on Acadie Boulevard. They went to the movie theatre to watch The Shaft and wanted to go out for a couple of drinks before heading back to the dorm. The bar was within a short walking distance from the cinema.
Mark had just broken up with his girlfriend Jessie, and Frank didn't know when he was going to take Coralis on a date.
"All All right, now you know how bad it crashed between Jessie and me. Your turn, bud, how is it going between you and Coralis?"
"Well, if you wouldn't have been deep into Jessie's skirt for the entire month, you would know," said Frank.
"Ouch! Well okay, I deserved that one but it's past history now. So. You and Coralis."
"Hard to tell, I saw her only twice since the party. The first time doesn't count, as she was walking out of the dorm's elevator while I was coming in and she had to leave for work. That was about 2 weeks ago. We spoke a little bit, but she was running late."
"But you said you saw her twice."
"Saw her again this morning around the campus, she was heading to Vic's, but we went for coffee instead. She is leaving for Asia tomorrow and will be away for at least a week. She gave me her pager and UK landline numbers, but she doesn't know when she'll be back in town."
"She truly really is the elusive girlfriend, then."
"That would depend on whether she is my girlfriend," said Frank, finishing his beer. "I like her, but you know when a girl seems almost too good to be true so that there must be a catch somewhere?"
"Do you think this is the only catch with her? Her lack of availability? Vic and their other friend warned you about that," said Mark, signalling a waiter for two more pints.
"Yeah, I'd say so, but too soon to tell. I think we clicked and I would like to see where things would go with her… but she works two full-time jobs and spends most of her time outside the country, so it's like she doesn't have the time at all for a relationship."
"Two full-time jobs? I think I remember hearing you telling me that, national defence she told you, right?"
"Yeah, she works on the classified stuff."
"Hmm, if you want to, I can ask my dad to look her up and see if she's telling you the truth about that. You know my dad would do it for you."
"I know, but no need to, I don't think she's lying," said Frank, remembering how Coralis reacted when ending her phone call at the party. "Vic said the same thing and they've known each other for 10 years."
Meanwhile, Eva and Coralis were at a warehouse nearby, searching the place for evidence connecting the descendants of the company founder to their ghoul case. When they arrived there, they stuck to the shadows so that they wouldn't be seen on any camera and sneaked in through a back window giving into a basement. The place looked like it'd been abandoned: most of the furniture was covered by white drapes, dust and spiderwebs.
Coralis removed her eyeglasses so she could get a better sense of the place and Eva sniffed the air.
"I smell witches, coven witches," said Eva.
"I hate coven witches. There is something in the air, but I don't know what it is, it's too faint. Let's go upstairs, I don't think there is anything relevant in this floor… but there is something in this warehouse."
They started to walk toward the stairs, but Coralis stopped suddenly. Eva stopped too and looked at her partner. Coralis was staring at the floor. She grabbed her wand and pointed it to her shoes.
"There is so much dust on the floor that we can see our footprints all over. I'll remove them to cover our tracks, but I will also spell our shoes so that we won't leave any prints at all."
"Did I ever tell you how much I like working with you?"
"I heard it before."
They found nothing on the main floor and went up to the second floor.
"The witches' stank is stronger in here," said Eva.
"It's in this room. I know now what's in the air. Turmeric. A high concentration of it… which is widely used by coven witches in some summoning spells. Get the evidence containers ready."
"Coincidentally, there is barely any dust in here, and we know that there is no such thing as coincidence when coven witches are involved. I think I can smell the turmeric… coming from there," said Eva, pointing toward a filing cabinet across the room.
Before opening the cabinet, Coralis checked for wards and took them down. She opened it and grabbed a jar full of spelled cages, the same ones they found at the cemetery.
"Look what we have here, we indeed do make quite the team. We're dealing with witches who seem to be after something owned by this family. It's time to take the backpack out, we'll take this with us and whatever else relevant that we can find here. We'll head back to the cemetery when we're done here."
An hour later, Frank and Mark left the bar and headed for the nearest bus stop. Mark moved back to his parents a few days after the party, but Frank stayed at their dorm for the summer.
"Still want to stop by the dorm?" said Frank.
"Yeah, I think there are some documents I forgot in our room and I'll need them for my interview tomorrow."
They got onto the bus and at the next stop, Eva and Coralis got in. Both girls had spiderwebs in their hair and a lot of dirt on their clothes. They had no blood on them and were heading to a cemetery, so they figured they looked good enough to get onto a bus crowded with humans.
"Well, well, well," said Mark, grinning, "look who's feeding the bus with coins."
"Oh sweet, I thought she had to work tonight," said Frank when he saw Coralis paying her fare at the front of the bus.
"Looking at her and the girl with her, unless they're coming from a June Halloween party, they could have been working around here."
Coralis finished paying for her fair and waited for Eva to pay for hers. The bus wasn't crowded. As they walked onto the bus to find a seat, Eva noticed two guys waving at them from the back of the bus.
"Do you know these two guys? Looks like they're waving at us. Although they probably want to know about the Halloween party they must think we're going to," said Eva.
"Uh yes I know them," said Coralis, feeling her cheeks reddening for a moment, which didn't go unnoticed by Eva.
"All right then, let's go sit with them," said Eva, smirking, "and you'll have to tell me all about him at the cemetery."
They sat on the bench across from them.
"Hey guys! This is Eva, my partner at work," said Coralis. Eva was next to the window, across from Mark, while Coralis was on the side next to the aisle, across from Frank. "Eva, in front of you here, is Mark and in front of me here, is Frank."
She voluntarily omitted to specify their relationship to her, as she wasn't sure what to call Frank and didn't want to offend him by saying he was a friend.
"Had I known you were working around here, I would have asked you to join us for a drink after work," said Frank, looking at her, wondering why she had spiderwebs in her hair.
"When we spoke this morning, I didn't know I was going to be in this area tonight, but even if I knew, I wouldn't have been able to join you guys, we're still on the clock, we're not done yet."
"Are you working the Halloween scene?" said Mark, amused by their appearance.
"I guess you could say that. We're on our way to a ghoul meeting at the cemetery," said Eva.
The guys laughed. Eva smelled that they were humans and therefore were most likely clueless about their world, so they would think that she was joking. Frank knew that Coralis couldn't talk about work, but he was curious about what exactly she was doing for a living. He figured that she must be working as some field agent that night.
After they got off the bus, they walked onto the metro together but got off at a different station.
"Spill," said Eva when they got off the metro and the door closed behind them. "The guy with short dark blond hair, Frank, right? Friend or boyfriend?"
"I'm honestly not sure, we're not dating but we want to do something together when we're both available. The thing is, I don't think it's a good idea to start seeing a human like that, considering what we do for a living and how many enemies we have, but I do like that he's got no idea about who I am, and that he isn't trying to weaponize me or anything like that. It's refreshing."
"Can't argue with your point."
Meanwhile, Frank and Mark exited the metro at the next station.
"You know, I remember my dad saying something about the Côte-des-Neiges cemetery having been vandalized, and he said that special agents from a specialized agency were to investigate it. Seeing where they got off, I wonder if it's related to it."
"If that's the case, it means that she told me the truth, although she said both of her works were kinda related to national defence."
"I can ask my dad, but if she's telling you the truth and it's classified, I doubt he'll know anything about it, that is if it's related."
They saw Victoria entering the dorm at the same time as them. They told her they saw Coralis on their way back and that she was with her partner.
"She was with her partner? Was she with Andrew?" said Victoria.
She knew her friend had a flyball practice earlier and was supposed to sleep at her place that night, so she figured that the EBEE must have sent her on a case somewhere.
"Who is Andrew? No, she was with a girl named Eva," said Frank, hoping Coralis didn't lie to him.
"Hmm, that can't be good then," said Victoria as they got into the elevator. "I should have convinced her against signing with them at the time. I mean, it's not like she had a choice back then, but still. Andrew is her mentor. Coralis and Eva are both supposed to be in training, and Eva is attached to a different agency. Lately, they have been sent together as partners on some nasty businesses."
"They had spiderwebs in their hair. Eva said they were on their way to a ghoul meeting at the cemetery," said Mark.
Victoria laughed at that and couldn't stop. She exited the elevator on her floor, and the guys followed her.
"Better laugh about it than cry over it, I guess," said Victoria, still wiping tears down her eyes. "I don't know what they are working on, but Coralis was supposed to crash here tonight. If she was covered with spiderwebs and wasn't done with work, I doubt she'll come tonight. She doesn't like taking a shower here, as there are too many people. Most of the students are gone, but still. If she gets off work in the middle of the night, she'll probably stop at Eva's for a shower and leave from there to go to Thailand."
"My dad said something about the Côte-des-Neiges cemetery being vandalized, think it's related?" said Mark.
"I have no idea, but it could be. I can ask her next time I talk to her."
"If I ask her, is she going to tell me? She did give me her UK phone number this morning."
"Oh, did she?" said Victoria, with a raised eyebrow. "She didn't tell me about it. Well, she didn't tell me anything about her relationship with you. I am going to add that to the list of things I need to ask her but to answer yours, she probably would answer you on whether it's related to the vandalism you're talking about, but won't elaborate or give you any details."
She unlocked her door and offered a drink to her friends.
"Do I need to be worried if she didn't tell you anything about whatever there is between us? Can't say there is much of a relationship at the moment, but I like her, so I do hope there will be one."
"Like I said to you the last time, Coralis doesn't lead people on. I mean, that was quite the kiss we saw at the party and she gave you her UK number so, obviously, she's interested."
"I must ask, just because Frank is my best friend, you know, my brother from an estranged relative. If she works two full-time jobs and doesn't have time for herself, would she be seeking something like a friend with benefits?" said Mark.
"I've known her for 10 years. She's been in a few relationships that didn't last long, but she doesn't do one-night stands. As Frank gets to know her, he will quickly realize that she's a loyal one and doesn't use people like that."
"She did tell me a little bit about her previous relationships and that she lives with other guys in London."
"That, my friend, proves my point: she's interested, whether she realizes it or not. The guys she lives with, trust me, aren't any threat to you. She will tell you more about them eventually. If you call her and one of them picks up the phone, maybe they'll try to prank you, but do not get jealous or they'll be laughing at you."
"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind. I don't know what it is with her, but it's like she's out of my league, you know, there is that otherworldly feeling about her, I don't know how to explain that. I think there is no other girl like her, so yeah, I would like to see if it could work out between us."
"I'll ask her about you when I see her," said Victoria, thinking 'If you only knew'. "She will be moving with me when she gets back in town. If you can get over the fact that she works 80+ hours a week and isn't in town half the time, at least for the next few years, then I think she's your girl. I think that whether or not things will work out between the two of you, will ultimately boil down to that."