Page 5 of Black Widow's Bite

I pulled into the only reserved stall we had at our building. Fuck the customers. They could park on the street somewhere. I was the only one who actually had a car, anyway. The others just borrowed it when they went out for something. I went through the front door and continued up the stairs to the apartments above the studio. This building was a weird old design, with a store area on the main floor and a living space above. The kitchen, bathroom and my room were on the second floor, Austin, Wyatt and Piper had their own rooms on the third floor. It was a good-sized space, as long as Piper didn’t dream anyone else into our lives.

The suit came off immediately, and I tossed it in a heap on the floor. I grabbed a pair of sweats and pulled them on, contemplating just trying to get some sleep. I couldn’t sleep at the best of times, plagued with a variety of nightmares that I’d had since I was a kid. Lately, I’d been having a different sort of dream, one that Piper had insisted wasn’t because of him, but I didn’t believe him. Every night for nearly a month, I would dream about being caught in a spider’s web. No matter how much I kicked and thrashed I couldn’t get free, it would only draw the attention of the spider. It was person-sized, absolutely enormous, with a jet-black body and a red stain on its back. Every night, it would crawl across the web towards me, and once it reached me, it would jab its pincers into my throat. I wouldwake up gasping for air, still feeling like teeth were pressing into my neck. For some reason, beyond my understanding, I would always be rock hard. I’d never felt an attraction towards anything with more than two legs in my life, and I wasn’t exactly loving the murderous spider, but my body seemed to have other ideas. Maybe it was some fucked up fear response, Fight or Flight, or Fuck, I guess.

Not ready to face the spider just yet, I wandered back out to the kitchen to check the fridge. Of course, Piper hadn’t picked up the fucking groceries. I grimaced, searching for a beer at least, but they must’ve all been downstairs. I slammed the door shut and headed down, hearing voices floating up towards me from the stairs. It was a little unusual to hear all three of them up and talking. Austin was usually holed up in his room, and Piper had been on another one of his drug-induced journeys. When I left this morning, he’d been unconscious on the floor. Wyatt, well, he had had clients today, so I knew he was up and about, but it was usually pretty tiring for him, so I’m surprised he hadn’t crashed yet. I observed from the doorway for a while, listening to the sounds of something close to normalcy emanating from the room. We didn’t approximate normal here, not by any stretch. I bristled, fists clenching. Whenever we tried for normal, someone got hurt. It wasn’t safe for anyone, and I wasn’t ready to put one of these idiots back together again.

My ears perked when I heard Wyatt mention me. “Who thinks I’m a demon?” I asked, and the room went silent. I stepped into the light, scanning the room. Someone new was there, an unusual sight for sure. We didn’t have guests over. The longer people were around, the more likely it was that they would start to notice some of the weirder aspects of our little rag-tag group. And it’s not like we had any family who would drop by for a visit.

“Hey, Cain.” Wyatt cleared his throat. “This is, uh, Addy. She had an accident on our steps. I brought her inside to... uh...” he trailed off, noting my expression.

“An accident, huh?” I looked the girl over cooly. She looked pretty comfortable right now, but I did spot the torn pant leg and the rip in her blouse, which probably weren’t cosmetic, judging by the scrapped red skin underneath the black fabric. She sat up in her seat, meeting my glare with a level gaze.

“Some guys jumped me, knocked me down the steps,” Addy explained. We stared at each other in silence for an uncomfortable length of time, and I stalked further into the room, joining their little circle of chairs. No one was dumb enough to make a sound, and Addy’s mouth hardened into a thin line. I gave a little nudge, just a small burst of heat, and I saw her cheeks flush at the sudden warmth. Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t break eye contact. She was a stubborn bitch, I’d give her that.

As usual, Piper was the one to finally break the silence, either oblivious to the tension or simply bored with it. “It’s Tuesday,” he told me as if it was a brilliant piece of news. I dragged my eyes over to him, levelling him with a look.

“I fucking know it’s Tuesday, Piper, what of it?” God help me. I couldn’t take his cryptic shit some days. Storming over to grab a beer out of the fridge, I noticed we were getting low on those too. Well, if anything got him sobered up enough to shop, it would be a lack of beer. I grabbed the remaining free chair and sat down, still eyeing the girl - Addy - with suspicion.

“I told you.” Piper sighed as if I were the exasperating one. “The cat is coming today to drop a black widow at our door.” I grimaced at him. He must’ve thought he’d told me this nonsense already, but half the time he just hallucinated the conversations. I would’ve remembered something about a black widow. Itsounded too much like my dream he claimed to know nothing about.

“Wyatt, I should get going,” Addy announced unexpectedly. For a moment I thought I saw a pained look cross Wyatt’s face, and I suppressed a groan. I couldn’t have him falling for someone again. He was in such a funk for months the last time that I just barely pulled him out of it.

“Why?” Piper asked, and Addy looked surprised.

“I have to get home. I work in the morning.” she explained gently as she stood.

“How’s your ankle?” Wyatt asked, and I saw her flex one of her legs out experimentally. “Are you sure you don’t want a ride?” He stood up as well, chivalrous all of a sudden, and he appeared to be avoiding putting weight on his one leg. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, and he avoided meeting my gaze, deliberately ignoring me.

“It’s a lot better now, thanks.” Addy smiled at him, and he seemed to glow under the small bit of praise. “I’m fine walking home. It’s not far.” Christ, this was a nightmare. She walked to the basement door, which we rarely even used, and everyone’s eyes followed her. See, this is why we didn’t have people around. These idiots got too attached too quickly, and then they got hurt. She gave them a small wave, ignoring me completely, and disappeared out the door. The air seemed to follow her out, leaving a void of sadness in her wake. Even the lights seemed to dim once she was out of the room, and Wyatt shrank down in his chair, seemingly deflating into himself.

I huffed and stood up, following her outside. I had to put a stop to this before it got too out of hand. As I approached, I caught her searching the ground of the alley, squinting in the darkness. I heard her let out a small victory cry when she found what appeared to be a bag beside the dumpster, crouching down to dig around inside it.

Stalking up behind Addy, I tried to look as menacing as possible, which wasn’t hard. According to Wyatt, I looked menacing most of the time, anyway. This was one of the many reasons I didn’t interact with the clients who came by the studio. I waited quietly while she fished through the bag and pulled out a set of keys. She straightened and yelped when she finally noticed me behind her, her hands closing into fists. “What do you want?” she snapped at me, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

“You’re planning on walking home, alone in the dark?” I asked incredulously, looking out at the nearly empty main street. On the weekends, some bars stayed open late, but it was a weekday, so most everything was closed by now.

“Of course. I do it all the time.” Addy straightened, settling her purse over her shoulder. I took a step closer, looming over her, and she crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

“Aren’t you scared?” I asked, my voice dropping to barely above a whisper. Fear was a good thing. It kept nice people inside with their doors locked, safe from all the freaks and the things that went bump in the night, like us.

“Not in the slightest,” she smirked. I waited for her to step away but she held steady, and I had to admire her stubbornness. Too bad it was being directed at me. I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and stuck it between my lips. The cherry flared up in the darkness, and her gaze fixed on the red glow, the light reflecting in her eyes. I exhaled the smoke through my nose.

“You shouldn’t come back here,” I said finally, my voice pitched low enough so anyone eavesdropping wouldn’t hear.

“You’re probably right,” Addy replied, before turning on her heel and walking away. I gritted my teeth, watching her leave. I had a feeling that regardless of my warning, she was going to do whatever the fuck she wanted.

Chapter 7

Addison

No dreams woke me up early this time. In fact, I somehow overslept. I rolled over with a groan, a dull ache throbbing behind my eyeballs thanks to the vodka last night - although I’m sure falling down the stairs hadn’t helped much either. Strangely enough, my ankle looked almost completely normal, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. There was just a minor bruise left from my fall, the only visible evidence that I hadn’t just hallucinated the bizarre encounter last night.

I got dressed in a hurry, slipping on a navy blouse and a pair of black jeans today, since my nice slacks were now in need of mending. Brushing my hair quickly, I opted to leave it down. There were hair ties on my desk if it started to irritate me later. I still couldn’t believe my purse had still been there when I’d left the studio last night. I thought for sure I’d be hunting down my landlord at midnight for the spare key. Everything was still inside, even my wallet and my phone. Maybe the black cat had felt bad about getting me jumped and had watched over it for the evening. Honestly, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that happened in the last 24 hours.

As I walked to campus, I couldn’t stop thinking about the mysterious group of men I’d met last night. I’d missed the bus thanks to my late alarm, but at least the weather was still mild this morning, and my ankle didn’t hurt, which was a plus. AsI walked past the alleyway, I glanced up at the building where they supposedly worked. It looked vacant at first glance, most of the windows blocked out with newspaper. I thought I could see the shape of a man standing out on the fire escape, but the sun was shining in such a way that I couldn’t make them out. Cain’s threat, or warning, although it had felt like a threat, still echoed through my head. He didn’t want me around, and that made me angry, because for once I had met people that I had something in common with. Wyatt had given me more answers about myself than I had ever had before. I wondered if I’d see his name in the news sometime soon, and I hoped that I wouldn’t. If he knew what it was, maybe he wouldn’t succumb to the madness like everyone else. Or maybe he was already too mad to be much affected.

Work passed by in a haze. I drank several cups of coffee and tried my best to make a dent in the methods section of my research. My shoulder was starting to twinge where I’d scraped it on the pavement, and I rubbed it idly while I reread a paragraph in my notes for the fourth time in a row. Someone knocked on my door and my head shot up. “Come in?” I called, frowning. No one ever stopped by my office. Maybe there was a fire drill?

The door opened with a creak, and a man with mousey brown hair and round glasses popped his head in. I recognized him immediately. Pete was the researcher working with a few species of scorpions and had the office space next to mine. “Sorry to bother you, Addison,” he smiled nervously. “I was wondering if you’d seen any...well... any snakes around here?”

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