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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
- 4
- 5
- 6
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, psycho-man-being-psychotic, paternal echoes, yaoi/lemon, oral sex/rimming.

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

"This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green,

which otherwise would heal and do well." -- Francis Bacon

-

"Damsel"

-

There was someone breathing in his ear.

Breathing loudly in his ear.

D blinked his eyes open, registering the warmth of a body laying next to his, behind him, the weight of am arm thrown possessively across his waist. He turned, rolling over to look at Leon, gold and violet eyes taking in the lines of the detective's face, visible in morning sunlight that filtered in through high windows. Those lines, often harsh in waking hours, were smoothed now. D had heard that humans often looked younger when asleep; Leon did not look younger, only less argumentative. As if in direct challenge to this observation Leon's brow furrowed and his jaw clenched as he faced off against some dream assailant. D raised a hand and brushed Leon's shaggy hair away from his face with one slender finger. This seemed to quiet him, to answer something his dream-mind was seeking; his forehead smoothed out and his jaw relaxed, one syllable escaping from his lips as he sighed, "D."

D lay still for a while longer, observing his bedmate, before he sighed and rose, dressing quickly. He paused before leaving the room and returned to the bed. Brushing his hand across Leon's face he buried his fingers in the detective's hair, letting the golden strands slid between them. "Leon," he said softly. A half-aware murmur was his only response. Smiling softly, D continued, "I am going to make breakfast."

"Bacon," Leon mumbled, before rolling over and shoving his head under a pillow. D smirked in response. Really, that detective is something else, he thought as he closed the door to the bedroom behind him and made his way down the hall to the kitchen. He looked in on Chris as he went and found the boy already awake and starting his day by helping Pon-chan feed the fish.
"Good morning Count!" Chris stopped sprinkling the fish food into the tank and smiled at D as he came over.

"Good morning Chris. You are being very helpful this morning."

Chris blushed slightly. "Pon-chan asked me to help out," he said dismissively. "And... Since you let Big Bro stay over too, I wanted to be extra helpful." Chris smiled brightly. "Is he up yet? Does he want to play?"

"After breakfast perhaps," D suggested, amused by Chris' enthusiasm, heightened exponentially just by Leon's proximity. He wondered just how much Chris understood of why Leon had stayed the night last night, and exactly how he had spent that night. After yesterday's afternoon antics, Leon had passed much of the evening spending time with Chris, but later that night...

"I was about to make breakfast," D said, informing Chris and pulling his own mind away from the line of thoughts it had been starting down upon.

"I can help!"

"That sounds wonderful."

Chris followed him as D entered the kitchen and started pulling out the various things he would need to start breakfast. Bacon, ha! Leon knew better than to think that...

Someone knocked at the front door.

D frowned. Who could it be? The shop was closed, the sign clearly visible. Perhaps a returning client with an... urgent problem? D smiled darkly; that was most likely. Chris looked up at him questioningly and he motioned for the boy to continue what he was doing. "I will return shortly," D said, turning and going to the front door. Pon-chan threw a curious look after him but stayed with Chris. Q-chan flew ahead of him making a soft worried sound instead of taking up his usual perch on D's shoulder. Frowning again as he placed his hand on the door, D felt a sensation of dread creep up on him. Shaking it off, he opened the door to a surprise.

"Ah, Detective Fresney. Welcome." He smiled at Jill, but his eyes flowed over the group of people that was collected behind her, settling on a gaunt, pale man standing beside her. The eyes that Jill turned on D were tragic but he pretended not to notice. "Won't you come in? We were just preparing breakfast."

"Count," Jill said desperately, but she composed herself and directed the officers behind her to remain where they were as she stepped into the pet shop. The man beside her did not seem to listen, following her in anyway. She shot a glare at him, but turned to D as he shut the door behind her and her companion. "Is Leon here?"

D raised one eyebrow elegantly. "What would lead you to such an assumption?"

She glanced at him furtively. "He's not answering his phone, either his cell or at home. I thought maybe he came by. To see Chris."

"Ah. Of course. I will inform him that you are here to see him."

The pale man, who had entered with Jill, spoke up for the first time. "Hold it! No way you're going anywhere." He turned to Jill with a frown. "Detective, I said I was going to work with your department on this, but I will thank you for your help and take it from here."

Jill glared at him. "Agent Meretrix," she began, but was interrupted as Leon entered from the hallway.

"D, I don't smell my bacon." His head was down, his line of vision blocked by his hand as he ran it through his hair, improvising a comb; he was dressed, except for his shoes. "And dammit," he continued, "it's cold in there without y..." He looked up and stopped, taking in his audience. Recovering with an aplomb D would not have credited to him, he narrowed his eyes at the only person of the three staring at him that he didn't know and then addressed Jill. "Hi Jill. You here for breakfast? Hope this guy's not your dietician." His eyes narrowed further, but he continued with his sardonic tone. "And I hope he's not diabetic."

"Leon..." Jill took a deep breath and started again. She'd hoped to get Leon alone first, and tell him, preferably somewhere she could lock him in, out of the way, until she could count on him taking the news reasonably- about 30 years should do it... but that didn't look like it was going to be an option. "Agent Meretrix has a warrant for The Count's arrest," she said quickly, hoping the scene Leon was going to make would be at least somewhat containable.

A cord stood out in Leon's jaw as it clenched and he pinned the stranger with a glare. He opened his mouth.

"Detective." D made a small subduing gesture with one hand.

Leon shut his mouth and looked at D in surprise. "What?"

D smiled tightly. "It is not necessary."

Leon flared up again. "The fuck it's n-"

D cut him off again, the seriousness of his expression making Leon look at him, meeting his eyes. "This is not the time," D said softly, his eyes seeming to get larger as Leon stared into them, the right one engulfing him in gold. "You know very well Detective
Orcot that I never cook bacon."

Leon shook himself and blinked violently, looking up at the three people standing in front of him. Jill looked worried and the stranger was watching him carefully, but D... "Yeah, well..." Leon stumbled over his tongue, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. His head felt strange... He glared at the man Jill had called Agent. "If you're hauling him off before breakfast even, can we hear the charges?"

Meretrix returned the glare. "The murder of Linden Multa, to start with."

The corner of Leon's mouth quirked, and then he broke out laughing. "Well, good luck with making it stick." He turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Meretrix glared at his back, looked over at Jill to see if there were any other objections, then approached D, handcuffs at the ready. His head lowered, so that his hair fell around his face, D allowed himself to be handcuffed before Meretrix roughly manhandled him out of the door.

Jill stayed where she was. "Leon," she said, after the agent had been gone for awhile and her fellow detective hadn�t moved.

He moved; he slammed his fist into the delicate end table standing near him, cracking it all along the middle. Picking it up, he whirled around and threw it against the wall so hard it shattered, spraying pieces of wood all across the floor. The soft chatter of birds and the sounds of the animals moving all halted for a moment as the residents of the shop regarded him warily. Chris came out from the kitchen and looked at Leon, worried. "Where's Count D?"

Leon ran his hands roughly through his hair. "Chris, go make breakfast," he directed.

"But, bro..."

"Chris, go. Please."

Nodding slowly, Chris glanced at Jill then slipped back into the kitchen.

It was Leon's turn to look at Jill. "Who is that mother fucker?" he demanded.

She sighed and sat down. �Agent Adam Meretrix.�
"FBI?"

"No, foreign. He's with the delegation from Guyana." She paused. "Prime Minister Multa is the one who was murdered."
"Fuck," Leon breathed, burying his hands in his hair as he sat down. Well, he guessed that explained why, this time, the Chief hadn't been able to simply overlook the weirdness that was Chinatown. "Why do they think it was D?"

"Personally, I think their case is thin and they're just lashing out in grief. But... they looked at D because of what we found."

"Was the guy mauled to death or something?"

Jill hesitated. "Not exactly."

Leon looked at her. "Then what exactly?"

She paused again, then stood. "Come with me."

He nodded, standing too, then stopped. "Chris," he said softly.

Her face softened. Pulling out a piece of paper, she scribbled down an address. "Go here. Tell them you're my partner if they ask; they already know me." She narrowed her eyes. "And don't mention you're on suspension."

He glared at her. "Jesus, Jill! Do I look stupid?"

"I'm not going to answer that," she replied flippantly, shoving him at the door. "I'll explain everything to Chris."

He stopped. "Everything?"

"Mhmm," she replied mysteriously.
Leon pulled his jacket around him. "Thanks Jill."

She smiled. "Watch out for the chief," she shot after him as she closed the door behind him.

-o-o-o-o-

D cast one last look at the pet shop as the squad car pulled away. After that, he returned his gaze to the agent who sat in the front seat. There was something familiar about the man... but he couldn't place it. It was frustrating, since usually D had an excellent memory for faces, but he just could not remember where he had met this man before. The name was familiar, but it danced on the edge of his consciousness refusing to allow him to identify exactly where he knew it from. D smiled darkly. He wondered if Agent Meretrix recognized him, even though so far he wasn't able to return the favor; however, that had not seemed to be the case. Of course, it was possible that he was faking it, that he had come after D precisely because he did recognize him... D frowned suddenly. He wondered how Leon was doing. He wondered if Leon had understood what D had tried to tell him. If Leon had in some way provoked the agent, then Meretrix would have had him watched- if not arrested outright, considering how volatile Leon's temper could be and how little patience people tended to have with him- and D needed him. Needed him to figure out what was going on.

True, that in the past if something like this had happened he would not have thought much of removing whatever impediment stood in his way and simply leaving to set himself up in some other city. If? More truthful to say when the humans had reached the point where they were unable to ignore his presence any longer. But... this time- here, now- he was not ready to leave. So, he couldn't simply remove Meretrix and depart. He scowled, all too easily hearing not only his father's reproach but his grandfather's as well echoing in his ears. Even his grandfather would not have jeopardized the mission in this way, despite his more lenient attitudes.

In a way, it was a test for Leon. Not that D had arranged for it to be so, but if Leon was unable to solve this problem his way, within the laws of his country which he worked to uphold, then D would have to resort to his old methods in order to extract himself from this situation; and that would make it impossible for him to remain here. Here- with Leon. D caught himself in that thought and his eyes suddenly flew open wide. Was that something he wanted so desperately? Frowning again, D turned his attention out the window.
It seemed the time when he was going to have to deal with the contradiction of
Leon was approaching. For now though, he let an ironic curl pull his lips into a smile; wasn't it strange, after all he had done to these humans, that now that they wanted to be rid of him, it was for a crime he knew nothing about?

-o-o-o-o-

Leon was thankful for Jill's warning; the Chief was at the crime scene when he arrived. He had to duck behind a pillar to avoid being seen as the other man left- if the Chief saw him here, "on the job" as it were, he was going to get more than just a temporary suspension.

The first thing Leon noticed as he entered the hotel room where the Prime Minister had been killed was the smell. He wrinkled his nose in distaste; he�d been to a number of murder scenes before, and he'd never smelled anything like this. He glanced at the uniform who'd let him in. "We know what that smell is?"

The man wrinkled his nose in response. "Not me personally. And most everybody who's anybody is gone for the moment," he said, looking around. "But you might try the bug man," he added, pointing out a small man on the other side of the room.

"Bug man?" Leon scowled. "Great."

The uniform shrugged. "Nickname. But it fits him." He turned back to his duties.

Leon made his way further into the crime scene, carefully observing everything about the place as he skirted around the marked outline on the floor and went over to the man pointed out to him. "Hey," he said by way of introduction, and the small nervous-looking man jumped. He focused eyes hidden by coke-bottle bottom glasses uncertainly on Leon's face.

"Can I help you sir?" he asked hesitantly.

Leon scowled at him. "Just wondering what was making that smell."

The man brightened. "Of course! Over here!" He gestured for Leon to follow him over to an area near where the body�s head would have been and pointed to a darker spot in the carpet that looked like it might have been made by blood. "A large group of Harmonia axyridis was found here and has since been taken away for analysis. They exude this smell when crushed."

"Whoa!" Leon held up a hand. "Harmonica what?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." The man settled his glasses more firmly on his nose. "Japanese Ladybugs, more appropriately called Asian Lady Beetles."

Leon frowned. "Are they poisonous or something?"

"Oh no!" The man seemed aghast that Leon could even suggest such a thing. "No, indeed not. Ladybugs are extremely helpful insects, protecting crops by eating aphids and other such harmful creatures. I will admit that this particular subspecies does have a reputation of being an occasional nuisance to humans, but never harmful."

"So why were they here?" The man looked at Leon slightly confused, and Leon decided to simplify his approach. "Look, you were here when the body was still here, right?"

"Oh yes!" The man seemed eager, having found someone who was interested in listening to him. "They called me first thing. The poor man had all those Ladybugs near his mouth, and they were all crushed the poor things. The police thought at first that he might have choked on them." The man's tone of voice indicated his low opinion of that theory. "They asked me if the Harmonia axyridis was poisonous, just like you did, but I had to tell them there was no way."

Leon looked at the man again, appraisingly. "So, you know a lot about bugs?"

The man's chest puffed up in pride. "I am an entomologist, sir, of no little renown."

"Ah yeah, that's great, Mister..."

The man settled his glasses again. "Thomas Ichneumon, sir. I do work for the department when they have need of my expertise, such as in this case."

"Great. Look, I'm Detective Orcot and I'd like it if you could tell me everything you know about these Asian ladybugs, how they got here, and what you think they might have to do with this murder."

Thomas looked at him. "Everything, Detective?"

"Yep," Leon encouraged.

"And you won't... laugh at me?"

Leon looked at the man more closely; Thomas must have already put forth a theory to the police that they had scoffed at and brushed over. "Definitely not."

Thomas nodded. "Then I want to show you something else." He pointed to another area, where the outline suggested the body's hand had fallen. Crushed into the carpet was what appeared to be another bug of some kind.

Leon squinted at it. "Is that a dragonfly?"

"Very close Detective. It's actually a damselfly."

Leon looked at him sharply. "And let me guess, it's not poisonous either?"

"No. Also, neither of these bugs should be here. Damselflies congregate near stagnant water, and ladybugs should be out in crop fields looking for aphids this time of year." He hesitated. "I heard some of the police earlier saying that they thought the ladybugs were left as a calling card of some sort, and deliberately crushed in this area to look like blood."

It suddenly occurred to Leon that... "There isn't any blood."

Thomas shook his head. "When I saw the body, there weren't any marks on it."

"So," Leon thought out loud, "the guy keels over dead with no apparent cause and smashes a bunch of bugs and they think D did it?"

"What?" Thomas looked confused.

"Never mind." Leon shook his hand. "Thanks a lot. Oh, and if anyone asks, you didn't seem me here okay?"

Thomas looked suddenly worried. "But... Detective?" He said the title doubtfully.

Leon grinned. "Oh don't worry, I'm really a detective. I'm just not supposed to be here."

"Oh. Alright." Thomas hesitated a moment before adding, "There is one more thing Detective."

Leon was ready to go, but he turned back to the quiet man. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Well... It's hard to be certain, since it has been crushed a bit, but I think that there is something... wrong with this damselfly."

Leon frowned. "Wrong with it?"

Thomas frowned as well. "I can't say anything exactly until I examine it further, but its... head appears to be strangely shaped. Mis-formed."

"But you're sure it's a damselfly and not something else?"

"Oh yes! You can tell that by the way the wing joint is attached to the body here..."

"Yeah, yeah, great," Leon cut him off. "Well, whatever you find out about it,"
he pulled out the scrap that Jill had written the address on and, snagging a pen from the table behind him, wrote the phone number of the pet shop on the other side. "Call this number. Okay?"

Thomas nodded eagerly then shot Leon a guarded look. "So... I can take the specimen to a laboratory?"

Leon looked at him, then over at the smashed damselfly then back again. "Forensics already went over this place right? Anything left over is free game." Thomas smiled widely and Leon figured he'd hit the nail on the head. "Just make sure you call me with anything you find, alright?"

"Of course Detective!"

Looking back over his shoulder, watching with amused distraction as Thomas delicately scraped the bug out of the carpet and packed it carefully away, Leon focused his thoughts away from the case and back on the reason he was so interested in it. He needed to get down to the station and see if he could get in to see D. Sure it was a long shot, but he had to give it a try.

Though, Leon thought a few minutes later, wincing as the Chief's yelling went to new decibels, maybe he should have called instead. A hyperventilating phone was easier to ignore than the real thing standing right in front of you. Although, Leon supposed absentmindedly, he probably should be paying attention to what the Chief was complaining about.

The door opening behind Leon pulled away what little of his attention was focused on the Chief and he turned to lock eyes with Adam Meretrix. Leon's eyes narrowed. This probably wasn't good... If he wanted to get anything done about this case, it was not going to help if he got into a pissing match with the foreign detective. Which, judging from the look of Meretrix, and Leon's own, he had to admit to himself, abundant temper, was pretty much inevitable if they spent more than five minutes in each other's company. But that didn't mean he couldn't at least try to play nice. "I want to see D," he said civilly.

Meretrix raised an eyebrow as his lip curled sardonically. "Hmm, the great hero rushing to the damsel's aid is it?"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about," Leon said, glaring, unable to
completely hide his distaste for the man. "D is not a woman, and the last thing he needs is help from anyone, including me."

"Oh really?" The agent's eyes narrowed as he stared intently at Leon. "Well, in any case you're too late. I'll have you know we're about to make him for the murder of the Prime Minister. We have several character witnesses who are prepared to testify that the Count is in the habit of distributing dangerous animals. Also," his eyes flashed darkly as his cold smile turned into a leer. "Thanks to your own tireless research we have information linking the Count to several other cases, including murders, abductions, and drug rings. In addition, he cannot provide us with an alibi for last night."

"Fuck all that shit." Leon heard the Chief muttering something about language, but ignored it. "Last night he was with me. All night." Leon could feel the Chief's eyes boring into his back. Between that and Meretrix in front of him, he felt skewered, but he shook it off. "I want to see him. Fuck that, I want him released. There's no way he killed this guy."

Agent Meretrix's eyes narrowed. "Detective, you are currently on suspension. You opinions concerning this case are of no interest to me." He turned to leave.

Leon felt his temper flare up and he reached for Meretrix's arm, but before he grabbed
the man, he pulled back. His eyes closed. No. I can't piss him off, cause then he won't let me help D. Leon's eyes opened, and he blinked rapidly in confusion. What the fuck? D didn't need help. He was always five steps ahead of everybody, which Leon had discovered himself time and time again to his own chagrin. But, maybe, the voice in the back of his head whispered insistently, this time he needs help. Your help... Leon frowned and walked out of the office, muttering to himself, leaving behind a very confused chief.

-o-o-o-o-

D looked up as the door opened. Agent Meretrix stood
in the doorway, and D took the moment to observe him from under lashes and half
closed lids. The man wasn't particularly tall, though taller than D, and rather
than thin or slender the only word that could really apply was gaunt. Cheekbones and eye sockets were prominent in a face that relied on bone structure to carry it more than any fleshy attributes, and scraggly hair D could only describe as pale covered his head like the pelt of some larger animal that had been stripped off and nailed there to cover the fact that something was missing. The agent narrowed dark, furiously intense eyes on him. His eyes were the only thing about him that revealed any clue as to his age; the wrinkles in his face looked more like the wear of weather than anything else, and there was such a lack of excess fat to his body that it made him look decades younger than he must have been. But his eyes... they were eyes that had seen thing. Many, unpleasant things.

While accustomed to Leon's self confident air, and the attitude that no one could do his job as well as he could, D was mildly surprised by the way that Meretrix was obsessively personally conducting his interrogation in this case. No one else other than the Agent had been allowed to interact with D since the pair had arrived at the station. D had been immediately shoved in this room, and while it was not particularly dark or threatening as rooms went, D found himself getting restless. He was getting tired of playing games, and his continued inability to place, or shake, the elusive familiarity of the name Meretrix annoyed him. He resigned himself to another go-round with the agent. So far Meretrix had persisted in asking him repetitive and seemingly pointless questions, most of them having to do with D's business rather than with the murder itself. D still wasn't sure exactly what had happened that had lead to his incarceration, but he'd managed to gather that a superior of Meretrix's was the one who had been killed, and that the agent had had very strong feelings concerning the man. The odd thing was
that while he could tell that the agent hated him personally, he could also tell that Meretrix did not believe he had committed this particular crime.

"So." Meretrix threw a large stack of papers down heavily on the table as he entered, in an attempt to startle D, but the Count just looked at him. "Since we seem to have gotten nowhere as of now, what say we try a different approach?"

D raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity. He'd been entirely accommodating to the man as far as he could see, answering even the most inane of his questions with something that was, more or less, the truth. "If you say so, Agent Meretrix."

He flinched, almost imperceptibly, when D said his name. "Well then," he said pleasantly, then lifted up the table and shoved it over, throwing it against the opposite wall with a crash. He turned to look at D, his eyes bright with a mad light. "Shall we begin?"

-o-o-o-o-

Jill was worried. Not about Leon exactly, or D, or even Chris, but she could tell that something was happening, something big, and that the three of them were at its center.

Chris was curled up on her lap at the moment, half asleep. She'd explained to him the best that she could what D was suspected of and that Leon had to go and help him find out the truth. She'd laid some other seeds, saying that even though they fought a lot the Count and Leon really cared a lot about each other and Chris shouldn't be surprised if Leon came over more often and wanted to spend some time alone with D...

It was at that point that T-chan had snorted and, Jill wasn't going to swear by her sanity at this point, appeared to be explaining something to the boy that made Chris blush. He'd hid his face against his knees and she'd pulled him closer and told him not to worry, about anything, that nothing bad was going to happen... She wondered now how she could say that with such certainty- but she had a feeling that Leon wasn't going to take whatever Meretrix was planning lying down, and she was even more certain that D had a few more tricks up his elegantly embroidered sleeve than he had yet chosen to reveal. And if there were two things Jill was certain of in this world, they were Leon's tenacity and the Count's ability to surprise even those who thought they understood him.

The phone rang, the shrill sound of it piercing through her thoughts. Miraculously, it didn't wake Chris and she eased him off her lap so that she could answer it. T-chan took her place, his warm bulk pressing against Chris comfortingly. Plucking it from its cradle, she held the telephone to her ear. "Hello?" The voice on the other end was one she recognized and she brightened. "Oh yeah? Great, give me everything you've got." The door opened, and she looked up to see Leon entering. He nodded to her but went to go sit next to Chris, T-chan growling at him softly. She nodded back to him before returning her attention to her conversation. "Thanks." A pause. "Yeah, that'll help. Mhmm. Alright, see you Tuesday." She replaced the receiver in its cradle.

"Who was that?" Leon asked.

Jill looked over at him, smiling softly at seeing him sitting with Chris. "Just a friend." She frowned as his question directed her thoughts elsewhere. "I asked him to see if he could find any dirt on this Meretrix guy."

Leon's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? And what'd he find?"

"Nothing much." She frowned. "I told him to keep looking," she continued, sitting in a chair across from the brothers. "Apparently his record is perfect. Ever since he became the head of security for the Prime Minister about 3 years ago, no one's been able to get near the guy- which might be why he's taking the murder so hard."

Leon snorted, sounding remarkably like T-chan when he did so. "Did your friend have anything else to say?"

"Not much. Before he received citizenship in Guyana about 5 years ago there's not a lot on what he was up to, but apparently Meretrix was born in Louisiana and also lived there after he retired from the CIA. He was a widower with one daughter, Evelyn. No information on why he left the country."

"Retired?" Leon frowned. "He doesn't look that old."

Jill shook her head. "He was CIA," she repeated. "Deep undercover agent. He was only 35 when he retired. They wanted to give him a nice, safe desk job, but he wanted out and they figured they owed it to him. Apparently he's responsible for there not being an all out major war in South America for the past 20 years."

"So he moved down there to enjoy the spoils of his hard work?"

Jill shrugged. "So it would appear." She looked pointedly at Leon. "How was your day?" she asked flippantly.

He glared at her, but his expression softened as he leaned back and sighed. "I dunno. Did you talk to the bug man?"

She frowned, confused by this apparent non sequitur. "What? Who's that?"

He shook his head. "You first. If you didn't talk to him, what's the popular theory of how this important guy died?"

"The coroner said the cause of death was asphyxiation. Apparently the muscles of the chest and abdomen tightened to a degree that the lungs just stopped working." She hesitated. "They threw out the choking on ladybugs theory. It was caused by a lethal dose of toxin, similar to that found in spiders."

Leon rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised. I still don't get why you people are so convinced it was D. Bugs aren't exactly his style. It's not like the guy was mauled by a tiger or a man eating bird or something."

Jill sighed and hurriedly asked her partner a question in an effort to distract him from that topic. "What did the bug man say?"

"He agreed with me that the department is full of morons and showed me some smashed bugs," he shot back facetiously.

She glared at him, but her voice betrayed a feeling of helplessness that she knew he also felt. "Leon, we can't interfere with an international officer's investigation when he has FBI sanction."

Leon stood, turning away and glaring moodily at nothing as he jammed his hands in his pockets. "Fucker," he muttered under his breath, a mental image of Meretrix called up unbidden before his eyes. He frowned. He didn't care what Jill said- the man did not look as old as he, by all rights, should. Worn yes, but old no. And dammit, there was something wrong with that man...

The phone rang again, and Leon dove for it. Glancing out the front windows of the shop as he reached for the receiver, he realized that it had gotten late- the sun was low in the sky, peeking out from between buildings to reflect its light off the glass. "What?" he answered the phone brusquely.

There was a pause. "Ah... um... Detective?" a voice said, hesitantly.

"Thomas? That you??" Leon leaned forward intently, his hand gripping the edge of the table that held the phone.

"Ah yes! Detective, I know it's really rather early to have any definite information, and I don't want you to think that it's not because I haven't been thorough in my research, but the thing is that I met Dr. Uhraknee coming in just as I began my work in the lab, and you see it's her specialty..."
"Whoa!" Leon cut into the ramble. "What is it? What do you have?"

There was a momentary pause. "If you will remember, I mentioned that the damselfly that you allowed me to remove from the scene where we met was� abnormal in some way?"

"Yeah, yeah," Leon said impatiently. "What about it?"

"Dr. Uhraknee happened to see the specimen as I was dissecting it. Or rather, she saw the portion of the creature I was working with- you see I had removed the body, since it was only the head I was truly interested in at the moment- and upon seeing the head under the microscope she asked why I had taken her Latrodectus and was dissecting it. I let her know it was not a Latrodectus at all, but rather an Odonata zygoptera, obviously, but of course she insisted..."

"Thomas, dammit!!" Leon ran a shaking hand through his hair. "What did you find?"

There was another pause. Thomas cleared his throat. "Well." He paused a moment, the telephone line thick with tension. "Dr. Uhraknee identified the abnormal portion of the damselfly as being a section of the mouth of a Latrodectus hesperus, that is a Black Widow spider. The two insects had been... crossbred somehow."

After his nervous rambling introduction, Thomas dropped that information with such directness that Leon almost missed it. He turned and looked at Jill, who was regarding him with mild amusement. "A Black Widow, huh?" he said, and suddenly Jill's expression switched to one of rapt interest.

"Yes! Actually, while the Black Widow is the most poisonous spider occurring naturally in North America, its bite is generally not fatal to humans since such a small amount of venom is injected. However, it would appear that because of the strange... conditions surrounding this particular specimen and the fact that this spider was not in fact an actual spider, the dosage was fatal."

Leon swallowed. "Thomas, how could someone make it like that? Make a damselfly that was really a spider and make it bite someone? A specific someone?"

"Oh, it would have to be a master geneticist Detective, to create such a creature. It's something I don't think even I could do, or anyone I work with. But... I can't imagine why anyone would want to do such a thing!" There was real sorrow in his voice on the last sentence, almost a question as he begged silent deities for the answers to the unknown. "It's just... cruel to the creatures. To force such a change on both of them, turning them into something that is completely different from their intended form," he continued, aghast. "I can't imagine..." He trailed off, and Leon had to fight off the urge to express his sympathy. He frowned; it was like the damn bug was a family pet that had been brutally tortured or something. He heard Thomas sniffle as he wiped his nose before he continued. "But in answer to your other question Detective, there is no way the bug could be in any way taught to bite a specific person. There isn't enough brain mass available for that type of conditioning. It would have to be luck, which is almost unthinkable given the amount of preparation that went into creating this creature, or it would have to be a limiting of options. That is, the man who was bitten would have to be one of only a few people in the room, or, to get the best odds that the correct person would be bitten, the only one in the room where the creature was released."

"Hey Thomas, thanks a lot. For everything," he said absently, his mind already turning over the possibilities this information provided. The killer would have to have been someone the victim trusted, to have access to him when he was alone, to know he would be alone... He slowly hung up the phone and turned to Jill. As he opened his mouth the phone rang again. Slightly annoyed, Leon turned to answer it.

"Jill?" the smooth, masculine voice on the other end said.

Leon frowned at the phone. "Here," he said, shoving it at his partner.

She rolled her eyes. Taking the phone she spoke to the man. "Andrew, hi again! Did you find something else?" She frowned thoughtfully as she listened. "Thanks," she said simply before hanging up again.

"What?" Leon demanded impatiently.

"Andrew was trying to track down Meretrix's daughter," she reported succinctly, seeing Leon's mood. "But she disappeared off everyone's radar about 6 years ago, along with Meretrix's extremely hefty pension. What he found out was that apparently Adam Meretrix died at the same time."

Leon's eyes focused intently on her. "How apparent was this 'apparently'?"

"Very. Andrew's source, who is 100 percent trustworthy, says that he actually saw Meretrix take 5 shots to the chest, courtesy of his daughter, and was also present when EMS pronounced him dead at the scene."

"She killed him?" Leon frowned. "Then who's..." Abruptly he went still and his eyes opened wide; he felt like electricity was running through his mind as several things seemed to fall neatly into place. "Damsel," Leon whispered. He stood and turned toward the door. Jill called after him, but he didn't even pause. He was out the door, in his car, and burning rubber to the station before the door closed behind him.

-o-o-o-o-

D saw the hand coming but only rolled with the blow, turning his head to spit blood on the floor before turning back around to level a glare at Meretrix.

"You don't remember," the man snarled, grabbing D by the throat and shoving him back against the wall. There was a strange light in his eyes, a fire that added animation to his cadaverous form. "And after I planned it out so meticulously." On each syllable of the last word he tightened his hand. "So very meticulously," he whispered. "Just for you. And you can't remember me." He released D suddenly backing away in dejection. "You don't remember. I can see it in your eyes. You don't recognize me. I really thought you would. Do you forget all those you betray so quickly?" He picked up one of the chairs from where it stood beside the empty place that marked where the table had been and threw the piece of furniture at D's head. "Why don't you remember me?!" he demanded wildly as the chair broke into pieces against the wall, D ducking to the side and eyeing the agent warily.

"Perhaps because I wish not to," D replied smoothly, evading another flying chair as he stared at the man and racked his brain with the same question. He remembered everyone; every face that entered his shop. All of them... Why couldn't he remember this man?!? D suddenly found his backward motion checked as he came up hard against the door. His eyes narrowed, he felt for the handle only to find that pulling at it refused to open the locked door.

"And after all we went through too." Meretrix came up and leaned toward D, his hands to either side of the Count's head as their eyes met, each searching the other's. "After everything," the crazed agent continued, his voice soft and hissing. "After what you told me." He leaned forward, so close his breath mingled with D's, then suddenly leaned back and backhanded the Count so hard he fell to the floor. "After what you told me!!" He screamed the words this time as D glared up at him, the force of his own conflicted emotions driving the agent back a few steps. "I believed you!! I believed what you told me!!" Meretrix's angry cries slowly became more frantic. D felt his own anger growing, fed by his impatience and a growing sense of claustrophobic frustration, as he pushed himself to his feet. "You told me it would get better." Meretrix's voice was pleading now, desperate, as he stood with his head hanging, looking down at his clenched fists. "You told me it would stop hurting if I did what you said. But it never did... it never did..."

And suddenly D remembered, his mismatched eyes flying open wide, all expression fleeing from his face. "Evelyn," he said quietly in final recognition.

Meretrix went still, and then looked up, his eyes grown suddenly cold, hard, the mad light settling. "Ah. You remember me." He stood slowly, controlled, and raised a hand to D's face as D just stood there and stared at him, stunned.

The door shuddered under a sudden impact, and a frantic, familiar voice bellowed, "D!!"

-o-o-o-o-

Leon slammed into the door again, twisting the handle down as far as it would go as he tried to force the lock. Throwing his weight against it a third time worked, and the door gave under his assault. He shoved it open and entered the room. He saw Meretrix, almost in the center of the room, and searched out D, finding him standing halfway hidden behind the opened door. He went to the Count and placed a hand on his shoulder lightly. "D," he said softly, affirmingly.

D started, shifting his eyes suddenly to Leon before returning his gaze to Meretrix. Leon frowned, noting the empty look on D's face.

"Detective Orcot," Meretrix said, his voice low, a quiet hiss. "I was under the impression that you were on suspension."

"Fuck you," Leon shot back, but he felt D beside him go still.

Meretrix grinned, slowly pulling thin lips back to expose prominent teeth. "Yes, why don't you?"

Leon glared at him, not understanding exactly what he meant. He moved between Meretrix and D, raised a hand, and pointed it, in the absence of a gun, threateningly at Meretrix. "You're Evelyn Meretrix," he said easily as the agent flinched.

D flinched too, looking up at the detective in surprise. "Leon..."

Leon kept a wary stare directed at Meretrix, but smiled darkly. "Maybe I'm not used to thinking about things before I act, but that doesn't mean I can't. And this fucker's been dropping hints all over the place."

Meretrix smirked. "So you caught them did you? I suppose it is my misfortune that the one intelligent man on the police force took a personal interest in this case."

Leon glared at him. "Try to not lay it on so thick next time, bitch- the spider was overdoing it. You know, most girls don�t spend daddy's money on a sex change operation after they kill him. And I gotta wonder what you had against the Prime Minister. You deliberately worked for him so that you would have a chance to kill him. Why?"

Meretrix stiffened, his expression hateful.

D placed a hand on Leon's arm. "Evelyn Meretrix," he said, his voice flat, "was raped by a man who worked with her father." Comprehension dawned on Leon's face, fading into tentative compassion. D continued, affirming what Leon had already deduced. "At that time the man was a lower level politician, but he soon rose to the office of Prime Minister. When it happened, her father came to my shop in search of a companion to keep his daughter company." He paused, his gaze drifting over to Meretrix. "It wasn't I who promised you those things, Evelyn." Leon blinked in confusion at the transition to what was apparently a continuation of a previous conversation but he remained silent. "It was Kala who did." D's gaze softened slightly. "She meant you no harm. She chose to go with you because she felt that you shared a common pain. She promised you that that pain would leave you, and it would have lessened if you would have listened to her." His face hardened suddenly. "But you did not."
Meretrix laughed, a giggly sound the bubbled up out of his chest. He moved, stepping forward with a sudden jerk that made Leon's finger twitch longingly for his gun. "Listen to her? She was the first of the liars, and the first one I punished. I killed that sniveling bitch. Killed her good and quick too, no lingering pain. None..." The expression on his face was wistful, envious.

Leon's hands curled into fists at this, the last shreds of sympathy he felt for Evelyn drifting away at this declaration. "Bastard," he murmured, almost reflexively.

Meretrix turned contemptuous eyes on Leon. "Judgmental aren't we now?" He ducked down quickly and picked up a leg of a chair which lay broken on the floor, rushing at Leon and bringing it up in a strike at the detective. "You think you understand!?" Meretrix hissed at him as Leon grabbed at the piece of wood in an effort to block the blow. "Everything I have done in my life I have done to get my revenge upon those who have wronged me!"

Before he finished speaking, D came forward and took hold of Meretrix's arm, pulling him roughly away from Leon. But as Meretrix's face came close to his, the agent's words seemed to penetrate D's brain and he gasped as he stared at the face of this human driven beyond madness by revenge. Revenge... He was familiar with that as a reason for existing. Most familiar... Yet it had never consumed him as it had Evelyn, so much so that she did not in the slightest resemble the scared, sweet child he had know those long years ago, in either body or spirit. Was his father consumed this way, D wondered; was his hatred so intense that it devoured him? Or was it a weakness of the humans to be so consumed by their desires- a weakness brought on by the fact that they did not deserve to be anywhere but on the receiving end of vengeance? D blinked suddenly, and realized he had been staring into Meretrix�s eyes and the agent was staring back at him.

"You," Meretrix whispered hatefully, held mesmerized by the soft gold of D's right eye. "With that damn face," he snarled, loathing making his voice thick. "You're the last one. My revenge..." He tried to raise his hand, but let it drop again.

D's eyes narrowed. That Evelyn held her father responsible for her rape was not a surprise, but D felt that he was the wronged party in his relationship with the Meretrix family. "Was Kala the first then?" He turned away suddenly, releasing his hold on the agent's arm. "While vengeance is a noble goal, you are unworthy to pursue it." D looked up, meeting Leon's eyes; he had forgotten that the detective had been present. "Detective
Orcot," he said softly. "I will leave him to your justice."

Leon looked surprised but nodded. As D stepped to the door, Leon glanced back at Meretrix, noticing that the man hadn't moved at all, still staring directly ahead with such intense hatred it was as if D was still standing there. "He's not gonna leave?"

D glanced back, his right eye seeming to glow from behind the curtain of hair that fell before it. "He will not move until someone touches him." Leon nodded, then followed D as they left the room.

Making his way toward the exit of the building, D could not wait to leave this place. Nothing against buildings, or this one in particular, but they were almost devoid of life and now, after the rather long and trying day he'd had, he wanted nothing other than to go where there was life in abundance- back to the shop, or, if not there, a park or large open area where there was grass and birds... But, having come this far within the law he had to see it out, so when Leon's boss stepped into his path D stopped, smiling politely.

The Chief looked at him worriedly. "Are you alright Count?"

Only then, as he raised a hand to the side of his face, did D recall that Meretrix had hit him. Several times in fact... He smiled. "Yes, I am fine." He paused, before continuing hopefully, "There is nothing else?"
The Chief shook his head. "No, you can go. And I'm very sorry about what happened. Jill called, Leon, and she told us about how Agent Meretrix died several years ago. Count, let me say again, I'm extremely sorry about this..."
D held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Please sir, I hold no fault with you. Agent Meretrix fooled us all." He paused and glanced at Leon from the corner of his eye. Well, almost all of us...

Leon wasn't looking at him, but was rather glaring aggressively at his boss. "And about the murder?" he demanded.

D held back a sigh. Please, not more questions... not right now...

The Chief shook his head. "Your alibi is sufficient. And Jill implied that Meretrix might be responsible, so we�ll have to throw out any work he did on the case and start over."

Leon nodded to that, and D looked at him, his eyes widening in surprise. Alibi? But the way was clear, so D didn't stop to ask questions and went out into the air. Once out the door he stopped in surprise; Leon's car was parked haphazardly, half covering the sidewalk, the pedestrians attempting to use the walkway voicing their annoyance loudly. D smiled softly as Leon started yelling back at them as the pair made their way toward the car. Once seated inside, Leon glanced over at D as if to ask him where he wanted to go.

D lay back against the seat for a moment, a strange feeling coming over him. He reached out and touched Leon's arm, running his hand over the detective's skin. Maybe... Maybe he didn't need the grass and the birds. Maybe this would do instead, for now... "Leon," he said softly, "what did he mean 'your alibi'?"

Leon blushed slightly, turning away gruffly. "I told him I was with you all night, so you couldn't have killed that guy," he said simply. "That's all."

"That's all?" D glanced over at the detective, examining him from under his lashes. He knew that in this culture, as in so many, it was a deep taboo for a man to freely admit to spending intimate time with another man. When Meretrix had asked him where he was last night he'd replied simply that he'd been at the shop; where and how Leon spent his time were Leon's to tell... But D felt inexplicably happy for some reason. He shook his head; it was inane, but he couldn't help it.

"That's all," Leon confirmed, throwing the vehicle into drive and pealing out of his impromptu parking spot.

-o-o-o-o-

As D pushed open the door of the pet shop the animals greeted him, Pon-chan coming over first to express her worry. Jill and Chris were also pleased to see him, but after he assured them that he was quite fine, thank you for your concern, he said he was extremely tired and would be retiring early. Jill commented on his stressful day and that it wasn't a surprise that he'd be tired, and Chris only wished him a disappointed goodnight; it had been an amazingly uneventful day for Chris, since everyone had been more concerned with other things and hadn't had time to spend with him, but he understood that grown ups were that way sometimes and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

Once he had escaped to his room, D felt his weariness settle on him more fully. Small furry bodies gathered around his feet, and he lowered himself to sit among them, letting his hands bury themselves in thick fur as he inhaled deeply the earthy aroma of the animals. The need to wash the stench of the day from his body roused him and sent him to the bathroom. Filling the tub with water, he fell into its warm, scented embrace and relaxed completely.

Sleep was stealing over him when D sensed something approaching his face. Opening his eyes to slits, he looked up to see a shirtless Leon crouched beside him, smiling warmly; his hand reached forward to touch against the soft skin of D's face and trace down the curve of his cheek. He pushed D's hair out of his face. "You know, I never did get my breakfast," he teased, mock pouting as he let his fingers trail down further, along D's neck and over his collarbone. D's eyes flashed; he pulled a hand from the water and raised it to cup Leon's cheek, his thumb rubbing gently over the man's lips before pressing against them, seeking entry. Leon parted his lips, drawing D's thumb between them, his tongue circling and probing it suggestively. D moaned softly, his eyes flashing as he shoved up out of the water and claimed Leon's mouth fiercely, his hands drifting back to comb through the detective's hair. Leon kissed him back hungrily, lifting D bodily from the tub and carrying him to the bed in the other room.

Reaching the bed, Leon paused and lowered D's still dripping body down onto the soft surface. He leaned back and let his eyes take in his lover's body; his hand followed the path of his eyes, trailing over the moist, pale skin of D's legs, moving up and over to slip between them, D spreading his legs slightly, inviting Leon's caress as the detective let experienced fingers trail over familiar flesh. His hand moved upward still, slipping over the smooth planes of D's stomach, following the line of his pectoral muscle up across his chest to his collarbone, then up his neck and along the curve of his jaw to cup his chin, lifting his face so that their eyes met. Leon lost himself in those eyes.

He didn't know what it was about D that drew him so irresistibly. He'd been with others- women and, though it had been long ago in college, men. He'd been with them enough to know that they didn't satisfy him; none of them had. Physical intimacy left him wanting more and even emotional intimacy had always felt fake, as if he was looking for something, for someone, in particular that he couldn't find... And after awhile he'd stopped looking. But D... D was more than a man or a woman- hell, half the time Leon was convinced that he wasn't even human at all- and though, looking back, their relationship seemed to have sprung from a series of mistakes, and though it seemed wrong on some level that Leon wasn't prepared to examine just yet, everything about being here, now, about being with D, felt right in a way that nothing ever had.

D let his arms wrap loosely around Leon's waist, his fingers intertwining behind Leon's back as he leaned against the detective's warm body. He sighed deeply, his eyes drifting shut as he relaxed completely. Leon brought his arms up and wrapped them loosely around D's shoulders while the Count turned his face against Leon's bare chest, letting his lips press against the other man's skin teasingly.

Laughing softly, Leon pushed D away from himself and pushed him down on the bed. He slid up on the bed, next to D, pressing their bodies together,
pulling a blanket over them. His face was hidden against the back of D's neck, until the
slighter man rolled over and, taking Leon's head in his hands, pulled him closer.

Leon sighed softly in contentment as his eyes closed. His arms tucked D's body closer against his own, and he simply held him. Each drew comfort from the presence of the other as the weariness of the day overtook them and sleep claimed them.

-o-o-o-o-

D was sleeping deeply when Pon-chan came to him. She urged him awake, though it was her
tense energy that pulled him from slumber more than anything else. Pausing to brush a soft kiss on Leon's temple, D eased out of the man's embrace and slipped from the bed. Pulling his robe around him, he followed Pon-chan out into the shop.

The reason for her worry was not readily apparently, but when D looked over at his desk he felt a sharp anxiety jump within him as well. There was a letter lying there, addressed in an unmistakable, flowing hand. And in case he had somehow forgotten the hand that wrote it, the envelope was addressed simply My Son.

D stared at the letter for a long time, before he forced himself to walk over to the desk and sit down at it. He stared at the letter again, and it suddenly seemed to move of its own volition. A second look revealed that was only a June bug crawling out from underneath the paper. D narrowed his eyes; the bug flicked its wings and rose to join with a small swarm of others of its kind and exited the shop. Unable to put it off any longer, D lifted the envelope and, opening it, withdrew the note inside.

Such fragile creatures, aren't they, these humans? So eager to believe in something... So easily molded. And how easily they kill their own when they feel they�ve been wronged.
I have noticed that you did not take my advice. A pity... Regardless, we shall have the opportunity to discuss the matter thoroughly as I shall soon be in town. I look forward to seeing you again my son.

Till then.
D let the paper fall from his fingers, noticing absently that they were shaking. He felt numb. His father... D now understood why Evelyn had hated him. His father had been the one responsible for Evelyn's transformation- the one who had given her the means to effect revenge on the man who had raped her. It had been his father she had seen when she cursed his face; she'd thought they were the same being, or one in purpose at any rate. D shook his head, lowering it to rub his temples with still trembling fingers. Father... why must I always clean up your messes?!

Pon-chan crouched at his feet worriedly and D reached down to reassure her. As he did so he noticed a June bug crawling across the edge of the desk, left behind by its companions. Pon-chan looked at it distastefully. "They came with the letter," she said, adding with an apprehensive look at D, "Q-chan brought it."
D flinched in surprise. Q-chan? Admittedly he knew very little about the unusual creature, other than he had been a gift from his grandfather, but he did not like the thought that Q-chan was well acquainted with his father. He felt... betrayed in a way, to find the one he'd considered his most intimate companion delivering his much disliked father's mail. This thought distracted him from the presence of the insect, and it wasn't till he rose to return to the bedroom that he looked sharply at the bug again. His father had implied that he knew about D's relationship with Leon, but the presence of the insect seemed to suggest that he knew more- for example, how amazingly close D was to sacrificing the cause in favor of his relationship with the human, as well as how close he had already come to doing so. D took a deep breath. Dammit, he did not want to think about this. He closed his eyes and leaned against the doorframe.

He would have been surprised when he felt Leon's hand on his arm, but he'd felt the man approach him. "D?" Leon asked softly, his voice barely a whisper in the quietude of the sleeping shop. "What's wrong?"

D opened his eyes and smiled softly at Leon. "I'm sorry I woke you."

Leon scowled and shrugged, a hand coming up to pull D closer to him. "It's cold in there without you," he said, echoing what he'd said earlier that day. D raised his own hands to cup them around Leon's face. "What's wrong?" the detective asked.

D shook his head and, sighing deeply, leaned against Leon. "I don't want to think about it tonight."

Leon nodded and pulled D back to the bed, pushing him gently down on the soft surface. "I have a cure for thinking," he said with a grin as he kissed D fiercely, eagerly, releasing
the other man's lips to kiss his way hungrily down D's body. D gasped in pleasure, his hands automatically burying themselves in Leon's hair, as his legs parted welcoming, allowing Leon's body to press closer. The man's mouth reached its destination, taking the length of D's cock in
his mouth. D felt his body responding to Leon's ministrations and he eagerly embraced not only the pleasure of Leon's closeness but the welcome thoughtlessness that came as he surrendered his body to passion.

Leon felt the flesh in between his teeth growing hard as he teased at it with his tongue, D gasping and moaning above him. He grinned; crouching down further next to the bed where D sat on the edge of it, he hooked D's legs over his shoulders, providing himself with better access to the sensitive areas of his lover's body. He let the hardened flesh of D's cock slide from his mouth as his tongue darted out to taste the flesh beneath it, probing at the sac there, mouthing over
it as D fell back against the bed, his back arching as he groaned with desire.

D slid back further on the bed, attempting to get enough purchase to push his legs up and further apart, and Leon took the opportunity to let his tongue trace back along the line of skin that led to D's opening. He let his tongue circle the opening before slipping inside of it; he felt D's body shiver, he heard his name in the broken moan that shuddered through D's body, and Leon made a small sound of pleasure himself- D was amazing. That Leon could make him feel this way was amazing also, and it gave Leon such pleasure to know that D relaxed around him, didn't hold anything back. He'd have to have been blind not to notice that D had certain reservations about their relationship... but if D didn't want to think about that tonight, Leon wasn't going to either. He shifted his attention back to D's cock, teasing the twitching flesh to greater heights of arousal as he sucked at it fiercely. Slipping a finger into D's opening, Leon doubled his pleasurable assault.

Almost overwhelmed at the pleasure that filled him, D surrendered completely to his body. He writhed and moaned, his hands twisted desperately in the sheets above his head as his long nails tore them to shreds. He could feel a tension building in him, a pooling of desire in the base of his stomach that threatened to devour him as it grew, as he thrust up against the delicious warmth of Leon's mouth, his hips snapping without conscious thought on his part, his body given over to the fire in his blood, the need that licked through his bones...

And with one final gasped moan, as the warmth of his essence shot down Leon's throat, all his muscles tensed for a moment before he sagged back against the bed, utterly weary. Leon moved; rising from his position he licked his lips before kissing his way unhurriedly up D's body until he lay beside his lover. He rested his chin on D's shoulder, his face turned against D's neck as he inhaled softly. D raised a hand and let it fall against Leon's hair, stroking through the golden strands slowly. He turned to press his lips softly against the forehead of his bedmate before he succumbed to the welcome emptiness of sleep.

-o-o-o-o-

Pet Catalog:
- Ladybugs- Japanese ladybugs are not poisonous. They were introduced to America to control aphid populations, but in the winter they tend to congregate inside people's houses... which is really annoying. Particularly cause they smell like ass when you smash them.
  I'm not making that up- I experience it first hand whenever I visit my aunt
  for Christmas.
- Damselfly-
  Damselflies look pretty much like dragonflies but are slightly smaller and
  weaker, and the wings are held parallel to the body when the insect is at
  rest, rather than perpendicular as is the case with dragonflies. Like dragonflies, the only danger they pose is flying in your eye when you're jet skiing.
- Black Widow- Black widow spiders are famous for being poisonous and for eating the male after mating. These are both rather unfair reputations, since the spiders are only very rarely deadly to humans and eating the male is more the exception than the rule. I couldn't really find any information on how exactly they kill people, since it happens so rarely, so that part it pretty much made up.
- June bug- June bugs are really annoying and gross (personal opinion...).
  They are seen in the early summer- usually June, hence the name, but we
  tend to get them earlier than that where I live. Also, June is a popular yaoi magazine in Japan (which was supposed to be the tie in... I'm not sure
  that worked).
  
  Other notes:
- Guyana- A country in northern South America, next to Venezuela. Any info I have on it I got from the
  CIA World Factbook, but mostly I was looking for a little known country that I could make stuff up about.
- Names-
  -Thomas Ichneumon/Dr. Uhraknee: Ichneumon is a type of fly that might actually be a wasp (don�t ask� or yeah
  ask, but don't ask me- go ask an actual entomologist�) and is a Greek word that means, literally, �tracker.� Uhraknee is the pronunciation guide spelling of Arachne, who in Greek myth was the first spider.
  
  -Adam/Evelyn Meretrix: Heh. Adam and Eve? Are the same person!! Anyway� I don�t actually know anything about genes or sex operations, except what I�ve heard randomly and seen on
  Law & Order so� whatever. I picked the last name Meretrix because I wanted something that sounded French-ish� It�s actually Latin, from �merere� which means �to earn, deserve.� Also, �meretrix� specifically means �prostitute,� which I thought was a good name for a villain, but the character ended up changing a lot since first named.
-o-O-o-
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Define Arc

"This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well." -- Francis Bacon - "Damsel" -

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"This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green,

which otherwise would heal and do well." -- Francis Bacon

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"Damsel"

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