"Oh, uh hi." Kora said not expecting the three people standing there. One was a woman who looked well to do and a young man who looked unhealthy in her opinion. The last was Matt who was talking to them about the stuff and that he didn't know what was what. These people looked out of place in a resale shop.
"Kora knows though. She can help you." She didn't look at Orion and pretended that he didn't exist.
"Great, is everything in here that belonged to the Teft estate?"
"Well most of it, the furniture is…" Matt was already leaving the room, and the woman waved a hand in the air.
"I don't care about the furniture, I want the books and occult items that were brought here."
"Okay, well the items are technically property…" She again waved her hand.
"Doesn't matter, I spoke with the owner. Curtis is his first name I believe. I've paid for it all. Are all the books and occult items in here?" She demanded one more time. Kora raised an eyebrow. Someone was clearly impatient. If this was a witch couldn't she just magic it out or something? Then again what did she know of magic law or rules?
"Well yeah, I was sorting them for storage or sale." The air of this woman rubbed her the wrong way. There was a charged air. To be honest a bad vibe, this was not a nice woman.
"Anyone else been in here, come to get the items?"
"No, the family sold it all."
"I'm sure they did, there were others in his life and property that didn't belong to him. Things can't stay hidden forever. No matter how well sealed. Danial make sure this gets packed up, I want it by two pm." With that she turned and left the room, and Danial made a call on his phone.
"Well that was a fine how do you do." Kora commented more to the room but Orion answered.
"You are a nobody without magic. You don't matter and she thinks she is getting what she wants. She's already placed a spell over the room to stop the items from being taken by anyone but her. These items used to be protected. The residual magic on them will make her need to sort through it by hand. She thinks it's all in the hands of ignorant humans. Nothing to worry about."
'People with magic are assholes.' She thought to herself since she couldn't say it out loud. She was full on this express train of crazy. She was wondering where the cliff was.
'Yes they are.' She heard his voice loud and clear in her own mind.
'Oh my god, are you in my head? I swear on my life…' She turned around pulling her phone from her pocket but looking at him. He was telepathic too? Jesus this man was creepy.
'No, but you thought loudly and I am telepathic. Being in other's heads is tiresome and not worth the trouble to pull down the blocks in my opinion unless necessary. You just happen to think loudly sometimes.' Well shit, she'd have to remember that.
"Well, I'm not sure we will have this packed by two but…" Kora started aloud to the man there.
"Oh we will." Danial said and as if on cue a good number of people came in and just started packing up the entire room. She stepped back toward the wall. They were literally taking everything. She stood there with Orion next to her unseen and watched the entire thing. Orion had a smirk on his face. Bitches were going to be missing him this time. He'd not felt happy in a long time. This was nice, he wasn't going to be at the beck and call of these witches.
"Um, do you want help?" She asked.
"No you can just stand there. You're useless anyways." Kora was a bit taken back by this Daniel and his tone. She let out a short breath and then moved out of the room. Fine, she had a message in her phone from Curtis saying they were taking everything in the back room from the estate that just came in. She didn't need to stand there and be belittled. She was almost done for her day anyways. She went to the break room to just wait until they were done.
"I would suggest you hide the book somewhere or move it. When she realizes it's not there she will look at every employee here. Chances are she isn't sure if it's disguised as something else or hidden. Seeing if she looked she couldn't find it. I'm sure she went through the family members already." Orin was aware of this witch, part of a coven he knew. Orin had mentally questioned where he'd been stored by his mother. Her answer had been with a man who specialized in hiding and containing magical items and possessed items.
It would seem no one else in his family hadn't believed it or taken up the mantle. Others had already claimed many items when he died, but most of the things like books were overlooked as they really weren't all that special. Only to the right people. That had allowed Orion to go unnoticed. His book ending up here when the unwitting family purged the house of what was left to sell it. What ignorantly blind humans, guess he couldn't complain though. What did he care where the rest of the items went? Kora didn't know how lucky she was that only mundane items had showed up at the resale shop with him.
"You know her?" Kora asked in a mumble under her breath. She felt paranoid now. There were things in this world she knew nothing of. That she was ill prepared to fight.
"Not personally, I saw her before. She belongs to a coven that I was passed around for a while. The current situation with you is far more preferable than the situation with them." She suddenly wanted to know exactly what he'd been made to do before, but she didn't ask here. She did sit down in a chair there seeing as her sorting duties were over for the moment, he was standing there watching her.
'Do you have to stare at me and be so freaking creepy?' She thought at him, not out loud.
'Yes, because I feel like it.' He said mentally in a condescending tone. He started to speak and she beat him to the punch.
"Don't even say it, don't or I'll use a knife next instead of a broom." Oddly he felt kind of amused. Clearly he was going to comment about what she had to do to make him stop.
"Four." Was all he commented and she stood up tight lipped. She moved from the room and walked down the hall thinking at him again.
'What if I give you a bunch of commands all at once, how would you like that?'
'Doesn't matter. For every five I get one no matter if they are in a row or separated. Go ahead and give me a bunch, just means I will have more I can use at the same time too. Your choice.' He responded via mind as well. Yeah she didn't think him having control all at one time was a good thing. She had no idea what to do with this situation. She didn't really have a use for him like he seemed to be used for. She didn't know if she believed that short well endowed lady was a witch. She just looked like a snob with a nice body and short black hair. Then again what did she know about witches?
"Holy crap." She said looking in the sorting room. Everything was in boxes and they were going out the back and putting it on a moving truck. She just watched them take the last few boxes. Orion just watched the last few boxes go out as well. He was happy he didn't have to end up where all of that was going.
Kora turned around and went back down the hall. This Danial just went out the door, closing it and saying nothing to her. Fine whatever, easiest shift of her life. She went up front and figured she was done for the day and she now had several questions for Orion. Like how that woman had known he was here, because he said she was probably looking for his book. She really didn't want her to show up at her place, like she could fight a witch. If she was a witch how had she not sensed him. What exactly were his abilities anyway that someone wanted him that bad? Then again she kind of didn't want to know.
"Hey I'm taking off." She told Matt and Sarah who were standing there talking. They gave her a nod.
"Sweet, short day. Hey if you are interested, I'm having a party this weekend. You should come. I'd love to have you there." He gave her a smile.
"Go to him at your own peril." She felt a shiver down her spine at the way Orion said that. A very clear warning there. She almost looked at him, but remembered the rest could not see or hear him.
"Thanks, maybe I will. Not sure, what my plans are yet." She told him.
"Cool." He seemed happy about that and she left the shop moving toward her car and got in it. Orion appeared as normal next to her. She let out a rush of air and looked at him then.
"At my own peril? What the hell do you think is going to happen? His Parties are all about getting high and recreational stuff. Not exactly my forte." She said reversing the car. She wasn't exactly ready to go home yet, not with Orion's current actions. Being alone with him didn't seem smart. She needed to think of what she was going to command of him.
"He is fond of you, and he has feelings for you." Honestly what would he really care? Would it be that horrible? She was letting him do whatever he wanted.
"Well it doesn't go the same way. He's nice enough but I don't feel that."
"Heard that before." So? To bad he dealt with such shitty people before. She wasn't them.
"Listen I don't need to have this conversation with you. I can like or dislike who I please. I don't need your approval." His tone almost made her think jealous but that didn't really make sense. In no shape or form were they even remotely close to friendship in her opinion. So there should be no jealousy, but what did she know about what he might be made to feel with his curse.
"I suppose you can." Was his comment and she glanced at him. He was just looking ahead and she felt annoyed again.
"I have a few questions, number one the witch. How would she knew you were there, and number two what's the likelihood she'll figure out where you went?" He closed his eyes for a moment like he was thinking or something. She had a feeling he was doing something more, a talent or something. She didn't ask.
"You are not a very likely person to have taken the book. She will mostly investigate you all just for the off chance you took my book liking the way it looks. She probably found out where I was stored, seeing I was mostly put in a place of protection from others for a bit. With his death they would have immediately gone to get his items. That is my best estimation from what I can mentally discern from hearing things outside my book while stored. I don't tend to pay attention when sleeping or stored. Not much point." He told her and she rubbed her forehead.
"I can't fight a witch."
"No, you can't, not the way you are. I can kill her for you." He said it so seriously, like discussing the weather. It was clear he expected her to tell him to go do it.
"No I'm not going to have you killing people no matter who they are."
"Sometimes the death of one can save many."
"I'm not a murderer."
"I'd be doing the murdering." She glanced at him and he was watching her.
"I would still be the reason. So I would be killing them. A gun is not a killer by itself. You're really just someone who has been weaponized for others, that's what I'm getting." He shrugged.
"You are telling me you wouldn't order me to kill someone if it meant you might die?" She was silent for a moment and seriously thought.
"I don't know, if I had to tell you to kill an innocent person I wouldn't. I don't think I could live with myself if I did. If someone was trying to kill me, I think self-preservation may kick in and I'd give you that command you so want." Interesting, she was so different from all the rest in his life. Even when he'd been free he still made choices of life or death. He'd been a powerful figure. Now look at him, doing the bidding of others and still okay with death.
"We are all capable of horrible things no matter how good a person."
"And we are all capable of wonderful things no matter how bad." They were silent a moment, kind of taking in how different their mindsets were. How they clearly viewed the world differently.
"It would be smarter to have me take care of her and her coven." He saw how her hand tightened on the steering wheel and he figured she was going to reprimand him. "They will keep looking for me. I can do things most only dream of, things that even their magic can't accomplish so easily."
"You're right." She surprised him by saying it. "You're right, sometimes it would be easier and safer to take care of the issue before it gets you." She stopped at a red light and looked at him. The seriousness of it all kind of hit her thinking about the fact there were people in this world so dangerous they were better off dead and yet she couldn't do it. Her world didn't have that in it. Here was one and she knew in dealing with him somewhere in her world, her thinking was going to shift even more than it had. In ways that she couldn't come back from.
"But I won't tell you to start killing. I won't tell you to murder others on my behalf. When it comes I guess I'll have to deal with my choice and so will you. Either you will be free of me or you'll choose to help me. That's the choice that we just stated right? Capable of great evil, and capable of great good. What would you rather die for Orion? If you could die."
"I can die." He replied with a bit quieter tone and he'd never had this dilemma brought to his attention like this. He'd never thought about taking a side. Or taking a stand for a master on his own. He just waited to be used by the next, he never stood up and defended a master unless told to because they weren't worth saving in his eyes. For the first time in his life, just like a great many other things he thought maybe… maybe this one was worth taking the free choice to help over standing aside. After all standing there doing nothing was the same as murder. It was complacency. If he was going to be honest, she didn't exactly deserve to die for any reason he could name. He also wasn't really having a horrible time at her side. Just the pain of getting her to understand and how things worked with him.
"That so? You seem rather bullet proof to me."
"You haven't seen me in any context that is dangerous."
"You came out of a magic book, that says probably bullet proof to me. Or something like it. Probably just spit them out, I mean it would be kind of lame if a simple wooden spike to the chest and down you went. Splat, lame." He actually laughed for a moment. It was so sudden and unexpected it surprised them both. He touched his chest that had felt good, really good. God was that joy? How horrible had he become, how bad his life?
"No a spike to the chest is a bit mundane to dispatch of me." He commented. "Takes more than that."
"Like what?"
"That information is going to cost you a command I'm afraid."
"I suppose that's understandable." She commented with a slight smile herself.
"So why did you start to bleed when I asked how you can be freed. Are you not allowed to speak of it?" She figured that since they were having a civil moment now was the time to talk and get information. Build that common ground.
"I have never had an issue speaking of it before. You are the first that has happened with. Though I suppose it is because you are a different type of person. I have my suspicions as to why it happened." He commented and noted that she did not head to her home. He wasn't sure where she was going but it didn't really matter, they were going to be alone at some point and he'd finish what he started. The more exposure he got to her and the more of a person he saw her as, the worse the voice in the back of his head got. It also realized what she could provide and his mouth slightly watered. How could he really ignore that? He really wasn't a decent person if they were being honest.
"Such as?"
"Such as you might be the first one that could do it. Seeing that would separate us, the death do you part takes a higher precedent. Clearly me speaking it means I'm trying to break the vow."
"So it tried to kill you until I said it was fine?"
"More than likely."
"Well that is unfortunate." She said with a sigh. "I know you avoided the question before, but did you spurn someone? I mean you say this curse is along the lines of marriage. Kind of makes sense." She pulled into a parking lot of a store.
"When I was young and free, marriage wasn't like you have it now. Most of the time it was a contract between two families. Normally it was the woman who served her husband. Then he provided protection for her for it." He answered and she gave a nod. Yeah she remembered that from history.
"I didn't truly spurn anyone, no one loved me and I didn't love them. I decided I wanted to change the way I was living. I wasn't happy with it anymore. It was hollow and empty. Didn't mean I didn't have enemies still. Those that thought I owed a price. One in particular was a sorceress, I refused to come under her command and be one of hers, and being a demi-god she did not have as much power as I did."
"So she cursed you? Still sounds like she had power."
"I didn't say she was lacking. I might have powers and ability but I am not full proof and at the time she had more experience than I did. The weak aren't always so weak, sometimes being clever is better." Well she guess having smarts was always a plus.
"She found a different way to collect me. She didn't have a demigod under her command but she had a great many others. Since I didn't take her proposal, I get to instead be used by any woman that wants a husband to command. At least that's the short version, the long one you read in the book and the details aren't important to anything. Here I am, like I said it's based on a marriage contract because that was the typical kind, and one that made another a servant really."
"Man how glad I am to not have lived then I'm a modern woman."
"You are still in a contract with me."
"Do you have to be such a buzz kill?"
"Realistic."
"Boring."
"I'm still alive."
"You're hard to kill."
"Touché." She felt a bit of a smile again and turned off the car. He was looking out the window at the store, but seemed in a better mood as well. If they could keep this up, reach an understanding it may not be so bad.
"I need some things, you can wander about, you really don't have to follow me." She told him getting out of the car. She would like some space from him. Still trying to decide what she was going to do here.
"I'm fine, what could I want to see?" She let out a sigh, well she tried. As they walked up to the market she thought for a moment. Well if he was going to follow her around, best to keep getting to know him.