Enchanted

The Nightingale Grill

Quinn sat leaning back against the chair, his eyes half closed. He blew a long cloud of smoke out into the air, his eyes following the trail of vapour as it circled slowly around, wisps and curls fading from view as they drifted off further away from him.
'So, what happened? Did it work, did she succeed? Tell me she managed to open the book.'
His attention wandered, only semi registering the question, and he took his time answering.
'I spent an hour with that witch watching her practice her silly little incantations. But all her spells were so weak. I thought I was dealing with a clan leader, not some inexperienced hedge witch.'
'Oh', came the reply. 'That's a shame. Another disappointment, then.'
Quinn paused to take another puff from the bong pipe he cradled in one hand, staring up at the ceiling. 'She said she did everything in her power to get that book open. She claimed that trying stronger spells would be far too dangerous, and she didn't have the power to cast them.'
He turned his head to face Dylan. 'You know, she knew she couldn't help me, that she didn't have a chance of opening that book. She knew that from the very beginning; but she found me useful, so she kept quiet. But what's worse is that I knew that too. But I went along with it anyway.' He laughed humourlessly.
Dylan sighed and leaned back, massaging his own pipe between two fingers. 'You didn't give up hope. That's why you talked to her.'
A short silence followed his words, where Quinn endeavoured to take an extremely long draw from his pipe and then erupted into a brief, intense coughing pit.
'You know, you don't have to keep helping me', Quinn said unsteadily, once the fit had subsided. 'You've already got yourself into more than enough trouble already, and I doubt I am really worth all the effort.'
'I'm more than capable of getting into plenty of trouble on my own,' Dylan replied slowly.
Quinn started examining his pipe. 'Yes, I am aware of that. But this is my curse to endure, not yours.'
'Don't start that bullshit. Look, helping you is far more entertaining than wasting time dealing with my insufferable family, and what else am I supposed to do? Besides, you need my help, even if you won't admit it.'
'You're not going to like how far I am going to go to try and open this book,' he warned.
Dylan leaned forward and put a hand gently on his arm. Quinn barely reacted. 'No, you won't go too far. Because I will stop you. And I am going to personally make sure you find a way to beat this curse.'
Quinn snorted. 'Good luck with that. I think we've hunted down every possible person who might have the power to open that book in this entire town.'
'That can't be true,' Dylan protested. 'Too many famed supernatural beings live here. Why, just the other day, I met a magician who claimed he could breathe liquid ice.'
'I don't suppose he actually did it,' Quinn said. He sounded amused.
'Well, no. He demanded an insanely large amount of money for a demonstration', Dylan admitted. 'But you get my point. If there's any place in the whole world where we could find someone who might know how to open that book, it would be around here. This place is... Insufferably full of complicated creatures. Like you, for instance.'
Quinn pried his arm carefully out of Dylan's grip. 'I'm sorry, was this supposed to be a moment between us? Because I'm seeing someone. Actually, no, I'm not. I think we broke up.' He frowned for a moment.
Dylan rolled his eyes. 'You're hopeless when you're high. And we've both seen what a lost cause you are for dating.' He gazed at Quinn through the haze of smoke which separated them. 'I don't currently have many powerful supernatural entities left on my list that can help us, but it never takes too long to find another one. We'll have another lead soon. I promise.'
Quinn reacted unenthusiastically to Dylan's words. 'Great. How exciting.'
Dylan sat up, leaning forward, and put the pipe down. 'Don't give up hope, Quinn. We've only just started searching. We will find someone who can break this curse. I promise. God, even if we have to spend an eternity doing it.' He brightened. 'Hey, you said the witch I sent you to said there were some powerful spells she didn't try? That's a place to start.'
'There are not many witches alive who are more powerful than her, and even fewer who would be willing to help us do one of those spells.' He paused, briefly lost in thought. 'I wish I could share your optimism. You are the most persistent person I know, do you know that? I'm surprised it hasn't gotten you killed yet,' Quinn observed.
'Me too, sometimes.' Dylan stood up, stretching languidly. 'I have to go meet with my royal bitches and entertain some guests. Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone, you hear me?'
Quinn raised an empty glass to him. Dylan waved, turned, and began walking past the stage toward the doors.