Irresistible
Summary: She was just like the candy in the shop: dangerously addictive.
This is a late Halloween one-shot for these two; partly inspired by the song of the same name. I hope you enjoy your treat.
Mercury stopped in front of the shop, glancing back down to the piece of paper in his hands, questioning if his current employer was drunk - or high - when he wrote this as the place. Somewhere where he could get the supplies he needed for his job since this one was so specific; they even wanted the body taken care of. Most people that contacted him wanted it to lay out there in the open as a warning. But not this one, they wanted people to believe they had disappeared, went missing, all that bull crap he usually didn't deal with.
But they insisted it would be an easy job, that they even knew of a place to get what he required, that this place could even help with the disposal of the body. It was becoming quite obvious that his employer must be on crack or the new staple of the drug industry: dust. It caused you to hallucinate in high doses, make the world spin, turn different shades of colors; kinda similar to the design of the sign for this shop.
A sickeningly twisting rainbow of a lollipop with a bite taken out of it, but instead of the usual tooth marks it had fang marks. In dripping black the name stood out in the middle: Dracula's Cauldron.
His employer had given him the address to a candy shop of all things. Apparently halloween inspired all year around according to the sign on the door that mentioned the times it opened and closed.
It was suppose to be closing just a few minutes from now to. He could just barely make out a girl at the counter through the frosted glass - clearly a design choice - counting money from the cash register. It was probably unusual for someone to come in this late and he wasn't even sure he wanted to, but either his employer was insane or there was more to this place than he was seeing. It wouldn't be the first time he came across a place that had a hidden stash of weapons; it was just the weirdest one, if that's what it turned out to be.
He pushed the door open, listening to the bell jingle above his head, followed by a high-pitched laugh from a little brown bear with cold green eyes.
His foot actually edged back for a second when he saw the stuffed animal. Its stare was unnerving, as if it was looking right through him, the iris was dilated almost as if in fear - though, it had been laughing rather creepily a second ago. He couldn't force his own gaze away, though. There was just something... off about it; all of it. The fur wasn't cotton, so it must have come from a real cub, and the eyes... now that he was looking closer at them he could see the little veins - a detail no one would put on a toy - that had been turned pink to put off such suspicions.
Who would buy such a creepy bear for their child? Or was it just taxidermie enthusiasts that bought these? Why would someone choose to sell these things at a candy shop anyway? Especially when they had a switch that made them laugh like that...
Mercury glanced to the counter where the girl had remained when he entered, continuing to count her money. But - of course- when he looked in her direction he saw she was looking right back at him, not so directly, but her gaze had shifted ever-so-slightly from her hands to him. Her lips twitched up before she was focusing on her task once more.
So she wasn't some clueless employee that pretended this shop was normal, except for customers that remained oblivious. That is how such places usually operated, but this was just weird, creepy even.
Once he actually took a moment to survey the store a slight chill descended down his spine, and that told him everything he needed to know about this place. He had seen plenty of carnage but the way these 'stuffed animals' lounged right next to the displays of candy with dripping fake blood made his blood run cold, and that wasn't accounting for the bats hanging from the ceiling. There was even a cauldron in the corner, water dyed red with yellow and green apples floating in it. Beneath it was a sign saying caramel-filled apples, a dollar a piece. Which didn't really make sense when he thought about it. Wasn't the caramel usually dripped over the apple? How did one get it inside the apple? And then he stopped asking himself questions he didn't want the answers to. Instead he turned his attention back to the counter as a little ding rang out.
The girl had just closed the register, locking it a second later before she turned to walk around the counter, long white hair swaying behind her with streaks of light pink and blue in it. She stopped at the edge, one elbow leaning on the glistening white surface, just looking back at him. Her outfit was extravagant even for a candy shop.
A bright orange dress with a light green lace trim at the top and bottom, purple ribbons lacing up the front to form a little bow - kinda like a pumpkin. The straps had a scrunchy effect, resting more on the edge of her shoulder than ontop. The skirt was the most heavily decorated, with skulls placed randomly on it, they even had sayings in white lettering inside like those little heart candies you saw on Valentine's Day. But they were more garnered to Halloween of course.
His gaze was drawn to a bright sky blue one that had sweet blood written on it, it was placed just shy of the apex of her legs; so the little joke didn't escape him. It fit with the name of this place after all. To be honest, it was kind of amazing how much thought was not only put into the design of the store but also the employee uniforms. He glanced to another one, apple red with a simple yum on it. Very fitting for a Halloween-themed candy store.
Then there was the heels she wore that completed the ensemble: black straps wrapping up around her legs, stopping just shy of her knees like twisting vines. The actual heel - a good three inches tall - was a bright orange, and there was even a matching purple-striped green bow on the front.
The girl cleared her throat. "Looking for something specific?"
He let his gaze slide back up her body, taking in the way the dress hugged her curves before his gaze settled on the silver tag sitting just above her right breast, a mere centimeter away from the top trim. The name tag had a pair of black fangs on the left top corner. Cute. If only any other hidden weapon cache had a girl dressed like this instead of some beefcake in a suit he might visit more often.
"Yeah. I was told you had supplies I could use, Miss Schnee." He smiled at her.
And she smiled back. "There's no need to be so professional. You can call me Weiss." She pushed away from the counter with her elbow, bringing herself to her full height with the heels on - she almost reached his own height with them. "Which of our services were you interested in... sir?"
"Mercury," he supplied his name with her so obviously prying for it.
"Mercury," she repeated, the way her lips formed around the sound made his throat go dry. Fuck. He was looking forward to finishing his job so he could come back here after. "Could you flip the sign to closed for me, then follow me into the back?"
"Sure." He turned to the door he was still standing infront of, flipping the sign and - after a moment of deliberation - he flicked the lock as well. It was a small town so he doubted anyone would actually try to come in when a store was supposedly closed, but he didn't care for the notion of someone else in his profession coming inside right now either. If any happened to be in the area looking for tools that is.
Mercury turned back to see Weiss was now facing away from him, her heels click-clacking on the linoleum floor as she headed to the far left corner in the back. There were plastic flaps hanging there, clearly heading into a freezer-like area with the frosty haze seeping through the thin openings between the flaps. Anywhere else it would look unprofessional, out of place, but here such a design choice fit in. Speaking of unprofessional... his eyes were drawn down past Weiss' swaying hips and to her rear, the right cheek of her dress had another skulll plastered on it in gauzy pink, the words bite me written on it.
How many customers came in here just to see her walk around in that outfit, using the excuse that they were buying candy for their nephew?
His gaze moved back up as he took a step forward, already feeling her eyes on him. She had stopped at the flaps, head titled just enough 'to check' that he had flipped the sign over. Her lips curled into another little smile before she pushed the plastic flaps aside and stepped into the area beyond, quickly swallowed up by the mist.
He was actually grateful for the job he had gotten from his employer now, if his target hadn't been in this town he probably never would have found such a little gem. He quickly followed in her steps, eager to watch her movements.
When he pushed past the flaps though she was nowhere in sight. A quick glance around the room told him this is where they prepared the candy. It was surprising to find a place so dedicated to making everything themselves. There was a machine for the cotton candy tree back out in the store, a large pot sitting beside a stove for melting chocolate... and plenty of other things he couldn't discern the exact use for. Like the syringe that was sitting on a counter that curved around a corner into its own little area.
Well, since he couldn't see her... he walked over, taking a step around the corner to stop short. There was a chemistry set sitting on the counter infront of him and an unmistakable clear bag filled to the brim with liquid dust. The drug that was sweeping the nation; cops were sniffing it out in every corner they could, and here it was... sitting out more-or-less in the open. The vials on the left were filled with it as well, clearly colored to become less obvious, and... they must put this in the candy they make.
He recalled his employer saying something about the shop putting out deliveries to other stores because the candy made here was so addictive, but Mercury thought he just meant that they made some good treats. Not that they put dust into it to hook customers onto the candy of their shop, to ensure they kept buying from them.
It was a sure way to have a steady stream of income for what they really did, though. This place was getting more interesting by the minute, and perhaps... a little disturbing which just how well thought out everything was.
Click.
He turned around to face Weiss, his eyes flitting over to the metal door beyond her that had been shut when he first walked into the kitchen. "For a moment there I thought you had gotten lost in here."
Mercury didn't respond right away as his gaze settled back on her. Lost? The kitchen was hardly big enough to get lost in. So there was no doubt in his mind now that she had wanted him to find this. The shop's little secret that is.
While it was in an area that customers could easily slip into it was also in its own little nook, and once he thought about it he realized they would have been caught if they really left their tools out in the open like this. With the shop's Halloween theme they must have some hidden panel to keep that section of the 'kitchen' out of sight when the inspectors came by. Otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to have it here instead of in the back. The health inspectors wouldn't be interested in their inventory afterall, anywhere that food wasn't stored.
"Did you want to continue the tour?"
He didn't recall agreeing to a tour, and this didn't seem like something one should show to a customer, even if the items they were after were illegal. But he gave a nod of his head anyway.
"Follow me, then." She made a come-hither motion as she turned around and made for the metal door. He followed after her, of course. His heart skipping a beat when he stepped over the threshold and into the freezer room.
There was no candy or machines used to make it in this room, just stainless steel as far as the eye could see: sterilized medical equipment, drugs encased by glass, a single bookcase in the far back, and a few rolling operation tables. All but one was empty of an occupant. What looked to be a human form covered by a white cloth, with some equipment waiting on a small rolling table next to it; including a scalpel.
"If you were thinking of buying some candy I would advise against it." Weiss had kept walking even though he had stopped and was currently standing next to the bookcase.
"Because of the drugs?" He turned away from the grisly site. If he hadn't just been in a candy shop he would think he was in a morgue.
"No. If you ate most of them it would make you a cannibal," she said it so naturally, even as his stomach flipped.
So that's how they could 'help' get rid of the body. Not just dump it in a river, but chop it into bits, using everything they could make into candy, including the bone. Mercury remembered seeing a 'bloody lollipop' display with a 'skeletal finger' being used as the stick. It had been amusing before, but now it made his stomach curl knowing that real blood had been used in there with the sugar, a person's finger set into the mold before it hardened. He could feel the bile rising in his throat, along with his dinner and the beer he drank earlier.
Mercury swallowed hard to force it back down, keeping his gaze on the girl. Of course she met his, probably waiting for him to vomit all over her sparkling clean cannibalizing room. He had gotten the feeling she was a little crazy before, with her perfectly timed horror-esque vibe. But the path of logic one had to follow to come to the conclusion that that was the best way to get rid of a body? It was psychotic. Brilliant. No one would ever find the body if the entire town was eating it in pieces now would they?
He had to wonder if his employer realized that. If he bought anything from this shop... that man could very well end up eating the person he ordered killed. It would be a sick and twisted series of events, but... there was an undeniable irony to it as well.
He coughed lightly to get the lingering taste of bile out of his throat, and to cover the chuckle that had just tried to escape him. From the way Weiss smiled though she hadn't fallen for the ploy.
"A kindred soul, huh? I should give you a discount."
Hmm, she really was something else. "That's not necessary. I have the cash to cover whatever your price is."
"I don't doubt it," she was smirking when she spoke, setting a finger ontop one of the books to tip it over until he heard a distinct click as he walked over to her. A portion of the wall to the right shuddered before sinking down into the floor, revealing a set of iron bars and a keypad.
Weiss walked up to the door as he stayed behind her to stare at the impressive collection of weapons that lay inside. It wasn't just guns and knives, but even more crude weapons like hatchets, some rope to hang bodies that were to be seen, there were even a few more elegant pieces in the back. To be specific: katanas and the ilk.
The moment the keypad let out a beep the bars slid up into the ceiling, probably going through a hollow wall of the apartment above. Weiss stepped inside, fingertips roaming over the weapons for a few seconds - as if she missed feeling them beneath her hands - before she turned to face him.
"You can pick anything you want from what's in here."
Whatever was inside the cage, huh? There were quite a few pieces that had caught his eye, along with a teasing little minx.
While this is my first story to feature a crazy!dark!Weiss it certainly won't be the last. She is just too fun to play with ;)