#cluechaser

but then that wouldn’t really solve the problem, would it? clearly, she’s figured out where he lives. so, he does the next best thing -- he crosses the street towards the park and once there, picks up the pace and takes a quick turn behind a statue. by the time she reaches it and makes it around the corner as well, he’s casually leaning against it, blinking at her with a SMILE now that she’s right in front of him instead of a safe few paces behind him.

“ hey. i figured i’d say hi if we’re gonna spend this much time together. ” // @cluechaser

it’s the jingle of the bell, that merry little tune, that lets lilith know someone is coming through the door. it didn’t much matter though; where  a diner is usually full of bustling waitresses and chatter from people, this one was only playing music softly on the radio from the kitchen, barely audible. there were patrons and waiters here, sure —

but they were all dead.

a terrible end, eyes gouged out, necks snapped, throats slit — blood copious, fragrant, like the iron on copper pennies, finely misted in the air. and the culprit? she hadn’t left the premises, still sitting on the counter, heeled boots resting on a red vinyl stool, taking a bite of cheesecake. she didn’t look up, scraping her fork across the plate, gathering up some graham cracker crust, and licking it off the utensil with a forked tongue. 

Continued from here

There were certain cases - fortunately not as many as one might expect - where plain detective work only got one so far. After that, one had to improvise. And more often than not, that meant having to use Ciel and the merits that came with her; namely, the one that was her being a woman. Athos didn’t like it, not one bit. But he played it off and pretended to be fine with it. Mostly for her benefit, as he knew it’d keep her calmer than him making a scene every single time they had to go that route. 

Most of the times, things went smoothly and without any trouble. Now and then it was a bit more difficult than expected and took longer than anticipated, or there had been a few attempted advances on her, but that was as bad as it got. Today, however, Athos had had a bad feeling right from the start and had almost told Cecilia to just call it off, but knew time was of the essence in this case. 

Unfortunately, his bad feeling had proved true, just like they so often did. And it was fair to say that he had never regretted anything more than he did sending her in there after all. There was absolutely nothing - or no one - important enough in this entire world to put her through this. 

Rocking her gently in his arms, he tried his best to calm her down, but knew it would take some time. And it certainly wouldn’t happen here, not with that guy still around. “Come on,” he whispered softly and slowly got up, pulling her up along with him. “Let’s get you home.” He didn’t wait for her to respond, but instead pulled her along with him, and out of the club. There were a few people that stared after them, but most were too engrossed in their own doings to even notice them. 

Once outside, he walked her to the car, though instead of getting in the front, opened the back door and got in, pulling her along with him. He wanted to go home, but he also wanted to take care of her first and foremost. His arms wrapped around her, and he hugged her as tight as he possible could, his hand gently caressing her back, while he kissed the top of her head over and over again. “I’m so sorry, Cecilia. I shouldn’t have let you go in there. It didn’t feel right from the start. I’m so fucking sorry.”

         ‘ detective! ‘ he’d been on the trail of a rogue wolf for three weeks, a favor to an old friend. and, honestly, by this point he shouldn’t even be surprised that their paths crossed. it was like the universe enjoyed him trying to explain how he always ended up in the middle of one of her investigations. ‘ you know, we really need to stop meeting like this. ‘ over head bodies that looked like they’d been mauled by bears.