A New Beginning

Oh, this sensation was far too familiar, Aurelia found herself thinking as she flew backwards over the main counter of the dispensary. Her body impacted hard against the wall, and she thumped down onto the ground, hidden for the moment behind the counter itself. Across the shop, a demon watched her dispassionately, advancing slowly. He could have passed for human, were it not for the putrefying smell he carried with him.

"Idiot stupide ..." she muttered, her French broken by the faint wheeze in her chest as she tried to regain a little control over her lungs following the crash of her body to the ground.

Of course there were demons here, of course they would recognise her for a witch. And of course, they would do their damndest to get their hands on her family's Book of Shadows, the tome in which all the knowledge and power of the Dupuis line dwelt. She was just lucky that the demonic underworld here seemed to be just as moronic as they had been back at home.

Any number of demons, warlocks, and sorcerers had tried to steal, trick, or even destroy the Book, and none of them had succeeded for long. It was nowhere near as powerful as some other tomes, but still, it contained power over the witches it guided. And as usual, the demonic underworld seemed to think that they could find it by killing her first.

She crouched behind the counter, trying not to choke on the smell that even now was pervading her shop, listening intently to the slow crunch of glass beneath the demon's boots. Well, that was an entire shipment of vials out for the count, she thought to herself bleakly. Why did they have to attack her at work, why couldn't they wait until she got home?

Grinding her teeth, Aurelia drew in a deep breath, keeping her eyes turned upwards in case the demon leaned over the counter and found her. Her hand opened, palm up, and a ball of crackling blue energy appeared, seeming to float there entirely under her control. She braced herself, and lifted her voice.

"Attaque, Mariet!"

With a snarl, her familiar - a grey and white tabby cat with a vengueful attitude - leapt from his hiding place, flailing his claws across the back of the demon's bald head. As the demon turned, yelling in furious pain, Aurelia rose from behind the counter and threw the crackling energy ball at his back. She waited just long enough to see it hit, and ducked again as the resulting explosion of demon bodily parts and fluids scattered in a wide radius.

Mariet leapt up onto the counter-top, meowing down at her. Slowly, Aurelia pulled herself to her feet again to survey the damage. Demon guts covered the linens that hung over the items she kept for sale.

"Mon Dieu ..." Aurelia sighed, lifting her familiar up onto her shoulder and scratching his neck in thanks. At least the attack had happened before she'd opened up for the day. She winced, catching a whiff of the internal workings of her first demon here on RhyDin. If this was going to be the way of things, she was going to have to back order extensively, just to stay afloat.

The 'shiney doodad' sparkled invitingly under her hand, but just as her fingertips were about to touch it, a familiar voice spoke up from behind her.

"My dear Mademoiselle Shantalaine, if you do not wish to spend the next several hours floating four inches off the floor, I would not recommend that you touch that."

Aurelia came out from behind the counter, one hand absently scratching the ears of her grey and white tabby cat as he settled back down beside the till. She smiled at the realtor.

"How are you?" she asked cheerfully. "You look very well. How may I help you today?"

Though surprised, Aurelia was more than happy to return that hug, wrapping her arms warmly about the little realtor with a soft laugh of delight. There were few people who could get her laughing within moments of saying hello; it would appear that Fiora's boundless energy made her one of those special few.

As Fiora's mouth went into overdrive, the cat rose up in a lithe stretch and took a leap to stand perfectly on Aurelia's shoulder, regarding the merry little woman with a startlingly intelligent gaze. His tail flicked back and forth for a moment, before he made the decision to wrap himself around the witch's shoulder's, still keeping one eye on Fiora from beneath the drape of Aurelia's hair.

"Oui, I had heard about your Gala," Aurelia smiled warmly, leaning back against the counter, apparently unconcerned by her new living fur collar. "I was uncertain if you would wish to include Hocus Pocus; many people who have brushed with the bad side of magic tend to wish to stay away from it. But oui, I have just the thing - come."

With a quick nod to the teenager keeping shop, she laid a gentle hand on Fiora's back and gestured for the cheerful bundle of excitement to precede her up the stairs and into the overhead room, where a tall broad cabinet stood. Across the room, beside the window, were set a couch and two comfortable looking armchairs, with a table in their midst.

"This is where I bring those customers who have a specific interest in finding certain objects which could cause harm in the wrong hands," the witch explained, swaying just a little when her cat chose to leap down from her shoulders to rub his face against Fiora's leg, purring loudly. Aurelia laughed. "Mariet likes you; such an honour from such a pompous feline."

The look that passed between witch and cat was affectionate, yet more evidence that Mariet was not all he seemed to be. Aurelia moved across the room to unlock the cabinet with a complicated set of keys and charms. From within, she drew out a cloth-wrapped shape, locking the cabinet once more before setting it down on the table.

"This is a dream crystal," she said quietly. "It has never been used, so there are no dreams kept within it. But it is activated by the touch of a bare hand, which is why I keep it wrapped."

As she unwrapped the piece, it released a low song, a soothing, gentle melody that seemed to emanate from deep inside the clouded crystal cluster.

"I offer this as a door prize," Aurelia offered. "When placed in proximity to where a person sleeps, it will ward your dreams against invading influences and nightmares, and it will record each dream you have. If you wish to dream the same again, or to have your dreams accurately analysed, it will replay them for you at a touch.

"Also, I have something else to offer," she added, covering the crystal once more, and pulling a small blue and green agate from the folds of the cloth. "A familiar, to match to the soul and needs of the one who wins that prize. It could be anything from a cat, like Mariet, to a mouse, or a fire-lizard - we will not know until the person who wins touches this. The creature will manifest then and there, and the agate will crumble to dust. But the familiar will be there to stay."

"Ohhh...." She melted as the cat rubbed its face against her leg, leaning down to rub his head and back with a tentative hand. Fiora had never had a pet, or a familar, and definitely had little contact with an animal as refined and elegant as this one. In fact, the realtor was much more familiar with camels and elephants but that was a bit of her history only a few knew.

She watched the witch with expressively impressed cerulean eyes, Aurelia's self assured presence was fairly awe inspiring. She'd only met a few people who were that comfortable in their own skin, simply confident in who and what they were. She would never forget what this woman had done for her and knew she owed her a great deal.

As Aurelia unveiled her items, Fiora struggled for composure. Fairly wiggling in her seat at the first submission for the Gala. But it was the second that sent her erupting from the seat in an explosion of thrill.

The delighted "oooh!" sound echoed and was definitely a familiar sound to Luke Boudreux. In fact, he's heard it several times: over his car, over his dog, over the meal on their first 'date'...

"AURELIA!" She sighed, screamed, squealed her name in joy, "They're way too generous! Yer way too generous!" She wanted a hug again, it was quite obvious in her spinning, arms wide celebration.

Luke heard her, he knew the sound of an excited Fiora anywhere. The woman was infectious with her energy, and he wondered what she would be getting in a shop such as this.

A love potion"

A hex doll"

There were any manner of things that she would be picking up, but he chalked it up to things for the Gala. The shelves were full of old books and tomes. Some had symbols. Some just text on their covers.

He turned in time to smile at the woman that greeted him, and nodded his head. The girl behind the counter was observed casually, and he knew that she would just direct her to the witch herself.

"Take your time, Madame', for I've nothing but." He smiled as he inclined his head to her.

Leaving Fiora in the capable hands of her teenaged employee with a smile, Aurelia rounded the counter to approach Luke, tilting her head curiously as she marked the direction of his gaze.

"Welcome to Hocus Pocus, monsieur," she greeted him with warm politeness. "I am Aurelia Dupuis, the owner. How may I help you today?"

"Aurelia, please," she corrected him with a smile, extending her hand to shake his. His look over of her was not unnoticed, and her smile turned a little secretive as she considered what Matthias' reaction to seeing that might be. Angel he might be, but the man was still as possessive as any other.

Luke's mention of security made her smile fade, assuming a business-like countenance as she nodded slowly.

"Indeed, there are many things most people choose not to accept as real that may invade your home," she agreed. "Come, please." With a gesture of her hand, she led the way toward the crystal-heavy section of her little shop.

"As you may, or may not, have noticed, there are crystals set all around the perimeter of this shop," she explained, indicating one such crystal - a clouded white affair that sat just inside the window. "They are an early warning system of sorts; pyrite crystals when blessed by the home owner will emit a piercing tone when evil crosses their boundary.

"Alternatively, there are other ways to ensure security. Tell me, do you wish for a cage in which to trap intruders, a way to stun or kill them, or merely to let you know when there are unsavoury characters about?"

She nodded in agreement. "Then it would seem that pyrite crystals would be the best way for you to do," she told him confidently. "As you see, I use them myself, and I am not dead yet."

She carefully bypassed telling him exactly why she wasn't dead yet - between them, Mariet and Matthias did an excellent job of keeping her on her feet and fighting fit, not to mention her own demonic and witchy abilities. But the theory was sound. He wanted an early warning system; she could give him that.

"The crystals come in different sizes," she explained, lifting a box filled with smaller examples no more than two inches across. "These, for example, would be easier for you to conceal about the boundary of your home or workplace. Do not be concerned that you will not hear their call - the tone they produce is quite ....strident."

She smiled again, noting his unspoken interest. "Of course. One moment, please."

As she turned away, gathering together into a carven box the three types of crystal for Luke, the feline Mariet came over, inspecting their customer with haughty dignity. He sniffed at Luke's shoes, circling the man, and finally leapt up onto the crystal display for a closer look at Luke's face.

"Come, Monsieur Boudreux, this way." The box filled, Aurelia led the way back to the counter, handing the box to her assistant to be wrapped and the total rung up for him. Despite the amount he was to be given, Luke's pocket wouldn't feel it too much - such crystals were easily replaceable at a low cost.

As the teenaged girl wrapped up the box, Aurelia wrote careful instructions down onto a piece of paper as to the use, charging, and placement of each type of crystal, folding and placing it into an envelope. This, in turn, was taped onto the wrapped box.

She handed the box across to Luke. "There you go, monsieur. And please, if you ever need anything similar, do think of us."

The teenager was absent-mindedly flicking through a spellbook when Rhys came in, looking up with none of the usual bored resignation you would normally find in the face of a young person working just for the money. It would seem that Aurelia ran a pretty contented shop.

"Welcome to Hocus Pocus, sir," she smiled expansively, displaying braces with a plethora of multi-coloured stones set into the tracks. "Aurelia's busy at the moment; upstairs with another customer. She'll be down in a bit, I'm sure."

As Rhys outlined what it was he had come for, she nodded thoughtfully, her eyes straying to the display of crystals just inside the window.

"Well, I don't really know about all the specialist stuff," she told him quite honestly. "I haven't been practising long enough, Aurelia says. But I know a bit about psychic attacks and stuff. Maybe she was talking about tourmaline?"

Coming out from behind the counter, she led him over to the display, gesturing to a rough hewn shard of black crystal shot through with smokey quartz.

"That's tourmaline," she explained, glancing ever so briefly to the stairs as Mariet, Aurelia's familiar cat, came mincing down from the room above. "If you like, Aurelia can charge it for you so that it absorbs attacks and things that want to hurt your unconscious and subconscious. I mean, I could, but you'd probably want Aurelia to do it; she's the best."

Down the stairs behind them came a slender figure in electric blue robes, talkign earnestly to the witch, Aurelia, who followed him. Seemingly lost in their discussion, she escorted him to the door, waved him farewell. Then the witch reached out and touched the pyrite crystal standing on the windowsill. It screamed, a brief but piercing note of anguish, blazing bright for a moment before returning to its silent, smokey state.

"Magiciens idiots," the witch muttered to herself, turning back to the shop as the cat came to leap up and wrap himself about her shoulders. "Juste combien stupide me pensent-ils suis-ils, Mariet?"

The grey and white tabby tom meowed to her, rubbing his whiskers against her cheek, and she smiled, visibly relaxing as her eyes turned to look over at Rhys. Moving over to join them, Aurelia's smile did not fade.

"Bonjour, Rhys," she greeted him warmly. laying a gently supportive hand on the shoulder of her teenaged employee. "I see Catherine has you well in hand."

Relieved that her employer had arrived to take charge, Catherine enticed Mariet down from Aurelia's shoulders and returned to the counter, scratching his ears as she opened up her spellbook once more. Smiling, Aurelia focused her full attention on Rhys in that unnerving manner she had.

"The dream crystal, of course," she nodded, reaching past him to lift a substantial weight of smooth amber-coloured lodolite from the display. "This is lodolite, it is associated with healing and good energy. I can imbue it with a certain charge that will ward your mind and dreams from incursions, and keep that which you do not wish to experience from intruding."

http://crystal-cure.com/pics/dream-crystal4.jpg

Her hand passed over the smooth expanse of crystal in her palm, her lips moving softly as she murmured some spell or other beneath her breath. With a faint cracking sound, a small piece of the crystal broke off, the rent where it had resided healing over until the larger crystal looked once more as though nothing had happened.

"Come, let me do this for you," she offered, gesturing for Rhys to come with her as she moved to the long counter at the back of the shop, behind which all manner of ingredients resided. From there, she withdrew a leather thong, stringing the newly liberated crystal onto the thong for ease of wearing.

"Is there anything else you require?" she asked him curiously, even as her hands busied themselves setting up a small cauldron and adding various ingredients - dried, fresh, solid, and liquid - to the dark depths. As the last piece went in, the potion let loose a small puff of smoke and a bang, releasing a sweet fragrance into the air as Aurelia placed the two piece of crystal into the potion she had made.