{"id":166,"date":"2026-05-11T00:35:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T00:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/?p=166"},"modified":"2026-05-11T00:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T00:56:52","slug":"blood-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/2026\/05\/11\/blood-promise\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood Promise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"8<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was relaxing, throwing Tarot cards, waiting for the knock on the door. I didn\u2019t have an appointment scheduled. The cards told me an unexpected visitor was going to arrive soon. Some readers say that it is impossible to determine the time something is going to happen. Like the 2 of Wands could be 2 days, 2 months, or 2 years. That\u2019s a common belief. I am not relying solely on the cards. I am also relying on intuition.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got up to light some Palo Santo.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was a knock on the door.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went up to the door and opened the spy window, a filigree brass small door that opened at eye level.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes.\u201d I said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was told that you do readings.\u201d The male voice said in a whisper.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho told you?\u201d I asked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomeone you don\u2019t know. He heard from someone and then he told me.\u201d The man said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith that slight connection I\u2019m supposed to open my door to a strange man?\u201d I said and was about to close the spy door. Something was thrust through the spy door and I couldn\u2019t close it. I looked at what was in the way and there was a rolled up tube of dollars, the outer dollar was a one hundred dollar bill.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are 3 bens there.\u201d The man said. \u201cDoes that pave the way for me?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took the roll of bills and open it up to see if all the bills were bens and they were.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHold on for a minute.\u201d I said. I closed the spy door and walked over to a painting on the far wall. I tilted the painting to get to my safe. I opened the safe and deposited the 3 bens in there, put the painting back in place and went to open the door.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMay I come in now?\u201d The man asked as he stood just outside my door sill.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, for a while.\u201d I said and stepped aside for him to enter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was tall but stooped to step into my space. He had broad shoulders that didn\u2019t need any help from shoulder pads. He took off his fedora and turned to face me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNice hat.\u201d I said and gestured that he put his hat on the side table by the door.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an Art Fawcett Jr. Original.\u201d He said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow a rare commodity since he retired from hat making.\u201d I said. \u201cCome sit over by the fire.\u201d I said and led the way to the gas powered fire place. There were two wing backed chairs set at 90 degrees to each other with a small oval table between them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man followed me as he took off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair to the left. He must have noticed that I had my drink closer to the right chair. He waited until I was settled before sitting down.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was wearing a suit, must be wool by the look of it, black as coal. His shirt was gray and shimmered like silk. His tie ivory, like an aged elephant tusk. He rested his hands on the ends of the arm rest and his nails were professionally manicured, buffed to a shine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat can I do for you?\u201d I asked, cutting to the chase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need you to remove a curse from me.\u201d He said, and for the first time I heard a lack of confidence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat makes you think you are cursed?\u201d I asked, as I got up to get a wine glass for him. I grabbed the wine bottle and raised it for him to see and he nodded his head in assent to the unspoken offer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYears ago I asked someone for a favor. A special favor.\u201d He accepted the wine glass and I poured until it was half full. He took a sip, nodded his head in appreciation and went on. \u201cThis person had abilities. You know what I mean?\u201d He asked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re saying this person had magic abilities of some sort?\u201d I asked, and sipped my wine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExactly.\u201d He ran his hand through his thick wavy auburn hair. \u201cI paid a large sum of money. Made a promise, a blood promise, in exchange for all that you see.\u201d He gestured with a sweep of his hand over his torso. \u201cI wanted strength, to be handsome and wealthy. I wanted to be able to attract any woman I wanted. The usual foolish young man\u2019s dream package.\u201d He said and sighed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou look like you got all that you asked for.\u201d I gestured toward him in an echo of his action. \u201cSo, what’s your problem?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to go through with the blood promise part of the deal.\u201d He said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou offered your first born?\u201d I said and reached for my Tarot cards.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, that was the standard contract.\u201d He said, \u201cBut I didn\u2019t even think at that time that I\u2019d have offspring. I didn\u2019t even have a girl friend, let alone have someone who wanted to marry me and start a family.\u201d He said in a rush. \u201cNow my wife is 8 months pregnant and I don\u2019t want to give up my first born to complete the deal.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shuffled the cards and turned the first three over: The Lovers, The Devil, The Tower. Not a good start. I shuffled again: The 2 of pentacles (juggling two sides of an issue), 5 of cups (regret) , 8 of swords (having one\u2019s hands tied). That\u2019s obvious, for goddesses sake.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat was your life like before you made this pact?\u201d I asked, shuffling the cards again.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was the classic 98 pound weakling. I was working a dead end low paying job, renting a small room in a SRO.\u201d He said, almost whispering.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was some powerful magic if he went from that to this.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, you think that your wife would not want you as you were?\u201d I asked the hard question.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHardly. She was attracted to me because of the contract. She is used to having a good life, never wanting for anything. All she wanted was a baby and I held her off for as long as I could.\u201d He said, drinking the last of his wine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pulled the 3 of swords (suffering and loss), Justice, and Death.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will give you back your money.\u201d I said and got up to access my safe.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d He exclaimed, jumped up, as if to prevent me from moving.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause I can\u2019t help you.\u201d I said and looked into his sad eyes, \u201cThat\u2019s the truth of it. You made a blood promise. If you don\u2019t give up your first born, then someone\u2019s blood has to be shed. Do you want your wife to die in childbirth?\u201d I asked<\/strong> and waited for him to compute what I just told him.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he envisioned his wife dying in childbirth a cloud of grief clouded his face. He was feeling it already.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stood there, quiet for a few minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gave him more space to process.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo way out then?\u201d He asked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo way I can release you from a blood promise. Not anyone\u2019s blood will do, you know. I mean, if you slit my throat right now, it won\u2019t release you from your bond.\u201d I said and ran my index finger over my throat. I felt I should make that clear in order to avoid a miscalculation on his part.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI understand.\u201d The man said softly, turned, gathered his long coat, and walked toward the door.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you want your money back?\u201d I asked, not really wanting to give up the 3 bens, but I had to make the offer of a refund out of principle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said in a sad voice. He got into his coat and put on his hat. He was so handsome. \u201cYou provided a service and for that you should earn your fee.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went to the door to show him out. He seemed to have shrunk a few inches in the time he had been in my space. I felt bad for him. He had some hard decisions to make in less than a month. I wouldn\u2019t want to be in his shoes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I lit sage and smudged my space with the door and windows open. I lit white candles and sowed salt into the corners of the room. I said a prayer for the man just saying I hoped he would find a solution that was best for his little family.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also didn\u2019t want the Karma that came from breaking the blood promise he made. If I had cast that spell and made that contract, I would be very upset if another metaphysician broke my contract with a mundane. There are standards to keep and it\u2019s sort of a golden rule not to meddle with another\u2019s spell. All sorts of weird repercussions could occur if everyone just went around messing with spells that didn\u2019t belong to them. I was protecting myself not making an effort to get that man out of his predicament. He asked for a reading at the spy door. He offered his money for a reading, I gave him a reading. Had he asked at the door before entering my space for me to break a spell I would not have allowed him in and shoved the tube of money back at him.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks later I read about how a Mercedes sedan went over Devil\u2019s Slide. Devil’s Slide is a name given to a steep, rocky coastal promontory located about midway between Montara and the Linda Mar District of Pacifica. I didn\u2019t have to look at the picture of the man who died in the crash. I knew in my bones that it was my unscheduled visitor who came in the night with the blood promise that had to be kept.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was relaxing, throwing Tarot cards, waiting for the knock on the door. I didn\u2019t have an appointment scheduled. The cards told me an unexpected visitor was going to arrive soon. Some readers say that it is impossible to determine the time something is going to happen. Like the 2 of Wands could be 2…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210,"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions\/210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norajean.com\/AuntyAlias.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}