Once we got settled into my place it wasn't so bad. Sleevish was really nervous and hardly ever left for about a week after the incident but people knocked on our door eager to meet her and she decided to open up to them. Face to face many of the villagers were really nice and friendly and Sleevish acclimated well. Down the street was a different story, however. Often times someone would shout a rude comment at Sleevish or demand that she get out of town. Most often when we turned around to confront them we couldn't see the person who made the comment, they had ducked behind a building or back inside their homes. Grizzle, on the other hand wasn't nearly so subtle with his objections. Twice he confronted us in the street, sword in hand those same two bruisers on either side of him trying to provoke us into attacking him. After a brief stare down that didn't result in violence people would gather around and Grizzle would walk away, cronies in tow. The last time it happened I could tell Sleevish had had enough.
"Next time he does that I'm snapping his spine." she hissed when were safely back at home. She removed the bikini top Hera had made for her and lounged naked in the living area.
"Are you kidding? That's what he wants you to do. Then he can turn the town guard on you and have you run out of town or killed. Some of the neighbors told me he's been complaining to the Mayor that you've been hostile to him and the rest of the town guard. He got some of the residents to make a petition to force you to leave." I warned her.
"He can't make complaints when he's digesting comfortably in my belly." Sleevish hissed.
"Easy, easy. No one wants to put an arrow through his eye more than I do but we can't play his game. We have to make him play by our rules." I told her sitting next to her. Sleevish carefully wrapped her huge tail around me in a loving embrace.
"What exactly are our rules? Do they end with him sliding down into my gullet?" Sleevish asked smiling and licking her lips with her huge, forked tongue.
"Haha! Who knows? We don't fall for his threats first of all. We humans have a saying, 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' Sure some of the townsfolk want us to fight him to 'stand up for ourselves' but that only ends in anger and resentment. Besides, even if we did beat him in a fair fight it would only empower him. Grizzle is the kind of guy who will just claim that he was the real victim and whine and cry to make everyone feel sorry for him. No, we show the town that we're the stronger people and not resort to violence." I told her rubbing my hands over the huge tailed that cradled me.
"Interesting. It goes against my nature but I like where you're going with this. Grizzle from what I can tell frustrates easily. He uses anger as his weapon to make others angry at us simply because he doesn't like us. So long as we don't respond with anger or try to fight him his anger will simply grow until it controls him and he does something stupid. Then I get to crush him in my coils." Sleevish winked. I couldn't help but laugh.
"You read my mind fair maiden." I told her sitting on her tail and hugging her torso. Sleevish carefully wrapped her arms around me and returned the embrace.
"Tomorrow you may have to deal with Grizzle alone. I'm getting hungry so I'm going to go into the forest and hunt. I may be gone for a few days." Sleevish told me.
"Why don't I go with you. I'm a little behind on my hunting anyway. I'll set up camp where I can collect and prepare my kills while you fill your belly." I offered.
"Hmmm, perhaps you could even help me. I'm not opposed to devouring dead prey. If you find an animal large enough you could kill it and bring the carcass back to me." Sleevish told me.
"But what if you find something first? I can't carry a large animal home." I told her.
"Don't worry. I can eat a lot."
The hunting trip went really well for both of us. I found a large deer that I was able to down and Sleeevish swallowed it eagerly. Later, she had another bulge in her tail that was about the same size as the deer so I assumed she caught another one. I managed to get a nice rack of kills that I prepared and salted for the trip home. At the end of the hunt I placed offerings to the forest dwellers as thanks for their sacrifice. Various piles of nuts, leaves and other offerings of food in exchange for the food they provided my village. Sleevish found my ritual strange but watched with interest as I completed the rites.
The trip was not without tension though. Several times I found werewolf tracks nearby the camp and even Sleevish said she could sense heat from living beings nearby. We never actually saw the werewolves that were stalking us but I was certain they knew perfectly well who we were and they weren't going to risk another confrontation. A healthy lamia was more than a match for any but the most powerful werewolves and with a human companion the odds were against them. Werewolves were violent killers, but they weren't stupid.
Grizzle on the other hand, wasn't so calculating.
He and a few of his men were hiding outside the township along the main road into town. Unfortunately for them they didn't do their homework on lamia or they would have known how superior to human senses a lamia's really were. A good hundred yards from the closest of the would-be ambushers Sleevish caught their scent and made me stop.
"Oh good, I'm glad to see you guys are protecting the village from the werewolf pack that's prowling around." Sleevish shouted.
"Werewolves?!" one of the guard responded and came out from hiding. "There's werewolves running around and you've got us hiding here?"
"One lamia is not nearly as dangerous as a werewolf pack Grizzle. Why didn't you tell us about that?" another guard shouted.
"She's lying! She's just trying to save her own scaly hide!' Grizzle tried to save face but it was already too late. Werewolves weren't unknown to this town and if they were around the villagers would be far more concerned about the pack than Sleevish.
"Where did you see them?" The first guard asked us.
"Farther up in the woods behind us. We think it's the pack that the one who attacked me came from. We didn't actually see them but I could smell them and Draven found their tracks." Sleevish told him ignoring Grizzle completely.
"You aren't seriously going to trust her over me are you?" Grizzle protested.
"Hayley, Talos, come with me. The rest of you place Grizzle under arrest and take him back to town immediately. Thanks for the head's up. I guess I was wrong about you Ms. lamia." the guard held out his hand for Sleevish to shake.
"Please call me Sleevish and forgive me but if I shook your hand you'd loose yours." she replied holding up her razor sharp talons.
"Pleased to meet you Sleevish. Come on crew let's find those werewolves before they find us."
Grizzle was removed from his duties and banished from the town by the Mayor for endangering the citizens. We never found out what happened to him after he left. Or at least I never did. I could have sworn I saw another bulge in Sleevish's belly a day or so after he left but I was never sure.
