|
|
Post by Derek Burke on Mar 13, 2017 1:02:07 GMT -5
Derek didn't expect an apology, but he was glad to have the man at his side. Things were 'smoothed over' in theory and he proceeded as though nothing had changed. Men would always be men, settling things with their fists and grabbing a beer afterward - though with Christian's drinking Derek was fine without the latter.
He spent the next hour or so going over what he had learned in Morocco and information about someone named, "أفعى سامة" or "afeaa samm" translated as, "The Viper".
After he was wrung dry of information he sighed, "We'd better clean up that mess in the kitchen, Kingston is coming by later..." Derek looked at his watch, "Damn, I was supposed to run an errand for the shop..."
|
|
|
|
Post by Christian Ward on Mar 13, 2017 1:23:55 GMT -5
Christian listened, his brow furrowed as the new information came in. The Viper. Christian asked question after question, his concerns lightening and then returning as more details came about. He nodded and sat back in his seat, thinking over the information.
When Derek mentioned the mess in the kitchen, Christian looked up. "Right," he said as he moved to get up. He didn't make it two steps before Derek mentioned errands. "The shop?" he asked stupidly before remembering that Derek was probably talking of his family's shop.
|
|
|
|
Post by Derek Burke on Mar 13, 2017 1:32:26 GMT -5
"Yeah do you mind?" he asked. He didn't want to leave the mess and have Kingston return to an empty home, but he was partially responsible for the mess as well and felt only a little bad about leaving Christian to clean up duty.
"Not sure what he's stopping by about, but seeing as how it is his house..." he trailed off with a casual grin.
|
|
|
|
Post by Christian Ward on Mar 13, 2017 1:47:24 GMT -5
Christian wouldn't say as much, because he'd have to admit he was in the wrong, but it seemed as though Derek was leaving him to clean up as punishment for thinking he had been sleeping with Diana. And Christian would accept the punishment if they moved along. He shrugged and shook his head.
"Probably wants to know when we'll be out of here. The construction is taking a bit more time than expected." Christian hadn't considered going to a hotel now that Silas was out of the picture because he honestly wasn't planning on being around that long, but if he'd been wrong about Diana (and if he could just f*cking admit his feelings) then they would need to look into something a little more practical than Godric's Hollow.
|
|
|
|
Post by Derek Burke on Mar 14, 2017 2:09:51 GMT -5
Derek gave a casual grin again, all fighting and assish behavior forgotten. He shrugged before turning and leaving.
Sure enough while the women were still out Kaden returned. He hadn't been 'home' in a while. He didn't mind either. Diana Crawford was an unknown, but he had her eye on Crawford Industries for a while. Keeping Diana at his home was a way to keep easy access should his information turn up an unfavorable opinion on the brunette. Unfavorable indeed. The woman was truly a piece of work. Evil didn't begin to describe her. She was manipulative, cunning, and worse than her father ever was. She primarily single-handedly managed to remove all the board members to her father's company which would leave her as the sole heiress. She worked with a known sociopath to accomplish her goals. And now had roped Derek and Christian into her private crusade.
The number she did on Christian alone was worthy of applause had he a twisted enough mind to appreciate her work. He didn't. Something had to be done. But before something could be done, someone had to be warned.
He found the man in the study, "I think we need to have a talk...it's about your wife."
Derek laid a fat folder on the desk which had the information he had dug up on the woman. Christian was in for a long afternoon.
|
|
|
|
Post by Christian Ward on Mar 16, 2017 1:39:49 GMT -5
Cleaning up the mess in the kitchen was easy enough with the right spells. It wasn't as if this was the first fist fight Christian had ever had to tidy up after, he'd been in plenty before. It was a side effect of being a functioning alcoholic with a short temper.
He had wanted to congratulate himself on cleaning the mess up with a glass of scotch (any excuse would do, really) but Derek had made a few good points and perhaps he had been drinking enough for the day. At least for the moment. Christian put on the kettle to make some tea instead.
Sitting in the study with his tea, Christian was reading the newspaper. Kaden arrived and Christian looked up to greet him. "Derek said you'd be coming by. What about Diana-" He stopped mid-sentence and looked at the large file the man had placed in front of him. "What's this?" he said, almost irritated. Was Kaden working on the hit, too? Christian liked to be in charge of things and not knowing that Diana and Derek were bringing on another man made Christian aggrivated.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kaden Kingston on Mar 19, 2017 1:35:08 GMT -5
Kaden spent the next hour 'revealing' Diana's spectacularly horrific past which included such highlights as: a mental institution, an attempt on her father's life, several atrocities committed with the help of a known sociopath, and a rather damning paper trail of nefarious deeds. It wasn't the deeds however that damned Diana, but rather the motivation behind her deeds. Kaden's clever story was one of greed, insanity, and utter ruthlessness.
He then watched for the man's reaction before revealing additional evidence.
"At first, I admit I thought you were cognizant of your wife's misdeeds, but this led me to believe otherwise..."
Kaden held up a small vial with an indefinable potion inside. The same potion that caused Christian and Diana to wed in the first place.
|
|
|
|
Post by Christian Ward on Mar 20, 2017 23:50:31 GMT -5
Most of this information was not new to Christian, though painted in a different light than how Derek and Diana had described it to him. Some of it, however, was brand new information - at least he thought it was. Had he known about the sociopath before? There were more than a few moments as Kaden spoke when Christian really felt conflicted, but he chalked this up to an outsider's perspective. Easy enough to misjudge Diana's actions without the context to which Christian himself was privy. Wasn't he?
Kaden held up a vial of some liquid that Christian didn't recognize. "What is it?" he said sternly as he took the small bottle from the man and inspected it. "What does it have to do with Diana or myself?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Kaden Kingston on Mar 21, 2017 22:47:07 GMT -5
"I believe it's the answer to a question you've been asking yourself for quite some time."
He let Christian take the vial and tucked his hand back in his coat pocket.
"The street name is Amorphia. It's similar to amortentia, but it's cut with bits of euphoria. Causes feelings of intense love combined with lowered inhibitions and a sense of ecstasy. The effects hit hard and fast, but they don't last long. Just a night or so depending on the dose."
He caught Christian's eyes, "Plenty of time however to seduce information out of someone, lure them to their death, even coerce another into marriage."
|
|
|
|
Post by Christian Ward on Mar 21, 2017 23:48:31 GMT -5
Christian stared at the vial as Kaden explained, all of the little puzzle pieces in his mind falling into place. His grip tightened dangerously around the tony bottle.
Christian was not a family man. He was not a man to be tied down by a woman. He knew this about himself and had been trying to reconcile this fact with his marriage to Diana which he conveniently had no memory of. "Deceptive b*tch," he growl through gritted teeth, his fist squeezing so tightly over the potion bottle that he heard the glass crack.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kaden Kingston on Mar 22, 2017 0:03:32 GMT -5
Kaden had said enough about Diana's guilt. The 'facts' he had laid out were irrefutable. The question now became what would they do about her?
Kaden had a mission: to bring down the corruption in the wizarding community. He wasn't interested in the larger war at hand, he didn't intend to play politics. He was concerned with the truly evil. Diana was truly evil.
He nodded and left the man alone to think. He had sown the seeds, one way or another Diana would be taken care of.
|
|
|
|
Post by Christian Ward on Mar 22, 2017 0:15:58 GMT -5
What would they do about her? Diana had manipulated Christian for too long, pulling out all the stops. Seducing him into a pregnancy, drugging him into a marriage and a life bond, playing out in the open with him where Silas would see her with him and starting a chain reaction that led to her having an audience with the most powerful man in Europe.
Diana was getting everything she wanted out of Christian, but that stopped now. He needed to think, and he damn well needed a drink. Christian stormed out of the safe house, intending to return to his own home while he thought things out.
|
|
