| The Stranger StoriesSeason - 1 Episode 2 | 
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And Even Stranger
Six months later, I was merrily attempting to sleep. It comes difficult to me most nights and this night was like all the others.
Just past midnight I heard a loud noise. At first I thought it was just the gate banging and I turned over hoping the wind would stop blowing it about. The noise continued and it was obviously fist against wood. Darn. I slipped out of bed and pulled a pair of trousers on. The banging continued and I swore quietly to myself as I went downstairs, turning all the lights on as I went (Wot - me scared of the dark?)
Rather than open the door I went to the video and pressed the "monitor" button so that I could see who was outside.
"Feck." I said quietly as the banging continued and I recognised the figure.
I unlocked the door and pulled it open as quietly as possible. Outside the door stood the figure from last March, the stranger who'd persuaded me to lead him to the market.
"Good." He said, as he saw my face. "Take this." He held a velvet bag out to me - it bulged just about the same size as the 'Dragon Egg' he'd purchased six months previously.
"Wha?" I started to say, but he interrupted me.
"She has set the grimhounds onto me." I saw his sleeve was ripped and three parallel tears in his skin bled openly. "We can't let her have the egg." He turned his head around, strangely it seemed to turn far too far... It snapped back. "I'll meet you at the library in two hours. I should have lost them by then." He looked at the package in my hands, "Keep it safe." He said stepping away, then his head turned back to me. "Close your gate." He said, "That will slow them down."
He then took three long strides and jumped over the fence into next door's garden.
I ran to the garden gate and pulled it shut. In the distance I could hear dogs howling. I shivered and ran back inside.
I hit the lights as quickly as I could, making the house completely dark. I went into the bathroom and sat down on the loo, and opened the bag. In the darkness I could just make out the patterns swirling in the egg and spent a few moments just following the lights as they trailed spirals and whirlpools...
There was a blood-curling dog howl - it seemed just outside the house and my head jerked up, the howl breaking me from my reverie.
I picked my phone up to see the time. Nearly forty-five minutes had gone by. I slid the egg back into the bag and straightened my back.
Library. In an hour and a quarter.
"Hellfire." I said to myself. "It won't be open. I'll have to break in." I shook my head - I was actually considering breaking into the library.
Quietly I picked up some socks and a shirt. I took my trench coat from the hanger and slipped it on. I took my 6-gallon hat from its peg and put it on. I felt better, armoured against the world.
I grabbed my car keys and slipped out quietly.
Window down I span out onto Child's Way and made my way to Grafton Street, ignoring the thirty mile an hour limit and just enjoying the way the car went round the corners.
I turned up Silbury and rushed my way through three red lights as I went up the hill. Hah. Any policemen who wanted to arrest me would have to deal with the dragon's egg! I felt a little invincible - not sure why - maybe because the city was so empty, maybe it was the egg itself.
I parked, badly, outside of the library and started to look the building over with a cat-burglar's eye.
My highly trained eyes lighted on the main entrance doors and I realised that one of them was off its hinges. I had to look twice but realised the door had already been broken.
I got out of the car, grabbing the bag, and bleep-bleeped it shut.
I took a step towards the library but started to wonder why there were no alarums and excursions. Then I realised that this was a public building and I couldn't remember anything on the Council Tax statements for the last few years about burglar alarms...
The door had literally been ripped from its hinges, and just left hanging. I slipped carefully underneath it and into the dark building.
A pitch dark building that I'd never been in before...
I closed my eyes tight and counted to ten. Opening them again I could just make out the shape of the building and I walked a couple of steps forward. I tried straining my ears but couldn't hear any sounds. Then I thought I could see a spark of blue light above me. I could just make out some stairs, so I took them up.
The first floor was just what a library should be - row after row of books. At the top of the stairs was a reception desk with a computer. There was a chair - it had been turned over.
Suddenly I thought maybe getting here early was not such a clever thing to do and I started to back down the stairs.
There was a blinding flash of purple light and a woman appeared before me, walking out of from between the shelves.
There was a deep growling noise from my left, and from my right. Two huge dog-like creatures, their shoulders nearly up to mine, walked towards me, one from each side.
The woman stepped nearer to me, her eyes glinted and I was transfixed by her beauty. Her skin was pale, nearly white, she seemed to have more make-up than a fourteen year old Goth - patterns in black and purple traced over her face, reminiscent of the patterns I'd witnessed in the egg.
Her purple-black hair was long, flowing out behind her as if there was a strong wind. Against the darkness it seemed darker than the darkest shadows. Her clothes; her dress was pale pink, mauve, purple but mostly black. She was beautiful - her lips were blood-red and her eyes... Her eyes were entrancing, their glance held me. I was still trying to walk backwards but my feet just didn't seem to want to move.
"You have something of mine." She said, holding out her hand as she walked up to me, stopping only an inch away - I could feel her breath, it seemed cool against my skin as she examined me. Her head twisted from side to side slowly as if she sized me up.
"No he doesn't." Came a voice from behind me. "He has something of *mine*" It was the Stranger, he was just behind me.
The woman slapped me. Now, I'm not the slightest of figures but this simple slap from this willowy female form hit me so hard that I fell over and slid five feet across the floor to the shelves.
I'd slid underneath one of the hounds and I might have passed out if it wasn't for his foul breath. The hound growled - but not at me - at the Stranger. Dog drool slipped onto my arm - and sizzled. I pushed myself away from the hound, trying to hide in the shelving.
My friend and the woman were face to face, in some sort of staring competition. Never try to outstare a cat. It was like that, only his knees seemed to buckle backwards and she bent forwards.
Her mouth curled in an evil smile as she pushed him back with just the power of her will.
I pulled myself upright against the shelving and ended up with a book in my hand. "Hmm." I thought, "I've read this one." I looked back at them. Strange - she didn't seem so beautiful from this angle. In fact, she seemed "scrawny" rather than "willowy", and the patterns on her skin seemed rough and crudely drawn.
The Stranger was now bent backwards nearly sixty degrees. I hefted the Terry Pratchett novel and heaved it at the woman.
I smiled as my aim seemed true - the book headed straight for her - and went right through her as if she wasn't there.
I grabbed another one and threw it. Again, perfect aim. Again, straight through her.
"Feck." I thought as I heard her laughing. "I'd better find something different."
I reached out to the shelf on the other side of me and skimmed through the names.
I picked out a Roger Penrose - "The Emperor's New Mind" came to hand and I smiled as I hefted a tome of science at the woman. It hit her square on the head - and didn't go through. Her head jerked at the impact and suddenly she was standing straight and the Stranger towered over her. I grabbed another Penrose, "Shadows of the Mind" that would do, I thought - real science again.
The book hit her hard and she lost balance and toppled over. The hounds howled and jumped forwards, my friend jumped out of their way, he understood that they were not coming for him. They grabbed the woman's prone form and dragged her off into the shelves, there was a purple flash and they disappeared.
My friend turned to me - he had only been mentally fighting the woman - however he seemed drained. He leant on the desk for support and panted heavily.
"The egg." He said, "Is it safe?"
"Its here." I said reaching my hand into the bag. "Ahhch!" I screamed pulling my hand out again. "Its boiling hot"
"Demons." My friend said holding his hands out. I handed the bag over.
He slipped his hand inside and pulled the egg out, where it touched his flesh it steamed. He ignored the pain.
"Its going to hatch." He said with a grin.
