Chapter 12

The day started out with a phone call to Count D's shop. Kuri was in the living room taking a break after her session. Grandpa D was in his bat form taking a break to fly around to get his rounds done sooner. Count D answered the phone. "Hello Count. This is Mr. Wong. So what the hell is this? I paid for a tiger."

Count replied, "You're not satisfied with the merchandise?"

"I made a complete fool of my self in front of everyone last time. I tell them they're going to see a tiger and what do they see? A stupid painting."

Count D smirked. "So you just confess you broke the contract we had."

Wong answered, "Hey listen f** there is no contract cause there is no tiger." Then he heard a noise coming from the tiger poster he had in his room behind him. The tiger began to form from the sheet and then came out of the picture alive "What the hell? What is this some kind of joke?"

"Joke it's not a joke. It's what I promise you. It's the last remaining tiger of it's kind."

The tiger began to growl at Wong. "Oh no." The tiger was ready to pounce on him.

"As you breach the term of the contract of not to show it to anyone under any circumstances, we cannot assume any responsibility for the consequences I'm afraid."

Wong pleaded. "Wait you have to help me please."

But Count D hanged up on him. Kuri asked, 'What was that?'

Count D replied, "Contract broken. Nothing we can do." But what she didn't know was that the tiger went after Wong and killed him.

The next day was the aftermath and everyone was wondering what killed Mr. Wong. Though they knew he was a former gangbanger and mafia dude, they were still shocked of what happened to him. Some say it was dogs while others said it was a tiger, but how can you get one in China town. Leon was on the case and went to the shop. Once inside he saw Kuri. "Hey sissy, how are you and Chris?" She gave him a thumbs up.

Chris then came down and hugged his brother. 'Hey Leon. How it going?' he asked.

"Not bad. But I got a case to do, can you get Count D please?" Chris nodded and went to get him. He then went to Kuri. "So the sessions going?" he asked.

Kuri thought, 'Not bad if we do more I might go up to cane.'

Leon smiled. "Great."

Then Count D came into the room. "Hello detective. Here on a regular visit?"

"Not this time. Got another one on the mysterious death category and victim was a costumer of your shop category too. Now tell me do you know anyone named Mr. Wong."

Count D said, "Yes he owned a tiger."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Like the one you gave that guy that killed the girl? If it a real one I got you."

Count D said, "Like I said we made sure to follow the law." He then took him where the poster was.

"Wait tell me about this tiger he got?"

Count D pulled over the certain. "He wasn't happy so he returned it."

Leon saw the poster. "You got to be kidding me! You got 2 of them?!" It was the same poster that Mr. Wong owned. "Geeze man." He put his hand on his fore-head like he got a headache. "I'll be back." Then he left.

Kuri stayed where he was and watched the whole thing. 'Did the tiger really killed him?' she asked.

"If it did then it still wasn't my fault." he responded.

Later that day, a mourning couple came into the shop. It was a mother and a father who just lost their daughter. "I'm sorry about your daughter. I was not aware of her death." he said. Kuri got a box of tissues for them.

"Thank you. We thought by getting a pet will cheer things up a bit."

The mother was crying. "No...no one will take her place. Alice was my angel."

Count D and Kuri looked at each other. "Well I think I have the perfect pet for you. Please follow me." The couple stayed behind and Kuri stayed where she was at. Count D took them to the back. "Before I present her to you, you know the rules that will be given. One of them to never show her to anyone." He opened the door and stood on the side to the 2 can walk inside. The mother and father walked inside and saw a thin fog of incense and saw someone sitting on the chair. They got a better view of the person and it's their daughter. The parents were in awe of what they saw.

"My god it's Alice." They said.

The mother kneeled in front of her. "Alice what are you doing here?" she asked.

The father said, "My God I'm dreaming. Is it really Alice?"

The mother smiled. "It's a miracle. You brought Alice back to us."

Then Count D put his hand in front of the mother's view blocking her a bit. "This is not Alice. What you see is a rabbit."

The mother looked at him confused. "A rabbit?" Count D petted the 'rabbit's' hair. "Yes. She a rare and beautiful species. May I remind you this is a pet shop and we only deal with animals."

The couple looked at each other not knowing to do make of it.

The mother said, "Ahh yes I can see she's a rabbit."

The father said, "Yes that's right's. She's a rabbit."

"We want her!" cried the mother on the girl's lap.

Count D brought out a contract. "But of course you do. Now all you need to do is sign this contract." The father grabbed it from him and signed. "Before you do sign it, you must understand the terms within the contract. One no one must see her under any circumstances. Two, I will give you a supply of incense. You must burn at all times. Three you must feed her only water a vegetables and no sweets what so ever. I strongly keep the 3rd one in mind. No sweets even if she begs." Once the couple signed everything, they took Alice and went to the car. Quickly they went inside the car before anyone noticed.

But too late Leon saw them. "They're not that stupid to get a poster are they? Then again there's a lot of stupid people now a days."

Count D then went back where Kuri was and got some tea. 'How long do you think it'll last?' she asked.

Count D said, "All depends on the mother."

Chris came back in. 'Onee-chan where the rabbit going?'

'She's going to the Haywords to live now.' she answered.

Back at the couple, they made it home and went to Alice's old room. "Look Alice it's your old room don't you remember?" asked the mother.

"Of course she does. You see Alice. We kept it just the way it is." 'Alice' looked all over and saw a picture of the departed Alice.

Figured this is what they wanted she spoke. "Mama..."

Mrs. Hayword kneeled in front of her. "Yes. That's right. Can you say it again?" she asked.

"Mama, mama."

Mrs. Hayword hugged her.

Alice turned to the father. "Da...daddy."

The father was in tears. "Daddy. It's a miracle." Both parents hugged.

"Yes my darling now we can start all over now you're with us." Alice still had a blank face.

Next day started back at the Hayword's house. Leon in his car heard the mother from outside. "Alice. Where are you honey? Oh there you are. Look what I got for you. A beautiful ribbon."

Leon slumped. "Great just great. I swear I'm seeing a pattern." Then he saw 2 women pass by talking.

"You hear of the Heywords?"

"Yeah they lost their daughter Alice right?"

"Yeah but here's the kicker, they got a rabbit and named it after Alice. Could you believe that?"

"That's sick."

"Let's just hope the animal doesn't end up like the girl."

"If only."

Then Leon came in. "Excuse me ladies but what was that you were talking about?" The ladies looked at each other. "What do you mean end up like the girl?"

Meanwhile Count D and Kuri, walking with a cane finally were going to the cemetery to give the departed Hayword some flowers. Once they arrived at the stone they read it. 'She was only in her teens. What happened to her?' asked Kuri.

Count D saw the keeper and asked, "Excuse me, but what happened to this girl?"

The keeper thought about it and said, "It couldn't help but it was a small funeral." Then the keeper and the 2 ladies said the same thing, "But she was like a devil with an angel's face." The 3 couldn't believe what they heard.

At the Haywords, Mrs. Hayword got a plate with some veggies and a glass of water for 'Alice'. The rabbit of course started to eat. "Do you like it?" asked the father. 'Alice' stopped and turned to the counter.

"What's wrong honey?" asked the mother. Then 'Alice' reached for a bag of cookies. "Oh I see you want some sweets." The mother stood up and walked to get the bag.

"No we can't do that. We can only give her water and veggies you know that." said the father.

"Water and veggies. That's not enough nutrition." She got one cookie out.

The father held 'Alice' back. "She's a rabbit. She can't have any sweets."

The mother brushed him off. "That's impossible rabbits don't talk and she's talking." 'Alice' smiled as she was handed a cookie. "Just one. It hurt her will it?" The father agreed as he saw how happy 'Alice' was. The mother handed her one. "Here you go honey." Then Alice took a bite.

At the shop where Count D and Kuri returned, they heard the animals making noise. Then grandpa D, still in his flying rat form came to him and made some small squeaks. "I see. Contract broken. Not even a week." he said.

Kuri looked at him. 'Want me to come with you to fetch it?' she asked.

"No stay here with Chris. If you come with me, you might get a breakdown." She nodded as he stood up and left.

Leon soon got his proof after what the ladies said about the real Alice and ran back to the house. When he got there he saw Count D at the steps. He got out of the car and ran to him. "Count!"

Count D turn and saw him. "Hello again detective."

Leon yelled, "Alright D. I'm done beating around the bush. I know that you killed Mr. Wong and now you sold something to the Haywords and their daughter!"

Count D said, "You may have some explanations of what happened but you are always wrong. I'm just here to get the animals I have them."

Leon said, "I don't give a shit about that D but we're going inside and once I get my proof you're shop will be close for good." Leon kicked opened and door and saw it was dark and it was full of incense. "What the heck is this?" Then he heard a noise and once he got a good view and saw hundreds upon thousands of small babies with dirty blonde hair and red-purple eyes. Leon then turned on the lights and saw not babies anymore but rabbits. Then some of them started to attack Leon. Luckily he got his gun to shoot them off. Then he saw some of the rabbit piled on something eating it. He shoots his gun in to the air and the rabbits ran off. What he saw there made him glad Kuri wasn't. The rabbits were eating the corpse of Mr. Heyword dead with a petrified face. Then he remembered the incense. "This is your fault you sold it to them"

Count D said, "It is not my fault. I gave the incense to prevent it." Then he showed him the contract. "Besides I got a contract from the couple to feed the rabbit water and veggies. So you probably need a pied piper. Also good luck finding the real one too."

Then they saw something in the rabbits stomach moving around. Soon they saw new baby rabbits eating their way out of the bellies. "Oh my God."

Then Count D was walking up the stairs to where Mrs. Hayword might be. They went into Alice's old room and saw dead rabbits and Mrs. Hayword holding a bloody knife. The oldest rabbit there was the original that ate the cookies. Count D asked, "Ma'am why did you give her what she wasn't suppose to eat?"

The mother said sadly, "Why? Why? cause she begged for it that's why. She cried. She was begging and begging. So I gave her a cookie. She looked so happy she looked like an angel."

Count D understood. "Aw. How compassionate. How compassionate humans can be almost up to a fault." He then held her hands. "And that's how you killed the real Alice isn't?" Leon had a shocked face. "You always spoiled her even when she was a child. You never scolded her or punished her when she did wrong. And so she grew up if you can say that. Withdrawing from friends, family, education, and society committed crime after crime to support her drug addiction and when she was finally caught you had a chance to save her."

The mother flashed back when the real Alice was in hospital ward in jail shriveled from the drugs. "Mommy mommy, please give it to me just this once. I really need it. I NEED it."

The mother looked at her sadly. "Just this once." She got out the wad of drugs. Alice smiled for the last time.

After that flashback the mother said, "Can't you see that I didn't want her to hate me. I loved her so much I would do anything." Then she started to cry loudly.

Count D held the original rabbit in his hands. "Mrs. Hayword the rabbits are born by eating its way out of it's mother's womb. Parents raised their children by giving them a part of themselves. Children born from deep and unrestrained affections are born from their blood."

The mother couldn't believe it. "She's my daughter. Can't you see that she's my daughter." Soon all the rabbits that weren't dead started to surround her. Leon and Count D knew the mother was too far gone. "Drug addict or murderer, SHE IS STILL MY DAUGHTER!" Then the rabbits started to attack her and began to eat her. But as soon as they latch on her, they dropped dead, every single one of them in the house.

Leon didn't know what to think of it. "What happened?" He kicked one and it just flopped over. "They're dead. How?"

Count D stood up. "It must be the pied piper."

The 2 began to leave. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The poison ingested by the first Alice finally took effect. Chocolate, candy, potato ships, jelly bean...the chemical composition of the snacks it's toxic to the rabbits that have no immune system. Alice ate the poison and passed it on to her young and so on to the 10th generation where it finally took its toll. Mrs. Haword's love took it's effect and now killed Alice all over again." They made it outside.

"You knew huh? You and sissy."

Count D smiled at him. "This was one of those cases where it's best she stayed home." They made it back into the shop where Kuri and Chris were.

'What happened Leon?' asked Chris.

Leon said, "Just another case of child neglect. You're too young to understand Chris and it's best if you didn't know." Kuri smiled. She knew that they would break the rules sooner or later but doesn't know what the consequences of it. But for now it's for the best if she never knows.