Who: Zania and Gabriel Where: The Castell House When: Evening, December 29th Status: Complete
As soon as the fog lifted, Zania was out of the shop, shutting it down for the day and heading back home. The whole time she’d been trapped, she’d been itching to look through her grimoire, to see if there was anything she’d overlooked, perhaps a spell she’d forgotten to read side effects to. Deep down, she knew that wasn’t the case, she had the book practically memorized, but it was a place to start. From there, she decided she’d dig into the boxes in the basement, glad she’d started better organizing them, but daunted by the task ahead of her. Something had its hooks in her and she had no idea what it was or how to get rid of it.
She’d called Gabriel just as soon as she had cell service, confirming that he was okay and inviting him over. For whenever, of course. She didn’t expect him to rush over. She’d needed a shower herself, but that was all she managed before disappearing into the basement to pour over the boxes. If some clue was there, she was determined to find it. The faster she could get rid of this curse, or whatever it was, the better. She didn’t want to find out what came after spiders.
Gabriel had been very relieved to find out that Zania was okay, as well as his auntie. He hadn’t gone right over to the Castells’, instead going home first to check on JC and his animals and to get Anubis settled. The dog had been steadfast through the entire ordeal, but Gabriel knew how weary he was. It had been terrifying for everyone, big and small. He’d taken a long hot shower and gotten himself something to eat, then got dressed to head over to Zania’s. She’d sounded distracted on the phone, or just exhausted, he couldn’t tell. He had no idea how long she would want company for, but if she wanted to be seen, he wanted to see her. He shivered as he got out of the car and hurried up the porch steps to ring the doorbell.
Zania hurried up the stairs when the doorbell rang, her bare feet thumping on the wood floor. She’d pulled on some leggings and an oversized sweater, but her hair was still wet from the shower and it was only when her stomach grumbled that she realized she never got around to eating. She shivered when she opened the door, never quite prepared for the cold blast of air that came with it, but hugged Gabriel as soon as he stepped inside. “Hey,” she said, wanting to linger in that hug, but also wanting that door shut as soon as possible. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Have you eaten? I need to fix something. With everything going on, I kind of forgot.”
Gabriel wasted no time coming inside, more than happy to be out of that cold himself. He hugged Zania back and moved out of the way of the door so she could close out the elements again. He may have been an earth witch, but he just wasn’t used to this weather at all yet. New Orleans had never been this cold. “I had a bite or two, but I could eat again,” he told her as he unwound the big scarf around his neck. It was always polite to eat when you were a guest, and Gabriel could almost always summon up an appetite, so it worked. “You need some help or anythin’?” he offered. She looked kind of frazzled, but Gabriel thought that was pretty understandable, considering the past couple of days.
“I just need your company,” Zania said, pushing up on her toes to give him a little kiss. “That and I kind of need your input on what might be a crisis. I’m hoping it’s not, but… I dunno. I can fill you in while I heat something up.” She didn’t mean to sound overly dramatic, but breaking a curse could be a pain in the ass. If it even was a curse. If it wasn’t, then there was no telling what she was up against. “I’m gonna have some wine,” she said as she led them into the kitchen. “Would you like some?” She’d been wanting a drink all day, but now it actually seemed appropriate. Hopefully it would help her relax a bit.
The kiss was nice, and Gabriel was half-smiling as they headed for the kitchen even though Zania had said “crisis.” It didn’t feel like there could be a bad crisis at the moment, when he was in Zania’s cozy house, warming up already as he shed his coat. Gabriel hung it up on one of the chairs. “Wine sounds amazing,” he told her. Once his hands were free, he stepped in closer to Zania, winding his arms around her from behind as she poured their wine. Gabriel dipped his head in to kiss the side of her neck and nuzzle at her ear a bit. “I’m so fuckin’ glad to see you,” he murmured to her. He did want to hear what her crisis was, but first things first.
Zania set the wine bottle aside and leaned back against Gabriel, enjoying the attention, but also feeling a sense of relief that she’d been unable to achieve over the phone. He was there. He was alive. And it didn’t sound like he’d started packing his bags yet, so all signs were good. “Me too,” she said softly, turning her face towards his as she looked up at him. “I was scared you might not stay inside. And then...then I was scared you’d be ready to leave as soon as the fog lifted.” She wouldn’t have blamed him, but it still would have upset her. Gabriel was the first guy in a long time that she really and truly liked. He felt like a keeper, but she wasn’t sure she was enough to keep someone in town after something like the fog and no matter how much she liked him, she wasn’t leaving.
Gabriel turned his head enough to gently press his full lips against Zania’s. It was a valid worry, and he had to admit that the thought had crossed his mind, but he couldn’t go back to New Orleans. Point Pleasant was home for a while, for better or worse. It would also feel fucked up to leave his auntie in a place like this with no company, not if things were this dangerous. Not to mention, it was kind of fascinating. Terrifying, but still fascinating. “I was at the shop the whole time, safe enough. And I’m not goin’ nowhere anytime soon,” he assured her softly. Gabriel kissed her again, then let go and moved to the side so Zania could have use of her arms back. They could really cuddle later, he wanted a drink and she’d said she was having a crisis.
It took a special kind of person to stay in Point Pleasant once they knew what they were getting into. Zania knew that and she’d hoped that Gabriel fit the bill, taking a gamble that he wouldn’t run at the first sign of real trouble. Now she could finally relax a bit with the knowledge that she was investing in a relationship that just might last. “So glad to hear that,” she murmured then kissed him back, her eyes closing, and for a second she thought about forgetting dinner and just dragging him to bed. She’d likely wake up in the night though, so it was better to eat now and fill him in on the last few days. Once her arms were free, she offered him his drink, then began to pour her own. “I was at the shop, too. Which was safe from the fog and the monsters, but… You know how all those bugs attacked the windows at the lighthouse? Well, that happened again. Actually, it’s happened three times now. Except the second time it was rats, out in the yard,” she nodded towards the window. “And at the shop it was spiders.”
It took a lot to make Gabriel run, and maybe it spoke to the level of trouble he’d gotten himself into in New Orleans that he wasn’t going to run away from Point Pleasant. Not unless things got much worse and he could take a select few people with him, at least. He hadn’t anticipated putting down roots here so quickly, but there really was something -- something more than Zania, though she was also a huge factor -- about this town that already had a hold on him. He accepted the wine glass and took a swallow as he listened, then choked on it a tiny bit and gave her a wide-eyed look. “Rats and spiders?” Gabriel asked. “And you didn’t tell me? When did the rats happen?” Not that she owed him every detail of her life or anything, but the bugs at the lighthouse had been unnerving, he had to imagine even bigger animals were worse.
“I thought the rats were just one of those freak things that happened,” Zania sighed, fingers in her hair, tugging at it in frustration. “It was right before your birthday, and the Christmas party and I was stressed and I meant to tell you, but it was such a weird, downer type thing that I kind of put it off, and then I forgot about it.” She’d really wanted to make his birthday special and that hadn’t included a conversation about rats attacking her in the back yard. Now she felt stupid for putting it off, but how was she supposed to know it would become a thing? “I was alone when the rats came at me, so--so I didn’t feel singled out. But the spiders at the shop completely ignored the other guy that was there. It was like they’d come from all over town just to fuck with me.”
Gabriel wasn’t sure he would’ve forgotten something like that, but he could definitely understand social stress and not wanting to bring anybody down. “I mean, it’s okay,” he said to reassure Zania that he wasn’t upset about it, just surprised. “Fuck, that’s ... what did they do to you? Are you hurt? ‘Cause we were like, behind some glass with the bugs, but don’t sound like you were shielded from the others ...” He looked her up and down, like he might’ve just missed tons of rat and spider bites all over her or missing fingers or something. Gabriel wished even more fervently that he’d been there with her -- spiders would’ve been difficult to read like the bugs had been, but the rats? He could’ve gotten into some of their minds to figure out what was driving them.
Forgot probably wasn’t the right word. It was more like stubbornly ignored in favor of all the good things going on at the moment. She hadn’t felt bad about killing rats at the time, but later had worried about how Gabriel, who could converse with animals, might feel about it. Zania didn’t like killing things, would have preferred to use her own blood in a sacrifice when necessary, but she this was different. It was about self preservation. Even though she thought he would understand, she would rather forget than introduce the issue so early in their relationship. Now she didn’t really have a choice. If this kept going, she would kill the creature every time in order to save herself. “The rats that got to me bit me. I ended up setting them all on fire to get them off. The spiders didn’t bite me, but they were all over me and I kind of freaked out. I scorched them too.”
Gabriel had an intense affinity and love for animals, but he also knew how dangerous they could be. That was part of understanding them. He’d never heard of what Zania was describing happening by any natural means, but he knew he wasn’t the only witch out there who could hold sway over the animal kingdom. Someone was doing this deliberately, they had to be. He looked even more concerned when Zan said she’d been bitten, and he almost demanded to see where that had happened, but he bit his tongue on it. She was a grown-ass witch, she’d surely taken care of the healing herself already. “If there’s any time to freak out, it’s then,” he murmured, dark eyes still steady on her. At least she could defend herself. “Who or what do you think’s doin’ all this?”
“I don’t know,” Zania said, and that was where the strength that she’d been maintaining began to falter. “I think it’s a curse? But I don’t know why anyone would curse me. I mean, I do shit things from time to time, but I’ve been good lately. And I make a point not to piss off other witches for exactly this reason.” She took a long sip of her drink in an attempt to calm her nerves, but she knew that it would take a bit longer than that for the alcohol to hit her. She sighed then, the past few days beginning to really catch up with her. “I’ve been going through everything I have, but so far I can’t find anything like what I’m experiencing. And I’m beginning to worry about what might come next. And when. And that makes it so much worse.” Up until now, she’d been obvious, so the fear had only been in the instance itself. Now there was a low hum of worry running continuously in the back of her brain, waiting for when it might strike again.
Gabriel couldn’t help the way his lips twitched upward when she said she’d been good lately. That was his girl, even if she was so newly his girl. But the subject was serious, so the tiny smile didn’t last long. “Wish I could say I’ve heard of somethin’ like this, but I haven’t,” Gabriel admitted with some real regret. He’d thought of similar effects to aim for, if he really wanted revenge on someone, but Gabriel had never known any other witches who could handle animals as well as he could, much less insects. That didn’t mean they weren’t out there, of course, but how had Zania run afoul of one without even knowing it? “I’m here to help in any way I can, though,” he offered. “They’re comin’ in from outside, right? Not just manifesting? They’re real animals? Maybe I can set up some birds outside, somethin’ to warn you next time.”
“That’d be great,” Zania said with a little smile. She didn’t know how much good it would do her, but if she was outside, then she could get inside for sure. That would protect her from most animals. Insects might still be tricky, but maybe she could come up with something in the house as well. “I’m pretty sure they’re real. They left real remains. Bones and--I mean, there wasn’t much left after I set the spiders on fire, but... If they’re manifesting… What could even do that?” She didn’t know of a witch that could conjure an animal out of thin air. It seemed against the law of elements, an impossible task for a human. “The spiders did just seem to show up. But I don’t see any rhyme or reason as to why they could get in, but the bugs at the lighthouse couldn’t.” It frustrated her to no end. None of it made any sense.
It had crossed Gabriel’s mind that maybe the animals were just an illusion, but he’d seen the bugs himself, and there had been someone else stuck with her who saw the spiders, and if they were leaving material behind, he had to assume they were real. Which meant someone or something was controlling them. An alarm system wasn’t a preventative, but it could at least give her a fraction of time to respond to possibly protect herself. He wanted to help, and it was all he could think to offer at the moment. Gabriel took a bigger swallow of wine and shook his head. “I dunno,” he murmured. “Spiders are everywhere anyway, maybe they’re easier to call in droves? Not many flyin’ bugs naturally in a lighthouse. ... anything else I can do to help?”
“Um… I have all these spells downstairs, spells that my family’s acquired rather than passed down. I’ve been trying to go through those in case there’s something there. But…” Zania’s mind was spinning, trying to come up with alternative solutions. “I was thinking, if it’s a curse, I could try to remove it. Or suppress it until I figure it out.” Trying to remove a curse without knowing exactly what it was could be problematic, but she figured that the worst that could happen was that it didn’t work. “Right now I probably just need to eat,” she said with a little laugh. “And sleep. Sorry I’m not tons of fun right now.”
“Hey, no need to apologize,” Gabriel said. He set down his glass of wine to reach for Zania and pull her in closer to him. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms a couple of times before giving her shoulders a squeeze. “I don’t want you just to be fun, I want you to be you. Nobody’s been havin’ any fun the past few days anyway. So how ‘bout I make you somethin’ to eat, then you can have an early night and get some good sleep. And if you want help tomorrow goin’ through everything in the basement, I got two good eyes I can lend you, yeah?” Gabriel would’ve thought her brother would be right there pitching in too, but maybe Zania hadn’t even told him about all of this.
“That’d be great,” Zania said, letting Gabriel wrap her up in his arms. She leaned against him and closed her eyes, needing that moment of quiet after the past few days. But she couldn’t eat from there, or sleep, so she eventually stepped back, but not before looking up and giving him a little kiss first. “Thank you. It’s just been a hard few days. Nic went to the shop so I could stay here and look. He wanted to put up new wards and, I dunno, try to make the shop safer or something.” He’d had a plan and he’d told her, but she’d been a little out of it at the time. They’d probably all be down in the basement tomorrow and just keep the shop closed for the next few days.
Gabriel kissed her softly back, then nodded at the update about Nic. That was probably smart. He planned to try and put more wards up at his own shop, but that kind of magic had never been Gabriel’s forte, so he thought maybe the Castells could help him out. He wasn’t going to ask yet, however. Zania apparently had enough on her proverbial plate -- and now she needed something on a literal one. He brushed his knuckles against her cheek, then moved around her to go to the fridge. “Go sit and take a load off, but get yourself a refill first. I’ll bring you somethin’ to eat.”