Topic: Diamond, Silver, and Blood (Open)

Mataya · Date: 2010-10-02 18:50 EST

Mataya made her way along the street toward the Zen Building, practically thrumming with excitement. Held in her arms was the box she had unearthed from the theatre that morning, despite the rather strenuous insistence of Marcus, one of the cleaners, that she leave it where she'd found it. He was convinced that removing it would bring a curse down on her, or some such nonsense.

No, the reason she was bringing it back to her apartment in the Zen Building was because she'd remembered where she'd seen a similar design to the one inlaid in silver into the rosewood box. When she'd bought the mansion, Fiora had given her a small envelope which had been filled with little knick-knacks of one kind or another. Ribbons, antique cameos, and a set of keys. One of those keys was playing on her mind.

Something growled nearby, and she paused, looking around in vague alarm. She was standing in front of the doors to the Zen Building, near the two huge bronze guardians. There was nothing visible around her, nothing that could have made such a sound. Dismissing what she'd thought she'd heard as overtired paranoia, 'Taya stepped forward again, and this time she spun around as that something growled once more. The sound was almost metallic, as though it came from a throat that was somehow able to recreate the sound of a bell's staccato ringing. And again, there was nothing there.

More than a little weirded out now, 'Taya took another step forward. The growling was louder now, closer, and she let natural instinct take over for a moment. Her heels skidded on the paving beneath her as she broke into a run, almost whimpering in fear as the growling seemed to grow louder and louder, following her, wrapping around her, expecting any moment to feel jaws snap at her legs and neck. She wrenched the door open and stumbled inside, falling onto her backside as she turned to kick the door closed against whatever was after her.

There was nothing there. Mataya stared in shocked uncertainty through the glass doors, certain that something had been chasing her. And yet ... the vista outside was clear, as welcoming as it had ever been, with no lurking creature ready to rip her throat out if she tried to leave.

"Miss De Luca?"

She turned, hearing the blessedly familiar voice of Mr Cheung behind her. The caretaker was standing in the middle of the hallway, looking at her in a manner that suggested she had lost her mind again. Realising that she must look a right sight, even if he hadn't seen her madcap dash for the doors, 'Taya offered over a hopefully confident smile. He frowned at her, and walked away, muttering to himself. But that, at least, was normal.

As she drew herself to her feet, 'Taya decided not to step outside and see what had scared her. She'd tested her own ability not to panic twice too many times today; she had no desire to fail the third time. So, that precious box under her arm, she headed up the stairs and into her own apartment.

Max, it seemed, was out. That was a relief in itself, because one look in the mirror told her that she looked a mess. With the box held in one hand, she moved over to the desk and rummaged through it for the envelope Fiora had given her over two months ago. With it found, she settled on the floor, laying down the box, and upended the contents of the envelope onto the rug beside it.

http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab51/RhyDinLittleTheatre/RhyDinLittleTheatreCompany/key.jpg

Ribbons, chains, cameos, a paperclip ... four keys. Two in brass, one in iron, and one in silver. It was the silver one she lifted, comparing it with the lock on the box before her. It seemed to be a good match, but she wasn't going to force it if it didn't work. The box itself was just too good a quality to destroy in order to reach the contents.

Very carefully, Mataya slotted the key into the lock of the rosewood box, and very gently teased it to turn. There was one heartstopping moment when it stuck and refused to turn either way, and then, quite suddenly, the lock clicked, and she felt the catch holding the box closed release. Her heart pounding, she lifted the lid, and gasped at what she found there.

Diamond dulled and silver tarnished by time winked up at her from a cushion of faded crimson silk. A necklace, earrings to match, left for who knew how long, forgotten and uncared for. 'Taya was captivated, reaching out to tenderly lift the fragile pieces from their bed and examine them by the light. They were clearly of superior quality, and far older than anything she had seen before.

"So this must be the famous Hortense's treasure, huh?" she mused with a small smile, already knowing what she was going to do. With a lot of careful, loving attention, these pieces could be restored to their former beauty and put on display in the theatre. How was that for a little living history to keep punters happy during the intervals?

In the box once more, diamond and silver winked up at her from their cushion of blood red silk, showing no hint at all of what the precious collection had brought with her into hearth and home.

http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab51/RhyDinLittleTheatre/HortensesJewells.jpg

Mataya · Date: 2010-10-04 19:27 EST

Silence. All was still. The door to the balcony stood open just a little, letting in the gently cooling breeze that caressed over furniture and personal belongings, touching briefly against exposed skin. Mataya lay nestled against her lover's back, the covers looped about her waist as her breath brushed hot against Max's shoulderblade. The clock on the bookcase was illuminated in green fluorescence, announcing the time as 02:59. Across the room, set aside on a table, lay the rosewood box and its precious contents.

The silence was heavy, hanging to every part of the building like a dead weight, so much so that even if you stirred, you would be dragged back into the quiet oblivion of sleep. Not even the sounds of the city beyond - the ever present nightlife of the West End with its cries and shouts, the roar of engines, the occasional zap of some otherworldly power being exercised - not one sound filtered in through the open door. And yet, the breeze carried the scents of something that was not native to this place.

The illuminated numbers on the clock switched to 03:00. Quite suddenly, there was a loud rattle from the rosewood box. Untouched by human hands, it jumped on the table, shaking the contents about violently. Above it, the shadows moved, seeming to cast the shape of an uninvited person leaning over the box.

The noise roused the sleeping 'Taya enough to make her frown and blink her eyes open, looking around the loft in sleepy confusion. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing moving, nothing moved from its place. "Must've been a dream," she murmured to herself, and nestled closer to Max's back, pressing her face between his shoulderblades as the silence pushed her back down into encompassing sleep.

And yet, not far enough. Another rattle, louder this time, more violent, made her start, and she sat up this time, peering into the darkness of the room with a hammering heart. She could just make out the table across the room. In full view of her horrified eyes, the box fell from the table, springing open to disgorge silver and diamond onto the rug. In the same moment, the shadowy suggestion of a figure moved toward her, advancing across the room, throwing furniture aside. The dark suggestion of a mouth opened wide in the hazy face, letting out a scream of terrible despair and hatred. 'Taya flinched back, groping for Max to wake him, and let out a scream of her own as cold, dark hands closed about her throat.

Mataya woke with a start, sat bolt upright, shaking and sweating. Her hand rose to her throat, searching for any bruises, any sign that what she had dreamed was not a dream. The other hand groped for the lamp beside her. Soft yellow light illuminated the room as her finger found the switch.

Nothing. The apartment was as it should be, everything as it was when she went to sleep. The curtains streamed inward with the wind, bringing with it the sounds of the West End beyond.. Shivering in the cold, 'Taya gathered her courage and slid out of bed, reaching under the bed for the baseball bat she always kept there, just in case. Thus armed, she advanced across the room to close and lock the balcony door, turning to look around the apartment more closely.

And found her eyes drawn to the rosewood box, sitting in state on the small table she had set aside to work on the jewellery within. The dream had been so vivid, she half-expected the box to fly open and disgorge that shadow bent on throttling her. Flexing her fingers around the smooth wood of the bat, she reached out to lift the lid of the box.

It was locked, and a gentle heft of the container revealed that the earrings and necklace were still inside. Mataya breathed a long sigh of relief, lowering the bat, and hissed as her fingertip caught on something sharp on the table itself. Blood, dark and warm, dripped onto the rug as she lifted her finger to suck the little injury clean, frowning into the darkness.

But whatever her courage, it was not enough to investigate further tonight, not unless Max woke up right this minute and looked around with her. And 'Taya wasn't stupid enough to wake up her grumpy lover from a sound sleep just because of a nightmare. She backed away from the table, returning to the bed to slide in beside Max once more. But it was a long time before she fell back to sleep.

As oblivion claimed her once again, a break in the clouds brought moonlight shining through a gap in the curtains, a beam of cold silver light to illuminate what she had not seen, lying beside the locked box. A single sharp cut diamond, sparkling in a tiny drop of blood.

Mataya · Date: 2010-10-18 11:38 EST

The nights were getting harder and harder to sleep through. If it wasn't Fiora screaming her head off at something that wasn't there, it was Mr Cheung marching up and down the hallways, singing loud bells and chanting some utter gibberish while waving a choking smudge stick around. Or it was the dreams.

They hadn't gone away, hadn't really changed at all. Every night, 'Taya woke up, an inch from screaming herself, certain that some shadowy figure was choking the life out of her. And every night, when she opened her eyes, it wasn't there, nothing was out of place. It was just a dream.

But the dreams were affecting her sense, she was sure of it. She hated to be in the apartment on her own now, always convinced that something was behind her, that someone was breathing close by when she knew for a fact that anyone else would have to be outside the door at the very least. Never mind the fact that the metallic growling had continued whenever she walked into the building. 'Taya was beginning to feel paranoid, and she didn't like it.

She was beginning to look pretty awful, too. Big dark circles were forming under her eyes that only the expert application of makeup could hide; the usually bright lustre of her eyes was becoming duller, and she had been caught on more than one occasion napping in the middle of rehearsals. So often, in fact, that Ludo and Gabriel had performed their best effort at an intervention to find out if she had gone back to the 'Taya they knew from years ago - the 'Taya who partied all night and took everything that was waved at her. Furious, she'd assailed their ears with her bad temper for a good half hour, until Max had come to rescue them.

And she was arguing with Max more, too. She didn't like that he seemed to be immune to what was happening in the Zen Building, like he was impervious to the weird feelings and strange noises and horrible dreams that now she knew for a fact were haunting Fiora, too. But then, Max had always lived in the moment, and he didn't understand what was wrong with her. He'd promised to keep her safe from whatever was going on, but if he couldn't see it, how could he keep that promise?

She shook her head, trying to clear those thoughts from it, and flicked on the music. Down in the Studios, out of hours, was the only place 'Taya could bear to be alone in the entire building. Open on two sides with floor length windows, and the other two walls covered with mirrors, she was confident that nothing could sneak up on her while she was in here. Besides, dancing, singing, performing of any kind ... it seemed to calm whatever was constantly watching her.

Hairbrush in hand to serve as a microphone, 'Taya threw herself into rehearsing the finale for Fame, singing along with the track as she executed the moves she was going to have to temper down for when she was standing on top of that yellow taxi they'd managed to get. She kept her eyes closed, too, not wanting to trick herself into thinking she could see someone out of the corner of her eye.

When an hour was done, she flicked off the music and slumped down with her back to the windows, taking a long drink from her water bottle. Max should be back soon, and then -

"Lovely."

She almost choked on her water, hurriedly lowering the bottle to stare wide-eyed at the mirror to her left. Disbelieving, her head turned to stare at the empty space by the other window, and then back to the mirror. There, in the reflection, she could see the windows, the twilight beyond ... through the figure of a woman.

A woman in black and white, like an old photograph, wearing one of those awful bustle gowns with the corset-shape, her hair piled in curls at the back of her head. She was smiling, and 'Taya realised she wasn't afraid. Even though she could see right through the woman in the reflection, she wasn't afraid at all.

The woman smiled sadly, touching her hand to her throat, then her ear. 'Taya blinked in confusion, her brow furrowing for a moment.

"I don't understand," she managed to say in a hoarse voice. "Who are you?"

Before there could be any chance of a reply, 'Taya heard Max calling for her, and jumped up, grabbing her bag and gear. Better to spend time with flesh and blood than ... whatever was going on here. Without looking at either the reflection, or the empty spot where the figure stood, she hurried from the room, locking it securely behind her.

There was a long pause, and the ghostly woman's lips moved through her sad smile, speaking just one word in answer to a question already forgotten.

"Hortense."
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http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab51/RhyDinLittleTheatre/RhyDinLittleTheatreCompany/TheGhost.jpg

Riley ORourke · Date: 2010-10-18 15:49 EST

Riley loved the Zen Gardens Building. She loved the way it stood out in the middle of WestEnd, like a beacon of order in an otherwise chaotic landscape. She loved the look of the building ? the way that Chinese, Japanese, and Western architecture blended together into a seamless, elegant m?lange of influences. She loved the way that the instant she passed through Harry and Sally's bronze paws, she could feel the stress and worries shed from her body, like a snake sloughing its skin.

But recently, that peaceful, stable feeling was missing. Now she felt the constant pressure of eyes on her when she was inside the building, like someone ? or something ? was watching her every movement with something akin to envy...or hunger. She dreaded her building now; she could actually feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up when she saw the Gardens on her walk in from Twin Oaks and she had to mentally will herself into entering the building.

Discussions with David about what she was feeling reminded her that she'd only begun feeling...oddly...about her building since Callie and Sergeant Cooper had been murdered and since she'd found that bizarre Tarot card on her desk. David explained that maybe she was just feeling out of sorts because of all the things going on lately and not to put too much into it.

But when she arrived at the Studios one morning just a scant week before the Grand Opening of the Shanachie and the Dance Showcase to find Crazy Cheung marching up and down the ground floor hallway, chanting in Mandarin and thrusting a rather lethal-looking spear in the air, she wondered how much of what she was feeling was really in her head.

?Uh, Mr Cheung?? Riley asked hesitantly. ?What on Earth are you doing??

The small, wizened building super paused and fixed her with a gimlet stare. ?You Buddhist and you don't know?? he asked in a voice laden with his two-whiskey-a-day habit.

Riley frowned, wracking her memory for any ritual or belief that even remotely resembled what the Chinese man was doing. Coming up with nothing, she shook her head and was rewarded with a smug smirk from Cheung. ?It Hungry Ghost month,? he said in a tone that relayed every ounce of the condescension he felt for her.

Riley's frown deepened. ?Pretas? Those hungry ghosts?? she asked. Pretas in Mahayana Buddhism were beings who were jealous or greedy humans in a former life, and because of their karma, are now afflicted with an insatiable hunger or thirst for a particular substance or object.

?Sh?, those Hungry Ghosts. This Hungry Ghost month, when gates of Hell open up and all the dead come out,? Cheung explained with the most patience Riley had ever heard from him. ?This drives them out of here,? he said, indicating his spear. ?Miss De Luca and Miss Shantalaine both complain of ghosts. You have ghosts??

?No, no ghosts. Just a creepy feeling. But what about Harry and Sally? Aren't they supposed to keep that stuff away? And the stones on the roof??

?They keep uninvited out. You invite in, they don't help.? Cheung stared at her, long enough that it began to feel uncomfortable, then cracked a lopsided grin. ?You need Lei Ting curse charms. I bring them tomorrow. Enough for all doors.? Then the little old man began marching up the stairs, taking up his chant and thrusting his spear in the air again, leaving Riley standing in front of the Studios' door, feeling perplexed and again wondering at how little she knew about the super.

Mataya · Date: 2010-10-24 15:28 EST

Ever since that strange, chance meeting with a ghost - she hoped it was a ghost, or she would be booking herself into the Rhy'Din equivalent of rehab any day now - 'Taya had found herself caught up with an odd determination.

Despite the uneasiness that flowed through her when she sat alone in the apartment, she found herself taking the beautiful jewellery out of its box, holding it in her hands and gazing on it for hours at a time. When she held it, the fear and anger didn't seem so close at hand. Love had gone into the making of these beautiful pieces, and sadness ringed them now. But there was danger as well, danger that came in dreams and feelings, whispers on the edge of hearing. Something wanted Hortense's jewels, something that had killed to have them in the past, 'Taya was certain of it.

Mataya De Luca was no more superstitious than any actor, but in the past week, she'd found herself walking past certain of the magical shops in hidden alleyways, peering in through their windows, and always her eyes fell on specific items within. Pink candles, sandalwood oil, sage smudge sticks, and pirite crystals. She had no idea what they were for, but something was urging her to buy them and use them.

So she had. With a carefully wrapped package of her newly bought goods under one arm, she made her way up along the path to where Harry and Sally waited, resigned now to the growling that accompanied every entrance to the building. To her surprise, it didn't come. 'Taya paused on the threshold, looking around with a small, delighted smile on her face. Maybe her unexplained urges had reason behind them after all.

Maybe her delight blinded her to what was waiting. She ran up the stairs, pausing in front of Fiora's door to fish her own keys out of her bag before continuing on her way. As she did so, she heard a low hiss from the door beside her. Her head snapped around, eyes staring at the plain wooden panel of the realtor's door in wary alarm. Nothing but bare wood.

"Okay, so I'm hearing things now."

Forcing herself to calm down - without much success - 'Taya continued on to her own door, and suddenly stopped dead, her heart hammering in her chest. A shadow had moved across the wall ahead of her, too swift to be from anyone in the hallway with her, too unformed to be imagination. And there was that hissing again.

Panic welling up inside her, 'Taya made a rush for her door, shaking hands fumbling with her keys. Her grip was clumsy, and as she tried to insert the key, the jumble fell from her hands with a clatter. Letting out a frightened sob, she bent swiftly to snatch them up, and felt something pass over her head, so close that it parted her hair and left the stench of rotted flesh behind it.

Mine ...

"I did not hear that, I did not hear that, I did not hear that!"

Close to tears in her terror, 'Taya crouched by her door, clutching her package to her chest as she fought her own shaking hands to find the right key. Rising, she inserted it into the lock, turned it ... and everything went black.

She couldn't see anything but darkness all around her. A groping hand found the door, but it slammed almost on her fingers, making her leap back with a shriek of terror. Behind her, she heard another hiss ... and another, to her right. She spun in circles, peering into the impenetrable dark.

Something struck her shoulder, spinning her about with the rush of a body moving past her at speed. It came again and again, striking at her cheek, her hip, her knee, her back, until she was crouching once more, tears streaming down her face as she gave into the fear that coursed through her.

Mine!

Suddenly, what felt like clawed hands caught her in the chest, the force of the blow lifting her off her feet and throwing her across the hallway. Her body hit the wall beside Fiora's door, crumpling to the ground as her mind fought the oncoming unconsciousness. The package was taken from her hands, ripped apart by unseen hands. An inhuman scream echoed through the unnatural darkness.

The last thing 'Taya remembered before she succumbed to unconsciousness was the barest glimpse of a face as the blackness around her faded to the afternoon's light. A face twisted with hate and greed, and glaring at her.
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Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-10-29 09:29 EST

She awoke suddenly.

There was something wrong. A sound out of the ordinary, perhaps?

She felt groggy. Her body ached and with an unnatural stiffness, the usually energetic realtor pushed slowly to her feet.

Something was at her door. A stumbling step, combined with a swipe of the heavy length of russet curls, sent her in the direction even as her heart clenched with worry. Something was really wrong.

Before her door materialized the young girl with the soulful dark eyes, one hand held before her and the other placed across her lips in the universal sign for silence.

Fiora opened her mouth and the girl's head frantically whipped back and forth as she rushed toward her. It was a solid form that collided with hers, trembling violently as she whispered frantically, "Shh! Daddy's here."

Fear squeezed Fiora's heart and made her knees weak. Lowering to a kneel with her arms about the frightened child, she nodded her understanding. The sounds coming from the other side of the door were violent.

And then she thought she heard the soft pained cry of a friend.

"Mataya?!"

Immediately she pushed to her feet, the spirit no longer able to hold her. Rushing for her door she was startled when she was stopped by the presence of the young girl again, "No! You can't go out there! He'll hurt you."

Fiora wasn't a particularly brave soul and fear at the thought of what awaited did give her pause, but it was Mataya. A friend. A friend who might need her.

"Please! Please! Don't go out there, he'll hurt me!" The spirit's big eyes bled tears as her small hands wrung together.

Torn, Fiora looked from the girl to the door and back again.

"Just..just hide." She finally managed, "Hide somewhere. I have to see if she's alright."

"You don't want to see her." She angrily stamped a foot.

"What?" Confusion warred.

"She's Daddy's new mistress. She has the necklace." As the words were delivered so too was the image of the jewelry. A deeply visceral reaction left Fiora weaving on her feet again. Fear morphed into anger. "Mataya would never...she loves Max, she..." Of course the semantics of it all were somewhere lost in the spiritually induced emotional outpouring. Suddenly the whispers of the trouble between the married couple that had led them here were all Fiora could hear. Some in the business hinted that 'Taya was known for her misbehaviors. Like an angry cloud of vicious bees, the gossipy rumors surrounded Fiora and she found herself staring deep within the pain-filled eyes of Mina.

"Well...I..."

As tears spilled in bloody streaks down the piquant little face, Fiora opened her arms again to hold her. Her befuddled mind only able to focus on giving the small girl comfort. Mataya's fate quite suddenly seemed less important and a small piercing part of her almost took glee in the idea of her adulterous friend's pain.

((So so sorry for being late on this, IRL is quite witchy around the holidays))

Mataya · Date: 2010-10-29 16:58 EST

The crystals were shattered. 'Taya had felt like crying as she opened up her package, the one she had tried so hard to protect as she was attacked, and surveyed the damage done. Not only were the crystals shattered, but somehow the candles had been melted and the wicks removed; the smudge stick had been picked to pieces; and the sandalwood oil now smelt so badly of decaying flesh that she'd tipped the whole lot into the drain and had her apartment fumigated.

That wasn't the worst part, though, not by a long shot. Whenever she stepped outside the apartment now, she panicked, feeling unseen eyes on her, expecting any moment to be plunged into that unnatural darkness and be beaten once again. The first attack had left her with bruises everywhere ... not the most comfortable of bodily states in which to be performing on stage every night.

She'd taken to running from the apartment door to the main doors between Harry and Sally, lessening the time she spent anywhere near Fiora's door in particular. And she was terrified that whatever it was that was after Hortense's jewels would hurt Fiora in order to get to them. To get to her.

Which was why she was here, in a shop called Hocus Pocus, waiting worriedly as she bit at her lips for the proprietor to come and see to her.

Aurelia Dupuis, owner of the magical shop, knew as soon as she looked over at the fidgeting actress that something very bad was wrong. She didn't ask any questions outright, moving to usher the traumatised Mataya up the stairs and into her private room above, where she fixed the actress a cup of chamomile tea to sip as they spoke.

'Taya didn't know quite why, or how, but she felt safe here in this little magical haven amid the devastation of the marketplace. And because of that feeling of safety, she found herself pouring out every last minute fear or concern, everything that had happened since she had bought the theatre and brought the reclaimed jewellery home with her.

Aurelia listened attentively, her calm expression betraying no sign of her inner concern for this woman who was clearly uninitiated even in the most basic areas of the occult. But then, it was often the innocent who became the victims; she knew that well enough. Without needing further explanation as Mataya fell silent, she rose, moving to a locked cabinet against the wall.

"You have what the Buddhists call preta, the hungry ghosts, in your home," she explained quietly, her voice calm and confident as she unlocked the cabinet doors. "I do not know how they would drive them out, but I believe I can teach you how to cleanse these diamond pieces of which you speak."

'Taya watched her carefully, desperate now for any help she could get. Even a self-proclaimed witch's help. "And if I do that, if I ... cleanse ... the jewellery, the shadows and everything, it'll all go away?" she asked worriedly.

Aurelia lifted a heavily fortified box from the depths of the cabinet, turning back to the actress with a smile. "The jewels will have to be returned to the theatre," she said carefully. "And their owner, this Hortense whom you have seen, she will not go away. Her soul is bound to them; for what reason, I cannot say. But this will help y-"

Before she could go on, the room was suddenly plunged into darkness. 'Taya let out a shriek of terror, and Aurelia distinctly heard the shattering crash of her teacup hitting the floor. There was a rush of wind beside the witch, the rushing of a solid, yet unformed body pushing past the many protections that were cast upon herself. For a moment she cursed the fact that her staff had clearly not charged the crystals set about the shop that day, before turning her attention to the task at hand.

As Mataya cowered on the floor, letting out quiet grunts and cries of pain that could only mean she was under attack, Aurelia knelt in the blinding darkness, setting the box carefully down beside her. She held out her hand, and willed a crackling blue ball of pure energy into existence. By its light, she could see the shadow that tormented her companion, tendrils of darkness reaching out to land blows upon Mataya's curled up body with devastating force.

Unbidden, the words of the spell she needed came to her lips. It was a spell that was only effective when spoken by a ghost, but spoken by her, in her own place with all that implied, it should at least beat back the spirit that was attacking.

"Ashes to ashes
Spirit to spirit
Take this soul
Banish this evil!"

The darkness lifted abruptly, the ghostly face only glimpsed in those fleeting moments of light snarling in fierce fury and pain as an unearthly scream echoed through the room. From below there came the sound of startled voices, and feet running up the stairs, the young man on duty bursting into the room in time to see the unformed force of greed and hatred speeding from Aurelia as she advanced on it with her crackling energy weapon.

The shop owner turned, extinguishing the ball in her hand with a thought, and quietly dismissed her staff, sending him back to the shop floor, before turning to her customer. With gentle words and careful tending, she drew Mataya back to her feet, wiping away a stray trickle of blood from the actress' lip.

"Now, Ms De Luca," Aurelia Dupuis said firmly, keeping her gaze locked on that of the frightened woman before her, "we shall see about your ghosts."
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Mataya · Date: 2010-11-06 04:44 EST

Sunset was coming. Everything was ready. For days, Mataya had been splitting her time between the theatre and Hocus Pocus, Aurelia's shop near the Marketplace, learning everything that the experienced witch had to tell her about what she was going to attempt. What little time she did spend in the Zen Building was plagued by ever increasing nightmares, and the spine-tingling feeling that wherever she went, whatever she did, she was being watched.

She knew well enough that the watcher did not like her; she had the bruises to prove that, and part of her was terrified at the thought of rising to the roof tonight to perform the ritual she had in mind. She kept having horrific images of being lifted and thrown off the roof of the Zen Building by the malevolent being that seemed to want her dead. Aurelia had assured her that this was not going to happen, but all the same, 'Taya was scared. Before this, she'd never really had any encounters of the paranormal kind, and after this, she hoped she never did again.

She was waiting at the entrance of the building, standing between Harry and Sally, for now that the metallic growling had stopped each time she entered the building, she felt safest between the huge bronze guardians that flanked the door. In her hands was the rosewood box, the silver key on a chain about her neck.

Max, she had asked to go and sleep at the theatre tonight. She didn't want him to be attacked when whatever the spirit was discovered that it could not touch her. Such was her faith in Aurelia's confident assurances that she, and everyone else who lived in the building, would be safe, so long as they remained where she put them. Mr Cheung, though he didn't trust the Western magicks that were about to be employed tonight, had agreed to be a witness to the events, and he and Aurelia had spent hours the day before going over what they expected to happen. They had not told 'Taya any of their expectations, save the positive outcome.

Suddenly, 'Taya became aware that the sounds around her had stopped. She could hear nothing; no traffic, no people, not even the slight breeze rustling the plant life that stood about her. And then she heard a sound that froze her blood.

Little actress ...

She started in fear, drawing back against Sally's cold flank, hugging the rosewood box to her chest as she stared around herself in anticipation of the attack she just knew was coming. Where was it, that hungry face in the shadows? Where was it going to attack from?

Staring into the growing twilight around her, 'Taya realised that the darkness she could see was not connected to the sunset, which had not yet begun. This was the blackness that came with every attack the spirit made on her person, but it had not descended suddenly like before. Her head whipped about as she stared around herself, and realised that perhaps it had. All around her was a circle of encroaching darkness, except between the silent guardians of the building entrance. The great bronze Foo Dogs were somehow holding the darkness at bay.

The hammering of her panicking heart began to slow as she realised how protected she was, glad she had chosen to stand here and not wait in her own apartment. It had seemed that each time the spirit attacked her, it was stronger, and she did not know that Aurelia and Mr Cheung feared that it was taking its strength from Fiora. If she had known, she might not have been quite so willing to perform the ritual of the evening, knowing that it would cause great pain to the spirit itself.

... foolish little thief ...

Not more that two feet from her, the darkness swelled suddenly, and she caught a glimpse of that familiar face, twisted with hunger and evil desire, staring at her even as it passed by, encircling her within her protected sphere. Gripping the rosewood box that contained the jewels Hortense had died for owning ever tighter against herself, feeling the corners dig into her breast and stomach, 'Taya shrank back hard against Sally's flank, setting her back to the cold bronze as she peered out at her antagonist.

She could see the swirling shape within the darkness that it conjured to hide itself, could hear the rasping hiss of its voice as it taunted her, trying to frighten her into forsaking the obvious protection of the Foo Dogs to try and escape its influence. It came at her in a rush, from here, from there, left and right, never quite leaving the envelope of the darkness it brought, but always looking her right in the eye, piercing her with terror.

Just as her nerve was about to break, something did explode from the darkness, the spirit screamed, and 'Taya screamed too, dropping to her knees and covering her face with one arm in vain protection. There was silence for a moment, and she felt something cold and metallic brush her clavicle, and something soft being tied loosely about her neck. Then hands - warm, human, living hands - took her arms and lifted her to her feet.

"Open your eyes, Mataya," a familiar Belgian accent told her, and she hesitantly blinked her eyes open to find herself standing between Aurelia Dupuis and Mr Cheung. The darkness was gone, banished somehow for the time being in the presence of two people who knew a lot more about the other half of the spiritual realm than the actress between them.

"Oh, thank god," 'Taya sobbed, swallowing hard to prevent herself from breaking down entirely. Mr Cheung did not release her arm from his grip, giving her a tug into the building as Aurelia followed, a large and impressively heavy-looking backpack over her shoulder.

"You lucky," Mr Cheung informed 'Taya as he led the way up the stairs. "Miss Dupuis ring me to say you need help."

"She did?" 'Taya glanced back at Aurelia, who shrugged.

"I did a little scrying before I left to find out where our nasty little friend was," she said with a wry smile. "Turned out it was right with you."

The coolness of metal against her skin reminded 'Taya of something, and she managed to lift one hand to touch what felt like a rectangle of metal hanging from ribbon about her neck. Mr Cheung chuckled his hoarse laugh as he saw her do this.

"Dragon on one side, phoenix on other," he told her. "Yin and yang, protection. Eastern magic." This last was directed pointedly back at Aurelia as they gained the first landing, who chuckled lightly back.

"Far more powerful than a lot of people think, Mr Cheung," she agreed in her soft, confident way. "Now then, 'Taya ... which is Miss Shantalaine's room?"

Riley ORourke · Date: 2010-11-06 17:44 EST

Cheung, the little Communist magician/super of the Zen Gardens Building, may have hated Riley with the burning passion of a fanatic ? for she represented everything he believed was evil and broken in the world ? but he still respected her enough to know that she loved her building and felt that the residents and business owners were like extended family. Cheung knew Riley would want to know that 'Taya and Fiora were at the centre of some sort of hard-core paranormal activity, and that he and some witch or psychic ? she wasn't clear on the details ? would be exorcising the building tonight.

So when his phone call came the morning a few short days after she'd recovered David, Riley jumped at the chance to escape Twin Oaks and go to the Gardens to help out in some way. She loved David, loved him more than she thought she could love anyone who wasn't Danny, but she was a horrible caretaker. She was a problem solver and while she could take care of David's physical wounds, she couldn?t do anything to erase his nightmares. She was quickly growing tired of feeling useless. At least if she went to the Gardens, she could lend her limited knowledge of pretas and Buddhist cosmology to the affair, though it sounded as though Western magics would rule the evening.

As she walked into WestEnd from Twin Oaks on the afternoon of the exorcism, she found herself desperately wishing that Rhys was there. She smiled softly, thinking of him for a moment, remembering the one thing he'd taught her about Hunting ? salting and burning the bones of ghosts would get rid of it once and for all. She wondered if this psychic knew that. She also wondered where Rhys was, what he was doing...if he was happy.

Shaking her head and driving away those thoughts ? Rhys was in a different world and didn't know her from Adam ? she glanced up and saw the familiar facade of the Gardens Building. She took a deep breath and felt a familiar tension creeping back into the set of her shoulders. Harry and Sally still looked safe and comforting, but the building at their backs was surrounded by some black, nebulous shadow. Blinking and rubbing her eyes, she focused on the building once more only to discover that the shadow was gone, if it had ever been there to begin with. ?Christ,? she muttered and continued her way towards the building.

Once inside, the heavy pressure on her chest that she'd felt for the past month while in the building returned, making it hard for her to breathe or even move. She glanced around the ground floor hall, a tiny frown on her face as she took in the sight of odd little round charms hanging next to every door in the hallway. She moved closer to the one hanging next to the Studios' doorway and examined it closely.

http://primaltrek.com/daoistobv1.jpg

?It Lei Ting curse charm,? said Cheung's voice, suddenly at her back. She turned and looked down at him; his normally stern and slightly sardonic expression had been replaced by something softer. Riley blinked in shock at the transformation and for a moment, the old expression took up in his eyes as he levelly returned her gaze. Then he turned to the charm on the wall and touched it gently with a blunt-nailed finger. ?It say 'Lei Ting' ? he god of Thunder,? Cheung explained. ?'Lei Ting clear out and kill the ghosts and send down purity. Behead the demons, expel the evil and keep us eternally safe. Let this command from Tai Shang Lao Jun. Be executed quickly.'?

?Tai Shang Lao Jun,? Riley repeated thoughtfully. ?Isn't that Lao Tzu? You're Daoist??

One corner of the little super's mouth curled up in a secretive, smug smile, but he didn't answer her question. Instead he turned and went up the stairs to the first floor. ?The charms on all doors in building,? he explained. ?I go to the roof. I need to see to the Stones. You ask Guanyin to take care of Miss De Luca and Miss Shantalaine tonight.?

Riley chuckled and squashed the urge to snap off a smart salute before she, too, headed up the stairs to the roof. In the centre of the rooftop garden was her little shrine to Buddha and Kannon, the Japanese name for Guanyin, the Buddhist Bodhisattva of compassion. It was about five feet tall and three feet wide, made entirely of bamboo, and housed three tiers. The top tier held a statue of Buddha, sitting in the lotus position with His hands held in the wisdom and protection mudras ? right hand held palm out, left hand held close to the body with the thumb and forefinger curled, tips touching, and the other three fingers held straight out. Kannon was on the middle tier, sitting on top of a lotus bloom, her right hand holding a jar of pure water, the left a willow branch. The bottom tier contained nothing but two shallow brass bowls and a larger stone bowl filled with sand.

Riley had brought with her incense, wreathes of coral flowers and two sacred lotus blooms ? all proper offerings to both Buddha and Kannon. She knelt in front of the shrine and put the incense sticks into the sand, the lotus blooms into the brass bowls and added the coral flower wreathes to the necks of the statues. Then she lit the incense and began her meditations.

She was vaguely aware of Cheung moving around the rooftop as well, visiting each corner and spending an indeterminate amount of time at each stop. First he went to the Dragon fountain and filled a jar with water from the mouth of the sinuous beast. The he went to the opposite corner, where the Poet Stone stood in the centre of a flower bed that once held colourful blooms, but was now barren and sleeping until the following spring. Cheung began chanting Mandarin in a monotonous voice as he washed the Stone thoroughly. He set his own incense sticks directly into the ground at the Stone's feet once he'd finished washing it and lit them. He then repeated this ritual at the Priest Stone and finally at the Warrior Stone before leaving Riley alone on the roof.

She could feel eyes on her as soon as the super left. Trying to ignore them and continue with her meditations and invocations of Kannon, Riley would still be there when the sun finally slipped behind the Western horizon.

Aurelia · Date: 2010-11-07 08:05 EST

"Well ... yeah ..." Mataya frowned slightly, shaking the uncertainty out of her voice as she pointed at Fiora's door from the bottom of the next flight of stairs.

Aurelia nodded, handing her bag over to Mr Cheung with a confident smile. "You two go up to the roof," she said in that soft, calm voice that seemed to suggest that everything was going to be absolutely fine. "Mr Cheung, if you could make two circles, and place the box Mataya is holding inside the inner one, I would very much appreciate it. Keep the outer circle open for us, please."

The terse caretaker nodded brusquely, taking the bag with no little amount of distaste for the contents showing on his face, and gave Mataya another tug toward the roof.

"Wait ..." Mataya objected to being tugged, frowning at the wizened man a moment before turning her attention back to Aurelia. "What are you going to do?"

Aurelia paused in front of Fiora Shantalaine's door, glancing back at the actress with a confident smile. "I am going to bring Miss Shantalaine to the roof to join us," she said simply. "Please wait for us on the roof with Mr Cheung."

Her eyes turned back to the plain wooden panel of the door before her, and though she listened well until her companions were out of sight and sound, she betrayed no sign of it. The witch lifted her hand to lay her fingertips lightly against the wood of the door, and her face twisted in an alarmed grimace at the radiating hate and jealousy she could feel from within. Their venture tonight would be harder than she had first thought.

Had the case simply been to cleanse the diamond necklace and earrings of the evil that clung to them, attracting pretas, then she knew they would have had an easy night of it. But now ... thanks to her unusual ancestry, Aurelia could sense evil when it took form outside the underworld. And just from that touch against the door, she could sense that not one, but two entities had taken up residence here, within the room beyond. This was not a simple case of cleansing and renewing. There was possession and soul-feeding at work here.

Swallowing, Aurelia withdrew from her pocket a copper cuff, snapping it open and holding it carefully in her curled hand. She had blessed it herself that day, in the full noon light, with all the goodness she could muster. With any luck, once she got it on the elusive Miss Shantalaine's wrist, Fiora's true spirit should be able to express itself, and keep her squatting entity from taking any more of her strength during the night's work.

Aurelia Dupuis was only half witch. Her maternal half was demon, and she knew a little too well the proclivities of the demonic and the dispossessed. But she also knew that in this place, Western magicks would only be as effective as those who were present believed them to be. Which was why she had asked Mr Cheung to be present. She needed him there to be able to counter anything she missed with his own beliefs and power. Only by working together, could they evict these spirits from the Zen Building.

She raised her empty hand, murmuring a cloaking spell to keep the spirits within from knowing her for what she was until it was too late, and knocked on the door, clearing her throat.

"Miss Shantalaine?" she called. "Forgive me for interrupting, my name is Aurelia Dupuis. I'm here about some problems you've been having."

And then she waited, calm and patient, for the moment the door was opened, and she could snap the copper cuff about the unsuspecting Fiora's wrist.

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-11-07 12:33 EST

"No."

She'd been repeating the word for such a length of time that her throat was hoarse and her lips cracked from lack of moisture. The usually lustrous length of russet curls were tangled and matted about her hunched form as she rocked back and forth in the center of her living room.

"No. No. No. No. No."

It had become a litany. A desperate plea to remain in control. Her small face buried in the crook of her knees, arms linked around her legs, and fists clenched to keep herself there.

Rocking. Back and forth.

She refused to look up. Her face ravaged by tears that had eventually dried up due to the inability to produce anymore. When the knock came she ignored it, assured that it was another ploy from the little girl that demanded the unthinkable.

"No!"

It would've been a shout. Had she any voice left with which to carry it, but instead it was a whispered husk of a sound.

"Miss Shantalaine?"

It took another minute. Her head lifted slowly, uncertainly, like a frightened animal she quivered.

"Forgive me for interrupting, my name is Aurelia Dupuis. I'm here about some problems you've been having."

She almost laughed. A flicker of her former self there beneath the terror. The ghostly form of Mina glared at her from the darkened corner of the room. Problems didn't begin to explain it.

Slowly, her joints creaking with the effort, she pushed out of her protective ball; the normally agile acrobatic grace altered by the length of her confinement.

Mina shook her head in a disapproving direction.

"Mina, pleaase...I h-have t-to."

The small ghostly child opened its red little mouth as tears of blood began to well up at the corners of the dark depths of her eyes. No sound emerged but Fiora felt her plea, could hear it in her mind.

"Mina. Pplease. Just let me. Check." The exertion of standing was enough to make her weak.

The ghost slipped an inch forward.

"No.nonononononono." Frantic, Fiora whipped her head back and forth and held her hand out before her. She knew what would happen if Mina touched her again. She'd be filled with all of those dark thoughts again. A visible wince as if she'd been struck as she remembered the last ones, the ones that had demanded she find Mataya and...and...

...the bloody vision was impossible to put to words even in her own mind.

"Taya's my friend, Mina." She tried again. A whimper as the ghost came for her, "Please, I'm sure she'll g-give you the n-necklace. Sh-she's sweet and nice and," her protestations ended on a wail as the spirit suddenly lunged forward in what looked like an embrace but turned into something else entirely. Like a sponge, Fiora sucked in the dark essence of the spirit that oozed over her; her body went rigid, cerulean hued eyes flaring wide as she arched against the invasion.

The brilliant hue of her sea-swept eyes swirled beneath a blackened mist, slowly pooling outward from her iris to alter the color into a crimson-tainted ebon sheen of emptiness.

Slowly her lips curled in a smile that had no business being on the sweet-natured realtor's mouth. A twisted, predatory corruption.

With a fluid grace of skittering quickness, she quite suddenly was at her door. Opening it to reveal a pale bedraggled version of herself. Small face upturned to deliver that unnatural smile upon her visitor, "Yesss?"

Aurelia · Date: 2010-11-08 06:06 EST

Aurelia waited, listening to the sounds of shuffling movement within the apartment beyond the door. And as she waited, there came a pause, and a sudden surge of sickening, bone-jarring possession taking place within. But she curbed her instant desire to break down the door and fight for the freedom of Fiora Shantalaine's soul. There was more than one soul at risk tonight.

What opened the door was not Fiora Shantalaine. Though Aurelia had never met the realtor, she had heard enough of the little woman from Mataya and Mr Cheung to know that the sickly, wan, powerful being that now faced her was merely the shell of Fiora's body, taken over by the more subtle of the spirits that were attacking the building.

The ebon-tainted eyes looked on her with mocking confidence as the gash of red that was a mouth in the pale face opened. "Yesss?"

Aurelia's own dark-eyed gaze hardened, and she drew in a slow breath. Then, with a speed she would usually reserve only for fighting the corporeal manifestations of evil that habitually came after herself, she lunged forward, the copper cuff in her hand, and snapped it firmly in place about the wrist of the being that faced her.

The metal flared brightly, sending crackling sparks of energy over the little realtor's skin, burning away any vestige of darkness it found there. The spirit was not banished, but trapped by the power of the cuff, and Fiora was given control of her body once again. But Aurelia wasn't going to take any chances.

Bending swiftly, she made to lift the tortured soul off her feet, straightening with Fiora over her shoulder, and turned to hurry up the stairs toward the roof, shouting for Mataya and Mr Cheung to be ready.

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-11-08 11:38 EST

Perhaps there was a flicker of recognition that the being before it was not one to be trifled with, perhaps possessed a powerful understanding of exactly what it was that stood before it. But, like most sinful beings, arrogance kept it there before Aurelia. That smirking smile a beacon of death and destruction.

The quickness was startling and the cuff moreso. As it snapped about the slender wrist of the young woman a bloodcurdling scream of hysteria issued forth, echoing with the waves of damnation. The eerie sound was clearly inhuman and rang throughout the building.

The skin around her wrist where the cuff touched turned shockingly pale, the veins underneath black and spidery as whatever it was administered its potent power.

She slumped and would've fallen had it not been for Aurelia's quick catch. A weakened slight thing, Fiora weighed under a hundred pounds and was easily maneuvered. From cracked lips she murmured, "Who are you?" The only protest she was able to manage in her current condition.

Mataya · Date: 2010-11-08 23:09 EST

"A friend," was all the answer Fiora would get for the time being as Aurelia raced up the stairs, barely stooped under the slight weight over her shoulder ...

Mataya and Mr Cheung had arrived on the roof before Aurelia had even touced Fiora's door. The caretaker drew open the bag that the witch had given him to begin creating the circle that he had obviously done at some point before in his long career, planting lit candles in a double ring before drawing a large tub of salt from the bag.

"Box," was all he said, but 'Taya understood the instruction, stepping forward to lay the rosewood box and its precious contents within the inner ring of candles.

Mr Cheung then poured a complete circle around both box and inner ring of candles with the salt, and turned his attention to doing the same for the outer ring. At a loss for anything to do now but wait, 'Taya found herself looking around at random, and she almost cried in relief to as her eyes fell on Riley, waiting for them.

"Oh, thank god," she cried out, hurrying toward her friend and landlady, still hugging the box to her chest. "Are you okay? Nothing's tried to beat you up or anything?"

Even as she said it, the unnatural darkness began to form again, swirling around the roof of the Zen Building. From within it, came an unearthly, unnatural shriek of defiance taht was echoed from somewhere beneath them, inside the building itself.

"No," 'Taya whispered in terror, shaking her head violently as the colour drained from her face. She'd never felt so vulnerable as she did right now, on the roof of the building, with her anatgonist swirling all around them. "No ... no, no, no, no!"

Suddenly the door burst open, and Aurelia came haring across the roof, single-minded determination taking her toward the circles, shouting, "Everyone inside the outer circle! Now!"

Dark hands reached toward them from within the shadows that enveloped their home, formless but with strength enough to do great harm if they managed to lay even a finger upon the fleeing group. As 'Taya stumbled into that generous outer circle of candles and salt, she tripped, sprawling face first in gravel, but out of harm's reach. For now.

As she ran, with Fiora held safe over her shoulder, Aurelia drew from her thoughts the crackling balls of energy that were her witch's power, tossing them at the hands that reached for her and her charge. There were no explosions of power, no obliterations of those hands; the energy within the crackling balls was absorbed. But it did buy her enough time to lurch into the safety of the circle and gently lower Fiora down beside 'Taya.

If everyone was inside, now Mr Cheung would finish the circle of salt from the inside. With the edges joined, nothing from without could touch them.

Because the being that squatted inside the realtor was first on the list of things to deal with tonight.

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-11-09 17:44 EST

"Taya." Surprised blink by the feline tilted eyes of a very dazed and very confused Fiora. As she looked up at the darkly violent sky and then again around at the assembled she offered the barest hint of her usual dimpled grin, "Uhh, helluva party ye got goin here, how did ye get Cheung to agree---"

She arched.

She screamed.

Her hands curling into claws as she quite suddenly dug at the copper band on her slender wrist.

"Get it off! Get it off!" She frantically pleaded as her eyes began to swirl a darkening bruised color. Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes, crimson in color, with the ichorous flow of something thick and viscuous.

"Please." She whimpered pitifully, crumpling into a ball and holding herself together just barely. "Taya, ye've got to get rid of the necklace, ye can't have it," Her frantic plea changing on a demonic purl:
"You.
Can't.
Have.
It."
The snarling baritone assuredly not the realtor's normal voice.

She screamed. A pitiful wail of a sound. Frightened, pained, hysterical, and pleading. Her body convulsing as the copper cuff glowed on her wrist, holding the being inside shackled as it fought for acsension.

Aurelia · Date: 2010-11-10 09:13 EST

"Hold her down."

It was a terse, unequivocal order from the Belgian witch, one that could be gainsaid at your peril. Aurelia barely even glanced at the convulsing realtor as 'Taya hurried to lay hands on her friend, trying to keep Fiora from doing any harm to herself as she battled for control of her own body.

"Mr Cheung, Miss O'Rourke, if you know any depossession spells, now would be the time to enact them," Aurelia added quietly, ignoring the harsh screams from the pinned Fiora.

Her attention was upon a large book with wooden covers, bound with iron, that she had taken from her bag. It was emblazoned in burnt charcoal with the Tree of Life, signifying the never-ending cycle of life and death, and the iron bindings sprang open at her touch. This was the Dupuis Book of Shadows, the accumulation of generations of witchcraft within her family.

For a moment, she lifted her eyes seemingly to heaven, and called out one name, as though trying to summon further assistance from the cosmos.

"Darnel!"

There was no reply, no flickering in the unnatural darkness that now swelled to encompass the rooftop, leaving the carefully prepared circles the only island of light to serve as protection against the second of the spirits striving for possession of the rosewood box and its contents.

Mine ... give it to me ... mine!

Again, Aurelia ignored the demands, hoping that Riley or Mr Cheung could come up with something before she had to resort to more direct methods to evict the entity squatting inside Fiora Shantalaine and demanding control of the body it had stolen.

The worn pages of the Book of Shadows flipped easily beneath her fingers as she sought out the one spell that might offer them a little hope if Eastern magicks failed. But there was always the hope that Eastern magicks, here in this place where the East was so very strong, would prevail where Western magicks were so very risky to employ.

Aurelia · Date: 2010-11-15 12:29 EST

Evidently Riley and Mr Cheung could not call anything to mind, which left Aurelia in a sticky situation. She would just have to hope that her own brand of magic would work in this case. She flipped easily to the right page in her Book of Shadows, stroking her finger down the page, and looked up at the others gathered within the outer circle of protection.

"This is going to be dangerous for a few moments," she informed them, apparently unphased by the screaming and repeated attacks on the power of the circle that held the darkness beyond at bay. "I am going to summon Hortense, the owner of that box, and she can deal with Miss Shantalaine's unwanted guest. However, once that spirit is ejected, it will be in here with us."

She paused, lifted her eyes, and yelled once more. "Darnel!" Again, there was no tangible reply.

"You will all please stay close to me," she continued, as though she had not just interrupted herself. "I can protect you, even in here. We will have to open the circle to force the spirit out to join its master out there, however, and for that we need a distraction! Darnel, for gods' sakes!"

This last was yelled once more in a tone of increasing impatience, and finally Aurelia got the response she was looking for. Outside the circle, in the midst of the unnatural black, there shimmered into sight a tall man, dressed all in black, looking around in vague confusion.

"Ah ... you called?" he asked with a half grin to the Belgian witch now glaring at him.

"Yes, I did," Aurelia snapped back at him. "I need to open this circle in a few moments. You will provide us with a distraction, if you please."

"What against, that?" He pointed to the darkness now whirling all around him.

"Yes, that!"

And just like that, Aurelia seemed to dismiss him from her thoughts, turning back to the Book on her lap. Mataya watched the witch worriedly, still holding on tight to Fiora's flailing limbs. If she had known half of what was going to happen tonight, she would never have walked into it so willingly.

Aurelia was murmuring something from the book, and for a moment it seemed as though even her formidable magic had failed her. Then there was a sensation of pressure, of molecules coming together in a fast, rushing boom, and quite suddenly, there was a sixth person standing in the outer circle with them.

She was tall and dressed almost formally, her gown long and high-necked, with a bustle at her sacrum, and her hair piled neatly at the back of her head. She looked down at the struggling Fiora with sadness, and guilty compassion.

Mataya stared. "Hortense?"

The long dead spirit of Hortense Docquey looked up at her with an unhappy smile. "Sorry I am to have brought this upon you all," she apologised. "I will do what I can to save your friend."

She moved to kneel beside Fiora's struggling body, laying one ghostly hand upon the little realtor's forehead. And it seemed to 'Taya that Hortense was sucked into Fiora's body, to join battle with the entity that squatted within.

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-11-15 18:30 EST

If she'd been in anyway her normal self, Aurelia's initial comment would've been met by wide eyes and a snarky, "It's JUST now going to start getting dangerous for a bit?!" But as it were, she had no power over cognitive functions at that moment.

The appearance of Hortense quite frankly pissed off the squatter inside Fiora and she wrenched desperately to be free of Mataya's hold, attempting to deliver a stinging slap that would've mortified Fiora had she any control over her actions. Again though she was but a spectator in this nightmare of her life.

Cerulean hued eyes rolled into the back of her head as the spirit descended upon her and once again she appeared to act as a sponge.

************

Whatever was taking place on the spiritual plane of existence was taking an incredible toll on the little realtor as her body convulsed and arched in throes that resembled electrocution. Her screams became pitiful whimpers, hoarse and raw from a throat already worn by days of pleading with Mina.

And then...

....her eyes began to seep tears of blood.

Mataya · Date: 2010-11-17 12:05 EST

'Taya had never been so frightened in her entire life. When the darkness had descended on the Zen Building, she had actually screamed in fear, only calmed by the no-nonsense reaction of Aurelia and the others. Things were moving along so fast, and she was caught up with them, lost in the delicacies of the situation.

Her knuckles were white where she was holding on to Fiora, trying to keep her friend from hurting herself or anyone else as she fought with the spirit inside her. She barely took note of the newcomer to the events, only just aware that a man's voice was intruding on the chaos within and without the circle.

Hortense's appearance had shocked her. She had only seen the ghostly woman once, and now it seemed that the owner of the jewellery that had caused all this madness had decided to take a direct hand in the exorcism of those who would kill to have the rosewood box and its contents.

Eyes widened in amazed terror as the ghost seemed to become part of Fiora's body, and she made the mistake of loosening her grip as it happened. The little realtor's hand caught her a ringing slap on the jaw, making skin burn and sting as 'Taya flailed to regain her grip, to keep her friend down once more as the battle was resumed within her.

"C'mon, Fiora, you can do this," she kept saying. "You can win, I know you can. Don't give up .... please don't give up ... oh ... my god!"

Blood was seeping from her friend's eyes, thick and dark, staining the pale skin in rivulets that wandered from cheek to chin to neck as the small body thrashed about in pain and torment.

Mine!

As she struggled to hold her friend down, Aurelia reached over, one hand upon the copper cuff that held the squatting entity inside Fiora's body.

"When I take this off," the witch said calmly, "Hortense and the spirit she is fighting will be thrown from Fiora's body. Mr Cheung will open a small corner of the circle; Darnel will distract the being around us from taking advantage of that opening. You will all stay close to me, and I will force this nasty spirit out to join its kindred."

'Taya nodded, her dark eyes wide and worried as she glanced to Riley and Mr Cheung, still keeping a firm hold on Fiora despite everything. Aurelia nodded also, and with a deft movement, flicked the cuff open.

Hortense appeared as though being dragged by some force unknown and unseen, and under her clenched hand there languished the struggling form of the child Fiora knew as Mina. With a brush of his hand, Mr Cheung broke the circle, and as Darnel began to attack the darkness around them with fireballs and insults, all hell broke loose.

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-11-18 18:09 EST

As the force dragged free Hortense and the struggling form of Mina a third spirit apparently emerged. The shimmering vision of Fiora pushing and shoving in her assistance in ridding herself of the possession.

The body in Mataya's hands went limp, no longer struggling. The tears of blood oozing to a stop to begin to congeal in blackening strips.

The last shuddery sigh of the realtor whispered free.

From beside Hortense, the Spiritual form of Fiora grasped firmly to the arm of the young girl who had begun to alter herself, demonic face sprouting in a grotesque melting fashion. The alteration had Fiora screaming "Do Something!" at Aurelia but no sound was heard on the physical plane as she struggled and fought to hold on despite the tumult around them.

Aurelia · Date: 2010-11-19 10:49 EST

"Oh, enfer," was Aurelia's immediate response to the worsening of the situation. "Nothing is ever simple ..."

From within her own body came an expanding shield of brlue crackling energy that enveloped everyone within the circle, protecting them from any attacks that might come from the spirits now circling them.

"There is never a whitelighter around when you need one," she added in exasperation, her gaze flickering momentarily to Darnel as he darted this way and that, doing a truly masterful job of distracting the bigger problem while she tried to deal with the smaller. "Matthieu!"

Ignoring the horrified looks on the faces of her companions, she watched as Hortense dragged the struggling, ever-changing shape of Mina beyond the boundary of the circle, biding her time in which to set about helping Fiora.

"Close the circle once more, Mr Cheung," she ordered forcefully, over the top of the protests that came. "Miss Shantalaine will be quite alright, I assure you. She has simply left her body for a few moments."

Now that was a lie, and one she was hoping they wouldn't see through before the second of her helpers turned up. Though reluctant to do so, Mr Cheung did close the circle with salt, and Aurelia lowered her shield just as another newcomer entered the scene in a lowering cloud of blue and white orbs.

This man was a fairly short, middle-aged sort, with an enquiring brow raised. "You called?"

Aurelia nodded, laying one hand upon Fiora's still body. "Heal her, if you please, before she moves on." Her other hand gestured to the struggling form of the little realtor's spirit, now outside the circle.

"What the hell have you been doing?" Matthieu began, but Aurelia cut him off. "Heal now, b*tch later."

Rolling his eyes, Matthieu dropped to his knees, stretching his hands out across the slumped form of Fiora Shantalaine. For a moment nothing happened, then golden light seemed to emanate from his palms, pouring into the little realtor, healing each and every one of her hurts, both mental and physical. Her body twitched, calling her soul back to itself as his hands retreated.

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-11-19 20:32 EST

"The Littlest Worm. (The Littlest Worm.) I ever saw. (I ever saw.) Was stuck inside. (Was stuck inside.) My soda straw. (My soda straw.) The littlest worm I ever saw (I ever saw) was stuck inside my soda straaw-awa-aw."

"He said to me. (He said to me.) Don't take a sip. (Don't take a sip.) Cuz if you do. (Cuz if you do.) You'll really flip. (You'll really flip.) He said to me don't take a sip (don't take a sip, cuz if you do you'll really fli-iii-ii-iiip."

"I took a sip. (I took a sip.) That worm went down. (That worm went down.) Right through my pipes. (Right through my pipes.) He must've drowned. (He must've drowned.) I took asip that worm went down (that worm went down) right through my pipes he must've dro-ow-ow-owned."

It was an odd song to have stuck in your head in the middle of a maelstrom of freakish supernatural insanity. But then again, Fiora always had been a bit odd.

Did you ever wonder what it might feel like to get sucked through a straw?
Ask Fiora sometime, she now has the ability to explain it.

Shhhhwwwwwwwwwwoooooossssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

She swirled. Seriously. The golden glittery form outside the circle of protection began to twirl faster and faster. Her form becoming indeterminate as it turned into a sphere of gold with flecks of cerulean. Like a bullet, she shot through the crackling energy field and whispered past the crouched form that hovered protectively over her body. Slamming into her dead form with a Splash! of sparkling glitter.

She gasped.

Wide. Impossibly wide feline slanted eyes the rich drowning color of blue and green married in an impossible shade of the sea flared open dramatically.

She sat straight up and wrapped her arms around the nearest figure. The aches, the pains, the dehydration, the malnourishment, the psychological scars of battling for so long with a spirit intent on destroying her, it was all behind her and with the irrepressible energy of the kitten that she normally resembled the realtor was buzzing with energy. "Holy MONKEYBUTTS! This Shit is INSANE!"

Dimples.

Deeply carved in her cheeks, they stood out beacons of an irrepressible soul, her grin for Mataya, Riley, Mr. Cheung, that crazy Witch Woman, and even the Light Guy, incredibly intense.

"He was my pal. (He was my pal). He was my friend. (He was my friend). There is no more. (There is no more). This is the end. (This is the end). He was my pal, he was my friend. There is no more, this is the en-enn-end."

Mataya · Date: 2010-11-20 15:34 EST

"Oh my god!" As Fiora spoke up, sounding like herself for the first time in weeks, Mataya burst into tears, all but throttling her friend in a tight bear hug. For the first time all evening, it looked as though they might actually be winning.

"Is that all, can I go now?" the effervescent Matthieu was saying to Aurelia, who simply waved her hand and nodded. As he disappeared once more in a rising cloud of blue and white light, the witch turned her attention onto Darnel, who was now dodging the furious attacks of two very pissed off spirits.

"Merci, Darnel, you may go now," she called, and he was gone almost before 'Taya could blink, shimmering out of sight and leaving the demonic Mina and her unnaturally dark companion to resume their attacks upon the strength of the protective circle.

"Now then ..." Aurelia brushed open a part of the inner circle, in which the rosewood box and its precious content resided. "Miss Shantalaine, Ms De Luca, if you would step into the inner circle and open the box. We will now cleanse these pieces of jewellery."

"How's that going to work? 'Taya asked, lifting her head but not releasing Fiora from her tight hug.

Aurelia smiled gently. "They are drawn to the darkness, the blood that clings to the diamonds," she explained. "Perhaps Madame Hortense may be able to explain further."

As she gestured for the two women to make their way into the inner circle, preparing to close it behind them, her eyes turned to the spirit of Hortense, who lingered close by. "Madame?"

The spirit form of the beautiful widow nowed her head, guilt and shame coloring her expression. But she nodded slowly. "You are right. It is time the tale was told ..."

Mataya · Date: 2010-11-23 19:56 EST

Around the Zen Building, the air was thick with unnatural darkness and cruel malice, echoing with the insanity of laughter and greed. Within the circle formed with salt and unflickering candles, there was near silence as the ghostly form of Hortense Docquey began to speak.

"My family was a poor one, before the diamonds were given to us," she spoke softly, her eyes travelling over each of them, her voice seeming to arrive in each mind without necessarily slipping through their ears. "My great-grandmother, she was an artist's muse. He loved her dearly, but he was already married. He painted a portrait of her - Beauty Among Stars, he called it - and when he was done, he gave her the diamonds. Loose, of course, they were not set in anything then.

"She never sold any of them, even after his death. She never told her husband, when she finally married, where they were kept, though she wore them scattered over her wedding gown. They were to be a family heirloom, and she kept faith with that, all through her life. She even lived to see her daughter married, with the diamonds scattered throughout her veil."

Hortense frowned then, glancing at the evil that surrounded the protective circle with guilt and shame in her face.

"There was no harm from the diamonds, never any harm that came from the love that had made a gift of them. Not until I, in my foolish youth, showed them to the man who would become my second husband. I even let him make a gift of them to his only daughter."

Her eyes met Fiora's for a moment. "Her name was Mina."

Looking away, she went on. "I did not know it at the time, but Mina was a proud, headstrong girl. She liked to have all things her own way, and she went to terrible lengths to have them. Her closest companion was a man, so we thought; he was always cloaked and hooded. But he worked with his hands, and he set the diamonds into silver for her - he made the necklace and the earrings. And when she wore them, she looked so beautiful, I could not begrudge her anything. I did not know that the jewellery had been made with dark craft, with her own blood mixed into the molten silver."

As Mataya watched, dumbstruck and fascinated by the tale, Hortense smoothed the looped silk of her ghostly dress, clearly summoning the courage to continue.

"I do not know what precisely happened. I think perhaps this dark man of whom she was so enamored killed her, or perhaps she sold him her soul, but within a year of my marriage to her father, Mina was dead by her own hand, so it seemed. Her only request was that be buried with the diamonds, but her father insisted that they belonged to me, and should go with me wherever I went. He was so heartbroken by the loss of his Mina, that he too died, within the span of another year.

"He left me with nothing," she went on, plunging through her tale as the end approached. "Nothing but that which I had always owned. I was lucky that Terens Docquey found me, and wanted me, and for my sins, I did love him. But I never told him about the diamonds; I let him believe that I had hired them for our wedding day with the last of my own money. And he never questioned me, even when the darkness came over the house he had had built for us.

"I had the back of the fireplace in my own room made into a safe place in which to keep them. I never took them out, never even thought of them. But Terens, he became quiet and withdrawn, angry with me when I did not do as he wanted within moments of his orders. He started to beat me, when he was angry, for reasons so small I could not understand what had made him so furious with me. I did not know at the time that Mina had returned."

Pale tears streaked down the ghostly cheeks as Hortense fell onto her knees, her hands clasped tight as though begging forgiveness for her misdeeds.

"She took him, my second love, and she hurt him to hurt me, and she made him raise his hands to me, and she never said why. Not until the night ..."

She broke off, drawing in a ragged breath, and pressed her hand to her mouth, stifling the sobs that were so eager to escape. When, at last, she was calm once more, she raised her eyes and began the last part of her terrible tale.

"Mina had taken my Terens' mind from him," she said quietly. "She took his will. Oft times I would return home to find him clawing at the walls, his fingers bloodied, his nails torn, and he would never tell me why. But she knew, somehow, that the diamonds were hidden in the house, and when she finally lost her patience, she was terrible.

"I have never known such pain. I will not say what she did, for I am sure that it is no longer her. Mina died the day that phantom took her soul. I would not tell where I had hidden the diamonds; I could see how dark our lives had become because of them. So she killed me. She used my own Terens' body to strangle the life from me, to multilate my body, and to destroy what was left, so that I would never find peace, no matter what was done. When she left Terens, she left him insane, talking gibberish and nonsense, terrified of shadows and soft voices. He was taken into a monastery, and he died there many years later.

"But I have kept vigil over the box. I knew that one day it would be found, but I did my very best to frighten searchers away from it. Until a brave young woman," she looked to Mataya with a wry, sad smile, "ignored my warnings and found what should never have been made in the first place."

Horrified, Mataya felt the full weight of guilt for what had happened, both to herself, to Fiora, and to the peace of the Zen Building, fall upon her like a lead weight.

"Oh god," she whispered in a shaking voice. "I'm so sorry ... this is all my fault ..."

"And we are going to make it right again," Aurelia interrupted before the actress could berate herself too far. "And send those nasty spirits back to where they came from."

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-11-25 00:35 EST

She didn't need to be told twice, scooping up the offensive jewelry and jumping into the inner circle like it was a dance step at the local hotspot. Mataya's hug not withstanding. She was as thrilled to feel normal as Taya was to see her restored to her normal insanity.

As Hortense began to relay her tragic tale the erstwhile realtor was caught up in the dark passion of it all. Tears welling in her cerulean gaze for the pain the woman had suffered and indignation spurring at the thought of Mina's manipulation.

If her hug grew tighter and tighter as the suspenseful tale was shared it was to be expected, wasn't it? Her mouth gaping at the conclusion.

"All yer fault?" She exclaimed at Mataya's guilt, "I let that Mina bitch into my head!"

Aurelia's aura of command stifled her need to out-guilt Mataya as she immediately complied, "Damn straight we are! Mina's gonna get hers!"

Energized and determined despite the chaotic nightmare they were currently enacting.

Aurelia · Date: 2010-11-30 17:33 EST

"Ladies, the blame game is not our first concern," Aurelia informed the pair within the inner circle with wry amusement. "Quiet for a few moments, please."

Now that the worst truly was over, there only remained the relatively simple task of cleansing the blood from the diamonds and removing Mina's need to be near them. With Mina gone, the phantom that had attached itself to her would also leave them.

Opening her bag for the final time, the witch withdrew a small cauldron, and what seemed like an indefinite number of sealed jars. As she worked, pouring first cedar oil into the bottom, then sprinkling sand from the gravel beneath her over it, she murmured to herself, evidently intoning some spell that was a family secret of some sort.

First went into the little cauldron rosemary; then lemon peel, sage, black peppercorns, lavender, dill, bay leaf, and rowan bark, as well as something thick and red which was poured carefully from a tiny bottle. As each ingredient was added, there was a puff of smoke from the growing potion, filling the two protective circles with a sweet, fresh scent, as though it were blowing away everything evil about them.

Finally done, Aurelia pushed the cauldron into the inner circle with Mataya and Fiora, laying a small, silver-handled knife beside it, and signalled Mr Cheung to close it once more with the salt he still held.

"Now, Ms De Luca, Miss Shantalaine," she said, still in the gentle, calm voice she had endeavoured to maintain throughout the evening's madness, "please place the jewellery into the potion. I need you both to add a drop of your own blood to the cauldron, and lean away. It could get a little ... excited."

Mataya · Date: 2010-11-30 17:46 EST

Mataya had just been opening her mouth to argue the blame with Fiora when Aurelia cut in, reminding her of just what was at stake here. Though still heavy in heart at what she would never forgive herself for having done, she nodded, keeping silent as she watched the witch work. Half of what went into the little cauldron, she could not identify, but each little explosion of smoke was enough to convince her that whatever it was, it was magical.

Shuffling her knees out of the way as the cauldron was pushed between herself and Fiora, she couldn't help raising worried eyes to the little realtor at the sight of the knife.

"Now, Ms De Luca, Miss Shantalaine," Aurelia was saying, "please place the jewellery into the potion. I need you both to add a drop of your own blood to the cauldron, and lean away. It could get a little ... excited."

"Blood? Seriously?" 'Taya swallowed uncomfortably. She'd never been happy with the sight of blood, especially her own. But orders were orders, right?

Opening the rosewood box that Fiora still held, the actress looked down on the seemingly innocent pieces that had caused so much harm, nestled securely on their bed of crimson silk. Remembering what Hortense had said about the silver being mixed with Mina's blood, Mataya really didn't want to touch the necklace and earrings with her bare skin again, but she had no choice.

"I really, really don't want to be doing this ..."

Shaking hands reached out to lift the delicate, deadly jewels from their blood-red nest. They twinkled in the candlelight, sending off an eerie glow against the backdrop of whirling, screaming darkness. For Mina and her dark companion were now clawing at the invisible power that kept them from the living, screaming out harsh and violent threats against life and love and everything they held dear.

Strangely, though, it was exactly the reaction of the spirits that had tormented Mataya and Fiora that gave the actress courage to continue. It was as though they knew their time was running out.

There was nothing to mark the laying of the jewellery into the cauldron, no puff of smoke, no sizzling, boiling, or explosions. Just a little ripple as the silver and diamond settled beneath the level of the potion.

She raised a brow, glancing at the others. "Well, that was anti-climactic."

Swallowing again, 'Taya picked up the knife, lifting her eyes to Fiora's as she settled the sharp point against her forefingertip. Perhaps if she didn't look, it would be okay. The metal pierced her skin quickly, making her yelp in pain before she offered the knife to the little realtor. Dark blood welled up from the tiny wound as Mataya turned her finger and squeezed, sending a generous drop of her own blood into the concoction in the cauldron.

Fiora Shantalaine · Date: 2010-12-02 14:56 EST

Guilt...

...it ate at her...

.......pulled her down in the depths...

.............nearly drowned her in despair....

.............................for all of about ten seconds.

Like a dog shaking water out of its fur she shuddered back into motion. A hyper-kinetic ball of flashing dimples, "C'mon 'Taya, let's kick some ghostie Ass!"

She watched as Aurelia and Mataya worked, bouncing with an eagerness that spoke of her desire to see this end. She was no pessimist. In fact, she was insanely optimistic and didn't doubt for a second that they were going to all come out the other side.

Taking the knife from Mataya, she bravely drew the blade across her palm and squeezed out a crimson splash of her blood before lifting her little fist high and shaking it at the sky:"Ye picked the wrong realtor to infest, ye damnable roach! This is the GARDENS we're talkin about! We run a clean establishment!"

Aurelia · Date: 2010-12-03 16:10 EST

As Fiora's blood dripped into the little cauldron, there was an upward rush of smoke and noise, a minor explosion that reverberated around the inside of that inner circle and engulfed the actress and the realtor in sweet-smelling fumes.

In the same moment, a scream of anguished pain went up from the demonic shape of Mina outside the outer circle. She twisted as though in agony, her expression caught in the throes of pain and despair as Aurelia's magic began to undo all she had done in life and death.

From the cauldron rose the necklace and earrings, dripping with the crimson potion. They rose high above the little gathering within the protection of the candles and salt, twinkling still in the candlelight as they slowly began to spin. As the pieces turned in the still air, there was a sensation of pressure exerted by some unseen force, and they began to lose their cohesion, the tainted silver running from between the diamonds in rivulets that were caught up by that same unseen force and held safe away from those who watched far below.

Mina screamed as her life's blood was torn from the diamonds she so coveted, and in some horrific sense of mirroring, her form began to shift and melt, just as the silver did. With no longer any connection to the diamonds, she slumped against the edge of the circle, reaching up an imploring skeletal hand to the darkness that swirled around her. But evil is as mercenary as can be, and without Mina's connection to those precious diamonds, she was less than useless to the phantom that lurked within. The darkness dissipated, letting moonlight flood the rooftop as the unfortunate Mina fell to her fate, her being bound up with the blood that tainted the silver being stripped from the innocent diamonds.

Just as slowly as before, the silver and diamonds began to lower once more, and Aurelia was quick to give out her orders as they did.

"Do not allow the diamonds to fall back into the potion," she insisted, stern and urgent in her tone to the pair sat beside the cauldron. "The silver must not touch them again."

The molten silver was the first to descend, falling into the potion with a sickening, sizzling hiss. Breaking the circle with a brush of her hand over the salt line, Aurelia reached in and smothered the remains of the potion with half a tub of salt. As she did so, Mina let loose one last scream of defeated fury, and was gone; nothing left of her but an echo on the wind.

Cleansed and restored, the diamonds fell down to the rooftop, as though the stars in the sky were descending for the touch of mortal kind.
_______________________
http://www.cosmicidea.com/images/falling-diamonds.jpg

Topic: Diamond, Silver, and Blood (Open)

Mataya

Mataya

Mataya

Riley ORourke

Mataya

Fiora Shantalaine

Mataya

Mataya

Riley ORourke

Aurelia

Fiora Shantalaine

Aurelia

Fiora Shantalaine

Mataya

Fiora Shantalaine

Aurelia

Aurelia

Fiora Shantalaine

Mataya

Fiora Shantalaine

Aurelia

Fiora Shantalaine

Mataya

Mataya

Fiora Shantalaine

Aurelia

Mataya

Fiora Shantalaine

Aurelia