Peppermint Rot | The Glass Scientists au and fic

Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter was beta read by bansheeoftheforest on tumblr

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The garden was perhaps one of the most beautiful, and one of the most overlooked areas of Lanyon Hall. Flowers with different needs from different places all over the globe stood in harmony, as the ever elusive Mrs. Lanyon would tirelessly work to keep them in excellent health. Though she was not here right now, instead it was Lanyon Sr; sitting on an old, gently swaying swing.

He was idly looking around, making note of a few details that caught his eye. His wife’s prized garden had been sadly dampened by the fresh thunderstorm from last night, despite their refreshment. Worms had gotten into the mints; digging through the dirt and eating the foul herb with no remorse, and yet Sr. Lanyon really could not have cared less. The pleasant breeze of spring was the only welcoming gesture of nature that he found within these hedges; speaking of, a closer look towards the rose bushes revealed several flowers and twigs messily cut off, and Mrs. Lanyon’s prized tulips-- which normally stood tall and proud-- were now pressed down; flowers crushed. What sort of scoundrel would even do such a thing?

Sr. sighed, truthfully he didn't care in the slightest about the state of the garden. Not right now at least. He was simply out here to avoid being inside, he felt.. safer. The scare from last night was something he had hoped to have been a terrifying dream, brought forth from his anxieties and exhaustion. However, returning to the office after some proper sleep had only revealed that the cracked open bottle of blood was in every way real. Now, Hastie wasn't much of a...Superstitious man. But nothing rational could explain what had happened, the closest "rational" explanation he could come to was that someone found out about the incident with Dr. Jekyll and decided to.. fill a bottle of wine with blood.. to, scare him... while also not telling anyone of the death.

Yes, it would seem only something "supernatural" could properly explain what happened. He... He did not like the thought of Jekyll haunting him. Someothercreature doing this was a much more welcomed idea. Besides, his limited knowledge of "ghosts" would lead him to believe that they simply wailed and cried. Whatever this being was; it could simply not be a ghost, and certainly not Dr. Jekyll. No, Dr. Jekyll was too kind for this, it was simply out of character for him, simply impossible. Hastie huffed and stood up, walking back inside. Jekyll haunting him, simply ridiculous.

Before reaching the door however, a light caught his attention, coming from the spider lilies. They were an odd, sort of spindly plant-- the name certainly fits it. But he didn't care about the plant itself, no, he rather cared about how it seemed a bit... shiny, as if one were to put light over a liquid rather than a flower, and they were, concerningly darker in color. Lanyon Sr. felt his hands shake, but he walked towards the flowers anyway. Indeed the lilies had been doused with an unfortunately familiar liquid, but also there was something, he gently moved a few flowers to get a closer look at one behind them…

And he hastily threw himself back.

His entire body was shaking now, and he felt a bit nauseous, but he continued on. The spider lily was covered in as much blood as the others, but right in the center was a rotting eye, a rotting eye that had not been there when he entered the garden. It was partially consumed by maggots still currently on it, but the iris was entirely intact. A light brown that very easily looked like an orange, near red, in the light. He picked it up. He swore to tear those lilies out of the ground soon, but right now what's clearly a body part of a missing man was more pressing to remove. He whistled for his dogs, they'd eat anything he gave them.

Later, Lanyon Sr. found himself panting as he removed the bloody flowers. He did end up destroying their part of the garden in the process, he'd have to apologize for that later. But for now they'regone. And that's what mattered, covered in mud and dirt, flowers in hand, he headed towards the cellar. Fortunately for him, the cellar had an entrance out here, one that required several keys.

After making it in, he swallowed-- it felt... Heavy. Again he felt like he was being watched, quickly, he opened an empty barrel and shoved the flowers in. He could've put them in with Jekyll, it would have made less spread out evidence in case someone searched, and... the man deserved flowers, especially since his body will never be graced with a grave. But Hastie, couldn't. He couldn't bear the thought of looking at Jekyll, certainly not now when the doctor was no doubt decaying. He rushed out of the room after closing the barrel.

...God he needed a shower. However, as, silly as it was, he was scared to. Considering the current theme, he couldn't help but imagine Je-the creature-- the mysterious, haunting creature. He couldn't help but imagine that it may have replaced his shower water with blood too. It seemed those all were simply silly thoughts however, as he managed to clean himself with no incidents with the water. Sighing in relief and exhaustion, he quickly dried and clothed and went to bed.

And yet...

As soon as his body hit the bed, he noticed something was off. Cautiously he moved the sheets. Teeth. Four adult human teeth. He screamed.