Zandor brushed his arm across the table, knocking over a myriad of poisons, reagents, and vials. The crash didn’t bring him the satisfaction he desired. He read the missive one more time and turned towards the messenger.
The pigeon’s eyes widened and he took flight. Zandor’s hand grabbed it by the throat and he broke the bird’s neck with one twist. His victory grin faltered when a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in, Randa.”
The heavy wood door opened and a young woman entered. She was clad in a tattered red dress that dragged behind her like a trail of blood. Her raven hair was streaked in gray and was suspended in a wild pose over her head.
“What the hell did you do to your hair?” Zandor asked.
Randa shot him a glare. “I used your magical hair stuff. I went out in a storm and the wind whipped it. It’s been stuck like this for days.”
“That’s what you get for asking a brilliant scientist to do your hair.”
“Why did you call me, Father?” Randa sighed heavily. “You haven’t acknowledged me for months now.”
Zandor held up the note that caused his irate attitude. “All the dragons are dead. Every last one was destroyed except that runt I gave to you.”
A reptilian face peeked over Randa’s shoulder and smiled. “Well, he’s fine, I can assure you,” Randa said.
“Good. Have you been training him to kill?”
The dragon’s mouth turned down and his eyes looked to the floor.
“Father, I taught him to kill. He is the one who destroyed the others.”
“What?” Zandor’s face reddened. “That little wimp killed my slaves?”
Randa rolled her eyes. “They weren’t your slaves. They were evil monsters. You couldn’t control them even if you wanted.”
“I gave you that one because I thought you would train him to be obedient.”
“I did. He listens to me. I taught him to hunt his own food.”
Zandor waved his hand dismissively. “He killed our family live stock. The ranch hands tell me he didn’t even eat them. He just left them in a pile in a cave.”
“He’s a vegetarian.”
“A vegetarian…what are you talking about? He’s a flesh eating monster.”
“Fido is actually quite nice.” She reached behind her and rubbed the creature’s neck. “He has the best smile. Show him your teeth, Fido.”
The dragon grinned from horn to horn.
“Those teeth aren’t for smiling. They are for ripping apart my human enemies. He’s not a pet. He’s my creation to conquer the world.”
“Yeah, about that,” Randa said with a note of irony in her voice, “we decided we don’t want to conquer the world.”
Zandor’s reach reached a crescendo. “That is our family legacy. It’s what we’ve tried doing since the beginning of our existence.”
“The legacy will have to change.”
“You can’t just decide to change what we are. We are what the world hates and fears.”
Fido giggled and shook his head as if he understood and disagreed.
“We decided we don’t want to be evil. We want to be the good guys,” Randa said.
“There’s no way to do that.”
“Actually, there is—“ Randa whispered into Fido’s pointed ear.
Fido hopped past Randa and stepped towards Zandor. He did one more time what he was created to do, and sunk his teeth into the evil wizard.