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Define Arc	By : BlackberryPatch Category: +M to R > Pet Shop of Horrors Views: 8525 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Desecration
- 2-Despot
- 3-Damask
- 4-Definition
- 5-Damsel
- 6-Dearth
- 7-Dirigere
- 8-Disturbance
- 9-Decadence
- 10-Disease
- 11-Draht
- 12-Darkness
- 13-Dva
- 14-Daguerreotype
- 15-Draconigenae
- 16-Deification
- 17-Deviant
- 18-Doyoubi
- 11
- 12
- 13
Disclaimer: I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors and no money is being made
from this fanwork.

Warning: language, horrific elements.

With many thanks to my roommate, Amy, for being acting technical advisor
on this chap (though all mistakes are my own!), and
for selling me PSoH in the first place.

-------------------------

-

"Darkness"

-

The phone near his head rang and Leon reached up a hand to
fumble for it before he found the receiver and pulled it down to his ear.
"Yeah?" he said blearily.

There was a pause before a smooth, feminine voice said,
"Detective Orcot." She pronounced each syllable carefully, with a
slight, indefinable accent. "I have information for you."

"Great," he mumbled as he pushed himself to a sitting
position with a groan, Jill's couch having grown exponentially more
uncomfortable each hour over the past night. "What about?"

"Elise Ramman," she replied.

Leon was suddenly glad he was sitting down as his eyes flew open
wide and he glared in disbelief at the phone. Returning the receiver to
his ear, he said,
"Say that again?"

She chuckled, a low, throaty sound. "You heard me
correctly,
Detective. Would you like to hear more, or am I wasting your time?"

Leon scowled, completely awake now. "Tell me
all you know."

"Patience, Detective. A
little at a time."

-o-o-o-o-

The vast, smooth expanse of the Pacific Ocean stretched out
before him and Leon stared out over it, wondering if maybe it really did go on
forever. A light breeze off the water lifted his hair off his neck as his
ankle throbbed suddenly. He
leaned against the railing in front of him to take the pressure off the ankle, scanning the boats below him
as they docked at the wharf.

"You'd never know to look at all that emptiness that there's so
much weird ass shit living in that water, would ya?" Charlie
leaned on the railing next to Leon, his own gaze fixated on a group of gulls
looking unforgivably small and faraway as they dived for food in the
shallows.

"No," Leon answered distantly. "You really wouldn't."
He sighed. "This really blows a hole in my weekend, you know that?"
He flexed his ankle, trying to ease the soreness out of it.

Charlie snorted. "Weekend? Leon, you should
know that the department recognizes the existence of no such thing."

"Ha," Leon shot back, not amused.

"Shoulda gotten someone else to run this tip to ground for
you then," Charlie said with a shrug, showing no sympathy. "Then you'd
have your precious weekend all to yourself."

Leon's face grew slightly haggard as he stared out across the
water at something that wasn't there. "Yeah. Right." Shaking
himself, Leon turned to glare at Charlie. "Look, you know I'm the only one
left at the department who knows what they're talking about when it comes to the Ramman case. Except for Jill, and
there's no way I'm making her take this."

"Oh, yeah." Charlie turned around to lean backwards against the
rail, turning his back on the ocean. "She left early two days ago and
hasn't been in yesterday or today. She's on the schedule; what's going on?"
Leon looked out over the water, tight-lipped. Charlie sighed, knowing he'd have
to goad Leon to get any information out of him. "There's a rumor
flying around the third floor that you knocked her up."

Leon snorted in incredulity. "That's so far from the truth
I'm almost tempted to tell you just to see the look on your face. But no,"
he said as he leaned back, glancing at Charlie with a raised eyebrow. "I refuse to tell you
anything in favor of seeing what else
you people come up with." He leaned back. "Not to mention it's none
of your damn business."

"Come on Leon. We're all going to die of not knowing if
you don't spill." His expression hardened. "Besides, if someone did
something to hurt her, we need to know. She's one of us, and we protect
our own." Leon shook his head mutely, and Charlie almost gave up.
"Come on man! Jeez." His expression changed again and he poked Leon with his elbow;
his aspect slightly feral as he bared his teeth in a dark grin. "Not to
mention she's hot, and anyone who did something to hurt that mama needs to be
taught a lesson."

"Shit Charlie." Leon eyed him up and down. "You never told me you had a thing for Jill."

Charlie shrugged. "She's hot," he repeated, "and I respect
a woman who can dish it out like she can."

Leon grinned, his thoughts drifting back over the events of the other night. "She certainly can
hold her own." His grin faded quickly. Silence stretched
between the two men.

"Look," Charlie said, his hand coming down firmly on Leon's
shoulder. "Is she okay? That's all I really need to know."

Leon hesitated, looking out over the water. "She'll be
okay."

Charlie was silent for awhile. "That's not the same
thing."

"I know."

The arrival of a medium sized sailboat drew both men's attention to the
waterfront as it moved down the length of the wharf to its dock. When Leon
caught sight of the boat's name, painted in bright letters on its stern, he
pushed off from where he leaned on the rail and moved down to where it was tying
up.

"Police," he flashed his badge at the athletic young man tying
the boat to the dock. "Are you Aaron Carson?"

The man frowned. "Yes, I am. Is there a problem?"

Leon let his eyes drift back to the sailboat's three other
passengers; two women and an older man. "Someone called in a tip to our
precinct. I assumed it was someone on this boat." But
apparently that assumption was about to do what it was famous for.

One of the woman frowned, the deep lines on her tanned skin
creased with worry. "Officer, what is this about?"

Leon's eyes narrowed as he wondered if this really was
going to end up being a wild goose chase. "Look, no one's in trouble here.
We got a tip that someone on a boat called the Karcharias," he double
checked the name in gold on the side of the boat, "and unless I'm greatly
mistaken your boat here is the only one in all of California with a name like
that, had discovered some information pertaining to an unsolved murder case."

The young man, Aaron, scratched his head.
"Well, you're right about the boat," he said sheepishly. "Have to thank my
brother for the unusual name. But as far as I know we haven't discovered
any leads on a murder." He looked
questioningly to his passengers.

"Aaron," the older woman, sitting on the far side of the boat,
called out, "tell him about what happened earlier."

"Well," Aaron turned back to Leon. "We did have an
unusual sort of experience. Come on aboard and I'll show you." He
pulled the boat closer to the dock so that Leon could step down to the deck
before he led the detective toward the front of the boat. "Watch your
head," he warned as they passed under the low boom of the sail, and Leon placed
his hand on the smooth rod in mirror of his guide as he passed under it. Once
they were in the forepart of the boat, Aaron gestured to a tarp covering a large
portion of the deck. "We were just sailing along, getting a pretty good
wind, when all of the sudden, out of nowhere, this jumped on board."
He flipped the tarp back to reveal the partially opened jaws of a shark gaping
up at them, the creature's eyes clouded and still in death. He pulled the tarp back further to expose more of the
creature. "It just leaped onto the ship, flopped a little, then lay
still." He shook his head. "Like it wanted to die, or knew it was
going to. I never knew fish were suicidal," he joked.

Leon smiled distractedly at the man as he knelt to inspect the
body of the shark. "Have you examined it, or done anything?"

Aaron shrugged. "We haven't touched it, other than to
cover it to try and keep the birds from getting interested. We were taking it back for my
brother; he goes to school for fish science or something." He waved his hand
vaguely, dismissing any knowledge of or responsibility for his brother's choice of
professions. "He's the same one who named the boat. Figured he'd want to dissect its brain and figure out why it
was nuts."

Leon stared at the body. "Do you mind if I take it?"

Aaron shrugged again. "You're the police, right?
Can't you just take it if you want it?"

"I don't have enough evidence to get
a warrant that says you have to give it to me," Leon admitted. His eyes narrowed as he stood. "Just
a hunch and an anonymous phone call that tell me there's something about this
animal that can solve an old case, and give a few souls some peace."

"Hey, a hunch means you've got more claim to it than I do."
Aaron pulled the tarp more tightly around the shark, preparing to help Leon
shift the creature to the dock, commenting frankly, "All I have is a desire to get
its smelly ass off my family's boat."

-o-o-o-o-

Leon had just returned to his desk when his phone started
ringing.

Almost simultaneously he heard the Chief shouting, "Orcot, where
the hell are you??"

He grimaced slightly as he stood to wave,
revealing his position.
"Be right with you Chief. I'm working a lead; gotta answer this."

"A lead on what?" He shook his head. "Never mind. Just hurry up and
do whatever, then get your ass over here."

Leon waved at him noncommittally, then dove for his phone, on
its tenth ring. "Yeah?" he answered with his usual brusqueness.

There was a slight pause before a familiar voice said,
"Detective."

Leon froze for a moment, before he sank into his chair.
"D," he replied. The silence on the line stretched out, and it
was Leon who eventually continued, "I don't have time for this right now."
He ran a hand through his hair aggressively. "I'll... stop by later.
There's some things we need to talk about." He slammed the phone down and stalked into the Chief's office.

The older man looked up as Leon came in, clearly
not in the best of moods.
"Something wrong with your 'lead'?"

Leon shook his head. "No. That was a personal call."
He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "My lead is safely down in
evidence, spilling its secrets to a veterinary medical examiner."

"A what?! Orcot, those people charge by the hour, and they damn
well aren't cheap. This had better be a damn good lead."

"I called in a favor," Leon said defensively. "And it's for the Ramman
case," he finished shortly.

The Chief looked at him for a long minute. "I know that
case never sat well with you," he admitted grudgingly. "It was a hell of a
thing for a rookie to be involved with, even without the fact that nothing was
ever resolved. Still," he narrowed a glare at Leon, "I can't having
you wasting department resources on an old case like that."

Leon shrugged noncommittally. "I know you didn't call me
in here to chew my ass about that. What did you want?"

"Yeah, well..." Remembering his original purpose, the Chief
pulled a folder from the pile on his desk as he motioned to Leon to close the
door. "This stays in this room, Detective. That's an order."

"Sir," Leon nodded, surprised by the Chief's vehemence.

"Look, Orcot," he said, as he flipped open the file and refreshed
his memory. "I didn't ask too many questions about whatever you and Fresney were up
to the other night, or why it's robbed me of a good cop when I could really use
her, thought I'm thinking now maybe I should have."

Leon frowned. "What's this about?"

The Chief handed the file to him. "I think you'll
recognize this victim, and I don't want any shit over this Leon. If you
know anything, come straight with me."

Leon froze up as he took the file. Shit; he hated working
cases where he knew the victims. His heart was in his mouth as he pulled
the file closer and caught sight of the name on the outside of the folder.
He inhaled deeply as he saw who it was that had been killed, and he let the file
fall open while he stared at the first page for a long time before he leafed
through the rest of the file. "When did this happen?" he asked absently,
more to be saying something in the sudden silence than for the information he
could have easily gleaned from the pages in front of him.

"Early this morning," the Chief replied.

"There any leads so far?"

The Chief snorted. "Nothing definite yet. There's a
surprisingly large amount of people who didn't like him."

Leon paused, glancing up. "And what do you think I know
about this?'

"Come on Leon, do I look stupid?" He glared at
Leon and noted, "If you value your job at all you won't
answer that. The victim's sister," he continued, "informed us the victim was dating your partner
and that they had recently broken up- messily."

Leon shook his head. "Not that
messy," he said indicating the crime scene photos with a curled lip. The
Chief eyed Leon carefully and Leon's eyes narrowed. "Look, Jill was home
all night, asleep. I was sleeping on her couch, so I would have heard her leave. If you want an
outside alibi, Danielle is living with her. She sleeps lighter
than anyone I know; she definitely would have heard something."

The Chief frowned as he tried to place the name.
"Danielle? The witness from the Amortiss case?"

"Yeah, that's her." The Chief continued to look
unconvinced, and Leon snorted in incredulity. "Jill's not the type to go
in for torture. I mean look at this," he summarized from the file,
"multiple contusions, multiple bone fractures, multiple broken bones, multiple
bite marks, severe pre-mortem burn wounds, severe pre-mortem internal
hemorrhaging, sodomy, mutilation of the genitals. Not to mention that the guy
was bound with his hands behind him. Jill's not into opponents who can't
fight back." He put the file down on the desk. "I'm not going to say
that she didn't hate Andrew's guts, though."

The Chief nodded, looking thoughtful. "Alright," he
said, sounding like he'd decided something. "I wanted to talk to you
before I showed this to her." He eyed Leon again, an eyebrow raised in
question.

Leon rubbed his eyes, but nodded. "I think she'll be okay
with talking about it," he
said. "Danielle stayed home today too, so Jill won't be alone."

He nodded again. "I'm not looking to do an internal hunt,
but I don't want to look like I'm playing favorites either, and like it or not
Jill's the most likely candidate for this."

Leon scowled at him. "She didn't do it," he repeated,
slightly louder this time, as he stood.

"I heard you Orcot." The Chief glared right back at him.
"Now get back to work." He frowned suddenly. "What are you doing
here today, anyway? I thought you had off; I had a devil of a time
trying to find you."

"Like I said earlier Chief," Leon said
as he moved toward the door, "I'm working a lead."
Puling the door closed behind him, he heard the Chief shout something but he didn't stop
to try and figure out what it was. Taking the stairs two at a time, Leon
went up a floor to the lab where he'd stashed his fish. He let himself in
but stood by the door when he saw his expert was still busy examining the shark.
The young woman noticed him watching, however, and motioned him over.

"Come and see this Leon. I've found some interesting
things." She gestured to where she'd laid out the contents of the shark's
stomach. "First of all, your shark here is a juvenile great white female.
I'd say just over six months old; she's still a tiny one."

Leon stared at the creature, as long as he was tall, and
remembered how heavy it was to lift; he Aaron and Charlie had been forced to wait for
assistance before they could move the creature off the boat. "Tiny; right.
I think you need to get your eyes checked Jackie."

Ignoring Leon's sarcasm, she continued. "Very tiny.
She can't be much younger than that, but she's amazingly underweight for that
age. I found the usual hodgepodge when I dissected her stomach, but
notably, for you, is this." She picked up what Leon had thought was a
piece of wood, but when she turned it over he saw the outline of an eye socket;
it was part of a human skull. "Something strange," she continued, "was
this also." She reached out a gloved hand to touched what looked like a scrap of
leather. "Sharkskin," she remarked.

"So... this shark bit another shark?"

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "There were
several pieces; this one is a large section ripped from the underbelly."
She stared expectantly at Leon.

Leon looked at her. "She... ate another shark?"

Nodding, Jackie placed the skin back on
the table. "That's what it looks like. It's not too uncommon of an
occurrence, especially when they get in a feeding frenzy, but what's weird about
it is that this," she tapped the large piece of skin with one finger, "is
hammerhead skin." Leon looked uncomprehending,
but Jackie continued, oblivious. "The two species are distinctly
different, not only in their makeup but also in their preferred habitat; they
rarely share the same area of the ocean at the same time. And that's not all- I think you'll like this better."
Picked up a smaller object from the table, the woman held it up and Leon inhaled
deeply. It was a diamond ring.

"Does it have anything engraved on it?" he asked
immediately.

"I did notice something, but I hadn't had
time to try to decipher it yet." Frowning in concentration, Jackie examined the ring carefully,
holding it under her microscope. "Well, gold doesn't stand up to stomach
acid as well as diamond does, but I can make out something. Looks like...
'My darling Eli'... and then it's illegible in the middle but the end says,
'ever, Tyler.'" She looked up at Leon to see if this meant anything to
him, but he wasn't looking at her. Instead his eyes were fixed on the
piece of skull bone.

"Jackie," he said softly. "I just found Elise Ramman."

"Congrats," the woman said offhandedly. "Who was she?"

Leon turned to grin at her. "Just
the fianc�e of noted city councilman Tyler Riggs." He kissed her cheek
impulsively. "Write it all up in a
report, would you? I've got a lunch date."

She waved a hand at him, shooing him out the door. "Off
with you then. I'll take care of this."

-o-o-o-o-

The shop was quiet. So quiet...

Most of the animals had removed themselves from
the front room, unwilling to endure the tension that seemed to flow
around D as he went through the motions of running the shop but without
any of his usual energy. Some of them returned to the front of the
shop infrequently as if to take stock of their god's current state of
mind before returning silently to the back rooms where they disappeared
in the multitude of hallways and dark places where it was easy for them
to lose themselves. D would glare at them when they came to look
at him; he was fine, and what were they so worried about anyway?
But the animals were unhappy about something, and he didn't really have
to think too hard to figure out what it was. No one had said
anything to him outright, but he couldn't find Chris, no matter where in
the shop he looked. He was sure the boy was alright, but the
animals he asked to find Chris for him merely looked up at him with
soulful eyes, said sure they would find the boy, and disappeared with
the rest of their brethren into some unknown back room.

It was supremely annoying, and D was more than
fed up with it, his tolerance for pranks dangerously low. He
wanted to yell at them, say that it was for them that he did
everything, that he sacrificed what needed to be sacrificed...
The Siamese queen was sitting on the corner of the chaise lounge,
observing everything that went on around her with an all-knowing eye,
and whenever D looked at her the desire to blame others for what
troubled him drained out of him. I know, her gaze seemed to
say to him. I know what it is you fear, and it is no doing of
ours. When the current customers left, not having purchased a
pet, she started purring, her gaze fixed on D. I know. I
know why you haven't slept these past nights; why it seems at times that
you can no longer breathe... I know.

He glared at her and went into the kitchen to
get away from her eyes,
sighing deeply as he relaxed against the wall. He closed his eyes,
rubbing at his temples with tense fingers. He hadn't been
sleeping well recently, and his throat kept closing up when he tried to
breathe, as it did when he had one of his attacks. He was still
loosing himself... even though he had tried to reach out and grab
ahold of something to orient himself in the chaos his mind had
become. It hadn't helped at all; he had chosen incorrectly it seemed, and what was worse-
he had made a mess of everything. Even should he want to, he
couldn't fix it now; what he'd done, what he'd said to Leon...
there was no way the man was going to come back. D had sent him
away... because he was so dearly afraid of the way he lost himself
in Leon's arms. But that was fine; he didn't want Leon to come
back- he'd allowed himself that escape for too long; no
more. It was better if he cut himself off from that dangerous path
of thoughtlessness. But he couldn't...

A sudden, appallingly loud crash echoed
throughout the store. Sighing, D went to investigate. He
found the girl, the one who had brought his most recent guest- the
little Leiella- setting a table upright from where it had been knocked
over and picking up the bird cage that had been sitting on it. She
cooed and whistled to the birds inside, trying to calm them as they
fluttered around in alarm. An Irish Wolfhound hovered around
behind the girl, sniffing her pockets. She batted at his insistent
nose in irritation as she continued to calm the birds. She was
doing well with it, so D merely watched her. As she finished she
noticed him watching her and her expression was suddenly one of combined
defiance and deference. "I'm sorry," she said, only sounding
partially so. "But he," she pointed accusingly at the
wolfhound, "tried to eat the treats I brought for Leiella, and when I
smacked his nose he backed into the table and knocked it over."

The wolfhound wagged his tail as he lowered his
head sheepishly. "It smells good," he murmured in
explanation rather than excuse. "I wanted some of what she
had." The birds scolded him loudly, but he only had to bare
his teeth in an easy smile to quiet them. Leiella looked on from where she
lay in her bed and commented that she would gladly share her treats with
the wolfhound, if he would ask her human politely. His ears
flattened with the remark, his mouth falling open in good humor as he
laughed at himself.

"It is alright," D said to the girl, realizing
only now as he was going to call her by it that he had never bothered
before to ask her name.
She was small, even for such a young girl; it must have taken courage to
stand up for her pet when faced with a hungry wolfhound's open
jaws. Courage... "What is your name?"

She cocked her head, glaring up at him
appraisingly, the look amazingly familiar. "Ari," she said
fearlessly, glaring at the wolfhound again for good measure. The
dog was tall enough that he looked her directly in the eye. He
wagged his tail again, no hard feelings on his part.

"Ari, this is Faolan," D said, stroking the
hound's broad head. "Perhaps, Faolan, if you took Leiella's advice
and asked more politely to share in the treats Ari brought for her?"

The wolfhound ducked his head as he moved
closer to Ari, his ears flattening in submission, his tongue lolling out in
friendship. She reached out a hand and placed it on his head in
the way she had seen D do and started stroking him, scratching his ears.
He enjoyed the attention, whining slightly, his tail beating back and
forth like some deadly weapon. Reaching into her pocket, Ari
pulled out a handful of the treats she had brought for her puppy.
Pointedly, she fed one to Leiella first, then offered a small group of
the tiny treats to Faolan on her flat, opened hand. Faolan licked
the treats up with a daintiness that surprised Ari, her emotion clear on
her face. Her hand empty, she petted his head again for a few
moments before turning back to check on Leiella. The puppy was
close to sleep, still exhausted by the cold that had racked her small
body. Her tail flickered as her master stroked one small hand down
her tiny body, then Ari pulled a warm blanket around the puppy and
tiptoed away.

"I'll come back to check on her later," Ari
informed D, not asking permission. D wondered if she was still
upset by her encounter with Faolan and masking her fear with a
take-charge aggressiveness, like someone else D knew. That seemed
likely; appearing three- or more- times a day, sometimes with and
sometimes without the stoic Bruno at her side, since she had first dropped her puppy off
at the shop three days ago, the girl had always been polite before.
But her fear must be fading- she put a hand on Faolan's shoulder as he
exited the room with her.

Faolan turned to glance back at D, his tail
still wagging good-naturedly. "She is strong in the heart,"
he said, "especially for one so small. I like her."
He turned to sniff Ari's face; she only wrinkled up her nose at dog breath
and didn't retreat from the huge jaws as the tongue came out to slather
over her entire face.

"Pleh," she said eloquently, frowning
impartially at D and Faolan alike. "You should ask before you do
that too," she scolded the dog, shoving his shoulder in reprimand.
Irrepressible, his tail wagged as he followed her to the front door.
Glancing at D, she asked, "Can I take him outside to play fetch?"

D nodded mutely, for some reason finding today
that speech eluded him more often than not, and the pair went with joy.

-o-o-o-o-

Leon turned his borrowed key in the lock of Jill's front door,
stopping off to check on her before his lunch meeting.

He found Jill standing by the large window in Danielle's room,
what had used to be Jill's office. Her arms were folded over her chest as
she looked out over the cityscape. "Jill," he said softly.

She turned, looking surprised, but also
pleased, to see him.

"How're you doing?" he asked as he held out an arm to pull
her into a hug and warm against him.

She sighed. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "I feel...
strange." They moved into the main room and sat on the couch, the twisted
mess of blankets that was Leon's bed bundled off to one side. "I mean... I
thought about doing all of that stuff to him," she confessed. Leon
looked askance at her, and Jill admitted, "okay, not all of it.
But I really wanted to hurt him, bad. But... to know that someone else did
it, to know that Andrew's really dead... It just feels strange. I think I
might still be numb," she joked, smiling thinly. "Anyway, I think we
managed to convince the Chief I didn't do it. Danielle swore up and down
there was no way I left the apartment last night."

"Where is Danielle anyway?" Leon asked.

Jill waved a hand dismissingly. "I sent her to work.
I didn't want her hanging around here, nagging at me. I can do that just
fine without help. So who do you think did do it?"

Leon shook his head. "Hadn't thought
about it." That was a lie; of course he'd thought about it.

Jill eyed him. "No ideas at all?" He looked at her
blankly, and she shrugged, dismissing something.

Leon frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," she said, too easily. "So did you find what you
were looking for today?"

"Yeah." He grinned,
pleased with the new topic of conversation. "I found Elise Ramman."

Jill found herself suddenly acutely interested.
"Seriously? You've got a body? Evidence to tie it to Riggs?"

"Well, I've got part of a body and an
engraved engagement ring." He frowned thoughtfully. "She was eaten by
sharks."

Jill's eyes flew open wide. "I guess that proves more than
anything that she didn't take the money and run away to Switzerland like her
fianc� said she did. Bastard."

Leon leaned forward intently. "That's the only thing I'm not sure of- how
to prove he's the one who killed her."

Jill shrugged. "Well he lied under oath;
that's a start. The only thing that kept them from trying to charge him
with it before was the lack of a body. They had a much better shot of
tying it to the gardener."

Leon glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have a meeting
with my anonymous caller in about half an hour. Hopefully I'll get some useful
information out of her."

Jill smiled, the expression one which had
recently been an unfamiliar one on her face was now brought back by memories of
the first case she and Leon had ever worked together. "Good luck."

-o-o-o-o-

Leon slipped into the bar, glancing around
at the patrons, wondering if he'd recognize his caller if he saw her. She
seemed to know who he was; she'd given him no signal to look for to know who he
was supposed to meet. She'd just said to come to a bar called Hammered, which
overlooked the bay, if he needed any further information and she'd meet him there. The bar seemed to cater to
tourists who thought they were surfers; when she did arrive he noticed her
immediately because the two of them were probably the only people in the entire
place not wearing loud Hawaiian shirts. Well, three; a man followed her- a
huge, hulking presence of a man- who glared impartially at anyone who came close
to the woman he escorted.

She caught Leon's eye from across
the room and smiled, the expression thin and knowing. She walked
past the tourists at the bar to go outside and sit on the patio balcony.
Nonchalantly, Leon followed her, sitting at her table without looking at
her. Once he was seated he glanced over, meeting her eyes
curiously. He'd noticed the way she walked through the crowd
inside, moving with fluid grace, like a swimmer moving through water; he
noticed now the opaqueness of her eyes and how the pupils contracted to
focus on him as he sat. Her eyes were wide set and large, her skin
dusky brown and creased; though she didn't look old, Leon got the
feeling her wrinkles were earned from age and cares rather than the
punishment of the sun that the dark hue of her skin seemed to suggest.
Scars marked her, mostly on her shoulders and, he would assume, lower down on her
upper body, but
there was one large one on the side of her face that reached up back
into her hair. They didn't make her unattractive; she was
attractive in a way, but she was also someone to take seriously- someone
who didn't appreciate people who treated her too lightly. She
looked out over the ocean suddenly, her eyes seeking something on the
distant horizon, pupils contracting further in the bright light.
"'My darling Elise, yours forever, Tyler,'" she quoted, the words liquid
in her odd accent and tinged with a certain level of sarcasm.

"Forever didn't last too long,"
Leon observed.

The woman shook her head.
"It never does." She met his eyes. "You may call me Sam�," she said quietly.
"You have questions."

It was a
statement, not a question in itself. "Yes," he admitted, but
seeing her now he rather thought that his questions were not the same as
they would have been had he been able to get this far on this case back
when it had first come across his desk; back before he'd met D.
"Why now?" he asked. "Well, I guess, first, who was she to you,
why did she do what she did, and then why now?"

The woman
recoiled violently, her eyes flying open wide as she stared at him, her
mouth falling open easily. Her companion appeared instantly at her
shoulder, glaring at Leon. Wondering where he'd hidden himself to
appear so quickly, Leon regarded him impartially, taking in the man's
dusty grey skin and eyes that were too large, too dark, and too blue to
really be human. "Peace Shiro," the woman said to her companion,
placing a hand on his arm in restraint when he looked like he would have
gladly eaten Leon. "He surprised me, that is all." She
regarded Leon again, examining his face. "You are... more
observant than I would have given you credit for. You have been
close with the kalani, that is why I chose you, but still..."
She glanced around, at the loud tourists. "Humans are so ignorant
of the world around them."

"Yeah,
yeah," he motioned impatiently. "Humans suck; I get it. I
don't mean to be rude, but you have no idea how many times I've heard
this speech over the past few months."

She grinned
suddenly, her amusement evidently surprising her. "Then we will
move on," she said graciously. "Sit Shiro, no need for you to
hover so." She motioned for her companion to take the third seat
at the table; Leon didn't miss the fact that from that seat the large
man could see just about every angle of attack that could be used
against Sam� and would be able to prevent it. She hadn't told Leon
to come alone, though he had; her companion was obviously far more
worried about this meeting than she was. "Her name was
�da, though
Shiro can tell you more about her than I can." She turned
expectantly to her companion.

He glared at Leon, but spoke,
albeit reluctantly. "She was my granddaughter." Leon's
eyebrows rose; this man did not look old enough to have grandchildren;
his hair was grey but it looked natural and not from age. "It is
because of the man." He snorted. "To remember something as
insignificant as his name would be pointless. He is elected to
some office in your city and he has caused us harm through this.
Long ago, he made a deal with us that we should make this woman disappear.
He has not honored this deal, so �da
brought the woman back."

"Not without argument,"
Sam� continued when Shiro
seemed unwilling to to do. "Fuka was the one who accepted the
deal with the man. She meant to keep it, and we could not persuade
her of his malice; of the folly of believing that such a changing creature as
the land-dwellers are could hold true to any promise."

"So
�da took the
choice out of Fuka's hands?" Leon frowned at his choice of words.
"So to speak."

Sam�
grinned again. "I would not have thought to be so amused by you,
land-dweller." She sobered, though it seemed it was mostly for
Shiro's sake. "Fuka was my daughter." She didn't seem all
that saddened to be discussing her deceased relative; sensing his
observance of this, she explained, "She was... close-minded. She would
not have lived a full life. She would not have continued the
line."

"How long
would such a life last? A full life?" he asked, curious.

Sam�
grinned again. "'A woman never reveals her age'- is that not a
saying among your own kind?"

Leon
grinned back. "True enough."

"So, we
have answered you, yes?
�da was my daughter's killer, she
acted to save our kind, and now I come to you so that you know what she
did and so it is not in vain. I come to you because I think... you
are a good listener." She grinned again. "So, now you will
remove this man from his position of power." She eyed him.
"You will not do it for us, but for the reason that he broke your own
laws when he gave us the girl."

"Well, you're half right,"
he murmured.
She raised her eyebrows in inquiry, but Leon continued, "I do have a few more
questions. The person who brokered the deal between Fuka and the
man..."

Sam� waved
her hand dismissingly, as if this was something they had already
discussed. "You know the kalani."

Leon
nodded. "I figured. And, do you have any..." he struggled
for a word but settled on, "evidence that the man did in fact make this
deal? Something physical, with his name on it maybe?"

Sam� and
Shiro exchanged glances. "The kalani made him sign a
paper," Shiro said grudgingly. "Other than this, we have only the
girl's bones as they have been given to you."

Leon nodded
again; it was what he'd thought, but he'd hoped they would give him
something else to use. "One last thing. I don't suppose one
of you would come with me when I pay a visit to your kalani and
let him know that you said I could have the paper the man signed?"

Sam�
nodded, the gesture looking strange on her, as if she was used to moving
her head side to side rather than up and down. "I will go.
In order to see through to the end what
�da has done you need this paper,
yes?" He nodded, and she returned the gesture more firmly than she
had before.

They rose from the table, and Leon
glanced hesitantly at Shiro. "�da...
her body. I can return it to you, if you like."

Shiro looked surprised at the
offer, exchanging a glance with
Sam�. "Yes," he said
shortly. "I would like that."

Leon
nodded. "Then come along; we can stop by the station before we go
see D."

With the
strange pair following him, Leon left the bar.

-o-o-o-o-

They caught a bus downtown, Leon having left his
car at the station earlier, his companions greatly
amused by the experience. Well, Leon could see that
Sam� was amused; Shiro just
looked like he was trying not to bite the man clinging to the handrail next
to him. At the station, he cajoled Charlie into releasing
�da's body to
Shiro; it wasn't too hard- there was hardly room to store just under 500
pounds of shark in the evidence lockers already too full of the constant
flow of human victims. Leon and
Sam� saw Shiro off.
He borrowed Leon's car for transportation; Leon's inquiry as to whether
or not Shiro even know how to drive was met with a condescending stare,
and indeed, watching Shiro pull out of the parking lot, he drove the car
better than Leon did. Leon and Sam� would meet up with him later,
after paying a visit to D.

Leon
scowled. He didn't really want to have to go see D, but there
wasn't much help for it. And there were certain things they needed
to discuss...

"Orcot!" the Chief bellowed,
catching sight of him before he and
Sam� made it out of the
building. "Get
over here!"

Sighing, Leon complied, leaving
Sam� standing by his desk.
"What is it Chief? I've really gotta get going; got a witness waiting,
evidence to collect, you know the drill."

The Chief glanced behind Leon,
looking Sam� up and
down appreciatively. "Orcot, that
doesn't look like a witness. It looks like you slacking off."
He eyed Leon, but suddenly waved a hand dismissingly. "You're not
supposed to be here anyway. I just wanted to tell you we got
her." He gestured to a woman sitting in his office, her hands
cuffed in front of her as she calmly spoke with another detective.

"Who?" Leon
asked; caught up in one case, he'd completely forgotten about another.

The Chief
frowned at him. "Andrew MacLean. She confessed to the murder.
Apparently the guy killed her lover- had some kind of thing against
lesbians. Anyway, she reciprocated." The Chief looked
satisfied; this case was wrapping up with little effort on the
department's behalf, and he was always glad when he could fix something
and especially when he could spend so little money doing it.
Speaking of money... He frowned. "Orcot, how's that vet exam
coming?"

Leon,
staring at the woman sitting in the chair- her face weary and drawn but
showing a certain peace- barely heard the Chief's question. "I
think I've got something good. Got one more lead to check; ask me
again tomorrow." Still distracted, he turned and made his way out
of the building, Sam� following him.

The Chief
shook his head at Leon's departing back. Orcot used to be a great
detective and a relatively normal guy. His intuition had slipped
for a bit but now he seemed to be back, the only problem being that he'd
gone from relatively normal to reasonably strange.

-o-o-o-o-

When Leon walked in the door, D felt a peace
that had eluded him over the past few days suddenly settle around him.
He breathed in deeply, but as Leon stepped to the side and allowed
another person to enter the shop she stole the breath away from him
again.

"Matriarch." He bowed to her.
"How may I be of service?" He glanced sideways at Leon, wondering
what connection they had, but turned his attention back to
Sam�.

She
returned the bow, smiling affectionately. "Kalani, the
contract my daughter made which the man signed- I desire it."

Taken aback
for a moment, D glanced at Leon again. "Of course Matriarch."
Turning, he went to retrieve the contract, remembering exactly where it
was stored. He brought it to Sam�, placing the paper in her hands.

She didn't
even look at it before she handed it to Leon. Looking it over,
Leon nodded. "This'll do it."

"Good."
Sam� sighed, a deep, watery sound. She glanced at Leon. "I will
wait outside." he nodded.

She left,
and D stood, looking at Leon, for a long time. As had happened
earlier on the phone, words deserted him and he didn't know what to say.
He wanted to demand that Leon leave, beg him to stay, and, rather than
asking anything, just lean forward and kiss him. He wasn't sure if it
was the paralysis of indecision that held him back or the burning desire
to prove to himself, to Leon, that he could hold himself back. Leon seemed as
unwilling, or unable, to speak first as D was, but Chris' sudden
appearance from wherever he'd been hiding himself broke their stalemate.

"Big
bro?" Chris smiled to see Leon, but went to him uncertainly.

Leon knelt
to give Chris a hug, holding him tightly. "Hey there kid.
How're you doing?"

"Okay,"
Chris answered hesitantly, glancing between Leon and D.

Leon ran
his hand through Chris' hair. "Don't you worry about anything,
alright?" Chris nodded, returning the smile.

D watched
them, maintaining his dispassionate air, holding himself apart. "You will be taking him with you." It
was not a question.

Acting as
if he hadn't heard D, Leon shooed Chris off, sending him off with Tetsu.
D's hands curled into fists, as he said again, louder, "Detective, I must insist that your brother
accompany you when you leave." Leon turned on him
suddenly, brilliant blue eyes locking with D's mismatched ones.
D's head came up defiantly, but after a moment his eyes closed in submission as Leon
continued to hold his gaze.

"D."
At the sound of Leon's voice, D opened his eyes, meeting Leon's again. "There's just one thing I want to say to you."
His eyes dropped for a moment before they snapped back up to lock with
D's. There's
no way I'm leaving." He reached out a hand and ran his thumb along
the line of D's chin before he leaned in and kissed him softly.
"Did you hear me?" He tilted his
head up, so their eyes met again. "I'm not
fucking going anywhere, and you can either like that, or deal with it."
He kissed D again, rough and hard this time, leaving D gasping as Leon
pulled away suddenly. "Jill needs me right now, so you've got some
time to get your shit figured out before I get back." His fingers
trailed down D's face. "You better be ready." He turned and
walked away then.

Sam� waited
for him by the door. She nodded to D as Leon opened the door and
left. "Until we meet again,
Kalani, blessings of the waves. May your teeth be strong and your enemies large that they
may provide you a feast." She smiled, as if there was some secret
meaning in her words that only one of her own kind could truly fathom, and
departed through the doors of the pet shop, following Leon.

D watched
them leave, his heart beating wildly in his chest; he hardly noticed how
easily he drew his breath as he sucked it in. The soft fluttering
of wings and the familiar sound of squee-ing soon drew his
attention elsewhere. "Q-chan," he murmured, filled with an unexpected joy as
he held up his hands, cupping the creature in them.
Q-chan chittered at him scoldingly, as if
reprimanding D for his actions in the creature's absence. "I have
missed you," D admitted, stroking a hand down over the creature's furry
back. He wondered what it meant, if anything, that his
grandfather's gift had returned to him. "Did I choose rightly?" he
mused aloud, shaking his head. "I... I don't think so.
Grandfather, your wisdom would be most appreciated now."

Q-chan squee-ed again, as if suddenly
remembering something. He flittered up out of D's hands and went
to the desk, where an envelope was lying. It was addressed in his
grandfather's curling script and D felt his heart rising in him as he
moved over quickly to take the envelope in his hands. Tearing it
open, he eagerly unfolded the paper inside, but the short message was
quickly read and it left him as puzzled as he had been before.
My child, his grandfather said, Remember your true purpose.

That was it? D sighed as his
fingers stroked through Q-chan's short fur. That was not what he'd
been hoping for.

"You wanted something more?"
The Siamese queen leapt soundlessly onto the desk to glance with only
mild interest between the note and the strange, furry shape of Q-chan.
"I do not follow my kittens throughout their lives so that I may
correct all of their steps. They must make missteps, or they will
never discover their own strength." Her blue eyes regarded him
with an infinite, patient wisdom.

He sighed. "I know it.
But somehow, when your kitten has completely lost his way, you must go
to him mustn't you?"

She shrugged, a rippling of fur
that passed down her shoulders over her flanks. "If he does not
find his own way, then he will never find the true way." D
nodded, but she continued, watching him closely. "The true way
for him may not be the same as it was for me. No creature can tell
another creature which way is the true way. You must choose for
yourself." She stood, turning to leave. "Even you, my god,"
she glanced over her shoulder with a purely cat look that eloquently
combined obsequiousness and arrogance, "are what you are by choice
and no creature but yourself can make you anything else." She
jumped down from the desk and sashayed off in search of dinner.

-o-o-o-o-

Pet Catalog & notes:
- Sharks-
  Sam� is a Hammerhead shark;
  Shiro's a Great White. Both species are represented in the waters off
  of California, though they don't really interact. They tend to migrate according to the season,
  preferring a certain temperature of water and following this water
  temperature as the water changes temperature throughout the day, going to
  deeper or shallower water, and also as the seasons change. Hammerheads
  that have been seen off of California have been known to return to waters
  near Hawaii. Sharks are the only fish that have pupils which can
  dilate and contract; they also have a very sophisticated and highly evolved
  immune system. No one really know how long they live for, and it
  varies per species, but an estimate is 30-40 years or more; I've assumed that they can live quite a bit longer than that. ("same" is Japanese
  for "shark"; "shiro" is Japanese for "white"; "kalani" is Hawaiian, meaning
  "heavenly," and, in this story, is shark-speak for "kami.")
- "Ari" means "lion."
-o-O-o-
- 11
- 12
- 13
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