Dylan blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness.
Where was he? The room was filled with crates that were filled with other people. Was this the school? No, all the people inside the crates were human. Except for himself and...
Fang yawned. Oh shit, Dylan thought. Not him! Not that depressed...
"Eh? Where are we?" Fang mumbled. He glanced around the room until his eyes rested on the person whose shoulder he was using as a pillow.
Fang jumped about five feet into the air trying to get away from Dylan, who was laughing his head off.
Suddenly, a boy about their age entered. A girl, probably his sister, followed. Together, they yanked a middle aged man who looked a LOT like Fang toward the door. The man was protesting - no, more like screaming. "Sorry, Gakupo-sensei," the girl said. "We have orders," the boy added. The man looked pleadingly at them. "Please, Rin, Len. Reconsider. I'll even marry your sister Lily if you help me escape!" The girl, Rin (or was it Len?) smiled cruelly. "Too late for that, Gakupo-san. Let's go, Len." She said to the boy. Len followed.
When the door closed, Dylan and Fang glanced at each other.
"What the hell...?" Fang asked. Dylan just shrugged. He looked around and turned to the person in the crate next to theirs. "Hey, do you know what they're doing?" He asked to the woman in the crate. She smiled sadly. "Yes..." Fang leaned over to her. "What are they-" A loud scream ripped through the air. The woman hid her face with her bangs. Someone pulled her sleeve. The woman turned to someone Dylan couldn't see.
"Sis," someone asked. "Is Ane-chan* going to be okay?" The woman held the person (who must have been pretty small for Dylan not to be able to see her) close. "Of course, sweetie," she whispered. Turning, she introduced herself. "I'm Luka," she said. "This is Miku." Miku, a girl who looked to be about five, had long hair (they couldn't tell what color it was because of the dark) tied in two pigtails. She smiled and waved. Luka pointed to a girl who looked exactly like a younger version Gakupo. The girl was sitting in a crate, her legs against her chest. "That's Gakuko." Luka informed them. "Gakupo's sister." Turning, she gestured to another woman, she said, "That's sweet Ann. She's Rin and Len's, Conchita's servants, cousin." The woman had curly blond hair and caramel eyes. Or maybe her hair was brown. They couldn't tell because of the stupid darkness.
"Who's Conchita?" Fang asked. Luka stared. "You don't know who Conchita is?" She sighed. "Never mind. Conchita is the duchess, basically. This is her turf. She's always had a fetish for weird food, but last month...well, last month, she overdid it." Luka leaned closer, her hands clenching her ragged dress. "She eats people now. She's a cannibal. And Len and Rin are her servants."
"But what do we have to do with this?" Dylan asked, puzzled. Luka smiled, except there was no warmth in it. Only pain.
"Why, we're the meal."
The door swung open.
"And you two are next," Len said.
Dylan and Fang were escorted by Len into the kitchen.
It was huge, and a blue haired man was cooking some kind of stew on the stove. He turned around and smiled sadly at the two of them. "Sit down," he said, motioning for them to sit on one of the chairs. They obeyed. The cook motioned for Dylan to come with him. He lead him through a corridor, where Fang watched him disappear. Kaito came back by himself and motioned for Fang to follow. Despite his mind, which was screaming RUN, IDIOT, RUN!, Fang followed.
"What's for dinner?" Conchita asked her cook, Kaito. "Today, we have a special dessert. The appetizer is..." Kaito relayed all of the ten courses Conchita would be having for dinner. Rin and Len brought in the appetizer, then the main course, then the second and third and...
Finally, the dessert came.
"For dessert, we have fried avian meat dipped in my special gravy." Conchita glared.
"I said human meat, not bird!" Kaito grinned weakly.
"Well, mistress, this is special. The bird we caught was part human and part bird. They were mutations. This is a special meat that you will never be able to eat again."
Conchita smiled. "You have done well. Now," she said, her voice eager,
"I have to eat it all! I cannot leave a crumb!"
Max sighed. Where were Fang and Dylan? They were nowhere to be found. Annoyed and exhausted, she motioned for the flock to fly down and rest. She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again, she realized that Gazzy and Angel were missing. "Gazzy? Angel? Total?" She asked hesitantly. She got up and told Nudge and Iggy to stay where they were.
Gazzy, Total, and Angel where nowhere to be found.
When she returned, Iggy and Nudge were nowhere to be seen. Where did they run to now? Max thought.
There was a faint pain in the back of her head, then everything went black.
Kaito smirked at Max's unconscious form. He had managed to catch five more bird kids, plus a talking dog, which would make a decent appetizer. Smirking, Kaito dragged Max's body and dumped it into his bag.
"Mistress might be able to eat the avian meat again after all."