Page 4 of Black Widow's Bite

Wyatt shifted a bit in his seat, and I noticed he was favouring one of his legs when he moved. “Addison, this is my friend Austin. Don’t worry, he’s cool. He’s, uh... like us, I guess.” he told me carefully. I looked over and noticed a guy - Austin, I assume - standing near the door, his eyes downcast.

“Hey... Austin,” I gave a little wave. “I’m Addison, you guys can call me Addy though,” I gave Wyatt a nod. I’d say my friends called me Addy, but I have no friends, so... “We’re just having a drink. Want to join?” I guess I might as well lean into the crazy, and at least now with three people, it could really be a support group.

Shit, I might be a little drunk, or in shock. Probably both.

Austin shot a surreptitious glance at Wyatt, who nodded back at him. Quiet as a mouse, he joined us, sitting down in the chair furthest from mine. Unlike Wyatt, who was dressed for some kind of snowstorm, Austin was in a faded tee shirt and jeans. His hair was blond, nearly white, the sides cropped short while the top was left long, and he had it slicked back away from his face.At first glance Austin was deceptively slim. It was only when he got closer I could see that he was all muscle on a slender frame. His hands and arms were covered in tattoos that were made to look like patches of green scales poking up from under his skin. He had a small gold hoop in his eyebrow, and several more in each of his ears. There were two hoops on his bottom lip, one on each side. Along with all the piercings, he also had thick snake skin bracelets coiled around both wrists. He kept his eyes downcast, and Wyatt wiggled the vodka at him enticingly.

Austin snatched it from him and took a long swig, then levelled his gaze at me. His eyes were entirely golden-green, the pupils narrowed into black slits. In a normal situation, they could’ve been some truly impressive cosmetic contact lenses, but since today was already an absolute horror show of weirdness, I put money on them being real. I stared back at him evenly, holding out my hand for the bottle. A ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips and he passed the bottle across the table. It was nearly empty now. We’d managed to drain it pretty quickly.

“Alright, what’s your angle? Do you read minds too?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as I rested my elbows on my knees, leaning towards him.

“No,” Austin whispered. He had a raspy quality to his voice, like he wasn’t used to using it. “I just do the piercings here.” Wyatt and I both burst out laughing, mainly at the ridiculousness of the situation, but I’m sure the vodka contributed as well.

Austin finally cracked a smile, and I saw that his top two canine teeth were longer and thinner than the rest, more like fangs than human teeth. One of his bracelets started to wiggle, and I realized with a start that they weren’t just snake skin, they were actual, real live snakes. The little red and black striped snake uncoiled enough to peek its head out, testing the surrounding air with his forked tongue. Austin stroked itabsently, his own tongue poking out to play with his lip ring. A slight flare of heat ignited in my core.

Okay, no more vodka for me tonight. Which was fine because Austin finished the last of it, anyway. Wyatt got up and limped over to the bar in the corner, still favouring his leg, and I heard bottles clinking as he rummaged around behind me. When he returned, he had shed his oversized hoodie, and I’m not ashamed to say that I openly gawked.

The man was deathly pale, like he had never seen the light of day, but there must’ve been a gym in whatever cave he lived in because his whole body was toned under the ratty black tank top he was wearing. What shocked me the most were his tattoos. Black whorls covered his arms and what I could see of his chest and neck in no discernible pattern. They reminded me a bit of those Rorschach tests psychologists made you look at to see what your subconscious would find in the patterns.

He held out a beer, which I accepted with a small nod, hoping my jaw hadn’t actually dropped open in shock. He tossed another beer at Austin, who caught it effortlessly and cracked it open immediately.

“Cheers, mate.” We all glanced up as a third man walked in, snagging the beer out of Austin’s hand before he could take a sip. He stood in front of us and chugged the beer in one shot, then crushed the can against the side of his head and tossed it over towards the pool table.

Wyatt sighed and jerked a thumb at the new guy. “That’s Piper.” Piper looked over at me, noticing me for the first time. He appeared normal enough at first glance, and by that I mean there weren’t any horns coming out of his head. His eyes were a decidedly normal blue, but the way he was looking both at me and through me was unsettling. His chestnut hair was cut fairly short, and it was currently messy from sleep. He was shirtless, and I didn’t see any tattoos on him, on his upper half at least.The jeans he was wearing were sitting low on his hips, showing off the deep V of his trim stomach.

Piper crossed his arms over his chest, tapping a finger on his chin thoughtfully. He had dozens of leather and rope strands around his wrists, covered in an assortment of trinkets, some of which made a little tinkling sound when he moved his hands. He had nearly as many necklaces, all handmade using seemingly random materials. “What day is it today?” he asked. “I thought you were coming on Tuesday.” I shot a confused look at Wyatt as Piper wandered over to the fridge, grabbing more beers. He tossed a new one at Austin, opening a second one for himself.

“Sorry?” I asked, confused. “You must be thinking of someone else. I ended up here by accident,” I explained.

“No, no.” Piper shook his head emphatically. “I saw this, for sure. On Tuesday, a little black cat will drop a black widow on our doorstep. It looks dead, but it’s only playing.” he winked. I couldn’t figure out what his accent was. Something European sounding for sure, but I couldn’t tell what.

“Piper is a fortune teller,” Austin told me quietly, holding his new beer closer to his body for protection.

“Like a palm reader?” I asked, and Piper looked deeply offended.

“Absolutely not,” he huffed, dropping down beside Wyatt so that he was next to me. I shifted my legs, narrowly avoiding his as he propped them up where mine had been. “I listen to the world, and when I listen right, I hear whispers. Sometimes I can even send out a whisper of my own.” he smiled wickedly.

It was no longer feeling like bad luck had brought me here today. Something made me wonder if Piper had whispered to that cat from earlier today, telling her to trip me and lure me into the alley. I took a swig of my beer and sat forward, glaring at him. “Have you been making me dream weird shit for the last month?” I asked coldly. Wyatt and Austin both stiffened at theword dream, and I didn’t need to be a mind reader to interpret that.

“I don’t make dreams.” Piper waved a hand. “But I’ve been feeling this tug lately, a string in my chest, like calling to like. I just...” he shrugged. “I tugged back, I guess. I don’t know what happens from there.” Great, he was fucking crazy. I looked at Austin, who just shrugged and sipped his beer, then at Wyatt, who just looked tired.

“Have you guys had dreams too?” I asked quietly. “About a demon with smoking eyes?” Piper snorted a laugh, and Wyatt slapped him on the chest. “What?” I demanded.

“Well, he’s not actually ademon” Wyatt replied quickly, “But it kind of sounds like you’re describing a friend of ours. He owns this place.” He pointed upstairs.

“Who thinks I’m a demon?” a voice asked, and I looked towards the doorway, dark now that the sun had gone down. I saw the outline of a person, with eyes glowing like burning embers in the shadows.

Chapter 6

Cain

Ifucking hated banks. It was my name on the damn business license, and my name on the damn building title, so that meant that every time there was some kind of error or paperwork went missing I had to haul my ass out to the bank and straighten it out. My hands curled into fists as I clenched the steering wheel, and the smell of burnt plastic wafted up to my face.

I put on the suit and tie and played at being civilized and complacent until I thought my face would crack in half and fall off. If I wasn’t responsible for feeding three other idiots, I would’ve burned the place down on my way out. The low thrum of a headache was starting at the back of my skull, and I grimaced.

And that was another thing. Why the fuck wasIresponsible forthem? Everything had been just fine when I’d been on my own. Well, fine was a bit of a stretch, but fucking simple, at least. Then Piper had wandered into my life and, despite my best efforts, wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone. He had proved useful, though. We stumbled our way into some good fortune that had nabbed us the building, which I couldn’t have done on my own. But then fucking Austin had slithered out from whatever rock he’d been hiding under half his life and found his way to our place. And just when I’d gotten him sorted out, Wyatt hadappeared out of nowhere, half-dead and nearly catatonic from severe depression.

I didn’t want the responsibility. I didn’t need it. All I wanted was to be left alone. I grabbed a cigarette out of the cup holder and stuck it in my mouth. It lit up with a spark of red as it touched my lips and I inhaled deeply, letting the smoke pour into my lungs. It was a terrible habit; I knew that. But most of the nasty shit burnt up before it could do any damage to my already fucked up system, anyway.

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