Chapter 31: Curses, Foiled Again!
"Tell me everything." She commanded in the language that only the two in the room shared at the moment, as the fairy knelt next to his mistress, gently removing the markings little by little. It was a slow process and she would need Kuon to help her remove all of Kyoko's clothing later to get to the rest of them. Aine could clearly see that the human woman Tina had definitely meant business when dealing with Kyoko. The markings had been unnecessarily drawn on places on her body that the cameras would have never had the chance to see, there had been no true nude scenes for the movie. Only little glimpses of flesh here and there, and there had been no reason for the extensive body-art.
Seeing that Sho trusted the fae implicitly, he told her absolutely everything, including the part about his human transformation in the dressing room. She honestly didn't seem too terribly surprised about that little tidbit, and promised to keep the secret for him. It was not her place to reveal and she had heard about it happening before. After all, she was not exactly a young fairy. She had been alive in the colonies for the American one. The one that had caused a very big uproar amongst the local natives and was the subject of much of the Native American folklore in that area.
Aine sighed in resignation and frustration. She had been researching Tina ever since Kyoko had first come to her and shown her the temporary tattoos for filming and how she had been suspicious of the woman. She was painfully ordinary, except for one small detail. Well, maybe not so small. Tina had exceptionally bad luck. It was almost as if the woman had been cursed from her teen years. Judging from the markings on Kyoko and their uncanny effectiveness, Aine suspected that the young woman had a very powerful and very old spellbook that did not belong to her, and she was dabbling in something that she had no business playing with.
Each witch's spellbook is tailor-made for that witch. Other witches can copy the spells, but they must be altered in order for them to work properly. They must be changed, even the slightest bit, to keep them from harming the user. If one is not a witch and uses them, normally they don't work unless the prior owner was very talented. If the prior owner was powerful enough, anyone that uses the spells without altering them could very well fall under some seriously nasty curses. Thus, Aine suspected, the very miserable occurrences in Tina's life until that point. It was now obvious that the book needed to be procured and protected by a witch that could deal with it.
Aine looked down at the sleeping girl and back at her familiar. She glanced up at Kuon and sighed. "I have a job for the two of you." She announced in a serious tone. "She didn't do this on her own... that Tina woman. There is a strong possibility that she is in possession of a very old grimoire, and I need for you to get it from her." She held up her hand to stop any questions for the moment. "You needn't worry, she isn't a witch. She is very, very ordinary. She won't be able to do anything to you unless you allow her to. She isn't like Kyoko at all."
Kuon grimaced. "How exactly am I supposed to do that?" He couldn't very well break into her house and steal it, and he certainly wasn't going to harm anyone to get it either.
"You only need to make sure that Tomo safely reaches the address I'm going to give you. I will instruct him on what to do. Then, you are to bring him and the book back to me." She turned to Sho. "You only need to do everything within your power... and I mean everything... to get that book. If you can avoid her, do so, but if not, I have confidence that you will know exactly what to do. Use all of your resources, little familiar."
Kuon and Tomo both agreed to Aine's orders and accepted the slip of paper with Tina's address on it; although, Sho probably would have been able to easily get it from Rick. He wondered if Rick knew anything of these circumstances and if he didn't, what would he think about it? He couldn't exactly call for his help at the moment, Aine's home was a completely restricted area for spirits. He would have to wait until they were at the location to call for him, after they dropped Cedric off. There was no way either of them wanted him involved any further than he already was. As it stood they would probably need Aine or Kyoko to wipe his memory of the recent events, if it was possible.
Tina sat in her living room with the shades drawn and the lights out for several hours after her experience with the handsome young man that somehow knew about Rick. Over and over she repeated a phrase from her book, that she believed would work as protection. She honestly thought that she was a true witch and not some haphazard dabbler that was just repeating a sentence that was worthless to her, as far as protection went. She truly believed she was spellcasting. She didn't realize that she'd just been a tiny bit fortunate until this point, as far as no one robbing her home or breaking in a raping her in the area that she lived in. If anyone actually believed that she had anything worth stealing, they would have done it the day she moved in.
She never noticed the strangely out of place little Yellow Cardinal perched on her windowsill, peeking through a crack in her blinds. She never saw him morph into a small tawny rat and slip through a minor space between her door and the floor. She didn't see the familiar spirit that seemed to be guiding him to an exact location, and she certainly didn't see him change into a familiar, recently met man, that had carried Kyoko from her dressing room. However, she did notice him as he walked through her living room, from her bedroom, carrying a pillowcase that contained the book that he was sent to retrieve.
Tina let out a shriek of surprise when he emerged from her bedroom, and began chanting the spell she thought would curse him and kill him on the spot. Sho chuckled. "You're really stupid, aren't you?"
"I'm a witch! You better leave that book or I'll curse you to die!" She stood aggressively from her seat.
Sho laughed. "You… Are a plain, boring woman with no talent at all. You are not a witch. You are nothing. You are average, at best. There is nothing that you can do to anyone. The only person you've cursed with stealing this book... is yourself." God, for how long had he wanted to say that to this woman that truly deserved those words. It felt so good making her hear it with his own tongue.
"I-I'll tell! I'll tell everyone about you!" She smirked. "I'll tell everyone that Kyoko is a witch!" She really wasn't sure about that little fact. She was just making shit up as she went along, hoping to scare him a little.
Sho took a step forward and smiled sinisterly. "Really?.. and how will you explain how you got that knowledge? Hmm, will you tell them what you did to her? I know! You'll go to the coven and tattle like a spoiled child. Wait! I know… You'll go to the police and tell them. Right?" He asked playfully. "Guess what... The coven already knows, as do others. You stealing this book and using it on someone else, has put a price on your head unless it's returned to a responsible owner. Anyone with eyes will know once the movie is released." He watched as she fell back into her seat defeatedly. He almost felt sorry for her, well almost. "Clean up your act and stop being such a selfish bitch. Accept the fact that everything that's happened to you was because you stole this book and intended to use it to harm others, then make up for it." He lectured and now knew how Kyoko had felt about him for so long. He had used magic in a way that shouldn't be, just like her. He just got off a little easier than she did, in his opinion. "Trust me, if the witch you stole this from finds you… You will know that there are punishments worse than death. You're life up to this point will be considered Paradise." He warned. "I suggest that you never dabble again, unless you would like your humanity to feel like you have hot coals under your skin with every step you take or you would be more than happy to live out your life as a rat." He scolded.
She nodded stiffly and watched as the young man walked out of her home. He really didn't need to tell her all of that, yet he did. She suspected that he knew exactly what he was talking about. Why else would he be very specific in his warning to her. It had been so long since she had taken that book from the library of its old home in Salem. She had gone there with her family, against her will, and had come across it on a tour of a house built on a plot of land that was said to belong to a trio of sisters that were executed for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. So, essentially she had taken the book from a museum. Fortunately for her, the coven in Salem chose not to pursue the incident. They let it go since the owner didn't make any effort to protect the grimoire and there had not been any missing children or cannibalized remains found after it was taken. They just assumed it had been a collector that had taken it or some wannabe that thought it would be cool to pretend to have. Well, they were partially right.
Kuon let out a sigh of relief when he saw his friend trotting up in his larger form with a pillowcase in his mouth. Tomo was safe and had the book. He opened the passenger's door for him and watched as he hopped into the seat, then drop the package to the floor. "Ready to go back?" He smiled and patted him on the head.
Sho nodded and collapsed on the seat, slowly going back to his small dog form. He needed a very long nap. Being human twice in one day was exhausting, especially when doing it for the first time, without practice. At least is was less painful than the first time. He thought as he drifted to sleep and was carefully placed in his little safety seat then fastened in by Kuon.