The Serpent
Chapter 2: Copperheads
Panicking isn't really in my repertoire. I tried to remember the last time I'd been through a rough patch. There was that time with the fae war, or the time I was attacked by a crazy maenad, or the time I'd almost been raped in a basement by a church elder. Breathe Sook, you've been through worse things than a snake bite. But I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. Where the hell was Bill? How much time had passed? I thought about taking off my shoe and throwing it at the snake, still sitting in the grass, staring at me.
Its pupils were slits, like spooky cat eyes, dark lines in an ocean of bright gold iris. Its tongue slithered lazily out of its scaly mouth, the fork waggling in the still air for a moment. A glimmer of moonlight dropping in from between the aging cypress trees reflected on the snake's back, giving his blood red scales an eerie shine.
"Bill!" I screamed again, my voice going so high and ragged that it broke. The rhythm of my heart seemed louder than my loudest voice. The world seemed to be speeding up, and my blood went right along with it, faster and faster like a loose train car on a downhill track.
In my pocket, my cellular phone rang. I couldn't feel my fingertips, but I fumbled with the device anyway and brought it clumsily to my ear. When I opened my mouth to speak, my tongue felt dry and chalky. Not good Sookie, this is definitely not good.
"Help me," I croaked. Screw the pleasantries, I thought. This was so not the time.
"Sook?" It was Amelia, a clearly confused Amelia.
"Amelia!" I squeaked like a rodent. "I'm in the woods. Snake… a snake bit me!"
"Oh shit! Was it a copperhead?" She sounded weirdly excited. If I hadn't been in so much pain, I might have been annoyed as hell.
"Definitely not a copperhead," I hissed. On the ground, the world's most patient snake was still sitting there, staring me down in an easy going sort of way.
"Well shoot, Sook, don't be a baby about it. Just come on back to the house and I'll get you a band-aid. It's only a snake."
"I can't. Move. Amelia." I spoke slowly so she'd get it through her skull that I wasn't just being a girly girl about the situation.
"Oh fine. I'm coming." She muttered under her breath, something about being a pansy, something else about vampires. She hung up the phone.
That was when it hit me, the real onslaught, the whole enchilada, the big…something. My legs crashed out from under me, and my knees hit the cool ground. If my head hadn't hurt so badly, I might have noticed how horribly painful the fall had been. As it was though, I was distracted by the migraine-like headache that pounded on my brain. Tears fell down my cheeks that hadn't been there before. The grass beside me moved and the snake, for whatever reason, turned around and slithered away, as randomly as he had approached. I curled both arms over my head and wept, absolutely bogged down with headache pain. Wishing for a big box of prescription medication and several vials of primo quality vampire blood provided by a certain Viking vampire, I didn't notice that my rescuers approached me at the same time and leaned over to ask if I was okay.
"Sookie?" Bill prodded me, touching my shoulder tenderly. Amelia stood on my other side and crouched down to look at the bite on my ankle.
"She said a snake bit her, but it wasn't a copperhead. I'm sure she'll be fine." Amelia's voice was so nonchalant. How many times had snakes bitten her, exactly?
"She does not look well. I will return her to the house." Bill was gruff and anxious. Heck, that was his standard reaction to all of my various problems over the last couple years. He crouched down and pulled me into his arms. I could see him through the blurry tears that still crept down the sides of my face.
"It hurts," I whimpered pathetically.
"Take my blood, Sookie," Bill offered, cradling me with one arm and holding his other arm out for me. I shook my head, which was a pretty bad idea. My brains jiggled around like fresh jello and I thought I would puke.
"Eric," I murmured loyally. His tasted better anyway, if that was possible.
"Eric isn't here, Sook--" Bill started, before another voice cut him off.
"Give her to me," Eric grunted.
I closed my eyes, mildly relieved by the sight of my Viking. Sure, the pain was still there and searing by skull, but at least Eric was there to hold me and reassure me and take care of me. I wondered if maybe Amelia had had a point about my pansy ass and my reliance on vampires. I could have shrugged, if I'd been capable. I could think about my dependency issues later. Right now, I was worried about my ability to use my brain post-snakebite.
Eric rolled up his sleeve, a shiny black sleeve with wrinkles in the cuff. Blood collected in two small pools, a bite on his wrist. I didn't hesitate, not for a second. Drinking blood is gross and I don't recommend it, but when you're worried about your head exploding, you do whatever you can to make it stop. I took only a few sips of his essence before the pain receded. The throbbing died down and the migraine finally stopped drumming on my temples.
"Thank you," I whispered, wiping my mouth with my wrist. I rubbed my wrist, a limb with restored feeling, on my pants.
"I will take you to the hospital, just in case." Eric swept me up into his arms and we walked out of the woods together, underneath the thick canopy of live oaks and cypress trees. "Bill, look for the snake."
"Perhaps I should go with you to the hospital," Bill started. Eric turned and raised an eyebrow, a subtle movement that gave Bill enough of a hint. The vampire turned and started into the woods, snake hunting.
"Well, I'm definitely coming to the hospital. Are you sure it wasn't a copperhead?" Amelia piped up, walking next to Eric.
"I'm sure. It wasn't a copperhead."
At the hospital in Clarice, though, the doctor didn't seem to believe me.
"It looks like a copperhead bite, Miss Stackhouse," he said thoughtfully after examining my wound. "I'm surprised it had no effect on you."
"I told you, it wasn't a copperhead!" I squeaked at him, my fingers forming fists. Here I was, sitting in a cold hospital room, in one of those weird paper gowns that's open in the back. Eric and Amelia were sitting in the waiting room, waiting. I was alone with this pompous amateur herpetologist, telling me all about copperheads! And it wasn't a copperhead!
"Miss Stackhouse, I do have a degree in medicine, and I am a snake enthusiast. This is clearly a copperhead bite. Note the appearance of the bites, the space present between them, the condition of your blood…"
"Look, buddy! I don't know a lot about snakes. Everything I know about 'em, I could fit on a post-it note. But I do know this! I've lived in Louisiana all my life, and I am telling you," I got to my feet. "This wasn't a damn copperhead!"
The doctor, still staring at me like I'd lost my mind, released me a half hour later. He injected anti-venom into me, put a band-aid and some disinfectant on my bite, and handed me my dirty clothes. There were bruises on my knees from falling over, but otherwise, I had a clean bill of health. I staggered out to the waiting room and looked up at Eric. He looked back down at me, and we had a brief staring contest.
"What did the doctor say?"
"That I was bitten by a copperhead, and he was glad they got to me in time." I spoke flatly.
"Told you," Amelia smirked.
"It wasn't…" I started seething, and then stopped.
Good grief, stop vying for the freakin' attention, Stackhouse! Your boy is back and you're going to get a ton of sympathy fucking. Meanwhile, my boyfriend is dead and buried somewhere. And you even got to see a freakin' copperhead. You're so lucky!
I sighed and looked up at the tall hunk of Viking that was Eric. Amelia was right, even though she'd never admit those thoughts out loud. We walked back to the parking lot, to Amelia's Malibu. Eric climbed into the back with me, and we started the long ride back to Bon Temps. Eric's mouth found my forehead, and he gently kissed the place where I'd been in so much pain only a few hours before. I tucked myself into him and closed my eyes.