Half-Blood Curse

13 - Wiccan Spells

"I have no idea what this does."

"So you're no help at all." Karlisle rolled his eyes scornfully.

"You watch your mouth." Joseph bristled from his place in the corner of the small meeting room. They were in the kitchen on the second floor, having sorted a total of thirty people to quarantine in the largest meeting room they had. The pack office was closed for the foreseeable future. Gabriel kicked out any and all humans. Untainted shifters were told to go home and go to ground, but to be ready. The building was quiet.

Sonia had Caroline taken aside to study her condition. Karlisle, the busybody, had decided to come along, so Joseph had decided to go, too. Both of them were getting firmly on Lucas's nerves.

"Or what?" Karlisle was in front of Joseph in a flash, toe-to-toe. The corner of Joseph's mouth curled slightly, as if he was amused. Karlisle growled from deep in his chest, his massive frame towering over Joseph. Sonia sucked in a breath and clenched her fists, worry sparking in her eyes.

"Karlisle." Gabriel's single word snapped both of the men out of their battle of wills. They separated with one last caustic sneer at each other.

"Is there anything you can do?" Caroline asked. Sonia hovered around her, using what little innate magic she had to try and probe the misty taint on Caroline's hands. Sonia made it clear she couldn't see it, either. Lucas was the only one, although the shifters in the room thought he was smelling it, which was ridiculous.

"I came to see what the magic felt like so I could cook up the right cure," Sonia said, a brief smile flitting across her face before falling. "I'm just a wiccan. I use ingredients to create magic. It takes time. But my cures mostly focus on the body of the subject and shifters are immune to that kind of direct magic. I would need a topical ointment that didn't treat your skin, but instead treated the magic itself. I think I might be able to mix something up... it could take me a few tries to get it right."

"Please do so, Sonia," Gabriel said. "We'll get you anything you need."

"It might be easier with a more powerful magic user," Sonia said. "Like I said, I'm just a wiccan. A blood-mage or an enchantress-"

"No," Gabriel said, his word final. "We can't trust any magic user except you. You're being hunted just like we are."

"Lucas is my best friend-" Sonia sputtered but Gabriel shook his head.

"It's not a personal insult, Sonia. I'm just telling you that I won't trust another magic user. Any of them could mean to do us harm. You are the only one who I know cannot betray us without first betraying themselves. It isn't an insult."

"Except for how it is," Lucas said, crossing his arms. "What the fuck, Gabriel? She's my family, she's my pack."

"Magic users aren't pack," Karlisle said scornfully, but Lucas cut him down with a glare.

"She's my pack."

"You don't know what that word means if you use it on a wizard." Lucas could see the word halfer was right on the tip of Karlisle's tongue, but he kept it to himself.

"It's fine, Lucas," Sonia said. "He's just dealing with a lot."

"It isn't fine," Lucas said, leaving Gabriel's side to stand by Sonia. It was nearly physically painful to do it, but he did it anyway. What he said was true. It felt true in his heart. Sonia was pack to him.

Gabriel sighed and rubbed his chest, but didn't retract his words. Lucas looked away.

"Come on, Sonia," Lucas said, linking his arm through hers. "Let's go to the kitchen. I had a shifter go buy a bunch of the basic ingredients you usually need. I know you're going to spend the next few hours slaving away and pouring your own personal magic and strength into a cure for their ungrateful dickhead of an alpha, so I'll keep you company."