Here is the third chapter. Sorry that it's not as long as the others :(

I hope you like this chapter, 'cause I surely do ;) And I want to thank my dear reviewers who are really awesome! You guys make me soooo happy XD

Golden Sunset

Chapter 3 – 20 Questions

I had expected the other snake to go and sit somewhere else, but suddenly I felt a rather large presence behind me and to judge by the scared looks of Buford and some other town folks I didn't have to think long who it might be. I already wanted to spin around and face the other snake, when suddenly muscular coils wrapped themselves around my body and turned me around. I tried to pull free, but the iron grasp of the other snake did not loosen a single bit, but tightened instead and for the first time, I felt a little scared and very intimidated, with the male rattlesnake holding me like that. Suddenly a memory flashed up in my mind…

'I stood on a hill, which loomed over the great lake. Soon the sun would be setting and I loved to watch the sun set over the African savannah, but suddenly there was a noise behind me and like out of nowhere a yellow bush viper came slithering up to me, a mean smile on his face.

"Hello, my lovely flower. What are you doing out here, all alone?" His voice was husky, with a dark ring to it and I was immediately alarmed.

"What do you want?" I spat at the other bush viper, not letting him out of sight. I detested him, but strangely my parents seemed to adore him and he was all that they could talk about. Richard here, Richard there. Fucking Richard everywhere!

"Why? I wanted to spend time with my future wife, what else? Isn't the sunset romantic? Don't you think? Oh yes and don't you want to come over to me tonight? I have arranged a beautiful dinner for the two of us." I tried to back away, but I was at the edge of the cliff, there was no were for me to go. In an instant he had his coils around me and started to pull me closer.

"Richard! Let go off me you idiot! Go away Richard! GO AWAY!" I hissed at him and tried to strike, but the white tip of his tail found its way around my neck, pulling me back.

"How dare you? You will do as I say, do you get me! Now come, the night is still early and you don't want that the dinner gets cold, do you?" Richard slowly let go of my neck, but kept on pressing my sunset coloured body against his own yellow one and went on staring into my eyes with a hungry look on his face.

Fear overwhelmed me, which was a new one for me and not wanting him touching me any longer, I struck at him, sinking my fangs into his body. With a yelp he let go of me, fury in his eyes. Before I could even say something, he charged at me, but I dodged and he went tumbling down the cliff and into the lake. The last thing I heard was a loud splash, before I turned and fled…'

My eyes widened, when remembering that one incident, back in Africa. Fear gripped my heart. I struggled, but there was no way I could fight against the huge rattlesnake who had wrapped a large part of his body around me and had brought his face right up to mine. Slowly I looked into his eyes, expecting the same hungry look, that I had seen all those years ago in Richard's, but to my surprise, there was nothing but curiosity, when one ignored the fact that death itself seemed to speak out of those eyes.

Before I could see anymore, there was a clicking of a gun, to the right of me and the rattlesnake and both our heads snapped around, just to see Rango pointing his gun straight at the rattler. "Jake. Let go of the lil' lady. Immediately!" The sheriff had such a determined look on his face, I was convinced, that he would kill the snake any second, but the rattler, Rattlesnake Jake to be precise, only chuckled and looked back at me, I however kept my gaze focused on a chair, just to bring my mind of the rather awkward and embarrassing and also pretty much terrible situation.

"But sheriff. We're just getting to know each-other, right?" The last word was directed to me and after I took a deep breath, I turned my head and once again looked straight into the red and yellow eyes of the rattler.

"Right. There is nothing to worry about, Rango. Still if you don't get your coils off me this instant, I'm going to bite you and believe me, I am more toxic than you are!" I declared hoping that the rattler knew better than to challenge me. It was a fact that my venom was more toxic, but I did not know if he knew and I really didn't want to kill him, that just wouldn't be right. I would have come here for nothing!

"Now now. No reason to be so testy, sweetie. Just hav'n some fun." That last word blew it for me. I would never be something that was there for the pleasure of some guy! In one fluent movement I pulled my head back, showing off my venom dripping fangs, but before I could strike and sink my fangs into his scaly body, Rattlesnake Jake jerked back, quickly bringing space between us.

Both of us just stood there. Me hissing and showing off my fangs with my scaly spikes all puffed up, standing off in all directions and opposite to me was the larger rattler, also with his fangs bared and rattling his tail-gun threatening.

When I was absolutely sure that he would not attack I closed my mouth and my scales smoothened out slightly and only then did I really notice that everything was quiet and that everyone was staring at me and Jake.

I don't know why but I suddenly smiled and chuckled and the rattlesnake joined in, even though his chuckle sent shivers down my spine. "If you would excuse me, I have work to do." With that I turned around again and started to clean glasses, trying my hardest not to look towards the larger rattlesnake again. I didn't want to lead the guy on. He had been close enough for my liking.

I was behind the bar and cleaning some of the cactus glasses, when suddenly I felt as if someone was staring at me, so I looked up and straight into the eyes of a little eye-eye. I quickly pulled back, slightly surprised, but then remembered my duty and asked the little girl what she would like. "What do you want, little one? Some water?" but the little eye-eye just shook her head before she answered.

"No ma'am. I would like some answers." I looked at the little girl surprised. I shot a glance at Rango, who nodded with a smile, so I shrugged and also nodded. "Okay, then shoot little one."

The little eye-eye grinned and immediately launched into her 20 questions game. " What's yer name and where do ya came from?" She jumped up onto one of the chairs and started at me expectantly.

"I came from Africa, that is very far away from here. And my name is Roxette, but please call me Rox, or Roxy." I answered, but kept on cleaning the glasses for Buford. I didn't want to lose the job on my first day.

"Why did ya leave from there?" The little girl asked and at the same time fingered for a bottle of cactus juice.

"Partly because I wanted to travel." I quickly moved the bottle out of her reach which caused the little girl to pout. Instead I poured her a glass of water and she happily took a sip.

"What's the other reason?" The eye-eye tilted her head to the side and continued to stare at me with her huge bright yellow eyes.

"Not your business." It was a plain answer. There was nothing more to say and if I ever was to talk about my past, it surely wouldn't be with a little girl.

"What are ya?" The girl shrugged and kept on asking. But I had to admit that that question did make me think. The desert wasn't like Africa were there were snakes everywhere. Here in the desert one would maybe come across a rattlesnake here and there, but else not…

"A bush viper." I did puff out my chest a little at that for I was proud of what I was. However it didn't seem to ring any bells for the little mammal, for she continued with her questions immediately.

"Why are ya here?" I had to chuckle a little.

"Because I heard some interesting stories about a sheriff and an outlaw." That was the truth. If I hadn't heard all those stories I would have boarded another ship and would have been off again, to find a better place.

"Do ya mean sheriff Rango and mister Rattlesnake Jake?" 'How many famous sheriffs and outlaws are there cupcake hmmm?'

"Yes." I really had to fight myself, not to roll with my eyes.

"Do ya like him?" Now what the hell was she talking about?

"Who?" I stopped cleaning the glasses for a moment and looked at the little eye-eye with the black hat.

"Sheriff Rango." Why on earth does she want to know that? Maybe she's his spy or something…

"As long as he doesn't irritate me, yes." If Rango had asked me that, I would have said no, but actually the chameleon wasn't too bad.

"Do ya like mister Rattlesnake Jake?" What the hell? Of course not!

"No." Plain simple and truthful.

"Why not?" Oh my god. Why did this girl have to be here right now? Couldn't she go and annoy someone else? I really did not want to be kicked out of town due to the murder of a little girl. That would taint my rather clean record – of my stay here in the desert. The other record, well, there's a heluva lot of red there…

"Because he's an asshole." That again was the truth. Of course normally I would have thought up some nice juicy names, but I was talking to a little girl here! I couldn't possibly go all out. I would destroy her pure little innocent mind.

"Hmmm, what is yer favourite colour?" Okay… total topic change… totally not weird at all.

"Red, and gold." What? I am red and gold, so I am allowed to like myself, right?

"What is yer favourite hobby?" Okay now this was going way too far!

"Eating pesky little girls." 'When I get annoyed I tend to become slightly sarcastic. In case you haven't noticed.'

"What do ya like to eat?" 'Please, kill me now! No, better idea, kill the little girl and save me from a long and painful death due to overexposure of little desert brats!'

"Coffee with rusks." Mhmmm. I loved coffee and rusks! It was the best food in the world. When I still lived at home, every morning I would make myself a coffee, get a rusk and then dunk it into my coffee until it was nice and soft and it was heavenly!

"What is that?" 'Not your business! I mean how hard can it be to get the signal that you're unwanted you stupid little creature? I might just bite your head off and be done with it!'

"Something that you don't have here." 'I think the traveling has made me soft. Normally, by now the kid would be dead, but then again, as I have mentioned it wouldn't help me really. I am just being practical. Damn. Now I know why I was never practical when I still lived at home. It's a pain in the ass!'

"What are yer favourite flowers?" 'There are nor fucking flowers in the god damn desert, but if she insists!'

"Roses." Roses were beautiful. I loved them. My eldest brother always gave me one on my birthday. It was the only presents I ever got from my family. Not that I really cared. It did hurt but oh well, it was in the past now so what the heck!

"Do ya have kids?" No way the kid had asked me that! Hade she never heard of privacy? Seemingly not. I mean, you can't just go around asking strangers if they had kids or not! If she were a guy and about my age, I would have slapped her!

"Of course."

"Really? How many?" The yellow eyes of the black eye-eye grew even larger and she leaned towards me eagerly. Totally weird.

"That was a lie kid. I don't have any kids!" 'Of course not! Do I look like a mother to her? Stupid little girl. My voice started to get strained. No wonder. The girl was killing me!'

"Oh, would yer like te have kids?" Why? Why couldn't she just go away? Leave me alone to do my work? Couldn't be too difficult, could it?

"Someday, with the right guy, sure, why not?" Okay, that was a topic I actually liked to talk about. For it was a fantasy. A stupid little dream that would most probably never come true in any case, for I would never ever and I really mean never ever find the right guy! Such things only existed in fantasies, in stories where the princess is saved by her prince and they both ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after. The catch, I was not currently living in some beautiful fairy tale and my 'prince' wanted to abuse me, so yeah, nice fairy tale, huh.

"What kind'f guy?" Hmmm, what kind of guy? What kind of male would I like as my husband. That actually was a good question. I had never actually thought about that. I guess because my mom had brought me up in the belief that I am a useless little slut and as ugly as hell, no guy would ever want me – except for Richard who only wanted me due to the riches of my family – and I shouldn't waste my time day dreaming on my personal dream guy. It would simply depress me! But still…

"Oh well, he should kind of - wait, why am I even contemplating on discussing something like this with you? You're a kid!" Maybe I had gone completely wacko by now…

"Because I'm persuasative!"Oh, how sweet. What the hell? No not sweet! Not sweet at all! Looks like this town doesn't have a school. Poor kids. No, actually lucky little critters! School was the graveyard of the young souls.

"It's persuasive, little sister" Rango had come to join the questioning and leaning on the bar thinking hard about what he should ask me, so I rolled her eyes at him. "Do you want to ask me something today? Because I am slowly getting bored with this game, sheriff."

Rango though for another minute, then he looked up and smiled. "Do yer like theatre?"

I threw him an odd look, but then nodded. "Yes, I do. I-" Suddenly I was interrupted by Buford calling me and telling me to go and give some guys their cactus juice, so I just gave my two new friends – no, no friend, annoying idiots to be precise - a weak smile and then slithered of, the drinks on a tray which I held with my white tipped tail. I think I was made for this job!

I sat in the back of the saloon, pondering about what had just happened minutes ago. I could not get those eyes out of my head and my brain kept on playing over and over again, how I had been holding her. I couldn't understand what was wrong with me. All this was fairly new to me. I had never dealt with a woman, who would actually have the guts to fight back. Of course, at first that fiery beauty had also been scared, but then, when she had seen that the sheriff stood up to her, she had gotten her act together. I was very surprised when she suddenly tried to sink her fangs into me. I had believed her, when she said she was more toxic than me and even if she had lied, I wouldn't have wanted to find out, so after she stopped hissing and turned around again, I had simply grabbed a bottle of cactus juice from a table nearby and had moved into the back of the saloon, where I now was sitting and thinking about this woman, who in some way fascinated me.

Suddenly I felt someone climb onto one of my coils, so I looked up and looked straight into the huge yellow eyes of Priscilla. I huffed a sigh and looked down again, my black hat concealing my eyes. It was an old habit of mine, when I wished to be left alone, but seemingly it did not work with the little girl.

"Rattlesnake Jake, sir. I just talked with that other snake." I did not look up or indicate in any way, that I actually was interested in what the girl was about to say. Her, of course knowing that I would not answer, launched herself into her little speech.

"So, I asked her and she told me that her name is Roxette, but she doesn't want to be called that way. One must call her Rox or Roxy. She says that she comes from Africa and is a bush viper." That at least rang a bell in my head and I was really glad, not to have let her bite me, because then I would be twitching around on the floor, like a fish in the desert. How ironical.

"She said that she has been travelling through the world. She said she came te town because she heard so many stories about ya and sheriff Rango." I raised a scaly eyebrow at the last comment of the little girl. She had come to town because of him and the sheriff? Something had to be clearly wrong with that woman! Why on earth would she have come to see me and the sheriff?

"And I asked her if she liked Rango, and she said if he doesn't irritate her and I asked her if she liked ya." My head shot up and I hissed quietly at the little eye-eye girl, but she just smiled shortly and then looked serious again.

"She said, no." For some reason I had to chuckle. It was funny in a way that women always seemed to have something against me. It was quite amusing, especially when that did not stop me.

"So I asked her why." Why on earth did she do that? Isn't it clear that she doesn't like me because I nearly pressed all air out of her body and made fun of her?

"And she said she doesn't like ya 'cause yer an asshole." I couldn't help it but started to laugh, which however sounded more like an angered bark than anything else which caused little Priscilla to flinch away from me. I didn't know why, but that amused me a lot, that she told someone straight in the face what she thought about me. That woman had guts!

"And she told me that she liked roses and that her favourite colour is red, and gold. She also said she had kids." I had slowly been sipping on my cactus juice, but when hearing this I nearly choked, even though I had no idea why. I mean, it is not my business if she had kids or not. It just wondered me that they weren't with her, but maybe they were by the dad. I couldn't really picture her being a mother, but what did I know…

"But then she said she was making fun of me and that she doesn't have kids but would like te have some, although only when she finds the right guy. What does she mean by that, mister Rattlesnake Jake, sir?" That caused me to stiffen up a little. I knew that the kids here didn't go to school. I don't even think that the town had a school and I wasn't sure to what extent they had been, well, lectured, so I just shrugged and answered. "Ain't your business." But then, with an evil smirk I added "But yer can ask the sheriff. He can tell ya!"

The yellow eyes of the little girl brightened up and she quickly climbed off my scaly body and ran off, most probably to ask the sheriff. I snickered secretly behind the rim of my hat. In a way I even felt sorry for the sheriff and wondered how he would get out of that situation.

"Do ya wanna work some night shifts, Rox? The owls are gonna be 'ere soon. Yer'll like it. Much more fun than during the day, ya know." I lifted my head just to see Buford standing in front of me. I had been working all day, but somehow I was not tired, but felt more alive than at any time before in my life. Now hearing the owls for a first time, I couldn't resist but had to ask. "Who are the owls?"

Buford shot me a strange look, but then shifted his always present cigar to one side of his mouth and spoke with his deep and rumbling voice. "They're the Amigos. They come 'ere and sing and play music fer us. Nice folks. Always friendly and in a good mood. Got pretty nice stories te tell if yer got time te listen."

I thought about it for a couple of seconds. I mean, if I've got the day free, I can do whatever I like and at night, when the action really starts I can work here, getting money and having fun at the same time. Also, I loved to hear stories and if the owls were really such good story tellers, I would definitely listen to them whenever I had time!

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Say, with me working here, do I actually also get meals or must I fend for myself, alone, with no one here to support me. Broke, with an old home to fix and no friends to help me…" I tilted my head to the side and looked as poor as I could, but I guess I scared to toad more than I caused him to pity me.

"O' course. That's always like that Rox. Don't ya worry girlie. Soon enough yer will fit in completely. Really, don't get yer nickers in a knot." He shrugged and then waddled back over to the bar where he went on serving the customers, but for today my shift was over and I looked around for a place where I could sit down and rest a little. To my utter delight – please note the sarcasm in my voice – the only not completely crowded table was right in the back and the creature that sat there, sipping his cactus juice, was no one else than that stupid rattlesnake.

I sighed. Hadn't I wanted to get to know him? 'Yes, but that was before you actually met him girl. You already know his an asshole, why waste time with him?' The mean little voice in my head told me, but I just shook it off. I was all for danger at times like these.

Slowly I made my way over to the table in the back and once I reached it I pushed the one chair away, so that I could place my coils nicely next to the table. As my energy was now slowly fading, I rested my pretty little, heart shape head on the table and looked up, trying to catch the eyes of the bigger snake.

The just named looked up a little and when he saw me, a cocky smile appeared on his face. "Looky here. The African girl."

Just like that my head popped up and I started at him wide eyed. He couldn't have possibly heard my conversation with the little eye-eye! We were on the other side of the room! But what if –

"That mouse is so dead…" My pitch black pupils shrunk into tiny slits and I hissed a little, but the rattlesnake just chuckled.

"Don't be so hard on the gal. She ain't got nothing better te do lassie. Let her have some fun." He chuckled again and then quickly finished his cactus juice and pushed the empty glass towards me, clearly asking for me to get him more.

I sent him a dirty look. "Go get it yourself moron. I'm off duty!" I hissed again, but he just chuckled and drew the glass closer to himself again. Why couldn't I scare him, or make him angry? Why did he have to keep on laughing at me? Stupid ass. I had enough.

With a groan I stretched a little. "Good night. I'm dead. I think I'll go snatch some covers or something for a bed." I sighed and slithered off, but saw clearly through the corner of my eyes, that the other snake looked a little confused at that. But the confusion was quickly replaced by an expression that I did not like at all!

"If yer don't have a bed, I've got enough space ya know." The rattlesnake grinned cockily and even though he had nearly only whispered it I heard him perfectly.

My body came to a sudden halt and I turned around, to see Jake still smirking. I tilted my head to the side and looked like I was contemplating it, but actually I was looking for a reason to say no. Well, another reason than the obvious ones of him being an outlaw, asshole and me not wanting to be alone with him in a room.

Thank goodness my reason came up next to me in the form of the sheriff. 'Damn that lizards got timing, must give him that!'

"Ah, there ya are miss Roxette! Guess what? I got a couple of old covers and so on together, so that yer'll have a nice and comfy bed tonight!" Rango looked very proud, but all I could do was nod to him, expressing my gratefulness.

"The stuff is already in yer house. Well, then good night miss! Night Jake." And with that the sheriff was gone again. Only then did I turn back towards the larger snake.

And then I smiled.

I smiled my biggest, most mocking smile I could manage at him and it would be an understatement if I said he just looked pissed. Seeing the corners of his mouth drop low, his eyebrow furrow and his face turn into a scowl, only made me grin even broader, if that was even possible.

"Just gotta love the sheriff, right." And with that I was gone, leaving a furious rattlesnake behind.

This had been the best night of my entire life and tomorrow the fun would continue…

Awww, poor Jake. He'll just have to spend the night alone

Rox is right, one's just gotta luv the sheriff ;)

Don't forget to review people! ;)