The Arcobaleno

Bonus Chapter - Its Always Good To Have Pets

The Arcobaleno house had a reputation of being deadly to intruders despite most of it's occupants being out.

Not many would believe in those rumors. Especially when regarding the fact that the house's occupants are away and the house is empty. So, every so often many of their enemies would continue to infiltrate the house in hopes that they might find something -anything, really- that would give them a leverage against the group.

One particular incident was particularly memorable.

It happened a few days before Christmas, on a clear winter day. Everyone in the industry knew that during the days leading to Christmas, the members of Arcobaleno would be out. It was a well-known fact that Christmas was one of the times they would all get together and therefore they would always clear schedules beforehand; if they had them.

That was exactly why a group of 20 men; dressed in black and armed, were sneaking in through the empty building.

"Boss," one of the men whispered as they walked through the silent hallway. "why are we being so stealthy? No ones here right?"

"Idiot!" The man bellowed back softly. "Everyone who knows the rumors also knows that even empty this house is deadly."

"But so far it looks just like an empty house!"

Indeed, the house looked relatively normal; like how a regular house should look like. There were no booby traps, intruder alarms or anything of the sort. Halfway through the house the entire group had wondered how the rumor of the house being deadly even began.

They were too early in their assumptions.

"Alright men," the leader stated, voice still lowered, "we're in their personal wings now. Once we enter we start the search, all men ready?!"

The group straightened themselves, "Yes Sir!"

Slowly, the door creaked opened and the group entered only to pause in disbelief at the sight they were exposed to.

The room; a sitting room by the looks of it, was decorated lavishly. The wall across the door was replace with a floor-to-ceiling window covered with dark red curtains. A large rectangle oak table was set in the middle of the room surrounded by a large cream sofa and several matching armchairs. There was a large fireplace across the sofa complete with a large white rug. Several paintings were hung up around the walls and a few vases of flowers were perched on matching singular tables around the room.

What made them stop in their tracks was the fact that the room was definitely occupied. There settled on the sofa was a girl; a sleeping girl with her back against one side and head lolling against the sofa frame. A familiar green chameleon was settled on her neck and in her loose arms being hugged like a regular plush toy was a white monkey. A large alligator laid on the floor by the sofa and a snake was curled up by her feet, eyes peering at them over its coils.

The group stared, until one finally managed to utter in disbelief. "What the hell?"

4 pairs of eyes turned collectively at the group, and despite being larger in size and amount the men felt shivers. The animals stared at each other as if in contemplation before they nodded in unison.

In morbid fascination the group of armed men watched as the chameleon shifted to form a pair of comfortable green coloured headphones with it's regular yellow eyes peering from the band. Once it was securely placed on the girl; they actually waited to see, the animals turned to them.

"Uh, boss." One of the man said, voice just slightly higher than a normal pitch. "Don't you think that we should do something?"

The leader scoffed, eyes gleaming with greed. "Forget them, what can they do; they're animals? Besides, think just what kind of leverage we could get by using that girl. I never knew that someone other than a member of the Arcobaleno even lives here, she might be someone important to all of them or at least to one of them. Even after that I'm sure that she could fetch a good price at the markets."