Dale

 

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1

The nine-foot-tall, hooded, faceless examiner pulled out the biggest, skin-bound book Dale the demon had ever set flames upon and opened it.

 

“Begin...” came a rumble from the abyss within the hood.

 

Dale peered across the mahogany library at his target, an attractive, suited young man, and then positioned his claws in the standard first possession pattern. The man immediately stopped writing.

 

“Okay, Latin...” Dale said to himself, “That always terrifies them...”

 

Dale impersonated a terrified relative: “But he doesn’t speak Latin! He never studied it in his life!” He laughed and turned to the examiner, foolishly half-expecting a smile from the faceless hood.

 

With a few more movements from Dale’s claws, the man dropped his book and began speaking Latin. Dale smiled smugly at the examiner.

 

Almost immediately, an extremely attractive young girl with a beaming smile of the purest white dashed over to the man and sat next to him.

 

“Excuse me, do you speak Latin?” she breathed. “I am so, sorry to bother you, but I was up late with my sick grandmother and so I’m behind on my essay on Latin grammar, and...”

 

“Aw for fu-...” said Dale, straightening with panic and glancing at his examiner, who was writing something unseen on Dales test paper and shaking his hood.

 

“I... Yeah...” said the man, unsure of himself but smiling. “It seems... I speak Latin!”

 

The girl threw her arms around the man and kissed him on the cheek.

 

“Alright... Pea green vomit. That’s never attractive...” Dales eyes were determined and sadistic as he moved his claws.

 

The man immediately stopped smiling, rushed to a bin by a bookshelf, dropped to his knees, and vomitted what looked like mushy peas into it.

 

Dale smiled, but before all of his sharp, yellow teeth were showing, the beautiful girl was smiling, too.

 

“Vomit only looks like that after a real night of partying. Intelligent and fun. I’ve struck gold.” The girl smiled and blushed as the man wiped sick from around his mouth and smiled back.

 

“COME ON!” screamed Dale, and his wings fluttered in anger. “Alright, alright... You think you’re lucky, huh? Let’s see if she stays close to you when you’re on fire. How d’you like that?”

 

Dale crossed his arms and formed a complex pattern with his claws. The man immediately burst into flames and started running around the library, screaming.

 

The examiner stopped packing his things away and looked back at the man. Dale laughed, climbed onto a nearby table, and started dancing maniacally.

 

The beautiful girl rushed to a fire extinguisher and doused the man in white foam, extinguishing the fire.

 

“Spontaneous combustion.” she said, taking the man’s smoking hand and biting her lip. “It happens to me too. No one else understands, do they?” She pulled him into a nearby storage cupboard and closed the door.

 

“Forget it,” said Dale, turning, “It j-”

 

The examiner was already ducking under the library fire exit.

 

 

 

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