The Things That Bind Us- Damirae

Chapter Sixteen

The cafe was vacant- but for a coffee-stained barista wiping a counter, and a rather demonic couple pouring over a brown dossier given to them by Lucifer.

Robin had found himself lacking, for once, in a certain area of expertise. He'd not been able to make any headway- that is, before meeting the empath again.

"I put an ear out," Raven said, "but no one's gotten back to me with anything."

Damian frowned, "These poisonings have been going on for weeks-"

"- the ones that we know of at least-" she added.

"-and they haven't been reported to any authorities?"

Raven shook her head, "These are Lucifer's clubs. He is the authority. And these poisonings have been bad for business."

"Bad for business?" Damian said, eyes scanning down a paper list. "Surely Lucifer doesn't want for money?"

A shift in Raven's demeanour made him look up.

"But he wants for sin, "She said, with such an innate knowledge that he felt once again to have been sitting before a demon. "It's in his nature- the only thing that keeps him coming back here. And if people- creatures- aren't going to his clubs, they aren't indulging in vice."

He mulled over her words. Setting down a sheet of victim's names, Damian took a sip of coffee. By this point, they'd ordered three rounds. The day was declining and fiery rays broke through Gotham's fortress of clouds, shining in to the cafe.

"The individuals that frequent these three establishments, you call them 'creatures'. I'm presuming many of them are from the world of magic."

Raven nodded, "Magic, some humans, extraterrestrials even. A melting-pot."

Damian hummed thoughtfully. He handed Raven the list.

"Do you recognise any of the names here?"

As she scanned, the dent between the empath's eyebrows grew deeper. She handed it back. Almost all of them were familiar.

"Yeah...a lot..." her voice trailed off. They couldn't be too hasty to form conclusions. "Could be coincidence..."

Damian raised an eyebrow, "I don't believe in coincidences."

Neither did Raven.

As many theories as they floated, none could be immediately confirmed. The next point of inspection was the method of attack. The poison.

"Lucifer's left the case file devoid of much information on the poisoning agent." Robin noted. "But we've got a few leads."

Flicking through the thin dossier, Raven huffed, "You seeing something I'm not here?"

"Look," he handed her the list of names again.

Besides each name was a designation of 'dead' or 'not dead'. Raven stared, unimpressed. What was she meant to see this time?

Robin pointed to the designations, "See, some victims dead, most alive. We can rule out several lethal poisons most commonly used. It's not much, but it helps narrow things down. Most importantly though..." he took a sip of his drink- Raven suspected it was for dramatic effect- "we have bodies to examine."

Forensic examination. That was a good place to start. Definitely Robin's area. But...

"What is it?" He asked.

"We're dealing with the magical world here..." she frowned. "There's a whole load of poisons- plants, venom, that sort of thing- that you won't know about...and I don't know much more about them than I do human toxins..."