The news was not well received. Adrian watched as the faces of his interrogators dropped. Tears started to  well in Miriana's eyes  as Megra shifted on her feet  fighting the urge to pace. 

“You’re certain nothing can be done?” The question came from Cas this time. The demon's magenta eyes were pleading and Adrian felt their gaze like a dagger to the chest. .

 “The lotus you use, it’s Draxion correct?” He asked suddenly

Megra furrowed her brow at the question, under normal circumstances she would never reveal such things to a stranger but this was not a normal circumstance.

“Yes. It is”

Adrian nodded, “So far I’ve only heard of one treatment that showed any promise. You should render down two full blossoms in pure oil. Give it to your girl through a vein. Repeat that every four hours for a full day before doubling the time between doses. See how she is after another couple days then start working down the dosage depending on how she reacts.”

Megra scoffed at the instructions, “If her mind wasn’t damaged before, two full blossoms of Draxion lotus would guarantee it. You’d have her build a new addiction to combat another?”

“That’s the idea, yes. It’s the only thing I know  that can rival his poison and it’s at least something you can control and administer. I won’t say there’s any guarantee it will help but I can guarantee she will absolutely die otherwise.” 

Megra stiffened and shot a look to Cas, she knew the man couldn’t lie but she still needed reassurance. Cas nodded in response confirming the man's honesty. 

“This treatment, have you seen it work?” She asked 

“No, but I was told about it.”

“And the victim was cured?” 

“She might have been, if she hadn't killed herself six weeks into her treatment.”

Megra scoffed, “That hardly sounds like a success.” 

“True,” Adrian said with a shrug. “But it’s the closest thing I’ve got.”

Megra stared for a moment quietly calculating as her clawed fingers rapped against her thigh. She didn’t debate long and turned to the bartender. “Jazel please go down to the infirmary and give them Mr. Pierce's instructions. Let me know as soon as it is done.” Jazelnodded and started for the door. 

“The woman I shot, is she still here?” Adrian asked suddenly. 

Megra raised a hand to stop Jazel before answering, “Yes, sans an eye and with a hole in her leg,” she said.  

“You should start her on a half a blossom every six hours. Her symptoms won’t be as bad as quickly but the longer she’s without the worse she’ll be.”

“You seem awfully concerned considering you shot her,” Megra said.

“I shot her because I had too but she wouldn’t have even been there if it wasn’t for Drummond Faeborne. She deserves a chance even if it’s a small one,” he replied. 

 Megra watched his expression for a moment before nodding to Jazlyn. 

The orcish woman returned the gesture but expressed concern about their supply of the plant. 

“We will discuss a solution later, for now let’s move forward with Mr. Pierce’s recommendations,” Megra said.That was all the bartender needed to hear and she was out the door a moment later.

 “So how does he produce this…substance?” Megra asked. 

“I's just a function of his cursed biology,” Adrian said. 

“Biology?” Megra asked. “What do you mean? What is he?” 

“Just a mistake of nature. A mutant descendant of some poor fairy who couldn’t flee fast enough when man came to burn her forest. A few generations down that blood line you end up with someone like him. The connection to that wild magic of theirs is dulled but not severed and occasionally you get one who can still tap into it.” 

It was a terrifying thought. While most magic required ritual, sacrifice, oaths and was governed by rules the primordial magic of the fairies had no such restrictions. If somebody wanted to use magic to gain or hurt they would need to pay an appropriate price but with pure and wild magic one could do as they saw fit.

“And just how many women has he done this to?” Megra asked. 

“I couldn’t give you a decent number. When I first got onto him he had almost two dozen women with him and I was aware of at least fifteen more he had “loved” and left to perish. He’s run through a lot more since then, maybe a hundred, maybe more it’s hard to say.”

Megra was shocked at the scale the gunman described.“Why hasn’t anyone tried to stop him sooner?” 

Adrian shrugged, “For a long time he stuck to courtesans, barmaids, unhappy wives. People who he could get a quick payday or romp from but who wouldn’t really cause a stir. With the way his curse works it looked like a bunch of lovesick women who took poison or just gave up on life. Also it didn’t hurt that more than a few ended their own lives from the pain. Hard to see a pattern in all that.”

“If his pattern is to keep his head low, how did he get such a large bounty?”

“About two months ago he pulled his trick on a girl he saw at a tavern. Probably thought she was just some merchant's daughter rebelling against her father. He was half right,she was a rebellious daughter, just happened her father was a duke.”

Megra gave a low hum as things began to make sense. Of course there wouldn’t be a proper bounty until he had harmed someone that was demeaned worthy of justice. 

“I don’t give a shit about some rich man's brat!” Miriana yelled suddenly, “Ressa is all I care about and she still has a chance! You tracked him so long, tell us where he’s at so we can go get her!”

Adrian didn’t react to the woman’s fury except to meet her tear filled eyes with an expression of understanding sadness. 

“If I knew exactly where he was I would tell you, but even if I did, trying to take her by force would be a poor decision.”

“And why is that?” Megra asked

“Because Drummond Faeborne doesn’t travel alone.”