Page 5 of Vexing the Viper

"This party is epic!" Sam yells, coming up to my side. He’d wandered off to see what else the bonfire had to offer.

"Hell yeah, man. What did you see on your walk?"

"There’s a river down there; a few monsters were splashing around having fun. Pretty sure one was a Merman–I swear I saw a tail flip in the air." He laughs and I chuckle alongside him, taking another sip of my beer.

"So, what made you come to Creelin U?" I ask, wanting to know more about Sam. We've talked here and there over the course of the day, but we haven't really discussed anything outside of baseball.

"Uh, you know about the Halloween Wave? Well of course you do, you're alive and here. Well, when it happened, it turned half of the population into monsters right?" I nod my head, curious as to where he's going with this. Of course, we all know about the wave. "When it happened, it transformed my family into monsters."

"Woah," I cut him off. "Wait, you're a monster?" Eyeing him up and down, I try to see how I missed he wasn't human. He looks exactly like one. "Oh, wait–you're a shifter!"

"Actually, no. My family consists of all monsters. Except me. The wave didn't affect me. I'm the only human in my immediate family. When I first left for university, I thought I would love being around all humans. Ya know, other people like me? But I hated it. I missed seeing monsters daily; I missed interacting with those who reminded me of my family. So when I heard they were allowing humans into Creelin U, I applied right away."

"Damn, man. That had to have been hard." I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be the only person who is different in your family. "If you don't mind me asking, what type of monsters are they?" I’ve got a curious mind, and all that.

"They're Mummies. They can easily shift in and out of form, but they really enjoy staying in their true form most of the time."

"I love that. Do you have any siblings?"

"I have a brother and sister. My sister Taylor is older, and she lives back home. My younger brother Connor actually goes here, too–freshman. What about you? What made you come here?"

"Well… first, baseball." We both laugh before I continue. “But I also wanted something new. I did the typical university thing, and needed a change."

"I can appreciate that. How are you liking it so far?"

"Love it."

The beautiful Vampire girl from earlier walks up to us, smiling brightly. "Hey," she says, looking at both Sam and I.

"Hey," we echo in unison.

She looks at Sam, then turns and gives her attention to me. "I saw you over here and figured I would come say hi. Did you find the human orientation easily?"

"I did. Thank you for your help."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sam take off into the crowd of swaying bodies.

"I'm Vanessa," she offers. Her purple eyes glint up at me as she steps closer.

"King. Nice to meet you."

"Want to dance?" she asks, batting her violet eyelashes my way. Would I? Not really. But it doesn't hurt to make new friends.

"Yeah, sure."

We move toward the mass of dancing students. When we reach the edge of the group, the song changes to “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift and my body vibrates with excitement.

"Oh, hell yeah! I love me some Taylor Swift!"

3

NIKO

"Oh,my Medusa, not fucking Taylor Swift," I mutter into my cup. I've been irritated since the second I showed up, and now my annoyance has shot through the roof.

I hear someone yell, "Oh, hell yeah! I love me some Taylor Swift!" and I glance over in their direction. He looks like the typical frat bro human. He's wearing basketball shorts with a sleeveless tee and a backwards cap. I watch as Vanessa sidles up beside him and they start dancing together. Actually, it's more grinding than dancing. I roll my eyes and take a sip of my water. Vanessa is going to try and get her perfectly manicured claws into every human here. Seems as though she's found her first one of the year.

And no, I'm not bitter about my ex dancing with ahuman. Breaking up with her was the smartest thing I've ever done. She was so needy and demanding. Vanessa was always getting upset whenever I couldn't spend time with her–or rather, I couldn't spend tons of money on her. She seemed to have forgotten that she met me while I was working at the university library last year, not on Wall Street.

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