Date Written: 9/14/05
Rating: Same as Chapter Zero
Characters/Pairings: Dee/Ryo
Warnings: Homosexuality, Murder, Hoodoo use
Disclaimer: Same as Chapter Zero
Spoilers: All the way through Book 7
Notes: Does God hate us? Rita just got upgraded to a 3. It might be a long time until the next chapter... And the original version of this chapter can be found over on AFF.N
The spell is a magical act intended to cause an effect on reality using supernatural means of liturgical or ritual nature. When the goal of such spell is to guess the future it is usually named divination or augury and when it tries to put someones's will under control, enchantment or incantation. It is a substantial component of many Pagan religions and can also be found in some monotheistic religions like Islam, whereas others like Christianity explicitly forbid this practice. Medieval collections of spells were called grimoires.
Spells were probably developed during the Neolithic magical belief period and have been practiced since then both in accepted and clandestine environments. They were common in Pagan societies as part of massive official holidays promoted by authorities: this activity is well documented in a number of historical sources and has even survived in vodunist or shamanic religion areas. On the opposite, practitioners were harshly prosecuted in other places and ages, specially in areas whose state religion was Christianism. Nowadays practitioners are protected under the freedom of belief, a fundamental right regarded by most democratic countries, although hoaxes based on the gullibility and need to believe of many people are usually punished as frauds.
Typically, a spell is a symbolic representation of the purported effect performed under the invocation of a deity. It can even be an unwilling instantaneous action with no specific shape, like some forms of Evil Eye. But in more developed Pagan beliefs, spells have the following general structure:
- Preparation, when all
needed products are disposed in the appropriate location and the
involved individuals perform preliminary activities like fasting,
praying, etc.
- Overture to start the ritual or liturgical performance, create an
appropriate, solemn "magical environment" and reinforce the communion
effect among participants.
- Invocation, when the cooperation of supernatural forces is requested to take the spell to reality.
- Execution, where all ritualized magical acts belonging to the spell are precisely performed.
- Sacrifice, when a symbolic or tangible gift is offered to participating deities.
- Closure, to solemnize the end of the act and dissolve the "magical environment" created during the overture.
--From Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia
A young mulatto woman shivered apprehensively. her eyes cut up to look at her customer, a figure clad in a black pinstripe suit, a black fedora covering his eyes. The candle flickering on her small table cast faint light and sharp shadows on his face.
His black eyes seemed to suck up what light reached it.
She tore her gaze from his, looking down at her table. She was in the middle of a tarot card reading, her hand hovering just above the final card. Her instict was to run, leave the reading half-done, and fuck the consequences.
She had never seen a reading this bleak before.
The cards told her that this customer was... evil. That he would kill to gain power.
That he already had.
Her hand barely touched the back of the final card, and she felt a shudder run through her arm. She swallowed thickly, but turned it over anyway.
The Tower Card. The worst card in the entire Major Arcana.
"Well, well, well... Looks like you lose."
Dark brown eyes snapped up to stare at her customer, eyes wide with fear. He grabbed her frizzy brown hair fiercely, knocking the table over. The candle gutted out on the cold stone of Jackson Square, scented wax hardening immediately. She opened her mouth to scream, but found she couldn't. He smiled and waved a gloved hand at her, and she cursed inwardly.
There was hoodoo magic all over it. He had cursed her the moment he touched her.
He yanked her head back, exposing her throat in the pale light of the secluded square. He leaned down, inhaling her scent and licking at her skin.
And she couldn't even shudder. Bastard...
"Bonne nuit, ma petite," he whispered into her ear, reaching across her neck to slide the cool metal of a knife across her throat. He pulled it back towards him, and the blade bit into her skin.
Warm sticky blood spilled across the murder's clothing and the cold stone. Her breathing became short and labored, the blood from her main arteries flowing down her trachea into her lungs. She was drowning, the world was getting darker...
Ryo sat straight up in bed, gasping, his dark eyes wide. A dream... Just a dream...
But it seemed so REAL.
Next to him, Dee sat up as well, awoken by Ryo's sudden movement. The arm around the half-Japanese detective's waist tightened as a soothing hand came up to rub at his back soothingly. "Nightmare?" he asked, his voice groggy and rough with sleep.
"Yeah."
"Shhh..." Dee pressed a gentle kiss underneath Ryo's ear. "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."
Ryo slowly relaxed under his lover's gentle caresses and soothing words. Of course it was a dream. It was so vivid because he encountered death on a nearly daily basis. His mind was working overtime--this vacation would be just what he needed.
Dee nuzzled his neck comfortingly with his nose, and Ryo turned into the loving touch. The faint light that filtered in through the hotel curtains from St. Anne street made it so that Ryo could barely make out Dee's beautiful jade eyes. The dark-haired man kissed him sweetly, brushing Ryo's honey brown hair out of his dark eyes. "Feel a little better?"
Ryo nodded, looping his arms around Dee's neck and snuggling in close to his lover. Although he knew it was only a dream, it had still rattled him. Now, he craved the close physical contact of another person, wanted the touch that only Dee could give him.
The dream had shown death; now he wanted to feel alive.