“Not exactly.”
My stomach dropped. “Then what are we doing here?”
He rolled his eyes again. “Reversal spells are unstable magic and they’re not my thing.
When dealing with another witch’s spells or curses, I have to go deeper with my own magic.”
“What exactly does that mean?” George asked.
The kid leaned back in the chair, swiveled around, and studied me, starting at my feet, up my jeans to my purple blouse. He stopped and blatantly stared at my breasts for about ten full seconds. I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Hello?” I prompted. “Earth to The Darkness.”
“I get half the money now,” he said. “Half when it’s done. But you’ll have to give the money to your friend so I can make sure I’ll get it.”
“What do you mean, ‘make sure you’ll get it’? If the spell works, then I’ll pay you.
Believe me, you will have earned every penny as far as I’m concerned.”
He shook his head and forked his fingers through his greasy hair. “I already told you, this isn’t a spell, it’s an eradication. I have to use dark magic for this, that’s why it’s not cheap.”
“Why is an eradication different from a spell?” George asked.
The kid glanced at his computer screen again. Even the website he had his browser set to looked creepy—skulls, caskets, black background, purple text. A laser eye surgery waiting to happen.
“I’ve never done one on a vampire before. I’m pretty excited about it.” Excited or not, his expression didn’t change from sullen. “An eradication is taking a handful of black magic, shoving it into the subject’s very soul, and scooping out the curse.”
I shuddered. “Sounds like a macabre trip to Baskin-Robbins.”
“There will be side effects, of course.”
Claire hadn’t mentioned anything like that. “What kind of side effects?”
“Sit down.”
“I’m not so sure about—”
“You want this curse gone, or what?” He looked annoyed with all my questions now.
“Like I said, my mother is going to be back any minute, and if she catches me doing another eradication then I’m going to be grounded.” He touched his rock band T-shirt.
“And if I miss seeing Death Suck in concert this week I’m going to kill myself.”
I sat down on the vinyl couch and it squeaked in protest. Then I handed George the money, which he folded and slid into his pocket.
“If anything goes wrong,” he said. “I promise to spend this on a fabulous flower arrangement for your funeral.”
“Very funny.”
“Again… not really joking. But let’s hope for the best, shall we?”
The Darkness brought a black candle over to me and he waved it slowly in front of my face, so close for a moment that I felt my eyelashes singe. I jerked back from him. Then he dragged a chair over so he was facing me.
“I need to concentrate,” he announced.
“Are you going to tell me what the side effects are, or what?”
“I will,” he snapped. “God, be patient, would you? Old people are so annoying.”
I gritted my teeth. I would be patient with this little Emo-with-Attitude. I would. If I could get rid of my curse, I could be the most patient person in the universe. However, I felt the stress welling up inside me and ready to burst out of my chest. It took all my concentration to stay calm.
Could he do it? Could he “eradicate” my curse? A line of perspiration slipped down my spine like a waterslide at an unamusement park.
Relax, I commanded myself. Try to stay calm and think positive thoughts.
I strained my mind and focused on an image of Thierry in a tuxedo. And me in a big, white, expensive gown. Getting married in a big, fancy church. It was one of my favorite calming fantasies.
Ommm.
“Half the money.” He stretched out a hand to George, who counted off a thousand dollars and gave it to the kid.
“Okay.” The Darkness closed his eyes and then breathed out through his mouth. The scent of SpaghettiOs hit the air. “I need to concentrate. I need to allow the dark magic to fill me.”
For a long, disappointing moment, I doubted this kid was anything other than a teenage scam artist. It was worth a try, but I felt that nothing would come of this. It was too easy.
I appreciated Claire for trying, but this was too good to be true. I was about to stand up, grab Veronique’s money back, and walk out of the house instead of wasting any more of my time.
Besides, what would Thierry say about this little situation I’d gotten myself into? It was best he never found out about this, either. Unless it worked. In which case I might throw a small party to celebrate.
The candle’s flame flickered and turned blue. I inhaled sharply as the temperature in the room cooled about twenty degrees in five seconds.
The Darkness nodded slowly. “I see the price beyond money that you must pay.
Performing this eradication will remove half a year of life.”
A chill went through me. “Which means what?”
“The results are specific to the subject; in this case, you. Six months will be gone and with it everything that happened during that time. Any injuries, any illness, all of it will leave your body forever. It will still be today, but you’ll be like you were then.”
I looked at George as my heart slammed inside my chest. My eyes were so wide I could feel them quickly drying out. “Does that mean what I think it does?”
His eyes were just as wide. “I don’t know.”
I reached forward and poked The Darkness in the chest. “A lot has happened to me over the last few months.”
He nodded without opening his eyes. “I can feel it. The curse is not the only thing that will be removed. There is also the fresh vampire virus inside you.”