Dine in Chaos

Dinner had been flowing like every other that had come before. Until it all rolled down hill faster then an out of control snowball. Glass lay shattered across the hard wood floors. Bits of meat everywhere. And deep red liquid dripping from the table. Chaos had descended upon the dining hall; people shouting and pointing fingers.

"How did this happen?"

"This is all your fault, Weylyn! "

"Bullshit! Quit lying though your fangs, Gennady! Or I'll rip you to pieces!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"You little shit! Faolán! Let go of me!"

"Brother, as much as I agree the pompous brat should be put in his place, we have much more pressing matters at the moment."

"Tasnim! Get off me!"

"Who shattered my plate? We really wanted that!"

"WILL EVERYONE, PLEASE, SHUT UP!" A loud voice boomed from the head of the table. "Weylyn, Gennady, stop fighting. Faolán, let your brother go. Tasnim, let go of Araceli's wings. Alastair, Dušan, please don't eat things off the floor. And the rest of you, take your seats. NOW."

Shuffling filled the air as people righted their chairs, sitting down and glaring around; the occasional snarl, bared fangs and flared wings going around the table. With a tired sigh, the being at the head of the table, resting his head in his hands.

"Now that everyone has finally calmed down. Let us go over our strategy for our current little... incident."

"By 'incident', I hope you mean the human that fell out of nowhere onto our dining table, and not the fact that we are flat ass broke." Gennady snapped, his tousled blonde hair still dripping with red wine. "The boss is yet to pay us for our last assignment, Ragnar! What the heck are we going to do?"

"Dear gods, don't remind me of that!" Alastair whined as he tugged on his hair, his other torso, Dušan, frowning and rubbing his brothers back; their long snake tail lashing around.

"I agree." Weylyn nodded, his wolf like ears twitching on the side of his head. "I am still brushing out pink glitter from my fur."

"What was up with that assignment anyway?" Tasnim asked, her flowing water hair pooling on the floor. "Why the heck did the boss get half of us to go to a children's party?"

Murmurs of agreement buzzed around the table. Others began to talk quietly amongst themselves; feathers and fur being ruffled in annoyance, claws and scales sharpening as tensions rise.

"Yes, Gennady, I mean the human," Ragnar growled, his hollow sockets closing as a glare at the phantom. "They seem to have scampered off somewhere to hide. As the mansion has no visual exit, they are most likely running around like a headless harpy while also trying to find a place to hide."

Standing up and walking to the doors, Ragnar paused, looking back over his shoulder at the rest seated at the table.

"So we better find them so we can return them back to their world as soon as possible. But remember they are only human, and are far more delicate then the rest of us. So being gentle is key."

With excited snarls, Weylyn and Faolán bounded past the undead warrior; the limbs having broken and elongated into something much more animalistic. A stream of water raced after the two hellhounds, a silky blue dress flowing with the tide. Wings flapped as Araceli took point of the mansions flying residents, all of them diving out the doors and gliding though the halls. The sound of broken glass clinking against each other caught Ragnar's attention. Turning around, man felt his eyebrow rise as his hollow sockets watched the two conjoined snake demon slither around with a broom, carefully sweeping the broken glass into neat piles. Gennady sat leaning back in his chair with his feet resting on the table, his eyes glowing yellow as magic circles floated around him; fading before being replaced by a new one. With a tired sigh, Ragnar walked out of the room, strolling through the halls in hopes to find the human. Araceli flew over head, her brightly coloured wings just able to extend to full length across the ceiling.

"Now where are you hiding, little human?" The warrior muttered under his breath, standing at the top of a set of stairs.

A loud 'BOOM' shook the mansion, howls of laughter and running footsteps racing down the hall closely followed by excited yipping. A dark haired man stumbled into the entrance way, panting heavily with a wild look in his eyes. Two large wolf-like creatures sprung out after him, their black fur dusted with pieces of wood and wall; their bodied with long and limber, their heads like a wolf just with sharp tusks and scaled noses, long spikes protruded out along their spines and their tails were like long twin scorpion stingers. Water poured from the ventilation shaft on the wall, Tasnim taking the form of a watery spider. With a screech, Araceli landed in the jewelled basket of the chandelier, cooing as she ruffled her feathers and stared down at the panicking human man.

"W-what the hell!" The man cried, twisting around to try and find an escape rout, only to find his paths blocked. "What are you freaks!"

"Calm yourself, human." Ragnar said, walking down the stairs, his skeletal hand held above his chest. "We mean you no harm. We were just trying to find you, so we may send you back to your world. You happened to fall here in the middle of dinner, so please forgive my companions, they are not truely themselves at the moment."

"Oh God! Y-you're a zombie!" The man gasped, taking in the hollow sockets and boney hand.

"I can assure you, I am undead not a zombie." Ragnar said calmly. "You would have already been dead if I were."

"W-where am I? How do I get out!" The man shouted, backing up against the wall where a door should be. "I need to get o-!"

The wall behind him suddenly lit up with a large magic circle, a hand reaching out and pulling him in; Gennady stepping out and closing the portal with a snap of his fingers. With an angry huff, bones cracked as the hellhounds regained a more human form, stretching out their limbs with frowns on their faces.

"Come on, Gennady," Faolán whined. "You ruined the fun."

"You call that fun?" Tasnim asked, becoming solid once again within her dress; her waterfall hair flicked over on shoulder. "You two looked like you would eat the man if given half the chance. And Araceli! You look like a demented chicken sitting up there, get down here before you break the chandelier."

"Are you really one to talk?" Araceli snapped, gliding down to the floor. "What was with the spider?"

"Agreeded." Weylyn growled. "You trying to give the human a heart attack?"

Arguing broke out as more monsters emerged from the halls; siding with one or the other. Ragnar rubbed his head with a hand, not in the mood to deal with all the noise and chaos. Until the sound of a whip cracking made the room fall silent. Alastair and Dušan stood coiled at the top of the stairs, a whip held in Dušan's hand. Their forked tongues flicking out between bared fangs.

"That's enough shouting and chaos for this evening," Dušan hissed, his red eyes narrowed. "Lets all just simmer down."

"Yes." Alastair agreed, his green eyes looking around. "We managed to clean up the dining room. Most of the food was untouched, so we may continue with dinner."

"Thank you, Alastair, Dušan." Ragnar smiled softly; murmurs of thanks following his lead. "Now everyone, let up pick up our meal where we left off."

Making their way back to the dining room; the warrior walked next to the snake demon; we was quietly taking to each other.

"Thank you for you assistance, it is greatly appreciated."

"It's no problem," both heads spoke at the same time, before taking turns to speak further. "We aren't the best at our job," "Even so, we want to help you out as much as we can." "We are not as strong or have great power that comes in handy with controlling other monsters," "But we know how to keep our team in line."

Letting out a booming laugh, Ragnar patted both their shoulders. "I think you are one of the strongest people I know. You are able to make this team settle faster then I ever could. Sometimes they are more trouble then the monsters we are sent to detain! Now, let us get back to the dining hall; before another fight can start."

Shaking their heads, they pick up the pace towards the sounds of voices slowly beginning to rise behind the closed dining room doors.