The Heart's Content

Chapter 104

As soon as Rosie had control of her breath again, she went into the back room of her cabaret and was mortified to find that the mirror was indeed gone. Of course she already knew that it was gone, but part of her hoped that she was wrong. She wasn't. Valentino had the mirror, he and the most powerful and most dangerous artifact in their entire family, and with it God only knows how much damage he could cause.

"So with this mirror, Valentino can cause people to feel only bad emotions?" Angel said as Rosie explained it to him.

"Yes. All it takes is for one shard of the mirror to enter your eye, then your heart becomes frozen and it makes you see only the worst in everyone. If Valentino blinds enough people with those shards, they'll turn on each other and destroy themselves."

Rosie quickly pulled out some old notes from her spell book, grabbed a few bottles and jars from her cabinet, then a kettle, and went into the kitchen. Angel followed her.

"What are you doing?" Angel asked.

"I'm brewing you and Beth a special tea that will keep your hearts warm and toasty. So much so that if a shard falls into your eye, it will melt instantly."

"So it will make us immune to the mirror's effects?"

"Exactly."

"Not to make you look stupid or anything but why not give out this tea to everyone in town when the mirror is located here?"

"Because this tea recipe is something I made up myself and many times it hasn't turned out quite right. But I'm certain it will work this time."

"Why?"

"Because I do believe that I finally found the key ingredient to make it work."

She filled the kettle with water, placed it on the stove which she turned on, next she brought down a potted plant from the window sill. It looked like a miniature Rose bush but the petal formation of the flowers had an unusual design. They almost resembled a star. 

"What are those?" Angel asked.

"Star Roses, I created them myself.  With magic, symbolism plays a huge role and roses symbolize love and friendship, everything that mirror is the opposite of while stars are literally the hottest force in all the universe."

Rosie plucked a few flowers, steeped them using a spell, and dropped them into the kettle. Afterward she added the other ingredients.

"Now let's see, three Fire-Thorn berries, a few drops of sap from a Heart-Nut tree, and two cinnamon sticks and a piece of honeycomb to soak in the brew for flavor."

Angel watched as the the liquid in the kettle turned brown, brewed, boiled, and bubbled. By the time the tea was ready she had gotten out two mugs and a tea spoon. She poured equal amounts of tea into each mug, Angel started to reach for one but Rosie stopped him.

"One last thing ingredient and it might be a little squicky but it's mandatory."

She took out a needle and pricked her finger, she added one drop of blood to both mugs and stirred them in with her spoon.

"Ewww!" Angel gagged. "What did you do that for?"

"The people in my family are immune to the effects of the mirror as long as they don't use it. Think of our blood as a type of vaccine."

"No offense but that sounds kind of unsanitary. I mean, I don't know what's in your blood and from what I hear, you're not entirely human."

"Relax, one drop of my blood ingested won't change your D.N.A or turn you into some kind of mutant. And if you're worried about aids or anything like that, I'll have you know my blood is perfectly clean and healthy. Valentino's blood is what you'd have to worry about."