A Serpent's Kiss

Chapter Four

When she was two streets from her home, she had the sensation that she was being watched. Turning quickly around, she saw nothing.

Crashing into her bedroom, she flung herself on the bed.

“Argh!” she yelled ,throwing her hands over her face. Her mind worked to banish any thoughts that Gabriel, a boy who was every bit the awkward teenager, was an Angel. And he had one purpose. It was ludicrous. Then again, she turned into a serpent every night. Who was she kidding. Perhaps she should just confront him. Tell him the truth and hope he just thought she was a girl who spent too much time in the worlds of books and impossible realities.

Yet there was hope. The book had mentioned something about tears. Perhaps if she could find a way to move him to tears, then she would not only be saved from the curse, but also have a reason to be allowed to live. Or be set free. A chill ran over her as she realised the book hadn’t specified exactly what they did to half-demons….

Midnight came and it took all of Alaura’s strength to resist the nightly pull. Her mind tried to drown out the calling of meat and blood by thinking of ways to confront Gabriel. Nothing came to her and her thoughts remained as obscure and tumbled as the clouds that spilled across the face of the moon. She couldn’t keep this to herself much longer.

At break the next day, Alaura pulled Kate to a deserted corner of the field in a desperate bid to seek advice. It didn’t help that she had to keep the main bulk of her problem secret. Her words stumbled over her tongue and she knew that she was acting weird to her friend.

“Kate, how would you get close to someone to touch their tears, I mean get close enough to….how would I-” She petered out, catching the puzzlement in Kate’s eyes. Then they widened and a huge toothy grin split her face.

“Oh, you mean Gabriel, don’t you?!” she squealed. Alaura opened her mouth to protest but then she decided to go along with an idea that might actually be working. “I thought you guys were just friends. He’s not the sort of guy I’d go for, but hey, everyone has their own type.”

“No, but I’ve changed my mind…” Kate had thrown her a lifeline.

“Have you been dreaming of him every waking hour?”

“Not exactly, but I don’t know…”

“How to get close?”

“Yeah, kinda. Let’s say...I don’t think he’s feeling the same, in the romantic way..”

Kate was on the verge of giving some very deep, thorough advice when the bell went. A stickler for punctuality, Kate began walking off. Alaura raised her hands.

“Kate!” she yelled. “Thanks for the help then!”

As she huffed and trudged off to science, she didn’t notice the guy watching her intently from behind a tree.

Gabriel and Alaura managed to steer clear of each other again, but it was hard to tell who was avoiding who. He knew she had read that book. What did he expect her to do about it? Playing dumb was perhaps her best option. She could say she felt nothing….her shoulders sagged. Lying was not her forte.

Her resolve to confront him grew stronger but so did her fear of what he could do.

As she sat in the lunch hall, someone slid into the seat opposite her. The dry ham sandwich in her lunch box suddenly became as fascinating as a work of art in a museum.

“Hey stranger,” a voice snarled. Looking up sharply, she half expected to be shot down by a laser ray. Gabriel was sitting opposite, smiling sweetly as he peeled an orange.

“Hi,” she grunted, returning to her food.

There was a long pause. “So what happened between us then?”

Alaura shrugged as she played with her food.

“I don’t know about you but I got a weird feeling on our trip to the cafe. Did you feel it? There was a connection between us.”

So he was playing that game. Alaura shrugged again. Her shoulders were going to ache at the end of this. “Dunno. I didn’t feel anything.”

Another long pause.

“You know those myths I was talking about earlier Alaura. Do you believe them. I saw that book you had in your bag. Between us,” he leant forward. “I think there’s more above and below than meets the eye.”

Alaura’s heart stopped and a nauseating chill rushed through her. The walls around her seemed to be shrinking. Sweat started to lace her brow. Despite her body being close to an explosion, she managed to whisper, “nah, it’s a load of rubbish. Look, I’m meeting a friend to go over some homework so see you later.”

Scooping up the remains of her lunch, she stormed off, hurling the mangled sandwich into the bin.

Alaura made it through the rest of the day, fighting the urge to go home sick. Gabriel was hitting closer and closer to the truth and she knew she was less than convincing. But he couldn’t do anything until he had proof. The blast had been a pretty obvious sign, but how could he prove it? The thought of calling 999 and the reassurance of the police crossed her mind but how much training did they have on magic and evil? Not a lot.

By the time she got home, her parents had left for their dinner date. Alaura closed the door behind her, making sure it was locked and sank against it. Time became irrelevant as she sat with her eyes closed, wishing that she had never gone to Egypt, wishing her family history hadn't been quite so colourful…

Stirring, she moved in trance upstairs, turning on the shower to wash away everything. But as she stepped out, she felt as cursed as over. Turned out curses didn’t go away with a bit of floral shower gel.

Her mum had left a covered plate of pasta for her on the side but as normal, she couldn’t bear to eat it. Chucking it in the bin, she made sure it was pushed right to the bottom of the bag.

“It was delicious,” she chimed to herself, knowing that she had perfected ‘that smile.’

Moving to the sofa, she slumped down and turned on the TV. Hopefully tonight, there would be something so shockingly bad, she could try and be a normal girl for once.

Eventually she found an interesting looking movie and settled herself down for the long haul.

A spot of light moved against the panes of glass. Glancing at the clock, she read half ten.

For a moment, she tried to convince herself that it was her parents returning but they normally stayed out way past their bedtime.

It was someone else out there.

Alaura bit back a whimper and dive bombed off the sofa. She dropped to all fours and crawled her way through to the front door, her hand fumbling over the locks to make sure they were secure. She did this to the back and side doors, watching the light move around the house, calculating. On her way upstairs to lock herself in the bathroom, she noticed that curtains had not been drawn over the large hall window. In a quick movement, she darted towards them but as she did so, a pale face rose up outside. Alaura managed to bite back her scream as she backed away. There was the familiar features of light hair, light eyes, pale skin. Her heart threatened to break through the layers of ribs, muscles and skin.

Minutes passed with the two of them staring at each other, then Gabriel delved into his pocket and pulled out something that glinted. Alaura froze, shaking her head. A knife? No, no, no. He placed it to the glass and began tracing a line around the lock. He was trying to get in.

“Help,” she whispered although no – one could hear her. She went to sprint towards the back door and then heard the familiar crunch of tyres over gravel and the purr of a dying engine. She looked back towards the window and saw Gabriel had vanished. Her body collapsed but she managed to crawl up the stairs and into her bed. When her parents opened the door to check in on her, they heard the steady breathing of someone deep in slumber. Alaura wasn’t facing her parents tonight.

When the door shut, Alaura pushed her desk against it. The windows were firmly closed and her dresser pushed against it. She took an old skipping rope from her wardrobe and secured her feet to the iron bedstead. This was a feeble attempt but it might buy her a window to take control before she completely transformed. No way was she venturing outside these four walls tonight.

With knees drawn up to her chest, her eyes remained locked on the window. Or the chunk of wood that blocked it. The transformation came not much later but her foresight meant she had time to push the darkness down; an exhausting battle that left her weak and shaking.

By the time a faint dove- grey light shone through the gap in the curtains, she had made a decision.

He wasn’t in. He wasn’t bloody in. Alaura dug her nails into her palm until they drew little glinting crescents of scarlet. One way or another, the next time she saw him, whether outside her walls or in school, she was going to twist the truth out of him.

Kate noticed the darker rings than normal under her friend’s eyes and the way she walked like an old woman, hunched over. Not to mention the way she kept glancing around.

“Alaura, what the hell is up with you? Are you on drugs or something?” She managed to confront her friend in the empty locker room. Alaura’s nerve, already frayed, grew even more ragged.

“I’m on medication again,” she snapped. “You know I picked up that disease in Egypt because some stupid thing bit me!”

Alaura realised she had been shouting as Kate had moved away very slightly.

“I’m not okay.” Tears pricked her eyes. “I think someone’s trying to kill me,” she whispered.

“I think you need sleep and a mental doctor.” Her best friend tapped her on the arm and moved away quickly. If she told anyone….

“If you can’t help me, then you’ll regret it,” Alaura roared after her, stomping in the other direction and not waiting for an answer. Screw school. She was ill. She was going home.

She made it halfway down the road home before she heard running footsteps behind her. All kind of conclusions raced through her mind; it could be Gabriel wielding a gun, it could be a teacher come to shout at her for bunking. Whipping around, her fists ready to strike, her heart soared as she saw Kate legging it. She came to a halt just in front of Alaura, momentarily trying to regain her lost breath.

“Alaura, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I know something’s wrong but I just didn’t expect it to be ...that...I’m sorry.”

“You have to be to skip school! I’ve never known you do that before.”

“Well, there’s always a first.” Kate grinned and Alaura found it hard not to respond with her own one.

“It’s okay. I’m just not myself. But please don’t tell anyone, not even you parents.”

Kate nodded. “Look, you can come back to mine and we can watch TV and have some popcorn and you can stay at mine.”

No, she couldn’t. Her friend was trying her hardest but even spending some time with her best friend was now impossible.

“I can’t,” Alaura half-whispered, half sobbed. “But thank you. I’m going to go home and have something to eat, have a sleep and I’ll be back to normal. Go back to school. But thank you.”

Kate noded, pulled her friend into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m here if you need me.”

Alaura blinked rapidly and started heading home. The tears started to fall.