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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
- 15
- 16
- 17
Disclaimer: I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors and I am making no money from this or any other fan related work.

Note: The perfectionist in me feels I must state that some of the pronouns
in the quote below have been changed, so it is not an exact quote.

Warnings: language, brief horrific imagery

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

"Too long you've wandered in winter,

far from my fathering gaze.

Wildly your mind beats against me,
you resist,

yet- the soul obeys."

--
The Phantom of the
Opera

-

"Deification"

-

Africa sweltered around him as the Count D sat on the edge of the bed
and peered down at the
woman who lay there. She was old, and her body had recently become frail. But she
was not as old as he was.

"I am not so frail as you either," she said, her voice
still strong; her ability to pick up on exactly what he was thinking, speak it
aloud and name his weakness without even knowing it herself was as strong as
ever too. He gave no outward sign of his annoyance- no sign that anyone
else would have read, but she saw through him the way earth sees through
fire. She laughed, a bottomless, rumbling sound that quickly became a
deep, hacking cough.

He sniffed imperiously and flicked invisible dust specks
from his cloak. "Frailty would appear to be a matter of opinion."

Too worn to laugh more, she still smiled widely.
"Opinion? Has the word changed since I lay down upon this bed?"

He frowned. "Too many things change. Too
quickly."

She turned toward him, touching his hand softly. "Change
is the nature of the beast."

His lip curled, but there was an emptiness that echoed in
his eyes. "There are things that do not change." His hand curled
into a fist as his expression darkened in anger. "Humans do not change."

Ramla sighed. "That is not the kind of change I
speak of." She was silent for a long moment, before snorting
incredulously, the force of it shaking her slight frame. "Easier enough to
try to hold back the tide than to speak sense to you," she continued, and, with
finality, "Change is the purpose for which life exists."

His eyes narrowed as he stared at something that was not
there. "Purpose?"

"You do not know what you have wrought." She spoke the words as if they
were but part of some great incantation or mantra, but either she forgot the
rest or there was no more, for her gaze grew confused and wandered before
settling again on her guest. She peered deeply into his eyes, noting how
they matched her own in their mismatched-ness, and said with solemn gravity, "He
is more than you will ever be." She coughed again and smiled at him wryly.
"See this is the difference between you and me- between men and women. We
know when it is our time and we leave. You... you hang on until there is
nothing left of you but ashes that pretend to keep living." She frowned,
murmuring again, unsure of the meaning of the words but sure of their truth, "He
is more than you."

The Count stood from the bedside, irritated. "How
like a woman, to speak riddles and waste time."

She laughed, softly. "How like you to not understand
the truth when it is before you." She frowned and pointed at him
imperiously. "It is your fault. This perversion- the distortion your
work has become. You started it. Own to that, brother, and
you will begin to salvage what you have almost destroyed through your attempting
to hold onto it long past the time it should have passed into memory." She thrashed in
the bed, incoherent, other women coming into the room and crowding around her
worriedly. The Count retreated to stand by the wall and watch as the women
implored Ramla to get well and to stay with them. He wondered which was
weaker- these people who begged from a goddess that was powerless, or the
goddess for allowing herself to become so entangled. Ramla's daughter
appeared then, beside the bed, and she ordered the others out of the room.
Reluctant though they were they went when the Ramla commanded- for this woman
was the Ramla now, as she knelt beside her mother's bed and kissed the old
woman's brow. The old woman smiled and then her soul contracted, her body
turned to dust that was quickly blown away, though there was no wind, to join
with the dirt of all the world.

The Count watched with interest, forgotten where he stood
by the wall. Ramla stood from where she had knelt beside the bed and
looked at him. She too was smiling, the same smile that the old woman had
worn- a smile that was happy, and full of sorrow, and that understood all the
foibles of humankind. "I will go walking," she murmured, mostly to herself, "in
awhile, perhaps in a month from now, I will find a girl, a child born of the
earth." Her eyes drifted over to the Count, and he was hard pressed to
hold her gaze for he found himself looking into the soul of the Earth herself.
"And I will know that she is my daughter."

"Fascinating," he replied. "Well, I must be going.
It was so nice talking with you; we must do this again. Perhaps in another
century?"

She ignored his words, fixing him with her deep
eyes. "They are incomplete because you have made them that way. You
know what they lack, and only you can give it to them." She nodded her
head to him, then she was simply Ramla again, her eyes only as deep as the
desert or the jungle- no longer the soul of the world- and she smiled tightly, a
woman who had just lost her mother. She moved past him to the outer doors
and opened them to give her sad news to the women waiting there.

-o-o-o-o-

He was warm and full and sated and Leon did not want to get up. He
buried his face in the warmth he was pressed up against and groaned.
An amused chuckle roused him further and he grumbled in response.

"Leon," the warmth he was pressed against called his name. "You shift
starts in less than an hour."

He raised his head and glowered at D, taking in the sight
of his lover. It was not a bad sight to wake up to but he frowned.
"You have absolutely no right to look so well rested after last night."

D chuckled again, reaching out to brush Leon's shaggy hair
back off his cheek. "You had no right to look so perfectly delicious last
night."

Leon turned into the touch and kissed the palm of D's
hand. D sighed, a soft exhalation of breath, and Leon had to fight the
sudden urge to pull the man back down beside him and expand upon last night's
entertainment. D submitted to his kiss but pulled away with a smile.
"I'll go start some breakfast." He patted Leon's cheek and slipped out of
the bed.

Leon groaned, falling back down on the sheets and burying
his head under a pillow.

-o-o-o-o-

Leon pulled up and parked next to where Jill stood waiting
for him, just outside a dilapidated apartment building. "You're late." Jill leveled serious eyes at
him as
he stepped out of his car. "I was hoping to talk to you before we started,
but I don't think we'll have time for it." She was worrying a piece of
string between her fingers but she let it fall to the ground as she quirked an
amusedly annoyed eyebrow at him. "I caught a ride with Stevens to get over
here- you know how annoying he is- and it's all your fault."

"Yeah, yeah," Leon grumbled as he combed a hand
through his hair. "So far this's been one of those days when staying
in bed would have been better. I was already running late when the Chief hit
me with a crap load of paperwork that couldn't wait. What've we got here?"

"I was just going up but I thought I'd wait for you."
She looked up at the building and shrugged. "Report was from the fifth floor. Witness says
guy was beating his girlfriend in the apartment next door then bam, he was
dead."

Leon paused, shifting his gaze from the apartment building
before them to his partner. "Bam? She shoot him?"

Jill shook her head. "Gunshots weren't reported.
I haven't heard anything else from CSU yet. Shall we go up?" He
gestured Jill to precede him as they started for the elevator.

The fifth floor was quiet. The door to 508 was open
and Jill entered, observing the people within; an EMT was kneeling beside a
girl who sat on a chair in the corner, a uniformed officer was helping a
different woman in a coroner's jacket mark out the body, a crime scene photographer
was finishing up his own work. "Homicide," Jill announced them. "What
happened?"

The uniform nodded to them, coming over. "Officer
Henrick," he introduced himself. "I was first on the scene.
Responded to a 911 call from the neighbor, she said she heard loud voices
arguing then the guy started screaming, then nothing."

The girl seated in the chair in the corner looked up.
She had rich, coffee dark skin and a mass of black hair that tumbled around her
abused face. Her eyes were large in her face and, combined with the hair,
gave her an innocent, vulnerable look. Bruises were already developing and she was going to have a particularly
splendid shiner by tomorrow but the look in her eyes was coldly evaluative when
she looked at the officers who crowded the room. They were eyes that were
not trusting of police or government officers of any kind. Leon guessed
she was a recent immigrant; she had a way of watching everything around her that
seemed to advertise that she wasn't quite comfortable in this world yet.

Jill approached the girl, to ask her some questions, while Leon
crouched by the coroner and took
in the corpse. The body lay face down, the back of its head bloody.
There were lacerations, like claw marks, across the back of its shoulders. "Got anything yet?" he asked the coroner.

"Cause of death was brain damage from a series of puncture wounds to the the head." She shrugged
and wrote on a clipboard she was holding. "Looks like something bit him;
could have been a Rottweiler maybe. I've never seen anything like it
though."

About to school his expression into careful neutrality,
Leon realized he didn't have to. "A Rottweiler?" he asked calmly.
"What makes you say that?"

She gestured with the end of her pen. "It bit him
here, just above the ears. The canines were long and sharp enough to
pierce the bone and the jaw was short and rounded. A Rottweiler might be
physically capable of delivering the bite but it's not something I've ever seen
a dog do before. Could have been a bear, I suppose, or a large cat- like a
tiger." Leon raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed shortly. "I
know, crazy right? Where would it come from? It's just, I've seen
dog attacks before, but never anything like this. The creature jumped on
his back and pinned him to the ground." She wrote on her clipboard again.
"The witness hasn't been very forthcoming but the building doesn't allow pets,
for whatever that's worth. I'll know more when we get the body back to the
lab." Leon nodded to her and she motioned to Henrick. The officer
helped her bag the body while Leon went to see how Jill was getting on with the
witness.

Apparently not very well. "Look Maria, you're sure you don't remember anything else?"
Jill tried not to scowl at the young woman but her patience was thin.

The young woman, Maria, glared at Jill hatefully. "I tell you, I
do not know what happen! He hit me, then he fall over, dead." Her
eyes shifted to take in Leon but she said nothing more.

Jill rolled her eyes. "Well that's helpful, thanks."
She turned to Leon with a frustrated, helpless gesture.

Leon touched Jill's shoulder and said to the seated woman,
"Did you go anywhere today?"

She watched him with guarded hostility. "No."

He nodded, letting his eyes drift around the room.
"How about yesterday?" His eyes were caught by a small stone figure
sitting on the coffee table and he went to pick it up. It was the figure
of a cat, tail curled around large paws and broad head crouched over powerful
shoulders, its empty stone eyes watching him carefully. Holding the figure
in both hands he turned to Maria.

Her eyes were frightened now and she answered reluctantly, "S�;
yes. I go shopping,
yesterday."

He nodded, his thumb stroking the stone creature's
forehead. "Where did you come here from?" She
didn't answer at first, watching him warily. "What country did you come
here from?" he repeated.

"Bolivia," she answered quietly. "With my mother, we
come." Her wary fear was verging toward anger again.

"Bolivia," Leon repeated. and smiled darkly. He held
up the figure. "Did you bring this with you from Bolivia or did you buy it
yesterday? What is it; a jaguar?"

She slipped out of the chair and ducked behind it putting
it between her and Leon, her fear back full force. "I
did not do it! I did not do anything wrong!" Her face was
desperate and drawn, older bruises than the ones from today's incident showed in
her eyes even though they were faded from her skin.

"I know," he said simply. She was watching him with
a strange sense of wonder, and he could tell Jill was watching him too.
"When you went shopping, did you go to Chinatown?" Maria nodded slowly. "Maybe went to a pet shop?" Leon suggested;
she just watched him, but he knew he'd guessed it right. "Look," Leon
continued, "If you signed anything just do what it says, okay?" Jill
scowled at him, but her phone rang and she stepped away to answer it. He
smiled tightly at Maria; she stared at him in wonder and he held out the statue
to her. "Take good care of it."

She took it from him, cradling it against her body.
"S�," she murmured. "Gracias." He
stepped away but she caught his hand. "Mil gracias." Her eyes
searched his for something and she pulled her hand back to hold it protectively
around the jaguar figure.

Leon smiled at her, more warmly than he had before. He glanced at his partner;
still on the phone, she was listening a lot and answering in quick, short syllables
which was not a good
sign. It was probably the chief with yet another case for them. For
some reason the unusually cool weather of the past few weeks had the murderers out in droves
and he and Jill had been working overtime since the beginning of the year.
He hoped this didn't go on much longer; after only a month of it he was ready to
call it quits. He wandered toward the door, scanning the apartment even
though he'd already mentally dismissed this case as solved. Distracted, he almost ran into the man coming in through the
apartment door.

"Detective Orcot I presume?" the man said, untangling
himself from Leon. "I've been trying to hunt you down all day." Leon glared at the man out of habit, but the glare
narrowed and focused as he took in the other man's thin smile and the too sharp, too clean
lines of his suit that almost screamed federal agent. The man was older
and he had an intense, angry look to him that Leon felt was bound to have pissed
him off even if he didn't already dislike the man just for being a fed.

"Presuming is better than assuming," Leon responded
absently but kept walking past the man. "But it still won't get you
anywhere in this town."

He didn't stop walking till he was out of the building and back at his car.
He didn't have long to wait before Jill joined him, rubbing her temples. "Three guesses who was on the
phone."

Leon growled softly as he slid in behind the steering
wheel. "Where to?"

Jill sighed as she shut her door. "Follow this road
out to the light and make a left. We should be able to see the lights from
here."

Leon growled again but followed her directions. They
soon found themselves pulling into the cordoned off parking lot of a
supermarket. The flashing lights of the EMS already on the scene had lead
the way, as Jill had promised, and as Leon parked the car he caught sight of the
small, pale swash of cloth that covered the victim's body from the curious
onlookers. Great; the victim was a child. He rubbed his face; some
days it really didn't pay to get out of bed.

-o-o-o-o-

"It has been quite awhile,
Count."

Damask greeted D eagerly, and D
smiled softly as the stallion's lips tickled over his hand. "After
what happened last time they brought you here, I thought they
would most likely never return you to this city."

Damask snorted and tossed his
head, neck arched proudly. "They cannot resist the money they
will make with me. I come here to show the mares the foals I can
give them." He pawed the ground excitedly, turning about
and half rearing in the
confines of the stall. D placed a calming hand on his shoulder and
the stallion settled, shaking his head, his long mane settling over his
dappled shoulders. "I apologize, Count. The mare at the
end of the row is near her time." He raised his head over the
barred door and his nostrils flared as he scented the breeze.
"She is quite lovely."

D stroked the stallion's shoulder
as he continued to smile. "You think they are all lovely."

"And I mean it every time."
The stallion swished his tail. "But you did not come here
to discuss my conquests."

"No, I did not." He sighed,
his hand pausing in its soothing motion.

Damask nudged his hand again,
whickering softly, ears curving forward to focus on D. "What is
wrong? You have found that which you were seeking when last we
spoke. Is it not what you truly desired?"

"That is not the problem." D
smiled warmly, secretly, and Damask flicked his tail in approval.
"I don't suppose you ever have... doubts, do you my friend?"

One liquid brown eyes settled on
D's face as the stallion huffed in a thoughtful breath.
"Doubts? Not the kind that would trouble a god, for certain.
I doubt the patch of grass I eat is the sweetest in the field, which is
why I sample them all; I doubt the stable boy will allow me to while
away the entire day chasing mares, which is a pastime I would prefer."
He stepped away, moving around the stall before stepping back and
lipping D's hand worriedly. "What troubles you my god? It
seems a hurt most grievous. I would give you aid, if I am able."

D sighed, smiling softly.
"Thank you for your desire to be of service, but I suppose it is
something I must figure out for myself. I also did not come here
to trouble you with my burdens." He stroked the stallion's muscled shoulder and
allowed true humor to creep into his smile. "What kind of god
would I be if I asked that of you?"

The horse tossed his head.
"The god of those who have asked for that and more from you."

D felt the smile slip away from
him. "It is only justified. I have sworn myself to the
cause."

Damask whinnied quiet laughter.
"I am not the one to talk to about the depths of the cause. I
have not lost too much. I have lost, true, but I have also
gained." He shrugged, the motion rippling down his shoulders.
"Some days I lose more, some days I gain more. It is good
to see you again Count. Do not stay away long."

D nodded, rising to take his
leave. "I will try not to."

-o-o-o-o-

"No, no, it goes like this." Chris
took the rope and undid the knot, retying it.

Ari frowned at him. She
hadn't commented on Chris' newfound tongue, for which he was thankful.
"I don't see how that's better," she said doubtfully. Leiella,
peeking out at him from the bag strung across her mistress' chest, also
regarded him with reservations.

"It won't pull so tightly," Chris
informed her.

She snorted at him, laughing
uproariously for a moment before he could get her to explain what had
amused her. "You are such a know it all," she admonished him, but
her eyes were sparkling. "Okay, let's go get Faolan and Sdhorim.
Bruno is waiting by the door. You left the note?"

He scowled at her. "Who
sounds like a know it all now?" She laughed as she moved off into
the shop and Chris put the explanatory note he'd written on the tea
cart. He turned quickly to go to the front door where Ari and her
dogs, along with the two wolfhounds, waited for him to join them for a
trip to the park and didn't notice the paper's fluttering up to fall
over the side of the cart and come to rest against the wall.

Emrys flitted into the front
room, perching on the back of the chaise. Dark eyes scanned the
room, missing no detail as it listened to the sound of Chris' laughter
as he and Ari walked the dogs. Emrys' eyes flared slightly with
some internal light and it was not to anyone in the room that Emrys
spoke when it murmured, "He is coming."

Honlon stirred in her rooms.
Junrei blinked slowly, blearily; Kanan ground her teeth in frustration;
Shuko folded her hands in a silent prayer.

-o-o-o-o-

"Leon?"

He looked up
from where he sat at his desk, head bent furiously over the report he
was working on, and blinked slowly as he took in his partner. "Yeah?"
He put down his pen and cracked his neck beofre he leaned back and gave
her his full attention. She took a deep breath and was
silent for a long moment. Leon leaned in
closer to her, saying worriedly, "Jill?"

She waved him off. "It's
not..." She took a deep breath. "There really isn't an easy
way to say this, so I'll just out with it. I'm transferring."

Leon stared at her, numb. "What?"
He blinked as it sank in. "Where to?"

She signed and sat in the chair in
front of his desk, not looking at
him. "New York," she said quietly.

He scowled. "This is about
that Harisha? I hadn't thought you two were that serious."

Jill rolled her eyes.
"I knew you'd think that. Please, my mother taught me better than
to uproot and move
across country for a boy." She hedged. "At least,
I'm not doing it for that one." He waited. "It's... Andrew." She sighed
again and buried her face in her hands. "I thought... I thought
that since I was over him, it would be okay, but I keep seeing him
everywhere, places we went, friends we had in common..." Leon
touched her shoulder.

"That's still not the real
reason," he said, and he knew it was true.

She nodded but was silent.
Leon's eyes bored into her and she sighed. "I... There is something else,
but it hasn't exactly happened yet, so I don't want to jinx anything.
If it happens, I'll tell you."

"I'm going to miss you," Leon
said, and surprised himself by not only meaning it but really meaning
his easy acceptance of her shattering announcement after the initial
shock had faded. He'd partnered, briefly, with others during
his years on the force but Jill had always been his best friend and
really the one he worked with the best. He was, he discovered, happy
for her. And really... that was just one less thing tying him to this town.

"I know," she replied, her voice
quiet. Her eyes followed him, but they were hooded with the reason
she wouldn't give him, and, as he watched her, he wondered if he
was the reason she was leaving. He dismissed it almost as he
thought it, but he couldn't shake the feeling he was right as he watched
her get up and walk out of the station.

"Leon!" The chief's angry
shout summoned him back to the present.

-o-o-o-o-

D raised his face to the winter wind, letting
it slip through the strands of his hair; the wind was cold to balance
the sunlight shining warm on his back. Birds chirped in the stillness
of that cold; human voices broke the stillness as well, though not many.
D's eyes were closed, to better absorb the sounds of nature in the park,
so the young lady trying to get his attention had to resort to other
methods than walking up and standing in front of him.

A loud clear bark caused D to open his eyes,
and he settled his gaze easily on Annette, smiling. "Hello."
He held out his hands to her and she lay her head in them, sighing in
bliss.

"Hello, Count." Jeffrey came up behind
Annette, smiling hesitantly.

"And hello to you as well Jeffrey." D
paid his full attention to Annette before he looked up at Jeffrey.
The last time they had met had been under rather inauspicious
circumstances, but Jeffrey looked well.

"Doesn't he look well?" Annette observed
happily, her tail beating back and forth. "I think he is doing
very well." She turned her gaze back to her master.
"Perhaps you could speak with him?"

He touched the collie's long nose.
"What need should I speak with him if he is doing fine?"

She sat down and yawned. "Not for him;
for you."

D sighed.

"Are you alright Count?" Jeffrey sat on
the other end of the bench, still hesitant but warm and open.

D sighed again. "I suppose. But,
perhaps not." He
looked out, into the sky. "I am... looking for something."
His eyes grew distant. "I have been looking for it for quite
awhile. I
thought... perhaps I had found it, but there is someone I need to ask-
he can tell me if what I found is what I truly sought." His
eyes dropped to Annette and he warmed his hands in her think fur.
"But first I suppose I need to find him; Grandfather," he continued mostly to
himself. "If he could just tell me, I'd know if..."

Jeffrey laughed, soft and relaxed, and D became
aware again of his audience. "Count it sounds like you already found
whatever it is you were looking for." D blinked as he took in
those words, that seemed to roll through him with something deeper than
their simple meaning. Jeffrey's voice was quiet but clear, the
voice of someone who knew of what it was he spoke. "Sounds to
me like you've been looking for it for so long, now that you've found it
you don't know what to do with it." He stood and ruffled Annette's
fur as she jumped up beside him, eager to continue their jog.
"That's what you really need to figure out- how your life is going to
change now that you don't need to search anymore."

-o-o-o-o-

Leon pulled the door open roughly
as he entered the chief's office. "Yeah?" he began without preamble,
not bothering to conceal his irritation. "What is it?"

The chief frowned at him.
"Detective Orcot," he said evenly, shooting a glare at Leon as if hoping
it would remind him to mind his manners. "This is Agent Howell of
the FBI. I believe you've met?" He gestured to the man
sitting across from him, who rose and met Leon's belligerent gaze.

Leon shrugged. "Not that I
remember." He nodded to Howell, with a tight "Agent."
Turning back to the chief he asked, "Can I go now?"

"No, dammit Leon, you may
not!" The chief ran a hand over his face in an attempt to regain
his composure. "You will be working with Agent Howell for the time
being. He, has an interest in some of the cases you've been
working." His eyes darted between the two men standing before him,
and Leon suddenly felt his hackles go up.

"Really." Leon bared his
teeth in a smile. "What cases would those be?"

Howell smiled as well, a mere
thinning of his lips that curled the corner of his mouth. The
gesture was familiar and Leon suddenly did remember meeting the man
earlier- or
rather, seeing the man, as he'd brushed by too quickly to call it an
introduction.

"I think that will become clear as
we discuss the matter, Detective. If you would care to remove this
conversation to another room? We don't need to bother the chief
any longer."

"Sure, why not." Leon eyed the man
warily as he led the way to an empty interrogation room. "What'dya
want?" he belatedly tacked on an, "Agent," to the end of the question as
he regarded Howell with poorly concealed annoyance.

Howell smiled. "Sit down
detective." When Leon didn't move, he shrugged. "I have been
tracking a certain serial killer for most of my career." He placed
several files on the table. "A killer you have also encountered,
it seems."

Despite his attempt to hold on to
his annoyance, Leon was interested. He'd managed to pin down a
serial killer that had escaped capture by the feds for decades? He reached out and opened the top folder. The face of
the man whose photograph lay on the top of the file was intimately
familiar to him.

He knew Howell was waiting for a
big reaction. It was more the fact that there was no reaction left
in him rather than a desire to deny the agent that had him calmly
raising his eyes to meet Howell's and saying firmly, "I have never
investigated this man for any crime."

Howell smirked. "Have a
short memory do you?" He flicked open two more files and shoved
them across the table.

Leon looked down at two of the
first cases he'd investigated after he'd met D.
"No, I don't." His fingers absently traced through the lines of
his report on the man eating rabbits. "You have a case of
mistaken identity. This," he picked up the photograph from the
first folder, the picture of D's father, and thrust it at Howell, "is
not the same man."

To his surprise Howell laughed.
"You think because he hasn't aged visibly in twenty years that it's a
different man?"

"No," Leon gritted his teeth.
"I know it's a different man because I've met him."
Howell was staring at him, the stare of unbelief, but Leon stopped
himself from saying more. What part of what he knew was something he
wasn't supposed to tell? Did he really even know anything, or just
shadows of things? "It's not the same man," he repeated and
definitively shut the folders. "Now, you gonna limp back to
Washington with your tail between your legs cause this was a wild goose
chase?"

The agent was watching him,
carefully, in a way that Leon really didn't care for, when suddenly he
smiled and laughed. "He got to you," Howell said knowingly.
"I should recognize it. It happened to me once. Look," he
leaned forward, but Leon, startled by his words, stepped back.
"You don't have to protect him." His eyes were knowing and Leon
felt himself being pulled in. "Sooner or later he's going to make
a choice, and he's not going to choose you." He pushed the files
back across the table toward Leon. "Help me catch him."

Leon stared at him. "Look,
are you stupid or something? How many times do I have to tell you,
this," he picked up the photograph again, "is not the same
man?"

Howell's expression grew dark.
"If you will not cooperate, I will have to force your cooperation."

Leon leaned back against the wall.
"There is nothing you can do that will convince me you're less of an
idiot."

"I'll have your badge officer!"
Howell was on his feet now, glaring fiercely at Leon.

Leon glared back. "Taking it
doesn't prove that you're not wrong."

A shudder ran through the room and
it took Leon a moment to realize that it was actually the building
itself that had shuddered. The lights flickered. Howell
threw open the door and walked out into the squad room, to a window.
"He's here," he observed.

Leon looked out the window to see
that the skies were dark with the wings of birds.

-o-o-o-o-

D opened the door to the shop and
stepped inside. The dimness was warmer than the chill outside air,
but there was a strange quiet over the shop that disturbed D's usual
feeling of homecoming. Animals moved restlessly in the dim light.

"Can you feel it?" a voice asked
out of the darkness and D froze where he stood.

"Father." D stepped around
to the table by the chaise and lit the lamp there. In its sudden
light he could see his father sitting in one of the chairs across from
him. Their eyes met, flickering gold and violet in the leaping
light. D glanced outside; the sky was dark. "Yes," he
answered quietly.

His father laughed quietly and did
not rise from his chair. "He's here," he observed. "It's
time."

The door opened with a clattering
chime that was startlingly loud in the quiet shop. Leon entered,
breathing hard. His eyes were drawn immediately to the shadowed
figure in the chair. He stepped forward, then stopped, his eyes
drifting to rest on D still standing by the table. "D," he said,
the name an affirmation and a question.

D's father laughed. "Slipping
are you?"

"He was here when I arrived," D
answered Leon's question, "only moments ago."

"Ah, and have you counted your
charges since?" D's father smiled predatorily.

"Chris," D breathed, his hands
curling into fists as his heart beat furiously. He had no other
charge that would bring such a sneer to his father's face. He
should have checked on Chris the moment he returned, he berated himself,
but he had been distracted by the way his father had appeared. He
was so different- changed somehow, subdued- and even with his
insinuating words, D felt a thread of doubt that the man sitting before
him could have harmed Chris.

"Chris is not here." Pon-chan
slunk out from under the chaise to level glaring eyes at D's father.

Leon's hand on his shoulder
brought D back to the moment. "Chris is fine," he said.

D shook his head. "He's gone!"

"I know." Leon glanced at Pon-chan.
"I heard her. I mean your dad didn't have anything to do with it."

D stared at him. Leon
shifted uncomfortably when he realized another pair of mismatched eyes
was also fixed on him. "You can hear her words?" D's father
rose from his chair, looking disturbed by this information.

D glanced at Pon-chan for
confirmation of Leon's claim, but she only sat down and stared at him
mutely. D turned his attention to Leon, asking, "How can you know that he didn't
take Chris?"

Leon's eyes narrowed. "He can't
touch Chris. Your grandfather promised me."

It seemed an incredible promise
but D believed him, believed the confidence in Leon's eyes. His
father sighed in annoyance and turned back to them, but words he would
have spat died on his lips when he raised his eyes to the shop's door at
the sound of the chime. A man stood there and Leon scowled at him.
"No way he followed me," he grumbled to himself. "Damn feds."

D's father also looked at the man
with familiarity. "Ah, my own devoted flotsam." The malicious curl to
his lip sent a shiver running down D's spine. "You finally caught up to me Vesca."

-o-o-o-o-

Pet catalog:
- Jaguar: The most
  powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere, the jaguar is considered
  a near threatened species; its current range is from northern Mexico,
  with sightings as far north as New Mexico and Arizona, to northern Argentina. The
  cat prefers dense forest or jungle habitat and is an ambush
  predator; in a way unique among big cats, the jaguar prefers to kill its prey
  by employing its powerful jaws to bite through the temporal bone,
  piercing the animal's brain. While it most closely resembles
  the leopard physically, the jaguar's habits are more like those of the tiger,
  including its affinity for water. Compared to the other big
  cats, wild jaguars attack humans only with extreme rarity.
  They are featured prominently in the art and mythology of nearly all
  major Mesoamerican cultures.
- Damask: Damask is an
  Arabian stallion, rose grey in color and trained for endurance
  riding. He first appeared in the story "Damask."
- Annette: Annette is a
  sable rough coat collie. She was placed with her current master,
  Jeffrey, by D. First mentioned in "Dearth," she appeared in
  "Disease."
- Leiella & Bruno:
  Leiella the Chihuahua puppy and Bruno the English Mastiff belong to
  the girl Ari who visits the shop often. They first appeared in
  "Disease."
- Faolan & Sdhorim: A
  pair of Irish wolfhounds that live at the shop. Faolan is more
  sociable than Sdhorim and has become friends with Ari and her dogs.
  The pair first appeared in "Disease."
- Emrys: A mysterious
  Welsh dragon who has helped Chris. It first appeared in "Draconigenae."
-o-O-o-
- 15
- 16
- 17
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Define Arc

"Too long you've wandered in winter,far from my fathering gaze.Wildly your mind beats against me,you resist,yet- the soul obeys."-- The Phantom of the Opera

- "Deification" -

-o-o-o-o-

He was warm and full and sated and Leon did not want to get up. He buried his face in the warmth he was pressed up against and groaned. An amused chuckle roused him further and he grumbled in response.

"Leon," the warmth he was pressed against called his name. "You shift starts in less than an hour."

-o-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-o-

-o-O-o-

"Too long you've wandered in winter,

far from my fathering gaze.

Wildly your mind beats against me,
you resist,

yet- the soul obeys."

--
The Phantom of the
Opera

-

"Deification"

-

He was warm and full and sated and Leon did not want to get up. He
buried his face in the warmth he was pressed up against and groaned.
An amused chuckle roused him further and he grumbled in response.

"Leon," the warmth he was pressed against called his name. "You shift
starts in less than an hour."