Chapter 15 Teddy #2
“How can you be sure? The lab is still running tests,” Saint said.
“Because one went missing a month ago.”
“How do you know it’s the same one?” Teddy asked.
“I just feel it,” Wren said, gaze asking him to believe him.
It wasn’t even a question. Teddy trusted Wren’s instincts more than his own eyes. And then his brain made the leap Wren’s beautiful mind already had. “The pet shop tonight…”
“What pet shop?” Trace asked.
“Ah, yeah,” Teddy said. “Our end of the story.”
“We saw a drug deal go down at the club,” Wren said. “This dude was handing a vial of something green that looked vaguely familiar to this girl. We went to chase after him right as the shit hit the fan upstairs.”
“You saw him?” Cyrus asked.
“Yup,” Wren said. “Short, slimy looking, dark hair, two gold teeth. And an eye tattoo on his hand.”
“Shit,” Cyrus said.
“An eye tattoo?” Saint asked and Wren nodded, drawing the shape of it on the glass table with his finger.
“This symbol keeps cropping up in Slatehollow whenever a weird case comes up,” Wren said.
“The cursed house Ash burned to the ground was related somehow, the curse placed on Hart that made us aware cursebreakers could be cursed themselves was tied to it, they even carved the symbol into a tree in my sanctuary. And now this guy with a tattoo of it is connected to this case.”
“The fuck does it mean?” Trace asked.
“We have no idea,” Wren said. “We’ve been calling it a cult because it kinda feels like one, but we can’t seem to get any information about them. It’s like they’re always several steps ahead. It’s infuriating.”
“And they’re robbing pet stores,” Saint said, sounding weirded out. “Also, please don’t tell Eerie about this. A magical cult would have him mad with glee.”
“Eerie doesn’t do glee,” Teddy said.
“So the guy?” Cyrus prompted. “Tell me you have something.”
“We went to cut him off and he cast something that shouldn’t have been possible,” Teddy said. “Which, now that you mention the eye cult, it makes sense that he’s with them, doing impossible shit.”
“What did he do?” Cyrus asked.
“He made an illusion of his truck to throw us off track,” Teddy said. “But several times, while in motion. And they were all solid looking and seemingly functional clones.”
“What. The. Fuck,” Saint asked.
“That sounds sick!” Black said.
“I think my head is gonna explode,” Cyrus said with a groan. “Okay, so, Worthingham is somehow a caster, the eye cult is involved, and there is a Komodo dragon which I’m still not sure how it fits into any of this.”
“On our way back we heard about a break-in at a pet store. Third one this month,” Teddy said. “I called a source and all three of them had venomous animals stolen.”
Wren nodded. “I think all three may be related to this case.”
“Woah, woah, woah. Catch me up, here. What are these people looking for in a pet shop?” Cyrus asked over the line.
“They sometimes deal in more exotic breeds. Some even deal under the table for certain buyers,” Wren said. “What they need is a solid supply of venom. They must be running dry to be so reckless as to hit a normal pet shop.”
“Or the operation is escalating. They may be trying to meet demand,” Teddy said.
“But why venom?” Cyrus said. “And how is this linked to the nepo baby suddenly getting powers?”
“If I’m right then we need to seriously look into the caster lineage for each person involved. Worthingham fits. If the others do too…” Wren said, looking at Saint. Teddy watched them exchange a few pointed looks, clearly on the same page without exchanging words.
“Shit,” Saint said, running a hand through his hair, messing up the already hopelessly mussed hairstyle Eerie had installed on his head.
“Still not following,” Cyrus said.
“It’s an old practice we learned about in animal curse classes at Nexus. Outdated and outlawed,” Wren said. “Komodo dragons’ venom was found to give a power boost to casters when taken in a really small dose and applied topically.”
“Like a cream?” Trace asked.
“You take a drop and spread it on your hands before you cast. It should boost you up enough to manage a cast that’s just out of reach for your normal level. Nothing too crazy.”
“These cases are definitely not nothing crazy, Wren,” Cyrus said.
“I think whoever is behind this has bastardized the practice beyond recognition. Research into it was quickly stalled and banned and it stayed buried…until now. It wasn’t just the animal cruelty issue.
It’s that a body can’t take more magic than it was born with without shutting down.
I think if we look at the other cases, we’ll probably find all the other perps have low-level casting scores.
My guess would be they saw this as a chance to try and get power. ”
“They turned the venom into drugs they thought they could continuously take and actually role-play as casters,” Teddy murmured in sickened awe.
“But what about the other venoms we found?” Saint asked with a frown. “Not all venoms boost powers, as far as I remember from classes back at Nexus.”
“No,” Wren said, “not as far as we know. But like I said, the research was banned and anything we have on the subject is classified and over eighty years old.”
“So what now?” Trace asked.
“I’ll do my part and dig into the family lines here,” Cyrus said. “LEGALLY! Please stand down and allow me to not draw any more attention to what we’re doing so the dogs over there don’t catch the scent that we’re on to them.”
“Can I come?” Black asked.
Cyrus growled. “I just said no attention. Arcstead, behave. Wren, try.”
“We have our work cut out for us too,” Teddy said. “It will keep us busy.”
“But not out of trouble,” Cyrus said.
“Yes, well,” Teddy said, “you have to take what you can get.”
“We need to visit the pet shops,” Wren said.
“Hanson and Burley will love that,” Saint said. “We barely managed to get them off our backs tonight. Whoever fucking called PUMA needs to get their fingers caught in a drawer.”
“We’ll work around them,” Teddy said.
“What about the investigation of the other cases in Arcstead?” Trace asked.
“It makes sense to split up the animal cursebreakers,” Teddy said, face already flaming as he said, “Trace, you okay to go with Saint?”
Wren whipped around to face him while Saint began to splutter.
Trace met his eyes. “Sure. Stay safe out there.”
Teddy caught the double meaning.