Under The Blood Moon

More Time

A few days had passed since the day Jughead went crazy and they had all but forgotten his lapse in judgment. They were Pop's grabbing lunch while they talked about what they had found out. Jughead started doing outside research so they could maybe find an easier way out than the stupid spell they couldn't translate.

"All right Jughead what has your intense research come up with?" Veronica asked looking up from the papers in front of her.

"Well... Nothing." Veronica looked at him in disappointment. "Yet!" He tacked on quickly. "Look most of the internet is full of bullshit conspiracy theories. I mean if I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't believe anything that's happening. I have to just weed through all the wrong and eventually, I'll find all the right." He spoke quickly trying to get something across to her that wouldn't completely discourage her.

"Look if you can't find anything in the next twenty-four hours you have to get back to helping me with this. It's the only surefire way to get me out of this mess." Veronica lowered her gaze back to the papers sorrowfully.

"If you could tell me a little bit more about what happened during the spell I could weed through everything easier." Jughead was quiet as he spoke.

"Look I don't remember much it all happened so fast." Veronica sighed, looking out the window into the parking lot but not really seeing. "They were all yelling, chanting, and they all had this vile full of... something. It was dark red and boiling and the more it boiled the more I felt as if my own blood was boiling along with it."

"I read some accounts of old rituals where a sorcerer of some kind would mix their 'magic' blood with the blood of the victim in order to spell the person. It was usually used to curse them, as a punishment. Do you think they had done something like that? It was said to be extremely powerful." Veronica's eyes snapped to him quickly.

"Yes. Oh my god, I can't believe I'm so fucking blind. The coven was hard-core into blood magic. They used it for all sorts of things like tethering themselves to one another. They had to break the bond between me and the rest of the coven before they could fully transform me. They probably had some of them working to break the bond while the others worked on the transformation. That's why I still haven't fully transformed or died. I'm still connected to them in some small way." Veronica smiled at Jughead widely.

"So what do we do? Break your connection? Is that even possible?" Jughead grabbed the spell they were supposed to be translating and looked at it like he would be able to understand it better now.

"It'll take some finesse but I think we can do it." Jughead slid out of the booth quickly, heading for the door.

"Where are you going, Jones?"

"To save you." The two raven-haired teens looked at one another silently for a long moment, their eyes never wavering from the others.

"Sit down, Jones." Veronica whispered. "Finish your food. I need you strong for this. We have time. We can start tomorrow." Jughead listened to her barely audible words and sat back down in the booth.

*****

"Veronica it's been a week. When are you going to tell me what we have to do for this untethering ritual." Jughead asked her as he flipped through a book, lying on her bed.

Jughead was at Veronica's supposedly doing research but all he had really done was sit on her bed and go through the books she had on her bedside table. Veronica sat at her desk reading away in silence.

"Veronica?" Jughead called again. She seemed as if she couldn't hear him but he knew even if he had whispered it under his breath in the next room over she'd be able to hear him. He sat up in her bed swinging his legs over the edge to get a clearer, closer, view of her.