February 10, 2002
The next day, Frank met his mother and sister at a restaurant for brunch.
"How is Coralis? Heard she'd been seriously injured last night," said Stephanie.
"I don't know, didn't talk to her today. I saw her last night. She was okay and didn't have any injuries, but then she had to leave in the middle of our date. I think she tried to call later. I know she tried this morning, but I didn't pick up. I am still a bit upset that she left when it was supposed to be our time."
"What time was it when she left?"
"What happened? Coralis had been injured? How bad?" asked Molly to Stephanie.
"In the evening, a bit before 10," said Frank.
"You moron, shit happened after that. I was also called in to work last night for an emergency. I heard her name mentioned a lot by patients. One of my bosses witnessed the whole ordeal. If she hadn't shown up when she did, trust me, we would have had to treat a lot more patients than we did, and probably would have had some at the morgue."
"Seriously??"
"Is she okay?" said Molly.
"Yeah, I'm dead serious. My boss said that her left leg and rib cage were seriously wounded, but she didn't want to follow them to the clinic, saying she had to go. You know what, she probably just wanted to get back to you as soon as possible."
Frank pulled out his phone and called her apartment's landline.
"Hey Vic, is Coralis there?"
"No, she had to leave this morning for London. You know she is supposed to be in Europe this week, until Friday I think."
"Was she okay? My sister said she'd been injured last night."
"No offence, but you would have known if you had picked up the phone. She tried to call you twice last night and again this morning."
"You're right, I should have, but how is she?"
"She'll be fine. I mean, she does get injured a lot at work, she had worse."
"So she did get badly injured? And she went to work anyway?"
"Does she have a choice? I told you many times that unlike us, she doesn't have the luxury to call in sick. If she gets injured, she pushes through and goes to work as if nothing happened."
"Can you please tell her to call me when she has a minute? I'll try her London number, but she's probably not at her apartment."
Frank slid his phone back into his pocket and looked at his sister.
"Vic didn't give me any details but said she'll be fine. I know I shouldn't have gotten upset over that, but I did have to call sick at work just so I could spend time with her. Do you know if Sebastian is with her?"
"No, he is in Winnipeg at the moment, but he will see her tomorrow in France. Look, I can't tell you more, but I promise you, it literally was a life-or-death type of situation."
February 15, 2002
At the end of the week, she flew back to Montreal from Europe. Stephanie and Sebastian wanted her to meet them for drinks at Stephanie's. Her roommate, Clarissa, wasn't going to be home for the evening. Coralis wanted to join them but went to Frank first to see if he'd want to come. She spoke to him only once during the week.
"I'm sorry luv, I can't see you right now. Why every time you are available, I need to be for you, but when I am, you can't be available for me? Let me guess, if I don't see you now, I won't see you again for at least another week? I can't be available for you just because you want me to."
"Well, okay, I got the memo. I'll be at your sister's. You know I don't get to decide my schedule. If you don't want to see me anymore, I get it. I am not what you want."
She left his building and took a taxi to go to Stephanie's. As soon as the elevator door closed behind her, Frank knew he messed up and regretted what he said. He sent her a ping on her pager and tried to keep working on his school project.
Coralis arrived at Stephanie's. She saw Frank's ping when she walked out of his building but didn't want to talk to him. Even if she knew it would eventually have come to this point, she was hurt. She understood he was busy with schoolwork, and why he was upset that she couldn't be there as often as he'd want to, but it didn't make it less painful to think about the potential end of their relationship.
"Hey, girl! Glad you decided to come, drink?" said Stephanie.
"Yes please, I just got into a fight with your brother, I need something strong. Got liquor?"
"Again? I love my brother, but damn, he never learns. I keep trying to explain to him that it's not against him. I got vodka?"
"That works, thanks."
"I meant to ask you earlier before we took off to head back, but there were just too many ears. Can you tell me what's going on in Chicago? I might have to go there tomorrow after the game. Some elders want to send me and Emery to a pixie village to set up wards in the area and make sure the conflict doesn't spill over to human towns nearby. Is it true that the EBEE is sending you on the frontlines there?" said Sebastian while Stephanie prepared Coralis' drink.
"Yes. Two weeks ago, they wanted me to inquire about that Vase of Crimson Sky. I thought they were going to send me somewhere random in the UK after I told them about the whereabouts of that vase, or try to use my relationship with the royal family to retrieve the vase for them."
"I remember you telling me that, but Panjik and Eva said you'll be fighting their war."
"They said they were monitoring the situation there, and that if tensions between Lucas and King Matthew escalate into a war, I need to go there to intervene. I think things are about to blow near the pixie village nearby, and we know Lucas is working with goblins."
Coralis grabbed her drink and chugged it.
"Are you serious? Holy gods from above! I'm starting to think some people in there want you out. The EBEE shouldn't even be involved in American vampire wars in the first place, what about Andrew? Are they sending more agents?"
"No, they aren't sending other agents, and Andrew is working on a different case in Ireland. I know Eva will be there, but she has different instructions. The CMMA also wants her to help ensure things wouldn't flood into human towns."
"Wait, so while you are being sent on a mission that could get you killed, my brother is being an idiot and is giving you a hard time over your timetable?"
"It's time you tell him about what we are, especially about what you do. I think it's not so much your overly busy schedule that pisses him off, but all the secrecy surrounding it. Give him something, maybe that'll help," said Sebastian while Stephanie prepared Coralis another drink.
Coralis' pager went off, and she looked at it. She cursed. She chugged her drink and put her cloak back on.
"I need to go to Chicago. I think it'll be better to break things off with him if he hasn't done it already."