Kracken
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning: Male/male sex, language, violence, graphic.
Bloody Moon
Ryo's face was impassive, but Dee saw a tightness around his mouth that let him know that his partner was not unaffected by the corpse stretched out on the metal forensics table. They were professionals, though, and they kept those kind of emotions in their box, keeping their voices almost bored and level as they asked the head examiner questions.
"No sign of rape?" Dee wondered as he stared into the face of the young girl and tried to put enough of the pieces of the case together for them to start looking for a killer.
"No," Jim replied. He was flipping through his papers while sitting nearby on the end of his desk, glasses perched low on his nose and a blonde ponytail trailing over one shoulder. "Straight slash across the throat and bruising on upper arms and shoulders. She also had scrapes and contusions, but those were most likely caused by her fall to the pavement after the attack."
"Cut and run," Dee said with a scowl. "I hate those. It's easier to get evidence if they stick around."
"She wasn't far from home," Ryo commented. "Only a block and a half. The crime scene was an access alley behind an abandoned building. It's possible that she was taking a shortcut."
"Or meeting someone," Dee interjected. "She was old enough to have a boyfriend or a drug dealer."
"She's clean," Jim corrected him. "You can rule out drugs."
Ryo straightened his tie and turned from the table. He said, as he reached out
and Jim handed him a copy of the report, "Thanks, Jim. Let us know when
the DNA samples come in."
"Sure thing. It'll be done, probably late tomorrow." Jim replied.
Dee followed Ryo out of forensics and climbed the old stairs up to the next level. When the smell of chemicals and death receded, he saw Ryo's shoulders relax a little. There was still a tightness in his expression, though. Dee knew that Ryo could watch autopsies all day long on adults, and eat dinner afterward, but he could never keep his professional detachment intact when children were involved in crimes.
"We'll get whoever did this," Dee promised, though he knew how empty those words were considering how few clues they had been able to gather from the crime scene.
"Solve a cut and run?" Ryo replied cynically, letting Dee know just how badly he was feeling about the case. "How likely is that?"
Dee grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him from walking any further. "If you're just going to give the hell up," he snarled angrily, "then I'll get someone else to do the case with me! Someone who doesn't have his head up his ass."
Ryo's expression showed his pain. He said dispiritedly, looking away, "I hate Halloween..." But then he pulled himself together visibly and his shoulder, under Dee's hand, grew hard with the effort.
"I know," Dee told him as he let him go, reassured that Ryo was getting himself under control as they began to walk again. "So do I.. Every Halloween, the kooks come out, thinking someone's given them a license to kill."
"Ten new cases, just today," Ryo agreed as they reached their desks and he touched the stack of files on his, "and that's just our case load."
"You know the drill," Dee told him and half expected an argument.
Ryo sat down heavily behind his desk and sorted the folders without comment. Dee sat behind his own desk and watched his lover's expression carefully. They both knew the girl wasn't going to be a priority case. Single incident, slim clues, unknown motive. Dee hated the budget cuts that were making them do this, playing shuffle with files as they tried to make the right decision about which murderer was likely to strike again. Being wrong was not an option, but human frailty made it a very good possibility.
Ryo sighed as the girl's file went down to sixth place in the stack. He was doing his job, but he didn't have to like it.
The phone rang. Dee answered it, wishing he could say something that would make the decision better for his lover. He knew there weren't any words, though. "Latener, here."
"Call on line two," the dispatcher told him. "It's a hot one."
Dee blinked and punched the line with a stab of his finger. "Detective Latener here. How can I help you?"
"Uh, hey, uh...." The voice on the other end sounded young, uncertain, and a bit scared. "It's like this... I'm the one that found the dead girl in the alley... I took somethin'... I didn't think anyone would care, she was dead, ya know?"
"Just go ahead and tell me what you took," Dee urged, keeping his voice calm. The person who had reported the body had done so anonymously. If the man panicked and hung up... "I know what it's like," Dee soothed, "It was just there and no body was paying attention... who can blame you?"
"Right!" the voice said, calmer now. "I took the time to call you guys, ya know? Didn't have to. You owe me!"
"'Course we do," Dee agreed. "but you found something else, right? Something important?"
"A note in her purse," the young voice confessed. "It's all full of creep shit! Figure the guy who killed her put it in there." The voice hesitated. "She didn't have no cash, man, got that? I didn't take nothin'!"
"I believe you," Dee replied quickly. "What little girl would have cash on her? The purse, though, with the note, can we have that? It's kind of important."
"Sure... Sure..., Uhm..." the young man considered. "I'll leave it in the dumpster behind Fry's liquor mart. That way you don't know me and I don't get mixed up with you cops, right?"
"Okay, we'll be there. You're doing a good thing, man," Dee told him before hanging up and jerking his coat off the back of his chair as he stood.
Ryo was rising as well, "Dee?"
Dee reached down, grabbed the girl's file, and slapped it on top of the pile.
"We have a note. Let's go!"
________________________
"You go,"Dee said as he turned and lit a cigarette.
Ryo scowled. "Why me?"
Standing beside the stinking dumpster, the smell was thick and heavy in the narrow alley. They had both watched a man dump a new load into it from a butcher shop just as they had arrived on the scene. The man, in his bloody apron, had glared at them, grunted, and walked away shaking his head, thinking what was anyone's guess.
"I just lit up," Dee said around his cigarette, "And these shoes are new."
"Did you really think that would work?" Ryo retorted in disgust.
"Guess it didn't," Dee snorted and let out a long puff of smoke in irritation.
"We'll flip for it. It's the only way to be fair," Ryo told him as he fished a quarter out of his pocket.
"I thought you were gun ho for solving this case?" Dee sighed as he tossed his cigarette butt on the ground and ground it under his heel. "Where's your dedication?"
"Where's yours?" Ryo shot back.
Dee held up hands as if to fend him off as he approached the dumpster. He grimaced as he saw something dark and red leaking from the bottom of the dumpster and pooling.. "Forget the coin toss. Whatever that guy threw in there, it was wet. If we don't hurry, that purse is going to be soaked. Come on."
Dee grabbed the metal edge of the dumpster and climbed in with a muttered, "Shit!" Ryo was right behind him. It was hard to ignore the new and rotting refuse they were sinking into. It was harder to ignore the flies. They both shuddered as they bent and dug with their bare hands, trying to find the purse buried underneath.
Dee let loose with a long string of curses while Ryo bit his bottom lip and tried not to inhale. When his hand finally closed on the purse, he didn't hesitate to throw himself over the edge of the dumpster to escape. Dee landed beside him and then strode over to a hose coiled near the back door of a store. He turned on the spigot and began hosing himself off.. He waved Ryo over and they both washed at the same time.
"Put that third on my 'hate that the most' list, " Dee bit out.
Ryo looked at him, green with nausea, "That's not first?"
Dee made the water spray his shoes hard. "You don't want to know what's first and second, trust me."
They were still disgustingly filthy, and Ryo kept the purse between thumb and forefinger to touch it as little as possible, despite it's sorry state. DNA experts were getting very good at finding even trace amounts of evidence, and he wasn't going to take the chance that he might contaminate it further.
Dee groaned. "This shit is going to get in my car!"
Ryo shrugged as he began walking out of the alley. "Put it on your expense report."
"Yeah, like Chief Pittbull is going to allow that!" Dee grumbled.
"We have to get back to the station with this, so deal with it and come on!," Ryo called back.
Dee fished for his cigarettes in his coat pocket and discovered that they
had fallen out... in the dumpster. He swore as he stalked after Ryo. "Might
as well add a pack of smokes to the car upholstery cleaning and the new shoes!"
_________________________________
"God ,you two stink!" Jim exclaimed as he took the purse with gloved hands and carried it to a metal examination table. That was saying something from a man who sometimes worked with decomposing bodies.
"Ryan!" Jim called and a red haired man came over to him.
Ryan wore a lab coat and looked very young. Blinking at Dee and Ryo through round glasses, he said, "This might take some time. I can call you when I'm done with my analysis."
Dee scowled and snapped, "It's a purse! Open it, so we can see if we were wading through rotting crap for a reason!"
Ryan looked startled, pushing his glasses up on his nose nervously as he looked to Jim for direction. Jim nodded but told him, "Do it, carefully. We don't need...pizza sauce and chicken guts getting on the evidence inside."
"That's good," Dee said as he moved closer to Ryan and looked over his shoulder as he worked. "Are you an expert on garbage stains, Jim?"
Jim snorted. "You have pepperoni on your pants and chicken skin hanging
from your elbow."
Dee started and almost shook his arm.
"Don't!" Ryan and Jim exclaimed at the same time, afraid of the contamination.
"I'll make you scrub this place down yourself, if you don't keep your garbage to yourself," Jim warned Dee.
"Dee!" Ryo warned as well as he came up on Ryan's other side.
"All right, All right!" Dee retorted and motioned with his chin at the purse. "Open it, dammit, so I can go take a shower!"
Ryan exchanged looks with Jim again and Jim motioned him to proceed. Very slowly and carefully, Ryan opened the purse. He grimaced almost at once as he pushed past something to get at a bloodied piece of paper. "Where did this person find a bat in New York City?"
Ryo's face grew tight. "A bat?" Dee knew what he was thinking. He was thinking the same thing, that they likely had another Halloween nut case on their hands.
Ryan unfolded the paper, keeping his gloved fingertips on the very edges. The writing was rough and the words were misspelled. He read, "One innocent will die each night, until the full of the moon, to honor my dark lord and master... I can't make that out..." he squinted. "It looks like nonsense..."
Ryo was scribbling the words in his notebook and he leaned in close to copy the nonsense words as well.
Ryan turned the paper to the strong overhead lamp. Blood almost obscured the signature. "So say I, Remal of Vale of the coven Treyu."
"Nut case," Dee confirmed with a sigh. "Come on, Ryo, let's get cleaned up and run some of those names through records."
"I'll send you the report when it's completed," Jim told him. "The guys should get a kick out of having to examine a bat."
"Anything?"
"No. You?"
"No, nothing."
Ryo sighed as he stretched. Joints cracked.
"Call it a night," Dee suggested. He closed the lid of his laptop and stared over it at Ryo.
They had brought their work home. Bicky had long ago gone to bed. The remains of dinner was still on the table and files were scattered on every flat surface. Ryo was on the couch, his laptop balanced on his knees as he sat, propped up on cushions. Intent on a scrolling list, his reply to Dee was a grunt.
Dee frowned at his handsome lover. Ryo's honey colored hair was hanging in his dark eyes and those eyes were bruised with weariness. He knew what drove Ryo. If their murderer intended to take a life every night, then stopping for something like sleep could give him the chance to do just that. The thought of facing another dead body, another child, was driving Ryo. Dee felt the same anxiety, but he knew how worthless a detective could be when he was sleep deprived. All the information in the world wouldn't help them if they couldn't think clearly enough to put the facts together correctly.
"I was so sure that he would have used at least part of his real name..." Ryo muttered.
"We aren't through looking yet," Dee sighed. "Give it a rest, Ryo. You know you have to."
Dee stood, stretched, and then reached over and took Ryo's hand. Ryo looked at him in annoyance. "Dee, I'm working on making a profile."
Dee closed the laptop lid. "Tell me what was on the page that you were just looking at."
Ryo opened his mouth and then closed it.
"Can't, can you?" Dee prodded.
Ryo scowled and tried to open the lid again. Dee resisted. He took the laptop away, one handed, and then leaned back to pull Ryo up and off the couch. He was slightly larger than Ryo. He used that to advantage.
"You are off duty, as of now," Dee told him seriously as he put the laptop down beside his own on the coffee table and continued to pull Ryo towards the bedroom. As they passed the door, Dee moved to close the door behind them, not releasing his hold. He locked it and then continued to pull Ryo towards the bed.
Ryo protested. "Dee, I can't! Is sex all you think about? This is a serious case-"
Dee pushed Ryo backward onto the bed. Ryo bounced and then blushed as Dee yanked off his shoes. His socks followed and then Dee's warm hands were on the zipper of his pants. Dee pulled them off with a flourish and tossed them over the back of a chair. "Going to help?" Dee wondered.
Ryo made a face of severe disapproval and then unbuttoned his shirt. Dee took that away from him as well and sent it flying to land over the top of Ryo's pants. He stood before Ryo then, dark and tousled as he undressed himself. Ryo watched him appreciatively, despite his conviction not to. Looking at Dee's washboard stomach and his lean hips, he was suddenly feeling more than a hot blush across his cheeks.
Dee smirked at the evidence of Ryo's interest, as he crawled onto the bed and hovered over him. Looking down into his lover's dark eyes, Dee leaned down and kissed him. Ryo sighed into the kiss, surrendering. He was confused when Dee suddenly turned from him, slipped under the blankets, and gave him his shoulder as he tried to get comfortable on his pillow.
Ryo floundered, "Dee? What-?"
"Sleep," Dee snorted. "I know you're a sex maniac and all that, but we have a lot of work to do in the morning. Save it, okay?"
Ryo stared at Dee's closed eyes in confusions and then he snorted. "I suppose you're right."
"I know I am," Dee retorted softly.
Ryo slipped under the covers as well and, after a moment's hesitation, he spooned
up behind Dee. Dee made a contented noise that almost sounded like a purr. Ryo
smiled into his shoulder and then let sleep take him away from murder, dead
bats, mysterious notes, and an almost crushing sense of urgency.
__________________________________
"What have you got?" Dee asked as he leaned back in his chair with his phone receiver to his ear. Ryo looked up from his desk with expectant eyebrows, listening.
Dee listened intently, nodded, grunted, frowned, scribbled notes, and then said, "I want a copy." He hung up the phone and stared at his notes.
"Dee?" Ryo prompted.
"Jim's report says that the inside of the purse contained some cat hairs, " he told Ryo, "human hairs, the victim's, probably from a hair brush, makeup residue, lead from a pencil... things you expect from a purse. The note had fingerprints, non of them in the database. The bat isn't common to New York State."
"That's something," Ryo said, thoughtfully. "The murderer didn't catch it. Where is it from?"
"South America," Dee told him and gave him a look, "and, no, it wasn't a vampire bat, or anything, just a common fruit bat... or common for South America."
Ryo frowned, "I wasn't going to ask that..."
"Why not?" Dee wondered. "Halloween, creepy murderer...."
Ryo looked disturbed. "Well, he wouldn't kill a bat like that."
"No?" Dee frowned, intrigued. "Why not?"
"I've never had an M.O.,"Ryo told him, "where they killed a vampire bat... Usually, they... sacrifice things to them..."
"There goes my lunch," Dee muttered as he scribbled a few more notes and then jammed it into his pocket."I won't ask, 'sacrifice what?' I'm more amazed that you've seen cases like this before, where they used them."
Ryo looked surprised. "You haven't?"
"I guess I don't operate in the same 'creepy case' circles that you do," Dee grunted as he gathered some things and picked up his car keys.
"We're detectives, in New York City," Ryo pointed out. "Weird, sick, and creepy goes with the territory."
"Bats, though, never had bats before..." Dee snorted and then tossed his coat over one shoulder. "Cats, toads, dogs,... no bats."
"Where are we going?" Ryo wondered as he put on his own coat.
"Where would you go to look for bats and people who've sold them?" Dee asked as he headed for the front doors.
"Exotic pet stores, sales records, experts," Ryo replied as he followed."Where are you going?"
"To get a newspaper and to do some checking," Dee told him with a grunt, as if none of Ryo's sources had occurred to him.
Confused, Ryo followed Dee out onto the street, repeating, "Newspaper?"
"Classifieds," Dee explained as he found a newspaper box, slipped in the money, and pulled out a paper. "In here, you can buy everything from a bag of peanuts to a Bengal tiger. Maybe someone's selling bats?"
"Imported South American fruit bats?" Ryo wondered skeptically.
"Maybe not listed that obviously," Dee amended, "but someone who can get you a tiger, could probably swing a special order of bats."
Ryo followed his reasoning despite himself, but he didn't feel it was a wise place to start. "It would be easier to go through import records, permits..."
"If I was the murderer, looking for bats, I wouldn't expect to find them at the local pet store," Dee said as he folded the newspaper under his arm and walked to their car. "I'd find another crazy person, like me, who was selling them." He tapped the newspaper with a finger. "This is the repository for crazy people who have crazy things to sell." He opened the car door for Ryo and ignored the man's scowl as he added, "Besides, it's easier on the feet and I can catch up with the sports scores too."
"Dee," Ryo said angrily as they both climbed into the car and Dee revved the engine.
Dee looked sideways at Ryo and blew air through his unruly bangs, "Look, I'm not making fun of the case. I'm not treating it like a lightweight. I have a hunch, okay? That kind of neighborhood, this kind of murder... I don't see anal retentive, go by the law, kind of guy, okay? I don't see sales receipts, permits, or a trail of paperwork. I see... a guy hugging the shadows, thinking he's a smart ass, living under the radar. He buys things off the fly, under the table, and without signing a damn thing."
Ryo raised eyebrows as he said, "All of that from a bat in a purse?"
"No," Dee told him, "The note."
"Oh." Ryo thought about the note, tried to come to the same conclusions, and couldn't. "So, why a conclusion like that?"
"Remal of Vale of the coven Treyu?" Dee snorted. "Geek. A Geek with a big fantasy and a need to feel like the big man. When you need to feel like that, odds are, you usually aren't."
Ryo shook his head, worried about Dee's train of thought. Dee reached out and squeezed his knee hard. "Give me a chance, okay?"
Ryo sighed, still not sure. "All right," he conceded.
Dee nodded, opened his paper, pulled out a pen, and began circling leads.
________________________________
"I don't see what's funny about bats," Dee grumbled at the heavy set man behind the counter of the exotic pet store.
The man reduced himself to a snicker, rubbed at a greasy goatee, and then managed a , "Sorry, Detective Latener. My ad in the paper was for iguanas, monkeys, and amazon parrots, not bats "
Ryo was off admiring a cage of parrots. He turned to look irritably at Dee, "This wasn't a good place to start."
"Why not?" Dee retorted and jabbed a finger at the shop owner. "He's been caught with contraband three times!"
"Monkeys, Detective," the owner told him, still snickering. "I don't work with bats."
Dee eyed the cage of small monkeys. "Maybe we should check some leg bands, Peters? Think all of these are legal?"
Peters lost his humor and he growled back, "That last fine almost broke the business."
"You should have done jail time," Dee shot back. "Mind telling me how you got out of that?"
Peters scowled. "My brother's a good lawyer."
"Think he can do it again?" Dee leaned close to the cage as if to check the monkeys. One jumped onto the bars and stared back at him. It had wide, brown eyes and prehensile tail. The tag on the cage read 'squirrel monkey'.
"Looks like love," Peters mocked.
Dee stepped away and glared at Ryo as Ryo stifled a laugh as well. Ryo joined him and they faced Peters together.
"Okay, Peters," Ryo told him. "We're not the monkey police, but we do have a murderer with a liking for bats. I know you like the extra cash from contraband, but I don't think you're going to keep quiet if you have the information we want. Am I right?" Ryo paused. Peters said nothing. Ryo added, "Our murderer kills children."
Peters face went hard and his eyes narrowed. "Then he's monkey food if I get a hold of him, but..., sorry guys, I don't sell bats."
Ryo persisted. "Do you know anyone who might?"
Peters stroked his goatee, thinking, and then he shrugged. "No call for it, as far as I know. I am a member of an exotics club, though. We get together once a month and talk about exotics; shipping, care, that sort of thing. I can give you the list of members..."
"Do they all own shops?" Dee wanted to know.
Peters shook his head. "Nope, some of them are just collectors."
Peters rummaged under the counter and then brought out a news flyer. He handed it to Dee.
"Members list is on the back." He told Dee.
"Time to play phone jockey again," Dee sighed as he pocketed the flyer.
They began to leave the shop. The squirrel monkey shook at the bars of it's cage, calling loudly. Peters laughed, "You're leaving a broken heart, Latener! He's a boy monkey, too!"
Dee glared back at Peters as Ryo opened the door. "Keep laughing, Peters, I'll be back to check your stock for contraband. Wonder what I'll find?"
"Only animals born in the good ole' U.S.A. or with the legal papers," Peters called back with a grin and a wave.
"Or at least they will be when we come back," Ryo said as he headed for where they had parked the car. "What's next on the your list, Dee?"
Dee pulled his list out and the new one Peters had given him. He grunted.
"Find something?" Ryo wondered as he found the car and opened the passenger side door.
"Yeah, " Dee said and he held up the flyer. "Home base."
In large letters, at the top of the flyer, was the name of the club, Vale Exotics Club.
"Remal of Vale," Dee said with a grin.
______________________
"I'm getting sick of animals," Dee grumbled as he glared at an iguana
in it's glass aquarium. He pointed a finger at Ryo as Ryo began to open his
mouth. "Don't say it."
"I didn't say anything-" Ryo began with a chuckle.
"I heard you thinking it," Dee grumbled.
"Psychic's club is at the end of the street," an irritable voice said around a yawn as a young man came out of a back room. He looked like he had been taking a nap. He tucked a t shirt into his ragged jeans and smoothed back unruly bangs. "I just sell exotics."
Dee turned and waved the flyer at him. "And run an exotic club."
"Yeah, interested?" The man narrowed eyes at him and then looked contemptuous. "Nah, your scared, I can tell. Delilah there makes your skin crawl."
"It isn't the only one," Dee said under his breath, but Ryo was pushing past him and showing his badge.
"Detectives McLain and Latener." Ryo smiled in a friendly way as the man moved behind a counter and looked nervous. "Are You Frank Duncan, the owner?" When the man nodded, he continued, "We're working on a case and would like to ask you a few questions."
The man scowled. "Everything here is above board, Detectives."
Dee waved a hand sharply. "We're not here about the animals. We want to talk to you about someone who might be on your member's list."
"Oh," Duncan relaxed. He scratched his scalp and then grunted. "I guess that's okay, but I'm not going to help you invade anyone's privacy. You get a warrant if you want to do that."
"Nothing like that, " Ryo assured him smoothly. "We just want to find this man's whereabouts so that we can question him as well."
The owner relaxed even more. "That sounds all right. Who're you interested in?"
"Remal," Dee told him, joining Ryo at the counter and watching Duncan's expression closely. The man looked blank.
"Never heard of him."
Ryo frowned and looked over the list of names on the club sheet. "It's not on here either, but we thought that it might be some sort of nickname or online personality."
"Remal," Duncan grunted. "Usually people pick stuff that means something. What the hell would 'Remal' mean?"
Ryo shrugged, "How about Treyu?"
"Treyu...." the owner thought about that. "Sounds like an old timey thing, medieval or something..."
"Or something," Dee growled. "So, you're saying you've never heard of either of those names?"
"No." Duncan looked genuinely mystified. "Did someone say they were a member of my club?"
"No..." Ryo turned away, shoulders slumping slightly, "Just a hunch..."
"You have some pretty weird hunches," Duncan said.
Dee glared around the shop and then asked, "Sell any bats lately?"
The owner raised eyebrows. "You want some too? Maybe I should think about carrying some-" He squeaked in alarm when Ryo was suddenly half way across the counter and looking him closely in the face.
"Someone else asked you for bats?" Ryo demanded.
Duncan took a step back defensively and replied nervously, "Uh, well, it's Halloween and all. People get strange ideas. They want black cats, eyes of newt, bats... I always turn them down, of course. They just kill them."
"Do you have a record of who asked you for the bats?" Ryo asked sharply.
"Well, I always pretend to scribble it all down, what they give me, but I don't follow up on it," Duncan replied sheepishly.
Dee suddenly pushed Ryo aside. On the counter was a large calendar pad with notations on the days; scribbled doodles, and notes. Several days back, there was a small scribble of a bat and a cross through it. There was also three initials traced over and over again as if in some frustration. "What's this!" Dee demanded.
The owner scratched at his head, "Oh, that's when he called, I guess. He was pissing me off, not taking no for an answer. He kept me on the line for a good half hour and I had customers too."
Dee pointed to the initials. "What do these stand for?"
"Uhm," Duncan frowned, trying to remember. "You have to understand, at that point I was thinking his name was Mr. Big Asshole."
"MBA," Ryo sighed in frustration, reading the written initials.
"Yeah, well..." the man looked embarrassed.
"He didn't give you any kind of name?" Dee pressed. "Any phone number?"
"We didn't get that far," Duncan replied. "He kept telling me he had to have the bats before Halloween and I kept telling him about import laws and wild animal ordinances. There's also rabies," The man said with a shiver. "Those wild bats can carry it and infect you just by touching them."
"Jim probably knows about that, right Ryo?" Dee asked in concern.
"I'm sure he does, Dee, but I'll put in a call just to be sure," Ryo replied seriously.
Dee growled, "Thanks for nothing, man!" as he pushed away from the counter and left the shop. Once outside, he lit his cigarette and stood nursing it, taking long drags.
Ryo joined him, hands in his pockets and a light breeze picking up his tie and making it flip about. "Dead end...maybe. If he checked this shop, he must have checked others."
"Back to slogging through licences and import lists," Dee said despondently.
Ryo winced. "That could take forever and there's no guarantee that they came in legally."
Dee's cell phone rang. He took it out. "Latener, here. " He listened, grunted, and then said, "Yeah, okay." and hung up. His face was pale and tight. He took a long drag off his cigarette and then threw it down and smashed it under his heel as he said angrily, "We have another murder."
______________________________
Eleven years old. Walking home from school. Found behind a dumpster. Dead bat draped over her breast over the knife wound in her heart. The image wouldn't leave Ryo's mind. He had struggled to maintain his professionalism, keeping his emotions in check while they had studied the crime scene. Afterwards, he had pushed himself hard, joining Dee in forensics, records, and then spending the rest of the day making phone calls. He hadn't allowed himself to feel until he was in their car and Dee was driving them home. It was then that black depression descended.
Ryo closed his eyes, feeling time ticking away before the next murder, feeling the pain of his failure to stop the latest one, and feeling a roiling, burning hatred for whoever was committing the murders.
Dee was quiet as he drove. He was smoking, window cracked to take the smell outside. Ryo didn't complain and didn't remind Dee that he was supposed to be quitting. Ryo didn't have room to think about anyone or anything, except the case. He didn't know what Dee was thinking or how he was feeling. He didn't doubt that Dee thought about the case just as seriously as he did, but Dee had the ability to be more detached, to leave it behind, to go on to solve the case without allowing himself to sink under the weight of the violence and the faces of the victims.
When they reached their home, they found Bicky and Carol sitting on their couch and watching television. Ryo passed them without a word, going straight to the bedroom as if it were a sanctuary from the world. He closed the door firmly behind him. Both Carol and Bicky looked after him and then at Dee.
Dee loosened his tie and tossed his jacket onto the back of a chair as he told them, "Keep it down and stay out of Ryo's hair. He's had a rough day."
"Kay," Carol replied in concern and then asked, "You didn't?"
"Course not," Bicky sneered. "Ryo's the one that does all the work."
Dee glared but he didn't rise to the bait. "Had dinner?"
"No," Bicky replied, "And I'm starving. Can we have beef and noodles tonight?"
Dee opened the freezer, pulled out a wrapped 'something', and put it on a plate. "No."
Bicky scowled. "I'm not eating your rotten cooking!"
Dee shoved the plate into the microwave and turned it on. "It's Ryo's cooking."
"What is it?" Carol wanted to know.
Dee frowned at the rotating plate in the lighted microwave. "I don't know."
"Give me a few bucks so me and Carol can go out!" Bicky growled as he stood up and reached for his leather jacket. "I'm not eating anything without a name."
Dee took the plate out of the microwave and teased the steaming package open with a fork. It was brown and soupy. Something unidentifiable was floating in it. "It has a name," he replied.
"Yeah?" Bicky paused in the act of putting on his tennis shoes, looking towards Dee curiously. "What is it?"
"It's called... dinner surprise," Dee replied. He tried to pour the food into a bowl and watched lumps plop into it along with the soup. He frowned, feeling queasy. Turning, he dug into his pocket and took out a few bills. He walked over to hand them to Carol. "Maybe you two better go out to eat."
Bicky bristled. "Why are you giving the money to her?"
"Because I'll actually buy food with it," Carol replied with a wink as she tucked the money into her bosom.
"Not very safe there," Dee told her with a snort.
"Shut up!" Carol snapped back, hands on hips.
"It'll fall out too," Dee added as he turned back to get rid of the 'soup'. "Nothing to keep it in."
"You're in a mood," Carol replied angrily. "You better get out of it and take care of Ryo."
"Huh?" Dee eyed her. "What do you know about it?"
"I know Ryo and so do you," Carol told him. "He's in the bedroom so he can get upset about stuff without anyone knowing about it."
Dee's jaw worked. "I DO know," he replied, "but a guy has to have some space sometimes. Let me take care of it."
"Don't take care of it," Carol warned him as she grabbed her own coat and pulled Bicky towards the door. "Take care of him."
As the door closed behind them, Dee growled under his breath, "I don't need a little girl's advise. Ryo needs more than just someone to cry on and I'm just the guy to give it to him."
Bad food disposed of, Dee unbuttoned his shirt and made an assault on the bedroom door. He wasn't surprised to find it locked. "Ryo?" Dee knew how to get the door open. "I need to lock up my gun."
The door opened and Ryo was obviously trying to compose himself. He turned away as Dee came in, closing the door and locking it again after him. As Dee fished out the lockbox and put his gun inside of it next to Ryo's, he watched his partner out of the corner of his green eyes. Ryo hadn't been crying, he decided, Ryo wasn't falling apart that much, but he was definitely upset... upset with himself.
Dee put the lockbox away and then approached Ryo. He slipped strong arms around him and put his chin on Ryo's shoulder. "Done beating yourself up yet?"
Ryo looked sharply at him and then grunted, looking away again.
"I think you are, " Dee insisted. "I know you need to, once in awhile, to get it out of your system, but you're smart enough to know when to stop."
Ryo nodded, jaw tightening and bunching with emotion.
"So stop," Dee told him, whispering it in Ryo's ear. "You can't solve the case if you wear yourself out, if you keep thinking you're a failure. You're not. If this case can be solved, you'll be the one to do it."
"We'll solve it together," Ryo said suddenly and turned in Dee's arms. His dark eyes were full of conflicting emotions, but Dee saw love there along with the rest."Dee... I want... I need.... to think about something else."
Dee nodded. "I know that. I'm here, Ryo."
Ryo suddenly jerked Dee's shirt open all the way with both hands and leaned in to suckle on Dee's dark nipple. Startled, Dee stared down at the top of Ryo's honey blonde hair, wide eyed in disbelief. Ryo rarely ever took the initiative.... unless... unless he was drowning in his emotions... unless he was looking for forgetfulness or an anchor to keep him from flying away, mentally, in all directions.
Dee groaned, loving the feeling of Ryo's warm lips and his eager, lapping, swirling tongue, but he forced himself to take Ryo by the shoulders and pull him up. He looked deeply into Ryo's confused eyes ."Don't force me," Dee warned him seriously. "Don't make me your Valium. I'm your lover, dammit!"
Ryo was instantly pulling away, ashamed, but Dee kept hold of him.
"Let's do this for the right reasons, Ryo," Dee told him. "Let's do it because you need me to love you."
"I do," Ryo admitted.
"Then, come on," Dee urged him and pulled him towards the bed.
Dee liked it hot and passionate. This time, however, he made it slow and careful. It was hard to get Ryo to let go, though, to relax enough to respond, but he did finally respond, opening his legs to let Dee come between them.
Ryo gave himself without reservation then; stroking and being stroked, delivering warm kisses, whispering words of encouragement as Dee rode him, and writhing in the throes of a climax that wrung a cry from them both. The way Dee so clearly expressed his love in the simple intertwining of their bodies, and in the glow in his eyes, helped Ryo to put the day behind him.
Exhausted, lying under their blankets, Ryo nuzzled Dee's chest and sighed.
"Okay?" Dee asked.
"Yes," Ryo replied softly. "Thank you. I-I'm sorry I let it get to me so much."
Dee grunted. "Nothing wrong with caring, Baby... just don't let it make you doubt yourself."
Ryo nodded, swallowed hard, and then said, "Maybe we should have dinner and then go to bed early, so we can be sharp tomorrow? I have something in the freezer that we can defrost."
Dee thought of the brown soup and then pulled Ryo deeper under the blankets
with him. "I'm not real hungry. Let's just go to sleep."
___________________________________________
"You go ahead. I just need to finish this batch of logs," Ryo sighed,
not even glancing up from his computer screen as Dee stood up and slung on his
coat.
"Ryo..." Dee thought of a lot of arguments, but he saw that look on Ryo's face, the one he knew was the sign that nothing short of a bomb under his chair was going to get him to stop. "Okay, baby, you finish up, but take some breaks and have something besides tea when you do. I'm calling and having you evicted out of here if you're not home by ten. Got all of that?"
"Hmm," Ryo replied and Dee knew that he hadn't heard a word that he'd just said.
He leaned and kissed Ryo on the mouth. Ryo started as Dee filled his view, blushing hotly and giving the almost empty precinct room a darting glance. Dee caught his chin and made him meet his eyes. "Ten o'clock, " Dee told him firmly. "No later."
"Ten, " Ryo repeated as he regained his composure. "I'm about an hour from being done, so it won't even be that late, Dee, I promise."
"Okay," Dee grunted, "Call me if you find anything."
Ryo looked exasperated. "Who else would I call?"
Dee smiled, reassured, and Ryo went back to his work as Dee left for the day.
Time slipped by unnoticed as Ryo scrolled through a ship's cargo logs. His eyes tired. His brain told him he was reaching his limit by beginning to throb painfully. His body was beginning to twinge and fall asleep in places from sitting too long. Ryo fought it as long as he could, but then he swore under his breath and gave it up. He stood and hobbled to the lounge to get some tea and whatever he could find in the vending machines.
A janitor was emptying wastebaskets. He gave Ryo an odd look, probably wondering what he was doing there so late, but then went back to his business. Ryo made tea, chose a bag of nuts and some crackers from a machine, and then stood leaning against a wall as he tried to bring his body back under his control. He didn't want to give up yet.
"Hey, McLain." It was one of the other detectives, Thomas Redman. The slim, young man , with a crew cut and a square jawed chin, grinned amiably at Ryo as he sprawled in a chair and asked, "You working late too?"
Ryo nodded. "Murder case. You?"
Redman grimaced. "Stolen zoo animals. I just spent an hour in a bat habitat trying to get clues." He rolled eyes at Ryo. "Do you know what's in a bat habitat?"
"Bats?" Ryo echoed, stunned.
Redman snorted, "Of course bats! But bat shit too. Lots of bat shit. It stinks like you wouldn't believe!" He shuddered. "Flying rats, that's what they are..."
"You were investigating stolen bats?" Ryo asked tensely, wanting clarification.
"Yeah." Redman slumped lower in his chair. "I pissed off the Chief, didn't follow protocol in a drug case. This is my punishment. Looking for stolen winged rats."
"What kind of bats were they?" Ryo wanted to know, sitting next to Redman.
Redman finally noticed Ryo's intensity and he sat up, wondering what was wrong. "Uh..." He took a note book from his back pocket and flipped through it. "South American fruit bats. You know, I thought they all sucked blood. These guys just eat fruit."
"Any leads?" Ryo was almost vibrating, his hands suddenly on the arms of Redman's chair as he leaned in.
"Uh, you okay, Ryo?" Redman wanted to know as he leaned back, trying to get space between them.
"Suddenly much better," Ryo replied. "Any leads, Redman? Any suspects?"
Redman flipped through his notebook, his eyes going back and forth between it and Ryo as he tried to keep an eye on the agitated detective. "Well... could be Halloween weirdos, neighborhood punks, that sort of thing, but... This guy who's the night watchman... he's a class A weirdo. He wouldn't answer a lot of my questions and he was sweating buckets. I'm going to run a back ground check on him in the morning, see what pops up."
"His name," Ryo demanded. "Can you tell me his name?"
"Sure, sure... something weird, just like him," Redman told him. He turned a page in his notebook, ran a finger down a line of pencil marks, and then tapped the place. "Here it is... R. Emal Treyuson."
"Son of Treyu... Remal of Vale of the coven of Treyu," Ryo muttered as he scribbled down notes in his own book. "It was R. Emal. We read it wrong... Where does Vale come in though..."
"Vale?" Redman was obviously confused, but he jumped in. "When I asked for his ID he had a card to some sort of psychics club with his driver's license. It said Vale Psychics club."
"Address?" Ryo demanded. Redman showed it to him and Ryo scribbled it down.
"Ryo, this is my case," Redman began to protest.
"Now it's mine," Ryo retorted as he stood up abruptly, almost knocking over his chair. "This man is a suspect in a string of murders. I need to get to him as quickly as possible. Is he working tonight at the zoo?"
"Yeah," Redman replied cautiously. "Need me for backup?"
"No, I'll call Dee," Ryo raced for the door, tossing over his shoulder. "Thanks, Redman, I owe you!"
"Keys!" Ryo shouted at J.J. as he passed by his desk. J.J. tossed them automatically, but as Ryo headed for the front doors, he was suddenly racing after him.
"Wait a minute! Ryo! You can't drive!" J.J. protested.
"Yes, I can!" Ryo snapped back at him over his shoulder.
J.J. chased him through the doors to where his car was parked along the street. He almost tackled Ryo as he pinned him to the driver's side door and took back his keys. "If it's important enough for you to drive, it's important enough to have backup. Get in."
"I don't have time!" Ryo exclaimed, but J.J. was already getting into the car. Ryo swore and slid into the passenger seat. "The zoo. We have to hurry!"
J.J. pulled away from the curb and started weaving through traffic. "All right, could you please fill me in now?"
Ryo was on his cell phone, though, trying to call Dee. "Bicky! I need Dee, now! Shower? Get him out of it and tell him to meet me at the zoo as quickly as he can. I have a break in the case."
Ryo hung up his phone, feeling frustrated. "We're going too slow."
"At least we're getting there," J.J. grumbled. "Which is more than you'd be doing the way you drive and in the mood you're in. Come on, Ryo, tell me what's going on?"
"A suspected murderer may be working at the zoo as a night watchman," Ryo explained as he jabbed a finger at the traffic up ahead. "That way! Dee always takes that way as a short cut!"
J.J. smiled fondly, "And Dee knows best." He turned the car down the road and picked up speed. "Who are we looking for?"
"R. Emal Treyuson," Ryo replied as he anxiously looked ahead to find some way to get them there even sooner. "He's been-"
"I know, Dee's been talking about the case," J.J. told him. "Thinks he's some sort of demon sacrificing virgins or something?"
"Or something," Ryo replied."We have to stop him tonight before he kills again."
Ryo's cell phone rang. He flipped it open. "McLain." He felt a wave of relief when Dee's welcoming voice came on the line.
"I'm on my way," Dee told him. "Don't go saving the day until I get there, got it? Was the murderer stealing bats from the zoo?"
"Yes," Ryo told him."Redman was investigating the case and told me about an R. Emal Treyuson that was a night watchmen there. He said that he was acting very suspicious and had a card to a Vale Psychics club."
"The same place that lizard guy was talking about?" Dee guessed. "I say that man's drowning in coincidences."
"Me too," Ryo agreed.
"Wait a minute!" Dee suddenly exclaimed. "Are you driving?!"
Ryo held the phone away from his ear and J.J. heard Dee's shout. He called out excitedly, "Don't worry, Dee, I'm driving. I'll meet you at the zoo and we'll work this case together! Just you and me!"
"And me," Ryo grumbled. He put the phone back to his ear. "Did you hear that, Dee?"
"Maybe it's better if you do drive," Dee growled. "Can you kick him out of the car before you reach the zoo?"
"It's his car," Ryo told him.
"Great," Dee replied sarcastically, but then added more professionally, "What's your ETA?"
Ryo glared at the street signs. "Five minutes. Yours?"
"There already. Took a shortcut," Dee told him with a grunt and Ryo heard his car door opening.
"Dee, did you drive through buildings? How did you- Dee," Ryo switched mental gears. "Stay in your car until we get there."
"He might get away," Dee complained in a very low voice. "I'll jump the turnstile and just see if I can locate him. I promise not to-"
The cell phone went dead. " Dee?" Ryo called anxiously. "Dee!? Answer me!" Ryo hung up and dialed Dee's number. He received Dee's voice mail. "Something's happened," Ryo told J.J. tensely.
J.J. exchanged looks with Ryo, swallowing hard as Ryo hung up his phone. "Maybe... Maybe he dropped it?" J.J. suggested. "Maybe he can't talk right now.... he could have spotted the subject..."
Ryo's jaw clenched along with his stomach. "Hurry!" he urged J.J. "We have to get there."
"Dee, Dee, Dee," J.J. chanted under his breath in anguish. "Don't do anything stupid."
They pulled into the zoo parking lot. Everything was pitch dark except for the lights by the gate and the security house there. J.J. killed the car lights almost at once and parked at the far end of the lot near Dee's car. They slipped out cautiously then, guns drawn and senses alert.
J.J. touched Ryo's shoulder and pointed to the right of the guard house. Ryo nodded and moved off to the left. Together they moved in, but then stopped when they saw that the guard house was empty.
"Bat house?" J.J. wondered almost under his breath.
Ryo nodded and they cautiously climbed over the turnstile and entered the park itself. Animals called and moved about all around them, making it difficult to listen. Security lights shone from every point. Ryo squinted at the signs and then took a path off to their left.
He almost passed it by. A small wind drifted by and picked something up from the ground and twirled it. Stark and white, it caught a security light and gleamed. Ryo bent down, picked it up, and tilted the small strip of paper.
"Dee's basketball tickets," Ryo whispered tightly.
J.J. looked over his shoulder at it. "Part of it," he saw and began going down a path away from the bat house looking for more. "Here." He picked up another piece. Ryo peered at a sign and his blood ran cold. "Tiger habitat."
"Dee!" J.J. gasped and they both hurried down the path, Ryo in the lead.
"Moron!" Ryo seethed under his breath, "Idiot! Why didn't you wait? Fool! Brainless!" He added a few choice names in Japanese and then choked out, "Dee!" when he saw someone walking away from the entrance to the tiger habitat.
The figure bolted. "Got him!" J.J. called and started running after him. "Get Dee!" He tossed over his shoulder.
As if he needed to be told, Ryo thought angrily as he sprinted into the building. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Dee sprawled unconscious in one of the cages, a tiger poised above him.
Ryo raised his gun to fire. The tiger's green eyes glowed in the harsh overhead lights as it delicately plucked something from Dee's chest and turned away, crunching something between it's fangs. The bat, Ryo guessed, as he threw open the cage lock and kept his gun trained on the tiger as he bent to shake at Dee.
"Dee! Love! Wake up!"
Dee groaned and put a hand to a lump on his head. "What a fricken' hangover. I don't remember having any party..."
"Dee!" Ryo urged, shaking at him again. "You have to get out of here. I can't carry you and keep my gun on the tiger."
"T-Tiger?" Dee stammered and his eyes flew wide. "Tiger! Oh, shit! I remember now!" He levered himself up on hands and knees. His head swivelled jerkily as he looked first at Ryo and then followed the barrel of Ryo's gun to the tiger still trying to swallow the bony bat. His hand clamped on Ryo's arm and he crawled from the cage, dragging Ryo after him.
Ryo slammed the cage closed and locked it just as the tiger finished it's appetizer and began strolling towards them with interest. Dee pulled Ryo further away from the bars and then sat down and put his head in his hands.
"The murderer got away, Ryo,"Dee groaned. "He stuck his gun in my neck as soon as I went over the turnstile. He told me I saved him a lot of time looking for another sacrifice and that he wouldn't even have to be the one to kill me this time. When I saw that he was taking me here instead of the bat house I ripped up my tickets to the basketball game and left 'em like a trail of bread crumbs for you."
"We found them," Ryo replied quietly, reaction setting in. He moved closer to Dee and then put an arm around him to help him stand. "But, hopefully, he didn't get away. J.J.'s chasing him."
Dee snorted weakly, "Good. He's an expert at chasing people." But then he sobered. "If he gets away because I... It was late though. I was so sure that he was going to slip out and kill someone... When I thought about it, all the murders had been within a fifteen minute drive of the zoo. He was probably doing it on his goddam break."
Ryo began to help Dee from the building. "I understand," he admitted. "I think I would have gone in too."
Dee grunted. "I KNOW you would have, Ryo. You might want to think you're cool and collected, but not when it comes to saving people."
Ryo hugged Dee and Dee tried to plant a kiss on his lips. He swayed and missed. Ryo lowered him to a bench."I need to go after J.J."
Dee waved him away. "Go on," he slurred and began sliding sideways. Ryo caught him and propped him up again. "Go on!" Dee urged him again.
Ryo sighed in frustration and called the station for backup and an ambulance.
"Ambulance?" J.J.'s anxious voice came from the darkness. "Is Dee hurt?" He came into view pushing a handcuffed man ahead of him.
"Dee was almost tiger food," Ryo told him, but he was looking the man up and down. "Is this him?"
J.J. juggled a wallet with the same hand he was holding his gun with. He flopped it open. "Mr. R. Emal Treyuson. "
Treyuson was a dark haired, heavy set man in black clothes. He wore a silver pentagram and had a silver ring with a red glass eye. His brows were as dark as his hair and drawn down over small eyes. "You disturbed my sacrifice," he snarled, when he saw Dee alive and well. "If someone doesn't die tonight, the spell won't work!"
Dee raised eyebrows, "You did read him his rights, didn't you J.J.?"
"Of course," J.J. replied.
"Then this is on the record," Ryo smiled.
"With three witnesses," J.J. agreed, just as pleased.
"Then, let's take him in," Ryo said as he helped Dee stand.
"Sure thing," J.J. replied and began pushing Treyuson towards the front gate of the zoo. "Calm down," he told the man. "The jail's full of evil sorcerers like you this time of year. You can trade secret spells while you wait for your court date."
"Case closed," Dee said to Ryo as they fell a little behind.
"Yes," Ryo agreed relieved and feeling a tremendous weight lift from his shoulders.
Dee suddenly stopped and pulled Ryo into his arms. He seized a hot kiss even though he had to lean heavily into his lover for support. "You have to admit, I've been a damned patient man with you on this case."
Ryo raised an eyebrow, "Yes, you have."
"Payback time," Dee murmured and one of his hands slid down Ryo's backside and squeezed.
Ryo twitched away, blushing furiously, but he didn't let go of Dee. "Dee! You are such a..."
Dee grinned, hooked fingers in Ryo's waistband, and brought their pelvis's together in a small bumping motion. "Yes, I am, " he agreed, "and you know you love it."
Ryo opened his mouth to hotly deny it, but then he shut it and glanced to where J.J. was leaving them behind. He then grabbed Dee by the chin, kissed him thoroughly, to Dee's surprise, and said huskily, "I do, but... later."
"Later," Dee grinned. "That a promise?"
"More than a promise," Ryo told him. "That's love." And he kissed Dee again.
The end.
see Kracken's original, published yaoi fiction, The Angel Within, at amazon.com
under Kracken
Website:http://kracken.bonpublishing.com
Latest updates at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KrackenficsML/
and for general fanfiction talk: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/krackenml/