July 25, 2005 – 01:15 (Saskatchewan Time)
"Blok Howar did give us trouble during the war, he had people infiltrating us as agents," said High Goblin Glorisse.
"We will investigate the entourage of Blok Howar, but if you can get us a name, it'll speed things up," said High Djinn Moraa as their transport departed.
"I'll talk to Hendrick, he knows who attended that mating ball. I'm sure he still has the guest list with his notes on who was in Blok Howar's party," said Coralis.
"The Chicago prince?" said Emery.
"A mating ball I heard about when I was warned about the Swamtons, right?" said Frank.
"Yes, the only mating ball I ever went to. And yes, the Chicago prince."
"Holy Goddess, Prince Hendrick had a field day at the expense of the mating ball guests afterward," said Eva, laughing.
"I killed Blok Howar at a blood den this last December, along with the elf who was with him, but the one involved tonight wasn't there.."
They had three transports. Given their size and the difficulty of maneuvering them in populated cities and tight spaces, the CMMA arranged to have them land in specific locations and for packs and families to pick up their members at the given coordinates.
One transport headed East. Liam and Sarah boarded that one, along with Zahir. Liam wanted to see his cousin during his vacations, and he saw him. After what happened, he wanted to go home with his mate. Another transport headed West. Alpha Tanner boarded that one, and Boukya accompanied them.
The last transport headed to the central area. Aaron and his alpha were from a pack located in western Ontario, so they boarded the transport in which the CMMA elders were, along with the rest of the crew. Boukya and Zahir had been instructed to board the other transports in case something happened along the way and to make sure things went smoothly.
"I must admit, I was impressed by how strong your focus was under rage. Despite the lack of control over your emotions, given how young you are, you had an impressive one over the potency and accuracy of your spells, considering the amount of elemental magic you wielded tonight," said High Eld Frizzo.
"I don't believe I had any control in there, I lost it. The moment I realized the foggy brain and pain I felt came from the mate bond, I saw red. It was like a kill switch, and all I could focus on was finding him and killing everyone who dared touch him."
"I think the moment your kill switch turned back off after we found him… I inadvertently turned it back on…," said Sebastian.
"You did, yes, but to be honest, it would have turned back on anyway the moment we found the people in cages. Some of them were humans. You switched it back on sooner... and I think it went to hell mode when we saw the cages."
"As far as I'm concerned, as one of the humans in cages who had been in there for weeks, the fellow humans I saw you killing deserved it. I wanted them all dead and to me, you answered that prayer tonight. Trust me, I will no longer believe that Blue Thunder is an evil witch plotting against us," said a man sitting near them, who had been listening to them.
"I never was against humans, I even married one. Tonight was the first time I ever killed humans. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I helped rescue more people in the process, but my husband is the reason we found out about this place. I am among the last people who would ever rise against humans."
"If anything, tonight proves that governments are lying to us. My wife isn't the only targeted one fighting on our side," said Frank.
"Very true. The Rogue Paladin killed some of the elders behind the lists, but many are still alive and involved. We don't know who still controls the lists, we can only speculate. Emery, even if you didn't kill anyone tonight, you probably have been seen on cameras freeing their test subjects. If Blue Thunder's ranking goes up, so will yours, I believe," said High Elf Frizzo.
"But neither of them did anything against us. On the contrary, they saved us," said another human.
"I'm Rodger," said the human who first interacted with them, coming closer to shake their hands.
"That never mattered. Before tonight, Blue Thunder never killed a human, yet, she currently ranks top 10," said High Djinn Moraa.
"And you're the Emery listed 31st?" said Rodger.
"Uh, yes, I am."
"How many of you are on those lists?" said Rodger, sitting near them. "I swear, genuine fan-boy curiosity. In my book, you saved us from evil, so you can't be worshipping evil."
"Blue and Emery are the only ones tonight listed on the Most Wanted Witches list, but Sebastian and I are on most of the Other Person of Interest one. The majority on those lists aren't even witches, including me. I'm a werewolf, like most of your lab mates. You know what? If my name moves to the most wanted list because of tonight, I'll see it as an honour," said Eva.
"Same," said Sebastian.
"Meaning all along, they were the devil and fooled us into thinking Blue Thunder and Emery were it when in fact, they were like angels sent to us," said the other human who came close to Rodger. "I'm Maxim."
"I'm no angel, but I do kill demons. There is no way I would ever worship them," said Coralis.
The transport landed and a taxi picked up Rodger and another human.
"If you use the internet, look up The Secret Posse," said Sebastian to Rodger as he exited the transport.
"There is something I keep wondering," said Coralis to Frank as the transport left the ground, "you said they didn't touch you, yet I very much felt that pain and saw that bruise on your shoulder. How?"
Frank and Aaron looked at each other. Aaron was about to say something, but Frank stopped him and put his hand on her thigh.
"I don't think I should answer that one," said Sebastian.
"You see, when I woke up in that cell and realized where I was, and what happened, all I could think of was how to get your attention the soonest as none of us had a mind-link to you. I was the first human to wake up, probably thanks to you, but I knew you were in a meeting and didn't know how the gas affected you."
Sebastian chuckled, and it turned into laughter, followed by Emery and Eva.
"It had been suggested," continued Frank, glancing at them, "that a shard pain would likely trigger the mate bond on your end. I trusted you'd come for me… so I staged something that would cause a sharp amount of pain..."
"So you had one of your cellmates do something to you on purpose," said Coralis, then looked at Aaron. "Is this what you meant earlier when you spoke about the part you played in this?"