[Omen of the Witchblade] Chapter 130 - Meet the Neighbors

The shopkeeper didn’t bother to look up from his dog-eared novel. He licked his fingers–which Mel noticed were immaculately clean, not a speck of dirt under his nails–and turned a page.

Mel didn’t miss the shift in Charlie’s demeanor.

She could see the same things Mel did.

This guy was too clean. Too nicely dressed. He didn’t belong. Worse, he didn’t care.

Normally, this was the type of person Mel wouldn’t have given her business to. He didn’t maintain his shop, clearly didn’t give a shit about his potions. “Hell, I bet your name isn’t even Pete!” Mel blurted out, finishing her thought aloud.

Charlie glanced with unveiled disdain at the dusty, dimly lit potion bottles.

The man looked up, alarmed to have found two women in his shop. He looked at the novel in surprise, as if expecting it had somehow transported him into its pages.

“Not on your life,” Mel mumbled under her breath.

The man swiped a hand through his black, slicked back hair. He oozed out of the chair and smiled at them like a mental patient. “To answer your question, milady, my name is not Pete. It’s Teddy. Pete was my father. I just run it to keep away the squatters. Filthy grayskins would try to claim the shop is theirs if I so much as go on an island jaunt for a season! It’s ridiculous.”

Charlie moved closer to Mel, effortlessly making the two of them appear as a pair.

Mel suddenly shifted her demeanor. She leaned forward so the man could get a good look at her assets. This is going to be too easy. Manipulating men like Teddy was easier than nuking fish in a barrel with a fireball.

She blinked a lot and did her best to look positively brainless. With a small pulse of mana, Mel changed her [Sanguine Coat] to hug her curves better. “The islands you say? I bet they’re beautiful this time of year.”

The man put down the book and leaned forward, practically sweating in the effort of not dropping his gaze from her face.

He’s got more sense than I figured, Mel thought.

“Lovely!” He glanced down, swallowed, then looked her in the eyes again as if she wouldn’t notice. “The islands, I mean. They are beautiful. You can go sharkskiing during the summer. When you’re as well off as me, and a High Copper at that, they let you do whatever you want!”

Remember what Elian said, you can still go to jail for spearing him through the throat.

“You’re not a competitor, are you?” Mel asked hopefully. Her eyes were as bright as a pair of polished emeralds.

“That would be like…ever so impressive,” Charlie said with an overdone, valley girl accent.

Teddy waved his hands as if warding off a hex. “Never! I earned my rank through hard work and dedication like all proper people. Filthy competitors coming in, waltzing right up to Iron as they please! Real Irons take decades to make! You don’t want a competitor, milady, you want a real man. A man with a stable income. I pull in nearly eight irons a month. That’s real money.”

Damn, Mel thought. I was hoping I could beat you to a pulp without facing consequences.

“Why don’t you join up then?” Mel asked. “I heard some Copper guy bragging that he pulled in ten irons in just a few days of slaying monsters in a group. Said he barely had to lift a finger since he organized the whole party. The way I hear it, these new people aren’t keen on initiation. You start the party, you call the shots. Sounds like a dream.”

Teddy shook his head emphatically. Mel could see the fear in his gray eyes. She wasn’t going to get anywhere pushing him. “They can have the grunt work as far as I’m concerned. This life is too cushy to give up.”

“And who might be your favored customers?” Charlie asked, her arm looping suggestively around Mel’s.

The way he leered sent a shiver of revulsion up Mel’s spine.

“Beautiful ladies such as yourselves,” Teddy said immediately. “Unfortunately, such brilliant beauty is rare here. For my beautiful customers who know how to have a good time, I offer substantial discounts on potions and topical creams for all that ails.”

“What about the grayskins?” Mel asked, flipping her hair disdainfully. “I’ve seen a lot of them skulking around outside.”

Teddy waved his hand. “They’re thick and dumb as the stone they’re colored after. Grayskins are useful for paying the bills. I own the plot outright, so it’s not like I have to pay much in upkeep. Sell a few highly marked-up and watered-down potions to sick grayskins and I’m set for weeks. Unhygienic lot. They get sick all the time. Always trying to bring in their little ones to play on my sympathy, but I know their game. I just charge extra and water it down a little more for the added annoyance.”

Mel’s rage threatened to boil over. She kept the smile fixed to her face though. “I’m not very smart,” Mel began, “but that doesn’t sound like good business. Wouldn’t you want to heal them so they come back again?”

That got a laugh out of Teddy. “You are as beautiful as the rising sun, but better to leave the matters of business to men. You need to understand the doubling mindset of a proper businessman. Water down the product, markup the price. Now that same potion is doubled twice. That’s the doubling mindset.”

I can feel my brain cells rotting, Mel thought to herself.

For once, Charlie didn’t have as much self-control. Her flash of disgust and anger was plain. Unfortunately, Teddy seemed to enjoy a woman’s scorn, or didn’t care what a woman felt.

We’re just pretty things to somebody like him, Mel thought. Gods! He isn’t even rich. He makes barely eighty coppers a month and thinks he’s rolling in it. It’s like a guy flashing the six thousand in his bank account at a bar thinking he’s going to land a girl with that.

Mel frowned. “I think that’s a little too much business for me,” she said breathlessly. “You must be very smart, Teddy. I’d love to come back to the shop sometime in the next few days. Maybe you have some skin cream that’ll keep the hot sun off us so we can ditch these big hats?”

Teddy leaned so far over the counter he nearly fell. “It would be my pleasure, but unfortunately, I have pressing matters to attend over the next two days. Truly unfortunate! However, if you come back in three days, I will whip you up a batch of my own homemade skin cream. Guaranteed to keep you looking beautiful–more beautiful! And since your company has illuminated my day, I’ll give it to you at cost. Just a measly five irons.”

Mel put an arm to her chest and gasped. “So generous!” Mel stuck out her elbow for Charlie, who took it gingerly. “Come, my dear. Let’s return to the tower before those filthy competitors fill the lobby.”

“Wait!” Teddy said, coming around the counter faster than Mel would have given him credit for. “You’re staying at the Starling Tower?”

“Naturally,” Mel said, tilting her chin up. “The competitors may darken its doors, but they do not own luxury. They merely rent it.”

Teddy could have taken all of ten seconds to take in her odd attire and the clearly magical coat she wore, but [Observation] was a skill he clearly didn’t have. “If you give me your room number, you won’t need to sully yourselves by coming all the way out here.”

Mel laughed and gently–but firmly–pushed him aside. Despite being a High Copper, he was disturbingly easy to move. “A gentleman caller in our rooms? The scandal! We’ll return in three days. Ta!”

Teddy fussed with the polished brass buttons of his silk vest, puffing himself up. “I’ll be ready for you both!”

Though Mel gracefully led Charlie out of the shop and away from the shopkeeper watching from the dirty window, she had a firm hold that would take force to break.

The skeletons were waiting around at the steps of the Rook, playing dice games.

Mel led them around the bookshop and into the alley where Wrug was waiting. Mel lifted one blonde brow at him.

Wrug scuffed his boot on the slick cobbles. “Wrug saw you go in, figured maybe want Wrug to wait outside? Potions man is very kind to mondoceros. Always give us potions to heal sick ones. Never turn us away.”

Mel’s eye nearly started to twitch. “Oh, really?” Mel asked too sweetly. “Tell me more.”

Charlie’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

Wrug explained in his halting command of speech how Teddy, aka Potions Man, would visit them in the alleys to see if they needed any medicine. Then, almost by magic, a few days later they would need medicine. What a surprise!

He knew exactly when and how they would get sick. It was expensive, but it was hard for the mondoceroses to be upset when the man was single handedly responsible for saving so many lives.

“It would be so easy to make a fumehearted devil like him disappear,” Charlie whispered.

Mel patted her arm. “I have something better in mind.”

Wrug looked at them, clearly confused. “You no like Potions Man?”

Mel and Charlie both tried to explain how Teddy was taking advantage of them. Watering down his potions was the least of his crimes. Mel deeply suspected–and shared Charlie’s belief–that Teddy was poisoning them somehow.

It was just as likely that if he stopped whatever he was doing, they would get better on their own. Watered down potions weren’t going to do much of anything but pad his pockets.

Which is entirely the point, Mel thought to herself. Deklin would love to shake your hand. Of course, he’d break it in three places after. Respect for the hustle doesn’t mean I can’t bash your face in until you swallow your teeth like chiclets.

Mel never understood pacifism. Violence was the solution. Almost always.

“Wrug,” Charlie began gently. “Do your people wish for my continued healing?”

He didn’t seem to understand. “Somebody sick?”

“...No, not now.”

“Oh, you know when we get sick too?” he asked, eyes bright as if he didn’t grasp anything Mel or Charlie told him.

She struggled with her grief and anger. “Never see the Potion Man again, and I will heal your people whenever you need.”

“We’ll make a little clinic in the back,” Mel said. “Potions and healing for any mondoceros who needs it. Sound good?”

Wrug’s large brow crumpled. “Potions Man…is bad man? He use gift of healing to take advantage?”

“Yes,” Mel said. “Not everybody who does something good is good. Take it from me, it’s rarely ever that simple.”

“But he not use papers from Magistrate. Bad people use papers. Need paper for everything. Lavo say if we let them, they tell us we need paper to sneeze without breaking law!”

“Not everybody who obeys the Magistrate is bad either,” Mel tried to explain. “Just because he subverts them doesn’t make him a hero. He’s just a sleazebag who wants to keep as much of his meager profits as he can. If I got a permit, would you think less of me?”

Wrug shook his head adamantly. “But Mel wouldn’t. Too independent. Too strong. Mel can stand on her own. Mondoceros help.”

Not exactly how I planned that to go, Mel thought. Let’s try another way.

“What if we could help your clan more if we had those permits?”

“Lavo be mad.”

The first thought that came to her mind was the wrong one in this case. She wanted to say “Lavo doesn’t need to know” but that wouldn’t fly with people as loyal as Wrug.

“We’ll speak to her,” Mel said softly. “And we’ll get rid of the Potions Man.”

Wrug turned to return to his clan, but Mel stopped him. “I would ask that you not tell anybody about Potions Man for now. Not until we’ve dealt with him. I don’t think Lavo will take the news as well as you have. We need time to deal with him, that way everybody wins. Understand?”

“Wrug no tell Lavo Potions Man is Bad Man who poisons,” Wrug stated baldly.

Well, that’s one way of putting it.