Reasons Are For Peasants

Jester picked up one of the knives from the bag. It seemed sharp and dangerous enough to do the things he had in mind. He slipped the knife in the sleeve of his shirt, the metal felt cool against his skin and he felt assured that the next time the dog thing looked at him sideways, he was going to slice the jugular out of the beast. And then he'd skin the girl and wear her face for his next mission. Wherever it took him. So, yes. The knife was going to play a crucial role in his plans.

Mongrifier was not comfortable in this timeline. First, there was the grey man. His energies were off the charts, and he stank like a carcass of a man who'd never read a book in his life. Filthy offal that the Mongrifier would never sink his teeth in. The girl on the other hand was alright. She was a reader. And she smelled of old books, so delicious and serene that the thought alone made the Mongrifier's mouth fill up with saliva. He needed her help to get back to his timeline. So he'd eat her when the time was right and he was going to take his time in ripping chunks of bookish flesh from her bones, and then he'd chomp down on the bones till his gums bled.

Lisa somehow felt she belonged for the first time in her life. She had always been the outsider, but with the wolf-beast things and the nice man with the dazzling smile, she felt she was among her people. Now all that remained was to track down the fat pervert, and get her bag of books back. He'd run away, as Mr. Jester told her, but they had the wolf-beast with them and tracking him would not be too difficult.

The trio walked out of the motel, led by the Mongrifier. Each with their own motive in their minds. But one goal, for now. To find the man called Mr. Kosmos and get his black card and bag of books.

----

Mr. Kosmos placed the card on the table. "One beer, please."

The barkeep took one look at the card, something irked his mind and he wanted to protest, but the man wanted a beer. He filled a mug from the tap on the counter and placed it on a paper napkin in front of the man. He kept wanting to ask the man for money, but when he looked at the card on the counter, the thought fled like a rabbit chased by a fox. He smiled uneasily at the fat man who'd swallowed the beer like a man lost in the desert.

"Another one," he said and belched loud. The barkeep filled another mug while confusing thoughts fought for control in his head.

After the third beer, thoughts started to coalesce in Mr. Kosmos' head like a jigsaw puzzle slowly coming together on its own. He knew there were two people and one demon on his trail and he had to find his mother, too. Too much on my plate, he thought and wiped the sweat on his head with his hand. He needed help on this. He'd not be able to pull this alone. He dreaded the option that was staring him in the face. He'd have to make the call. He was going to hate it, he was going to hate what came next, but his options were limited and his time, he felt, was running out.

"Can I have your phone, please?" he asked the barkeep.

"Sure, man." The barkeep took out his phone from his pocket and put it in front of Mr. Kosmos.

"Thanks, buddy. What's the pin?" Mr. Kosmos said as he picked the phone and hit lock button. The barkeep rattled off a number and Mr. Kosmos unlocked the phone.

He thought for a second and then dialed the number from memory. The phone rang thrice and he was about to put down the phone when the ringing stopped and a gruff, tired voice said "Hello" at the other end. The tone of voice made his legs turn to jelly and he was glad he was sitting on the stool.

"Hi, dad. It's me. I need your help."

--------

Chapter 12, so it goes. When things fuck up, call dad. 

Strange Bedfellows

A strange hush fell over the room like a dark shroud. The Mongrifier sulked in a corner, licking his wounds while the man knows as Jester tore off a piece of bed-sheet to tie on a horrible looking slash on his forearm. The girl walked into the room and sat on the only chair that had somehow survived the fight between the two.

“Hello,” she said to the Mongrifier, “nice to see you outside of my dreams.” The Mongrifier hissed at her. “And you, sir? Who'd you be.”

Jester tied off a trailing end of his makeshift bandage and glared at her. He knew that in a few more moments he'd have sliced off the animal bad enough for it to bleed to death, but the girl's presence had acted as a damper on the atmosphere in the room.

“Name is Jester. At your service. For now.”

“Well, Mr. Jester. I believe the man who escaped from this room has something that all of us want. He has some books that belong to me.”

“I need to take back a black card that's in his possession,” Jester said.

The Mongrifier growled a low growl.

“You haven't told us your name.”

“I am Lisa. I had a disagreement with the gentleman in question some time ago and he proceeded to leave with a bag of very important books that belonged to me. He left me his bag that I brought with me to return to him, but now he's gone and so are my books.”

“How did you find him here?”

“Let's say, my connection with the books is very strong. And I had also left my spare phone in the bag that allowed me to track it to this very motel.”

“Can I see the man's bag? Maybe I can find some clue to his whereabouts that you might have missed.”

“As long as we're all going in the same direction, be my guest.”

She walked out of the room and came back with a bag that was neat and very very black. The vibes from the bag set Jester's teeth on edge and it also made him deathly curious about the bag's contents. He attacked the bag like a fat boy attacks cake on a birthday party.

Lisa walked up to the Mongrifier with a cloth and some water in a bowl and started to clean his wounds. The big animal snarled at her but once he realized that she was trying to help him, he let her clean the stab and slash wounds.

From the other side of the room, she heard Jester start to laugh. Laughter bubbled up from his throat to his mouth like lava and filled the small room with the mirthful sound that seemed as alien as a prayer in a whorehouse.

“Knives! Fucking knives! This fucking bag is full of fucking knives! Oh my fucking god! Just look at these babies!” He laughed and laughed as he took the knives from the bag and started laying them down on the carpet in perfect symmetry. He touched them with an affection and reverence that made Lisa doubt her decision of showing him the bag.

“Miss Lisa,” he looked at her, “I am going to help you find that man and we're going to get the bag of your books back from him and then we're going to send that puppy back to where it came from.”

Lisa scratched the Mongrifier behind his ears as the big animal leaned into her hand and she smiled an uneasy smile at Jester.

–

The truck was parked on top of the hill overlooking the city. Its headlights shone bright over the darkness like twin eyes of a demon from hell. The woman sat in front of the truck and opened the bag. She took out a hardbound book and opened it.

“Well, Mr. Kibbles,” she said, “it's time I read you your bedtime story.”

Mr. Kibbles yawned like the devil and snuggled closer to the woman to listen to the story.

-----------------------------

This is something like Chapter 11 according to my calculations. Thank you very much!

The Night of Knives

The world was new to the Mongrifier. but even he knew a threat when he saw one. The grey man had a knife to the throat of the man who was messing about in his library. The man who was his prey. No way was he letting the grey man make the kill instead of him.

The grey man looked at the Mongrifier with something like a smile on his face. Most people didn't smile when they looked at the Mongrifier. The man turned and faced the Mongrifier.

"This puppy?" his voice has a deep baritone to it that made the Mongrifier want to roll down on his back and go to sleep, but he shook his head. Not now. The strange man was after his prey. That was not happening on his watch.

"I come from so far away, looking for the black card, and all you offer me as a counter is this puppy?"

His smile turned to laughter and he doubled over as a surprised Mongrifier and a fazed Mr. Kosmos looked on. Mr. Kosmos chose that moment to slide out of the bed and down onto the floor, trying to get away from the commotion that was about to happen.

Jester's hand shot like a cobra and grabbed hold of Mr. Kosmos' night shirt.

"Not so soon. You're not going anywhere. You still haven't answered my question." The knife in his other hand hovered dangerously close to Mr. Kosmos' eyeball. Something moved in corner of Jester's vision and before he could react, the wolf-like creature slammed into him with the force of a mini truck. Mr. Kosmos chose that moment to scuttle away and out of the motel room as the two figures tangled in a mess of snarls, fangs, and flashes of a sharp knife. He had to get mother from the other room and get the hell out of here. He had done what the black card wanted him to do and this would probably be the end of his troubles. He hoped. The card was still in the pocket of his pajamas and he touched it to feel a surge of positivity rush into his veins. He was going to make it through.

He knocked on the door of the motel room where his mother was staying. The unlocked door swung open at his touch. His mother was nowhere to be seen. Her luggage was gone. He ran to the parking lot and saw that the truck he had stolen was gone too. The rush of positivity in him hissed out like air from a punctured balloon.

The sounds of crashing and howling from his room were now getting louder. Something thumped hard into one of the walls and in a flash he saw the wolf-thing's head exit from a window as if punched through. The creature shook its head, snarled, and dove back into the room.

Mr. Kosmos turned the other way and ran into the night.

Inside the room, the Mongrifier was not having a good time of dealing with this critter of a human being. The grey man was good with the knife and so far he had managed to stick the Mongrifier multiple time, but the Mongrifier had also slashed the man plenty and it was going to take just one more hit to take the man's head off his shoulders and then Mongrifier could go back to his library and his books.

The man faked lunging with the knife once more and the Mongrifier took a defensive stance against the gleaming blade. They circled each other around the broken furniture in the room when a knock on the door distracted the man. His eyes flicked to the door for a moment and the Mongrifier was on him, grabbing the man's knife hand in his jaw and shaking the knife loose. He put one large paw on the man's chest and started to press, waiting for his ribs to crack and pierce his heard.

The door opened and the library girl stood there looking at the havoc inside the room. She spoke and her voice was inside the Mongrifier's head.

"Don't kill that man. We're going to need him if you want to go back to the library."
---

I've been thinking all week where to take this and now I think I have a fair idea. Are you having fun reading? Throw me some feedback in the comments. It helps. A yes or no will do, too.

A Dream Activates

The Mongrifier growled and spat as he stalked the bookshelves looking for books.

The last time that girl had dropped a bookshelf on him and now there was another in his domain.

Why couldn't a creature of darkness get any peace? He just wanted to eat some books and digest the stories so he could sleep.

But no!

These humans! Dreaming of the libraries through ancient threads -- always managed to disturb his sleep and when he tried to shoo them away, they vanished.

He picked up a book from a shelf and tore a chunk of paper from it. He digested the story in his mouth. It was about a boy with a scar on his forehead. The alliterations on the pages got stuck in his teeth like fish scales and he spat those out. He chewed some more and started to feel drowsy with the effect the book was having on his brain.

Then he heard the footsteps. "Fucking hell," he thought, "not again."

Mr. Kosmos walked through the bookshelves, looking up at the shelves as they vanished somewhere in the darkness above him. This was the second night he was dreaming of the library and he was not even a reader. The musty smell of old books was everywhere. What little light shone through the windows told him the time was somewhere between evening and night. He looked out of the large glassed windows, but he didn't see anything he could recognize. He stepped ahead carefully, making as little noise as possible. Last time he had seen the lupine creature lunge for him and woken up. This time, he didn't want to face the creature. One instance was enough for him.

He felt for the black card in his pocket and it thrummed assuringly against his fingers. The surge of confidence from the touch of the card told him that he could take on the creature and whatever it brought to him and then rule the library as the Supreme Librarian.

He looked at the books on the shelves. There were hardbound editions in languages he didn't know. Gold and silver adorned the spines of the books with thick letter in alien languages naming the books and authors, he hoped. There was not even a single book in any language he recognized. He took a turn and saw another row of shelves going as far as the eye could see.

Maybe I am in the wrong section, he thought. The black card in his pocket was starting to feel warm and he took it out and placed it in his hand. A small line of LED lights lit up on the card. It made an arrow. He had never seen the card do something like this, but then again, most of the things the card did were beyond his understanding anyway. He followed the arrow as it changed directions, from bookshelves to dusty rows and cobwebs and the stench of rotting stories.

He walked deeper into the library, listening for any sound from the demonic creature he had seen. The books started to whisper to him. Soft susurrations, that called out to him and told him to pick the books up, but the card kept him focused. There were times when he felt pulled too strongly, but the card's shard edges in his hand brought him back to following the directions on the surface of the card.

He walked for hours. Seemingly lost, but the card still kept leading him. The library must be kilometers in area, he thought. How many, he had no idea how to calculate.Then the arrows on the card pointed to a book shelf. There were books in English on that shelf. He recognized some of the titles, but most were alien names to him.

Right in the  middle of the stacks, a book -- black as a brick, it sucked all the light like a black hole. He raised his hand towards the book and felt the hair on the nape of his neck rise in a fear. Something was watching him.

His finger touched the book and he heard a low growl behind him. Angry and it seemed like it had a lot of teeth. He grabbed the book and started to pull it out of the book shelf.

Right then, the black card pricked his hand and he dropped it. A moment of panic and all his confidence vanished like vapor. He bent down to pick the card and something large moved in the area where his head was and slammed into the bookshelf, toppling it, throwing books all around. With just the book with black spine in his hand.

He looked at the thing that stared right at him with hatred in its eyes. He looked back at the demon and growled a sound that was a pretty strong imitation of the menacing growl emerging from the demon's throat.

The creature lunged at Mr. Kosmos and he opened the black book.

The world around him froze in a snowglobe mimicry. The big demon wolf, sprawling in air, reaching for his head with claws outstretched, maw of doom open, salivating, madness in its eyes. His own hand shielding the black card with his body with the open black book in front of him.

Everything started to melt in a fever dream of black and blue. Mr. Kosmos knew he was going to wake up, he braced himself and woke up with a scream to find a dark knife hovering inches from his throat.

A man with a rictus grin on his face had the knife in his hand.

"Well, well, well, I was just about to cut your throat in your sleep. But now that you're awake, maybe you can tell me where the black card is."

"Why don't you ask that thing?" Mr. Kosmos pointed behind the smiling man.

The Mongrifier's low growl filled the small motel room.

---
Don't go walking in libraries in dreams, you might bring back creatures that do not really belong in our world.

Jester's Lament

"Hey, wake up."

Jester kicked the man who was lying on the sidewalk in a drunken sprawl. The man made an animal sound but didn't stir. The sounds from a nearby bar were like ghost whispers in this corner of the street.

It was late and the man had had his fill of alcohol. Right now, he was not good for anything except his specific skills. He was an important man. Few had the talent that he possessed. Jester had a question and he knew he'd have to get it answered the old fashioned way.

He sat down on his haunches near the man and took out his switchblade. He flicked the knife open and cut a sliver of red in the man's open palm. The man's eyes opened instantly. His pupils were jet black and darkness swirled like a witch's potion in his eyes. Jester avoided looking directly into the man's eyes.

The voice that emerged from his throat was guttural grating of knives on hard bones.

"Dark Knife, what do you seek?"

Jester groaned at the name. He'd not been called that in ages. It was an old and lost name that he hoped would stay buried. But it sprung up at him like a rotting corpse from a casket when he least expected it.

"There is a black card in the wild, he said, "and I need to know its location."

"Black black black card. Wild so wild. A bus, then mud then truck then flames. Beware the Mongrifier. Don't read books. Drugs doom boom boom batman..."

The man droned on.

Jester got up and started walking in the direction of the bar. He had the answers he needed. He was going to hunt down that card no matter what. The man called to him again. Jester vanished in the darkness.

----
Mr. Kosmos was in a library.

Something chased him. Big paws attached to a violent killing machine. It padded through the darkness, slamming into the bookshelves here and there, knocking down books.

He felt the maw of fear clench onto his heart. He tripped on a fallen hardcover and managed to twist and land on his back. The monster was upon him. A paw pressed his chest with the ability to crush his ribs and puncture his heart.

He cried out in fear and woke up.

Mr. Kibbles was sitting on his chest.

He'd never wanted so badly to skin a cat.

----
This is definitely going somewhere. Typed on my phone so point out any typos in comments and I'll correct those.