Cassandra's Curse Ch. 02

Nigel stood and placed a piece of paper into her palm. "There are no chances, Cassandra. It's yes or no. Once you make the choice there's no going back." He glanced at the piece of paper he left in her palm. "That's my phone number and address. I'll pay for a cab for you." Then he saw the emotion on her face and added, "Or you can just come with me."

Closing her fingers around the paper in her hand, she glanced down at it and then at him. She had responsibilities ... a job to do ... people that depended on her but the longer she stood here with Nigel, the stronger she could feel her dreams coming. She realized that for the first time in her life, she had to take a chance. She had to. Nodding, she bit down on her lower lip. "What do I have to do?" she asked, feeling clarity in her words as she glanced to the girl Hope that watched them both closely and hopefully

Hope just smiled like a kid in a candy shop and Nijel smiled too, reaching for Cassandra's hand to hold it a moment. "First, you have to trust me. Second, we need to get to a more private place."

She couldn't help but smile some, seeing both their faces and then nodded. Her fingers tightened on Nigel's some as she admitted with a soft chuckle, "Okay ... but I still think this is crazy."

Nijel just grinned and squeezed her hand gently. "Yes, I'm sure you do. Let me get you to the library. You won't find it crazy much longer." He let her go and moved through the main of the store to go call a cab, leaving her alone with the girl Hope.

"The library?" Cassandra managed to ask with furrowed brows and glanced to Hope as Nigel walked away. "So what exactly is it that you do? Are you a Slayer too?"

Hope's eyes widened and she giggled, clutching a few books to her chest. "Meee? No! Oh no, no." She couldn't help but laugh some. "No, I'm just ... an assistant to Nijel. The library is his library ... wonderful place."

Cassie nodded some, a smile flirting on her lips to hear the girl giggle and then glanced at her watch again with a sigh. "I need to call the magazine ... I'm going to be so behind, it's not even funny." But then again, she had no clue what to say to them about why she wouldn't be there.

Hope fumbled in her jacket pocket and started to hand her Nijel's wallet. "Oh yeah! I need to give this back to Nijel." Then she found her cell phone and offered it. "Here, call in sick."

Reaching out tentatively to take the phone from the girl, Cassie offered her a smile before moving up the aisle some to make a call to the office. Speaking to her assistant briefly, she made her excuses and then moved back up the aisle to give the phone back to the girl Hope. "Thank you," she said, glancing around to see if she could see if Nigel was coming back yet, still trying to figure out what all was happening. "So Hope ... what is it I am exactly supposed to be ... slaying?"

Hope's eyes widened again. It was a very dramatic facial expression on her face even if she didn't intend it to be. "Shhhh, keep it down." She glanced around. "The mortal world is blind to it all. You have been and will be until Nijel teaches you. But I guess I can tell you. Vampires are your main target as well as other demons that may come around."

Cassie blinked, her face registering shock before she suddenly erupted into uncontrollable soft laughter that hinged on giggles. She hadn't giggled in years! "Vampires! You've got to be kidding!" her voice suddenly getting softer as she glanced around, trying not to laugh. "Hope, that's nonsense!"

Hope looked horrified. "SHHH!!" and she reached to cover Cass's mouth. Nijel was coming back; she'd said too much. Nijel would flay her alive and enjoy hearing her scream. As Nijel approached them to tell them he had a cab, Hope just slunk back some and lowered her head.

Hearing the outburst from Cass was enough and he glared at Hope, making her flinch. "We have a cab; let's go. Hope ... just hush."

Cassie glanced at Hope apologetically even though this whole thing was ridiculous. But she found herself following Nigel and the hushed Hope out of Barnes & Noble quietly and honestly, somewhat curious about this whole ordeal.

Nijel helped Cass out of the cab when they reached his house in the suburbs of New York. He reached with his other hand to help Hope and guided both ladies to the sidewalk before taking his wallet from Hope and used some of the money to pay the cabbie. He hadn't said a word the entire trip and he looked rather worried. It was obvious that he was still angry at Hope.

Cassandra could feel the tension in the air between Nigel and Hope and realized that it was her fault and as her hand slipped into Nigel's as he helped her from the cab, she tried to smooth things over. "Please don't be mad at Hope ... I was the one that pushed for answers."

Nijel stiffened and eyed Cassandra. Then he sighed and relaxed a bit, seeming a bit deflated. He glanced at Hope and just nodded and Hope smiled some. "C'mon, let's get you to the library. It's not all as much nonsense as you think it is."

Her eyebrows furrowed some at his words as she followed him into the house and to the library, glancing to Hope with a soft smile in hopes that she wasn't upset at her for getting her in trouble.

Nijel's house wasn't really any normal house. Well, it was ... until you got near the library. Pictures of the supernatural were everywhere on the walls. There was a crucifix on the door and several along the hallway. On the front door there had been a crucifix above the door frame. Everything else seemed normal.

Cassie's eyes raked along the walls, taking in everything with a sense of awe, even foreboding. What had she gotten herself into? Glancing from the pictures to the crucifixes to Hope and then Nigel, she managed to finally put voice to what had been nagging her since the book store. "Vampires? Nigel, you can't be serious ..."

Nijel turned toward her and just smiled. "But I am, dear. Remember my question about you ever finding the ability to read people before you get near them? Have you ever run across anyone that there was nothing?"

Her eyebrows furrowed some, thinking back as her footfalls stilled now that they were in the middle of the library. "I ... I guess. I hadn't really thought about it before," she said, looking at him for a long moment.

"You guess? Think a moment on it, Cassandra; think hard. There must be a moment you may have felt something ... odd about someone."

"Well yeah ... but doesn't everyone feel that way about people?"

Shaking his head, he replied, "That's not what I mean. I mean something ... different. Like they're missing something or they're cold."

She sank down on a plush couch as she looked up at him, listening. She tried to think back. There had been so many things before that she had just pushed out of her head ... things that had seemed so strange when she was younger but she had grown accustomed to them after a while. "Yes ... I supposed so but it's been so long ..." she trailed off.

He turned and reached for a book and pulled it off the shelf to hand it to her. The cover was leather, embossed in runes with English written beneath it to translate. "Vampyres" is all it said. At the beginning it explained what they were and walked through how their race worked.

She took the book curiously and then glanced down at it as her fingers caressed over the leather bound cover and then opened it up to flip through the first few pages. "I take it I need to read this ..." she replied quietly.

"Yes; that's one volume you need to read. But first, you need to know what you are."

Closing the book, Cass glanced up at him as she set the book in her lap, listening to him intently as this is the part that she really wanted to understand. "Yes, that part would be nice ..."

Hope sat beside Nijel as he sat forward to speak to Cassandra. "You are a Slayer. The term Slayer incorporates a lot of things. Slayer means exactly what it says; Slayers kill things. Rather, Slayers send the supernatural back to their ether world. Vampires are very numerous in these parts; there hasn't been a Slayer here in ages."

She listened to him intently, her brows furrowed as she tried to understand what it was that he was telling her. "And what makes you think that I am a Slayer ... that I'm the one that can do these kinds of things?"

"Many things. Your aura pulses with strength and power. You're strong and you're fast. Your reflexes are faster than most any other mortal. You're probably very adept in fighting arts ... it was probably a fascination when you were younger. You probably are very fascinated by the supernatural ... demons and devils and vampires and such."

"Well I admit I was fascinated with that all through school and read as much as I could but I never believed that they were real ..." she said, glancing down at the book in her lap again and then back to Nigel. "So you're telling me that Hope could sense those things about me in the bookstore?"

Nigel nodded and sat back some. She was catching on; quick learner. Stubborn, but quick. Good. He wouldn't have to worry about her not catching on to things. "I could as well though my sensitivity isn't near as strong as the young witch's. I'm simply a Watcher. I have no power, to speak of; just smarts."

Cassandra glanced to Hope with furrowed eyebrows. "A witch?"

Hope blushed furiously and seemed to try to hide herself. Nijel just grinned and nodded. "Yes, she's very young in her arts but she's maturing as she studies."

Cassie smiled gently at Hope and then glanced back to Nigel, her demeanor turning serious again "I'm not sure I can ... kill ... I mean, I just can't imagine killing anyone, even if they are a ... a vampire."

Sighing, Nigel rubbed his forehead. Why hadn't the order sent him a younger Slayer? He'd been here for five years searching for her. He'd been told he'd know her name when he met her and ... he did. He'd finally found her ... or rather Hope had found her. This would be a lot tougher than it looked. "Vampires aren't exactly killed in the literal sense of the word. They ... vanish; become dust. They have no soul; their bodies are only the core of the human they were before they were changed."

She could tell that she was irritating him and she hated doing it but she couldn't just believe blindly. She had outgrown that years ago ... but she was trying to trust what he said and put behind her every thing that she had learned and heard about vampires. Now she was suddenly faced with the fact that they were real ... "It's just hard to believe, Nigel."

"No, no dear. I'm not irritated with you." He grinned good-naturedly, seeing her surprise that he could read her so well already. "I understand your skepticism, I do; honest. It's just hard for me to convey the message to one so ... closed."

She stiffened some. Closed. A lot of people said that about her ... that she was so practical and no-nonsense but that made her a wonderful business woman. She supposed it made it hard for his job in trying to make her believe in the supernatural. "I'm sorry," she said.

"No ... don't be." He grinned again and patted her knee gently. At least she didn't think he was an absolute nut case anymore.

Cassandra sighed gently as she looked at him and then smiled a bit. "It's not anything new," she said with a half chuckle. "I'm trying to believe what you are saying it's just ... different."

"You can find most anything in here to answer you questions," he said, nodding towards the book. "I know it's different." He patted her knee again and added, "I look forward to working with you, Slayer."

She smiled gently, nodding at his words as she glanced down at the book in her lap again and then back up to him. "Me too but please ... don't call me Slayer. Cass or Cassie will do," she added with a chuckle.

Nigel grinned and moved to sit beside her but not too close. He was a gentleman and allowed her her space. "Very well then Cassie. Read awhile ... we will begin training soon to see how far you are along and how much I need to teach you."

Nodding in understanding, Cassandra sat back into the depth of the couch some as she opened the book again, flipping through the pages slowly as she started to read. Her brows furrowed some in interest as her natural ability to obtain information quickly took over. Maybe this was the answer she had been searching for. It was hard to know but she had a feeling that she would know soon enough.