Forbidden Power

Viper and Vampire

"Hey, guys! Come look at this!" Layla called from among the rubble.

She had worked on the crumbled wall, clearing the smaller rocks, and some impressively larger ones, off of the square that we are starting to think is not an inverted pyramid. We haven't found any evidence to back up the supposed message on the eve of the first house.

Marco and I hurried over to see what she was so excited about.

"What did you find, Layla?" Marco asked. She was brushing furiously at one of the stones at the base of the wall that I had accidentally crumbled.

"There's an inscription here! Teddy, can you lift it a bit?"

"Of course," I agreed, stepping behind the rock and carefully pulling back on it. Layla was ready with her water bottle and her camera. She poured some water on the inscription and had just snapped a picture when we heard an angry hiss.

A snake lashed out from under the rock and bit right into Layla's leg.

"SNAKE!" Marco yelled, backing up in horror. The snake sank it's long fangs into her leg and held on. It was long, and I recognized the markings.

I glared at the snake and gave it my own angry hiss. In the beast world, I rule. The snake instantly let go and shot off in the direction of the desert, having done it's damage.

"Viper," I spat angrily, tempted to go chase it down and stomp it to death. However, it was just a dumb animal, and there was a more pressing need at the moment. Layla was looking at her leg in horror as the angry bite mark was already turning black.

"Poisonous viper. Marco, we need to wrap her upper leg to slow the poison from spreading," I ordered, quickly kneeling down and splashing some water on her bite mark to clean off the blood and get a better look. That stupid snake bit her almost down to the bone. My stomach churned. Marco yanked off his shirt and tied it as tightly as he could around her leg.

"Do we have any antidote?" Marco asked, quickly kneeling by Layla's side and looking at the bite.

"By the time we get it and get back, even at my speed, the poison will have spread beyond the healing ability of the antidote," I said, tightening the shirt a little more and staring at the bloody wound.

I looked up at Marco, and he looked back at me. We both looked at Layla, who was pale and panting from fear. My heart sank.

"Her heart is racing. The poison will spread all over her body in no time. There are only two choices," I murmured. Marco nodded in understanding. Neither of us had to say it. We either let Layla die, or I expose myself as a vampire. Letting Layla die is not an option. That leaves one.

I held up my hand and stopped up the blood in her leg, keeping the blood from further traveling anywhere else in her body.

"I'm going to have to suck out the poison," I said, examining the bite mark and noting how deep the wound was. My fangs would have to go deeper, and it wouldn't be fun for her.

"That's just a myth! Sucking it out doesn't work!" Layla panted. Marco moved around behind her to help prop her up. Once again, I'm thankful for his presence and friendship.

"It will the way I do it," I mumbled. "Hold still, okay? I'm going to numb your leg. It's just going to feel like it's gone to sleep. This won't hurt. You won't feel anything."

Layla's eyes widened, but she nodded and relaxed against Marco, trying to steady her breathing. I know how strange that must sound to her, and yet here she is trusting me completely. I held up my hand discreetly near her pelvis. Controlling her blood, I brought it to the site of the wound and numbed the rest of her leg. As far as she could tell, the only thing I was actively doing was moving my hand.

Then I leaned over her leg and let my fangs grow out. Layla let out a gasp, and Marco patted her and whispered that she would be okay. At this point, she couldn't move her leg if she wanted to run away anyway. Gently, slowly, I inserted my fangs into her flesh near the viper's bite mark. True to my word, she couldn't feel anything.

Her blood filled my mouth, and even with the poison in it, her blood was delicious and intoxicating. Taking a part of her in me ignited a fire inside my body, and suddenly I wanted more of her. I felt out of control. I wanted all of her.

But her life was dependent on my self control right now, so I steadied my emotions and focused on ridding her body of the poison. I drained the blood from her leg, which wouldn't hurt her apart from making her feel tired. I gently removed my fangs from her drained leg and licked the wound mark closed. The poison was concentrated around the bite mark. As I sucked out the blood, I could taste the poison content lessening.

"Did you get all the poison out?" Marco asked anxiously.

"I'm not completely sure. It's out of her leg, but her heart was beating pretty quickly. Layla, I'm just going to smell the blood at your pressure points to make sure it smells clean, okay?" I asked, calmly laying my hand over her clenched fist. Brave woman. She was trying to act calm, but her body was betraying her. She was terrified.

"Okay," she nodded.

I moved in and sniffed at her armpit. She flinched away and fidgeted awkwardly. I leaned back and smiled at her.

"Don't be self-conscious. You smell fine," I told her. She just looked away and avoided eye contact.

I leaned in over her again and sniffed at her other armpit. Then I sniffed at her jugular and her heart. Lastly, I moved down to her pelvis. I gently pushed up the leg of her shorts and sniffed at her inner thigh. She gave a little gasp and put her fingers in my hair. For a second, it felt intimate, until she used my hair to push me away. Okay, so I didn't have to push up her shorts to tell if her blood was clean. I may have crossed a line.

"Your blood smells pretty clean. I detect a trace of the poison in your blood, but it's nothing dangerous. We'll get you the antidote, and you'll probably not even have any side effects," I told her with a smile. She looked at me through heavy lids, and I suddenly got the impression that she was a little turned on. Not that I have any experience with that, but the way she looked at me stirred something deep inside of me, and I reacted to her instinctively, leaning toward her as she lifted her face to mine expectantly.

"So she's going to be okay?" Marco asked, breaking the spell we had been under. Layla pulled back, and I acted like I was just leaning in to sniff her neck again.

"Yeah," I answered hoarsely. "She'll be okay. There's no poison in her vitals that I can tell."

"How are you able to tell? What just happened? How did you do that?" Layla asked. I leaned back and rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. Marco looked around nervously.

"Let's go to the tent, get you some antibiotic ointment for the puncture wound, get you the antidote, and then we'll talk," I promised.

"I don't need the antidote if there's no more poison," Layla argued like a petulant child. "I want to finish getting the inscription!"

"It's okay to leave it here, you know. It's been there for thousands of years. I'm pretty sure it's not going to get up and walk off," I reasoned.

"Look. I need something to distract my mind right now because there are a million things running together in my brain right now, and I don't know how to deal with them," she groaned, massaging her temples in aggravation.

"Right, I can understand that. Did you get a clear picture of the inscription before the snake bit you?" I asked, following along with the change of topic.

"I think so, but I jumped when the snake came at me, so it's possible the picture is blurred. I want to take a couple more just to be on the safe side," Layla reasoned. I nodded. Marco just rolled his eyes.

I went back to the stone and hissed at it, warning any more remaining vipers that their king was present and not to try anything. I didn't hear any response, so I carefully lifted the stone again. Layla splashed water on it and snapped a few pics before slowly lowering the camera to her lap and going into a bit of a daze.

"Layla? Are you okay?" I asked worriedly, dropping the stone again.