A Serpent's Kiss

Chapter Two

Moonlight flooded in a silvery pool through her window and onto her covers. Alaura sat hunched over, her head hung low. She was beginning the transformation that happened to her every night. The smooth skin of her arms peeled to allow the rows of interlocking scales to pierce their way through. Her mouth felt as if it was being ripped apart as new teeth, sharp and pointed grew. Her blood burned, filling her body with a lake of fire. The pull of her body locked her arms and legs to her sides and together, allowing the convulsive rippling to merge them into one solid mass of muscle.

Her parents had woken her when they had found her lying in the sand. Heatstroke, exhaustion, the poor girl couldn’t cope. They had gone to touch her but she had screamed, foreseeing the agonising touch of skin on raw blood and bone. But their faces said it all. They looked down. She looked down. Nothing but thick sand caking her sweating body. She had gabbled all the way home - about serpents, Gods and the underworld but her parents just put it down to her deluded state. If it hadn’t been for the guide spitting again, and stamping and making some ritual over her her, she would have convinced herself this was all a dream.

In less than five minutes, she was no longer human, but demon. Her scaled body hung over the bed and slithered towards to the open window, summoned by the promise of blood and meat. But abruptly, she stopped, fighting against the magnetic pull. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She was still human.

Her fight against this demonic pull was like an internal war; a clash of humanity against evil. It required intense determination and energy to prevent herself from succumbing to the call of the demon. It was like this every night, ever since that serpent had bitten her. Her memory flashed back as a way to escape the turmoil rocking her body.

They had cut short their holiday - Alaura hadn’t managed to shake off the feeling that something was growing inside, running through the blood in her veins. She felt filthy and took shower after shower to try and wash it out. Her parents had bought in doctors, some who had confirmed that she was just exhausted, others who clearly knew more than they were letting on….

Bringing herself back to the present, she gasped and winced as her insides filled with that same swooping emptiness she had experienced at the first meeting with Apophis. Her nerves and muscles were taught as a bowstring, straining for release.

Then it happened, with a snap of her resolve. For too long she had resisted and now, it had grown impossible to contain. Her lithe body sprung forward in an instant and landed lightly on the ground. Her nostrils flared as they picked up the lingering scent of bodies, human. A forked tongue flickered from her mouth, catching the bittersweet taste of mortal blood. Don’t do it. Before temptation of the lights overcame her, she slithered for the forest that lay on the back of the town.

The streets were mercifully empty and the street lights long since switched off. Alaura was grateful for the darkness. Her mind wandered as the dense mass came ever closer. Was she truly experiencing what demons thought and felt? Or did they not feel – instead, did they have a dark, agonizing emptiness in their minds?

Total darkness contacted around her momentarily as she hit the woods, and then her eyes adjusted and the leaves became defined in rainbow, conclave vision. Animal scents hung heavily in the air, a thick blanket over everything else. Silently, Alaura waited, the hunger now raking her insides. Please make it stop she prayed to herself. Self – disgust surged in her mind but she knew that this was the only way to keep the thing inside at bay.

A smell like fresh fruit suddenly starburst around her and she knew that prey was close. Tensing her body, she waited. If her demon body had had a heart, she was sure it would be thumping with adrenaline by now. There was a slight crunch as a foot landed on ancient twigs and then an unsuspecting deer sauntered across her vision. It was now or never. Her muscles coiled and she sprang. In an attempt to save the animal suffering, she sank her fangs underneath its body, underneath the heart. It died in a matter of seconds. Poison made its way straight to its life organ. Her jaws opened mechanically and she felt the coarse scratch of hair as the deer entered her serpentine mouth.

They had flown back to England and had continued as normal. Except it hadn’t been normal. The nightmares had got worse and worse; dreams of choking in sand,being swallowed whole, the figure of Apophis standing by her bed. The doctors had given her medication to help her sleep but she threw it up every time she tried to swallow.

Her craving was gone. Alaura lay still in the moonlight, her body twisted and deformed. No arms, no legs, no limbs. One massive beast that hunted. Blood dripped down from her fangs and she could feel the animal lodged in her stomach. But her body tingled. Her senses celebrated. This was euphoria. This was satisfaction. This was the beast inside.

Looking up, she saw the watchful orb of the moon growing dimmer. She had to get back before her body transformed again. The first few times, she had woken, naked and smeared in dirt and animal and had to hide until darkness. Hissing, she retraced her movements, and after slithering up the wall and into her room, she slid up onto her bed.

Dawn, weak and pure, shot through the open curtains. The scales were hit by the light and started to smoke, falling away in ashes. Her limbs reappeared, aching and cramped and finally, she was able to stretch, from her head to her toes. Out of habit, she scratched her neck, feeling the grate of dry, scaly skin. That was her constant reminder that she was not the same girl who had left England three months ago.

The shrill of her alarm clock woke her. Had she slept? She hardly knew these days. She landed with a heavy thump on the floor. Taking a deep breath in preparation for the day ahead, she crawled out of the self – made cocoon of tangled blankets and trudged to the bathroom. Her reflection caught her eye and she shuddered. Dark hair a tangled mess, a few leaves stuck here and there…that was her look these days. Bloodshot eyes stared morosely back, falling into huge grey bags. Her skin was red and flaky - luckily she pleaded the discomfort of eczema to explain that. Smears down her chin….she gagged and only made it to the toilet in time.

A shower and makeup could only do so much in hiding the worst of it. She looked like an ill, underfed goth but at least she didn’t like she had crawled out of a grave. She crept downstairs, the smell of bacon rising to meet her. Her body convulsed.

Downstairs her mother was busy at the oven and her dad sat in the classic pose; one hand clutching a coffee mug, the other holding a newspaper. As Alaura went past the kitchen door on her way to the main one, her mother’s voice halted her.

“Young lady, how many times have I lectured you about the importance of a cooked breakfast? You’re hardly eating, you’re a bag of bones.” If only her mother knew how accurate those words were….

“Loads mum, but I’m getting breakfast with Izzy! Bye!” she yelled, fleeing before her mother could argue. As she closed the door, she paused and looked at their ordinary red-brick house. A lump formed in her throat - she had told so many lies: that she was getting better, that she was doing okay in school, that she was healthy but just going through the phase that all teenagers do. It had been a thin cover until now but her mum was starting to see through it all.

The road to the school was packed with cars, buses and other walking school kids. Alaura dodged and weaved, her senses so sharply honed she could anticipate everyone’s next move. A brush of sleeve on her hand and she fought back the urge to strike.

She was only just in time for her first class, one where no-body talked to her and she talked to no-body.

Mrs Forster walked in not soon after everyone had settled themselves down, a boy following her into the room. There was nothing particularly striking about him. Brown hair cut short, pale skin and an ambush of spots. He was fairly small and thin. Someone like her who would find his group and fade out of sight.

Or maybe not. It was the eyes. They burned a bright shade of blue, so pale they looked almost grey. His skin seemed to glow with a pearly sheen but she couldn’t tell if that was the teenage boy hormones kicking in combined with the nerves of meeting a new group of judgemental teens.

“This is Gabriel. He’s new this term. You all know the drill,” Mrs Forster announced quickly to the class. Turning to Gabriel, she kindly said, “sit anywhere you want dear.” He didn’t reply just gave her a brief nod, before scanning the room and assessing the empty seats.

His chin tilted up and he started regarding everyone down the bridge of his nose. Alaura snorted as she had an image of a mole flash across her vision. He heard her and shot an acidic look at her. She glared back.

He chose a seat near the back of the class and the mild interest of a new classmate died down. Mrs Forster resumed her thrilling lesson on how to use transferable numeracy skills.

After watching flies divebomb against the windows for what felt like hours, the lesson ended and Alaura was amongst the first out of that stuffy, stinking room. She trudged through the buildings to the sports centre, bumping into her friend Kate who was waiting, one foot against the wall.

“Oh God Alaura. What chewed you up and spat you out?”

“Looking lovely yourself dear,” Alaura retorted, something between a grimace and a smile on her face.

They moved into the changing rooms, donning the nauseous combination of pea green and mustard that was their P.E kit.

A teacher hammered on the changing room doors yelling at them all to get outside. Once a girl who hid in the changing rooms and carried around her brother’s empty inhaler as a get out card, ever since her...encounter..she had discovered she could move. Fast. Of course, no one could understand this and she had brushed off the stares by saying she had found her passion.

The boys and girls of year eleven stood in a comical huddle and as Kate and Alaura neared them. “Split up ladies and gents. We need eight teams of four. I’m sure you can manage that math.” The mass of people exploded, with girls pulling other girls close and frantic hand gesturing. A hand yanked Alaura and she found herself with a group of people she got on with.

Kate and Gabriel were the last two standing. Two other people managed to join them and the teams were complete. Alaura felt a surge. Normally, this was the surge she wanted to shove back down and hide, but today, perhaps her...different background...would be an advantage.

The teacher bellowed and the first relay runners sprinted off at breakneck speed. Knowing she was way too early, Alaura tensed in readiness. Small puffs of dirt rose as feet pounded on the track and now the baton was exchanging hands.

“Come on Hattie!” she yelled at the girl who was already panting and falling into last position. Impatiently, Alaura crossed her arms and watched as the forerunner of a rival team smoothly exchanged batons. Others followed suit and soon it was just Hattie struggling onwards. Eventually, the cool metal baton touched her fingers and she was off, trying desperately to catch up with the other teams who had a head start.

For a moment, her eyes fell on Gabriel who was sprinting almost as fast as she could...way faster than the school’s champion sprinter. The athletics team had tried to recruit Alaura on discovering her new ability but she was having none of it. He didn’t look like the sort who could run like a cheetah, but then she definitely did not either. Gritting her teeth, she broke into a run.

She was going to show this jumped up newbie who was the real runner was. Demon or not.