Fake Fan Fiction / Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ With Sugar on Top ❯ Cracked ( Chapter 14 )

{Anything encased in these symbols means it was said in Chinese, I don't speak Chinese} (I am however taking courses in Japanese, what a fascinating language)

With Sugar on Top 13

D exited his Green house carrying a covered box. He looked over at Sly and smiled. He had thought long and hard on the perfect plant for the gentleman. "May I ask…How you came here for flowers and not to a florist shop?"

"I was in the neighborhood, saw the shop and figured it might be worth a visit, if you did not have what I needed, I would go somewhere else," Sly looked D over again. "You are something else, you know that? So hot, I could easily forget that you were not a girl." D sat down his covered box and smiled his most chilling smile. Sly sat back on the couch as far from D as he could get. That look on D's face, Sly thought, was predatory.

"I'm not available, but I do have exactly what you need." D said and indicated the box on the table. "Have you ever seen an Iris, Mr. Sly?" Sly nodded and tried to shake the niggling fear that tried to crawl up his spine. "This is a very special plant, you can not deliver it during the day, as a matter of fact it is not even in bloom yet. You have to take it home and let it sit in the sun for two hours, then you have to give it three drops of jasmine oil, I will supply that, then after an hour of being covered, you should give it four drops of hydrochloric acid, I will supply that as well. All the while, you must burn the incense that I will give you."

"Sounds like a lot of work for a plant." Sly commented, he peeked underneath the cloth covering and saw what looked like a clay pot of dirt.

"But the result of your labors will be greatly rewarded. This is a very rare species of Iris. Its scent is said to show the person who has smelled it what lies in their heart. Every time your friends come near the flower they will see their precious daughter." D's voice was as smooth as freshly melted caramel. He picked up a cup of tea and took a sip. "All I ask is that you sign this contract agreeing to follow the directions I have given you and to deliver the plant late tonight, if you can."

"What do you mean if I can?" Sly asked not sure he liked the doubt in the Count's voice.

"Most people find it a terrible loss to give up what they see when they look at this particular flower, it is the source of their greatest triumph, or their most horrifying defeat, it all depends on the person; if they are strong enough." D said as he looked over Sly, "are you strong enough?"

"I'm strong enough, is your boyfriend strong enough?" Sly asked, determined to know if D was telling the truth about himself. Was there a man in his life?

"You will find that a human's strengths are often surprising, even to themselves. The same can be said of their weaknesses, sign here please." With that cryptic remark D laid a piece of paper on the table. Sly wordlessly signed the document and took his copy of the contract; he gathered up his plant and prepared to leave.

Laughter could be heard on the stairs. D smiled, the children must be returning for their lunch. Sly stood and nearly tumbled over a wild tangle of happy breathless children and animals. He looked twice at Carol, before he left the shop. D glowered after him, having witnessed his look at the young girl. {"I will see you in hell first."} D muttered. Q-Chan quipped at him and landed on his shoulder. D patted the little fur ball and smiled as he wandered off to prepare lunch.

Break

Leon looked over the case file of Sylvester Reams and grimaced anew at the accounts of his numerous crimes. "This guy is a real piece of work." He commented to Ryo who looked over and nodded. "The witnesses said, she had lunch with a group of friends and then went home to study with her current boyfriend, they studied for a couple of hours and then he went home at around midnight."

"His story clears through," Jill said.

"Yeah," D nodded, he had been with her when she had questioned all the teens involved. "I talked to his parents, he was currently grounded for being late for curfew, and he made it home in fifteen minutes after leaving her house. We took DNA samples; he came up negative, that's how we got Sylvester."

"I'm not seeing a connection between Mr. Reams and Heather Wheeler." Ryo mused. "How did they meet? It almost seems as if he just watched her and picked her at random from any number of girls, it could have been anyone." Ryo felt chilled as he looked at the pictures of Heather Wheeler when she was alive, a bright smiling teen with the world unfolding before her, Ryo shuddered as he noted how easy it would be to replace Heather's picture, with Carol. "We've got to find this guy, find him and lock him away."

Break

It was nearing sunset when D made his way into the Police Department. He smiled nodded at several officers as he passed. Randolph gave him a wide berth and watched in a mixture of dislike and disbelief. How could a civilian so brazenly wander the halls of the PD? D walked to Leon's office and paused as he noted that is was full to capacity. Every chair in the room was occupied by Leon, Dee, Ryo and Jill.

"Excuse me, detectives…" D said and stepped fully into the office. He smiled at surprised looks on their faces. "I have something that I think might benefit you with your case, I would have brought it this morning when I first received it, but I was detained with the children and the pets."

Leon stood and offered his chair to D. D smiled and sat, Leon placed his hands on D's shoulders and gently squeezed. "What do you have?"

"A young man entered my shop today and asked for a plant to give to his grieving friends who recently lost their daughter, after talking to him, I sold him my hybrid Iris." D said and produced a crisp piece of paper from his sleeve, how the paper was so strait was a question in all their heads, but went unanswered as they all looked at the signature. "S. R. Montgomery; now I am not too sure on American monograms, but would it be a correct assumption that Sly could be shortened from Sylvester?"

"S. R." Ryo said, "Sylvester Reams, I wonder where the Montgomery comes from." Ryo would have said more, but a commotion broke out in the lobby of the PD. With startled look, the gathered Detectives checked their guns and headed out of the room. The sight that greeted them was one that would stay in their memories for a very long time.

A young man with his brown hair wild and frazzled stood surrounded by cops. "MAKE IT STOP!" the young man screamed. "I confess I did it, I took the young Girl, I did it, now please... MAKE IT STOP." Sly screamed in terror and collapsed on the floor holding his head in his hands. "Make it stop," he pleaded and moaned. After a moment he looked up and screamed in terror again and began to pull his hair and slam his head against the floor. "Get out... make it stop...get out of my head...Damn Count...make it stop."

Leon gave a start, 'damn Count?' What Count… His Count? "Sylvester Reams?" Leon asked and stepped forward. "Make what stop?" Count D walked into the main lobby and paused as he got a good look at Sly's frazzled condition and smiled. Sly looked at the Count and screamed in terror. He lunged at D and found himself staring down the barrel of four cocked pistols. Leon, Ryo, Dee and Jill promptly stood in front of D. D placed his hand on Leon's shoulder and stepped around until he was directly in front of Sly.

"Only you can make it stop." Count D told him. "You see only what is in your heart; you see only what you deserve to see." Sly gripped the bottom of D's robe.

"How can I make it stop, I've tried, I opened a window for fresh air, I went for a walk, she followed me, they all followed me. The family from Mexico…The Wheeler girl, the Little man in prison, all of them, they follow me and yell at me, they look like they did after I was done with them. MAKE IT STOP….She's there right behind you." Sly broke down into sobs.

"Only you can stop it." D repeated. He turned to walk away, but Sly grabbed his waist and pressed a gun to his head.

"You there…" He pointed at Leon, "You seem to be the one more upset by this, he's yours isn't he?" Leon felt the unfamiliar pang of tears in his eyes as he looked at D standing perfectly still in the clutches of the mad-man. Leon nodded and fought the urge to reach out to D; in a hostage situation the key was to remain calm. Sly shoved D against a wall and backed away keeping the gun pointed at him. He looked at Leon and smiled. "I'm going to make this stop, one way or another. The only way to save him is to kill me."

Leon pointed his gun at Sly with no hesitation. Count D's laughter was chilling in the silence of the stunned PD. "A mistake has been made here." Count D said, he smiled when Sly turned to look at him. "You and Detective Orcot both seem to think I need him to save me. D lowered his eyes for a moment as if he were thinking. When he looked up his smirk was firmly in place. "Just last night," D sighed, "I had to tell him that I am not made of fine porcelain…" D looked directly at Leon, ignoring Sly and his gun. "I liked it." D licked his lips, "A lot." D dipped his head to the side and peered at him through a curtain of hair. Sly was momentarily bedazzled by how pretty D was.

Leon grew worried as D braced his arms; he had seen that pose before, on Christmas…"You assume that the detectives are a greater threat to you…That was a mistake." Sly's eyes widened as D's leg seemed to appear from nowhere and kick his gun up and away from D's face. With his gun pointed harmlessly to the side. D leaned over in to a hand stand. He wrapped his legs around Sly's shoulders and in moments Sly's feet left the ground. He was thrown head first into the wall that D had been standing against. D completed his gymnastics and ended up standing beside Leon.

"She's laughing…They're all laughing." Sly said in a small voice from his crumpled heap on the floor. "They're all applauding you." He said to the count. "I have to make it stop." Before any of the officers could get to him, Sly pointed the gun at his own head and fired.

Leon turned admiring eyes on Count D. "You Okay?" He asked he noted the tears brimming in D's eyes then falling unchecked down his face. "Baby what's wrong?" Leon asked in a panic. Jill, Ryo and Dee crowded around all asking after D's health. The other officers of the PD were busy cleaning up the remains in the corner. Leon pulled D into his arms… "What's wrong?" He asked again growing ever more worried.

D sniffled and held up his left hand index finger. "My nail," D sobbed, "I broke a nail." Leon held D back at arms length and made sure there were no other signs of injury before he pulled D in close again.

"A nail…Not made of porcelain my ass." Leon muttered before he turned D to face the hallway. He smacked D's bottom. "That's for worrying me, now please go wait in my office, we have a ton of paper work to get through." Leon said, he felt drained with the amount of relief he felt. He was surprised at the depth of his love for D. He thought his world would end if D had come to harm. Leon looked over at the stretcher that was taking Sly to the morgue. He laughed and turned to Jill, Ryo and Dee, "He just got himself into and out of a hostage situation, and he cries over a broken nail."

Dee shrugged with disinterest. "That's nice…what did he like a lot last night?"

Ryo punched him lightly. "None of your business." Ryo said and headed off to help with the mess.

Break

The small group decided to have dinner at D's place once he had confessed to making enough for them all. Ryo looked incredulous at D once he confessed that he had left Chris, Bikky and Carol alone in his Pet shop. "Any criminal could have come in a taken them." Dee said him; D smiled and shook his head. He placed a hand on Leon's shoulder and allowed Dee to enter the shop first. Ryo ran forward at Dee's shouting but was stopped by Count D who calmly entered the shop.

{Femto-Kun, T-Chan, Cujo let him go.}D looked at the little creatures and smiled at Ryo as they released Dee.

"I bet anyone who came in here with the intent to do harm would have ended up as a light snack." Leon said to Ryo as the children came running into the room. Ryo wondered why they were all soaking wet.

"We went swimming, D has an ocean in his back yard, it's so cool." Bikky exclaimed. "Philippe said he will teach me to dive as deep as he can, and Chris said he met a mermaid once… I want to stay here till school starts. Chris said he and Leon are moving in, T-Chan told him so." Bikky bounced around and managed to get Dee soaking wet.

Dee turned to Leon and the Count. "You're welcome to the little brat."

"Hey," Ryo said. "If, as you say, Leon and Chris are moving in, I'd say the Count has his hand royally full, broken nail and all. But I have no problem with you visiting this weekend, no longer, if the Count gives his permission."

"You broke another nail?" Chris asked concern in his voice as he hugged D.

"Oh no!" Carol exclaimed and hugged D as well. Jill nodded sympathetically and patted D's shoulder.

"Can I stay over?" Bikky asked the count who nodded and detangled himself from Carol and Chris. D headed off to finish the preparations for dinner.

Bikky whooped and bounced around. "I can stay till school starts," he cheered.

"No, only for this weekend," Ryo amended.

"School starts on Monday." Bikky said and laughed at the stunned looks on Leon, Ryo and Dee's faces.