FAKE Fic: Unnatural Causes - Part 3
Title: Unnatural Causes - Part 3
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, Ted, Marty, OCs.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2772
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Now that Dee and Ryo have some idea of what they’re up against, what are they going to do about it? Time for some brainstorming.
Written For: spook_me 2022, using FAKE, Evil Cats, and this pic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Set after Like Like Love.
Back to Part 2
Back at their apartment, both Dee and Ryo found themselves reluctant to go to bed and turn out the lights, even though they knew they’d need to get some sleep before they had to go back out. Instead, Ryo busied himself preparing a snack of hot soup and thick slices of crusty bread, warmed in the oven, while Dee hunched over his sketchpad at the kitchen table.
"What’re you drawing?” Ryo asked, setting two bowls of soup on the table before fetching the bread.
“The thing I saw. Tryin’ to anyway, but I can’t get the teeth right.
Peering over his lover’s shoulder, Ryo recoiled. “Shit! That’s… nasty.”
“No kiddin’. I felt pretty much that way when I saw it,” Dee agreed. “Looks even worse in livin’ colour, sorta pale, flesh pink and wrinkly, and the eyes… yellow and glowin’, like a pair of headlamps. Not the kinda thing ya wanna meet in a dark alleyway; I should know.” Dee closed the sketchpad and pushed it aside, pulling his soup towards him. “Smells great! Soon as I finish this, I’m gonna spread salt along all the windowsills, and across the doorway, just as a precaution. Don’t reckon it would really track us back here, but I’d still feel a whole lot safer knowin’ it couldn’t pass the threshold.”
Once upon a time Ryo might have laughed at the idea, called it superstitious nonsense, but not tonight. “I’ll help you; we’ll get it done a lot quicker that way. We can wait until it’s getting light out before we go to bed. The sun will be coming up in another two or three hours.”
Dee nodded as he reached for a chunk of bread. “Works for me. Probably shouldn’t go to bed right after eatin’ anyway, don’t wanna wind up with indigestion.”
“Maybe we could watch a DVD or something, take our minds off work for a bit.”
“Sounds good. Not a horror movie though; got enough of that goin’ on right now. Somethin’ light, maybe a comedy.”
“We can make up our minds once everything else is sorted.” Ryo broke bread into his soup and picked up his spoon. “Dee, d’you really think we can beat this thing?”
“We have to. All we gotta do is figure out how.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
They finished their meal in silence, both men lost in their own troubled thoughts.
OoOoOoO
When Dee awoke late that afternoon, the bed beside him was empty, the mattress cold, and the door to the ensuite bathroom was standing open, which meant Ryo wasn’t showering. Pulling his robe on, Dee left the bedroom, looking for his lover.
“Ryo?”
“I’m in here.” Ryo’s voice came from Bikky’s bedroom at the other end of the apartment and when Dee pushed the door open, he found his lover rummaging through some boxes he’d pulled from the back of his foster son’s closet, things the boy, now attending college in L.A., had kept from his childhood.
“Hey. What’re ya doin’?”
“Looking for the science kit I bought Bikky when he was twelve. I’m sure he’s still got it somewhere.” Ryo shoved one box aside and dug into another, only to irritably thrust that one aside as well.
“This it?” Dee asked, pulling something down from the closet’s top shelf.
“Yes!” Ryo jumped to his feet and snatched the box from Dee’s hand. “Thanks.” He dropped it on the bed and pulled the lid off.
“Why the sudden nostalgia?” As much as he loved Ryo, there were times Dee found his lover baffling.
“It’s not, I just woke up a bit ago and remembered what you said about magnets… It’s been nagging at me all night.” Ryo tipped the contents of the box onto the bed. “Ah!” He snatched up a small plastic container with a screw top. “For experiments with magnetism. Those were so much fun, but you know how careless Bikky could be when he was younger. This stuff used to get everywhere, I was always sweeping it up and throwing it away. We were running out, so in the end I had to contact the manufacturer and get some more.” He tossed the first container to Dee and picked up another, carefully unscrewing the lid, pleased to find the pot was almost full. “Iron filings!”
Dee grinned. “Awesome! Saves me havin’ to file down a bunch of magnets. Now all we need is the holy water and we’ll be set.”
Ryo’s expression turned serious. “Assuming any of it actually works, which it might not. I guess we won’t know for sure until we try.”
“Hey, if you’ve got any better ideas…”
“We could try shooting it.” Ryo gave his partner a hopeful look; guns were familiar, something he understood, unlike all this other stuff. “Bullets will kill most living things.”
“You’re assumin’ it’s alive, and it might not be, at least not in the traditional sense.”
“I can’t help it, Dee; I’m not like you. I can’t get my head around the idea of mythical supernatural creatures being real, it goes against all logic! I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a precipice about to fall off. None of this makes sense to me; I’m just going along with you because I don’t know what else to do!”
Dropping the container of iron filings into his robe pocket, Dee crossed the room and wrapped his arms around his partner, pulling Ryo close. “I’m scared too, y’know. Just because I believe in the supernatural doesn’t mean it don’t scare the shit outta me.”
“I wish I could wake up and find all this, the deaths, the whole thing, was just a weird nightmare brought on by eating pizza late at night.”
“Yeah, same here, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”
“I don’t either.” Ryo let out a resigned sigh, resting his head against Dee’s shoulder. “So what now?” His voice was muffled by Dee’s robe.
“Now we get showered and dressed, grab a bite to eat, and go visit Father Malone, stock up on holy water. Once we get that, we can figure out how to use it. Don’t guess ya got any water pistols tucked away in these boxes, do ya? Maybe one of those super-soakers?”
“No, sorry. Can you imagine the mess if I’d ever let Bikky have one of those?” Ryo drew back to smile wryly at his lover.
“Good point. He probably would’a used it on me every chance he got, and knowin’ how much he loves makin’ me suffer, I’m guessin’ he wouldn’t have used water.”
Ryo chuckled. “Poor Dee. You mentioned something about a shower?”
“Yep! Shower, food, coffee. Havin’ breakfast in the evenin’ always feels so wrong.”
“Why? You eat breakfast cereal for supper.”
“That’s different, cereal’s a convenience food, good at any time of day. C’mon, we can save water if we shower together.”
“Won’t be saving time though.”
“Maybe not, but it’ll be fun, and we could both do with some of that.”
OoOoOoO
Despite the shared shower, not much more than an hour later the two detectives were out the door and heading for the Catholic church a couple of blocks from Mother Maria Lane’s orphanage. It wasn’t the church Dee had attended growing up in Mother’s care; the orphanage had been relocated several years earlier after the original was badly damaged by a bomb, under the orders of S Corp, who’d wanted the land it was on. In the aftermath, and to distance themselves from any blame, the company had found new premises for Mother and her charges and financed the move. It still annoyed Dee that the mega corporation had gotten off so lightly, but he had to admit the orphanage had benefitted through being in a better neighbourhood and having more space.
It was tempting to stop by and visit Mother, but they were on police business, after a fashion, so they made straight for the Church of Saint Jude. Dee had gotten to know Father Malone quite well in recent years through occasionally attending mass at the church along with Mother and the kids, and they received a warm greeting.
The priest proved remarkably open-minded when it came to the supernatural, and to Ryo’s surprise, once Dee had explained the problem and showed Father Malone his sketch of the creature he’d encountered, willingly handed over several vials of holy water, with the promise of more if it should be required.
“Will you be wantin’ someone from the church to go with ye?” he asked. “I’m not so spry meself, gettin’ a bit too old to be runnin’ around the city at night, but I could spare Deacon Bowen.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I think the fewer people out there right now the better,” Ryo said. “Dee and I are used to watching each other’s back, but being responsible for someone else’s safety as well would be too much when we’re not even sure what we’re dealing with.”
“As ye wish, I’m sure you boys know better than I do, but at least take this, for protection.” The elderly priest produced a rosary. “Just a loan, ye understand, until ye deal with this beastie o’ yours. Was blessed by the Pope himself, or so I’m told. Not the current one; this was way back in the forties, just after the war, and it was old then. It’s seen a lot.”
“It’s very kind of you, but I couldn’t,” Ryo demurred. “If it’s so old it must be very valuable…”
“Take it.” Father Malone grasped Ryo’s wrist in startlingly strong fingers and pressed the rosary into his hand. “Let it do the Lord’s work. From what your partner tells me, you’ll be needin’ all the protection ye can get. Trust to it and all it represents.”
“But I’m not a Catholic!”
“Ah, nobody’s perfect, me boy. Carry it with you; Dee here has enough faith for the both of ye.”
“Thank you, Father.” What else could Ryo say? He was touched by the priest’s generosity and only hoped he’d be able to return the rosary in one piece once this was over. It was surely irreplaceable.
“You boys be careful out there.”
“We will, Father,” Dee promised.
“I’ll be prayin’ for ye both.” Smiling, Father Malone patted Dee’s arm before turning and making his way towards the altar.
“You’ll do as he said, right?” Dee asked as they left the church and back to headed back to where Ryo’s car was parked. “You’ll keep it with you at all times?”
“He should’ve given it to you.”
“Why? You’re the one needs it; I’ve got my St. Christopher and my crucifix.”
“But what if it gets damaged, or I lose it?”
“You won’t. Here, wrap it around your wrist, under your sweater.” Dee took the rosary and fixed it around Ryo’s arm somehow, pulling his lover’s sweater and coat sleeves down over it. “There. Now if that creature comes near ya, you’ll know about it.”
“I don’t have your level of belief, Dee. I mean, I know it’s old but to me it’s just a string of beads. How can that protect me?”
“You just gotta trust that it will, babe. That’s what faith is all about, trustin’ in somethin’ even when ya don’t have any kind of evidence. When ya think about it, we do that all the time, when we know someone’s guilty before we find any proof.”
“I suppose.” Ryo brushed his fingers lightly over the beads, then lowered his arm and gave it a brief shake, making sure the rosary wouldn’t slip off. It held firm. “Okay, guess we’d better head for the precinct and collect our backup.”
“Oh joy, another night out in the cold, playin’ bait.”
“I’m not looking forward to it any more than you are. We don’t even have a plan for how we’re going to use our…” Ryo trailed off as he slid into the driver’s seat, not at all sure how to describe the bottles of holy water, their large containers of table salt, and two small tubs of iron filings. Were they weapons, equipment, or what? “I mean, we could add salt and iron filings to the holy water, but then it would be brine with bits of metal in it. Would it still qualify as holy water? Or should we mix the salt and iron filings with tap water? Or use everything separately?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Dee admitted, fastening his seatbelt. “I’m kinda flyin’ blind here.”
“Now you tell me.” Ryo shoved the car in gear, checked for traffic, and peeled away from the curb, his foot heavier on the accelerator than normal.
“Hey, don’t go takin’ your frustrations out on your car, dude!”
“Right, sorry.” Ryo eased up. “It’s just, this whole situation’s crazy! We’re going up against an unknown threat with what amounts to the components of a chemistry experiment. All we need now is a Bunsen burner and some matches.”
“Oh, I already got matches, and my lighter,” Dee assured him. “Fire is cleansing; if we manage to kill this thing, we might need to burn the body, like with Mr Bear.”
“Great, just what we need. We’ll probably wind up getting arrested for arson or something,” Ryo grumbled.
Dee raised an eyebrow, surprised by his partner’s uncharacteristic negativity. “Boy, you’re pessimistic today! Try lookin’ on the bright side!”
“I would if I could find one.”
“Mother always said, if you’re in a difficult situation, a positive attitude works wonders. Believe ya can do somethin’ and you’ll usually find ya can.” Dee grinned. “’Course, I’d be the first to admit it doesn’t always work; I figured out when I was eight that no matter how much I believed I could, I was never gonna fly. But it works more often than not.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but I’d be happier if we had a better plan of action than to try stuff and see what happens. It’s a bit too vague for my liking.”
“’Kay, how’s this? From what I’ve read, salt can be used as a barrier against supernatural entities, so if we can get the creature into an alleyway, we can spread a line of salt across each end and then it’ll be trapped, no way out…”
Ryo cut his partner off. “The whole salt thing’s still only a theory, Dee. At this point all we’re doing is taking our best guess; we have no way of knowing if it’ll actually work, but even if it’s true and the creature can’t cross a line of salt, we can’t know which alley it’ll pick next time. We may be setting ourselves up as bait, but it seems like this thing lures its victims into alleys, not the other way around. It’s unlikely that we’ll get to pick the place and time of our next encounter.”
“I guess that’s true. But once it goes into an alley, we could at least block one end, or use the salt to protect ourselves.”
“While it heads straight out the other end and gets away again?”
“Yeah, good point. Hey, maybe if we filled a hula-hoop with salt, we could drop that over it, trap it that way.”
“Now you’re being silly.”
“At least I’m comin’ up with ideas, which is more than you’re doin’.” Dee fell silent for a moment. “Okay, how ‘bout water pistols then? Fill ‘em with holy water, or with salt water and iron filings.”
“And how would we reload if we missed? Are you planning on carrying a bucket of salt water around with you?”
Dee sighed as another of his brilliant ideas was effortlessly shot down by his partner’s logical mind. “Damn, I hadn’t thought of that. Guess it wouldn’t be too practical.”
“So where does that leave us? Throwing holy water, salt, and iron filings at something that could still turn out to be nothing more than a disfigured stray cat?”
“D’you honestly believe that’s all it is?”
“I’ve only seen the sketch you drew, but…” Sighing heavily, Ryo shook his head. “No, I don’t believe that. From the pawprints, that… thing has been at the scene of at least four mysterious deaths, and probably all six. However crazy it might sound, it’s the only suspect we have. I don’t think we’ve got any choice but to treat it like a threat.”
“Glad to see we’re on the same page with this.”
“For all the good that does us.” Ryo stared grimly through the windshield. “Whatever this thing is, I just hope we can stop it before it kills again.”
“Amen to that.”
Part 4
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, Ted, Marty, OCs.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2772
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Now that Dee and Ryo have some idea of what they’re up against, what are they going to do about it? Time for some brainstorming.
Written For: spook_me 2022, using FAKE, Evil Cats, and this pic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Set after Like Like Love.
Back to Part 2
Back at their apartment, both Dee and Ryo found themselves reluctant to go to bed and turn out the lights, even though they knew they’d need to get some sleep before they had to go back out. Instead, Ryo busied himself preparing a snack of hot soup and thick slices of crusty bread, warmed in the oven, while Dee hunched over his sketchpad at the kitchen table.
"What’re you drawing?” Ryo asked, setting two bowls of soup on the table before fetching the bread.
“The thing I saw. Tryin’ to anyway, but I can’t get the teeth right.
Peering over his lover’s shoulder, Ryo recoiled. “Shit! That’s… nasty.”
“No kiddin’. I felt pretty much that way when I saw it,” Dee agreed. “Looks even worse in livin’ colour, sorta pale, flesh pink and wrinkly, and the eyes… yellow and glowin’, like a pair of headlamps. Not the kinda thing ya wanna meet in a dark alleyway; I should know.” Dee closed the sketchpad and pushed it aside, pulling his soup towards him. “Smells great! Soon as I finish this, I’m gonna spread salt along all the windowsills, and across the doorway, just as a precaution. Don’t reckon it would really track us back here, but I’d still feel a whole lot safer knowin’ it couldn’t pass the threshold.”
Once upon a time Ryo might have laughed at the idea, called it superstitious nonsense, but not tonight. “I’ll help you; we’ll get it done a lot quicker that way. We can wait until it’s getting light out before we go to bed. The sun will be coming up in another two or three hours.”
Dee nodded as he reached for a chunk of bread. “Works for me. Probably shouldn’t go to bed right after eatin’ anyway, don’t wanna wind up with indigestion.”
“Maybe we could watch a DVD or something, take our minds off work for a bit.”
“Sounds good. Not a horror movie though; got enough of that goin’ on right now. Somethin’ light, maybe a comedy.”
“We can make up our minds once everything else is sorted.” Ryo broke bread into his soup and picked up his spoon. “Dee, d’you really think we can beat this thing?”
“We have to. All we gotta do is figure out how.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
They finished their meal in silence, both men lost in their own troubled thoughts.
OoOoOoO
When Dee awoke late that afternoon, the bed beside him was empty, the mattress cold, and the door to the ensuite bathroom was standing open, which meant Ryo wasn’t showering. Pulling his robe on, Dee left the bedroom, looking for his lover.
“Ryo?”
“I’m in here.” Ryo’s voice came from Bikky’s bedroom at the other end of the apartment and when Dee pushed the door open, he found his lover rummaging through some boxes he’d pulled from the back of his foster son’s closet, things the boy, now attending college in L.A., had kept from his childhood.
“Hey. What’re ya doin’?”
“Looking for the science kit I bought Bikky when he was twelve. I’m sure he’s still got it somewhere.” Ryo shoved one box aside and dug into another, only to irritably thrust that one aside as well.
“This it?” Dee asked, pulling something down from the closet’s top shelf.
“Yes!” Ryo jumped to his feet and snatched the box from Dee’s hand. “Thanks.” He dropped it on the bed and pulled the lid off.
“Why the sudden nostalgia?” As much as he loved Ryo, there were times Dee found his lover baffling.
“It’s not, I just woke up a bit ago and remembered what you said about magnets… It’s been nagging at me all night.” Ryo tipped the contents of the box onto the bed. “Ah!” He snatched up a small plastic container with a screw top. “For experiments with magnetism. Those were so much fun, but you know how careless Bikky could be when he was younger. This stuff used to get everywhere, I was always sweeping it up and throwing it away. We were running out, so in the end I had to contact the manufacturer and get some more.” He tossed the first container to Dee and picked up another, carefully unscrewing the lid, pleased to find the pot was almost full. “Iron filings!”
Dee grinned. “Awesome! Saves me havin’ to file down a bunch of magnets. Now all we need is the holy water and we’ll be set.”
Ryo’s expression turned serious. “Assuming any of it actually works, which it might not. I guess we won’t know for sure until we try.”
“Hey, if you’ve got any better ideas…”
“We could try shooting it.” Ryo gave his partner a hopeful look; guns were familiar, something he understood, unlike all this other stuff. “Bullets will kill most living things.”
“You’re assumin’ it’s alive, and it might not be, at least not in the traditional sense.”
“I can’t help it, Dee; I’m not like you. I can’t get my head around the idea of mythical supernatural creatures being real, it goes against all logic! I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a precipice about to fall off. None of this makes sense to me; I’m just going along with you because I don’t know what else to do!”
Dropping the container of iron filings into his robe pocket, Dee crossed the room and wrapped his arms around his partner, pulling Ryo close. “I’m scared too, y’know. Just because I believe in the supernatural doesn’t mean it don’t scare the shit outta me.”
“I wish I could wake up and find all this, the deaths, the whole thing, was just a weird nightmare brought on by eating pizza late at night.”
“Yeah, same here, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”
“I don’t either.” Ryo let out a resigned sigh, resting his head against Dee’s shoulder. “So what now?” His voice was muffled by Dee’s robe.
“Now we get showered and dressed, grab a bite to eat, and go visit Father Malone, stock up on holy water. Once we get that, we can figure out how to use it. Don’t guess ya got any water pistols tucked away in these boxes, do ya? Maybe one of those super-soakers?”
“No, sorry. Can you imagine the mess if I’d ever let Bikky have one of those?” Ryo drew back to smile wryly at his lover.
“Good point. He probably would’a used it on me every chance he got, and knowin’ how much he loves makin’ me suffer, I’m guessin’ he wouldn’t have used water.”
Ryo chuckled. “Poor Dee. You mentioned something about a shower?”
“Yep! Shower, food, coffee. Havin’ breakfast in the evenin’ always feels so wrong.”
“Why? You eat breakfast cereal for supper.”
“That’s different, cereal’s a convenience food, good at any time of day. C’mon, we can save water if we shower together.”
“Won’t be saving time though.”
“Maybe not, but it’ll be fun, and we could both do with some of that.”
OoOoOoO
Despite the shared shower, not much more than an hour later the two detectives were out the door and heading for the Catholic church a couple of blocks from Mother Maria Lane’s orphanage. It wasn’t the church Dee had attended growing up in Mother’s care; the orphanage had been relocated several years earlier after the original was badly damaged by a bomb, under the orders of S Corp, who’d wanted the land it was on. In the aftermath, and to distance themselves from any blame, the company had found new premises for Mother and her charges and financed the move. It still annoyed Dee that the mega corporation had gotten off so lightly, but he had to admit the orphanage had benefitted through being in a better neighbourhood and having more space.
It was tempting to stop by and visit Mother, but they were on police business, after a fashion, so they made straight for the Church of Saint Jude. Dee had gotten to know Father Malone quite well in recent years through occasionally attending mass at the church along with Mother and the kids, and they received a warm greeting.
The priest proved remarkably open-minded when it came to the supernatural, and to Ryo’s surprise, once Dee had explained the problem and showed Father Malone his sketch of the creature he’d encountered, willingly handed over several vials of holy water, with the promise of more if it should be required.
“Will you be wantin’ someone from the church to go with ye?” he asked. “I’m not so spry meself, gettin’ a bit too old to be runnin’ around the city at night, but I could spare Deacon Bowen.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I think the fewer people out there right now the better,” Ryo said. “Dee and I are used to watching each other’s back, but being responsible for someone else’s safety as well would be too much when we’re not even sure what we’re dealing with.”
“As ye wish, I’m sure you boys know better than I do, but at least take this, for protection.” The elderly priest produced a rosary. “Just a loan, ye understand, until ye deal with this beastie o’ yours. Was blessed by the Pope himself, or so I’m told. Not the current one; this was way back in the forties, just after the war, and it was old then. It’s seen a lot.”
“It’s very kind of you, but I couldn’t,” Ryo demurred. “If it’s so old it must be very valuable…”
“Take it.” Father Malone grasped Ryo’s wrist in startlingly strong fingers and pressed the rosary into his hand. “Let it do the Lord’s work. From what your partner tells me, you’ll be needin’ all the protection ye can get. Trust to it and all it represents.”
“But I’m not a Catholic!”
“Ah, nobody’s perfect, me boy. Carry it with you; Dee here has enough faith for the both of ye.”
“Thank you, Father.” What else could Ryo say? He was touched by the priest’s generosity and only hoped he’d be able to return the rosary in one piece once this was over. It was surely irreplaceable.
“You boys be careful out there.”
“We will, Father,” Dee promised.
“I’ll be prayin’ for ye both.” Smiling, Father Malone patted Dee’s arm before turning and making his way towards the altar.
“You’ll do as he said, right?” Dee asked as they left the church and back to headed back to where Ryo’s car was parked. “You’ll keep it with you at all times?”
“He should’ve given it to you.”
“Why? You’re the one needs it; I’ve got my St. Christopher and my crucifix.”
“But what if it gets damaged, or I lose it?”
“You won’t. Here, wrap it around your wrist, under your sweater.” Dee took the rosary and fixed it around Ryo’s arm somehow, pulling his lover’s sweater and coat sleeves down over it. “There. Now if that creature comes near ya, you’ll know about it.”
“I don’t have your level of belief, Dee. I mean, I know it’s old but to me it’s just a string of beads. How can that protect me?”
“You just gotta trust that it will, babe. That’s what faith is all about, trustin’ in somethin’ even when ya don’t have any kind of evidence. When ya think about it, we do that all the time, when we know someone’s guilty before we find any proof.”
“I suppose.” Ryo brushed his fingers lightly over the beads, then lowered his arm and gave it a brief shake, making sure the rosary wouldn’t slip off. It held firm. “Okay, guess we’d better head for the precinct and collect our backup.”
“Oh joy, another night out in the cold, playin’ bait.”
“I’m not looking forward to it any more than you are. We don’t even have a plan for how we’re going to use our…” Ryo trailed off as he slid into the driver’s seat, not at all sure how to describe the bottles of holy water, their large containers of table salt, and two small tubs of iron filings. Were they weapons, equipment, or what? “I mean, we could add salt and iron filings to the holy water, but then it would be brine with bits of metal in it. Would it still qualify as holy water? Or should we mix the salt and iron filings with tap water? Or use everything separately?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Dee admitted, fastening his seatbelt. “I’m kinda flyin’ blind here.”
“Now you tell me.” Ryo shoved the car in gear, checked for traffic, and peeled away from the curb, his foot heavier on the accelerator than normal.
“Hey, don’t go takin’ your frustrations out on your car, dude!”
“Right, sorry.” Ryo eased up. “It’s just, this whole situation’s crazy! We’re going up against an unknown threat with what amounts to the components of a chemistry experiment. All we need now is a Bunsen burner and some matches.”
“Oh, I already got matches, and my lighter,” Dee assured him. “Fire is cleansing; if we manage to kill this thing, we might need to burn the body, like with Mr Bear.”
“Great, just what we need. We’ll probably wind up getting arrested for arson or something,” Ryo grumbled.
Dee raised an eyebrow, surprised by his partner’s uncharacteristic negativity. “Boy, you’re pessimistic today! Try lookin’ on the bright side!”
“I would if I could find one.”
“Mother always said, if you’re in a difficult situation, a positive attitude works wonders. Believe ya can do somethin’ and you’ll usually find ya can.” Dee grinned. “’Course, I’d be the first to admit it doesn’t always work; I figured out when I was eight that no matter how much I believed I could, I was never gonna fly. But it works more often than not.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but I’d be happier if we had a better plan of action than to try stuff and see what happens. It’s a bit too vague for my liking.”
“’Kay, how’s this? From what I’ve read, salt can be used as a barrier against supernatural entities, so if we can get the creature into an alleyway, we can spread a line of salt across each end and then it’ll be trapped, no way out…”
Ryo cut his partner off. “The whole salt thing’s still only a theory, Dee. At this point all we’re doing is taking our best guess; we have no way of knowing if it’ll actually work, but even if it’s true and the creature can’t cross a line of salt, we can’t know which alley it’ll pick next time. We may be setting ourselves up as bait, but it seems like this thing lures its victims into alleys, not the other way around. It’s unlikely that we’ll get to pick the place and time of our next encounter.”
“I guess that’s true. But once it goes into an alley, we could at least block one end, or use the salt to protect ourselves.”
“While it heads straight out the other end and gets away again?”
“Yeah, good point. Hey, maybe if we filled a hula-hoop with salt, we could drop that over it, trap it that way.”
“Now you’re being silly.”
“At least I’m comin’ up with ideas, which is more than you’re doin’.” Dee fell silent for a moment. “Okay, how ‘bout water pistols then? Fill ‘em with holy water, or with salt water and iron filings.”
“And how would we reload if we missed? Are you planning on carrying a bucket of salt water around with you?”
Dee sighed as another of his brilliant ideas was effortlessly shot down by his partner’s logical mind. “Damn, I hadn’t thought of that. Guess it wouldn’t be too practical.”
“So where does that leave us? Throwing holy water, salt, and iron filings at something that could still turn out to be nothing more than a disfigured stray cat?”
“D’you honestly believe that’s all it is?”
“I’ve only seen the sketch you drew, but…” Sighing heavily, Ryo shook his head. “No, I don’t believe that. From the pawprints, that… thing has been at the scene of at least four mysterious deaths, and probably all six. However crazy it might sound, it’s the only suspect we have. I don’t think we’ve got any choice but to treat it like a threat.”
“Glad to see we’re on the same page with this.”
“For all the good that does us.” Ryo stared grimly through the windshield. “Whatever this thing is, I just hope we can stop it before it kills again.”
“Amen to that.”
Part 4