El Chupacabra

Chapter 3

Ben walked back to the tavern, the bandits having long since cleared out. Ben pointed toward the tavern. "This is the Angry Demon. It's where I stop to eat and drink on my delivery runs."
"Angry Demon, huh? I like the sound of that." He chuckled. Ben smiled and walked further down the street, filled with energy, the walk not bothering him at all. He stopped outside one of the houses and looked it up and down.
          "This is my friend Esme's house. She's really nice. She always talks to me when I deliver her family's wheat and such."
"Ah, you like her." El Chupacabra began to giggle, if you could call it that.
Ben's brow shot up. "What, no I don't!" He shouted out loud, quickly covering his mouth.
El Chupacabra laughed. "I can feel your feelings, mi amigo! You feel much warmer to her than anyone else. Let's ask her out!"
"We can't do that!" Ben said, talking in his head again. "She'd never say yes. I'm a farm worker, she's, well, Esme." He smiled.
"Woah! Calm down there! I can also see your thoughts." Ben felt El Chupacabra grin and quickly cleared his mind.
"Oh, hey Ben." Ben whirled around, meeting eyes with Esme, who was approaching him.
"Hi, Esme." Ben said with a wave.
"Not in your head, idiot!" El Chupacabra shouted.
          Ben shook his head. "Right."
"Hey, Esme. What are you doing here?" He asked.
Esme raised an eyebrow. "I live here." She said with a smile.
Ben smacked his forehead. "Right, sorry. I was just, uh, passing by." He said with a nervous grin.
"You are muy mal at this." El Chupacabra said with a disappointed tone.
"Shut up." Ben hissed in his head.
"Well, would you like to come inside for a few minutes?" Esme asked.
"Oh, sure, but I can't stay long. Gotta get Clarissa back when she's ready."
Esme nodded and opened the door to her family's house. El Chupacabra jerked Ben's eyes around, taking in all of his surroundings. As Esme turned around, Ben smacked his head, aligning his eyes back to Esme, who laughed.
"What'd you do that for?" She asked.
"Bug." Ben said.
          "Smooth." El Chupacabra said.
          "I've never been so nervous around her before." Ben said in his head.
"You never let yourself think you liked her before. It's quite simple, really, basic human reaction. I have plenty of experience." Ben nodded and continued walking into the house.
"Dad, can Ben stay for dinner?" She turned to Ben. "Can you stay for dinner?"
Ben thought for a moment. "Actually, I-"
"Nope!" El Chupacabra shouted. "Try again."
Ben swallowed. "Yeah, I should be able to stay for a little bit, Clarissa will probably take a while." He said, scratching the back of his head.
"That was awful." El Chupacabra said. "You really must try harder."
"Hush!" Ben shouted in his head.
Esme opened the cold cabinet and looked inside. "Tonight, we're having lamb." Suddenly, her expression switched from happy to embarrassed. "Oh, you don't like lamb, do you?"
Before he had a chance to think, Ben blurted out "I love lamb!" With a smile.
"What am I taking about?!" He shouted in his head. "I don't like lamb!"
"You do now!" El Chupacabra shouted. "Lamb es mi favorita." Ben felt an excess amount of saliva begin to build up in his mouth.
"Dude! Control yourself!"
"Oh! That's my bad. I haven't eaten in centuries." All of the saliva drained from his mouth. Ben nearly threw up from the thought of swallowing all of that saliva.
"I thought you said you couldn't stand lamb." Esme said with an eyebrow raised.
Ben shrugged. "People change." He said with a smile.
Esme smiled back. "Well, I don't know what happened to you, but you sure seem happier." She sat down at the dinner table and gestured for Ben to sit beside her. Her father, Sir Erik Knight, who, ironically, used to be a royal knight before he lost his left arm, peeked his head through the window.
"Ben, how well do you like your lamb roasted?"
"Raw!" El Chupacabra shouted.
"Medium rare or so." Ben said with a smile.
"No!"
"I'll eat the lamb, but I refuse to eat it raw!" Ben shouted in his head.
"Fine! But can we at least make it spicy?" El Chupacabra asked.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Oh, Mr Knight? Could you maybe make it spicy?" He asked with a nervous smile.
Sir Knight smiled. "Of course, my boy! You're the guest after all."
Esme turned to Ben. "I didn't know you liked spicy food."
Ben shrugged. "What can I say, it's delicious that way." He said with a chuckle.
"Smooth." El Chupacabra said.
"Shut up!" Ben shouted to him. El Chupacabra complied and didn't say a word throughout the meal. After finishing dinner, Ben said goodbye to Esme and opened the front door.
"When will you be back in town?" Esme asked.
Ben turned and looked at her. "Well, probably back to normal, the other fields should be done in a few months, but whenever Clarissa, er, Ms Greatman, wants to come to town, I'll probably be the one taking her, so I'll drop by if I have time." He smiled. "But until then, adios." He waved.
Esme cocked her head to one side. "Adios?" She asked.
Ben's brow shot upward. "It means goodbye." He smiled nervously.
Esme smiled back. "Well then, adios." She said. Ben nodded and closed the door behind him, sighing and slapping his hand against his face.
"You're learning!" El Chupacabra said.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Yeah, stuff I don't need to know." He replied. "We should head back now. Clarissa's probably waiting for me." He began walking back toward the cart at the tavern. On his way, he passed a bank, inside which was a group of masked men, one holding a knife to the man at the counter, pointing into a large sack he was holding.
"Bad guys." El Chupacabra said. "Let's stop em, mi amigo."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Weren't demons in your time downright evil?" He asked.
"I do enjoy un poquito mischief at times, but I've never liked humans who took from other humans. I've taken a real liking to your people. So, what do you say? If you want, I can take over."
"What do you mean take over? Like do it yourself?"
"Yes, I can fight them while you simply watch. All you have to do is say 'Tragarme.'"
"What does it mean?" Ben asked, beginning to grow nervous.
"Doesn't matter. And don't be so nervous. I can't take your body for more than a few hours, but I promise I'll give it back after we defeat those bad guys. So, say it!"
"I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't get involved."
"SAY IT!" El Chupacabra shouted. "Out loud."
Ben gulped. "Ok, fine. Here goes." He took a deep breath. He felt El Chupacabra grin. "Tragarme!" He shouted.
"Muchos gracias, mi amigo." El Chupacabra said. Ben looked down at his arms, which began shifting to their dark form. He watched the glistening lavender design snake up his arm to his shoulder. As his body shifted, even Ben's clothes seemed to sink into his body, revealing a sleek midnight purple chest, covered in muscles, and similar lavender designs to his arms. His feet grew talons as well, identical to his hands, four spider-like arms extended from his back, their lavender color shimmered in the moonlight. The last thing to change was Ben's head, which moved his ears higher on his head, giving them a sort of feline shape with magenta skin on the inside. He closed his eyes as the metallic substance appeared on his forehead as well. His mouth extended past its normal limits, revealing a row of sharp yellow teeth, and a long, sharp pink tongue. Finally, El Chupacabra opened his large red eyes, a wild grin on his face. "Finally."
"So this is what you look like?" Ben shouted in his head. "Cool!"
"Well, this is my humanoid form. But shut up and let me work." Saliva dripped from his teeth as El Chupacabra slunk into the bank.
The man at the counter pressed the knife harder against the teller's neck. "Go faster." He said. The other men were watching the door. Suddenly, a lavender spike impaled both of them in the shoulder and slammed their heads together. The man with the knife didn't seem to notice. He just gestured for the man to move even quicker. Suddenly, the teller gasped and fell backward, crawling across the floor in fear. The thief smiled. "So you finally see, huh? I'm not messin around." The teller pointed over the thief's shoulder, unable to speak more than a few mumbles. The thief raised an eyebrow and slowly turned around, staring into the bright red eyes of El Chupacabra.
"Hola." El Chupacabra said. The thief tried to step back, but ran into the counter the teller stood behind, having nowhere to go.
"What are you going to do?" Ben asked excitedly, getting into the moment. "Break his leg, his arm, his jaw?!"
El Chupacabra smiled. "Not exactly." He said. El Chupacabra's metallic arms extending from his back impaled the man in the sides of his torso and lifted him up, the man screaming out in pain.
"Woah, woah! Whatcha doing?!" Ben shouted. El Chupacabra opened his mouth, his tongue flying out and stabbing the man in the side of his neck. "What are you doing?!" Ben shouted. "Put him down! Stop!" The man writhed in pain and grew paler, shriveling up as his blood was drained. Once the man seemed no more than a flesh covered skeleton, El Chupacabra retracted his tongue and dropped the man back to the ground in a heap.
El Chupacabra grinned at the teller. "My apologies. Perhaps I should have asked first if I could make a withdrawal." He snickered as he began backing out of the bank. "You're welcome, by the way." He said, the teller still unable to speak or anything as he sat there, watching a demon exit his bank.
Once outside, El Chupacabra shrank back into Ben, who stood there with a horrified look on his face, slowly reaching up to wipe the small amount of blood from the corner of his mouth. "You, you ate him." Ben said out loud, his voice wavering.
"Not true. I drank him. Oh, and back when I said lamb was my favorite, I may have left out the 'second' part." He chuckled. "Gracias for the meal." Ben bent down and slowly grasped the sides of his head, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"There's a monster in me." He said.
"Not a monster, mi amigo. A demon." El Chupacabra said, beginning to laugh. Ben simply sat there for a while before finally getting up and robotically walking back toward the cart.