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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
- 16
- 17
- 18
Disclaimer: I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors and I am making no money from this or any other fan related work.

Warnings: language, particularly shocking and horrific elements

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

-

"Deviant"

-

Vesca Howell walked further into the room, his gaze
unchanging, eyes on D's father. "I've got you D," he murmured, "Finally."
Leon shifted slightly, turning toward Howell and keeping the man in view; the
movement drew Howell's attention and as his eyes drifted to Leon they looked
past him, the agent's eyes widening as he saw D. "Two?" He
faltered.

Leon snorted. "Fucking feds, never listen."

"Leon," D reached over and took his lover's hand.
"Who is he?"

It was D's father who answered with a tired sigh and a
sardonic smile. "Oh my son. You
didn't think you were the first to sample the questionable delights of the human
heart, did you?"
Weariness overcame his expression, tempered only with a hatred he directed at
Howell as he appealed to his son, "You see what I tried to save you from?"
Leon felt his breath catch in his throat as he glanced between the doppelganger
and the agent. Beside him D was openmouthed in shock, and he felt D's hand
tighten around his as Leon leveled an incredulous stare at the man who'd raped
him. D's father shook his head,
long hair whispering around his body as he turned away from Howell, his voice
turning bitter. "But
it's too late for that. Isn't it, Father?"

"Indeed," said another voice, and the shrouded
figure of the Count D stepped out from the darkness of the shop, stepping
between his two children. D inhaled sharply, his hand closing suddenly around
Leon's like a vice. Howell's gun was out then, wavering between the three
possible targets, and the Count sighed in annoyance. He raised his head to
meet D's anxious gaze. "We have much to discuss." His gaze flickered
to Howell. "But perhaps this is not the best place for it. Come my
children." The Count held out his hands. D's father reached to take
one, his face expressionless, and Leon felt D's grip weaken as the hand slide from his and his lover
stepped away from him, going to the Count and taking his other hand. Leon
felt paralyzed; he couldn't move, the Count's eyes heavy on him, their gold and
violet depths seeming to delve deep within him to his very core.

"Stop," Leon heard himself say. D turned back to
him, his face unreadable.

"We will be going now," the Count said; his eyes flickered
over Howell before returning to rest on Leon and he added, "Find us, if you can."

Leon blinked and the
room seemed to contract around him. He tried to hold D's gaze,
tried to move toward him, and found both equally impossible. A
growing light forced him to shield his eyes and when he looked again
everything was gone.

Everything was gone. D, his
father and grandfather, the animals, the shop itself...
He stepped forward,
stopped, looked at the empty room around him, then went quickly to the back wall; here was where the
door to the room he had shared with D had been. He put his hand against the
wall and there was nothing. No gap, no door, no room beyond. He
slammed his fist against the wall. It was all gone. "Fuck."

"I told you."

Leon whirled and locked eyes with Agent Howell.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"

Howell lowered his gun, meeting
Leon's angry gaze. "I
told you he wouldn't choose you." His eyes
were knowing as he holstered the gun. "He's gone."

"No," Leon said quickly in firm
denial. He turned slowly in a circle, searching for something to
throw, to break, but the room that had been part of the shop was now completely
vacant. He kicked the floor and said again, more loudly, "No."

"Denial will achieve
nothing." A small, red dragon appeared, gliding down from emptiness to
hover inches from Leon's face.

"Emrys." Leon recognized the
creature. "Where is Chris?"

"He is safe."

Leon scowled at the vague answer, but
was already on his way to the door. "Make sure he stays that way,"
he called to the dragon as he brushed past Howell.

"What the hell..." Howell stared
at Emrys, blinking rapidly in disbelief, but Leon didn't even pause.
He ran outside and gunned his car as he pointed it toward the station.

He heard Emrys' valediction whisper through his mind
as he went. "You presume much, but so
will I do since it pleases me. And where do you go?"

He answered in the same manner, unsure
if the dragon could hear him. Just three words, but they filled
his being and he knew Emrys could feel his purpose if not his words when
he mentally growled out, To find him.

-o-o-o-o-

The station was crowded; more so
than it usually was, Leon thought. He fought his way through the
busily rushing mass to his desk. He was already on the phone
before he noticed the pale rectangle of the envelope, lying in the
center of the desk's cluttered top with his name on it. "Can I get the latest
report of incidents?" he asked the clerk who answered the phone as he
rested fingertips on the envelope; the writing was Jill's. "And
make sure you include unusual incidents, not necessarily criminal,
in the last three hours." He had to think that D and his
family had left some sort of trail he could follow, or else there was
nothing he could do- nowhere to start looking. He hung up the phone and held up the
envelope. Suddenly reluctant, he folded it and stuck it in his
pocket to read later. He couldn't deal with Jill and her leaving,
not now...

He sat at the desk and ran his
hands through his hair. Dammit. What the hell?? Why had D
just disappeared like that? He'd walked away from Leon and just
disappeared as if there was no reason why he shouldn't.

:"Give it up."

His train of thought broken, Leon
turned to glare at the man in front of him. "How the fuck did you
get here so fast?" he asked Agent Howell. "And why the fuck can't
I lose you?" he added with a growl.

The agent waved aside the
question and the profanity with a tired smirk. "We have more in common than I
though at first." He frowned. "I know you can't imagine life without him, but
you'll get over it. Life goes on."

Leon's glare turned annoying.
"What the fuck is your deal? You think because you banged D's old
man you know anything about me?"

Howell smiled, and while Leon
wanted to hit the other man he found he couldn't. "He defies
explanation doesn't he? Deny that's what first drew you to him and
I'll shut up and walk away." Leon was silent, and Howell's gaze
grew piercing as his eyes drifted into the past, the busy room fading
around them. "He defied my
every attempt to define him. He denied any limit anyone would put
on him and refused to recognize the authority of any. He was
dangerous, and maybe that was part of it in the beginning. But he
could be so kind as well; he healed birds with broken wings and there
was always a litter of puppies in his closet, taken from a cruel life on
the street. He was a genius, an
absolute magnet for information, and still such a smooth talker. I
was drawn to him, like a moth to the flame, maybe, but I couldn't help
it. I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know him.
D..." He signed, and Leon felt his skin shiver all over. "I
fell in love with him. I'm not sure when it was really. I
was drunk one night and I kissed him. He responded, and we spent
the rest of that night keeping my neighbors awake. After that it
was like I couldn't get enough of him. I wanted to touch him, to
just be around him."

Leon stood from his desk.
"I'm not you."

Vesca continued as if he hadn't
heard. "I felt like I changed him too; when we first met he was
such an outsider, but I pulled him in and he... softened. I
remember in the early days, when any professor who called on him to
answer a question was subjected to his litany on the atrocities
collected in the history of the human race. I got to where I was
so tired of hearing that same speech, but after awhile he just stopped.
I remember the day when I realized it had been at least a month since I
had last heard him espouse the villainy of humanity. I remember
quiet nights we lay together in the dark; he would listen when I told him about my
dreams of being a cop and if his words were guarded they were hopeful. He warmed, and he was as insatiable in the
bedroom as I was.

"We graduated; I got a rookie job.
One day he'd joined me and we were walking home from my beat when we saw a woman
beating a dog with a baseball bat. It was a nasty sight, I won't
lie, and I was about to haul her in but he just walked right past me.
He grabbed the woman by the arm and broke it. He broke her fucking
arm, right there in the street." He paused, but Leon was silent.
"I shot the dog. It was dying anyway, but he threw a fit. I
had to arrest him for assaulting the woman but he disappeared and I
haven't seen him since." He raised deep eyes to meet Leon's.
"Can you look at me and tell me you wouldn't have done the same?"

Leon turned away. "No," he
agreed. "But," he turned back to Howell and repeated, "I'm not
you." He stepped around his chair, toward the door. "And D
is not his father."

-o-o-o-o-

The shop was still deserted when Leon
arrived. The emptiness was like a void and it pulled at Leon,
sucking his energy away until he sat on the floor against the wall,
running a hand through his hair as he sighed. He couldn't spend
all his time running between here and the station in an apparently vain
effort to avoid Howell, but he felt pulled to this place, even if it was
vacant now, and the station was the only place he knew of where he could
find information that could help him...

The door creaked open, adding to
the strange emptiness with the lack of its usual chime. Leon looked up and
was surprised to see the woman from this morning, the one with the
deceased abusive boyfriend. He searched his memory and was able to
name her. "Maria."

She was obviously not expecting to
find him here. She looked around, transfixed by the barren
room just as he had been, but she didn't comment. "I come to
return this." She wore a shoulder bag and pulled it up as she
walked over to Leon, handing it to him.

He took the bag in his hands and
opened it to reveal the stone figurine of the jaguar. "You're
giving it back?" He looked up at Maria worriedly. "What
happened?"

She shook her head and smiled,
more warmly than she had when he'd met her previously. "I... have
no more need. I bring it back to el Conde." She knelt
beside him and reached over to touch the statue. "You feel?
It... wants to help." Leon placed his hand above hers and
he could feel power moving in the stone creature now, ready to leap out.
"But it already give to me," Maria continued. She removed her
hand from the statue and held it over her heart, smiling again. "I
have the true cat here now, inside, and I give so it help otra chica-
someone else who has need."

Leon stroked the stone beast's
forehead. "Thank you," he murmured. "D... will really
appreciate that."

She nodded and rose. "I
leave it with you?"

"Yes," he affirmed. "I will
make sure he gets it." Maria walked confidently to the door, but
paused there a moment as she held the door open for a group that was
entering, lead by a grouchy totetsu. Where Tetsu was, someone else
was not far behind... "Chris," Leon called.

Chris came to him immediately,
questions on his face as Tetsu, Faolan, Sdhorim, Bruno, and Ari with
Leiella at her heels filed in
behind him. "We were at the park," he started, but
trailed off, only able to stare around the bare shop with wide eyes. "Where's Count
D?"

Leon grabbed him and pulled him
close. "He's gone, for now, but I'm going to find him," he promised.

Chris nodded against his shoulder.
"Okay." There was no doubt in his voice or eyes as he
looked up at Leon; if his brother said it was going to be done, it was
going to be done. Never mind, Leon thought, that he had no idea
how or even what to do. Physical things he could track, but
people who vanished in front of his eyes? Emrys had returned with the group
but only perched on the back of one of the dogs and watched
everything without offering assistance.

It was the wolfhound Faolan who turned to
Leon and grinned, tail wagging. "Find. Finding is
good." His voice was gravelly and warm in Leon's head, and as Leon focused on
it he felt the sound of it sharpen in him. "You need a tracker?"

He reached out a hand to the
dog, and repeated, "Tracker?" The dog whuffled affirmatively
at his fingers and Leon felt something dawning in his chest. "You can find D."

Sdhorim, the other wolfhound,
huffed his own affirmative. "Finding is easy; is fun. We will lead
you." Whatever it was, the feeling in his chest was
burning now, and Leon could only blink in surprise as Sdhorim nosed the
human's chest as if the dog could also feel the burning sensation.
"You feel him," Sdhorim commented, "here, inside.
Tracking is easy already; work for little pups with such a broad trail
to follow." His mouth opened in a smile as his tongue lolled
out and his ears pinned back in good natured jest. "So strange
that humans cannot see."

Leon stood. The burning was
all through him now and he didn't think he could have sat still if his
life depended on it. He took the bag with the
jaguar stone and handed it to Chris. "Hold on to this for me,
okay?" Chris nodded; Ari touched the bag with a strange look of
wonder, as if she could feel the energy of it even though the stone was
hidden. "Let's go," Leon turned to the hounds.

They were already loping easily to
the door, pausing there with ears pricked forward.
"Don't fall behind," they admonished Leon. "Two-legs are
slow."

A shrill, whistled scream outside
the shop was accompanied by the striking of a hoof against the door.
Chris opened the door hesitantly, quickly getting out of the way of the
stallion who trod lightly into the shop on delicate hooves. "I
heard you calling. I
will come as well." Damask pressed his delicate nose against
Leon's chest and Leon's hands came up to stroke the horse's wide cheeks
and concave face. "I will see my god."

Leon shivered. This was not
exactly what he'd had in mind when he had determined to find D but every
moment made it feel more right. He
stroked Damask's nose.

"Horse thieving now is it?"

The hounds raised their hackles at
the intruder and Leon's eyes shot up to level a glare at the unwelcome
presence of Howell. "I'm going after D," he answered evenly,
not caring anymore that the man was following him, that he was annoying,
or even that he was a fed.
And even though he didn't care, Leon wasn't sure why he added, "Come with me." He turned to
Damask. Is that alright?

The stallion pranced a little,
pleased to have been asked. "I can bear you both without
trouble, as far as where the god lies."

Howell looked doubtful, of both
the situation and Leon's sanity, but Emrys
nodded approvingly to Leon. "Well thought, earthdweller.
Your tale is not the only one drawn full this day."

Howell looked at the dragon,
losing himself in its eyes for a moment before he shook his head like a
dog shaking water. "What
the hell," he grumbled, which Leon took as an affirmative.

Leon's hands slipped down the
stallion's neck and over his shoulders. "I've never done this before," he murmured as he
tangled his fingers
firmly in the horse's mane. He wrapped his fingers in the silky
strands more tightly and, with a small jump, flung himself onto Damask's back,
wrapping his legs tightly around the horse's body as he settled.

Damask whickered a soft laugh.
"In that case, you are doing very well. Keep your legs tight
and lean forward. Pull the other one up; I think he knows even
less than you." Leon reached a hand to Howell, pulling the
agent up behind him.

With Howell settled Leon looked up, seeking Chris, and
found his brother and Ari watching him solemnly. "Do
not fear for these. I will
keep watch here," Emrys said, slender red body lighting on
Chris' shoulder.

Chris smiled at Leon. "Go,"
he urged. "Find him."

"I will," Leon promised.
There was a deep bay from the hounds casting outside and Damask screamed in response.
The stallion's
muscles rippled as he trotted forward; he broke into a run as he
hit the street and the hounds loped before him, the ground disappearing
beneath their strides. Leon squeezed his legs against Damask, feeling
Howell's arms tighten around his waist, and bent down
low over the horse's neck. He closed his eyes
and thought about D.

-o-o-o-o-

D blinked as Grandfather took them
from the shop, bringing them to an open, empty area away from the city.
They were higher up and D could see the tall buildings of the city's
core, appearing closer than they were because of their great size.

Grandfather's hand was warm and
familiar around his, like the comfortable feel of the shop, but D pulled
away angrily. He turned to his father. "Who was that man?"
His father's eyes were dangerous but D didn't care. "How dare
you. How dare you punish me, punish Leon, for mistakes you
made!"

The Count grabbed his arm and
pulled him away from his father, shaking him gently. "And can
you not see that he tried to keep you from making the same mistake?"
He reached out a hand to his son but D watched as his father only stared
at Grandfather coldly and ignored the outstretched hand.
Grandfather's voice was the coldest D had ever heard it when he
continued, "Misguided though his attempts may have been. That human did something to my child, and he has been...
fragile ever since."

Father's lip curled in derision.
"Don't let's get into that old argument." He turned back to D.
"Humans are treacherous," he intoned, taking D by the shoulders as he
tried to impart the force of his words. "All of them are false;
do not allow hope of anything else to taint you. They will always
betray you. Do you hear me?"

D shook his head, breaking away
from his father and walking a few steps away. "Leon is not like
that." His voice was soft but firm. He heard his father's
derisive scoff and his hands curled in to fists. "Leon is not the
same as this man you knew." He turned back to face his father.
"I am not you." It seemed a revelation to
him, though the information was greeted coolly by the identical faces
that regarded him, and he turned to Grandfather and repeated his words-
"I am not you either."

The Count stared at him a long
moment. "What I have wrought indeed," he murmured to himself,
regarding D carefully. "No, you are not," he responded aloud, and
turned to face his son. "We are three, not one."

D saw his father's eyes flash in
surprise. "That is an admission long in coming," the long-haired
man responded, his
voice careful, willing to repress animosity for the sake of such an
admission. He held the Count's gaze for several moments but
had to look away. "But it changes nothing," he reminded all of
them. "One we may not be, but treacherous as humans we are not
either." He paused a
moment, emotion flashing over his face as he regarded D. "He will
betray you. He does not respect your power; he does not understand
our vengeance. You amuse him
and he enjoys using you when it suits his purposes. Do you imagine
he cares for you?"

D 's head came up, his eyes
defiant, but he was silent.

"I will admit that this Leon
has impressed me over the course of the past few years," The Count
added, his voice low and evaluative, "but that does not change what he
is." D turned away as Grandfather continued, "If he is an
impressive specimen he is still only human. Your father is correct
in saying that they do not change. In all the ages of the world,
they have not changed."

"It is not whether or not they
change," D whispered as he stood facing the stark desolation of the city
buildings. His voice grew stronger. "The question is whether or not humans are all the
same." He felt the pair behind him grow still as he continued.
"If we who are so much the same can be so different, then how can you
say that all humans are the same in their thoughts and purpose when they
are so obviously dissimilar?" D shook his head again, turning
back to face his father and grandfather in search of an answer.

He was almost surprised that it
was his father who spoke first, voice dark and cold. "Dissimilar
in their forms of darkness perhaps, but even beads of a thousand colors
are all still beads, hollow through, and can serve only their purpose."
D met his father's eyes and they searched each other for some thing,
some point of recognition.

The Count sighed. "I am
beginning to think that I was unwise in certain of my decisions," he
murmured, again speaking to himself, before turning to his children.
"Come." He took D's hand. "Gather the rest of your charges
and we will leave this place."

D pulled his hand away and shook
his head in firm denial. "No. It does not matter what either
of you say; I will stay here."

"Stay?" The Count's voice
was as dark as his shadowed face. "And if I command otherwise?"

"No!" D leveled a shaking finger at his grandfather
as he allowed his anger to the fore. "For so long I wished for your counsel
Grandfather, but you were not there. You were not there!"
D shook with the force of the emotion that filled him, a feeling of
betrayal at this perceived abandonment that he hadn't known he had felt.
He calmed himself. "And so, I have found my own way in
your absence. I no longer desire your guidance; and even more,
should you give it freely I still do
not wish for it. I cannot- I
will not- doubt Leon's feelings for me. I will continue to trust
in him, as he has trusted in me. I am going back."

"Back to what?" The
Count
questioned, his expression now only inquisitive. "The shop is gone. This country's federal government has
come to investigate you. It is time to move on."

D met his eyes defiantly.
"Perhaps," he conceded, "but not without Leon."

The Count's eyes narrowed
dangerously, but the far off baying of a hound forestalled any comment.
D turned his face toward the sound, a lightness touching his soul; he
knew those voices, as Faolan joined Sdhorim in the song of the hunt. The bugle of a stallion
mingled with their cries and the three animals trotted easily into view. The
wolfhounds' tongues lolled out and Damask's neck was dark with sweat but
all three of them moved with a restrained joy rather than any weariness
or pain. The hounds circled around him, tails beating the air in
excitement, before they moved to greet their other gods and D raised his eyes to the
stallion's passengers; Leon looked back at him, his eyes warm with some
deep emotion, and D smiled fully to see him. Leon threw his leg
over Damask's side and slide down to the ground and it wasn't until then
that D saw Howell behind him on the horse.

His father sneered. "Well, Vesca. Whatever are you doing here?"

Howell scowled. "D," he responded. "I'm here to arrest
you."

His father laughed and D reached
out to touch Leon's arm.

"Shut up," Leon advised Howell as
the other man slipped down from Damask's back.

Howell glared at Leon as he
brushed past to confront D's father. "They have no right to judge
the way they do," he said back to the detective. "No one is above the law."

"Judgment is the right of those who have the power to cast
it and who have the ability to see far enough to know what is truth and
what is falsehood." The soft clear voice of the Count drew all
eyes to his shadowed face. "But I wonder." He raised his
head and D felt his grandfather's eyes brush past him to settle on Leon. His eyes, solemn gold and thoughtful violet,
turned finally to Howell. "I know you- have known you since
you betrayed what trust had been given you. But you," his eyes
returned to Leon. "So far your testing has been only to the
point you can bear. If you wish to continue in relation with my
family it is a certainty that you will be tested beyond that point."
His eyes were brighter now, burning with the weight of the knowledge of
ages and extinguishing all shadows on his face. "There is not time to wait for such a test to
appear. I suppose I shall have to manipulate a merging of opportunity
and place."
His burning eyes turned to D and D thought he might be consumed in that
fire. "A test of several levels, perhaps.
My child, you have become much different in your methods. I may
accept that neither of my children is bound to see by my vision
but I will have you keep to the trust placed in you. I have
tolerated your deviance long enough."

Grandfather raised a hand and D felt the
call pulling at him again, as it had earlier in the shop, but it was not he Grandfather summoned.
Beneath the Count's outstretched hand three young human males materialized;
it was strange, D thought, to view the process of the call without being
a part of it, and the three boys appeared as
if pulled from the thinness of the air rather than from the distant
place where in truth they resided. They blinked in confusion
and looked around themselves with shouts of alarm. "Be still," the
Count commanded them, and they fell silent, sitting with their backs
together as they looked with fear at the group that stood around them.
Howell moved toward them but was also stilled by a glance from the Count.
"These children," Grandfather continued easily, "have
committed a crime." His eyes slid shut, head tilting slightly as
if listening to something, and he smiled. "But do not take my word
for it."

A great crack broke over the group, a
rush of wind pushing violently at all who stood there as an enormous
three headed dragon appeared behind the Count. It settled its wings over them
all as its
heads wove between them, its huge eyes regarding each figure with
serious weight. D felt Leon shiver beside him as Honlon's gaze
rested on him for a long moment. Behind them, Damask's neck was
arched in challenge even as his eyes were ringed white in fear and the
two hounds sat between his feet whimpering quietly. The boy on the
left hand of the three, who had dark brown hair, rose and stood as if
mesmerized, gazing into Honlon's eyes. The dragon's mouth opened
but no voice issued from its maw; instead an image filled D's head as he
closed his eyes. He was
sure he was not the only one who saw it for he was familiar with the dragon's ability
to share the memories of those it connected to with any other it chose, and what he saw now was
obviously from the mind of the boy who stood now before the dragon.

The dark-haired boy was
standing on the bank of a river, his companions beside him. The
weather was balmy after the thunderstorm of last night and from
up where the worn country house he lived in sat along the road he'd come
down near the river to look for something interesting to fill the empty
winter afternoon. He poked a bag with a stick
while the other two gathered closer behind him, wondering what it was that had
drawn their friend's fascination.

"What is it?" the blonde one asked,
leaning in closer to the canvas sack. It was moving of its own
accord, making small, weak noises like those of a baby.

"A sack of
kittens," the dark-haired boy responded, his voice heavy with the knowledge that
being a year older than either of his companions gave him. A year
older meant he would be in high school come next fall, so it was a
rather significant year. "Nobody
wanted 'em, so they got tied up in a sack to get drowned."

The
blonde boy looked confused. "But they're not in the river."

The first boy shrugged. "Must have washed out with the rain last
night." He grinned, a dark expression of bravado. "Should we
toss 'em back in?"

The blonde looked doubtful. "Sure," he agreed, but his voice
wavered uncertainly.

The third boy shook his head,
speaking up for the first time. "Naw, I have a better idea."
The other two boys regarded him- the dark-haired boy with interest and
the blonde with apprehension. Their nondescript companion
didn't talk much but when he did his ideas were worth listening to, if
only for their tendency to produce diabolical results.
"My sister's old man has a big dog; they keep it in a pen in the yard
'cause it's too dangerous to go near. Before they locked 'm up, it
ate the neighbor's cat. It don't like cats at all- we could take
that there bag and see if we can get 'm mad enough to smash 'is face in
the fence." He grinned, the expression full of pleasure. The
dark-haired boy shrugged, the blonde aping the gesture; it had the
potential to be entertaining, even if it was nothing particularly new-
experience had shown that animals which spent any length of time in the
presence of their quiet companion had a tendency to end up dead in a
painful manner.

The
dark-haired boy picked up the squirming bag and they all trotted off to
the other end of the small town,
finding the promised mad dog in its promised cage in the back corner of
the sister's cluttered yard. The kittens
came out of the bag- small, writhing things that hardly looked like any
animal they knew- and each boy dangled one in front of the angry canine.
But he wasn't angry enough to be entertaining, and, growing bored first, the
third boy tossed the small body he held over the fence. He smiled and
laughed as the dog's long teeth bit into the young cat's soft
flesh, eliciting quickly silenced cries of pain from the creature in
question. He turned to stare expectantly at his two companions.
The dark-haired boy stared back challengingly before tossing his kitten over as well.
The blonde hesitated, wilting under the stares of the other two, then
followed suit, running away rather than watch the process. The
third boy laughed at him, but the dark-haired one merely shrugged.

The vision released him and D
inhaled deeply, his fingers curled into fists in an effort to repress
his reaction to the episode of cruelty
he had just witnessed. He heard Leon's indrawn breath as he too
responded to the scene; just past Leon Howell was stony faced and D's
father stood with arms folded and eyes blazing. D's eyes moved
past his father to
finally meet Grandfather's only to find the Count was staring straight back
at him. "So," the Count asked, his voice deep and completely
unreadable. "What is your judgment, my child?"

D felt Leon stiffen beside him,
turn to look at him, but D felt suddenly that he had felt this coming,
or that he should have, and he knew the choice he would make. He stepped forward, away from Leon and toward
the boys who cowered bewildered. His own eyes burned with a pure
golden rage as he looked between his Grandfather's cold eyes and then
down at these poor excuses for life. "You have done an evil
thing," he said to the boys. They stared back with fear and with
comprehension.

D met each of their eyes separately- the
dark-haired boy sat on the left, the one with the pale brown hair in the
middle, and the blonde on the right. After a moment of thought, he
spoke. "This is my judgment. To cause harm to those who
do not deserve it, to the most innocent of creatures, is the highest form of evil." He reached forward
and took the quiet, middle boy by the hand, pulling him to his feet and
meeting his unrepentant gaze. "When you acted in this crime you
acted out of a malice so pure it had already consumed every thought inside
of you." Placing his hand under the boy's chin he grabbed and
twisted, breaking the child's neck. The body fell at his feet, the
other two boys staring at him with a horror that D felt ripple through
the two other humans who stood behind him.

The two boys moved closer to each other,
dumb with anticipated terror, but D watched each boy in turn; he closed
his eyes and cupped his hands around a small, warm body, calling it from
where it rested and into his arms. "To you," he held the creature out
to the boy on the left, the one with the dark hair, "fully
complicit though you are, I give a second
chance."

The boy took the creature
gingerly, looking askance at it. The spotted, furry creature
parted its heavily toothed jaws and squealed in greeting. "What is
it, sir?" the boy asked quietly, hesitantly.

"When you acted in this crime," D
met the boy's eyes with his fierce gaze, "you acted out of apathy.
This little one is here to teach you concern for another creature and to
fill your mind and hours so that you need not pursue such entertainment
as you have previously to alleviate your boredom. He is a hyena and his mother has given her permission that you
may care for him." The hyena cub coughed and lowed deep in its
throat, squirming in the boy's arms. "You must follow only two
rules. If you should break either, I cannot predict what will
happen to you, either through this little one or through his kin."

The boy nodded vigorously,
clutching the cub close and listening attentively. "Firstly," D
held up one finger, "you are to feed him everyday as much and whatever
he desires to eat. And secondly, you are to take him to the
field behind your house everyday as well and play with him, letting him
run."

The boy seemed to be attempting to
commit those two commands to indelible memory, his eyes glazing slightly as his lips mumbled
through the words, but when he had finished he nodded emphatically. "Yessir,"
he said, bobbing his head in a nervous bow.

D nodded back to him and turned to
the last boy. The blonde shivered and pulled away from him, wide
eyed. "You, when you acted in this crime, acted out of fear."
His eyes were cold. "There is little I can do with that, except
attempt to instill a sense of defensive power that can override your
fear, directed toward protecting something smaller and more fearful than
yourself." He cupped his hands again and offered to the blonde boy
a small, shivering puppy with wide black eyes. "This little one
has no home and has known only abuse and fear in his past. Will you be strong enough
to protect him?" The puppy whimpered and the boy's arms closed
around it, shielding it against his chest. The boy nodded,
something powerful flickering in his eyes. "Then that is your charge.
You have but one rule to follow- protect this little one from all harm.
Do that, and you will save yourself."

Stepping back, D closed his eyes
and held out his hands. "Out of the power granted to me by those I protect
who have been here victims, I have passed my judgment and made my
vengeance." His eyes opened and he met each boy's gaze again. "You
who knew him knew the sickness of the mind that preyed upon your
companion perhaps as well as I who can see in his actions the first
steps taken by all those renowned for their sociopathy." He
continued, wondering if the rest of his words were for the boys or for
his other audience. "Whereas those before me would have taken all your lives
for the crime you committed, you I will
spare in the belief that you are wise enough to recognize your wrongs, young enough to grow, and
able enough to change from being the person who would do
such a thing. If you take nothing else from this interlude,
remember that to act in malice toward another will only sow a hatred
that will destroy you." He turned to Honlon and bowed; the dragon
blinked at him slowly in approval as its two other heads breathed on
the boys and they disappeared, returning to their homes and the lives the Count
had brought them from.

D met his grandfather's gaze steadily, not
looking away; it was the Count who shifted his gaze first, his eyes
resting on Leon expectantly.

D closed his eyes again, took a deep
breath, and then turned to face Leon.

-o-o-o-o-

Pet catalog:
- Spotted hyena: An apex
  predator native to sub-Saharan Africa, the spotted hyena is
  incredibly intelligent and lives in complex and fiercely matriarchal social groups. Their extremely powerful digestive enzymes allow
  them to consume and digest almost all parts of their kills,
  including skin and bones. They are adaptable, living in many
  different terrains and able to live near humans.
- Puppy: I had no real
  breed in mind for the puppy. I was inspired by a picture at the
  American Humane Society website of a golden brown puppy with
  desperate, scared black eyes, small enough to sit in a baseball cap;
  the picture was from a recent article about rescuing dogs from a
  puppy mill and I think it
  might be a dachshund.
-o-O-o-
- 16
- 17
- 18
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Define Arc

- "Deviant"-

Leon blinked and the room seemed to contract around him. He tried to hold D's gaze, tried to move toward him, and found both equally impossible. A growing light forced him to shield his eyes and when he looked again everything was gone.

-o-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-o-

-o-O-o-

-

"Deviant"

-

Leon blinked and the
room seemed to contract around him. He tried to hold D's gaze,
tried to move toward him, and found both equally impossible. A
growing light forced him to shield his eyes and when he looked again
everything was gone.