Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen - Drugged By Desire

It became blindingly obvious who was the culprit behind the drugging and Owen also came to realise that he was not the only one being targeted.  The only thing that needed to be resolved was 'why?'

Adam returned the following morning, early and immediately attacked Owen, who begged him to at least allow him to fix his morning breath!  No sooner had he emerged from the bathroom, however, Adam had swept him into bed and proceeded to ravish him.

Sometime later, while his lower back was receiving a well deserved massage, he mentioned what had occurred during dinner.

"There's something really odd about that girl," Owen mentioned, his words ending on a slight moan.

"What other than the fact that she may have tried to drug you?" Adam snapped angrily. Owen didn't take it to heart, he knew that it was not directed at him. Although he suspected that she was the culprit, he could not rule out his older brother as suspect as he had been the one to open the bottle and pour the wine. But he felt that he would be amiss blaming the man for this, as if they were missing a piece of the equation.

"Hmmm," Owen replied as Adam kneaded a particular spot that made his toes curl. "When I mentioned you were my boyfriend, which admittedly I did without thinking too deeply about it, her reaction was off. I didn't realise until I was thinking about the whole afternoon, trying to shed some light on the whole drugs thing, but... if she really is Trinity Desertflower, then she met you at the convention, right?"

"Yes," Adam agreed. "She talked smack about you and it pissed me off that I couldn't defend you."

"So why did she not look surprised when I mentioned we were dating?" Owen asked. "The two top Faction Leaders on our server are boyfriends, this would be huge news right. I mean, she could have been acting in front of Karl, but for no reaction other than pity as she wanted to hook me up with her cousin.. her female cousin, I might add... Ow!"

"Sorry," Adam removed the pressure from Owen's back. Owen crawled into his arms with a smile.

"Jealous much," he mused.

"Very," Adam agreed, burying his head into Owen's neck and inhaling his fragrance. He sighed. "Now that you mention it," he said as if just recalling something. "She was online last night, but never said a word. Think she has a twin?"

"With the same name?" Owen questioned with a laugh. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. What should we do in the meantime?"

"I can think of something," Adam growled and pushed the boy onto his back once more.

*****

Later in the week, Charity invited Owen out for tea. Adam had already gone home as he had a shift that Friday night that he just couldn't get out of. They met in a small coffee shop, Owen had ordered a cappuccino and soon found that when it was delivered to him, it already contained the drug. Owen found himself glancing at Charity's left pupil, but her green eyes did not reveal Nellie's twin moon pupil. He could only assume that Charity was not Nellie, but who else could obtain a drug that wasn't supposed to be in this world? Was the drug here due to some corruption in the files?

*Yin will investigate this!*

Don't worry about it, Owen replied as he used an old sleight of hand trick to drop the neutralising agent into the drink as he added sugar to it. It wouldn't explain how the drink meant for me was drugged without Charity even touching it. Just as with the wine.

The boy and his future sister-in-law made mostly small talk, although she did ask him to come for a suit fitting as she and Karl wanted him to be a part of the wedding. This almost made him spit out his drink. Were they not thinking about the reaction of his stepmother at all when this was decided? What were they thinking of?

Or rather... what was Charity up to?

Adam and Owen found themselves invited to a 'double date' with Karl and Charity at a particularly high class restaurant, the type to sell small exquisite dishes for extremely excessive prices. Over the seven course meal, all of the various wines produced to match each dish contained the drug. Both Yin and Yang had to produce several neutralising pills, which Owen and Adam had to sneak into their drinks before they could safely decline the alcohol. That did not deter the culprit, as the drugs were added to their soft drinks as well.

"I heard from father," Karl said, during the course of the meal, "that you are quite talented in mathematics."

"I'm not sure that it could be considered a talent," Owen denied, though admitted he was expecting to receive a good grade in the subject.

"Have you accepted a university placement?" Karl asked him.

"Yes," Owen replied and mentioned which university he was planning to go to. It was about forty minutes by train from where he lived, so not so difficult to get to and he wouldn't have to move, even if public transport during rush hour was inconvenient. He could cope, it was not as if he hadn't before. "I'll be studying pharmaceuticals."

"Oh? What made you decide that?" Charity asked as she neatly sliced into the quail breast portion upon her plate. It came on a bed of herb salad, a poached quail egg and was seasoned lightly with dressing and pepper and topped with pea shoots.

"Ah, my first nanny's son was studying it when I was small and I became interested," Owen replied. He was currently eating a sardine, red pepper and tomato salad. It reminded him a little of his meals made by Slate, except this was admittedly prettier, if not quite as tasty. The small cubes of salad fruits were bordered by the small fish as they were curled into a circle. The dish was then dressed with a vinaigrette and topped off by sour cream and cress.

Karl sipped at his wine. "I think you should change your major and come work for me," he declared. This caused the two younger men to pause.

"What?" Owen asked, confused.

"What a great idea, honey!" Charity agreed, enthusiastically. "Don't you think, Owen?"

Adam squeezed his hand under the table. What was happening?

"What do you think I should study?" Owen asked carefully as if his mind was muddled, wondering just how much that drug would effect him by now if it was in his system. He should be somewhat docile and easy to manipulate right? But maybe not too much...

"Accountancy," Karl replied. "Then all of us brothers can work beneath the same roof and grow the company well. Perhaps Francis later as well..." He suddenly frowned and questions appeared to be held in his eyes, before fading. Owen shuddered inwardly. Was Karl under the influence of that drug?

*Affirmative.*

Then should they conclude that Charity was behind everything? But to what end was she trying to manipulate them all? Turning them into puppets, pulling on their strings, it gave him such a sense of deja vu. His salad turned unpalatable and dry in his mouth and he reached for the glass of water that he had not long neutralised and took a long swallow.

"Well what do you think?" Charity asked with a small, artificial smile upon her face.

Owen returned the smile with a halfhearted one of his own. "It sounds interesting," he replied, non-commitedly. This answer seemed to be sufficient as the woman did not push him any further during their meal. That apparently could wait until their next meeting.

This was at his suit fitting.

Surprisingly, his stepmother was yet to protest, but Owen suspected that there was a more sinister reason behind her docility. Karl had work, so despite the fact that the bride did not usually involve herself with the choosing and fittings of the men's attire, Charity was accompanying him. The suit design was nothing out of the ordinary, top and tails, black dinner jackets and trousers, gold waistcoats and cravats. It was expected. There was no originality.

"So, once we have finished here," Charity was saying as the tailor adjusted his suit to frame better his body. "We should go and alter your application for your new course."

"Yes," Owen replied, quietly. He had Adam had decided to play her game to try and see what she was really up to. They had their suspicions, but needed to be sure.

"And then I really need to speak with you about your choice of partner," she told him, inspecting the tailors work as she spoke.

"...Okay," it was not that he was surprised, it was more that he didn't want her to think he was completely under the control of the drugs yet.

"Now, now, Owen," she purred, gently stroking his shoulder after the tailor had removed the jacket. "I am saying this for your own good. We both know that man is not doing you any good. He is keeping you away from... from your family. You want to be with them, don't you?"

Owen swallowed the lump building in his throat. Why did he get the impression that this woman was not speaking of the Millers? "My family?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes, Owen, your family," her eyes flashed with greed and seemed to glow blue for the briefest of moments. So brief that Owen thought he might have imagined it. "They miss their little boy so much and really want you to reunite with them. You want that to, right?"

"Yes," Owen admitted, quietly.

"Then you just need to follow what I say," Charity told him, a triumphant look on her face. "Split up with that person, stay away from them from now on and when it is time, we shall all get what we desire. Alright?"

Owen hesitated, feeling wary that if he continued to agree with her, he would jeapodise more than just his relationship with his beloved. The woman sighed and released him. "I understand, you are not ready. Relax, I won't force you. Let's grab a coffee and we can talk about this again another time, hmm?"