Hungry For Another One (Part ll)

"Hungry For Another One" (Part ll) written by TheDarkCat97
October 6th, 2018

That morning, Azrael felt someone shake him awake.

" Dude, Azrael, dude wake up ." Azrael let out a tired, irritated groan and opened his eyes to see what Monty wanted. The bird grinned and flashed a hand drawn picture in his face. " Guess who got laid last night ." It was a picture of some topless girl on Gargamel's lap, posing.

"… They look drunk ." Azrael muttered sleepily, his paw slowly rubbing the sleepies from his eyes. Monty blew air through his pursed beak, rolling his eyes as he put away the picture.

" You're just jealous ."

" Bullshit, I'd rather have a life than to get some witch pregnant in wizard college ."

" Touche good sir, but nope, in this picture, Gargy here used protection ."

" Whatever …" Azrael began closing his eyes again, feeling the weight of the bird rise up off his bed. Good, he could get back to sleep.

" Dude, I had a weird dream last night ." Azrael paused when his mind processed the word 'weird dream' and was instantly awake.

"… Really …? Me too … What's it about ?" Monty shrugged his shoulders, his mind racing as he tried to remember.

" I had this dream where this fat, naked man tried to chase me with a turkey baster and some silver where ." Azrael's fear and anxiety dropped. He turned his head to look at him.

"… What the hell dude ."

Monty laughed after putting away the picture. " I know right ?? Fucking hate Thanksgiving . Won't surprise me much if they kill birds to cook and eat them . Always have to fly and hide from hunters as a hatchling ."

Azrael rolled his eyes, fully closing his eyes again, wanting to get more sleep in. Monty looked over and rose a brow. " You said you had a dream right? You remember it ?" Azrael laid there in silence, wanting him just to leave already. The bird furrowed his brow and began nudging Azrael's back with his talon. " Come onnn, tell me. I know you're awake ."

"… I had a dream about some guy 'preaching' ."

" And you say MY dreams were weird ."

" I never said your dreams were weird. But it is. "

" Anyway, go on ." Monty perched himself on the headboard. Azrael sighed and rose up from his warm salvation of sleep.

" There was this guy who preached about this guy named 'Pazuzu' . And he said that he would lead them to paradise with bloodstained hands . They dressed in these weird looking robes and wore weird looking masks ..." Azrael looked over to Monty, watching him give a weirded out look.

"… Man you spent WAAAY to much time with Gargamel ."

Azrael smiled a little and shrugged his shoulders. Relieved that his friend had said his thoughts the night before. " What can I say? I'm his loyal companion ."

Azrael spent most of his morning with Gargamel, wanting to get Smurf-related things out of the way before he could enjoy his weekend. It was usually on Saturdays when Gargamel and Azrael went to the Smurf Forest together and catch Smurfs until it was time for bed. For Azrael that is. Sighing, he watched Gargamel plot his usual schemes. And when that 'scheme' didn't work, Azrael would spend most of his time regretting being Gargamel's pet, and his rude owner would spend most of his time barking various threats at Azrael for his incompetence. It was just how it used to be when Gargamel first went to high school. Azrael never really left Gargamel's hovel. He would sit by Gargamel's bed, and tremble. His mind would wonder, but his thoughts changed too fast to be remembered. He would pace around the wizard's small room like a caged animal, or stare out the window. The unhealthy cycle continued. Azrael continued to be pushed around by his master, being way too submissive to him, and Azrael would remain in the abusive wizard's room.

That night, Azrael laid in Scruple's bed, he stared at the window. He was tired but there was no way he would fall asleep. He couldn't, there was too much to think about. He had been debating on whether or not to follow his master's directions and forgive him, or continue holding a grudge with his boiling hatred.

He heard his door creak open, and Monty padded into the room and sat on the bed next to him. He reached over and rubbed his back with his wing.

“ I know it's hard Azrael, trust me I know. But it'll get better. ” he said.

“ When are we going to leave ?” Azrael said with a innocent tone in his shaky voice.

Monty let his gaze fall down to his talons. “ I have no clue, we're staying as far as we know. ” he replied.

Azrael didn't respond. He just continued to look forward at the wall.

After a few minutes of silence, Monty sighed, before he stood up to walk out of the room. “ Try and get some rest, I'll see if Scruple can help you. ” he said as he closed the door.

The hours passed slowly, and Azrael couldn't quit tossing and turning. Every time he let his imagination take over, he seen the way the Smurfs fought off him and Gargamel, heard the masters shouts and jeers, and he could uncontrollably jerk in bed. He pulled his pillow over his face and cried into it. He could feel his chest rise and fall as he let out each shaky breathe as he cried. He could hear his own pitiful weeping. He would have been screaming and crying if he didn't press his pillow over his face.

After a few seconds he threw the pillow off his face as well and sat up, hunched over, holding his head and breathing roughly, tears streaming from his eyes. He couldn't help but cry. He tried to keep it in, but he couldn't help but whine and whimper as he sat there shaking. He inhaled before he stood up and walked around his bed to the window, leapt to the window seal and peered out, taking deep breathes trying to calm down. He rubbed his eyes and looked out at the group of tall pine trees across the street.

He stopped suddenly, and his gaze slowly centered on something standing under the trees. He heard small whispers in his ears and he couldn't look away. The figure stood beside the bridge, clawed hands draped at it’s sides as it stared up at him with red, ominous eyes. The figure had the body of a man, the head of a lion or dog, eagle-like taloned feet, two pairs of wings, a scorpion's tail, and a serpentine penis.

It continued to hold Azrael's hypnotized stare, seemingly peering into his very being. The whispers in his ears grew louder and louder each second he stared before suddenly it all went black.

October 7th, 2018

Azrael woke in the middle of the night, and Scruple was in the room in bed. He felt different. He wasn't tired at all, and when he consciously woke up, it felt like he had been lying there, awake for hours. He had no thoughts flowing through his mind. He sat up slowly and stumbled over to the wall, but when he stood up he automatically felt dizzy. He stumbled to the doorway and saw Gargamel and Scruple were in their rooms sleeping. Azrael slowly looked over at the clock and noticed that it was 12:30 a.m. Azrael stumbled over to Gargamel's room, and sat on his bed. He felt as if he was on idle, and had no control over his actions. He was seeing everything he did, but it didn’t seem to register in his brain properly. He touched Gargamel's face, which woke him up. He was startled at first, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he looked at Azrael with a confused look.

"Uuh, Azrael? Why are you touching my face?" No response, he just looked at him with a blank look. "Azrael? Are you okay?" Again, no response. Gargamel snapped his fingers in front of Azrael's face, trying to snap his cat out of some sort of trance, to no avail.

At one point in the morning, he did snap out of it, and thought that it was weird. But what happened next, was the most shocking experience, he ever had in his life.

Before he could think twice, he would begin to chew on his paws, tearing the flesh from his fingers. He would gnaw his paws until they bled. When Scruple walked in on him while he was doing so, he reacted horribly. He wrapped bandages around them and demanded that he wouldn’t leave his side from then.

Azrael isolated himself so much that he grew to hate being around others. His memory grew glitchy as well. He’d start missing memory of minutes, hours, days, and so on. He would begin talking (through his mind as usual) about things completely unrelated to conversations he would have. He’d go off about seeing things, shadows in the bedroom as he slept through the night, hearing voices in his head, and seeing demons outside the bedroom window. All the nonsense landed him in the vet. Scruple grew too anxious about his mental health, he decided it would be good for Azrael if he go and talk to a professional about what he was feeling.

Scruple carried Azrael into the building. He carried him up to the front desk and began talking to the lady who sat behind it.

“Scruple?” The lady asked.

“Yes that’s me,” Scruple nodded, “We’re here to see doctor Haggis, I’m here with Azrael.”

"Yes, right this way,” The lady stood up and lead them down a long hallway. Azrael looked at the framed artwork down the halls and tuned in to the sound of the lady’s footsteps on the hard wood floor.

She opened the door to a room with a table and two chairs. If we can get him to sit in here for a few minutes, I’ll get the doctor,” She smiled and held the door open.

Scruple walked into the room and sat Azrael down at the table. He looked over at Scruple as the lady before the door slowly shut behind her. He looked around the room before he held up his tightly bandaged paws and began to bite at the bandages to unwrap his paws, but was interrupted as the door swung open and a young man.

“Scruple?” He asked with a smile.

"Yes sir." Scruple nodded.

“Nice to meet you Scruple, my name is Doctor Haggis. I'm here to see Azrael.” he put his hand out for him to pet Azrael, but hesitantly pulled away when he noticed his bandaged paws.

“Oh,” he smiled nervously before clearing her throat and sitting in the chair across the table from him. “So I’m going to check on Azrael so, I'll try to be gentle as possible okay?” he took a closer look on Azrael. Scruple nodded slowly and held his hands in his lap.

Doctor Haggis did the list below to thoroughly check on Azrael:

1. Assessment of overall alertness and appearance. 2. Evaluation of gait. 3. Evaluation of the skin and hair coat. 4. Assessment of body condition score (BCS). 5. Measurement of the cat’s: 6. Examination of the eyes, ears, nose, and oral cavity. 7. Palpation of lymph nodes. 8. Listening to the heart and lungs with a stethoscope (auscultation). 9. Palpation of the abdomen. 10. Palpation of the thyroid  glands.
 * Body weight in pounds or kilograms
 * Body temperature: The normal range is 100-102 degrees Fahrenheit
 * Heart rate: The normal range is 120-160 beats per minute.
 * Respiratory rate: The normal rate is 16-28 breaths per minute
 * Capillary refill time: This is the number of seconds it takes for the gum line to become pink after it has been blanched by finger pressure. Normal capillary refill time is 1-1.5 seconds.

"Well," said Dr. Haggis, "there's nothing wrong with Azrael. He might be trying to seek attention for all we know. You know how cats are. But what surprised me was his paws. Never have we seen a cat try and eat itself."

Dr. Haggis, now looking at Azrael's paws, asks Scruple, "Now tell me, have you been feeding Azrael?"

"Well..." Scruple thought hard, "Gargamel, my mentor, doesn't really feed him much."

"Hmm, that seems to be the problem." said Dr. Haggis, "Try and feed him approximately 30 calories per pound of body weight each day. That'll probably be enough for him."

After the check up, Scruple goes home with Azrael and nothing seems out of the ordinary... yet.

That night Azrael laid in bed. His eyes dazed as he stared at the wall. He could feel himself begin to doze off, when he heard the scattering of footsteps down his hallway. He sat up and looked towards the doorway, Scruple's bedroom door wide open. There was no light, everything was lit by the luminescent blue glow of the moon through his window, leaving a cold lighting. He stood up and slowly made his way towards the doorway, when suddenly the door, which was previously wide open, slammed in his face. He gasped and backed up.

His was out of breathe as the door slammed shut and began breathing heavily, his eyes wide open. He waited for a few seconds before heading towards the door again. He leapt and grasped the door handle, twisted it, and creaked the door open. He looked out into the dark hallway and tiptoed out of Scruple's room. The window at the end of the hallway lit up the darkness with blue moonlight as he padded his way down. He could hear footsteps rustling around him, and faint giggling let by the pitter patter of small feet, which sounded like a child had run in front of him, giggling and running around. The hallway was a lot longer then he had remembered. It seemed endless…like the long walk home from Swamp of No Return. He heard a door creak in front of him.

“Scruple?” he called out in a shaky voice.

Suddenly a door slammed behind him and he jumped and turned around. Behind him he heard a long eerie groan from behind him, that sounded to croak right in his ear. He turned around as fast as he could and was suddenly face to face with none other then the unnamable horror in front of him. It's head is completely upside down, crawling on all fours, it's limbs twisted and contorted like that of a spider, it's eyes blank and soulless; white as any person that Sercombe to death. It's humanoid shape would send chills to anyone in site. It looked at Azrael, emitting a long croaking noise, only an inch away from the cat’s face.

Azrael yelped and backed away. He started to walk backwards away from the humanoid, not able to break the eye contact he held with it's blank, dead eyes as it followed suit. He continued to walk backwards until he backed up into something.

He stopped for a second. Everything was dead silent except for his heavy breathing and crying. He slowly looked up to meet the ace of a demonic figure that stood over him. Behind the tall Satanic mass where rows of hooded men, wearing those odd looking masks.

He screamed and backed up as fast as he could only to find that a man wearing a red robe walked up to Azrael.

"You are not our charge..." The man in red said in a grizzled, deep voice, "But know this: evil, comes in ALL shapes and sizes, and that evil is never as scary, for the first, time..."

Azrael can now see the demon come straight for him. He tried to scream out but he couldn’t make a sound. He wheezed out, before it all went black.