Forbidden Magic
Disclaimer: I don't own victorious
A/N:
Chapter 4 (Paying Respects)
"There's not much go off of." Jade read out of some book while riding in Beck's car, she was trying to figure out how she could locate the person that taught Robbie the soul binding spell. "Warlock means oath-breaker, so there is that." Beck glanced over to her with arched eyebrows and a subtle frown.
"Honestly I don't get half that stuff. I'm still trying to process that Robbie's dead brother was really in that puppet."
"I know it's hard to believe, but the supernatural realm exists all around us, Beck. Whoever did this to Robbie's brother had purpose-it couldn't just be random. Robbie might have been a random choice, but the act couldn't have been. There had to be a reason someone would bind a soul to a dead body with the promise of that person being in the survivor's life."
Out of the corner of her eyes she saw him shake his head. She didn't know how to convince him of the supernatural realm. If he wasn't going to believe, then he wouldn't. "I just don't know why we're coming here." He slowed his car to a stop beside the Crestview cemetery. This was where Rex would be buried and Jade wanted further show respect for the dead. Despite, Rex's actual body was never recovered.
"We're here to pay our respects." Lightning cracked in the sky above the cemetery's sign. Jade was put off by the start of yet another storm. She put her hand to the door handle and shook her head. "What I wouldn't give for a clear night, we've had rain and lightning every night for weeks." Beck pushed open his door with a laugh.
"Well, it is the season, I suppose. Middle of October, my girlfriend's studying witchcraft and just released the soul of my friend's dead brother from a puppet." Jade rolled her eyes and flashed a smirk. She saw him pause for a second, snapping his fingers before glancing over to her. "Why a puppet, anyway? You'd think he would have put him in the actual body."
"Well from my research it sounds like the person doing the ritual didn't have Rex's body on hand, so he put the spirit in the nearest object. I'm kind of grateful for it because removing from a human would be much harder."
"Harder? Why?"
"Because when you try and exorcise a dead spirit that turns malicious, they try to fight you-thereby trying to kill you. It's harder for a puppet or inanimate object to attack someone than it is for a human." Beck's face dropped and his eyes slanted.
"So you're saying these things are almost like zombies?"
"Sort of. Zombies might not be the right term. It's hard to detect one because they live amongst us, walking around like they never died. Only when their spirits begin to turn malicious do you get any sign-because that's when they start to kill-or trying to anyway. It's almost like a hex, but I wouldn't know just yet-that's why I'm trying to find the connection between them and that guy Robbie mentioned."
"If Rex is gone now, then why the concern?"
"The concern is Rex died when he was eleven-and he was the older brother. Robbie was nine or ten then, he's seventeen now-which means during the last seven years-anything could have happened." During that time gap, this mysterious man could have had this ritual done for a number of people. "We won't know if more people are walking around that should be dead, but who's to say…"
"Well he couldn't have done many." She guided him into the cemetery, taking note of the many tombstones that lay in small squares bordered by sidewalks. There were also benches of marble and stone, there were mausoleums in the back, and an iron gate covered with ivy that framed the entire giant cemetery. She folded her arms over and glanced over to Beck, waiting for him to explain his statement. "Think about it-if there was an abundance, there would be more dead people walking around and people would start to notice. Do you think this guy would drag attention to himself?"
Jade tugged her lip back and began walking down the path. "No, you're right, he probably wouldn't want that." Chances were, then, that there may not be many-if any at all-that had dealt with such a ritual. She couldn't understand why someone would do it though, what strings were attached? What was the underlying motive? No one that would perform such a taboo and evil act would do something without gaining something in return. "Still, if the person is currently active, we need to stop them."
"How necessary is it to get involved? I mean, it doesn't affect us much, does it?" He put his left hand into his pocket and swept his hair out of his face with his right. Jade brushed her fingertips along her forehead and exhaled. "I mean I don't usually get involved in stuff that…complicated if it doesn't affect me, but then, that's just me.
"Make a note, Beck, never to become a police officer." He raised an eyebrow and frowned as they walked towards the area Robbie said his brother's grave would be. "We get involved because it would be wrong to let someone like that harm innocents-which is pretty much what they're doing."
"You hurt innocent people all the time and you've never cared."
"Yeah well I'm working on that." Her days of emotionally abusing people was near an end anyway. She felt bad enough knowing all the abuse from her mom she deflected onto undeserving people, so she was trying to get away from that. It was hard, but she was doing the best she could. "It's a process."
Jade turned left onto a path and saw a cross and fountain several on a patch of grass in the distance. "There it is, that's what Robbie said was the grave."
"Isn't he Jewish? Why is his brother's grave at a cross?"
Jade scratched her chin and lifted her shoulders. "He said his dad was Jewish but came to believe in the salvation and all that." It made sense to her, but at the same time, it wasn't something she cared too much about.
"I guess." Beck looked off to the right and furrowed his brow. "Tori's grandparents are dead, right?"
"Believe so. Why?"
"Cause they have a strange, but cool memorial over there." She saw him point off to the right and followed his point. There was a mausoleum with the name 'Vega' written on it. Did Beck not now that Tori's dad was part of one of LA's most prominent and wealthy families?
"The Vega family has been here for over a century, one of the founders was a brother to his ancestor. He's an assistant police chief, his great grandfather was a police chief."
"Yeah, yeah, I got that. I just think it's interesting they have a mausoleum here, is all."
"Focus. We're here for Rex." They stopped before Rex's grave, taking a moment to study it. Rex Shapiro 1993-2004. "This is difficult, Rex's body was still never buried here, but his soul's been put to rest."
Beck scratched the back of his neck and slowly nodded, "It bothers me still that I keep picturing him as a puppet." She had the same issue, which was why she got a photo from Robbie that she was going to place on the gravesite. She
"Here." She removed the photo and showed it to Beck. It was of the two brothers on Christmas morning in their pajamas with their stockings laying out in front of them. Rex was taller, ten years old at the time, and had his arm around his little brother to hug him. He had high cheekbones, blue eyes, and curly brown hair just like his little brother. "Looks like Robbie, just without the glasses."
Beck studied the picture carefully, his lips dipped down and he shook his head. "It's a little sad, actually. I mean, clearly he sounds a lot different than that puppet. A happier time…"
"Over time the spirit, unable to cross over, becomes malicious, dangerous and unruly. From day one, I think, they are never the person they were in life."
"So we're here to do what, exactly?"
"I said to pay respects." She gently set a candle on top of the ground where the casket was over. She didn't know just yet how funerals were arranged in the Wiccan faith, but through studies she know there was a lot of respect and talk about the goddesses accepting the lost one. In her mind, she wanted to pay respects by way of the person's own belief system.
To do this, she was going to recite the Kaddish Prayer for Rex, which was customary in funerals with Judaism. During Rex's lifetime, the brothers' father was still practicing Judaism, only turning to Catholicism nearly a year before Rex's death. It was Robbie's grandparents that were still practicing now.
"You brought the book, right Beck?"
"Yeah." He handed her the book with the Kaddish Prayer and she opened up to the page, taking a deep breath as Beck lit the candle for her. He then stepped beside her and bowed his head as she recited the prayer.
Once finished, she crouched down and pushed the candle up against the grave and gently set the picture between the stone and candle. The lightning from earlier subsided and her eyes drifted up to the skies. "It's still just a casket, Jade." She closed her eyes as Beck's foot tapped the ground impatiently.
"I think it's a lot more than that."
"I don't mean it in the sense that paying respects is worthless, I mean it in the sense that Rex's body isn't here…so maybe I do make it sound almost worthless."
"The soul will go to wherever respects are being made, I believe. Regardless he is here." She pushed herself up and pulled her stick and some seeds. Beck lowered his arms, studying the packets carefully.
"What are those for?"
"They're herbs, its believed these in particular are some of the kinds that can be used for protection." She had with her seeds to grow African Violet and Rosemary. She immediately began to plant them into the ground, digging around the grave so as not to disturb the portion where the burial was.
When she had the seeds in the ground, she began to wave the stick over the grave area, speaking a soft protection spell. This would likely help to keep any potential demonic evil from touching the spirit, henceforth freeing it from any negative energy remaining. "Every ritual is going to be different, Beck. There are still basic guidelines to follow."
"Yeah it's still hard enough for me to believe in any kind of spiritual stuff, now with all this magic and whatnot…it's a little hard to stomach."
"Well. You're not the one practicing, so I don't know what you're complaining about."
He shrugged his shoulders and folded his arms, "I'm not complaining about anything other than my girlfriend practicing witchcraft." Jade raised an eyebrow and walked past him, huffing to herself. "Not that there's a problem with it, I support it and everything, it just bothers me. I'll get used to it."
"Good, because I'm only just learning. I know it's hard for you to get involved in religious activity, but I'm glad you're at least here for me." She reached forward, taking his hand into hers and smiling tenderly at him. He kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand.
"I'm doing the best I can to be a supportive boyfriend."
Nice pleasant time in the cemetery. What are your thoughts.