Who: Cole and Ileana What: Buying books and a tarot reading. Where: Aurum Solis, the store Illy works at. When: Tuesday night. Warnings: None.
It was late in the evening for a shop like theirs to still be open, but when their “psychic” couldn’t get out of bed until the sun went down. The hours of the store seemed to lengthen quite considerably in the evening. Ileana was in charge of the register again, left to her own devices as she nursed a cup of tea that did absolutely nothing for her except give her something to focus on that wasn’t her cards. The air was filled with the almost overpowering scent of Jasmine incense to cover the smell of musty books.
Ileana was a figure in black and ripped fishnets. All her jewelry was stainless steel, including a mocking catholic cross that jingled against the rest of the necklaces she wore. She idly flipped over her cards with a long sigh and a roll of her eyes. Her attention snapped to the door as the bell rang when someone came in.
Cole usually did things with a set purpose or goal in mind, and it was rare that he ever did something for enjoyment alone. On this particular evening he found himself in need of a specific type of book, one that couldn’t be found in the usual commercial bookstores full of teen fiction and ridiculous prices. This wasn’t the occult store he usually visited but he’d heard good things about it from some acquaintances, so he’d decided to give it a shot.
He glanced briefly towards the girl behind the register, his gaze lingering on the cross for a moment before it went elsewhere. Whereas her jewelry was stainless steel the heavy crucifix he wore around his own neck was pure silver, a family heirloom passed down through the generations, and he had more where that came from hidden under his coat. It never hurt to be prepared, after all. As he was unfamiliar with the layout Cole was forced to browse all the aisles, a faint frown crossing his features without being aware that he was doing it. He paused at a shelf near the register, ignoring the various items in favor of a book on exorcism.
Ileana rest her chin on her hands as she watched him, giving him a cheeky little wave with a flutter of her black nailed fingers when he glanced over at him. Oh she loved when these types came in to the store. She wondered if he was going to leave leaflets or literature when he left. Those bible thumpers loved leaving literature.
She carefully leaned over the register counter, carefully eyeing him. She finally offered to him, “Sweetness, do you need help with a book?”
If Cole hadn’t been the only customer currently in the store he would have immediately assumed that she was talking to someone else. He could safely say he’d never been called sweetness in his entire life, not even by his mother or Jude. Did this girl always call strangers by unwanted pet names? He reluctantly lifted his gaze from the book and regarded her silently for a moment, eyebrows raised slightly.
“Do you have anything concerning witchcraft?” He tucked the exorcism book under his arm, not particularly caring what - if any - sort of conclusion she drew from it. Cole had an entire library of books concerning vampires and other so-called mythical creatures, but he wanted to expand his knowledge base as much as possible.
Ileana hopped down from her stool and walked around the counter. She was a petite, lithe thing with legs that went on for miles and a skirt far too high. Beckoning with her index finger for him to follow, she lead him towards the back of the store. “Witchcraft, witchcraft. Well, we have Wicca over here,” she pointed to one shelf, “Modern paganism on the top shelf. Druidism on the very bottom. Modern and ancient shamanism to your left. Satanism on the very bottom right. Then we have your garden variety pagan books about expanding your aura new age bullshit.”
She turned and gave him a once over, “But. You definitely need these,” she stood on her toes to reach some books, pulling them off the shelf. “They’re detailed, totally fucking obscure and I don’t even know why. Way better than the usual recommended editions.”
Cole kept his own opinions about what the girl was wearing to himself, though he did wonder what the owner of this store thought about her choice in clothing. Then again, this wasn’t exactly an office or any other sort of professional job that had a dress code. He followed her towards the back of the store and listened as she pointed out the various subsections, though he had no interest in Wicca and the mention of Satanism only caused his frown to deepen, even though he’d done research on it in the past. ‘Aura new age bullshit’ definitely wasn’t what he was looking for either.
“Alright.” Cole tended to prefer the obscure ones, finding mainstream books to be inaccurate and aimed towards people who had no basic grasp of the concept in general. “Any reason why I ‘definitely need’ them?”
“Because,” she said as she held them out to him, “You look like an academic. These are good with the history and the concepts to the whys and hows, rather than just straight up mysticism. I doubt you’re reading is about how you wish to cast a love spell, which is how a lot of the recommended ones get. You want meat, not fluff. These? Are definite meaty texts.” Ileana cast him a smile again, not hiding the fact she gave him another once over. “And they’re discounted. 20 for each.”
This wasn’t the first time he’d been told he looked like an academic, though he did still wonder how people came to that conclusion in the first place. Cole didn’t understand why she kept giving him once-overs but dismissed it as unimportant, instead opting to focus on the books she was holding out. “You certainly seem to know how to read people,” he said dryly. Either that or she was simply a lucky guesser. “I’ll take them, along with this one.” He took the books and slid the exorcism one out from under his arm, placing it on top. She was right in the sense that he had no interest in casting spells of any kind - witchcraft was blasphemous, just as much as vampires were, but knowing one’s enemy was key to defeating them.
“Years and years of practice, hon,” she told him with a smile. She eyed the exorcism book on top before she gestured at him to follow. “Come on. Do you do a lot of occult book shopping? You really should keep up on authors. This one was proven to be a moneygrab. I have no idea why we even carry it.”
Taking him back through the winding isles to the front where the exorcism books were, she bent over to grab a heavier, larger book. If she didn’t notice she was flashing way too much thigh before, then she wasn’t noticing it now either. Ileana stood up and put it down on the counter, “I know. It’s huge and seems unwieldy. But it’s excellent. Co-written by a priest and a rabbi. But then with added interviews with other religious men and women about evil spirits and exorcisms in cultures. It’s seriously thorough and you’d probably get more out of it.”
“You could say that,” he said with a slight smile. “It’s an... area of interest.” When Cole was out on the ‘job’, as he thought of it, he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was a hunter. In everyday situations like this, however, he didn’t usually mention it. He glanced down at the book in question but wasn’t perturbed by her assessment of it. “I know how to separate fact and fiction, but thank you for the advice.”
He really didn’t need another book, but he supposed it would be rude to tell her to put it back after she’d gotten it down. Another man might have openly stared at the amount of thigh she was flashing, but Cole wasn’t that sort whatsoever. “I don’t mind huge and unwieldy books.” He studied it for a moment and decided to give it a shot. It wasn’t as though he spent his money on much else anyway. “You seem fairly knowledgeable about your store’s inventory. The associates in some stores I’ve been to have no idea what exorcism is beyond its media portrayal.”
“It’s becoming a new thing. You’re not the first person I’ve talked to who’s taken an interest in this stuff,” she said mildly. Ever since the vampires started coming forward, Ileana had been up to her ears in people who wanted to find out about magic or vampires or ghosts. “Really all this...vampire stuff I’ve gotten a lot of people in who want that sort of info. But the vampire books are coming out at like, alarming speed so it’s all shit. I could write a better vampire book than some of these, you know?”
She went around the counter to sit back on her stool, shuffling her tarot cards again. “I have to,” she said with a laugh, “My manager would have my head. That and I love to read. It keeps me busy when I can’t sleep. She lets me borrow them and read up. That and some just come from being raised Roma.”
Cole hated that the occult and related topics had become a sort of trend recently, but there was nothing he could do about it. Sadly most of them were idiots who had no idea what they were getting into beyond the initial allure or whatever the hell drew them in the first place. “I’ve noticed. It seems to be very popular lately.” He didn’t bother hiding the hint of disdain in his tone. “Fortunately I’ve managed to collect enough credible vampire books over the years to avoid having to wade through the nonsense that some people end up falling for. It’s unfortunate, really, since some are actually dependant on lies and myths in situations that could end up being fatal.”
He set the books down on the counter and started rooting for his wallet. If he was better at talking about himself Cole might have mentioned his own childhood and how he’d devoured all the books around him, but he wasn’t. He didn’t talk about much that involved his personal life anymore. “That’s nice of her,” he said offhandedly. “I suppose your upbringing would have some hand in that too.”
Ileana rest her chin on her hands and looked at him, “I think vampires get way too much attention. There’s much scarier things than insomniacs into bloodplay.” She always liked to check how people react to vampires. He, though, looked like a total dick about vampires. So much for asking him out for coffee. She hoped he was nice.
She gave him a look and casually, “If you grow up in a sideshow, you see all sort of weird shit. So all this occult stuff is so not phasing.” She paused before considered, “You ever seen a psychic?”
Cole let out a short laugh, though it was more scornful than humorous. “I don’t find vampires particularly scary, though they are more than just insomniacs with a bloodplay fetish.” They were abominations, monsters who didn’t belong in this world; but he kept these opinions to himself in public. Most of the time, at least.
“I’ve seen people who call themselves psychics.” He flashed another slight smile. “As for a genuine one, well, not yet.”
Ileana cocked an eyebrow at him, “Oh well. Depends on how you view them, I guess.” She said mildly, as if she had no real interest in vampires. It was easy to hold her glamour up on him when she wasn’t concentrating on the fact she really wished to spook him. “Not like I ever met one.”
“And,” she began, “I’ll have you know. I am a psychic. Straight from the old country, second generation.” She flipped over the old deck of tarot cards with her free hand - aged paper in Romanian text. “I usually charge, but I bet I could give you the most accurate psychic reading you’ve ever got.”
“How do you view them?” Cole was curious as to whether she was really this apathetic on the topic of vampires, or perhaps she was hiding her true opinions just like he was. “I’ve met a few,” he said, though his smile was a little sharper this time. He didn’t elaborate beyond that.
“A genuine psychic?” Now he sounded downright disbelieving. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in psychics, but he was of the belief that most were frauds attempting to con people out of their money. “What reason would I have to believe you?”
“I don’t know. I just think it’s like a cult of weirdos. Just wanting to make it seem like they have a reason for being strange,” she said mildly, as if she didn’t honestly care. She didn’t like the sharpness to his smile. He reminded her a little of hunters that tried to come after her in New York. They didn’t live, but they had the same sharpness to their eyes.
“Don’t sound so shocked,” she laughed a little, “Reason to believe me? I’ll do this one, for free. And two, if I’m not accurate? You get one of the books for free.”
Cole gave the girl a long searching gaze, attempting to determine whether she was actually serious or not. If she truly believed that vampires were that small of a threat then he might have been able to feel at least marginally bad for her. “I hope you never meet a vampire,” he told her, and it was more honest than most things he said during his everyday life. Maybe she was lying, maybe she wasn’t; if she was then she wouldn’t stand a chance against even one, never mind a group of them.
The logical part of him insisted that he pay for his books and go on his way, but another part was mildly intrigued. What did he have to lose? “Why not. I’ll give it a try.”
It was so cute when men thought girls like her couldn’t defend themselves. She could see it in his eyes that she looked too young, too naive to know how to fight. Sometimes, she thanked her lucky stars that she got turned young. Beyond the permanent wrinkles she’d have if she was old, Ileana could get away with murder when no one suspected her.
She practically beamed when he agreed. She picked up her old tarot deck, “Come on to my secret lair.” Ileana grinned at him to show she was teasing before she lead him towards the back room. “I’m the resident best psychic this store has. Don’t tell I’m giving this away for free or you’ll make my usual customers jealous.” Her sentence was punctuated with a soft giggle.
Ileana pushed aside the gauzy curtain that separated the backroom from the rest of the regular store. It was all plush decor in warm reds and purples. The table was covered in a dark table cloth and she sunk into the plush chair on one side, laying her cards in front of her. She gestured for him to take a seat across from her, “You ready to be wowed?”
Cole knew better than most that appearances could be deceiving, and for all he knew this innocent-looking girl could be the exact opposite. He was quite good at keeping his true thoughts hidden and allowing people to see exactly what he wanted them to, which was what he did now. He always clung to some level of suspicion unless he was in the company of friends, which wasn’t too often. She seemed overly pleased when he agreed although he couldn’t figure out why, unless she simply liked showing off her alleged skills.
“I won’t say a word.” It came out sounding half-serious whereas he knew she was joking, but his humour tended to be on the dry and cynical side. He followed her into the back room and raised his eyebrows, since this didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but he supposed he couldn’t judge her supposed abilities on the way the room looked. “We’ll see,” was all he said as he sat on the other side of the table, not putting much faith in being ‘wowed’ but willing to let her try.
Ileana shuffled her cards, looking at him curiously. “Can I get information first? I just need a name to go with this reading,” she explained, “It helps me focus my head without jumping to every other person.” She really just wanted to get a name out of him. Perhaps a phone number, but he probably wouldn’t give it out. So much for asking him to coffee.
His reluctance to give out his name was an instinctive thing, though enough people knew of him in the city to make his suspicions look more like paranoia than healthy caution. “Cole.” There was a momentary pause before he relented. “Cole Evans.” Whether it would really help with the ‘reading’ or not, he wasn’t sure. “Do I get your name in return?” It might be useful in finding out more about her, to find out whether she really was as innocent as she seemed.
Ileana smiled at him as she placed her cards out in front of her on the table. The deck was old, far older than a girl her age should have access to it appeared. They were Victorian and written in Romanian instead of English that he could see with a quick glance as she shuffled. “Well, very nice to meet you, Cole Evans. I’m Ileana Grigore,” she told him, then gave him a cheeky smile, “Have we ever met before? Feels like I know you.”
“My favorite way to read is called the Celtic Cross,” she told him as she moved her cards to the side. “This first card I pull is your present,” as she said this, she flipped a card over into the middle of the table. A knight on horseback, holding a pentacle in his open palms greeted them from the card face. “Knight of Pentacles,” she explained, “A man of unwavering dedication. Cautious and thurough. A man of realism and hard work. On the opposite side, he’s a man of obsessions. A man filled with inflexibility in his current position.”
Cole noted that her cards were much older than he’d been expecting, especially for someone of her apparent age, but he didn’t comment on it. They could have easily been some sort of family heirloom yet he also knew that there were countless other explanations for how she’d come to have them, but he didn’t necessarily believe she would tell him the truth if he did ask. “It’s nice to meet you too, Ileana.” He paused for a moment, but her name didn’t sound any more familiar than she looked, so he assumed she was either mistaken or saying she felt like she knew him just for the hell of it. “No,” he said, flashing a brief smile. “I’m sure I would remember if we had.”
He glanced down at the card with an unreadable expression. Admittedly there was truth in what she said, and anyone who knew him would call him both obsessed and inflexible. What she described could apply to any number of people, however, and not just himself. “Not bad,” he said, leaing back slightly in his chair. Now to see what else she came up with.
Ileana smirked at him and told him, “I’m sure you would’ve. I’m far too memorable to forget.” She gave him a cheeky little wink before she looked back down at her cards. Her hand hovered over the deck before she plucked the next card. “Second card is the challenge. Your most immediate one. The difficulty that keeps you from your future.”
With a careful hand, she turned the card over featuring a woman bound, surrounded by eight swords. “Eight of Swords. Ouch. Eight of Swords as a challenge means you are feeling restricted. A sense of powerlessness in a failure that you are trying to fix.”
That earned another eyebrow raise. This Ileana certainly wasn’t shy, whatever else she might be. Cole rested his elbows on the table as she drew the next card and barely managed to keep his expression neutral when it was revealed, since he didn’t want to deal with any questions that might come if he gave an outward reaction. “Restricted,” he repeated thoughtfully. There was no doubt in his mind what the failure was, if indeed this was all true. Jude’s death was his greatest failure and deep down he knew that even if he rid the world of every last vampire, it wouldn’t be enough. But it would be something. “So you don’t see specifics?” Honestly, he’d be glad if she didn’t. Very glad.
“Pasts aren’t my forte as much as futures,” she told him cryptically. “You’ll get your specifics.” She reached for the third card, flipping it over onto the table. This was a man working on a pentacle surrounded by seven more. “Eight of Pentacles represents your distant past. I knew you were an academic. This is the card that’s for increasing knowledge. You worked on an expertise, a very specific topic.” She paused and flipped another card, “I felt there was something missing.”
The next card that laid flat next to the Eight of Pentacles was a card of two lovers entwined. “The Lovers,” she said, giving him a look, “You were in love. An academic in love. You found someone to create a union with.”
“I see.” Lucky for him, since it was his past he would prefer to leave unknown. It wasn’t anyone’s business other than his own. He simply nodded, not elaborating on what the specific topic might have been, but the next card made him freeze for a brief second.
This time his expression hardened slightly, but Cole forced himself to remain calm. “Most people are in love at one point or another in their lives.” Like hell was he going to give any details, especially to a girl he’d just met.
Ileana wasn’t stupid enough to not know when she hit a nerve. So she kept quiet and moved on, “The next card is the most recent past. Something that happened more recently than the cards I pulled before.” The next card she turned over on the table in front of Cole was a figure weeping over five cups spilled across the ground. “Five of Cups,” she faltered at continuing, “A sign of bereavement and sorrow. Of loss.”
Cole sighed quietly to himself, though he was less skeptical of how genuine her abilities were than before they’d begun. Five years and it still felt like only yesterday when he’d gotten that fateful call, and he remembered every detail in sharp clarity. How baffled and sickened the police had been. The way her body looked before they managed to drag him away. The funeral, all those people who suddenly didn’t matter in attendance, and knowing the monsters who’d killed her were out there doing the same thing to other innocent people. So he’d decided to stop them... all of them.
“I wonder if my future will be this cheerful,” he remarked, forcing a smile.
Ileana felt, admittedly, terrible for dragging up apparently bad memories. Sometimes, things like this happened and she had no real way of stopping it. There was a pause before she told him, “I’m going to start on your future. This may...look a little weird,” she told him. It was risky for her to attempt this, since she hadn’t ate in longer than she should have. She wanted to give him a proper reading. She felt he earned it for letting her drag open old wounds.
Her hands stilled on the table, one resting ontop of her cards while the other gripped the edge. Pulling herself in to a trance was easy, but it looked like she had gone to sleep to Cole. Her eyes lulled shut and her head dropped forward. Inhale. Exhale. The flashes of the future cleared:
Quick flash of blood. Another flash of dark hair and blue eyes. A hand reaching for Cole’s. In the vision, she saw herself. She saw blood and fire and passion.
Out of the vision, Ileana twitched until they looked like convulsions and a small trickle of blood ran from her nose.
Cole didn’t want anyone’s pity, especially from strangers, and he was glad she didn’t apologize for his loss like some idiotic people felt the need to. He had no idea what to expect when she said she’d start on his future, since he assumed she would just be using her cards like before. Instead it looked a lot like she’d simply fallen asleep right in front of him, and even though she couldn’t see it his expression became one of confusion tinged with faint annoyance. Was this supposed to be some kind of joke?
He was about to get up when she started twitching, similar to someone who was having some type of seizure, but it was the trickle of blood that made him doubt this was just an act. He reached across the table and tried to shake her awake, unsure of how to deal with someone in this kind of situation. His medical knowledge was better suited to stitching up wounds. “Ileana? Are you alright?”
She felt the burn of silver on her palms, despite knowing it was not even there. In her quick flashes of vision, all she saw was Cole protecting her. It turned sinister. Darker and darker. The look in his eyes turned manic and she snapped open her own. She wasn’t looking at him, rather through him. Quickly, her hands turned over the cards -- Two of Cups, Nine of Swords, Ten of Swords.
With that, Ileana collapsed back in her chair and finally focused. “Wow, that one sucked,” she commented mildly as she reached to wipe away the blood that trickled out her nose.
Cole drew back sharply when her eyes snapped open, one hand involuntarily jerking towards his jacket for the weapons he always carried with him. A moment later he let it drop to his side, however, since there was no obvious danger. He watched with a frown as she turned over the cards as though she wasn’t even aware of what she was doing, still torn between skepticism and belief.
“That one?” He still didn’t fully understand what the hell just occurred. “What was all that?”
“A vision thing,” she explained vaguely with a wave of a hand, “It’s how I see your future.” She paused and tapped her finger on Two of Cups and Nine of Swords. “These are the lead up to your final outcome. Two of Cups is....” She paused as she thought of what she saw, “Another union. Falling for someone. Nine of Swords is all worry and anguish. The final outcome is Ten of Swords...martyrdom.”
Visions. Cole did believe that some possessed the ability to see as Ileana apparently could, through the use of visions, yet it was in his nature to be suspicious all the same. “Do you have those often?” His gaze dropped once again to the cards she’d pulled, but when she explained what they meant he couldn’t help the expression of disbelief that crossed his features. Falling for someone? Anguish and worry? Martyrdom? No, if he was going to sacrifice himself then it was going to be for his cause, for the good of mankind as a whole; not for one single person. “I don’t mean to offend you, but whatever you saw is incorrect.” His tone became much cooler. He hadn’t dated since Jude died, and he had no intention of doing so in the future. People could think whatever they wanted.
“Only when I let myself have one,” she said simply, pulling a disgusted look on her face as she pulled back a bloody hand from her nose. What a waste. Ileana leveled him a look as he kept talking. She wanted to tell him how her visions were rarely ever wrong, especially for humans. Yet, she thought of seeing herself in it and thought perhaps to just leave it be. “Well then. You get a free book now, don’t you?”
She stood up on shaky legs before she walked from around the table, going to grab tissue to clean up her hands and her face. She didn’t seem to notice that she was still swaying on her feet.
“I suppose I do.” Cole wasn’t inclined to let the visions of a girl dictate his future, and he was a firm believer in free will. It had been entertaining and somewhat insightful to experience the reading, he’d admit that, but he wasn’t going to take what she’d said to heart. Still, he thought it was only right that he thank her, especially since she seemed weakened after her episode or whatever it was. “Thank you,” he said in a completely neutral tone, collecting his books and standing up from the table.
There was a long moment of hesitation. He really just wanted to pay and leave, but a part of him couldn’t leave until he knew she really was alright. It was the same way for anyone who might be in need - he couldn’t just turn his back on them. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
Ileana lead him back to the front counter, taking the books from him and ringing him out. “Not a problem,” she said mildly, “35.75. How’re you paying? And I’m fine. I’ll just need to go get food or I’ll pass out again.”
The ‘again’ wasn’t very comforting, but Ileana seemed more than capable of taking care of herself. “Cash,” he said, digging through his pockets for the exact change. Once he had it Cole slid it across the counter and drew his hand back. He still had enough time to do some reading and see what kinds of things he could find out by asking around the city, since there were a few bars he’d come to frequent since he’d been here that were rife with vampire activity and the kind of information hunters wanted to know. “Well, as long as you’ll be fine. Do you always get like that afterward?”
She took the money from him and put it in the register, ducking under the counter to grab a plastic bag for him. “It’s sweet you’re so worried,” she said, with a peek of blue eyes over the edge of the counter. “My regular clients never worry this much. I’m surprised sometimes if I still got my knickers on cause I’m out for so long.”
It was supposed to be some twisted form of a joke. She put the books in a plastic bag as she straightened up. “I only get like this when they’re...really visual.”
Cole didn’t see anything particularly sweet about making sure that someone who’d just looked like she’d had a seizure was okay, though he knew too well that there were a lot of people who wouldn’t give a damn. A look of disgust crossed his face at her attempted joke, clearly indicating that he’d taken it a bit too seriously. Vampires were abominations, but some humans weren’t much better. “Any decent person would care whether you passed out and possibly died just to tell them their future.” He shrugged and took the bag, letting it swing at his side. “I see. Well, it was... certainly interesting.”
“Yeah well, sometimes if you’re there to give them what they wanna hear. They really don’t give a shit,” she told him plainly, but ended up smiling. “Anyway, I hope you like the books. Come back sometime. Lemme know what you think of the exorcism book.”
“Hm.” Cole shrugged, unable to argue with that kind of blunt logic. “Thank you again, Ileana.” His grip on the bag tightened. Her supposed prediction of his future lingered in the back of his mind, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it. Really, it was almost laughable. “I’ll let you know,” he said over his shoulder, already half turned towards the door once he started to speak, and by the time he was done he was already halfway out and onto the sidewalk.