Darkness & Light: Book 2: Shatter Our Hope

3 - Poppy

Poppy and Donovan walk into the room she keeps her alchemical supplies. Donovan sits on a nearby armchair, crossing his leg over the other. He steeples his hands and watches her with mild interest.

Poppy begins to work, and as hours pass, Donovan just watches her with the same amount of interest on his pale, scarred face. She doesn't care, and she barely notices his gaze on her back.

After she is finished, Poppy turns and lifts up the vial containing the glowing silver liquid. "Meet Shimmer, the perfect drug to affect the life of that dark angel we left in the coffin."

Donovan laughs and claps his hands. "Oh, you are full of surprises, Poppy."

Poppy chuckles. "Indeed. Now, I need to summon some friends to help us with this next part."

"The next part?"

"Yes. We need to get her addicted to this special, cursed drug I've created. Shimmer will weaken her will. But it will make her ten times more powerful than she was before. She will return to her feral state, and therefore, we need to ensure we have enough people here who can help."

"Alright. You're the one with the knowledge," he says, smirking at her.

Poppy chuckles. "Why, thank you, Donovan."

The two of them leave the room, and Poppy takes him into the study. This is Poppy's home, her mansion deep within the center of her court. She stops before the big, circular table in the middle of the room, placing her scrying crystals into it. Donovan steps off to the side, watching her closely.

"No one can see us here, right? The wards you've raised. They make it impossible to be found, right? Especially by SC scrying?"

Poppy nods, and presses a quartz crystal to her lips. It glows and feels faintly warm, and she tosses it down onto the map beyond the crystal pile. The crystal lands upon a mark on the map, one that shows Cresicca. A land to the north.

"Cresicca? Hm," Donovan muses, inching closer to her. "Who exactly are you searching for, Poppy?"

"Warwick," she says. "Well, he's the first one I am looking for. He's a bit of a brute. But, well, he is likely to be a good candidate for this job."

"Warwick." Donovan paces.  "Who's he?"

"He is a werebear. Like a werewolf, but a bear. Not a wolf," she says.

Donovan whistles. "Hmm. You've got friends in low places, don't ya?"

She smiles up at him. "I do. I do, indeed."

"So, Cresicca," he says.  "Anyone else you want to look for?"

"Mara," she says. "Mara's a shapeshifter."

Donovan chuckles. "You known many of these interesting people. But .... maybe I should help you, too. Maybe I could collect some of my allies, too. And we could just work together, gathering friends."

She smiles at him. "That sounds like a plan." Poppy walks over to the door, then turns back to him. Her long, red hair flows around her body, her pale face bright with ideas for how to properly mess up the pair of demons they have in the basement. "May I ask you something?"

"Of course," he says.  "Ask away."

"Why are you doing this, if Drecca is your son?"

"He is weak," says Donovan. "His brother should've been the one who took the throne that Drecca has. But ... alas, I cannot find that boy."

"Hmm. Perhaps I could help with that?" Poppy nods toward the scrying tools.

"You would do that, Poppy?"

"Yeah, I mean, why not?"

He laughs.  "You're a good monster, Poppy."

It's now her turn to laugh. "I suppose so, Donovan."