May 15, 2005
Andrew was asleep on his office chair and suddenly woke up. Excruciating pain radiated from his heart and soul. He didn't understand what was happening to him. Until he did.
"Lalima!"
He tried to reach out to her, but he couldn't. The pain intensified and he couldn't see clearly. He kept trying to push through his end of their bond to get to her, but it felt broken. He didn't understand. He tried to locate her through her bond, but he couldn't. He struggled to move, but he made it to his office window and took off on his stick toward the island she was supposed to be.
Enraged, he pushed the door open without touching it and rushed to her room. She wasn't there. Juan, her brother, woke up confused by the commotion.
"WHERE IS SHE?"
"She was here, she probably went for a walk around the island," said Juan.
Andrew tried to remain composed through the pain, but could barely stand. He kept trying to connect to her through their bond, without success. Focusing on her lingering energy, he followed its trail to the dock and noticed the first plank wasn't set right. He removed it and noticed the missing portal.
"She left. Something is happening to her and I can't locate her through the bond. It feels broken," said Andrew with his eyes closed.
He felt his hologram vibrating and answered it without checking who it was.
"Boss, you need to open a portal to your family house right now."
"Is it Lalima?" said Andrew, picking up a portal and opening it to where Tuar, one of his associates, told him to.
Tuar rushed through, carrying Lalima's dead body in his arms. Understanding hit him. Just as he was about to take Lalima from Tuar, Jorgie passed through the portal, followed by someone else Andrew didn't know. Andrew saw red and turning to Jorgie, he pulled his heart out.
Still holding Jorgie's heart, Andrew closed the portal to ensure no one else would pass through and that the mage behind Jorgie couldn't leave.
"Who gave you the right to kill her."
"I didn't do it, Jorgie did."
"Clearly. Yet, you followed him here. Unless you want to die in a more painful pain than I am right now and become the chew toy of the troll holding her, you will tell me who gave the order and where."
The mage tried to grab his wand, but Andrew broke his wrist before he could reach it.
"ARGH!"
The unknown mage didn't want to talk but knew he was outmatched, and he was afraid to die in pain. He considered sending Andrew on a goose chase but realized it wouldn't buy him much time and that it would only make things worse for him. Using his elemental magic, Andrew slowly began to constrict his airways while warming up his saliva
"Elder Romula t-told me to keep watch on your family home… t-that sooner or later, a family member would come," he said, staring at the blood dripping down Jorgie's heart. "I-I sensed someone there today, s-so I called for backup and Jorgie came with five others. B-but we saw no one, t-they were about to leave when she came."
"Where?"
"Near Palermo, Italy."
Andrew plunged his other hand into him and pulled his heart out just like he did to Jorgie. He dropped both hearts and took Lalima into his arms, and brought her onto her bed.
"I will come back to arrange her funerals and let her go in peace, but there is something I need to do first," said Andrew, staring at Lalima's lifeless body. "Tuar, thank you for going back to the house before returning to Switzerland, you did well. Right now, I need you to stay here and guard her body."
A few hours later, in Montreal, Coralis was having coffee with Frank and Samantha when her hologram went off.
"Blue! Open your monitor now!" said Sebastian.
"What is it this time? News channels I guess?" said Coralis as she turned it on.
"Yes, but it doesn't matter, it's on all channels I think."
"Dude is on a rampage," said Samantha.
"Holy gods from above, it's three elders that he killed last night, including High Mage Ferlow! Wasn't he dead already?" said Coralis.
"He was never found. Seems Andrew found him before the CMMA did," said Sebastian.
"I don't know the Italian elders Romula and Xhama. I wonder what they've done to set him off," said Coralis, watching the news coverage of the night events. "Ooh… he got Jorgie too. Somehow, I don't think it has anything to do with me this time."
"Are you watching the news?" said Alejandro in her mind.
"Elders Romula and Xhama from Italy, High Mage Ferlow, Jorgie Fluk and a few other agents?"
"I know Jorgie was the one who had us captured, passed around twisted reports on us and spied for the roaches among the EBEE, but I don't know the Italian elders and the one from the CMMA."
"I know High Mage Ferlow by name. He's a known traitor. He had a twinning bond with High Mage Janne and managed to get out of it to have her killed 3 months ago. I don't know the Italian elders who got killed last night."
"You need to teach the wolves how to mind-link without being obvious," said Samantha.
"Clearly, I'm not discreet enough with it myself," said Coralis.
"Let me guess? Alejandro?" said Sebastian through hologram.
"Yeah, he's also watching the news. He too doesn't know the Italian elders who got killed."
"He's 3rd now, there's got to be more to it," said Frank.
"I agreed. With Alejandro and Matasia, we killed more people than he did after our jailbreak and it didn't land us top 3. Whazk was with us that night, leading the mission. They could have pinned our rampage on him, but Andrew is now 3rd, ahead of Whazk. Elders Romula and Xhama must be more important than we think or there is something the reporters aren't telling us yet. Watching this, it seems to me he acted out of rage. Something set him off."
"They must have done something to his mate," said Stephanie, now visible above the hologram. "Let's be real if someone ever does something to either Frank or me, neither one of you would keep your emotions on a tight leash, and we'd be likely to see something like that on the news."
Coralis looked at her mate, who was chuckling over his coffee. They knew Stephanie was right.
"Blue would do worse than him, I'm sure," said Samantha.
An hour later, her hologram went off again with a code she hadn't seen in over a year.
"Andrew, it's been a while."
"Blue! You had me worried for over a month and I couldn't even contact you. Erikua told me what happened and gave me your new hologram code. Listen… I won't talk over hologram, but I need you and Alejandro to come to Lalima's funerals."