Chapter 10: A Spooky Night
A few weeks had passed since me and DJ performed our tribute to David Bowie at Regent's Park. Over time, I had gotten to know and even hanged out with many of my other brothers and sisters. Two of which included Deepak, who's fur pattern on the face resembled the Ying and Yang symbol and donned a black tangzhuang with matching pants both of which suited his hobby of meditation, following a method of philosophy that he referred to as the "Great Guru Miaow". The other of the two was called D-Pad and as evidenced by his name and the markings on his face that resembled that of a Super Nintendo controller, he was very big on videogames. His attire being of a purple hoodie with a black shirt underneath and simple grey jeans. His room when I first bonded with him was absolutely packed with memorabilia of almost every videogame known in the world from old to modern. Any other avid videogame fan would no doubt be jealous of his huge collection, he even showed me videogames that I didn't even know existed such as Tomba for the Playstation One which involved a caveman like kid fighting pigs to retrieve a bracelet they had stolen from his late grandfather.
The entire house was adorned in countless spooky themed décor, including garlands that held paper ghosts and pumpkins up and window stickers shaped like bats. It was now October 31st and everyone in the house was preparing for the big event. Regent's Park was having a having a big Halloween gathering and everyone in my family including mom, dad and I would be attending. The majority of my siblings were already in their costumes but I was currently sat on my bed trying to decide what costume to go for. I looked at one of my other siblings' beds and found a comic book with the front cover featuring a picture of the same German Shepherd I had seen on a similar comic on day one. Getting a closer look at it, I could read the comic's title as it read "Thunderbolt", with the dog on the front supposedly being the titular hero of this comic. I then noticed a slip of paper on Da Vinci's bed that seemed to have a few spots of black paint on it, possibly being used to catch any paint that dripped off of her paintbrush and that's when my brain hatched an idea.
I managed to find a white cloth head mask from under my bed and with the help of the Triple D, I got myself a brown trench coat with matching hat. Finding a marker in the kitchen, I drew a pattern of black spots on the front of the head mask before putting it on, followed by the coat and hat. A few minutes later, I came downstairs in my costume to see DJ in a white disco coat and matching pants and a blue and red thunderbolt face paint. "Woah, Cody, almost didn't recognise you there!" I chuckled as I straightened my hat. "Heyyy, is that Rorscach?!" I then heard D-Pad's voice behind me as I turned to see him in a red sleeveless jacket with a white shirt underneath, denim jeans and a red cap with a white front. Fortunately, D-Pad had often invited me to compete with him in many videogames including Fatal Fury so I recognised his costume to be aforementioned game's protagonist, Terry Bogard. "Yep! I remember back in school when one of my classmates lent me an issue of Watchmen!" I recalled as D-Pad admired my costume. It was a minute or so later when the rest of our siblings came down, all in many different costumes. Destiny of the Triple D for example was in a pinafore dress with a blue and white gingham fabric and red slippers.
"Nice Dorothy Gale costume, Destiny." I commented as she did a little twirl to show off. "Why thank you, Cody! I think it like, really brings out how cute I am!" She smiled at me as Dallas stood behind her in a black robe and a witch hat, pouting. "Yeah, but I like, still don't understand why I have to be the Witch of the West!" Dallas stamped her foot in annoyance as Destiny merely smirked at her. "Because everyone knows I'm the best star of the show!" Deja Vu who was no doubt costumed as Glinda the Good Witch just rolled her eyes at Destiny's narcissistic response whilst I tried to hold back a laugh at the Triple D's little sibling rivalry when Dylan arrived at the front door. "Alright, before we head out to the gathering, I have to ensure that everyone has their essentials. First of all has everyone used the toilet-" Dylan's lecture was suddenly cut off by Dolly who had simply gone with a vampire cape and a black shirt. "ALRIGHT GUYS, FIRST ONE TO THE PARK GETS THE MOST CANDY!" Dylan was immediately steamrolled by every single one of our siblings besides Dolly and I as they raced for Regent's Park. Dylan groaned as he got up and dusted himself off and was just about to head out the door after them when Dolly held him back by his shoulder. "Not so fast, bro! You still aren't in costume!" Dolly protested, raising a smug eyebrow at him. "Dolly, it's my responsibility to worry about our brothers and sisters' safety at this time more than being in garments! Besides what could I possibly wear?" Dolly smirked at Dylan's response, the latter's eyes widening almost as if he had realised what Dolly had in mind.
A minute or so later, Dylan came back downstairs, looking very different to how he usually did. His black ear was now painted completely black with no spots whilst his ear was painted black also but with dark pink spots and eye shadow that appeared to be the same colour as Dante's on his face. His attire being a dark grey shirt with an upside down star and black jeans. "This is so humiliating." Dylan grumbled with a frown as Dolly ushered him down. "Are you kidding? You really rocked the whole goth thing when you had the hots for Portia!" Dylan grimaced when Dolly mentioned that name. A possible relationship Dylan had that didn't work out? "Fine. But if Portia's there and she sees me, you aren't gonna hear the end of it!" Dylan retorted as he marched out the door, still seemingly miffed. Dolly chuckled before stopping at the doorway and looking down at me. "Ready, little dude?" She grinned at me, showing some plastic fangs on her teeth. "Let's do this!" I affirmed as Dolly took my hand and we both headed for the park.
Regent's Park was absolutely bustling with humans and anthros alike, the majority of them also in many countless costumes. A few of them seemed to recognise the Triple D and rushed over to them to get their autographs and even take a few photos with them. The other siblings were in absolute awe on how well decorated the park was until I felt Dee Dee tug my hand. "Cody, come on! I bet you I can beat you at apple bobbing!" Dee Dee lead me to a witch's cauldron full of water, apples floating on the surface as a Border Collie in a classic witch's outfit who was managing the area cackled in her best impression of a witch possible, though her Cornish accent was easy to notice. "Gahahahaha! Looks like we have some little kiddies who are willing to take the challenge of apples from a watery grave! See how many apples you can retrieve from the cauldron with your mouth and remember, no using your hands or I'll cast a spell on you, kehehehehehe!" The collie witch instructed as she prepared a handheld stopwatch. Apple bobbing seemed like a pretty fun challenge even if I had never done it before. "Aaaand go!" Was all me and Dee Dee needed to hear as we both lunged for apples. Dee Dee had a bit of an advantage thanks to her canine fangs and had already picked up two apples, so I attempted to up my game and grab the closest apples to me. Soon enough, Dee Dee and I were both neck and neck and as we both reached for another apple…
"Time!" The collie witch called out as the stopwatch rang. I looked up at her with an apple still in my mouth as Dee Dee did the same, only lacking an apple in her mouth. I spat the apple out next to the pile of the other apples I had grabbed. "Now let's see how many apples you snagged!" She said before counting out Dee Dee's pile. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven! Not bad!" She praised before counting my pile. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Hey, we have a winner here!" The witch announced as Dee Dee gave me an astonished look as said witch handed me a little bag of candy. I thanked the witch when Dylan came over to see us. "Hey Cody and Dee Dee, how's..." His words fell when he looked up to the witch and his eyes widened. "S-Summer?" The collie's expression matched Dylan's for a moment before she spoke out in a normal voice, her Cornish accent more prominent. "Oh my dog, Dylan, is that you?!" The two dogs shared a hug and questioned each other on how their lives were. Dylan then introduced me to the collie known as Summer whom he met when he and his family went to Cornwall on holiday a year ago which explained Summer's Cornish accent. Summer herself explained that she had come to London on holiday too and had offered to help with the Regent's Park Halloween festival. Me and Summer had a bit of a conversation including the time I had spent with the Dalmatian family before we exchanged farewells and I was about to decide what to do next until I actually bumped into someone.
"Ah! Sorry!" I apologised profusely, looking up to see a poodle with black and purple fur, the fur on her arms and legs had pink highlights. She wore a tight leather suit with black knee high boots, a permanent glazed look in her eyes as they met mine. "Yeah, like maybe watch where you're goi..." Her words stopped as she took another look at me. "Oh. You're the human that's like, related to Dante, yeah? The one who so kicked that other human's ass because he was like bullying one of your brothers." Yet another dog who knew of my clash with Brian, seems Dante may have told her since she seems to know him. I had honestly forgotten about it at this point and didn't know that people were still talking about it. I nodded in response as she tilted her head and scoffed with a smirk. "Dumbass probably deserved it. Bet his parents spoil him so damn much." To be frank, I had no idea if Brian's parents were rich or not, although if they were aware of what Brian had been doing at my school, they probably wouldn't care and just let Brian do whatever he wants and get defensively hostile at anyone who dared tried to tell them that what Brian is doing is wrong. "Just watch yourself, or you'll probably bump into one of his goons." She briefly warned me before walking away but not before stopping to glance back at me. "And if you see Dylan. Tell him like, I'm considering burying the hatchet with him." That was when I remembered back at the front door when they both mentioned someone called Portia, and I think I just met her. I made sure to keep what she told me about Dylan in mind before looking around the park to see what else the festival included.
It was no doubt very late at night as me and Dylan sat on a hill to look up at the stars to take a rest after participating in a scavenger hunt. In the end, Diesel, another one of my siblings who enjoyed nothing more than digging holes won, but I was satisfied with the candy I got along the hunt and some of the festival games I participated in. Dylan looked incredibly infatuated with the sight above him as the stars reflected on his eyes as he often pointed out some of the clusters of stars which he told me were constellations, groups of stars that form a particular shape meant to resemble a fictional creature, object or otherwise. "Hey, I think I see Aquarius!" I looked up at the group of stars Dylan pointed at as he grinned in fascination. Dolly wasn't kidding when she told me that Dylan was obsessed with things related to space. I think there's a word for it, 'astronomer'. "Did you know that Aquarius possibly comes from a long time ago when a human boy called 'Ganymede' was captured by Aquila, the pet eagle of the Greek god, Zeus?" Dylan explained to me, looking like a kid on Christmas morning, though his optimism seemed a little morbid with the backstory he was telling me. Why would a god kidnap a human child? I continued looking up at the night sky with my oldest Dalmatian brother until I noticed from my blind spot that his face had fallen a little.
"You okay, Dylan?" I asked Dylan as he turned to face me. "O-Oh, it's… It's nothing, Cody. Don't worry." He blinked as he looked forward instead of up this time but I could tell something was on his mind. "...Dylan? Did mom ever tell you that telling others what the matter is would make things better?" I recalled way back to my first day with the Dalmatians and how Delilah had used those same words to help me confess how Dizzy and Dee Dee found me. Dylan exhaled and stammered a little before answering. "Well… I… Just something happened that I wish I could just forget." He admitted with a forlorn tone before continuing. "...Last October, there was this… incident. With a human and his aunt. His aunt was..." Dylan gulped as he recalled what happened the previous year.
"S-She was the descendant of Cruella De Vil."
My eyes briefly widened as I remembered one time in my school's history class that talked about a woman with the name Dylan mentioned. A woman so vile and sadistic with her obsession with clothing made of animal fur leading to her personal goal of making a coat out of Dalmatian fur, hence why many people referred to her as "The Devil Woman". Just the idea of such a person with that kind of intent made me sick to my stomach, especially if they happened to be anthros and even though I learned that she passed away in prison many years ago, it seemed that her disgusting life goal had rubbed off on her descendants.
"S-She kidnapped all of our brothers and sisters and our mum and dad and was going to… to throw them in a machine that would skin them alive." Dylan added, looking like he was about to cry. "I-If Dolly and I hadn't reached them in time… I…" Dylan's words tumbled as tears started to run down his eyes from remembering such a traumatic event. I didn't even hesitate to wrap my arms around his torso in a hug to comfort him. "A-And then his great-nephew saved us… He helped us escape and fought back against her." Dylan tried to smile through his still flowing tears. "W-Wherever he is now, I hope he's living a better life." Seemed like I was fortunately half-right about Cruella's descendants carrying her evil desires.
"I wish I was as brave as you and Dolly, Dylan..." I muttered, Dylan patting my back in response. "Thanks, Cody… I needed that." Dylan responded gratefully as he wiped his eyes. "But you're pretty brave too. Especially when you saved Dimitri from that human." Well, he wasn't wrong about that. Never once had I managed to stand up to Brian until that fateful day. I guess the confidence to do so on that day was so I could protect my family. I kept my arms around Dylan as he too held me in an embrace as I finally said something I should've said a long time ago.
"...I love you, Dylan."
Dylan's POV
New tears, this time of joy welled up in my eyes as I heard those words come out of my little human brother's mouth. The few times Cody referred to me as "big brother", I usually didn't think of it since my other siblings sometimes referred to me as such. But tonight when he said those words, it sunk into my heart: we really were his family now. I just never knew fate would let us have one more sibling to love and care for, let alone have it be a human, but because of how he looked up to both me and Dolly, I couldn't ask for anything greater. This was the family Cody truly deserved and no matter what happens, we'll always be there for him like we have been for our other brothers and sisters. And with that Devil woman behind bars where she belonged, there was no one who could possibly hurt us or even Cody ever again. I gently tightened my hug around him and said to him quietly...
"...I love you too, Cody."