Page 25 of Black Widow's Bite

“Cain... I think he knows where Addy is,” I murmured, and Cain stopped pacing, stalking towards us. Piper looked over at him, eyes unfocused but fixed on him at the same time.

“Where’s Addy?” Austin asked us, looking alarmed, but I ignored him for the moment, focusing on Piper’s rambling.

“He wants you weak... he’s using her as bait... people are his shields... he can’t control us like he controls them... he wants tohurt you!” The words came out in great bursts of air, and Piper’s face twisted in pain and he screamed so loudly we all covered our ears. Piper finally slumped over in the chair, nearly tumbling right out of it. I managed to catch him by his shoulders and propped him back up gingerly. Cain swore again and resumed his pacing, while Austin hovered beside me anxiously.

“Where’s Addy?” he asked again, pulling at my shoulder. Once I was sure Piper wouldn’t crash to the floor, I stood up, rubbing my hand over my face.

“Cain’s brother took her, we don’t know where she is” I sighed. Austin’s face twisted in pain like I had slapped him. He started shaking his head, looking at Cain like he’d correct me and say it was just a joke. Cain was too busy pacing and swearing to be much comfort. His hands were smoking and small burn holes were popping up all over his shirt as he walked.

“You’ll find her, right?” Austin rasped, looking at me with desperate eyes. I opened my mouth to offer something, anything, that could comfort him, but I had nothing. His eyes narrowed at me, then at Cain. “Find her!” he hissed, his voice cracking when he tried to raise it above his usual whisper.

“We’re going to try Austin, I swear. I just - we just don’t know where to even start.” I grimaced. This didn’t seem to help much, and his fists were clenched in rage.

“Find her!” Austin snarled, his voice nearly unintelligible now, more a hiss than actual human speech. I heard something move upstairs, and after a quick headcount, I realized that no one should’ve been up there right now. I started for the stairs but backtracked immediately when a snake appeared, barreling towards me. It continued past the kitchen and down the stairs. I looked back at Austin, who was still hissing or muttering or doing something with a significant amount of concentration. Another snake slithered past, then another, and I leaped awayfrom the stairs as dozens of snakes started to cascade past us in a brown and green waterfall.

Even Cain stopped pacing for that, his eyes widening in shock. “Did... you know he had that many snakes in the house?” I asked him quietly. Cain shook his head. Okay, great, well, I would definitely be checking my room every night before I went to sleep from now on. We watched as close to a hundred snakes slithered past us down the stairs, and when the stampede - could snakes stampede?- finally died down, I whirled on Austin. He looked tired now, and the little red snake that was normally curled around his arm had travelled up to circle his neck, its tongue poking out and testing the surrounding air.

“We’ll find her.” he mumbled, finally in a language I understood. “We can smell her, so we can find her. “ I patted him on the shoulder, and he sat down, putting his head in his hands. I checked to see if Piper was still breathing, and he was, but shallow, tears staining his cheeks. Cain resumed his pacing, his shirt smoking as more holes burnt through it. It had only been a few hours, and we were already falling to pieces. What would happen if we didn’t find her soon?

Everyone, including myself, was concerned about Addy and how to get her back. But I couldn’t help but wonder how bad it would get if we didn’t get to her quickly enough. Normal people seemed to have a near-immediate withdrawal, losing their minds within days of losing her. What would happen to us? We were already so fragile. Could we hold it together long enough to save her?

Chapter 26

Austin

It was so quiet up here now with most of my friends gone. I curled up on my bed, my little red-bellied snake still wrapped around my neck for comfort. She was too small and too young to go outside, and she knew she was better use here with me, anyway. Cain said I couldn’t go out to look for Addy, and I’d snarled at him for that rule. My friends were currently searching all over the city for her, and I told them to look in chilly places, near seagulls, concrete and trains. That’s what Piper kept repeating, his eyes unfocused and haunted as he mumbled the words over and over. My friends would smell for her, but they wouldn’t be able to save her. You needed hands for saving, so we could only search and report. We couldn’t do anything else.

I snarled and rolled on my bed, scratching at my arms. It was too quiet now, with the den empty. I missed the warmth of my friends and the comfort of their sounds in the night. I rolled off my bed with a sigh, the floor biting cold on my skin. Dropping to my stomach, I pulled myself under the bed, where it was dark and cozy. I curled up in the darkness, my little red snake hissing gently in my ear. My skin felt too tight, but I was too human to shed it like my friends. I scratched at my arm, trying to relieve the itch that was growing, but it didn’t help, even when I drew blood, my nails digging too deep into my flesh. My friends would find her, they had to find her.

I fell into a restless sleep and dreamt of Addy’s face and the feel of her skin against mine. She was perfect, my Addy, and I needed her back. I know snakes don’t normally mate like humans do, but my humans don’t seem to want to mate like most humans, anyway. I didn’t understand weddings, where two people signed a paper and said they wouldn’t fuck anyone else forever. You didn’t need to sign a paper to love someone; I didn’t think. No other species did that, and there was plenty of love in the world. Cain told me once that marriage was for tax purposes, but I didn’t do taxes, so that didn’t apply to me, either. I had a bond with Addy just like I had a bond with my friends, so we would stay together forever. If she wanted a piece of paper, I’m sure one of the guys would get her one. They’d know where to find them. And if she wanted offspring, I would build her the best nesting space I could manage with my bare hands. She would want for nothing, and I would die for her.

My chest ached, and I curled inward, pain slicing through my core, waking me from my doze. We’d already let her get taken away. We were too weak to protect her. If Cain couldn’t protect her, then how could I? I wasn’t a worthy mate. She needed someone strong. A low keen escaped my throat, and I rolled again and again, trying to smother the burning itch in my skin. I couldn’t stop scratching, it was hurting too much.

I’m not sure if I dozed or if I slipped into unconsciousness. It was hard to tell if time was moving in the silence in my den. I heard Cain cursing from somewhere below, and the house creaked in protest, my window rattling as thuds sounded through the walls. Little red poked her nose up, tasting the air. She slipped down from my neck, coiling wildly around my wrist, forcing me out from under the bed. I stumbled for the window; the light blinding me through the crack in the newspapers coating the glass. I wrenched the window open an inch and stared mutely as three of my little friends slithered inside,coiling around me immediately for warmth. I winced as their scales brushed the fresh scratches on my skin, trying to listen as they described their adventures.

Addy wasn’t on the busy street by our studio, and she wasn’t near the campus, or down by the river valley. I heaved a sigh, leaving my window cracked and curling back up with my friends under the bed. They slithered and hissed, trying to comfort me as we waited for news from the others. The itch under my skin grew as we waited. I tried not to scratch, but my hands moved on their own while I dozed, and I’d wake to find fresh marks on my arms and legs. Steadily, my friends returned, all hissing mournfully as they reported the bad news. Addy wasn’t near the east-end train tracks, or by the tunnels. Addy wasn’t sensed near the sewers, or in the dense cluster of buildings on the north side. My den hummed with life as more and more bodies returned, everyone as restless as I was waiting for information. At some point, the house creaked with Wyatt’s steps, and I heard my door open. I didn’t want to see anyone right now, so my friends who were nearest to the door told him to leave. I heard him curse and shut the door quickly, and I returned to my doze, scratching my neck to soothe the pain under my skin.

It was late, or maybe early, when more of my friends returned home. Downtown had been searched thoroughly, but Addy wasn’t sensed near any of the tall buildings that lived there. My friends who’d searched the river valley on the west side also reported no sign of her. I was beginning to despair. If Addy had been taken out of the city, we would never be able to find her. My body was covered in a blanket of scales, bodies shifting and settling over me, as I searched for a bare patch of skin to scratch. It was getting louder in my room again, the den nearly full to its typical capacity, but I still felt painfully alone.

I couldn’t tell what day it was, or what time it was anymore. I couldn’t see the light from my window from under the bed, sothere was no way to tell if I was sleeping or awake. The itch was all I could think about. My skin was stretched so tight I thought it would tear if I moved. A wave of hissing travelled across the room, everyone stirring at once as if someone had disturbed them. I blinked open one eye, then the other, listening as the sound rose into a cacophony of hissing.

My garter snake friend slithered through the masses, coiling around my neck in a frenzy. I sat up too quickly, smashing my head against the bottom of the bed, and I rolled onto my stomach so I could crawl out from underneath the bed. My friends cleared a path for me to stumble to the door, the garter snake on my neck still hissing against my ear.

I stumbled down the stairs, my legs weak from being curled up for so long. Wyatt was in the kitchen, asleep on the table, an open laptop next to his head. I knocked into his chair on my way past, steadying myself against the wall. I needed to get to Cain’s room right away.

“Austin, are you okay?” Wyatt asked from behind me. I barged into Cain’s room, catching him off guard. He was sitting at his desk, busy on his laptop, and he looked up at me with a scowl that morphed into shock.

“What the fuck happened to you?” he snapped, standing quickly. I bared my teeth at him, hissing, and he stopped short. I heard Wyatt come up behind me, and my friend hissed a warning at him, too.

“Addy is by the docks,” I rasped, my voice struggling with the sounds. “An old warehouse, with red on the outside, right on the water.” Cain just stared at me, his eyes wide.

“We saw her there! At the docks!” I insisted, my voice cracking with the effort of yelling. Why was he just standing there? We needed to go!

Cain put up his hands, walking slowly towards me like he was afraid I would bite him. “Okay, Austin, thank you. We’ll gocheck it out. “ He walked past me like that was that. I struck out, gripping his arm tightly. “I’m coming too,” I told him in a low voice.

“No, you aren’t. You’re staying here,” Cain snapped, wrenching his arm away. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere.” I snarled at him, and Wyatt stepped between us quickly.

“Austin, look at yourself, man. You can’t go anywhere like this,” he murmured, and I stopped, confused. I looked down at my body, my breath catching in my chest. My skin was in ribbons, deep red grooves carved all over every inch of my skin. Some were still weeping blood, and others were scabbed and peeling, exposing blue-green scales underneath. The itching was so bad, I wanted to tear my skin off completely. I whimpered, looking back at Wyatt. He looked as bad as I felt, his face pale and sickly, with dark purple bruises forming under both his eyes. “Cain and I will go and get her, okay? You need to stay with Piper.”

---