PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXVII Part I

A light drizzle of water pattered onto the roof of the Grimalkin Estate. Droplets slid from the shingles and onto the brickwork; some found purchase enough to bead along the overhang present just above the windows leading to the living room, then move across the glass before plopping down onto the cross-hatched window's wood.

In the dreary afternoon, they would be the only bystanders to Patches' deeds, and he hoped by the end of the exchange, they'd be the only witnesses.

"P-Patchie, please," Olive said, almost surprising the dalmatian with their demeanour. They seemed tired, but attempts to beat back that fatigue left them hopeful, and they stared at Patches with tears in their eyes and an empathetic gaze that made him want to spit.

Coco gestured with her right arm, letting the wand in her palm glow yellow as they gestured in front of the mutt with it. "Olive," the bombay began, eyes narrowing at the monster before her, "Stay back." Her tone was demanding, and her eyes scanned for an opening with which to skewer the thing past his living shield.

Rover struggled against the dalmatian, trying to take advantage of any moment he felt Patches was distracted. He gnawed at his gag, struggled against his bindings, and yelled muffled war cries. Patches had some issue with keeping the thing still, but that wouldn't be an issue for long.

"... Are those..." Coco said, eyes narrowing at the jack russell terrier's bindings. Her sharp brows nearly encompassed the top of her vision as her face grew with intense infuriation. "You CREEP. Of course a freak like you would go through my brother's laundry!"

Patches stared off, bemused, as he re-adjusted his grip on the terrier, placing his knife right up to the dog's throat and failing to remind him of the danger he was in. "Well, what else was I going to gag this thing with? Would you rather I have used your clothes?"

Done gathering their courage, Olive raised their face from their place embedded in their paws, and squeezed their eyes shut. "C-Coco, d-don't call him a creep, that's so mean..."

The bombay could hardly believe the dog's words. "Olive, you are not helping."

"I just don't want us to f-fight anymore." They then opened their eyes, looking at Coco with a pleading gaze, then swivelled to Patches. "Please, this is awful..."

The dog only returned the gesture with tired, angry eyes that Olive knew full-well meant them harm. It wouldn't be so easy; they both knew that.

Seeking to turn his attention elsewhere, Patches looked at Brownie, maintaining his bemused frown but lacking the genuineness it had moments ago. "Brownie, we're having a serious moment here."

Brownie smiled with her eyes still shut, and Coco quickly followed with a taunting grin of her own. The corgi quickly strengthened her grip, grunting in the amount of effort she put into the affectionate gesture before she relaxed. Coco seemed a bit bemused, but kept her wand and eyes focused on the murderer before her.

"... Well that's just petty," Patches scoffed, adjusting his grip on Rover as the dog tried spitting out unintelligible warnings to the cat.

"You know I could kill you right now," Coco stated, interrupting the dog's thoughts. Her eyes darted towards Olive, revealing a sickened expression growing across the mutt's face. Coco frowned.

Patches chuckled. "I suppose you could, it'd be up to you if you feel you're faster than me..." he looked the shining knife over, admiring his handiwork, "Or if you don't care about Rover, but that'd be too heartless coming from you, right Coco?"

Olive spoke up to protest, but was immediately cut off by a rabid growl from Coco, who tore her arm from Brownie and stomped her foot forward. "Watch your mouth," she demanded, "And where the hell is Sparky? What'd you do to him?"

Ah, what a question for him to answer. "Don't you worry, I haven't hurt him," he said, trying to appear truthful, "Killing him would be counter-productive anyways; see I've come here to..." he paused, trying his best to seem uncomfortable, but the mere mention of the upcoming word was enough to make it genuine, "surrender, I suppose."

Olive's tail immediately started wagging so furiously he could hear it plapping against their uniform shorts.

Brownie finally pried herself from the stupefied cat, taking a dignified stance with both her paws planted on her hips. "Haha, very funny," she muttered.

"There's no way!" Coco yelled, stamping her foot forward and raising her wand. "Like you would ever surrender!" Her wand glowed intensely alongside her eyes.

Brownie seemed similarly in disbelief, but looked over to Olive with concern. The mutt wasn't having the best time trying to absorb what was happening; it was clear by their nervous expression they were deliberating on if to believe Patches or not.

Patches smiled, almost chuckling in response. "Well, truth be told, I'd absolutely love to continue the whole revenge thing, but..." he gestured over to Mitt's wand with a smile, "without any wand, and me being stuck in your house, I have two options: Kill Sparky and Rover, then die to you; or try... whatever the heck this is."

Coco staggered forward, temper boiling over. "I don't know what kind of deal you think you can cut," her smile widened at the perceived power she held over the dog, "but I know you're after Angel, and I'm not going to let that happen."

Both dogs behind the cat seemed shocked at the words; Olive curled back and Brownie walked towards the bombay. "Coco, something's not right," she whispered.

"Don't worry," Coco uttered, "I'm not going to let him hurt you, or anyone else."

"Well... thank you, but that's not what I mean." She spared a glance towards the black and white mottled dog. "He's up to something, but I don't know what."

Both Coco and Brownie were halfway across the room from Patches by now, just between the kitchen door and the large section of tree that served as a table. "Don't be scared Rover," he whispered into Rover's ear, "this'll all be over soon."

The dog responded with a harsh muffled yell, and an attempt to stamp on the dalmatian's foot which wasn't particularly fruitful. Patches wasn't even wearing a sly smile, his face was entirely neutral until again his gaze wandered towards Olive. He let his features go calm upon seeing their scared, but determined demeanour, and then contorted them in sudden anger at remembering what they had done.

"Wait! Coco!" Brownie barked out, "If Sparky's upstairs- he's probably not able to move, and you can't tie a ghost down with cloth, right?"

Easing her stance, the cat seemed irritated at the simple question. She glanced back at the corgi, "Obviously not, you'd need to use-" her body froze as the realization came to her, and Brownie stared at the cat-like she was a moron, exasperated the thought hadn't come sooner.

Patches looked over to Olive with a happy smirk, "Took you long enough."