Turbinio

Port Wine

"Diego, that son of a bitch!'' You were ready to push the poor guy yourself through the door, but first you decided to pull him by the collar. ''Where are my guns? Answer me!''

Unable to react very well to being violently shaken, the man only replied:

"In reception! We keep the guns because we don't allow people to enter the rooms with them!''

And so you let go of him, pushing him away and running down the stairs to what seemed to be the reception. You almost beat up another host, yelling at those who were taking refuge from your fury behind the pillars and calling out for Diego, who luckily you hadn't found yet, as you now had your two guns in your hands after demanding them of the receptionist. Your hands tightly gripped a blonde-haired person who you somehow mistook for Diego but who, after some time, managed to get out of your grasp, remarking in a grotesque accent: "Who is this neurotic woman?!'' - and then a slim, serious employee tried to calm you down, to no avail.

You pushed the poor woman to get lost in an empty hall. It seemed to be a very, very chic hotel. The kind you'd imagine Diego staying in. What if he's in one of the rooms? You wondered, but then threw that sensible possibility out of the window when you saw that you weren't alone in the hall.

The little dinosaur that had once hidden in some corner of the room was now in front of you, squealing peacefully as it looked around. It didn't seem at all aggressive, and perhaps it would be useful for you to track Diego down, although you needed to learn how.

In any case, it's always better to be safe than sorry. A dinosaur can't attack you with a bullet to the head, just as Diego can't be a threat with his chest open.

So you raised a revolver and heard the click of the lock being lowered by your thumb.

Another low click echoed, this time it was the sound of the dinosaur's curiosity. Then you cocked the gun.

"Don't shoot it.'' Diego said from an armchair behind you. "Weren't you looking for me? Here I am. No need to shoot.''

You turned your neck quickly enough to feel your muscles ache, even though you somehow knew he would do it.

"Why?'' You asked, still pointing the gun at the dinosaur. ''You always use and discard these dinosaurs without caring. Why can't I shoot this one?''

"Because you seem to like this one.'' He then sighed, standing sideways to you, reading something. ''I don't want to give you any more reason to kill me.''

''I... like it?''

Then you looked back at the creature, trying somehow to recognize something through the scales and the yellow eyes, guiding your mind back to the faint memory of last night and Agno's shapeless, incoherent figure in your head. The meow sounded like that of a normal cat, but your confused brain remembers vague specks of a reptile's tail and needle teeth etched into the membrane of your memory.

"You... You son of a bitch!'' Discarding your initial plan, you ignore the little dinosaur and point the gun at your main target, who is languidly reading on the fancy armchair. "You've turned my cat! Why?!''

''It was the easiest way to lure you in, but you were so drunk that I could do it without any disguise, just by appearing in front of you and carrying you.'' He put his reading aside for a moment as you realized that Agno would never be so benevolent as to lure you to a safe place... or, if he did, he wouldn't be such an idiot as to take a wrong path. ''Do you have any idea of the place you were in and how important the information in it was? Do you even remember anything?''

His voice sounded like a reprisal, and somehow you agreed with this tone.

''How did you find me? I mean... wait... how long have I been here?''