Page 142 of Demons Dig Donuts

“So.” Indy hummed. “That’s bad.”

“Very.” Mr. Heiss was holding the donut at his mouth but had yet to take a bite. His gaze remained fixated on the bowl. “Very. It is now extremely likely that the drug is being used to create a substance that will force monsters to drop their human disguises. Azazel was affected after barely having a taste, plus the… customer… you mentioned.”

“Yeah, lizard guy. Would not stop asking me to spit in his mouth.”

“I did not need to know that.”

“I’m not even telling you the really kinky shit he wanted me to do. Like, taking my whole fist and shoving it—”

“Is it your opinion that the current iteration of this drug will force a monster to drop their human disguise and reveal themselves?” Mr. Heiss asked loudly, staring at Gammy and refusing to look at Indy.

Gammy muffled a snicker into her palm. She coughed and tried to be serious. “Yes, most definitely. The big question is how long before it will take effect.”

“What do you mean? Azazel changed almost instantly.”

Gammy pointed to the crushed up pills. “Whoever is mixing these is very sloppy. I’m guessing there have been multiple batches, at least four amongst the pills here, because the consistency of the amount of ingredients between them all varies wildly. Hopefully there are not too many of these nasty little things—”

“Only about ten million,” Mr. Heiss said grimly.

“Okay, okay, yes, that’s really bad, but!” Indy held up his hands. “They obviously haven’t dropped them yet, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there hasn’t been a huge wave of monsters suddenly appearing everywhere.” Indy drummed his nails on the counter. “Maybe they shipped them out to just, like, hold them at some other location or maybe they’re still getting ready to distribute them or need to do some other weird shit to them first. And, like, we still don’t know why they want Dill.”

“Grow?” Dill’s head popped up in the kitchen doorway.

“Oh! Hey, babe.” Indy grinned. “Have you just been standing there eavesdropping?”

Dill grinned sheepishly.

“Come on in. Don’t mind the delightful scent of smoke. Not that you would. You already kinda smell like a forest fire, but, like, in a you could be a scent at Lush kinda way.”

“Oh, oh! That’s the other thing!” Gammy exclaimed suddenly.

“What? Dill smelling like Lush? Yes, I know.”

“I think I know why they want your little jewelry so badly.” Gammy clapped, rubbed her palms together, and then held her hands out. A large bubble appeared there that resembled the view through a microscope. Instead of wiggling germs, though, there were several crystalline structures glittering with a strange light.

Indy had no idea what he was looking at, but Mr. Heiss did judging by the awful face he made.

“Oh fuck me.” Mr. Heiss groaned, then shoved the entire donut in his mouth.

“You kinda give strict top vibes, but if you insist,” Indy teased. “I am here to please.”

Mr. Heiss glared again, but he couldn’t snap back because he was still chewing.

“Sweetie cakes, focus.” Gammy’s smile was strained. “These tiny crystals? The light it has? This is from a dragon’s scale.” The image in her hands enhanced to show the surface of a large fragment. “See those little craters? The jagged bits? It means the scale was burned, reduced to ash, and then ground into a fine powder to coat the pills in. Scales are notoriously difficult to work with because they’re so darn strong, but they’re quite marvelous for binding together pesky ingredients from different realms.”

“Like, sampaguita from our world and the faerie dream magic crap?”

“Precisely!” Gammy clapped again and the image vanished.

“Okay, and what does that have to do with them needing Dill?”

“Right! Yes! Sorry.” Gammy went to the stove to turn the heat off. “To actually reduce a dragon scale into ash, you would need a very, very special fire. After all, most dragons are rather on the fireproof side of things. A kitsune or a fire-cat can get a scale hot enough to make it malleable for creating charms and brews. But to truly burn it and reduce it to ashes? You would need a power of epic proportions to burn a small fragment. Like the fires of a phoenix or your new hot friend—”

“Aodnait,” Indy realized.