There's a Reason This Book is Cursed

Today was the day.

Chloe wanted to read cursed books the moment she knew they existed in the Starlight Academy library. Her first application for special permission was rejected - she didn't have any relevant expertise, didn't have any special abilities that would keep her safe.

On her birthday, her father gave her an amulet with his symbol on it. Her father had marked her as someone special to him, and this gave her protection from certain kinds of demons. Her next application for special permission succeeded - she could now read certain cursed books.

Of course, only a few people could be reading the cursed books at a given time - they only had the facilities to contain so many cursed-book-related catastrophes at a time and minimize the associated damages. So she had to schedule a time that worked with her course schedule, and the first opening was weeks later.

Each day she grew more and more restless with anticipation, to the point where she almost couldn't focus on class. She was like a small child waiting for christmas day.

And today was the day.

Her backpack was packed by the time the bell rang, signalling the end of Calculus. She was out the door before the teacher could finish describing the next day's homework assignments.

She walked so fast to the library that she was almost running, leaving her a little out of breath as she burst through the door. She couldn't put down her things or sign off her name on the schedule quickly enough. And she needed a key to open the box containing the book she would be reading today. One of the librarians had to grab it for her, and waiting for that young woman to find the correct key constituted one of the longest minutes in Chloe's life.

Finally, she sat down in the cursed book reading space, locked box in tow. The air was abuzz with the residue of dark and horrible magics. She unlocked the box, and inside was a small book bound in worn, black leather. Slowly, tenderly, she lifted it from the metal box and set it down on the reading space.

This is when she felt the books curse at work. It tried to worm its way into her mind, like her father had done before, but weaker. She could have swatted it away like the minor annoyance that it was, but it recoiled in fear before she could get the chance. She knew why - it all but telepathically screamed about her father as it fled.

She opened the book to the first page and began to read.

It was a story. About a character named Xander. And he had a friend named Willow, and another friend named Buffy, and...

Chloe leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.

"Really?" Chloe asked nobody in particular. "Is this cursed book seriously full of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfiction?"

Yes. Yes it was. But not only that - as she turned the pages she learned a deeper and more horrible truth. This was an anthology of short fanfictions featuring Xander getting pregnant. Complete with explicit descriptions of the exotic sex acts that led to this.

Chloe didn't keep the book for the duration of her scheduled time. She locked it back up, put it in its place, and returned the key to the librarian. Artesia was on duty this time - Chloe recognized the girl from before.

"That was the biggest letdown I have ever experienced in my life," she told Artesia.

"Well..." Chloe sighed and set the key down on the circulation desk. "Think of it this way. When you have magical powers, and you go to the trouble of cursing a book, that means you don't want people to read that book. Sometimes that's because it's full of juicy secrets, or it's full of terrible knowledge you don't want people to find. But sometimes, you curse a book because its contents are..."

She rubbed her eyes.

"Really, really embarrassing."

Chloe sighed again and shook her head. "From what I can gather," Chloe said, "That book used to belong to the physical manifestation of a demon like my dad. The author cursed it so that nobody would ever read..."

Chloe leaned in and spoke the next part in a hushed tone so nobody would overhear.

"Their really weird erotic fanfiction."

Chloe opened her mouth wordlessly, then closed it, and looked at Artesia as if to ask, 'really?'

"It's, uh... very erotic." She shrugged. "Lurid detail. And it always resulted in a male character getting pregnant." She leaned against an adjacent wall, tail idly swatting against it. "The book was supposed to have belonged to the physical manifestation of a Goetic demon, which disappeared mysteriously a little over a decade ago. And you know what, I really don't blame them for cursing that book."

"Well," the half-demon explained, "From what I've been told, cursed books usually have a bit of historical value to them. Like they might have magical secrets or secret diary entries or a bit of both, and that kind of stuff is cool. But, uh... I'm sure this isn't the only book of its kind." She sighed.

"I want to try out one of the ones from the early nineteen hundreds, but it's supposed to be more dangerous and I'm afraid it would just have... like, Sherlock Holmes banging Watson. And I'm not allowed to read about demons who can corrupt books and computers by having their names stored in them. Which is lame, because that's the good stuff." She winked at Artesia, "If it doesn't drive you insane, of course."