''Originally posted November 7, 2008
((I was given free reign by Robi's player to explore that character's past. Knowing that the toon had been sexually abused, I came up with this idea.))
The structure smelled vaguely of sweat. This was not quite what Shiv expected. Robi’s blood had led her here, a magical taint. This hardly seemed like the sanctum of a warlock, certainly not one capable of anthropomorphizing a raccoon. It looked like any college dorm.
Unnoticed by the building’s few residents, Siobhan pulled a small vial from a pocket. She rolled it between her palms and extended her senses. Whatever had affected Robi’s blood was here, upstairs somewhere. Replacing the vial in her pocket, she made her way deeper into the building.
It did not take long to find the room in the stretches of ill repaired hallways. A handmade sign in a brazen hand declared “The Wizard is IN!” She wrinkled her brow, puzzled. She took out the vial and concentrated. Whatever had tainted Robi’s blood lie just behind the door.
Siobhan raised a hand, testing. Her palm pressed against the gauss of a simple, weak ward. She grunted. Maybe the wizard was in. She rested her ear against the portal, listening for a moment. She heard the gentle sounds of heavy breathing and strangely familiar moans and chitters. Dropping her shoulder, she forced open the door and the ward with an urgent shove.
A twenty-something scrambled in his desk chair, quickly reaching down for the jeans that had fallen to his ankles. He yelled out, turning towards the door as did so. “Christ! Don’t you knock?”
Siobhan crossed the small room with a few wide steps, staring at the monitor: Young men, some no more than boys, take turns sexually assaulting a tied up anthropomorphic raccoon. They had filmed it. They had filmed weeks of abuse and degradation. “Destroy this,” she said quietly to the room.
“Look, bitch. I don’t know who you think you’re dealing with here,” the student began.
Siobhan turned on him, hands weaving a quick hex. “Tis witch,” she corrected. The sandy haired lad collapsed to the floor, felled by a series of painful muscle spasms. She crouched by the twitching figure, making room for the hint of a shadow that sat at the computer terminal. The ampoule of blood confirmed it. This wisp of magical talent had cast some spell over Robi.
“Hey,” he hissed. “It’s not like that. She wanted to.”
“There are more files,” said the shadow by the computer. “Different women. And a spreadsheet. He accepted payment.”
Siobhan reached into the young man’s still unfastened jeans with a firm grip. “Ye cursed them,” she stated plainly. “Made them want…. for money.”
She tightened her grip. “Lift them, the curses. All of them.” He nodded, agreeing with tear stained cheeks. Siobhan released him, removed her hex, stood, and stepped back. “Now.”
He rolled to his knees and cautiously began the incantations while Jacek finished removing the video files from his computer. Siobhan watched, curious if the lad would try something. Between easily defeating his ward, sending him crashing to the floor, and threatening his manhood, the boy seemed ready to comply.
She knelt by him when he had finished. “Ah will knoo iff’n ye di this again,” she said to him. “Ye willnae receive a warning.” She held her fingers up to resemble a scissors. “There bae worse fates than death, ah ken.”
He shuddered, then nodded again. Siobhan stood and left the room. Jacek stayed to feed.
The dorm was not what Siobhan had expected. The magic in Robi’s blood had not revealed her origins. She frowned. Where magic failed, perhaps science would reveal a clue.
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