Epilog – This Broken House?

Patty Bella, a half breed snow leopard, whistled as she worked, packing boxes into a large moving van from the house she had been selling goods out of. The house sold, and the more precious of items packed, she reached up and grabbed the truck door, sliding it down and latching it down. With a few pats of her paws, she turned and came face to face with a large badger wearing a black robe and holding a long metal staff, "Great Grandpa!" she called out, and was pinned against the truck as the badger lifted his paw. It seemed like her struggles were in vain as she tried to claw at whatever was holding her up by the neck without choking her, there was nothing for her to grip.

"Hello Patricia." Adrian said darkly, "Where are my prizes?" She struggled harder against the magic, trying to force herself from the truck, "My demons," he asked again his temper rising, "where are they?"

With a flick of his wrist, she went sailing across the driveway. She slid across the concrete until she slammed her back into the closed garage door. "What the?" she heard in a familiar voice. She looked up, seeing her husband, a large spotted leopard, standing next to the driveway path, and quickly looked back to Adrian.

"NO!" she called out as the badger once again flipped his entire arm at the leopard, sending the male flying into the stone pillar that held the top floor up above the grass lawn and then down to the ground. He didn't move to get up.

"Where are my dolls?" Adrian asked and walked into the moon light. It seemed like the light that touched his fur was swallowed by the blackness of it, only reflecting off of the white that lined his tail and shaped his eyes. It was frightening.

"You're too late, you crazy old coot." she said angrily, "I sold most of them, you'll never find them now."

"Most of them?" he asked, and turned to the truck. With a wave of his staff, the door to the cab opened up, and out floated a shoe box. When it reached him, he gripped the top with his free paw, and tore the lid from the rest of it, "I see." he said, and lifted what looked like a skeleton of a monkey, the only things left of it were the head, chest and its left arm. With some clicking of his tongue, he scolded her with a dark and calm voice, "You haven't been taking very good care of my gifts."

"They'll never come back to life, and you've lost Bakeneko haven't you?" she growled at him, a smile forming in her face, "Why else would you bee so eager to take the others back?" Her smile fell when he lifted his paw, and she heard the garage door begin to open.

"Thanks to you I now have to hunt for my demons." he said, and twisted his paw in a circular motion, she spun so that her neck was right were the door would come down. Her eyes when wide as she realized what he was planning, "It's just too bad you had to be born like this, an unnatural amalgamation. Even if you are…" he hesitated a little with the word, "…family." he finished, and hit the side of the truck.

She felt every limb she had go stiff, like it was pinned to the ground. Adrian turned, and lifted a paw as he began walking away, his first finger touching his thumb, and with a click of his claws, started the garage door's decent. She panicked, her eyes seeming to be the only thing able to move as she looked back at Adrian, watching him vanish from sight as it looked like he just walked behind a curtain. She turned her eyes back to the door, the decent slow, but not slow enough for her. She tried to lift her arms, but to no avail, they were pinned, most likely by a spell. If she could survive.

She looked around, her eyes wildly wandering, until she saw it, the sensors for the garage door. And with only a few seconds thought, she placed all of her strength into her head, slowly tilting it, lifting her chin until…BEEP!

She opened her eyes, seeing the red light had lit up and the door only six or less inches away from crushing her neck. It had stopped, and then just as quickly, it lifted back up. With that, she relaxed.

It was a short while until the spell faded, and the first thing she did was run to the cab of the truck, to grab her cellphone, "Hello!" she said after dialing, "ZPD? My husband is hurt!" she told the animal on the other line, "Please send paramedics, and…" she hesitated for just a minute, "Please, send Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. They're friends of mine."

The End?