I realize that I have forgotten this on some chapters, so: I do not own, only borrow, these characters. I make no profit, yadda, yadda, yadda. I only wish that I owned RangerJ

Chapter Nine

"How is this bad? As my skips go, this is actually a minor injury," Steph stated, sitting at Abuela's kitchen table.

Tank shook his head a little. "We need to get you caught up on basic magic as quickly as possible, Bombshell."

Abuela gave him a look at the name, but let it pass. "Personal possessions, especially things like hair, fingernails, and blood, are used in ritual dark magic. Possessing something of yours gives a magician power over you; the more personal and harder to get the possession is, the more of a hold over you it gives to the magician."

Stephanie processed for a minute, then went, "Oh," in a very tiny voice.

Ranger's voice carried from the doorway, surprising her. "There's a reason I don't get injured much, Babe."

"I thought you were just so scary and Rambo and good at your job," Stephanie stated, still in a tiny voice.

Ranger smiled. "That too, but I make a special effort."

"So what is this guy going to do with my blood?" Steph, not sure she really wanted the answer.

"My guess is a calling spell. Thankfully, he probably didn't get enough blood to do anything else." Abuela looked concerned, though. "I don't know how strong he is, though, and his personal power will determine how well the spell works. And he also has some of your hair from the hairbrush he stole. He could use both and make it much stronger.'

"A calling spell?" Steph asked, truly nervous now, so much so that the slight burning in her arm from the earlier cut was forgotten.

"Have you ever seen Dracula?" Tank asked, looking at Abuela as he did so. When Steph nodded yes, her eyes round, he continued. "It's sort of like Dracula's hold over Mina."

"He can make me get up and leave RangeMan headquarters? What about the magical protections?" she asked.

Ranger explained. "This spell is keyed toward you on a very personal level. My protections are keyed to my men, the building, and me. They will protect you some, but it might not be enough to completely block it." He sat down next to her, pulling her into a hug. He could feel the fear emanating from her now. "But Abuela can adjust the protections some, and create others just for you, to help protect you more than you are now." He looked to Abuela. "Right?"

"Yes, mijo," Abuela smiled. "I can protect you a bit, Stephanie. Even more if you give me a sample of hair and blood to work into the spells. It will take a good part of the afternoon, but by tonight, while you are sleeping and most vulnerable, they should be in place."

"What if he's already cast the spell?" Ranger asked quietly.

"I will have to fight him for control. It is a possibility, Stephanie." Abuela studied her face. "That would make it more difficult, but it is still possible to fight him."

Stephanie pulled away from Ranger's comforting arms and straightened her spine. "I understand. How much blood?"

Abuela smiled at her, then motioned for the boys to leave. She had a further idea she wanted to discuss with Stephanie, but she had to feel her out first, and the boys needed to be gone. "Stephanie should be ready to go with you in about an hour. Have Bobby waiting to stitch her up."

Stephanie waited patiently at the table as Abuela brewed some loose tea in two cups. Handing one to Stephanie, she sipped on her own and settled across the table from her. "Stephanie, before we start on the magic, I just want to talk a little."

"Talk?" Steph asked, nervous now. "About my stalker?"

"About my grandson." Abuela met her eyes with a piercing gaze. "How do you feel about him?"

"Uh," was all Steph could manage. Her emotions were all jumbled up to begin with, she was under stress, and she never expected Ranger's GRANDMOTHER to have this conversation with her before Ranger did. "What do you mean?"

"There is an obvious bond between you. I want to know the nature of the bond, how strong it is." Abuela sipped her tea and motioned to Stephanie's cup. "Drink, dear. And breathe. I'm not asking for a declaration of undying love or any details you don't wish to divulge. There are things a grandmother doesn't really want to know."

Steph sipped her tea, trying to recover and stop blushing. "Ranger is a very good friend."

"Is that all?" Abuela fixed a look at her. "How good a friend?"

Steph continuing sipping. "Abuela, just what do you want to know? What do you want me to say? I feel very strongly about Ranger, but he doesn't feel the same way. He made that quite clear to me before, and I don't want him to know how I feel. It would be humiliating, and he probably wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore."

"Stephanie, I think you should talk to Ricardo about this." Abuela tried to find a way to make Stephanie realize that this could be very important.

"No," Steph stately firmly, shaking her head.

"Stephanie, please think about it." Abuela considered the extra protection acknowledgement of their obvious bond might bring for Stephanie. Given Ranger's strong feelings, his protections would probably offer Stephanie more safety than any other innocent he was helping; if those two could acknowledge their feelings for each other, the protections would treat her as if she were Ricardo. "I think that Ricardo feels quite strongly about you as well."

Stephanie spent long minutes considering Abuela's words and studiously avoiding Abuela's gaze. With a sigh to admit her defeat, Abuela rose and gathered some items on the table- a stylized little dagger, a small bowl, and a length of slim leather, as if for a necklace. "I will need to cut your arm again, or a hand if you prefer."

Stephanie put the tea down and held out her injured arm. Abuela firmly gripped it, raised the dagger, and quickly re-opened the wound. She caught the blood in the little bowl, and wrapped Stephanie's arm in a clean dish-towel. "I'm sorry that hurt; the next part is not so bad. I need a good ten to fifteen hairs, either cut one at a time with the dagger or pulled out by hand. Which do you prefer?"

"I'll pull them out myself," Stephanie quickly answered, eyeing the sharp little dagger with distaste.

Abuela nodded, taking each individual hair from Steph and putting them together in an even pile next to the leather string. Once Steph was done, she quickly braided the hairs together with the leather piece and tied it into a circle. Speaking in low Spanish, Abuela muttered something over the items on the table and then gathered them up to put away. The blood and hair disappeared into a little room off to one side of the kitchen that Steph would normally have thought was a pantry; she didn't want to think about what Abuela used it for. When Abuela returned, she sat back at the table with Stephanie.

"So, Abuela, how do you know all this magic stuff?" Steph asked in a conversational tone, trying to keep the older woman from approaching the Ranger topic again.

"I was taught by my grandmother, who was taught by her aunt. Magic is a generations old gift in my family, though it tends towards the females." Abuela smiled at her. "Similar to Slaying, I think."

This brought Stephanie around to the fact that her mother had been a potential slayer. "Was my mother the first Slayer in my family?"

"That is something to ask you Grandmother Mazur, I think," Abuela said. "I believe that you might find your family tree quite a but more interesting then you think it is."

Abuela seemed to know more, but wasn't forth coming with any other information. Steph decided to change tactics slightly. "And did you teach Rosa magic?"

"Some. Rosa's main talent, though, is foresight. My great hope was my granddaughter, Ricky's girl, but I have been firmly disappointed in that. Ana had no interest in this- no belief." Abuela sighed. A child of Steph and Ranger- now that child could not help but be born to power as great as or greater than her own power. Only a wistful thought now, but one that she greatly hoped would come to fruition. "Carmen's children are all boys, and while sensitive to magic, the gift seems to have skipped them."

A knock on the kitchen door interrupted them. It was Tank and Lester, ready to escort Stephanie back to Haywood. Stephanie, suddenly feeling very tired, was more than happy to go. Abuela kissed her on the cheek, whispered "Talk to him, dear" very quietly in her ear, and waited at the door as they drove away.

The ride was a quiet one. Normally chatty, Stephanie was lost in her own thoughts before she fell asleep just blocks from Abuela's.