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3.2: THE EVENING AFTER (part 2)

The last thing Rupert needed in his fragile state was to be woken by his bedroom door flying open and the entrance of two noisy relatives, accompanied by an even noisier pet. Unfortunately, this was exactly what happened. Rupert almost jumped out of his skin when the heavy door crashed against the wall, and his head gave a vicious throb.

"I told you, he doesn't deserve-" came the sharp tones of Uncle Fang, but he was cut off by a female voice, almost matching his in ferocity.

"Don't be such a tightfang, Uncle," the voice snapped. "I've come all this way from the vaults just to bring him this, and now you're saying I can't-"

"I told you the same at the bottom of the stairs, but still you insisted."

Rupert pulled a large velvet pillow over his head. Of all the people he least wanted to see, his cousin Philomena-Pim for short-was very close to the top of the list.

"Get out of the way, Uncle," Pim was currently demanding. "You can't stop me."

A loud growl filled the room. Rupert closed his eyes in utter exhaustion. Why him? Why this? Why now? And why, in the name of all things unholy, did Pim have to drag that ridiculous creature with her everywhere? What was its name again? Something ludicrous... Rupert wracked his brain, which tried to resist the torture. Yes, that was it...

"Juggalug!" Pim exclaimed. "You clever boy, show Uncle Fang that he can't stop us getting to cousin Rupert."

"Get that thing out of here," Fang demanded.

Pim gasped. "Thing? Juggalug is not a thing. He has feelings, you know."

Juggalug growled again, but this time the growl went on and on and began to rise in pitch.

Oh no, thought Rupert desperately. Oh no, oh no, oh please no. Grabbing the edges of his pillow, he pulled it as tightly as he could over his ears. Then he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and braced himself.

Even through the pillow, the screech was so loud it made Rupert's fangs hum in his mouth. He squirmed, wishing it would stop, wishing that someone would kill the darned thing and be done with it...

Abruptly, the scream broke off and became a high-pitched squeal. This was followed by a loud thump and an outraged shriek from Pim.

"Uncle Fang! How could you? You... You hit him!"

Rupert had to bite his lip to stop himself cheering. He ventured to lift one edge of his pillow and peer out from his insulated sanctuary. Pim was crouched by the wall with Juggalug in her arms, crooning at the vile creature. Rupert had never understood why she liked the thing so much. It was some kind of half-breed banshee, though what the other half was Rupert couldn't guess. Small and stunted, it had comically miniature limbs and violet wings so tiny it had to flap furiously to keep itself aloft. Its eyes, on the other hand, seemed too big for its head, and at that particular moment they were welling with tears.

"Look at his little face. You've hurt his feelings, Uncle. How could you? My poor little Juggalug."

Here was another wonder, Rupert thought: Pim could be obnoxious, selfish, demanding, and all manner of other unpleasant things, but for some reason the mere sight of this runt of a banshee made her go all gooey.

"I couldn't care less about your 'poor little Juggalug'," Fang told Pim. "Frankly I think you ought to let it go and stop trailing it around on that leash."