The Nation Charmer-Book 1

Chapter 3

Picture on the side of Helen Flarehill.

Chapter 3

             Dahlia almost breathed a sigh of relief but she felt another odd chill spread through her body. She almost rocked backwards with the intensity of her terror. Every nerve in her body told her to run away, screaming like a banshee.

             Something about Dr. Fang’s stance made it look like he was hunting them. Troy obviously felt the same way. He threw his arms out to shelter Dahlia and Helen. Olive backed up slowly as Dr. Fang smiled.

             Dahlia trembled in fright. Dr. Fang looked slightly different. Instead of being clean-shaven, which was how he normally was, bristles covered his chin and the skin above his mouth. His lab coat was black and he wore a black hat, slung low and black sunglasses.

            “Who does he think he is?” Troy muttered. “A ninja?”

             “The man in black, I bet,” Helen mumbled back.

            Olive didn’t seem to find that funny, however and he reached for his club. But before he could move, Dr. Fang spoke.

            “You are different, yes?” he asked, advancing slowly.

            “W…what do you mean?” Dahlia stammered, her voice trembling.

            “Oh, come off it,” he said. “And stop that innocent act. I won’t have it, you know. You know what you are, don’t you?”

             Olive found his voice. “Fang!” he snarled. “Your visit is premature.”

             “Oh, it is, is it?” Dr. Fang said, laughing. “Your time is long since gone, Magician of Earth. My lord will rule as he has done and the others who do not serve him will perish like the rebels did in 1666. Another Great Fire will sweep the world and you shall die.”

             And then the strangest thing began to happen. Dr. Fang opened his mouth. Two of his front teeth were growing rapidly, so fast that they soon began to look like beaver’s teeth. Then they grew into snake fangs. All the rest of his teeth vanished.

             The stubble on his face began to grow longer and thicker, sprouting all over his face. His sunglasses snapped as his face grew larger and swelled magnificently. His eyes turned brilliant yellow. His black hair now sprouted all over his body, ripping through his lab coat and shirt.

             The back half of his body turned golden-coloured with fur everywhere. A snake tail whipped behind him with fangs as long as pincers. He was a monster with the front half of an enormous black dog and the back half of a golden coloured lion.

            “What is that?” Helen squealed.

             Before the words were out of her mouth, the transformation was complete and he lunged at the small group. Not one of them would have survived if Troy hadn’t come quickly to his senses.

            “Scatter!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

             Troy gave Dahlia a push to the right and rolled to the left. Dr. Fang (if you could still call the monster Dr. Fang) snatched up thin air and turned to Helen with a snarl. He slid back, almost as if he was a wolf, and began to circle them.

            “Hey, Fang dude!” Troy shouted, chucking a large branch at Dr. Fang.

            Fortunately, Troy was good at aiming although baseball really wasn’t his game. The branch bounced off Dr. Fang’s hide and the monster turned toward Troy, buying Helen some time to flee. The monster started towards Troy who had no means of escape.