Chapter 12: Secrets Revealed
A new day dawned, and the Weekend had begun, Erasiel woke from a snug bed with Heidi lying asleep next to him, fortunately her roommate was Khadija and she was also lying next to him, memories of their threesome from last night flushed into his head and he teleported out of bed and dressed before either of the two girls awakened. The previous day's expedition into the Black Mud swamp had left him at Alfea rather late in the day so rather then head back to Cloud Tower he decided to stay at Alfea for the night, one thing had led to another and here he was this morning, he snuck out of the room, then out of the dorm in general, he heard alarm clocks go off behind him then he bolted down the hallway before running into Faragonda.
"Ah good morning" Erasiel greeted.
"Good morning Erasiel, what are you doing here?" Faragonda asked.
"Oh yeah about that, well I was helping Flora with a school project got back here late and decided not to head back to Cloud Tower then well I found something else today and Heidi and Khadija and I well we- "Erasiel explained.
"I understand, you know you have to keep a low profile, if word got out you were in relationships with my students well I might get into serious trouble" Faragonda responded.
"With who, the Wizards Council is in my debt and they are our allies and understand my relationships, any legal challenge would be impossible to bring forward with my army of lawyers and anyone who might try anything rash has to get thru well my associates anyway you have a good day I haven't exactly figured out what I'll do yet" Erasiel responded.
"Well then have a good day my husband" Faragonda stated then kissed him on the cheek and he continued along his way.
Erasiel had only gone down three turns when he bumped into Griselda. "Good morning my bittersweet daughter" Erasiel greeted then planted a kiss on her cheek and hugged her, Griselda only glared at him. "Oh, come on don't give me that look my little girl, come on let your negative attitude go for the weekend, you don't have to lecture anyone" Erasiel continued.
"Very well then I will endeavor to be happy and leave the students alone" Griselda stated. "And one more thing, I haven't forgiven you for that incident at the dance" Griselda stated.
"That was Kerborg's doing not mine, he pushed you into the brawl and threw the pie, I have no control over him at those events" Erasiel stated. "Anyway, I'm off I have to figure out what I'll do for today" Erasiel stated then proceeded off, he still was uncertain what to do a few hours later until he saw something that he wasn't expecting Bloom sitting by herself.
"Hey Nathan" Bloom stated in a cheerful tone of voice. "What are you doing?" Bloom asked.
"Figuring out what I'm going to do today, I have the weekend off, I give the Trix the weekend off from training and I've got little else to do, you have any ideas?" Erasiel responded.
"Well I'm starting to miss my parents, not birth parents my step-parents" Bloom stated.
"Well you could pay them a visit, you have the weekend off, it's a perfect time to spend time with them" Erasiel responded.
"You're right that's a wonderful idea, hey why don't you come with me, I can show you around Gardenia, introduce my parents to you, and we can have fun just the two of us Winx" Bloom offered.
"Definitely then, do they know about your powers?" Erasiel asked curious though he had a sneaking suspicion who they were, and they were fully aware of Bloom's powers.
"Yes, they were the ones allowed me to go to Alfea, they stopped outside the barrier and said they couldn't go any further" Bloom stated, Erasiel was puzzled further.
"Alright then well it will be nice to meet them" Erasiel stated. "Well If I'm going to Earth I better look the part" Erasiel continued then caused his tail to disappear leaving him looking perfectly human.
"Well then let's go, wait I need to get some things then we'll go" Bloom stated, then went to her dorm, Erasiel waited patiently, Kerborg landed on his shoulder.
"So, do you have anything you need me to do milord" Kerborg asked.
"Not much other than accompany on this trip, believe me you will enjoy it" Erasiel stated then pulled out his phone and played games on it, a half hour later Bloom showed up, with a backpack and Kiko in hand, the rabbit giggling as she tickled his ears.
"Alright I have everything, now we can go" Bloom stated.
"I'll do the honors" Erasiel stated then opened a portal, they walked thru it and arrived in a back alley in Gardenia, the transition from pristine Alfea courtyard to a back alley was noticeable, though for a back alley it wasn't that dirty, it had been recently cleaned and emptied of garbage, apparently the people of Gardenia were of the sort that cared very much how clean their LA suburb was. "Well here we are, now let me show you around, but first I need to drop my things off at the house, head to the park and I'll see you there" Bloom explained then both Erasiel and Bloom separated. Along the way Bloom noted something, blue clouds above people that resembled them, they interacted with her and she could hear them, some were pleasant, and some weren't, then some people didn't have any that could be seen. Also, during this time, she ran into Mitzi who didn't have a cloud above her head neither did her sister Rayael who was with her, Mitzi hadn't changed one bit, and though she noticed Bloom had changed and made comments about reform school which Bloom corrected her in saying that it was a Boarding School.
Bloom soon arrived at her home, the one she had lived in all her life. She ringed the doorbell and Vanessa answered Bloom could see a cloud that resembled her step-mother above her. "Bloom! It so good to see you back, come in I was about to start making lunch" Vanessa greeted then noticed Kiko start make noises for attention. "I missed you too Kiko, I'll get you some freshly cooked carrots alright" Vanessa stated at this Kiko cheered up. Bloom walked inside found Mike sitting in his chair watching TV she could see the same kind of cloud over him.
"Oh, Hey Bloom, you won't believe the nonsense going on in the news, I just changed the channel everyone is all in a firestorm about the election but other than that every thing's been good since you left, how's school been going lately for you" Mike asked.
"Great actually, the first week was interesting to say the absolute least, I actually got detention but that wasn't my fault, there was dance and some boys got rowdy one of them pinched my friend's and roommate's butt and another friend of mine noticed this and shouted it out, that started a fight, it ended up with us girls winning it, against guys who were rank amateur specialists and got detention for it" Bloom explained.
"Bloom how did you get into this situation anyway" Mike asked.
"Well the dance was going smoothly until the gifts were brought out, some creep named Lucius Leary from Red Fountain had replaced the nice Lightspark Eggs with Giant Crow eggs, everyone panicked, anyway that group of specialists we fought was actually defending Leary they claimed he had been framed even though the evidence was right in front of them, anyway that's beside the point, only a highlight, I also have a boyfriend one of those specialists, the blonde his name is Brandon and he's nice, though he is a sore loser; Darcy one of my friends from Cloud Tower beat him in a Wind Rider race, she actually knocked him off, other than that I made a bunch of new friends, my roommates: Flora, Musa, Stella, and Tecna are some and we actually formed a school club, also there is Amaryl, Emily, Ortensia, Francine and a bunch of other fairies, then there are the witches from Cloud Tower, initially we were told that Witches of Cloud Tower weren't to be trusted and the people who told us that were wrong: there's three witches in particular the Trix sisters Icy, Darcy and Stormy, they are our best friends and they've saved our lives more than once and Stormy saved mine, they also-" Bloom continued to tell stories, until Vanessa called her name, she went into the kitchen leaving Kiko on Mike's lap.
"There you are Bloom, I need your help making lunch, here help me with mixing this, also- "Vanessa stated.
"Mom is something burning" Bloom stated then black smoke came out of one of the pots followed by something worse a grease fire.
"Grease Fire!" Vanessa shouted, her apron caught on fire, Bloom cast a spell absorbing the fire into energy and into her she did the same with the stove fire.
"Thanks Bloom, you really have improved you left" Vanessa stated.
"Thanks, Mom too bad I couldn't save the pot roast" Bloom stated.
"Never mind the Pot Roast you saved us and the house, don't worry we'll just eat out for lunch, anyway I need your help around the shop" Vanessa replied, Bloom nodded, and they left the house and got into Vanessa's Sedan and drove off.
"Mom I need to ask you some questions about what's happened since I left" Bloom stated.
"Well ask away" Vanessa stated, Bloom asked about current events and how thing had been going since she was away, she was told about recent events, apparently the US military had captured Saddam Hussain in Iraq and that the country was now in an insurgency, the economy was relatively good, and presidential Election had come down to President George W. Bush vs Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and that the polls were debatable.
Vanessa then asked Bloom about how things had been going for her at Alfea, and Bloom explained everything that had happened over the past month and a half leaving out the part about her Royal heritage.
"Well that's certainly interesting Bloom" Vanessa stated, she inside her head was wondering when to tell Bloom the truth about who she really was and about Bloom's true parents, well at the moment she wasn't of the mind to tell her that not at least while she was in the car.
"Hey Mom, you mind if I borrow your phone for a minute I need to call my friend Nathan and tell him to meet us at your shop, I was going to show him around town and I worry that I Ieft him in the park by himself" Bloom asked, Vanessa nodded, and Bloom took the cellphone and called Erasiel's number.
"Hey Bloom" Erasiel answered. "What's been going on, I've been standing in the park for the past hour wondering when you'd show up, by the way whose phone is this?" Erasiel asked.
"My Mother's hey could you head to the Flower shop about a couple blocks away from the park, we'll meet you there, my Mom's going to buy lunch want anything?" Bloom asked.
"Depends where you heading?" Erasiel stated.
"Well Wendy's by the looks of things, yes Mom, she said she would get you lunch what do you want?" Bloom stated.
"I'll have their 10-piece Chicken nuggets large sized with a Root Beer" Erasiel commented.
"Alright" Bloom stated and Erasiel hung up.
Erasiel proceeded to the shop and found it, the door was locked and the sign said closed but he simply waited, then a familiar figure showed up, not Bloom but someone else that someone she was talking to on the day he met her it was Mitzi, also she wasn't alone another girl about the same age was with her, the unknown girl in question wore pink lensed glasses, a yellow short-sleeved shirt and jeans, her hair was bob-cut and she had the same figure and eyes as Mitzi, her hair was also the same in fact they looked too similar to each other not to be related. "I haven't seen you in town before, who are you and what is with the staff" Mitzi asked.
"The staff, Family heirloom, as for me, well I'm Erasiel Nathan Darkar, call me Nathan, I'm from out of town, also the staff is actual gold, I come from a very wealthy family that is very far from here" Erasiel greeted.
"Well then nice to meet you Nathan, I'm Mitzi Goldwater, this is my twin sister Rayael" Mitzi responded.
"Any relation to Bernie Goldwater?" Erasiel asked.
"Great-great-Uncle once removed, anyway I'll be going, just wanted to say hi" Mitzi stated then left with her sister, not too long after a white sedan pulled up and parked in front of him, out came Bloom and a face Erasiel hadn't seen in a long time.
"This is my Friend Nathan Mom" Bloom stated.
"A pleasure to meet you" Vanessa greeted giving him a hard look, Erasiel doing the same. "Anyway, we should head inside and have Lunch" Vanessa stated, then took her keys and opened the door, Erasiel and Bloom brought in the bags of food and the Drinks then they headed inside, the walked past the front of the small shop, behind the counter to a room that was clearly meant for dinning, it was opposite a small office where Vanessa did her book keeping. Erasiel had been rather hungry as had been Bloom they didn't talk at all while they ate and then afterword they had a discussion.
"Hey Nathan, we need to talk" Bloom stated
"What is it Bloom" Erasiel asked.
"I've been seeing things lately, people as I walked about, there were blue clouds that resembled them, and they talked, am I going nuts or is this normal for faeries" Bloom asked.
"Ok Bloom what you are seeing is something perfectly normal what you are seeing are called Auras, all living things have them and all magic users can see them, however only non-magic user's auras can be seen normal, magic users whether aware or unaware suppress their aura indirectly and directly, the only way you'd see a magic user's aura is if they allowed you to of their own free will and no you can't see mine only two people are allowed to see it my cousin Avalon and Asha" Erasiel explained.
"So, this is completely normal, that's good anyway I was worried that I was going nuts" Bloom responded.
"Don't worry Bloom you'll get used to it, it's harder when you live on a world where magic is rare and largely dormant, however you don't have to worry about it though you would do well to pay attention to people's auras, they give away their true feelings, its useful when you're dealing with non-magic users in a variety situations" Erasiel stated suddenly the sound of a car pulling up perked his ears and those everyone else at the table.
"Oh, that must be Mr. Brown and Mr. Bonner, there may soon to be business partners I'll introduce you two to them" Vanessa stated the three left the dining room and went to the front of the shop where two men waited to greet them. The first man had gray hair, a Clark Gable mustache, pale skin and dark eyes. He was much older and shorter than his partner. His business attire consisted of a sea green suit, a white dress shirt with a red vest, green and yellow striped tie and brown dress shoes. The other man was a tall, fair complexioned man. He was the younger one between the two men. He had auburn hair that is slicked back and brown eyes. His business suit consisted of a navy, striped blazer with a fuchsia dress shirt and a purple tie, dark teal business pants and white classy shoes. Both men smiled normally, and they were relaxed.
"Good to see you again Mrs. Peterson, we're here with the last of the forms, who are they" Mr. Bonner asked.
"This is my daughter Bloom and her friend Nathan, Bloom, Nathan these are my future business partners, Mr. Brown and Mr. Bonner" Vanessa introduced.
"Good to meet you Bloom and Nathan" Mr. Brown greeted.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Erasiel Nathan Darkar, call me Nathan for short, I'm here on vacation" Erasiel greeted.
"Nice to meet you, anyway we're Vanessa's soon to be business, partners, Vanessa has offered to sell her shop to us, the name only" Mr. Bonner explained.
"Yes, we are looking to invest and take this one shop into a chain across the US" Mr. Brown continued. The two men were kindly and looked reputable however unaware to them, Erasiel Bloom and Vanessa could see their auras and see them quite clearly.
"Another sucker, it's amazing how foolish people are, once she finishes the paperwork we'll own this shop then the last building on this block will be ours and we can turn it into a shopping mall, expanding our front company further" Bonnor's aura stated.
"Yes, amazing there are so many suckers, yet another expansion, we can make more money to cover our backs on our international drug and weapon smuggling and human trafficking ring and expand out syndicate into LA and get more money that way" Brown's aura responded to Bonner's aura.
"So now here are the papers Vanessa, fill them out and we'll be back later" Mr. Brown stated, they deposited a large pile of papers on the counter.
"Alright then I will see you two later" Vanessa stated, and the two men left, getting into their limo, as their driver opened the door for them.
After the limo pulled away Bloom shouted "Mom you can't sign those papers, those men intend to steal your shop tear it down, and build shopping mall"
"I am fully aware of that Bloom, but we have something else to discuss something more important, your true heritage Bloom and who I am, but first off it has been 16 years since I last saw you, my beloved Broodmate Erasiel" Vanessa stated, Bloom was dumbfounded.
"What, Broodmate what are you talking about and how do you know about my heritage?" Bloom asked confused.
"Come Bloom, Erasiel we must discuss this matter in private" Vanessa stated, then went to the front door and put up the sign marked closed, they then proceeded into the back room where they had lunch previously. "Alright Bloom the time has come for me to come clean, starting with who I truly am, Vanessa is my middle name my true name is Avarti Vanessa 'Lightstar' Darkar, and I am a Phoenix, a Phoenix of light and heavens to be precise. My father was a Star Phoenix and my mother a Light phoenix, I was born their first hatchling and like my parents and my house served house Darkar. I was taken by Lady Avarra as her handmaiden, personal bodyguard and retainer, it was there I met the love of my life Erasiel Darkar, the lady's son, we fell in love first sight, eventually we mated and did the ritual of bounding to become Broodmates, becoming a Broodmate is deeper than any marriage as you bound your soul to your partner and know all their very being, only Phoenixes are capable of this. Over the millennia we fought alongside each other through many battles, then 16 years ago we were separated, I and my Faceless Lighthorn were given a task to protect the infant Princess of Domino, that was you Bloom" Vanessa explained then continued. "Domino was attacked by the Ancestresses and their armies; we were given no warning and they attacked by complete surprise, the Royal City of Sparx was overwhelmed and their forces entered the palace, the time had come to evacuate, in order to allow for security, we split up into two groups, Erasiel and Nebula protected their charge, while Daphne and myself protected you. The plan had been to come by separate routes to the transporter room and head thru the portal to Solaria, Erasiel and Nebula made it first, however Daphne and me were pinned down by a group of dug in Morden, the monstrous foot soldiers of the Ancestresses, Erasiel came to help us and we broke thru but the Ancestresses approached, in a moment of desperation Erasiel opened a portal to Earth, where Lighthorn and I fled, the portal was completely random and we were deposited into a burning building where near us was the body of a fallen fireman, Lighthorn assumed his guise and well became Mike, we soon acquired the house then well we assumed our alias living on Earth; bidding time until the day when you were off the age your magic would be tapped; I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner Bloom but given the circumstances of you wanting to go to Alfea I figured I could tell you when you were on break" Vanessa explained.
"So, all these years you've been protecting me, wait if you're a Phoenix how come I can see your aura, Erasiel said that I'd been unable to see the aura of a magic user" Bloom responded.
"The reason you can see my aura Bloom is because I allow you to see it, I may not be your birth mother, but I love as if you were my own child, I care dearly for you, but I don't need to explain further you can see it in my aura" Vanessa responded, and indeed Bloom could see from her aura that she was completely sincere.
"So now what, you said you knew those two men were deceiving you so why accept their offer in the first place?" Bloom asked.
"To put a stop to them for good, all the other people they have conned weren't able to tell if they were lying to them, me knowing what they're capable of and what they want will keep any other unwitting victims safe from those criminals" Vanessa stated.
"So how are you going to go about that?' Bloom asked.
"By beating them at their own game by fighting them" Vanessa stated.
After the development of a plan Erasiel dispatched Kerborg to spy on Bonner and Brown. Kerborg revealed that the two had hired goons for the purposes of trashing Vanessa's shop that night to scare her into making a deal quicker, also they had other associates in town they were meeting with, the plan was simple repel the attack on the shop, get evidence of their crimes, wrangle up any accomplices of the two crime lords and bust the two if they tried to flee town, suddenly as they were finishing the plan the limo of the two crime lords pulled up. "Now for phase one telling them the deal is off" Vanessa stated, as the two men entered the door.
"Ah Vanessa have you finished filling out the forms" Mr. Brown asked.
"No, in fact I've changed my mind, I did some thinking and decided I like my business just the way it is, nice and simple besides I've found a better investor someone with a lot more capital" Vanessa stated.
"But I don't understand we had a deal" Mr. Bonner responded.
"I said I got a better deal with someone else and I remain the sole owner, and I get to keep my shop the way it is, nice and simple" Vanessa stated.
"But you've already filled out most of the paperwork- "Mr. Brown started to respond when Erasiel cut him off.
"Vanessa has said the deal is off, get the hint and leave before I throw you two out" Erasiel commented.
"This isn't over, we have other means of acquiring your shop" Mr. Bonner threatened.
"I'm sure you do, now leave" Vanessa responded.
"Fine but deals aren't the only things that can be broken" Mr. Brown stated then smashed a vase, Vanessa kept her cool and Erasiel charged at the two men seized them by their shoulders and threw them out the door.
"Deal's off, now get this, if you try anything you'll regret it, because you'll have made me an enemy and those who make me enemy don't live to regret it" Erasiel stated, the two men got into their limo, they were however unaware that a certain Faceless had while the two were inside overpowered their driver, killed him, deposed of the body by dropping it in Hydra pen after stripping it and teleporting and taken his place.
"Well then this changes things Mr. Bonner" Mr. Brown stated.
"Yes, it's time to accelerate our plans, make sure we get what we want" Mr. Bonner replied.
"What did that young man mean though that we would regret making an enemy of him?" Brown responded.
"Who cares, he's made an enemy of us and we'll deal with him soon along with the other two, I wonder how much that red head will fetch for a sex slave" Bonner replied.
"If I had to guess a few Million on the Chinese market, possibly more somewhere else a fortune in Iran definitely" Brown replied, and both men laughed manically, Kerborg sent the info to Erasiel.
Later that afternoon, a brick crashed thru the window of the shop with a message attached. "Give over the shop and no harm will come to your daughter" Erasiel read. "If we were anyone else we would be afraid" Erasiel stated, then used his magic to repair the window.
"Well I hope this plan works, I'd hate to end up being sold on the black market" Bloom stated as she loaded a full magazine into a pistol, Vanessa had several guns, all registered to her, some were at the house, but most were at her shop in case of burglars, the pistol in Bloom's hands was a Colt 1911 Magnum however this was a side arm the real power Bloom had was in an AR-15 carbine that Vanessa has given her.
"Well worst comes to worse we'll use magic, hopefully though the grunts will get the message and leave when we start shooting back" Vanessa stated, she had emptied the register and destroyed all the paperwork from the two illegitimate businessmen with bolt of electricity from her palms the resulting fire destroyed the documents and was absorbed back into Vanessa's fiery form before it could destroy anything else, at the moment Vanessa was doing the same thing as Bloom, checking ammunition and readying a rifle in this case a Saiga shotgun which had been modified with a scope, among the other weapons on the countertop included multiple pistols of various makes and models, three AR-15s and two shotguns. The amount of firepower might seem superfluous but Erasiel had called back up, or as he like to call it Trouble Incorporated; five Faceless bodyguards which were trained in many weapons but would using shadow magic conceal their true forms as was normal of their race and using some paperwork that would allow them to assume the alias of security guards that had been hired last second in response to the vandalism this unexpected security would make the jobs of any thugs much harder, these guards had an established base in operations that Erasiel had established in Gardenia for the protection of the home of certain fairy named Nebula, they had operated in the region since and Vanessa had used their services to provide security for Bloom and her home. The plan involved four phases, first off defend the shop secondly get the evidence to expose the two crooks and their syndicate, third bust their goons and any associates and forth catch the two crooks and leave them for the police for the last part Erasiel had Kerborg assume the role of their driver to make sure they wouldn't escape.
That night they had split off into two groups, Erasiel, Gripmaw and two of the Faceless would hide in the alley near the shop, while Bloom Vanessa and the others would wait inside, they would hide in the back and behind the counter and wait for the thugs to come in, then they would attack, the attack would come on two fronts, the main defense and Erasiel's surprise team. Meanwhile Bonner and Browns hired goons were decently armed themselves they had AK-47s, pistols of varying makes, shotguns, and crowbars for breaking an entrance and smashing things, their guns were fitted with silencers.
The thugs arrived in two vans and there were about 20 of them, they approached the shop took a look round then smashed the window that had apparently to their eyes been replaced, they then broke down the door and charged in most of them with crowbars ready to break stuff. They were caught completely of guard as Bloom emerged from under the countertop and unloaded a magazine from her AR-15 into the thugs, two dropped dead instantly from the shots, they didn't have time to react as Vanessa and the three Elves came out from behind the door and started unloading on them, there was panic then some of the thugs fled out the door only to be stopped by Erasiel and his team which knocked out three of them, shortly within a matter of 2 minutes the attack was over, seven thugs were dead, three of them due to Bloom's initial attack, 6 were down with serious wounds, and the rest were either knocked out or tied up. Erasiel and Gripmaw interrogated one of the thugs for intel on the whereabouts of their associates that thug told them about a warehouse that was being used for the storage of goods both legitimate and not that Brown and Bonner's syndicate were storing for future sell and distribution, there were a number of the Brown and Bonnor's goons there along with a few of their Lieutenants, Erasiel used this information to dispatch a surprise police raid which was actually a number of Faceless disguised as local cops mixed in with local cops, this raid caught a bunch of the associates of Bonner and Brown and who were quickly apprehended or gunned down if they resisted. Lastly came the kingpins of the Syndicate themselves, when they heard the sirens of Police they told their driver to leave town to their surprise he drove them to the park where Bloom and Erasiel were waiting for them in their magic forms.
"What the- "Brown shouted then received a kick from Bloom to his head which laid him flat, Bonner attempted to run but was seized by Kerborg in the form of his driver.
"Kyle what are you doing, you traitor unhand me" Bonner protested.
"Kyle is dead, I'm Kerborg Faceless member of House Darkar, and the personal servant of Erasiel Nathan Darkar, the man currently in front of you" Kerborg responded assuming his true form.
"And that is a wrap, I did warn you that making an enemy of me would be unwise, yet you intended to go forward with your plans anyway, a shame perhaps you would have kept your ill-gotten gains and you criminal empire, but now you'll rot in a maximum-security prison curtsy of your own goons and your driver who was secretly an FBI agent unknown to you" Erasiel stated.
"You freaks when I- you aren't human you're aliens!" Bonner yelled.
"Interdimensional travelers technically and I'm a Phoenix and she's a fairy, also the woman who owns the shop Phoenix and my associates Dark Elves, but you know what the worst part of this is, you won't remember a thing" Erasiel stated then pulled out what to Bloom's eyes was a white rod and the last thing Bonner saw was a flash of light before falling unconscious. "Kerborg do us the favor of turning these two over to the local authorities, FBI disguise please and make sure to mention that the two of us were key in preventing their escape" Erasiel ordered, the faceless assumed the form of the Driver but wearing the uniform of an FBI agent he then used a pair of handcuffs on both men and locked them into the back of their limo.
The following morning the tell of foiled robbery and apprehension of the leadership of an international crime syndicate was across all news networks, both local and national. Mitzi was annoyed to see Bloom receiving an interview with a local reporter and telling the story of the heroic defense of her mother's flower shop and her part in capturing the two ringleaders of an international crime syndicate. "How did Bloom manage to pull this off, never mind I don't want to know, Rayael next year invite Bloom to our Halloween party, at the very least we can do that for her, how did she pull that off" Mitzi ranted, Rayael merely wrote down the invite and stored it away.
Meanwhile… After the interviews with the press about the incident, the fillings for the police report, the orders to testify at the trail for the criminals as witnesses and reassuring the government that they had no need to go into the witness protection program, Erasiel, Vanessa and Bloom returned home or in Erasiel's case a home away from home. During the weekend Bloom spent time with her few friends on Earth not telling them about her secrets, while Erasiel and Vanessa played catch up on the events of the previous 16 years and not while Bloom was around they also reconnected as spouses and did everything that it implied, eventually Erasiel made sure that Vanessa would have someone else to keep her company, well in seven months anyway a new hatchling of theirs. (Phoenix children only take seven months to have due to a faster growth speed) The weekend trip was enjoyable but eventually the time came to return to Alfea and Cloud Tower, that Monday Erasiel, Bloom, and Kiko bid farewell to Lighthorn and Vanessa and left the home in good hands and with everything they had brought with them and a bag of home-cooked cookies made by Vanessa.
A week later… Bloom, Vanessa, and Erasiel had arrived in Washington DC and were now at the White House, there was large crowd of reporters gathered and the security was tight. A man walked up to them, recognized easily as the 43rd President of the United States of America: George W. Bush. "Bloom Peterson, Vanessa Peterson, Erasiel Darkar; it's good to welcome you here; your heroic efforts in breaking an international crime syndicate with ties all over the country has been noticed by the government of the US, an FBI investigation into this syndicate has revealed a number of large scale operations, illegal ones, but also revealed that this group has been providing funding to Radical Islamist Terrorists the world over such as Al Qaeda and Hezbollah in addition to other terrorist groups such as the IRA, they also had control of the largest slave trafficking operation in the world and had ties to figures in multiple world governments including our own; Senators Bob Menéndez of New Jersey, Diane Feinstein of California and Marie Cantwell of Washington have also been tied to this group and have been arrested for their crimes, as well as several members of the house of representatives, not to mention international leaders who also have ties to this group; the intel provided from the capturing of these leaders has allowed us to prevent several planned terror attacks and locate two criminals on the FBI's most wanted list; because of your actions that go above and beyond the call of duty the United States Congress voted unanimously in both houses to award all three of you with the nation's highest civilian honor: the Congressional Medal of Freedom, Bloom step forward" President Bush stated, Bloom stepped forward. "For efforts of going beyond the call of duty I award you the highest honor a US citizen can receive: the Congressional Medal of Freedom" President Bush continued and wrapped the medal around her neck, then did the same for Erasiel and Vanessa. Back in Gardenia…. "Unbelievable simply unbelievable: Bloom getting the Nation's highest honor, crazy" Mitzi stated looking at her TV. "Now it's mandatory I invite you to my party next year" Mitzi commented to herself.