The loud pounding on Troy's door woke him up. "What the hell..?" he muttered as he rolled out of bed. His body still felt incredibly heavy from the day before looking at his phone. '22 messages from Dustin.' He was about to scroll through them, until he heard the loud pounding on his door again. "I'm coming!" Troy shouted as he put his feet on the ground.
As he stumbled to the front door he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. By 10am he was usually up, but the grogginess still lingered. "What." he demanded as he opened the door.
"We would like to talk to you."
On the other side of the door were 5 police officers. Any of that grogginess was gone as he saw at least two of them with their hands resting on their guns. "N-n-now?" Troy stammered. "I'm still a little out of it from yesterday."
The main officer stepped forward, making sure his foot was in the doorway. "Figured it be best to talk to you while everything was still fresh. You know, go over some details that we might have missed. We already talked to Dustin and Mark. So, we might as well end it with you."
"Right..." Mark rubbed the back of his neck. "Come in." Then stepped to the side allowing the officers inside. Each one looked a different direction as to scope out his two-bedroom house. There wasn't a whole lot to look at, but they sure made sure to look at everything. Whether it just be the family photos along the walls or the flat screen TV mounted on the wall. Troy led them into the kitchen area where there were multiple seats, but only two of them actually took a seat. He looked at the table, noticing the book on it. Luckily Dustin knew how important it was to keep the thing safe.
"Your neighbor said you had recently gotten a dog," the main officer said. Troy looked to see that his name badge said Halbrook on it. He was a fairly well built, at least for his age. Must have been in his late forties to early fifties, completely bald with a white goatee surrounding his mouth. He'd clearly given up on hair a long time ago. But not necessarily his body. He remained fairly fit looking despite the bullet proof vest making him look quite a bit heavier than he actually was.
"I did..." Troy panicked for a second, squeezing the book tightly. He remembered one of the spells. "He's my special little companion."
"Oh?" Halbrook raised an eyebrow. "There's no record of you recently adopting a pet. And might I ask where is he?"
Troy's eyes narrowed. "In my room. I didn't want him to get shot."
The other officers stiffened, but Halbrook stayed cool. "No need to be so tense. I was simply trying to be polite. This conversation is just us trying to cover all of our bases. We just need to make sure that we fully understand what happened yesterday." He clasped his hands, staring more intently at Troy. "From everyone involved."
"And that needed five of you?"
"Safety in numbers," Halbrook answered. "Now. Where's this cute little German Shepard? Clint said he's a really good boy."
For a second Troy hesitated. He wasn't sure what was going on and didn't exactly know what to say. A lawyer would be nice to have around, but that also meant he'd have to pay for it. Thinking about it more, a lawyer probably would have told him not to even talk to the police until he fully understood the situation. Anything he said could and would be held against him and all that. He grit his teeth and forced a bit of a smile. "Rosco," he called out. "Come."
Instantly a black and brown German Shepard trotted out of his bedroom and stood next to him. "Sit," the dog sat. "Good boy." Troy rubbed its head as it panted contently.
"He looks like a very good boy," Halbrook said. He reached out a hand then paused. "May I?" Troy nodded. Halbrook reached out his hand for Rosco to sniff, then pet his head gently. One of the officers looked a bit jealous as his commanding officer got to pet the dog. "He's very good. You didn't say where you got him."
"A friend," Troy answered stiffly.
"Does this friend have a name?" Halbrook pressured.
"Yes."
Halbrook let out a sigh. "You're not in trouble," he started off. "I just need to know what happened. It seems as though everyone there is a bit confused. What it looks like is a bomb went off. Or at least a very controlled one that could go in multiple directions. But also, very specific ones as well. Mr. Anderson claims it was a dragon, followed by a werewolf that carried him into the staircase. Mark said that all he can remember is a dream where he was saved by a Leonin, whatever that is..."
"It's a special lion race in DnD fifth edition sir," the officer who looked like he wanted to pet Rosco spoke up. He seemed somewhat proud of his knowledge, until Halbrook looked over his shoulder and shot him a glare.
"Anyways, Dustin said he didn't see anything, that he rushed to get Mr. Anderson to safety and then back to you. So that leaves you," Halbrook leaned forward. "What happened?"
"What about the cameras?" Troy asked.
"Destroyed," Halbrook answered. "Almost the entire days worth. Somehow, the entire system kept glitching out as the day continued and then about five minutes before the explosion, the entire system went down. All we have is testimony and the insurance company isn't happy about that. Dragons and werewolves aren't exactly covered by them after all." He paused as though he was telling a joke, but his stern demeanor and cold eyes didn't bring any levity out of it. "It also doesn't help that people were saying you were acting weird right before anything happened. Care to explain?"
"Bad sushi," Troy answered. "I was feeling sick and had to go to the bathroom."
"And you sent text messages to Dustin because...?"
"Because I felt like shit and needed someone to let other people know that I was stuck on the toilet," Troy answered.
Halbrook didn't seem pleased but stood up. "I guess that answers everything but the claw marks."
"Claw marks?"
"Yeah... There were two different sets of them. One in the bathroom near your desk and indescribably massive ones near Mr. Andersons office. One might even say they could belong to a dragon. Though that's impossible, so I guess it was just a really weird shaped explosion..." His hands rested on the table then stood up. "Care if we look around for a bit?"
Troy wasn't a fan of 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear,' but nodded. On the one hand, they wouldn't suspect him as he literally had nothing to make a bomb out of that would have caused as much damage as a dragon. On the other, privacy was really important and he shouldn't have to be worried when they had no reason to suspect him of anything. Halbrook and three of the officers fanned out into the two bedrooms while the fifth stayed back. He had the stupidest smile on his face. "I always had Great Danes growing up." The way he was looking at Rosco was pretty obvious why he was the one who wanted to watch Troy.
"You can pet him," Troy said. The smile on the guy's face broadened as he squatted down to the ground.
"Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" his attention was completely away from Troy as he pet the German Shepard. Troy gripped the book again. Even if he was feeling tired, there were other spells he wanted to try. He hadn't gotten a good look at the Book of Myth spells. Something he regretted as there were several things he would have loved to turn these officers into at the moment. He calmed himself, and tried to think of something a bit less... Debilitating. They were just doing their job.
"Mass Half," he whispered as the officer leaned in for another 'who's a good boy,' to Rosco. Troy smiled as he watched as the big officer's ears turned to points and then extended upwards. They eventually got so big that they folded over on themselves. That's when the officer looked up at Troy. His head tilted a bit.
"When'd you put on those fox ears?" he asked. His big ears seemed to lift ever so slightly as his short hair turned into brownish fur. "They look so real..."
Troy reached up to feel them. "Oh God..." he groaned and leaned over the table, faking his sickness. White and orange fur was rapidly spreading around his hands and running up his arms. He sprinted to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. "Damn it..." he grumbled as he watched his face extend out in front of him. Even more annoying was watching his body shrink several inches making it hard to properly watch the transformation. His tail grew out behind him and a ton of fur instantly grew from it making it a big puff ball.
That's when there was a pounding on the door. "Mr. Daltree! Mr. Daltree!" the pounding continued. It was the voice of officer Halbrook, though with each additional word it became a bit gruffer. More of a growl naturally built in. And with the anger, he sounded awfully serious.
Troy did the only thing he could think of and shoved a finger down his throat. "BLEGH!" he vomited into the toilet. The pounding on the door stopped and he forced another fake sounding vomit. "Just... A... Min--" he cut it out with anther vomiting sound.
"Take--Take your time Mr. Daltree," Officer Halbrook said. His anger had softened into at least a bit of sympathy. But his attention turned back to the other officers. "What happened," he tried to whisper, but the depth of his voice penetrated the bathroom walls. And Troy's fox ears helped a bit as well.
"I don't know!" the officer became defensive. He was trying to be quiet but couldn't seem to control it very well. "I just asked him about his fox ears and then he went running!"
Officer Halbrook didn't seem to like that answer all that much, but Troy was needing them to leave. He quickly got back up, looked int the mirror saying, "shape," to turn back into human, then, "half" to give himself the fox ears again. It was hard to know what the officers were really thinking. If he didn't have them, they might check the bathroom. But if he did, then they might feel them and realize they're real. It was a 50-50 chance either way. But he had to take at least one of them.
After splashing a ton of water on his face, Troy headed back out into his living room. "Sorry..." he groaned, playing up his 'sickness.' But then had to fight off a smile as he looked at the five different dogs staring back at him. Two German Shepard, an American Bull Terrier, a Great Dane and one wolf. The wolf was obviously Officer Halbrook as the other four stood directly behind him. His waist had trimmed up quite a bit and his shoulders looked quite a bit wider. It was true of the German Shepards as well as they looked to be almost military trained, in perfect physiques that stretched their clothing to the limits. While the American Bull Terrier just looked absolutely jacked. How they were able to find a uniform that actually fit his broad bodybuilder-like muscles must have been near impossible, but Troy couldn't help but notice that officer was a several inches shorter than when he'd first arrived.
"Sushi?" Officer Halbrook snarled at the thought. "Never trusted the stuff..."
"That's what my friends say, but the taste is definitely worth it," Troy gave a weak smile. Officer Halbrook and the others were eyeing his ears. He could feel them staring very intently at them. Officer Halbrook seemed to be sniffing intently in Troy's direction.
"Do you--" Officer Halbrook was about to ask but cut himself off. The question seemed to be one he didn't want to know the answer to. "Just stay out of trouble. And if you hear anything, or remember anything, just let us know."
"Will do..." Troy said as he waved the officers outside. But he could feel one powerful sniff from Halbrook who quietly whispered, 'never mind' as he left. Troy continued to watch as the 5 officers loaded up in their squad cars and left his house. His back slid down the door. When he hit the ground he let out a deep breath. "Fuck..." he cursed as he finally felt like he could breath again. Rosco came and checked on him and licked his face. "Thanks..." he muttered, hugging the German Shepard.