Chapter 23 #2
“It’s Halloween trick or treat.” Someone lobbed a bag of shit at Noah. It was deflected by a vampire holding a shield and sword.
Oh, that was great. Pan wanted to de-escalate the situation, not fight bags of shit with swords, and Feryn had brought out the city guard, or at least what was left of it. Though Pan was glad the vampire had stepped in and protected Noah.
“If you want treats, you may share in the Samhain cakes, but you never asked,” Noah said.
“Why have you got cakes when there’s food shortages?”
“Yeah, it’s your fault there’s not enough food.”
“They broke everything and expect us to do all the work.”
The humans shook their fists and pitchforks. Though it was clear the pitchforks were mostly plastic and appeared to be held by people with red-painted skin and horns.
“That isn’t true,” Noah said as though reasoning with these people was going to work. “The mythological people have been fixing their own buildings. They have offered to do more, but the human authorities do not want their help.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t want werewolves and vampires stealing our jobs,” a man said as if it were logical to complain about the Tarikians not doing enough in one breath and then complain about them taking jobs in the next.
Noah glanced up at the sky, and Pan could imagine him drawing in a breath and sighing in frustration. “So what do you want? Do you want them to help rebuild or not?”
“They shouldn’t have destroyed it,” the man who’d taken on the role of human spokesperson said.
“They didn’t. Our human scientists did that. Mythological people don’t want to be here. They would much rather go home, but their world was destroyed. We are all stuck here, together.”
“Well, maybe they all need to be rounded up and have their own place instead of living in our town.” The man crossed his arms.
“And which town would you give them? Which city? Which humans are you going to tell to move to make way?” Noah was doing a good job debating them. Pan would’ve lost his temper already and demanded that they kneel. Maybe Noah could talk them into going home.
“The vampires have been feeding on my grandfather.”
Pan groaned. Or not.
“I could kill them all with one breath,” the dragon whistled far too close to Pan’s ear.
As tempting as that was, it was too much. “I would much prefer to fling shit back at them.”
The dragon wriggled and almost threw Pan off his leg—it was not easy to hold onto a dragon as their scales were quite slippery. The dragon huffed. “I do not need to shit.”
That was probably for the best.
“I do,” the female said. “I was waiting until after the party.”
That was a small mercy because no one wanted that to waft into their celebrations.
Noah was still talking, still trying to reason with the humans who only wanted to express their hurt. But they didn’t want the truth. They wanted to hurt others.
A human threw a bottle that shattered on the wall of the palace. Then someone else near the back of the group began the chant in Welsh again, and they all joined in, shouting over Noah.
One dressed in white sheet charged at the Tarikian crowd, screaming, “Fight you fucking monsters!”
A werewolf howled, a sound that still had the power to chill Pan’s bones even though it had been millennia since he’d been involved in that incident. Fortunately, there’d only been a few survivors, and none had lived long enough to spread the word.
The humans rushed the Tarikians, and fights broke out. This had gotten out of hand in a blink. And while it wasn’t like the violence he’d seen in the videos from other countries, that it was happening here, in the place he called home, made his stomach knot.
This place that was supposed to be setting the example for how things could be. Watching the fight was like being stabbed in the heart and watching someone twist the blade.
How could the humans turn against them when they had done nothing but try to help and fit in? When all they were trying to do was rebuild their lives?
They all wanted the same thing, and that was to mourn the dead and move past this disaster. All his people had been looking forward with hope…now they were seeking violence.
“No!” Pan shouted, even though no one was listening.
The female dragon lumbered past Pan, the weight of her healing leg making her ungainly.
He should stop her. He should provide a miracle and calm everyone’s heart, but even if he had that magic, he didn’t know where to begin.
There would be so many conflicting prayers.
The humans wanted them gone, or they wanted everything fixed yesterday.
The Tarikians wanted houses, and jobs, and food.
He couldn’t answer everyone’s prayers even on a good day, and today was not a good day. Tomorrow would not be a good day either.
The New Year would not be a good one.
He wanted to find somewhere to hide until magic returned and everything was fixed, but who would remember him then? And who would care?
Pan jumped down from the dragon’s leg and crouched next to the drak. “Warn everyone that the dragon is about to shit.”
The drak’s eyes widened in horror, and it ran. None of the Tarikians needed to be warned twice. The fights broke up as they ran for the tavern to get off the street. Until only a few remained to guard Noah.
“Cowards! Come back and fight!” the human man yelled, waving his fists in the air. But he didn’t approach Noah with his vampire guards.
Who was the coward?
“Yeah, that’s it. Run away and keep running.
We don’t want your kind here. This town is for humans,” another man shouted as he threw what appeared to be a bucket in the shape of a pumpkin.
He spun around and noticed that one of the dragons was much closer.
“It’s going to eat me!” He ran back to the cluster of humans, who all edged backwards.
They weren’t so brave now.
The dragon had turned around and lifted her tail, ready to deploy something far viler than anything humans could muster.
“What’s it doing?” one of the humans shouted with a tremor of fear in his voice.
“You threw poop at a dragon, so I think she’s returning the favor.” Noah took a couple of steps back.
One of the vampires pulled Noah down and lifted his shield, as did the other one.
The humans glanced around as if realizing the street was almost empty except for them, and the dragon was backing up closer to where they stood. The dragon’s ribs expanded.
Pan lifted his shirt over his nose even though it wouldn’t save him as the dragon dropped a pile of shit in the middle of the road.
Humans retched and ran.
The dragon finished with a fart and hobbled back over, looking far too pleased with herself.
Pan’s eyes watered. It was the kind of thing that, once on your clothes, the stench never seemed to come off.
While dragon shit was great for gardens, it was the worst thing he’d ever smelled, and that included arriving at a battle several days too late when the crows were still feasting on the rotting bodies.
Sirens and flashing lights bounced off the building and filled the night. Now the remaining humans were caught between the dragons and the cops.
“You’d better return to behind the palace,” he clicked at the dragons.
“The party is over,” the male grunted and nosed at his mate.
Pan walked toward where Noah crouched behind the shield. Broken glass crunched beneath his boots. The vampires holding the shields stood. Bits of dragon poo were stuck to the metal.
Noah gagged and swore. “Why is it so bad?”
“Perhaps your scientists can tell us,” Pan quipped, though it was probably something to do with how they made fire.
Noah shot him a glare. Blood streaked his cheek. When had he been hurt?
A cop approached, trying to keep a serious expression but looking as though he wanted to vomit on his shiny shoes. “What happened here?”
“A bunch of protestors chanting for the monsters to leave in Welsh started throwing bags of shit and bottles.” Noah pointed to the plastic bags that had ripped open on impact and the shattered glass. “I think the dragon took offence.”
The cop glanced at the pile of dragon shit in the middle of the road. Then back at all the plastic bags. “Did anyone else get hurt?”
“Not that I know of,” Noah said as if there hadn’t been a fight on the street. Why was he ignoring that?
“You were fighting?”
“No.”
“Then what happened to your face?”
Noah touched his cheek, and his fingers came away bloody. Noah was hurt and no one was doing anything. “I don’t know.”
The cop studied Noah for several heartbeats. “You’re human?”
“Yeah, my Nan owns the pub. We’re hosting the memorial for the mythological people. We have council approval.”
The cop shrugged. “Well, it’s Halloween. They’d probably been drinking.”
Pan stepped forward. “Are you kidding? You’re excusing this behavior? How would the humans feel if we turned up at one of their memorials and threw bags of shit around?”
“Tensions are high. People are upset about the damage and the restrictions.”
“Yes…mythological people are also upset.” He used the human word even though it wasn’t correct.
“This is an important night for us. It is one of remembrance of the old and hope for the new. And humans have given us piles of shit and shards of glass. I hope that is not symbolic of the year to come because whatever shit we are handed, we can return ten-fold.” Pan pointed at the dragon shit.
The cop’s posture straightened. “Is that a threat?”
“He was speaking metaphorically,” Noah said.
Pan pressed his lips together. No he fucking wasn’t.
“I’m sure it was a few disgruntled drunks who probably need to sleep it off in a cell, so they don’t try and fight a dragon. I’m sure we can agree that would be bad for everyone,” Noah said.
“I can’t arrest people for a prank.” The cop shrugged.
Noah stared at the cop, blood trickling down his cheek. The vampires had their fangs down, and Pan wanted to find out if he could make a human’s eyes explode if he thought about it hard enough. So far, nothing was happening, not even a cry of pain.
“So if drunks attack the dragons, then we will call it their own stupidity. The same way we did on Tariko.” On Tariko, not even the drunks were stupid enough to annoy the dragons, and if they were, they only did it once. Any survivors served as a reminder and a warning.
Noah smiled as though he had a frog on his tongue. “I didn’t say arrest them; I suggested that for their own safety you keep them away from the dragons.”
“Perhaps the dragon shouldn’t be in town. It’s a bit of a hazard, having wild animals so close to where people live and work.”
“Perhaps you should negotiate with the dragons,” Pan said dryly. Dragons didn’t live in the center of town, but they were just as scared as everyone else.
The female officer walked over. “This one claims the werewolves attacked him.”
Noah frowned. “Is he the one who ran at the werewolves and tried to push them over?”
The woman glanced at the two vampires. “Why are they armed?”
“Ceremonial…for the memorial,” Noah lied smoothly.
It was impressive. But then there was nothing silkier than a selkie’s tongue—no matter how they were using it.
“There are all kinds of weird customs associated with Samhain and remembering the dead. Perhaps you’d like to learn more?
Would you like to talk to the Strega? She’s a kind of witch who can see your future.
” This time when he smiled, it was like he had swallowed the frog and was ingesting a magic that made him invincible.
“Perhaps you would like to cast a prayer for the new year into the fire.” Pan tried to sound enthusiastic, even though he wanted the cops to fuck off since they were useless.
Meredith wouldn’t be pretending that the protestors were a drunken annoyance. She’d understand they were there for trouble.
“Uh, I’m catholic,” the man said.
“My condolences.” Pan put his hand over his heart.
Noah glanced at him and muttered, “That’s his religion.”
“I know. He’s limited himself to one god out of hundreds. It’s very strange. And I bet your god has never answered your prayers.”
“Well…uh…it’s about faith.”
“I knew your god once… He liked obedience and requested his followers perform all kinds of tasks to prove it. My condolences still stand.” Pan inclined his head, checking that the dragons had followed his order and returned to their spot in the car park behind the tavern. The street was blessedly empty.
“I suggest you wrap it up here and head home,” the cop said before turning and walking away to speak with the remaining protestors.
Nothing would be done about the humans tonight.
No doubt nothing would be done at all.