Love Croakies by Sam Cheever (the kiss of deception read online .txt) 📕

Bastion’s favorite niece. She’s reputed to have used her wiles to convince him she wanted the serum to make a human male love her. Bastion didn’t see through her lies because there was too much truth in her story. Young Desiree had a soft spot for earthly creatures and, apparently, had fallen in love with a human male. However, she had no intention of using the foul serum on him. She did it to show him the strength of her love. They eventually married, and Desiree greatly mourned him when he died.” Osvald tsked. “Humans have such short lifespans. Even with the princess’s magical interference, the poor sod only lived a mere four hundred years.”

“One last question,” I said, my mind spinning with all the information he’d given me. “How is the serum spread? And what’s with the mean cherub things?”

He arched a dark brow at me. “I see you’re no better at math than you are as Keeper. That was two questions.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “And here I thought we were getting along.”

“Surprisingly, the serum is not generally spread via an arrow shot from a magical bow, although it certainly could be. However, the action would be redundant. The magic that is spread from the arrows those chubby little flying demons shoot is spelled there. No serum is involved. The spelled arrows were the inspiration for Bastion’s creation of the serum.”

“And the serum?” I asked, hiding my astonishment at his answer.

Osvald shrugged. “It is as you would expect. Ingested or absorbed through the skin. Unfortunately, It is very easy to infect someone with the serum. However, both methods, the spelled arrow and the serum provide the same result. Toxic, overbearing love.”

“Then the person sending those cherubs out doesn’t necessarily have the serum?” I asked.

“No.” He frowned. “As to your second question, I’m afraid your guess is as good as mine on the cherubs. Both Lovelace and Denzel have cherub armies.” His eyes widened. “There is something you need to know, and you’re not going to like it. Whatever you’ve heard from human history, know this. Those cherubs are demonic. They are neither all good nor all evil. Their intent is driven solely by the objective of their master’s desire. Either brother could have taken the serum. Both men are extremely cunning and both are capable of great artifice to get what they want. Take nothing at face value and believe nothing they tell you. Either one could be your culprit.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Though I have to tell you, Denzel hasn’t been seen in centuries. Speculation is that he fled to the human realm to remove himself from Loveland’s corruption and his own weakness in the face of it. I’ve heard rumors he married a human girl, but there’s no proof of that.”

Well, wasn’t that just the bat’s boogers?

I thought about his warning for a long moment. He was right. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. Finally, I asked, “What about the others?”

“Others?”

“The sisters. Desiree.”

“Unclear. Amore moved back to the demonic dimension a thousand years ago, declaring herself done with men and love. I fear Ares wasn’t able to stay as true to her as she might have hoped. The last known accounting of Desiree was that she’d walled herself up in the family castle in Loveland. The place is called Broken Heart Castle, renamed by the princess when she was mourning the loss of her human. But that was centuries ago, and there’s been nothing said about her since. I doubt she’s still residing in the castle. The girls…” He shook his head, the helmet bobbling from the force of the movement and dislodging a lank string of dark brown hair to hang limply down his ruddy cheek. “The other girls fell from the pages of mythology long ago. Their exploits weren’t interesting enough to earn them a spot on the pages of history.”

“So, technically, any one of them could be behind the missing serum,” I said in a voice that clearly reflected my despair.

Osvald agreed with a sharp nod. “Yes. Though, if you’re interested in my opinion on the matter…”

“I am,” I responded, showing how truly desperate I was.

“Aside from Desiree, the girls were a fluffy bunch. All of their brains and gumption added together amounted to nothing. Amore doesn’t care enough about humans to even enjoy toying with them. If any of the group has even the most remote chance of being your culprit, it would be Desiree. The girl’s sharp as a tack and bitter about the loss of her human love.”

“Do you know where she is now?”

“I’m sorry. I do not.” Osvald gave a sharp nod. “Well then. Good luck, Keeper. You’re certainly going to need it.” He dipped his nose toward the pages of the book and dove into them, sending the aged yellow paper fluttering as the leather cover snapped shut behind him.

I sighed. I was tons of information richer and still had more questions than answers.

Story of my life.

I shoved to my feet and headed toward the vault. I had an inventory to complete, and then I’d need to contact Bandy Joe. Maybe he could give me better information about the serum. It was the only thing I could think of to try.

8

Your Eyes are Pools of Liquid…Urp!

I sat in the middle of the vault, several piles of broken debris around me. I’d managed to identify the remains of the Grimm Brothers’ monster clock I’d confiscated from my friend Theo, a giant who owned the local pawn shop in Enchanted. I’d carefully bagged the melted remains of a light-sucking candle. The malformed wax had still given off a stinging energy as I’d shoved it into the magic-quelling containment bag, but it didn’t plunge me into darkness from the permanent removal of the light behind my eyes, so I called it good. Next went the killer shoes Grym and I had captured the first time we’d worked together. They still had enough juice in them to morph