(no subject)
Title: Deviant
Author: Setosgirl
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 6.764
Characters: slight Leon x D, incubus/D
Notes: I probably should have divided this into chapters, but it was always intended ot be a oneshot. Yar, it's long. ^^
Summary: What happens when it's D who breaks a contract?
Deviant
“You must keep him properly fed, of course,” said the tall dark-skinned man with the clipboard, writing his notes upon it and taking no notice of the elegantly winged, completely unclothed creature beside him.
“Of course,” D agreed, noticing the creature in the collar no more than his companion did.
“He feeds on meat and prefers it raw, but he won’t eat human, so you don’t have to worry about that.” His pen scratched away at the clipboard.
“That is good.”
“Also, never leave him alone for more than a few minutes. Human contact is best, but if that’s impossible, just give him a pet for him to take care of. He can’t be alone.”
“Very well.”
“You understand that if you or your customers break these rules, we aren’t responsible for anything that happens.”
“Of course,” D said again, and took the pen to sign his name to the contract offered him on the clipboard. The creature watched over the shoulder of D’s tall companion, then gave a rather wicked grin to his new owner, a twinkle lighting his dark eyes. His luxurious black hair fell over one shoulder, nearly to his waist, and he flipped it back with one long hand, letting fall his soot-feathered wing so it could fly unimpeded. D graced him with a small smile.
“Now, an incubus isn’t violent,” the man continued, taking his contract back and tucking his pen into his pocket. “But he is extremely playful, and he will try to seduce anyone he happens to see. It’s best just to ignore him, really - don’t encourage him if you can help it.” He caught D’s eyes again, away from the demon over his shoulder. “Do you see what I mean?”
“Indeed I do,” D allowed with a tiny bow. “He will find a good home.”
“Yes, we know you do well by the strange ones. He’s all yours now.”
D nodded his gratitude and wrapped one slender hand around the thin chain that served as a lead for the playful beast. The incubus followed him willingly enough, and in fact tried to wrap his smoothly-muscled, nicely-bronzed arms around his owner’s shoulders.
D was forced to laugh quietly as he escaped his acquisition’s clutches. “No, my friend, I think not. I will get you a pet, though - a kitten, I think.” He wasn’t even entirely certain that the demon could understand what he said, but he did smile as though he liked that idea. Even if it wasn’t real, he almost had to smile back.
Of course, he knew the incubus was just doing what it did - it was trying to seduce him. Or he was trying to seduce him. The demon was obviously (!) male (and was apparently in a state of perpetual half arousal), after all. He supposed the difference lay in whether it was a thinking being or not. If it were merely an animal, then it was an it. But if he were a thinking creature - if he really understood him - then he was a he.
It began playing with his hair, and he had to laugh again as he escaped once more. This would be a very interesting acquisition, for whomever bought it.
“Do you have a pet you want?” D asked casually of his newest pet as they entered the shop, expecting no sort of answer and going undisappointed. The incubus grinned as he saw Q-chan fluttering excitedly around the store as he often did when they were receiving a new creature, and tried to touch him.
D gently took his hand and pressed it back down, rubbing his temple lightly to relieve a small headache. Probably from trying to keep out of the demon’s clutches all day. “That is not a pet for you,” he said. The demon seemed not to mind, and wrapped his arms around his owner’s shoulders again, moving to kiss his neck. D slid from his grasp and dropped his short lead, freeing him to look around and himself free to find some soothing tea.
The creature that seemed to catch the demon’s dark eye was a long black ferret that sniffed him from the edge of its cage. He grinned his innocently wicked grin and crouched before it, tickling its nose with his finger. D smiled just a little and took the rodent from its cage, letting it scamper onto the demon’s shoulder. He laughed silently and made a playful grab for it, watching it crawl up his arm and sniff at his nose.
D smiled and gently pulled the taller beast to its feet. He came willingly enough, and tried to kiss him; he managed to evade and took his lead in hand.
“This way, my friend,” he said, and the demon followed him down the hall, playing with his ferret. D led him to a curtained room, decorated with fabric draped upon the walls and a floor completely covered in soft pillows, a room such as befit the embodiment of lust and seduction.
“Here you are,” he said to it; the incubus looked around with curiosity in his dark eyes. D dropped the lead once more and it moved further into the room, touching the sleek fabric with a smile. D smiled slightly and turned to leave him.
He jumped when he felt the incubus grab his rear, looking back in surprise to see its wide grin. He shook his head and left, locking the door quietly behind him. It would be quite troublesome for such a creature to escape…
He remembered the other condition, though, and made sure that the incubus had plenty of food to last him the night, before collapsing wearily into his bed.
D awoke coughing in the early morning, doubled over and gasping for air. His head was aching, a dull throbbing behind his eyes that relentlessly drowned out all thought and made him wish he were still asleep. He wanted nothing more than to roll over and pull the blankets up over his head…
But he couldn’t. He had to take care of his animals… he was the only one who worked in the store, and he had to feed them all… some of them could get quite irate without their regular feedings… and he had to change the water in the mermaid’s tank… He could close the store and make sure no one came, but the creatures still needed him…
He forced himself out of bed, but couldn’t work up the energy to get dressed and went slowly out to the shop, leaning heavily on the wall. The normal animals were easy enough, and could survive admirably well even if he fell too sick and didn’t feed them anew every single day… but he took nearly an hour feeding and watering them all, something that normally would take half as long. He had to stop and rest far too often, leaning against a wall to cough or just gasp for breath. Even with Q-chan trying to help, he barely was able to do it, and he didn’t think he could take care of the special creatures.
He couldn’t neglect them, though. Many of them might die. Others might go crazy or violent… he had to take care of them all…
He leaned against a wall, coughing, unable to breathe for so long that he actually slid down the wood a little, close to passing out. Q-chan pulled at his shoulder, worry on his fuzzy little features; he smiled wanly at him.
“I will be okay,” he said weakly, forcing himself to stand properly. “And I will take care of them all…”
He started the mermaid’s tank draining as he made his rounds and fed a few of the others with their particular food… He began refilling it, brushing aside her obvious questions with the same wan smile.
When it was filled and she was once more in her salt water, her hair and tail undulating slowly, he finished with the rest of his creatures. The mockingbird got her music played. The snake received his two live mice and one small turtle. The unicorn’s curtains were opened, lights checked.
He coughed for several minutes in the hallway before fumbling the incubus’ door open and delivering his raw meat. The ferret scampered over to him and climbed his leg, to chitter on his shoulder. He winced and gently set it on the ground, where it ran over to its owner. The incubus was sitting on the pillows, just looking at him strangely, his grin missing. D coughed again, groaning a little as it rattled his aching head. He had to see if there was something wrong with the demon, though, before he could crawl back into bed.
He walked closer to check him out, just to make sure he wasn’t ill as well. They had been together a lot of yesterday, after all… If he were sick, he’d have to make sure he got well…
The demon grinned as he came closer and wrapped his arms suddenly around him, kissing his neck and flaring his wings around them. D put his weak hands on his shoulders in surprise and pushed back gently, turning his head away. Slowly, the demon released him and sat back, pouting. Evidently, he was fine, just empathically concerned. He’d almost have to be empathic, after all…
He wasn’t sure what he’d been thinking anyway, he considered as he shut and locked the door. Demons couldn’t catch human sicknesses anyway, while D himself, human or no, apparently could. He shouldn’t have been able to, of course, but this must have been a particularly potent virus. It was just the fever thinking for him, though… He needn’t be worried about the incubus.
He froze as he heard the front door close. He’d forgotten…
“I am sorry,” he said quietly, stepping out into the shop. “We are closed…”
“Jesus, D,” a certain blond cop said, stepping closer. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah; I am afraid I am in no condition for tea today, detective,” he said, and coughed again, leaning against the wall. He considered anachronistically that it must be strange for him to see him like this, without his makeup, wearing only the thin white robe he wore to bed…
“Are you okay?” Leon asked, stepping up to support him. He didn’t let himself think about how good it felt to have the strong American’s arms holding him up…
“I will be,” he assured him. “I only need to rest.”
“Okay…” Leon said uncertainly, helping him back through the large red double doors toward his bedroom in the very back of the shop. He wanted to protest that he could make it on his own, but the truth was that it did feel good, and he wasn’t likely to feel it again unless he happened to get sick and invite the cop over… After all, Leon had always seemed to make it abundantly clear that he wasn’t interested…
“You need help with the animals or anything?” he offered as he helped him into his bed. “The normal ones, at least…”
He shook his head. “No, I’ve just fed them all…”
“Like this? No wonder you look like hell.”
“Considering how I feel, thank you for the compliment, detective,” he said, trying to give him a smile and ending up doubled over, his slim body one more wracked with coughs. Leon held him until it passed and helped him lie down.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? You don’t need to see a doctor or something?”
“No, I will be fine,” he said. “You should go now, before you get sick as well…” As much as he wanted him to stay, he didn’t want to be responsible for him falling ill.
“I guess so,” Leon said, but didn’t move for a moment. He brushed a few strands of hair from his face, before he seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly withdrew his hand, standing and trying to cover his faint blush.
“So, I’ll come by tomorrow, see if you’re feeling better. If you’re not, don’t you dare take care of those animals until I get here.” D had to smile a little and nodded, closing his eyes. Whatever he wanted…
D waited to speak until he was already at he door, building up his courage. “Thank you, Leon…” he finally said quietly, barely looking at him.
Leon paused. “Hey, no problem,” he finally said. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow.” And he disappeared before any more could be said. D closed his eyes and smiled just a little, falling almost immediately into a deep sleep.
“D?” Leon pushed the door open, finding the shop empty. Some of the animals seemed restless, and he guessed that they hadn’t been fed yet.
“Hey, Count!” he called again, stepping warily through the doors and toward his room. “Are you all right?”
He found D still in bed, buried under his blankets and shivering violently, still asleep, to all appearances. He thought it was kinder to leave him that way, and slipped out of the room.
He was surprised when Q-chan followed him, and smiled at him. “Hey. I’m gonna feed the animals - you gonna help?” The bat-rabbit-devil made a happy noise, and he grinned. “Okay, this shouldn’t be too hard.”
It ended up taking him almost an hour, but all the normal animals were fed and made happy. There was even a small white kitten that seemed to be rather attached to him.
“Okay… now, what about the freaky ones?” he said absently, half to himself and half to the Count’s pet. Q-chan made another noise and flew back toward the bedroom, and he followed. He didn’t really want to wake him up, but he knew he couldn’t really take care of the special creatures himself, and they did need to be taken care of… After all, he wouldn’t want them to get free and start taking over the city like that crazy man-eating rabbit.
The small pet was sitting on D’s shoulder, though the slim Chinese man seemed asleep. Leon considered how to wake him. It seemed, after all, that talking wouldn’t work. He settled for bending down to gently shake his shoulder.
If he hadn’t been able to feel the heat of his body through the covers and D wasn’t so obviously seriously ill, Leon would have almost thought that the way he came awake was cute, like a kitten was cute. He just opened his eyes, completely unworried and unguarded, not even startled.
He looked up at him through his limp hair. “Hello, detective,” he said, and coughed again a little, shivering. “I thought you were going to return tomorrow…”
Leon frowned. Had he been sleeping since he left? “It is tomorrow.”
“Oh. I see.”
He frowned again. “I fed all the normal animals, but I can’t take care of the freaky ones.”
D just nodded and forced himself to sit up. Why was it so cold in here? “Thank you for your help,” he said quietly, so as not to aggravate his throat any further and make himself cough again. He thought there was a very large chance he would collapse if he tried to get out of bed… but he had to take care of his creatures.
He slid his legs out of his bed and tried to stand, leaning heavily against the wall, pleasantly surprising himself when he was able to keep his feet.
“Here,” Leon said, draping a warm blanket over his shoulders, much to his surprise. “You look like shit.”
“Language, dear detective…” he said absently, gratefully pulling the blanket tight. He noticed as he stood still to stop his head from swimming for a moment that his nail polish was chipping, but couldn’t even rouse himself enough to take the normal pride in his appearance.
With as deep a breath as his clogged chest could take, he pushed himself from the wall and started toward the door, barely noting that Leon kept unaccustomedly close to him, probably in case he fell or needed help. Maybe being deathly ill wasn’t all that bad…
“Please,” he said politely. “If you could begin draining the mermaid’s tank…”
“Mermaid?!” Leon said. “This isn’t going to turn out to be another man-eating fish, is it?”
He shrugged weakly. “It is possible. Of course, if she is kept properly fed, it won’t be a problem.” Leon opened the doors for him, and he nodded in thanks. He probably wouldn’t have been able to manage it on his own.
“I will take care of the others - most of them are either skittish or dangerous, and they would not recognize you…”
“And you’re going to leave me alone with the man-eating fish?”
“She won’t eat you. You have my word.”
Leon still managed to look dubious about this, and he felt the need to convince him.
“If she does, you will finally have your excuse to arrest me…” He tried to offer him his normal smile, but it really ended up only looking more like a grimace.
Leon didn’t protest again. D looked so miserable, he really did want to help… “If you say so,” he just said a bit uncertainly. D smiled wanly to thank him and pointed him to the mermaid’s room, while he weakly went off to take care of his other creatures, Q-chan chirruping in his wake.
He warily stood on the platform to look down into what appeared to be a huge metal jar. She swam to the surface and looked at him, her long blond hair fanning out around her. “Well,” he said to himself, “she sure doesn’t look like a man-eating fish…”
Still, he didn’t want to take any chances, and he quickly abandoned the semi-vulnerable perch, retreating to the floor to open what was an apparently well-concealed plug in the back of the jar, if D were to be believed. It was a bit too well-concealed; even with the channel showing where the water would drain, it took him nearly fifteen minutes to find it.
It was with a sense of triumph that he pulled it out, and the water began to drain, a slow process. Another half an hour was wasted waiting for it, before he could replace the plug and put the appropriate hose in the mouth of her ‘tank’, slowly filling it again. How did D have the patience for all this? He must get up at three in the morning…
“There,” he said to her. “You’ve got your water. You’ve got your food.” With that, he threw some dead fish into the water, and she greedily chased after them. “I’m gonna go find the Count now. Behave yourself.”
He thought she gave him a toothy grin as he walked away.
“D?” he called. He noticed a light coming from a pair of doors and walked that way, finding Q-chan outside. “D? You in here?”
He pushed the door open, over the rabbit-devil’s squeaked protests. And there, looking sickly but gently combing out the pure golden mane of a bright white horse, was D. He couldn’t look away. He could almost swear the horse was shining, but that could have been the reflection of the bright sun and lamplight that was streaming into the room. The blanket had been set aside, and there D was, pale skin, in his white robe or whatever that was, his dark hair hanging down…
Then the horse looked up at him, and he gasped and drew back. “What the-“
The unicorn reared up, golden hooves flailing wildly. D was knocked back a little, and turned to look at him.
“Get out of here!” he fairly yelled - but still sounding like he was concerned about Leon’s safety, instead of angry. Leon was torn between running in there and rescuing him and shutting the door; he settled for the latter, seeing D already running his slender hand’s over the horse’s sides and neck, murmuring reassuringly in its ear to calm it down.
It was at least ten anxious minutes of Q-chan berating him squeakily before the Count wearily stepped out of the room, holding the blanket tightly around him once more.
“What the hell was that?” he demanded.
D winced slightly. “That was a unicorn, detective,” he said calmly.
“I saw that… I meant, why did it go all psycho?”
“Unicorns cannot stand men… even Q-chan must stay out here, just in case.”
Leon was confused. “Hate men? But… you’re… aren’t you?”
D had to smile a little, though his head felt as though it were imploding slowly. “Yes, of course I’m a man,” he said, and walked past him, slowly, toward his only remaining creature, the incubus.
The cop didn’t understand. Maybe it was because of his clothes… Maybe it was just because he didn’t exude a very manly vibe. He decided not to ask. He didn’t really want to know that badly. He had a feeling he might regret it if he did.
“So what’s this?” he asked as D unlocked the door. “Is it dangerous?” his voice took on a faintly accusatory tone. “You know you’re not supposed to sell dangerous animals…”
“All animals can be dangerous, detective,” D told him, and he had to admit that was true enough. “But, no. It is not violent. Merely… troublesome. It is an incubus. A form of demon which attempts to seduce all it comes into contact with. If you like, I can show you my contract to prove its legality…”
“I don’t really think that’s necessary…” Leon said. A demon? He was actually selling a demon?
The Count disappeared silently, and returned bearing a large plate of raw meat. He caught Leon looking and smiled very slightly.
“No, detective. He does not eat human meat.” He slipped into the room and was back in a couple seconds, locking the door once more.
“Is that all?” D nodded a little and leaned on the wall as though about to faint. “Here, let me help you.”
“Detective, I-” His defiance melted away rapidly as he put his arm around him and helped him back toward his room. He couldn’t help notice how well he fit in his arms…
“Okay,” he said as the pale man was once more in his bed. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess…”
“Thank you,” D said quietly once again. He found himself slightly disappointed that he didn’t use his name again, then wondered what was wrong with him. He nodded a little and left.
D closed his eyes, Q-chan’s incessant chirping driving spikes into his brain. After a few minutes, he fell into a restless sleep.
“Need you to work tomorrow.”
“What?!”
“You heard me.” The chief bit into his donut. “Need you to work tomorrow.”
“I can’t!”
“Why? Have a date?”
“No - I have to see a friend.”
There was a powdery snort. “You have a date. Cancel it. Johnson called in sick. I need you to work. You can call her after work and reschedule.”
Leon scowled. He wasn’t even sure if the pet shop had a phone, let alone what the number might be. And it wasn’t like it actually was a date - he just wanted to help out with the animals. After all, D was sick, and he was probably the only one who even knew…
“I’m getting paid overtime for this, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Shoulda figured…” he muttered to himself.
When D awoke, it was midmorning, and he was sweating. Profusely. Weakly, he threw the covers away from him and forced himself out of bed, desperate for water to cool his parched throat…
Water…
Change water…
The mermaid. And the others. Had Leon not awakened him, tried to take care of them himself? No… nonono. That would be bad. Besides the unicorn that would have killed him, that incubus… or the salamanders… No, Leon couldn’t have been stupid enough to try to take care of the special creatures himself, could he?
He leaned on the wall all the way to the store proper, and heard the restless rustling of the normal animals. That was somewhat reassuring. It meant that Leon wasn’t lying dead in one of the other rooms, at least. Even though, irreparable damage might have been done…
Why hadn’t Leon come? He had said he would, hadn’t he? Maybe not… maybe he had dreamed that. Maybe he had dreamed everything that happened yesterday - or, ‘yesterday’.
He reflected evenly that at least he wasn’t coughing any more. Everything was too hot, though… far too hot. He should just go swimming with the mermaid…
Mermaid. Creatures. He had to feed and care for them.
He slid down the hall and weakly pushed the doors open. He heard restlessness here too… They wanted food, needed their special attention… He swiftly grabbed the plate of meat for the incubus and slipped into his room, slipping out again and relocking it before he could be assaulted. He couldn’t deal with that right now…
The mermaid could go without fresh water today. He fed her and disappeared.
The unicorn’s room was getting dim; he quickly opened the thick drapes and let the sunlight stream in, rejuvenating the fading creature. He rested for a moment, brushing its mane out, making sure it would be okay after its dangerous experience. A unicorn could never be exposed to darkness, or it would die in agony. The lights were enough for the night, but it really needed sunlight to live.
The mockingbird had died. He sadly drew the curtain around its cage, vowing silently to bury it as it deserved when he was well enough to do so. That particular breed of mockingbird needed to have its song played every morning to keep it alive, and he hadn’t been awake to play it… It was a great treasure for its owner, able to become whatever they most desired, and he was sad to see it go.
In half an hour more he was done with his special creatures and almost ready to just crawl back into bed. He had to feed the normal animals, though… He couldn’t just neglect them. Just because they weren’t as rare…
He loosened the tie of the robe as he dully fed the fish, pulling the wide neck away. He felt like it was strangling him, choking off his air… it was too hot in here…
Put the fish food back… Cats… feed the cats…
The room swam before his eyes as he collapsed.
Leon opened the door to the pet shop, hoping D was okay… he hadn’t been able to come check on him before work, and he hoped the animals were all right, as well - but it was mostly the Count he was worried about.
“D?” he asked. The shop was dark, not even the lamps lit, no sunlight to creep in… “D? You here?”
There was a screech in his face, and he stumbled backward before he realized it was Q-chan, verily shrieking in distress.
“Hey!” He grabbed the flying bunny and tried to calm it. “Hey, cool it! What’s wrong? What happened to him?”
The rabbit thing squeaked and flew away from him, making noise to guide him. He walked slowly forward, then stumbled over something soft and yielding, and fell to his hands and knees, his legs on the same object he’d fallen over. It moved slightly; he realized it was the owner of the pet shop and swore.
“How about some light?” he said of the pet, and got an indignant squawk in return. “Fine,” he grumbled, and gently extracted himself from D’s prone form, walking slowly until he found a wall, following it around until he encountered one of those imitation gas lamps that populated the walls. He flicked the knob in the bottom and flinched as he was assaulted by the dim light.
It lit a surprisingly large area of the shop; he looked back to see D on the floor, crumpled as though he had just collapsed. He was even paler than normal, his dark hair hanging limply across his face. He looked bad… very bad.
He quickly scooped him into his arms, D’s head lolling limply against his arm. He swallowed thickly as his robe thing fell partly open, exposing most of his pale torso. He was thinner than his clothes made him seem… or maybe it was because he hadn’t eaten since he had fallen sick. He was still beau-
No, Leon stopped himself from thinking that.
He swallowed again and carried him away, toward his room. He wasn’t burning up anymore - it seemed like his fever had broken, at least.
“Sorry,” he said to Q-chan. “I couldn’t come by earlier. Had to work.” He tucked D into bed and sat down with him, pulling the blankets up to his chin. “Did the animals get taken care of?”
The rabbit thing landed beside D’s head and squeaked a little. Leon assumed so. Well, he hoped so, because he wasn’t going to go messing around with the weird animals that the shop kept - he didn’t know what some of them could do. Like that unicorn. Scary.
He wanted to stay… but he had to work again in like ten hours. He got a glass of water and put it beside the bed - he didn’t know for sure, but he thought the major reason he’d passed out was pure dehydration. And he looked like he could use it, anyway. His usually soft (not to mention burgundy) lips were pale and dry, cracked from lack of water, and his skin was cool and dry to the touch.
“Make him drink that,” he said to the pet. “And more. I’ll try to get here tomorrow, but I might not be able to make it.” He got a kyuu of affirmation, and nodded. “I have to take off again. I’ll try and check back tomorrow.”
There was a noise that seemed to translate as ‘you’d better,’ and he nodded again.
When D awoke, it wasn’t quite dawn - his normal time. He felt slightly parched, but aside from that, one hundred percent better. He felt like himself again.
There was a kyuu from the fuzzy bunny bat, and he smiled slightly. “I feel much better, thank you,” he said. He couldn’t really remember the past few days too clearly, but he was just relieved enough to be recovered, or at least recovering, that it didn’t really matter.
He flawlessly reached out and took the glass of water from the table beside his bed, despite the utter darkness. His eyes functioned perfectly in amounts of light that would normally be negligible.
Stretching, he slid out of bed, and wrinkled his nose slightly. He needed to bathe. And change clothes and eat. And right after he took care of the animals, he would.
He was humming quietly to himself - he really did feel a million times better - as he fed all the animals in the front of the shop, where the humans he didn’t see needing a second chance could find themselves a cute little hamster or perhaps a doggy…
Then he made his way back into the more heavily incensed back part. Many of the animals back here lived in their own habitats, and could survive quite wonderfully. Some of the others, however, needed his personal attention, and now that he was well, he could lavish it upon them.
He spoke to the mermaid as her tank drained and he refilled it. Apparently, she thought that Leon was cute… he could only agree with her with a smile, and thank her for not eating him.
He spent a good half hour with the unicorn. It had to be kept separate from the other horses due to its intense dislike of anything the least bit impure, including the males of almost any species, and its special needs. After its close call yesterday, it was thriving beautifully, and he was glad to see it.
His last stop was once again the incubus. It was a fairly low-maintenance creature, after all, and needed him the least.
He set the platter of meat in the center of the room, and frowned when he realized he didn’t hear squeaking, and wasn’t being mauled by a ferret. He straightened up quickly and looked around.
There was no sign of the rodent anywhere. Perhaps it had escaped… maybe when he had last fed the demon. Oh, no… that was almost twenty-four hours ago… what if it had escaped even before that?
Gods… How long had the incubus been alone?
It hadn’t died, had it? That would be a tragedy… He prayed fervently that the creature was still alive as his mismatched eyes glanced quickly around. The incubus itself was silent, so it was no wonder he wouldn’t hear that, but…
He felt a presence behind him and turned around. There, in the corner, he saw the shadow of the winged demon, and drew back instinctively… the eyes that were peering coldly from the darkness, unblinkingly boring into his back, didn’t belong to the playful beast he’d bought less than a week ago. They were the cruel eyes of a monster…
He turned for the door and made a break for it. He wasn’t certain what had happened to the incubus after spending who knew how long alone, but he didn’t want to learn first hand…
He was still a couple yards away when the strong hand wrapped around his slim arm and pulled him backward. He let out a startled, wordless exclamation and looked back… and up… almost a foot above his own head to the dark, hard face of the incubus. There was a steely glint in those dark eyes that didn’t let him fight against their spell as he was thrown to the floor.
The pain jarred him back to his senses, drawing another quiet cry from him. He scrambled back to his feet, but the demon wrapped an arm around his shoulders and dragged him backward, even as he clawed at the firmly muscled forearm blocking his airway. He smelled the blood, but the demon was undeterred.
The incubus spun him around and slammed him back against the wall, pinning him with one large hand on his shoulder. He tried to slip from its grasp, but he was held firm, and pressed harshly against the wall.
The incubus’ other hand grabbed the loose neck of his robe and yanked forward, drawing a small cry from him as it destroyed his clothes and pulled him forward slightly. The tatters of silk fell unheeded to the floor around them, but the demon did pause, looking momentarily at his unclothed body. D realized blankly that it had probably also thought that he was a woman, and that perhaps he should do something about his personal image…
Then the demon discarded its surprise and pressed against him. He pushed against its shoulders and tried to get away again, but its strength surpassed even his, and it only moved its hand up from his shoulder to twine in his hair and yank his head backward. He struggled, but it was increasingly feeble, and a harsh kiss was forced on him.
D wasn’t a stranger to lust - he was the object of it more often than not - but he had never gone much beyond kissing. It had never honestly occurred to him, before he met Leon, why he should want to. And still it had taken him this long to realize that what happened when the incubus’ contract was breached might be deemed by some to be worse than death.
He could feel the very obvious arousal of the demon against his stomach and the very obvious knowledge that there was little he could actually do about this, aside from hope the incubus wouldn’t end up killing him anyway. Sooty wings surrounded them, shielding them from whatever light there was and covering them in the darkness more appropriate to the deed. The long tongue of the demon plundered his mouth despite his feeble resistance, making him feel just how helpless he was…
He gasped shallowly for air when his mouth was finally released. His head was still being tilted back at a rather painful angle, though, and he was being forced to look up at his attacker. None of the playfulness of the creature he had seen before was present. Now, it was a demon…
He was spun around and slammed against the wall, his hands barely cushioning his head from the impact. He began to struggle again, but it was still useless. One of the demon’s hands was placed on his back between his shoulder blades to hold him still; he didn’t know what the other was doing, but…
There was absolutely no warning before his body was roughly invaded. He tried to clench both hands, digging his fingernails deep into the wood of the wall, biting deep into the flesh of his left arm to stifle the cry. He tasted his own blood… sweeter than any other he had ever tasted… but the pain was so intense he barely even noticed as it flooded into his mouth.
Nor was there any time to adjust. He squeezed his eyes shut to endure the pain as the demon held his hip with his free hand and mercilessly and immediately began to thrust into him. Pained noises escaped him, to his own shame, but there was no one around to hear them anyway, even if they hadn’t been muffled by his flesh in his mouth.
The pain slowly became bearable as the incubus continued, and his whimpers trailed off into heavy breathing, releasing his arm slowly from his mouth. He tried to relax in hopes that it would ease the pain.
The hand on his back slowly eased its pressure, and he could breathe easier. Slowly, it rubbed his back, gently, then moved up to his shoulder, down his arm. Almost as though comforting him. He was wary, still, but it slowly helped him relax, and he even pulled his fingers from the wall.
He was startled to feel the other hand gently rubbing his side to relax him, and the demon’s lips brush against the nape of his neck. He didn’t really understand… all of the violence seemed gone from the creature. The hand on his arm moved to brush through his hair in a surprisingly kind gesture. The pain was actually fading - he didn’t know if the incubus was taking it away or what, but he was glad of it…
He gasped in surprise when the hand on his hip slid around and grasped his own limp manhood. He couldn’t hold back a breathy groan as unexpected pleasure shot though him, feeling himself get hard. This was… this was not bad… After the demon got its aggression out, at least…
He knew he should still be fighting this. It was wrong, after all. It was rape. He shouldn’t be giving in, let alone wanting it…
But he moaned again, and helplessly tried to push back against the incubus when it paused, almost as though teasing him. After a moment, it held him gently still and resumed, but this time at apparently a different angle, because it hit something new and a wave of pleasure crashed through him that made him give voice to a hoarse cry. It was suddenly entirely unimportant that this was wrong; he just didn’t want it to stop.
He thought he was speaking; he wasn’t entirely certain, but he may have been pleading for more. It was like nothing he had felt before, and despite the initial pain, he thought he may have been in love with the feeling.
Something happened - he had no idea what - and the pleasure reached such a peak that he cried out, his fingernails once again digging into the wood of the wall before him as his member erupted in the demon’s hand. Large ashen wings closed around him as the feeling of the incubus filling him with its seed sent shivers through his pleasure-wracked body, and it was like being suspended in a universe of feathers and bliss.
It took a while before he realized the incubus was cradling him against its muscular chest, holding him off the ground at approximately the height that his own head normally sat. It was still silent, as it ever was, but it managed to convey a calming sense of piece. As the feathers of its wings brushed over his body, he considered the idea of not selling this creature at all…
Author: Setosgirl
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 6.764
Characters: slight Leon x D, incubus/D
Notes: I probably should have divided this into chapters, but it was always intended ot be a oneshot. Yar, it's long. ^^
Summary: What happens when it's D who breaks a contract?
Deviant
“You must keep him properly fed, of course,” said the tall dark-skinned man with the clipboard, writing his notes upon it and taking no notice of the elegantly winged, completely unclothed creature beside him.
“Of course,” D agreed, noticing the creature in the collar no more than his companion did.
“He feeds on meat and prefers it raw, but he won’t eat human, so you don’t have to worry about that.” His pen scratched away at the clipboard.
“That is good.”
“Also, never leave him alone for more than a few minutes. Human contact is best, but if that’s impossible, just give him a pet for him to take care of. He can’t be alone.”
“Very well.”
“You understand that if you or your customers break these rules, we aren’t responsible for anything that happens.”
“Of course,” D said again, and took the pen to sign his name to the contract offered him on the clipboard. The creature watched over the shoulder of D’s tall companion, then gave a rather wicked grin to his new owner, a twinkle lighting his dark eyes. His luxurious black hair fell over one shoulder, nearly to his waist, and he flipped it back with one long hand, letting fall his soot-feathered wing so it could fly unimpeded. D graced him with a small smile.
“Now, an incubus isn’t violent,” the man continued, taking his contract back and tucking his pen into his pocket. “But he is extremely playful, and he will try to seduce anyone he happens to see. It’s best just to ignore him, really - don’t encourage him if you can help it.” He caught D’s eyes again, away from the demon over his shoulder. “Do you see what I mean?”
“Indeed I do,” D allowed with a tiny bow. “He will find a good home.”
“Yes, we know you do well by the strange ones. He’s all yours now.”
D nodded his gratitude and wrapped one slender hand around the thin chain that served as a lead for the playful beast. The incubus followed him willingly enough, and in fact tried to wrap his smoothly-muscled, nicely-bronzed arms around his owner’s shoulders.
D was forced to laugh quietly as he escaped his acquisition’s clutches. “No, my friend, I think not. I will get you a pet, though - a kitten, I think.” He wasn’t even entirely certain that the demon could understand what he said, but he did smile as though he liked that idea. Even if it wasn’t real, he almost had to smile back.
Of course, he knew the incubus was just doing what it did - it was trying to seduce him. Or he was trying to seduce him. The demon was obviously (!) male (and was apparently in a state of perpetual half arousal), after all. He supposed the difference lay in whether it was a thinking being or not. If it were merely an animal, then it was an it. But if he were a thinking creature - if he really understood him - then he was a he.
It began playing with his hair, and he had to laugh again as he escaped once more. This would be a very interesting acquisition, for whomever bought it.
“Do you have a pet you want?” D asked casually of his newest pet as they entered the shop, expecting no sort of answer and going undisappointed. The incubus grinned as he saw Q-chan fluttering excitedly around the store as he often did when they were receiving a new creature, and tried to touch him.
D gently took his hand and pressed it back down, rubbing his temple lightly to relieve a small headache. Probably from trying to keep out of the demon’s clutches all day. “That is not a pet for you,” he said. The demon seemed not to mind, and wrapped his arms around his owner’s shoulders again, moving to kiss his neck. D slid from his grasp and dropped his short lead, freeing him to look around and himself free to find some soothing tea.
The creature that seemed to catch the demon’s dark eye was a long black ferret that sniffed him from the edge of its cage. He grinned his innocently wicked grin and crouched before it, tickling its nose with his finger. D smiled just a little and took the rodent from its cage, letting it scamper onto the demon’s shoulder. He laughed silently and made a playful grab for it, watching it crawl up his arm and sniff at his nose.
D smiled and gently pulled the taller beast to its feet. He came willingly enough, and tried to kiss him; he managed to evade and took his lead in hand.
“This way, my friend,” he said, and the demon followed him down the hall, playing with his ferret. D led him to a curtained room, decorated with fabric draped upon the walls and a floor completely covered in soft pillows, a room such as befit the embodiment of lust and seduction.
“Here you are,” he said to it; the incubus looked around with curiosity in his dark eyes. D dropped the lead once more and it moved further into the room, touching the sleek fabric with a smile. D smiled slightly and turned to leave him.
He jumped when he felt the incubus grab his rear, looking back in surprise to see its wide grin. He shook his head and left, locking the door quietly behind him. It would be quite troublesome for such a creature to escape…
He remembered the other condition, though, and made sure that the incubus had plenty of food to last him the night, before collapsing wearily into his bed.
D awoke coughing in the early morning, doubled over and gasping for air. His head was aching, a dull throbbing behind his eyes that relentlessly drowned out all thought and made him wish he were still asleep. He wanted nothing more than to roll over and pull the blankets up over his head…
But he couldn’t. He had to take care of his animals… he was the only one who worked in the store, and he had to feed them all… some of them could get quite irate without their regular feedings… and he had to change the water in the mermaid’s tank… He could close the store and make sure no one came, but the creatures still needed him…
He forced himself out of bed, but couldn’t work up the energy to get dressed and went slowly out to the shop, leaning heavily on the wall. The normal animals were easy enough, and could survive admirably well even if he fell too sick and didn’t feed them anew every single day… but he took nearly an hour feeding and watering them all, something that normally would take half as long. He had to stop and rest far too often, leaning against a wall to cough or just gasp for breath. Even with Q-chan trying to help, he barely was able to do it, and he didn’t think he could take care of the special creatures.
He couldn’t neglect them, though. Many of them might die. Others might go crazy or violent… he had to take care of them all…
He leaned against a wall, coughing, unable to breathe for so long that he actually slid down the wood a little, close to passing out. Q-chan pulled at his shoulder, worry on his fuzzy little features; he smiled wanly at him.
“I will be okay,” he said weakly, forcing himself to stand properly. “And I will take care of them all…”
He started the mermaid’s tank draining as he made his rounds and fed a few of the others with their particular food… He began refilling it, brushing aside her obvious questions with the same wan smile.
When it was filled and she was once more in her salt water, her hair and tail undulating slowly, he finished with the rest of his creatures. The mockingbird got her music played. The snake received his two live mice and one small turtle. The unicorn’s curtains were opened, lights checked.
He coughed for several minutes in the hallway before fumbling the incubus’ door open and delivering his raw meat. The ferret scampered over to him and climbed his leg, to chitter on his shoulder. He winced and gently set it on the ground, where it ran over to its owner. The incubus was sitting on the pillows, just looking at him strangely, his grin missing. D coughed again, groaning a little as it rattled his aching head. He had to see if there was something wrong with the demon, though, before he could crawl back into bed.
He walked closer to check him out, just to make sure he wasn’t ill as well. They had been together a lot of yesterday, after all… If he were sick, he’d have to make sure he got well…
The demon grinned as he came closer and wrapped his arms suddenly around him, kissing his neck and flaring his wings around them. D put his weak hands on his shoulders in surprise and pushed back gently, turning his head away. Slowly, the demon released him and sat back, pouting. Evidently, he was fine, just empathically concerned. He’d almost have to be empathic, after all…
He wasn’t sure what he’d been thinking anyway, he considered as he shut and locked the door. Demons couldn’t catch human sicknesses anyway, while D himself, human or no, apparently could. He shouldn’t have been able to, of course, but this must have been a particularly potent virus. It was just the fever thinking for him, though… He needn’t be worried about the incubus.
He froze as he heard the front door close. He’d forgotten…
“I am sorry,” he said quietly, stepping out into the shop. “We are closed…”
“Jesus, D,” a certain blond cop said, stepping closer. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah; I am afraid I am in no condition for tea today, detective,” he said, and coughed again, leaning against the wall. He considered anachronistically that it must be strange for him to see him like this, without his makeup, wearing only the thin white robe he wore to bed…
“Are you okay?” Leon asked, stepping up to support him. He didn’t let himself think about how good it felt to have the strong American’s arms holding him up…
“I will be,” he assured him. “I only need to rest.”
“Okay…” Leon said uncertainly, helping him back through the large red double doors toward his bedroom in the very back of the shop. He wanted to protest that he could make it on his own, but the truth was that it did feel good, and he wasn’t likely to feel it again unless he happened to get sick and invite the cop over… After all, Leon had always seemed to make it abundantly clear that he wasn’t interested…
“You need help with the animals or anything?” he offered as he helped him into his bed. “The normal ones, at least…”
He shook his head. “No, I’ve just fed them all…”
“Like this? No wonder you look like hell.”
“Considering how I feel, thank you for the compliment, detective,” he said, trying to give him a smile and ending up doubled over, his slim body one more wracked with coughs. Leon held him until it passed and helped him lie down.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? You don’t need to see a doctor or something?”
“No, I will be fine,” he said. “You should go now, before you get sick as well…” As much as he wanted him to stay, he didn’t want to be responsible for him falling ill.
“I guess so,” Leon said, but didn’t move for a moment. He brushed a few strands of hair from his face, before he seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly withdrew his hand, standing and trying to cover his faint blush.
“So, I’ll come by tomorrow, see if you’re feeling better. If you’re not, don’t you dare take care of those animals until I get here.” D had to smile a little and nodded, closing his eyes. Whatever he wanted…
D waited to speak until he was already at he door, building up his courage. “Thank you, Leon…” he finally said quietly, barely looking at him.
Leon paused. “Hey, no problem,” he finally said. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow.” And he disappeared before any more could be said. D closed his eyes and smiled just a little, falling almost immediately into a deep sleep.
“D?” Leon pushed the door open, finding the shop empty. Some of the animals seemed restless, and he guessed that they hadn’t been fed yet.
“Hey, Count!” he called again, stepping warily through the doors and toward his room. “Are you all right?”
He found D still in bed, buried under his blankets and shivering violently, still asleep, to all appearances. He thought it was kinder to leave him that way, and slipped out of the room.
He was surprised when Q-chan followed him, and smiled at him. “Hey. I’m gonna feed the animals - you gonna help?” The bat-rabbit-devil made a happy noise, and he grinned. “Okay, this shouldn’t be too hard.”
It ended up taking him almost an hour, but all the normal animals were fed and made happy. There was even a small white kitten that seemed to be rather attached to him.
“Okay… now, what about the freaky ones?” he said absently, half to himself and half to the Count’s pet. Q-chan made another noise and flew back toward the bedroom, and he followed. He didn’t really want to wake him up, but he knew he couldn’t really take care of the special creatures himself, and they did need to be taken care of… After all, he wouldn’t want them to get free and start taking over the city like that crazy man-eating rabbit.
The small pet was sitting on D’s shoulder, though the slim Chinese man seemed asleep. Leon considered how to wake him. It seemed, after all, that talking wouldn’t work. He settled for bending down to gently shake his shoulder.
If he hadn’t been able to feel the heat of his body through the covers and D wasn’t so obviously seriously ill, Leon would have almost thought that the way he came awake was cute, like a kitten was cute. He just opened his eyes, completely unworried and unguarded, not even startled.
He looked up at him through his limp hair. “Hello, detective,” he said, and coughed again a little, shivering. “I thought you were going to return tomorrow…”
Leon frowned. Had he been sleeping since he left? “It is tomorrow.”
“Oh. I see.”
He frowned again. “I fed all the normal animals, but I can’t take care of the freaky ones.”
D just nodded and forced himself to sit up. Why was it so cold in here? “Thank you for your help,” he said quietly, so as not to aggravate his throat any further and make himself cough again. He thought there was a very large chance he would collapse if he tried to get out of bed… but he had to take care of his creatures.
He slid his legs out of his bed and tried to stand, leaning heavily against the wall, pleasantly surprising himself when he was able to keep his feet.
“Here,” Leon said, draping a warm blanket over his shoulders, much to his surprise. “You look like shit.”
“Language, dear detective…” he said absently, gratefully pulling the blanket tight. He noticed as he stood still to stop his head from swimming for a moment that his nail polish was chipping, but couldn’t even rouse himself enough to take the normal pride in his appearance.
With as deep a breath as his clogged chest could take, he pushed himself from the wall and started toward the door, barely noting that Leon kept unaccustomedly close to him, probably in case he fell or needed help. Maybe being deathly ill wasn’t all that bad…
“Please,” he said politely. “If you could begin draining the mermaid’s tank…”
“Mermaid?!” Leon said. “This isn’t going to turn out to be another man-eating fish, is it?”
He shrugged weakly. “It is possible. Of course, if she is kept properly fed, it won’t be a problem.” Leon opened the doors for him, and he nodded in thanks. He probably wouldn’t have been able to manage it on his own.
“I will take care of the others - most of them are either skittish or dangerous, and they would not recognize you…”
“And you’re going to leave me alone with the man-eating fish?”
“She won’t eat you. You have my word.”
Leon still managed to look dubious about this, and he felt the need to convince him.
“If she does, you will finally have your excuse to arrest me…” He tried to offer him his normal smile, but it really ended up only looking more like a grimace.
Leon didn’t protest again. D looked so miserable, he really did want to help… “If you say so,” he just said a bit uncertainly. D smiled wanly to thank him and pointed him to the mermaid’s room, while he weakly went off to take care of his other creatures, Q-chan chirruping in his wake.
He warily stood on the platform to look down into what appeared to be a huge metal jar. She swam to the surface and looked at him, her long blond hair fanning out around her. “Well,” he said to himself, “she sure doesn’t look like a man-eating fish…”
Still, he didn’t want to take any chances, and he quickly abandoned the semi-vulnerable perch, retreating to the floor to open what was an apparently well-concealed plug in the back of the jar, if D were to be believed. It was a bit too well-concealed; even with the channel showing where the water would drain, it took him nearly fifteen minutes to find it.
It was with a sense of triumph that he pulled it out, and the water began to drain, a slow process. Another half an hour was wasted waiting for it, before he could replace the plug and put the appropriate hose in the mouth of her ‘tank’, slowly filling it again. How did D have the patience for all this? He must get up at three in the morning…
“There,” he said to her. “You’ve got your water. You’ve got your food.” With that, he threw some dead fish into the water, and she greedily chased after them. “I’m gonna go find the Count now. Behave yourself.”
He thought she gave him a toothy grin as he walked away.
“D?” he called. He noticed a light coming from a pair of doors and walked that way, finding Q-chan outside. “D? You in here?”
He pushed the door open, over the rabbit-devil’s squeaked protests. And there, looking sickly but gently combing out the pure golden mane of a bright white horse, was D. He couldn’t look away. He could almost swear the horse was shining, but that could have been the reflection of the bright sun and lamplight that was streaming into the room. The blanket had been set aside, and there D was, pale skin, in his white robe or whatever that was, his dark hair hanging down…
Then the horse looked up at him, and he gasped and drew back. “What the-“
The unicorn reared up, golden hooves flailing wildly. D was knocked back a little, and turned to look at him.
“Get out of here!” he fairly yelled - but still sounding like he was concerned about Leon’s safety, instead of angry. Leon was torn between running in there and rescuing him and shutting the door; he settled for the latter, seeing D already running his slender hand’s over the horse’s sides and neck, murmuring reassuringly in its ear to calm it down.
It was at least ten anxious minutes of Q-chan berating him squeakily before the Count wearily stepped out of the room, holding the blanket tightly around him once more.
“What the hell was that?” he demanded.
D winced slightly. “That was a unicorn, detective,” he said calmly.
“I saw that… I meant, why did it go all psycho?”
“Unicorns cannot stand men… even Q-chan must stay out here, just in case.”
Leon was confused. “Hate men? But… you’re… aren’t you?”
D had to smile a little, though his head felt as though it were imploding slowly. “Yes, of course I’m a man,” he said, and walked past him, slowly, toward his only remaining creature, the incubus.
The cop didn’t understand. Maybe it was because of his clothes… Maybe it was just because he didn’t exude a very manly vibe. He decided not to ask. He didn’t really want to know that badly. He had a feeling he might regret it if he did.
“So what’s this?” he asked as D unlocked the door. “Is it dangerous?” his voice took on a faintly accusatory tone. “You know you’re not supposed to sell dangerous animals…”
“All animals can be dangerous, detective,” D told him, and he had to admit that was true enough. “But, no. It is not violent. Merely… troublesome. It is an incubus. A form of demon which attempts to seduce all it comes into contact with. If you like, I can show you my contract to prove its legality…”
“I don’t really think that’s necessary…” Leon said. A demon? He was actually selling a demon?
The Count disappeared silently, and returned bearing a large plate of raw meat. He caught Leon looking and smiled very slightly.
“No, detective. He does not eat human meat.” He slipped into the room and was back in a couple seconds, locking the door once more.
“Is that all?” D nodded a little and leaned on the wall as though about to faint. “Here, let me help you.”
“Detective, I-” His defiance melted away rapidly as he put his arm around him and helped him back toward his room. He couldn’t help notice how well he fit in his arms…
“Okay,” he said as the pale man was once more in his bed. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess…”
“Thank you,” D said quietly once again. He found himself slightly disappointed that he didn’t use his name again, then wondered what was wrong with him. He nodded a little and left.
D closed his eyes, Q-chan’s incessant chirping driving spikes into his brain. After a few minutes, he fell into a restless sleep.
“Need you to work tomorrow.”
“What?!”
“You heard me.” The chief bit into his donut. “Need you to work tomorrow.”
“I can’t!”
“Why? Have a date?”
“No - I have to see a friend.”
There was a powdery snort. “You have a date. Cancel it. Johnson called in sick. I need you to work. You can call her after work and reschedule.”
Leon scowled. He wasn’t even sure if the pet shop had a phone, let alone what the number might be. And it wasn’t like it actually was a date - he just wanted to help out with the animals. After all, D was sick, and he was probably the only one who even knew…
“I’m getting paid overtime for this, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Shoulda figured…” he muttered to himself.
When D awoke, it was midmorning, and he was sweating. Profusely. Weakly, he threw the covers away from him and forced himself out of bed, desperate for water to cool his parched throat…
Water…
Change water…
The mermaid. And the others. Had Leon not awakened him, tried to take care of them himself? No… nonono. That would be bad. Besides the unicorn that would have killed him, that incubus… or the salamanders… No, Leon couldn’t have been stupid enough to try to take care of the special creatures himself, could he?
He leaned on the wall all the way to the store proper, and heard the restless rustling of the normal animals. That was somewhat reassuring. It meant that Leon wasn’t lying dead in one of the other rooms, at least. Even though, irreparable damage might have been done…
Why hadn’t Leon come? He had said he would, hadn’t he? Maybe not… maybe he had dreamed that. Maybe he had dreamed everything that happened yesterday - or, ‘yesterday’.
He reflected evenly that at least he wasn’t coughing any more. Everything was too hot, though… far too hot. He should just go swimming with the mermaid…
Mermaid. Creatures. He had to feed and care for them.
He slid down the hall and weakly pushed the doors open. He heard restlessness here too… They wanted food, needed their special attention… He swiftly grabbed the plate of meat for the incubus and slipped into his room, slipping out again and relocking it before he could be assaulted. He couldn’t deal with that right now…
The mermaid could go without fresh water today. He fed her and disappeared.
The unicorn’s room was getting dim; he quickly opened the thick drapes and let the sunlight stream in, rejuvenating the fading creature. He rested for a moment, brushing its mane out, making sure it would be okay after its dangerous experience. A unicorn could never be exposed to darkness, or it would die in agony. The lights were enough for the night, but it really needed sunlight to live.
The mockingbird had died. He sadly drew the curtain around its cage, vowing silently to bury it as it deserved when he was well enough to do so. That particular breed of mockingbird needed to have its song played every morning to keep it alive, and he hadn’t been awake to play it… It was a great treasure for its owner, able to become whatever they most desired, and he was sad to see it go.
In half an hour more he was done with his special creatures and almost ready to just crawl back into bed. He had to feed the normal animals, though… He couldn’t just neglect them. Just because they weren’t as rare…
He loosened the tie of the robe as he dully fed the fish, pulling the wide neck away. He felt like it was strangling him, choking off his air… it was too hot in here…
Put the fish food back… Cats… feed the cats…
The room swam before his eyes as he collapsed.
Leon opened the door to the pet shop, hoping D was okay… he hadn’t been able to come check on him before work, and he hoped the animals were all right, as well - but it was mostly the Count he was worried about.
“D?” he asked. The shop was dark, not even the lamps lit, no sunlight to creep in… “D? You here?”
There was a screech in his face, and he stumbled backward before he realized it was Q-chan, verily shrieking in distress.
“Hey!” He grabbed the flying bunny and tried to calm it. “Hey, cool it! What’s wrong? What happened to him?”
The rabbit thing squeaked and flew away from him, making noise to guide him. He walked slowly forward, then stumbled over something soft and yielding, and fell to his hands and knees, his legs on the same object he’d fallen over. It moved slightly; he realized it was the owner of the pet shop and swore.
“How about some light?” he said of the pet, and got an indignant squawk in return. “Fine,” he grumbled, and gently extracted himself from D’s prone form, walking slowly until he found a wall, following it around until he encountered one of those imitation gas lamps that populated the walls. He flicked the knob in the bottom and flinched as he was assaulted by the dim light.
It lit a surprisingly large area of the shop; he looked back to see D on the floor, crumpled as though he had just collapsed. He was even paler than normal, his dark hair hanging limply across his face. He looked bad… very bad.
He quickly scooped him into his arms, D’s head lolling limply against his arm. He swallowed thickly as his robe thing fell partly open, exposing most of his pale torso. He was thinner than his clothes made him seem… or maybe it was because he hadn’t eaten since he had fallen sick. He was still beau-
No, Leon stopped himself from thinking that.
He swallowed again and carried him away, toward his room. He wasn’t burning up anymore - it seemed like his fever had broken, at least.
“Sorry,” he said to Q-chan. “I couldn’t come by earlier. Had to work.” He tucked D into bed and sat down with him, pulling the blankets up to his chin. “Did the animals get taken care of?”
The rabbit thing landed beside D’s head and squeaked a little. Leon assumed so. Well, he hoped so, because he wasn’t going to go messing around with the weird animals that the shop kept - he didn’t know what some of them could do. Like that unicorn. Scary.
He wanted to stay… but he had to work again in like ten hours. He got a glass of water and put it beside the bed - he didn’t know for sure, but he thought the major reason he’d passed out was pure dehydration. And he looked like he could use it, anyway. His usually soft (not to mention burgundy) lips were pale and dry, cracked from lack of water, and his skin was cool and dry to the touch.
“Make him drink that,” he said to the pet. “And more. I’ll try to get here tomorrow, but I might not be able to make it.” He got a kyuu of affirmation, and nodded. “I have to take off again. I’ll try and check back tomorrow.”
There was a noise that seemed to translate as ‘you’d better,’ and he nodded again.
When D awoke, it wasn’t quite dawn - his normal time. He felt slightly parched, but aside from that, one hundred percent better. He felt like himself again.
There was a kyuu from the fuzzy bunny bat, and he smiled slightly. “I feel much better, thank you,” he said. He couldn’t really remember the past few days too clearly, but he was just relieved enough to be recovered, or at least recovering, that it didn’t really matter.
He flawlessly reached out and took the glass of water from the table beside his bed, despite the utter darkness. His eyes functioned perfectly in amounts of light that would normally be negligible.
Stretching, he slid out of bed, and wrinkled his nose slightly. He needed to bathe. And change clothes and eat. And right after he took care of the animals, he would.
He was humming quietly to himself - he really did feel a million times better - as he fed all the animals in the front of the shop, where the humans he didn’t see needing a second chance could find themselves a cute little hamster or perhaps a doggy…
Then he made his way back into the more heavily incensed back part. Many of the animals back here lived in their own habitats, and could survive quite wonderfully. Some of the others, however, needed his personal attention, and now that he was well, he could lavish it upon them.
He spoke to the mermaid as her tank drained and he refilled it. Apparently, she thought that Leon was cute… he could only agree with her with a smile, and thank her for not eating him.
He spent a good half hour with the unicorn. It had to be kept separate from the other horses due to its intense dislike of anything the least bit impure, including the males of almost any species, and its special needs. After its close call yesterday, it was thriving beautifully, and he was glad to see it.
His last stop was once again the incubus. It was a fairly low-maintenance creature, after all, and needed him the least.
He set the platter of meat in the center of the room, and frowned when he realized he didn’t hear squeaking, and wasn’t being mauled by a ferret. He straightened up quickly and looked around.
There was no sign of the rodent anywhere. Perhaps it had escaped… maybe when he had last fed the demon. Oh, no… that was almost twenty-four hours ago… what if it had escaped even before that?
Gods… How long had the incubus been alone?
It hadn’t died, had it? That would be a tragedy… He prayed fervently that the creature was still alive as his mismatched eyes glanced quickly around. The incubus itself was silent, so it was no wonder he wouldn’t hear that, but…
He felt a presence behind him and turned around. There, in the corner, he saw the shadow of the winged demon, and drew back instinctively… the eyes that were peering coldly from the darkness, unblinkingly boring into his back, didn’t belong to the playful beast he’d bought less than a week ago. They were the cruel eyes of a monster…
He turned for the door and made a break for it. He wasn’t certain what had happened to the incubus after spending who knew how long alone, but he didn’t want to learn first hand…
He was still a couple yards away when the strong hand wrapped around his slim arm and pulled him backward. He let out a startled, wordless exclamation and looked back… and up… almost a foot above his own head to the dark, hard face of the incubus. There was a steely glint in those dark eyes that didn’t let him fight against their spell as he was thrown to the floor.
The pain jarred him back to his senses, drawing another quiet cry from him. He scrambled back to his feet, but the demon wrapped an arm around his shoulders and dragged him backward, even as he clawed at the firmly muscled forearm blocking his airway. He smelled the blood, but the demon was undeterred.
The incubus spun him around and slammed him back against the wall, pinning him with one large hand on his shoulder. He tried to slip from its grasp, but he was held firm, and pressed harshly against the wall.
The incubus’ other hand grabbed the loose neck of his robe and yanked forward, drawing a small cry from him as it destroyed his clothes and pulled him forward slightly. The tatters of silk fell unheeded to the floor around them, but the demon did pause, looking momentarily at his unclothed body. D realized blankly that it had probably also thought that he was a woman, and that perhaps he should do something about his personal image…
Then the demon discarded its surprise and pressed against him. He pushed against its shoulders and tried to get away again, but its strength surpassed even his, and it only moved its hand up from his shoulder to twine in his hair and yank his head backward. He struggled, but it was increasingly feeble, and a harsh kiss was forced on him.
D wasn’t a stranger to lust - he was the object of it more often than not - but he had never gone much beyond kissing. It had never honestly occurred to him, before he met Leon, why he should want to. And still it had taken him this long to realize that what happened when the incubus’ contract was breached might be deemed by some to be worse than death.
He could feel the very obvious arousal of the demon against his stomach and the very obvious knowledge that there was little he could actually do about this, aside from hope the incubus wouldn’t end up killing him anyway. Sooty wings surrounded them, shielding them from whatever light there was and covering them in the darkness more appropriate to the deed. The long tongue of the demon plundered his mouth despite his feeble resistance, making him feel just how helpless he was…
He gasped shallowly for air when his mouth was finally released. His head was still being tilted back at a rather painful angle, though, and he was being forced to look up at his attacker. None of the playfulness of the creature he had seen before was present. Now, it was a demon…
He was spun around and slammed against the wall, his hands barely cushioning his head from the impact. He began to struggle again, but it was still useless. One of the demon’s hands was placed on his back between his shoulder blades to hold him still; he didn’t know what the other was doing, but…
There was absolutely no warning before his body was roughly invaded. He tried to clench both hands, digging his fingernails deep into the wood of the wall, biting deep into the flesh of his left arm to stifle the cry. He tasted his own blood… sweeter than any other he had ever tasted… but the pain was so intense he barely even noticed as it flooded into his mouth.
Nor was there any time to adjust. He squeezed his eyes shut to endure the pain as the demon held his hip with his free hand and mercilessly and immediately began to thrust into him. Pained noises escaped him, to his own shame, but there was no one around to hear them anyway, even if they hadn’t been muffled by his flesh in his mouth.
The pain slowly became bearable as the incubus continued, and his whimpers trailed off into heavy breathing, releasing his arm slowly from his mouth. He tried to relax in hopes that it would ease the pain.
The hand on his back slowly eased its pressure, and he could breathe easier. Slowly, it rubbed his back, gently, then moved up to his shoulder, down his arm. Almost as though comforting him. He was wary, still, but it slowly helped him relax, and he even pulled his fingers from the wall.
He was startled to feel the other hand gently rubbing his side to relax him, and the demon’s lips brush against the nape of his neck. He didn’t really understand… all of the violence seemed gone from the creature. The hand on his arm moved to brush through his hair in a surprisingly kind gesture. The pain was actually fading - he didn’t know if the incubus was taking it away or what, but he was glad of it…
He gasped in surprise when the hand on his hip slid around and grasped his own limp manhood. He couldn’t hold back a breathy groan as unexpected pleasure shot though him, feeling himself get hard. This was… this was not bad… After the demon got its aggression out, at least…
He knew he should still be fighting this. It was wrong, after all. It was rape. He shouldn’t be giving in, let alone wanting it…
But he moaned again, and helplessly tried to push back against the incubus when it paused, almost as though teasing him. After a moment, it held him gently still and resumed, but this time at apparently a different angle, because it hit something new and a wave of pleasure crashed through him that made him give voice to a hoarse cry. It was suddenly entirely unimportant that this was wrong; he just didn’t want it to stop.
He thought he was speaking; he wasn’t entirely certain, but he may have been pleading for more. It was like nothing he had felt before, and despite the initial pain, he thought he may have been in love with the feeling.
Something happened - he had no idea what - and the pleasure reached such a peak that he cried out, his fingernails once again digging into the wood of the wall before him as his member erupted in the demon’s hand. Large ashen wings closed around him as the feeling of the incubus filling him with its seed sent shivers through his pleasure-wracked body, and it was like being suspended in a universe of feathers and bliss.
It took a while before he realized the incubus was cradling him against its muscular chest, holding him off the ground at approximately the height that his own head normally sat. It was still silent, as it ever was, but it managed to convey a calming sense of piece. As the feathers of its wings brushed over his body, he considered the idea of not selling this creature at all…