Sitting in a van doing surveillance was beyond boring but it was necessary. Not only did they have to find each and every person who was in any way involved with the illegal adoptions, they also had to figure out who was involved with the death curses. If the pack hadn't been willing, able, and experienced enough to join in on the surveillance it would have taken much longer. Buck, Josiah, and of all people Ezra were the ones who turned the tides of what had looked like an almost impossible situation. It also helped that as most of them were cops or FBI, they had been assigned to help with the case once the paperwork had gone through.
Josiah was an FBI profiler and Ezra was almost as good as he was. They handed over profiles of all of the people involved, even those they didn't have any evidence on. They had narrowed down the top suspects to two men and surprisingly one woman. Buck, being a Two Blood, had the senses of a wolf. Even in his human form, he was more than capable of smelling spell components on a person's hands.
He had enlisted the help of one of the Witches at the FBI office to get him a sample of every component necessary for the death curse. It took a while as some of them were more exotic than others, they guessed that it was one of the reasons why the perps didn't do this more often, but eventually he did get to take a sniff. Then, armed with the memory of just what they smelled like, they figured out an excuse for him to take a walk by all of their suspects. He confirmed that all three of those pinpointed by Josiah and Ezra had handled the spell components recently.
Danny had been as surprised at the woman being involved as he had Vin's new address. "I can't believe you moved to the Upper East Side, man. It doesn't seem like you at all." Danny was bound and determined to drive Vin nuts today, it would be his only entertainment this shift.
"It's got the only place big enough fer all a us an' it's got a' good school fer Adam and it ain't far from Central Park. As long as it's got what we need, who cares about anythin' else?" Vin did get what Danny was saying, but he couldn't resist. Two could play at that game.
"You guys really need a four story atrium? Or a two story library? I'm not even going to ask about the wine cellar or the,"
Vin interrupted, "We got a doctor, who needs an office, a baby who probably won't be the last, a Two Blood which is why it's just off Central Park, nearly all of us are avid readers, Miz Nettie needs a big kitchen to feed all of us, Ezra loves having a place to put his wine, and I'm claustrophobic. Now you tell me why we need such a big place and where else are we going to find one?"
"You're claustrophobic?" Danny had never even guessed.
"It ain't somethin' I like ta talk about." Vin sighed and stretched. "Most a the time, I kin handle it. Others, well the spell took care a it fer me, whether I wanted it to er not." Vin thought about it for a moment. "Ya know, I think it even made it a mite worse from time ta time."
"How can you even stand being in here?" Danny wondered. They were seated in a van crammed full of equipment across from one of the only two magic supply stores to have the most exotic ingredient for the death curse spell.
Vin grinned over at him and slightly bragged, "I got the winda seat." Danny laughed along with him. "Hey look sharp, here comes our gal now."
Vin put the van into gear and followed her down the street as she drove further into town. "How do you feel about not getting to prosecute these guys on your case?" Danny asked. It was a question that had been bothering him for a while. He knew that he would be furious if it was him, but Vin and the others just seemed to shrug it off.
"It lets us get in on the case and we already took care a the one who started the whole thing off when she grabbed me." Vin shrugged. "Sides, none a us think that the warlock or whatever he calls hisself, is gonna go down tame. He's gonna fight and that's what we're hopin' fer." The implication didn't seem to bother Vin as much as it did Danny, but then he hadn't been under that same curse either. It also seemed to fit into the way he was beginning to realize that Two Blood Packs looked at the world. Threats to the pack were met with deadly violence and no guilt.
"She's going inta there," Vin pointed. The store was one of the magical supply shops that sold the necessary spell components.
"Do you think she's getting more stuff for the death curse? Or that little 'let's get more money from the marks' spell?" Danny asked. He had been disgusted to learn that their perps had also made sure that there was also extra money 'earned' from the legal adoptions they had done.
"Only one way ta find out," Vin said and pulled out his cell phone. A quick warrant to find out what she had bought would tell them that. Vin didn't know whether to hope for or against her having bought the necessary components for the death curse spell, especially the blood of a virgin nun, and who had thought up that requirement anyway?
"If she did buy virgin blood, they're going to have to do the spell within twelve hours, before the blood goes bad, right?" Danny asked. Vin nodded. "Do you think they have a kid ready for the curse yet?"
"Probably, they bin doin this fer a long time now and they ain't bin caught yet." They looked at each other grimly. For the spell to be cast meant that somewhere another family was mourning the loss of a child, and a child was about to lose his or her chance at a normal, healthy and long life.