“I wouldn’t necessarily go that far. I have met a few good ones.”, he winked. A very selected few were even his friends, although he had to admit most of them just didn’t want to have anything to do with him once they found out he was a vampire. “Well… you of all people should know how many so called witches need matches for that…” Hard or not… it was still real magic. “Fine…” He reached out for the hand, grabbing it. “Like this, I assume?”

“You’ve met good ones? Or just two faced ones?” There was a bitterness to Charles’ tone, yes, his family had been welcomed back into their coven, but it didn’t mean he was happy about it. He grabbed Enzo’s hand and nodded at his question. “Now sh.” He closed his eyes to focus. 

As cliche as it seemed, the cemetery was actually the perfect place to help Charles channel his magic, it was full of the dead after all but he had to do it under the cover of night as out in the open and during the day meant that more questions would be asked. After a few hours sleep, he was feeling more refreshed than he had been this morning so Charles grabbed whatever was needed and slowly made his way out of his place, through the Quarter and towards the cemetery.

Once he was at the gates, Charles took a look over his shoulder before moving inside and setting up camp on the far side. He could still hear a small gathering of people nearby whether it was just a bunch of teenagers, tourists or whatever, he still needed to be careful. “Come on, where is he?” He checked his watched then perched himself on a nearby headstone.

“Don’t worry, despite the reputation of wolves your secrets and stuff are safe with me." 

“Great.” Then Charles looked up when the door jingled again. “Ah! Mrs Morgan, nice to see you again, the usual?” He got up and went to help her.

Maybe Charles was not in a hurry, but Oliver was. Maybe someone actively fighting Marcel would help to convince Jackson that this was the time, that it was now or never. “You’ll get it after the first full moon.”

“Good man and for the time being, you can work here. Just try not to break anything or you know... tell people what I do is actually real. It’s not exactly a good type of magic, okay?” 

Oliver looked at the thing once more and then he nodded. He would have to slow his transformation down as well as he could, but he could make it work. “I’ll give it a try at the next full moon.” He took a deep breath and put the thing safely away. He would have to make sure that no one would see it. The last thing he needed was Jackson wondering what the hell he was doing.

“If you don’t do it next full moon, try the one after. I’m in no hurry right now to have the venom, it’s just good to have it on hand, just case.”

“I know that plans take time.” But the wolves weren’t immortal like vampires. They didn’t have time. Not that much time at least. “I’m already glad someone wants to do something.” He calmed down a little and tried to relax his shoulders. “But if my wolf pack will profit from it, you’ve gotten yourself your werewolf venom.” He stared at the thing Charles had given him. “How does this work, exactly?”

“You do it mid transformation when you still have your mind intact.” Charles indicated to Oliver. “As soon as your fangs come in, bite through the top where the sponge is, it’ll do the rest then simply toss it somewhere safe. A few drops will do.”

“I have nothing against you witches… but they can be quite judgmental, can they?” He had had one or two encounters after feeding of someone in the streets,and this only confirmed it again. “And yes, I know I’m seen as unnatural. It doesn’t bother me, to be honest. To each their own.” And if they’d cross a line, he would make them very clear how he felt about it. He looked at the guy when he sat down and was pleasantly surprised when he managed to lit the candles like that. Sure… it could be a trick, but the chances that he was the real deal grew with the second. “Impressive, I have to say… or cant’I talk because of that juju you keep rambling about?”

“There’s a reason why witch rhymes with bitch after all.” Charles joked, then glanced at the lit candles. “Lighting candles is the first thing we learn to do so it’s no biggie.” Then he got a little more comfortable on his seat and looked down at the table between then before holding his hand out to Enzo. “Since we don’t have anything that belonged to her, we’ll have to use you.” 

“Done,” the witch responded instantly, not really needing to consider it. They needed allies, they needed more than just mortal soldiers. He knew it too. They didn’t have the backup of a hybrid army this time around. He started to leave the store but stopped at the door, “Let me be very clear about something. If you try to cheat me, this little business deal will get ugly really fast.” He turned back to look at the vampire, “I’m paying for results and I expect them to be real.”

“Cheat you? You think so little of my craft, I’m offended.” He drawled, Charles was not offended and it wasn’t the first time he had been threatened. “I’ll bring my spirit fingers.” 

He sighed, deciding not to comment any further on how the guy decided to do his business. If he managed, that was. It might cost him an actual reading, because something about this guy told him he might be the real deal. “Yeah, yeah, you are in touch with them, I’m not.” He barely knew who they were, after all. He had never had much of a family. “So the dead aren’t exactly nature and elements. That might explain why it is so bloody hard to find a legit necromancer here in town.” The fake ones, not a problem… but there wasn’t one single one who had been able to contact Maggie directly. He sat down at the order, still the soldier, used to following orders and looked at the man. “Now what?”

“It’s a rare gift and one that gets you shunned from your coven. It’s black magic, it’s not exactly sunshine and rainbows. Like for example, if you’re a siren or a banshee, both affinities are seen as unnatural. You should know a thing or two about being unnatural after all.” Once it was all set up, Charles sat himself down on the other side of the table and lit the candles with a wave of his hand. . 

At his jab she just shrugged, her expression being one of indifference. It was true. She may be willing to travel into the Quarter but a large amount of their friends were not. “Hey, not worries,” she gave him a pat to the arm, “So what do you do? Tell fortunes to tourists?”

“No, I’m not a fortune teller. Those are seers, some of them anyway. No, I get in touch with deceased love ones and the whole seances, Ouija board thing. Tourists really like that stuff.” 

“Well, it sounds bloody fake for someone who isn’t born and raised here.”, Enzo sighed. Maybe he should have a bit of patience with this guy. He wasn’t too eager to get his hands on money, which might mean he was the real deal. “Ah… ancestors don’t appreciate you calling out to the dead? Interesting. They never seem to have too much trouble interfering with the living.”, he shrugged. “Yes, yes, I know about that bloody juju, but there have been circumstances that prevented me from keeping anything from her, ok?” LIke being in a cell about 70 years after he had last seen her. “Fine.”, he followed the warlock.

“Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me.” Charles couldn’t help but mock Enzo a little as he went into the back room with all the stuff he needed. “Believe me, I know what my ancestors are like. They’re all ‘harness the power of nature and the elements’, which is nice and all, but some of us like to step outside the box a bit. Or in my families case, thrown out.” He set up the candles and closed the curtains. “Interesting.” Not really, Charles didn’t care for the vampires history. “Sit down.”

“You’re going to use my venom to bring Marcel down and all we get is the promise that you’ll talk to my Alpha?” Oliver shook his head. “It’s not enough.” He licked his lips. “I’ll gladly sweep the floors for you, but if you want my venom to change things in the quarter, I want your word that life will be better for the werewolves too, that we will profit from it too.”

Charles let out an annoyed grunt at the wolf in front of him, “Plans take time, okay? I’ve had four years to think about it without the support of my coven so excuse me if I don’t divulge all the details yet.” Then he sighed. “You have my word, that the crescent wolf pack will profit from this plan too.” 

Oliver squeezed his eyes. “You’d give us a say in things?” He cocked his head and continued sweeping while he let the thought echo in the back of his mind. Somehow the idea of getting a say, of not being stuck in the swamp anymore sounded interesting. More interesting than it probably should considering the price he’d have to pay.

“Eh. Like I said, I’d have to talk to your alpha.” Charles shrugged his shoulders, he hadn’t thought that far in his plans, mostly just how to bring down the vampires and get his coven on his side, but the werwolves could be used to his advantage as well, they were bitter enough towards Marcel and his cronies to warrant a reason. 

“ Is this just something you were taught to believe? ” Kendra had grown up alongside him, she had seen the ways his father would speak to him, see the ways the coven would look down upon them. “ I think if you really wanted to, you could find a way to use it for a good cause. ”

“Who else would teach me to believe that but our coven?” Charles raised a brow at Kendra then shook his head a little. “It’s a dark magic, Kendra, I don’t know whether you remember or not, but it’s still not a good thing no matter which way you try to look at it. I try to use it for good, hence my shady store, but the more I use it, the more disconnected I become.”

Oliver thought about that question for a moment. “And if you were king, what would you do for the werewolves? For my pack? It doesn’t feel like something is changing if we’re still stuck in that swamp.” He paused sweeping the floor for a moment.

“You wouldn’t be stuck in the swamp for one, no, I’d approach your alpha first and figure things out from there.” Charles sat himself down on the stool behind his counter, it was still early and no tourists would be trickling in till later so he had some time to kill.