About 1600 BCE
"I want you to find that child and bring it here, find the girl too," said Hera. Hera was very displeased. It was finally her turn to have a love life outside her marriage to Zeus. She should have known that her bad luck with gods and mortals would never cease. "You will pay for this Hermes," yelled Hera. Her Teeth were clenched and veins ready to burst
"You called" Hermes said. He stood in the doorway to Hera's clouded bedroom and stone wall castle. "You will leave the mortal that I have fallen in love with alone. Besides you'll never find her or her child" Hermes and his undying hate for Dionysus had backfired. Not only had he gotten the mortal pregnant but Dionysus was also the first to tell Hera what he had done. Dionysus was the god of wine and fertility and sure enough he got Hermes right where he wanted him.
"You dare mock me?"
"Yes, yes I do. You don't hold a candle to her beauty."
"Shut up,"
"Inside and out,"
"Shut up"
"No god could ever love you"
"How dare you," yelled Hera. She got up out of her chair and walked straight up to Hermes and reached her hand into his chest. His surprise and pain showed in his face. He let out gasps. "Did you forget? Its a god kill god world out here" Hermes' body plummeted towards the floor, before impact he changed into complete and utter nothingness, "didn't anyone ever teach you that, well now you can just ask Hades."
Hermes was never seen again and Aphrodite was getting angry, she claimed she had things to be done and no one to deliver her errands. Another messenger had to be created for the sake of Olympus, so Hera killed her pride and asked Zeus for help. After she explained what happened Zeus laughed and then agreed to create another messenger. Within minutes the new messenger created and went looking for the pregnant woman. But he found nothing.
"We have to wait. When the child is born, its powers are exposed and it will be easier to find her," said Hera.
"How do you know it will be a girl?" asked the new Hermes
"Let's just say I had Dionysus give me a heads up." Hera let out a long shrill laugh.
Chapter 2
"Hmmm, Drake you were wonderful," claimed Calypso.
"More wine my lady," asked drake.
"Yes 'hank you sweet." Calypso took a long swig of the freshly squeezed wine. "You know I would not be here if my darling friend Hermes hadn't been killed. After Hera killed Hermes she was basically put on probation by Zeus. Thank god too. Before Hermes died, I was her worst enemy. No telling what she would've done to me. " She giggled and let out a bubbly hiccup. "It's Quiet a funny story actually. He fell in love with this ugly cactus-like peasant. " Calypso took a drink and called on her servants to care for her. They came rushing in. "They believe that if I am killed" she whispered to Drake, "that they will get my powers divided between them." She giggled uncontrollably.
"Is it true" asked Drake with persistence.
"I don't know, hell I don't even know how many there are of them, but according to legend," she lowered her voice and chuckled; "my power will be divided and will continue to flow through the veins of their descendants." She grabbed for another bottle of wine. "What were we talking about," she tried to chug the bottle, she held it upside down 2 inches from her lips ad shook it up and down. "Hey this bottle is empty." Calypso grabbed one of her servants by the neck of the shirt. "Did you drink my wine?" she looked at the servant with her eyes narrowed at the servant's frightened face.
"Ugh! Calypso. The poor girl did nothing wrong, you just finished that exact same bottle," Said Drake, obviously frustrated.
"Oh" hiccup "sorry my child you may finish filing my bunions," said calypso. On the servants face there grew a grin, she said thank you 5 times and went to work. The servant went to work filing back and forth that created an awful teeth-gritting sound.
"Now" said Drake, "about Hermes."
"Oh yes, Hera. Well it started when she decided she was just tried of being left alone at night while Zeus, her husband and god of the gods, gallivanted with wrenched mortal women. So she found a boy toy of her own, Hermes, and Zeus the poor fool, he had no idea." Calypso went hysterical, let out a few hiccups but continued and took another swig, "the triangle lasted but a few hundred human years before Hermes decided to play with a young gypsy woman, he always tested and teased the mortals. He dressed as a drifter and asked for water and to his surprise she not only gave him water to drink but a room to sleep in as well."
"It's not much, "she said as she showed him to his room, "but it's all I can offer at this time." Hermes took her kindness and returned it with someone whom she could talk to. He started working for her and getting to know her more; it had taken him only three and a half years to fall in love with this mortal woman. One night he mad the leap of sharing his feelings. That was the first night they shared a bed.
Hera had called Hermes back up to be with the gods. He was in Olympus for a week though on earth it was 6 months. When he came back he found a very pregnant, very hysterical woman. He had left her to care for a baby alone. He knew Hera would want this baby and he also knew Dionysus would not hesitate to tell her.
"Then he came to me, begging me to cast a protection and binding spell. I hated that bitch Hera so much that I did it, no questions asked, but I had to have a little fun" Calypso let out a high off pitched laugh, with the bottle of wine in her right hand and her other hand on Drakes knee.
"What did you do," asked drake, obviously he was beginning to get angry.
"In 4,000 years her powers will be awakened, she will be like a god." Drake was knelt aside her listening to every word.
"What do you say we go to my room or do you prefer to stay her," said Calypso, while she gently squeezed his leg?
"I don't think so," said Drake a mischievous grin spread on his face. "You see I know have everything that I need, I have no use for you now."
"You used me," said calypso, with a tint of red in her eyes.
"Does the wine taste good honey, I had it imported, Hades recommended it to me," said drake.
A few minutes pass and Calypso was still on the floor gagging, clinging to her neck
"Waiting it so boring." He took his hunting knife and raised his arms, both hands on the handle of the blade, and narrowed the blade into her abdomen. Calypso screamed.
The servants came rushing to their master's aid. They missed the killer by a hair, but they were more worried about the blood that was coming from Calypso's mouth "You're going to be fine, you'll see." They put pressure on the wound and that might have saved her but they had no idea poisonous wine was involved.
"You have to protect the girl," said calypso as they wiped the sweat from her face.
"We can not. We have not the strength to defeat him" said a servant.
"That's why my power is yours." She died right there, the servants all fainted at the sight of a blue ray floating from her body.
Chapter 3
"I'm going to spend the night at Jesse's house tonight," said 8 yr. Old Devynn
"Now just a minute young lady," said Sandra, Devynn stepmother. Sandra was in the middle of cleaning some lettuce but stopped when Devynn TOLD her that she was going somewhere. Sandra sat Devynn down and said, "I'm afraid I can't let you go honey, you didn't do you're chores and I don't even know her parents." Sandra sat holding Devynn hands in her lap. Devynn jerked her hands away. "My father already said I could go, besides, why are you telling me where I can and cannot go you're not my mother 'Sandra.'"
Devynn was beginning to get haughty, 'how dare this woman try to be my mother,' she thought. Devynn calls Jesse and told her what happened. In less than 15 minutes Jesse is at the door and knocks, she throws her bag into the bushes just off the porch.
Sandra answered the door and saw Jesse standing there as pleasant as a flower.
"Oh, hi Jesse," There was a short pause before Sandra forced the words out of her mouth, "I'm afraid Devynn will not be able to spend the night."
"I am too," said Devynn with slightly gritting teeth from behind the bookshelf. Sandra turns to look at Devynn and looks back at Jesse before leaving for the kitchen, murmuring to herself.
"Come on, we can play in my room." Said Devynn Jesse and Devynn ran up the stairs to her bedroom. She got out all her dolls and started brushing their golden blonde hair.
"Truth or Dare?" asks Jesse Mischievously
"Um... Dare." said Devynn
"Okay.... Oh I got it," exclaims Jesse as she throws herself on the bed beside Devynn.
"You and I spend the night in the old Montgomery house on Forth and Oak."
"What!" yells Devynn before lowering her voice, "but that place has been abandoned for years."
"So, It'll be fun, we might even see a snake." Jesse notices the hesitation in Devynn's eyes was not going to go away, "I'll be your friend for a million years.
"Okay said Devynn reluctantly. Devynn and Jesse pack up some clothes and head out the door. "Oh this'll be so much fun," exclaims Jesse. The girls reached the house and walk up to the door.
"You go in.," said Jesse
"No, you go in."
"No, you go in."
"No, you go in."
"No, you go in...."
"...Hey, what're you kids doing there, get away from there." The girls turn to see an old woman with gray hair and wrinkled white skin; wearing a pink flowered white muumuu, staring at them from her porch from across the street
"Let's go through the back," said Jesse. Both girls dart to the back yard, or what use to be a yard and found a door. They have the argument again and decide to flip a coin. Devynn loses and pushes the door open a crack with a stick then shoves the door open letting the stale humidity out.
"We should find a spot to sleep, unless you changed your mind. Please say you changed you mind" said Devynn. The girls walk in to what looks like the living room. There is furniture everywhere, all covered in sheets. "Look, here's a couch, ewe it's all moldy and gray, maybe this isn't such a good idea," said Devynn.
"Police, come out with your hands up" a voice shouts from outside. The girls run outside to see what all the commotion is about. The girls are surrounded at every angle. "That crazy old bird thought she saw a burglar or a homeless person coming in here, anyway, you two sure are lucky you have a neighbor that cares. Just wait here I'll inform dispatch that it was all a misunderstanding, but I will have to call your parents and take you home." The girls' eyes widen with fear.
"Devynn no matter what happens we are always going to be friends okay, always." The girls hug each other with the blue and red lights illuminating their faces.
Part Two
Chapter 4
It is four in the morning and the darkness is blinding. Luckily for me I know the way to Jesse's house by heart. Yesterday was her birthday and I had missed it, I had to make it up to her so I bought a card and headed over to the house.
My name is Devynn and I am a senior in high school. I hate conformity and organization. My mother died when I was 5 yr.'s old of unknown causes. I think it was murder but my dad thinks I'm just paranoid.
There have been a number of murders that have been taking place in my little home town of Crestline, all of victims slashed on the neck from the chin to the Collarbone. And then the suspects suffer the same tragic death.
Night time has always been a sanctuary for me, a place, and a time where all things stop and listen to what I have to say. Usually I hear the vibration of the crickets and the sleeping murmurs of the birds, but tonight was different, no sound but my footsteps and my pulse. Staring at the sidewalk I quicken my pace and shove my hands in my pockets.
Crack
I turn my head and peer over my shoulder, hesitating 'should I stop or should I run, should I stop or should I run.'
Crack
I drop Jesse's card and my feet take off without me, going in and out of alleys, in the middle of the street, and finally down the alley behind the local pizza shop; I can hear the laughs of young old men alike and the giggles of a toddler. "Order's up" a female voice came," I could barely hear the voices, my back pressed against the back of the brick building, slowly catching my breath. The manger doesn't see me when he takes out the trash. My heart starts again in a steady pattern and I start to walk again, laughing at myself with every step, a grin on my face.
I finally reach Jesse's house. I climb in the window. I close it behind me, I gasp as I turn to see giant cage covering an entire wall, and inside the cage is the biggest snake I have ever seen. It was a python, an albino python.
I guess this was a gift from her parents. They are always giving her outrageously expensive things; I can only imagine how much this sucker was. I tap the cage but get no reaction but a slithery tongue, a yawn and a wink.
Jesse walks into her room and let out an alarming shriek then she starts jumping up and down. "Oh my god you came , how'd you get out of the house with the guards home, wait don't tell me, I don't want to be guilty too, don't stare at him like that, you'll freak him out, hey, do you want to hold him?" exclaims Jesse.
"What do you mean I'LL freak him out, he's creepy," said Devynn. I have always been fond of snakes but this was different, this one seems more or less dangerous than the rest I have seen.
"Oh Devynn you just have to hold my baby, isn't he the most wonderful thing you've ever seen, I think I am going to call him killer. Please just hold him it would mean a lot to me,"
I guess that this is important to her, she never gets this giddy, and come to think of it, she hardly ever smiles.
"I don't know, he has those red beady eyes, they're really creepy." I said, looking at the snake with caution, "wait where did you say you got him?"
"Oh it is just the most amazing story.... Stop staring at him that way Dev, I promise he's tame, my rents got him from a circus guy in the back of a trailer, the guy was holding it before he sold it to my dad."
Even I could read the hesitation in her voice but her eyes were bright with excitement and I couldn't let her down.
"Okay," I said
"Yes, I'm so excited; um can you hang on for a sec. I think I left the stove on."
I can't take my eyes away from his eyes, so deep red, so relaxed.
"Okay are you ready?" Jesse asked
"What are you cooking?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm starving."
"Oh, that, I um, was going to make a cake but I didn't have any mix." Jesse starts opening the cage while talking about how Billy Storable had called her earlier asking her for a date Thurs.
The snake's eyes go from relaxed to alert, as she reaches into the side of the cage door. The giant snake moves his way to her arm and makes a connection with her veins. Jesse doesn't even scream instead she lets out a long, almost erotic, groan. The snake unlatches its ivory daggers and starts slithering in a spiral motion down Jesse's shoulders and twines its lower body around her neck. Her face turns a pastel purple. Her eyes turn blue, like hard putty bulging out of her sockets. I can see her pulse racing in her eyes, the snake flexes, and her cornea turns into a bubble of liquid above the surface. I can see air bubbles' moving with every attempt to breathe Jesse makes. Her cornea thin and causes abrasions on the only thin layer left. Slits form like a crack quickly traveling across a sheet of glass, like stretch marks. The liquid plasters itself across the room, her eyes collapsing under the intense pressure. Jesse lets out a long, high-pitched scream.
"Get off her," I cried franticly "No, No stop it" my voice is choked with tears "stop ...stop," Jesse's hand slowly reached to the snake's body that is still flexing around her neck, he reacts with a swift twirl of his upper body around her waist and his head contending for the moment at her hips. He relaxes and his entire body strolls itself downward. Her neck is free but she is still stunned and choking, she holds and caresses her neck with her hands still dazed. Her screaming has stopped. His body is wrapped completely from her shoulders to her thighs. Jesse looks down and lets out a whimper. She tries to pull the snake from her shoulders with no results but another disappointment. Her hand then darts for the area around her thighs, frantically pushing with grunts in between. She starts to hyperventilate while still pushing. "Dev...ynn...help me...please. He's getting tighter." I break out of my daze and take a step toward the death scene. The snake relaxes as he watches me move.
Jesse is screaming for my help but the snake is still watching me, daring me to move another inch. My vision blurry from tears try to stare him down, Killer's mouth is wide open exposing the death trap my best friends family so naively fell into, he moves his head back like a swans upright neck and dives out for my arm. I scream and turn my back, running into the closet; I close the shutter doors and sink down onto the floor. Crying so hard I can not see and barely breathe. I still am forced to keep my eyes open and watch Jesse die. I try to scream only to be suffocated by shock. The killer moves his attention back to Jesse, who is still breathing though raspy. He starts to flex starting with the top of her body. The muscles move like a pulley cranking Jesse a burning corset. Her mouth open and ready to vomit, she raises the energy to cough and gets blood on the carpet, another flex and she tenses up, blood dripping from her mouth, taking in deep breathes of pain, the top of her skull cracks from the pressure, like a broken leg, I can see the silhouette under her head of hair the skull split in three places on the top of her head, the ripping of skin tissue becomes deafening. The python turned and stared at me with deep red eyes still flexing and suffocating Jesse. She calls my name again and I scream, looking back at the snake I fall into a hypnotic trace, just dazed wanting to cry but cant, wanting to help, but cant. I break away from the gaze the killer landed on my. I hear another loud crack, almost like a firework.
I fall back into the closet and start rocking back and forth. The screams of my best friend are ringing through the house. I am screaming "stop" at the top of my lungs with my hands over my ears. Not knowing what to do I look out the shutter door only by a crack and see the snake unravel Jesse and her body falls behind the bed. The snake is looking around now, maybe to get familiar with his surroundings or maybe he is trying to find me. He gets closer to my safe-haven with every sway of his body against the carpet. He pokes his nose around and tries to get in. I am curled up in the upright fetal position rocking back and forth wondering if the killer is going to get in. I hear a tapping at the window.
'I am saved' I thought to my self. But the snake hears it first and slithers to the window. A man opens the window and crawls through; he looks homeless with a green tattered trench coat, raggedy scarves, and torn gloves. Seeing the snake twine onto this man makes me rethink asking for help. The man walks straight over to the body of my beloved best friend and he drops her to the floor like a rag doll. I scream, for hours it seems like, so soothing, a hand covers my mouth and I am drawn out of the closet.
Now I was vulnerable to his merciless wrath, he sits me on the floor by the window. "You need air," the beady eyed man said to me, his left arm holding me up against my back.
"Get away from me," I cry out with a scratchy voice.
"You have to listen to what I have to say before you pass judgment." The man gets up and leans me against a pillow he pulls off Jesse's bed, my eyes mist. The weird homeless man goes over to the body and pulls out a stick, a very sharp stick. Her chest rising and falling deep, with shallow breathes.
"This is unbelievable, are you some kind of crazed Buffy fan, this is just great, it you touch her with the stick I swear I'll..."
"What, call the police," with that end of sarcasm the man raises his hand and rams the stick into her chest. I let out a whimper of the word no before seeing with my own eyes her body turn to ashes.
"Now that you know about them they will come after you, do not trust anyone you meet after tonight, not even me," he said this with his lips slightly trembling.
"I can't breath," I said in a low husky voice, the shock and terror I had just been through is now suffocating me, strangling me.
"Tell you what, I'll walk you home to make sure you get there safe and sound, after all you never know what could happen." We both smile, I can tell he is amused and slightly ego-risen.
"Fine," I said with hesitation, I'm not so sure it is wise to walk home with a circus freak. Just what the world needs, a freak that can kill.
I get home safely without anything jumping out and going boo. I look at the clock and get ready for school. It is 6:45 and I have to be at the school in twenty minutes. I get a shower and get my clothes on, still crying over Jesse, I am not sure what all this means but it sure can't be good. My best friend a vampire. I spit the toothpaste out and gargle Listerine.
While gathering all my things together I slip in to my dads room, gently shutting the door behind me. I walk up to where he slept and hug him the longest hug I could ever give.
"What's wrong honey," he asked as I lifted my head ready to go.
"Nothing" I said as I turned to walk out my eyes start to water, my nose crinkles and my eye squint.
I grab my bag and lock the front house door. Throwing my bag into the backseat of my wagon I try to start the car, just sputtering. Again and again all I get is sputtering.
'Maybe a walk will do me some good,' I thought to myself. I take my bag and start walking through yards, my mind wonders as I walk and I forget all about what happened two hours ago, until I get to the house, the house we played in, the almost sleepover.
Still dark out I try to pass through the yard.
The crinkling beneath my feet is loud.
I stop
Someone comes out of the bushes. "So we meet again" a voice so low and mocking I feel like a child again. His blonde hair raggedy and curled with deep jaws and high cheekbones, perfect eyebrows and a set of lips shaped like a walnut shell.
"Your zippers down," oh my god why did I just say that, what is wrong with me. The man still pasty white looks down giving me a chance to run. My thoughts keep repeating until I am stopped by a long sleek body. A man stood in front of me. His weight all on one leg while he picked his nails, he looked like a picture from a concentration camp in the 1940's. He looked at me with sunken eyes and droopy facial skin, his skin a night blue color.
"GET HER, SHE'S THE CHOSEN ONE," yells the man whom I ran from earlier. The blue man turned to me and stared at me. He raised his hand getting ready to slap me with the back of his right hand
"Oh shit," after those words he hits me and I am out cold.