CHAPTER 38

They arrived and she saw people outside.
“What’s happening?” Gina asked.
“It is now worse, she told us to leave and we are all waiting outside.”
“Who is inside now?”
“It’s the lead priestess and priest.”
“That’s good then. Follow me Amber,” Gina said.
So everything she hears was true. They really existed and she saw those tattoos on everyone’s hands. Was this a movie? They went inside and when Gina opened the door to Haven’s bedroom, she just gasped and fainted.
***
It all began days towards the ceremony where she shed so much blood. She began having these weird dreams seeing a very beautiful ancient woman wearing the jewel she was given the day of her coronation. She was half human, her legs turned into a snake tail.
It was very scary but she just brushed it as a dream. It never stopped even on the ceremonial night. When she fought she felt as if someone was juicing her with strength and will. That woman was looking at her and after her. When she won the battle it even became worse.
One night she dreamt that woman personally putting a tattoo on her using the deadliest ink ever. Her ink always comprised of just one viper venom, the carpet viper but that woman’s was a combination of all deadly venoms. It was very painful that she lost the will to cry. When she woke up she could still feel the pain.
The crazy moment came when she looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe herself at all. When did a dream turn into reality? Her body was covered in tattoos. Apparently that woman managed to put three vipers on her body.
One was covering her shoulders, the other two were on her legs excluding the other that was put on her the time she became part of the family. They felt alive somehow and not just mere drawings on her.
Because of that she had to take more venom input and she couldn’t tell anyone what was happening except to look into the ancient books where she found out that the Goddess had finally empowered her. She had passed all tests and all the power had been given to her.
She had met the Goddess and it was wonderful. She could feel the power within her. It was too strong that she was afraid of being near anyone; so she avoided Amber like a plague. The thought of seeing, touching her was just too much. She was safer without her close.
Her worst nightmare came when she was in the office; Amber texted her, a break up text. She couldn’t believe it at first so she tried to call but her calls had been blocked. Something deep inside her was triggered and she decided to go home.
She was going to calm down first before looking for Amber. When she arrived home she smoked her first cigar but it was not getting better. She smoked the whole pack and she felt like shit. She wanted to kill someone but she promised not to.
She could feel the beast in her trying to come out and she knew what exactly that beast was going to do. So she chased everyone away and began to fight herself. It was better that way than to massacre any of her family members again.
The thought of Amber being with her in that same tub, kissing and touching made everything worse. She had nothing to live for. The family could just find another Viper to replace her but she couldn’t find Amber again. So she let go. She watched as she grew a tail, her legs disappearing.
She was turning into a snake form. Her transformation was almost over when she felt her. Amber was in the house and she was gone. The door suddenly opened and Amber looked at her as she finally fully transforms into a one huge snake and she fainted.
What had she done?
***
When Amber woke up, she was lying on Haven’s bed and alone. Everyone was nowhere to be seen. She got out of bed hoping what she saw was just a dream. When she got outside and went to the lounge she saw everyone seated there.
“You are awake!”
“What happened?”
“She is gone!” Gina said.
“What do you mean she is gone? How could you let her leave?”
“Have you ever seen a giant snake before? We can’t kill her or touch her, what do you want us to do?”
“Which way did she go?”
“I will show you but it’s just a waste of time.”
Amber followed the guard outside and began to follow the trail Haven left behind.
“We can’t go any further, the trail just ends here,” he said.
Amber looked around and saw that it was really pointless.
“You can go back. I will look for her.”
“But…”
“Just go!”
Where was she going to start? It was the first time she was seeing the compound. It was very huge and confusing. She began to walk around calling out her name. There was no sound, no hiss just nothing.
She made that round for two hours till she didn’t know where she was. She sat down on the ground and began to cry.
“It’s my entire fault. I should have talked to you, listened to you and have more faith in you. I always know that you will never let anything bad happen to me but I was just so hurt since you didn’t let me know about your biggest secret.
I thought it would make me feel better if I made you the bad guy but you warned me and I never listened. You continuously told me that you were not perfect but I gave you deaf ears and ignored it all. I didn’t mean what I said earlier.
I can live without you Haven. I love you and I will do anything if I have you back. I don’t care whether you are human, dead or a snake; please just come back to me. If you don’t come back to me, I will kill myself right now!” she shouted.
The wind was making the leaves to whistle and it was a bit cold. If Haven was not going to return to her after what they had been through then she might as well just die.
She looked around and heard the water flowing. She followed the sound and found a waterfall. Why didn’t Haven tell her there was a waterfall in her land?
She went into the river and looked down. She knew how to swim but she had never jumped from such a high place before.