Jan | 01.02

[Izzy Anders]

“Oi, Jan, look what we have here,” the excited tones of a man piqued my interest. Even at low volume, I could hear it. The hissing of a snake allowed me to strength myself. I knew the young man wanted to spook me with it. He rose it up; it writhed about, futile in its escape attempt. It wasn’t hostile. It was fearful of the large predators around it. The poor creature, I thought. It attempted to gain enough momentum to strike at one of us. It failed again.

“What are you doing, boy?” I asked, angrily. The snake wanted freedom. It wanted to be away from us. Murder was not upon its mind. 

“I caught him out back. These little buggers are deadly. Had to get him out of there,” the captor stated, giving the snake a careful look. “This is an adder,” he said, carefully gliding his finger across its back. Another hiss, another attempt to defend itself ended in nothing. I took hold of its tail, retrieving the snake from the man. He vanished from my sight then. Like a ghost, he disappeared.

It was the adder and I. It remained calm in my grip, shockingly. I stared at it, raising it to my vision. Then, it tried to strike at my face. I managed to get away from it fast enough for it not to even skin my nose. It made me mad. While it hissed, I growled. It bore its fangs again. So did I. “You want to taste me?” I spoke quietly. The snake couldn’t reply. I wouldn’t let it reply.

Because I took a bite out of it. And another. It couldn’t bite me back, because it knew that I was the predator.

Its fear tasted delicious. Its venom sweet. Its meat oily, but so succulent.

I am its predator and my fangs will always be sharper. Its venom will never be enough to kill me.

---

“A black adder?” I sat cross-legged on Cassandra’s couch, taking sips from a glass of wine. 

“Vipera berus is your true name,” I said, placing the glass down on the table. Silence was my only friend tonight. Cassandra was out at some party. She's enjoying her extravagant life, celebrating, I suppose.

“Your kind are timid creatures, choosing to hide away. You shy away from all, keeping yourself hidden from your prey, but even more from your predators. You stay in your underbrush, not wanting to fight any battles you don’t want to. You know that there’s seldom that you can defeat. Your venom is not as potent as you believe.”

“Scientists and doctors have laundry lists of the things that happen when you strike someone with your venom. Blisters may form. Breathing might shorten. Swelling, inflammation, and many other forms of general pain might occur,” I paused, “Death? Not too often. Only the stupid die from your bite,” I cringed at the thought; all those dead, pathetic fools.

“However, you’re not stupid nor are you timid? You play the role of the shy one well. You’re not, though. You’re no coward. You’re nothing like your species,” I hope she blushes at my words; they’re too rare not to acknowledge. 

“You’re a dangerous person that I have to watch out for. Inside of that mind of yours, you have conjured up plans to put me down. You will be my toughest test and my first true test. Tag team matches are one thing, but facing a hardened monster in doll’s clothing is another.”

I took a longer drink from the cup of blood red.

“I ask, will your plans work out for you? How much can you do without them?” I allowed my words to settle before continuing.

“If you are the black adder, then I am the wolverine. I have come to fight all the predators here. Wolverines fight and kill bears, wolves, and anything else that stands to it. Snakes are prey to us wolverines. I know you know that,” my gaze was to her.

“Thus, I beg the question, you believe your bite will put me down? It’s not initially fatal. You have to strike multiple times to cause fatalities. That’s if I stood and let you bite me. You might get one, but will you be able to do it again? You have to protect yourself. You have to avoid getting torn to shreds yourself.” 

“This is going to be fun, Hana. I’ve been hungry for a while now. Those two boys were nothing for me. I want a monster. I want to play your game. It’s a game of chance." 

“You have to be lucky to bite me. You’ll be even luckier to bite me twice,” I licked my lips in growing anticipation.

“But I just need enough luck to catch you once.”

Word Count: 800