Fireproof

Hayworth & Perry’s Occult Corner was a small shop, operating steadily for 20 years, nestled in between a bail firm and a pawn shop. It didn’t beg for attention and despite its unique clientele the store fit in perfectly with the rough neighborhood surrounding it. Seemingly immune to break ins - Perry and Hayworth marketed the place as a safe place for all things weird, evil, and supernatural while simultaneously offering tools for practical witchcraft and spiritual paths.

The shop itself was crowded with shelves, all filled to the brim with magical, spiritual, or just interesting items. It could be an overwhelming place for newcomers but those who came in regularly knew of all the little nooks and crannies where you could just sit and read or meditate. Always a little smokey with incense and dim with limited lighting – Hayworth and Perry had imbued the crusty old convenience store foundation with personality and warmth.

More importantly to Klaus – If the two old witches hadn’t given him a chance when he was just attempting to get his life together, who knows what would have happened as they struggled to take care of a newborn. It was the only job he had ever managed to keep for more than 2 months and the only steady paycheck he had ever enjoyed. It helped that they were more than happy to let Kenzie stay in the shop while he was working, and they even became her own personal spiritual guides.

Today, Klaus was nearing the end of his four hour shift and Ben was sitting casually on the counter, swinging his legs while Klaus busied himself with tying herbs into bundles and stacking them into a stick basket.

“Who’s babysitting this week?” Ben was inspecting his brother closely.

“Jessie and Dave, I think…”

“Huh.”

Klaus shot a look at his brother at his smug tone, “Are we mad that it’s not Liev again? Someone cranky ‘cause they can’t creep on the sexy firefighter?”

Ben retaliated with a glare, “I’m not - Never mind - No, Liev’s not working because they worked last week but so did Dave, so it’s weird that he got double shifted this month, right?”

“How should I know?” He said with a dismissive shrug.

When there was no response from the other he finally looked up and sighed, he plopped a bundle into the basket and crossed his arms. “I thought you liked Dave?”

“I do - It’s just that he’s been hanging around a lot more these past few months.”

Klaus threw his hands up, “Well, maybe he likes us. I don’t know, why don’t you ASK him?”

Ben raised an eyebrow “Oh, he definitely likes you - that’s what I’m afraid of. Especially since you’ve been head over heels for him from the beginning - and you still haven’t told me how you even met the guy the first time around.”

“Oh my god! Maybe I have been, is that a crime? Maybe he’s been sweet and strong and he treats me like... - so what? Can’t I be happy too?”

“Yes - but I also don’t want this thing to turn into a complete shitshow like last time.”

Klaus frowned, “What, you think Dave is going to start beating me around? Yelling and all that…” There was a bitterness in his tone that made Ben cringe slightly.

“No, I don’t think that. But I also didn’t think that about Leon. I mean, he was sweet too, right? The only thing Dave’s got different is that he’s been ‘approved’ by Alvarez.”

“There’s a lot different from Leon..” Klaus murmured.

“I just.” Ben exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose, “-- Don’t want you or Kenzie to get hurt again because of some random guy.”

“What, when I make him snap?” Klaus said quietly, staring at the ground with a scowl.

Ben paused, “What?”

Klaus turned to his brother, “You mean, when I take a good person and I just --” He made an example of prodding Ben rapidly with his finger, “Needle them until they snap!”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Isn’t it though?”

The front door ringing stopped their argument and Klaus flipped his invisible brother off before turning and flashing a charming smile. A middle-aged woman with a soccer mom haircut shuffled inside gripped her purse tightly against her shoulder and holding a box.

Klaus displayed his hands, “Welcome. To Hayworth and Perry’s- what can I do for you on this truly magical day?”

She set the box down on the counter, “Yeah, um - we were going through my late mom’s house and --”

“I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks - Anyway, we found this old doll in her attic…” She pulled out a life size antique doll in a dated nightgown, one of those old plastic ones with the eye mechanisms that weighed the head and clicked loudly when moved up and down. It wasn’t in great shape, one eye was loose and the paint was cracked ominously - “Look, my husband says I’m crazy but-” She set it down and stared at it with a grimace “The thing just creeps me out and I thought… Maybe you’d know what to do with it?”

Klaus calmly picked up the doll and inspected it - a black oozing energy was seeping out of the eyes and hair. In his hands he could feel the spirit inside moving throughout the vessel like a thrumming heart. When he put it back down, the thing growled, and a ghostly clawed hand swiped out of the chest.

“Yup! Definitely possessed!” He glanced pointedly at his brother, “Man, these spirits are a pain in the ass today, aren’t they!”

She didn’t look comforted, “Okay… So what can I do about it?”

Klaus sighed, “Well, I can exorcise it for a fee, or we can just take it off your hands. Up to you!”

She hesitated, “How much will you give me for it?”

Klaus moved it around in his hands, “10 bucks?”

When she didn’t respond he amended, “Okay, 15 - in honor of your dear mother.”

After a moment she finally nodded, “Yeah- You know, I don’t want that thing in my house. Possessed or not.”

“Fantastic! We’ll take good care of her for you -” As he handed the woman her 15 bucks he also slid a smudge bundle across the counter - “On the house - I think you’ll need it.” He winked and the woman quickly took the bundle and left the store

Klaus, wanting to end the current conversation with his brother, put the doll back into the box and began to carry it to the alley out back. On his way out he passed Kenzie as she played with her toys in the tiny kitchen break room. She looked up but didn’t say anything as he moved passed her with the extra creepy doll whose spirit had started howling from close contact to the Seance causing the arm and leg joints to rattle.

Once outside he pulled out the doll and without hesitating bitch slapped the face - The head snapped to the side and a ghost began to crawl out of the eyes, snarling and biting at the assault. Klaus opened his palm and pushed it out with one more slap, finalizing the exorcism with a firm, “Get the fuck out!”

The spirit fell away and dashed into the air - disappearing with a scream a moment later. Klaus looked down at the now empty vessel and softly turned it’s head back forward and straightened out it’s nightgown. He left the box and carried the doll like a real baby back inside.

He had just made it through the door when he heard a sharp “Hargreeves!” Klaus set the old doll on the counter and jogged back into the main store - he found Miss Perry, a comically short mystical old woman who could have been anywhere from 40 - 110 years old. It was impossible to tell.

“Just cleaned out a new doll - I thought you could sell it on your --” He made a typing motion with your hands “Ebay.” He put his hands on his hips and smiled proudly.

She was standing next to the counter with a far-off expression, “Hm - Is it haunted?”

He laughed, “Well, I mean - not anymore but that’s my job isn’t it?”

She waved him off, “I’ll look at it later - I need to see you in my office, immediately.”

“Oh no- am I in detention!?” He grinned but as she turned around his face fell, he clenched his hands together and followed her to her “office” which was really just an old desk she had crammed in the back corner with a milk crate painted black as a chair.

Ben watched his brother go with the boss. When he was out of earshot the ghost kicked the counter, “Shit!” He snapped to no one.

He had been waiting for a while when he heard a commotion coming from the break room followed immediately after by a loud crash then a cry. He bolted to the breakroom and found Kenzie prone on the floor next to the old shelf they had told her a thousand times not to climb on. She was holding her knee and crying.

“Uncle Ben!” She whined, her face was screwed up and turning red.

Ben was kneeling down next to her a split second later, “Kenzie, Kenzie - breath, okay? Breath in-” He inhaled deeply, “Breath out…” He exhaled and repeated it several times until she was starting to copy him - they had been over this exercise many times in the past as they worked on preventing flame ups, particularly in public. She was doing a lot better.

“That’s it - now think cold, calming thoughts. It’s going to be okay. Now, tell me what hurts.”

She uncurled her leg to reveal a pretty nasty scrape on her knee, it was bleeding slightly but it wasn’t very deep. Upon seeing it her face screwed up like she was going to start crying again.

Ben was actually kind of thankful that Klaus was busy at the moment as he tended to have worse reactions than she did when it came to even minor injuries. It was funny watching his brother panic and become faint at even so much as a skinned elbow because he had personally seen him get stabbed then laugh about it while he bled out. It would be even funnier when Kenzie was old enough not to immediately absorb those emotions and start having an even bigger tantrum.

“Hey – that’s not so bad, come here—” He picked her up and carried her to the counter. He took her face and focused her, “Nothing a little band aid can’t fix, right?”

She sniffed and nodded in confirmation.

After washing the knee and putting antibiotic ointment on the scrape- Ben was just finishing the careful job of placing a Doc Mcstuffins band-aid on the wound when Klaus bolted into the room waving a piece of paper.

“Guys! Guess wha— Christ on a cracker- what the shit is that!?” He stumbled backwards, holding himself and staring in horror at the floor.

Ben whipped around to find his brother pointing a frantic finger to the floor – the spot where he was pointing was directly where Kenzie had fallen. In the small smear of blood from her knee something was dragging itself from the substance. A small – grapefruit sized creature made of what looked like shifting, solid blood colored flesh began to crawl forward. It had tiny, hand-like points despite its general roundness and two black eyes – one of which was bulbous and sticking out.

It dragged itself forward and stretched out the two hands, a toothless mouth opened as if yawning and it blinked slowly; looking around at its surroundings, much like a baby animal that had just been born. It would have been kind of cute if not for the disfigured appearance of the thing.

Klaus skirted past it to stand in front of Kenzie, “What did you do?” He hissed at his brother. Then he turned to his daughter, “Pumpkin, are you okay?” He asked, seeing the band-aid and all the supplies lined out on the counter.

Ben had been staring at the thing in complete shock – unable to say anything, “She- she scraped her knee – Klaus, what the hell is that!?”

It stumbled forward with the incoordination of a really fat baby and looked directly at Kenzie – it put its weird little arms up and croaked, “Rot- rot!”

Both men shuffled backwards and screamed, pressing up against the counter and shielding themselves with their hands. Kenzie, on the other hand giggled, “Kitty!” She cried happily and attempted to hop off the counter.

Klaus held her back, “No- No, that is not a cat! Or a beloved Pixar character – Kenzie, stay back..”

The blood fiend toppled forward cutely then popped out a small pair of legs – it hopped up proudly, “Rot- rot!”

The adults screamed again, Ben picked up Kenzie who was reaching for the strange creature and giggling – he smacked his brother on the arm “Banish it, Klaus!” He snapped.

Klaus jumped but took a shaky step forward, flashing his palms out despite Kenzie’s adamant protests. A flash of blue came from his hands and hit the creature. The blood fiend melted instantly into a puddle of goo then a second later reformed with a cartoonish “Pop!”
It shuddered then hopped back up, “Rot- rot!”

Klaus turned back, “Well, that’s all I’ve got!” He announced and huddled back into the cabinet with his family.

“Kitty! I want to pet it!”

Ben, who was still holding on to his niece, flashed a look at his brother then gestured silently to the blood fiend.

Klaus got his meaning, “What?! No! We don’t know what that thing can do?”

The blood fiend was now running in a circle until it got dizzy then would topple over with a soft “rot-rot” sound.

“Look, she repels warped and evil ghosts – she made this thing and it seems to like her, lets just see what happens.”

Klaus threw his hand out, “It could be evil!”

The creature ran into a wall, squeaked, deflated, then reformed, its bulbous eyes glared at the offending feature.

“It came from Kenzie’s blood! How evil could it be!?” Ben argued and Kenzie was fully on her uncle’s side – watching her father with bated breath.

“Please, momma!”

Klaus let out a defeated sigh, “I mean- why not, right? Honestly, I don’t know why I’m even surprised at this point.”

A few moments later Klaus was crawling next to Kenzie while she excitedly approached the tiny creature with a huge grin on her face. The thing was vibrating with excitement as she came closer.

“Hi Kitty!”

The blood fiend jumped into her arms and Klaus yelped – but before he could do anything, she hugged the creature tightly to her chest. It made a deflating sound, slipped through her fingers and fell to the floor where it reformed and shook like a dog.

She giggled and grabbed it up – she kissed it and the blood fiend began to wag its weird, half formed vestigial tail in happiness. She squished it to her chest and looked up at Klaus, “I love him! Can we keep him! Please!”

Her father gagged a little but looked towards Ben, “That thing is an abomination to nature.”

Ben smirked, “Well, I think it might be our abomination to nature now.” He leaned forward, “Also, what else are we supposed to do with it? Hayworth and Perry are going to be pissed if they found out we summoned something else in their shop.”

Klaus groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Okay, fine – You can keep it.”

Kenzie cheered.

He put a finger up, “BUT – you have to take care of it.” He looked around, “And, I don’t want it out in the open – here—” He grabbed the empty doll vessel off the counter and handed it to her, “See if it wants to go in there, that way it won’t- I don’t know, wonder off..”

She took the doll and pressed the blood fiend close to it – the creature enthusiastically crawled into the broken eyeball and disappeared inside the vessel. The mechanism in the dolls head rattled and a croaking “Rot- rot!” came from it. Kenzie snuggled it close, “This is your bed, Rot-rot! I love you!”

“That’s horrifying…” Klaus whined softly.

Kenzie looked back up at her father, “Thank you, momma!”

He patted her on the back, “No problem – It’s almost time to go home, pumpkin. Go tell the shop thank you and good -bye.”

She didn’t have to be asked twice, this was a part of their normal routine put in place by Hayworth and Perry. All things must be treated with respect and the shop must be thanked for its protection and time before leaving every day. If you didn’t do it, they always seemed to know.
It was a basic spiritual practice that they brought into their own home – since, honestly, they were kind of in a weird spot when it came to spirituality.

Kenzie didn’t let go of the now blood fiend possessed doll and skipped away, first hugging the doorway, “I love you! Thank you!” Then she moved on, she would be in the rest of the shop for a while doing this while Klaus locked up. This was Kenzie’s important “job” when she went to work with her father.

After she had left to continue thanking the store, Klaus walked up to the spot where “Rot-rot” was summoned and stomped on it, “That thing better not need a litter box, asshole!” He snapped into the floor, presumably, at Satan.

“Well, she has been saying that she wants a pet.” Ben had turned around and was now putting away the first aid supplies. He picked up the piece of paper that Klaus had originally brought into the room and read it over. It was a schedule. He looked up, “They’re putting you on full time?”

Klaus turned from his spot, glaring at the floor and looked up – a brief smile flashed across his features and he nodded, “With a raise.”

“Holy shit, I thought they were firing you!” Ben ran up and pulled his brother into a hug, “Klaus, I’m actually proud of you – this is amazing!”

He laughed then let his shoulders fall as Ben let go, “This is going to make things so much easier...” He sighed.

Ben was almost jumping up and down with excitement – his mind was already calculating the extra money that would be brought in and the things that they had been needing. A set paycheck that didn’t involve Klaus potentially risking his life every night with strangers.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time – After debating back and forth with Alvarez, they had decided not to put Kenzie in public school until the first grade (when hopefully she would be able to control her power better). So, they were going to have to start homeschooling Kenzie; now they would be able to buy more necessities for that venture.

Klaus had locked the back door and Ben was following him out into the main shop. He opened the register and began to count it; in the background they could hear Kenzie’s systematic “Thank you! I love you!” As she worked her way through the aisles and cleansed the items on them. Once he was finished counting and locking the register he looked up and smiled fondly at his daughter.

“You’re right, Ben…” He breathed.

“What?”

Klaus didn’t look at him as he spoke, “It’s not worth the risk – I’ll—I’ll talk to Dave.”

Ben honestly felt a little bad but his mind still flashed to his brother’s sobbing face and the broken, “I thought he was going to hurt her..” The moment where Ben could have unleashed the horror on Leon and not felt a damn bit of guilt.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“You almost ready, pumpkin pie?”

“Almost!”

Klaus grabbed the diaper bag where he kept most of his stuff along with a portable fire extinguisher and started walking towards the door. Kenzie rushed to the last corner and gave the bookshelf a quick hug, “Thank you! I love you!”

She sprinted back to her father and uncle, clinging Rot-rot to her chest – the broken eye socket clunked obnoxiously as she ran. Occasionally a weird black eye would poke out and look around, curious as to its surroundings but not wanting to leave the safety of the vessel.

Klaus grabbed her hand and glanced through the shop one more time. “Thank you!” He called out and waved his “GOOD-BYE” palm out towards the darkened little store.

And with one last “Good bye, I love you!” from Kenzie they left.