“Okay, so what’s the plan, Detective Scales?” Tani asked.
“First of all, don’t ever call me that again,” Violet said. “Second of all, I guess just find Ami. She’s tall, looks like she could pick up a house and beat you with it, and has brown hair. I’m sure it won’t be that hard to find her.”
“Then what?” Tani asked.
“Get what info we can about the necklace from her,” Violet said. “Find out if she’s got anything else we need to worry about. Oh, no matter what, don’t challenge anyone to a weight-lifting contest.”
“Why would I ever do that?” Tani asked.
“I don’t know,” Violet said with a shrug. “I’ve seen people do dumber things. Okay, let’s go.” Taking a slow, deep breath, she readied herself before shoving the door open.
Ah, nothing like smelling that first wave of sweat, blood and fur. Fortunately she managed to not gag. The building was actually a lot better lit than she would have expected. She could hear the cheering and yelling from here, as well as loud howls.
At least it wouldn’t be hard to find them. She started walking towards the sounds, only to find her way suddenly blocked by a young man. “Err, I’m sorry. Miss and… uhhhh…”
“Miss,” Violet said. Well, at least the confusion made more sense when she was covered in scales.
“Miss, I need to see some IDs,” the man said.
Violet blinked a few times. “IDs?”
“Yes,” the man said.
Violet paused for a moment before glancing back to Tani and then back at the man. “Are you carding us?”
“Yes,” the man said before standing a bit taller. “No ID, no entry.”
Violet gave a soft sigh before pulling out her wallet and flashing her ID. “Not here for pleasure. Hunter business.”
The man cocked an eye before looking to her picture and then back at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
Violet blinked a few more times before face palming. “Right. Scales. I swear. Tani?”
“That’s her,” Tani said before holding out her own ID. “This is actually why we’re here. We’re looking for a werewolf by the name of Ami?”
“Ami and Geofrey,” Violet said. “Apparently they perform here?”
The man frowned for a moment, his eyes narrowing on them. “Uh huh. Listen, I don’t know what the hunters want--”
“It’s best you don’t know,” Violet said. “We’re not coming in here gun’s blazing or drowning the area in silver, so I’d think it’s pretty clear we’re not here to start trouble. If we were, we wouldn’t be coming through the front door. Listen, I know you’re just doing your job, keeping out trouble makers. But I woke up this morning with a tail, claws and a desire to curl up on a hoard of old coins and there’s a werewolf in there who can tell me why. So can we please cut to the part where you just tell us what you want and we can go get this over with?”
The man gave a sigh before nodding. “Cover is twenty bucks each.”
“Thank you, was that so hard?” Violet asked before pulling some bills out of her wallet. Within a few moments the man finally stood aside and the pair walked into the main area.
The place wasn’t quite packed, but there were plenty of people in the stands. A rather large ring had been constructed in the center of the room, steel posts connected with thick, steel chains. In the ring were two werewolves, slashing and tearing into each other, only for one to get shoved away, hit the chains and then bounce back towards the other. While blood flew and the fight looked as brutal as could be, she knew it wasn’t.
Werewolves usually healed incredibly quickly aside, unless they were wounded by silver weapons, so within a few minutes each claw mark would likely heal back up. A brutal, vicious fight for the crowd without any of the issues of anyone getting actually hurt. Though she cringed when a spray of blood hit someone in the front row. No wonder they had to ID people who came in here.
“Holy shit,” Tani said softly, her eyes locked on the fight.
“Yeah, they’re brutal,” Violet said softly, her eyes looking over the crowd. Ami was here, wasn’t she? Was she backstage? She’d thought a woman built like an olympian statue would have stuck out like a sore thumb, but half the people here seemed to be built that way. Maybe--
Then her eyes locked onto the woman, standing on the ends of one of the aisles and watching the fight. Ironically, it wasn’t her size that drew attention. It was the bandages that could be seen along her shoulders, poking out from under a simple tank top. Violet wondered if the bandages were because of all of her knives. Probably. Hopefully the woman didn’t have a grudge. “Over there, come on.”
“What?” Tani asked. Violet rolled her eyes and grabbed the girl’s hand, dragging her towards the large woman.
Violet was halfway there when Ami looked up and noticed them. For a moment she looked confused and surprised. That surprise quickly shifted to alarm and almost panic, the color draining from her face and her eyes locked on Violet. She had to give the woman credit, she didn’t try and run. Or maybe she was too surprised by having a dragon woman walking towards her. At least she doubted the woman could recognize her. “Ami,” Violet said once she was close enough. “We need to talk.”
“Can it wait?” Ami asked. “Geofrey’s in the middle of his--”
“No,” Violet said. “It can’t.”
Ami gulped and shook her head. “Violet, listen, I--”
“Wait, what? You recognize me?” Violet asked. Was it her smell? Did she smell the same? Wait, no. Scarlet said she smelled like a dragon. Didn’t she?
“I mean, err, not really,” Ami said before she reached up and tapped her neck. “You know.”
“What?” Violet asked before reaching up to touch her neck. She went entirely still when she felt an all too familiar necklace around her throat. “That’s impossible. Scarlet said she locked it up. How?” She then glanced back to Tani. “Tani? Did you see when this necklace went on my neck?”
“Huh?” Tani asked before finally looking away from the fight. “What? You’ve been wearing that the whole time. I thought that was why we came here?”
“It is,” Violet said before turning back towards the werewolf. Ami managed to at least look guilty, her eyes focused on the ground. Violet took a long, slow breath before nodding. Maybe delaying the talk for a few moments wasn’t a bad idea, it would allow her to calm down from that little shock. “Right. Geofrey is fighting, then? The moment the fight is over, you and I need to have a little talk. Okay?”
“Yes,” Ami said, her eyes focused on anywhere but her.
Violet gave a soft sigh and reached a hand up to rub her forehead. So it was one of THOSE kinds of curses. Wonderful. Well, fine. It wasn’t the first time she’d dealt with a stickier curse. As long as it didn’t have any other issues, they’d be fine.
------
“It was my idea,” Geofrey said once the four of them had left the main, crowded area. Violet had to give the guy credit, while he had lost the fight in the end and was likely still aching from the match, he didn’t seem to hesitate to throw himself directly under the bus. Hell, he hadn’t even taken any time to put a shirt on after he transformed back into a human, now just walking around in nothing but partially shredded pants. “If you’re going to arrest us, arrest me. She didn’t want to--”
“Geofrey, stop it,” Ami said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I was the one who gave it to her.”
“Ami, don’t,” Geofrey said. “I was the one who suggested it, if I hadn’t--”
Violet gave a sigh before, with a resounding crack, she slapped her tail against the wooden floor. Both of them fell silent. She barely, just barely, suppressed the urge to squeal with giddy delight at just how effective that was. While she didn’t want it to be permanent, having a tail was turning out to be pretty awesome. “I’m not planning to arrest either of you.” Technically, she was pretty sure she couldn’t. While what they’d done was technically illegal, she didn’t want to imagine the headache it would be trying to pursue actual charges. If they just feigned ignorance of the necklace being cursed, it’d be an uphill fight trying to prove that they’d known. Not to mention the fact she originally suspected it was and still put it on. “I want to know if there’s anything else like that. This stuff?” Violet reached up and tugged on the necklace. “Is dangerous. It shouldn’t be spread about.”
“What?” Ami asked. “You’re not going to, uhhh, hunt us?”
“I wasn’t intending on it,” Violet said. “But I had to ride here with a tail, so I’m not fully set on not taking vengeance yet. The big thing I want to know is how, when, where, why?”
“What?” Ami asked.
“How did you get this necklace, where did you get it, when did you get it and why did you give it to me?” Violet asked, her headache actually growing. “Also, why is it so damn hot in here?”
“That’d be me, sorry,” Geofrey said. “Should I put on a shirt?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“No!” Tani said quickly, drawing looks from all three of them.
Violet finally just shook her head. “Cute, but not looking for jokes. I’m here for answers. Let’s start with where.”
“I found it on a forest walk about two months ago,” Ami said softly.
“I’m not in the mood for lies,” Violet said.
“I did! Honest,” Ami said quickly. “I figured one of the tourists dropped it. I called lost and found, but since nobody had asked about it, I just kept it.”
“And then you wore it?” Violet asked.
“Eventually, yeah,” Ami said softly. “I didn’t even realize it was it, at first. I just felt more aggressive. Territorial. Found it harder to stop from transforming during the week. But then things started getting weird.”
“Weird how?” Violet asked.
“I kept being sure I took it off, but then I was wearing it later. I’d get into all kinds of fights. Transform on the drop of a hat. It was pretty miserable,” Ami said. “Then I started getting nightmares.”
“Nightmares?” Violet asked, a small pang of anxiety forming in her stomach.
“Yeah,” Ami said. “They were getting really, really bad for a while. I’d fight and claw and…”
“Like what happened at the park?” Violet asked.
“No, not that bad,” Ami said. “I don’t know what happened there. It just… one moment we were fine. The next the necklace was just on my neck. I didn’t know how or why, it just was there. Like something was calling me. I couldn’t control myself, I just felt like I was going mad. I’d been trying to get rid of it for weeks. I’d throw it away, it’d appear on my dresser or sometimes on my neck. I tried tossing it back where I found it, but it came back. I tried taking it to the local hedge witch who moved in a few years back, but she said it could only be dispelled by giving it to another.”
“Good to know I made the ideal target,” Violet said, her voice dripping with sarcasm and tail flickering with annoyance behind her. “So it made you transform more? Where did you say you found it?”
“Just in the woods,” Ami said. “Along one of the trails, I could show you if you li--”
“No,” Violet said, a frown forming on her lips and a hand moving up to her chin. Nightmares, a curse that had to be gifted, turned her into some weird dragon thing, made the other girl transform more. She felt she was gathering the needed information, at least. “So it got worse in the city?”
“No,” Ami said. “Actually, when I was there it was a lot better for a bit. Then it just kind of exploded all at once and I couldn’t control myself.”
Violet nodded. “I see. That kind of makes sense. These kinds of things tend to not function as well around so many people. Too many shamans and other things keeping the local magic in line, so whatever it was was probably just held back until it hit you all at once. What exactly did your hedge witch say?”
“That it’s supposed to amplify transformations of some kind. ‘Fill me with the vigor of my ancestors’ or something,” Ami said nervously. “But I didn’t feel like I was being amplified. At least, not in a way I wanted. I just thought, you know, if I gave it away then it wouldn’t be able to affect me anymore. And who better than a hunter?”
“Did you go to the park and hope some hunter would stop you so you could drop it off on them?” Tani asked.
“No,” Ami said before giving a nervous chuckle. “I just got lucky, I guess. Heh. I mean, we’d been in town for a few days already. I don’t know why, I just had to get out of the hotel room. When we went to the park, we, well, then we ran into you. It seemed like the ideal way to get rid of it. I didn’t know you were, uhhhh… you know.”
“What?” Violet asked.
“I thought you were human,” Ami said. “I figured you’d have the curse, transform more, but if you weren’t something that transformed it wouldn’t really affect you.”
“I am human,” Violet said.
“But now you’re all scaley,” Ami said.
“You don’t say,” Violet said, her voice once more dripping with sarcasm. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I’ve got one curse that has already changed me, I don’t know why this one overlapped to give me scales. Especially if it is supposed to work with werewolves. I’ll figure it out. I’m going to go have a little talk with the local hedge witch. Before I leave, though. Is there anything ELSE I need to know? More importantly, are there any other magical, cursed objects you have? Or is this it?”
“That’s it,” Ami said. “So, uhhh, you’re not going to--”
“Arrest you? No,” Violet said. “I am, however, going to bill you.”
Ami tensed up, her eyes going wide. “What?”
“Bill you,” Violet said. “For curse removal. Unless you’d rather take this cursed pain in my neck back?”
“No!” Geofrey said quickly. “We’ll pay you, just get rid of that thing.”
“Good,” Violet said, a small, wicked smile forming on her lips.
------
“I feel like I’m learning so much,” Tani said, an insufferable smirk on her face even as she drove them away from the town, towards the cabin the ‘Witch of the Pale Moon’ supposedly lived in. “Was that extortion?”
“Negotiating,” Violet said. “Also, expenses. And a ‘Next time just come to me and ask for help or I’ll charge you extra for making me track you down’ fee.”
“You think the check will clear?” Tani asked.
“Maybe,” Violet said with a shrug. “If not, I’ll call them. I probably undercharged them, anyway.”
Tani gave a light snicker. “My, aren’t you a greedy little thing. Is that the dragon in you, or just normal Violet?”
“How many plates of sushi did you make me pay for?” Violet asked and, to her amusement, the girl’s smile faltered.
“That was different,” Tani said.
“It’s really not,” Violet said. “If I was anyone else, I could have been put in real danger. I think I’m starting to see what this curse is and why it showed up where it did. I just wish I understood WHY it did this to me.”
“Oh?” Tani asked. “It’s just bad luck, isn’t it?”
“No,” Violet said. “Giving her nightmares? That sounds like a ‘possession’ style of curse. Not to mention the altering of her mood. But it wasn’t really bad until the day she met me. I kind of told her a little bit of a lie, but it’s probably better she didn’t know. A lot of hunters call me ‘Hunter of Curses’, but that’s not really the truth. It’s more like I’m ‘Hunted by Curses’. Curses are nasty in that once you have one, others almost track you down. I’m willing to bet that’s why she felt the need to go to the park that day, just so she happened to be there when I was going by. Hell, the fact I was nearby is probably what triggered the necklace to have such a terrible effect on her. Especially if it wasn’t as powerful while there UNTIL she met me.”
“So you think the necklace wanted you?” Tani asked. “That’s kind of creepy. And you think it’s possessed?”
“Maybe, but I doubt it wanted me specifically,” Violet said with a shrug. “Curses are rarely intelligent and most people don’t keep a curse if they can avoid it. I’m willing to bet if I tossed it into the trash it’d show up in your glove box or something when we were driving back home.”
“Still think it’ll be easy to break the curse?” Tani asked.
“Maybe,” Violet said. “Depends. I was imagining it was some kind of simple thing. But if we’re looking at some kind of ancient, long deceased werewolf who put some curse on this thing on their deathbed? That’s a bit rougher. The local witch might say ‘have to give it to another’, but there’s usually someone who can break these things for the right fee. You just need to find someone who’s experienced enough to untangle it all. Honestly, I’m more concerned that it did this to me, rather than making me go all wolf-like. I wonder if anything else is tangled up in this silly necklace.”
“So…”
“Still better than mummy rot,” Violet said. “It might just mean finding an old grave site and putting whatever spirit did this to rest. Or hey, who knows? Maybe it’ll come looking for me.”
“What, like a ghost?” Tani asked.
“Yeah,” Violet said. “Nothing like an angry, vengeful spirit to brighten up your day.”
“Maybe it’ll be your friend too. I mean, you can get the whole set,” Tani said. “Ghoul, vampire, ghost.”
“And the cursed girl,” Violet said. “We could start a band. Come on, let’s go see this ‘Witch of the Pale Moon’. If she can give me a bit more information, I’m pretty sure I can get to work on some magic that’ll put all of this behind me.”
“Uh huh,” Tani said. “Like how you found out the necklace was cursed?”
Violet gave a sigh and just crossed her arms. “Fine. I’ll find someone who’s actually good at magic to help me,” she said bitterly.
“You don’t think messing up that spell did this, do you?” Tani asked.
“I hope not,” Violet said. “I mean, possibly. But I’m not THAT bad at magic. I think. You know, having a curse on me is supposed to make me better at it.”
“No accounting for anti-talent I guess,” Tani said. “Who knows, maybe this witch can help. Your luck does seem pretty nasty though.”
“Why?” Violet asked.
“It’s starting to look like rain,” Tani said.
Violet glanced out the windows and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds had gathered above and she felt a small sense of dread wash over her. She ran her fingers over her knives just to be sure they were still there. It was just a coincidence. Maybe. Not an ominous warning that something bad was going to happen. Even if this was a possession kind of curse, it wasn’t like whatever spirit thing was after it was going to come after her immediately. Ami had had it for weeks before.
“I think that’s the cabin,” Tani said.
Violet glanced ahead and felt her stomach sink into her shoes. Okay, she took it back. She’d rather some ominous angry spirit bringing down a thunderstorm on her than this. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said.
“What?” Tani asked.
Violet eyed the cabin and the sign out front. ‘Witch of the Pale Moon’, it said in great dark letters over a white, circular sign. But that wasn’t what drew her attention. It was the terrible, ancient van that was painted orange with great black polka dots on it. She’d thought that woman had retired so, so long ago. She took another long, slow breath. It probably wasn’t her. It hopefully wasn’t her. Even if it was, it wasn’t like the woman would remember her. It had been over a decade. “Nothing.”
Tani pulled up in front of the cabin. “Do you think this is an okay place to park? Not really any actual parking spots.”
“Yes,” Violet said before shoving open the door and starting to make her way towards the cabin. It wasn’t her. It definitely wasn’t her. No way it was her. It wouldn’t, couldn’t be her. What were the chances?
She was almost to the door when it flung open and a woman, smelling heavily of cheap incense, stood in the doorway, wreathed in so many charms that she practically rattled with every step.
No, that was her. Violet grit her teeth. Sure, the woman had gone by ‘Witch of the Glade’ when she’d met her as a child, but Violet would never, ever forget that woman. After all, she had been yet another crock her mother had taken her to to get her ‘fixed’ once all the reputable shamans, witches and warlocks she could get a hold of had tried to ‘fix’ her little curse.
“Hello, weary traveler,” the woman said in a tone that Violet was sure was supposed to be ominous. “The moon foretold your coming.”
Violet braced herself. She was a professional. She could do this. It was just like dealing with anyone else she didn’t like. She’d talk to the woman, get what information she could and then just head back to the city where she could have someone she trusted take a look at the necklace. “Hello, Miss Witch of the Pale Moon?” she asked in as neutral a tone as she could. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Of course, of course,” the woman said before opening the door wider. “Please, come in. All who desire guidance may come.” Violet tried to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. She mentally added ‘so long as they pay your fees’ to the end of the woman’s sentence.
Violet took a slow, deep breath. She was NOT a child anymore. She was not going to let herself be intimidated by a bit of smoke and mirrors. Nope. Never again.