“You’re not what I expected.” Aiden sulked. The bitterest of his words eaten up by the small amount of decency he had left. 

“Ah don’t tell me you spent several weeks sending message after message asking to be put into the company that deals with the largest number of death curses or other life altering curses...” Eve retorted dryly as she pulled away from the car park her eyes visibly glittering with the green glow of witch sight. She flicked it off without a word as she swept the sunglasses back up onto her mess of wavy hair. 

Aiden sat in stunned silence for a moment as she continued. She was right but he was never going to admit that out loud. 

“It tends to happen every year. See there is always someone desperate for a life and death situation, morbid obsessives, hero complexes and psychopaths that no one likes. You all end up with me or one of my two other colleagues in the only Cursebreaking firm that specialises in humans being cursed.” 

Her grin was full of sharp little teeth as she kept her grim expression on the road, her hands rapidly shifting gears as she moved down onto the highway. 

“I’m not a psychopath.” Aiden growled. 

“Didn’t say you were. I peg you more as a hero complex or know it all but I guess we’ll see once the day is up.” She shrugged her face still firmly on the road. Aiden found it kind of unnerving how focused and yet nonchalant she could be when he was here suffering, assigned to what the world classed as the lowest form of curse breaking. In human terms comparing Eve at work to the likes of Leo Richards was like comparing a rat catcher to a bounty hunter. Sure, both of them caught things but catching a rat was nothing compared to catching a criminal. 

“So, I’ve been set up with a day of boredom, with a beginner Cursebreaker with the least likelihood of seeing a death curse...” 

Eve replied with a tart laugh that made him jump and bang into the car door as she swerved quickly through the traffic. The best Aiden could say for her driving as he held onto his seat was that it was smooth, smooth yet with the sensation that any second the car would leave you behind as you sailed out the rolled down windows. 

“Bit wrong, bit right. Cursebreaking is not a thrilling career whatever the comics may have told you. I’ve got six years’ experience and actually you got what you wanted...” She pushed up fingers one at a time as she made her points before easing her way into a parking space outside a residential home. 

“Humans tend to receive the nastiest curses of all and are three times more likely to be struck with a death curse. Takes a long old grudge to make one, you studied that right?” 

She was looking at him carefully then a barely contained emotion visible in the tightness of her jaw. Aiden’s own dark eyes could not escape the green sea of her eyes. His natural defence of using knowledge as a weapon rose as he recited sections from his textbooks. 

“Of course. Death curses like all curses are fuelled by a strong feeling of hatred or anger which is converted to the energy that the curses are made of but unlike smaller curses they require a constant upkeep of attention from the curse maker as they use up a lot more energy...” 

“Energy. They only ever talk of it like an exchange I see. Less emphasis on the bit that matters. Yes, a Death curse is made up of long burning hatred. Which is why you hardly ever see them unless you have extra bits to sustain them. Like racism. Witches and other magic users find it easier to deflect curses sure, but they also find it way easier to hate on someone they don’t see as equal to them.” 

She scowled off just past his shoulder before her sharp green eyes floated back to his own. Her words a heavy ultimatum as the car stopped. 

“You ever think less of what we do because our clients are human, I want you to leave and never come back."