A low, guttural growl escapes my brother as he slowly makes his way through the dense muck of the swamp. Large tail swinging slightly, he gives himself a gentle push into the water, allowing the cool liquid to help quell his anger.
"There is no need to be so snappy," I respond, perfectly content.
Nero, my hotheaded brother barely holds back a snap. "She escaped again," he growls, obviously displeased with the bumbling fool, Snoops. "How many times must that girl run before realizing there is no hope?"
I lick my large snout in thought. "You should know by now how odd humans are," I respond, giving myself a bit more speed in the water to get in front of my brother. "Just look at that idiot Medusa keeps around."
Nero, thinking of the fat man, snorts. "It should be him out here in the cold, searching for the little brat."
I give no answer to this.
Nero narrows his eyes at me. "And yet not a single complaint from you," he says, almost softly. "Don't tell me you're actually pleased with the situation, Brutus."
I give a sinister grin. "I may be growing tired of this swamp, but I never grow tired of the hunt, brother. There was nothing but small rodents before that girl arrived. I need at least a little entertainment in my life."
"Even if we can't eat her?" Nero asks with amusement.
"You should know by now humans don't taste good," I chide, ignoring the toothy grin Nero shoots me.
He gave a snort. "I suppose you may be right," he allowed, "a good hunt is always worth it, even if we must go after the same prey." His yellow eyes narrow as he gazes through the dense fog, snout gently pushing away the various plants that grew like thick weeds in the water. "And what have you, brother, there lies our prey."
I look in the direction his snout is pointing, toothy grin widening enough to allow water to seep into my mouth. Soon that will be replaced with large, juicy meat that is always rewarded to us for returning her to the large host ship that our mistress and her bumbling partner call home.
"Lets scare her a bit first." Nero has that devilish look on his face as he says that, more in the mood now that the girl is in his sight.
He blinks at the girl, watching as she trips over an oversized root into the mush of the swamp, soaking herself even further. She gives out a loud yell of shock before clamping her mouth shut; eyes going wide as she looks around. We lower ourselves deeper into the water, eyes nothing more than slits. We are completely hidden from view.
The girl, Penny, sighs in relief as she stands a bit tentatively, still looking around but deciding she is safe for the moment. With a look of disgust at her mud and water soaked dress and stockings she heads on, creeping with a slight hunch that would surely hide herself from an oak like Snoops or even my Mistress. What a fun little girl.
"Go on," I urge my brother, licking my maws eagerly. He was already gone, the water swirling as his bulk sinks deep, and only my keen eyes can watch the slight movement the water makes as he swam closer and closer toward Penny.
Penny herself stiffened once more, turning back to look at the water suspiciously as the tide shifted from Nero. Her eyes darted all over, trying to see something that was out of place but it was too dark for her human eyes to truly see too much detail in the murky swamp though I did have to give her credit for being a lot more alert than others of her kind.
Tail waving slowly I too gained momentum, spiky snout and eyes still above water. It sent ripples through the water but I paid no mind to the disturbance it created even though I knew the girl would take notice. I wanted to watch; my brother had the surprise attack covered and I would just scoop the girl up.
I gave a loud grumble. The noise was enough to silence any animal foolish enough to be close to this place and, more importantly, alert the girl to my presence. As thought her head swiveled in my direction, blond damp hair clinging to her forehead and over her eyes, nearly obscuring her vision but she had seen enough.
With a loud "Eep!" she turned and fled, dress flailing behind and teddy bear clutched close to her chest. She moved fast on land, but unfortunately for her this was the swamp and land was few and hard land was fewer. Everything was a thing of mush and mud. Her feet sank into the deep gunk as she scrambled forward and away from me. I followed easily, swimming swiftly in an arc around the bit of land that Penny was running on.
Her head turned to see where I was, expression set in a glare, and that was what I liked about her. Even if I enjoyed catching her and watching her get punished I enjoyed her spirit. "Go away!" she screamed, voice breathless. She turned away again to take in where she was, only to falter as she realized she had run too close to the water. She came to a stumbling stop with a surprised squeak, nearly falling over herself and that's when my brother struck.
With a loud roar Nero burst from the water like the devil himself. Yellow eyes wide with delight and sharp toothed mouth wide open he let out a series of rumbled laughter that sent critters running. Penny she gave a loud shriek, arms waving as she was sent tripping from the shock. She landed with a loud groan only to scramble away just before Nero's teeth sank into her clothes. He gave a disdainful snort, miffed that he had missed.
"Leave me alone, Nero!" she barked. She had always seemed to know the difference between the two of us and it gave both me and my brother delight that she knew who it was that caught her. "I'm not going back!" she continued to scream, still scrambling back, limbs going all over as she crawled away like a spooked animal.
This time it was me that gave off the rumbling laughter as she crawled backwards and right into my waiting jaws. With another yell of shock and rage from the young girl my jaws clamped shut like a bear trap. With a happy snort through my nose I lifted her high, bouncing her a bit by her blue dress.
She shook her head from the shock, bewildered for but a moment before tossing and turning in my grip. "Let me down you stupid lizard!" The comment only gained laughter from me and my brother. Nero waddled forward, teddy bear clutched in his teeth already. We had learned early on that her screams could deafen anything if we left the stuffed item behind.
Penny moved around a bit more, turning about as much as she could to glare up at us. "Why did you have to go and spoil everything?" she huffed, brushing wet hair out of her face to better glare at us. "Nero, don't you dark get my teddy bear wet," she continued, igniting more chuckles. Nero and I shared a look of amusement before, with another sharp jerk on her clothes and away from her beloved teddy; we strode forward into the water.
We fell in with a light splash and swam forward, my jaw held high. Penny couldn't hold her breath for too long and with her above she moved bushes aside. Not for my benefit of course but just so she wasn't hit in the face by the annoying weeds. She continued to thrash as much as she could but in water her movement were slow and constrained.
"You-you stop it, Brutus!" she yelped, coughing after I had taken us under for a brief moment to avoid a low branch.
I snorted, looking down at her condescendingly as we made it to land, grin as wide as ever. With the boat, her jail, in sight she thrashed even more, exclamations of anger being shouted loud enough for Snoops to apparently appear because his fat image was visible near the entrance. He squinted, trying to make us out and again I snorted in mockery. Penny, still thrashing, finally managed a good turn when I lowered my jaw just a bit. Her fist went flying, slamming hard into my nose.
Nero gave a deep rumble of laughter as I dropped her in shock. It hadn't hurt but it had been surprising. "Problems, brother?" he sneered in mockery, stilling laughing.
I growled warningly, tail lashing out and slapping the young girl before she could even make it to her feet. She snarled and coughed from her position in the small puddle and tried to kick out. Easily I avoided her skinny little legs and bent down, jaws clamping down on the seat of her pants and lifting.
Penny yelped in shock, world literally turning as her head and arms faced downwards. She gapped for a moment, dress sliding down and covering her view. With a muffled shriek of anger she thrashed about once more.
"Looks like your tiny arms can't reach now," I growled to her as she tried to reach at me. Even if her fists did manage to hit my chest it would do nothing against the rock hard hide. With another chortle we strode forward, Penny bouncing by her pants in my grip and legs no longer having a good momentum to swing out at me.
Snoops finally came fully out, lantern in hand and laughing at the display. "Take her right on in, boys!" he laughed loudly, gesturing us through the doors as if we didn't know the way, Penny glaring the whole way. "Heh heh, come on!"
I passed the fat man without a glance, jaw shifting in order to swing Penny around just before we entered so that she could see the entrance rather than gaze out at the swamp. "You're too easy," I grumble to her cruelly, clothes making my voice a bit muffled. "This will always be the sight you return to."
Penny didn't say anything. Her dress had once again slid over her head, muffling any exclamations that she might have had and my stride was to strong for her to move about aggressively. All she could do was be bobbed up and down, legs bent and bouncing and stretching into different positions from the forced movement before I slowed to a stop.
Penny shuffled a bit, head peaking out from under her dress sulkily as Snoops scuffled forward with that obnoxious laugh of his and leaned down mockingly to get a good look at the girl. "So you tried to run away, huh?" he asked as if he were the one to catch the girl. "Well it didn't work, did it?" He continued to laugh mockingly but Penny was barely listening.
She got her groundings and turning her little body upward as far as she could to glare. "Put me down, Brutus!" she screamed, now finally thrashing about with enthusiasm, legs and fists swinging all over. With a mocking look my jaws lifted, easily dropping her to the ground where she fell with an "Oomph!" Grumbling she rubbed at her head, giving me a disdainful look. "Creepy old dragon."
As always her words bring about a round of chuckles from Nero and me, only for it to be ruined as Snoops strode over. "Good boy," he crooned, trying to act in charge. It was pitiful and degrading. Growls erupted from my throat, marching forward with several snaps of my jaws at the fat oaf. "Goo-goo-good boy! Do-do-dow-down boy!" He continued to yelp, crawling over the couch to get away like a coward.
Behind Penny made a comment and shot us a glare, prompting Snoops to regain the little bravery he had to intimidate her. "Teddy, teddy, teddy," he repeated, exasperated. "Boys, why don't you take this naughty little girl to her room." He pushed Penny towards us, my eyes following with amusement.
She broke away. "I can go by myself," she said, voice snooty at the bully of a man. "Thank you." With a huff she marched up the stairs and into her room, Nero and I watching her go with our chuckles following behind.
(X)
We were at the top of the little rock hill again. The one my mistress was so obsessed over and kept sending Penny down over and over. She always returned with little shiny rocks that never seemed to appease Mistress but there was nothing she could do but wait for the tide to go down and send the girl back down.
"Be ready to grab her," Mistress muttered to us, pacing. "Don't let her get away."
At the moment Penny was already down in the cavern, yelling to be let up. She was more afraid of enclosed space than of me, I thought with amusement as I watched the fat Snoops huff and puff as he pulled at the rope.
"Faster!" Mistress snapped at her partner, gesturing wildly and peering down the tiny hole. "Faster, faster!"
"I'm going as fast I can," Snoops wheezed, continuing to pull as fast as he could. Slowly, two little hands appeared through the hole holding a large, shiny rock that Mistress swiped away faster than a cat catching a mouse.
Her sigh of happiness was loud and final. She had finally obtained what she had been searching for. "At last," her voice was breathy from excitement, "the Devil's Eye!" She held up the sparkling gem, laughter echoing as she gazed lovingly up at it before lowering it to her chest possessively.
"It's worth millions!" Snoops gasped, jumping forward, raising Penny even higher from the small bucket in his forgetfulness. She gazed down fearfully, clutching tightly at the rope.
"Just look at it," Mistress breathed, eyes still wide and ignoring Snoops trying to peer over her shoulder. "Filled with absolute power for its owner."
Lee-lemme look at it!" Snoops said excitedly, all but reaching over the taller woman's shoulder. She glared acidly before, exasperatedly, flicked her hands toward him and back, hiding it from view once more. Huffing, he complained, "Hey, that wasn't a very good look." He finally released the rope in his hand and tried to reach for it.
With a startled scream Penny finally fell down to earth, arms and legs clutching at the sides of the hole. She scrambled a bit, nearly falling into the cavern she feared to much. She glanced down into the darkness with a fearful expression.
At that moment Nero's tail reached over to wrap around her middle and toss her to the ground. Her eyes were wide and mouth was gapping from surprise as she was brought to the ground. Mistress wasn't in the mood for playfulness or allowing us a chase so to make it easy to handle I simply reached down and grasped Penny by her undergarment.
Her hands grasped at the ground as I raised her high, neck out and up. She was too far off the ground to grab for things and too far to scratch at my neck like an irritating bug. While right side up she could prove to be a little bothersome and Mistress didn't want any distractions at the moment so this was the easiest and by the far the best way to get angry reactions from her.
"There's enough there for two equal shares!" I heard Snoops continue. He was staring wide eyed at the gem. Mistress held out her foot in disgust, keeping the fat coward away as his arms reached out.
"You idiot, cut up a perfect gem?" Mistress sneered. "And it's mine, all mine," she all but sang, voice still breathy as she marched away, completely ignoring Snoops snarling after her.
"Al-all yours!" he bellowed, stumbling after her and shaking his finger at her in anger. "Well half its mine you double crossing crook!"
With me Penny had begun her thrashing. She punched and kicked at the air in a gain for freedom, body spinning slightly and undergarments stretching and contracting so that she bounced in my grip. "Let me down, Brutus!" she yelled, pausing in her movements to look up at me and glare, little hands clenched in furious fists.
My eyes, having been wide with amusement at watching her struggle, narrowed down to slits. I jutted my jaw out – my usual mockery – which bounced her a bit to stop her punching and kicking. My brother gave an amused look and followed as I turned, following Mistress down towards the abandoned ship.
Penny continued to yell and struggle but with each bouncy step she got no momentum and could only swing from side to side. Her feet tried to stretch up several times to kick me in the nose but a simple shake sent them falling down to her chest. Penny huffed tiredly as another shake made her dizzy. Wearily the small girl tried to reach upward, fingers pulling at her undergarments.
I gave a hearty chuckle as I felt the material pull slightly in my mouth. "Silly girl," I told her, voice slightly muffled by the fabric. "You can't break anything from my grip."
I increased my pace and the force sent her little body bending back. Her stomach was now forced backwards and head bent down to stare at the ground with her blue dress draped over and covering her view from the road ahead. Her arms hung limply and her legs were bent from her upside position and only bounced to her sides or up and down with each step I took.
Penny continued to grumble as we got closer and closer to the broken boat with Mistress and Snoops still ahead arguing loudly. Her arms occasion flashed up in a small effort to hit me but my snout was too long and she too small. They were futile efforts but amusing none the less. I relish a good game and even if I have them I still like my prey to fight.
"Let me down!" Penny shrieked as I finally slowed, nearing our destination. I looked up, snout rising higher and swinging Penny back and forth by her undergarments. When her dress lifted away from her face from the swing I could make out that she was glaring at me before turning her attention on the ship and Mistress. "Give me my teddy!" she screamed, arms waving in the stuffed bear's direction. "Let me down, Brutus!" she yelled again.
I dutifully ignored her and trudged on, Nero close by my side and making snarky comments at the girl. He nudged her belly teasingly and she swiped at him. It missed and he roared with laughter, delighted in his teasing and her reaction
"Stop it, Nero!" she snapped, fingers curved like little claws as she swiped at my brother. I tightened my grip and gave her a little jolt. It bounced her up and down, much to my amusement. It stopped her swiping and I easily turned her about in my grip, feeling slightly sadistic as she huffed dizzily. Still, despite the treatment she snarled back.
"Nero, Brutus! Get over here!" our Mistress finally screeched at us. The large shotgun was in her grip, Snoops pressed up against the wall. Penny tried to raise her head from her awkward position, gazing longingly at her teddy bear.
With a snort I dropped the girl to the ground. She fell in a clump, limbs splayed awkwardly before she rolled over to glare up at me. "Stupid lizard," she moaned as she checked the new holes in her clothes.
"That's enough, boys. Go wait in the bayou," Mistress commanded as I nudged Penny forward. She rolled toward Snoops, protests dying as Mistress took it from there and shoved her against the wall. "Now," she hissed.
Annoyed and disappointed that we wouldn't see the show Nero and I left, teeth clacking and deep rumbles all the way as we went into the water, awaiting further instructions.