New Moon Spell

[redtopaz]

Nex cracked open the door to an empty lab room, peeked inside, and then shouldered the door open. He held a large cardboard box in his arms, which he hurriedly deposited on a bare counter. Nex breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have reached his destination. While he’d ordinarily cast this sort of spell outside, he’d decided to favor proximity to the subject over the serenity of nature.

It was the 7th, the new moon, a little after midnight. He felt a little like a deviant, breaking and entering, but since Camilla never seemed to go anywhere else the spell had the best chances of being effective if cast on hospital grounds. Really, he could have done this in her office is she wasn’t so morbidly bent on suicide.

Picking a suitable section of floor and shoving some IV stands out of the way Nex lifted out a black cloth, a candle, and a sliver chain. Placing the cloth on the floor with the chain and candle on top he went back to the box and removed a stick of carpenters chalk and a box of matches. He looked at the floor and shrugged. It’d wash. He drew a fair sized circle around the cloth, lit the candle, and tossed chalk and matches back in the box.

Nex glanced out the window, getting a feel for where North would be, faced the desired direction and shook out his long limbs. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breath.

“Goddess, I, your son, invite you into my Circle. I invite you to join me in my works and celebration so that I might feel your presence and You may feel my love.” When he opened his eyes all that stared back at the room were two blank pale slates reflecting the candle light. Nex sat before the cloth and reached for the silver chain.

"Η θεά, θεραπεύει τον άρρωστο. Χυτό έξω κακό. Η θεά, θεραπεύει τον άρρωστο." Even as he inexpertly stumbled over the Greek the chain in his hands began to glow silver. "Χυτό έξω κακό. Η θεά, θεραπεύει τον άρρωστο." Nex's voice grew to a crescendo and the lab flashed with a blinding light. Across the grounds, in the Doctors private office a similar flash lit up the room with a blinding brilliance.

Nex gasped and threw out his hand to stop himself from collapsing forward. He hasn't been sure if the evil would 'bounce' or simply disappear (the optimal outcome), but it felt like he'd just come down with whatever had plagued Camilla. Well, he thought, at least it worked.

[Jules]

What. The. Hell.

Camilla was bent over hospital documents, sleeping soundly when BAM. There was an obnoxiously bright light and it suddenly felt as though something had given her a magical and flashy heimlich.

And she felt better, tired and cleaned out, but better then she had in a while. And immediately pinpointed it. The evil was gone. The residual magic that clung to the air was not her own, but one she was familiar with. She'd seen Nex treat a few patients since he'd been hired. She wasn't a complete idiot. Growling, she pressed a button on her phone and her voice boomed through the intercom system. Luckily, the hospital was empty of all patients (she'd kept the King's advice to be cloistered) and employees. Except for one incredibly nosey mage.

"Nex, get your ass down to my office. Now." He tone left little doubt that she was furious, and none whatsoever that if he disobeyed, he might end up maimed.

[redtopaz]

Nex jumped at the sound of the intercom. Camilla really needed to stop spending nights at the hospital. For a doctor, she wasn’t exactly following the steps for a healthy lifestyle. Sighing, Nex blew out the candle, collected his travel-alter set-up and walked to the edge of the chalk. He braced himself, knowing whatever had been in Camilla would have free reign once he stepped out of the blessed circle. Nex stepped over the line, blank white eyes instantly reverting to green.

He stood for a few moments, breathing and trying to feel for any differences. He didn’t feel ill. He felt great! He wasn’t even fatigued from casting a major mojo spell. No use worrying over something that wasn’t even a bother, Nex thought, dropping the materials back in the box. He picked up the box and headed for the door. Once he reached Camilla’s wing, he knocked casually on the office door waiting to be invited in.

[Jules]

The door flung open of it's own accord and Camilla was standing behind her desk. She didn't give any warning. The great misty half-formed bird surrounded him quickly and retreated, and when it did she had an even more thunderous look on her face.

"You fool. YOU MORON. I didn't ask for your help, and I didn't need it. Why the hell did you do this?"

[redtopaz]

Nex closed the door behind him and set the box on the floor. He turned to Camilla with the usual half-smile.

"I don't believe in letting a being die if I know I can do something to cure them. I had to at least make an attempt," he explained, mildly apologetic. He didn't like interfering when he'd been asked not to, but he flatly refused to be passive when he felt a life was in danger.

[Jules]

"I wasn't going to die, I was already getting help, and I was going to be fine by tomorrow. And what did you do? You endangered your own stupid life for NO REASON."

Camilla heard the apologetic note to his voice and ignored it completely. She didn't think him working here was going to work out any longer. And were did he get off curing her without asking?

"AND YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO ENDANGER YOURSELF ON MY BEHALF." The whole situation went agaisnt Camilla's way so completely that it was close to making her physically ill.

[redtopaz]

Nex watched the good doctor with concern. She looked like she was working herself into a fit. He didn't want her passing out from stress just after he'd extracted the spiritual detriment.

"Please calm down, Camilla," he cajoled. He didn't believe for a second that she'd have been 'better by tomorrow'. Nex felt, with his entire being, that whatever had latched on to her would have killed her. He wouldn't have acted if he had felt otherwise.

"My life is not in danger," he gently corrected. "When it... when I... Well, I thought it had entered my body, but my aura... There's nothing damaging in my energy flow. I actually feel energized," he explained, grasping at phrases in an attempt to describe this peculiar phenomenon.

[Jules]

This made her think a moment. What had the king said? It purified the Nightmare? Which was why it had affected her so negatively.

Sitting down, in seeming compliance with his request to 'calm down', Camilla folded her hands and rested them in her lap.

"What's your blood?" She asked bluntly. "Not that it makes a difference to me, I'm just curious as to why it's having a different effect on you then it did me."

[redtopaz]

Nex blinked at the question. A bit peculiar, but if she wanted to know...

"I think I'm type A..." he began, a tad perplexed. Why would she want... Oh! Had she meant... "Ah, I'm a Nightmare, I mean. My mother was half, but I consider myself a Nightmare," he said.

[Jules]

Another few moments of silence as Camilla thought this over.

"The thing is crushing out your one quarter of dream. Which would be why you feel energized. Because you don't have conflicting blood right now. You need to get it out of you."

She sighed and ran her hands through her curls. Already her face was taking on a healthier colouring and her hair its familiar sheen. She'd missed looking good something terrible, but even to someone vain like Camilla, helping came before looking beautiful.

[redtopaz]

Nex was immensely relieved to see a change in Camilla's appearance already. He also felt a tad justified. Even if this menacing energy was inside him, crushing his Dream blood it would have a slighter impact on someone who only had a fourth Dream blood than someone entirely Dream. He ran a hand through his hair.

"It doesn't seem be destructible, but if I find a container of some sort, maybe a Rune Urn, then I might be able to bounce it from myself to that..." he tried. He had absolutely no idea if that was even possible but he felt he should make some effort to assuage Camilla's fears.

"I should be fine," he added with a wider-than-normal smile. Nex reached down to collect his box. It was probably time he headed home. He did, after all, have a new moon to celebrate.

[Jules]

"No. You go home, get some rest and you be back here tomorrow on time and we'll go get you some help. Don't try anything stupid on your own. I can't have an employee dying at the moment."

She glared at him, trying to imprint her will over his own with the mere force of her eyes. Which probably wasn't going to work, but she had to try.

[redtopaz]

"All right. Provided you do the same," he said, shifting the box to his other side. "Goodnight, Camilla." Nex turned, pulling open the door with his free hand and leaving the office.