Devourer of Sins

DEVOURER OF SINS CHAPTER NINETEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, Ted is officially jealous of Mecki. He thinks that he should be the one giving back rubs in the morning, not the cat! InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are forever enshrined in my esteem for archiving. Readers/Reviewers: The platypi are going through the ducky cemeteries (which I never knew existed until now) in search of the Nosferaduck. The Killer Kitties(tm) should watch out...the ducks have a taste for fur...



The body moldered quietly for several days before anyone found it. Silent and alone in the thick leaves of the forest floor, it was nearly covered from prying eyes, only a patch of skin showing here, an ear there...all holding on tenuously to the former living being that now wished to be returned to the earth from whence it came. It was very nearly overlooked, the girl shuffling by-stomping, more like-wishing there might be a little snow falling through the thick canopy of limbs and evergreen needles to make the dead leaves on the forest floor glitter, look a little Christmassy. She inhaled sharply as she marched by the body, the cold biting at her lungs as she breathed, her nose threatening to run at any moment, and it was then that she found him. A sweet smell teased her nostrils, sweet and strangely warm, out of place in the forest. The body had not had time to spoil and rot as it should have, had the weather been warmer, had it been a month sooner or three later, but smell it did, the slight tang of decomposing flesh, gases being expelled from formerly living tissue and bacteria feasting on necrosis. The girl almost walked away, writing the smell off to a sensory memory or even someone else's memory but the strangely shaped lump of leaves made her stop. She bent low, pulling her jacket closed at the throat with one gloved hand while brushing away some of the leaves with the other. The white-blue face, mottled with purple and corpulent with decay, stared at her with empty eye sockets, the gelatinous eye balls always the first to go. She stared for a long time, words bubbling in her throat, fighting with disbelief and denial. The ear fell from the skull, loosening the torrent of screams from her throat.

Todd held Rogue against his chest, irregardless of the stares from the others in the room and the glare Logan was sending his way. Shoving their fight out of his miToddToddokedoked her hair and shushed her as she sobbed raggedly. "Dead," she said breathlessly, "he was...he was dead..."
Kurt laid a placating hand on his half-sister's shoulder and squeezed soothingly, joining Todd's murmurs. The room was otherwise silent, the police officers on hand scribbling in their notepads. Officer Nichols, a tall man who was not amused to be working on Christmas morning, especially at half past one on said morning, cleared his throat. "And how did you come to find this man again, Miss...er..."
"Rogue," Todd said sharply. "Just Rogue." _Marie is for me and no one else... _
"Mmmm..." The officer raised a brow and waited.
Rogue sighed and wiped at her nose with her still-gloved hand, not caring about the mess it made. "I was walking and I smelled something weird. I almost walked off but I saw this weird lump in the leaves..."
"Why were you walking at this hour?" the other officer, Officer Henry, asked, looking even less pleased than Nichols.
"I was angry. I'd...Hell. I'd had a fight with my boyfriend and I wanted to think, so I went for a walk." Rogue straightened and took hold of Todd's hand as his arm fell from her shoulders. "I wanted to clear my head and I thought the cold air would be good."
"What was the fight about?" Henry asked, pencil poised.
"I really don't think that's pertinent to the investigation, is it, Officer?" The Professor asked smoothly, intimidating even while perpetually seated.
The officers exchanged glances and even seemed ready to protest, but a low growl from the direction of Logan redirected their questioning. Nichols asked quickly, "Did you recognize the victim?"
"No. I don't even know if it was a man or a woman..."
"It was a man...most of one, anyway. He'd been," Nichols paused and looked askance at the adults in the room. Receiving a nod from Logan, he continued, "...he had been mutilated, his chest cut up real bad and h.his.his genitalia removed. His hands and feet had been removed as well."
Kurt looked like he was going to be ill. All he could think of was the long, smooth cut across Kitty's ribs, the potential for a mutilated death inherent in the scar. He opened his mouth to ask to be excused, but the expression on the Professor's face compelled him to stay. The older man was pale, his eyes narrowed and focused on the two police officers. In a slow voice, the Professor asked, "Do you have any suspects?"
"It's the damnedest thing," Officer Henry said, sticking his pencil behind his ear, "there don't seem to be any traces of fingerprints, no footprints other than the ones from Miss...Miss Rogue here, but the body seems to have been there for several days.rensrensics is going to have to go over your land with a fine tooth comb."
"Yes, yes, of course," Professor Xavier murmured, a small gesture of his fingers letting the officers know he felt they were done for the evening.
Logan cleared his throat, picking up on the Professor's signal. "You two gonna need anything tonight or can I show you out?"
"Forensics is already out there," Nichols said, becoming very officious, we'll need access to your property for at least several more hours and may need to return at intervals during the investigation."
Logan narrowed his eyes at them. "I'll come out with you. We're not comfortable with you having access at all hours. The safety of our students isn't gonna be compromised by the only murder investigation to hit Bayville in forty years." He all but forced the two policemen out, leaving the Professor and the students in the quiet room.
"Professor," Jean said, not looking up from the pattern on the Oriental rug, "can't you just...you know...wipe 'em?"
"Mind fuck?" Lance asked, mildly surprised prim and proper Jean would suggest messing with someone's mind like that.
"We prefer the term wiping," Amara said, ruining the image of composure by yawning wide. Larollrolled his eyes and settled back against the couch, eyes straying to the expanse of thigh Amara exposed by crossing her legs.
The Professor raised a brow in his direction but did not say anything. "I'm way ahead of you, Jean," he smiled. "You know, the woods in this part of the world used to be full of wild creatures...it's a shame when people forget and tragedies like this happen. It's even worse when compounded by trespassing, like the poor soul outside..."
Scott snapped to attention. "Professor! That man has a family, friends, who deserve to know what happened! You can't just make his death so...so..." he flailed, searching for a word strong enough.
Rogue sniffed again, eyeing Jean and the Professor as if she had never seen them before. Jean held up a hand to stem Scott's outburst. "The Professor knows what he's doing."
Professor Xavier bore an expression of intense concentration, motioning for silence. After a long time, he spoke. "It's done. Jean, would you mind..."
She nodded shortly. "Rogue, may I check something? I need to see what you saw out there..." She moved to kneel in front of her friend, holding out her hands in invitation.
"You gonna read me?" Rogue asked with a hint of doubt in her voice. "I don't know if I want you to..."
"I'm goingoing to go prying. I just want you to show me what you saw in the woods. Just the pictures; no thoughts, nothing else. Just what you saw when you looked at the man's face." _Please let me be right...let the Professor's idea be right... _
Rogue looked askance at Todd as if he could make her decision for her. He shrugged and shook his head, saying he was not going to tell her what to do, so Rogue sighed. Moving forward, out of the grasp of Kurt and Todd, she nodded to Jean. "Fine. Do it." The two girls closed their eyes and Jean began.
_Oh. God. I may be sick...How did Rogue not vomit when she saw this? _ Jean took a steadying breath and forced herself to focus on the image in Rogue's mind. _Take away the color...add...oh...oh. _ "Professor, I think it _is _ him."

Kurt stared down at Kitty, still curled on her side like a child asleep. Her eyes were wide and unseeing, her breathing steady. Beast had told him she seemed to be fine, aside from the catatonic attitude. He could not figure out why she was in such a state but feared they would have to take her to the hospital if she did not improve. The last thing Kurt wanted was for Kitty to go to the hospital in town. He had disturbing images of her cousin Ruth and the stories he had heard of mental hospitals running through his mind as he kicked off his shoes and climbed into bed next to her, molding himself to her, wrapping around her as if his touch, his presence, could chase away whatever demons were making her like this. "Katzchen," he whispered into her ear, "I know you can hear me. Don't ignore me. If you love me, answer me." He knew it was unfair, really, to place a demand like that on her. _What if she can't answer? Do I make things worse by giving her an ultimatum? _ He exhaled shakily and tried again. "Katzchen, I don't know what's wrong with you, but you're scaring us. Scaring me. All I could think about at Mass tonight was how desperate I was to get back here. For the first time since I was very little, I didn't pay any attention to the homily or even take Communion. All I could do was think of you, here, alone and lost inside your own head..."
Kitty could hear him; he was right about that. She felt like she was swimming through gelatin, struggling to break the surface before she suffocated, struggling to reach him before she was lost to her own depths. Kurt's voice murmured on, telling her about Church, how the candles made everything golden and how he felt so guilty because he kept picturing how her skin looked in candlelight, how he felt like he was breaking some rule by thinking about loving her while he was in Church. His voice became clearer and her breathing easier as he continued, drawing her to him through his words. "When you get better, Liebes, I want to show you this place I found in the woods before we went to Mexico. I think you'll like it. It's peaceful, isolated...I don't think even Logan's been there and he's been just about everywhere on the grounds. When I first saw it, I could picture us there...it wasn't wintertime in my mind, though. It was spring and the trees were green, the sun was making little spots on the grass where it broke through the leaves..." Kurt let his sore tail, nearly healed now, wrap around her waist, stroking her stomach as he continued. "I could picture you there, in the grass, laying next to me. We don't have to make love there; I just want you to see it. I want it to be our place, where no one can bother us, where you can go to get away from things here, where we can go..." Kurt sighed and pressed his face to her shoulder, not sure how much was getting through to her.
"Kurt," she said hoarsely, "what if I _wanted _ to make love there?"
"Oh." He very nearly jerked in surprise. Instead, he carefully shifted so that he was looking down at her, still laying next to her but propped up on one elbow. She turned to him, smiling faintly in the darkened room. "Katzchen, I should go get Beast."
"No, don't!" she said, laying a hand on his arm to stop him, even though he made no move to do as he said he should. "He'll just ask me questions, take blood, poke my stomach..." She sighed and ran a finger over the long cut, feeling the bandages there and frowning. "I thought that powder would make it heal."
"Was?" It was Kurt's turn to frown. "What are you talking about?"
"Before I fell...For some reason, I thought the powder in that box I found would help it heal...I opened it and then...then...I don't remember." She closed her eyes. She could smell him strongly; though not unpleasant, it was disturbing to be able to detect everything from the faint scent of shampoo to the distant whiff of frankincense, myrrh and benzoin1 burned as incense at Mass. "I think I was just tired," she said finally, opening her eyes to see Kurt's yellow orbs floating before her as if independent of his body. "You're spooky in the dark," she said.
Kurt could not help but smile. "At least you don't scream anymore."
"Only when you make me," she said, her voice stronger than before and her arms sliding around his neck. "Want to make me?"
"Kitty!" he gasped, shock at her sudden show of sensuality. "You're sick..."
"No, I'm just crazy. There's a difference. I feel fine, Kurt...in fact, I'll even let you get Beast and the Professor in here...later. Much later."
"We can't!" Kurt pulled away slightly but not enough to break her hold. "We shouldn't..."
"Why not?" she asked petulantly. "I won't tell if you won't...don't you want me?" she asked on a sigh, twisting strands of his hair around her fingers and frowning in the dark. He could see the corners of her mouth tug downward and the faint sheen of frustration in her eyes.
"How...how do I know you're you? You haven't been yourself all day..." he finally said, voicing his fear.
"If I wasn't me, would I know to do this?" she asked with some hope, moving one hand to stroke the base of his tail, alternately pressing her fingers against the spot where the bones of his spine became those of his tail and scraping her nails lightly along the soft fur, ruffling it and teasing his skin. Kurt felt his eyes start to roll back in his head, Kitty's attentions triggering every single response his back brain had, shutting down all blood flow to his brain. "Or would I know how much you like it when I do this?" Sitting up a little, pressing against him for balance, she closed her lips over the point of one ear, nipping and sucking lightly, making him groan low in his throat as his hands clenched tightly in the sheets. She did not let up even as his moans became louder, his arousal now obvious between them. Kitty honestly did feel fine, just sore, and had no idea what she had done earlier. The entire day was a blur, punctuated by brief moments of lucidity. She sighed inwardly, promising herself that she would dwell on it later, and moved from kissing Kurt's ear to his throat, murmuring in her throat as Kurt finally gave into her attentions, carefully rolling her onto her back and gently removing her hands from his tail. He fairly attacked her throat, laving and nibbling the tendon, making her rock against him, mewling as his teeth made a small drop of blood rise to the surface of her skin. He nuzzled her breast, moving downward, pressing hot, damp kissed through the thin fabric of the nightshirt he had brought down for Storm to dress her in earlier. Kitty felt more alive than she ever had before, her blood thrumming in her veins, pounding in her ears. She could feel Kurt's pulse against her as his chest pressed to her stomach, his mouth pressing small kisses along her wound in a gesture both tender and erotic. She cried out softly as his tail wrapped around her thigh, the spaded tip finding it's way under her gown to tease her wet folds. Kurt seemed nearly as gone as she was, his murmurs broken and foreign to her ears, his kisses more frantic and less exact, falling wherever he could reach as he struggled to push his pants down without moving off of her. Kitty wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved back up her body, begging entry to her heat by pressing his length against her, not entering her yet but making her crave his touch, arching to take him into her depth. He grunted softly as she moved against him, rising to meet him as heed ied into her. They joined in several slow strokes, Kitty making a low, approving noise as he finally filled her.
Kurt closed his eyes at the feel of her, slick and wet and like hot silk around him. He felt desperate, almost ashamed that he needed her so badly after just a few days without having her this way. He wondered in some part of his mind if it was possible to be addicted to a person, that Kitty was like a drug to his system. He had worried early on that he had built up this idea of her when he could not have her, that being with her would not be anywhere near was good as he had hoped. Feeling her against him, he knew he was silly early on, that being with Kitty could never be dull or ordinary, even without odd events and life threatening occurrences. She sighed in his ear, making a shiver run down his spine as she moved against him again, making him move in turn. They were careful and slow, the bed creaking in protest if either became too enthusiastic. Kitty's fingers found his tail against and caressed it, teasing him with her touch, careful of the minor swelling around the healing fracture. She found the spaded tip and ran the pads of her fingers over it, tracing the veins she could faintly feel beneath her touch, making him move faster within her. Kurt bit back a strangled gasp as she brought his tail up to her lip and suckled softly on the very tip, her tongue darting out to lick the edge of it, her fingers squeezing gently just below her mouth. Kurt muffled his outcry in her shoulder, losing all rhythm and filling her with hot release. She was close, he could feel her moving against him nearly in desperation for climax. Still within her, he pressed one finger against the bud at the apex of her sex and rubbed her there, making her bite her lip hard as she released his tail from her grasp and dug her nails into his shoulders, completion shaking her body as she tightened her legs around his middle. Kurt moved slowly out of her, not moving off of her yet, and kissed her softly on the lips. "Katzchen," he said, voice strangely loud in the small room, "aru oku okay?"
"Better than," she said quietly. "See? Told you I was fine."
He smiled then, shifting to lay next to her. "That you did...Kitty, I'm going to have to get Beast and the Professor soon. They need to know you're awake and doing well."
Kitty sighed. She felt great, better than she had since before Mexico. She felt at home in her head again, like whatever had been there was now gone. "Why don't I get dressed and we can both go see them? I'm sick of this room..."
Kurt nodded, a headache throbbing behind his eyes. "I'll go get you some clothes and we'll wake up Beast," he said. _Because I think I'm going to need a doctor soon, _ he added to himself, the headache making spots dance before his eyes.
1 Sometimes called Three Kings blend, it's the most typical incense burned in Catholic Churches. Random stuff to know in case you ever go on Jeopardy.