Never Trust a Snake

Part of the "Dine in Chaos" story universe.

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Fangs bared in cheeky smiles. A long copper speckled snakes tail thumped against the floor. Two pairs of red and green snake eyes twinkled with glee as they stared down into golden wolf ones.

"Come on, Faolán," Alastair pleaded, his green eyes begging and hands clasped under his chin. "It will be fun!"

"No!" Faolán snapped, his nose creasing in a snarl. "Fun for you two is like going to the vet! Terrifying!"

"Don't act like that," Dušan purred, leaning down to flash his fangs. "We were only trying to help your brother."

"You tried to convince him he was a chihuahua!"

"Good times!" Alastair laughed, pushing a hand through his copper hair.

The snake demon was bored. Very bored. Most of the mansions residents were either out on a job or tending to personal matters. Which left those who remained the snakes potential victims. Alastair and Dušan had already stalked though the halls, looking for people; but those who had any sense had barricaded themselves in their rooms. But it had brought the demon such joy to see the silly little hound pup trying to retreat back to his room with a snack without being caught. Which had lead to this encounter.

"Can't you two go find someone else to play with?" the hellhound growled, not liking being cornered by the bored demon.

"We would," Alastair said, slinging his arms over Faolán's shoulders and hanging in mock saddness.

"But everyone has locked themselves in," Dušan drawled, his chin resting in his hand as he lent on his other torso's shoulder. "And then we found a little puppy sneaking around."

"I'm not a puppy!"

"And we were finally happy to have a friend to play with!" Alastair finished, his forked tongue flicking out to touch the skin above the hellhounds carotid artery.

"Stop that!"

"So lets go!" Dušan hissed, grabbing Faolán under his right arm as Alastair copied on the left.

The snake demon ignored the barks and growls of protest and continued to slither through the halls, finally stopping at a blank wall where the front doors should be.

"I don't want to go out with you two!" The younger demon continued to wriggle, his wolf ears plastered to the sides of his head. "You guys are crazy!"

"Oh hush!" Alastair giggled, rubbing a hand between Faolán's ears. "It will be fun! We promise."

"We have a whole day planned, so lets get cracking!" Dušan snickered as a portal spun to life on the wall.

Faolán desperately reached out a hand to the other monsters who had slunk out of their safe spaces to watch the commotion. "Help me!"

But they just took one last glance before slinking away again, some going as far as to take a picture and snicker at his impending fate.

Faolán felt his body being thrown backwards as the light of the portal blinded his vision. The deafening silence that accompanied such powerful magic made his eardrums pop; his only remaining sense, touch, still felt the twin bodied snake demon holding him in their coiled tail.

The force of the bodies hitting the ground was enough to knock the wind out off Faolán; the coils around him loosening enough for him to sluggishly crawl away. The sound of the forest filled his ears, cars and talking people coming from just beyond the tree line.

"Wow! What a rush!" Dušan laughed, detangling himself from the pile of coils and limbs.

"Head. Spinning. Bright light!" Alastair muttered, his green eyes crossed and hazy.

"The human world! Really?" Faolán growled, black fur growing out of his skin. "You really ARE crazy!"

Snickering, the snake demon pulled out two veils of glowing white liquid. Throwing them on the ground, two clouds of smoke billowed up followed by coughing.

"What the hell!" Faolán growled, glaring as the smoke started to clear. "Take me! Who the hell are you!?"

"Calm down, Faolán," the red eyed man sighed, shakily getting up onto his feet. His dark red hoodie and brown jeans the contrast of the other mans green jacket. "It's just us. We stole a couple of potions from Rohana's room."

"Weird!" the green eyed man muttered, stumbling around before face planting into a nearby tree.

"Don't go hurting yourself, Alastair." Dušan scolded, a frown creasing his face.

Snapping out of his shock, Faolán's hands jumped to the sides of his head, feeling two round fleshy ears instead of furry ones. Getting to his feet, he twisted around to look at his back, eyes widening in horror to see his tail missing.

"What did you do!" Faolán roared, taking a step towards the twins.

"Turned us temporarily human, duh." Alastair smiled, his human teeth looking unnatural in his mouth. "It feels so weird not being attached by the waist, Dušan. How do people live like this?"

"I agree," Dušan nodded, leaning against a tree so he could hold up one of his legs. "Having two moving sticks seem less sturdy then a tail."

"How do you know its temporary!"

"I think I can walk much better now!"

"Me too. Lets start our adventure! I vote we try this 'ice cream' creation first."

"Yes! I hear they come in many flavours!"

"Are either of you listening to me?"

"Then we can go to a 'hot pool'. Do you think its like a warm lake?"

"I hope its not too hot. My skin feels sensitive without my scales."

"Do you think a 'water park' has a hot pool?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"Will you to shut up!" Faolán barked, the other demon stopping their conversation. "How do you know that potion was temporary? Where are we? And how do I get back home?"

"Because it was labeled." Alastair said, bouncing over to the human hound. "Lets go! So many exciting things to do and such little time!"

"No! I want to go back home!" Faolán snapped.

"You do know that the portal has a cool down period for each location, right?" Dušan asked, razing an eyebrow. "It will be about 6 hours before we can go back to the mansion. And like this, we don't have the powers to activate it anyway."

"So, you're saying that I am stuck here, in the human world with the two of you, for the next 6 hours!"

"Exactly like that!" Alastair laughed happily, grabbing Faolán's arm and tugging him towards the town. "So, instead of waiting around and sulking, lets go have some fun! I can smell something really good coming from somewhere. Let's go!"

"Well, it seams as though I have no other choice." Faolán sighed, allowing himself to be pulled along. "But we are not going to do anything too crazy, alright!"

"Sure, sure," Dušan said, strolling behind them. "We have 6 hours to kill. But let us start with the creation known as ice cream."

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"Weylyn, calm down! You're making holes in the carpet!" Ragnar shouted, his skeletal hand drumming on his knee in annoyance.

"Where is he?" the hellhound growled, before howling and digging his claws into the carpet. "What did that bloody snake do to him! They better not have hurt him or I swear I'll!"

The portal wall spun to life, as two and a half figures came out. The portal dying and allowed everyones vision to clear. Eyes widened at the state of the small group; some soft snickering buzzing around the gathered monsters.

"What... happened to you three?" Ragnar asked, scratching inside his hollow socket.

"Don't ask." Faolán said tiredly, his ears dropping as he stumbled towards his worried brother.

"That was fun!" Alastair cheered, one fang stained bright green.

"Human law orders are quite amusing." Dušan mused, his hair sticking up and smoking slightly.

All three were splattered with bright colours, and covered with bits of carnival; candies, popcorn, cotton-floss, and Faolán had a candied apple stuck to his shoulder.

Faolán stumbled and face planted into his brothers chest, groaning as his tail hung limply. Muttering something hard to hear.

"What was that?" the snake demon asked, both heads cocking to look at the tired hound.

"I said," Faolán snarled, turning to look at the smiling snake (who's smiles only grew at the look on his face). "I am NEVER going out with you AGAIN!"