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“What would it do?”
“It would block him from accessing his power. He’d just be a vampire without it,” she said, and the full weight of her words hit me. He wouldn’t be able to bind me. He wouldn’t be able to stop me from moving like he’d done in the forest and in the alley behind the hospital. I’d be able to get away and he couldn’t stop me. I’d be able to do that as many times as I needed to.
“It would weaken him,” I murmured.
“By a great deal,” she replied.
“When he first captured me, he had an amulet that weakened him. It contained an ancient power that I set free. As a result, my own magic awakened. Are you familiar with such a thing?” I asked her.
She pursed her lips in thought.
“I’ve heard whispers of such a relic, but it was before my time. I do not know what you released as not much is known. It is rumored to have been created in the clash of Cain and Abel. That’s all I know about it,” she answered.
“Thank you for your candor. Let’s move forward and spell the collar. Cain will come for me and when he arrives, I want to be ready for him.”
“As you wish, my queen,” Tituba murmured. “I’m going to need a few things to complete the spell
though, including a vial of your own blood.”
I stared back at her, trying to assess if she was telling the truth. I felt like she was slipping through my fingers like grains of sand and if I wasn’t careful, she’d take me down just as soon as she did Cain. Her magic was strong too and I was sure that she was capable of much more than she was letting on. I was still unclear whether or not she thought of me as a friend or if she saw me as an enemy. I didn’t know what her motivations were.
Trusting her was a risk. Not using her though was an even bigger one.
I stood and walked over to a display shelf with bowls and decorative knives. I took one and quickly sliced my wrist, before turning it over and allowing my blood to drip into one of the medium-sized vessels. My healing ability sealed the wound quickly and when I was finished, I picked up the dish of my lifeblood and carried it over to Tituba, placing it in front of her.
“I need more than that,” she answered.
I cut myself again. And again, until I’d filled that bowl.
“What else do you need?” I said curtly.
“A lock of your hair,” she said next.
I provided that for her too.
“Anything else?”
“I’m going to need a few days to prepare, but you are going to have to be here while I perform the ritual. I’m going to need your power combined with mine to do what needs to be done,” she said, and I nodded.
I would do whatever she wanted in order to spell this collar because I was going to use it to put Cain back in his place.
* * *
Several days went by before Tituba called for my return. I passed the time by ramping up patrols on the walls surrounding the Hellmouth. I sent a number of sentries to the human world in order to find out where Cain had gone, but upon the return of each one, they had nothing to report. He had gone silent, leaving no trace of his whereabouts whatsoever. That made me nervous and I did my very best to ignore those feelings.
I’d be ready when he came for me, whenever that would be.
When the day finally came to spell the collar, I paused outside Tituba’s shop, taking in the décor and the advertisements on the window. She sold spells and black magic, though it didn’t stop there. She also peddled human blood and various organs of mysterious origins, along with any kind of curse that you could imagine. She was a dangerous witch and tonight, I was about to climb into bed with her in order to weaken the man who had taken everything from me.
The Hellmouth was in perpetual night and in the traditional sense, daytime had little meaning. The city revolved around the rising and setting of the moon rather than the sun and it had just set, leaving the streets in very dark shadows.
The ritual was to be performed during the darkest phase of nightfall.
I walked inside and put on a brave face. Whatever was about to happen tonight would be a step toward my goal of freeing myself from the man who wanted to keep me as his own. I hoped that it would all be worth it in the end.
Tituba had another woman running the shop, a dark elf female who had a black patch over her right eye. The attendant nodded in greeting. Tituba was waiting for me by her side and didn’t introduce her, and I decided not to ask. Tituba indicated for me to follow and I did.
The two of us walked into the back of her shop. There was already the heavy scent of burning incense that smelled of sage and jasmine and something else that reeked of death. The ceiling was hazy with smoke, giving the dark room a very ominous and dangerous aura.
