Chapter 5 Wren #2
“Told you we’d find him here.” Black’s voice disturbed his peace the moment he sank into it, and Wren sighed, opening his eyes to see his menace of a brother skipping merrily toward him dressed in star-studded fuchsia overalls and a crop top, a glowering Cyrus dressed in drab gray jeans and a black shirt right on his heels.
“Yes, you did,” Cyrus said.
“And you doubted me,” Black said. “You questioned me. I hope you’re sorry now. I hope you never do that again.”
“I literally just double-checked the location.”
“Sounded like doubt to me.” Black huffed, pulling something out of his pocket and chucking it onto the ground.
“What are you doing?” Wren asked with a frown.
“Ignore him,” Cyrus said, bending down to pick up whatever Black had thrown.
“Hey!” Black said, turning around in circles and looking at the ground. “Did you pick all of those up?”
“All of what?” Wren asked.
“Yes, I did,” Cyrus said. “You can’t drop fucking glitter in an animal sanctuary.”
“How are we supposed to find our way back?” Black asked. “Those glitter stickers were our guide!”
“I can see my car from here,” Cyrus deadpanned, and Black gaped at him for a moment before snapping his mouth shut and huffing.
“Fine. If we get stranded here I’m eating you first.”
“You need therapy,” Cyrus informed him before turning to Wren. “I’d have come alone but I didn’t know where this place was.”
“It’s fine,” Wren said. “We’re used to him.”
“The disrespect,” Black screeched, startling Sable.
Wren shushed him sharply. Disturbing his peace was one thing; scaring his animals in their own home was another and he wouldn’t stand for it.
“Shut it or the ban will be reinstated,” Wren said.
“The ban?” Cyrus asked, and Black crossed his arms over his chest, bright pink crop top bunching under them.
“I wasn’t allowed here for, like, ages,” he grumbled.
“Shocking.” Cyrus turned to Wren again. “How’d you enforce it? I might need tips.”
“You’re both assholes. I hope you get infected with a flesh-eating parasite. I’ll create a very special scrapbook for you.”
“The-ra-py,” Cyrus said.
“Fuck. You,” Black said, kicking at his shin.
Cyrus bent down and caught Black’s kicking leg by the ankle, holding it up and making him hop in place.
Wren was pretty impressed. Not a lot of people could put up with Black, but Cyrus had been working with him for years without killing him.
“Anyway,” Cyrus said. “I came to ask if you had a second to talk about a case.”
Wren frowned for a moment, thinking of the ongoing cases he had and whether any of them would be of interest to PUMA. “I don’t have a lot of active ones.”
“No guarantees you took one of these, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to ask.”
Wren shrugged. “Shoot.”
“We’ve had several cases of people causing public disturbance, acting violently, destroying property and such,” Cyrus said. “When questioned they don’t remember doing it, and everybody in their vicinity either doesn’t want to talk about it or is actively covering for them.”
“Okay?” Wren frowned, not sure how any of that had anything to do with him. “Were any of them on four legs?”
“What?” Cyrus asked. “No.”
“Scales? Claws? Fur?”
“What are you…?”
“He’s asking if there are animals involved,” Black said, finally freeing his leg from Cyrus’s grip, kicking his shin again, and hopping away before he could be caught.
“Because if not, I’m not sure I can be of any help,” Wren said, shaking his head at Black.
“Right. That’s the thing. After reaching out to several other departments in other cities, we have learned that these individuals seem to be on some sort of drug, and the drug might be made from the venom of various cursed animals.”
Wren’s head snapped up.
His hackles rose.
Bile burned his throat and a wave of rage washed over his insides.
“People are the worst thing that ever happened to this planet,” he hissed through his teeth. “The depravity they’re willing to engage in, hurting those who can’t defend themselves…”
“Okay, babe,” Black said. “Calm down or your head’s gonna explode. Or don’t…because that’d be sick to see.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Cyrus said. “Yes, it’s disgusting, but it’s happening and we need your help stopping it. So do you have anything that might help us?”
Wren thought back to the feral raccoon he had freed and the weirdness surrounding his encounter with the woman and her husband.
The whole thing had left him unsettled.
And then there was the syringe he’d found on their property. Was that the drug Cyrus was talking about?
“I might. I was called out on a case because of a feral raccoon.”
“A feral raccoon is not a cursebreaker job,” Black said. “Did it foam at the mouth though?”
Cyrus walked over to him, taking his chin between his fingers and lifting his head up.
“I need you to be quiet now,” he said.
“Make me,” Black said and to Wren’s surprise Cyrus rose to the challenge. He wrapped his arm around Black’s neck and covered his mouth with his palm. “If you lick me I’ll make you walk home,” he said, and Black slumped against him, rolling his eyes but remaining relatively still.
“Feral raccoon,” Cyrus prompted.
“I arrived at the house and this absolute raging bitch had locked the poor, struggling thing in her shed. It ended up being freshly cursed and scared out of its mind,” Wren said.
“But raccoons aren’t venomous,” Cyrus said.
“Nope,” Wren said. “But I found a syringe in there that had traces of a curse in it, and her husband looked like he was tweaking out of his mind when he jumped out at me in the middle of the night.”
“Shit,” Cyrus said. “But that sounds exactly like the cases we’ve had so far. You said you found a syringe?”
“Yup. Wrapped it up and took it with me.”
“And it didn’t occur to you to report it?” Cyrus asked.
“I did report it,” Wren said. “To the PD. Not my fault you guys don’t know how to communicate. You should talk to Hart. Or I can train a few pigeons for you.”
“The syringe, Wren,” Cyrus said. “You didn’t report the syringe.”
“Ah. I didn’t think you’d be into that kinda thing.”
“It’s a PUMA case.”
“It wasn’t even a case,” Wren argued. “The raccoon was. I just found the syringe by accident.”
“You should have reported it,” Cyrus retorted.
“I should have done a lot of things in my life but didn’t. It’s just how the feathers shake out.”
“I’m gonna request a transfer.” Cyrus pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, his other arm still around Black, who was keeping himself busy by twisting the hairs on his forearm into little spikes.
“Every town has a cursebreaker team.” Wren shrugged. “Not like you can escape.”
“Sure, but I learned recently that some of them are fucking sane and cooperative.”
“Lies,” Wren said. “Cooperative? Maybe. But none of us are sane.”
“Would you bring what you have to the station?” Cyrus asked tiredly. “I have two cursebreakers from Arcstead coming in to consult and it would help to compare notes.”
Arcstead.
Where…
“No,” Wren said.
“It’s not a request.” Cyrus glowered at him.
“You can’t force me to come down unless you arrest me. I can give Black what I have and he can bring it to you.”
Black gave him a thumbs-up.
“Black can’t answer questions about the case or consult on the cases the other team has had,” Cyrus said. “You’ll have to come in.”
“No,” Wren said again.
“Don’t make me do this, Wren,” Cyrus said tiredly.
“I’m not making you do anything.”
“Are you coming down voluntarily?” Cyrus asked.
“No.”
“In that case…” Cyrus pulled a set of cuffs out of his back pocket and released Black to approach Wren.
Sable jumped up from Wren’s lap and positioned himself between them.
“Cursebreaker Wren,” Cyrus said, his voice cutting into Sable’s menacing growl. “You’re under arrest for obstructing an ongoing PUMA investigation. You will be granted the right to call Nexus—”
Black snorted from where he was holding his phone up, recording the whole thing while cackling like a maniac. “He’s totally not calling them. Wave for the camera, Wrennie!”
“Turn around,” Cyrus said, and Wren obeyed, turning slowly until his back was to Cyrus, his hands crossed at his tailbone.
Cyrus clipped the cuffs around his wrists and pushed Wren toward the main building and the parking lot.
Sable trailed after them, soft feet barely making a sound on the ground.
“Tell him to stay,” Cyrus said, pointing at Sable.
“I’m not the boss of him,” Wren said, winking at Sable as he brushed against his legs in passing.
“He’d stay if you told him to. For fuck’s sake, he’s not coming with us,” Cyrus said.
“Seems like he is,” Wren said. “He looks very determined.”
“Is he gonna run after the car?” Cyrus asked, but Black was already opening his car door and watching as the gigantic cat leaped inside and made himself at home on his back seat. “Fucking hell, Black.”
Black was still holding his phone up, now taking numerous photos from every angle imaginable, even going so far as to climb onto the hood of Cyrus’s car and lie down to capture the right frame.
The door to the main building opened and Bianca stepped out, taking in the sight in front of her before frowning and grabbing for their emergency dart gun hanging by the door.
“Need me to handle the situation?” she asked, and Wren smiled at her reassuringly.
“It’s all good, thank you.” Wren walked to the car calmly and sat in the back with Sable.
“She could have helped with him,” Cyrus grumbled.
Wren chuckled. “Oh, the dart wasn’t for him.”
Cyrus balked as he slid into the driver’s seat. “You people are certifiable,” he said, starting the car and honking to get Black to “get his sparkly ass inside.”
Black slid in through the open window, snapping a selfie with Wren.
“Sending this to the group chat,” he said as Cyrus peeled out of the parking lot, swearing under his breath.
Wren settled into his seat, looking out the window at the road as it passed under them.
He was hoping against hope that HE wouldn’t be there.
And he was hating the tiny part of him that was definitely hoping he was.