Anthony nodded, and said, "All right, then. Here I go."
He opened the door and stepped out. At the faint sound the door made, the scratching at the shutter stopped. A second later, something seemed to flash through the air and throw itself at Anthony's face. Anthony, startled, didn't pull the trigger. Instead, he swung the gun upward and caught the creature in the middle, throwing it above the roof. As it rose high, he aimed, giving it a wide beam. The creature split in two and the pieces fell to the ground, where they wriggled spasmodically.
As it rose high, he aimed, giving it a wide beam....
The thing had possessed a long snake's head and neck on a small pseudo-mammalian body. Anthony's shot had cut it at the base of the neck, and as the eyes glared at him, he fired into the head. But even with the head shattered, the neck continued to twitch.
Alice shuddered. "How did it fly?"
"Get a little closer, and you'll see for yourself."
She managed to overcome her repulsion and approached close, still holding her own gun in readiness. And then, as Anthony had said, she saw for herself. All along the neck were small pairs of wings, and on the body two pairs of large ones. They were folded now, but their nature was clearly visible. As if to leave her in no doubt whatever, during one of the twitchings a pair on the body shuddered open, and revealed a five-foot wingspread before it closed again.