Author: Az

Title: Taxidermy

Email: az.ombie[at]gmail.com

Homepage: http://www.forgottenjuliet.net

Word count: 1547

Prompt: Ouija board.

AN: written for paranormal25 on LJ.

WIP: 2/25

Fandom: Count Cain

Betaed by; liar_xx

Rating: none

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, sad but true.

Summary: Riff gets a present from a secret admirer, which turns out to reveal more than they would like to.

Warnings: fluff?

Pairings: Cain/Riff

A Four Letter Word.

A large packet had arrived earlier that day, addressed to Riff. Cain hadn’t opened it, even if he was dying to see what was inside. It had no return address, so he had no way of telling what it might be; maybe it was something dangerous? He had examined the packet in every way, without breaking the paper, and he could tell it was heavy and that something inside rattled, not that this discovery brought him any closer to guessing what it contained. So now he just had to sit there and wait, like a good boy, for Riff to return.

When Riff finally did return, Cain had wanted to stay calm. He had practiced the scene over and over again in his mind, knowing exactly what Riff would say, and what he then would reply, but as soon as he saw the blond young man Cain rushed out of his seat and grabbed Riff’s arm, dragging him towards the packet.

“This came for you today,” Cain said with a smile, feeling a little embarrassed by his own outburst of childishness.

“For me?” Riff said, frowning slightly, looking from the packet to Cain. “Does it say who from?”

Cain shook his head as he ran a finger over the surface of the table where the packet was placed. “Aren’t you going to open it?” he asked with a tiny voice.

“Of course” Riff said with a smile, “but first you need your afternoon tea.” Riff moved away from the table and steered towards the kitchen entrance.

Cain huffed, disappointed; he had waited for so long to find out what was in that packet, and now it looked like he would wait even longer. He was sure Riff did this just to torment him because he knew he was dying to see what someone would send Riff. Pushing a chair out, he sat down and looked at the packet, leaning his face in his palms. It was worse than Christmas! Finally Riff emerged again with a tray with the afternoon tea, visibly amused by his master sitting and staring at the packet. He wordlessly placed the tea in front of Cain.

Cain turned his head and looked up at Riff. “Aren’t you at least curious?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” Riff said in all honesty, but didn’t move from his spot next to Cain’s chair.

“Riff, sit down and open it, please?” Cain finally burst out. He couldn't take it anymore! He had to know what was inside that packet!

“If you want me to,” Riff said, walking around the table and seating himself at the dining chair opposite Cain, pulling the packet from the middle of the table until it was in front of him. “It’s heavy,” he mused.

“I know,” Cain said flatly, smiling a little, apologizing.

Riff chuckled and shook his head. He should have known that Cain would have tossed and turned this packet endlessly. Finally, he ripped the paper from the packet, and revealed a wooden square, looking mostly like a chessboard. A little heart shaped thing fell out, dancing across the table until it stopped its flight right in front of Cain.

“What is this?” Riff whispered, surprised.

“Its a Ouija board,” Cain said, examining the heart shaped pointer between his fingers.

“It’s a what?” Riff repeated, feeling like an idiot.

“A Ouija board; you use it to speak with the dead.” Cain leered and looked from the pointer to Riff. “Ask them anything you want, and they have to answer, because they are trapped inside…” he held up the pointer, “this little thing.”

“Sprits?” Riff said, looking down at the wooden board as he opened it, revealing the entire surface, complete with all the letters of the alphabet, and a circle in the middle, one to the left saying ‘no’ and one to the right saying ‘yes’. “Amazing,” he whispered.

“Should we try it?” Cain said with badly hidden excitement.

“Do you think that is wise?” Riff said, feeling chills travel down his spine.

“Of course it is, silly,” Cain grinned. “Now pull the curtains.”

“If you say so,” Riff said flatly. He couldn't really think of anything he wanted less than to mess with spirits., but if Cain said they would, then he would; after all, it was Cain who was the master. And so Riff got up from his seat and started to pull the curtains to make the room dark.

“Candles, Riff,” Cain barked from the table, where he was setting up the board.

“Of course, sir,” Riff said and went to fetch some candles from a drawer. When Riff had lit the candles he picked up the candelabra and placed it on the table next to the Ouija board.

“The door, Riff,” Cain said softly with an overbearing smile.

“Oh, yes… Sorry, sir,” Riff mumbled, and went to close the door, before finally going back to the dining table and sitting down with a heavy sigh.

“Perfect,” Cain chirped. “Now... Place your finger here on the pointer.” Cain placed his right index finger on the pointer, and waited for Riff to do the same. “Good. Now whatever happens, don’t take your finger off it, or we will lose contact with the spirit.”

“Understood,” Riff said, hoping that Cain couldn't hear how nervous he really was.

“And now we wait, and see if some spirit is trapped inside the pointer,” Cain explained. They waited for a long time, until Cain whispered, “Anybody there?”

The pointer moved, and Riff gasped, following the pointer intensely as it moved to the circle that said ‘yes’.

“Brilliant!” Cain said with a huge smile. He then turned to Riff. “Anything you want to know?”

“N-no,” Riff breathed.

“Stiff!” Cain chided softly, and returned his attention to the board. “Are you male or female?” he asked. The pointer slowly spelled out M-A-N. Cain smiled. “A man, good to know.” He then turned to Riff again. “Your turn Riff, ask him something.”

“Are you serious?” Riff whispered, but he could tell from Cain’s pout that he was, and Riff sighed. “Alright… What is my name?” he asked. The pointer started its dance and spelled out R-I-F-F-A-E-L. “Wow, it knew,” Riff said in awe.

“Of course it did, Riff, the dead know all secrets,” Cain said. Suddenly the pointer started to move on it’s own: I-K-N-O-W-Y-O-U-R-S-E-C-R-E-T-T-O-O it said. “What the!” Cain gasped and looked at Riff. “Wonder who, ‘you’ is?” It moved again, spelling C-A-I-N-B-E-T-R-A-Y-E-D-U-N-L-O-V-E-D. “Oh my God!” Cain whispered.

Riff squirmed, but didn’t remove his finger from the pointer. “I think it would be wise to stop, sir,” he breathed, but Cain just looked at the pointer, as though he was really interested in what else this entity would come up with. “You know my secret?” he asked softly. The pointer moved to ‘yes’ so fast their fingers almost slipped. Cain looked at Riff and shrugged, and then returned his attention to the pointer again. “About my father?” he whispered. The pointer spelled M-O-T-H-E-R-A-U-N-T-I-S-D-E-A-T-H-F-O-R-A-L-L. “I know,” Cain said.

“That ain’t exactly a secret,” Riff said softly, and suddenly the pointer made a crazy turn to settle on the circle with ‘no’, and then continued to write Y-O-U-A-R-E-T-H-E-O-N-L-Y-O-N-E. Then it paused, leaving Cain and Riff puzzled, and slightly worried. W-H-O-C-A-N-T-O-U-C-H-M-Y-S-C-A-R-S it spelled. Cain gasped, and almost pulled his finger from the pointer. An eerie feeling crept under his skin.

“Do you live in this house?” he asked., holding his breath, not sure he wanted to know the answer. The pointer made a less quick jerk to the circle with ‘yes’ and then it continued to spell K-N-O-W-A-L-L-S-E-E-A-L-L.

“Cain?” Riff whispered, sounding nervous, but then the pointer suddenly picked up speed, spelling I-K-N-O-W-Y-O-U-R-S-E-C-R-E-T over and over again, until it stopped, and then it slowly spelled L-O-V-E.

“What?!” Cain spat, and then the pointer began to spell Y-O-U-C-A-N-S-E-E-M-E. Riff for one was actually amused now, because Cain seemed to have lost all his arrogance.

“Do I know the lucky lady?” he asked, and the pointer moved to the circle with ‘no’, and then, to Cain’s dawning horror, the pointer wrote N-O-T-A-L-A-D-Y.

Cain’s eyes widened, and a blush crept to his cheeks. He had been prepared for a lot of things, but not this. Riff’s mouth just formed an ‘o’ as the pointer wrote G-E-N-T-L-E, and stopped mid-sentence when Cain pulled his finger off the pointer.

“Enough!” he cried, and pushed his chair away from the table in a hysterical act.

Riff took his finger off the pointer as well and then stood up from the chair and straightened his clothes. “I wonder who sent me this,” he said to himself, and he collected both the board and pointer, secretly wondering if he could use it himself.

Cain didn’t answer, and it took him what seemed like forever to look up at Riff. “Spirits can lie, you know,” he said in a weak defence.

“Of course, sir,” Riff said with a blank expression; his smile was on the inside. “Do you want me to pull the curtains again?” he asked softly, and Cain nodded, his light mood having disappeared, and Riff knew that look on his master: that was the look that told him that the young Earl would retreat to his room very soon, missing out on supper.

TBC