A Witch's Curse

A week. That was how long Hale watched Lydia give him the bird. She was subtle about it—scratching her nose, sticking her hand in her pocket with the finger left on the outside, holding a book—and it took seeing the bird a few times before Hale realized what she was doing. For someone who had sucker punched him and then ran away the little witch sure had spunk. The thought of how badly he had screwed up last week left a bad taste in his mouth. When Hale had called Thorsen to explain the little problem he had run into with purchasing Lydia’s magic he got a nice little surprise.

“What are you talking about?” Thorsen demanded, confusion bleeding into his tone.

“What am I talking about? I’m talking about the little witch you hired me to find.”

“I didn’t hire you find a witch, Mr. Braxton.” Thorsen said breathlessly, “I hired you to find my niece.”

“Your who?”

“My niece, Mr. Braxton. Ms. Ashworth is, I believe, my niece. Though I’m not entirely sure.” Thorsen admitted, but quickly asked, “You’re certain she is a witch?”

“Yes,” Hale answered, running a hand down his face. He had seriously fucked up, and now it was going to be even harder to get Lydia to agree to a meeting. “I have no doubt.”

“How is this possible?” Thorsen whispered. Hale was about to inform Thorsen that it was possible for cross-species births when Thorsen suddenly stated, “I want a meeting set up as soon as possible.” And hung up. After that Hale went to a local bar and drank himself stupid. During that time, Hale ran over every bit of information he had gathered and the fact that Lydia was possibly Thorsen’s niece became blaringly obvious—Lydia’s great-great grandfather had the same fucking surname as Thorsen. Hale’s father had to be rolling over in his grave at the mess Hale managed to get himself into. Not only was he ignoring obvious bits of information, but thanks to his assumptions Lydia was never going to believe that he’d made a mistake and that he wasn’t after her magic anymore.

After Hale sobered up, he assigned a rookie P.I. to watch Lydia for the first two days. Hale figured that it would be good practice for the rookie and Hale wouldn’t get punched again if Lydia saw him. Looking down at the log notes the rookie left him—and the kid was annoyingly detailed—it seemed that Lydia only flipped him off. What the kid failed to mention in his notes was that Lydia was slimmer and there were lavender circles under her eyes. Hale remembered Lydia telling him last week that she was tired, and she probably wasn’t probably wasn’t sleeping too well worrying about her grandfather’s cancer. Hale felt like an ass for trying to use that worry to get her to agree to a meeting.

Glancing down at his watch, he saw that it was about time for Lydia to go to lunch. Hale was hoping Lydia would let him offer to buy her lunch before she went for the punches again. Her sucker punch had actually left his stomach a little bruised and sore along with his ego. Hale was really glad that his Dad wasn’t around to see that—Hale would have never heard the end of it. Crossing the street, he paused at the door. Inside was a sleeping Lydia, her chin rested on the palm of her hand. Hale debated whether just opening the door, or walking in silently and gently waking her up would result in less punches. He decided on the latter.

Pushing open the door slowly, Hale reached up and held the bell above the door so it made no noise and slipped in as quietly as he could. Still holding on to the bell, Hale glanced over to Lydia in time to see her chin slip from her hand. Hale cursed every god he could think of as he watched her forehead slam into the desk with a thud.

“Ow!” Came Lydia’s shout as she clutched her forehead. Letting go of the bell on reflex to offer help, the soft ring caused Lydia to glance up. “You son of a batch of cookies with a side of gravy!” She growled as Lydia narrowed her eyes on him.

“Hey, now wait a minute, Lydia,” Hale held up his hands hoping she wouldn’t take that as threatening gesture. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Bad things just happen around you!” Lydia snapped. With her hands removed, Hale could see a bright red lump forming slightly off to the right side of her forehead.

“Want me to get you some ice?” Hale offered, giving her his best smile.

“I want you to go to hell.”

“Aspirin?”

“Go to hell.”

“Lunch?”

“Hel—wait, lunch?”

“Yeah, I’ll treat you to lunch.” Even though you hitting your head was not my fault. He continued to smile, hoping she would be so angry with him for her hitting her head that she would take advantage of his lunch offer.

“Go to hell,” She muttered as she stood, swaying for just a moment. When he again moved to offer her assistance—because he was becoming a little worried about that lump—Lydia sent him a withering glare that had his hands once again held out in front of him. Hale really should have known that Lydia would make this as difficult as she could.

“You don’t want lunch?”

“I already told you I won’t sell you my magic, so trying to butter me up by buying me some food isn’t going to work. Just leave, okay?” Lydia’s demand was soft, like someone on the edge of losing it at the slightest touch. That was probably his fault too…god he felt like a dick.

“I’m sorry…I was wrong to bring up your grandfather. I bought magic from the psychic like you told me. It turns out he didn’t need your magic specifically,” Hale lied, scratching at the back of his head. “I thought he wanted yours because it was your name he gave me. I was wrong though, so I’m sorry.”

“Fine, whatever,” she muttered, gently rubbing at the lump. When Hale made no move to leave, Lydia sighed heavily, “Go away.”

“Come on, Lydia, let me treat you to lunch. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” I’ll send Thorsen the bill later.

“If I say I forgive you, will you leave me alone?” Lydia demanded moodily as she pulled a broom out from a small supply closet. Hale checked his watch again, making sure that he hadn’t mixed up the times. He hadn’t. That meant only one thing.

“Do you plan on working through your lunch?” Hale demanded, suddenly angry.

“Why do you care, buddy?” Not bothering to look up from her task at hand. Why did he care? It was because Thorsen wanted to meet with her as soon as possible, and her getting sick would delay that—along with his paycheck. Yeah, that was it Hale reasoned with himself. Now if only the stubborn woman in front of him would just agree to lunch. She really was looking a little too thin.
Ignoring her question because it would only serve to anger her, Hale just shrugged. “Okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow. Same time?”

Hale bit back his grin as Lydia stopped sweeping to glare at him, “What do you mean? Don’t come back. I don’t like you, and I have no issues reporting you to the police.”

“Reporting me for what? Coming to browse the local bookstore?” This time Hale didn’t bother to hide his grin. He had totally won.

“No, for stalking.”

“You can’t prove it.”

“I don’t have to. I’m a young woman who is frightened of the large man that keeps staring at me as I work.” This time Lydia was the who grinned, “Please officer, I know he hasn’t done anything dangerous, but could you please talk to him? I’m so scared he’ll hurt me.” Lydia acted out, her voice shaking with fake fear and her eyes shimmering with tears. Holy hell the little witch was serious. He’d get his ass kicked by several off-duty officers all because of that act.

“You play dirty!” Hale laughed, finding that he was glad her spunk wasn’t overshadowed by her noticeable tiredness.

Lydia smiled, laughing softly, “You started it.”

“You’re right, I did.” Hale agreed, chuckling, “Look, let’s call lunch a piece offering. I really will keep coming back until you accept.”

“Why?”

Deciding to be truthful, Hale replied, “Because I find you interesting, and mostly because I was an ass last week.”

Lydia didn’t say anything for several moments, staring at him with those golden hues, before putting the broom away. “I want Chinese food, and none of the Panda Express junk either. I want good Chinese food.”

Hale resisted the urge to do a victory dance, and held the door open for her as they left. Yeah, I totally won.

§

“Who are you?” Lydia asked Hale as they were seated at her favorite Chinese restaurant. In the past, she liked to come here when she needed to be alone. The other customers weren’t loud in their conversations, the staff didn’t bother her if she sat for a long time, and Lydia had always felt a sense of calm over take her when she walked in. Lydia was sure it had to do with the way everything was situated, dispelling all the negative energies that anyone brought with them. At least that was what the owner’s son told her.

Lydia was still upset with the man across from her. It had been because of him that she’d had nightmare for the last week, stealing whatever peace Lydia used to find in slumber. The nightmares were always the same; Lydia would beat against the barrier, beat until her hands were bruised, watching as the life faded from Aaron’s eyes. Lydia would see her cousin’s mangled and bloodied body in the corner, her blood covering the flood in the runes that stole Aaron from him. The nightmare always ended with the two bodies slowly getting up from the floor, their eyes filled with hatred and disgust as what Lydia had done to them. Thankfully that was when Lydia would wake up, but the tears wouldn’t stop until hours later. It had gotten to be too much for her, so Lydia had started to avoid sleeping. That was why the jerk from last week had found her asleep at work. Thankfully, Lydia had been too tired to dream about anything.

“Huh?” Hale answered, looking up from the menu.

“Your name, stupid, what is it? You know mine, I should know yours.”

“Right, I forgot.” Hale nodded, patting his chest as he looked for something, muttering, “I know I brought some, damn it, where are they?”

“Just me your name, idiot.”

“You are very rude, calling me names like that,” Hale retorted, playfully glaring at her as he finally pulled out a business card from his front pocket, and handed it to her. The card was fairly plain, reading Hale Braxton. Private Investigator. His address and phone number were listed under his name.

“Why give me a business card?”

“I had the damn things printed out, I might as well use them. Plus, you could always use a P.I.”

“I don’t need a private investigator,” Lydia answered, sticking the card in her back pocket.

“You might.”

“I don’t.”

“You never know.”

“I won’t.”

“Must you argue with everything I say?”

“Yes.”

“You are difficult, has anyone ever told you that?”

“All the time.” Lydia watched Hale as he turned his attention back to the menu, smiling at their banter. Hale was the first man to actually threaten to stalk her until she took up his offer. Lydia was sure that Hale was still up to something because she had actually checked with the psychic if Hale had come by like he told her. The stupid woman of course refused to tell her until Lydia bought something. And of course, the demon woman had demanded it be some ridiculously expensive charm. That was why when Lydia felt the prickles in her hands, she made sure she was flipping him off for the rest of the week. The stupid charm wasn’t even cute, so Hale deserved it.

When the waiter came around, Lydia ordered her usual and Hale ordered a monstrous amount of food. Lydia felt the need to spoil herself a little, and Hale offered to pay, so she ordered some of the more expensive tea. When she had been catching a cold the waiter brought her that tea, claiming it had amazing healing properties. When her grandfather and she had gotten news of the cancer, Lydia spent a fortune on the tea hoping it would help him, but it hadn’t done anything against the cancer. Now Lydia was hoping the tea could at least stop the nightmares. It was silly, but Lydia needed to sleep; she couldn’t handle seeing those eyes again. Lydia just wanted to forget, but the nightmares wouldn’t let her.

Hale’s fault, Lydia thought bitterly. Lydia gave herself a mental shake; no, it wasn’t Hale’s fault. The blame laid with her, and she was sure Pops dying was some type of karma for killing Aaron and Myra seven years ago. Lydia’s throat tightened as tears burned her eyes. Hale had just been part of karma, reminding her of the past she thought she could forget. After all, why should Lydia have any happiness? She’d gotten cocky in lately and forgetting about that night, and Lydia should have known that by swearing off magic wouldn’t be enough to repay her debt.

Looking up at Hale, seeing how easily the man could smile, Lydia decided to be selfish for just a little while. Lydia smiled and laughed with him, drinking the tea and eating the yummy food before she had return to reality. For a little while Lydia could forget everything and be happy.

That isn’t too much to ask for right?