The Snake King

The hot Brazilian sun was murder. Even being under the main tent didn't bring much relief to either Mona or Domino. The twenty-five and twenty-seven-year-old cousins chugged down their water bottles as their fathers' handful of grad and college students were busily chronicling the outside of the temple before entering. The temple was just twenty meters away from the main tent while the actual campsite was forty to fifty meters away. The two cousins were invited by their fathers to join them on this archaeological trip to Brazil's not-so-famous Snake Temple. The two women were thrilled to be spending the first two weeks of the New Year in the hot tropics of Brazil instead of the freezing cold mountains of Denver. Their fathers weren't around all that much when they were growing up and this trip was to build up their relationships, as well as spend some quality time together. The first couple of days was pretty much a waiting period for the others in their group to show up as well as waiting for the Brazilian Government to grant them permission to travel through that part of the jungle to visit the temple. The cousins passed the first three days touring Rio with their fathers while the grad and college students did the same. Some of their fathers' assistants stayed behind in case the rest of the assigned grads and college students showed up. It took another three days for the last of them to arrive and the following day, the Brazilian Government finally permitted them to go to the Snake Temple. Domino, being the elder of the two cousins, was flipping her long red hair and batting her emerald-jewel-green eyes at one of the college students. She had always been the more flirtatious of the two cousins, even if they weren't the only females in their families. Mona has a twelve-year-old sister while Domino has another female cousin on her father's side of her family. Domino's other cousin, and-next-door-neighbor, had just graduated from high school and had been accepted at a top modeling facility. The young grad wiggled his eyebrows back at her as he smiled. He and the other male students were warned by both Mona's and Domino's fathers, and their assistants, to keep their hands off the two women. He didn't know about the other guys, but he needed a passing grade more than he needed to get laid; so he'll be keeping his hands to himself. It's a good thing those two were also told by their fathers to keep their distance from him and the other male students but a little flirting never hurt anyone and at their current age, it didn't raise any false expectations. Mona, the platinum blonde with natural silver eyes that have blue flexes, just aired out her shoulder-length hair before putting her hat back on. "Doni!" She exclaimed when she saw her cousin flirting. "Didn't you hear what your dad said before we got here?!" "Yeah, yeah, I heard," Domino replied as she rolled her eyes. "'No fraternizing nor shenanigans with the grads, college students, or anyone we know personally'." She quoted imitating her father's voice. "Neither one of them said anything about flirting." She finished as she smiled and waved at the same student. He then returned her wave before he followed one of the other grads to the entrance stairs of the temple. Mona sighed in aggravation. "I'm related to Blanche Devereaux!" She expressed as she flew her hands up in a 'why me' gesture. "If you're trying to insult me," Domino replied to her cousin's comment as she, too, put her own hat back on. "You'll have to use a more modern reference." Both girls were walking over to their fathers, who were standing next to their jungle guide and his sister, at the base of the temple. "And besides," she added. "If you got it, flaunt it." "Said the woman who needs to wear decorative contacts in order to 'flaunt it'," Mona replied dryly. Domino tilted her head and gave her cousin an annoyed look before she continued to walk towards the temple. She didn't really need to wear contacts, her vision is just fine but her natural eye color, hazel, was so common that she decided to wear decorative contacts to stand out a little more. "It's a shame that this temple isn't famous or lost," she commented as she looked at the vine and moss-covered structure. "It would have made this trip that much more exciting." "You and I both know that neither one of our dads would have brought either of us along if we were going on a safari mission in uncharted jungles," Mona replied as she took careful steps in the grass. "Frankly, I'm surprised they invited us to Brazil in the first place. Considering how many poisonous snakes there are here." "We invited the two of you along," Professor James Brown replied to Mona's comment. "Because we wanted to get the two of you out of the house. Both you and Doni have been acting like hermits lately." Both the houses of Professor James Brown and Professor Nigel Stoner, his brother-in-law, were undergoing renovations and their families were currently living in a duplex. Domino is Nigel's daughter, while Mona is James's daughter; the two cousins grew up as across-the-street-neighbors until their teens. Domino left with her mom and two brothers to live on the other side of the neighborhood while Mona's family stayed behind and moved into Domino's old house. Professor James Brown's sister, Melissa, married Domino's father just five months after Domino was born. James then married Nigel's cousin, Rebecca, a year and a half after that, a month later, Mona was born; both girls share a birthday. Nigel Stoner is also a redhead, as are his twin sons, however his eyes are coffee black whereas his children's eyes are all hazel. James Brown has dark blonde hair and plain brown eyes. His youngest daughter, however, has dark brown hair and brown eyes. Mona inherited her platinum blonde hair from her mother's paternal grandmother, as well as the blue flexes in her silver eyes. The reason the two cousins were acting like hermits was that they both had found out they were dating the same guy. Well, Mona was dating him while Domino was sleeping with him. When the two of them showed each other the picture of the guy they were seeing ... let's just say it didn't end well. Especially for the guy. Domino's idea of revenge was to post his m**********g selfies online. Mona's was to use the same technique as Avery did in "Dog with a Blog" when she and her friends were in a similar situation. The only difference was that Mona would put a high colonic into his drink while Domino would put a heavy laxative into his food then both girls would lock all the bathroom doors and keep showing up at awkward or inappropriate times with another drink or food item before showing up at the same time. Long story short, it ended in a humiliating mess, in his sports car, on a hot summer evening. The guy was the one who made the mess in his sports car, not to mention his pants, while the two girls and their siblings made the outside mess. And to add to the humiliation, Domino had posted his m**********g selfies online anyway. She also photo-shopped everything in a downsize and airbrushed a pink bow tattoo onto "it" too. However, both cousins stopped talking to each other after they found out they were being two-timed. They didn't speak again for four or five months; after they reconciled Domino has been trying to fix Mona up with a guy every time they meet up. Much to Mona's frustration. The problem with that was that Domino's tastes in guys weren't up to Mona's standards. Mona wasn't one of those girls who believed in waiting until her wedding, her standards are doing it with the right guy, for the right reasons. Unfortunately, neither the guy nor the reasons ever seemed to coincide with the other, which is why she remains a virgin to this day. Domino had lost her's sometime after high school, since then she's fallen into the role of s*x teacher. She teaches the guy she's dating how to do some tricks in bed, or wherever, but she only does that to the guy she's about to dump. Very rarely do her boyfriends last longer than two or three months; once the s*x starts getting stale it's good-bye. Then she would be celibate for a few weeks before the whole process starts all over again. At one point she went a whole year without s*x before hooking up with someone; she had lost a bet to Mona. That guy had lasted a whole seven months! Her parents were hoping that that one was the one who would finally get her to the altar until they broke up; his doing, not Domino's. None of her boyfriends have ever been invited to any of her family gatherings but in fairness, she wasn't invited to any of her boyfriends' family gatherings either. Not even the one who lasted seven months. And after a disastrous double-blind date after the two-timer-incident, Mona had sworn off men for the rest of the decade if not longer. "I have Julie to watch," Mona told her dad. She keeps the house clean and an eye on her little sister while her mom works as a hotel receptionist. She often spends her time drawing comic books or graphic novels and has made a steady living selling them on sss. "And I work at home," Domino told her's; she is a Web Designer. Her twin brothers are currently away at college. "The point is," Professor Stoner added. "That neither one of you has been getting out enough." Before either of the cousins could saying anything else he added; "Both of your mothers want the two of you to get out, go out, and have fun." Professor Stoner had long since come to terms with his only daughter's active s*x life but like any father, he's worried she would just keep dating jerks, losers, and deadbeats and never find a winner to settle down with. Thanks to broken condoms, he and his wife were already grandparents but because his sons didn't marry the mothers, both party's choices, they hardly ever get to see their grandkids. Professor Brown has been worried that with the recent luck Mona has had with men lately, she'd never find anyone and he'd never get to walk her down the aisle. He decided a while ago that Julie would be his wife's problem; he just hoped she didn't end up a teenage mom. Not that he'd mind becoming a grandpa, he'd just know that it would be Mona who'd be stuck taking care of the baby. This trip to Brazil was supposed to shake the girls out of their funk; the wives' words, not theirs. Both Professors have had grad students and assistants who've had relationships with a few of the locals here or have explored the temple at this time of year then afterward they would have better luck in love. When last the Professors had heard, one of the female grad students who came with them the last time they were here had found love which lead to marriage about a month after she returned to the states. Professor Stoner knows that to expect either or both the two girls to find the same thing, would be like expecting the moon to turn purple with green polka-dots. But he and his brother-in-law, not to mention their wives, are hopeful that they would at least find someone worth the introductions and invitations to family gatherings. "Not this again, Dad," Mona expressed in an exasperated tone. "I've told Mom over a hundred times that as soon as I find someone worth the time of day, she'll be the first to know." "Count your blessings, Mona," Domino said to her cousin. "Mine's been demanding when she's going to get to hold her grandbaby. And I'm not talking about Emma and Paul." Emma and Paul were Domino's two-year-old niece and nephew from her brothers, Justin and Peter; both twins were only seventeen when they became parents. The main reason how that happened was when Domino had gotten suspicious when her condom drawer had fewer condoms than it usually did. So she poked holes in all the ones she had left and gone without s*x for a while; much to her current boyfriend's disappointment until she explained her reasons. And when her brothers' girlfriends came by the house to tell the twins that they were pregnant, that's when Domino confessed to what she did. Their mom wasn't home at the time and their dad was somewhere in Mexico studying some Mayan artifacts. The short version is that after the twins fought with their sister, all three pairs of parents soon came home and the whole mess got even bigger. Everything turned out alright, after three or four months. Domino's parents and her brothers' girlfriends' parents had come to terms with the fact they were all going to be grandparents and other than Emma, Justin's daughter, and Paul, Peter's son, spending the majority of their time with their mothers and maternal grandparents; everybody's happy. Professor Stoner's assistant whistled loudly before the two cousins could start arguing. "We're ready to chronicle the rest of the temple before we enter," she said. Professor Stoner's assistant, Debbie Hawkins, is a proud woman in her mid-forties. She has been his assistant for the last ten years and at one point Domino thought she was having an affair with her dad, but it turned out to be nothing. Mrs. Hawkins is also married, and a mother of four, and at said point, she had been working extra shifts for extra money for a family vacation. Ironically, whenever there was something the two cousins couldn't or wouldn't tell their parents; Mrs. Hawkins was the one they confided in. Including the two-timer incident and the disastrous double date. Once the group began walking up the steps, the guides, Lorenzo and Arika, began telling them all about the temple. Lorenzo and Arika come from a neighboring village just on the other side of the jungle. They had been Professor Brown and Professor Stoner's guides for their last two trips and they occasionally act as translators as well as Jungle Guides. Lorenzo and Arika are brother and sister with Lorenzo being the eldest. Normally it's just Lorenzo acting as the guide for the Professors, but this time around Arika was able to join them. Mainly because the Professors had told Lorenzo early on that there would more than the usual number of people here for this trip. ------ From their hiding place in the vines of the temple and jungle trees, the snakes saw the whole campsite being built and the outsiders coming towards the temple. The two outsiders called Professors had shown up early this year which could spell trouble for them and the rest of their people. Hopefully, their speakers will be able to keep all who have come to their temple from finding out anything they do not wish them to know. One of the snakes went on ahead to warn their king and the rest of their people about the arrival of their regular outside visitors including the arrival of many new males and females who are with them, while the others stayed behind to keep watch. Once inside the temple, the snake moved a certain stone to a certain spot. Now if any of the outsiders come inside the temple, those that do not keep up with their speakers will get hopelessly lost before finding themselves back outside.