Chapter 83 - Troubled Past

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"

Anon nodded and sipped on his beer before answering. "Yeah. I wasn't a planned kid, and, well, my mom just used every opportunity to pass me over to Aunt before just giving me up entirely. Aunt is my official guardian now."

I noticed he didn't mention a father anywhere in there, but didn't raise up that question. As interesting as Anon's story was, it wasn't my goal. Pushing him further than he was ready to go was against my purposes. Instead, I sighed.

"My mother died when I was a child. Cancer." I found myself saying. I could easily rationalise this as gaining sympathy, but I didn't want to gain anyone's sympathy with the memory of my mom. The truth was… I felt good to share, even with a stranger, even after all these years. Until the story stopped causing me pain, it felt good. "I was raised by my dad and grandparents after that, but I never stopped missing her."

Anon nodded and drank some more. His voice was rough. "Aunt was a better mother to me than my real one could ever have been, and I still wish my mom didn't just… drop me. If not for Aunt, I would probably have ended up in an orphanage."

This spilling of our troubled pasts became a little too much for me. I retreated to safer waters. "And Avarice's strange name?"

"Oh, that. She told me her maker gave it to her. It's somewhat a tradition amongst some of them, apparently, to change names after turning. Like a new life, or stuff. I was just a toddler when Aunt turned, so I don't even remember how she was before that. She only has some old photos saved."

I wondered how JJ looked before turning. Were his eyes any less enchanting and dangerous without slit pupils? Was his smile any less dazzling without fangs? There was no way to know now. No photos were done in his time, and even portraits were rare.

"Why does Aunt interest you so much, Diana?" Anon asked, eyeing me with suspicion again. "I don't feel like you are her enemy, but if you look for a way to get to her…"

I hurriedly waved his concerns off. "No, no, no! Calm down, Anon. I do look for a way to get to her, but not in that sense. I just need some way to meet with her personally. Her address. Or maybe you can convince her to meet?"

Because I knew I couldn't. I wrote to her before through the forum. The fact that I and JJ used the same account turned out to be pretty inconvenient when I found out that Christina spammed JJ too (he ignored her and deleted her messages, though not before reading them). Still, I asked Avarice to meet, to which she replied with an invitation to find her at home…

When I would find it.

She and JJ were in cahoots, I swear.

"If she doesn't want to meet with you, Diana, I don't see why I should help you."

I let out a frustrated huff. "That's the thing. She wants to, but they, she, had to make it a game. A waste of time, really. I don't know why Avarice agreed to it."

Anon frowned in confusion. "They? What is this all about?" When I bit my lip, unhappy with what I already unwillingly shared, Anon gave me a hard look. "I will tell you the address if you tell me what game you are talking about."

I sighed. Well, it's not like this information was that important. "Well, long story short, I work in partnership with some other guy, who intermediate between me and Avarice previously, because he had a deal with her too, and we were conveniently together at the time. I want to renegotiate my agreement with her again now, but she insisted I come to deal with her personally and myself. My partner refused to give me the address, too, told me that searching for it would be my test, sort of." I shrugged, sour. "Or he is just toying with me, because I don't know what he might test with this sort of thing."

It took several seconds for Anon to process everything I said, but then his eyes became sympathetic. "Your partner sounds like an annoying guy. Twice so, to convince Aunt to play a game like that. She is usually much more direct."

Annoying wasn't the word I'd choose. "I imagine. So, will you give me the address?"

"Yeah. It's on Republican street twenty." While he spoke, I pulled out my phone and wrote that down in notes. "It's all her house."

I nodded and put my phone away again. "Thanks, Anon. Now… one last thing… Do you remember the sketch you sold me?"

"Huh? The sketch?.. What's about it? No refunds!"

I chuckled. "No refunds needed. I just wanted to know who made it."

"Why? Want to copy my scheme?"

This time, I laughed out loud. "As if!"

Anon shook his head. "Oh, whatever. I don't like the emo-bastard anyway, so if you want to bring him trouble, feel free. Though, I will have to warn you that if you really mess with him, Avarice will tear off your hands. He is under her protection, because he works for her."

"Okay, got it."

Anon told me one more address to write down, after which I stole the rest of his pistachios and stood up.

"It was nice to meet you, Anon. I wish you to find a better place in life than this." I gestured at the bar. "And best of luck, too. I also don't recommend you to buy stuff from that artist ever again. The picture I bought from you was cursed."

"Cursed?" Anon blanched. "What? Why? How?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's some nasty magic, though. Maybe you should destroy the rest of his sketches, too."

Anon frowned, looking into his beer, and muttered a curse of his own under his breath. "Thanks, Diana. I think I will. Good luck with your business."

As I left the bar, I found it interesting that he didn't doubt my words about curses even for a moment.