"What part do they play in any of this?"
Mason asked the question that we were all wondering. Even Melissa looked a tad skeptical as to why he'd introduced the picture.
Chris slowly pulled his jacket on, and spoke, "They aren't a strong family line like they used to be. Once upon a time, our families knew each other very well. They worked with us to protect the towns we thrived in. But we were under the impression that, like us, they only helped with hunting the known."
"So, they betrayed your trust?" Mason asked. "No, but they hid things. When I was a young man, about sixteen or so, my father told me stories of the dreaded creature, but they didn't call it a 'wyvern'. No Argent had ever seen this creature, so it wasn't recorded. I must wonder if this family is the reason why."
"Why would they matter? If they were just a family of hunters like yourself, what's to suspect?" Melissa questioned him with worried eyes. "If your suspicions are right, Melissa…we're going to need to find this family line, and especially before the wyvern does."
And it clicked in my head. "They are the ones that it's searching for. We talked about it seeking revenge! If they were hunters…" I let the idea sink into everyone else's head.
"We must find them, and that is what is going to take a while, but I might could get a lead from the Calaveras. The Dorados are a small, Spanish family. They believed that having fewer kids could secure their line, and not leave so many to protect. I don't even know if the line is still alive. All we can do is hope."
"Let's go now. If they have anything we can use to take the wyvern down, we need to find out." Liam spoke. Chris sighed to himself.
"What is it?" Melissa asked him, going to his side. "I can't believe I didn't remember any of this earlier. It might not have gotten so many people killed." "How could you have? Gerard told you those stories years ago, and they were just that: stories. You had no evidence, no recorded words, nothing. So don't blame yourself."
"Chris," I said, turning in Theo's arm to look at the man, "you said they didn't call the creature a wyvern. What did they call it?" "I heard only one term, used by my father in a passing sentence: Monstruo del veneno."
"Venom monster." Melissa said. "Definitely suits." Theo said under his breath.
"Let's get going. Mexico isn't getting any closer with us standing here." Cora said, walking through the door. I went to walk after her, but Theo's hand in mine pulled me back. "Argent, Melissa," Theo said to them, "Cassia and I will catch up. I'm going to take her to Doctor Deaton first and get her stitches checked. Let the others know."
He didn't wait for their answer, but walked me to the car. "I suppose it's a good idea," I admitted to him, "we should also let the doctor know about what we've discovered." Theo nodded, then helped me into the car.
Once we arrived, we saw the doctor turning his open sign to closed. I guessed he had known or felt we'd be coming by.
Theo once more helped me out and to the door. "Deaton?" Theo called, and he motioned for us to join him in the OR.
"I had this feeling," the doctor said, "like I should watch out for you." "You'd be right. Corey almost died, but Melissa thought fast enough to save him. Maybe you should-" "Have the nine sacred herbs put away in stock? I already do. When I left you, my goal was to search for wyvern history and collect more of the herbs."
"Argent may have given us more to go on as well," I stated, "he said something about a family called Dorado."
"I've heard the name before, but it wasn't well known. Their line is probably about as old, or older than, the Argent line. Their lines came from France and Spain."
"Argent and the pack are headed to Mexico to talk to a group called the…Calaveras?" I said.
The doctor went silent, but I could see the wheels in his head turning. He didn't say anything, even as he checked my side, removed two stitches and replaced them. It wasn't until he was bandaging the wound again.
"Tell me," he spoke softly, "do you know what 'dorado' means in Spanish?" "No," I answered, looking to Theo. "Dorado," he paused to tape down the gauze, "means 'gold'."
I gaped, once more looking to Theo. "Melissa must have been closer to her guess than she thought." "What do you mean, Cass?" Theo asked.
"Melissa guessed it. She suggested that gold might be its weakness." I said. "And if 'argent' means 'silver', and they hunt werewolves…" Theo said.
"Monstruo del veneno." Doctor Deaton said with a perfect accent. "You know of the history?" I asked. "No," he said, "but when I was being mentored by the oldest druid known, he spoke of the vanishing venom monster. It was elusive, never around long enough to be believed, but always enough for someone to spot and spread rumors of."
I stared at him, processing the weight of the words. "This thing has a vendetta going on." Theo said, "If it came here, does that mean there are Dorados here?"
"Perhaps," The doctor said, "it could also mean that the wyvern is simply lost. Maybe it found a trail, then lost it. Without you even knowing, the Dorados may have even lead it here themselves. If they knew Argents were in the area, they might be trying to find them." "There's only one. The Argent line ends with Chris." Theo responded.
"If the families haven't fought together in decades, perhaps centuries, they would not know that the Argents have been lost."
"That means we have to go, now." I said, grabbing Theo's arm, "We'll be back soon. Thank you Doctor."
"Hurry back. And be careful, the creature may follow you."
Once out to the car, Theo opened the passenger side door for me and then stomped on the accelerator before he'd even gotten his door shut good. "Here," he said, handing me his phone, "see what you can find on Dorado history."
"Chris messaged you. He says 'One hour from the Calaveras' hideout'." Theo said nothing, and pressed harder on the gas pedal. "Easy," I said, "do you want the sheriff to nail us?" Theo gave me a wicked smile, and revved harder.
"What is with you, you're being like, extra asshole." I laughed. "It's what I'm best at sweetheart." He replied.
After a few minutes, I sighed. "I can't find anything specific about them, and definitely no names. Only a little story about a family of four who protected a town in Spain that no longer exists." "It's something at least," He said, taking his phone back from me.
"You're off," I said after a few more moments of silence. "What do you mean?" He asked, but I could see that I had guessed right when I watched a guarded look come over his face.
"Theo," I said, "did I do something?" "Don't be stupid, of course you didn't." He semi-growled, which told me that I had in fact done something to upset him.
"Please, tell me what I did." I said, not wanting stress to be between us. His fingers gripped the steering wheel, his eyes tightening. But he wasn't just angry, he looked…uncomfortable. I thought back throughout the day, wondering what I could have said at any point.
Theo startled me by blowing a sigh. "Did you mean what you said this morning?" He asked suddenly. "What did I say?" I asked. "Marriage." Is all he said, and the standard Theo look came back.
Blushing, I did recall my words earlier this morning, when he had joked about getting in the shower with me. "I mean…" I couldn't figure out how to start this explanation.
Theo looked at me expectantly before returning his eyes to the road. A million words ran through my head. "Does it really matter?" I settled with finally after a few tense seconds.
"I want to know what you meant. Was it a joke? Was there a serious undertone? Why did you say it?" "Why are you so upset about it, Theo? I meant it as harmless. We haven't even…"
We had not even exchanged 'I love yous'. I didn't even know if we ever would. Right now, there was simply passion and friendship. It made me scared to admit to myself that the idea of marrying Theo didn't turn me off, and that what I felt for him may be more than a crush, but I hadn't said a word to him about it, and hopefully my emotions hadn't betrayed me either.
He shifted in his seat, looking both curious and suspicious. Finally, I wanted answers too. "Theo, tell me why the idea bothers you. Is it because I'm not worthy, because you only want one thing? You think I'll lead you on? Cheat? Because one, none of that is me and two, I never wanted you to risk being hurt by me or Damian, anyway."
Theo stomped hard on the brakes and parked on the shoulder of the road. He faced me then, a ferocious glare on his youthful, handsome face. "Let's get one thing straight: I. Am. Not. Scared. Of. Your stalker. If he comes here, I'm going to kick his ass and kill him. Two: I'm not afraid of anything you could do to me, whatsoever. I'm bothered by it because I don't want to get latched onto something that later will cause a huge amount of legal trouble and be a giant pain in my ass."
"That's all you think marriage is? A huge amount of legal trouble and a pain in the ass?" "Pretty much," he growled. "What if I told you that there's more to it. Companionship, actual love, and more." "I'd say you were looking for a fairytale, and those don't exist." "Neither do supernatural creatures…and yet, here you are."
"I'm assuming you look back at your parent's marriage. But not everything that they had was perfect, perfection was just the only part you saw." He said. "No, my parents' marriage wasn't perfect, at all." I said, thinking back to all the nights my mother sat up crying in the den as Damian had hurt her once again. The holes in the garage walls that Dad had punched, taking his anger out on the inanimate object rather than his son. The fights that they had over where he should go for help, over the money stretched thin because of Damian's therapy bills.
Bitter tears pooled in my eyes as I remembered my father brushing off my comments about him skipping supper, when in reality he was foregoing eating to make sure we had enough. I recalled another time, finding my father in his recliner upstairs, deep into a bottle of vodka, and how my mother's face had been flush with anger.
Theo interrupted my thoughts by placing a hand on my thigh. "I'm sorry. Just some bad memories." I said, "There were bad times, but my parents were for each other until the end. Yeah, they got angry, but there wasn't one time that they didn't have the other's back. That is what marriage is."
"When you finally wake up and ditch all of this, I don't want it to be a legal matter." He said, sounding bitter, angry and a little hurt.
"That's your opinion of me? That when the going gets tough, I just leave?" I asked, putting my hand on top of his. "Cass, I'm dangerous. And what we do, is dangerous." "I've been in a precarious position almost all my life, you think a few mythical creatures are going to scare me off?"
"All your life?" He asked. "Uh, well, almost seven years," I covered. I wasn't quite ready to admit that Damian was my brother.
Theo opened his mouth to respond, but his phone went off, and I took it for him. "It's Liam. They found the Calaveras. And they gave Chris one name: Ambrosio Dorado."
**Thank you all for reading! I know updates have been slower, and I apologize! I'm going to do my best to be a little faster! Hope you all have a good day!**