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Is that another language?
“Probably the easiest would be to ask her nicely to remove it, but the fact she hit you with it, to begin with, doesn’t speak highly of that probability. So, counting that out—the next would be to take one of her bones, a small one preferably, like a finger, and boil it into a potion. I can have that ready for you in a week’s time. Then you just drink it, and violà. Fit as a fiddle!”
Lead plummeted in my stomach as she explained the process for multiple reasons. One: she wanted me to drink the witch’s finger water? Uh…gross. Two:...
“Umm. What if the bones aren’t an option?” I asked, feeling myself go clammy.
“Oh. Squeamish? I didn’t picture you as one of those, but I guess every agency has to have one,” she pondered. “The only alternative since you’re against the bone potion is either to have someone bring her back from Purgatory and force her to reverse the curse or you find someone strong enough to cure you,” she said as she laced her fingers together.
“Fuck me.” The words slipped out of my lips.
Priestess Tanda clacked her tongue and gave me a knowing look. “Let me guess. You killed her instead of detaining and sending her through a door.”
I let out a long sigh and bowed my head. The fact was, I hadn’t just killed the witch; I burned her to a crisp and fed her to her damn pet alligators. She was okay feeding us to that walking belt, shoes, and briefcase before Kaye turned the tables around. It was only fair. How in the hell did I fuck up so bad?
I glanced up and saw the disappointment in her eyes, and she opened her mouth to say something else, but I held up my hand and stopped her. She was either going to blow my mind further or express how much I fucked up, and I already knew that. “What does this Phases of Death curse do exactly?” Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it sounded.
“Well…it attacks the victim in phases. The first phase is bad luck. That can be anything from your hair tie breaking to your car dying after just being serviced. The next phase is Pain. Think of headaches or body aches and go from there. The third phase is a beacon. Anything that you’re hiding from will be able to find you. Debt collectors, exes, or, in your case…monsters. And the final stage is death,” she said with pity in her eyes.
“How long does all of that typically take?”
“Normally, years. The last person I knew with that curse took four years before they even knew something was wrong. They came to me for a good luck charm, and that’s how I found they were cursed instead. They were still in the bad luck phase.”
“So, there’s no hope? I’m a walking, talking corpse?” I asked, dread quickly replacing the hope I once had.
“Well, there is one other way. Not sure if you’re willing, but it at least might help with the side effects until you find another Bone Witch to undo the spell or someone strong enough to cure it.”
I perked up and gave her a cautious stare. “What’s the alternative?” I highly doubt I’ll find another Bone Witch, but maybe I’ll find someone along my line of work that’s strong enough to cure me.
“Even though you’re a Reaper, a step above human, you’ve obviously been Angel blessed to have the connection with your pet, like a familiar. Therefore, you might be able to disperse your curse onto multiple partners to the point that it equals out, and no one will feel the ill effects shortening your life.”
My jaw dropped at what she was hinting at. “What do you mean partners? I already have my best friends, Kaye and Thorn, as my partners.” I pointed to Thorn, who was now giving me a horrified look.
‘Yeah, yeah, I know. You can yell at me later,’ I cut Thorn off before he could yell at me. One crisis at a time.
She peered at Thorn and smiled before getting up and going back to the belts.
Really? She’s going to walk away at a time like this. Maybe her granddaughter, Nerezza, I think her name was… ran away. She was tired of her grandmother running her around in circles too.
She pulled out some metal pieces and fiddled around the belt as she began talking.
“Your best friend and Thorn are considered your family. They are not the type of relationships that are needed to disperse the curse. If that was the case, curses wouldn’t be a thing since most people choose their family ties over their blood relations.”
She reached for another book from her shelf, turned to a page, bowed her head over the belts, and began chanting and running her hand over the leather. A slight wind breezed through the room, and the skull’s flame flickered as she swayed to her own words. The hairs on my skin rose, and Thorn shuffled closer to me and whined.
‘Is it supposed to get colder in here?’
‘No clue, but don’t you have fur on?’ I shot back.
‘Doesn’t mean I don’t feel anything. Sheesh.’
Just as fast as the wind came, it receded, and Priestess Tanda turned and handed me the two belts with a smile.
“As it’s stated in the contract.” She sat down in front of me and raised an eyebrow as I took in our belts. As I inspected them, I noticed they had a slight fluorescent change in color.
“Are my eyes going bad, or are these belts changing color?” I confirmed as I turned them and watched as they shimmered from black to a slight green.
“You didn’t specify which protection you wanted, so I threw a Hail Mary.” She cackled and winked at me before leaning onto the table. “Now, back to your dilemma. I mean sexual. In the Supernatural world, we have mates,” she said with a smile in her tone.
