Serving Lant Agriche

Chapter 7 - Revisiting the Demon Beast

Lant Agriche clutched Wally's skull with one hand as the beast's limbs dangled in the air. His arm was still despite holding the massive weight of Wally's entire body. His polished shoe made a tapping noise on the cobblestones as he better positioned himself in front of Dion. With his enclosed fist, he struck his hand downward.

Wally howled as it was catapulted to the floor.

Lant Agriche's pale fingers continued to hold onto Wally's skull until there was an unmistakeable sound of breaking bone. When he removed his hand, the dent in Wally's skull matched the furrow of his master's finger.

Wally curled into a foetal position by holding its dog legs in-between its goat hindquarters and whimpered. The man beast, which looked somewhat like a centaur, began to roll back and forward on its human back.

Lant Agriche took a handkerchief from one of the servants and wiped his hand. "Operating on this toy took considerable effort, boy. I don't need you killing it prematurely again." He gave Dion a relaxed smile before turning his attention to Griselda. "Take care of the half-breed and give me its diagnosis in three days," he told his daughter.

"Yes, father," Griselda curtsied. Her blood-stained hands, souvenirs from operating in the monster's stomach, soiled her dress.

Once the observation period was over and some additional surgeries were completed to stitch the goat hips to the human torso properly, Griselda and Noel waited for Lant Agriche again in the dungeons. Between the two, Wally was in a dog crate large enough for it for lie on one side. Wally had its head resting directly on the crate floor and was humming, tapping its hooves in rhythm.

Dion walked in the room behind Lant Agriche and waited to be summoned. He had an urge to move and peer into the dog crate. The new toy was much more interesting than the human toys his mother liked to torture or have sex with.

When he saw Lant Agriche appear, Noel produced a shrill, excited scream and shook the man's hand with two of his own. "SIR, NO OFFENCE TO GOD, BUT I ALSO MADE A MIRACLE! WHO KNOWS? MAYBE HE HELPED ME. YOU HAVE TO SEE!"

Griselda gave Noel a warning look and the canary-blond teenager shot his voice down one octave. "Apple Tart is still alive. Not a puppet like all the servants at my home," Noel wagged his finger. "He is a body with his real soul intact! I am sure." Noel began to prattle about the biological evidence of Wally's behaviour versus a puppet's. "I estimate the physical body will last one month," Noel finished. "The goat butt wasn't as fresh as I had ordered, and I am disappointed that Apple Tart doesn't seem to be as intelligent as your average gentleman. Although perhaps, it is the soul. Tarty in his former human life may have just been a simpleton."

"The toy's name is Wally," Lant Agriche peered into the cage. His fingers clutched the metal grate separating him from the half-sleeping monster.

Noel looked taken aback, as if "Wally" was a ludicrous name for the creature, but did not object aloud. Lant Agriche was funding his necropsy research.

"A month," Lant Agriche sighed. "The test subject is not clever or has been surgically altered enough to pass as a human being, but the shock factor may still be effective. Those who knew Wally will recognise his face and feel affected by him if he shows familiar behaviours. These accomplishments are excellent, Noel, Griselda, but there is room for improvement."

Lant Agriche raised an arm, welcoming Dion to take a closer look at Wally's demon body. His gaze travelled to each face in the room: Dion, Noel, Griselda, the white-haired physician, Cherry the Gold Crest servant, one footman, and one guardsman.

The footman and guardsman would be murdered. Lant Agriche had faith in the rest to keep Wally's resurrection a secret.