Chapter 230 - Last Minutes

The person who caused my alarm was just a man, at a first glance. Not a supernatural being, just a human. It took me a moment to look deeper and see what I found so strange. There was something attached to the man's heart, like a tiniest seal. But it didn't feel much like any seal I've seen before. It was heavy, like a debt, but made more real with magic, and its lines were all blurry.

The influence was subtle, and it merged well with the general heaviness on this man's heart. There was plenty of gloom and fear in him, also kept close to heart and hidden deep. I wasn't surprised that no other witch noticed anything. I only noticed because that fear caught my attention. It was out of place.

"Did you notice something amiss?" Eve asked, inclining her head to the side with calm curiosity.

I blinked and pulled my attention towards her, though a part of me kept watching the man. I couldn't see him from where I was, but he appeared to be socialising just like everyone else. "Yes, but I don't think it's related. It's strange." I rubbed my nose and decided to ask. "Are there seals that you can place on a person, not on an item?"

"Of course there are." Eve's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and love for her work as she explained, "It's harder to do, since people change all the time, and seals are very sensitive to any interferences with their structure, but it's possible. You just need a solid anchor, like a tattoo. But that was just an example. The anchor can be metaphysical, too. The only important thing is that it must be stable, or the seal will destabilise with unpredictable results. Most often it just stops working, but sometimes… Many things could happen."

I frowned, confused. "A metaphysical anchor?"

"Yes. For example, a bright memory that doesn't change with time, or a resolute promise. Not even necessarily your target's. Weaving seals into anchors like these are a real pain, and isn't a something I usually bother myself with, but it has a lot of potential. For a start, you don't need to work on the physical anchors. If the circumstances are right, one can create a seal like that even without the target of it being aware. A curse, you might call it. Or a blessing. But, as I said, those are fickle, and if you want to mess up with someone, you can do that in much simpler ways."

"Thank you for the knowledge." I gave Eve a grateful nod. She responded with a scrutinising look.

"Have you noticed someone with a seal like that here? It's not our business if one of the guests is cursed, but if it's someone from staff, we should make Cornellio aware."

"This person seems to be a guest. And I think we should tell him either way. I don't think he would like anyone showing up cursed at his grand opening. Nor would I."

"Fair," Eve nodded. "Maybe it's actually a blessing and we are overreacting. Can you point at this person?"

"He's there, next to the wall. You can't see from here." I pointed in the man's direction. "He's the one most afraid."

Eve closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she was frowning. "This doesn't look like any seal I've seen before. But it IS a seal… How puzzling, but interesting. It doesn't seem to do anything, though… for now."

My response was interrupted when I saw JJ approaching us. His face looked more pink than when he left, which meant that he and Eve had about the same skin tone at the moment. He flashed a bright smile at me and a courteous one at Eve.

"Ma chèrie, I'm glad that you found what seems to be a like-minded company during my absence. Will you introduce us?"

"JJ! Yes, that was pretty lucky. JJ, this is Eve Ziffer, the witch who made the calming spell in this place. Eve, this is—"

"Oh, I know who you are, so don't waste words," Eve dismissed me with a wave of a hand. "If empty words were a limited resource, gatherings like these would've created a deficit for the rest of the world." She paused, then added with less annoyance. "I didn't mean to be rude, Jean-Jacques. I'm a prefer the quiet of my lab to going outside and meeting people. But if you don't mind, I actually had a few questions for you."

"It's a survey about the spell," I added, putting a hand on JJ's arm. "Will you do it, please?"

JJ looked into my eyes and grinned. "Eve must've made quite an impression on you."

"Eh… It's for the greater good, that's it." I looked away from him and at Eve. "So you could improve it in the future, and then maybe vampires would meet up more and interact more…"

"I'm unsure if this is such a good prospect, actually," Eve noted dryly. "If they ever unite, there's only so much stopping them from achieving world domination. But yes, I will use the information to improve the spell. For science, if anything, and because I promised Cornellio to do a good job on it for his future auctions."

"Well, if this can only work well for my kind, then I'm even more bound to answer your questions, Eve." JJ gave her a smile.

"Then, to not put it away, let's start with the first one…"

Eve's questions for JJ were about the same as for me. He didn't add any more to the answers than I already said, either. When they finished, I was just about to bring up the cursed man again, when the music that played in the background of the gala suddenly drew quiet.

I glanced at the clock. It was midnight already! How the time flew. Then I heard Cornellio's voice coming from the stage at the corner of the gala. The place where the living orchestra played from now instead held him and his owl, that perched itself on his shoulder.