Chris did not immediately see what hit him.  His belly took the full force of the blow the moment he opened the door.  It sent him staggering backward, breathless; his feet tangled in something and he fell, landing hard on the floor of the hallway.  It took a moment for his vision to focus again, and he stared upward in shock and horror at his assailant.

Blazing red eyes burned above a sneering muzzle filled with fangs.  The sunlight from outside silhouetted a powerful form sheathed in dull green scales.  The creature filled his doorway, its head brushing the lintel even though it stood crouched.   Slowly it took a step forward, the murderous talons on its feet scratching noisily on the floor.  Its nimble tail disentangled itself from Chris's legs and slithered to the door, which it quietly pushed closed behind the intruder.

Chris struggled to breathe and squirmed frantically backward.  As much as he wanted to call for help, all that he could muster was a hoarse bark.  The sound seemed to enrage the creature, and it rushed toward him.  One of its feet rose up and stamped down on Chris's chest, driving his little remaining breath from him.  The cruel talons pressed downward as the beast curled its toes, and Chris realized that they could spear clean through him with the barest twitch of the monster's leg.

"Sssilence," it rasped.  

Chris stopped struggling and stared upward in terror.  The creature's leg towered over him like a building, and beyond it, the glowing, alien eyes peered down at him like scornful red lanterns.  "D-don't hurt me," he managed to gasp.

The creature said nothing, but its grin widened, and the foot on Chris's chest pressed down harder, the sharp talons pricking at his flesh.  He wheezed and swallowed, peering upward with pleading eyes.  "What do you want?" he whimpered.

"You."

The curt answer left Chris surprised.  He swallowed again and searched the creature's face for some sign of explanation, but could discern no expression other than the nightmarish, predatory grin.  "What are you?" he said at length, his voice small and terrified.

The monster chuckled softly.  Its eyes burned bright, fixing Chris in their glow.  "I am Rang," it hissed.  "and you are mine."

The heavy foot rose suddenly from his chest, allowing Chris a welcome gasp of air.  The creature, Rang, stooped and seized him by the arm, hauling him into the air.  It stood tall, its horns scratching grooves in the ceiling, and gripping him about the waist with both hands, it bore him frighteningly close to its glistening fangs.  "You will be sssilent," it hissed.

Chris kicked helplessly in its grip and tried to shy away from the vicious teeth.  "Please, just tell me what you w-*"

In a flash, the creature's left hand released Chris's waist and clamped into a tight fist around his head.  The fingers squeezed powerfully, sending waves of pain through Chris's skull, which he felt certain was about to burst from the pressure.  

"SSSILENT!" Rang repeated as it slowly released its grip.   Chris whimpered and nodded, panting.  Whatever this creature -- this Rang -- was, Chris realized that his only hope was to obey its wishes.  After all, it could easily have killed him by now if it had wanted to.  

Then again, there was no way of telling when it would want to.

Chris felt himself falling as Rang abruptly released its grip.  He landed awkwardly on his feet and staggered backward.   Something caught him:  the creature's tail.  He felt it pressing against his shoulderblades, trapping him, nudging him forward.  He began to tremble uncontrollably, and almost asked the creature again what it wanted with him.  The lingering pain in his head warned him away from making that mistake a second time, though.  

Rang sank down slowly to its haunches, its featureless eyes regarding Chris coldly.  After a tense moment, it reached forward and seized his arm again.  Its tail wrapped firmly around his waist, and with its other hand it gripped the front of Chris's shirt and ripped it to shreds with a single jerk.

"Hey!"  No sooner had he uttered the word than Rang flung his shirt aside and jabbed a sharp talon into Chris's belly.   Rang's teeth drew back in a snarl as its finger pressed forward, the pain increasing steadily.  Chris could almost feel himself being gutted like a fish.  Biting back a yelp, he pursed his lips and nodded feverishly.

Smiling, Rang withdrew its finger and released its grip on Chris's arm.  It kept its tail tightly wrapped around Chris's waist as it gripped the shivering man's pants in both hands and tore them from his body.  With a chuckle it flicked a few stray shreds of cloth away, leaving Chris naked and feeling even more vulnerable, and then it rose up to its feet again.

Chris cowered a little as Rang's hands descended toward him.   They swept behind him, encircling his body and hauling him into the air.  Rang pressed him tightly against the smooth scales of its chest and wrapped its arms tightly around him.  Something flicked at his forehead, and when Chris looked up, he was met by the ghastly leer of the beast's muzzle.  Its jaws parted and a slender, forked tongue emerged, thrusting itself into the startled man's open mouth.  Eyes bulging, Chris's first impulse was to bite down, and indeed his jaws tensed a little.  He saw Rang's eyes narrow warningly, though, and he quickly lost his nerve.   Though some part of him wanted to defy this brute, the rest of him wanted very much to survive.  He let his body go limp and submitted, allowing Rang's tongue to explore within his mouth, as the creature's reptilian lips drew closer and finally met with his own.

Slowly, Rang let Chris's body slip down along its torso, and Chris soon realized that the creature's hips were thrusting smoothly against him.  He felt warmth against his groin, and then moisture, as something throbbed and grew between his body and Rang's.  To his horror he realized that the creature was growing aroused and he began to kick, but his struggles quickly abated when he felt a threatening talon beginning to poke against his kidney.  It was clear now what Rang wanted, and equally clear that he would tolerate no refusal.

After several agonizing moments, Rang let Chris's feet slip to the floor.  A heavy hand came down on Chris's head and forced him to his knees as Rang settled once more to his haunches.  Chris felt himself being pulled forward, his head guided helplessly toward the towering spire of flesh that now rose from the monster's groin.

"Sssuck..." Rang's voice commanded.

Chris balked.  He lashed out blindly with his hands, trying to push the massive organ away, his body twisting as he tried to squirm free.  Rang growled deeply, and once more his enormous hand surrounded Chris's head and began to squeeze.  Fighting back tears of pain, Chris gritted his teeth and seethed, "No.  You can't make me do this."

"Sssuck...!"  The voice was deeper now, more threatening.  

"No!"  Chris's vision began to fog, and his breathing became labored.  He thought he felt a crack somewhere deep in his skull, but he refused to give the beast the satisfaction it demanded.

The pressure relented slightly, somewhat to Chris's surprise.  There was a scraping sound as Rang gripped the heavy wooden hatstand that stood beside the door and dragged it closer.   He lowered it and thrust its top in front of Chris's face, letting him see it for a few seconds.  Then it was drawn upward and out of sight.  There was a loud crack and a splintering noise, and once again the hatstand was lowered for Chris's inspection.  He saw to his dismay that it had been bitten through.

The hatstand suddenly vanished; there was a crash as it was flung against the wall out of Chris's sight.  A silence followed, and then another command, this one low and guttural, with a sense of finality about it.  "Sssuck!"  

The pressure of the fist around his head began to increase again, and Chris feared that Rang's patience would last no longer. The heavy penis nudged insistently at his lips as his head was guided closer.  Choking back a sob, Chris opened his mouth as wide as he could and allowed the broad tip of the organ to push its way inside.

His jaw ached from the strain of accepting it.  Rang pushed down harder on his head, and the huge organ pressed insistently against Chris's throat, gagging him.  Frantically he wrapped both hands around the length of the shaft to placate the creature before it choked him to death.  Rang responded immediately, his growl softening to a melodious crooning, and he pressed down less vigorously on Chris's head.  Encouraged, Chris began to stroke with his hands, feeling the smooth, moist length slide through his grasp.  He could move his head a little now, and began to suckle obediently, his tongue swirling along the underside of the heavy glans.  The hope that Rang would release him once satisfied spurred Chris onward, and he worked with increasing enthusiasm.

Something brushed against the inside of his thigh, and then slid along his groin.  Though he could not see, he knew that it was the creature's tail.  With the same agility with which it had reached out to trip him, it now coiled around Chris's own malehood like some obscene serpent and began to squeeze softly, its length rippling.  Chris shuddered and tried to ignore the tingle of pleasure that shot through his loins from the unearthly touch, but his body betrayed him, his member rapidly swelling within the coils of Rang's tail.  Before he knew it he was fully erect, and his hips had begun thrusting into the tail's embrace as though his body had taken on a mind of its own.

Dismayed by his own lack of control, Chris squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated as hard as he could on the warm flesh that filled his mouth and glided through his hands.  The sooner I finish him, he thought desperately, the sooner this will all be over.

Yet some primitive part of him did not want it to be over that soon.  While his conscious mind rationalized, his body responded more and more urgently to the tight coils that surrounded his erection.  They squeezed enticingly, their ripples and undulations thrilling him in ways he had never imagined.  His hips continued their vigorous thrusting, even as he tried to deny the pleasure.

Rang let out a long, low groan above him, and the fingers around his head quivered.  He felt a throbbing wave begin in the base of the monster's erection and race upward, and suddenly his mouth was filled with a salty, odd-tasting cream.  He gulped it down without thinking, and his mouth quickly filled again.  Again he swallowed, drinking the monster's pleasure as it poured forth, his hands twitching and clenching around the spasming shaft.  His own body tingled and warmth rushed to his face as the last spurt rushed over his tongue.  He felt his own loins tensing, and his own seed shot forth, squishing noisily among the coils of tail as it soaked and began to drip from them.

The hand upon Chris's head relaxed its grip entirely, and the clawed fingers began to stroke soothingly at his hair.   "Good," Rang's voice purred.  "Very good."

Slowly Chris raised his head.  A thin trickle of cream glistened upon his chin.  He opened his mouth to reply, and then closed it again.  Afraid to speak, he peered questioningly into the creature's eyes.  Rang smiled back.  "Turn around," he said softly.

Confused, Chris obeyed, shuffling around on his knees until he faced away from Rang.  He heard scales whispering against one another as Rang crouched on his haunches again, and he felt a clawed hand descend on his shoulder.

The hand suddenly pushed him forward.  He sprawled on his belly with a shout, and before he could move, he felt the impossible weight of the creature's body upon his back.  Its thighs pressed down between his own, forcing them aside, holding them apart.  The moist tip of Rang's penis nestled itself between his buttocks.

Chris panicked.  "No!  Don't do it!" he cried.  The creature's penis was nearly as big as his forearm.  To even imagine that he could accept something that big was ludicrous.   Rang, though, seemed ready to try, as though the thought of splitting his unwilling lover apart had not occurred to him.

Or perhaps appealed to him.

Chris screamed in panic and clawed at the floor with his hands.  "No!  I did what you asked!" he wailed plaintively.   Rang's only response was a cruel chuckle, and Chris felt the pressure increase against his anus.  "Please, no!" he shrieked, but Rang laughed openly.  The pressure became unbearable, and he felt himself beginning to yield.  He fought wildly, yet could hardly move.  The creature's immense bulk pinned him down, its chest pressing his head firmly to the floor.  His legs were held wide; he was utterly at Rang's mercy.  He felt the massive glans begin to penetrate him, its girth stretching his anus agonizingly.

Rang abruptly froze.  For several seconds he was motionless, and Chris felt the mighty organ shrinking away from his rear.   Rang's chest rose up off of his head, and Chris found a magazine being thrust into his face.  "Who is this?" Rang bellowed.

Chris blinked in confusion, almost overwhelmed with relief at having been spared being impaled on Rang's penis.  He stared dumbly at the magazine, but saw no face on the cover.  "Where?" he muttered feebly.

The magazine quivered in front of him, and was shoved closer to his nose.  The subscription block loomed before him.  "This!   Who is this?"  The evil hiss had gone from Rang's voice.

Chris's eyes focused on his own name and address.   "That's...that's me," he panted.

The magazine shook harder, and then fell to the floor in front of Chris's face.  "Oh, no," Rang whimpered.  The tone of his voice had changed dramatically.  It was as if Chris were hearing a meow coming from the throat of a Rottweiler.  "It can't be...it mustn't be..."

Chris managed to catch his breath, and tried to move.  He was still pinned under the huge creature's body.  "What?"

"This address.  It's number twenty-one?"

"Y-yes..."

"Oh my..."  Rang's hand came down and touched his shoulder gingerly.  "Are you sure it's not number twenty-seven?"

Chris was genuinely confused.  "It's number twenty-one.   I've lived here for years."

"Oh, my God!"  Rang suddenly rose up off of him and staggered back.  Chris heard him thud into the wall, and turned to see Rang sprawled against it with his arms to the sides, as though Chris had turned into something terrifying.   "This is terrible.   Please, please tell me I don't have the wrong address!"

Still shaking, Chris began to get to his feet.  He stood unsteadily and stared at the monster, who now seemed more terrified and lost than Chris himself.  "What are you talking about?" he blurted.

Rang fell to his knees and clutched at his head.  Tears began to stream from his eyes.  "I'm at the wrong address!" he whined.  "I was supposed to go to number twenty-seven.  You aren't even a customer!"

"A customer of what?"

"Fantasy Predators, Limited!" Rang bawled.  "Number twenty-seven is a subscriber!  I can't believe this.  I'm going to lose my job!"  He suddenly jerked his hands from his head and gaped at Chris as though he were seeing him for the first time.  "You!"

Chris stepped back in alarm.

Rang held out his hands pleadingly.  "Oh shit...I...Oh, God, are you hurt?  Please tell me you're not hurt!"

Before Chris could answer, Rang leaped forward and grabbed him.  He pulled Chris's dumbfounded body to the couch and sat him down, and then crouched in front of him.  "Take a few deep breaths," Rang said shakily.  "Tell me if it hurts anywhere.  Can you breathe all right?  How many fingers am I holding up?"

"I'm OK," Chris said numbly, and then he frowned, growing angry.  "But what the hell is this all about?  Why did you attack me?"

Rang cowered back as if struck.  "I didn't mean to!" he cried.  "I mean, I did mean to, but I didn't know it was you!   That is, I thought you were someone else.  You were supposed to be someone else!  I got the wrong address -- I don't know how!  The one looked like a seven.  Oh, please don't tell my boss!  I need this job!"

"All right...ALL RIGHT...just be quiet."  Chris ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head.  "This is crazy.   What were you doing, again?  You're with...some...fantasy...?"

"Fantasy Predators, Limited.  We send professional predators -- werewolves, demons, dragons like me -- after our subscribers on a pay-per-capture basis.  Anything they ask for."  He looked pained again.  "I wouldn't have hurt you, though!  We don't hurt our customers.  That's the rule.  It's only what they ask for.   This guy, twenty-seven, contracted for me to..."  His voice broke up, and suddenly he threw himself forward, laying his head in Chris's lap and squeezing his eyes shut.  "Please don't tell them I got the wrong address!  They'll fire me!  It won't happen again, I swear it, I swear it!  I'll make it up to you.  Anything you ask for!  Just name it!  Oh, God, I'm sorry!  I can't tell you how sorry I am!  I didn't know!"  He began to sob hysterically.

Chris just stared at the blubbering dragon for several long minutes, and then put his hand on the top of Rang's head.   "Look...stop crying...stop crying and listen to me."

Sniffling, Rang squeezed a few more tears out of his eyes and opened them.  He blinked up at Chris.

"Now, I'm not going to say I'm not mad," Chris continued, "but I can understand you getting the addresses mixed up.  I'm not happy about it, but I'll let it go this time."

Rang lifted his head and wiped at his eyes with a forearm.   "You won't tell my boss?" he whispered imploringly.

Chris shook his head.  "I won't tell him this time.  I just want you to leave, and we'll forget this happened."

Rang's face lit up and his fiery eyes swirled with relief.   "Oh, THANK YOU!"  He snatched Chris up in a hug that almost crushed the man, and then quickly let him go.  "Oh, sorry!  I'm sorry!"  He brushed off Chris's shoulders.  "Are you sure you're OK?  I really want to know that you're OK."

"I'm fine.  Just get out."

"I'll pay for your clothes.  Send the bill, I'll pay for them, I promise."

"Whatever.  Just leave."

"You're so nice.  Thank you for being so understanding.  I really don't know how this could have happened."

"Just go!"

"Right, right!"  Rang scrambled to his feet and scurried to the door.  "If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, I want you to name it.  Anything at all."

"GO!!"

Rang yelped and dove through the door, tugging it closed behind him with a bang.

Still somewhat in shock, Chris wobbled to the window and peered out.  He saw Rang run up the street and stop at number twenty-seven.  The dragon peered closely at the house number, and then stood back and looked at the numbers on both sides.  Quickly he composed himself and knocked on the door, and a few seconds later he burst inside the house and vanished.

Chris continued to stare after him for a long time, and then made his way back to the sofa.  He sat silently, staring into space.  Occasionally his gaze would wander to the tatters of his clothes strewn across the floor, or to the droplets of dragon- semen lying close by, or up to the gouges made by Rang's horns in the ceiling.

He realized that the sun was setting.  His body still felt numb.  His rear ached, as did his jaw.  He felt something upon his chin, and traced the line of the dragon's seed, now dry. Slowly he reached for the telephone and dialed.  "I want the number for Fantasy Predators, Limited." he croaked.

A moment later, a cheerful voice sang, "Good afternoon, Fantasy Predators, making your darkest dreams come true, all major credit cards accepted, how may I help you?"

Chris's eyes fell on the remains of his clothes again and rested there.  He said nothing for a moment.

"Hello?"

"Oh...yes.  Um...can I ask...do you have a dragon on your payroll...named Rang?"

"Just a moment."  There was a moment of scratchy music as he was put on hold, and then, "Yes, we do, Sir.  He's new."

Chris kept staring at the ruins of his shirt.  He could still hear the sound the great talons had made as they sliced through the fabric.

"Hello?"

"Uh...yes, I'm still here."

"Yes sir, is there something I can help you with?"

Chris ran his finger along his chin once more, tracing the thin line up to his lip.  "Yes," he said, and then more softly, "Yes.  I'd like to place an order, please..."