Eyes of the Serpent

"Fuck." were the words that woke Josie up the next morning. She\'d fallen asleep on the couch late last night, while they were talking about what had happened the prior day, and the dos and don\'ts with Merlin. Joan had rather liked the dog, but didn\'t seem to like the price. She never said anything, but Josie could tell with the way she took back her card. Perhaps she was expecting half the price it was; in any case, Josie intended to pay her back for the dog. Now, though, she found herself in Remmy\'s room, woken up by a rather abrupt swear word.



"Wh-what?" she asked, blinking her eyes open to look at Remmy, whom was sitting on the edge of the bed. "What\'s wrong?"



"The pack called a meeting, like I thought." he replied, eyes glued to a piece of old looking parchment paper. Josie sat up, and noticed a black paw print on it, appearing rather like a fingerprint would. It was massive, and almost took up the page. The digits also looked longer than a normal wolf print would. Below it were three single fingerprints, almost like Morse code. Below that, was one solitary pinky print.



"You can tell that from a paw print?..." she asked, tilting her head slightly.



"Yeah. This way, anyone who accidentally finds it, won\'t know what it means, and will think its just from the family dog 15 years ago or something like that. All the pack members get one, and it\'s color coded. Black means immediately. The three fingerprints under it means den site three, which is in Canada - the little print at the bottom. If it were red, that would mean get there when you can, but make it a priority. Blue means check in soon. Yellow means the opposite; it means stay away from that location. White means the alpha is dead and to get to whatever den site you can as fast as you can. Closest one from us is in Oregon, in the mountains. Den site six."



"How many den sites are there?"



"Hundreds. And no, there won\'t ever be a notice with one hundred fingerprints on it. That\'s too obvious. Dens are numbered per country. We have one through ten while Canada has one through fifteen. Canada is one print, USA is two, South America is 3...You get the idea. We are revising that, because it starts to look suspicious, more than just kids showing how big puppy\'s foot is, if you know what I mean."



"Should do it in the form of a date. You know. 03 01, then the year it is...Most people will assume it\'s a date and ignore it, like you said. So, we\'re going to Canada, huh?" Remmy closed his eyes, and lowered his head.



"No, Josie. We aren\'t. I can\'t bring you with me. It\'s not safe."



"What? Why? Can\'t you keep me safe?" he flipped his head to look at her, a serious expression on his face.



"Not with hundreds of horny, hungry, angry, panicked wolves around. I only out rank some of them, and not the ones that dislike me. Unless I convince them you\'re actually a female werewolf that can kill them, or that I can kill them if they come near you, and both will be impossible. If any of them find out you\'re just human, that you\'re not claimed by anyone, and that you know everything, they will kill you. In SECONDS. Before I can even get close. Or worse; they will force you to become one of us."



"Well...What\'s so bad about THAT? Being one of you guys? I would--"



"It hurts, Josie. Worse than any pain you\'ve ever felt. The pain is enough to kill damn near anyone; they scream for hours, until their throats scar and bleed from screaming. Then they scream some more, and most of them die from suffering. Its not just some overnight simple drug thing; they have to completely rewrite your genetic code, by forcing you to drink gallons of wolf blood that is so acidic, it burns on the way in. It doesn\'t GO out. They plug you shut, so the blood can infect every living cell in your body. They only let you void unless it\'s going to rupture your bladder past the point of repairing itself. You are in extreme pain for three days, Josie, and then your immune system tries to kill you because it thinks the new DNA overwriting your own is a virus, so your organs start to shut down. If you manage to survive, which is by a hair, you\'re SO SICK, that even a cold will kill you. They keep you in isolation for a couple months, and feed you only raw meat, because it keeps the virus from eating you alive instead. It makes you physically sick to eat it, because your immune system hasn\'t totally been converted yet. When it finally is, you\'ll heal over night, but the chances of you living this long is about the same as surviving through a meat grinder. That\'s why you can\'t come; 99.9% of those who try, die. I don\'t want to lose you; not to another male, not to the virus, not to ANYTHING. I have to go alone."



Silence fell over the bedroom, as Remmy stood from her side, and moved to stare out the window. What was this, Josie thought, staring up at him from the bed. He just got to decide, for her?



"What if it\'s something I want? What if I don\'t want to be afraid of every creak everywhere? What if I want it? Can you just simply tell me \'no\' and be done with it? Is that fair?" she probed, moreso to his conscience than anything.



"Look me in the eye and tell me you want the pain, the suffering, and the chance to die. Tell me you don\'t care that you just spent three grand on a dog that will be useless when we come back home. Tell me you REALLY want this." he challenged, hands on hips, staring at her. She stood, copied his stance, and matched his glare.



"I want to risk this. I don\'t want to be scared any more. I want to amount to SOMETHING, not just some waitress in a cafe in buttfuck nowhere. I want to be a part of something bigger than myself; I want to do this. And the dog ISN\'T useless; he can protect Jean when we aren\'t here to do so. Remmy; I want this." Why she was so strangely sure of this, she didn\'t know. It was just a hunch that she couldn\'t ignore, like a 6th sense; she knew she had to do this; she just didn\'t know why. "You know how you see things? I\'m seeing this. I can\'t explain it. I just...I have to do this. Please? Trust me on this, Remmy. I feel so strongly about this."



"....As strongly as you did about making your millions and proving daddy wrong?....Fine. I will bring you. But if I lose you, and you die....I\'ll be right behind you."



"You won\'t lose me. I promise."



Remmy sighed; he couldn\'t tell her no, he couldn\'t make her stop. Well; literally, he could; but his heart was getting in his way. If she wanted it, she would have it; even if it killed the both of them.



"MOM; PACK MEETING. WE\'RE GOING." he shouted out the door and down the hall, as he crumpled the letter and threw it into the trash bin. Jean came up the stairs a few seconds after, meeting Remmy in the bedroom doorway as he headed out. "Black Paw. Josie wants to come. We\'re going right away."



"It\'s been a while since they called a meeting. Pack leader must be in some kind of a flurry over something. Are you flying?"



"Yeah, whatever flight on whatever company I can as soon as I can. I\'ll break the bank this time, mom. You keep Merlin here with you, and take him EVERYWHERE."



"I will, I will; you just keep HER safe, hmm?"



"Yeah. I will. Come on Josie; before I change my mind..."



* * * * *



Josie was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of dog that seemed to be everywhere within the old building Remmy led her in to. The strange part was, there was no one else in the old mansion. It was dusty, old, and looked like no one had been in there for decades. Everything was made of wood and stone, like it had been around for hundreds of years. An expression of disdain washed over Josie\'s face, which brought a smirk to Remmy\'s. He said nothing, and led her into a nearby room, that looked like a library, with rows of books that went up all the way to the high ceilings. He reached up and tugged on a black book, and when it didn\'t move, Josie blinked. A stone-on-stone sound caused her to whirl her head to the sound behind her, and gasped when she noticed a row of books was completely missing, and a pathway cut in to the earth was before her. It looked like an old mine shaft, and was not lit.



"Hold on." Remmy spoke, whose voice was deeper than usual. She turned to look, and the furry being that stood beside her caught her off guard. Remmy must have been ten full feet tall; okay, maybe more like seven, but he was still massive. Her eyes widened, and roamed over the furry mass that was Remmy. "....Don\'t look at me like that..." he frowned, or what could be thought of as a frown. He was almost surreal; she hardly believed it was true.



"...Hold on for what?..." she finally replied, trying not to stare at him like she had been.



"We can go now. I can\'t walk in there in human form for obvious reasons. Now stick close; once we get to the gate, I have to carry you, like you\'re my pet or slave, because otherwise I\'ll lose you in seconds."



"It\'s not lit - I can\'t see much farther than ten feet..." Remmy frowned.



"Oh. Right." he said, then plucked her up off the ground, as easily as if she weighed nothing. She gasped, and as soon as she was on his shoulder, he ran off, faster than she could have kept up with. The stench of dog got stronger by the second, and the darkness around made her nervous. In a few moments, she hear low rumblings of conversation, and Remmy stopped.



"Cheery. Got lunch with ya? Or maybe for a midnight reprive?" a strange voice spoke, to which Remmy gave a faint, polite laugh. Josie\'s eyes were assaulted then with a change of light, which then shifted into a faint golden glow. All she could see was what was behind Remmy. Dirt, fire-lit torches, and ironwork. It looked very old; and oddly, not as packed as she thought it would be. As he walked seemingly aimlessly through the den, she spotted not even one other wolf. Where WAS everyone? Were they the first ones to this odd meeting? Surely not. Then, as an interruption into her thoughts, he walked through a door, a steel one, that shut behind them with a click. The room was clearly lit, and didn\'t, oddly, smell like dog. It smelled sterile, and well cleaned.



"I have a volunteer..." Remmy spoke softly, almost regretfully. She could hear chairs sliding across the steel floor, and was then put down on her feet. She turned around, and came face to face with a black werewolf in a lab coat.



"Volunteer? Or do you mean squirrel?" his voice was old, and raspy; like he\'d been a were for centuries.



"No, a volunteer. She genuinely wants in..."



"Come along then girl, get in to the stall..." he exclaimed, seeming all to excited over the idea. The stall he pointed her too was brightly lit, and made of glass. Even the chair inside was glass. Josie walked in, and sat on it. The black were scurried to a fridge, which looked a little more circular than square, also made of steel, and scurried back to her with a huge white cup. He handed it to her, and blinked a few times. "Drink it. Drink it all. Quickly now." he told her.



Josie sniffed the crimson fluid, and wrinkled her nose. It sure WAS blood.



"Well, here goes..." she said, then began drinking it. The thick liquid was ice cold, and tasted of iron. That was the only flavor she could put her finger on. It wasn\'t BAD, but it wasn\'t a drink of choice, to be certain. Before long, she\'d chugged the whole thing. Much to her surprise, it hadn\'t started to sting yet. At all. Wasn\'t it supposed to? The expectant look on the lab were\'s face told her so.



"Well? What do you FEEL?" he asked, as he slid the glass door shut before her.



"Nothing...I feel...Nothing at all. Maybe a little....nauseous?"



"That\'s impossible...even the purest of..." the were trailed off, and flew to a pad of paper on his steel desk. He scribbled something down on it, and watched her with glued eyes. Remmy scratched the back of his head; she felt nothing. What did that MEAN?



"Tell me, miss human. What did the blood TASTE like?"



"...Iron? Perhaps a little sweet? I guess?"



"This is....impossible. She\'s...Immune..."