Eyes of the Serpent

It was a long set of days for Remmy; his protective mind wouldn\'t let him sleep for very long. Luckily, his brain wasn\'t letting him feel much of his overtired state; at least, for now. Josie as well wasn\'t sleeping all that well; nor was Jean. The occurrence a few nights ago was enough to send them all in to a state of watchful worry. Every creak of the floor, they woke up. Every whisper of the wind, every wayward branch or pine cone, every screech of night birds, every faint halting care break. It was a long few nights, and not one of them had any real sense of security left. Poor Jean had been leaving later and later for her morning job, and Remmy hadn\'t even shown up to work at all.



"This is getting crazy;" Josie-Rae piped up, almost cuddling her cup of morning coffee. "None of us are getting any restful sleep. We need to figure something out."

"I can keep you both safe; you just gotta...*Yawn*...Trust me." Remmy replied, relaxing back in his chair.

"I\'m sure you can, but you only have so much energy before you\'re going to fall asleep for a week." Jean piped up, hovering near the coffee pot as it brewed the second pot of the morning. Silence fell over them for a moment, before a thought occurred to Josie.

"Hey, what about a guard dog? One of those big angry hungry things. The ones they sell at the Training Camps just a few miles south of Oklahoma City? I hear they train them to kill anything except their masters. That would keep everything out of the house."

"A dog? I don\'t really like dogs..." Remmy moaned, a faint growl to his tone. "They don\'t like me very much, either."

"I think that\'s a WONDERFUL idea, Josie! It would make ME sleep better at night, in any case. Why don\'t you and Remmy make a little road trip? I\'ll go and stay with Maybel and Derrek up the road tonight." Remmy frowned.

"You can\'t be serious."

"Oh, but I am. Take my credit card; there should be plenty of room on it for everything considered. You can also take the car. It might be good for you two to get out of town a night anyway; and a new dog in the house won\'t hurt." Remmy\'s frown deepened, and a faint look of confusion came over Josie\'s face. What did she mean by a NEW dog?

"....Fine. But the minute it nips at me, it\'s going!" he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest like a spoiled child. "Come on, Josie - let\'s get this over with."



* * * * *



Seated in Jean\'s 1969 Cherry red pop-top Camaro, purse filled with pain killers, tooth brush, tooth paste, and spare underwear, Josie relaxed back in the clearly newer leather seat, enjoying the feeling of wind whipping through her hair. The afternoon was still early, and the blazing Texas heat held no mercy for them, but the wonderful blowing wind was a feeling Josie hadn\'t felt in years. Not since her daddy\'s car all those years ago. Remmy of course was fuming and stewing in his mood; why though, Josie couldn\'t quite put together.



"What\'s so bad about dogs?" she finally piped up, after a while of silence.

"I just don\'t like them. They drool, they pee everywhere, they don\'t listen, they bite, they poop, they have to be walked and groomed and bathed, you have to teach them you\'re boss, and if you don\'t, they run your whole damn house. They smell bad, they chew, they--"

"Okay, I get it. So you hate canines."

"...No, I like WOLVES...they\'re free and you don\'t have to pick up their shit." Josie giggled.

"I have a feeling this dog is going to be different. You\'re going to like these dogs; I\'ve heard a lot of good stuff about them. They\'re highly trained protection dogs. It\'s not like we\'re getting some mutt from the pound. Trust me; these aren\'t just run-of-the-mill dogs."

"I should expect not, not with a road trip to Oklahoma, and the training they get. I just hope the price tag isn\'t terribly high."



* * * *



The two spend a large portion of the trip talking about breeds of dog, which they both thought would be a better protection breed, or what the next new super breed was going to be. Remmy seemed reluctant to every suggestion Josie made, until she started noticing, and decided to challenge him on it.



"Okay Remmy, what\'s up your ass? It\'s like nothing I try to suggest is good enough. Why don\'t you just tell me what\'s going on?" Remmy inhaled sharply, and pulled over the car so he could turn to face her.

"You really want to know what all this is about? You really want to know? Then make me a blood promise it doesn\'t leave this car. Yes I\'m serious." Josie blinked. He sounded very serious, like he\'d wanted to tell her something big all along. She frowned slightly. She had no idea what a blood promise WAS.

"...And what exactly does that entail?..."

"...Forget it, it\'s a bad idea. Let\'s just find a hotel in the next city and sleep for the night." Remmy replied, shaking his head a little.

"Wait. I just don\'t know what a blood promise IS. I do want to know why it is you\'re acting funny."



After a moment of silence, Remmy sighed, resigning his resistance. Maybe it was time someone else knew.

"You cut your palm, and so do I. We shake hands, and swear to secrecy..." Josie blinked several times. He couldn\'t be SERIOUS, could he? Was his little secret really that dire? She resisted a gasp. Maybe he had killed someone. But, in more realistic terms, maybe he\'d seen some premonition of some dark or dirty thought and it was bugging the hell out of him. Whatever it was, maybe his mood would stop if she did this silly ritual and let him tell her his little secret.

"Okay. Just a little cut?"

"As long as you\'re bleeding..."



Josie\'s eyes flicked around the car for some sort of sharp object, and frowned as she found none. Jean didn\'t strike her as someone who toted sharp objects in her car.

"What am I supposed to use?..." she asked, popping open the glove box. All that was in there were insurance papers. "I could use the paper, but those cuts really hurt..." Remmy frowned. He didn\'t realize there would be nothing to cut their hands on.

"...Fine, then...I guess I just have to trust your word."

"Well, what good is a hand-cutty ritual thing if my word is shit? Don\'t you think it all depends on me keeping promises?" she tilted her head, turning in her seat to face him.

"...I guess. How about this. I tell you, but you gotta be my girlfriend." the second it fell from his mouth, he regretted it. He mentally rammed his head against an invisible wall, imagining himself going \'Damnit damnit damnit...\' when she spoke back to him.

"Okay." she shrugged. The only real difference between friends and dating was just that; dating. She honestly didn\'t mind him so much, and it meant he had to take her places. It would also stop Jean from nagging on her about it. It was Remmy\'s turn to blink several times.

"Y-you\'re okay with that?" he probed, not truly believing what he\'d heard.

"Yeah. I mean, it\'s not like I\'m agreeing to marry you or anything."

"All...Alright then. Well, here goes; lets hope you don\'t run from the car..." he muttered, under his breath, even though she could hear him. "You\'re probably not going to believe me, or you\'re going to beat me senseless...I guess the best way to explain it is to tell you how my parents died. They were hunted down by a league of men assigned to kill evil beings of the world. They get told who has done evil things or who IS an evil thing, and extinguish them. My father and his wife got flagged by them because she was a practicing dark witch. My father...well, he was what I am." the curious, quizzical expression on Josie\'s face made Remmy swallow deeply, hoping that the beautiful girl would understand. "You see, we are...I am...he was...well, let me start by saying it\'s nothing like the stories, movies, and books, I..." \'Oh great,\' he thought, \'Now I sound like a babbling idiot.\'



"Go on..." she encouraged, starting to not like his nervousness, or the information she was receiving. Maybe he HAD killed someone.



"Josie, I\'m a werewolf..."