2
Manipulation, Mutilation
Peppino awoke with George beside him, his back turned towards him.
George was sleeping soundly after their sexual moment.
"Georgie? Georgie?"
George turned over and said to Peppino, "please don't call me that."
Peppino chuckled, "you hate it, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
Peppino hugged him tightly, and he planted a kiss on George.
He lay there, comfortably, feeling the heartbeat of this human he loved so desperately.
He had to know his thoughts
Just a sliver of his thoughts
Peppino closed his eyes as he sought George's mind.
He found it,
And established a connection.
The thoughts he felt were so loving and comforting
I never felt like this before
Maybe this dragon is misunderstood
Maybe...maybe this dragon isn't miserable like I thought.
Peppino chuckled, "you thought I was miserable?"
"What?"
When Peppino realized he peeked into George's thoughts, he saw his lover's face turn red with anger.
"George, I-"
George threw the covers off and left the cave.
It was a long time before he returned.
He laid beside Peppino, but turned his back towards him.
"Georgie?"
Peppino tapped his shoulder.
No response.
Peppino tapped again.
"Georgie?"
George rudely replied, "what?"
"I'm sorry."
George said to him, "Peppino, if we are to be happy, you have to give up manipulation. It gets you nothing but trouble."
Peppino feared Georhe would say that.
He feared it every second.
George asked him earnestly, "Will you stop manipulating people?"
"I can't."
"If you can't, then I'll leave. I won't associate myself with a trouble maker."
As he got up, Peppino grabbed his hand, "wait!"
Peppino was stammering, but he said it, "okay, I-I-I-I'll g-g-give up telepathy."
"You don't have to give up telepathy. You just have to cease manipulating their thoughts."
Peppino nodded, "okay. I'll stop. Please, don't go."
When George smiled, Peppino felt his heart die and reawaken.
George laid back down with his dragon,
And he didn't leave him.
Peppino was hungry again.
He changed into his dragonself and ate the edible parts of his pile of food. He tore away at the dead sheep, chewed and consumed the meat and gobbled it all up until it was nothing but bones. He then burned the bones outside.
Although he ate five pounds of meat, Peppino was still hungry.
He needed to eat more.
Food was out of his grasp...or was it?
Control it, Peppino! Control it like the Vampora.
"No no no, I need to eat."
He went three weeks without eating before he attacked Archimedes. He went three weeks without manipulating. Going for so long without food was a halation in itself.
It would be an hour before daybreak.
Peppino could hold out until then,
Sneak away when George wasn't looking,
Frederica Mayhill was herding today's cattle into the pen. She wished her German Shepard hadn't fallen ill with Juniper Bland. It was hard for her to herd the sheep in the early morning sun.
"I don't know how my kind used to pull grass out of the ground in such dastardly heat!"
She was referring to the slave days, when people were forced to work on plantations and work in the sun.
When she saw a green dragon descending from the sky, she immediately knew she was doomed.
The dragon connected with her mind immediately, wasting no time in making her give him the sheep. It was addicting to Peppino. Connecting to her mind, feeling everything she felt he felt, making her do his bidding...sweet euphoria...
It couldn't end there.
No, it didnt end there.
He went to other farms-farms that thought they were safe from the dragon-and he took over their minds in the same way he always did. He made them follow his command, he controlled them, he took the animals and ate them before their hypnotized owners.
Peppino had successfully recovered from allowing the Vampora side of himself take over. Now he had this new addiction: using his telepathy to control others.
After filling up on unfortunate animals, a thought came into his head.
Wait...what will I tell George?
No no no, I promised him that I'd stop!
His latest victim, Juc Fille, had fled to call the cops when he released her.
While he was eating his heart out on her cows, she was frantically dialing the military's number.
Because of the digesting food in his belly, Peppino had no way to fly!
He could only walk, and not very far.
One could easily mistake him for a pregnant dragoness.
He took a long nap at Juc Fille's farm.
She stayed in her house,
Armed with a bat,
Her chest heaving,
Arms shaking
Sweat coating her face
And humidity puffing her frizzy red hair.
The dragon slept, calmly.
She heard its calm breathing.
She saw him in the pleasant daylight through the cover of her screen door.
Juc Fille had never seen a green dragon like him.
In a world where dragons were everywhere and more common than the Magicicada, you would think everyone has seen a dragon in their lifetime.
When the military arrived at Juc Fille's farm, she came out of her house yelling, "he's right there! He's right there!"
The dragon was much larger than it's original size when George found it.
The soldiers were almost afraid of the creature.
But then they saw it was immobilized by it's full belly.
Peppino opened his eyes and yawned loudly.
When he heard General Gruff shout, "FIRE!" he knew he was in trouble.
